A Shinigami & Phoenix's Otherworldly Adventure by FallenDispair (Book x-overxBleach)

*I've read multiple stories by this author. I don't know if he will post anymore chapters of this story*

*Also, this story has a huge A/N about the changes implemented.And how it affects the two main characters. I didn't add it because Webnovel has a max character limit, but would reccomend reading it*

Latest update:September 21, 2024

Summary:A mix of bleach and some aspects from Will Wight's Cradle series thrown into the world of He Who Fights With Monsters. Ichigo and Orihime are sucked into an alternate magical universe where they gain powers from the Reaper and Phoenix. IchigoxOrihime story but where she is equal to Ichigo in the story, more manga like than anime making her more fanservice. Better sum inside.

Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14394289/1/A-Shinigami-Phoenix-s-Otherworldly-Adventure

Word count:76k

Chapters:5

Chapter 1: Surviving Monsters & Cannibals in a Hege Maze.

Ichigo woke up naked, face down in the grass. That was not how he expected to wake up, since he had gone to sleep in his own bed with his girlfriend. From the feel of the cool grass on his groin, he had been removed from his bed and Orihime both. The last thing he remembered was a long, stress relieving love session in their single bedroom apartment in Melbourne, private accommodations being cheaper than on-campus ones.

Ichigo was enrolled in linguistics and business to become a translator at Melbourne University as Orihime had been enrolled in their premed courses. Her brother's life insurance was just barely enough to cover four years of university and Med-school, with some help from scholarship programs. Thus, they had moved in together to save on money, which had been a big step in their relationship.

And with some financial support from their families, they got by.

Last night Orihime had been studying hard for the MCATS and he had finals, which were right around the corner. So, they'd stayed up late releasing their stress for the upcoming exams until fatigue took over and they actually went to sleep.

The grass he woke up on was weirdly comfortable, a dense bed of lush green softness. It wasn't like any grass he had encountered before. Which was odd as he had come across many variations of grass working for his uncle's landscaping business during the summers throughout his teens.

Ichigo rolled himself over and sat up. He was feeling odd, there was a lingering spoor, but also a feeling of refreshed energy. He ran a hand over his head, only to be startled when he realized his hair was missing.

"Uh..."

He felt about his head with both hands, but his head was balloon smooth. Which was odd for he had a full head of spiky black hair when he went to sleep. He made a quick check with his eyes and hands, realizing there was no hair anywhere on his body. No eyebrows, nothing on his legs or arms, or... other places.

"Did someone actually shave me down there? That's disturbing... and clearly someone is asking for an ass-kicking. And where the hell is Orihime?"

He pushed himself to his feet and started assessing his environment. Casting his gaze to the sky, he saw that the sun was high, and the air was warm. The sky was unbroken blue, the blazing orb burning away so much as the merest hint of cloud. Sunburn, more than cold, was likely to threaten his exposed extremities. He really didn't want to know what sunburned genitals felt like.

Looking around, he saw that he was boxed in between two long, tall hedges. Glancing up and down the dead-straight lane, side-junctions headed off at sharp right angles in either direction. The lane itself was wide and grassy, with plenty of room for unconscious sprawling. The hedge walls were meticulously trimmed, professionally so in fact.

Ichigo glanced down at his bald, naked body, seeing his lean muscle forged through years of karate practice and street fights with punks looking to attack anything different. He also had long limbs that matched his tall height, at least by Asian standards, topping out around 5'11" by time he graduated high school. Only his best friend Chad was taller than him, reaching over 6'5" when they graduated. Ichigo hadn't seen Chad in while, not since his last leave. As an orphan Chad didn't have enough money to pay for university, his aunt only covering his high school years. Though, Chad wouldn't have gone to the same prep-school as Ichigo if he hadn't earned a scholarship as she was more involved with her new rich husband to bother with Chad's wellbeing. Which would have kept Ichigo from meeting the best friend he ever had. Thus, Chad had enlisted with the Australian Defense Force (ADF) straight out of school to pay for university and had been deployed all over the country for the terrorist readiness drills popping up all over the world the last three or so years.

Ichigo shook off his recollection and confusion to set off at random to explore and hopefully find some pants. He quickly discovered he was in a hedge maze, the living walls cultivated to almost twice his height. Ichigo's first thought was to climb one to get a better sense of his location, but a closer examination of the hedges changed his mind. Instead of the usual boxwood, the hedges were something very prickly, and he was very naked. He'd rather put off scrapping his junk for as long as he could. He looked up and down the path he was on, with neither direction looking any better than the other.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

As if in response to his question, something appeared in front of him. It looked like a touch screen, floating in the air, disembodied. He reached out to touch it with an experimental finger, the screen shimmering as his finger passed straight through.

"Hologram?"

He looked at the ground and the nearby hedges for some kind of projector, but as he started moving, the screen followed. There was text on the screen, which he read.

New Quest: [Stranger in a Strange Land]

You have awoken in a place you do not know. Explore the area to discover more.

Objectives: Explore the hedge maze 0/1.

Reward: Simple pants.

"Huh."

He looked around suspiciously. He carefully probed the pointy foliage of the hedge walls, looking for hidden cameras. Looking up at the sky, he didn't spot any camera drones. What he did notice was the moon, pale and easy to overlook in the daylight.

Then he noticed another moon.

"That can't be right."

Ichigo looked down at the floating screen, then back up at the sky. Still two moons.

"Great. I've gone insane."

Ichigo sat down on the grass, unsure what to do. He kept glancing up at the sky and the extra moon. In front of him, the screen still waited patiently.

"This is crazy. I mean, a quest? I'm not a video game character."

Another screen appeared next to the first.

Wei Shi Ichigo Asano

Race: Outworlder

Current rank: normal

Progression to iron rank: 0% (0/4 essences)

Attributes:

[Power] (no essence): normal

[Speed] (no essence): normal

[Spirit] (no essence): normal

[Recovery] (no essence): normal

Racial Abilities (Outworlder)

[Interface]

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Astral Affinity]

[Mysterious Stranger]

Essences (0/4)

No Essence [No Attribute] (0/4)

No Essence [No Attribute] (0/4)

No Essence [No Attribute] (0/4)

No Essence [No Attribute] (0/4)

"Is this a character sheet? Am I meant to understand any of this?"

He shook his head in bewilderment. "Crap. Now I wish I had played those roll playing games Orihime liked." He'd only played a few video games in his life, being more of an athlete, and mostly fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken. The closest was Witcher 3 and that was for the sword play than the roll playing elements.

He looked over the screen again and read, "Map," latching onto something familiar. "I know what maps are. How do I see the map?"

A new screen obligingly appeared, but as it was the third screen, the space in front of him was getting crowded. He absently thought it would be convenient for the other screens to close, which they immediately did.

"What the..." Ichigo blew out a deep sigh at the absurdity of what was happening to him. Things were getting harder to explain away, even ignoring the extra moon. Some kind of voice-command hologram was implausible, but not impossible. Mental command holograms were something else entirely.

"This can't be real."

Hoping it wouldn't work, he started experimenting. He was able to open and close any of the windows with a simple thought.

"Maybe you're unconscious," he reassured himself. "Maybe you have a brain tumor and you're in a hospital somewhere. Or passed out on the floor. Hallucinating in an asylum. A nice one, with a big hedge maze." He closed his eyes with a groan. "How is any of that comforting?"

Ichigo took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before opening his eyes again. The screens were still there, waiting.

"Just roll with the punches," he told himself. "Reserve judgment until more information is available. That's the rational approach."

