Disclaimer: I do not own bleach! All credits go to Tite Kubo
Skies over the east branch
***Much Later***
As the helicopters roared through the skies with their engines, they were finally getting close to their targets, the intent they had wasn't to land but to rope down, except Ichigo who would use his reiatsu to amplify his physical prowess and just jump out instead.
Ichigo heard it over his earpiece that they would be on target in just a few moments and the point was to fly over to the buildings and rope down using reishi lines made by the helicopter, although that was the soldiers, Ichigo could use his reiatsu to strengthen his physical prowess and could very easily just jump out of the helicopter at that altitude without any problems or danger at all.
And eventually they got over the buildings, the SW-5s began to hover as the rear ramps opened up and reishi ropes were manifested by the helicopters on both sides and the rear, Ichigo however was naturally the first one on the ground as the troops came after.
Normally, the A.N.U, which was an elite force made up of special forces soldiers in all units except the intelligence unit which was a desk job unit and not combat, was well capable of handling this situation themselves very easily, despite their status as a secret police force, so why then did Ichigo come personally?
Well, it wasn't exactly to honor his troops with his presence, but to set an example, because the spiritual world was not as nice and pleasant as the world of the living, which was quite ironic as the living dreams of a paradise in the after life, and yet it is so far from the truth.
The truth would be best shown here, as Ichigo knew what he had to do, in order to ensure the safety of his empire, to ensure that people wanted to be friendly with them, and to ensure that no one dared to think twice or stabbed them in the back or just openly opposed them, Ichigo knew that he needed to be ruthless, and this was a perfect opportunity to do so.
As soon as Ichigo had jumped out and hit the ground, the servants and guards that had watched the spectacle was rather surprised to see Ichigo come out personally, though they showed great distrust and wasn't exactly keen on Ichigo being there, Ichigo was not really that keen on having those people around either, so the feeling was extremly mutual.
"What the!?" A guard said as he stood there, tsukubo in hand against the armed, ranged units of the Wandenreich, and Ichigo had no problems creating arrows with Zangetsu or creating a reishi bow, or manifesting a physical ranged weapon as he was also trained in that aswell.
Though Ichigo did require training himself for the STG, it didn't really bother him, in fact Ichigo didn't even need to learn how to manifest those weapons, he just did it for fun mostly whenever he was bored and had lots of free time on his hands, and it did give him something in common with the regular soldats aswell, however if Ichigo utilized Zangetsu, he had to restrict his powers to extreme levels as to not directly unleash armaggedon in the whole area, although it made the job very easy, which made it much more easier for Ichigo to suppress his own powers by utilizing regular Quincy weaponry, as Zangetsu was the mainstray of Ichigo's powers.
However, Ichigo was used to suppressing his powers and controlling them with very accurate and fine control, and the fact that Ichigo had manifested Zangetsu in it's sealed form helped suppress his powers to extreme levels aswell, giving the appearance of Ichigo's personal and extravagant command cane as no one except the soldats actually knew that Ichigo was holding his Zanpakuto as it appeared that Ichigo just leaned on the crown of his command cane.
"Excuse me, but this is the property of our lord, Oshikagi Ginari, do you have an appointment?" A servant asked as he came out.
"I do." Ichigo said firmly.
By now, the soldats had all landed, and with their new armor pieces and stood behind Ichigo, however they showed no signs of aggression whatsoever.
"That must be odd, this is the first time I have heard about our lord awaiting guests? Do you have anything to show as evidence of this appointment?" Another servant asked as she exited the building.
"Considering the fact that your lord has allied himself with the fullbringers, I made the appointment myself, just now, but if you really want to see it, then here it is!" Ichigo said sternly as he held up his command cane.
No one knew that it was indeed Zangetsu in it's sealed form except the soldats, and out of the blue, the short sword which in it's sealed form was connected to the cane and functioned as the sheathe abruptly vanished before anyone could react, and then Ichigo brought it down.
