The Second Singularity

by Em6erPhoenix

Ichigo never thought she would find herself in a completely different world after she killed the soul king, much less being reborn as a princess in the Kou Empire. Ichigo discovers an evil is lurking in this new world like a cancer and she is determined to stop it whether she had to do it alone or with the allies, she naturally draws into her wake. FemIchigo/Sinbad

3. Deserts Suck and I Really Hate Birds

Chapter 3: Deserts Suck and I Really Hate Birds

Ichigo trudged over sand after sand dune. This desert was starting to remind her of Hueco Mundo in just how vast it was. From the maps she had studied of the world she could be anywhere between Qishan of the Tenzan Plateau to Balbadd to even the eastern parts of the Reim Empire. Judging on reports of how the distance of the "dark continent" would take twenty years on foot compared to how it would only take a year to walk earth's equator, she knew that this world was somewhere around 60 times larger than Earth. To walk around this world would mean death for any traveler due to one resource, water. The vast desert plane didn't have enough waterways to reliably travel without a caravan or the more likely option magic. Magic is used to transport goods across astronomical distances and stay fresh for consumers.

This was something Ichigo was finding out the hard way as she stumbled over the next dune. The lack of water was driving Ichigo to delirium. She was practicing a meditation technique of circulating her magoi within herself to stay conscious as her body worked on energy she didn't have. Her stomach growled from the lack of food, her feet ached from the constant walking over uneven surfaces, she was hot from the sun blazing down on her, and most importantly SHE WAS THIRSTY! So it was understandable why Ichigo was cursing in her mind about how much she hated sand more than Anakin-Bloody-Fuckin'-Skywalker. She couldn't even curse aloud anymore because her throat and tongue were so parched. It physically hurts to speak. Hell, everything hurts, Ichigo thought as she tripped down the next dune and rolled to the bottom.

She would trade half of her treasure for a sip of water. Groaning Ichigo climbed the next dune and had to wipe the sand from her eyes and blink her dry eyes several times to convince herself she was in fact seeing a caravan travel in front of her. She ran down the dune and up the next in a flash to meet the parade pulled along by camels. As she approached the caravan she saw the guards grip their swords making her halt in her tracts.

"Hello there, young one!" Called the apparent leader of the caravan. "Are you alright?"

Ichigo was unable to speak in her state, her mouth and sleepiness catching up to her. The man tilted his head at her silence before he jumped from his seat after tying the lead of the camels onto the carriage.

"Do you need some water?" He asked kindly and hid a laugh at how eagerly she nodded.

"Oi, Amir! Grab the cactus water we picked up from Qishan!" The large man jumped at his leader's order and rushed to get the water. "My name is Abbas, I am the leader of the Red Fang Trading Caravan. It is a pleasure to meet you. Do you have a name?" he asked as Ichigo took a mighty sip from the offered cup, nearly spilling the drink in her haste. He watched with interest as she sipped every drop.

"Ichigo," she answered at last, foregoing her family until she learned where she was. Saying she was royalty to an unknown was foolish at best and completely suicidal if she was in enemy territory. Which was pretty much everywhere now that Ichigo thought about it. They kept gaining enemies the more they continued in their conquest.

"That's a pretty name," Abbas said. "Where are you from Ichigo?" Ichigo thought quickly for a suitable lie that wouldn't have her executed by the guards surrounding her.

"Sindria," she said. She had studied the culture in interest of the booming country born from the brainchild of King Sinbad. He had made wise trade deals with several countries and his fortune from conquering seven dungeons had turned the island nation into a metropolis of wealth that could arguably be equal to Reim and Kou. The added bonus of claiming she was from there was that everyone was descended from somewhere else given that Sinbad literally created the island with his metal vessels. Her accent and the words she chose to use that would otherwise prove her nationality were all meshed together in Sindria. Kou deserters of the army or farmers seeking to escape their debt or slavery could live freely on the island nation, so long as they stayed hidden.

"Ah Sindria, the green jewel in the ocean of blue. I haven't been there myself, but I've heard stories about the fertile lands." Her stomach growled at the thought of food causing her to blush from the attention she gained from the caravan. Abbas stared at her face for a minute and he muttered under his breath before asking her if she would like some food. The caravan fully stopped at the wave of Abbas's hand and let out fires for lunch. The thought of being next to the flame in addition she was already suffering from the sun was unsettling, but the thought of food had her looking for a place to sit down.

"More water?" Abbas asked, a cup already filled to the brim. Ichigo took her sips more carefully this time as she played with the flavor over her tongue. It had a unique sweetness to it, but Ichigo had never tried cactus juice in her previous life or this one. Ichigo felt her eyes tugging down, but the thought of food kept her revitalized. She saw her vision turning blurry as she gazed into the flickering flames. Why was she so tired? She took another sip of the water hoping to fight the dizziness in her skull, but it only seemed to get worse. As Ichigo stared at the water she had a horrid thought. Ichigo looked at Abbas and his smile. Now she looked harder, the smile seemed a little more forced, the muscles were a little too tight as he revealed his teeth in what should have been a charming smile.

"Shit, the water was poisoned," Ichigo thought. She threw the water in Abbas's face and jumped away from her seat.

"Grab her!" Abbas shouted to the guards. Two men were nearly on top of her before Ichigo realized they were there. They were all a part of this and waiting for her to drop her guard. Ichigo lashed out in a haymaker striking the guard in the head and his neck snapped to the side in a startling crack. He was dead before he hit the ground. The second guard was stunned by Ichigo's feat; he left himself open which Ichigo repaid with impunity as she struck with her fist into his throat. The guard was left curled on the ground as his trachea was crushed inwards. Ichigo took the moment to retrieve her sword as Abbas cried, "Fanalis!"

"Huh?" Ichigo thought. Sure she had the red hair and was a little strong for her size but…oh. Yeah, okay she could see the resemblance to the uninformed. But that still didn't mean she was one. Fanalis were red lions from Alma Torran reincarnated in the form of humans. She was human damnit! Or whatever the hell a shinigami, quincy, hollow hybrid reincarnated to two humans is called.

"I'll be able to sell you at top dollar," Abbas shouted. "Your looks will have a bidding war like Reim has never seen before."

The guards advanced slowly with spears herding her into a circle. They would make light jabs to test her defenses and inflict minor wounds. They didn't want to damage the product after all. With the steady accumulation of blood loss in the dungeon and expenditure of magoi to kill the first guards, Ichigo felt herself collapsing to the ground as a boot planted itself in her spine. Crying out, Ichigo could do nothing as thick irons were clamped around her limbs made for a fanalis.

Their short chains had little slack making it difficult for fanalis to use their enhanced strength. No slack meant no momentum, and no momentum left them only capable of using their strong muscles, which admittedly could still crush the average man's skull with only one arm. In other words, Ichigo had a zero percent chance of escaping the caravan. And even if she did, where would she go? There was only desert in sight for miles. She wouldn't last another day.

Ichigo was thrown in the back of one of the carriages, the closed walls and ceiling making her squint her eyes at the darkness after having been in the desert sun all day. There were another dozen women ranging from average to beautiful in appearance on one side while almost all of the men were muscled in some way. The only exception being two teen boys that were so handsome Ichigo could only call them beautiful. She knew where they were headed. The thought almost sickened her as she realized they would end up as pleasure slaves. Forced to do whatever and whoever they were ordered to was a disgusting practice. She shuddered at the thought of her joining them. Dried tears covered most of her fellow people in binds as they broke under the realization they couldn't escape.

One of the more pretty women helped her against the wall before she passed out in the kind lady's lap. The woman had dark purple hair that shined even in the darkness of the caravan as she comfortingly stroked her hair as her vision faded to black. The last thought Ichigo had was that the woman didn't have any tear trails.

—0—

It was a long few weeks as the caravan plotted along. The night before Ichigo and the other prisoners were allowed out of the carriage to stretch their legs lest they become strained. No buyer wanted a labor slave that couldn't walk after all. Ichigo took in the fading sunlight as the sky was a brilliant orangish red hue, with dark purple clouds providing a suitable contrast that would have made any painter cry tears of joy at the sheer color.

