They reached the next plateau just a minute later... and it was empty. Ichigo could distinctly feel a powerful presence, but there was nothing here. All he could see was a couple stones here, and a few plants there. Oh, don't forget the snow. It was cold.
"What's going on? Is there no one to fight?" Kenpachi asked. "I was getting excited."
"I don't know why there isn't anyone here either, but move carefully. He might be hiding somehow," Ichigo replied, and they started slowly walking.
Ichigo looked around carefully, making sure not to miss anything. No matter how hard he looked, there was nothing to hide behind, and nothing was moving. He closed his eyes and searched for soul ribbons. Surprise, surprise, that's still a thing. Immediately around him were several red ribbons. There was nothing else. Then he looked down. His eyes widened. They were standing on a massive soul ribbon.
"Everyone jump!" Too late. As Ichigo leapt into the air, the ground began to writhe. Only Yoruichi was quick enough to follow before vines shot out of the ground and ensnared all of their companions.
A moment later they heard a distorted laughing. Looking up, Yoruichi and Ichigo saw an angel with white wings and wavy brown hair tumbling down his back. His face was a vision of beauty. High cheekbones, no facial hair, and ice-blue eyes. In his hand he held a gnarled wooden staff.
"Hello, Ichigo! I am the Seraph of life!" The man spun around as he spoke, with a childish smile inhabiting his manly face. It was unsettling. He let out another distorted laugh. For some reason it sounded... joyful. That was even more unsettling. "Let's try to kill each other!"
"Wh-"
"Verdant Explosion!" The Seraph shouted, and more vines erupted from the ground.
Ichigo's mask materialized over his face almost instantly. "Getsuga Tensho!" The crescent of red-black energy tore through the vines with a tearing sound, followed by an explosion of rocks as it hit the ground.
"Better be careful or you might hit your friends! That would be... tragic." The Seraph's last word seemed to crawl over Ichigo's skin and he could feel its killing intent. Suddenly Ichigo was struck with images of what could be. A happy ending with Nel. A family. His family. And an image of everyone he loved bleeding out on the ground. This was the power of a Seraph's voice. It could make you feel specific emotions, or see specific images. He had encountered the same thing with Joy. But Life had made the mistake of threatening his loved ones.
Yes, that was a mistake. A big one.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Ichigo's distorted scream erupted from his mouth. "YORUICHI! HOLD HIM DOWN!"
She was startled by his sudden outburst, but did as he said. "Divine Prison!"
Golden chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the Seraph, immobilizing him.
Ichigo screamed in rage once more before unleashing a Getsuga Tensho, splitting the seraph in half.
Or at least, that's what should have happened. Instead, when the arc of red-black energy reached him, the Seraph broke one of the chains, released his arm, and simply batted the attack away.
"Ezekiel!" Yoruichi shouted, and more chains – three times the number of before – sprouted from the ground and wrapped around the Seraph. The Seraph struggled and his eyes widened, but this time the chains didn't budge.
"Divine Destruction: Inferno," Ichigo growled, and hellfire burst from the ground below the Seraph. It screamed as it was engulfed in flames. "Divine Destruction: Blizzard," Ichigo said. Dark clouds formed above them and snow began to fall. The inferno around the Seraph was put out and in its place ice formed. Everywhere a snowflake fell, a spike of ice shot out into the Seraph. After about twenty seconds the snowfall ceased and the Seraph's body was blackened and full of holes. The chains had melted away as well.
The Seraphs body twitched. It slowly raised a hand and grated out, "Almighty Gift: Entreat the Angels."
For a moment, nothing happened. Seconds later, the world shook. A shining portal opened above them and Angels came pouring out. Hundreds of them lined up shoulder to shoulder and raised their hands. A yellow ball of light began growing in the center of them. It was quite obvious that if they were allowed to finish there would no longer be a mountain to stand on, nor would there be anyone to stand on it.
"Nashi! Let's go!" Ichigo shouted. "Fade to nothing... Reality Hemorrhage!" Ichigo slashed the air in front of him and waited. A second later there was an ear-splitting 'CRACK,' and reality itself split in two. From the resulting gap gushed forth tentacles as black as a moonless night sky. They wrapped around the angels and pulled them back through the hole. A moment after all the tentacles retreated to their own dimension, reality slowly mended itself as if nothing had happened.
"What... are... you?" The Seraph asked in horror.
"..." Ichigo simply looked at him menacingly.
Nel giggled and ripped the vine holding her down off like it was nothing. "What is he? Ichigo is many things. But only one of them matters. He is the god that is about to extinguish your life like a candle."
Ichigo cricked his neck. "Divine art: Seraphslayer." The spectral Zanpakuto appeared above his head and formed a pentagram on the Seraph's chest.
"No... Stop! I... don't want... to die!"
"Then you shouldn't have threatened those that I love." He threw Tensa Zangetsu in the center of the pentagram. "Dinok." Blue flames erupted from the Seraph's chest and he slowly crumbled to ash. Ichigo walked over and picked up his weapon and slung it over his back. He reached up and pulled off his mask.
The vines had crumbled to ash along with the Seraph and the others had begun to stand. "What were those weird tentacle things?" Starrk was the first to speak. "I could hear whispers when they were taking the angels."
"Those? All I know is they are not anything you can fight. They corrupt the mind and would devour all life on earth if set free. I only used that attack because it was the only way I could think of to stop the angels from killing us." Ichigo replied. Short of doing that. He added in his thoughts.
They could just barely see the peak from where they stood. Unfortunately, there was no path leading to it. Just a sheer cliff.
"Okay guys... we are almost to the peak. When we get there, I need everyone except for Nel, Emi, Maya, and Kiri to stay back. This being is stronger than Ywacht. Only the five of us can fight without dying," Ichigo said.
"Damnit! I was looking forward to fighting," Kenpachi grumbled.
"Sorry guys, but this fight isn't something to take lightly. If we don't fight with everything, we will die."
"We understand," Yoruichi spoke and the rest nodded. "We'll stay back for this one."
"Okay, good. Now let's get climbing."
So they did. It took about fifteen minutes before they got to the top...
… and gazed straight into the eyes of a dragon.
Heya guys! Thanks for reading the chapter and I hope you liked it. It might be a little while before the next chapter as I won't have reliable access to a computer for a while, but I will do my best. There are just one or two chapters left! I hope you'll stick with me to the end.