A.N.: Wow! I didn't expect to get so many positive reviews! Thanks for the support! This chapter is my longest one yet! So I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Overlord.
Chapter 3: Welcome to Evil
Meanwhile, Kitchen
The Kurosaki sisters were doing the dishes while their brother went upstairs for the showers, both of them were equally happy to see him a bit more lively when he came back home from Keigo's house.
Karin smiled while she rinsed off the last plate and handed it to Yuzu to dry off. "I'm glad to see Ichigo is feeling better."
Yuzu couldn't agree more. She wiped off the last plate and set it with the other clean dishes. "Me too! Its great to see him acting a bit more like himself again." she said it in relief. Especially what their family had been through.
The dark haired twin noticed that and went into thought. She was glad to see her sister was doing better like she was as well. But, how can she explain more about what happened about that stranger who manipulated them. Ichigo gave her a better explanation about what happened since she was more aware of the spiritual world. Yuzu was told some parts, but not the whole story. Maybe it was the perfect time to tell her now that things are finally calming down.
"Hey, Yuzu," Karin gets Yuzu's attention, "We need to have a talk about some things. Just you and me, okay?"
The younger twin nodded and they both sat at the table on opposite sides, wanting to the conversation between the two while their brother was busy upstairs. Karin sighed and went first, "Yuzu, I honestly wanted to talk about these things to you for awhile, but after what happened last month and Ichi is finally starting to feel better, I think now is the time to talk."
Yuzu caught on right away. "About the stranger that nearly destroyed our family?" her sister nodded. "And about the ghosts I've been seeing lately?"
Karin went wide eyed not expecting that last part. "Wait? You mean, you can really see them?" Yuzu slowly nodded. "Since when?"
It was Yuzu's turn to sigh, "Well, I can't say when exactly, but I think I started seeing them about a year now." The younger twin replied.
"What?!" Karin said in shock and Yuzu nodded.
"I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure how to. You and Ichigo always worry about me. And...there's something else too..." Yuzu hesitated to say more, but she needed to tell her sister, "I could also see those strange people, the ones who wear the black robes too."
To say Karin was even more shocked then she already was, was an understatement. She just now realized her sister could see spirits. But now knowing she also noticed the Shinigamis was another story.
"I'm sorry!" The light blond-haired twin looks down at the table feeling guilty with tears pouring in her eyes for hiding a secret from her sister.
Seeing that look made Karin speak up, "You shouldn't feel guilty at all, Yuzu. I'm not one to talk about keeping secrets from the family." Her sister looked to her, "I mean, come on. How could I explain seeing spiritual people with crazy sword powers to you? Were both guilty of not telling each other this sooner."
Yuzu rubbed her eyes out to dry away the tears and gave her sister a small smile. "Then from now on, lets not hide anymore ghost secrets from each other."
"Deal." Karin said instantly as the sisters shook hands. After the agreement and just when the raven-haired was about to get up from her seat, Yuzu grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"What's wrong?" Karin asked as she sat back down on the chair.
The said sister let her go and had another nervous face about something, but was steeling her resolve to honor the deal she just made to her twin sister. "There's a couple more things I want to discus with you, but one of them can wait. Well..." she held out her hands, "I don't know how, but I can somehow...do this...thingy...in my hands."
"What...thingy...?" Karin almost grinned, cracking up a bit inside of her sister's cute choice of words.
Yuzu almost pouted sensing her sisters giggling, but it did in someway encourage her to continue. "Well...this..." For a few seconds nothing happened, but then something started glowing in-between Yuzu's hands. A small ball of light glowing brighter and brighter, leaving Karin speechless.
Upstairs in Ichigo's room
"A Quincy symbol on your blanket? What do you mean, Ichigo?" Ririn asked confused while staring at the bed too.
"I don't know either..." The scowling teen was wondering about that himself. He didn't just notice this until he saw the Quincy insignia on the back of Kon's head.
The stuffed lion turned back to face Ichigo and Ririn. "Wait a minute guys." Kon waves his plushy arms to calm the two, "Aren't we jumping to conclusions here? There's probably loads of bed blankets with cross symbols just like this out in the world, right? I mean, come on!"
Hearing Kon out made sense, but it still made the teen wonder. This blanket that made him so tense was because it was a Christmas present from his mother...the last gift she gave to him as a child before she was killed by Grand Fisher. The memory of encountering that depraved creature still burns inside of failing to kill him two years ago.
"Let me see something." Ichigo gets up from his chair and looks for something around his bed.
The stuffed, well dressed bird joins Kon's side of the bed in wonder what Ichigo was trying to find. "What are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for a bed tag," he says while checking another corner of his bed, "Kon might be right about this, but I just find it a bit strange that I would have something spiritual related in this family." Then he grabbed what he was looking for. "Got it." He pulls the small tag to his face. When looking it over, his face turned paled. "What the hell..."
Seeing his face drained of colors made the plushies wonder what was wrong. They hopped onto Ichigo's shoulders while one was on the other to see what he was looking at. Just like the orange-haired teenager, their faces were also pale at a loss for words.
What was on the tag, that made them so shocked...was that it had the Quincy pentagram on the tag, and under the symbol, a name...'From the Ishida family.'
Ichigo dropped the small bed tag as his mind was processing what this meant. 'Did my mom, know Uryu's family? Like his dad, Ryuken? But how? That's not possible.' While he was asking himself these questions, he just now recalled something the white-haired man said to him back at the hospital a month ago.
1 month ago: Ishida Hospital...
Ichigo was about to head out of the hospital to leave Uryu alone to recover. Realizing it was really late outside, he offered to walk Orihime home. "Oh, right! Sorry you had to come out this late at night, Orihime. Let me walk you home."
The bubbly girl was blushing at the offer, "Well, that would be nice Ichig-" She was cut off when Ryuken gently grabbed the girl's shoulder.
'You don't need to worry about her. I'll drive her home in my car tonight. You should go home quickly. Your old man seems like the type who'd give me grief if I kept you out too late.' he says to ease the young man's worries.
Knowing Uryu's dad was a Quincy made him feel assured that Orihime was in good hands. Ichigo gave the man his thanks and left the hospital to ponder what was happening in his hometown.
Back to the Present...
'That was it! How did I miss that? So he knows about my old man too, huh? If there is a connection, then that would explain how Ryuken got my cellphone number when Uryu was attacked.' He pondered what should he do next. Finding out his parents were close to Uryu's father was mind-blowing! But he had to be as calm as possible. Freaking about it now wouldn't get him anywhere. 'Okay, I guess for now I should play it cool? I know where the hospital is and I have the man's number in my phone history list. I can ask the guy later. He's not going anywhere. I need to filter out my thoughts of what questions I want answered another day.'
