It has been a long while since we had an update, months it has been. For that I apologize, things have been hectic for me these last few months and they still are. Work, at my job and at home, has been steadily increasing, oddly enough I get more free time on Week Days rather than weekends now. Sad as that is.
But I still intend to bring you more, this being one such thing. I plan to update Are We Alone more often and also try to do the same with Transcendence. While also working on United, trying to finish that as well.
This is a new year and I hope to do as much as possible with it. So enjoy the chapter, and tell me what you think.
Are We Alone
Chapter 12: Bad Wakeup Call
It was oppressively gloomy, darkness oppressive and thick despite the blue lines that stretched along the corridor that pulsed with light like an off-beat pulse. Images flashed over the shattered glass that littered the floor carelessly, memories smothered by the gloomy atmosphere. Nevertheless, Ichigo strolled through it and towards the epicenter of this peculiar invasion of thought and memory.
He watched several flashes of imagery play, through a piece of broken glass suspended by blue lines and unearthly membranes. He saw cities consumed with death, the air thick with smoke and ash, the bloody hue giving a hellish look to an already ghastly image. But it was more than mere images, as impressions and feelings as if the memories were his own burrowed into his very soul. They struck at his very heart, twisting it painfully with each little glimpse into a horror he had not borne witness to, but now might as well have lived.
"Do you have any idea what's doing this?" Ichigo asked, keeping his vision forward and away from the shards of memory.
"No, I have been able to contain it here, but what it is remains a mystery." 'Old Man' Zangetsu replied, and even in the darkness Ichigo could still sense his Quincy half just to his right. "But if I were to speculate, I would think that maybe the artefact you came in contact with may have been a reliquary of some sort. It is possible it was temporarily holding these memories that now seem to be working their way into your physique."
Ichigo had guessed as much with the unwanted mental flashes still having him scratch at wounds he never had, but it was still less than comforting to hear that they were quite literally digging into his brain. Although it raised the question: how was this even possible? Something as complicated as a material relic affecting a spiritual being didn't just happen on a whim (Urahara's whims didn't count), so how was he given those memories? He wasn't too keen on simply labeling it 'alien technology' and leaving it at that either.
"Perhaps it was War." The Old Man said, reading Ichigo's thoughts, "Remember that his nature and that of his kin are different than anything else: for it affects more than just spiritual forces, but material ones as well. It is connected to all of reality, not just spirituality or mortality."
"Yeah, that is true." Ichigo replied, knowing that is likely the case. "His power…it left me exposed when that nuke went off. It could have been what allowed that relic to affect me as well."
"Indeed. War's powers grasp at forces well above that of common spiritual phenomenon, and his very power is derived from abstract concepts and emotions." Zangetsu replied. "Unlike others, his powers strike at the body as well as the mind. You should know, for it is the fortitude of the mind that gives a Shinigami his strength."
Ichigo was aware, the headache he got when inside that beam was testament that it was doing more than just blistering his skin. The basics of spiritual power were almost childishly simple: when two forces collided, the weaker of the two would always lose and be swept under the stronger. What could you possibly do against an enemy who your blade could not cut except either crumble under that weight or sharpen your mind and blade alike? The mind drew strength from the depths of the soul, and so using games and tricks to muddle a stronger opponent's focus was key. Fear, doubt, anger, even complacency weakened their spiritual control in tandem with their will, and was something most Shinigami were taught and trained against when they didn't have ungodly amounts of power to throw around. But even his younger years as a Shinigami were marked with many times when his power fluctuated, spiking ridiculously whenever he stopped doubting himself even subconsciously.
"War likely tainted and used the beam to weaken you, with your mind under attack your spiritual defenses were left open and unable to properly protect yourself." Zangetsu elaborated further. "When any Spiritual being does not balance their emotions, their power becomes unfocused with it. A focused mind can make a blade just as sharp, and an unbreakable will can turn one's own body into an unbreakable fortress."
Ichigo nodded at the sage wisdom, not questioning it and knowing that Zangetsu knew what he was talking about. In the years following the Blood War he was given some actual training to be a legitimate Shinigami, not just one who relied on always having more raw power. And not just Kido, Zanjutsu, and Hoho, but actual training involving the mind. It turned out that striking up a conversation with an opponent wasn't to just pass the time or understand their motives -though the later could be useful- it was to divide the focus and strike in a moment of weakness. If an enemy hesitated or a sliver of doubt was formed in their mind, then a blade could slip easily throught that paper-thin chink in their armor.
'Always used to wonder why there was so much talking when it came to fighting, now I know.'
The conversation died out from there, for they had a purpose in going through these passageways, and it wasn't to dwell on the distant past. They needed to find the source of these pulsing neurons and flickering, alien, memories. It had been a steady, thorough search that left nothing to chance, and finally they neared what had to be source of the infestation.
"Found it." Ichigo muttered, seeing ahead of him some actual, proper lighting.
