The Phenomenal versus The Miraculous
Throughout the Soul Society, the calculated invasion of the Espada raged on with the intense cataclysmic battles still waging on. The truth of the matter is, unfortunately, the shinigami have suffered greater amounts of losses compared to their adversaries, along with the amount of energy and stamina spent required for those who managed to defeat them. Michiya knew if this carried on any further, the losses they suffered would be detrimental as long as things carried on unchecked. His arrival at the 9th division wasn’t just a decision to aid another squad, but part of his grand scheme he formulated mere seconds after the talk with Taro wrapped up, and now the time to enact had encroached. He observed all the battlefields that took place, seeing how the ebb and flow went for them, but the one which he kept a more inventive focus on was that of the 2nd division. This reasoning had very little to do with the division, but more so with the Captain of the division, Kagi Senko. No matter where his fight took place, he had formulated a plan that required a key piece to execute, and after thoroughly researching one Bankai, because of their shared genetics, Michiya discovered that the two of their Zanpakuto shared a strong connection. But before any of this could happen, he needed to create an opening for all of this to fall in place, which rested on whether they were successful enough to force their enemies' hand on different fronts. The more information and readings provided sped this process up expeditiously, which still left him with the threat at hand. Upon their arrival, they struck with fluid cohesion already matching the tempo of the 9th division members who originally initiated the attack on this Arrancar, who spoke of miracles quite openly, but the mystery of what he meant remained a mystery.
With impeccable timing, they were able to witness the Arrancar getting struck by the magma golem. At this moment in time, before Gallieno had any time to retaliate from the attack, the bakudo had already set in, seizing any mobility from him as the black hole appeared on his chest, followed up by the decisive strike from Takamura, and finally, the lava dragons that chased their prey in pursuit latched onto their prey. It was true that the four of them executed their assault without hesitation and had good unison of timing between each attack from Michiya’s calculations left a small chance of error in between considering each action they made was as effective as they hoped, even then the percentage of success roughly was about 8% adding in unknown factors and possible interference. Although, despite all of this, something instinctual in him told him something wasn’t right here and didn’t drop his guard or Kido at all, but once the heart was shown being the last remnant before he could unleash the kido, that ominous heart beat happened, and in an instant his body reformed around the heart brand new. What they witnessed far exceeded the Arrancar’s high-speed regeneration and was going to be proven troublesome. From close examination of their enemy, he could discern that the Arrancar possessed some unique ability to restructure his muscular figure to draw out more power, but whether this was something granted by the Soul King's heart or his natural powers remained an unknown factor. However, in the time of the supposed defeat of their enemy, Michiya wasn’t standing idly by but in the process of enacting his plan, which could change the tides of war into their favor, with the roots of his massive tree quickly burrowing their way through the ground toward the 1st division barracks. His main focus was to move the roots into the sewer system, then have them extend their way through the 1st division, drawing its way closer to the 2nd division barracks until finally they reached one of the many roots from Kagi’s massive tree created by his Bankai. By the time Gallieno made his strike against Takamura after the heart beat caused his Kido to be disrupted and immediately followed up by the large-scale destruction to uproot the tree, Michiya remained completely calm with a deadly focus. With the tree getting shredded up by the shockwave that rippled through it and flung around, the second he got knocked off balance, if Gallieno was paying close enough attention would have caught sight of something very peculiar. From the branches above, two different outstretched hands reached out for Michiya, and what met them was not that of Michiya’s but two pale white hands grasping them that protruded from his back, and together they quickly flung him backwards while stabilizing his center of gravity. In this same instance, Michiya refocused all the channeled energy for his hado to be redistributed into double incantation. From his palms, he unleashed a much more powerful variation of Sho with Tenran, creating a potent tornado like a bullet of compressed air to clash with the shockwave to cancel one another out or at least cut its destructive force in half. While at the same time using that same pressure to guide his momentum out of the path of the shockwave as tree roots sprouted forth from the remnants of the building, as he landed on it with a bit of sliding movement.
The Machinations of a Mad Man
By this time, the aftermath of Espada, Gallieno, and the others had concluded. Michiya didn’t have the luxury to focus on how well the others handled their side of the attack, knowing they were all capable combatants, and as long as their spiritual power could still be detected, they were alive enough to continue. The hands of Josho, outstretched from Michiya’s back now held two unique-looking sentient blades in them as they were handed to him before slinking his hands back into Michiya’s body. The Espada was going to soon learn what it meant to truly face shinigami and their Zanpakuto on an entirely different level because the rare sentient-type Zanpakuto he possessed was only further enhanced through modifications. While most shinigami fought with their Zanpakuto in unison, when it came to Michiya, he didn’t just utilize the power of the Zanpakuto spirit, but their wisdom, experience, and senses, which allowed him to accelerate his thought process and analytical skills at double the efficiency. Through his experimentations exploiting the sentient nature of his Zanpakuto, he further drew out his Bankai properties by creating a symbiotic connection once he entered its final stage. Through this dual mind, it allowed for Michiya to focus on certain aspects of the Bankai’s ability while his Zanpakuto’s spirit focused on another, and that is exactly what he did the moment he activated, seizing control of the energy of the land as they focused on the roots expansion toward the 2nd division barracks. Despite Gallieno’s intentions to destroy the tree from the roots was wise but not enough to stop what was to come, as the 9th division barracks, untouched by the intense heat and lava of Kisho’s Bankai, soon began to overgrow with vegetation.
