Aspect of Blades

A Bleach fanfic

Chapter 51

Ichigo's POV

-zanpakuto speaking in the inner world

-zanpakuto speaking outside the inner world

-Ichigo's Thoughts or speech in the inner world

"Ready to leave, sir?" Soi Fon asks me. I am clad in full armor, carrying my zanpakuto, and fully armed with every nasty trick and weapon the Twelfth could prepare for me. There is no way that the Gotei 13 is allowing its soutaicho to go into danger unprepared.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I respond. Ryujin Jakka is already drawn, ready to be unleashed. The passage opens, a tunnel into the Otherworlds, a maelstrom of color and chaos. I enter the tunnel and vanish from the Seireitei in a flicker of shunpo, going forth into the Otherworlds. I appear in the middle of a glowing circle, somewhere in Japan, near a traditional Japanese home by the looks of it. The circle flashes, and four women appear there as well, one in a blue dress, one in white, another in black, and the last in red. Nearby, a red haired boy is being attacked by a blue clad warrior with a lance, and I respond. "Reduce all creation to smoldering ash, Ryujin Jakka," I order, and the blade bursts into flame, fires sweeping forth with a wave of my blade, seeking to incinerate the spearman, as well as blocking off the women, who I now notice are carrying blades. I flicker into shunpo, appearing in front of the spearman as he strikes at the boy. The circle flashes once more behind me, but I resolutely ignore it. I have a fight to win.

"Interesting weapon. What type is it? Anti-Unit, Anti-Army, Anti-Fortress?" The spearman asks.

"Anti-Universe," I respond, and the spearman stumbles, his face a mask of shock. "Ryujin Jakka's flames are the flames that reduce the universe to smoldering ash. You have struck at one weaker then you. Now I will return the favor and show you precisely how outclassed you are when you face me," I say. On the nearby road, I notice two more people, one of them carrying a pair of blades, the other with several gemstones in hand, both of them wearing red and black clothing. They are a problem for later. I seal Ryujin Jakka and draw Zabimaru. "This blade is Anti-Fortress , but it will suffice to kill you," I say.

"Oh really? Going to use an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm against me, are you? Sure I won't dodge it, or does it have some side effect that will help you protect your master? By your use of blades, I'm guessing you're Saber, though there seems to be four others, from the looks of those other four that were summoned along with you. I'm Lancer, by the way," Lancer declares. I care little for his name. He will die, and that will be that.

"Howl, Zabimaru," I say, and the blade takes on its Shikai form. "Ban-kai."

"What? What the hell is Bankai?" Lancer asks, then a tornado of power whips up around me.

"Hihio Zabimaru!" I roar triumphantly. The hissing roar of the massive bone serpent sounds as the tornado clears, leaving me clearly visible, ready to wield my Bankai. "Hikotsu Taiho!" I command, and the blast of red energy roars forth. Lancer dodges, but just barely, and I catch him with a swing of the serpent, the side of it's head catching him and flinging him into a nearby house, smashing an entire side of the house.

"What the hell is that thing?" He shouts as he picks himself out of the rubble.

"Hihio Zabimaru. My Bankai, the fully released power of my sword. This is the true form of my blade, Lancer," I respond calmly. "Prepare to die. Hikotsu Taiho," the red energy beam roars forth once more and annihilates the place where Lancer was standing, having leaped onto the road after he picked himself up. He dodges once more, but another Hikotsu Taiho is already incoming.

"Damnit. This is not the kind of fight I like," he says after he dodges again, and sees the immense bone serpent coming down on his head."Oh, hell." Hihio Zabimaru flattens him into the pavement, the whole weight of its immense head slamming him into the ground. He somehow vanishes though, and appears a few meters away a second later. "I had to astralize to avoid that, damnit," he curses. Then he notices Hihio Zabimaru sweeping in again, striking hard. Then I continue the strike, playing a game of pinball with Lancer as the ball, slamming him into every nearby object. Benches, street signs, cars, buildings where available, trees, and a few other things. I see the red clad warrior I noticed earlier on the street wincing in sympathy at Lancer's predicament, and his companion just looks terrified. The four women I saw summoned earlier are surrounding the little group, blades drawn and wearing armor. I glance at them, find myself extremely unimpressed with their reiatsu, and return to smashing Lancer.

