Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Chapter Forty Four - Vendetta

-Soul Society-

The shock still wasn't over. There he stood, someone who nearly everyone thought lost his powers and now he has returned at the pinnacle of the war. The soul reaper captains, were not sure to be relieved at Ichigo coming here or be afraid that once Yhwach was dead, they would be next. They made a bad decision out of their pure arrogance and now, they would face the wrath of whoever wins this fight and neither of it was gonna end well for them. The same went for the fullbringers. What made them even more uneasy was the fact that both Ichigo and Yhwach were just having a staring contest

"Is that Ichigo...?" Renji asked in surprise

The others were too surprised to even form a response, especially the captains minus Shinji. Eventually though, Isshin managed to find his voice

"You knew about this didn't you?" Isshin asked the arrancars

"Yes." Ulquiorra simply responded. "During Ichigo's battle with Aizen, I actually observed it from afar. While I could not sense either of their spiritual pressure, I could tell that after using his final getsuga tensho technique, Ichigo's power did not disappear but was instead rising very quickly."

"Indeed. A few months ago, Ichigo came to las noches to ask for our permission to train in hueco mundo. During that time, he told us about the wandenreich and warned us about the possibility of a quincy invasion. While it was unknown if they would actually attack, Ichigo used something he learned from Aizen and convinced us to prepare for it." Harribel added

"Something he learned from me you say? What would that be?" Aizen asked, growing more curious by the second

"That it is always better to be safe than sorry. When Ichigo warned us, he said that whether the quincies would attack hueco mundo or not is irrelevant. What really mattered is if they do attack, we would be ready and even if they didn't, then we would still be able to join this war." Starrk answered

"So he warned you but chose not to tell us?" Yoruichi asked suspiciously

"To be honest, I think that Ichigo wanted to tell you about this and that the only reason he didn't was because he did not want the soul society to know about the wandenreich. While we know the reason why, it is something that should come from Ichigo himself and not us." Nel answered thoughtfully

"So he decided to keep us in the dark? What the hell did you do to Ichigo?" Rukia demanded to know, which merely caused the group from hueco mundo to sigh

"It's actually quite pathetic don't you think?" Ulquiorra asked and got curious looks from everyone who didn't know about Ichigo. "When something goes wrong, you immediately blame everyone but yourselves for it. You didn't even bother to consider that perhaps the reason Ichigo chose to abandon you was a result of your own doing."

Before Rukia could even form a response, Orihime suddenly called out. While she too was shocked with Ichigo, she still did not lose too much focus and continued trying to undo the zombification. "Shinji, I think they're okay now. They might still be a little weak."

"Thanks Orihime." Hacchi said gratefully and soon, the four zombified visored got up albeit very weakly

"Hachi? Love? What?" Kensei asked in surprise. Everyone's discussion was stopped when they suddenly felt a massive power

It was Ichigo and Yhwach. The two decided to end their staring contest and went back to fighting after Ichigo removed his gloves and put it in his pocket. Yhwach released a massive arrow at his opponent. Ichigo on the other hand, stood there unfazed before putting out his left hand and suddenly, his trench knife was on his hand before he swung it down, neatly cutting the arrow in half and this got everyone's attention. Ichigo then immediately counter attacked by swinging his trench knife, unleashing a torrent of black flames. Yhwach took a direct hit and he, along with everything near him, was turned to stone. This did not last long as Yhwach broke free from it and flashed towards Ichigo and locked swords with him. Ichigo then put out his right hand and his khyber knife appeared. Yhwach noticed this and fell back otherwise, he was gonna be injured. At this point, it became apparent that Ichigo knew what he was doing and was well aware of the one thing that could work against the almighty, turning the entire future against it. Yhwach was now aware of this himself as he knew that despite being able to see the future, it works against him if he is not familiar against someone's power due to the endless possibilities. He was unable to think about it for too long as Ichigo flashed in front of him, hell bent on cutting him down however, Yhwach did manage to parry the strike. The two continued to clash although neither were giving it their all, yet. Eventually, Ichigo released another torrent of black flames. This time, it burned everything that stood in its way towards it target. Yhwach just used his ability to manipulate reishi and created some sort of shield, before redirecting the flames somewhere else and the two ended up in another sword lock

While Ichigo and Yhwach just resumed fighting, Bambietta and Candice noticed something which shocked them to their core

"Is that...?" Bambietta asked with her jaw falling down

"The seelenbindung?" Candice finished with all the other quincies shocked as well

"What is that?" Ulquiorra asked

Managing to recompose herself, Bambietta explained. "It is a very advanced quincy technique. It allows us to bind an object directly to us. The way it works is, once something is bound, that person can summon it directly to her or him regardless of where said person or the object is."

