Chapter 2

AN: So, I know in the last chapter I made some mistakes and grammatical errors so if you all reading this could point those out to me and give me advice that would be much appreciated!

Also, I wasn't clear about the spoiler alert last chapter, what I meant to say was you need to be caught up to volume 16 (the latest volume so far) of Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle. And I'm sure most of you have read Bleach already.

Now, without further ado, let's begin!

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Two year time skip

Ichigo was now twelve, and a lot had happened in the past two years. First and foremost, he learned how to read and write as well as speak fluently in the language used in the Arcadia Empire, which he and Kon were currently situated in. After that he also discovered Drag Rides, mechanical weapons that were found and excavated from ancient ruins.

Ichigo had also become well known among the nobles of the empire for being exceptionally strong at his age, and was adopted as a part of the Atismata family when he raised achievements as a Drag Knight. Raffi too hailed from the Atismata family but she was still treated poorly by her family even when Ichigo tried to defend her.

He also started hearing talk about a coup d'etat that was being cultivated by Count Atismata, his adoptive father. However, whenever he asked the adults around the estate about it, he was always told that there was nothing to worry about and that he should go training. It made him pretty mad that they were excluding him from it.

Then there was also his best friend, Lux Arcadia, the seventh imperial prince. Ichigo sympathized with Lux, as the seventh prince he was the farthest away from succeeding the throne which meant that he never got any respect. Just like Ichigo he was exceptionally strong for his age in terms of being a Drag Knight. Ichigo also suspected that Lux might be part of the coup d'etat.

Furthermore, Lux would often get quiet around Ichigo when he mentioned the growing amount of frustration among the citizens and nobles due to the Arcadia family's tyrannical rule, possibly because he was trying to hide something. In truth, Ichigo had always been able to read Lux's emotions to a certain degree, the silver haired boy wasn't one for hiding his emotions very well.

"Well.. I'm not part of the Imperial court anymore, so I'm not really sure what's going on there you know?" That was all Lux would say when Ichigo brought the topic up.

The orange-haired boy was still pretty suspicious, but he let it slide since Lux was one of his only friends. Lux had an older brother as well, the first imperial prince Fugil Arcadia. He guided Lux and Ichigo in developing hidden drag ride techniques. However, Ichigo did not trust him much at all, he always felt that there was something off about him, or maybe it was because Fugil reminded him of his old enemy: Sosuke Aizen.

"Oi Ichigo! Come help me with my sword swings!" A voice shouted from behind Ichigo, when he turned his head to look around he saw that it was Lisesharte Atismata, Count Atismata's daughter. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Ichigo shouted back as he sprinted in her direction.

"Hey Lisha," Ichigo greeted. Lisha was her nickname that he affectionately called her, even though they were roughly about the same age he treated her like a little sister, like Yuzu and Karin. Yuzu and Karin huh.. briefly being reminded of them filled Ichigo with sadness, he didn't know if time progressed the same way back in his world but if it did, well, he didn't want to think about how they would've felt. How everyone would've felt by his disappearance.

He shook those thoughts away, no point in thinking about them if he didn't have a way back. Instead, Ichigo focused on the girl waiting in front of him, holding a shiny looking sword that she must've bought not too long ago. "Hey, did you just buy that sword?" Ichigo asked with slight annoyance. "So what if I did?" Came Lisha's challenging reply.

He sighed internally, she always bought new swords even if she was told not too. If a sword got as much as a little bit of rust on it Lisha would find an excuse to buy a new one. "Alright, let's begin by doing some basic sword swings, then we'll get into more complicated techniques," Ichigo decided, dropping the whole new sword matter.

After some time, Lisha collapsed on the floor exhausted from the training and asked if Ichigo could help her to her room, well, more like she demanded him to. The orange-haired boy complied knowing that she worked hard today, and decided that this was the least he could do for her. Along the way, he overheard some plans for the coup being discussed. Despite the fact that he hadn't been a Soul Reaper in quite some time he still had a very keen eye for these kind of things.

People often praised him for the strategies and battle plans that he would make saying that they were 'beyond his time', if only they knew. Back to the present, Ichigo carefully hid behind some sofas and other kinds of furniture and listened to the conversation at hand. Among the two voices he identified one as Count Atismata, which wasn't too surprising given the rumors. However, what did get to him was that Lux's voice was also one present in that conversation.

