The black sludge then dropped itself into the ground. Ichigo can't believe what just happened. First, he was nearly killed, then his zanpakuto was broken in half, then this happened. Haschwalth was as astonished as him. He had never seen something like a sword imploding itself into liquid form. The sludge quickly bubbled itself up. Haschwalth, having foreseen what's to come, readies himself for an attack.
What happened next shocked the three.
A metal claw emerged from the pool of oozing black sludge, and in a split-second, Haschwalth was impaled by it despite the fact that he had prepared himself for that moment. The old man has his eyes lit up. He too had foreseen what was about to happen to his right-hand man and was confident enough that he would block it easily.
Jugram has activated his 'blut vene' yet it still manages to penetrate him? What is this kind of monstrosity?
Ichigo is at a loss of words either, out of confusion. He knows what his zanpakuto is capable of, and that there is not one of them.
Zangetsu…no that's not Zangetsu, he can't just turn into a clawed hand like that
The sludge slowly materializes itself into something the size and shape of a human, lifting the bloodied Jugram with it. The sludge then revealed itself as the tendrils subsided: the same hooded man in the unknown dimension, the man – the monster – known as Alexander J. Mercer. Jugram, in his dying breath, weakly warned the old man
"Your Majesty… run away… warn Wandereich…delay the attack"
Mercer then throws Jugram in the air, withdrawing his clawed right hand. He then transformed his left hand into a blade and swung it upwards, bisecting his victim from the waist down towards his left shoulder. Whatever's left of Jugram Haschwalth had dropped into the feet of Mercer. Both Ichigo and the old man were stunned at the brutality of Jugram's demise, but it's what he did after that sent chills into their spine.
Mercer knelt at the still twitching Jugram and impaled him with his transformed claw. Tendrils then sprouted out of the right arm and slowly enveloped his victim as he screamed in pain and agony in his final moments. In an instant, all that remains of the man named Jugram Haschwalth disappeared right in front of them.
Suddenly, he felt a surge of Jugram's memories flashing in his mind. It was no news for him; he did this as much during his awakening right until his end. Unfortunately, because he was newly reformed in another dimension, he can only retain his victims' memories ranging from a year until their deaths. In order for him to get the information pertaining to the kind of world he ended up in, he attempted to bypass unnecessary memories, ranging from half a month. He then comes across a specific memory bank that happened in a gap between half a year and today. Being rusty by his arrival, he could only discern certain dialogues from it.
Your Majesty…I have news for you…Ichigo has reached Mugetsu and defeated Aizen…
…What are your orders…Your Majesty?
…Royd Lloyd, you are to accompany me and fight off Captain Yamamoto…
…His Majesty will have… word with… Aizen…
He had finished reading Jugram's memories to be exact. However, another surge of power felt within him. He felt something invasive in his body in the form of shimmering blue lights that flowed throughout his systems. Then, the lights slowly formed into a star-shaped emblem slowly branding itself into the heart. Finally, a faint voice from the old man can be heard:
Come to me, my child, join my ranks
Mercer finds himself in the dark, standing in a shimmering blue path, the only thing illuminating this place. He was no longer dressed in his normal jacket, rather he now wears a white overcoat.
Ahead, the voice continues to call out for him
Come to me, my child.
Curious, Mercer follows the long trail, unknown that the road behind him slowly falls apart with every step he takes.
He then sees the endpoint: a throne occupied by the old man, the one who had been calling out his name.
Come to me, my child
Entranced, Mercer slowly approached Yhwach as he reaches for his hand—
Mercer!!
All of a sudden, he hears a voice someone familiar: It was Dr. Ragland
Mercer!!
His name was called out again, this time with a different, yet familiar voice; it was Dana Mercer
Mercer!!
His name called out again; this time, by Elizabeth Greene
Mercer!!
Mercer!!
Mercer!!
Mercer!!
His name was called out again and again and again, each sound becoming gradually familiar…
…and then…
MERCER!!
The last voice that called him, it felt all too familiar.
"Heller?"
In an instant, the shimmering blue path cracked like a piece of shattering glass, all while slowly drained of its color. Snapped out of the trance, Mercer took a look down on his steps and realized something was amiss; he wasn't in his normal skin, he was wearing Haschwalth's skin all along.
Having seen through the deception, Mercer lunged at the old man from where he is standing right now, toppling the throne backwards upon a hard landing
You're not Haschwalth… muttered the old man, astonished that he broke through his domineering call
"I'M NOT HASCHWALTH, AND I'M NOT SOMEONE'S BITCH AS WELL" Mercer furiously declared as he proceeds to rip the old man apart like how a bear mauls its prey with its own paws.
Sinking his claws deep through the neck of a nearly unidentifiable corpse, tendrils start to sprout from the arms and slowly envelops the corpse until no more traces has been left behind, all while the path he walked before slowly falls apart by itself.
The tendrils enveloped the emblem trying to carve itself deep within his heart. It felt like something powerful had formed within him
From his memories, new images randomly popped out of his mind; a girl in a white uniform with black hair forming tendrils shaped like wings, spreading bio-bombs in different directions, a man in a jet-black, panther-shaped armor made out of tendrils dashing towards Ichigo like an animal, and the last images show him along with the two of them entering a void
Mercer stood up and turned to the old man
"Yhwach… your name is Yhwach, right?" he sternly asked
"So the younger one that I consumed back there must be you too, am I right?" he added, finally noticing the difference between him and the man from the other dimension
Mercer's questions to Yhwach baffled Ichigo the most. The guy who he fought bears a striking resemblance to Old Man Zangetsu, the other guy from the other dimension, and Ichigo's zanpakuto in a human form. He turned to the hilt of his sword and pondered on a specific phrase from Mercer's questions:
So the younger one that I consumed back there must be you too, am I right?
