The Tiger Burning Bright in the Forests of the Night

Tyger, tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night. -- William Blake, Songs of Experience (1794)

Ichigo suddenly opened his eyes.

His field of vision was a metropolis of skyscrapers, with countless towering buildings extending outwards from both above and below him. The windows between the buildings reflected each other, and a faint blue-white halo flowed across the glass curtain walls.

He stood on the exterior wall of a building in this horizontal world, the wall beneath his feet cold and smooth, while above him—if it could be called above him—was another towering building.

"Isn't this my Inner World?" He looked around, his brows furrowed. "How did I end up in a place like this? And what was I doing before...?"

He lowered his head, pressing his fingers to his temples. His memories felt shattered, and he needed to piece them back together.

"It feels like I'm fighting someone... It's Zangetsu..." His fingers paused on his temple, his pupils contracting slightly. "Yes, that bastard Muramasa pulled Zangetsu out of my body."

"And I was in the middle of fighting Zangetsu when that guy... actually..."

"Thinking about me, Ichigo?"

A voice came from behind him, a voice very similar to Ichigo's own, but wrapped in a thick layer of electronic sound, each syllable trailing off.

Ichigo suddenly turned around.

A figure almost identical to Ichigo stood not far behind him.

The same silhouette, the same facial features, but the colors are completely opposite: the black Shihakusho has been replaced by white, the sunny and energetic orange hair color has been replaced by an almost transparent pale white, and even the teeth are the opposite black!

White Ichigo stood there, a wide smile playing on his lips, and let out a giggle.

"You bastard!" Ichigo's hand Zanpakuto, his knuckles turning white. "Why did you have to come out at this time!"

"Why? That's a strange question." White Ichigo's hand reached for the hilt of his sword on his back—the black bandages were unfurling layer by layer, fluttering in the wind.

He gripped the hilt and slowly drew a Zanpakuto. The blade was as wide as a door panel, without a handguard, and the hilt was wrapped with the same bandages as Zangetsu —but the colors were completely reversed: the back of the blade was a dazzling white, the edge was a deep black, and the end of the black bandages fluttered in the wind like a tattered flag.

Ichigo's pupils contracted sharply. "White Zangetsu? Hey! Why can you use Zangetsu when this old man isn't here?!"

"What does it matter to me if that guy isn't here?" White Ichigo wrapped his wrist with the bandage at the end of the hilt of his sword and swung White Zangetsu around with great force, the blade cutting through the air and emitting a very low and deep hum.

He flung the sword out, and the White Zangetsu traced an extremely wide arc in the air, slashing towards Ichigo with crimson Reiatsu.

Ichigo dodged to the side, the blade grazing his shoulder before embedding itself in the exterior wall of the building behind him, shattering the glass curtain wall.

Ichigo drew his Zanpakuto:

"Are you kidding me?!"

He gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hand. "There's a battle going on outside! I don't have time to play with you here!"

White Ichigo used the bandages to pull White Zangetsu back from the wall; the blade flipped in the air and fell back into his hand.

The moment he caught the sword, he charged at Ichigo, his pace quickening until he sprang like a white lightning bolt. "Don't be so cold! The real fun is just beginning!"

As the two swords clashed, sparks exploded between them the instant Asauchi and White Zangetsu collided. The crimson Reiatsu and the remaining Reiatsu on Ichigo's body tore at each other, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear on the exterior wall of the building beneath their feet.

Meanwhile...

Sylvan opened his eyes to a rapidly spinning vertical metropolis of skyscrapers extending outwards from both sides of him, while he himself was suspended in mid-air in this horizontally oriented world, plummeting downwards.

"Rain!" he shouted as he fell.

"Sylvan, grab me." A Blue-Violet figure swooped down from above him, and Rain spread his wings and stretched out his claws toward Sylvan.

Sylvan reached out and grabbed the bird's claw, while Rain flapped his wings sharply, stopping their fall.

Sylvan hovered in mid-air, surveying this horizontally placed world.

"Horizontal skyscrapers, with the sky and earth on either side—this kind of world only exists in the original story, right?" Rain hovered slowly in the air, his silver pupils sweeping over the inverted buildings.

