An authors note: The idea for this story came after doing a bit of Research on Yhwach. I have been wanting to stuff somewhat traditional vampires (lol bounts) in bleach for the longest, and figured a way to have some fun weaving them into the plot. First chapter is kinda long (My target length is usually 3500-4000 words) But I have to try and set the stage I guess. Story takes place immediately after the Yhwachs supposed defeat. I hope you enjoy. I do not own Bleach.
Ascension
Chapter 1 - From Ashes
"Havent you ever considered why the mark of our power resembles that of the cross? Surely you have come to reason why a Quincy does not cleanse the soul like the Shinigami, but rather, extinguishes. The reasoning is very simple.
The Quincy were never created to combat the soul. We were created to slay the undead."
A girl, or woman rather, regarded me in silence with deep crimson pupils that mimicked the brilliance of the blood her kind fed on. It was both frightening and compelling. What I thought was a myth had turned out to be a reality. She was a vampire, a supposedly fabricated race lost long ago.
The girl continued to watch me with an inquisitive glare, her eternal eyes batting their lashes about dramatically as she sat atop the steel coffin I had only just unwittingly freed her from. In appearance, she couldn't have been much more than a middle-school girl, but in actual age she was likely hundreds of years old. Maybe more than a thousand. Her black dress was an antique and from another land entirely, laced with ornate weaving and a white corset. There was white trimming that came down to her ankles, a style that hearkened back to a time that confirmed her beginnings. Her long fingernails and toenails were also painted a pristine black, contrasting the porcelain white of her skin. She was skeletal and fragile looking, like some emaciated doll.
It was all very deceptive, and I was wary of her true nature.
"Boy!" She snapped suddenly, flexing her slender fingers outwards and inwards, crackling the bones,"What do you seek by coming to this place and disturbing my crypt?"
She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards, brow furrowed.
"I can sense there has been some perversion of the spirit realm, as my strength seems unabated by the Yhwach's seal. Have you, a Quincy and an enemy of my kind, come merely to stare at me? Or have you come with the intent to destroy me before I am able to drink myself to full strength?"
Her voice was calm and powerful despite her sickly appearance.
She flicked her long silver hair back over her shoulder as she waited for a response. A side of her pale lips curled and revealed one of her sharp, vampiric fangs as the tongue worked around its length. She was cleaning her teeth, distracting me with the sucking sounds of her mouth as she did so.
I truly didn't know how to answer her question. With the Kings Realm left in rubble and Ywach destroyed, there were very few beings remaining who truly understood the implications of the imbalance. We were warned by always-knowledgeable Urahara that the world of the living and spirit had a few short months at most before the vacuum of power ripped apart the dimensions. The Gotei 13 had lost a third of it's officers and their Captain-General, Kyoraku Shunsui along with the remaining captains, were currently tending to the sudden disappearance of Aizen Sousuke. I still didn't fully understand why he had been allowed out of his prison under any circumstances. Now he had apparently escaped during the chaos of the war, and nobody knew his whereabouts. My mission as the hastily appointed Quincy representative of the Sereitei was to find what my father had hidden below Karakura Hospital, as he assured me with his final breath that it was key in renewing what was lost.
My father, Ryuuken Ishida, perished along side many others in the final stand against Yhwach, but there was no time to grieve for those slain. His final request led me to this foreign coffin, and within it was this vampire-girl. I was expecting some sort of ancient text or item that would make my purpose clear, but I should have known better than to expect a sensible quest from my father.
"I didn't expect a..." I muttered defensively, "I didn't expect..."
"A Vampire." She finished, tilting her head at me quizzically. "Well you have disturbed me, so what will you do now, boy?"
The age in her voice did not settle well with the youth of her body at all. It was hard to accept that the girl was an adult and wasn't just talking down to me for the sake of it.
"Your name." I stated, figuring I should start with formalities. "I'm Uryuu Ishida, and I guess I've freed you at my fathers request. I am not fully aware of the history between the Vampire and the Quincy, so forgive me if I don't consider you a true enemy."
She sighed, crossing her arms and legs. "Why don't you know of the Quincy's origin? Your kind would have never existed if it weren't for us, you know. Every ability you have was created by Yhwach to counter the Vampire. We were quite numerous before his rise to power, and though his methods proved effective, there were some of us that could withstand the ways of the newly birthed Quincy race."
