Hello, here I bring you with the third chapter. Before starting, I forgot to say something important. For the design of Mordred's armor, there is no specific change as far as her Apocryphal design, except for the crimson skirt that protrudes from her waist as in her original version from 2006, either in what was shown during the Battle of Camlann in one of Artoria's memories / dreams, or Fate / Zero ending 1.
Another thing is that Ichigo is aware of the true origins of his inner hollow and his Quincy heritage of him, but he is not aware of Yhwach and that Shirosaki is also the embodiment of his Shinigami powers.
On reviews:
Sultan Asil Arslan: No, Mordred was not summoned as an Avenger. She is a Saber, since I am planning that they will have 2 Sabers in the same war. The reason for this will be explained later, but I assure you that there won't be 2 factions like in Apocrypha.
Hekkasi: Thank you for letting me know about this. Now before publishing the chapter I have already corrected the previous chapters. Check them out first before starting the new one, and give me your opinion.
Chapter 3: Under in the rain
07/05/2020
The rain continued to fall incessantly throughout the town and it seemed that it was not going to give way for an indefinite time. Aside from this, the former Substitute Shinigami was lying on his bed, his head resting comfortably on the pillow and his left arm raised to see the top of his sleeve in front of his eyes. And he saw that he still had that strange red tattoo attached.
This represented the main cause of his new problem as it was for this reason that he supposedly "invonked" that strange cheeky girl, which needless to say reminded him so much of Rukia or the little blonde Vizard, Hiyori Sarugaki, although in compared to them, the new girl was a bit more annoying and irritating. All he knew about her was that he had been invoked to serve him as his Master or something like that, but he didn't know why. He didn't know too much about this either, but the blonde had claimed that this also represented his pact with her for something he didn't know yet. If it was true that this was all due to this thing, he would have to take it away. And that's what he did when he went to the bathroom and tried to spray his sleeve with water to dissolve the ink, but it didn't work at all.
It was clear that this ink was nothing normal, as a normal ink would not suddenly appear on his hand as if by magic. With that in mind, he decided to give up being able to take it off and leave this matter to Urahara, who could be the solution to his problems and for that girl, and all of this would end.
Coming to that conclusion, Ichigo finally lowered his arm and decided to lie down on the bed.
"Hey, Ichigo." Ichigo opened one eye to see Kon standing on top of him, staring at his face. "Who was that girl so strange?"
"No idea." Ichigo answered vaguely as he closed his eyes.
"Well, what is all this mess you're in right now?" He asked once more.
"I do not want to talk about it." He answered again before turning right, completely ignoring the talking stuffed lion, the latter seemed surprised by his inattention.
"Oh come on, I want to find out too!"
"Then ask Ishida or Inoue about it." Ichigo said simply. Kon couldn't help but frown at his lousy friend who was ignoring him, but didn't say anything else about it.
"Okay, I'm going to ask them." Kon said as he jumped out of bed and headed for the door.
"I would not do it." Ichigo's voice stopped Kon, who turned to see him still lying on the bed, but without taking his eyes off him.
"Why?"
"I still can't let them see you." Ichigo replied sounding a bit serious.
"But what do you say? Your father knew very well who I am, plus Karin knows well what you are." Kon protested seeing that there was no longer a need to always hide from the eyes of the rest of the Kurosaki family.
"Yes, but Yuzu is the only one who doesn't know." Ichigo explained briefly. "So, I don't want her to cause trouble until she knows it herself." With that said, the teenager turned to the other side not to look any more at the stuffed lion, who the latter growls in response.
'Pig...'
As the rain continued to fall incessantly, the entire house fell into constant silence as all its residents went about their daily tasks to overcome the storm. Isshin was sitting on a sofa watching TV a bit, Yuzu and Karin were in the latter's room, now that Yuzu's room was occupied by the foreign guest. Meanwhile, Uryū was just looking on Google on his mobile phone. There was something that had caught his attention since the name of the place where Mordred came from was familiar.
As he suspected, Britannia was the former name for the island of Great Britain when the Romans occupied what would later become England, Wales, and southern Scotland more than 1,000 years ago.
At first it seemed strange that she had something to do with that ancient place but considering that she was wearing some kind of armor that seemed to come from times past, it was likely that she had belonged to that time 1000 years ago. This would be logical since the Shinigamis and Arrancars can live a maximum life of 2000 years, or so he thought, since they were spirit beings. However, this warrior was not a spirit being since Ichigo, who lost his spiritual senses after defeating Aizen, could see her perfectly.
Nor could he compare her with the Quincys, since if his hypothesis that she came from a distant time and could live longer were true, that would be impossible for any Quincy since they did not have a longevity of more than 100 years. He could still remember the incredible reiatsu she gave off when it appeared out of nowhere and couldn't recognize it or compare it to a Shinigami, Quincy, or Arrancar. Nope, this one was totally different, and this worried her a bit for not knowing almost anything, apart from presumably she was invoked by Ichigo thanks to that strange tattoo known as 'Command Seals' that represented the pact between Ichigo and her.
He just hoped the former Twelfth Division captain knew something about it.
Putting that aside, Uryū decided to investigate more about her only this time with the supposed country where she came from.
Camelot.
By putting the name of the place that was so familiar to him in the Google bar, he opened the page and focused on the wiki. What he discovered was just what he suspected. Camelot was a place strongly related to Great Britain, but in a mythical way, as it was said to be a legendary city that appears in British Celtic myths. Deciding to investigate further, Uryū tried to find any possible mention of Mordred.
Being totally alone and isolated in Yuzu's dark room, Mordred was sitting on the right side of the bed staring at the window next to the bed. Her right elbow rested on the windowsill and her right cheek was held in her hand to support her and watch the rain from within. Ignoring the scandalous sound of the countless drops of water falling and the reflection of her semi-transparent face in the window, Mordred only looked melancholically at the cold environment and the totally cloudy gray sky where the view came, feeling at peace.
Somehow it felt a bit comforting to watch the rain from a slightly high position. She was not fond of this but felt at peace and familiar with this environment as if she had always seen it from the day she was born. She always watched this scene from the top of a hidden fortress that was once her home in the middle of a lush forest to distract herself from time to time she had nothing to do, or maybe it's because this was the only opening, she could access to observe the outside world that did not know at that time.
Either way, it brought back nostalgia and memories of her homeland, where it all started for her and ended up hating him in the end.
Suddenly, she sensed a presence right behind her, but she didn't stay alert. In fact, it was no danger, but she felt like she was being eavesdropped on silently and decided she had enough.
