Chapter 32: Lion in the Lion's den (Frontier of the Ancients)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Normal speech"
'Inner speech/thoughts'
'Inner spirit speech'
'Inner hollow/Zanpakuto speech'
xxx
He leaped towards the first creature and sliced right through it. Paying the falling part of its body no mind, he landed on the ground, only to stab his next victim in its lower body. With a push, he slashed upwards and send a shockwave through the rest of the creature's body.
A bright beam of red energy hurried towards him but he reacted in time and tilted his whole body to the side. The Cero missed him only by a hair's breadth but the grin on his face remained. Turning towards the one who fired at him, he cocked back his free hand and sent into it a bit of his energy.
"Bakudō #4. Hainawa!" He exclaimed and a yellow energy in form of a rope dashed towards the Menos and wound around its body. With a grin that was slowly widening, Ichigo strained his muscles and pulled at the energy rope. The large hollows tried to resist but, with his feet digging into the soil, Ichigo accomplished his goal and smacked the creature against the hard surface of the ground. With a loud yell, he jumped on its head and stabbed through its mask all the way to the hilt of his zanpakuto. Just as the creature's body began to turn into reishi, he jumped down and tightened his grip on the cackling yellow rope of energy. Shifting all of his weight to one leg, he leaned backwards and pulled. With great effort, he lifted the slowly disappearing corpse and heaved it into a Menos in front of him. The impact threw the creature from its feet and it fell down on the another Menos behind it, soon creating a domino effect as multiple Menos Grande fell upon each other.
Ichigo bared his teeth and flashed towards the fallen hollows. He no longer cared about keeping his reiatsu low and released it on his surroundings with pleasure.
'That's better.' He thought, excited from the battle. Once he was nearing his fallen opponents, he leaped in the air and swung down his zanpakuto that was brimming with a large amount of reiryoku.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
A terrifying crescent wave of energy came crashing down on the helpless Gillians like a wave of tsunami, flushing their lives down the drain in one fell swoop and leaving a deep gash in the soil in form of a large claw mark. When Ichigo descended upon the hollow's remains, the creases around the gash were still burning with excess energy. He gave it a glance before turning and looking in the distance at the other Menos Grande. Eager to fight more of them, Ichigo's grin withered when he saw them moving in the opposite way, away from him.
"Hey! Come back here!"
His yell reverberated in the darkness like a bark of a dog, who just got his favorite toy taken away. With high expectations, he looked in all the other directions but it looked like the full power of his reiatsu caused the hollows to scurry away in fear of more punishment. For just a moment, Ichigo struggled to grasp the situation. From everything he knew so far, hollows always seemed like beast with insatiable thirst that wouldn't stop trying to kill without a good reason.
'Then again, Grand Fisher tried to run away too.' He thought when he recalled one of his few fights where he battled a sentient kind of a hollow. The memory brought with it some of the emotions he didn't want to relive and so he shook his head to get rid of them. But the damage was already done and his mood for fighting trickled away along with the last remnants of his Getsuga.
He gave the scenery around him one more glance, to see if he was truly left alone, and when it was apparent that he was, he sighed and aimed his sight at the hole through which he had fallen several minutes ago.
'I should get back up there.' He thought and his expression turned even sourer. The thought of abandoning the solid ground below his feet and returning to the endless sea of sand cracked his determination and forced him to sigh one more time.
'The question is, how?'
His eyes flickered to the numerous tree structures and their branches that reached almost all the way to the surface made of sand. Skeptical of their sturdiness, he formed a scowl. It was a long way up and the sooner he climbed, the sooner he would get out.
With that in mind, he took a few steps to the side so that the hole would be right above him and then fixated his sight at a nearby branch. Sheathing his zanpakuto, he bent his knees and leaped in the air. His calculations proved to be good and he reached the branch without much trouble. When he landed, he tryingly raised his foot and strongly tapped the platform. His efforts left no cracks and so he allowed himself to relax. His eyes darting around, he located the next branch. A few seconds later, he landed on it. He repeated the same process a few more times before suddenly stopping. There was an odd feeling, a strange itch, running down his spine. Immediately, he glanced down with narrowed eyes. But he saw and sensed nothing and no one.
