Chapter 5: The flames of creation

HUECO MUNDO (after a week)

Nymeria was running for her life through the desert of Hueco Mundo. She has been running for some time but her pursuer was very skilled in finding her position and attack. Most of the times she managed to escape the attacks but after a number of attempts her pursuer seems to have developed speed of his attacks. The proof of that was the burn marks on her hands. She saw several large boulders on her way and she decided to take some rest behind one of the boulder. She regulated her breath as she slowly relaxed into the rough surface of the boulder and slowly her eyes were closing but it opened quickly enough as she heard a voice.

"Hadou 32: Ōkasen"

A yellow arc of energy struck the boulder she was hiding and blasted her away from the place. Just as she landed on the sand she used sonido to avoid another attack.

"Hadou 33: Sōkatsui"

A wave of blue flames crashed into the spot she was before and the sand turned to glass from the intense heat of the blue coloured flames. She could feel the heat on her body even though she was far away from it and she disappeared again in a sonido as she heard another spell being cast.

"Hadou 54: Abolishing Flames (Haien)"

A blast of purple spiritual energy crashed near her. The sonido saved from being consumed in the blast but the power behind it blew her away. Wild uncontrollable torrent of winds started blowing everywhere carrying sand and smoke obstructing Nymeria's vision.

She landed on her back and she rolled on the sand to arrest the momentum. She was bleeding lightly from her right arm as her burn marks refused to heal even though she had instant regeneration. Suddenly she had to turn her head as a blue bolt of lightning passed very close to her head. She began to run away with a series of sonido until finally she crashed into someone else.

"What is going on here? You are that new arrancar are you not? Who is attacking you?" Tier Harribel asked as she helped Nymeria to her feet

Nymeria was struck speechless by her old idol standing close to her. She was about to answer when she heard a voice behind her.

"Bakudou 9: Strike (Geki)"

A red light engulfed her completely paralyzed Nymeria.

"Hadou 4: White Lightning (Byakurai)"

This time Harribel pushed Nymeria down and used her sword to block the thin concentrated beam of lightning. The energy from the attack was powerful as it pushed Harribel back a few feet. But soon the energy flow stopped and she looked at the smoke as a figure stepped out of it. She saw the arrancar that was recently turned who by the looks of it have no mask fragments or the hollow hole anywhere in his body.

"That was pathetic Nymeria. I told you never to hesitate or stop amidst battle. Instead you froze upon encountering an unexpected distraction." Indra commented as he walked out of the smoke with a stern expression.

"I am sorry master Indra." Nymeria stood up as the paralysis disappeared

"Are you calling Harribel sama a distraction you piece of low life." Apacci screamed

"Yeah. How dare you talk like that of Harribel sama." Mila rose looked enraged

"You are not even an Espada. You don't have any right to even speak about her." Sung-Sun said

"That is enough for today. Return to our quarters, Nymeria." Indra ordered

"She is going nowhere. I don't care who or what you are to lord Aizen but I will not allow you to use a female hollow for your sick amusement." Harribel took out her Zanpakuto slowly

"Mind your own matters Harribel san." with that Indra turned around to walk away

The three, Fracción of Harribel rushed at Indra who was walking away. For a moment Harribel blinked and then all she saw was a spray of blood. Her Fracción fell over on the ground kicking up a dust cloud. She saw Indra walking unbothered with a bloodied sword in his hand. Harribel became enraged and rushed at Indra.

"No. Don't." Nymeria screamed in terror

"Destroy, Tiburón." Harribel activated her resurrección and slashed her sword at Indra's unprotected back or at least that was her plan. Her sword was stopped dead on its tracks. Her eyes widened in disbelief as Indra stopped her sword with his palm. She looked at his cold blue eyes and then everything went blank.

Nymeria watched as her idol get cut down with a single swing from Indra. Her master raised his sword and was about to stab Harribel's forehead but she quickly kneeled before him.

"Please lord Indra. Spare her life. She saved my life once like you did. I beg you, please spare her." Nymeria begged

Indra looked at the kneeling Nymeria and decided to remove his sword and sheath it. He bend down and picked up Harribel on his shoulders and turned in the direction of Las Noches.

