Chapter 18: Ichigo vs Oko Yushima

The man stood at the ready as Ichigo simply stood in place and simply stared up at him. The look in those eyes caused the man to swallow the lump in his throat before getting into stance. Whatever Ichigo's power was, would be detrimental to him and his plan, and he would not allow that to happen here when he was so close. Deciding to test his strength, the man spun his weapon and opened another rift to fire a few kido spells that he stopped from earlier in his confrontations with the captains. It was a captain's level sokatsui that sailed towards Ichigo at lightning speeds, yet Ichigo stood completely still and unfazed by the attack. Without even moving an inch, the second blade made out of the black fire moved in front of Ichigo and knocked the attack away with no effort whatsoever. The attack went on to hit an empty storage shed and destroy it completely in the process.

"Hmm." The man started to himself, not too surprised by the second blade's primary function. Though, it was slightly surprising to see it bat away a captain level kido like it was nothing. He would have to be very careful whenever he attacks the human.

Ichigo tilted his head ever so slightly and gave a slight smirk. The man prepared himself for an attack until he felt a hand grab his shoulder from behind. Quickly turning his head, he saw Ichigo standing there with his free hand on his shoulder. Before the man could even say anything or react, Ichigo threw him to the ground with a tremendous amount of force. Everyone watching were completely stunned by what they just saw, especially since Ichigo seemed to now be in two places at once somehow.

"H-how?" Uryu stated with his mouth agape.

"I've heard of this method of speed being used by an arrancar before back in Las Noches." Yoruichi started as she had read a report from Byakuya of his encounter with the seventh espada back during the Winter War. She was impressed by the arrancar's speed but mainly read it to tease Byakuya on the fact that he used her technique to save himself during said fight. "It may seem that Ichigo's in two places at once, but that must be because of his insane speed now more than anything else."

"No." Halibel spoke and got everyone's attention. "Zommari's speed was impressive and far surpassed most of ours outside of our Resurreccion's, but whatever Ichigo is doing is not based on his speed."

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked her.

"Usually whenever anyone uses sonido or your shunpo, there is a slight trail of spirit energy that allows others with superior reiatsu to see their movements. It even applied to Zommari whenever he used his Gemelos Sonido, I could still see that trail. With Ichigo though," she paused and looked back up to the Ichigo in the air and then back to the one on the ground. "It's almost like there are two of him instead of one using the Gemelos Sonido."

"Almost like a clone." Renji spoke up as the dust from the ground cleared.

The man stood up on shaky legs and looked to the Ichigo in front of him before noticing the one still in the air. The one in the air raised his blade into the air while the one on the ground did the same. Not wanting to see what would happen if he stayed there, the man leapt away just as both Ichigo's swung, causing a large torrent of energy to clash against each other. There was a small explosion that kicked up dust and blocked the man's vision for a moment. That was all the time Ichigo needed to appear right in front of him and bring his sword down. The man held his weapon up and blocked the strike, though the sheer force and power behind that one move caused a crater to form at his feet. While he used both hands to hold his weapon to block, Ichigo was only using one hand the entire time.

"Tell us," Ichigo started in those voices once again. "Who are you really?"

The man gritted his teeth as he tried and failed to push Ichigo off of him. "M-My name is O-O-Oko Yushima."

"You created Nozomi and Kageroza?"

"T-That's right."

"Why?"

Oko, having enough of this force bearing down on him, was able to move his body away from Ichigo and get out of the deadlock. He panted as Ichigo stood there staring at him. "I created those two mod souls as I was the one who developed mod souls in the beginning." He stood up and looked at Ichigo in his eyes. "Those two were extensions of myself that when brought together would make me whole once more so I may take my revenge on the soul society."

"So, both Nozomi and Kageroza were just apart of you that you yourself separated for revenge?" Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

"You know nothing human!" Oko shouted out. "Relying on other people is what drives you! It is a weakness that others share time and time again all because they themselves are weak! Once I knew this, I shed away from those I deemed weaker than me and achieved a power nobody else has!"

"You think relying on others is weak?"

"I've had to rely solely on myself for my entire life and look at what I've accomplished!" He held his arms out as the destruction down below was visible to the teen. "I will not be denied my vengeance! Let alone from some freak of nature like you, ICHIGO KUROSAKI!"

He spun his weapon and disappeared like usual. Everyone watching were on edge as Oko appeared far behind Ichigo, yet nothing happened. Ichigo turned around towards him and had his head down for a moment.

"If you truly believe that wholeheartedly," he started once more before holding his free hand out. The other Ichigo that was still in the air at the time landed next to him and turned into the black flames. It went into Ichigo's hand and formed the same blade he held in his right hand, much to everyone's surprise. "Then we shall show you that there is strength in numbers, and that no matter how powerful you are, without help," he raised his head and looked at Oko with a scowl, "you will always lose."

Oko prepared himself as now Ichigo had three blades. One in each hand and the other one still floating defensively. He gritted his teeth and once again spun his weapon, intent on ending this foolish human once and for all, but once he was in range, he found that Ichigo's floating blade blocked his attack.

"What!?"

That was all he could say before Ichigo went for an upward slash with his right. The defensive sword moved out of the way long enough for the strike to connect. Fortunately for Oko, the strike only his weapon. Unfortunately, the force behind the strike pushed him back considerably. He regained his balance just in time to avoid a strike from Ichigo's left. He went to attack only for the defensive blade to parry his attacks repeatedly all while Ichigo slowly walked over toward him. Oko used shunpo and put a considerable distance between him and the teen.