'Hm, I swear I could feel somebody watching me. Strange.'
Giving the area below him one more glance, he turned his attention back to the task at hand and hopped to yet another branch. Step by step, jump by jump, he slowly reached the opening in the ground and the first thing he noticed was the sand.
He grimaced. But, having no other choice, he dashed through the hole and landed above it, on an unstable dune of sand. Cursing under his breath, he managed to recover his balance and peeked behind him.
'Almost fell back in. Ugh, thanks but no thanks.'
Just for fun, he kicked some of the sand into the abyss and then bounced forward, once again going in the right direction. The hole in the ground was long behind him before something crossed his mind. It was another one of those thoughts that brought an indescribable feeling in Ichigo's consciousness. That kind of feeling that came and went away, leaving nothing but an elusive tickle running down his spine.
'Why do I feel like this wasn't the first time I visited that underground area?'
However, his question remained unanswered. As much as he frowned and tried to sort out his memories, there wasn't anything within them that could satisfyingly explain the ghost feeling of déjà vu. And so, he did what he had always done in such occasions.
He shook his head and let go.
By the time he made another stop, he was already thinking about different things. Mainly, about something that stood in the vast sands of Hueco Mundo like a sore thumb. It was something that was mindboggling and caused him to stare at it in utter shock.
"Are those… ruins?" He asked with eyes bugged out and mouth hanging open.
There, in a distance, were remnants of something that most likely had been a settlement for intelligent beings. After he closed his mouth, he quickly dashed towards the dilapidated structures and reached for the closest one with his left hand. As soon as he made contact, he jumped away in surprise.
"What the… what was that?" He muttered and glanced at his hand. It was tingling, almost as if electricity pulsed straight through it. Momentarily unable to comprehend the situation, he shook the hand and then rubbed it with the other one. As he did so, he casted a slow and searching gaze upon the whole area that was filled with similar fragments of walls from the past.
"That's… these are definitely man made. It's not natural." He stated and took a closer look at the piece of wall that had just shocked him. Turning his head from side to side, he observed the surface of the wall with a deeply concentrated frown.
"Yeah, this is a worked stone, though I have no idea what it's called. But it must be pretty old. I remember seeing similar stuff in history books."
Throwing a brief look at the palm of his left hand, he closed it into a fist and, after a second, opened it. He took a deep breath and carefully placed it at the surface of the wall. This time, he received no shock. The only thing he felt was the cold, rough stone.
"This is crazy." He muttered and then straightened his back. Nibbling on his lower lip, he withdrew his left hand and used it to scratch his head.
"What is this place? I really doubt this is a work of hollows. It can't be. And what was… that?" He grunted and reflexively rubbed his left hand against the side of his thigh. It was no longer tingling but the sensation of being touched by something unknown remained. Curious, he wandered through the ruins in hope of finding something that would shine some light upon the mystery. He inspected the wall fragments, searched the small crevices between the debris but no matter how hard he explored the area, there was nothing new to be found.
Still, he was unable to stop himself from doing it. Similar to the underground area filled with Menos Grande, the ruins were giving off the vibe of a place he had visited sometime in the past. His suspicions were confirmed when his inner spirit called out to him.
'I can feel it too, Ichigo. There's something… truly familiar in here. Yet I cannot explain it with mere words. It's like I was once here as well.'
Ichigo listened to the spirit and quietly hummed to himself.
"Makes sense. After all, you are a part of me."
'No, Ichigo. I meant me as my real self.'
Like walking into an invisible wall, Ichigo immediately stopped moving and his eyebrows shot upwards.
"Huh?"
'I… I am not sure, Ichigo. But this place brings back emotions I don't recognize, feelings I don't comprehend.'
