Ichitarō's eyes were opened when he found himself on a snowy island. He looked around but found nothing at first. Only Murasaki was behind him. The only thing he remembered was when he and Rukia were ambushed by Jupiter.
' Where is everybody?' he thought. Until, he remembered his sisters he'd left behind at the Soul society, hence was extremely forlorn. He felt a sensational panic that something bad might happen to them, but Excalibur cawed to calm him down. Rather, told him to focus on his mission first.
He stood up and almost staggered to his own feet as a result from Phantom took over his body. Seconds later, he spotted his stuff at the back of the dragon. Almost hesitant, Ichitarō saw the notebook again and took it.
The moment he flipped through pages, searching for clues about the last artefact in which he'd found, Ramune's voice halted him.
" Kid?" She asked.
Ichitarō slowly tilted his neck and in no time, Excalibur cawed once more, preventing him from facing her.
" Kid, talk to me. What is going on?" She asked him again. Though Ichitarō was forced to ignore her, he couldn't do it. He turned around and said:
" I have to go."
Astonished with disbelief, Ramune couldn't understand him when she saw Ichitarō and his startling behaviour. That's when she noticed a yellow paper flying in mid air, grabbing it by her right hand.
' Impossible! He wasn't supposed to escape. How the hell did he.... Oh right. The crow.' she thought then saw Excalibur again and realized he was responsible.
She sighed with frustration, releasing a cold steam from her breath, she went towards him and said, gently holding his hands:
" Look, kid. I'm not asking you again. You can tell me what's been bothering you and why are they after you. I get that you're from the world of the living, but I can't help you if they're some secrets hidden or Old man Koro had more skeletons in his closet than yours. I'm here and I'll help you get through this."
Ichitarō felt more sombre, yet didn't show it. He knew Ramune was willing to help, but not entirely. He'd lost his sisters at the Soul society where fallen angels have taken over. But, when he saw how skillful Shunsui was, he reckoned he's no match for him. This could be lethal if she got involved. Nevertheless, she cannot find out.
" You don't get it, do you?" He replied and Ramune's eyes suddenly changed to horror.
" I beg your pardon? What are you talking about? I was trying to help." Ramune remarked, but Ichitarō wriggled his hands from hers.
" You heard me right. So, what are you going to do about it, huh? My sisters are in danger and stuck at the Soul society for goodness knows what. Koro, my old friend, died because I didn't do anything to help him. Now I learned he's a soul reaper. Are you going to change that? No. No one will do that."
" Look, I've been hunted down by some shit face weirdos. And their queen? Don't get me started on her." Ichitarō explain, yet his voice seemed very brittle in sombre. Then took a deep breath when he looked at her disbelief expression.; " Lady, just go to some fancy palace somewhere and be a happy wife. I.... I'll be alright. I can't do this anymore. As soon as I'm done....cleaning up my mess, maybe they'll forget about me. Just don't follow me."
Ichitarō took out the artefacts before walking away. Ramune was constricted by Ichitarō's words, then finally realised it when silence occurred in her, making her jaw dropped in shock. She covered her mouth and her legs grew weak when she fell, waking Murasaki up.
Once the snow storm arrived at the Hakune island, Ramune turned and attempted to call Ichitarō. Unfortunately he was nowhere to be seen again.
" Wait, kid! Just don't go in there! Kid, are you there? Kid?!" She shouted, but her heeded words had fallen deaf to the young lad. All thanks to the howling wind. Yet, it didn't took long for Murasaki to help her find a better shelter to brace themselves from a bitter cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~
{ ZEN'S POV }
MEANWHILE AT THE CRYSTAL SOULS....
Zen walked inside Iruka's house once again, which was full of members of the Spiritual Authority Society.
Several phoenixs gathered themselves on every corner, each with their own weaponries and abilities. He passed through them and headed towards Iruka and Himawari alongside the other documents.
He went to the front and sat down on the coffee table. Zen was contemplating when it comes to his words and what he commanded, he would always deliver on his mission by telling his teammates what to do and which method they must avoid and/or used. Zen, simply, cleared his throat and everyone payed attention to him.
