But human strength was ultimately too weak against a Hollow.
Grand Fisher aimed its other claw at Kurosaki Masaki's back, its sharp nails ready to pierce through this reckless woman at any moment.
But at that exact moment, it felt something small crawling up its back onto its head, as agile as a flea.
Its body froze. Its forehead was where its true body resided—its greatest weakness. Before it could react, the agony radiating from its true form brought all its movements to a screeching halt.
Asakura Yoh spat out the foul-smelling chunk of flesh. His body was immediately flung away, crashing heavily onto the grass. It wasn't a light impact; a mixture of the Hollow's blood and his own flowed from the corner of his mouth, though it was quickly washed away by the heavy rain.
Kurosaki Masaki was also slammed into the ground by the enraged Grand Fisher. Her situation was far more severe than Yoh's, who had merely been tossed aside.
Masaki could clearly feel her broken ribs piercing her lungs. Even breathing had become incredibly difficult.
Her vision gradually dimmed. In the distance, Ichigo's unconscious figure lying in the grass occupied her entire field of view.
With death approaching, memories of the past flooded back.
Her Quincy training, her school days, her time staying at Ryuken's house, meeting Isshin, the moment she went to save Isshin only to be saved by him instead, their dates, their wedding, Ichigo's birth, the birth of Yuzu and Karin, becoming friends with Ren, the time Ichigo said he would protect her...
*Ah... I really don't want to die yet... I want... I want to see Ichigo, Yuzu, and Karin grow up... Isshin... I...*
As the tears at the corners of her eyes mingled with the rain, Kurosaki Masaki finally closed her eyes.
Her consciousness briefly plunged into darkness. To call it "darkness" was merely using the most descriptive word available.
When she regained consciousness, Masaki found herself standing in the heavy rain once more. At the same time, she felt her body was lighter than it had ever been before.
So light it was as if she had no weight at all.
After a brief moment of disorientation, Masaki immediately looked toward where Asakura Yoh had fallen. However, the first thing she saw wasn't Yoh, but that long-haired Hollow.
Grand Fisher watched the boy on the ground with a playful smirk, his eyes filled with despair. Following the boy's gaze, it looked at the two madmen who had been fighting each other for so long.
"Ei... ji..."
A voice as hoarse and weak as a broken kite drifted from Asakura Ren's lips.
"Wh... why?"
Asakura Eiji stared at the blood flowing down the wires into his palms. His mind stopped working.
Why? He had clearly used his ability to twist off that troublesome monster's head. Why did the monster suddenly turn into Asakura Ren the next moment?
He looked at his blood-stained hands, then at the woman he loved as her life signs gradually faded.
Panic, helplessness, despair...
He wanted to go mad, yet he felt as if all strength had left his body.
Finally, he saw his son looking at him with the same despair and deep-seated hatred. The last string of his sanity finally snapped.
Asakura Eiji's spirit completely collapsed at that moment.
For a Shaman, a mental breakdown was equivalent to losing all their power.
Because the source of a Shaman's power is their spiritual strength.
Furyoku dissipated from his body. At this moment, he had become a completely ordinary person—no, even less than ordinary.
Asakura Yoh's eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead throbbed violently. Blood was squeezed from between his teeth. It was hard to imagine such a contorted and terrifying face appearing on a nine-year-old child.
*AIZEN...!!!*
In his past life, watching the anime through a screen, he hadn't actually felt much ill will toward the villain Aizen Sosuke. He had even thought the man was cool and sophisticated.
But now, he felt the most extreme hatred for that name from the bottom of his heart. If he didn't die today, he swore to use every means necessary to erase him from this world.
Not the sealing seen in the original story, but absolute erasure!
"Hahahahaha!!"
Grand Fisher laughed wildly as it charged toward the man kneeling before his wife's corpse. Although it didn't know exactly what had happened, it clearly felt that the terrifying aura surrounding Asakura Eiji had vanished.
Now, it was certain it could kill this man. It would be even easier than killing a chicken.
Kill him, then devour him and that woman.
Just the thought of the taste of such strong souls made its mouth water.
It succeeded. Just as it thought, the man offered no resistance as his head was lopped off.
But...
"Why? Why is there nothing!?"
Souls were supposed to appear as soon as a human died. Why weren't there any for these two!?
"This is impossible!!?"
The prize that was within its grasp had vanished. Grand Fisher's already blood-red eyes became even more vicious.
Breathing heavily, it looked with deep malice at the orange-haired woman who had already become a Plus, and the child she was protecting behind her outstretched arms.
The child stared back with a gaze even more poisonous than its own. That look initially sent a chill down its spine, but that feeling was quickly overtaken by rage.
A dying brat actually dared to look at it that way? A dead woman actually tried to stop it?
Who was it?
Grand Fisher. The Soul Society had been hunting it for decades without success. Who were these two nobodies to insult it like this?
It would kill them. It had to kill them, and then kill that other orange-haired brat further away.
Just as Grand Fisher was about to strike, it saw the boy force himself up and crawl toward the orange-haired woman's corpse.
"Haha... Hahahahaha!"
Watching the boy struggle like a dog with broken legs, Grand Fisher let out a delighted laugh. Seeing the brat who had dared to bite it in such a state felt incredibly cathartic.
Because of this, it was no longer in a hurry. It just watched him crawl bit by bit while the orange-haired woman's soul could only hover around in a panic, unable to do anything.
Such a comical and ridiculous performance wasn't something one could see every day. Naturally, it wanted to enjoy it a little longer.
Finally, Yoh reached Masaki's corpse. His eyes had long since lost all color, becoming hollow and lifeless.
Yoh found the Quincy Cross hanging around Masaki's neck. A low voice squeezed through his teeth.
"Auntie Masaki..."