"Yes." Sylvan gripped his cane tighter, the fine lines on it gleaming faintly in the blue-white light. "It seems we've entered Ichigo's Inner World."

He lowered his head, looking at the jet-black cane in his hand. This Blade of Power, after activating the Integration, had pulled his and Rain's consciousness directly into this world—

"It seems this sword is much more powerful than I imagined."

His gaze swept across the skyscrapers and stopped. On the exterior wall of the building directly below him, there was a tiny black dot, lying conspicuously on the edge of the smooth glass curtain wall.

"Hmm?" Sylvan narrowed his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Rain heard his questioning voice and followed his gaze.

"Rain, get down."

Rain folded his wings and swooped down toward the building. As they drew closer, Sylvan finally saw the black dot clearly—it was a book. A hardcover book with gold lettering on the spine, the large "V" on the cover gleaming slightly in the blue-white glow of the building's surface. It looked exactly like the poetry collection V had magically created and given to Amber, which had later disappeared without a trace.

Rain landed on the building's exterior wall, his paws making a slight scraping sound as they trod across the smooth glass surface. Sylvan walked over to the book, bent down, and gently touched the cover with his finger.

"This looks so much like the book V gave us!" Rain sat on Sylvan's shoulder, tilting his head to look at the book. "Why is it here?"

Sylvan picked up the book, turned the cover over, and looked at the poems outlined in ink on the title page. "It is indeed the one V gave me. As for why it's here, that's a mystery." He closed the book, his fingers gently tracing the cover.

Just then, the book opened automatically in his palm, the pages moving without wind, and a cloud of sky-blue magical particles drifted out from between the pages.

The particles were extremely fine and light, like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind. They circled around him once and then drifted away, leaving a very faint blue trail between the glass curtain walls of the building.

Rain looked at the gradually extending trajectory and tilted his head. "It seems to be guiding us there. What could be there?"

Sylvan tucked the poetry collection into his robes, picked up his cane, and strode off in the direction the magical particles had drifted. "This is Ichigo's Inner World; the destination is obvious, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Rain spread his wings, lifted Sylvan off his shoulder, and carried him into the air. "Let's go take a look; after all Sylvan, a guest should greet the host."

Back to Ichigo...

White Zangetsu and Ichigo's Asauchi clash fiercely.

Ichigo gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, his Reiatsu surging wildly on the blade. White Ichigo pressed down on the sword with one hand, his crimson Reiatsu tearing at Ichigo's blue Reiatsu, causing large cracks to appear in the glass curtain wall beneath their feet.

"Damn it!" Ichigo spat out through gritted teeth, "You better stop this already! You're just a Hollow, living in my Inner World is one thing, but you're also stealing my appearance and Zangetsu's power!"

Upon hearing this, the joy that had been on White Ichigo's face due to the battle faded. He flipped his wrist, deflected Ichigo's sword, took a few steps back, and stood on the outer wall of the building.

"Stealing? Ichigo, is that how you see me?" A gloomy look, as if stung by something, appeared in those black and white pupils.

"I didn't grow up like this because I liked it!" White Ichigo unleashed a burst of crimson Reiatsu, his entire body crashing into Ichigo like a red meteor.

Ichigo his sword to block, but the impact was far beyond his expectations—he was sent flying, his back slamming into the building behind him, smashing a huge hole in the glass curtain wall.

White Ichigo stood on the opposite building, glaring at him through gritted teeth. "Ichigo, you seem to always think I'm a Hollow that was accidentally born when you regained your Soul Reaper powers."

"Isn't that right?" Ichigo, supporting himself Asauchi the shattered glass, stood up, his fingers still trembling. He stepped out of the hole and retorted defiantly.

"Of course not." White Ichigo's Reiatsu rose again, and spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the walls of the building beneath his feet. The cracks spread from the walls to the glass, and then climbed up the window frames a hundred meters away.

"Like that guy, I am essentially a manifestation of your own power, a part of you that is born with you and dies with you."

"You're just like Uncle Zangetsu?" Ichigo gripped his Zanpakuto tightly, the tip pointing at White Ichigo, his voice filled with disbelief. "What a joke! Ever since I saw you, you've been Isshin with taking over my body. Who would believe someone like that!"

