Bleach: The Path to Transcendence

Time flies like a white horse glimpsed through a crack, and four years have passed in a flash.

Masaki Kurosaki had long since become a married woman, and the feeling of youthful naivety had vanished without a trace. At this moment, she elegantly coiled her long hair up, gently stroking her belly, which was about to be full term, radiating a soft, maternal glow.

"Husband, guess what our little Ichigo will learn to say first, 'Mama' or 'Papa'?"

Masaki Kurosaki looked at Isshin Shiba, who had taken the alias Isshin Kurosaki, with a smile in her eyes.

Hearing this, Isshin Shiba looked at Masaki Kurosaki's bulging belly with a chuckle, his expression full of happiness.

"Of course..."

Before he could finish speaking, Isshin Kurosaki heard his beloved wife cry out in alarm:

"Husband, my water broke!"

This shout startled Isshin Kurosaki. He subconsciously wanted to pick up Masaki Kurosaki and use Shunpo to rush straight to the Ishida family's hospital for childbirth.

After all, it would be too unreliable for him to deliver his wife with his half-baked medical skills.

But just as he was about to act, he suddenly came back to his senses, realizing that he was no longer the Captain Shiba of yesteryear. Helpless, he could only reluctantly carry Masaki Kurosaki to the door, obediently start the small car he had picked up from a used car dealership, and rush his wife to Ishida Hospital.

......

Inside the VIP ward on the third floor of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Ishida Hospital, Masaki Kurosaki lay in bed awaiting delivery. Next to her, on the adjacent bed, was Kaya Katagiri, formerly a maid of the Ishida family, and now the mistress of the Ishida family, Kaya Ishida. At this moment, she, like Masaki Kurosaki, was heavily pregnant and about to give birth.

The two expectant mothers were chatting idly.

Although Masaki Kurosaki had left the Ishida family after graduating from high school, she had always kept in touch with Ryuken Ishida and others, and had even become close friends with Kaya Ishida, sharing everything with each other.

Outside the ward, the two expectant fathers stood by the window, watching their wives chatting inside. Several years had quietly passed, and Ryuken Ishida and Isshin Kurosaki, who had originally disliked each other, had now become friends.

Ryuken Ishida took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and offered it to Isshin Kurosaki. Isshin Kurosaki waved his hand and said:

"Masaki doesn't like the smell of smoke."

Hearing this, Ryuken Ishida chuckled and didn't say anything more. He stopped his hand from smoking and put the cigarette case and lighter back in his pocket.

After a while, Ryuken Ishida sized up Isshin Kurosaki, who had grown a goatee, and said:

"They are both Quincies. When they give birth, their spiritual energy will leak out, which will definitely attract a large number of Hollows. You no longer have the power of a Soul Reaper, so just stay by their side."

Hearing this, Isshin Kurosaki swallowed back the words that had already reached his lips, and in the end, they only turned into a sentence:

"Yeah, I know."

At eleven o'clock that night, something miraculous happened. The two expectant mothers felt the movement of the fetuses in their wombs at almost the same time.

Before long, the two expectant mothers were pushed away on mobile beds by a group of nurses and sent to different delivery rooms respectively.

Ryuken Ishida and Isshin Kurosaki had been waiting in the corridor. At this time, the two of them looked up at the same time, their eyes looking into the distance.

"Is it coming?"

Ryuken Ishida muttered in a low voice.

In the next instant, Ryuken Ishida's spiritual power surged around him, instantly forming a Quincy bow and arrow. He directly pushed open the window, used Hirenkyaku, and leaped into the sky like lightning.

Then, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, accumulating a sacred silver arrow, concentrating all his attention to prepare for the impending crisis.

Seeing this scene, Isshin Kurosaki first looked at the pitch-black night sky outside, and then turned his gaze to the closed delivery room door, with a look of anxiety on his face.

At the same time, throughout the sky above Karakura Town, a large number of minor Hollows were rapidly gathering. A dark mass, like locusts crossing the border, rushed towards Ishida Hospital aggressively.

Yekawa's main body in Hueco Mundo had already strictly ordered all the Hollows and Arrancar under his command to prohibit entering the Human World during this critical period. And most of these Hollows that appeared in large numbers were low-level Hollows that were staying in the Human World. At this moment, they sensed that Ichigo Kurosaki was about to be born, and were attracted by that extremely pure spiritual pressure, and rushed over one after another.

"Rain of Light!"

Seeing this, Ryuken Ishida cursed inwardly. He glanced at the dense crowd of Hollows and unhesitatingly activated the Ishida family's signature skill, Rain of Light.

Countless spiritual arrows rained down like a torrential downpour, instantly shooting dead a large number of minor Hollows that were trying to approach Ishida Hospital.

However, his move not only failed to completely scare away the remaining minor Hollows, but instead angered them. These Hollows all became fearless and frantically charged towards the hospital.

"Courting death!"

Ryuken Ishida snorted coldly, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes. He used Rain of Light again. Unlike the last time, this time, a huge spiritual bow and arrow slowly emerged behind him.

As he drew the bow again, a dazzling blue light flashed, and tens of thousands of sacred silver arrows shot out like meteors in an instant, directly killing all the tens of thousands of minor Hollows densely packed in the sky!

"Good kid, he's got some skills!"

Tsukishima Shukuro, who was hiding in the dark, had originally been worried that Ryuken Ishida might have difficulty dealing with so many minor Hollows and had prepared to lend a helping hand at any time.

But he didn't expect that Ryuken Ishida would be able to instantly kill tens of thousands of minor Hollows so cleanly.

"Is this his Schrift's power?"

Tsukishima Shukuro curiously sized up the giant spiritual bow behind Ryuken Ishida.