"Yoh, you..."
Masaki's voice was filled with sadness and heartbreak. She didn't know what the child intended to do, but she understood that he was forcing himself through immense pain to do it.
"I can't control this technique yet... but if I don't use it... we'll all die. This move requires your help as a spirit, but I can't guarantee..."
"It's alright. Say no more, Yoh. Do whatever you need to do."
Masaki interrupted him. As long as she could save Ichigo and the boy struggling desperately before her, she wouldn't hesitate for a second, even if it meant going to hell.
"Okay..."
Yoh took a deep breath, ignoring the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He used the last of his strength to scream:
"OVERSOUL...!"
In an instant, Grand Fisher, who had been watching the show, suddenly felt a dangerous aura erupt from the child—the same kind of aura that had come from the dead couple.
*Oh no!*
It instinctively fled into the distance. It realized it had played around too much. As long as it survived and devoured more souls, it could eventually return to take its revenge on this brat.
An orange arrow of flame pierced through its body. Grand Fisher didn't hesitate; it immediately abandoned its parasitic host body and fled even faster.
Yoh no longer had the strength to pursue. That single attack had been his limit.
He felt like his head was going to explode. Forcing a power he couldn't control often resulted in a devastating blow to a Shaman's mental state.
Sharing his agony was Masaki, who had transformed into the bow and flames.
The rampaging Furyoku caused their souls to suffer the same torment. Under the stimulation of the chaotic energy, the Chain of Fate on Masaki's chest gradually began to link with Yoh's soul.
The Chain of Fate carries all the memories and emotions of a soul. At that moment, Yoh saw all of Masaki's life memories.
...
"MASAKI!!!"
Kurosaki Isshin rushed toward Masaki's body, while Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai approached with solemn expressions.
This was the final memory Yoh and Masaki shared from that rainy day.
...
When he opened his eyes again, the first thing Yoh saw was a blond man waving at him playfully.
Urahara Kisuke. His features were so distinct that Yoh didn't even have to guess his identity.
He then learned from Urahara that his soul was now deeply bound to Kurosaki Masaki's.
Having become a Plus, Masaki was now linked to his soul through the Chain of Fate, so there was no need to worry about Hollowification.
However, a troublesome problem had arisen: she couldn't be away from him for too long. She was like a land-bound spirit, except she wasn't bound to a location, but to him.
Yoh showed no reaction to the news. Masaki, who had already learned from Yoh what a Shaman was, didn't mind either.
They both knew that once Yoh's strength improved, this wouldn't be a difficult problem to solve.
However, Masaki had more weightier matters on her mind.
Through Urahara's confession, she learned that a mastermind was behind everything. She knew such a person existed, but she didn't know who they were, and Urahara didn't seem to have any intention of telling her.
More importantly, she knew that Yoh's parents had died a tragic death because he had tried to protect her. This was what pained her the most.
Later, Urahara found her alone and told her that Kurosaki Ichigo's strength might be needed in the future.
If she could help it, she didn't want Ichigo or Yoh to experience such dangerous battles in the future, but she knew that was impossible.
Setting aside how they would oppose the mastermind without Ichigo's power, there was also Yoh. Having lost both parents because of that person, how could she advise him otherwise? Besides, she didn't believe she had the right to.
For various reasons, she asked Kurosaki Isshin not to tell the children that her soul still existed.
First, even if they were told, Yuzu and Karin hadn't awakened their spiritual vision and wouldn't be able to see her. Second, if the mastermind discovered her soul had undergone such a transformation and she was still living with her family, who knew what unpredictable things might happen?
She couldn't predict the future...
And she didn't dare to gamble...
So, despite the pain, she steeled her heart and decided not to reveal herself to her family for now. Besides, even if she wanted to, she couldn't leave Yoh's side yet.
As for Yoh, her heart was filled with guilt. If he hadn't tried to change her fate, his family wouldn't have suffered this disaster.
Though she could never fully repay the debt, she decided to take Ren's place and look after Yoh as if he were her own child.
...
"Phew... That's essentially what happened. It was your mother's own decision."
Kurosaki Isshin blew out a large cloud of smoke. He hadn't told Ichigo the whole truth; in fact, he didn't even know it all himself.
Isshin only told Ichigo that Yoh's parents had sacrificed themselves to save them.
He explained that Masaki's soul had become bound to Yoh due to the boy's power going out of control, and it was only recently that she had finally been able to detach from him to act independently.
"No, wait..."
Ichigo clutched his aching head, struggling to process the sudden influx of information.
"Wait, then what about you, Dad?"
Isshin's current expression and calm attitude were definitely not those of an ordinary person, yet he had insisted that he couldn't see souls.
Then what exactly was he...?
"That's not for you to know yet, you brat."
"Are you kidding me!? Explain yourself, you old geezer!"
"Ichigo, don't speak to your father like that!"
"..."
"Hahaha! You got scolded, Ichigo!"
"Isshin!"
"Yes, ma'am... Sorry..."
Kuchiki Rukia, who had been listening to this shocking gossip, was deeply shaken.
Repelling Grand Fisher at age nine, the Chain of Fate of two souls linking together... none of this sounded spiritually scientific.
Rukia glanced at Yoh, who was sitting quietly to the side. It seemed anything involving this man defied common sense.
Then again, Kurosaki Ichigo—a human who had stolen all her Soul Reaper powers—wasn't exactly common sense either.
(*Still...*)
"Congratulations, Ichigo."
"Huh?"
Ichigo turned back to Rukia, confused.
"It's wonderful that you could reunite with your mother, isn't it?"
It was the first time Ichigo had seen such a warm smile on Rukia's face.
"Yeah..."
The furrow in the boy's brow, which had been tight for six years, finally eased.