< PoV Azure > (Azure/Chapter Theme: Slip Away (Never Meant To Belong)「Bleach TYBW Episode 19 OST」Emotional Orchestral Cover)

“Is that all you can muster, my little goddaughter~?” <Azure Dragon>

The mightest being within the mortal realm spoke in a gravelly voice; a mocking smirk audible as his massive form looked down on the “little girl” in front of him. A figure that seemed to just be a simple human girl who clearly was not made for the harsh nature of mountain life. Her short blue hair blowing in the bitter breeze that whistled - as if calling the poor mortal into the cruel embrace of death.

She did not respond to his constant malevolent taunts as her frostbitten fingers, nails already done yet the cold ironically helped as it froze her wounds over, tightly gripping her rudimentary lance. Not even letting her body shiver in case it was mistaken for fear. Though it still didn’t change the effects on her body.

It didn’t take a genius to see all the cuts across her body while her lips were no longer the plump red which made her such a “high quality commodity”. In fact her flesh is practically able to be pulled from her bones at this point. There was no way a human could possibly stand this amount of physical pain nor the constant torrent of emotional abuse the beast was constantly giving.

Yet it was the mighty Azura dragon who was forced to growl in anger.

Despite all the odds against her, in spite of her body quite literally giving out, she stood there with eyes seemingly unbothered by everything surrounding her. Those eyes meet the mighty dragon’s without so much as flickering. She did not so much as lose her footing. Not even gods possessed the sheer willpower of that “little girl” and Azura Dragon knew that. He also knew that he likely couldn’t stand the same suffering let alone remain unbothered by it.

To add insult to injury; the girl boldly raised her weapon. Logically speaking - it should be impossible due to her body clearly being in no state to fight nevertheless she stood there without faltering. To the dragon this was akin to the greatest insult. A weak human standing up to him without fear while half dead?

It was inconceivable that a mere mortal could face up against a divine entity (leader of the mighty cardinal beasts even). However, that did not matter to the human, against all expectation she remained standing with death knocking on the door. The dragon took a deep breath though; it could be considered losing if he gave the brat any satisfaction through his rage.

“I suppose this is the level I should expect from a mere mortal.” <Azure>

“And I suppose this is the level I should expect from an overgrown feathery lizard.” <Human Woman>

He had it with the brat.

Her tone of voice expressed naught but how little she seemingly cared. Obviously he knew it was because she was unable to actually convey anything except disinterest, something he had a direct hand in causing through putting her in that brothel, yet that did not calm his wrath. The sky darkened in response to his rage while azure lightning began to thunder all around them - making the once perilous mountain naught but a death sentence.

The dragon, having a mixture between both scales & fathers on his mighty body, extended his feathered wing to cast a terrifying shadow over her. Soon to be followed up by such heavy clouds that it made one wonder whether the sun even still existed in the sky above. That dragon called only for the world to answer and share in his righteous anger that a lesser creature dared to demean him.

Nonetheless, she did not care.

Without sign of fear she charged toward her supposed godfather with her lance thrusting towards that scaly torso. Although the dragon was surprised that she could move with his aura - in the brief time her charge took - he was confident she would not be able to so much as pierce his plume that came down from his neck and came down in a v. Let alone his scales.

However, against his imagination, what was essentially just a regular sharpened stick began to glow indigo with wisps of indigo flame coming from the edge. Eyes widening at this sight. His overconfidence made him unable to react in time as the wooden tip punctured in the muscle that lay below.

Roaring out in agony as he experienced something he hadn’t in aeons.

Pain.

Unfortunately the roar sent her flying back; although she at least managed to puncture the floor to stop herself from flying off the edge. That arrogant dragon thrashed around with no goal in mind other than removing the pain he was currently experiencing. Wisps of flames burned far hotter than even those of the primordial god and showed no signs of going out even if it didn’t spread.

“WHAT DID YOU DO!” <Azure Dragon>

“What I’m meant to do.” <Human Women>

Narrowing her eyes as she too did not understand the effect of the flames; sometimes it did basically nothing but this time it was the worst pain the dragon had experienced in his life. She attempted to stand up straight however a wretched truth came to light. Her body really was that of a mortal human.

Her body was unable to keep up with her will power and obviously was running off fumes before her last ditch attack managed to connect. Frustration filled her even if she didn’t express it outwardly. Although she did feel like she almost managed to smirk at the sigh of the dragon's suffering - even if she failed to express anything but her usual indifference in the end.

“Was it this arm…?” <Mother>

Both of the two fighters were shocked at the beautifully mature voice that came out from behind the human desperately fighting for her family. Even Azure stopped his roaring momentarily - if just because he felt as if that voice was eerily familiar to him, Turning around to look at the owner of the voice yielded nothing as they were both too late; they did manage to hear something else, however.

