Twenty years ago, in Cein's lab.

'Unbelievable...' Cein spoke in awe as he looked down on the project before him. 'I always held an interest in the theory, but to see it unfold so marvelously before my eyes.' he then turned to Barragan. 'With this, you won't have to convince me or others that you are a god; you can become one!'

Barragan then looked at the object and sighed dejectedly. 'Let us not make assumptions Cein. It is still decades away from being finished...and getting rid of Yhwach is only the first of many steps before I can rightfully attain that title

Cein then smiled in amusement. 'Power that only two others wield in existence, and you still don't believe you could qualify as a god. If not that, then what will?'

The Hollow King then stayed silent before letting out a sigh. 'The only power that matters to me is if that power is boundless, knows no limitations, and makes my will absolute with no expectations.' He then glared at the object..anything less is, at best, a stepping to getting that form of power...or an utter waste of time.' He then turned around and walked away. 'And luckily for us, it is the former'

Cein then took a long look at Barragan and shrugged. 'Well, if one of my other theories has proven correct, then it may possible other worlds might hold such power, and hopefully, once we deal with the Quincies and the Shiningami, we will have all the time in the world to search for your so-called omnipotent power' he commented joyfully while walking out of the room and as he turns off the lights. The object in question turns out to be a single speck of sand glowing red with Baragan's Spiritual power...along with another.

In the present time

After the Grand Ray Cero blast disappeared, Ichigo looked around to see if the hollow had evaded his cero, and from what he could tell, he didn't.

But yet...he still felt Barragan's Spiritual pressure around him somewhere, for it was still very much potent like the light of the crimson color of the moon itself. However, he still couldn't find a way to pinpoint its location.

That is until...he heard The Hollow King's laughter all around him.

(Soundtrack Of Choice: Whisper of the Apocalypse Remix by Reploid x0)

'Hahaha...magnificent Kurosaki, absolutely magnificent...' Barragan praised. 'It was one thing to think you were strong enough to handle the power of the Reio, but to surpass it in its entirety goes far beyond my wildest expectations'

Then, in the middle of the ruined courtyard the ancient Vasto Lord restored his body to its full splendor, including his golden axe. To the point that it looked like he hadn't been damaged at all. Much to Ichigo's irritation.

'...I see now...' The shinigami commented upon witnessing Barragan's reform self. 'Your power over time isn't just limited to freezing and aging' He then glared at the golden skeletal lord. 'But you can also reverse it as well'

The Hollow King then chuckled. 'You don't seem so surprised by the full extent of my abilities'

'Let's just say you are not the first guy I've faced that came back from a blow that should have killed them, and as far as I am concerned...' Ichigo readied his double Zanpakuto. 'I just need to keep harming you until you stay dead'

Barragan then gave an amused look at Ichigo. 'Indeed, if this battle were to continue, that would likely be the outcome; however...' he suddenly appeared behind the shinigami, much to the teen's shock. 'That will never come to pass'

Ichigo immediately flared his spiritual pressure to its highest point. As a means of protecting himself from being aged to dust by Barragan's powers and he would have more than succeeded regardless of whether the Vasto Lorde touched him.

However, that was never The Hollow King's intention, for all he needed to do was touch Kurosaki however lightly, even as his right arm was severed.

To activate the seal.

In an Instant, Ichigo suddenly felt several spikes sprouting from all over his body that both restricted his movement and pushed back his Spiritual power within the confines of his soul, undoing his hollowfcition, and before long, the young man was utterly immobilized and trapped, much to his shock and disbelief.

'Wha...' the teen stammered in near panic. 'What the hell is this!'

'A Kido seal...' Barragan answered. 'Or rather, a portable one given to me by the Shingmai who took a great interest in you and had foreseen your potential to surpass the king of souls given the power of that seal. But you may come to know him as...Kisuke Urahara'

Ichigo's heart then froze cold upon hearing that name and looking at that seal around his body. It resembled the seal his universe version used to imprison Aizen, but this one was designed to be much stronger. While Barragan smiled upon seeing his horrified expression.