The bright blue light somewhat illuminated their dark hallway, allowing them to finally see where their feet tread. With a jolt, Ichigo realized that Zangetsu, the usually mouthy Hollow half, was just behind him, uncharacteristically quite to the point of being forgotten entirely. His expression was sour, just a few degrees away from a full-blown pout at being the third wheel and knowing it.
"So this is it?" The Hollow asked, sounding bored with their discovery.
Ichigo ignored him, and stepped forward to better see the nexus of these memories. It appeared to be a monument similar to the physical one that had violated his mind; a large obelisk planted upon a slanted plinth. But this one was not a solid construct, made from neither metal nor stone, but some form of energized particles similar to the membrane that was spreading inside this particular skyscraper.
"It looks like it's missing a few pieces." Ichigo commented, noticing that several sections along the obelisk there were missing entirely.
Some could be dismissed as dents or scratches, easy to ignore or miss if one didn't pay too much attention, but the more prominent gaps and empty spaces in it told that it was fragmented. If this was a memory then it was broken, missing pieces of itself that allowed for a coherent viewing of whatever had been originally stored.
"Yes, but I do not think that is why it was unable to fully graft these memories onto you. While unique and invasive, they are still too tied to physicality for your mind to comprehend." The Old Man said, circling the object and observing it carefully.
He supposed that made sense: the mind of a Shinigami was vastly different than that of a human's, their spiritual chemistry was no longer tied to the same limits as a human's. While his mannerism and behavior was no different than the average human, his mind was more alien now than an actual alien's, directly tied to his soul until the two were hardly capable of being separated.
"Had you been human this may have killed you, and yet had you not been attacked by War then you likely wouldn't have ever been affected by the artifact." The Old Man surmised. "It is unfortunate that we are stuck with these memories, although, it does give us valuable information. That ship that we destroyed, it appears there may be more behinds its existence than we suspected."
"You think War is behind that thing being on Eden Prime? Maybe one of the other two?" Ichigo asked.
"He did fire that beam at you from that ship after all." The Hollow chimed in.
"It's something to consider. We have to be on the lookout for more of these things, if War is using them for his feeding, then we better make sure that he doesn't use them for long." Ichigo replied.
If that warship could cause the kind of mayhem and death he'd seen in these visions, then he needed to make sure they were wiped out. He would also need to find Urahara and see if he knew anything about these flying squid, but given they were part of the World of the Living he was doubtful that was the case. For all Urahara's encyclopedia-like knowledge of the spiritual world, he was near clueless when it came to everything else in the mortal one. The idiot was still using the same sign from a hundred years ago for his shops, and even worse, he was also still selling candy like a different type of creep than he actually was. Although he heard recently he started selling merchandise centered around the Shinigami.
The man was shameless.
"I will continue to contain the source of the memories here. If I discover anything I will be sure to alert you." The Old Man said.
"Thanks again, Zangetsu." Ichigo said, nodding his head towards his Quincy half, before looking towards his Hollow half. "As usual, you're doing nothing."
"Well fuck you too!" The Hollow, predictably, yelled, clenching his teeth as he took the jab and responded with nothing but a vulgar retort instead of explosive violence.
Ichigo found the dynamic to be most enjoyable, and it had become the norm over the last few decades. While he didn't speak to his Zanpakuto spirits on a daily or even monthly basis, he still often came to them for advice and to clear his mind on certain matters. It was an abnormal thing to do, as most Shinigami not training for Shikai or Bankai rarely spoke with their own Zanpakuto, much less casually discussed mundane topics with them. Ichigo saw it more along the line as getting to know your deeper physique and having them come to conclusions with you, giving clarity on one's own thoughts. It was probably a side effect from his early years when proper communication between him and his power had been so poor it had nearly gotten him killed on several occasions and then overcorrecting, but Ichigo didn't care. After all, the Zanpakuto spirits were not symbiotic entities: they were you and you were them.
"Since that's settled. maybe I should see about waking up. My wounds have healed, and the headache is gone, so I should be..." Ichigo trailed off, slowly realizing what had probably happened while he was investigating his Inner World, "I think someone might have moved me. Wherever I am now feels different; I can't sense the ambient spiritual planes that usually exist on planets."
For Spiritual Realms to form, there first needed to be spiritual matter and sentient souls to give the realm form. Based on what Urahara had told him, all Spiritual Realms are formed by the souls of the deceased conglomerating together and forming the realms. It usually took thousands of years before the realm became stable and solidified enough that when souls went there they weren't automatically absorbed into the ether. Planets that didn't have sentient life on them didn't possess any form of Spiritual Realm, at least not ones like the Soul Society. Instead they are simply masses of formless energy, similar to the Garganta, waiting for a population to evolve or a species to arrive. But there was still something there, even if that something was only a single digit removed from nothing.
So it was understandably distressing when he sensed a complete and utter void surrounding him. Not even a hint of a Spiritual Realm adjacent to wherever he was. Not good.
"Yes, I have noticed as well. Along with that your Zanpakuto seems to have been taken." The Old Man responded. "I can give you a direction, but truthfully I have no idea how far away it actually is."
