《A Wandering Soul》 Prologue You can only stare out into endless grey mist for a short time before getting absolutely bored. And that¡¯s what I was. Bored. Any direction I turned was the same featureless mist, even looking down my body was just a slightly darker grey mist blob. I feel like that should be concerning. But it¡¯s not, its like there is the knowledge that being alone and barely able to move should be causing me to freak out. But I just don¡¯t have the motivation to act on that knowledge. ¡°I wonder if this is purgatory? Can¡¯t be Hell, not nearly enough fire for that.¡± ¡°Oh, this version actually works enough to speak? That¡¯s surprising . . . I was expecting to have to start over again.¡± Well, omnidirectional voices from the mist. That can¡¯t possibly be a bad thing. ¡°Uh, yes? I can speak? Who are you and where am I?¡± ¡°Hmm knowledge implant seems to have failed somewhat, you should have known that already. Though in a way it¡¯s surprising you can speak at all, oh well. First, I am what you would call a higher dimensional being. You wouldn¡¯t even begin to be able to pronounce my name so I won¡¯t bother with that, I guess you could call me R.O.B. even if its not entirely accurate as there is nothing random about you being here.¡± That phantom feeling of something being very wrong is back. Can I go back to being bored? I think I liked being bored much better than this. ¡°As for where you are, you are near the edge of the East Dimensional Sea and the Ether Plains. Nice vacation spot overall. Though the restaurants could be better. More specifically you are in a soul jar, so the higher dimensional energies don¡¯t pop you like a soap bubble. Not that that will mean anything to you in a bit, and you won¡¯t be staying long.¡± ¡°Right, um, okay then, I guess you could just send me home and I¡¯ll leave yo-¡±¡±Hmm that implant really failed huh? You really don¡¯t have a home to go back to. You were made here.¡± ¡°. . . What? What do you mean made?! I definitely came from somewhere else and didn¡¯t look like a grey mist person!¡± ¡°Okay, from the top then. The first thing you should understand is that I work as a cleaner for this area of the Dimensional Sea. My job is to send out Avatars to clean up individual dimensions and stop them from deteriorating and ruining the view. . .freaking tourists have no respect and just dump crap wherever they feel like. . . and you, are an Avatar. Well more of a template really. A mix of a personality soul copied from someone from a lower dimension and ability souls that when combined are greater than the individual souls. In theory anyway, some combinations tend to fragment the resulting Avatar soul. Which is why you are in a soul jar. I was waiting to see if mixing 7 souls was possible, I mean the theory is sound, one main soul with six supporting but I didn¡¯t account for incompatibility between a few of the non-human souls and then there is the . . .¡± As R.O.B. started rambling about the intricacies of soul mixing, I could only blankly listen while trying to process the cosmos shattering details that had been dumped on my head and attempt to understand why I was here. One, I was not the person I vaguely recalled in my memories. I was in fact a copy that had been spliced together with other copies to create the equivalent of chlorine for a vacation spot. . . . I am really glad that since I¡¯m apparently just a soul at the moment emotions are more of a side note in my mind than something I experience. Pretty sure I would go insane otherwise. Two, R.O.B. was trying something new when he made my template. He wanted to use seven non-identical souls when creating an avatar, and it worked! . . .kinda. So apparently my personality soul mixed fine with four of the souls since they were similar enough to support each other, but when he added the last two they fragmented so badly the resulting mess was barely stable. I am now the equivalent of a software developer randomly combining several random blocks of code from different sources and being pleasantly surprised when the whole thing runs with no errors. Definitely not happy about that. Third, now that I¡¯m mostly stable, I really don¡¯t like that that needs a qualifier, R.O.B. will just modify the knowledge implant I was already supposed to have and upload both that and me to my new body. ¡°I just have to ask, why do you think I¡¯m going to listen to you and clean up some dimensional mess? I mean wouldn¡¯t it be easier for you to do it yourself than sending uncooperative experiments that really want to not do things for the random entity that nearly killed them before they were aware?¡± ¡°Good to see that your personality came out unchanged.¡± Does that mean there is more me¡¯s running around? I guess reusing a personality template makes sense rather than making a new one every time. ¡°Simply put, I don¡¯t care what you do. Since you are a test model, I talk to you to get an idea of how well the Soul Splice worked then use that to make a production model. Those Avatars either have a personality that will fall in line with what we want them to do naturally or have a mission given to them from a lower dimensional entity. So you get to go into the sea, and will settle where your soul finds the biggest resonance in the area you were inserted.¡± ¡°As for why we can¡¯t directly fix an individual dimension, it¡¯s simple. We are too big. If we even attempted to enter a lower dimension it would explode. Which would make the nearby dimensions explode, very much like nuclear fission. So Avatars it is! Much easier for us too!¡± That makes a disturbing amount of sense. And I¡¯m sure everyone in those dimensions likes being un-exploded so I guess no complaining about the cleanup services? ¡°So you mentioned ability souls? Am I going to have to worry about being overwritten or something?¡± If I¡¯m at the mercy of some being I can¡¯t comprehend and can play with the very structure of my soul, I should at least find out what the hell I have to look out for while I can. ¡°Nah, nothing like that. Ability souls come in two flavors, talent and archive. They don¡¯t actually have the capacity for thought, which is why we can combine so many, otherwise the emergent personalities would cause the whole soul to go insane.¡± ¡°So you did that before.¡± ¡°Couple times, works out the same almost every time.¡± Wow no hesitation. It¡¯s a good thing I¡¯m getting tossed out before he decides to vivisect my soul or something to find out what he did wrong. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Guess I should at least know what I can look forward to by being a spiritual Frankenstien¡¯s monster. ¡°So what ability souls do I have?¡± ¡°Right, guess you would want to know that, huh? Just give me a sec to grab my test notes and... here take a look.¡± With that the grey mist seemed to twist in front of me. Condensing and flattening out, sections growing deeper grey until a series of panels hovered in front of me. An experimental swipe of my arm allowed me to move them aside. I shifted between a few of them looking at figures and notes without really understanding anything written on them, until I found one sheet that seemed to be an overview about the experiment that resulted in¡­ well me. 7 Soul Avatar Experiment #29872 Soul Splice experiment to combine (1) personality soul with (4) Talent Souls and (2) Archive Souls. -WARNING- Soul fragmentation chance 86% Soul Instability chance 97% Initial Conclusion: Extreme differences between Soul types caused Avatar soul to degrade. Potential to stabilize, however Template Avatar is unlikely to possess minimum required mental abilities. Final Conclusion: Template Soul was able to stabilize in soul jar conditions, mental abilities are present but spotty from what should have been implanted. Special care conditions make method for mass creation unsuitable. Result: Failure Disposal: Template Avatar released into Dimensional Sea. I looked over the page, barely absorbing the info through the confusion now running rampant through my mind. Seeing fictional characters listed wasn¡¯t all that surprising, I was flat out told there was a sea of dimensions obviously some fictional characters existed in a few of them. What was surprising was that some of the notes were redacted. R.O.B. said these were his notes, why would any of them be redacted? ¡°It¡¯s cause even though you stabilized, you still aren¡¯t fully integrated.¡± R.O.B. explained when I brought up that him. ¡°The more you as the core of the soul mix, know about the pieces the closer they come to fully merging with you. But right now your soul is barely holding itself together, so I blocked that info until you integrate more of the other pieces. When you integrate enough the other abilities should develop naturally. Probably. Well even if they don¡¯t you get to live so, don¡¯t worry about it. I have a feeling i¡¯m going to worry about that a lot. ¡°Welp, your body is done. Time to put you together and off your new home!¡± ¡°WAIT! I still have ques-¡± There is a massive sucking force all around me, followed by a pressure. Everything flashes white and then I¡¯m gone -o- ¡°-tions!¡± In an instant I am no longer standing in the grey mist but on a riverbank with a nice looking town in the distance with clear blue skies overhead. I get all of maybe five seconds to take in my new surroundings before a white hot poker slams into my brain, and I am overwhelmed. Information flashes through my mind, seemingly trying to burn its place into my new brain. Numbers, equations, movements, theories, images all in a jumbled mess go through my head with no coherency or order. In the distance, I hear someone screaming, and wish that they would stop. They aren¡¯t helping me deal with a liquifying brain that may or may not be dripping out my ears by now. An eternity later, the flow of information stops and the inferno raging in my skull drops to a mere skull splitting headache. Tentatively I open one eye, wincing at the now soft light of the moon hanging in the sky. Picking myself up off the ground, I took the chance to take in my surroundings in detail. Not that there was much to take in from where I currently stood. A grassy river bank, with a steep sloped hill close by and streetlights suggesting a road at the top. So with no one around and nothing to give me a clue as to where I was, I tried remembering what R.O.B. said would happen to me when I was released. Wait. He said I would drift to where my soul resonated the most, and from the notes page I had looked at, 3 of those souls I knew came from Japan. So I might have planet, country and location figured out if I¡¯m lucky. And from what I remember the MGLN universe was actually pretty okay between disasters. Though if I got the FATE universe, or nasuverse. I was fucked. Just the Reality Marble that made up the UBW would be enough for mages to hunt me down for either a chance to study me or give me a sealing designation, and that didn¡¯t even bring into account of what they might do if it came to light that I was a mix of several different souls. As panic started to seep into my already overburdened mind, my vision started to have black creep in around the edges. I¡¯m actually a little impressed that I was still conscious, between all the shocks today and rediscovering emotions, you would think that would be enough for a fainting spell. ¡°HEEY!¡± Glancing up to the top of the hill, I saw a man in a suit calling down to me. ¡°You done freaking out yet? Cause listening to you scream for hours was not how I wanted to spend my day!¡± Oh, that screaming earlier was me. Oops I guess? Not like I was really in control of myself. Still, maybe should reassure the guy that I¡¯m not completely crazy before he calls the authorities, if he hasn¡¯t already. Though he said hours, would it take hours for someone to respond to someone screaming nonstop? ¡°I-¡± Immediately I was launched into a coughing fit as my poor abused vocal chords made their opinion of my use of them very clear. Flecks of moisture hitting my palm as I covered my mouth to stop my lungs from vacating my body in protest. ¡°You okay down there?¡± The man called out from above. I gave him a shaky thumbs-up so it was obvious to him that I was the very picture of health and wellbeing. ¡°I¡¯m going to come down now, so please don¡¯t die or attack me!¡± Seems that this guy thought that the person screaming for apparently hours and then coughing up a lung might be a bit unhinged. How rude. While I hunched over trying to get myself back under control, I saw the man¡¯s shoes enter the edge of my vision and feeling self conscious I stood up straight and got my first look at him. A shorter Asian man in a business suit stood in front of me. Worry etched into his features. Probably worry for me, one way or the other. I swallowed, my ruined throat doing its best impression of razor wire. ¡°Where-¡± I rasped, and immediately broke down coughing again. Feeling more moisture hit my palm I glanced at it and realised it was blood. I would not be making any speeches for a bit so best to keep things short. ¡°Where¡­ am¡­ I?¡± ¡°Oh my. You don¡¯t know where you are? Do you have amnesia? Was that why you were screaming, cause you don''t remember anything about yourself and were overcome by the mystery of it all?! Oh this is bad, I don''t know what to do for amnesia, this is so outside of my abilities, what should I do?¡± The more the man talked the more agitated he seemed to get. He kept rambling on in an increasingly animated way, describing ways that we might be able to cure my amnesia that ranged from somewhat sensible to absolutely insane. As a plus, his agitation over my imaginary amnesia allowed me to calm down. The black fading from my vision and my thoughts clearing from the amusing sight before me. But still I¡¯m not getting answers so I should end this. Clapping my hands loudly in front of him I was able to stop the onslaught of words. ¡°No¡­ amnesia¡­ Where...am I?¡± The noise startled him, and he slowly broke out into a sheepish smile. ¡°Right, um, sorry. I can get a little excitable.¡± No kidding. I think if he got any more wound up we could use him as a generator. ¡°Hmhmm, well since you don¡¯t have amnesia then you clearly know you are in Japan.¡± I didn¡¯t but its nice that my guess was correct. ¡°And you are currently on the outskirts of the lovely Karakura Town. Only a few miles from it actually, down this way-¡± I ignored the rest of what he was saying as my mind blanked out. Karakura Town. The hometown of Ichigo Kurosaki. I wasn¡¯t in the FATE or the MGLN universes. I was in Bleach. Seeming to notice that I was no longer listening to him, suit man turned to look at me. He tried to say something but I couldn¡¯t hear the words even though I saw his mouth moving. As he shifted, his jacket opened up and I saw a metal plate with a broken chain attached to his chest. I was in Bleach, and I was talking to a dead man. This was so much goddamn worse than FATE I blearily thought as black seemed to swallow up my vision. ...Yeah this seems like a good time to go to sleep. And finally I fell over and passed out. Spirit 1.1 Consciousness was a state of being that I reluctantly accepted. My head pounded in a thunderous drumbeat, and my throat still burned from the abuse done to it earlier. Still, nothing else seemed to be wrong and I felt significantly calmer than earlier even if I didn¡¯t want to accept I was in a world of cannibal murder ghosts and scheming masterminds. Maybe if I just lay here, it will all go away? No, going by my life so far I¡¯m going to be stuck here. Best get up and deal. I need to find out when I am in the timeline I remember and see if it''s possible to get out of this world. One of my archive souls has Dimensional Navigation,right? I should be able to skip out and go elsewhere if I can figure a way out into the Dimensional Sea again. Grudgingly opening my eyes I see the suit from earlier leaning over me with his eyes closed and lips pursed getting closer to my face. Instinct kicking in, I punch him in the face, grabbing his arm as he recoils. I quickly pull his arm off to the side forcing him face down into the ground as I use the momentum to launch onto his back, pulling his arm again and locking him in place. ¡°Wait! Waitwaitwaitwait! I was just worried about you I swear! We were talking and, well I was talking you were just kinda listening cause your voice was all messed up, and then I was explaining where we were! But you got really pale and started breathing really fast! Then you fell over and I didn¡¯t know what to do! I tried shaking you awake but I¡¯m not a doctor or anything and the internet says you shouldn¡¯t shake people cause they might have spine injuries, but I don¡¯t know if that counts when you¡¯re dead, but I didn¡¯t know what else to do so I thought to try CPR and then you woke up! I wasn''t trying anything indecent I swear please don''t kill me!¡± I blinked. That¡­ was an impressive amount of words rambled off that quickly and now that I wasn¡¯t dealing with a surprise kissy face I realized I might have overreacted a tiny bit. Still, I¡¯m going to take advantage of the situation and find out more before I plan my next steps. Settling my breathing, I try slipping into a calm reasonable tone while loosening my hold on his arm so its no longer painful, but not enough that he can throw me off. ¡°I¡¯m sorr-¡± Gah! I break off in another fit of coughing. My voice sounding like I tried to deepthroat a chainsaw. ¡°Sorry, I¡­ overreacted when¡­ I saw¡­ you.¡± My throat protested each word, but at least I could talk if I took it slow. ¡°Okay, perfectly understandable for a girl in your position! Um.. If it isn''t too much trouble though could you let me go? Not that I don¡¯t think you¡¯re pretty but this is moving kinda fast and my mom always said that you need to take a girl out before you get physical with them and not to mention you seem kinda¡­ young?...for me? Not that there''s anything wrong with you liking older men, but maybe we can just be friends from now on?¡± He said earnestly. Aaaand cue mental lockup. What? He thought I was making a move on him? I would accept it if he was commenting on my overreaction, but he seemed serious about everything he said! And young? This guy looked like he was no older than thirty, how old did I look now? Taking a deep breath I forced the last few seconds out of my mind and turned my attention back to what I was starting to assume was a masochist. ¡°Ignoring that. Let¡¯s start over. Who are you?¡± ¡°Oh! Right introductions, of course! I¡¯m Tite Kubo, I was an administrative assistant for an insurance firm and was walking home one day when I was grabbed by this guy by that road over there.¡± He points up to the top of the hill where I first saw him. ¡°I thought the worst would be if it was some sort of mugging cause that¡¯s what normally happens when a guy grabs you, right? But he was all twitchy and saying that the dark gods needed more sacrifices, I don¡¯t know about gods or whatever but he stabbed me and ran off saying my soul would feed the dark ones. Crazy right?¡±I opened my mouth to cut him off but he just kept rambling on. ¡°I actually think that he might be the murderer who was in the area a few years ago. But you might not know about that, would you? Well there is one, a murderer that is, killing people all over town and no one can find any clues of him. The police said so when they found my body, it was similar to the Kurosaki murder but not the same cause they said the weapon was different, but that makes sense right? Having different tools over the years? My mom always said you need to keep updating things or you will fall behind on the times!¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Well that was far more than I wanted to know. I was only looking for a name for crying out loud! But he said something about the Kurosaki murder. That means Ichigo¡¯s mom was already killed. Sorry Ichigo, couldn¡¯t save your mom as my act of good before I find my way out of here, but it is a good way to find out where I am in the timeline. ¡°Kurosaki. When?¡± I rasped out. ¡°Oh, it was a few years ago, maybe around five or so? It happened right here too! Terrible shame.¡± Tite continued to talk, but I heard what I wanted. If I remember right Ichigo was nine when his mom died and fifteen at the start of canon. So I should have maybe a year before things kick off around here. Not a huge amount of time to figure out my abilities, but short enough that I might be able to dodge getting dragged in to the issues of ghost samurai. Releasing Tite, I started walking up the slope to the road ignoring his protests. I was going to need to find shelter soon, and I¡¯m sure a pair of former captains made sure any anomalies in the area were investigated and either encouraged to go elsewhere, or more likely, removed depending on what they were. I didn¡¯t think they would kill me on sight but I also don¡¯t want to get involved so them finding me would be bad. Reaching the top of the hill I glanced around for a clue on which direction might have a suitable shelter for a girl with no identification and no money. Two problems that would really limit my options. But finding the fastest way to town should be step one. Finding a place to hide should be step two. And from there I could plan how to get out of this place. Spotting a jogger heading towards me, I raised one hand to flag them down and quickly approached. ¡°Hey, could yo-¡± While I could understand a reaction to the mess that was my voice, the jogger gave no sign of hearing me at all and continued on their way without giving me the impression they noticed me at all. Leaving me stunned with my hand in the air as they continued on their way. I had assumed that seeing spirits was a result of my EMIYA soul given that Servants could detect each other even astrialized, but that seemed to be something they needed to consciously do, not their default state. Tite walked back up beside me and started talking, but I was focused on how limiting only being able to interact with spiritually aware people would be for me. As I pondered what the hell I was supposed to do now I realized that Tite had stopped talking at me and was just silently watching. The somber look of concern on his face such a difference from his normal puppy-like personality made me self conscious he had asked me something and I was silent enough to actually make him worried. ¡°Sorry, what did you say?¡± He gave me a searching look that made him completely different than the rambling goofball that somehow took a submission hold as a romantic advance. ¡°Was that your first then?¡± He asked softly. ¡°First what?¡± If anything that just made him look sadder. ¡°First time you met one of the living? It''s hard, knowing you don¡¯t exist to them anymore. But Mom always said that things will get better! So cheer up, and don¡¯t let something like death bring you down!¡± Tite visibly brightens as he finishes his little pep talk. It actually wasn¡¯t a bad speech, I kind of feel bad that I¡¯m not feeling bad about dying, cause I¡¯m pretty sure I never died in the first place. Oh well, the thought is what counts. ¡°Thanks you. I won¡¯t¡± I really hope my throat heals quickly. Talking like I tried to gargle glass is annoying. Still I need to find a place to bunker down and start planning my next move. I need to figure out somewhere I can hide from the Urahara bunch, escape notice from any wandering Hollows, and ideally has room for me to practice in that order. Not sure how feasible any of that actually is, but a girl can dream, right? Turning to Tite, I ask ¡°Which way to town?¡± ¡°Oh, just follow this road and it will take you past the outskirts, then once you get there it¡¯s really just any direction to the more marketable areas. Karakura is a really nice town, and you shouldn¡¯t let something like dying here ruin the experience! In fact, now you can do all these things for free, too! Like going to watch the sports team, or watching a movie, or or - !¡± He exclaims happily. Guess he is back to normal. Good for him. Facing the road, I look over my shoulder back at Tite. ¡°Coming with?¡± I ask. For all that he talks about nothing, he is a local source of information. And he seems nice enough that I wouldn¡¯t mind helping him find the current Soul Reaper to help move on as repayment for the info he gave me. Just as long as I can stay hidden. Again, Tite goes quiet and gives me a soft smile, ¡°I would like to go with you, you seem really nice when you aren¡¯t screaming for hours,¡± Yeah, well, I didn¡¯t want to do that either, maybe I shouldn¡¯t bring him with, ¡°But my mom still comes by to where I died to tell me about her day. I want to watch over her even if there is nothing I can do but listen.¡± Dammit now I feel like an ass. Maybe I can find some other way to bring him to the Soul Reaper¡¯s attention. Don¡¯t want him eaten or left to hollowfy after all this. Enough delaying then, time to get a move on. ¡°Thanks again, bye.¡± I start walking towards town, waving as I go. As I walk, my mind whirls with what I know about what is coming. I just need some time to take stock and plan for the future. A smile creeps onto my face as I remember Tite¡¯s little speech. Yeah I won¡¯t let something like death get me down, cause after all everyone knows you don¡¯t fear the Reaper. Spirit 1.2 Walking down the road, I had the chance to take stock for the first time without distractions. I knew any plans I made right now would be useless if I didn¡¯t have the ability to actually pull them off. So as I walked I decided to start playing with my abilities. Focusing, I tried projecting a simple knife into my hand. I ¡®felt¡¯ an energy move towards my hand and begin creating the projection. Instinctively I called up the materials, structure, manufacturing method, and aging process in a second and felt the knife solidify in my hand. My heart leapt at the sight, only to plummet when a few seconds later when the knife shattered into fractals of light. Interestingly, I knew where I had messed up. I failed to properly anchor the image of the knife to the mana structure I created, causing the knife to shatter when the projection became solid. In fact I even had some ideas on how to do it better the next time I tried, but the main thing to take away from this experiment was upsetting. I didn¡¯t have anywhere close to the same amount of skill using the skills that I had inherited. Not that I wasn¡¯t expecting that. I didn¡¯t think I would be throwing Noble Phantasms around right out of the gate. But I thought basic normal weapons would be fairly easy! Maybe trying something simpler and more direct would be easier? Gathering the energy I felt earlier, I tried to form a ¡®bullet¡¯ in the palm of my hand. Soft golden light collected in a floating orb a few inches above my hand, before scattering as my focus wavered. Again I had the feeling of knowing what went wrong. The compression of mana was not enough to overcome the natural scattering effect of the environment. So the spell collapsed when I failed to adjust. I stopped walking and started thinking about what this meant going forward. If my magical skills were at this level. What were my knowledge base? When my head was splitting open on the riverbank I had a ton of info flash through it, but for all that I didn¡¯t really feel like I knew anything I didn¡¯t know before. Should I though? I¡¯m not exactly an expert on how soul-fusion knowledge transfers are supposed to work after all. Well the easiest way to test this is to think of something I have no right of knowing before this, and something that I would need in the future. So come on Alex! How do you build a device? My fading headache spiked back into existence as info poured into my head. Annoyingly this came with another frustrating realization. I knew exactly how to build a number of different devices. The problem being, I ¡®knew¡¯ how to do this in the same way a random person off the street knew particle physics cause they were handed a textbook on the subject. I had all of the knowledge but none of the context or understanding to make use of it! It wasn¡¯t all bad news though, now that I had tried accessing that knowledge I could tell that there was a slight feeling at the back of my mind like the info from earlier was slowly being assimilated. I had a feeling it would take decades to naturally absorb the info there, but specifically searching out info seemed to make it come quicker. At the cost of a massive headache. So great! I had the abilities and the knowledge to take on so many different threats, but none of the skill or understanding to put them to use. That¡­ could be really bad. But bright side Alex, you have a year before anything serious happens and if I could dodge the main cast I might just be able to set up shop somewhere else. Maybe hop on a plane and tour the world as an invisible stow-away? Thoughts for later. First, I need to get better at using my abilities. Everything else can come after. Sighing I resume my walk towards town, projecting various small objects as I go. -o- After twenty minutes of walking, my skill in projecting object has risen to new levels of mastery! The hard work and effort I have poured into my craft has allowed me to reach a level of proficiency anyone else would see as a monstrous level of genius and a true prodigy in the making! Yes I, Alexandria Cross, can now create a sword that lasts- -all of two minutes. Honestly all joking aside, the rate of improvement is rather surprising. I might not be creating magical weapons from myth and legend, but I am quickly mastering a skill that took years of practice to get to even this level in minutes. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Truly having skills directly implanted into your soul gives the best results. Now to just keep on practicing. This is likely going to be the combat skill I rely on the most in the coming days. I need to be able to do it subconsciously even in the middle of a fight. Another sigh escapes my lips as the swords collapses into light again, before choosing another style and projecting a new sword. -o- A little while later, I made it to the outskirts of town. I don¡¯t really have a destination in mind, since for all the events that occurred in Karakura, none of them really showed somewhere available for setting up an unnoticed base of operations. So I just wandered through the area practicing weapon projection and taking in the sights. As I passed by the third park of the night, I saw a public restroom and decided to take a break from my self guided tour of the area. This would also be a good place to run another couple of tests without standing in the open for a wandering Hollow to get the drop on me, not that I had seen any of them so far. So I guess the Soul Reaper on station was doing a good job of keeping the numbers down. Entering the building, I confirmed that I was the only one in here at a glance and turned to the main reason I wanted to stop here. A wall length mirror. So I wanted to know what I looked like, okay? Windows were only so good at catching a reflection and looking down didn¡¯t give me the full picture. I ran my eyes over the reflected image taking in the details. A tall girl with European features, very athletic figure and a moderate bust. Loose blonde hair that ended just below my shoulders and deep blue eyes. Overall, I thought I looked rather pretty. Always nice being able to take pride in your appearance. The outfit was still looked weird to me. But now that I saw it from an outside perspective I can''t say it looks bad. Although blending in with the locals is out, since I basically look like a gender-swapped EMIYA cosplayer. There are some differences from what I remember EMIYA looking like, for one the black undershirt doesn¡¯t have any markings on them. And thankfully the close fitting pants aren¡¯t covered in belts or straps. Finally my boots aren''t capped. Just plain black combat boots. Still have the random red sleeves and silly cape though. Not that I mind, I actually think the look is really cool. It just doesn¡¯t blend with the souls of dead Japanese people in the modern world. Taking a breath, I prepare for experiment number one. Creating clothing. Not the most exciting use of my new abilities but if I¡¯m going to lay low a change of clothes would go a long way. Especially cause I have no idea where I would get new clothes for a spirit. This will need to be a long lasting construct so unlike my weapon practice, I take my time and think the whole thing through. Creating an image of myself wearing a simple sweatshirt I try forcing the projection into being, only for the red parts of my outfit to shimmer and a small tug at the back of my mind to distract me before I lose the image. Well that was different. Focusing on my hand, I try projecting a sweatshirt like it was a sword. It forms with no issue. I try directly projecting the shirt onto me, and get more flickering and that feeling again. I think I just found out how my barrier jacket works. Now, lets see how I can mess with it. Forming another mental model of me, instead of projecting a new image onto the model, I try changing the current image into something different. Slowly over the course of a few minutes, my outfit changes into a simple black t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. Excellent, it takes concentration and time but I can walk around without drawing more attention to myself than a normal soul would! Concentrating again, I try changing back into my old outfit, only for it to snap into place in a few seconds. Okay, um¡­ I try changing back into casual clothes. The process isn¡¯t any faster than the first time. I feel my eye twitch in annoyance. I have a combat outfit?! Why?! A quick test with a projected knife shows the combat outfit isn''t that much more durable than normal clothes, so why does it form so much faster? I have a feeling I won¡¯t know the answer unless I start digging through my Archive, and it isn¡¯t that much of a priority. Just accept the stupid combat outfit works on its own rules and move on Alex, you have one more test you wanted to try. Switching back to my casual outfit, I take deep cleansing breaths to distract from the clothes mystery and get ready to test out the ability that will determine everything about any plans going forward. Astralization Depending on how this works, I see two paths I could pursue. If I can physically materialize and interact with normal living people, I could search out allies, get resources, and leave the whole mess about to hit this town behind with no worries. But if I become even more of a ghost, then it will give me a good escape option and ways of moving around unseen even to the main cast. Not really sure how I¡¯d get resources in a timely manner if it''s the second but no use worrying about it till I know which one it is. By now I was able to sort of feel out how to use my different skills pretty easily, even if using them was another thing entirely. Now, I reached out towards Astralization and felt that it was somewhat like a sliding scale. I mentally grabbed hold of it and threw the slider to the other side of the spectrum. Concentrating hard as I felt my skill trying to activate. I easily spent a few hours trying to get the skill to activate, but always seemed to have it slip my grasp right at the end. I felt like I was getting the hang of it though. Centering myself for another try, I let all thoughts drift out of my mind and reached for the skill again. This time I felt the world around me fade into a mosaic of watercolored shapes as the skill took hold. Satisfaction rushed through me as I finally got the skill to work, it wasn¡¯t the option I preferred but I still got a handle on another of my abilities. That being said, this wouldn¡¯t be a quick escape skill. It took far more concentration to pull this off than would be realistic in the middle of a fight, and moving around felt like moving through an incredible viscous liquid. Not super great for spying either, as everything was blurry and indistinct. As I watched someone else enter the restroom, I could barely make out her features and the sounds she was making sounded like she was underwater. Though going by what I could hear, she was singing some kind of song. Reaching back out for my ¡®slider¡¯ I threw it back the other way. Shockingly I felt it go a bit further on the scale than it originally had been. Or was I just imagining it? I leaned on the sink counter and started thinking about my next moves. One of the stalls opened up, as the person from earlier stepped out. She looked in my direction and gave a startled yelp that distracted me from my thoughts. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry, you just scared me a bit. I didn¡¯t hear anyone else come in.¡± She said a little breathlessly. Shocked, I stared at her. She could see me? As I tried to drag my suddenly chaotic thoughts into order, halfheartedly reassured her it was fine. While she finished cleaning up and left, I ironed out the beginnings of a plan. If normal people could see me, and I refused to believe that the first random person to walk into me was spiritually aware, then I could just leave! Maybe actually do the whole invisible tourist thing and set up as an information broker for the police somewhere as I gathered resources to build a way off this dimension. A smile broke out on my face as I left the restroom. The sun was just fully coming up over the horizon, and I had a plan. I had a feeling today was going to be a good day. Spirit 1.3 The sun was shining on a beautiful clear day, as people started going about their business. I dropped back into what I decided to call ¡®Spirit Form¡¯ so I could explore the town without drawing attention to the obviously Western girl poking about with no real explanation as to why. It didn¡¯t help that it looked like I could be anywhere from 16 to 22, since people would want to question why I wasn¡¯t either in school or at work. It was still risky, since I assumed I was invisible to everyone except others who could astralize when in the newly dubbed ¡®Spectre Form¡¯ but without getting a clear view of my surroundings, it was hard to pick out a temporary base. One problem that was becoming more evident as time went on, was that I was running out of steam. Literal hours of screaming, followed by all my experimenting meant that I was getting tired. I would need to find a place to rest for the night even if I didn¡¯t stay there for my base. Maybe sneak into a hotel and spend the night? Not a bad backup plan. -o- Lunch was a simple affair consisting of a turkey sandwich, fries, and a bottle of water I managed to snatch from one of the larger restaurants I had found in the area. Me being invisible made moving the ingredients I needed simple, as I just waited for no one to be looking and made off with them. Another potential profession for when I figure out where I want to go from here. Alex Cross, literal phantom thief. Has a nice ring if I say so myself. Finishing the last of my fries, I dusted myself off and continued my wandering through town. Making my way northward, since I had actually run across the Kurosaki Clinic wandering the southern half of the town. Being the calm rational individual I take pride in being, when I saw the sign for the clinic I promptly pulled an about face and ran the fuck away. I don¡¯t know how closely Urahara kept an eye on Ichigo growing up, but I didn¡¯t want to be in any area that would attract his attention. So here I was, hours later, wandering the northwestern part of town. No conveniently abandoned buildings, no empty warehouses, and no place to crash for the night. The sun was slowly making its way down to the horizon leaving me with maybe another few hours to find somewhere to pilfer dinner from and find a hotel. Cause clearly I wasn¡¯t going to find a base today. Spotting signs for a hotel down the next alley, I turned off the main road and made my way down the street. Just as the hotel sign came into view, I realized my pleasant day was not about to end on a high note. A tall dark shape, easily 15 feet tall, stepped out from behind one of the buildings. Its heavily muscled form was clearly not human with the disproportionate arms, stumpy legs, green-black skin, and bone white mask all identifying the creature in front of me as a Hollow. That wasn¡¯t the worst part about this little encounter though. No, the part that made ice go down my spine was the eyes. Uncompassionate glowing yellow eyes peered out from the mask. Right. At. Me. Slowly backing up down the road, I tried breaking down my options. I could run, even without any special mobility options available to me right now I was confident I could stay ahead of the Hollow until the Soul Reaper or one of Urahara¡¯s gang showed up to get rid of it. Problem with that was I would either have to deal with the Soul Reaper and try to avoid getting Kons¨­¡¯d, or I¡¯d draw the attention of Urahara who would probably instantly see me as different than a normal soul. Actually would Kons¨­ even work on me? Either way running would have to be a backup plan. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Hiding was out. The Hollow would probably trash the area around me searching if I couldn¡¯t get far enough away. And for all the improvement my one day of training gave me in Astralizing, it still took too much time and concentration. Which meant option C. Kill it. And do it fast otherwise the same drawbacks to the other options would apply here as well. Steeling myself for a facedown with the murderghost, I quickly traced a bow into my left hand and an arrow to my right. I know that I¡¯m at least pushing the physical human peak from the lack of physical tiredness from all the tests and wandering I did today. But the mental strain is going to make this a much more challenging fight. Dammit, if only this Hollow showed up after I was rested! My condition makes itself unwelcomely known when I manage to fire off the shot. The arrow streaks through the air and pierces the Hollow¡¯s thick neck. Not the center of his forehead as I wanted. ¡¯Improper foot placement, improper drawing technique. Forced the aim low and to the right.¡¯ And the bow promptly splinters in my hand before bursting into light. ¡®Flaw in the structure, couldn¡¯t handle a full powered shot.¡¯ Despite immediately knowing why I missed, I wasn''t going to get another shot. The Hollow recoiled from the arrow, which hit with the power of a rifle shot, only to turn back to me and unleash an animalistic roar when it failed to bring him down. Continuing to roar, the Hollow surged towards me, hands raised ready to crush me into the pavement. Not wanting to be anywhere near the charging Hollow, I projected a spear and rushed to the right hoping the damage to its neck would cause issues tracking me. The Hollow brought its fists down in a hammerstrike, missing me as I ran by. Crushing the pavement behind me and kicking up a cloud of dust. Halting my rush to the right, I spun in place and drove the spear as hard as I could into the creature¡¯s side. The head of the spear went deep into the torso of the Hollow, but I made the mistake of acting like I was fighting a human. The strike was far too low to hit anything immediately vital. Meaning I dealt a vicious wound, but the Hollow was still in the fight. Something it was happy to prove by trying to take my head off with a sweeping backhand. I scrambled to duck under the fast moving limb, feeling the wind it kicked up pulling at my hair. I drew back the spear for another thrust into its now unprotected chest, only to see the Hollow continue its rotation and the unnoticed tail slam into my left side. I felt the bones in my left arm break as the thick appendage threw me down the road and into a parked car. Probably lost a rib or two judging from the ache forming. To make matters worse, I couldn¡¯t effectively use a spear with one arm so I was going to have to get up close and personal with something twice my height and waaay outside my weight class. Today was going so well too. Pulling myself off the now dented car, I quickly looked back towards the Hollow. The arrow had vanished at some point allowing for blood to pour out of the hole. I would think that would be a killing blow to any living creature, but spiritual beings seemed to have a bullshit ability to survive things that really should kill them not solely based on biology. In addition to that, the spear wound to its side was also bleeding heavily. As a bonus, it looked like the Hollow was slowing down since it was marching towards me rather than rushing again. Warily watching the approaching beast, I decided to do something a bit reckless. Throughout the day, I had practiced body reinforcement in addition to projection. But I had taken it slow. A long process to safely increase my physical abilities since I did not want to explode my body. I was going to throw safety out the window. Taking a moment to push the pain racking me out of my mind, I focused on projecting the strongest weapon I could right now. Light formed in the palm of my right hand before consolidating into the shape of a familiar white sword. Reinforcing my body to the biggest extent I dared, I dropped into a crouch. The Hollow, seeming to recognize my movement as a challenge gave another roar and raised its right hand. Ready to try the hammerblow again but still guarding its injured side. I rushed forward in a blur, crossing the distance between the two of us in a heartbeat. Sliding to a stop below the Hollow I reinforced my legs even more, wincing slightly at the feeling of muscles tearing from the rushed application of power, I launched myself at its head ready to stab through the mask and end this fight. My blade easily stabbed through the bone-like material and deep into the Hollow¡¯s head. Internally I rejoiced at winning, just as movement caught my attention coming from the left. The Hollow had reacted to me getting up in its face like anyone else would. Meaning it abandoned the hammerblow and flailed to keep me away. Mere moments after my sword killed it, the flailing hand crashed into my already damaged left side and sent me flying for the second time today. This time my flight is broken by one of the buildings lining the road. I crash through the wall and feel a few more ribs break under the abuse and my left arm screams in pain. Dragging myself out of the rubble, I look back at the dissolving Hollow. Good thing I managed to kill it with that blow. I¡¯m definitely not in fighting shape after that last hit. I limp back out the hole I put in the wall and take a few seconds to just breathe and wipe the blood dripping into my eye from a cut on my forehead. Now, just need to make my way to literally anywhere else before someone sho- ¡°Well I would say that was quite the show miss!¡± Oh fuck me. Turning to one side, in the same getup I remember from the show is Kisuke Urahara. Same easygoing smile, stupid hat, and clog shoes. But for all the cheerful tone addressing me, his eyes are cold and calculating. Oh Urahara, I really didn¡¯t want to run into you. ¡°Oh? Now why wouldn¡¯t you want to run into me? I would think I had a fairly good reputation as a business owner, but you seem to know me and I don¡¯t think you have ever graced my store. So why don¡¯t we have a nice chat, shall we?¡± The words are pleasant, but his posture shifts slightly to cut off any movement I might make. Fuck, I said that out loud didn¡¯t I? I take it back, today sucks. I¡¯m just going to take a nap now and let future-me deal with this mess. So I stop suppressing the tiredness from staying awake nearly 24 hours, the pain from the broken bones, and the lightheadedness which is either a concussion or blood loss and pass out. Spirit 1.4 I awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling. Right then and there I decided that I had a new goal that needed to be accomplished before any other plans were put in motion. I swear the next time I fall unconscious, it will be because I choose to! Pushing aside thoughts about my unhealthy sleep habits, I take a look around the room I¡¯m in. Fairly empty, all things considered. Looks like a storage room that was cleared of everything except for some random posters on the walls. Suddenly there is a loud crash outside the door followed by the sounds of many smaller things falling over. ¡°Jinta! What did I tell you about playing in the store! Get over here and sort this mess.¡± A deep voice booms. ¡°And Ururu, go check on our guest. The Boss said she should be waking up soon.¡± Ugh, guess I¡¯m not going to be able to slip out unnoticed. Actually how badly hurt am I? I should be pretty hurt from earlier, but right now I feel sore but not in pain. Sitting up on the futon, I notice that my left arm is wrapped in bandages and shifting my torso sends shocks of pain across my chest. Yep, definitely a few broken ribs. Even with whatever treatment I got while I was out, I¡¯m not moving anytime soon. I look up towards the door as I hear it slide open. A young girl nervously looks in while hiding behind the frame. ¡°Uhm, H-hello miss. Are you feeling okay? Can I g-get you anything?¡± She softly asks, shifting meekly from one foot to the other as a black cat slips by her feet and into the room. I know that she is one of the kids that Urahara is taking care of, but I can¡¯t remember her name. I¡¯m tempted to call her ¡®Usagi¡¯ between her attitude and the drooping pigtails, but that feels wrong. Giving her a soft smile, I reply ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you can spare a glass of water? I¡¯d like something to drink before I talk with your boss.¡± Even though I try not to startle her, she still jumps at the huskiness of my voice. It sounds much better than earlier today, but the rasp is still clearly audible. ¡°O-of course miss, I will be right back.¡± She says politely, then scurries off. Shifting back so I¡¯m leaning on my right elbow, I glance back at the cat crouched in the corner of the room. ¡°So, what do you think kitty? How badly did that fight mess me up?¡± Yes, I know I shouldn''t poke the assassin, but at this point what¡¯s the harm? Naturally , Yoruichi refuses to comment. Keeping up the act of a disinterested cat that is only tolerating my presence. Sighing, I get back to determining the extent of my injuries using structural analysis to get the full picture. Left arm, broken in several places and completely immobile. Either due to damage or the wrappings keeping it from moving. Ribs, a few cracked or broken, but not enough that I can¡¯t move at all though it is very uncomfortable. Head, surprisingly I don¡¯t think I have a concussion, hell I don¡¯t even have a headache which is a nice change of pace. Then finally legs. Yeah, those are pretty messed up. I didn¡¯t notice when I was fighting the Hollow, but my failure at controlling the reinforcement technique seems to have torn most of the muscles in my legs in one place or another. My investigation of cuts other cuts, scrapes, and injuries is interrupted when the girl from earlier returns with a glass of water. Following behind her is Kisuke Urahara and a large man with cornrowed hair and an impressive mustache. Damn, I can¡¯t remember his name either. I know he used to be in the Kido Corps, but he was one of the background characters in the show that I never paid much attention to. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Well good morning little miss!¡± exclaims Urahara, making a grand gesture with a fan he pulled out from somewhere. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you up and about, since you¡¯ve been sleeping so long!¡± Accepting the glass from the girl, I give her a bemused smile when she scurries back behind the two men in the room. After taking a quick sip, I look up to Urahara and feel my smile shift to a resigned one instead. Unlike last I saw him, Urahara¡¯s eyes are much more playful and warm than the hard grey stare he was giving me the last time I saw him. But I can see the intelligence and caution underneath, and can tell he is taking this conversation seriously. Taking another sip, I clear my throat before replying. ¡°Thank you for taking care of me after the fight. I don¡¯t know what might have happened if I was on my own there.¡± ¡°Well naturally! What kind of gentleman would I be if I neglected a pretty girl in need like you?¡± He said, happily as he brought the fan in front of his mouth. ¡°Though I have to question, how exactly did you know who I am?¡± His eyes hardening slightly. Looks like despite keeping a friendly mood, he seriously wants an answer. Welp, looks like I¡¯m not getting out of this. I take a deep breath, ¡°I saw some records a while back that included you. It mentioned you being a fairly strong fighter and a scientist. So I was kinda hoping to avoid you while I was in town.¡± It¡¯s not a lie in a certain point of view. I remember seeing him in the show which could be interpreted as records. The last thing I want is for him to discover that I¡¯m some soul experiment and trying to study how I work or something similar. If I¡¯m lucky I won¡¯t draw his interest and can be on my way once we are done here. Urahara looked searchingly at me for a while before relaxing again. ¡°Well that¡¯s fine. In any case, introductions! As you seem to know I am Kisuke Urahara, humble business owner and entrepreneur. With me are my employees Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta!¡± he exclaims, back in his happy persona while pointing out mustache man, the girl, and a small red-headed boy who entered at some point. The boy, Jinta I guess, scowls at me before turning to Urahara, ¡°The boxes are all sorted out again. Need anything else?¡± He certainly is a moody one. Urahara just waved him off, ¡°Nah that should be good for now.¡± ¡°Of course, thats assuming you finished your other cleaning duties.¡± Musta-- Tessai says sternly adjusting his glasses and staring at the boy. While Jinta stiffens and nervously shifts closer to the door. ¡°O-of course, I just need to do a thing real quick.¡± He said, scampering out into the hall. Tessai just crosses his arms while mumbling about ¡®that boy¡¯. Is it bad I feel a bit neglected? I mean, mysterious person right in front of them and they just ignore me? As if answering my thoughts, both Urahara and Tessai look at me. ¡°Apologies miss. We haven¡¯t let you introduce yourself yet¡± ¡°R-right, my name is Alexandria Cross. I¡¯m kinda just passing through? Though I do have to thank you for not leaving me on the street, that might have been bad.¡± I direct the last part to Urahara directly. It pays to be polite after all. He just laughs it off ¡°No problem! It¡¯s the least I could do for taking down a Hollow. Though you won¡¯t be moving anytime soon with your legs in that condition. If we are going to help you out might as well do it right!¡± He turns back to Ururu, who is standing by the door. ¡°Can you get one of the recovery bands out of the crate in the back? It¡¯s the one marked ¡®Treatment Supplies¡¯.¡± I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m comfortable getting more help from them, but they are right. I have no idea how long my legs will take to recover naturally and I can¡¯t protect myself in this condition. Hell I can barely move my legs at all! Glancing back at the cat hanging out in the corner of the room, I decide getting patched up takes precedence over my paranoia of being involved with the plot. Still no reason not to be careful. ¡°Recovery band?¡± I ask, having never heard of the item in the show. ¡°It¡¯s a useful little invention of mine,¡± replies Urahara, ¡°It absorbs ambient Reishi to boost the natural healing of spiritual bodies. It isn¡¯t very fast, but it certainly cuts down on recovery time.¡± Hmm, I somehow doubt it¡¯s that simple, but I don¡¯t really have the ability to refuse right now so I¡¯ll just go along with it. While we wait, Urahara asks me a few questions about who I am, ¡®just a random spirit wandering around¡¯, what I¡¯m doing in the area, ¡®nothing specific really¡¯, where I¡¯m from, ¡®oh you know around¡¯. I know super generic answers are going to make him suspicious but I don¡¯t know what else to say! I just appeared in the area maybe a day ago, that''s not enough time to have a backstory that will hold up to interrogation! Luckily, soon enough Ururu returns with a box containing 5 black bands. Urahara places the bands around my ankles, wrists, and neck before tapping each one to activate it. To my surprise the bands glow red then seem to sink into my skin, and I feel a weird pressure wash over me and the ache in my legs grows dimmer. Huh, that works pretty well actually. Standing up from crouching next to me, Urahara brushes himself off, ¡°Let¡¯s leave further discussion until you have healed some more. We will let you get some sleep, and feel free to call if you need something.¡± With that everyone clears out of the room, though from the look of it Yoruichi seems a bit agitated. Her tail is flickering all over the place. Did she notice something about me? Either way, sleep sounds good. I relax back into the mattress and close my eyes. Interlude KU --A while later-- ¡°Kisuke, we need to talk about it.¡± Kisuke sighed and turned to face the disguised form of his childhood friend. ¡°I don¡¯t see much to talk about really, she isn¡¯t hostile to us and doesn¡¯t have even the beginnings of being a spy.¡± ¡°Or, she is going for the clueless approach to make us lower our guard,¡± Yoruichi retorted, staring down on him from her perch on one of the shelves in the store. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be the first time someone tried taking advantage of your weakness for pretty girls that way.¡± Kisuke winced at the reminder of the bar incident two years ago, ¡°I thought we agreed to never bring that up again?¡± he weakly protested. ¡°No, you requested that we didn¡¯t. I said I would take it into consideration.¡± Yoroichi said aloofly. ¡°Now stop trying to put this off. An anomaly shows up out of nowhere, sets off kido alarms all over town, and you don¡¯t want to get to the bottom of it? You figured something out, now spill.¡± Sighing again, Kisuke internally complained that his friend knew him far too well. ¡°Fine, where do you want to start?¡± ¡°Why do you think she isn¡¯t a spy?¡± ¡°Very well, when we asked how she knew me did you notice what she called me?¡± Yoruichi glared at him a little harder, ¡°Yes, a fighter and a scientist. What of it?¡± ¡°You couldn¡¯t see her eyes when she said scientist. Alexandria was absolutely terrified of that fact even if she hid it well.¡± That made Yoruichi pause, ¡°You gave her a medical scan before she woke up?¡± Kisuke nodded. ¡°And I assume that you found something, then?¡± Kisuke slumped a little at the question, ¡°Not at first? Even going back over the data doesn¡¯t really give me a clear picture. What little I can make out of her spiritual profile is that something is modified her soul to some unknown degree.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Yoruichi straightened quickly, ¡°She¡¯s a mod-soul then?¡± Waving off the comment, Kisuke laughed, ¡°Hardly, I only noticed there was something up with her soul cause she reacted so strongly to scientists. Even then its more of a hunch then clearly stated in the data. No, my suggestion would be that she was an experiment of some kind.¡± ¡°Aizen?¡± ¡°Not a chance. The data we have suggests highly specialized work with hundreds of years worth of refinement. Aizen simply doesn¡¯t have the time to come up with something like this while pursuing other goals.¡± Kisuke watches as Yoruichi deflates at that somewhat. He understands that blaming a known enemy is easier then suddenly finding out there is an unknown out there doing something to souls. ¡°Fine, I agree she likely isn¡¯t one of Aizen¡¯s. What makes you so sure she is harmless then?¡± Yoruichi sighs as she settles down again. ¡°Hmm, well as that Hollow found out she is far from harmless,¡± mused Kisuke, ignoring the renewed glare from the increasingly agitated cat. ¡°But I doubt that she is here on orders for anything. If she was then she would have a cover story at the very least or some easy objective to draw attention instead of just avoiding talking about why she is here. Instead she wanders town randomly looking for out of the way places and flees at the sight if Isshin Kurosaki, before wandering some more and then getting into a fight with a Hollow. From this, I can guess that she has seen profiles on people from the Soul Society from at least 100 years ago but not more recently than 15 years ago since I don¡¯t think she would have run so quickly if she knew that Isshin doesn¡¯t have his powers right now.¡± Both of them are silent for a while while they reflect on the info. ¡°In addition to that she chooses to fight a Hollow when it''s clear she doesn¡¯t have a good grasp on her abilities. The Hollow only caused minor injuries, while her own movement technique caused significant damage.¡± Kisuke continued. ¡°She clearly knows how to fight academically, but actual experience seems to be something she lacks.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re thinking she¡¯s a runaway from whoever was experimenting on her?¡± ¡°That¡¯s my top theory right now. I¡¯m hoping that we can get more info about where she comes from either by Alexandria opening up to us some, or by this unknown coming after her.¡± Yoruichi gave him a sidelong glance, ¡°Is that why you didn¡¯t use a healing Kido? Even as torn up as they are, her legs wouldn¡¯t be that hard to heal.¡± ¡°From your observation of her, how would you describe Alexandria, Yoruichi?¡± asked Kisuke, choosing to ignore the question. Drawing herself up, Yoruichi considered the question. ¡°Scared, I guess? She hid it pretty well, but it was obvious that any movement made her nervous. It makes sense if she is a runaway and doesn¡¯t have anyone to rely on.¡± Kisuke nodded, ¡°Exactly, so I figure we give her a safe place to heal and plan her next move. If she is comfortable with us she might open up. At least this way we might gain some insights into her situation.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Yoruichi sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but it''s better than letting her run loose, especially with Aizen making fewer noticeable moves. He is getting ready for something and that means trouble.¡± She jumped down from her perch and wandered out the door, most likely going to look for signs to where Alexandria came from. ¡®I don¡¯t like it either¡¯ Kisuke thought to himself. After years of dealing with some experiment of Aizen¡¯s, the sudden lack of activity was concerning. Currently Kisuke lacked the ability to do much more than react to anything Aizen did since he was off playing the loyal captain at the moment. But given time maybe he could persuade their new guest to assist them? ¡®Just have to wait and see,¡¯ thought Kisuke. Patting himself down as he got up and returned to the storefront. Spirit 1.5 The next eight months were a time of revelation for me. First was the revelation that medical recovery was torture. I spent the first few months of my time as a guest at the Urahara shop either sitting in a back room going over my archive. It wasn¡¯t bad at first. The sheer amount of knowledge at my disposal was fascinating and I dove in with a passion trying to learn as much as I could. As a result, I learned the basics of elemental manipulation, spell structures, enchanting, device creation, bounded fields, and so much more. Actually practicing everything was harder, since it''s generally a bad idea to shoot fireballs inside a wooden structure when you can barely walk. Just coming up with spell formulas for the other half of my combat abilities was actually pretty fun for a few days even if they probably weren¡¯t super practical, but the lack of a device eventually made the process frustrating since I couldn¡¯t test any of them to see if they actually worked the way I wanted them to. So I would lose focus after a while and switch to a new topic. Only to have something similar occur when I either needed additional equipment or it was unsafe to practice in my condition. The second revelation was that the ability souls made for super quick training improvements. I knew that there was some increase in ability comprehension from my short fight with the Hollow, but by the end of the first month I was bullseyeing nearly every target I could see from the shopfront and I could now directly project enchanted weapons. Nothing even close to noble phantasms, something still eluded me there, but lightning arrows, fire swords, water whips and the like were all easy enough for me by now. The third revelation was something I wasn¡¯t very proud about. Simply put, a bored Alex leads to reckless decisions. It started annoyingly enough with Jinta. Mostly just grumbling about the additional work needed to take care of the ¡®freeloader¡¯ which I ignored since I did cause more work for both him and Ururu with my limited mobility. But after a few weeks of this, and running into another roadblock with the archive, I cornered Tessai and demanded a position in the shop that I could do even while I was in recovery. Something I learned about Tessai was that he could be the epitome of patience in most cases. He could easily deal with Urahara¡¯s moods, Jinta¡¯s antics, and Yoruichi¡¯s behavior, she refused to break the cat act around me even when I heard her talking with others the next room over, without blinking an eye. So when I confronted him about this, he calmly informed me that even if I wanted to help, it would take some time for Urahara to actually make a gigai for me. The problem was, I wasn¡¯t going to wait. So I immediately shifted Atralization from ¡®Spirit Form¡¯ to ¡®Physical Form¡¯ right in front of him. So, uh, yeah. One of my more unique abilities just kinda out in the open cause I was bored and wanted something to do. The look on Urahara¡¯s face when he found out was almost worth it though. Even still, oops! The final revelation though was that there was no chance of me skipping dimensions before the main events kicked off. I was only as far along as I was learning how to build a dimensional transport due to the downtime caused by my injuries and even without that actually building my escape ticket would be a multi-year endeavor. With that in mind, my plans for the future were mostly set. I would train, study, build, and train some more so that when the Quincies made their move I would be strong enough to survive without relying on a teenager to bail me out! -o- While my new resolve to improve myself was nice, it still left me in the same position I was in when I asked for a job. Well, not exactly the same position. One of the things I started searching the archive for once escape wasn¡¯t feasible was healing spells. I wasn¡¯t going to be reattaching arms or healing life threatening wounds, but speeding up my recovery was within my abilities. Five months after my first brush with a Hollow, I was all healed up and in top shape again! Which meant I was wandering the east side of town looking for another to test out some of my ideas. One of the perks that came from working with Urahara was the real function of his shop. While he did sell candy and treats to the living, he was also something of a bounty/supply shop for Souls and Soul Reapers. See, while fresh dead might not cross over immediately and run the risk of turning into a Hollow, it turns out some of the better off Souls in the Soul Society can cross back over into the World of the Living for what is basically a vacation. So the store sells equipment, tour locations, souvenirs, and deals with bounty rewards and local reports of Hollow sightings as a service to the local Soul Reaper. Supposedly you can rent gegais as well, but the cost of that seems to be so high no one has actually done so while I¡¯ve been here. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. But the advantage for me is that when too many Hollow reports come in, seriously there can sometimes be two or three in a day, I can divert some for myself to go hunt them down myself. Which is why I was running across the rooftops in my combat outfit, on the lookout for a murderghost to kill. I was keeping to the high ground because despite many of them being around 10 feet tall, Hollows can be sneaky when they want to. And the last thing I want is to deal with Yoruichi¡¯s smug face mocking me for getting ambushed. Oh yeah, that''s another thing I learned recently. For all that I am a spiritual being, I can barely manipulate Reishi or Reiryoku. Which means I can¡¯t use either Soul Reaper abilities or Kido and my spirit sensing was nearly useless. It actually kinda bummed me out that I couldn¡¯t take advantage of the three high level Soul Reapers I lived with for instruction other than the occasional beatdown from Urahara or Tessai but I figured I could compensate when I learned more magecraft and got a proper device working. Stopping on the roof of the tallest building in the area, I scanned my surroundings for the Hollow that was supposed to be in the area. Nothing towards the north, same with the west, east has a sneaking Yoruichi making a half assed attempt to look like a normal cat, south has¡­ oh. South has three hollows. Interesting. Guess that¡¯s why that damn cat let me see her so easily I take a moment to consider my options. I could just rain down arrows, but that seems like a waste. Maybe use each one for a training opportunity? Yeah, let''s go with that. Tracing my bow into my left hand, I take a deep breath then burst into action. A swarm of swords appears around me before launching themselves at one of the Hollows as I take aim at the second. My arrow catches it in the middle of its head, killing it instantly. As I land in front of the final Hollow I dismiss my bow and summon my twin broadswords, Kansho and Bakuya, to my hands. A few swings later, and the Hollow is in pieces. Whew, that went pret- I drop to the ground as a thickly muscled appendage passes where my head used to be. Fucking tail! Turning quickly, I see the heavily wounded form of the first Hollow. Damn, looks like my barrage failed to hit anything immediately vital. Oh well, this is what training is for. ¡°That wasn¡¯t very nice!¡± I shout as I rush forward. Another swing decapitates the Hollow leaving me alone in the street. Well, alone with a smug cat that followed me. Yoruichi wanders down the street waving her tail mockingly. ¡°It wasn¡¯t even that close to hitting me!¡± I complain, knowing I made a mistake not being sure all the Hollows were dead before lowering my guard. All I get for my protest is a smirk as Yoruichi turns and vanishes down a side road. I have no idea why she insists on pretending to be a normal cat around me. Hell, I¡¯ve heard her have conversations in the shop with the others, but as soon as I enter the room she goes mute! It¡¯s starting to drive me up the wall, and considering I have a hunch that is why she is doing it, I may have to start using her as target practice when I¡¯m out here. I could use the stress relief if nothing else. I dismiss my swords and dust myself off before leaping back up to the rooftop. No other Hollows have been sighted in the area, but might as well keep looking around since I took the time to direct the local Reaper to the other side of town tonight. -o- ¡°What¡¯s with the long face, Alex-chan?¡± I groan as I turn to face the annoyance behind me, ¡°Nothing is wrong, I just feel like I wasted my time running blindly around town.¡± ¡°Not satisfied with three takedowns, I take it? That¡¯s pretty impressive improvement from the first few fights you got into.¡± It was true. I had gone from struggling to deal with a single Hollow to easily taking down three of them. Something I was told was impressive for low to mid ranked seated officers in the Soul Reaper ranks. The main issue was, I was hitting limits in nearly all of my areas of growth while trying to remain under the radar, and it was making me feel pressured knowing what was coming. I simply couldn¡¯t go all out without drawing attention in a live combat situation. The underground training room was nice for testing things out, but there was a relaxedness there even when I sparred with the others that made everything seem bland. Well except for the time I got Urahara to release his shikai. That sparring session almost resulted in more injuries on my part and a large area destroyed by exploding arrows. And the tech side of my abilities was constrained by just a lack of supplies. Despite being considered an exile from the Soul Society, Urahara was the largest source of rare metals and tools available to me, and getting bulk amounts of material that was useful was still difficult. Even with him allowing me the use of his second lab, I kinda freaked out when I saw the main one (half assembled gigais all over the place), I was still in the process of making tools to make the tools I needed to make more useful magitech. As it was I had barely enough to scrape together a single device that was able to monitor one spell function, even if it needed to be preprogrammed and only had a set output. ¡°It¡¯s not that, just frustrated that my best form of stress relief is so hard to track down. You sure that you can¡¯t get one of those spirit cell phones the Reapers use?¡± Urahara gives me a dry look, ¡°You mean a Denreishinki? I know I told you they are different than a cellphone.¡± I just roll my eyes, they really aren¡¯t. ¡°And I can get you one, but the tracking data is monitored by the Soul Society directly. So you wouldn¡¯t avoid detection when their monitors discover there are two signals in town and only one active Soul Reaper.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, any other reason you needed to talk to me Urahara-san? Or just harassing the workers like normal?¡± ¡°So formal Alex-chan, I¡¯m hurt! You know you can relax around me.¡± Urahara exclaims, not really bothered by the look of it. ¡°But yes I do have something I need you to do. I know you leave most of the dealings with Soul Reapers to the rest of us but in a month, we will be getting a shift rotation and I need you to make sure the area introductory paperwork is updated.¡± That made me freeze up. On the one hand, I thought I had more time before I needed to get caught up in the plot. On the other hand, I couldn¡¯t really prepare more than I already had without drawing attention to from Soul Society. At least once Aizen made his move I should be free to openly practice my flashier abilities, so I guess this is fine? ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll have them sorted in a few days. Anything else Urahara-san?¡± ¡°Nope! That should be it for now.¡± As my boss wanders off, I start thinking about what this means for me. Two months until things properly kick off. I need to prioritize my remaining training time for immediate usefulness. Things are going to be intense for a while so dimensional research will be out, though maybe I can sneak into the science division and make off with their data, but learning how to project Noble Phantasms has jumped even higher in priorities. I don¡¯t think I can tackle captain-class without a trump card like that. Still, after months of preparing for this I¡¯m about as ready as I can get. Should be fun! Spirit 1.6 It was amazing how having a deadline until I had to deal with the plot of an anime that I only passingly remembered changed very little in my day-to-day schedule. I still dealt with various tasks for the Urahara shop, hunted the occasional Hollow, worked on magecraft, and trained as a fighter. But even the added pressure didn¡¯t magically resolve any of the issues I was dealing with. So I continued on like I had the last few months, and eventually came face to face with the catalyst for all the events to come. Rukia Kuchiki. I¡¯d like to say that seeing her in person came with some grand feeling of how things would change for me. That the universe had given me a sign. That this was the start of challenges to come! In reality? It felt like dealing with anyone else who had come through the shop. Although she was more polite than normal. Most of the souls on vacation had that annoying tendency to talk down to me since I apparently was just a normal human. Rukia was professional though, so I decided she would get the comprehensive info package rather than the basic one. So I get to pull that packet together while Urahara and Rukia talk in the back of the shop. I¡¯m sure they are talking about some specific things needed for a personnel transfer, but until they I just need to prep the paperwork aspect. Not long after, Rukia returns looking mildly frustrated and heads in my direction. Not an uncommon look for those who deal directly with Urahara alone for any amount of time. ¡°Excuse me, I am told you have the area informational packet for me? As well as the equipment verification form?¡± Aww, she acts so serious! I guess she is trying to keep up the image of a serious soldier but combined with her stature, it just makes her look like a teenager acting tough. Though I think by soul standards, she actually is a teenager? Meh, soul ages are weird. Let¡¯s ignore that and get everything squared away. I lean down on the counter and idly hand her the info packet and equipment request forms, ¡°Here is the intro guide to the town and surrounding area you will be responsible for. In it you will find landmarks, parol routes, areas of interest and a brief history on certain locations that may need investigation. Please take the time to read through everything, though additional information can be requested for a small fee. We also have equipment request forms for anything you want to order in the field.¡± With that I hand over the papers. Rukia fills out some other paperwork confirming she received everything and it is acceptable for her to begin her post. Mostly boring things that will never really be looked at, but need to be filed for bureaucracy''s sake. With everything filled out Rukia takes her leave and disappears to do her duty. I put away my paperwork and turn to Urahara, who is now lurking in the doorway watching where Rukia just left. ¡°So you gonna tell me what has you so bothered, boss?¡± When Urahara meets my eyes, a chill runs through me. He has the same look as in his eyes as when he takes something completely seriously. Even if he has the same relaxed smile on his face, it''s terrifying. ¡°Nothing really Alex-chan, just getting used to the new face. Can¡¯t be too soft on new Reapers or they think they can get everything at a discount!¡± he weakly jokes. I sighed, this is the problem with extra dimensional knowledge. I knew why Urahara was freaking out about Rukia being nearby but there was no reason for me to know that, ugh. ¡°Kisuke¡±, he actually looked startled by that. Come to think of it, I don¡¯t think I really ever used his first name. ¡°You are really good at misdirecting people,¡± a wince ¡°making people misunderstand you,¡± another wince ¡°generally just being a pain in the ass about actually explaining what¡¯s going on,¡± Oh, he actually dropped to the floor now. I pause, and start tapping a finger on my chin. ¡°There was somewhere I was going with this but it seems I lost my train of thought.¡± ¡°Point is something is bothering you so please let¡¯s skip the whole ¡®nothing is wrong¡¯ act and you just tell me.¡± Urahara looked at me for a long time. Long enough that I started fidgeting under his gaze. Finally he stood back up and sighed, ¡°Alexandria, can I trust you to keep a secret?¡± I blinked, seems like today is the day for rarely used names. Even so I nod seriously. ¡°Remember what I told you about the man who drove me out of the Soul Society?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yeah Aizen S¨­suke, guy doing a bunch of experiments on people for some reason and blamed you for the more visible one.¡± Urahara wasn¡¯t exactly letting me into his inner circle the last few months, but he did drop tidbits to get me onboard with opposing Aizen if the opportunity came up. ¡°Yes, well Rukia being here means that Aizen found an object I made and then hid with her a long time ago. Normally a Reaper of her rank would never get approval for a long term deployment but the captain of squad 5 somehow arranged it, even despite her not being part of his squad.¡± ¡°Wait, how do you even know who signed her deployment orders? And you said he knows where this object is so he just sends it to you? Just take it back then.¡± I thought Aizen only found out where the wishmarble was after Rukia was deployed. If he knew where it was, why risk sending it back to Urahara? ¡°I do have some highly placed friends in Soul Society, even if we can¡¯t communicate much¡± Urahara rubbed the back of his head frustratedly, ¡°And if only it was that easy. Unfortunately I hid the object, the H¨­gyoku, in Rukia¡¯s soul. I can¡¯t take it out without killing her. Not without taking a rather drastic step.¡± A silence falls between us. I wait for him to continue but it seems like he is willing to let the silence stretch. ¡°Okay? You shoved a random object into someone¡¯s soul and the psychopath who seems to like experimenting on people wants it. Not really seeing a reason to avoid drastic.¡± ¡°The reason is that it requires the cooperation of Rukia herself to actually pull off. And she would never agree to the terms since the only way to safely remove the H¨­gyoku, is to kill her.¡± Wait, what?! How does that make any sense? Noticing my confusion Urahara continues, ¡°The H¨­gyoku is unique among everything that I have created because it works on concepts rather than anything scientific. It¡¯s primary use is to remove the barriers between things. Not physical walls, but mental ones that is shared by people unconsciously. For instance, everyone knows that a Hollow is the opposite of a Shinigami, or Soul Reaper, because they are opposite existences as far as anyone is concerned. Hollows consume souls, and Soul Reapers let them move on. By using the H¨­gyoku, the user can grant the powers of a Soul Reaper or Hollow to the other by removing that conceptional barrier.¡± Okay Urahara, thanks for the lesson. Leaving aside the fact you actually made a conceptual weapon in a universe I was convinced couldn¡¯t have those and terrifying me with your ability to do such a thing, still not seeing the point. ¡°Even in its sealed away state, the H¨­gyoku is capable of breaking down these barriers and removing it from Rukia will activate it automatically. But granting Hollow powers to a Soul Reaper is dangerous, and doing so while trying to remove an object imbedded in the soul will result in the complete destruction of said soul. The only way for Rukia to survive the removal would be to ensure she had a different barrier to remove. And she would never consent to giving up her powers even if the alternative was death.¡± Urahara finishes solemnly. My eyes widen as I catch the implications. Death for Humans is actually more of a second life in this universe. It''s probably not the most comfortable existence for most, but you keep all your memories and experiences after death and go to the Soul Society, but death for souls means moving to the wheel of reincarnation. Its an end. All experiences washed away and given a new life in the World of the Living. In other words, the only way to remove the H¨­gyoku from Rukia and have her live, was to ensure that she died as a normal, unpowered human. And Kisuke Urahara knew how to do that. ¡°I¡¯m not going to do anything to her, Alex-chan. It¡¯s just a longshot plan I thought of.¡± Urahara says softly. That snaps me out of my distracted state and I refocus on him. He¡­ looks kinda hurt, for some reason. Oh. He misunderstood my silence as thinking that he would forcibly rip Rukia¡¯s powers away. I should fix that. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that. Just wondering why Aizen would risk it even if he knew you weren¡¯t likely to take it back.¡± He does seem to cheer up at that, so mission accomplished? ¡°The thing is with Aizen, everything needs to be a performance, at least to those he considers to be on his level. By shoving Rukia in our faces, he lets me know that he is starting something and is confident he can get away with it. But that isn¡¯t enough, he needs to make sure that I know I can¡¯t stop him since he considers me an intellectual peer. And if I tried anything overt and Rukia reports it, then the Seireitei would be forced to respond to a direct attack, which Aizen is no doubt on the lookout for.¡± ¡°So we won¡¯t make a move cause it would be wrong, and its irrelevant cause we would call an army on our heads?¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± ¡°Could we convince her that we need to remove the H¨­gyoku by sealing her powers cause a madman is after it and just have me run around as her substitute?¡± Urahara considers it, ¡°If you were a Soul Reaper, we might have a chance. But the mission data wouldn¡¯t match her reports since your Reiatsu is completely different and you can¡¯t perform a Kons¨­. They would notice the first time they looked at the reports. It''s not a bad plan, you just don¡¯t have the abilities for it.¡± And with that any plans of just throwing canon out the window die a quiet death. Damn, at least I figured out why Urahara never made a move before the invasion arc. Though it seems Ichigo was just a lucky coincidence and not a preplanned move by Urahara. Urahara and I switch to some lighter subjects and talk for a short while before I excused myself and head to the lab. I wanted to finish developing my first custom spell as quickly as possible to have more time to practice it. I¡¯m actually pretty close to finishing my version of the Flash Step. Which is huge cause without it I don''t stand a chance against anyone decent at Hoh¨­. In my spars against Urahara, we figured out pretty quickly that between my natural physique and Reinforcement I am just faster than him. But the second he uses the more advanced Hoh¨­ techniques, I can¡¯t keep up. So I had him break down exactly what the Flash Step is so I can work out a spell to imitate at least a short range version. Getting a spell to move a person at high speeds wasn¡¯t something FATE magic was good at, and MGLN magic required too much computation to be used without a device. Pulling a hybrid spell was going pretty well, but I was having trouble calibrating my senses. See, Flash Step is basically just a Soul Reaper flooding their body with their Reiatsu to dramatically increase movement speed by accelerating themselves instantly. Sounds simple, but in practice it was hard to master since the technique required precise control, timing, and power to use correctly. I decided to mimic the ability by breaking it into three parts. Reinforcement, acceleration, and perception. In other words, make sure I can handle moving fast, actually go fast, and process what¡¯s going on fast enough to not run into walls. I could handle the first two easily, but thought acceleration was hard to judge. I was trying to make the spell, which I was unimaginably calling Haste, to scale the thought acceleration with how fast I was moving so when I used the spell there wouldn¡¯t be a noticeable difference to me. Judging by the many me-sized holes in the boulders in the training room, I hadn¡¯t quite nailed it. -CRASH- Pulling myself out of the new hole in a boulder I had a few thoughts. The first was OW! The second was to make a note to dial back perception some more. Still, it was better than the last time I tried it. At this rate I might have a working version by the end of the week! Or a concussion. Glancing to the side, I saw Yoruichi perched on another boulder looking smug. ¡°It¡¯s harder when you¡¯re starting from scratch!¡± I comp- explained, collapsing on the ground in front of her. She just jumped down next to me, gave me a condescending pat on the shoulder and walked off. Stupid cat. Spirit 1.7 Calm, I must stay calm. I knew getting involved with the events of canon would start involving me with some ridiculous situations. I knew that interfering at the start was unwise since it would impact the growth of some important allies we would need in the future. I even knew that Rukia was horribly unprepared to deal with her duties. These were things I had prepared for in advance. Since I was unable to use kido, the only additional work generated by situations caused by Rukia failing to kill a low Hollow like a rank amateur was for me to keep track of where incidents took place and deploy Tessai to repair them. It was actually nice that despite Ichigo being even more of an amateur than Rukia, none of the Urahara shop group needed to intervene to any great extent to keep up the illusion of Rukia not losing her powers. True, I spent much more time hunting Hollows at the edge of her assigned territory. But I just viewed it as combat practice and time to get used to Haste, especially since I had a version that was fine for simple movements. No, what angered me the most was the tiny things I had forgotten about the show. Kon was a particularly unwelcome reminder of that. The mod-soul caused such a mess during his joy-ride that I was still tracking down and removing evidence to ensure word of this doesn¡¯t make it back to Soul Society. That Yoruichi was no doubt running along behind me getting whatever I missed failed to lift my mood since I was still tasked to do it, despite not being the super assassin with actual training in information removal. Another one of these things was I had simply forgotten about was a surprise visit from an Onmitsukid¨­ agent since Rukia had apparently not notified her superiors about an extended stay in the World of the Living. It wasn¡¯t even that hard to get approval! All she needed to do was fill out a form and have one of us confirm she was staying at an approved outpost and not just taking her deployment as a vacation. No! Calm! Stay calm. Don¡¯t turn the irresponsible Reaper into a pincushion. Even if it does mean she didn¡¯t actually read all the briefing materials I gave her. Little things like that. Things totally avoidable that just a little common sense would have prevented some annoying headaches for everyone. Common sense like, oh I don¡¯t know, NOT actively attracting murderous creatures who for the most part exist to devour souls near a town FULL OF PEOPLE! A swarm of blades fly towards another group of Hollows, tearing them to pieces in the process. Some individual Hollows a bit further out are pierced by arrows and quickly killed. It seems that whatever is drawing these cannon fodder Hollows to the area has plenty of bodies to throw at us, and since Urahara is certain Aizen has something to do with this I am trying to hold some tricks in reserve. I take aim at another fleeing Hollow and take a second to watch as the arrow imbeds itself in the back of its head. I think that was the last one fleeing this direction, I should probably make my way back to Urahara just to see what is actually going to stop this example of idiocy. Looking around I spotted everyone from the shop minus Urahara and Yuroichi gathering nearby cleaning up some stragglers. ¡°I took care of the runners,¡± I announced as I landed next to them. ¡°What is the next step?¡± Tessai stopped to talk to me while the kids continued after more small-fry Hollows. ¡°We finished setting up a large scale barrier Kido, that should keep the rest of the Hollows from moving into more populated areas of the town. Now we just finish cleaning up.¡± ¡°Finish cleaning up. And what about the Menos? Why is that not a priority?!¡± Seriously, that thing is stupidly huge. How did I forget that a goddamned Menos showed up? Why couldn¡¯t Ichigo and Uryu just beat each other up instead of causing so much trouble! This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Boss said to let Ichigo Kurosaki handle the Menos. We just need to keep the surroundings secure.¡± ¡°Oh he did, did he? And where exactly is Urahara-san right now? I have a question for him.¡± Yep, calm. Just had to stay calm. Tessai should take note of that, he seems to have started sweating a bit from stressing so much. ¡°U-um, he is over there with Rukia-san¡± I follow where he is pointing and see Urahara standing in the treeline next to Rukia who seems to have collapsed. Ah, no she is caught in a Bakudo technique. Not that she really had a chance of preventing this outcome in her current state, so I guess I won¡¯t hold this incident against her. Kisuke on the other hand¡­ The Menos is still making its way through the dimensional breach. From how slow its moving it seems we got a very young one luckily enough. An older one would be more decisive and much faster. Still, I don¡¯t know if its because of some weird butterfly effect from me being in this universe but Ichigo isn¡¯t nearly strong enough to do more than superficial damage to a Menos at this point. If we don¡¯t step in soon he might get killed. Unless that¡¯s Urahara¡¯s plan? Show Ichigo that there are things out there you can¡¯t just brute force with an oversized sword and take him on as a student? I know that in canon Ichigo only got to spend a few days training under Urahara but maybe Kisuke wants to bring him up to speed earlier now? Coming up behind the two of them I question, ¡°Is there a reason we are letting the rookie get slaughtered by a Menos? Cause while he isn¡¯t bad for less than a month of being a Reaper, he doesn¡¯t have the strength to go up against one of those yet.¡± By now the Menos is fully out of the breach and proving my point by kicking Ichigo across the park. I don¡¯t think it even realized he was there. ¡°Its fine!¡± Urahara cheerfully exclaimed, ¡°This is an important battle for Kurosaki-san. Just wait and see.¡± Rukia on the other hand, is screaming for Ichigo to run. Given that the Menos has finally taken notice of Ichigo and Uryu and is charging a Cero, isn¡¯t bad advice. Still looks like it¡¯s falling on deaf ears, since Ichigo has reclaimed his sword that Uryu was using as a hat for some reason and is charging the Menos again. Sighing, I trace a bow and take aim at the Menos, ready to kill the stupid thing before it wipes the kid out of existance. Only to have Urahara step in front of me just as the oversized hollow fires. Surprisingly, Ichigo manages to hold off the Cero instead of being erased by it. Even if it does look like he is struggling to hold it back. ¡°No need to be hasty, Alex-chan. It¡¯s just about time.¡± With that, Ichigo explodes into a hurricane of swirling power. A beam of condensed Reishi striking the Menos and carving a deep wound from it¡¯s feet to shoulder. Now heavily wounded, the massive Hollow retreats back through the dimensional breach closing the majority of it as it left. It was an impressive show of force. Definitely leagues ahead of anything Ichigo has done before this, which begs the question what the hell just happened?! ¡°Kisuke, explain.¡± Urahara looks at me and for some reason pales slightly. ¡°Uh, right, well you see Kurosaki-san has yet to learn how to forcibly raise his Reiatsu out of its normal passive state. So I thought that if an outside stimulus forces him to draw out that latent power it would increase his overall abilities.¡± I stare at him for a bit. ¡°...So you mean to tell me you gambled the kid¡¯s life on the hope that he figured out how to increase his power mid fight?!¡± ¡°Well it sounds so mean spirited when you say it like that! And don¡¯t worry, if he really couldn¡¯t take it I was ready to step in at any time.¡± ¡°You should have stepped in from the beginning then!¡±, shouts Rukia ¡°Menos Grande are not the kind of things Ichigo should be going up against alone! Even for a training exercise, that was too much!¡± ¡°Gotta say I agree with her,¡± I interject. Even if I¡¯m finally relaxing after this stupid incident, far too much went to chance for me to be comfortable. Urahara just waves of our concerns, ¡°Like I said, everything was fine. Now Kuchiki-san please go tend to Kurosaki-san. It seems he is exhausted and will need help getting home. Alex-chan, I have something to discuss with you.¡± With that he releases Rukia from the binding technique, easily ignoring the glare she sends his way as she runs off to help Ichigo. ¡°I¡¯m guessing Aizen is behind this somehow?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Urahara confirms ¡°There is no way the Hollow bait used by the Quincies would be capable of drawing the attention of a Menos Grande. That it was young enough for us to deal with so easily means he was more interested in causing a scene than actually harming any of us. Likely it means he is advancing his schedule by drawing the attention of Soul Society to an incident we can¡¯t cover up. I expect we will see a response to this in the next couple days. That being said two of Kurosaki-san¡¯s friends have demonstrated spirit powers of their own. Any chance you want to take on a student for a time?¡± Right, Orihime and Chad. I rack my brain for anything that I might be able to teach them in a short amount of time. Unfortunately outside of just basic combat discipline I don¡¯t come up with much. Both of them still use Reiryoku as the source of their powers while I use mana. Our powers are just too different for me to teach them the basics. Telling Urahara as much, he simply nods his head. ¡°I figured that might be the case. I guess I¡¯ll ask Yuroichi to help them out. For better or worse they might become involved even if they don¡¯t directly join forces with us.¡± Giving me a serious look Urahara continues, ¡°After a spectacle like this, Rukia-san will likely be unable to avoid going back to Soul Society. If you have any preparations to make I suggest doing so now.¡± I nod, seeing his point. ¡°I have some last calibration tests to run the latest test device through. Give me 5 days to work through any bugs in the spell matrix and finish some one offs. After that I should be ready at any time.¡± ¡°Mmh, we definitely have that much time. But first we should clean up here, we made a bit of a mess after all!