A/N: I am so sorry, everyone. I know it's no excuse, but I just got the WiiU yesterday, and was binging on it all day. If it's any consolation, I spent a couple of hours last, awake, typing down this story, and it seems fairly long to me. I sincerely hope that it's to your liking.
Oh, and I forgot to do this last time (again):
Translation for the curious:
Achreío ékri̱xi̱: Greek for "Villainous Blast"
-o-
"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo released a large black and red shockwave at the abomination that was once two separate beings. The blast landed right on the beast's ugly face. The monster didn't even flinch.
"Kill…" the massive beast growled. It raised its fist and swung it down with impossible speed. Ichigo was just barely able to avoid the attack, having Flash Stepped to the right. He launched another Getsuga with the same effect.
What the hell is this guy's skin made of? Ichigo thought frantically. His attacks weren't doing anything on this behemoth! How could he beat something like this?
He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by one of the monster's fists ramming into him from nowhere. The orange-haired teen coughed up blood as he flew toward the ground, spinning like a top. He crashed into the earth, creating a pillar of dirt and debris. When the cloud of earthen matter disappeared, Ichigo stood up slowly, clutching his side as pieces of his mask fell off. That last attack had hurt.
"Ichigo!" Orihime shouted to him. "You can do it! Don't give up!"
"This guy's a chump compared to all the guys you've fought before!" he heard Kenpachi yell. "If he kills you, I'll find you in hell and beat you to death!"
The Substitute Soul Reaper nodded and went back into a fighting stance. "In that case, I've got just one more reason to win!" He leaped into the air, charging at the Kronos/Typhon amalgamation with his sword surrounded by the energies of a black Getsuga Tensho, which was charged with much more power than what he had been using.
He released his attack at the monster, who took the blow in the chest. The giant grunted in obvious surprise and some pain. "Stings…" The monster opened its mouth and began charging sphere of red energy. "Achreío ékri̱xi̱!" A huge beam of blood-red spirit energy flew towards Ichigo, who was too slow to react to faster and larger attack. The blast swallowed him whole.
"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted.
"That's definitely not good!" Renji exclaimed, ever the observant one.
"Don't worry," Orihime said to her friends, who looked at her strangely. "Ichigo has been through tighter situations before. He'll win." She clasped her hands together in prayer-like fashion. "I know he will." The others could only nod in agreement.
As the blast cleared, Ichigo remained standing in the sky, albeit rather heavily wounded and panting. Just the upper right corner of his mask remained, but he himself was still in one piece, thankfully. He glared at the massive monstrosity that had just tried to kill him off.
"You're pretty damn tough," he commented. The demon just growled in response. Ichigo smirked at the beast. "Not very talkative now, are you? Well, that's fine with me!" He launched yet another Getsuga at the giant, who raised a hand to deflect the blast and countered with another red beam of destruction.
Ichigo managed to leap out of the way this time, and he made another charge for Kronos/Typhon's head. The beast roared and threw a huge fist at the Substitute Soul Reaper, who dodged the blow again. However, Ichigo was caught off guard by a second gigantic fist, which crashed into him, knocking him out of the sky.
The orange-haired boy slammed his palm into the air, gaining friction and skidding to a halt. He looked back up at the monster that had just hit him. He panted with his left arm over his chest. It felt like that freak of nature had broken a few of his ribs. He groaned in pain.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," spoke that strange voice he had heard when he was in the lake. "You must finish this. You must destroy this abominable excuse for a creature."
How exactly? he asked.
"Raise your sword and ready an attack. I shall do the rest." The sound of that feminine voice vanished again. Having no other option, Ichigo raised his sword and began charging a Getsuga. His blade was quickly enveloped in black energy.
As Athena watched this happen, she noticed something over the lake. A strange, ethereal light glowed over the golden water. The light slowly made its way into Ichigo's black-bladed sword. From the spiritual pressure that she felt, he was… "No way…"
"What?" Byakuya asked the goddess. "What is happening?"
"Ichigo is absorbing massive amounts of power from the lake!" Everybody's eyes widened at the revelation. Athena suddenly became grim. "It's still not enough though."
"Huh?" Renji said in a dumbfounded tone. "But isn't that lake packed with unreal amounts of divine power?"
"Yes," Athena said with a nod. "But there's only so much of it that he can take in."
"Maybe," said a weak, familiar voice. All turned to see Zeus awake again, albeit still heavily wounded. "But there is a way for him to take in more."
"Wha- Father?" Athena shouted as she hugged the king. "You're okay!"
Zeus held his daughter, but his face was grim. "We may celebrate my survival later. Right now, we must act." Zeus looked up at Ichigo. "We must all allow him to take some of our power. If it is done right, this might just be the last time any of us see Kronos or Typhon." Just as the others were about to respond, Zeus raised a hand. "However, this is not without risk. If this fails, we may all die. Even us gods." Silence followed. At that last revelation, everyone hesitated.
