Thank you for the reviews, didn't know how this kind of cross-over would be received and I'm glad you like it. I have most of the next chapter written but I'm slow so I'll hold onto that when it's done for a little bit so that there is something resembling consistency with this story. Please let me know what you think about this chapter and please leave a review with your thoughts. Hope you enjoy and I still don't own either of these worlds as cool as that might be.
Private Bridgette and Private Second Class Stefan approached the gates of E-Rantel. They're appearance drew a few undesired looks from the other incoming travelers but neither of the quincy paid them any heed. Stefan let out a dull sigh.
"How long have we been waiting in line again?" Bridgette pushed up her thin spectacles as the light gleamed off of them.
"About 10 minutes Stefan, next time you ask I'll give you a sound beating in the name of our lord." Stefan flinched under the shiny black brim of his cover. It contrasted against the blinding white of the rest of the cover along with the rest of the uniform. He reached a hand inside his double-breasted trench coat and pulled out a small pocket watch. Reading the time he let out another drawn out sigh.
"I see." Waving off the anger of the shorter female he held his hands behind his back. At least it was good to be out. It had been a couple days since their arrival in this new world and only now are they able to send people to the nearby settlements in order to probe the cultures of this world. From what he had been briefed on, one of the new Sternritter were being sent out to a small village northwest of this city.
"Bridge?" She turned slightly to better hear him as she kept her eyes on the line as they shifted forward steadily. "You ever stop and think about why we're here?"
Her nose twitched in annoyance at her confusion. What was he on about?
"What do you mean?" He moved to put his hands in his coat pockets however he decided against the action.
"I mean working alongside the hollows. What could Lord Ichigo see in them? Even that aside, what're we going to do moving forward?" Tilting his head up he took in the partly cloudy sky as his coat shifted with the wind.
"I'm not sure, but no matter what as long as it allows us to do this instead of dying at the hands of those filthy shinigami then I guess I don't really care." Stefan let a small smile appear on his face as he turned his gaze to the back of her brunette head.
"I guess you're right." She turned and beamed a smile in return.
"You worry too much Stefan." He reached a hand up and scratched the back of his head with a nervous chuckle.
"I guess you're right, now we have a mission to accomplish." She nodded in return and they went back to waiting in line. Only a few more people left to go and they would be in their first city since arriving in this new world.
Aizen must have been laughing at this point. Ichigo sighed as he buried his face in a pile of paperwork. This really was a bore for him however someone had to take care of the administrative work. After reconstructing the Sternritter and making them Generals of his soldat army and designating the Espada into other aspects of work he was left with Aizen to formalize everything and since computers were a luxury of his old world he had to do everything by hand through paper formed from spiritual particles. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Ichigo heard the soldat stationed at the door slowly open it and step inside.
"Milord, Sir Granz is here to see you." Interesting. Ichigo nodded and the pink-haired Espada stepped inside. Szayel was their head of research and development and he was good, he would have preferred Urahara but Szayel would have to do for now.
Szayel bowed before standing at his full height. He stood a few inches taller than Ichigo so sitting down he appeared quite tall.
"What do you have to report, Szayel?" The gleam in his eyes made Ichigo lean forward in anticipation.
"Well, I have completed that project you assigned me and I have already sent out the drones, of course all of them have stealth capabilities." Leaning back in his chair the strawberry smiled. This was good, recon was important. As much as he wanted to just go out head first like how he sent those soldat he didn't want to ruin things so soon by being as reckless as he was in his youth.
"That's good, anything else to report or did you just come here to flaunt your success?" Szayel let out a low chuckle before a wide Cheshire grin crawled across his face.
"Oh, of course not milord. I took initiative and, well, it might be best if you just read for yourself." He slid a file over to Ichigo as the carrot top picked up the manila folder and skimmed over the file.
"Very good Szayel. Make sure to get the appropriate samples and I want a report of the costs for such a move in case it has to be used. Keep updating your efforts and for the love of Kami please finish your project on computers."