"What do you want now?" She asked in a calm voice, but with a detonating aggressiveness, barely turning around to see her observer.
Orihime paled when she was again surprised by the blonde's sensory instincts.
"Oh nothing, nothing, I just wanted to know how you were." The orange haired girl answered hurriedly nervously.
Mordred heard that but didn't want to pay too much attention to it. Orihime flashed a sad little smile before approaching the bed.
"I can sit next to you?" He asked kindly.
"As you like." Was the blonde's immediate response. Taking this with a nod, Orihime settled on the right side of the bed and sat on the blanket next to the other girl, but the latter ignored her completely. Then another minute of silence passed without the sound of the rain spoiling everything, and it was at that precise moment that Orihime decided to speak.
"So, do you like the rain?"
Mordred barely looked at her before answering.
"A little." She answered simply.
Orihime nodded a little satisfied when she received her first communication, small as it seemed, but she wanted to continue.
"That you remember something?"
"Why?" The other girl asked, barely turning her head with a bored expression towards her.
"I was wondering if it reminded you of something from England. I heard it's a rainy place too, right?"
Mordred considered this for a moment before giving his answer.
"Yes, a little bit."
This was getting a bit difficult seeing that the blonde didn't want to socialize with her too much. She couldn't be wrong, as they still didn't know each other very well, but at least this could be a start, and therefore she won't give up.
"How is your family?"
Finally, she decided to pay more attention by turning her head towards her to look at her and listen to her.
"What?" Mordred asked intrigued.
The blonde just kept looking a little apathetic at the orange-haired girl, although she narrowed her eyes slightly and a deep anger began to grow inside her upon hearing such a mention from her family. Orihime seemed to ignore the anger growing inside the other girl, waiting only for her response. It was then that instead of answering that, Mordred cocked his head to the other side so as not to look at her anymore.
"I have none!" She snapped back, not wanting to talk to her further.
Orihime's face was completely shocked by what she had just heard. Didn't she have a family?
"Y-you are you serious?" She asked incredulously.
"Why do you care?" Mordred asked annoyed.
"I say this because I find it hard to believe that you don't have a family, but I understand you." Orihime corrected now in a solemn voice. "I don't have a family either."
For the second time, she caught Mordred's attention again, who looked back at Orihime.
"I understand that very well. A long time ago, when I was three years old, my parents were killed in a car accident." Orihime began to count while immersing herself in her deepest memories. "I don't remember very well what happened that day, but after the accident, my older brother decided to take care of me and he did."
Her head was flooded with various wonderful childhood memories when she attended her first day of nursery school with her good brother, Sora Inoue. It was also on her first day of school and on the many birthdays he made for her. Those were the best moments of her life when her older brother was still alive to make her smile in both happy and sad times. But that ended in a single night when she was 12 years old and the only family, she had ever left died in a car accident, just like her parents before. And the worst thing was that before the accident happened, the two of them had had an argument because Sora had bought her a pair of flower-shaped hairpins and she had firmly rejected them because she thought they were childish. Since then, they have not spoken again.
To this day she regretted having that discussion.
"As you can see, these bobby pins that I have in my hair were the last gift from my older brother, and I remember them very much every time I look at them." Orihime said that last part with a small smile. Mordred had listened carefully to the other girl's story and she barely showed interest just to find out what the point of this conversation was.
The rain was never to Ichigo's great liking, at least during the night as it still brought him quite nostalgic for what happened on that rainy night on June 17 when his mother had mysteriously passed away when he was 8 years old. From the beginning it was not known what the main cause was, but he did not care too much since he knew that she had died because of him.
His mother, Masaki Kurosaki, was a great woman and a good mother who cared about the well-being of her family. In fact, her father and sisters loved her very much, as it was as if she was the center of the universe. She was the bond that united them, and the first person Ichigo was determined to protect when he learned from his father the true meaning of his name. However, one night on June 17, while he and she were walking back home together, little Ichigo had seen the image of a girl presumably his age perched on the shore of a lake, intending to throw himself there.
The boy's instincts kicked in when he saw the scene, and he immediately went to help her without a second thought, ignoring his mother's warnings. He couldn't remember too much of what happened next, only when he was inches from reaching her, everything suddenly turned very dark as he had slipped into unconsciousness. When he opened his eyes, it was still raining and at the same time he also saw a scene of pure horror that he did not want to happen. Next to him lay the lifeless body of his mother lying on the ground completely soaked by the rain with signs of not moving.
Little Ichigo had desperately tried to wake her up at the same time that sadness and despair had begun to consume him to the point that he unconsciously caused the birth of his inner hollow. If it weren't for old man Zangetsu's intervention, June 17, the night his mother died, would also be the night he was almost hollowfied.
In any case, despite all his pleas, his mother never woke up and realized that she would never return.
Ichigo growled at this. He bitterly mourned the loss of his mother, and that had brought dire consequences for the Kurosaki family, who fell into a deep pit of depression over her death. He couldn't imagine how sad and lonely Yuzu and Karin were, and it was all his fault. Ichigo couldn't do anything but blame himself for her death, as he had been the main reason, she risked following him and thus died on the spot. Even though his father and sisters had repeatedly told him that it was not his fault, he still felt the need to deserve the worst, but he had stopped expressing it so as not to worry his family more, how they tried to deal with this together.
And so, the years passed as each one managed to rebuild their lives and move on forgetting the past, and after that fateful night, Ichigo had become more determined to protect his family and friends to prevent what happened 8 years ago from happening again happen. That moment came unexpectedly on a certain night when he met a little Shinigami, who had infiltrated his room. He had soon learned how large the spirit world around him was, and although the orange haired boy refused to believe in the existence of the Shinigamis from the beginning, that suddenly changed when a huge evil spirit known as 'hollow' broke into his home. The latter had come to devour Ichigo's family, starting with Karin, who was caught in the monster's hands.
Even with the difference in size and strength, Ichigo tried futilely to fight the hollow to save his sister, much to the disgust of the Shinigami, who saw him as a hindrance. It was thanks to her that he managed to free Karin from the hollow's clutches, and she fell into the hands of her worried brother, but the danger was not over yet. The Shinigami had revealed to her that the main reason the hollow had come was because it wanted to devour Ichigo's soul and not his sisters. The teenager had not taken it well at all knowing that he was the main reason for the problem, that his family was about to die because of him, as was his mother. Fed up with this, the teenager had made a hasty decision and faced the hollow by offering himself as a sacrifice so as not to attack his family anymore.
