Finally. I finished this part. Hope you enjoy it

Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach


Chapter Fifteen - Revelations II

"If that's the case, where are the other substitute soul reapers?"

Ichigo went quiet for few moments while pondering about what he was asked. "Now that you mention it, where are they? I never really got the chance to think about this with you constantly trying to devour me and then the arrancars appeared."

"I know and I don't blame you for that. Also at the time, you were still a bigger dumbass than you are now." White said with a grin

"Hey!"

"Ichigo." Zangetsu called out and prevented what could have been a pointless argument. "Tell us, why did you think he had your combat pass destroyed?"

"Uh so I will be forced to learn how to control my spiritual pressure?"

"That was part of it but the real reason is..."

"Because it wasn't a combat pass at all. It was a device that was controlling your spirit energy."

"What did you just say? It was controlling my spirit energy? How exactly?"

"To be precise, at the time, you had almost zero control over your spirit energy. This means that if you are ever agitated, your spirit energy rages out of control and unless you calm yourself quickly, it will eventually destroy everything around you. This also means that your spirit energy is constantly fluctuating. However, whenever you come into contact with the pass, within about six to eight hours, your spirit energy is kept at a constant level. This normally would not be an issue but instead of it being the same level every time, it becomes different in the hours after you touch the pass. This can only mean that..."

"That it was being actively controlled by someone, right?"

"That's right Ichigo. And try to guess who that someone is."

"The soul society..."

"That's right. If a simple device like that was able to actively control your spirit energy, then what do you think is its true function?"

"Well, I'm not really sure." Ichigo said while scratching his head

Both Zangetsu and White facepalmed at this. The answer is perfectly obvious and somehow Ichigo doesn't know. In his annoyance, White flashed to Ichigo and launched a few kicks but Ichigo was able to dodge them all.

"What the hell's your problem?" Ichigo grumbled

"My problem is that you are a complete idiot. You should already know the answer and yet how in the world do you not know." White responded. Before he could attack again Zangetsu interrupted

"Alright. That's enough." Zangetsu said which broke up the bickering. "Ichigo, the real purpose of this device was surveillance and control. In other words, the soul society was keeping an eye on you through the combat pass."

"Exactly. You don't like being spied on, do you Ichigo?"

"Spying on me? Why in the hell would they do that?"

Both Zangetsu and White looked at each other, contemplating on whether or not it would be a good idea to tell Ichigo. "Right now we are just theorizing. Based on what that captain said, previous substitute soul reapers have been given the pass. If that is true, then the most likely explanation is that the previous substitutes turned against the soul society and are in hiding. I say in hiding and not dead is because of what transpired when the soul society gave you the pass."

"Just what exactly do you mean by that? And what does that Aizen incident have to do with the substitute soul reapers being alive?"

"To put it simply Ichigo, when the pass was given to you, the soul society could not afford to have you as an enemy since three of their own betrayed them. So with this in mind, why would they risk you turning against them if you found out they have been spying on you?"

"I'll answer that for you. Because the pass was meant to be a long term goal of some sort. In other words, the soul society knows that the previous substitutes will make contact with you and when that happens, they would then kill all of you substitutes."

"What? Why would they do that? I thought substitute soul reapers would be on their side as well?"

"That was most certainly the case Ichigo. However, the other substitutes must have realized that the soul society was spying on them and decided to lay low and turn against them. This pass also shows how much they don't trust anyone outside of the soul society, Kisuke and the visored excluded. Since they were spying on the substitutes, this also means that they are making sure that they will know immediately if the substitute is gonna turn on them."

"Based on this, the true purpose of the pass is to lure out the other substitutes from hiding and like we said, the soul society would then kill you. If you think this is bad enough Ichigo, it gets worse. The soul society does not consider you as an ally. The whole time, they only saw you as a sword to point at Aizen or to be more accurate, their failsafe."

"And how would you know that? They came to help me save Orihime right?"

"Are you sure they went there to help you rescue Orihime? If so they why did they let you go to hueco mundo alone? If they were serious about rescuing her, they would have told you to standby while they would select personnel and given the situation, that should not have taken more than an hour. That excuse that they needed Kisuke to stabilize the garganta was downright pathetic. You were already on the same level as a captain and Kisuke allowed you to pass through it, meaning captains can also use it safely. And to be quite honest Ichigo, I think the soul society wants Orihime dead, well the captains anyway."

Ichigo was speechless at this information and for good reason. "What makes you say that?" he said after finally finding his voice

"Because of her personality Ichigo. The truth is, she is just too... nice."

"And what is wrong with that?"

"Isn't it obvious Ichigo? If you are too nice, then people will easily be able to take advantage of you. True her ability to heal might be unmatched but she is so naive. Hell even Aizen was able to use that naivete and tricked her into going to hueco mundo."

"How do you know that?"

