Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach
Chapter Nineteen - The Sword and its Master
'So how do I use this place to enter the soul society?' Ichigo asked as he stopped walking
"Unlike what most people think Ichigo, the garganta is not the pathway to and from hueco mundo. In fact the garganta is the space in which the three worlds are located." Zangetsu answered him. "This garganta you are using is merely manipulating the reishi in it to open a gateway and creating a path to a different world."
'For real? Then why do the soul society use the senkaimon to travel to the world of the living?' Ichigo asked in surprise
"Because nobody knows about the true nature of the garganta. In fact, the only ones who know are the royal family, including Yhwach and probably Aizen." Zangetsu responded
'Really? In that case, what's the point in having the precipice world if the garganta can be used to travel between worlds?' Ichigo curiously asked
"Only spirits with spirit energy have the ability to manipulate reishi." White joined in. "Since regular souls have no spirit energy, if they enter this place, they would just fall in this never ending abyss."
"So in order for regular spirits to traverse between the soul society and the world of the living, the soul king used his power to create the precipice world, a world that connects two different worlds like a tunnel to allow regular souls to move between worlds. Of course, this does not apply to hueco mundo as no regular soul would want to become a hollow." Zangetsu finished the explanation
'Now that is interesting.' Ichigo said. 'So how do I use the garganta to go to the soul society? And are you sure they won't notice?'
"I already told you, nobody can sense a garganta opening, only the spiritual pressures of the one inside. The only problem would be where to enter the soul society so that no one can see someone entering the place." White answered him
"Now Ichigo, concentrate on the place you want the garganta to open and keep moving forward. Once you are nearing the exit, you will feel the reishi pressure increasing and soon an exit will appear in front of you." Zangetsu instructed
'Okay then.' Ichigo said before thinking about the soul society and began walking
"Don't think about that place Ichigo." White suddenly said
'What? Why?' Ichigo asked
"Because if you keep thinking about the seireitei then the exit will open there and announce your arrival to everyone." White answered
'Oh. So where do I go then?'
"Think about a place where it is unlikely to have anyone around Ichigo." Zangetsu said. "The crater made among the mountains during your battle with Aizen would be a good choice."
"Just to be safe, open the exit on the side of the giant hole after Aizen blasted your left arm. That would be the safest place to open the exit." White said
'Alright then.' Ichigo said before concentrating real hard. That specific area wasn't exactly the easiest to picture
Soon enough, Ichigo made it to the soul society with the exit opening up exactly where he wanted. 'Man. Feels like a lifetime ago since I was last here. Especially knowing what is to come, it feels really weird to just lay low.'
"Well, a new experience is always helpful Ichigo. You need to be flexible otherwise you will become dead meat in a situation you are not familiar with." White responded
"And since you are here Ichigo, it is time for you to get your real zanpakuto. Head to the bottom of this hole and come inside your inner world." Zangetsu instructed him
Ichigo did as he was told and went to the very bottom of the crater and it was a really long drop. Getting into a sitting position, he once again entered his inner world and came face to face with his inner spirits
"So, how am I supposed to get my zanpakuto?" Ichigo asked
"Ichigo, have you noticed, that despite being able to use your real powers, most of it is still suppressed?" Zangetsu asked
"Uh no. I thought you said once I use the final getsuga tensho, the seal suppressing my powers would be broken?" Ichigo once again asked in surprised
"It did Ichigo, however the seal is more complicated than that. It is true that using it has broken the seal, it only broke its hold on your spiritual pressure. I'm sure you have realized by now, that the zanpakuto you're holding is not you're real zanpakuto but one created from the powers that never belonged to you." White explained
"Yes. So in order for the seal to be completely broken, you need to turn your current zanpakuto into your real one, the one that has been hidden inside you since the day you were born." Zangetsu said before looking at White with the two of them nodding to each other
The two of them were then outlined with their respective powers, old man Zangetsu with blue and White with red. They then held up one of their arms and a beam of energy shot forth, creating blue flames with a red sword at the center. "This is your true zanpakuto Ichigo, the real Zangetsu. Take it. It is yours." the old man said before he was slowly fading away
"Wait. What is happening to you?" Ichigo asked as he saw what was happening
"As we said before Ichigo, I am not Zangetsu, he is. Since you are now receiving your true zanpakuto, your inner hollow, the real Zangetsu, will become the core of your powers." the old man replied sadly, shedding a single tear with White looking rather sad as well. "Now Ichigo, receive your true zanpakuto."