"Just finish him off already! Stop playing with your opponent!" The red clad girl shouts at me, getting over her terror of my four assumed comrades. I glance at Lancer, then casually seal Zabimaru back into its' katana form, then join the boy that was being attacked, who even now is speaking with the red clad girl and my new comrades.

"What the hell? Why am I alive?" I hear Lancer groan out. I turn back to him, my gaze disdainful.

"I didn't feel like killing you. Don't make me change my mind, Lancer," I command, and he nods weakly as he drags himself up, spear vanishing as he does. He flees, running as far away as he can, as fast as he can, probably to recover. He'll return to cause trouble again, but I'll deal with him then. For now, I require an explanation of this mess.

"Sparing an enemy?" One of the four women, clad in a black dress and wielding a blade sheathed in shadows, asks herself. Her tone is full of disgust.

"Lancer is not a viable threat. Hihio Zabimaru is in no way my strongest weapon, and his power levels were far too low for him to be any kind of serious problem," I say. (Remember, this is an Ichigo who has even more reiatsu then he normally does, and he will likely disdain opponents with much lower reiatsu until they prove themselves because of the simple facts he's used to. Reiatsu decides a lot of Shinigami battles, and he's use to that fact from both his lifetimes. Lancer might still be a viable threat to him, unless he goes all out with a Bankai.)

"Oh really? What is your strongest weapon?" Another of the four asks. They look identical to each other, almost, except for their dresses. Then I notice three other women I didn't bother to notice before, who had probably appeared in the second flash of light from the circle, which I had barely paid any attention to. One of them looks like the previous four, wearing a silver and gold dress, but the other two are different. One is blond, wearing golden armor, her eyes are red as blood, and space is rippling behind her. The last one is red haired, wears leather armor, with clearly defined but not overly evident muscles. One other person is here, but hiding their presence.

"Zanka no Tachi. Anti-Universe type weapon," I inform them, and there are gasps of shock.

"Anti-Universe?" The red clad girl asks weakly as her knees buckle from the shock. I nod in affirmation, drawing Ryujin Jakka. "Is that this Zanka no Tachi? How does it work? By what means does it unleash its power?" She asks, gathering herself visibly.

"This is Ryujin Jakka. Its Bankai is Zanka no Tachi. It unleashes flames that turn everything to ash when it's in Bankai. Water, stone, stars, darkness, light, even electricity. All things are reduced by the flames of Zanka no Tachi," I inform her, and she pales even further, if that is possible. "All things save the wielder of this blade burn under the wrath of Zanka no Tachi, which may reduce all of creation to smoldering ash," I say.

"So it imposes a rule upon the universe, and that rule is as simple as all things are burned to ash?" She asks, voice shaking for a moment.

"Exactly. All things burn before these flames. I have one other Anti-Universe weapon. Daiguren Hyorinmaru, the Bankai of Hyorinmaru. It's rule is that all things are locked in ice. All things freeze," I inform her. "Fire is frozen. Stars are frozen. Even time itself, is frozen. Everything, physical or not, is locked in ice," I declare.

"I see. What an immensely powerful Noble Phantasm," she says, visibly gathering herself. "Now, which class are you? Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Assassin, Caster, or a Berserker that's not using Mad Enhancement?" She asks. I draw on what Lancer said and respond with his assumption.

"Saber. Is it not obvious?" I ask coldly, determined to bluff my way through this until I get some damned answers.

"What do you mean by class, Tohsaka-san? And what is a Noble Phantasm?" The boy asks, and I mentally thank him. He just gave me a route to the knowledge I need to deal with this situation.

"Perhaps we should go inside. If you're that ignorant, this may take a while to explain, Emiya-kun," Tohsaka says.

Two hours later, after many long explanations

"So I summoned eight Servants?" Shirou asks the empty air. "But I don't even know how I did that? Sure, I might have the ability to support them, but how did I do that? When I found Kiritsugu's journals, I didn't learn how to do something like that. I learned how to awaken my true circuits, and how to use runes and Alteration, but I didn't learn to do something like this," he says frantically, trying to deny this. Tohsaka is glaring at him in fury over his perceived luck.

