DIVINE ENERGY

Chapter 7: Divine Energy

Earlier

Azazel was ecstatic. How couldn't he be? As he ran around the room operating and checking the data, provided by the strange devices he seemed to have pulled out of nowhere, the data was simply out of the charts and not in 'You're Overpowered' kinda way but 'I didn't know this was possible way'.

He was for the first time in centuries remembering all the fun he had, in the Silver City's R&D department inventing and discovering new things or when he first learned about Sacred Gears and started to study them.

'It is so much Fun' this thought suddenly emerged in his mind.

Beep Beep Beep

Suddenly he heard beeping coming from one of the devices to his left, he hurriedly came to the device. It was showing Ichigo Kurosaki's Aura capacity, meaning how much energy his body could generate. The beeping only meant one thing that was increase or decrease in capacity. In this case the latter.

An increase in Aura capacity was something very common, with training or age one's total capacity would definitely increase.

And decrease was it's exact opposite, it(usually) only occurred when someone was grievously injured. So, this sudden information that Ichigo's mana was decreasing caused even Azazel who was one of the most knowledgeable people in the current supernatural world caused him to fluster.

He soon rushed to Ichigo's side and poured in his own aura to check what was wrong with the kid. Unfortunately, he in his fluster forgot something very very common, that one's body didn't react kindly to foreign substances. If it was someone else nothing much would have happened but this was Ichigo Kurosaki whose aura was currently extremely volatile due to his condition at the moment.

So, the result was as Azazel pushed in his aura Ichigo's aura reacted and created an outward explosion destroying many of the equipments and throwing Azazel and removing the door out of its hinges.

*Crash*

After getting blasted by the aura Azazel lay there embedded in a wall. He could vaguely hear Isshin's call of concern but that didn't matter.

What mattered was the energy he felt from the blast, he was a thousand percent sure that it was divine energy.

He knew it very well, having a God for a father and fighting against and with divine beings was sure to make you familiar with it.

But how could it be? Could it be? No, that was absurd, completely illogical. But when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Suddenly Azazel burst out laughing.

Hahahahaha

"Azazel! Are you okay? What happened?" Isshin's voice was heard as he and the twins instantly rushed to Azazel's side and inquired

" HAHAHAHHAHA! OKAY!OKAY! I am more than okay. This is definitely the best day of my life. EVER!" Azazel laughed again as he stood up from the rubble

" Anyway. CONGRATULATIONS! All three of you are really blessed. Hahahahaahah"

Regarding Azazel's congratulations, the three in question appeared extremely confused, and seeing their confusion he further clarified after recomposing himself.

"Congratulations again! Isshin, You are probably the first Youkai to father a God"

"What?" Yuzu, the brown hair twin, asked dumbfoundedly

Seeing this Azazel's grin grew large enough to split his face and he repeated everything word for word.

" YOUR. BROTHER. ICHIGO. IS. BECOMING. A GOD " Azazel's laughter boomed as he merrily hopped around "It's gonna be my first time seeing the birth of a God, Hahahahahaha. I thought his body was just getting cleansed of Impurities for his Supernatural side to awaken, Hahaahhahahahah, but to think he will prove me wrong. Oh, Indeed being wrong once in a while is truly great. "

Azazel knew he was being out of character, it wasn't like him at all but the birth of a God or Buddha was a tightly guarded secret by each Mythical faction. The only thing known to most was that after turning into a god, no matter how little, one would never age unless they wanted to.

Since most of the Biblical faction was a creation of his father, the God of the Bible, they couldn't attain divinity even after gaining strength to do so, the same could be said about Yokais, creations of Amaterasu.

The very thought about the amount of data he could get... wait... Data... No!

Azazel's eyes widened in horror as he remembered something and immediately rushed back into Ichigo's room leaving the Kurosaki family behind.

He could vaguely hear them following him inside the room.

Inside everything was a mess, and every one of Azazel's gizmos were badly damaged and some of them weren't even recoverable anymore.