She had gotten rather close with the bronze skinned woman with purple hair who had introduced herself as Aisha. She was a courtesan of a lord who was traveling on business and had chosen his favorite girl to accompany him on his journey. They had run into some bandits and fled the scene as their guards were killed. The Red Fang killed the lord couple days later when he resisted seeing their captured slaves and took Aisha prisoner. While the title was different, Aisha said she was already a slave. A brothel's girls are indebted to their owners and are used by whoever the owner and clientele desire. It was just "making it official," Aisha tried to make light of the situation, seeing the pity in Ichigo's eyes. Ichigo refused to accept it. She swore that she would set Aisha free.

When Ichigo stared at the setting sun she could finally see the end of the desert as sand gave way to grass as nature grew with the rivers and lakes. They had crossed into the Reim Empire. While her sword and cuirass were taken from her by the guards, Ichigo had managed to hide her metal vessel inside what was left of her robes. The cool metal a relief in the heat and torture at night as the temperature dropped below freezing. The prisoners were awarded blankets if they chose to have "good behavior." Which essentially meant don't speak too loudly where it bothers one of the guards. They were given simple meals of hardtack and cheese twice a day as the sun rose and went down. Ichigo found it hard to force down the first couple days due to her upbringing in the modern era of japanese cuisine and eventually as a princess of Kou. Both had very different standards of what was acceptable as food, even if it was a nonperishable good that made sense for traveling.

She and Aisha made small talk about where they had grown up, though Ichigo did quietly admit to being from Kou, she still never revealed her station. Ichigo spoke about the markets she had visited and the foods she had tried. The interesting stories and tales of traveling merchants about their adventures at sea and their exaggerated or downright fanciful battles with monsters at sea. Ichigo noticed that detail by the resigned expressions of their companions as they heard their friend boast about slaying a sea serpent for the twentieth time.

Ichigo had just finished telling the other prisoners a story about one tea tradesman who had claimed he had the strength of ten men and used it to hold off a flying piranha when one of the market guards overheard the tale. He forced the tradesman to pick up boxes of tea and could only manage to lift three of them before he tripped over a coil of rope and dropped all the boxes off the dock. The sea was brown for the next two hours before it was dispersed by the waves. Before Ichigo could start her next story the carriage heard voices sounding all around them. While the guards had certainly made their own conversations together throughout the trip they were never this loud or so many speaking at once.

"We must have reached a town or city then," Ichigo deduced.

Ichigo grabbed her bag that the guards had stolen from her with her sword and hid it under a blanket in the corner of the carriage. It would return to her belt in a few hours, but hopefully no one would think about it as long as she was away from this caravan.

"Get out," Amir grunted, opening the carriage door and tugging on the mens' chains. Ichigo observed the bustling city of Mystania. They weren't staying in the city long, but the caravan was splitting up with half of the crew delivering the prisoners to Reim on the boat they hired and the other half would sell their other wares and wait for the rest of the crew to return.

They were all forced into a line and walked towards a rather large three tiered ship that was docked in the bay. The gangplank was already lowered waiting for the prisoners to board. There were nearly twice the number of guards on board. Apparently pirates were appearing in larger numbers these days. But between the size of their ship and the number of guards patrolling on the deck, any pirate would likely choose easier prey.

They were all shoved into the back of the ship behind a wall of crisscrossing iron bars. Their cage only had two windows that Ichigo could only fit her head through on either side of the ship. Ichigo wished they could have at least left the equivalent of a futon for everyone, but as the ship set sail Ichigo found herself being rocked to sleep despite the pain of laying on the hardwood floors.

"The next few weeks are going to feel like eternity," Ichigo grimaced, turning on her side.

—0—

There was a new type of bird Ichigo added to her growing list of avēs that she wanted to wipe from existence. The seagull. The last few weeks the ship had been hounded by a group that had nested themselves in the top of the mast above even the crows nest. The white birds constantly were squawking and it made sleeping a nightmare. Especially since sleep was about one of the only things they could do trapped in a cage of people most didn't want to grow attached to knowing they would all be sold off. The only exception in the group was Ichigo and Aisha who refused to bow their heads when the guards walked by.

The beautiful purple-haired woman was now firmly within the category of friend, such a thing would happen to anyone who spends weeks in confinement beside each other sharing stories of their life. During the night, Ichigo joked to herself about sealing all of the world's nations' leaders in a room for a few weeks. Maybe they could finally get over their differences. Unfortunately, Ichigo knew that wasn't possible because each leader is looking after both their self interests and the responsibilities they hold for their country.

When Ichigo and the other prisoners were taken out of their cell onto the ship deck they got their first view of the sprawling city of Narpolia, the largest trading center and richest city in the world and a part of the Reim Empire. They were marched through the streets into a building that eclipsed all of the other buildings in the area in both height and beauty. It was only when they found similarly chained prisoners did Ichigo realize where they had arrived. It was an auction house. Ichigo felt her legs shaking a bit.

"Cast off your fear," Ichigo repeated in her head, recalling the words of Old Man Zangetsu. If there was one person in this world she wished she still had with her it would be the manifestation of her quincy powers. The sense of quiet confidence, the sense of assurity and faith he had in Ichigo's ability to overcome any obstacle. But even if he was no longer with her, that didn't mean none of his teachings remained. So as Ichigo drew in a deep breath, she willed herself to stop shivering. Her limbs became rock solid. She would get through this. No matter what happened today Ichigo knew she would eventually escape and then find Ri and make sure the boy didn't eat himself alive in the guilt that he wasn't here with her.

Something Ichigo learned as she and the other prisoners were waiting behind a curtain was just how mind numbingly boring it was to stand still for hours on end. There were guards back there with them keeping them silent so the bidders could hear the auctioneer as he introduced them for prospective buyers. Before the start of the auction, the staff had taken them aside and deduced what the quota was for certain buyers. As such some prisoners were dressed provocatively while some men were shirtless displaying their muscles.

Ichigo glared bloody murder at the man who leered at her body as he changed her into tight clothing that accentuated her developing curves. Like Hell she would sleep with some asshole! She would put her fist through the chest of whoever tried to buy her the first chance she had. However as the hours went on she felt her rage simmering down as she was forced to listen to bid after bid after bid that Ichigo felt like she was losing her mind. The applause of the crowd as the last lineup was sold had Ichigo jolting out of her thoughts. She, Aisha, and another two women that were traveling with them in the caravan were in the last group to be sold. The best for last she caught the auctioneer saying to the crowded amphitheater.

Ichigo gulped despite herself at seeing the sheer size of the crowd gathered around the stage. There must have been thousands. There was a skylight directly above the stage letting them be prominently displayed, but the rest of the theater was dimmed creating a malicious ambience to the room, as if it wasn't creepy or evil enough already. Unlike in Kou, there were no set restrictions on owners for how long they could keep a slave. They either payed off their debt or died as a slave. It was morbidly amusing to Ichigo that Reim, a republic, was less lenient towards slavery than her own country which was ruled by the manarchy set on conquest.

The two women beside her were well contested between the brothel owners and wealthy lords, but as Aisha was forced to march to the front of the stage the formerly polite, if enthusiastic, audience went mad. Shouting of bids erupted from their mouths that everyone was indistinguishable. The auctioneer banged his gavel against the podium but it was little use. Eventually it was up to a magician who summoned a bolt of lightning in the air, the bang of thunder frightening the audience into silence.

"Thank you," the auctioneer said, to both the crowd and mostly the magician. "Aisha here developed her courtesan skills in the former Musta'sim Kingdom. She was known far and wide as the favorite courtesan before the magicians revolted against the monarchy. The bidding will start at 50 dinar." The auctioneer's words had the crowd gasping. 50 gold coins as a starting bid. The other slaves had only sold for 30 at the highest.

"How skilled was she?" the crowd thought as they turned to speak with their fellow friends and bidders.

Ichigo stood at the back of the stage and shook, but this time not in fear but rage. The wrath was consuming her as the bids started flowing. How was it fair? Aisha was one of the kindest souls she had ever met. She was as bubbly as Orihime with the wisdom and temperament of Unohana. It was like Ichigo had found a big sister, something she had never had before. Ichigo could hear the blood as it pulsed in her ears, steadily increasing faster and faster. Until it-

"Sold! To the Lord Alexius himself for 200 dinar," the auctioneer cried, striking his gavel. Aisha was going to be dragged away. Ichigo looked at the man who bought Aisha. He looked young, perhaps in his early twenties. He was fit, he had black hair, and he'd have handsome features if it wasn't for the expression he wore. His dark black eyes were cold and he wore a sneer as if everyone around him was less than dirt.

