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"O-Of course!"
"Yes, m-ma'am."
With one last glare, Grayfia walked out the room and all three men watched carefully. As soon as the door clicked shut, they let out a breath that none of them knew they were holding in. "As frightening as ever," Mathers muttered. "How you managed to fall in love with her is beyond me, my master."
"Sometimes I wonder myself," Sirzechs responded with a chill.
After a tense moment, the older two Devils both turned towards Ichigo. "Well Ichigo," Mathers said. "If you're feeling up to it, we could begin right away. If not, we'll have a servant take you to your quarters and we can begin tomorrow."
Ichigo smirked. "Trust me, I'm all reared to get going now."
"Very good," Mathers smiled. "Let's get going, shall we?"
Ichigo stood, grabbing hold of Mathers's outstretched hand, and a glowing light encircled them. When Sirzechs stepped in with them, both of them looked at him expectantly. "I think I'll join the two of you," he said with a pleasant smile.
Mathers, on the other hand looked very perturbed by the idea. "I'm not so sure about that, sir."
"Don't worry," Sirzechs waved dismissively. "What Grayfia doesn't know won't hurt her."
"It less her getting hurt and more her doing the hurting, that has me worried," the magician said under his breath.
A very unpleasant sensation gripped Ichigo as he felt himself being compressed uncomfortably from all sides. Suddenly the world spun and he was on the ground. "Ah, sorry about that." He heard Mathers say. "It's always the worst the first few times. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"That's good to know," Ichigo said, doing his best to keep his previous meal down. As he took notice of his surroundings, he realized that they were no longer in the room he was laying in. Instead, they were in wide clearing surrounded trees.
"Where are we?" Ichigo asked, looking around.
"A few miles away from my personal residence," Sirzechs explained. "The forest is stocked with all sorts of monsters for target practice purposes."
"So," Ichigo said slowly. "How are we doing this?"
"First," Mather's said, holding up a finger. "We'll begin by having you draw upon your power. Once you get the hang of calling it forth, it becomes easier suppressing it."
"You heard him, Ichigo-kun, go ahead and let loose."
"Alright," Ichigo nodded and closed his eyes. He felt that sorely missed hum of power deep within him and let it flood through. As he opened his eyes, the entire clearing was swept in a tide of swirling crimson energies laced with black.
The grass beneath his feet burned away and the ground blackened as it dies. The friction from his power began to scorch the dirt and set deep cracks within the land. "Well," Mathers said, his eyebrows well into his hair line. "I can see why you brought him into the club. He can easily crush probably every High-Class Devil."
"That's quite enough, Ichigo-kun," Sirzechs's expression one of immense satisfaction.
Ichigo nodded as he reigned in his power and drew it back into himself. "Perfect! Right there!" Mathers sudden exclamation startled Ichigo. "Just now, as you brought your power into yourself, that is the key to keeping your power suppressed. It will require conscious effort on your part in the beginning but, eventually it will become like second nature."
Ichigo frowned. It certainly did require quite a bit effort for him to keep it all bottled away. If anything, it felt incredibly disagreeable to his person. "You're having a difficult time because of your great strength, Ichigo-kun," Sirzechs said, as if reading his thoughts. "Most people learn to control the power they have as they gradually gain strength. For you, who grows in leaps and bounds, it is a very challenging thing to do."
Ichigo's face contorted with concentration and he continued to suppress his power within his own body. "Now if you are willing to satisfy my curiosity," Sirzechs said with a wicked smile. "Would you try to draw upon you demonic power and only your demonic power?"
Ichigo frowned but said, "I'll try." He knew how to differentiate between his powers. He was forced to do so when he needed to fight off control from his Hollow. Back then, it became exceedingly difficult to draw on his inner strength without calling out the Hollow.
Reaching deep within himself, he dived into the massive reservoir of power that swam within him. Pulling and twisting it, he slowly tried to untangle the separate fonts that his powers originated from. He could practically feel Zangetsu's displeasure as he unwound it from the mutation piece that gave him his demonic powers. Setting aside the grumpy spirit, he drew on the power of Sirzechs's piece and let it out.
Mathers gave an approving nod.
"Good, now," He pointed towards the trees. "See if you can release only it."
Eyes narrowing in concentration, shadows of Ulquiorra flashed in his mind as he pointed his index finger towards the forest. Smoldering orange and red waves compressed at the tip of his finger until they formed a tight sphere glowing threateningly.
From the corner of his vision, he could see both Mathers and Sirzechs looking on curiously. Ichigo placed his gaze back on the ominous orb in front of his finger. Giving it a slight push, the orb went racing into the trees and Ichigo lost sight of its glow in the darkness.
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