"And how was that?" I asked.
"Our Father, of course!" She answered proudly, her eyes gleaming. "The most powerful Vampire in existence was able to obtain Yhwach's delicious blood. It is also believed that Yhwach was bitten as an infant, and the birth of his power stemmed from us, but I cannot confirm this. What is known, however, is that direct descendants of the Father have traces of Yhwach's blood running through their veins, and as a result, an immunity to your cursed and vile techniques. Those of the purest lineage, Yhwach could only seal away through archaic methods, as we are naturally immortal, and as long as we drink within the appropriate intervals, our strength will never leave us."
The appropriate intervals. If what she was saying was true, her continued existence wouldn't have been possible without the aid of her captors. The inconvenience was how little I had known about the true nature of a Vampire. Were they as they were depicted in books and movies? Even with my grandfathers expansive knowledge, there was nothing ever mentioned of this blood sucking race or their fall from power. My immediate assumption was that Yhwach had taken steps to ensure that most of their names and purposes were etched out of history. Once again, I'd have to take my fathers words for what they were and assume that this girl was preserved under this hospital for good reason.
"All of what you're saying is interesting, but I don't think there is time for a history lesson. At least not now" I said sternly, earning a scowl from the small girl. "Yhwach is finished, and I was directed here by Ryuuken Ishida-"
"You're repeating yourself." She interrupted gravely. An odd flicker in her eyes sparked at the news of Yhwach's destruction and her demeanor shifted strangely.
I felt myself compelled once again by her gaze, and it was then that one of the many myths of the vampire came back to me.
You should never look in a vampire's eyes directly.
I tore my eyes away with an exhaustive effort, and felt a sudden and heavy drain on my physical body. My limbs felt heavier than usual, and my breathing grew labored. Instinctively I stepped back towards the entrance of the dimly lit crypt, materializing my bow with a practiced motion.
"You wanted to know my name..." The girl muttered to herself thoughtfully as she observed my defensive stance with indifference. I aimed my bow at her small chest, avoiding her line of sight. She slid from off of her coffin, and took a step towards me.
"I'm not sure how susceptible you are to my abilities." I warned, fearful of how sudden the fatigue had struck my body. It was a frightening ability. I had to strike while I still had my wits about me.
"I don't think I was meant to kill you, but I may accidentally do just that if you take another step."
"My name is Lilia" She responded with little concern as she continued to step forward. I released a single thin arrow just to the right of her heart, unsure of the outcome but certain that I shouldn't let her within range of me. She made no attempt to evade the projectile and it struck through her chest. My head instinctively snapped up, seeing that her expression had not changed upon impact, and she continued forward with the arrow in her as though it had never struck.
"Shouldn't you be avoiding my eyes?" She reminded me, teasing. She pinched the arrow between two fingers, snapped the shining stem, and it shattered. I watched in awe as the hole it left in her flesh sealed itself, leaving her the scar briefly black and charred before fading to match the white of her skin. The dress she was wearing patched itself in the same manner, restitching the fabric in black smoky wisps. My eyes slid back towards her unwillingly.
I found that I couldn't look away so easily this time. My mind and body became rigid and still as she ducked under my frozen outstretched arms and came up far too close for my comfort, pressing her chest against mine.
"Your father is such a cruel and loving man. Sending you here so ignorant of our abilities. Ignorant of your own purpose..." She murmured softly reaching up, turning my chin to a side to properly expose my neck. Her fingers were like shards of ice and her breath was oppressing and hot with the expected metallic scent. She tried to pull herself up, but found that she was too short to reach her target.
"To your knee's, then!" She commanded with irritation."After all this time kept in this dwarf-state I can hardly wait ."
Despite my mental protest, my body acquiesced to her needs and I collapsed to my knee's, the hard concrete floors sending a jolt of pain through my legs.
I was helpless to stop her as she revealed her fangs fully, and I closed my eyes, expecting the worst. Her bite was forceful and I let out a harsh yell as she pierced my skin. The pain intensified as her fangs sunk in and soon, all of my thoughts came to cease.
