The Awakening [Book 2] (Bleach: Ichiruki)

XV

Arachne

I placed my hand over Rukia's chest, feeling her heart beat weakly.

I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

Here I am, so close to my goal.

And of course, it has to be at this exact moment in which Aizen has to come and ruin the fun.

I withdrew my left hand, forming a thin and sharp adjacent blade.

I hovered my hand above Rukia, admiring her peaceful expression.

"What are you doing?" Kotaku asked, panic in his voice.

I glanced at him, giving him a small smile.

"Don't worry. She won't feel a thing."

And then I plunged the blade in her chest, as I felt it pierce straight through her heart.

Her breathing stopped in an instant as I shut my eyelids, focusing my energy on the blade.

I felt the slight amount of her soul this blade absorbed, sending an exciting chill through my body.

Soon, I would hold this pure soul within me. I would have what I needed to create my thread of fate.

But the negative thing about this is that this process would take painfully longer than before.

The last bit of one's soul is the hardest to extract out, which I find quite ironic.

And in that process, I had to make certain the body would not be disturbed, as well as the blade not be removed.

I withdrew my hand, feeling drained of my energy since I had just placed a mass amount of my power into the blade. It was that that would be the source to withdrawing Rukia's soul from her body.

"What now?" Tatsuo asked. He had been standing behind me a distance away ever since I brought Rukia into this vast room, not wanting to witness what I would do to her.

"Now, we wait. I don't know myself when this process will be completed.

And we must make sure her body is not touched, nor the dagger removed." I added. I hovered my hands above her body, forming a crystal barrier around her.

A blood barrier that could only be opened with a single drop of my blood.

"Keep special watch over Rukia."

-

Ichigo Kurosaki

It was like a maze.

Her castle on the outside was huge, but on the inside, it was ridiculous.

Traps were set every corner we took and every moment we thought we were close to getting out of the maze.

It didn't take long for them to figure out that this was just a trick to drain us of our reiatsu.