Ichigo groaned at that but didn't complain too much: it had been vital they make sure his Inner World wasn't about to collapse or be otherwise compromised. But he had still lost his Zanpakuto, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. If he returned back to the Soul Society without his Soul Cutters he would be laughed at or punished, probably both, and would deserve every last bit of it. Plus he had to find them soon, while they wouldn't simply fall into the Spiritual Realm on a whim because his Hollow was an ass, it was best to make sure they were not so far removed that they simply were out of reach.
"Thanks again." Ichigo relied, sighing before he willed himself away.
It was time he woke up.
Exiting from one's own Inner World was no different than waking from a dream, although the sensation was a little different. Where one wakes from sleep, their mind tries to catch up and often you feel groggy and confused, but the exact opposite is the case when leaving from one's own deepest mental landscape. The mind processed things much faster within its own World, where events could transpire as fast as a neuron could fire. So when exiting a meditative, or in this instance, a pain induced inner journey, the mind's heightened state took time to exit.
So the first thing Ichigo noticed was the wall of blue above him, bright with tiny pin-pricks of suspended light and thought he was looking at a painting until the world resumed moving. The blue began to swirl, the lights blending into the thick soup of what he recognized to be some sort of high density shielding.
'What in the hell?'
He sat up, looking around to see that he was in a containment cell of some kind. A flat table in the middle of an otherwise completely empty prison cell was his bed, which was surrounded on all sides by a large biotic field. The small space was a sharp contrast to the large, almost cavernous room he was in. Pipes and conduits littered the walls and floor, converging at four large pylons that arched over the biotic field holding him, likely the emitters that were powering this little sphere. It all seemed too elaborate and huge to be just for him.
"Finally awake."
Ichigo turned towards the speaker, only somewhat surprised to see a small group of Asari. He was still bothered by how they were simultaneously incredibly human and alien they were at the same time, but had learned to accept it as one of the oddities of the universe. As an all-female race, they were long lived, their elders sometimes living almost as long as the average occupant of the Rukongai. But he had never bothered to learn much more than the basics about the Asari, or any of the alien races really, that humanity had encountered. His time was mostly spent on Earth handling things there, with the situation there flipping from serene to utter chaos within a matter of minutes. The only time he ever went off world was on patrols to look for War and his siblings, and even then, he didn't take in any of the sights.
It kind of reminded him of how the Shinigami used to be so out of touch with the World of the Living even back when he had been alive. There were exceptions, such as with cell phones, but the vast majority of them didn't even properly process how juice boxes worked, much less than humans were making semi-regular trips to space and starting to grow organs in labs. Now he was the dumbass that couldn't operate an Omni-tool, much less navigate the Extranet, and it made him feel like he had been a little judgmental. When neither you nor your close friends took hundreds of years to noticeably age, it was disturbingly easy to lose track of time.
But ever since technology in the Soul Society started to advance at a rate parallel to the World of the Living it had been difficult to grasp all the major changes. Most of the older generations complained about it, not being as tech-savvy those in the Twelfth Division, but really they never even tried. He was certain that if they did all they would know how to do is screw around and play solitaire.
"Contact Matriarch Lidanya and Nihlus." The Asari said to what must have been a technician by the control dais.
She turned back and smirked, one of those little insufferable grins you saw when someone thought that they had you by the balls, either literally or figuratively. This woman seemed to think she somehow had his- how she thought that, he couldn't begin to fathom. Though, if he had to guess, it had something to do with this field around him.
"My name is Ly'naze T'losir, and I am a member of the Citadel Councils Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Branch; Spectre, for short." The Asari said, hands behind her back and attempting to look larger than life itself. "Under the authority of the Council and their respective governments, you are being detained and held for questioning."
Ichigo was baffled, honest to god baffled, at the sheer audacity of her statement. She was going to interrogate him? He was somehow their prisoner? He couldn't believe it.
"I take it from your surprise that you never expected to be caught right? Life's a bitch ain't it?" Ly'naze said, smirking a little more at her supposed victory, and seemed to think that he was shocked because he was their prisoners.
Not the case.
Ichigo was more embarrassed than anything, because he knew that as soon as word got out about this, everyone would have a field day. The other Captains would be glaring holes in his head, the nobles would be screaming at him for his continued lack of adherence to the law and being a so-called rebel as usual. But the worst would be the mocking. Even if this was practically the equivalent as using a stick to hold up a cardboard box with how poorly thought out it was, he was still the idiot who got caught. Hell, it'd probably be even worse with how stupid he had been to ever be knocked out that long. Oh yes, he could already feel a headache forming at the idea of his so-called friends making fun of him for actually being captured. He loved them all, he really did, but sometimes he also wanted to wring their necks.
That was it; he had to get out before someone decided to 'break him out'.
"I am going to be asking you a few questions. Cooperate and I am sure we can see about making your accommodations more comfortable." Ly'naze said gesturing to the 'bed' with that same annoying smirk on her face.
