He was their greatest foe, Aizen's strongest arrancar.
He had consumed thousands in his rise to power, becoming the quickest and strongest of the Vasto Lordes.
He ruled Hueco Mundo with an Iron Fist and had killed any shinigami who had dared to trespass into his domain.
He was the King of the Hollows. Lord of the Arrancar. The Cero Espada.
El Rey.
He was their brother.
"Ichi-nii/Onii-chan…" they whispered.
"Karin. Yuzu."
He's different now. Time moves differently in Hueco Mundo. Centuries to their year has passed. He is older, colder, they can feel the oppressive might of his power weighing over them.
He wears white with black, and wields a nodachi strapped to his waist.
He does not wield it against them.
They force themselves to look into his eyes, once, and for them only, they were the gentlest brown. Now, they are a sickly yellow.
His face is half covered, the left being completely consumed by a mask, demonically terrifying to see, the slightest hint of amber peeking from the eye socket.
His right is familiar, but still bears the same markings to match his mask.
Still however, they hesitate.
For he smiles at them.
"I'm so glad that you two are safe," he kindly says, and they can't help but tear up. Knowing the atrocities that this…monster had done, yet he still cared about them was almost too much.
"Onii-chan," Yuzu is the first to speak. "I-it's not too late…you can stop this…you can come back home!"
She pleads, she begs even, but their brother merely smiles sadly.
"What do you think I've been trying to do?" he replies. "All this time…all this power I've gained…it was all so that I could come back to you."
Karin blinks back tears as she barks back an angry retort.
"Then why didn't you!? Why are you working for Aizen! You know what he did! What he's trying to do! WHY!?"
Ichigo glares at nothing, but the sight still makes them flinch and he sighs.
"Make no mistake. Aizen will die. I will make sure of that." he nearly snarls.
"But I have a use for him yet, and once I have what I need…I will eradicate him."
"Then what?" Karin continues. "You'll continue where he left off?"
Ichigo raises a brow.
"Aizen wants to become the Soul King…are you trying to take his place too?"
He shakes his head.
"No. I have a different goal, all I ever wanted was to go back home, to go back and be with you…but that goal puts the shinigami in my path. They have stood in my way for so long. And now they've put you two in my path."
"T-then…we'll stop you." Yuzu surprisingly says. "We'll free your soul, onii-chan."
Tears fall down both their faces and Ichigo looks at them in regret.
"One day, you'll understand. Everything I have done…has been for you. But I will not fight you." he shakes his head. "The difference in our power is too great, you must realize that already, besides, I could not bear to raise my sword against you two."
"Then…this will be easier…for all of us." Karin bites the words out before turning towards Yuzu who shakily nods her head.
The two point their blades at their brother and their reiatsu skyrocket.
Ichigo blinks in surprise. His Escudo had told him that the two had great potential and power, but to actually feel it was another matter.
He was actually concerned, if he prolonged this, he may be forced to unleash his resurreccion.
He should end this now…but…he was so proud of them.
Many times he wanted to interfere with their battles, however, Aizen had convinced him to merely observe their growth.
His sisters were growing up.
They didn't need him to protect them anymore.
However, he would do so one last time.
Still though…he would see this through.
"BANKAI!"
The combined reiatsu rises even more and he can feel the pressure on him. He is leagues above them, of course, but the fact is that neither of them would be able to truly harm each other.
"Tensa Saigetsu."
"Tensa Tengetsu."
Ichigo blinked as he observed his sisters in their fullest power.
Saigetsu. The Crushing Moon. Originally a large black blade with a single full moon decorating it. With it, Karin had been able to manipulate the gravity of her swings, cleaving foes and tearing them apart.
Her bankai left her dressed in black, her blade becoming a nodachi similar to his sealed state.
The space warped around her blade as the ground cratered with each step.
Tengetsu. The Heavenly Moon.
Of course, sweet little Yuzu would not want to fight, instead, her blade allowed her to reflect the energies of heavenly bodies to heal wounds and uplift the weary during battle.
