Chapter 37: Phantom Falls
When Ichigo revealed the plan of the rescue to the rest of the team, he only had two words to say:
Fuck subtlety.
Phantom Lord knew they were coming and being discreet would've been useless. Instead, the reaper decided that a direct approach was necessary. Besides, Natsu was itching to cause some damage for what those fools did. The moment they made it to the front of the palace, the son of Igneel didn't hesitate to blow it up to the high heavens.
They intended to cause as much damage as possible and deny Phantom Lord any kind of resources be it artifacts, magic weapons, tomes, or in the reaper's primary target, manpower.
When the first Phantom Lord mage came running with a staff pointed at them, Ichigo didn't hesitate to bisect the man in half. This caught the rest of his teammates off guard. However, the hybrid merely continued; his mind hellbent on eradicating this malevolent guild.
The others were just as determined to stop Phantom Lord and its dastardly plans. Despite the outright viciousness of their leader, they had no say in this considering one of the directives given by Makarov was to eliminate said guild if they were a danger to the world. The discovery of Arrancars and their connection to the guild, the experiments they were conducting, and the fact that they were using a child as their guinea pig were more than valid reasons.
CRASH!
A Phantom grunt collided head-first into a stone pillar. The impact split the skin on his forehead, letting out some blood flow over his right eye. Despite how hard he hit his head, he was still conscious, albeit barely. Suddenly, the goon was lifted by the scruff of his shirt and tossed to the adjacent wall. Immediately after he got imbedded, a powerful forearm was pressed against his throat.
"Tell us where Lisanna is, or I'll fry you up!"
Natsu was livid. All that pent-up frustration was now being unleashed. Unless they don't give his girlfriend back, the son of Igneel won't hesitate to show his wrath upon those who dared to cross a dragon and his partner.
"Tell us, damn it!"
"Natsu, calm down," Erza said softly. She understands how much Lisanna means to the dragon slayer, but she knows that they won't be able to save her if they don't get to the exact location where she's being held. "Let Ichigo interrogate the man."
Natsu relented and let the man go. Thinking that he was safe, the Phantom grunt felt an ungodly pain from his right hand… or what used to be his right hand.
Ichigo sliced off the extremity to sow desperation into the heart of their captive. It did more than put the fear of the death god in the poor sap's heart. The reaper grabbed the man's hair and leaned into the guy's face.
"You still have a few digits I can cut off and I'm just as pissed as my friend," Ichigo stated, referring to Natsu. "So, unless you want to keep your remaining hand, I suggest you give us what we want."
The grunt knew who this person was, and he wasn't about to sign his death certificate by being uncooperative.
"O-Okay…" he said shakily. "I-If your r-referring to the Fairy Tail bi–"
SLAP!
A stinging slap hit the enemy wizard's face so hard that some skin tore off.
"DON'T YOU EVER CALL LISANNA A BITCH!"
Gajeel quickly restrained the irate Natsu.
Ichigo didn't mind, though, as he tightened his grip on the grunt's hair, making the captive wince in pain. "If you don't tell us where you're keeping our missing guildmate, then I'm not stopping my friend here from burning you alive. Now, tell us where Lisanna is!"
"SHE'S IN THE DUNGEON IN THE SOUTHWEST WING OF THE CASTLE!" the captured wizard screamed fearfully and hastily. "You can't miss it!"
Ichigo unceremoniously dropped the wizard and faced his guildmates. "Let's go."
Just as the reaper and his team turned around, the enemy wizard they interrogated pounced on them, hoping to take advantage of this momentary opening. Sadly, he was instantly vaporized by a merciless blast of Cero coming from Ichigo's smoking fist. The only trace of the man was the scorch mark where he once stood.
Without missing a beat, the hybrid immediately left the blackened cobblestone crater and headed toward the dungeons. Natsu followed not far behind, his mind still focused on rescuing his partner.
The others, on the other hand, were looking at the only remnants of the dead mage. They knew that blood was going to be spilled in this mission, but seeing it up close was unnerving. Still, they had a mission to do and, whatever punishment would befall Phantom Lord, they deserved for the atrocities they'd committed.
-{}-
Another crash echoed through the stone chambers leading to the dungeons. The guards posted to keep anyone away from the cells were expeditiously defeated by the Fairy Tail mages as they made their way to their captured friend.
"We're almost there," said Cana as the steel bars were in sight. Up ahead, she caught sight of five mages; most likely posted as more guards. "Like these punks are gonna stop us!" Taking out three cards, she held the three items together as a powerful arc of lightning burst from her hand which she sent at the stationed guards. "Jolt of Fate!"
The on-duty wizards couldn't do anything as they fell over from the intense electrical shock. Their bodies were still sizzling from the high-voltage attack.
"Nice!" Gajeel praised.
Once they passed the downed guards, they finally reached the wrought iron bars that held their captured guildmate. Natsu, upon seeing the longed-for snow-white mop of hair, quickly cried out her name.
"Lisanna!"