"He wasn't looking for something to satisfy his lust," Ichigo realized as she stared into his soulless eyes. "He looked like he wanted to break Aisha."

The chains in her mind snapped, she would stand by no longer. As the guards grabbed Aisha's arms to direct her up to her owner Ichigo started running as fast as her chained legs could carry her. The rattle of her chains and the gasp of the crowd had the guards turning just in time for Ichigo to plant both of her feet into the guard's face. The crunch of bone and cartilage as she shattered his nose was the sweetest sound Ichigo had ever heard. She kicked off his broken face to wrap the chain between her wrists around the second guard as she flipped over him. The shackles bit into his neck as Ichigo forced his back to arch backwards. The choking guard was helpless as he tried to pry his fingers between the chain and his crushed throat. It was all for naught, Ichigo tightened her grip pulling her wrists closer together and jerked her whole body. The crack and cease in fighting let Ichigo know he was dead.

Ichigo dropped the guard to the stage with a careless toss as she turned her blank face towards the approaching guards. Ichigo's anger surpassed hate. She was numb as her battle instincts flared and her genius was revealed. Ichigo wasn't the greatest intellectual, she knew that there were far greater minds than her own, but in battle something came alive in her. It let her achieve what everyone claims is impossible and it made her strength grow in leaps and bounds.

"Who's next," Ichigo asked in a tone so flat she might as well have been saying that steel was hard or water was wet. Seeing a young girl kill two men twice her size and then speak in such a frightening tone had the reinforcements halting. They looked at each other as if silently prodding the others to engage first. No one wanted to meet her head on and they certainly didn't want to meet her without backup.

It was the magician who started the attack. A barrier was erected between the crowd and the stage, however shockingly no one moved to escape. They were all too engaged in watching the waif of a girl utterly decimate two muscled men in seconds that their curiosity currently overcame their own self preservation instincts. Or they were deluded into believing themselves invincible, that a slave was incapable of facing off against all the guards that were waiting behind the curtain and on the sides of the crowd in addition to all the guards outside. Ichigo intended on proving them wrong.

The magician attacked with a blast of lightning, carefully not creating it too large lest he hit Aisha or the guards. Ichigo jumped forwards feeling a couple hairs singe as she accelerated. She knew the magician was her strongest opponent and most likely to have the ability to subdue her. The near countless combinations of magic had Ichigo a bit envious as the skinny green haired mage created three magic circles in the air. Water came rushing out and formed into an ice serpent that tried to coil around her limbs, but Ichigo jumped above it and punched the head, her magoi dispersing the magic's form. The creation quickly turned back into water creating a puddle on the ground.

As the mage created another circle Ichigo knew she had to change her tactics. Most of the guards didn't carry swords, rather preferring staves or other blunt weapons to subdue any slave without ending in terminal injuries. It was more profitable lest the auction house have to repay the bidder's new property. This meant that Ichigo wouldn't be out of the fight in one hit even if they completely surrounded her. With that in mind, Ichigo rushed the nearest guard and used him as a human shield as the next lightning bolt was directed towards her. The guard's chest was turned into a smoking mess as his brain shut off to retreat from the pain. He was unconscious before his knees hit the floor and collapsed.

Ichigo grabbed the guard's metal club and ran full tilt at the guards next to her. The magician kept looking for an opening but the erratic movements of Ichigo and the guards trying their best to hit her was a practice in futility. Ichigo kept moving the fight closer and closer towards the magician until he was locked between the barrier of the crowd and her. The literal definition of rock and a hard place. If he let the barrier fall, he would be responsible for any injuries the crowd would get. However the look in the girl's eyes meant the mage probably wouldn't live to see the next sunrise.

Ichigo bashed her club into another three guard's heads as the stage was steadily filling with either dead or the blissfully unconscious guards. The crowd was actually starting to root for Ichigo as they laughed at the display of the girl. It was like they had front row seats at the colosseum, with the lone champion fighting off the horde of initiates wanting to claim their spot in the arena. Ichigo had grabbed another club and was dual wielding them to devastating effect as another five guards joined the others on the ground.

Aisha stood back at the curtains in shock, clasping her hand to her mouth as the determined little girl she had met continued to fight the ever increasing tide of guards. She heard a call for soldiers to come help and knew this situation was about to become even more dire as the red haired girl snap-kicked a neck and the man's eyes rolled to the back of his skull.

Ichigo reached the magician just as he created the largest magic circle yet and a white flash blinded everyone for a moment before the steady rumble boomed through the amphitheater deafening the audience. When they returned their gaze to the stage they saw the falling barrier as the magician was punted into a wall. His borg shattered from the magoi enhanced kick. It was like the crowd had received a dose of Hades' potion from the Disney movie Hercules, they had suddenly become mortal as the warrior was now let free from the cage. Before the screaming could begin though, Ichigo didn't notice a black crow that had silently glided in the air behind her and scratched her neck.

Ichigo felt her legs grow weak and dropped to the stage. None of her limbs were responding! Ichigo tracked the crow as it flew back to its owner, a young man with white hair and red lipstick wearing a red fur shawl around his neck over white robes. His eyes held a sadistic glint as he gained down at her sprawled form. Seeing Ichigo finally taken down, a few of the more cowardly guards made their appearance and started to beat their clubs into her back ribs and limbs. One particularly hard had Ichigo gasping in quiet pain; she refused to show them how much it hurt her. It felt like one of her ribs cracked.

"Now, now," the white haired slaver called. "I think the little one has had enough. She can't move after all."

"What did you do to me?" Ichigo growled. The man seemed delighted in her suffering but tried to retain a posh demeanor.

"Oh it's only a minor poison that causes temporary paralysis. It will last just enough for you to find your new home." He smiled as if he was offering her a great gift. "It's a shame but I don't have the money to buy you. If only I hadn't paid for that girl earlier."

"Thank you for your assistance in capturing the runaway," the auctioneer said, appearing out of his hideaway behind the curtain.

"I'll consider it a down payment for my next auction. As long as you let me choose whoever I desire," said Fatima. The auctioneer gulped at the loss of money that would be, but realized they were still getting the better end of the deal. The amount of damage Ichigo would have continued to cause would far outway any slave.

"Of course," the man said, rubbing his hands together. Before either man could continue, a large muscular man with gray hair and a mustache interrupted them.

"I'll take the girl," he said, tossing the auctioneer a bag of gold. "300 dunir. Anyone who tries to outbid me will face the Yambala Gladiators in the arena. If any of you have an invested interest in someone, I promise you my clan will enter just to stop them." His threat silenced the irritated crowd. Shambal Ramal was renowned in keeping grudges despite his normally kind nature. And the thought of just how much revenue they would lose in their gambling on the arena was a tremendous blow to almost any bidder in the audience.

"Damnit!" Ichigo yelled, gathering all of their attention. She'd failed. She couldn't save Aisha, and now she couldn't even twitch a muscle above her neck. Ichigo released a tear of frustration as she was hauled onto the shoulder of the large gladiator. "Aisha! Aisha! I'll save you! I promise. Even if it's the last thing I ever do! I WILL SAVE YOU!"

Ichigo had only one last glimpse of Aisha's tearful smile of farewell before she was carried out of the auction house.

"Would you stop yelling in my ear already!" Ramal demanded. "I'm growing old, I don't want to lose my hearing when I've already got problems." Ichigo couldn't move her head to glare at the man, but she could continue to move her mouth.

"As if. I'll make your life a living Hell," Ichigo swore. Ramal laughed heartily in response.

"I don't doubt it. But before you do, how about you let me train you?" Ichigo bit her tongue in surprise. "Huh?" she choked out behind the pain.

"I am the leader of the Yambala Gladiators, a tribe that specializes in magoi manipulation. To see someone so young use it to such a degree, you are either a magician in disguise or have been through some truly traumatic experiences."

"If I was a magician, don't you think I would have used magic to escape?" Ichigo asked.

"Ha! Magicians are some of the strangest people I've met. Who knows why they do the things they do." Ramal said with a wide smile before adopting a serious face. "I look forward to training you. If you can survive that is. You will fight for me in the arena, and in return I will teach you to become stronger. If you do well enough, I'll even see what I can do about buying that Aisha-girl for you. Once your debt is repaid, I will depart with you with willing arms. You have my word."