Her bankai left her in the same outfit as her sister, even down to the blade, however, it was all a reflection as she was dressed in white and seemed to glow like the moon itself.
He'd seen her purify many hollows with its cleansing light.
They were both very beautiful, and he was so amazingly proud of how much they'd grown.
"You two have wonderful zanpakuto. I can see why they sent you against me. Your powers combined have felled many enemies of Soul Society. Alongside my reluctance to raise my blade against you…I would be an easy target."
The two grimaced, it was exactly why Soul Society had sent them.
"But I have come too far and I am too close to my goal to be defeated here," Ichigo said as he grabbed his sword. "Yet I am so, so proud of you two…proud enough to know that if I do not act, you may very well kill me…so I will defend myself."
He raised his blade skyward, and a dark energy began to oppress them, the two raising their reiatsu to withstand it, gulping as fear began to take over their hearts.
"Proteja los cielos, Zangetsu."
The two shivered. They'd heard about Ichigo's unique zanpakuto. How it defied all established laws of hollows and arrancar.
Even its very name and release command defied nature.
They trembled as they saw him, a full mask covering his face, red tufts on his collar and wrists and black markings adorning his now pale, white skin.
His aura was oppressive, relentless, commanding.
But it was so…sad.
"...attack if you must."
The sisters are shaken out of their thoughts as they stare at their brother.
"I will defend myself only."
He stays there and they begin to cry, hoping that they could at least try.
They hold hands and roar together as they disappear from sight before appearing from above.
Black and white crash down and meet obsidian claws.
Their battle begins.
"My King, Whom I trust.
You who showed me compassion.
My life and death, yours."
With those last words, the Novena Espada fell, his spear clattering to the ground.
Rukia panted, pained but shocked.
For the Novena Espada to proclaim his loyalty, even in his dying breath.
"Karin…Yuzu…who exactly is your brother?" she said, regretting her second greatest failure.
Because of her, a family had been shattered, and though the sisters had forgiven her long ago, even going so far as to let her become part of their family, she'd yet to forgive herself.
She hoped that they were alright.
Ichigo feels it happen, his Espada were connected to him, after all.
El Angel has fallen.
But his sacrifice will not be in vain.
He blocks a strike from behind from Karin, but the increased gravity manages to send him flying back a good distance.
He cracks his neck.
"...Though you were a slave, you were a worthy opponent."
"A slave? No…I was no slave…I served my King dutifully."
"Then your duty is complete."
The Espada smiles.
"Ichigo, Mi Rey. I fall.
My servitude is complete.
Through death, I still serve."
The Octava Espada falls, Kuchiki Byakuya falls to his knees next to him, wounded, but still alive.
Ichigo closes his eyes during the small respite from his sisters' attacks.
El Siervo has fallen. Dutiful to the bitter end.
He dodges another strike, leaping back from a gravity field that would have crushed his arm.
He does not mourn.
He cannot afford to.
"Everything…is so clear now…it's nice…" the Septima Espada says as she feels her mind clear in the last moments of life.
"Ichigo…El Rey, my friend.
I am free now, my mind clear.
The Storm is now passed."
The Septima Espada breathes her last, insanity no longer plaguing her.
Renji collapses, blood trailing down just about every inch of his body.
"...crazy b-"
Ichigo raises his hand, twin Getsuga Tenshos clashing against him and he grimaces as he forces them away.
La Tempestad has fallen.
He hopes that she has found peace.
'Soon.' he thinks.
The Sexta pants…it had been difficult, but that sadistic scientist of a captain was dead. No more hollows would be tortured and experimented on by him. The last remnants of Kurotsuchi Mayuri burned to ash.
But he can feel it, the poison working its way through him.
He is dying.
"My lord, my king…brother.
My time has come to its end
But I do not fear."
The Sexta breathes his last…his last thoughts are of his sister.
Ichigo closes his eyes once more, he wants so desperately to grieve for El Cazador.
But he can not.
Still…soon…soon…and they would be free.
