Bleach Zero: Strawberry and the Red Knight (english version)

by silabc55

Having defeated Aizen, Ichigo Kurosaki enjoyed 17 months of peace without his powers of Shinigami, but one day, he and his friends were drawn into a new war in another world alongside a certain tomboyish, hot-tempered knight as partner-in-arms, and they will have no choice but to participate in it if they want to return to their world. Can they survive this?

22. Chapter 22

Here I bring you the chapter of the week. Sorry for the delay, but it took me a time to finish it. As you know this is the last chapter that will cover the summary of my version of the original canon. Thanks for reading it and we can get back to the original story. I hope you enjoy.

On reviews:

XenonKirito: Yeah, I also have the impression that Shounen Jump was in a great hurry to finish the manga surely forcing Kubo to drink too much coffee to rush into it and thus, he overlooked some details about the function of Ichigo's new Bankai, the reason why Ginjou helped Ichigo and the fact that Ichigo had to turn to a Deus ex Machina to defeat Juha Bach.

Sagely Sage: I'm glad this entertains you.

Angelvan105: Thank you.

Chapter 22: The Story of a Substitute Part 3

26/06/2021

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"We were crossing that portal called Garganta, and we had a hard time moving on as it was very different to when we crossed the Senkaimon." Ichigo continued as he recalled his new experience crossing another portal.

"I don't think there would be that much difference since what happened was that as Urahara-san warned, we had to create a path with the reishi to be able to move well in the dark, and since you and Sado-kun were not good at that, it was normal that you were late." Ishida corrected in a scientific tone, although with some mockery at the end of the sentence.

The effect worked when Ichigo frowned in irritation as he saw how his friend / rival was making fun of him, believing himself superior to him. Before the first one released a retort, Ishida decided to continue so as not to cause any more interruptions.

"You see, we continued walking through the darkness for a while until we finally reached our destination and entered the world of the hollows. As soon as we left the portal, we were inside some kind of ruined building, although not we knew exactly where we were. "

He told them that the building did not have windows or a small opening so that the outside could be seen so he deduced that it could be underground, and it would be risky to fight here. With no other option, they had to explore the place to find a way out and not meet an enemy to intercept them. However, that didn't turn out to be so easy as the building had many traps inside, and one very similar to Indiana Jones, which Ichigo and the others had to get around with relative ease. After getting out of the traps unscathed, they came across 2 Arrancars named Demoura and Iceringer.

The 3 fled as far as possible to avoid confrontation until they reached a fairly large room, perfect for fighting. Ichigo wanted to fight alone the Arrancars but his friends wouldn't let him as they wanted to show the idiot that they weren't a burden and also wanted Ichigo to save his strength against real enemies. As much as he wanted to fight, Ishida and Chad insisted that he stay out of it and warned him that if he intervened, they wouldn't be hesitating in attacking him. With that, the Substitute reluctantly stood aside.

"To begin with, I first faced the big man who turned out to be a very tough opponent since his defense could withstand the attack of my arrows as well as being a complete brute more or less similar to Berserker, but weaker, but still gave me a lot of trouble to deal with." Uryū continued as he recounted his confrontation with the Arrancars." On the other hand, Sado-kun also had trouble dealing with the other since unlike the one I was fighting, his greatest quality was speed and he moved so fast that he easily dodged Sado's attacks in addition to attacking by accumulating spiritual energy in the palm of his hands and exploiting them without giving him the opportunity to defend himself and try to counterattack. I realized right away that this will get us nowhere so there was only one solution to balance things out, and that was to change opponents."

By doing that, the situation changed, and the battle turned favorable for Uryū and Chad. Fed up with the situation, the Arrancar fighting the Quincy used a firing technique that can fire a large number of 108 bullets at a time, but Uryū was not intimidated and readied his new bow, the Ginrei Kojaku, which is capable of firing a long run of to 1200 arrows at a time.

"1200 arrows? Really?" Rider asked surprised by the ability the boy had with the bow. Saber was also somewhat incredulous at the number of arrows the boy with glasses was able to shoot.

While she observed what he was capable of when he confronted Caster the other night when he tried to destroy his book, and although she was hardly surprised at his skills as an archer, she did not think he was as much of a match as Sir Tristan, who was undoubtedly the best archer her father could count on.

"Yes, this is something I learned with my father during my hard training for a month. It took me a while to perfect it, but I got it ready for the occasion." Uryū replied to his astonished audience.

Going back to history, the 1200 bursts of arrows defeated the Arrancar's attack and engulfed him until he was seriously wounded. As for Chad, the latter managed to beat the bigger one easily.

The building they were in began to collapse and Ichigo and the others managed to reach the exit and reached the surface. There they meet the bleak aspect of Hueco Mundo, which looks a lot like a desert.

"Hoh? That Hueco Mundo look like to the Hades?" Rider asked curiously to know if the kingdom of the hollows had any resemblance to the underworld of which Greek myths are told.

"Not exactly. As I said it is a large extensive desert similar to the Sahara with many sand dunes around us. Apparently, there is no day, so it is always eternally night and there is no light that illuminates here except for the average moon that always orbits the sky eternally." Uryū replied explaining his sighting of the Hueco Mundo. "Oh, and if you ask, there is no River Styx or Charon."

A moment later, they found a huge palace that was the only building in the middle of the desert, and they soon assumed that it was the headquarters where Aizen and his army operated, as well as being the place where Orihime was held prisoner. With that concluded, they went directly there to infiltrate, but as they ran faster trying to get closer, they noticed that they did not approach the building even though their image was only a few kilometers away from them, and they continued onwards until they gave up.

Shortly after while they were resting, they met a little Arrancar girl along with 3 other strange hollows who had no relationship with Aizen who set out to help them get to Las Noches. The Arrancar girl was called Nel Tu, and her 2 'supposed' siblings were called Pesche, and the other Dondochakka. The third of them was a fairly large hollow shaped like a giant worm named Bawabawa, who, according to them, was their pet.

"Wait, their pet?" Saber asked puzzled upon hearing the fact that a hollow has a pet of its own kind. The idea seemed incredibly far-fetched to him. Rider and Waver's expressions were more or less the same.

"Yeah, I know that sounds incredibly stupid. I didn't believe it when they said it either, but they are." Ichigo replied deciding not to put too much importance on the subject. "What happened is that when they were playing that strange game with me 'Run I get you' 2 of those strange hollows tripped and they could have crushed that poor girl if I hadn't saved her. That is how she won my affection and decided to help us get to that castle by letting us ride that giant worm."

Even when the 3 were still listening carefully it seemed very strange to them that a handful of strange hollows would help them given their origin.

Ichigo kept recounting how they continued their journey to the castle until they ran into one of the guardians of the place being a Menos made of sand. The Menos attacked causing Ichigo, Nel and the others to be caught by a sand trap. When the situation was desperate, Rukia and Renji appeared helping them and destroying the Menos. Apparently Rukia and Renji also arrived at Hueco Mundo and all this because although Byakuya only received orders to bring them back to Soul Society, but not for them to leave to help Ichigo. This is how these 2 joined Ichigo in rescuing Orihime, but as they continued advancing, suddenly the sand guardian appeared again, which summoned a quicksand whirlwind that took them to the subsoil of Hueco Mundo. According to Nel, that place is called the Forest of Menos and it is inhabited by all the hollows with a lower class than the Arrancars.

In the middle of the fall, Rukia broke away from the group and fell in another place so they had no choice but to look for her before leaving. During the search they were attacked by an army of hollows and Menos Grandes residents of the place, ending with Nel and her companions being kidnapped. In the end Ichigo and the others managed to rescue Nel and her companions and finally meet Rukia again accompanied by Ashido, a Shinigami who had been trapped here for a long time and the latter indicated the exit. But they are attacked by a large group of Menos Grandes, which forced Ashido to remain in the forest. In the end, Ichigo's team reached the foot of the palace and they managed to infiltrate inside to explore it.