Hearing the distress in his spirit's voice confused and shocked Ichigo more than he was willing to admit. Instead of trying to ask more questions, he decided to search his own memories but, just as with the underground area full of Menos Grande, he came up with empty hands. Creasing his brow, he sat on one of the smaller pieces of stone and let his feet dangle along it.
"What's really weird, is that no matter what, I feel so relaxed like I haven't for a very long time and I don't think it's because my feet aren't covered in sand. It must be because of this place. There's something… calming about it. I feel like I could just close my eyes and sleep. I feel like I could do anything I want." He whispered.
'Well, it is no longer raining in here and the skyscrapers are rebuilding themselves faster than before, so something is definitely different, Ichigo.'
Ichigo leaned backwards and briefly closed his eyes. Truly, it had been a while since he felt so at ease. With the moonlight showering him with its soft touch, it felt just like paradise. Serene and peaceful, for just a short moment, it became Ichigo's little piece of heaven. It was almost as if his mother caressed his face, taking all of his worries and throwing them away, to a place from which they couldn't return to haunt him. As the tranquility of the place spread though his body, he let go of the hold on his spiritual energy and allowed it to flow out of him like a brooklet, trickling through the stones and sand with a calming hum. It flowed out and stretched across all corners of the ruins and helped him achieve a peace of mind, where he could feel every single grain of sand and brush it softly with the breeze of his mind.
Very slowly, as if in trance, he opened his eyes and stared at the night sky, at the inverted crescent moon standing proud above him, with a glazed gaze. The whole area around him became a sea of hope and misery, of black and white and light and dark. Duality of the emotions hidden deep within him flowed right above the ground and, every so often, it patted the sand with a motherly touch, long gone and forgotten. Bit by bit, the air itself became filled with light as sand around Ichigo changed its nature and turned into spirit particles, causing a light blue glow to illuminate everything around his vicinity. An ocean of reishi, the light rose from the ground and danced chaotically, in an unpredictable pattern, and then started to fall down and shower Ichigo with its glow.
'Ichigo! Stop!'
Ichigo's eyes regained their life and the teen released a breath he didn't know he had been keeping in. Surprised by the sudden abundance of light, he frantically looked around himself, to see the reishi slowly turning back into grains of sand and then raining upon the ground. Feeling lightheaded, Ichigo lightly shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"What… what happened?"
A series of flashing images, a scenery of past few minutes, flowed into his mind and briefly incapacitated him.
'I don't know how, but you just tried to do something very advanced that you should not be able to do. It's called Domination of Reishi and it is the strongest technique a Quincy can develop.'
In awe, Ichigo quickly got over the new memories and opened his mouth but before he could say even a word, his inner spirit continued.
'Yes, you'd think it is a good thing, but I have to warn you, Ichigo. This technique isn't something you can power your way through and attempting to use it before you are ready can tear your body and soul apart. It is a very rare ability. For now, simply forget about it.'
For a few seconds, Ichigo unwillingly imitated a fish on a dry land, but when he realized he had no arguments, he simple sighed.
"I could try the basics, though, right?"
His inner spirit sent him an image of a friendly smile.
'Yes. For whatever reason it may be, it seems this place amplifies your ability to manipulate spiritual particles. Give it a go but don't overdo it, Ichigo.'
"Right."
Sometime later, Ichigo leaned into a larger ruin of a wall with a satisfied smile. He felt sweaty and mentally drained, but also happy with his progress.
"Well, I finally did something. It was just a little bit but now I have a better grasp on the technique itself. I probably won't use it in battle any time soon but, well, I am glad I tried." He breathed out.
Content with himself, he was about to close his eyes and rest for a bit but his sixth sense suddenly went haywire and made him jump back on his feet. He tensed and looked in the distance. The same feeling of being watched he had experienced when climbing out of the underground area creeped up on his spine.
"Whoever you are, come out!" He yelled.
