Mia kept running as fast as her feet could afford her, heading straight for the dormitories and hoping her friends were safe and all right.
As she was getting closer and closer to the dormitories, a loud crumbling sound came from far behind her, particularly from the city walls, followed by a strong wind carrying several pieces of debris that blew several people away.
She had to cover her face and brace herself against the several pieces of debris that went flying in her direction due to the heavy winds.
She looked and saw several people running in fear and panic and wanted to go find out what was going on until she remembered her comrades in possible danger and hated herself at that moment for getting distracted, even though it was for a good reason.
Whatever that was, though it looked serious, had to wait until her friends were guaranteed safe—besides, what was the official military for anyway?
So she kept running for the dormitories, and the moment she got there, she halted in fear and disbelief—the hall was getting destroyed.
She ran as fast as she could to the building that was beginning to crumble. By the time she got inside, she saw over a dozen operatives attacking a single person, and for a second, she was confused, until she figured out that it was the operatives that were on the losing side.
The single man single-handedly defeated all of them effortlessly and was certainly too strong for an average person.
Of course, she wanted to help but did not want to get distracted again. 'Where are Jin and the others?' she asked herself until she spotted the dead body of a familiar figure and sudden fear came upon her, and after looking more carefully, it turned out to be as she feared—one of her close friends was dead—Akio.
He was held by his brother, Akito, who was now oblivious to the bloody massacre taking place right now, as his only known family was dead.
She ran to them, not believing her eyes and trying to convince herself that what she saw was not real.
Akito's eyes were bloodshot red from sobbing, and his face was sore from incessant crying. She knew at this point that saying things like "I'm sorry," "it's okay," or "he's at peace now" would do no good, so she simply placed a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of sympathy without saying a word.
Akito looked up to face her, but she did not look back at him but focused on the enemy.
Guilty thoughts plagued her mind at that moment, so heavy that she could not even bring herself to face him.
After all, if only she had come earlier—if only she had not spent minutes arguing with Zaraki or wasted time getting distracted earlier—Akio would not have died.
Her eyes watered with tears welling up, but she had to keep it under control. She was their leader and had to look strong for everyone at times like this.
But the burden of guilt at that point became so heavy that she could not hold back from saying it anymore.
"I'm sorry, Akito," she said as her eye shed a tear.
Then she looked before her and saw that the several operatives that were fighting against the stranger were now dead, except Jin and Ken, who somehow were still alive.
She stepped forward to join them as she brought out her weapons.
Akira looked at the three of them with contempt and asked again,
"Who killed Rangiku?" he said, looking straight at Mia with an obvious hatred in his voice as if they knew each other.
Mia was not in the mood to talk with the person who had just killed a close comrade, so instead of replying, she threw shurikens at him, but he blocked them all with his sword. So she went running to attack him at close range.
"Mia!" Jin called out as she ran too close to the enemy. At first glance, it seemed like something Mia would typically do, but it felt different this time around.
Mia was angry.
By the time she had gotten close enough, she swung her kunais at him relentlessly.
Within moments, Akira noticed she was not like the rest of them; she was stronger, more hungry for blood than the others, and more focused.
"Tell me, woman, did she deserve to die?" Akira asked Mia.
Mia kept silent while continuously trying to cut him down.
"Why was she executed?" Answer me, woman! "What right did the League have to decide her fate that way?"
Mia still kept silent as she persevered to kill him, despite his slightly superior swordsmanship.
Akira scoffed,
"You still won't answer me?" How dare you? "How dare you all?" He cried out as he slammed his head against her face, breaking her nose instantly. Upon impact, blood spat out profusely as she groaned in pain. The impact was so heavy that she became half-conscious immediately. Then he held her by the throat, choking her.
"Mia!" Jin cried out as he ran to attack him.
"Jin!" Ken called out, knowing none of them could stand against him. But Jin refused to listen, as Mia's current situation clouded his judgment.
Akira noticed in time and caught Jin by the throat before throwing him several feet away.
Jin fell to the ground, and the moment he tried to get up, a sharp pain blasted from his leg, causing him to fall to the ground. He looked down to see his leg impaled by a sharp piece of wood.
He looked before him—about a stone's throw away—to see Mia hanging on the man's arm by her throat.
"It seems this woman is precious to you?" But I guess as you do not wish to tell me what I need to know about the one who killed the person important to me, I might as well return the favour by taking away what is precious to you. Maybe then you would understand what I'm going through right now!"
"No!" Jin protested, but couldn't do anything as he could barely move.
At that moment, Akira slammed her body into the hard floor and stomped on her chest, then began to press harder, slowly crushing her beneath his foot as she screamed out in pain.
Jin shouted her name over and over, even though it did no good, but felt it was the least his useless self could do at the moment.
Ken knelt in fear, as there was nothing he could do to help right now. Lunging to attack the man head-on was guaranteed suicide and might prompt him to end Mia's life immediately, and no reasonable strategy would work as he was too strong.
Akito was numb from earlier, and the loss of his brother coupled with everything he had just witnessed broke him, and he could not bring himself to do anything at this point.
There was nothing any one of them could do right now but watch as the man granted Mia a torturous death.
Then, right at that moment, a slight wind blew, and along with it came the cutting sound of a sword, causing Akira's head to slide down from his neck and roll down to the floor. Seconds after Akira's body fell like a heavy log of wood, following his head to the ground, right next to Mia, who was yet to comprehend what had just happened.
All that was noticed after this was Mia lying on the ground with Akira's dead body lying right beside her, and an operative in an elite uniform putting his sword back in its place. It was the highest-ranking swordsman of the League, Hirai Masahi.
Mikan had gone to call for help earlier, and this was it.
Everyone looked shocked, not believing their eyes. This same enemy that had just killed and injured several operatives was killed in one hit by this operative.
Hirai looked around and saw several dead operatives and the severely injured survivors struggling to sit up.
"I'm sorry I was not on time, but I came as soon as I heard."