He turned his gaze back to the map floating in front of him. It looked like a map from any video game, complete with a location listing.

Zone: Vane Estate (Hedge Maze)

Though, it was mostly obscured. The only unveiled portion was the small section of the hedge maze he had already explored. He tried moving the map with mental commands, finding he could zoom it in and out as easily as he could open and close the disembodied screens.

Zooming all the way out he reached a world map that looked both familiar and unfamiliar. Although the details were obscured, he could decipher the outline of the continents. Disturbingly, they weren't quite the same as the ones he knew. Southeast Asia was a singular landmass, pushing Australia south and east where it looked to have consumed New Zealand. The Iberian and Arabian peninsulas were missing entirely, leaving Africa wholly disconnected from Europe and Asia. Sri Lanka was further south and several times larger, making for a huge land mass in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Japan looked to have absorbed north and south Korea into a single mass while being moved further south from China, forming a small ocean on par with the Indian Ocean between them. North and South America were separated with a small sea between them.

"Well, that's not what the world looks like. Inaccurate cartography? An older map from earlier explorations of the world?"

According to the map, Ichigo was in south-west Africa, somewhere around inland Namibia. He looked at the rich, green hedges boxing him in. The lush grass felt cool under his feet. He felt the hot, but not dry, air on his skin. He gave what many had referred to as his trademark scowl.

"This doesn't feel like the Kalahari Desert."

He sighed, closing the map, "This is all impossible."

He pulled up the character sheet again.

Racial Abilities (Outworlder)

[Interface]

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Astral Affinity]

[Mysterious Stranger]

"Shouldn't my race be human? What's an Outworlder?" Ichigo half expected another screen to appear, but nothing did, so he looked down the list.

"Interface seems obvious. Quest systems too, I guess. Inventory?"

A window appeared, dominated by an almost empty grid of icon slots. There were five spaces down and eight across, for a total of forty. There was also what looked like a currency counter at the bottom, depicting six different coins. Each coin had a counter that read zero.

Ichigo thought it held a resemblance to the Witcher inventory, but far more limited. "Can I really put stuff in here?"

There were two items in the inventory, occupying the first and second slot. One was some kind of red icon, presumably representing an actual item, the other black.

"Alright, Ichigo. Time to see how far gone you really are. How do I get this thing out?"

After some quick trial and error, he discovered it was as simple as plucking the icon straight out of the screen. The icon vanished and the item appeared magically in his hand. It was a medallion the size of his palm. It looked and felt like polished red marble with gold engravings on both sides. It was pleasantly warm to the touch. On one side the engraving was a picture of a fire bird, while the other had symbols reading 'Authority of the World-Phoenix.'

"Well, that just magically appeared out of thin air," Ichigo said disheartened at what happened. "That's not possible. Wait, why can I read this? I might be polylingual, but this most definitely is not any language I've ever seen before. So... how can I read it?"

In response to his question one of his racial abilities popped up.

Ability: [Mysterious Stranger]

Language adaptation.

Essence, awakening stone and skill-book absorption.

Immunity to identification and tracking effects.

"Language adaptation? Is that how I read the weird writing on the tablet?" He looked at the tablet closer. "What is this thing?"

Item: [World-Phoenix Token] (transcendent rank, legendary)

? (consumable, ?)

Effect: ?

Effect: ?

Uses remaining: 1/1

"Question marks. That's enlightening," he scowled at the useless information.

Ichigo tried putting the red tablet back into the inventory. His first attempt was to shove it into the screen, which surprisingly worked. It vanished from his hands and reappeared as an icon.

"That defies physics," he lamented. "Bad sign for my sanity."

He repeated the process, but with the black icon this time. It was a medallion just like the red one but made out of black marble that was cold to the touch. One side had the picture of a scythe, while the other had the same symbols but reading 'Authority of the Reaper.'

Item: [Reaper Summoning Token] (transcendent rank, legendary)

Manifested spirit of the Reaper (consumable, summons).

Requirements: Uncorrupted soul.

Effect: Summons [Asauchi] that if it successfully bonds to the user's soul will change your race to that of a Soul Reaper.

Effect: Manifested weapon of your soul.

Effect: Trigger racial gift evolutions.

You meet the requirements to use this item.

You are able to activate [Reaper Summoning Token].

Activate Y/N?

Ichigo frowned at the description of the black medallion in his hands, "It'll turn me into a Soul Reaper? A soul weapon? What is that supposed to be?"

When nothing happened, Ichigo just sighed in defeat. The whole situation was insane. Looking closer, he noticed that the question about activating the token only appeared when he looked at the tablet while holding it. Putting it down would cause the prompt to disappear. While looking away or thinking about something else when holding the token would cause the window to shrink to the side.

Ichigo's grip on reality was feeling increasingly tenuous. The screens were odd, but could conceivably, if implausibly, be the product of hidden hologram projectors. It was when they started responding to his thoughts that he started to get worried, and now he was pulling objects out of thin air. Not to forget his hairless body. He closed the inventory and pulled up his character sheet again. Next down the ability list was the map, which he'd already looked at, then astral affinity.

Ability: [Astral Affinity]

Increased resistance to dimension effects and astral forces.

Dimension abilities have increased effect and transcendent damage is increased.

"No idea what that means."

He already knew what mysterious stranger did so, he dismissed his character sheet and panned his head around the lush green hedge maze, thinking about his situation. He was lost, naked and hairless. His girlfriend was nowhere to be seen, and he wasn't certain if was he dead, in a coma or had lost his mind and was in a delusionary state. Would using the reaper summoning token push him deeper into that delusion?

Ichigo shook away the thoughts and decided he'd not use it. Whatever the Reaper was, which sounded like a death god, he didn't want to possibly summon a piece of it. It could be an elaborate trial of the afterlife and if he let it in, he'd die.

He put it away with its red twin and closed all the open windows except for the map. "Alright then," he said, looking up and down the pathway he was on. Neither offered anything to recommend it over the other. "Well, without a clear direction to go, any will have to do."

He picked a direction at random and set off grumbling, "When I find who stripped me naked, shaved me bald and dumped me in this maze, I'll give them a beating so hard their ancestors will feel it."

Ichigo was walking through the maze, the map open in front of him. It was being unveiled as he walked. His current plan was to reveal enough that he could plot a way out. He froze when he heard a rustle in the hedges, then quickly spun towards the sound. His highly trained and experienced instincts flared out.

Something was out there.

"Who's there?" he demanded, his body shifting into his well-practiced karate stance while trying not to think about how exposed his genitals were. He started panning his eyes around as he strained his ears for any sound of life, like a snapping twig or rustling of leaves.

There wasn't any response.

Ichigo has been ambushed enough times by school thugs pretending to be gangsters to have developed a sixth sense for ambushes. Something was stalking him; he was sure of it. Besides his childhood friend Tatsuki who's skill in karate ranked nationally, though he'd surpassed her at the age of fifteen and Chad with his monstrous strength and endurance, he'd never met anyone that fought better than him.

New Quest: [No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

Your immediate area has become infested with lesser monsters.

Objective: Discover the reason lesser monsters have infested the area 0/1.

Reward: Simple shirt.

Bonus Objective: Defeat ten lesser monsters 0/10.

Reward: Simple footwear.

"Monsters? That doesn't sound plausible. Was I hit by a truck and sent to another world or something?"

Ichigo was continuing to hold a ready stance while focusing on panning his head around when something small came hurtling from the bottom of a hedge. His hands shot out and latched around a mass of furry, snarling buck teeth snapping at him. It looked like a rabid hamster the size of his head.

