Chapter 14: Battle to Nozomi

It took some time, but Ichigo was finally able to pry his three girls off of him, much to their dismay, and explain what had happened to him when he was in the Precipice World. To say that they were surprised was an understatement to say the least. After they explained the real situation to him on what's been going on since he disappeared, Ichigo was perplexed. It turns out that Kageroza and Nozomi were mod souls of one person. Kageroza wanted to get Nozomi back to merge back with her so they could both inhabit the original body once more and destroy the soul society.

"So, where are they right now?" Ichigo asked them as they all stood up.

"We don't know where specifically, but we're pretty sure he would need a lab to perform the experiment." Yoruichi answered him. "That makes the research and development building a top priority Ichigo."

"Okay." Ichigo started. "Where's Halibel and Nel by the way?" He was concerned for them since he hadn't felt anything from the two since he returned.

"Neliel is back in the world of the living while Halibel is with captain Hitsugaya and the rest of the lieutenants planning on defeating Kageroza's reigai." Rukia answered him.

Ichigo nodded as they needed to leave and find the others in the hopes of winning this battle, until a few more presences made themselves known to the four. They turned to see the reigai forms of captains Soi-Fon, Komamura and Kurotsuchi along with lieutenants Hisagi and Izuru. The fakes stood in front of the four as they looked on in slight shock at the orange haired teens survival.

"It seems you are truly full of surprises, Kurosaki." Blue Soi-Fon started with a sneer as she, much like her original, hated how close the boy was to her own personal goddess.

"Yep, I'm all kinds of stubborn." Ichigo spoke to her as he saw the four reigai get into stance. Ichigo summoned Hyorinmaru and got into his own stance. "And that's why I won't allow any of what Kageroza's planning to come to fruition."

"Then it is time that you died for real." Blue Soi-Fon nearly growled out through her teeth. "I've always wanted to kill you Kurosaki. Now," she let out a chuckled and a smirk, "I get to fulfill that desire."

"We will take him together." Blue Komamura started as he glanced over to the redying lieutenants and noticed that the mad scientist was going to observe from afar. "Hisagi, you take the left-"

Blue Soi-Fon didn't bother to listen as her eyes began to spark violently as she saw Yoruichi standing next to the boy. It angered her that this human was able to take her goddess' heart, so she wanted to rip his out herself. Using Shunpo, she flashed towards Ichigo quickly, ignoring the planning that Blue Komamura had started, and was within range in seconds. She went to strike with her sealed zanpakuto only for it to be blocked by Ichigo's Hyorinmaru. Yoruichi acted quickly and kicked Blue Soi-Fon away and decided to deal with her herself.

Ichigo then decided not to waste anytime as he fired a large ice dragon at the group, causing them to scatter. Once they did that, he fired off a powerful ball of snow towards Blue Izuru at impressive speeds. The fake didn't have enough time to dodge it, so he used his shikai as a makeshift shield to absorb most of the blast. He still felt the cold chill and the force of the attack as he was forced to the ground, but he soon stood up, ready for a fight. He wouldn't have to wait long as Ichigo appeared in front of him in a literal nanosecond and delivered a powerful slash with both Katen Kyokotsu blades in an X pattern that completely destroyed the fake. Blue Komamura growled as he summoned his Bankai in the hopes of defeating the teen quickly.

Ichigo smirked to himself. "Perfect."

Ichigo then brought out Nozarashi and the sight of the jagged sword sent Blue Komamura on edge. The fake knew how hard his counterpart faired against the actual Kenpachi, but to see Ichigo wield the brutes power would be something else entirely. He prepared himself as he had assumed that Ichigo would fight just like Kenpachi in terms of power, big mistake.

"Drink, Nozarashi!" Ichigo shouted out as the yellow energy flared once again and swirled around him, causing everyone there to stare in shock at what they were seeing.

Ichigo then stood there with the large cleaver resting upon his shoulder once again and looked straight towards the stunned, fake captain. Blue Komamura had no clue how the teen did it, but somehow he reached heights of power Kenpachi would have never achieved and had the spirit energy to back it up. The shikai might have been enough to even rival if not surpass the foxy fakes Bankai.

Blue Kurotsuchi watched with both a mix of intrigue and fear in his eyes. Kenpachi was a brute, no doubt about that and Ichigo was simply a smarter brute, but mix those two things together and you get an adversary that is leaps and bounds ahead in power. Now that the teen has figured out Kenpachi's shikai however, that makes him even more powerful with the brute's blade. Knowing that even if he stepped in would be more a detriment than an advantage, Blue Kurotsuchi left the battle in order to inform his leader on this recent development.

While this was going on, Blue Hisagi watched in both awe and fear at this display of power. There was no way he could even make a dent into anything Ichigo had right now and the fake knew it. Thinking quickly, he looked over and Rukia and Orihime also in a state of shock and decided to us this to his advantage with one goal in mind. Capture one of them, and Ichigo will submit. Moving as fast as he could, Blue Hisagi rushed towards the two distracted girls, zanpakuto in hand and went for a swing that Rukia would most likely attempt to block or evade. Imagine his surprise though when Ichigo's hand grabbed at his blade with no resistance whatsoever.