Lisanna quickly snapped her head up and happy tears immediately flowed from her eyes. "Natsu!"
Ichigo gave the order. "Gajeel, chow time."
With a grin, the metal-eating slayer bit a large chunk of the iron bars and began chewing. He swallowed the metallic meal and repeated the process until most of the obstruction was inside Gajeel's belly.
The iron bars now gone, Lisanna didn't hesitate to lunge at her best friend and love, capturing him in a tight embrace while she buried her face in the crook of his neck.
Natsu returned the gesture fervently, digging his face into the crown of her head as his hold on her grew tighter. "Thank goodness, you're alright."
"I'm so sorry, Natsu," Lisanna sobbed. The son of Igneel could feel the sloshes of tears dampen his skin. "I'm sorry… for not being strong enough. If… If only I was strong, then maybe you… you wouldn't get hurt."
"Shhh-shhh…" Natsu shushed her in a whisper while stroking her hair. "You don't need to apologize. It doesn't matter if I get hurt as long as you're safe. It's all that matters to me." He separated from her a bit to check for any injuries. "Did they do anything to you?"
Lisanna shook her head. "No," she assured. "After they captured me, they quickly brought me here." She then remembered someone. "Oh! Ichigo, I found a child in the dungeons with me."
The said reaper's eyes widened once he heard this. "Where is she?"
"She's inside. Wait, how do you know the kid's a she?"
Lisanna didn't get a reply as Ichigo rushed into the cage. In the corner of the cell, he spotted a little girl bundled in tattered green rags. The lime-green hair, the purple birthmark over the bridge of her nose, and the broken mask were unmistakable.
"Nel?" he whispered.
The girl heard her name and looked up only to be surprised. She recognized this face. It may have been older now, but this was the person who saved her many years ago from the mantis Arrancar.
"Itsygo? ITSYGO!" Nel rushed to her friend as she was lifted by the reaper. "It's you! Itsygo is here! You're here! You're here!"
"Yes, Nel," Ichigo whispered as he cradled the little Arrancar girl. "I'm here now. I'm here and no one will hurt you." Nel continued crying for several minutes before eventually calming down. Ichigo's gentle rubs on her back soothed the fragile child's worry. Once her crying ceased, the hybrid scanned her body and found multiple puncture insertions on her skin.
A feral growl escaped Ichigo. Sol's claim was now confirmed upon seeing Nel's condition. They dared to harm a child! He will ensure that Phantom Lord will fall on this day, which is a guarantee. However, he needed to attend to the little Arrancar's well-being.
"Juvia…" Ichigo brought Nel over to the water mage. "Please, take care of her."
"Of course," nodded Juvia. She used her magic to conjure some water and let the child drink it. "Drink up, little one."
Nel gladly chugged the refreshing liquid in huge gulps. No doubt the girl was thirsty and was now happy that it was quenched. "Thank you, water lady."
"Ichigo, do you know this child?" Erza asked as she observed Nel curl up in Juvia's arms.
"Her name is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck," Ichigo answered. "She's an ally and a friend from our world."
"I can't believe they have a child imprisoned here," Cana spoke aloud. "Why would they have a kid locked up in their dungeons?"
"I think…" Lisanna stammered. "I think it has something to do with the needle marks on her skin."
"Wait, what?" Gajeel looked at the Arrancar kid and found she was riddled with insertion marks. "The Hell!? What did they do to her?"
"She's their unwilling donor."
All eyes went to Ichigo.
Having pieced it all together, Erza paled and hesitantly asked, "Ichigo, I hope it is not what I'm thinking."
"It is, Erza." The hybrid's answer caused the redhead to cover her mouth in disgust. The others were still confused, he explained. "The Hollowfication you guys encountered when you fought Phantom Lord's lieutenants came from her. They're extracting her Spiritual Energy and using it as their fuel for their newfound powers."
Juvia, Lisanna, and Cana let out a horrified gasp. Natsu and Gajeel growled and clenched their fists so tight that their knuckles turned white. To think they'd use a child for their twisted ends.
Phantom Lord had truly stooped to its lowest.
"They're monsters… all of them," Juvia said with finality. "I can't believe I was once associated with them. I'm glad that I'm no longer part of such a vile group of monsters."
"I knew they were crazed, but this!?" Cana yelled while pointing to a now-sleeping Nel. "They've gone too far if they're willing to experiment on an innocent kid!"
"That's why we need to stop them," Erza concluded. She looked at the others who all agreed with her.
"They've gone off the deep end," Gajeel stated. "I know my past with them doesn't make me the most upstanding member of Fairy Tail, but this is just completely fucked up!"
Erza then looked at Ichigo and asked, "What's next?"
"Now, we eliminate this guild." All eyes were on the reaper. From their expressions alone, they knew what he meant. "I know all of you are hesitant to do what's necessary and I understand. We got what we came for; we saved Lisanna and Nel. This last part… you don't have to come with me. You don't have to sully your hands with blood."
