23 Mexico (2/3).

"Your name is Ichigo, correct?" At his positive answer, the god continued.

"If you succeed Ichigo, know that you have gained a lifelong friend in me." Quetzalcoatl said seriously.

"That is enough for me." Ichigo replied.

"I will create an opening in the stairs, but remember, once you enter, you cannot leave." reminded the trapped god.

"I know. Now lets do this." Ichigo replied. He was a bit excited. This monster sounded very strong and would likely give him a hard time, but it would also allow him to get used to his new form and increased powers.

He came closer to the pyramid and saw an opening and quickly entered it. The opening immediately closed behind him. Without wasting another moment, he released his form.

"Pierce the Heavens, Zangetsu!"

He thought he heard a gasp, but it was quickly replaced with a roar that came from deeper within the enclosure. He moved forward, surprised that he could see so well inside such a dark place. He started hearing and feeling a large presence coming closer to him. He didn't have to wait long for it to appear in front of him.

It was an ugly monster. Something that shouldn't exist. Something within him shouted to destroy that abomination. It was a bipedal thing with leathery skin and scattered hairs all over it. It stood at about three meters with a deformed lizard face and its body filled with over sized muscles. Its beady eyes and sharp teeth were protruding out of its skull as it looked towards him and roared.

The voice inside of him roared back as his powers started to go out of control. He could only watch dumbfounded as his black chakra struck the monster by itself.

'Get a hold of yourself Ichigo!' Zangetsu shouted from within. He came out of his stupor and fired a Getsuga Tenshou at the beast. The beast roared in pain as his attack left a large cut on its chest. He ran forward to attack it while it was still in pain. As he struck the beast, he felt his powers once again start to lose control. This time he quickly released all that power towards the beast.

His attack left a deep gouge in the floor. Moments later, rusted chains started to come out of the gash his attack left on the floor. The chains started to attach themselves to the beast, they kept on tightening and their numbers kept on increasing. Suddenly he remembered a similar scene. This was similar to what happened to Kokuto when Hell had helped him contain him. He stood there speechless, wide eyed and opened mouthed as the chains dragged the monster into the gash.

They kept dragging and dragging until they completely vanished into the ground. There was no sign of the beast anywhere. The roaring inside of him also settled down and he heard Zangetsu shouting. 'ICHIGO! What the hell happened?!'

"Hell. Hell happened." He replied, still absent-minded and disappointed that he couldn't let go completely.

'What the fuck are you talking about?!' Zangetsu shouted back.

"Eh, you don't remember? Kokuto? saving Yuzu from hell? Kushanada helping me? I even became a Vasto Lorde during that fight." He said.

'Hmm, I sort of remember something like that. It was extremely easy to take over you, so I did and destroyed a few things.' Zangetsu replied.

"Yes, it was. During the final fight, a Kushanada helped me by letting me borrow its power. I used them to command the chains of hell to capture Kokuto and drag him back to the depths of hell. The chains that just appeared were the same." He said.

'So what? Are you the King of Hell or something now.' Zangetsu replied with his usual snark.

"There was something inside me that was shouting louder than you but I don't know what it was. It was the reason my powers kept getting out of control." He replied with a shrug.

"But that thing was not exactly a sinner, so maybe it was something else entirely."

As he was having an inner dialogue with his Zanpakuto, Quetzalcoatl's awestruck voice sounded out.

"Ichigo, what happened. One moment you were fighting the abomination, next it was being dragged down to hell. You didn't say that you were the Lord of Hell."

"Wait, what? Who said anything about me being Lord of Hell?" Ichigo asked confused.

"Do you not know? The chains of hell are very well known, so I couldn't have been mistaken. They drag those beings that shouldn't exist or those that run away from it, to the depths of hell, to either be erased or punished. Though there has never been someone who could command those chains. They appear on their own, drag their victims and vanish." Quetzalcoatl said, still with some amount of awe.

'So what? Are you actually King of Hell!' Zangetsu said, sounding shocked.

"Hey, I don't command those chains, they just listen to my suggestion. I cannot tell them to just drag anyone into hell, it has to be a sinner or something that shouldn't exist." Ichigo said, before being shocked. How did he know that? He was sure he hadn't come into contact with them after that episode with Kokuto, but it seemed like the knowledge was always there, he just hadn't remembered it.

'Oy, Ichigo, come inside for a sec.' Zangetsu said, sounding oddly serious.

"Ah, Quetzalcoatl, you destroy the seal, I have something to do." He said as he sat down to meditate. It didn't take long for him to enter his inner world.

It was different to say the least. Last time he had entered when Zangetsu had explained to him about resurreccion. Back then, his inner world still had a lot of water in it but was not completely submerged. The buildings were still sideways and there were a lot more plants due to Sage Mode. It was also his state of mind at that time. He was still sad but determined to continue on with his life. Hence half submerged.

Now his inner world was upright, so rather than sideways buildings, there were normal buildings. The water was completely gone, but there was a lake forming outside the range of buildings. The lake would most likely always be there to represent his sadness at losing his family, as such things never leave you. The plants had turned into a full blown forest and that was also understandable.

The main thing was a castle. A fucking castle that had suddenly shown up in his inner world. How the fuck did that appear, rather how the fuck had both of them missed it!? It was completely black in color, surrounded by a circle of lava and an iron pull bridge that was currently down.

"Zangetsu, when the heck did that appear?!" He shouted looking at his zanpakuto spirit.