However, it was that recklessness that persuaded the Shinigami to get in the way by sacrificing her body between the hollow's jaws. Being seriously injured and with no one to face the hollow, Ichigo bitterly regretted his decision, but it was at the precise moment that the teenager's fate would change forever. The seriously injured Shinigami offered to give the teenager all of her Shinigami powers to become one and fight the hollow. At first, he didn't understand, but he knew he didn't have time to think when he saw the hollow approaching to devour them, so he accepted his fate by allowing her to stab him with her Zanpakutō. It was like this, when Ichigo transformed into a Shinigami and ended the hollow with ease.
From the beginning, he did not want to get involved in this spiritual conflict and fight the hollows anymore, but in the end, he was persuaded by the same Shinigami who gave him his powers, Rukia Kuchiki, because now it was his responsibility to have become a Substitute Shinigami. So he reluctantly agreed, although in time, he would admit that the fact that he became a Shinigami was like a blessing to finally be able to be what he had always wanted, to protect people, and also to have finally discovered the real murderour from his mother. A hollow that he would always hate for the rest of his life; The Great Fisher, who, during the sixth anniversary of his mother's death, tried to attack his sisters, but they were saved by him and thus began his fight against his nemesis without the help of anyone.
It almost cost him his life, but at least Ichigo managed to hurt him squarely, but couldn't kill him and fled back to Hueco Mundo, much to Ichigo's frustration. After that fateful night, the young Substitute had gained enough motivation and was determined to become even stronger to protect his loved ones and one day avenge his mother. Sure, he had to go through more challenges besides the hollows, being Renji Abarai, Zaraki Kenpachi, Byakuya Kuchiki, the Arrancars, his inner hollow, Grimmjow, Muramasa, Ulquiorra, Gin Ichimaru and finally Aizen. They all represented the tests that Ichigo had to overcome to become what he had always wanted to be, but in the end, he lost all his Shinigami powers, and nothing would ever be the same.
Even after so many years had passed and he had kept his oath as Protector No. 1, the image of the rain from that night was still present in his head and was only reflected with the one he was seeing in the real world. However, this was not that strong compared to the night, a bitter feeling that he had yet to overcome later.
Having rested enough, Ichigo finally gets out of bed and decides to leave his room to see how things were with his family and his 'guest', who is also supposed to be in one of his sister's rooms.
"Wait, are you going to the Urahara Shōten already?" Kon asked suddenly as he climbed from the teenager's leg to his shoulder as usual. "Let me go too. I'm bored of being here."
"I'm not going out yet. It's still raining." He remembered Ichigo before leaving his room and starting to walk down the small hallway of the house. He headed for one of his sisters' rooms.
"For a year since my older brother died, I felt very lonely with no one around me." Ichigo heard Orihime's familiar voice and deduced that she would be in Yuzu's room. Slowly, the orange haired teenager sidled up to the ajar door to see the orange haired girl and the blonde warrior sitting together without realizing that Ichigo was looking at them from behind. He decided to listen to her.
"I was so depressed that sometimes I thought about taking my life to meet my brother again." Orihime spoke with a solemn voice and almost sad at the same time. Mordred kept paying attention to her, only to find out how her sad story ended.
"But all that changed when I met a friend named Arisawa Tatsuki-chan, who was very protective of me when the other classmates in my class bullied me sometimes." Her mind began to fantasize about the moments she enjoyed with Tatsuki. "Tatsuki-chan was a great friend who knew how to have fun and make me laugh from time to time. I also met new friends when I started the course 4 years ago and we all talked and laughed together." Orihime could remember the best moments of her life when she met Tatsuki and the other girls, and later Ichigo Kurosaki, who would be her secret interest, and Rukia Kuchiki, who even after having discovered their true identities, wanted to be with them for help in whatever.
"Why are you telling me this?" Mordred asked looking a bit annoyed and confused at Orihime. She had already heard most of the other girl's story, and still couldn't make sense of it.
"W-well you see, when I saw you sitting alone, I thought you were down, and I understand you." He turned to look at the rain-soaked window. "I also felt the same as you when I lost my brother and there was nothing, I could do but look at the sky as if I wanted to know that he was somewhere looking at me."
The other girl kept looking, but a strange unease was developing inside her.
"And when you said you had no family, I understood that you are like me." Orihime continued. "I'm not going to ask you what happened to your family if it makes you feel better but let me tell you that I fully understand how it feels to lose a loved one. But that doesn't mean I was alone, since I had good friends with them. to trust and share many things in life and smile from time to time. "
Ichigo and Kon overheard this and couldn't help but smile when they heard the touching speech taken from the heart of the orange haired girl with love that she called 'nakama'.
"In fact, having friends is like having a second family." He then looks at Mordred with a big friendly smile. "So, no matter what happened to you in the past, you can always count on good friends who can help you in any way. I'm sure you will also have good friends where you come from, right?"
A new silence formed in Yuzu's room when the 'guest' said nothing about it while keeping her gaze down and away from Orihime, and the latter kept looking at her, waiting for her answer.
Already a minute after Orihime finished, she could hear a silent 'heh', coming from the blonde, but enough to get her attention. Soon she laughed more and more each time with a little more emphasis as if she is being tickled. Orihime began to worry about her strange attitude wondering what was wrong with her.
"Mordred-san?"
While saying that, the blonde warrior suddenly raised her head back, laughing louder with a burst of laughter. She let her back fall onto the sheet as she continued to laugh uncontrollably, flailing her arms and legs on the mattress. Ichigo and Kon could only watch totally confused by the girl's reaction. Orihime was also looking at this with concern and confusion at the other girl laughing as if she had just told her a very funny joke.
"Did I say something weird?"
In less than a few moments, the laughter began to subside little by little and she stopped moving her arms and legs. She had started panting a little while keeping a smile on her face, and Orihime still looked worried waiting for some kind of response.
"Sorry about that..." Mordred said as he stood up and looked at the other girl with almost amusement. "I was surprised how naive you are..."
Orihime was surprised by the warrior's apparent response and could see that she was saying it almost in a mocking tone.
"I thank you for taking the trouble to tell me your story, but..." Suddenly her face turned serious, and she looked at the other girl sternly. "I don't need an idiot like you to feel sorry for me."
"B-but ..." Orihime stuttered, but Mordred cut her off.
"Stop talking like you know something about me when you don't really know shit." Mordred snapped again. "I don't need your compassion and friends to make me feel better. Now leave me alone!"
It was then that a certain orange-haired teenager decided to make an appearance due to this scandal. "Hey, you can't tell him that!"