"It is the only explanation Ichigo. That girl is head over heels for you. Obviously she was tricked into thinking you would be killed so she agreed to go to hueco mundo to protect you. If she had half a brain she would have known better. This naivete is something the soul society cannot afford. Since she is not part of the thirteen court guard squads and thus not directly under their command, they cannot have her power used against them. Even though they can benefit greatly from her healing which surpasses even Unohana's, if it can be used by their enemies as well, then it is better to just get rid of her. In fact, I'm certain the only reason that the soul society even aided you in hueco mundo, was to ensure that you do not get a bad opinion of them even though you already had one."

"Don't forget the failsafe part. We're not exactly sure how, but the soul society somehow knows that you have not been exposed to Kyoka Suigetsu's shikai. This means that you are the only one who can actually fight and defeat Aizen."

"So do you understand Ichigo? You never had any allies in them. In fact, the only allies you have would be Kisuke, Isshin and Aizen."

"Aizen? Why him?"

"Like I mentioned earlier, Aizen knows everything about you. Shinji also previously said that the soul society ordered to execute them simply because they were no longer pure soul reapers through no fault of their own. I am certain only Aizen and the other two captains who were with him know the truth along with Kisuke and Isshin. With this in mind, if the soul society had known about your heritage, do you really think that the soul society would let you live considering you are part hollow?"

"That's not even counting the part that despite being a hollow and soul reaper hybrid, you are also a quincy. Not to mention the fact that your power surpasses even that moronic head captain. In fact, compared to yours, his power would look nothing more like a children's trick."

Caught off guard by the last statement, Ichigo just stood there, mouth agape. "Wha... I uhh."

"If you keep up like that you're mouth is gonna catch flies." White mocked him which also caused Zangetsu to smile a bit

With that last mockery, Ichigo finally was able to form a complete sentence. "Shut up. Just tell me what you meant when you said I am more powerful than the old man."

White just laughed at Ichigo's annoyance while Zangetsu still kept his smile. "Ichigo, do you remember what I said earlier? Your own true powers have been sealed away using your father's and Rukia's spirit energy. And as a natural born hybrid of a hollow, soul reaper and quincy, you possess powers that are beyond what most have, including the head captain. However, you still know next to nothing about it. That is why when we finish telling you everything, we will teach you the most important ones."

"My power surpasses the old man's? Is that even possible?"

"Well to be fair when you had the final getsuga tensho, you were already more powerful than him. And if you think is fire abilities are cool, just you wait til you learn exactly what I can do. Just to put it into perspective Ichigo, when you finally learn how to control at least half of your mixed powers, you will be able to bring everyone in the soul society to their knees with just your spiritual pressure alone, the moronic old man included. Well maybe the last part was a bit of exaggeration. I think you would need to know everything about your power to bring the old man to his knees."

Understandably, Ichigo was once again surprised at this. Who wouldn't be. Yamamoto was the strongest soul reaper and somehow Ichigo was stronger than him. He was finally brought out of his trance when someone a voice called out. "Now Ichigo. I believe there is one last thing we have not told you about. Are you ready for this?"

"It's about my mother's death isn't it? Just tell me about it already."

"Very well then. The real reason your mother died was because of me, or to be more accurate, the man whom I resemble."

"Who is this guy? And why do you look like him?" Ichigo asked in a surprisingly calm manner

"That's a surprise. I would have thought you would be furious at that. At any rate, the reason is because he is the progenitor of of the quincies, the son of the soul king, the king of the quincies and his blood flows through every quincy, Yhwach, the sealed king of the quincy."

"So the reason you look like this Yhwach guy is because his blood flows through all quincies?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact Ichigo, even for a quincy, you are unique. Usually a quincy would not have a manifestation of their own powers unlike a soul reaper, however, because of your hollow's monstrous power, your quincy powers was able to gain sentience and it took on the form of Yhwach from one thousand years ago, and that is who I am."

"I see. So what does he have to do with my mother's death? And why and where is he sealed?"

"You know, I'm almost proud that you are my master, Ichigo but don't let that get to your head." White commented which made Ichigo smile. "To be perfectly honest Ichigo, the title of 'sealed king' is just a lie. The truth is he was defeated in battle, and his quincies hid him away until he made a recovery and regain his powers."

"Defeated in battle? By whom?"

"By head captain Genryusai Yamamoto." Zangetsu answered him which shocked Ichigo again. "One thousand years ago, the thirteen court guard squads did not exist yet. The only ones who present were thirteen fighters who were nearly as strong as Yamamoto. Yhwach and his quincies declared war upon these thirteen fighters and were defeated. Yhwach was severely injured by Yamamoto's bankai but his powers allowed him to survive. After they were defeated, they fled and created an empire while awaiting the return of their king."

"By Yamamoto? So he is that strong. And where did the quincies flee to?"

"To the soul society. They have been hiding there for nearly a thousand years."