The huge hamster writhed and struggled while snapping it teeth at him, trying to take a chunk out of his face. In frustration, Ichigo threw the creature to ground with all his might. The monster hit the ground hard, the soft grass offering little protection as it bounced back a bit. It twitched and shuddered, but Ichigo pounced on it before it could get up, stomping down on its head with a sickening crunch.

One of its eyes popped out its socket, screeching something terrible. Adrenaline pumping and its pained wails churning his stomach, he repeatedly stomped down on it until it went silent. Blood, bone and grey brain matter were visible around what used to be its head and his bare foot. Unfortunately, the last killing blow caused a sharpened piece of skull to slice open his foot from the pad to the ankle.

"Bugger!" Ichigo yelped, seething as he hopped back, holding his wounded foot, letting out a few more expletives as he fell onto his butt.

You have defeated [Potent Hamster]

Defeated lesser monsters 1/10

Ichigo spanned his head around for another attack, fearing something heard the hamster's death throng. After a few moments passed without a sound and no perceived movements, he returned his focus to the bleeding cut on the inside of his right foot, a firm grip above the wound. Looking back at the dead lump of the head-sized hamster, he grumbled, "What the hell is happening? How could a hamster get that big? And why attack me? Are hamster's omnivores?"

Ichigo looked over the creature, its head now a pulpy mass. According to the window that popped up it was a lesser monster called a Potent Hamster. Extending his index finger from his free hand, he poked at it.

Would you like to loot [Potent Hamster]?

Ichigo yanked back his hand, fearing it might trigger some sort of trap. "What in the name of kami is going on?"

Reading the screen again, and after cradling his wounded foot some more, uncertainly stated, "Yes?"

The body of the dead creature made a fizzing sound, like a rapid chemical reaction. The body started melting rapidly, first the flesh, then even the skeleton, all dissolving into rainbow-colored smoke. It seemed pretty until it hit Ichigo with a stench thick as cheese, like burned hair and rotting flesh. He scrambled back while pinching his nose to escape the rancid smell, hacking out coughs. Which unfortunately didn't work as the bloody mess on his foot also dissolved. It was by far the worst thing he has ever smelled in his life.

The movement also agitated his injury, getting him to grit his teeth in pain.

Looking back at where he'd killed the hamster, he saw the creature's body had vanished, as if it never existed at all. He ignored the window that popped up, looking over the, thankfully not too deep cut, but he also knew it'd hinder his movements. Feet were sensitive and pain would shoot up his leg every time he put his weight down on said foot.

"Well, this sucks," he told the spot where the hamster used to be. "Monster hamsters attacking out of nowhere, my foot is injured, I'm naked and hairless, I have no idea where I am or if Orihime's okay, and said monster just puffs out of existence like out of a manga or something. I can't think of any better explanation for what's happening than I've lost my damned mind."

Ichigo just sat there for a few more moments, his foot throbbing in pain, before he took calming breaths. He was hurt. Not badly, but he was experiencing pain. So, this wasn't some elaborate dream, it was real enough to hurt him.

He straightened up, but stayed seated on his rear, he read the screen waiting for him.

[Monster Core (Lesser)] has been added to your inventory.

[Healing Unguent (Iron)] has been added to your inventory.

10 [Lesser Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

"Oh, straight into the inventory. That place that lets me make things appear and disappear. Great."

Now familiar with opening and closing the screens, the inventory window appeared with a simple thought. Two more of the forty grids were now occupied with little icons, while the currency counter now had the number ten listed over the first of the six coin symbols.

Ichigo took out the item labelled healing unguent. It was a small, round tin reminding Ichigo of an old ointment tin peddled by alternative medical shops offering to cure baldness or erectile disfunction.

He took a closer look at the tin in his hand.

Item: [Healing Unguent (Iron)] (iron rank, common)

Topical healing ointment. Inexpensive concoction ideal for superficial injures (consumable, healing).

Effect: Apply directly to injuries to heal. Effect reduced on bronze-rank or higher individual.

Uses remaining: 5/5.

Ichigo pulled off the lid to discover it really did look and smell like the alternative medical ointments. There was a sharp, medicinal smell that cut through even the lingering stench of the dead creature. The contents were an oily substance that looked like butterscotch sauce made from dubiously sourced ingredients.

"How did I get ointment from a hamster? And how did it come in a tin?"

After getting silence as an answer, Ichigo just let out a defeated sigh and not seeing any other alterative, he took a glop of the ointment and spread it on his injury. He couldn't very well walk around all that well if he didn't do something to patch up his foot. There was a tingling, burning sensation that Ichigo was familiar with, having been roughed up enough times to get similar such reactions from disinfectant medical salves. Hopefully, that meant the healing unguent also disinfected the wound.

With relief and fascination, he watched the cut close shut, perfectly restoring his foot to normal. There wasn't even red irritated skin from a healed scratch left. It was like magic.

You have used [Healing Unguent (iron)].

Uses remaining 4/5.

Ichigo smirked as he placed the tin back in his inventory and pulled out the other icon. What appeared in his hand was a small, red-brown gem, in shape of a teardrop.

Item: [Monster Core (Lesser)]

(iron rank, common)

The magic core of a lesser monster (crafting material, magic core).

Effect: Common component for ritual magic and magic item creation.

"Oh, it's for magic rituals. I'm apparently in a video game now, so of course magic is real," Ichigo sighed as he put the monster core back in his inventory. "Maybe I've had an aneurysm, and this is just my dying brain trying to sort things out as it shuts down."

He thought about that for a moment. Orihime would wake to find his body underneath her.

"Great. Now I'm actually hoping this whole, insane experience is real. That'd destroy her... and devastate my little sisters. They'd barely made it through Okaan's death."

Ichigo looked at the coin counter in his inventory, "How do I take that out?"

He tried tapping on the number.

You have 10 [Lesser Spirit Coins].

How many would you like to withdraw?

"Um... One," he stretched out in uncertainty.

A coin appeared in Ichigo's hand. It was a washed-out blue color, with a metallic sheen but felt more like glass to the touch.

Item: [Lesser Spirit Coin] (iron rank, common)

An impure distillation of raw magic (currency, crafting material).

Effect: Used to fuel lesser-ranked magic items or as a ritual component.

Ichigo peered at the figure embossed on the coin. Looking closer, he realized it was an image of himself, giving a scowl.

"I don't scowl that much, do I?"

He turned the coin to look at the other side, which was engraved with text.

Product of Wei Shi Ichigo Asano.

Koonichiwa.

He ran a hand over his face, groaning out in exasperation. Somehow the coin itself was more ridiculous than the fact that he had pulled it out of thin air.

When the slippery creature latched its teeth onto his inner thigh, Ichigo yelled more out of panic than pain. He still had no pants and that was much too close to his genitals. He grabbed the long, slippery eel by its head and pressed his thumbs down until he heard a crunch. His thumbs cracked through its skull and sunk into its brain, all the way past his second knuckles.

You have defeated [Flying Eel]

Defeat lesser monsters 9/10.

Ichigo carefully unhinged the eel's jaw from his thigh and tossed it to the side. Dropping to the ground, he pulled out a tin of healing unguent and started rubbing it on the wound, ignoring the blood coming out of it.

"Why can an eel fly?" he groused.

He looked down at the wound, high up the inside of his thigh. The eel had left some rather deep teeth indentations, so the stinging lingered as the wound slowly closed. Even so, the ability to watch an injury vanish in front of his eyes was amazing.

You have used [Healing Unguent (iron)]

Uses remaining: 1/5.

