Goddess of Ice: Corrupting Bleach - Chapter 58: vs Yammy

***Author Note***

Sorry for not posting a chapter last Sunday; I had a minor writer’s block and had some trouble writing this fight scene~

***End of Author Note***

A few days passed since Yuna helped Harribel communicate with her Zanpakuto Spirit, and back in the world of the living, Tatsuki was currently jogging through a park with the rest of her karate dojo members.

Frankly, practicing karate had lost quite a bit of its thrill after she experienced multiple real battles and even participated in the raid on Seireitei, but she still continued practicing. Somehow, those karate matches that had no significant consequences felt rather relaxing to her now, so she wouldn’t drop practicing karate any time soon.

However, as she was jogging, a powerful explosion happened not too far away from her, drawing everyone’s attention. Unlike everyone else in the vicinity, Tatsuki’s eyes widened when she felt two powerful Spiritual Pressures washing over her.

‘Who the hell is that? One of them still feels manageable, but the other one is insane!’

Despite realizing that she would probably not be a match against the stronger individual, she still gritted her teeth and approached the source of the two Spiritual Pressures, finding a white-skinned man with black hair with a quarter of a Hollow mask on his head and a huge bald man with brown skin with a Hollow mask covering his chin.

Both of them carried swords, and after the man with white skin slightly opened his jacket, revealing he had a hole just underneath his throat, Tatsuki confirmed that both of them were Arrancar. Although she had met that weird-looking Arrancar with the half-opened mask a few days ago, these two were on a completely different level. They didn’t even feel to be the same species as the creature she initially met.

“He, I’ve been in the world of the living a few times, but this truly is a boring place. The Spiritual Particles are so thin; I can barely breathe.”

Before Tatsuki could think about the duo in front of her any further, the big one started speaking, resulting in the smaller one shaking his head in aspiration.

“Stop complaining. I told you I could do this alone, but you are the one who insisted on tagging along, Yammy.”

Hearing the small one’s words, Yammy simply shrugged his shoulder and looked around him, causing him to frown. Obviously, normal humans couldn’t see him, but there were still a lot of people looking toward him due to the crater the duo had created upon landing here.

“Oh well, guess I’m sorry, Ulquiorra; however, all these people looking at me pisses me off.”

Hearing Yammy’s words, Ulquiorra was just about to comment that no one could see them anyway when Yammy continued speaking.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll suck out their souls.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he took a deep breath attempting to do something, but before he could do whatever he was planning to do, a lava-covered fist smashed into his face, sending him flying away.

Although Tatsuki had no idea what Yammy was planning to do, her instincts were telling her that it would be dangerous to allow him to act as he wanted. Maybe not for her, but undoubtedly for the other people present.

Those thoughts were confirmed when as soon as Yammy started breathing in, every normal human in the vicinity fainted. Fortunately, at that point in time, Tatsuki was already mid-attack, stopping Yammy from doing what he wanted to do.

Ulquiorra, who stood next to Yammy, did not only see Tatsuki approaching in an attempt to attack Yammy, he could have easily prevented it from happening. However, he didn’t see why he should bother acting as a babysitter for Yammy, who seemed to be completely incapable of perceiving his surroundings with his sense.

Seeing the Arrancar, she was significantly more wary of not intercepting her attack; Tatsuki couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

She had no idea how prideful Arrancar would be nor how their command structure would work. Still, considering Ulquiorra didn’t stop her, she assumed that fighting two vs one either went against their pride or that the superior fighting before the subordinate was defeated was thought of as improper.

‘Good, if that pale guy doesn’t intervene, I’ll probably be fine. It appears like that big guy does not only have significantly less Spiritual Power, he isn’t very good at fighting and sensing his opponent either. I should be able to do this. As for the pale one, I can only hope someone else comes here before I’m done with the big one.’

As Tatsuki finished her thoughts, Yammy managed to dig himself out of the ditch he was just punched into and glared at Tatsuki.

“Ulquiorra, can I kill her?”

Hearing Yammy’s question, Ulquiorra briefly pondered his next works before shrugging his shoulders.

“She is not the one we are here for, but you can kill her. This should attract the one we are looking for.”

“Hahaha, great. In that case: DIE!!!”

