It wasn't long before Ryu woke with a sigh, his body feeling weak—strangely so.
Looking around, he realized he was in a bedroom, lying in a single bed. It was comfortable, and as he looked closer, he knew this room. A rush of happiness filled the empty void he had carried inside him every day.
Something shifted beside him. He looked down and saw Nel curled up like a little ball at his side. He gently rested his hand on her head.
Nel opened her eyes.
"Ryuuuuu!" she shrieked, throwing herself on top of him, crying and babbling happily.
"Nel, wait—you're getting me all wet," Ryu mumbled, trying to gently pry the little Arrancar off him. Just then, the door opened.
Standing there, hesitating in the doorway, was Kurosaki Misaki.
Ryu looked at her, trying to speak—but the words wouldn't come.
"My son…." Misaki Kurosaki wept, walking toward him, cupping his face in her hands. "My son…."
"Mother…." Ryu's voice broke.
He was truly home. He was finally home. The hollow ache that had haunted his chest his whole life began to heal. He could feel it.
Slap.
His head snapped to the side from the force of the blow.
Ryu sat stunned, doing nothing but staring away, feeling the sting on his cheek.
"Why did you do it?" Misaki sobbed, her hand still raised. "Protecting you is my job. Why? Why did you sacrifice yourself? Look at you now… a Hollow. You spent your entire childhood in that terrible world."
Misaki's outburst left Ryu wide-eyed. He tried to reach out and embrace her, but he couldn't.
Then Isshin Kurosaki stepped into the room, walking through the door. He wrapped his arms around his wife, then turned his gaze to his son.
"You've been on such a long journey, my boy," Isshin said, stepping forward to embrace him. "I am so sorry I couldn't come for you in Hueco Mundo. If only I had known."
"There was no way you could have known," Ryu replied, his voice thick with emotion. "Even if you had, going to Hueco Mundo would have been suicide. And even if you'd survived… my spiritual pressure would have crushed you both."
His eyes suddenly widened as he looked down at his own body in shock.
"Don't worry. You're in a Gigai," Isshin said gently. "Your spiritual pressure is sealed."
That entire day—and for weeks to follow—Ryu's family never left his side. Misaki was fiercely protective, watching over him constantly.
Until one day, during lunch, not long after their reunion.
"I'm getting your paperwork ready to send you back to school," Misaki said with a warm smile. "But first, we need to make sure you catch up on all the schooling you missed."
Ryu suddenly coughed up blood and gasped for air.
"Son! / Ryu!" The whole Kurosaki family and Nel cried out in horror as he collapsed to the floor.
They rushed him to Urahara's shop.
There, the eccentric scientist examined his condition and sighed.
"His Gigai can't contain his spiritual energy," Urahara said, frowning in thought. "This body wasn't made to hold a Hollow. That said… we do have a human body fully capable of sustaining Hollow energy right here."
He glanced at Ichigo. Everyone understood immediately.
"So… can it be fixed?" Isshin asked.
"It's possible… but this Gigai won't last much longer," Urahara replied, looking at the Kurosakis. "If he steps out in his spiritual form here… this entire city would likely die from the sheer weight of his pressure."
Eyes went wide. They all understood exactly what that meant.
"No! I am not sending my son back to Hueco Mundo!" Misaki cried, tears streaming down her face. "It isn't fair. I just found him."
"Whether we like it or not… I have to go back," Ryu said, surprising them all. He stroked Nel's head as she lay weeping over him. "Harribel and the others were attacked. As the strongest Hollow, I need to take command and defeat that son of a bitch. Tell me… how long can you make this Gigai last?"
Everyone stared at him, stunned.
"Son—" Misaki was the first to reach him, throwing her arms around him. "No. Don't even think about doing something reckless."
"I can create a Gigai compatible with you in about three months," Urahara answered.
(—)
It wasn't long before Ryu, Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, and Urahara set out for Hueco Mundo—Ryu opening a Garganta to lead the way.
The state of Hueco Mundo was devastating. They saw Quincy marching through the sands, ruling over subjugated Hollows.
Ryu's rage was absolute. He slaughtered every Quincy in sight—so fast it couldn't even be called a fight. It was a massacre.
But word soon arrived: the Soul Society had also been attacked. Ichigo raced there at full speed. Ryu chose to stay in Hueco Mundo, to secure it and rally the Hollows.
(—)
Back in the Soul Society, the situation was dire. Yamamoto was dead. Most Captains were out of commission. Ichigo had been defeated by the Quincy King, who then marched toward the Soul King's Palace.
Seeing how grave the situation was, Ryu decided he would master the power of Ulquiorra—the so-called Resurrección: Segunda Etapa.
He trained while the Shinigami fought. Meanwhile, with Urahara's help, Nel regained her adult form. Grimmjow joined them, and soon Urahara began guiding them all through rigorous training.
(—)
Ryu found himself in his inner world once more. The same girl sat atop the familiar skyscraper.
With a Sonido, he appeared beside her and sat down.
"You really like it up here, don't you?" Ryu asked, gazing toward the horizon.
