Black Heart: A Zero Division Tale

[Zou ۞]

All note, appearances will ALL be in present tense. Don't question me why.

Chapter 1

Only in the bitter, icy cold could one discover how much importance the sun really has. The frozen tundra was a bitter wasteland of ice, belonging to a world with no moon to balance the weather, and too much distance from the sun to receive its warmth. The various lakes of this wasteland were all frozen solid, and reflected everything like mirrors. The harsh terrain was not because there was snow everywhere, but because there was thick, unbreakable ice as the ground. Snow storms blew everywhere, but the cold was such that even snow froze over. Only the most resilient of creatures could survive here, and only the most dangerous could thrive. Even in icy worlds such as this, strong enemies gathered.

Ordinarily, they were no threat. It was for this reason that the icy world had been chosen. Those that could not adapt glassed over and become statues of ice and the frost of an eternal winter. Those that could not thrive simply became the prey of those that could. Put simply, it was because of these harsh conditions that the assassin had made his home here. When one attempted to take the life of the spirit king, one generally assumed that danger was great. When one failed to take the life of the spirit king, the dangers grew much worse. The Zero Division was going to hunt him. For this reason, the assassin had taken up this world. He had known that the Zero Division was skilled. He simply had to prove himself more skilled. Set himself up in this frozen world, and pick them off with his skills and traps. It was known among the underworld that this was the only solution.

The Zero Division does not fail. Nobody that they came after survived. This is why the assassin had chosen such an unforgiving world. The Zero Division was fast, and had caught onto his trail in a matter of minutes. It had taken them hours to locate him in this world, but they had had his scent before he had even gotten here. And so, it was for this reason that the Zero Division had arrived on this frozen spec of a planet. A team of four had been assigned to this mission. It was a strong number in the Zero Division. A single Zero Division member was capable of overpowering three captains of Soul Society's Gotei Thirteen. Four members, this was going to be trouble for the assassin.

Chapter 2

"Corps Leader 4E: Status Report." The leader of the team said. The ice obscured him from the view of the other members, but they all knew him well. "Target location unknown. Requesting central layout. Requesting second team backup. Reasoning, world is large. Mission E.T.C. (Estimated Time of Completion), 22 hours. 0:44. Corps Leader, Out."

He turned around, revealing his appearance to the other members. The beginning of Shinsei Tan'O's appearance is his eyes. It all starts with the eyes, the eyes and the face. Both of these things are obviously rather attractive when one looks at this character. But for now, we won't talk about the attractiveness. Only during battle does one really take notice of the facial expression, but during all times the eyes mirror the feeling anyway. They have intense lack of emotion, not even a batting eye. This is visible only during battle, because Shinsei himself is forcing all emotions to quell. In battle, there is no room for emotion, only for the will to fight. And so, this is why Shinsei's visage and eyes have no emotion at all during a fight. But, his eyes seem to lack a good amount of emotion anyway, even though this is just because he's no good at having emotion showing in his eyes. He can show emotions just fine.

The body is broad shouldered, with a good solid beach tan. He is muscular, and very tall. Aside from the height and the muscle, which includes arm muscle, leg muscle, neck muscle, an eight pack, and other attractive features. Shinsei also has some characteristics about his body which make it a flat out catch. Scars on his back show that he has been through many battles, and which make girls curious sometimes. So, when they see his scars, they are drawn to touch them, and he can seduce and bed them as a result of this. Since he looks good, others can't help but be jealous.

His outfit is the traditional of the Zero Guard, not much custom. He has the white shinigami's robe with his former squad number on it. The robe has been made sleeveless, the sleeves ripped clean off because Shinsei felt constricted in the new robe. He also has a belt and wristband and all of the other Zero Division gadgets. He has the common type black haori with the zero division insignia on it, and all of these things are obviously light weight. There are no real custom markings or anything at all on the outfit.