"Oh but of course milord." Ichigo waved a hand and sent Szayel away. Cloning chambers huh?
"Grimmjow, if you don't stop pacing I'm going to hurt you!" As the panther continued to pace the main chamber they had chosen to base their rooms around, Grimmjow easily blocked the incoming strike from Lilynette.
"Hey! Don't you ignore me!" She continued to pummel the blue-haired hollow to no avail. She then ran to Starrk who was face down in some cushions that he had pulled out. They forced him to be here but they couldn't force him to pay any attention. It was bothersome when she kept stomping on his back. Shifting onto his side Lilynette fell off of his back with an oof.
"You really shouldn't be attacking him. He's just minding his own business however Grimmjow you can't keep sulking like this." Grimmjow spun on Nelliel before snapping at her.
"You expect me to be calm when the Strawberry has changed so much?! Don't pretend you haven't seen him being all buddy buddy with fucking Aizen!" Nel simply shook her head in response.
"He has changed but I don't think it's for the worse either way. He beat Aizen once before he can do it again. He wouldn't let any harm come to us just because he's working with the lunatic." Harribel nodded sagely.
"If he's anything like you've told me then there should be nothing to worry about. How about stepping outside and letting off some steam unless you want to try and take on one of those quincy. You see how they look at us. Their opinions certainly haven't changed." Crossing his arms with a drawn out sigh.
"You got that right. We could all die and I think they'd be happier for it. However Ichigo clearly values us if he put us in charge and since Aizen didn't object to that decision then maybe Ichigo really does have the lunatic on a leash." Harribel nodded sagely while Nel just picked up a struggling Lilynette with a bright smile. The mood had lightened between the former Espada. All of them had been put in positions of power much higher than the quincy. Ichigo had gifted them all new schrifts but the quincy were still weaker than any of their Segunda Etapa.
"I'm just glad Ichi has enough faith in us to make us commanders over the quincy. I have two weirdos, who do you have Grimmjow?" The panther in question ran his hand through his hair before shoving his hands in his pockets. All of them were allowed modified versions of their uniforms so Grimmjow took that to the fullest and recreated his old uniform.
"I used both of them for target practice and they made me release my Segunda Etapa so they're strong at least. Granted the only reason they did was because of the power boost they got from the strawberry." Both of them turned to Harribel and she just nodded her agreement to both statements.
Lilynette sat on Starrk's back as she pouted in the corner before Grimmjow decided to head out of the room.
"Later." Nonchalantly sending a wave over his shoulder while Nel called out an energetic goodbye.
"You really should just let me sleep, you know?" Everyone peered over at Starrk as he finally spoke since arriving. Lilynette slowly grew red in the face before kicking the wolf with all her might as steam erupted from her ears.
After listening to the dull thud, Grimmjow considered his options. He couldn't just kill someone to let off his steam as that might get Ichigo on his ass. Maybe a walk outside wouldn't be so bad after all.
Moving through the halls with his hands thoroughly stuffed in his pockets, Grimmjow made his way to the exit of the structure they had called their base of operations. Once exiting he took in a deep breath. The air was dense with spiritual particles. It would seem that next to nobody used them so they were all for the Nachtreichs taking and for their utilization.
"Now isn't this a surprise commander." Giving a low grunt he allowed the two quincy to move behind him before twisting around and grabbing the hand that was aimed to shatter his spine. After which a small explosion of both air pressure cracked the ground.
"What kind of bitch punch was that punk?" Bazz grit his teeth before spitting at Grimmjow's feet. Bambietta moved to her commanders right while Bazz took the left.
"So what're you doing out here kitty?" Brushing off the attack on his pride, Nelliel really was beginning to rub off on his personality.
"Don't worry about it, shouldn't both of you be training your new vollstandig now anyways?" Bambietta sighed exaggeratedly.