"So you're saying that if Ichigo left his zanpakuto in hueco mundo, he could call it to his hand even from here?" Harribel asked

"Yes however, it does have a couple major downsides. The first is, once you summon the object, you're stuck with it so this technique is best used on weapons so we can have always one in case of emergency. The second is this technique is such a pain in the ass to learn that none of the quincies outside of Yhwach is capable of doing it." Candice explained which shocked everyone, and by everyone it included the soul reapers, fullbringers, arrancars and other quincies. "Just how much power does Ichigo truly have now?"

This also made everyone wonder about this which wasn't surprising as after all, Ichigo was thought to be a regular human for at least a year now

"Starkkkkkkkkk!" Lilynette suddenly yelled as she jumped on Starrk. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you go help Ichigo?"

Starrk merely pulled her off before giving his answer. "No. In fact, we shouldn't interfere in this battle at all."

"What?" Lilynette asked in shock

"Lilynette." Harribel called out. "You need to calm down and think about this. What do you think would happen if we go out there and help him?"

"Starrk is right Lilynette. If we do join this fight, we would only get in his way. Worse yet, we might leave him open to an attack by Yhwach." Nel agreed

"But..."

"Lilynette. I will tell you a little secret about the wandenreich." Candice said which grabbed the arrancar's attention. "Before this war started, we have marked five high value individuals. These five have the potential to slow down or outright cause the invasion to fail. The first is Ichibe Hyosube, the leader of the royal guard. The second is squad eleven captain Kenpachi Zaraki. The third is the perverted shopkeeper Kisuke Urahara and the fourth is Sosuke Aizen. Now, try to guess who reigns at the top."

"Ichigo?" Lilynette asked

"Yes. Ichigo was deemed to be the most dangerous of these individuals, otherwise known as the notable threats. In fact, Aizen and Ichigo were deemed so dangerous that the first invasion was launched knowing that neither of the two were gonna interfere." Bambietta added

"Why is that?" Lilynette continued to ask as she was still worried about Ichigo

"The power of Kyoka Suigetsu is very dangerous. If we launched the invasion with Aizen free and against us, he could have single handedly stopped the invasion by making us think we are fighting the soul reapers but when in fact, we were actually fighting each other. For Ichigo, it is because even Yhwach admits that if Ichigo knew about his heritage, he could also single handedly stop the invasion. Being a natural born hybrid of a hollow, quincy and soul reaper grants him power that far surpasses most beings, even the schutzstaffel. While Ichigo lacks the amount of utility Kyoka Suigetsu has, he more than makes up for it with his raw power." Bambietta explained which finally calmed her down a bit while it did shock the soul reapers however, they chose to keep their silence

"They're right Lilynette." Aizen said which caused all attention to divert to him. "While you may not be able to sense it, I can. The power Ichigo possesses now is far greater than what he had during our last fight and the strength of Ichigo's spiritual pressure is already great enough to rival Yhwach's own."

While having calmed down a bit, Lilynette was still obviously worried about Ichigo. This was noticed by everyone. Isshin also shared this worry as it was his own son after all. One thing was for sure though, he and Ichigo did need to have a talk about this. However, both Isshin and Kisuke's minds began to race. They were so worried that they became silent and Isshin only managed to ask one thing before returning to his state of being stunned. If Ichigo knew about his heritage and that it did not come from either of them, who knows what Ichigo will do to them. Would they share the same fate of whatever Ichigo has planned for the soul society?

"Do not worry about that Kisuke Urahara." Ulquiorra said, noticing their expressions which caused them to look at the arrancar. "Ichigo does not hold anything against the two of you. He mentioned it to us sometime ago. Ichigo's quarrel is only with the thirteen court guard squads."