Shinsei looks to be about 20 years old, and just entering his prime. Really, he is constantly rumored to be one of the best looking people ever to join the Zero Division. Shinsei's interest in ladies is obvious, he likes the pleasure of sex, and this is shown in his appearance, which is presumably groomed to look the best it can to the opposing sex, which Shinsei obviously attracts. The rest of his looks are all natural!

He has a single tattoo on his left arm, the insignia of The Royal Guard as the tattoo. It isn't anything really special, it's just there to signify Shinsei's pride at where he is, as who he is. He doesn't miss being a part of the Gotei Thirteen, and he doesn't miss being a part of his old Squad at all. He loves the Zero Division, and he has many comrades that he is constantly paired with here.

When disguised, Shinsei of course needs to wear more casual clothing. So, he usually chooses to wear a blond wig. He also wears square shaped, black tinted sunglasses with a tight white t-shirt that brings out his muscles. He also wears some dark blue jeans, and ordinary shoes. His look is pretty common for people his age, and nobody ever really suspects that he is part of The Zero Division, perfect for undercover missions, which he actually rarely gets.

Shinsei's hands are pretty unique in looks, actually. While they look mostly normal all around, it is the markings on the palms that are different. most people on their left hand have a sort of line pattern to form "IV", Four, the number of death. And on the right, they have "VI", 6, 1/3 of Satan's number. But, Shinsei has something quite different. For some odd reason, his hands BOTH have "III" pattern lines, forming 3. It is uncertain why.

The belt Shinsei wears is brown leather, wrapped around his waist somewhat loosely, but tight enough so that it doesn't jiggle or fall. He has beige colored pouches on it to contain items and other stuff, but mostly he has several little slots filled with tubes. All of these tubes, are in fact, Reiatsu Shots. This belt is mainly to hold random stuff for Shinsei to use in battle, just in case he needs to. It's important!

Lastly, there is the matter of Shinsei's back scar. He has a large gashing scar across his back. It glows red under a Crimson Moon, essentially a lunar eclipse. Why? No idea. It's just that way. It was probably just some special sword that slashed him there, nothing else really. Shinsei killed the owner of the sword, so really it's fine, nothing particularly bad can happen to him for having that scar.

All the members of the team had drugs in their system, which prevented them from receiving the negative effects of the cold. However, they only had 72 hours before the drug wore off. Shinsei had predicted less than that for the mission completion time, but if something went wrong, things could get spicy.

The others were all wearing the exact same outfit of Shinsei, with similar tattoos. The Zero Division insignia, and the insignia of their old squads.

The first person that Shinsei had selected for his team on this mission had been Sayu Midoriki. Her gold, bowl cut hair was smooth, stunning, and matched well with her white teethed smile. Her skin was pale, and she appeared to be about 16. Her body was athletic, and had very mature, very alluring curves. Shinsei wasn't interested in her physically, but he was interested in her skills and abilities. Sayu was much more powerful than her 5'7 body let on. It was hardly believable that she was a Zero Division member.

The second that Shinsei had chosen was broad shouldered, bald, a huge man with massive muscles. He was dark skinned, over eight feet tall. He had what Shinsei perceived to be quintaceps, and a 10 pack. He didn't look bad or weird at all, though Shinsei often wondered how someone with such massive muscle could still look normal. He was bound to draw the stares of anyone. This dark skinned man was named Koros Kaan. As opposed to the other members of this team, he had actually grown up in harsh, cold conditions. He was literally able to stand in the cold wearing only black pants, and no shirt.

The third that Shinsei had chosen had black hair in a buzz cut, and sky blue eyes. His skin was very light, but it wasn't devoid of color. This one was a bit less resistant to the cold, and so he had on four layers of wool underneath the Zero Division haori. His name was Gendai Chookan. At 5'10, and with an average looking physique, many would wonder why Shinsei had picked this man to be a part of the team. Put simply, this man had skills that almost no one else in the entire Zero Division had. Shinsei could rely on him.