"But that's no fun." Her smile betrayed her true intentions, not that he needed to see it to notice it, the inflection in her voice was enough of an indicator however he ignored it in favor of sending out his pesquisa. There had to be something interesting going on at this point in time. One, two, three. There were a lot of signatures that almost equaled his power. They barely moved since the last time he checked though and it's not like he could just go there by himself, even with his whole forces he'd still get stomped with the combined power of the whole group. Still he could get close and at least grab some information and maybe take a hostage or two.
Grimmjow took some time to consider his options before finally deciding on a course of action. Stepping away from their stronghold he motioned for them to follow.
"There's a village a fair bit north, I hope you wimps can keep up." Not missing a beat he vanished in a sonic boom.
"Should we really follow him?" Bambietta dusted off her uniform before turning to Bazz.
"Not like we have much of a choice, he did beat us within an inch of our lives. I doubt he'd have much trouble doing so again if he wanted to, best stay on his good side and just deal with it till we can kill him." Nodding in agreement, Bambietta vanished in Hirenkyaku. Bazz chose to pause a moment to consider his own words before speeding off as well. It wouldn't be a good idea to suggest following and be the last one to catch up.
"What do you mean we're under arrest!?" When Bridgette and Stefan had attempted to enter the city limits they had been stopped and after identifying themselves and their nation of origin they had been brought into a side room for questioning. There was somebody calling themselves a mage trying to get them to admit to threatening the town.
"Listen, for the thousandth time, we're here merely to purchase some clothes and sightsee. We're not here to invade or bring harm to the people." The guards were still on edge and the mage wasn't letting up.
"Then what's with the military uniform? Do you just enter cities without informing of your arrival? Are you an envoy? I could understand if you were a merchant but you lack any currency! How were you planning on paying for anything here or were you just going to steal everything and just walk out like nothing happened?" Bridgette pinched her brow.
"I'm about done with your bullshit right now. If you really want us to leave then we'll leave." Standing up she moved for the door but the guards had other ideas. Moving in they aimed their spears towards the quincy. Seeing her smirk, Stefan tried to calm the situation down.
"Now Bridgette, there is no need to get violent." It took a moment but all the ends of the spears were on the ground and Bridgette held her spirit weapon in hand. It took the appearance of a Liu Ye Dao and she held it across her chest as if to strike again.
Spotting the mage about to cast a spell he used Hirenkyaku to pin him against the wall, Stefan's face now carried a sense of purpose. He was a soldat after all, he had to be able to be serious when the time called for it. These weaklings couldn't hold a candle to the shinigami that they had fought in both invasions. Even the 10th seats were stronger than these people. The guards still in shock barely noticed the two vanish before their eyes.
After moving far from sight of the city both let out defeated sighs. At least they had some level of information to bring back. The city itself was weak as well as they did get a grasp of the local wardrobe. That would be useful information.
"That was fun but I don't think we can get away with something like that again, we almost failed our mission." Bridgette could do little more than nod in agreement. After they were done catching their breath they decided to just head back to the Nachtreich and report to their chain of command.
Askin enjoyed walking the halls of the Nachtreich. It was calming in a sense and if nothing else then it gave him time to think upon the plan Lille had proposed. What was the best way to inflict chaos without spending too much effort in accomplishing it. Ichigo held their respect so it would only be natural to either disrupt that or make sure the kid never got involved. In that case then it would make sense to wait till he was off running some errand. As for the disruption itself it would make sense to utilize the unease between them and the hollows however doing that would give Aizen more reason to be suspicious of the quincy's movements. No, it would be stupid to use them so brazenly. But what if he kept it isolated to a select few individuals? Keep it contained so that the few take the fall for the success of the majority? That might just work.
While he was musing to himself, Askin had found himself on the 3rd sublevel. This peaked his interest as he had never been down here as of yet. According to the brief he had received as part of the elite guard this was security and training.
