Part of me just wanted to rush head first at the first thing I could conveniently punch. Actually that was a lie, probably about 95% of me wanted to do that right now. And that's acknowledged the fact that I really shouldn't be fighting at the moment because my body was still recovering from the whole Asgard debacle. Sure, I wasn't significantly weakened, but putting undue strain on myself would not be the most wise decision.
On the flip side, I really needed to punch something.
I compromised with myself and gave myself a moment to survey the surroundings.
The one thing I noticed was the lack of humans around. Which was odd considering we were somewhere in the middle of the city.
I'm assuming that Yoruichi and the rest of Soul Society had something to do with that? I suspected if they were expecting an attack and set up in the middle of a population dense area, they would have means to make sure humans didn't get caught up in whatever they were doing.
However, I could feel perhaps a couple dozen impressive Reiatsu signatures throughout the city, about half of them were from Hollows it felt like, and the others either Shinigami or the kids I was familiar with.
What to do, what to do.
I noticed one of the human hollows, err….I think they were called Arrancars? He was sitting atop a building not participating in the battles.
That wouldn't do, everyone needed to earn their participation trophy!
I didn't really hide my presence as I used a burst of Shunpo to appear on the same rooftop as him.
The big Hollow guy slowly turned his head to face me. And he was most certainly big, at least twice my size overall. Big bulky muscles, half his head shaved and black, while the other side was wild and red, going past his shoulders. His Hollow Mask was thin and went across his nose with his Hollow Hole was right in the center of his chest. Honestly, despite all this, the most striking of his features were his eyebrows that seemed to extend across the side of his head….and they were bright red like half his hair.
"Good day." I was nothing if not polite.
"A human?" He looked at me with disinterest.
Well, I suppose that would be his first assumption as while I was not hiding, I was also not broadcasting myself, and I wouldn't feel like a Shinigami. They were probably only able to differentiate between 'living person' and 'Shinigami'.
"Yup." It was technically true, the best kind of true.
I walked up to him and put a hand on his arm. "Damn big guy, what workouts do you do because you are ripped."
He swung his arm sideways through the air, and credit where it's due, that was probably enough to turn a building into rubble.
"Do Hollows workout? Can you gain muscle mass?" I appeared on his other side after moving in with Shunpo. "Can hollows get fat!?" These questions needed answering.
"Annoying." He turned to face me and threw a solid punch right in my direction, obliterating the corner of the building directly behind me.
"That was close." I hummed, using Shunpo to appear on the other side again.
He frowned. "You're not as weak as you look."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?"
He tilted his head. "Yes."
"I like you, big guy. Do you mind answering a question for me?"
"Hmph, ask your question, it will be your last before I turn you into a meat paste." He cracked his knuckles.
"Awesome, so, I just wanted to know what hair care routines you employ to get your eyebrows to behave like that." I pointed at them specifically.
His eye twitched slightly and a good amount of Reiatsu gathered around his right fist and he threw it right at the spot I was in.
His fist missed, but it hit the floor – the base of the roof of the building we were on and the force was sent downwards, destroying every floor of this multi-floor building as they collapsed inward.
"Rude." I flashed in front of him and cracked him across the face with my fist sending him hurling to the ground.
It's weird, it's only one punch, but I feel like a lot of stress just washed away!
I floated to the ground where he pulled himself out of the crater he had created in the street.
He wiped away a trickle of blood from his nose, not looking too worse for wear. And to be honest, I forgot that Hollow seemingly had this sort of innate physical protection about them. Sort of like Reinforcement, but only focused on defense.
It was interesting if nothing else.
I hadn't thought about Hollows in awhile until this moment, and I recalled that I wasn't entirely informed on everything about them.
I would have to do more experimentation in the future.
On other subjects, of course. This one in particular I was wanting to beat into a pulp for stress relief.
"You were hiding your strength. Being able to hit me, I'll take you seriously as an opponent. You can consider yourself lucky, human."
"Okay."
"I am Edrad Liones!" He hit his fists together and pulled free his sword from his waist. "Erupt – Volcánica" A large pillar of fire and Reiatsu erupted with him as the epicenter. The flames were admittedly intense and melted away the surroundings as they ascended to the sky and even pierced through the clouds above.
Hmm.
Was this the average strength of those Arrancar? I recall that there were the 'elites', Espada or something? He was noticeably weaker than those I fought, but that wasn't really a good comparison when they had no idea what they were dealing with before.
Actually, now that I thought about it, why doesn't he recognize me? They're supposed to be subordinates of Aizen, and I'm fairly sure he hated me at this point. I'm almost positive that he would want all his subordinates to know exactly who I was.
"Tell me your name, human." He spoke, pointing one of his new and utterly massive arms at me.