The soul reapers also listened to this intently. They were rather surprised at learning how powerful Ichigo really was as even they had no idea about it. In fact, the only ones who were aware of Ichigo's heritage was Kisuke, Aizen, Yoruichi, Tessai and Isshin. At this point, the captains along with the fullbringers cringed even more as they just realized how screwed they really are and it only became worse when Ulquiorra mentioned that Ichigo now regarded them as his enemies

"Regardless of that, what is this anyway?" Starrk said, holding up the bow that was still in his hand. The bow was blue in color and it looked like it was the blade of a katana however, it was not sharp. Near both ends were three protrusions that looked like spikes while it's string was so thin it could barely be seen

"Is that what I think it is?" Bazz B said as he moved closer to get a good look

"Yeah. It's the Eiszapfen Seelenbogen." Liltotto said, realizing that this was from one of the quincy legends

"What's that?" Starrk asked

"It is a legendary bow wielded by the most lethal assassin in quincy history. Whoever this assassin was is unknown even now. All that is known is that the assassin only took orders from Yhwach himself and that he was responsible for killing five of the first thirteen captains during the war one thousand years ago. This is one of the most powerful weapon in quincy history, second only to Yhwach's own weapons." Liltotto explained

"So what powers does it have?" Lilynette asked

"None actually." Bambietta said which confused the arrancars. "Allow me to explain. Us quincies fight using the ambient reishi in the immediate vicinity. The higher the quality of reishi, the better our weapons are and our ability to fight. However, this does not apply to our individual powers."

"Then that means you fight better here or in hueco mundo than you would in the world of the living?" Harribel asked

"Yes. However, this bow is unique. Instead of relying on the ambient reishi for its power, this one uses the spirit energy of whoever is wielding it instead. This means that regardless if the wielder was in place not optimal for a quincy, for as long the wielder was powerful, it's firepower would reflect that." Candice explained

"But this was lost wasn't it? After Ichibe Hyosube managed to kill the assassin?" Cang Du pointed out

"I think so. Maybe Hyosube took it with him and kept it all this time and when Ichigo was in the palace, he decided to retrieve it for himself." Bambietta pondered

Isshin narrowed his eyes at this discussion along with Kisuke and Aizen as for some reason, Ichigo appeared to know of his heritage. While the earlier discussion about the notable threats implied it, this one confirmed it. They were all brought out of there thoughts when Bazz B suddenly yelled

"Look out!" Bazz B yelled as black flames were heading their way

Everyone with the exception of the arrancars immediately took cover. It didn't take long for the flames to reach them but to their surprise, not everyone was injured. The ones that came from hueco mundo, as well as the ones from the world of the living minus the visored were all unaffected by the flames while the other quincies were slightly scorched. The same could not be said for the soul reapers as they really felt that attack and it nearly burned them. The fullbringers on the other hand were burned slightly more than the quincies but significantly less than the soul reaperss. Right now, it became obvious to Ginjo that even he was screwed. To everyone's surprise Aizen was also completely unharmed from it

"What? How come we weren't harmed by it?" Bambietta asked in confusion

"It's one of the unique qualities of Ichigo's zanpakuto." Nel answered

"Qualities?" Candice asked

"Yes. The only ones who will be harmed from the techniques of Ichigo's zanpakuto are those that he considers as his enemy." Harribel said

Upon hearing this, the soul reapers and fullbringers were filled with fear, which was quite understandable as well as confusion. The captains were well aware of why Ichigo now considers them as his enemy and now, every single soul reaper was gonna pay the price for a poor decision that they made. This same attack however, also finally calmed Kisuke, Yoruichi, Tessai and Isshin down as now they knew that at least they were not screwed

Meanwhile, Yhwach and Ichigo just crossed swords again after the emperor redirected the flames. Yhwach was surprised at Ichigo reaction as he just let them flames head towards the observers but paid it no more attention. This boy was gonna get killed if he got in his way. Yhwach pushed Ichigo away and tried to cut him down but Ichigo merely blocked it and kicked the quincy emperor back and they soon got back into glaring at each other. Yhwach was now growing interested at what the most powerful notable threat was capable of. He is aware of how to avoid the almighty and is even aware of how to turn its abilities against its user. Yhwach was absolutely not used to this kind of battles as usually, he would just use the almighty to get rid of the powers of anyone in his way. However, with Ichigo, it's not that simple as it is impossible to prepare for every single possibility all at once

Yhwach ultimately decided to pay it no heed. If the almighty is not gonna be of that much use, then just fight him the old fashioned way. It is that simple. "Don't you think that was rather cold?" Yhwach asked

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked while moving back

"You." Yhwach answered which caused Ichigo to raise his eyebrow in confusion. "Don't you think it was cold of you to leave your former allies to get slaughtered?"