Moving through the halls and peaking into a few doors he found that many of the soldat were training. As he was part of the elite guard he had no reason to check on the soldat but it was nice to know that they continued their training as if another war with the shinigami was on the horizon. It would seem that Ichigo had motivated them more so than Yhwach had.
'Not bad for a kid.' It was a stray thought but he had seen the loyalty that he inspired from the hollows and if that could also be transferred to the soldat then that had to be worth something. 'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'
Finally he reached a larger training ground where he found, unsurprisingly, Quilge Opie overseeing the training of his new unit. He was put in charge of the quick reaction force, or QRF as Ichigo enjoyed calling it. He had assigned the best members of the soldat as well as the most promising under the Jails command. It was a sight to marvel at, those poor souls. He was putting them through hell and dragging them out only to subject them to worse and worse. It wouldn't surprise Askin if Quilge had them training since he was assigned to be the units commander.
"The future of the Nachtreich will be interesting to say the least. If the reports are true, this world isn't that advanced or strong. Yes, interesting is the word for the future. Glad I managed to get in on this. It'll be fun to watch." Turning around, Askin ventured back the way he had come. There was nothing left to see here that he wanted to explore. Perhaps he would pester Lille for a while. With a grin he slowly moved up the stairs that led to the upper levels.
"I assume you have sensed their return." Ichigo lowered his head in response. The soldat he had sent to the nearby settlement wasn't due to return for another day or two, this might be an issue.
"Yes I have. Something went wrong. The fear I feel in their reiatsu is more than an indicator." Aizen let out a low chuckle. Ichigo couldn't even help the smile as he felt Liltotto's reiatsu spike.
"They're not dead so there is some hope for those two." Pushing up his glasses, Aizen took consideration of his fellow lord's words.
"You think they show promise?" Ichigo nodded without hesitation.
"Yes. I think that they're going to be quite valuable to us in the future. They're powerful and have more than enough room to grow. I suggest moving them out of the support unit and into the offensive unit however they're skills may not develop as I have foreseen if we do that." Ichigo closed his eyes as a headache overcame him.
"Are you alright?" Ichigo waved off the false concern.
"Your impression is making things worse. If you must know though, it's the Almighty. Still haven't fully gotten it under control and occasionally it'll just activate on its own." Aizen attempted to mask his inquisitive nature behind those fake glasses. For some reason the megalomaniac managed to procure a pair and Ichigo felt it was more to mock him than anything else. He knew it was all an act but he didn't want to waste the energy to address it.
"The Almighty? So you did inherit that ability from Yhwach when you absorbed him." Ichigo could only nod rather than humor Aizen with a response.
"Yes and before you address the other issue at hand I did feel them head towards that smaller village. I've been tracking them from the start." Another reason why the Almighty had been acting up. He had wanted to use it more often but his mind was still getting accustomed to the foresight and it only gave him blurry glimpses of the future regardless so it wasn't the most reliable ability till he had trained it up.
"I had figured that you were on top of that situation, you had predicted it would happen after all." Ichigo's face twitched in a momentary feeling of anger before he relaxed. The smirk of success was more than enough proof that Aizen had been messing with him just to get a rise out of the carrot top.
"Flattery will get you nowhere soon Aizen. Now why are you really here?" Ichigo was genuinely curious at this point since Aizen wouldn't have come to him without at least 4 reasons and only one of them was to mess with him by asking about obvious situations already taking place. Maybe another was to see if Ichigo was as competent as he had been trained to be. A test perhaps set up between him and Kyoka. Either way there was more to him being here than just that.
"Indeed there is an actual reason for my being here." He pushed up his glasses again as the false light from the ceiling reflected off of the lenses. "Project Genesis is almost complete." Finally, something that would bring a smile to his face.
"Is that so? Then I guess it's time, inform Szayel if you would. Make sure he is well aware of the consequences of failure on his part." Aizen nodded before vanishing in a modified Shunpo.