"Take those three as well. We are going to our quarters." Indra ordered

Nymeria rushed to obey his order happily as she somehow carried the three companions of Harribel and left the desert with Indra.

XXXXXXX

Harribel opened her eyes and she saw white walls around her. She felt the around her with her hands and she realized she was in a bed. She slowly sat up and she saw her abdomen was covered in thick bandages. She tried to remember what happened and realized she must have been cut down by Indra. She was about to step out of the bed but a voice stoped her.

"You would heal faster if you don't move. Even with your instant regeneration your wounds are slow in healing." Indra commented from her side

She turned her head to her left and saw Indra sitting in a chair reading a book.

"You… How did I get here? Where is this? Where are my fraccion?" Harribel asked

"I carried you. This is my room. They are next room healing same as you. Any more questions… If not take rest you will need it." Indra said as he closed the book and placed it among a shelf full of books.

Harribel fell back into the bed and remained silent for a while.

"Why didn't you kill us." Hallibel asked

"You can thank Nymeria for that. She will be happy to know that you woke up." Indra said as he stood up to leave

"Why did you attack her like that. Do you consider yourself superior to women." Harribel asked heatedly

Indra stopped and stared at her with such intensity that made Harribel flinch lightly.

"You and your fraccion are the only arrancars that train your powers each day. Why do you think the other espada don't do that?" Indra asked

"I don't know." Harribel said confused

"Instinct… The same instinct that helped us survive as hollows guides our actions. Our instincts never allows us to trust eachother because of the innate desire for survival. The fear of letting a potential enemy learn about our powers and weaknesses are the reason arrancars still depend on our base instincts. But now we are more than hollows and we need strategy, critical thinking and knowledge to fight against the shinigami of soul society. Instinct alone will not help us. I was training Nymeria to use her head instead of her instincts and that require her to face life and death situations." Indra explained

"I see." Harribel commented

"It is imperative that we train our intellect and reduce our dependency on instinct. Instinct has served us well to survive Hueco Mundo but it will not help us to survive Shinigami. The enemies we are about to face are strong and smart. We need to be more strong and smart if we are to survive the coming conflict. Also, don't ever raise your sword against me because that will be your last moments in this world." Indra said as he exited the room. Harribel closed ger eyes in deep thought and slowly she drifted off to sleep.

The next time she opened her eyes she saw Nymeria nearby.

"You are awake. Master Indra said you should be healed properly by now lady Harribel." Nymeria enthusiastically said

"My fraccion... How are they?" Harribel asked

"They are alright. Master Indra didn't use much power against them." Nymeria helped Harribel out of the bed

"If you want I can speak to Indra to release you from his service. You can join us. He wouldn't mind that." Harribel offered

"No. Master Indra is strict but only on certain matters. Otherwise I have complete freedom. Besides, I owe him a debt that I cannot repay easily. But thank you for the offer lady Harribel." Nymeria guided her out of the room into a much larger room. There she found her Fraccion sitting on a couch huddled together as they stared daggers at Indra who was too engrossed in a book in his hand sitting opposite to them in a chair.

"Lady Harribel…Are you alright?" they asked together

"I am fine. How are you three?" Harribel asked

"We are fine now that you are here. Let's get out of here as this guy gives me the creeps." Apacci complained

"Thank you for healing them." Harribel bowed to Indra

"Just don't interfere in my matters and we will get along just fine." Indra commented as he looked up from his book to look at the third Espada.

"Very well… Come Apacci, Mila rose, sung sun. We are going." Harribel said as she walked out of the room to the hallway and her Fraccion followed her obediently.

Nymeria closed the door after they were gone.

"See. They were nice and you managed to forge a cordial relationship with her. I told you she would be a reasonable person." Nymeria smugly said as she turned to face Indra

Indra pointed a finger at Nymeria "Hadou 1: Sho"

The force behind the spell blew her away to a shelf full of cloths. The entire shelf collapsed on her head.

