Fate in Bleach: Unlimited Blade Works!

Chapter 478 478: Power Restored

"Ugh..."

Ichigo Kurosaki, roaring at the sky, heard a boom from above. Then, as Jackie, Yukio, and Giriko Kutsuzawa activated their Fullbring transformations, he felt a sharp stab.

Staring at the Zanpakutō blade protruding from his chest, Ichigo's pupils contracted sharply. Slowly, he turned his head.

Dimly, vaguely, Ichigo saw a blurred figure.

Then, the figure gradually solidified in his vision.

It was Shino Madarame!

"Why?" Ichigo asked hoarsely.

He didn't understand.

Kugo Ginjo and the others wanted to steal his Fullbring power because they coveted his strength.

But the Shinigami?

Although his main goal had been to protect his friends, he had indeed disrupted Sōsuke Aizen's plans and made significant contributions in the battles between the Seireitei and Hueco Mundo.

Why wouldn't the Seireitei leave him alone?

Monitoring him was one thing, but now that he had lost all his power, they were sending Shino Madarame to kill him?

"Yo, Ichigo, long time no see. You don't seem to be doing too well!"

Just as Ichigo sank into despair, he saw Shino Madarame look up at him, smiling as she spoke.

Then, Ichigo felt a familiar power surge from within his soul.

It was Hollow Zangetsu and Old Man Zangetsu...

As if remembering something, Ichigo pressed the Substitute Shinigami Badge he held against his chest—

Boom!

Ichigo's physical body slumped softly to the ground. Standing in its place was a figure clad in the black Shihakushō of a Shinigami, a massive Zanpakutō strapped to his back, and a smaller one holstered at his right hip.

"Welcome back, Ichigo!"

Seeing Ichigo like this, Shino Madarame wiped away the tears welling in her eyes and smiled, extending a hand towards him.

"Yeah, I'm back, Shino!"

After briefly embracing Shino Madarame, Ichigo Kurosaki looked up at the sky.

With his spiritual pressure restored, Ichigo could now clearly see what was happening above.

Within the swirling storm of cherry blossom petals, the spiritual pressures of Yukio Hans Vorarlberna, Jackie Tristan, and Giriko Kutsuzawa plummeted instantly. Covered in blood, they fell from the sakura storm.

Thud thud thud...

Having easily defeated Yukio and the others, Byakuya Kuchiki glanced at the fully restored Ichigo Kurosaki. The vast sea of cherry blossoms instantly returned to his side, reforming into his Zanpakutō, which he sheathed at his waist.

In Byakuya Kuchiki's view, these Fullbringers from Xcution were Ichigo Kurosaki's enemies.

If those three hadn't rushed forward before Ichigo regained his spiritual pressure, he wouldn't have bothered intervening at all.

"How is this possible?"

Riruka Dokugamine had joined Xcution only after they had escaped Ailin's pursuit.

Before that, their enemies had mostly been small Hollows, medium Hollows, or at most, a single Gillian-class Menos Grande.

After absorbing Ichigo Kurosaki's power, Riruka Dokugamine felt that even if she encountered a Gillian now, she could easily kill it with her own abilities.

And the Fullbrings of Yukio, Jackie, and Giriko were far more suited for combat than her own.

Meaning, in a direct confrontation, the three of them were stronger than her.

But even after their power increase, the three of them were effortlessly defeated by that Shinigami wearing the white haori.

Was the gap in their strength really that enormous?

Indeed, having absorbed Ichigo Kurosaki's Fullbring, the members of Xcution had surpassed the strength of the Gotei Thirteen's vice-captains, almost reaching captain level.

However, Byakuya Kuchiki was no ordinary captain.

Through years of diligent training, his spiritual pressure had broken into a higher realm, placing him among the ranks of century-captains.

Defeating three Fullbringers who had just barely touched the captain level, using only his Shikai, posed no difficulty for him whatsoever.

"Ginjo!"

Ichigo Kurosaki leaped into the air, arriving before Kugo Ginjo.

Now that he had recovered his Shinigami powers, the despair and anger that had previously filled Ichigo's eyes were gone.

Only calmness remained, along with a hint of contempt for Kugo Ginjo.

"Now, let's start round two!"

With that, Ichigo Kurosaki reached back, drew the Zanpakutō from behind him, and swung it down towards Kugo Ginjo.