*Chop... Ka-kakaka, Splash*
Just like that, Ichigo had bisected the first servant from head to toe, leaving the body to fall into two pieces Bambietta style, the guards, servants and gardeners were stunned at this display and confused for a brief moment, but the Quincy soldats saw it coming miles away and was not taken by surprise at all, they had their orders.
Just as the household guards managed to regain themselves, the soldats had already lined up and formed a firing line with rifles aiming right at them as they opened fire with their rifles first, sparing no one in the courtyard as gardeners, servants, guards, animals, everything was shot dead by ruthless and merciless shots from the Quincy soldats, and so, Ichigo gave his order through the radio, but also with a loud voice.
"These people have aligned themselves with the Dominion, we do not take kindly to enemy sympathizers! Men, women, children, animals, it doesn't matter, sack the whole place and clear it out! Show no mercy!" Ichigo ordered, which was surprising giving the fact that it was Ichigo we were talking about, however, this had a serious consequence aswell.
With this one order, Ichigo released the leash that held his soldiers together and told them to sack the place with no mercy, all discipline was immediately thrown out of the window as the A.N.U soldats were able to do as they pleased, wanted to rape a woman or young girl? Wanted to torture someone? Wanted to make someone suffer extremly? Not a problem, everything was now permitted!
The soldats immediately went on a rampage as a result as they began to scatter left and right to do exactly as they pleased, however it was evident that confusion has taken hold in the rest of the household, despite the roar of the helicopters that now vanished, they had no idea what was actually happening, but the guards responded to the sound of rifles firing.
Regardless, Ichigo decided to enter the building on his own accord as he personally wanted to deal with the nobles in this house and to teach them a lesson of what happens to the enemies of the empire.
Ichigo however, just stood there, his left hand behind his back in a command filled manner, his traditional scowl filled his face, then he put the sealed longsword between his index and middle fingers on his right hand and began to rapidly swing it around 360 degrees vertically as he began to whistle a song as he made his way towards the entrance doors to the building.
As he got to the doors, he didn't remove his stance at all and kept swinging the sealed longsword around his fingers as he kicked in the doors before forcibly making his way inside only to meet three guards that was surprised to see him, regardless, Ichigo had already sensed them so before they could react, Ichigo threw Zangetsu a short distance in the air before grabbing it and cut the head off the first guard.
The second guard was cut from the right should down to the left waist as his body fell apart, the third one got cut vertically through the skull, cutting the brain in two with a perfect middle cut, Ichigo however just took the situation calmly and kept whistling nonchalantly before he put Zangetsu right back between the index and middle finger and kept swinging it around like Zangetsu was a toy, all of it done nearly instantly as Ichigo was still extremly fast, for any other spiritual being it would appear as if Ichigo just walked calmly, that's how fast it was.
Soon after the alarm sounded as they had no realized that they were under attack, screams and gunfire was heard as the Quincies showed no mercy whatsoever and practically did whatever they wanted.
As Ichigo got further inside, his back filled with dead bodies that was sliced in pieces faster then anyone could blink, regardless, Ichigo eventually reached a staircase and kept walking upwards it until he reached the top where he approached two slide doors which he slid open, then suddenly he quickly moved his left hand and grabbed something.
*Clang*
"...It was a nice move, but if you want to utilize the element of surprise, wouldn't it be better to hide your presence aswell?" Ichigo asked as he had grabbed a zanpakuto aiming towards his neck with his fingers by the blade.
Ichigo was now in the presence of two men, their attires signified that they weren't nobles but elders and advisors of the family.
They looked at Ichigo with rather stern faces, however, Ichigo was not intimidated at all, if anything, these two were just small fry that wouldn't even be able to cut him due to the extreme difference in reiatsu levels, if anything the only thing they sensed was Ichigo's presence that was so powerful it changed depending on Ichigo's mood, although Ichigo has been training to hide the sensation of his emotions, if anything, even Aizen was unable to sense Ichigo's reiatsu levels due to the enormity of it, and that said a lot as Aizen was considered a reiatsu monster himself.
