Author's note : Must…have…reviews…(collapsed on the floor ). Nah just kidding. Sorry I was late but my laptop was dead for some reasons. Also I need to revised, reread and edit the few chaps I have written and do some research on demonology and demonism. BTW, I don't have a disclaimer, because that thing is useless. Anyone knows I would never own Bleach, Beelzebub or any kind of manga, ever. Anyway, here is chapter 7.
-Ichigo's apartment-
He was laying in his bed, squirming. Inside his head, he was laying too. But not on a bed, but a green grass field, on top of the last building still standing in the remnants of his inner world. Zangetsu would have loved to see some green in his world, but he wasn't here. Not anymore. Ichigo was laying in his mother's lap, her hands gently stroking his head. He had many questions, but couldn't find a way to speak. He just looked up at his mother, who was smiling so gently at him. Finally, she spoke.
"They will be coming soon."
And after that, his vision blurred. Her figured slowly faded away, as well as his vision. The last thing he could see was his mother soared toward the blue sky on a pair of angel wings. He reached out his hand, but caught air instead. With a sudden shock, he woke up. Reaching for his face, Ichigo could feel his tears were streaming down his cheeks. Quickly he wiped it away. He used to have dreams like this, after the period after his mother died. But that was a long time ago. Ichigo wondered if the dream had anything to do with his change in power, since she appeared in his inner world. And he wondered about who were the "they" she talked about. But, he didn't care. It's just a dream, right ? Slowly, Ichigo returned to sleep.
A few hours later, he woke up, still feeling so groggy. Looking at his new clock, it was just 6 AM, too soon to his liking. Turning his head to the right, he saw the girls still sleeping peacefully, and smiled. What he did last night was great, although it wasn't his idea of "resting before battle", it wasn't so bad. In fact, he was looking forward for more of these "occasions" with the girls. And then realization just hit him square in his face. In a rush, he didn't turn on the barrier in his room. And that meant he would never be able to live it down if his dad caught even the slightest sound of his late night activities. Or even worse, Yuzu would hear it since she was sleeping next door. He didn't care much about Karin, since she's a tomboy, she wouldn't give a damn, but still. Damn, it was going to be a very awkward morning if they knew.
Groaned, Ichigo lifted himself off bed without waking his girls up. Changed in his most comfortable clothes, he picked up baby Beel, who was also awoken since he woke up again. Having synched with each other had its advantage. It was like they could understand each other without a word, much like Ichigo and Chad having a conversation without talking. Men's talk is simple. After he snatched an empty milk bottle, Ichigo let Beel ride on his back and went downstairs. Ichigo found another surprise in the living room.
"Oh great, more surprise. Somehow surprises keep falling down from the sky to me." He muttered.
What he found was his father, who stood in front of his late wife's poster and smoked. And today wasn't her anniversary. It wasn't much longer when Ichigo found out why, since his father spoke.
"Masaki, our boy had finally become a man. Soon our house will be overrun with wonderfull grandchildren."
"Aw shit." Ichigo thought. "So you sort of knew ?" He asked his father, who had turned to him and smiled one of his rarely seen fatherly smile.
"Of course. I don't even have to put a glass against the door. Even the whole block could hear you, ahem, having a late night activity."
"Did the twins hear ?" Ichigo asked anxiously when he walked back to the kitchen and boiled some water.
"Nope. I put a kido seal on their room to prevent them from hearing anything. But seriously, you should put up the barrier. We built it for a reason." Isshin sighed as he sat down on the chair.
"You know, it kinda hard to focus when you got three babes fawning all over you." Ichigo said, not even blinking nor blushing at what he said. "By the way, can a gigai get pregnant ? I mean I even broke Hallibel's hymen last night, so I wonder if gigais can function like a human body."
"Well, probably not, but you will never know what the hell Kisuke is thinking. I tried to figure it out for a few decades but gave up halfway." Isshin said, inhaled another puff from his cigarette. "But you should be careful. I think Hilda can be pregnant easily."
