(Kuoh Ichigo's new place.)
"What the hell did you do to my apartment? Why is there a mansion here?!" Knowing this was going to be his reaction, it made Akeno start giggling to herself.
"It seems like our berry-chan doesn't take well to surprises but let's go inside and see the place instead of making a commotion outside." This made the orange haired Soul Reaper facepalm and think how he got himself into this mess. Rias, orihime and Akeno were already heading inside by the time he was done moping.
"My names not Berry-Chan, it's ICHI-GO!, not some kind of fruit!" He said following them inside what was seen inside the mansion was a sight to behold as if the original apartment never existed.
"We haven't been gone longer than a full day. How can renovations happen this quickly?!" Rias smiled and told Ichigo that devils move quickly and the use of magic helps speed everything along. The First Floor Included guest rooms, the living room, kitchen that was the size of Ichigo's previous apartment , a bathroom that was equivalent to a master bedroom in size, and a Japanese-styled room (washitsu), a room that is meant to serve as a reception room for guests.
"Don't let this surprise you Ichigo there's still 5 more floors and 3 basements left to see." This made his jaw drop and think about how rich you had to be to get all of this done. About 10 minutes later the rest of the peerage walked in with Issei, Kiba, and Koneko as they all will be living here as well, issei had just accepted that he was a devil in the time they were gone as he started thanking Ichigo for saving him during their fight with Raynare until he saw Rias, Akeno and the new girl Orihime standing by the entrance to the kitchen as he practically started salivating at the sight of them. This reminded Ichigo of a human version of Kon which gave him an oddly at home-like feel.
"Hopefully he keeps his perverseness to a minimum living with him because they might end up killing him otherwise. We'll probably not orihime." The orange haired Substitute thought to himself. Koneko finally decided to greet him with hug saying that she missed her senpai and hoped all was well in his trip back to which Ichigo ruffled her hair smiling telling her and Kiba the events of what happened in karakura town and that orihime was coming here to kuoh academy.
"Well, let's see the rest of the house. It isn't going to explore itself." The redhead wanted to see the rest of the mansion before it got too late as school was in the morning. The Second Floor Included Rias, Ichigos, and Orihime's rooms, with Ichigo's room being in the middle. It has two interconnecting doors on each side: one connecting to Rias room and one connecting to Orihime's room. Issei was disappointed because he had no opportunity to speak to them and wished Ichigos and him switched rooms. Orihime was nervous because she was next to Ichigo's room and Rias already had some devious ideas to tease Ichigo who was a prudish for the most part.
The Third Floor Included Issei's parents' room, a study, and a storeroom as it made more sense to move them there for protection reasons. The Fourth Floor Included Akeno's, Issei and Koneko's rooms but they weren't connecting rooms like how Ichigos was. The Fifth Floor Included three extra rooms. The Sixth Floor was converted into a meeting room for the ORC and for visitors (also known as the VIP Room). The Rooftop is a communal garden decorated with flower plots and there is a small vegetable farm planted. There is also a table and chairs to drink tea at. The rooftop is also home to Ophis' shrine which is located at the corner of the rooftop, which can be used for sunbathing. The First Basement Floor Includes a movie theater, training rooms, changing rooms, and a large indoor bath which has a refrigerator filled with three different flavors of milk (fruit milk, regular milk, and coffee milk). A hidden room on this floor. The second hidden room also contains an assortment of baths of various sizes, but are noticeably larger than the first and are decorated gorgeously with ornate patterns, tropical plants, Dragon statues pouring water into the bath, and the Gremory's symbol. The Second Basement Floor Includes a heated indoor swimming pool. Third Basement Floor A mostly vacant floor that is going to be used for storage. It also included a library.
"Now that it is getting late everyone should start heading to take a bath and get ready for bed. Are you sure you don't want to live here with the rest of Kiba? You're more than welcome and there are extra rooms available for you." He proceeded to say no but thanked her for the offer.
"Before you go we have a joint training session with sona peerage tomorrow. It's going to be friendly training but I still want to win for bragging rights."
(The next day after school.)
To say school was uneventful was an understatement. Orihime was ogled by every guy in school and put on the same tier as Rias and Akeno for hottest girl in school. Issei was one of the people that were trying to take advantage of her kindness. Let's just say it got to the point where I had to play the role of Tatsuki because Orihime's way too nice of a person to stand up for herself. Eventually the time for our joint training came up. Issei because he lacked 0 fighting capabilities and because he still hadn't gained use of his sacred gear as Rias called it had to sit it out on the sideline and because of Orihime's power we could make the training/sparring session more impactful but they're were still restrictions in place.
"We were going to give Rias's Newest peerage member some first hand experience with the various pieces and what they can do, as well as have Saji-san test out his combat experience. That way Ichigo can both get accustomed to what each piece can do." Sona's older sister was in attendance because she was interested in how strong this Ichigo kid really was and to visit her baby sister.
"That poor boy." Serafall said quietly as she can see that Saji is way too confident and doesn't know what he's in store for.
"What was that one?" Sona asked, having not quite heard that. Rias was snickering in the background at Serafall's comment.
"I said that will be a good experience for him!" Ichigo got the feeling she was talking about Saji, though no one else seemed to think so as no one here knew how strong Ichigo was besides Rias, Akeno, Serafall and Orihime.
"Indeed," Sona nodded, "Give them some room!" She ordered her peerage. The only person that should be near the battleground is Orihime.
Tsubasa grinned at him. "Don't hold back Ichigo, cause he won't and it won't end well for you."
Saji, for his part, looked excited, and a little ashamed of how excited he was, so an odd mix. "Just to let you know you should not underestimate anyone." He said, rolling his shoulders. "Just because you're a Rook and I'm a Pawn does not mean I can't put you on your...ass." he said after a moment's consideration.