After nine encounters with different creatures, Ichigo only had gone through one whole tin of healing unguent he's gotten, and most of the second one. It wasn't until his fight against something called a malicious hedgehog that he even needed to use it again, going through a whole tin's worth and more. Apparently, fighting a mass of spiky barbs naked and barehanded was highly ill-advised. He really wished he'd at least had a knife, or a metal bat or even a well-sized stick would have done better. He was tempted to use the Reaper token just for the soul weapon, but he didn't want to risk letting in a spirit of death into his very soul.

One pleasant discovery was that he didn't have to stand in the stinking smoke that came off them after they were looted. So long as he touched the creature he could back away before accepting. Even if he was far away from the dissolving creature, the loot went straight into his inventory. The only problem was that any of the creature's blood that got on him would dissolve away as well, giving Ichigo a full dose of the stink.

Every creature Ichigo looted gave out one lesser monster core and exactly 10 lesser spirit coins. Most also produced additional, often nonsensical rewards. Tins of healing ointment were mercifully common, but mostly he received animal parts. That would have been understandable enough, given that he was killing creatures, but they arrived in his inventory already cut and packaged. The bundle of spines he received from the malicious hedgehog was bound with string, while the meat of the tyrannical pheasant came neatly wrapped in deli paper. The animal parts were listed as crafting materials, some of which seemed to be for cooking. While he did enjoy trying new food -being with Orihime made trying new/odd foods a given, Ichigo wasn't quite ready to put monster meat on his plate.

While he waited for the newest wound to heal, he checked the map again. He had a decent-sized chunk of the hedge maze mapped out now, but it was quite large, and he'd met a lot of dead ends. He plotted out his next pathway and set out again.

There was a flower growing in the middle of the pathway, around a meter tall. With thick, gnarled stalk and ugly brown petals on a flower head looking like a fist full of knuckles. Everywhere else Ichigo had been, there was only uniform hedges and neatly cut grass. He watched it from a safe distance, but to all observation it was just a plant. Ichigo moved forwards cautiously; eyes glued to the flower. He gave it as wide a berth as he could, keeping at least two meters from it. Just when he thought he had passed without incident, the flower twitched, spraying spores all over him.

He got dizzy and fell to the ground, then felt a weight on his leg. A vine with a bulbous head had grown out of the ground near the flower stem and was now winding its way around his leg. His head was swimming, but he clenched his teeth, fighting through the haze. He grabbed the vine as it moved up past his leg with both hands, the bulbous head opened up, clamping down onto his hand like a lamprey.

Ignoring the pain, Ichigo started hauling on it. The ground under the flower bulged, soil spilling away as a grotesque shape emerged from the earth. It looked like a root vegetable but was the size and shape of a baby. The vine was attached to its stomach like an umbilical cord, while the flower grew out of its head. Getting up to his feet, he proceeded to yank on the vine and twist, so the creature slammed into the hedge. After it bounced off the hedge and hit the ground, Ichigo ran over and with a scream of anger, he stomped down on its head. With a sickening squelch, the plant monster's head broke apart like a melon.

You have defeated [Carnivorous Mandrake]

Quest: [No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

Bonus objective complete: Defeat ten lesser monsters 10/10.

[Simple Footwear] has been added to your inventory.

Primary quest objective still available.

Ichigo just stood there for a few seconds, taking deep breaths to calm his anger. A baby plant monster just popped out of the ground and tried to eat him. It was impossible but it clearly happened.

"Come on. Get it together. I'm not becoming plant food."

Taking the footwear out of his inventory he discovered it was a pair of geta. Although the thick grass was pleasant underfoot, Ichigo still put them on, remembering the damage he'd done to his foot when stomping the potent hamster to death.

Looking down at his otherwise naked self, he sighed out, "I'd rather have some pants... I'm starting to hate this place."

After he looted the carnivorous mandrake, it proved to be the most generous monster thus far with its loot, producing not only healing unguent, but also something new. Ichigo frowned at the object in his hand.

Item: [Trowel of the Blood Cult] (iron rank, uncommon)

A gardening implement enchanted to affect certain kinds of plants (tool).

Effect: Improves health of carnivorous plants.

The trowel looked sinister, made out of some kind of black metal with a red sheen. It carried the wear marks of having been used as a planting tool, but also had a razor edge that seemed wholly unnecessary for gardening purposes.

"Blood cult?" Ichigo read unhappily from the item description. "Great. Trapped in a cult's hedge maze, butt-ass naked, and they seem to be centered around blood. Nothing bad can come of that," he deadpanned.

"Well, I at least have a weapon...sort of. But it'll do."

Ichigo kept the sharp trowel in hand, on the lookout for more monsters, and more concerningly, blood cultists. After checking his map again, he set off clutching his weapon. Still naked aside from a pair of sandals, he was very careful about where he held it.

Eventually Ichigo found a structure resembling an old European-styled well. He looked at the well. It was a circle of bricks, the mortar aged and crumbling. There was a wooden bucket and crank, both weathered with age.

Quest: [Stranger in a Strange Land]

Objective complete: Explore the hedge maze 1/1.

[Simple Pants] have been added to your inventory.

Quest complete.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief and took the pants out of his inventory. They were made of plain white linen, with billowy legs and a very low crotch fit, held up by a drawstring.

"It kind of looks like the pants Majin Buu wore in DBZ. Am I in an anime?"

Putting aside fashion concerns, Ichigo slipped the pants on, walking around experimentally. They were sufficiently roomy that it didn't feel much different to walking around without them.

The wounds he suffered from the hedgehog and the flying eel left a wound on his thigh, calf, hand and arms, though they been healed. The pants immediately had stains of red and unguent-yellow, the one on his thigh could be misconstrued with an accident involving his bladder.

With his nudity concern ameliorated, Ichigo was able to turn his thoughts to other aspects of his situation. He sat down on the edge of the well to think over his next move.

The things he was experiencing were clearly impossible, which broadly placed him in one of two situations. One, his faculties were significantly compromised and his understanding of what he was doing was massively detached from reality. Brain trauma, hallucinogens, some kind of severe mental break. His knowledge was too shallow, and his observation point too subjective to make any definitive assessment. To the best of his understanding none of those options made sense. He was too lucid, too capable of critical thinking. His consciousness wasn't skipping around, glossing over the inconsistencies of a compromised mental state.

The big point going for the mental-impairment hypothesis was that the alternative scenario required Ichigo's most fundamental understanding of reality to be somewhere between woefully incomplete and breathtakingly wrong.

Either way, his only real option was to get on with it. If it was all in his head, then it didn't matter what he did. Someone from the outside would deal with it, most likely Orihime and his Otoo-san. They'd institutionalize and medicate him, eventually bringing him back to reality. Inversely, if it was real, and he ran around acting like it wasn't, he'd die. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves and focused on the problem at hand.

"Alright," he said, steeling himself. "What's next?"

Sooner or later, he would need to find his way out of the maze, but the fact that his quest ended on reaching the well implied there was something special about it. He started by examining the wooden frame which had a simple crank and rope to lower a bucket, along with a little wooden roof to shield the mechanism from the weather. It only seemed to have worked to a degree, with the rope and bucket both looking worse for wear. The brickwork was likewise dilapidated, with mortar crumbling at his touch. He stuck his head over the well to look down. To his surprise, iron rungs had been affixed to the inside of the well, leading into the darkness below.

Next Quest: [Secrets of the Well]

You have discovered a ladder descending into the well. Do you have the courage to explore the depths?

Objective: Explore the well 0/1.

Reward: Awakening stone.

