Merry Christmass to all and thank you to Aroneden for proofreading this and letting me get it out on this week. While its a short one, this thing is chock full of plot relevant facts so have fun. (I know this is even shorter than normal but it is Christmas so give me a little slack)

By the way I have seen this in the comments a lot and I need to stress this fact (Beyond a few people most are not aware of the changes to Sona and Rias. Now given how Ichigo's fight was streamed live they have seen him but still don't know all that much.) But to be clear "The current players in this arc outside of one spy for the enemy faction do not know Sona and Rias are superdevils and both girls are working to keep there power hidden for as long as possible)

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"Any particular reason we are doing it this late brat?" Ichigo ignored the old bat and focused on the area around him. He was at the point where he had absorbed every speck of ambient spirit energy he could find and still she told him there was more. He yelped as she poked him in the side with a stick. "Answer my question dumbass."

"Had to help kill a stray who had gone mad."

"Hmph, did you use you new bow to do it?" As he had expected she had been less than amused with his Bankai's bow form.

"No."

Sensei grunted again. "Fine." She tapped the ground three times. "Honestly, how long is this going to take you, do you really need another clue?" When he did not answer she rolled her eyes. "You have to expand your view, you have drawn all the energy out of the air, all the free floating power, but have you asked yourself where it comes from? Why every place on earth has these particles, even places like this where only I live?"

Ichigo frowned, that was a good question. He had just assumed that it came from souls just like his. "The highest mountain will have it, the depths of the ocean will have it, the outer reaches of the atmosphere will have it."

What did all those have in common? What connected them? "They are parts of nature?"

"Closer."

That answer just frustrated him and he forced his sense, but felt nothing, and she kept saying there was more, where was there more and what did it have to do with the lonely places of the earth?

He frowned at that last word, they were all part of the earth… it could not be that simple could it? Placing a hand down on the ground he sent his senses downward. Nothing of course what did he think he would… he back went stiff as his reach touched something, a soul, one so mighty so bright, so vibrant. Its power was many orders of magnitude beyond even when he had used Mugetsu. What was more it noticed him, a tiny fraction of this unimaginable soul focused on him.

Ichigo screamed as focus broke and he was snapped back to his body he yanked his hands away from the earth. "T-the earth has a soul."

"Not quite." Sensei shrugged before pointing her cane at his fingers. "Be careful about how much you draw on Gaia." He looked down at his hands to see the tips of his fingers burned black, perhaps the nerves had been obliterated, but he did not feel pain from it.

"Get one of those healing girls you told me about to fix that, however I think you finally get what I have been trying to tell you."

"Um… that I need to expand my perceptions and preconceptions?"

"A good enough answer," she shrugged, "The earth, as you now know, is alive. What you felt as a soul is much closer to the manifestation of this planet. She has many names, but Mother Gaia is the current favorite whenever she can pull together enough of her attention to notice what is essentially a bacterial infection who wants to talk to her."

A few flakes of black skin fell off and the shock of pain came with it, he could feel his Hollow power welling up inside him, seeking to heal and protect the body so that it could do battle. "Why did I need to know this?"

Sensai rolled her eyes. "There are many reasons dumbass. For one, while you are on this earth it is an extra source of power, two, there are things bigger than you, remember that, three, if you can pull power from the earth itself, what else can you pull power from? Think on that. Four, the fact that you are even able to sense Gaia means you have gained more control over your power. Believe it or not, it is actually really hard to do what you just did, what's more she noticed you, that is a bit concerning. The people she usually noticies are the protectors of the forest, like druids, or mages who have done great works in her name, that sort of thing." She looked him over. "Perhaps it is your unique nature, that might do it." She tapped her cane on the ground again, face drawn in thought.

"What shall we do next?" Ichigo asked.

"Work on your Blut, your control is better, but you are still wasting a great deal. Given the vast reserves of power you have in your body and what you can draw on around you I think you could have one of the strongest Blut users that has ever existed. However, to get there will require you to be slightly less of a dumbass." She waved her cane. "Follow me." And began to hobble back to her house.

As they entered a room he frowned at what he saw. "What are those spikes for?"