"You are still not aware of your surroundings. Train harder rather than give me sage advices. Also fix that shelf." Indra said as he stood up from his chair and went back to the library. Nymeria groaned as she struggled to get out of the mess she found herself in.

HUECO MUNDO (after two months)

Indra sat down on top of Las Noches beyond the fake sky that Aizen created. He looked at the half crescent moon that bathed the dimension of hollows in a dull moonlight. He adopted a meditative stance and placed his Zanpakuto on his lap horizontally. Slowly he drifted off and he found himself in his inner world.

"Getsuga Tensho" Indra heard a voice behind him shout

"Bakudou 81: splitting void (Danku)" Indra casted the kido and a transparent energy barrier formed that held back the attack from his Zanpakuto spirit. The energy slowly dissipated into nothing and the barrier fell apart breaking away into spirit particles.

"Not bad. Your growth rate is impressive. I like your single minded focus on things that are relevant for our future. It will be useful for your fast growth to catch upon our more experienced enemies." Kagetsu said as he leisurely walked closer to Indra

"Teach me more about your powers." Indra said

"Yes. I think you should learn about this power. You may call it the ability to preserve or copy." Kagetsu said

"Preserve what?" Indra asked tilting his head

"You already know Yhwach had the power to imprint a portion of his soul into others and can call it back whenever he desires right. You have somewhat a similar power. You must understand that you are a combination of Hollow, Shinigami and Quincy. The Spirit King has the powers of a Quincy and a shinigami with ascended spirit energy. Yhwach is a pure quincy but with an ascended spirit energy." Kagetsu explained

"I already knew that." Indra said

"I don't think you understand what you are yet. The soul king is an old being who was in a world that was very different than us. The old world was different as it had no hollows. The quincys were already existing during that time even before Yhwach was born. Then something happened and the Reio split the paradise apart and suddenly hollows were everywhere. This was the reason Yhwach went to war against the Spirit King to bring back the paradise where there is no death and hence no hollows." Kagetsu explained

"How do you know all of this?" Indra asked trying to process all the implications of this revelation

"The memories of Yhwach are with me as I absorbed his soul with the aid of Hogyoku. Even he don't know why the Reio split the paradise but Yhwach was sure that he would be able to return the world to the paradise it was before. Anyways the point is you have the power of a hollow inside you and that means your ability to transcend is far greater than the soul king and Yhwach. You are in short the perfect combination of both worlds. This is why you have the unique power over souls and reality itself." Kagetsu said as he stabbed his sword upon the building they were standing which made it completely transparent.

Indra looked completely lost and confused as he saw the building was filled with people he had ever interacted in some part of his life. There was Aizen, the Espada, the Kurosaki family, Tatsuki and her mother, Urahara, Youruichi as the black cat and so many more. They were all frozen inside separate rooms in the huge building.

"What is this place? Why are they all here?" Indra asked as he observed the many people he knew

"Your inner world is a close copy of the old paradise. Here nothing is wasted and everything is preserved. Anyone that you see through your eyes will be preserved here as a copy. Their souls will never die and preserved for all times. All their abilities and power can be used by you if you so wish. You can even summon the copy outside your mindscape if in the real world a person you know dies and replace with the copy. The technique's name is Shikyo (divine mirror). Call out the phrase and you can either use the power of a person you envision or you can summon the person outside in the real world." Kagetsu said

Indra concentrated upon Yoruichi who he must have seen when he was baby and activated the technique after he released his Zanpakuto silently. Soon his mind was flooded by the knowledge of the technique he was looking for. Indra opened his eyes and compressed his spirit energy instinctually.

"Flash Cry (Shunko)." Indra shouted as a silver aura surrounded his body empowering him like never before. With a flick of his foot he appeared before a building and punched with his right hand. The force behind the blow shattered the building and all the buildings that were behind it in a straight line. Indra appeared before Kagetsu in a flash step.