¡± I looked around the park, noting general destruction from arrow strikes, impacts, blasts from Ururu¡¯s cannon, wind from Ichigo¡¯s energy pulse, and other various effects feeling my shoulders drop further in dejection with every new bit of damage. Ugh, this is going to take forever to clean up. Heading back to Tessai and the kids I start calling out our new instructions. Faster we get this over with, the faster I can go back to my lab. Spirit 1.8 -18 Days until Invasion- Deadlines are wonderfully stressful things. For literally months I had been working on various projects to get ready for the Invasion and even when it became clear that I was running out of time, I was pretty relaxed about everything. Then Urahara tells me that we have at most a few days before we set out to retrieve Rukia and suddenly all the pressure of how little time I have hits me. Its doing wonders for my work ethic though. ¡°You should relax a bit Alexandria. Stressing out will only mess with your stomach.¡± A deep rich voice says beside me. Looking over I see Yoruichi sitting on one of my half-finished projects. Not actually sure I remember what that one was supposed to be honestly. But she¡¯s talking to me now. Guess that means our little game is over. Does that mean I win? ¡°Easy for you to say, you''re not the one messing with a device where a single failed calculation might kill you. I think I¡¯m allowed to freak out a little. Besides aren¡¯t you supposed to be keeping an eye on Rukia?¡± The assassin-cat just stretches lazily ¡°I can keep track of her from here just as easily. Not that we really need to be all that vigilant. It¡¯s not like the Soul Reapers are going to sneak over here to grab her. You¡¯re just complaining because you have to do the final tests on a product.¡± She gave me a glance, ¡°you¡¯re a lot like Kisuke in that regard.¡± ¡°... right. Well I¡¯m going to get started. If you¡¯re planning on staying in here, make sure to stay out of the spell circle. I don¡¯t guarantee you won¡¯t lose something otherwise.¡± Yoruichi jumps off and starts heading for the door. ¡°I think it¡¯s best if you do not have any distractions for now. Best of luck!¡± I sighed then closed the door behind her. She finally starts talking to me and then just takes off when she feels like it. How very fitting for a cat. Oh well, enough stalling I suppose. I grab the proto-device and check over the coding to see if anything jumps out at me. Not that I haven¡¯t done this a few dozen times by now... ¡°Right, spell circle activation test in 3...2...1¡­¡± ------------------------------------------------------------- -15 Days until Invasion- Blearily making my way down the ladder to the training room I noticed Urahara and the kids standing near a giant hole in the ground. I knew the hole was important for something, but three all-nighters in a row was taking its toll and my brain wasn¡¯t making the connection. Yawning, I made my way over to them. ¡°Hey guys, whatcha doin?¡± Urahara just waved while the kids turned away from the hole to ackowldge me. ¡°Oh, hi Ms. Cross. We¡¯re waiting to see if Ichigo turns into a Hollow after cutting his soul chain. He¡¯s in the hole right now, but his times almost up!¡± answers Ginta, a sadistic glint in his eye. Though that tends to be normal for kids his age. I don¡¯t think he fully grasps what turning into a Hollow would mean for a person. Or he does and just doesn¡¯t care. Meh, too sleepy to think about that right now. I continue to one of the nearby boulders to use as a seat, capturing Ururu along the way and pulling her into my lap. Comfy enough to use as a pillow and quiet enough to be relaxing. Ururu is best pillow. Well that is until a loud scream starts coming from the hole. Guess that means Ichigo is starting to Hollify. Though if he doesn¡¯t stop screaming soon then I might kill him myself. Ururu starts squirming in my lap ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we rescue him? He¡¯s turning into a Hollow.¡± In response I just hug her tighter, placing my chin on the top of her head until she calms down. ¡°He¡¯s fine. When a soul turns into a Hollow, the spiritual body explodes. It then reforms into the body of a Hollow with the mask being the last thing to form.¡± Urahara explains, looking over the edge of the hole. ¡°But with Ichigo, the mask is the first thing trying to form. Showing that he is fighting the transformation, he might still become a Soul Reaper.¡± From the bottom of the hole we hear Tessai shouting that Ichigo is breaking out of the seal they placed on him and he was moving to eliminate Ichigo. I don¡¯t know who they think they are fooling. If Tessai wanted Ichigo sealed, then Ichigo wasn¡¯t going anywhere until Tessai allowed him. Though it was a good way to increase the mental pressure on Ichigo I suppose. Declare in a very open manner that he was out of time and he either escape now or be killed probably would make anyone hurry up. Realizing what was going to happen next I handed four crystals to Ururu, ¡°Make a square around us, ¡®kay?¡± Focusing on a fifth crystal I sent a pulse of mana through it, activating a weak barrier just in time to block the rush of wind and dust that had been kicked up. As the wind died down, we all see Ichigo standing outside of the hole. His face covered by a Hollow mask with three small red scratches and some tattered rags, while the rest of him was attired in the normal dress of a Soul Reaper. ¡°A shihakusho and a mask? Is he a Hollow or a Soul Reaper?¡± Ginta questions from, -beside me? When did he get there? Ah, Urahara borrowed my barrier to block the wind. Fair enough. Urahara goes to talk to Ichigo while I start wandering past them. Shows over, I want to do my tests and then go to bed. Of course what I want doesn¡¯t seem to be in the cards as right as I¡¯m walking by I hear Urahara say, ¡°-step 3 of your training is to land one hit on Alex-chan over there!¡± I looked over to them just in time to jerk my head back, avoiding the sweeping slash Ichigo sent my way. Yikes, Urahara seems to have sent him over the edge. That attack was just pure frustration. ¡°Well, you certainly are eager. Though why am I getting dragged into this Kisuke?¡± The bastard had the gall to smile at me, ¡°Well you¡¯ve been working so hard the last few days I figure you could use the break!¡± Glaring up at the ceiling, if only to avoid looking at Kisuke, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you would reconsider if I said I¡¯ll kill him if we fight right now?¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Nope! Now fighters, get ready!¡± Urahara exclaims while getting into position like a fight referee. Fine, let¡¯s get this over with. Tracing a basic longsword into my hand I turn my attention to Ichigo. ¡°I wasn¡¯t kidding right then. Come at me with everything you got or I will kill you, my temper is pretty nonexistent right now.¡± For his part, Ichigo looked fairly unintimidated by my words, ¡°Yeah? Well guess what lady, I¡¯m not exactly a pushover. I¡¯m gonna beat you then go beat the hell outta Mr Hat-n-Clogs over there.¡± He declares, pointing his broken zanpakuto at me. Both of us settle into a ready stance. ¡°Begin!¡± With that I explode forward, apparently shocking Ichigo with the speed I closed the distance between us. Though he is quick enough to block the heavy overhead strike, he fails to react to the following kick which sends him crashing into a nearby boulder. ¡°Lesson number one¡± I said gravely, as a walked towards Ichigo. ¡°Never focus completely on one part of your opponent.¡± Ichigo jumps at me in an attempt of an attack, but is forced to defend when I use a sideways slash that looks like it would cut him in half. Despite the successful block, he is still launched backwards and tumbles across the ground. I don¡¯t know what Urahara¡¯s plan was, but I¡¯m going to beat Ichigo unconscious then go sleep. I don¡¯t even care about final spell tests right now, it can wait till tomorrow. Unconsciously I start radiating a killing intent at Kisuke, it¡¯s his fault that I¡¯m wasting time right now. I decided right then he was going to be compensating me with some special alloys for my test devices for springing this on me. Charging again I¡¯m actually surprised when Ichigo turns tail and starts running away from me. Despite that, he is actually managing to dodge the occasional attack from behind. Guess he has really good instincts to do that while running away. Well I say that but Ichigo seems to have had a brainwave that gave him an overinflated sense of security since he has a stupid smirk on his face. Though just to be certain I stop pursuing him. ¡°And what are you smirking about?¡± ¡°I just want to confirm something,¡± Ichigo says, smile growing a little bigger. ¡°You aren¡¯t a Soul Reaper, are you?¡± Confused but still willing to humor him I shake my head no. ¡°And that sword of yours. It isn¡¯t a zanpakuto.¡± Again I shake my head no. ¡°In that case your sword can¡¯t hurt me!¡± Wait he can¡¯t be saying¡­ ¡°Only a zanpakuto can hurt a Hollow or a Soul Reaper. Which means even if you land a hit it won¡¯t cut me, and I only need to hit you once to win!¡± He finishes with a self satisfied smile. ...apparently he is saying he can¡¯t be hurt by my weapon. Well there went any reason to hold back as far as I¡¯m concerned. If he wants to make stupid statements without considering the danger if he is wrong, then he can face the consequences. ¡°That is an interesting theory Ichigo. Especially since just earlier this month you saw that medium hurt a soul with a basically ordinary stick.¡± The bravado started to die on Ichigo¡¯s face, ¡°But even if that wasn¡¯t the case¡­¡± I hurled my sword through the air, nicking the side of his cheek before dismissing the sword. His hand reflexively checking on the small cut and the last of his bravado leaving with the sight of blood on his hand. ¡°...let¡¯s move on to lesson number two. Never believe an opponent cannot hurt you.¡± With that I trace two longswords, both with a cutting enchantment rather than the basic one I was using earlier. This time when my one-handed overhead attack was blocked, my sword went halfway through the un-reinforced zanpakuto. I met Ichigo¡¯s eyes as he struggled under the continuing pressure of my attack. ¡°Also you failed lesson one¡± With that I wrench his sword off to one side, shearing off the end of his blade, while using the turning motion to send my heel into Ichigo¡¯s jaw. Luckily for him, another bolder caught him before he flew to far, and just to make sure he stays in place I throw the second sword at his shoulder, only nicking him when he reacts fast enough to duck down. Tearing his shihakusho free, Ichigo starts fleeing as I pursue him. A sword thrown directly in his path forces him to halt, allowing me to catch up and launch another attack. This time seeking to cut him from shoulder to hip. Ichigo manages to bring his sword into some semblance of a guard position¡­ before the tsuba is sliced in half and falls away from the handle. ¡°And now you have nothing left of your sword¡± I state coldly. ¡°Face it Ichigo, you lose. Now just accept it and DIE!¡± Shouting out, I continue my assault on Ichigo. Small cuts and nicks appearing on him as he dodges and runs away. What is left of my patience is quickly running out, if Ichigo doesn¡¯t at least fight back I¡¯m bringing out the bow. As though responding to my inner complaints, Ichigo stops running and takes a stance like he is going to pull a sword off a hip sheath. An interesting choice considering the only sheath I think he has ever used is his over-the-shoulder one, but if it means this we can end this then he can take whatever stance he wants. One thought goes through my tired mind. Ichigo did something after getting his shikai. Something that forced Urahara to actually defend¡­ Ichigo spins dramatically, making a drawing motion with the handle of his sword while crying out ¡°ZANGETSU!¡± A blinding flash of reiatsu engulfs Ichigo, forcing me to close my eyes. When it dissipates, Ichigo is left crouching next to a large knife-like blade with a long white bandage around the handle. ¡°Well you got your sword back. You gonna actually fight back now?¡± Ichigo doesn¡¯t actually react to my jab. Instead he straightens up and looks into my eyes. ¡°Hey lady.¡± Great, the protagonist is about to pull a powerup out of his ass. Sighing as my brain finally recognizes what Ichigo is about to do, I dismiss my sword and pull out one of the one-shot devices I wanted to test out before this whole situation started. Overall it looks like a simple silver pistol, though the barrel lacks any opening where a shot might come from. ¡°I really hope you dodge this,¡± Ichigo starts, raising his arm and reiryoku at the same time. Causing the tattered remains of the sealing cloth Tessai created to explode off of him. ¡°Lesson number three¡­¡± I mutter, while pointing the device at him. ¡°CAUSE I CAN¡¯T CONTROL IT YET!¡± Ichigo roars, swinging his blade down. A massive rush of reiatsu surging towards me. I channel some mana into the device causing a golden yellow spell circle to manifest at the end of the barrel. I don¡¯t actually want to kill Ichigo so I take care to limit the amount of mana going into this shot while pulling the trigger, ¡°Accel Shot, fire!¡± Both attacks meet in a blinding flash of light. Cancelling out each other, while kicking up even more dust and sending bits of rock shrapnel flying through the air. When the light dies down I look across the deep gouges in the floor from both our attacks. Ichigo is braced up against is sword, completely asleep from the looks of it. ¡°...don¡¯t use an all out attack if you are going to collapse before you confirm your opponent is down.¡± I sighed ¡°But then I guess you technically win since the ref is biased towards Soul Reapers.¡± I give Urahara a half-hearted glare as I run my thumb over a small cut on my sleeve from where some shrapnel cut me. ¡°Not like you cared about winning in the first place Alex-chan.¡± Urahara states as he comes over to inspect the damage. ¡°Have to say, Ichigo Kurosaki is one scary kid. Doing this kinda damage without a proper technique. How did your device hold up? Did low power help its reusability?¡± He asks, looking at the now glowing red gun in my hand. ¡°Poorly,¡± I state bluntly, ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter what power the shot is. As soon as I use it it¡¯s going to need repairs. Although the low power shot looks like it won¡¯t take too much effort to fix. It will be good for clearing out the rank and file if they group up, but anyone 4th seat and up should be able to tank a shot if needed from what you were telling me about the squad ranks.¡± ¡°So back to the lab to try an recalibrate it?¡± My glare intensifies a little, ¡°No, thanks to someone dragging me into a training exercise I¡¯m exhausted. Congratulations, your plan worked. I¡¯m going to bed.¡± Urahara hides his face behind his fan, with a fake innocent sounding tone exclaims, ¡°I¡¯m hurt Alex-chan! You think I did this on purpose just to force you to take a break?¡± Heading towards the ladder leading back to the shop I call out over my shoulder, ¡°Yes! Now stop being smug and go train the rookie!¡± ----------------------------------------------- -3 Days until Invasion- Groaning I let my head collapse onto my workbench. I finally came to the conclusion that there is no more preparation I can do. It would take too long to attempt making another device, one-shot or otherwise, and messing with the devices I already made was pointless at the moment. They simply were the best I could make with my current skill and understanding. It wasn¡¯t all bad though. I managed to get eight one-shot pistols made up and finished debugging the other main prototype device. I would only be able to use that one twice or so, but in reality it only needed to work once. I had some other random utility objects, such as my initial ventures into jewelcraft, but those were more like overpowered flashbangs. Useful certainly, but not exactly a trump card. Enough of this. I¡¯m not going to get anything else done so no point hanging around the lab. I spent way more time in here over the past few days as it is. Heading out the door, I locked the lab for the night. Might as well go enjoy myself for a bit since I can¡¯t help with the gateway anyway. On the way out I saw both Tessai and Urahara hard at work writing down Kido inscriptions. In some ways I was disappointed that I would never be able to do much, if anything at all, with Kido. Then I remembered much of Kido revolved around poetry and naming and was immensely glad my abilities weren¡¯t based on words. Humming tunelessly, I made my way out of the shop and started heading into town. Maybe try out that restaurant I saw a while back. ----------------------------------------- -Day of Invasion- ¡°Wow, this is amazing! Who would have guessed there was an amazing room under the ground, it''s like a secret base or something!¡± It¡¯s finally time to head off into the Soul Society. You would think that getting ready to cross into what is essentially the afterlife would have a bunch of teenagers on edge. Instead Orihime looks to be enjoying the scenery, much to Tessai¡¯s delight. Though considering he is responsible for helping create the space, I guess he has the right to enjoy people complimenting his work. The boys just seem fine with there being a massive cavern underneath a random candy store. I¡¯m not sure whether to praise their adaptability, or be concerned by the lack of reaction. They could be trying to avoid showing an embarrassing side of themselves, I suppose. The picture of Ichigo seeing Yoruichi talk I managed to grab is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Though when they notice me standing in my combat outfit near Urahara they seem more curious. Uryu in particular seemed surprised by my presence, though since Chad seemed unaffected it might have just been more noticable. ¡°Excuse me, who exactly are you?¡± Giving the two of them a slight smile I replied, ¡°I¡¯m Alexandria Cross. I¡¯m currently employed by Urahara-san and will be joining you all in the Soul Society.¡± ¡°All right everybody, gather around! We are about to get started.¡± Urahara exclaims, snapping his fingers. In response four pillars materialize in the air to form a square, settling into the shape of the finished Senkaimon. ¡°Just one more thing before I explain¡± Urahara states, before slamming his cane through the back of Ichigo¡¯s head. The sight of Ichigo being forced out of his body and the surprise interrupt of Kon ''When did he get here?'' was enough to distract any further conversation. When the explanations finally finished, the gate opened and everyone resolved, the only thing left to do was head through the gate. After almost a year of research, training, and preparation it was finally time to step out of the shadows and start shaking things up. The last thought in my mind as I passed the threshold was simply, ''This is going to be exciting!'' Spirit 2.1 The Dangai was definitely not the kind of place you want to spend a lot of time in. Even if we weren¡¯t trying to outrun the collapsing path behind us, the oozing purple walls, bone strewn floor, and chaotic sky were all enough for me to try getting through as fast as possible. Yoruichi was doing her best to encourage everyone to move as fast as they could through the narrow corridor, and I, I was trying not to be sick from the nausea that kicked in the second I was through the senkaimon. It wasn¡¯t something to do with the surroundings. It actually felt similar to when I first showed up in this universe. Well maybe toned back to like one percent of that. Still, does that mean that going through the gate is affecting my soul? Cause if so, this could be really bad. I really hope that my soul is not going to come apart at the seams cause I don¡¯t have any idea how I would go about fixing something like that. All of us are trying to move faster to keep ahead of the collapse, but just because things weren¡¯t dangerous enough, the Cleaner decides to show up now of all times! A huge mass of whatever exactly this dimension is made up of that reduces anything it caches into dust before merging it into the walls. Right as we get closer to the exit of the Dangai I feel something shift inside me. The nausea kicking into high gear and paralyzing me, forcing me to stop running or risk falling over. Luckily for me though, Orihime in a move that was either genius or moronic manages to cast one of her shields. When the Cleaner rams into the glowing wall, the resulting force was enough to eject all of us out of the Dangai. Even as we crash into the Soul Society, I feel whatever shifted snap back into place. But it¡¯s different. Like some small ache that was constantly out of my perception just went away, and something vast had just made itself known at the edge of my mind. Ignoring recent developments until I had a safe spot to actually think about what just happened, I brushed myself off and looked around our crash site. Unfortunately our entrance kicked up a bunch of smoke, so getting a look at the surroundings was impossible for now. Looking at the others confirms that everyone made it out of the crash just fine. Well, Yoruichi is tearing into Orihime about what could of happened if the Cleaner actually touched her power directly instead of the shield. ¡°Relax Yoruichi. She couldn¡¯t have known the dangers we might have faced in the Dangai without us telling her. If anything it¡¯s our fault for not considering the possibility of running into the Cleaner on our way here.¡± Yoruichi turned on me, ¡°We would spend hours on the dangers they might encounter if we tried to tell them beforehand! And I know you all heard me tell Ichigo not to use his Zanpakuto lest he never be able to escape the Dangai. That should have been everyone¡¯s first clue to not come in contact with that thing.¡± She walked closer to me and continued in a whisper, ¡°And do not think I missed what happened to you, Alexandria. We will be talking about that later.¡± ¡°She kept her head in a stressful situation and acted to defend her teammates. Remember they might be pretty powerful, but they don¡¯t have too much real world experience. I think she did well even if it wasn¡¯t the best move.¡± I replied, ignoring the last bit. ¡°Yeah! We are all fine cause of Inoue. You don¡¯t have to get so mad about it.¡± Jumped in Ichigo, apparently having his friend being told off for protecting us all rubbing him the wrong way. ¡°I feel as if the both of you don¡¯t quite understand our current situation!¡± growled Yoruichi. Before our argument could get much further we were distracted by Uryu calling out that the smoke was clearing, letting us get our first look at the Soul Society. In a word, the surroundings were¡­ simple. It looked more like we ended up in a historical reenactment village than what most people would consider the afterlife. ¡°This¡­ this is the Soul Society?¡± questions Ichigo, sounding shocked by the surroundings. Not surprising considering I¡¯m sure Rukia talked up the Soul Society as a much better place than what we see here. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± confirmed Yoruichi. ¡°We are currently near the outskirts, otherwise known as the Rukon District. This is where the majority of souls come to live when they first enter the Soul Society. In the center of the Rukongai is the Seireitei where Soul Reapers and the nobility live. Though the Rukongai is the poorest area in the Soul Society it is also has the most freedom.¡± ¡°Mostly cause anything of value has already been sent somewhere else,¡± I interjected, earning a glare from Yoruichi. Though the lack of argument on her part was damning in its own way. We wander through the empty streets for a bit before coming to a wide open area. A literal dividing line between the Rukon District and the Seireitei as the buildings in the distance are all in much better repair than the ones surrounding us. Naturally this means Ichigo feels the need to rush off ahead of the rest of us. ¡°Hey, those buildings all look different! I bet that¡¯s the Seirei-whatever where all the Soul Reapers live! Let''s check it out!¡± With that Ichigo charges across the gap, nearly ignoring Yoruichi¡¯s warning and just barely avoiding getting crushed by the descending walls. I looked up towards the sky. Where the hell was the wall suspended from anyway? Seems like a waste to have a wall move like that, especially if you have it set to descend the moment someone tries to cross into the Seireitei. It seems in character though, Soul Reapers were a dramatic bunch if nothing else. Speaking of dramatic, ¡°Well now. It¡¯s been quite some time since someone tried to enter the Seireitei without a travel permit. Come at me however you want, kid!¡± boomed the giant Soul Reaper. Looking at the gatekeeper in front of us it was easy to see why people wouldn¡¯t try to approach. Hell, I knew I could take him pretty easily and yet the sheer size of him was making me a little nervous. The giant was crouched on the ground but even with that he was over 15 feet tall. The shihakusho marked him as a Soul Reaper even with the left half missing, instead it was replaced by a full arm guard of metal plates. I was a little interested in why he carried an axe instead of a Zanpakuto but might not be the best time to ask since we seem to be invading at the moment. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°He¡¯s huge!¡± exclaimed Uryu, unknowingly echoing my thoughts. ¡°There¡¯s no way someone that big is human, right? Who even is he?¡± ¡°That would be Jidanbo, one of the elite guards of the Soul Society and the gatekeeper of the western district.¡± explained Yoruichi. ¡°A guard, huh? Guess that means we need to beat him if we want to get through that gate.¡± ¡°Well if you wanted to attract the attention of every Soul Reaper here then yeah probably.¡± I said. ¡°Luckily for us we don¡¯t really need to pass through this gate.¡± ¡°True, it¡¯s a good thing too. Jidanbo hasn¡¯t been defeated once in the 300 years he¡¯s been guarding the gate. Hey Ichigo come on back so we can mo- Wait Chad, Orihime, what are you doing!?¡± Ignoring Yoruichi, both teenagers rush to meet up with Ichigo. Only to draw the attention of Jidanbo. Luckily, instead of attacking the two of them he slams his axe into the ground causing it to shift and form a rough wall between us and Ichigo. While I wasn¡¯t really worried about Ichigo fighting Jidanbo, I was kinda hoping we could move on to the actual plan without drawing more attention. But the more I thought about it the better this was for us as a group. Ichigo needed actual combat experience, human opponents (or whatever Jidabo actually was) fought very differently than Hollows. In addition to that he needs to get used to attacking people to not freeze up when someone actually got hurt. Urahara put him through a crash try-not-to-die training course, but wouldn¡¯t actually condition Ichigo to hurt his opponent since I doubt Ichigo got a single hit in. Uryu needed to see Soul Reapers as something other than enemy soldiers that needed to be taken down or he might just start killing every Soul Reaper he runs across drawing more hostile forces than necessary, and Jidanbo was a known quantity as one of the better personalities in the Soul Reapers. Chad and Orihime needed an introduction to the kind of opponents they would be facing. Their limited exposure to the spiritual side of things meant that they would need to learn quickly and seeing it first hand would drive that point home better than a lecture from either me or Yoruichi. So rather than step in, I just watched as Ichigo reduced an over 300 year old giant into a crying mess with one sword swing. Which was all kinds of awkward. Luckily Ichigo was the one dealing with that mess. Though the final result got¡­ weird. ¡°I¡¯ve been utterly defeated!¡± bawled Jidanbo. ¡°Not only did you defeat me as a fighter, you have also beaten me as a man!¡± He stopped to wipe his eyes, looking over to Ichigo. ¡°I have been the guardian of this gate for the last 300 years. I have never been defeated before now. You are the first.¡± Giving us all a bright smile, he continued, ¡°You can pass. I, Jidanbo as the Keeper of the Western Gate grant you passage.¡± Watching the scene before me was kinda heartwarming, as Ichigo and Uryu bickered over the need for a group leader and Jidanbo prepared to open the gate. It felt like one of those tales where the heroes manage to befriend everyone they come across and things just work out. That feeling went away when Jidanbo¡¯s arm was nearly sliced in half after he opened the gate. On the other side of the wall Gin Ichimaru slowly approached the now open gate, a snake-like smile on his face. True to pattern Ichigo rushed ahead of everyone else, this time I was expecting it and made to follow¡­ only for Yoruichi to sink her claws into the back of my skirt-cape. ¡°Alexandria, we can¡¯t fight a captain here. We need to pull back before more Soul Reapers show up. Grab the others before this gets even worse.¡± Yoruichi hissed. I wanted to argue that Ichigo needed my help more, but Yoruichi had way more experience and this wasn¡¯t the time to try and challenge her on that. While I went to corral the other three Yoruichi tried to get Ichigo to pull back. I doubted that she would have much success considering how stubborn he tended to be. A feeling that was proven accurate when Ichigo was slammed into Jidanbo, causing both of them to fly out of the gate. Unlike in my memories, the gate did not immediately close when Jidanbo was forced away. The long years without proper maintenance meant the gate door was temporarily stuck open allowing Gin to get a second attack in if he felt like it. And from where he was looking¡­ shit, Orihime. In an instant I projected a bow and arrow and unleashed a grazing attack. Nothing that would seriously harm a captain, but it was enough to distract him from Orihime. ¡°A bow? Is she a Quincy?!¡± I heard Uryu ask in shock behind me. ¡°Well now, that was pretty dangerous wouldn¡¯t ya say miss?¡± Gin asked. ¡°Not really, but I don¡¯t have time to play with you right now.¡± The gate was almost closed. Unless Gin wanted to pursue us outside the Seireitei, we should be in the clear. ¡°That is unfortunate¡± Gin replied smoothly. Ugh, this guy really nailed the creepy vibe. ¡°Hopefully we can play some other time. Bye-bye!¡± He gave all of us a small wave as the gate slammed back closed. ¡°Well that could have gone better.¡± I commented idly. ¡°Orihime and Chad please go make sure Jidanbo doesn¡¯t bleed out on us. Uryu keep an eye on them. ¡°O-of course, leave it to me!¡± ¡°Hmm¡± ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t just walk away like this!¡± Can, and currently am. Not the time for a breakdown of my abilities Uryu. Making my way over to Ichigo and Yoruichi I noticed the locals had finally decided to show themselves. They seemed pretty calm despite facing a group of people that defeated an elite Soul Reaper and stood against a captain. Then again I do remember most Soul Reapers aren¡¯t really liked outside the Seireitei. Hello everyone!¡± I said brightly. ¡°How has your morning been?¡± -0- A few hours later we found ourselves in the home of one of the elders of the area. Well at least Uryu, Yoruichi, and myself. Chad had gone off with one of the souls earlier and hadn¡¯t returned. Orihime was still treating Jidanbo¡¯s arm and Ichigo had gone to collect her a little while ago. Uryu for his part refused to let me out of his sight, even when the others had scattered to explore the area a little. Even when I said that I wasn¡¯t a Quincy he refused to leave it at that and followed me around. ¡°Alexandria, you should get set up before the others get back. We will likely need to leave in the morning so you don¡¯t have long.¡± Yoruichi said. I nodded to her and stood up to leave. Uryu again went to follow me, no doubt to pester me about the bow again. ¡°Ishida just so you know, I need you back here when the others arrive.¡± Nodding Uryu continued to follow me until we were back in front of the western gate to the Seireitei. Once there, I got to work. Pulling several small tools out of a pouch I kept on hand for this reason. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Looking over to Uryu I saw him looking at my instruments with curiosity. ¡°Well I suppose the best way to put it is I¡¯m marking an area for a spell.¡± ¡°Marking an area? I see, then I suppose you have another way for us to open the gate then?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± I began writing out the spell formula being careful to avoid any mistakes. Good news was, if I did make a mistake I likely wouldn¡¯t live long enough to feel it. Uryu waited for me to explain, but when it became clear that I was content to let the silence stretch out he resumed asking me about what exactly my powers were. ¡°Why do you reject being a Quincy so much? The others might not know the specifics, but the way you formed that bow was extremely similar to the spirit weapon created by the Sanrei Glove. If you want to reject your heritage so much at least tell me why!¡± Finishing the line I was working on, I stopped drawing the spell circle and turned to Uryu. He looked remarkably upset that I continued to deny being a Quincy, and in some respects I could understand why. From what I remember his father also rejected being a Quincy but avoided dealing with anything spiritual, to see another person use an ability with even a small resemblance to Quincy techniques also rejecting being called a Quincy was probably a blow to his ego. ¡°Uryu care to tell me exactly what a Quincy is? Not a philosophy but the ability that makes a person a Quincy.¡± He looked confused as to why I was asking this but explained all the same. ¡°A Quincy is a human that can control the Reishi in the air to create spirit weapons to fight with.¡± ¡°Exactly. And that is why I¡¯m saying I¡¯m not a Quincy.¡± I held up a hand to stop him from interrupting. ¡°There are a couple points I could make to say why I don¡¯t fit the definition of a Quincy, but the biggest one is that I don¡¯t use Reishi at all. I don¡¯t use Reiryoku for that matter either.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible! You wouldn¡¯t be able to see a spiritual being without Reiryoku let alone fight without it!¡± Uryu exclaimed. ¡°Well I don¡¯t. I use an energy called Mana. It¡¯s similar enough that the two share some traits, but they aren¡¯t exactly the same. For instance that bow you saw earlier? It wasn¡¯t a spirit weapon. I used Mana to create a physical manifestation of a mental image and used that to attack.¡± An oversimplification of projection maybe, but it should be enough to prove my point. ¡°Now I know this is going to take some time to complete. You probably should head back to the other unless you want to watch me draw for a few hours. I¡¯ll meet up with you all when I¡¯m done.¡± Uryu nodded hesitantly before walking off in the direction of the Elder¡¯s house. Looking back at the beginnings of the circle I picked up my tools and continued writing. This was going to take a while. Spirit 2.2 By the time I had finished with the spell circle the sun had gone down. Since I was sure Yoruichi had finished explaining what our next steps were to the others and we were only going to head out in the morning I took my time returning to the Elder¡¯s house. Which might have been a good thing since as I turned the corner I was forced to jump back to avoid getting trampled by a group of delinquent looking people riding¡­ boars? Oh right, I guess that means everyone got to meet Ganju. Honestly I kinda forgot about him. Still that reunion should be entertaining, so now I¡¯m looking forward to it. When I made it back to the house Ichigo was raging about some jackass leaving in the middle of a fight while the other either ignored him or tried to calm him down. I made my way past that mess and headed to the guest room we had been loaned for the night. With any luck Yoruichi would be too preoccupied with Ichigo to remember what had happened in the Dangai. ¡°Alexandria.¡± Or she could just be waiting for me to be alone so I don¡¯t have an excuse to avoid her. ¡°What¡¯s new pussycat?¡± Just because I wasn¡¯t likely to get out of this talk didn¡¯t mean I had to be serious about it. ¡°We need to talk.¡± ¡°Well as much as I enjoy your company, I tend to like my girls a little taller and much less fuzzy. Hope this doesn¡¯t change what we have between us, I do like you as a friend.¡± ¡°Would you be serious!¡± Yoruichi snapped, apparently not appreciating my sense of humor. ¡°Not if I can help it.¡± The two of us stare at each other, each waiting for the other to break the silence. Since I didn¡¯t really want to talk about what happened, I was fine with not saying anything. Unfortunately Yoruichi is perfectly aware of this and continues probing. ¡°Is it such a big deal that you really won¡¯t talk about it even if it clearly affects you that much?¡± I mulled her words over a bit. ¡°It has some implications I really don¡¯t want to think about, so I¡¯m using the classic coping method of repression.¡± ¡°Is it linked to how you were experimented on?¡± My head snapped over to Yoruichi. How the hell did she come to that conclusion? I had been very reluctant to discuss my past due to how outrageous it was, but I was confident I had never said anything that would lead someone to think I had a history as a science experiment. ¡°How¡­¡± ¡°You get really cagey about where you came from, were very focused on Kisuke¡¯s background as a scientist when we first met, freaked out about the gegai development lab and never went near it again, and need to be either surprised into medical checkups or physically delivered to them. Kisuke also thinks he saw a few signs of soul modification but they are so slight it''s more of a hunch than solid evidence.¡± I mean, she wasn¡¯t wrong about everything she said but all of that could be easily explained away as unrelated behavior. Most people didn¡¯t like medical checkups after all, and the gegai lab is literally just covered in dismembered body parts. That Urahara had apparently noticed the soul modifications was new though ¡°You figured it out with only that?¡± I said a little weakly. ¡°Well, no. There are a bunch of smaller details but those were the highlights. So? What happened in the Dangai?¡± ¡°Alright, fine.¡± I sighed heavily. ¡°Let me give you some background before we get to that. You¡¯re right, I was made as some kinda soul experiment. I was told I was a test to integrate several skills directly into the soul of a single personality to be used as a mass producible soldier. Unfortunately for me, it didn¡¯t go very well. So rather than a supersoldier my creator ended up with a barely stable mess. I didn¡¯t have the innate understanding of my abilities I was supposed to, and even the knowledge of what some of those abilities might be would have been enough to destabilize me. Rather than be disposed I made my way to Karakura, and ran into Urahara shortly afterwards.¡± Hopefully that is informative enough that is enough that Urahara and Yoruichi won¡¯t try to figure out more about my past. Really not sure how I could give them the whole story without sounding crazy. ¡°Who exactly was your creator? And could you take us back to where you escaped from after this?¡± Asked Yoruichi. Bleh, guess she would want to check up on a scientist hacking souls together to create a mass produced army. Hmm, how to spin this¡­ ¡°I never actually found out his name. We only talked once. And once I made sure he would never be able to follow me I cleared out the area I was in when I left. As for going back, sorry but I have no idea how I would do that.¡± All technically true statements. I never found out ROB¡¯s name, he flat out told me coming to any one dimension would pop the thing so he can¡¯t follow me, I think, and the soul jar I was in would be empty when I was tossed out. With a little luck Yoruichi might think that I killed my creator and burned the lab down before making my escape, but I¡¯m not going to volunteer anything else about that if I can help it. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°So after all that, I figured I that was the end of it and I could just move on with my life. But when we entered the Dangai, I felt my soul shift around a bit. Just enough that when we entered the Soul Society it actually repaired some of the damage I didn¡¯t even know was there.¡± ¡°Damage?¡± Yoruichi asked leadingly. ¡°Yep, you know how I do this?¡± I asked, projecting a simple katana in my hand. ¡°It¡¯s actually not the full extent of what I should be able to do. While I was off making the spell circle, I started trying to figure out if anything changed. Turns out, our little trip fixed my ability. Now I can do this.¡± ¡®I am the bone of my sword Steel is my body and fire is my blood I have created over a thousand blades¡¯ [TRACE ON] In my other hand a new sword formed. The hilt was covered in a simple black wrapping and had a sharp bend where a red tassel hung from the golden endcap. Instead of a more traditional tsuba, there was a golden u-shaped metal piece that extended up a few inches on the perfectly straight blade. Despite the elegant look of the sword, there was a distinct aura of bloodlust coming off the blade making it seem like the sword itself was eager to cut everything around it. ¡°Alexandria what exactly have you done.¡± Yoruichi hissed dangerously. Her tone alone made it clear it was not a question, and if she didn¡¯t like the answer she would make me regret it. Still she was taking this better than Urahara did, it was one of the only times he fought me seriously. Though seeing someone manhandle the manifestation of your soul would rub most Soul Reapers the wrong way, even if the copy I made then lacked the presence of this one. ¡°I created a copy.¡± I said simply. ¡°A perfect copy nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Although I haven¡¯t really mastered it yet.¡± Yoruichi settled back on her haunches, at least calm enough to hear me out. ¡°And how deep does this copy go? If you managed to get the feeling the blade gives off did you copy the Zanpakuto¡¯s spirit as well? Is it as powerful as the real thing?¡± She pauses for a second, ¡°Did you doing this affect Kisuke at all?¡± ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s a perfect copy. Well, at least of the sword. Since I only have Urahara¡¯s, Gin¡¯s, and Ichigo¡¯s to go by I¡¯m guessing for some of it.¡± Yoruichi nodded in acceptance. ¡°The copy I make seems to have the full abilities at the moment I see it. I don¡¯t know if that means all the abilities of the Zanpakuto or just the ones it can perform at that moment.¡± ¡°Wait, does that mean you can copy the Bankai as well?!¡± Yoruichi cuts in. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like it. I can¡¯t use either Gin or Urahara¡¯s Bankai, probably due to the nature of Bankai in general. I don¡¯t copy the Zanpakuto spirit as it turns out. No idea if that means I can copy a Bankai if I see one though¡­¡± I trailed off, distracted by the thought until I was pulled back to the conversation by an impatient cough. ¡°Right, no, me creating a copy won¡¯t affect the user at all. The entire thing is sustained through my powers. No input from the original at all.¡± After my explanation she finally relaxes enough that I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m going to be attacked if I say the wrong thing. ¡°You never said if they are as strong as the original¡± I let out a frustrated snort, ¡°Yeah, well currently they aren¡¯t, even if they should be. Annoyingly thats just cause I haven¡¯t mastered the ability, not because of an actual restriction.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how most abilities work Alexandria. Why does that bother you?¡± Yoruichi comments dryly. ¡°It bugs me cause practice won¡¯t help me here. I need to form a deeper connection to the mental plane I have. And its linked to a chant based on me understanding who I am as a person and my soul.¡± ¡°That actually sounds pretty close to how most Soul Reapers train for Shikai. Though from the sound of it the connection you need is much deeper.¡± I wasn¡¯t exactly looking for sympathy regarding the new troubles I had run into trying to get the full abilities of the Unlimited Blade Works to well...work for me. Still the now unconcerned tone of Yoruichi was getting on my nerves a bit. Now that I explained that I didn¡¯t affect her friend with the ability, then everything else was just dependent on training in her mind. But my soul was damaged. Would that mean it was impossible for me to master the UBW until I found a way to fix it? Could I even fix it? I didn¡¯t know, and just that alone was frightening. Of course we were also on a schedule so I couldn¡¯t even take the time to really adjust to the new changes, I would just have to put my worries aside until our mission here was over. ¡°Was there anything else you wanted?¡± I asked somewhat irritatedly. Yoruichi quirked an eyebrow at my tone, ¡°Not really. Just wanted to make sure you were alright after what happened. Though it seems we got sidetracked a bit. Will you be ready for tomorrow? The kids and I won¡¯t be following you for at least a full day so you could wait a bit if you aren¡¯t prepared.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I snapped. Clearly recognizing my worsening temper Yoruichi got up and started towards the door. ¡°In that case you should get some rest. Goodnight Alexandria.¡± -o- The next morning was a little tense as half of our group were not in good moods at all. I was still a little pissed at Yoruichi for practically accusing me of messing with Urahara¡¯s soul at first then dismissing my issues as unimportant. Yoruichi was pissed at Ichigo for wasting time wanting to wait for a full day just to have a rematch with someone he fought last night, partly out of a desire to keep on schedule and at least a little due to realising how she acted last night. She probably realised what she did to piss me off, but was a little too proud to actually apologize about it. Ichigo was in a bad mood for having his fight interrupted but he¡¯s getting over it and is currently more concerned about the blood pouring down his face from Yoruichi scratching him. So basically, now it¡¯s down to me and Yoruichi being in bad moods and the other not being sure what to do about it. While the others finished saying their farewells to the Elder, Orihime made her way over to me, ¡°Um,Miss Alexandria?¡± ¡°You can call me Alex, Orihime. I¡¯m not big on formalities.¡± ¡°Oh okay! So, um, I was just wondering, did something happen last night? Both you and Yoruichi-san seem upset with each other.¡± Say what you want about her, Orihime was certainly observant of the people around her when she wanted to be. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We had a conversation last night that got a bit out of hand. Nothing to worry about, now you better get ready to leave with the others. Don¡¯t want to get left behind do you?¡± Orihime gets a confused look on her face, ¡°Leave with the others? Are you not coming with us Alex-san?¡± ¡°No, the method Yoruichi wants to use to get inside the walls won¡¯t work for me, so I¡¯m going to use a different method and meet all of you inside.¡± I say with a reassuring smile. With that I push Orihime back towards the rest of the group. ¡°Now go on! Looks like they are getting ready to head out.¡± Finally she listens and heads over to the three boys, Ichigo and Uryru arguing about something unimportant while Chad stands impassively nearby. Leaving the perfect chance for Yoruichi to intercept me alone. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re comfortable heading in there by yourself? It wouldn¡¯t be an issue if you waited to catch up with us.¡± Yoruichi might be awkward about apologising but she does care. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m already going to be playing catch-up trying to get to the middle of the Seireitei. If I don¡¯t get a head start you guys might be finished before I even get there.¡± She nods. ¡°Very well, in that case be careful. We should get a move on as well.¡± -o- Soon after that we all set out for the main road. I would head back towards my spell circle while the rest of the group would head off into the countryside. But for now we were just enjoying a stroll through the streets. As we walked the town started to wake up around us. People starting their early morning routines or just chatting with neighbors. It was a nice dose of, well not normalcy since it still looked like something out of a historical drama, but it did help improve my mood seeing a bunch of people moving about so relaxed. Eventually though we reached a crossroad where we would need to head in different directions, so I guess it was time to say goodbye. ¡°Alright guys, I¡¯m this way¡± I pointed off towards one of the paths ¡°I¡¯ll try to join up with you in the Seireitei, but until then listen to Yoruichi, watch each other¡¯s backs and don¡¯t let Ichigo do something stupid.¡± ¡°Hey why am I getting singled out here!?¡± ¡°Cause you¡¯re the idiot that ran off and fought a gatekeeper when we didn¡¯t even need to go that way, then tried to fight a captain, and then apparently got into a fight with a local. All within a day of being here.¡± I mercilessly retorted. The orange-haired soul reaper looked like he wanted to argue the point but couldn¡¯t discount the facts against him. Eventually just grumbling something while everyone else seemed amused. We said our goodbyes and split off. I finally got back to the spell circle I set up last night and gave it a quick checkover for any errors I might have missed. Naturally I found nothing considering how many times I checked yesterday. But I was still a bit nervous about actually using the thing. Unfortunately I had a schedule to keep if I wanted to reach the same area as everyone else on time. So I stepped into the middle of the circle, pulled out the proto-device I had created and paused. This was it, no turning back after this. I sent a wave of mana into the circle around me and connected it to the device in my hand. The circle lit up in golden light, quickly rising from the ground to above my head. It felt like electricity was dancing over my skin, and then there was a flash and the world vanished into white light. Spirit 2.3 When the world came back into being, I found myself free falling from about 50 feet in the air and inside the walls of the Seireitei, signifying that the crude teleportation circle I used worked as designed. Landing as gracefully as I could while feeling disoriented from the teleport, I gathered myself and rushed into a nearby alleyway to recover. Once everything felt settled, I took my first actual look at the buildings surrounding me, plain white warehouse looking things and some white walls topped with orange shingles. Nothing at ground level to tell me where I needed to go. So after a quick check to see if anyone was hanging around I made my way to the top of one of the buildings and looked around. Naturally, I was still very close to the wall. In fact I was only a few buildings in from the field that existed between the buildings and the wall itself. A bit shorter of a teleport and I would have been completely out in the open. And to the other side, waaay off in the distance was the center of the 13 Court Guard Squads. I had a lot of ground to cover if I wanted to help everyone out. Though before I started rushing into the thick of things I took another look at the proto-device in my hand. The thing was still smoking from the amount of mana it needed to process to actually safely teleport me the few hundred feet it did, and there was no obvious damage but still never hurts to be sure. I carefully inspected every bit of the short foot-and-a half baton-like device. No warping, no signs of melted components, and no burning smell. That was likely the best I could ask for concerning the hardware. Now just to check with the software. ¡°Device; diagnostic check¡± After a few seconds a cool female voice replied, ¡°Damage has been detected in the primary emitter matrix. Operational status; Amber. Memory failure in spell recording slot 1. Operational status; Red. No other issues detected. Estimated operational readiness; 83%.¡± Well that wasn¡¯t terrible. Slot one was the teleportation spell, and without another spell circle it was useless anyway. Slots two and three were fine and the emitter didn¡¯t melt, looks like I had at least one more use out of the thing before it needed repair or was unusable. With a sigh, I slid the proto-device into the carrying holster attached to the back of my belt and start off towards the distant tower at a brisk run, taking care to check for any patrolling Soul Reapers, though it seems directly teleporting into the Seireitei means no alarms were set off for now. Now then, Ichigo and the others should get to the Shiba compound sometime around noon. Then, supposing nothing goes wrong, they should be launching first thing the next morning. From there my memory of the timeline gets kinda hazy. On the first day, Ichigo should fight Ikkaku immediately, Uryu fought some random officer, Orihime hung around Uryu, and Chad did¡­ I don¡¯t remember. Maybe just beat on some foot soldiers? Second day Ichigo fights Renji in a rematch, Uryu and Orihime sneak around a bunch and maybe run into Kurotsuchi, but that might be the third day. Chad¡­ So, third day. Ichigo runs into Kenpachi. Uryu and Orihime are captured, maybe? Either way I should try and get to them by the second day just to be safe. And Chad¡­ Did Chad actually do anything or am I just completely forgetting something? Of course then there is the drama between the officers to remember. At some point Aizen fakes his death, I want to say around day two. Momo looses her mind and starts attacking anyone kinda maybe to do with it. Hitsugaya blames Gin for most of the previous things then eventually finds Aizen in Central 46. Actually are they already dead? I might be able to mess with Aizen by trying to get in the building. Of course I¡¯d need to know where that is¡­ nah, I doubt I could figure out how to get there without some kinda guide. And Aizen would probably blame me for killing them all somehow, until he pulls his whole ¡®grand reveal¡¯ performance at least. I had been running in generally the same direction for a while now and it seemed I was coming up to another type of building. The ones I had been passing had all been similar to warehouses and the area had been almost entirely deserted. The one in front of me was a two story building that almost looked like an office. Maybe it was where all the paperwork for what was in the warehouses were stored? Either way, I decided running straight into the open might be a bad idea, I stopped at the intersection and snuck a peek around the wall I had been following. The road merged into a wide street leading up to the building I saw earlier. Standing next to a covered gate were two Soul Reapers on guard duty and no easy way around them. I could just start jumping over walls, but that went against my goal of going unnoticed as long as possible. I could probably snipe the two of them before they could raise an alarm, but do Soul Reapers have check in protocols for guard duty? They seem to switch between using tech and magic based communication methods enough that it¡¯s possible. Maybe knock them out and make it look like they were just sleeping on the job? If I was lucky, they would have alcohol on them to really sell the illusion. I was all but ready to step around the corner and spring my masterful plan (shoot the two of them in the solar plexus with a blunt tip arrow, then rush in and knock them out) when I saw two more Soul Reapers step out of the building and walk up to the ones at the gate. Early morning shift change, perhaps? Well no matter what the reason, the new arrivals were enough of a distraction that I was able to step around the corner and use Haste to flash behind one of the open gate doors unnoticed. Sloppy of the guards, but understandable since they hopefully aren¡¯t on alert for intruders. Still made it easy to get close enough to listen in on what was being said. ¡°-be if you didn¡¯t spend all night drinking with those chicks from Squad 5 you wouldn¡¯t be hungover, moron.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not even that late! Seriously Josuke, what has you so uptight today?¡± One of the two standing by the gate scoffed, ¡°He¡¯s all prissy cause his idol Jidanbo lost a fight yesterday.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not pris-¡± ¡°Wait, what do you mean Jidanbo lost?¡± The two newcomers seem shocked, guess our incident at the gate still hasn¡¯t made its way around. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Yeah, you know how the perimeter alarms went off yesterday morning? Turns out we had a group try to get in from the West Gate. They beat Jidanbo and and got him to open the gate from what the border groups told us.¡± ¡°Holy shit, how are we not on alert if we have a group of Ryoka loose in the Seireitei?¡± From the sound of it one of the three slapped the speaker, ¡°Dumbass, if they actually managed to get in, we would be. Turns out the Captain of squad three was in the area and stopped them.¡± ¡°Fucking hells Josuke! What part of hangover didn¡¯t you get?! So Captain Ichimaru showed up, is everyone dead then?¡± Not-Josuke took over the storytelling, ¡°We don¡¯t know. Word from up top is calling for an all-Captains meeting. So who knows what¡¯s going on. Just that no one made it through the gate. You guys got it from here, I¡¯m getting breakfast and getting away from Mr. Prissy over here.¡± ¡°I am not fucking priss-¡± ¡°Yeah sure thing, say hi to Kimi-chan for me.¡± ¡°Not a chance.¡± Sounds like the guards finally switched out and it was back down to two opponents. Good to know that while the rank and file knew our little group was in the area, no one was expecting me to be inside the walls right now. While I was waiting for the previous two guards to get far enough away any sounds of a scuffle would go unnoticed, the new arrivals seemed to want to continue their conversation. ¡°So Jidanbo lost then?¡± ¡°Seems like it, damn think he¡¯d get in trouble for opening the gate?¡± ¡°Hell, I¡¯m wondering if he¡¯s even alive. Captain Ichimaru doesn¡¯t mess around, the creepy bastard.¡± ¡°Yeah, hope he¡¯s fine though. He¡¯s a nice guy. Wonder what would happen if the intruders actually made it inside?¡± ¡°Get swarmed by those idiots in squad 11 and picked off by any officer in the area? Come on man, even someone forced the gates there¡¯s no way they would get far. If you¡¯re looking for a fight, sign up for the next patrol mission, I hear that Hollow activity is picking up a bit.¡± Ooooh, did I really just hear that? The ¡®we are too secure for an intruder¡¯ cliche? Well then, If the guy remembers this, I hope he learns a valuable lesson. I was fully aware of the slasher-style grin on my face when I hopped around the door I was hiding behind, two blunted swords in hand. By the way the one guard¡¯s face had gone white before I knocked him unconscious, I think I made an impression. A quick knockout blow to his friend and I now had two guards down for the count. Now then, just had to make sure that they don¡¯t wake up and sound the alarm, and like any good mage I had just the spell for that. Well curse technically, but semantics. I didn¡¯t know many curses. The idea of using my powers on someone and giving them a lingering affliction caused by an energy that I think only I was capable of using didn¡¯t sit right. Especially if I was the only one capable of removing said affliction. Still there were some minor curses in the Archive that I had no issues using. Schlummern was one such curse since it was basically just enforcing an unconscious state on whoever it¡¯s used on. So these two won¡¯t wake up until someone else comes by and tries to wake them, and I should be long gone before that happens. Quickly arranging the two guards so it looked like they were just leaning on the gate and not out cold, I proceeded into the guardhouse. If I was lucky I would be able to find a map, maybe even the patrol detail for the area, but a map would be a godsend. I wasn¡¯t super thrilled about running blind through an enemy HQ, and I wanted to mess with Aizen¡¯s followers anyway I could. For instance, trashing the squad three barracks? Gin would have to make an appearance to deal with that. Or I could break Tousen¡¯s arms¡­ and his legs¡­ and his stupid hypocritical face! Ahem, right. So I ghosted through the mostly empty building, it being fairly early in the morning still played to my favor, and ducked into a few rooms to see if any important documents were laying around. Let¡¯s see, inventory forms, schedules for up-coming deliveries, forms for requesting materials, forms for submitting workplace injuries, forms for injuries caused by a number of different reasons, forms for creating new forms, and¡­ wow Soul Reapers have a lot of forms. Looks like there isn¡¯t anything worthwhile in this guardhouse. I still have the rest of the day before the others show up, so I¡¯ll spend today looking for a map. If I can¡¯t find one before the others show up, then I¡¯ll head straight to the tower and meet up with Yoruichi. She should know exactly where I could go to cause issues for Aizen. -o- Several hours, three more guard posts, and about a dozen sleeping Soul Reapers later it was getting obvious that my presence was noticed even if an alert wasn¡¯t sounded. I started to see less individuals wandering around, and the ones that were, were much more alert than the ones I ran into in the morning. Finding out the reason no alarm was set off was a bit of a surprise, but when I managed to overhear why, I found it hilarious. I was hiding out near another chokepoint waiting for the four guards to be distracted so I could slip by, when another Soul Reaper came running up to the group. ¡°Hey guys, new update for you!¡± the newcomer shouted out when he was in earshot. ¡°We found another group that was attacked in outpost 47.¡± ¡°Another one,what is going on?¡± one of the guards commented. ¡°Think squad 2 is doing another drill? Last year some of them had a competition who could disable the most guards without discovery.¡± ¡°Yeah, and the year before it was stealing our incident reports. I got in so much trouble when the Lieutenant asked where they were and I couldn¡¯t find any of them!¡± The five of them talked for a little while longer, sharing stories about drills, tests, and training events they had participated. While it was interesting, and gave me a slightly better understanding about the normal duties of lower ranking Soul Reapers, nothing else was very relevant to either me or the others. Although I had a newfound fear of the squad eight lieutenant. Some of the punishments they listed were¡­ inventive to say the least. Eventually the messenger needed to run off, leaving the four to continue talking. And to my benefit, they were so caught up in storytelling, they missed me slip through the gate and down an alleyway. Glancing up at the sky, I saw daylight was starting to fade. I was further from the center of the Seireitei than I wanted to be, but it would be better to settle in for the night and start again in the morning. The arrival of the others would allow me to move without needing to conceal my movements as much and I wouldn¡¯t be the sole focus of the surrounding forces. With that in mind I set out to find a resting place for the night. --------- -Squad 2 Barracks- Squad two, third seat Natsumi Hanakage was not having a good day. First Captain Soifon received word of an emergency captains meeting tomorrow morning so she was forced to offload her schedule to the Lieutenant in preparation of spending a day meeting with the other captains. Of course, Lieutenant Marechiyo ¨­maeda considered himself far too important to lower himself to handle that himself, so it fell to Natsumi to handle. ¡®Though that might be for the best¡¯ she mused, ¡®If the Lieutenant actually tried to manage the Captain¡¯s business, we would have complete chaos.¡¯ So Natsumi spent all day rescheduling meetings, handling paperwork, and delegating reports to the rest of the squad. This would normally be nothing new, as she often was asked to handle affairs when the captain was busy. But today was worse than normal, because in addition to the sudden influx of work she was also getting queries from other squads if squad two was running an infiltration drill as a few guards had been found knocked out and under some sort of kido so they wouldn¡¯t wake up by themselves. After scrambling to verify that no, there was no drill going on today, she then had to figure out how to best handle the situation. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time a few guards were attacked by a slighted squad two member getting revenge for some previous grievance. But as the reports kept coming in, and the recovered guards giving a basic description it was clear they had an intruder. As Natsumi walked towards the briefing room, she was seriously wondering why this couldn¡¯t have happened yesterday. As it stood, she could only act on what had been discovered and hope the captain would agree with her choices when she returned. ¡°All right, are all team leaders present?¡± Natsumi questioned as she entered the room. Several people perking up as she moved to the front of the room. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, all squad two team leaders present and awaiting orders!¡± one of the men said. ¡°Good. Now then, this morning the guards at guard post 18-C were found unconscious when their replacements arrived to relieve them. Since then there have been several more guards disabled.¡± ¡°After investigation, it has become clear that the culprit is not a member of the Court Guard Squads, Kido Corps, or the Stealth Force. As such squad two is to deploy all teams to track down and apprehend the intruder.¡± One of her team leads raised a hand, ¡°Apprehend, not eliminate?¡± ¡°Correct. At this time we have no idea how this intruder infiltrated our defenses or why. In addition to that there have been no fatalities, as such it has been deemed necessary to interrogate the intruder to find out the reason for their presence.¡± ¡°You will find the combined reports gathered from all the guards in the folder in front of you. Even then, information is light. The intruder is generally agreed to be a blonde female in a red and black uniform. She uses some form of weaponry, but details are unclear. In addition to this she is speculated to know at least some form of kido, since all disabled guards were forced to remain unconscious until they were discovered by other groups.¡± ¡°Are there any further questions?¡± ¡°Ma¡¯am, why are we not sounding the general alert for this intruder?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want the intruder to escalate until we have a clear understanding of her goal. If we sound the alarm and alert her as well, she may stop using nonlethal takedowns. To avoid causing unneeded fatalities, only squad two will be deploying at the moment. Though to be clear, all Lieutenants are aware of this matter and can sound the alarm at any time they feel it is necessary.¡± Natsumi waited a few moments for her team leads to absorb the info. ¡°In that case, take your teams and search along the projected path of the intruder. I will be joining the search so refer all updates to the messenger corps. Dismissed.¡± With that, everyone filed out of the room. It was time to hunt down this intruder. Spirit 2.4 The sound of alarms going off all around jolted me awake, and caused me to fall off the box I was using as a makeshift bed. ¡°Well, that was graceful¡± I muttered as I picked myself off the floor. Stretching to get the kinks out from laying on a wooden box for several hours, I noticed that everything seemed blurry and it was hard to move. Oh right, I had pushed Astralization as far as it would go and spent the night in Spectre Mode to avoid detection. Pretty much the only use I had for that skill in this universe was for hiding in one spot invisible to everyone else. Though there was the significant downside of not being able to move quickly at all. Seriously, it felt like I was trying to walk through wet concrete. I did figure out that tethering myself to an outside source would allow me to move more freely in Spectre Mode, but that would mean tying myself to someone through a Servant Bond, and I wasn¡¯t about to hand that kind of control over me to anyone here. I glanced around the warehouse I was hiding out in just to make sure no one was in the area. While I couldn¡¯t make out more than a bunch of colored blobs at the moment, none of them were black or moving around, so I figured I was still alone for the moment. Shifting back to my more comfortable Spirit Mode I glanced around again, confirming that I was alone before heading outside to try and spot the others. I doubted that this many alarms would be going off for another reason. Scanning the sky for the rest of the group, I eventually spotted the others when they crashed into the membrane surrounding the Seireitei. The small sphere of reishi caused the barrier and the shockwaves of the impact to become visible. It was an incredibly impressive sight made even more so by the vortex of reiryoku that appeared when the barrier was breached. Then, in a seemingly coordinated move the vortex exploded into four beams of light that spread out over the Seireitei. If I didn¡¯t know that the entire spectacle was the result of Ichigo being horrible at controlling his energy I would have thought the whole thing was a coordinated breaching action by a highly trained invasion force. Shaking my head I started running, not really concealing myself any longer, it didn¡¯t seem important considering the massive lightshow we just put on. -o- If yesterday was rough, then today was shaping up to be a nightmare in Nasumi¡¯s opinion. The trail of the intruder gone cold late in the afternoon. It was obvious that she had bunkered down somewhere to rest over the night rather than continue on to whatever goal she might have, but even after they had pieced together a rough path by mapping out where they found unconscious squad members they had been utterly unable to find their target in the surrounding area. Either the intruder had suddenly veered off her projected path, entirely possible due to the lack of knowledge about her goal, or she had managed to hide from an entire squad for a night. One trained in reconnaissance and tracking even! If that wasn¡¯t embarrassing enough, a few mere hours after Natsumi called it a night and allowed other teams to take over the search she was jarred awake as alarms broke out all over the place. Apparently, another group had decided to use a normally suicidal approach of an aerial insertion into the Seireitei, and succeeded in not only making it past the barrier created by the Sekkiseki stone walls that had never been breached in such a manner in the entire history of the Court Guard Squads, but also managing to vanish into the surroundings just like the other intruder. Well...all except the group that landed in the middle of squad 11. They were methodically tearing that squad to pieces. From the rank and file, all the way up to the 5th and 3rd Seat Officers. And of course they rejected any offers of support from other squads. The overconfident meatheads. Luckily she had actually received word back from the captain on how to proceed, because Natsumi was very out of her depth. She was simply to continue tracking the first intruder. All other squad two members would be directed by direct order from the Captain. The intruders themselves had all been labeled Ryoka, and thus priority was now either kill or capture on sight. Things like determining their goal was now a secondary concern. Which meant that the majority of squad members would simply kill the Ryoka if they had the option. Natsumi had mixed feelings about labeling the invading group as Ryoka. It was nice to have clear rules of engagement and such, but she felt that it was a waste to not prioritize capture since there were so many unknowns. Where had this group come from, how did they manage to get a member inside with no alarms going off, what was their goal? Hopefully she would get at least a few answers before the incursion was dealt with. Otherwise the mystery would bother her for quite some time. Natsumi signaled the two others in her hastily made team to stop as she noticed a Hell Butterfly heading towards them. ¡°Someone actually find this chick?¡± wondered Yuusuke while Natsumi checked the message. Decent guy Natsumi supposed, if a bit too eager to run off on his own and get in over his head. Good close combat fighter, but more of a danger to himself with either long range weapons or Kido. ¡°More likely they found another batch of idiots she jumped.¡± snarked Hiei. Him, Natsumi liked considerably less. Quick to point out flaws in others yet not very receptive of criticism himself, Hiei had always grated on her nerves. Unfortunately she was forced to bring him along as her normal team was split up to act as team leaders themselves. Still he was fast and skilled, just barely missing the level a member of the Captain¡¯s Executive Militia forces would possess. Not that he would be assigned there even if he had the skills due to his personality. Far too arrogant, the Captain would kill him within a week. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Quiet you two, we actually have reports of both.¡± Natsumi said, releasing the Hell Butterfly. ¡°The Ryoka has apparently abandoned stealth and is now disabling any squad members she encounters similarly to the situation in Squad 11. ¡°Good news for us is that we can finally predict she will be passing outpost 9-7 in twenty minutes, bad news is squad 7 is racking up casualties at the same time.¡± ¡°Our mystery lady start killing any of them?¡± asked Yuusuke. ¡°Luckily for us, no. She still seems content to disable anyone she faces. Though it seems she is dealing severe enough injuries that anyone she comes across isn¡¯t getting back into action for a few days at least. Maybe longer considering Squad 11 is also taking casualties as well.¡± ¡°Weaklings probably didn¡¯t even notice she was close by until she fed them their teeth.¡± Hiei snarked, ¡°So naturally our squad needs to clean up after them. I could deal with the Ryoka by myself if you two want to go babysit the idiots in squad 11.¡± ¡°Oh please, you could barely deal with a drunk monkey. If we left you alone with the Ryoka, we would need to track her down again after she kicked your ass.¡± ¡°Fuck you, Yuusuke. I¡¯ll kick your ass first if you want.¡± Both idiots had stopped and were getting ready to draw their Zanpakuto. Natsumi was tempted to let them go at it and handle the Ryoka alone, but they had already proven they had the ability to defeat a 3rd seat already and Natsumi was not going to risk being unable to capture this Ryoka because they were too closely matched. ¡°Cut it out you morons¡± she snapped, ¡°you can finish your argument after we deal with the Ryoka. Now get moving, I want to be in a position to capture this one before we lose her again.¡± -o- The unconscious body of the last guard crashed into the ground, smoking and sparking slightly from being hit by the electrified blade. The bodies of three others littered the area, all of them close together signifying they did barely had any time to react to the first attack before they were struck down. A sigh escaped me as the sword dispersed into light particles. I don¡¯t know exactly how many guards I ran into, but you would think they would learn after the first dozen or so to pay more attention. Most of the ¡®fights¡¯ if you could even call them that consisted of Haste in front of them, slash with an electricity enchanted sword, rinse and repeat until everyone fell over. I was actually getting to the point where I was hoping to run into an officer, if only to make it feel like I wasn¡¯t just beating up random people instead of the supernatural military force I was supposed to be up against. Turning away from my latest victims, I continued towards the building in front of me. Another one of those guardpost types from the look of it. I had gone through a few of them looking for a map of the area, and while I found several of nearby sections I hadn¡¯t found a detailed one of the entire Seireitei yet. I picked through a few of the offices where I had found useful documents in other buildings and was rewarded with another map of the local area, but still not a complete one. Right, just keep heading for the center then. As I ran I started leafing through some of the reports that had been filtered out about our little invasion. Apparently they had no solid info on the number of intruders, but guessed at least ten or so based on the amount of Squad 11 members being taken out. I realised that as a group we were all abnormally strong compared to the foot soldiers of the Seireitei, but I didn¡¯t think they would be so wrong in their assessment. Only Ichigo, Ganju, and Chad actually faced foot soldiers from what I remembered. Though if Yoruichi was secretly taking out groups, it wouldn¡¯t surprise me much. Squad 11 seats 3 and 5 had been defeated earlier today along with Squad 7¡¯s 4th seat who received crippling injuries. Over fifty members of Squad 11 were forced into a Squad 4 recovery barracks with major injuries, but the report was from earlier today so the number has only gone up. I was forced to look away from the documents when I turned a corner and found myself in a wide open area. It looked like it might be a staging point or gathering area considering how close it was to the guard post, but for all I knew it was a picnic area for someone. The Seireitei was weird, white walls and warehouses everywhere and oddly empty in places. All thoughts on the architectural design of the ghost samurai¡¯s super fortress were ejected when a Soul Reaper stepped into view, blade drawn. ¡°Hello Ryoka, this is as far as you go.¡± He was a few inches shorter than me. With slicked-back black hair and the normal Soul Reaper uniform. I didn¡¯t recognize him at all so if he was in the show he failed to make an impression. But he definitely had the casual arrogance most Soul Reapers seemed to have by default. That he was also the first Soul Reaper to confront me, rather than get ambushed, made me a little more wary of him anyway. ¡°Yuusuke, you idiot. Just take her out already. We have the rest to deal remember?¡± Looking over my shoulder I found another Soul Reaper had stepped out to block the path I had come from. He was much shorter than me, maybe only coming up to mid-chest on me, with spiky black hair held up in a cloth headband. He also had his sword out, but despite his words he seemed in no more of a rush to fight me than his friend. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, Hiei. We spent more than a day tracking this one down. I want to at least make it worth all that time.¡± ¡°If you want her to beat you up I can let you fight her first.¡± ¡°Beat me up!? Like hell! I need to make sure you don¡¯t let her get away cause you got a scratch, shorty.¡± Both of them bickered between themselves for a bit while I was searching the surroundings. No reason to be careless. ¡°So question for you two.¡± I said, interrupting their insult trading. ¡°Any chance we can hurry this up? I have places to be.¡± The taller of the two smirked, ¡°Well sorry to say, you aren¡¯t getting by us so you don¡¯t need to rush.¡± ¡°Fine, in that case the two of you can come at me. It will be faster that way.¡± The smirk didn¡¯t diminish at all. ¡°Nah, like I said it took a long time to find you. We can take it a bit slower. In fact if you want to go one on one, I¡¯m game.¡± I risked another glance back at the short one, Hiei I suppose, and found he hadn¡¯t moved a bit. Seems like despite his earlier impatience, he was fine with just standing around for a bit. That either meant they were arrogant idiots¡­ or they were delaying me for some reason. With that in mind, I formed Kanshou and Bakuya and rushed the one in front of me. His eyes widened as he was forced to block a double strike aimed at his shoulder. The three blades sparked under the pressure, but he held of the strike well enough. I disengaged slightly before pressing him with some probing attacks, going after his arms or legs to slow him down before his buddy decided to jump in. Small scratches appearing on his arms from where he failed to block completely in time. He was good. I had him off guard with my first attack and even while off-balance he was able to fend me off. I feigned to one side, managing to get him to overcommit to a block and nailed him with a kick to his side, sending him flying a few feet. I quickly turned to face Hiei, bringing my swords up in a defensive position just tin time to catch¡­ Nothing. Hiei was still standing where he started. He was visibly more on guard, but made no attempt to approach. ¡°Not going to help your friend? He¡¯s not bad, but he¡¯s going to lose.¡± Short-stuff just smirked. ¡°If he¡¯s going to lose to someone as weak as you then I don¡¯t see a reason to step in. Better for all of us if he bites it.¡± I didn¡¯t like this. Yeah Soul Reapers were more likely to go for duels over ganging up on an opponent, but these two made a point to ambush me. To go through that effort and then stand around? I started to think they were waiting for something, and I didn¡¯t want to hang around to find out what. ¡°Fuck you Hiei, I¡¯m just getting warmed up.¡± Yuusuke was back on his feet and slowly circling to my right. ¡°Lady here just caught me a bit off guard.¡± ¡°You can call me Alexandria. That way you know who beat you up.¡± Yuusuke smiled, ¡°Right guess we forgot to introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Squad 2 special reconnaissance member Kazuhiro Yuusuke, guy behind you isn¡¯t important so ignore him. Now then, how about we start round two?¡± This time he was the one to charge forward. I fell back keeping an eye on Hiei, but true to his word he made no move to help Yuusuke. More proof they weren¡¯t trying to end this as fast as Hiei made it seem. I eyed the surroundings again but nothing was sticking out. Dodging under a swing, I dropped to the ground and kicked at Yuusuke¡¯s knee. Seeing him off-balance once more I quickly threw both swords at Hiei, startling him out of his somewhat relaxed posture. In the same move I grabbed Yuusuke by the front of his uniform before flipping him over and slamming him on the ground. Then I took off running at the exit Yuusuke had come from. ¡°Sorry guys I¡¯m not in the mood to play with you right now, maybe later!¡± I was almost to the gate when my instincts screamed at me to move. Jumping off to the side I barely dodged getting hit by Hiei¡¯s sword before he stood in front of the gate. From the look of it me making a break for the exit pissed him off. ¡°Figured it out then?¡± He asked, well snarled more like. I have a feeling he didn¡¯t like me. I smirked at him and settled into a defensive stance, another pair of swords appearing in my hands. ¡°Tch¡± Hiei rushed me, staying low to the ground, before attacking in a flurry of swings. He was less controlled attacks and more ¡®swing as fast as possible and try and get a hit in¡¯ but he was pushing me a little. He managed to scratch the edge of my red outer coat right at my collarbone before he over extended and I managed a counterattack. Our blades met in a flash of sparks, and I quickly overpowered him forcing him to jump back a few feet. I glanced down at the small cut on my clothing. ¡°All that effort, and that was the best you could do? That¡¯s just embarrassing.¡± Hiei drew himself up before pointing his sword at me. ¡°You want my best, then here. Burn and rage, Ja¨­ Ensatsu. The blade shimmered like a mirage before bursting into purple black flames. ¡°Now prepare to die!¡± Spirit 2.5 ¡®Those idiots couldn¡¯t follow a simple plan.¡¯ Natsumi scowled to herself as she moved on the next verse of the Kido chant. ¡®All they had to do was work together and delay the Ryoka for a few minutes. Instead they decide to challenge her one on one and almost let her get away.¡¯ Yuusuke was now unconscious after taking a sudden attack and Hiei was trying to fry the Ryoka...and getting played like a fool in the process. It might have fooled even her if she was closer to the fight, but this far out Natsumi could easily tell the Ryoka was holding back a lot in terms of strength. Really obvious when she would use movements on par with a lieutenant at least and back off right when Hiei started to build up momentum. ¡®This looks like one of the introductory training sessions for the new initiates.¡¯ Natsumi thought. She remembered what it was like when she first joined. A no holds barred sparring match with an undercover elite member. Where the newbie was told they were going up against one of the weaker members of the squad to show how far they had to go even if they passed at the top of the academy. It would start off simple, the newbie would be able to get some grazing hits in or be able to push their opponent completely to the defensive. They would get overconfident, sure that pushing just that little bit more would let them beat an experienced Shinigami. All while the opponent was just slowly using more strength to stay above the initiate¡¯s best effort until they couldn¡¯t keep up and lost. It was easy to see the parallels from a distance. The Ryoka was emitting such a low amount of Reiatsu it was almost like she was an academy student at best. Presumably that¡¯s what gave the two idiots the confidence to disregard the plan and engage her alone. But Natsumi had seen it. In that attempt to flee the area the Ryoka had overpowered Yuusuke in an ease she had only seen in officers. Hiei apparently missed the change in behavior since he was acting like he was in control of the fight. Natsumi watched as the Ryoka dodged around the courtyard. Streams of fire were barely dodged or deflected by the weird longsword the Ryoka had summoned. At the very least Hiei was doing a good job keeping the Ryoka at a distance. The amount of fire he was sending out with his shikai was buying Natsumi enough time to finish her chant. So he was at least helpful even if he wasn¡¯t going to be taking the intruder down. Natsumi started the final stanza, just in time to hear the Ryoka run out of patience. ¡°Well this game of keep-away has been fun.¡± Her tone indicating she felt otherwise. ¡°But since you haven¡¯t pulled out anything new I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re either waiting for reinforcements or just delaying me. So I¡¯m going to end this if you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡®Oh please be fast enough¡¯ Natsumi thought desperately as she watched the Ryoka form yet another weapon out of thin air. ¡®How many could she possibly have?!¡¯ This one was a large black bow. The Ryoka formed and fired several glowing arrows that exploded all around Hiei. Natsumi prayed that the Ryoka was still going easy on him and hadn¡¯t just killed a member of her team as she finally finished the incantation. She slammed her hands to the ground and shouted, ¡°Kekkai no 31: Kuriad¨­mu Kabe!¡± A rippling dome bloomed from Natsumi¡¯s hands before expanding to cover the courtyard and some of the streets beyond. Natsumi let out a sigh of relief. While Kuriad¨­mu Kabe wasn¡¯t the most powerful of barriers, it should be enough to slow the Ryoka down until one of the reinforcement squads made it to help. Of course that meant Natsumi herself would need to delay the Ryoka from breaking out before then. ¡®And I have to do it by myself.¡¯ She thought ruefully, as she looked around the courtyard before jumping down to confront the Ryoka. Yuusuke was still unconscious and now that the dust had cleared from around Hiei it was clear he was also down for the count. Natsumi was relieved to see him breathing, which hopefully meant he was just unconscious as well and not bleeding out or something. Standing in front of the Ryoka, Natsumi was struck by how tall she was. She was around the same height as Lieutenant Isane, but unlike her the Ryoka was clearly a fighter. Despite the relaxed posture, her sapphire blue eyes were hard and focused. ¡°And another one pops out of the woodwork. I assume the barrier is your doing?¡± Natsumi nodded, ¡°Yes it is, I am Squad 2 Third seat Hanakage Natsumi. I must say that I am impressed by your skill in concealing your Reiatsu. If I hadn¡¯t been observing from a distance I never would have noticed you were masking your strength.¡± The Ryoka frowned, presumably upset she was discovered. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I was hiding anything.¡± she insisted. ¡°Still¡­¡± Natsumi continued, ¡°I cannot allow you to continue. Surrender now, or I will be forced to end you.¡± The Ryoka¡¯s lip twitched in an amusement. Natsumi certainly couldn¡¯t blame her, she had easily shown she was stronger than any normal Third Seat officer. Listening to one demand her surrender certainly would be amusing. Luckily Natsumi had some secrets she could use. ¡°I ask you again. Surrender now or we will fight.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. This time the Ryoka didn¡¯t stop her smile from showing, ¡°You¡¯re much more stiff than the other two. Why don¡¯t you just relax and wait for your backup? I¡¯ll just be on my way and you don¡¯t need to strain yourself.¡± ¡°Very well, Encircle, Kusarihebi!¡± Natsumi¡¯s Zanpakuto started glowing brightly. The blade shrank down and curved forward until it formed a sickle-like blade. From the end of the hilt extended a long black chain that ended in a triangular weight. While she was presenting a confident front, in her mind Natsumi was still cursing her moronic teammates. If the had followed the plan all three of them would be stalling the Ryoka and potentially defeating her, not trying to take her down one at a time. ¡®After this is over, I¡¯m going to have them running drills until they can do them in their sleep.¡¯ With a sharp flick, Natsumi sent the chain whipping towards her opponent, only for her to duck under the attack and fire several glowing arrows in return. After seeing what that attack had done to Hiei, Natsumi had no desire to take that attack head on, so she manipulated the chain to divert a few of the arrows so they would collide in midair. Temporarily hidden by the resulting smoke, Natsumi circled off to one side. Just in time as a few more arrows streaked past where she had just been standing. With a soft curse Natsumi realised she needed to force the Ryoka on the defensive or she wouldn¡¯t have a chance. Her ability to quickly attack at long range was too much to deal with for a single opponent. She grabbed Kusarihebi by the chain and threw the sickle part of her weapon at the Ryoka¡¯s legs.If she was lucky she would be able to reduce her enemy¡¯s mobility, cripple it if she was luckier, but Natsumi would settle for forcing the Ryoka to be on the move. Seeing her opponent jump to avoid the blade going for her feet, Natsumi threw the other end of her weapon in pursuit, using both ends of the chain to attack at the same time. A few arrows tried to end her continuous attack but she was able to deflect those as well. Natsumi pressed forward, trying to cut off any escape routes. Her chain whistled through the air, but was either dodged to reflected by the bow before she could get a hit in. ¡°You¡¯re actually really annoying you know that?¡± the blonde said deflecting the bladed end with her bow again. Natsumi smiled, ¡°Well if you want to give up certainly won¡¯t stop you.¡± ¡®Just a little longer.¡¯ she thought. ¡°Nah, I have a certain person¡¯s plans I want to ruin first. You might not believe it but you have a few traitors running around.¡± Natsumi felt her eyes widen. ¡®Traitors, here?¡¯ ¡°So what, you and your friends decide to invade us to deal with traitors to the Seireitei out of the kindness of your hearts? Do you take me for a fool?¡± ¡°Oh no, we don¡¯t really care about the Seireitei. In fact if your little problem didn¡¯t affect us, then I definitely wouldn¡¯t be here. But since I¡¯m going to get involved anyway, I¡¯m going to do my best to upset their plans.¡± ¡®It couldn¡¯t be simple could it?¡¯ Natsumi complained in her head. If there was a credible threat to the Seireitei, then she was duty bound to learn more and report the issue. But that information was coming from an active threat to the Seireitei already. Natsumi couldn¡¯t really trust anything the Ryoka was saying but maybe¡­ ¡°You realize I won¡¯t take your word for any of this, right?¡± The Ryoka nodded easily. ¡°Is there any proof you have to verify this?¡± ¡°Hmm, well I don¡¯t exactly carry things like that around you know? But I can tell you they are responsible for the old Squad 2 and 12 Captains being driven off, along with the Kido Commander. Not sure if you would know about that or not but it should be of interest to your Captain.¡± the Ryoka eyed Natsumi thoughtfully. ¡°Some other things they¡¯ve done that are less relevant to your squad... they are responsible for the death of your Squad 13 lieutenant, the incident involving a bunch of your officers being turned into Hollows, and various incidents where Soul Reapers have been ambushed by Hollows. A certain training incident springs to mind.¡± Natsumi just stared at the insane person in front of her. There was no way most of those incidents were related. Hell, several of them had detailed records corroborated across multiple Squads. Natsumi felt pretty safe dismissing everything as a lie at this point. Her disbelief must have shown on her face since the Ryoka continued, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t tell you that unless I had a way to prove I know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± ¡°Yeah? And how are you going to do that?¡± Natsumi asked cautiously. ¡°Well I¡¯ll give you a prediction, in the next few days one Souske Aizen is going to die. Apparently, and here is the fun part, from being stabbed with his own sword. And no one will notice a fight. Naturally, it will be done by your traitors.¡± Natsumi¡¯s blood ran cold. She was saying a Captain was going to die? So either these traitors were real, or the Ryoka were aiming to assassinate one of the most powerful people in the Seireitei and one of them was happily announcing their intentions. Either way she felt she needed to hear everything. ¡°Okay, you have my attention. Who are these traitors?¡± The source of Natsumi¡¯s growing headache smirked, ¡°Well you have three of them, and you aren¡¯t going to like it. They are¡­¡± The Ryoka looked down one of the streets leading to the courtyard. ¡°Well that¡¯s just bad timing.¡± She turned to face Natsumi. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you will let me run off after I tell you?¡± Natsumi shook her head. She sensed her reinforcements were closing in fast, with two Lieutenant level Shinigami as well. Suddenly the Ryoka swung her bow to point at one of the streets and unleashed an arrow that positively hummed with power. The attack streaked towards the barrier surrounding the two of them before shattering the thing like it was made of glass instead of a fully incanted kido barrier. ¡°Sorry, things to do, people to see. Tell your captain about this if you want but don¡¯t spread it around if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± The Ryoka took aim down the street the reinforcement team was coming from. Natsumi paled as another glowing arrow formed. If that hit the reinforcement team¡­ Natsumi hadn¡¯t been just standing around while she questioned the Ryoka. She had been subtly using her Reiryoku to maneuver her chains behind her opponent. Unfortunately she was only able to get the chains around her left arm and the bow, but that was enough to prevent the Ryoka from aiming at the others. ¡°Its over Ryoka! Give up now and we will investigate your claims.¡± Natsumi shouted. Without her ranged option Natsumi was certain this was almost over. Up until the Ryoka let the bow disperse into light and pulled out some boxy handheld device and pointed it at her. ¡°Just a heads up? The bow probably would have hurt less.¡± Natsumi could only watch as golden light erupted from the end of the device and slammed into her, an instant later she collided with the wall surrounding the courtyard and it was a struggle to even remain conscious. Natsumi dimly recognised two more flashes of light before she was able to pull herself to her knees. Through the haze of in her mind she recognized the Ryoka had run off and the entrance to the street the reinforcement team was coming from was smoking rubble. She wanted to get to her feet, but the effort was too much and she pitched forward, collapsing on the ground. Her last thought was ¡®The captain isn¡¯t going to like this.