"Not really. After all, you said it yourself. They're my former allies." Ichigo said before swinging his khyber knife, unleashing what appeared to be a getsuga tensho

"Getsuga tensho huh?" Yhwach said before just splitting the attack in two

The two combatants then locked blades once more before pushing each other way. The fight became more and more intense as Ichigo has had enough holding back. Whenever Ichigo would clash with Yhwach, he wouldn't stop as he would quickly resort to using his legs to go for a cheap kick. Yhwach noticed this as well and it was making his life difficult due to how ruthless Ichigo was now fighting. The two continued their clashing a bit more and Ichigo kept the momentum up. Whenever Yhwach would push him away, Ichigo would immediately either throw one of his swords or go for a kick. Suffice to say this was turning into a very rough battle. That's not even counting the random flames or getsugas Ichigo was recklessly throwing around, obviously not caring who would get it. Yhwach finally figured out why as the arrancars and his quincy allies cannot be harmed by his technique. At the very least, Yhwach was gaining a bit of understanding of his opponent's power but it was not enough for him to ruin it with the almighty, yet and they continued to clash

Deciding on trying something else, Yhwach reached into his pocket and grabbed a familiar object. "Bankai, Zanka no Tachi." he said and the medallion transformed into a scorched katana. Yhwach then immediately flashed towards Ichigo in an attempt to cut him in two

This did not faze Ichigo as he simply thrusted his trench knife to the ground before grabbing the scorched bankai with his bare hand, getting everyone's attention from their little chitchat and causing them to widen their eyes

Meanwhile, with the observers

"Hey, do you think Ichigo will win this?" Starrk asked, now growing worried himself

"Hard to say but at this point, Ichigo has the upper hand." Bambietta answered

"What makes you say that?" Nel asked, being worried herself

"Yhwach is the son of the soul king. Due to that status, he enjoys a level of dominance matched by only a very few handful individuals. However, now he faces someone who is not only powerful enough to rival him, but also one who is aware of how his ability works." Bambietta pointed out. "Besides, look at Ichigo's fighting style. It's now more ruthless than it ever was."

"You know Bambi, I actually take back when I criticized you for killing hunks after sleeping with them. That habit actually turned out quite useful now." Liltotto said which made nearly all eyes go to Bambietta, who didn't particularly care about it

Bambietta on the other hand, merely smirked at that statement before giving her response. "Sorry to disappoint but I had no hand in what Ichigo is doing now. In fact, it was the other way around. Ichigo was the one who convinced me to turn against the wandenreich." she said and got curious looks from her fellow quincies. She then explained the situation but decided to leave the part about Ichigo's inner spirits out

"Wait, so Ichigo was aware of us this whole time?" Meninas asked in surprise

"Yes. Ichigo has been preparing for this war long before it even began, or should I say continued." surprisingly, it was Ulquiorra who confirmed it. "I was rather curious as to why he didn't just barge into silbern once he finished training."

"Probably to let the soul reapers get slaughtered." Bambietta pondered

"Wait, train? Now that you mentioned it, who in the hell trained Ichigo? His fighting style is completely different from what it was before." Candice pointed out and she got knowing looks from her friend and the arrancars. "You don't mean...?"

"Yes. The one who trained Ichigo, was none other than the hollow that lives inside him, his zanpakuto, Zangetsu." Harribel answered

This caused everyone's eyes to widen in shock. It was unheard of for a zanpakuto to be a hollow at the same time. Their discussion was interrupted once more when they heard Yhwach release someone's bankai. Their shock got even greater when Ichigo caught the blade with his bare hand. Even Aizen was surprised at this as he too was a victim of that move, although it was probably karma as he did stop Ichigo's sword twice with only his bare hands

Yhwach was surprised at how Ichigo managed to catch Yamamoto's bankai but soon got his answer when he looked at his hand. There were blue grid patterns all over it, indicating that Ichigo has used and already mastered blut vene. Yhwach was given no time to be shocked as Ichigo tried to cut him down with his khyber knife while his other hand on the bankai was holding him close. He was forced to let go of the scorched bankai in order to avoid getting wounded and fell back. To everyone's surprise though, Ichigo completely crushed Yamamoto's bankai with a simple and it dropped to the ground with the hilt and top half of the blade intact but the area where he grabbed it was now shattered

"Impressive Ichigo Kurosaki. It has been a long time since anyone has forced me to fight like this and it is the first time I have seen anyone do that to that man's bankai." Yhwach complimented as he drew his own sword back and they locked swords once more

Ichigo merely kept his silence at this and kicked Yhwach away

"Now then, I have a proposal for you." Yhwach said and got a raised eye from the hybrid. "Join me and I will bring your mother back to life, just the way you remember her."