Both Orihime and Mordred were surprised to turn to see Ichigo Kurosaki next to Kon on his right shoulder, they entered the room and the boy looked with an angry expression walking towards them.
"I won't let you talk about Inoue like that!" He said with some anger in his voice. Ichigo stood next to them, and his gaze fell on the blonde. "Inoue just wanted to be nice to you and at least get to know you better. You have no right to tell her that!"
Orihime could only saw surprised to see how the orange haired boy was defending her.
"Yeah, apologize right now!" Kon yelled supporting Ichigo.
Another silence ensued in the room as Orihime turned her head to the side to look at the other girl who was still in her place and did not seem to adopt an apparent expression. Ichigo stood his ground waiting for the blonde's response. It didn't take long for Mordred to get out of bed without warning, alerting Orihime a bit. He took a few steps until he was right in front of the other girl and looked directly at her.
It was then that the blonde moved her left hand towards her back and the other towards her chest in a fist, at the same time that she squatted down and her head bowed as if it were a kind of reverence towards a king. Ichigo, Kon, and Orihime were confused by this pose.
"I apologize on my behalf for my rude behavior." Mordred spoke in a strangely respectful tone. "Please forgive me, my lady." And to add her point, Mordred gently takes Orihime's hand and extends it to her lips, and kisses it, but pretended. However, this scene was enough to silence the room again with Orihime looking totally tense with flushed cheeks, while Ichigo and Kon just stared in a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.
Mordred raised her head slightly to see Orihime's silly face and tried not to laugh at her reaction to await her response. It wasn't long before the boy was the first to speak.
"W-what the hell are you doing !?" Ichigo stuttered with a mixture of surprise and confusion at seeing such a strange scene.
"What do you think?" Mordred replied with false confusion towards her Master. "I am being courteous to this young lady."
This only made the blush spread even further across Orihime's face. It was so much that the orange haired girl couldn't take it anymore.
"Oh, y-you don't need to do that!" Orihime exclaimed almost hysterically when all the shame had washed over her. "I-I haven't really bothered with anything you've done before, b-but you don't need to do that either!"
Mordred's smile grew a little. "So do you accept my apology?"
"O-of course." Orihime stuttered nervously.
Happily, Mordred was fully on her feet, only to look at Ichigo's annoyed face, who was looking at the blonde with his typical scowl.
"What was that exactly?" Ichigo asked still confused and annoyed by the blonde girl's strange act.
"Are you still at it?" She asked also annoyed by his insistence. "I was just apologizing to your friend."
"Yeah, but why did you do that little scene with Inoue earlier?"
"Isn't that obvious to you? I'm a knight."
"A knight?" Ichigo, Kon, and Orihime asked in unison while blinking several times.
"Of course, why do you think he was wearing armor?"
Ichigo still couldn't understand who she was exactly. He knew the term "knight" was equivalent to samurai in Western European culture, but it didn't mean he knew much about it either, unless one knew what his eastern counterpart was. He also didn't know if women could get into that position too, so this was a surprise.
"I had no idea that girls might as well-
He couldn't finish the sentence when Mordred's arm shot out like lightning and her hand grabbed Ichigo's jacket, taking him by surprise and dragging him towards her causing Kon to fall to the ground. Ichigo's face was now inches from Mordred's, who the latter no longer had that shameless and impetuous expression,, and instead, his eyes displayed a cold rage that bordered on pure hatred, causing Ichigo to freeze in fear and stare with some fear.
"Listen to me well, brat." She spoke in an icy tone. "You can be my Master from now on, but if next time you refer to me as 'girl' again, I swear that your neck will be the sheath of my sword. Understood?"
Ichigo just stood there staring completely frozen just inches from Mordred's dark and angry face like she was the grim reaper, and needless to say, he had taken the threat very seriously.
"O-okay. It won't happen again." He stuttered, fearing for his own life with a nervous smile.
Mordred stared at him for a moment more before deciding he was sincere and released him. Ichigo rubbed the handle of the shirt where the blonde grabbed it and was recovering from his shock.
"Well, I've waited long enough, when are we going to that place?" She asked as the anger on her face faded as if it had never existed.
"Wait a minute!" Ichigo exclaimed. "There is still something I have to discuss with you."
The knight girl paid attention to the boy wondering what he wanted. She saw him show his right sleeve where the Command Seals were drawn.
"I guess you said you weren't the one who put this on me. Still, can you take it off me?"
Mordred was very quiet as she considered the request and at the same time looked at the stamps. It was then that something occurred to her. "Could…" She said before drawing a big wild smile that made Ichigo wince a bit.
"But by any chance, do you need that hand, Master?"
.
.
.
Ichigo seemed totally confused by Mordred's words without understanding what he meant, but something told him that it wasn't very good.
"What?"
"I can't remove your Command Seals the way they appeared, but if you prefer, I could use my sword to cut off your hand and our pact would be voided."
Now knowing what she was up to, Ichigo immediately panicked and took a few steps back as he grasped the hand that held the seals protectively, and just stared at the girl in horror as if he was in front of a psychopath.
"I didn't mean that, damn it!" Ichigo exclaimed almost in panic. "I just wanted you to take this shit from me with some kind of trick you know."
"Sorry, but I'm not a sorceress like my mother." Mordred replied, obviously amused by poor Ichigo's situation.
Not knowing more if this was a joke or not, the orange-haired teenager didn't care as he had just felt embarrassed by the situation that made him leave, and he couldn't help but growl irritably when he heard the girl laugh. Just when this was about to get worse, luckily Uryū entered the room, and this time it seemed to bring good news.
"Hey guys, it looks like it has stopped raining."
Taking this as a sign, Ichigo, Mordred, and Orihime looked out the window and as the Quincy reported, there was no longer any droplet falling, leaving everything calm and the gray clouds began to part, clearing the sky and allowing few rays of the sun emerged from it. It was the perfect moment.
"Good. I think we can go out now." Ichigo indicated, seeing that it was possible to get out.
"Yokkata." Orihime said happily. Mordred said nothing but was also glad that the rain had finally stopped and that he no longer had to stay in this house.
The 4 teenagers (counting that one would probably be over 1000 years old) decided it was time to go to Urahara Shop. But first, Ichigo decided to go to his room to inspect his closet and took a black shirt and put it on top of the one he was wearing. Then she took a dark blue sweater that had a zipper down the middle and put it on slowly. Once finished, he left his room, joined his companions, plus Kon, who again climbed on Ichigo's shoulder to accompany them and they all descended the stairs to leave the house, but not before saying goodbye to the Kurosaki family.