Guess he was lying to me huh, Ichigo thought with slight satisfaction that he had uncovered the truth. But, why had Lux excluded him from the coup if Ichigo was even stronger than him? He got his answer shortly after, "Count Atismata, I am well aware that Ichigo would be a great help to the coup d'etat but I don't want to put him in harm's way. He would be heavily targeted by the Imperial family and I can't bear the thought of him being assasinated," Lux pleaded to Count Atismata, Ichigo smirked.

Guess it's time reveal myself and force my way into this rebellion! "Hey guys! How's it going?" Ichigo suddenly shouted from behind a closet, Lux's face went red with embarrassment while Count Atismata looked faintly surprised. "Eh?! I-Ichigo w-w-what a-are you doing h-here?" Lux stuttered out.

"It was only a matter of time," Count Atismata murmured, "So, you want to join the coup d'etat Ichigo?" Lux looked at the noble count incredulously. "Hell yeah I want to join!" Ichigo replied with confidence. "You know Ichigo, I was already planning on making you join the coup," Ichigo's face lit up, "but it doesn't excuse the fact that you were spying on us!" Count Atismata reprimanded him, the young boy flinched slightly before regaining his confident smirk.

…Silence passed between the two for a couple of seconds before the Count spoke up again.

"By the way… I've betrothed you to someone," Count Atismata lamely murmured.

"Eh..? Wait what- WAIT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" Ichigo exploded with a face that couldn't get any redder, Lux was awkwardly scratching the back of his head while the Count was laughing. "Does consent not exist in this country?", said Ichigo with overbearing contempt, "Oh come now, the girl I betrothed you too is very beautiful. Once you see her you will thank me greatly," The Count said with triumph in his voice as he adjusted the tie on his suit.

"Yeah.. I'm sure you'll be fine Ichigo," Lux said with pity in his voice. "Shut up Lux!" The ex-Soul Reaper replied with the utmost annoyance, now I regret ever joining the conversation! He himself would willingly acknowledge that he was not great with women, so one could only imagine what would happen if he was forced into an arranged marriage.

How is it possible that fate hates me this much? Ichigo thought despairingly, he was losing hope by the second. "A-alright," Ichigo forced a smile, "When am I going to m-meet her?" Count Atismata looked at him with a smile only Aizen himself could produce, the orange-haired boy started sweating bullets immediately. "Well I have arranged for us to go to the Ralgris house tomorrow," Count Atismata said slowly and calmly, "You are engaged to Dist Ralgris' daughter: Celistia Ralgris."

Ichigo almost passed out right then and there. In fact, he was pretty sure he would have had Lux not been there observing the conversation. "Oh! I have heard that she's very beautiful Ichigo, you're so lucky!" Lux tried to cheer up Ichigo, I don't even think you know who she is but thanks anyway Lux, Ichigo thought with a sigh. The now defeated ex-Soul Reaper dragged his feet across the floor to where the door was, "Okay… See you tomorrow Count Atismata... Bye Lux..." Ichigo stated gloomily.

"Heh heh heh... Um, bye Ichigo! Good luck tomorrow!" Lux stated cheerfully, however, Ichigo seemed to take it the wrong way and growled at him, "If you ever get betrothed, I am going to torture you about it," Ichigo said with a glare. Lux looked slightly startled while Count Atismata reprimanded him for his rude behaviour, saying that if he wanted to impress his fiancée he should be much more polite.

Ichigo's irritation skyrocketed at this and he shouted back at the Count calling him a 'stupid old man', that comment sparked an argument between the two so Lux decided to take his leave.

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The next day

Ichigo got out of bed devoid of any energy, not to mention he was still sour about the whole engagement thing as he wanted to put it. Stupid old man, he shouldn't be able to make my decisions! I should be allowed to marry whoever I want! Ichigo grumpily thought. He walked into the shower and washed himself, which didn't calm his nerves down whatsoever. The servants and maids avoided him seeing as his scowl had multiplied tenfold, and to be honest, Ichigo was glad that they did. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody.