After a long journey indoors, they came to a room that is divided into 5 separate paths, each of which emanates very strong spiritual presences. Seeing that it would be very difficult to choose which of them would be the ones that led to the place where Inoue was confined, the 5 decided to separate and go each way despite Ichigo's hesitation. In the end they decide to temporarily separate and go a different path without first making an oath that they would meet here again until one of them has saved Inoue, and they did. What they were not expected was that Nel and her gang also decided to follow Ichigo's team separately (Nel with Ichigo, Pesche with Uryū and Dondochakka with Renji)

During the journey, Ichigo ran into his first expected opponent being Dordonii Alessandro del Socacchio, a Privaron Espada number 103. At first Ichigo had not taken this opponent seriously as he saw him as weak, clumsy, in addition to this he made weird and ridiculous movements like he was dancing instead of on a battlefield. However, Ichigo regretted having underestimated him as he managed to fatally injure the former proving that he was a warrior to be reckoned with. Dordonii released his Zanpakutō, managing to hurt Ichigo even more, and insisted on the latter to use the Bankai, but he had flatly refused.

"I didn't think it was necessary to do so, since he was not a Espada like Grimmjow, and therefore he needed to beat him without the Bankai and save him for later." Ichigo explained about his decision not to use the Bankai on someone who did not consider himself a Espada, but in the end he would end up regretting it when the Privaron Espada got fed up with the Substitute's insistence and decided to attack a defenseless Nel to force him.

His strategy worked when Ichigo in Banaki mode managed to deflect his opponent's attack. However, Dordoni insisted that Ichigo use his full powers. Ichigo agreed and wore his hollow mask. Using his maximum power, Ichigo managed to defeat Dordonii easily with a single thrust. After that, Ichigo left the place with Nel and they continued on to find Inoue.

Meanwhile, Ichigo continued with his journey until he noticed that Chad's reiatsu suddenly decreased, making him understand that the latter had been defeated,

but he did not let that discourage him and continued forward until he reached another room where he also noticed that Rukia's reiatsu also decreased dangerously. It was then that Ulquiorra, the first Arrancar to appear in the world of the living, made an appearance in front of Ichigo stating that Rukia was dead, but the first one refused to believe it and turned around.

"At first, I didn't want to face him as I was only thinking of going to save Rukia so I turned my back on Ulquiorra since, unlike the rest, he hadn't caused harm to my friends… I was wrong." His expression darkened, catching the attention of the others, and Orihime knew what he was going to say. "That bastard managed to goad me into attacking him when he mentioned that he was responsible for luring Inoue here, so I immediately attacked him with all my anger."

It was a natural reaction in the young man. Inoue was one of his most precious friends and the fact that someone kidnapped her in mysterious circumstances, labeling her a traitor, causing him and his friends to risk going to save her, the anxiety he felt when noticing Chad and Rukia's reiatsu fall ... all this having to come to that dangerous place, was the work of the stoic Arrancar.

"After that I couldn't forgive him since he was responsible for what happened, besides the bastard had managed to piss me off." Ichigo said remembering all the anger and hatred he felt towards the stoic Arrancar.

Orihime tensed slightly upon seeing Kurosaki's expression. For the latter it was very easy to blame Ulquiorra or Aizen for her kidnapping, but she also had to do with it since she went voluntarily. Furthermore, he shouldn't always hold a grudge against the Cuarto Espada either.

"After this, I decided to face Ulquiorra and started going up to the Bankai and then the Hollowification." He recounted his battle when he launched a powerful Getsuga Tenshō, to which Ulquiorra responded by defending himself at first with only one hand but was later forced to use both hands. Finally, Ichigo managed to break through the Arrancar's defense, hitting it squarely with the attack.

However, when the smoke cleared, Ulquiorra was shown unharmed having resisted the attack and only his clothes were ripped apart much to Ichigo's astonishment. Ulquiorra decided to make his move starting with a powerful Cero, but Ichigo managed to avoid it by using his mask again and escaping with Nel. Unfortunately, Ulquiorra caught up with him with his speed and then knocked him to the ground barely leaving him.

"That bastard managed to put me down with no chance of getting up or escaping, but I didn't give up as I could still move my arms and sword." Ichigo continued. "Also, at first, I thought he was Espada number 1 as he acted as Aizen's right hand, so if he managed to beat him, he would beat the rest as well, but he gave me false hope. He revealed to me that he was the Cuarto, and that there were 3 other Espadas whose power was above him." Then he winced slightly from what he said next. "After that, he impaled me on the chest with his hand, leaving me half dead."

The atmosphere froze as most of the public processed that last information with surprise and shock at the same time. Ichigo also couldn't help but tense up a bit from their reactions, though he didn't blame them either. He had a strange habit of getting his body pierced in various ways and it was really unpleasant if it weren't for some miracle that brought him back to life.

"After that I didn't know what happened except when I opened my eyes, I found Inoue restoring my body and Grimmjow was with her at the same time."

"It's true, if you let me explain it…" Orihime spoke suddenly to tell them what happened when she went to Hueco Mundo. "After I decided to accompany Ulquiorra to Hueco Mundo, he took me to where Aizen was and he asked me to heal Grimmjow's missing arm, and I did…" She paused a bit to skip to when Grimmjow killed one of his companions who was laughing before.

"Shortly after Aizen showed me why he needed me, and it was for I to use my powers to make the Hōgyoku awaken. Knowing all that, I decided to gain Aizen's trust to approach the Hōgyoku and use my powers to destroy it.

Until then, they kept me confined in a room under the custody of Ulquiorra who visited me often." She said that last sentence with a tint on her cheeks. "And shortly after I felt the reiatsus of Kurosaki-kun and the others approaching, and later I felt like Kuchiki-san and Sado-kun's disappeared. Then Grimmjow came and took me out of that place to take me to where Kurosaki-kun was half dead with a hole in his chest."

Shortly after their arrival, Orihime wasted no time restoring his body with some difficulty, but then Ulquiorra appeared ready to stop what Grimmjow was up to. Both Espadas faced each other for a brief moment until Grimmjow managed to introduce him an object called Caja Negación, with which he took Ulquiorra to another dimension. As the box was not designed to seal Espadas, after a few hours Ulquiorra will be able to free himself. Not long after, Ichigo managed to fully recover and both Grimmjow and the former had their third duel.

At first, they both fought evenly due to Ichigo's rise in their previous fights, so he maintained a balanced fight with the savage Arrancar for a little time until Ichigo decided to use his mask when Grimmjow threw a powerful Cero towards Inoue, and Ichigo was forced to intercept it with his mask. Once this was done, Grimmjow released his Resurreción called Pantera, which unleashed an incredible exaggerated amount of power with a single roar.

"As I suspected, that bastard not only increased his power, his speed was just as monstrous and I had a hard time keeping up with him, but little by little I adapted." Ichigo remembered how the combat was being one of the biggest that he had had later with his inner hollow, but he felt that it had greater intensity. "We both fought like crazy without taking into account the chaos and destruction we unleashed since there was only one thing in mind and that was to be able to cut the other no matter what."

Orihime agreed that the brutal battle between Kurosaki and the blue Espada was very intense and of almost apocalyptic proportions where they both moved at ridiculous speeds that no human could witness. It was almost like a volcano violently erupting. But that was not what had so disturbed the poor thing since what caused her so much anxiety was the fact of seeing Kurosaki with a horrible hollow mask like ... like her brother that time. She had thought that the person who was currently fighting the Arrancar was not the one who came to save her, but someone just like her brother when he became a hollow.

It was only thanks to Nel who encouraged her by telling her that she should not fear him, that she has to support him since he is a good person and that is why he had come to save her. Orihime was able to realize the situation and begged Ichigo not to die and not allow him to get hurt. That was how Ichigo was able to react and instantly stopped a Grimmjow blow that could have been fatal and then managed to cut his chest with the sword, causing damage for the first time, but that did not help to defeat him.

A little later, Grimmjow uses his most powerful technique, Desgarrón, which are pillars of powerful blue light that come out of his claws. He threw them at Ichigo and he defended himself and launched himself against Grimmjow, cracking the Desgarrón and declared that he does not intend to die and that he is going to return home with all his friends, and finally reached Grimmjow through his chest with the sword. The Espada fell to the ground completely defeated (still alive) and then he goes to where Inoue and Nel were and assured them that everything was fine and also told them that it was time to go back.

After defeating Grimmjow, Ichigo, Orihime and Nel set out to search for Rukia and the others but were intercepted by another Espada being Nnoitra Gilga the Quinto Espada and his Fraction, Tesla, who set out to fight Ichigo and retain Orihime respectively. Ichigo told them that this Arrancar was different from Grimmjow since he had better Hierro defense that made the blade of his Zanpakutō not make the slightest scratch, in addition to having considerable strength so Ichigo had a lot of difficulty dealing with him.