¡¯ and then everything went black. -o- I stared at the pile of rubble where the gate used to be, then at the pistol device in my hand, then back at the rubble. Huh. These things didn¡¯t do that much damage to Urahara¡¯s training room. Do the Seireitei just use subpar materials? The shots should have collapsed the walls some slowing down the new arrivals, not explode the thing. Putting the spent devices back in their holsters, I looked back at the Soul Reaper I had been fighting. Looks like I surprised her having more than one way to attack at a distance, cause the max power I could squeeze out of the one-off models would only inconvenience a fighter at her level if she was on guard. I smirked, guess I lucked out she was distracted by the reinforcements. Speaking of, I should get moving. Spinning on my heel, I ran down one of the connecting streets. While I bought time with my stunt, I wasn¡¯t confident I could take on two Lieutenants at the same time and get away before even more people showed up. Dodging down some random side alleys, I thought back on the fight. Despite them tracking me down I wasn¡¯t super impressed with the Squad 2 team. I mean yeah, they were skilled and everything, but the boys were only about as strong as Ichigo was before he joined up with Urahara for training. And they called themselves elite! The girl was kinda scary though. She had the raw power that the other two lacked on top of being more skilled. If she wasn¡¯t consciously moving our fight away from her downed teammates she would have pressed me much harder than she did. And even then she delayed my long enough for her reinforcements to get close! I hope she isn¡¯t too upset by the suckerpunch, if we all live through this I kinda want a rematch. The scenery continued to stay pretty much the same the entire time I ran. Looking up I saw that the plateau that contained the central buildings was pretty close by. At the rate I was going I would be able to reach the cliffside in a few more minutes. Not bad if I wanted to continue on my own. But I was reaching the end of my ability to navigate the Seireitei on my own. I had yet to find a comprehensive map of the place- good security by the soul reapers annoyingly enough -and this close to the tower where Rukia was being held I was losing my easiest navigation point. Simply going towards the tower wasn¡¯t really an option when you are already at the tower after all. Continuing by myself wasn¡¯t something I was very interested in. It would leave me fighting several captain level opponents with no backup, no way to contact the others, and nowhere to go. I might be able to manage if I was on my own, but doing any of that with Rukia in tow was likely impossible. My best bet would be to hide out nearby and wait for Ichigo to show up. I know that his group was the first to get to this area, and if I remember correctly he had a member of squad four who was sympathetic to rescuing a capital offense criminal. With that in mind I broke the lock on one of the buildings and found myself in some kind of meeting room. Basically just a table surrounded by chairs, but it would do for now. I sat down in one of the chairs, put my feet up, and prepared for a bit of a wait. Spirit 2.6 While I waited, I decided to continue working on a design for an AI to integrate into my next upgrade to the proto-device. Nothing super advanced, well super advanced compared to what I might eventually be able to create, but it would be enough to get something that would let me give a command and have it carried out rather than the current setup which was just a fancy interface. Still it was coming along nicely. Building the thing might be tricky since I will need to add some new hardware to support the new AI, but the design seemed to come together just fine. Maybe I should look into making this version more modular, so when I figure out how to improve something I don¡¯t need to rebuild the thing everytime. Something to think about at any rate. Sighing, I closed the notebook I was using and slipped it back into a pocket before heading out the door. It had been a few hours since my run-in with the Squad 2 team and I figured it was pretty close to when Ichigo would be passing through the area if nothing butterflied from me being here. I started making my way back to the stairway from earlier. I planned to cycle past each of the entrances to the plaza until I spotted Ichigo there, but it turns out it was unneeded. The first corner I turned put me face to face with the orange haired Soul Reaper. Unfortunately for me, both of us were sprinting so I had just enough time to see Ichigo¡¯s eyes widen at my sudden appearance before the two of us collided and crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs. ¡°Damn it Ichigo! Watch where you¡¯re going!¡± I snapped, throwing him off of me before I got to my feet. He also jumped to his feet, one hand going over his shoulder to grab the handle of his sword. ¡°Why don¡¯t you watch where you¡¯re going, you bi-¡± He shouted back, before recognition set in. ¡°Alexandria? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°You know this person Ichigo?¡± One of the two following Ichigo asked. He was tall and powerfully built. He stood out mostly due to being the first person I¡¯d seen recently not in a Soul Reaper uniform with a green bandanna and vest, white undershirt, and puffy black pants. On his forearms and shins was some kind of abrasive looking guards. The occasional white symbol of the Shiba clan on the outfit would have tipped me off if I didn¡¯t already know his name, but Ganju Shiba looked entirely the same from what I remember in the show. He also looked like a mess. He had large areas covered in blood from sword wounds, and while they looked treated it was clear he wasn¡¯t far from exhaustion. I glanced at the other member of Ichigo¡¯s little party. Standard Soul Reaper uniform, save for a white satchel with a green strap running from shoulder to hip. Limp looking bluish-black hair split down the middle framing his face. Nothing really special looking about him really, except for the fact that he looked extremely weak in terms of both his personality and physically. So much so I partially thought the reason he didn¡¯t have a zanpakuto with him was that his wrist would break trying to hold one. And even if that wasn¡¯t the case I really doubted he would be able to swing it at anyone seriously. I frowned slightly. I was expecting him to be here but for the life of me, I just couldn¡¯t remember his name. ¡°Yeah Ichigo, why don¡¯t you introduce me to your friends.¡± I said. ¡°Uh, yeah sure. That¡¯s Alexandria Cross. She¡¯s a friend of Yoruichi who came to help us save Rukia.¡± He turned back to me, ¡°I thought Yoruichi said you couldn¡¯t get past the walls and that¡¯s why you stayed behind?¡± ¡°No Ichigo, I couldn¡¯t use the same method to get by the walls. I came in a different way. And before you ask, no it wouldn¡¯t have worked for the rest of you.¡± Ichigo pointedly closed his mouth. I turned to face the other two again, ¡°Going by the symbol I assume you are with the Shiba clan? And what¡¯s the deal with the Soul Reaper here?¡± ¡°Yeah, the name¡¯s Ganju Shiba. And um... he uh¡­ he decided to help us out?¡± Ganju said before trailing off. He glanced over to Ichigo who just shrugged. Guess they really just kinda dragged Hanataro along and didn¡¯t question his motives after his offer to help then? ¡°Um, excuse me, Miss Cross?¡± Hanataro pulled my attention to him, ¡°Yeah? And just call me Alex.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. I know it might seem strange that a Shinigami would want to rescue Rukia. And your right, even Ichigo asked why I wanted to help... When she was imprisoned in the 6th squad holding cell, I was assigned there on janitorial duty. Over the past month she told me so many stories about Ichigo and his friends and all about the world of the living. She was so kind to me even when she didn¡¯t have to be and even though she is from such a noble clan... And I don¡¯t want her to die, so please, please let me help you!¡± He exclaimed before bowing deeply. ¡°Jeez, we already said you could help. No need to get so worked up.¡± muttered Ganju. Christ, the kid was so earnest it almost felt like I was kicking a puppy if I said no. Good thing I was fine with him tagging along and said as much. The entire group started walking towards the stairs while we talked about what we had been through today. Hearing about Ganju¡¯s fight from his perspective was amusing. Especially since I remembered snippets from the show, and calling it a ¡®thrilling battle of skill and determination¡¯ between him and the ¡®sissy Soul Reaper¡¯ where he managed to triumph when he used a secret technique to knock his opponent out with a powerful explosion seemed like a bit of a stretch. ¡°So you ran around trying to lose your opponent in the surroundings and blew him up with one of the fireworks the Shiba clan specializes in?¡± I smirked. Instantly the bravado vanished from Ganju¡¯s face and his shoulders fell. ¡°Yeah, maybe. Is it wrong to want to sound a little cooler after a battle? I should just be glad you didn¡¯t meet my big sis, she does the same thing whenever I tell a story near her too.¡± Ganju admitted. ¡°She sounds fun. I¡¯ll need to drop by after this to meet her then.¡± ¡°Hey guys, I think I see the way up!¡± called Ichigo from the front of the group. Looking ahead I could see the cliff was just ahead of us and we would be in the open soon. Ichigo increased the pace until we were at a brisk walk. Then at a jog. And again until we were running to keep up with him. We ran past the walled corridors that had been a constant for most of my time in the Seireitei and made it halfway across the empty area in front of us before we all slowed to a halt. Towering buildings stood at the top of the cliff. Each had another slightly larger one peeking out from behind. Many of them were either grey boxy buildings or white square towers with orange tiled roofs. But the one that stood out the most was the single circular white tower with a conical roof. It easily dwarfed the surrounding buildings by thirty feet or so. It would have been beautiful if it wasn¡¯t reserved for people waiting to die. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. It was the closest I had been to the center buildings and the sight of them made me feel insignificantly small. It was the same reason I hated walking around in big cities. When you look up and see buildings towering over you, you just feel smaller somehow. ¡°We¡¯re so close already¡± Ganju said next to me. ¡°It sure looks enormous¡­ and we¡¯ll probably have to fight our way up there from here on out¡­¡± He had a smile on his face, but it was obvious he was nervous about our chances. ¡°If you think it¡¯s too much, you can hang out here.¡± I teased. ¡°Hmph.¡± Despite the surliness, the teasing seemed to relax him a bit. I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back for that, only for Ichigo to suddenly tense up. ¡°What¡¯s up, Ichi-¡± Ichigo threw up a hand and cut Ganju off, ¡°Someone¡¯s there.¡± Sure enough stepping out the mist hugging the cliff-face was a red haired Soul Reaper with a heavily tattooed face. The only other thing that stood out besides that was the futuristic looking visor. I was a little surprised by the lack of a lieutenant armband, but it was a distant thought. The Soul Reaper moved through the last bit of the mist before stopping at the base of the stairs. ¡°Long time no see¡­¡± he said, moving the visor to cover his forehead. ¡°I hope you can still remember my face?¡± ¡°Renji Abarai...¡± Ichigo growled. ¡°That¡¯s a surprise¡­ you even remembered my name. You have a good memory.¡± said Renji. ¡°Thanks for the compliment.¡± The two of them seemed to ignore the rest of us during their little reunion. Which was probably a good thing. Ganju was sweating heavily and looked nervous but was holding his composure well enough. ¡°W-who is this guy? He¡¯s not like any of the guys we met before¡­ he¡¯s on a completely different level¡­¡± ¡°Aah¡­ t-that¡­ that person is Renji Abarai¡­ Lieutenant of squad six!¡± Hanataro stammered out. Looking at him, he was a mess. His entire body was shaking, tears were gathering in his eyes, sweat was pouring off of him, and he was having difficulty breathing. After he announced that the last of Ganju¡¯s composure broke. ¡°A Lieutenant!?¡± In the meantime Renji and Ichigo were off in their own world ignoring the rest of us. ¡°I must admit I was surprised to see you. I was certain you would be a deadman after I saw Captain Kuchiki attack you like that.¡± said Renji as he advanced on us. Ichigo also started to move forwards to meet him. ¡°Hey Ichigo wait! Don¡¯t go rushing in!¡± yelled Ganju, but went unheard. ¡°Don¡¯t bother Ganju,¡± I said. ¡°This is a grudge match for those two.¡± ¡°A grudge match?¡± ¡°Yeah, the two of them fought in the world of the living, but it was interrupted so I guess they want to pick up where they left off.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how you managed to survive that, but it seems there is more to you than I first believed,¡± Renji continued drawing his sword. ¡°But as I told you, I¡¯m going to kill the one who stole Rukia¡¯s powers. So this is as far as you go.¡± Ichigo said nothing but grasped the hilt of his sword. ¡°Because as long as you live, Rukia can never regain her powers!¡± said Renji accelerating into a run. Ichigo matched him. ¡°What do you care about that, when you just sentenced her to death!¡± he shouted, pulling his Zanpakuto off his back and swinging it to meet Renji¡¯s. The two blades met in a fierce clash before the two of them ground to a halt. Both of them pressing against the other trying to physically overpower his opponent. Sparks occasionally flashed where the two blades met, but in the initial clash both of them were evenly matched. They disengaged briefly before Ichigo pressed the attack, catching Renji on the defensive. With a loud shout Ichigo overpowered him, pushing until Renji was pushed up against the cliff. ¡°He overpowered Lieutenant Abarai¡­¡± said Hanataro somewhat disbelievingly. ¡°Ichigo¡­ what kind of person is he¡­?¡± Ganju seemed stunned as well, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like an answer to that myself.¡± I said nothing, keeping my eyes on the fight. Sure enough the flow of the battle shifted as Renji shoved Ichigo backwards, releasing his shikai and sending him skidding backwards with a continuous thrusting attack. I watched impassively as Ichigo skidded towards us, held in place by the force of Renji¡¯s attack and unable to stop or deflect it. Ganju and Hanataro dove out of the way, but I allowed Ichigo to crash into me absorbing some of the force, while at the same time I traced Bakuya and swung upwards, deflecting Renji¡¯s Zabimaru up into the air. Both Ichigo and I slid back a few more feet from the force of the attack, but we didn¡¯t hit the building behind us. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked. Ichigo pushed off of me, getting back into a ready stance. ¡°Yeah, thanks for the save, but leave him to me from now on.¡± I gave him a quick nod and moved back over to the other two. ¡°It seems like, you thought you understood my strength after just one fight,¡± said Renji, his sword collapsing back down into itself as he approached. ¡°But let me tell you something. When Lieutenant level Shinigami or higher go to the world of the living severe limits are placed on their powers so they don¡¯t adversely affect the souls living there.¡± He came to a stop. ¡°Right now, I¡¯m five times stronger compared to the last time we met! There is no chance of you defeating me.¡± He said confidently. Ichigo smirked at him, ¡°Heh, If that was the best you got, than I think I can handle eleven more like you, no problem.¡± I gave him a quick look-over. He was definitely bluffing hard right now. Even with me minimizing any damage from the first strike, he was still wobbly on his feet. I wouldn¡¯t step in immediately, but I would keep an eye out for when he couldn¡¯t continue. Afterall I had no assurances that Ichigo would win this fight, canon or no, but at the very least I would see that he doesn¡¯t die from it. Renji went on the attack again Zabimaru extended out in a wide arc that crashed into Ichigo¡¯s side. Ichigo barely managed to get his sword into position to block before he was launched further away from us. With a huge leap into the air, Renji followed after him using his extending blade to keep Ichigo on the defensive. Slowly pushing him up against the buildings in the area and penning him in. Ichigo wasn¡¯t making it easy for him though, he deflected and dodged with an impressive level of skill, not allowing himself to overcommit to a block or corner himself. The flow of the battle was slightly against him however as hits started stacking up. It was pretty obvious Ichigo was hurting in terms of stamina right now. Blood loss generated anemia by the look of it. The signs were more noticable the longer they clashed, Ichigo was taking more hits being slower to get out of the way. Renji used a crushing overhead attack that kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that forced Ichigo to jump up out of the way only for a sweeping upward attack to intercept him, which he barely managed to block. In fact the attack not entirely blocked as a spurt of blood erupted from Ichigo¡¯s shoulder where the block was too shallow and he got nicked. The battle shifted up to the roof of a nearby building and we temporarily lost sight of them. Hanataro was shaking again, stuttering out half words without actually saying anything, ¡°...T-this isn¡¯t good¡­ he¡¯s being completely overwhelmed! T-trying to t-ta-take on a Lieutenant like this? It¡¯s madness!¡± he eventually managed. ¡°Ichigo will be fine,¡± I reassured him, eyes still scanning the rooftop following the new signs of destruction. ¡°He¡¯s too stubborn to be taken out this early in the game.¡± ¡°He¡¯s stubborn alright, but this isn¡¯t the kind of game you get second chances in.¡± Ganju said as the building the two had been fighting on collapsed into rubble. I nodded, conceding his point. I was still waiting for the moment that Ichigo was completely out of the fight, because if he didn¡¯t pass his limit here¡­ Well fighting Zaraki would be interesting if I needed to get involved. With that line of thinking in the background, I noticed both Ichigo and Renji standing in the rubble shouting something at each other. They were too far away for me to hear them clearly. ¡°I don¡¯t think he can keep this up much longer.¡± said Ganju worriedly. ¡°Yeah¡± ¡°You¡¯re one of his friends right? Shouldn¡¯t you help him out right about now?¡± I gave him a tight smile, ¡°Teammate if anything, and not yet.¡± ¡°Not yet?! Why the hell not!¡± he yelled back. ¡°Ichigo isn¡¯t done with the fight just yet. Until he gives up or can¡¯t fight anymore I won¡¯t step in.¡± This was hard. I was fighting between the knowledge of a show I had watched in a different universe mixed with the duel mentality everyone seemed to unconsciously follow I picked up at some point, and the desire to step in and not let a fifteen year-old get cut to pieces in front of me. It was a fine balance between the two, waiting only winning out because I knew saving him now meant he wouldn¡¯t be ready for threats down the line. Renji continued his assault. More hits raining down on Ichigo, even if they were all turned away it had to be burning up the last of his energy. Suddenly, Ichigo shot forward sprinting at Renji in a bid of going on the offensive. Renji responded with a long distance thrust, Ichigo ducked to the left allowing it to go over his shoulder. Again with a thrust, this time a sidestep to the right. The third thrust was faster than the previous forcing Ichigo to parry it into the air, but once again he avoided the attack. Renji was left off balance and perfectly open. Ichigo raised his sword for a finishing blow¡­ Only to miss as Renji shifted to the side at the last moment. ¡°Ichigo!¡± both Ganju and Hanataro yelled, as Renji capitalized on the opening to cut Ichigo from shoulder to hip. More blood exploded out of the battered teen as the Lieutenant stood over him, sword raised for the final blow. I muttered a curse while tracing my bow. An arrow was ready to go, but that last niggling doubt remained, and I couldn¡¯t bring myself to release the string. If I interfered now, Ichigo doesn¡¯t consciously use his full power and then he would be entirely unprepared for Captain level combat. But if I was wrong that wouldn¡¯t matter. Because Ichigo would be dead. The decision was taken out of my hands when Renji¡¯s sword fell. I cursed again, dismissing the arrow before forming one much more dangerous than the enchanted electric one I initially had. If I played this badly then at least I wanted Renji to feel the full impact of his mistake. Both of our mistake¡­ I certainly didn¡¯t feel blameless standing around like I had. Thankfully, I hadn¡¯t butterflied this particular moment as Ichigo caught Zabimaru by one of the spikes that protruded out of the blade. The sudden reversal seemed to stun Renji so badly that he was blown back from the sudden outpouring of power from Ichigo. Renji was sent skidding back a few feet, still off balance, the shock on his face clear even at the distance between us. Ichigo was now standing fully upright, all traces of his earlier exhaustion seemingly vanished as he raised his sword in preparation to attack. Thankful that I hadn¡¯t killed Ichigo through inaction I dismissed my weapons and turned to Hanataro. ¡°You have anything that would stop bleeding in that pack of yours?¡± I asked despite knowing the answer. Hanataro didn¡¯t even look at me, eyes still firmly on the two combatants, ¡°y-yes, all squad four members carry medical supplies during an emergency.¡± I nodded, ¡°Good, we will need to help Ichigo qui-¡± the shouts of both Hanataro and Ganju made my head snap back to where Ichigo was fighting. Both combatants had collapsed. Renji was now covered in blood from the one attack he received and his sword had been shattered. Ichigo wasn¡¯t in much better shape, but at least he was alive. ¡°Okay, move you two. We need to get him treated or he¡¯s going to bleed out.¡± As a group, we all rushed to Ichigo¡¯s side and got our first look at how severe the damage really was. It was concerning, naturally, since he was bleeding from several severe sword wounds. Ganju started to move Ichigo into a more accessible position, but Hanataro was just kinda standing there, staring at the fallen lieutenant. ¡°Hanataro.¡± ¡°Hanataro.¡± ¡°HANATARO!¡± I ended up yelling. Finally he started out of his stupor, ¡°Ah, y-yes?¡± ¡°Get over here and help!¡± ¡°Y-yes! Right awa-¡± he suddenly stopped and looked off in the distance. If he didn¡¯t have a good reason, I¡¯d feed him a greatsword. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming. Three people¡­ no four, maybe even five!¡± Dammit that¡¯s a good reason. ¡°That¡¯s bad, we can¡¯t deal with that many people right now.¡± said Ganju. I nodded to that, ¡°Right change of plans, we¡¯re leaving. Ganju, grab Ichigo. Hanataro, I assume you know a deserted place we could go?¡± He nodded rapidly. ¡°Great, we¡¯ll follow you then.¡± With that the four of us disappeared back into the maze of corridors that made up the Seireitei. Spirit 2.7 It was several hours later until we finally could relax a bit. I had spent some of the time patching up Ganju, but the majority of our efforts had been on Ichigo. He was better off than expected really. Despite several deep gashes in his torso none of the damage went as deep as his internal organs, even so between all the blood loss and lacerations Hanataro had spent hours just getting him healed enough that he wouldn¡¯t die if we left him alone too long. Even then I spent most of the time as an aide rather than helping directly. Turns out, rather obviously, two healing methods using completely different power sources didn¡¯t mix well, so we had to choose which one to use. And while my healing spells were just as good, I personally was less qualified as a medic so Hanataro took the job as Ichigo¡¯s healer. Not that Ichigo seemed to care about getting healed up. The second he regained consciousness he tried to limp back out to continue deeper into the Seireitei. Luckily for him Ganju knocked him out before he got too far, saying that it was better he did it than leaving it to me. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should have been insulted or not. After all, I wasn¡¯t really going to hit Ichigo with a frying pan to stop him from being an idiot. Didn¡¯t stop me from getting a few worried glances from the other two every once and awhile though. Seriously, no one could take a joke. Once that bit of drama was out of the way, everyone settled pretty quickly. Ichigo was still out for the count, Ganju had fallen asleep against a wall, Hanataro was focusing on healing Ichigo completely, and I was drilling Hanataro for information on the Seireitei. He was incredibly helpful in pointing out the locations of interesting locations that weren¡¯t shown on the maps I had picked up. As it stood, I now knew the locations of nearly all the Squad barracks, hidden routes mostly used as shortcuts by Squad Four, and most importantly where the Captain¡¯s offices where. Specifically the office of Squad Five. I felt a little bad tricking Hanataro into telling me these things since I phrased it that I wanted to know so we wouldn¡¯t go anywhere near them if we could help it, just to turn around and use this to break into one of the offices the first chance I got. The kid was far too earnest, by far. But this gave me the perfect chance to derail Aizen¡¯s distraction plot if I could snatch the letter he left behind before anyone looked at it. Out of the many plots Aizen had going on during the execution, the one that always bothered me the most was the breaking of his lieutenant. It was cruel, unnecessary, and something I wasn¡¯t going to let happen. So I decided this would be the moment I stopped trying to allow canon to proceed while dancing around the edges and started doing things for myself. Afterall just because I recognized the setting didn¡¯t mean things would play out the same way. Things were already moving in different directions just by me being here. The third seat of Squad Two never made an appearance as far as I could tell, so it wasn¡¯t like things would change from that point on. This was me just finally accepting that. Kinda. Annoying fact about knowing the future, or at least a possible future, you tend to grab onto that future and use it as the guideline for all your current behaviors. Breaking off into unknown territory was far more frightening. So much so that I think I was delaying this moment subconsciously. Even if I was clearly more powerful than Ichigo at the moment, I had taken great pains to move stealthily for no real reason other than avoiding high level Soul Reapers. But I had already planned to fight three captain level opponents just by helping with this little rescue mission. So, time to stop putting this off and actually commit. I stood up and made my way over to Hanataro, who was still laboring to heal Ichigo. This would be the best time to break off since Ganju had passed out a few hours ago. ¡°Hey Hanataro,¡± I called out to get his attention. ¡°I¡¯ll be going out on my own. Just let the others know when they wake up.¡± Clearly tired from hours of healing, Hanataro blearily blinked at me before actually realizing what I said. ¡°Wait, going out on your own? Why?¡± ¡°Simple, we are probably going to draw a lot of attention for taking down a lieutenant. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there are guards in place waiting for us tomorrow.¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°So I¡¯m going to go make sure any enemy attention is on me while you all continue to the tower.¡± ¡°But what if you need help? Or if you run into another Lieutenant?¡± He asked. ¡°I can take care of myself just fine,¡± I chided him. ¡°And I could get away from a lieutenant just fine if needed.¡± I started walking away from the group, calling back over my shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll meet up with you at the tower. Take care!¡± before making my way back to the surface. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Some time later I found myself hiding outside the Squad Five barracks. Dawn had come and gone meaning all the high level officers should be off to their duties. Of course that probably meant that Lieutenant Momo Hinamori had found Aizen¡¯s ¡°dead¡± body and was in jail. Not ideal since I wanted to spare her the breakdown, but not something I was in a position to change. Especially since fighting the entire squad to get access to the captain¡¯s rooms wasn¡¯t a realistic option. The barracks was hopefully pretty empty by now, all the normal Soul Reapers were off looking for our group, and the officers should be coordinating the reports coming in and trying to keep the other daily tasks needed to run the squads operating as normal even with a bunch of highly destructive people running around causing issues. So it was simple for me to make my way up to the upper floor of the barracks right outside the officer¡¯s area without being spotted. I ducked in and out of a few of the rooms on the way trying to determine which one was Aizen¡¯s, until I finally found the rooms I was looking for. The large brushwork ¡®five¡¯ easily identified the owner of the room since I hadn¡¯t seen anything like it in any of the other much smaller rooms. The high quality, if simple, furniture had some fancy writing implements and a few documents laying about but much of the...living room?...sure why not, living room was pretty barren actually. Outside of a few bookcases, a short legged table, and a desk there wasn¡¯t anything else in the room. Not surprising, since Aizen liked to play the humble, helpful, dependable captain. I figured his bedroom was much the same, but had absolutely no desire to go through his stuff so I moved to the table and started going through the papers there. The letter in question was sitting out in the open, so that was easily snatched up. Mission accomplished. Poking around the other papers on the table didn¡¯t turn up anything really interesting. Though it turned out Aizen did poetry when he wasn¡¯t murdering and/or experimenting on people. Hidden depths, whaddya know? I turned and walked towards the door intent on just meeting back up with Ichigo¡¯s group when the bedroom door suddenly opened and a diminutive figure rushed out and bowed in my direction. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry Captain Aizen, I didn¡¯t mean to fall asleep!¡± the small figure, who I now recognized as Lieutenant Hinamori, rapidly said. She quickly glanced up at me before a confused look appeared on her face. ¡°You aren¡¯t Captain Aizen¡­¡± Between the sudden appearance of a person who definitely shouldn¡¯t still be here -seriously all the other soul reapers have been up for almost two hours now- and the personal disappointment she actually managed to catch me completely by surprise, I kinda froze up. ¡°Um...yeah?¡± Brilliant Alex, just brilliant. The Lieutenant slowly straightened up, ¡°You¡¯re one of the Ryoka, aren¡¯t you.¡± For whatever reason, my brain was still rebooting, ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been known to hang out with some of them.¡± I slowly started backing up towards the door. I doubted I was going to be allowed to just walk away, but having a headstart to choose a battleground before she caught me wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Cautious eyes followed the movement reminding me despite fans liking to joke about how useless a lieutenant Hinamori was, she was still one of the more powerful members of the Seireitei and would have needed to face down several powerful hollows over her career. Just as I reached the door she saw the letter still gripped in my hand. The cautious look morphed into a harder, angry one. ¡°You broke in here to steal Captain Aizen¡¯s documents?!¡± She accused, ¡°Give that back!¡± By this point I finally recovered from her sudden intrusion. I gave the smaller girl a smirk. ¡°I went through all the effort of getting it in the first place,¡± I taunted ¡°If you want it back, i guess you will need to take it.¡± With that remark, I spun on my heel and rushed out the door, pouring on as much speed as I could. The enraged shriek behind me told me everything I needed to know about if I was being pursued or not. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that I was indeed being chased by a now very angry lieutenant. Also I needed to dodge. A sphere of red flame streaked through the air and only narrowly missed me. I mentally cursed of course Hinamori would use Kido, it was what she was supposedly most talented at after all. A quickly traced throwing dagger was fairly effortlessly deflected but did distract her from finishing another Kido, but all that meant was Hinamori responded with a weaker spell than what she had been casting earlier. Two streaks of fiery blue light exploded on the path in front of me causing the walls to collapse and blocking off the route. In response I quickly leaped up to roof-level. Which put me on top of a fairly large warehouse with a nice flat roof. Good enough place as any I supposed. With a lieutenant chasing after me throwing fireballs the whole way I was only going to attract more attention. This was out of the way enough that no one should interfere. Turning back to face my pursuer, I saw her land on the roof, sword already released, and glare at me. ¡°A little eager, aren¡¯t we?¡± I called out. ¡°You haven¡¯t even introduced yourself and you¡¯re ready to go all out. That''s poor manners, little miss lieutenant.¡± If anything her glare intensified. ¡°Return Captain Aisen¡¯s documents and surrender. You can¡¯t escape.¡± Well she¡¯s confident. It might have been impressive if she didn¡¯t look like a twelve year old with a fancy sword. I told her as much, adding ¡°and you seem way less of a fighter than the red-head we ran into, so forgive me for not quivering in fear.¡± Probably the wrong thing to bring up based on how she was now trying to kill me with her eyes. ¡°You were the one who hurt Abarai-kun?! You¡¯re going to pay for that.¡± She growled, before launching a series of fireballs at me. I was a little taken aback that she attacked after coming to that conclusion. Yeah it was wrong, but if you decide the person in front of you nearly killed a lieutenant stronger than you and was seeming fine the next day, you would think attacking head on was a bad idea. Of course then I remembered in the canon timeline Hinamori decided attacking two different captains head on was a good idea and her actions didn¡¯t surprise me as much. Sidestepping the fireballs, I traced my twin swords and rushed forward quickly closing the distance between us. More fireballs streaked towards me but I was fast enough to dodge them without anything worse than a near miss. Both my swords came down in a twin strike to her shoulder that was clumsily blocked by the angry lieutenant and she was flung backwards. Odd, I shouldn¡¯t have been able to push her back that easily. ¡°You need to better than that to beat me, miss lieutenant!¡± I called, if she was going to fight angry than I was going to use that to my advantage. Though I wondered how much I needed that advantage. I had a very small pool of opponents to compare to Hinamori, but the squad two officer from the other day seemed to be a stronger opponent in every way except Kido. A frown made its way onto my face when I thought that. I know Hinamori wasn¡¯t shown to be as combat proficient as far as lieutenants go, but surely she should at least be on the same level as a third seat officer from another squad? A growl pulled me out of my thoughts as Hinamori charged me instead of continuing to attack from a distance. A strike going at my neck was blocked caught by crossing both of my swords and Hinamori twisted her balde in a way that locked all three blades together. ¡°Are you not taking me seriously or something?¡± I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. ¡°Cause I think I win in physical stre-¡± I was interrupted by a bright red fireball erupting from the base of her blade and exploding in my face that sending me skidding across the rooftop. As soon as I got some traction on the roof I flipped myself back onto my feet and flung myself off to a side just as even more fireballs crashed into my previous position. Note to self, even weaker Lieutenants are dangerous if you let your guard down. Hinamori stopped attacking after seeing me recover from her surprise attack. It looked like she had finally calmed down and was thinking again rather than attacking out of blind anger. ¡°I¡¯m being very serious, Ryoka.¡± She said, still sounding angry enough. ¡°First all of you run around the Seireitei and hurt all those people, then you injure Abarai-kun to that point and we can¡¯t even help him because of his captain, and then you break in to steal from Captain Aizen?! All you people do is hurt people.¡± Hinamori seemed to tremble with fury. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight¡­ but if it¡¯s to stop people like you, I¡¯ll fight with everything I have!¡± ¡­ well then. Turns out Hinamori is a magical girl when she isn¡¯t being super obsessive about Aizen. Not¡­ not really sure how to deal with that, honestly. Especially since I seem to have been cast as the villain at the moment. I cocked my head to one side while I considered that. A group of superstrong invaders attacking the Seireitei for seemingly no reason, each one they are aware of strong enough to beat elite defenders at every encounter, and one of the most powerful of them is defeated when he confronts the invaders. Then by pure chance a kind hearted young girl discovers one of the invaders stealing from one of the highest ranked leaders and is forced to fight to recover what was stolen. Yeah, that seems kinda like the setup to a magical girl plot. So I¡¯m the villain now. Yay. At least black looks good on me. Spirit 2.8 While I was lost in my imagination the two of us continued to perform a dance well known to any fighter. We set ourselves up to take advantage of perceived openings while moving to guard against potential attacks in a game of mental chess. For now we were stalemated, as neither one of us were willing to launch the first attack. So I decided to continue talking to see if I could knock her off balance that way. ¡°Interesting choice of words, considering your side attacked us first.¡± Hinamori looked a bit shocked but her guard stayed up, ¡°How could we have attacked you first?! The Seireitei only fights Hollows!¡± ¡°Tell that to the Quincies.¡± I said dryly. And she did have the decency to wince at the reminder that the Soul Reapers had basically wiped out a sub-race of humanity no matter how necessary it was. ¡°But more recently, your red-headed friend and his captain nearly killed an associate of mine when they came to drag a certain someone off for execution. For nothing more than just being forced into a position where he needed to use her powers to survive. He¡¯d be dead too, if he wasn¡¯t lucky enough to get healing fast enough.¡± ¡°He was aiding a criminal¡­¡± Hinamori said, though I could tell her heart wasn¡¯t in it. ¡°Perhaps,¡± I agreed, ¡°though most people wouldn¡¯t just let a friend be executed just because someone else comes along and tells them they are a criminal. So naturally we decided to stop that.¡± It was a little annoying that despite all the fan comments, Hinamori was actually a competent opponent. Throughout the entire conversation she was keeping her guard up, but it was starting to feel like I might be able to get her to stand down based on her reluctance to fight. ¡°So you are hurting all these people just to rescue a criminal?¡± ¡°To be fair, we are trying to keep the damages as light as we can.¡± The Lieutenant¡¯s eyes widened to an almost comical degree, ¡°How can you call any of what you did light? An entire squad is out of commission because of you! Not to mention what happened to the officers you encountered!¡± She nearly shouted at me, which was fair if a little naive. ¡°They aren¡¯t dead for one.¡± I pointed out. Hinamori looked uncomfortable at that, shuffling a tiny bit. ¡°Why are you here¡­¡± she said in a near whisper. I frowned, didn¡¯t I just go over this? ¡°We are here to stop-¡± ¡°No, not that¡± she interrupted me, ¡°why are you here. You said that it was an acquaintance that nearly died that made you come here. Not a friend being taken. The others you mentioned might be here for that. Not you.¡± It was my turn to shuffle uncomfortably. I was not expecting Hinamori to be this perceptive. The internet lied to me about her being worthless. Good thing I was working around to telling her this anyway. A version of it more accurately. There wasn¡¯t a chance in hell Hinamori would believe Aizen was anything but someone to look up to. ¡°Ignoring that you consider me the type of person to stand around when someone is sent to be executed,¡± my annoyance definitely came through in my voice and Hinamori blushed a bit while looking a touch sheepish, ¡°there are certain traitorous elements in the Seireitei that have been causing atrocities for over the past hundred years. As I told the squad two officer last time they had their hands in all kinds of messes. But they have plans that will affect where I live if they are left alone, so I¡¯m here to stop them before they ruin my home. Its where I keep all my stuff after all.¡± I injected some false cheer into the last bit, but it went seemingly unnoticed by my opponent. ¡°And you decided to invade us instead of just letting someone know because...?¡± She questioned, it sounded like she was getting less willing to hear me out. Shame. I doubted anything I said would stop us from fighting since I wasn¡¯t going to surrender and she didn¡¯t look like she would let me go. ¡°Would you listen to a group of people saying that there were captains commiting crimes around the Soul Society and planning to do worse?¡± I questioned in turn. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Captain¡­? There¡¯s no way a captain wou-¡± ¡°Kurotsuchi¡± ¡±... we would give any report of such things all the attention it deserves.¡± She finished weakly. ¡°So it would be brushed off as unimportant if it ever was passed along at all.¡± I nodded. ¡°T-that doesn¡¯t explain why you were stealing from Captain Aizen¡± Hinamori stammered. ¡°I had reason to believe Aizen is aware of exactly who the traitors are. I was hoping that he had some proof on who they were or a clue to where they operate.¡± I half-lied, idly twirling one of my swords. ¡°Then you should surrender! I can talk to Captain Aizen and get him to listen to you about the traitors, I¡¯m sure he would help you if you¡¯re really telling the truth.¡± I couldn¡¯t help the rueful smile on my face when I heard the qualifier. Yeah, maybe she didn¡¯t want to fight, but she wasn¡¯t going to let me go. ¡°What if I can¡¯t surrender because Aizen is connected to the traitors?¡± I questioned, mostly to see how she would react. I know she is fanatical about Aizen but maybe getting her to recognize the possibility would stop her from going completely nuts when he showed his true colors. What I wasn¡¯t expecting was for Hinamori to lose all emotion in her face and prepare to attack. ¡°I see, you were just lying to get me to lower my guard.¡± Weeell, she wasn¡¯t wrong. And clearly I forgot the first rule of dealing with fanatics. Don¡¯t try to get them to question their beliefs. They get defensive, or in her case ready to cut me with a sword. I tried to deny her accusation, but it fell on deaf ears as two fireballs erupted out of Hinamori¡¯s palm, curving to hit me from either side as she swung her sword to send yet another fireball right at me. I jumped back as all three crashed into the spot I was just standing, catching the diagonal downward sword swing between both my swords as Hinamori burst through the resulting smoke cloud. ¡°Did I touch a nerve?¡± I said, forcing the blade down to my left and using the momentum to spin-kick the smaller girl in the ribs. She gasped in pain before being sent bouncing across the roof. I considered trying a knockout shot with one of my remaining pistols but, unlike with the third seat, Hinamori had her full attention on me and I wasn¡¯t going to hit her with a surprise shot so I doubted it would do any more damage than some light burns. Instead I charged after the skidding lieutenant, closing the distance quickly and slashing at her with Bakuya and using Kansho to keep her blade pointed away from me, stopping her from using more fireballs to get distance. She recovered slightly but was still forced to give ground as I used my longer reach to keep her on the defensive, a deep cut on her shoulder seeping blood where I managed to slip past her guard. Despite that Hinamori was still putting up an excellent fight, a sideways strike forced me to back off some which allowed her the space she needed to get her footing. A quick Shunpo and she was suddenly on the other side of the roof with plenty of space to recover. Kansho was sacrificed as I threw it to detonate yet another fireball flying at me, kicking up a thick smokescreen that hid Hinamori from view. Bakuya got the same treatment when the Lieutenant appeared off to my right with another Shunpo. This was bad. Hinamori¡¯s Shunpo was not as fast as my Haste spell, but it was far more maneuverable as I could only go forwards with the current version. She would be free to jump around the battlefield chipping away at me with fireballs forever at this rate. So I needed to limit her mobility somehow. Another fireball appeared going for my back that was detonated using a throwaway blade kicking up even more smoke. I decided now was as good a time as any to try out one of my new acquisitions as a black chain formed in my hands. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the squeak of surprise that slipped out of the lieutenant when she was forced to deflect the length of chain heading for her face. Sparks appeared where the links skated over her blade as she redirected the chain over her shoulder and I rushed forwards again trying to close distance while I channeled some mana down the chain, ready to wrap around her as soon as she moved her sword. Her eyes widened when she saw me coming but rather than try evading like I wanted, her left hand swung forward to point at me and an orb of blue fire raced towards my feet. I thought she just missed after rushing the shot until I felt the roof give out below me. My eyes widened as I began to fall through the new hole in the structure. The bitch blew out the floor to stop me from getting close! Before I fell very far, I sent a pulse of mana through the kusarigama making the chain respond to my will. The chain sprung to life and coiled around Hinamori¡¯s leg dragging her down into the hole with me. Her startled squawk was music to my ears and would have brought a smile to my face if it wasn¡¯t in the process of slamming into the warehouse floor. Thick clouds of dust blocked most of the inside from view but from what I could see the building was rather empty. Only a few large crates placed randomly throughout the place kept it from being totally barren. Though one of them was a splintered wreck I noticed, since it seemed Hinamori was lucky enough to land on it rather than the floor. Speaking of, the lieutenant was currently staring bloody murder at me while fighting herself free from the remains of the box she was half trapped in. ¡°How do you have that weapon?¡± She demanded. If I didn¡¯t run into this issue with Yoruichi I would have been really confused to the increased desire to kill me, but fearing that someone had ripped part of your comrade¡¯s soul from them and was going to use it against you was funny like that. ¡°I picked this little treasure up from the last officer I had the pleasure of meeting. She was much more polite than you by the way. She actually introduced herself.¡± I conveniently left out that I hadn¡¯t returned the favor, but we were talking about Hinamori¡¯s manners not mine. ¡°It looked like it would be fun to play with, I might try yours out after this.¡± I teasingly finished, tracing a copy of her sword in my off hand. Her face did an odd combination of paleing of shock and reddening from rage that was actually rather concerning. ¡°You steal Zanpakutou?¡± she asked, sounding horrified. ¡°Nope. Just copy them.¡± I flippantly replied. I had a feeling this was going to come up a lot in the future. Best be upfront about it so the entire Seireitei isn¡¯t howling for my head. ¡°A mirror image, if you will.¡± Hinamori relaxes the tiniest bit at that before growling and launching another fireball from her sword before trying to Shunpo away. I countered her fireball with one of my own -and holy hell is that so much more draining than using mana based abilities- and interrupt her Shunpo by yanking on the chain still tied around her leg. Missing a step, Hinamori is sent skidding over the floor and into another one of the crates causing another explosion of dust. Which is unfortunately ignited when my second fireball slams into her and causes a secondary explosion. Oops, didn¡¯t mean for that to happen. ¡°You still alive miss lieutenant?¡± A coughing Hinamori stumbles out of the smoke left behind from her explosive experience, looking incredibly disheveled. Her left shoulder was still bleeding somewhat badly, but now she was covered in slight to moderate burns. The worst being the burned section above her right hip where the fireball hit her directly. She made a show of getting back into a guard position but we both knew it was more a token resistance than ability to continue the fight. After a few more coughs she was able to meet my eyes and get mostly under control. She opened her mouth to say something before an overwhelming feeling of bloodlust and Reiatsu even I could easily detect with my horrible sensory skills filled the air. Spirit 2.9 It was moments like this that made me relatively grateful I was so poor at sensing Reiatsu. While I was able to get the broadest strokes of presences once they were strong enough, they still didn¡¯t get more accurate than ¡®there is a lot of it¡¯ and ¡®its that-ish way¡¯. Hinamori on the other hand looked like someone dropped the sky on her. She was sweating like crazy and looked ready to faint from just the effort of standing up. Moments later the presence cut out and Hinamori collapsed in relief. From the way she just glared at me while remaining on her knees, I assumed that the sudden pressure from what I was suspecting was Ichigo and Zaraki knocked out what little energy she had left. Good thing too, since I doubted I had time to continue this fight for much longer before someone came to investigate. I cautiously approached the fallen Lieutenant dismissing both the copy of her weapon and my kusarigama, whose chain had actually been shattered in the explosion. I stopped a few feet away from her and just kinda stood there. Hinamori continued staring angrily at me from the ground, still lacking the energy to move. I gave her a hesitant smile. This is awkward. ¡°So, uhh¡­ sorry this is ending like this, but I think I need to go pickup a teammate, um, better luck next time?¡± ¡°Captain Aizen will stop you.¡± She declared. I didn¡¯t really have anything to say to that so I simply knocked her out and placed a stronger version of the sleeping curse on her. That way she would remain unconscious for the next five days or so unless someone managed to disrupt the spell or shock her out of it. I figured leaving the lieutenant to bleed to death in a warehouse wouldn¡¯t win me any points with the Seireitei so I also hit her with a quick healing spell. Not nearly enough to fix her up, but it stopped any bleeding and made it so her burns looked a few days old rather than just inflicted. Basic first aid, magical edition. Now that the lieutenant had been dealt with, I began speeding towards my best guess of Ichigo¡¯s location. I was praying that this wasn¡¯t the time I found out that I butterflied something that made everything worse for us, because this was the second of three instances where Ichigo was a hair away from death. Thankfully once I had gotten past the stairs we were at yesterday, it was very easy to spot the trail of destruction caused by the duel between Ichigo and the squad 11 captain. The skyline with a clearly missing building gave me a good place to start and the surrounding rubble created a trail that led me right to the ending place of the fight pretty easily. I sprinted around the corner and felt everything crash to a halt as I got an eyeful of a very naked Yoruichi pasting something over one of the many cuts on Ichigo¡¯s torso. ¡°About time you got here! Hurry up and grab him, we need to get him to a safe house now.¡± She snapped. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± ¡°Alexandria!¡± ¡°R-right! Coming¡­¡± -o- A while later after a frantic rush through the streets, ducking in and out of random buildings, jumping rooftops, and me being left behind for several minutes while Yoruichi flew off with Ichigo on a giant skeletal wing until she came back for me, I found myself leaning with my back to the wall and eyes firmly closed while Yoruichi tended to the wounded teen. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have thought you were this shy, Alexandria. Especially since you spent months around Kisuke with little problem.¡± Yoruichi called over. I cracked an eyelid, nope still very naked. ¡°I can joke about it, sure. But casual nudity is a little out of my comfort zone.¡± ¡°Your surprisingly innocent, you know that?¡± she scoffed, ¡°Anyways, who got you all ruffled? I know you didn¡¯t run into a captain, so clearly one of the lieutenants out there gave you a better show than you expected.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I let out a long sigh, ¡°Yeah, Aizen¡¯s lieutenant. She caught me going through his stuff and was surprisingly crafty. Really likes fireballs by the way.¡± ¡°Why were you going through Aizen¡¯s stuff?¡± ¡°Wanted to see if I could raid his underwear drawer and scatter them all over the place.¡± I deadpanned. I could practically feel the disbelieving glare coming from the assassin. But I let the silence stretch for a little bit before relenting. ¡°Fine, I went to raid his paperwork. I found a letter he wrote to try and set up some other captain as his murderer. So he probably faked his death by now and is hiding out somewhere until the execution.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why the hell would Aizen try framing a Captain for his murder when we are running around? Let me see that letter.¡± Yoruichi snached the letter out of my hand while I shifted into a more comfortable position. ¡°Well, we have been going out of our way to be non-lethal so it¡¯s kinda weird for us to just off a captain. But more likely, however Aizen faked his death wouldn¡¯t stand up to scrutiny if the rest of the squads aren¡¯t focused on something else. We are distracting, sure. But we haven¡¯t disrupted enough of the other squads for them to ignore the death of a Captain for us.¡± I theorized while she read Aizen¡¯s letter. Yoruichi hummed in thought, ¡°Its possible,¡± she conceded, ¡°though most likely he¡¯s using some throwaway plans to in an effort to remove a few more officer-level Shinigami before he reveals himself.¡± Eyes still closed, I tilted my head in her direction, ¡°what do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh for¡­¡± there was a flash of blue light and a much deeper voice continued, ¡°There, better?¡± Cracking an eye again I saw Yoruichi went back to her cat form. After giving her a smile and a nod, she continued. ¡°Aizen¡¯s ultimate goal is to get his hands on the Hogyoku.¡± she reminded me, ¡°while I¡¯m sure he feels confident to escape from three or even four captains, he would probably take precautions so nothing goes wrong with actually acquiring it in the first place. In this case, we can probably conclude his lieutenant isn¡¯t part of his main group and was to be sacrificed being sent against Captain Hitsugiya. If by some miracle she takes him out, the squads are down a captain. Otherwise they still need to investigate and Lieutenant Hinamori is either already dead or imprisoned. In either case, squad five is out both its senior officers and certain duties will need to be handled by other squads and they will need to investigate the assault so even more manpower is tied up.¡± Yoruichi started to pace around the room. ¡°You said his lieutenant caught you?¡± I nodded. ¡°How badly did you put her down? If she recovers quickly enough, Aizen might try to goad her into attacking someone again.¡± I gave her a quick summary. Nothing more serious than one decent sword wound and some burns, if it wasn¡¯t for the curse Hinamori would probably have been fine in a few days. You would think people would be more appreciative of Squad Four with recovery times like that but nope, Soul Reapers were stupid like that. ¡°Okay, good news is you probably stopped Aizen from any more attempts to use his lieutenant as a sacrificial pawn. Bad news is Aizen¡¯s plan was still partially successful.¡± I grimaced as I thought that through, ¡°Cause now squad five is out its captain and lieutenant just like he wanted, dammit.¡± Yoruichi just nodded, ¡°That¡¯s how it is dealing with Aizen. Even if his plan fails it still advances his interests somehow. Don¡¯t feel too down though, at least you managed to preserve some of the Goteij¨±santai¡¯s fighting force from whatever Aizen hoped to accomplish in the future.¡± I lowered my head into my hands and let out a long groan, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t this just be a simple rescue mission? Just go in, beat up the bad guys, and leave. Is that too much to ask for?¡± Yoruichi put a consoling paw on my knee then went back to monitoring Ichigo. I sighed and pulled out my idea¡¯s notebook. I had some thoughts about that AI I wanted to jot down. -o- Hours later I was unsure whether to be grateful Ichigo¡¯s seemingly inextinguishable vitality allowed him to recover so quickly from near fatal wounds, or curse that he wouldn¡¯t stay down long enough to actually heal. Everything started off nice enough, Ichigo woke up with little issue. Though he did surprise the both of us he was up so soon. Yoruichi decided she had enough of playing housepet and decided to kill Ichigo by reverting back to her human form right in front of him. My unimpressed glare was completely ignored by the cat-girl, who proceeded to flaunt her physique in an attempt to fluster me again while pretending to explain how she managed to transport Ichigo in his wounded state. It was...partially successful, since my face felt like it was on fire when I dragged her into the side room, more of a storage closet really, to find her clothes. Her loudly complaining I wasn¡¯t this forceful the last time she reverted to her original form while I did my best to stuff her into an outfit certainly didn¡¯t help. Despite that, I could plainly see the amusement in her eyes as she went about getting dressed, taking longer than strictly necessary just to squeeze a bit more enjoyment out of the whole event. I think Ichigo was ready to pass out from the images Yoruichi implied before I got angry and told her to get back to explaining her little flying artifact she was so proud of. Which she did, fully dressed even! Until another massive spiritual presence flooded the Seireitei, then everything just went crazy. Ichigo promptly ¡®stole¡¯ the wing artifact off of Yoruichi and then rushed out to confront what was probably yet another Captain level opponent stating he needed to go rescue his friends, ignoring the two stronger healthy combatants in the room. I just stared accusingly at Yoruichi for allowing it in the first place. ¡°What? He wouldn¡¯t stay put anyway.¡± Yoruichi said, ¡°Now he gets a look at what a proper Captain feels like, not one restricting himself for a better fight.¡± She quickly packed up a few things before handing me a folded piece of paper. ¡°I¡¯ll go make sure he doesn¡¯t get in over his head and meet you at this location. Don¡¯t play too long!¡± She said, then vanished with a Shunpo. I stared at the empty space she used to be, -Don¡¯t play too long? What is that supposed to mean?- before I went to finish packing up my personal items. Just as the last of my notes were packed away I heard someone land on the area outside of our little hideout, which instantly put me on edge. The hideout Yoruichi picked out was literally a hole in the wall. A repurposed cave that was used for storage on the far side of Sokyoku hill that was almost completely hidden from view by foliage near the entrance. If someone was poking around I was either damn unlucky and they needed something in storage, or someone spotted us when we were rushing to get Ichigo to a place to heal up and sent people to investigate. Since I doubted anyone would actually need anything in this place, I was certain I was about to have some very hostile visitors. With all of my stuff out of the way, I quickly traced my swords i and got ready for my guest to arrive. There wasn¡¯t a door to the storage area I was in. Only a wooden gate that had remained open since Ichigo¡¯s sudden exit, so there was no dramatic entrance from the Soul Reaper. Instead she just calmly walked through the entrance, sword drawn but curiously not released. ¡°You are very hard to find, miss Ryoka.¡± The Soul Reaper said lightly. ¡°I believe we were interrupted last time. Hopefully we can continue where we left off?¡± I raised my swords in a crossed-guard looking for any sudden movements. ¡°Hi Natsumi. Sure, I have some time to spare.¡± Interlude NH -Squad 4 Barracks- Things had not been going well for Natsumi Hanakage ever since the Ryoka decided to launch their little invasion. What should have been a straightforward tracking mission for an intruder had resulted in a dismantling of her team and her own defeat at the hands of a foe that barely seemed to take them seriously. Since then, she had been all but imprisoned in the medical area by an increasingly overworked Squad 4. More and more casualties poured in as the majority of Squad 11 was collected from various battlegrounds, their own attempts at stopping the Ryoka not really going any better than hers did and various Seated Officers were discovered after being defeated in duels. As such, Captain Unohana was making her way through the barracks making sure that no one was giving the medics any unneeded stress as they dealt with anything from near-death cases such as Lieutenant Renji Abarai, who had arrived barely an hour after she did, to worms like Sanji Ikari, a member of a minor noble family who severely sprained his ankle and was practically demanding priority treatment from one of the attendants. At the time Natsumi had been trying to convince her own attendant to let her leave and report back to Squad 2, bruises and concussion be damned. She was even being polite to the clearly overworked girl! Mostly. Okay, her temper was starting to take over but she really needed to contact her Captain. When Natsumi saw Captain Unohana walking towards her, she thought it would be perfect to explain the urgency of the situation so she could leave. Then Ikari opened his mouth and drew the Captain¡¯s attention. While the conversation between the two didn¡¯t carry down the hall, Natsumi suddenly felt very afraid of the gentle Captain. Something about her smile was just sending all kinds of warnings that annoying her would end badly. Luckily for him, Ikari must have felt the same since he gave the attendant no more issues. By the time Unohana reached Natsumi and politely asked if she needed anything, all thoughts of trying to leave before getting cleared by the medics had been thoroughly suppressed. Instead Natsumi simply thanked the Captain and requested the attendant to alert her Captain she was awake and needed a meeting, as well as to retrieve her reports so she could keep up to date on the situation even if she couldn¡¯t leave. By the smirk on the attendant¡¯s face, Natsumi wasn¡¯t fooling anyone. But they still granted her request and sent two messengers off, while Natsumi went back to her room. Minutes later a different Squad 4 member arrived with stacks of paperwork and a message that Captain Soi-Fon was busy dealing with several immediate issues and would only have the time to see Natsumi in the morning. After thanking the messenger, Natsumi followed him to a different area of the barracks where she was provided with another room. One meant for mostly recovered officers most likely, considering the desk along one of the walls. She once again thanked the messenger, then sat down at the desk and began shifting through the various reports. -o- Early next morning, Natsumi was finally getting caught up with the full state of the disaster that had happened since the rest of the Ryoka forces had appeared. Squad 11 was essentially wiped out. The rank and file had run into a few high level combatants and in their normal brain dead fashion simply tried to overwhelm the invaders in a straightforward fight. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Needless to say, it did not go well. Now 80% of the squad was getting patched up along with their third, fifth, and eighth seat officers. Other squads had taken casualties but the 11th was by far the worst. However, the other squads were dealing with other issues than massive personnel loss. Squad 6¡¯s Renji Abarai had been nearly killed facing the invaders. While that wasn¡¯t any different from the information Natsumi picked up from the staff¡¯s gossip network, what was shocking was that Abarai was promptly imprisoned after treatment on charges of dereliction and acts unbecoming of an officer. That had the rest of Squad 6 running around like headless chickens trying to organise chain of command, patrol routes, normal day-to-day, and other things without bringing the attention of Captain Kuchiki down on them. Not that Natsumi could blame them, since the captain himself decided that an emergency situation was the perfect time to go insane and personally imprison his Lieutenant. The other squads were doing a similar dance as various officers were disabled. Luckily most were only wounded, whether those were light or moderate wounds varied, but the officers could still perform most of their duties from a hospital bed if needed. Squad 7¡¯s 4th Seat Jir¨­b¨­ Ikkanzaka was not as fortunate. The large man had been found early into the main invasion of the Ryoka with several crippling injuries. Some so grave that his career as a Shinigami was likely over barring a miracle. Natsumi was so caught up in her paperwork that she didn¡¯t realize she was not alone until a cold voice startled her. ¡°While it¡¯s nice to see you take your job seriously Third Seat Hanakage, I believe there was a matter that you needed to discuss with me?¡± Instantly she snapped to attention and spun to face her captain, launching out of the chair that had been provided to her in the process. ¡°Apologies Captain, I didn¡¯t notice you come in.¡± The commander of the Stealth Force and Captain of Squad 2 Soi-fon was standing in the middle of the office/bedroom Natsumi had been provided when it became clear she wasn¡¯t leaving. Thankfully while the captain did seem annoyed, it didn¡¯t seem like Natsumi was the direct source of it. Which was a very good thing since despite being a few inches taller than her captain, the sheer weight of her gaze made Natsumi feel an inch tall. If she was the cause of her captain¡¯s mood there was no way she would feel capable of making her report. ¡®Which might change very soon, anyway.¡¯ she thought darkly. After all, her report wasn¡¯t good news. ¡°Report. I want to hear every detail about your encounter with the Ryoka.¡± Dutifully Natsumi recounted the entire encounter, explaining how a near textbook ambush failed so spectacularly, how a squad containing elites of the unit was taken down like academy initiates, and finally the conversation she had with the red and black clad invader. Captain Soi-fon¡¯s face was a picture of anger by the end of the report. Natsumi was doing her best to look calm, but inside she was trembling. An angry captain wasn¡¯t something you wanted to be anywhere close to if it could be helped. ¡°Do you have any indication the Ryoka was lying about knowing the identity of the traitors?¡± The Captain asked once she calmed down some. Natsumi was shocked, ¡°I didn¡¯t see any overt signs of lying, but surely you can¡¯t be taking this seriously? Three traitors undiscovered for over a hundred years? Its unthinkable¡­¡± ¡°Normally, I might agree with you. However the Captain of Squad 5, Sousuke Aizen, failed to arrive for the morning Captain¡¯s meeting. Something that has only happened a handful of times during his time as a Captain. Initially we thought he was delayed by something caused by the Ryoka, but now we will need to locate him immediately and confirm he wasn¡¯t assassinated.¡± Her eyes sharpened and focused on Natsumi, ¡°Third Seat Hanakage, how exactly did the Ryoka manage to defeat you in one attack.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. Just a slightly more polite demand for an explanation. ¡°I¡­¡± Natsumi began haltingly, fidgeting under the gaze of her captain. ¡°...I let my guard down.¡± She finally admitted. ¡°When the Ryoka shattered my barrier and I caught her with Kusarihebi, I assumed she couldn¡¯t use another ranged attack without either spiking her Reiatsu or freeing herself first. So I relaxed my defences while I waited for reinforcements. Then the Ryoka pulled out a device that was capable of firing something like a Cero and it disabled me.¡± ¡°She can use Cero?¡± The captain snapped, looking shocked. Natsumi shook her head, ¡°In form only, other than that the attack lacked the feel and power of even the weakest Ceros. But I left myself completely open and that was enough.¡± Captain Soi-fon nodded at the new information, ¡°Very well, under normal circumstances are you capable of defeating this Ryoka?¡± Natsumi carefully thought about her answer, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say for certain since the Ryoka kept such a tight handle on her Reiatsu level the entire fight, but I don¡¯t believe she is out of my capabilities.¡± Once again, the captain nodded, ¡°Unfortunately, the rest of the squad is tied up so I cannot send any support with you. Even so¡­ Natsumi Hanakage!¡± Captain Soi-fon suddenly said. Natsumi straightened up. ¡°Captain!¡± ¡°I¡¯m ordering you to track down the Ryoka and capture her. Report to no one other than either myself or Head-Captain Yamamoto until the identities of any traitors has been confirmed.¡± With that Captain Soi-fon spun on her heel and made her way to the door. Pausing at the entrance to look over her shoulder. ¡°One more thing, do not allow yourself to lower your guard again. Nobility politics may have forced that buffoon Omaeda into a position above you, but I will not accept your skills falling to his level. Is that understood?¡± Natsumi bowed deeply, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. It won¡¯t happen again.¡± Spirit 2.10 Historically speaking, in most conflicts the defending side has an inherent advantage when it comes to indoor fighting. At least in a confrontation between two similarly armed combatants with no specially prepared options. The attacker can only enter through certain areas, blindspots caused by doors can be exploited, Kido gave a big middle finger to that advantage. Up until this moment, I thought the biggest reason most of the surrounding buildings in the Seireitei were as large as they are was due to aesthetics as the ¡®capital of the afterlife¡¯ thing they were going for. Now that I was stuck in a relatively tiny room with only one exit and an enemy that was possibly capable of filling said room with fire, lighting, and explosions the thought of having a lot of room to avoid those things suddenly really appealed to me. While I was making plans on how to confront the Soul Reaper in front of me, I was also checking her over. It was only a day since we fought, yet she seemed completely recovered. Her black hair tied behind her in a simple braid, and dark grey eyes darting between myself and the room. ¡°You look good,¡± I said casually. ¡°But then I guess your medics have gotten a lot of practice recently.¡± It definitely was not a good idea to taunt from my position, but finding myself cornered was making me feel a bit more aggressive than I normally would be. And it seems I was expressing that by shoving the fact my group had put dozens of her friends and colleagues into the hospital in her face. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, wrestling with my sudden anxiety until I calmed down some. Once I opened them again I looked directly at Natsumi¡¯s face. She had a placid calm expression, but I could clearly see the anger in her eyes. ¡°Sorry, that was tasteless of me.¡± I said. ¡°Indeed,¡± Natsumi replied. ¡°You on the other hand, look a bit scuffed up.¡± The light jab at my appearance was easily ignored. What she was really fishing for was who I fought and the result of the fight. I wasn¡¯t really interested in telling her though, so I kept quiet. ¡°You seem much less talkative, miss Ryoka.¡± Natsumi continued. ¡°I thought you said you were okay with continuing our chat.¡± She had a point. I kinda wanted to slip the Soul Reapers some more information, and since the last Soul Reaper I talked to was taking a nap for the next few days this would be the best chance. I opened my mouth to respond, and snapped it shut as I half turned to look at the wall behind me. The massive spiritual presence that had been hanging over us suddenly cut out. The sudden absence of it startled me with the feeling of ¡®emptiness¡¯ but that one second was enough to distract me. Natsumi¡¯s hand slashed the air in front of her. ¡°Bakudo #4: Hainawa.¡± A golden rope burst out of her fingertips and wound its way around my torso, pinning my right arm at the same time. ¡°Wha the¡­¡± I managed to get out before she yanked on the end of the rope. I was pulled off my feet and out into the air. The bitch threw me off the side of a cliff! The rope splintered into light as I severed it with the blade in my left hand. Didn¡¯t stop me from falling a few hundred feet into a dense forest, but on the bright side I wasn¡¯t tied up anymore. Still falling, so that was an issue, but I also wasn¡¯t trapped in a room anymore. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Eh, I¡¯ll call it a net positive. The trees were now pretty close and while flight was on the very long list of spells I wanted, it was also one of the many that required too much computation to do without a device. Even floating was kinda had to pull off, and that was when I wasn¡¯t in freefall. Tiny branches started snapping as I passed through them. I grabbed at some of the thicker ones and used them to bleed off some momentum before managing to kick off the trunk of one of the larger trees and land on a different branch big enough to comfortably stand on. I was brought to all fours from the force of the impact but I wasn¡¯t smashed into the forest floor so I couldn¡¯t complain. Natsumi appeared across from me with shunpo, a wide smirk on her face. ¡°I apologize,¡± She said. ¡°I feel like our conversation would be better without whatever surprises you had in your hideout.¡± ¡°So you threw me off a cliff?¡± She shrugged, ¡°If that¡¯s all it took to take you out I could simply hand you over to the captain. Since you handled it we can either head back to the squad barracks peacefully or I can drag you there by force if you prefer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m noticing a distinct lack of actual talking in this conversation.¡± I said dryly as I straightened up. Natsumi tilted her head and glared at me a little, though the smirk remained in place. ¡°In many cases a fight is simply a conversation by physical means. Also surprisingly enough my Captain doesn¡¯t trust the word of an invader that showed up out of nowhere, so surrender and you can present your case. Or don¡¯t and I drag you back.¡± So go into the den of superpowered ghost assassins, or refuse and fight an officer I already easily beat. Well that was a hard choice. ¡°I think I¡¯ll pass on both choices, thanks.¡± I replied. ¡°Drag you back by force it is.¡± Natsumi said, hints of cheerful malice showing through the calm air she had been projecting. She held her sword out to one side and released it with a quick cry. After a few quick spins of the chain, Natsumi threw the now sickle bladed weapon at me. I tried hacking at the chain to get the whole thing tangled up in some of the branches surrounding us, but while I was able to deflect her weapon the chain squirmed like a living thing and actually nicked me on the way back to her hands. It wasn¡¯t much, just a small cut that barely broke the skin on my shoulder, but that it hit me at all was surprising. This far away my short swords didn¡¯t do me much good so I threw both of them at the Soul Reaper while tracing a bow. It didn¡¯t do much as they were blown out of the air by dual blasts of blue fire. I growled in frustration while firing an explosive arrow, trying to retake the initiative in the fight. She managed to block the arrow itself, but couldn¡¯t do much about the resulting explosion as she was blown back by the force. A cloud of smoke obscured her from my view as I prepared another arrow. Instead of moving closer like I expected Natsumi fell back a bit, holding her sickle in one hand while the other yanked on the chain that disappeared somewhere in the forest. I drew the string back and took aim, just in time for a whip to slam into my back with the force of a runaway car knocking me forward. I bit of a curse and brought my bow up just in time to stop Natsumi from slashing into my side and locked the two weapons together as she landed higher up on the tree I was standing on. With a quick flip Natsumi used my arm as a springboard to send a kick at my head. I let my bow disperse and used my left arm to block the attack. Even with that I was sent skidding down the tree a few feet, though I was able to see that the whip from earlier was actually the other end of the chain on Natsumi¡¯s weapon. She must have used the trees to hide it getting behind me and attack me from behind. Clever. Annoying, but clever. Kansho and Bakuya once again appeared in my hands as I used Haste to close the distance between us. Rather than clash with me Natsumi began retreating, throwing her weapon at me again and again while I was forced to duck around her blade or deflect it. More small cuts appeared on my arms and legs from where the chain reacted unnaturally when she reeled it in. Suddenly a white hot lance of pain erupted from my left hip as I missed a block and the sickle bit deep into my side. This time I didn¡¯t suppress the stream of curses as blood welled out of the cut. I hissed as I placed a hand over it while I stared at Natsumi. ¡°What¡¯s the matter miss Ryoka? Confused about how this is going differently than you expected?¡± Natsumi taunted from a little way off. She was also apparently reading my mind. ¡°You see, unlike most squads in the Gotei 13, Squad 2 rarely specialises in straight forward fights. Unlike last time, I know how you fight, can use the environment against you, and am not tied down by teammates who ran off to be morons.¡± She continued smugly, though I noted there was some real anger when she talked about the two she was with last time. An ugly thought crept into my mind as I glared at the Third Seat Officer that was so far the most powerful enemy I faced this entire time. ¡°You¡¯re one of those under-ranked officers aren¡¯t you?¡± I accusingly hissed at her. Natsumi tilted her head, frowning. ¡°Under-ranked?¡± ¡°Yeah, like the third and fifth from Squad 11. They would be could be higher ranked if they were in another squad but stayed for whatever reason.¡± Natsumi¡¯s eyebrows raised, ¡°You know about that? Interesting. But yes, you could say I¡¯m in a somewhat similar position to them.¡± Great, a non-cannon officer that was worth a damn. I knew they probably existed but I was hoping to avoid them until after this mess was taken care of. During the whole conversation I had turned my injured side away from Natsumi¡¯s view, trying to use a healing spell to slow the bleeding. I think it worked, but like most of my healing spells it would take too long to actually heal and was more of a patch job. ¡°Guess I can¡¯t play around anymore can I?¡± My hand dropped away from my side. A sword fell into my hand, hidden by the rest of my body from Natsumi. Even if she couldn¡¯t see me trace the sword, Natsumi obviously saw my hand shift. ¡°Is that so? Does that mean you will be using that gun again?¡± Her lips curled into a small sneer, ¡°Don¡¯t think you can catch me off guard like that again.¡± I started just a little, ¡°You know what a gun is?¡± Natsumi sighed, her shoulders slumping down as a look of exasperation appeared on her face. ¡°Why does everyone assume Shinigami have no idea about modern weaponry? We do transport souls of soldiers along with everyone else, you know?¡± ¡°I guess its a common question?¡± ¡°Every few years we get some teenager who died in an accident and finds themselves in the poorer districts. For whatever reason they think recreating guns will put them on top of the pecking order. Then they meet someone who has too much Reiatsu to be hurt by a normal piece of metal and get killed.¡± I¡­ I didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. ¡°R-right, no, I know it won¡¯t work on you now.¡± I stuttered. ¡°But I have other tricks up my sleeves.¡± My eyes hardened and I whipped the sword forward, a crimson fireball racing up the blade and straight toward the shocked Soul Reaper. Natsumi dodged a direct hit, but the resulting explosion kicks up a thick smokescreen. With a flick of my wrist I trace another weapon and throw it off to the side and rush her. My left arm came down in a powerful chop but Natsumi caught the copied Tobiume in the chains of her weapon. I pressed down on her making her scowl while I smirked in return. ¡°Surprise!¡± Spirit 2.11 The chain strained under the weight of my copied sword. The links groaning lightly as I added more pressure. Natsumi growled at me as her eyes jumped between the blade and my face, making sure that the sword really was the same one she thought it was but taking care to be on guard in case I tried something. ¡°How do you have that sword.¡± She demanded as I pushed the blade another inch forward. Her arms began to tremble slightly but she held my sword back just the same. ¡°Well, that one Liuetenant kept throwing fireballs at me. So I decided I wanted one of my own.¡± I replied. ¡°Yours looked fun too.¡± I held up the weapon in my right hand, surprisingly Natsumi hadn¡¯t noticed how similar it was to her own until now. Her eyes widen as recognition hits her. ¡°How is th- ¡° A black chain burst out of the surrounding branches and coiled around Natsumi¡¯s leg. I gave a harsh tug on my end that pulled her leg out from under her. With her balance destroyed, she was unable to prevent the copy of Tobiume from continuing forward, biting deep into her right shoulder. Natsumi recovered quickly as she fell away from my sword. Despite the probably incredibly painful wound in her shoulder, she snapped up her hand and with a now familiar cry caused a fireball to rush towards my face. Shakkah¨­! The crimson orb didn¡¯t have far to travel so I was only just able to cover my face before I was engulfed in the explosion. I flashed mana through my body, reinforcing it as much as I could to lower the damage dealt. While the heat and force vanished in a painful instant, smoke surrounded my upper body in a thick haze blocking everything from view. I hastily jumped back, swishing my hands through the smoke to clear my vision. As I did, I noticed that I had lost focus trying to resist the fireball and both my weapons had broken as a result. Tobiume had snapped roughly in half while Kusarihebi was reduced to just the handle, both the sickle blade and chain having been destroyed. With barely a thought I dismissed the broken blades. Landing on a different branch I quickly traced my twin swords again and looked around for Natsumi. I didn¡¯t see her but I did spot her own chain whipping towards me. Dodging was impossible so I merely brought both blades up in preparation to block. Natsumi clearly had other ideas. There was another flash of red light from a different direction and I suddenly found the branch I was on disconnected from the main trunk. Just in time for the chain to slam into me. Unable to brace against anything I was swatted out of the air and sent crashing through some of the smaller branches before cratering on the forest floor. I wasn¡¯t really injured by either the attack or the crash, even if they did hurt, but the sudden flight had left me disoriented and Natsumi was now thoroughly hidden in the trees. Shit, that isn¡¯t good. I slowly made my way back to my feet, eyes darting to every twitching branch expecting to see another attack. Ready to react to anything I saw coming my way. Nothing. ¡°Are we playing hide-n-seek now?¡± I called out. Natsumi¡¯s voice echoed out of the surroundings. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was just the forest or if she did something but I couldn¡¯t pinpoint where it was coming from. ¡°Apologies Ryoka, but the time for games passed when we found a Captain assassinated earlier today. Now I will simply do my duty, capture you, and find out everything you know about Captain Aizen¡¯s death.¡± Okay, looks like they found Aizen¡¯s fake body. That was good and bad for me. Good because Aizen hadn¡¯t changed the broad strokes of his plan even with my interference and that the Soul Reapers would definitely have to pay attention to my traitor warning. Well provided anyone other than Natsumi and Soifon knew I had warned them. Bad because Central 46 was certainly dead now and Aizen was running the government. ¡°So I proved you had a traitor and you still want to fight me? Why not work with me rather than fight?¡± I asked. ¡°Because we do not have any proof it wasn¡¯t your group anyway.¡± I turned in a circle, slowly making my way back to the treeline. ¡°You told us a Captain was a target. You¡¯ve said nothing to convince me that it wasn¡¯t your group trying to shift the blame to in internal issue, it wouldn¡¯t be the first time someone tried that.¡± I jumped back towards the center of the clearing as a blue flash exploded in front of me. Just to duck as the weighted end of a chain slashed through the air where my chest had been a second earlier. I slashed at the chain as it passed over my head and pinned it to the ground using both blades to catch the chain in an ¡®X¡¯ and stabbing it as far into the ground as I could. Once that was done I followed the chain with a Haste. Only to stop when I saw it twist into the trees and out of sight. Wasn¡¯t going to walk into that trap. Still no reason not to punish her leaving her weapon vulnerable. A quick trace later I had a sai in my hand and stabbed it deep into the tree, pinning the chain to the wood. ¡°That won¡¯t work¡± The only warning I had was the slight sound of feet kicking off bark somewhere above my head. I turned quickly to see Natsumi appear out of a sudden Shunpo and raised the rapier that appeared in my hands to ward off the sudden attack. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I turned away the first slash of her sickle but the following kick landed on my wounded hip, causing me to wince in pain. Natsumi took advantage of the opening, ducking under a retaliatory slash and swiping upwards. Pain erupted on my right arm before I lost all sensation below my elbow. A quick glance confirmed despite the freely bleeding wound I still had my arm, but she must have severed the nerves or something since I couldn¡¯t move it at all. Unwilling to let her get a second attack in, I tried to ward her off while falling further back. In a spray of splinters, the previously pinned chain whipped around Natsumi to defend against the attack. The tough metal was barely scratched by the enchanted blade but it was enough for me to deter her from following after me for a second. The two of us eyed each other warily. Neither one willing to make a move just yet. Natsumi was the first to break the silence. ¡°I just cannot seem to make sense of you.¡± she said. ¡°You have excellent combat skills and body control. In fact I think you would be a match for a captain in some places. Yet at the same time, -¡± she vanished with a shunpo. I glanced up to see her hanging midair chanting under her breath. Too far away to hear what she was saying, the first hint of what she was doing was when fist sized balls of fire started raining down in front of me. I blanched at the sheer amount of fire raining down and turned to escape with a quick hast- Natsumi had shifted the fire directly in front of where I was facing. I turned in the opposite direction, only for the fire to rain down there too. Then I was out of time and the majority of the fire swept over me and¡­ didn¡¯t really hurt? Hundreds of the tiny balls of fire hit me, but they felt like firecrackers. Sure they stung a bit but even thousands of these wouldn¡¯t do much more than maybe give me a light burn. Natsumi appeared behind me with another Shunpo, but this time I reacted faster and she was forced to block my rapier. The heavy blow lifted the smaller woman off her feet and threw her skidding back over the grassy clearing. ¡°- your movement skills are far below par.¡± Natsumi continued, as if the whole exchange never happened. ¡°It¡¯s obvious you don¡¯t use Hoh¨­. Some kind of derivative. Yet the Shunpo equivalent is inferior. You can only move forward with that technique, can¡¯t you?¡± It didn¡¯t seem like my input was needed since she continued almost immediately anyway. ¡°Thought as much. Then I will just need to disable a leg now and your defeat is certain.¡± ¡°You think it will be that easy?¡± I asked. ¡°Even if you can move faster, I think I¡¯m keeping up alright.¡± Natsumi¡¯s eyes widened as a line of blood burst from a straight cut going from shoulder to shoulder across her chest. It was clear she had no idea how I did it, and I wasn¡¯t going to tell her. ¡¯Still, glad the wind-cutter enchantment on the rapier worked. Would have been awkward if I messed up the timing there.¡¯ Other thoughts raced through my mind as well. Natsumi was far more mobile than I was with just the basic shunpo technique. She was able to bleed me slowly with hit-and-run tactics and if I didn¡¯t change something soon I might not be able to get away even if I beat her. I needed a quick way to take her down without getting myself killed so I either needed to cripple her own mobility or find a way to knock her uncon-, ¡®that could work¡¯. The rapier burst into light and my hand went behind my back as I tried to get everything in place with one hand. It was doable, but difficult. I would need a sec before everything was ready. Best way to buy time? Get the enemy talking. Good thing that was pretty easy here. ¡°Nothing to say to that Natsumi? Why the sudden silent treatment?¡± She scowled at me, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve noticed, Ryoka. You are more injured than I am. Even if you are stronger with a blade, all I need to do is wait and eventually you will fall. How well do you think you can defend with an arm in that condition?¡± Just a little more¡­ ¡°I think I¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯re also feeling the strain, aren¡¯t you? That last Kido was impressive, but it had no force behind it. You probably can¡¯t repeat it if you had to either. I think if it comes down to stamina I¡¯m better off than you.¡± ¡°That may be the case Ryoka, but I merely need to hinder you and signal for reinforcements. You are required to win our fight. I can settle for a draw if need be.¡± Finished. ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to win. Honestly I¡¯m just going to run away the first chance I get.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you need to be a little less mobile.¡± She replied before kicking off the ground and charging towards me. I wanted to fall back and give myself more time to work with but I felt something coil around my leg and realized Natsumi was buying time as well. Too bad for her my plan worked just fine even if I couldn¡¯t move. I pulled one of my last spell pistols and fired. The soul reaper must have been expecting the move since she ducked lower allowing the golden beam to pass harmlessly over her head. The pistol was useless now, the matrix would have overheated and warped from the mana flowing through it, but Natsumi wouldn¡¯t know that. I adjusted my aim like I was going to take a second shot, and felt her weapon unwrap form my leg and smack into my wrist forcing my arm off to the side. I let it and felt the spell pistol fly out of my hand into the surrounding woods. Natsumi was now too close to avoid. Instead of trying to retreat, I projected a shortsword and using my right hand brought it straight down in a vertical chop. Natsumi automatically responded to the incoming attack by sweeping her sickle upwards, easily tearing the blade from my still nerveless fingers. By the way her eyes widened she also realised her mistake but was unable to do anything about being baited as my left hand slammed into her torso. ¡¯I win.¡¯ Natsumi was sent tumbling off in one direction. I sighed in relief as everything worked out, only to collapse when my right leg suddenly gave out. Dammit, Natsumi got another hit in even with the feint. ¡°He he he¡± The sound of laughter snapped my attention back to the Soul Reaper. Natsumi had gotten back to her feet, clutching her right side. With a sharp jerk she pulled something out of her torso and held it up to her face. ¡°A punch dagger?¡± Natsumi asked. ¡°You tricked me into thinking you regained the use of your arm and the best you could do with that opening was a punch dagger?¡± She shook her head. ¡°No matter, with your leg in that condition you can no longer escape before someone else shows up. I don¡¯t even need to fight you anymore, simply watching from the sur- huh?¡± Natsumi took a shaky step forward and immediately collapsed to her hands and knees. All strength fleeing from her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Natsumi?¡± I smirked ¡°Feeling a bit weak?¡± ¡°W-what did y-you do?¡± She was glaring at me but considering she looked like a gentle wind would knock her over at this point really lessened the impact. ¡°Hollow dagger filled with this.¡± I replied, holding up a near empty vial of green liquid. ¡°Swiped some off a squad four member and figured out some uses for it. It was an interesting conversation.¡± The vial was something I swiped off Hanataro while we were treating Ichigo after his duel with Renji. I vaguely remembered it being something that acted as a fast-acting tranquilizer for people with low Reiatsu. When I asked him more about he told me it eventually worked for stronger people but you would need a huge amount to get past the natural barrier anyone with high Reiatsu had. Even then it tended to just reduce body control not actually knock the person out. I pointed out that you could just inject it or coat a weapon with it to get past that if need be, but apparently the liquid evaporated rapidly outside of the sealed containers they were stored in and apparently poison was not something Soul Reapers used outside of Zanpakuto abilities. That I was able to actually inject enough to make a difference was due to a much larger amount of luck than I would have liked, but it had worked. Natsumi¡¯s face was a picture of shock. ¡°Shinten? H-how did you-¡± ¡°-stop it from evaporating while in the dagger?¡± I interrupted, ¡°Easy, while we both were talking I was filling the blade. It wasn¡¯t out of the container for more than a few seconds. You were just unlucky.¡± ¡°D-damn, guess it''s a draw then. I can¡¯t continue, and you aren¡¯t going anywhere on that leg.¡± Natsumi complained. ¡°So now what.¡± ¡°Now I heal up and get on with my day.¡± I scoffed. I limped to the closest tree I could and sat down leaning my back on the trunk. Almost immediately after that a yellow circle appeared in my left hand as I began to heal the various wounds I had. ¡°You k-know Kaid¨­. O-of course you know Kaid¨­. Dammit.¡± Natsumi said bitterly. Then she slumped to her side, unconscious I assume. Some time later, I had patched myself up enough I was confident I could make it to the cave Yoruichi had gone without being completely helpless or collapsing on the way. I was also nice enough to fix Natsumi up so she wouldn¡¯t bleed out in the forest. Now I was almost at my destination and was really looking forward to a nap. I was making my way down a stupidly long ladder when my arm gave out again. While I had managed to restore some feeling to it, I definitely was not fully healed and that was ignoring the several other injuries I had. Luckily I was near the bottom of the ladder when I fell off, maybe only a few feet, so I wasn¡¯t further hurt by the fall. I was also content just to lay in a heap on the ground. Eventually two feet entered my vision and I heard Yoruichi¡¯s voice. ¡°What the hell happened to you?!¡± Spirit 2.12 ¡°What the hell happened to you?!¡± I glared up at the werecat. Yoruichi managed to look simultaneously concerned and amused about my condition. ¡°Oh I don¡¯t know. Maybe it was the Soul Reaper that showed up and had me trapped in that stupid storage room? Y¡¯know the one you told me to ¡®have fun with¡¯? Ring any bells?¡± Yoruichi looked shocked. ¡°The second squad lieutenant managed to push you that far? Huh, we really underestimated him in that case. All of our info said he was a near-useless fighter.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked, confused. ¡°It was the third seat of squad two not the Lieutenant.¡± Now it was Yoruichi that looked confused. ¡°The third seat?¡± She said, then got a pensive look on her face. ¡°That makes more sense I suppose. If her Lieutenant was as worthless as we heard Soifon would have definitely made sure that the third seat was capable of being her actual second in command.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, your girlfriend has a competent subordinate. You couldn¡¯t have made sure who it was before I nearly got my ass kicked?¡± ¡°Well I, uh, actually don¡¯t know who the officers in squad two are anymore.