Ichigo however was not having any of this and he surprised everyone when he immediately responded without a second thought. "Thanks but no thanks. As much as I would love seeing my mother again..." he trailed off before suddenly his khyber knife turned white while at the same time, his hair grew out to reach his waist, two white horns sprouted from the sides of his head and were pointing forward. Beneath his eyes were four thin black lines, two below each one appeared and were reaching the bottom of his face. On his forehead were some strange markings. On each side appeared to be marks of a claw going downwards diagonally towards the eyes while at the center, four small triangle shaped marks appeared in the shape of a dorsal fin. They were scattered in different areas on his face and were pointing at different angles. When put together it almost looks like a shuriken. One right above his nose, two slightly to the sides opposite of the claw marks and one on the upper forehead. Ichigo's eyes however also changed. They were now black in color with golden irises. His skin also turned a bit pale and his fingers turned into claws. "I would rather her not see what I'm about to do to you." he finished, now in a warped voice similar to Zangetsu's own before slashing his khyber knife to his side, creating a fissure that reached quite a distance. Those who have personally met Zangetsu grew extremely concerned as Ichigo's appearance now mimicked his own minus the markings on his head

Yhwach immediately summoned his broadsword, the very same one he used to execute Yamamoto as he knew that shit was about to get real and he decided to dual wield it along with his usual sword. And it was the right choice as Ichigo was now faster and his strikes more vicious than ever. It didn't help that Ichigo was not above making cheap tricks to get a shot which put Yhwach on his toes. Yhwach wanted to just destroy Ichigo's swords then and there but decided that was a bad idea so he decided to save that for the moment Ichigo would release his bankai

The battle was going nowhere as it was all just Ichigo doing cheap moves such as throwing one of his swords like he would earlier to distract Yhwach before going for a cut which he would barely manage to parry. This time however, Ichigo was even more ruthless as he would just grab Yhwach's sword with his hands to stop it instead of blocking it with his own sword. After a while of fighting, the two ended up locking swords but this time, Ichigo kicked him right on his feet, causing Yhwach to lose his balance and fall. Not giving him a chance to recover, Ichigo quickly attempted to thrust his khyber knife directly into Yhwach's head but he managed to slip away by rolling on the ground. When Yhwach got up, Ichigo was already on another offensive in an attempted to kill him with his sword covered in flames. Not having any other choice, Yhwach used his blut vene anhaben, creating a massive forcefield that stopped the flames in his tracks. This move did shock Ichigo a bit and Yhwach was quick to take advantage as this time, Ichigo was forced on the defensive. Soon enough, Yhwach managed to put Ichigo in a tough spot when he stepped on one of Ichigo's swords to force it on the ground and used his broadsword to slice off Ichigo's left arm before shoving him right into a pile of rubble

This surprised everyone and thought that the battle was over. Isshin immediately tried to go to his son's aid but Aizen put a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from doing so

"Not yet Isshin. This battle is far from over." Aizen said reassuringly, much to everyone's surprise

Yhwach however, decided to use this chance to head back to the royal palace. "So much for that." he said and tried to launch himself towards the palace. When he did manage to launch himself, black chains suddenly erupted from the ground and forced him back down, much to his shock

"Come now, where do you think you're going?" Ichigo said as he walked out of the rubble with his arm regenerating. He then put out that same, regenerated arm and his sword was summoned back to him

"You are a persistent one aren't you Ichigo Kurosaki." Yhwach commented

Ichigo didn't bother to responded and simply put both of his swords together. It then transformed into what appeared to be a broadsword with twisted pointy parts all over its blade. It's guard looked like a face or a skull on it and it had four prongs. Two of which were extending from the head of the skull outwards and pointing away from the blade while the other two were faced the opposite direction and came from the bottom part of the skull. At the end of the grip were two chains, one longer than the other hanging from it. The blade part was white in color while the skull itself was gray. Everything else was black. Usually, all of the sword except the skull would be black but since Ichigo was in his hollowfied state, part of it turned white

