Chapter 227: What It Means to Be a True Successor
"…"
Why is there no reaction at all?
Ichigo frowned, unsettled by the way Bambietta stood motionless in front of him. Her eyes were vacant, hollow, like a doll whose strings had been cut.
Because he was only a clone and lacked any real reserves of power, Ichigo had used a Chakra Spell on her the moment he sensed that strange malice. It was a technique Aizen had modified, meant for deterrence, persuasion, and basic understanding while consuming almost no Chakra.
According to Aizen, Chakra was fundamentally a contest of quality. That meant even a clone could use certain Divine Techniques, as long as the technique itself relied more on structure than output.
The one Ichigo had just used was Aizen's lesson, named Emotional Reversal.
It borrowed from the Tsukuyomi space of the Naruto world and the concept behind Shinji Hirako's Bankai. Put together, it became something both eerie and practical. Its effectiveness depended entirely on the target's personality.
If the target bore no malice, if they were indifferent, or even vaguely kind, the technique did nothing.
But the greater their malice, the greater the suffering inside the illusory space.
Once the pain reached a certain point, the target would break free of the Illusion Technique. So it was not meant to imprison, it was meant to measure. A tool, nothing more, a way to probe how deep someone's hatred ran, and how stubborn their will was.
Aizen had even mentioned, lazily, that the willpower needed to break out was not very high. It only had to surpass the willpower of Sakumo Hatake, the man who guarded the Road to the Underworld. Aizen did not know Sakumo's exact limit, but judging by his tone, it was not impressive.
So the moment Bambietta turned his arm into charcoal, Ichigo had cast the illusion. Then, after a quick glance around to confirm no one was watching, he regenerated the arm.
A Wood Clone losing an arm was not a big deal.
What bothered him was the cruelty.
The girl looked sweet. Cute. Bright.
Yet she had reduced his limb to ash without hesitation, and her excitement afterward had been far worse than the act itself.
The Wandenreich clearly meant trouble. Those who came here with good intentions did not survive long. If they were willing to strike down their own comrades so casually, what cohesion could this army possibly have?
In hindsight, that matched the truth.
The Wandenreich had always been full of traitors and rebels. Even after Auswählen, most of the remaining Quincy had rebelled against Yhwach, and it had meant almost nothing. Their power was granted by him, their souls tied to him. Their rebellion could only highlight Yhwach's cruelty, and his indifference toward human emotion.
The one who truly caused damage was Haschwalth, the man who had been split down the middle from the start.
Ichigo pitied them.
Not the ones who treated human lives like trash.
But the ones who never had a choice.
He could kill when necessary. He had never pretended otherwise. Still, slaughtering innocents without reason was a different world entirely.
"…Did she break?"
Ichigo and Bambietta were tucked into a corner like conspirators, watching her vacant eyes. It looked ridiculous, two people hiding while the one meant to guide him stood there like a statue.
Yet Ichigo felt none of the crude thoughts she had tried to provoke earlier.
Only unease.
This behavior did not match Aizen's data on her. It was like she had become a different person.
Minutes after Ichigo had already deactivated the technique, Bambietta's body began to tremble.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
Then tears poured down her cheeks, heavy and endless, cutting through the blankness of her expression like a dam collapsing. Ichigo froze.
"Save me…" she whispered. "I beg you, let me go… Ichigo… I'll do anything… please let me go…"
"…Eh?"
"It's been thousands of times already…" Her voice shook as if each word scraped her throat raw. "What are you going to do to me next?"
Her breathing hitched.
"Is it going to be the Human Swine? The Snake Pit? The Bronze Pillar? Or something else… mental or physical, do whatever you want, just kill me…"
"Aizen!!!"
Ichigo's scalp went cold.
This is what you meant by not a big problem?
This is a huge problem.
Bambietta's hands started fumbling at her clothes as she cried, her eyes still unfocused, as if she was trapped in a nightmare that had finally spilled into daylight.
Ichigo reacted on instinct. He grabbed her wrists, pinned her hands, and frantically administered dozens of doses of Impression Weakening, exactly as written in the Supplementary Agreement.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Only after he had layered it until his own breathing turned ragged did Bambietta finally shudder, her tears stopping midstream.
The vicious malice that had been carved into her earlier resurfaced like a mask snapping back into place.
She straightened.
Her expression returned to arrogant, irritated, sharp.
But when she looked at Ichigo, her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something. Nothing came out. Confusion flickered across her face, faint but real.
Then she lowered her head, stepped behind him, and tugged gently at his white robe like a child clinging to a parent.
"…?"
Ichigo stared.
Bambietta stayed silent. She did not lift her head. Instead, she slowly pointed toward a direction deeper within the Wandenreich, then stood still again.
She was nothing like the person he had met earlier.
It felt like he was looking at two completely different people wearing the same face.
And then, like a needle pricking memory, Ichigo recalled something Aizen had said casually when teaching him the technique, words Ichigo had dismissed at the time.
The original name of this Divine Technique was Personality. But it was too similar to another Divine Technique, and the data was difficult to correct, so I changed it.
It is not powerful. It just makes your life a little easier. Strictly speaking, the things I weave myself are much better than this.
If you want to learn it, you can, but I recommend using it only on those with extremist or vicious personalities. Otherwise, problems will arise.
"…"
Ichigo exhaled slowly.
Forget it.
It should not be a major issue.
He could erase this memory afterward.
Still, the idea made his stomach turn. A Divine Technique that could reconstruct personality, even temporarily, was too terrifying.
Bambietta followed him when he moved, like a chick trailing a mother hen. When he stopped, she stopped. When he stepped forward again, she clung close, silent and obedient.
Watching her like this, Ichigo suddenly understood, with cold clarity, how immense the power in his hands truly was.
Even the Sternritter could not resist it.
He could not find a reason why he and Aizen would lose.
He took two steps.
Then his skin prickled.
A violent fluctuation rolled down from above, heavy enough to make the air feel thick.
Ichigo instinctively looked up.
High in the sky, a giant black sphere was falling, silent and absolute, like a star dropping out of the void.
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]