" Ladies and gentlemen. I've seen you're all here. I summoned you all here because we're here for one thing and one thing only. And that was to find the spirit demon and send him home. " Zen spoke, which confuses the other phoenix troops.
" But how, Zen? We all know the Soul society is indestructible and finding that spirit demon there might proven easier said than done." Cried one of the phoenixs and some agreed. Zen's smirk appeared between his muzzle.
" That can be arranged." He replied.
" That won't be necessary!" A figure insisted.
When the door was suddenly pushed open, everyone turned and saw Yumiko walked into the Mishima/ Nishimiya household where Zen's meeting was held. They were all surprised to see him standing before them, along with Starrk and the little Espada girl with lime hair in colour. The Phoenixs, especially Zen, kneel before him while some bowed their heads down. However, Yumiko told them to rise up, avoiding himself from embarrassment.
" Good evening, Your Highness. I thought you're in the castle right now." Zen said.
" I come here to stop you all from going to the Soul society. It's too dangerous that it'll be a suicidal mission. I can't loose any of my good men and women. Not now, not ever." He responded. Moreover, everyone gasped and startled by his request. Why did they stopped them.
" But how, Your Highness? Even without protection, these entities are one of the strongest in the spirit world. Their barriers will always shield and protect their fortress from enemies and intruders!" One of the phoenixs voiced out and everyone agreed.
" Yes, I can see that."; Yumiko agreed, hushing them down into silence. Although, he continued to bring more unpleasant news.; " They are, indeed, one of the strongest, between the werewolf and the Dragon riders. But, not anymore."
He brought a smaller light cyan coloured bottle from his pocket and everyone stood back before he chant a spell and threw the bottle on the floor.
[ VISUS MIRARI ]
[ KLING!!! ]
A milky light cyan smoke appeared and circled itself into a medium ball sized globe. Yumiko stepped forward and commanded:
" Show us how the Soul society is doing now."
The globe did as it was told and visualised everything that'd happened to the Seireitei. Everyone were horrified when they saw Kazumi and Katsuya had taken over the Soul society. What's even more disturbing, was that some soul reapers were captured and others were sent to the Senzaikyū. Head Captain Yamamoto was one of them. They even saw Kazumi sitting on the throne chair, laughing and cheering on her victory.
They were all furious over Kazumi and her actions. But at the same time, wondered what happened to the other captains.
" And the captains? What happened to them?" Iruka asked. The globe once again showed some of the captains escape to the world of the living along with the other few lieutenants. Whilst others are heading to the Heavenly Dragon gates. They were all relieved, but at the same time were dreadful over the Soul society.
" So, now what? What should we do?" Zen asked
" I'm glad you asked. Bring me the spirit demon to me. " Yumiko answered.
" But how? Where can we find them?"
" Easy. With these two."
Yumiko brought two sapphire blue bottles illuminated in shimmering lights and threw one of them to the steps.
[ KLING!! ]
Then it turned into a spiral portal that'll led to anywhere in the spirit world.
" All you have to do is tell it where to take you and bring him here in the castle. That is your mission for now." He said. Zen did asked the portal to locate where Ichitarō was and it did showed. He then gave it to him before he leapt into the portal and disappeared.
Once it vanished into thin air, all eyes were on Yumiko. Starrk even pulled him away from the crowd as if he's constantly changing his mind.
" Was this part of your plan, Yumikō?" He asked. Yet Yumikō smirked as if nothing happened.
" More or less. If the war Kazumi wants, then I'll give her one." He answered as he glanced at the documents, which impressed Starrk.
~~~~~~~~~
{ ICHITARŌ'S POV }
A robustly violent blizzard had taken a toll on Ichitarō. He struggled to climb on mountains of boulders as the cold weather worsened. Gripping the other artefacts tighter without dropping them and continued climbing, his only purpose on going back home were his thoughts as he landed safely on the icy tracks led to the tunnel.
When he wandered through the snowy mountain, Ichitarō nearly fell from taken much steps. Finally, he spotted a tunnel before his footsteps were covered by storms of snowflakes.
Once hesitant, Ichitarō didn't take much importance to it and again, the storm grew worse the moment Excalibur climbed on top of his head and flew again. He hastened his steps and strangely enough, the violent raging blizzard was now calm when he entered a giant tunnel like cave.