The only thing safe was the bed where Ichigo was peacefully sleeping form resting, he seemed to be much more comfortable now and huh, his hair had turned golden.

"NOOOOOO!" Azazel's grief field voice as he cradled some gadgets echoed in the air.

Meanwhile in Ichigo's Mindscape

*Crash*

As a giant wave receded, Ichigo's form could finally be seen.

*Pant* *Pant*

He was breathing heavily and although he didn't have any injuries on his body, his Shihakusho was torn in many places.

"I didn't think it would be this difficult" Ichigo muttered as he readjusted his grip on the blade and took a tighter stance.

Everything was supposed to be going smoothly as he had already forged the true Zangetsu but the waves which were supposed to be purifying Zangetsu from all the foreign contamination, slowly started getting stronger and stronger and he was forced to split his attention and Reiatsu to protect himself and to not disturb the Awakening process which was ALSO consuming huge amounts of Reiatsu.

Not to mention the strange phenomenon which was changing the very nature of his Reiatsu by compressing it. He didn't know what it was changing into but it felt like something good but he wasn't happy at all if it were some other time maybe but it was happening at the wrong time. He needed all the Reiatsu he could but ' why must everything go wrong at the crucial moment'.

(Author's note: Think of it as turning 30 units of a thing into 1unit of another. That's how much his Reiatsu is being compressed.)

The awakening was only 37% complete and Ichigo had already lost more than 80% of his Reiatsu by the three-way drain on his reserves. Though there was this new energy, about 35% of Reiatsu's worth, he didn't want to use this energy as it still seemed to be undergoing some dramatic changes.

"Who knows what kind of effect it will have on Awakening?" Ichigo didn't want to endanger Zangetsu ever again by his own stupidity.

"Everything will be alright! I just need to keep walking forward and don't doubt myself, just like Ossan and Zangetsu said and everything will work out"

Ichigo tried to cheer himself until he suddenly felt some foreign yet familiar energy enter his body and his already weak control broke and most of his remaining Reiatsu left his body at such speed that even Yoruichi would pale in comparison.

*Splash*

And the wave which was about to attack him suddenly lost its momentum and fell back into the lake. It seemed that whatever happened just now calmed the rampant energy in the lake.

However, Ichigo was panicking now. He barely had any Reiatsu left he didn't even know if he could complete the awakening at all. But more importantly, the amount of Reiatsu that left his body was very likely to cause some kind of explosion.

"Are Yuzu and Karin and Dad okay? What should I do? I..I..."

Ichigo didn't know what to do, he didn't have any more energy to keep fueling the awakening nor did he know of the condition outside and the new energy was getting more unstable by the second. No one could fault him for panicking all things considered but he was still rational enough.

"Calm down."

It was such a simple sentence but it immediately startled our favorite Hybrid.

"Who!?"

This was supposed to be his Mindscape, his inner world, there should be no one except him and Zangetsus and they were taking a nap and hadn't woken yet then where did this voice come from.

"Oh. Don't worry about me. Call me whatever you wish. I am sort of your fan. When I suddenly sensed a new divinity, it immediately picked my interest because of your anomalous aura. So I decided to check your memories and to be honest I am impressed. One Protector."

It was a child's voice, maybe a young teen, but it was difficult to ascertain the gender of the speaker and there was nobody in sight. And thinking deeper it seemed that rather than voice a thought was transmitted. And by the strangeness of it, it was most likely a different language as well.

*Gulp* Ichigo swallowed deeply. He could feel the power that radiated off the thought transmission.

'Whoever this is, Yhwach feels like a newborn child against a well-trained martial artist and that's just from the leaked feeling of power. Even if I was at my peak I don't know if I will be able to even handle their presence.' Ichigo thought as his grip subconsciously tightened.

"Ah! Sorry about that. No need to fear me." The voice was transmitted again but this time it felt like any other human's voice without any feeling of power. It seemed the being had noticed Ichigo's discomfort and sealed the leaked aura. "I haven't used this technique in a long while so some energy leaked. Haha. I hope you don't mind."