Ichigo ignored her, instead walking towards the edge of the field and placed his hand against it. The dense particles moved beneath his hand like a thick soup and had a little give to it, but enough push and it hardened under the pressure. It vaguely reminded him of that cornstarch mixture that Yachiru used to nearly bring Seireitei to its knees, but with a rubberier texture that refused to flex past a certain stress point. Pulling his hand out was less of a chore (and less messy) at least.
"Escape is impossible, you won't be getting out."
Ichigo tuned Lynawhatever and her annoying voice out. Distantly he realized a different Asari was shouting about something, but he didn't bother to pay attention to whatever it was. Idiots' screaming about unimportant things was something he had gotten very used to selectively ignoring when he needed to think about more important things, like busting out of his cell. But it wasn't a typical steel bars sort of deal, but energy so highly condensed he could practically taste it. Heck, he could tell from the slight pull he felt that it was forming its own minor gravity well, and if he had to guess those emitters likely were keeping that gravity from pulling half the room into the field.
But even with all that, it wouldn't be a problem, not for him at least. His crude habits might make others scoff at how wasteful he was, but throwing around enough power to flatten a city block was what Ichigo did best.
He closed his eyes and expanded his senses beyond physical constraints, intent on finding his Zanpakuto. The tiny spiritual signatures of the Asari were a good grounding point, their unique quintessence glowed a vibrant purple in his mind's eye. From there he expanded out, further farther into the nothingness of space. It was daunting to feel such emptiness willingly, but he pressed forward and, soon enough, he found thousands of tiny life signs just a kilometer away.
'So I'm on a space station, that might make things tricky.'
Space was a dangerous environment to be in, even for a Shinigami or spirit. There was nothing for them to keep themselves grounded or sustained. While it was true that a Shinigami could survive in space for several times longer than most organic life more complicated than bacteria could, that was less impressive when they had a matter of minutes instead of seconds. It wasn't the lack of oxygen or even extreme temperatures that were the issues. Instead, the real danger lied in the fact that there were no Spiritual Realms, or, more accurately, no complete ones.
Space was effectively empty, a void that lacked in absolutely everything, even spirituality. While a universal dimension of spiritual force existed parallel to the material world, it was a completely inhospitable to any form of life- even spirits. It was the Garganta, the swirling mass of energy and matter that contained the building blocks of all things in the spiritual world, stripped to their bare components. And so it was effectively a 'low pressure spiritual zone' that had the nasty habit of pulling high density spiritual objects, aka Shinigami, into it, without a way out through a connected Spiritual Realm.
'I'm surprised I haven't been pulled in yet.' Ichigo mused, but decided not to question his luck.
He could feel the general direction that his Zanpakuto were in, his connection to those blades almost physically dragging him towards that point. Breaching the barrier wouldn't be hard, not with his raw power and the pressure he could produce. Luckily, he wasn't on a planet, otherwise the damage he could possibly do would mean he'd have to actually be careful. On a space station he wasn't so concerned, they could always rebuild it. But… it would only be polite to give a little warning.
"Oi."
"Do you feel like talking now?" Ly'naze inquired, turning away from those frantic technicians.
"No, just decided I'd tell you that I'll be escaping now. I think you should evacuate the station and that ship nearby, otherwise you're all going to die." Ichigo responded, blasé about the entire matter. The Asari might have tried to say something, but Ichigo had already reached and, with hardly a thought, brought forth enough power to end a world.
To all around, the containment field had been swallowed by a blue star.
Fifteen Minutes Earlier
Destiny Ascension
Main Bridge
Nihlus looked out towards the massive station, and even with a front row seat, he could still hardly believe what he saw. To think something as large as a frigate was being used to contain just one prisoner, and to think that something so small had cost more than a whole team of carriers.
Three hundred meters long and just as wide and deep, it was an ugly and overpriced cube at best. But it's massive size was a necessary evil in order to house the four equally massive Element Zero cores with at least some pretense that the entire setup was even approaching the word "safe". Each core had an output just shy of a Dreadnaught, and together they produced the frankly ridiculous shielding that surrounded the prison cell set at the very heart of the entire mess.
That wasn't even including the core from the Destiny Ascension that was also feeding into station and providing it an extra boost.
He couldn't understand the mathematics behind all of it, if enough zeros were added behind a number it started to lose all meaning, but the science had stared to dig into areas of Dark Energy research they hadn't even begun to truly understand. Time dilation effects, gravity wells, it was all so far above Nihlus' head that he had long decided he was better off not even pretending to comprehend it. Compressing a Kinetic Barrier meant to cover something as large as the Destiny Ascension into an area barely ten meters wide to the point the barrier had become more solid than not had plenty of unexpected side effects, most of which were probably still unknown. But somehow it held stable.
All Nihlus cared about was that he was assured he wasn't going to die in an explosion due to a critical system failure.
"It is indeed a little excessive." Lidanya said, stepping up beside Nihlus.