In the middle of the battle, Nnoitra noticed Nel's presence and mentioned that he had already met her before to Ichigo's surprise. He mentions to them that Nel did not always have this tiny body as a child since before she looked like an adult, moreover, she was also a powerful Espada being the Tercera Espada Neliel Tu Odelschwanck much to Ichigo's dismay. Nnoitra then tells them about her past how this first had a great rivalry with the Espada to the point of having cheated in the last duel in which he made a devastating blow to the head that caused her to weaken and her body to shrink to that of a little girl, and then Nnoitra kicked her and her Fración out of Las Noches.

But despite this, Ichigo had a hard time believing all that and defended Nel from the attacks of the unhinged Espada, but even he could not defend himself from the brutal attacks of Nnoitra, and in his despair, Nel's reiatsu exploded causing her to return to its original adult form. With her body recovered, Neliel saved Ichigo and put him somewhere safe deciding to take over.

"She took my place and even though I was worried, she insisted and lunged at him." Ichigo said as he remembered how the green haired beauty lunged towards that unhinged bastard. "To my surprise, she was very fast, and she managed to cut that bastard off by wounding him and then kicking him away."

"It's true, Nel-san was like an athletic fighter and it was amazing." Orihime added to the scene as well.

The fight between the two had continued its course for a time until Neliel decided to release her Zanpakutō, and in that form managed to deliver a devastating blow that left the Arrancar almost unable to defend himself. Unfortunately, just when she was about to deliver the coup de grace, she reverted to her child form giving the advantage to Nnoitra who kicks her unconscious. Ichigo tried to save her, but he was immobilized by Nnoitra himself who decided that his Tesla Fraction would change its place, and he did. Tesla released his Zanpakutō and began torturing an exhausted Ichigo to death while Orihime was only forced to stare at him while being held by Nnoitra. Just when he was about to kill him, suddenly the most unexpected person appeared to save him, and that was none other than Kenpachi Zaraki.

"I was really surprised that Kenpachi showed up here to save me from all people." Ichigo continued. "As soon as he appeared, he charged that giant boar man and then told me that the reason he was here was that the old man had instructed Urahara-san to open a Garganta enough for captain-level Shinigamis could enter. Apparently that plan had been put in place long before Inoue's kidnapping. Oh, and apparently Kenpachi was not the only one to come here since he was accompanied by 3 other captains such as Byakuya, Unohana-san and Kurotsuchi."

Shortly after the fight between Zaraki and the Espada began, and both were quite even in terms of strength and handling of the sword without having a clear winner. However, Kenpachi had a hard time dealing with the Hierro of the Espada as even his sword could not make any scratches and the latter boasted of having the toughest skin of all the Espadas, but the barbarian captain was not carried away by such words and after further attempts, he finally managed to cut the unhinged Espada's skin, causing him injuries for the first time.

The tables seemed to have turned as Kenpachi now had the upper hand over Nnoitra and tried to fight back effectively. After, by mistake, Nnoitra removed the patch from Kenpachi releasing all his power, Nnoitra was seriously injured and was forced to release his sword, the released form presents several arms, and with one of them he seriously wounds Kempachi. Nnoitra continued to injure Zaraki, but the wounds seem not to affect him. Later, Zaraki, seeing the severity of his injuries, decided to use his sword with both hands to deliver a final blow. Both warriors collide with each other and finally Nnoitra falls completely defeated in front of a victorious Kempachi.

Shortly after Kenpachi and the other captains defeated the other Espadas respectively who had crossed paths, another Espada suddenly appeared and managed to take Orihime away before Ichigo and Kenpachi could stop him. Then a telepathic message came from Aizen addressed to everyone.

"Apparently the kidnapping of Inoue was nothing more than a strategy to incite me, my friends and the captains to come here to deprive the Gotei 13 of part of their forces. That bastard delighted in being able to catch four of the ten remaining captains of Gotei 13 in Hueco Mundo while he launched his counter-invasion in Karakura Town himself. " Ichigo spoke gravely remembering about the true intentions of Inoue's kidnapping. Viewers also seemed slightly impressed by this elaborate good strategy.

"Hmm, that Aizen must be a very audacious strategist to implement such a brilliant plan as that." Rider praised a bit as he reflected on the ploy the traitorous Shinigami used to lure the rescue team into an unforeseen trap.

"Yes, even I have to admit that he is quite a genius whose intellect was something to be reckoned with." Kisuke commented as well with a flattering smile. "But luckily, I had already foreseen that he would do something like that." With an intellectual gleam in his eyes, Kisuke spoke again. "Considering that Karakura is his main objective, the captain-general asked me to move the entire city and replace it with an exact replica to keep it and its inhabitants safe. This being the case, Aizen and what was left of his army Arrancars went to where the rest of the Gote 13 forces would be waiting for him, including the Captain Commander."

While that was happening, Ichigo located Inoue's reiatsu being in one of the towers, as well as another very familiar one being Ulquiorra's who was next to her. Wasting no more time, Ichigo set off to reach the place where they were, crossing numerous obstacles and finally reached his destination meeting Ulquiorra again.

Ichigo and Ulquiorra faced each other for the second time, and unlike the first duel, both were almost even and Ichigo was not using his mask, at least not yet. Later, Ulquiorra took the lead and fired a Cero, point-blank against Ichigo, but he resisted it and was more determined, being able to stop Ulquiorra and launch a blow from his Zanpakutō directly to the chest.

"I managed to make a scar on his chest, not as deep as I wanted, but at least it was something. I later commented that the fact that now I was able to match or prevent his movements was due to the fact that I was becoming more hollow, or maybe he was becoming more human." Ichigo recounted what he told Ulquiorra. "Saying that, it seemed like he had gotten quite pissed off at comparing him to something she considered very inferior as a 'human.' It was then that he got very serious, and his speed increased. He managed to corner me off guard and was about to give me a fatal blow were it not for Inoue to have decided to intervene and protect me from the attack with Santen Kesshun."

Orihime almost blushed as Kurosaki looked at her gratefully and she nodded in response.

Soon after Ichigo and Ulquiorra continued the fight for some time until the former realized that Inoue was taken by 2 Arrancars girls, and he went to save her, only to be intercepted by Ulquiorra. Surprisingly, Yammy arrived at the battle who took the 2 Arrancars out of the way and prepared to kill Inoue much to Ichigo's fear, but then Ishida arrived in time to save her.

"Once I stepped in and left that oni a bit stunned, I brought him downstairs to better fight and not disturb Kurosaki." Uryū recounted his duel with the huge Arrancar. "He really was a very tough and careless brute. He was able to deflect my arrows with one hand, and even if I was able to hit him on the shoulder, he didn't seem to flinch.

It was so, that I decided to change tactics, and I used Seele Schneider in the same way as Cirucci in the end, and I managed to get through the Arrancar's Hierro, but it did not serve to defeat him. Then use Sprenger in the same way as Szayelaporro. I was lucky this big guy wasn't smart enough to figure out what he was up to, so I managed to catch him on the pentagram and detonate him. But like Szayel, he barely survived and not in the best of humor. However, I still had an ace up my sleeve, and I led him into a trap, and detonated an anti-Arrancar mine provided by Mayuri, causing Yammy to fall to the first floor of the tower."

Once finished with this short fight, Ishida met with Kurosaki telling him not to hold back that he would be in charge of defending Inoue. Ichigo used hollowification without restrictions and showed a greater advantage against Ulquiorra, getting to repel his Cero with only his Zanpakutō. Soon after, Ulquiorra flew away flying in the air towards the tower, and Ichigo chased after him until he reached the tower's dome. There, Ulquiorra decided to release his Zanpakutō.

"At first, I didn't see anything special about his Resurreción form like Grimmjow or Nnoitra, but I was a little careless to see that in that form he was much faster even than my enhanced hollowfusion speed. In his Resurrección he easily overpowered me absurdly powerful, but I refused to back down and keep fighting, and even his Cero almost vaporized me, but I barely managed to survive, and then he decided to use his second Resurrección."

"Second Resurrección?" Urahara asked curious about the fact that an Arrancar had a second release from Zanpakutō as a the Bankai. "I had no idea about that."

"Me neither, according to him, he was the only one among the Espadas who could do that and not even Aizen knew about it." Ichigo explained as he remembered what Ulquiorra had explained to him back then. "In his Resurreción he was overpowering me easily and his attacks were even more devastating to the point that he wasn't really fighting seriously and was instead playing with me." He bitterly remembered how the stoic Espada was cruelly torturing him just because his stubbornness to keep fighting bothered him greatly.