¡± Yoruichi confessed, scratching her cheek and looking off to one side. I shifted so I was at least sitting down rather than crumpled at the base of the ladder. ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t know who the officers of your old squad are? I know Kisuke said you guys were kicked out around a hundred years ago, but isn¡¯t that kinda a short time for you guys?¡± ¡°And how do you know I used to be in squad two?¡± Yoruichi asked. ¡°Kisuke leaves things out. Did you know he has a diary?¡± She rolled her eyes, ¡°Of course you found one of those. Moron needs to stop leaving personal information laying around.¡± she muttered. She walked over to me and reached out a hand, ¡°A hundred years is a hundred years. Even if our lifespans are much longer than living people, it¡¯s still a long time. Now come on, we can talk more when you get fixed up.¡± I took her hand and allowed her to pull me to my feet. I¡¯d like to say I didn¡¯t need the help, but even after Yoruichi helped me up I still needed her help to limp further into the underground cavern. Overall it was incredibly similar to the underground training room under Urahara¡¯s shop. Large rock outcroppings littered the space, sparse vegetation grew randomly, and the roof was artificially illuminated by some unknown source. Probably some sort of Kido now that I thought about it. Honestly there wasn¡¯t much more to say about the place. It was large, looked like a rocky wasteland, and if it wasn¡¯t covered in swords there was nothing of interest in the whole place. Speaking of swords, the place was COVERED in swords. The show really didn¡¯t do this part justice with the sheer amount of blades stabbed into the earth. Though there were some dust clouds being kicked up every now and then. Looking closer I spotted Ichigo fighting a middle-aged man with glasses in a dark cloak. The two of them didn¡¯t seem to notice me or Yoruichi at all. Which was fine. I was at my limits anyway. Talking to people wasn¡¯t very high on my things to do list right now. ¡°So Ichigo¡¯s training then? And I suppose that''s his Zanpakuto spirit since he is the one running around with Zangetsu?¡± I asked as Ichigo¡¯s blade shattered into fragments. Impressively, the teen got right back up, grabbed another blade, and continued fighting. ¡°Yeah, if we want him to have any sort of chance against another Captain, he will need to master Bankai.¡± said Yoruichi. ¡°We are out of time and the only chance we have left is the execution itself.¡± She started steering me to one area of the cavern while I gave her a look. ¡°Out of time? Kisuke never mentioned a time limit other than the actual execution, something I should know?¡± ¡°Not an actual time limit.¡± She said waving me off. ¡°But by now we lost the element of surprise. The Gotei will start organizing by now so rushing in will just leave us facing more and more opponents. Oh watch out.¡± We both stopped as Ichigo crashed into the ground directly in front of us, another broken blade in his hand. Zangetsu dove down on top of him cratering the ground with his blade when Ichigo rolled away. I covered my face as we were sprayed with dirt and shards of stone while the two of them bounded off to continue their duel. ¡°Was that really necessary?¡± Yoruichi just laughed, ¡°I doubt it was on purpose. Let¡¯s go. It''s right over here.¡± A bit further off was a natural hot spring. Or at least it looked natural. Considering this place was apparently made by Yoruichi and her friends at some point I wasn¡¯t too sure just what was natural and what would have been added later. ¡°Here, this spring should help heal your injuries.¡± ¡°This looks really nice actually. Any chance you have a tow- aah!¡± There was a strong shove from behind and I briefly found myself upside down looking at a smirking Yoruichi before I was underwater. I exploded to the surface coughing and spluttering. I tried to glare at the stupid cat but the effect was entirely ruined by me angrily brushing hair and water out of my eyes. ¡°What the hell was that for!¡± ¡°The girlfriend comment!¡± Yoruichi laughed. I noticed she had managed to strip the pouches and pistols off my outfit and placed them in a pile by the edge of the spring. ¡°Have fun with the bath, I¡¯m going to go supervise Ichigo.¡± I splashed some water at her but she was gone in a shunpo long before the water got close. Even so, I couldn¡¯t help the smile on my face from her antics. It was pretty funny. Of course now I needed to plan my revenge. Couldn¡¯t let the cat think she got away with this. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. A minute of concentration later and I had managed to shift my clothes into a large white bath towel. While I wasn¡¯t uncomfortable being naked in a bath, I wasn¡¯t about to give anyone a free show. Moving over to the edge of the spring myself, I relaxed into the water and closed my eyes. I could feel my cuts and injuries closing while the tension bled out of my muscles. Today was exhausting. I think I¡¯m just going to soak for a minute. -o- A loud splash startled me out of my nap. That I actually fell asleep was a bit startling but not very surprising. I was tired. It was actually more impressive I hadn¡¯t accidentally drowned myself while I was asleep. Still, seeing another person in the water had me fully awake now. Ichigo had apparently decided to enjoy the hot spring and going by how he was acting hadn¡¯t noticed I had been in the spring as well. He was splashing around like an idiot yelling about how awesome it was that his injuries were healing. I might have been more forgiving about his excitement normally. But he woke me up! So rather than give him any sort of warning about what was about to happen, I just adjusted so I was comfortable and got ready for a show. Ichigo was still playing around in the water, having filled his mouth with the stuff, when Yoruichi made her way behind him. ¡°Hey Ichigo! How¡¯s the water?¡± ¡°Mururiri-ran?Omph mirmph mraa! Mro mram ma mram.¡± I had no idea what he said but it sounded pretty positive. Yoruichi though, apparently had no issues understanding him. ¡°Oh? That¡¯s good. Then I guess I¡¯ll take a bath too.¡± and started stripping. Ichigo pulled off a truly impressive spit-take and started panicking. It was incredibly entertaining watching him bounce between coughing, glancing at Yoruichi, and hiding his face practically all at the same time. ¡°I-idiot! What are you saying?! Why the hell are you taking off your pants?!¡± Yoruichi caught me looking over at them and gave me a wink before going back to provoking Ichigo. ¡°Heheh it¡¯s not that big a deal, loosen up! Don¡¯t be so old fashioned.¡± ¡°S-stop making fun of me!¡± Ichigo weakly protested before shouting. ¡°No, wait! Don¡¯t come over here, stop!¡± ¡°Heh who would have thought you would be so innocent.¡± Yoruichi teased. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me!¡± My hand was over my mouth, trying desperately to keep myself from laughing. Yoruichi had slipped free of the last of her clothing and Ichigo had his hands over his eyes. The werecat sent another look at me, clearly trying to not laugh herself, before shifting into her feline form and slipping into the water. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re so worked up about.¡± She said in her now much more masculine voice. Her tail twitched back and forth while she swam lazy circles in front of Ichigo. My shoulders were shaking with the effort not needed to laugh. ¡°Eh?¡± Ichigo replied dumbly. He slowly peeked through his fingers before dropping his hands entirely and just staring at the cat. ¡°What?¡± asked Yoruichi smugly. ¡°Are you a little disappointed? You are, aren¡¯t you. You little pervert.¡± Any hints embarrassment vanished from Ichigo and were replaced by an enraged snarl. ¡°I am going to drown you.¡± He threatened. That was the last straw. I tried to muffle it but soon I was nearly howling with laughter. Ichigo damn near jumped out of the water from the unexpected sound which only set me off again. ¡°Alexandria?! When did you get here?¡± ¡°She was here for the past few hours Ichigo. Did you seriously not notice her when you came over?¡± ¡°I-I was distracted by the hot spring even being here! It¡¯s not like you expect to find something like this in a cave anyway!¡± While the two of them bickered, I eventually managed to get my laughter under control. ¡°Whoo I needed that. Thanks for the comedy show you two.¡± I said. Ichigo refused to look directly at me, but turned somewhat in my direction. ¡°Uh hmm, if uh, if you want me to come back in a bit I could leave?¡± Well that was considerate of him. Jeez Yoruichi was right, he really is innocent. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ve been in for awhile. Enjoy the water.¡± I said, ¡°Oh, Yoruichi? When you¡¯re done can you come find me? I have a few questions you might be able to help with.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I quickly left the water and made my way over to where Yoruichi had left my stuff when I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest. It felt like shards of glass were shifting all around inside and then just as fast as I felt it, it vanished. One hand rose and lightly rested on my collarbone, but nothing else felt wrong. Odd. Yoruichi noticed the odd movements though. ¡°Alexandria are you alright?¡± She asked, which naturally drew Ichigo¡¯s attention. I just waved her off and gathered up my things. ¡°It was nothing, probably just spent too much time in the spring.¡± I replied as I walked off to find a place to work. I had limited time before the finale and I needed to make the most of it now. Besides, it was probably nothing¡­ right? -o- I think my favorite thing about the weird barrier jacket I had going on, and I probably should come up with a better name for it, was that changing clothes was super easy. Yes, it still took a while to do specific clothing but the default Archer uniform took seconds and was perfectly clean every time. Between that and the healing effects of the spring it felt like I was completely recovered from all the fights I had gotten in. It was an incredible feeling not to have to compensate for injuries anymore. And so to celebrate I was sprawled out one one of the larger flat rocks in the area, enjoying the feeling of not needing to keep up my guard while I went over several notes I had taken when developing my Haste spell. Even in the short time I had been going over it, I had found several places where slight improvements could be implemented just by looking at the spell code. The original version was good for what I had in mind, but even with my inherited skills I was only now starting to understand exactly what was needed for real combat now that I had been in some outside of a spar. I was working on changing the spell from forward acceleration into a more general speed increase when I noticed Ichigo and Yoruichi making their way over. Both of them looked clean having come out of the hotspring, but Ichigo seemed like he was determined to do something. He was making a beeline right for me with a serious look on his face. Yoruichi was following behind him back in her human form at a fairly sedate pace looking much more relaxed, so I hope it¡¯s nothing super urgent. Any new issues would just take away from what little time I had left to improve my spell. ¡°Hey guys, how was the water?¡± I asked when they were close enough. ¡°It was nice. A relaxing bath was exactly what I needed after running around taking care of this idiot.¡± Yoruichi replied. ¡°We were just about to get back to his Bankai training but he wanted to ask you some things.¡± ¡°Okay? What¡¯s up?¡± Ichigo looked between the two of us before taking a deep breath. ¡°Alex, who exactly are you?¡± Well, wasn¡¯t this interesting. Ichigo and I hadn¡¯t really talked much. I was usually either busy working on a project or doing something for Urahara when Ichigo was running around Karakura so I hadn¡¯t introduced myself, and the little training match after he recovered his powers was the only other time I really saw him before we left. Even after we arrived, Ichigo had preferred to run off and do his own thing rather than talk to me. Not that I really made any attempt myself. In fact I might have been worse since I had run off several times myself to do something and barely let any of Ichigo¡¯s friends know what I was doing. I decided that this conversation was likely meant I wouldn¡¯t be able to pay attention to my spell work, so I put down my notes and shifted so I was sitting cross-legged on the stone. ¡°Um, what exactly are you looking for here?¡± I asked, ¡°Cause I don¡¯t think either one of us has time for long stories.¡± Not that I would tell him the full story anyway. I still hadn¡¯t told Urahara and Yoruichi about where I came from. The fact they had a somewhat accurate guess worked in my favor, and I wasn¡¯t going to correct them anytime soon. ¡°You¡¯re right. But I kinda just want to know more about you guys.¡± Ichigo said rubbing the back of his head. ¡°It''s just I kinda realized how little we know about everyone from Urahara¡¯s shop. I mean I¡¯m really glad you guys are helping us out but I don¡¯t really know why.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m guessing Yoruichi didn¡¯t want to talk for some reason¡± I said looking over at the woman. She shrugged. ¡°I mentioned some things about myself and Kisuke, but we¡¯ve known each other for a long time. I¡¯m fine talking about him because I know what he doesn¡¯t mind being shared out. You and I aren¡¯t like that.¡± She started scratching at her cheek while avoiding looking directly at me. ¡°And I don''t want to say the wrong thing.¡± Ah, she was probably thinking about our conversation before we broke into the Seireitei. I had pretty much forgotten it, but I felt oddly touched Yoruichi took my feelings into account. ¡°Fair enough.¡± I said, ¡°So you told him you and Urahara were captains, anything else?¡± Ichigo was looking between the two of us but my comment made his head snap to Yoruichi. ¡°Wait, you were a captain too?!¡± ¡°Yeah, I was the captain of squad two. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Yoruichi said, giving me a dry look. ¡°And no, no I did not tell him about that.¡± I winced at that ¡°Sorry.¡± She just waved me off, ¡°It¡¯s not like it was a secret. And it would have come up anyway, so there¡¯s no harm in him knowing.¡± ¡°How about I just stick to myself then.¡± I said, ¡°Though there really isn¡¯t much to say. I came to Karakura a little over a year ago. During the first few days I was there, I was attacked by a hollow and Urahara was nearby. I managed to kill it, but got pretty hurt in the process. Urahara offered me a place to stay and once I healed up I started working for him to pay him back.¡± ¡°Yeah, definitely wasn¡¯t because you were bored.¡± Yoruichi scoffed. I glared half-heartedly at her. ¡°Come on, let me at least sound good.¡± ¡°So you aren¡¯t a shinigami then?¡± Ichigo asked. I shook my head, ¡°Nope. Pretty sure I¡¯m unique as far as my abilities go. I can kinda copy a lot of what I see other people do but for most of it I need to work out the how by myself. For example-¡± I held up some of the notes laying around me, ¡°-I need to do all this to figure out how to do my own version of the Flash Step. What I use right now isn¡¯t working out like I need.¡± I saw Ichigo¡¯s eyes glaze over looking over pages of notes and spell equations. I knew he was pretty far from stupid but this stuff gave me headaches and I had the entire theory and knowledge how to do this grafted onto my soul. Honestly without the literal archive of knowledge I had available to me it was likely I would never have gotten even this far in a few decades let alone a single year. Ichigo handed my papers back to me, his eyes still a little glazed over. ¡°Can¡¯t you just, ya¡¯know, do it until you get the hang of it? That''s how I¡¯ve learned all my stuff.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± I shrugged, ¡±I can a little. Practice helps with the stuff I¡¯ve already come up with if it¡¯s just getting better at using that. But if I want to use something new or change the base of a skill, then I need to start with this stuff.¡± I waved a hand at all the papers. ¡°It can be relaxing sometimes. Others not so much.¡± ¡°As much as I hate to break this up, we really need to get back to training. Let¡¯s go, Ichigo.¡± Yoruichi cut in. He nodded, said his goodbyes, and ran off to keep up his Bankai training. On that note, I turned back to my own kind of training. Besides a few places I needed to check for errors, I was making good progress on a new version of Haste. Once I got those ironed out I could give it a test to see what I still needed to work on. I picked up my notes and got started. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see now¡­¡± Spirit 2.13 The surface of the surrounding rock broke into shards as I raced around the cavern. The world blurring into a mess of color as I pushed myself to go just a further without losing control. I was hesitant to call this version complete, especially since I only had a few days to really get it working, but it was pretty much at the point where I would feel okay with using it during a combat situation. There were some drawbacks though that I doubted I would have time to fix. The biggest one was that it was a huge mana hog. With the original version of Haste I could chain over a dozen without really feeling a strain on my mana reserves, but now I could do maybe four or five without needing to take a breather. I knew with a few more days I could probably cut some of the cost down, though since we were on a schedule I would just have to be careful to not overexert myself before I could recover. The second drawback was how physically tiring this stupid spell was. Pretty similarly to when I was first creating Haste I found going instantly to high speeds is incredibly traumatic to the body. Unfortunately, while the earlier spell solution to that problem still worked it was too weak to fully negate the new stresses changing direction could cause. Because of that I had to pay attention or I could tear something pretty easily. It was a good thing I was taking testing comparatively slow or I might have actually hurt myself on a couple versions. More stone splinters flew through the air as I wove through a set of obstacles. The second I had a somewhat viable replacement for Haste I had run to Yoruichi for any tips and exercises she could give me. As the former head of the Onmitsukid¨­ she had quite a few of both. I was happy to say I had achieved the lofty rank of ¡®not terrible¡¯ from Yoruichi after practicing all of yesterday. Normally I would have been proud of the achievement but the general mood in the cavern made it hard. Renji Abarai had managed to track Ichigo down somehow. I had a sneaking suspicion that Yoruichi somehow pointed him in the right direction because I needed actual directions to find the right area. Regardless, he had managed to find our little hideout and dropped a bomb that had all of us scrambling to finish our training as quickly as possible. Rukia Kuchiki¡¯s execution had been moved up. She would be executed at noon tomorrow. My concentration finally wavered and I couldn¡¯t keep the spell active anymore. As it ended my surroundings came back into focus and I felt the light ache in my legs from using the spell for so long. I glanced back and saw evidence for the third drawback all over the rocks around me. Practically everywhere my feet landed the rock underneath was damaged. Probably too much mana being used to grip whatever I was standing on and getting torn up between all the forces I was manipulating to move at high speeds. I was playing a balancing game of speed, control, and simplicity. And right now I was giving up control for the other two. It wasn¡¯t a big sacrifice though. I was still moving faster and could use the spell without a device, but I wasn¡¯t good enough to perfectly control it, which meant stealth wasn¡¯t much of an option when I left a trail showing exactly where I was going. There were only a few hours left before noon though, so while I could probably fix that issue in the future, it just wasn¡¯t worth the time to do so right now. I lightly shook out my arms as I made my way over to where Yoruichi was still supervising Ichigo. While I enjoyed the feeling of loosening my muscles up, it didn¡¯t do much for the anxiety in my stomach. ¡°How¡¯s he doing?¡± I asked when I was close enough. Ichigo was still fighting with Zangetsu. But now the two of them were fighting as complete equals rather than earlier where Ichigo was getting thrashed. Honestly the sharp rise in his combat ability was kinda scary. He was getting to a level of strength it took me a year to get close to in a matter of days. ¡°He¡¯s close.¡± She replied, ¡°He only needs one good push to achieve Bankai, but we are nearly out of time.¡± She looked over at me. ¡°You should get going. It¡¯s going to take time to reach the execution grounds and I don¡¯t have a way for you to keep up if you wait here for him to finish.¡± I sighed. She was right. Yoruichi only had a few artifacts that could get us to the execution grounds fast enough if I stayed too much longer. And most of them needed precise Reshi control to even get to function let alone use. ¡°Right, I guess I¡¯ll hang around and jump in when your friends give the signal. Are you absolutely sure I¡¯ll know what it is when I see it? Because this could be really embarrassing if I mess it up.¡± She nodded, ¡°Yeah no doubts about it. Just remember not to jump in beforehand or you¡¯re going to have to face everyone there.¡± ¡°Yeah not going to do that,¡± I said with a shiver. ¡°I kinda like living.¡± I didn¡¯t even want to think about fighting several Captains at the same time. With that I turned to leave, heading back to the ladder out of this place, when Yoruichi grabbed my arm and forced me to stop. ¡°Alexandria, remember this is only the opening act. Whatever Aizen has planned in the long run won¡¯t end here.¡± She said seriously. ¡°Don¡¯t die.¡± I gave her a small smirk and pulled away. ¡°Like I said, I like living. Just don¡¯t be late.¡± -o- The plateau that held the execution ground was a bleak place. There were some dead looking trees at one end where the stairs leading to the bottom were, but other than those nothing else grew on the flat rock. The lack of anything else around made the giant halberd sticking out of the ground seem even larger. It was beautiful in its own way since it had a near unrestricted view of the surroundings, being the highest natural point in the Seireitei rivaled only by a single white tower. That was the prison Rukia was in wasn¡¯t it? Kinda a shame that I only got close enough to see this place when I really couldn¡¯t make a move. I leaned back against the tree I was hiding in, allowing one leg to hang off the branch while I looked at the gathering of Soul Reapers in the distance. It was a small gathering with only a handful standing around the execution platform, but the amount of power concentrated in that little area was enough to level the Seireitei in minutes if they went all out. Standing the furthest from me was the Captain of Squad Eight, Shunsui Ky¨­raku. Definitely one of the more noticable captains of the bunch considering the bright pink kimono thing he was wearing. I also considered him the third strongest captain here even if I ranked both him and his lieutenant as the lowest threat to me. At least I hoped they were the lowest threat. Yoruichi hinted about acquaintances that might give us a hand dealing with the execution and from what I knew of the original timeline I assumed she was talking about Captains Ky¨­raku and Ukitake, and I was hoping very hard that they were going to take the same actions or we were screwed before this thing even started. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As for his lieutenant, she wasn¡¯t really a concern either way. If things went the same she was a non-factor since she follows after her captain and even if she stayed she wasn¡¯t an issue since she would be restricted to Kido. Looking her over, she didn¡¯t have her sword on her so I marked her as a pure support type. Simply showering her with ranged attacks would keep her busy enough or I just could immobilise her with Kusarihebi and take her out up close. Next to them was the top officers from Squad Four. A woman with her black hair braided so it ran down her front stood next to a taller woman with short grey hair. Captain Retsu Unohana and her lieutenant. Number two on my most dangerous captain in the area. And luckily enough, she was likely going to be a noncombatant regardless of my presence thanks to her current decision to focus on healing rather than combat. Her lieutenant was a different case though and would likely still try to fight but I wasn¡¯t really concerned. Due to her following Unohana around, and as a result staying out of most fights, I didn¡¯t remember her fighting any other time than the quick beatdown with Ichigo where she got one shotted. Hell I didn¡¯t even remember her name! So if she wasn¡¯t immediately taken out this time, we had a lieutenant level Soul Reaper that I had no idea what she could do. Still probably not much to worry about if she was taken out in one hit regardless. My inspection of the gathered captains was interrupted by a small procession approaching the execution ground. Four men in white robes surrounded the small girl in the middle. Each one carried a red staff with a chord that attached to the collar around her neck. Rukia Kuchiki had arrived, the execution was about to begin. I watched as the group of five slowly made their way to their destination passing by the captain I was most uncertain about, squad 2¡¯s Captain Soifon. Unlike the other captains Soifon had definite reasons to change her behavior. Afterall I had told her subordinate the main reason Yoruichi left her behind was due to an outside party. In theory she would be open to listening to Yoruichi and working with us right away. On the other hand, she spent one hundred years with a huge grudge against Yoruichi. That might not be forgiven so quickly, so it was entirely possible she would fight us instead. As for her lieutenant. Well... I don¡¯t think he would make any meaningful contributions either way so I ignored him. The only person I considered more dangerous than her was the Captain of Squad One, Captain Commander Yamamoto. If the old man decided to fight here it was an instant game over for my side. Even If we were technically trying to work with him in the future, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference if he incinerated us in the present. Speaking of incinerations, the execution was just about to start. Byakuya Kuchiki had shown up silently while I was lost in thought and Yamamoto had given the signal. Rukia was escorted to the middle of a large stone platform where her escort removed the collar from her neck. The ropes on her arms disintegrated as her arms were pulled out to the sides and held in place by restraining blocks. Rukia started floating up until she was just below the crossbeam on the huge scaffold. The men in robes milled around the base of the Sokyoku. With a combination of chanting and hand signs the ropes binding the giant halberd burned at the base and detached. Now freed the giant ropes swung around the pole of the spear in a good imitation of a maypole before straightening into stiff poles themselves and launching off the plateau. Was there a point to that? The robed guys already burnt the ends so it wasn¡¯t like they were going to reuse the ropes. Maybe it just made collecting them easier? Rather than drag new ones up and still need to remove the old ones, they just designed it so the old bindings could be collected at the bottom. Right, not the time to be thinking about random things. Time to get into position. I pulled my legs under me and crouched on the branch. But just before I jumped down I felt something cold and metallic press against my neck. ¡°Please don¡¯t move Ryoka. We need to talk.¡± I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Natsum¡¯s voice directly behind me. Looking down I saw a katana with the back of the blade on my neck. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time so I would appreciate it if you listened without making any sudden moves.¡± Natsumi continued. ¡°The Captains investigated your information and the ones we can clear for certain have agreed to ignore your presence for the moment. This depends on you working with us to corner the traitors . Do you agree?¡± Damn, this really isn¡¯t the time for a negotiation. But I can¡¯t jump straight to a fight either without attracting the attention of everyone else here. ¡°You realise the whole reason we came here was to prevent the execution of Rukia Kuchiki. Saying you will ignore us while you execute her isn¡¯t really something I can just go along with.¡± I said as a huge rush of hot air swept by us. Looking back towards the others I saw the Sokyoku had been released. A massive firebird hovered in the air right before the scaffold where Rukia was. I couldn¡¯t see Ichigo anywhere yet so I couldn¡¯t risk him swooping in to stop the Sokyoku at the last second. Natsumi¡¯s sword wasn¡¯t in a position to actually cut me. It would be risky but I could try rushing in and snatching Rukia before the Sokyoku hit. No way was I going to take a hit from it if I didn¡¯t need to. Getting away would be hard but- ¡°The execution is fake.¡± ... Huh? Eyes wide, I turned back to Natsumi. There were so many things I was fighting to say that my mouth did this weird fish impression, unable to make any actual sounds. In the end the best I was able to do was a vaguely questioning noise and gesture incredulously at the execution currently in progress. She followed my gesture and snorted. ¡°The Commander and the Captain are coordinating so someone from your little group could step in.¡± She waved back at the group. ¡°See?¡± Damn, she distracted me. I was too far away to reach Rukia in time. I looked at the execution site and helplessly watched the firebird surge forward. I had nothing that could stop the colossal bird from hitting Rukia, but right before the two collided a blurry figure dashed in between the two and the firebird suddenly stopped moving forward. A relieved sigh escaped when I realised Ichigo managed to get here in time. Looks like things were still kinda salvageable. ¡°We really do not have time, your answer?¡± Natsumi prodded. ¡°Just know if you refuse the Commander will focus on your group immediately in exclusion to all else.¡± You really aren¡¯t giving me a choice are you? ¡°Fine, I accept.¡± I said reluctantly. ¡°And the other Captains? Will you have them stand down also?¡± Natsumi didn''t look at me while she retrieved a simple looking device from a pocket, a plain black rectangular remote with two buttons, one red one green, and pressed the green button twice. Then she simply jumped off the branch we were both on and began walking away. ¡°Follow me Ryoka, or I will consider the deal off.¡± One last glance back was enough for me to see the destruction of the Sokyoku and Ichigo holding Rukia on the top of the execution scaffold. After that I turned and rushed to follow the third seat before she followed through on her threat. -o- Soon we were running over rooftops getting farther and farther away from the plateau, heading towards the center of the Seireitei. I was hesitant to speak up earlier when all the Captains were right there, but now that we were on our own I wanted to find out why the hell I was suddenly pressed into an alliance. Is it even an alliance if one side threatens annihilation if you don¡¯t cooperate? Probably not, but not like I have anyone I can complain to. ¡°I think I¡¯ve been pretty understanding so far Natsumi. What is going on, and where are we going?¡± I called out to the Soul Reaper ahead of me. ¡°Don¡¯t call me so familiarly Ryoka, but very well I shall explain. The Commander suspected something was wrong when Central 46 called for the execution of an unranked Soul Reaper after she was deemed guilty of a B-class crime. Normally this could be written off as political posturing by noble factions looking to pressure the Kuchiki clan, but the use of the Sokyoku, which is only used for S-class criminals or people unable to be executed normally, raised several concerns.¡± Natsumi explained. ¡°All these concerns, however, were responded to with the correct codes and passphrases known only to the members of Central 46.¡± ¡°When you reported there were potential traitors in our ranks and an acceleration for the execution was ordered both Commander Yamamoto and Captain Soifon decided to send another verification request independently. They received the same confirmation codes.¡± I waited for her to continue but Natsumi seemed to think that explained everything. ¡°...So? What does that mean? Wouldn¡¯t getting the right codes be normal?¡± I prodded. Natsumi glared at me over her shoulder like I was an idiot for asking. Well, sorry I¡¯m not an expert on Gotei 13 security codes. Actually, shouldn¡¯t you be happy about that?! ¡°As the leader of the Onmitsukid¨­, when Captain Soifon makes a request regarding a judgement from Central 46 she should receive a separate verification code. She is the only Captain that requires an independent code and she has only requested a verification twice in her career. That she did not means that at the very least Central 46 has been compromised.¡± Natsumi said unhappily. ¡°We are going to link up with one of the Captains we have verified as trustworthy and investigate. Until the traitors have been dealt with we will not move against your group if you do not move against us.¡± An explosion resounded through the air behind us. ¡°Won¡¯t move against us, right.¡± I said dryly. Natsumi had the decency to blush. ¡°And why the cloak and dagger routine if you know there are people pulling the strings behind this? Just storm the place or declare martial law or something.¡± Natsumi shook her head at my comments. ¡°Politics. The noble faction would look at any aggressive action without proof as a coup and use it as an excuse to grab more power for themselves or even attempt a rebellion.¡± ¡°And the blatant lie that is ¡®we won''t move against you¡¯?¡± I asked. Natsumi refused to look at me. ¡°Captain Kuchiki was not expected to be at the execution. He was specially excused from it due to his relation. Because of that he was not included in this operation.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying he showed up against orders and threw the whole plan out of whack because he wasn¡¯t supposed to be there in the first place?¡± I mused. ¡°Well, not against orders.¡± Natsumi said. ¡°It was more heavily implied that he did not need to be there.¡± Of course he would. Byakuya probably thought it was his duty to attend even if he was excused. At least Ichigo had a chance against him, pretty much any other Captain there would have crushed him immediately. We spent some more time in silence making our way towards our destination, which I still didn¡¯t actually know. Buildings passed by in a blur before Natsumi eventually started slowing down and soon enough came to a stop at an intersection in the road. I followed suit and stopped next to her. ¡°Why¡¯d we stop? I thought we were meeting up with a Captain?¡± I asked. Naturally this is when a short, bluish-silver haired figure wearing a Captain¡¯s haori walked out from one of the side roads followed by a taller strawberry blonde woman. ¡°Good, you arrived. Follow me, we are about to enter.¡± said Squad 10 Captain T¨­shir¨­ Hitsugaya before turning his back and walking off again. Spirit 2.14 I watched as the diminutive Captain got further away before what he said actually sunk in. We were going now? With no introduction or even an explanation about a plan of attack? My burgeoning respect for the Soul Reapers discreetly checking and investigating information, even at the word from an enemy, quickly died a horrible death. In the end they were just going to rush in anyway? ¡°H-hey! What do you mean about to enter? Do you even know who you¡¯re going up against?¡± I called, reaching out to stop the brat. Before my hand managed to touch him, I suddenly had his lieutenant hanging off my shoulders. ¡°Mah, don¡¯t worry about it Ryoka-chan.¡± Rangiku Matsumoto said happily. ¡°We are just going to poke around a bit. If we actually run into anyone we¡¯ll be more than enough to take them on!¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice you¡¯re confident, but you realize you might be facing three Captains at once right?¡± I said, doing my best to throw the slightly shorter woman off, but she just readjusted her grip and I found her hanging off my neck instead. I glanced at Natsumi hoping she would reign in the blonde. Sadly, going by the smirk she was enjoying my predicament and I was on my own. ¡°Well yeah but as long as we force them into the open the rest of the Captains can step in so it¡¯s not a big deal.¡± My new necklace said as she started dragging me after her Captain. ¡°We are only investigating in this manner so no one can throw our motives into question later.¡± added Natsumi. ¡°Once we verify the status of Central 46, we will proceed to find the identity of any and all traitors working against the Seireitei.¡± ¡°Or I could tell you now.¡± I pointed out. Hitsugaya stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. ¡°You know who we are going up against?¡± he asked, sounding suspicious. Did they not tell him I knew who the traitors were? I sent a questioning look at Natsumi. Shouldn¡¯t she have told them I was the one who let them know they even had traitors to begin with? Why would they agree to have me here in the first place? ¡°No one was informed about the source of the information after it was verified. It was decided that we didn¡¯t want anyone acting on the information to be biased because of your group¡¯s actions.¡± Natsumi explained when she saw me looking at her. ¡°Ignoring that for now,¡± cut in Captain Hitsugaya. ¡°You have information on the traitors we are facing? I want to know who they are.¡± I felt my eyebrow start twitching at the demand. I don¡¯t work for you kid. Still, they did need to know who they were up against. ¡°Probably the one we need to worry about least is Kaname Tosen.¡± The Soul Reapers all stilled when I spoke. It was easy to say ¡®let¡¯s root out the traitors¡¯ but when you had a name to attach to the label they were no longer a shadowy figure to chase, but a comrade who deceived you. ¡°You¡¯re certain?¡± asked Hitsugaya, who looked grim when I nodded. ¡°From the info I have on him, among the captains he is somewhere around the bottom third in direct combat and his fighting style and techniques all revolve around small scale battlefield control. Good for dealing with small groups of weaker enemies, but he struggles with individual opponents of similar strength unless he uses his bankai.¡± I got some confused looks but kept going. ¡°Next on the list is Gin Ichimaru, he-¡± I was finally free from the lieutenant hanging around my neck, but I wasn¡¯t much more comfortable since she was glaring at me and still very much in my personal space. ¡°Hey now, Gin is¡­questionable with how he behaves, but that doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s a traitor!¡± Matsumoto exclaimed, cutting me off. Ah right, the two of them were childhood...friends? Honestly didn¡¯t remember much about Gin¡¯s backstory since he played such a small part in most events. Oh well, not really something to waste time on. ¡°My group confirmed he was working with the leader of the traitors since at least the time he was a lieutenant which means-¡± ¡°Which means he has been working against us long enough to match the scenarios you gave us earlier.¡± This time it was Cap- you know what? I¡¯m getting tired of being interrupted. You¡¯ve been demoted- Toshiro who cut me off. ¡°It also explains how Aizen was murdered so easily. Ichimaru was his lieutenant in the past, he wouldn¡¯t have been on guard around him.¡± Matsu- No, I was annoyed at her too- Rangiku took a few steps back and bit her thumbnail, eventually nodding but didn¡¯t say anything. I eyed the two of them, waiting to see if they were done before continuing. ¡°Anyway, he-¡± ¡°We already know how he fights Miss Ryoka.¡± This time it was Natsumi who interrupted me. ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell us about people we have seen fight for years.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. I felt my left eyebrow twitching severely. All these interruptions. Considering they basically forced me to be here you would think they would at least take what I say more seriously. ¡°Fine, the third traitor and the leader of the group is Sosuke Aizen.¡± If I sounded annoyed the others didn¡¯t react to it. They just stared blankly at me. ¡°Um, you know that Captain Aizen was killed, don¡¯t you? In fact you were the one who told me he was going to die!¡± said Natsumi. Toshiro was next to give his opinion. ¡°So does that mean your group managed to eliminate him already?¡± He brought a hand to his chin and rubbed at it thoughtfully. ¡°Or was it an internal struggle between one of the other members?¡± ¡°Neither.¡± I responded. ¡°Aizen is happily alive and leading his group. I just knew he was going to fake his death so it was a good way to convince you we were telling the truth.¡± ¡°Bu-but we have his body!¡± exclaimed the squad 10 lieutenant. ¡°Zanpakuto created body double.¡± I said. ¡°Who could even do something like that?!¡± ¡°Aizen, obviously.¡± Fed up with this whole situation I started walking in the direction Toshiro had been going before the Soul Reapers had managed to piss me off for both demanding I answer them and not actually letting me speak. I didn¡¯t really bother checking to see if they followed me, but I just wanted this whole thing over with. There was a scramble of motion behind me as the other rushed to catch up, and eventually we were all walking together. Toshiro had retaken the lead soon after with his lieutenant in tow as we continued in silence. Natsumi didn¡¯t seem content to let the last conversation go that easily however. ¡°Miss Ryoka.¡± ¡°My name is Alex Cross, not Ryoka. Come on Natsumi, I thought we were closer than this?¡± I said flippantly. ¡°Cross-san then,¡± man she is formal when we aren¡¯t fighting. ¡°You said that Aizen created a body double with a Zanpakto.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Can you explain how? That does not seem like an ability he should possess.¡± ¡°Oh? I thought you ¡®knew how they fought for years¡¯.¡± I said using air quotes to make my point. Natsumi grimaced, but motioned for me to continue. ¡°Aizen passed off his true shikai ability as a fake one so none of you know how to deal with it. He used his real ability to create a fake body.¡± Rangiku slowed down to walk next to us. ¡°Really? What kind of ability lets him do that?¡± Well if you hadn¡¯t been interrupting me constantly you would already know, now wouldn¡¯t you? ¡°Hypnosis. I don¡¯t know exactly how it works but if you see his Zanpakuto release he can supposedly control your senses.¡± And wasn¡¯t that a terrifying thought. Captain level fights relied a lot on being perceptive and either reacting to, or countering your opponent¡¯s moves quickly or you would be overwhelmed. Aizen cheated by being able to not only hide any tells with hypnosis, but straight up give misinformation about what he is doing. I don¡¯t believe it''s ¡®perfect¡¯ but it¡¯s clearly effective, especially if no one noticed what he was up to for a century. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± said Toshiro. Instantly all conversation died as we looked at the compound we arrived at. I looked around as we passed the walls surrounding the entrance. It was a rather nice courtyard I suppose, but it was also rather empty. Well manicured lawns and ponds surrounded a white octagonal building. Surprisingly, unlike all the other buildings I had seen lately this one was fairly short and looked more like a bunker than a proper building. So this was where the Central 46 met? It looked shockingly low key. The others didn¡¯t bother looking around and moved straight to the door. Toshiro immediately cut through the thick wooden doors with his Zanpakuto. ¡°No alarms. They really have infiltrated.¡± he said. Without another word the three Soul Reapers rushed through the door and down into the depths of the building. I followed at a more sedate pace, both because I didn¡¯t have a clue where we were going and because I wasn¡¯t super eager to see what was coming up. We passed by meeting rooms, waiting and rest areas, and even security checkpoints, but there was no sign of anyone else around. Jeez, this place was a maze. If I wasn¡¯t following Toshiro I would spend a lot of time just wandering around aimlessly. Eventually we reached another staircase but rather than going down Toshiro froze at the top. Rangiku and Natsumi had similar reactions when they came up behind him. I really didn¡¯t want to see what caused them to freeze up like that, even though I had a pretty good idea of what they were looking at. I walked up behind them and got my first look through the doorway. It was just as gruesome as I was expecting. The room itself was a plain octagonal meeting room. The high white walls were mostly undecorated, the only exceptions being large cloth posters with single words hung from every second wall. I didn¡¯t bother reading any of them with my attention drawn to the middle of the room. In the middle of the room where the members of Central 46 would normally meet was a massacre. Bodies were still seated in a parody of normalcy, but the pools of black blood and slash marks made it pretty clear everyone in that room was very dead. ¡°The entirety of Central 46 has been...wiped...out.¡± Toshiro breathed. -o- It was with an almost detached sense of horror I followed the other three in investigating the dead bodies. I had seen several dead or dead looking bodies during my year with Urahara. Usually it was a gegai prototype he was messing with and would leave lying around. I had a hard time determining if it was specifically to mess with me or if he was just forgetful. For all that Urahara was meticulous with the process of his experiments. He had a habit of leaving things lying around. One that I happily abused to explain some of my knowledge from the show and sometimes just to avoid random experiments he tended to test on the rest of the shop. The other times were when we were too slow to stop a Hollow from catching a soul. They were not clean eaters. I think the biggest reason I disturbed by the killing was that none of the faces had any more emotion on them then faint surprise. Either most of them had been killed simultaneously, which I found doubtful, or Aizen had blocked his presence from everyone in the room before executing them all one by one. This wasn¡¯t death due to a fight or hunger, those I could rationalize and eventually accept. This was simply butchering helpless people and not even letting them know they were in danger until it was already too late. I wandered around the room barely going near the bodies or trying to find out what happened since I already knew who killed them. Toshiro and the other Soul Reapers were doing a much more thorough investigation anyway. I was happy leaving it to them. Though I was a little lost on what the next step of the plan was. Natsumi said that they were here to verify the status of Central 46, so I figured we would move somewhere else when we found them all dead. Maybe go looking for where Aizen¡¯s group was hiding out now that I had clued them in to who the traitors were. I looked over at Toshiro who was examining one of the bodies, if there was more to the Soul Reaper¡¯s plan then he would be the person to ask. Before I could make my way over I heard a cold voice call out from the entrance we had come from. ¡°I thought you would be here...Captain Hitsugaya.¡± In the doorway stood another Soul Reaper looking down at all of us. His ice-blue eyes had no emotion in them as he took in the four of us standing in a room of corpses. Well the one eye visible to me didn¡¯t. His left eye was covered by blonde hair in what I could only describe as an emo fringe. What the hell? That was the lieutenant of Squad 3, Izuru Kira. Why was he here? Unlike in the original timeline Hinamori didn¡¯t discover Aizen¡¯s fake body and didn¡¯t go berserk trying to attack Gin. So Kira shouldn¡¯t have had the whole mental breakdown that led him to following Gin for whatever sketchy reasons he had in canon. Oblivious to my internal confusion, Toshiro began demanding answers why Kira was here and if he knew anything about what happened here. Rather than answer, Kira simply vanished at a full on sprint. ¡°After him Matsumoto! Hanakage, Cross you stay here!¡± And just like that half our number ran out the door leaving me in a room full of bodies, a Soul Reaper I had fought several times, and no idea what to do next. Lovely. I turned to look at Natsumi. ¡°Any idea what we should do next?¡± She opened her mouth to respond but instead of answering me a large amount of blood poured out of her mouth. Both of our eyes went wide with surprise before Natsumi recoiled in pain and I saw a long silver line quickly retracting towards the other side of the room from where the two Squad 10 officers left. Natsumi pitched forward into my arms and I felt even more blood begin to leak from her torso. It was obvious she had been stabbed, but how had both of us been taken completely off guard?! ¡°Well isn¡¯ that a shame? I only attacked once an¡¯ she¡¯s already done.¡± Standing in the doorway I assumed led deeper into the Central 46 compound was the traitorous Captain of Squad 3, Gin Ichimaru. With a negligent wave, he removed the blood staining the tip of his wakizashi. ¡°Oh well,¡± he sighed even as his constant smile stayed in place. ¡°Now would ya follow me, miss Ryoka? Someone wants to talk with ya.¡± Spirit 2.15 I glared up at the white haired Soul Reaper. More blood was seeping into my sleeves and I was pretty sure that Natsumi had gone into shock. A quick diagnostic spell revealed that both her lungs were nicked and Gin had gotten her diaphragm at the same time. Medical situations weren¡¯t my best field, but I was fairly confident that if I left her right now, Natsumi would end up drowning in her own blood. So I needed to stall. I pulled Natsumi closer to me and got ready to dodge in any direction, while a small spell circle lit up on her chest. I made sure to keep it hidden from Gin¡¯s line of sight because I needed every second. There was no way I could completely heal her. Even if I had several uninterrupted hours the wound was just beyond my skill level, but if I was fast enough I could get enough patched up that she could at least survive until a proper healer got to her. ¡°If Aizen wanted to talk to me he could have showed up himself.¡± I challenged. Gin just seemed amused, ¡°Aizen? Didn¡¯ ya know Captain Aizen was killed a few days ago? Terrible tragedy, they even found his body pinned to a building.¡± ¡°Yes, too bad his Lieutenant was too busy fighting me to stumble across that little scene.¡± I said. ¡±The whole scene must have fallen flat without the lead actress.¡± ¡°It was a bit lacking. The shock an¡¯ disbelief were there, but without the heartbreak it did feel pretty dull.¡± Gin nodded. Natsumi¡¯s lungs would probably work fine if she didn¡¯t move much. Only a little bit longer. ¡°Probably didn¡¯t help the lead actor phoned in the whole thing and used a stunt double.¡± I pointed out. ¡°If you know the whole thing is staged it loses a bit of the entertainment value.¡± I was really tipping my hand here, but it wasn¡¯t anything Gin and Aizen couldn¡¯t have guessed. Unlike the Gotei, I already knew about Aizen being a turncoat so it was easy to assume the whole murder scene was faked. As long as it kept Gin talking for a few more seconds- ¡°So ya almost done patchin¡¯ up girlie there?¡± Ice water poured into my veins. He knew?! ¡°Oh don¡¯t look like that. If I wanted her dead I woulda hit her here.¡± Gin said, tapping on his chest right where his heart would be. ¡°Of course if it¡¯s too hard for ya, I could give ya a hand.¡± His constant smile dropped to a flat line and one of his eyes cracked open. I narrowed my own eyes at the offer. ¡°I¡¯ll pass on your help. I¡¯m done anyway.¡± I really wasn¡¯t. There was more I could do, but Gin¡¯s ¡°help¡± likely meant another hole in Natsumi. I just hoped she didn¡¯t move much and took shallow breaths. I cast another two quick spells, one to hopefully keep Natsumi stable if she was moved suddenly and another for whoever found her. Dragging her off to a clean section of floor I set her down and turned back to Gin. ¡°Oh? Well aint you a fast one.¡± he said, smile back in place. He turned and started walking back down the hall he came from, obviously expecting me to follow. I did, but was still on guard for any sudden moves. So I was fully prepared when a silver flash burst out of his haori. In a heartbeat Kanshou was in my hand as I slashed the incoming blade off to the left. Sparks jumped from where the two swords collided and a hollow thunk echoed behind me where Gin¡¯s blade struck a wall. The smile broke into a grin as Gin¡¯s sword shrunk back down to its normal length. ¡°You are fast! And ya even managed to keep girlie safe too!¡± Gin complimented. I blinked and quickly replayed the short clash in my mind. Gin¡¯s sword wouldn¡¯t have hit me even if I didn''t block it. At most it would have been a shallow cut on my arm, but Natsumi was directly behind me. If I hadn¡¯t deflected the blade then it would have pierced her chest and most likely killed her. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I fought back a snarl, simply because it was clear Gin didn¡¯t care if he succeeded or not and wouldn¡¯t care if I objected to the attack. Instead I just pointed my sword at him. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say Aizen wanted to talk with me? You¡¯re wasting everyone¡¯s time.¡± ¡°So scary! And I never said it was Captain Aizen.¡± Gin laughed. ¡°But I suppose we should get a move on, we don¡¯t want to be late now, do we?¡± Grinding my teeth together I followed him through the complex, keeping an eye out for any more surprises. Luckily, Gin seemed to have lost interest in messing with me and just silently guided me through the halls. After much more walking than I wanted while having Gin as a guide, we eventually came to a massive underground room. Like much of the architecture in the Seireitei I had seen it was very minimalistic with nothing but several square white towers stretching high into the air. It was telling how massive the room was that even as high as the towers went there was still space to the ceiling. I was inwardly impressed that even here, Central 46 seemed to be pretty spartan with their living conditions. Not the norm when dealing with governments where even the identity of who was in charge was a secret. I wonder if that would change when they get around to replacing everyone who died. Gin walked up the stairs to one of the towers and stood next to the door. ¡°Welcome to the Seijoutou-Kyorin. The residential district for all of Central 46.¡± He said with a flourish, then chuckled, ¡°Well it used ta be anyway. Not getting much use recently.¡± And whose fault is that? Jackass. ¡°So where is he?¡± I asked instead. I was fucked anyway, might as well get the whole thing over with so I don¡¯t have to keep talking to the creepy bastard. ¡°So impatient.¡± he sighed. ¡°Oh well, just look right over there.¡± I looked at the building Gin was pointing at just in time to see a man with medium-length brown hair and glasses walk out of the doorway. If it wasn¡¯t for the captain¡¯s haori and the zanpakuto at his side you could easily mistake him for a mild-mannered librarian or accountant. ¡°Welcome, I¡¯m glad you decided to accept my offer to talk.¡± Dammit. I knew what kind of bastard he was, but I picked up nothing but genuine warmth and appreciation in his voice. ¡°Couldn¡¯t pass up the chance to talk to someone who came back from the dead.¡± I said sarcastically. Aizen smiled. ¡°Yes, I suppose the whole event looks rather silly from your perspective. Even if it was more for entertainment, it was impressive how easily you interfered with my plan. But then I suppose it only makes sense for one of his subordinates to be at least that capable.¡± ¡°I aim to please.¡± I said dryly, glancing between both captains. I was waiting for the inevitable sudden attack when Aizen decided to end the conversation. It was hard to say exactly when that would be since I had no idea what his timetable looked like, but if I was going to lose I¡¯d like to at least make it harder on the two jackasses. ¡°If that''s the case then you certainly succeed.¡± Aizen said. ¡±In fact you did so well that I wanted to give you another test just to see how good you truly were.¡± He turned to Gin. ¡°So Gin, were you able to kill the hanger-on she was with?¡± He said in the same tone people used to ask how someone¡¯s day went. The Squad 3 Captain sighed theatrically, ¡°Unfortunately Captain Aizen, the Ryoka was quick enough to save her life. She even managed to stop my second strike, so I failed.¡± ¡°Hmm, I suppose if she wasn¡¯t at least capable of that I wouldn¡¯t have an interest in her. Don¡¯t worry about failing then.¡± Gin bowed his head slightly, smirk still in place. ¡°That does bring us back to why I wanted to talk to you, miss Ryoka.¡± Aizen said, looking back to me. ¡°Ah, but where are my manners. I am Aizen Sosuke, and once again thank you for agreeing to speak with me.¡± ¡°Alexandria Cross, charmed.¡± I said curtly. Aizen nodded indulgently at me. ¡°Well miss Cross, unlike the fools and fossils in the Soul Society you don¡¯t have much attachment to the status quo, do you? And since you decided to seek shelter under that man you also clearly know that those that rule over this heap will not tolerate the presence of such a powerful figure outside of their control.¡± He started walking, gesturing to the surroundings. ¡°Even with the removal of Central 46, the Soul Society will not accept one such as yourself that does not bow to them. You are too different, too powerful, for them to allow that. They might not make a move against you now that I, along with my companions of course, have made our opening moves. But soon they will see you as another uncontrollable element like myself, and demand you come to heel.¡± Aizen stopped, turned to face me, and held out a hand. ¡°But what if you didn¡¯t need to fear these lesser beings clamoring for your imprisonment or subjugation simply because you are different? Join me and you would be free to go wherever you wanted without fear of being hunted.¡± I looked warily at his outstretched hand, half expecting him to fire a kido at me. ¡°I¡¯ve seen how you treat people weaker than you Aizen. And you should remember I was the one that interrupted your scheme with your Lieutenant. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to trust you much if you would just manipulate me against a friend if it served one of your plans.¡± Aizen pulled his hand back and brought it up to his chin. ¡°Ah, I can see why my methods could be seen as distasteful, but you must remember causing confusion among the enemy is just the basics. While I acted as her captain, I did nothing but my best to make sure she was well cared for.¡± No, you made her completely dependent on you then got off making her have a series of mental breakdowns before stabbing her and leaving her to die. The worst part was there was no hint of anything false in Aizen¡¯s recruitment speech. He sounded like he genuinely wanted to make sure I was making the best decision for myself. ¡°Considering you wanted to make her think her friend killed her captain I can¡¯t help but think your ¡®methods¡¯ might not be all that acceptable to most people.¡± I said dryly. Aizen smiled gently, ¡°Then perhaps that would be your role if you joined me. I could use someone to help make sure that my future plans don¡¯t affect more innocent bystanders than necessary.¡± So if I say yes and join Aizen¡¯s side I would be given the chance to guide him to less objectionable methods than sacrificing a town to make a key or making elaborate plans that result in all his subordinates dying because he betrayed them. In theory it would be the best choice for me personally. I wouldn¡¯t need to get involved in much of the future fighting, I would have the ear of one of the most powerful spiritual beings around, and even though Aizen didn¡¯t know I knew about them I would likely have personal servants to do my bidding when he rejoined his Hollow forces. It sounds like the perfect way out from dealing with the rest of the plot. Of course that¡¯s if you ignore the long history of Aizen making similar promises and promptly stabbing people in the back once he no longer needed them. I told him as much and got ready to react to his next move following my refusal. But Aizen didn¡¯t make a move. He just stood there smiling, but now his eyes were flat and cold. ¡°It makes me glad you decided to accept my offer.You completed all the tasks I assigned you and even removed you watcher. I know we will work wonderfully together, don¡¯t you think so Captain Hitsugaya?¡± The surrounding temperature plummeted and my breath started misting. Looking behind me I saw an absolutely furious Toshiro glaring daggers at Aizen, but his zanpakuto was already in its Shikai release and pointed at me. If Toshiro rushed directly here from dealing with Kira¡­ And Aizen had him under hypnosis and just showed me agreeing to work with him. I turned back around to stare at the traitorous captain, arms trembling with how hard my hands were clenched. It goes without saying but, Aizen you utter asshole! Spirit 2.16 Ice particles swirled as Toshiro raised his reiatsu higher and higher. Even in just its Shikai form his zanpakuto was powerful enough to cause some noticeable changes to the surroundings. Frost started coating the area around him and creeping outwards and ice crystals started growing where the crescent blade and chain attached to the hilt of his sword touched the ground. Toshiro looked around the room stopping briefly on me and Gin before stopping on Aizen. ¡°Aizen, you¡¯re alive after all.¡± he said coldly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯d be surprised if miss Cross didn¡¯t tell you that beforehand.¡± Aizen blandly replied before looking at his subordinate. ¡°Although Gin, I do admit I¡¯m surprised Captain Histugaya came back so quickly.¡± Gin just bowed his head a little and shrugged, ¡°Sorry, I overestimated how effective Izuru would be as a distraction.¡± He didn¡¯t sound very upset by it. Aizen hummed, ¡°I suppose he did manage to split the enemies forces a bit. So it wasn¡¯t a complete waste.¡± Toshiro narrowed his eyes. ¡°And it looks like she was telling the truth about your companions, if Ichimaru is here too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m right here, you know?¡± I said, annoyed everyone was talking like I wasn¡¯t present. Toshiro glanced at me before looking back at Aizen. ¡°Is she though? See Cross told us another interesting fact, Aizen. She told us the real ability of your Zanpakuto is hypnosis, so I can¡¯t exactly trust what I see right now.¡± For the first time Aizen actually seemed surprised. ¡°And how did you know that?¡± He asked, addressing me directly. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve ever told anyone outside my companions that ability except from¡­¡± his eyes widened. ¡°¡­oh I see. I didn¡¯t realise any of that fossil¡¯s work was still around. But I suppose that explains where you popped out from then.¡± I was freaking out internally. Not only did I reveal I knew more than I should, I also had no idea what he was talking about. What fossil? Why did that explain anything about me being here? To make matters worse Toshiro seemed to be having a slightly different conversation because he suddenly pointed his sword towards an empty space on Aizen¡¯s right. He had also been speaking but I hadn¡¯t paid attention to what he was saying, so I only caught the last bit. ¡°... I can¡¯t be sure it¡¯s you, then I just have to take you all down!¡± Fuck, that was probably really important. ¡°BANKAI!¡± Yep! Fuck, I really wished I had payed attention to him! Ice exploded from the guard on his sword, flowing down his arm and wrapping around him like a living thing. His arms and legs were covered in clawlike ice armour and large crystalline wings extended from his shoulders. In addition to that three deep purple ice formations floated behind his back. Each formation was a segmented cross that somehow stayed in perfect position despite not being attached to anything at all. Toshiro¡¯s Reiatsu skyrocketed, and large chunks of ice also sprang up around him. The air turned frigid and mist began obscuring his feet as it rolled outward in thick wisps. ¡°Daiguren Hyorinmaru¡± he intoned. I was getting a front row demonstration why Captains were considered unbeatable by rank-and-file Soul Reapers. Even with my pathetic sensory abilities I could clearly tell there was a qualitative change in his Reiryoku not only a quantitative one. Not that I had a whole lot of time to examine what it felt like. The moment Toshiro released his bankai Aizen frowned. ¡°Children are so impatient.¡± he sighed, ¡°And I was looking forward to playing with him for a little longer.¡± he sighed again. ¡°Oh well. Gin, kill him before he moves the other pieces out of place.¡± ¡°Of course, Captain Aizen.¡± I bristled at the causal order. Aizen wanted him dead not because he was a threat, but because Toshiro releasing his bankai would eventually draw other captains over here. And if they were over here then they wouldn¡¯t gather at Sokyoku hill for his declaration of war. In other words, he wanted Toshiro dead to satisfy his need for theatrics. With a burst of speed I leaped at Gin, my twin swords whistling through the air as I moved to stop him from attacking the hypnotized captain. The brief look I got of Toshiro before my blades crashed into Gin¡¯s wakizashi. It looked like he was reacting to some invisible opponent as he sent blasts of ice at nothing. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Turning my attention back to the Squad 3 captain, I was just in time to notice Gin angle his blade towards my face. ¡°Shoot to kill, Shinso.¡± I wrenched my head to the side just in time for the blade to shoot over my shoulder. Judging by the hot line on my cheek I wasn¡¯t quite fast enough. Following my momentum, I turned the dodge into a cartwheel as Gin danced backward trying to get me out of his personal space. I refused to give him that time, the second my hands hit the floor I twisted to the side, foot lashing out and catching him in the side I sent Gin skidding back over the floor. I wanted to follow him but Toshiro¡¯s imaginary duel got in the way. I had to quickly raise Bakuya to deflect his sword from cutting me in half, then throw it away before the ice growing on the blade covered my hand. A quick Haste spell let me dodge past him, but Toshiro spun in a tight circle to slash at the space between me and Gin. A wave of ice followed the move forced me to stop or risk getting encased in ice, and I felt something cold and hard slam into my thigh and stagger me. Toshiro had a goddamn tail made of ice! Worse, I think that hit was accidental too! There was no time to complain as I threw Kanshou to deflect Gin¡¯s extending blade. The thrown sword managed to knock the thrust off target enough to turn into another near miss that would have skewered Toshiro otherwise. I traced my bow and fired off several shots to force Gin to either block or move. Anything to stop him from simply slashing at Toshiro and taking him off guard. The second I saw him leap backwards to dodge, I traced and modified an arrow with the most powerful fire enchantment I was capable of and Reinforced it as much as I dared. Silently praying it wouldn¡¯t explode in my face I spun towards Aizen, took aim, and fired. There was no chance such a hastily thrown together attack would actually hurt an opponent on Aizen¡¯s level so as soon as the arrow was a few feet in front of him, I forcefully destabilized the projection and allowed it to blow up. Smoke and fire consumed the area Aizen was standing in, but I doubted he was phased all that much. Kusarihebi appeared in my right hand and I hurled the weighted end into the smoke where Aizen had been standing. If I read him right, Aizen wouldn¡¯t have bothered to move wanting to show that my attack did nothing. True enough I felt Kusarihebi brush against something in the smoke and manipulated the chain to wrap around it like a snake before forcing it to stab into the ground, hopefully anchoring it in place. I pulled the chain on my end tight as well and jammed the sickle into the tiles by my feet. It wouldn¡¯t hold for long but hopefully it would delay Aizen enough for me to think of a way out of this mess. I used Haste to close in with Gin once again now that he had recovered from my last attack, discarding my bow as Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands once again. This time Gin reacted faster, deflecting my double overhead strike with his blade before kicking me away. I think he might have broken a rib. The unexpected kick sent me skidding across the floor before I was able to force a hand under me and vault back to my feet. Panting heavily, I took the time to quickly scan the surrounding area. Gin was still focused on me, Toshiro was looking at the two of us confused, and the smoke around Aizen was beginning to clear. As expected Aizen was completely wrapped up by Kusarihebi¡¯s chain, but he looked completely comfortable despite them being as tight as I was able to make them. ¡°Gin, you¡¯re taking too much time.¡± he chided. ¡°We do have a schedule to keep.¡± Gin straightened up and looked at his boss. ¡°Apologies Captain, but ya¡¯ have to admit she is a clever one.¡± Aizen nodded at Gin¡¯s words. ¡°Miss Cross is quite a bit more talented than we believed. Unfortunately-¡± The chains suddenly snapped like they were made of paper and Aizen vanished before appearing behind Toshiro with his sword raised. ¡°-we are on a schedule, and we can¡¯t spend any more time here.¡± He brought his sword down, it effortlessly sheared through the ice wings and armour around Toshiro before continuing through his shoulder. Blood burst from the cut and Toshiro fell to the ground, unconscious or dead. In that one attack Aizen had crushed the smaller captain and completely took him out of the fight. I cursed out loud and prepared to rush Aizen when every instinct I had screamed at me to move backwards. Swords up in a reflexive X-block, I retreated as fast as I could. Aizen appeared a few feet from my previous position but made no attempt to chase me. Instead he just looked at me with an amused smile. ¡°You truly are much more skilled than I initially believed. I thought I used enough power to end this painlessly, but now it seems you will have to suffer some.¡± What was he talking about, he didn¡¯t do anyth- Kanshou and Bakuya suddenly snapped in half. The clean break through the middle of each blade told me Aizen cut them, but was he really that fast? I tossed the broken swords to the side and prepared to trace another pair. I would need to push my senses to the limit if I wanted to keep up, but there was no other choice. ¡°Are you going to continue even in that condition?¡± Aizen asked. Condition? I was mostly fine though. Of course as soon as I thought that I noticed a wet feeling on my chest and a gentle dripping sound. Looking down, I saw a fairly deep cut running diagonally, collarbone to hip, and bleeding pretty profusely. Guess I didn¡¯t dodge Aizen¡¯s attack after all. Oddly, the pain seemed delayed. I was either subconsciously ignoring it, or was on such an adrenaline high that it simply didn¡¯t register. My guess was the latter though. Still the sudden injury and ongoing blood loss made me abandon my ongoing strategy. I couldn¡¯t keep relying on stalling tactics and hoping for reinforcements or a way out. At this rate I was going to weaken and make a mistake soon. And going up against two Captain level opponents meant that would likely be fatal. So I was going to have to take a risk. Even if my connection to the UBW had deepened since coming to the Soul Society, I had been unable to trace anything on the level of a Noble Phantasm besides Kanshou and Bakuya. Even then I had a feeling they were exceptions due to how strongly they were attached to my Archer soul fragment. I doubted I would be able to force a trace of one without killing myself in the process even now. But what about something that skirted the line? Something strong enough to be on that level without being a Noble Phantasm on its own? I formed the image in my mind. Making it as clear as possible, despite the exhaustion now creeping up on me. ¡°Trace On.¡± An absurdly long katana formed in my hand. Easily around 4 feet long, the sword had no guard. Instead it had a simple bronze collar that gave way to a purple hilt with two purple tassels hanging from the end. Monohoshi Zao. The blade of an unnamed assassin from the fifth holy grail war. It was a relief I was able to actually trace the blade, but I could have gone without the side effects. The instant the blade solidified in my hand all the pain that was mysteriously missing from the cut on my chest made its presence known. On top of that the strain from pouring that much mana into one construct all at once made it feel like every nerve I had was dipped in acid. Ignoring the feeling as best I could I brought the katana up, the hilt resting next to my face as the blade pointed out towards Aizen. He seemed amused by my actions. Calmly walking towards me even as blood slowly dripped off the end of his own sword, whether it was Toshiro¡¯s or my own was unknown. ¡°Interesting. I¡¯ve seen reports of you copying the Zanpakuto of several Soul Reapers, but I don¡¯t recognise this one. What can this one do?¡± he asked. ¡°Wait a second and find out!¡± I growled, trying to ignore how much pain I was in and forcing out even more mana. I launched myself towards Aizen, moving perhaps the fastest I even had as I began my attack. Hiken: Tsubame-! A piercing pain erupted in my chest as I slammed to a halt. I looked incomprehensibly at the hilt protruding out between my breasts. The Monohoshi Zao slipped out of my nerveless fingers, clattering to the ground before dispersing into motes of mana. I slowly brought my eyes up to look at Aizen¡¯s face. He looked just as surprised as I did that he suddenly attacked. With a quick tug he removed his sword from my chest and I collapsed heavily onto all fours. A burning sensation appeared in the back of my throat and I tried to clear it away with a cough. Instead I ended up vomiting up a large amount of blood. ¡°Congratulations Alexandria Cross. I actually felt threatened by your attack. Enough so that I unintentionally counterattacked seriously.¡± Aizen was saying something, but everything sounded like it was underwater. Black was slowly devouring my vision, and I felt really cold. ¡°It seems like this is the end for you. A shame, you were one of the more interesting things around here at the moment. Oh well.¡± Distant footsteps made me drag my fading vision off the floor. A blurry white shape was slowly moving away from me. ¡°Gin, prepare for us to leave. It seems like we''re going to receive more visitors shortly.¡± ¡°Yes, Captain Aizen.¡± My arms finally gave out and I pitched forward into a growing puddle of my own blood. And then, everything went dark. Spirit 3.1 When I regained consciousness two thoughts struck me. One; Holy shit I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m still alive! Two; why am I in handcuffs in a hospital? I woke up in a fairly nice looking room, even if it was more on the empty side. A quick glance around showed me besides the bed, side table, and a few wooden chairs nothing else was in the room. The bed I was on was pressed up against the wall right under a large window, so at the very least no one was worried about me making a break for it. Not sure how capable I would be at it anyway. Moving hurt. A quick examination with an Analysis spell showed micro tears on practically every muscle I had along with several other injuries like the broken ribs and the damn hole in my chest. While I could probably fix that with a couple healing spells, I lacked the desire to move and since laying still didn¡¯t hurt I decided to just let it heal naturally. For now. I would probably get bored and fix it eventually, but I just faced off against two and a half Captain-level opponents and didn¡¯t die. I deserved to be lazy. Toshiro wasn¡¯t actually fighting me. He doesn¡¯t count. With nothing better to do and no reason to get out of bed, I closed my eyes again and started dozing. -o- Some time later there was a soft knock on the door before it opened and a nurse in a powder pink uniform walked in. Going by the widened eyes and quick departure I think she was surprised I was awake. A few minutes later she returned with Natsumi, Soifon, and surprisingly Yoruichi. ¡°Um, hi guys. How did everything go, everyone alright? And, uh, why am I in these?¡± I limply raised my arms and gave the handcuffs a light shake. Yoruichi gave me a small smile with a complicated expression on her face. Natsumi refused to look directly at me. Thankfully, Soifon decided to answer me. ¡°Sosuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen succeeded in their attempt at stealing the Hokyoku and have retreated to Hueco Mundo with the aid of the Menos Grande.¡± Not surprising. With all the Captains scattered and not knowing that the H¨­gyoku was a thing it would be incredibly easy for Aizen to grab Rukia during all that if he was serious about it. ¡°While several of your companions were severely injured in your invasion. She stopped to glare at me. I just raised an eyebrow at her, completely unrepentant. I hoped she wasn¡¯t looking for an apology. I don¡¯t think a single one of us would give her one. With a defeated sigh, Soifon continued. ¡°Everyone managed to get medical aid in time. They should all completely recover and are currently resting . Unlike a certain officer, who should be doing the same!¡± she said, glaring at Natsumi. Natsumi simply looked away. I noticed a slight wince at the movement and that she was lightly holding her side. Definitely still feeling her injuries then. ¡°So, sounds like things worked out about as well as expected. Does this mean I can take these off then?¡± I asked, gesturing to the handcuffs. Going by the awkward atmosphere and uncomfortable expressions on everyone¡¯s face, I was going to guess no, I couldn¡¯t. ¡°Guys? Kinda starting to feel like I should be running.¡± I said nervously. ¡°No! It¡¯s just¡­!¡± Natsumi started before hissing and grabbing at her side again. ¡°It¡¯s just that Aizen screwed you over before he escaped.¡± Yoruichi finished. ¡°And now the Head Captain needs to decide what to do with you.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I sat up straighter. When the three of them walked in I was feeling pretty relaxed since I thought everything was over, but now I was regretting not healing myself when I had the chance. I slowly started to circulate mana through my arms and legs. It wouldn¡¯t fix the injuries, but it would let me move without cramping up. ¡°What do you mean ¡®decide what to do with me¡¯?¡± Yoruichi held up a placating hand, trying to keep me calm. ¡°Aizen might have told everyone you were one of Akihiro Kanou¡¯s experiments and I was kinda forced to tell the Captain¡¯s what I knew about your past.¡± She said. ¡°And this is an issue, why?¡± Natsumi finally spoke up, ¡°Because all of Akihiro Kanou¡¯s experiments were declared bioweapons, and the law says any illegal bioweapons are to be destroyed immediately.¡± Well...fuck. ¡°So should I be running right now?¡± Looking between the three of them I noticed neither Soifon or Natsumi had their Zanpakuto with them. That was either a good thing, or it meant they were confident enough they could deal with me without a weapon and an injured person in the same room. Considering my current condition, I wouldn¡¯t blame them for thinking the latter. Yoruichi waved her hands in front of her in denial. ¡°We already got the Head Captain to agree to not do anything drastic until we had a chance to talk. But now that you¡¯re awake he is going to want more information about Kanou in exchange for ignoring the laws regarding you.¡± It was kinda hard to describe what I was feeling at the moment. A mixture of incredible rage and mind numbing fear for certain. I was basically being told my reward for helping the Gotei 13 by exposing the whole traitor problem was a temporary stay of execution for existing and it was only an issue because Aizen fucked me over on his way out. I shifted so my feet were on the floor and I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I absently noticed my hair was down from my normal ponytail and I was wearing a light blue japanese outfit instead of my normal one. A yukata I think? ¡°Okay, and I guess you guys are here for that information then?¡± I looked around waiting for their nods. ¡°Can I ask a question first?¡± More nods. ¡°Who the fuck is Akihiro Kanou?¡± -o- After a few wasted minutes arguing that no, I really don¡¯t know who that is, I was told that Akihiro Kanou was once a respected scientist that worked for the Soul Society until roughly one hundred and fifty years ago. His studies into soul technology were revolutionary and eventually formed the foundations to things like the Gikongan and Project Spearhead even if he didn¡¯t actually participate in those projects. Instead, he was obsessed with finding a way to craft a ¡®perfect¡¯ soul by growing artificial souls meant to specialise in one area, then frankensteining them together to remove any perceived imperfections. Central 46 approved his work as long as he delivered on making super soldiers to use against the Hollows. As I expected, eventually Kanou ran into issues. Prototypes were unstable, either not functioning as expected or unstable and prone to falling apart randomly. His experiments grew more and more expensive to maintain with little tangible improvement, so Central 46 ordered his resources scaled back and his projects shut down. Without the massive amounts of artificial souls he needed for his experiments available, Kanou did what any morally bankrupt scientist would do in pursuit of finishing his work. He started kidnapping and experimenting on human souls. This continued for several years undetected before Kanou made a mistake. Confident that no one managed to track anything back to him, he got bolder in his kidnapping. Going after souls that he considered ¡®higher quality¡¯ for his tests. One day, rather than sticking to the lower districts where a soul disappearing was less noticeable, Kanou grabbed a young boy from District 15. This wasn¡¯t new behavior from him. It was later discovered Kanou kidnapped hundreds of children for use in his experiments. The difference this time was the boy was actually part of a minor noble family visiting the area while his father inspected a new business opening nearby. When his son failed to return, the father immediately demanded the Onmitsukid¨­ investigate. Eventually they tracked down both the lab and the kid. There they found and fought dozens of monstrosities that the scientist had spliced together from the victims he kidnapped. The mindless creations poured out of their holding cells and into the streets. They tore through hundreds until the Gotei 13 mobilised and killed them all. Akihiro Kanou was forced on the run until he was eventually hunted down and reportedly killed by a freshly promoted Fifth Seat Officer, Sosuke Aizen. -o- ¡°We thought that was the end of him, but now we can¡¯t be sure. Any more information on the experiments you went through would go a long way into easing our fears.¡± finished Soifon. I shrugged at her. ¡°Not much I can tell you, I had one converstation with the guy who made me. And I didn¡¯t even see him before I was declared defective. Practically the next thing I knew I woke up near a riverbank a bit outside Karakura.¡± I said. Technically true, and I was never going to let anyone know I was created by an extra-dimensional entity. If that meant I got labeled a bioweapon I would deal with it. Worst case scenario would be that I disappear and help from the sidelines, though I didn¡¯t expect it to come to that. The Gotei 13 weren¡¯t exactly in the position of devoting a lot of resources into hunting me down at the moment. ¡°Well that¡¯s more than we had before.¡± Soifon turned to Natsumi. ¡°Go get a squad to investigate the area around Karakura for any signs of unusual spirit fluctuations. Then get back to your room, I am not going to deal with Squad 4 complaining about you sneaking out before you are officially released.¡± Natsumi was clearly not happy about the last order but accepted with a simple ¡°Yes, Captain.¡± She turned back to me and bowed as low as she could without aggravating her injuries. ¡°Alexandria Cross, I wanted to thank you for saving my life. I look forward to working together in the future.¡± She said before turning and walking out the door. I watched her walk out before turning back to the other two. ¡°Um, what did she mean by working together?¡± I asked. ¡°We kinda fudged the truth about your situation. As long as you cooperated with telling us what they wanted to know you were off the hook.¡± Yoruichi said with a shrug. ¡°The Head Captain knows better than to make an enemy out of our group after what we just did and with Aizen doing who-knows-what.¡± ¡°So the implied death threat was just your way of having fun then?¡± ¡°Nope, just them wanting to make sure you took this seriously and didn¡¯t try dodging out of an answer.¡± I sighed. Whatever, I was still way too tired to deal with Yoruichi right now. ¡°Can I take these off now?¡± Gesturing to the handcuffs again. Soifon started walking towards me. ¡°Yes, they shouldn¡¯t be needed anymore.¡± She said before inserting some sort of card into an opening. The handcuffs popped off and I had my hands back, yay. ¡°Any other ways you want to mess with me?¡± I yawned. Now that I wasn¡¯t in fight-or-flight mode I was exhausted again. ¡°I have several I want to try out!¡± Yoruichi said happily, ignoring my glare. ¡°But those are for later. Just know Orihime will be stopping by soon to help deal with your injuries. She pushed herself too hard helping with everyone else so we forced her to take a break. So don¡¯t run off anywhere for a bit.¡± ¡°I can do that. Anything else?¡± ¡°Nope! But I need to go help get in contact with Kisuke. Need to coordinate getting everyone home in a few days.¡± The two of them walked out the door before Yoruichi looked back at me. ¡°Oh, and Alexandria? You did a great job, feel free to take it easy for a while.¡± And like that, all the tension I had building up flowed out of my body. I let out a groan and collapsed back onto the bed. Yeah, taking it easy sounded good. Spirit 3.2 It was weird being able to walk openly through the streets after spending days sneaking around ambushing the occasional Soul Reaper. It had been about a week since Aizen had betrayed the Gotei 13 and made his escape, and I was finally cleared to leave the hospital. After so long stuck inside I took advantage of my newfound freedom to walk around the Seireitei and explore a bit more slowly now that I wasn¡¯t running to, or away from, a fight. Members of various squads were roaming around and enjoying themselves. Which made sense I suppose. They did spend more than a week on high alert due to our invasion. With the alert removed, everyone was taking the chance to unwind and relax for a bit before getting back to work. What was weirder was the complete lack of hostility from the Soul Reapers as I wandered around, although that might be simply because I didn¡¯t stand out that much. Orihime had decided to join me for the walk and due to the loss of her clothes was still in a Soul Reaper uniform. Between that and me reforming my barrier jacket to look like the yukatas I was provided, we fit right in. Of course that didn¡¯t mean we did not draw attention. Two pretty girls walking around still drew looks from several men (and women, surprisingly) but for the most part it was pretty harmless. ¡°...and if you add maple syrup it gets even tastier!¡± Orihime on the other hand, was slowly chipping away at my sanity with her weird food combinations. Feeling slightly ill at some of her self professed ¡®recipes¡¯ I needed to raise a hand and stop her before this went further. ¡°Orihime, under no circumstances should marshmallow and maple syrup ever be put into a pasta dish. That just isn¡¯t right.¡± I told the cheerful teenager. ¡°No, really. It¡¯s super good! You have to come over and try it sometime!¡± She said waving her hands a little childishly. ¡°I think I¡¯ll pass on that. But I can still come over and make something else for you!¡± I panicked when Orihime looked down by my refusal. Seriously, the girl looks like a kicked puppy when she is sad. It''s completely unfair. Luckily she cheered up again when I promised to come over at some point. And better yet, she didn¡¯t even notice me reversing it so I would be the one cooking. Orihime clapped her hands happily, ¡°That sounds great! I can¡¯t wait. Oh, hi Ishida!¡± I turned to follow Orihime¡¯s gaze and found Uryu walking up to us. ¡°Good morning Inoue-san, Cross-san.¡± He greeted us. ¡°Are you free for a bit?¡± Since neither one of us were really doing anything specific, we agreed to follow him. We had some meaningless small talk on the way. Uryu was still very interested in my skills since they had several similarities with Quincy abilities, and I wanted to know more about how Quincies made spiritual weapons. Of course Orihime managed to pull us down several off-topic tangents during the walk to wherever Uryu wanted to go, so we never really made it past the basics of either topic. Neither one of us minded though since we were being pretty casual with both topics, and her cheerful attitude through the whole thing was infectious. Our conversation ended when we arrived at the building we had been allowed to stay at while we recovered from our various injuries. Unsurprisingly, Chad was also in the main room. The large teen prefered to stay either with one of his friends or out of the way, so it was rare to see him in the Seireitei. ¡°Hi Sado! You¡¯re here too?¡± Orihime greeted. It took me a second to remember that was Chad¡¯s actual name since no one other than Orihime and Uryu used it. Chad nodded to us in greeting but remained silent. Uryu walked over to a basket and lifted the lid. ¡°Okay! I finally finished these last night and thought it would be good to hand them out.¡± Uryu said, passing Chad a piece of cloth, which turned out to be a sleeveless lavender shirt with a dark red cross on it. It was shockingly professional looking actually, if a bit plain. ¡°I was able to borrow some tailoring equipment, so I made some clothes for you guys based on what I remembered you wearing.¡± he explained. ¡°So what do you think, Sado-san?¡± Chad just kinda stared at the shirt in his hands for a few seconds before turning back to Uryu, who was digging around for more clothes. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°...It¡¯s different...¡± Chad said eventually. ¡°I redesigned them a bit based on my own personal style added in.¡± Uryu admitted, removing a few articles of clothing from the basket. ¡°Inoue-san these are for you.¡± I made my way to a free chair while the teenagers had a mini fashion show. Orihime ended up in black track pants with a white stripe down the side and a beautifully made pink shirt with a line of frills running down the right side and some floral accents on the left. Chad had changed into his provided shirt and a normal looking pair of pants. It was hilarious how much more effort Uryu seemed to put into making female clothing, especially since he revealed he had made a lovely pale blue dress for Rukia as well. Uryu was a little sheepish that he didn¡¯t have anything prepared for me, but considering my clothing could shift to anything I wanted I wasn¡¯t broken up about it. Then Orihime decided she needed to show Rukia her new dress immediately and took off in search of her. I offered to go with her but Uryu requested I stay behind, and Chad wandered off back towards his room. Now alone with Uryu, I decided to tease him just a bit. ¡°So, did you have something for me after all? Something you don¡¯t want anyone else to see me in?¡± I said slightly seductively, absently pulling on the collar of my yukata. Uryu was suddenly blushing furiously after just that. I definitely saw why Yoruichi liked doing the same with Ichigo. The reactions were hilarious! I would never go as far as her though. ¡°O-o-of course not!¡± Uryu denied fervently, adjusting his glasses and looking anywhere but at me. ¡°I h-have a request I wanted to make of you.¡± Oh? I wonder what he would want. I had spent some time getting to know everyone now that we had nothing better to do, I even hung out with some of the Soul Reapers that stopped by from time to time, but Uryu never gave the impression he wanted something from me. ¡°No harm in asking, I guess¡± I said with a shrug. The Quincy visibly calmed himself down before turning to face me. With a very serious expression, he suddenly bowed at the waist. ¡°Please, teach me to use mana. I beg you.¡± Well there was only one answer I can give such an earnest request. ¡°No,¡± I refused immediately. ¡°Also, why? I thought you were super proud of your Quincy heritage, so I can¡¯t imagine you giving it up just because I use something new.¡± Uryu¡¯s face twisted into a bitter expression. ¡°I haven¡¯t mentioned it to the others yet, but during our fight I used an ultimate technique of the Quincy. As a result my powers were burned out, I am no longer a Quincy.¡± Ah, I forgot that happened. Still it¡¯s not like it changed my answer. ¡°I still can¡¯t help you. Even if you were able to use mana, it¡¯s something that would take years, maybe decades, before you got beyond the basics. I don¡¯t have the time to dedicate to a student.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Uryu said sourly. ¡°Forgive me for being selfish.¡± ¡°If you are so concerned about losing your powers, maybe talk to your father? I heard he is actually fairly talented as a Quincy. He should be able to help.¡± I pointed out. Uryu again had a complex expression on his face. ¡°I will consider it.¡± I blinked at the reluctant response. But I guess going to his dad for help ran against his pride, or something like that. Meh, he will deal with it eventually. -o- I left soon after that. While Uryu was quick to reassure me that there were no hard feelings for rejecting him as a student, it was still awkward to be in the same room. So I was wandering the Seireitei again. Alone this time, unfortunately, since Orihime had run off somewhere and the rest of our group was unavailable for one reason or another. I considered hunting down Yoruichi since I hadn¡¯t seen her in a bit. But she was busy working out an agreement of an alliance between the Gotei 13 and the Urahara group. While it was a given that both would work together, there was still stacks of paperwork for the approval of materials, pardons for the one hundred years as an exile, and other such things that needed to be worked out so no one complained later. Of course I escaped that initially because I was injured, but now that I was out of the hospital Yoruichi would happily duck out of the responsibility if she knew I had nothing to do. I was still debating if dealing with paperwork was worth Yoruichi¡¯s company when I heard someone calling my name. Turning to look I saw two Soul Reapers making their way towards me. One was Natsumi, and the other was a girl in glasses with long black hair that she kept pinned back and with her bangs parted to the right side of her face. Based on the serious look on her face and the badge she wore on her left arm, it looked like I was going to be introduced to another Lieutenant. ¡°Hi Natsumi,¡± I greeted when they were close enough. ¡°I see you¡¯re out of the hospital too.¡± ¡°Miss Cross,¡± Natsumi replied with a nod. ¡°Also please don¡¯t use my name so casually.¡± I shrugged and by the way her eyebrows furrowed, Natsumi realized I was going to ignore her request. ¡°So what¡¯s up?¡± Natsumi sighed in resignation before turning to present her companion, ¡°This is Squad Eight Lieutenant Nanao Ise. She wanted to talk to you about the information you provided last week.¡± Said Lieutenant took a step forward while adjusting her glasses, ¡°Good afternoon Miss Cross, congratulations on your recovery.¡± she said politely. ¡°Thanks, but you can just call me Alex.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Nanao said nodding once. ¡°I apologise for this but I have a request I wanted to make. I am the one handling the report made by the scouting group that went to the World of the Living to investigate the possible location of Akihiro Kanou and I asked Hanakage to introduce us.¡± I see, I guess they didn¡¯t find anything and wanted to see if I knew anything else that might lead them to my ¡®creator¡¯. ¡°Further upriver from the point that you described we found a Hollow nest that had managed to escape detection for quite some time. After clearing the nest and investigating, we found signs that someone was using the nest as a disposal area for several souls that showed heavy signs of...modification.¡± ...or I could be completly fucking wrong. ¡°And I suppose you think Akihiro Kanou is behind it?