Seeing the colossal body of her opponent charging her like a bull, Tatsuki couldn’t help but shake her head. Frankly, she had no doubt that Yammy was stronger than her. Hell, he was a colossus with arms bigger than her shoulders were wide, so that wasn’t surprising in the least.

However, even if an enemy was much stronger than her, there was no way she would be done in by a mindless charge.

So, just as Yammy punched towards her head, Tatsuki lightly tilted her body and evaded the blow, just for her lava-covered arms to grab Yammy’s hand, using his momentum to jump up and twist her leg around Yammy’s neck, pulling him to the ground due to his own power.

Moments later, Yammy crashed on the ground with Tatsuki sitting on his chest. Before Yammy could reorientate himself, lava-covered fists smashed into his face again and again, causing him to roar in anger as pain shot through his body.

As Tatsuki continued pummeling Yammy, Ulquiorra simply stood by the side and observed what was going on.

‘Quite good for a mere human. Yammy utterly outclasses her in Spiritual Power, but due to his carelessness and her skilled fighting style, she actually manages to gain the upper hand.’

“ENOUGH!!!”

While Ulquiorra was thinking about what was currently happening in front of him, Yammy snapped, pushing Tatsuki away with a powerful burst of Spiritual Pressure. Although that was a huge waste of Spiritual Power, it was still better than getting helplessly pummeled.

Seeing that Yammy was barely hurt, Tatsuki couldn’t help but frown. She had expected her attacks to do more damage than they actually did. Additionally, she noticed that the Arrancar in front of her had ridiculously hard skin. She was pretty sure that if she didn’t have the ability to cover her arms in lava, a few of her bones would have been cracked by now.

‘It’s not enough! I’m still too weak! Like this, I’ll never be able to fight next to Naruto!’

As those thoughts passed through her mind, determination radiated out of her eyes as the Spiritual Power inside her body started flooding her body far faster and denser than it ever did before.

‘This isn’t enough! I need more!”

Slowly but surely, pressure started radiating from Tatsuki’s body as lava slowly started covering her legs, as her eyes started glowing red due to the Spiritual Power coursing through her body.

Before Yammy could react, Tatsuki bent her knees and shot forward far faster than she ever did before, and her fist yet again smashed into Yammy’s face, sending him crashing to the ground, and as soon as he regained his bearing and stood up, the heel of Tatsuki’s right foot smashed into his head, yet again sinking him into the ground.

As that was happening, Ulquiorra watched in fascination as Yammy was getting the shit kicked out of him. Frankly, he assumed that only someone on the level of a Captain could compete with an Espada, but here he was, watching a regular human beat up an Espada. Although it was the weakest of the ten Espada, it still was quite the feat.

‘Fascinating. She clearly has far less Spiritual Power than Yammy, but she still is beating him due to him just wildly swinging his fist without any technique.’

Moments later, a red energy beam shot skyward, forcing Tatsuki to temporarily back away from Yammy, as she would rather not attempt to block a Cero of an Arrancar with more Spiritual Power than her.

Unfortunately, as soon as Tatsuki came to a halt, Yammy appeared in front of her, his fist already punching toward her head, causing her to click her tongue as she crossed her arms in front of her head.

A loud boom sounded over the battlefield as Tatsuki was pushed back multiple meters due to the power of Yammy’s attack. Despite being pushed back, a ferocious smile appeared on Tatsuki’s face as she leisurely wiped away the trickle of blood flowing out of the corner of her mouth.

‘Oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun~’

The best method for someone to get stronger is for them to fight through life-threatening situations. Although Tatsuki had fought in quite a few real battles by now, not once did she feel like her life was in danger.

Either she fought inside a proper arena with an audience, where killing was forbidden, fought with Naruto, who displayed killing intent, with Tatsuki knowing he would never kill her, or fought within Seireitei, where Naruto was constantly present to protect her, she never fought someone under the condition that she would die if she lost.

She loved every second of it.

Tatsuki couldn’t help but grin as she felt her control over her power increase dramatically every time she clashed with Yammy. Her progress had been stagnating for a while now, but now she felt like she improved massively every time Yammy overpowered her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting on a nearby tree, watching the fight unfold. As he was leisurely swinging his legs back and forth, he couldn’t help but smirk after seeing Tatsuki’s bloodthirsty grin.