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His hands were covered in bandages by the time he left for the night, even his minor inherent healing factor took time when you kept running your hand though with a metal object. She would not just let him balce on the air, nooo, he had to use his spiritual power to balance on the tip of a needle sharp metal spike. And she had told him to be grateful she was letting him use his whole hand, given that she had been balancing on a pinky while telling this to him he did not like what the future held.

The moment he stepped outside of her bounded field he received a message through communication. 'Get back when you can, there might be trouble brewing.'

While he was tempted to go from Zero to Bankai he resisted the urge as they would have told him there was serious trouble. However, he would need to talk to Sensei about letting his communication through, after all she could let TV signals in.

Putting that aside for later he shot across the night sky, on a whim unsheathing his wings, thus it came as a surprise when, instead of the two he expected, six shot out of his back. While that did throw him off at first, it turned out six wings pushing him in a straight line did get up quite the speed after a time. Perhaps that was on advantage of wings like this, eventually you could pick up and maintain a high speed with little effort.

The land under him flashed by in a blur for a time before the welcome lights of Kouh made an appearance. He slowed, letting his wings vanish so he could regain his much greater control over movement and vanished in a Flash Step.

His feet touched the dirt of Kuoh Academy a few seconds later. Around the building he could sense a powerful barrier, several layers in fact, each with the signature of both Rias and Sona. The massive amount of raw power was impressive, it seemed both girls were willing to take full advantage of their new nature. He could also sense the majority of the Devils were either in the area or close to one another. Tomoe, Ruruka, and Tsubaki were in the latter's house as they all lived close by. Reya, Koneko, Issei, and Momo were patrolling the school grounds. Sona, Rias, Tsubaki, Akeno, Asia, Inoue and Kiba were all in the Occult Research building.

'Where do you need me?' He asked Rias via the spell given that it had been her calling him back.

'My side, we need to talk.' So he opened the door and made his way to the main room, noting the serious expression on their faces and outright worry on the two Kings. Kiba looked a little worse for the wear, it was clear he had been under the attention of the two healers but something in the way he held himself, or rather did not hold himself, spoke of a feeling of defeat. Rias and Sona were in deep discussion with both their Queens and Ichigo moved quietly to stand next to Inoue and Asia. "What happened?"

"Kiba-kun was hurt, we were called into heal him." Inoue said quietly. "When he named his attacker it really seemed to disturb Bouchou and Kaichou." Asia said nothing, her face was pale as a ghost, he reached out a hand and she took it gratefully. Inoue gave him a grateful nod and he noticed that she had been holding the girls other hand. She shook her head when she noticed his glance, guess she did not know what was wrong either.

He focused on the conversion between the two Kings. "Ever heard of him?"

"No, but given the damage he did to your Knight he must be strong, do we have any idea who he is after?"

"Given that the truce we have right now is unspoken it could be anyone, there have been a lot of strays in town."

"However his warning about something coming, why would an Exorcist do that?'

"Asia did say that she knew him, and he her, that he was a kind and gentle man who helped care for her in her youth."

Sona put her hand to her head. "How do we protect our families? A good many live with their mortal parents. If they are attacked then…" Her eyes flickered and the vast power in her body stirred like something vast coiling in preparation to strike. "We cannot allow that to happen."

"What if," Akeno mused, "While this is going on, we just have a long sleepover at your house,c Sona. You have enough room for everyone twice over, it would mean only one place to set up defences, and we could all be in a large group when we go to and from school."

The Sitri King made a thoughtful sound, Rias herself looked to be thinking it over as well. "We, of course, will pay."

Sona waved her hand in a shushing gesture. "You are my friend, and your family is always welcome with mine...besides, our peerages are connected in a way no others are." They both glanced at Ichigo and noted him listening in.

"Well, good of you to show up." Rias said.

"Just to give you a recap," Sona continted, "Kiba had an encounter with an Exorcist of the Church."

"A powerful one." The boy said camly. Compared to the hours before, the boy was focused again. "He could move his limbs faster than I could see… though I was not in the best frame of mind." He described what the man looked like and just from the description alone he sounded intimidating.

"He called himself Cardinal Vasco," Sona said during a break in the converarion, "I have not heard of that name."