Taking a deep breath, Ichigo exhaled as his skin color was back to his normal tan color. "I guess my folks are old friends with Ryuken?"
Kon on Ichigo's left shoulder didn't have the teen's calmness. "Wait, what?! How are you so chilled about this?!"
"I agree with Kon for once. This is a major discovery, Ichigo!" Ririn said equally shocked on the teen's right shoulder.
Ichigo grabbed the stuffed animals and put them on his desk. He laid back down on his bed, deciding to call it a night. "Of course it's big news. But worrying and overthinking about it would be a waste of energy. For now, I'm just going to get some sleep. I'll definitely think about it more tomorrow, night you two." He turns the room switch off next to his bed and it was lights out. The stuffed lion and bird looked towards Ichigo and to each other before deciding to call it a night themselves.
Before the teen totally fell asleep, one last thought crossed his mind. 'Besides, I can't go to my dad or Kisuke about this. I'll find out myself...'
2 months later...
Yggdrasil: Niflheim
Out in the world of mist and cold, Reiken and the others were slaying warriors called Winter Samurais. They were level 40 spawn monsters that appears at certain times of the hour. Just as their name implies, they were warriors of the cold.
"Dammit! Remind me again why were doing this?" Ichigo asks while using a middle-class sword Peroroncino got for him to help gain more EXP. Plus it did wonders against the boss monster event. "These guys are fucking annoying! I thought these guys disappear when their boss was dead?" he grunts while slicing another samurai. It's been a few months since he found out about the odd connection between his folks and Uryu's old man. He still didn't understand why, but there was no sense of going crazy about it. Also because he still wasn't confident enough to ask the right questions. Putting these thoughts at the back of his mind, he focused on playing the very incredible game of Yggdrasil. So far his three friends have been helping him grind some levels. It was kind of hard to do if it weren't for the Player Killers. They were human avatar players ganging up on inhuman players for EXP, which was them being asshole bullies basically. So to avoid them, his friends knew some secret routes and they haven't been attacked...so far anyway given his luck.
Herohero grabs onto one of the samurai and kept a firm hold on him with his slime. "Even though these are low level monsters to us, Reiken. You did a great job against the Winter Shogun boss in the ice palace. Plus, you needed some more experience points anyway." While he was talking, another winter samurai tried to attack the slime. But since Mizuiro was at max level 100, he was already aware of the other surprise attack and quickly held the monster down along with the other...who were both melting in his gooey grip. Given that Herohero was a powerful slime called an Elder Black Ooze with his acid abilities and classes, they were very effective against the samurai's low resistances.
"That's not all!" Peroroncino lands next to Ichigo. "This special event quest was said to have some good item drops if we beat these samurai's shogun boss. From what the rumors said before we got here, it might drop a very high-tier sword item or you can have the Winter Shogun as a monster summon. They weren't kidding either! You got nice drops, Reiken." Keigo says in excitement for helping his ghostly friend while using his high class weapon called Houyi's Bow. A very high-tier weapon that fired powerful energy blasts at high speed. Also leaving some small craters after the impacts.
"Yeah, too bad I can't use either the summon or the sword until I'm at level 70." The horned ghost mutters as he sliced and diced another samurai.
"You'll level into it. Besides, after these guys, I think it's time." Yamaiko says after landing furious shock-waves from her gauntlets at the few remaining samurais, destroying them in the process.
After everything was finally quiet with only the cold Niflheim breeze, Ichigo looked towards Tatsuki. "Time for what?"
Yamato looked back towards her oldest friend, "Well, to welcome you into our guild of course." her response left Ichigo speechless. "What? Don't looked so surprised. We've been talking about you to our other guild members for weeks and some of our members are eager to meet with you." Though she won't say it out loud, but she wanted to show him the base sooner. But now that he was at a high enough level, now felt like the time.
"But, I thought Peroroncino said the guild wasn't done yet?" Ichigo asks, finally starting to get used to Keigo's long ass name.
Keigo cut in. "Oh, it's still being worked on. We still have two more floors left to work on, but Yamaiko's right. Your definitely ready to meet with our other members! What do you say buddy?"
Ichigo would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about this guild his friends have been talking about since he first played this game for the past couple months. But he wasn't sure if he should join their other members. Since what happened with the last two organizations he joined with, they both betrayed his trust. He was very wary of history repeating itself again. However, he chose to trust his friend's judgement. Though he better keep his guard up just in case.
The horned ghost shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, I guess I'll go and see what all the fuss is the others at your tomb base."
Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro were surprised at Ichigo's response. They were expecting him to sound more hesitant from past events, but they didn't want to question him since he sounded okay to the idea. Which in turn made them more determined to finally show Ichigo their headquarters of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
The bird-man pulled out the same item he used to teleport Ichigo and himself to the tavern in Midgard. It was a special item called a Teleport Crystal, which as the name suggests teleports anyone to a certain location wherever they choose, but only in areas they can be allowed to go. "Alright everybody! To Nazarick we go!"
Helheim
As soon as the light faded from the teleportation item, Ichigo was introduced to another realm that continued to amaze him. The sky in this realm was a crimson void and it looked almost alive. Looking around the area was a dark swamp. The water was completely dark and full of sludge like it was heavily polluted. Which was kind of depressing. 'This place almost reminds me of Hueco Mundo. But replace the desert with this swamp. Guess this really is hell in a way.' He looked around for the base around them, but didn't see anything.
"Um, where's this base? I thought that's where we were going?"
"Oh, we are. Since you don't have our guild ring like the members of Ainz Ooal gown do, we kind of have to take the long way to the tomb. It's a security feature to not just let anybody enter our base you know? Plus we know the safest route around this area where we don't encounter many monsters." Herohero explained.
As they continued walking for the past fifteen minutes through the murky swamps which was shrouded in everlasting darkness with the only light from the blood red sky. Finally reaching a clearing in this realm, the group saw up ahead were massive ruins. In the center was a big mausoleum being held up by columns.
"So, this is Nazarick?" Reiken says aloud to the others in wonder while they were approaching the ruins.
"Yep. This is it." Mizuiro replied as the group kept going.