Finally in peace for a moment Ichigo leaned back in his chair before closing his eyes and opening them again. In the second it took him to blink his eyes shifted. Now they had three pupils each at intervals. It was time to take a peek at the fruits of their labor.
Ichigo watched the river of time pass before him before he locked onto the most likely flow of time and zoomed in on the immediate future, rather than getting what he wanted he still saw the clearest vision he had since he started using the ability.
He stood in a field by a village, possibly the one Grimmjow had ventured off to? On one side of the field were two individuals; one, a female in full, pitch black plate armor, and a much larger being who had covered their face is some kind of red and green mask. The masked figure carried themselves with pride as each movement they made was without wasted movement. He also wore a fully covering cloak that billowed in the wind. Ichigo could tell that both of these people were a part of that group that had suddenly appeared in this world as he had. They boasted massive reiatsu reserved on par with Kenpachi with the masked one being of possibly royal guard quality. Dangerous individuals indeed.
The other side of the field held nothing but weaklings. The unmasked individual that stood front and center of the group held the most power but he was only worthy of a lower ranking shinigami, maybe 12th seat with room to grow. He appeared rather young so in maybe a decade he could reach around 10th seat. Given the power of the group of two, the likelihood of the blond human surviving that long was in question.
Ichigo didn't know how far into the future this event was going to happen but if the clearness of the situation was an indicator then it was going to happen soon. It was evening in the vision so the worst case scenario was that this was going to happen that same day. Ichigo didn't have a sense of time during the activation of the Almighty but last he recalled it was around noon. He would only have a few hours at the most.
Closing his eyes Ichigo returned to the present, he didn't need to stay to find the outcome of the battle to reveal Grimmjow's involvement. He already had a vague idea as to what the panther would do and that battle was settled before it even began. Humans can be idiots at times. He hadn't forsaken his humanity yet but that didn't mean he wasn't above calling his own species out from time to time. Maybe Aizen had rubbed off on him too much.
Rising from his chair, Ichigo vanished in a mix of Shunpo, Sonido and Hirenkyaku. This boosted his speed three-fold. Grimmjow in his Segunda Etapa couldn't hope to compete, in fact, Aizen was probably the only one that could out do this speed but that was only in his advanced form and even then Ichigo could always use Bankai to negate any advantage in speed Aizen may have had at that point.
Speeding through the halls Ichigo contemplated what his next move should be. It would probably be for the best to leave his reiatsu hidden and sneak up. If Grimmjow and his subordinates are put in harm's way then he'll intervene, other than that he would simply observe and see how the situation plays out.
Grimmjow landed at the treeline surrounding Carne Village. Not a moment later and he was flanked by Bambietta and Bazz-B.
"Che, these are all weaklings. There are only two people of note in this village." Both of his companions frowned in response. They lacked the ability to sense the reiatsu of those around them, having given up that ability to instead refine and hone their combat abilities. After a moment of thought Grimmjow figured it might be better to train that skill in them before they go and get themselves killed. It would be a shame to come home one day and explain to Ichigo why he had just lost his direct subordinates in a fight they couldn't win while also revealing that he did nothing to correct their shortcomings. He wouldn't hear the end of it.
"What're we planning to do then commander?" It would appear that they've gotten a bit serious. Grimmjow nodded to a field where a battle was being waged.
"We're gonna watch them, take notes as any information might be useful to Ichigo and Aizen. Keep your power suppressed and no matter what, don't intervene. They are insects unworthy of the notice of the Nachtreich." Both gave a curt salute before following Grimmjow along the treeline to get a better view of the battle. It would appear that several constructs of magical nature were battling against what appeared to be guard of some kind. Opposing factions? Grimmjow decided to take note of the sigils on both of the groups.
Watching the beatdown that was taking place was getting Grimmjow pumped for a fight, if he held himself back then he might even get a good fight. He would have to go hand to hand and negate his Hierro and avoid using any cero or bala. That might just work out but then again Ichigo would have his head if he just went out because what if those people had something up their sleeves? It would be best just to lay low and continue watching from a distance. It upset him how much sense Ichigo could make when he put his dense brain to good use.