"After torturing me for a while, he decided to finish me off by shooting a Cero in my chest, again." This time, the audience did not seem surprised, or at least that is what their gazes said since they had previously heard that his body had been pierced.

"After that I don't remember much except that Ishida and Inoue were there, right?" Ichigo turned his gaze towards his friends, who caught this immediately.

"Y-yes, Inoue-san and I were there when that happened." Ishida replied now recounting his part. "Inoue-san and I were inside the tower feeling both Kurosaki and Ulquiorra's reiatsu, and we started to worry when Ulquiorra's reiatsu rose in a ridiculous way, and Inoue-san asked me to go there to try to help Kurosaki, and we went there immediately. Using a Hirenkyaku, I and Inoue-san started to climb towards the roof of the tower until we reached the top and there, we found Kurosaki being held by Ulquiorra and then… he pierced Kurosaki's torso with a Cero instantly."

Orihime shuddered from that terrible memory when the stoic Espada forced her to witness the death of her nakama, and she felt helpless for not having done something about it.

"After that, she dropped the corpse and let it fall to a great height, but Inoue-san used her Santen Kesshun to cushion its fall and gently put it on the ground, and she went straight to heal it. But that monster got in the way to stop her, but I stepped in and started to distract him while Inoue-san took care of restoring him.

Just like Kurosaki said, that monster was ridiculously powerful and not even my barrage of arrows from Licht Regen could pierce his wings. If he weren't just toying with me, he would have killed me with a single move right away. "Ishida remembered bitterly his experience with the fearsome Espada." It was finally that he managed to seriously wound my arm, and when all seemed lost, something happened." Everyone looked attentively, except Ichigo and Orihime who knew what he was going to say next. "Suddenly I felt a huge torrent of reiatsu appearing out of nowhere that even caught Ulquiorra's attention and when we turned to see the source, I saw it came from Kurosaki, and I thought that Inoue-san had revived him but changed."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Rider asked curiously upon hearing that. Both Kon, Saber and Waver had similar looks wanting to know what else happened. Uryū was silent for a moment before speaking.

"You see, as I was saying, it seemed that Kurosaki managed to revive thanks to Inoue-san but changed. In fact, I think he became a hollow like the other times." Uryū replied to the surprise of many.

Uryū told them what happened with Kurosaki's apparent resurrection as he faced Ulquiorra and it was shown that the former managed to dominate the latter when both fired their respective Ceros and Ichigo's was able to suppress Ulquiorra's with ease. Not long after, the transformed Ichigo managed to catch Ulquiorra by surprise and cut off his arm with incredible speed before letting out a terrible roar that made both Uryū and Orihime shudder to the core.

"Inoue-san and I could only look dumbfounded at Kurosaki's new monstrous appearance. He looked like a monster out of hell and his reiatsu was certainly inordinate."

Uryū continued recounting how the confrontation between the reincarnated Ichigo and Ulquiorra was like a combat between demons, each one moving at ridiculous speeds to witness even for Uryū, but it was evident that Ichigo had the advantage in that field until finally the latter managed to land a fatal blow that left him immobilized at the mercy of the beast.

However, instead of finishing him off, she began to cruelly torture him by wrenching the rest of his limbs until he was like a kind of torso with a head, but barely alive. That was a horrible brutal scene to witness, especially for Inoue who had witnessed it in front of her.

"I couldn't bear to see this, so I decided to intervene before Kurosaki finished him off, but before he made a move, Inoue-san stepped forward and summoned Santen Kesshun on top of Ulquiorra to stop Kurosaki's sword from stabbing his throat of Ulquiorra." Uryū counted to the surprise of the rest who were surprised by Orihime's action.

Orihime tried to plead with Ichigo to stop, not to kill Ulquiorra because he had already won and managed to save her. However, Ichigo did not seem to listen to Inoue's pleas and immediately turned to her to launch his Zanpakutō at her, but Uryū intervened and he was skewered in her place to everyone's surprise.

"Not long after, I noticed how Kurosaki was approaching me with the intention of killing me, but Inoue-san came between him and me and continued to beg him to stop and go back to being his old self." He kept counting, remembering what happened next. "Miraculously it worked this time, and the mask he was wearing shattered, and he fell unconscious with his body regaining his human form."

Shortly after that, the now-human reborn Ichigo regained consciousness, but did not remember anything that happened except when he was pierced by Ulquiorra.

"Once I regained consciousness, I first focused on Ishida with Tensa Zangetsu still pinned to his abdomen and then pulled it out, and then made my way to Ulquiorra, who, to my previous surprise, appeared to be completely shoved and badly injured, so that right now I could finish him off without him mounting resistance, but I didn't. "

"Mmm, why?" Rider asked confused by the fact that Ichigo did not take advantage to finish off his enemy now that he could.

At that, Ichigo showed a slightly distressed face. "I was supposed to have been the one who should have left him like this, but my hollow intervened again without my wanting it and took the action."

"So what?" Saber replied not understanding Ichigo's point. "You were supposed to be fighting an enemy you couldn't defeat, and now you had a chance to do it, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't like it that way. That was supposed to be my fight and nobody else's." Ichigo snapped not happy with how the blonde should tell him how he ended things. "Although I could not forgive Ulquiorra for what he did, I also do not want to take advantage of something that I did not achieve myself. For me it was not right."

For some they understood this dilemma to some degree. Ichigo was a great warrior and his code of honor dictated fighting his opponents on equal terms without doing any dirty tricks and he preferred to finish them off on his own, no matter the situation. Rider respected that chivalry on his part and for that reason he did not stop thinking that he was an honorable boy.

Even Saber also had to respect him to some extent. Despite her reputation, the Knight of Rebellion still retained some chivalric pride, and like her Master, she preferred to finish off her opponents with her own means singlehandedly, and her pride would not bear for someone to interfere with her struggle. In fact, that was her nature as a warrior and she always lived for war and battles, just as her mother witch had raised her.

"It didn't matter anyway, as his body started to disintegrate into dust due to my destroying his regenerative organs, however, Inoue intervened and used her powers to reestablish his organs and save him."

The audience was completely dumbfounded by what they heard and couldn't believe what she did. Said girl tensed from his reactions.

"Is that so?" Saber was the first to ask looking at Orihime. "Why did you do that?"

Orihime winced even more at the look from the blonde who seemed to be accusing her in some way. Honestly, she didn't know if she had done right at least from the beginning to save one of Kurosaki's deadly enemies even if he had killed Kurosaki so ruthlessly in front of her eyes. However, she also didn't think he was as evil as she thought. She could feel that he was different from Grimmjow and Nnoitra respectively. The last 2 were lovers of extreme violence and only fought and killed for fun, but not Ulquiorra.

She could sense that the stoic Arrancar was an empty soul who, though impassive and devoid of remorse, hated violence, and somehow felt 'lonely'. Even now she didn't know why he was so devoted to Aizen, but it was that unwavering loyalty that made him antagonize Kurosaki and he was willing to kill him and her on his orders unlike the Sexto and Quinto Espada.

As for herself, she wasn't sure. Perhaps it is just a psychological effect known as the Stockholm Syndrome due to the fact that she was incarcerated in his custody and he visited her regularly? She wasn't sure about it, but something told her that he didn't deserve to die without understanding what a heart is, and so she made a decision.

"Well, I did it because I thought he didn't deserve something like this." She responded somewhat unsure to the blonde. "I know that he was our enemy and that he was willing to kill us all, but he only did it because Aizen ordered him and nothing else. All I did was restore his organs except for his superficial injuries including his limbs so that he would not return to fight and be a threat. "

Even with the explanation given, the 3 of them looked at her without finding the meaning in such action which made her more uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Uryū intervened.

"Well, anyway, once Inoue-san finished restoring Kurosaki and me, we wasted no time and left the place as quickly as possible and when we descended, we encountered a gigantic Arrancar that turned out to be Yammy in his Resurrección, and I was surprised at how big and ugly he was. There were also, Sado-kun, Abarai and Kuchiki having a difficult time with him, but we arrived in time to intervene. "

Ichigo was the one who intervened fighting against Yammy, the first one took advantage using his mask, but the Espada is even more resistant, even the fight. Ichigo decides to use his mask again, but it vanishes in an instant and is trapped by the huge Arrancar. Just when he was about to kill him like an insect, he was suddenly saved by Byakuya and Kenpachi who took over and faced the gigantic Espada.