Ichigo nodded, taking a few moments to stretch, grateful when his powers came back he didn't need a Soul candy nor the combat pass to transform, in the past it was always a pain to either leave his body alone or with kon.
"When I say for you to stop," Serafall said to both peerage members, "You will both stop. Am I clear?"
"Yes." they said in unison. Saji took a breath, opened his eyes and did not even hesitate to charge him. Ichigo knew that, as a devil, the boy's speed would be greater than human since he didn't plan to transform right away, however he was treated to the refreshing change of pace in which his own reflexes could keep up. The opening punch sent his way was a good one, a swift jab that spoke of some training. His hand came up, the back of it slamming into the wrist and knocking the blow aside.
The boy turned into the blow spinning his leg coming up in a scything kick, but Ichigo took a step forward and lightly kicked Saji's standing leg out from under him while the boy's own blow bounced off his shoulder with a small, but manageable, spike of pain. Guess the boy was strong at least in the physical sense, and Ichigo waited as the boy got to his feet quickly.
"Guess you have some training in fists too, but luck will only get you so far" he sighed.
"Not as easy as you thought it was going to be." The orange haired teen smirked. What came next was a combination of controlled punching in a manner similar to a boxer. He did not go all out with it, but he kept his momentum. Attempting to push him back, Ichigo answered with circling movements and blocks. Saji did not seem at all put out by it, in fact he grinned at him and that made Ichigo focus.
Thus, when there was a stirring of power around Saji's right hand, he was ready. His entire perception focused on that change. And what a change it was, the oddest looking lizard-like creature he had ever seen, black with large purple eyes and yellow lines tracing along its back. Long legs seemed wrapped around the hand it sat upon and there was an energy to it. A power not Saji's, not really, it was a deep power, one Ichigo had never felt before. Despite the mild amount of it he sensed present, there was more, much more, deeper within that creature or device on his arm.
Ichigo took a long step back creating distance and avoided the creature as Saji attempted to hit him with it as he knew taking a blow from it in his human form would have been bad. A much wider smile split the boy's face as the lizard opened its mouth and a blue line shot towards him. Ichigo reacted in a manner that would have made his teacher in the art of Shunpo proud as he transformed into his shikai. It surprised him a little, how fast he was able to switch forms and react to the attack in one motion. The line of blue passed through the space where he had been a moment earlier, which drew gasps from the onlookers and a whoop of delight from Serafall as she was the only one who could see what happened.
Saji read the situation with commendable speed even though he couldn't see Ichigo move and whirled to find his opponent had somehow moved behind him and thirty feet away. "I thought you said you were a rook!" he shouted.
"He is." Rias replied, just as shocked Ichigo shook his head.
"Remember, I did have powers of my own once upon a time before I became a devil and besides that I didn't even move as fast I could in this form."
"Super speed?" Ichigo shrugged, "Sort of." his body blurred as he moved again, avoiding another blue line shot at him
"If you don't mind my asking, what the hell is that?" Saji whirled looking for where his opponent had vanished to, but was finding nothing.
"Up here." His head tilted up to see Ichigo standing on seemingly empty air about forty feet above him, the top of his hair touching the roof of the barrier inside the mansion which everyone besides Orihime was shocked to find him standing in mid air. "What I did was called Shunpo which is a limited high speed movement technique."
"Uhh, what is that device ?" Saji just stared at this odd creature who was his opponent and who was making him look second rate at best, probably third rate.
"It's my sacred gear." Ichigo made a clicking sound with his tongue.
"I have no clue what that is but I'll add it to the list then." Wings erupted from Saji's back and he took off in a high speed rush, the dark fibers flapping to give him lift. Ichigo danced around the attack using his Spirit Walk to gain footholds where he needed them, pushing off the air itself to propel him out of the boy's way as he completely blitzed right by him. It meant that he could turn on a dime, change directions in an instant, which compared to wing powered flight gave a lot more maneuverability options. The boy was still trying to catch him in that blue line, which only made it more of a priority for Ichigo not to get hit by it. He kind of felt bad for playing with Saji this long even though he wasn't trying, but he needed to know what kind of powers devils had. For example, did he have his own wings?
As if in answer they erupted from his back as if excited to be called forth, he frowned at them confused and not at all ready to control two new body parts. The vanished just as quickly with an effort of will, but by that time Saji was on him, using Ichigo's lack of focus on him to his advantage. The blue line shot across the distance between him and circled him, binding him tightly. The line shimmered and light danced along it pulled from him over to Saji…..but what was odd was Ichigo did not feel any drain on his power. He frowned and had to focus, none of his spiritual power was being taken, but there was something. A vague feeling deep in his soul, at the bottom of the ocean that now reigned there, a small power in comparison to his vast abilities was being taken.
Ichigo lunged forward using shunpo to speed his charge, knee first, into Saji's solar plexus. The boy had been in the process of letting out a whoop of triumph when the air was driven from his lungs and he was thrown from the air dragging Ichigo, who was still neatly tied by the blue line, and they both crashed into the earth The dust cleared revealing Saji on the ground with Ichigo's foot planted firmly on his neck through no real pressure was being applied. The boy looked like he had been hit by a car, but it had taken a lot out Saji for that one hit, him for a moment and Ichigo had only just managed to get his foot on Saji's throat before the boy would have surged to his feet with anger in eyes of being embarrassed to that degree. Guess he was tough if a little light on combat experience he could definitely give a 5th seat a run for their money.
"Enough." Serafall called and Ichigo removed his foot and the line of blue vanished, leaving a dull empty feeling. It was small though and it had been taken from a power he had not realized was there until now. He did not have time to reach out for it; however, Sona helped Saji to his feet and then stayed by his side under his shoulders, though he clearly did not need it. Ichigo held back a smile, lots
of guys would feel lucky to have a girl clearly smitten with them. His eyes drifted to Rias and Orihime, then fell to thoughts of Koneko's actions and Tsubasa's teasing…how did he feel about that? He was still kicking himself for not noticing earlier, but the actions some of them used had been pretty blunt lately and while it might require sledgehammer blunt to get through to him, things did slide through eventually.