"I'll be damned. Too late to worry about that anyway. Maybe next time better." Ichigo said as he poured milk into the bottle.
"Oh yes we expect that next time would be better as well." Hilda said.
Ichigo turned around and saw Hilda, Nell and Hallibel were already dressed and ready to leave. He gave Beel his bottle and gave each of the girls a morning kiss, and said goodbye to his father. Isshin had wanted to have Beel behind, but Hilda insisted on having Beel with them, as having experienced Ichigo's power in battle shall help him grow to be a fine demon king, to finally destroy mankind. Anyone else gave Ichigo a questioning look, and he just waved his hand dismissively, hinting them not to worry about it much. After they promised to return safely, Ichigo and the girls set off to the Candy Shop.
-Urahara's Candy Shop-
When Ichigo arrived at the humble shop, he found that his friends were already assembled there. He wished that he could have said goodbye to some of his friends in Soul Society, but since they were still busy with rebuilding it, as all manpower was needed, they couldn't come and visit. Tessai served the breakfast around the table, and as they discussed the plan one more time.
First, Ichigo, Chad, Nell, Hilda and Hallibel will get transported to the demon world by Alaindelon. Due to the large capacity, the destination will be off. They would just hope that it would not be too much. Also they only have about 30 seconds before Alaindelon have to close himself. Uryu and Orihime stayed behind to take care of Yolda and the Kurosaki twins, but mostly it depended all on Uryu, since Orihime would probably gave the kids food poisoning. Ichigo wouldn't trust his father one bit if he let him to take care of Yolda. Isshin was known to his ability to drive anyone to insanity faster than Kurotsuchi let his test subjects scream in fear. For all he know, Isshin would ask Yolda to make him grandchildren with Ichigo. The cleaning off hollows would be depended on Zennosuke, and if necessary, Urahara and the vizards.
After everyone was done with breakfast, Tessai and Ururu cleaned up with Tatsuki, who felt like she had nothing to do, and a bit disappointed she couldn't take part in this mission. After that anyone who would go to the demon world went down the training ground in the basement while the rest left, save for Urahara, who was dragging the gigais of Nell and Hallibel to one of his storage room. Tessai had set up a barrier surrounding the area where they could transport, so that the Arrancars could turn to their real form without having the Soul Society detecting any kind of disturbance in the reiatsu. Also it was to prevent the scanner of 12th Division to go haywire when Alaindelon opened up himself.
"Damn, somehow I'm still creeped out by the thought of entering an old man's body." Ichigo muttered. "No offense big guy."
"None taken." Alaindelon replied as he opened himself, revealed a portal spiraling inside his body.
"Go go go !" Hilda shouted before she jumped straight into him. Ichigo would soon follow and then Chad, Hallibel and Nell at last. Alaindelon soon disappeared in a flash of light.
-Somewhere in the Demon World-
"Okay, so where are we exactly ?" Ichigo asked.
They have landed in the middle of a small mountain, or maybe a hill, he didn't know. The sky was dark, and blackened clouds swirled in the middle of the sky. At least it wasn't raining. They were jumping into Alaindelon when a flash appeared, blinding them, and the next moment they were falling from the sky. Ichigo had caught Beel and Hilda in mid-air and land on the small road on the mountain easily, using reiatsu to harden his feet, while Nell and Hallibel sonidoed right next to him. Chad transformed his right arm and used it as a stand to cushion his fall. Ichigo didn't want to use Sonido, since that would make Beel sick, not that he wasn't able to use it. Alaindelon had crashed down against a small landslide, not so far away from them. Slowly he stood up, and staggered toward the rest of them.
"We are here at the mount of Mendes, which is under the jurisdiction of Baphomet, one of the legendary demons."
As Ichigo looked down from the mountain, he could saw the lines of caravans riding under his feet. The caravans were led by some kind of goat-like demons, armed with spears and chains. The caravans were caged with ragged wires and chained. Insides the cages were filled with humans, so Ichigo thought, all of them were apparently females. As for who he is, Ichigo couldn't stand the thought of people in chains and forced into slavery, especially women and children. Even if they weren't human, it was still a crime in his eyes.
