Chapter 50

Fortunately, Miyako Amamiya had sent a request to Soul Society to lift their limiters the moment the news arrived. Otherwise, with their Reiryoku suppressed by the seals, the group really would not have been confident about fighting the two before them.

"Ulquiorra! You have to leave that kid with the bow to me!" Yammy did not care who was facing him right now. All he wanted was to give Amamiya a thorough beating.

"If you want to get past, you'll have to beat me first!" Ikkaku Madarame said excitedly. "Extend, Hōzukimaru! Don't interfere. Let me take him on alone! I want to see just how strong an Arrancar who could hurt Ichigo this badly is!"

The others frowned at Ikkaku's words, but silently agreed to let him test Yammy's strength.

Amamiya, however, shook his head helplessly. With so many people present, Ikkaku would never use his Bankai, and without it, he certainly could not beat Yammy.

Ulquiorra did not intervene either, merely watching in silence. He was confident in Yammy's strength. Although Yammy had lost an arm, his opponent was only an ordinary Soul Reaper.

"Arrancar, what is your purpose in coming to Karakura Town?" Tōshirō Hitsugaya asked pensively.

"Our purpose? There's no harm in telling you. This mission was a success anyway," Ulquiorra said calmly. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Lord Aizen is somewhat interested in him."

"So it was Ichigo Kurosaki after all..." Hitsugaya said in understanding, looking at Ichigo, who lay nearby.

Just as Hitsugaya was about to ask more about Aizen, Ikkaku suddenly came flying backward and crashed into the ground, leaving a large crater. Inside it, Ikkaku held Hōzukimaru, covered in wounds and on the verge of losing consciousness.

"Bastard... He's actually this strong," Ikkaku said haltingly, coughing up blood.

"Ikkaku!"

"Hmph. I thought you'd be impressive, but you're all show and no substance." Yammy walked over with barely any new wounds. Even with one arm, he had dealt with Ikkaku easily.

Looks like he really needs to get over that old habit of hiding his Bankai. He's still keeping it hidden when he's almost dead, Amamiya thought helplessly.

"You're next, kid!" Yammy said, glaring viciously at Amamiya. He was still furious about Amamiya's sneak attack earlier.

"Captain Hitsugaya, don't intervene. Keep a close eye on the other one. I'll deal with this big guy," Amamiya said to Hitsugaya.

"Understood." Hitsugaya knew that Ulquiorra was the greater threat, so he agreed with Amamiya.

"Manifest, God-Repelling Jue Nian." Facing Yammy, Amamiya planned to use his fully released Shikai to test the hardness of Yammy's Hierro first.

Although Ulquiorra would pass information about him to Aizen, Aizen would still have to figure out what his Shikai's true ability was. Amamiya was confident that no one would guess its strange ability. Besides, he was still keeping some of his true abilities hidden.

"Hmph. You'll end up just like him," Yammy said disdainfully.

Ulquiorra still did not move. Since Hitsugaya had no intention of fighting, this was a good chance to see what Amamiya, whom Lord Aizen had mentioned, was really capable of.

I hope Yammy doesn't kill those two Soul Reapers too quickly, Ulquiorra thought.

Yammy stepped forward and slammed a fist into the spot where Amamiya stood. The ground caved in and shattered, but Yammy felt no impact against a body.

"Carriage of thunder, gap of a spinning wheel, this light divides into six."

"Bakudō #61, Six Rods Prison." Amamiya cast Six Rods Prison, and six beams of light flew toward Yammy. At such close range, they bound him immediately.

Amamiya rushed forward and slashed at Yammy with both swords.

Yammy remained unruffled and broke free of Six Rods Prison with brute strength. He made no attempt to dodge Amamiya's incoming blades.

At first, Yammy had not paid them any mind, assuming Amamiya could not get through his Hierro. To his surprise, the two swords left long gashes when they struck. Although the cuts were not deep, they were enough for Yammy to feel pain.

"What!?" The pain from the wounds left Yammy incredulous. He also wondered why his Hierro had failed to stop the two slashes.

"Why didn't you block those two slashes? That's what you were just thinking, isn't it?" Amamiya took a few steps back and asked calmly.

When God-Repelling Jue Nian passed over Yammy's skin, it had forcibly rejected and separated the Reiatsu covering it.

An Arrancar's Hierro was, ultimately, just Reiatsu covering the skin. It did not mean the skin itself was extraordinarily hard. To Amamiya, any barrier made of Reiatsu offered no defense at all.

"Brat..." Thoroughly enraged by Amamiya, Yammy charged at him again.

Ulquiorra frowned as well. Yammy's Hierro should not have been so easy to penetrate.

Lord Aizen mentioned this man, Miyako Amamiya. Even Lord Aizen has not fully understood his Zanpakuto's ability. Could a special ability of his Zanpakuto be what allowed him to wound Yammy?