Despite all the betrayal Ichigo had faced in both her palace and by the caravan, Ichigo still felt like she could trust the scruffy faced man. The feeling she had in her stomach said he was both a kind and honest man. From what Ichigo had observed of the man, he actually reminded her a bit of her father on earth, Isshin Kurosaki. An imposing man with a sense of right and wrong who used a mask of humor to hide their pain. While Ichigo didn't know what had happened to the man, the scars she saw littering his upper torso were a pretty good indicator he had lived a similarly difficult life of battle.

Ichigo finally drifted off to sleep as the nostalgia of Ramal's spirit meshed with the memories she had of her father. She dreamed of her father's funny expressions he used to make her and her sisters laugh. When even his humor couldn't reach Ichigo through the guilt and depression after her mother's death, Isshin turned to playfully attacking her to both break her out of her funk, and to secretly train her to defend herself against any thugs. Ramal's features softened as he set her to bed in his house just outside the arena. Her sleeping face was smiling as a tear of joy slipped from behind her closed eyelids. He ruffled her hair in goodnight as he left for his own room.

As Rumal passed another room he stopped to peek inside at a certain black haired girl he was training. Toto was in bed lying on her stomach as she read from a rather large text about human anatomy. Ramal stifled a laugh at the childish wonder on her face as she read, the diagrams helping explain what words she couldn't understand. Toto had come quite far in the last six years. Ramal had started to see the girl as more than a protege, she was a daughter. With the joy on the two girl's faces and the hope they would get along, Ramal dropped into his own bed with a smile of bliss at their looks and finally being off his feet. He really shouldn't jinx himself.

—-0—

Paimon thought she had seen everything the world had to offer. She was there when the god Ill Llah killed the ogres on Alma Torran saving the human race from their slaughter. She was there as the god gifted them the unlimited power of magic. She was there when Solomon became king and reduced all of the magicians to their own supply of magoi instead of using the rukh except for three of his friends, who became known as magi. She was there when Solomon stripped their god of his power and took it for himself to save their world from destruction. She was there when she and the other 71 wielders of the Divine Staves failed to stop the traitor Arba as she made off with Sheba's stave and summoned their god in his newly tainted form. She was there when Solomon's wife Sheba died and her son was placed under a spell of suspended animation so he could grow up in a world of peace. She was there when they failed and their world was reduced to a lifeless rock. She was there when the magi "Ugo" offered them a way out as he created a new world with Solomon's power from the Sacred Palace and reincarnated all of the races of their world into human vessels from the mighty Fanalis and Origin Dragons to the pacifistic Hermits. And she was there when they agreed to turn into Djinn to act as guides for the next world's humans and guide them in their path as king to not repeat their mistakes. Paimon thought she'd seen everything.

But now as she arrived in the soul of her king through the connection of their shared rukh, Paimon was exposed to a rather interesting quandary, she had no idea how her king had created such a magic. A world inside her soul. Paimon had spent years developing magic in their war against Al Thaman and the thousands of Dark Djinn summoned through the Medium. She bubbled with excitement.

"I really do have the best king ever!" She yelled, pumping her fist in the air. Had Ichigo been there she would have the delightful experience of seeing Paimon's large breasts bouncing freely. Paimon observed a strange world of massively tall glass buildings that stood in this sideways world. She manifested with her legs intact as she placed her feet on solid ground for the first time in millennia. She had almost forgotten the sensation. She strolled through the empty city in wonder, not searching for anything in particular except a feeling that guided her towards the "center" of the inner world. Paimon saw a massive tower that had at least twice the height over the other buildings and felt the connection tug her in that direction.

She pushed through the entrance doors of the building of what looked like a hotel lobby and saw the transparent forms of two individuals, a nearly identical copy of her king if she was albino and different colored eyes and a older gentleman, for he could be nothing else with that aura, that was wearing a cloak that moved like a rippling shadow underwater.

"It's about time you got here," the albino said. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming. Even after all that magoi we helped siphon towards you to awaken your powers early."

"Who are you? And why do you reside in my king's soul?" Paimon demanded. The albino female smirked a crazed grin that had Paimon feeling uncomfortable that her king's face could contort into that expression.

"I am- or rather- I was Zangetsu."

"Was?" The Djinn asked.

"I was the manifestation of Ichigo's powers in her previous life," the hollowfied zanpakutō explained. A cough drew her attention away from the rolling eyes of the albino to the gentleman.

"Right, and he was the other half of King's powers."

"Previous life?" Paimon asked. Was her king actually from Alma Torran? No. With her abilities and sheer presence Ichigo would have gathered the attention of her people.

"I think it's better if you were to see it instead. It will make it more believable," the not-Zangetsu said. He gestured to one of the hotel's guest rooms.

"Every room in this building has a memory of King's life. We have permitted you to look."

Paimon gnashes her teeth at the former soul weapon's words, "Permission." As if she somehow had power or authority over her. The only one who could command her now was Ichigo! But despite the rude words, Paimon couldn't deny wanting to see everything her king had done in both this world and the previous one, if the spirit can be believed. So with a confident swagger, the Djinn of Lust entered the room and watched through Ichigo's eyes everything she had experienced. And then she went to the next room, and then the next, and the next. When she ran out of rooms, she went to the next floor and did the same thing. As Paimon experienced the joys and sorrows of Ichigo's life the former Quincy spirit asked his counterpart, "Did you do it?"

"Yeah. By the time Paimon is done seeing everything about King, we'll know everything about her. The connection goes both ways. We'll know everything the Djinn are hiding."

"Ichigo will be informed of everything wrong in this world. I promise you that."

"Old Man, if this is because of Juha Bach…"

"Ichigo wasn't prepared. She wasn't ready because I thought I knew best and inhibited her from reaching her potential until it was too late. She didn't have enough time to learn everything she needed too. That was my responsibility and I failed. I won't be making the same mistakes."

"How are we going to do that? We don't even have any spiritual power?"

"With this," The Quincy held out an orb the size of a baseball.

"That's!" Zangetsu gasped.

"A fragment of the Soul King. His "brain," gifted to us the moment Ichigo's sword was cutting through his torso. While it can't make us who we once were or give Ichigo back her powers, that doesn't mean we can't mimic certain abilities we once held."

"What are you thinking?" The Zanpakutō spirit asked.

The Quincy smirked and said, "We are going to…"

—0—

Ichigo groaned as she awoke, like a cat she stretched her back in an arch to pop any kinks she'd developed while sleeping and ready her muscles for the day. It had been six months since she had been in the employ under Shambal Ramal. He had spotted she was a metal vessel user the day after he bought her. After Rumal removed her chains that morning after, he had forced her into a session of acupuncture to gain a true understanding of her physical limitations and how the flow of magoi circulated within her. He spotted the familiar movements of a dungeon capturer within moments. He was reminded of an older teen who had asked to be a disciple of him who had achieved a similar feat, the founding king of Sindria, Sinbad. He chuckled to himself about how the youth keeps getting more interesting.

For thousands of years the magi had been raising dungeons for potential kings and the conquerors were few and far between. Then Sinbad was the first to capturer in over two hundred years and it was like the flood gates had opened. More towers were raised and more and more people were succeeding in becoming metal vessel users. He was old, and Ramal knew the world was preparing. For what, he had no idea, but it was definitely approaching. Civil unrest was on the rise all over the world, more and more people were being sold into slavery, and it seemed like no one of importance gave a damn about it. The magicians revolting and creating their own country were just the tip of the iceberg.

Ichigo had froze when Rumal asked her who she had attained for her Djinn.

"How did he know?" she internally screamed. "I d-don't know what you're-"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" he shouted, though he didn't actually sound angry. "I know the magoi of a capturer, and you are most certainly one of them!" Ichigo slouched in her seat, knowing she wouldn't be getting out of it.

"Paimon," she said.

"Hmm. The Ninth Djinn. You must have traveled the Tenzan Plateau then. You have traveled far in your journey."

"Actually it was more in Kou's borders."

"You were born in Kou then," he deduced. Ichigo stiffened again.

"Yeah."

"I don't care about nationality. The Yambala Gladiators are true fighters. As long as you have the fighting spirit and we approve of you, we will train anyone."