"My friends and I are going for a walk around town." Ichigo said to his father.
"Okay, Ichigo." Isshin replied approvingly as he sat on the couch with his head turned to look like his son. "And the girl?"
"Oh, you mean Mod, mod, mod... what was she called?" He asked himself as his mind clumsily tried to search for the blonde's name. The truth is that he was not very good with foreign names despite having learned the names of the 2 Arrancars that had caused them so much; Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. Those were his enemies though, and this time it wasn't the case with the tomboy girl who had also been causing him trouble since she appeared.
In his mind he could only express a series of incomplete words, but they were not enough, and the blonde girl was certainly not grateful for this.
"IT'S MORDRED!" The blonde screamed loudly, almost hysterical and furious again at the orange-haired teenager's lack of knowledge of her name. Her scream spread throughout the house, and everyone was paralyzed by this. "How difficult is it to pronounce my name, huh?"
"It's not my fault!" Ichigo apologized half stunned by the scream. "I'm not good with foreign names."
"Well then call me Saber, it's easier, Alright?"
"Fine." Ichigo replied as he turned to his stunned family who kept looking at the scene in confusion, and Ichigo wanted to avoid being asked any more questions.
"Well, we're going now. Bye."
And so, the group went down the stairs and finally went out to the street that was all soaked by the rain, but they did not care and began to walk towards Urahara's store hoping that there they would find the answers to what was happening.
During the trip, Ichigo kept reflecting on what was happening lately. To begin with, he still remembered that strange dream he had last night about a great red sword whose image had not been removed from his head since he woke up and went to high school. Later, while walking with Ishida and Inoue back home, suddenly the same red sword that he saw in his dreams fell from the sky and impacted the ground. Then all of a sudden that strange glowing dragon head tattoo appeared like magic, and then that strange girl dressed as a knight appeared and also carrieded the same red sword as a weapon.
As soon as she appeared, she had addressed Ichigo as her Master, and the next few hours spent with her were very confusing even for her, as they still couldn't understand what was happening here, and what that girl named Mordred wanted from Ichigo as her Master. All he knew was that she had been invoked thanks to that strange tattoo called Command Seals, which also symbolized the pact he made with her for something he didn't know yet.
And just when they couldn't find any explanation, Kisuke Urahara miraculously made a call to the young former Shinigami substitute telling him that he had all the answers to the matter. Satisfied with this, they did not hesitate to go to the store when it had stopped raining. Ichigo could only anxiously hope that the annoying hatter in the wooden sandals had at least the solution to his 'new' problem and could remove this strange tattoo so he would not get more involved in magical or spiritual matters at the same time. The war against Aizen ended not long ago, and now all the former Substitute wanted was peace with his family and friends at the same time.
Speaking of spiritual matters, Ichigo was wondering if Soul Society is taking action on this at the moment and will have sent someone to investigate. If so, Ichigo would no longer be able to see them as he had lost his spiritual consciousness and that was like a low blow, but at least he would no longer be a target for the hollows-
Suddenly, the former Shinigami noticed that Ishida, Inoue, and Mordred abruptly stopped midway, and he did the same, but still couldn't understand what was happening. The Quincy kept a straight face and stared as if it had a target right in front of it. Orihime had a slightly strained expression, but she kept looking defiantly, and as for Mordred, she seemed to be alert even with her hands behind her head.
The silence was unbearable only for Ichigo, who still couldn't understand what was going on.
"What's wrong? Why did you guys stop?" He asked one of his 2 friends, half confused.
"Uh, I feel a variety of hollows approaching us." Kon said while still clunging onto Ichigo's shoulder.
"Hollows!?" Ichigo almost screamed with concern. It has been a long time since he heard the name of those infernal creatures that have caused him trouble since he became a Shinigami.
Those evil spirits that lurked everywhere chasing and hunting human souls to devour them, including his family and everything Ichigo knew and loved in his life, and for which the young man had been full of determination to face them and protect his friends.
"Where are they?" Ichigo asked as he frantically turned his head from side to side to detect the slightest sign of them.
"Don't worry. Remember that you can't see them anymore and they won't chase you." Ishisa replied as he kept looking straight ahead.
Ichigo seemed reassured when he remembered the fact. Since he lost his spiritual senses, he no longer had to worry about not becoming a target on the hollows's menu, but that didn't mean that his sisters and some people he knew were targets of their hunt. Still, he hoped the bespectacled Quincy would take his place in this.
Meanwhile, Mordred seemed to be alert looking ahead as if expecting an enemy to attack. This was noticed by the Quincy upon seeing his expression.
"Can you notice them too?" Uryū asked half looking at Mordred. "Can you feel the hollws?"
"Hollows? And what is that?" Mordred asked confused without understanding what the boy with the glasses was saying.
"Ha!? Are you serious!? You don't even know what hollows are?" Ichigo asked incredulously, unable to believe that even she knew about hollows.
"If she doesn't know about the Shinigamis and the Soul Society, how do you expect her to know about hollows?" Ishida scolded without paying attention.
"Yes, but-
He couldn't say more when he heard a ghostly roar very familiar to all 3 teenagers, except the blonde one.
Wait, Ichigo coulded hear them?
It didn't take long to find out when moments after the scream, a strange, distorted space appeared several meters in the air in front of them, and a huge dark figure instantly emerged from it. Indeed, it was a massive 4-meter bipedal hollow, all with its characteristic white mask on its head and a hole in the middle of its torso. Both Uryū and Orihime only watched as the huge monster appeared, while the former Shinigami was only frozen in place, his eyes completely focused on the enormous figure of the ghostly creature like the first time he saw one when it attacked his home, in the night he met Rukia.
He could see it. He could clearly see its huge and terrifying figure only several meters away, its white mask and the hole protruding from its torso. He could see that evil spirit like any human being he saw, and that's considering he had lost his spiritual senses to detect it!
"What the hell is that?" Mordred asked, truly taken aback to see the strange creature only several meters away. "Is it a phantasmal beast?
"It is not a phantasmal beast." Uryū said without taking his eyes off the hollow.
The hollow had been standing there since it appeared and just looked as a predator at the 4 humans as easy prey, and with that resolve, it began to advance towards them at a heavy but fast pace.
The Quincy wasted no more time as he took reishi in his outstretched arms to form his only signature attack; reishi bow and arrow. Mordred was impressed by this display of energy that the boy exhibited as if he were some kind of magus or something.
The hollow had begun to cut the distance between itself and its prey, but it was too late when Uryū fired his arrow and struck the head of the hole, piercing it.