When they reached the tombs entrance, multiple undead monsters suddenly raised from the ground. Thousands of skeletal creatures in armor slowly made their way towards the group.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what spawned them. "Let me guess, an automatic security system?" Ichigo asks bluntly, but also very impressed.
"You guessed it." Keigo walked in front of everyone and held up his hand. On his clawed finger was a ring and it glowed bright red. This made the undead sink back into the grounds from where they came from. "And I just deactivated it. If anyone tried to invade the tomb with large numbers, they would've had to deal with way more than what you just saw. But let's keep it going, shall we?" The Bird-man took the lead of the others and Ichigo followed close behind. As they were walking, Keigo felt like he was forgetting something. Like he was spacing out something important? But shrugged it off knowing it will come to him later. Coming up the stone steps to the entrance of the base the gang came across a single figure slowly walked out of the shadows from the mausoleum.
Taking a closer look of what just came forth, Reiken didn't know what to make of this creature. From it's appearance, it looked like a teenage girl wearing a heavy dress, giving her an almost like a living doll impression. But was obviously not human. Her skin was pale white with sharp vertical-silt blood red eyes. Her hair was as white as her skin, tied in a ponytail with a large bow on top of her head. When the ghost inhuman saw the eyes and the sharp tooth sticking out of her mouth.
"Vampire?" He asked in wonder.
"You guessed it. She's an NPC I created and she guards the first to third floors of Nazarick. She's pretty damn powerful too if I do say so myself." Keigo proclaims proudly as he walks up to the vampire, "Stand down, Shalltear Bloodfallen!" he spoke in a commanding tone. The True Vampire obeyed her creator and moved aside for the group to pass into the tomb. As they proceeded inside the first floor of the tomb which definitely had an old dungeon atmosphere, voices could be heard deeper within the darkness, echoing through the hallway.
"I'm telling you, Touch Me. If we organize specific members to Muspellhiem and round up some Chaos Orbs from the drop items from the Fire Giants, it would add some real fire to the traps on the 7th floor."
The other voiced sighed, "I understand your eager to keep improving your floor domain, Ulbert. But the drop-rates for those particular orbs are too low to obtain them in that overbearing area in Yggdrasil. Besides, we're welcoming a new member to our guild and I think we should organize our original members first to see what he's capable of."
Ulbert wasn't pleased, "Nobody said you were going since your in Insectoid, Touch," Then the goat spellcaster changed the subject. "And this new guy makes what, forty-two now? I heard from Yamaiko this guy is a ghost inhuman. Not many people go with that as an avatar character. Rumors say it's because ghosts are so damn weak in combat that they get killed easily by the Player Killers for easy EXP. Should we really invite someone like that?" he says disapprovingly.
Before Touch-Me could reply, he heard footsteps coming towards him and Ulbert. Since no alarms went off in the tomb, he didn't draw his sword. "Seems like our comrades are making an appearance." On his screen it showed the names who entered. Three he was familiar with, but a fourth name was new. Which meant one thing given the reports Peroroncino sent to him during the months he's been absent. "And speak of the devil. It also seems they brought their new friend as well."
Just like he said and coming into view, Ichigo, Keigo, Tatsuki, and Mizurio in their inhuman forms made their appearance known to the two original members of Ainz Ooal Gown.
When Ulbert saw Reiken's menacing avatar body, he had to give credit where it was due. "So this is the ghost guy that everyone's talking about?" he walks up to Ichigo to observe him closer. "You really give off the incarnation of death vibes. Your black mask with sharp horns and white lines running down your eyes. Faint purple orbs in your eye-holes to give them an evil phantom look." Then he inspected his equipment, "The pure white robes with hidden resistances to reduce physical and magic damage against players at your level is outstanding." The the demon goat looks toward Herohero and Peroroncino, "I take it you guys set him up with all this gear, right?" But to his surprise the purple slime shook his head no and explains.
"Actually, Reiken was the one who asked for the specifics on his armor. It might look like robes, but we put lots of data crystals into the cloths so he can fool players into thinking he's easy prey. Giving other players the idea into thinking they have the upper hand on him, but Reiken swoops in and finishes them off while their guards are down." Herohero chuckles a bit from seeing Ichigo's strategy works every time when human avatars and other inhumans take the bait for easy EXP.
Ulbert whistles at that. He might have misjudged the rookie too soon. 'Fascinating! Using crafty tactics to your advantage, huh? This guy might be interesting to work with after all. But let's see what he can do in combat. That will be the real test to see if he's worthy enough to join us.' He mentally grins while picturing such a spectacle.
Ichigo was not usually used to others complimenting him. Back in his Soul Reaper days, others would usually talk down to him in his face. But back to the present, he wasn't swayed so easily by the praise. During the months of playing this game, his friends spoke and described the original members of Ainz Ooal Gown. He understood Touch Me from his flashy white armor and was the guild leader as well as the strongest of all the members, even today. He kept his mouth shut about bug knights' name since he would've been one to talk about name choices. Reiken also heard about Ulbert, the demon goat mad magic caster. From what Tatsuki told him, he really loved playing the evil villain.
The white knight walked to Ichigo, "So, your Yamaiko's friend I've heard much about. I'm Touch Me, the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown; it's an honor to finally meet you," he takes out his hand in a friendly gesture. Seeing the meaning, Ichigo accepts it in a vice-grip handshake, "Lets continue this with the others deeper in our base." Touch Me lets go of Ichigo's hand. "Reiken, we'll be teleporting with our guild rings to the lower depths of our base," The leader shows the red gemmed ring on his finger for Reiken to see. Then he placed his armored hand on the ghost's shoulder, "If guild mates teleport while holding onto another players with our guild rings, they can transport with us." he explained and Reiken nodded as the group disappeared from the first floor.
Nazarick: 8th floor
Meanwhile on the 8th floor of Nazarick, which is heavily secured around the entrances of the 7th and 9th floors of the guild. An undead skeleton magic caster was sitting at a large wooden table with the guild symbol on it was making charts of the security of the 8th's floors' wilderness. His name was Suzuki Satoru. However, he was named Momonga in Yggdrasil. An evolved Elder Lich who was all boned with no flesh or skin to his form, but was heavily covered by his god-level robes. Right now he was filling in for one of his guild member friends who was the head strategist of the base. Substituting a person like that was not an easy job, but he was glad to help fill in some gaps to secure the guilds defenses. Then Momonga heard a rough voice from across the table.
"For crying out loud, Momonga! You've been working on that security stuff for two hours. Let's do something more exciting! Like, looking for some World-level items or something."