"Why did you take me in?" Ichigo asked, her voice uncharacteristically small.

"I thought you were interesting. Your talent was excellent, it would be a shame to see it go to waste. And the fact that you were using it in a rather unconventional manner had my attention."

"What do you mean?"

"Your limbs. Most people don't have nearly as much magoi as you, so they approach a fight with a "softer" approach. They disable their opponents by injecting their own magoi into the enemy which disables their own flow and damages their organs. And while you can enhance a weapon, most don't attempt to do so on their own bodies outside of passive use. It is why people with more magoi are more durable than those weaker than them. It strengthens their muscles and bones over time and acts as a barrier on the skin to some extent. Whereas your use could be considered very dangerous. You are burning through an absurd amount of magoi by wasting it on your body when you aren't attacking. You run the risk of dying should you waste all of your life energy."

"I've been fine so far," Ichigo turned her head away, irritated that he was criticizing her fighting style. She was just copying what her mother was capable of. So what of it took a lot out of her?

"You were captured weren't you?" He broke through her musing like a hammer on glass.

"I was without water in the desert for a day after fighting in a dungeon!" She shouted. "What would you have done?"

"Not been there in the first place," he bluntly retorted. "Dungeons aren't worth it. Besides, I'm not exactly kingly material." Ichigo snapped her mouth closed.

"Not worth it? NOT WORTH IT?" she seethed. Dungeons were what separated the weak from the strong. What would allow her the strength to finally protect her little brother and other siblings from everyone and everything else in the world. And he says they aren't worth it.

"Let's agree to disagree," Ichigo grouched through clenched teeth. Ramal nodded in agreement.

"Now for the next six months I will be teaching you how to manipulate your magoi within others. Who knows, maybe you might be able to cancel out other dungeon capturers. Imagine clasping your hands around the wrists of an enemy as he tries to unleash their extreme magic and canceling out the attack. Not only did they waste their magic on generating the attack, but they wouldn't be able to use it! After six months you will join the other trainees in the arena." Rumal said.

The next few weeks Ichigo had endured a grueling training regime that made her mother's sadistic training seem tame in comparison. In addition to her dozens of sets and repetitions in exercise, Ichigo met a girl named Toto who certainly wasn't happy meeting a girl a year older than her taking away her time with their teacher. Toto tried to vent out her frustration in their spars that Rumal presided over, but Ichigo's greater strength and flexibility led her to dodging any attack Toto could muster under the fury of Ichigo's swings. It was like Ichigo didn't know how to defend, she would shift from one attack to the next without rest constantly pushing Toto on the back foot.

Whenever Toto could attack, Ichigo would use her natural flexibility to dodge, sometimes even bending completely backwards and simultaneously kicking Toto's chin. She felt her teeth rattling for days afterwards.

Ichigo shook her head from her morning sleepiness as she got ready. She would be entering the arena today now that she had survived her six months of training. Ichigo wondered what her first opponent would be. A man? A team of chariot racers? A monster or large animal? She had seen a large primate shipped into the colosseum the other day.

Rumal had a large feast of food on the table for them and Toto to enjoy before her first fight. While he kept a stoic face, Ichigo could detect just a hint of worry for her. The last six months had been a lot of fun for the two of them. While he had no sense of parental concern, Ramal certainly didn't want to see the student he had "sort of" grown attached to die. He had much more to teach her, he reasoned as his hands grew clammy as he waved her goodbye.

Ichigo went into the waiting area which was not unlike a wooden cage. There were three gates that separated the main arena with the outside. The first and closest to the exit was to keep away the audience from interfering with the prisoners or fighters for rigging fights. The third was a holding area before they entered the arena. The second was in between the two and acted as insurance that any animal or monster couldn't escape even if they broke through the first gate. The added time would let the guards subdue it before it could break out into the public. Ichigo idly wondered how many times that happened if they needed to create it.

Ichigo was lined up with three other people. A large man wearing a mask of an elephant wielding a black scimitar with a orange hair tassel, a boy not much older than her who was trembling and urine was trailing down his leg, Ichigo shifted farther away from him because of that, and a woman with deep scars all over her arms and legs.

"Would they be pairing off or were they a team?" Ichigo thought. She could certainly take the boy down without breaking a sweat, the woman looked like she could take a beating, but the masked man felt dangerous. He was an experienced fighter. From the way he gripped his sword to the way he balanced his weight, everything was telling Ichigo that he wasn't someone she could take lightly.

Their gate opened and the guards shouted at them to advance into the arena. The noise of the spectators had Ichigo wincing. The seats had sold out from what little Ichigo could see before the gate opened on the other side of the arena and four other people walked out.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" The announcer shouted through a magic tool that amplified his voice through sound magic. "We have eight contestants here. One champion is on each team. The match ends when the opponent's champion is defeated. On one side we have the descendant of the Kouga clan, Boyan!" The crowd cheered for the elephant masked man next to Ichigo.

"And on the other side we have a member of the fanalis! The reigning champion with 97 wins to his name, GRIMMJOW!"

Had Ichigo been drinking any water she would have done the perfect spit take. She looked at the tall teenage fanalis. Cocky smirk? Check. Streamlined muscles focused on speed? Double check. While he had red hair and eyes that didn't discount the fact that his features could have changed like hers. So there was something she figured she had to ask to see if this was her Grimmjow?

"Hey pussy!" Ichigo shouted. Grimmjow's smirk dropped in an instant as veins popped on the side of his head.

"What did you call me?" he growled.

"Well fanalis are felines, right? So wouldn't that just make you an overgrown pussycat?" Ichigo said with a mocking tilt of her lips. She even went so far as to put a hand on her hip and the other to "hide" her smile but just emphasized that it was there.

"This little bitch! I'm going to kill her." Grimmjow internally snarled. "That's what I thought you said," controlling his anger just long enough to spread his feet and lift his left arm directly towards Ichigo. "I am going to show you why fanalis are known as the defeaters of the king of beasts."

The tensing of his muscles was the only warning Ichigo's team had before the ground shattered and Grimmjow moved. It was less a charge as it was a bulldozing blast of air that shredded the ground into a deep trench in the wake of his movements. Grimmjow's teammates were caught in the blast and were knocked unconscious. The boy on Ichigo's team screamed as the fanalis appeared in front of them, so Ichigo grabbed his arm and threw him across the arena in a tumble. Ichigo raised her sword to intercept the fist aiming to rip her head from its shoulders and the force sent her flying backward. Her back hit the stone wall with bruising force as it cratered behind her.

"Ow, okay. Don't insult a fanalis got it. Ow." Ichigo rubbed her back as she looked at Boyan holding his own against Grimmjow. She had the rumor about the Kouga clan being descended from the fanalis, perhaps there was some truth in it given the size of Boyan's arms and how he was matching, if obviously struggling, to fight against the blows that fell like a warhammer on his arms. Grimmjow stuck to using his fists against Boyan until a loose piece of rock had him stumbling just enough to give the Kouga member a moment to attack. His black sword cut a thin scratch along Grimmjow's arm and the fanalis jumped back. He watched as droplets of blood seeped from the wound before he finally drew the sword from his waist.

"I am going to kill you. You and the brat behind you." Boyan didn't say anything in response, but by the tightening of his fist, he didn't take the threat too kindly.

Boyan shifted his stance to hold the sword with both hands. Up until then he was swinging his large sword with only one fist like a berserker. Both of the men were turning up the heat as they readied themselves for the next bout. So they were both surprised when Grimmjow was sent to his ass when Ichigo blitzed him from the side. Her fist smashing into his cheek so hard he felt his brain rattling as he flew through the air.

"Did you forget about me?" Ichigo asked. "A girl shouldn't be neglected for too long, you know. They might just take offense and make you suffer for it," Ichigo threatened. Grimmjow pulled himself to his feet as he observed the new combatant. He thought his first attack had defeated the girl but she was looking only slightly dirty and a little scuffed up. The scarred woman had been defeated with a punch to the temple, but this girl had been thrown into a wall with his full force. He smirked. It had been a while since anyone had provided him with a real challenge.

He had been offered a position in the Fanalis Corps, but when he fought the leader Muu Alexius, the young man who only learned how to perform the weapon equip, Grimmjow had managed to defeat him with some effort. Grimmjow refused to be part of a group that was weaker than him though so he told him to ask again when he was stronger. Or let him lead the corps. Not even death robbed Grimmjow of his desire to become "King."