Yammy tried to catch Amamiya with his one arm, but Amamiya used his advantages in size and speed to slash wounds across Yammy's body. Yammy failed to catch him even once.

"Damn brat, you're so annoying!" Finally enraged by Amamiya, Yammy opened his mouth, gathering red Reiryoku in front of it as he prepared to fire at Amamiya.

Amamiya had spotted it early. He joined his swords together, transforming them back into a bow, then leaped backward and fired an arrow at the Cero in front of Yammy's mouth.

The Cero suddenly exploded. Although Yammy hurriedly defended himself with Hierro, he still suffered from the blast, and more blood ran down his face.

"Brat!" Yammy was seeing red now. He turned and charged at Amamiya again.

"Switching between twin swords and a bow and arrows... What a dazzling way to fight," Hitsugaya remarked.

Ulquiorra frowned as he watched Yammy. Yammy's greatest weakness was that his Sonído was not fast enough, and it would be disastrous if an enemy discovered it. On top of that, Amamiya had an attack that could break through Yammy's defenses, which made things extremely dangerous for Yammy, unless he used Resurrección...

Amamiya had also noticed this. Although Yammy's Hierro was hard and he was physically powerful, he lacked speed. A big guy like him could not even reach his own back, making him very easy to exploit.

Amamiya gathered another arrow. It began to take shape, growing long and slender.

Let's try this move. What Amamiya was using now was a further development of Divine Arrow: Severed Thought. He concentrated the power of rejection at the arrowhead and fired it at Yammy.

Yammy angrily reached for Amamiya, ignoring the arrow before him. With what little intelligence he had, Yammy believed that only Amamiya's Zanpakuto could hurt him, so he paid the arrow no attention.

But when the arrow struck Yammy, it pierced straight through his remaining hand and then passed through his body.

The pain from his wounds brought Yammy to a halt.

"Brat, what the hell did you do?!" Yammy could no longer endure it. He moved to draw the Zanpakuto at his waist.

Ulquiorra looked at Yammy with displeasure. He had not expected Yammy to take so long dealing with a Soul Reaper using Shikai.

Or is it Miyako Amamiya who... Ulquiorra wondered, looking at Amamiya, who remained composed in the face of danger.

He used Sonído to appear in front of Yammy and jabbed him in the stomach with the edge of his hand.

"That's enough, Yammy. Our objective has been achieved. Don't continue fighting Soul Society's Soul Reapers. It's not time to expose ourselves yet," Ulquiorra said gravely. If Yammy used his Zanpakuto and Resurrección now, he would reveal information to the enemy.

Hearing Ulquiorra's warning, Yammy stopped what he was doing and looked at the group before him in displeasure.

"Are you running, Arrancar?" Hitsugaya asked pensively.

"Running? Do you intend to fight me while protecting a few injured pieces of trash?" Ulquiorra said calmly.

Hitsugaya looked at the injured Ichigo and the others. Knowing this truly was not a good opportunity to start a fight, he did not act rashly.

"It seems you're a sensible man too, Tōshirō Hitsugaya. Our mission is complete. The Soul Reaper Lord Aizen was interested in, Ichigo Kurosaki, is nothing but trash," Ulquiorra said casually, glancing at Ichigo.

Ichigo could not help clenching his fists when he heard that.

Only after the two departed did the others have time to turn their attention to Ichigo's group.

Orihime Inoue used her powers to heal the injured, but Ichigo kept his head lowered and said nothing.

"Ichigo..." Rukia did not know what had happened and wanted to go ask him.

"Sorry, Rukia, Amamiya. I didn't expect you to see me in such a sorry state when we met again." Ichigo forced a small smile. Though he had reunited with his friends, he could not feel happy at all.

"What's this, Ichigo? Were you always this weak?" Ikkaku had recovered and walked over to him, speaking disdainfully.

"..." Ichigo did not argue. He simply remained silent.

"Tch. I never thought the man who beat me and the captain back then would end up like this," Ikkaku clicked his tongue in displeasure.

"What do you know...?" Ichigo muttered.

"Huh?"

"What do you know about me?!" Ichigo could not help shouting. "I want to fight seriously too! I want to protect everyone, but... but..."

"But the Hollow inside you is almost out of control?" Amamiya finished for him.

"Huh? Why... how do you know?"

"Ichigo, is that what you've been worried about?" Rukia walked over. "You... idiot!" She kicked Ichigo in the face.

Ichigo went flying backward. He scrambled up and asked angrily, "Hey, what are you doing?! Who greets someone with a flying kick the moment they meet?!"

Amamiya went behind Ichigo and grabbed both his arms. Seeing this, Rukia immediately came over and slapped him several times in a row.

"Damn it, you two planned this, didn't you?! Let me go!" Amamiya held Ichigo fast, and his face was already swelling. Unable to fight back, he could only shout.