White Ichigo scoffed, his blade tracing a very short arc in the air. "I only said that I, like that guy, am a manifestation of power, not that we share the same views."

"That guy seems to want to protect you as your power for the rest of your life." White Ichigo's red Reiatsu began to converge, no longer the flamboyant explosion, but condensing into an extremely fine and sharp line.

He pointed the White Zangetsu at Ichigo, and black bandages spread out from the end of the hilt, wrapping around his right arm and carving deep lines into the muscles.

Ichigo's pupils contracted sharply.

"Bankai!"

A crimson Reiatsu erupted from White Ichigo's body like a volcanic eruption, shattering the glass curtain walls of the surrounding buildings. The fragments scattered like raindrops under the influence of gravity.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, White Ichigo stood in the center of the shattered glass—he was wearing a pure white trench coat-style Shihakusho, the hem of which fluttered in the still air.

In his right hand he held a sword that was exactly the same shape as Tensa Zangetsu, with a swastika-shaped guard, a slender and long blade, and a pure white body.

"Tensa Zangetsu."

"How is this possible?" Ichigo's knuckles turned white as he Asauchi.

White Ichigo's figure vanished from his spot, and the next instant, he appeared in front of Ichigo, Tensa Zangetsu high above his head.

Ichigo hurriedly raised his sword to block, but White Ichigo hand, easily pinned him down.

"Need I say more? Of course, we learned it at the same time!" White Ichigo pressed down on his sword, his Hollow-like eyes only inches away from Ichigo's.

The red Reiatsu on the blade intensified, pressing down like a mountain on every inch of it.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, the muscles in his arms taut beneath the sleeves of his Shihakusho, but his knees continued to bend inch by inch. Just as he was about to give way, White Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu slightly red—that red light was a prelude to the Reiatsu being compressed to its limit, about to burst forth from the tip of the blade.

Ichigo seemed to see his own death approaching.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

A bright red crescent moon shot out from the blade, exploding at point-blank range with destructive power.

Ichigo was shoved forward, his back crashing through the exterior walls of three buildings, glass shards and concrete fragments scattering around him. The red light slowly dissipated.

Ichigo stood on the exterior wall of a building, a deep gash cut into his Shihakusho on his abdomen. Blood seeped from the wound, running down his clothes and dripping onto the smooth glass curtain wall at his feet.

White Ichigo flicked the blood off his sword. Red blood droplets slid down the white blade of Tensa Zangetsu: "Ichigo, you're really bad."

You know, I was the first to use Bankai Getsuga Tenshō form. And you just copied me—and poorly at that!

Ichigo gasped for breath, clutching the wound in his abdomen. His Reiatsu surged within him, trying to heal the wound, but it was too slow—so slow that he could almost feel his strength draining away with his blood.

He gripped the Asauchi, its tip pressed against the glass curtain wall for support, as an irresistible thought surged through his mind.

"Damn it. If only I had that right now..."

"If Zangetsu were here, we wouldn't be in such a sorry state, right?" White Ichigo looked at him and voiced what he was thinking.

Ichigo suddenly looked up, and there stood White Ichigo opposite him, a mocking smile on his face that looked exactly like his.

White Ichigo Shunpo in front of him and grabbed Ichigo's Zanpakuto.

"Then let me tell you something interesting." White Ichigo leaned closer to Ichigo's face, "That guy and I were originally one."

As he spoke, Ichigo's Zanpakuto began to change color from the center of the blade, with pure white light surging out from the patterns on the blade, gradually engulfing the original portion.

Ichigo watched as his Zanpakuto turned pure white in his hand, and then—the sword began to dissipate.

Starting from the tip of the blade, the white blade transformed into extremely fine Reishi particles, drifting away piece by piece and dissipating into the air.

White Ichigo Zanpakuto, clenching his fist in mid-air. "So, that means I am Zangetsu!"

That punch landed on Ichigo's face, sending him flying backward. Ichigo's back slammed into the glass curtain wall again, adding another layer of cracks to the surface.

He looked at his empty hands, watching the remaining fragments of Reishi in his palms slowly dissipate.