The others looked at their friend and team leader worriedly. While he was no stranger to bloodshed, especially on a dimensional scale, they still believed it didn't have to resort to this. However, they understood that this was needed. If Phantom Lord was left to their own devices, who knows what kind of harm they could cause to the Magic World?
They won't participate in the massacre, but they won't stop it. This shows the difference between the Kurosaki family and the majority of Fairy Tail:
The wizards believe that all life is precious.
The death gods believe that the lives of those you care about are more precious. Those who would harm these precious people forfeit their lives.
"Be careful, Ichigo," was all Erza could say as they slowly headed to the exit. "We'll be seeing you outside."
"Go. Protect Lisanna and Nel while I'm busy."
Erza and the others nodded. "We will."
Jose sat comfortably on his throne while he waited for the arrival of those wretched fairies. Ever since the initial infiltration some days ago, the guildmaster couldn't shake the uneasy feeling building up within him.
Their plan when Fairy Tail first came to their base was a success. They managed to capture Lisanna Strauss and test out the results from their current experiments. Fairy Tail had no chance. Even S-Class mages such as Erza Scarlet stood no chance in the face of this great power from beyond their realm.
"Has Sol returned, Aria?"
"He has not, master," answered the Airspace mage. He, too, was feeling rather apprehensive. While they were able to show the wizards from Fairy Tail their place, they weren't able to subdue the death god, Ichigo Kurosaki. "I fear that he may have been captured."
"I see…" That was all Jose could say.
"Master Jose," a wizard came up to the guildmaster, "we still can't get the Magic Sensors to function properly."
"What? How is that possible?"
"It must've been the sudden fluctuation of energy it detected when the Fairy Tail wizards infiltrated the base."
"Damn it!" Jose seethed, a fist slamming into the armrest of his seat. That energy disturbance that fired their scanners came from none other than the reaper himself. "With the sensors non-functional, we won't be able to detect the movements of the intruders."
Another grunt mage entered the hall with urgent news. "Master Jose, the Fairy Tail mages have freed Lisanna Strauss and the young Arrancar."
Jose's eyes widened in shock. The Strauss was inconsequential, but the child was an entire matter altogether. "And what of the guards?"
"Some were unconscious. The others, however, were killed."
The leader of Phantom Lord knew that only Ichigo had what it takes to kill. No one from Fairy Tail would ever think of taking a life. This is a problem since that hesitance to kill is a disadvantage he could use against those damned wizards.
But against Ichigo Kurosaki? That would be a problem.
"Gather all members of the guild here in the hall!" he ordered with urgency. It was no use having his forces spread within the compound. It was evident the intruders would go searching for him and his lieutenants now that they had freed their captured guildmate. With numbers, he was confident they'd be able to eliminate the reaper and his companion wizards.
"This is a sudden order coming from you, Jose," Rusty Rose spoke, having been first to arrive beside Phantom Lord's guild leader.
"I see no use having our forces scattered," Jose reasoned. "Besides, with the numbers advantage and our Hollowfication, it would be impossible for those Fairy Tail scum to survive."
"Indeed," Rose agreed. "With the power originating from his world, we will be able to put that so-called death god in his place."
"And after we get rid of their most powerful member, no one would be able to stop us from decimating that guild once and for all," Aria concluded.
As more members of Phantom Lord came pouring into the hall, their arrogance and ego only grew. Jose and his lieutenants observed the growing number of mages in their massive gathering chamber, already numbering in the hundreds. His grin only grew wider with each passing second.
Once the last mage entered the main hall, the entirety of Phantom Lord waited for the arrival of their victims. The many wizards present were eager to lay their hands on the scum known as Fairy Tail for humiliating the prestigious name of Phantom Lord.
Their patience was rewarded when the main doors to the hall exploded into splinters. The blast flung chips of wood from the door to the waiting wizards who covered their faces from the minute debris. Smoke billowed from the entrance as a figure hidden within it became visible.
Stepping into the room was none other than Ichigo Kurosaki; twin swords in hand and eyes shifting from black and gold to five pupils… alone.
"Wait a minute, alone?" Jose questioned upon seeing the man. He had expected the entire party of rescuers to be present in this final battle.
"If you're asking why I'm alone, it's that I sent my team away," Ichigo answered before being questioned. "I'm not risking their safety when I can just end this on my own."
First, a snort. Then, it was followed by a chuckle. Finally, Jose couldn't resist and fell into a demented fit of laughter. His subordinates did the same, finding the claim from one man claiming to be a god ludicrous.
"Must you be a comedian as well, Ichigo Kurosaki?" Jose questioned after finally calming down. "To think that my first meeting with a supposed god of death would be entertaining. Do you see this?" he gestured to the gathered forces before him. "You're just one man against hundreds of mages. How can you possibly hope to stop us given our numbers and the power we obtained?"