The final person on the team was a woman with silky black hair, long, and tied into a pony tail. Her eyes were a crisp green, and her skin was nice and light, perfectly matching to her other features. Appearing to be about 24, she was a beauty. At 5'6 in height, and alluring curves, breasts, and butt, she was one of the gorgeous ones of the Zero Division. Shinsei hadn't chosen her for looks though. He had chosen her for attack power. Aya Rika's zanpakutou release was one of the most aggressive in the whole of the Zero Division.

Taking one good look at the team, Shinsei already decided on their course of action. His Zodac, which was the silver wrist device with the green screen, immediately beeped, as did those of his comrades. Shinsei looked down, analyzing the map for a few moments. He then spoke to the team.

"We've got the layouts." he said. "Central highlighted all the best places to hide in red, and they highlighted all the hidden places that we'll miss in yellow." Shinsei grinned at his team, pointing at one particular red dot. "I've been to this world before. I know exactly where our target will be."

"Well then what should we do?" Sayu asked. "Sequence Blackbird? Sequence Charles Volcano?" As she spoke, she twirled a part of her short hair into a curl on her finger, absentmindedly knotting it and unknotting it. This was just one of those habits that she had when speaking.

Shinsei pulled out a syringe filled with a light blue liquid, straight form his belt. "Sequence Godfreid." he instructed. "We're going to draw this guy into the ropes, and take him out."

[Zou ۞]

Chapter 3

It was getting dark on the ice world, but since the sun was always blotted out, it was hard to tell how close to the end the day really was. The group was already setting their trap. Shinsei did not plan on reporting to central just yet. They had to have something to report first. It was necessary to discern without a doubt the location of their enemy. But, since it was getting dark, they also had to hurry. It was 9:33 mission time. This meant that they were drawing close to the E.T.C. Shinsei wasn't worried though, this should be a peace of cake. This wasn't like the portal world, where it had nearly been the death of him. It had cost valuable lives that time. This time, it felt light, easy. The assassin was merely in over his head.

"What was that?" Gendai asked very suddenly. Shinsei whirled around to face him. This was why Shinsei had picked Gendai. He was one of the best sensors in the entire Zero Division. He was part of RB, but he was a regular in Shinsei's missions. Most of the people he chose came from MF, but there is always an exception to a rule. Gendai's eyes were firmly shut, and he was listening. Shinsei was also waiting, listening. Gendai opened up his eyes.

"Well?" Shinsei asked. Gendai quietly brought his hands together, as if clapping, but did so without making any noise. Shinsei knew what this meant. It was a hand signal that indicated approaching enemies. It didn't mean just any enemies, it meant predator types, those that stalked. If there was a stalker in these conditions, it had to be powerful. Shinsei relayed the hand signal to the other members of the team, who nodded when he gave the message. Shinsei quickly stuck his pinky through an O he made with his other hand. He twirled it around once, and then linked his thumbs and flapped his hands like wings. This combination of hand signals meant that weapons should be drawn, strong ones. It also meant that the five of them should be back to back with each other. I should have made it a six man team moving under me. Seven Shinigami would do this easily. These were Shinsei's thoughts, but there was no more time for hindsight now.

He just hoped for the best. That was when it came into view. Due to their silence, which they were very good at, it didn't notice them. Sure, they had on the black haori, but they could change the color of their clothing at will. All of them were now in camo white. Koros wore no shirt, but he was covered in snow. Shinsei waited for the beast to approach, and he saw what it was. Shit...