‘Damn, that’s so hot.’

[Your degeneracy is getting worse by the day.]

‘What’s so degenerate about enjoying watching your girlfriend beating someone up?’

[…]

‘Okay, no need you answer that one. I’ll take the loss.’

While he was chatting with Kurama, Naruto briefly glanced at Ulquiorra, who Naruto was pretty sure had already spotted him.

‘Seems like pale boy over there doesn’t plan to intervene at all. Mhh, considering the emotionless face, it’s not easy to guess his thoughts, but it seems like he simply doesn’t care. Oh well, if he does something, I’ll intervene.’

“Tatsuki!”

Meanwhile, Tatsuki heard a familiar female voice calling her name, almost causing her to curse, and when she briefly glanced at the source of the voice, she wanted to curse even harder.

‘Orihime and Sado, huh? Frankly, I was looking forward to some reinforcement, but these two will only be a liability. Orihime isn’t a fighter, to begin with, and while Sado is someone who can fight, he’s more of the brawler type. Clashing with this Yammy guy head-on is definitely a bad idea.

“Ulquiorra, what about these two? Is one of them our target?”

“You really need to work on your perception, Yammy. They are both trash.”

Hearing the duo talk, Sado frowned while Orihime was intimidated. Sado was aware that the two people in front of him had significantly more Spiritual Power than him, but he also noticed that Yammy’s face clearly was wounded with some burn marks and a broken nose.

‘If Tatsuki can wound him, then I should be able to do the same. However, this is no battlefield Orihime should be on.’

“Orihime, you should stay away. Tatsuki and I will handle this.”

Orihime couldn’t help but be saddened after Sado finished speaking. After all, it was pretty clear that he was implying that she was too weak to fight the two people in front of her. Nevertheless, she decided to take Sado’s advice and draw back a little.

While Orihime and Sado had a brief conversation, Yammy decided to continue attacking, as the longer the fight took, the angrier he got. Not only did a single human manage to wound him, but now he was even ignored by another two, so how could he not get angry?

So, with a loud roar, Yammy charged at Tatsuki, who had already prepared herself for the next attack and dodged out of the way yet again, resulting in Yammy coming to a halt between Tatsuki and Sado, who immediately took the chance for a pincer-attack.

“Tatsuki, I’ll fight him head-on. Use the chance to land a good blow!”

“Don’t! He’s too…”

*Boom*

A loud explosion echoed over the battlefield as Sado and Yammy’s fists collided, resulting in Sado’s whole arm getting broken at multiple places, while Tatsuki could only facepalm.

“…*sigh* strong.”

The moment Sado’s arm was mangled, Orihime immediately realized just how big the power gap was, but despite that, she started healing Sado’s arm without a moment of hesitation.

Seeing Sado’s arm literally getting put together like someone was reversing a movie, Ulquiorra’s eyebrows rose while a pinch of interest briefly flashed through his eyes.

‘What kind of power is that? It doesn’t look like normal healing using Kido.’

Meanwhile, Tatsuki really wanted to curse as she quickly attacked Yammy to pull him away from Sado and Orihime. However, now that she was the aggressor, she felt a lot of pressure as it was much harder to use Yammy’s own strength against him when she was putting on pressure.

As she continued dodging Yammy’s attacks, she couldn’t help but click her tongue as she deliberately allowed Yammy’s attack to graze her, allowing her to put some distance between him and her while sighing in relief.

‘Damn, about time someone else arrives.’

“Yo, sorry for the delay, Tatsuki.”

“Tsk, about time you arrive, Ichigo. And where in the world is Naruto? Shouldn’t he be faster than you?”

A few meters away, sitting in a tree, Naruto couldn’t help but chuckle a little when he heard Tatsuki’s words.

‘Seems like I’m about to get scolded~’

[Not sure why you are so happy about that? Has something weird awakened inside you?]

‘Nah, it’s just that Tatsuki’s angry face is really cute, so I can’t help myself but look forward to it~’

[Definitely the awakening of some kind of strange fetish…]

While Naruto and Kurama were bickering, Ichigo activated his Bankai, causing Yammy’s eyebrows to rise before looking at Ulquiorra.

“Ulquiorra, he said Bankai. Is that the one we are here to kill?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Hearing Ulquiorra’s words, a smirk appeared on Yammy’s face as he looked at Ichigo like a predator looking at his prey.

