Goddess of Ice: Corrupting Bleach - Chapter 103: End of Fullbring
***Author Note***
I’m so sorry for the long period of silence. There was a lot of drama within the family and at my job over the last few weeks. Luckily, all that shit is resolved by now, and I can hopefully return to a more stable release schedule.
***End of Author Note***
After Yuna decided to leave Ginjo to Ichigo since she found Tsukishima’s ability more interesting, she was now facing him, with her hands casually resting in her pockets.
“I’m actually curious. What exactly does your ability do? Pretty sure it is more profound than simple memory manipulation.”
Hearing Yuna’s words, Tsukishima smirked a little before cutting the floor in front of him.
“Do you think my action just now had any purpose?”
Truth be told, he would rather not fight Yuna, but now that he had no other choice, he decided to just tough it through. After all, one cut was all it took for him to claim victory.
“Mhh? You cut the ground, but your sword simply passed through it, leaving no cuts behind. Since the same happens when you cut a person, your ability must work on objects as well. Interesting.”
As soon as Yuna stopped speaking, some hidden mechanisms in the ground were activated, resulting in the ground underneath Yuna opening up and revealing a spike-filled pit.
Although Yuna didn’t expect that to happen, before she could even fall a full meter, ice tendrils shouted out of the soles of her shoes, shooting into the walls of the pit and anchoring her above it.
“Oh? That wasn’t there before.”
“Do you think so? From my perspective, that trap has been there since the day I installed it a few weeks ago.”
Hearing Tsukishima’s words, Yuna briefly pondered his words before a hint of amazement passed through her eyes.
“Manipulation of reality!? Damn, that’s a rare one. From the way you said that… you made it so that you have been here before and set that trap beforehand… In other words… You literally inserted your presence into the past of this building.”
Tsukishima couldn’t help but be surprised at how easily Yuna figured out his ability, but before he could say anything else, Yuna continued talking.
“I see; now everything makes sense. That was why Orihime and Sado were so certain that you went with us to Seireitei. In their mind, you literally did! No, not just in their mind. From your perspective, it actually happened; that is why you knew so much information about them. If the only thing that changed were the memories of the target, you wouldn’t have known that you had set a trap here, after all. Good. Very good. I really like this one, hahaha!”
Tsukishima was taken aback by Yuna suddenly starting to laugh, but what happened next confused him even further as Yuna removed her hands from her pockets and spread her arms wide, welcoming Tsukishima.
“Come, cut me!”
“Have you gone insane?”
Naturally, Tsukishima could only be surprised by Yuna’s offer to allow him to cut her. After all, the moment he did, it would be his win.
“Hehe, what are you hesitating for? Come at me and hit me with that ability of yours. Come, let’s see if you can endure my twisted mind.”
Hearing Yuna’s provocation, Tsukishima frowned deeply. After all, Yuna wasn’t even twenty years old yet, and yet, she claimed that he couldn’t stand her memories. What a joke!
Without any further hesitation, Tsukishima appeared in front of the widely smiling Yuna and slashed his [Book of the End] at her. However, the moment his sword touched her skin, he froze up. He stood completely still for a short moment before…
“ARGHHH!!!”
Blood flowed out of his nose while Tsukishima fell to his knees, while holding his head with both of his hands, apparently in great pain.
“NO, MAKE IT STOP!!! NO, NO, NO STOP!!! THAT ISN’T SUPPOSED TO GO INTO THAT HOLE!!! IT’T TOO MUCH!!! TOO MUCH!!! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO WITH THAT MASSIVE THING!? NOOOO!!!”
While Tsukishima was rolling around on the ground in… pain… Yuna checked her memories and chuckled in amusement when he tried to remember when she had supposedly met Tsukishima before.
She had some trouble “remembering,” but she could vaguely tell that he had occasionally had brief interactions with Yuna during the first thousand years of her first life.
‘I see. If I had to make a guess, then I would say that the amount of timespan with him he can insert into someone is limited. Let’s say he can insert three years’ worth of memories. That would mean that he had to spread these three years worth of memories throughout a person’s life, and during those interactions, he would need to gain the person’s trust.’