Meanwhile, Mayuri arrived bringing a cart, which could bring material that would help open a Garganta that would allow Ichigo to go towards the fake Karakura where Aizen and his army were currently fighting the Gotei 13. Ichigo says goodbye to his friends and enters in the Garganta with Unohana as a guide towards the battle.

Ichigo managed to cross the Garganta and be the first to arrive and attack Aizen right behind.

"From what I understand, the Gotei 13 along with the Visoreds led by Hirako managed to take care of the rest of the Espadas and one of the captains, except Aizen who seemed to be doing good."

Ichigo attacked Aizen with a powerful Getsuga Tenshō, but Aizen managed to defend himself smoothly from the attack, and Ichigo continued to attack him in an unsuccessful attempt to cause damage. Even attacking him head on didn't do much good.

"It wasn't that that cocky bastard was superior to me in every way. It's just that he was amused to play with the minds of others, making them lose their motivation and will to fight." Ichigo spoke in a deep voice. "He told me that since none of my friends were killed or injured, I had no reason to hate him and therefore I couldn't beat him no matter how hard he tried."

Both the spectators and Ichigo's friends looked expectantly at the latter reflecting on how he had to deal with the psychological attacks of the unhinged captain.

"It was then that the captains and Visoreds encouraged me and lifted me out of stress by stating that even without hatred, I was able to protect my friends. They immediately took the lead and attacked Aizen simultaneously. However, it was not enough ..."

He could recall how some captains including the Visoreds fell one by one by the overwhelming power of the traitor, even when he was alone without anyone's help. The last remaining captains, Sois Fon, Hitsugaya, Kyōraku and Hirako managed to come up with a strategy keeping Aizen cornered and with no possibility of escape, and finally Tōshirō managed to deliver the coup de grace by piercing his torso with his sword.

"Everyone was convinced they had defeated Aizen, but it wasn't like that ..." His eyebrows furrowed at what he was about to say. "For me who had not been influenced by the Kyoka Suigetsu, I could clearly see that it was not Aizen who they had cornered and then stabbed. She was a friend of Tōshirō. The real Aizen was a bit distant and played with them to make them believe that he was they had it easy. " He left a moment of silence for the spectators to absorb that part and realize that this man was more dangerous than they had thought and even more with that ability to create hallucinations.

Once they had realized the deception, Tōshirō was the first to react totally blinded by fury and lunged like a madman towards the unhinged Shinigami only to be easily defeated. Then the rest followed and soon all fell like flies under the traitor's sword. Fortunately he did not kill them as he wanted them to witness his impending reign.

Just when Ichigo got ready to fight again, Captain-Commander Yamamoto intervened creating flames all around him causing a great hell over the false city. But then a surviving Arrancar intervened whose ability sealed Yamamoto's Zanpakutō leaving him almost defenseless. Well, no. He was not so helpless when he made use of his fists showing enormous physical strength with which he could withstand the multiple attacks of the Arrancar. Finally, old Yamamoto decided to finish him off with a single devastating blow that completely shattered his body. Once defeated, Aizen reminded him that the ability of that Arrancar consisted of absorbing the abilities of his Zanpakutō into his body including those flames that previously roamed the surroundings so that once he died, everything would be released.

Realizing that Ryūjin Jakka's flames could destroy Karakura, Yamamoto immediately covered what was left of the Arrancar with his body to prevent hell from spreading, sacrificing himself on the spot. Barely alive, Aizen prepared to finish him off, but surprisingly Yamamoto managed to hit him with a powerful Kidō, and Ichigo took the opportunity to attack him by surprise with a Getsuga Tenshō.

"I managed to hit him right in the shoulder, but then he started to heal with something akin to instant hollow regeneration, but he said this had nothing to do with it, and was just at a higher level called Recreation. Then he removed some of the uniform revealing that he had the Hōgyoku embedded in the middle of his torso to give him more power. Then he told me that he was spying on me since I met Rukia and gave me his powers." His expression darkened slightly at the memory. "He told me that all the fights he had fought so far were part of his plans, always monitoring him in each fight."

Ishida, Inoue, and Kon looked somewhat concerned at Ichigo while Urahara seemed to be unfazed, staring seriously silently at her former apprentice.

"That bastard told me that he has been watching me since the day I was born since for him I was nothing more than a guinea pig for his research."

"What investigation? What was he talking about?" Saber asked really curious to know what that stalking bastard Ichigo wanted.

"It didn't end when someone totally unexpected appeared to interrupt what he had to say, and that was none other than my father." Ichigo finished surprising the audience even more.

"You father!?" Saber asked dumbfounded.

"Yes. I'll save a few details, but my father was in fact a Shinigami captain for a long time and had been hiding it from me, including my sisters." Ichigo continued not wanting to elaborate on the subject. "After a private conversation, we decided to face Aizen as a team, but then that fox-faced bastard, Ichimaru Gin, joined in. He and I faced off while my father with Aizen."

Ichigo recounted his combat with the former captain releasing his Bankai, Kamishini no Yari, which consisted of instantly lengthening its blade reaching lengths of 13 kilometers at a speed of 500 times that of sound. Ichigo had a hard time to deal with that, but he managed to defend himself but couldn't reach Gin.

"When I wanted to realize it, that bastard sent me away with a single blow from his Zanpakutō to where my father was fighting. There, I saw how Aizen began to undergo a kind of transformation, but then Urahara-san appeared and interrupted him."

Now it was Kisuke's turn.

"That's right. I attacked Aizen with many Kidōs in order to seal his reiatsu, but it was of no use when Aizen completed his metamorphosis, and his reiatsu became heavier. Me, Kurosaki and Yoruichi-san who appeared soon we got together to fight Aizen, but unfortunately he had no problem dealing with the three of them together. "

Meanwhile, Ichigo fought again against Ichimaru who showed more skills from his Bankai. Ichigo managed to counter them and they continued for a while until Ichimaru stopped fighting as he lost interest when he noticed Ichigo's fear towards Aizen. Not long after Aizen managed to defeat his 3 rivals by knocking them out. Just when he was reunited with Gin, he underwent another metamorphosis removing the "chrysalis" from his body. Gin opened a Senkaimon and they both went inside to head towards the real Karakura, leaving a helpless and defeated Ichigo alone.

Not long after the battle was over, Rukia, Orihime, and Uryū came.

"Yes, after a while since Kurosaki left, I, Kuchiki-san and Inoue-san made the decision to go into battle worried about what might have happened." Uryū related his part. "As soon as we got there, we found to our surprise the entire Gotei 13 completely defeated, but we saw Unohana-san trying to heal them all, and then we went to where Kurosaki was and found him in a sorry state."

"Hey…" Ichigo muttered annoyed by what the four-eyed boy said.

"When he explained what happened to us, we felt our hopes were dashed if it was true that we couldn't beat Aizen. But then Kurosaki's father regained some confidence and encouraged all of us to go after Aizen and not allow him to destroy our city. It was then that he opened a Senkaimon and we all went in to chase him. "

During the journey, Isshin proposed to Ichigo to teach him a technique that could defeat Aizen as Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō. While Ichigo began his training to learn this technique by entering his inner world, Rukia, Ishida and Inoue went ahead to reach Karakura whose inhabitants were asleep by a spell, except for those who had a high spiritual consciousness, so they found themselves with Tatsuki, Keigo, Kon (inside Ichigo's body) and Chizuru.

At the same time Ichigo came to his inner world completely flooded for some reason, and there he met a young man who turned out to be Tensa Zangetsu (adolescent version of Ossan) Ichigo asked him to teach him the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō, but Tensa refused to do it outright much to Ichigo's surprise. Then the two of them started fighting for a while.

"At first I didn't understand why he didn't want to help me teach me the Final Getsuga Tenshō if I needed it more than ever, but he claimed that what I wanted to protect was none of his business." Ichigo recounted his confrontation with Tensa Zangetsu. "Not long after he showed me the reason why my inner world was completely flooded and it was because of my lack of hope of and stop moving forward, this world has sunk under the gaze of a small town just like Karakura, in which, the rain that continued to fall had diminished and instead everything has sunk into an ocean.