Rias shook her head. "I have not either, perhaps our families have, however we have already sent messages to them."

Sona drummed her fingers on the table. "We should get moving now. Let's get to my house and set up our defences, then we can discuss more of this."

Rias nodded. "Akeno I need you with me, there are a few things we need to retrieve." The Queen glanced at Ichigo looking from him to Asia.

The former Shinigami nodded and the Queen took a more relaxed stance, it only took a few minutes of phone calls, and magic spells for the parents to agree, and one massive teleportation, but they were all within the confines of Sona's Earthly house and with amazing efficiency, helped by the fact that all of her peerage already knew what to do and in fact had drilled for such a move to happen, it only took an hour for everyone to have a room, clothing, toiletries, and other necessities.

By chance Ichigo found a moment alone with his King and went over to her. "Are you ok?"

Sona did not look at him. "You ask that every day."

"That's because you can't hide it from me."

He put his arms around her and she let out a sigh. "I can't help but imagine all the times I could have avoided the situation I find myself in. When I could have been clear, when it would have mattered."

"Well, if you want to, you can blame me a little, after all this would not have happened without me."

"I don't blame others for my mistakes and I am not going to start now." She put a hand on his arm and tapped gently. He let go and she took a deep breath. "I think the best thing I can do is to go talk to him in a month or so, once he has some time." Her hand moved over her heart. "If he only wants to be part of my Peerage for a chance with me then he needs to know." She closed her eyes. "I truly hope my Mother can help him."

Deciding that was a good point to leave things at he just nodded. "Thank you doing this Sona, for protecting us I want you to know that I appreciate it."

She glanced at him with more than a hint of pride in her eyes. "This is what my job is, what my job will be. It is good practice… granted this is more real than I would like."

He nodded. "Speaking of practice," He held out his hand and a white power flowed into the plam of his hand were it glowed faintly, "I seem to have found my Devil Power."

Her eyes lit up "That is excellent!" She spun on him. a smile driving away the worry from her face for a second, her shoulders drooped. "But we can't do anything about it yet, Rias and I have to make barriers and we will both need our Queens help. Could you make dinner for everyone?"

"I'll get Asia to help, I hear she is getting good at it."

"Perhaps you could add Inoue to that too."

Ichigo hesitated. "Unless it's bread...um...her food can be…a unique experience."

Sona rolled her eyes. "Then have her make some fresh bread, that sounds wonderful right about now."

"Will do." She put a hand on his arm, squeezed it, and moved to head up the stairs, from what he had heard she had put Rias in her room, mostly to make sure both could coordinate things fast if things went to Hell. However, he could not help but think there was just a bit of the desire in his King for a teen sleepover with her best friend. Something he would guess they had done as kids, but probably not in any recent history. He did not really count their little adventure to the Underworld as a sleepover.

With a tiny effort of will he activated his communication and called the two Devils he wanted to help, he hardly made it to the kitchen when the sound of running feet echoed from down the hall, two sets of feet slowing to a walk as they rounded the corner. Ichigo smiled at both of them and waved them in. "Thank you both." He nodded at Asia. "Have you settled in?"

The blond nodded with a smile. "Yep, I was put in a room with Momo, she said she'd show me some Bishop tricks."

"Hmm did they give you any roommates Inoue?"

She nodded. "Tsubasa-chan, though there is only one bed, but as they said no one is sleeping alone, we have to have two in every room."

"Guess that means Issei, and probably Kiba, are going to be with me in the guest house." Well that did not sound too bad, but if they thought they were taking his bed both had another thing coming. "I'll take care of the main dish, Inoue your in charge of bread, Asia you get the vegetables and dessert."

"Ok." They both said in unison, he blinked as he looked back and found both wearing aprons where there had only been normal clothing before.

"That is so useful." He mumbled. In all honestly that seemed to be one of those amazing, yet unspoken, powers that just had so many uses. Sometimes he wondered why Devils bought clothing in the first place, but then again since it was based on imagination, that could be a hard limit… plus owning a physical object probably carried more weight.

They each went about getting things in order, preparing the meal for those who were going to need it. "Do you sense that Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo frowned, closing his eyes. He had to keep his mind from reaching downward otherwise the all encompassing power of the Earth would flood his senses.