It is an odd kind of existence to be aware that you are a living thing, but you are unable confirm your state of being. There were voices all around me, yet I was not hearing in a physical sense:
What do you make of him?
He is the same! He is the same! Lilia, do you realize it? Do you know what you've given us?!
Freedom, brothers and sisters! Gather around the boy, he is one of the Fathers chosen!
You are certain?
You must only touch him to know!
Vladimir, wait! If Yhwach is truly destroyed, this boy...
It is different, Kane. He knows what Yhwach was, and fought for his destruction. He is like his Father.
I...Mercy...Mercy! We have been shown mercy after such disgusting slander and betrayal! Oh, I must be the first to know!
Wait!
...
How are you feeling?
It is true?
...
HE IS THE ONE!
Let me!
Move aside, Bellatrix!
Don't shove! He isn't going anywhere! Just touch the boy and move on! Don't grope him-
-Lilia you must understand! It has been so long. To cleanse! be able to cleanse ourselves of this disease! This curse! We are finally-
Don't get it on him! After you've touched him move away! We have been dead things for too long. The ashes will smother him.
He cannot die so easily now. B-but she is right! Do not allows our filth to touch the boy and his blessed skin.
Lilia, will you cleanse yourself?
I am the one who... I cannot-
Lilia!
Lilia!
Blessed woman, thank you!
Lilia we can never repay-
-Shut up and touch the boy! You are eternally in my debt, I know!
Oh, Lilia!
These words were meaningless at first, and for a length of time I could not measure, I was stuck in some void of existence. With no temporal or spacial sense, I was lost for what could have been seconds to infinity.
And then I finally returned.
My senses were dull and half dormant when I woke. Even in my blurry vision, I could acknowledge by the gray, cement ceiling that I was still beneath the Hospital. I tried moving my limbs and only received timid responses, as if the signals from my brain were taking a scenic route to their destination. With some effort I managed to lift myself to a sitting position, putting my back to the railing of the twin-sized hospital bed I had been placed on. I first noticed the steel coffin in the opposite corner of the room, closest to the door. It was the same room in which I had found Lilia, only my bed had been a recent addition. The crypt was still dimly lit with only the feeble dancing shadows of a single candle flickering on top of Lilia's closed coffin.
Recalling the vampiress, I willed a hand up to my neck, feeling for signs of deed. It was pointless, as numbness greeted everything I touched. Everything about me was off and misconstrued in some way as if every nerve and vein within my body had been reconfigured and tampered with.
It took me a full minute to realize I wasn't even breathing.
I cried out in shock, but the sound was muffled to a murmur. I cried out louder and received the same result. It seemed that everything about me was dead, and the thought was driving me insane.
I was afraid I was becoming a Vampire.
I tried with little success to feel for fangs, but I could not tell and had no objects that would reflect my image.
Would I see my reflection at all?
As this thought flew through my raving mind the door to the room opened, and a slender form slipped inside.
I figured it wasn't Lilia due to the height difference. Before I could act out in any way, the figure lifted it's arm towards me and I again lost consciousness. Words once again filled my mind.
I don't know how much longer it should take... I suppose he didn't know either. He still isn't breathing on his own... Maybe He isn't as strong as Ryuuken thought. Kane, Bellatrix, Leonidas, Vladimir, Hexia, Luther, Victoria, Dahlia, Ava, Greymin... How many more does the boy need to return his strength? My brothers and sisters were the strongest of their kind. Surely they were enough...
Another gap in time.
The second time I awoke, I did so with a start. My body responded aptly as I lifted myself from the bed. The blurriness was gone and I was distinctly aware of the frigid temperature of Lilia's crypt. My heart thudded in my chest and my lungs heaved in the cold air. I launched out of the bed, and ran for the door, needing to debunk the remnant of my fears.
I had to find a mirror or reflection of some sort.
I sprinted down the barren hallways, seeing the doors that were locked on either side when I first entered were now open and contained the same large steel coffin's inside of them
They were all open.
Thoughts of the voices I heard returned to me, and I connected the occurrences.
There were more of them, just like her. My father had been keeping an entire stash of these monsters beneath a Hospital that serviced human patients. He had sent me down her to become one of them.