Not that it gave him any insight whatsoever as to what he was going to do about it but, you had to take what you could get.
"That was impressive." Koneko said her gaze to one of the analysts "Granted you did beat kill a fallen angel so perhaps that is not as surprising as it could be."
Saji let out a gasp of pain as he sucked in air and did not manage to get out any words but he tried, Ichigo felt he understood the meaning, 'Lucky Shot' if he was not mistaken,
"So what is a sacred gear? And why did Saji think I had one?" he asked the group.
"Detailed history or quick?" It was Sona who asked this time.
"Quick." he replied
"Sacred gears are objects of power made by the God of the Bible. They were gifted to humans and human hybrids such as half-vampires and the like. There are many kinds, types and varieties of gear that come with normally, one or two powers. Also, when we reincarnate people with the Evil Pieces they keep their sacred gear."
"Ok, I assume that Saji's over there absorbs power?" She nodded.
"And vitality." Hmm, he had not felt that but he was not exactly sure how his vitaliy worked now, when he was in soul form it was proportional to his spiritual power.
"Me next, me next!" Tomoe bounced. "I wanna sword fight with Ichigo. I want to see how good with a blade he really is."
"Did you even bring an extra blade?" Tsubaki asked.
Tomoe froze, "Oh…..right," she looked around desperately, "I forgot." Which proceeded to make everyone laugh at her eagerness "I could borrow a sword from Kiba so me and Ichigo can spar. I want to show him what a knight is capable of."
Ichigo made a snap decision, "Don't worry, I have my own."
They all turned to look at him. "Is it in your room Ichigo?" Rias asked. "Not quite." he shrugged, when it came down to it he did not like keeping secrets, though he would keep some things to himself. If he was going to be fighting creatures like the fallen with them they would need to know what he could do.
"Well?" Tomoe asked excitedly, "Where is it?"
He let out a breath and air rushed away from him like it was under a high pressure fan, stirring up hair and skirts alike, Ichigo slammed his eyes shut as the sudden array of different colored underwear was revealed. Saji made a sound of appreciation, which was followed by a firm and "accidental" elbow in the side from one of the girls holding him up. Ichigo had his eyes closed so he could not see which one it was, just here the aftermath of his renewed gasping.
"Oh my," Serafall said, "That looks cool."
He opened his eyes to find the group slack jawed at the sight of him with his blade the length of his body. Zangetsu's He yelled was in a bandage tilted at an angle across the back of his hips, the handle in just the right spot to be drawn out easily. He drew forth his blade, the handle long enough for both of his hands; it was without a blade guard, shifting to black and white soul steel about four and a half feet long. The weight felt right in his hand as he manipulated it a bit, testing its feel.
Sona made a sucking sound as she pulled in air. "Did anyone sense that?" Everyone shook their heads, Serafall did not answer as instead she was staring at Zangetsu with a slight frown on her face. "Onee"
"Hmm?" she broke eye contact, "No, no I did not sense anything either, though I have to say it could be passed off as a sacred gear if you wanted to, most would not know the difference."
"I think after this…it will be your turn to tell us a story about Ichigo, looks like Rias found an interesting one. You raise so many questions."
"Hey, I get a chance at him before we do that!" Tsubasa said glaring at Sona who sighed and nodded.
"You will get your chance, but I would warn you that you are crossing some lines of decorum." Her Rook stiffened, hands moving to her backside.
"Right, sorry." Then her eyes crossed to him. He got the sense she could see the direction of his thoughts as he pondered how in the world Sona would go about spanking someone so tall…the results of that train of thought were distracting and completely inappropriate and why would she spank her anyways. Her grin replaced the scowl on her face and she winked at him, Rias whirled on him and he coughed looking away and stepping back Serafall giggled at the interaction.
"So that wasn't just a fluke, your win over saji because you attacked him when he wasn't looking?" Ichigo with his signature glare enough to make normal people flinched looked at her.
"Do you want to fight? That way you can see first hand if it was a fluke or not or maybe you're all talk." he said to Tomoe who was pulling a sword out of her backpack whose said sword was longer than the backpack, go figure.
"That sounds like fun, perhaps the winner gets to make the loser their personal slave." he sputtered blushing, not able to get a word out this also made Orihime turn red at the thought of someone potentially making ichigo a servant as indecent thoughts flowed even though she knows he'll win.
"I'm just Kidding! You're pretty fun to tease." she giggled before paling as Sona and Tsubasa turned a withering glare on her. "Kidding." she said again. "I'm not into guys, remember?"
"Is that what it was about?" Ichigo glanced at the two who noticed his gaze and the question in it and for a moment they both looked away, cheeks going pink. Ichigo gulped looking over at Serafall who he was reasonably sure of. The women there gave him a look that was all sorts of dangerous and mouthed at him. His mind sort of went blank for a moment as he tried his best to comprehend and processes that thought, some part of him pointed out that Koneko had been making moves this whole time as well and her pointed comment and the same could be said about Orihime and its meaning came into focus. Ichigo turned away from them and decided he did not have to deal with this yet. Tomoe gave him a look of pity though it was replaced by excitement as she pulled out her Katana.
"Ready Kurosaki?" Raising Zangetsu he nodded ready to do battle, Tome let out a sigh of pleasure.