'Ahh...so you do know him...perhaps his and Cien's theories on alternate worlds may have some merit after all' Barragan commented on seeing Ichigo's expression and then turned around, much to Ichigo's confusion.

'Wait, are you just going to leave me here all because I got caught in some stupid trap? We are not done here!'

The Hollow King then gave Ichigo a disinterested and pitiful look. 'Boy...as you are now, you should be lucky that I didn't age your entire body to dust right, and the only reason you even have that mercy is that I am honoring my...current allie's' request for a mutual benefit'

Ichigo's heart then skipped a beat as another horrible realization hit him. 'What do you mean by...mutual benefit?'

Barragan then looked at Ichigo's fearful face and then chuckled. 'Oh, I believe you will find out soon enough.' he then overlooked the desert sands. 'Assuming you will still be alive to see it,' he commented coolly before turning his back around. At the same time, Ichigo continues to struggle in vain.

'Don't you think that...' The teen shouted out while struggling against the seal. 'That I will just let you do what you want or that you think you can beat Yhwach just because I am locked away!'

Barragan then stopped himself and shook his head in dismay. 'My foolish boy... for someone so powerful, you sure are naive...for the outcome of this war had been decided since near the very beginning and with you out of the way...' he then stretched out his arms and hands as if in a prayer 'Fate can now resume its course'

Soundtrack of Choice: (The Wrath of God in All its Fury"* and "3EM28_Nu09_360)

Then, before Ichigo's very eyes, the desert that surrounded the remains of Las Noches glowed a bright pale white, which then harmonized with the glow of the full red moon before the light surged up to the distant celestial object and then descended into Baragain's hands before getting absorbed into his very bones.

'When the world had just come into being, Hollows were among the first entities to emerge,' Barragan monologued as the white energies continued to flow into him. ' And through a hunger for souls and power, they consume everyone around them. Whether it be man, beast...or even themselves' his robes began to turn white. 'Till eventually many of them merged into one the first menoes, who was so great and powerful that the very world itself stagnated by their very presence.' The king's bones then started to turn black. ' So great was their power that it was said the Reio came into being by the will of the world to undo its binding over it, and upon their defeat, its body was reduced into countless grains of sand that spread across the old world and upon being separated into three, those very grains of sand of the Great Menos were stored within Hecuo Mundo itself'

Then, upon absorbing the last of the energies, Barragan turns to face Ichigo, who widens his eyes in terror. For Vasto Lorde transformed from a prideful flaming royal king decorated in gold. Into a ghastly, ghastly god-like Pope, with white ropes seemingly made out of solid fog, black skeletal bones that looked like they were crafted out of tar, his chest and eyes glowing a bright crimson inferno red. While sporting two platinum earrings and a matching mitre on top of his skull.

'And for the past thirty Years I have seeped my energies into their remains across the white sand desert of Hueco Mundo in order to finally assimilate it into my own'

'His Spiritual power...' Ichigo thought in dread. It's on the same level as the Yhwach in my world when he absorbed the Reio. He then tried with all his might to break through the seal again. 'I got to get out of this thing as soon as possible; otherwise, everyone in the Soul Society is done for!'

Barragan then watched the shinigami continue struggling out of his imprisonment and gave him a look that almost resembled pity.

'That kido is designing specifically to subdue even Yhwach at the peak of his power. So, of course, it would do the same for those that rival it.' he then walked up in front of Ichigo and raised his black bone hand over his face. 'But of course...on the off chance that I would be wrong...'

Then, before Ichigo questioned what Barragan was doing, the Hollow king placed his right hand on the young man's face and since the shingmai no longer has his enormous Spiritual power to protect him. The teen could do nothing but scream in heart-wrenching agony as his body rapidly began to age...