For a second, nothing happened and he thought that once again, he was just imaging things, but then something slowly appeared in his vision. Squinting, he tried to make out the outline and realized it was just a hollow. He lazily reached for the hilt of his zanpakuto when a large reiatsu hit his shoulders.
"You are not him, yet you possess some of his spiritual energy. You are a Shinigami, yet there is a hollow tint in you. His tint." A voice, carried by the wind, entered his ears. The hollow began to reduce the distance between them. Ichigo still couldn't see him properly but he could at least deduce the creature's size.
"Great, a talkative hollow." He muttered.
'But he can't be just a regular hollow. This pressure is stronger than the one of Menos Grande. And he is most likely as big as the ones I remember from the books. An Adjuchas.' He added mentally and narrowed his eyes.
"And you seem not to remember me. Is it mockery?"
When the hollow finally came close enough, Ichigo noticed few details but didn't dare to spend more time on studying the creature's body.
'This is the first time I meet a hollow that evolved from Menos Grande. What is he talking about?'
The hollow stopped moving and seemingly pointed one of its large hands towards a horrible scar on its chest.
"See this? A memento of our fight. I kept it. I kept it in case I meet you again, so I'd have motivation to kill you."
Still confused, Ichigo didn't want to underestimate his opponent and so he quickly unsheathed his zanpakuto and raised it in front of himself. The hollow's face twisted into a terrifying grin but the creature didn't move from his spot.
"I am the Guardian of the Forest of Menos. I have survived countless encounters with Shinigami and Hollows alike. Do you know why? Because I have the ability to learn from my mistakes. And I did. I learned from my last mistake. What was my last mistake? Not enough support!"
Once the hollow, the Guardian, shouted, three additional hollows of the same size as he was, jumped from behind him and landed in front of Ichigo, strategically positioned so he had no way of escaping. Seeing that, Ichigo mentally cursed.
'Shit. I didn't notice them and judging by their reiatsu, they are most likely Adjuchas as well.'
"Attack him!"
'This is not good!'
Just as the three Adjuchas leaped towards him, Ichigo released a good amount of energy and poured it into his zanpakuto.
"Bleach their souls, Zangetsu! Getsuga Tenshō!" He activated his Shikai and immediately after let out a moderate wave of energy that crashed into one of the hollows while the other two that managed to get out of the way landed on both his sides and swiped at him with long, large claws.
Surprised at the mobility of the creatures, Ichigo barely managed to raise both his swords in defense. While the larger one completely blocked the claw, the smaller one didn't and Ichigo received two gashes in his left side and one in his left shoulder.
"Gh!"
He felt several droplets of blood leaving his body and couldn't help but grunt in pain. Straining his muscles, he shifted his weight to the right side and pushed one hollow away. As he did so, he raised his left hand and pointed an index finger at the other hollow that was trying to gnaw at him.
"Hadō #1. Shō!"
In that moment, the third hollow reappeared in front of his face with a deep gash that ran from one side of his abdomen to the other. Before Ichigo could bring his swords together, the hollow's thick leg made contact with his body and he felt his feet leaving the ground.
"Gah!" Spitting everywhere, Ichigo crashed into a large boulder and caused it to crack. He had no time to completely recover though, as the hollow he had pushed to the side came at him again with its claw. In the last moment, Ichigo gathered a large amount of reiryoku and expelled it from his body. Doing so prevented the hollow from reaching him but also cost him quite a bit from his energy reserves.
'Come on, Ichigo. Move!'
Mentally goading himself, he gritted his teeth and rolled away from the boulder, just in time to evade the hollows renewed attack.
"You are weak in your Shinigami form. Turn into hollow! I want to kill the real you!"
Ichigo heard the Guardian's yell and felt anger quietly bubbling within his mind and body. With a growl, he flipped backwards and evaded another attack from a side. Quickly assessing the situation, he slashed the air in front of him with his smaller blade.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" The blast from the smaller sword came out different than his previous blast and confused the hollow he aimed it at enough for the blast to hit him straight in its legs. The hollow fell on the ground, his legs roughly blasted away, and screamed in agony.