Ichigo and Boyan rushed together, Boyan trying to use his great strength to distract or injure Grimmjow while Ichigo would use the openings to accumulate a steady supply of cuts. Grimmjow snarled at the tag team duo and used his great speed to avoid the black scimitar and pierced through the man's wrist after his over extension. Grimmjow moved forward and sliced his blade against the side of the Kouga's neck. The nicked artery spurting as the elephant masked man tumbled to the ground screaming.

Ichigo watched his movements. They were almost exactly the same as their last fight in Las Noches. The former hollow attacked recklessly but retained enough intelligence and instincts to not bite off more than he could chew, most of the time Ichigo amended. The last thing Ichigo needed to know was if he actually retained his memory or if it was just an effect of something similar to muscle memory that remained in his soul. So as they rushed each other again, Ichigo asked, "Do you miss Pantera?" The question caught Grimmjow flat footed. No one should know that name.

"Who are you?" He roared, swinging with his maximum strength. Ichigo ducked the blow, a single hair floating down her nose. Her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Beat me and find out," Ichigo quipped. His strength exceeded hers. This fight was similar to when she was fighting him in Karakura Town, not Las Noches. But the last six months showed her how to defeat such opponents. You didn't have to be stronger or faster than your opponent to win. As her sword parried his sword to the left, she slammed her left palm into his stomach. Blood and spittle flew from his mouth as he flew backwards and he collapsed to the ground coughing. He put a hand to his abdomen. It felt like a steel ball was shot out of a railgun into his middle. Grimmjow clenched his fist as Ichigo calmly approached. Was he going to be defeated by a little girl? Him? One of the former top five strongest hollows after the Winter War?

He refused. Grimmjow climbed to his knees and elbows as agony ripped through his stomach. It hurt, God damn did it hurt, but he pushed through the pain and lifted his torso to a kneeling position just as a sword rested on his throat. He froze as the steel pushed through the top layer of his skin.

"I must say you surprised me, little kitty." Ichigo only felt comfortable insulting Grimmjow again because she knew he wouldn't be able to put up much more of a fight. He could probably muster one more punch, so she kept her guard up, but wasn't too worried.

"But then again you always were a stubborn bastard so of anyone to come here of course it had to be you."

"Who are you?" Grimmjow snarled again. "Answer me! I don't know you!"

"Really? I know I look a bit different but I thought you would remember the person who kicked your ass. I'll give you a hint," Ichigo raised her sword onto her shoulder and sported a rebellious smirk.

"You think it will be boring if you rip off my mask?"

"Ichigo?" he whispered in disbelief.

"Ha, the one and only. I'll see you later tonight. But first I need you to take a nap."

"Wait!" Grimmjow tried to stand on his feet to continue the fight but Ichigo didn't listen. She slammed her foot into his temple and he joined the land of Morpheus.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" The announcer screamed. Without the fight distracting her, Ichigo jumped at the noise. It was like a switch in her head turned the volume off mute and sound came rushing in from all sides. She heard her name being shouted and saw Ramal and Toto cheering her on.

"I-chi-go! I-chi-go!" The crowd chanted. Ichigo smiled and lifted her sword in the air and the crowd roared in approval, doubling the volume in their screams. The entire city could likely hear their screams coming from the colosseum. Ichigo looked over at Boyan and saw he was still alive, if barely. Slinging him onto her shoulder, Ichigo dragged him to the exit to get him some medical attention.

She never noticed a blonde haired woman whose curls reached the floor dressed in an expensive white robe and holding a staff. She observed the girl she and the other magi had felt being born nearly thirteen years ago. The second singularity had come into her kingdom and already was kicking up a storm. Between her performance in the auction house and now in the arena, there wouldn't be a person in Reim who didn't know her name by the end of the year. It might be in her best interest to gain her as an ally. Reim was lacking in dungeon capturers after all. She could take a couple days out of her schedule to assist her in capturing a dungeon and then she would feel indebted to them. The treasure she could offer wouldn't hurt either towards gaining her trust if she let Ichigo keep it all either.

The blonde magi turned to Muu and said, "I would quite like to meet that girl. Can you find out where she is staying tonight?"

"Your wish is my command, Lady Scheherazade." With a bow Muu left to track down the information for his lady.

—0—

Aisha thought she had cried all the tears left in her. For years she had been working as a courtesan after the death of her fiancé to support herself. She had no parents or siblings to rely on except herself. So once the grief faded enough and the money her fiancé earned started to run dry, Aisha started working odd jobs wherever she could. But it was her beauty that caught the most interest. The owner of a brothel knew Aisha could earn their business more than all of her girls combined. So she offered Aisha a place to stay when her expenses proved too much to support with her meager earnings and the rest is as they say history.

The owner knew Aisha could elevate her brothel over all of the competitors, so she had her trained in various entertainment practices. Singing, dancing, musical instruments, how to prepare delicious drinks and food, and most importantly how to please any man or woman in bed. Aisha had fallen into debt in the payment for tutors the owner demanded she learn from and felt an invisible slowly wrapping around her throat. The debt she tried to escape from was being forced on her and the kind hand the owner had offered her turned out to be from a demoness. Promises of the temptation of a better life only to turn on her like a venomous asp.

Aisha cried her tears at night after being violated and abused by any man or woman with enough coin, and the demoness who held her noose took every copper she earned and claimed it was payment towards her debt. Then one day a kind lord appeared. He saw her beauty and wanted her. He paid the owner, more like he threatened her into silence with his guards, and Aisha joined the lord in his home. He called on her almost every night. There were other girls in his manse, but she reminded the lord of his dead wife and he tried to replace the void he felt with her. While Aisha held no love for the lord, she did appreciate the kindness he showed her. In comparison to the brothel, the lord wasn't too rough with her and offered her many gifts, but she still felt fear of the lord who held her fate in his hands. One wrong comment or displeasing action could mean punishment or death.

Aisha had cried silent tears in the lord's bed after he fell asleep praying for her freedom, but it was all for naught. So she moved on. She abandoned her hope that only pained her at night after she cried herself to sleep as she gazed up at the stars in her bed when the lord had finished with her one night. She swore she would never cry again.

Then she and the lord were attacked in their travels by bandits and they abandoned their guards to flee. But even then they weren't safe. Slavers killed her lord and she was to be sold to another country. She didn't care. She had no hope and she was already a slave.

"What was one master compared to another?" She thought. How wrong she was. A week after she was captured she met Ichigo. The redhead was spirited and had a resilience in her that made Aisha envious and the kindles of hope reignited under her fiery gaze. Aisha started talking to the girl and more and more of her life, the part of her she thought she had buried when she was training in the brothel, was dragged, bubbling to the surface. The happy memories she had shared with her love in the chilly nights under the stars on a blanket with some wine but was warmed by his chest as he cradled her in his arms. It was cruel how she was given that hope only to have it ripped from her.

Aisha was locked in the dungeon of her new master, Atticus Alexius, the second cousin to Ignatius Alexius. Atticus had joined the military from a young age and had showcased his sadistic tendencies as he ripped apart his enemies with a smile on his face. His family tried to hide his exploits, but eventually they grew too much. Atticus disobeyed a superior and felt his family's worth would shield him from punishment. He was only half right. He was discharged from the military but his family paid for his punishment to be dropped. Atticus couldn't take his habit out on the enemy anymore, so he looked for another outlet to satisfy himself, slaves. Reim had a hands off policy in how an owner treated their slaves. How they treated their own property was their own business. As long as that didn't extend to harming others property it didn't matter to the government.

[WARNING OF HEAVY ABUSE, RAPE, AND TORTURE. For those who don't wish to read I will leave another warning at the end]

Every night for the last six months Atticus would come down the staircase to the dungeon, his heavy boots stomping his arrival and he would try to come up with a new way to cause Aisha pain. Her arms and legs were a blue and purple mess. He would punch and kick her until he split his knuckles on her battered flesh as she cried and begged for him to stop. He never did. He only smiled at her words and hit harder. Aisha was in Hell.

"I must have done something in my previous life to deserve this life," she thought.

