Goddess of Ice: Corrupting Bleach - Chapter 64: Vs Grimmjow and Back to Hueco Mundo

*Author Note*

Well, I planned to post this yesterday, but better late than never, I guess 😛

*End of Author Note*

“I’m just getting started, Arrancar! Ban-KAI!!!”

Feeling Ichigo’s Spiritual Power grow as he used his Bankai, Naruto couldn’t help but frown due to how it felt to him.

‘The moment he used his Bankai, his Spiritual Power became seriously unstable. Considering how unreliable that makes his attack strength, he might as well have stayed in Shikai.’

[Well, he IS stronger now. Well, he is as long his Spiritual Pressure isn’t fluctuating too crazy.]

‘Yeah, but it occasionally DOES fluctuate that crazy, so what the point? I would rather not roll a die every time before I make a move to figure out whether it will work or not.]

[Isn’t that straight up what Yuna’s Zanpakuto does?]

‘She’s a pervert, so it’s fine.’

[Right, I’ll just pretend that makes sense.]

Unaware of the conversation between Naruto and Kurama, Ichigo attacked Grimmjow. However, feeling Ichigo’s current strength, Grimmjow could help and sneer in disdain as he leisurely raised his arm to block Ichigo’s attack with his bare hands.

As Ichigo’s eyes widened due to how easily Gimmjow stopped his sword, Grimmjow closed his hand around Ichigo’s blade, totally ignoring the sharp edge that apparently couldn’t even cut into his skin, and tossed Ichigo away with ease.

“That’s it, Shinigami? I don’t get it. Why is Aizen so interested in you? What’s the point? You are just weak trash not worthy of our time.”

Hearing Grimmjow’s insults, Ichigo gritted his teeth as he vanished from his position and appeared in front of Grimmjow and slashed his Zanpakuta at him.

However, Grimmjow yet again blocked the strike with one hand and tried to back-hand Ichigo. This time, Ichigo managed to move far faster than before and appeared behind Grimmjow, surprising him a little.

Unfortunately, Grimmjow still managed to turn around in time to block another one of Ichigo’s attacks before smashing his foot into Ichigo’s stomach, sending him hurling through the air. Just when Ichigo was about to slow down, Grimmjow appeared above him and stomped Ichigo’s stomach, sending him crashing to the ground and producing a massive dust cloud.

“That’s all you have!? Is that really a Bankai!? All it does is make you a little faster! How pathetic!”

Suddenly, the dust cloud was blown away, revealing Ichigo with his Zanpakuto coated in massive amounts of black Spiritual Power, causing Grimmjow’s eyes to widen. Although he had only fought Ichigo for a short moment, the amount of Spiritual power he currently displayed was far beyond everything he had shown so far.

Ichigo’s strength continued growing further as he raised his sword above his head and held it there for a few moments before slashing it down.

“[GETSUGA TENSHOU]”

Grimmjow’s eyes widened as a powerful slash filled with highly concentrated Spiritual Power was launched his way by Ichigo, forcing him to cross his hand in front of his body to block the attack.

*Boom*

A loud explosion occurred as Ichigo’s attack collided with Grimmjow, and as soon as the dust settled, Grimmjow was revealed with a gash going diagonally through his torso and arms.

Despite being wounded, a predatory smile appeared on Grimmjow’s face as his eyes landed on Ichigo.

“Will you look at this? This move wasn’t in Ulquiorra’s report, Shinigami.”

“Heh, are you still disappointed, Arrancar?”

Although Ichigo was acting thought, Naruto, on the sideline, could only shake his head when he saw Ichigo’s current condition. His Spiritual Power was fluctuating even stronger, and he could clearly see Ichigo slowly losing control of his own body.

‘At worst, he has about as much Spiritual Power as a normal human, while at the peak of the fluctuations, he has even more than me. What a mess.’

[Doesn’t that mean that if he had proper control over himself, he would have more than you permanently?]

Hearing Kurama’s question, Naruto briefly pondered the situation before shrugging his shoulders.

