6 A certain Vampire

Ichigo reached out towards the crack in space, he felt a handle, possibly from some sort of weapon. Without any resistance, he pulled the object out.

As he pulled the object out, he noticed it start to glow as it made first contact with the world. It was a dagger, a beautiful jeweled dagger. He hadn't even noticed the note that popped out with it. It was just too breathtakingly beautiful.

Dangerous.

He quickly pushed the dagger away, he was almost consumed by it. This "weapon" held knowledge he couldn't even fathom and it almost consumed him, he needed to be careful with it in the future. It was only then that he saw the note on the ground and opened it up.

"Dear Ichigo, I'd like to present to you the Jeweled Dagger Zelretch. This dagger is a prototype tool that allows limited access to the True Magic known as the kaleidoscope.

You probably won't understand any of that, so just know that the dagger allows you to travel to and from alternate worlds. As mentioned above, the weapon is a prototype, so it has some design flaws. You can only travel to worlds you have been before, with the dagger, or a random world. And before you get all pissed off, I already added in your previous world and your current one.

To add in a new world, state the command with the dagger in hand, Designate world: X.

For example, your current world is designated as home, so if you were to lock in this world you would have to be in the world and say; Designate world: Home.

To go to a world already designated, you hold the dagger and say; Open portal to: X

For reference, your previous world is designated as "Shinigami World".

I wish you luck in your world hopping adventures,

Sincerely, Your Reincarnation Representative.

P.S. I stole the dagger "

It took several seconds for what he just read to kick in.

"WHO THE HELL DID YOU STEAL HIS FROM?" He couldn't help but shout at the letter.

"That would be me " A voice said from behind him.

Ichigo's eyes went wide, someone had been able to sneak up behind him without giving any notice, he immediately grabbed both his blades and jumped back several yards while entering a defensive stance, ready to do battle.

"Please, you're several thousand years too early to even consider fighting me" The man said before walking towards the dagger

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked hesitantly.

"You have my dagger and you have no idea who I am?" The man raised an eyebrow at the boys question.

"Odd, I don't know who you are" The man said, while staring right at Ichigo.

"I would hope you wouldn't…we've never met before" Ichigo responded.

"No no no, you don't understand" the man said.

"I know EVERYONE"

"I am the master of the kaleidoscope"

"I've seen every possible parallel world to this one, and you do not exist, even taking a peak at this world's supposed correct path, you don't exist"

"Even right here, right now, you are not supposed to exist"

"This is...AMAZING" The man finally finished with clear excitement on his face.

The man continued to examine Ichigo would muttering to himself, even poking him every now and then. At this point Ichigo had no will to fight.

This went on for several minutes before the man abruptly stopped.

"Ah, I was so excited I forgot to introduce myself, I apologize for my bad manners."

"My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, you may call me Zelretch or Zel" He said with a bow

"Might I have your name lad?" The man asked looking towards Ichigo.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you." Ichigo responded.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo" Zelretch repeated to himself.

"AH" he said suddenly.

"I know where you're from! You're that Shinigami boy!" He said excitedly.

"Tell me young Kurosaki-kun How did you end up in this world?"

"Well it all started when I died…." The young Shinigami said

And he began to tell his story. How he died killing Yhwach, his time in that weird room and how he reincarnation, up to and including how he got a hold of Zelretch's Dagger.

"What an amazing tale" Zelretch said.

"So you were planning on learning how my dagger worked so you could go to your previous world and rescue some of your friends and family"?

"That about sums it up" Ichigo nodded in response.

"I was not expecting this when I found out my dagger had been stolen, I'm glad I decided to find it after I felt its energy signature. Usually I wouldn't even care." Zelretch mused to himself.

"So you haven't asked me that question yet" Zelretch said while looking towards the Shinigami.

"You know what I want to ask?" Ichigo questioned.

"Boy, when you've been around as long as I have, you can read people pretty well. Just spit it out, I won't take offense" Zelretch said with a smile.

"What are you" Ichigo said politely.

"I am a Dead Apostle. Though you probably won't know what that is, just consider me a super moon vampire." He said while striking a pose.

"Okay" Ichigo replied as if bored.

.....

"….you could have at least reacted more…." Zelretch said with a sad expression.

Several seconds later Zelretch's face turned serious.

"Alright I've decided, you can keep my dagger and I'll even modify it a little bit to help you. But I want something in return"

"….What do you want?" Ichigo said cautiously.