"How else could someone do this if they weren't a demon?" When Atticus grew bored of punching her after a couple weeks he brought a whip. He enjoyed hearing Aisha's screams as her beautiful flesh was torn and marred. He loved as her sensual voice cracked and begged for him to have mercy. He was never harder in his pants as he grabbed her beautiful and exotic purple hair and pushed her face into the stone floor. When the feeling grew too much, he pulled off his clothes and thrust himself into her bronze petals. The tightness that would squeeze around his dick as he swung the leather tipped tails into her skin as blood ran from her skin. It always proved too much for him as he released his divine seed into the slave. He enjoyed the shudder that would wrack her body as she soaked up his great essence. His laugh echoed throughout the dungeon before he pulled himself out of the cunt and reclothed himself and demanded the servant waiting outside the door to heal and clean her.

[TORTURE IS DONE. Do you know how dirty it feels to try and write from the rapist's P.O.V.? The sense of entitlement and joy literally made me queasy. I only wanted to try and create a character I absolutely hated and I more than succeeded in my head. I promise his death will be glorious and fitting.]

The servant was just glad she didn't join Aisha in this hell as she used a magic tool that could slowly fix wounds on the woman. When she healed the flesh she did her best to ignore the screams as she reset the bones. It never worked. She flinched and wanted to vomit at being forced to fix the broken woman every night. When her bruises mostly faded and her bones mended from breaks to fractures and the servant exhausted all of her magoi she could spare, the servant would take a cloth and wash the blood off her body. As the blood cleared, it exposed the accumulated scars left behind. While the tool healed her wounds, it wasn't strong enough to erase the wound from existence. The servant tried to hide her tears for the woman's fate as she left the woman who stared blankly at the wall, her mind retreated from the pain and the act performed on her. The servant never heard Aisha's quiet prayer for help.

"Ichigo, where are you? You said you would save me. Help me. Please, help me," her voice was as soft as a rabbit's whisper. Aisha hated how she still had hope. That the girl who slept on her lap made her believe that she would be free one day. Because at this point she just wanted to die. To escape from the pain he kept delivering to her broken body. But that light Ichigo offered her was like a golden rope. It was just out of reach, but it swayed as her fingers brushed the end of it. Aisha hated it. She cursed her fate. Black rukh swirled around her form, invisible to the woman and servant who was walking away.

But Ichigo felt it. Ichigo tensed as the feeling of fear and pain brushed along her senses. She was headed towards the bathhouses to meet up with Grimmjow as the sun was starting to set. She turned her head to observe her surroundings. Was she being watched? She shook off the feeling in favor of entering the bathhouse. Ichigo grabbed a towel from an attendant and smiled at the boy, leaving his face as bright as her hair as she went into a changing room. She chuckled to herself at his expression as she removed her cuirass and sword into her bag. She hid her belt and bag in a hole she had created in the wall disguised behind a painting as she frequently visited the bathhouse once she was sure no one was there. Though she bathed only in the female section, it was a surprise to learn Grimmjow was only a couple hundred feet from her for months as he bathed in the mens baths.

Ichigo slipped into a two-piece suit Toto had been "forced" to give her a couple weeks after arriving in Reim. Toto most certainly was not blushing as she gave it to her though, no matter what Ichigo might say. She would deny it to her death that she actually thought Ichigo might be a cool friend to have. The suit was growing tight as her breasts were growing. A few more months and she wouldn't be able to fit the clasp on the back. Ichigo stepped through the door that led to the mixed bathing area and observed the stone masterpiece. Steam wafted from the warm water, attendants kept a steady supply of wood flowing into a metal container that used the coals to warm the bathwater.

She swept her eyes towards the opening door to her right and had to mentally reboot and force her legs to keep working as she saw Grimmjow through the steam. He was without a shirt and all his muscles were displayed for her viewing pleasure.

"Oh my," Ichigo breathed in sharply, her cheeks slightly flushing. Sweat glistened on his streamlined pectorals and she tracked a bead of sweat as it creeped down over his six pack abs into the towel he tied around his waist. The light glistened on his muscles like he was Adonis himself. Ichigo looked away from the other reincarnated boy as a heat inflamed her lower half. She rushed to enter the bath for at least the water could offer a suitable excuse for her brightening cheeks. She watched as he prowled with feline grace as he slipped into the bath next to her. His red eyes on her felt like he was looking at a piece of meat. Ichigo gave herself a mental smack.

"She was Ren-fucking-Ichigo! She didn't get distracted by things like looks, even if he did look- No!" She shook her head and plunged her face into the scalding water wanting to let out a scream. She held her head underwater until it hurt and lifted her head to take heaving gasps of air. All the while Grimmjow looked at the girl with confusion. Did he miss something?

"So, you were offering an explanation?" Grimmjow asked, but his tone conveyed he wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted. Ichigo didn't respond right away as she thought over everything she knew, which admittedly wasn't much. Just as Grimmjow grew frustrated thinking she wasn't going to say anything, Ichigo said, "I know my arrival had something to do with the Soul King. Juha Bach used his connection with me through my blood and forced me to kill him as I tried to attack him. The next thing I knew I was feeling like my consciousness was locked away somewhere and then my memories reappeared and I was a toddler."

"So it was the Soul King huh?" Grimmjow scratched his chin in thought.

"What about you? How did you get here? Do you know if anyone else is here from our old home?"

"I don't, but as for how I got here…I think it was the collapse of the three dimensions."

"So we lost," Ichigo whispered. Even as Ichigo had lived her life in this world, she had still hoped the shinigami had won their war against the quincies without her. That they stood a chance.

She knew she'd never see her old family again, but now she was stuck between crying they died and hoping they were still alive here. But Karin and Yuzu didn't have a lot of reiatsu. Their souls would have been crushed in the chaos of the merging. Even if the captains and espada died, there was still a possibility their souls held long enough in the transference between worlds. Or was it dimensions? She still didn't know if this was an alternate earth or an entirely different universe altogether. That was more Urahara's thing.

"The last thing I remember was the feeling that my soul was being shredded. Like everything around me was passing through my body. Then I woke up as a brat in someplace called the Dark Continent. Twenty of those fuckers ganged upon me and gave me to these pirates on some island. I fought them so much they sold me to the arena. I've been here ever since."

"You're still a slave?"

"HA! No. I paid my debt years ago. I just do it for fun. That rush of a good fight, there's nothing better. You know what I mean?"

"I only like fighting as a means to an end."

"Bah," Grimmjow waved his hand. "You're no fun. Come on, that feeling of danger as your life hangs on a thread against an equal opponent, that rush of victory. Don't tell me you don't like it." Ichigo smirked, "Well maybe a little bit." Grimmjow howled in joy not noticing the attention the two were drawing.

"I knew there was a reason I like you," his loud words had the woman and girls around them offering her encouraging smiles and teasing glances. Ichigo grew pink again and searched for something to hide behind. There was a tray floating on the water holding a cask of wine. She grabbed a cup and chugged the fermented grape juice, her fellow bathers cheering along.

"So what do you plan to do now?" Grimmjow asked, grabbing a cup for himself.

"I need to find my friend Aisha. She was sold here in the city to a man named Lord Alexius."

"Which one?" Ichigo shrugged.

"Well, there are four men in their family I know about. One's a fanalis like me."

"Nope."

"There's the general, he's old as dirt-"

"Nope.

"Ah, there's the general's cousin or something. He retired from the military about ten years ago?" Grimmjow thought aloud.

"Is he about five years older than you?"

"No, but he's got a son who is."

"His son then. The creepy eyed one."

"Atticus. Yeah, I heard about him. Reminds me of Szayelaporro or Nnoitra. Sadistic fucks."

Ichigo felt ice creep into her veins. That feeling as she entered the bathhouse came back with a vengeance. While she was being trained and having fun with Rumal, what was Aisha going through? How could she have been so stupid? The only reason she hadn't just used the treasure she had in her bag to buy her freedom was because she realized that Rumal was offering her a great opportunity to grow stronger. She didn't try to buy her freedom in the auction house either because there was no guarantee they wouldn't have just taken her treasure and sold her anyway. But that didn't mean she shouldn't have just left Aisha wherever she was. She knew the guy was bad news from his looks. Why did she delude herself all this time? Had she let her hopes for getting stronger blind her from her promise?

Ichigo clenched her hands into a fist. Damn it! She was going to find Aisha. Standing up she ran to gather her things while Grimmjow shouted in confusion at her fleeing form.

