8:26:38

Ichigo cracked neck a little then rubbed it with his hand, “How you been little bro?” He looked at Jackson, “Don’t expect this to be like one of the training sessions either, I hit a lot harder in a real fight,” he said before blurring out and reappearing in front of Jackson only for the punch to miss as Gar pulled his fellow Saiyan to safety.

Ichigo hit the ground hard and made a massive spider web crack.

”Stay alive,” Gar said as his arm reformed from the tentacle state, “He might have lost a lot of power in his last fight but he’s still more than capable of taking us both out even with his remaining strength.”

”And here I was only trying to say hi,” Ichigo nonchalantly shrugged. “Oh well,” he smirked as he reached to his side and unclipped metal bars from his belt and ignited them to reveal his reishi blades, Jackson doing a double take. “Yea, I’ve picked up a few new toys and abilities since you left mine and Asta’s world. These babies were courteously provided by Deltorix. Since coming here I’ve gained Haki. Still new to it but thanks to Akainu I was able to get a better handle on Armament and Conqueror’s, but what I really excelled at was pairing the Observation with my sharingan.”

”This is bad,” Gar said as he took a fighting stance with his spear pointed right at the shinigami he once called his ally. “Much more so than I first thought.”

Jackson nodded and activated his green/red Lantern ring before saying. “I know one move that may or may not work; but we need to get him to completely use up most of his energy for it to work,” he said before using his ring to create a shield and spear.

“That’s not really going to be possible,” Gar said as he released one hand off his spear and motioned with it causing the spear to splinter into its hundred form. “He fought the strongest guy here and still has a large energy pool to call on. If he’s really as strong as Asta then I’m glad my older brother didn’t show up. No one would have survived for long. You know after meeting him, he’s not one to wait when it comes to fighting.”

“That's why we need to weaken him first, and trust me; once you see the technique then you would know why,” Jackson said while blocking Ichigo sword strike, unfortunately it easily broke his construction shield and sent him flying.

“Don’t tell me you forgot your talisman?” Ichigo quickly turned and spun one of his blades by the ring as he blocked all the scared short swords Gar sent at him. “My turn!” He smirked as he stopped the spinning artifact and both of them opened up to reveal them to be massive quincy bows, “Thing about these is they only hold one one shot each but,” he released the arrows at both fighters releasing a massive shockwave, “The compress all the arrows that can be fired into one shot!”

”Compound, Scared Spear World Tree magic!” Gar called out, “Ygdrasil Guardian!” He said as one of the swords coalesced into a massive wooden serpent that coiled around him to block the shot, but also leaving a sizable crater in the guardian.

Jackson got up and frowned before going Super Saiyan 2 and rushed towards Ichigo and delivered a uppercut to his jaw before kicking him away. “Destructo Disc!” he yelled before throwing two Destructo Discs at him.

Ichigo gave a wide grin, “Kaio-ken!” a red aura covering his form and he quickly dodged the disc, though it braised his cheek. “Close shave, literally,” he said holding up his fist as mini-quincy bow’s formed but then turned red, “Constructed using quincy techniques but powered by hollow reishi,”

”Hundred, Critical Strike!” Gar yelled as he reverted his spear back to its hundred form and used his skill to enhance the weapons’ power.

”Damn Zeldris and his Sacred Treasures,” Ichigo gritted his teeth as he activated his sharingan and Observation Haki. He smirked and blasted the ground causing a dust cloud to form.

This didn’t impede Gar as he tracked the shinigami with his ki presence solely focused on him as he rained down his weapons. What he didn’t see was that Ichigo was leading him in Jackson’s direction.

Ichigo appeared from the dust right behind the Saiyan King with a spiritual pressure and Haki empowered fist, “Here one from Akainu’s play book, Divergent Fist!” He said as he struck Jackson in the back.

The Saiyan felt the blow from the physical punch as he was sent flying while he was then hit with a surge of the spiritual pressure and sent even further, right through Gar’s swords.

Jackson grunted in pain before activating his Rinnegan and used one of the paths to steal a massive amount of energy from Ichigo before pulling the sword out of his side. “Fuck that hurt,” he said before flying back at him.

“You little shit!” Ichigo grabbed a hold of Jackson by the lower half of his face, “Trying to steal my energy was a big mistake. As long as my Haki covers my body it also enforces my spiritual pressure making it denser,” Jackson began to bleed from his eyes, ears, and noses, “Making even the smallest dose to someone more toxic than even Myuri’s poisons.”

“I wanted to play more,” Ichigo sighed as Jackson felt his body going stiff, “just cause you have a hollow doesn’t mean we’re compatible. You’re not a quincy which means that the energy you took is even deadlier to you.”

Ichigo was confused by Jackson's chuckle. “W-who said I tried to absorb your Energy,” he said before Ichigo could react he felt his own energy slamming against his back and sending him flying as a clone of Jackson fired Ichigo's own dense energy back at him.

“Cause that’s all I’ve got left,” Ichigo smiled. “I used up all my chakra in my fight with Akainu. That’s for the return by the way,” he said as the energy flowed into his hands, “Quincy abilities really are overlooked,” He laughed as Jackson felt his own spiritual powers being drained this time.