Come to think of it, his zanpakuto turned into a sludge, which subsequently turned into Mercer. Piecing the circumstances together, he reached to a single, possible possibility that shuddered him to the core:
Alexander J. Mercer 'devoured' Old Man Zangetsu
Meanwhile, Yhwach, who still can't comprehend the fact that Mercer dispatched his trusted right-hand, Haschwalth that easily, also reached to the same possibility, albeit with an added circumstance:
Mercer arrived into Zangetsu's dimension a split-second before Jugram could break the sword into pieces, and consumed him, thereby attaining a form that allows him to appear into Soul Society.
Now regaining composure, Yhwach answered him with contempt in his eyes.
"So what if I am?"
"Then you're next on the meal, you bearded piece of shit" Mercer grinned from ear to ear
Without hesitation, Mercer lunges towards Yhwach, partially breaking the ground beneath him with his heavy leap.
"Heilig Pfeil"
A slew of arrows from behind were fired towards Mercer, hoping to keep him off at bay.
"IT TAKES MORE THAN THAT TO FINISH ME OFF"
Undaunted, he ignored the arrows and continued straight toward Yhwach. Realizing he is coming at sword range, Yhwach glimpses merely 20 seconds into the future and sees himself losing his left arm to Mercer. He unsheathes his sword, ready to strike at any time. Mercer noticed this and stepped hard on the ground to kill his momentum, sliding a few meters towards him.
A few meters towards the sword range, that is…
Seizing the opportunity, Yhwach lifts his sword up and heavily swings it down, trying to slash Mercer down from his left flank. Having glimpsed into the future, he is confident enough that he had prevented it. However, rather than dodging the swing, he purposely accepts it, much to Yhwach's surprise
"It's no use, you're already dead before you can even touch me" Yhwach told Mercer in an arrogant tone.
"WHO DECIDES THAT?"
The two 'men' collided their attacks. As he expected, Yhwach slashed Mercer from the left flank, but after that he never felt anything from his left arm again, and the strong pain kicked in. Looking to his left side, he saw his left arm, still holding the sword, dropped into the ground.
Impossible…
He can't comprehend it. He took steps to make sure it never happened. He slashed Mercer dead, yet the 20-second future of himself still happened nonetheless.
He then shifted his gaze towards Mercer and widened his eyes.
Mercer just stood up like nothing happened, the fresh slash wounds were still visible in his body yet he still brushed it off like something had simply grazed him.
Then the next sequence made Yhwach give off a cold sweat; small tendrils came out of the base of the slash wounds and wrapped itself like how a thread sewn two pieces of cloth, emitting a bright red light that made the blood disappear in thin air, removing the last traces of the wounds itself. Yhwach was stunned, it made him gripe in an emotion he had abandoned in his near millennia of recovery, an emotion that his enemies felt while facing him.
Mercer jumped out of the shadow enveloping him, Yhwach kept his attention towards him, too stunned to use his ability once more. In an instant, Mercer transformed his left arm into something else and threw something like a punch at him. The distance was too far for him to throw a fist, but that transformed arm allowed it to compensate for the excess distance. The arm was shaped like a vine that extended from his normal arm's length right towards the face of Yhwach. The hand shaped itself like a small claw coming to grab something.
The monstrosity of an arm grabbed at Yhwach's left eye, its claws beginning to burrow itself inside. This causes him to yell in a fit of rage and agonizing pain as the claws grabbed hold of the eye. Mercer then yanked his arm backwards in a sudden motion, tearing its eye clean from the sockets. Yelling in agony once more, Yhwach clutches his bleeding eye sockets. All of a sudden, unknown imagery suddenly popped up, involving skyscrapers, train stations, laboratories…
…and Alex Mercer himself
"Alex Mercer…is your name?"
Mercer then responded, now regaining his eccentric personality back from his old world
"Now we're beginning to be acquainted to each other"
"DAMN YOU, YOU MONSTER" cursed Yhwach loudly as he steps back into the shadow, slowly dissipating into thin air
Mercer gives himself a satisfied smile as he clutches the eye he had gouged out, which he finds something peculiar. Consuming the strange eye, he begins to experience strange visions;
A battle between a younger Yhwach and 13 Soul Reapers…
… A negotiation between him and a fat, bald monk wielding the same power he has…
…The burning of a village as a young boy in a Mohawk overlooks in horror…
…Filling a small saucer with his blood and handing it out to some of his chosen people…
…Him and his army laying siege to a deserted kingdom…
…The battle between him and one of the 13 Soul Reapers he fought a millennia ago…
…A castle floating atop this world…
…A crystallized man in a catatonic state…
All of a sudden, those visions began enveloping in black and red tendrils, replacing them with the ones he saw when he consumed Jugram Haschwalth, as well as a few additional visions; new encounters, forging alliances with different people, and a number of notable battles…
…with a tall, blue haired woman that can summon a ball of ice the size of a continent…
…with a black haired woman with crimson eyes, wielding a katana…
…with a half-naked woman using a sentient tentacle-like sash of hers as a weapon…
…with a man clad in a dark coat…
…with a man with ashen hair, wielding a rifle…
…with a girl wearing a red dress, wielding a flintlock, and is heterochomic…
At last, he finally gets one of the answers he's been seeking for; what kind of world did he ended up with
"Soul reapers… quincies… in a war a millennia ago. And I just appeared right between it" he muttered to himself as he slowly stood up, clutching his head in pain over the sudden surge of memories.
As for the new visions he had seen earlier that's not related to this world, he has to set that aside for now.