The Commanding Officer of the Destiny Ascension, and thus the entire Citadel Fleet, seemed to have read his mind. Considering how she was a Matriarch, he was pretty sure that wasn't even entirely an exaggeration.
"The output from the station combined with my own ship is producing enough energy to possibly put the Kinetic shields around the Citadel to shame." Lidanya continued, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "I can understand the need to have a ship here to guard him, but putting over eighty percent of my vessel's power reserves into that barrier is overkill."
Nihlus agreed, it was overkill if you thought about it. The Destiny Ascension was four times larger than even the Everest, the human's largest Dreadnaught, that itself was ten percent larger than the Turian's biggest ship. The amount of power needed to run this monster was huge, and the lion's share was going to the shield to contain the anomaly- that wasn't even awake.
"I would agree, but sometimes it is better to err on the side of caution. We have no idea what kind of dangers could be present trying to hold something as powerful as him once he awakens." Nihlus replied, and although the conversation should have ended there, he knew the Matriarch wouldn't let it.
He may be a Spectre, even if he was a newly instated one, but when it came to the Matriarchs you could never intimidate them with position or force. They will beat the hell out of you, physically and politically, and right now he didn't want to feel the brunt of whatever kind of wrath she could drop down on his head on a whim.
"From what my technicians are telling me, that shield down there is the only thing created by any species that could take a shot from our guns and not even flicker. Considering I know for a fact we can take out a Dreadnaught, no matter what species it may hail from, with a single shot of our guns…I have to wonder why you need that much energy." Lidanya stated.
"Take a look yourself, I've been getting constant updates from the team on the station." Nihlus said, bringing up his Omni-tool and sending the information to Lidanya with a flick of his wrist.
He watched as she skimmed through it, her brow knitting together as she regarded the readings they were able to obtain from the anomaly. Nihlus could understand her shock; the amount of energy within was staggering and, frankly, impossible. He had seen guns that could deliver a dozen kilotons of force onto a single target. He had watched as a ten-megaton nuke literally wiped a small island clean off the map. He had even had the privilege to watch a meteorite collide with a planet, wiping out a majority of a continent and altering the environment and landscape itself for millennia to come.
They had been events that had left a mark, moments where he had thought that there was nothing more powerful than that.
But this…?
"This is impossible… where the hell are these calculations coming from?" Lidanya asked, her calm mask slipping into shock at the numbers before her. "This amount of energy, it can't possibly be right!"
"We don't know how much power he has, even these scans only catch a glimpse of the energy that is flowing through him. There's no telling how much he could release if he actually concentrated it like we know it can; hence why keeping those Element Zero cores online." Nihlus said lowly, amazed that he managed to keep his voice as steady as it was.
If word got out that they had fairly solid evidence that this one being had the potential to wipe out small countries, possibly even entire landmasses, there was no telling what sort of position they would find themselves in. They were reading into the hundreds of megatons at least, and honestly, they had no idea if they could contain something like that if it started to put up a fight. Not easily. Even more daunting was the fact they had no idea on the potential of the other anomalies. Ichigo could either be freakishly strong, average, or even (and most frighteningly) abnormally weak in comparison; none had been pushed hard enough to even make a guess at their true strength. But Nihlus was a realist and could already see a pattern from the limited sample size they had. The two named Kenpachi and Rukia, as they had been identified, had massive destructive potential.
The one named Kenpachi had done enough damage to the surface of Torfan that it was starting to become inhospitable. If the giant craters weren't enough, the entire moon had been in the grips of ever-increasing earthquakes, and only after an archaeologist investigated were the reasons made clear: he had fractured the moon, almost its very bones. The amount of raw concussive power he possessed to do that, to actually break a moon, was madness.
Rukia, on the other hand, had somehow altered the weather conditions of the planet for some time. Reports showed that a small country-sized area was still affected and suffering the toll from whatever had been done there. If they possessed this kind of power, this kind of raw strength and ability, what hope did they have?
It was little wonder that cults, mostly human but plenty of other species had joined, were popping up.
"Why do I get the feeling that this shield of yours won't be able to handle this thing?" Lidanya asked slowly, looking at Nihlus very seriously.
He could finally see something beyond that cold mask of wisdom, age and professionalism, and saw rising fear. They were sitting on a warhead bigger than the entire arsenal of the Citadel Fleet and possible every single race in this galaxy, an arsenal she had direct control of, and yet that primal emotion began to swell. Surrounded by more weapons than Nihlus had seen outside of outright war, and yet they were still afraid of one man. No, he wasn't a man, surely, this was a-
Nihlus stopped the thought before it could even form. To even think that thought was to accept defeat. Besides, "Without his sword he shouldn't be able to do anything."
That kinetic barrier was producing such a strong ionized field that the atoms were packed so tightly together they were actually magnetized rather than free flowing energy. More than that, they were able to contain radiation and energy transference with it, something that conventional shields on most standard starships were unable to do without armored hull plating.