Bonus objective: Don't die 0/1.

Reward: Essence.

"Don't die? That sounds promising," he groused.

He shook his head in resignation and sat down on the lip of the well. It'd be foolish to go into a mysterious well that triggered a warning about dying.

Ichigo was wondering what to do next when he heard voices coming from somewhere close within the hedge maze. With little options he quickly went down the rungs of the well just enough not to be seen by a passerby.

"I tracked the aura of the mandrake that took my trowel," a gravelly male voice said. "Someone had already killed it, and my trowel was nowhere to be found."

"Someone with those adventurers we caught?" another man asked.

"I don't care who they're with," the first voice said. "I'm going to kill 'em, cook 'em and eat 'em."

"I wanted to try some of that elf girl, but the mistress said we're keeping them all for the sacrifice. Bloody waste, if you ask me."

"Nah, elves ain't good eating. Not much meat on them, and what's there is all stringy. That human girl, she's the one you want. Lean and tender."

"I don't know, Dougall; she looked pretty tough to me. And we always have human. I just want a little variety, is all."

"Well, this lot is all spoken for, regardless."

Ichigo didn't let out a breath until the voices faded into the distance. He ignored the fact that they were talking about elves in the face of their casual discussion on the pros and cons of eating people. Cannibals. Guess he now knows what the Blood Cult was all about. All things considered; cannibals weren't too far out the realm of what was believable. Compared to real monsters, magic, and apparently elves existing, cannibalistic cults was nothing too odd. Horrible, but realistic and historically proven. He considered it some more as he continued climbing down the well.

"Great. This place just keeps getting better and better."

Ichigo wasn't exactly thrilled about his options. A quest with the explicit objective of 'don't die' wasn't great, but wandering a maze filled with cannibals seemed like the worse option. Sure, he was confident that he could take down the two men easily enough, so long as they weren't armed with something better than a knife, but they could have strange magic powers. Maybe if he took them by surprise?

The best option was to hope that he could find some sort of sewer system or underground tunnel where he could hide from this Blood Cult. He was going to need to use the token to get that soul-weapon. He wasn't sure what the spirit of the reaper would do, hopefully not drag his soul off to the afterlife, but it did say something about bonding to it. So, maybe the weapon gave him powers of death?

All he knew for certain, was that people were being held captive by cannibal cultists and were going to be sacrificed. Also, these cultists have been killing and eating humans long enough for a guy to complain about the lack of variety in their meals. He wanted to save the captives and stop these monsters.

Quest: [Moved to Action]

Upon hearing cannibal cultists' plans to sacrifice adventurers you have been moved to save them and bring the blood cult to justice. Do you have what it takes?

Primary Objective: Save the adventurers 0/4.

Reward: One awakening stone per rescued adventurer 0/4.

Bonus Objective: Destroy the local Blood Cult.

Reward: Essence.

That was convenient, oddly so, but he wouldn't begrudge whatever system or magic that dictated the quests he got giving him rewards for what he was going to do anyways. Didn't help the question of his insanity any but there were people that needed help. He wasn't some superhero chasing down villains and looking for injustices, but he would do his best to save those he could when presented with the opportunity.

But first, he needed to find somewhere private, isolated where he could bond with a spirit of the reaper. It didn't sound like the thing he should do in the bright hedge maze that cannibals were patrolling. Hopefully, the well led to a cavern or tunnel were the bonding process, whatever that was, wouldn't be interrupted.

So, he continued down.

The well was quite deep, judging from the diminishing light coming from above. He kept a careful grip on the cold metal rungs, not only did several rungs shift as he went, but the interior of the well also became dank, the sides slick and wet.

The light did not penetrate far down the narrow well, and Ichigo was soon moving entirely by feel. He descended cautiously, each foot carefully seeking out the next rung down. He would occasionally glance up at the shrinking blue circle that was all he could see of the sky, making sure a cultist wasn't looking down. He discovered he had reached the bottom when his foot met water instead of the next rung. Some experimental probing revealed it was ankle deep, enough to submerge his sandals in the icy cold. The bottom of the well was flat but, as it turned out, just as slippery as the walls. He slipped, catching the rungs to right himself and avoid falling into what he hoped was water.

Unfortunately, Ichigo did not find an exit tunnel and it was too narrow for his liking. Though, with some patting around and his eyes adjusting to the dark, he found a hole, large enough to crawl through. He didn't know if it was the source of the well's water or some kind of drainage tunnel.

Ichigo looked up again at the bright circle of the sky, then the dark circle of the tunnel. "Uhg. Of course, I have no other option but to go crawling down a tight, dank tunnel towards nowhere," he groaned out.

Ichigo slowly crawled his way into the dank tunnel, a circular pipe of wet and slimy brickwork. It was wide enough to push himself along, but tight enough that he was pressed against the clammy sides. Someone Chad's size would never have fit. The darkness engulfed him as he moved away from the meager light that reached the bottom of the well. Edging down the tunnel, touch was the only sense with which he could navigate. With the ubiquitous smell of wet rot, he wished his nose was as useless as his eyes, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the rainbow smoke.

"This had better lead to somewhere," he grumbled to himself.

If it turned out to be a dead end, he would be forced to shimmy backwards, the tunnel far too tight to turn around. The gloom of the well had seemed stifling, but the dark of the tunnel was much deeper. The claustrophobic vibe of the tunnel didn't make the experience any more pleasant.

He let out a breath of relief when his hand came down on slimy, wet wood instead of brick. There was no light, so he probed with his hands. He had reached the end of the tunnel but had no idea what kind of space it opened into. He sensed open space, but in complete darkness it could well have been his imagination.

His hands felt out some kind of platform made of wooden planks. It was wet and a little slimy, although it felt reliably solid under Ichigo's hands. The surface of the wood was rough, like sandpaper. Some kind of long-enduring adhesive had been used to apply sand or something similar, improving friction on the wet planks. Feeling around as he crawled free of the tunnel, he felt the planks were lined up to make a walkway, a meter and half wide.

He cautiously stood, making sure his head didn't smack into anything. Thankfully, there was plenty of room for him to stand and despite the slimy wet planks the sand kept it rough enough not to slip. Even so, he took cautious steps going forward. Just a short way down the path he found a vertical metal rod sticking out of the walkway, at the edge to his left, from which was hanging some kind of metal box with a loop on top.

Item: [Crude Magic Lamp] (iron rank, common)

A simple lightened device fueled by low-level magic. (tool).

Effect: Cast light.

Current charge: 00%. Requires a [Lesser Spirit Coin] to replenish.

Expend 1 [Lesser Spirit Coin] Y/N?

"Yes."

When the lamp lit up, lighting up the surroundings, it temporarily blinded him. After blinking the spots away, he recognized that he was in a natural cavern with stalagmites of various sizes scattered about with plenty of dark crevices and ominous shadows. Which was presumably why someone had put in the walkway, raised on thick wooden posts. The walkway was about an arm's length above the cave floor.

Ichigo examined the lamp, and as the name suggested, the crude magic lamp was a simple affair, looking rather like a miner's tin lamp. It had three boxy, metal sides, a glass front and a loop handle on the top. Inside, the light came from what looked like a round stone, glowing like a light bulb.

With room and privacy, Ichigo pulled the black medallion from his inventory, his resolve giving him the nerve to do what needed to be done.

You are able to activate [Reaper Summoning Token]

Activate Y/N?

"Yes, activate the token."

The token suddenly turned sizzling-hot in his hands, and he dropped it to the floor.

"What the...?"