[Ketteitekina Hikiwake]

It was an instant.

Less time than it took to blink.

*click*

In that easily overlooked time period; the human girl suddenly felt far lighter on her right side. The hand that once supported her weary legs, holding the spear tightly, was no longer within her control causing her to slam into the cold rocky ground below. Looking up revealed her hand still tightly gripping the lance even if no longer connected to her.

That human woman still didn’t let out even a tear as the pain returned to her long dulled nerves - instead turning to look in front of herself. Standing there, in front of the dragon, was a mature woman of impressive height with her sheathed sword held in front of her chest. One hand holding the sheath/saya while the other held the handle of her katana. A soft click (the sound of the guard/tsuba hitting the mouth of saya/koiguchi) was the only sign that she ever even drew her blade.

Her long lilac hair tied behind her head in a simple ponytail while the hard aeons old ice melted due to her mere presence. The human could not see her face though - she didn’t even look at her. Only seeing her usual clothing, including a tricorn hat which clearly did not fit with her otherwise eastern aesthetic.

“Who are you… You feel like a dragon but look like a scale-less freak!” <Azure Dragon>

The arrogant Azura Dragon, lord of the 4 cardinal beasts, obviously could not accept feeling any sort of trepidation about the little thing in front of him. As such he covered over his initial apprehensive question with an insult in an almost growl. Surprisingly she expressed no sort of anger toward the older dragon's words but burst out into a laugh instead.

“Ohohoho~!” <Mother>

And that laugh… Was one he immediately recognised.

“You-! You’re connected with that insolent worm attempting to be a dragon; no doubt you utilised some weird trick to sneak up here!” <Azure Dragon>

She stopped laughing and lowered her sword to slide it into the sash at her waist, tilting her head to the side while also “looking” upwards slightly. An act that revealed her closed eyes. This in turn made the dragon let out a powerful mocking guffaw.

“I see now - you’re some ugly blind weakling that not even your parents could love - I supposed that traitorous wannabe used some ‘medicine’ to help you overcome your patheticness. Unfortunately such pitiful tricks won’t work on someone like me. Afterall I killed the sturdiest of all the primordial gods so you may well die from a-” <Azure Dragon>

“You talk too much… I suggest you fix that before I do.” <Mother>

If he was angry before then there were no words in any language, not even spiritual, that could express the boiling rage that he felt upon that. What was worse was a strange cold feeling that travelled up his spine and made his entire body shake for a second. A strange feeling that caused his heart to sink as well as conclude that the weakling had used some poison made by that metallic noodle!

“YOU DARE!” <Azure Dragon>

*BOOM*

The dragon did not need to hear anymore so slammed his mighty claws down on that brat but instead of hearing the satisfying squelch…

The sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the mountain.

Cracks began forming over the reality they knew existed onto to finally break apart revealing a world similar to the one they knew. Except this one featured the girl standing atop the mighty Azure Dragon’s head without a care in the world Not even having her hands on her sword as she crouched down to inspect his grand feathery crown that sat comfortably around his single horn.

“Hm~ this is where your most precious feathers are supposed to grow…?” <Mother>

Speaking in the form of a question as she reached down and simply plucked one right out then tucked it into the pirate hat she clearly loved to wear.

“I think it looks better on me plus it should help make my mama’s afterlife sweeter ohohoho~!” <Mother>

Everyone else could only remain still at the unbelievable scene. Not even the strongest of the primordial gods would dare rip out a treasured feather of the most powerful dragon. She didn’t even stop there as she tilted her finger down as she stood.

Thousands of esoteric symbols formed under her finger in a cacophony of spinning symbols that were so tightly knit that it was impossible to know where to even begin. Despite that complex pattern forming from her jade & magenta aura… She didn’t even look at it as she focused instead on adjusting the position of the hat on her head. Moments after that relation an explosion of volcanic ash singed every over feather that sat atop his head but the spell didn’t end there.

Her instant silent cast, an impressive feat once magic spread in the future, caused the singed feathers to become molten. Lava literally formed out of the feathers he was once proud of. A realisation that was nearly as painful as the azure flame that still flicked atop his chest. The dragon woman didn’t seem to care about that as she hopped down to land (once more) between the two fighters.

Although her head was facing neither of them.

“Now I assume those over there are your mother and three younger sis-” <Mother>

“STOP!” <Human Women>

A mysterious force suddenly overcame all of those present; a cold sweat forming over even the always smiling Mother as her eyes widened under her eyelids. Turning her attention she saw the now one-armed human slowly rise up from her position. Her movements are clearly difficult & unnatural due to the horrid state of her body. Strangely a crimson flame came from her eyes, mouth and (most importantly) empty shoulder in place of the waterfall of blood.