Boom!

A massive shockwave erupted from Ichigo Kurosaki's blade, striking towards Kugo Ginjo like lightning.

Faced with Ichigo Kurosaki's attack, Kugo Ginjo had no time to dodge.

The speed was simply too fast!

Left with no choice, Kugo Ginjo gripped the hilt of his own Zanpakutō with one hand, while his other hand grasped the circular part of the blade's guard. His spiritual pressure flared as he prepared to withstand Ichigo Kurosaki's attack head-on.

Boom!

A tremendous roar echoed as Kugo Ginjo was blasted backward by Ichigo's attack like a meteor.

The immense force caused Kugo Ginjo's body to break the sound barrier twice. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, he slowly managed to stabilize himself.

The spiritual pressure beneath his feet frictioned against the air, creating white clouds of dust. Looking utterly dishevelled, Kugo Ginjo burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha, Ichigo, is that your Getsuga Tenshō?"

"It really is strong! But if you think you can defeat me with just that kind of attack, you're too naive!"

Swoosh!

As Kugo Ginjo mocked Ichigo Kurosaki, Ichigo's figure flashed, appearing instantly a dozen meters in front of Ginjo.

"What are you talking about, Ginjo? That just now wasn't Getsuga Tenshō. It was just the sword pressure from a casual swing."

"This, now, is Getsuga Tenshō!"

White spiritual pressure gathered on Ichigo Kurosaki's Zanpakutō. Then, Ichigo swung his blade down towards Kugo Ginjo.

"Getsuga—Tenshō!"

Boom!

A colossal crescent moon slash was unleashed by Ichigo Kurosaki.

Before this crescent moon strike, the very heavens and earth seemed to tremble, as if unable to bear the force of the attack.

The space before the crescent moon felt incredibly heavy; wind, clouds, mist—all seemed to solidify, directly cleaved in two by the slash.

It felt as if this single strike from Ichigo Kurosaki could split the heavens and earth themselves.

Faced with such an attack, Kugo Ginjo's expression changed dramatically.

He hadn't expected Ichigo Kurosaki, after regaining his Shinigami powers, to be this strong.

Without daring to hesitate, Kugo Ginjo placed his Substitute Shinigami Badge into the groove on his Zanpakutō, merging the two.

"Bankai—"

"Cross of Scaffold!"

Boom!

Green spiritual pressure erupted. This time, Kugo Ginjo not only used his Bankai and Fullbring transformation, but he also incorporated his Hollow powers, using Hollowfication simultaneously.

Under these conditions, merging the powers of Shinigami, Fullbring, and Hollow, Kugo Ginjo's own spiritual pressure reached the peak limit of a Shinigami, placing him on the same level as the current Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Getsuga—Tenshō!"

Green spiritual pressure swirled around his Zanpakutō as Kugo Ginjo swung his blade.

Boom!

The green crescent moon collided with the white crescent moon, erupting in a violent roar.

White and green spiritual pressures intertwined, forming a massive star cross in the sky before exploding into a mushroom cloud hundreds of meters high.

Powerful shockwaves radiated from the very center of the mushroom cloud, shattering the glass in a wide area of buildings on the ground below, cracking walls.

A few seconds later, the explosive power dissipated. Ichigo Kurosaki and Kugo Ginjo stood facing each other amidst the whistling night wind.

In that previous exchange of Getsuga Tenshō, their power levels had been nearly identical.

However, Ichigo Kurosaki himself was still in his base state, while Kugo Ginjo had already unleashed his full power.

Bankai, Fullbring transformation, Hollowfication—triple enhancements were only enough to barely match Ichigo's base state.

This clearly showed a considerable gap still existed between Kugo Ginjo's and Ichigo Kurosaki's strength.

...

"Ginjo..."

Seeing Kugo Ginjo begin to fight Ichigo Kurosaki, the expressions on the faces of the two remaining members of Xcution, Riruka Dokugamine and Shukuro Tsukishima, differed.

Riruka Dokugamine, seeing Ichigo Kurosaki's spiritual pressure restored, and his strength now so much greater than in his Fullbring form, felt her guilt towards Ichigo lessen slightly.

As for Shukuro Tsukishima, the moment he saw Ailin and the others, he knew they were in grave danger this time.

Their only potential escape route lay with the other three captains.