”Dynamic Thrust!” Gar called out as he threw his spear at the shinigami. “Did you really just try to eat his power?!” He looked at his frenemy. Jackson was still looking ahead as he stared at where Ichgio was not.

“Like I said I wasn't trying to eat or absorb his energy, we won't win with a straight on fight,” Jackson said while standing up and looking at Gar.

“Like I said we need to get his energy low enough for me to use my technique,” he finished before using a small ki ball to seal the stab wound, and looked around to find him.

“What’s the matter kids?” They heard Ichigo from well behind them but they were both back to back so they knew for a fact he was there. “Can’t find me?” Suddenly they were both hit from the ground up by a volley of spirit arrows that sent them in opposite directions

”I’ll give you a hint, this is another of my Quincy powers,” they heard as they kept on guard. Jackson was getting annoyed.

Gar had a sudden realization, “Quincy powers,” he thought, “He is relying on those so he doesn’t eat up his remaining power.”

”You were the smart one out of the three of your brothers,” Ichigo chuckled, “yes I’m relying on my quincy abilities to help regulate the consummation of my remaining power while also testing them to see what I can do.”

”You don’t have access to more than just a few of those abilities though,” Gar growled.

”True but not true,” Ichigo said as he shot out of Gar’s shadow and delivered a hard kick, sending the parasite sailing before he activated his Haki on his hand in the shape of a three toed claw, “Soul force Dragon Claw!” He called out as he landed a direct hit to Jackson’s stomach to send the Saiyan King skidding next to Gar as he felt Ichigo's soul waves coursing throughout his body.

Ichigo looked at him for a moment as he analyzed his attack, “Hmmm…. Still not right… How did Akainu do it?” He thought.

Suddenly, a shrill wave of cold washed over the three of them as a navy blue and red blur shot straight towards Ichigo. “Time Dragon’s Paradox!” Quill shouted as he punched the Soul Reaper directly in the side of the ribcage, a smile on his face as he practically tossed his opponent away.

Having arrived at the two vs one, Quill looked back at Gar and Jackson, blood stains still littering his body. “So… how’re you guys faring so far?” He chuckled, wincing a little as the phantom pains hit him again. “Not too well by the looks of it honestly.”

“He’s kicking our asses,” Gar motioned, “And he isn’t even seriously doing it!”

“Told you he was a complete monster next to Asta,” Jackson deadpan while slowly getting up.

“Monster, yes,” Gar nodded, “But if you noticed, he hasn’t even drawn his damn sword yet,” he pointed at Ichigo who hopped up and rubbed his chest. “In the whole time you spent in his world did he ever use his Bankai against you, or his sword in a serious drill outside just being a jackass?”

Quill hummed as he looked at the stronger of the three of them. “I see… well this is quite the dumpster fire of a situation, gonna be completely honest.” He sighed before walking over to the two and offering them a hand up. “So, let’s jump this jackass? You guys in?”

“Even if he isn’t at full strength he’s still more than a serious enough issue for any one of us,” Gar got to his feet as he absorbed his spear and thorns erupted from his body while his fairy wings glowed even more. “If we don’t go all in and knuckle down from here on out there's no sense in us staying in this.” Red aura covered his body, “promotion,” he said as he used his personalized magic on himself and turned white, temporarily achieving Super Saiyan Five.

“If we do this, we need to use our strongest forms and attacks….. no holding back on Ichigo,” Jackson said while going Super Saiyan Omni.

“Gonna be completely honest, I only got a handful of Dragon King spells left in me.” The Dragon King told the two. “I can pull off a bunch more Time Dragon spells, but from the looks of it, time ain’t on our side.” He turned back to look at Ichigo, flexing his Ruiner Nergigante arm, causing bone and metal spikes to grow and harden rapidly.

Jackson's thought about Quill words before looking at the two. “Then we need to get him in a position where he can't dodge or counter our combined Attacks,” Jackson offered.

“Looks like you boys are finally taking off the kid gloves,” Ichigo smirked as he reached up and pulled his sword from his back.

Jackson got closer to the two and whispered. “look out for my signal. You’ll know it when you see it,” Jackson warned while getting into his fighting stance.

Ichigo smirked as he raised a finger and a black ball of reishi formed at the end of it.

Gar’s eyes widened, “Scatter!”

Ichigo fired off his cero.

Hearing and seeing this, Quill would bolt into the air, leaping over the Cero and going straight towards Ichigo. Flipping in the air several times, Quill’s leg glowed with magic as he swung his appendage down with massive force. “Time Dragon’s Distortion!” He roared as the ground beneath Ichigo cracked and cratered with the impact, fearing any retaliation, Quill then kicked himself back and away from the Soul Reaper.

Jackson jumped to the left, nearly dodging Ichigo’s attack only having a small wound on his shoulder, he looked at him with narrowed eyes before appearing next to Gar. “Got any heavy attacks left in you…because I only got two of them?”

“Dynamic Meteor,” Gar called out as he transformed into a large metal spiked ball and crashed right on top of Ichigo,

Ichigo wore a wild smile as he used his sword to shield himself from the fairy king as blood ran down face, “Ban…” everyone’s eyes widened, “Kai!” He yelled and forced Gar to bounce back.