Soon after, he impaled his hand on my chest and then pulled my inner hollow out of me, whose new appearance was the same as the one I adopted to defeat Ulquiorra. "

Not long after, both Tensa Zangetsu and the inner hollow disintegrated into particles and fused to form a new being; Tensa Zangetsu hollowfied, and the battle immediately resumed. The two of them fought for an indeterminate time, and during that time Ichigo could feel that he noticed loneliness for some reason. So he decided to adopt a risky tactic.

"At that moment I remembered Ossan's words when I released him from Muramasa's enchantment, and it was that his main instinct was to protect me and not someone other than me and he would do anything to achieve it even if he went against what I want." He remembered how he began to understand Tensa's posture. "The truth is that I didn't know what I had to protect myself from in order not to learn the Final Getsuga Tenshō as well as why he felt so lonely and sad. It was then that I realized something."

"What is it?" Rider asked curiously.

"In order to fight with all my power and learn the Final Getsuga Tenshō I needed to fully accept my sword. I needed to accept that my Zanpakutō is a part of me, a part of my soul. So I decided to drop my sword and let myself be impaled by that of Tensa." Ichigo replied to the surprise of many. "I know this seemed crazy, but it was a bet that I was willing to risk. When he impaled me I did not feel any apparent pain since the sword that Tensa pierced me with is the same as mine, and as long as I accepted it, I shouldn't feel any pain.

That was how Tensa agreed to show me the secret of the technique and also told me before saying goodbye the reason why she didn't want to show it to me." Ichigo's expression turned a bit afflicted at that memory. "He told me once that unleashing that technique, I would lose all my Shinigami powers. That is why it is known as 'Final'."

The spectators looked on with some amazement and weigh the meaning of those words.

"Once our duel was over, I felt my reiatsu increase exponentially and my body experienced a little growth, becoming much more powerful than it was before." Ichigo continued. "After I had become powerful enough, I wasted no time in leaving my inner world, I crossed the Dangai with my unconscious father carried on my shoulder, and finally reached Karakura where I met Aizen about to kill Gin. From what I understood later, that fox face was not in league with Aizen and all this time he was pretending to be loyal by acting as a double agent to be around and find a chance to kill him, right?" He asked looking at Ishida or Inoue so they could confirm his theory.

"Yeah. Apparently he attacked Aizen impaling him with his Zanpakutō off guard when we thought he was going to attack us, but the opposite happened." Uryū related what happened at that time. "We didn't know what was going on, but I think this was due to a personal revenge or something like that. Apparently he introduced a powerful poison into his heart that caused his particles to disintegrate. Once this was done, Ichimaru removed him the Hōgyoku and Aizen's body collapsed on the ground with a large hole in his chest.

We thought he was dead now, but we were wrong when he suddenly came back to life with more power than before and declared that even if the Hōgyoku was no longer within him, its power was still fused with him. Once revived his power became increasingly heavy and he instantly teleported in front of Ichimaru and snatched the Hōgyoku from him and just as he was about to kill him, Kurosaki suddenly appeared, and just like he said before, a little changed."

Upon arrival, he was glad that his friends were alright and then focused on Aizen. The first forcing him to retreat away from Karakura surprising everyone as the Substitute managed to catch the mutated Shinigami off guard with great speed. Once a few kilometers away from Karakura Town, the 2 began their battle, and the scale was of apocalyptic proportions as the clash of swords caused powerful shock waves that pierced the landscape and created craters, even destroying several hills and some small mountains.

At first the fight was equalizing, but Ichigo was not taking the display seriously as he was testing his strength and endurance and the difference in power between the two of them. When he had seen enough, Ichigo decided to stop playing and showed his superiority when he stopped his enemy's sword with a single bare hand.

"The truth is that it was refreshing to see his stupid face of surprise when he saw how I stopped his sword. From the beginning he was always so presumptuous, pompous as if he had everything under control and believed that he was always going to win, and that's why I decided take the opportunity to humiliate him and give him a taste of his own medicine." He said with a satisfied smile remembering how he treated the fearsome Aizen like he was nothing. He didn't know if it was the fact that he was influenced by his inner hollow or something else, but it was still refreshing.

After destroying his most powerful Kidō, Ichigo proceeded to seriously injure him, but he quickly recovered and not in a very good mood. After being cut several times, Aizen erupted in anger and underwent a transformation that caused him to look more like a humanoid hollow and promptly retaliated. In this new form, Ichigo got to be outmatched to some extent until he seriously injured him when he pierced his torso and sliced off his arm, leaving him almost out of combat.

Just as Aizen set out to finish him off, his friends stepped in and began to distract him while Inoue began restoring his body. Later Renji and Chad arrived to help them in the distraction.

"I couldn't tell if Aizen was toying with us or was delighted with his new body because he could annihilate us all if he wanted to." Uryū continued. "But then he caught Kuchiki-san and prepared to kill him when suddenly that Espada Grimmjow appeared next to Nel to help us. It was quite a surprise when he intervened and saved Kuchiki-san."

However, despite the backing of a Espada, it was unable to wound the hybrid Shinigami and suffered a fatal blow leaving him dying. Just as Aizen was about to finish him off with a Cero, Ichigo appeared restored and deflected the attack saving the Arrancar's life.

Once returned to the battlefield, Ichigo set out to put an end to this and went into Getsuga Tenshō Final mode. In this transcendental new form Aizen was unable to do anything to harm him and Ichigo released his ultimate technique, Mugetsu, which released a massive veil of black reiatsu capable of consuming an entire city in a sea of darkness towards Aizen. The damage was so devastating that it severely injured him in his strongest evolutionary stage and forced him to regenerate at an earlier stage.

Ichigo tried to finish him off, but he immediately began to abandon his strength due to the use of the technique and was left defenseless against an Aizen who had not yet given up. Just when Aizen was going to attack him suddenly at that moment a kidō activated, one that Urahara had placed on Aizen's body, in the fake Karakura Town.

"At that time I had inserted into said kidō a seal capable of permanently enclosing it, but Aizen's reiatsu was ridiculously powerful to make it work." Kisuke explained. "It was thanks to Kurosaki-san that he managed to severely weaken it so that the seal would do its job and he was finally able to seal it without problems. In the end it was all over."

Not long after the battle ended with Ichigo as the winner, he collapsed losing consciousness due to the side effects of the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō.

"This was to be expected, since once used, the transformation dissipates. Subsequently, he lost consciousness, accompanied by intense pain, with the loss of his Shinigami powers following. Any remaining reiryoku will stabilize, and he will he woke up a month later, followed shortly thereafter by the loss of his remaining reiryoku whereby he will no longer have enough spiritual awareness to witness spirits. In other words, he became an ordinary human."

While Waver, Saber, and Rider all looked at the former Substitute with some curiosity when they gathered that information, Orihime, Uryū, and Kon only looked at him with regret at what this implied.

"A month after since that, Kurosaki-san regained consciousness and had already lost most of his reiatsu, but apparently a small portion of his reiryoku accumulated somewhere inside him. This could be a clue that some day he could regain his Shinigami powers."

"After I recovered I spent what was left of my reiatsu with Rukia and the others to celebrate our victory." Ichigo recounted recalling the moments after the victory against Aizen. "At dusk it was time to say goodbye and Rukia detached herself from her Gigai and I couldn't see her anymore. It was clear that I had lost my ability to witness spirits." He said with a pained tone that was not missed by Inoue. She understood very well how Kurosaki felt about the fact that he could no longer see her again. After all, Kuchiki was the one who changed Kurosaki's fate and the first nakama to occupy a place in his heart. The fact that he could no longer see her was a profound impact to the former Substitute.

Or so they thought...

Even after Rukia was relieved of her post in Karakura Town, she could still visit her as long as she had nothing to do to visit her friends including Ichigo being in his Gigai for him to see her. One of the best moments they lived was during the New Year, when he spent more time with Renji with them.

"After that, I decided to make up for lost time and live my life as an ordinary human as I should have always been without getting involved in spiritual matters." Ichigo continued as he regained his composure. "But 17 months later everything changed again when she made her appearance asking me if I was her Master." He said that phrase pointing to Saber.

He related the rest of the story of how they met Mordred, how he was chosen to participate in another supernatural war in a parallel universe that he never heard of, and that despite his negativity of wanting to participate, he was dragged along with his friends to said universe and that was how he reluctantly decided to participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War in order to return to their world. End of story.

Once the whole story and what they had to tell them was finished, the whole room was completely silent for the guests to let all the information penetrate the minds of the young magus and the 2 Servants to understand all this.