Almost instantly, the body of the hollow began to disintegrate and disappeared from existence into numerous particles in the air. Needless to say, everyone was impressed by what they had just seen, even the blonde was intrigued by this as well.
However, the moment of tranquility did not last long when they felt more hollow presences, and everyone raised their heads towards the sky to see how many distorted images formed in the air and opened in portals where a dozen hollows appeared making their characteristic infamous screech that would make any soul shudder.
"Crap! Are there still more of those things?" Ichigo complained as he stepped forward to get a better look in anger and bewilderment at the band of pesky hollows in the air. His perception was not overlooked by the Quincy.
"Can you see them too, Kurosaki?" Ishida asked almost surprised that the former Shinigami could also perceive them. Kurosaki just looked to the Quincy half confused not knowing how to answer the question.
It was then that the hordes of hollows made a chorus of roars before rushing toward their preys like a stampede through the air. Uryū groaned before taking a few steps forward and fired more reishi arrows. Most of the projectiles struck the target, annihilating the vast majority of the gaps that descended towards them, but some managed to avoid it and got closer and closer to their targets.
Seeing that this was not enough, Uryū decided to use his Licht Regen unleashing a devastating blast of countless reishi arrows at the remaining hollows. In less than an instant, all of the hollows disappeared from sight after the first round of attack. Once everything was finished, Uryū had the luxury of lowering his weapon since he did not detect the reiatsu of more hollows.
"It was amazing, Ishida-kun!" Orihime congratulated joyfully as she walked towards Uryū. "You have improved a lot since the last few months."
This made the Quincy's cheeks flush slightly from the compliment. "Really?" Uryū asked a bit embarrassed, letting out some of his womanizing nature as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, you surprised me how you ended up with all those hollows in one instant." Orihime continued to praise the young spectacled archer, who couldn't help but laugh a little proud and embarrassed. Meanwhile, Ichigo could only watch with an expressionless expression and his characteristic frown at the scene as he watched the damn Quincy do one of his own as Casanova. If there was something that bothered young Kurosaki about Ishida besides her extravagant white dresses, then it was this too.
It wasn't that he envied him, he just seemed like a weirdo.
"Hey, do something, this boy is going to stay with Orihime-san." Kon urged the boy, the latter was wasting his time as the Quincy became more attached to the beautiful Orihime.
"Leave it, I don't care." Ichigo replied simply. The stuffed lion gasped in utter surprise at her answer. Before he could say anything else, everyone suddenly heard a new hollow howl, only this time it was closer.
Inadvertently, a distorted image formed right behind the former substitute and the blonde warrior. Just as Uryū and Orihime turned, they did indeed see another hollow emerging from the threshold extending its hand towards a defenseless Ichigo.
"Kurosaki / Kurosaki-kun!" The two screamed in unison when they saw the hollow emerge about to attack Ichigo.
Unfortunately for the former substitute, despite having noticed and turned around to see the huge hand aiming to catch him, he knew it was too late to dodge and could only stare in shock towards his impending doom as Kon, still clinging to the Ichigo's shoulder, he could only scream in horror.
Time seemed to slow down when Uryū tried to use his normal bow to save Ichigo, but when he was about to shoot, his eyes widened at something he didn't expect to see. Right in front of him, where the hollow's victim was supposed to be, was only the beast that was about to hunt him down, but there was no sign of the orange-haired boy or the blonde girl.
THUD!
The two of them shuddered upon hearing that dull sound and turned to the left ... and saw with surprise and disbelief the arm of the severed hollow lying on the ground.
"UUUUAAAAAAAAHHH!"
The hollow howled in pain as it leaned back a little and grasped its right stump. Uryū and Orihime could only stare in bewilderment and disbelief at the pushed hollow, wondering who could have caused him so much damage. It wasn't long before they got answers when they sensed another powerful presence and turned to their right and their eyes went wide.
Ichigo didn't feel anything. In fact, his eyes were closed, and he didn't know what was going on around his either. All he remembered was that a hollow had appeared right behind him suddenly reaching out to catch him. Even with that knowledge of what was going to happen to him, it was too late for the teenager, and he prepared himself for his inevitable fate of being caught in the hands of the ghostly oni. However, instead of feeling pain, he felt something different grab him around the waist and had pushed him out of the way of the giant hand, and he knew nothing more.
Moments later, he felt like he was in a different position than he should normally be. To begin with, he didn't feel his feet touching the ground as if he were levitating in the air, plus he also felt something grabbing him around the waist. Seeing that there was no danger, the teenager suddenly opened his eyes to see the hollow several meters from his right-side writhing in pain. He noticed that his body was in a straight position floating in the air a few feet above. He also saw that Kon was still attached and coiled on his shoulder as if his life depended on it.
"Are you all right, Master?" Asked a familiar voice.
Ichigo turned to the owner of the voice, who turned out to be the same person holding him right now. His eyes widened when he saw a fully clad figure in silver armor and his head concealed with a horned helmet, as well as holding the familiar red sword in her other hand.
Uryū and Orihime also couldn't help but look in bewilderment at the figure dressed as a knight and a long crimson skirt with his left arm gripping Ichigo's waist and the other hand holding a huge crimson silver sword. There was no need to wonder who he was, as they remembered the moment Mordred first appeared and the type of suit she was wearing, and it certainly was the same.
The hollow immediately turned on its attacker and roared at him in rage. The red knight did not seem intimidated at all, and instead smiles under her helmet seeing this as an accepted challenge.
"Stay here, Master." Mordred said as she dropped Ichigo to the ground. "I'll take care of that bug."
Ichigo was surprised by what she said. Was she going to face the hollow alone?
"Wait, it's dangerous!" Ichigo yelled concerned for her safety, but she seemed to ignore him as she walked towards the enraged beast. Uryū and Orihime also seemed concerned when Mordred confronted the hollow.
The phantasmal oni gave another howl before running towards her like a cheetah chasing a gazelle. Of course, the warrior did not back down in the least when she waited for her chance. When the hollow cut enough distance, the red knight got ready and with a single flick of her massive sword upward, she slashed the remaining arm of the hollow in midair. Both Ichigo, Uryū, and Orihime were shocked by this.
The other arm dropped, and the hollow howled again in agony. Mordred could only smile with satisfaction and decided to end this. Holding the hilt of the sword with both hands, the knight gained momentum and jumped with force causing it to rise a little higher than the head of the hollow with the sword raised. Just as he was about to descend, Mordred let out a battle cry before slamming the great sword against the hollow's white head, managing to pierce it and split it in two as Mordred fell to the ground. The hollow froze in place and then the thrust line formed where the sword had descended, and the hollow howled in pain one last time before its body disappeared.
