June 17, 1995 - Heavy Rain
"It's alright, Aunt Masaki. Leave a small fry like that to my parents."
Asakura Yoh first dragged the unconscious Ichigo to a relatively safe spot, then quickly ran back to Kurosaki Masaki's side, pulling her along while she was still in a daze.
Masaki's daze was not without reason; just as she had been about to protect her son by using her Quincy powers to fight...
The Quincy power that had accompanied her for over twenty years seemed to have vanished into thin air.
No, that wasn't quite accurate. Rather than vanishing, it felt more like being drawn out, as if some existence she could never resist had forcibly stripped her of her rights as a Quincy.
Masaki instinctively thought of the Quincy manual she carried with her and a certain legend recorded in it.
Legend had it that the Quincies had a sealed king.
And although that King of Quincies was sealed, he left behind a prophecy for the future—the Kaiser Gesang.
[THE SEALED KING OF THE QUINCIES]
[900 YEARS TO REGAIN HIS HEARTBEAT]
[90 YEARS TO REGAIN HIS INTELLECT]
[9 YEARS TO REGAIN HIS POWER]
By the time Masaki came to her senses, she had been pulled by her son's friend to a spot dozens of meters away from the Hollow.
To be honest, this distance was hardly safe, but Asakura Yoh was confident. He was certain that as long as they stayed here, his parents would never let them be harmed.
"Yoh? What are Ren and Eiji doing?"
Ren was the name of Asakura Yoh's mother, and Eiji was his father's. Before they were married, the two were cousins separated by a few generations.
Kurosaki Masaki and Asakura Ren had long since called each other sisters because of their sons, becoming nearly best friends.
But Masaki never knew that this 'sister' of hers and her husband were not ordinary people.
"My parents are both Shamans from the Asakura family," Asakura Yoh explained to Kurosaki Masaki.
"Shamans?"
Masaki could not comprehend what kind of existence that term referred to at the moment.
But seeing the ease with which her two friends fought the Hollow, she understood at least that they were powerful—far stronger than that Hollow, which looked like a mix between a hamster and a baboon.
At that moment, Asakura Ren held a glowing giant hammer, while Asakura Eiji had glowing rings on all ten of his fingers.
If one looked closely, they could see that each ring was connected to metal wires that were nearly invisible to the naked eye.
The Hollow that had attacked Ichigo was now tightly bound by those invisible wires, and the more it struggled, the deeper the wires cut into its flesh.
The Hollow's shrill screams could not change its fate. Death should have been its only end.
But the outcome truly did change, and in a way no one could have predicted.
Just as Asakura Yoh was watching with anticipation and pride as his mother swung the giant hammer to deliver the final blow, Asakura Ren suddenly shifted her aim.
The attack that should have landed on the Hollow smashed toward Asakura Eiji, who dodged and immediately attacked his wife in return.
Even the wires binding the Hollow went slack. The restrained Hollow broke free for no apparent reason, escaping so easily that even it was surprised.
"You bastard monster! Let go of Eiji!"
Asakura Ren shouted furiously at Asakura Eiji.
"I'm warning you! Let go of Ren, or else..."
Asakura Eiji spoke with suppressed rage and malice toward Asakura Ren.
From their dialogue, it seemed they both saw each other as monsters.
"Mom! Dad!? What are you doing!? Wait! Could it be..."
Ignoring Masaki's attempts to stop him, Asakura Yoh ran toward his parents. Their dialogue and behavior only served to intensify the unease in his heart.
Masaki couldn't understand what was happening, but Yoh could guess based on his knowledge of the original story.
Kyoka Suigetsu—the strongest illusion-type Zanpakuto from the original story. Its ability was Complete Hypnosis.
The appearance, sound, smell, touch, and even spiritual sense of the victim were all completely falsified.
It was as if it could turn a fly into a dragon or a swamp into a flower field. The illusion was flawless, and the hypnotized would feel nothing unusual.
Thinking about it, only that ability could explain the current situation.
But if that were really the case, then Asakura Yoh could do absolutely nothing.
After all, the wielder of Kyoka Suigetsu was the future big boss, Aizen Sosuke. What could a nine-year-old—who couldn't even manage to have an ordinary soul possess him properly—do against such an absolute situation?
He should have expected this. Ichigo had always been a primary subject of Aizen's observation, so it was not only possible but certain that Aizen would conduct a detailed investigation of everyone around him.
The Asakura clan and their Furyoku did not belong to this world. It wouldn't be surprising if Aizen took action once he discovered them.
After all, his elaborate planning for the Hogyoku was all to break the limits of a Soul Reaper.
If he was willing to use Hollow powers for that, he certainly wouldn't pass up such a rare research subject.
'I was so stupid. I made things too simple... What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!'
Before Asakura Yoh could escape his spiraling thoughts, he felt his body being scooped up and moved rapidly away.
It was Kurosaki Masaki. She held him and barely dodged the Hollow's attack, but a bloody wound was slashed across her back.
This was natural; the freed Hollow had no reason to just stand there.
"I don't know what just happened, but to make up for my losses, I'm going to eat you at the very least!"
Grand Fisher ignored its own wounds and blood, staring fixedly at Masaki and Yoh.
It admitted it couldn't mess with those two lunatics who had suddenly gone crazy and started attacking each other, but it didn't believe this woman and child, who looked weak, would be so hard to deal with.
Besides—the taste of young women and children is the best!
"Run! If you can... take Ichigo with you."
Masaki whispered to the pale Yoh, but her voice obviously didn't escape the Hollow's hearing.
"Naive! You think I'd let my prey run away so easily!?"
"Run!!"
After pushing Yoh away with all her might, Masaki stepped in front of Grand Fisher and used the last of her strength to tightly grab its thick arm.
Though she should have been weakened after losing her Quincy powers, at this moment, she burst forth with the latent strength of a mere human.
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