Regardless, the second elder attempted to slash Ichigo but Ichigo, without breaking a sweat, broke the first elders Zanpakuto by forcing his own reiatsu into it, causing it to shatter into a million pieces before he used Zangetsu to slash off the hand of the second elder, leaving him screaming as blood spilled out of his arm.
"I am currently looking for the family that owns this place, you wouldn't happen to know where they're hiding would you?" Ichigo asked rather impatiently with a tone filled with authority.
"Screw you!" The first noble said as he attempted to punch Ichigo, however he wasn't fast at all, and Ichigo had no problem by grabbing the elder by his throat with a forceful grip as he lifted the elder up by his throat while holding a tight grip, causing him to choke.
"I asked a question, I demand an honest answer!" Ichigo practically ordered.
Ichigo waited for a few moments, but the only thing he could hear was the fighting and screaming outside along with the first elder choking, they clearly refused to answer, causing Ichigo to become extremly annoyed.
"Well... No matter, they'll be found eventually." Ichigo said as he forcibly pushed his own reiatsu into the body of the elder, causing his body to overload, which normally was extremly painful but Ichigo was so fast that he didn't sense anything, as his top body exploded brutally and blood gushed all around and organs that didn't completely explode flew here, there and up there, leaving only the torso and nothing else.
Truthfully, since Ichigo never met these nobles, Ichigo had no idea what their reiatsu felt like and thus had problems distinguishing their reiatsu from the reiatsu levels of the other people around here, true nobles had more reiatsu then others, but others could train themselves up to equal level aswell, besides, this family wasn't known to be powerful in terms of reiatsu and was usually quite laid back and did as they themselves pleased as long as it benefitted them.
Ichigo knew that he could chop these two down with his barehands if he wanted too, but he opted to use Zangetsu instead as he didn't really want to get all bloody, however now that was a little bit too late, as the body that exploded had covered Ichigo completely in blood and organs, some bones, some limbs, some brain matter, it was a very disgusting sight, regardless Ichigo didn't flinch as he then proceeded to stab the second elder in the throat before moving Zangetsu to cut out of the left side of the throat, leaving half of the throat cut open.
However, it didn't kill the noble at all, when it came to souls the best way of actually killing them is by destroying the head or damaging it severly, usually with a headshot or beheading, however it wasn't impossible to kill a soul by stabbing or shooting the heart or other vital organs either, in the end it all depended on the reiatsu levels of the opponent.
***2nd SMG squad***
*Blam,blam,blam!*
With one short salvo from the SMG, a few guards fell right to the floor as the 2nd SMG squad fought their way inside the main building, almost every unit had split up, this squad consisting of six soldiers were attempting to clear as much of the main building as possible.
"I sense additional targets behind that door!" A soldat said as he approached a slide door.
"Alright, bang and clear!" The sergeant replied as a hand grenade was prepared and the squad lined up at the wall besides the door.
A soldat put his hand on the door and was ready to slide it open while holding three fingers, on his opposite end another soldat stood with an explosive grenade in hand and a finger in the ring, ready to pull it right out and throw it, regardless the first soldat began to shake his hand while pulling in fingers for the countdown.
3...2...1 and the door opened, pin was pulled and the grenade was thrown in and the door was slid shut as the soldats quickly moved away from the door by jumping to the floor, knowing full well that the thin slide door was not enough to guard them from the blast.
Inside the room, the grenade was ready to explode as the fuse hit the volatile reishi inside it, causing a blue explosion, the ability it substituted was a high level reishi manipulation technique, by forcing reishi to explode at a set point, and as soon as it exploded, the doors and walls were all destroyed due to the blast.
The soldats quickly turned around with their SMGs and was ready to fire the moment the door blew off, however the people inside were now either too injured to fight or outright dead already.