"Is there any way for you to have the power to do something like this?" Tohsaka asks him venomously.

"If it's a question of power, maybe. When I was first using Alteration and Structural Analysis, I accidentally analyzed the nerves I used to turn into artificial circuits, somehow turned them into real circuits of the A++ quality of my twenty seven original circuits, and started a cascade reaction that left me regenerating my nervous system. I did however destroy one of my arms in the process, as well as one of my eyes, and spent three months recovering. Someone named Merem Solomon, from the Church, helped me with this. He somehow brought Divine Beasts into existence, and bound them into the shape of my eye and my limbs. I spent three months recovering, somehow regenerating my missing nervous system. He said he did this for me because he was interested in what I would do with them, given my own power. But I never learned how to use this, so I can only unbind the creatures and send them forth to do battle for me, and some basic magics," Shirou says.

"You...you," Tohsaka looks about to strangle him. "So much power, and no ability to use it?" She hisses through clenched teeth, looking as if she is in actual physical pain. "Two Divine Beasts at your command, more magic circuits of high quality then I care to count, and sufficient power to summon and support eight Servants, and you don't know how to use it!" She screams at him.

"No," Shirou answers, and her head sinks into his hands. "Who are the eight of you, by the way?" He asks us. The one in the blue dress responds first.

"King Arthur, King of Knights," she responds, and I silently curse historians. Who the hell got her legend wrong, and how the hell did they somehow manage to do it? She is clearly female, despite being able to possibly pass as a male. Maybe. From a distance.

"Queen Arturia, the Queen of Knights," the look alike of King Arthur who is wearing a white dress says, and my head sinks into my hands. Alternate versions of one person. Great, just great. Hello headache, I'm Ichigo. Not glad to meet you.

"King Arturia, the Tyrant of Knights," the one in the black dress says.

"Nero, Empress of Rome, and probably the ancestor of these three," the one in the practically see through red dress says. She has no sense of shame, apparently. I hear Tohsaka groan in pain, and share a long suffering look with her.

"Queen Arturia, the Queen of Dragons. I carry draconic blood, and I held true to that blood rather then my human blood, giving Britain over to my brethren to keep them from being exterminated," the one in the silver and gold dress says. "I'm Saber, just like my three counterparts, the samurai, and my ancestor," she explains.

"Scathath, Servant Caster," the one who previously didn't reveal herself says. Her build is slender, but she is obviously strong, several weapons with glowing runes etched on them visible, and she wears heavy armor. "Could you please increase the flow of mana to us, Master?" Shirou closes his eyes for a second, then I feel some other energy flooding my being, strengthening me. Apparently, given where I arrived, and since I'm dead, I got thrown in with this lot. So be it, as long as it doesn't interfere with my work, I could care less if I'm fighting in this Grail War. Scathath nods in satisfaction at the increased energy flow, then the red haired warrior introduces herself.

"Alexandra the Great, Queen of Conquerors, Rider" she declares, and my jaw drops. What. The. Hell? How did the historians get something like that wrong? I vow to eradicate all historians for this mistake, and causing me this immensely irritating headache with their lies.

"Gilgamesh of Uruk, Queen of Heroes, Saber," the last one says, and I am very thankful for my helm being on. This is a bit of a shock for me, but I vow to endure. Somehow, I will endure this shock. I decide to introduce myself, just to get this over with.

"Kenpachi Yamamoto Ichigo," I declare, and looks of shock suddenly appear on the faces of all but the King of Knights. Given Tohsaka's explanation of how Servants find out about others who they were born before, I guess they just learned of my legend, such as it is. Tohsaka's red clad Archer is looking at me warily now, clearly feeling how dangerous I could be to him if he becomes my foe.

"So that's why you were unconcerned about Lancer. You have the power to annihilate almost any Servant that isn't one of those here, possibly excluding Tohsaka's Archer," Gilgamesh says, nodding as things fall into place for her.

"Emiya Shirou, what are your ideals?" Tohsaka's Archer asks warily. I have my suspicions about him, and I think they're about to be confirmed.