Momonga looked up from his work and looked at the person who spoke to him. It was another inhuman like himself, but not an undead one. His name was Beast King Mekongawa, a Lionman. His appearance was that of a buffed humanoid lion, wearing god-level clothing crafted from the skins of the fiercest monsters in all the realms in Yggdrasil. It was no big secret to the guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown that the lion hunter just wanted to show off his past kills. "I'm almost finished working out some flaws in the defenses of this floor. It's not easy rearranging the traps and the barriers to keep other players from moving around freely in this floor."
Beast King huffed at that. "Like anybody is going to make it this far in Nazarick, Boney. You and Punitto Moe pretty much got the upper floors covered. So just chill out."
Before Momonga could respond, the sound and lights of a teleportation caught his ear...which he had none since he was all virtual bones. As soon as the light faded from the group of six, they were standing next to the wooden table and Touch-Me lead the arrived group. The evolved elder lich noticed someone new with them. He heard from Herohero about a potential member joining when he was ready.
'From the descriptions of his white cloak and his black mask markings, he must be Reiken? ' he wondered.
"How is the security progressing, Momonga?"
Hearing the leader snapped Momonga out of his thoughts and responded. "Everything is in order, Touch-Me. We might need some more Data Crystals and a few rare ores on some of the spawn golems? But next to that, do you think we should add another floor guardian on the fourth's floor caverns? Gargantua is freaking OP, but it would be a good idea to at least give it more aid of some sort in the caves if players get through the first to third floors."
The guild leader put his hand to his helmet chin in thought. "I suppose it makes sense. Gargantua was a big surprise bonus when we conquered Nazarick. We should respect it with some care in kind." Then the white knight put his hand down, "But we can discus this on another time. I want to introduce a new member to the guild. Might I introduce our newest ally, Reiken!" he proclaims proudly.
"Say what?!" Mekongawa yelled out in surprise.
Everyone looked towards the Lionoid as he stood up from his chair and headed towards Touch Me in a frenzy while walking around the large wooden table. "Boss, what is this?! I haven't heard anything about this guy joining our group," he points his clawed finger at Ichigo, "Normally, I'm a chilled-out lion. But this is way too out of the blue for my tastes." He looks to the others, "I thought we weren't looking for any new members? What's up with this, guys?!" Beast King asks them clearly confused.
Yamaiko steps in, "You haven't heard? We mentioned it to you a few times during some of our guild meetings. Weren't you listening?"
Beast King grumbled at her question. Then realization came to mind and he facepalmed with his beastly hands. "Damn! I forgot all about it."
Joining the conversation, even Herohero voiced his surprise. "How could you forget? We made mentions of Reiken being a ghost inhuman being a candidate to join the team since he met all the requirements to join."
The lionoid huffed. "You know I don't stick around long during long-ass meetings. I just asks the other members of Nazarick later about the main points of them." The buffed lion casually responds, making everyone have a sweat-dropped icon above them.
'Then you obviously forgot to ask later on, didn't you?' Tatsuki mentally accuses the damn lion.
Beast King wasn't finished. "But, anyway." He looked to Ichigo, "Your name's Reiken, right?" The ghost inhuman nodded and the Lionoid looked back to the others, "Even with a few good words from you guys and our leader, I can't say it's right to simply let Reiken join us just like that."
"I must agree as well." Ulbert spoke next, gaining the others attention, "From descriptions alone can only tell us so much about Reiken. Might I suggest that we form some kind of test if he were to truly be a member to Ainz Ooal Gown?" he turns to face the white cloaked inhuman, "Normally in the past while recruiting new members, there were only two requirements to join our team. The first is that all our members had to inhumans. The second is that we had to have actual lives and jobs in IRL so we carry our own weight and support our purposes. You understand, right?"
Reiken understood perfectly. No reason to keep around those who don't contribute or help your own teammates in times of need.
The demon magic caster resumed. "To be completely honest, we originally planned to only have 41 members into our Great Tomb of Nazarick. However, given the circumstances of how highly Yamaiko, Peroroncino, and Herohero speak of you. I think a test as I just mentioned would be in great order to showoff your skills in front of other members in our evil domain."
"An excellent idea, Ulbert. A test would indeed satisfy the other members who are't here today if they had similar opinions of objecting Reiken." Touch Me speaks in complete agreement.
"Then it's decided then." Ulbert says, very pleased to have his leaders approval.
Everyone aside from Ichigo who have known Touch Me and Ulbert for the past few years couldn't believe what they just heard. During private meetings with the original nine members of Ainz Ooal Gown, the two would always argue, hardly agreeing with the each others line of thinking of moving forward with Nazarick. So hearing them actually agreeing on something without a slight disagreement was baffling to witness.
Deciding to finally get into the conversation involving him, Ichigo finally spoke. "Okay. What kind of test do I have to do in order to be an official member of Ainz Ooal Gown?" he asks.
Before anyone else, Beast King decided ahead of everyone with bloodlust in his tone. "I know exactly what kind of test you'll be facing, spooky!" an evil grin icon appeared above his head.
Nazarick: 6th floor stadium
"This...is so stupid." Reiken grumbles. The test was he needed to engage was in combat at the coliseum in the sixth floor of the guild base. The floor was basically a large heavy forest with a roman coliseum in the center of the area where he was now. Admittedly the design of the floor looked really realistic with the sky and layout of the wilderness. Back in the said stadium, at first he thought he was going up against on of the Ainz Ooal Gown members, namely Beast King for proposing this test. But he was half-right. Instead of going against the damned Lionoid, Ichigo had to fight against something Beast King created. Standing at a distance away at the other side of the stadium was...a maid. An NPC just like the one Keigo showed him at the entrance of the base, but this one was different. From what Reiken gathered despite lots of things happening in such short time, the maid he was said to fight was one of the seven Pleiades battle maids who are meant to stall enemy players while the others in Nazarick prepare to face the intruders. The maid from his screen was named Lupusregina Beta, a werewolf. She had brown skin with red hair tied in two long braids. Of course being a battle maid meant she was wearing a maid uniform, but for some reason her skirt had a long slit on her left side which showed a bit of her stockings. 'That perverted lion. If Kon were here, he would be lion buddies with BK.' he thought.
The higher-up members of Ainz Ooal Gown sat in the stadium bleachers to observe the PvP battle between Beast King's creation and Reiken.
"This is going to be an interesting match. A Lycanthrope and a Ghost going head-to-head will be something to see." Touch Me said while intently awaiting for the fighters to begin.