When Ichitarō noticed and stopped just in time, the entire cave were made of multicoloured crystals. Each crystals, some were large enough to be trees themselves, used other quartzites as roofs for the boulder. Even without a sunlight, it was too beautiful to be taken down by any other entities.
None of them knew for sure why, but one thing for sure, is that nobody had ever escaped this place alive.
' Let's get this over with. So, I could get the fuck out of here.' Ichitarō thought, flipping through the pages of the last artefact and when it appeared with ancient language, he read it carefully which confuses him more:
' A gem for an eternal day, keeps the curse at bay. '
' What the fuck does this even mean? Is this some kind of weird joke?' he wondered. But his question will remain unanswered when something vibrated the surface.
Seconds passed when Ichitarō turned and nothing happened. He could only see Excalibur on top of, what it appeared to be, a black crystal stood above the other colours.
' About time.' he thought. When he was about to grab it, something heavy came and hoisted him in mid air and tossed him towards the crystals. Ichitarō crashed through them, nearly coughing out blood.
That's when he saw a gigantic beast, with a Hallow like face of an old, eroded antelope and different types of horns. Together with its muscular body of a humanoid like elephants and claws as its feet, with scars in which it fought those who trespassed its cave, it saw Ichitarō as a threat.
Ichitarō, immediately escaped from its claw as soon as it reached him. However, every time he turned, he could feel an immense pain in his body. He'd no choice - he'd to fight it. By then, he removed one of the zanpakuto from a bag like cloth.
He leapt swiftly from the monster like entity, as lenient as he could be, he began slashing the monster. It roared in pain and finally had enough. It sprang on Ichitarō and briskly grabbed him, pinning him to the other indestructible crystals. Ichitarō coughed blood, due to the impact.
Suddenly, a purple eyed dragon appeared and head bumped the monster. When Ichitarō fell, Ramune arrived and picked him up. Within the next second, followed by an explosive purple fire while it passed right through both of their hairs with no damage.
Ramune found another space for their safety after two monsters brawl at each other in a secluded cave. After few feet away from the fight, Ramune peeped on the other side of the crystals to see if they're actually coming. However, Ichitarō began to walk away from her, but she grabbed his arm, stopping him.
" Lady, I told you to don't follow me. Why are you still doing this?" Ichitarō demanded.
" The snow storm was too much, so Murasaki brought me here for tonight. I was going ask you the same question." Ramune answered, in which confuses the young lad.
Ichitarō looked at her with no emotions displayed on his face, yet fear clouded his mind. He immediately winced by the pain caused by the monster and wriggled himself free. He wanted to leave, but was perplexed at her questions.
" I know everything. Why didn't you tell me about your pain you've gone through? Even though you stated you don't need help, why did you keep everything to yourself?" She asked. Ichitarō clenched his fist at first, but immediately let go due to the amount of pain he had.
" I can't let anyone find out about this, even you too. I already told you before and I'll never say it again. I will find a way to get the fuck out of here and ____."
Ichitarō struggled to explain. Nevertheless, he was halted when she went towards him placed her hands on his cheeks, without beating him.
" Then listen to me and listen to me good. I'm not the bad guy here, nor is the Soul society. Your sisters are safe with the other captains and they'll come back with them. You're wrong if I don't know all those things. I've suffered myself too, you know. Since then, I learned myself to heal all those pains and ask for help if needed. I couldn't care less any longer if I risk my life for others, as long as they're safe. I will not abandon you and that's a promise."
" I don't clearly know whatever you're going through, but I can help you if you let me. " She explained, which, unexpectedly touched his heart. By then, she asked :
" Now, we're even?"
" Umm... yeah. I guess we are even. But, what's in it for me? What is you plan to get us out of here and take the last item?" Ichitarō asked. Ramune haven't replied yet as she was thinking. That's when a similar looking little monster appeared behind the crystals except it hadn't developed its horns yet.
Both looked at each other, which brought up to Ramune's idea.
" Kid, since you're weapons here. I think I have an idea to find you that Black Knight crystal." Ramune said with a smile.