Ichigo could do nothing to stop this. With what is to come, all he can do is hope that the old man would still be with him. But when he grabbed hold of the sword, he had other plans. Instead of simply pulling it out, he grabbed the guard and split the sword in two. An act which surprised both of his inner spirits
"What did you do?" White asked, surprised
"I never really understood what you meant. About how you are a part of my hollow. All I know is It that the both of you are part of powers and the both of you have helped a lot since I became aware of my powers. I'm sure by splitting my sword in two, neither of you were directly affected by it. So instead of having only one of you, how about the both of you become the center of my spirit energy?" Ichigo explained to them with the flames on his sword finally dying down, revealing one of his sword to be similar to his old one. It was an oversized khyber knife but this time, it had a proper handle and a small guard with a thin hollowed out portion in the middle. His other one was shorter. About the length of the blade on his khyber knife. It was shaped like a trench knife with an enclosed handle. Both swords were pure black
Outside Ichigo's body, trails of spirit energy was released. By the time Ichigo split his sword in his inner world, his zanpakuto was covered in black flames and turned into the khyber knife he was holding with the trench knife neatly placed on its blade
Back with the three, both his inner hollow and quincy powers were shocked at this turn of events. Neither of them even considered this possibility. The old man was still a part of the hollow, but he no longer had to vanish for Ichigo to achieve his full power while his hollow remained as powerful as he was. The only real change was that they no longer have to vie for control over the core of Ichigo's powers.
"Thank you, Ichigo." the old man said and for the first time ever, Ichigo saw his hollow with a smile. A genuine smile and not an evil grin
"I must say, I am really glad to have you as a partner, Ichigo." the hollow told him
The three of them were silent for a bit of time, enjoying the happiness and the bond they shared with Ichigo's recent act, until Ichigo broke the silence. "Do you think someone would have noticed us? I mean, I did release quite a bit of spirit energy, right?"
"Remember Ichigo, your spiritual pressure cannot be detected so it is unlikely that anyone noticed. Reishi also remains in the area for quite some time if a battle took place, depending on the amount. With the levels of power you and Aizen released during your fight, it would take a few months for it to completely dissipate."
"This crater is also quite deep. I don't think anyone would be wiling to come down here just to check a spike in spiritual pressure, well unless you're that crazy scientist." White added. "Now Ichigo, since you have your true zanpakuto, you can now use all of your powers but I'll only show you one for now. Go to where the fake Karakura Town was. It should be where the real one was when it was here."
"Huh? Why?" Ichigo asked
"Because one of your abilities take advantage of corpses. Go check if Mayuri left you some to play with. Just do it. It doesn't matter if you wanna use it or not as long as you are aware you can do it." White instructed him and gave him no time to object
"Fine whatever. But I'm telling you, I'm not gonna use whatever it is you are planning to show me."Ichigo grumbled before leaving his inner world. He then immediately headed for the location where Karakura was and as expected, the destroyed fake one was there. Ichigo then immediately scanned the town for any corpses. 'So am I just supposed to roam around until I find one?' he grumbled
"Unfortunately, yes. Just search the rubbles that weren't made when you, Isshin and the others fought Aizen and Gin." Zangetsu told him
'Fine. Damn it this is such a pain.' Ichigo continued to grumble
After nearly an hour of searching, Ichigo came up empty. 'This isn't working. Are you sure I have to go through them one by one?'
"Ichigo, look at that pillar to your left."
Ichigo did as he was told and saw it was a destroyed pillar. "That pillar is destroyed. Check that one out as well as the area around it."
When Ichigo did just that, he finally found a corpse. It was that of a rather large arrancar. 'Now what? And shouldn't this have disappeared by now?'
"Not necessarily Ichigo. Just like human bodies, spiritual beings take quite a long time to decompose, or in this case, dissipate. It is quite a bit of surprise though that Mayuri Kurotsuchi did not take all of them." Zangetsu answered him
"He probably only took one or two and left the rest to rot." White commented. "Ichigo, release your flames into the corpse but do not have it burn anything."