"Get ready then, cause I won't hold back. She moved then, at speed almost akin to the flash step of a third seated officer the move was graceful, but a tad unpolished, her katana a glimmering. Ichigo blocked the first strike head on, the girl's inhuman strength nowhere close to match for his even while suppressing his strength, but the blades hardly kissed before her arms went slack, her blade sliding along his and past him as she was sent flying back about thirty feet as the disparity between their strength was made apparent. She spun to halt her momentum and launched herself directly at Ichigo, bringing her blade low, the whole series of events happened in a single motion.
Zangetsu once again intercepted the attack as Ichigo swung the blade up from near the ground catching her Katana and hauling her upward, throwing the blade out of position. Before he could even so much as flick an attack in her direction she leapt with the blow, her wings shooting out, sending her twenty feet into the air as she flipped and landed back on solid ground. Ichigo was on her in an instant pushing her to make her reveal all of her moves. As steel clashed on steel several times he matched her blow for blow but toned down his strength to match hers, feeling the sheer difference in how they fought. She flowed between attacks, the motions so ingrained in her mind that they were almost without any thought.
His attacks were just as fast, but lacking in the grace that a trained warrior possessed, by any rights he should have been at her mercy but his instinct of knowing where she was aiming and adapting to her movements were working in his favor. Tomoe deflected a blow and it should have left him wide open as her blade came up and down. But his free hand shot out, catching her hands on the hilt, stopping the blow. She reacted before he could close his grip, leaping back to avoid his counterattack.
As the battle went on the substitute shinigami moves got more precise and focused as he was evolving and adapting to his opponent mid battle, but this is how it had always been. His opponents had skill, teachers of the blade whereas he had to learn in the press of battle fighting for his life tooth and nail but somehow always matching them tit for tat and eventually surpassing them.
They both vanished from sight, blades colliding in a shower of sparks, and he kept fighting her with one hand on the blade and the other free and open, ready to strike or block as needed. It was not a style she had ever encountered, but it did help him limit his strength and self imposed restriction. He could tell she was giving it her all even though he wasn't close to using the full power of his shikai.
"This is FUN!" Tome shouted in glee. "I love it! I never encountered an opponent like you. At first I thought you were all strength and no skill but as this fight went on I can see you evolving and adapting to my style, yet I can feel you holding back."
purple circles danced along her blade. "Mequri Style Revised: Heavy Blade."she said as the circle disappeared and the air seemed to ripple and shift around the weapon. He sensed a mass of power around it, but did not know what it was supposed to do, he looked then to its user as she gripped her blade in both hands,
After a moment's thought he placed his other hand on his own blade, and it was good he did, as this time when she moved and there was a distortion as she started going all out. She swung her blade with precision and power. It was met with some worried looks from Sona and her peerage along with Kiba and Koneko as they thought she could cut Ichigo in half if he was prepared. Sona was just about to stop the fight when serafall put her hand in front of her and said. "Just wait, Ichigo is going to be just fine, you'll see in a moment."
What happened next shocked everyone to the core as no one expected Ichigo to do this save orihime as she knew how strong he was. He caught the full force of her swing with his bare hand And knocked her back with the flat of his blade to the point she couldn't see it coming . A dull ache echoed through his arm because he was suppressing himself but he was fine with no cuts or bruises whatsoever, Tomoe on the other hand was looking down at hers which were trembling, "Still can't control the backlash and you caught that with your bare hands still." she muttered looking back up. "Full power then before my arms give out as it's the only way I can at least make you try."
This time he recognized the distortion as one gravitic in origin and he grinned at the thrill of combat that ran through him. Without thought he channeled his spiritual power but something different came out similar to what he felt when saji tried draining his energy. To his surprise crimson and golden aura coated his blade this caused Rias to gasp as she said when did he learn how to use demonic energy when he's only seen it a handful of times. It was not the Getsuga Tenshou Ichigo was accustomed to, it was contained within and around the weapon itself.
"Oh, that's cool. At least you're finally taking me seriously." Tomoe said.
Tomoe raised her blade above her head. "Sorry, though, this is a ranged attack, so no cool blade clash." and brought her weapon down. The distortion blasted out from her in a battering ram of pure gravity force, had he been in actual combat he would have dodged or slapped it away but he was here to have fun and test himself. He brought down his own weapon the instant before the force would have hit him. Zangetsu's crimson and golden darkness cut through the magic like butter, the distortion flowed around him splitting off in two directions. Even so the strength of the blow made everyone below the strength of the knight brace against the impact. She was off her feet, then the moment was gone and he was still standing. Tomoe fell back on her butt, laughing.
"That was wonderful, absolutely wonderful! You completely outclassed me with ease." her arms trembled as she laughed.
"Oh dear, I really need to work on that before I give it a cool name."
Ichigo walked over to her. "Are You ok? You would give most 3rd seat Soul reapers a run for their money, you're probably on the same level as this guy named Ikkaku I know."
"Give me a minute, my personal gravity is all kinds of messed up right now, good fight though even if I finished too quick. They always say guys do that, but I guess girls can too." Ichigo was starting to wonder about all these devil girls. Are they all this over the top or…erratic he decided.
"Kurosaki-Kun, do you need me to heal you? Are you hurt or exhausted?" Orihime was always so caring which caused the orange haired substitute to shake his head that he was fine smiling at her causing her to blush. Koneko and Kiba said to Ichigo that they had no idea he was this powerful as he didn't look like he broke a sweat. Kiba asked about where he learned to fight like that or how he adapted to his opponents fighting style instinctually and overcame them. This was short lived as sona queen wanted to go next.
"My turn." Tsubaki said, walking forward cracking her fists. "Put that away would you?" She pointed at his sword
"I'll only use hand to hand combat and I'll supposed to show you the ropes of how big of a gap it's between a knight and queen." With a slight effort of will the blade vanished into motes of blue white energy which itself faded quickly.
"That is useful. Ichigo-san, where did you put your blade anyways?" Rias mused from her spot.