My pace quickened and I tore towards the elevator at the end of the hall, knowing that inside of it was a single mirror that would allow me my reflection. I reached it's open doors and gazed up towards the circular mirror hopefully.
My terror-stricken expression glared back down at me hauntingly, and I opened my mouth, looking for the enlarged canines.
"As you expected?"
I spun around, finding a young woman standing behind me in the elevator. I glanced back at the mirror, and then back at her.
No reflection.
She was a vampire, but unlike Lilia, she was pleasing to look at. Her eyes were a deep violet shade, and carried no malice in them. Her waist-length hair was black and settled neatly around her cheeks, framing her pretty face. Her skin was peach and full of life, her lips vibrant and reddened. She wore the same white, antique-styled corset and black dress as Lilia. The same black polish on her nails. She was slightly taller than I was.
The woman was beautiful.
But she was inertly evil.
I backed out of the elevator and made the motions as if to draw out my bow, but it never came.
"Still wanting to use Yhwach's gifts?" She asked, her smooth yet powerful voice familiar.
"Who are you?" I asked, taking backward steps as the woman followed me out of the elevator.
"Lilia."
"You're not-" I started to protest.
"I am the same woman, boy." She snapped, quickening her pace.
I stumbled backwards and she caught my arm before I fell. Her touch was still like Ice, and I felt the inhuman strength in her grip.
"Stand up, coward." She commanded, pulling me upright. "I won't have you trying to put an arrow through me this time, although I don't think you are capable of that anymore-"
"-What did you do to me?!" I yelled. I wrenched my arm with all of my strength, but wasn't able to move her an inch. I leaned backwards as I pulled, straining to force some kind of movement out of her. It was like I was handcuffed to flag pole.
"You are being foolish, you know." She stated calmly, and with a flick of her wrist she pulled me upright again. "Be still. I need to assess what state you're in."
"I'm not a Vampire!" I shouted defiantly, still struggling under her grasp.
"Of course you aren't." She muttered absentmindedly. She grabbed me under both arms and lifted me into the air like an adult would a toddler.
"Stop your squirming." She growled, turning me and scrutinizing my appearance at different angles, like a framed picture.
I finally relaxed under her grip, realizing how little I could do. All of my Quincy gear had been stripped from my clothing and my cross hung from it's fastening on my wrist, reminding me of it's earlier impotence.
Either it could no longer summon my bow or I was no longer capable of manipulating the energy needed to form one. Whatever the case, I was as helpless as ever.
She lowered me again and leaned in towards my neck, nostrils flaring.
"Your scent is still as appetizing as ever." She commented with an appreciative smile.
I had never imagined I'd be so forcefully manhandled by the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen. The situation made me feel like less than a man, and further angered me.
"What the hell is going on!" I yelled as the woman's soft lips lingered on my neck, blowing hot breaths against it.
"Not now, not now, not now." She muttered in a mantra-like tone, and reluctantly released her grip from under my arms.
Again I backed away and tried for the bow, but only succeeded in pointing my arms out idiotically.
"No arrows then." She said with a satisfied smirk. "That leaves you completely at my mercy, so it would be best if you allow me to explain. Ah, but first..."
She pulled out a rolled piece of paper she had lodged in her corset, and held it out for me.
"Words your father left for you. I have not read it, as it is not meant for me."
I took the paper from her grasp, and unrolled it.
To my son,
(Lilia, if you are reading , this is not meant for you, and I must ask that you stop your prying here. Do not disappoint me.)
I looked back up at Lilia, who had a hand raised in front of her, seeming to find a sudden interest in her fingernails
I scowled at the vampiress and returned my gaze to the letter.
Uryuu, if you are reading this, I have met some end. I have always suspected that I would not be around for your ascension, and that is fine because there is nothing I can do for you in that regard anyway.
I have instructed Lilia to give this to you only after you recover from her bite. Understand that she is not your enemy, and all would be lost without her. She is much older and much wiser than either of us, and it was through her kindness that I was allowed to keep her and her comrades resting here until the appointed time.
There are many things to explain, but I will allow Lilia the hardest tasks. Please be kind to her. She is not your servant, nor are you hers. The two of you at this point are fated companions, and will need each other to see through to the plan.