'Okay.' Ichigo said before doing it. As soon as he did it, the corpse suddenly rose up and just stood still which freaked Ichigo out. 'What the hell! A zombie?!'
"Calm down. Are you seriously fearless against someone like Yhwach or Aizen but is afraid of a mere zombie?"
'Shut up! Zombies are not cool. What is this thing anyway?'
"This is what happens when you release your flames without the intent to burn Ichigo. It allows you to take control of a corpse. This ability only works on those who died or on low level beings such as newborn hollows or a soul reaper that has not yet graduated from the soul reaper academy." Zangetsu answered him
'The two of you know this literally degrades the corpse and that I don't like doing things like that so why in the hell are you showing me this one?'
"Because it has certain advantages Ichigo. The first is that corpse effectively becomes an extension of your eyes and ears and to a certain extent, your ability to detect spiritual pressure. This allows you to see and hear what is happening in a place even if you are at a different world. However, I do not recommend that you do this just yet. Among all your abilities in your shikai, this requires the most concentration in order for you to manage yourself as well as manipulate the corpse in question."
"And how exactly does it degrade the person Ichigo? When a spirit dies it simply goes on the cycle of reincarnation, meaning it gets reborn in the soul society or the world of the living unless you are a hollow destroyed by a quincy. And I already told you, I only want you to be aware of this. Whether you use it or not is up to you."
'It's just wrong to take advantage of something like that and knowing you guys, you probably are gonna give me a reason on why I should be using it.'
"You know us quite too well. I want you to use it because raising an undead army is fun. This one also has a catch Ichigo. You can raise the same corpse over and over again for as long as its reishi is still around. Even if it was destroyed, if a tiny bit of its reishi still remains elsewhere, you can use that as an undead again."
"You really like messing with Ichigo don't you?" Zangetsu commented to which White just laughed. "Ichigo, the truth is you cannot simply hide your body using your flames. If someone was to keep an eye on you, it would be suspicious if you just disappear and something happens. In order to avoid this, you can use this ability so that your body will appear to be as if normal while you are doing something else."
'Won't my body appear weird if I control it using this ability?'
"That would depend on your control over this ability. If a corpse if afflicted by its ability, you are actively controlling it. Just look at the one in front of you now. It isn't doing anything and that is because you only raised it but are not controlling it. This is why I told you not to use this ability just yet. You need to learn how to multitask if you are to use this effectively."
'You're right. It's still just standing there.' Ichigo then had the corpse move around, jump and crouch and it did all that. 'This one really is kind of interesting, but I'm only gonna use it on my body and nothing else, you got that?' he told his inner spirits
Ichigo then checked the fake town and realized nobody had been watching a random corpse just rise up for no apparent reason. He then used his pesquisa to double check before concluding he was in the safe. 'Now what?'
"By now, your clothes should have turned into 'spiritual clothes' since it has been exposed to large amounts of spirit energy so you should feel no discomfort when entering your body."
"Yeah. I think you should go spy on the soul reapers Ichigo just to check their next move. There should still be at least a couple hours before it gets too late."
'Okay but how do I get in?'
"Just get to the barrier Ichigo and I'll take care of the rest."
"But first, let go of your control of the corpse first."
'How do I do that?'
"Just have one of your swords make contact with the corpse and it will remove your control over it. While you won't be able to control it until you do it again, it will still remain your eyes and ears, just on this area anyway."
Ichigo then did just that and the corpse dropped to the floor, lifeless. He then made his way towards the seireitei which was not that far from the town. He soon arrived at the rukongai district and immediately headed towards the seireitei which still had the wall down. 'I'm here. What do I do?'
"Climb up the wall and put your palm on the barrier."
Ichigo then did what Zangetsu said and suddenly a hole in the barrier opened. 'How did you do that?' he asked in surprise
"I just manipulated the reishi in the barrier to allow you entry. Now go to the squad one barracks. If there is anything going on, that will be the place to find out." Zangetsu said to which Ichigo wasted no time entering the place and immediately headed to the barracks
Here is the next one. I was kinda excited to write it. Hope you enjoy