Yhwach noticed the spike in Ichigo's spiritual pressure when his sword transformed and realized that this was his bankai. It was rather surprising to see someone release their bankai without even so much as muttering a word. However, Yhwach prepared for this moment and within seconds, Ichigo's blade shattered, which did not go unnoticed

"That was anti climactic. Can't a guy release his bankai in peace around here?" Ichigo whined nonchalantly much to everyone's surprise. They wanted to join in on the fight now but knew the couldn't

"What will you do now Ichigo Kurosaki? You don't seriously expect to fight me with a broken sword." Yhwach said, he too was confused about Ichigo's behavior. He used the almighty again to see why but there were too many possibilites with each and every one being a viable event to what Ichigo would do

"Perhaps. But..." Ichigo said and was suddenly behind Yhwach and inflicted a minor wound on his upper shoulder with his sword now completely fixed

Yhwach was surprised at this as he couldn't even see Ichigo's movements but it appeared his opponent got cocky and didn't go for the kill. 'What? Why didn't he just kill me? How did his sword get fixed? And that move... It wasn't a flash step.' he wondered before firing a few large arrows at Ichigo, all of which missed their target

Ichigo however, was busy flashing from one spot to another, dodging the arrows. This confused Yhwach even more as first, how was his sword back in one piece and second, how come now he can see his movements this time. These questions were running through his mind but he had no time to think as Ichigo was suddenly in front, attempting to bisect him

Yhwach managed to parry this strike and now he had the advantage. Ichigo only had one sword and Yhwach had two. Ichigo managed to push Yhwach back and fired a cero from his horns. His target managed to dodge this by moving to the side. Ichigo followed his movements and the cero left behind a trail of destruction far behind, killing other soul reapers who were watching the fight from a different area. Ichigo was forced to stop the cero when Yhwach flashed behind him and attacked. Ichigo dodged this by doing a somersault and immediately kicking Yhwach, forcing him back. This process of them trying to kill each other went on for a while until eventually

"Enough." Ichigo said and pushed Yhwach once more before immediately flashing behind him. He used the same technique as to when he released his bankai to conceal his movements fired a massive getsuga jujishou at his opponent. The blast was so large that it completely bifurcated Yhwach in two and created another fissure whose size dwarfed the last one he made

Everyone were in shock at the display of power but some, namely the ones from hueco mundo, were relieved that it was all over, or so they thought

Ichigo just stood there, observing the body of his fallen enemy. He knew something was up but he never bothered to do anything. The moment he turned around, darkness suddenly erupted from Yhwach's fallen corpse and it completely devoured Ichigo. This darkness was different from a regular darkness as even Ichigo's bankai cannot negate it

"Did you think... that an attack of that caliber... would be enough to kill me, Ichigo Kurosaki?!" Yhwach yelled as the darkness started to form back into his body. "I am the A, 'the almighty'. None of your attacks will be able to kill me."

"Ichigo!" Nel said and drew her sword before attempting to move towards the two. Starrk however, put a hand on her shoulder which made her stop

"Don't Nel. Something's off. It's almost as if Ichigo wanted this to happen." Starrk pointed out, much to everyone's worry

"Who said anything about killing you?" a voice asked, much to Yhwach's shock as Ichigo was walking towards him from behind. "You really should be more mindful of who you're trying to kill."

"What?" Yhwach asked and looked at what he had devoured. To his surprise and the soul reaper's horror, it was Yamamoto. "What? How? I destroyed his body."

"That is one my powers. For as long as a dead person's reishi remains in the air, I can reanimate their bodies as many times as I want, even if the body was completely destroyed." Ichigo answered before he thrusted his blade to the ground, releasing black tendrils to scatter to different directions. Soon, many of the dead were suddenly reanimated although their bodies were noticeably darker than they normally were. As Nodt, Mask de Masculine, Unohana and Sajin among others were all reanimated before suddenly, it appeared that the darkness from them was sucked out and they vanished into thin air. "You see." Ichigo said

"Impressive trick. But what will you do now? You're strongest attack failed to kill me. You have already lost." Yhwach said cockily

"Like I mentioned, who said anything about killing you?" Ichigo repeated, much to everyone's shock. The answer as to why became clear as a silver arrow suddenly pierced Yhwach from behind, causing the darkness around him to dissipate and revert back to his usual form

"That's..." Yhwach said in shock as he lost all of his powers and looked behind him and saw Uryu