This contingency was erected in the hopes that when the time came, you would be able to succeed Yhwach, should he ever rise to power and disturb the balance again. You are aware that you are the only known survivor of Auswahlen, and because of this, Yhwach fears you. It is my belief that he intends to keep you close so that he can ensure you don't undergo the true methods to succeed him. As long as he believes that all of the Vampire are safely sealed away, he believes you will never ascend and surpass him. You should understand why you were kept in the dark of our plans. Yhwach would have found a crueler method to subdue you, had he foreseen a plot to undertake the ascension.
I want you to understand that you are no longer a Quincy. You are bound by nothing, as Lilia's bite has purged you of Yhwach's lineage. As of now you are a clean slate, and your path is your own to choose.
I am sure you are wary of the Vampire, but there is nothing to fear from them. Yhwach has tampered with history and forged blasphemous lies about their kind, in the hopes that all who dealt with them would shun them or seek their destruction. Know that the Vampire do not kill needlessly, nor do they infect, as it is portrayed. In fact, the vampiric bite that does quite the opposite. It is through Lilia's knowledge that I am properly able to detail the ways of her kind.
It was Yhwach who was one of the few capable of purging the Vampire of their eternal sentence. It is not known how their race came to be, but many of them do not relish being forced to feed on their family and loved ones to maintain a semblance of life. Many would walk to death willingly, but a Vampire death is not possible by natural means. Many sought death so sincerely, that they would lie in caskets and induce a prolonged hibernation (A Vampire can never truly rest), hoping the act would somehow appease the reaper and allow their souls to move on. Even the Shinigami have never been able to guide the soul through their eternal bodies, and no blade can pierce a vampires flesh. You can imagine their delight when it was discovered that beings like Yhwach existed, and all they had to do was lay hands on him and their soul would be released from the eternal scourge, allowing them to pass on freely from imprisonment. It was as if Yhwach's soul was a key capable of unlocking the vampiric prison. When the Vampire passed and these key's returned to Yhwach, his power grew from the traits embedded on them by the their soul.
Eventually Yhwach came to understand what he was being used for and the origin of his power. The vampires needed the divine properties that allowed their souls to pass through an eternal body. It is why they call him YHWACH and gladly die after receiving part of his soul. I believe a fierce greed led the man to use the power the vampires had given him to forge a method of destroying them. Being considered a God was something unique, and should the vampires find another like him, he would no longer be a divine singularity.
In order to destroy them, he used his obtained ability to bring about the birth of the Quincy. He bestowed mortals with his unique strength and put in place propaganda to strike fear into the human heart. Over time, the lies about the Vampire's true nature spread, and countries warred with the eternally living. Because Yhwach was in control of the Quincy, many nations were forced to fall under his rule in order to receive his aid. Human's were losing to the Vampire with no method to bring about their end, and were desperate . Yhwach conquered many countries this way, forcing the Kings to bow to him in exchange for his vampire-felling army. Had the vampires not shown aggression towards the human's initially, it was possible that Yhwach wouldn't have succeeded, but not every Vampire is without fault. Many of the strongest believed they should rule the land of the living exclusively, and a large portion of them used the opportunity to try and overthrow the current order. As Yhwach could increase his ranks at will, he easily overcame the Vampire rebellions. Soon, the only remaining of their kind were the ones who sought to touch Yhwach to obtain eternal peace, and he was more than happy to oblige them with a Godly reprieve.
However, the oldest vampires understood that a Quincy's method of destruction did not correctly free them from from their prison. I have come to theorize that this impure destruction of the Vampire's led to the birth of the Hollow. As you should have noticed with Lilia, when the vampires do not feed as often as they should, their bodies regress. It should be no surprise that the Hollow shares the same trait, never being able satiate the void within them. The act is vampiric in nature. There is some form of justice in the fact that a Hollow is like poison to a Quincy. It all seems to come full circle.
The rest of history comes within your realm of knowledge, so I shouldn't have to recount the fall of the Quincy. It should be noted that there was a strain of vampires who were unfazed by the Quincy's methods, and Yhwach was forced to find a way to use his gifted soul to seal them. This strain is believed to be tied to the Vampire that first bit Yhwach as a child. (I am worried about what happens to the pieces of Yhwach's soul that were used to seal these hybrid Vampires when he dies. They may allow him to sustain his existence somehow. I am not sure. Be wary of it.)