"To save everyone I can, but not to save everyone. To save everyone is impossible, and I cannot spend my life in a futile quest. I saw what that did to Kiritsugu, and his last wish was for me to never let myself follow that path. He wished me to do two things. First, save everyone I can save, but don't try and save more then is possible. Give up on ten to save a hundred if need be. But his most important wish was that I not throw my life away. He told me that if it was a choice between saving myself and saving even a thousand others, to save myself so I could help others later, rather then going down in a blaze of glory and ending my ability to help," Shirou explains.

"Not great, but I suppose it's the best I could hope for," the red Archer says. "Servant Archer. While I was alive, I was known as Emiya Shirou, adopted son of Emiya Kiritsugu," he declares. I was right about who he was apparently. He resembled Shirou enough that guessing his identity wasn't hard. Tohsaka is looking between the pair of them, face a mask of shock.

"Emiya-kun...becomes a...Heroic Spirit?" She gets out barely.

"Yes. I am Emiya Shirou," the Heroic Spirit version of our Master declares. Tohsaka faints in shock, and I begin to laugh as at least one thing goes right tonight. My Master rises and heads towards Tohsaka, but I wave him off, activating Nejibana's Shikai and blasting her in the face with a torrent of water, then sheathing the blade once more.

"What the hell?!" She screams, shaking her head. "Yamamoto, how dare you..." she trails off as she sees one of my hands drop to Ryujin Jakka. "Archer, how dare you not tell me your name!" She roars at him, and he cringes. "Emiya, we need to register you as a master with the Church. Let's go, and bring your servants with you," she commands. The air grows very warm as I begin to draw Ryujin Jakka. "Can we please go and register you, Emiya-kun?" She corrects herself, and I sheathe the blade.

"Yes, we might as well go and register our Master as a participant in the war," Gilgamesh says arrogantly. I nod in assent, and the little group that we form rises as all but King Arthur vanish into our spirit forms. I figured out the little trick fairly quickly. Shirou is giving me the ability to make myself known on the physical plane, but I can still return to the spiritual plane I am native to, if I try.

"Shirou," Arthur says. "Might we find some way to distinguish myself and my counterparts from each other?" She asks.

"Of course. You're the one this world knows about, so you can stay Saber. Your counterpart in the white dress can be..." He trails off trying to figure out proper names for the other three.

"Might I suggest Joan for the white one, and Ryuu for the Queen of Dragons, sir?" I asks, materializing for a moment. He nods in affirmation, and then decides on the name for the last of the four versions of King Arthur.

"And the last of you can be Alter," he says cheerfully, and my head sinks into my hands once more. Could I please have a more creative Master? But I must make do with this one, so I will do so, no matter how irritating his lack of creativity is. We head out the door, ready to reenter the material world and fight if need be. An hour later, we arrive at the Church, which exudes a foul reiatsu.

"Master, may I please annihilate this building?" I ask, and am turned down as Alter and Shirou enter the building while the rest of us wait, weapons at the ready. A few minutes later, I lose patience with them and draw Ryujin Jakka as I materialize. Tohsaka was supposed to make this a quick meeting, not one that takes forever.

"Ichigo, could you..." Joan trails off as I wordlessly activate Ryujin Jakka's Shikai. Hopefully, her name will make others think she is Joan of Arc for a while, and a moment of deception will be all we need.

"Ban-kai," I command, and the level of heat in the area skyrockets. I see Shirou, the priest, Alter, Tohsaka, and Archer at the door of the Church as I activate Bankai, and mentally curse. "Zanka no Tachi," I say as flames wrap around me. "Master, thank you for keeping your meeting short," I say through gritted teeth.

"No...problem?" Shirou asks the empty air as I turn and stalk away. About halfway back to his house, we run into a white haired, red eyed midget who apparently knows Shirou, and I raise Ryujin Jakka, which I had resealed but not sheathed.

"Hello, onii-chan," the midget say, bowing politely. "Who's your friend?" She questions. I sense another presence waiting nearby, so I decide to just get this battle started, since she's probably a Master.