Jackson appeared behind Ichigo and delivered a heavy right hook to his low back sending him towards Quill.

“Tag you’re it!” Ichigo laughed as he coated his feet in Haki and landed a double kick right into Quill’s gut, cracking a couple ribs.

Blocking the dropkick with his Nergigante arm, Quill thankfully was still able to breath as he turned his body, letting Ichigo slip by as shards of the spikes on his arm flew off in different directions. Coughing a few times, Quill knew this wasn’t gonna get any easier.

“Bearhug?” Ichigo raised an eyebrow, “Sorry not staying in one spot,” he stuck out his tongue right in Quill’s face and created a cero and fired pointed blank, sending the wounded Dragon King flying.

”That’s was close,” Ichigo jumped back only for Gar to bring down a bladed fist. “If it comes to sword play you won’t when.”

”It's Claude holding you still bitch!” Gar smirked.

Ichigo’s eyes widened as he saw the others coming in hot, “Damn you,” Gar extended parts of his body to hold the soul reaper in place.

”Even if you fire one of this cero off you won’t be getting away from me,” Gar smirked, “I’m the best at embracing someone after all,” he laughed as he extended several spikes into Ichigo, making sure he stayed put.

Pulling his arm back, Quill’s arm practically sparked with golden magic. “Dragon King’s Claw!” He roared, sending the attack directly into Ichigo’s sternum with enormous force, shattering the ground behind him and cracking some of Ichigo’s ribs in return for the ones Ichigo had cracked a few seconds ago.

Jackson rushed towards the two and Quill, seeing him coming, jumped high enough to dodge Jackson so he could body tackle Ichigo through multiple boulders before being knocked away.

Jackson looked back at Ichigo and even though he wasn't showing it, he was using more power to increase his strikes which he's somewhat of a plan was working.

“You title bastards aren’t holding anything back,” Ichigo laughed as he started to force Gar off himself.

”How do you still have this much strength?” Gar cried out as he spurred the shinigami with yet more spikes but only for them to bend. “WHAT?!”

”Pumped and Ban did it first,” Ichigo said as his spiritual powers started to emanate from his body. “You guys seem to forget that even if I’m weakened I’m start pretty fucking strong!”

He roared and forced Gar off, “My turn,” he pointed his sword at the trio with a look of dream man walking.

“Fuck.” Quill mumbled as he saw this.

He blurred out o and quickly darted around the group, leaving several after images in his wake. Gar pulled Jackson back as one of the images lunged and the Saiyan then faded away.

”A spiritual clone,” Gar warned, “It seems he also can mimic some of the arrancar abilities.”

Jackson nodded at Gar before dodging another after images of Ichigo. “I'm up for any ideas!!”

Ducking as one of the afterimages swung at him, Quill rolled back and shoved himself off the ground in order to avoid another two swinging at him. “JUMP!” Quill shouted as he fell back to the ground, cocking his arm back as he landed, punching the ground. Gar immediately did as he was told.

“Time Dragon’s Quake!” He shouted, causing the ground to immediately crack before it exploded into a deep shower of rubble and rock, disrupting Ichigo’s footing and hopefully revealing the real one.

Jackson listened and jumped into the air as Quill’s attack shook the very ground.

“I think you just made things worse,” Gar commented. “Soul reapers can literally walk on air.”

“Well then I hope you're fast enough to keep up because this is literally like fighting Bullet four times over.” Quill sighed, coughing once more and spitting up a small amount of blood. “Now, where is he?”

“Um…” Gar pointed down.

Everyone looked down to see Ichigo with Reishi coalescing on his blade, “Getsuga,” he raised it above his head, “Tensho!” He cried as he sent a massive wave of reishi straight at Quill.

Gar and Jackson both jumped back. Quill meanwhile stared for a few seconds before sighing and immediately beginning to run at the reishi wave. Hoping this would work, Quill jumped just over the wave, but unfortunately, a large amount of skin was burned off of his right arm as he landed onto the ground, continuing to sprint at the Soul Reaper with focus, ignoring the pain in his body.

Gar held out his hand and concentrated on Ichigo, more specifically his wounds, “Promotion!” He called out and the soul reaper staggered as he coughed up blade

Jackson placed Both of his hands out before shouting out. “Big Bang Kamehameha!!”

“Consume all my enemies!” Ichigo called out, catching the three by surprise, as he formed a cero right in front of his chest and fired right threw himself, “ZANGESTU!”

Stopping his sprint dead in his tracks, Quill’s eyes widened, as he looked at their opponent. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he watched the scene. This was certainly a dumpster fire that just kept getting worse.

“This is…” Gar staggered “bad…”

Chains erupted from the sword and covered Ichigo into a massive ball.

“Do you trust me Gar?!” Jackson yelled as Jackson had a crazy idea.

“This isn’t a matter of trust, but a matter of facing off against a Vasto Lorde,” Gar for warned. “You thought things were bad before,” the chain ball hit and steamed before exploding open to reveal a fully hollowfied Ichigo’s all traces of wounds were now scars.

The hollow roared, sending out waves of powers and chills down the trio’s spins.

“Do. You. Guys. Trust. Me,” Jackson said while looking at Gar and Quill with seriousness.