"What do you mean?"

Asia was looking at both of them biting her lower lip in worry. "I thought I felt something," She shook her head, "I'm sorry I must have been wrong."

"That's ok, better to be safe than sorry." He let out a sigh. "Things are not always like this Inoue, there is normally a lot more time for fun, less dimension hopping and shadowy threats."

Her mouth twitched. "I don't know, it kind of feels like home when you put it that way."

Well, well, well, when had she learned how to joke? The absurdity of it set him to laughing.

"Well," He coughed and pounded his chest, "I guess that is true."

Asia sighed. "I like peace better."

"So do I." They both replied.

"What is your normal life like, Asia-chan?" Inoue inquired as she put the bread in the oven.

"School, club meetings where I get to help everyone, a few contracts, spending some time at the local clinic to heal those that I can, cleaning the house, playing with Akeneo, training with Ichigo." She smiled. "It's a paradise, there is so much to do, and it feels like there is so little time in the day, but everyday you wake up and smile because it is wonderful. It is a blessing and, even if I am his enemy, I still thank God for this life I have now." She paused, waiting. "That is the second time I have said His name and not gotten hurt."

"Um, is that was normally happens?" Inoue asked.

"Yes, I got a lot of headaches in the past month, but they have just stopped."

"Sounds like a gift," Ichigo said, not really focusing or even really meaning to say. "You should use it well."

"A gift?" The former nun's eyes welled up with tears. "A gift from him, perhaps."

Yes… that was what he was going to say, but he caught himself this time. "What the hell is going on Zangetsu?" There was no answer on that and he forced himself to calm down.

Asia nodded as one might before a great battle. "I've decided, tonight I'm going to pray."

Somehow, he knew she would be safe in doing so, that something had been shifted about her, a protection or acknowledgment. No, that was not it, something closer to an exception made in a computer program. Like a file that had been cleared and set to be neutral, even when looked at by the virus protector. He shook his head again, this was starting to get creepy, he knew about things he could not have any way of knowing. Things he could not force himself to believe as anything but faith, or truth.

"That's wonderful, but if it might hurt you, may I be there and help you if it does?"

"Y-you would do that?"

"Of course, were going to be friends and that is what friends do."

Asia nodded happily. "I would be so grateful if you would help me."

Ichigo smiled to himself as he pushed the main dish into a different oven, it did his heart good to see those two getting along. To sense that they were forming a bond, a new strand layered over all the others, binding all of them tighter together, as family. Now that pattern of thought, at least, he knew the source of, but given that he was that source it had stopped feeling alien to his mind weeks ago. He, however, kept it all to himself, only throwing in a comment here and there as the girls got to know each other.

"Hey Sona." He said over communication.

"Yes?"

"I know this is a bit frivolous, but can the boy's and I go first with the baths, given that there are only three of us?"

"That sounds reasonable." She replied in a patient tone that told him to say no more on that matter and shut up.

"Understood." And he cut off the communication.

He let out a sigh and both girls asked him what was wrong. "I think," he confided, "I might be getting spoiled."

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He was grateful that neither of his temporary roommates had decided the bed was theirs, they got two cots and he and Nel kept the bed. Mori had done a good job of making sure the Arrancar was exhausted and ready to sleep. Ichigo had gone ahead and given her a bath when he had gone in with the other boys.

Now, as he settled into bed, Nel curling up against his body and closing her eyes, Issei and Kiba simply passed out. He too closed his eyes, but drew himself inward, and opened them again in his inner world. The first thing he noticed as he landed was that something had changed. Whereas before everything had been still, save for the falling water and darkness of the Evil Pieces, now a new wind had stirred. It blew from the east, soft and soothing, like it had always been there. His mind reached out and he found the source, his world twisted to obey his will moving him to it without actually moving him.

Ichigo stood on top of one of the buildings, the wind was strongest up here, but did not slow or impede him in anyway. It was now part of his inner world. His head tilted at the sight of who stood there. He almost took a step back as the figure turned to look at him, it wore a white mask with a red stripe down the middle with slits for eyes carved into it. Long crimson hair spilled arounds its small child sized frame. Violet eyes that remind him of Sona stared at him as the figure crouched. It wore clothing too big for it, all bunched up around its body making it impossible to get a proper idea of what this creature looked like. However none of that could compare with the huge nearly twenty foot wingspan of crystalline wings, empty of color akin to glass, but purer, more refined.