¡± I asked weakly. Nanao nodded, ¡°From what the team found, there were several similarities between what was at the site and the records we found of Kanou¡¯s work. It could be a successor, but we still will need to investigate.¡± ¡°Okay, but why tell me?¡± Wait, Nanao said she had a request. ¡°Unless you wanted me to check out the site when I head back to the World of the Living?¡± I asked. ¡°No, Squad 13 is responsible for cleaning up that area and will take care of it.¡± Nanao disagreed. ¡°The Gotei 13 was hoping that you would agree to accompany the team investigating the Senkaimon they found there.¡± ¡°Again, why? I¡¯m not really sure what I could do for an investigation.¡± It looked like Nanao was having a hard time answering so eventually Natsumi stepped in. ¡°We want you as a combatant since the Gotei 13 can¡¯t spend the manpower at the moment.¡± Huh? I looked between the two trying to figure out what Natsumi meant by that. She just looked resigned while Nanao looked embarrassed and avoided looking at the two of us. ¡°Right now all Captains and Lieutenants are doing damage control after Aizen¡¯s betrayal.¡± Natsumi explained, seeing my look. ¡°In addition most seated officers are filling in to handle the normal work piling up because this was unexpected. We simply can¡¯t spare anyone strong enough in case this turns out to be a major incident without affecting our preparations for dealing with Aizen.¡± Makes sense I guess. And I had no real reason to refuse especially if it delayed my trip back through the Dangai. Anything to avoid the creepy murder hallway. ¡°I don¡¯t mind helping out.¡± I said. ¡°So, is it just me or¡­?¡± Nanao shook her head. ¡°Even short staffed, we can¡¯t send you to investigate alone. 3rd Seat Hanakage will be accompanying you.¡± My eyes lit up as I threw an arm over Natsumi¡¯s shoulders. ¡°This means I get to spend more time with my favorite sparring buddy! Why didn¡¯t you say that first!¡± I cheered, ignoring the elbow grinding into my ribs. ¡°Please get off of me¡­¡± Natsumi said through gritted teeth. I ignored her too¡­ Spirit 3.3 Furious scribbling sounds filled the air as I worked on another set of equations. While I wasn¡¯t working on one of my more advanced projects since there was no way to secure my notes, it was still important for me to keep working at more aspects of my magic to fully understand how to use some of the high forms in my archive. I didn¡¯t want a repeat of my first foray into spell storage with jewel craft. Turns out even ¡®knowing¡¯ how to make a storage crystal and actually doing it are very different things. Though the experience did teach me to learn the foundations of any craft since the first few prototypes crumbled to dust...or melted¡­...or exploded. I was just glad I had decades worth of experience available to use as a reference. Otherwise I would never get anywhere in making my various equipment. Even if what I had right now was fairly simplistic at the moment. Finishing with the last line I started scanning through the pages I had written. Nothing seemed out of place¡­ Initial defining of spell structure? Check. Matrix for containing mana input? Check. Refinement of raw mana into spell sequence? Check Trigger for spell activation? Check. Limiter on mana draw? Not check? Uh, what? I started shifting back through my pages of notes. Each of the dozen or so pages was methodically scanned while I hoped that I simply had the pages out of order. But nope! Turns out I forgot to add a limiter for this spell formula, meaning if I actually tried to use the thing it would pull out every bit of mana I had at once. Probably killing me in the process. With a sigh I incinerated the sheaf of papers with a small fire spell and blew the ashes out the window with an equally low level wind spell. Raw elemental manipulation was one of the fields of study I hadn¡¯t put a whole lot of effort into developing but this much was pretty easy. ¡°Please do not play with fire while we are in such a confined space.¡± a disapproving voice said across from me. With a small start I looked up to see Natsumi looking at me with an annoyed expression on her face. I winced a little, realising she was right. ¡°Sorry, normally I don¡¯t have anyone around when I work. So, I kinda forgot you were here?¡± Because that definitely makes it better. Note to self: learn to not put your foot in your mouth. Natsumi looked like she agreed with my internal thoughts. ¡°You spent the better part of two days working on those notes.¡± Natsumi said, choosing to ignore my comment, ¡°Why suddenly destroy that work?¡± ¡°It was the theoretical work for a spell I was working on, but I left out a crucial feature that made the whole thing worthless.¡± I explained with a sigh. ¡°Honestly, it would be easier to just start over than try and insert a feature into the formula at the end.¡± ¡°Another one of your weird Kido spells then?¡± Natsumi asked. ¡°Air walking actually.¡± I replied. She gave me a weird look, like I had just seriously declared that the moon was made of pudding. ¡°You...do know that that technique is just a basic Reishi manipulation exercise, right?¡± She asked slowly. I sighed again. While the Gotei 13 were allies at this point, I didn¡¯t really like putting how unique I was out in the open. Getting on the radar of Captain Kurotsuchi wasn¡¯t on my to-do list. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I don¡¯t actually use Reishi for my abilities.¡± I explained anyway. If we were going to work together she would need to know the basics of what I did anyway so we could coordinate. ¡°I use a different energy called mana. Similar in some ways, but not the same.¡± Of course Natsumi wasn¡¯t satisfied with that explanation, so I launched into a full lecture about the differences between mana and reishi, how I used mana, and the basics of several of my abilities. In the meantime, our horse-drawn carriage continued down the road to our destination. The same day that Ichigo and the others left through the Senkaimon back to the World of the Living, Natsumi had informed me the Onmitsukid¨­ had tracked the illegal Senkaimon near Karakura to somewhere in District 49 of the South Rukongai. We gathered up a few things, then set out as soon as we could. The first day was spent questioning Natsumi about where we were going and what we should expect from the area. For once I had absolutely no foreknowledge going into a situation. I was aware of what the Rukongai was like in a general sense, but no specifics other than ¡®gets worse the higher the district number¡¯. It also didn¡¯t help that Natsumi wasn¡¯t the most talkative of people. Not to say that she refused to answer me. She would dutifully answer any question I asked as long as it related to the mission, but that was it. She wouldn¡¯t volunteer information or answer anything personal. I got the feeling she didn¡¯t really like me being here, and honestly couldn¡¯t blame her. If it was Ichigo or one of the others, she probably would have been less difficult but I had personally beaten her in a fight twice, saved her life, and revealed a conspiracy that had slipped under her entire Squad¡¯s nose. Then to rub salt in the wound, she was forced to accept my help because the Gotei 13 was too crippled by Aizen¡¯s betrayal to keep this internal. So I kept any jokes or teasing fairly light. No need to kick her while she¡¯s down and all that. Still, even with the curt explanations I learned a lot about the Rukongai. Turns out that while large areas of the Seireitei have modern amenities, much (if not all) of the Rukongai is stuck somewhere in the middle ages technology wise. There are exceptions, but these are few and far between. Another thing I learned was how the districts were numbered. Starting from the Seireitei, each district was numbered in a series of circles that were then split into north, east, south or west. Each district had its own committee of representatives that reported to Central 46 and enforced their laws. Well in theory, anyway. Once you got to the outer districts, laws tended to be enforced only when a Soul Reaper from one of the Court Squads was sent out or when it was convenient to the person in charge. There were Soul Reapers permanently stationed in each section of a district. These tended to be members so weak they were refused by the academy and trained locally. So very few of them, if any, actually managed to get a shikai let alone techniques like Kido. Basically, they were local police. Maybe slightly more capable than a normal person. But not even as durable as the grunts we went up against in our invasion. Their only real advantage over the souls in the area was the fact they were still given Asauchi Zanpakuto, which could strengthen and repair themselves with the user¡¯s Reiryoku so normal swords would probably break given they were hit hard enough. Eventually it became too dark for the horses to safely continue, so Natsumi signaled our driver to stop. Similarly to the last few times we stopped there was no town close enough to try and find shelter in a town. Luckily for us, the main compartment was more than big enough for Natsumi and I to sleep in, even if it was a bit uncomfortable. And the driver had a retractable cover that he could use as a tent. Just before I turned in for the night Natsumi spoke up, ¡°We should reach our destination sometime around midday if nothing happens. Please be presentable and try not to attract too much attention.¡± I groaned miserably. This far out in the Rukongai there was no such thing as ¡®presentable¡¯ in my opinion. Everything was ancient japanese fashion. I¡¯m sure the rest of the trip would be the two of us arguing about what was considered a proper outfit for this mission. -o- True to Natsumi¡¯s prediction, we reached town right before midday. While I was sure the town had a name, I wasn¡¯t really paying attention to Natsumi¡¯s introduction to the District or the town we were in so it escaped me. I was more interested in glaring at the Soul Reaper leaving the carriage. As I expected, neither one of us agreed on what was considered acceptable clothing and not attracting attention. Granted I spent almost two hours arguing there was no point in me changing my look. Being several inches taller than most of the men I met wouldn¡¯t change just because I swapped clothes. Let alone my eye and hair color which stood out in the sea of blacks and browns. Natsumi finally won that argument by pointing out that while my coloring wasn¡¯t nearly as rare as I made it sound, I should at least try to blend in and not announce to the whole town I was an outsider potentially investigating something in the area. Of course she ruined it by trying to pass me off as a local. I was not going to wear the rags the locals were stuck with. Furious arguments were made for several different choices of clothes from colors to materials. The only reason we stopped was that we arrived. ¡°Are you coming, or are you just going to stare at me?¡± With a sigh, I followed the Soul Reaper into the street. After the driver confirmed that we were off, he snapped the reins and took off in another direction. I watched him drive off for a bit, but when he turned a corner and vanished from sight I looked back to Natsumi. She was scowling as she looked over the outfit I had chosen, and while I knew why I refused to change anything any further. My hair was in its normal style when I wasn¡¯t expecting any trouble, meaning loose and flowing unrestrained down my back to where it stopped just below my shoulders. The normal black and red outfit I wore was replaced by a slightly modified Soul Reaper Academy uniform where the only difference it lacked the two pinwheel markings on the front. I hated how loose it was, but it was the best compromise we could come up with. Of course Natsumi had her own issues with my outfit. While not an exact match, it still called me out as someone obviously associated with Soul Reapers and the only fact that I might be required to fight made her give up arguing harder for another outfit. She hated my footwear though. I put my (no pun intended) foot down fairly hard on not changing the combat boots I normally wore. No matter how many times Natsumi tried explaining how it would attract attention or clash with the rest of it, I refused to budge. So in the end, we were both unhappy. Signs of a successful compromise. ¡°So now what?¡± I asked. ¡°Now, we check in with the town leader and stop by the closest Shinigami outpost.¡± Natsumi replied. ¡°I have to meet with the local Onmitsukid¨­ agents to narrow down our search area. You will be posing as my assistant so be sure not to wander off.¡± ¡¯Because there was so much else to do otherwise.¡¯ Looking around at the buildings you would expect to see in a history documentary, I tried to keep the bitter feelings I had being stuck in a place like this for several days from showing on my face. Low tech living was fun when you were camping. Less so when everyone around you did because it was the norm. I followed after Natsumi as she walked towards one of the better looking buildings in the area. This mission was going to suck. Spirit 3.4 ¡°These are the reports of departures and new arrivals for the neighboring three towns, make sure the numbers are fairly close and tell me if there is a large discrepancy between any of them. Here are the ones for missing persons and the details for each, get me a map based on where each one occurred and when. And these are requests for the Shinigami to investigate odd issues, filter out anything that might point us towards our illegal lab.¡± I looked blearily at the piles of paper Natsumi had dumped in front of me. It was far too early to be awake. ¡°Would you like me to make you coffee as well?¡± I asked sarcastically. ¡°No, but tea will do. Green with a bit of honey if we still have it.¡± Natsumi replied evenly. I rolled my eyes and started shifting through the papers. Yesterday Natsumi had met with her squadmates and the local Soul Reapers to gather any leads for where the other side to the portal was. We figured that it was unlikely that anyone operating an illegal portal to the Land of the Living would be easy to find, so we focused on what they were using the portal for. Waste disposal. It was callous, but there was no other reason we could think of that bodies would be dumped into a Hollow nest a whole plane of existence away if it wasn¡¯t to cover up something that would immediately bring the Gotei 13 on their head if it was discovered. Soul modification experiments definitely fit the bill there, but that meant we needed to figure out where the person behind those experiments was getting their test subjects. Natsumi had taken most of the initial steps gathering the reports and materials she had given me to sort through and smokescreening our efforts a little by saying she was on a mission to investigate disappearing souls in the area when it was reported back to the Seireitei. It had the benefit of being slightly true. Souls vanished all the time in the outer districts of the Rukongai, so there was always an outstanding request for Soul Reapers to investigate and make sure that no foul play was involved. Unfortunately it was often assigned to lower rank newbies as a punishment, so most of the time the investigation was half-assed at best. If there wasn¡¯t something obvious like a Hollow in the area, then the deployed Soul Reaper would wander around aimlessly and just be uncomfortable with the poor living conditions. From what Natsumi learned in her initial data gathering, this would be the first time someone took a serious look at disappearances in a couple centuries. Which was a little depressing but not all that surprising. Naturally with her taking up a cover as a Soul Reaper sent on a punishment detail, I was given my own cover story. I was now posing as a graduating academy student out on an individual mission as Natsumi¡¯s assistant. It was apparently tradition for the graduating class to shadow an active Soul Reaper to learn more about what squad they would be joining, and it was just my ¡®bad luck¡¯ the Reaper I was assigned was being punished at the same time. Normally I¡¯d be fine with that kinda thing, but Natsumi was having fun treating me like her actual assistant in public where I couldn¡¯t tell her to fuck off since it would blow our cover. I think she was getting me back for messing with her so much. Either way, I would be planning my revenge. I kinda lost track of time digging through the stuff in front of me, but eventually we narrowed down three good leads. The first was a forest between here and another town where travellers seemed to be vanishing occasionally. Another was rumors of a slavery ring being run out of a few towns that was said to be around here. We had a few reports where people would be seen entering certain buildings and never leaving. And finally there was a merchant who offered to escort people to different towns throughout the Rukongai. But despite being a fairly well used service, many of the people who moved to other towns were never heard from after a little while. ¡°So what do you think?¡± I asked Natsumi while she looked over the summaries for each lead. ¡°Any ideas how we should look into these?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. She was quiet for a while as she flipped through everything we gathered. ¡°I...think we are going to need to split these between us.¡± she said eventually. I arched an eyebrow but waited for her to explain. ¡°We will need to leave the merchant investigation to the field agents in Squad Two. They travel too far for us to investigate thoroughly in a short amount of time.¡± She says, seemingly more to herself than me. But I agree with the logic. If we tried hunting down each person we had a file on it would take months with just the two of us. Natsumi set aside the papers in her hand and grabbed the next set. ¡°Having you along while we investigate in town would also likely be counter productive, you stand out too much to be good at gathering information.¡± ¡°I managed to slip through the Seireitei pretty undetected.¡± I pointed out, feeling a little insulted. She shook her head, ¡°Your stealth abilities aren¡¯t in question here. You need to blend into crowds and eavesdrop on conversations to pinpoint where gathering places are located. Even disguised you are too noticeable to gather the information we need.¡± ¡°So I leave that part to you and just follow the people you point out.¡± I argued. ¡°You probably could.¡± Natsumi agreed. ¡°But if news of our investigation tips off whoever owns the portal, they might go into hiding and we will lose the trail. So we split up to give them as little warning as possible.¡± I thought over her plan and didn¡¯t really have any complaints about it. Splitting up would definitely be faster and the only real risk would be if something happened to one of us while we were separated, but we could plan around that somewhat. ¡°Fine, just let me grab some things and I¡¯ll head out.¡± I said, getting ready to leave. Natsumi stops me before I can walk out, ¡°Be sure to take one of the local Shinigami as a guide.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I asked, it wasn¡¯t like I would get lost just scouting and the locals were far too weak to be backup. ¡°Your cover.¡± she sighs, pinching in between her eyes. ¡°I told you if you were going to wear anything like an academy uniform you would likely need an escort to avoid anyone questioning you going off on your own.¡± She did? Uh, I probably should have listened to that introduction, huh? ¡°Oh come on. If I move fast enough no one would even know I went by myself.¡± I try to wiggle out of needing a babysitter, but it doesn¡¯t seem to work. ¡°The second we arrived our movements were likely being reported to the mayor of this town. I can set up an alibi for myself while you go off to the woods, but not for both of us disappearing at the same time. If the mayor knows, then every criminal element probably knows a little bit as well.¡± ¡°So fake going with me and just sneak back. You said you would be using a disguise.¡± ¡°And how will you re enter the town without me?¡± ¡°Sneak back in, grab you, then pretend we just got back.¡± ¡°What if I¡¯m not easily found, or elsewhere, or you need to enter sooner? Stop whining and trying to get out of this, it''s far simpler for you to just accept the backup and deal with investigating quickly.¡± Natsumi huffs. ¡°But they¡¯re just going to be dead weight!¡± I most certainly do not whine. -o- ¡°And here we are! Red Leaves Forest! Beautiful little spot away from the mess of town living, and full of lovely little secluded areas where you can get a little more ¡®in touch¡¯ with nature if ya know what I mean.¡± the Soul Reaper throws an arm over my shoulder while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. ¡°What do you say newblood? If you impress me I can put in a good word for you with some people I know in the Squads.¡± Slightly disgusted, I brush his hand away before he can ¡®accidentally¡¯ grope my chest and keep walking towards the forest. ¡°Awww, don¡¯t be like that sweetheart.¡± the creep laughs as he jogs to catch up. ¡°If you want to get promoted you need to learn how to play the game. See, it''s all ¡®bout doin some small favors for the guys above ya.¡± Aoyama Kimura is the Soul Reaper who Natsumi assigned as my escort. One of the few guys in town that was taller than me at around 6¡¯2¡± he had short, messy black hair and the same pretty boy looks you expected to see in a host club. He also had the personality of a sewer rat. Unfortunately, he was also the leader of the local Reapers stationed here so when he volunteered it was practically guaranteed I¡¯d be stuck with him. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be fine without your ¡®small¡¯ favors.¡± I said, emphasizing the word. He chuckled darkly, ¡°Sweetheart trust me, my ¡®favors¡¯ are anything but small. But you¡¯ll learn. Only way up the ladder for girls like you is to catch the eye of someone higher up the chain. You think doing your job is gonna do that? If ya was a guy then yeah, guy¡¯s in charge don¡¯t wanna get showed up by underlings. But chicks? It¡¯s all ¡°oh she¡¯s a valuable team member, the place would fall apart if she got promoted!¡± This could be good practice for you later on.¡± I wonder if Natsumi would be angry if this guy had an...unfortunate...accident while we''re out here. Probably wouldn¡¯t be too mad. Afterall nothing of value would be lost. ¡°Pretty sure the female captains and lieutenants would disagree with you.¡± I replied, hand tightening around the sheath of the katana I¡¯m using as a fake Zanpakuto. It¡¯s really hard trying to keep myself from beating the dumbass into the ground. ¡°Oh, the innocence of the poor naive newbloods.¡± Kimura sighs. ¡°Sweetheart, they might be a bit stronger than the average chick, but the same rules apply. Fuck, they only got the position over a guy ¡®cause guys don¡¯t get stronger with ¡®spiritual liquid injections¡¯ if ya know what I mean.¡± The sheath in my hand starts making a groaning sound and I need to release my grip or risk breaking it. ¡°Of course, if they made it to the top then they spent a lot of time guzzling it down.¡± He continues, and motions back to town. ¡°See, the girlie you followed here probably turned down a ¡®favor¡¯ she couldn¡¯t afford not to. That''s why she got sent to this backwater and you had to tag along. You academy brats don¡¯t know how the game works, it¡¯s not how strong you are that gets you promoted, it¡¯s who¡¯s got their eye on ya.¡± He leers up and down my body. ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯m sure lot¡¯s of people got their eye on ya if you know how to ask the right way.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pass.¡± I said shortly. ¡°Now let¡¯s just get this over with so I can get back to town and away from you.¡± Kimura shrugs, ¡°If that''s what ya want. I¡¯ll show ya around the forest. But¡­¡± he smiles obscenely at me. ¡°...if ya want me to ¡®show¡¯ ya something else ya just have to ask.¡± ¡­ I¡¯m going to kill him. No, even better, I¡¯m going to get this over with then force Natsumi into a little alone time with him. That way she can kill him and I won¡¯t get in trouble. I¡¯d even consider it my revenge for her treating me like an assistant. Of course this means I need to put up with him for the rest of the trip here¡­ Dammit. Spirit 3.5 Despite the company, the forest itself was actually rather nice to walk through. The trees were tall and straight, the undergrowth was lush and very picturesque. I could see why people might stray off the path to enjoy sitting in a clearing if they were traveling through. Of course I could also see why people could go missing if they wandered too far. The same vegetation that made the place look so nice also did a great job of making you lose your bearings if you lost sight of the road. It didn¡¯t help that most of the sky was covered by branches and leaves so trying to navigate by the position of the sun was only possible on rare occasions. And even when we saw the sky there was no guarantee the sun was even visible from where we were. Several times we would have wandered slightly off course after investigating the clearings and different places of interest Kimura knew about if I hadn¡¯t used a mana trick to mark where the road was. Just a simple imprint on one of the trees by the road to use as a beacon, but it did save us from wandering parallel to the road in several cases. The first three days yielded absolutely nothing. Kimura was a pain to be around but other than the constant innuendos and ¡®advice¡¯ he took the investigation seriously enough for a person who had no interest in finding a problem. Which is to say, he followed me over every bit of the forest pointing out which clearing had the softest grass, which rock curved just right to support your back, and which tree had¡­ the point is I got the feeling Kimura was a bit of an exhibitionist and had been out to this forest several times. I could see him being popular with the local girls if he never opened his mouth or let them meet his personality. ¡°So how long we gonna waste our time out here sweetheart?¡± Kimura asked on the fourth day. We had combed through most of the area along the road and were going a bit further of the path. Apparently there was a group of rocks further up ahead that was used by bandits occasionally, but it was checked enough that no one stayed there for long. ¡°As long as it takes to find out what is disappearing travellers or until we search the whole forest.¡± I replied. ¡°Pfft, ya gonna be out here forever if you¡¯re gonna go looking after every traveller that doesn¡¯t make it through these woods.¡± he scoffed, ¡°Wandering of the path, bandits, the occasional Hollow. All kinds of reasons they don¡¯t make it. And they happen enough that it could be any of them at the same time.¡± ¡°Then maybe your group should comb through here more often so that doesn¡¯t happen.¡±I said scornfully. He shrugged. ¡°Not my job. I just have to keep the town safe. No point risking my neck if I don¡¯t need to.¡± ¡°And the rest of your subordinates are fine with that?¡± ¡°Well, Yuuto complains enough. Not that he ever does anything himself.¡± With a lazy bastard like him at the top, I wasn¡¯t surprised. Independent action was more likely going to be ignored or added to his normal duties rather than be rewarded. For once we walked in relative quiet where Kimura simply grumbled about getting caught on the occasional bush rather than try and convince me I should sleep with him simply because he is so awesome. Kimura was the first to get to the clearing where the rock formation was supposed to be. With a quick flourish, he gave me a mocking bow and presented the area behind him. ¡°And here we are! A lovely pile of rocks off the beaten path, occasionally filled with all kinds of miscreants but as you can see, completely empty.¡± he sneered at me a bit, ¡°Just like the last dozen places.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to come with me. I would have been fine with anyone else.¡± ¡°If I knew how uptight you were sweetheart, trust me I wouldn¡¯t have. Definitely would have let someone else go on the nature walk, but you seemed like the fun one. Shoulda known it was the quiet bitchy one. That type always gets freaky in the bedroom.¡± Pretty sure Natsumi would rather break every bone in his body than sleep with him, but I certainly wasn¡¯t going to discourage him. Who knows, if he gets his ass handed to him maybe he would shape up? Or if he gets put on medical long enough someone else would get put in charge. Ignoring him, something I was getting a lot of practice at doing, I continued towards the rocks. A quick poke to confirm things were fine and then head off to the next site. Noticing a natural cave leading under the rocks I went to take a look. Turns out the opening was much larger than I originally thought. You could drive a semi through the opening with little effort. Besides being larger than I expected, the inside of the tunnel was also pitch black. The only exception was two small yellow lights glowing in the darkness. That were slowly getting closer. And looked awfully similar to eyes. That was a Hollow wasn¡¯t it? A bestial roar echoed out of the tunnel as I jumped back to avoid the Hollow surging towards me. It¡¯s fists slammed into the ground right where I had been standing kicking up dirt and creating a small dust cloud but that was it. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Oh hey look! There¡¯s something here trying to kill me. How odd since this place is completely empty!¡± I called back to Kimura. ¡°Whatever newblood, just kill it already.¡± ¡°Not going to help?¡± I asked, drawing the katana on my hip. He scoffed, ¡°What¡¯s wrong sweetheart? Too hard without the Academy instructors holding your hand? Though I can take care of it, if you do me a bit of a favor later?¡± The Hollow made another leap at me. This time instead of jumping back, I stepped into its jump, slicing its foot off as it landed. It howled in pain and tried to swat me away with a backhand, but I simply jumped over it¡¯s arm and hacked at its mask covered face. Blood splashed out of the cut before the Hollow fell over. Dead. While the Hollow slowly started to dissolve, I made my way back to Kimura. ¡°I¡¯m starting to think you''re only good at mouthing off.¡± I mocked him. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ve heard it all before. Besides, I¡¯m more interested in you mouthing me off. You got your blood pumping after that didn¡¯t ya? Bet you wanna- LOOK OUT!¡± The same time I heard his shout, something crashed into my side and tossed me into one of the trees nearby. The collision splintered the bark and knocked the wind out of me, but I was practically uninjured. I did find that I was pinned to the tree by some kind of white goo that solidified pretty quickly. It was going to take me a bit to get out of this without breaking character. Looking back towards Kimura, I saw that another two Hollows had made their way out of the tunnel. Unlike the first one, neither of these were very humanoid. One of them looked more like a naga with spikes sticking out of its arms, and the other looked like a giant slug with three tails. Going by the color of the slug Hollow, I¡¯d bet it was the one that managed to stick me to a tree since it was the same whitish color as the stuff covering me. The naga on the other hand, was a sickly greenish grey. ¡°You still alive, newblood?¡± Kimura called out, drawing his own sword and turning to face the two Hollows. ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m kinda stuck. You¡¯re on your own for a bit.¡± I yelled back. He cursed and then dodged under the swipe of the naga. The slug Hollow looked in my direction but seemed content that I was incapacitated for now. It turned towards the other two and lifted up its tails. Before I could say anything it shot out several more white globs from each of the tips. Kimura dodged around them easily enough at first but when one blob flew straight at him he made to cut it midair- ¡°Don¡¯t touch it! It dries almost instantly!¡± -before throwing himself on the ground to avoid it. I was straining at the goop holding me little by little, weakening it so my escape would look natural enough, but if it looked like Kimura was going to die I would just go full strength and finish off the Hollows. I could just make him figuring out I wasn¡¯t a student Soul Reaper Natsumi¡¯s problem. I also miiight be dragging out how long I needed to escape because I enjoyed seeing Kimura run around in a panic. No one could prove it though. The naga-like hollow charged Kimura and swiped at him with its claws. Kimura rolled on the ground to avoid its hands and slashed at its fingers to get a bit more space. Springing back to his feet, the Soul Reaper quickly dodged more balls of goo from the slug. ¡°Anytime now newblood!¡± ¡°Working on it!¡± Truth was I was ready to break out at any time. One good shove should shatter the stuff around me pretty easily. The two hollows were doing a good job keeping pressure on Kimura though. If he wasn¡¯t diving out of the way of more of those goo projectiles, he was being harassed by claws and spikes. Even if he managed to avoid the majority of their attacks, if he couldn¡¯t counter attack he would eventually make a mistake. Of course as soon as that thought went through my head, one of the blobs landed on Kimura¡¯s foot trapping him in place. Taking advantage of his newly trapped status, the naga Hollow pounced at him. I was ready to rush over but before I could Kimura started shouting. ¡°I¡¯M NOT GONNA GO DOWN LIKE THIS! DANCE ON THE WIND, ODORU TONBO! To my surprise, not only did a Soul Reaper not a member of the Gotei 13 in a remote place like this have a shikai, it was actually somewhat impressive. Nothing changed about the blade itself, but when Kimura thrusted at the naga Hollow to keep it away the blade continued to extend out before sharply changing direction midair to pierce the Hollow¡¯s wrist. Howling in pain, the Hollow tried to escape, but the blade continued to change direction. It would extend swiftly in one direction before changing direction just as fast. The naga Hollow was suddenly pierced through the arm, its tail, its flank, the chest, before finally the blade pierced the back of its head and through its mask. With its target dead the knot of bladed metal that looked more like a 3D art sculpture than a sword, glowed white and suddenly returned to its normal appearance. Without missing a beat Kimura turned and thrust at the other Hollow, blade extending and changing direction midair the whole time, and neatly skewered the slug Hollow between the eye holes in its mask. Surprisingly with the slug Hollow dead, the goop holding me to the tree(even if only by a wish and a prayer at this point) crumbled to dust, freeing both me and Kimura when the blob on his foot dissolved as well. Huh, self cleaning badguy. That was convenient. Walking back to the clearing I brushed the bits of Hollow that remained off of my clothes. ¡°You okay?¡± I asked. I didn¡¯t see him take any hits, but I was polite enough to check. And he had collapsed after he finished off the second Hollow. ¡°I think snakey might have had poison on his claws.¡± Kimura said gravely. ¡°My leg is getting all stiff. You might need to suck out the poison.¡± Moving a little faster, I strode over and started looking over his legs. Poison wasn¡¯t something I had a lot of experience with. If I couldn¡¯t heal it then I would need to make sure it was at least contained until I could get him to a professional. We were several days from the town so additional medical help was not an option anytime soon. ¡°Which leg?¡± ¡°The middle one.¡± I looked at his face and saw the grin, ¡°I think the poison¡¯s getting deeper in, sweetheart. Gonna have to give it a gooood sucking to get it out.¡± Wordlessly, I angled my sword towards his crotch and stabbed down. I didn¡¯t actually stab him, but I came close enough that he scurried back and let out a shill scream. ¡°Oh no, the poison is too deep. Guess we need to amputate.¡± I said. ¡°Okay, okay, okayokayokay! No need for anything drastic! Hell newblood, would it kill you to loosen up?¡± Ignoring him I got up and started heading back to the tunnel the three Hollows came from. I wasn¡¯t about to assume it was empty after three Hollows managed to fit inside. I slowly made my way down the tunnel, keeping an eye out for any side paths or nooks something could be hiding in. But it was just a simple straight pathway into a large underground chamber. I looked around for any sign of people being held here or moved. Aside from the occasional graffiti carved into the walls, it looked like no one had stayed here for some time. Another site with no lead to the lab. I hoped Natsumi was having better luck. Returning to the surface I walked back to Kimura. ¡°Nothing left in the cave. Should we head to the next location?¡± I asked. Kimura looked at me, incredulous. ¡°We just cleared out a den of Hollows and you want to go looking for more?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna have to come back out here. And the faster we finish looking, the faster we can go back to town. Besides it''s not like the Hollows hurt us, so quit complaining.¡± ¡°Says the one who spent half the fight watching.¡± he grumbled. ¡±I was the one that had to fight two of them. Dammit, the whole reason I stayed in the trash heap was because I didn¡¯t want to deal with things like that.¡± ¡°Wait you chose to be stationed out here?¡± ¡°Yeah, you wouldn¡¯t know being an Academy brat, but occasionally the Gotei comes out to recruit anyone who stands out in the local guards. I turned them down cause I¡¯m the top of the pile out here, why would I want to go back to being a small fish?¡± I gave him a sideways look, ¡°So the recruiter got a sight of your personality and left you here?¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯ll have you know I beat a tenth seat officer on the last recruitment drive!¡± He said, offended. ¡°Out here, everyone knows I¡¯m the one at the top. I¡¯m not giving that up just to join some squad for no benefits.¡± ¡°If you say so. Now let''s get this over with, I don¡¯t want to be out here with you longer than I need to.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s because you can¡¯t contain yourself around me, don¡¯t be shy. I¡¯ll take you anytime anywhere.¡± Kimura said lecherously. I was starting to think it would be a miracle if I didn¡¯t castrate him before we returned. I was sure nothing of value would be lost. Spirit 3.6 -Back in the town of Koifushi, South Rukongai District 49. Two days after Alexandria departed- A shadowed figure silently slipped into an empty office. Night had fallen over the Soul Society and perhaps fitting for a town in the mid-Rukongai the local guard was not particularly vigilant for people sneaking into governmental buildings. The figure quickly moved from the door and made its way to the records cabinet and expertly started shifting through them. A small handheld device occasionally flashing as the intruder copied each page before it was returned to its original place. Barely ten minutes later, all the files had been copied and the figure snuck back out the door. -o- The next day, Natsumi was looking over the analysis of all the records she had copied and sent back to the support members in Squads Two and Twelve to look over while she slowly finished off a cup of tea. While she hadn¡¯t needed to do these types of missions for close to 30 years, most of her job after promotion to third seat consisted of managing the Squad and the occasional hunt of especially crafty Hollows, it was nice to know that her skills were still sharp. It was also rather relaxing to not be the one responsible for paperwork for a change. ¡®If the squad wouldn¡¯t fall apart with Omaeda in charge I would think about making this a regular thing.¡¯ Natsumi mused. It was rather fun blending into the crowds here. While the standards of living were far from what she was used to, there were enough goods moving through the area that the bars were well stocked and by extension enough drunks in position that Natsumi was learning all kinds of things even without getting involved in the flow of conversation. Not that she said nothing, a well timed comment could easily guide the people around her into talking more about any topic they knew about. For instance, the town had recently replaced its mayor for the third time in as many years because the two major criminal groups in the area had clashed before being subsumed by a third group. It was a little tidbit Natsumi had relayed back to one of the Onmitsukid¨­ to investigate. If the group was tolerable enough perhaps a deal could be struck for how they handled the area. If not they could always infiltrate and direct the group or eliminate them if they were too disruptive. She also learned the general opinion on the local Shinigami garrison and their members. Like most places the local garrison kept the ¡®peace¡¯ in town. Meaning they would step in for obvious criminal activity or threats, but would remain largely uninvolved with anything underground or outside of town. According to many of the bar patrons, many more people had been vanishing around the Red Leaves Forest than had been reported. It was simply that most people didn¡¯t care to file a report if nothing would come of it. Natsumi was glad that Alexandria was off in that area. If the issue was local, she could handle it. If it wasn¡¯t and they were lucky, it might give them a lead to where the Senkaimon and lab were located. She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard a door slide open and another Shinigami walk in. ¡°Oh, hello Hanakage-san. I didn¡¯t realise you were up already.¡± the newcomer said. Natsumi looked up to see the second-in-command of the local garrison walk into the rest area she was in. She had briefly talked to him during the process of sorting out her and Alexandria¡¯s sleeping arrangements, but she hadn¡¯t run into him in the days following. Not surprising, considering Natsumi was enjoying ordering Alexandria around as revenge for the overly familiar mannerisms the blonde tended to subject her too. The former-Ryoka could be alarmingly similar to Lieutenant Matsumoto at times, and Natsumi was rather glad the similarities ended with just the overly friendly personality and not the laziness and drinking habits of the Squad Ten Lieutenant. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call 10 o¡¯clock early Kiba-san.¡± Natsumi replied. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Yuuto Kiba did not look like what you would expect of a Shinigami this far out in the Rukongai. Most local Shinigami tended to look taller and more muscular than the souls surrounding them. Something about Reiryoku helping push a Shinigami¡¯s body toward its peak. It was why being an overweight Shinigami was only possible in the center districts, where resources were plentiful and threats were rare. But Yuuto Kiba? He looked like he would fit in as a member of one of the minor noble families in the Seireitei. His soft slightly androgynus features looked slightly out of place compared to the harder features of everyone else, making him look even less like someone in command. Between the blond hair, grey-blue eyes, and gentle smile Natsumi had heard several women in town mention they wished to catch the eye of the Shinigami. ¡°W-well most of the garrison tends to stay out at night, so they usually aren¡¯t up until noon.¡± Kiba laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head. Natsumi simply hummed and turned back to her reports. She had enough to do in Squad Two and she would not ruin this little break from those duties sorting out discipline issues for an outpost unit. ¡°So what do you have there? It looks like you are really interested in it.¡± Kiba asked, joining Natsumi at the table she was using with his own cup of tea. ¡°Just some poetry a friend in my squad gave me.¡± Natsumi lied easily. The Onmitsukid¨­ had used poetry to code messages for years. It helped that the Gotei 13 encouraged an interest in poetry during the years spent at the Academy, so it wasn¡¯t unusual for Shinigami to be seen reading it in their time off. ¡®Well, as long as they weren¡¯t in Squad Eleven.¡¯ Natsumi thought. ¡°You have an interest in poetry?¡± ¡°For reading purposes only. I¡¯m not very good at composing unfortunately.¡± The two of them sat in silence. Natsumi continued through her reports while they both sipped at their tea. When Natsumi finished, she began collecting her sheets and prepared to leave. ¡°Ah, one second Hanakage-san.¡± Kiba called out. ¡°I was hoping to talk to you more about your time here, since you are on a mission to investigate the disappearances in the area.¡± Natsumi raised an eyebrow but settled back into her seat. ¡°Certainly, but what about? I don¡¯t believe I nor my assistant have done anything outside a standard investigation though so I am unsure what you want to discuss.¡± ¡°Well there is the fact you are investigating according to standards.¡± Kiba said with a gentle smile. ¡°Normally a Shinigami from the Gotei just puts in a token effort before going back to the Seireitei. If there is something else going on, I would be happy to offer my and my garrison¡¯s assistance.¡± ¡°Well normally those assigned to these kinds of missions are for disciplinary reasons, but both myself and my assistant were assigned as a graduation test of sorts for her. Our squad officers want to see how she conducts herself away from the Seireitei.¡± Natsumi smiled back, keeping to the fiction of their cover story. ¡°This mission was just the next to be assigned. I don¡¯t expect to find anything more than the ordinary issues that are unfortunately common in the Rukongai.¡± ¡°I hope that you don¡¯t take any actions of hers while she is with the squad leader against her then.¡± Kiba¡¯s smile turned pained. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Squad Leader Kimura is definitely one of the most powerful Shinigami in the district, but he is also rather¡­ direct about his desires with women that he does not spend much time with. It doesn¡¯t help that his methods are actually successful in some cases.¡± ¡°Are you saying he might force himself on my assistant?¡± Natsumi worried. She was unsure how she would explain the leader of a garrison being slaughtered by an Academy student and it would certainly make completing their real mission harder as well. Misunderstanding the source of her worry, Kiba shook his head. ¡°No, the squad leader is never physical, but his mannerisms have caused several¡­ incidents¡­ with other female Shinigami. So if she performs unprofessionally, please don¡¯t hold it against her.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to keep that in mind.¡± Natsumi said. ¡¯And pray Alexandria doesn¡¯t do anything rash.¡¯ She thought. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± ¡°Perhaps you could let me know what you are working on in the meantime while your assistant is away? Squad Leader Kimura doesn¡¯t assign us many things outside of keeping public order so I would be happy to assist you while you are here.¡± The smile was back on Yuuto Kiba¡¯s face. ¡°Nothing much.¡± Natsumi replied. ¡°I¡¯ve been going over a lot of reports your subordinates handed over looking for any patterns that stood out. I¡¯m not sure anything will stand out but it doesn¡¯t hurt to try.¡± What she didn¡¯t say was that she was augmenting her search by raiding both the local government and criminal headquarters when she managed to locate one. No need to rile up the locals with her investigation since they always had their own skeletons to hide. Kiba nodded at her words. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve done that a bit in the past. I can get you some of the previous maps we made with the positions of the disappearances marked.¡± ¡°That would be helpful, thank you.¡± A short time later the second-in-command returned with an armful of maps with color coded dots with a number that matched to a missing persons report. The majority were a yellow color signifying the case as unresolved, but there were a few greens where a person had been found, red where the report turned out to be fake, and some black where a body had been discovered. Immediately Natsumi noticed something odd about the maps since one area remained largely the same across all the maps. ¡°Why is this area always covered in red? It seems unlikely there were that many fake reports consistently.¡± Kiba looked at the section Natsumi pointed out and blushed. Not the reaction Natsumi was expecting. ¡°Ah, that area is the red light area in town. Most of those reports are men and women trying to reconnect with the ¡®special friend¡¯ from the night before.¡± That...seemed unlikely to Natsumi. She would need to check the situation closer before Alexandria returned. ¡°I see... Thank you for the maps, but I think I will stop here for today. This is more a task for my assistant afterall.¡± Natsumi was sure that there was something else going on in the red light area. But she would investigate on her own. Yuuto Kiba was too well known locally to walk through such an area without drawing attention and seemed determined to assist if he knew what she would be doing. Best he think she would wait for Alexandria before he offered to help again. -o- A few days later, practically the minute Alexandria returned to town, Natsumi quickly pulled the blonde aside. ¡°I hope you¡¯re happy sticking me with that idiot. Cause I am sooo getting you back-¡± ¡°I think I found where our lab is getting its research subjects.¡± Natsumi interrupted. ¡°And the number might be far higher than we initially assumed.¡± Blue eyes searched Natsumi¡¯s face for any signs she wasn¡¯t serious before Alexandria slumped, the previous annoyance pushed aside for the moment. ¡°Okay, what did you find?¡± Spirit 3.7 I was starting to wonder if this entire mission was just one long prank by the Soul Reapers to relieve their frustrations of how badly we showed them up trying to get at Rukia. It started off simple enough. Oh, you don¡¯t have the personnel to investigate this issue? Sure I can help. Of course they don¡¯t mention the place they need help in is a medieval town in the middle of nowhere. Oh, I need to blend in despite being several inches taller than most people in Soul Society? I guess I can wear something else. I chose a slightly modified student uniform? Well you can just be an assistant and handle going through the paperwork first! Not that I minded that much. For all my complaining, I was used to the role from dealing with Urahara. Oh, we need you to investigate a forest where people mysteriously vanish. Cool, done. But you have to do it with someone even more direct and perverted than Kon. And considering the first thing the mod-soul did with practically every female he met was throw himself at their chest, I was reluctantly impressed Kimura never made a move physically and still annoyed me as much as he did. And then finally, just when I think I¡¯m done with being harassed after more than a week with a stuck up Soul Reaper who thinks almost exclusively with his small head¡­ Natsumi tells me we are heading into the red light district to get a closer look at something she found. It''s just...it''s just not fair. ¡°So let me get this straight. You managed to investigate your lead, create a complete picture of the area¡¯s criminal landscape, get blackmail material on all the local leaders, and then find another lead in the time it took me to find a Hollow nest and clear it out?!¡± ¡°No of course not. The data analysts back in the Seireitei handled the local politics, I simply sent them the files I found.¡± Files that you managed to steal from safehouses and government buildings completely undetected. Safehouses that you also managed to find in under a week. Freaking stupidly talented samurai-ghost-ninja. ¡°Of course, silly me.¡± I dragged a hand down my face in frustration before shifting it to knead at my temple. The beginnings of a headache were starting to get to me. ¡°And you want me traipsing around the red light district, why?¡± Natsumi pulled out several pages of paper and handed them over. Looking through I started seeing references to case numbers, locations, dates, and witnesses statements. It was a lot. ¡°Okay, so what''s different about these than the other files we looked through?¡± I asked. If these were just the summaries then Natsumi had clearly found a pattern somewhere for there to be so many different cases called out. ¡°After my initial lead proved unhelpful, I took the time to map out where missing persons reports were laid out in the area. I discovered that most of these incidents revolved around the pleasure district.¡± Not terribly surprising, those kinds of areas usually had ties with the criminal element at some level. ¡°The issue was that the amount of incidents was an order of magnitude more than the rest of the town, and many of the missing persons matched the names of people who had submitted their own reports earlier on.¡± Natsumi continued. ¡°Wait, so people were disappearing and when even more people reported it they disappeared too? How did no one notice this before now?¡± Natsumi looked grim, ¡°It was waived off by the local Shinigami as unimportant. What''s worse is that this has been going on for years now. And that not only are the people reporting these disappearances missing, many of the people that might report the issue elsewhere seem to be vanishing as well.¡± I was starting to get a bad feeling. ¡°So how many?¡± Natsumi stared directly at me. ¡°Twelve thousand a year. Probably more since we don¡¯t have a way to track the ones no one reported. And the trend became noticeable as far back as fifty years ago.¡± I did some mental math and froze. ¡°Over half a million souls?!¡± I breathed. That was insane. Even if people were going missing after reporting things, that many people vanishing should have been noticed by someone! There should have been rumors, theories where people went, something! So why was this considered such a small thing that the number two of the local Soul Reaper garrison looked at the situation and basically shrugged and said it wasn¡¯t a big deal. ¡°How could this never come up? No one else passed this along?¡± There was a dark look in Natsumi¡¯s eyes. ¡°I believe the severity of the situation is being suppressed by someone. Missing cases are common but not enough that this many can be hidden like this. The incident maps supplied by the second-in-charge Yuuto Kiba proves that they have the numbers, but no one is tasked to look into anything. And because no one is looking, then there is no reason for a report to be sent to the Seireitei.¡± Unbelievable. ¡°Okay, so what do you need me to do.¡± Personal feelings could take a backseat for now. With how big an issue this became, getting to the bottom of where these people are being taken is the most important thing. ¡°From the few people I managed to get to talk, there is a certain building that people have a tendency to enter and then they never leave. We are going to inspect as best we can to discover the cause. I will be giving instructions back to Squad Two for support, but this is what you need to know...¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. For the next few hours the two of us discussed exactly how we would investigate the issue. -o- Contrary to my expectations, the red light district was not some den of debauchery where prost- *ahem* escorts tried their best to entice people off the streets. There certainly were a few trying such a thing, but for the most part the shops and buildings actually seemed better constructed than the rest of the town. Several tasteful wooden buildings lined the streets with signs promoting the shows within or services offered. I would be more comfortable if every other male escort didn¡¯t keep promoting their services to me, but it wasn¡¯t like I could tell them to not do their job. ¡°I don¡¯t know why I couldn¡¯t wear a disguise also.¡± I hissed to Natsumi. The Soul Reaper had removed her easily recognizable uniform and through a mix of new clothes and makeup, had transformed herself into someone completely different. I, on the other hand, had been made to stay in the same uniform for some reason. Natsumi rolled her eyes. ¡°The same reasons you left to investigate the forest while I remained here. You stand out too much, and I can play the role of a guide far easier than trying to find a way to pass you off as someone else.¡± ¡°And why would I need a guide?¡± I huffed, ¡°You could have just come with me normally.¡± ¡°How would you explain going directly to the building we are interested in?¡± she questioned. ¡°I doubt you spend much time in such places but someone so obviously uncomfortable with her surroundings going further into the district will only attract more attention. But with myself serving as a guide it will simply be reasoned off that I have an agreement with the facility in question to bring potential customers to them.¡± ¡°You just didn¡¯t want the attention from walking through here.¡± I accused. She shrugged. ¡°Believe that if you wish.¡± I could feel my eye twitch at the negligent answer. She wasn¡¯t the one being eyed like a piece of meat by a dozen starving wolves. At least this was the worst it would get. ¡°Well look who it is! Sweetheart if you wanted some action in town you just had to ask!¡± By everything holy, please no. A hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to face the source of my headaches for days, Aoyama Kimura. The black haired pretty boy of a Soul Reaper was standing there with the biggest grin on his face and it immediately gave me urges to punch him in the face, but being mindful of my surroundings I pushed it aside. ¡°Kimura.¡± I acknowledged him with a nod before stepping out of his reach. ¡°Not exactly looking for the type of action you could provide.¡± He looked lost for a bit before looking at Natsumi. I had no idea what was going through his mind but I¡¯m sure it was only vaguely attached to reality. ¡°Oh I see! A ladies girl then? No wonder you kept turning me down. Not sure where she¡¯s taking you, but if you tell me I can let you know if it¡¯s worth your time. I¡¯ve been all over this part of town and know all the best places around. Or if you want to try the other team again I¡¯m sure I can change your mind.¡± Natsumi was giggling off to the side while I just blankly stared at the idiot in front of me. Why did I agree to help the Soul Reapers again? Ever since I got here my dignity has been taking a beating. So you know what? Screw it. I threw an arm around Natsumi and pulled her into a tight hug with her head pressed into my chest. Ignoring the startled squeak, I looked back at Kimura. ¡°Well, not exactly the reason I turned you down. But this cutie here offered to show me a good place to relax. I heard that some of these shops have shows that you absolutely need to see if you are in the area.¡± ¡°So where you headed?¡± ¡°A place called the Moonlit Garden, apparently it comes recommended to people from out of the area.¡± Natsumi covertly jabbed me with an elbow, her eyes screaming ¡®what are you doing?¡¯ Mine, sparkling with sadistic enjoyment at her predicament, simply responded with ¡®revenge!¡¯ ¡°Ah, I know the place!¡± Kimura said excitedly, evidently not noticing the looks we were giving each other. ¡°Not a bad place to unwind, but not really much for the ¡®personal touch¡¯ if you catch my meaning.¡± He gave me a lecherous wink. ¡°Not much more I can say about it though. I tend to hang out where the girls are a little friendlier. But hey, I¡¯ll tag along! I figure you deserve a drink on me for taking out a real Hollow nest. Not even out of the Academy and racking up a score!¡± He gave both Natsumi and me a very¡­ thorough¡­ look over. I was suddenly very aware of how her head pressed against my shirt, making my assets more noticable. ¡°Plus if the two of you put on a show I¡¯m sure I can grease some wheels when you get into the actual squads. Heck, if it¡¯s good enough I might give you a better deal than if you got with me!¡± ¡°Not on your life.¡± I wasted no time refusing him. He shrugged, more than used to my rejections. ¡°And what about you ¡®cutie¡¯? I¡¯m sure I can help such a lovely girl like you with something in town?¡± Natsumi tensed up and for a second looked like she was going to be ill, before she put on a pleasant mask and replied, ¡°I¡¯m sure that we will be able to find something to satisfy your desires, sir.¡± She wiggled out of my grip and took my hand, and began walking down the street. ¡°If you would follow me? We are almost there.¡± She gave me a look that promised pain, but I took the whole thing as a minor win. If I was going to be saddled with the asshole again, Natsumi was going to deal with him too. -o- Annoyingly enough Kimura was much better behaved with other people around. Make no mistake, he still tried to convince both Natsumi and me to sleep with him, or together, or have a threesome. Basically just trying any combination he could think of to get us out of our clothes. But he was much less blunt about it than when I was alone with him. Still watching Natsumi twitch every now and then from all the comments was enough to make up for that. Too bad that once we actually arrived at the place Natsumi had a pretty easy time ditching the both of us. With her role as a guide complete, she would change her disguise and poke around for a bit before meeting up with me when she found something. Until then I had planned to just keep a low profile and wait, but Kimura decided to make good on his offer for a drink so I was once again left in his company. Fortunately, there were several girls here that were paid to deal with people like him so besides answering the odd question I had no reason to interact with him. So I was enjoying the short ravenette lounging in my arms as she occasionally topped off my drink (I was making sure to inspect that nothing fishy was going into it with a handy Analysis spell since I wasn¡¯t going to risk anything being slipped in) and just waiting for Natsumi. I¡¯d never been to a place like this before, but I could see the appeal of finding someone soft to cuddle with like this. It was nice. ¡°Another bottle miss?¡± A waitress stood nearby with a tray holding several bottles of alcohol. I was about to refuse when Kimura spoke up from the other side of the room. ¡°Leave three of them on me. Newblood there helped take out a Hollow nest before she even graduated! She¡¯ll go far if she ever takes the stick out her ass, but whatever. You girls know a way to get her to unwind?¡± Jackass, I was plenty relaxed. Just because I didn¡¯t have three girls crawling over me didn¡¯t mean I needed help. ¡°Uhm, we have an incense service that some customers use to help relax but it can be a bit debilitating. It tends to numb some of the senses if you breathe too much of it.¡± ¡°That sounds perfect! Might actually convince her to stop just petting the girl she has there and get to business! What do you say ladies, want to get a little loose with me?¡± he said looking at the girls beside him. ¡°Ah, if you are looking to get more intimate with our staff you will need to go to a different room. This one is not equipped for that kind of service.¡± the waitress said. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m not planning going any further than this. You don¡¯t need to do anything for me.¡± I interjected trying to stop her before I ended up somewhere else in the building. Last thing I wanted was to miss a signal because I wasn¡¯t where Natsumi thought I was. Kimura scoffed and waved at me. ¡°See what I mean? Stick up her ass.¡± He got up and started walking towards the door with a girl in each arm. ¡°Well I¡¯m gonna get to know these lovely ladies a little better. Feel free to enjoy the cuddle session and the incense, it''s on me.¡± He stopped right at the door frame, ¡°Oh and if you want to replace the stick with something a little more fun, you just have to ask. I¡¯d be happy to help.¡± He said with a wink before disappearing down the hall. The waitress gave me an awkward smile before removing a panel on the wall revealing an incense container hidden within. I did manage to convince her to change to just a nice smelling one rather than whatever drug laced thing Kimura requested, but I still wasn¡¯t convinced nothing was up. So using more wind spells I created an air channel between my face and the window, making sure I was getting the freshest air I could and trying my best not to breathe in the scent filling the room. The next half hour was spent drinking and listening to a story narrated by the girl I was holding. Even with the precautions I had taken with the dinking and incense, I was beginning to get drowsy. The warm room and soothing conversation was starting to break down my guard and I needed to do something about that. Gently pushing the girl away I made the excuse I needed to visit the restroom, only to be startled when the warm smile on her face morphed into an emotionless mask. ¡°Method one: unsuccessful. Activate method two.¡± She droned tonelessly. Before I could even attempt to decipher that, the lounge chair exploded into needles that struck the both of us. I ripped them out as quickly as possible, but I could feel the drugs start taking effect already. My thoughts slowed down, my eyesight became blurry, and moving felt like I had weights strapped to my body. Some kind of sedative, at least. Fighting the effects as best I could, I lurched to the door. If I made it to the open Natsumi might spot me. ¡°Well you are a tough one.¡± A voice said somewhere behind me. I turned to face it, but all I could see was a blurry form of a person dressed in black. ¡°Let¡¯s not make a scene.¡± the figure said before something hit me in the stomach and I knew no more. Interlude YS ¡®How is it that, that buffoon can remember the spirit fluctuations of every single person he¡¯s met, yet can¡¯t remember where he left the notebook he was using yesterday?¡¯ Yoruichi complained in her mind while she shifted through piles of books looking for the one they needed. Somehow in the few weeks since they had left for the Soul Society, Kisuke had managed to not only undo the efforts Alexandria made to organize his notes last time but also start losing things in areas completely unrelated to the topic they contained. Yoruichi had actually found an explosives manual in the kitchen. She had no idea why it ended up there, but she was glad Ururu noticed and brought it to her before Ginta found it and started making his own supply of fireworks. She was fond of the kid, but she also didn¡¯t want the neighborhood burning down around them. ¡®Found it, finally!¡¯ Returning to the lab Kisuke was in, she saw he was fully absorbed in yet another notebook. Walking behind him Yoruichi smacked him across the head with the recovered book. ¡°Kisuke, focus. You know we need to finish the details for the Karakura Replacement Plan. No getting distracted.¡± she scolded, snatching the notebook out of his hands. ¡°Hey! Be careful with that!¡± Kisuke protested. ¡°It''s one of Alex-chan¡¯s books, she will kill me if it gets damaged.¡± Yoruichi blinked in surprise. ¡°She gave you one of her notebooks? I thought she threatened to castrate you if you went digging through her things.¡± ¡°Ah, hahaha. Well you see, I kinda found it when I was looking for a reference book I leant her and might have borrowed it without asking? But as long as she doesn¡¯t find out it''s fine!¡± Kisuke and his thrice damned curiosity. Alexandria was very relaxed about people wandering into her workshop. She would even explain what she was working on if asked (Not that Yoruichi bothered beyond the basics since she didn¡¯t understand that stuff) but she was insanely territorial about her notebooks. The last time Kisuke ¡®borrowed¡¯ one of her notebooks, Alexandria chased him around for seven hours bombarding him with every Kido she knew and a couple Yoruichi was sure she had never used before. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It took the combined efforts of Tessei, Ururu, Ginta, and herself working together to stop the two of them from destroying the Urahara shop. From then on messing with Alexandria¡¯s notebooks was added to the unofficial forbidden things list, right along with giving the kids too much caffeine, letting Kisuke experiment unsupervised after being awake for 72 hours, letting Tessai shop for tea unescorted, or letting Yoruichi have catnip (it wasn¡¯t a habit. She could stop whenever she wanted). And here was Kisuke, ignoring that warning. ¡°Please tell me it¡¯s at least one of her research books and not a project one.¡± Yoruichi sighed covering her eyes with a hand. ¡°This is one of her research books.¡± her infuriating childhood friend dutifully parroted. She sighed again. Of course Kisuke would keep going after Alexandria¡¯s book. He had always been too curious for his own good and telling him that he was forbidden from knowing something only tended to make him poke his nose into it. ¡°So what project of hers could possibly make you risk your manhood after last time?¡± In addition to the damage to the surroundings Alexandria had come up with an interesting lightning based Kido that seemed to solely target the groin of whoever she used it on. Kisuke had been hit by several and power distance aside, getting electrocuted in that... ¡®region¡¯... was far from pleasant, given how he had been whining several hours afterwards. And that was before Alexandria had been able to copy Zanpakuto and fight on an even level with two captains for even a little bit. Now Yoruichi thought they might need to actively restrain their mysterious friend before she leveled the entire town. ¡°A ship.¡± Kisuke responded, still entranced by what he was reading. Incidentally knocking Yoruichi out of her thoughts of seeing if Soifon would lend her some of her militia to help restrain a furious captain level opponent. ¡°A what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a ship! Alex-chan wants to make a ship and it¡¯s one of the greatest things I¡¯ve ever seen!¡± Kisuke said, getting more excited now that his attention was pulled away from the book. ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen in this, this ship could work in the depths of space to the bottom of the ocean if it needed to and there are so many ideas that I never thought of! Sensor arrays, life support systems, power generators, and more. It¡¯s all in this¡± he declares flourishing the book overhead like it was some holy treasure rather than an academic notebook picked up at the 100-yen store. ¡°And she somehow has perfect designs to a ship that has things you¡¯ve never heard of before?¡± Yoruichi asked skeptically. She had long accepted that Alexandria would probably never come completely clean about her past. It was fine. She had also fully accepted that she wasn¡¯t working against them. Still, she would like some idea of Alexandria¡¯s past if only to know where she got so many ideas from. And one thing she knew for certain about Alexandria¡¯s ideas was that they never worked immediately. There was a reason no one besides Kisuke was crazy enough to be anywhere near Alexandria¡¯s experiments while she was testing them. They had a high tendency of exploding. Kisuke waved her off ¡°No, the designs here are almost terrible. If she actually tried to make this it would go critical and explode into a million pieces the first time she turned it on.¡± ¡®Called it.¡¯ Yoruichi thought. ¡°No,¡± Kisuke declared with the same crazy gleam he got when he went through the giant robot building phase a while back. ¡°I¡¯m going to take these designs and make them perfect!¡± He pulled out another notebook and began scribbling away, lost in his own little world. Yoruichi sighed yet again as any hope of getting any actual work done today went out the window. Maybe Alexandria would forgive them going through her books if they presented it as a gift? Spirit 3.8 I awoke to the soft whir of machinery and a dark room. For a minute I had no idea where I was or what happened before the memories rushed back. I was ambushed! Adrenalin surged through me, banishing the last bit of drowsiness as I tried to leap to my feet but I ran into two issues. One, I was already standing. Two, I was held in place by some seriously heavy duty restraints that covered everything up to my wrists and ankles so the only thing my reaction did was make me flail against them helplessly. My awakening must have triggered something since a bright light suddenly flooded the room, forcing me to tightly close my eyes. Blinking away the spots caused by the bright flash I got my first proper look at the room. I don¡¯t know what I was expecting to see, but a sci-fi lab out of the 80¡¯s was not in my top ten guesses. Large banks of monitors hung on one side of the room while giant machines dominated the other. Aside from the center of the floor and a path to the middle of the monitors, practically the whole floor was covered with thick bundles of wires. The disturbing part was that most of those cables were plugged into the scaffold that was holding me up. The cylindrical metal restraints on my ankles connected to machines I had no idea what their purpose was but I doubted I would enjoy it. ... Right. Time to leave. I didn¡¯t want to set off an alarm by just destroying the restraints. They certainly looked like they did something other than just hold me in place, so an alarm set to go off if they get broken doesn¡¯t seem unreasonable. I focused on the shackle covering my right hand and used Structural Analysis to get an idea of what I was dealing with. And oh man, I did not like what I found. Needles, electrodes, heating elements, and a variety of sensors. All signs pointed to either torture equipment, experimental procedures, or both. Now then, while I don¡¯t use the Alteration branch of my magecraft often outside my workshop, this would be the easiest way to get out since it works exactly how it sounds. It''s a bunch of spells that physically alter the state of its target. Simply project my mana outward, encase the locking mechanism, use a spell to shift the mechanism to unlocked and- ¡°AAAAAAAHHHHHH!¡± -and get electrocuted for my trouble. I hung limply from my wrists as I tried to stay conscious. Obviously, whoever captured me was very paranoid about escapes if they had a way to monitor the locks being moved without the right command. O-okay¡­ finesse didn¡¯t work. Brute force would have to do. Reinforcing my body to the limit I prepared to yank my hands out of the metal coverings. Just had to not think about how much that first time hurt. Or how much trouble I¡¯m in if I can¡¯t pull out of them¡­ ¡­ Fuck, why am I breathing so hard?! It was just a bit of electricity! I¡¯ve been cut several times and even stabbed through the chest, so this shouldn¡¯t be getting to me this badly! Forcibly calming my now heavy breathing I tensed against the restraints and prepared to break them¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Okay, just¡­.do it then. 3, 2, 1-- *Thunk* ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Rather than restrain me until they snapped, the shackles held in place for a little bit before clamps hidden further up the scaffold released and the electricity kicked in. This time, it was not a single blast of electricity but two. The second one being powerful enough that I absolutely blacked out for a second. When my senses came back to me I saw the final inches of a thick cable receding back into the scaffold while my arms were lifted back to their original position. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. So clamps on the restraints that release before they break, and cables to pull the prisoner back into place once they were shocked into a helpless state? Someone had a lot of experience keeping people with special abilities restrained. Before I could come up with another way to escape I felt a needle jab my wrist and something cold enter my body. A few seconds later my eyes felt heavy and it went dark again. -o- ¡°I believe you¡¯ve slept long enough.¡± Something hard jammed into my ribs and I jolted back into awareness. Groaning, I tried to loosen up my muscles which were screaming in protest from both the shocks and from me hanging by my wrists for who knows how long. ¡°Hurry up. You are wasting my valuable time.¡± Another blow to the ribs made me open my eyes. Standing in front of me was an old man with short slicked back silver hair. He wore a white collared shirt with a red tie covered by a lab coat. Considering the bias towards classical japanese clothing it looked rather shocking. But something else about his appearance was causing chills to go down my spine, but nothing seemed to jump out as to why. Even if I couldn¡¯t nail down what was bothering me, the man matched the pictures I was provided of Akihiro Kanou. Guess he was alive after all. ¡°You''re awake. Good. Now report, tell me the details of your construction.¡± What the hell is this guy asking? ¡°I see. Command: Me o samashite watashi no ny¨±satsu o okonaimasu. Now again, tell me the details of your construction.¡± I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. What is he talking about? What construction? Another jab to the ribs made me groan. ¡°Answer him, if you would.¡± Looking in the direction of the new voice I saw a blond haired Soul Reaper with a pleasant, but fake, looking smile on his face. ¡°H-huh.. Guess we w-were wrong. I had money on Kimura being the traitor.¡± I gasped out. Yuuto Kiba made no change to his expression. ¡°How unfortunate for you. Now please answer Doctor Kanou.¡± He proceeded to jab the end of his sheathed Zanpakuto into my ribs again. I hissed as my abused ribs took another hit. ¡°I have no idea w-what you are talking about...¡± The old man sighed heavily, which brought my attention back to him. ¡°It seems this one dates before the backup as well. What a shame. Reverse engineering takes so long.¡± ¡°W-what backup?¡± Ignoring me, the doctor sent a look to Kiba, who pulled out a small remote and pressed a button. ¡°AAAAAAHHHHH!¡± ¡°You will not question me unless I permit it. Remember that.¡± The asshole in a lab coat said mildly, paying no attention that I was hanging limply in the restraints with gray dots swimming in my vision. ¡°Still it would be remiss of me to leave a question unanswered.¡± ¡°Some years ago, a brilliant scientist earned the jealousy of his peers. They could not match his genius nor his ambition so they sought to lower him to their level. They pulled back resources, declared his work failures, and tried to suborn him to their own petty desires. And when that didn¡¯t work, they tried to kill him. But you see, this scientist was greater than them. He knew they would try to kill him to ease their fragile egos, so he created a plan. A backup. In the case of his death he created a copy of himself. Identical to him in every way using the very best techniques available to him. Only even fate tried to turn against the brilliant man in the end. When the lapdogs of the Central 46 came for him they destroyed his laboratory. A place of science years ahead of anything they had seen in an attempt to deny the man his destiny, and in their folly damaged the memory banks that contained the later years of his work. The last century of his hard won discoveries¡­ lost to time. Yet even then, they failed to stop his glorious work. Even with destruction of years worth of memories, the copy survived.¡± Kanou started getting more and more animated the longer he talked, he paced in front of me getting more heated when he spoke of the Soul Reapers. Then he spun back to me, jabbing a thumb into his chest. ¡°I survived. It has taken me over a hundred and fifty years to return to even half the heights my first iteration pioneered. I have spent a considerable amount of effort reclaiming what was lost to me when the dogs interfered. Unfortunately it seems you also follow what I must now consider the rule for my creations during that lost century. Either the commands only recognize that physical body or the phrases themselves changed for some reason.¡± He mused. He paused lost in his thoughts before shaking his head and turning his attention back to me. ¡°A matter for another time. Let us return to you.¡± he pulled out a clipboard and started flipping through the papers on it. ¡°You are very likely my last creation before my first death.¡± Not at all, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell him that. ¡°Even as weak as you are, you are an almost stable merging of souls. It frustrates me that my first death came before I truly managed a perfect merge and now I must take care not to break you and accelerate the degradation-¡± ¡°W-what!? What degradation?¡± I demanded. Kanou calmly glanced back up at me before sliding his gaze over to Kiba. Instantly I was screaming again as electricity coursed through my body. When the pain finally stopped I could taste copper. ¡°I believe I told you not to question me. But yes, the degradigation. A flaw that exists in all my creations to date unfortunately. You are by far the closest to a complete merge I have managed, yet the ambient Reishi is still grinding away at the connections. Likely you will fall apart within fifty years and perish within a fraction of that, but that should be plenty of time for me to reverse engineer you. Unfortunately, that will still have to wait until the completion of my current project.¡± I said nothing as this new information shook me to my core. I was dying just by being in this universe. Kisuke had suspected something was wrong with me just by the limited data he could observe with his own equipment, but he could never narrow down a reason. But Kanou specialized in this. It was his sole focus from what I¡¯d been told. There was little chance of him being wrong. Especially when I thought about my arrival to the Soul Society and when I used the hot spring in Yoruichi¡¯s training ground. The Dangai was a forced corridor through the different realms of existence here. The inside was full of unrestrained Reishi that caused feelings of unease for anyone traveling it without one of the Soul Reapers Hell Butterflies stabilizing it and protecting the user. The reason I felt so sick going through it wasn¡¯t because some outside energy affected me. It was because without that protection I was almost literally sand-blasting my own soul! I started feeling nauseous and the rest of my focus went to trying to avoid being ill. Kanou seemed to notice I was no longer paying attention to him as he started towards the door. ¡°It seems this is as far as we will get for today. Yuuto, be sure to clean up then meet me in Lab 5. And remember to activate the drainers. No point letting the damage get worse...¡± Kiba bowed as the doctor left the room. ¡°Of course, sir.¡± then walked in front of me. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know where your friend ran off to would you? It would save us a lot of trouble.¡± Even after all that, he still had that plastic smile on his face. ¡°B-bite me.¡± I hissed hatefully. He shrugged. ¡°Worth a try.¡± He brought up the remote again and pressed a button. ¡°AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!¡± ¡°Ah, wrong button. My mistake.¡± he said mildly. ¡°Let¡¯s try this one.¡± Another button push, but this time a...a not cold feeling washed over me, but at the same time it felt like something had removed a weight from me. Leaving me feeling detached and floaty. ¡°Reiatsu drainers.¡± Kiba explained. ¡°They remove all Reiryoku from a person except the bare minimum needed to survive. Can¡¯t have you damaging the equipment with Kido now, can we?¡± He made his way to a table and placed the remote next to a white sword. My eyes widening at the sight of it. ¡°Ah, you noticed. A shame you were captured so easily. I would have liked to see what a spirit tool like this would be like to fight against. Quality ones are so rare compared to all the Zanpakuto we see around here.¡± He said picking up and waving Kanshou around like it was a toy sword. ¡°But I guess you wouldn¡¯t have put up much of a fight anyway.¡± He tossed Kanshou back on the table, making me narrow my eyes at the disrespect shown to one of my swords. ¡°Well then, have a nice day.¡± With that he walked out of the room, leaving me electrocuted, drained, and alone. Spirit 3.9 ¡°Find her! Don¡¯t let the other one get away!¡± A group of five shinigami ran down the street before coming to an intersection. ¡°You two, check that way. The others, with me. Remember the vice-garrison leader wants her alive.¡± the leader of the group ordered. Two of the Shinigami split off to the right, while the remaining three went left. Unseen by all of them another Shinigami peered over the side of a roof. Seeing the coast was clear, Natsumi dropped off the roof and looked to where the Shinigami had run off. Apparently the local forces either were being used by the person behind the lab or the group that just passed, along with the vice-leader and who knows how many others, were acting on their own to attack Natsumi and Alexandria. Unlikely. Something had happened to alert their enemy, but she wasn¡¯t sure what it could be. Did they get too close to the lab? Did their cover get blown? Were they going to try eliminating her and Alexandria no matter what? Too many questions and not enough answers. Speaking of Alexandria, Natsumi would have to find a way to rendezvous with the strange human. She had missed walking into a trap by sheer luck when she had gone to swap disguises. Another escort who looked fairly similar to her disguise had been on the way to the same changing room and Natsumi simply let her go first. When she heard the sound of gas releasing inside, Natsumi had hidden nearby and eventually saw the now unconscious girl being dragged into a side corridor. Natsumi had contemplated following, but had pulled back to regroup with her partner. While this was a great lead to their goal, if whoever was behind the trap had made a move on Natsumi, they had certainly moved against Alexandria as well. Instead, Natsumi had retreated back to the room they were given by the local Shinigami. She had planned to wait for Alexandria there, but a pair of guards had burst into the room, swords drawn, and attacked her. They clearly didn¡¯t know how powerful Natsumi truly was if they thought two town guards were enough to capture her. She quickly knocked the both of them out with a few strikes with the back of her own blade and fled the area. Now she was dodging through town trying to find a safe place to plan her next move and avoid fighting the local guards until she had a better understanding of what was going on. Sounds up ahead made Natsumi slow down and press up against a wall. She sidled down the wall and peaked around the corner. Down the road a group of five Shinigami were locked in a heated argument. And surprisingly four of them were surrounding the remaining one, and it seemed like they were getting more aggressive. ¡°-telling you, I don¡¯t know where they are!¡± Natsumi recognized the Shinigami being surrounded as the leader of the local garrison. ¡°I don¡¯t care what Yuuto thinks, but I¡¯m not going to cut into my day off to answer a million questions about where two chicks ran off too. I¡¯m not friends with them, I don¡¯t know where they would have run off to. Interview over.¡± He tried to push past the Shinigami in front of him, only for all four of the others to place a hand on their swords. ¡°Garrison Leader, you will come with us. Even if we need to use force.¡± The cornered Garrison Leader -Kimura! That was his name!- scoffed at the show of force from his four mutinous subordinates. ¡°Please, you guys think you can take me out? It would take way more than just you four!¡± He made a grab at his side for his own Zanpakuto. Only to realise there was nothing there. He had left his sword at his quarters since he was spending his time playing around in the pleasure district. ¡°Uh, so I don¡¯t suppose you guys would wait for a minute?¡± Sweat started beading on Kimura¡¯s forehead as he backed away from the other Shinigami, all of whom now had drawn their swords and started advancing on him. ¡°C¡¯mon guys! This isn¡¯t fair!¡± Back in an alleyway, Natsumi let out a heavy sigh. Looks like she would need to save the idiot if she wanted to know what happened to Alexandria when they split up. With a flex of her reiryoku Natsumi disappeared in s Shunpo, appearing behind the four Shinigami and knocking them out with a quick blow to the back of the neck. Her sudden appearance shocked Kimura, making him shriek and cringe in surprise. ¡°Ah! Who are you?!¡± Natsumi simply grabbed him by the front of his uniform and started dragging him behind her into the alley so they weren¡¯t standing in the middle of a road. ¡°You are going to tell me exactly what is going on since I left you with Alexandria. Then you are going to help me deal with this mess.¡± ¡°Look lady, I don¡¯t even know who you are! And like I just finished telling the other guys, I don¡¯t know what''s going on!¡± Natsumi threw him to the ground. ¡°¡®What¡¯s going on¡¯ is that your subordinates attacked me and Alexandria is missing. Now they are running all over the town hunting for me and seem to be trying to remove you as well. So like I said, you are going to help me get to the bottom of this mess.¡± Kimura jumped to his feet and quickly walked up to Natsumi, shoving a finger under her nose. ¡°You¡¯re that guide that took us to the Moonlit Garden! If you think I¡¯m going to listen to anything you say, you¡¯re insane! I¡¯m the leader of this garrison, if anyone is going to be ordered around here, it¡¯s you!¡± ¡°Is that right?¡± Natsumi said quietly. She quickly removed the last traces of her disguise and Kimura¡¯s eyes widened with recognition. ¡°Maybe I should properly introduce myself then.¡± She continued. ¡°I am Squad Two, Third Seat Natsumi Hanakage. As a Seated Officer of the Goteij¨±santai I am taking command of all loyal members of this garrison. Are there any objections?¡± Kimura could only stare at her in horror, his face entirely white. ¡°...you¡¯re...an officer?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°...of Squad Two?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°...oh.¡± -o- A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Some time later the two Shinigami were standing in the shadows observing the garrison headquarters. ¡°It seems the rest of the garrison is following Yuuto Kiba¡¯s orders.¡± Natsumi stated as they watched a group of guards halt, then inspect every person walking past. ¡°Where is your room? I will retrieve your Zanpakuto and we can search for Alexandria.¡± Kimura grimaces, ¡°It''s in the center room on the second floor. It was the best way to soundproof the room¡­¡± Natsumi rolled her eyes. From what she had learned from the garrison leader¡¯s personality, it was probably so he could recover from hangovers in peace. It also meant that she would have to infiltrate the heart of the building just to get a single sword and get out unnoticed. Well, it was nothing she hadn¡¯t done before. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s pull back a bit so I can get a better picture of the layout. Then I will retrieve your sword.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I got this.¡± The action was so sudden and foolish that Natsumi, to her shame, failed to react. With a simple pat on the shoulder, Kimura walked out from their concealed location and boldly walked straight at the guard building. By the time she came to her senses the imbecile was already halfway across the street, looking like he didn¡¯t have a care in the world. Whatever he expected to happen, the guards sounding the alarm and rushing at him swords drawn clearly wasn¡¯t it. Kimura squacked as one of them swung at his head, causing him to trip over his feet when he backpedaled away and fell to the ground. Another was set to attack him on the ground, but suddenly the guards eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. An instant later the others jerked slightly and fell over as well. Natsumi blurred into existence as her Shunpo ended and she stared at the fallen Shinigami. ¡°And what the hell was that supposed to accomplish?¡± Kimura sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. ¡°I thought that if I acted like everything was normal I could just walk in? I am the leader after all.¡± He looked at the unconscious guards all around him, clearly concerned. ¡°But they just attacked me right away. I don¡¯t think they even recognised they were really attacking me.¡± ¡°Clearly they did. It didn¡¯t look like they hesitated much.¡± Kimura shook his head. ¡°No no, I mean I don¡¯t think they were aware. Their eyes just looked so dull. It¡¯s like they all got drugged up, but they didn¡¯t move like it.¡± Natsumi looked at the bodies pensively. Were the guards controlled somehow? It was a frightening thought, but now was not the time to consider it. ¡°This is turning into such a mess.¡± she sighed. -o- Retrieving Kimura¡¯s Zanpakuto was hardly worth mentioning after the idiot blew their cover. Natsumi simply knocked out every Shinigami that she came across until she reached Kimura¡¯s room, grabbed the sword off its stand, and strode out the way she came. From there, she grabbed Kimura and Shunpo¡¯d away before more guards showed up. Now the two of them were waiting in the safehouse Natsumi and Alexandria had decided on as a fallback location if they were ever separated while investigating the Moonlit Garden for some reason. The two Shinigami sat in the dimly lit main room. Natsumi reading a report and Kimura appearing to be asleep. ¡°I can¡¯t take it anymore!¡± Kimura kicked out of his chair and slapped the papers out of Natsumi¡¯s hand. ¡°It¡¯s been hours since we¡¯ve been here, and we¡¯ve done nothing! We have no idea what¡¯s going on with my men and I refuse to sit around with a thumb up my ass any longer!¡± Natsumi looked bemusedly at the fallen papers before shifting her gaze to the irate Shinigami. He certainly got over his fear of her being an officer quickly. ¡°So you plan to go against my orders then?¡± She asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°You think I¡¯ve been sitting here doing nothing?¡± ¡°...um...haven¡¯t you?¡± Kimura asked in a shaking voice, sweat beading on his forehead as he realised exactly what he had just done. ¡°I-I mean as an o-officer you of course know what you¡¯re doing! It¡¯s j-just...¡± Natsumi smiled slightly and went to pick up the fallen papers. When she looked back Kimura was now completely white and shaking like a leaf. ¡°Well you would be mostly correct.¡± ¡°......hah?¡± ¡°If we ran off without waiting for my partner and she was here awaiting our arrival we would be limiting our strength for no reason. Now that she has failed to rendezvous with us we know she is either unable to join us or was captured somehow.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. So what do we do now though?¡± Walking over to a plain wooden box, Natsumi opened the lid to reveal a black sword with a red hexagonal pattern on it. She gently removed the sword from its container and placed it on the table. ¡°What¡¯s that? Some kind of spirit weapon?¡± Kimura asked. ¡°Something like that.¡± she answered. ¡°This is a special sword that belongs to Alexandria, and it is going to lead us right to her.¡± ¡°Woah, how''s it going to do that? Is it going to teleport us to her or something?¡± Natsumi gave him a look. What kind of sword teleports? ¡°No, from what she told me, this sword is part of a pair that has the ability to always return to its owner. She should have the other with her so all we need to do is let this one guide us to her.¡± Kimura looked at the blade appreciatively, ¡°Wow that sounds really useful, no more accidentally leaving my Zanpakuto at a brothel. Wish my sword could do that.¡± he mused, running a hand over it¡¯s handle. Ignoring that distasteful comment, Natsumi picked up Alexandria¡¯s sword and shut her eyes. If anyone in her squad had made such a remark, she would have pitied the poor sword and the Zanpakuto spirit inside. But considering Kimura had achieved Shikai despite his treatment of the blade, it seemed his sword shared at least some of his lecherous attitude. Brushing those thoughts aside she concentrated on her hand. Very soon, she felt a ghostly tugging sensation in her mind urging her in one direction. She and Alexandria had practiced this method before, so Natsumi recognised the feeling of the twin swords being drawn together. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡± -o- ¡°In there huh?¡± In front of them was a nondescript building no different than the ones surrounding it. In fact the only reason Natsumi singled it out was the poorly concealed Shinigami watching from the windows. She also knew that this particular building had an entrance into some old smuggling tunnels that were used by criminals from some of the criminal hideouts she raided earlier. There was no reason for a guard here otherwise. ¡°In where? That empty building?¡± Kimura asked. Apparently the guards were better hidden than she thought. ¡°Look at the window there. See the silhouette? That¡¯s a guard. There is another on the floor above him. Two more cycle through the building at semi-random intervals.¡± Natsumi said, pointing each of them out in turn. ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t even see them. As expected of an officer!¡± Kimura exclaimed. Natsumi gave him a sideways glance, curious about the comment. ¡¯When we meet up with Alexandria, I¡¯ll need to ask why he keeps praising my ability as an officer. I wonder if he said something to her. she mused. Shaking her head, she moved on. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll clear out the house. You go around the back and watch to make sure no one runs out when I do. When I¡¯m done I will let you in to deal with the bodies, tie them up and meet me in the basement. Clear?¡± ¡°Clear!¡± Kimura said with a nod. ¡°Then get moving. I will give you thirty seconds to get into position.¡± At the end of the countdown Natsumi vanished with a Shunpo and reappeared in the second floor window of the guarded building. With another burst of movement she entered and found herself directly in front of the previously hidden guard. A quick rabbit punch to the throat prevented him from calling out and alerting the others. Despite the sudden inability to breath the guard¡¯s eyes showed no signs of panic or any other type of emotion, and he still attempted to attack Natsumi but was quickly knocked out with another light blow to the temple. Natsumi caught the body before it could hit the floor and listened carefully for signs that the brief struggle was noticed by anyone else in the building. Hearing nothing, she gently placed the unconscious guard on the floor and prepared to move to the next room. The other three guards proved little challenge to the 3rd Seat Shinigami, and Natsumi and Kimura found themselves wandering the subterranean tunnels that ran under the town. Alexandria¡¯s sword was invaluable for navigating the labyrinth since they had no map of the twisting paths. Whenever they started moving in the wrong direction, Natsumi felt a subtle tug in the back of her mind pointing her in the right direction. She would really need to ask Alexandria where she came across such weapons. This was tracking on the same scale as high level Bakudo spells and was infinitely easier. If the science division could recreate the ability the sword had to return it¡¯s owner, or even just the attraction between the two blades, in a different object it could mean another way of locating Shinigami who disappeared on assignments that didn¡¯t rely on high level Kido experts. ¡°A deadend?¡± The two Shinigami came to a halt in front of an unassuming stone wall. They had passed several deadends on the way, but this was the first time that following the guidance of the black sword had led them to one. ¡°What now? Is our magic sword broken? We obviously can¡¯t go thatta way.¡± Kimura said, leaning on one of the side walls and thrusting a thumb at the end of the tunnel. ¡°No, I¡¯m still feeling a pull in that direction.¡± Natsumi replied. ¡°We might be looking at a hidden passage. It would explain why we did not find any trace of the kidnapped souls in town.¡± ¡°Right, the secret lab that¡¯s supposed to be hidden here.¡± Kimura huffed disdainfully, before straightening up at Natsumi¡¯s glare. ¡°I-I mean of course! This could be the lead we were looking for!¡± Natsumi continued to let him sweat for a bit before rolling her eyes and inspecting the wall for any hidden mechanisms. After a few minutes, she sighed, shook her head, and retreated a few paced back down the tunnel. ¡°No luck finding a way in?¡± ¡°There is one more thing I can try. Though I am not very thrilled to do so.¡± Kimura furrowed his eyebrows, ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°It reminds me of something Squad Eleven would do in this situation.¡± Natsumi replied before extending a palm out at the rock, supporting her arm with her other hand. ¡°Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 31: Shakkaho!¡± An orb of crimson fire formed on her palm before slamming into the wall, causing an explosion that shook the tunnel and caused a cloud of dust to come rushing back at her. ¡°...please don¡¯t do that again.¡± Kimura squeaked from where he had fallen on the floor. He slowly lowered his arms from covering his head and looked back where Natsumi had blown up the wall. ¡°...so Squad Eleven throws Kido around like that?¡± ¡°No, they actually look down on using Kido at all. I just find the brute force method similar to their normal actions. Though in this case I can¡¯t fault its usefulness.¡± Natsumi stated as she continued past the destroyed wall into the now polished floor of the hallway. It appears they had found their lab. Spirit 3.10 In retrospect this wasn¡¯t the best idea on how to escape. Personally, I blame the drugs, electrical tourture, and what I am beginning to think were physiological issues that seem to pop up when being trapped or cornered. But when I finally pulled myself together after coming face to face with the mad scientist responsible for this place, clever escape plans were not on my things to do list. The first thi- okay the second thing I did, the first being me shouting a moderately impressive amount of curses at Akihiro Kanou and Yuuto Kiba, was to project four copies of one of my favorite scimitars. The reason for that was the incredibly helpful enchantment on the blade to cut through metal like clay. Then I messed with the velocity parameter on the projections to send them shooting a few hundred miles an hour towards me to cut through the restraints on my hands and feet with little issue. The reason this was a problem? Just because I cut the restraints free didn¡¯t mean my hands and feet weren¡¯t wrapped in metal. And apparently the electroshocks had left my muscles with the structural integrity of jello, so the second I was free from the scaffold I collapsed rather painfully onto the floor. ¡°Hello floor, my old friend.¡± I murmured quietly. Not because I was worried about making noise, the klaxon alarm going off made plenty of that, but more because there was this weird pressure all around me that showed up when I cut myself free. It wasn¡¯t much. If anything it felt like going from walking in a dry room to walking through mist, but it was just... there now. And sudden changes like that after being trapped in an evil science lab tended to make people concerned. But I couldn¡¯t focus on that now. I had to get out of these restraints, shoot/stab the bad guy in charge until he stopped being an issue, and then meet up with Natsumi. Not necessarily in that order. First thing first though. I had to get out of the metal gloves on my hands and feet, which was simple to do with Alteration and the cuffs being disconnected from the machine that monitored them for changes. A quick application of mana, and the four cuffs popped open leaving me free and ready to get revenge. I got to my feet, wobbled badly, and fell onto the table where Bakuya laid. Okay, mostly ready for revenge. So instead of rush out and probably get captured again, let''s take another few seconds to recover and think of what I need to do here. Priority one should be stopping Akihiro Kanou. Even if we shut down his operation here, it''s only delaying things if he can set up shop somewhere else and do this all over again a few years later. Priority two should be recovering any information Kanou had about my condition. He clearly had a better idea about what sort of state my soul was in, and I definitely didn¡¯t want any of that information getting back to Squad Twelve. I have no interest in being hunted by their insane Captain looking to experiment on me. And finally, priority three will be to make sure that anything dangerous is contained or destroyed until Natsumi can get someone over here to secure the lab. The last time the Court Guard Squads went up against the good Doctor Kanou, he flooded the streets with mindless, monstrous experiments that killed everyone around them. I would need to make sure the same thing didn¡¯t happen here. With my goals kinda-sorta laid out and now that I could stand up without my legs folding like a house of cards, I grabbed Bakuya and peeked out into the hallway. Surprisingly, there was no sign of anyone coming to deal with an escaped prisoner despite the alarms going off in the background. I wasn¡¯t complaining. Ducking back inside the room, I took another second to pull my hair into some semblance of order and tie it back with a black chord that manifested when I shifted my clothes to the default combat uniform. The flowy red pants and white shirt tightened into a close fitting black outfit, almost instantly afterwards my red mantle/skirt combo shimmered into existence. I had to admit, even if it still felt like I was cosplaying EMIYA at times, the outfit had grown on me and I was starting to think of it as my own uniform. Fashion break done, I stepped out into the hallway. Left seemed like a good direction to go. So I headed left at a brisk walk checking doors as I passed. Most of them were similar setups to the room I was trapped in, except empty. The others were filled with filing cabinets filled with tools I had no name for or idea what they did, either that or paper copies of test data. Well, I assume test data. From the brief glance I got in one of the cabinets the papers had very scientific terms, graphs, and charts that made no sense to me but looked like something Urahara would understand. After I realised poking through all the files there was both pointless and a waste of time I started moving down the hallway much quicker, now only poking a head in to see if anyone was in there. They were all empty. That was not as reassuring as it should be. The only reason to have multiple rooms like the one I was in was if you had multiple people needing to be restrained at the same time. Where did they go? And why build such a large facility if there was no one in it? The alarms hadn¡¯t stopped, so someone should have at least gone out into the hallway to check what was going on. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I had to stop my musing when I ended up in front of a staircase. Luckily I could only go up from here, so Kunou was unlikely to be on this level if no one had responded by now and I could continue without missing him somewhere in an unexplored area of this floor. So up the stairs I went. What I found was horrifying. Rows upon rows of mutilated creatures peered out from inside cages that lined the room. Most of them seemed like patchwork hunks of flesh that just stared blankly into the distance. The ones further away seemed more human, but I couldn¡¯t tell if that was on purpose or if it was just a temporary state. Angry red lines crossed their bodies where they had been stitched together, some weeping blood from how recent the attachment was. ¡°Hello my troublesome little experiment, it took you longer to reach this area than I thought it would.¡± Kunou¡¯s voice crackled from a loudspeaker somewhere in the ceiling. ¡°I am curious how you managed to escape when your Reiatsu was drained so much. You should have been barely able to move, let alone break those bindings.¡± ¡°Guess I¡¯m just that special.¡± I muttered sarcastically. I wasn¡¯t expecting an answer so I was a bit startled when he replied back. ¡°I suppose you are. Clearly my past self managed a significant breakthrough if you are this much more advanced than my current efforts.¡± Great, so he could hear me even without anything obvious nearby. That was creepy. ¡°In an effort to avoid damaging such a valuable specimen, I will give you a chance to surrender. Resist and I will ensure that you feel every moment as I tear the secrets of its creation from your soul.¡± ¡°So give up and be experimented on, resist and be vivisected? Lovely options, Doc.¡± I mocked, heading further into the floor. ¡°Counter offer, you surrender and I won¡¯t immediately kill you for what you¡¯ve done to these poor people.¡± There was a rush of static that I guessed was Kunou scoffing, ¡°What I¡¯ve done to them? They are just the leftovers from my experiments. It doesn¡¯t matter what they think. In fact they should be grateful I keep them around despite being failures. The only use they have left is following my orders.¡± The doors on the cages creaked open. ¡°Why don¡¯t I show you. Subjects, capture the intruder at all costs!¡± The ¡®failed experiments¡¯ shambled forward out of their cages. When they caught sight of me, that shambling changed to a disorganized rush as they scrambled over each other in an effort to get to me first. One of them, a middle aged looking man with grotesque looking muscled limbs, jumped clear of the group and tired slamming his hands into me. He missed as I dodged backwards and the floor cracked under the force of his attack. ¡°So much for not damaging the valuable specimen.¡± I snarked. Bakuya flashed out and severed the tendons at his knees and elbows. I didn¡¯t know if the damage Kunou did was reversible, so I would avoid killing would be a last resort. ¡°It matters little as long as you live.¡± Kunou¡¯s voice responded. ¡°All that changes is the time before I can resume my experiments. Of course that doesn¡¯t extend to the trash.¡± The disabled creature in front of me let out one of the most horrifying screams of pain I ever heard while its skin started bubbling and oozing off its body. Within seconds the poor creature was nothing more than a skeleton covered in a viscous purple slime. I had seen a fair bit of violent deaths dealing with hollows since I started working with Urahara. People melting alive was not one of them. Only the rest of the experiments catching up to us stopped me from freezing up as the body vanished under the feet of the slavering horde trying to take a piece out of me. I gave ground as I ducked under flailing limbs and various other body parts. A distant part of my mind noted that Kunou hadn¡¯t stopped at just humanoid experiments as I dodged a giant scorpion tail that had replaced the arm of a younger looking boy. The rest of me was far more concerned about how to deal with the mob in front of me if disabling them meant they were liquidized. The only way I could think of was to trace Kanshou into my off hand and press forward. I danced through the crowd of experiments, the heavy shortswords in my hands smashing into the deformed heads of several of them. I was careful to control my strikes to ensure they would only be knocked unconscious and as uninjured as possible. If they weren¡¯t hurt then whatever mechanism Kunou installed to keep his creations out of Soul Reaper hands shouldn¡¯t activate, right? The problem with using minimal force on a practically mindless mob? They do not care if they hit their friends as long as they can attack you. If I pulled this maneuver with a bunch of Soul Reapers, they would stop attacks when they saw it would hit the person next to them. The experiments would sometimes attack through one another if I was close enough. So I was able to knock out the majority of the group, but I took several glancing hits in return. Nothing major, some scrapes and bruises definitely, but none of them melted so my strategy seemed to be working if nothing else. ¡°And that''s the last of them.¡± I panted as the final experiment fell over, unconscious. ¡°What now Kunou? You''re all out of experiments to hide behind, wanna give up?¡± ¡°Haha, out of subjects? This was just one batch. You may wish to observe your surroundings before making such bold statements.¡± What is he talking about? There is nothing else around- no wait. I could see more shapes moving in the shadows. Quite a few shapes actually. Oh. Those are all experiments aren¡¯t they? It turns out the room I was in was actually connected to several others by dividers instead of walls. While I was dealing with the first group of Kunou¡¯s creations, those dividers were quietly being pulled back and the other groups had gathered in the dark. With surprise no longer necessary more lights flickered on revealing the full size of the horde. It looked like someone had taken a zombie film, replaced the rotting corpses with monsters, and had every single one of them stare blankly at one single person. Me. I felt a shiver run down my spine at the sight of hundreds of mutilated people waiting for the order to attack. Dealing with a few dozen was hard enough. This many? I would eventually be overrun or be forced to start cutting them down. There was only one thing to do. I turned tail and fled towards the hallway as fast as I could. It was time to admit I needed help. Concentrating, I started following the tiny pull Kansho and Bakuya felt from the single sword I had left for Natsumi to follow after me if we were split up. It didn¡¯t help that the ability to return was mostly centered on the owner, me, so the pull was tiny. Still, it was better than nothing. The hallway was exactly the same as the floor below, but it was quickly changing into a scene out of the House of the Dead as more of Kunou¡¯s subjects filtered into the hall through other doors. Thankfully they were not that coordinated about it so several doorways were clogged as too many bodies tried pushing through them all at once. For the ones that made it through, they were either knocked out or dodged around as I ran by. Despite the ridiculous numbers, the individuals weren¡¯t that strong. Well, for someone at my level. Individually they were about the same as an unranked Soul Reaper. If they got out, then the surrounding districts were history. Bakuya twitched in my hand and I turned right at an intersection. So new plan. Find Natsumi, get a bunch of reinforcements to keep the monster minions contained, then find and stop Kunou. More experiments are coming at me from down the hall, but some of them split off at another intersection? Before I can think of a reason they would run down another hallway when I am right in front of him, there is a flash of red and the hallway explodes. Smoke poured back out into the main hallway as I quickly knocked out the remaining experiments that had kept coming towards me. I heard footsteps echoing out from the smoke. My swords came up just in time to meet¡­ Natsumi?... um okay. I ended up catching Natsumi¡¯s katana as she leaped out of the smoke and brought it down on my head. Both of us were surprised at the other¡¯s sudden appearance but we smoothly disengaged. ¡°Well I guess you missed me then?¡± I snarked, happy to see a friendly face. ¡°I should have the Twelfth Division put a tracker on you. First Aizen, now Kunou? You seem to have a knack for finding yourself being taken to evil masterminds.¡± ¡°Me being at Central 46 was your fault, and it¡¯s not my fault the doctor wants to vivisect me to find out how I was put together.¡± I reminded her. ¡°I think you just might be a bad luck charm.¡± Another person walks out of the smoke, who I unfortunately recognize as Kimura. Couldn¡¯t Natsumi have found someone else to follow her around? ¡°That the last of them, ma¡¯am?¡± he asked before spotting me. ¡°Oh hey, it''s the newbl-¡± he suddenly cut off and paled dramatically. ¡°Uh you aren¡¯t secretly an officer too, are you?¡± I snorted. ¡°Nope. I¡¯m not even a Soul Reaper.¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s good.¡± he breathed before walking past me. I just rolled my eyes and turned back to Natsumi. ¡°How were things back in town? Cause we are going to need a lot of reinforcements to take care of all the experiments Kunou has here. I¡¯ve been knocking them out as I go, but there are a couple hundred back that way we will need¡­¡± I turned to point back the way I came just in time to see Kimura plunge his sword into the unconscious form of one of the experiments I had knocked out. Then with barely any hesitation, he repeated the action on the one next to it. I saw red. Spirit 3.11 My hand is around Kimura¡¯s throat in an instant, and I slam him into the closest wall. A spiderweb of cracks forms behind him but I take no notice. I¡¯m too busy trying to shove this bastard through it to care. ¡°What. The. Hell. Do. You. Think. You¡¯re. Doing?¡± I snarl in his face. Kimura ineffectually grasps at my wrist trying to pull me off. ¡°M-monsters...can¡¯t let-¡± and that''s as far as he gets before my hand tightens down again, cutting him and nearly crushing his windpipe in the process. ¡°They are not MONSTERS! They had no choice in what was done to them and you think that gives you the right to just end them?!¡± I couldn¡¯t believe the callousness of the ¡®protectors¡¯ of Soul Society. ¡°You don¡¯t get to write them off like that!¡± I wasn¡¯t asking for a bloodless victory. That would be unrealistic given the numbers and strength of the experiments. But to murder them when they were helpless pissed me off so badly it felt like the walls were shaking with my anger. A hand appeared on my forearm and I looked over to see a pale Natsumi pulling at my arm. She was covered in sweat and was shaking like she was being crushed by something incredibly heavy. ¡°Cross...calm down...you¡¯re going to...bring the ceiling down...on top of...us!¡± She panted out. My first instinct was to lash out at her as well. Calm down? When the biggest victims of this disaster were being killed by the ones supposed to be helping them? It was only the cracking of the walls as the spiderweb surrounding Kimura widened that made me realise she was being literal about bringing the ceiling down and the walls really were shaking. I took a step back. Kimura fell in a heap and started coughing roughly. I ignored him. Now that I wasn¡¯t in a blind rage, I was able to feel a huge sucking force from the inside of my body. Something was being drawn into my core and¡­ ignited for lack of a better term causing the pressure on the surroundings. Was¡­ was I burning Reishi?! When I thought that I quickly tried to stop the pull coming from my core as fast as possible. Messing around with a fundamental building block of reality without any idea what it was doing to me was not something I was keen to do. I wasn¡¯t an idiot or a mad scientist, thank you very much. I found the metaphorical valve pretty quickly and slammed it shut. Which was a good thing since in the maybe fifteen seconds since I flipped out whatever had happened to me had raised my temperature so much I was visibly steaming. What the hell? I took another few steps away from the other two because, no seriously, WHAT THE HELL? ¡°I thought... she said she wasn¡¯t... an officer!¡± Kimura gasped at Natsumi from the floor. ¡°She isn¡¯t.¡± Natsumi herself had her hands on her knees in an effort to keep standing. ¡°She nearly brought down the building on top of us! Only Captains or Lieutenants have that kind of reiatsu!¡± ¡°She also said she was not a Shinigami.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­¡± Kimura groaned. Natsumi let out a bitter laugh. ¡°Impossible seems to sum her up quite well.¡± Kimura unsteadily got back to his feet using the wall for support. The motion caught my eye and pulled me out of my repeating thoughts of ¡¯what the HELL just happened?¡¯ and I turned to face him. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Natsumi instantly stepped in front of him, hands out like she was trying to calm down a dangerous animal. ¡°Wait Cross. I understand you are upset. But we have to dispose of Kanou¡¯s experiments. We do not have a choice!¡± That nearly set me off again. ¡°Explain.¡± I practically growled. She took a deep breath and started speaking rapidly. ¡°Right, to start off you know this is not the first time we have dealt with the creations of Akihiro Kanou. The first time around, once we realised the monsters he released were denizens of the Rukongai we took great pains to capture the experiments to see if we could reverse the damage done to them.¡± I grit my teeth at the admittance the Soul Reapers had captured the experiments before yet they were killing them now. But I knew Natsumi wouldn¡¯t have brought it up without good reason. ¡°We had our top scientists in Squad Twelve pulled in to reverse everything. But even past the boobytraps and failsafes Kanou put in to make sure no one learned from his work we found out one more thing that caused Central 46 to declare all his experiments bioweapons to be destroyed immediately.¡± I had actually forgotten about that. When it was just my life being threatened because of it and nothing actually came of it, I had stopped thinking about that particular law. Now I was shifting away from anger and more into uneasy dread. From the sound of it Soul Society did put effort into helping the victims only to find something that made it better to just kill them. ¡°The scientists found that every one of Kanou¡¯s experiments had the frontal lobes of the brain nearly liquified.¡± Natsumi continued to my horror. ¡°Even Kisuke Urahara, the head of the Science Division at the time was unable to find a way to restore their minds. So it was deemed more merciful to put them out of their misery.¡± My shoulders slumped. Yeah, that would do it. If there was no person to help behind the creature Kanou created then why risk a capture. It was easier to just put it down. ¡°That was a hundred and fifty years ago. Could that have changed?¡± I honestly don¡¯t know which answer I wanted, but I needed to ask. Natsumi shook her head. ¡°Look at the temples. Just below the hairline.¡± She pointed at one of the dead experiments. I crouched besides the one she indicated and brushed the hair back, taking great care not to look at the twisted face at the same time. Right where she indicated was a small scar. Clearly some sort of surgery had clearly taken place. A quick check on another experiment showed a matching mark. I felt a temptation to check more just to hold out hope that not all of them had that mark, but I pushed it aside. Kanou would¡¯ve done it to all of them. Deluding myself otherwise didn¡¯t help us at this point. ¡°So we all good now?¡± Kimura asked off to the side. I glanced at him and saw he was keeping Natsumi firmly in between us. Natsumi cocked her head at me. ¡°Are we, Cross?¡± I took a second to consider it. ¡°We¡¯re good. I should be fine in a fight. Just don¡¯t expect me to help with the ¡®cleanup.¡¯ ¡° The two of them were still watching me warily. With a huff, I crossed my arms. ¡°I¡¯ll go stand over there.¡± Indicating the intersection they had come from. ¡°I won¡¯t try to stop you if there isn¡¯t a better way.¡± I stopped mid-step. ¡°There isn¡¯t one right?¡± Natsumi¡¯s face remained stern, but her eyes did soften slightly. ¡°There is not. Trust me, we tried everything.¡± Of course not. That would be too easy. With a sigh I continued on my way. I didn¡¯t need the nightmares from watching helpless victims murdered in their sleep. Combat was one thing, already beaten foes was something else entirely. And just to make things even more awkward Natsumi followed me around the corner. ¡°Something else?¡± I just wanted to be alone for a bit and try and sort out my thoughts. ¡°There is another matter.¡± Natsumi replied somewhat nervously. ¡°What? And I certainly hope you aren¡¯t going to say we need to take Kanou in alive.¡± I demanded. She shook her head. ¡°No, he was declared a traitor over a century ago. We do not expect you to take him alive. This is something else.¡± she pulled out a small vial of blue liquid. ¡°You need to drink this.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t do random drugs. I was taught better than that.¡± I snarked. Natsumi shifted back and forth on her feet. Something that wasn¡¯t exactly encouraging me to drink a random vial because she said so. ¡°It¡¯s an antidote.¡± ¡°An antidote? To wha-¡± I was cut off as the sucking force from before started again. This time I could feel the Reishi in the air being pulled in. It was entirely unpleasant, like trying to take a deep breath without actually letting any air in. I shut it down as quickly as possible but even that took a few seconds and I could feel the heat building up again. Natsumi also was more pale and sweating from the pressure I emitted on the surroundings. ¡°F-for that.¡± she gasped. ¡°You know what that is?¡± ¡°...it¡¯s a poison. Captain Kurotsuchi administered it in the case you attacked a Shinigami.¡± Natsumi said. ¡°It was supposed to overload your body with ambient reishi and knock you out but it seems to be reacting unexpectedly.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°You bastards POISONED me?!¡± I shouted. ¡°When?! And why would you do that in the first place!¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t take the chance with one of Kanou¡¯s creations!¡± Natsumi exclaimed. ¡°We didn¡¯t know if there was some sort of sleeper agent trigger so a way to neutralize you in a peaceful manner was used. It never would have been an issue if you never needed to attack a Shinigami!¡± ¡°So like when I have to fight another traitorous Soul Reaper? What, was I supposed to hope that fainting aggressively at them would beat them?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I am giving you the antidote! I did not know Kanou had subverted the local garrison, so I did not address it till now! Can you please just take the antidote? You can be as angry as you want afterward, but it¡¯s clearly not healthy for you!¡± She pleaded. She was right. Whatever I was doing to the absorbed reishi, it was taking a toll on my body. Maybe even my soul. ¡°Fine, but don¡¯t think for a second we are done with this.¡± I grabbed the vial, undid the top and swallowed the contents. I didn¡¯t feel any different, but then I didn¡¯t feel anything before so who knows anymore. ¡°I did not expect otherwise. However it should wait until we¡¯ve dealt with our current crisis.¡± I grit my teeth and stalked past her back towards the way I had come from. ¡°Hey guys, I finished with the experiments! Are we ready to go deal with this bastard?¡± Kimura called, turning the corner himself. I just pushed past him and continued on. ¡°Ah! What''s your deal?¡± I ignored him. ¡°What¡¯s up with her?¡± I heard him asking Natsumi. ¡°Nothing. Let¡¯s go. We need to finish dealing with Kanou.¡± I turned down the hall and continued past the growing puddles of blood. I couldn¡¯t afford to pay attention to them. I was pissed off at the Soul Reapers already, no reason to make myself angrier looking at all the victims Kanou created in his ¡®research.¡¯ So in that regard I fully agreed with Natsumi. Stop Kanou. I could deal with everything else afterward. Spirit 3.12 Another experiment fell dead with an arrow lodged in its forehead. Three more charged past the fallen form without any sign that they noticed the death of one of their own. In a heartbeat three more arrows slammed home. Two in the head, one through the heart, avoiding the armor-like plates growing on the creature. I strode past the bodies, trying to ignore the way they were starting to melt. My hand tightened around the black bow I had projected. They aren¡¯t people anymore. I chanted in my head. If I repeated that enough maybe I could bring myself to believe it. Natsumi and Kimura followed behind me, making sure nothing ambushed us from behind. ¡°Damn, that girl is fucking terrifying.¡± ¡°Naturally. She wouldn¡¯t be a replacement for a Lieutenant on this mission if she didn¡¯t inspire dread on a battlefield.¡± ¡°How much shit are we in for what the higher ups pulled? Should we be trying to sneak off when she isn¡¯t looking?¡± ¡°I...I don¡¯t think she will take out any anger on us as long as you don¡¯t personally offend her, but I haven¡¯t known her long and this is a bit of an extreme situation.¡± Natsumi hesitated. ¡°Don¡¯t say anything insulting to her and I believe you will be fine.¡± Kimura looked at her before slowly palming his face. ¡°I am soooo screwed.¡± We retraced my path back to where I had fled from the other experiments. We would occasionally detour down a side corridor to make sure we weren¡¯t going to have Kanou slip past us, but they all seemed like deadends leading to either a lab or storage. Either there were hidden routes to other places in the compound or they were legitimate deadends. Unfortunately checking would take far too much time so we just needed to hope we didn¡¯t miss him. Soon enough we were in front of the room I had first encountered. Problem was, there was no sign of the horde of experiments I had run past inside. ¡°You¡¯re sure this is where they were?¡± asked Kimura. I nodded. ¡°Doctor Kanou is probably massing his creatures to push out into the town.¡± Natsumi guessed. ¡°We need to either find them or Kanou before they escape or a lot of innocent people will die.¡± I resisted saying anything. Of course now they care. Instead I started scanning the room for any kind of clue that would tell us where a large group of very dangerous creatures may have wandered off to. There wasn¡¯t much to go on. The three of us split up to cover more ground. The room was still lined with heavy metal cages, and that meant they were great at holding things in one place. Not so great at giving away where someone might have gone after they bumped into something. I knelt by one of the cages, trying to see if they were simply moved on some sort of elevator system. But there were no seams in the floor and the cages were bolted down. So the creatures definitely walked out under their own power and not by some trick of the doctor. ¡°I found something! Over here!¡± Natsumi called out from near the center of the room. I made my way back to the other two and saw them looking at the floor. A quick glance showed they were looking at the bloodstains left by the two creatures I had fought on my last pass through the area. Nothing immediately jumped out to me so I crossed my arms and waited for Natsumi to explain. Natsumi sent a few glances at me, probably hoping I would ask a few questions about what she found, but I just started tapping a finger waiting on her. Kimura looked between the two of us uncomfortably before breaking the silence himself. ¡°So, uh, what did you find ma¡¯am?¡± The third-seat officer looks disappointed but answers the question. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Look at the area here¡± She points at the blood pools and the floor surrounding it. ¡°It looks like several of the experiments walked through the blood pools here. We can follow the footprints to wherever they are gathering.¡± I had avoided looking directly at the puddles so I hadn¡¯t noticed anything about them. Looking closer at the area I saw there were several footprints heading in various directions where something had wandered through. I¡¯m sure we couldn¡¯t follow the footprints the whole way there but it would be sufficient to get the general direction some of them wandered off. I wordlessly motioned for the two Soul Reapers to take the lead and went back to scanning for anything trying to sneak up on us. ¡°So, she hasn¡¯t said a word to us since the hallway.¡± Kimura whispered. ¡°I know she was pissed about the monsters, but that seems more personal. I really don¡¯t want to keep bringing this up, but are you sure we are safe around her?¡± ¡°Until the end of this crisis we are completely fine. She wants Kanou stopped more than anyone here.¡± Natsumi muttered back. ¡°It¡¯s afterwards that we will need to watch out for issues. I believe we lost whatever goodwill we had with her. I don¡¯t know what form that will take with some of the bigger issues we are facing in the future.¡± ¡°Wait, what kind of issues?¡± ¡°Nothing you need to worry about unless you plan to transfer out of this area.¡± ¡°Haha no thank you, I have a good thing going on here. Not going to go looking for trouble especially if you are pissing off people like her.¡± Natsumi huffs but lets the topic drop. The footprints only led us a short way away before they dried up. Luckily I had nicked a few others when trying to get away from the horde. Individually it probably wouldn¡¯t have been enough to easily track, but with several different creatures leaking from a few wounds it made following much easier. We followed the path through a maze of cages before the trail ended... Going directly into a wall. Well, I remembered the walls were more dividers than actual walls from my last time through here. I took a breath, focused, and formed an image in my mind. With a twist of mana, the image became a physical thing as the sword materialized hilt first in my hands. The sword was a german Zwiehander. One of the longest mortal swords I had access to and frightfully sharp due to the enchantments woven into it. With four swings I cut a rough diamond shape into the wall in front of me, easily carving through the material. With a loud boom the cut section slid out of place and crashed to the floor revealing the room behind it. Not that much could be said about the room. It was an empty area with two doors on opposite walls. The bloodtrail went off to the right so now the only question was, was it worth checking out the path on the left as well? For all we knew that led directly to Kanou. It could also just be more of the facility and a waste of time. Kimura steps through the hole and looks around, before turning back to me and Natsumi. ¡°So what now? Follow the trail or go the other way?¡± he asked. Before either of us had a chance to reply we were distracted by someone clapping. All of us turned to face the left door to see Yuuto Kiba walking out from the passageway still clapping. My face twisted into a snarl just seeing the Soul Reaper. ¡°Hello everyone. I¡¯m glad you managed to find your way here.¡± Kiba greeted us with a smile, thankfully he stopped clapping. ¡°The doctor wasn¡¯t convinced you would make it here before the failures were released. It¡¯s not often he is proven wrong.¡± I was ready to put an arrow through his heart but Kimura stepped in front of me and started yelling at his traitorous subordinate. ¡°Yuuto why are you doing this!? How could you betray everyone at the garrison to work for Doctor Kanou?¡± Kiba scoffed, ¡°Betray? It''s hard to betray someone you were never loyal to to begin with. I¡¯ve been working for Doctor Kanou the entire time. After all-¡± Kiba¡¯s smile didn¡¯t change but somehow his entire face grew colder, ¡°-you could say he is like a father to me.¡± ¡°I see, one of his more successful experiments then?¡± I mused out loud. The two Soul Reapers looked at me in shock. ¡°Haha I should have guessed my ¡®sister¡¯ would catch on.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense! You grew up here! You never left the district, how could you be one of his experiments?¡± Kimura was taking this hard it seemed. ¡°It was easy enough.¡± Kiba said with a shrug. ¡°Find some local brat. Separate him out from everyone else then with just a few simple cuts and then suddenly no one can spot the difference.¡± ¡°Monster.¡± Natsumi hissed. ¡°You would know I suppose.¡± He looked at me. ¡°Poisoning your allies ahead of time in just to leash them.¡± I clenched my teeth at the jab. I suppose Kanou has more hidden microphones throughout the facility. ¡°If you want, we would be more than happy to accept you back into the fold.¡± His smirk grew bigger, ¡°After all who knows what else they may have done to you without your knowledge.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pass.¡± I replied, and I didn¡¯t miss the other¡¯s relief at my refusal. ¡°I already saw what being on your team is like and didn¡¯t like the shock treatment. Also not really a fan of you unleashing a horde of creatures on a defenseless town.¡± ¡°Ha! That wasn¡¯t being part of the team. That was being a resource. Team members get much better benefits. And if the town is your concern, simply help me kill the other two. Once they are dead no one will be left to stop us from returning to how things used to operate here.¡± Once again I saw the other two tense up waiting for my response. Kimura full on turning to face me, while Natsumi simply gripped the hilt of her sword harder and tilted her head towards me. I wanted to roll my eyes at them, I was far more frustrated they thought that would be enough to sway me into joining the man who drugged, kidnapped, and tortured me just a few hours ago. ¡°Not going to happen.¡± I replied simply. ¡°You''re stalling until those creatures get into position or Kanou can escape, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Tch, it seems Doctor Kanou certainly made you smarter than the Shinigami as well.¡± Kiba was no longer smiling. ¡°It doesn''t matter. The three of you won¡¯t be enough to stop us. The failures are about to be released and you don¡¯t have the strength to stop us.¡± ¡°Like hell!¡± Kimura exclaimed, then pointed at me. ¡°She replaced a Lieutenant for her mission, even if you think you are stronger than me once she kicks your ass then we can catch Kanou and stop the monsters, no sweat. And that''s not even mentioning Miss Hanakage!¡± Kiba looked unsurprised at this information which meant they had done a pretty thorough bit of spying on us or were just strong enough to not care. ¡°Ah yes, Third Seat Hanakage Natsumi. Naturally as a member of Squad Two, there isn¡¯t much information available. Normally a Lieutenant and a Third Seat would be enough to handle any threat inside the Soul Society, but as you can see-¡± Kiba released his reiatsu, ¡°-I¡¯m twice as strong as the average Lieutenant!¡± I was still terrible at judging spiritual energy so I snuck a glance at Natsumi. She looked surprised by the reiatsu Kiba was giving off but not like she was shocked at the level. ¡°Can you take him?¡± I muttered to her. She startled a little that I was actually talking to her, but was professional enough to respond with little delay. ¡°Yes, he seems strong but his reiatsu is wild and unfocused. I should be fine on my own.¡± she replied confidently. ¡°Good. Have Kimura stall the experiments any way he can. Whoever finishes can double back and help him.¡± ¡°And what are you going to do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going after Kanou.¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°How do you know he is down that hallway?¡± Tobiume formed in my hand. ¡°Kiba is going to tell me right now.¡± A fireball shot from the copied sword towards Kiba¡¯s feet forcing him to jump away. In the same breath I launched forwards towards the door while Natsumi gave orders to Kimura. Just before I reached my destination I was forced to turn and catch Kiba¡¯s Zanpakuto as he ran back to intercept me. ¡°You aren¡¯t going anywhere.¡± he growled. ¡°So something is back there.¡± I said with a smirk of my own. ¡°Thanks for the tip.¡± I lashed out with a kick to force Kiba further away which he narrowly dodged. But before he could rush me again a black chain swung down between us. ¡°Your opponent is me!¡± Natsumi called from across the room. Without another glance back I rushed through the door and poured on the speed. It was time to end this. Spirit 3.13 Natsumi watched as Alexandra disappeared down the hallway as several conflicting emotions raged inside her. On one hand, she had absolute faith Alexandra had every intention of killing Doctor Akihiro Kanou in the most brutal way possible given the sheer hatred she seemed to give off once she knew Kanou¡¯s creations were beyond saving. On the other, an incredibly powerful combatant was now unsupervised and was significantly motivated to do serious harm to at least several high ranking Shinigami. There was no telling exactly when Alexandra might decide to strike out against them again. And Natsumi wasn¡¯t going to be there to de-escalate whatever response she might decide on. And of course that didn¡¯t begin to dip into the cocktail of anger, regret, betrayal, and fear she was feeling in general. It wasn¡¯t that her superiors used a conditional poison on Alexandria that bothered her. She had seen several different types in her line of work and applied quite a few herself. It was simply part of the job and she could accept that. What she had a harder time accepting, was that no one told her. She recognized the symptoms easily enough, and she carried antidotes to several of Squad Twelve¡¯s more common poisons as a matter of course. But normally when going on a mission with a pre-compromised companion there was a brief on what the trigger condition was, what the higher ups wanted accomplished, and when to stealthily administer the antidote if something developed during the mission. Natsumi had gotten none of that. Instead she had to improvise after Alexandria triggered the poison condition and was inflicted with some version of poison no. 37, a substance that was supposed to burn the reishi inside of the victim and immobilize them completely. If the antidote isn¡¯t applied within minutes, the victim would eventually lose the ability to manipulate reishi at all while leaving the internal workings unaffected. So that meant capture rather than elimination. Which was good. Between their interactions during the Ryoka invasion, Alexandria saving her life, and their time together on this mission Natsumi realised she had come to like the impossible person known as Alexandria Cross. She wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to carry out an assassination order. She also wasn¡¯t sure she could capture Alexandria either since the poison seemed to only make her lose control of her reiatsu rather than make it inaccessible. Natsumi finally saw the full extent of Alexandria¡¯s monstrous strength, and she was certain Alexandria was fully capable of holding her own with any three captains should she need to. Natsumi also finally had an answer as to why Alexandria had such a hard time fighting her. She was so much more powerful that it was easier to let her opponent get several hits in rather than risk losing control and killing her opponent. Natsumi felt incredibly relieved that the Ryoka were not interested in killing the members of the Goteij¨±santai. The damage would have been incalculable. ¡°Don¡¯t look so distracted Miss Third-Seat. I haven¡¯t been able to use my true strength since I took this role. I would be really disappointed if I crushed you when you weren¡¯t paying attention.¡± Natsumi turned her attention to the fourth confirmed traitorous Shinigami she had dealt with this month. ¡°You seem remarkably unconcerned you let her past you, especially since you made the effort to block her in the first place.¡± Yuuto Kiba shrugged, ¡°I wanted to fight her myself. I don¡¯t often get the chance to seriously fight Doctor Kanou¡¯s more successful experiments, and was hoping she would be worth the time. Unfortunately it seems I won¡¯t get that opportunity.¡± Kiba moved his sword to casually redirect the weighted end of Kusarihebi from striking him in the back. ¡°Oh course, if I finish you off quickly enough I suppose I could still catch up to her.¡± With a similarly casual movement Natsumi flicked her wrist and allowed the chain to pool around her. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t count on that.¡± She warned, raising her own reiatsu in response to his. He smiled at her. By some unspoken signal both of them started chanting. Natsumi pointed her left palm at Kiba while bracing it with her right hand, while Kiba held his sword horizontally in front of him. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡±Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Had¨­ #33. S¨­katsui!¡± ¡±Wander through the twisting path, and reject the biting thorns.Jinsei no Michi¡± A wave of bluish-white fire crashed into Kiba as his sword glowed a pale yellow as his shikai released. Convinced that she wasn¡¯t lucky enough to end the fight in one hit, Natsumi arced the sickle end of her weapon through the resulting smoke cloud. Feeling the blade being deflected she quickly manipulated the chain to wrap around the interfering object. Not wasting any time to confirm she had captured her target, Natsumi placed her right hand on the chain of her zanpakuto. ¡±Had¨­ #11. Tsuzuri Raiden.¡± Yellow sparks briefly played around her hand before racing down Kusarihebi¡¯s chain and theoretically shocking Kiba with a not inconsiderable amount of electric charge. Theoretically because there was no reaction from inside the dust cloud. As that cleared Natsumi saw that her chain was wrapped around Kiba¡¯s zanpakuto. The basic katana shape remained the same, but several thornlike protrusions ran down the back of the blade. More concerningly Kiba showed no reaction to either kido. They obviously hit, but with no damage to show for it Kiba¡¯s zanpakuto probably was either a negation-type or an absorption-type. ¡°Was that your best? While I do want to catch up to your companion, I don¡¯t want you to feel like you died holding something in reserve.¡± Kiba mocked. ¡°You talk too much.¡± Natsumi muttered before vanishing with a shunpo. She reappeared inside Kiba¡¯s guard slashed upwards hoping to score his arm. Kiba retaliated with a lightning fast stab after deflecting, this in turn was parried by a loop of chain pulling the blade off track. The two Shinigami continued to trade blows. Neither one of them was able to land more than a glancing attack. The closest they had gotten to a serious hit was when Kiba managed to sneak a hit to her left side. Natsumi countered by wrapping her arm in Kusarihebi¡¯s chain like an armguard and deflecting the blade. Her retaliating kick landed cleanly, hitting Kiba in the face and knocking him backwards, but it lacked the force to do major damage. ¡¯Still, first blood went to me.¡¯ Natsumi thought as she spotted the trail of blood leaking from Kiba¡¯s mouth. More amusingly she also noticed he was no longer smiling. ¡°Twice as strong as a Lieutenant, was it?¡± Natsumi taunted. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Kiba growled at her. ¡°I suppose I will have more of a challenge with you than I thought.¡± He admitted. ¡°It was a mistake holding back.¡± With that he surged forward much faster than before. He slashed high, forcing Natsumi to jerk backwards to avoid the sword but not before he managed to slice through several dark hairs. As she danced backwards and threw the weighted end of her chain to force him away, Natsumi distantly noted that was a close call. She extended her hand outward. Had¨­ #31: Shakkaho! The orb of fire rocketed directly for Kiba¡¯s chest as he pursued her. Rather than make any move to get out of the way, he simply slashed through the approaching fireball. Instantly the sphere of red flames vanished the moment it made contact with the blade, no traces of the spell remaining and Kiba continued onward not affected in the slightest. ¡¯Definitely a negation-type. No signs of energy being redirected or stored somewhere. It seems Kido will be ineffective unless I manage to make him drop his sword.¡¯ Natsumi deduced. Which was a pain. Her entire style revolved around immobilizing or distracting her opponent and following up with a Kido to finish them off. But it wasn¡¯t unfamiliar either. Throwing the sickle-bladed end Natumi was unsurprised to see Kiba bat the blade away with his own. When Kiba followed up with a downward slash Natsumi wove a loop of chain through the air. Kiba dismissed the chain as unimportant and attempted to spear Natsumi through the torso with his blade which she deftly spun around to avoid. Drawn too far forward Kiba was unable to respond quickly enough when Natsumi pulled hard on her chains causing the ignored loops to tighten around Kiba¡¯s right arm. Even with his arm trapped Kiba proved hard for her to handle as he managed to get a solid punch in. The strength behind the blow was disproportionate to Kiba¡¯s own small frame and Natsumi found herself thrown through the air. Still, she had the presence of mind to pull hard on one section of chain. Kusarihebi tightened, forcing Kiba¡¯s arm to straighten even as the sickle blade retracted. With a splash of blood Kiba¡¯s right hand up to the middle of his forearm arced through the air before landing on the ground with a dull thud. ¡°Guh!¡± With a pained grunt Kiba grabbed at his bleeding stump of an arm even as Natsumi skidded across the floor several times before managing to get her feet under her. Panting heavily as she reoriented herself, Natsumi noticed despite the pain on his face he didn¡¯t seem perturbed by the loss of a hand. ¡°I might owe you an apology Miss Third-Seat. We assumed you were merely another Shinigami sent out to show the flag while someone stronger took care of the issue but you are very capable.¡± Kiba ground out through clenched teeth. ¡°Too late to regret your actions.¡± Natsumi replied. Kiba started laughing, ¡°Hahaha, regret my actions? You misunderstand, I¡¯m just happy I ran into someone else all the way out here that can test me. You see out of all the other children in my group I was the only survivor. Only I was worthy enough to live and continue on the path to perfection. And then Doctor Kanou pushed me to the next stage.¡± As he talked blood red tentacles suddenly burst from both his arm and detached hand. Both ends seeked eachother out and quickly intertwined before pulling the removed hand back into place. Barely a heartbeat later the only sign of the injury was an angry red line on his forearm. Kiba held the newly attached arm up and started flexing it, looking at it with an expression Natsumi couldn¡¯t really place. ¡°I¡¯m sure you figured it out by now, my Jinsei no Michi negates Kido. I am immune to anything even the most powerful Kido masters can attempt simply by using this blade. Doctor Kanou saw this potential and found only one weakness.¡± He gestured at her with a cold smile. ¡°If Kido cannot harm me, then just cut up my body. As you see he made me better.¡± ¡°And now you believe yourself invincible?¡± Natsumi hissed. She was disgusted by the warped creature in front of her. Kiba smiled, ¡°Invincible? No, not yet at least. Not until the Doctor finds a way to give me the power to match the Captains. Though I¡¯m sure after a few more years of experiments we will get there.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t happen.¡± Chains formed loops in the air as both fighters re-engaged. Natsumi tried to trap Kiba in another bind or by having both ends of her weapon attack from odd angles. Kiba was getting used to her weapon¡¯s behavior however and managed to avoid most of the attacks. The ones he failed to block he either tanked and allowed his regeneration to heal or shunpo to barely avoid. Natsumi noticed the injuries he did take seemed to slow him down some. So it wasn¡¯t perfect regeneration. The two traded several blows that would have killed a less skilled opponent. Kicks and punches that would have crushed the limbs of someone without Kiba¡¯s regeneration, slashes that would cut someone in half if the edge was not stopped by lengths of chain. After one particularly bad block Natsumi found herself skidding over the floor. While her chains stopped her from getting cut, it didn¡¯t always mean the force didn¡¯t hurt. She roughly wiped a hand past her cheek to confirm that, yes, that last blow was certainly too close considering the blood that was pouring out of a cut on her face. She would need to find a way to finish this soon or she risked taking a hit that would cripple her. And unlike in the Seireitei, she would not be able to count on reinforcements arriving to help her if she was unable to move. Plans rushed through her head as they both took a moment to collect themselves after the last exchange. Only to pause as the walls started to shake. Spirit 3.14 Once I was out of the chamber I left Natsumi and Kiba in, I moved as fast as I could to reach the end of the corridor. Kanou was somewhere up ahead and while I was sure Natsumi could hold off Kiba until the doctor was dealt with, I wasn¡¯t confident Kimura could contain the rest of the experiments from getting out into the town. And Kanou struck me as that type of asshole that would open the floodgates just to make sure he had an escape route. So my plan boiled down to find the doctor, kill him before he can do anything, wipe any data about me, head back to deal with the experiments. Short, sweet, and uncomplicated. I can almost feel Murphy hovering over my shoulder waiting to screw me on this somehow. Up ahead a large metal door comes into view. Unlike the others we came aross while exploring Kanou¡¯s hideout, this door has more in common with a bank vault than anything I¡¯d come across so far. A fireball raced down Tobiume and slammed into the metal bulwark. When the smoke cleared there was some blackened metal but no sign that the attack damaged the door. I suppose a more powerful blast was needed. Tobiume dispersed into motes of blue mana and another sword formed in my hand. The four foot monstrosity of a blade with a white bandage wrapping was not one that I had used much. I had played with it a couple times in the cavern Yoruichi took Ichigo for training. I found out that while it was easily the most purely destructive sword I currently had access to, it was also the most draining. Yeah, Ichigo¡¯s Zangetsu really only worked for him because of his stupidly large reserves. For me, I would be lucky to get four Getsugas before I ran out of steam. Hopefully I only needed the one. I swung the oversized sword towards the door and poured mana into the blade. Zangetsu greedily sucked in everything I could throw at it, amplified it, and spat it out as a giant crescent of yellow energy. Yes, yellow. It seemed any attack made of my personal energy was dyed that color. The energy wave collided into the same spot the fireball had earlier, but rather than splash against the door, the beam cut through the tough metal before causing an explosion that covered the hall in a cloud of smoke. When that finally cleared a few seconds later, the door had a massive gash in it. Not wasting time standing around I ran through the hole and made my way towards a ledge overlooking a vast array of monitors. Looking down I quickly spotted Kanou looking over several of them, seemingly unconcerned that I had blown past his security wall. I leapt down in front of him, tracing two weapons as I did so. ¡°Ah, I must say. You arrived here much fast-¡± That was as far as he got before one of the longswords I projected went through his forehead and pinned him to his chair. Half a second later, the second found it¡¯s home generally where the heart would be in a normal person. Evil scientist handled, I quickly moved to the main computer and started shifting through files. Not surprisingly, there was simply too much to shift through to find anything about me specifically. So I started checking timestamps for when data had been accessed or created, making sure to keep it restricted to the last few days or so. That...was better. There were still hundreds of files, but I was able to find those related to me within a few minutes and move them to a storage drive. Once that was done I popped out the drive, deleted the local data, and moved other files to where that data used to be to overwrite the memory locations. Not a guaranteed way that no one would be able to recover the data but without actually getting my hands on every physical storage device I couldn¡¯t guarantee that anyway. Two out of my three main goals completed, I spun on my heel and started heading back the way I came. Once Kiba was taken care of, nothing stood in the way of dealing with the remaining experiments. Then this whole cursed mission could finally end. ¡°Leaving so soon? I¡¯m disappointed.¡± I froze mid step at the unexpected voice. Quickly turning to where I had left Kanou¡¯s body to see that while one eye was staring sightlessly forward, the other had moved to track me. That was surely ending up in my nightmares later. ¡°I would have thought you were after my experiment data. The fools in the Seireitei never did manage to steal my process for making loyal tools. Yet you seem content to ignore that to secure your own information.¡± ¡°Ignoring the whole wanting fucked up braindead slaves thing, how are you alive?¡± I asked incredulously. Seriously a sword through the head should not be a minor inconvenience. ¡°Naturally I made sure my second body would be superior. Did you think that I would be satisfied with merely creating a superior creature? I make sure to integrate any beneficial traits into myself once they have been thoroughly tested.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. With that Kanou leaned forward. His skull parted around the sword in a series of wet crunches as his skull collapsed around the sharp blade. Rather than bleed profusely like a normal person I saw worm-like tendrils wiggling around in his head before reconnecting with each other once the blade was clear. Less disturbingly, he simply pulled the other blade from his chest. Other than the damage to his clothes there was no indication that he had been recently impaled. ¡°That is just really fucking unfair.¡± I murmured under my breath. Kanou rose from his chair, casually unbuttoning his shirt as he did so. ¡°Doc, I have no idea what gave you the thought I might be interested, but trust me you can keep your shirt on.¡± Kanou gave me a condescending smile. ¡°I assure you I rid myself of those base urges quite some time ago. This is merely to ensure I have some covering after I have dealt with you.¡± Torso now free from any covering, I saw that he had a patchwork of surgical scars all over his body. Unlike the many I had seen on the experiments on the way down these looked faded so it wasn¡¯t a last minute addition. Instead the scars seemed to quickly start secreting some sort of reddish slime that covered his entire body before solidifying into some sort of muscle-like suit. I would have called him a cheap ripoff of Venom if it weren¡¯t for two things. First, Venom didn¡¯t exist in this universe (I checked) so the quip would be wasted on him if he even bothered to keep up with World of the Living pop culture. And two, he just, kept, growing. Pretty soon he was fifteen feet tall and still growing, but I couldn¡¯t make a move to stop him since he grabbed a nearby desk and threw the whole thing at me. By the time I dodged and faced him again he had easily doubled in size. Thankfully he also seemed to stop getting bigger so I was only facing a fifty foot man shaped flesh abomination. I grit my teeth at that thought. Yeah this wasn¡¯t going to be easy. A giant fist smashed into the spot I had just been standing in. I rolled to my feet and started hurling swords at the creature as quickly as I could project them. They cut through him easily enough but just as fast as a cut was made, the edges merged together as they did for his face and chest. Some of the more exotic blade enchantments I could mass produce on command seemed to slow his regeneration down a bit but not enough to make much of a dent. I leaped over Kanou¡¯s arm as he swept it across the floor, destroying anything in its path. With barely a thought a spear appeared in my hand and I stabbed downward as hard as I could. Despite easily piercing through the weird muscle like tissue, Kanou barely seemed to notice the injury and I was forced to release the spear or get thrown across the room. ¡°What, not even a reaction?¡± I asked sarcastically as the spear was automatically ejected from Kanou¡¯s arm by some internal force. Naturally he seemed unbothered by the attack. ¡°Excessive pain response is unnecessary.¡± Holy shit, I didn¡¯t think he could talk like that. ¡°Knowing an injury has taken place is enough. There is no point in debilitating myself with potential sensory overload. Especially -¡± he held up the arm I had stabbed to let me take in the unmarred flesh. ¡°-when it will regenerate.¡± Okay basic enchanted weapons are useless, I don¡¯t have my device prototype so bombardment spells would take too long to attempt, what does that leave me? Well a lot actually. Unfortunately not much of it was immediately useful. Most of my elemental abilities were on the same level as the enchanted weapons, just less focused, and quite a bit of the magecraft I studied revolved around utility creation which again I had no time for. I mentally ran over the few Zanpakuto I had collected and cursed as I realized only two or three would actually be useful. Who would have guessed not fighting more Soul Reapers would have been an issue. Finally, I could maybe force a Noble Phantasm. I had barely not been able to when I faced Aizen, and I had gotten a little more in tune with the UBW since then. Let''s leave that gamble as a last resort. Tobiume was up first as I sent fireball after fireball into Kanou¡¯s face while I dodged out of the way of his arms trying to bat me into a wall or the floor. Even if the damage wasn¡¯t fatal, eyes tend to be fragile enough to disable with even a tiny bit of damage. As if to prove my point, one fireball must have hit something sensitive since Kanou quickly covered his face and let out a pained roar. I guess eyes weren¡¯t covered in the ¡®unnecessary excessive pain¡¯ bullshit he had going on. ¡°AAH WORTHLESS WRETCH! I¡¯LL ENJOY DISSECTING YOUR CORPSE!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong big guy? I thought you wanted me alive for your little study circle?¡± I taunted. ¡°Keeping you alive only made discovering your secrets easier! I can pull them from your degrading corpse with only slightly more effort and time!¡± I ignored the way he said degrading as if that was supposed to mean something. I somewhat less successfully ignored the ball of ice that formed in my chest when he indirectly confirmed there was something wrong with me. ¡°Yeah, well fuck you too.¡± I said lamely. I dove out of the way of another hammer blow and swapped Tobiume for Zangetsu. The fire damage Tobiume was doing was simply not fast enough to do lasting damage. Benihime might work as well but it traded raw power for versatility and finesse. And you didn¡¯t exactly need precision to hit a fifty foot giant. Mana poured into the oversized blade and I mentally winced at the hit to my reserves. ¡±Getsuga Tensho!¡± The crescent of energy surged towards Kanou. I had hoped to cut him in half, but the giant was quicker than I thought. Instead of splitting him vertically, he managed to move far enough to one side that I took an arm off instead. ¡°Hah! How¡¯d you like that!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve yet to realise the futility of your actions.¡± Kanou boomed. And, because why not, tendrils reached out from his cut shoulder and eventually reconnected with the severed limb. Seconds later I was once again dodging both flailing arms as he attacked me. I was really starting to hate fighting this prick. Okay, fire kinda works but not fast enough and cutting him is pointless¡­ ...or was it? If there was no danger he wouldn¡¯t have moved out of the way. I sent another Getsuga Tenshou point blank into Kanou. This time there was no effort to dodge the attack and he was split from groin to head. More tendrils exploded from the left half to reconnect with the other side and he was healed up like nothing had happened. ¡°Do you understand now? Your struggle is pointless.¡± Bullshit. He took that hit on purpose. Which meant something changed between now and the last time. Probably something internal. A core? Considering this entire behemoth had formed from the pink slime that came from Kanou¡¯s body I was willing to bet his human body was still inside and that was acting as his core. I scowled. Of course that also meant he could shift himself around inside of the construct so I would need to get lucky to hit him. ...or a different weapon. Zangetsu disappeared in motes of mana as I retreated further away from Kanou. I rapidly shifted through the weapons in the UBW trying to find something that might fit my needs. Anything too powerful might burn me out before I could even get an attack off. Anything too weak left me in the same position I was currently in and possibly worse if it was too mana intensive. Hundreds of weapons were presented, considered, and rejected. Finally I found one that I was confident I could actually summon and would potentially end Kanou. Practically unbidden the first line of my refined Aria echoed in my mental plane. My Body is Made of Stars My mana surged in response. I felt my arms heat up as I forced more and more energy into the projection. Finally a sword took shape in my hands. A simple looking double edged sword with no markings on the blade, the crossguard was a simple bronze arc, and the hilt was half wrapped in leather. Despite the simple design, the entire blade seemed to glow with an inner fire. Even if it wasn¡¯t the most visually impressive weapon I ever used, I still felt a rush of pride as I completed another step on my way to mastering my abilities. New sword in hand, I dashed under Kanou¡¯s swinging arm and hacked at his ankle. The blade easily cut through the giant limb and Kanou fell back as his balance was suddenly destroyed. ¡°A waste of time for both of us. Your simple attacks can¡¯t harm me.¡± he growled, trying to regain his footing. ¡°Is that right? I think this one was a bit more effective.¡± Just then both sides of where I cut burst into flame. Kanou let out a shout of alarm and tried to douse the flames with a giant hand, but the fire continued to spread from the cut. In a desperate maneuver Kanou tore off his leg at the knee to remove the flames consuming it. The removed portion, apparently removed from whatever regeneration effect he had, burned down to ash. ¡°Damn you! What kind of Zanpakuto was that?¡± I glanced at the stump of his leg and saw it was still regenerating, but it was much slower than when he first transformed. My best guess was there was only so much he could produce which was why he reattached severed parts rather than regenerate them. Excellent. ¡°Why Doctor¡± I mocked with a cheerful voice. ¡°Its the one I¡¯m going to kill you with!¡± Spirit 3.15 The two of us were in a bit of a deadlock as much as I didn¡¯t want to admit it. Kanou was now hanging back and avoiding direct attacks now that I had a weapon that did more than cosmetic damage for a little bit, and I was straining much harder than I appeared to keep the damn thing manifested. The Noble Phantasm was...slippery...for lack of a better word that I hadn¡¯t experienced since my early days learning to project weapons. Past experience told me this would quickly go away, but it was time I both didn¡¯t have and wouldn¡¯t get anytime soon. I had enough control that it wouldn¡¯t just shatter randomly but nearly anything beyond basic mana control wasn¡¯t possible if I wanted to keep it that way. Still I could hurt the bastard now. And I might be feeling a little giddy about finally managing to use the main aspect of one of my powers that made it so well known. The sword felt warm in my hand. Not physically warm. It felt like holding an embodiment of fire and worthiness. Dyrnwyn wasn¡¯t the most famous sword nowadays. It had been overshadowed by swords like Excalibur, Gram, and Durandal to the point that not many would recognize the famous welsh sword. Which was a little ironic considering it was practically the original story for the ¡®only the worthy may wield¡¯ trait that had been tacked onto Mjolnir¡¯s legend recently. Especially since rather than sit there as an immovable object, if Dyrnwyn judged your cause unworthy it would set you on fire. You would think more people would remember a sword that could do that. Still a sword that set what it cut on fire that couldn¡¯t be quenched until whatever taint was burned away was the perfect counter to a regenerating slime monster who was basically the textbook example of evil mad scientist. I didn¡¯t need to be faster than Kanou. I just needed to be able to get close enough to hit him and I was skilled enough to not get hit in return. Neither one of us seemed to have much to say to each other at the moment. Kanou was the first to resume attacking. He rammed a hand into the floor, ripping up a chunk of concrete and metal and tossing it at me. I dodged around the debris, letting it slam into the wall behind me, only to be forced to jump over another projectile as Kanou ripped up more of the floor. Considering he wasn¡¯t falling through a hole it looked like we were on the bottom level. So unless this facility just had really thick floors, he wasn¡¯t going to run out of material to throw at me any time soon. Another chunk of rock landed in front of me and I had to sprint to the side to avoid the rolling boulder. From there I ran as quickly as I could towards him, feinting left and right to avoid any last minute throws. Kanou was smart enough not to open himself up too much, so rather than throw his latest handful and potentially leave himself defenseless against my sword he tried to punch me with the rock. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Again I jumped over his attack, but this time I twisted myself in midair to swing at his hand as it passed by. Dyrnwyn bit deep into the rock as Kanou¡¯s own attack forced his hand through the blade. Enchanted steel sliced through metal, rock, and flesh and then all of them burst into flame. The debris in Kanou¡¯s hand didn¡¯t burn for long. Maybe a few seconds total. But the cut on the side of Kanou¡¯s index finger was slowly spreading to the rest of his hand. The doctor roared in frustration at the sight and tried extinguishing the fire by shoving his hand underground. He used his free hand to throw a handful of crushed rocks to keep me from getting closer. I lowered my hand from my eyes after I felt no more shards of rock bouncing off of it. The scattershot attack wouldn¡¯t damage me but being blinded might have been enough to ensure my defeat. Kanou pulled his other hand out of the ground to see that not only had the cut not stopped burning, the fire had spread to engulf the rest of his hand as well and was slowly making its way up his wrist. ¡°What devilry is this?!¡± Kanou screamed at me. He grabbed his burning arm mid-forearm and tore the burning limb free. His entire body shrunk down some as he shifted whatever slime covered him to remake the removed limb. ¡°Dyrnwyn doesn¡¯t like evil things Kanou!¡± I mocked. ¡°It might not be death by a thousand cuts, but I figure slowly burning you to ash works just as well!¡± ¡°Impudent whore!¡± For some reason Kanou slammed his feet into the hole he had been digging while throwing things at me and planted himself there like a tree. I didn¡¯t know what his plan was and I wasn¡¯t going to wait to find out. I dashed forward again and sliced into his leg. Without pausing I jumped off using his knee as a springboard to get some slashes across his chest and land on his shoulder. Kanou tried to swat me off but all that did was allow me to land some hits on his arm before jumping free. Once I was safely out of reach I turned to look at the Doctor. He was doing a wonderful recreation of a Burning Man tribute and now it was just a matter of time before I either smoked out his true body or he burned to ash. Kanou must have seen my satisfied smile because he did not calm down. ¡°You think you¡¯ve won you wretch?¡± He screamed. ¡°I¡¯ll grind you into paste! And when I¡¯m done I¡¯ll clone you again and make you scream until you¡¯ve repaid me for this insolence!¡± I was about to mock him some more when what I saw froze the smile on my face. He was getting bigger again. He ripped chunks out of himself until all the fire had been removed. But unlike before he continued to regenerate until he was the same size. Then he got even bigger. I realised very quickly that whatever Kanou was doing, it was going to get me killed if burning him down to size wasn¡¯t an option. I gave Dyrnwyn a nervous look. I had managed to project a Noble Phantasm alright. Now the question was could I invoke one with what I had left? Raising Dyrnwyn above my head with both hands I funneled as much mana into the blade as I could. It wasn¡¯t easy. I could practically feel my blood boiling trying to force the energy to move quick enough. Suddenly the sword glowed blue-white as flames danced around the blade and I instinctively knew it was now or never. ¡±Dyrnwyn!!¡± I intoned, feeling as all the mana I had pushed into the blade rush out as I brought the sword down. A giant pillar of fire consumed the Doctor¡¯s grotesque shape. There was no roar of defiance. No screams of pain. No promises of revenge. Anything unworthy touched by Dyrnwyn¡¯s flame was reduced to ash on the wind. I managed to keep on my feet for a few seconds, but couldn¡¯t keep myself from collapsing to my knees from exhaustion. ¡°Hoo boy, that takes a lot out of you.¡± I muttered. I was down to maybe a tenth of my reserves. My limbs felt lethargic and twinged from too much mana. But Kanou was dead, Natsumi should be handling Kiba by now, and Kimura hopefully hadn¡¯t screwed up. So I could probably leave the rest to the Soul Reapers for a bit. Then the walls started shaking. Murphy, you vicious bastard. Cracks formed along the walls and ceiling. Occasionally chunks of them falling off when the cracks became too big. One of them came very close to hitting me, but I didn¡¯t pay it much attention. I was too busy being horrified by what was oozing through those cracks. Slime. The same reddish slime that Kanou covered himself with to be precise. I had a vague understanding of what the Doctor had been digging for. There was a reservoir of that slime under the room. The clever bastard had made it seem he was simply using the floor as an improvised weapon but in actuality he was using it to escape. A tentacle slowly descended from the ceiling before shifting to a vaguely mouthlike shape. ¡°Understand now, wretch? I see you do. My core is safe from whatever weapon you managed to use against me, and now I will just grind you into the ground until you are too tired to resist.¡± More tentacles burst out of the walls, floor, and ceiling. I took in the sight of the writhing slime constructs coming for me and did the only reasonable thing. I turned tail and fled as fast as I could! Spirit 3.16 Racing back up the corridor to where I left Natsumi was far more treacherous the second time. For one, last time I didn¡¯t have thick slimy tentacles trying to tear me to pieces that were only being held back by a mythical sword. Also last time I wasn¡¯t trying to run while dodging chunks of falling ceiling with the floor shaking under me. I misstepped and threw myself forward, turning the fall into a combat roll. Dyrnwyn flashed and several tentacles looking to take advantage of the opening were cut to pieces. I completed the roll, came up on my feet and continued my sprint away from Kanou¡¯s final hiding spot. Similar scenes happened several times as Kanou tested openings as I ran. Despite the severed sections burning to nothing and Kanou being forced to disconnect the attached part, it didn¡¯t look like he was losing material or speed. I guess he had enough that losing bits and pieces didn¡¯t matter. With a final burst of speed I turned a corner and found myself back in the room with Kiba and Natsumi. ¡°Natsumi, you still haven¡¯t taken care of him!?¡± ¡°He¡¯s as strong as a Lieutenant and Kido doesn¡¯t work on him!¡± Natsumi yelled back. ¡°And what is causing all that shaking?!¡± I slammed the doors shut behind me and projected oversized blades into the floor to brace them closed. My already depleted reserves fell a bit more but I couldn¡¯t help that. ¡°Kanou turned into a giant slime thing- gheh! -and started tearing the place apart!¡± Kanou slammed into my barricade causing the doors to dent and the room to shake even harder. It wouldn¡¯t take long before he forced his way through. Even if the door could handle it, the surrounding wall would give way soon. ¡°Finish up already or we¡¯re going to get flooded soon!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t! He heals himself whenever I cut him!¡± Great, Kanou managed to copy that ability. Why couldn¡¯t that have been unique to him? I watched as slime started to seep into the room through the edges of the door and start pulling at the projected swords. I burned them all away with Dyrnwyn to buy some more time. ¡°Of course he does. Fine! Switch with me.¡± I called over to her. ¡°Burn anything that gets through!¡± ¡°Right!¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather you paid me full attention.¡± Kiba followed after her and tried to cut her with his Zanpakuto. A black chain smoothly deflected the attack letting Natsumi run past me as I took a stab at Kiba myself. The traitorous Soul Reaper abandoned his attack and narrowly deflected my own. I followed up with a swift kick to the torso to give Natsumi some room and chased after him. He clicked his tongue and settled into a stance, the kick apparently not bothering him. ¡°Tch, the two of you keep swapping. Is it too much to ask for you to wait until I finish a fight?¡± Swapping? Nevermind. We need to kill him quickly and get out before Kanou breaks through. ¡°Ignoring me? That¡¯s fine, I did want to fight you after all.¡± Kiba blocked a slash and strained against the resulting blade lock as I maneuvered to cut him just once. ¡°Miss Third-Seat was probably the better matchup since she had a mid range weapon.¡± ¡°You just don¡¯t shut up, do you?¡± I growled. The two of us traded slashes with neither one gaining the upper hand. I was stronger than Kiba and really only needed a glancing hit to win, but Kiba was good, very good actually, and wasn¡¯t giving me the chance. He was faster and less tired than I was. Kiba took advantage of a slow block and I hissed as I felt a deep cut in my side start to burn. ¡°Alexandria, I can¡¯t keep Kanou back too much longer! If you have a plan, hurry up!¡± Natsumi shouted. I risked a glance. She was doing fine keeping the slime tendrils back, even if she couldn¡¯t burn all the material getting through she was doing a great job of making sure Kanou couldn¡¯t keep up its structural integrity. The problem was Kanou was slowly pushing the entire door off it¡¯s frame. The metal on both the door and the frame was slowly cracking and buckling under Kanou¡¯s assault and it was only a matter of time before there were too many entrances for Natsumi to keep him back. I ended up locking blades with Kiba again. ¡°I guess that means our fight is just about over.¡± Kiba said. ¡°Good enough for me, I guess. You were a bit of a let down really.¡± He suddenly took a step back and speared at me with his sword. My low energy finally caught up with me and I was too tired to properly block. In a desperate move I shoved my left arm in front of the blade. It easily passed through the middle of my forearm before continuing into my shoulder. Both wounds hurt like hell, but considering I narrowly missed getting my heart impaled it seemed like a fair trade. The smirk that appeared on my face evidently pissed Kiba off. ¡°And what¡¯s so funny, huh? Or are you just that type.¡± he said irritably. ¡°Not a masochist.¡± I chuckled. I leaned in closer, wincing a bit as the sword cut deeper. ¡°I just finally got you, you self righteous prick.¡± His eyes flickered down to where Dyrnwyn was embedded in his leg and then back to me. ¡°Yes, you nicked me a bit. And what was that supposed to accomplish?¡± ¡°This.¡± I lept backwards, ripping both Dyrnwyn and Kiba¡¯s sword free at the same time. And holy fuck, I need to stop getting stabbed. It really fucking hurts. Kiba stumbles forward a bit, ¡°Gah! Alright you¡¯re craftier than I thought. But that won¡¯t be enough.¡± My smirk grew to a full smile. ¡°I don¡¯t need to. I¡¯ve already won.¡± His wound suddenly burst into flames, slowly spreading out and creeping over the rest of his leg. Oddly it was slower than what happened to Kanou. Kiba understandably started to scream as the flames burned through his flesh, and retreated as far as he could with a Flash Step and started attempting to put out the flames. I would have loved to finish him off there and then, but Kanou had shifted to a more dense form where his tendrils were more similar to muscle than slime. I turned to shout at the other Soul Reaper in the room, ¡°Natsumi, time to go!¡± ¡°What about Kiba?!¡± ¡°Not an issue for now! That door is going down in a few seconds at best. We need to not be here!¡± She appeared next to me and for the second time today I found myself fleeting down a hallway from a sentient tentacle monster. A loud crash told me that Kanou had managed to break through the door and I did my best not to falter at the sight of the writhing mass chasing after us. Thankfully in the more condensed form, while stronger, it was much slower and we were able to keep ahead of it easily. Pretty soon we started seeing bodies dotting the featureless corridor, the slash marks telling me that Kimura had caught up to some of Kanou¡¯s creatures before moving on. The sound of those bodies pulping as the mass behind us crushed them under its weight was plenty encouraging to not slow down even in my exhausted state. ¡°I thought you were going to take care of Kanou, how did you let him turn into that?¡± Natsumi called over. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I put a sword through his head and his heart!¡± I irritably shot back. ¡°He brushed it off and turned into a monster.¡± The look of shock on her face would have made me laugh if we weren¡¯t running for our lives. ¡°Through his¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! How about you come up with something for once!¡± I snapped at her. ¡°What am I supposed to do when I struggled against his minion who had a lesser ability?¡± came the heated reply. ¡°And Doctor Kanou is far too large for me to affect all at once with Kido. Unless you have something else our only choice will be to hope we can alert the Captain Commander to this threat!¡± She had a point. Having the old guy show up and incinerate everything here would easily solve our issue of not being able to get at Kanou¡¯s core. Unfortunately it also didn¡¯t look like the doctor was going to let us just run off before he killed us all. Up ahead of us we saw the first living experiments in a while gathering in another oversized room. The two of us cut, dodged, and just generally went through the misshapen monsters to get to the other side, where we found Kimura using his shikai to keep them back from yet another door. I felt a pit in my stomach open up at the sight coming from the partially open door. Daylight. We didn¡¯t have anywhere else to run. If Kanou got past us now¡­ he would vanish. Cause untold damage to the surroundings, yes. But he would escape and start his twisted experiments all over again. I saw Natsumi come to a similar conclusion. Kimura brightened up when the both of us made it through the horde. ¡°Cool, you guys made it! That mean we just need to clean up here?¡± ¡°Not exactly.¡± Kanou burst into the room, quickly oozing off to the sides of the corridor. The mass of slime quickly filled a fourth of the room. Any of the creatures in the way were crushed to paste under the immense mass. ¡°What the fuck is that thing?!¡± Kimura shrieked. ¡°Doctor Kanou¡± came Natsumi¡¯s blunt reply. ¡°Fucking how?!¡± We never got the chance to answer as Kanou pulled the loose mass that had flooded into the room into a more humanoid form. His lower body remained an unformed blob of slime-like muscle that continued back into the hallway and likely as far back as the last room we were in. His upper half looked mostly human with a few noticeable differences. He looked like someone had skinned the upper half of a person and he had no clear eyes or teeth in this form. But he seemed to see us somehow and it was clear he was still mad at me. ¡°AH, ALL THE VERMIN ARE GATHERED IN ONE PLACE. EXCELLENT. ONCE YOU ARE TAKEN CARE OF NOTHING WILL STAND IN THE WAY OF MY CREATIONS. I WILL BE FREE OF THIS PLACE AND BACK TO CREATING THE PERFECT BEING IN NO TIME.¡± the titanic figure boomed. Then he seemed to glare at me specifically. ¡°YOU, I AM GOING TO ENJOY PEELING APART INCH BY INCH. YOUR INSULT OF ACTUALLY THREATENING TO HARM ME WILL NOT BE REPAID LIGHTLY.¡± Yeah, still mad at me. I could feel Kimura shaking next to me. ¡°So, uh, what¡¯s the plan here?¡± ¡°Kill as many of Kanou¡¯s creations as you can and don¡¯t die.¡± Natsumi ordered. ¡°Alexandria and I will try and hold Doctor Kanou back as long as possible.¡± ¡°And how do we take him down?¡± ¡°Still working on that part.¡± I replied. Kanou cuts off our conversation with a roar, his huge hand crashing down where all three of us were standing. We all scattered before he had the chance to actually hit us. He was bigger than when I fought him before, but he was also much slower. Of course he also didn¡¯t have an army backing him up last time and his creatures all surged towards us when his attack hit the ground. I cut through five of them, the Noble Phantasm burning them to ash, before looking to see the state of the others. Natsumi was dancing between opponents using both ends of her kusarigama to cut down any creature that came close and was peppering Kanou¡¯s massive form with Kido blasts. They weren¡¯t doing much other than scorching a bit of his outer layers, but it was better than nothing. Kimura was proving to be the biggest threat to the mob trying to either swarm us or escape through the final door. His shikai formed a web of sharp metal as it pierced in and out of the creatures closest to him. Dozens of the experiments laid dead or dying around him and I was convinced if he wasn''t forced to recall his blade to its normal form every now and then to avoid ranged attacks or Kanou going after him, Kimura could have probably held the door by himself for another few hours alone. Another ten creatures turned to ash and I suddenly felt the floor rumbling. Turning in the direction of the disturbance I saw Kanou¡¯s arm sweeping over the floor and through anything in its way. There was nothing I could do before the massive limb slammed into me. A second later pain erupted along my back as I was slammed into a wall and the weight of Kanou¡¯s arm pinned me in place. Both Kimura and Natsumi cried out at my predicament but couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°AND NOW, INSECT, PREPARE TO FACE MY WRATH.¡± I can¡¯t help but groan as Kanou tries to crush me against the unyielding wall. I managed to give myself the bare minimum of space by pushing up against him with Dyrnwyn, but he was far too strong for me to push back. Blood drips down the hole in my forearm and my shoulder burns from the intense pressure. I know that I have seconds before my arm gives out. My eyes drop down to the gleaming blade in my hands. I guess there is nothing else I can do. I mentally reach into the blade, take hold of the structure, and twist it just a little. Dyrnwyn warps under the manipulation just so before- A massive explosion erupts from the blade. Heat and shrapnel open up several minor wounds and only Reinforcing myself to my limit stops me from being blown to pieces. The good news is I¡¯m free from being crushed and since I no longer need to keep focused on keeping Dyrnwyn manifested I am free to use Haste to hurry back to the Soul Reapers¡¯ sides. The bad news is I¡¯m bleeding from several places, my entire body hurts from being slammed into a wall and then blown up, I¡¯m weaponless, and after that last stunt I¡¯m now scraping the bottom of the barrel mana wise. ¡°Alexandria, are you okay?¡± Great, Natsumi sounded worried about me. I guess I look even worse than I feel. ¡°I¡¯ve been better. Also unless one of you has a convenient mana potion or a way to restore it another way I¡¯m pretty much tapped out at this point.¡± Natsumi shook her head, both of us ignoring Kimura¡¯s ¡®what¡¯s a mana potion?¡¯ question, and speared another creature through the chest with her weapon. ¡°I barely know what to do with Reiatsu depletion, let alone whatever weird energy you use.¡± I chuckled at that. We were so screwed. Although that did give me an idea. ¡°You think you can keep them off me for a minute? I have one last thing I can try.¡± ¡°You think it will work?¡± ¡°No idea.¡± I replied honestly. ¡°But we are all dead if it doesn¡¯t, so what the harm?¡± Natsumi is silent for a moment before decisively nodding her head. ¡°You¡¯re right. Especially if you can pull off more of that last attack. Kimura and I will hold off the Doctor as long as we can.¡± With that both of them ran ahead, trying their best to keep the rest of the creatures away from me. I was slightly confused, turning a Noble Phantasm into a Broken Phantasm was impressive but shouldn¡¯t have...been...that -holy shit! I saw why Natsumi had been impressed by the explosion. The crater left by Dyrnwyn exploding was impressive, yes, but what really grabbed your attention was the scorch marks that covered nearly a third of the room. Apparently Drynwyn¡¯s purifying effect went beyond the bounds of the initial explosion and had destroyed everything ¡®tainted¡¯ in its radius. Definitely need to remember that if I ever go up against a swarm of ¡®evil¡¯ creatures again. I belatedly realised that the same explosion had incinerated Kanou¡¯s golem body as well. It explained why he wasn¡¯t attacking us at the moment, but I could already see it reforming at the back of the room. Ignoring that for now, I opened up my spiritual senses as best I could. Ironically, Doctor Kanou had made that easier than ever when he hooked me into that Reiatsu draining machine. I still wasn¡¯t any good at it but it was like feeling the wind on your skin after getting out of the water. Everything was just sharper. That combined with whatever that poison did, I was finally able to reach out just the tiniest bit and touch the reiatsu in the environment. It probably sounds more impressive than it truly is. While ¡®using the energy in the environment¡¯ is a huge milestone in many stories, here it was just something most spiritual beings were naturally capable of. Soul Reapers did it to perform some Kido techniques, Quincies did so for nearly all of their abilities, and even Hollows did the same to open portals between worlds. I could only touch a small amount, but that was fine. I just needed this to work. I gathered all the Reishi I could and forced it¡­ inwards for lack of a better description. I felt that same uncomfortable ¡®inhale with your mouth closed¡¯ reaction going on and smiled in relief. Whatever my body/soul was doing to the Reishi was no doubt harmful in some way since I could practically see steam coming off of myself as the blood covering me vaporised. It was worth it though because I could feel my mana levels were climbing rapidly back up to full. Just in time too. Kanou had fully reformed his body. ¡°I TIRE OF YOU FUTILE RESISTANCE.¡± ¡°Yeah? Well fuck you too, buddy!¡± Kimura yelled in response. His ribbon like shikai wove in and out of Kanou¡¯s restored body, but any cuts were almost instantly regenerated. Natsumi was doing marginally better by removing chunks with her sickle blade and attacking with Kido. A twinge of pain shot down my arm as I continued gathering Reishi. Pulling it in was getting harder as well. I guess I was only going to get one chance at ending this before my body gave out. I needed an instant win weapon for this. Something that would guarantee it would kill Kanou even when he didn¡¯t seem to have any important organs other than whatever core he was protecting. Something that would end this whole fight in one strike. Once again hundreds of weapons were presented by the Unlimited Blade Works, considered, and discarded for one reason or another. A small part of my inner nerd died when I had to reject Excalibur. That level of weapon was still out of my reach, but I did find another favorite that seemed to fit my requirements, even if it was a bit different than what I thought it was. Crashes and explosions echoed through the room as the blood red spear manifested from glowing blue motes of light. Far too slowly for my taste but as long as it did so I couldn¡¯t exactly complain. I just hoped it worked like I imagined it would. Gae Bulg was another one of those weapons that had its history warped over the years so it actually gained new abilities. Like the worthiness trait with Mjolnir, causality reversal was fairly new to it¡¯s legend and while it was a fantastic ability I was more interested in its original ability. ¡°Alexandria watch out!¡± The warning came too late. Distracted by manifesting another Noble Phantasm the first hint I got about Kanou¡¯s attack was when his giant fist slammed into my face. I¡¯m pretty sure it knocked me out for a second because there was a flash of white and then I was pressed up against a wall by a giant hand and everything hurt just a bit more. ¡°NO MORE SURPRISES OUT OF YOU.¡± The pressure on my chest increased a bit more. I was about to panic when my foot brushed against something. ¡°W-what, no grand speeches about how you will rule Soul Society?¡± I wheezed. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed.¡± ¡°I HAVE NO DESIRE TO RULE OVER THOSE SHORT SIGHTED FOOLS. WHEN I ACHIEVE PERFECTION THEY WILL EITHER BOW BEFORE ME OR BE DESTROYED. IT IS AN INEVITABILITY.¡± We¡¯ll see about that. ¡°Kimura, Natsumi! I need a hand!¡± I shouted. The local Soul Reaper launched himself at the extended arm holding me in place. Even if Kanou could regenerate the damage done, there would still be the moment when it was disconnected from the main body. Natsumi followed closely behind with a massive Hado #33 that ripped the arm free from both Kanou¡¯s body and from me. Free from Kanou¡¯s grasp I rolled a foot over the pipe-like object at my feet before kicking it up. The spear glinted in the little light surrounding us before I focused every drop of mana I had into the spear and kicked it forward. ¡±G¨¢e Bulg!¡± The demonic spear accepted all of the mana it was fed and ignited in a swirling hurricane of red light. It launched forward at near supersonic speeds and buried itself in the stomach of Kanou¡¯s titan form. The moment it hit I let out a breath of relief, this aspect of the spear¡¯s power was determined by physical skill rather than magic to guarantee it hit. I had a sneaking suspicion if Kanou had been the size of even his previous form I would¡¯ve missed. Lucky me he thought bigger was better huh? No one had a chance to react as the G¨¢e Bulg¡¯s ability activated under the correct conditions. The head of the spear split into innumerable barbs that coursed throughout his body. He might have made himself into a slime creature, but there were still pathways to send materials through otherwise his body would have remained an undifferentiated pink mass and not the muscle it appeared to be. Those channels turned into pathways for G¨¢e Bulg to travel down. Each intersection spawned more barbs until the only thing left of Kanou¡¯s body was a mass of flesh stretched over a thornbush. Eventually one of those barbs reached whatever core the deranged doctor had and with no fanfare it was mercilessly shredded. What little emotion I could read on Kanou¡¯s face, distorted as it was, slackened the moment his core was destroyed and I realised we did it. Kanou was dead! My joy was cut short by two things. The first was I got a sudden look at exactly what G¨¢e Bulg was, and the second was a screeching monster jumping at me with claws extended. Once again I had used up all my mana. I could barely stand let alone make another weapon. Natsumi was on the ball though and a black chain suddenly wrapped around the creature¡¯s throat and her sickle jammed into its eye socket when it crashed to the ground. She gave me a quick glance. ¡°No time to stand around. Even without Kanou we need to take care of his remaining creatures.