"This is incredible Kagetsu. With this power we will be invincible." Indra shouted happily with a gleam in his eyes

"Don't be so happy. You might be able to activate their abilities on the first try. The question is how long can you hold it?" Kagetsu asked

Just then the Flash Cry fizzled out despite the effort Indra put forth to maintain it for a little bit longer.

"You may be able to understand the mechanics behind each and every technique but you will have to train with it if you have to use it in battle for long period of time with ease. Still it gives you a huge advantage over your enemies. All you need to do is look them in the eyes. Even a very brief period of eye contact is needed for this technique." Kagetsu advised

"I see. This is very useful and looks like I will have to step up my training." Indra said with determination

"Then I will add one more technique for you to train. Watch closely" Kagetsu said as he swiped the sword in the air unleashing a torrent of silver flames directly at Indra. He immediately pulled back and escaped from the flames using Sonido and appeared on top of the next building. Kagetsu directed the flames over that building and Indra jumped into the air escaping the flames narrowly. But he watched with wide eyes as the silver flames broke down the building into spirit particles.

Kagetsu disappeared in a sonido and appeared behind Indra and released the flames again.

"Bakudo 81: Splitting Void (Danku)" Indra casted the kido spell

The barrier came alive separating Indra from the flames but after a time the barrier fell apart into spirit particles. Indra raised his sword and slashed in the air shouting "Getsuga Tensho". A gigantic dark blue wave of spirit energy crashed into the flames keeping it at bay but the energy was being converted into spirit particles so he used sonido to appear behind Kagetsu and struck with his sword. Kagetsu blocked his sword and they were in a dead lock. Indra placed his left hand behind his sword and whispered "Getsuga Tensho". This time the dark blue energy was huge and Kagetsu lost his smile as he became consumed by the huge wave of energy.

Indra watched as his attack blew away buildings and the flames as it consumed everything in its path. Suddenly he heard a voice from inside the energy dome shouting "Sozo no hono (flame of creation)".

A gigantic amount of silver white flame spilled out of the energy dome converting the energy into spirit particles. Inside that fire storm Indra saw his Zanpakuto spirit bathed in the silver flames.

"Now do you understand Indra. The flame of creation has the ability to break down anything it comes into contact to its base form within seconds. This is the first flame that existed in the old world. This is the flame that gave birth to the Quincy. Master this flame and you will be able to master creation itself. This is a flame worthy of a true god. Now focus and pull out the flame from within you. Imagine yourself as the flame of creation and pull." Kagetsu advised

Indra focused and did as Kagetsu advised. He opened his eyes and a silver aura surrounded his blade and with a shout 'Sozo no hono' he unleashed a torrent of silver flames around himself. The flames danced around him with a comforting heat and strangely he was not affected by the flame's power.

"Don't ever fear your power Indra. Never doubt yourself. Always stand tall with your head held high. Never hesitate or despair because to you everything can be created or destroyed at your leisure. For you nothing ever truly dies. We transcend death." Kagetsu said

Suddenly Indra found himself inside his own body as he returned to the real world.

"Strange. For a moment I thought you were sleeping." A voice from his back observed

Indra looked back and saw Ulquiorra Cifer standing behind him with an inquiring look.

"I lost myself in the peace and quiet here on the roof. Do you come here often Ulquiorra." Indra asked

"Not always but sometimes, yes." Ulquiorra answered

"Hmm…. Then I won't disturb you" Indra said as he stood up

"Aizen sama has returned to Las Noches. He was asking for you." Ulquiorra said

"Then I will meet him right away." Indra said as he disappeared in a sonido

XXXXXXX

Indra found Aizen outside Las Noches with two other people. He immediately recognised Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen. Indra landed before them silently using a sonido.

"It is rather frustrating is it not Kaname. You cannot sense Indra's spirit energy can you." Aizen asked with a light smile

"Indeed Aizen sama. It is quite frustrating." Kaname replied

"Forgive Kaname. He is blind in his eyes but he sees through sensing spuritual energy of others. So it is a little inconvenient for him to be in your presence." Aizen explained

Indra merely nodded to acknowledge he understood Aizen but otherwise remained silent.