"I agree." Serafall said. "A blade you can just will in and out of thin air makes it convenient traveling with."
"No time to put it on and it is always with you." Akeno agreed. "I wonder if that can be learned?"
The words did not seem to give him pause as she walked up to him. "This is going to be fun. I'll try to take it easy on you to savor this fight." She looked him up and down. "I was beating up spirits and monsters before I was a devil, fair warning."
Ichigo nodded at the statement sliding into the basic front stance "Karate?" she asked but then backtracked and said no this looks a bit foreign as she never seen this style before, in answer his hands came up, extended from his body. As most didn't know how proficient Ichigo was in hand to hand combat as before he became a Soul Reaper he was better at it than tatsuki as he first defeated her back in 6th grade and she was the second strongest person in the country fighting with a broken arm the whole time and he learned hakuda which is (hand-to-hand Combat") is a close-combat style of fighting, in which one is unarmed and uses only one's body, and is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Shinigami which Ichigo would be on the borderline of being at expert level.
"I'm more of a Muay Thai girl myself." Tsubaki stood ten feet away from him, standing almost casually with a lot of openings. It was an invitation to attack, but he felt no need to take it and decided to lower his reiatsu to a level where it would match her energy output to make it more challenging on himself. The girl watched him for a few seconds before sighing. "Oh well, no free shot then for you." The ground cracked as her leg tensed and exploded with the shockwave of her leap, her leg coming around and colliding with his closed arms sending a shockwave of force that made a crater in the ground as he absorbed the hit making him slide back several feet.
Ichigo frowned at the blue lines that started growing on his arms, seemingly in time with the blow he had received as he hadn't seen this since the time he fought Raynare later he would have to figure out what it was as it didn't appear in previous fight probably because he was still above his opponent and not equal to them as he is now even though he lowering his energy to her level. His arms hurt a little but it was not that bad whatever these blue lines were it both mitigated the damage and pain.
"That was not Muay Thai." he said
"Oh really I don't remember saying I could not use anything else were you under the impression that was all I could do?" she then followed up with "What's with the blue lines appearing on your body it felt like I connected with steel what kind of augmentation is that."
They vanished along with an odd sensation. Now that he could sense it he could feel the spiritual power, but it was not coming from his soul in a normal way. Almost like it was going into his blood almost as if it was a part of him even if he couldn't summon it at will but it always popped up instinctually to protect him. "I have no idea, this is new to me as well. I haven't seen this since I defeated Raynare."
"Cool!" He was almost distracted enough that he missed her blinding series of jabs as she tried to catch him off guard. She took advantage of him explaining to land some attacks that he barely managed to block with arms. Every blow she landed on his arms was met with a flash of blue light in his blood that ended up only hurting her as she made contact. Her knee came up suddenly and sharply and he slapped his hand down, catching the blow and stopping it as she visibly started to get frustrated. None of her moves were connecting while she was going all out trying her best to hit him.
"You must think your hot shit for keeping up with me to this extent but if you think this all I got you'll be sadly mistaken." She said this with a cocky look on her face but on the inside she was embarrassed she had made contact with hitting while she's going all out.
That was when his cheek almost met her elbow but managed to swipe her with a kick to the face as he flew back due to his kick hitting her in the jaw. 'Right,' he thought, 'Muay Thai. He was hurled back into the air and she was also sent sliding back a few feet as well. A thought crossed his mind, a flashback of a scene of him beating up the lieutenants at sokyoku hill popped up in his head. He used the flash step, moving to the ground and seeing Tsubaki flying through the space he had kicked her too he could tell she was still reeling from the blow.
He then flash-stepped again as she turned, appearing behind her and clenching his fists together slamming them down double axe-handling her in the back of the head, spiking her towards the earth. There was a shockwave as her trajectory changed abruptly, sending her into the ground with enough force to crater the ground. Ichigo winced at that as he thought he hit her too hard, but before he could do anything Tsubaki got to her feet.
"Ouch," she coughed, hand on her side, "That really hurt Ichigo." She took in a pained breath. She was getting her ass whooped short and simple and the worst part was he wasn't going all out and she knew that.
"Kaichou, any reason his strength is greater than mine? Even though he's just a rook?"
"Not that I know of," Sona replied, "But right now I don't know anything about what kind of powers he had before maybe ask Rias. But for now treat him as an unknown enemy who potentially has power greater than yours."
Tsubaki nodded and took in great breath and power began to dance along her body in vibrant light, she forced it into her aura and began to glow signifying she was now augmenting her power with devil energy. "All right, get down here and let's fight." He reacted with a commendable speed as Ichigo kicked off the air and launched himself at her, his charging punch blocked by her two crossed arms which sent her Sliding back on the ground with her arms trembling from the force of the blow if she didn't put devil energy into her body she would have broken arms right now. He let out a snarl of effort, putting slightly more power into another blow and launched her twenty feet back this time connecting with her stomach knocking the wind out of her. Ichigo followed up with a Flash step to reach her before she could recover, he grabbed her arm, which flailed about clumsily in the air as he appeared right before her, and twisting, hauling her over his body, slammed her into the ground knocking the wind out of her again before she got her bearings.
The blows she took must have hurt, but it had not stunned her at all which gives her credit to her mental fortitude to be able to take punishment and still be fine. Her legs kicked out as she was right back to her feet then he came in for a kick she tripped him knocking him down finally managing to snag a blow on Ichigo to which Tsubaki started straddling him allowing her to send several blows raining down at his face which he blocked all of them with his arms. He accepted the bows as his hand shot up, just long enough to reach around her neck, and yanked her down. He lifted his head at the same time and forehead to forehead they connected with a crack as his forehead had blue lines. This blow did stun her and he rolled taking the top position. As his hand came and he hesitated now bringing down the blow, he regretted that in an instant later as an elbow slammed into his ribs with enough force to roll him a good ten feet off of her onto his back. He came to his feet about the time Tsubaki came to hers though she wobbled a bit some blood running down her forehead and into her eyes. She was clearly beaten and felt it was best that this mock fight didn't continue.