Finally, Orihime stepped forward. "I'll do it." Everybody looked at the red-haired girl with wide eyes as she faced them. "Ichigo's done things way crazier than this before. He's fought people that were just as tough as that monster, if not tougher, but he's never truly done it alone. He's always had us, his friends, behind him, always ready to help him. Why should any of us back out now, when everyone in the whole world is at risk?"
Everybody nodded silently. None of them looked ready to turn away. Zeus gave an acknowledging nod. "I shall contact all the Olympians who are still on our side. It should be more than enough to finish this quarrel."
All heads nodded. Orihime turned to look up at Ichigo. "Let's do this!"
Up in the air, Ichigo continued charging his attack. For some reason, it felt as though it were growing stronger by the second. Much stronger than he could've made it, and that was really saying something. Suddenly, that woman's voice appeared again.
"Ichigo," it said. "Your friends are granting you their strength. The loyal Olympians and sparing you the power they have left. All of these energies, combined with your own and that of the Lake of Nectar, are more than enough." The voice paused. "Now unleash it all."
He needed no further motivation. He could see the Kronos/Typhon combo charging yet another red blast of death. The orange-haired teen gritted his teeth as the gigantic demon's attack went flying at him.
"Getsuga…" He swung his blade down with both hands. "TENSHO!"
An enormous black shockwave collided with a stream of red destruction. The shockwave wasn't even phased by the attack, and simply absorbed the energy within. Ichigo's attack slammed into the chest of the monster, who roared in pain… and was suddenly enveloped in an explosion of black spirit energy, swallowing it whole.
The demon's excruciating roar could be heard even in the other worlds. The people of the human world looked around in confusion. The Hollows of Hueco Mundo actually stopped killing each other for as long as that roar was heard. In the Soul Society, Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. The old Soul Reaper mentally cursed at Zeus as he asked his lieutenant to get him some more aspirin.
Ichigo panted from the exertion from the attack he had just unleashed. It was way too powerful to be a regular Getsuga Tensho, but it was definitely not Final Getsuga that he had learned in order to defeat Aizen. He looked at the ridiculously huge cloud of smoke as it cleared away. The monster stood motionless, its face frozen in pain and utter shock. Soon, its body cracked and began to fall apart like stacked rubble. The form that was once an enormous, demonic abomination was replaced with Kronos, who was covered in so many wounds that it would've been impossible to identify him without his silver hair and entirely golden eyes.
The Titan Lord opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do or say anything, he fell to earth, crashing into the ground and creating a small crater. Ichigo descended slowly to the ground, the remaining chunk of his Hollow mask fading away. When he made contact with the ground, he glared at the motionless form of Kronos. The Substitute Soul Reaper had to resist the urge to spit on the Lord of Time right there. He wouldn't give the bastard the honor.
"Ichigo!" yelled a familiar voice. He turned just in time to see Orihime jump into his arms and hug him. She looked up at his warm, brown eyes. Feeling her cheeks turning red, she lowered her face a little and said, "I can't tell you how happy I am that this is all over. And I'm even happier that you're okay." She paused for a minute. "You are okay, right?"
"I'm fine, Orihime," he assured her with one of his exceedingly rare warm smiles. "It's nothing I haven't been through before." He put his hand on her chin and pulled her head up. "You don't have to feel embarrassed about blushing, Orihime. I always thought that you looked kind of cute whenever you did that."
Orihime's eyes widened when he said that. "So… what Kronos said before… about your… feelings for me? That was…?" She let the question hang in the air.
Ichigo chuckled. "Yeah. It is, Orihime." He was just about to actually say those three special words when somebody cleared their throat. The two turned to see everybody staring at them. Ichigo felt just a little bit uncomfortable. "Um… hi."
He saw Rukia stifle a laugh before she said, "How about you two lovebirds wait until you have some actual privacy before you start getting mushy again?" Ichigo glared at her, his good mood ruined.
"I hate you so much sometimes," he told the petite girl. That only made her actually laugh.
"Enough," called out Zeus's voice. The King of the Gods was being kept on his feet by Athena, who had finally reverted to her human form. "Save whatever strength you have left for tomorrow." He gave them all a huge grin. "For tomorrow, we celebrate this victory. And you are all our guests of honor."
"What about this guy?" asked Yachiru, who was currently poking Kronos's unconscious form with a random stick she had found. "Can Kenny I keep him as a training dummy?"
Zeus stared at the girl, utterly dumbfounded. "Er… no. He must be sent back to Tartarus, where he belongs for all eternity." With that, he dismissed the non-Olympians, who all left, with Ichigo and Orihime walking hand-in-hand. The sight made him smile a little. He then turned his attention back to his dead-looking, crook of a father. "Athena, please help me dispose of that piece of trash."
-o-
A/N: If the Ichihime moment in this chapter seemed sort of lackluster, then I'm sorry. Romance isn't really my specialty. But I genuinely tried with it. Again, I'm sorry for the wait. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