"For now on….you have to call me grandpa Zel" Zelretch said with a big thumbs up.

"I'm not even going to question why" Ichigo said without any emotion.

"Well I'm glad you asked!" The vampire said, completely ignoring the fact that Ichigo never asked him.

"I decided to adopt you, and in return you are going to provide me with entertainment."

"You see, it gets boring knowing how every world is going to turn out, but you are an outlier. I actually can't see what changes you will cause in any world you go to, this is too good to pass up"

"So, before we send you off to see your long-lost lovers, we need you to get some accommodations, some cloths, and a bath." He said while physically dragging Ichigo off in a random direction.

They walked what seemed like seconds, the space around them twisted in an odd manner, and a familiar looking town appeared before his eyes. He almost dropped to his knees and started crying.

"Karakura town" Ichigo whispered, trying to keep himself together.

"I thought you might appreciate where we're going to build your base, oh and its called Kuoh town in this world". The Vampire said smugly.

They walked to the closest realtor's office, and just as Zelretch was about to open the door, he reached out into emptiness and pulled out a briefcase.

They walked in and before any of the staff could ask him what he wanted, he loudly proclaimed he wanted to buy the the mansion at the edge of town and threw the briefcase onto the table which opened up to reveal all hundred-dollar bills.

Before the employee's could even register what was happening, Zelretch walked into the back room, seemingly knowing exactly where to go, grabbed the deed to the mansion, and walked out.

Zelretch kept glancing back at Ichigo every few seconds before he finally couldn't hold himself in anymore.

"Come on, nothing? Absolutely no reaction from that?" Zelretch said on the verge of tears.

Ignoring his antics, "Where did you get the money" Ichigo asked.

"I stole it obviously" The vampire said without any reaction.

"Then why not just steal the deed to the house?" The hybrid said with an annoyed expression.

Zelretch suddenly stopped, his expression became stoic. He looked Ichigo dead in the eyes.

"KUROSAKI ICHIGO, ARE YOU SUGGESTING I STEAL A HOUSE? I AM ASHAMED TO CALL MYSELF YOUR GRANDFATHER." He roared as he turned and walked away.

All the people on the street turned to look at the delinquent looking teenager.

Ichigo was left agape at his response.

Zelretch continued walking with a smug expression on his face.

It didn't take long for them to reach the mansion, it was on the outskirts of the town. It would be nice and private with plenty of room to practice and set up defenses.

"Alright you go buy some cloths while I fix this place up and put some bounded fields around the area." Zelretch said while handing Ichigo a large stack of money, this time in yen.

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It was a surreal experience, walking about a place that was so familiar, yet so foreign.

He could easily find his way around the town but everything was different, where certain stores used to be, there were houses and where houses used to be there was a mall.

He could only sign at the thoughts of his previous world flashed through his head.

His mind was bouncing all over the place right now. He found it odd how easily he accepted

Zelretch into his life, its been only a few hours and the man already feels like family.

Maybe Zelretch just reminded him of Urahara?

Then he realized…

"oh god, they can never meet" Ichigo exclaimed, while looking around to make sure that damn vampire wasn't stalking him.

He could only sigh at this point. He knew that the vampire would do something to the house to try and get a response out of him.

"Still…..its nice to have company again" He said in his heart.

He came back to the mansion after buying enough cloths to last him awhile, and as he expected it was absurd.

The mansion looked brand new with several decorations that were not there before.

Ichigo didn't even bother to gawk, he wouldn't give that stupid vampire the satisfaction. He immediately walked into the house.

With his new "gramps" no where to be seen Ichigo decides it was finally time to have a real shower and change of clothes.

An hour or so later, the vampire still couldn't be found. Ichigo explored the house a bit. It was rather large. He found some odd runs and markings in odd locations. He guessed that maybe the Zelretch put some sort of magical protection around the area?

With nothing left to do, Ichigo sat at the needlessly large dining room table and took out his Evil Pieces. He was still having reservations on whether his plan would work or not and just as he was entering a deep thought he was interrupted.

"So those are your Evil Pieces?" Zelretch said eyeing them over Ichigo's shoulder.

"God dammit, can you not sneak up on me like that?" Ichigo said, pulling away on instinct.

"Broken Pieces, hmmm" He said ignoring Ichigo's remark.

"Why haven't you fixed them yet?"

"…Wut?" Ichigo asked in shock.

Zelretch could only give an exaggerated sign in response and then proceeded to explain how the evil pieces worked.