"Does it matter?" Ichigo said as he took small steps forward. His grip on both blades of Zangetsu grew tight. His eyes were fixated on the man behind the actions of this disgraced guild. "I would've just captured all of you and turned you over to the authorities." Red and blue Reishi emanated from the large and short swords respectively. "But, seeing as you captured one of my guildmates and endangered her unborn child, acquired power that you would no doubt use for your selfish desires, and experimented on a child, all of you are too dangerous to be kept alive."
Jose was not fazed. He merely scoffed at the threat as he ordered his men to be ready. He was going to see to it that Ichigo Kurosaki, Fairy Tail's greatest asset, would meet his end by their hands.
Oh, how mistaken he was.
"ATTACK HIM!" ordered Jose with utmost fervor. "Kill him! Show him the power of Phantom Lord!"
(Tool - Jambi)
Upon Jose's command, more than thirty mages equipped with magic weapons charged at the reaper, all of them intent on killing the death god. However, all they were doing was charging to their deaths.
Ichigo's eyes shifted from the normal brown to gold swimming in blackness. In an instant, he vanished and appeared at the closest mage. Without hesitation, he slashed the man in half from the waist to his left shoulder. His eyes spotted another wizard about to fire a magic blast. He vanished once more plunged the shorter blade of Zangetsu into the man's head and threw the larger one at the next mage in his immediate vicinity.
Pulling on the cloth strap, Ichigo flailed the large blade and bisected five wizards. While the weapon was still airborne, he rushed at a Phantom wizard and ripped the man's throat. However, the reaper didn't stop. Ichigo vanished via Sonido and appeared behind another wizard. A trail of black light was the only indicator of his usage of Bringer Light. Empowered by the technique, he kicked the unsuspecting wizard and broke him into two pieces.
Ichigo vanished again, this time appearing in front of two bewildered mages. He grabbed their faces and slammed their heads into the ground, crushing their skulls in the process. Pulling on the cloth tied to his two swords, he twirled both blades and tossed it like a frisbee, mowing down eight more grunts. He jumped and pulled the weapons back to him before descending and slashing a wizard.
His eyes found two wizards paralyzed with fear. In an instant, he dashed through them; the instantaneous movement vaporizing their bodies. He didn't stop there as he continued to blitz through multiple wizards, slashing them mercilessly and reducing their numbers in mere nanoseconds. He can go faster, but this speed is more than enough to show the disparity between him and the Phantom Lord.
In that mere instant, Ichigo managed to eliminate a total of forty-eight wizards. What was left of them was nothing more than a pile of body parts scattered, and blood splattered on the stone floor. What's more, all of it happened within ten seconds, the last dozen victims falling to his blade faster than anyone could perceive.
Now, he just stood there, menacingly, as he glared at the remaining members of Phantom Lord who witnessed his massacre.
The reaper can see the shock in their eyes. His body and blades dripping with blood painted a haunting image of a monster hellbent on the destruction of this accursed dark guild.
Did they want the power of the Hollow? Yes, and now, they will witness it in its most primal state.
"Finally! I've been waiting so long for you to truly cut loose!" Zangetsu yelled in sadistic glee as he witnessed the slaughter. "Don't stop! Kill these bastards for what they've done!"
"Gladly."
Ichigo pounced on the nearest mage, driving his smaller blade into the man's head before viciously twisting it and removing a chunk of the skull. Using his Sonido, the reaper appeared behind two wizards and plunged the two blades into their bodies. The victims gasped at the sudden emergence of metal through their torsos before Ichigo changed the angle of both Zangetsu blades and slashed upward, splitting them from the waist up.
Despite the evident killing spree, the grunts from Phantom Lord still thought that they could overwhelm Ichigo with their sheer numbers. So, in an act of absolute arrogance and stupidity, they charged at the Transcendent. However, it didn't matter to Ichigo. He merely strode to the charging mob with twin swords still fresh with dripping blood. When the first mage came in ready to hack him, he simply stepped aside brought down his blade, and decapitated the man. Another was close to reaching him before throwing the larger Zangetsu and impaling his head. He pulled the cloth on the oversized weapon and kicked the corpse off of it.
"I don't even need my weapons to finish all of you!" Ichigo claimed, his voice now in its Hollowfied state. He plunged Zangetsu into the ground and dashed to the incoming wizards.
As he rushed to the mages, his hands turned pale white, and sharp claws replaced his fingernails. Upon reaching the swarming mob, he quickly slashed his clawed hand at the closest wizard and disemboweled him. Blood and entrails splattered on the ground as he bled to death. He pointed two fingers at a gathered group and fired a wild Cero at them. Nothing remained other than scorch marks on the ground.
More people ran to challenge him. It didn't matter to the reaper as these fools would meet their demise one way or the other.
He suddenly appeared in front of one of the wizards and grabbed him by the face and slammed his head to the ground. The act killed the individual immediately. Ichigo used the body as a blunt weapon and bludgeoned the next person who tried to attack him. He hammered the wizard with the cadaver a dozen times before throwing the corpse to a group nearby.
"Come on, Ichigo!" Zangetsu yelled in the reaper's head. "Don't leave me and the old man out of the fun! Let us in on the action!"