As it stands, the Vampire's Bite has always been a blessing and never a curse. Their bite cleanses the soul, in exchange for the living blood they seek.
Uryuu, you are a chosen host, just as Yhwach was. You are what he slaughtered millions for. You are the reason for the Quincy's existence. The balance of souls in this realm depends on your existence just as it depends on the Soul King. As long as Hollow's exist, I think your soul is a needed key to their complete removal. Yhwachs greed inadvertently led to their creation, and you must find a way to use your strength to purge these souls at once, removing the Hollow's existence completely. I don't know what means led to you, my son, to being selected with this divine property over all others, but I know there is some balance that must be met.
(Also, It is your obligation to make sure Lilia never thirsts. After having your precious blood, she will not be capable of feeding on any other. As long as she regularly drinks a teaspoon of your blood each day, she will never need a larger amount, and will remain a valuable ally. Because your blood now runs through her veins, her soul cannot find peace by touching you like the others. She has sacrificed herself for a greater good, and must wait an untold amount of time until another like you is found. I remind you to be kind to her. She is noble.)
From ashes,
Your father.
I had to reread the contents of the letter several times before I was mildly satisfied with it's meaning, and even then I could not fathom the weight of my fathers words.
Lilia watched me with a quizzical expression, seeing me roll up the paper.
"What great knowledge did he bestow upon thee?" She asked in mock interest as I shuffled past her, intending to find a place to sit. I found the crypt with the hospital bed in it and slumped down onto the mattress.
"You understand your responsibility?" I heard her ask anxiously from the doorway.
"I don't." I muttered in misery as I bent over with my elbows on my knee's, resting my head in my hands. "I have nothing as I am now. How can I do anything? What am I? A Soul King? A God? I can't fathom-"
"-Boy what are you going on about?" Lilia growled. "I was talking about the damn feedings! I can't stand it much longer. If I would have known you would be so temptingly delicious I would have had more of you 9 days ago."
9 Days. So that was how much time had passed since her bite. If that was the case, she would need 9 teaspoons of my blood to make up for the lost time.
I cringed at the thought.
"So you read the letter even after you were instructed not to." I responded warily.
She smacked her lips. "Your father does not have that kind of sway over me."
"I know my father well enough to understand that both the first and the last message were meant specifically for you." I answered tiredly, "He probably ensured you'd read the information simply by warning you not to look, and the latter message was warning you that you could have no more than 1 teaspoon of my blood a day."
"He doesn't know my proportions!" Lilia whined as she hurried over to me, placing herself beside me on the mattress. "That amount was only a suggestion, Uryuu."
I looked over at the attractive woman and felt a heavy thudding in my chest as she gazed at my neck longingly. It was becoming very apparent that her desire for my blood was stirring something resembling a passion in her.
What bothered me the most was that some part of me wanted to satisfy her thirst.
"You managed to call me by my name, Lilia." I said turning my head from her, my voice coming out shakily. "If you want my blood, you can never call me boy again."
Something in my expression must have betrayed my thoughts, and from the corner of my eye I saw a coy smile play across her lips.
"Oh, Uryuu." She called softly, leaning a shoulder against mine. Her moistened lips brushed provocatively against my earlobe,"Now, will you let me?"
"No." I said flatly, refusing to allow such a cheap feminine trick to work. "Your tactics are as old as you are-"
"I will take it from you then!" She snarled, startling me with the ferocity in her voice. I looked towards her and found her eyes had returned to the demonic crimson they were before her change. With one fiercely strong arm she forced me to lay flat on the bed and loomed over me, mouth open grotesquely, fangs dripping.
Once again I quickly realized I was powerless and should never have provoked a thirsting vampiress.
"A teaspoon." I wheezed weakly, her one hand pressed against my diaphragm with what felt like several hundred pounds of pressure.
"Too late." She hissed. "I'll take what I want, boy."
She snapped my head to a side with her free hand and leaned in.
With all of my will I sought to deny her.
And so I did.
Her teeth met my neck and her jaws clamped but my skin held it's integrity. Her fangs pinched but never pierced, and she drew back from me with an incredulous look.