They spread wide and moved and sounded like normal wings, flapping once, bearing the child aloft a few feet above the ground. "Ooooo." It cooed at him.

"Uh, hi?" It made a confused sound at him its head tilting. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Wwu..." It replied, though he thought it recognized the name. It's great crystalline wings moved as it gracefully flew around him, making more sounds as it studied his body from head to toe.

He waited for it to sate its curiosity, it did so for about five minutes before landing in front of him, its wings vanishing into motes that looked like starlight. Like he might with a stray animal he knelt so that he was at eye level with the being. "Are you part of me?"

Its head tilted again. "Oooo."

Well that was mostly a dumb question, but there had been that Masumune incident. Slowly he reached out his hand, the being watched it looking ready to spring away at the slightest twitch. He stopped it half way and waited, the being made more unintelligible sounds as it stared at his outstretched hand.

He refused to move even an inch, keeping his stare calm, his smile inviting. Even when he blinked he did so slowly, the being began to move forward ever so slowly. Its hand rose up to touch the palm of his hand it's small fingers feeling the rough calluses of his skin. He took a risk and slowly moved his thumb to run over her small smooth fingers. It did make her freeze to watch the action, but she did not pull away.

Now that they were touching directly he closed his eyes and reached out his senses confirming what he already suspected. "Your my Inner Devil" He said gently. Her eyes so much like Sona's looked up at him. "Do you have a name?" No answer. "Do you want a name?" That got a response, the eyes focused on him with so much hunger that it scared him. So much desire pressed into a single gaze, he forced himself to think though what he was about to say. One of the many things Zangetsu had taught him was the Power in a Name. "You are," He said, "Tsukiko, the moon child"

There was a sound, something he had never heard before, but also something that felt utterly familiar, and the crystal wings shot out of the creatures back and it flew up with two powerful beats. Looking down at him it gently pushed its mask to the side, the object moving off her skin and into the wild locks of her hair. She had Sona's nose, Rias's lips and structure, its long robes seemed to come alive with silver flickers of light.

"That is a good name." Ichigo was not surprised to hear Zangetsu beside him. Tsukiko smiled at both of them before her wings began to beat with gale force, diving between buildings looking, for all the world, to be playing.

"Now that she has a name she will mature faster, and thus your control over your Devil Power will mature."

"When did this happen?"

"When you first used Bankai, we were able to retrieve and release your Devil Power."

"Oh...thanks." Ichigo glanced at Zangetsu's golden pauldron, noting that the chain was gone "What happened to you and what the hell is happening to me?"

The old man looked pensive. "I don't know, at first I thought I was a vessel or a doorway, but now that the chain is gone and I am still a Sacred Gear I am not so sure." He held up a thin strong hand. "I wonder what my power is as a Sacred Gear? It's rather fascinating and fun to have something new to learn about myself."

"Hold on, a doorway for what?"

The old man gave him a look. "Surly you have some ideas, the King of Quincies spelled it out for you."

"All he said was that I was the pawn of a dead God, I don't know what that means? Which dead god? Can Gods actually die and why in the hell is one of them using me as a pawn when it is freaking dead?"

"Ah, I see your point, to answer that second question you work with souls, you fight hollows, know of Shinigami, the living and the dead are closer and much more complicated than black and white. As for which particular God we are discussing," the Zanpakuto gave a pensive glance skyward, "He was a creature with an unsuppressed Almighty."

"Almighty?"

"Not just an Almighty, The Almighty, the first, the most powerful, a force that surpassed even what the King of Quincy and the King of Soul's hold. For they only hold vison over the future, the Dead God… The White God, could see the past, the present, and the future. The White God could change the past to some degree, the present to a great degree, and the future well, as far as the Qunicy's can find out he had his hands in most events even before he made his Church."

"Hold up, the White God, do you mean the God of the Bible?"

"Yes."

"He's dead?"

"Sort of."

"What does that even mean?"