"The still silver arrow. When that arrow makes contact with the one who conducted the auswahlen, it will stop his powers for just an instant." Uryu said before looking at Ichigo. "NOW ICHIGO!" however, it fell on deaf ears as Ichigo just stood there, waiting

What nobody noticed though is that an eye on each side of Ichigo's blade was now glowing red

Yhwach soon started to laugh as he thought he still won. "Hahaha so what if you stopped my powers for just an instant?!" he said arrogantly before he realized something. A few minutes has already passed and his powers still did not return to him. 'What?' he asked in horror as the extra pupils in his eyes were now gone too

"What's wrong, your majesty?" Ichigo said in a very mocking voice. "I already made my move and Uryu made his. It's time for you to make yours." he said with a noticeable grin

This made everyone wonder as to what Ichigo was doing. Even Uryu was now worried that Ichigo merely threw away the chance to finish Yhwach off. One thing that got them confused though was that there were now red patterns on Yhwach's body visible on his head and everyone knew this wasn't a blut arterie as it wasn't a grid pattern. It was almost some sort of markings of a curse. It was also at this moment that Ryuken arrived and joined with Isshin. However, they soon got their answer

"Well, if you won't make you're move..." Ichigo trailed off before flashing right in front of Yhwach. "You'll die." he said venomously before kicking up into the air. Yhwach wasn't even sent flying as Ichigo grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground before throwing him into a pile of rubble. This didn't last long as Ichigo flashed and stepped on his his head, smashing him to the ground, again. It didn't stop there as Ichigo brutally ripped off one of Yhwach's legs before thrashing him around again. Ichigo threw him around once more before grabbing him by the neck and throwing him a good distance away right into a destroyed building. He then charged another cero between his horns but this time, it had lightnings that were a darker shade of red than the cero itself. It was a gran rey cero. It didn't take long for Ichigo to discharge the cero and it created a massive explosion, reaching all the way into the sky and creating a nice contrast with the swirling darkness above them

Everyone watched in curiosity what happened when Yhwach just stopped moving. This curiosity turned into horror as Ichigo completely used Yhwach as a ragdoll and even Uryu was horrified. It didn't stop there as Ichigo charged up a gran rey cero and created a massive wind and explosion. Surprisingly, even Aizen was concerned at what Ichigo was doing and he started to put everything together and ultimately realized the reason as to why Ichigo acted like he did

"Get down!" Starrk yelled as he protected Lilynette from the massive wind. The others also did the same. Just when it seemed that they were all gonna be blown away, the wind died down along with the explosion, revealing a scorched and badly beaten and bleeding Yhwach still standing although he used his arms to support his lack of a leg

"What? He's still alive after all that?!" Candice asked in shock

"Has Ichigo...?" Nel asked in worry

"It appears so. Ichigo has finally succumed to all the hate he felt and has kept hidden for a few months now." Harribel pointed out, much to the horror of everyone, especially Isshin

"You're still alive huh? Good." Ichigo asked the almost half dead Yhwach. "Let me ask you something. Here you are, standing before someone trying to kill you. You try to fight back only to have your powers ripped away from you. Does that remind you of anything?"

Isshin, Kisuke, Ryuken widened their eyes at this as they knew exactly what that scenario was

"So that's what Ichigo's goal was all along." Ulquiorra said

"What do you mean by that?" Nel asked

"He wanted Yhwach to experience what his mother did when Grandfisher killed her so he waited all this time to recreate the circumstances around her death." Ulquiorra answered. The quincies wondered what he meant but they soon realized that the reason Ichigo's mother died was because she got her powers stolen the instant before a hollow attack while the soul reapers had absolutely no idea what this was about

Yhwach was still barely living. His powers were now gone. The only thing he had left were the basic quincy abilities to which Ichigo made sure he wouldn't be able to use any. When Ichigo asked him the question, he finally realized what this was all about. "I see. So all of this, was about revenge for your mother's death?" he asked very weakly but Ichigo still managed to hear

"Yes. That is the power of my bankai, Tenfutsu Zangetsu Eihan. Anyone or anything that my sword comes in contact will have a curse inflicted upon them and at any moment of my choosing, the curse will suspend that person's time until I choose to lift it." Ichigo answered and Yhwach immediately realized what that meant. The still silver arrow took his powers only for an instant but Ichigo's curse made that effect last indefinitely. "You really should have been more careful. You made your fatal mistake when you chose to stop collecting data right before you sent Bambietta to karakura town. If you had simply continued to gather information then you would have realized that someone had been hunting down these worthless soul reapers over the last few months. However, you did not and I know how your almighty works Yhwach. The only way to overcome it, is to use the endless amounts of possibilities against it. Why do you think I didn't use all my techniques? Because that would keep you guessing on which possibility was gonna happen next." he said almost scoldingly