It wasn't just some little wussy creature. It was a Level 3 Dios Vacuo (God Hollow). Dios Vacuo was an evolution of hollows that never occurred in the human world, Hueco Mundo, or Soul Society. It was exceedingly rare, and occurred only in harsh worlds with a small spirit population. It was baffling, and the reasons for evolution were unknown. Dios Vacuo was no longer menos. Gillian, Adjuchas, Vasto Lorde were all Menos. Dios Vacuo was part of a whole new class. Poderoso Rey (Mighty King). This was classified by two evolutions of hollow beyond Vasto Lorde, all with incredible strength. Dios Vacuo was the first of these evolutions. They classified the strength of Dios Vacuo in five levels. 1-5, 1 weakest, 5 strongest. This was a 3. Shinsei was just glad that they hadn't run into the stronger form of Poderoso Rey. This would be the end of them if they had. It generally required up to eight Zero Division members to kill that.

As it was, this was bad enough. That was when it sensed them. Shinsei had no idea how it sensed them, but it looked right at them. This hollow was powerful. Identified in strength by stars on the body, the Dios Vacuo were always prepared with an otherworldly sixth sense. Three white stars were visible on the humanoid body of the Dios Vacuo. The body was powerfully muscled, ripped like only a beast could be. The skin was silver, and the three white stars surrounded the hollow hole in a triangular formation. The hollow hole was located where the heart should be, and the mask appeared to be some kind of praying mantis shape. The Dios Vacuo didn't look much different from Vasto Lorde. The stars on the body were the only difference that could be seen in appearance. This one, also looked pissed off.

It had glowing red eyes, and its nails were very, very sharp, even if only an inch and a half long. Shinsei already knew what was coming. Dios Vacuo was capable of producing a technique that they had come to know as Gran Sonido (Big Sound). It was an advanced Sonido that produced movement for a single step, at Mach 12. And, just as he predicted, it happened. The beast was already gone, a rip of space where it had been was already there, along with a solid looking after image, and a powerful roaring sound. A blast of energy encompassed that spot, setting it aflame. Shinsei stepped back involuntarily. Everyone was whirling around.

The attack came out of nowhere, the clawed hand moving so fast, that Aya had no time to react. Luckily, Gendai had seen it out of the corner of his eye. But, he wasn't able to bring his actual zanpakutou in to block, it was in the wrong hand for that. However, he wielded Wakizashi, doing this with one of the faux zanpakutou that was used if one's zanpakutou broke. He brought that into the way, and it instantly shattered as the shock waves of the attack tore through his arm, completely ravaging it with a mighty pop. Blood and guts flew everywhere as Gendai screamed, and the force continued on even after that, blasting him several hundred yards away.

Shinsei swore. "LOOK OUT!" he shouted. "IT'S GOING TO USE MUERTE LANZAR!" One of the most feared techniques of the hollows. It was a super Cero, unrivaled by any that could be generated in the human world, hueco mundo, or soul society. The name literally meant 'Death Flash.' Any who saw it was doomed to die it was said. Probability of surviving should the enemy possess the technique was 3% for an average Captain. Luckily, the Zero Division was better than that. Unfortunately, their chance of survival was only 57%. Still rather dim odds, but he'd take that over the former any day.

The Dios Vacuo brought its left palm up, and the familiar attack charged. Shinsei had lost six friends to this same attack. He hated Level Three. The difference between Level 2 Dios Vacuo and Level 3 was insane. A level 2 could take on one Zero Division member, just one. They would fight on par. A level 3, as demonstrated here, could take on 5, and had a high chance of winning. This was a rare enemy. If one traversed a hundred worlds, the number found could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

This was it. A black reiatsu cube was spinning in the Dios Vacuo's grasp. It was actually charging at a Mach speed, but to Shinsei, who was trained well, it was perceived in slow motion. Wait, was it supposed to be that slow? Even for his training, this was overkill. The pieces clicked in his mind very suddenly. This was Aya's zanpakutou ability. Chronos-Dia. It created a dome. Inside the dome, time could be sped up or slowed down to Aya's liking, but only as long as the target had inferior spiritual pressure. Usually, this shouldn't work on the Dios Vacuo, it should not be slowed. But, Aya had obviously taken a drug to enhance her abilities. Drugs were useful at this time.