The soldiers stood up and checked everyone on the floor, they killed every survivor, before moving to another set of slide doors which they went through, revealing a hallway, a soldat was about to take a step out to the hallway to see if it really was clear, the moment he took the first step and leaned out, a body came flying past his face, much to his surprise as the body was just mere centimeters from hitting him.
In his surprise he looked towards the body that flew past him quickly and realized that it was a household guard that was decently cut up and had been sent flying, causing the guard to look in the opposite direction, where there were a lot of dead bodies, and Ichigo was covered in blood.
"Your majesty!?" The soldat said as the five others rushed out along side him, saluting Ichigo.
"So you are the source of the ruckus I recently heard?" Ichigo asked.
"Y-yes we are your majesty!" The sergeant stated.
"I see, you six are with me." Ichigo ordered as the soldats followed Ichigo.
World of the Living (Karakura town)
"Sir!" A soldat said as Pascal approached.
"What do we got?" Pascal asked.
"Well, the people in question appear to be a wealthy family, additionally, we have confirmed that everyone here is spritiually aware to the level of seeing spirits, but whether they know too much about it or not is unknown." A soldat stated.
The A.N.U was quick to act, and the soldiers monitoring the house wore the standard combat uniform, though it wasn't the new one, they also had their masks and goggles on aswell, scanners had also been deployed from Fort Karakura to assist the boots on the ground, and Ichigo had also ordered Pascal to take direct charge of this.
"What should we do? Eliminate them?" Another soldat asked.
"We didn't receive any permission to kill humans, despite their unnatural state, they are still humans, and our job is to watch over them." Pascal replied as he put in his brand new earpiece and turned it on to allow radio communications.
It was true that there were no indications of fullbringers, only spiritually aware humans, however it is true that spiritually aware humans are extremly rare and in the majority of cases where you find one, there is usually a backstory to why they are spiritually aware, in the majority of cases the backstory is extremly tragic, but despite that, they were usually just ignored, however, the circumstances this time wasn't exactly normal.
Just to meet one spiritually aware human was extremly rare and the best place to meet one would be in a spiritually enriched zone, but to meet an entire household was considered nigh impossible, so you can kind of see why the empire took an interest.
"The kid over there sitting with that male and female, you see them sir?" A soldat asked as he pointed a specific direction, causing Pascal to reach for a set of binoculars.
"Yeah?" Pascal stated as he found the kid.
"According to the K.G, that kid collided with princess Yuzu earlier today, two individuals that the K.G suspects are guards appeared and noticed the K.G guards protecting Yuzu, whether they withdrew out of the sense of wanting to avoid trouble with spiritual beings or whether they saw no need to escalate is currently unknown, using that listening device over there we overheard the two individuals speak with the male and female over there with the kid, so we suspect they are in charge here." The soldat informed Pascal.
"What did they speak about?" Pascal asked curiously.
"Princess Yuzu and the appearance of the K.G, though they only called them individuals with military style in white uniforms, that was when we heard a new voice of an unidentified individual who listened to the explanation and uniform set up and informed them that it appeared as Quincy royal guards." The soldat informed, shocking Pascal.
"What!? A mere human knowing our uniform set-ups!? That's impossible!" Pascal stated.
"We found it hard to believe ourselves so we listened to the recording... There is no mistake about it." The soldat informed.
"The hell?.. So princess Yuzu was compromised?" Pascal asked.
"The voice in question only implied it but never verified so directly, however with the implication by the mention of a royal guard unit I think we must assume so, they've already taken an interest in the princess." The soldat replied.
"An interest in her?.. Did they say anything in particular?" Pascal asked.
"They will attempt to retrieve more information on the princess and her family in question, they are already trying to find out where she lives, I have already informed intelligence and they said they'll launch immediate counter intelligence operations." The soldat replied.
'I can see now why his majesty ordered me out personally... This situation is way beyond the norm, just who the hell are these guys?' Pascal asked internally.