He just needed to be patient for a little while longer.
The Quinto is next to fall.
Zaraki falls with him.
The two lie in a fountain of blood.
A girl thanks him and takes the captain away, but he pays no mind.
He recalls his brethren and his friends, both current and former.
He can only hope that this time, he was able to give his friend the time he needed.
"I sought redemption
I, who was the King's shadow
And now, I am free."
El Asesino is gone.
Ichigo took a deep breath, but continued pressing forward.
Karin and Yuzu were increasing the intensity of their attacks, and the intensity of their tears.
It broke his heart, that he was the cause for them.
Especially with what he had planned.
But he had to remind himself, constantly…all of it was for them.
For a better future.
For all their futures.
Aizen declares that he is leaving, and Ichigo realizes that he is running out of time.
The plan must continue.
He stays still, his sisters coming at him with their blades, Getsuga Tenshos already charged to unleash on him.
He holds his hands out, glowing with the dark power of a cero and the titanic forces clash before erupting.
After what seems to be an eternity, the dust settles.
Karin and Yuzu gasp in horror as they look to see their brother almost completely unharmed, their swords trapped in his hands.
His head is bowed, but he looks up, a single tear trailing down his face from the unimaginable pain that he will inflict on them.
"I'm sorry."
He clenches his fists.
Both swords shatter, and the two scream from the agony of their partners.
They fall to their knees, despondent as they clutch the remnants of their swords.
"Stay here, girls…it'll be over soon." He says as he tears open a garganta and leaves them in the dust of Hueco Mundo.
He forces himself to ignore their cries, even as it shatters him.
The Quarta Espada falls in his rage.
It takes everything in the vicinity with him, an explosion of dark fire and miasma, in his last moments, however, he is just coherent enough to speak.
"Rage has consumed me.
But with gratitude I burn.
For my King, I raged."
The Vizards who faced him are damaged and burned…but victorious.
Still, they are confused at the Espada's last words.
Ichigo blinks as he enters the Living World. The sudden loss of El Demonio crashes into him.
But he knows that the time is near.
Soon, everything will be made right.
The battle is relentless, the devastation brutal.
The pain…is an old friend.
The Tercera falls, frozen.
But he is at peace.
He does not speak, he cannot speak.
So for that alone, does he know an inkling of his Rey's objective.
'Silence is my duty.
To guard is my destiny.
I await your orders, dead.'
Toshiro Hitsugaya lets himself fall out of his bankai, blood and bruises decorating his body.
His enemy was most difficult, with every strike, he had felt the sheer conviction in him.
It made him wonder if this was due to Aizen, or Karin's brother?
Ichigo sighed in grief as he joined Aizen. Observing the rest of the battles.
He wished he could help.
But for the plan to work…
"Are you not concerned with your subjects, Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"...they are my brothers, yet they are also warriors. Their sacrifices will not be in vain."
He mourns as he feels El Heroe fall.
The Segunda falls against the Soutaicho, fire against fire, the world burns around them.
It is not fire that kills him, but his pride.
His damned pride.
He chuckles.
It was pride that had killed him in his past life, and it would be pride that killed him now.
The old man was the Soutaicho for a reason, even having rendered his fires useless did not make him any less of a combatant.
The fact that he was missing his left side was a testament for that.
Still though, he is glad.
It was a good fight.
He coughs out his last words.
"Fire and Pride falls here.
But I served my King with pride.
I burn, I am Fire."
The time approaches.
Ichigo feels his brother fade.
The soul of El Dragon joins the others.
The Primera, The Escudo.
He who reached the highest state of all hollows, he who served by his Brother-King's side for the last countless years in the timeless wastes of Hueco Mundo.
It is a long and gruesome battle, the Captains he faces work in such unison that it amazes him.
He strikes them down.
They do so as well, so much that even his regeneration can't keep up.
But he smiles, even in death.
And so does his last living appointment.
"...you fought with such conviction."
"...As did you…and your brother…" he replies.
"...who did you fight for? Aizen? Or Kurosaki?"