Ulbert had to agree. It was very rare to use a Ghost race as Avatars in Yggdrasil. Some are seen often in Helheim and other parts of Yggdrasil, but very few in number. If he was a real demon goat, his hair would be standing in excitement of what Reiken will do in the match and see if he was truly worthy to join as the final member of their guild.
The undead magic caster Momonga who was sitting next to the Peroroncino, looked to him sounding concerned. "Are you sure this isn't overkill? Having rookie player like Reiken going against Beast King's highly skilled combat maid is a bit too much. Same level or not, I don't think your friend is going to do to well against her?"
Keigo patted the undead caster's shoulder. "Chill-ax, Momonga. Even though Reiken is at level 59, he can still show that he's no pushover."
"I see, then I guess I can give him the benefit of a doubt." Momonga replied, but still sounded unsure.
The yellow coated Nephilim who was sitting next to them nodded at that. "I get you, Momonga. Logically speaking it doesn't seem rookies can match much against battle ready NPC's. But with Reiken...you can expect a surprise or two out of nowhere. Just watch and you'll see what I mean." she said with strong confidence.
Back on the battle grounds, Ichigo was looking at his opponent intently while understanding why she was the last line of defense of the guild base. Taking a closer look, the werewolf NPC was wearing high grade equipment for a maid uniform. Also noting the rather large scepter she had attached to her back was bizarre. Not that he was one to talk since about a year ago he had a large blade strapped on his back.
"Alright!" Beast King's voice snapped Reiken out of his thoughts, "Battle begin, Lupusregina Beta, destroy him!" the lion inhuman roared.
The maid acting on her creators command attacked. Charging right towards her target she grabbed her scepter's handle and swung it at the horned ghost.
Reiken with his greater agility states was able to dodge the weapon as it hit the ground missing him on impact. After avoiding the strike he swiftly grabbed his own weapon and swung his sword at the wolf girl.
Lupusregina quickly followed up by using the scepter's handle as a shield and blocked Reiken's sword. Right after the counter she grabbed scepter with both hands and with great force swung her weapon like a club, attempting to give a horizontal strike at Reiken.
Seeing the incoming attack, Ichigo quickly jumped and levitated into the air. 'Have to admit, this wolf maid NPC is no joke. Practicing my levitation skill is paying off.' he thought. This was one of his new skills he just obtained after grinding levels fighting strong monsters in Yggdrasil. It was thanks to his early days as a substitute Shinigami that he was already adapting to this particular skill. Reiken took a quick look back to the observers. 'Okay. I should probably head back to the ground since apparently wolves can't fly. If this test is about just to show off my skills, then I'll-' When he looked back to Lupusregina...she was gone.
"What the hell?! Where did she-Arghh!"
Reiken was slammed from behind by something and plummeted straight to the ground. Picking himself off the ground, Ichigo used his detection skill to try and find what hit him. 'What was that?! Was it the maid that hit me up there? But how?! She couldn't have reach me from up there and I didn't see or sense her coming. Was it some kind of spell?' As his mind was trying to process the surprise attack, he felt something coming his way, very quickly! Deciding to use an old strategy from the time he went up against Byakuya, he just moved at full speed around the arena, hoping to confuse and lure out the wolf girl.
Back in the stands, Touch Me nodded at the action. "A sound strategy. If he can't see Beta with her [Complete Invisibility] spell active, then moving randomly around the coliseum would be tough to catch."
Ulbert second that. 'This guy knew standing around trying to sense Beta wouldn't cut it. So while moving around he can observe and get a better idea of his surroundings to try and find her. He quickly adapted to the situation after getting hit and Reiken adjusted an new tactic immediately. Very interesting.'
Back with Reiken while still moving in motion he was carefully trying to find the NPC. If the maid was using an invisibility spell then, he should still see through it since they were both at level 59. He had a ghost skill called [Sight Essence]. It allowed him at his current level to see past certain spells. Despite not being a magic caster he did build up some skills to counter mid tier spells.
As the ghost was running combined with levitation, he felt that presence coming at him once more. Just what Reiken was waiting for.
In a split second, Lupus appeared out of nowhere as she was in range of her assault and was about to swing her scepter and strikes down at her target...or so she thought.
Not falling for the same trick again, Ichigo did something nobody saw coming. He halted his speed instantly while ducking under from the wolf maid's attack. Quickly turning over with a tightened grip on his sword which was glowing purple, Ichigo delivered a fierce blow on the wolf's side with the handle of his weapon, which made his opponent lose her balance from the attack. Taking advantage of this, he followed it up with one of his ghost skills he empowered in his sword with that same purple glow. [Phantasm Slash!] He sliced through her battle uniform, leaving a small cut in it.
The force of the attacks knocked the crosier out of her hand and back to the wall of the stadium. Which just so happens to be in front of the guild members of Nazarick.
Keeping his guard up with sword still in hand, Ichigo slowly levitated towards Lupusregina who seemed to be defeated. But he knew it was going to take more than just two hits to win because of her equipment. It was made of materials that was higher class than his. It was obvious even if they were at the same level of 59, she still had the advantage. Then he saw her glowing green which meant one thing, she was healing herself!
"Dammit!" Reiken moved in to attack, but it was too late.
Lupusregina stomped her way off on the wall, leaving spiderweb cracks and moved in to attack. She quickly brought her hands forward and used her own skills. [Wolf Claws!]
Seeing her attacking with her claws, Ichigo blocked the assault with his blade on instinct, however in turn the attack knocked his weapon out of his grip. Jumping back to gain some distance, Lupusregina didn't stop her barrage of unleashing her claw attacks. As he was dodging the wolf's blows, the way she was fighting him brought back some memories from the past. To Reiken, it was like he was fighting Grimmjow all over again in his release state with how familiar the NPC was fighting him with her programmed tactics. Since they both disabled themselves of their weapons, they engaged each-other in close quarters combat. Using his own claws he matched her assaults with his. [Grim-reaper's Strike!]
Blow for blow, claw to claw, dodging and countering, Ichigo was feeling a similar rush in this fight with the Pleiades maid. Something he hasn't felt in awhile from within. He was actually having a lot of fun in this battle. Even though this was an NPC, he was having the time of his life for a change. Before this trial began he didn't think much of it. But somehow this match relit an old fire in his soul.
Deciding to think of another approach, Ichigo backed off to gain some distance while keeping his eyes sharply on Lupusregina. The NPC didn't go after him, which was strange?