"If you will excuse me, I will be moving to the station, I need to speak with my fellow Spectre." Nihlus replied, turning from the observation window and making his way to the door.
He needed to get down there, to see for himself that the entity was contained. The sight would reassure him and put his fears to rest that something terrible was about to happen. They were in control now, and they would still be even when the anomaly woke. He had no choice but to believe that, for there was nothing he could do when things came to a head at that critical moment.
But then what?
They contained one, yes, but it was just that: one. What about the potentially countless others out there? There was at least enough of them for there to be a working hierarchy in place, which could be anywhere from as few as a dozen to tens of thousands. Thousands of beings with diverse and frightening abilities that they had almost surely made enemies with this action. And it wasn't even the Citadel forces that had captured him; they had found him wounded and vulnerable and carted his unconscious body away to be put in the cell. If they had to subdue or even attempt to kill one, did they even have a hope?
Several scientists had sworn up and down that it was at least possible: Kenpachi had taken minor damage from the cannons, even if it hadn't done much else but irritate his skin. That supposedly showed they weren't completely invulnerable, but then what was needed to scratch their skin or break their bones? They honestly never had a viable plan to capture one, because they didn't know if it was possible even to significantly harm one of these things without literally obliterating the continent they were on.
"Nihlus, this is Ly'naze, the anomaly has awoken. Get over here now."
Nihlus stopped for a moment, the implications finally dawned on him: this was the moment where they would see if science could contain something beyond the limits of the world itself. He didn't move for a several minutes, as if merely breathing would shatter the calm. He held his breath, closed his eyes, and kept still as he blocked out the world and its burdens for a moment. This little technique had been taught to him by his mentor, Saren, to help him compose himself in high stress situations. While his old mentor had been brought up charges on the attack of Eden Prime (something he refused to accept, it couldn't be, a little defiant part of himself cried), he still valued these teachings. It only took a moment, but that was all he needed. He looked ahead and continued on his way. Once he reached the station he would worry about the changes and implications, not before.
But fate wouldn't wait for him.
He took three steps, maybe four, before the calm shattered. The ship lurched violently to the side, throwing him into a wall where he gracelessly slid to the floor. A terrible quake shook the ship, and then the hall plunged into darkness with only the weak emergency lights left. But it was only for a moment before the lights spasmed weakly to life with a sparking wheeze, sizzling pops echoing in the hallways as circuits blew and spat fire.
"Spirits!" Nihlus roared, trying to balance himself as another violent wave rocked the ship as if it were adrift in an angry sea.
He took off running, fighting to keep his feet flat against the floor, and made his way towards the nearest observation deck. He needed to know what was going on, even if the large part of his mind already knew what it was. There was always a chance it was simply a mechanical failure, he told himself, but the rising fear refused to let go of its hold. He passed the frantic crew, screaming, though whether it was from fear or pain, he didn't even notice. No, all that mattered was seeing if his fears had been confirmed or not.
"This is Ly'naze! The Anomaly is trying to break the barrier!"
"Can you stop it?!"
"Negative! Goddess! How is it putting out that much energy!?"
Nihlus heard the frantic shouting between his fellow Spectre and the Matriarch echo from his comm even over the din of the shaking ship, but he didn't slow down. He couldn't reach the station with the current chaos, and if these tremors were coming from the Cage, then going there was all but suicidal.
"I'm evacuating! Get ready to-!" Ly'naze cut off, the comms abruptly giving out.
He pulled himself around the corner just in time for the ship to pitch sharply under him and send him careening into a wall hard enough his shields flared. Pushing past that throb of pain from his bruised shoulder, he rushed through the door and into one of the dozen or so mess halls on the ship. He cleared the distance between him and the view port in seconds and sucked in a breath at the sight that greeted him.
The Cage was barely holding together under whatever hellscape they'd willing brought inside it. Conduits and plating tore free and were thrown into the void of space from the unseen force within. He could see that two of the four massive Element Zero cores were simply gone, destroyed or lost to space, he didn't know. But the intense tremors the ship had experienced made it likely that they had exploded from the strain.
"Ly'naze! What is the situation down there?" Nihlus shouted to his comm, but the only response he could get was static.
Every channel he could think of was completely scrambled or blocked, by an interference he could physically feel. Like when he'd done missions on high-gravity planets, he could feel it pulling down on his very organs and bones; a heavy, directionless weight that threatened to crush him. It felt as if an entire ocean hung just over his head, threatening to collapse and crush him. Though it was a fathomless feeling, he knew it was the very same thing that was ripping apart the station nearly a kilometer from where he stood. It continued to buckle, like the hand of god was pressing slowly on it, breaking apart from the combined stress of the cores and the anomaly they strained to keep contain.
Another core exploded and Nihlus watched, detached, as the lights of his hope flickered out one by one.
"This is Captain Lidanya! We're breaking off from the Cage! Everyone brace!"