"Have you informed the K.G?" Pascal asked.
"A.N.U command said they'll do it." The soldat informed.
"Good job, you've handled the situation perfectly, I'll take over." Pascal said as he turned on his ear piece with reishi.
"All units be adviced, this is Pascal, I'm on site and personally taking charge of this operation, all information gets delievered to me directly!" Pascal ordered into the radio.
Under normal circumstances, the A.N.U could have just gotten rid of these humans with ease by eliminating them or imprisoning them, however that wasn't really an option given the circumstances, as the Soul Society and the Wandenreich shared a mutual law, namely that the killing of humans are illegal and prohibited unless special exemptions are given, however the K.G had constantly active exceptions though to ensure the safety of the royal family, for the Gotei this came from central 46, for the Quincies this came from the royal court, most notably Ichigo, and no special permission had been given to act as such, additionally, Ichigo only gave the order to monitor this family, so even if they were spiritual beings, they couldn't make a move without disobeying Ichigo's direct orders.
However, Fullbringers, Arrancars, Souls and Quincies aswell as other spieces with spiritual powers were deemed spiritual beings, however what classified spiritual beings usually had to go with an agreement or by source of powers and was highly regulated and enforced, and as such, they were in a position where they could only keep watch and give counter intelligence until further orders have been given.
Soul Society East (Ginari Compound)
Ichigo and the six soldats eventually fought their way up to the top, where Ichigo expected the noble family to be, and he was almost right on the mark as he encountered the lord of the household sitting on a pillow, his wife and and children were nowhere to be seen however, alarms were sounding all around, gunshots were heard, screaming was still heard.
The soldiers were holding up their SMGs on some elders in the room, ready to shoot at a moments notice.
"So I see you've come." Oshikagi said as he sat there.
"You don't sound surprised." Ichigo replied.
"Why would I be? It was only a matter of time before you would find out the truth after all." Oshikagi stated.
"Well that's true, though I only see you here, where's the rest of your family?" Ichigo asked firmly.
"They're gone." Oshikagi replied.
"Gone?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes, I've sent them away." Oshikagi replied.
At this Ichigo turned a deep scowl, clearly annoyed, but that didn't particulary matter as Ichigo just left the family conversation there.
"No matter, I assume you know why I'm here?" Ichigo asked.
"I am fully aware." Oshikagi replied.
"Good, that saves me the trouble." Ichigo said as he prepared Zangetsu.
"Will you allow me a final request?" Oshikagi asked curiously as he was ready to die.
"Nope." Ichigo said as he quickly cut off the head of Oshikagi, leaving the elders stunned.
"Of all the dishonorable things to-" An elder tried to say furiously, angry over the denial of a last request.
"Kill them!" Ichigo ordered as he waved his hand, cutting off the elder as the soldats opened fire and executed each and everyone of them with automatic fire.
Dead bodies filled the floor along with lots of blood, but Ichigo ignored it and focused elsewhere.
'Over there huh?' Ichigo said as he looked at a wall.
Ichigo then headed towards the wall and then he made a fist, before smashing through the wall, revealing a hidden room, much to the surprise of the soldiers who never noticed anything, though they would have been able to sense something if they had tried.
Inside it was the rest of Oshikagi's family, clearly in hiding and it was obvious that they knew what had happened, and they feared that Ichigo would find them of all people, the mother of the children pleaded for their lives but Ichigo would have none of it and swiftly punched her out of the way
The mother fell towards the floor barely conscious from the powerful strike Ichigo landed, struggling to move, the eldest child of hers tried to stop Ichigo as he put Zangetsu up, but in the end it only served as a catalyst to annoy Ichigo as he grabbed the child by the face and lifted him up by holding his skull, until the child began to scream in agony as Ichigo tightened his grip until the cracking of his skull was heard, leaving the boy to scream more violently as Ichigo kept crushing his skull.