Dark, ethereal light started emanating from the token and Ichigo backed away. The black light coming off the token was rising up in narrow streaks, like black tendrils that grasped the air and lifted it up to his eyelevel. He took another uncertain step back, second guessing himself, but stopped and steeled his resolve.

"Man up, Ichigo. You'll need more than a trowel to make it out of this."

The tendrils swirled around the token to form a circle four meters in diameter, the token itself dissolving to fill in the circle with the ethereal darkness. Once it solidified, it peeled back to reveal a circular shoji screen door. It opened immediately to reveal a two and half meter tall silvery bone-white humanoid with no defining features. It had no mouth, nose, eyes or hair. Just the vague shape of a man's face.

That was until the door closed behind it, disappearing from existence and the Asauchi opened its eyelids to reveal two small mouths instead of eyes. They breathed, had teeth and a tongue. It was creepy and Ichigo wondered if he'd made a terrible mistake.

Suddenly Ichigo felt pressured on all sides, like he was in the grip of a god that was squeezing him for all his worth. Then it went even deeper, the mouth-eyes of the Asauchi somehow gazing at Ichigo, penetrating down to his very soul. It was scouring his soul, searching, learning and understanding Ichigo down to the fundamental essence of who he was.

Ichigo was gritting his teeth, biting down the pain and glaring down the creature in front of him. Not willing to show weakness to it. If this spirit of the Reaper was going to kill him, he'd met death with his head held high and resisting with everything he had until the end.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the pressure stopped and the Asauchi knelt before him on one knee, head bowed. Some instinct from his soul told Ichigo what to do. He offered his right hand and the Asauchi took it without hesitation and Ichigo pulled it up to its feet.

The instant it rose to meet Ichigo's eyes it started to glow, and its skin peeled away in a shroud of black and red tinted blue. Before Ichigo could see what it looked like underneath the darkness, a shrouded hand pierced the center of his chest. Yet, instead of tearing flesh and splattering blood, a hole opened up into a vast dark void with a single blue sun floating there. The black-red coated hand of the Asauchi had a chain shoot out of it and proceeded to sink through the surface of the blue sun that was Ichigo's soul, straight to its core.

In that moment, Ichigo felt the Asauchi so completely, like it was a part of him. A missing part that had finally found its way home and completed him.

The chain connecting the Asauchi to his soul was rapidly drawn in, sucking it into the void in Ichigo's chest, like light being sucked into a black hole. The blur of darkness tinted red was absorbed into the vibrant blue orb.

The sun in that void shimmered and grew brighter as the Asauchi was fully incorporated into it. The void hole in Ichigo's chest closed shut, leaving unblemished skin. Then a light started emerging from within his body. It was a strange swirl of red and black light, washing out the colors of everything it touched. Then, the light exploded outward devouring the cavern for just an instant before condensing into a pillar three meters wide and reached the top of the cavern.

Ichigo felt like his body was being dissolved, purified, leaving just the blue sun now tinted red-black, and the rough outline of his form. Then the energy pillar of red-black colored flames filled in that outline, reforging his body into something new.

Ichigo found himself standing, his eyes were now pools of darkness with luminescent irises of deep, dark glowing red -like burning coals, and all the gunk from crawling through the tunnel was gone... along with his pants and geta. But that was ignored as a new prompt appeared, stealing all his attention.

You have successfully bonded with [Asauchi].

You have acquired [Zanpakuto (Asauchi)].

Bonding with Asauchi has caused racial gift evolutions.

Racial gift [Astral Affinity] has evolved to [Soul Transfiguration].

Ability: [Soul Transfiguration]

Your body and soul have been combined into a gestalt entity both physical and spiritual in nature. This state grants inherent resistance to effects that utilize the soul-body disconnect and corruption. Additionally adds soul effects to all your essence abilities, allowing them to directly affect the soul.

The nature of your new body has rendered you immune to resurrection effects, including those of high-rank healing magic, with the sole exception of transcendent effects. If your body is discorporated, your soul will return to a purely spiritual state, unable to reinhabit a physical form or reenter a physical reality. This prevents the natural formation of an outworlder body on entering a physical reality.

You gained the ability to sense auras.

The strength of your aura has significantly increased.

The strength of your attributes has significantly increased.

Your resistance to hostile dimension effects and disruptive force damage has been increased. This is an enhancement of the [Astral Affinity] ability.

The effect of your dimension effects and your transcendent damage has been increased. This is a legacy effect of the [Astral Affinity] ability.

The power of your soul has granted you resistance to all normal-rank effects and attacks with increased resistances to higher ranked ones. This effect will grow in conjunction with your rank.

[]

As you are now a normal ranked gestalt entity you have until you reach iron rank to absorb essences before you become too magically potent to do so.

Based off current ambient magical density and saturation levels of your current area you have approximately three days before naturally accumulating enough magical energy to reach iron rank.

[]

Racial Gift [Inventory] has evolved into [Soul Vault].

Ability: [Soul Vault]

You have a dimensional storage space.

As a gestalt entity your body and soul are in a state that is both physical and spiritual. This has made your dimensional storage space a physical space that you and others can enter by calling up a gate.

Only those who implicitly trust you will be able to enter your soul vault. Anything short of complete trust will prevent them from entering. You may seal the vault against any or all individuals. It is not possible to break into the soul vault by anyone without existing access to your soul, such as through a Hogyoku or divinely granted essence ability.

Anyone in your spirit vault is under your power. They cannot use abilities or affect anything within the vault, including you and each other, with limited exceptions.

You and bonded entities such as Asauchi or familiars can affect people within your vault in almost any way, except for violating their souls, although you can attack their souls. They may be protected from your influence through a connection to a foreign element in your soul, if present, such as a Hogyoku or divinely granted essence ability.

You can expel or trap anyone within your soul vault, although individuals with a significantly greater soul sense than you may be able to force their way out. Individuals may resist expulsion through a connection to a foreign element in your soul.

Ichigo could feel the new power flowing through him, a barely visible blue glow around him. He felt stronger, healthier than ever before. Like he was no longer bound by the limits of flesh, which, if the prompt was right, he was now a blend of flesh and soul. It also meant he was limited in how long he could wait before absorbing essences.

Whatever those were.

He looked down to discover a katana in his hands that had a black sageo for its grip with two red tassels hanging from the kashira and the tsuba was square. Its length was fitted for his height at about 2.50 Shaku or 75.8cm/29.8" and was perfectly balanced.

[Zanpakuto (Asauchi)] (Soulbound Spirit)

Conjuration (weapon, cleanse)

Base cost: None.

Cooldown: none.

Current Rank: Asauchi (unnamed)

Effect: The unnamed sword; Asauchi generated from your soul is capable of cutting spiritual bodies and attacking the soul directly. The sword is a reflection of your power and soul and a sentient being unto itself. This sword does transcendent damage, and any entity killed by this weapon will have their soul cleansed and transitioned to the Great Astral. It does increased damage to undead entities and creatures of the Void. A Zanpakuto's shape and abilities are based on their owner's soul.

"Transcendent damage?"

Help: Transcendent damage.

Transcendent damage ignores all forms of physical and magical defense, damage reduction and resistances.

"Wait, there's been a help function all this time," Ichigo grumped. "Can you help me get home? Or find Orihime?"

Nothing happened: No prompts of any kind appearing in response to his question.

Ichigo sighed and shook it off. None of what was happening made much sense. Best to just plow onwards until he could get some answers. For now, that meant assessing his options and rescuing people from cannibals.