"What? How in the hell did they manage to hide right under the thirteen court guard squad's noses? And why Yhwach still hasn't fully regained his powers yet?"

"I'm not sure if you are aware Ichigo, but quincies fight using the ambient reishi. Since the soul society is made of of reishi, they manipulated it, and created an empire within the shadows of the soul society. The place they chose to create their empire, was concidentally, the same place that would later be known as the seireitei."

"I get it. So the quincies chose the location first before the thirteen fighters did right? Still, it doesn't answer why he took so long to recover?"

"As I said Ichigo, Yhwach was defeated by Yamamoto's bankai and survived only because of his powers. For you see, the power of Yamamoto's bankai is to clad both his body and blade with very intense heat, and anything that comes into contact with him or the blade, it will instantly be burned to ashes. However, Yhwach has an ability that is even more dangerous than that. His ability is to shape the future into what he desires."

"What? How is that even possible?"

"The future is not set in stone Ichigo and there are millions of possibilites. With every decision, a different future is created. To be precise, Yhwach's ability is to see every single event and then making certain events happen to get the future he wants. Think of it like Byakuya's bankai. The blades of his bankai would be an event, and when he selects which blades to merge to form a sword, that would be the future. Or in simple terms, think of it like how Aizen manipulates people except there would be fewer blind spots. And his ability is callled 'The Almighty'."

"Indeed. With this ability, he was able to survive the battle. However, like I mentioned, Yamamoto's power is vast and as such it took him nearly one thousand years just to regain consciousness. This is how your mother died Ichigo. For you see, after the war between the quincies and soul reapers, the quincies divided into two groups, the first are the ones who remained loyal to Yhwach and awaited his return and the second are the ones that remain in the world of the living, who simply chose to move on with their lives and live in peace."

"So what does this have to do with my mother's death?"

"After nearly a thousand years, Yhwach finally regained consciousness, however, he still has not regained his power. In order to regain his power, he conducted a ritual known as Auswahlen. This is a ritual that can only be performed by the king of the quincies. The nature of this ritual is any quincy deemed unnecessary will have their powers stolen and return to their progenitor and he conducted this ritual in the world of the living."

"Wait, so that means that..."

"That's right Ichigo. As unfortunate as it is, your mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the both of you encountered Grand Fisher, that was the moment the Auswahlen was performed."

Ichigo was trembling with rage at this. His mother, killed by a very weak hollow, all because someone deemed her unnecessary. "Dad knows about this, didn't he?" Ichigo asked to which both Zangetsu and White nodded. "Why wouldn't he tell me any of this?"

"Your father was just doing what any parent would have done Ichigo and that is to protect his children even if in doing so, it would severely strain their relationship."

"While we are not parents Ichigo, we can relate to that feeling. After all, we did lie to you to keep you safe."

Ichigo looked down in defeat. When he thinks about it, it was probably for the best at the time that he did not know about it. "I guess you're right." Ichigo said after realizing that his father basically abandoned the thirteen court guard squads to protect his mother. "Wait a minute, you said Yhwach has regained his powers, does that mean..."

"Yes. It is only a matter of time before he makes his return known."

"And everyone, will feel it, regardless if you're a soul reaper, quincy, hollow or a human."

"And his goal is to kill the soul king. If he succeeds, the three worlds, the human world, the soul society and hueco mundo would all collapse."

"So how am I supposed to fight someone who can literally see the future?"

"The Almighty may be powerful Ichigo, but it has some noticeable blind spots. The first is, the number of possibilities are endless and while his power allows him to see every single one, he can only look at a few thousand at a time. So to exploit this, you just have to not make yourself known to him, or at least make him think you are not a threat."

"And the second is, while his ability would allow him to immediately understand his opponent's power, he has to at least have some idea what he is dealing with. The reason for this is quite simple, despite the endless possibilites, you can never prepare for all of them. Even if he tries to, his own countermeasures might work against him if he prepared for the wrong one. As such, the key to defeating Yhwach is to catch him by surprise and to do that there is only one way, you must pretend like you are just now a normal human in order to avoid his notice and strike him down when he least expects it."

"I guess that makes sense. Truthfully, after what you've told me about the soul society, I'm no longer keen on helping them on this war. But I'm still not gonna attack them first unless they do something stupid. Is there a way for me to keep an eye on them while not making myself known?"

"As I would expect from you Ichigo. And yes, there is a way for you to do that."

"Then how?"

"Well, your spiritual pressure cannot be sensed unless you allow it to so that alone gives you a massive advantage already. However, while this allows you to remain undetectable, you can still be noticed if someone sees you."

"So the time has come, Ichigo, are you ready to learn about the power that has been hidden inside you? This is the only way for you to be able to deal with both the soul society and Yhwach."


There you have it. I decided to put some blind spots on the Almighty and I don't think that it is pretty unreasonable. Kindly review as usual