”We don’t really have much choice,” Gar nervously chuckled as he looked out of the corner of his eye and they widened in horror as the hollow was right next to Jackson.

The beast raised his blade and sent Jackson colliding into Gar across the arena.

Quill was silent as Gar had taken the words out of his mouth. Quill gulped down some nervous saliva as he clenched his fists tightly, suddenly seeing the hollow send Gar and Jackson flying. Slowly beginning to run towards the hollow, Quill sighed to himself as he shouted at the two.

“Whatever you’re gonna do! DO IT! I’ll buy you as much time as I can!” Quill’s speed increased as he began to engage the monster. “Time Dragon’s Paradox!” He sent a punch into the hollowfied Ichigo’s stomach, staring into its empty eyes with his red eyes.

Jackson got back up slowly and looked at the Hollow before whispering to himself loud enough for Gar to hear. “Alright Snakeyashi……you got five minutes,” he said before his own energy burst out of him.

“Finally you brought it out,” The hollow spoke, throwing everyone for a loop.

Both Gar and Quill looked back and were shocked to see Jackson in his own full Hollow form before roaring at the other Hollow. He summoned his sword and swung it backwards causing half of the area to be destroyed.

Blinking a few times at the destruction, Quill looked back at the Hollow Ichigo before jumping up and drop-kicking the enemy, pushing himself back and out of the way. He wasn’t gonna get caught in the crossfire between these two unless he knew he’d either do damage or survive.

“You hollowfied but not resurrected,” Ichigo slightly moved and quickly caught Jackson’s strike from the left, “You’re his hollow not him,” he pointed with two fingers as a cero formed and fired, catching the hollow’s right arm.

The hollow grunted in pain before Ichigo watched the hole rapidly closing as it looked at before opening his mouth and fired a bigger cero at Ichigo face, sending him flying back while he jumped after him letting loose a roar.

Quill looked over at Gar and he sighed. “So, what do you think we should do right now? I mean these two are goin’ at it and we have a little time to set something up. But I ain’t got any plans.” The Dragon King chuckled a little before coughing a few times.

“We can try,” Gar grunted as he felt the pin from forcing his body to evolve, “but I won't last much longer. I have two tricks left in me. One to increase my power and the other an attack. If i combine them we may stand a chance. The issue is, which one to use it on. As things stand, their power is near the same but the issue is time. The more damage Jackson takes, the faster it seems his hollow powers wane. Ichigo on the other hand has full control over his powers to the point he can even use different cero types. This also stands that he could use other powers in that state too. Power stacking is probably what he and Akainu did to try and finish each other, not to mention just fight. Hollowfication just about heals any physical damage, and that thing is strong from the start. We have to be very precise.”

In the meantime Ichigo leveled the blade of his sword with his eye as black reishi gathered on the weapon, “Pearce,” he said as he thrust the sword forward and a beam shot out from the black to hit Jackson’s hollow mask and take off a small chunk of it, cause the hole to close even faster as the mask repaired itself.

“Good lord. Well, it sounds like we’re pretty deep in shit’s creek.” Quill huffed, shaking his head a little. “Though, I do have an ace up my non-existent sleeve, but it’s an absolute last resort. And I don’t think we're quite that deep yet.”

Jackson's hollow jump into the air while holding his sword with both hands as the blade grew redder and redder before sending a massive cero infusion sword strike towards him while falling down towards him with another strike ready.

“Enough of your petty tricks,” Hollow Ichigo snarled as he placed both hands on his sword as he pulsed and Gar’s eyes widened as he felt sinister energy gathering on the sword.

”Move now!” Gar yelled as he and Quill both darted away.

The blade of Ichigo’s weapon took on a cosmic theme. Katakuri recognized it as the same move he used against Akainu.

”Meido,” Ichigo raised the blade above his head, “SANGETSUHA!” He called out as he sent a massive slash of otherworldly energy as the hollow’s attack, the latter being completely engulfed until the two attack’s fizzled out.

”Can he actually use that technique?” Gar questioned. “The only persons able to use that power should but the dog brothers and Ed would also make sense. Has he… been training in hell?”

“Oh, joy.” Quill mumbled to himself as he focused on the fight.

Jackson's hollow used the smoke screen to appear behind Ichigo and pulled back his blade that now was glowing blood red and ice blue before with a roar of raw instinct slammed it into his back causing another massive explosion.

Ichigo’s clawed hand shot out and grabbed hold of Jackson by the face. The smoke cleared to reveal a completely blackened metallic hollow form with bright blue circuit like veins covering it.

”You forced me to use full body haki and Bluet,” Hollow ichigo began to squeeze as cracks formed all over the hollow, not just his mask. “You time limit is reaching its end.”

”Do it now!” Gar called out to Quill, “Scared treasure release!” He yelled as magic powder erupted from his body, “Catastrophe Claw!” He called out as he lounged at the distracted hollow.

“DRAGON KING’S BELLOWING ROAR!!!” Quill roared as his draconic markings burned brightly over his skin, a large magic circle appearing in front of him, and a massive ray of powerful magic streaking across the battlefield, directly at Ichigo.

Ichigo’s red eye slightly trained under his helmet mask, “Good play!” He laughed as he quickly held Jackson in front of him as a shield from the dragon’s roar, though not completely unaffected as slight cracks formed in his mask.