Zangetsu let out a sigh and tapped his gold pauldron, he gestured to the wings of Tsukiko, he pointed at the gold chain of the blade Ichigo had on his back, and image of his Hollow appeared in his mind's eye and Ichigo noted the gold belt.

"Some of that being is in you, in your Soul."

"WHAT!" he blinked rapidly feeling a sense an oncoming panic. "All those times I have been sure or I felt something, that was not mine?"

"I assume he is aware of all that goes on around you, after all, you hold a fragment of his Divinity."

Ichigo closed his eyes and just sort of fell back on his ass. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"You did not ask." Zangetsu shrugged. "As far as I can tell, it entered you when you were reincarnated. We know now that Devil's, in the end, were angels, his creation. And you are an utterly unique case, the only case that could be a vessel for his Power and not be destroyed or overcome by it." It was the tone of his voice that clued Ichigo in.

"The Almighty."

"Yes, for some reason he drained himself, though for what I..." They were cut off as a flash of memory invaded both their minds. A vast beast sleeping, the head of a Lion, Leopard, a Goat and a Bear. The Shem of Babel, the creation of the first men, a weapon to end the age of the Gods.

Vast pity, and sorrow were the emotions he felt while looking upon this creature, humankind united in a Gestalt, the entire race of man focused as one, all minds, all wills to the betterment of their race. He had watched them struggle with the temptation for good and evil, watching every future but not guiding them. Free will was there for a reason, and so he had watched, waited until their future was blotted out of his sight. That was the birth of this monster, the Shem, the Name, the God of Babel. The greatest of men, poisoned by jealousy at the immortality of the Gods, determined to bring them to heel and take it for their own.

And so He had come with his host of Heaven, and fell on Babel, scattering its people to the four winds, removing the single unifying language of humankind so that they might never discover what had been lost, what had been made by their hands.

What followed through the vastness of time was his duty evermore, returning again and again, layering his power over the beast, sealing it and leaving, returning and sealing it, for no seal would last forever on the beast. And as time moved along by mortal standards, slowly, ever so slowly his Almighty overcame the protection of the beast and at long last, on the eve of the greatest war the Biblical faction had ever known he saw it. He saw the end, the ends, the endless endings of the World at the hands of that monster. He saw the end of this reality over and over again, but within that vastness a single future, one that even now he could not see all the twists and turns of, all that would be required, but he knew where it started. And so he turned all his power upon the beast, keeping only enough that he might tip the balance of the war, even at the cost of his own life. His sacrifice would be the first, given freely so that this single future could come to pass, the future that would see the Rebirth of a Guardian with his Hidden Flame.

Ichigo let out a gasp. "Shem, the Name, the summary of the whole of a people."

"Limited vision, he knows the possible end, but only the steps that are required when almost upon him." Zangetsu gasped as both he and his Master fought their way out of that vision.

"What the fuck?" Ichigo just sort of fell onto his back and, somewhat to his amusement, so did the old man.

"Does he talk to you like that?"

"That was not speech, he had only done that once and that was to Asia though your lips."

"Where is he in my soul?" Ichigo asked.

"Everywhere, nowhere, he is simply part it, connected, yet separate."

Ichigo's mind pulled out something from the vision, there had been so much that he could not even remember, a fraction of what they had seen beyond basic's. "He does not want to take over me, he needs me to make my own decisions."

The old man nodded. "You are the Guardian he foresaw."

He made a painful sound. "I have to fight that thing we saw?"

"I don't know and neither does he I think. But, honestly, you would fight the End of the World, we both know that, we are both are same person really."

"I think I'm going to keep this Divinity stuff to myself." Ichigo decided. "Honestly this is one hell of a universal curve ball to the nuts."

"True, you are an important cog in the future the White God desires, but I do not think you are the only cog." Those words…. They did have comfort. He would not have to stand alone, his mind conjured the image of the beast and he shivered. Even in the memory of a memory he knew, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that thing was the most dangerous creature he could ever have the displeasure of seeing.

"Zangetsu," He forced himself to focus, "Would you mind guarding the house tonight?"

The old man gave him a look, it was almost reproachful but... "As you wish."