The garbled shout was barely recognizable, but it was enough to snap Nihlus back to the present. With only two power sources left- and one seconds from failing at best- if the Destiny Ascension stopped feeding it power…The core would fail instantly, and they would be at the heart of the resulting explosion and blown away.
It took a second longer than it should have for it to really sink in, and that he was looking dead at the proverbial bomb. Nihlus turned and ran, moving for the doorway as fast as he was able to, skidding as he made a sharp about face and punched in the needed commands to lock the door down. It could do nothing against the coming power, or it could be the very thing that saved half the ship, it was impossible to tell with the time he had, but he wasn't one to do anything in halves.
The door had barely finished locking when the floor rolled under his feet, throwing him down the hallway and leaving him airborne for a heartbeat eternity as the ship rocked and pitched to the side. He rolled with the momentum when he hit to the ground, ending up in a gasping heap and then…nothing. No fires, no sudden loss in pressure, just the wailing of generic sirens that only told of ship damage.
Hesitantly, he paced towards the door, and quickly inputted the code to override the door. The safeties allow it, which at least confirmed that the ship's shields had held, even if the room before him had been less fortunate. The reinforced observation window had been blown inward without the blast shields being lowered in time to protect them, the bolted down furniture had been scattered or blow to pieces, but overall the damage was fairly minimal for the level of impact he'd been expecting. Without the quiet hum of the protective field that surrounded the ship, the entire ship would be compromised, yes, but the room (and entire side of the ship) still at least existed.
But the void of space was no more, instead a miniature nebular had bloomed before their very eyes. Bright and a blue richer than the sky itself, it moved sluggishly, swirling with currently of energy and sparks of light. It was absolutely stunning, the fragments of the Cage and the ship floating aimlessly, like shattered ships in the ancient sea.
"…we are on… all accounted for…!"
Ly'naze's voice rang over the comms and Nihlus breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't dare hope that anyone would have been able to get off the station before it exploded, and yet somehow they had.
"Is… reading me?"
"This is Nihlus, I read you Ly'naze." Another small miracle: the interfaces on his Omni-tool were still working, if not a little scrambled.
Even inside the ship that energy seemed to be disrupting communications, for there was nothing else that could be the cause. But just what the hell was it?
"Matriarch Lidanya here! What the hell happened!?" The Matriarch yelled, her words coming in nice and clear.
"The damn… he woke up and then started tearing the station apart!"
Nihlus didn't know why anyone even needed that explained to them, except maybe some delusional hope that it was just a mechanical failure. Nothing else within a million kilometers of them had the power that thing did, and with each incident the theoretical power the anomaly contained grew exponentially. Releasing so much raw strength that it overloaded the shields trying to contain it, he didn't want to know just how much it could release. At this point he was tempted to put a fat ∞ on the inevitable report that asked him to try and quantify the power he had seen.
"Spectre, clean up your damn communications! I cannot hear most of what you're saying! What is the status of the anomaly?" Lidanya asked.
"Dead… there is no way… exposed to space? It couldn't have survi…"
The communications were a jumbled mess, but Nihlus was able to understand the important part. The devastation before him was staggering; complete and utter annihilation of the Cage and surely anything within it, with only a cloud of blue energy left behind. If the raw force of the explosion wasn't enough (and there were rumors that the anomaly had survived ground-zero nukes, so what say did common sense even have anymore?), then the unforgiving vacuum of space would surely finish the job. That was the plan and why such an otherwise ridiculous plan had been approved, as any planet-side cage was a disaster waiting to happen. But he had a sinking feeling that fate was forever a cruel mistress.
The blue energy wasn't dispersing freely as it should have in boundless space.
"This Nihlus, we need to contact the Citadel Council and inform them of the situation." Nihlus said, and for a few moments he was met with silence.
"I'm barely reading you…" Lidanya replied over the comms, before she shouted at something in the background. "Listen, communications are haphazard at best, we can't even contact people on different decks right now. I'm surprised I'm getting anything from Ly'naze or even you. The entire ship was nearly destroyed, and I have ten thousand hands onboard I'm accountable for and I'm not doing anything else until this ship is deemed safe to remain on. Understand?"
Nihlus was afraid of that, but they needed to alert the Council before the situation worsened. There was no telling what would happen, nor when their brief respite would end. He didn't believe for a second that the anomaly was dead or beaten, not this easily after all he had seen. It didn't make sense, but Nihlus was willing to bet his Spectre status on the fact that it was still alive and likely recovering, gaining strength with every second they wasted.
"We need to inform the Council this instant! The Citadel is the closest location where the anomaly can go, and what do you think will happen when he goes there? We chained him up and took his weapons, he's going to want them back." Nihlus said.
Lidanya may have said something, but it was lost when a small tremor shook the ship. It was tiny, something that could be barely felt, but suddenly Nihlus felt a loss of…something. As though a sopping wet blanket had been tugged roughly from his shoulders, he felt significantly lighter as the choking pressure in the room was lifted, no, sucked away. He looked up and saw the very thing he feared, the once docile blue energy circling inward with purpose. The remains of the Cage vaporized under what had to be a near-fathomless flow of energy, and yet the power parted like water against a unmovable stone before the anomaly, lapping harmlessly at his unblemished skin.