"I am Gin Ichimaru. It is nice to meet you in person." Gon introduced

"Likewise." Indra curtly replied

"They will be here for a brief time in order to observe your kido. It is not everyday that we get to analyse a kido that is casted by a being like you. So if you are ready I will attack with a Hadou spell defend with a barrier are you ready." Aizen asked

"Go on." I dra replied

"Scattered beast bones! Spire, Crimson Crystal, Steel Wheels! The wind if it moves, the sky if it stops, the tone of the spear striking fills the lone castle!

Hadou 63: Thunder Roar Cannon (Raikouhou)" Aizen shouted as yellow lightning gathered at his fingertips and fired off a bolt of energy at Indra.

"Bakudou 44: Barrier (Sekisho)" Indra casted and a yellow barrier sprung up on his palm that spread around and blocked the attack from Aizen easily.

As the lightning failed to pierce the barrier, Aizen cut off the attack.

"Hadou 73: Twin Lotus of Crashing Blue Fire (Sōren Sōkatsui)" Gin casted a kido and two shots of blue fire was fired but Indra's barrier still held up against the attack.

"Hadou 88: Flying Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Thunder Cannon (Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho)" Aizen shouted as a gigantic blast of spiritual energy aimed straight for Indra.

Indra dismissed the previous barrier and casted another more powerful one.

"Bakudou 81: Splitting Void (Danku)" Indra formed a large rectangular barrier that held back the catastrophic explosion. Indra now understood the full extend of Aizen's spirit energy and it was truly at its peak right now.

Indra dismissed the barrier and using sonido he appeared before Aizen.

"Truly impressive. Your barriers are very strong." Gin said as he opened his eyes to look at Indra

"Truly spectacular. Your growth rate is what astounds me. To think you managed to perfect such high level Bakudou spells in such a short time. What about your Hadou soells?" Aizen enquired

"I am still perfecting them. The Bakudou cones easy to me than the Hadou spells." Indra said

"It is still impressive that you managed to learn such high level spells with minimum instructions." Tosen added

"It is good that you are faniliar with Shinigami arts. Within a few months our time in soul society will end. I have a special role for you to play in our departure from soul society." Aizen smirked

Indra looked at the other two Shinigami for a clarification but all he got was a creepy smile and an emotionless expression from them.

"Don't worry about it. In time I will call for you. Until then continue your training." Aizen said as he disappeared in a flash step followed by Gin and Tosen. Indra felt the spirit energy of Aizen and his two companions enter Las Noches.

Looks like he will have to step up the training to master all Hadou spells, Indra thought.

Fortunately Indra possessed complete control over his spirit energy which was the prime reason for his fast pace of mastering the Shinigami arts. Soon he will be able to learn the other numberless forbidden Kido as well.

AUTHOR'S NOTE :

Now, one more chapter is over. I am speeding up things to get to the Ryoka arc.

Also I hope I have cleared up a few things related to the Soul King, Yhwach and the history of Quincy.

But there is also a doubt I have if any of you guys can clarify, please do so. The separate dimension in which the Soul king and the Royal guards reside, is it similar to the old world where is no death or is it similar to soul society. I mean the royal guards are literally ancient compared to Yammamoto and yet they don't seem that old. The shinigami like Ichibē Hyōsube, the leader of Royal guards to my knowledge is the person that names all Zanpakuto.

So if you guys can clarify this little detail I will appreciate it. Also if there are any mistakes in the story I spun around the Soul king, Yhwach and Quincy please inform me. I will correct it if it suits the plot I have in mind.

Hope you guys liked the powers I gave for Indra. A little over the line I know but the guy is the combination of three spiritual species. I can't really make him a reflection of Ichigo afterall. You must have noticed Indra has blue eyes now instead of brown when he was human. This is his own version of 'Almighty'. Yhwach is going to be so pissed along with Ichibe. I am open to suggestions for any addition of new powers to Indra. PM or review if you have any preference.

I would also like to congratulate ' ' for being spot on in recognising Indra with the Indra in Naruto. I based the character from the first Uchiha.