"Match." he said imminently, stepping back. His word was echoed by Serafall, who must have had the same idea he had, with blood running into the eyes being the disadvantage it was, this practice fight was over. As Ichigo convincingly beat her as even though she connected with some blows none of them hurt Ichigo in slightest even with her going all out. Tsubaki stumbled a bit while sona was the first to catch her.
Serafall smiled at that. "Well done, Ichigo beat a pawn, knight and queen in succession without breaking a sweat. You're even better than I thought you did this all while holding back and fighting on a level equal to your opponents as it was your skill that outshined them. Although you could have held back a little though."
Rias made an effort to get his attention he focused his attention on her "Those were samples of what Knights and Rooks can do and what a queen is capable of, once you get some study in magic should you wish to learn." He nodded at her explanation. "I also want to thank you sona for having this joint training session with us. I think this benefited all of us." To which sona nodded in agreement. Orihime had Tsubasa healed in a couple seconds like the fight never even happened to which serafall was dumbfounded how anyone could possess powers like Orihime as they were almost godlike.
"So Ichigo-kun, what kind of powers do you have now?" Serafall asked to move up in her slow, swaying, distracting walk.
"Basic enhanced speed, strength, toughness, being able to summon a sword, pseudo flight, air walking, the ability to sense people and differentiate them in a wide area, high speed movement and I am invisible to normal people who aren't spiritually aware."
"That is a ridiculous number of powers." Both Kiba and Saji commented.
"Devil's can do most of that besides the walking in air which I'll admit is pretty cool," saji was quick to counter,
"But I guess my old powers were rejuvenated when I became this," he gestured to himself. He did not want to explain that he was a Devil, Shinigami, and a Hollow hybrid. From what he understood the Evil Piece was supposed to be a full transformation, not a partial one as was his case but his DNA was too strong to be completely overwritten as he felt it enhanced his already existing powers and it only served as a catalyst to reawaken his existing powers.
During this whole event Rias sat puzzled and thought to herself "maybe he can save me from my fate he just might if he's willing."
"You said you lost your powers before, right Ichigo the guy named Kisuke was telling me and Akeno about it when he was healing us." Rias tilted her head, as she didn't know the full details.
"How did that happen, senpai?" Koneko was quite curious about how it led Ichigo to become a regular human. Ichigo looked down at his right hand, the hand that had held Mugetsu, the hand that had struck down and Aizen.
"My powers came from my soul, I drew on the energy it released. It was how I was what I was. Rias when you went to the Soul Society and you said how the old guy was just as strong as your brother I had to fight a guy who was by a safe estimate 1000 times stronger."
He knew his face had lost most of its expression, but his voice was revealing more than he wished even though he could not help it.
"But there are some things you have to do, and when someone tries to end all that I loved, all that I knew, I took most of my soul and transformed it directly into power, I got the strength I needed but that kind of power has its price it's almost akin of me using all my future potential and getting all my latent ability all at once for one attack and losing it all when it done. Despite that it didn't even kill him, it just weakened him to the point where he could be sealed."
Akeno put a hand on his shoulder, gone was any hint of flirtation she always has. "Hey. If you ever need to talk about stuff, I have my own experience in a," she paused for a moment, "More than traumatic war, just to let you know." He felt touched at the offer... hell had anyone he knew offered to talk with him about what had happened? He did not remember any, looking back that might have helped with things, a lot.
"I just might take you up on that."
"Good, tonight, maybe after we finish our hunt with Rias-chan, as I we'll have to be at school tomorrow."
(Later that day)
"So," Ichigo said as they appeared in front of what looked like an abandoned observatory in a flash of red power similar to that of teleportation.
"Anyone going to tell me what we are doing here?" No sooner had he stepped into the Occult club's new main office in their home Rias had teleported them to this place.
Issei looked just as lost. "I have no idea but this place is creepy." he offered
"That's ok, you're as new as me at this." he fixed his gaze on the redhead.
"Rias?" He thought that was her preferred title plus he wasn't into formality anyways. She nodded at them, making a movement with her fingers. Kiba stepped behind her, his front to the broken double doors of the old place, his body set for combat. Koneko was standing off to the side watching him with a sort of lazy grace a cat might use while watching a swinging toy. Akeno was dressed in a Miko outfit and stood beside her King, most of her attention on the building, hand half raised and slightly glowing.
"This is a part of our world that most of us do not like to discuss, and one of the main assignments that appear for most peerages that live in the mortal world. For us, though, it is mostly an uncommon thing, but given that one has moved right to our doorstep we cannot ignore it."
"Ignore what exactly?" Issei asked tentatively.
"A stray devil." Rias said, her voice tinged with what seemed like pity. "There are times when a reincarnated devil will either run away from or kill their master for one reason or another. If it was abused the Maou have set up a system they can move into where events will be investigated. On the other hand there are some like the one we are hunting who went stray due to certain bloodthirsty tendences that her King would not sanction. From what I know he was about to command her to not act on her violent tendencies, she had gotten so bad. What is worse is that she committed the ultimate taboo, beyond becoming a stray, beyond any other act, she began to devour humans which is strictly forbidden." This reminded Ichigos of the Shinigami rule not to share their powers with a human as that's the ultimate taboo for them along with not killing humans as well.
Issei gulped his eyes alight in a sudden understandable fear, Ichigo was, for a moment under his Mother's body, her warm blood running over him. His jaw set a little at Rias's words and made him angry.
