This isn't going well, Hisagi thought. His Zanpakutō described a wide arc after slashing at one of the hollow's arms, but the wound quickly started closing again. At least I have its attention now.

A casual observer could have accused Hisagi of stating the obvious, had he spoken those thoughts out loud. He had tried attacking the hollow directly with his Zanpakutō, but the hollow's body reacted with an almost plastic quality, deflecting blows and quickly closing wounds. He had tried kidō, and once again it seemed capable of absorbing a great deal of damage, morphing and blobbing like it was some sort of fluid.

And the bloody mask keeps disappearing inside its body when I try to hit it.

For an instant the hollow stopped and hesitated between targets, and Hisagi shot a quick glance across the battlefield. Kita was muttering the incantation, while the rest of his squad was laying on the ground at a safe distance. The Fourth Division girl was kneeling on the ground, her hand raised at a spot of kidō light above them; the light flickered considerably and she was breathing heavily.

We may have to pull back soon if she can't...

"March on to the south!"

There! Come on Kita, don't fail me, we have to time this...

Hisagi threw Kazeshini once again, and in the same movement raised his right hand, palm open, pointing at the hollow.

"Hadō twenty-seven..." Hisagi's voice boomed.

"Hadō thirty-one..." Kita's voice echoed.

"Frozen Spear!"

"Red Fire Cannon!"

Their spells were off only by a fraction of a second, yet both held their breaths in perfect unison. Their aim was, nonetheless, impeccable, and Hisagi's kidō hit one of the six arms just before Kita's own did, and before the hollow had time to retract it. An ice-shattering explosion ensued, and the arm fell to the ground amidst a shower of frozen debris. Hisagi easily dodged an angrily thrown punch from the hollow.

"Yes! Kita! Once mo..."

Hisagi's eyes went wide as he turned to his subordinate. He was just standing there on the field, several spears coming from the hollow's chest piercing his large frame. It was the Fourth Division girl who reacted first, appearing next to Kita in a flash of shunpo. She looked so small next to the large man it seemed as if he'd crush her if he fell on her.

"Seree!"

She cut the hollow's fleshy spears with a wide slash of her Zanpakutō, and without answer carried the wounded man away with a single shunpo.

"Why damn you... Hadō twenty-seven, Frozen Spear!"

The girl landed next to the rest of the wounded squad, struggling under the weight of the large man. She quickly put him down on the ground.

"Hayashi-san! Hayashi-san! Can you hear me? Please hang on! Just make fun of my hair again, please!"

She tried to stop the bleeding with the few bandages she had remaining, but all she could manage was to just slow it down. She sharply rose her head with the crashing of Hisagi's kidō. His rate of fire had increased, skipping incantations on everything.

Still not working.

"Colour girl..."

Seree almost jumped up in surprise, suppressing a scream. Kita had grabbed her right hand, which was resting on the hilt of her sword.

"Hayashi-san! Please hang in there, I'll..."

"You keep... reaching... your Zanpakutō..." Kita struggled to control his bloody cough. "You have more tricks than your coloured hair...don't you?... Go help... the Lieutenant."

Seree did not answer. Her eyes, wide open, were fixated on the fight, and her hand trembled as it grasped the hilt of the sword.

"Go."

"But..."

"GO!"

Kita's suddenly loud voice snapped Seree into action. Her heart was racing, and its racing was all she could hear as her shunpo sped her into battle. All the recent memories of the mission clashed in her head in an attempt to come to surface, and the more she told herself not to think about them, the harder they competed for her attention.

Stop thinking. Stop thinking. You're going to get killed if you don't stop thinking...