Jackson's hollow mask blows off, turning him back to normal but still conscious, grabs Ichigo's hollow arm and switches places with him as Gar strikes him directly.

“Bad move,” Ichigo said as Gar’s claw tore through Jackson’s chest and his magic tore apart his body from the inside out.

”You…” Gar realized Ichigo foresaw it.

Seeing all of this, Quill reached over and plucked a metal spine from his Nergigante arm, imbuing it with whatever magic he had left. The spike glowed with vibrant navy blue light, before the Dragon King threw the spike, sending it streaking across the arena and away from the battle at hand. He hoped that spike would reach its intended target.

Ichigo gathered reishi in between the horns on his head.

“Sorry Jackson,” Gar whispered as he quickly removed his claw from his friend's body, “but you're in no shape to fight anymore. If you don’t leave the arena now my magic will continue to destroy you.”

Jackson grunted in pain before looking at Gar. “Just keep him distracted damnit!!” He said while gaining every bit of Ki, Chakra, and other energy while standing in one spot with his left fist pulled back.

“It's not going to go down like that,” Gar look down as he blood cover arm and licked it, regaining some of his lost power. “One more time,” he said as he jumped back and away.

The trio were now on all sides of the hollow.

”Its been fun,” Ichigo smiled under his mask as he lifted his sword to point at Jackson and his fingers to point at Gar while creating two new jet black cero to magic the one in front of his mask.

Crouching down and launching himself at Ichigo, Quill lunged forwards and reached out to grab both the sword and Ichigo’s arm, pulling them in and facing them towards himself. “I don’t think so, buddy.” Quill smiled as he strained himself to his limit, focusing on keeping Ichigo’s ceros pointed at the Dragon King’s own body.

Gar’s magic erupted as his claw glowed once more as his body surged with every last bit of power he had, “Promotion!” He said as his fire turned silver again i super saiyan five. He shot forward, “Catastrophe!” He called out.

Jackson turned Super Saiyan 2 yo increase the power while whispering to himself. “Almost.”

“Alright then!” Ichigo let go of his sword and it transformed into a Jon boy before quickly heading for Gar, “go ahead and struggle,” Ichigo chuckled as he slid out of his hollow to leave Quill holding the spirit as the Cero’s erupted.

The youth met Gar with the black Tensa Zangetsu and deathly began to trade bows with the fairy king.

“Dammit,” Ichigo gritted his teeth as he pulled another Quincy weapon from his side and quickly changed it to Bow form, taking aim at Jackson. The reishi quickly turned red, “Three way split!” He yelled as all three versions of himself met their opponents as the ceros went off and they were all caught in a blinding explosion.

Jackson jumped out of the smoke completely burnt and heavily damaged but still willing to fight before he said. “Cosmic…Dragon,” he started while getting closer and closer before throwing out his fist and roared. “FIST!!!!” He roared while bursting into a golden cosmic dragon as roared at Ichigo.

Ichigo quickly activates his Haki and bluet before narrowly dodging to shoot Jackson in the shoulder with his bow.

Meanwhile, Quill growled animalistically as he still held the hollow’s arm, the sword having slipped from his grasp and leaving his hand bleeding. Looking up at the Hollow, with a half-burnt face and singed hair, two ash black patches on his stomach from where the other two ceros hit him. Quill’s eyes glaring directly at the hollow with defiance.

“You’re a pretty tough one,” the hollow snickered as itself was not unscathed. The smoke cleared to reveal several burns and wounds, its hair singed off to just below the mask.

Quill didn’t say anything other than a visceral growl as he reached up and grabbed the hollow by the throat, digging his claws into the thing’s neck, pulling it to eye level. Without a word, Quill burned a portion of his life force and projectile vomited a point blank Time Dragon’s Roar straight into the hollow’s face, keeping the thing there by grabbing his throat. Letting go of the hollow’s arm, Quill thought to himself that now was as dire a time as any, as he held his freed hand out, causing an object to be pulled from his Requip space.

“To think he can even completely manifest the spirit apart from himself at the same time,” Gar huffed as he glared at the young Zangetsu.

The hooded youth merely stared back expressionless as he pointed the sword at the king again.

“Oi, Ichigo! Know what this is?” Quill laughed as he let go of the hollow’s throat and shoved it back, showing off the object in his hand.

“Bastard,” Ichigo chuckled uneasily. “To think you had one all this time…”

In his hand was none other than…

8:19:55

(A dozen or so minutes ago…)

Arkham pulled Quill away from Berserker, he hooked his arm around the Dragon King’s neck and lowered his head briefly, he briefly glanced over his shoulder back at the Doom Marine and cleared his throat. He took another look to make sure and started with a whisper. “So… Quill, about that idea I have…” The Commander began carefully.