Indeed, after all, in canon, Karin and Yuzu seemed to show more trust toward Tsukishima than even toward their big brother Ichigo. Orihime and Sado also had a lot of confidence in Tsukishima but ultimately were thinking that something was wrong. Meanwhile, Byakuya was affected by Tsukishima’s ability, and despite that, he put his trust in Ichigo, someone whom he had considered to be an enemy not too long ago.
Suddenly, Yuna felt the past memories she had of Tsukishima fading away, and after giving him a brief glance, she swiftly concluded that his ability apparently ended after Tsukishima lost consciousness.
“Well, although that was rather interesting, in the end, it wasn’t much of a fight.”
[Won’t he know about your past now?]
‘Meh, who knows? Frankly, even if he retained those memories, I’ve reached a level where I no longer care about others finding out that I had a past life.’
[Mhh, true.]
No longer interested in Tsukishima, Yuna’s gaze landed on the remaining Fullbring, who all took a step back when Yuna’s gaze landed on them, causing her to shake her head.
‘Not interested.’
“[Getsuga Tenshou]”
As Yuna mentally dismissed the remaining Fullbring, who currently didn’t have their powers anyway, the fight between Ichigo and Ginjo heated up, resulting in overbearing clashes of Spiritual Power.
From what Yuna could see, Ichigo had already activated his Bankai, and from the way Ginjo seemed different as well, she concluded that he had used Bankai as well.
Mostly unbothered by the battle in the sky, Yuna approached Rukia, Isshin, and Shunsui, who came here together with Rukia.
“Shunsui, why did you come as well? Pretty sure you don’t have much of a relationship with Ichigo.”
Hearing Yuna’s question, Shunsui briefly glanced at her before directing his gaze back toward the sky while simultaneously taking a sip from a small cup he was holding.
“Mah, I’m just here to see Ichigo’s reaction.”
As he was speaking, Shunsui reached into his sleeve and took out another small cup. He handed it over to Yuna and moments later filled it with the liquid he was carrying in a bottle gourd fastened to his cloth.
“I see; you want to see how he reacts to the true purpose of the Substitute Shinigami Badge.”
The moment Yuna stopped speaking, she gave the liquid inside her cup a small sniff before nodding in approval and taking a sip.
“Oi! You are underaged!”
“Indeed. Ukitake is still worried that Ichigo will become an enemy of Soul Society, but I honestly can’t see that. At worst, he will only cut ties with us.”
Although Isshin briefly interjected his own comment when he saw Yuna drinking something that was undoubtedly of an alcoholic nature, neither Yuna nor Shunsui paid him any attention.
“In that case, what if he DOES turn hostile? Are you here to eliminate him?”
“Don’t ignore me!”
Ignoring Isshin, Yuna took another sip as she asked a rather dangerous question, instantly causing the atmosphere to grow heavy. However, hearing Yuna’s questions, Shunsui only chuckled in amusement before shaking his head in denial.
“No, I’m purely here to negotiate. If we tried to take out Ichigo, there is a rather high chance that you and your people would get involved, and Soul Society REALLY doesn’t need another war.
Worst of all, not only would the Visored undoubtedly take your side, but even the remaining Arrancar would help you out.
Frankly, if Ichigo were in a position where he could sway you to attack us, we might attempt a do-or-die approach, but he isn’t in that kind of position.”
Chuckling in amusement at the messed up situation of Soul Society having to step carefully due to a bunch of humans, Shunsui took another sip and continued talking.
“Well, at the end of the day, your brother, Naruto, already knew about the badge and didn’t do anything about it, so overall, the situation looks rather manageable.”
Finishing his long speech, Shunsui tried to take another sip, but unfortunately, his cup was already empty. Frowning, he tried refilling his cup, but his bottle gourd was empty as well.
“Here, have come of mine.”
Without missing a beat, Yuna procured a bottle by herself and swiftly refilled Shunsui’s cup.
“ARE YOU CARRYING AROUND ALCOHOL!?”