Ichigo took a basic kendo stance and went through several motions with his Zanpakuto, getting a feel for the blade. It felt like it was born for his use, like there was no other place for the blade to be other than his hands. He'd done some kendo as his father was a former kendo enthusiast that'd won a few tournaments, but not as much as his karate. So, he was competent in using it as a deadly weapon but wasn't exactly skilled.

Looking at his once again naked body and the lack of saya for the blade, he was concerned with cutting himself. Upon having that very thought red-black energy coalesced around the katana's blade to form a matching saya.

"That was covenant..." Ichigo drawled out weirdly.

It helped somewhat, in the fact that he wouldn't accidentally cut himself by carrying around an unsheathed sword. But he still wondered where he could place it when he needed both his hands. He supposed the floor or...

Ichigo groaned, "Right, the inventory."

Before he could even attempt to pull up the screen, his blade disappeared in streams of red and black, shooting into him. He blinked owlishly for a few moments, wondering where it went. He could still feel the blade intrinsically, inside of him, almost like it was him. Actually, it felt eager to be summoned, like a hungry dog snapping at the bit for a piece of raw meat. Opening his inventory to check for it, he didn't find it. Though, it seemed that his inventory no longer had a limit to how much it could store.

Wanting the blade back, with a flex of will, pulling on the feeling to be used, the katana reformed back into his hands out of the red-black energy. He proceeded to repeat the process, dissolving it back into himself and conjuring it back into his hands again several times, feeling no weakness or exhaustion of any kind.

"Not sure how that works, but that solves that problem."

With that issue solved Ichigo moved to the rod holding the lamp and removed it, getting a prompt about receiving the item. He hoped that the cavern led to an entrance to the building or structure the Blood Cult was stationed. Then he could hopefully sneak in and free the adventurers before having to take on the cultists. He wasn't delusional enough to believe he could beat them on his own. They obviously have the numbers to deal with him and seeing as magic was real, they'd have the power too.

He needed help.

Since the beam of the lamp light lit up the cave like a lighthouse on a dark night, there was no point in being overly stealthy. He'd still stay as quiet as he could, the lamp in his left hand and the katana in his right -the scabbard having dematerialized, prepared for a potential attack. Hopefully the monsters that might be living down in the dark cavern would have eyesight developed for it and would be dazed by the sudden light. That'd give him an opening to cut them down with his blade. If it turned out to be a cannibal cultist, he'd... well, he wasn't entirely sure what he'd do.

Knocking them out at least, but these cultists were capturing and eating people. They deserved to die, but he wasn't sure if he could kill a person.

He started following the walkway, taking careful steps to avoid making noise and keeping an ear out for anything that might be out there. Also, the sand coating had worn away in a lot of places, leaving patches of the wood slick and frictionless from years in the bleak, damp cavern. The cave turned out to be something of a natural tunnel, roughly speaking, through which the walkway followed.

He made his way slowly and carefully until it came to an end at a brick wall, set into the side of the cave. In the middle of the wall was a hefty metal door with a big wheel set into it, like a bulkhead door on a submarine. Both door and wheel were rusty and didn't look to have been opened in some time.

Setting down the lamp and dissolving the katana in a flash, Ichigo grabbed the wheel with both hands and twisted counterclockwise. It didn't budge. He adjusted his angle, putting his full might into the twist, and his feet firmly planted on the ground for leverage.

"Come on you rusted piece of junk," he gritted out in frustration.

He felt a little give, then a little more, each accompanied by an unwilling metal groan. Finally, the wheel jerked loose, and Ichigo was able to turn the reluctant mechanism. He proceeded to pull open the now unlocked door, but just like the wheel, it resisted. Having to put his shoulders into it, he was able to finally open the door with a shriek of rusted metal. His arms and shoulder felt a little sore, and had rust caked into his palms, but he was otherwise fine.

Quest: [Secrets of the Well]

Objective complete: Explore the well 1/1.

[Awakening Stone of the Reaper] has been added to your inventory.

Bonus quest objective (don't die) still available.

"Awakening stone of the Reaper? The same one from the token? I feel like someone is pushing me in a direction of their choosing. Question is if it's one I can tolerate."

He retrieved the lamp from where he had set it down, pulling the new object from his inventory. It looked like a fist-sized black marble of absolute darkness. Like an endless void of nothingness.

Item: [Awakening Stone of the Reaper] (unranked, legendary)

An awakening stone sharing affinity with the Reaper(consumable, awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

You have 0 unawakened essence abilities.

You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

That seemed more complicated than Ichigo wanted to get into when there was a door right in front of him, and he didn't have an essence so, it was a moot point. The interior on the other side of the door was dark, so he stepped inside and started panning the light beam of the lamp. It was a room, thankfully, not just more cave. It was just like a large parlor from a stately home, but after a tornado had passed through. Furniture was upended, tapestries and paintings ripped down from the walls. Bookshelves had been toppled; their contents tossed around the room. There was an ornate chandelier that had crashed down from the ceiling, scattering shattered crystal across the polished floor -he'd have to be careful where he stepped.

Searching through the mess by the light of the lamp, he found an overturned couch in the middle of the room. Under it was an unconscious man, and he placed the lamp down so that its light stayed on the down figure. He stopped though, wondering if the man was another blood cultist and whether or not he should help him. He oddly felt something dangerous coming from the downed man.

He'd just touched the man when a screen popped up.

Landemere Vane [Vroshir Acolyte]

Seeing as the man was not a blood cultist Ichigo heaved the couch off of him to reveal that he was sprawled in the middle of an elaborate pentagram, set into the floor in brass or copper. The man was youngish, maybe thirty, clean shaven with an olive complexion, dark wavy hair and a handsome face. To Ichigo's eyes he looked Mediterranean. Oddly, he was wearing what looked like honest-to-kami wizard robes.

Ichigo examined the man to find he had a strong pulse and was breathing regularly, but was showing early signs of extensive bruising and his body's temperature was high. As Ichigo was examining the stranger, his eyes flickered open.

"Hello," Ichigo said. "Looks like you took quite the beating. Need any help?"

Ichigo offered his hand and helped the wizard-looking man to his feet. Despite having a slender frame, the wizard was surprisingly heavy for his size. Standing unsteadily on his feet, the wizard looked around at the room in disarray, then at Ichigo, his expression confused.

"Who are you?" the wizard, Landemere asked. "How did you get here? And why are you naked?"

"I'm Ichigo, and I have no idea how I got here. I went to bed only to wake up in some kind of alternate universe... bald and naked."

The wizard narrowed his eyes as he peered at Ichigo. "There's something off about your aura," the wizard analyzed. "You're not human."

"I was before getting here. Wait, auras are real?"

"You said something about an alternate universe?" Landemere asked, ignoring his question.

"That's just a guess," Ichigo answered. "I mean, the continents are different. Could be a crazy time travel thing. Do you know anything about continental drift?"

The wizard's gaze moved to the magic circle on the floor, then back at Ichigo.

"It was you," Landemere accused angrily. "You're what went wrong with the summoning."

"Why are you mad? Do you have any idea how much your summoning messed me up? I have no idea where I am or what's going on. And I've been attacked by monsters, repeatedly. So, I have a lot more to be angry about than you."

The wizard had a combined look of confused and angry, but as he was about to retort he went pale and stumbled in place.

"Crap, hold on," Ichigo said, moving to support him.

"GET OFF ME!"

Landemere staggered in the direction of a heavy writing desk. It seemed to have escaped major displacement by being the heaviest piece of furniture in the room. He almost tripped, still weak from whatever happened prior to Ichigo's arrival. The wizard opened a drawer, took out a small bottle and drained the contents.