The evil pieces are magical constructs made from some rare materials. They draw their power from the king piece which in turn draws its power form the host's potential and strength. When the host's potential and strength are at a low enough margin, the pieces will crack because they didn't receive enough energy to sustain themselves.

Since the evil pieces couldn't understand Ichigo's power to quantify his potential nor could they access his sealed powers, they tried to only pull from his demonic energy which is very low. And the obvious reaction occurred.

"so, since they are energy conduits, then pump some reiatsu into them idiot" Zelretch said before turning and walking away.

Ichigo quickly delved into his soul world where his King piece stood.

With Zangetsu and the old man by his side, they all started to channel their energy into the king piece.

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Ajuka Beelzebub, the creator of the evil pieces, was annoyed.

For the past several years, he's been trying to figure how it happened. Did they break, did someone tamper with them? Was it the nature of his power?

He was of course thinking about Kurosaki Ichigo's evil pieces. They were "broken pieces" as the uninformed called them.

He had felt, and seen the kind of power the boy wielded, there is no way his pieces wouldn't have enough power or potential to draw on.

There have even been rumors that the pieces were broken due to this situation. And it continued to infuriate him that he couldn't figure out what happened.

It had been an almost daily routine that the check on the status of young Kurosaki's pieces.

He could check the status of every Evil piece in the world, he couldn't track them or find who reincarnated with them, just the state of them. If they were in use, if they were mutated, or in this case, if they were broken.

It was mid afternoon when he woke up, a nap he decided to take earlier due to the stress. As was already muscle memory at this point he was checking his equipment for Kurosaki Ichigo's evil pieces, barely even glancing at the screen.

He was about to turn away when something caught his attention, his expression turned to one of disbelief.

The Screen read:

Kurosaki Ichigo

Queen Piece (Unused)—Mutated

Rook Piece (Unused)—Mutated

Bishop Piece (Unused)—Mutated

Knight Piece (Unused)—Mutated

Pawn Piece (Unused)—Mutated

He stared at the screen for over an hour. He still was trying to comprehend it.

"HOW" he shouted loud enough for his assistants to run into the room.

They were also staring at it in disbelief.

After a couple days, rumors began to spread.

For the first time in several years, news about Kurosaki Ichigo began to spread once again.

Kurosaki Ichigo had all his Pieces mutate.

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The days passed slowly. All Ichigo could think about was going to his old world. His mood was solemn. Even Zelretch didn't try to get a rise out of him.

Surprisingly, Zelretch was offering emotional support. He would ask him stories about his home, his friends and family.

Ichigo told him about his battles, his training, his fights with Zangetsu and him finally accepting zangetsu. He told him everything up to killing Yhwach.

Ichigo knew that Zelretch could easily know all this information by using his magic, and he was thankful for the opportunity to share himself. And as time passed he started asking Zelretch questions about his own adventures and home.

Zelretch told him a lot of things, his mastering his True magic. His fighting the physical manifestation of the moon, which was an odd thing to hear about. His adopting a certain True ancestor as his granddaughter.

What he talked about the most though, was the trolling the pranks he did. He was both feared and respected in this supposed "clocktower". He was respected for his Knowledge and power, and feared for when he was in the mood for a prank, no one was safe.

Eventually the time approached. It was his 16th birthday. Zelretch had even gotten him a present of sorts, he modified the Jeweled dagger, so it could absorb energy from multiple worlds at once which greatly reduced the time it needed to recharge. It could now do a round trip with over a dozen people every few weeks.

"Some warnings first Ichigo" Zelretch said.

"I put some bounded fields around the property, think of them like barriers. They mostly hide the mansion to avoid prying eyes and put forth a decent defense against intrusion."

"I tell you this because of what will happen when you bring back people to this world as devils, when they come back and are accepted by the world, there will be a few moments where they will need to acclimate while the world probes their essence"

"This means their powers will explode outward for a few moments for anyone to sense. I could theoretically put a bounded field that would block the energy from leaking out but that would also block the world from its probes which mutes the point."

"The best I could do was distort the surrounding area, basically anyone who senses the power will only be able to narrow it down to this town and nothing further, so you will have a chance to stay hidden."

"Thanks gramps" Ichigo said smirking as he grabbed the dagger.

Zelretch couldn't help but feel a twitch on the corner of his lips.

"Good luck kid, I can't wait to meet my granddaughters-in-law."

Ichigo waved behind him as he activated the dagger.

"Open portal to: Shinigami World"

And in an instant, he was gone.

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