“So you are finally here!”

Seeing Yammy getting excited while briefly glancing at Sado’s mangled arm, Ichigo couldn’t help but frown as he raised his sword and pointed it at Yammy.

“Step back, Tatsuki. I’ll deal with him.”

Although Tatsuki couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows due to Ichigo suddenly insisting on taking over her fight, in the end, she simply shrugged her shoulders and allowed Ichigo to act freely. She had already gotten a lot out of this fight, so she didn’t mind sitting back.

#In fact, she was pretty certain that she would be able to cover her whole body in lava very soon. A few more fights against Naruto and a bit of meditation should definitely be enough to reach that kind of level.

‘Oh well, since someone reliable appeared, I might as well have him finish this.’

As those thoughts passed through her mind, she looked at Ichigo’s back, causing her to frown.

‘Something feels off. Is Ichigo really as reliable as I assumed him to be? Damn, I planned to stabilize the changes my ability went through, but I somehow got the feeling things won’t be that simple.’

As Tatsuki was deep in thought, Ichigo easily blocked one of Yammy’s punches before vanishing and reappearing behind Yammy, resulting in Yammy’s hand getting sent flying through the air.

Seeing how easily Ichigo severed Yammy’s hand, Ulquiorra could only shake his head at how inept he was. Yammy was fighting against a Shinigami that could use Bankai, but despite that, he still wasn’t using his sword, which clearly was a death sentence.

‘Although Kurosaki Ichigo is stronger than I expected, in the end, he is no match for Aizen-sama.’

The fight continued a little longer, resulting in quite a few gashes appearing on Yammy’s body, which only made him angrier and angrier. Moments later, he had enough as his hand reached towards his Zanpakuto, finally intending to use it.

However, seeing that the Hollow in front of him was about to use a Zanpakuto reminded Ichigo of his encounter with Shinji, and before he realized what was going on, he could feel his inner Hollow acting up.

He fell to his knees, holding his head in pain, causing everyone else to look at him in confusion. Although Yammy was about to pull out his blade, seeing Ichigo on the ground, groaning in pain, a wide smile appeared on his face as he appeared in front of Ichigo and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying through multiple trees before coming to a stop.

“Ichigo!”

Seeing Ichigo being sent flying away, Orihime couldn’t help but panic as she started running toward him.

“Orihime, don’t come closer.”

Obviously, Ichigo didn’t want Orihime to get involved in this fight, as he was certain she would be easily overpowered, but despite Ichigo’s yell, she still approached him, only for Yammy to appear next to her.

Seeing what was happening, Tatsuki’s eyes widened as she saw the back of Yammy’s hand approaching Orihime in slow-motion.

‘A punch from him destroyed Sado’s arm, and although he is just trying to casually backhand Orihime away, this might actually kill her. Shit, since Ichigo was easily dealing with him, I let my guard down. I need to block that attack. No, I WILL block that attack.’

Determination flashed through Tatsuki’s eyes as she bent her knees and shot toward Orihime and Yammy far faster than she ever did.

Meanwhile, Orihime saw Yammy’s attack approaching her in slow motion as well, but no matter how she looked at it, she wouldn’t be able to dodge or block it.

Just when she was about to give up hope, Tatsuki appeared in front of her with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her whole body except for her head covered in an armor entirely made out of lava.

Yammy’s hand collided with Tatsuki’s crossed arms, and surprisingly, Tatsuki didn’t budge a single centimeter, surprising not only her but everyone else present.

Feeling barely any pressure from Yammy’s attack, Tatsuki couldn’t help but smile ferociously as she raised her head and looked Yammy in the eyes, revealing that one of her irises had turned yellowish-golden.

“We are just getting started~”

Meanwhile, seeing Tatsuki’s transformation and ferocious expression, a shudder went through Naruto’s body.

‘Holy shit, that’s so hot. I’m really close to busting in there, going full power, and beating these two jokers up, followed by me throwing Tatsuki over my shoulder and hastily entering the closest hotel.’

[…]

‘No kink-shaming!’

[Didn’t say anything.]

‘But I could feel your judgment-filled gaze.’

[Yeah, that one won’t be going away any time soon.]