"Thanks for that." Ichigo smirked to him as the light teal energy encased him much like the others.

In Ichigo's inner world, he stood atop one of his skyscrapers and watched as a set of dark ones with broken glass appeared off in the distance. Ichigo smirked as he saw this and caught the glimpse of his other spirits on their own buildings watching alongside him. Ichigo nodded to them as they nodded in return and he leapt towards his newest spirit. When he landed, Ichigo immediately had to dodge as the familiar scythe-like weapon held together by a chain. Ichigo saw the familiar tall, and thin spirit standing there panting hard in anger. His dark skin along with the red outline ever present as well as the black pieces of clothing he had on his neck, wrists and the pants.

Ichigo smiled as the spirit pulled the chain hard in hopes of decapitating the brat that somehow brought him here. He grinned as the spinning blade came closer and closer to Ichigo, hoping that this would work. No such luck as Ichigo ducked under it and looked towards the spirit once more.

"You can stop that now, Kazeshini." The teen said in a calming tone. Like before, the pain came to them both and vanished just as fast as it arrived. "I must be getting used to this." Ichigo said to himself as he looked to the calmed Kazeshini.

Said spirit grinned himself and placed one of the scythe's on his shoulder. "This is gonna be fun."

Ichigo awoke outside of his inner world and broke through the energy containing him. He now had a tint of red in his hair and a dark bracelet on both his wrists. The blade was in his left hand and ready for a battle with a host who appreciated battle. Both fakes stood back as Ichigo then spoke the words that the real Hisagi had always spoke in dire situations. All while still holding the massive cleaver on his right shoulder.

"Reap, Kazeshini."

In a flash of light teal, Ichigo summoned the long chain and scythe's of Kazeshini. While one was within his left hand, the chain wrapped around his shoulder and the other scythe hung off him. Blue Hisagi paled as he could no longer feel his zanpakuto spirit or anything from his blade for that matter. He gritted his teeth and quickly backed away to the impostor captain.

"This isn't going our way captain." He spoke up as he flinched a little at seeing the grin on Ichigo's face.

"I know Hisagi." Blue Komamura responded, deciding that this was not going to end in a victory.

Without a moments hesitation, the large fox man raised his arm, subsequently raising the giants arm as well, and brought it down. His hope is that this would provide an adequate enough distraction, though that was cut short when the dust cleared and Ichigo was standing there, unfazed and with Nozarashi extended out, blocking the attack with ease.

"I-Impossible." Blue Komamura stuttered out as he saw Ichigo's relaxed state at blocking the massive blade.

Rukia and Orihime were also stunned by how strong Ichigo was to not only hold such a large weapon in his hand, but to also stop the giants sword as well.

The fight between Blue Soi-Fon and Yoruichi also stopped once they saw what Ichigo did. The fake captain paled, seeing how effortlessly the boy managed to stop the attack and shuddered when he briefly turned his attention to her. Acting out of fear, Blue Soi-Fon retreated much to the chagrin of Yoruichi.

Ichigo smirked when he saw the petite, fake captain retreat and turned his attention back to the last two. "My turn."

Before Blue Hisagi could react, Ichigo had already thrown Kazeshini towards him and landed a deep cut onto the fakes shoulder. The fake grunted in pain as the sheer force of the throw was ten times stronger than how he or his original could have ever done. Ichigo then pulled back on the chain, calling the spinning scythe back and having it land a devastating slash onto Blue Komamura's back. The fox man yelled in pain as his focus shifted briefly to his injury. That was all the time Ichigo needed as he raised Nozarashi up, pushing the giants blade off of him, and rushed forward toward the captain. Blue Komamura reacted as fast as he could by throwing his fist out towards the attacking teen, but something was wrong. When he turned to his left, he saw that some sort of dark substance was holding onto his arm from his shadow. He widened his eyes as he turned around just in time to see Ichigo raise the large cleaver up and bring it down upon him. Try as he might, the reigai could not stop the attack in time and was cut down by the teen. He turned into dust after. Blue Hisagi saw the whole thing and decided to use the massive giants collapsing form as cover for his escape. He didn't get far as Ichigo had once again thrown Kazeshini towards him, but this time the chain wrapped around the reigai and Ichigo pulled him towards himself.

"Now then," Ichigo started as his girls stood beside him as he smiled towards them and then looked back to the fake. "Where's Nozomi?

Alright. Finished this chapter. Kinda short, but I haven't updated in a while so I just wanted to take things slow for now. This story is getting close to its end, most likely in about five or six chapters. I don't know yet, but it is getting close to ending.

Thanks to the absolutely lovely Corona Virus (I say sarcastically so no one gets upset), all my classes are now online, so it gives me more chances to write. I do hope that everyone reading this stays safe and keeps themselves clean. It may not be really that dangerous, unless you have a weak immune system, heart, lung or kidney disease, but lets all not go crazy out there. Okay?

Anyway, stay clean and awesome, and as always,

WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS...

AND PEACE!