‘Probably? It’s really hard to judge as I’m not certain what exactly is going on in Ichigo’s body. Considering Aizen is so obsessed with him, I assume Ichigo has more things going for him than I’m aware of, so who knows how far he can reach? At the end of the day, he won’t be reaching any significant heights any time soon if he doesn’t realize that his Hollow=bad mentality is holding him back.’

[Even if you think that, it has been a while since you let this young master have some fun. How about YOU accept your Hollow side some more and let me out for a night or two? This young master desires to slap some faces.]

‘Urgh, let’s talk about that when this mess is over; Hollow me.’

[This young master accepts your terms.]

While Naruto was ignoring Kurama’s snickering due to the conversation, Naruto just headed with his own inner Hollow; Ichigo realized that he was in trouble as he did his best to suppress his own Hollow while breathing heavily.

‘Shit, that cut was too shallow despite using my full power. On top of that, using the black Getsuga makes it easier for him to take over because it was originally his move. Shit, I can, at best, use it another two times. What should I do now?’

As Ichigo was deep in thought, pondering how to win this battle, Grimmjow couldn’t help but smirk as he felt his blood dripping out of his fresh wound.

“Hahaha, much better, Shinigami! Now you are at least worth killing!”

A ferocious grin appeared on Grimmjow’s face as his hand reached for his Zanpakuto and slowly started unsheathing it.

“Now it’s my turn!”

However, just when he was about to fully draw his blade, another person appeared next to him and stopped Grimmjow.

“Sheath your sword, Grimmjow.”

Seeing the newly arrived person, Grimmjow couldn’t help but frown as he growled in anger due to being disturbed during his hunt.

“Tosen. Why are you here?”

“‘Why’, you ask? I think that’s pretty obvious. Not only did you invade the world of the living without permission, but you even brought five Arrancar and lost all five of them.”

Although neither Ichigo nor Grimmjow noticed anything while they were fighting, a few more battles happened within Karakura town during their duel. Toshiro, Renji, and Ikkaku were all three fighting one Arrancar each, and while Ikkaku managed to win after using his Bankai, he didn’t want anyone to know about; Toshiro and Renji had to have their Spiritual Limiter removed before they managed to defeat their opponents.

“Aizen-sama is not happy about this, and your punishment will be decided as soon as we are back in Hueco Mundo.”

Hearing Tose’s words, Grimmjow clicked his tongue as his gaze landed on Ichigo before shrugging his shoulder in indifference.

“Whatever, let’s go.”

However, just as Grimmjow was about to leave the world of the living through another black gate, he heard Ichigo yelling at him.

“Where do you think you are going!? Do you think you can just come here, attack us, and then leave whenever you want!? THIS ISN’T OVER YET!!!”

Hearing Ichigo’s angered yells, Grimmjow sneered in disdain as he left a final comment before leaving behind Tosen.

“Not finished? What a joke! Tosen just saved your life, Shinigami! I can tell that that move takes a toll on you. Just how many times can you use it before you collapse? Two, maybe three times? What a joke. Even if you could use it another hundred times, you still couldn’t defeat me in my released form.”

“Released form?”

Naturally, Ichigo was dumbfounded by Grimmjow’s words, as he had never heard anything about Arrancar possessing another form. Realizing that Grimmjow had been holding back all this time, Ichigo could only grit his teeth and glare at his departing figure.

“Don’t forget my name, and pray that you will never see me again, Shinigami. I am Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, and the next time we meet, I’ll kill you.”

Moments later, the black portal closed, causing Ichigo’s shoulders to slump as a defeated expression appeared on his face.

Moments later, Renji appeared from around a corner, and he clearly wasn’t in a much better condition than Ichigo, as his clothes were soaked in blood.

“The Arrancar left and returned to Hueco Mundo. Why do you make an expression like that, Ichigo? You repelled him, meaning you won the fi…”

“Whoa, he sure kicked your ass, didn’t he, Ichigo?”

While Renji tried to pacify Ichigo, hoping to bring up his mood, Naruto burst into the conversation and immediately crushed whatever attempts Renji was trying to make.