'I should finish him while he's down but they I'm sure as hell these two won't let me.'
Ichigo ignored him and switched his focus to the remaining two. He did it just in time to see a large claw descending on him. Seeing the second hollow not yet in the striking distance, he pumped his legs full of reiryoku and flashed away. The claw hit the sand with a loud noise and blasted it everywhere. That provided Ichigo with enough distraction to circle around and slash the second hollow from behind but the creature proved to be fast and evaded the strike while receiving only not life-threatening gash to its side. Scowling, Ichigo spun around. He expected an attack from behind and he wasn't wrong. Before the hollow realized it, Ichigo blocked him with his larger sword and followed it with a slash with the smaller one. The creature's abdomen opened and several contents spilled on the ground.
Ichigo barely noticed it when something rammed into him with a power of a tank and smashed him against nearby remnants of a wall. Pain attacked him from every direction and he could hear his bones scream in protest.
'I almost forgot this one… he already regenerated.'
Quickly, he spread his reiryoku across his whole body and hoped his own regeneration would keep him on his feet. However, he was still pinned down and so he redirected some of that energy into the palm of his hand. Crushed beneath the hollow, he managed to get one arm free and pushed his opened palm against the creature's side.
"Hadō #63. Raikōhō!"
Despite not using an incantation, from this distance the spell held enough power to completely smash through the hollow's left side and escape through the other, leaving nothing but a gaping hole in its wake. Before the creature fell on him, barely conscious, Ichigo rolled away while keeping a tight grip on his swords. As he rolled, he sliced through the remnants of the hollow's abdomen and completely severed its lower part from its upper part.
'That's one down.'
But the mild satisfaction lasted only until something heavy smashed into his side and knocked the breath out of him. The power behind the strike lifted his body and sent him spiraling through the air. Coughing and trying to find his balance, Ichigo saw something red in the corners of his vision and when he crashed into sand, he heard a loud rumbling sound approaching him fast. Without even raising his head, he knew what it was.
'Cero!'
Mentally screaming at his body to move, he found some strength in his legs and threw himself away. Incredibly lucky, he avoided receiving a direct hit but the following explosion swallowed him whole.
"Turn into a hollow! Do it! Just do it!"
As the smoke around him cleared, Ichigo gasped for breath and tried not to look at the state of his body. He could feel the burns and bruises and the pain was wearing him down. Yet the persistent yells of the Guardian fueled his anger and didn't allow him to surrender. He snarled like a beast and pushed himself of the ground. Through the remnants of the smoke, he shot forward and brought his zanpakuto down just as one of the remaining hollows tried to deliver a finishing strike.
"Fuck! You!"
Helping himself with a shout, he held back nothing and the blades of his swords cut through the hollow's skin, muscles and bones at the same time and severed one of its arms at the elbow and one of its legs at the knee.
"Gyaaaah!" The hollow screamed in pain and spurted a large amount of blood all over Ichigo's chest and face.
But Ichigo ignored it. Moving fast, he slashed the air on his left and released a bright blast at the other hollow that tried to circle around him. The attack pushed the creature away and allowed him to focus his anger at the monster he had just wounded. He saw it trying to swat him away with its remaining arm but he didn't let it. Bending his knees, he vaulted over his fallen opponent and plunged his large sword right into its head. There was a brief struggle of gurgling sounds but the hollow's limbs eventually slumped down.
'That's two down.'
Ichigo raised his head and glanced at the one last hollow watching him from a nearby spot. When he slowly plucked his blade from the slowly disintegrating corpse, the creature suddenly seemed not as confident as it did just mere seconds before. To his surprise, Ichigo realized he didn't really care for the hollow's intentions.
A battle offered no room for compassion.