All of a sudden, Count Atismata appeared in front of him with an urgent expression, "Ichigo there have been several Abyss sightings near the Capital! It is unknown as to how they got there but the military has requested your help," Count Atismata told him with a rather proud expression that Ichigo had been specifically called to the Capital.

"Then it's time to get moving!", Ichigo replied with a now energetic smile, "Actually, now that I think about it I could get there a lot faster with my Divi-" Count Atismata covered his mouth.

Oh yeah, top secret information that shouldn't be leaked to the empire, "Sorry, I got a little carried away there," Ichigo apologized after making sure no heard him, "Okay, I'll use my general purpose Wyvern and fly over to the capital, it's not too far from here if I put some speed on," Ichigo told the Count. He simply nodded for Ichigo to go and with that he took off to the sky, he didn't need the incantation to summon his Drag Ride. Along the way he ran into Kon who insisted on coming with him.

"Wah Ichigo! You never spend anytime with me anymore!" Kon cried out to Ichigo. Ichigo had no time to deal with Kon so he threw the stuffed toy at Lisha and told her to give it to Almatea, Count Atismata's second daughter and Lisha's little sister. With that over, Ichigo took off at full speed towards the battlefield. When he got there, several Drag Rides from the military were already fighting the Abyss; the beasts from the ancient ruins where Drag Rides were first excavated from.

The Abyss reminded Ichigo of the Hollows from his world, which only made it more exciting to fight them. Among the Arcadia Empire's military, there was nobody who liked to fight the Abyss like Ichigo, thus resulting in spite towards the young boy for it. Of course, he didn't care about any of that and rushed into the fight like he always does.

Two Gargoyles and one Diablos!? I can't let any of the citizens get hurt! With his resolve in mind, Ichigo charged in at full speed towards one of the Gargoyles like a cat chasing its prey.

The Gargoyle took notice of the ex-Soul Reaper before he could attack it and tried raking its claws over his Wyvern's blue armor, which he evaded due to his fast reflexes. As he nimbly doged the Abyss' attack, he fired Breath Gun in hopes of distracting it from charging at him. It almost worked but the Abyss managed to evade most of the bullets fired at it by Ichigo.

Done with underestimating them, Ichigo charged in once again with lots more force than before, and swung his Wyvern's blade down on the abyss before it could react. He cut it but the Abyss merely regenerated and started it's counterattack against Ichigo, which was short lived. It was in the young boy's favor that the monster dove in as he used the art of 'tuning', something that a man called Singlen Shelbrit once taught him.

With the enhanced power of tuning, a function in which the pilot made use of the Drag Ride's system, it can be used to strengthen certain parts of a Drag Ride. Furthermore, if used properly and in succession, it can deliver sure kill attacks even against Drag Rides that are stronger than the pilot's own Machine Dragon.

However, it's very hard to make use of this technique because of the difficulty in tuning the Drag Ride's system during battle. Singlen Shelbrit was able to use tuning successively which made him such a strong warrior. Singlen passed the technique down to Ichigo and he would always be grateful to that man for it.

Another drawback is that it leaves the user wide open in terms of defense if used offensively, Ichigo had to go through harsh training by Singlen in order to perfect it and even then it was almost impossible for him. Now is not the time to think about that, plus I can't think about what could go wrong either! I gotta beat those Abyss!

Ichigo shook his head to rid himself of any restraint he had before, and immediately started tuning his Drag Ride to increase his attack power. As the blue screens filled his sight he felt a sense of power knowing that the Abyss was done for. He waited for it to get into his cutting range and once it was, he cut it down mercilessly, destroying the core that kept it alive. Now that's the real power of tuning! Ichigo thought with a sense of triumph.

Gargoyle number two had been brought down by the military but it seems that they were having great trouble with the Diablos. Ichigo decided to take his distance and fire Breath Gun to distract the beast from the worn-out military men. He strengthened Breath Gun with tuning but the Diablos was much too fast for the bullets, Ichigo gritted his teeth and charged at the monster ignoring the shouts from the other Drag Knights.