"What is that?!" She cried, feeling at my neck with her cold fingers. "I can't..."
She leaned in and tried again and was met with the said effect, my skin moving around her thirsting mouth like rubber, but never breaking under her bite.
Was it that simple?
Did I only have to strongly will against her?
"S-stop this, Uryuu." She stammered, seeming to lose her nerve. Her fiery red eyes locked to mine and I was sure she was trying the same hypnotism as earlier, but I felt no yield to the spell and moved around under her easily.
I attempted to will her off of me, and took grasp of the hand she kept pressed against my chest. Her hand lifted easily under my pull, showing none of the same strength as when I was latched to her earlier.
She looked down at my hand around her wrist with eyes widening in fear. I let her go and she rose up from the bed and retreated to a corner of the crypt, eyeing me as if I were the monster.
"What did you do to yourself?!" She snapped at me, "You shouldn't be able to use Blut...That is Yhwach's defense against us, you-"
A look of comprehension formed on her face, and without another word she spun out of the room.
I rose up from the bed looking about myself, wholly unsure as to what I was. If my theory was correct, I had just willed into existence the ability to deny Lilia's feeding and the strength to repel her. What did not make sense to me was why I couldn't free myself from her grasp in the hallway. I was just as determined then, and my desire was likely even stronger.
Before I could dwell on it further, Lilia slipped back through the entrance way.
She had her gaze on me in a fearful way, and was clutching what looked like a locket in her hand. She glanced down at it and cursed.
"It appears Yhwach had good reason to fear you, boy." She spoke quietly, her voice still wavering with uncertainty. She took tentative steps towards me and slowly edged herself on the bed again. "You should know your father had this idea. I thought it foolish and I don't understand the significance but..."
"What is it?" I demanded, fearing the vampire's shaken demeanor.
Lilia looked up at me standing beside her with narrowed eyes.
"It appears as if you have managed what took Yhwach 999 years to do..."
She showed me the locket, revealing the ticking clock inside.
"9 Days, 9 Hours, 9 minutes. That is approximately how long it has been since my bite."
I made the connection, and realized the implications, mind reeling.
At once I understood why Yhwach had lost his power in the first place, and why the sternritter needed to conquer Hueco Mundo before the Soul Society.
Somehow, he had allowed himself to be bitten by a sly vampire, and his slate was wiped again. The Quincy could only restore him using the those vampiric perversions that became the Hollow.
Even Aizen's tampering with the Arrancar now made sense.
The so called Vasto Lorde. He was trying to restore the pure properties of the Vampire.
And the will granting properties of the Hougyoku... The same property that allowed beings like Yhwach and myself...
My stomach lurched.
"It's what Sousuke Aizen has become!" I shouted in eureka. "Of course he wouldn't have minded waiting even 20,000 years for divine strength! It probably would have only taken a quarter of the time! His power is likely returning to him as we speak!"
Lilia shot up from the bed, looking agitated by my excitement.
"What is it that you think you've discovered?" She asked, her stern and commanding tone returning to her. "Who is Aizen?"
"Someone who has become like Yhwach and myself." I answered darkly. "He has undergone the ascension, only by perverse means. Vasto Lorde tier Hollows are nothing more than the Vampire's Yhwach had slain incorrectly over a thousand years ago. Aizen has been using them to reach the level of a God."
"Vampire Hollows?! Boy, That is just your fathers theory-"
"It's true!" I yelled at her, aggravated with Lilia's skepticism.
So that is why the captains have gone after him so adamantly. Perhaps they believe my fathers theory as well. If he becomes as powerful as Yhwach whilst the Soul Society is limping, there will be no stopping him.
"Where are you going?" Lilia called, following after me as I marched towards the elevator lift. "We have only just come to understand your capabilities-"
"None of that will matter if Aizen succeeds Yhwach." I explained gravely, "If he underwent the ascension even half as quickly as it seems I have, there isn't any time to waste. We have to crush him the same as Yhwach."
"How was it that Yhwach was defeated?" She asked stepping into the elevator beside me.
"My fathers theory." I remarked coldly, pressing a button on the elevator panel to rise.
"With the help of the Vampire properties Aizen's experiment left in Masaki Kurosaki and passed on through Kurosaki Ichigo."