Leaning slightly forward, Ichigo charged the creature with both swords at the ready. He was forced to hastily duck under a far-reaching swipe and brought his zanpakuto close to block a following swing of the creature's massive tail. His feet dug into the sand and he felt himself being pushed a bit back but he withstood the strike without much other problems. When the pressure subsided, he leaped in the air. Despite its size, the hollow acted fast and jumped as well but Ichigo was faster. He redirected the clawed arm with one sword while sinking his other sword in the creature's unguarded chest. Expecting an angry response, he ducked under a swipe but kept the grip on the sword embedded in the hollow's body and pushed it downwards. The creature guts became exposed to the chilly air of Hueco Mundo and caused the hollow to scream. It dropped down and hit the sand dune with Ichigo on its tail.
He wasn't about to give his opponent any time to recover and with one clean swipe severed the creature's head from the rest of its body.
'That's three down.'
Scowling, he looked up and aimed his sight at the only other hollow in his vicinity, the Guardian.
'That's the last one.'
The Guardian of the Forest of Menos met his gaze with an expression that was hard to tell through his mask. Though Ichigo was sure of at least one thing. The spiritual pressure of the hollow had been steadily rising throughout the whole fight and it seemed it had reached its peak, which must have meant two things.
The current reiatsu was the hollow's maximum.
The hollow's maximum reiatsu was stronger than he had hoped for.
If he tried to compare it with the three Adjuchas he had just defeated, Ichigo was sure it was stronger than any of them. It was not as much as all of them combined but it was still quite powerful. At the same time, it was inferior to the one Ichigo himself possessed.
'Still, that means jack shit. Hisagi-san's reiatsu is weaker as well, yet his zanjutsu more than makes up for it. I need to be careful here.' Ichigo thought to himself but looking at the hollow standing opposite of him, he could feel his caution dropping in favor of combat brutality. Finally, he could fight one versus one without any interruption and against somebody of his own level. It was hard to admit, but Ichigo knew he longed for such a fight ever since he had received the brutal beatdown at hands of a certain pale, black haired hollow who wore white clothes and had the same attitude Ichigo had had just a few months ago.
"So, you refuse to turn? That will be your funeral, Shinigami."
Ichigo hardened his gaze and let his hollow reiryoku form a small fragment of his hollow mask. It covered his nose and the curvature between it and his eyebrows. He could still safely add a bit more but, for the moment, he wanted to keep that as a secret card.
"I see, so you refuse to speak. Instead, you mock me with this joke. Die!"
The Guardian briefly vanished from his vision but he was ready. Spreading reiryoku evenly across his body, he pushed himself of the ground and vanished as well. Buzzing sound of hollow's Sonído echoed in the air and seemingly fought against the noise from Ichigo's Shunpo. The two combatants moved across the battlefield in high speed, meeting only to trade blows that both either blocked or parried. But a stalemate wasn't an option.
When he sped towards the Guardian in a straight line, the hollow's whip-like tail shot at him like a bullet and forced him to rethink his next step. With one leg forward, he shifted his weight to it and sprang in the air. Barely avoiding getting hit, he found himself right above the tip of the tail and an idea struck him from nowhere. He raised one hand and poured reiryoku into it.
"Bakudō #4. Hainawa!"
A crackling yellow energy in form of a rope formed in his palm and, with a flick of a wrist, he threw it on the tail below him. The rope wound around it and when it did, Ichigo pulled at it. Sharply snapping his hand to the side, he strained his arm and dragged the surprised hollow across the sand by its tail and smashed him into the same boulder he had crashed into during his fight against other Adjuchas. Already cracked, the stone couldn't withstand another direct blow and exploded in a shower of dust and stone debris. Ichigo quickly dispelled the Kidō and was about to land when he heard the familiar rumbling noise coming straight at him.
In the last moment, he awkwardly hopped using only his toes and watched the red beam of energy pass below him. Then he fell down, face first, and felt sand entering his mouth. With the speed of a sand snake, he rolled over while spitting the dirt and saw several long appendages coming at him from above.
'Oh crap.'
