BLEACH 680': Change the Future

His reiatsu flowed towards Yhwach, violently, advancing through Ichigo's body and taking part of himself with it. Within him there were no more voices eager to get out anymore, nor did the will to keep on fighting that in the past urged him to fight. Both his Quincy and his Hollow powers had been sucked out of his body by the firm grasp of Yhwach. There was nothing remaining. Just mere silence. A silence tainted by a white so pure it was desolating.

All was over. All was lost.

—¡HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yhwach's bloodcurdling laughter marked the rhythm by which his black reiatsu flowed towards the sky, extending itself over the Wahrwelt, dying the sky with a black so absolute that it had already sullied the whiteness left in Ichigo's soul. Soon, the palace was being darkened as if a giant foot were looming over it, threatening descending and crushing any soul left standing without any sign of mercy. A few seconds later, the condensed mass of reiatsu had already brought the most absolute darkness over the Quincy domain.

Thousands of miles below, in Soul Society, the darkness covering the Royal Palace made itself visible, first as an insignificant black spot in the distance, then as a great moon covered in shadows.

So this is how the end begins. With the desperate fight at ground level between Izuru Kira, the lieutenant of the third division and what was left of Sternritter X, no other gaze except for the one belonging to Sosuke Aizen is able to realize the magnitude of the danger threatening with changing the world. They all are like ants. Unaware of anything beyond their faces, ignored everything that happens above them. Around him, the few low-ranked Shinigamis that had survived the first two invasions fled the scene as they could while the X-Axis' beams of light undid their bodies like a hot knife cuts through butter. Aizen, immobilized and tied to his chair, was restrained to merely be witness of the inept steps taken by each combatant, with one of them driven by frenzy, throwing its light beams against everything that moved, and the other trying to apply its meager shikai ability to the numerous bird-like creatures before cancelling each strike to avoid being hit by the countless enemy's assaults. Tired of the landscape before him, the former captain redirected his attention towards the growing circle of blackness in the sky during the seconds previous to the clean impact that evaporated part of his chest and completely disintegrated his left arm. By the time he lowered his head to evaluate the results of X-Axis' attack, there was only pain. Pain… and freedom.

Back in the Royal Palace, Uryu Ishida lied on a red pool of his own blood, with a broken arm rendered useless and multiple internal injuries. Haschwald, on the other hand, remained unscathed, exempt from any kind of damage.

—So, you can still move —pronounced Yhwach's former heir while Ishida tried to recompose his Heilig Bogen with his other hand with little to no success.

—A while ago… you said… that I'm just like Kurosaki and the others? —Haschwald was surprised by the pitiful words of a being who should already be struggling to breathe, much less speak, and allowed him to continue talking while he retrieved his sword, preparing himself to give the final blow.

—Up until now… I've always… kept my composure, staying calm and poised… I'd always tried to weigh all my actions on those scales you spoke of… —torrents of blood invaded Ishida's mouth, constantly interrupting his words pain while Haschwald remain unmoved, contemplating the deplorable situation before him.

—But… as foolish and ill-advised as Kurosaki's actions are… I just couldn't help but follow his lead. The thing with him is, once he gets it in his head to help someone, he just goes and does it… No questions asked.

The words reached Haschwald's mind as arrows against which he could not defend himself. The face of his friend, Bazz-B, came into his thoughts, impossible to erase. The face of his friend, his brother, dead by his own hands.

—Inoue's cut from the same cloth… as is Sado… and Kuchiki and Abarai… —Uryu's hands started to hold the weight of his own body. Little by little, step by step, Ishida was slowly getting up —And if in any way… I have started to resemble that motley crew, even in the slightest… It would bring me immense joy.

—Joy… —the word echoed within the Sternritter's mind —Joy, you say? I was never talking about your feelings to begin with. What I've been trying to get at was this... All that time you've spent bonding together with them… has in no way benefited you in the slightest —In all the time you've been with them, can you honestly say that you have grown… developed to your fullest? Compared to all those years with them, that one, single moment where his majesty granted your power gave you far more growth than they ever could.

The gelid words uttered by Haschwald combined themselves with the coldness caused by blood loss. That man standing before Ishida was unable to understand the bonds connecting people, friendship. All he was able to see came from his lord, his master. The path to power had led him to the loss of everything that made him humane. After a pause, he continued his speech.

—If being a comrade means to be there for those that have genuinely helped you grow, then the one you should be risking your life for is not them… but his majesty.