"So what are these things doing down there ?" Ichigo asked, pointed down below.
"Offer to Baphomet." Hilda said in a tone equal to any professional tourist guide. "Those females are offered as sex slaves to him, as for those traders to gain favor from Baphomet."
"You don't seem to speak so highly from him." Hallibel remarked.
"I have nothing against him. I hate those merchant. I was once captured by them, together with Yolda. We were lucky that we were sold to Lord Beelzebub. For those who weren't so lucky, they were sold and raped by Baphomet."
"Oh no. No not her. Please it can't be true." Alaindelon began to cry.
"What happened ?" Ichigo asked the guy, a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"My daughter, Angelina. The slave traders captured her. She just sent me a message through our power. Please Ichigo-dono, you must save her." Alaindelon were crying in misery, and Ichigo felt sorry for the guy. "She said she is on the way to Baphomet, and I think she is just below us."
"Don't worry. I was planning to trash them all down there. All the more excuses we have to destroy them. Chad, you with me ?"
The giant just nodded in response.
"I'm sorry I couldn't go Ichigo." Hilda said. "As a servant of the Demon King, if I cause trouble on someone else's turf, it could lead to a war between the kingdoms."
"Don't fret over it." Ichigo said as he leaned closer and kissed her. "Stay here with Alaindelon, will you. Comfort him a little, and I will be back in a moment."
With Beel on his shoulder, he jumped down the mountain and sonidoed toward the first caravan he saw, transformed into his Shinigami mode in midair. Nell just grabbed Chad and Sonidoed down, with Hallibel behind her back. The leader of the caravan, Ichigo assumed as he dressed more "royally" than the rest of the lackeys, spoke to him.
"What business have you to us Shinigami ? Interested in a few servants perhaps ?" He spoke with a raspy voice with a goat face as his head. Ichigo could hear, and feel the greed coming out of his mouth, and felt disgusted by it. And before the rest could blink, the goat head felt on the ground, as the body slumped in a bloody mess. Then all eyes rested on Ichigo again, with Zangetsu unsheathed, blood dripping from it. All the rest roared as all of the guards broke in a charge and attacked Ichigo. Or at least they attempted to before being struck down mercilessly by said person.
"Chad, Nell, free the prisoners, lead them to safety. I'll get to the last line and deal with the rest. Hallibel, clean up from here. I want none of these slave traders alive."
"Yes Ichigo-sama." Hallibel said. Chad just grunted with a nod before headed off with Nell. And with that, Ichigo sonidoed away to the last of the line of caravans, slayed down any of the guards who opposed him. Those who tried to run away were hit with a Cero, or Getsuga Tensho before they could get out of sight. The rest cowered in fear, and felt to their knees to beg for their lives, in turn Ichigo can have all the slaves he wanted. He just spat on the ground, disgusted, as he cut their heads off.
With a swift movement, Ichigo cut off the chains that were locking the cages. The prisoners huddled in a corner, fears in their eyes as he approached. With a smile on his face, he sheathed his sword and opened the cages.
"You have nothing to fear from me." He said. "From now on you are free again."
At this, they slowly walked out, cautiously, in fear they might be attacked again. As the first few were out of the caravans, the rest would soon followed, and in no time the place was full with prisoners, in all kind of forms and shape, most of them resemble human, and all were females. They all were dressed in ragged clothes, and most of them had visible scars of whip slashes on their bodies. In the meantime, Chad had found Angelina, and carried her bridal style toward her father, with Nell sonidoed them up the mountain. Hallibel reassembled them all toward Ichigo, and when they all gathered, he spoke.
"From now on you are free. I suggested you return to where you came from. Take the caravans to travel if you are from far away. I also suggest that you travel in a large group, and take those weapons of the traders to arm and defend yourselves. Sorry I couldn't escort you back, I have other things to attend to. Well, good luck." He said and took off to the mountain, with Hallibel right behind him.