“Damn, did you see how your strongest attack only left a shallow wound? Those bastards sure are tough, huh?”

“O-Oi, Naruto!? What the hell are you doing!?”

Obviously, Renji was flustered when Naruto suddenly started talking down on Ichigo. However, before Renji could say anything else, Ichigo raised his hand, motioning Renji to stop talking as he sighed deeply.

“*Sigh* Naruto is right, Renji. No matter how I look at it, I didn’t protect anyone, nor could I defeat the enemy. This fight… I lost.”

Seeing Ichigo’s depressed mood, Naruto snorted in disdain as he slapped the back of Ichigo’s head.

“What are you getting all depressed about, Ichigo? I didn’t expect you to be a whiny little bitch like this.”

Obviously, Ichigo got angry due to Naruto hitting and mocking him, but before he could say anything, Naruto resumed speaking.

“So what if you have lost a fight? Did your loved ones die due to that? Did you lose anyone important to you during the fight? Don’t be a little bitch; get stronger and win the next time.

Seriously, if I had known that you would turn on the waterworks just because of a single lost fight, I wouldn’t have fought by myself and spared myself from this pathetic display.”

“WHO IS TURNING ON THE WATERWORKS!?”

As Naruto continued relentlessly mocking Ichigo, he became angrier and angrier before he finally snapped and yelled at Naruto, causing the latter to smirk.

“See? That angry scowl fits your delinquent-like face much better than that whiney expression~.”

By now, Ichigo had realized that Naruto was trying to cheer him on, but as soon as he mentioned that his face looked like a delinquent, he couldn’t help but get angry yet again.

“How is that my fault!? Do you think I want my face to look like this!?”

“True, I guess it can’t be helped, and you are stuck with that kind of face for the rest of your life. Such a pity, HAHAHA!!!”

While Naruto was mocking Ichigo and Ichigo was yelling at him, Renji couldn’t help but be slightly dumbfounded by the interaction happening in front of him. Obviously, he came he to get Ichigo out of his slump by making it look like a “lost the fight but won the war” kind of situation, but it seems like Naruto’s approach of relentless mockery was more effective than his.

‘I really wonder how Ichigo’s head works sometimes, but this is fine as well. As long as his mood has improved, everything is fine. Guess next time he is in that kind of down mood, I’ll just throw a bunch of insults at him as well. It seems to work pretty well and should be much more fun~.’

Meanwhile, back in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow and Tosen were standing in front of Aizen, sitting on what could only be described as a huge throne.

“Well, aren’t you going to apologize to Aizen-sama?”

Hearing Tosen’s question, Grimmjow scoffed in disdain before shaking his head.

“No.”

“You…”

“It’s okay, Kaname. He doesn’t have to apologize, as I’m sure his action was just an overzealous display of loyalty. Am I wrong, Grimmjow?”

“No, Aizen-sama.”

Even an idiot could tell that there wasn’t even an ounce of truth in Grimmjow’s words, but Aizen apparently was fine with that as he was about to dismiss this matter. However, Tosen wasn’t done with the situation yet.

“Aizen-sama, please allow me the execute him for his insolence.”

Seeing Tosen’s behavior, Grimmjow couldn’t help but sneer in disdain.

“What a pathetic display. You simply don’t like me, Tosen. Is that how the Commander of an army should act?”

“I simply believe that anyone who disturbs the peace should pay for it.”

Hearing Tosen’s answer, Grimmjow’s sneer widened even further as he continued speaking.

“Peace? Whose peace?”

“Obviously, it’s Aizen-sama’s peace.”

“Heh, so you decide to continue to hide your own actions under the umbrella of following Aizen-sama’s cause, huh?”

Contrary to Grimmjow’s expectations, Tosen accepted his words with a nod of agreement.

“That’s right; it’s all about the cause. Your raid on the world of the living lacked such cause. Killing without purpose is only murder while killing with purpose…”

Tosen unsheathed his blade and, far faster than Grimmjow could react, slashed at his left arm, cutting it off at the shoulder.

“… is justice.”