"How the fuck should I know Ichigo, this is your inner world, you should know it best?!" Zangetsu shouted back.

"I'm not the one here 24/7!" He looked towards the castle.

"Well it appeared just now, after the chains dragged the thing down to hell." Zangetsu said.

"Just say that then." Ichigo sighed.

"Shall we go in, my Lord." Zangetsu bowed to him.

"Stop that shit and let's go." Ichigo said

"It smells of fire, brimstone and sulphur." Ichigo said.

"Stereotypical Hell." Zangetsu replied, rolling his eyes.

They walked through the whole castle. It was more like a dungeon than a castle. There were no rooms, only cells lined with chains. There was a throne room complete with a throne, it's walls were also lined with chains. All in all, it was a dreary place and the smell just made it worse. They came back outside and observed it a bit longer before Ichigo said.

"What do we do about this."

"Ignore it. Would probably disappear after a while." Zangetsu replied.

"Yeah right, no way it's gonna up and disappear." Ichigo scoffed. Another silence.

"Ignore it?" Ichigo suggested.

"Ignore it." Zangetsu nodded.

"Will probably never come in handy." Zangetsu added.

"Yeah right." Ichigo laughed. They remained quiet for a while longer before Zangetsu said.

"How long do you think before it comes in handy?"

"A year at most." Ichigo replied.

"I'm betting less than a month." Zangetsu said.

"Why the hell does this keep happening to me?" Ichigo sighed.

"Probably because you are fate's bitch." Zangetsu replied.

"Certainly feels like that sometimes." Ichigo said massaging his forehead.

"Look on the bright side Ichigo, it's never boring when it comes to you." Zangetsu said with a wide grin.

"I wouldn't mind boring for a while." Ichigo said, with both hands on his face.

"For you, boring means calm before the storm. It always has, it always will." Zangetsu said laughing. He liked this. This meant that he would have to fight more people. Fighting was always fun.

"So, what do you think it's purpose is?" Ichigo asked Zangetsu.

"I don't know. Probably to go find some sinners or abominations, to punish them." Zangetsu replied with a shrug.

"I know that. Why do you think this showed up in my inner world?" Ichigo asked, annoyed, while he pointed at the dungeons.

"I don't fucking know, probably to mark you or some shit." Zangetsu replied, equally annoyed.

"Ugh, I have a feeling this will get extremely annoying sometime in the future." Ichigo sighed again.

"Knowing you, it will." Zangetsu said.

Saying that, Zangetsu kicked him out of his inner world. He came back to Inari looking at him with concern.

"Inari, how long was I out?" Ichigo asked.

"Only for a few minutes after the seal went down. Are you alright?" She asked back.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Just a bit of soul searching." Ichigo replied.

"What happened?" Inari asked, as she helped him stand up.

"The monster was easy enough to defeat, but before I could finish it, chains of hell came out of this gash here and dragged it down to hell, or so I think." Ichigo replied, pointing at the hole the monster had been dragged into.

"What? Chains of hell? Aren't they present to make sure that the sinners don't escape and to capture new sinners? Or rather how did they even get here?" Inari asked, with a head tilt.

"Apparently my one trip to hell impressed it enough for it to give me access to them. Right now I can point the chains in the right direction but who knows if that will change in the future." Ichigo replied.

"Ichigo, the chains of hell always come out of the Hell's Gate and drag escaped or new sinners into itself." Inari said but before she could continue, a giant snake showed up in front of them and said.

It was a beautiful creature. Nearly 30 meters long and two meters wide with beautiful light blue scales. The head had a crown of colorful feathers and its back was filled with dark red feathers. On it's tail were two even larger yellow feathers. It had two feathered wings that were currently fully spread filled with blue, red, green and yellow feathers. It's eyes were forest green.

"Ichigo speaks the truth, fellow goddess. I saw the chains myself and they were definitely chains of hell."

"Quetzalcoatl, you are far more beautiful than I expected." Ichigo said with some awe at seeing the beautiful snake.

"Thank you Ichigo, but as my friend, I want you to call me Kuku, derived from the name Kukulkan, given to me by my people." Kuku replied.

"You said fellow goddess, are you not a god?" Inari asked. According to what she knew, Quetzalcoatl was the 'god' of Wind, Air and Learning.

"Many of my fellows and followers believed that, but in the first place, I was never a god from the Aztecs. I was a free dragon that made it's home here in these parts of the world. I was invited by them and I accepted. Due to my form and voice, they believed that I was a male and made all the scriptures about me based on that." Kuku replied with a sigh.

"So, you are a female?" Inari asked for confirmation.

"Yes, I'm a female dragon." Kuku replied as she transformed into a human.

The lady that came out of the light show was another beauty. He was getting a feeling that all supernatural people were extremely beautiful. Kuku, as she wanted him to call her, was an older woman, no less beautiful than Inari or Yasaka. She had long blonde hair flowing down freely without anything holding them in place and a golden crown fitted with red and green feathers sitting on top of her head. She was tall, only a few inches smaller than him. She had forest green eyes like her snake/dragon form and she was wearing very little in the clothing department.

He quickly looked away from her exposed skin and nearly exposed chest as she stretched.

"Mmm, it's been so long since I was able to stretch freely!" Kuku said with happiness.

"L-lady Kukulkan, please wear proper clothing!" Inari stuttered out.

"Hmmm? What's wrong with these?" Kuku said as she looked at herself.

"They are not appropriate!" Inari quickly answered.