The crowd beneath him was crying and cheered him on with his journey, and loudly thanked him for his rescue. It gave him great satisfaction for doing a good deed, although killing those demons were a bit excessive, even if they deserved it. But victory was lived short, as a loud booming voice echoed through the sky.
"Who dared to cause trouble in my territory ?" the voice said.
After that, the earth trembled and a person came to view. The person looked like a normal middle aged man, with a goat beard on his face. But it wan't the person that they noticed first. No it was what he was riding on. It was a giant worm,no maybe an earth dragon, with goat horns on top of it. The worm/dragon had no eyes, and the sharp teeth revealed 3 rows of teeth, jagged and seemingly sharp enough to tear the earth apart without any problem.
"So which one of you made a mess in my turf ?" The man asked in a demanding tone.
"I am. And who are you to say ?" Ichigo asked as he raised his sword.
"I am Baphomet. And you must be the contractor to the Beelzebub royalty, am I correct ?"
"Yes. What do you want ?"
"You disturbed my time, and for that you must pay. Defeat my little pet here, and I shall grant you passage through my territory. And if you lose, all your women belong to me."
"No problem. But with one condition." Ichigo replied, unsheathed his sword.
"And which is ?"
"Let the prisoners go first. I don't want them to get caught up in the fight."
"Very well. I do not intend to make a bigger mess out of this."
Ichigo started to stretch his arms and legs. He still hadn't really used to fight in his human body, however, Ichigo is a quick to adapt to the most impossible situation. Meanwhile, the man had leaped away from the monster and landed softly next to him. From just a look Ichigo could tell that this man's power varied somewhere between a fifth seat to a lieutenant, but Ichigo had learned not to judge anyone at first sight. Baphomet could be a very powerful opponent, Ichigo thought. Hilda had said Baphomet was a legendary demon, and that had to mean something. The prisoners, at the sight of the giant monster, had already fled off to somewhere safe in a matter of no time.
"Let get this over with." Ichigo sighed as he felt no reiatsu down below.
With a slight pulse in his wrist, Ichigo applied a bit of his own reiatsu in it, and Zangetsu shaped in its Shikai form. This was one of the thing Ichigo noticed about his unique Zanpakutou. He didn't need to have a release command like any other Zanpakutou, just a simple rush of reiatsu should be enough to activate Shikai. Perhaps it was due to Zangetsu hated it to be sealed.
"Getsuga Tensho !" Ichigo shouted as he fired off a blast wave of massive blue reiatsu. However, it wan't a normal Getsuga Tensho. This one was embedded with blue and white lightning sparks flowing in and around it. Ichigo knew it was due to Beel's power synchronized with him, but he never thought that his power had a Lightning attribute. Glancing at his shoulder, where Beel rested, Ichigo could see the blue aura in his eyes, just like the first time he used Getsuga Tensho. As the attack hit its target, the monster roared in pain as its scales started to crack, but yet it wasn't going down.
"Cero." A single escaped Ichigo's mouth as Nell and Hallibel's eyes widened in shock when they realized the attack. They all knew about Ichigo's hollow power, but never thought he could fully use it to its full extend. Hilda said nothing, but a simple smirk on her lips showed her confidence in her man's power.
Just like the previous attack, the red glowing orb formed at Ichigo's finger was sparking with white lightning. At the size of a soccer ball, Ichigo released his Cero. The red orb flew through the air and went straight into the beast. The red faint light could still be seen inside it, before it exploded from the inside, shattered the monster in millions pieces. All of them were reduced to charcoal and dust due to the lightning, much to Ichigo's delight. A rain of blood would mess up his hair, and no one like to wash his hair in blood.
"Very well." Baphomet clasped his hands. "You've proven to be very entertaining. You may pass. As long as you don't disturb me anymore."
And with that, Baphomet faded to darkness, left only a trail of dust behind. Ichigo started to make his way back to the group, and sealed his power when he reached the destination.
"Ichigo-sama that was great." Hallibel said, bowing.
"Yea Ichigo it was awesome." Nell said, cheerfully as ever.