A scream of pain left Grimmjow’s mouth as he collapsed on the floor, holding his bleeding shoulder while throwing a vicious glare at Tosen, who only sheathed his sword in indifference. He was about to yell and even attack Tosen when something else interrupted him.

“HAHAHA!!!”

Loud, boisterous laughter echoed through the room, drawing everyone’s attention to the source of the laughter, quickly making everyone notice the blue and red-haired young woman rolling around the floor while holding her stomach and laughing like crazy.

“HAHAHA, KILLING WITH PURPOSE IS JUSTICE!!! I WASN’T AWARE YOU HIRED A COMEDIAN, AIZEN; HAHAHA!!!”

Obviously, that woman was Yuna, and naturally, everyone was dumbfounded by the sight in front of them. First of all, no one knew how and when she even managed to get here, while Grimmjow was even more dumbfounded because he knew that she had followed him to the world of the living. He had totally forgotten about her and really wondered how in the world she managed to get back here.

Tosen, on the other hand, couldn’t help but frown due to Yuna mocking his words. He had made a lot of decisions based on this kind of mindset, so he couldn’t help but frown when Yuna laughed about his mindset this much.

“What is so funny about my words? Those are the words I live by, and I won’t allow anyone to make fun of them.”

Although she had some trouble calming herself down, after around another minute of suppressed laughing, Yuna managed to get up from the ground and dusted off her clothes before she resumed speaking.

“*Phew* That was a good laught, hehe *cough*. Anyway, the reason why I was laughing is pretty obvious. ‘Purpose’ is objective. An act having a purpose or not differs from individual to individual.

While two people might give a beggar some money, one might do so with the purpose of helping them, while another might just do so on a whim, without any real purpose.

As such, someone who bases their sense of justice on whether they deem their actions to have a purpose or not might as well say that whatever they think is justice is justice.

In conclusion, you are a selfish little wimp that acts however he wants to under the guise of being just while taking no responsibility for your actions because you just half-assedly declare your actions as appropriate solely on your own twisted sense of what you consider justice. Pathetic.”

The more Yuna spoke, the angrier Tosen became as she continued indirectly and mercilessly mocking pretty much every decision he had made in the last century under Aizen’s lead.

“ENOUGH!!!”

Yet again, Tosen drew his blade, this time intending to go for the neck instead of the arm, but instead of cutting Yuna’s neck, he simply slashed empty air.

‘She dodged!?’

Tosen didn’t expect Yuna to dodge his attack, but despite that, he continued attacking. Sword swing after sword swing was directed at Yuna, who, from Tosen’s perspective, was dodging every attack by moving her upper body out of the way.

However, from the perspective of those who weren’t blind, things were a little… different…

Tosen was currently standing around two meters away from Yuna, furiously attacking something he apparently perceived to be in front of him, occasionally even using [Shunpo] to move behind an enemy only he could perceive.

Seeing Tosen’s pathetic display, Aizen almost felt his cheeks warm up a little due to second-hand embarrassment before he decided not to pay any attention to Tosen and put his focus on Yuna instead.

‘What incredible control over her Spiritual Power. She has basically sealed off the Spiritual Power her own body is radiating while simultaneously controlling some of it outside of her body to fool Tosen into attacking something that isn’t actually there.’

Meanwhile, Yuna couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement as she watched Tosen randomly slashing the air all around him.

‘Well, that is why I always tell Naruto to train in more than one detection ability. This happens when all you rely on is your Spiritual Power sense.’

[So we have finally reached another low where we start bullying the blind, huh?]

‘Oi, oi, I might be bullying a blind man right now, but no matter how I look at it, he tried to kill me.’

[After you relentlessly mocked his ideology…]

‘*Cough* Well, if he didn’t want me to make fun of his shitty ideology, he should have chosen one that isn’t so stupid.’

[That… isn’t entirely wrong.]

‘Meaning that some parts are right, which means that I’m right except for the few nuances in which I’m not, but I’m sure those are just statistical errors.’

[…Sure…]

[Gahaha~ Chaos like statistical error.]