Shinsei had time. He shoved his zanpakutou into the ground, and clapped his hands together. "Hado #201: Kashigora." he said simply. A huge wall of green liquids flew out of his palms, rushing to engulf the Dios Vacuo. That was when the dome failed. Aya's powers had been on the brink against such a strong foe. Instantly, the attack fired. It was three enormous spinning beams, each the size of a sky scraper. All of them had hydra's heads, and were made of black reiatsu. Only the eyes were glowing red, and the roar that accompanied the attack was not pleasant. Shinsei's attack wasn't nearly large enough to take out this blast.

Koros however, had his own ability to use. "Shine, Chi." Instantly, a gigantic burning inferno of a thing formed. It looked like a miniature star. It was blue, and burning with wrath. Instantly, it shot into the blast that the Dios Vacuo had created, and tied with it. The two blasts were battling consecutively. No, the Dios Vacuo was winning. In a matter of seconds, Koros would be overpowered and defeated. Still, Shinsei had to thank Koros later. Koros had been in line to become a Captain Commander back in the day, but had refused so that he could join the Zero Division. Even then, they'd asked him to join the effs with the other Captain Commanders in their own unique division. However, Koros had befriended Shinsei and a few others early on, and had not joined them. He was however, stronger than average. He was humble, and had even denied Corps Leader status. Regardless, the Dios Vacuo was going to overtake him soon.

Shinsei's wall hit the Dios Vacuo, interrupting the attack. It roared as its body was burned, and it brought its arms up directly towards the sky. The attack flared into the sky, where it exploded with the force of an atom bomb. Just then, Koros' "star ball" shot into the Dios Vacuo's body, smashing it up. Another huge explosion occurred, though Koros brought up that same energy type to surround everyone, and keep them from being hurt. As the defense lowered itself, Shinsei noticed that his arms weren't damaged. Aya had been able to heal them without him noticing. How? He didn't know how she did that. But, she seemed to be able to heal people without them realizing it. She had many special healing kidou, one of the reasons that he had brought her along.

The Dios Vacuo crawled out of the smoke. No, not crawled. It was still on its feet! The Dios Vacuo stared out at them with an insidious roar. Its body was black, and it was burned heavily. Shinsei picked his sword up, sheathing it. "Shut the fuck up." he said as he aimed his palm at the Dios Vacuo. An enormous dragon of blue lightning shot out of his palm, straight into the Dios Vacuo. Instantly, it was blown apart, killed. Since it had been weakened, this had worked. Normally, that Hado would not have been successful.

Shinsei turned to the group. "Aya, thanks for healing me." he said. "Koros, thanks for holding off the Dios Vacuo." The two of them nodded.

"What about Gendai?" Sayu asked. Shinsei nodded towards the location where Gendai had been blasted, indicating that they needed to go after him.

"Lets roll."



Chapter 4

When they found Gendai, there were sighs of relief as it became apparent that his injury wasn't too bad. Sure, his arm had been obliterated, and half of the bones in his body had been shattered, but it was nothing that Aya couldn't fix. The perks of being in the Zero Division? Everyone was strong. The healers were miracle workers, the warriors were gods in combat. Shinsei turned to Koros, speaking to him.

"Glad that we won that." he said.

When Koros replied, it chilled Shinsei's spine. "Won? This was a defeat."

Shinsei already knew the logic, but he refused to accept it as a loss. "The enemy now knows we're here, but that's going to get him moving. He's going to prepare more, and we're going to spot him."

Koros shook his head. Shinsei envied him for knowing things. While Gendai was the best sensor, Koros was "psychic." He had abilities that allowed him to see various futures, including future enemies just by contact with one enemy. "That was the easy part."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a Parvulo Tutor." (Little Guardian)

Shinsei gasped. Parvulo Tutor. The next stage of Ponderoso Rey. He had only met one once before, in the portal world. It had wiped out his entire team, and two accompanying teams, even though it had only been a Level 1 Parvulo Tutor. A single Parvulo Tutor, at level 1 alone, could take out 5 Dios Vacuo, all at level 5. It was considered suicide, even in the Zero Division, to attempt fighting one. "Impossible." he said. "Scan a thousand worlds, and you will find only one Parvulo Tutor."