A man in the bath placed his arm around the teenage fanalis trying to offer some words of wisdom, "Don't worry my boy, it was clear she was interested in you. Just give her some space and she'll come back to you!" He slapped him in the unmoving back of Grimmjow as he stared at the man like he was an idiot.

"You got the wrong idea!" Grimmjow denied, but he and everyone else just thought he was embarrassed that she ran off on him. Grimmjow snarled as his red eyes pierced everyone in the room. His foot stamped into the stone floor and the drunken man stumbled back in fear as everyone in the room stopped laughing. They gulped as they realized they just teased a fanalis who proved he could kill all of them in the arena for the last ten years.

"Okay!" the drunk squeaked, raising his hands in the air as he tripped to the ground.

Grimmjow snorted and chased after Ichigo. He caught up to her just as she exited the bathhouse.

"Oi, wait up!" Ichigo barely spared a glance to him as she hurried through the streets to return to Rumal's residence. "Where are you going? How do you think you can save her if you don't even know where he lives?"

"Rumal has been here for decades. He should know where Atticus lives. Even if he doesn't, he should know someone that can help. I don't care what I've got to do, I promised I would save her."

Grimmjow was reminded of the same girl who had invaded Heuco Mundo with only a couple friends threatening to take on their entire army if she had too. He smirked thinking, "Yeah she likes fighting, she just needs the right motivation." They entered Rumal's house as they talked.

"What will you do if he doesn't know?" he asked, trying to be a voice of reason. There were over 900,000 people in the richest trading city. Half of which were enslaved. That's not including the various foreigners who were staying to trade their goods before departing. It couldn't be expected for him to know where one man was living, even if he was rich.

"Ah, Ichigo, just who I was looking for!" Rumal announced, approaching with hurried steps.

"Rumal, wait. I need to ask you something first."

"It can wait. We have guests that need to speak with you."

"But I need to talk to you about my friend-" Ichigo protested, but was still interrupted.

"Then he can join," Rumal said, grabbing her shoulders and marching her towards the dining room not realizing who she meant.

"Wait, it is not him I am talking about."

"Again, it can wait," Rumal said and opened the door to the room revealing a fanalis soldier dressed in golden armor and a petite woman who had kind eyes, but looked tired and old, like she had been under pressure for far longer than her body's suggested age. Something Ichigo wasn't unfamiliar with even in her first life, Shinigami lived for centuries after all.

"Oh," Ichigo said. Even though she hadn't seen her before, everyone in Reim knew about Lady Scheherazade. The priestess. The magi. The protector of the Reim Empire since its founding. Ichigo had heard rumors that she was like an angel descended from the heavens who protected them from the evil of the rest of the world. Ichigo thought she was a willing part of the system that supported mass slavery that had no opportunity of escape.

"Hello Ichigo," the magi greeted, standing up from the chair she occupied at the head of the table. "I am Lady Scheherazade," she offered a curtsy to Ichigo in respect.

"I would like to offer congratulations on your victory today." Ichigo offered a bow in response. She was being polite to Ichigo at the very least. Especially surprising since she was still a "slave," even if Rumal never treated her like one. More like a student with no guardian, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with her. It sounds different but was essentially the same in practice except for the intent behind his actions. Rumal had every intention of letting her go regardless in a couple years once he had "completed" her training. She was advancing so quickly in the material that he found himself scrambling on how to give her more lessons.

"And you performed excellently as well Grimmjow," she greeted the fanalis standing at Ichigo's back.

"Thanks," he grunted. Muu seemed to twitch at the lack of respect. His hand clenched his sword's handle as he grinded his teeth.

"You will greet her with respect!" He grit out.

"Peace, Alexius. I can tell he meant no harm," the magi soothed, raising a hand to stop him from drawing his sword.

"Greetings Lady Scheherazade. But I don't think you came all the way to speak to me about a fight in the colosseum." The magi seemed to sigh at how quickly Ichigo tried to get to the point.

"No. I would like to ask if you would like to try your chance at becoming a dungeon capturer." While Ichigo blinked at the offer, the magi used a magic sight to see if she had any metal vessels. She spotted the magic bag and there was something off about it, but didn't see any eight pointed star on any weapon or jewelry.

"Good," Scheherazade thought, "No other magi had a claim on her. This is my best chance to help her, help me. Both Sindria and the Kou Empire were pulling ahead in the number of metal vessel users."

"Oi, I've been here in Reim for years fighting in the arena and I don't get the offer. The she wins one fight and you're offering to go with her into a dungeon. How's that fair?" Grimmjow screamed. Muu laughed at him.

"I guess she just doesn't think there's anything special about you." Grimmjow growled at his fellow half-fanalis's words.

"Actually it was your attitude," the magi cut in. "You aren't the type of person to follow orders. Giving you a metal vessel is asking for trouble." Ichigo watched the byplay with amusement, but didn't forget about Aisha.

"I would like to take your offer, but there's something I need to do first."

"If there is something I can assist you with, please ask. The sooner you complete your task, the sooner you can get your Djinn," the magi said.

"Why me? And what do you get out of this?" Ichigo asked. Scheherazade took a deep breath. "Before I tell you, I need you to agree to become an ally of Reim. You may keep all of the treasure in the tower, but you must agree to be our ally." Ichigo closed her eyes in thought. She needed to help Aisha and this was the fastest way to accomplish it. But she was still a princess of Kou. She couldn't just think about herself. If she became an ally of Reim and their interests that they would demand of her to help with were to conflict with her own empire, there was the possibility war would break out. While both empires are technically enemies, they have avoided all out war until they believe they hold the advantage. The losses they would incur should they miscalculate the enemy would be astronomical. Extreme magic was no joke. Entire countries can be destroyed if they have enough magoi.

"It isn't that I don't want to ally with you," Ichigo began, knowing she had to be careful in how she worded her response. "But I am from Kou. I can't agree if you would have me attack my own people."

"That won't be a problem," Lady Scheherazade said, to the surprise of everyone in the room. The magi watched the rukh react to her words. Ichigo was an earnest person. She could tell that if she was an ally, Ichigo would help defend her even if it meant her own death.

"Kou is not the task I need help with regardless," the magi said. That's right, her biggest concern was the kingdom of mages that had recently revolted and was strong-arming the surrounding villages and town into joining them. Magnostadt. She could feel something unnatural emanating from that location. She knew she needed support if she confronted it. Over the last five years, she grew another clone that could carry on her will and attend their academy. But it wouldn't be ready for another nine years until he was fully grown.

"So, will you accept?" She asked, smiling angelically.

"If you offer to help me find my friend in the city, then yes."

"Your friend?"

"Her name is Aisha. I think she was sold the same day as me to a man named Atticus Alexius."

"Atticus?" Muu asked in surprise.

"You know him?" Ichigo narrowed her eyes on the man.

"Yes. He's my…third cousin once removed?" Muu guessed. His family tree was vast and confusing. "He's a relative."

"I will buy her freedom if I need to, but I need to find her," Ichigo said.

Beneath the hardened mask Sheherazade kept around her heart, she felt Ichigo's desire as beautiful that someone would go so far for their friends. However she crushed the desire in her heart from decades of practice in aiding the rule of Reim. Aisha and Ichigo were nothing more than instruments to be wielded by her country.

She tried to convince herself that was all she was doing as she agreed to the request. That she was only securing an ally by going with Ichigo. That she was just saving time by staying at Ichigo's side. That the bright light of Ichigo's soul wasn't comforting and screaming at her that she was someone who she could cast off her mask in the presence of. But alas, the experience she held proved too much for the fleeting feelings she held, so she suppressed her thoughts from the light of day. She would find her mask to be helpful in the coming night as they approached the residence of Muu's extended family at the sight that awaited the party of four. Because she didn't know if her heart could stand the appearance of Aisha as her blank eyes stared at them as they descended the dungeon beneath the Alexius household.

—0—

[AN: After a chapter or so, there will be a major time skip with flashbacks to get closer to canon without losing out on how Ichigo has changed. I don't think you all want to read Ichigo going into another few dungeons before actually meeting the adorable chibi Aladdin. I think you are Intelligent enough to realize how many dungeons she conquered if she has x amount of vessels.

Thank you all for reading! I had fun for the most part, except for that one scene where I was trying to figure out how to create the most despicable character I could think of.

This is EmberPhoenix signing off.]