"That energy… it's his…" An extension of his body, entwined and controlled just as one would a limb, instead of raw and uncontained power. Nihlus swore: they had thought that without his weapon he couldn't escape with no medium to focus his power, but instead the anomaly had unleashed all that power and drew it back in as if it were nothing more than extending one's arms.
"The Anomaly is alive! He's in the middle of the wreckage of the station! He's gathering all that energy he released!" Nihlus shouted into the communicator, hoping that someone could hear him clear enough to understand.
His eyes focused on the…creature, watching as the sea of energy pulsed, drawing in even closer in preparation for something. Nihlus feared that it would destroy the Destiny Ascension, yet the truth was possible even worse. With a sharp snap the coiled energy shattered loose, and the anomaly shot into space.
Nihlus watched the trail of energy for several seconds, barely realizing the anomaly had moved. There was momentary relief, yet that passed quickly as he realized that his fears of where the anomaly may go when freed. For what else lay in that direction but the Citadel?
Reviews: A lot of people think that Ichigo just went Vasto Lorde on everyone's asses, why do they automatically assume that? He is so much more powerful than that. Also, so much praise, and so many reviews, goddamn it so many.
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HolyKnight5: Nope, no Vasto Lorde here, just pure Ichigo ass kicking.
iZuikaku: Besides the fact that there are thousands of humans still on the Citadel and also that would start a war. Considering the position Humanity is in because of their limits placed on them they cannot enter a war and expect to win. Also that would murdered millions of innocent people, human and otherwise.
God: Thank you, Oh Lord.
Blindluck92: Politicians often screw up like this, they often play to their own agendas and games because it suites their interests. Especially true when they go off the deep and try to maintain control over those beneath them. Definitely not a typical novelty store.
Rythik78: Thank you, it was a most enjoyable cruise. Also Urahara will have a role to play in later chapters.
Risedraon0009: This is post Blood War, basically a hundred and eighty years after those events, Ichigo is a Shinigami Captain and he is now part of the Gotei. This Ichigo is powerful, trust me, when it comes down to it you will get to see just how powerful he can be.
Guest 907: Why does everyone think that he has gone full Hollow? Why does he need that to cause mass murder?
The Unsung Antihero: Damn right you are.
Harbgringer of Kaos: No worries, I know this baby has more likes than that, I actually plan on making this a major time consumer for this year and develop it more. Actually have a decent plan for it now, storywise and all that.
SomethingAncient: Actually this is set one hundred and eighty years after the Thousand Year Blood War, basically when the Manga ended. But a little different from the retelling.
Rankin de Merthyr: The girl was Shepard, she was holding off a small battalion in a different part of the city, this would have been her origin story. Earthborne, War Hero.
Xolsis: Glad I could get you there, making people angry at a certain group I think I can pride myself on that. The Council has made a lot of mistakes and done stupid things, they are self-centered and downright arrogant in their stances and nothing they do is not without benefitting themselves or their respective races.
Harlequin-TheAntiHeroinePsycho: Trust me, everyone is going to get what they deserve.
Meech Macko: How would anyone be able to pry info out of Ichigo? Also Ichigo doesn't have sentiments towards humans but he wants to protect those he sees as bystanders that shouldn't be hurt, he doesn't care if they are human or not. Also human are integral because they are all connected to the cycle of reincarnation and they are useful to maintaining that balance. Technically humans are a renewable resource for the Shinigami.
Volumes of Cool: That will be discussed later on, revolving around the Soul King and the place humans have in the Cycle along with other spiritual beings.
Criticism: 1. It was explained above as to why he was harmed, just read the segment where he is searching for the source of the memories and it will tell you exactly why he was harmed. Truthfully fifty megatonnes isn't even enough to harm him.
2. That is something I am considering, but I have not got a definite answer of that yet.
3. Yes, many of the original elements will still be present in the story but with new twists and turns, think of it like being a massive upgrade. There will be references and elements of the story incorporated into this but with different directions they go in, not going to reveal anything but I can tell you many of the old elements will make an appearance.
4. The Council feel that they can contain one, capture and study and maybe learn what they can about them and possibly develop either counter measures or try to open a dialogue to broker some kind of peace to ensure they will not be a danger. The Council is worried, because this is a force they cannot openly oppose and have a hope in hell of defeating. Because as much as the Anomalies have done a lot there is so much no one knows about them, remember from our perspective we know a lot, but from the Council and other races, even humans, the goals and plans of the Shinigami are completely unknown to them.
Geth: Maybe one day it will.
Hollow Ichigo: Yes, he still has his old powers. Also he doesn't possess a Vizard Mask, but that Hollow form where he has the horn, but it has been upgraded since last time. Hollows are still a problem on many different worlds and planets, those that can sustain them of course but they are far and few between. This will be explained later on in the story, along with the souls of other races.