"There is one here, I guarantee it." Koros said.

Shinsei's skilled eyes quickly scanned the area as he spoke. "Then we need to be on highest guard. This mission needs to be done fast as well. Take out the assassin, and get out of here. Otherwise, we're going to die."

Shinsei brought his Zodac to his mouth. "Corps Leader 4E: Status Report. Reiatsu Fragment: 14%. Pressure Fragment: 18%. Ran into Dios Vacuo Level 3. Enemy, deceased. Casualties: 0. Severe injuries: One. Discovered location of assassin." Shinsei pressed a few buttons. "Sent coordinates. Have Corps 12D rendezvous with us there. Requesting backup from EF. Parvulo Tutor Level 1 active on this world. Chance of mission success: 12%. Backup absolutely required. Decrease E.T.C. Expect it done at 12:30. Corps Leader 4E, Out."

A quick chime in Shinsei's Zodac displayed a text message that contained the status of his request. Request denied. No available EF members until 11:00 M.T. This meant that until 11 hours in their mission time, there would be no availability to back them up from the EF. They were on their own if they encountered a Parvulo Tutor.

"Why did you decrease the ETC by 3 hours?"

Shinsei turned around, actually grinning at Koros. He pointed at a place a few hundred meters away. "Because he's over there in that cave."

[Zou ۞]

Chapter 5

Koros's eyes widened in total shock. He stared at Shinsei in wonder. "How do you know...?" he asked.

Shinsei turned away, holding one hand up in dismissal. "I noticed his signature. He got that Dios Vacuo on our tail as a distraction."

Koros was obviously shocked, impressed even. In the years he'd been with Shinsei, Shinsei had never failed to impress. Even in the midst of such a daring battle with a high level hollow like that, Shinsei had been able to keep track of the environment around him, and attempt to track their enemy. In this case, he'd been successful with tracking him. Shinsei looked over his team.

"Listen up!" he declared. "Change tactics. Sequence Aega. Commence now."

He pointed at the cave, which could barely be seen a couple hundred meters away. Instantly, Koros, Sayu, and Gendai disappeared, heading towards it. Aya remained for only a split second before moving off too.

The team of five arrived where needed, inside of the cave and surrounding the assassin in the blink of an eye. He was in a white cloak, wearing a white mask, and sitting next to a fire to keep himself warm. The Zero Division members had already locked onto him, and they were surrounding him.

"You chose the wrong people to mess with." Shinsei declared.

His zanpakuto was already out, and he was heading for the enemy. Their blades met in a shocking collision, and Shinsei smiled coolly.

"Watch out behind you." The assassin suddenly whirled around, and that was when Shinsei got behind him.

Well, now in front since the assassin had turned around. An elbow to the nose shattered the cartilage, and forced out blood as the assassin stumbled back, his mask catching the blood. He was blinded, and groping at the mask to try and yank it off.

"No such luck." Shinsei said.

In an effort to buy time as Shinsei approached, the assassin held out both hands. Some kind of blue reiatsu beam started charging. Suddenly, it was canceled out as four blades dug into his back, piercing his organs, especially the heart. From behind, on top of the assassin, all four Zero Division members that Shinsei had brought were there. Each one was cool in their appearance, with their blades buried deeply in this man. Dead so soon. That was the assassin's lifespan. A few hours after he became pursued. With that level of skill, no one could mess with the Zero Division. Of course, there was still more to come. A roar shook the area, and Shinsei looked out.

"He called it, after all." Shinsei said.

He quickly searched the assassin's clothes, locating a wooden flute. "Get ready, guys. This thing is going to be tough."