That barely living woman did grab her weapon with her remaining arm yet she did not utilise it as she charged toward the dragon who made the life of her family hell. Like a beast instead of a human she pulled herself across the ground at a speed faster than anyone thought possible. Bolts of tribulation lightening constantly impacted her body, frying her already cracked skin.

Refusing to let her approach its master.

Despite that she kept charging as she opened her mouth wide; clamping her teeth down so hard they shattered against his hard scales. Still the prior wounds allowed her to at least make a small wound where blood trickled down into her mouth as she seemingly attempted to kill him through sucking all the blood out of his body. Sadly willpower alone was not enough as her consciousness wavered for a mere second.

In that time the force causing them to listen to her demand faltered - Azure Dragon instantly reacted by kicking her away from his chest with his reptile face scrunched up in disgust.

Even then she managed to desperately slam her weapon down in order to barely spare her from falling off the side of the mountain into the abyss below. However it seemed the lizard was done playing his cruel games as he opened his mouth. A torrent of even more powerful lightning infused flame consumed her.

Already at the edge she was unable to resist anymore.

Her broken body, all her hair & flesh already sizzled off, finally fell backwards as she found herself tumbling down the cliff face she tried so desperately hard to climb. Unable to resist as she collided with various hard outcrops that ensured there would not be any recognisable bones in her corpse. Soon falling so far that not even Mother could follow her descent.

Mother - having easily dodged that attack with another illusion - just massaged her chin with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I suppose that is that…” <Mother>

She wanted to go ahead and finish off Azure Dragon in the cruellest ways she could imagine but an unexpected opponent suddenly popped up in front of her face.

“GRAWR!” <Violet Eyes >

The little brat actually was thrown by her green haired sister; with tears in her eyes she proceeded to grapple onto Mother’s head and beat on it with her little fists. What was unusual was that there was actual intent no less strong than her own! A fact that made this actually crack her invisible scales as well as cause her brain to rattle in her skull causing momentary confusion.

That proud dragon evidently was not proud enough to stick around as he quickly cut his losses and dove off the side.

A fact that annoyed Mother since… She couldn’t fly as she had no wings as a titan deep sea dragon!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Two young dragons watched as their seniors flew up into the mountain range in an attempt to find that brat which ran from the mighty Azure Dragon. Their boredom was so high as they were left behind just in case she planned to double back; to help they were even in her humanoid forms as if to hide. A fact that immediately displeased them even if they could not refuse the order.

“Why do we even need to hunt down some random human; there are tons of those vermin.” <Dragon 1>

“I heard that that one is actually the daughter of the heir of Vermillion.” <Dragon 2>

“Oh yea; never understand why that foolish bird would want a slave as his wife.” <Dragon 1>

“Apparently not all human women are slaves.” <Dragon 2>

“BWAHAHA!” <Dragon 1>

Similar conversations were having as neither really took their duty seriously - both just sat on a random rock while awaiting the obvious confirmation that the bitch had been caught. That was until both hear a rather abrupt *THUD* as an explosion of debris made it quite clear where it came from. Both looked at one another for a second before walking toward the crater.

One of them flapped the crimson wings upon their back in order to get that dirt that was around; revealing what could only be called a crispy cadaver which barely looked human shaped.

Missing all hair, skin and an entire arm.

They couldn’t even really tell what the actual gender of the carcass as azure wisps of flame still rose from the smouldering flesh.

“Wow~ what even is that?” <Dragon 1>

“Looks like kind’a human shaped?” <Dragon 2>

“Eh can’t be a human; no way even this would remain if they were!” <Dragon 1>

“Well they don’t feel like a- eh? Do you feel that all of a sudden?!” <Dragon 2>

“Yeah… Kind’a feels like one of those snooty azura brats or a vermillion chick…” <Dragon 1>

“No… It doesn’t feel like one or the other… It feels like both together!” <Dragon 2>

Hearing that the first dragon decided to grab a random bit of wood from the ground to begin poking the obviously dead body.

“Dude grow up a-” <Dragon 2>

Suddenly something neither could have ever expected happened… Two beautifully azure eyes opened up, sparks of flame & lightning of the same colour flying out, opened up to peer at the two. The pressure they felt from their seniors couldn’t even begin to be compared to the feeling from those eyes of the corpse in front of them

Though it was hard to call it a corpse when the eyes clearly moved!

“LORD A-A-AZURE?!” <Dragon 1 & 2>

The only being they could ever believe would be so much more terrifying than their elders and the strange aura certainly made more sense. What didn’t make sense was the charred arm suddenly reaching out to grab the stick as blue flame & sparks engulfed their entire body as if to reform their body. The reason for their increasing shock was that the body was clearly very feminine.

“Die… Filthy… Lizards…” <Azure>

That was enough for both their eyes to roll back as they collapsed to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.