He didn't change overly much, maybe he got a tad bigger? But his arms and shoulders were now utterly covered in that white bone-like material Hollow masks were made of. From his shoulders, the bone-like material protruded from him like crags and his hands were now almost the size of my entire body.
At this point, he felt stronger than most Jotun I noticed during the fighting in Asgard. Not at the level of the Warlords I fought, but impressive all the same.
Unfortunately, still not close enough to actually be a threat to me.
"…..Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Someone on the list, that's good." He smiled happily. "....didn't it say you had orange hair?" He scratched his head. "Doesn't matter, I'll be rewarded for removing you."
"List? There's a list? Who's at the top of this list?"
"If that's the last question you want to ask, then fine. Some human or something by the name of Wilhelm Schweinorg." He shrugged.
I feel proud of myself.
"Actually, I have one last question." I held up a hand.
"What?" He seemed annoyed, but still answered.
"Why is it in Spanish?"
"What?" His expression shifted to confusion.
"Your release, why Spanish? You were using a Katana, that's Japanese. And Aizen is…well, I think he's of Japanese descent? The entirety of Soul Society seems to mirror Japanese Society. They're called Shinigami. So...why Spanish?"
"..."
"..."
"Burst." A searing hot flame shot out from his fist soaring down the empty street.
"Cultural Appropriation!" I shouted, dodging out of the way.
The big guy, who was deceptively fast apparently, appeared above me with his own movement technique.
Was it Sonido as they called it? Made me remember first hand that the people here are all extremely fast and not to underestimate them in this regard in the future if I ran into someone around my level.
I pondered a question as his fists rained down from above, hitting me into the ground.
Why was it Spanish again?
My Aura flared up as his molten fists continued to slam downward into me.
Did that mean the names were just completely irrelevant? Or was there some secret conflict between the origins of Japanese and Spanish that Hollows were for some reason based around Spanish and the Shinigami are Japanese?
So many questions that no one's answering for me.
Though it was hard to give them proper thought over his shouts and fists hitting me.
Eventually his fists came to a stop and the flames around him simmered down and he let out a breath, looking at the massive crater he created and by extension myself who was laying down at the furthest point.
"What…?" He expressed obvious confusion at my being whole and healthy it seemed.
I did touch on the Hogyoku to let my Aura act more protectively. Granted, It wouldn't have lasted much longer without breaking if I had let him keep going. My Aura was strong and a great defense, but it's not without its limits under constant bombardment of that level.
"Thank you sir, may I have another?" I met his gaze.
"Who are you? No human should have been able to withstand my power!" His voice raised in accusation.
I pushed myself up, wiping away the dust and concrete bits that seemed to get stuck in my clothes.
Oof, I did feel that a little bit. Not a smart idea for me to just take that while in this condition. Not the stupidest thing I've ever done, but I rarely had opportunities to just be nonchalant like this.
"Funny you should ask." I tilted my head, looking at him and my Hogyoku shifted into Demonic Power. My horns sprouted, my tail appeared and all my demonic features quickly overtook my normal self.
His eyes widened and his flames reignited. "Burst!" He yelled, throwing his fist in my direction with another pillar of fire following.
My Power of Destruction swelled up and took it head on. The inky black energy began to devour the flames of the Hollow.
The waves of fire quickly began to dissipate as my Power of Destruction washed over it. My Power of Destruction was potent enough to contend with Karna's Divine Flames, his were a far cry from the Demi-God son of Surya.
As his flames died around him, his fist was filled with a red light that seemed to vibrate the air around it, making it much heavier than normal as the Reiatsu responded strangely.
"Cero!" He called out and a beam of condensed Hollow Reiatsu seemed to take on a new form and came my way like a laser.
My Power of Destruction flowed out and I braced myself, curious about the power of this attack and took it head on.
It actually managed to push me back a few feet before my Power of Destruction tore it away.
"Interesting, I see how it works! Due to the nature of Hollow Reiatsu being 'heavier' than that of the opposite side of the spectrum, it's able to be condensed down to a fine point then released as a directional attack. The condensed nature is unraveled at the point of release, acting as a sort of vacuum that causes destruction in its wake."
What a neat and simplistic attack that makes use of the very basics of a Hollow's Spiritual Powers.
And its strength should only be limited by the amount of Reiatsu you can feed into the condensation along with your ability to contain it.
Fascinating.
"Let me try!"
I called upon my Power of Destruction and began to condense it into a ball shape at the point of my finger.
The air vibrated similarly, but it was much different than what the Hollow just did. I was talking a big game, but I realized almost immediately that it was pointless to mimic it. I couldn't copy a Cero because my Reiatsu was that of a living person's. A minor but significant difference in application here. Well, maybe I could with further testing, but I didn't really have the time at the moment.