The Abyss seemed to know that this would happen as it extended one of its hands and grabbed Ichigo's sword tearing at it instantly, "Tch," was all Ichigo could get out before the savage monster began its onslaught of ferocious attacks. Slash, bite, slash, bite, was the pattern that was currently driving Ichigo back. He managed to shake off the Diablos and lugged his broken armor away from it.

"Can any of you shoot at it?", Ichigo sent a message to the military using a function called Dragon Voice, "I need you guys to distract it!" Some gave him a reply saying they could while others told him to back off before he was killed, which of course he wouldn't. While the soldiers fired constantly at the Diablos, Ichigo tuned his strength to a unique armament that he'd purposely not used yet. He needed to get a good grasp on the fight first before using it.

The special armament was called 'Sharp Tail' and was a tail like weapon that had long range and great attack power, similar to a Wyvern's regular Tail Blade but this armament was much stronger. The armament also reminded him of Renji's bankai, Hihio Zabimaru. Ichigo whipped his tail like blade at the Diablos and sure enough it dealt decent damage. The abyss roared and charged at Ichigo but he struck it's back as it was coming to him. "You know you should always watch your back in a battle!" Ichigo taunted.

If I'm being honest here, I should be having a harder time against a Diablos, have I really gotten this strong? Ichigo wondered for a brief moment on the subject, then he started feeling an odd sensation in his eye. Before he knew it, he had slashed at the Diablos with Sharp Tail in a fashion similar to Renji's fighting style, and cut off it's arm and one of its wings. Ichigo shook his head and put a hand on his eye.

That's not right, I don't think I attacked it just now. Besides, that was way too similar to Renji's style of fighting, I haven't seen that in so long… It should be impossible for me to copy it. Ichigo became confused at what had happened before being snapped back to reality by the fight before him. He shook his head for the second time and drove at the Diablos Sharp Tail at ready.

When he came close enough he signaled for the military to fire and as they did, he sent Sharp Tail flying straight towards the Abyss' chest. While it tried to take the blade out, Ichigo destroyed it's core with a spare Blade he had by stabbing it right in the core. With that, the fight had been concluded.

The Drag Knights of the military were either staring at Ichigo in pure disbelief or amazement. The boy in the spotlight however, did not take notice of them as he started to plummet to the ground in sheer exhaustion. Luckily, he was caught by one of the military Drag Knights and taken to the infirmary inside the Royal Palace for top of the line treatment.

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In the evening

Ichigo awoke in the infirmary pretty groggy but feeling better than he had at the end of the fight. He saw some nurses walking around treating the injured soldiers who didn't bother to show much appreciation to them. Ichigo felt a spark of anger seeing this, these women were caring for them and they treat them like this? He wanted to do something about it but that's when he remembered what the coup d'etat was for.

A nurse came up to him with some food and water to which Ichigo replied, "Thank you very much!" before digging in. Some of the soldiers looked at him weirdly while the nurse smiled gratefully at him.

"Excuse me, but when will I be allowed out of here?", Ichigo asked to the same nurse. "Oh, you will probably be staying here for the night, it's not good if you are moving in such a fatigued state," the nurse told him calmly. Well looks like I won't be meeting my fiancée anytime soon and that stupid old man can't do anything about it! Triumph surged through Ichigo just thinking about the Count's face when he told him about his achievement.

Not just the Count, but Lux, Lisha, and Almatea would be shocked as well. Ichigo felt proud that he acquired such an accomplishment but it was short lived when he recalled a certain part of the fight, the strange feeling he had as well as his sudden power spike against the Diablos. It confused him more than Count Atismata's reasoning behind betrothing him, and there was no way he'd ever figure that out.

While he was thinking about the matter, he started wondering what his fiancée was like. He heard rumors that she was not good with men, but he desperately clung to hope that those were not true and it was all just groundless gossip.

He sighed, the future was certainly going to become a lot more difficult. But, no matter what happened, Ichigo wouldn't let any of it drag him down. Raffi still needed his help, and Ichigo needed to find out who Fugil really was..

AN: Okay I know that the fight scene was terrible, but I promise that I will do better in the future. Aside from that, the next chapter will include some world building and some major plot advancements. Also, for anyone who wants to know Lux and Ichigo are the same age, meaning that the beginning of this story takes place a total of seven years before the actual story.