Quill blinked a few times, waiting patiently with a small smirk. “I’m waiting…”

“...You’re going to blow yourself up,” He said flatly but he raised his hands before the Dragon King could speak, “Now, hear me out on this. Remember that big explosion when I fought Coco, the girls, and her summons? I used the Dynastone Core in my Anti-Admiral suit to do that explosion. Now, hear me out… I have a core in this armor,” he popped open a chestplate and revealed a canister with glass and inside was a purple stone. “This powers my suit to do the Admiral stuff, so I’ll be running on reserves, but that’s besides the point. You and I both know that if Ichigo or even Gar are still in this tournament then no one has a shot at winning. So I’m going to need you to do me a solid… And blow yourself up all over them.” He said, staring directly at Quill’s eyes under his mask.

Quill was completely silent, with his hands clasped together and in front of his mouth as he thought to himself. Suddenly, he let one hand fall to his side and snapped his fingers with the other, pointing directly at Arkham for a moment. “Bet. I’ve always wanted to hit a bitch with a nuke.” He smiled excitedly.

“Alright, I understa–” As he was in the process of turning away, he paused and cocked his head back, “Wait, what?”

The Dragon Slayer chuckled as he put a hand on Arkham’s shoulder. “Kid, I am insane. You know this. I know this. Bullet knows this. Everyone knows this at this point.”

Arkham put a hand on Quill’s shoulder as well, “Alright, there is a ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine-nine percent chance that you will fucking die. Are you SURE?”

“Arkham, I am the literal reincarnation of the actual Acnologia’s humanity. I am every aspect of hatred and self-preservation he had. And that ratio is a hundred to zero.” Quill stared Arkham dead in the eyes. “And I really want to hit a motherfucker with a goddamn nuke.”

The Commander let out a deep sigh, silent for a moment, staring at him back before he nodded. “Alright, alright then. Now, to explode the Dynastone Core, you have to expose it to oxygen which, y’know,” he gestured to the surrounding area, “We’re breathing it right now. If you are to ever use it, use it as a last, LAST resort. Like, you’re going to lose, things are looking bad, your dick is bending the wrong way, USE IT during those circumstances specifically. Understood?”

Quill gave a thumbs up followed by a short nod in response. “Mm-hmm.”

Arkham took the Dynastone Core out of his suit and handed it to Quill, “Keep this a secret, shove it somewhere, put it in the prison wallet, whatever, just hide it so Ichigo or Gar don’t see it coming.”

Quill held the Core and hummed a little, tossing it in the air a few times. “Huh… it’s lighter than I thought it’d be.” He mumbled before tossing it up once more, followed by the Dynastone Core vanishing in a multitude of light particles as he sent it to his Requip Space.

Arkham looked around, confused and looking for the canister of energy, “What the fu– Are you a goddamn magician? What are you gonna do next, pull a rabbit out of a hat?”

“I mean… I’m like 70- no 65 percent sure I could do that… it'd probably be a dead rabbit, but I mean, if you really want me to try.” Quill offered with a smile.

Arkham let out a deep sigh and patted Quill’s shoulder, “...I’m gonna miss you when you die.”

“IF I die.”

Arkham tried to keep a straight face under his mask.

“If you die.”

“… but even if I do die, it’ll look cool as fuck.”

Arkham bit his cheek to hold back a laugh, looking at Quill and patting his shoulder. He turned away and walked back over to Berserker.

“Yup… Yup.”

8:36:51

…A dynastone core.

“So,” Ichgio started to laugh, “You want to beat me with a nuke? Ahahaha!” He held his face. “Got to say this is perfect! I used this next power in my fight with Akainu, though it's still new to me so its a bit hard to control,” as he said this red god ki erupted from his body while he adapted to his new form. The ki started to fluctuate and take on a more erratic state as yellows, oranges, blues and white danced in the mix.

“RAAHHHHHHHH!” Ichigo roared with flames coming from his mouth as he continued to gather his power. Flames started to cover his body while his hair took on a flame aesthetic. The very temperature around the soul reaper rapidly rose. His eyes changed to his mangekyo sharingan flame pattern as blood dripped from his eyes with the background becoming black like his hollow form.

Standing there and watching this whole transformation, Quill blinked a few times as he held the dynastone core. “Okay, well that was… something.” He hummed a little as a few rocks flew by, some hitting Quill in the face, crumbling and flying away as he continued to stare, unfazed by said rocks. “Looked really fuckin’ painful, that’s for damn sure.”

“It’s god ki but different somehow. I don’t know this power,” Gar held his hand in front of his face from the sheer heat being generated. “Is this how he was able to withstand the admiral's attacks?”

”Looks like he’s not holding anything back anymore,” the hollow spoke. “Hope you like it HOT boys! AHAHAHAHA!” He dispersed into reishi and returned to Ichigo’s body, adding his horns and red fur also taking on a flame as to Ichigo’s body.

Jackson stared at Ichigo new form and his attack was getting pushed back, grunting in enough. “Fuck it….if I’m not going to get you out, might as well damage you enough for the others to be able to!!” Jackson shouted before a red ki started coming off him growing bigger and bigger until it was a bright red light. “Kaioken……X ONE MILLION!!”

“Fool,” the other Zangetsu said as he raised his sword and reishi gathered on it, “Getsuga,” he said, “Tensho!” He shouted as sent a massive slash at the saiyan ninja before also disappearing into reishi and being reabsorbed by Ichigo and then gaining the waving inky black cloak to his new ensemble.