Regardless, my Power of Destruction reached its precipice after a moment.
Condense, condense, condense. It was similar to the attack I copied from Venelana but more directed into a singular point.
What should I call it?
Eh, fuck it.
"Cero."
It wasn't as wide nor destructive in comparison, but the beam of pure Destruction shot off and the Hollow jerked out of the way, but one of his arms was immediately eviscerated, along with a chunk off the side of his stomach.
I might have underestimated the power because it shot through dozens of buildings, and I lost sight of it….
Woops.
I really did need to practice my Power of Destruction more, I relied on it to brute force more than anything. Granted, that's been helpful to me thus far, I need to expand it more.
The Hollow though, even after getting hurt like that, he used his movement technique to counter attack.
His remaining arm blazed with his fire and Reiatsu as he swung it at me point blank.
….shit, I feel bad now about playing around with him.
Respect where it was due.
I let out a breath as his fist approached my Power of Destruction that wafted off me. My hand to hand wasn't amazing, but I had some training in the area. Scáthach wouldn't let me run around with a sword if I couldn't defend myself without one.
I raised my hand up and slapped his fist to the side, narrowly missing me and sending another wave of fire off to destroy a few more empty buildings. My leg lashed out, hitting his own right leg, disrupting his center of gravity. I grabbed onto his kimono, jerking it forward, then I gathered my Power of Destruction into my palm and slammed it down right onto his chest.
His body hit the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the surroundings and my Power of Destruction burst through his body.
The Hollow coughed up blood and his body went limp.
The light quickly died in his eyes and I silently put my hands together for a quick prayer. The Willpower he showed deserved an equal amount of respect even as an opponent. Not many people can counter attack after losing their arm and suffering a hole in their side.
I didn't have time to dwell on it any longer because my attention was immediately taken elsewhere.
Storms overhead manifested far too quickly, and I could feel and taste the lightning that surged in the air. But more specifically, I felt a Godly Authority activate, My Authority.
I then remembered that I gave the kids a lesser application of my Authority like I did Kunou the last time I was here and they never ended up using theirs when they stupidly invaded Soul Society.
Almost subconsciously, my Lightning gathered around me and I pushed forward with Shunpo at my fastest speed. I covered quite a bit of distance within the city, maneuvering around the sharp corners and blocks to find an apartment that was half destroyed with the very explicit feeling of my Authority around it.
Not to mention the storms overhead centered around it and the sparks that seemed to jump down sides of the building itself.
I landed on the edge of the opened side, the part where the wall was utterly obliterated.
Inoue Orihime.
She was on the ground, sitting on her butt like she had just fallen down, and all around her was utterly scorched and blackened by my Lightning with her entire apartment barely held together.
Across from her were a few faces I recognized. Two of them were hollow, a big guy with a Hollow mask jawbone. The other had a very empty look about him with piercing teal eyes and a half-helmet on his head.
The latter of them actually gave me worrisome vibes. I recalled crossing blades with him before, he was pretty strong, but even that, from what I recall, didn't seem to be his peak.
And lastly…
"Ichimaru Gin."
"Heyo." The former Shinigami smiled despite half his clothes being charred and burned away with some scorched marks on his left arm. The clothes in particular for them were some trench coats or something strange.
As for the others, the big guy was missing about half his body and seemed to be the main recipient of the defensive Talisman I gave to Orihime.
The other, he suffered minor and ignorable wounds just like Gin.
It wasn't hard to put two and two together. For one, I couldn't sense their Reiatsu, it almost felt like those 'senses' were almost being washed away by those strange clothes they were wearing.
Something that hides you from Spiritual Perception? Something to note.
The Big guy probably was the one who was aggressive towards Orihime so my Talisman triggered.
The former Shinigami still made me wary and I wouldn't want to fight with Orihime right next to me.
"I'll give you the opportunity to run away." I stated.
"Appreciate it." Gin just kept that wide smile of his.
The half-masked Hollow looked over to him. "Our orders were to retrieve the girl."
"You're welcome to fight the pissed off demon, ya?" The Former Shinigami didn't react. "I'll tell Aizen myself that it was a bad idea."
"Kill the bitch!" The big guy who was kneeling from his wounds roared furiously between them.
I narrowed my eyes, shifting everything I had into Spiritual Pressure, then I let it out towards them.
I could see their eyes widen and Gin gripped his blade as if he were about to attack, but very quickly he instead did something to tear a hole in space as Hollows do and pulled the big idiot in the middle along with him.
Only the second Hollow, the expressionless one lingered for a moment. I think he considered pushing me, but it seemed he relented and left along with Gin.