The old man stayed silent yet didn't refute.
Ichigo responded by summoning the two blades into his hands. The weapons flew from their earthly binds and, like a mind of their own, went to their master's grasp as he began hacking and slashing the many unfortunate wizards who dared to face him.
As Ichigo continued his relentless rampage, Jose could only watch in morbid shock at how one man continued to decimate his forces with relative ease. This… this wasn't what he was expecting. With the power he gathered throughout their seven years of hiding, Phantom Lord should be able to challenge any guild, maybe Tartaros even!
But his eyes do not deceive him. Despite all the wealth, army, and power he had coveted, it wasn't enough to slow down the death god remotely.
Death god.
"Why is it always them?" Jose internally questioned. "Why is it always that accursed guild that gets boon and glory over us?"
Aria was also watching the kill fest with worry. He, too, had this belief that with numbers and Hollowfication they could overpower any guild. Now, that notion seemed so fleeting, and it made him fearful.
The Airspace mage took a glance at his guildmaster and asked, "Master, we should do something about this." However, he didn't get any reply. "Master?" That's when he saw the look on Jose's face mired with a mixture of hate and confusion. "Master Jose, what should we do?"
Jose didn't hear his subordinate call his name as the conflict raging in his mind only made him see the unfairness that put Fairy Tail above them time and again.
"Damn them! Damn Makarov and his ilk! Why do they always have to have the glory? The prestige? The love of the populace!?" Jose's fists were now spasming from the constant tightening and twitching in anger. "And now… now they have a god by their side. A GOD! It should've been us, not them!"
Seconds ticked as more and more of Phantom Lord's mages fell to Ichigo's blade. Jose's ire for the reaper grew until finally, he couldn't take it anymore.
"DAMN YOU, ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" Jose yelled in frustration as he finally lost it. "DAMN YOU AND THAT WRETCHED GUILD OF YOURS!" The guildmaster of Phantom Lord dragged his right hand over his face and summoned his Hollow mask. "I WILL DESTROY YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR! AND ONCE I'M THROUGH WITH YOU, I CAN FINALLY HAVE MY VENGEANCE ON FAIRY TAIL!"
Jose put his hands in front; red energy surged into the open palms and swirled violently as it grew before it fired into a bright beam of doom.
"CERO!"
Ichigo saw an incoming doom blast and quickly split it with his blade. Seeing this, Jose seethed further and fired another blast. "KILL HIM!" he ordered. "Use your Hollowfication and end this pretender!"
Aria and Rose didn't have any second thoughts and obeyed. They materialized their respective Hollow masks and powered up their spells. A powerful tornado surrounded the Airspace wizard before sending it to the reaper. Rusty Rose, meanwhile, morphed his right arm into a grotesque four-pronged sword using his Ark of Embodiment and rushed to the death god.
The tornado was quickly dispersed with one shot of Cero. Ichigo raised his shorter Zangetsu and easily blocked the misshapen sword. He grinned. "I guess I'm fighting the knockoff version of The Visionary."
That taunt struck a nerve in Rose. "What did you say? You dare mock the power given to me by the late Master Hades?"
"I do," admitted the reaper. "I've seen a similar power warp reality on a dimensional scale. Yours is just a poor imitation."
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAGGH!"
Rusty Rose tried to push the hybrid and gained some distance. He engaged Ichigo in a bout of swordplay, but it was painfully obvious that his skills were abysmal compared to the Transcendent. With each swing and thrust, the former Grimoire Heart mage was only making himself look pathetic as Ichigo parried and deflected each of his attacks. When he accidentally overextended, the reaper used this opening to jab the butt of his blade's handle into his stomach before getting a vicious Blut Arterie-powered back fist to the face which sent him careening on the stone floor.
While that happened, more grunts tried to pounce on Ichigo. The same outcome would happen as the mod got slaughtered for even trying to approach him.
Aria saw Ichigo distracted and appeared behind him. "Zetsu!"
Ichigo could feel his power drain, yet it felt more of an inconvenience than a legitimate concern. With how astronomical his reserves were even if most of it was sealed away, he had nothing to worry about.
This, however, confused the wind mage as he expected the reaper to keel over. He didn't get to wonder why when he tasted a swift kick to the chin from his would-be victim.
Aria and Rusty Rose regrouped and looked at each other. They nodded, deciding to finally use their strongest spells in conjunction with their Hollow powers.
The pompadour-haired wizard fired a Cero at the reaper. Ichigo jumped away and avoided the Hollow Flash but was met with Aria grinning as if he caught him by surprise.
"Metsu!"
Hyper-expanding vortices of air exploded around Ichigo, consuming his form in a cloud of dust and dirt. Wasting no time, however, he quickly emerged from the dust cloud and slashed Aria who phased just in time before the weapon made contact.
Rusty Rose quickly rushed to the hybrid, his speed empowered by wing-like appendages on his heels. He was fast, no doubt about it, but not fast enough to be imperceptible.