Once everything was finished, everyone stared completely perplexed as they saw how the warrior managed to finish off the hollow in a single instant as any Shinigami would. Speaking of Shinigamis. Uryū had noticed the incredible reiatsu that she emanated and at the moment he could only compare him to a lieutenant but not one like the lieutenant of the Sixth Division, but a veteran.
Mordred straightened and rested the blade of her sword just behind her neck above her shoulders before snorting.
"Tch, was that all it had? Pathetic."
Ichigo and Kon could only stare in amazement as she had successfully finished the gap.
"Oi, at what point did she change her clothes without us noticing?" Kon asked awkwardly not knowing if that was the question he wanted to ask. Fortunately, Ichigo didn't answer her, although he was also intrigued by the fact that she had donned the armor that she had earlier so suddenly. He almost looks like a Shinigami when he comed out of his Gigai ready for battle.
"Kurosaki-kun!" Ichigo turned to the source of the voice and saw Ishida and Inoue approaching him clearly concerned. "Are you okay?"
Yes, it's nothing. "Ichigo replied to a bit dizzy, but fine. Uryū didn't know whether to say if it was okay or not since he knew he was probably just saying it so as not to worry anyone. Orihime just sighed relief that he wasn't suffered no injuries.
"Yokatta."
Wanting to change the subject, Ishida decided to talk about something very important.
"Kurosaki, answer me one thing." The Quincy began seriously. "I'm not entirely sure, but I have to assume that you somehow saw the hollows too, right?"
That revelation struck the former Shinigami hard like a hammer. He didn't know how to answer that, but he did know that something strange was happening. During the 17 months after defeating Aizen with the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō, Ichigo could no longer sense the presence of spirit entities, especially hollows as if they did not exist. According to his father and Urahara, this could be temporary, as it took his father 20 years to regain his powers after saving his mother from hollowification when they first met.
"I'm not sure." Ichigo replied with doubt in his voice. "I know this is strange, but I was able to see hollows the same way when I still had my Shinigami powers."
Uryū and Orihime paid more attention to what Ichigo was saying. "You mean you are already beginning to regain your spiritual sense?" Uryū asked in return.
Ichigo didn't know what the answer would be, but it was strange that he was regaining his spiritual senses now after only 2 and a half years, whereas his father only cost him 2 decades. Just when he was about to say something, a new voice interrupted him.
"Oi, oi, could someone explain to me what's going on here?" The three turned to the masked knight who approaching them and then removed her helmet to reveal her face. "What were those things?"
The 3 looked a bit unsure, not sure if they should explain her about hollows. It was then that Uryū decided to volunteer for this.
"We call these creatures hollows." The Quincy responded. "They are specters, evil spirits devoid of consciousness that feed mainly on human souls, and also on living people who can perceive them like us."
Mordred took all of the boy's information about those creatures. "So, are they phantasmal beasts or something?"
"Phantasmal beasts?" Uryū asked puzzled by the term. He didn't know exactly what it meant, but maybe she was referring to an alternate name for the hollows.
Before I could ask, the blonde suddenly changed the subject.
"Now explain something else to me." Mordred said now leaving the subject of hollows, and now she wanted to know about the boy with glasses who killed those monsters. "I saw that you annihilated a lot of those critters before with those arrows of lights, right? Are you a magus?"
"Ah well, let's say I'm part of a tribe of seers capable of seeing and detecting spirits around us called 'Quincys'." Uryū explained momentarily. "We are like wizard archers hunting those monsters. Look."
The Quincy extends an arm and gathering and concentrating reishi in the palm of his hand, he forms a small bluish sphere of reiryoku. This drew even more the attention of Mordred who looked at the phenomenon with some amazement.
"Each being with advanced spiritual consciousness is capable of manifesting their own spiritual energy at their own will. We call it reiryoku, and we are capable of using it both offensively and defensively. Of course, what happens is that, due to this fact, the Quincys who awakened their own spiritual consciousness became the main prey of the hollows."
He then gathers more energy into his arm and the sphere suddenly turns into a bow and ready arrow. "To defend ourselves against these creatures, my clan tried to control their own reiryoku and managed to channel the reishi, spirit particles that surround us, to form this weapon that you see to fight the hollows."
Once the explanation was finished, the Quincy made his weapon disappear, leaving the blonde warrior visibly intrigued.
"Well, we'd better hurry to Urahara Shōten before more hollows come." Uryū indicated so as not to waste any more time.
The 3 nodded and resumed their march towards Urahara Shop and remained on the alert in case of another hollow attack. Fortunately, there was no other when in less than a few minutes they reached their destination. There, in the middle of an old neighborhood, they came across an equally old store of medium size, as if it belonged to the beginning of the last century. Mordred looked a bit dumbfounded and at the same time disappointed by the sight of the house.
"What the hell is that shack over there?" Mordred asked as she looked at the old store. "Is that where we'll find the guy you said would explain everything?"
"Actually yes." Uryū replied unfazed by the girl knight's protest. "Urahara Kisuke is the wisest person we know, and we can trust him."
"Yes, sure." Ichigo snorted. "If you had been in the first day of my training to regain my Shinigami powers, you would have discovered that this 'super sage' is nothing more than an old charlatan who likes to screw others with his jokes and a pervert." Ichigo spoke sarcastically as he bitterly remembered how badly he had to go through the shopkeeper in a green suit when they began his first section of training to awaken his own Shinigami powers after losing Rukia's when he was defeated by Byakuya Kuchiki. His first installment consisted of trying to hit a girl who turned out to be super strong and could have killed him in one hit.
He had then thrown him into an abandoned well with his arms tied behind his back, and then the chain began to eat itself up, a sign that it might have turned into a hollow. The next few moments he spent there were hell when his hollowification began, and if it hadn't been for his finding old man Zangetsu, he wouldn't be here now.
That damn Sandal-hat boasted that it called this a workout. But for the orange haired teenager this was torture, and he had a feeling that the damned bastard had enjoyed his misfortunes to his irritation.
"But he was the man who trained you to be able to rescue Kuchiki-san, remember?" Inoue gently remembered the former Substitute, but he ignored her.
"Well, either way, we better get in now." The Quincy spoke hastily before another mishap occurred. Taking that, the 4 of them entered the small store campus at the same time that Mordred dematerialized her armor, exposing her normal outfit.