*Splash*
Just like that, a boy not even old enough to be in the rebellious phase had died as his skull was splashed open, the mother had by now regained herself and was shocked to feel her own childs brain and skull matter aswell as blood flowing all over her, regardless Ichigo just looked at the family and noticed that the family had two boys, and three girls of different ages, Ichigo just killed the boys by cutting their heads off, then he looked at the soldiers.
"Do as you please with them for now, just kill them when you're done!" Ichigo said as he turned his back towards the remaining family and focused on a set of drawers which he began to look through, ignoring what was happening behind him completely.
Behind him, the soldiers were ready to have their ways with the females of the family, eventually Ichigo found what he was looking for, which was the direct evidence of this family's betrayal of the east branch, Ichigo already knew that this family had assisted the Dominion with captured prisoners and what Ichigo found was a map of prison sites that the A.N.U had been looking for aswell as a bunch of documents, so he decided to leave, completely ignoring the screaming and pleading behind him as he called in a gateway to transport him back to Silbern using his own shadow, though he did order the troops to remain at the location.
Ichigo figured that this might be used as a potential F.O.B or Forwards Operations Base and really wanted to keep the place as intact as possible, the area was big enough to function as a vital supply point with it's massive space and open gardens, medical facility, and even a staging point, making the compound strategically sound to use, and it wasn't far away from where the army was fighting as the compound was essentially on the front lines directly.
Wandenreich (Silbern Hallway)
As soon as Ichigo had gotten out of the gateway room and entered the elevator for the upper palace, he idly walked by the servants, guards, officers and everyone else in the upper palace, completely ignoring the stunned stares they had as Ichigo was walking around, completely covered in blood, skull and brain matter.
"Soo... Uhm... How did it go?" Bambietta asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh you know me, I'm always mister friendly, regretfully Oshikagi and I had a minor disagreement in terms of allegiances." Ichigo replied jokingly, albeit with his usual scowl.
"Yeah... I can see that..." Bambietta replied with a chuckle.
"Hmm?.. Oh this?" Ichigo said as he looked down on his uniform before he opened his arms widely, cleary in the mood to joke around a little, which was rare for Ichigo.
"Let's show our love and hug deeply." Ichigo said as he approached Bambietta with open arms, still completely covered in blood.
"No... Nonono, you're gonna take a bath and change before that happens!" Bambietta said firmly as she backed away, now wanting blood and everything else smeared on her as she was completely clean.
"Oh come on, show your husband some love!" Ichigo said as he fastened the pace.
"No! No! Stop it! Ichiiiii!" Bambietta said as she backed away.
"I'm just joking, I'm not gonna smear it all over you." Ichigo said, highly amused by Bambietta's reaction as he stopped his actions.
"That was mean!" Bambietta scolded Ichigo firmly.
"Well, I was thinking of taking a bath anyways, wanna join in?" Ichigo asked as Bambietta thought it over.
"Well, I'm already clean but why not... Just start with the shower so you don't get blood all over the tub." Bambietta said as the two headed for their room.
"Hmm... That reminds me, Sabrina is coming soon is she not?" Ichigo asked as he walked besides Bambietta.
"It's still a while until she gets here." Bambietta replied.
"I see, well I suppose we got some time to kill off in the meantime." Ichigo replied as he focused on the map and documents he had.
"Hand these over to Ulrik!" Ichigo said as he handed them over to a guard.
"Yes your majesty!" The guard replied as he left his post for his orders.
To be continued
A/N: This is just a continuation of the last chapter and this was originally supposed to be a part of it, so in short you can call it chapter 94.5 if you please aswell but I'll just go with chapter 95, there isn't really much more to be said about this chapter as the rest can basically be explained in simple words.
Yes this chapter contained a lot of brutality that wasn't directly explained but from the looks of the situation, you can kind of imagine how it was, but it is the kind of story I want, not the all too happy one good side and the other is evil, doesn't really work that way for me.