"Doing so is not just wrong, it has effects on devil physiology and mental state. It makes one's instincts, no matter what they happen to be, the driving force the creature acts on. It also corrupts their power, growing it in some ways, but mutatining them to abominations that need to be put down." She glanced back at the observatory. "Which is what we are doing tonight. We did not know this stray was here until two people went missing and there were signs of devil power around the site." Rias looked over them, nodding at Ichigo before fixing her gaze on Issei.
"This is something that must be done, but have no fear issei, you and Ichigo will not be part of it tonight, I merely want you to observe, as I know Ichigo could probably handle this on his own. I want you to watch how we move as a peerage. nothing more."
"Y-yes Bouchou." Issei answered. She looked at Ichigo, at his expression, his eyes. "If you feel you can add to the situation, you can of course do so if you feel strongly about it." Orihime couldn't come along being she wasn't a part of the peerage plus it's better if she didn't see things like this Ichigo thought to himself. He nodded at that. As they walked into the building Rias began to describe the meaning and powers of the pieces. Ichigo sensed the creature hiding in the room the moment he got near the door, they walked in and his senses tracked it as it skittered in the darkness above them.
The room was broken, dusty, but still with much of the trappings of a place of business, trappings that no one had bothered to come back for. What drew his eyes the most was two spirits standing before two skeletons. They were that of an older couple, a man and a woman well into their late sixties, both dressed alike in well maintained clothing that spoke of happier times.
"Oh no," the woman said and Ichigo noted that no one but him seemed to hear it.
"Those poor dears." The man made a sobbing sound, their hands locked together. He also noted that their chains of fate were untarnished meaning that they were not going to go hollow anytime soon. He moved over to them they both paused as they realized he was looking at them,
"Don't worry we'll put a stop to this and it will be avenged." he said, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. Grey eyes looked at him in awe, then flinched as a voice rang out.
"What could that foul smell be, does it taste sweet or bitter?" The words were said with such malice that they seemed to chill the air itself. That atmosphere was ruined when Issei spoke out.
"I see real oppai!" He could see the boy was practically drooling just at seeing that The two plus's looked at the boy with more than a little horror at the improprality.
Ichigo looked up at the creature who had moved out of the shadows. It was an ugly thing, the upper half from the crotch up that of a pretty woman with dark hair but that lower body a horrific chimera of clawed back legs and human arms for front legs, a snake for a tail. A bizarre physiology that made no sense, had no rhyme or reason.
"Viser," Rias said, "You betrayed your master, you killed humans, you have abandoned yourself totally to your urges. For your sins you deserve the torment of a thousand hells, this is the judgment I pronounce upon you."
"Oh, shut your mouth, you jealous little slut. You just hate me because you'll never have breasts like mine." She moved her hands to rub them in self ecstacy. Rias, for her part, did not seem fazed by the words and Ichigo wondered why she had not told them that she knew who they were hunting personally. Not that it mattered, not even in the slightest, as golden light left him in a rush, casting away all shadows and leaving no place to hide. The power of his soul shrouded him, armored him in his shihakusho,and armed him with Zangetsu formed in his hand rather than the cloth on his back, he gripped tightly.
The stray did not seem to know what to make of that, nor did the rest of his peerage mates. "Cool!" Issei said as earlier today and from the time with Raynare he looked up to Ichigo.
His glowing golden eyes fell upon Viser, who tilted her head as if in amusement as the confusion faded. "Was that supposed to be impressive, brat?" Power gathered to her as she spoke and circles of red began to appear around her breasts.
She never saw him coming. One heartbeat he was thirty feet away, the next several of her legs were lopped off , disrupting her spell and drawing forth a scream. The snake tail snapped at him, fangs dripping venom, mouth extended fully. Almost casually, his free hand shot up and grabbed the thing just under its mouth. He could see the skeletons of the old couple, see the shocked looks of pain on the Plus's faces. The rage boiled inside him and he harnessed it, letting out a snarl of pure aggression, and started twisting, using his new strength, now united with his old, it almost felt too easy to hurl the creature, who must have weighed at least seven hundred pounds, off its feet. In the air he dragged her, spinning around to gain speed before slamming her into the tile floor with enough force to shatter it as she hit the ground so hard one of her eyes popped out of her socket and blood coming out of its mouth. The woman half was near him now, at eye level well the one eye that was still in its socket, eye now fraught with fear.
Fear at how fast that had happened, how outclassed in every way she was, but most of all, at Zangetsu raised high. "Getsuga," he said as Golden red light shrouded the soul steel of his Zanpakuto, "Tenshō!" He brought it down, the blade splitting Viser's head in half vaporizing her body; he angled the attack upward so as not to cause too much damage to the surrounding area as the attack went in the air splitting all the clouds in the sky virtually changing the weather. There was an explosion of power that shattered every window via a shockwave that also knocked Issei off his feet causing him to skid a few feet back.
All that remained of the monster was its chopped off limbs and even that quickly disappeared as he destroyed that soon after. Silence reigned for several long moments. "Well, I was going to have Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno show you two what the various pieces meant in team oriented combat," Rias said.
"But that works too…..well done Ichigo maybe next time tone down the destruction output just a bit if that hit the ground, who knows what would have happened."
"T-t-that was so cool!" Issei said from his spot on the floor.
"I am inclined to agree." Akeno was looking at him differently, her head tilted in thought, eyes almost dancing with something hot and smoldering almost as if she was in heat. Ichigo at the moment did not feel the desire to look into that further as he had a duty to perform. He walked over to the Pluses stopping in front of their ghostly forms.
"Thank you, happy that he can finally rest in peace and move on." the old man said.
"Yes, thank you so much young man, you have so much courage and conviction. May the gods bless you, making the devils behind him start hurting from the souls trying to bless them." the woman agreed.
"Your welcome." he replied and raised his sword while tilting it to press the hilt onto the foreheads of each.