As they approached the entrance, Ichigo was going to be the first to knock on the door, but suddenly the door opened on its own, a sign that the owner was waiting for them, and they came face to face with Urahara's assistant, Tessai Tsukabishi. He is described as a fairly tall, muscular and slightly tanned man. His hair is pulled back and he has a large mustache on the handlebars, which is connected to his long sideburns. He wears a pair of rectangular glasses. His outfit consists of a white muscular shirt with regular pants and a blue apron.
His height even surprised Mordred, who thought for a moment that he was some kind of warrior but changed her mind when she saw that he was dressed as a baker or something.
Tessai surveyed the 4 for a moment until his eyes fell on the fourth member of the group who was the source of that strange reiatsu he felt a few hours ago. He looked at the young blonde uncertainly, and the latter looked with a dangerous expression as if looking for a fight.
"Oh, she is the reason why Urahara-san called us." Uryū explained, hoping to ease the tension between the two.
"I know that." Tessai spoke in his usual hoarse voice. "The Tenchō is waiting for you. Come in."
Without saying a word, the 3 teenagers plus the blonde warrior entered the store and everything is the same as always. As expected, there were no customers in sight because no one wants to waste time buying old trinkets. Tessai led them to a room where the manager would be waiting for them. Once he pushed the Shōji (Japanese paper door) aside, they saw said manager sitting on the tatami and he immediately turned to look at his guests.
"Hi everyone!" Kisuke Urahara exclaimed with a big smile and his characteristic jovial voice as he waved his green and white fan near his face to increase his comical atmosphere. He was sitting in a seiza position in front of a small round table and in front of him a small cup of hot green tea. "What brings you to my humble abode?"
Unfortunately, Ichigo was in no mood for the hatter's comical and childish demeanor. "Stop nonsense now, you know why we are here." He growled in a bad mood. This worked when the shopkeeper closed his fan, although he did not let his good humor pass.
"Right. Thanks for coming. Would you mind sitting here please?"
Taking this as a sign, the 4 guests approached the table, and each sat to one side facing the owner. Mordred only looked at the strange man with skepticism all because of his strange old green robe, that ridiculous hat that darkened his eyes, and next to that strange smile so genuine on his face. It almost gave her the feeling that he was a magus, one she had known for a long time and who served her father as the court mage.
The stranger took his time sipping his cup of tea and took a sip.
"Well? Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Ichigo asked a little impatiently seeing that his annoying sensei was taking his time not to speak. Fortunately, he finished drinking his tea and concentrated on his guests, analyzing each of their faces to better recognize them. His hat-shadowed eyes stopped and focused on the blonde warrior as she was the main subject everyone was here for. He could feel her emanating the same reiatsu that he had felt a few hours ago and could tell that it was on par with that of a high-level Shinigami warrior.
Instead, Mordred kept looking at the strange shopkeeper and did not like the way he looked at her with that serious air he gave off. She was almost tempted to sheathe her sword and attack him whenever she deemed it necessary or if he made a move. This deathly silent tension did not go unnoticed by the other guests who couldn't help but feel awkward about this but couldn't say or do anything since they sat down, and just waited for Kisuke to somehow peacefully break it.
Fortunately, he did.
With a slight nod, the shopkeeper gave the blonde a mysterious smile. "So, you are a Heroic Spirit, right?"
That question caught the attention of Ichigo and the others upon hearing the term 'Heroic Spirit', except for Mordred who immediately let out a sarcastic snort.
"Well, finally someone knows about me."
"What is that exactly?" Uryū asked ignoring the blonde's sarcasm.
Instead of answering, Urahara took another sip of her tea before turning to her guests, this time with a serious expression.
"Kurosaki-san." He said getting Ichigo's attention. "Before, while you were walking with your friends towards your house, you came across a strange phenomenon, right?"
"Yes, it was very strange and that's how she appeared." Ichigo replied that he still didn't understand why he wanted to start with that.
"Did you feel it?" Uryū asked.
"That's right. Tessai and I felt the same reiatsu vibration in the atmosphere and, truth be told, this was the first time we felt something like that." He responded by raising his head slightly, giving the teens a shadowy view of his eyes. Uryū felt sympathy for this. He also felt that strange reiatsu emanating from that strange girl, and he was also unable to identify it with any spiritual entity he knew.
"But you still know who it is, right?" Ichigo spoke hoping that the shopkeeper would not feign ignorance.
"Sure. I must tell you that the place where you met was not the only one where the phenomenon occurred." His eyes darkened. "Something similar happened in here."
"Here?" Ichigo asked puzzled as well as Ishida and Inoue.
"Yes. At the same time that sudden reiatsu appearance occurred, another flash of light appeared here but smaller and on a smaller scale, plus it didn't emit any reiatsu." Urahara told the teenagers. "Just as Tessai and I walked in, we found this on the table."
The shopkeeper put his hands under the table to catch something and then raised them to show what he had catched. The teenagers saw that it was a thick dark brown book, although it had no cover except for the title inscribed in gold.
"A book?" Orihime asked confused as she looked at the book.
"Yes, this was the only thing that appeared after that flash of light." Urahara explained as he placed the book on the table. "At first I was cautious because I didn't know what it was exactly, but curiosity got the best of me, and I immediately started reading it." His memory continued to browse through his memories. "That book contains a great deal of important information, and it is also the answers you seek, Kurosaki-san."
"Perfect, tell me what this is all about." Ichigo demanded now to see hopes of shedding light on this and solving this matter at once.
"Let me see the tattoo on your hand first." Urahara said calmly. Ichigo shrugged a bit but decided to obey by showing his sleeve with the seals on. Kisuke watched this with interest and couldn't help but smile a little.
"Interesting."
Uryū decided to speak then.
"She said this was called-
"Command Seals, I know." Kisuke interrupted. "These are magical codes that represent the alliance between the Servant and his Master, so that they can officially participate in the ritual."
"Ritual?" Both the 3 teenagers and Kon said at the same time without understanding what exactly that meant.
"What do you mean exactly?" Ichigo asked, wanting to know what was going on.
Instead of answering aloud, the shopkeeper simply held up the book in his hands and displayed the title written in gold and in English. The 3 of them looked a little closer to see better and read it.
Holy Grail War.
That's all for today. It seems that fate has become capricious with our protagonist by putting him in a new conflict that he is unaware of, and who knows what will happen next.
However, the most unexpected event is that Ichigo seems to be regaining his spiritual senses as he can see the gaps naturally. What kind of sign is this?
See it in the next chapter.
Ja ne!