"Servant Saber. Now, let's get around to the fight, midget," I growl, haori and robes being stirred by a wind. I begin to gather power for the purposes of battle, and draw Senbonzakura as I sheathe Ryujin Jakka. "Ban-kai," I declare, dropping the blade into the ground.

"Clumsy, onii-chan. Dropping your weapon like that..." the midget trails off as the corridor of blades rises behind me. Behind her, a massive black warrior, eyes filled with unreasoning rage, appears, blade at the ready. A massive stone blade, fire burning on its edge.

"Scatter. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," I command, and the blades dissolve into countless millions of smaller blades.

"Pretty flowers, onii-chan, but they won't stop Berserker. He's the strongest hero of Greece," the girl proclaims.

"Hercules. I see. Well, I am obliged to inform you that these aren't only blossoms, midget. They're blades as well, and all that will be left is blood and dust," I say, and the wave of blades sweeps forwards, engulfing Hercules. "Gokei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," the blades swarm together upon this command, and then withdraw to once more hover around me. Only a bloodstain remains where Hercules once was, then I see something that shouldn't be possible. Hercules is reappearing. Not materializing, but regenerating from a bloodstain.

"Hercules has twelve lives, onii-chan," the midget tells me. "I'm Ilyasviel von Einzbern by the way, but you can call me Ilya," she tells me happily as my fellow Servants prepare for battle.

"My Master controls seven Servants besides me. Two of my weapons are EX rank, Anti-Universe Noble Phantasms, and three more of them are EX rank Anti-World," I tell her, and she goes pale. I draw Haineko and stab it into the ground, flooding it with power. "Bankai, Kazanneko," I say, and ash clouds billow forth as the blade sinks into the ground, cracks spreading from where I stabbed it into the road. Lava bursts forth, then I direct it towards Berserker, covering him in molten rock. I am slowly being supplied with knowledge as I acclimatize to the Servant system which I am trapped in for the duration of the grail war, and Kazanneko is an EX Anti-World at full power, which I had guessed, but had confirmed by the new knowledge I gained during that walk. "You stand no chance, Ilya-chan," I declare proudly. Berserker rips himself free from the lava, skin burned nearly away, only to be engulfed by deadly clouds of ash and killed for the second time.

Behind me, Caster has drawn a rune marked two handed blade, Rider has summoned a chariot pulled by six immense bulls, two of which have lightning crackling around them, two more are wrapped in shadows and made of bone, darkness replacing flesh, and the last two cause the earth to shake every time their hooves slam down upon it. Bulls blessed by Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. This Rider must have had a great legend indeed when she lived, to be so blessed in death. Ryuu has summoned an immense black dragon breathing flame, and vaults onto its back, sword drawn with one hand, the other hand carrying a shield. Nero is now clad in the armor of a Roman general, sword in one hand, raising a legionary's tower shield in the other. Joan is wielding a blade around which light seems to distort the image of it, and if you look too closely, then the light brightens, blinding you. Gilgamesh is clad in her golden armor, with two rips in space forming behind her as two blades come forth, which she grabs, ready for battle. Alter and Saber are both clad in their armor, and Shirou is missing one eye. I hear a shrieking roar from above, and a massive bird, made of lightning and darkness, descends from the storm now forming above us. It lands, and Shirou climbs onto its back, using some form of magic to either summon or create a sword. It is a mundane blade, but it will serve to protect him against anything that isn't a Servant that he may encounter, and if he does run into a Servant, he can summon us. Archer has his bow in his hands, an immense bow made of blades formed into the shape of a bow, clearly a Noble Phantasm of Archer's.