Acting even faster than before, he pulled his legs up to his chest and put his hands on the ground, next to his ears. Shifting all of his weight to his shoulders he kicked up and pushed hard with his hands as soon as he felt the momentum going upwards. In a split second, he landed back on his feet and immediately severed one of the hollow's appendages that got way too close to hitting his face. However, there were several others that were quickly shortening the distance and he was forced to leap backwards.
'There's way too many of them.' He mentally noted and as he sailed through the air, slashed his large sword down while letting off a large blast of energy.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
He could see his attack severing many stubborn appendages but because of it, he didn't notice the hollow's tail coming at him from the side. It hit him right in his right thigh and tore deep into his flesh. Blood spurted from the gash and broke some of his concentration with the sharp pain that quickly followed after.
"Gh, bastard." He groaned and let his eyes dart around the area in an attempt to locate his opponent. When he did, he let out a quiet, angry growl.
'Found you.'
While his leg regenerated, he followed the Guardian's trajectory with his eyes and when the hollow came close enough, he raised his hand with a bright orb of energy already forming around it.
"Hadō #63. Raikōhō!"
The powerful lightning strike travelled through the air too fast for the hollow to dodge and stopped him right in his track. The power behind the spell immediately overpowered the creature's momentum and blasted him back, where he smashed into a sand dune with a dull sound of a large rock hitting the ground at high speed.
Ichigo let out a puff of air and felt that he was beginning to tire.
'I sustained quite a lot of blows and injuries… hm, I should have rested more before going here. Though I guess I didn't have much choice.' He mentally noted and renewed the grip on his zanpakuto. The fight was still not over and he knew it.
Keeping his stamina in mind, he flashed towards the spot where he saw the Guardian land and saw the hollow slowly getting back up. In return, the hollow noticed him coming and plunged its tail into the ground, causing Ichigo to narrow his eyes in suspicion.
All of a sudden, the tail shot from the ground right below him and pierced through his other leg and almost through his chin as well. In the last second, Ichigo cocked his head back and watched the tip of the tail stop in front of his eyes. With a squelch, the hollow withdrew the tail and Ichigo barely remained standing. His right thigh had still not yet recovered and now even his other leg got injured.
"Maybe you aren't as bad as a Shinigami too, but I am the Guardian of the Forest of Menos. The most powerful hollow of that place! You are a century too inexperienced to defeat me!"
Pushing his eyes towards the back of his head, Ichigo was starting to feel his anger getting replaced with irritation. A bit more of his hollow reiryoku seeped out of him through his wounds and joined with the fragment of his mask, making it a bit more complete. A small surge of power ran across his body and he smacked both his legs.
"I think I heard similar words from another hollow before. Want to know what happened?" He hissed at the hollow, whose eyes narrowed.
"I survived. The hollow didn't." He added and flashed towards the hollow with his zanpakuto raised high. His swords sliced through the air but hit only the ground full of sand. The creature must have sensed his intentions and hastily moved away from the spot. Then he heard the rumbling noise coming at him from behind once again and he quickly turned around with his zanpakuto already rising and brimming with incredible amount of reiryoku.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
With a shout, he released the biggest wave of energy he could and watched it smash right through the Guardian's Cero with overwhelming power. The red beam stood no chance and Ichigo's blast almost completely erased it from existence, continuing further, towards the stunned hollow who had no way of escaping it. The Getsuga rammed into him like a hurricane and tore him apart like he was just a porcelain doll.
The Guardian encountered death before he could utter a single word or scream in pain.
In the wake of the blast, grains of sand turned into reishi and glowed in the gloom of Hueco Mundo as a remainder of a terrifying power of one Kurosaki Ichigo. The person himself felt his legs shake and he fell on his knees, feeling drained physically and mentally alike.
"Well… whew, that's that. I should have done that from the beginning. Me and my thirst for a good battle. It's almost like I'm turning into Kenpachi. " He wheezed and mentally applauded as well as berated himself. He defeated a strong opponent by himself without resorting to using more of his hollow power than he should. However, as he took deep breaths, an awful feeling assaulted his senses and made him look up and glance at his surroundings.