¡± She bit out, sounding every bit as exhausted as I was. I also realised at some point she had taken a hit that had broken her left arm, possibly her leg too considering she was favoring one side. ¡°Um, about that.¡± Kimura commented with a stunned tone. ¡°I think that was the last of them.¡± The two of us looked around. He was right! Somehow we had taken out all of the gathered experiments, killed Kanou, and stopped anything from getting by us. I let out a somewhat broken chuckle. We won! It was over. Then my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground. A second later two more thumps sounded next to me as the Soul Reapers followed suit. Spirit 3.17 Natsumi and I stayed in the city for a few more days after the situation with Kanou was resolved. Even with the mastermind dead, his minions defeated, and the mind controlled Soul Reapers released (that was a thing apparently) it still took some time to make sure nothing else was going to crawl out of his hideout and that the local Soul Reapers were okay to go about their duties. Well the reinforcing Soul Reapers that showed up were taking care of that. Between the fact I wasn¡¯t part of their organization and that I had no desire to go poking around the mad scientist lab, I mostly just stayed out of everyone¡¯s way. Natsumi was lucky enough to escape with only a few minor injuries that were simple for me to treat and my own injuries, while much more serious than hers, would be healed by the time we made it back to the Seireitei. Speaking of the Seireitei, I had cornered Natsumi and demanded to know everything about that itty-bitty problem of poisoning me after I worked to help them by exposing three traitors in their midst. As it turns out, she didn¡¯t know. She recognized the symptoms from personal experience but there were no orders on her part to do anything to me after I was affected or even a notice I was poisoned in the first place. The only reason she had an antidote was professional paranoia on her part. Once I learned that, I managed to forgive Natsumi personally. After all, she couldn¡¯t be blamed if she didn¡¯t know. Her bosses on the other hand were on my shit list and would likely remain there without a very good reason. The other Soul Reapers eventually had everything organized enough that they could handle the rest without Natsumi hovering over them and we made our goodbyes and left the next day. Kimura offered to throw a going away party in our honor but neither one of us felt like winding up in another brothel so we declined. A few days of awkward carriage rides back to the Seireitei later I found myself standing in front of the captains of squads one, two, and twelve with a host of members of the noble families surrounding us while Natsumi stood awkwardly behind me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what did you say? I must have misheard you.¡± Captain Commander Yamamoto didn¡¯t even twitch at the venom in my voice. Granted, given who he was he had probably faced similar situations dozens of times before. ¡°The actions of squad twelve captain Kurotsuchi were authorized by the emergency council while the positions for the Central 46 are being filled. As such there there will be no reprimand from the Goteij¨±santai about his conduct.¡± he could have been carved from stone for all the emotion he showed. Soi-fon was resolutely staring straight ahead and not meeting anyone¡¯s eyes. Kurotsuchi was looking off in the distance with a bored expression. Like the fact he got caught slipping a nominal ally poison after they had fought two traitors and saved the lives of another two officers was an inconvenience. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I guess in that case I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that they would gloss over the fact that there was no emergency council until days after Aizen¡¯s escape because no one knew Central 46 was dead until then, and I had been out of the hospital before it had its first meeting. Which meant that one of the nobles on the council probably made a request as soon as they heard what happened and they were now on the council. It would be a choice between admitting the noble had overstepped their authority or retroactively approving the action. Guess which one they chose? Fine. If they wanted to alienate allies like that just to keep their nobles happy, I would be happy to return the feeling. I let out a long breath to calm myself down. ¡°I see. Then I will return to the World of the Living now.¡± That got minor reactions from everyone assembled. Yamamoto opened a single eye, the nobles started mumbling to each other, and Kurotsuchi frowned looking even more annoyed. ¡°And your report about the Kanou facility?¡± Yamamoto asked. ¡°I have nothing to say¡± I smiled. ¡°Excuse me.¡± I turned to leave but an annoyingly grating voice called out to me. ¡°Hold it, girl. You have something I need.¡± Smile still on my face, I turned back to the captain of the twelfth. ¡°Oh, what''s that?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb,¡± the ¡®you idiot¡¯ was heavily implied. ¡°The encryption key for the data in Kanou¡¯s computers. Did you think I wouldn¡¯t check the camera footage and see you accessing his files?¡± Oh yeah, Kanou had used something to keep tabs on me when I escaped from his lab. It makes sense there were more elsewhere in the facility. I had no idea what he meant by encryption though. When I had rifled through Kanou¡¯s files there was barely a hint of file security¡­ ...because Kanou wanted to know what I was after. He said as much. And either me messing with the files triggered a security feature or Kanou reactivated them during our fight. He certainly would¡¯ve had the time to do so if he could multitask in his giant slime form when he was chasing me. Either way I had nothing for them and I had no intention of helping. My smile turned a bit feral. ¡°Sorry, I have nothing for you.¡± I probably was enjoying refusing to help way too much, but this incident hammered something home for me. No matter how much I liked the Soul Reapers as characters in a show, here they only acted for the benefit of themselves. They will use and use and use me until I either have nothing left to offer or simply die. I have no doubt the individuals I¡¯ve met probably wouldn¡¯t do that, but the organization overall had made its position clear. At my refusal the tension in the room went up a notch. Yamamoto looked at me with both eyes, Soi-fon stood just a little straighter, and Kurotsuchi¡¯s sneer grew a bit more. ¡°Hi, Alexandria! How was your trip?¡± And that tension was obliterated as a dark skinned arm snaked over my shoulders and pulled me down into a loose hug. ¡°Wha-, hey!¡± ¡°Anyway Captain Commander, Kisuke wanted to let you know he¡¯s going to need Alexandria for the next few days. I¡¯ll be taking her back now.¡± Yoruichi said like she didn¡¯t just interrupt a potential fight between several captain-class combatants. Without giving the Soul Reapers a chance to respond Yoruichi gives everyone a wave. ¡°Bye now.¡± And we both vanish in a flash step. One very blurry journey later both of us are standing a small ways away from one of the formal gates between Soul Society and the World of the Living. I let out a deep breath. ¡°Yoruichi, it''s great to see you,¡± I straightened up and returned the hug. ¡°but isn¡¯t that going to cause us some issues? Running out like that?¡± ¡°Nah,¡± The feline assassin waved off my concerns. ¡°We may be allies but you don¡¯t report to them. That and they need Kisuke way too much to give us crap for anything we do. Just don¡¯t go around blowing things up and they¡¯ll back off.¡± ¡°I guess I can do that.¡± I agreed and we both started walking towards the gate. ¡°So how did you know I needed help? Or were you just waiting for me to get back?¡± ¡°Soi-fon tipped me off. Nothing specific but the nobles are pushing to get a leash on you. Me, Kisuke, and Tessai they can leave alone for a bit cause they know us, well, know about us anyway. You? You¡¯re a near unknown, and if there is one thing the high and mighty nobles don¡¯t like it¡¯s something they don¡¯t control.¡± Yoruichi laughed. ¡°Hell, they would be demanding to do something about the kids if it wasn¡¯t for the fact it would piss the rest of us off! So don¡¯t worry about it, just don¡¯t get caught here alone and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Fair enough I guess. Not like I was planning on coming here again without a damn good reason after what they pulled. ¡°So what does Urahara need?¡± I asked. ¡°Well he got absorbed in a project of yours but he has no idea how to make the final bits of it. The only place left to give us an idea what to do is your journals and we definitely don¡¯t want him digging through more of them. So yeah, drop by the lab when you have a sec.¡± Wait a second. I narrowed my eyes at her. ¡°When you say more of my journals, are you saying Urahara took one of my notebooks?¡± Yoruichi¡¯s spine suddenly straightened up and she started acting a bit shifty. ¡°What? No. Of course not!¡± She deflected. ¡°Ohheythegate¡¯sopenI¡¯llmeetyouontheotherside.¡± And she ran off in a flash. ¡°Yoruichi?¡± ¡°Yoruichi!¡± ¡°Get back here you damn cat! What were you idiots doing with my notes!¡± Spirit 4.1 I stared blankly at the gleaming metal construct in front of me. When I first realised I would need some kind of ship to break out of the local multiverse I had jotted down several designs based on the information in my Archive that I only the barest comprehension of. Perhaps because of the fantastical situation I found myself in, I had used fictional ships I was fond of as the base for many of the designs. For example the life sized, slightly modified recreation of a YT-1300 Light Freighter. ¡­ I won¡¯t apologize for being a nerd. ¡­ ¡°Are you going to spend all night down here?¡± ¡°Is Urahara still sulking in a corner?¡± ¡°You did trash a lab and spent three hours trying to castrate him.¡± Yoruichi said with a sigh, though she didn¡¯t fool me since the look in her eye told me she was definitely amused by the situation. ¡°You can¡¯t be that mad he went through your notebook.¡± ¡°I can be petty if I want too.¡± I retorted. ¡°And don¡¯t think you¡¯re off the hook just because you showed me where this was. I¡¯m blaming you too.¡± I didn¡¯t miss Yoruichi¡¯s small tsk. ¡°So any plans now that Aizen is out in the open?¡± She tried changing the subject. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me just running off.¡± I reassured her. ¡°Even with Urahara somehow getting a mostly working product out of my notes this thing isn¡¯t really operational.¡± Urahara had done a fantastic job actually. The only components he hadn¡¯t been able to complete were the weapons system, the AI core, and the drive system. All because those systems had been designed with magitech as the base. Which also ¡®coincidentally¡¯ meant I couldn¡¯t just take the ship and run off either. ¡°I¡¯ll hang around until I can get everything completely working.¡± I continued. ¡°And as a thanks for shaving years off getting even this far I¡¯ll help with the Aizen thing as well.¡± Yoruichi nodded. It wasn¡¯t something any of us ever said, but we all knew I would leave eventually and was only hanging around as long as I was due to a personal feeling of debt towards the shopkeeper. I could help out until the crisis was over. ¡°How are the kids taking the arrival of the Arrancar?¡± I asked. After my brief rampage punishing Urahara for digging through my stuff, I was told about the arrival of two Arrancar, Hollows who had removed their masks to gain more power, had shown up at a local park two days ago and killed a lot of people. Chad and Orihime had almost been among them and Ichigo had been wounded as well. Yoruichi and Urahara managed to drive them off in the end, but it wasn¡¯t a victory so much as a strategic withdrawal by the Arrancar accomplished their goal. ¡°They¡¯re taking it hard.¡± Yoruichi admitted, unconsciously clenching and unclenching a fist. ¡°Those two walked all over them and they got hurt pretty bad.¡± ¡°And you two?¡± Yoruichi raised her left hand and clenched it tightly. ¡°Uninjured for the most part.¡± She said. ¡°I got the worst of it from spiritual backlash. We probably would¡¯ve beaten them if they stuck around but the kids would¡¯ve paid the price for it.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll stop by and see what I can do to heal them. Anything else I should know?¡± ¡°Nah, that should be it for now. See ya!¡± With one last parting wave Yoruichi ran off to do...something I¡¯m sure. While I took one last look at my new ship and went to gather some medical supplies. -o- Some time later I was standing outside Orihime¡¯s apartment waiting for her to answer the door. I had stopped by Chad¡¯s place earlier and did what I could but it would take more than a few sessions to get him healed after his right arm had basically been torn off. Thankfully Urahara had managed to administer some first aid quickly enough that there shouldn¡¯t be any lingering issues. And that was after Orihime had healed him herself. Speaking of, I banged on the door a few more times. She was taking a long time to answer. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A minute later the door was opened by a heavily bandaged Orihime, who looked pretty surprised to see me. ¡°Miss Alexandria! What are you doing here?¡± She said with a cheerful smile. Too bad it did nothing for the general air of melancholy she had surrounding her. ¡°I just got back from the Soul Society and I heard about your fight.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± and the smile vanished. ¡°Yeah, oh.¡± I gave her a wan smile of my own. ¡°Do you mind if I come in? I figured I could help speed up your recovery.¡± ¡°Ah, sure, I don¡¯t mind!¡± She quickly said. ¡°But shouldn¡¯t you go visit Sado-kun first? He was really hurt and I only got a few injuries, and they don¡¯t even hurt that much so it¡¯d be fine if you-¡± ¡°That''s enough, Orihime.¡± I raised a hand and cut off the orange haired girl¡¯s rambling. ¡°I just came from his house. He¡¯ll be fine. And I¡¯m going to Ichigo¡¯s place after this so don¡¯t worry about that either.¡± Orihime dutifully closed her mouth, probably about to suggest that I go there instead. I waited a few seconds. ¡°So do you mind if I come in?¡± ¡°Oh! Uh, sure, please come in.¡± She finally moved out of the doorway and I made my way inside. Compared to Chad¡¯s injuries, Orihime¡¯s were pretty simple. Her left arm had a pretty nasty break and there were some minor skull fractures around her left eye, but that was the worst of the damage. I think it said something about myself that I was starting to think of anything short of impalement or dismemberment as ¡®simple¡¯ injuries. Probably not good things actually. I should probably do something about that. ¡°There, not completely fixed but you should be fine just to keep everything lightly bound for a few more days.¡± I said as the golden spell circle faded from under my palm. ¡°If anything feels off feel free to stop by Urahara¡¯s and I¡¯ll take a look.¡± I waited until Orihime nodded before continuing. ¡°Now that I¡¯m done playing doctor, how are you feeling?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Her eyes widened in surprise. I gave her a very unimpressed look. ¡°Orihime, you saw dozens of people die and your friends nearly lose their own lifes. That doesn¡¯t even cover that you almost died as well.¡± I pointed out. ¡°It couldn¡¯t have been easy for you.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine, really!¡± She hastily denied, waving her hands in front of her. ¡°I mean it was really scary but Sado-kun Kurosaki-kun were the ones who actually fought. I was too weak to actually do anything. In fact I probably got in the way more than I helped, ha ha.¡± I sighed at her attempt to laugh the whole thing off. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call yourself weak, Orihime. You went up against two beings that the Captains of Soul Society would struggle against. Captains that have been training and growing stronger for multiple of your lifetimes.¡± ¡°But I couldn¡¯t do anything!¡± Oh damn, Orihime was starting to tear up. ¡°All I could do was wait for people to protect me! Even when I decided I wouldn¡¯t rely on Kurosaki-kun I couldn¡¯t do anything!¡± Tears were falling down her face as her cheerful mask finally started to break. ¡°And then, when Kurosaki-kun saved me, I felt frightened by him. His Reiatsu was so rough and dark.¡± I did the only thing I could think of and pulled the shorter girl into a hug. It took several minutes for her to calm down. Not that I blamed her. Like I said, she had been through a very stressful situation and then had to deal with her feelings about it alone. She wasn¡¯t the stoic statue that Chad seemed to be at times and she didn¡¯t have the supportive home environment Ichigo did. She was simply a sixteen year old girl thrust into something beyond her control. Once she recovered a bit from her emotional outburst Orihime seemed...not happier, but more content perhaps? I resolved to check in on her more in the future even as she practically pushed me out the door to go check on Ichigo. I felt awkward leaving her so soon after everything, but if she wanted to be left alone I would respect her boundaries for the moment. Something I wasn¡¯t doing for a certain substitute Soul Reaper as I found myself knocking at the door of the Kurosaki Clinic. ¡°Hello! How can I help you?¡± One of Ichigo¡¯s sisters brightly greeted me, Yuzu I think? ¡°Hello, I¡¯m looking for your brother. Is he in?¡± I returned her smile. ¡°Yes he is. Hey Ichigo, you have a visitor!¡± Ichigo arrived at the door soon after, ¡°Alexandria? What are you doing here?¡± I gave Ichigo a good once over. He had some minor injuries, Kon had apparently ran into an incomplete Arrancar and gotten hurt according to Urahara, but the biggest thing wrong was the look in his eyes. Like he was waiting for something to drop on him at any time and he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with it. All in all, he needed a therapist over a healer. I probably wasn¡¯t the best person to pick up that role but I was also probably the best he was gonna get. ¡°Checking up on everyone after the park incident.¡± I replied. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go somewhere more private.¡± I certainly didn¡¯t miss both Ichigo¡¯s dad and sister peeking around a corner watching us. Ichigo scowled at me, ¡°Look, thanks for checking up on me but- Hey! Let go!¡± ¡°But nothing. Let¡¯s go.¡± I grabbed him by his collar and dragged him along, only pausing to give the two hiding a wave goodbye. I only released him when we reached a nearby park. A different one than where the Arrancar showed up. Now that I think about it Karakura has a lot of those, huh? ¡°Alright, we¡¯re here. What¡¯s so important that we had to come all the way out here?¡± Ichigo complained. ¡°Part of it was going around and speeding up the recovery times for all of you that were caught up in the Arrancar attack. But after what happened with Orihime, I figured you might need someone to talk to about it.¡± I said. ¡°Arrancar? What¡¯s that?¡± That brought me up short. ¡°The things you fought in the park?¡± I tried. ¡°Didn¡¯t Urahara explain this to you?¡± Urahara was normally the information source about all the things Ichigo ran into. I was surprised he hadn¡¯t taken the chance to explain already, but the chance might have slipped by due to the injuries of the others. ¡°No, I just went home after everyone got treated. What the hell are Arrancar? And why did they attack us?!¡± Ichigo growled at the end, getting more irritated the longer he talked. Well it was better than him moping like earlier. ¡°Arrancar are Hollows that have removed their mask and sealed it to gain powers similar to a Soul Reaper. Doing so makes them many times stronger than they were in the initial hollow form.¡± I explained. ¡°They lose some of their traits as Hollows in exchange but they can recover them by releasing their Zanpakuto similar to a shikai.¡± ¡°The powers of a Hollow and a Shinigami?¡± Ichigo questioned. So they¡¯re like¡­¡± He trailed off, clearly thinking about something. ¡°Like you and Shinji Hirako?¡± I continued for him, much to his surprise. ¡°No, quite the opposite really.¡± ¡°You know about him?¡± ¡°A bit,¡± I admitted. ¡°Urahara keeps tabs on his group every now and then.¡± ¡°Urahara knows about the Visored? Does that mean he can help me get rid of my inner Hollow?¡± Ichigo asked hopefully. I wasted no time in crushing that thought. ¡°Nope. There is no way of removing an inner Hollow once it¡¯s reached the strength yours has.¡± The fire in Ichigo¡¯s eyes went out at that and returned to the fear filled look of dread he had earlier. ¡°So it¡¯s just going to keep screwing with me until it takes over?¡± I sighed and smacked him in the back of the head. ¡°Ow! What the hell?!¡± ¡°First off, quit it with the mopey look. Second, it isn¡¯t ¡®screwing with you¡¯, as you put it. Your inner Hollow is just that. A mental representation of your Hollow powers.¡± ¡°Then why does it keep trying to get me killed when I fight?¡± Ichigo cried. ¡°Because you keep rejecting it.¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°Because if I don¡¯t it¡¯s going to take over my body!¡± I smacked him again. ¡°Dammit, quit hitting me!¡± I gave him a very serious look. ¡°Look Ichigo, you seem to think your Hollow powers are somehow separate from you. They aren¡¯t. They are exactly as inborn as your Soul Reaper powers only you need to take the reverse approach to harnessing them.¡± Ichigo glared back. At least he stopped moping again. ¡°What do you mean the reverse approach?¡± ¡°Do you remember when you first started to work together with Zangetsu? How you acknowledged him as a partner to get the most out of your Shikai?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­¡± ¡°And then to gain your Bankai, you needed to force Zangetsu to submit to you, while still acknowledging him as a partner?¡± I continued as if I hadn¡¯t heard him. ¡°I mean, I just fought until I beat him¡­¡± ¡°Well with your Inner Hollow you need to do the reverse. Force him to submit to you, but don¡¯t reject him then get him to work as an equal partner.¡± Ichigo was silent as he absorbed this new information. Then he violently shook his head back and forth. ¡°No way, there is no way I can trust that.¡± He said resolutely. I just sighed again. Well, I guess it should be expected he would be a stubborn ass about this. Hopefully this gave him a hint to get over his issues earlier though. ¡°Ignore me if you want, just remember that no matter how strong the Hollow seems he is still part of your power. Now sit still. I can¡¯t get rid of all your injuries without people asking questions, but I can cut down on how bad they are.¡± Spirit 4.2 It had been a couple days since I had gone to visit Ichigo and his friends and I was enjoying the lack of action for once. There was no secret plan I was racing to foil, no wandering into a mad scientist¡¯s lab (unless I needed Urahara for something), and no backstabbing nobles trying to flex their personal power. It meant I was enjoying the peace of manning the front desk of the candy shop and working on my personal projects when I wasn¡¯t dealing with the occasional customer. It was probably the most relaxed I had been since Rukia was taken back to the Soul Society. ¡°Ninety-nine little bugs in the code~¡± I sang softly as my hands flew over a keyboard. ¡°Ninety-nine little bugs~¡± ¡°Take one down, patch it around~¡± I pressed the compile button on the latest base code for my AI project. I was finally in a place with my initial notes. I was confident I would have a working version soon. ¡°Two hundred ten little bugs in the code.¡± I finished flatly as something went wrong with that last change. ¡°FUCK!¡± I resisted the urge to throw the keyboard across the room. ¡°Screw up again, crazy lady?¡± Jinta taunted from where he was sweeping the floor. ¡°You won¡¯t ever get a boyfriend if that''s how you behave!¡± He quickly ducked under the random candy bar I threw at him in retaliation. ¡°I don¡¯t need you worrying about my love life, brat! Get back to cleaning!¡± The door opened with a ring of a bell and I turned to greet the new arrivals. ¡°Welcome to the Urahara Candy Shop! How can we¡­¡± I trailed off when I actually saw who walked through the door. At this point I would have been wary of meeting a pair of Soul Reapers without prior warning. Meeting six all at once? I was very suddenly on edge. ¡°...help you.¡± I finished cooly. ¡°Hi Cross-chan!¡± an exuberant Rangiku greeted as they all filtered into the shop. Both her and her captain walked up to me while Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika spread out around the shop and started poking around the merchandise. ¡°Rangiku, Toshiro.¡± I returned the greeting. ¡°It¡¯s Captain Hitsugaya.¡± the silver haired child in front of me snapped. ¡°Not a Soul Reaper, don¡¯t care.¡± I waved off his complaint. ¡°What can our humble shop do for such a large group of officers?¡± ¡°We came to pla-¡± ¡°We were sent as reinforcements to deal with the Arrancar.¡± Toshiro spoke over his irresponsible lieutenant. ¡°We were told we could acquire a gigai here.¡± ¡°Whhhy yes you may!¡± Urahara sang as he appeared from the back of the shop. ¡°We provide only the best services in town.¡± he said happily before lowering his little hand fan with a smirk. ¡°For a price naturally.¡± I left those three to work out whatever business needed to be taken care of and made my way over to Rukia and Renji. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Hello you two. Rukia, you seem to be doing much better than the last time I saw you.¡± Not exactly hard since the last time I saw Rukia was when she was being prepared for an execution. ¡°Ah, hello Cross-san.¡± she replied. ¡°I never got to thank you for coming to save me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, and call me Alex. I suppose you¡¯re here because of what happened to Ichigo?¡± ¡°We heard he was there during the attack but not much else. Is he alright?¡± ¡°Physically he¡¯s fine. Just a little scraped up.¡± I hedged. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°So this is the last ryoka? The one that fought two captains at once?¡± ¡°Hoh? Her face is wonderful, but those clothes are truly unbeautiful.¡± We were joined by Ikkaku and Yumichika. The latter¡¯s comment made me self consciously look at my clothes. It was just a t-shirt with the shop logo and a pair of jeans. It wasn¡¯t exactly fashionable, but it didn¡¯t look that bad on me, did it? ¡°Um, yes? The third and fifth seats from squad eleven, right?¡± I said awkwardly. ¡°Nice to meet you I guess.¡± ¡°Forget about that,¡± Ikkaku said bruskly. ¡°You¡¯re pretty strong, right? Fight me.¡± ¡°Hey Ikkaku! We agreed I get to go first!¡± Yumichika protested. ¡°I changed my mind!¡± ¡°Quit it you two, we¡¯re here for an important mission. Not to play around.¡± Renji decided to get involved, and then proceeded to get dragged into an argument with the two squad eleven members. I took advantage of the distraction to slip off to the side and avoid dealing with the three Soul Reapers. ¡°Well, at least they seem energetic.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but comment as I watched three top ranked Soul Reapers bicker over whether demanding a spar while on a mission was acceptable. ¡°It would be nice if they were more professional about it.¡± Rukia agreed, as she joined me to get a bit further from the noise. ¡°Like a certain Soul Reaper who forgot to fill out her extended patrol paperwork?¡± I said, still a little bitter about the Onmitsukid¨­ scare because she forgot. Rukia immediately blushed at the reminder. ¡°Ah...that was...you see¡­¡± As she stumbled over herself trying to give a valid excuse I felt the last bit of wariness fall away. The Court Guard Squads as a whole could go straight to hell as far as I cared. But watching the chaos unfolding in front of me caused by characters I had watched dozens of times across a screen reminded me that the people in that uncaring organization were mostly alright. Of course I was also reminded they could be rather rough on the surroundings. ¡°Hey! No fighting in the shop!¡± -o- It wasn¡¯t often that Squad Two gathered for a mission briefing. Due to the secretive nature of most of the assignments that were assigned to them were handed out directly to the team or operative responsible by one of the seated officers. Even with the upcoming conflict with Aizen ready to break out at any moment that had not changed. Natsumi Hanakage waited patiently as the last group of the squad filtered out after receiving their assignments. Once they had she stood from the low table she was kneeling behind and made her way to the Captain''s office. After a soft knock on the frame, she opened the door and stepped inside to see Captain Soi-fon behind her desk working diligently. ¡°Third Seat.¡± her Captain greeted. ¡°I take it all the tasks are handed out.¡± ¡°Yes Captain. Though I noticed I was not assigned anything. Was there a reason for that?¡± Normally it would not bother her, after all there were plenty of reasons a high ranking officer wouldn¡¯t be needed on an assignment. But after her poor showing with the Ryoka invasion and the following failures with the Kanou situation, Natsumi was hoping to be given a straight forward mission just to reassure herself she wasn¡¯t a disgrace to her rank. Captain Soi-fon sighed and set aside the paperwork she was working on. ¡°There was. I have a personal mission for you.¡± she said gravely. ¡°One that must be kept secret for several reasons.¡± If Natsumi had been told this a few weeks ago she would have felt pride at her captain¡¯s trust in her. Now she could only feel uncertain she would be worthy of that trust. ¡°Is that wise? It shames me to say, but I have not performed to the standards you expect of an officer.¡± Captain Soi-fon raised an eyebrow. ¡°How so? I¡¯m not aware of any incidents where you failed my expectations.¡± ¡°You do not need to spare my feelings.¡± Natsumi denied. ¡°I am aware I failed to apprehend Alexandria Cross during their invasion of the Seireitei.¡± ¡°Yes, and she went on to dominate the squad five lieutenant, best you in a rematch, and hold her own against two captain class combatants at once.¡± Her captain replied, catching on to her train of thought. ¡°I won¡¯t say you are wrong to think like that, but Cross managed to hide her strength so thoroughly that even the Captains do not know exactly how powerful she is.¡± Natsumi nodded in acknowledgement of that fact. Even if she felt responsible for her failure it was true that no one quite knew what the strange woman was capable of. ¡°There was also the situation with her poisoning.¡± she forged on. ¡°I ignored the possibility it was not openly condoned by the Gotei 13. If I had not rushed to confirm it was the same one we had used before the Captain-commander could have disavowed our involvement and we wouldn¡¯t have worsened our relationship with her group.¡± If she had given an excuse or even just blamed Kanou for Alexandria¡¯s condition the whole mess might have been either delayed or prevented entirely. But Natsumi¡¯s haste to resolve the immediate issue had caused even more problems in the end. ¡°Yes, the poisoning situation.¡± Captain Soi-fon said darkly. ¡°That is an excellent segue into your new assignment.¡± Natsumi recoiled a bit at her captain¡¯s tone. It must be especially vexing for her that the hidden machinations of the Gotei were revealed because of her own subordinate. ¡°Despite what we have told the other seated officers for the sake of unity and our actions regarding Cross, Captain-commander Yamamoto is absolutely furious about the nobles playing games while we are on the brink of the greatest conflict in the last one hundred years.¡± A tiny spark of hope kindled in Natsumi¡¯s chest. Could it be that she didn¡¯t mess up a secret maneuver after all? ¡°Someone is using the current situation to their advantage and the Captain-commander has decided they have overreached.¡± Captain Soi-fon continued. ¡°You are going to find out exactly who is pulling the threads behind that illegal order, what they plan to accomplish, and no matter who they are, ensure they will not cause the Gotei 13 any more issues.¡± At the hard tone of her captain¡¯s order, Natsumi snapped to attention. ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am!¡± ¡°Good. Dismissed.¡± Spirit 4.3 ¡°We not going to step in?¡± I asked as powerful Reiatsu signals appeared throughout the town. The Soul Reapers had scattered throughout the city after making contact with Ichigo. It seemed that Orihime¡¯s apartment had been opened to the two squad ten members and Rukia had managed to shack up with Ichigo again. I had no idea where the squad eleven members had wandered off to, but Renji had been camped out in front of the shop before now. I had been a little nervous about the idea of a Lieutenant keeping an eye on us constantly but Urahara didn¡¯t seem bothered in the least so I withheld my objections. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise the Soul Reapers split up. The presences had split to match them as well. If they were targeting the Soul Reapers then all of them being in one place would have caused an insane amount of damage to the surroundings. It was the whole reason Urahara was working on a way to clear out the town for the expected final battle. Of course they seemed to be getting their asses handed to them and we weren¡¯t in the best place to just drop everything and assist. ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± Urahara said shortly, not even taking his eyes off the massive pillar in front of him. ¡°If we don¡¯t synchronize the pylons now we are going to have to start over entirely. That would set us back a month at least.¡± Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai were standing in a perfect triangle applying Kido seals to the pillar in a strict order while Ururu and I had assisted them by either writing out the next seal needed or handing the completed seals to the next person to chant them. I couldn¡¯t use the seals but writing them could be done by anyone. ¡°If they can¡¯t hold them back we might be interrupted.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Jinta is keeping an eye on it. And Ururu just went to take a look. It should be fine.¡± What?! Sure enough the small girl had disappeared from the training ground we were using for the synchronization. I didn¡¯t even notice her leave. ¡°I¡¯m going then.¡± I didn¡¯t get a response. Urahara was busy with the next chant. It didn¡¯t matter though. I had finished the preparations for the ritual, the rest was up to the other three. I had two kids to check up on. Without another word I sped out of the basement and up to the roof, only slowing down to stop next to Jinta who was looking at the sky with a concerned expression. The scene I arrived at was a little surreal. Renji had seen better days. He was bleeding from several places and his bankai was coiled protectively around him. Not too surprising actually, but his opponent was in an interesting position. The blond Arrancar, one of the most powerful entities in Aizen¡¯s army and the one who had dominated a Lieutenant for the past few minutes, was currently being choked out by an eleven year old girl. Not only that, he was also bleeding heavily from the left side of his face. I was relieved I made it before she got hurt. There was an ear-popping boom as Ururu damn near took the Arrancar¡¯s head off with a monstrous left hook. ¡°FUUUUCCCKKKKKK!!¡± The Arrancar now had blood pouring from both sides of his face and angrily swiped his katana at Ururu. The girl easily avoided the haphazard attack and retreated a few steps back, standing midair for the moment. ¡°Shit...shit...I¡¯ll kill you¡­¡± the Arrancar seethed. Apparently he had lost his cool after being thrashed by a middle schooler. I should probably step in now. ¡°...I¡¯ll fucking murder you! Charge and Crush: DEL TORO¡± There was a massive explosion of smoke that covered the area around the Arrancar. The only detail that could be made out was a long ivory horn that speared through the space where Ururu stood. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°You have ¡®what the hell is that?¡¯ written all over your face.¡± the Arrancar said to Renji, apparently calm again now that he had released his sword. The smoke dissipated to reveal his new form. The upper half of his body had swelled in size and was covered in heavy plates of the bone white material that made up Hollow masks, his arms now long enough to reach his feet even while standing. His mask had changed from just a fragment to a large skull resembling the head of a bull. Fitting considering the name of his release. ¡°This is how we Arrancar release our Zanpakutou, brother.¡± ¡­ that was an interesting verbal tic. ¡°It makes you a bigger target?¡± I replied innocently a few feet away. I carefully handed an unconscious Ururu to Jinta, who had followed after me. ¡°...what?¡± I couldn¡¯t blame the Arrancar for being surprised. Instead of impaling Ururu with a surprise attack and taunting Renji with the result, I had snatched her out of the way and now stood midair on a glowing yellow spell circle, symbols rotating lazily inside the outer ring. ¡°Your transformation, it makes you a larger target.¡± I deliberately misinterpreted him. ¡°And it makes you dangerous to be around children. You should be more careful.¡± ¡°A red and black uniform¡­ you aren¡¯t a shinigami. Who are you?¡± ¡­ had Aizen not informed the Arrancar of me? I felt strangely offended at the thought. I could understand not going over every single Soul Reaper, there were a lot of them, and aside from Ichigo the humans wouldn¡¯t pose much threat to them just yet. But I had fought both him and Gin at the same time, however briefly¡­ ¡°Cross! Get the kids out of here!¡± Renji at least seemed to have his priorities straight. With a small wave I motioned for Jinta to hide behind Renji for the moment. Miraculously, he went without a word. Though it probably had a lot to do with his unconscious friend in his arms. ¡°Apparently not important enough for you to be warned about.¡± I replied to the Arrancar and mostly ignored Renji. ¡°But that''s fine. Just blame Aizen for what''s about to happen.¡± My body is made of stars. Unquenchable is my spirit. Unconquerable is my soul. Mana flooded my body as I pulled deeply from my reserves. Once again a ridiculously long Japanese blade formed in my hand. Unlike the first time I manifested this blade, it wasn¡¯t a struggle to keep it materialised. Instead MonohoshiZao seemed almost eager. ¡°Captain¡­ Renji¡­ The limit release has been approved!¡± Rangiku¡¯s voice rang out suddenly. I looked at Renji to see a determined light in his eye and figured I should end this soon. He was on his last legs by the look of it. ¡°Don¡¯t bother Renji.¡± I told him. ¡°This won¡¯t take long.¡± ¡°For someone not important, you sure seem arrogant.¡± The Arrancar said, amused. ¡°I wonder how long¡­¡± The bull-like Hollow kept talking but I stopped listening. Instead I focused on my blade and brought it to rest near my cheek. Aizen stopped me from actually managing to use this against him and oddly enough it felt like an insult that I had not used this technique against anyone else. Something I was going to correct in a moment. Power flowed into my limbs, the world sharpened and slowed down, and with a powerful kick I launched myself forward... Hiken: Tsubame Gaeshi! ¡­ and came to a stop a few steps past the Hollow. No one moved for a moment, the others probably shocked at the lack of any visible results to my attack, me because my legs ached from the sudden strain. One day I would get used to high speed movement. Maybe not today, but someday. The Arrancar was the first to move, ¡°Wha..¡± and then promptly stopped when three massive gashes burst across his chest simultaneously. Shortly after I heard one of the other Arrancar shout for a retreat. A call that came too late given that the presence of all the nearby Arrancar suddenly vanished. I guess that was the end of that then. I turned to see Renji had collapsed on the street. While his wounds weren¡¯t life threatening it was obvious that had the fight gone on any longer he would¡¯ve been in trouble if the fight had gone on longer. ¡°Are you okay there?¡± I asked, landing a little ways off. ¡°Give me a second and I¡¯ll get you patched up.¡± He brushed my hand aside, ¡°No time for that¡­ what about Ichigo?¡± Oh shit, what about Ichigo? I couldn¡¯t feel anymore battles going on, but as I had firmly established my sensor abilities were shit. And just because an enemy wasn¡¯t hanging around didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t bleeding out somewhere. Without another word the two of us ran off towards the place Renji last sensed Ichigo fighting. -o- The two of us found Ichigo in relatively decent shape, blood dripping from his head excluded. Emotionally he was probably a mess considering the listless way he was staring into the sky. ¡°Did he¡­ leave?¡± Excellent opener Renji. That wouldn¡¯t be a blow to the ego, not at all. ¡°Did you lose?¡± Christ, how about you just don¡¯t talk anymore. Ichigo stayed silent as I checked him over for wounds. He actually was better off than Renji despite fighting longer. ¡°I lost.¡± Ichigo said hollowly. ¡°I can¡¯t protect the people I want to protect. The people who were injured¡­ I can¡¯t even heal them. I lost.¡± Nope, not listening to this anymore. I seized the idiot by the front of his shirt and practically held him off the ground. ¡°So what? That''s it? You lose another fight and it¡¯s the end of the world?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t get it. I¡¯m not strong enough.¡± Ichigo said dispassionately. ¡°And thanks to that guy I can¡¯t even get stronger without him fighting me.¡± I wished I hadn¡¯t killed that Arrancar so quickly. Ichigo was certainly doing a good job of making me want to kill something and I was out of acceptable targets. ¡°I told you how to deal with that already, dumbass! You don¡¯t need to suppress your inner hollow, you need to control it and accept it!¡± Ichigo said nothing and the look in his eye told me he didn¡¯t believe me. I snorted in disgust at his hard headed attitude and threw him to the side. He stumbled a bit but recovered quickly enough. ¡°Fine, if you are going to ignore me I won¡¯t bother anymore. Let¡¯s go check on the others.¡± Luckily we really needn¡¯t have bothered. The others had gathered the injured and brought them over to Orihime in short order so everyone would be completely fine in no time at all. Well everyone except for the squad eleven members. No idea where they ended up but Toshiro didn¡¯t seem concerned. So I was comfortable guessing that nothing had changed too much and they were alive somewhere. Ichigo was still moping around and for that reason I was avoiding him like the plague. I made sure no one needed my help for something and excused myself. If the Soul Reapers wanted an accounting of my battle, they could simply ask Renji. I was going to check up on the kids, make sure they were okay, and then see if Yoruichi was free for a spar. I needed to blow off some steam. The next day we found out Ichigo went missing overnight. Spirit 4.4 A complex looking piece of machinery dropped into place with a loud bang and I held back a curse while I simultaneously ran a diagnostic on it and looked it over with a structural analysis spell. To my relief nothing on the hyper-durable computer core designed to handle dimensional flux and ship-to-ship combat had been damaged by the few inch fall. I blinked as my tired mind caught up to what I had just thought. I blamed the ridiculous work schedule Urahara set. The entire shop crew, kids included, had been pulling near 15-hour days minimum constantly trying to get everything ready for the upcoming war. It was a good thing that we were managing to advance the project so quickly too. There had been several interruptions by some of Aizen¡¯s pet Arrancar that were thankfully turned away without needing my help. Although I did need to spend a little time healing Urahara after one of the attacks. Even with the full support of the Soul Society¡¯s second division, we were barely keeping ahead of our estimated time for when Aizen would launch his final attack. If we were delayed¡­ Well let¡¯s just say I was very impressed Urahara managed to do this in the original timeline without the use of some of my restorative spells. He must have either had some sort of stimulant he was hiding from me or he just replaced his blood with coffee to get it done. I finished securing the core to it¡¯s mounts and left the ship. If I was making basic mistakes like forgetting how durable the things I was working with were, then it was time to take a break. Especially given that I should be resting up for the big final confrontation that was sure to take place any day now. After Ichigo had decided to spurn my advice and blunder on in his own pig-headed manner, I stopped paying much attention to him and his friends. Not for spiteful reasons, but simply because I doubled down on getting my own stuff working and a lack of things to teach. Similarly to when we were preparing to head to the Soul Society that first time I couldn¡¯t really do any meaningful training to help out the humans in the group. Uryu was busy regaining his quincy abilities, Orihime needed someone more on her level to begin working out a fighting style that worked for her, and Chad needed to fully control his own abilities. In a pinch I might¡¯ve been able to help the last two, but Orihime never asked me and Chad found a much better partner in Renji since the added pressure of his Reiatsu would stimulate Chad¡¯s own growth. I had resolved to keep an eye on Orihime since I knew at one point Ulquiorra was supposed to kidnap her but it became harder as more of my time was taken up with my other projects and responsibilities. Soon, daily checks became weekly, and then they became just when I found time. It got so bad that by the time I noticed, she had already been captured and written off by the Soul Reapers. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Ichigo and his friends had already left to retrieve her. I stayed because there was simply no point in going to Hueco Mundo with them. Aizen would come to the World of the Living and I had a trump card to try against him. ¡°Done for the day, Alexandria?¡± Yoruichi asked when I walked outside my lab. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m as far as I can get before the final confrontation. No point losing sleep at this point. I only have the drive system left to go then the ship is fully operational.¡± ¡°And then you¡¯ll be leaving us.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. ¡°Yeah, I know Urahara has been looking into it in his spare time -what little there is- but whatever is going on with my soul unraveling is beyond what he can handle. I¡¯m going to need to find somewhere else if I want help with that.¡± I cracked my neck and stretched out a bit. ¡°I figured out how to leave a marker though. I can¡¯t guarantee how long I¡¯ll be gone once we finish up with Aizen and his whole mess, but I¡¯ll be able to come visit once I¡¯m fixed.¡± Yoruichi smiled. ¡°So confident we¡¯re going to win, hmm? You know something I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Quite a bit by now, unless you got a degree in dimensional mechanics when I wasn¡¯t looking¡± I snarked. ¡°But honestly, it¡¯s win or lose now and I prefer to be optimistic about our chances.¡± ¡°Not going to hang around for a victory party then?¡± ¡°You just want to see me drunk again.¡± I joked. I had delved into some sake bottles after a particularly stressful day. Turns out, while it takes a lot of alcohol to get me drunk, once I¡¯m there I lose any semblance of balance. ¡°But no.¡± I said, growing more serious. ¡°This is just the last straw with Soul Society. Soi Fon passed a message back to us about the investigation into the Nobles. It¡¯s getting bad and the only reason they haven¡¯t ordered a few captains to capture me so they can figure out how the Zanpakuto copying works is because they alienate you all if they do it. Once that¡¯s passed, they simply won¡¯t care.¡± Yoruichi nodded. ¡°I figured. Rest well. No telling when Aizen is going to start things off.¡± ¡°Take your own advice. I know you haven¡¯t gotten much rest either.¡± The assassin just flipped me off as she walked away. It made me laugh and that was enough for now. Now then, I had an important meeting with my bed. -o- A couple days later I was spending some downtime reading a book for the first time in weeks. Reading used to be one of my favorite hobbies, but between trying to learn everything I could from the Archive, building up my tech base, and practicing my abilities, -even excluding all the stuff Urahara had me doing- I simply didn¡¯t have time for it. I was trying to recapture some of that enjoyment while waiting for the final battle to start but it wasn¡¯t working as well as I¡¯d hoped. Even sitting still, I was filled with a kind of nervous energy that refused to settle down. The anticipation was completely preventing me from enjoying the book I had picked out. Eventually I gave up and shut it with a sigh. It wasn¡¯t even that good. The plot was generic and uninspired and the big twist was obvious from a mile off. It was okay enough for wasting time, but I simply couldn¡¯t get drawn into the story. I wandered around the shop for a while, not really paying attention to what I was doing. Was I really so used to frantically training that I couldn¡¯t relaxy anymore? I needed to get more hobbies. My introspection was cut off by the arrival of Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Tessai. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± Urahara said seriously. ¡°We¡¯re activating the Tenkai Kecchuu.¡± ¡°Oh good. And I was just getting bored too.¡± If my smile was a little shaky, no one pointed it out. Spirit 4.5 I glared at Urahara. He ignored me. I glared harder. On the screen in front of us another battle played out between the Soul Reapers and Aizen¡¯s forces. Both of which were quickly being slimmed out by the battles. The Soul Reapers were winning, but most of the time winning simply meant the Hollow died and the Soul Reaper was too injured to move. If Urahara had let even just me go out as support several of those duels could¡¯ve been handled quicker, but no, he had a plan. That plan seemed to be; bleed Aizen¡¯s forces as much as possible and dogpile him with whatever remained, but he was sacrificing the Captains that would help with that by allowing them to face off with equal level opponents. Even if they won, they were too injured to be more than a slight distraction for someone on Aizen¡¯s level. Which I brought up several times with my nominal boss, to which he replied ¡®The Shinigami demanded we stay out of things as long as possible.¡¯ Then he locked me in a barrier when I tried to ignore that bout of stupidity and join the fight. Oh, I understood their reasoning. It''s just that I found their reasoning stupid. The Soul Reapers were going to handle as much of this mess as possible to placate their nobles, because who cares about the thousands of dead humans if they could prove they were the most powerful faction around. And if they needed help? Well then they would ¡®allow¡¯ our group to give them a hand. Which was dumb because as far as they knew the only people around judging the strength of Soul Society, was Soul Society themselves. I was seriously tempted to break out of the barrier and just join the fight on my own but I held back because while I was planning on ditching this place and it''s annoying noble caste, Kisuke and Yoruichi would have to deal with them in the future. Causing my friends that kind of trouble just to jump into a fight that had practically been decided already, alone, didn¡¯t sit right with me. It wouldn¡¯t stop me from letting Kisuke know exactly what I thought about this plan though. Often and repeatedly. The screen flickered from the scene of a wolf headed captain and a scarred lieutenant standing over the hollowfied fallen form of the former 9th division captain to where Aizen was still standing midair. Aizen¡¯s forces were down to basically himself and Gin at this point. So really just himself, but it also meant that we were finally preparing to move. As the barrier collapsed and we started walking toward the exit I tried one last time to alter the plan. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want me fighting with you? We both know three on one still might not be enough to weaken Aizen enough.¡± Kisuke waved me off. ¡°Nah, no point. Aizen already has us under his zanpakuto¡¯s sway. If we started winning then we might wind up fighting you. Better keep you as the follow up if we need it.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I told you I took care of that already!¡± ¡°You mean you think you did. Besides you¡¯ll just cramp our style. Keep Ichimaru off of us and we¡¯ll handle our part.¡± -o- When we arrived at the battlefield it was obvious Karakura Town had seen...better days. What buildings hadn¡¯t been crushed, burned, or exploded looked like they had been split horizontally by a single attack that had just...cut a line in the city scape. I also noticed Ichigo had made an appearance in the time it took us to get here. He was in the middle of fighting Gin on his own and not doing a terrible job, but he also wasn¡¯t attacking to kill so at best it was a stalemate, at worst he was slowly losing. A fact that was reinforced when Ichigo barely blocked a stab that sent him crashing into a building close to where Aizen was facing off against Isshin Kurosaki, who had shown up at some point. The other captains must have been defeated while we were on our way over. I hung back while the others began confronting Aizen. They were right in that I would get in the way at this stage in the plan. The opening was going to be all Kido attacks and since I couldn¡¯t use them I had no place here. Instead I stayed just far enough that Aizen and Gin shouldn¡¯t pick up on my presence, but also close enough that I could be in front of the silver haired traitor if he tried to interfere at all. Kisuke launched into a truly stunning display of Kido. Restraining Aizen with layered Bakudo spells before firing a fully encanted Hado in the nineties. Overall it did very little damage, in fact it seemed to merely accelerate the rate Aizen was mutating into a new form as he was covered by a white clothlike material, but it did allow Kisuke to place a seal that basically fried Aizen from the inside out using his own power. Aizen exploded in a massive column of light, but once again it wasn''t enough to do any major damage. His new form was now a solid white shell that covered him head to toe, the only color was his purple eyes which matched the Hogyoku¡¯s own color and a black cross that radiated out from where the jewel was embedded in his chest. After Aizen neutralized the Reiatsu seal, by tearing them out of his own wrists, Kisuke moved on to physical combat. He and Isshin attacked almost simultaneously, for all the good it did. Aizen seemed to be having fun with his new level of power as he blocked Isshin¡¯s attack by catching it with his foot while easily catching Kisuke¡¯s sword with his own. Luckily it was a feint rather than a dedicated attack. As Aizen physically overpowered them, both ex-Soul Reapers slipped a thin chain around his limbs, holding him in place long enough for an armor wearing Yoruichi to dive bomb him out of nowhere and punch him hard enough that she kicked up a dust cloud that covered the entire block. Aizen¡¯s retaliation followed shortly after. A beam of destructive energy shot skyward, destroying the armor on Yoruichi¡¯s left leg as she barely dodged out of the way in time. When the dust and smoke cleared, Aizen stood in the middle of a massive crater. While his body language was completely unaffected, he now had massive cracks covering his body from the force of Yoruichi¡¯s attack. It was proof that despite his power Aizen could be hurt by the three surrounding him...if they stopped messing around and actually fought him! I palmed my face with a sigh as Yoruichi taunted Aizen by waving her leg around in the air. And while it did seem to distract her opponent -by confusing him if nothing else- it also seemed to weird out her allies more, going by how Kisuke was leaning away from her and Isshin¡¯s expression. I shifted my attention as Aizen went back on the offensive. While he was undoubtedly the biggest threat here, he wasn¡¯t my objective. And it seemed Gin was about to continue his duel with Ichigo if his stance was an indicator. I could let him and the annoyance fight it out, but Gin was an unpredictable element as far as the overall plan went. He wanted Aizen dead, and that should¡¯ve made him an asset. But he was also obsessive enough about that that he might actually interfere if it looked like someone else was going to do the deed first. Which meant I needed to either keep him busy until the next phase of the plan began or kill him because I knew for a fact Ichigo wouldn¡¯t be able to do that. My chest grew warm as I started slowly drawing in some of the free flowing Reishi Particles in the air. Unlike in the Soul Society, I was able to control the rate I drew them in so I was no longer breaking myself in the process. That wasn¡¯t the only thing I was better at either. I blurred into existence in front of Ichigo with Haste 3.0 and batted Gin¡¯s Shinso to the side with a sweep of an arm. A little amusingly, Ichigo reacted to Gin¡¯s attack but not my arrival and dove to the ground. I gave him an amused glance, which he scowled at, before turning back to Gin. ¡°Hello again, Gin. I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t do that.¡± The only indication the ex-Captain was surprised by my sudden intervention was his raised eyebrows, which he quickly lowered and then smirked at me. ¡°Well now, if it isn¡¯t little miss Cross. I was worried ya didn¡¯t survive our last encounter when we didn¡¯t see ya with the little band that went to rescue the princess.¡± He shifted his sword back so the hilt was cupped in both his hands at chest level and the blade was pointed at me. ¡°But ya know those three probably won¡¯t be enough to beat Aizen-san on their own, hm? Or are you just too weak to assist them?¡± He said with a smirk. ¡°They can handle him for now.¡± My left hand came up to point at him, palm out. ¡°And once everything is ready, then I¡¯ll take care of Aizen.¡± Gin¡¯s smirk dropped. ¡°Hmm, how scary. Ya actually believe that. Let¡¯s see if ya can back it up. Kamishini no Yari: Buto.¡± His Zanpakuto extended so quickly it was essentially a flash of silver...until it was stopped by a deceivingly delicate pinkish shield made of several layered petals. ¡°Rho Aias.¡± I intoned smugly. ¡°I was watching you earlier. You might have the fastest sword around...but that¡¯s useless if it can¡¯t pierce my defenses, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Hmm, is that so?¡± Gin drawled. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you handle this then.¡± Kamishini no Yari: Buto Renjin.¡± Spirit 4.6 If Gin¡¯s last attack could¡¯ve been described as a flash of silver, this one would be a tidal wave of silver light. It crashed into my Rho Aias like a tidal wave and I grunted with the effort it took to keep it from sweeping me off my feet. The first two layers cracked and shattered under the continuous assault but Gin¡¯s attack failed to break the third. Still, I felt the sympathetic pain that came with the first two layers breaking but I had ignored much more painful injuries than that and pushed through it easily. Stupid shield. I mentally complained with gritted teeth. What¡¯s the point in using it if blocking an attack still hurts? It was an idle complaint since I would take a bit of pain over trying to dodge a wide area attack as fast as Gin¡¯s every time. It had been several seconds already and he hadn¡¯t let up. There was no way I could consistently dodge something like this that long. ¡°Hmm, can¡¯t say anything¡¯s stood up to that attack before.¡± Gin purred as he finally stopped his attack. ¡°And you learned some new tricks since we saw you.¡± ¡°I aim to please.¡± He nodded. ¡°Of course the bigger question is-¡± He blurred out of existence and reappeared to my right. ¡°-is if you can keep up with me.¡± I pulled my head back and felt the gust of air where Gin¡¯s sword passed by. Looks like he figured out the easiest way past my shield was to go around it. Unfortunate too. I still didn¡¯t have the control to keep Rho Aias materialised and move at the same time. I did have other tricks though. Three swords materialised in midair, all of them glowing brightly as I overcharged the enchantments on them. It made them wildly unstable, but that was kinda the point wasn¡¯t it? The traced swords launched at Gin like bullets but I wasn¡¯t even considering they had a chance of hitting him directly. The second they were within five feet of the ex-Captain the Trace Bullets exploded in red, blue, and green light. As expected, a shape burst out of the resulting smoke and revealed the slightly burned form of my enemy. I mentally crossed Trace Bullets off the list of finishing attacks for this fight. Those three had been in the upper ranges I had for overcharging without using being either too slow to form or chewing through my mana reserves and they barely put a scratch on him. ¡°So no ya can¡¯t. Isn¡¯t that a shame.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± I really didn¡¯t like his smirk. I let Rho Aias fade away and reached for Kanshou and Bakuya. Gin flash stepped away again but this time I was ready for him. I followed with Haste and reappeared crouched in front of him, swords already coming for an uppercut from below. Gin blocked them before they could slice into his stomach but failed to deflect them from nicking into his shoulder when he misjudged my strength. To his credit, the light wound barely got a wince from him and I needed to bend over backwards to avoid getting stabbed in the face in retaliation. I somersaulted away from Gin and threw my blades at him, immediately tracing another pair and throwing those. As Gin batted those four away from him I traced a third pair and dashed in close. The key to fighting this battle was going to be keeping the ex-captain so busy fending off attacks that he couldn¡¯t snipe at me with his bankai from a distance. The thrown swords circled around from behind, their nature to return to each other prevented them from simply flying off into the distance and making them basically boomerang swords played to my advantage. Anytime Gin tried to line up his sword for a stab I would disrupt the motion by throwing a blade in my hand and catching one of the ones buzzing around us. And if I happened to miss? Well it was simple enough to dissipate that particular blade and trace another one. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. That wasn''t to say Gin was making any of that easy. I was dodging supersonic stab wounds by the barest margin possible. The more we fought the more my outfit acquired tears and cuts and I was bleeding from a few places where I had managed to dodge the initial stab but Gin was able to move his blade to hit me immediately after. I was distracted by a particularly close miss that ended up shearing off a few loose strands of hair rather than stabbing me through the eye but it was enough for Gin to gain a second of reprieve. He pointed a hand straight down at his feet and a red sphere of energy quickly formed. ¡°Shakkaho!¡± I cursed as the shockwave blew me back and I lost Gin in the resulting smoke. I was forced to dismiss the flying copies of Kanshou and Bakuya when they burst through the smoke cloud and hit nothing. ¡°Well now, you certainly are much stronger than the last time we fought.¡± I snapped to see Gin standing on a pile of rubble. ¡°In fact you clearly managed to get stronger than the kid over there.¡± He said pointing at a gobsmacked Ichigo who was still standing around here for some reason. Go help someone if you weren¡¯t going to fight! ¡°I think you''re mistaken.¡± I said as I traced my bow and strung an arrow. ¡°I¡¯ve always been stronger than him.¡± ¡°Oh, that so?¡± Gin gave Ichigo a searching look before making an expression like he had come to a decision. ¡°Well in that case why don¡¯t ya just run off.¡± He told Ichigo. What? ¡°What?¡± My thoughts were echoed by Ichigo. ¡°Sure, why not? He¡¯s not exactly obligated to be here. He isn¡¯t a soldier or a Shinigami. He¡¯s not a Hollow.¡± Gin opened a single eye with a cruel glint. ¡°He¡¯s not really human either.¡± Every word seemed to be crushing Ichigo¡¯s spirit but I couldn¡¯t figure out why Gin was doing this. ¡°So why not just let him go? I mean, I have no interest in him and Lord Aizen might be a little disappointed but it¡¯d be no fun if the kid is too scared to put up a fight. Besides-¡± *BOOOM!* There was a massive explosion behind the two of us. I risked turning my back on Gin to see Aizen walking calmly towards us. ¡°-the time for games is over.¡± Damn it, he was here too early! What were the others doing!? ¡°Oh? You look surprised, Alexandria Cross. Were you expecting the others to hold out longer?¡± Aizen said conversationally. ¡°Unfortunately for you, they failed to be a challenge after a while.¡± Some of the dust settled down to reveal the battered forms of Urahara, Yoruichi, and Isshin. All of them unconscious and scattered among the rubble. At the sight of them, whatever spine Ichigo had been holding onto snapped and he collapsed to his knees. Clearly I was on my own for this. Facing off against Aizen and Gin alone with a hindrance in the background. How nostalgic. I was out of time. Guess I would just need to risk it. I drew back the arrow I had and shot it at Gin, I didn¡¯t bother waiting to see if it did anything. He was either going to be distracted or I would suddenly get a sword through the back but that wasn¡¯t important at the moment. I discarded my bow as I charged Aizen and a long Katana with a purple hilt replaced it. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right...you never managed to use that attack the last time we saw each other.¡± Aizen said. ¡°Very well. Let¡¯s see if-¡± ¡±Hiken: Tsubame Gaeshi!¡± Three attacks. Three blades. All in a single moment. Both of Aizen¡¯s arms and his right leg detached from his body, yet Aizen didn¡¯t seem to be in pain or even very concerned about this. No matter. I still had one more thing to do before he retaliated. Monohoshi Zao was discarded just like my bow and I pulled a simple metal rod from it¡¯s holster on my belt. The proto-device had been repaired since the Soul Society invasion and was ready for use. I pointed the end of it at Aizen and poured mana into the device. A brilliant yellow spell-circle formed in his face. I was still getting a handle on this type of magic but hopefully it would be enough for this. ¡±Nova Blast!¡± A beam of magic enveloped Aizen¡¯s upper body as I fired the spell. I kept it up as long as I could but this spell wasn¡¯t designed to be sustained for long. Eventually it sputtered out. To my surprise the Aizen I faced in front of me was different than the one I shot at. His face was no longer covered by the white mask but had been torn off by my attack. His face was largely the same as pre-transformation him, even if his eyes were now white with purple sclera. The only other thing to change was the significantly longer hair flowing down his back. ¡°So deep down you just wished for long hair?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but comment. Aizen gave me a small amused smile...then backhanded me through a building. ¡°Okay, ow.¡± I pulled myself out of the rubble and wiped a hand over my face. No blood, but it still stung like a bitch. Neither Aizen or Gin followed after me so they must have stayed by Ichigo. I would¡¯ve preferred if they had split up. No use in wishing for ¡®ifs¡¯ though. I used Haste to get back to where Aizen, Gin, and Ichigo were and was surprised to only see Ichigo and Isshin instead. Isshin had collapsed next to Ichigo with an arm thrown over his shoulder but there was no sign of anyone else. Where had the other two gone? ¡°Where¡¯s Aizen?¡± ¡°Gone. He left for Soul Society already. Looks like we were wrong about him staying to finish any opponents before moving on. Did you manage to do it?¡± Isshin said. I nodded. ¡°Yeah, almost didn¡¯t because Aizen showed up early but I pulled it off.¡± ¡°Sorry ¡®bout that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. You both ready?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Isshin declared. ¡°We will protect Karakura.¡± Spirit 4.7 Rather uncharacteristically, Ichigo did not jump at the declaration to charge headfirst into a fight to protect his town and friends. Instead he just stared at the two of us with a shell shocked expression like he couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. Something his dad picked up on by the look on his face. That... and the sudden vicious headbutt to the head. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me?!¡± Isshin yelled at his son, ¡°I said we¡¯re going to protect Karakura!¡± Again, Ichigo was uncharacteristically quiet and just looked away. ¡°...it¡¯s no use...there¡¯s no way we can do that¡­¡± the teenage Soul Reaper said morosely. I said nothing and just stared at the teen disapprovingly. I knew he was rattled, anyone sane would be after what he had been through, but seeing him just give up still didn¡¯t sit right with me. It didn¡¯t sit right with his dad either given the way he yelled. ¡°You don¡¯t know that!¡± ¡°Yes, I do!¡± Ichigo screamed right back, ¡°You felt it, didn¡¯t you?! There¡¯s now way we can beat a freak with Reiatsu like that!¡± That certainly shocked Isshin. The older Soul Reaper muttered something before brushing past his son. ¡°I¡¯m going.¡± he declared. ¡°Aren¡¯t you coming?¡± he asked when Ichigo made no move to follow. ¡°What will you do if you don¡¯t come?¡± Ichigo just lowered his head. ¡°Cry?¡± Isshin rounded on his son and started yelling, ¡°Will you sit there and cry that you couldn¡¯t protect anyone?!¡± ¡°...Think about what it means that Aizen is heading for Karakura Town in Soul Society.¡± Isshin continued in a more level tone. ¡°If you don¡¯t go, it means that everyone you wanted to protect and everyone else in Karakura, will die by his hand.¡± It was a harsh way of motivating someone in my opinion; to remind him that he either stepped up or allowed everyone he cared about to die. But with the situation as it was I couldn¡¯t exactly deny it wasn¡¯t needed. Or effective. Ichigo¡¯s eyes settled as he got himself under control, the look of hopelessness and defeat losing out to a renewed determination. He stepped forward. ¡°Dad...open the Senkaimon.¡± Isshin smirked at Ichigo¡¯s renewed attitude. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to tell me that.¡± I simply rolled my eyes at how little of a pep talk it took to change the orange haired soul reaper¡¯s mind. But spirits were up and we were ready to go so I couldn¡¯t complain. -o- The Dangai was as unpleasant as ever. The walls still dripped a noxious purple sludge and the ground was still covered in bones. Which should be impossible because the Cleaner running through all the time should¡¯ve definitely ground them to dust. But more importantly the feeling of loose Reiatsu digging into me like standing in front of a sand blaster was definitely not enjoyable. And it was only getting worse the longer we were in here. So when Isshin planned to stop in here to give Ichigo some last second training, I had no inclination to stay with them. ¡°You sure?¡± Isshin questioned after I had made my opinion known. ¡°We don¡¯t have second chances after this.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°I¡¯m sure. Besides there isn¡¯t enough space for me to really do anything.¡± Aizen had destroyed the Cleaner, removing the obstacle to staying in the Dangai for a long period of time and Isshin apparently had a way to stabilize the current of its walls so they wouldn¡¯t be swallowed up. The combination of these two things meant Ichigo could get approximately 2000 hours or about three months worth of training and only an hour would pass in the Soul Society. Isshin didn¡¯t know the chaotic nature of this place was a slow poison to me and I had no intention of telling him, but Ichigo could use the time to get a power boost. If everything went to plan though, he wouldn¡¯t even get a chance to fight. ¡°I¡¯ll go on ahead. Who knows? I might finish up everything before you even get there.¡± I joked, sparing a glance at Ichigo who was fully immersed in trying to communicate with his sword. ¡°If it were that easy we wouldn¡¯t be racing to Soul Society right now.¡± I refrained from saying I probably could have fought Aizen before he reached Soul Society but didn¡¯t simply because I did not want to rearrange the landscape in the World of the Living. Much better to leave the destroyed scenery for the Seireitei to clean up. It was the least they could do after being mostly useless. ¡°Well he won''t be running off this time.¡± I said as a parting shot, before rushing off down the corridor. After all, just because Aizen wasn¡¯t in a hurry, it didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t cause some major damage if left unchecked. And there was one more person I needed to talk to before I fought him for real. -o- Rangiku Matsumoto wasn¡¯t exactly sure what she was hoping for when she confronted her childhood friend. Scratch that. She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to know why he had turned his back on everyone and betrayed them, but she wasn¡¯t sure what she was expecting to come of it. Was she hoping that Ichimaru would just laugh the whole thing off as one big misunderstanding? Or perhaps she could convince him to turn on Aizen despite them being on the cusp of winning it all? Whatever it was, she wasn¡¯t exactly expecting him to simply attack her. So now she was laying on her back, drained of Reiatsu, and watching helplessly as Ichimaru left her behind again¡­ ¡°Leaving so soon, Gin? And after being so rough with her too...¡± A familiar voice called outside Rangiku¡¯s sight, and she couldn¡¯t move. A black boot and the edge of a red garment entered the edge of her vision as the new arrival walked around her. ¡°Like I told her, she was in the way. I really don¡¯t know what she was thinking, trying to face Lord Aizen in such a condition if she couldn¡¯t even stand up to me for long.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you took her as far away from Aizen as you could?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. Besides she¡¯ll be dead soon at this rate.¡± The newcomer -Alexandria Cross, Rangiku remembered sluggishly- snorted. ¡°I¡¯m sure. But I¡¯m not here to talk about your girlfriend.¡± ¡°Here to continue our fight then?¡± Rangiku would have gasped if she wasn¡¯t so tired. Alexandria had been the one fighting Ichimaru? That Reiatsu had been on the same level as the senior Captains, she had no idea the strange human was that strong. ¡°Nope~, I¡¯m here to tell you your plan to kill Aizen won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°What?!¡± It took a moment for Rangiku to realise that she was the one who said that, and now both of the others were looking at her. Alexandria¡¯s blue eyes met hers. ¡°Well then, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to still be awake¡­¡± her hand started to reach down to Rangiku¡¯s forehead when Ichimaru¡¯s Shikai thrust between them. Startled by the sudden action Rangiku looked to the origin of the attack and saw Ichimaru standing there with a serious expression. Then there was a flash of purple and she only saw darkness¡­ -o- ¡°You¡¯re an idiot, you know that? I even told you what would happen.¡± ¡°He he, *khack*, w-ell I couldn¡¯t exactly believe you n-now, could I? Besides...this was my only chance. Had t-to try anyway¡­¡± I looked down on the bloody form of the former Third Division Captain. Aizen had nearly bisected him from shoulder to waist and stabbed him through the chest for good measure. The only plus out of this situation was that my warning of what to expect meant that he hadn¡¯t lost an arm in a futile gesture as well. It figured the second time I tried using my out-of-context knowledge to alter things went about as well as the first. Although I couldn¡¯t exactly deny it was partially my fault for trying it on two people almost completely unreceptive to people telling them what to do. Ichigo had been so used to just forging ahead on his own that me suddenly coming forward and saying he just needed to accept things was completely rejected. I frowned. Actually I might have hurt his training there if he was subconsciously rejecting my advice still. He should have at least been on the way by now. Not that it would matter. And Gin had spent over a century maneuvering to a place where he could kill Aizen. Thinking about it now, there was no way he would give that up just because I told him what would happen. After leaving the Dangai, I had taken the opportunity to teleport directly to Karakura via a destination circle I had left in the town. From there it was a quick jaunt to confront Gin as he was finishing up dealing with Rangiku. After some quick talking to keep things civil once he had fully knocked out the lieutenant, I told him exactly what would happen if he tried to kill Aizen, going as far as to reveal the hidden ability of his Bankai. Since he had told no one of the cell destroying properties it had, it went a long way in giving me credit, but the ex-Captain refused to give up in the end and now he was quickly bleeding out in a pile of rubble. Or at least he would be bleeding out if it wasn¡¯t for the healing Kaid¨­ tags I had Urahara prepare for me. With those in place, Gin should be fine until Aizen was dealt with. ¡°Ah w-ell,¡± Gin said with difficulty, ¡°I guess this means I a-ccept your offer then.¡± ¡°Tch, you¡¯re only saying that when there¡¯s nothing more you can do.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just how...I am.¡± ¡°The both of you seem to be under the impression that you will actually survive this.¡± Aizen must have grown bored of our conversation and decided to interrupt. I turned to face him. Once again Aizen had changed. Now in addition to the three pairs of moth-like wings, he also had a large hole in the middle of his chest that mimicked a Hollow. Unlike them though, the Hogyoku rested in the middle of his chest connected to a cross structure. ¡°I admit I¡¯m surprised to see you here, Alexandria Cross. After our last brief encounter I assumed you would know the difference between our powers. A difference that has only grown in the short time since.¡± He continued. ¡°And you seem to be interested in Gin? I wonder what you could possibly have planned when I¡¯ve already been proven beyond him.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not counting on Gin for anything right now.¡± I replied. ¡°I¡¯m recruiting him for what happens after you.¡± ¡°After me? That won¡¯t happen. Ichigo Kurosaki was the only one among your group to come close to my new Reiatsu, for you to be unable to sense that just proves how far beneath me you are.¡± I smiled at Aizen¡¯s proclamation. ¡°Never have been the best sensor. Now, shall we take this elsewhere? I¡¯d hate for anyone to get caught up in our fight.¡± I tilted my head to the spot where several of Ichigo¡¯s friend¡¯s stood nearby. Had Aizen been chasing them? It didn¡¯t matter. It was time to move this fight to where a town full of innocents wouldn¡¯t get caught up in things. ¡°A meaningless proposal.¡± Aizen dismissed. ¡°Those are the words of someone powerful enough to make me listen. You aren¡¯t on that level.¡± ¡°No?¡± I raised a hand. ¡°I think you¡¯re wrong about that.¡± With a snap of my fingers a bright yellow spell-circle encircled both of us, and in the blink of an eye, the world was obscured in a flash of light. Spirit 4.8 The two of us reappeared in the middle of a large open plain. This was the location I had decided would be the site of my confrontation with Aizen. Both far enough from anyone around and unimportant enough that the both of us giving it our all wouldn¡¯t be a big issue. The fact this was the lands of one of the noble families that had pressed for that ¡®emergency council¡¯ nonsense and would likely be reduced to a wasteland was just a convenient bonus. I could have sent us to some rocky canyon or a place designed to give me a slight upper hand¡­ but it would be a waste of effort for little reward. Aizen had reached a level where factors like terrain could change in an instant and relying on that to defeat him would be a mistake. So I simply didn¡¯t bother. This would be as close to a direct conflict as possible with only our own personal skills to give us an edge over the other. ¡°Interesting¡­¡± That one word was enough for me to completely focus on my opponent. I was confident in my strategy, but this still wasn¡¯t an enemy to take lightly at all. ¡°You managed to teleport me despite the difference in our power.¡± Aizen inspected the remains of the destination circle that had burned itself into the ground after activating. ¡°I suppose this is your final gambit for time? It will certainly take a while to return to Karakura from this distance, but not nearly enough for it to be meaningful.¡± Once again I started feeling warm as I began drawing Reishi towards me, the increased density of the Soul Society making it both faster and easier. ¡°I¡¯ve taken the time to bring you out here. Naturally it¡¯s because I have a way to beat you.¡± Aizen smirked with disdain. ¡°Impossible. I¡¯m now an existence beyond the likes of Shinigami and Hollows. How could you, a faulty experiment of a regular soul, hope to match me in power?¡± ¡°By not being the experiment of Akihiro Kanou.¡± I replied as I focused the Reishi I gathered inward. The particles collected, joined, fused, then ignited. Not a comfortable experience, in fact it felt like I had a bonfire in my chest, but along with the heat and pain my power skyrocketed. ¡°I¡¯m far beyond what he could have made. Something he learned at the end too.¡± Aizen felt the increase but remained unimpressed. ¡°I see¡­ your bout with Gin wasn¡¯t the limit you could boost yourself. But even now you are only slightly stronger than that old fool Yamamoto.¡± He blurred and reappeared behind me, right arm drawn back. ¡°And unfortunately for you, I have no desire to entertain your delusions¡­¡± He swung, aiming to take my head off at the neck. Given that even this casual swing had enough force in it to level a building, I don¡¯t think he was expecting me to parry it with Kanshou...or have the spare ability to counterattack with Bakuya. The blade fused to Aizen¡¯s hand skittered over the black blade in a shower of sparks and the white counterpart whistled through the air and struck Aizen in the side of the neck...where it failed to do more than a tiny cut. The two of us separated after the short clash. Aizen casually ran a finger over the place Bakuya hit him, the damage already undone by the quick regeneration he now had. ¡°...Impressive. Had we fought before my latest transformation you might have been able to kill me with that attack.¡± Aizen dropped his hand. ¡°Though it seems that even if you can keep up with me, your weapons lack the ability to cut me.¡± I was getting really annoyed at the constant condescension, but in this particular instance he was right. Kanshou and Bakuya were my favorites, they were superb swords, they also lacked the inherent power needed to kill something like Aizen even when pushed and reinforced to their limits. So I would have to break them just a bit. ¡±Trace: Overedge¡± The black and white blades flowed outward, nearly doubling in length and growing crystalline feathers down the spine of each blade. In addition to their new appearance, everything about the swords was enhanced. Cutting power, durability, sharpness...all of it was enhanced to new heights. I leveled the newly changed blades at Aizen and without warning charged in close. The first attack was blocked with the same easy disdain Aizen had shown this entire time. But the force behind it forced his eyes to widen as he quickly needed to use more strength or have his sword battered away by the second. He was able to react in time to block the second strike, and the third, and the fourth. But as I continued to chain my attacks, parrying and dodging around his counterattacks, I managed to land a deep cut to his leg. Aizen grunted in pain and surprise at the wound and viciously swiped at me in retaliation. The power of his attack, decimating the surrounding landscape. ¡°A little excessive for such a small wound don¡¯t you think?¡± I taunted. ¡°Or has your new strength left you with no control?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Aizen¡¯s face twisted in outrage. ¡°How is this possible?!¡± he demanded. ¡°Even if you focused all of your Reiatsu into your swords it should still be insufficient to do more scratch me with the amount you have!¡± ¡°Simple.¡± I replied, a smug smirk on my face. ¡°I have never, not once, used Reiatsu, Reiryoku, or Reishi for any of my abilities. This power you sense? It¡¯s a side effect of using my powers to the limit.¡± ¡°I see.¡± he snarled. ¡°It was a mistake to think you were the simple result of a mistake if someone like Kisuke Urahara decided to keep you around. Congratulations, Alexandria Cross. You will be the final opponent on my ascent to stand at the top of the heavens.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± I said and settled into a stance. I flung myself to the side as my instincts screamed. Aizen appeared in front of my previous position, sword slashing through where my head had been. The earth trembled as a gouge extended far past his slash. Not giving him time to recover I immediately rushed to attack. The two of us began another furious exchange of blows. Aizen had pure physical strength on his side, the attacks I failed to parry often cratering the earth and whipping up gusts of wind, but I was faster. I used every ounce of speed and flexibility to divert the path of his sword and retaliate with a slash or stab. But the ones I did manage to land were soon fixed by his regeneration and he only needed to hit me once or twice at this rate and be the end of me. Despite the boost Overedge gave them, Kanshou and Bakuya simply weren¡¯t enough for the job. They were on the edge of breaking anyway. Aizen¡¯s blows were simply too much for them. I don¡¯t think he was expecting me to literally throw away my swords. Probably the result of everyone¡¯s weapon being a part of their soul, I doubt he was used to people treating their swords as disposable, but when I did there was a half second delay that allowed Bakuya to pierce his shoulder before exploding and him moving to slap Kanshou out of the air. But that half second delay was enough. ¡°You¡¯re getting desperate. Or do you think a longer weapon will be enough to keep me away?¡± I ignored the taunt. ¡°I think you rely on your new abilities too much.¡± I said instead. ¡°And it¡¯s time you lost one of them.¡± Twin spears lashed out, and while I said Aizen leaned too much on his new abilities, it didn¡¯t mean he was willingly allowing himself to be hurt. He simply allowed small hits when he was certain I couldn¡¯t cause an injury sufficient enough to create a bigger opening and counterattacked. What he didn¡¯t expect was that my entire style changed along with the weapon swap. I might have still been dual wielding, but the skills burned into the memory of the weapon itself was completely different than before. For him it must have been like suddenly fighting a completely different person with no warning. And it allowed me a hit. Not a very big one. Merely a small cut on his right arm and what could generously be referred to as a scratch along his cheek. But that alone was enough to make me smile. ¡°I see, your fighting style is tied directly into whatever weapon you wield. Any tells I discover are useless once you change.¡± Aizen analysed. ¡°And if your skills remain at this level then you could theoretically last for quite some time.¡± He sneered when he saw the smile on my face. ¡°But it is ultimately pointless. You might have the skill to make me bleed, even in my current state, but any injury will simply-¡± He froze as the sound of liquid dripping rang out. The cut on his face might not have been enough to bleed but the one on his arm certainly was. Black blood ran down his arm where it dripped to the ground forming a small puddle. And. it. Was. Not. Healing. ¡°What have you done?¡± it was barely a whisper but Aizen¡¯s horrified tone carried over. ¡°Did you think the weapons I created weren¡¯t special?¡± I said instead of answering. ¡°That the best I was capable of was simply imitating Zanpakuto? When we first fought that might have been all I could do, but right now I can call on weapons beyond your wildest imagination.¡± I twirled the spear in my right hand and brought it to rest on my shoulder. G¨¢e Buidhe. The Yellow Rose of Mortality. A spear that cursed any wound it made to linger, unable to be healed as long as the spear remained whole or until the curse was dismissed. It was by far the most costly weapon I had Traced to date, but that single ability was worth it. Mana was something I had a bit of a surplus at the moment. So I made two of them. A range of emotions played over Aizen¡¯s face before it returned to the calm facade he normally wore. ¡°Alexandria Cross. You truly are a unique being matched only by myself. Perhaps if I had paid you more attention this would not have been a surprise until now. In this moment you are my equal in close range combat. And perhaps if this battle was dependent on that you could possibly win.¡± Aizen pointed his left hand at the sky, index finger extended. ¡°In physical combat we might be matched, but I am the being beyond both Shinigami and Hollow and physical combat is not all there is. So how will you handle this, I wonder? Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness! Had¨­ #90. Kurohitsugi!¡± I calmly planted the G¨¢e Buidhe in my left hand into the ground and Traced another weapon even as I was swallowed by the pure black structure created by Aizen¡¯s spell. Gravity began to distort as it began to activate. The last bit of light was obstructed in short order. In moments I would be caught in the raw fury of something approximating the force of a black hole, so I did the only logical thing I could do. I took a few steps forward and lightly stabbed the ¡®wall¡¯ with the ornate dagger I had just created. I greatly enjoyed the shocked expression on Aizen¡¯s face as his Kido shattered like glass without doing anything to me. ¡°I might not be able to use Kido. But I am not helpless because of it.¡± I said confidently. Aizen¡¯s shoulders began to shake. I allowed the dagger to disperse in motes of mana and retrieved the spear I had discarded. Aizen was arrogant to the extreme. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what he would do after seeing me destroy his spell so casually. I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting him to burst out laughing. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!¡± his head went back as his laughter rang out over the shattered landscape. ¡°Incredible! No one has managed to stand at the very peak of creation, yet here, after countless years of vacancy...not one but two beings have the potential! Well done Alexandria Cross. You have managed to overcome your artificial nature and stand just below me at the peak of perfection! And as entertaining as this encounter has been. It is time to draw it to a close.¡± As if on cue the ¡®bonfire¡¯ in my chest flared and sparked. I coughed and my heart fell at the sight of bright red flecks of blood on the back of my hand. I had nearly reached my limit for drawing in Reishi. ¡°Alright then.¡± I agreed. ¡°Since you want to end things so badly then I¡¯ll show you everything I have¡­¡± My voice echoed out over the landscape as even the wind died down when I began my aria. ¡±My body is made of stars¡± Stars, for as long as people had been able to look up, have been regarded as things ¡®beyond¡¯. They were unattainable by any normal person and even in the most wild stories all people managed to do was travel between them. I might be a ¡®broken¡¯ template for what I was meant to accomplish but at my base I was still ¡®beyond¡¯ the limits of any normal creature. ¡±Unquenchable is my spirit¡± ¡±Unconquerable is my soul¡± And just because I was ¡®broken¡¯, I would not simply accept that and fade away. I would carve my place in reality and keep searching until I found a way to fix myself and at the end of that journey the only one able to decide my path would be myself and my conscience. ¡±In these hands I hold the tapestry of heaven¡± And since I was ¡®beyond¡¯ any single universe, every one of them...from the most turbulent and hostile to the most kind and nurturing...was within my reach. And I would travel them all if need be. ¡±With no known beginning¡± ¡±And a forever uncertain end¡± No matter how long it would take. I would find my answer. ¡±The world will echo with my arrival¡± And I would crush any enemy that got in the way of that. ¡±So by my command¡± ¡±Unlimited Blade Works!¡± Once again, Aizen and I were surrounded by golden energy. But this time instead of a spell-circle, it was golden flames that grew higher and higher until we were both completely encased. And then everything expanded as the true form of the Unlimited Blade Works was revealed. ¡°So this is the ultimate expression of your power?¡± Aizen asked as he looked around. His tone was somber and almost reverent at the display. ¡°I understand. If this is what the peak of your power looks like...then it would be insulting for me not to reply in kind.¡± ¡°BANKAI¡± Spirit 4.9 ¡°BANKAI¡± That one word was enough to crush any sense of triumph I felt for managing to actually pull off the ultimate form of my Tracing ability. A large part of my confidence in this fight revolved around knowing what Aizen might do. And for the most part, the fight had followed the same pattern. His attitude and words might have been different, but the abilities were largely the same. Knowing what he was able to do let me be ready with Rule Breaker the instant he tried Kido, afterall. Hell, I was even ready to swarm his next evolution with anti-demonic swords to take advantage of the strengthening of his Hollow attributes. ...only releasing his Bankai pushed his form more towards Soul Reaper than Hollow. That wasn¡¯t to say Aizen could possibly pass for human as he was now. He had gained a third eye in the middle of his forehead, and the sclera of all three had changed to pitch black while the iris turned solid white. The skin on the outer two thirds of his face had turned an inky black and had the same flame like pattern that had started trailing down his legs and arms. Unlike before only his hands and feet remained white. The next biggest change were the wings that had been attached to his back. Now instead of the vaguely moth-like things they had been before, there were ones that looked more like dragonfly wings. That was until you looked closer and saw that each one shimmered and shifted as if they were a kaleidoscope. ¡°Be proud, Alexandria Cross. You are only the second opponent I have felt was worthy enough to see my Bankai.¡± Aizen commented. ¡°Think of it as thanks for this display...even if it revealed how desperate you are to finish this.¡± I grimaced at the truth of that. The creation and use of a Reality Marble like the Unlimited Blade Works was just as powerful as it seemed. I was literally overwriting the rules of reality in a set area and replacing it with a manifestation of my own soul after all! The downside to that was I was also baring the exact state of my own inner world and weaponizing it. And mine wasn¡¯t exactly in the best shape at the moment. Similarly to its namesake, my Unlimited Blade Works was a vast barren desert host to an uncountable number of weapons planted into the ground as if in monument. Unlike the original, there were also a number of grand towers dotting the landscape, although they looked like they didn¡¯t quite fit in. The ground around the base of each one was cracked and jutting out, like someone had dug a crude hole and simply dropped the tower into it. Another major difference was the sky. It was a shattered thing, like it was some giant mirror that someone had struck with a hammer. The massive iron gears that should have dominated the sky were replaced with a roiling mass of energy. Every once in a while hints of a sky peaked out from the chaos, but other than that everything was obscured behind polychromatic clouds and the cracks running through it. Yeah, my soul was a mess. And that excluded the active damage I was doing to it with my little Reishi trick. Glowing blue-white streams of energy were burning their way across the landscape. That was sure to cause some side effects once this fight was over. ¡°Despite the flaws, I will admit you have managed to accomplish a limited form of my own dream¡­¡± Aizen continued, ¡°To remake reality around you at a whim! Incredible!