"I am Lord Kurosaki's Escudo…his shield."
"And yet you follow Aizen?"
The Segunda chuckles.
"No…if you live long enough, you'll see…Lord Kurosaki has a true goal in mind…one that does not involve the Spirit King…he will make it right…"
"...you really have such faith in him? How unhollowlike."
The Segunda chuckles.
"Everything he has done…has been for us and his family…"
He sighs.
"I served as his shield.
And found purpose with my King.
He who restores life."
He dies smiling.
Ichigo closes his eyes. El Escudo had fallen.
It was time.
The Shinigami are down. His Espada are gone.
Tosen is dead.
And he follows Aizen and Gin to the world of the living.
When they reach there, there are more attacks, more final efforts.
Gin attacks Aizen, before being cut down, dust invades the transcendent being, but he reforms.
Or he tries to.
Ichigo's hand grabs the Hogyoku.
Power surges through both of them.
He skips straight to the best part.
"Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa."
Aizen screams.
The world shivers, and all witness the great betrayal.
"What are you doing!?" Aizen demands to know, as he collapses to his knees, his body sapped of power from the Hogyoku being forcefully taken from him, now accepting its new master.
"I told you, Aizen, that we had different goals from the beginning. I just never mentioned that for my goals to be achieved, I also needed the Hogyoku."
"D-damn you. Do you even realize what you've done?"
"You should have expected this from me, after all, you dared to strike my sisters," the now fully maskless, but still pale Ichigo says to him.
"But rest assured, Aizen. You'll have your chance again."
"What?" he questioned before being erased.
Ichigo stands alone, the Hogyoku in his chest, centered in his hollow hole.
"...Ichigo."
"Old man." he greets.
He turns and faces his father. Shihoin and Urahara flank the man.
"Have you come to strike me down as well?"
"That depends…what do you intend to do with the Hogyoku?"
"...Aizen was right."
The three tensed.
"But he went about things the wrong way."
Now they were confused.
"This reality is broken…because of the laws of nature, I, cursed to be a hollow, could not risk even coming near them without worrying about their safety…but with the Hogyoku, reality can be whatever I want."
"Ichigo…what you're talking about, it's the same thing that Aizen wanted," Isshin warned. "That kind of thinking leads to the destruction of the Balance."
"So it does," Ichigo said as the Hogyoku pulsed with his true desire. "And yet I do not find it within myself to care."
"Ichigo…"
"Such an interesting little thing, but with such boundless potential," Ichigo observed. "Able to break through the boundaries of space and time. To destroy and create. Life and death. All of it is a part of something that looks so simple."
"Ichigo," Isshin tried to say one last time. Pleading with his son. "It doesn't have to be like this, Aizen is dead. Your arrancar allies are as well. Please…"
Ichigo blinked, as he recalled his brothers.
Rewriting reality, that's what Aizen wanted. And it seemed to leak over a bit.
But he had another desire.
"Ah, you naughty little thing, trying to impart the goals of your former master onto me? But you already know the desires of my heart."
Ichigo's skin begins to turn black, as he Hogyoku merges fully with him, his reiatsu becomes, for less than a millisecond. Unbearable.
Then it becomes unfathomable.
The trio blink at him in horror.
"Prepare what you must, your final gambles…I will allow you that much. After all, what I intend to do…will require much concentration."
The three blink at each other, then leave.
Ichigo remained alone, he was partly telling the truth. He really did need to concentrate on what he was about to do.
But in order to complete his goal, one last sacrifice had to be made.
He waits patiently, and feels them come.
Twin steps, reiatsu that equals his own.
He turns, his body fully black, in fact, it seemed to absorb light itself.
"Karin. Yuzu."
They appeared older, powerful, regal even.
This was what he'd heard about.
The preliminary state to his end.
"So…you've also reached the beginning of transcendency."
They stared at him with such resolve in their eyes, it honestly unnerved him a little.
"Let's move away from here, Ichigo." They said in unison.
Ichigo blinked, his head slightly turning in shock.