"I must thank you Ichigo-dono." Alaindelon said. "I don't know how we can ever repay the favor, but if you need anything, just said so."
"Don't mention it." Ichigo said. "So now where do we go ?"
"You can go back to our house. It's within the territory of lord Behemoth." Angelina said for the first time. "I heard from my father that you need to find lord En. I work in the castle of lord Behemoth. I think I can get you in it."
"Then what are we waiting for ?" Ichigo asked, not wanting to waste any more time.
"We need to wait untill my work shift. Then I can sneak you in. In the meantime, you can rest at our home. You must be tired from the journey."
"Where is your house ?" Hallibel asked.
"A few miles away from here. We shall transported you there."
"Are you sure ? The last time I went inside a demon we ended up in this shitty mountain." Ichigo asked, not wanting to get lost again.
"There won't be any problem this time." Angelina said reassuringly. "Last time it was due to overloaded capacity. This time we have two transport demons here."
Ichigo just nodded at that. Angelina and Alaindelon stood up, held each other's hands and raised it above their head, forming a gate as the space between them began to distort and formed a portal. Reluctantly, Ichigo walked through it, followed by Chad, Hilda, Nell and then Hallibel.
What Ichigo saw was a small house, made out of wood, one that looked like it came out from a camp in horror movies. Their surrounding was covered with trees in all kind of shapes, sizes and mostly monstrous. Ichigo guessed that it was kind of typical here. As they entered the house when Alaindelon opened the door, a smell of lavender and oak hit their nose.
"I'm sorry, my house is a mess." Angelina scratched her head, bowing at them. "I fought back when I got captured, so.."
"It's okay we understand." Ichigo said.
"A meal will be ready soon." Alaindelon said, putting on a pink apron. "After that it's Angelina's work time. We shall be waiting outside the castle in the wood, when you are done."
"Okay." Ichigo said as he picked up a wooden chair and sat down. "Now Angelina, can you tell me more about this castle ?"
"Ah yes. The castle of lord Behemoth is a fortress. It is used as a training ground for the 8th Pillar Squad, one of the main forces of the Demon King. There were 5 towers surrounding it, with the harpies guarding them. On the ground there were orcs and trolls, together with Cerberus dogs. But the ones you need to be paying attention are the officers of the 8th Squad. You can tell by the different uniforms and their mermaid ears. I work under the dungeon, in the cleaning unit. Beneath my work place is the prison, where they would most likely keep lord En captive. However, it is also possible that lord En is held in one of the private chamber in the second floor. I guess you will have to find out."
"That's good enough thank you." Ichigo nodded at the girl. "We only need to get in. From there, we'll see. Also you said 8th Squad. Does that mean there are also other squads ?"
"Yes, there are in total 666 squads, each one of them assigned to a legendary demon. The smaller the number, the higher the power. For example the 1st Squad belong to the Demon King, a handful of elites warrior handpicked by the King himself. And the 666th Squad is just small fry that even I can defeat."
"Very well. That is all I need to know for now. Thanks again."
"You don't need to thank me. Think of this as a way to repay you for saving my life."
"Ichigo-dono, Hilda-san, Chad-dono, Nell-san and Hallibel-san, dinner is ready." Alaindelon said with a bow. "Please forgive me if my humble meal is not to your taste."
"Ah don't fret about it." Ichigo said. "Also cut the formalities. Just call me Ichigo."
And then they dined and chatted about the demon world. Ichigo and Chad had came to understand more about this world, and Nell and Hilda found that the food here suited their taste pretty well, better than the canned spirit particles they had at Hueco Mundo. After dinner they rested for a while before followed Angelina deeper in to the darkest part of the wood.
Author's note : 2,839 Hits and 1,179 Visitors. It was more than I could imagine. Thank you for those who reviews, favs and alerts my story, and anyone who read this.
Again I'm sorry if I couldn't upload more. I'll try to upload one more in the weekend, if I have time. I hate it to disappoint my readers but I couldn't help it. Please review for me to give me the strength I need to write. Thank you all.