Again, the former Purgatory Kin tried to slash Ichigo with his deformed arm and again, it proved useless. However, he intended to harm him.
All of a sudden, Ichigo sensed incoming danger and promptly moved away. Standing on empty air above his attackers, the hybrid saw a humanoid beast standing next to the Arc of Embodiment mage. Another beast appeared beside Rusty Rose, and he ordered the two creatures to attack.
The monsters jumped high enough to reach him for a blow. The monsters punched but were blocked when Ichigo crossed his swords before him. He then pushed the two back to the ground with enough force to make their landing hard.
Without warning, he plummeted from his height and headbutted the beast that crackled with lightning, Belcusas, and caused it to scream in pain. He drove his weapon into the abomination's skull, and it dissipated into magic particles. The other beast, Belfast, saw what happened to its kin and roared in fury. It charged at Ichigo with winds raging around its body, but it was summarily bisected by an apathetic death god intent on annihilating its enemies.
"I think it's time we end these games, Ichigo," Old Man Zangetsu advised. "It's time we finish them; starting with the reality warper."
The reaper didn't say a word and promptly vanished from the enemies' view. With his sudden disappearance, the wizards looked everywhere in a frantic haste to find their intruder.
Rusty Rose knew that the damn death god attack soon, so he readied himself. However, what he felt next was something digging into his back and grabbing his spine. This made him freeze in fear; eyes wide and body stiff. His guildmates all looked at him in worry as they eyed the man who had his fist in his back.
Slowly turning his head around, his pupils shrunk when he locked eyes with Ichigo glaring at him. He suddenly felt the reaper's hands curl around his vertebrae.
In that instant, every wizard in the vicinity witnessed the god of death pull on Rusty Rose's lower back, detaching the lower end of the spinal column from the hip bone. An audibly sickening crack reverberated throughout the chamber. Regardless, Ichigo didn't stop and continued pulling. More snaps echoed as he continued the motion, the ribs attached to the backbone dislodging from the dozen connections until, with a vicious tug, finally ripped the entire spine along with the former Grimoire Heart mage's head still attached.
The spinless and headless corpse toppled over, spilling all the blood and guts on the floor. Nobody had anything to say as it all happened so unexpectedly. It didn't do their constitution any good when Ichigo smashed the head by whipping the spine to the ground. Brain viscera splattered, mixing with the blood oozing from the carcass nearby.
Ichigo's eyes trailed slowly over the mob of wizards until they landed on Aria. Fear suddenly swept the wind mage, making him conjure magic desperately to fight off whatever Ichigo Kurosaki was planning.
Sadly, all that vigilance was naught when he felt a sharp horn puncture his stomach. Aria gasped in pain and spewed blood and saliva before looking down to find the reaper who now had a mass of porcelain-white mass hardening into a full helm with a lone horn running through his body.
The Phantom lieutenant didn't get the chance to retaliate as he was lifted by the horned reaper who fired a Cero between his horns. The doom beam blasted his midsection into ash, severing his torso and legs from each other with both ends cauterized by the heat of the spirit blast.
Jose couldn't fathom what just happened. His two lieutenants, both of whom were empowered by Hollowfication, were easily vanquished by this death god. The guildmaster of Phantom Lord thought that with Aria and a former Grimoire Heart mage, they would stand a chance against Ichigo Kurosaki.
Pride and the allure of otherworldly power blinded him from knowing that what was gifted to him was meager compared to the true unparalleled might of the one hailed as the Transcendent.
…And it made him furious.
"Damn it…"
The remaining mages looked at their guildmaster. They reeled back when they noticed a vile purple aura emanating from their leader.
"Damn, it. Damn, it. Damn, it. Damn, it. Damn, it. DAMN IT!"
In a rage, Jose's magic power exploded and engulfed the entire chamber. Strengthened by the malevolence of his Hollowfication, the air suddenly became so unbearable that those who stood in his presence began suffocating.
The only one who wasn't affected was Ichigo who stood unflinching as the enraged wizard continued to growl at him.
"Why!?" Jose yelled. "Why did you have to go to Fairy Tail? Why did that guild have to have someone of your caliber!? They don't deserve that kind of blessing! It's not fair! NOT FAIR! PHANTOM LORD SHOULD HAVE THAT POWER, NOT THEM!"
"Don't blame Fairy Tail for the misfortunes you've been dealt with," Ichigo stated firmly. "It was merely circumstance that they found me and convinced me to join their guild." The reaper then answered the guildmaster's hateful stare with a glare of his own. This caused Jose to minutely flinch, swearing that the saw the death god's eyes having five pupils. "But, make no mistake, I will never join a guild such as yours. You represent everything that I am fighting against. And, as such, I will do everything in my power to destroy everything you stand for."
"Then, I will end you!" Jose lunged.
"You will try."
The two fighters clashed; black blade and darkness-coated fist collided. Their expressions were the definition of opposites – Ichigo was calm and focused while Jose was irate and feral.