Decades ago, his Book of the End had struck Captain Ailin once, but that time, he hadn't found any opportunity to become Ailin's friend.

Rather, in the hundreds of years Shukuro Tsukishima spent alongside Ailin (due to the time insertion), he had never seen Ailin rest. Ailin was either training or on the path to training.

His Book of the End had practically no effect on Captain Ailin.

And based on his own strength, even having absorbed Ichigo Kurosaki's Fullbring power and gained a significant boost, Shukuro Tsukishima didn't believe he was a match for Captain Ailin.

Their only chance of escape now was to cut the three captains behind Captain Ailin, become their "cousin," and have them join him in dealing with Captain Ailin.

Thinking this, Shukuro Tsukishima drew the bookmark from his book, instantly transforming it into a long sword held in his hand.

"Oh? It seems you've grown quite a bit these past few decades, Tsukishima."

Seeing Shukuro Tsukishima activate his Fullbring, Ailin spoke, "You actually have the nerve to draw your blade against me now."

"For that courage alone, I'll finish you in an instant. You won't feel any pain."

With that, Ailin waved his hand. Instantly, seven or eight golden spatial ripples appeared in the sky. One Zanpakutō after another emerged from the ripples, golden lightning crackling along their blades.

And upon these Zanpakutō blades, blackish-red patterns, like flames, coiled around them, intertwining brilliantly with the golden lightning.

Shukuro Tsukishima's expression changed.

Just judging by Captain Ailin's opening move, its power was far greater than decades ago.

Although, in these past decades, he and Ginjo had absorbed the Fullbring powers of numerous Fullbringers, increasing their strength several times over compared to before...

It seemed now that they weren't the only ones who had grown significantly stronger in these decades.

Captain Ailin's progress was far more exaggerated than theirs.

Merely being targeted by these few Zanpakutō made Shukuro Tsukishima feel as if he had already been pierced through by them.

The Zanpakutō within Ailin's Unlimited Blade Works, having been enhanced once by the magical energy of "All the World's Evils" from the Holy Grail, now possessed greater power than before.

With so many Zanpakutō having evolved, the overall strength of Ailin's Unlimited Blade Works had naturally increased accordingly.

In Shikai, the speed and power with which Unlimited Blade Works launched Zanpakutō had also risen a level compared to before.

Under these circumstances, although Ailin had only opened eight spatial ripples, it instilled a tremendous sense of crisis in Shukuro Tsukishima's heart.

He would die!

Just as Ailin prepared to strike Shukuro Tsukishima, Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado rushed out from an alleyway. Seeing Captain Ailin about to attack Shukuro Tsukishima, powerful spiritual pressure instantly erupted from Yasutora Sado.

"Brazo Izquierda del Diablo—" (Devil's Left Arm)

Yasutora Sado's left arm was instantly covered in spiritual pressure patterned with white and black lines.

"La Muerte!" (The Death Blow/The Attack of the Giant)

Boom!

A shockwave, its power rivaling the Cero of a Gillian-class Menos Grande, blasted from Yasutora Sado's left hand, heading straight for Ailin.

"Zzzzzzz..."

With a thought from Ailin, a golden spatial rift spun open, facing Yasutora.

Boom!

Amidst an explosion of lightning and fire, one Zanpakutō transformed into a rainbow streak of light, instantly colliding with the shockwave blasted out by Yasutora Sado.

Boom!

The rainbow light instantly cleaved the shockwave in two, causing Yasutora Sado's attack to fly past Ailin on either side.

After slicing through the shockwave, the rainbow light continued unabated, plummeting directly towards Yasutora Sado and Orihime Inoue.

Boom!

A violent explosion erupted on the ground in front of Yasutora Sado and Orihime Inoue. The powerful shockwave spread out, threatening to engulf them both.

Although Ailin knew Yasutora Sado was attacking him due to Shukuro Tsukishima's ability, it didn't mean Ailin would simply let him attack.

Out of consideration for Ichigo Kurosaki, Ailin naturally wouldn't actually kill Yasutora Sado.

However, some necessary lessons still had to be taught.

Seeing the shockwave rushing towards herself and Sado, Orihime Inoue knew that with their current abilities, escaping it was impossible.

Instantly, Orihime Inoue pressed her hand to her hairpins, activating her own Fullbring.

"Santen Kesshun, I reject!"