"So…that is how it's going to be-" He's cut off as they grab his face and rocket across the city.
'They're strong!'
He crashes to the ground, and almost glares in annoyance.
"That was rude."
"Ichigo." the two say again.
"We will free your soul."
The attack in unison, Ichigo barely manages to block their blades with his own.
The ground collapses and explodes around them.
Ichigo is being put to the brink, even with the Hogyoku in his chest, even in his Segunda Etapa, he is still one transcendent being against two.
And their resolve is much stronger than his.
He still cannot bear to raise his blade against them.
Two trenches cut deep into him and he snarls in pain.
But soon, he won't need to.
The Hogyoku breaks him apart and reforms him. He is as close to a black hole as one can get, a living singularity.
"Our resolve clashes against each other, dear sisters. Do what you must."
The two stare at him before closing their eyes and slightly shuddering.
Their blades touch and they explode into beacons of white and black.
Their reiatsu increases even more, and Ichigo can feel it escape his senses. They've eclipsed him and he's never been prouder.
The end is near.
When it finishes, one being stands before him, wrapped in bandages of grey, a cloak of black and white adorns her, her hair the same as crimson eyes stare at him in firm resolution.
"Behold, the Final Getsuga Tensho. As this, we become Getsuga itself. From this, we lose our shinigami powers…with this…we free your soul, big brother."
"Karin…Yuzu…never before have I been so proud of you." Ichigo declares his pride and love emanating in his reiatsu. "Do it."
"..." A lone tear went down her face.
He feels her resolve falter.
"None of that! Center yourself!" He scolds, much to her surprise. "This…is the beginning of the end. And the end of the beginning. Go forward! Retreat and you'll age! Hesitate and you'll die! This is what it means to be us."
She blinks, before nodding, raising her blade.
He welcomes it with his arms wide.
"Mugetsu."
He smiles.
The last sacrifice is complete.
When the darkness recedes, the woman lands on the ground softly, tears trailing down her face.
Another figure is in front of her, sitting on the ground, calmly.
His hair is orange, and his skin is tan.
His body is disappearing.
When he opens his eyes, they are warm.
"Why do you cry, dear sister?"
The figure shuddered, and dissipated into two girls who quickly held onto him, sobbing their hearts out.
"We're sorry…we just wanted you to come back home!" Yuzu cried out.
Karin for once was unable to say anything, her own cries making her words unintelligible.
"I know, I know…shh…it's going to be okay…" Ichigo said as he calmed them down.
"After all, thanks to you, my plan can proceed."
The words chill them to the core and they shakily look up at him.
"What do you mean?" Karin asks, confused.
"What did you do?" Yuzu asks in fear.
"The Hogyoku," Ichigo explains, still holding onto his sisters. The orb pulses from his chest and they gasp in horror.
"It can break the laws of reality, but only in our universe. My goal lies in our universe and in universes beyond our own, only barely attached to our own through Hueco Mundo. For the Hogyoku to affect those universes, it required the power of multiple transcendent beings."
They gasped as they saw the orb tear itself out of Ichigo's chest, pulsing and shivering with power.
"You…used us?" Karin shakily asked.
"I'm sorry…but it was the only way to ensure that we could be together." Ichigo said as he bowed his head. The Hogyoku flashes, then disappears.
"But…you're dying…you're disappearing!" Yuzu cried out, uncaring at what happened to the orb.
"Hmph…so I am. But this is not the end. Merely, a chance to begin anew." Ichigo said as he smiled softly, kissing their heads.
"Tell me…do you believe…in changing destiny?" He says, as he fades away.
Ichigo closes his eyes.
When he opens them again, it's to breakfast with his family.
He looks over to his gasping sisters and meets their eyes.
They look at him in confusion, fear, hope, and more.
He raises a finger to his lips and smiles.
Elsewhere, across 9 different worlds, lightning strikes, causing unimaginable pain as centuries of memories and hardships are implanted into oh so malleable souls.
9 pairs of eyes open at the same time.
They are Awakened.