Chuckling a little bit, Quill grimaced as he looked at Ichigo’s new form, then at the dynastone core. “Well, kid. Guess this is likely the end of my time in the tournament.” He looked over to where he threw that spike containing the last of his magic, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. “I hope you win this thing. Make sure to keep your promise to Noel. And maybe try giving that new magic a go, yeah?”

The Dragon King turned back to look at the core before staring at and giving his right arm a small glare. “And let’s hope that this isn’t the worst mistake of my life.” He mumbled softly as he gently tossed the core into the air.

Clapping his hands together, small electrical sparks jumped between his palms and fingers as he opened his arms wide and clapped the dynastone core’s container, shattering it open as his bare hands touched the stone. Then, just as it was glowing brightly, beginning to explode with a violent display, the stone began to melt and warp, almost liquifying to some degree in Quill’s hands as he took a deep breath in and brought the stone to his mouth.

From the stands Edward wore a wide smirk. Meanwhile, Zeref and Zirconis stared at the scene, eyes wide and terrified. The two from Quill’s world, completely silent at the batshit insanity that was happening. A grin slowly started to grow on the face of Bullet; ‘What a fucking psycho path.’ he thought to himself, leaning forward.

“Bottoms up.”

And he ate the dynastone core.

Jackson sensing that the fight was coming to an end, placed both his hands in front of him and started using every ounce of power left for one last attack from a distance of Quill.

Gar activated his Ygadra armor and once more relied on his sacred treasure.

The heat and ki around Ichigo began to compress around him as he stood before his fellow fighters. “King of Hell mode completed,” he said as he raised his fist and it turned to a space theme, using his Armament and Conqueror’s Haki to control the energy. He looked up at Jackson’s gigantic ki ball and reeled back, “Meido Fist!” He said as he rocketed straight for the energy ball and hit it, the ball being partially consumed but the space themed energy.

”don’t let him hit you with that or you’re dead!” Gar siad as the appeared behind him, the sheer heat coming off the shinigami’s body immediately turning his rumor into a slow cooker set to flash fry, “Catastrophe!” Gar called out and hit the air causing an explosion to seperate them. “King of hell mode is no joke,” he huffed as pe felt parts of his body still boiling

“No kidding,” Jackson said while standing next to Gar while breathing heavily and holding his broken right arm.

Quill, however, had just finished consuming the dynastone core, eyes closed. Suddenly, the air around him shifted as he stumbled and pressed a hand to his mouth. Stabilizing himself, he doubled over as the markings on his body glowed red and pink, cracks breaking his skin apart, as light flooded out of them. His eyes were practically torn apart by the light as they were no longer red, and instead glowed hot pink with unstable energy. Going slack, Quill’s arms fell to his side as a dark red and black hiss of smoke wafted off his right arm, a wave of absolute malice washing over every inch of the area. And the sound, the sound. It was indescribable but it was as if something was crying out in pain for only a few seconds, before it died out, as did the smoke. This left Quill just standing there, his body cracked and glowing hot pink as body began to deteriorate, his heart and bones glowing as magic and power irradiated his entire body.

Then, the air began to shake as the power of the dynastone rattled with Quill’s raspy chuckle. “Finally free… could’ve chosen a worse ending I suppose but hey, I’m still hitting someone with a nuke. Only difference is, now I am the nuke.” He hummed as he took slow steps forwards, leaving burned footprints in his wake as his body began to deteriorate more and more.

“Fusion Art…”

“Oh……Shit?!?!” Jackson said before tackling Gar to the ground and covered them with multiple layers of stone and rock.

Ichigo looked at the dragon before taking a stance as if holding a sword before the black flame of Amaterasu erupted from his palms before taking on the galactic theme as a sword of cosmic flame. He concentrated on his body using his firebending to control the head so he could expand the blood vessels and rapidly increase his blood flow. “Meido Moon breathing…”

And then everything happened at once.

Quill launched forwards at speeds he’d only shown during his fight with Bullet, his fist glowing hot pink with unstable magical energy and his entire body covered in cracks that glowed with the power of the dynastone. The Dragon King then roared as he threw his fist forwards to meet Ichigo’s attack halfway.

“DRAGON KING’S ETERNAL NOVA!!!!”

“Fourteenth form,” Ichigo pulled his sword behind his head as it gained seven branches, “Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon,” he said he sent sent several galactic crescent moon slashes out in all directions with them growing as they did, creating an omnidirectional vortex of crescent moon blades surround himself.

The two attacks collide, each losing power with each passing clash.

“This isn't good,” Gar said he and Jackson safely watched from their makeshift shelter, “Ichigo is using the power of hell to augment his sword style. “Each time Quill's attack hits one of those moons it loses much more power. Those moons are literal portals to hell. I don’t have to tell you who’ll win in a drawn out fight between these two.”

“Then what the hell do we do then!!” Jackson shouted over the loud explosions while his multiple layer stone barrier started to crack.

Enduring the onslaught of attacks, Quill continued to push forwards. Each slash across his body tearing more and more skin from his body, revealing nothing but glowing energy as the Dragon King marched onwards. In his mind, he continued chanting “keep moving, keep fighting” with each step. Self-preservation went out the door several traumatic brain injuries ago. He was determined to see this to the end, and if that meant his skeleton would be the only thing left then so be it.