The tree roots managed to reach outside the depths of the 9th division barracks, soon shattered through the earth with a whole new tree rapidly growing in its place. Once the new demonic tree gave birth, the roots connected to Kagi’s Bankai tree started to take effect. With the strategic location of his tree growth mirroring that of his father's massive tree under assault allowed for Michiya to enact his master plan. Now the two trees connected the roots intertwined closely together and began to divide the reimyaku of the 1st division barracks between their two trees in an attempt to lower the amount of energy the cocoon is absorbing to delay what he could only presume as the complete release of her Ressurecion. The main importance of this maneuver was two front plans, with Michiya monitoring every battle ongoing, and the time discussed with Taro was now about to be executed. The second part of this was to assist his father against the foe he faced, so once the reimyaku got circulated through Kagi’s tree, he immediately had his Zanpakuto spirit focused on the revitalization of the two trees. The 2nd division Captain, who found his Bankai under assault taking heavy amounts of damage quickly began to heal itself contesting the damage it was sustaining, and empowering its abilities as the leaves it produced grew at a rapid rate, replenishing just as they fell off to attack Cazador. All the effort of the shinigami was about to pay off with them pushing the Espada enough to reveal their full power, and the few amidst battle wearing the wristlinks allowed for accurate recording of the Soul King’s unique readings they emitted, and with the 12th division full at work translating the information for all of this to pay off. He got the alert and discovered exactly what they were looking for, and with that, the time of the counterattack now in sight, he took out his blacksmith hammer and struck the root he stood on.
The hammer sent a certain frequency that vibrated throughout the roots and turned both Kagi’s and Michiya’s trees into large tuning forks that resonated out the frequency sent through them, and broadcasted throughout Soul Society. Once the disruptive frequency was released, its effect would be felt immediately by the Espadas with their connection to the Soul King’s parts they had implanted into themselves, becoming severed and weakening the power boost the parts granted them, also. In this sudden moment of disharmony the 12th division didn’t falter carrying out the other main process of this plan as the Garganta within the Seireitei began to forcefully closed against the Arrancar’s will causing any in mid entry to have limbs or their entire body bisected cutting off any remaining forces from invading, and ultimately trapping the Espada within the Seireitei leaving them as Negacion as the only means to escape. The Espada Kuvello, who gazed at the fights from what he believed to be the safety of the Garganta, now had to make a split decision choice be cut off from the invasion entirely or enter into the battlefield, all the while losing the abilities granted to him by the Soul King’s arm temporarily. A member from Michiya’s science branch immediately followed up with Bakudo #77, sending out broadcasts for only the shinigami to hear, not wanting to let the enemies know what was going on, as they understood this one moment was vital and every second of confusion counted.
“The Espada have been cut off from their access to the Soul King parts, but this is only temporary, and the enemy lost use of Garganta as long 12th division stands, so please make this count for all we have lost!”
The poor scientist collapsed, a nervous wreck, trembling, still getting over the shock she had managed to transmit. Right before she remembered the transmission was still active, a deep sigh continued to be broadcast, followed by abrupt sounds of embarrassment and panic as the realization hit. Now, with the connection suddenly ended, Michiya watched his opponent very intently, hiding any signs that could tell what was going on. Unfortunately, he did happen to overhear the shared information of Estrossa to the others about the two unchallenged currently in the 1st division, having the eyes of the Soul King. He cursed to himself if he was just a little faster on carrying out his plan, whoever dropped that large-scale kido could have done heavy damage to them, although it was clear whoever did it had alternative plans. Either way, whoever the culprit was, Michiya didn’t have the luxury to figure out who was responsible, nor worry about whatever Antonio did to teleport the kido away to take care of others.
“Dokou Kata: Aragami Kagenui (Form of the Earth Lord: Wild God Shadow Stitch)”
Miracle or not, this was the opportune moment for them to try to take down someone who possessed this troublesome ability of the Soul King’s heart, although even then, it was going to be no easy feat. While others bolstered speed, strength, or power, Michiya’s strongest aspect was his mind and uncanny mental fortitude to multitask with no diminish in focus in any of the tasks at hand. He tightened his grip on the monstrous-looking jagged sword he held in his hand, giving him access to the destructive nature of his Bankai, namely the power to control the roots that had already begun to snake their way underneath the destroyed ground before multiple roots burst forth from the building Gallieno stood upon, attempting to ensnare him. Each of the roots springing forth at him had small mouths all over them, similar to the eye-sealing patch with the sole purpose to drain of both his spiritual energy and body fluids as the ends of the roots would impale into his body if they were successful absorbing all the nutrients from him into he was just a withered up husk remaining. Although, Michiya knew he had been cut off from the power of the Soul King’s heart, he was never one to take chances so attacked mercilessly with the same intent if he somehow still had the power given to him by the heart and curious how well this Espada fair if he had his strength sapped from him so struck decisively with Bankai variation of his Shikai technique. Even if he tried to escape their grasp, the branches would continue to hone in on his spiritual energy signature until they caught their prey or attempted to lead him into the trap of another.