"What do you see out there?" Ryujin pointed toward a massive storm gathering in the distance. "A storm. A tempest. And I don't like it."
"Then… how do we stop it?" Ryu asked.
"By killing that son of a bitch," Ryujin answered, his eyes glowing bright red—a hungry, predatory look, pure Hollow. "Trample his corpse. Watch him writhe in agony. Then devour his soul."
Ryu laughed. He wasn't the only one whose pride had been wounded by that defeat.
"Then… give me the power to do it," Ryu said, locking eyes with him. "The Segunda Etapa."
Ryujin looked at him with a sad smile.
"To achieve a Segunda Etapa… you would need to be an Arrancar," he said, amused. "And you aren't."
Ryu's eyes widened in shock.
"What do you mean?" Ryu bit his lip, frustrated. "I'm not a Hollow? My spiritual pressure is Hollow. My form is Hollow. I am a Hollow."
"No. I am the Hollow within you—but I am also the manifestation of your Shinigami powers. Remember—your father is a Shinigami," Ryujin said, sighing softly. "When you died, I had to take control and suppress your Shinigami powers… but they never left. I am still your Zanpakutō. And proof of that? Look at your chest. Is there a hollow hole?"
Ryu's eyes went wide.
"You're telling me… all this time… I've been a Shinigami?" Ryu whispered, stunned.
"I'm telling you that I am both your Shinigami and Hollow powers. You aren't a Vizard like your brother—a Shinigami with Hollow powers. And you aren't an Arrancar—a Hollow with Shinigami powers. You are fifty percent of both," Ryujin said calmly.
"So… I'll never evolve?" Ryu looked down, heart sinking. "I'll never be strong enough to defeat that bastard?"
The storm clouds on the horizon grew darker, the tempest drawing nearer.
"Didn't you listen to me…?" Ryujin stood up and faced the storm. "I suppressed your Shinigami powers. Even though you are half Shinigami… it's time to wake that power up, Ryu. Speak my name. And this time… I will answer with both of your powers."
(—)
Ryu woke up. He looked at the sword in his hand, closed his eyes.
"Awaken, Ryujin!" he shouted.
In that instant, a wave of power erupted outward. His spiritual pressure tore through everything around him—then vanished.
There he stood: in his human form, but with two horns curving forward from his head, great dragon wings upon his back, and a long, pure-white dragon tail. Red lines traced across his body, converging in the shape of an X upon his chest.
"Well, well… it seems you've achieved something truly extraordinary, young Ryu," Urahara said, approaching him. Sweat beaded on his forehead—he was visibly struggling to stand beneath the crushing spiritual pressure.
At the same moment, two more massive spiritual pressures appeared. They were weaker than Ryu's, yet immense—rivaling the strongest in existence, nearing the level of Coyote Starrk. The first was equal to Starrk at his peak; the second, only slightly lower.
Reinforcements had arrived for the war against the Quincy King.
(—)
The battles raged on. A turning point came when an army of Arrancar and Hollows, led by Ryu, invaded the Soul Society and aided the Shinigami in repelling the Quincy invasion.
At the Soul King's Palace, Ichigo, Ryu, Nel, Rukia, and Orihime stood together against the Quincy King.
The situation was desperate. Ichigo unleashed his Bankai, his Shinigami and Hollow powers fully merged. Orihime used her rejection of events to heal and defend. Nel fired Cero after Cero with all her might. Rukia tried to freeze Yhwach solid.
But nothing worked. He was too powerful. Nothing could truly defeat him.
"Look at you all," Yhwach said, gazing down at Ichigo and Ryu—the last two standing. "One a perfect hybrid of all four races. The other a perfect fusion of Shinigami and Hollow. You think you can stop me? But you do not understand. This system is flawed. It cannot endure. It must be destroyed."
"Destroying everything in its path?" Ryu shouted, furious. "Go to hell."
"We will stop you!" Ichigo cried.
They attacked together. Ryu withstood a blow that would have leveled mountains. For a moment, Uryū blocked Yhwach's vision—and Ichigo landed the final strike.
"Fools… you do not understand…." Yhwach screamed as his strength faded. "You have lost…."
Yhwach felt the joy of watching the universe crumble, his purpose fulfilled—until he gasped in horror as the Soul King's power within him tore free, taking shape all around him.
He found himself lost in time and space, his power scattering to the winds. Two great sins took the form of dragons—one representing the Dream, the other representing Infinity. Primordial beings emerged from his essence, each born to become a Soul King in their own right. Each possessed power equal to—or greater than—Yhwach's own.
The power Yhwach had used to rewrite the future instead rewrote the past. A new universe was born—one where there was never a single Soul King, but many. Each one ensured reality would never be fragile again. Even if one fell, others would rise. No longer could one bitter god destroy all of existence.
"NOOOOO!" Yhwach wept as the world remade itself. "Then… everything I did… was for nothing."
Exhausted, the survivors fell back, scarcely understanding how the world had changed. Only those of the three great races truly perceived the shift. Humanity—and the new beings born from the Quincy King's death—would never know they were born from the destruction of a system destined to end in ruin.
Author's Note: And now… the crossover I promised begins.