"This isn't the right time to get drunk," Ichigo chided.

"It was a recovery potion, fool," Landemere snapped, then winced with pain. "It seems the backlash will take more than a potion to fix."

He gave Ichigo a smile that sent chills up his spine.

Landemere proceeded to pull a knife out of the drawer, "Since I can't recover mana right now, I'll have to do things the old-fashioned way. I've never tasted an outworlder before."

Not waiting for any more talk about eating him, Ichigo leaped towards the weakened wizard with his favored flying kick, catching the cannibal off guard. Ichigo's foot made contact with the surprisingly durable man, sending him stumbling to the side and into a cabinet. As the wizard regained his footing Ichigo was wincing from the pain shooting up his leg. Besides the supernaturally dense and strong Chad, Ichigo had never hit anyone that had felt so dense. He was wondering if he should use his Zanpakuto but hesitated at possibly killing someone.

Swords were lethal weapons after all.

The wizard sneered and lunged, seeing the outworlder weakened and hesitating, but he was also enraged that a bronze-ranker like him was having difficulty killing a normal person -with maybe an essence or two from the feel of his aura- all due to the backlash. If it wasn't for that he could kill this stranger with a single ability as his magic was currently inaccessible. Even his superior attributes were weakened, making him slower and weaker than a bronze rank essence user should be.

Ichigo grabbed the arm holding the knife and yanked, saving him from being stabbed but wasn't able to break the wizard's grip on the blade. Wrestling back and forth, they tripped on a piece of the overturned furniture and fell to the floor, still struggling. They battled in shadows as they moved out of the lamp's light, each trying to seize control of the weapon. Ichigo had a grip on the wizard's arm, trying to keep the knife from digging into him. In spite of his small frame and apparent weakness after being knocked out, the wizard was stronger than Ichigo.

Ichigo was barely able to roll them over, putting him on top, adding his weight towards pushing the knife away from his throat. The smaller man still proved too strong so, Ichigo went with a desperate move and jammed a thumb into the wizard's eye.

Landemere screamed in pain, blood already started to stream out of the socket around his thumb. This had the added effect of the wizard's arm going out, the combined struggle of Ichigo's one arm and his body weight slammed it down on the owner. The wizard suddenly went limp. Rolling off, Ichigo saw the knife was sticking out of Landemere's throat, but he was still alive, looking at Ichigo with a disbelieving eye.

Ichigo snatched the knife out the cannibal's throat, afraid the wizard could magically recover, and blood sprayed over him, getting into his eyes and mouth. Recoiling, he spat out blood and rubbed at his eyes, the knife clattering to the ground. By the time his panicked flailing came to a halt, Landemere's body was still.

You have defeated [Vroshir Acolyte]

Ichigo pushed himself up with bloody hands, tripped on debris and fell back over. His breath came in ragged starts as he lay where he fell. Eventually he sat up, looking over at where the body had fallen directly into the beam from the lamp. He pulled his legs up and rested his arms on his knees, looking at his crimson stained hands with a dead look in his eyes.

He had no sense of how long he stayed like that, but eventually he pushed himself to his feet. He walked over to the bloody knife and picked it up.

Item: [Seal Knife] (bronze rank, common)

A dagger with the Vane family seal on the pommel(weapon, tool).

Requirements: Bronze rank [Speed], bronze rank [Spirit]

Effect: When used to imprint a wax seal on a letter, the letter will be destroyed if opened by anyone other than the addressee.

Ichigo stared at the bloody knife in his equally bloody hand. After a few moments there was an unusual tingling, slowly rising to become pain. He tightened his grip until the pain became too much and the dagger clattered to the floor.

You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

Finally, he turned to the body. His one eye was open, face frozen in a final expression of surprise.

The room was still and silent, Ichigo's eyes locked on the corpse. A memory of dead woman lying on top of a spiky haired child flashing through his mind.

"You did this," he accused it. "You left me no choice."

His voice was cold yet trembled ever so slightly.

Ichigo's mind was nothing, but white noise as he stood over Landemere's body. When a new sound broke him out of his trance, unsure of how long it had been. The sound came from above, a metal ventilation pipe in the ceiling. There was a hollow, echoing timbre to the sound, and it took Ichigo a moment to recognize it as a hissing noise.

It was coming from the hole.

He watched the hole cautiously while taking a few steps back, summoning his Zanpakuto in an instant, the sheath dissolving into streams of energy. Either poisonous gas was going to start pouring out of that pipe, which he'd need to run out back into the cave or some kind of snake or wild animal was coming to Lanedmere's aid. In that case, having his soul-cutting blade was ideal. His gaze sharpened when something came out of the hole in the ceiling as he gripped the katana in both hands. It was an enormous, pitch-black snake, head barely small enough to pass through the aperture.

Ichigo and the snake looked at each other, frozen for a moment. Ichigo could sense intelligence in its eyes, although he may well have been imagining it. Then the snake hissed at him and continued emerging from the vent shaft, body dangling down from the ceiling.

New Quest: [Fight or Flight]

The familiar of the Vroshir Acolyte sensed its master's death and has come to investigate.

Optional Objective 1: Kill [Umbral Mountain Snake] 0/1.

Optional Objective 2: Escape [Umbral Mountain Snake] 0/1.

Reward 1: Essence.

Reward 2: Awakening Stone.

Ichigo snapped out of his stupor upon the window popping up and slashed at the snake with his katana. The umbral mountain snake wasn't even a quarter of the way out of the pipe and couldn't properly dodge the attack. The lightly, barely perceptibly glowing blade cut into dark black scales, but only by a few inches.

Yet, the nature of his blade caused the snake to seize-up and hiss out in agony, its very soul being struck. It was strong enough not to be completely debilitated by the soul attack, seeing as Ichigo was still normal rank in power. If not for the added boost from his soul transfiguration and the Zanpakuto's abilities, it'd not have even registered the attack.

Thus, the snake snaped its maw at Ichigo, who only just raised his katana up in time to intercept the bite. The creature's strength was enough to nearly knock him back, but the sharpened edge of the Zanpakuto cut into the soft mouth of the snake. The soul attack and transcendent damage forced it to let the blade go from its vice-like grip.

Ichigo didn't waste any time and started slashing away at the familiar, gouging out gashed along its neck and head. Every blow causing a level of pain unfamiliar to most entities, as soul pain went beyond the physical. It made every cut feel like it'd been nearly cut in two with the added weight of attacking its soul.

Yet, to Ichigo it felt like he was chipping away at the bark of a tree with a steak knife.

It was during this writhing, yet sluggish movement that Ichigo saw the opportunity he needed to kill it. Which he needed to do soon as despite the jarring nature of his blade it still made its way out of the pipe. Its mouth was wide open, hissing in raged pain and Ichigo thrust his katana up into the soft pink flesh of its upper mouth.

The Zanpakuto easily pierced the soft tissue and into its brain, killing it.

Unfortunately, the dark snake was able to whip its tail out just as his blade made contact with its flesh, slamming into Ichigo's open right side. A loud crack resounded, and he went flying to the side, into some of the cabinets, his blade ripped free from the snake's head as he refused to let it go. The force of the massive snake's blow and the surprisingly durable glass of the display cabinets, Ichigo bounced back towards the snake.

The massive black snake had gone limp and fell to the ground lifelessly just in time for Ichigo to land on top of it. His now broken ribs screamed in agony as he landed on the hard scales wrapped around the thick muscles of the snake.

You have defeated [Umbral Mountain Snake].

Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14394289/1/A-Shinigami-Phoenix-s-Otherworldly-Adventure