As expected, the silence served to make the Karakura gang uncomfortable, except for Kisuke who kept his face serene, patiently waiting for a simultaneous reaction. The faces of the magus and the 2 Servants did not change even before they finished the story at the same time that their gazes were still fixed on our protagonists, as if they were still processing what they had just heard and understanding the situation well. However, this did not help to alleviate the intense atmosphere in the room.

It was only after a few excruciating moments of silence that someone finally decided to break it once and for all.

"Did you really do all that?" The one who asked was Saber pointing at Ichigo, her voice sounded like a mixture of wonder and curiosity.

Taking this as a sign, the hero of the Winter War decided to speak.

"Uh, yeah, I was the one who ended this all by myself and-

"Rather he had a little help." Ishida interrupted suddenly with his eyes closed and a slightly wrinkled forehead clearly not happy to exclude him and the rest. "Kurosaki may have done the rest and finished it, but I doubt he would have done it if we hadn't done our part, right?"

Being caught off guard, Ichigo flinched slightly as he had forgotten about his friends. He was right.

"Yes, sure, it's true." He said chuckling awkwardly.

Urahara just chuckled to himself before looking at Waver and the 2 Servants. "As you have heard, Kurosaki-san is a great hero who saved both Soul Society and his world, and if fate had allowed him, maybe he would have entered the Throne of Heroes, and who knows... maybe he would have been summoned as a Saber class, and possibly the most powerful of all."

The room now focused on the blond Shinigami's such suggestion and little mixed reactions were obtained. Ichigo, as usual, just frowned annoyed at the stupid shopkeeper's praise that he should make a name for himself around the world as some kind of famous superhero when he actually wanted to lead a normal, peaceful life.

Waver's brain was still trying to cope with everything it had heard from the beginning in order to understand who these people are and where they came from. However, it was all too much like a long enough train line to count.

Parallel Universe, Spirit World, Shinigami, Soul Society, Hollows, Hueco Mundo, Quincys, Zanpakutō, Visoreds, and Arrancars. All of that was very complicated and difficult to understand, well, not until they did some demonstrations to convince him, but it was still very difficult and infuriating to digest. Anyway, he now understood who these strangers are that he had allied himself with a few days ago and who were now sitting across from him.

However, that did not help to overcome his insecurity and skepticism to continue collaborating with them, even after they reveal their secrets to him. Certainly her abilities seemed even to surpass a magus's grasp considering that the orange haired girl could restore a dead man to life.

Seeing Waver's expression of insecurity, Uryū decided to clear up.

"As you may have heard, this is our story and what happened to us before we came here." He carefully began his words calmly before starting on the little difficult part. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but we didn't want this to make a big impression and you probably wouldn't want us to ally with you."

He paused a little for Waver and the others to take in. "I know this is very sudden, but understand why we didn't say anything until now… if possible, we would like us to remain allies in this even after we have revealed who we are."

Silence reigned in the room once more as the former Substitute Shinigami's team patiently awaited the Rider Master's response on their decision whether it was still necessary to leave them on the team. However, few knew that even the young British magus was truly undecided about his decision to leave them so close to him after the reveal. He still saw them as new and suspicious people, as if they were members of the Holy Church, having every advantage over him and waiting for their opportunity to attack him totally off guard.

He really didn't know what to do.

"Alright, you're still on the team."

Unless his Servant had different ideas.

The former Shinigami's team were surprised by the apparent response of the giant Servant who wore a big smile on his face. "You have been very sincere this time, and I must say that I am very impressed with all the feats that you have done in your world." He spoke in a pleased manner before turning to Saber. "What do you think of them?"

Unlike the red-haired Servant, the blonde just kept looking skeptically at her Master and his friends doubting the authenticity of their story. Despite having witnessed what they were capable of before, she found it hard to believe that these people were once great heroes like her father and the original members of the Round Table as they seemed inexperienced in the face of situations compared to veterans of the knights of the king.

Seeing that she was not going to say anything and that this atmosphere was making the veterans of the Winter War a bit uncomfortable, Urahara decided to intervene again.

"Well, you might not believe us whatever we say, but it doesn't matter." He said drawing a smile. "You will as soon as you see Kurosaki-san's memories in dreams."

That answer produced questions from Ichigo and the others in reference to what the shopkeeper was referring to.

"Memories? What are you talking about?" Ichigo was the first to ask.

Urahara only gave a mysterious smile before answering. "You will see. As you well know, the Master and the Servant are more or less spiritually connected due to the pact so they will sometimes receive the memories of each other's life in the form of a dream while they sleep."

This new information settled in Ichigo's brain as he reflected on the fact that his Servant could see his memories in dreams. His friends were also looking forward to this fact.

"You mean both Kurosaki and Saber can see each other's memories?" Ishida asked curious.

"That's how it is." Urahara replied before noticing Ichigo. "Kurosaki-san, do you remember having some kind of little unusual dream since we got to Fuyuki?"

Ichigo began to navigate his mind in a vague attempt to remember dreaming of something strange. The truth is, trying to remember a dream that he had at some point was quite complicated and almost like a waste of time. However, after a few moments, his memory clicked as he remembered something that had caught his attention when he woke up after his first battle in the harbor. He remembered being under the skin of an isolated little girl with an enigmatic mother in a small fortress in the middle of a snowy forest cut off from civilization, but he knew nothing more about it. The experience felt a bit surreal as he could feel his thoughts as his own and what her life was like at the time.

Was that little girl really Mordred in her childhood?

After thinking, Ichigo turned to Urahara. "I don't remember much, but I did see a little memory of Mordred's childhood, but nothing more."

Urahara nodded in confirmation, while Ishida and Inoue were a bit surprised by the fact that the orange haired boy may have actually seen a fragment of his Servant's memories.

The shopkeeper turned to the blonde knight. "What about you, Saber-san? What did you see?"

The blonde was thoughtful for a few moments before speaking a moment later, longer than Ichigo had taken to reply. "I only saw his childhood together with his family. I must admit that his looked very happy especially with his mother."

Ichigo's heart sank slightly as he realized what Saber was referring to regarding his relationship with his mother. Yes. He used to live very happily with his sisters, his father and especially his mother. She was the center of their universe, and everyone loved her. But all that had ended on that fateful rainy night of June 17.

Seeing the depressing atmosphere in the room, Urahara decided to cough a bit to get attention.

"Well, just as you've heard, due to the effect of the pact, both Kurosaki-san and Saber-san will be able to see each other's memories." Then he turned to Ichigo. "As I understand it, you will not only see a single fragment of Saber-san's life, but the rest of how she has matured, how she became a knight, how she joined her father's knights, how she lived, what were the circumstances who started her rebellion and what were her last moments of life."

Then he turned to Saber to add one last thing. "And Saber-san. In case you still doubt our story, you will be able to witness it before your very eyes in Kurosaki-san's memories, and I'm sure it will make a great impression on you." He said this last sentence with a proud smile.

Saber only looked skeptical at the words of the jester or so-called 'Captain Shinigami', but inside she was eager to find out if everything her Master and his friends said was true. If it was true, well, she had no idea what kind of expression to use.

Shortly after they finished revealing the story and Rider claimed to be willing to temporarily collaborate with them, the tension had subsided, except for Waver who was still debating this issue, but there was little he could do with his Servant excited about working with 'heroes from another world' so he didn't say anything.

They chatted for a time until suddenly Kisuke decided to start with a new topic that could be of great help to Kurosaki from now on.

"Kurosaki-san." Urahara said looking at Ichigo. The latter looked at the shopkeeper curiously.

"What?"

The shopkeeper looked at him expectantly as if he had come up with a planned plan. "I have come up with something to make you stronger."

This caused immediate surprise in the group who laid their eyes on Urahara.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked first puzzled.

"Do you remember what we were talking about about the fact that you started to get some of your reiatsu back?" Urahara began leaving space for the teenager to remember that conversation.

"You mean the fact that Kurosaki possessed Magic Circuits?" Ishida asked realizing where Urahara was going.

"That's right. This made me think that we could take advantage of this to make him learn how to handle them."

That answer had stumped much of the room.

"What are you talking about?" Waver asked without understanding what this conversation was about. Kisuke decided to clarify.

"You see, by the looks of it, the Grail not only chose Kurosaki-san as Master, but also supplied him with Magic Circuits that caused part of his reiatsu to awaken from what could theoretically be a magus like you." Kisuke explained as the group looked at him expectantly. "The problem is that he still doesn't know how to handle them correctly, and he was only able to activate them 2 times, and the last one was just as you saw in the final moment of his fight with Saber-san."