'Okay, attacking each other with our claw attacks won't get us anywhere. Especially with my [Ghost Recovery] skill of regaining some of my HP after dealing direct damage to her. While her recovery with high-tier healing magic just makes us go in circles. She'll most likely use more hidden techniques as the fight goes on. But I don't want to drag it out if it puts me at a corner. And another thing,' He looks at her health bar and it was at half. 'Why isn't it recovering? From the stats menu it looks like she had enough mana to recover to more than this. Is she waiting for me to come into her range of attack? If that's how she's setup, then I guess I should use a long range maneuver to see how she reacts?' Reiken chuckled a bit. 'I have to give that Beast Jerk credit, he created a tricky and frightening maid.'
When Reiken levitated into the sky again to prepare another assault while still focusing on her, he saw Lupus glowing blue...and was flying after him?! Seeing this action made him realized what happened before when they collided their weapons. 'Now I get it! So that's how she-' His thoughts was cut short when his opponent disappeared again.
"Damn! I had a hunch it was an invisibility spell." He looked intensely around for the invisible maid. 'Still, I thought I had some ghost skill to see through camouflage based magics?' Then an idea popped up as he felt a familiar hunch of where she went. Quickly turning around to his opponent, he unleashed another one of his undead skills.
[Specter Shift!]
Lupusregina who was still using [Complete Invisibility] rammed her clawed fingers into Rieken's abdomen. Beast King Mekongawa chuckled in the stands. "Guess the newbie is done for-" Right before the humanoid lion finished, Reiken vanished from existence. "What?!" Then the NPC was suddenly kicked from behind and was launched to the other side of the arena, breaking her invisible spell in the process. After the maid regained itself from the attack, she analyzed with her emotionless yellow eyes back to where she previously was and saw the black masked ghost standing with his purple eyes glowing menacingly.
"That was an awesome counter!" The Nazarick guild looked at Momonga who suddenly stood up from his seat. "Reiken knew he couldn't see through her spell, so he used a skill to take the hit to find out where she was and acted accordingly. Reckless, but incredible!" he says as the undead sat back down.
"I admit that was really clever." Ulbert nodding his head in agreement.
For the next minute, neither the ghost player or the wolf NPC made a move. Both were waiting for the same thing, for one to make a move and finish with a final blow.
'We're both running low on HP and it looks like she doesn't have much MP left. I have some SP to spare, but if I charge in again, she might use that invisible spell and finish me off. I can't beat her with just my speed and close-combat attacks. I need to get my sword again so I can deal enough damage to her and win. I just have to wait for her to attack and-' His thoughts were cut short again when the battle-maid suddenly made a beeline for her scepter. "Now's my chance!" Ichigo also made a deadline for his own weapon. 'No point attacking her if I can't hurt her enough with her tough equipment.'
"Looks like there about to end their match." Touch ME observed with his arms crossed.
Peroroncino nodded in excitement from how amazing this battle was, "Looks that way. I hope it's a big conclusion! Go Reiken!" he cheered on his friend.
Hearing that made Beast King wonder in thought. 'Big? Why does that word trouble me?' Realization made him suddenly stood up from his seat, surprising everyone present while holding onto his head. "Shoot! I forgot!"
The undead magic caster Momonga looked towards the humanoid lion a bit startled by the sudden action. "W-what do you mean you forgot?"
"I forgot to turn off one of Beta's spells!"
Ulbert was confused by his companions panicking. "I fail to see the problem? What kind of spell would concern us from an NPC battle maid?"
Beast King rose his head to look at everyone, "The kind of spell that will give the arena a new makeover with craters."
Meanwhile back at the said arena. At the same time both fighters grabbed their weapons and made their next move.
Not a second wasted, the ghost inhuman charged straight for his target. "Okay! This ends here!" as he was drawing near, Lupusregina's scepter started glowing red? "What now?" he wondered out-loud. Then he noticed the sky was getting brighter. When Ichigo looked up...meteors were falling from the sky?!
"The fuck?!" Reiken shouted as he was dodging the barrage of flaming meteors crashing to the ground. As he was, he wasn't the only avoiding the oncoming attack. The members of Ainz Ooal Gown were no better as they were in the line of fire from the falling rocks.
In the stadium Yamaiko was glaring at the lion. "You dumbass! What the hell were you thinking giving an NPC that kind of attack?!" Tatsuki yelled at Beast King as she was punching and bashing meteor after meteor with her red gauntlets. Peroroncino was beside her and used his Houyi's Bow which fired beams of energy to negate some of the attack, but some of the meteors got past the two and it wrecked some of the stadium.
"I'm sorry!" Beast King apologized while he clawed through a meteor, "I was so excited about the match that it totally slipped my mind of turning that magic spell off." Then from behind another one was falling on his blind side. Before it could hit him, two voices could be heard at once.
[Astral Smite!]
[Evil Inferno!]
Shards of light and fire saved the humanoid lion. When he looked back at voices, it was Momonga and Ulbert.
"Mekongawa! This meteor spell won't end until your battle maid is destroyed, right?" The demon goat asked with hints irritation in his voice.
The Lionoid nodded, "That's right. This spell was meant as a last resort if the other battle maids died to buy us time to prepare for other players. She won't stop until her mana dries up, but that will take another few minutes. We have to kill her." he says with deep sadness on the last part. To him, Lupusregina was a masterpiece with all his sweat and tears creating her.
"Okay, even though this spell isn't much to us, but we'll have to end this match now before the stadium turns to rubble." Momonga stated.
A loud clank of armor caught the attention of everyone. With his red cape blowing from the shockwaves of the impacting meteors, Touch Me pointed his white sword towards the battle arena, "It seems our new friend is already doing just that!"
Yamaiko looked to what the guild leader meant. When she saw what was happening in the arena, she cracked a small grin at her oldest friend. 'Fantasy or reality, you never cease to amaze me, Ichigo.'
In the arena, Reiken was struggling against the wolf-girl's spell. He jumped back and tried to use his sword to cut through the meteors, but unlike his higher-level companions, his weapon was not slicing through effectively. So the only thing he could do was shift their course of impact a bit with his sword before they hit him. "A werewolf that can summon meteorites? What the hell were you thinking you dumbass lion?! Damn it!"
Ichigo saw Lupusregina started floating away from him while still casting her spell. "Get back here!" he tried to follow after her, but the collision of the falling rocks were keeping him at bay. "Shit! At this rate, I need a ladder to reach her now."