"May you find each other again in the next life." he said as they began to vanish into blue particles.
"What are you doing?" Koneko asked and he blinked, not having heard her move to his side.
"Showing respect to the dead, allowing them to move on now that their killer is dead." he replied in pure truth, even if it was a bit more littleral than spiritual.
"Oh," she looked embarrassed, "Sorry. Senpai"
"No harm in a question." he said, turning back to the others.
"So any more strays?"
"No." Rias said. "Lots of questions, but no more strays." Ichigo nodded.
"Koneko, would you help me bury these bones?"
"Of course." He felt a surge of gratitude as she moved the remains carefully with him outside the observatory, the rest of the peerage pitched in when they realised he was absolutely serious. When it was done Rias did them all a favor and simply moved them back to the kurosaki residence, where they all took seats and Akeno bought them each a drink and some refreshments. Ichigo readied himself for another round of grilling.
"So" Rias said, "You do have a sacred gear." He shook his head.
"The sword was part of my old abilities, the markings on my body when I transform and how my sword looks is slightly different but it's not new but it is no Sacred Gear."
"What do you mean?" Rias said "I can sense it clearly now."
"What?" As far as he could tell, none of them could sense spiritual power at all or they were bad or just uncustomed to it.
"I can sense it, Sacred Gears have their own unique signature, like Issei and Kiba." Ichigo turned his senses to the both of them using Reikaku as his awareness wash over their souls and power
"I see what you mean but Zangetsu is not a sacred gear he wasn't one in the past matter of fact...hold on," he closed his eyes, sending his focus inward and found himself standing atop the tallest building of his inner world. Zangetsu stood at his side and Ichigo's eyes drifted to the new shoulder guard and gold and crimson chain around his black cloak. "Just to be clear, you still are my Zanpakuto?"
"I am." he said.
"Good…you're not a scared gear right?"
"I am not in the conventional sense," he said again. Ichigo took a moment to suck a breath in through his nose.
"What?" Zangetsu fingered the olden chain, frowning because it wasn't clear to him either.
"I don't know how" for a moment he looked genuinely disturbed, "when your body was being remade when your devil powers rejuvenated your soul it seems I was as well given a new form that added to the nature of our soul that didn't exist before." the old man paused, a power neither one of us has ever experienced."
"Ok," Ichigo said, taking a breath, "Add that to the list of things to find out, Has anything changed about us?"
"As far as I can tell nothing, it's more of a status and the fact that you can change forms at will it's almost as if it just enhanced your potential and made your powers more unified." the old man paused.
"I gained some knowledge that will be useful, I think, and my release phrase is now longer but since you're always in shikai and you already achieved bankai it doesn't really matter if you say it or not." Ichigo really did not like the troubled expression on Zangetsu's face, the last time he had seen it was before he used the Final Getsuga Tenshou.
"If it does nothing, then why would someone do it? Or why did it change our nature to five of the energy as sacred gear." The old man shrugged. "I do not know." They both stood there in silence for a moment.
"Any reason Sona did not notice your sacred gear when I fought her peerage?"
"You did not use Getsuga Tenshō , the markings also are not part of this change." the old man fingered the chain "This rather it is an expression of White's power and your Soul reaper powers becoming more unified, whereas the Getsuga Tenshou is an expression of mine and his, but I am the sacred gear not white. Which makes even less sense, as we are both two sides of the same coin, both part of your power as we are technically one being."
"Wait the way you said that it almost sounded like you were saying your not my Soul reaper powers."
Zangetsu looked up at him. "I am but you should get back, they are about to do CPR I think, but fret not I will think on this further but only you will be able to figure out the answer when time comes." With a nod to his Zanpakuto Ichigo opened one of his eyes to find Koneko and Orihime very close to him looking concerned and holding both his eyes open.
(Ichigo's inner world after he just left.)
"That would have been a perfect time for you to tell him the truth instead of lying." A distorted version of Ichigo's voice said to him.
"You know it's not my place to tell him that he will find out soon enough." The old man said ominously.
(Ichigo's pov)
"I'm fine," he said gently, "Just had to confirm something." Koneko did not seem so sure and sat down at his left very close to him and Orihime had a worried expression on her face. "I can tell you that Zangetsu was not a sacred gear or gave off the same energy before this and he was pretty vague saying that he is but he isn't, as this change happened when I was reincarnated" he said.
"Or you did not know" Rias said "This makes a lot of sense, this has to be where your former powers came from, you might not have known and I have never heard of a Sacred Gear that uses the soul for power. Perhaps that was why I could not sense it before…." Ichigo blinked as he watched the girl run away with a train of logic he barely had context for. But didn't bother trying to correct her that he is a Soul reaper by genetic being, that his father is one and that he didn't feel like explaining the existence of soul reapers to her once more. He noticed Kiba shaking his head and looking at him.
"What?"
"Watching what you did, until then I was confident that in a real fight I could beat you. Now I am not so sure. The speed of a Knight, the strength of a Rook and versatility of a queen and that killing intent," the boy smiled,
"That is not something I would want to face."
"She killed people, innocent people." Kiba shook his head.
"I'm not saying you were in the wrong, it's just, that sort of focus will change how you fight and what you are willing to do in that fight you are incredible Ichigo."
"I don't plan on using that when we practice or spar, I think we are friends and I don't do that to them." That got a bit of laughter.
"To Think we are friends," the boy mused, "That works."
"And is something I hope you will work on with the rest of us" Rias interrupted, "we want to get to know you as well Ichigo as I consider you and everyone here a part of my family. You are not alone you know, I hope that you will come to be good friends with the rest of us too."
Ichigo laid back and felt a surge of pleasure as Koenko leaned against him. "I can work on that." Maybe he did have to stop trying to rely on himself and accept the help from others as they are all more than capable and don't need to be protected.