After a few minutes of watching there was only one left standing on the defending side of the battle. Some warrior, if he had remembered Ichigo's scaling chart then the warrior might be around 10th seat or maybe a bit higher. Not bad for a human. Not great but worthy of attention with him being a human.
He didn't really pay attention to what they were talking about but after the human took many attacks from the constructs head on he still got back up and he could admire that about the man. Maybe he should learn the man's name. He might be a good pet to keep around.
Grimmjow was about to step in when he heard the command to kill the warrior but before he could the man was phased out before two figures replaced him. This was bad, these two are part of the group all the commanders had been warned against fighting. He opened his Pesquisa and frowned. The female in plate armor was around his strength when he used his resurrection but there was no guarantee that she didn't have an alternate form, neither of them could be human with that kind of power. The cloaked figure was at least on par with his resurrection. It was no wonder they had been advised against engaging with these individuals. With that kind of power they could challenge the Nachtreich and might even come out on top if they played their cards right.
Easing his mind he continued to lay low as the two groups conversed with each other. Clearly the two were more powerful so why did the blond human continue to insinuate that he was stronger? It was a waste of time. Maybe in the past he would have done the same but that was behind him now, after Aizen and Ichigo along with the other he had reached the peak of his powers and there were still those that could crush him with only their spiritual pressure so it was a waste of time to just run in head first like he had once done. Even these people were on par with him. Really put things into perspective after you get your face punched in by multiple people.
Things started to heat up when the blond human sent 2 of the constructs that stabbed the cloaked figure, Grimmjow thought he introduced himself as Ainz Ooal Gown. Of course that didn't work as Ainz crushed the constructs with ease. As expected of someone of that power. However the blond wasn't done however as he sent the rest of the constructs at Ainz in a vain attempt to finish off the mage, he guessed that was how this world referred to people that could harness reiatsu. That didn't work as, after sending away his accomplice, Ainz destroyed all the constructs with one attack. Nothing a cero couldn't do but still all of these attacks were new to Grimmjow and he took note of the names of the spells used, he would have to give a detailed report when Ichigo inevitably found out about his absence.
The human seemed to be worried now and sent out the larger construct that was floating behind him however that too was taken out with just one hit. Then the human brought out a crystal, this was of note to Grimmjow, and summoned something that rivaled Lieutenant power. Still nothing to worry about but a human being able to just summon one of those, even with the help of that relic, seemed a bit much. However the power gap between Ainz and the construct was still vast and Grimmjow doubted that he would have any trouble dealing with it.
Looking behind him he saw the look on the Sternritter. They were weaker than him and had been previously beaten by beings with the power of the construct so it was no surprise when he saw them hold a bit of anger and fear in their eyes.
"We can't help, I know you hate those fuckers but we can't run in like a bunch of idiots. Sit down, shut up and keep watching." He only got nods with the gritting of teeth from them but Grimmjow accepted that as the best he would get at the moment and faced forward just in time to see the construct unleash a power attack on Ainz that would have given him some trouble in his base form at one time. Now it was just a fancy lightshow. As per his previous line of thinking Ainz destroyed the construct with a single spell.
These beings were dangerous and he would have to move with caution in the future. Not long after Ainz removed his mask and Grimmjow had to hold himself back as a skeleton revealed itself underneath. A hollow perhaps. Not likely as this new world lacked the ability to fully utilize the reiatsu that permeated the air but the resemblance to Barragan twisted a knife in Grimmjow's stomach.
Right when he was about to move in again he felt a presence behind him and in self defense he started charging up a cero before Ichigo crushed it in his fist.
"You idiot." Before Grimmjow could ask about when he meant he felt something was off once more and turned to see that all the mages were gone and both Ainz and the knight in plate armor were looking in their direction.
"Well shit."