The dark mage poured his magic into his hands and pushed the reaper far. Ichigo merely slid on the ground, never letting his eyes off of his enemy. Jose held a hand out and a magic circle materialized. Several of his specters circled the magic array before concentrating on a dense orb of dark magic.
"Death Wave!"
A shade-infested wave shot towards the reaper. Ichigo evaded the attack and instead, the blast vaporized the Phantom Lord wizards in the immediate vicinity. This infuriated the dark wizard further. He swiped his hand, forming an arc of magic that shot to the death god with malicious intent.
"Dark Pulse!"
A large explosion engulfed the area that was in front of the gesture. Ichigo once again escaped the dark blast and more wizards got caught in the blast. Jose grew more frustrated as he repeated blasting the damn reaper with continued shots of his dark magic and each time, Ichigo was able to evade.
"Damn you, reaper! Stay still so I can kill you!"
"Why don't I go to you instead?" Ichigo rushed to the guildmaster with swords drawn.
Jose coated his hands in black magic power and met the reaper head-on. Just like earlier, they clashed with Jose trying and failing to overpower the hybrid. The said hybrid pushed Jose back a bit and began slashing at the wizard. The disgraced Wizard Saint answered in kind, answering the other's attacks with his own.
"Shade Entanglement!" Jose chanted. Tendrils of ghostly magic erupted from the ground and quickly bound Ichigo by the arms. The reaper merely raised an eyebrow of curiosity before he heard the guildmaster yell at his remaining mages. "Don't just stand there, you imbeciles! Blast this damn Fairy Tail scum!"
And blast they did. Ichigo was pelted with a barrage of magic bullets and spells that his form was consumed in the salvo of attacks.
However, it wasn't enough. When they stopped and let the dust settle to admire their handiwork, they all gasped when they saw the death god standing unscathed and riddled with glowing blue lines.
"That's it?" Ichigo said coolly. The blue lines on his body disappeared, now replaced with fierce red ones. Just as easily as he took the volley of attacks, he casually ripped the dark tentacles that bound him.
No trick or spell seemed to be working for Jose. Anything that he could come up with was useless against the death god. All he could do was keep cursing at his weakness.
"I don't understand!" Jose seethed as he kept his volley of shades at Ichigo. "I have power. I have men. I even obtained your Hollowfication! How is it that nothing I do is working against you!?"
"It could be a lot of things," Ichigo replied so casually. "You can think whatever reason you want but the truth is simple…" He drove his blades into a hapless mage and flailed the larger sword at a group, collectively decapitating them. Pulling on the strap, he caught the weapon and lazily turned his eyes to the guildmaster of Phantom Lord. "The difference in our strength is simply astronomical." The reaper stated this not as an opinion, but as a fact. "The power that I unconsciously emit far exceeds what you could ever hope to gain."
Jose suddenly found himself at the tip of Ichigo's blade. The movement was too fast for him to notice. He blinked before realizing what happened and promptly jumped back in apprehension.
"That just proves that, since the beginning, I could end you and your miserable guild," the Transcendent admitted. "That said, I wanted to observe the extent of the effects of Hollowfication on wizards. Suffice it to say, you would be a threat to anyone aside from me, my family, and to some extent, the strongest wizards present. However, you don't deserve this power. You're nothing more than a power-hungry leech who thinks he's a god over everybody else. Well, let me show you what it means to have real power with real purpose!"
Upon his declaration, the atmosphere shuddered under Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure. The once proud guildmaster succumbed to the unseen weight and fell to his hands and knees. His current plight was shared by the remaining wizards. Being the only one with the power to remotely resist the godly pressure, all Jose could do was watch as his henchmen fell one by one. Some tried to fight through the crushing Reiatsu to get a shot at Ichigo; however, their efforts only resulted in their bodies disintegrating from the sheer density of the reaper's power.
Jose looked up. There he saw a tower of power surging upward, blowing the roof of his precious castle and ascending to the heavens. Torrents of blue, red, black, and green swirled around the death who raised his twin blades, placed them side by side, and pointed them forward. The larger, hollow blade's tip bleached into white. Vein-like white lines crawled up to the rest of the weapon until the encroachment fully covered the sword.
The energies raging violently around Ichigo intensified as if to adhere to the weapon's metamorphosis. Eventually, those same torrents of transcendent Reiryoku flowed into Ichigo who now bore Jose with eyes of the divine.
"Unlike you, my power isn't meant to subjugate, but to protect!" declared the reaper with great conviction. "You dare threaten my family? Then, fell my wrath. BANKAI!"
Erza and the others have made a good amount of distance from the castle after a successful rescue mission. With Lisanna and the little Arrancar girl in Juvia's arms, all that was left was to wait for their leader to return.
"I hope Ichigo is alright," Lisanna spoke as she and the others watched the castle from afar.
"This is Ichigo we're talking about," Gajeel reminded. "Worrying is the last thing we should be doing."
"Still, I can't help but feel concerned considering Aria, Rusty Rose, and maybe even Jose have that Hollowfication thing."