Then a light-bulb icon suddenly flashed above his head. 'A ladder, yeah...' Ichigo inwardly grinned. Charging towards the never-ending spell of pure chaos of falling meteorites while sheathing his sword, he did something nobody saw coming. Using his levitation skill combined with his speed, he jumped onto one flaming rock to another, using them as foot holds to reach the Lycanthrope.
"What the hell?!" Ulbert yelled in surprise. His mind was blown for he has never seen a Yggdrasil player jumping onto an opponents spell to reach them before.
Before the NPC could react, Reiken was right at her. He unsheathed his sword, which was glowing purple once more to deliver the finishing blow. [Phantasm Slash!] He once again attacked the same spot where he leaved a small cut from before to give more damage. After his attack, the spell for the asteroids finally ceased.
With no more MP to keep Lupus from falling or HP to stabilize her, she began to fall to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut down. Before she landed heavily on the ground, she was grabbed by her wrist by a familiar horned ghost. He gently laid the NPC down to the ground as he levitated down next to her a bit unbalanced from having exhausted his SP down to zero.
Seeing the lifeless eyes while the wolf-maid was still struggling to move was a bit disturbing to watch. Reiken looked at her states and it showed she had only had one percent HP left. Then he heard someone land behind him, when Ichigo turned his head...it was Touch Me. As the he insect white knight was walking towards him...he applauded him.
"Congratulations, well done! Not only were you able to best one of the maids at your current level, but also kept the damage of the coliseum to a minimum. We thank you, Reiken!" The white knight expressed his gratitude while the others in the stands were also coming down to join the two. They also clapped their hands for Ichigo's efforts.
"You...are one crazy bastard of a ghost!" Ulbert said while patting on Ichigo's shoulder.
"It was a splendid match! Nice job, Reiken!" Momonga added.
Peroroncino came from behind Ulbert. "See! I told you guys he had the right stuff!" he brags, making the demon goat roll his eyes. Then he noticed Beast King walking towards the downed maid.
Mekongawa walked up to his creation who was still trying to get up from that last attack. "Lupusregina, stand down." he commanded and the Lycanthrope stopped moving. The Lioniod sighed in relief, he almost lost his NPC and was glad she wasn't reduced to data.
After everyone said their congrats to Reiken, Touch Me stood in front of him. "Reiken, hold out your hand please." he asked.
Ichigo despite not understanding why did as he was asked. opening out his hand, Touch Me placed an item on the ghost's palm. It was a crimson red ring with the Ainz Ooal Gown symbol on it.
"Welcome to our guild, new comrade." The insectoid said proudly.
Later that day...
Ichigo's room
Ichigo was lying down on his bed while looking at the ceiling with his arms crossed behind his head, he had small smile on his face. As soon as he received the guild ring as an official member of Ainz Ooal Gown, the group took him on a tour around all the floors of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. After seeing everything he thanked Touch Me for the tour and decided to call it a day.
"They didn't seem bad. But it's still too early to trust the other members." he turned on his side of his bed and looked out his window, gazing at the full moon out tonight. "Yet, anyway. So far, Nazarick is alright. Despite it being an evil themed guild, I can work with this for now."
He took a deep breath of refreshment. It's already been two months since he started playing Yggdrasil and it was really enjoyable. In fact, it's been the most fun he's had in so long. The fight he had with the Lycanthrope maid reminded him of the thrill of enjoying a challenging brawl. He'd almost forgotten that feeling. 'When was the last time I had a strong match like that?' Then he recalled in his memories of that battle with Grimmjow in Hueco Mundo nearly two years ago. After all those times of getting knocked around by that lunatic in the living world and hollow realm, it felt very exhilarating to finally get back at that asshole when he was in his release state. Taking down a powerful Arrancar like Grimmjow at his most powerful was a solid victory for him. Especially during the end when he broke through the Espada's most powerful attack, making Ichigo grin from how incredible it was.
Then he recalled something else during that fight made his grin vanish. To protect his friends while using his own body as a shield to block Grimmjow's missile dart like attacks, he had to endure those agonizing blows to the back. Despite baring those agonizing blows he looked up to see if Orihime and Nel were alright. When he saw the look of pure fear in Orihime's eyes, it burned in his mind and crushed him inside. He remembered it clearly from the way his friend looked at him, like she didn't see him at all but a monster. 'Was that why I always hesitated to dawn my mask after that? Maybe?'
But Ichigo shook his head roughly of those thoughts. Past scars were bad timing in the present. He was in too great of a mood and he didn't want bad memories to ruin it. Then he heard his sister Karin grabbing his attention while she was knocking on his closed door. Perfect timing too.
"Hey, Ichi! Yuzu needs you for a minute downstairs." She says and walks downstairs.
"I'll see if Yuzu needs help making dinner." The teen got up from his bed and walked out of his room. While walking downstairs, Ichigo recalled his old man going to a doctors meeting tonight on the other side of town. Still steaming about his father's inaction made Ichigo care less of where he was at this point.
When he walked to the kitchen table, he saw his sisters were waiting for him. Even with the food already on the table, it looked liked they had something serious they wanted to discuss with him. Getting the nonverbal message from them, he sat down on the opposite side of the table.
Sitting silently on his chair and waiting for a few more minutes of silence between the siblings, Ichigo spoke first. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked in a calmly tone while not trying to scare his sisters. He didn't want to add anymore tension already in the air.
The twin sisters looked at each other and nodded. Karin looked to her brother. "Well, yes and no. Nothing major happening around our house like with...Tsukishima, Ichigo," she said not wanting Ichigo to think they were being used or targeted again, "We just...well, it's more like...we've been having these things going on with us and me and Yuzu finally decided to talk to you about it tonight while dad is out."
Despite the seriousness, seeing his sisters this anxious made Ichigo want to do something to ease the atmosphere a bit. Mentally sighing, he had to take a page from his idiot old man's handbook. "What? Are you having boy problems at school or something? Cuz they will have to answer to me if they're are bothering you." he said in a uncharacteristically playful tone.
"NO!" Karin and Yuzu said at the same time at the question.
Ichigo held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, relax. I know that was dumb, just wanting to get you guys to ease up some." putting his hands down, the three Kurosaki's took a deep breath. Ichigo got serious again and spoke, "Okay, lets try this again. What's going on between you two?"
Yuzu took the lead this time. "Well, to tell you the truth, Ichi. We don't exactly know either. But before we talk more about that...there's another thing you need to know first too," She took another breath and resumed. "I know."
The older brother raised a brow, but having a small hunch already in mind, he asked anyway. "Know what?"