"…come ooon…"
From all around him, a horde of hollows was closing in on him, screaming, yelling and shrieking in their beastly voices. If Ichigo thought killing the Guardian of the Forest of Menos would have triggered their survival instinct and caused them to run away from him with their tails tuck between their legs, the truth was the opposite. Unlike Menos Grande, regular hollows clearly held different values.
'Or maybe they are just insane.' Ichigo thought and clenched his jaw.
Either way, he was in trouble. While still far from being out of breath, he knew that decimating the whole mob of hollows, were they just regular hollows or evolved ones, would take away a lot of his energy he still needed for other things. Nevertheless, he still pushed himself off the ground and raised both his swords. Giving the horde of hollows a dirty stare, he formed a deep scowl.
"Who's next?"
...
It was hours later that he was leaning into his large sword, sweaty and tired, but victorious. All around him, countless hollow corpses slowly turned into reishi, creating a large beacon of blue light and revealing his smug grin.
"Heh, bunch of trash." He said. When he felt his legs slowly giving away, he dragged himself next to a small ruined wall and sat at its base while letting his back touching it. From afar, he felt another wave of hollow spiritual energy approaching and he smacked his head against the sturdy surface of the wall. Looking at the moon sky, he released a deep sigh.
"This is going exactly as I didn't want it to."
In that moment, the wave of hollow spiritual energy vanished and was replaced with a monstrous reiatsu that almost pushed him deeper into the sand.
"Seems like you are in quite the pinch, Kurosaki Ichigo. Perhaps you need an assistance?"
Ichigo didn't even have to look at the owner of the voice to know who it was. There was only one person whose reiatsu was that large and whose voice could get under one's skin so much. Allowing himself a short snort, Ichigo shook his head and formed a small smile.
"Aizen… yes, perhaps."
End of Chapter 32.
Aaand another chapter filled with pieces of important information is behind us. What's going to happen next?
I have something new to reveal. While this story is and will remain mostly about different topics, I decided that not including aspects of romance would be just me banging my head against the wall. I mean, I did create a scenario where some amount of romance is a part of natural evolution of MC's character. Truth is, I honestly wasn't sure which characters would that include. Now that I'm planning the future chapters in greater detail, it kind of became clear by itself.
Though I'll be completely sure about it only once I actually write those parts. If it works, I'll leave it like that. If not, I'll change it. But there will definitely be some romance. It would leave Ichigo an incomplete character if I chose not to do it. I created a mental hole in his emotions and now I have to fix him. On the other hand, I know romance can be distracting in some stories, so I'll try not to focus on it too much. It will be featured only when it makes sense.
Now, to reviews:
Scarease - without going into spoilers, I have no plans to write about that fight. If it even happens, it will do so off-screen. Though I may mention parts of it...
Dinner - you flatter me. Not going to answer since your guess is right - you will find answers to everything in the future. Right now, there is a big reason behind no interaction between Ichigo and Zangetsu.
MugetsuIchigo - shhh, it will all make sense.
Guest - well, you're not wrong, though not completely right either.
Lil peep show - thank you, I will continue to do so. I aim to have titles that could almost spoil everything about the chapter but at the same time fool you into thinking about something else.
The Last Kenpachi - as I stated above, I do plan on doing that. About Nozomi though ... what makes you think she will appear in this story at all? HehHeh. Once again, I don't want to spoil future plot but I can say that even if she appears, Nozomi is not the one I have in mind for Ichigo.(Though you do make some valid points)
The rest of you (Sleepwalker 5462, Fluid Desert, Darkness in shadowland, trey dragneel) as well as the other readers - thank you for your support. Things are slowly but surely moving forward and next chapter will be even more interesting that this one.
Next chapter:
Chapter 33 - White lies of the God (Sinful Blades) - will be posted 15/16th February!