"Yeah," Cana agreed. "I don't want to face anything like that again. Erza and I felt so powerless."
Erza thought about their encounter with a mask-wearing Aria and the mysterious white-robed individual. Suffice it to say, there was a huge disparity between her and the spiritually empowered enemies. "This just shows that, in the face of threats beyond our realm, Earthland is woefully unprepared."
"Agreed," Juvia nodded.
Natsu just listened to the conversation his friends were having. Looking at his hand, he was ashamed of himself for letting his partner get captured. The life of his love was put in danger because of his weakness. The fear of losing her again gripped his heart.
He didn't like that… not one bit.
"I need to get stronger." Clenching his fist closed, he understood the difference in power between him and the enemies he would face in the future. "For them…" His eyes drifted from his teammates to Lisanna. "For her."
Suddenly, Natsu realized that things suddenly got darker. He looked up and saw clouds gathering overhead. Streaks of light dashed through the dark heavens followed by loud roaring thunder. The dragon slayers and Lisanna quickly covered their ears; their sensitive hearing made the intense sound uncomfortable.
"Nobody told me there was gonna be a thunderstorm!" Gajeel yelled as the winds picked up. "What the hell is happening?"
"I don't know," Erza answered as she had her armored forearms up to block the increasing winds.
That's when they felt the all too familiar pressure exuded by none other than Ichigo. The heavy feeling came crashing down on their shoulders, forcing them to stumble while they fought it back.
"What the Hell, Ichigo!?" Cana yelled. "What the heck is that guy doing?"
"Look!"
Juvia pointed at the distant castle only for everyone to witness its roof blow up from the inside. A tower of Spiritual Energy coming in various vibrant colors swirled into the heavens. Lightning descended from the sky and shattered a tower while more bolts scorched the ground it struck.
As the seconds ticked by, the torrent intensified. The strength of the powers rising was slowly chipping away at the stone and tile roofs of the fortress. But strangely, the raging Spiritual Energies changed direction and flowed into the castle now.
For a moment, the five wizards sighed at the reprieve from the Reiatsu crush. However, one individual among them knew that it wasn't over.
Nel kept staring at the castle in the distance. Unlike the others, she was still aware of the bubbling energies contained within the stone structure. Any moment now, that power will break free from its vessel.
She felt it. "It's coming," she whispered.
Before the Fairy Tail mages could look at the green-haired child, the vision was suddenly assaulted by a bright and powerful glare coming from the palace.
At the distance, Phantom Lord's headquarters was consumed by an explosion of Reiryoku. The rapid expansion of power originating from Ichigo first shot into the heavens as a powerful beam of pure Reishi that slowly crawled outward and tore the structure into chunks that eventually disintegrated into nothingness.
The light eventually died down. No longer strained from the intense brightness, the wizards looked at the source of the explosion and gasped at what they found.
The palace was gone; in its place was a massive crater stretching for a good hundred meters.
"What… the… fuck?"
Everybody shared the same question with Gajeel.
"Good lord!" Juvia exclaimed before covering her mouth in shock. "Everything is just… gone."
"Talk about overkill," remarked a stupefied Cana.
Natsu just held Lisanna close while they stared at the smoldering ruin of what was once their nemesis guild's headquarters.
Erza tried to scan the area for any signs of life… if there were any. Sadly, the redhead could not detect even an iota of magic except those beside her. Ichigo truly annihilated Phantom Lord in its entirety.
Out of nowhere, something crashed into a nearby boulder right beside them. It sped so fast that none of them were able to detect it until it had firmly implanted itself on the large rock. When they turned around, they were horrified to find Jose Porla mutilated but otherwise alive. Unfortunately for the disgraced Wizard Saint, his life will be snuffed out.
A gigantic blade, one with a black core inside a sharpened white casing with a chain connecting the tip to the hand guard, impaled Jose deep into his body. All the weakened master could do was gurgle his blood until the remnants of his life eventually faded.
The wizards heard footsteps draw closer. From the thickness of the trees, they saw Ichigo walk with a neutral expression.
The reaper stopped and stared at his teammates, examining them for any injuries or others. Once he found none, there was only one thing to say now that Phantom Lord is no more.
"It's done."
A/N: There you have it folks; the original arc that I like to personally call "Phantom Lord Extermination Arc" is finished. I hope that I sufficiently delivered a good storyline despite this being my first attempt at creating an original arc. It took a lot of time, but I am glad that I was able to finish it. As for the next set of chapters, the following two will be fillers serving as a reprieve from all the danger and fights the guild has experienced. I will also add a mandatory beach episode because… why not?
I have to apologize for not posting anything in November. I got so busy with work that I haven't had the time to write anything. I'll try to make it up to all of you in the coming months with a certain plan I have in mind. I'm positive that all you readers are gonna enjoy it, not just those who read my current stories but also those waiting for an update on Between Life and Death.
Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy the Holiday season with a wonderful time with friends and family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!