The voice just like last time carried a profound sense of kindness just that Ichigo was too overwhelmed by the aura to notice it earlier.

"Who are you? what do you want and what divinity?" Ichigo carefully asked feeling fearful of the unknown being. That in itself was shocking as he had never felt fear for himself ever. He never feared the Quincy, Hollows, Arrancars, or even Gotei 13 or Squad Zero, Ichibei, Yamamoto, and Yhwach were the same. He even invaded 3 different worlds just for the sake of people he cared about.

"Hmmm... I was just interested in the new divinity which suddenly appeared in this world a few seconds ago" Ichigo made a confused face as the being explained" When your aura leaked just now I sensed your divinity. And Divinity is as the name suggests deification: the process of turning into a God or Buddha"

"?" Ichigo had even more questions now. 'Gods and Buddhas are real? Was that who this person was? I am turning into one myself as well?'

"So what's your wish?"

"Huh?"

"As I said, I was interested in the new divinity so I watched interesting parts of your past life" The being replied casually as if he hadn't just flipped through Ichigo's life like some manga or anime.

Ichigo felt righteous anger rise within him. And sensing the sudden change in the mood the being replied "I needed to make sure of your character. Throughout history, mankind has tried to achieve Immortality and godhood and those in search of godhood are mostly evil maniacs. After all, you are a being who is achieving something like this without the help of any mythological faction and it IS my job to destroy that which should not be".

When the being mentioned 'seeking godhood' and 'evil maniac' Ichigo immediately remembered Aizen, a prime example of this. This did indeed sound like a good enough reason for Invading Ichigo's privacy and his anger receded a little but he still didn't like that.

"Well, the events of your past life were pretty much the most interesting thing I came across in maybe a few centuries. A different world and a different Supernatural system. Very interesting indeed and also, I personally like your personality to protect those who you care about. So I thought I should give you a gift for all you have sacrificed without expecting anything in return. What do you want? Tell me. No need to be shy."

Ichigo blushed a little when the being praised his personality but soon recovered. ' A wish, huh. What should I wish for?' Ichigo thought as he looked around and suddenly had an Idea but soon another thought came as he fell into contemplation.

"Do you want to go back to your previous world? Because sorry but I can't. That world isn't in my jurisdiction and even if it was sending you back SAFE would be impossible" The being suddenly said. They must have thought that Ichigo wished to go back to his previous world. But Ichigo shook his head.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I would have if I was trapped in this world or something but I have already lived my past life no matter how short it was, and even though I had to live many of my loved ones behind. But this life is also real and there are still people I care about and those who care for me, I can't just leave these people behind to chase after a dream. To be honest, although I did regain all my past life memories they feel more like dreams."

"You are very mature for your age. Both life's combined."

"Maybe and uhmm.. before I ask for my wish, can you please tell me if my family is okay?"

"Oh. Yes. None of the three are physically hurt though they're very very worried about you."

*Exhale*Ichigo let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"About the wish, since you have already watched my memories, can you help me complete the awakening of Zangetsu?"

"Yeah. No problem. I thought you would ask for something like this and well even though not intentional on your part, it will stabilize your divinity as well."

"Thank you uhmm..." he still didn't know the being's identity.

"Nope. Not telling. Figure it out yourself. I left many clues behind"

"OK " Ichigo gave a short reply. Why did he feel like it was some sort of game to the being?

Ichigo was sitting cross-legged as he followed the instructions being given.

Apparently, They could not come to the inner world but even if they did come it would be unnecessary because they had already pretty much-solved everything.

The divine energy as Ichigo found it was called was also capable of supporting the Awakening process once stabilized and he was already learning the process of its stabilization from the being.

"Close your eyes and Clear your Mind of everything."

Ichigo closed his eyes he tried to do as the voice was telling him. He tried to remember the feeling of the void he felt earlier.

"Now. Imagine your body as a sea and try to reach the bottom of it" A sea. He remembered when his inner world was completely submerged. 'Reach the bottom' Ichigo muttered as he started swimming downward.

To Be Continued