With that Ichigo pulled himself out of his inner world. Glancing at the clock he had been out for about thirty seconds, but in that time his skin had gone cold and clammy, and sweat clung to his forehead like slime. Slowly on shaky legs he got out of bed, drawing Zangetsu from himself into corporeal from. The Zanpakuto nodded at him and glided out of the room, moving up to stand on the roof, specifically the weather vein, because of course he would. Ichigo half stumbled into the shower and flicked on the hot water, letting it run over him. He used that sensation to force his breathing under control. He clenched his fist, nothing had really changed, he would do as he had always done, it was just that now he knew what the stakes were.

He wasn't supposed to live his life only for the fight to come, he knew that, he knew such a focus would not bring about that one shining future. He paused to consider that thought, recognizing it as one not his own, but at least knowing whose it was. However, he was going to be upping his training, move the week at a time study with Aizen to a month at a time. Master only wanted him once a week so that could stay the same… he would need to keep working with his Peerage mates to get them stronger too. If he was a cog in this battle then so were they. Lastly he would need to work with someone to get his Devil Power under control. He had been willing to wait on that, but now with what he had seen that was not an option.

A feeling of warning flooded him. "Don't worry," he said aloud, "I will still live my life, I will still love those I love, go to school, and have fun. I don't want to go crazy, somehow I doubt that would help."

Agreement

He pressed his head against the shower wall. Strength was returning to his body, his will relighting as he accepted what he had seen and moved forward. "Well, let me deal with this crisis first… we have time right?"

Agreement.

He tilted his head. "A lot of time?"

Agreement

Well that was something at least, to keep the nightmares away… not that he had dreams of his own anymore, it was school with Aizen then a quick flashback into the life of a boy he did not know, nor have any idea why he was seeing it… well, at least his life was good enough that he did not need wet dreams anymore.

Ichigo flinched at that thought waiting to see if it got a response, when nothing happened he let out a sigh and stuck his head under the water. A quick shower then it was time for him to go to work, he had to wonder what Aizen had in store for him tonight?

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T-Biggz

It is stated that Orihime and Chad received their powers from Hollows but we can all assume that it's due to Ichigo's spiritual power leaking out in the manner it does that they evolved in the way that happened so why aren't they marked in his soul sky like Sona and Rias are?

To the first part, people just did not know it was from Ichigo in this universe. And Second part, Orihime has not been around Ichigo the devil long enough for that to happen. Plus its a bit slower for her since she has spiritual power of her own now.

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B.I

"no better represented visibly then by his Hollow."...

I wish you would stop referring to his Zanpaktou as a hollow, a hollow is a being with a different soul(s). Call it his Zanpaktou.

Ichigo does not know that yet, no one has told him. Or at least told him in a way he would understand. Remember most of this story is done using his perspective so he had no idea White is his Zanpaktou.

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TheB

Vasco fucking Strada? Now THAT is a proper response from the church to the Excalibur theft!

Not sending some low rank wet behind the ears exorcists to (possibly) fight a cadre.

You know you are absolutely correct, would it not make sense to send in your best against a person on the level of a god rather than two pieces of harem bait. Sigh, one can interpret it several ways in story, (Out of story I don't think the author made the character yet) but in story either the church is moranic (Possible) or this is the work once again of people in the church working against the church's interest.

"Retrieve the Excliabur you say, why we will send our best and brightest young exorcists to get it back"

"What about our best and oldest?"

"Shut up"

Anyway to clarify he is here with a target for extermination, and I think you will all understand soon what route I have taken with the church responce to the theft.

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HolyKnight5

Between the Riser Game, and the show against Sona's Dad, it's at this point confirmed that the Devils have in Kuoh at least 3 Ultimate Ranked Devils, the original suggestion of sending two rookies like Irina and Xenovia alone would be shot down.

As I said at the start of the chapter the church does not know about Sona and Rias.

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Comment of the week

Burner

. Good closure to this arc, the scenes between Sona and her mom were very well done, by the way is the phrase "need to kill Thor" some reference to********* (redacted but you know what your wrote)

Orihime and Serafall continue to have the best relationship ever, also highly hyped about the travel to Karakura, please update when you can

All I can say is good job and thank you for your compliment.