“I respect your drive to keep moving but I dislike the look of being content with death,” Ichigo spoke. “This is a tournament for fighting, not dying. If you want to be a martyr then do it somewhere else and for the right cause. A place like where you’re meant to enjoy the thrills of battle and push yourself to get stronger than the next guy.”

Continuing to push forwards and forwards, not losing pace, Quill laughed joyfully. “Well that’s the thing, Ichigo! I am getting stronger and I am enjoying the thrill of battle. I fought Tirak, Suicune, and Gwyneira, I fought Bullet, and now, I’m fighting you.” The Dragon King marched closer and closer, the glow of the dynastone’s energy getting brighter and brighter with each moment. “And right now, I’m fighting with everything I have! Because for the first time since I was a kid, I don’t have that Scarlet fucker breathing down my neck!”

Quill roared, pushing himself further towards Ichigo, a smile, clear as day on his face.

“I’M FIGHTING AS ME, AND ME ALONE!! AND THAT’S ALL THE CAUSE I NEED!!”

Ichigo smiled and nodded, “Alright then,” suddenly he changed his form and place his flame sword at his side, his free hand around the blade, “Meido Moon Breathing,” he sia as he quickly drew the sword creating a massive medio moon slash that sent out thousands of smaller moon blades, all of them barraging Quill to a complete stop as Ichigo returned his sword to his side, “First form, Dark Moon Evening Palace.”

”Third form,” he said as he quickly appeared in front of the dragon king and performed two extremely broad slashes that several smaller crescent slashes erupted from, “Loathsome Moon, Chains.”

A red flame skeleton appeared around Ichigo, “If your okay with dying in this so am I. I’ll substitute my lifeforce for my chakra!” The skeleton grew muscle and took o an form similar to Ichigo’s hollow form, “Susanoo, Meido Fist!” He cried out as the Susanoo reeled back as galactic hell energy covered its massive fist and barreled into Quill to send him flying.

Skipping across the ground, his body covered in glowing patches, half of his face now missing, as he shoved himself off the ground. Stumbling and almost falling down a few times, Quill stabilized himself as he looked at the Susanoo. Giggling like a madman, the Dragon King broke out into a full laughing fit as he began to run at Ichigo once more. Roaring, as his vocal chords had all but been burnt away, Quill lunged forward and tore a spike off his Nergigante arm as it began to glow hot pink with energy, just like the rest of his body.

“Rest well, Dragon King,” Ichigoi said as he made several hand signs, “Grand inferno Style Scorched Earth!” The Susanoo mimicked its creator and opened its mount and eye wide as a massive ball of black flame was created in front of it and suddenly condensed. The giant grabbed hold of it before using its free hand to force itself above the arena, “Hell on earth!” Ichgio called out as his god ki erupted as the susanoo threw the sphere of flames right into the arena.

“Get fucked, Soul Reaper!”

Quill yelled as he ran as close to Ichigo as possible, taking the spike in his hand and stabbing it directly into his chest. This spike then pierced his heart, and took away both what little remained of his life, and the only thing that kept the dynastone’s energy from going critical. And as that was now gone…

Quill exploded, and everything was consumed in a brilliant pillar of explosive energy, as the full force of a dynastone shook the arena for a second time.

“Those assholes!” Gar and Jackson yelled as the two explosions collided with each other and burst outward.

”hmmm…. Ichigo smiled as blood started to flow from his eyes, nose, and mouth. “Not bad…” he said as he was also caught in the blast.

The explosion shook the void and sent a ripple throughout the shattered arena. What was left of the mainland was destroyed and became a small island that held the tower of time. Some large chunks of the mainland floated about across the void. And yet, in the sky, a small red orb that Akainu shot out before he left the arena to fight Ichigo is still there.

Floating in the sky.

Waiting.

8:41:44

After the fight with Sora and Deltorix, the Knight had been hell bent on staying as far away from the fight with Ichigo as he possibly could and waited for the inevitable. With the explosion happening, Arkham had prepared but even then, still underestimated the shockwave of the explosion. The arena was in tatters, damaged as all hell after the constant explosions, and the constant attacks from Ichigo and the others. The Knight sat upon a floating piece of debris a few ways away from the mainland, looking out with soft eyes. He closed his eyes.

“Thank you, Quill.”

Then, seconds after he had closed his eyes, a glowing golden blue spike of magical energy pitifully clattered to the ground next to Arkham. Its momentum all but gone as it laid there, glowing, but not brightly. It glowed softly, as if to ward all evils away. A final gift from the King. From the teacher, to the student. From the Dragon, to their Slayer.

Arkham gently picked up the spike and glanced down at it in his palm. Strangely enough, he could hear the words of Quill from the spike, “I hope you win this thing. Make sure to keep your promise to Noel. And maybe try giving that new magic a go, yeah?”

He nodded and clenched his fist, pocketing it, “Right,” he sprung up to his feet, “The tournament is not over yet.” He took out some capsules from his waist pocket, “So, let’s lock in one last time.”

Author's Note

This next chapter might just be the end of the Displaced Tournament of Power! Who will win? Did anyone survive this fight? If so, who walks out to fight Arkham and Dillan?! Find out next time!