"I can't stand seeing you like this. Where did the Ichigo I knew go? If you're afraid of the Hollow inside you, all you have to do is keep getting stronger. What are you being so wishy-washy about?" Rukia asked with a frown.

"Let me handle it, Rukia. Ichigo just can't find his way right now." Amamiya shook his head.

"Let me put your doubts to rest, Ichigo," Amamiya said, finally releasing him.

"Someone came looking for you, right? They said they'd help you control the Hollow inside you."

"Huh? How did you know?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "But that person called himself something like a Visored. It sounded suspicious right away."

"They aren't suspicious. If anything, they're the best allies we could have this time," Amamiya said.

"Before Aizen left, he mentioned it, didn't he? The captain's rebellion in Soul Society a hundred years ago was all orchestrated by Aizen."

"I remember that, but what does it have to do with what you're talking about?" Ichigo asked, puzzled.

"What was the name of the person who came to see you?"

"His name? He said it was Shinji Hirako."

"Shinji Hirako?" Hitsugaya said in surprise.

"Tōshirō, do you know him?"

"...Shinji Hirako was the Fifth Division Captain before Aizen, a hundred years ago. Because of Aizen's Hollowfication Experiment, he had no choice but to defect from Soul Society." Although he was a little bothered by how Ichigo addressed him, Hitsugaya explained. As a captain, he was familiar with such a major incident.

"What? Hirako? He used to be a captain in Soul Society? And the Fifth Division, if I remember right..."

"That's right, it's the Fifth Division Aizen used to belong to. Because of Aizen's experiment, Shinji Hirako and his companions were forced to undergo an experiment to turn Soul Reapers into Hollows. Although Kisuke Urahara helped them successfully suppress the Hollowfication, Aizen ultimately used a scheme to drive them out of Soul Society."

"I never thought Hirako and the others had a past like that..." Ichigo said in shock.

"I'm telling you this so you can feel at ease approaching them and finding a way to control the power of the Hollow inside you. Then you won't have to worry about it anymore, right?" Amamiya said.

Ichigo fell silent for a moment, then bowed to everyone. "I'm sorry! I made you all worry."

"Tch, you should've been like this sooner," Ikkaku said in displeasure, seeing that Ichigo had recovered.

"Oh, I thought he looked rather nice all gloomy like that," Rangiku Matsumoto joked.

"No, he wasn't beautiful at all like that," Yumichika Ayasegawa said, shaking his head.

"Thank you, Rukia, Amamiya. You didn't just beat some sense into me; you also told me so much. All the confusion in my heart has been swept away," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Ichigo, you should be thanking me more. That idiot Rukia only knows how to use her fists. I'm the one who actually pointed you toward the path ahead," Amamiya joked.

"What did you say?! I worked hard to help Ichigo too!" Rukia stomped on Amamiya's foot and said angrily, "And how did you know about all this?! Why didn't you tell me?! How much did you and that Kisuke Urahara keep from me back then?!"

"Forgive me, Rukia. Look, haven't I told you everything now?" Amamiya said, clutching his aching foot.

Ichigo smiled at the two before him, grateful to have them as friends. He walked over to Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado and looked at Inoue.

"Inoue, is Sado all right now?"

"Yes, I've healed his arm," Inoue said.

"I see... Inoue, I'm sorry. Next time, I'll protect you all for sure!" Ichigo said earnestly.

Although Inoue would rather have heard Ichigo say he would protect her instead of all of them, seeing him return to his familiar self put her worries to rest.

"Okay!" Inoue replied with a smile.

Miss Rukia, Mr. Amamiya, truly... thank you. Inoue looked at the two still bickering nearby and thought from the bottom of her heart.

Hitsugaya watched the noisy group, a vein bulging on his forehead, and turned to leave.

"Oh, Captain, where are you going?" Matsumoto asked.

"To find somewhere to stay. We're here for a long visit this time. You haven't forgotten, have you?" Hitsugaya said helplessly.

Everyone looked at one another, finally realizing the seriousness of the problem. Then they all turned to look at Ichigo.

"Why are you looking at me? Don't tell me..." Ichigo had a bad feeling. "Hey, my house doesn't have enough rooms for all of you!"

"Tch, we have to find our own places?" Ikkaku said unhappily.

"Then how about I stay at Orihime's place?" Matsumoto went over to Inoue and took her hand as she asked.

Amamiya could naturally find somewhere to stay as well. Besides, he could not let anyone else know where he was going this time.

"Captain Hitsugaya, let's go to Ichigo's house and give him a brief explanation. About Aizen's true objective..." Amamiya looked at Ichigo.

"Aizen..." Hearing the name, Ichigo recalled the terrifyingly powerful man from Soul Society.

"Yes. It's also the reason we came to the World of the Living."