Everyone seemed to ponder that fact, and some agreed that he was right that the former Substitute had gained a new power that was nothing related to his world and until now did not know how to use it to his advantage except to automatically supply mana towards his Servant.

"I suspect that if Kurosaki-san could somehow dominate them, not only could he give his Servant more mana , but he could also defend himself from any danger." The shopkeeper concluded causing the idea to take root in others, taking this as a possible advantage.

However, Ichigo was still unsure of this. He remembered activating them for the first time when he used the Reishūkaku in the previous hotel to measure his reiatsu, and the last time during his section fight with Saber, but he did so unconsciously. It is true that he knew of the existence of said element impregnated in his soul, but until now he knew almost nothing about them, how to handle them and especially to dominate them.

"How can we do that?" Ishida asked curious and anxious at the same time.

Urahara just adjusted his hat before speaking. "I'm still not sure, but maybe he can help us a bit." He said while looking at Waver.

Said boy was paled when he saw how the former Shinigami captain referred to him and the looks that accompanied him.

"I know you are a first generation magus, but could you help us to unlock Kurosaki-san's Magic Circuits?"

Waver was unable to answer that. Was he really asking him to help him activate his ally's magic circuits? He was still dealing with the fact that his ally did not belong to this universe and did not possess od. And the fact that he possessed Magic Circuits so suddenly seemed unheard of.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can help." He responded by shaking his head. "Considering that Ichigo is not an od user, I don't think it is possible to make his Magic Circuits work. Also, the fact that he possesses Magic Circuits without being an od user seems very strange to me."

"Well, I knew you would say something like that." Kisuke spoke without looking discouraged by the British magus's response. "For the circuits to work, the user needs the od that exists in his soul so that they can transport it through the body such as tubular reactors."

For those who did not understand such chemistry, they just looked at the shopkeeper without understanding something. Except one.

"But didn't you say earlier that od could be replaced with reiatsu?" Ishida asked remembering having the conversation about the fact that Kurosaki might be using his reiatsu instead of od.

"That's what I think, and it might work considering both od and reiatsu are almost alike."

"Well, and what do I have to do about it?" Ichigo asked impatiently and to start his possible 'training' to awaken his so-called Magic Circuits at once and not stay behind any longer.

"The first thing is to find a way to wake them up and see if they work with your reiatsu." Urahara replied immediately. "After the short display we saw while you were fighting Saber-san, I still couldn't determine 100% if it might work not to mention other possible effects. Depending on the results, we can start training."

Then he turned to Waver. "By the way, od aside, what kind of functions can the user do with the circuits activated? Of course, I mean some basic functions that have nothing to do with casting spells or something. the circuits also affect the physique of the user? "

"Uh, yeah. Depending on how the user uses it, it will spontaneously increase their body beyond the capabilities of the average human." Waver replied. "Normally a magus has an average of 20 natural circuits running through a good part of his body that extends starting from the brain dividing into branches in each corner in a similar way to the nervous system reaching the extremities." Kisuke and the others listened carefully to the boy. "Apparently you cannot activate the circuits at the same time if you do not want to collapse, and you can only activate a section of the body such as the arms and legs. And once this is done, will strengthen the physical nervous system and a significant increase in physical strength somewhat similar to what happened to Ichigo."

"So superhuman physical abilities, huh?" Kisuke hummed pondering if Kurosaki would be able to gain such strength and dominate it. He could almost imagine the former Substitute learning Hakuda as one of the members of the Special Forces.

"Yes, but that is a field in which I am not proficient." Waver replied. "I don't think I can help."

"Oh, never mind. You've helped us a lot." Kisuke insisted with a compassionate smile. "I think I will be able to continue researching the book and find out what kinds of tricks Kurosaki-san might find useful in the future."

Ichigo could only look skeptically at what the shopkeeper was up to now regarding his future training to activate his Magic Circuits. He just hoped it wasn't something like when he did his first training sections to access his true Shinigami powers after losing Rukia's.

"Anyway, we appreciate you helping us and listening to our story." Kisuke said next before getting up and standing up. "Sorry if we have stayed here longer than necessary."

"Are you leaving now?" Rider asked as he watched the blond man get up as a sign that he was leaving.

"Yes. Sorry for not staying a little longer to continue chatting, but I should plan what our next step would be in order to fully activate Kurosaki-san's Magic Circuits. Well, it was a pleasure to listen to us."

Taking the hint, Ichigo and the others got up from the ground and said goodbye to Waver and his Servant who the latter did the same with a smile.

"Glad I heard your story, pointy hair. I hope I can see more of you."

Ichigo flinched a bit upon hearing how the King of Conquerors praised him since he was too modest for such compliments. Anyway, he nodded in response in thanks.

After saying goodbye to the elders as well, the Karakura gang left the house and walked to the hotel. Ichigo took the opportunity to argue with the hatter about his new plan.

"Hey, at least tell me what we have to do to activate my Magic Circuits."

"I still have several things to go through the book and find new answers. Have some patience." Urahara replied simply.

Ichigo frowned at running out of information or something useful so he would have no choice but to wait and see what the hatter has in store.

Without him noticing, Saber who had been reflecting on the adventures that he and his friends had just told them, looked expectantly at her Master in silence as if searching for something in him that indicated his testimony as a hero of a spiritual warfare. Truth be told, she still had a hard time believing that even with witnessing a small fragment of his life considering that this was actually his childhood. Although she did not want to admit it, she wanted to know if her Master was not what she had thought from the beginning and that he was something more.

Despite his mental clumsiness, stubbornness, short temper and other defects such as being a mediocre type of magus, he had proven not to be so incompetent and cowardly since during their exhibition a few hours ago she had banished those previous thoughts and reconsidered who he was in reality. Still she was hard for him to believe that he was some kind of spirit guardian who had supposedly beaten many types capable of matching the strength of a Heroic Spirit.

She could only confirm it if she saw more through his memories. But by then, she will wait.

---

That's all for today. I was finally able to finish these 3 summary chapters and be able to continue with the original story. I intentionally wanted to divide it into 2, but since I didn't want to delay the story with more summaries any longer, I decided to join it and end it in this one. That aside, let's talk about the differences I added here.

Yeah. I let Ulquiorra live. The truth is that I don't know why, but I guess I felt sorry for him and it was one of my favorites characters apart from Grimmjow. If you're asking how he survived is due to a little Ulquihime, then yes. The truth is that I am a bit fond of any of the Blecah couples therefore I would not mind seeing Ichiruki, Ichihime, RenjixRukia or Ulquihime. Earlier I tried to find a hypothetical canon story in which Ulquiorra survives thanks to Orihime's compassion to reinforce this idea, but couldn't find much.I hope you recommend me some.

The next thing was that Uryū and Orihime accompanied Ichigo out of the Las Noches dome to join the fight with Yammy, and later they would accompany along with Rukia towards the real Karakura to stop Aizen while Ichigo was still trying to learn the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō. This was because as I said in the previous chapter, a good part of the battles in history put the gang from Karakura on the sidelines including Rukia so their presence will be active until Aizen's defeat.

Oh, I also decided to take advantage of Nel's presence on stage (which I did not write) for Orihime to restore the damage that Nnoitra did to her in the past by making her return to her adult form, and also healed Grimmjow and returned to Hueco Mundo.I also decided to add that Neliel urged Orihime to save Tier Halibel and her Fracción as in the last arc Kubo did not explain to us how she was able to save herself and her Fracción, much less what happened to her when Juha Bach captured was also taken to Hueco Mundo to restore the masks of Pesche and Dondochakka and thus return to normal.

Another thing. As for the training to activate Ichigo's Magic Circuits, I'll leave that to your imagination because for now we won't see this in the next chapter. I am sorry. Finally, I do not know if I have said it before but I will repeat it anyway, the various elements that exist in the Nasuverse are still so complex for me that it would be difficult to be able to compare or merge them with the elements of Bleach. The idea is that since Ichigo is not an Od user, his reiatsu will serve as a replacement and were will see what kinds of results it gives. If you ask if Ichigo manages to master his Magic Circuits and learns some basic tricks like Reinforcement or Projection like Shirou, then yes. As for if he get a Mystic Eye, then no.

This is all I wanted to show regarding my version of the original canon. In the next chapter will come the hunt for Caster.

Ja ne!