"Everything. I-I d-didn't know about what's been happening around town at first, but I know about the people in black robes," then Yuzu puts a hand on her chest, "And what happened to me when I was taken to Hell by those evil people."
Ichigo was taken back by this. Of course he suspected she might have known about the Shinigamis, but hearing her talking about Hell was what really threw him in for a loop!
"I told her about the Soul Reapers, Ichi." Karin draws her brother's attention back to her. "We've been talking for awhile about the afterlife and it surprised me too when Yuzu told me remembered that." Then she felt her sister glaring at her.
"I knew for a fact that it was way too real to be a dream. Especially how you were inspecting me after I woke up." Yuzu says with her cheeks puffed up.
It was the raven-haired twin's turn to hold up her hands in surrender. "Point taken." Getting back on track, Karin put her hands back down and cleared her throat to continued. "So anyway, like I said. Me and Yuzu have been talking and I filled her in of what you told me about the Soul Reapers and I told her to fill in a few blanks. I mean, given how what happened to us a few months ago, it was time to come clean."
Ichigo nodded in complete understanding. Now that he thought of it, he should have told Yuzu more after what happened with Tsukishima. But Karin was ahead of him and he was very grateful for that. No more secrets in this family where they can now talk freely of the spiritual realms. Then he hears Yuzu speak again.
"And here's the other reason why we needed to talk to you, Ichigo." Just like with Karin sometime ago, she brought out her hands and a bright glowing ball started forming in-between them.
Just like with Karin, Ichigo was left speechless. 'Yuzu has spiritual powers?!' Now Ichigo understood why they were so nervous. But at the same time he was happy that his sisters came to him about this first instead of their father. Especially something this huge. He wasn't an expert on forming spirit energy, but remembering the ball exercises with Kukaku, Yuzu had firm control of hers and it looked stable.
"I can also change it's form too, but for some reason it turns into this? Do you know what this means?" Yuzu showed him something that would change everything in their lives. Her glowing ball of reishi formed into a small arrow.
Having been with an archer since he was first starting out as a Shinigami, Ichigo recognized exactly what this meant. Yuzu was a Quincy! It was the only conclusion he could think of, despite it being too much to believe. This was very tremendous news. In fact, if Yuzu is a Quincy, then it all makes sense to what he was thinking about earlier from his bed blanket. He kept wondering for the past couple months of what was the connection between the gift his mom gave to him years ago and Ryuken. Then something else was coming together in his head that made his eyes widen like they've never been before with his hand on his forehead. 'If Yuzu is a Quincy, then that would make our mom...'
"Ichigo?"
Putting his hand down, Ichigo saw his sisters were worried with Yuzu already dispelling her arrow. "Sorry. I just lost myself in thought." his sisters sighed in relief from hearing that.
"Don't scare us like that, bro. But, did you figure out what this means?" Karin asked.
He nodded, "I have an idea, but there's something I need to know first. Have you told Dad or Kisuke about this too?"
"No." Karin spoke coldly, which almost spooked Ichigo, "They both left us to the Fullbringers when we needed them. How can we tell them about this? You were our best and only choice to come forward to."
Yuzu agreed. "I don't like the feeling of hating our Dad, but Karin's right. No matter the reason, he wasn't here for us and was barley home when we were in danger. I can't forgive him for that." she says with small tears forming in her eyes. The idea of their father leaving them at the hands of those horrible people wounded her deeply.
Ichigo nodded again, "Good point." He reaches for Yuzu's head and rubs it gently, "We'll just have to take matters into our own hands from now on." he says with a warm smile which calms Yuzu down. Letting her go, he resumes. "Okay, I think it's time we get some real answers. Do you two have plans this upcoming weekend tomorrow?" Seeing the girls shack their heads no, he decided it was finally time. "Alright, then I'm going to give someone a call that will answer all of our questions." he pulls out his cellphone and looks at his past contact list.
"Who can answer about Yuzu's powers better than you, Ichigo?" Karin asked.
He found a certain number that was marked and placed his thumb on the call button while his phone was next to his ear, "A friend of the family." he heard it ring. After a few seconds, the person he called answered. The person on the other line sounded very surprised in his voice.
"Ichigo? This is quite unexpected for you to call me, especially at this hour. Fortunately, your timing was well played. I just finished giving a successful surgery and I just now entered my office. Is something wrong?"
The young teen gripped his phone tightly, "I'm sorry about the late night call, but I need to talk with someone in private who can answer some questions. The kind of questions others seem to like keeping in the dark."
"What kind questions are you referring to? This line is secured, so you can talk freely." The man on the other line in his office grabbed a cigarette and placed it in his mouth as he lite it up.
Taking a deep breath, Ichigo spoke again, "The Quincy kind, Ryuken. My sister has Quincy powers and I need to talk with you directly."
Unknown to the teenager, the said man's cigarette fell from his mouth in shock. Regaining his senses of what he never expected to hear, Ryuken spoke more seriously in his tone. "Are you sure of this?"
"I am. Can you schedule an appointment this weekend to see for yourself?"
"Done." The white-haired doctor said with no hesitation, surprising the teen, "I'll come pick you and your sister up Saturday morning to discus this matter further." He hangs up.
Putting his phone down, to say Ichigo was surprised for the instant response from a very busy man who runs the hospital was something else. He looked to his sisters who were waiting for his reply. "Looks like we're finally going to get some answers."
To be continued...
A.N.: Okay! Here's another awesome chapter you guys!
I apologize once again for the long wait. Between college life and personal affairs, it's really hard to find motivations to write the story right. Plus when you work very hard on good dialogues and adding some missed stuff from canon while writing, creativity in the mind needed to be on the maximum. Hopefully with this long chapter of eleven-thousand words will satisfy. What I have in mind next chapter for this story will be the beginning of the end, while a new one rises. If you know what I mean?
And please don't write angry reviews. Positive reviews is what empowers me greatly!
Also to answer a couple questions to the reviewers. The first one is Ichigo's avatar. It is his Vasto Lorde form but it's opposite colored, plus it's the story's image. Also to the second question. Yes, it was indeed Masaki that poisoned Yhwach. It never made sense to me in canon why the king of all Quinces, who should've had the same weakness as the rest of his descendants, wasn't poisoned by hollow power in the slightest. Like when His Majesty used Auswahlen on Masaki and Ichigo who had hollow blood in their veins, he wasn't affected at all which was strange. So I fixed that in his smug face! (Evil laugh)
Catch you guys next time!