Ichigo decided to go on the offensive this time as he rushed over to Oko with speed that left dust in his wake. He brought his right up and down onto Oko's weapon, causing shockwaves to come from the exchange. Oko was forced to dodge and block as best as he could, but the power and strength in each blow was too much for him. He found his opportunity and spun his weapon to get away from Ichigo's strikes, but that was in vain as Ichigo turned to where he had just landed and sent an arch of blue energy towards him. Oko smirked as he spun his weapon once more in hopes of absorbing the attack as he had done so many others, but he realized too late that he couldn't absorb it for some reason. He instead blocked it as best as he could before spinning his blade once more. This time he appeared behind Ichigo and attempted to bypass the defense sword with his speed, but that was not the case as the floating blade stopped him. The next thing it did terrified Oko while causing everyone else to stare in shock and awe once more.

The blade turned into an arm made out of the black flames and grabbed onto Oko's weapon tightly.

"We were waiting for this moment." Ichigo spoke as he turned around showing glowing red eyes. Suddenly, the pressure descended upon the man intensely and spread out through the entirety of the Seireitei. Everyone watched with bated breath of just what was going to happen next.

"What are you-" Oko didn't get far as Ichigo brought both blades together to form one and black flames seemed to explode high into the air from the blade. "Let go!" Oko shouted out as he tried to free his weapon from the arms grasp to no avail. The flames grew and even the very fire that formed Ichigo's hair did the same, coating the dark flame with an orange hue. "LET GOOOOO!"

"Goodbye Oko." Ichigo started as he brought his blade down. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!"

The explosion that resulted from Ichigo bringing his blade down was nothing short of a spectacle. The entirety of the Seireitei was utterly rocked from the sheer force and reiatsu released from Ichigo's attack. Everyone watching from the round level had to brace themselves as the force from the attack reached them and even further beyond, causing a few to fly back. Even the captains and reigai were struggling to stay upright from the force of the attack. There was a large black fire that spread throughout most of the hill and reached high into the air, so high in fact that it destroyed the dome above and rose even higher. This lasted for only a few seconds, but for most it felt like an eternity. On the hill Orihime was trying her best to shield everyone from the force of the explosion and was being fed energy by Yoruichi and Halibel to keep the shield up for them.

Once the explosion and subsequent force ended, there was a large crater that stretched to nearly all ends of the hill and was at least twenty or so meter deep. In the center of it all was Oko Yushima laying there with several burn marks all over him and his weapon broken beyond belief. He was laying there on the ground as smoke covered the entire area and some parts of the crater being completely smooth like glass.

Ichigo stood on solidified air where the ground below him used to be. He lowered his blade and looked down towards the semi-conscious man far down below. After a quick look to see that he was in fact still alive, Ichigo looked towards the dark arm still in front of him. The arm turned towards him, still balled into a fist from holding Oko's weapon, and opened its palm. The golden handle was still relatively intact, and the arm offered it towards its master. Ichigo nodded, knowing just what to do. He reached his free hand out and grabbed ahold of the handle. In the similar rush that he felt from the others, Ichigo was once again brought into his inner world. The skyscrapers were all on fire all around him and he could do nothing but smirk at this as the flames were not threatening to him or his soul. He breathed in and realized just how at peace his mind felt despite the seeming chaos all around him. Once he finished breathing, he turned to see a figure cowering away from the flames.

The figure was a little boy that looked similar to Nozomi. His hair was green and reached down to his mid back. He was wearing a golden coat over a white yukata and a red obi. His skin was normal but there were red markings on his forearms that reached to both his entire hands. Ichigo went over to him and knelt down to who he knew was Oko's zanpakuto.

"It's okay." Ichigo started as he placed his hand on the zanpakuto's head, receiving and flinch from the child. "You're gonna be okay, Sumitsukigasa."

Just like before, both felt a slight pain in their heads, Ichigo ignoring his, while the child held onto his head in pain. Just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. Sumitsukigasa raised his head and Ichigo could see the golden eyes the zanpakuto had. He smiled towards him and received a smile in return. With that, Ichigo left his inner world and was back in the present. The golden handle that was in his hand vanished and caused Ichigo to smile to himself as he knew just what this meant.

He looked down to Oko and his smile left him. There was one last thing to do. Ichigo let himself drop down to where Oko was laid out and he landed not too far away. He walked over to the man and stood over him noticing the near blank look in his eyes and the shallow rising and falling of his chest that was now bare. Most of his outfit had been destroyed with the blast. Ichigo closed his eyes and focused. All the knowledge and information from Oko's life flowed into his mind and he was looking for exactly what he knew was here. While he was doing that, his friends and his girls all went to the edge of the crater and watched eagerly to what Ichigo was about to do. The captains, lieutenants and their reigai all joined them and watched just what Ichigo was about to do.

Smiling to himself, Ichigo opened his eyes that were now golden as he found his answer. He knelt down to Oko and placed his left hand on the man's chest. What happened next was surprisingly simple for him as his hand glowed a golden energy and slowly went into Oko's body. For a few seconds, everyone was on bated breath until a surge bright purple energy appeared and Ichigo pulled with no effort at all. To everyone's surprise, Ichigo pulled out an arm and then the rest of the body of Nozomi Kujo from Oko's body. She was still in the white yukata as Ichigo pulled her into his chest and was relieved to see her still breathing steadily.

"Now, it is over."

That's the end of this chapter. Wanted to show off Ichigo's insane power on this fic and the culmination of his Bankai here. I think I did pretty well, but what did you guys think?

The next chapter is the last chapter of this fic and will be one step closer to my goal of finishing my stories now to get to the crossover. This Ichigo will be in it.

Other fics that are almost finished that will be in the crossover are: Chibi Hollow and Redo and Change.

Anyway, stay awesome and as always...

PEACE1