Yhwach panted for air as he was desperately trying to cling to the life, the small amount of life left in him. "Are you... really... Ichigo Kurosaki? You're... different from... what he was." he barely managed to point out

"Yeah it's the same me. Just that, many months ago, someone once told me that I've been fighting my battles out of a sense of misplaced responsibility. Guess what, he was right all along. Hatred is a strong motivator." he answered which widened everyone's eyes, especially Aizen. The kid who defeated him actually took advice from him. "Now then..." Ichigo trailed off as he put out his right hand, causing his sword to come sailing towards him. "Farewell..." he said and now, all the eyes of the skull on his sword started glowing and it was now emitting a black, ominous aura. "Your majesty." he finished and threw his sword

Flashback

A few minutes ago in the royal palace, right when Ichigo grabbed the Eiszapfen Seelenbogen

'Hey, I've been wondering. If I use my bankai, will you two be alright? More importantly, would the thing that would happen to the other quincies happen to me as well?'

"Do not worry about that. We will be alright."

'What makes you so sure?'

"Because only it will be gone. However, the part of it that was yours was destroyed long ago. Yes you still have its powers but his essence inside you has basically been destroyed the moment you've been conceived."

"Exactly. Only the other quincies will be faced with that dilemma however, you can remove it from them if you kill Yhwach using your bankai."

'That's good to know.' Ichigo said before going to the defeated Ichibe

Present Time

Ichigo's sword hit Yhwach directly on the center of his chest. However, instead of being knocked back from the recoil, he instead came to a sharp stop midway. Ichigo then put his hand out again and the sword retracted from Yhwach's body and came sailing back to him. Just a few seconds after, Yhwach's body started to turn pitch black starting from where the sword was and it eventually devoured him. The instand Yhwach was covered in darkness, he immediately began to fade away into nothingness while all the quincies felt something odd the moment he completely vanished

"It's over, isn't it?" Uryu said, paying no heed to the odd feeling he got

"Not just yet." Ichigo answered and before Uryu could ask, more of the darkness suddenly began to swirl around Ichigo's blade until he thrusted it into the ground with both hands. Six lines then went to different directions coming from the blade. These lines however, were different from when Ichigo raised the dead as they were not random tendrils but were neat lines. Just minutes later, six pillars of pure dark energy erupted from the ground at the corners of the seireitei, forming a complete circle with equal distance between each one

This made everyone panic as one of the pillars was not too far away from them. Before they could react, a seventh pillar, much thinner than the rest appeared at the center of the first six. After a couple minutes of charging up, dark energy soon swirled around the final pillar before it created a massive explosion, destroying everything within the first six pillars

When the explosion died down, the seireitei was completely destroyed while everyone, even the soul reapers and fullbringers, were unharmed. They were all horrified at what Ichigo had just done as many of the soul reapers died at his hand

The battle of the century. Now, before you go complaining at how Ichigo was equal to Yhwach, here is my basis. In the canon, Yhwach considered Ichigo's bankai to be so powerful that even after absorbing the soul king, he had to destroy it asap. This was proven when Ichigo used a getsuga tensho to cut down Yhwach with a little help from Aizen. However, since Yhwach has not absorbed the soul king this time around, that means that he and Ichigo are more or less equals since in the canon, Ichigo never fully mastered his powers as shown when he needed Yhwach to nudge his hollowfication and I doubt the royal guard would even know how to teach quincy techniques while this time, he already mastered all of it. As for Ichigo's behavior, that will be explained in the next chapter

I also forgot to explain something in the last chapter since I uploaded that before I had to go somewhere. I decided to make those random abilities of the royal guard as the powers of their zanpakuto because why not

Yeah, I decided to add some little chitchat fillers because I felt that it would be completely boring. Now, if you're wondering if Ichigo is the most powerful person in existence. He's not

Translations:

German:

Seelenbindung - Soulbind

Eiszapfen Seelenbogen - Icicle Soul Bow

Japanese:

Tenfutsu Zangetsu Eihan - Heaven's Wrath Slaying Moon Shadow's Judgment

Yeah that's right. I suck at coming up with names