"Berserker, kill them!" Ilya screams, and Berserker charges. Ash clouds and a wave of blossoms surge forward from me, as a pillar of lava engulfs Berserker, summoned by Kazanneko. He roars forth from the lava, almost unharmed, but still burned slightly as the blossoms and ash engulf him, cutting into his hide, but not annihilating him. He must gain some sort of immunity to attacks that have already killed him. Interesting, I muse to myself, as I fall back and let Rider's chariot charge through, running him over, trampling him into the ground. Behind her, the immense dragon Ryuu is riding strikes, claw, fang, and fire ripping into Berserker. He is slain for the third time by the dragon's tail smashing his head into a pulp, then he regenerates and catches the tail when it comes in again, throwing the dragon back. He held the sky in his legend, it's not surprising he can throw a dragon back, no matter how big. "Berserker, retreat!" Ilya calls, and he vanishes as he astralizes, reappearing at her side and leaving with her on his shoulders, getting out of the area as fast as possible. Sticking around with nine Servants making a dedicated attempt to kill you, only one of which has used any Noble Phantasms, is a very bad idea, no matter who you were. We allow him to go, falling back to guard Shirou and Tohsaka. Our orders are not to pursue a retreating foe, so I will not do so. Yet, though that may very well change if the situation is altered.

"Well, that went well," Tohsaka says calmly as we walk away from the area where we confronted Berserker.

"I only used two of my Noble Phantasms, though one was an Anti-World Noble Phantasm when used at full power," I say, relieved I didn't have to go further then that.

"Two Anti-Universe weapons, and three Anti-World. Those are very nearly a complete game breaker, and throwing in Gilgamesh and the other Servants in Emiya-kun's service, this war is as good as won," Tohsaka says. "So, what will you wish for, Emiya-kun?"

"I think I'll wish for the ability to use the five true magics as if I had them as natural abilities, and make my Projections perfect copies rather then very good ones. Maybe even throw in the ability to comprehend anything with Structural Analysis. I could understand something of Hihio Zabimaru, but Kazanneko was impossible for me to understand even vaguely. I apparently can't comprehend Anti-World weapons," Shirou complains.

"So advancing your power to higher levels. I can respect that," Tohsaka says grudgingly. Shirou nods, and I start thinking about my own wish. Shirou decides to take a look at the Ryuudou Temple, just to see how the ley lines that converge there are acting now that the grail is active. As we pass, I casually raise one armored hand, and lightning begins to spark around it as I prepare to test the wards, just in case. This is prime territory for a Caster, after all.

"Hado number eighty-eight. Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho," I say, and a skyscraper sized blast of electricity erupts from the tips of my fingers, an immense blast that if not halted by wards, will engulf and annihilate the mountain. My reiatsu control is insufficient to successfully make it much smaller then that now that Zangetsu has increased my power dramatically. The lightning crashes into the wards, and they appear as a solid dome of force around the mountain. My Hado pushes at them, devastates them, drains their power to almost nothing, but is unsuccessful in breaking them. I nod, knowing how much power I need to get through those wards now, and will break them at some future point just in case.

"How the hell are you not Caster?" Tohsaka asks in shock, face white. "Your Noble Phantasms have a lot of magic related attacks, and that bit of magic was immensely powerful. How close did you come to breaking those wards?" She demands to know. I decide to humor her and answer, just because I feel like it.

"I'm Saber because I'm better with my blades then Kido. I came very close to breaking those wards, but put a little less power then needed into the Kido. I only used the absolute minimum power to cast that spell, after all," I tell her, and Tohsaka goes so pale, she's almost transparent.

"Absolute...minimum power?" She asks. I nod in affirmation, and she collapses, fainting from shock.

"So, Shirou drew a very good card when he summoned you," Saber says quietly, and I nod. "Your sword skills must be substantial if you are that powerful with your magic."

"I was a captain of the Gotei 13. I was known as a prodigy, and was at high levels of power for a captain when I lived, but still a captain level fighter, and that level of power was expected from a captain. I doubt my legend is from this world, but I answered the call anyways. Let's hope things get more interesting. I don't want to be fighting at my current level, that of a mere seated officer (of the Eighth) forever, after all," I say, and the others nod. Well, this Grail War should be a good bit of exercise for later battles, and may even be interesting. These Heroic Spirits can hurt me, regardless of reiatsu level difference, so I have valid opponents, and I will get a good chance to prepare for war with this.

Here's the next chapter. Otherworlds finally unveiled, mass crossovers will begin, and this story will go on for a long time. This chapter was mostly to introduce the new setting, and the next chapter will go into situation detail. Ichigo may be powerful, but I feel it is justified. Please give me your opinions on this. Read and review, thank you.