“Geez, chill, Isshin. This one only has 50% alcohol content, so it might as well be juice.”
“FIFTY PERCENT!?”
“Yeah, and I didn’t even use Kido to make it stronger without increasing the alcohol content.”
“KIDO!?”
“Oh~ Kido, to make alcohol stronger? You definitely have to teach me those.”
“Sure~”
While Yuna and Shunsui were chatting, completely ignoring the background noise (Isshin), Rukia could only watch what was happening in front of her, with confusion clearly visible in her eyes.
‘Why are Yuna and Captain Kyoraku so close? What the hell happened between those two?’
Rukia could still vaguely remember that those two appeared together during the first confrontation with Aizen, but at that point, she was so exhausted she barely could take in her surroundings, missing what exactly had transpired between Yuna and Shunsui.
So, while Yuna and Shunsui were drinking, Isshin was looking unhappy, and Rukia was pondering; the fight between Ichigo and Ginjo ended with a final attack from Ichigo, defeating Ginjo.
Moments later, Ginjo’s body crashed on the ground, quickly followed by Ichigo landing next to him, looking at him with a combination of sadness.
Seeing Ichigo’s facial expression, Yuna could only sigh while shaking her head.
‘That boy sure has the habit of sympathizing with his enemies, huh?’
Shunsui, on the other hand, didn’t bother waiting for Ichigo to approach him and decided to take the first step instead. He briefly glanced at Ginjo’s body, and after seeing that there was no longer any life in him, he stepped next to Ichigo in silence.
The silence persisted for a while longer before Ichigo opened his mouth and started speaking.
“Ginjo told me about the monitoring function of my badge.”
Shunsui didn’t comment on that and only nodded his head, making it clear that it was all true. Seeing Shunsui nodding his head, a frown appeared on Ichigo’s face.
“You know, when Ukitake gave me that badge, I instantly felt suspicious of it. Now that I think deeper about it, isn’t that weird?”
Shunsui was surprised that Ichigo actually felt that something was of the moment he got it, but he didn’t intervene in Ichigo’s speech.
“I’m aware that Ukitake is much smarter than me, so my suspicion about it always struck me as unusual. I feel like if he wanted to, Ukitake could have sold me this badge in a way that didn’t make me suspicious of it.”
Hearing Ichigo’s explanation, Shunsui’s eyes widened in surprise before a small smirk appeared on his face.
‘As expected of Ukitake, huh? Seems like he had his own schemes in regards to Ichigo’s badge. Guess I should have expected that.’
Shaking those thoughts away, Shunsui’s eyes met Ichigo’s, both wearing serious expressions.
“That being the case, what is your final decision, Ichigo?”
Ichigo briefly stayed quiet as he played with his Substitute Shinigami Badge before chuckling a little and putting it back in his pocket.
“At the end of the day, I still trust you guys. Although I’m not happy that you spied on me, at the end of the day, you helped me get back my Shinigami powers, which is something I greatly appreciate.”
Shunsui couldn’t help but smile the moment Ichigo made his decision; after all, it was the best outcome, in his opinion.
“Very well. In that case: Welcome back in service, Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo.”
Ichigo could only shake his head at that official title that didn’t hold any meaning, but before he could comment on that, Shunsui had already taken out another cup, filled it with alcohol, and presented it to Ichigo.
“Alright, let’s drink on th…”
“YOU ARE NOT GIVING MY SON ANY ALCOHOL!!!”
However, before the cup could reach Ichigo, Isshin intervened, simply blocking Ichigo from drinking alcohol. With Yuna, he could only complain while not having the authority to stop her. Obviously, with Ichigo, things are different.
Seeing Isshin being stubborn about this matter, Shinsui could only sigh while shrugging his shoulders.
‘Geez, so stiff. Oh well, more for me~’
***Author Note***
F*CK THIS ARC!
Initially, I wanted to off-screen the whole thing, but in the end, I made the (bad) decision to actually write the whole thing. Although there were a few scenes I enjoyed writing, most of them I didn’t.
Just happy to finally be done with this arc.
Additionally, I wish you a Merry Christmas.
***Author Note***