Well, that was certainly something.
"You okay?" I went to help up Orihime.
She recovered rather quickly from the presumedly traumatic ordeal. "Y-yeah, I'm fine!" She adopted a carefree smile but I wasn't sure it wasn't just an act.
I just patted her on the head. "Seems like you're going to need a new place to live."
"My home…." She slumped.
Oof.
"Now the others won't have a place to live either."
"Pardon?" I then took in the surroundings a tad more and noticed something very much out of place. "Why is there a giant….organic TV taking up half of your living room." I pointed at the strange monstrosity of a TV
"Oh, that's the thingy that Grandpa uses to talk to everyone!" She smiled.
"And by everyone, you mean….?"
"Rukia's friends."
"Shinigami?"
"Uh huh." She nodded.
"They're….staying here with you?"
"There were…." She pouted.
"This is a….uh…one bedroom apartment?"
She looked at the hole that used to be a wall. "I don't think it is anymore?"
"Right." I patted her on the head ahead and she seemed to smile at that. "Do you mind if I call my friend to come over? You met her from before."
"Okay, she was really nice." Orihime smiled again.
Frankly, I didn't even give Izzy a heads up before opening a portal right to her.
"I swear, Wilhelm, my legs are sore! If you're coming to me for a second round –" She stopped mid-sentence and realized where I was. She stepped through a moment later and realized immediately what had happened. "You poor thing." She went to give Orihime a hug.
The younger girl seemed to quite enjoy that, it seemed.
"It's alright, it's just my home. It could have been worse." Orihime smiled despite the situation.
"Wilhelm." Izzy looked at me.
"My Authority activated and protected her – one of the Talismans from before. Apparently the Hollows wanted to…capture her? I'm vague on the details."
Izzy frowned but focused on giving Orihime attention.
Thankfully, her couch still existed, and Izzy guided her to sit down as she continued to give affection to the younger woman.
I went to what remained of her kitchen and tried to find some cups and maybe some tea or something.
"Wilhelm, I thought you were going to see Salem. How did you end up here?"
I let out a sigh as I shifted through her apparently empty cabinets. "We had a small fight, I was trying to fix something she did 'before'. It involves a young woman missing part of her soul, and I figured Tessai could help in that regard."
"How do you always find trouble even when doing something so….mundane." Izzy shook her head. "Really, I don't know if you count as lucky or unlucky."
"Story of my life." I hummed. "Uh, Orihime…..don't take this the wrong way…" I was a bit worried so I opened her fridge finding nearly nothing. "Do….you not stock up on groceries?"
"I have groceries. Are you hungry? I'm a good cook, though I don't know if everything is working. Oh! I can make you a sandwich, my Tuna-Peanut Butter-Leek sandwich I made for dinner yesterday was great! Do you want one?" Orihime offered.
Me and Izzy shared a look.
"Dear, you live by yourself?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah….um…ever since my brother…passed." She said quietly.
"Who….provides for you?" Izzy asked again.
"Oh, the government and my Aunt helps a little bit!. I get money every month. Most of it was to pay for the apartment….uh, do you think they're going to be upset?"
"I assure you, no one is going to be upset with you." Izzy reassured her and that was a statement of fact.
"That's great!" Orihime exclaimed.
"Do the Shinigami who stay with you…. are they paying rent?" I raised an inquisitive eyebrow. And I asked because her current living conditions were…..well, not very good. And the fact that a group of 'adults' were imposing themselves on her like I assumed they were, well it didn't put them in a good light.
"No?" Orihime tilted her head.
Izzy frowned and I was sure someone was going to get a scolding later.
And considering the fast approaching Spiritual presences, I could take a guess. First was a certain black cat that arrived in a haste. I sensed a few minutes ago that the Hollow presences around the city seemed to disappear in a haste, a retreat I would assume.
Yoruichi saw me, Orihime, then Izzy and her eyes widened briefly, and it seemed like anything she wanted to say died right now.
"Orihime!" A certain orange haired kid was the next one and he too came to a quick pause as soon as he realized the situation.
Half a dozen more arrived, the distinct sound of displaced air as many used Shunpo to appear within the somewhat confined space.
Some faces I recognized, some I didn't. Though, their Shinigami uniforms were an easy indicator of who they actually were.
But nearly instantly, all the Shinigami from Soul Society prostrated themselves on the ground towards Izzy.
Izzy didn't even really 'force' it. Rather, they took the initiative themselves. But before anyone could speak, Izzy expressed herself.
"I am displeased."
[***]
A/N
Izzy is displeased and various Shinigami shit bricks.Just a reminder, Part 6 of the omake is up on P.a.t.r..e..o.n.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you cant use the above under the same name.