—You said… —Ishida interrupted him —that the scale is filled with your decisions. Well, my decision… was to be with them… but it wasn't to extract anything, gain an advantage or anything of that sort. It wasn't right…. And it wasn't wrong. I simply chose to do it… because they're my friends.

Those last words triggered at last a response from Haschwald. Those ideals had not even the slightest logic in that world ruled by power in which he had spent his life. Ishida did not expect him to understand his views either, yet at last he had managed to alter that immutable face of his, now overflowing with profound hatred.

—I see… I finally see now. So when you were so graciously accepted and taken in by his majesty then you did so without ever expecting to give up anything on your end. Unnacceptable —he muttered while he raised his sword to take his opponent's life —I'm here to tell you… You shall now give him your life!

Ishida saw the descending sword and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, in the Royal Chamber, Yhwach proceeded to uplift what was left of Kurosaki Ichigo with the exact same hand with which he had brutally torn part of the soul of his son born in the shadows to enjoy the pure and absolute despair that had expelled any will to fight from his body. With a malicious smile, he approached Kurosaki's face and began to whisper in his ear:

—Are you seeing this, Ichigo? The end of the world that you so desperately try to protect. Despair now, for soon enough you will have no time to do so when I finish spreading my will throughout the world.

Not receiving any answer, Yhwach grew tired of his new toy and threw him aside with despise while he kept emitting reiatsu in order to expand his influence over the skies.

—Kurosaki-kun —yelled Inoue while she hurried herself to get near Ichigo, who laid still on the Royal Chamber's devastated grounds.

—I see. Looks like that young lady is eager to die alongside you rather than surviving a few more hours in fear. So it be. For you, Ichigo, I have an exceptional finale. I want you to be witness of your own failure; of the blood of your friends escaping their bodies while I take their lives, but her… —said Yhwach raising his hand—. For her there is no future. She can be the first one to bleed.

Shadows answered Yhwach's call, seizing Inoue's feet and starting to engulf her in blackness. The more she tried to reach a blank-faced Ichigo, the more the shadows tightened their grip while they kept swallowing her. Slowly, and causing an excruciating pain on their victim, those tendrils of blackness kept ascending through the young girl's body, imprisoning her body within a terrifying reiatsu far more dense and powerful than her frail body could stand. The first scream of pain finally reached Ichigo through his trance, tearing his ears, reactivating his will.

—How shall it be then, Ichigo? Shall she die by my reiatsu, or shall she withstand it only to be crumpled up beyond recognition as a ripe fruit after being completely swallowed by it? —Yhwach threatened with a smile —. You only have to mutter it, and I will give your friend a quick and merciful death.

Faster than Yhwach would have expected, Ichigo stood up again over his feet and picked up the remains of Tensa Zangetsu, only to thrown himself against his enemy once more.

One last try. I only need one more hit. One more hit.

However, right before he reached his target, one more tendril appeared from the shadows, grasping his heel and violently throwing Ichigo dozens of meters back into the palace rubble. Yhwach then decided to slowly approach his tortured victim, step by step, laughing with the opening of countless eyes throughout the blackness of his own body.

—Good, good. I see that you want to play a few more minutes. Unfortunately for you, I think that this sword of you —he boasted while he raised his arm to exhibit the two halves that in the past composed Tensa Zangetsu — differs.

By the time Ichigo was able to reincorporate himself and place his gaze upon his own zanpakuto, it completely vanished from Yhwach's hand, becoming dust spread by the wind. Ichigo reacted falling on his knees, ready to surrender once more while Orihime Inoue's screams muffled the laughter of the only enemy that had been able of destroying him both from inside and out.

All is lost.

An imperceptible sound, a blade cutting through the air, a sandal impacting Ichigo's nape. The screams cease, the laughter is abruptly interrupted, black reiatsu loses its shape. Ichigo raises his head only to see his father severing the hand imprisoning her partner with his own zanpakuto at the same time that Yhwach lost ground and stepped back, profoundly alarmed by what had just took place.

—Well… a little bird told me that certain someone had something to do with my dear wife's death.

Yhwach no longer smiled.

—By the way, I think I lost one of my sandals on my way.

Below, Uryu opened his eyes seeking an answer to the sound of Haschwald's claymore crumbling into a thousand of fragments before the astounded gaze of his master. Without further time to react, the Elite Quincy noticed an arrow sliding next to his leg, passing through without actually reaching him. Just before he took a step back to reevaluate the situation, his own leg violently dragged him towards the direction taken by the past projectile, impacting one after another against the wall behind them.

—I never thought that my son could be so careless.

With renewed strength, both fathers resume the fight…

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