¡± ¡°You seem far more excited about this than I expected for someone with your abilities.¡± I remarked, taking the opportunity to collect myself and plan out my next move now that my current plans were scrapped. Aizen scoffed. ¡°Shall I tell you a secret, miss Cross? While certainly powerful, my Ky¨­ka Suigetsu is unfortunately limited for my liking.¡± I practically gaped at the person calling complete and total hypnosis for an undefined length of time ¡®limited¡¯. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me? What else would you call something that can only control the senses other than limited? Even if I created an illusion of the entire world on fire, would that mean the world truly burned? Of course not; it is only an illusion after all.¡± ¡±This Bankai fixes that flaw to a degree, allowing me to impose a bit of my will on the world. Even then, in its second release Ky¨­ka Suigetsu has limitations.¡± The six insectile wings on his back detached and warped, becoming vaguely human shaped before more details started being added, quickly settling into recognizable forms. ¡°I may not be able to control your senses like this, but watching you deal with the forms of everyone under Ky¨­ka Suigetsu¡¯s influence should be interesting. Let us see which is more powerful in this instant. Your control over this world or mine of the people inside it.¡± The six figures stopped shimmering and stepped forward. Kisuke, Yoruichi, Yamamoto, Coyote Starrk, and Gin all fanned out around Aizen. I just stared at all of them while waiting to react to the slightest move. ¡°Well this just seems incredibly unfair¡­¡± I muttered. No one moved for a second and I decided waiting for seven powerful beings to try and kill me was a bad move, so I went for a kill shot. A single sword fell from the sky like a bolt of lightning and speared Aizen through the chest. As one of the blades I had with a ¡®Death¡¯ aspect that should have inconvenienced him quite a bit even if his cheating marble wouldn¡¯t let it kill him straight off. Instead Aizen¡¯s image shattered and was replaced by Gin¡¯s as the copy began to turn black and crumble away. Wonderful. Not only did that strike prove Aizen¡¯s copies were corporeal, but he could either switch between them at will, could disguise himself as one of them, or they automatically swapped with him if he took a lethal hit. ¡°...incredibly unfair¡­¡± I repeated, and then all of them attacked. I was lucky that being in a manifestation of my soul gave me a perfect perception of everything in it or I might have lost in the first few seconds. For some reason I was expecting Aizen¡¯s copies to be restricted to the level of their real life counterparts. Unfortunately for me, Aizen cheats. I had to hurriedly duck before clone-Yoruichi¡¯s leg nearly crushed my head. The clone moved faster than I had ever seen the real thing, moving only slightly slower than Aizen himself could. Before I could think too deeply on that I had to dive out of the way as clone-Kisuke began to shower the area in Kido and clone-Yamamoto bathed the entire surrounding area in fire. If Aizen hoped the fire would prevent me from using those weapons he was mistaken. clone-Yoruichi rushed in close to deny me the range advantage of my spears so I abandoned one and swapped it for a shortsword. The advantage of being in the UBW meant that I had no need to figure out the name or ability of the blade, simply that this one was fast enough to cut lighting. The clone barely dodged out of the way, strands of hair being severed from the near miss, and was sent flying when I battered her out of the way with the haft of G¨¢e Buidhe. Not letting the clone recover I flexed my will and practically rained blades where she landed. If I managed to kill the clone, I didn¡¯t know, the instant I did that I was surrounded by ghostly wolves flickering with blue fire and the ground exploded in a beam of blue-white energy. It hurt. It hurt alot! I was covered in burns and a good amount of my uniform was in shreds. The blast threw me clear of ground zero even after I managed to kill the closest wolves and counter some of the explosion by breaking the sword in my hand. But even then I didn¡¯t have a second to breathe as another beacon of energy started to build in the distance. I twisted midair and threw my remaining spear, managing to hit clone-Starrk¡¯s shoulder and forcing the forming cero to miss before it fired and immediately righting myself as Aizen slashed at me. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I was able to block it, another sword jumping to my hand at the slightest call, but my poor positioning meant that the blow caused me to crater into the ground where I struggled to push back his blade. ¡°Is this the extent of your power?¡± Aizen asked. ¡°...Disappointing. I had hoped you would show me something impressive but simple control of the weapons around us and increasing your ability to swap them¡­¡± he trailed off. He thrusted his left hand into my face, a glowing purple cero in his palm, and fired. The blast failed to vaporise my head, but it must have been a near thing from my experience. Blood poured down my face and my thoughts were hazy. Despite that I could still hear Aizen talking. ¡°Perhaps I was too excited by the form of your ability and thought it would be stronger...no matter. Our fight is over.¡± I half expected him to stab me then and there, but instead he backed off and...started walking away?! With a considerable amount of effort I pushed myself up and saw the reason Aizen walked off where he was joined by the other three remaining clones. The sixth clone, one that I lost sight of before the fight even really began was hovering in the air on black wings. Ulquiorra Cifer might have thought Aizen was unaware of his second release form, but that was clearly not the case. More immediately concerning was the massive amount of energy being forced into a small point in the clone¡¯s hands. ¡°I wonder if you were able to figure out the trick to my Bankai in your short struggle? I do not simply make clones of those under my influence. I grant them an aspect of my own abilities.¡± ¡°Kisuke Urahara, for all my knowledge in Kido. Yoruichi Shihoin, for my speed. My primera espada for my Hollow abilities. The old man for my Shinigami ones. Gin...well I suppose that doesn¡¯t matter really. But this one? In this one, I¡¯ve focused all of my destructive potential. In fact, as a reward for lasting even this long, I will focus every ounce of my power.¡± With the flourish of a hand, all the clones surrounding Aizen shattered and were absorbed by the Ulquiorra clone. Once that was done the sphere in its hands grew to the size of a beach ball before being compressed back down. ¡°Goodbye, Alexandria Cross.¡± clone-Ulquiorra fired. -o- Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the torrent of green-black energy raced towards me. My mind was furiously trying to come up with a way to either block or destroy this attack but I was coming up with nothing. Any weapon I could think of needed at least some time to prepare an attack strong enough to do more than slightly delay my death for a couple seconds at best. I didn¡¯t think any shield I had could block this either. So this was it? Everything I had at my disposal and even the Unlimited Blade Works wasn¡¯t enough to win? But I didn¡¯t use everything did I? Well, no. I hadn¡¯t really utilized my Bombardment Magic in any meaningful way for the entire fight, but that didn¡¯t matter since my device prototype was lost at some point. Even if I hadn¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t be that useful. The prototype was still not good enough to handle the variables needed to control any spell I loaded into it after switching worlds without maintenance, let alone trying to match the power output needed to threaten what was coming at me. Does that even matter here? Of course it mattered! Bombardment spells weren¡¯t simply an outpouring of mana! Well, the attack itself might be considered that, but they were carefully crafted structures meant to focus that raw destructive energy at its target and needed to have every aspect taken into account so the spell wouldn¡¯t simply explode on the caster! In order to do so I would need to calculate everything from my internal energy structure to the makeup of the surrounding environment, which without a device...was impossible¡­ My eyes widened. It wasn¡¯t impossible. I had made a mistake and overlooked something when I manifested a Reality Marble. I simply thought it was the pinnacle of my FATE series of magic, and it was, but I failed to realise that it was no longer the singular expression that it was copied from. Now it also incorporated everything that was connected to my soul. That meant if I knew how to cast it, I could do so here, and that included the high level Bombardment spells that I created for fun but could never use without a serious upgrade in hardware. This was the projection of my inner world after all. I already had the variables accounted for. The grin that grew on my face might have been slightly feral. I didn''t care though. Even if the ¡®bonfire¡¯ in my chest ramped up to inferno, it was all worth it as a bright spell-circle drew itself in front of me. -o- ¡±Solar Burst!¡± A titanic beam of yellow-white energy exploded out of the crater I was in and rose to meet the rush of green-black Reishi descending on me. Both attacks clashed, and for a moment, struggled against each other before exploding in a massive flash of light that sent shockwaves across the battlefield. While I made my way out of the crater I stoically watched Aizen for any sudden moves, but on the inside I was practically trembling with relief and excitement. That had been entirely too close, but at the same time I had been right. Solar Destruction was a purely theoretical spell I had done for fun. I had made it simply as a thought exercise similarly to taking a handgun and ramping it up to the size of an artillery cannon. It was wasteful, inefficient, and probably overly complex but it was also just as easy to pull off as any other spell while I was in my Reality Marble. That meant all my other theoretical spells should work just as well! ¡°So you had some additional tricks left after all.¡± Aizen stated once I was close enough. ¡°Disappointed? You aren¡¯t beating me that easily.¡± I returned. He didn¡¯t respond as the clone-Ulquiorra descended behind him and the other five clones re-emerged. Dammit, I was hoping that he couldn¡¯t bring those back once they were dismissed. I looked at the now healthy looking Gin clone. And it seems that they healed themselves after some time too. Fantastic. ¡°Nothing to say? That''s fine too...¡± One versus seven was still terrible odds, even with the spells I could play around with. I would have to make sure to keep them busy so they couldn¡¯t coordinate between themselves. I swept an arm out to my side and summoned two more Noble Phantasms while another circle bloomed to life in front of me. ¡±Solar Bullet: Swarm Shot!¡± A mass of softball sized glowing orbs poured out into the air as the second spell in my ¡®Solar¡¯ series of spells flared. Again it was just a scaled up version of my more practical and refined ¡®Nova¡¯ spells, but anything less probably wouldn¡¯t work against this opponent. A couple hundred of them shot toward the small group in front of me homing in on six of the figures, causing the clones to scatter while I focused on the main threat. Aizen. Whether he could swap with the clones after a major injury or if it was something else to do with his Bankai was not relevant. Giving him time to observe and think unmolested was a bad plan regardless. There was no more banter as we fought. As much as Aizen liked the sound of his own voice, he had already declared I was dead. So when I stubbornly kept breathing, talking to me now would be admitting he was wrong again. And he had far too much pride for that. I was simply in too much pain to think about talking at the moment. While I clashed directly with Aizen, one of his clones would occasionally evade enough of the homing orbs of destruction chasing them long enough to launch attacks at me or get close enough to attack directly. Most of the time they were discouraged by retaliating beams of energy out of one of several spell circles orbiting me at the moment but they did get through which led to me simultaneously fighting Aizen and one of his doubles at the same time. Unsurprisingly the Yoruichi clone had been the first simply be being to fast for me to accurately target with my attention divided but after I made a semi-sacrificial move by allowing a kick to the side that definitely broke a rib or two; I managed to stab her through the throat and kill that copy. Moments later the Yamamoto clone was finally tripped up by the bullet swarm and took a Solar Blast to the chest, disintegrating it and removing him from the battlefield as well. That was when I made an unfortunate discovery about Aizen¡¯s ability. The Starrk clone had managed to get close enough to use the glowing sticks of Reishi he called swords and was using them to back up Aizen far more than I would like. Blades were being shattered by both sides, the only exception being Aizen himself, and while I had a virtually unlimited number of swords to use, so did he. And then he got faster. It was a sudden thing. The three of us had been slashing at each other so much so quickly the immediate surroundings were practically glowing with sparks and shards of metal coming off our blades. I had practically dedicated myself to using weapons that caused cursed injuries so all of us were bleeding somewhat. The Starrk clone was primarily focusing on making sure to interrupt my rhythm and was doing a near perfect job of it. Just like I observed in the Yoruichi clone it wasn¡¯t quite at Aizen¡¯s level but it was close enough to demand respect. Finally, I managed to sneak a swarm bullet into hitting it behind after one of the other clones inadvertently created a smokescreen by exploding dozens of others following it. Just as my blade was about to score a more crippling blow, the Starrk clone moved at the same speeds I had seen the Yoruichi clone move and dodged the blow. A second later I was blown away by a blast of blue energy and sent skidding across the ground. Panting heavily, I pulled myself back to my feet and zeroed in on Aizen and Starrk, who was standing nearby. ¡°I see you figured it out.¡± Aizen said as another two clones were killed. The Kisuke clone caught a Trace bullet through the heart after the anti-magic properties finally overwhelmed it¡¯s defenses and the Ulquiorra clone was caught between three beams and almost vaporised. I had a sneaking suspicion Aizen let me destroy them. ¡°That you don¡¯t need the clone alive to add its aspect to another? Yeah, I got that.¡± ¡°Indeed, the forms don¡¯t matter; they are simply illusions afterall. I can simply readjust what power I give each one, although the more of them there are, the more the overall power drops.¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed that part but I supposed it made sense. ¡°So are there any more tricks you wish to use? Any more powers you have hidden away? I will not give you the same chance twice.¡± Aizen declared, only one clone standing with him now. It looked like he had seen enough of my newly displayed powers and was going to focus his own as much as possible to kill me at close range. Not a bad idea if I was unwilling to blow myself up with my own attacks. I smiled and raised a hand. ¡°Just the one more.¡± I said as the entire shattered sky was suddenly covered in thousands of sigils and the weapons on the ground started to glow. Aizen looked up and seemed to understand what I was about to do. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t¡­¡± he nearly whispered, horrified. ¡°I would.¡± I replied. ¡±Ragnarok: Starfall!¡± My hand came down and the sky followed. There was a brief moment of light and pain¡­ And then nothing¡­ -o- The first thing I was aware of when I regained consciousness was the sky was blue. For a while I was content to just lay on the ground. I hurt in ways I didn¡¯t know were possible. Turns out even though I shielded myself, magically nuking an entire sub-dimension isn¡¯t easy to walk off. Was it because the sub-dimension was my soul that this hurt so freaking bad? I bet it was because it was my soul. My internal musing was interrupted by an odd hacking laughter. With far more effort than it should¡¯ve taken, I managed to push myself up on my elbows. I saw Aizen laying on the ground not far from me and in much worse condition. The majority of his limbs had been blown off at certain points, the largest remaining being his right arm and even that was charred and broken off at the forearm. The rest of him wasn¡¯t much better -even if it was slowly regenerating now that all the weapons causing the cursed injuries were destroyed- but the creepy thing was that he was missing most of the left side of his face. And it was regenerating wrong. Instead of his human face, Aizen was regenerating and transforming to look more demonic. The small amount of skin growing back was black as pitch and his teeth were growing larger and sharper as well. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA,¡± the broken creature in front of me continued to laugh, ¡°you¡¯ve lost, Alexandria Cross! Even at the cost of all your power you were unable to kill me, and now I am progressing to my next form!¡± ¡°You have NOTHING left! This is the END!¡± ¡°N-not...yet¡­¡± I gasped out, pulling myself to my feet and awkwardly shuffling towards him. ¡°...I got...one...thing left¡­¡± I was scraping the bottom of practically everything, mana or stamina, but I still managed to Trace what I needed. ¡°You think that trinket will be enough to kill me?¡± Aizen gloated, observing the iridescent dagger in my hand. ¡°It may have the power to break my Kido but you would have used it earlier if it had the potential to kill me.¡± ¡°True¡­¡± I replied, taking a moment to try clearing my vision as everything went blurry. It didn¡¯t work. In fact shaking my head in the attempt only meant the entire world seemed to be rocking on top of that. ¡°But I don¡¯t...need it to kill you...just get rid of one thing.¡± Aizen stopped laughing when the dull tip of the athame landed on the Hogyoku. When nothing immediately happened he started chuckling again. ¡°Really? Did you not learn after Gin. The Hogyoku is indestructible and even if you remove it from me, it will do nothing. It is perfectly bonded to me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice¡­¡± It was getting hard to keep my eyes open. ¡°Too bad for you¡­ this is a bit of a¡­Rule Breaker.¡± The dagger glowed and sank into his chest. With a tiny ¡®pop¡¯ the jewel-like sphere that had caused so many problems fell to the ground. Aizen gasped as his connection to the Hogyoku was severed. I couldn¡¯t see his face -my sight was still too blurry for that- but I could hear the rage and confusion in his voice. ¡°How did you¡­?! What Have YOU DOONE?!¡± he screamed. ¡°I broke the connection.¡± I murmured. ¡°You aren¡¯t the Hogyoku¡¯s master anymore¡­¡± ¡°IMPOSSIBLE! YOU DON¡¯T HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT! NOTHING HAS THE POWER TO DO THAT!¡± Aizen raged, sounding oddly distant. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, I am still regenerating. I will simply subjugate it again and you won¡¯t be able to stop me!¡± His rant was interrupted by a small spike of glowing white energy bursting out his chest. Finally, it was about time. ¡°......¡± Aizen continued to scream at me, but I couldn¡¯t make out the words any more. There was a low buzzing sound that seemed to drown out everything else. I idly noticed that what remained of my vision was slowly going black. Recognizing what was going on, I collapsed back on to the ground, and finally passed out. Spirit 4.10 It was another nice day in the Seireitei. Bright blue sky, the occasional cloud floating by, and the decorative trees were all blooming nicely. All combined making a lovely view from the hospital room in the Squad 4 barracks. And I was bored as hell. It wasn¡¯t so bad at first. After the battle with Aizen, I had spent two days unconscious and then the next several recovering. But after two weeks had gone by I was sick of being stuck in the same room and not being allowed to leave. Unfortunately I was told under no uncertain terms by practically everyone I could talk to that I would not be leaving until the latest bout of stupidity had been handled. Well, that¡¯s what I called it. They called it ¡®internal deliberations regarding my unique circumstances¡¯. Basically, it boiled down to once the Nobles of the Seireitei realised they were safe for the moment and that there was not going to be a follow up to Aizen¡¯s last attack, they immediately tried to either call for my death, imprisonment, forced servitude, some combination of all three, and other such ¡®rewards¡¯ for stopping Aizen. The Court Guards Squads responded by nearly unanimously telling them to fuck off. At first it had been because I was under the personal care of Captain Unohana. With all the other Captains busy or injured in the wake of the battle, there was no one strong enough that the Nobles could bribe or blackmail into getting her to release me to them. And once they began recovering the divide between the Nobles and the Court Guard only seemed to get bigger. I might not have been personally close with many of them, actually Soifon was the only one I had more than passing contact with due to her visiting Yoruichi now and again, but turns out a bunch of Nobles demanding for them to go kidnap the girl who just saved their lives and was currently resting in their care didn¡¯t sit well for various reasons. In order, Yamamoto was content to not have my various allies storm the Seireitei in a repeat of their earlier invasion to rescue Rukia. Soifon was, according to Yoruichi, on the hunt for the ringleader behind this movement and would sooner slit their throats than listen to them. Unohana had already denied them and would continue to do so until I was healthily released. Byakuya Kuchiki was also recovering and hadn¡¯t officially said no but had refused to allow the Kuchiki clan to support the demands, so it was obvious where he stood on the matter. Komamura, Kyoraku, Toshiro, and Ukitake all said no but I hadn¡¯t heard their reasons. The only captains willing to carry out the order were the 11th and 12th to no one¡¯s surprise. And one of those was on technicality. Kenpachi was apparently raring to fight me since he heard that I took down Aizen. It was actually a little surprising he hadn¡¯t tried looking for a fight with me earlier but he definitely wanted the chance now. Of course once he got that fight, he would probably turn around and tell the Nobles to screw off as well. Which meant that Captain Kurotsuchi was the only one that had thrown his approval behind the Noble¡¯s demands...and even then it probably wasn¡¯t the endorsement they were looking for. No, Kurotsuchi would be happy to back whatever if it meant I ended up in one of his labs, but at the moment he was far busier with the new toys he had found in Hueco Mundo, so his support was in name only. Kisuke and Yoruichi would¡¯ve probably been more receptive to letting me out if they weren¡¯t currently bogged down with demands to know what happened to the Hogyoku and where it was. Something that was frustrating those in charge of the Seireitei because they refused to believe the two exiled captains didn¡¯t know where it ended up. To be fair, I wouldn¡¯t have believed them either if I didn¡¯t know for a fact the universe¡¯s most bullshit marble had taken up residence in my soulscape. Yep. Sometime after I fell unconscious, the Hogyoku had somehow merged with me and was busy with the lengthy process of reversing the damage the fight had caused since as I had noticed before, injecting a fundamental force into your soul wasn¡¯t healthy. Large areas of my soulscape were charred ruins, light blue embers of Reishi still burning in the scars. A quick test when no one was around confirmed that while I wasn¡¯t completely unable to use my powers, fighting at that level again anytime soon would be...bad. So a month after the battle I was still stuck in a hospital room. As healed as I was going to get, hiding because of greedy idiots, and fully bored. I was contemplating how hard it would be to sneak out and avoid the resulting manhunt when there was a knock on my door and Soifon and Natsume walked in. I was...a little surprised to see them actually. Soifon had lost her left arm after all and Natsume was practically running the Second Division at the moment. For both of them to be able to stop by was unexpected. ¡°Oh, hi you two. How¡¯s it going?¡± Please distract me before I do something that gets everyone mad at me. Soifon nodded politely and Natsume greeted me with a shallow bow. ¡°Hello, Cross-san.¡± Soifon said, ¡°We¡¯ve stopped by to let you know you¡¯re free to go after today.¡± ¡°Oh...really? That¡¯s great!¡± I exclaimed, slightly stunned at regaining my freedom so easily. ¡°Yes. The last of the objections was withdrawn after the most vocal was revealed to be accepting bribes to influence their latest policies.¡± Soifon sent a meaningful look at Natsume. I guess I¡¯ll have to thank her later for finding some dirt on the guy after me. ¡°They¡¯ve backed off for now but you should be careful, we know for a fact that he was not the main party behind the calls for your imprisonment.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± I promised. ¡¯For the little amount of time I¡¯m even still in this universe.¡¯ Unless something had gone wrong in the time I¡¯d been away, the final component to my ship¡¯s drive system should be finishing up back at the lab. Not much I could do to speed up restructuring a crystal to act as the main processing matrix for a dimensional engine when I was working at near sub-atomic levels, but thankfully it was automatic once it started. When I got back the only thing I should have to do is install the thing and I¡¯d be ready to leave whenever. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Good, because now you¡¯re coming with us.¡± ¡°What! Why!?¡± Neither one paid attention to my outburst. They simply forced me into a change of clothes and Natsume dragged me along behind Soifon. In a friendly way. Given who she was, there was no way she would¡¯ve left me so many opportunities to slip her grasp if she really wanted to force me somewhere, so I simply went with the flow. The two ended up pulling me along to a rather large building somewhere nearby. Soifon went to open the door- ¡°SURPRISE!¡± -and my ears were instantly assaulted as I was pulled into the middle of a giant drinking party. ¡°The hell¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a party!¡± A visibly drunk Yoruichi draped herself over my shoulder and waved a drink in my face. ¡°We wanted to celebrate and you¡¯re the lasht one outta the ¡¯ospital. Sho grab a drink an¡¯ let your hair down!¡± ¡°My hair is down.¡± I replied with a smile, amused at her antics. There was no way to tell if she was legitimately drunk or just playing it up for fun, and I doubted anyone was going to figure out which one it was. Yoruichi pulled back and narrowed her eyes as she carefully studied me. It was true, my hair was out of its usual ponytail and flowing freely down my back and shoulders for once. ¡°Huh, it is.¡± Was her slightly slurred response before she shoved a bottle into my hand and abandoned me to disappear into the rest of the party. I took a moment to look around as Natsume guided me to a slightly less crowded area of the room, probably so I could properly join in when I felt like it. It seemed like the event was made up of mostly female Soul Reapers with a few additions, apparently the whole thing was sponsored by the ¡®Shinigami Women¡¯s Association¡¯ so it helped explain the disparity for those attending. I spotted groups playing what suspiciously looked like poker, while others were in the middle of karaoke, most seemed to be sitting around telling jokes and stories while eating and drinking but the cheerful atmosphere was present throughout. It was nice to see and I quickly found myself getting pulled into the festivities. I ended up bouncing from group to group, drinking with the kind of reckless freedom that comes with knowing I would likely never see this group of people again and didn¡¯t need to uphold appearances, getting into a karaoke duel with Nanao Ise of all people which turned out to be a blast, and getting tricked into a game of strip-poker with some of the male Soul Reapers by Rangiku. Though I had the last laugh with that one since while I wasn¡¯t all that great at poker, the guys didn¡¯t have the advantage of directly conjuring clothes from nothing. Some people cried foul at that, but were pacified when it resulted in an impromptu fashion show with several of the female officers modeling. We continued on like that until the sun started to set on the horizon and people gradually made their final farewells and made their ways home. It was a nice party, I decided. I got to interact with some people I would¡¯ve liked to know better before leaving without the threat of a disaster or plot around the corner. Well, aside from the tracker a Squad 12 member tried slipping in my drink. But I simply held onto it. Imagining the face Kurotsuchi would make when he realised I slipped his net would be amazing. Other than that it was just a nice way to unwind. So when Yoruichi and I finally stumbled through the front door of Urahara¡¯s shop, considerably drunk and unsteady on our feet, it was no surprise that I collapsed in an exhausted heap on the first comfortable surface I found and promptly went to sleep. -o- Waking up was a slow experience. I was warm and comfortable and not exactly in a hurry to move. It didn¡¯t help that my body felt like it was made from cotton either. Something soft laid up next to me shifted slightly and I growled in annoyance. I didn¡¯t want to get up! ¡°C¡¯mon Alexandria, let me go. I¡¯m starving.¡± An amused female voice cut through the haze my mind was currently in. ¡°Mnmnmnmmm...¡± was my very coherent response. ¡°If you don¡¯t let go, I¡¯m going to call Kisuke. And he will never let you live this down.¡± the voice threatened. I groaned again as the threat managed to at least get my brain engaged. I refused on a basic level to allow the smug shop owner any sort of blackmail on me. ¡°Fiiine¡± I whined and released my grip, shuddering a little as the cool morning air brushed over my body. ¡­ My eyes snapped open as I realised two things very suddenly. One. I was completely naked, hidden only by a light sheet covering myself. Two. Yoruichi was slowly sliding out of the bed we had both fallen asleep on...and she was also naked. I¡¯m not exactly sure what the look on my face ended up being, but whatever it was, made Yoruichi burst out laughing. ¡°Wow, Alexandria. Way to make a girl feel special.¡± Yoruichi posed and ran a hand down her side. ¡°If that¡¯s your reaction after what last night you¡¯re going to hurt my feelings.¡± I just gaped at her. Eventually she snorted and stopped posing. ¡°Relax. Nothing actually happened.¡± the assassin said, finally taking pity on me. ¡°We were wearing the fake clothes you made yesterday. You got rid of them when you started falling asleep.¡± Ah. That made sense. I was in the habit of dismissing any projections I wasn¡¯t keeping around for a specific reason before I went to bed. I guess it wasn¡¯t that surprising I forgot the clothes from last night fell into that category. Not that it wasn¡¯t just as mortifying. ¡°Heh, it¡¯s still weird to see how innocent you are with these things.¡± Yoruichi teased as I made a decent effort to disappear under the sheet even if I was sure I was glowing with how hot my face felt. ¡°Shut up.¡± I whined. The assassin just laughed again and padded away, her quest for food more important than embarrassing me more for now. Once she was gone, I quickly dressed myself and fled to my lab. -o- Mercifully, I was undisturbed as I went about installing the drive system into my ship. I was right that the crystal had completed its adjustments so it was really just a matter of putting everything together. Once I had done that, I wandered to a nearby terminal and ran a systems test. The only things that came back red were the AI core which still didn¡¯t actually have the software needed to work anyway and the weapon system. It was done. I could leave whenever I wanted to. Huh. I thought I would feel happier about that, instead I just felt a vague feeling of satisfaction for getting it completed in the first place. I performed one final check and then wandered out to the main lab. I had one final thing to do before I could actually leave. -o- I found Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tesai in the breakroom looking like they were waiting for me. Considering the cameras wired into the labs I wasn¡¯t exactly surprised Urahara had figured out what I was doing. ¡°So! Finally finished your big project huh?!¡± Urahara greeted me cheerfully. ¡°Although I feel like I deserve the credit since I¡¯m the one that put most of it together.¡± ¡°Not on your life.¡± That got a couple chuckles from the other two in the room. ¡°But you¡¯re right. I did finish it. So I thought I¡¯d at least say goodbye in person.¡± I smiled sadly. This was essentially home for most of my life. The one I lived rather than the memories I had. It wasn¡¯t enough to keep me around, obviously, but I still had grown somewhat close with Urahara and Yoruichi. As bad as I felt about it now, Tessai was more like a friendly co-worker than a proper friend, but I¡¯d still miss him. I also was going to tell them about the Quincies. No reason to keep them in the dark. So I revealed everything. My true origin as an extra-dimensional visitor who knew far more than she should, exactly how much I had used that knowledge to my advantage(which was surprisingly little with how much time I needed to put into just learning my abilities), and everything I could still remember from a manga I had read in another life. I left out the method of how I knew so much, stretching the truth that I had simply observed a separate timeline that had been further in the future, and that this one had diverged a bit, but the events were still possible. And finally, I told them about Gin and the fact I had kinda managed to recruit him right before I went to go fight Aizen. ¡°So let me get this straight.¡± Yoruichi started. ¡°The reason you decided to tag Gin with the teleportation destination seal was because you knew he wasn¡¯t loyal to Aizen and wanted him to work for us?!¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Why would he even do that?!¡± I shrugged. ¡°He had a major hate-on for Aizen after he hurt a certain strawberry-blonde lieutenant he has a major crush on,¡± I assume ¡±when they were kids. I gave him a deal. I beat Aizen, he works for you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if the Seireitei would like that. We only just got a full pardon after this. Why should they let him off?¡± ¡°Tell them he was a double agent?¡± I suggested. ¡°He was the one that kept feeding us info about Aizen¡¯s plans and couldn¡¯t break cover until his defeat? I don¡¯t know how dirty his hands got but I don¡¯t think he did anything to anyone still alive, and you¡¯ll need people on his level pretty soon.¡± Everyone was quiet for a bit as they thought it over. I didn¡¯t try pressing the issue further. Whatever they decided on was out of my hands. ¡°Well, on that note. I think it¡¯s about time I head off.¡± I stood and brushed myself off. ¡°What, just going to drop that bomb on us and run off? That¡¯s so mean, Alex-chan.¡± Urahara complained. Yoruichi smacked him in the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ll figure things out.¡± She said. ¡°And come back and visit once you find a place to get yourself fixed up.¡± I was surprised she knew about that since I had hidden my new soulstate from everyone but I supposed that was just the last surprise Kisuke had for me. ¡°Indeed. It has been a pleasure to be your acquaintance this past year.¡± Tessai stated. ¡°We would enjoy you returning to visit.¡± ¡°Just give me a call if you have issues piloting.¡± Urahara grinned. ¡°I have a manual if you need one.¡± I grinned back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I purged your code, no poetry based control scheme to worry about. Nice try though.¡± The pole-axed look on his face was enough to keep me laughing all the way back to the ship. Then before I lost my nerve, I took the thing out and activated the dimensional drive. Intermission 1 After some faults and failures with certain systems that were easily fixed, I found myself outside of reality. The viewport was almost beyond useless as everything was just a soup of primordial chaos and stray dimensional energy. I wasn¡¯t even going to try to describe what was going on outside my ship, lovingly named the Azure Horizon, since dimensional shenanigans tend to not be describable with the measly three that I was used to working with. I took my time getting used to my ship and practiced just maneuvering for a while. It wasn¡¯t exactly outer space, but the experience was somewhat comparable and it was every bit as fun as I imagined. Eventually I needed to stop playing around and actually make my way somewhere livable, so I began skimming the edges of different dimensions just to get a sample of what they were like. It was actually more guesswork than anything scientific, the instruments I was working with were meant to be used in the same Reality so if I was using them correctly I would end up in another Universe that operated on Bleach physics. But I had gone a bit further than any sane person would simply because I already knew other Realities were out there and I had an inkling on how to navigate to them. Which led to me skimming over Realities like they were giant soap bubbles looking for the one I wanted. And that was probably the best metaphor I could use for the situation. Each Reality had a ¡®film¡¯ that I could bump up against and peak inside. I couldn¡¯t actually go inside without using the Azure Horizon¡¯s reality drive to pierce through. So I was just moving along and checking out each one I came across looking to see if they had a method of healing my injuries/fixing what was broken with my soul. I got a few hits that had potential. One,from what I could see, was a Universe that had a bunch of martial artists that dealt with soul related artifacts. Unfortunately it was a xianxia world from what I could see, and those worlds moved on a timescale of centuries. By the time I managed to either track down a soul related artifact or tried to use one I would likely have died by then anyway. Another didn¡¯t seem to have any obvious signs of repairing a soul, but when a golden light started to search the area I was investigating and the images of huge gothic styled buildings covered in skulls I had a very unpleasant guess about what went on in that Reality and I wanted nothing to do with any of it. I almost redlined the engine getting away from that particular destination. After that particular encounter I started having less luck. Each Reality I looked into either didn¡¯t have what I needed, would take too long to matter, or was unsuited for one reason or another. I wasn¡¯t exactly unsurprised. I was meandering almost blindly and while I was getting better at navigating, I wasn¡¯t an expert by any standard. -o- Nathanael wanted to cry as he looked at the amount of reality errors that had come in after he came back from his short century long break. Fifteen realities under his authority had nearly collapsed due to timestream failures. Three more were about to start contaminating their counterparts on other reality wavelengths. And to top it all off, his request for a more useful Avatar template had been rejected again. Why couldn¡¯t he get approval for that new one that had started catching on, what was it called again? The Astral Furnace or something like that? Yeah, it was expensive as hell but it would make his job so much easier if he could just load it into all troublesome realities and let the Avatar deal with it. Sure some of them might cause a few dimensional collapses due to incompatibility or stressing the Reality too much, but really, he was only joking when he outlined using that template for an agricultural reality setting. Another error popped up and Nathanael groaned. Stolen story; please report. A 901. Fantastic. The overseer for this reality wavelength sector pulled up a request form. ALG-184-G was in need of a new Avatar and was starting to unravel. Unfortunately he was down to only a few hundred templates after his last audit. He would actually need to ensure this one was carefully chosen or his budget could be cut even more. -o- I couldn¡¯t say how long I had been searching since time was rather...fluid...at the moment, all I really knew was that I was getting low on supplies and would need to get food soon, but eventually I skimmed another reality and saw six brightly colored jewels shining back at me. A wide smile broke out on my face when I saw those. I had found it! When I realised that my soul was actively degrading I had made a list of all the places that I could think of with objects or techniques relating to healing or affecting the soul. It was surprisingly much longer than I was expecting, but the one I figured would be the easiest was the Marvel Universe¡¯s Infinity Stones. With each one being a literal crystallization of creation for each universe even if the one I was interested in, the Soul Stone, couldn¡¯t fix me it was nearly guaranteed to be powerful enough to stop any further damage from occurring and give me plenty of time to either heal or come up with a solution to the problem. Finding the stone itself might be an issue, but I had some ideas about that. I didn¡¯t waste anymore time before activating the reality drive and dove through the barrier. From there I just chose a Universe at random. I didn¡¯t have the experience to narrow it down to the one I wanted, but inter-universal travel was already a thing here. I could hopefully find someone willing to send me where I need- My musings were cut short when my ship shuttered to a halt and the controls locked up. What the hell was going on?! ¡±What¡¯s this? Another creature thinks they can trespass where they are not wanted?¡± A severe voice suddenly came from nowhere. ¡°Sorry?¡± I said back, a little confused and wary. From what I knew, nothing should be able to stop me from entering a Universe. ¡°I was just traveling, I had no idea I was trespassing or anything like that.¡± ¡±Lies. I can sense your destination, creature. You would attack the domain under our protection! Too bad for you, the Sanctum is well equipped to deal with your kind.¡± Sanctum? Wait¡­ ¡°Are you a Sorcerer?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m not here to cause trouble. I¡¯m looking for-¡± ¡±It doesn¡¯t matter what you seek.¡± the sorcerer cut me off. ¡±As a master of the Mystic Arts and as a master of a Sanctum it is my sworn duty to prevent any incursions of creatures such as you. Now begone! I, Mogwai, fifty third master of the Sanctum Sanctorum deny you!¡± Before I could open my mouth to argue the Azure Horizon jerked backwards and I ended up slamming my face into the dashboard. The sudden impact disrupted my thoughts and it felt like my nose was broken so I think I could be forgiven for not noticing Mogwai doing something until everything warped and I found myself flung out of reality. Actually that was putting it mildly. Not only was I flung back out into the Greater Dimensional Sea, I was skipping through realities at random as the ship¡¯s drive activated and deactivated without my control. The rapid transitions were quickly giving me a migraine. Ignoring the growing pain in my head, I started wrestling with the controls, trying to get the reality drive to disengage. A short while later I gave up on the idea. Whatever that sorcerer had done, I couldn¡¯t stop it and it looked like it wasn¡¯t slowing down any either. So unless I wanted to wait and hope that things just stopped by itself I was going to have to do something fast. And since I had no desire to stab my new ship with one of my Noble Phantasms and pray that did something, I did the next best thing I could think of; I made my way to engineering and waited until I felt myself entering another reality and physically cut the power. Immediately, everything but the backup lights blacked out and I found myself being pulled into a local dimension as the last bits of energy from the reality drive bled off. I smiled in relief when nothing exploded. That relief vanished like smoke when I felt the subtle vibrations in the metal floor beneath me. Vibrations meant air. Air meant atmosphere. Oh fuck, I was crashing onto a planet with no power! In a mad scramble I raced back to the cockpit and did my best to somehow not paste myself or my ship in re-entry. Not that I had much luck. The last thing I saw before the Azure Horizon hit the ground were some mountains bigger than any I had seen before. Then there was an impact and I found myself thrown from my seat and into blackness. -o- Nathanael no longer knew what was going on. He had been doing the final selection for an Avatar template when suddenly dozens of reality errors started popping up. Something was tearing through them at an incredible rate before vanishing before Nathanael had the chance to do anything. He had to abandon his selection to quickly stabilize the errors that popped up and even then, quite a few would need an Avatar¡¯s intervention to fully recover. If he ever found what caused that string of errors, he was going to pull it apart and spread its atoms across the Dimensional Sea. With a tired sigh at the prospect of even more work Nathanael went back to his template selection. This one wasn¡¯t much to work with but he had spent a good amount of time tweaking it to ensure it could handle it¡¯s job. 901 errors were serious and had the potential to spill over into other dimensions. He sighed again and entered the confirmation code. If this one couldn¡¯t handle the task Nathanael wasn¡¯t sure what he would do. He was already in a bit of trouble for his rate of dimensional collapses and he wasn¡¯t looking forward to an audit if his rate kept going up. The code went into his terminal and beeped. Nathanael blinked at the sound of another error and started cursing. All that hard work selecting a template, wasted! Ugh, this was too much. He was taking another break. As the overseer walked out the monitor continued to innocently display the last error code. Error : Avatar Template failed to upload. Reason : Avatar Template #29872 already detected. Rider 1.1 It was dark when I finally woke up again. Well, it was dark in the cockpit. The crash had buried the viewport in dirt so I had no real way of telling what outside looked like at the moment. All I had were some emergency running lights and a pounding headache. I brought a hand up to my forehead and it came away wet, so at the very least there was a cut there. I fumbled blindly across the control board until I found the ignition switch and flipped it. The Azure Horizon groaned and spluttered as lights flashed on and off before something popped and everything died again. Well that was fantastic. A small ball of fire appeared in my hand as I climbed to my feet and made my way back to the engineering room. Thankfully despite the landing nothing big had broken free. There were a few cables that had detached but that was the worst of it, at least in terms of visible damage. The truly bad part was when I opened the reactor to see if anything had been damaged there. Inside the durable casing something must have shorted out, because the core was a slagged piece of junk now. The worst part was despite having the tools to make a new one, even if I had to power them myself, I didn¡¯t have enough of the special alloy needed to make another. So I was stuck wherever here was until I had the chance to track some down. If I was lucky, I was on a more modern world where I could simply hack enough money together and order the alloy from a foundry. If not...I could be here for a while. -o- It took several hours to fully check over the Horizon. By that time I had cleaned myself off, fixed what damage I could, and scraped together a travel pack; it was already dark. I set up a basic Bounded Field, just enough to deter the casual interloper should they find my ship by accident. Considering nothing had come looking this way other than some wildlife I was either too far away from people to be worth the effort, or there was simply no one around to notice at all. Given that my quick look outside confirmed that I was deep in the mountains. Mountains I wasn¡¯t entirely sure existed on Earth going by how tall they were. Given that I ended up skipping through realities, that wasn¡¯t much of a surprise but it was still neat to see. But sitting around marveling at the scenery wasn¡¯t going to help, so once there was enough light to see (I couldn¡¯t really call it sunrise since the mountains blocked a good amount of light and it was well into morning by the time I could see the sun) I shouldered my pack and set out. For a few days it was fun. I couldn¡¯t say I had ever really been mountain camping before. Certainly never to the point where I only had what I could carry, even if I was cheating by tracing whatever tools I needed. It was relaxing and peaceful. But even the wonder of nature grew normal after enough exposure, and soon enough I was just hoping to find some sign of civilization and a soft bed. So when I heard voices up ahead one night right before I was about to set camp, I was cautiously optimistic about finding a way out of the mountains. Of course that didn¡¯t mean I was going to walk out and announce myself. Magic might be unknown or reviled, so I traced a hunter¡¯s bow and a simple dagger with a wind enchantment. Enough to defend myself in a pinch and also fully justifiable for me to have on hand. After all, bow hunting remained a popular enough hobby or needed skill that no one would think much about it¡­.unless hunting was illegal here, but I would rather have the weapons than not. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I edged through the trees and saw two men in a rather heated conversation with a pair of horses nearby. My heart sank at the sight of them because while they weren¡¯t in rags, the clothes they were wearing definitely came from a pre-industrial society. And considering the younger looking one of the two had a rather ornate looking sword on him, all red and silver with a large ruby on the pommel, they likely came from some sort of prestige. The only immediate good news was that there was a gently flowing river past them, so at the very least I had found a good water source if I decided not to introduce myself. One of the horses shifted uncomfortably and drew my eye to the bound figure on top of it. The woman¡¯s long black hair covered most of her face but she didn¡¯t look conscious or consenting about her situation considering that she was quite literally tied into place. A captive. Which meant possibly slavers or criminals at the least. Now I was left with how I wanted to handle this. I couldn¡¯t just kill them, if the captive woman was seriously hurt getting lost in the mountains could be a death sentence. So I would either need to capture one and use that to force the other to surrender or stalk them until they fell asleep and capture them that way. Well, I suppose I could just attack head on but that risked the horses startling and running off, captive still in the saddle. That choice was taken out of my hands when the older, angrier of the two men stormed a bit off and grabbed a stick from the ground. I was still checking out the horses and wondering if they would run off if startled when that same stick smashed into the tree next to me and elected a hastily cut off curse. But the damage was done and the two men had noticed someone was watching them. ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± the angry one called out and drew his sword. Well sneaking and hiding were off the table now. I guess that left head on¡­ Fuck, I really hope the horses don¡¯t run off. I nocked an arrow to the hunting bow and stepped out of the treeline, making sure I could snap between targets as needed. ¡°I guess that really depends on you two.¡± I called back. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this.¡± the younger one hissed. ¡°We need to get moving before the Urgals catch up.¡± ¡°And I told you I wouldn¡¯t go to the Varden!¡± the angry one hissed back. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me this was a dead end?¡± The younger one bristled, but I cut in before they could keep arguing. ¡°Hey! Pay attention! You can go back to fighting later, but I want to know two things. What did you do to the woman on the horse and how do I get out of these mountains?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t do any-¡± ¡°And why would we tell you that?¡± Their voices overlapped, but the angry one¡¯s tone made his words easier to pick out. Even over the dull sound of nearby thunder. Was there a storm on the way? That could be a problem. ¡°Because then I¡¯ll be nice enough to leave your packs. I don¡¯t like slavers. And considering you already have people on your tail about it, I think I¡¯m being rather generous.¡± ¡°Slavers?! No, we need to get moving. We are not slavers, Arya¡¯s hurt, and- wait! Saphira stop!¡± That nearby thunder? It was suddenly much closer and the ground trembled a little as something big moved behind me. I managed to turn around before something large, blue, and scaly smashed into me. I caught a flash of some incredibly large teeth before I was slammed into the ground, hit my head on a rock, and blacked out for a second. Not for long though, and I was a little confused about what I woke back up to. The giant fucking blue DRAGON that had smashed into me had a forepaw pressed against my chest so I wasn¡¯t getting up anytime soon, especially with the two probably very sharp claws on either side of my head. The good news is that the dragon wasn¡¯t looking at me, it was distracted by something going on over by the two men from earlier. The bad news was it had its teeth bared and I could feel the low rumbling growl vibrating down its leg. I really hoped it wasn¡¯t hungry. Not wanting to draw the giant lizard¡¯s attention for the moment I turned my attention to the conversation the other two were having even as I was indexing all the anti-dragon Noble Phantasms in my mind. Would I even be capable of tracing one right now? A horn echoed out behind us, causing the dragon to flinch and step down a little harder on my chest and making me gasp at the sudden increase in weight. It¡¯s head swung around to stare at me for a second before swinging back towards the two men, both of whom had run to the horses and started gathering the reins. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be killed by an army of Urgals you better come with us!¡± the younger one yelled at her. ¡°There¡¯s no time to talk! Murtagh, run with me.¡± Both of them started jogging beside the river and after a final glance from the dragon, she stepped off me and started after them too. Well, I finally found out where I was. Two young men in the middle of the mountains wouldn¡¯t tell me anything about the world I was on unless they happened to be three feet tall and be very cautious about jewelry. But two men, an injured woman (who I would bet money was an elf) and a blue dragon being chased by an army? That was much more specific. I was in the Inheritance Cycle. A lovely fantasy world of magic and dragons that could generously be called fantasy Star Wars and would definitely NOT have an easy way to get the metal I needed. I would¡¯ve started cursing, but the threat of an army just around the corner was significantly more important than venting my feelings at the moment. So I gathered the bow from where it had fallen and started sprinting after the others. Rider 1.2 We didn¡¯t run through the forest for long. The trees fairly quickly gave way to a deep lake settled in between high mountainous walls that glittered in the starlight. Our only way forward were two narrow ¡®beaches¡¯ made of worn down pebbles on each side of the lake and beyond them was a roaring waterfall. The sight of it caused all of us, Murtagh, myself, and the young man I deduced was Eragon, to pause slightly. ¡°Do we head for the falls?¡± Murtagh asked tightly. ¡°Yes.¡± was Eragon¡¯s similarly strained response. Both of them started down the lake¡¯s left side with Eragon taking the lead and Murtagh following close behind. A short growl and a puff of smoke had me walking behind them and in front of the slightly pissed off dragon. I guess Saphira had no intentions of trusting me just yet. Speaking of, the dragon was having the hardest time walking out of all of us. The ¡®beach¡¯ was incredibly slippery, the stones either wet or covered in slime. But that wasn¡¯t what made it hard for Saphira. It was the fact that she was simply too big to fit on the path, two legs constantly dipping about a foot in the water at all times because of her size. Despite that every time I got too close or far to the other two, she would lightly growl until the distance satisfied her again. Halfway around the lake Murtagh looked back and called out a warning. ¡°Urgals!¡± I risked getting growled at again to check behind us. True to his word, the shore had begun to fill up with the army that had been chasing the two of them. And to say they weren¡¯t a little intimidating would be a lie. Rationally I knew that any of my previous opponents would wipe the floor with dozens of these creature with almost no effort, but it was still somewhat scary to see hundreds of muscular, grey-skinned people with horns, all around eight feet tall, heavily armed, and ready to kill you. Saphira took to the air and started to harass the Urgals chasing after us. Considering they were large enough that they were forced to move single file meant she did a pretty good job of it until the Urgals started to drive her off with a bunch of archers on the far shore where we had come from, all while even more of them circled the far bank of the lake. With so many archers focused on her, Saphira dove into the water and did a pretty good impression of a sea serpent, which forced the Urgals to slow down even more as they eyed the dark water nervously. The dragon even managed to snag a couple before enough spears were pointed at the lake as a deterrent. Not one to just let an enemy advance comfortably, I took advantage of their distracted state to fire off a few arrows. While these arrows didn¡¯t have any kind of enchantment otr the like on them, they still went exactly where I wanted. Two of the horned Kull dropped without a sound as arrows went through their eyes. Three more stumbled and fell either into the water or back against their comrades as more arrows struck them in the throat, the knee, or the heart. Unfortunately I overestimated how concerned the Urgals would be about their injured friends. Dead or alive, the struck Urgals were tossed into the water or trampled underfoot by the ones behind them as they continued to advance. Up ahead of me, Eragon and Murtagh had made it to the base of the waterfall and were doing something, but I could barely hear them over the sound of roaring water. Eragon began smashing a rock into the cliff face and shouting something but nothing appeared to be happening. While I was distracted, one of the Urgals managed to get a lucky hit on Saphira when she burst out of the water a bit further back than where I was shooting, his spear managing to score a long graze in her flank. The dragon quickly retreated back underwater with a pained roar and the Urgals started to surge forward, taking advantage of her retreat. The first one caught an arrow in the throat, the second was smarter by using his muscular arms to guard his vitals. It didn¡¯t stop my next arrow from shattering his knee and forcing him into the water. The implicit threat of being shot forced the Urgals to advance slowly again and I picked my shots so they either killed or crippled every time, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up and I had seen shields further back. Things would get dicey if those made it to the front. Saphira burst out of the water and landed back by the horses. There was still no sign of whatever Eragon had been calling for happening and despite my sniping, the Urgals were getting closer. ¡°What¡¯s the hold up?!¡± I called back at the group, releasing another arrow and bringing down another enemy. ¡°We¡¯re on the wrong side of the lake!¡± Eragon called back. ¡°We need to go through the waterfall!¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Through the waterfall? Was he serious? I eyed the ten foot wide curtain of water. No way was everyone making it through that. ¡°We¡¯ll never get the horses through there, even if we can hold our own footing.¡± Murtagh cried as arrows from the more distant Urgals started to fall around us. Saphira quickly used her scaled sides as cover for all of us but it was clear the arrows were doing damage as she violently twitched with every hit. ¡°I¡¯ll convince them to follow us.¡± Eragon snapped. ¡°And Saphira can carry Arya.¡± Murtagh looked between the waterfall and the Urgals and shrugged. ¡°Better than being hacked to death.¡± He said as he moved to help Eragon with the injured elf. ¡°You¡¯re both insane!¡± I swung around Saphira¡¯s flank and fired several more arrows into the approaching hoard. Both of them ignored me and went about securing the elf onto Saphira¡¯s back. The second they were done the dragon took to the air, drawing angry shouts and more arrows from the Urgals. Murtagh was the first in the water, followed shortly by Eragon after the boy said something to the horses. An act that jogged my memory on how magic actually worked here. The use of the body¡¯s energy molded through intense concentration or by using a specific language to shape their spells. This ¡®Ancient Language¡¯ was unique from other languages as it was impossible to tell direct lies while speaking it and promises were binding. I would need to take a close look at how it worked later because the possibility of learning how to declare my intent to people like Mogwai sounded like a really freaking useful ability. But that would also mean getting caught up with the Varden and their war. My only practical options were to either go along with Eragon, at least until we made it inside the mountain city, or start showing off more of my powers no matter how badly injured I was and fight through the Urgal army. I could probably do it with only a few new injuries at worst, but then I would be mostly back to where I started. Alone in the mountains, far from any friendly settlements, and with almost no way of getting the metals I needed. I scowled. Looks like I will have to play nice with the Varden for at least a little while. I doubt they would just let me go if I suddenly showed I could smash armies by myself anyway. That thought in mind, I threw my bow over my head to maintain the illusion I actually needed the thing and jumped into the water. The waterfall itself was a pain as it did it¡¯s best to crush me into the lakebed, but the worst part of the whole experience was the freezing temperature of the water. I did my best to swim/walk along the bottom of the waterfall, kicking upwards to snag a breath of air when needed, before I eventually dragged myself onto the opposite shore. To say the situation I arrived at was tense would be an understatement. Saphira and Murtagh were being ringed by a group of rather grim looking men, while the tallest, a bald, beardless man in purple held a dagger to Murtagh¡¯s throat. Eragon was shivering like a leaf and looking half drowned while a very short man with a large beard stood at his side. A dwarf, I realised after a second. A part of me smirked as I realised that within an hour of meeting the locals I had come across humans, Urgals, an elf, a dwarf, and a dragon. If I wasn¡¯t forgetting something, that was the all major races in this world. I bet not many people could say that. Speaking of Urgals, I looked to the side to see the grey-skinned army being decimated by sustained arrow fire coming out of hidden murder holes in the cliffs. With no way of fighting back the Urgals could only die as they were turned into pincushions. Satisfied that, that threat was handled for now I turned my attention to the man in purple. Already he had stopped Eragon from attempting to speak or use magic by pressing his dagger harder up against Murtugh¡¯s throat. ¡°None of that! If you say or do anything I do not tell you to, he will die. Now, everyone inside.¡± He backed into a tunnel that had appeared on the cliff face and dragged Murtagh along with him. The rest of us followed in after him and were guided through a couple quick turns once the doors were closed behind us. Eragon made an attempt to speak up but was quickly silenced by the man in purple. ¡°Do not speak! It must wait until you have been tested.¡± He shoved Murtagh to one of the other humans, who quickly returned a blade to his throat. What followed was honestly an abysmal first impression for the organisation dedicated to bringing down a tyrant. We were all forced to disarm, although I got the sense that no one in the room seemed to take me as a serious threat for some reason, and Eragon was forced away from the group. He finally convinced the group to take a look at Arya, who somehow had been missed by the entire group escorting us despite being very visible on top of Saphira... When most of them were staring cautiously at the dragon to begin with¡­ Then we got to enjoy some posturing between purple man and the dwarf, Orik, hanging around Eragon about actually getting the elf help and making sure Eragon wasn¡¯t harmed during the questioning. The man in purple immediately went to harming the boy in what seemed like incredibly painful mental torture. Painful to the extent that Eragon nearly collapsed after it ended. Orik berated the man in purple for it but he didn¡¯t seem to care. To the surrounding warriors¡¯ relief, Eragon was declared trustworthy, but that was when other troubles appeared. The bald man turned from Eragon and looked at Murtagh. ¡°It¡¯s your turn now.¡± ¡°No.¡± That one word caused everyone to tense up as the bald man grew angry. ¡°You will not be protected here if you refuse.¡± ¡°Eragon has been declared trustworthy, so you cannot threaten to kill him to influence me. Since you can¡¯t do that, nothing you say or do will convince me to open my mind.¡± ¡°What of your own life or your other companion¡¯s? I can still threaten those.¡± ¡°For the record, I¡¯m not actually one of their companions.¡± I spoke up for the first time. ¡°We just met a couple hours ago before we were all chased by the Urgals. Threatening my life won¡¯t make a difference for him.¡± ¡°And if I say I will have you killed unless he cooperates anyway?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Then I fight you. I¡¯m not expecting someone I just met to do something that large for me.¡± The bald man looked infuriated and maybe half a second from ordering me killed out of spite. He managed to get a hold of his emotions and turned back to Murtagh, waiting on his decision. To his credit, Murtagh did seem a bit troubled that they would threaten my life just to force him to submit, but it didn¡¯t change his decision. He refused again and that seemed to be the last straw for the purple man¡¯s self control as he roughly grabbed Murtagh¡¯s head and started forcing himself into his mind. I was actually starting to get concerned Murtagh would have a stroke from the effort he was putting into his defences when Orik the dwarf interrupted again. ¡°That is enough!¡± he cried, and physically separated the two. The bald man rounded on the dwarf angrily, ¡°How dare you!¡± he shouted at the dwarf. ¡°You questioned my leadership, opened the gates without permission, and now this! You¡¯ve shown nothing but insolence and treachery. Do you think your king will protect you now?¡± Orik bristled. ¡°You would have let them die! If I waited any longer the Urgals would have killed them.¡± he pointed a finger at Murtagh, who was still breathing heavily from his interrogation. We don¡¯t have the right to torture him for information! Ajihad won¡¯t sanction it. Not after you¡¯ve examined the Rider and found him free of fault. And they¡¯ve brought us Arya.¡± The bald man looked like he wanted to rip Orik to pieces where he stood. With anger practically pouring off of his frame, he turned to me. ¡°Then we will deal with him after you are examined.¡± My own blue eyes met his rage filled ones. I smiled and answered him. ¡°I refuse.¡± Rider 1.3 ¡°I refuse.¡± I always figured the phrase ¡®angry enough to spit blood¡¯ was a purely metaphorical saying, but the bald man was making a good effort at doing it anyway. His entire face had gone a probably unhealthy shade of red all the way down to his neck and really highlighted the fact that he had no eyebrows in addition to being bald. There was a condition for that. Aloe-pica Universalis or something like that? Meh, not that important. The point was if his blood pressure went any higher, he was going to burst something. ¡°And what gives you the impression you have a choice in the matter?¡± I said nothing and just stared at the man. I was half expecting Orik to jump in again but he remained quiet. I guess he was choosing his interruptions with more care than I thought. The bald man stalked forward and two of the surrounding warriors stepped up behind me, preventing me from running off. To their credit they didn¡¯t exactly look comfortable putting me at the mercy of the near rabid man, but they were determined to do their job. A rough, oddly feminine hand seized my forehead and I could tell right away the man wanted to make this as painful as physically possible. Too bad for him I wasn¡¯t all that worried. I hadn¡¯t had a reason to do much with it beyond its primary function as physical armor, but a little known fact about the Barrier Jacket spell was that it was a nearly complete defense against physical, mental, and environmental hazards. Whatever telepathy trick this guy was going to use was going to run into a steel wall as I tightened my defenses. So I was a bit surprised- okay, I was stunned and horrified -when the man didn¡¯t attempt to probe my mind, but started worming his way into my soul. How the hell did he even- no, no time for that. Thankfully while whatever method the bald man was using was incredibly invasive and prevented me from just kicking him out immediately, it was slow. I was able to recover quickly enough to at least blunt the probe from getting too deep. In response the probe started to spread to several places, worming its way into cracks in my defenses like thorny vines. It was infuriating. I wanted nothing more than to kill the one behind this, damn the consequences, but as I had just found out magic worked on an entirely different spectrum than what I was used to. I had no good defenses for a direct soul assault other than simply reinforcing my will on blocking the probe. And this was just a technique for interrogation. I couldn¡¯t risk the chance of the purple prick causing some serious harm in retaliation if I tried to kill him right now, not when he was already in contact with my soul. What saved me from doing something stupid was the Hogyoku. Turns out, the little miracle marble is territorial. Once the probes got past a certain point they ran into a diamantine wall that refused to budge at all under the spiritual assault. Slowly, the probes were driven back. They still kept poking for new places to wriggle into, which was both painful and annoying, but there was no chance the bald man was getting what he wanted at this point. Something he seemed to realise as he withdrew his hand and reared back like he was going to slap me. That proved too much for Orik and he decided to step in again, once again physically pulling the two of us apart. ¡°Enough, Egraz Carn! I¡¯ve warned you before, we do not have the right to torture for information. Especially not some slip of a girl!¡± I scowled at the casual dismissal based on my gender. Weakened though I was, I was still more dangerous than everyone in this room, including the dragon. If this was the commonly shared attitude towards women I was going to really enjoy being stuck here for a while. Also, I was not a ¡®slip of a girl¡¯ by any definition, dammit! ¡°You would allow them to enter unchallenged? Are you so great a fool as to put us all at risk?!¡± the bald man demanded, looking slightly feral with barely chained rage. ¡°Can they use magic?¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°That is-¡± ¡°Can they use magic?¡± Orik roared at the man, his voice echoing in the halls slightly. Dwarf or not, he had an impressive set of lungs. The bald man drew himself up, suddenly expressionless and clasped his hands behind his back. ¡°No.¡± he said finally, his previous anger oddly absent. That or he was so pissed off he just went full circle back to calm. Also, sidenote, figure out how the hell magic worked here because I was obviously capable of using magic. Was actively using it too, seeing as my projected weaponry was still there, yet he was saying I couldn¡¯t use it at all. And the man wouldn¡¯t be lying for my sake, he clearly wanted information and this would be the perfect opportunity to push for more. ¡°Then what do you fear? It¡¯s impossible for them to escape, and they can¡¯t work any devilry with all of us here, especially if your powers are as great as you say. But don¡¯t listen to me; ask Ajihad what he wants done.¡± After another glare at the dwarf, the bald man looked to the ceiling and closed his eyes. Apparently there was an actual method for telepathy, since he started muttering soundlessly to himself for a few minutes. It was clear very quickly that whatever was being said wasn¡¯t to his liking though, considering he was practically strangling the air in front of him by the end of it. ¡°Leave, now.¡± he finally snapped to the surrounding warriors once his telepathic conversation ended. Perhaps wisely, none of the warriors made a sound as they began filing out of the room. ¡°Because I was unable to finish my examination, you and¡­ your friends will remain here for the night. If either of them attempts to leave, they will be killed.¡± he said directly to Eragon. After that, he swept out of the room leaving the four of us alone. Orik followed him, but not before promising to have some food sent to us. I wanted to introduce myself to the three of them now that we weren¡¯t running from an army but Eragon muttered something to Saphira that had the dragon separate us and growl lightly when I tried to approach. Trying to figure out what was going on, I reinforced my hearing and realised why Eragon wanted us separated pretty quickly. Murtagh had recently revealed to him that he was the son of Morzan, the leader of the Forsworn, thirteen Dragon Riders who served Galbatorix and aided him in his destruction of the Order, and abusive father on top of that. Eragon had kept that information hidden during the ¡¯examination¡¯ and wanted to know how the son of someone that close to Galbatorix was free to wander around like Murtagh had. According to Murtagh, he really hadn¡¯t been. He had been raised close to the king after the death of his father and swore to serve the king in helping him conquer the rest of the continent- apparently the King was a really persuasive speaker -but changed his mind and tried to escape when the king revealed his madness and ordered Murtagh to lead a detachment of troops to raze a town that was rumored to shelter some of the Varden occasionally. Determined not to follow the orders of a madman, Murtagh attempted to escape but was predicted. He still managed in the end but his friend and teacher Tornac was killed in the process. Murtagh fled to another friend¡¯s estate and hid there until he caught rumors about the King looking to capture or kill someone resembling a Rider. Deciding to follow a few of the king¡¯s agents, Murtagh eventually met Eragon and the rest was history. It made sense that Eragon was keeping me at a distance if that was what they were talking about. If he was going to keep it from the Varden, there was no way he would discuss it with someone he hadn¡¯t actually been introduced to. So rather than intrude on their conversation, I simply raised my hands to Saphira and slowly backed off and waited until they finished. Eventually Murtagh got fed up with the conversation, threw his hands up, and loudly declared that he was going to sleep. ¡°Sorry for that,¡± Eragon apologised as he approached. ¡°That was a private topic, and pretty sensitive too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I smiled at him, then had to hold back laughter as he blushed deeply. After seeing Ichigo deal with everything less than full on nudity with the reaction of a block of wood, it was nice to cause that kind of reaction with just a smile. Even if it was because Eragon was a farmboy with almost no real exposure to the other sex. ¡°I just wanted to say thank you for warning me, even after our initial meeting started out so poorly.¡± ¡°Ah, right¡­ that¡­¡± Eragon coughed uncomfortably. ¡°It was an honest mistake, and I¡¯m sure Saphira is sor-¡± he was interrupted by a great snort from the blue dragon, making both of us look at her. She clearly wasn¡¯t the least bit apologetic about our meeting and was probably telling Eragon exactly that going by the expression on his face. ¡°Ahem, well¡­¡± He trailed off before shaking himself and speaking up again. ¡°I¡¯m Eragon and this is Saphira. I would introduce Murtagh but he is in a foul mood at the moment.¡± ¡°No worries. I would be upset too if my only options were death or imprisonment. My name is Alexandria Cross.¡± I introduced myself. Eragon looked surprised for some reason before I realised he might be drawing the wrong conclusions from my name. If I remembered right, people here based their last names on either ancestry or achievement. My name must sound strange to him. But this might give me a chance to start forging my own history before someone makes assumptions like last time. ¡°You aren¡¯t upset though? That man was so strong, I¡¯m surprised you were able to resist him.¡± I smiled sharply. ¡°Oh I¡¯m not happy about that at all, in fact, if he gives me the chance I will return the favor. As for resisting him¡­ it¡¯s been a while since I faced an animancer, but there are ways anyone can learn to handle them with some training.¡± or by getting lucky and having a semi-sentient object decide that visitors aren¡¯t allowed. I would need to fix that hole in my defenses sooner than later. That should be enough to plant some interesting conversational hooks though, and I could tell Eragon was curious about several points. Unfortunately, he ruined it with a jaw-cracking yawn. He obviously didn¡¯t have much energy left and had probably only come over to be polite so talking past this point wouldn¡¯t do much. Especially if he fell asleep in the middle of the conversation. ¡°It¡¯s late and I¡¯m sure our hosts will keep us busy tomorrow. You should sleep, we can talk in the morning.¡± I suggested. Eragon tucked his head sheepishly. ¡°Right. It was nice to properly meet you though.¡± I just smiled back, earning myself another blush. Saphira let out another growl and Eragon made a hasty retreat back to his group before settling down to sleep. His dragon curled herself around him like a cat and draped a wing over him, hiding him from view, and gave me a glare. I¡¯m not entirely sure what I did to get on the dragon¡¯s bad side but there was no reason to get into it tonight. Following their example, I settled up against a wall and got as comfortable as I could before drifting off to sleep. Rider 1.4 The problem with waking up in an underground room after spending a few days hiking through mountains is that I had absolutely no reference for time anymore. The sun was never visible until late morning, almost afternoon, and dipped behind another in the afternoon nearly as fast. Being underground, I didn¡¯t even have the chance to guess what time it was. Murtagh had already woken up given the way his head moved when I started moving around, but he was obviously not interested in either revealing that fact or having a conversation since he continued to lie where he was with his eyes closed. Not far from him, Saphira occasionally let out some low, rumbling snores. How Eragon could sleep through that was a mystery I would need to investigate some other time. A quick glance around the room revealed there was nothing really interesting to spend time investigating or looking at, so I copied Murtagh in just laying about until someone came to check up on us. Although it turned out I didn¡¯t need to wait that long. Not long after Eragon and Saphira woke up, a bunch of Varden warriors followed by the bald jackass and Orik funneled through the door. I couldn¡¯t resist chuckling at the look on the first guy¡¯s face when he came through and saw Saphira a few feet away staring directly at him. I wish I had a camera because the look on his face was priceless. ¡°You have been summoned to Ajihad, leader of the Varden.¡± the bald man declared to our little group. ¡°If you must eat, do so while we march.¡± With that lovely greeting we are herded out into a massive tunnel that cuts into the mountain. It''s actually remarkable how well formed the whole thing is considering the whole thing would need to be carved in its entirety by hand tools. Eragon starts asking after his weapons, horses and Arya only to be told the horses are just up ahead and we won¡¯t get our weapons back until Ajihad says so, not that that particularly matters to me. Arya, however, is still with the healers after her ordeal. After that we are instructed to line up in the middle of the tunnel, Eragon got yelled at for trying to mount Saphira and was commanded to use his horse until told otherwise. And both him and Murtagh offered the use of their horse to me anyway but I declined. The horses would get tired before I did. Then we were in for an incredibly boring march. The tunnel occasionally had doors and gates that led to other passageways, but they were all closed so we walked for what literally had to have been close to an hour or more through the same repeating scenery in silence. I tried drawing the guards walking next to me into a conversation multiple times, if only to break up the annoying sound of the horse¡¯s hooves echoing through the tunnel, but I eventually gave up when they completely ignored anything I said. So I was incredibly relieved when the end of the tunnel lightened considerably, a sign that we were finally coming up on the end of the passage and into what was hopefully our destination. A thought that was confirmed when our lovely tour leader stopped us before we made it to the exit. ¡°You will ride upon your dragon now.¡± the bald man said to Eragon. ¡°Do not attempt to fly away. There will be people watching, so remember who and what you are.¡± With that lovely bit of encouragement, we passed through the gate into the heart of the mountain. It was a massive hollow space that went on for miles, massive icicles were visible hanging from the ¡®ceiling¡¯ where I wasn¡¯t sure anyone could get to without breathing gear and in the center was a smaller mountain inside of a mountain. Focusing on the white shape in the distance I was able to tell it wasn¡¯t actually a mountain, but a city in the middle of the volcanic crater that formed the inside of the cavern. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. While I was distracted with the absurdity that was a hollow mountain with a city that large in the middle of it I overheard Orik speaking to Eragon. ¡°Look well, human, for no Rider has set eyes upon this for nigh over a hundred years. The airy peak under which we stand is Farthen D?r -- discovered thousands of years ago by the father of our race, Korgan, while he tunneled for gold. And in the center stands our greatest achievement: Tronjheim, the city-mountain built from the purest marble.¡± I had to admit; the crater, the mountain, the city¡­ all of it came together in one of the most beautiful scenes I had ever come across. So much so that I think I could be forgiven for missing the swarm of people that stood in front of us in dead silence as I took in the scene. Once I did notice them it was incredibly unnerving how they just stared. Even the children I could see in the crowd made no noise. Eragon had it worse since he was the main focus of the swarm of gazes and it showed as he made a jerky half-wave at the crowd and then did his best to sink through Saphira and into the floor when no one made a sound. Finally, a single cheer and a smattering of applause broke out from the people gathered before a wave of sound exploded over us. It seemed like everyone in the crowd was trying to make up for being silent seconds earlier. The bald man prodded Eragon forward and while the people in front of our path quieted a little when Saphira got close, they only got louder again afterwards. Not everyone seemed happy to see a Rider though. A good amount of the dwarves in the crowd were glaring at Eragon and some even turned to leave entirely. Given that dwarves far outnumbered the humans¡­it was a bit concerning to say the least. I was practically ignored as we progressed towards Tronjheim, not unexpected since there was a dragon and a Rider in our group; both of them made for more interesting things to stare at than a random person being escorted along with them, so I was free to examine the scenery with no interruptions. In a word, Tronjheim was...extravagant. Shining white buildings of carved marble were embellished with more gold than I had imagined. Golden statues lined the walls along with rich tapestries that wove tales of heroes and battles long past. All of that paled under the giant dawn-red gem that hung over the city. Carved to look like a rose in bloom, it would¡¯ve been the masterpiece in any art collection by the craftsmanship alone. That was without taking into account that it was nearly 20 meters wide and nearly as tall, or how the belt of giant lanterns around it illuminated the gem so that it bathed the city underneath in a gentle red light. Honestly, the gem itself was beautiful enough that I was considering this entire experience worth it just to see it in person. Entirely too soon for my taste, we were guided down a twisting corridor and through a grand door that led to a richly decorated study. Sitting behind a massive wooden desk was Ajihad, leader of the Varden and one of the people King Galbatorix wanted dead more than anything. ¡°Welcome to Tronjheim, Eragon and Saphira,¡± the dark skinned leader of the Varden said in a strong, confident voice. ¡°I am Ajihad. Please, seat yourselves.¡± Eragon and Murtagh took a seat in the provided armchairs with Saphira looming protectively behind them. I decided to situate myself further away from the group. The last thing I needed was someone thinking I was close with Eragon¡¯s group and any of them could be used as leverage. Instead, I would establish from the very beginning I was a third party and anything the others agreed to had nothing to do with me. Something Ajihad clearly noticed given the way he looked at me before returning his attention to the others. Before anyone could say anything else, an identical copy of the bald man who escorted us to the study to the other three¡¯s surprise. ¡°Your confusion is understandable; they are twin brothers.¡± Ajihad said with a small smile. ¡°I would tell you their names, but they have none.¡± Saphira showed how much that displeased her with a long hiss that had the leader of the Varden watching her warily. After a bit, Ajihad refocused his attention on Eragon while saying nothing as the two twins scurried off into a corner where they stood side by side. ¡­ ¡­ Ajihad did a good job of making Eragon uncomfortable between the long pause and the scrutinizing gaze as he sat there with his fingertips pressed together in front of his face. At last he motioned for one of the twins to approach him and we waited while the bald man whispered in Ajihad¡¯s ear. Ajihad whispered something back and the man paled and shook his head vigorously. Ajihad just frowned like something was confirmed before looking between Murtagh and myself. ¡°You both placed me in a difficult position by refusing to be examined. You have been allowed into Farthen D?r because the Twins have assured me that they can control you and because of your actions on behalf of Eragon and Arya. I understand that there may be things you wish to keep hidden in your mind, but as long as you do, we cannot trust you.¡± ¡°And why should I care whether you trust me or not?¡± I interrupted before Murtagh could say a word. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Why. Should. I. Care?¡± I carefully enunciated each word as I stared down the dark skinned man. ¡°I¡¯m sure you discovered it during Eragon¡¯s examination but I stumbled across their path by accident and only followed along when the other choice was to face an army alone. Since then, your group has threatened me, imprisoned me for no reason, and has attempted to rape my mind.¡± everyone other than the Twins flinched uncomfortably at that particular comment. ¡°So tell me, what exactly makes me think I can trust you, let alone care about if you trust me or not?¡± Rider 1.5 I don¡¯t think many people walked into Ajihad¡¯s office and threw his credibility in his face like I was doing that often, fewer still probably did that when he was deciding what to do with them. And it showed exactly how good of a politician he was that he kept his cool despite my outburst. Rather than start yelling or even get angry, he simply leaned back and gave me a quick glance over as if he was reevaluating the threat I posed. If I was alone I would never do this, for the same reason I didn¡¯t just fight the Urgals in the mountains. I had no doubt I could fight everyone in this room and win. I was less confident about fighting my way out of a fortress-city hidden in a mountain. But with Eragon here, a person Ajihad absolutely needed on his side, I could be much more aggressive in my stance. ¡°Apologies, miss¡­?¡± ¡°Alexandria Cross.¡± Once again my name got odd looks from those around me. ¡°Miss Alexandria,¡± Ajihad nodded. ¡°As I said I¡¯m aware there are many things you would wish to keep to yourself. But as leader of the Varden I can¡¯t allow people seeking us out to pass through our defences simply because it is uncomfortable. It is what has protected us from spies from the Empire for years.¡± ¡°Unless the spy managed to get placed as an examiner.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Besides I had no intention of meeting with the Varden, I was simply trying not to die. That doesn¡¯t mean you get to pry for knowledge that isn¡¯t yours. Especially when it was because we had a Dragon Rider with us that you bothered to step in at all.¡± Ajihad¡¯s face hardened. ¡°The Twins have served faithfully for years, their loyalty is beyond reproach.¡± Well there went the idea of getting him to doubt the Twins. And unfortunately my main reason for wanting the Twins watched was something I had no way of verifying. The both of them were working for King Galbatorix as traitors to the Varden, and I only knew that because I had extradimensional knowledge of them both. If Ajihad was the type to be paranoid of his subordinates I might¡¯ve been able to have him either watched or swapped out for another Magician, but it seemed he had more trust in them than he did in me, the random stranger who showed up unexpectedly with an army on her heels. I wonder why? ¡°That still doesn¡¯t entitle them to rape my mind.¡± Ajihad looked pained. ¡°I would appreciate it if you didn¡¯t call it that. It is a perfectly standard test we use for all new arrivals under non-normal circumstances.¡± I was unsympathetic. ¡°Oh? Then what would you call several men surrounding an unarmed woman and forcing themselves where they are not appreciated or wanted despite her protests?¡± There was a beat of silence as all the males looked uncomfortable and avoided looking at me directly. All except Ajihad, who managed to maintain eye contact. ¡°Be that as it may, I cannot allow just anyone seeking out the Varden to pass freely. I have a responsibility to protect the people here that trumps ensuring anyone who comes to us is comfortable, we need to be vigilant and we can¡¯t allow exceptions just because you arrived with young Eragon there. In fact it would be prudent for us to watch you closer than anyone since you managed to join him just before he arrived at our door.¡± I smiled sharply. He wanted to play the ¡®Greater Good¡¯ angle? Fine, I¡¯d make him choke on it. ¡°Except I wasn¡¯t seeking out the Varden, I was seeking the dwarves for help with a particularly intricate alloy. I have no interest in getting involved between a tyrannical mage-king and an equally tyrannical rebellion who thinks they have the right to oppress everyone in the name of ¡®safety and security¡¯. Though it does make me nervous when one of you loses. If you violate people this much when you¡¯re desperate for help now, what will you do later? Random inquisitions into people you disfavor? Having your pet mages forcefully interrogate rivals and conveniently find evidence of traitorous behaviour? Or perhaps just chain a very young and naive Dragon Rider to your cause and use him as an enforcer?¡± I looked pointedly at Eragon who was definitely not enjoying the sudden attention. ¡°Not an uncommon attitude.¡± Ajihad replied and I instantly swore to never play poker with the man. He barely frowned through the whole accusation and kept his temper the whole time, besides that one reaction his face might as well have been carved in granite. ¡°Many of the people caught in this conflict hold both sides in contempt. I could speak for hours and they would continue to find issue with my words. I will pass your request to the dwarves then and they will determine what to do with you. Just know that whatever they decide, I will not intercede unless you submit to being examined.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! In other words he was punting the problem down the road and unless I gave him what he wanted the dwarves could do whatever they wanted with me. Ajihad turned back to Eragon and Murtagh. ¡°And what of you? Did you also come seeking the dwarves?¡± ¡°I doubt they would like me any more than you.¡± Murtagh said defiantly. One sentence from him caused more of a change in Ajihad than my entire speech as his face darkened. ¡°Though it''s been twenty and three years since it broke upon my ear¡­ I know that voice. It came from another man, one more beast than human.¡± He stood up and leaned forward dangerously. ¡°Get up.¡± Murtagh warily stood, throwing a couple looks between the twins, who were huddled in the corner whispering furiously, and Ajihad. ¡°Remove your shirt.¡± With a shrug, Murtagh pulled his tunic off. ¡°Turn around.¡± As he did so, the light from the study highlighted a vicious scar that ran from shoulder to hip. He had revealed to Eragon the other day he got it after his father threw his sword at him in a drunken rage and it certainly made for a unique method of identification. ¡°Murtagh¡­¡± Ajihad breathed. Orik grunted in surprise behind us. Without warning, Ajihad turned on the Twins and thundered, ¡°Did you know of this?¡± The Twins bowed their heads. ¡°We discovered his name in Eragon¡¯s mind, but we did not suspect that this boy was the son of someone as powerful as Morzan. It never occurred-¡± ¡°And you didn¡¯t tell me?¡± Ajihad demanded. He raised a hand to cut off their response but I wasn¡¯t so easily silenced. ¡°Oh dear. I wonder what else they haven¡¯t seen fit to tell you.¡± I said sardonically. Besides a dirty look, I was ignored though. ¡°We will discuss this later. First I must untangle this muddle.¡± Ajihad turned back to Murtagh. ¡°Do you still refuse to be probed?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Murtagh said sharply, shrugging back into his clothes. ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone into my mind. For some new reasons as well.¡± He glanced quickly at me, which earned me another dirty look from the leader of the Varden. The two of them went back and forth about the issue. Ajihad pointing out the reasons he couldn¡¯t just let Murtagh go and Murtagh stubbornly refusing even though Eragon was silently pleading in the background. Eventually Ajihad was convinced Murtagh would not bend on the issue and called for some guards. He then instructed them to take him to a windowless room and be kept under guard. ¡°Sins of the father then, huh?¡± I questioned as Murtagh was led away. ¡°No. Suspicion of a man that was taught on the personal order of the king before vanishing without a trace. Trust me that there are many reasons beyond who his father was that I do this.¡± I...had to give him that one. Seeing I had nothing more to say Ajihad addressed the room. ¡°I want everyone out of this room but Eragon and Saphira. Now!¡± The Twins left immediately while Orik stayed behind for a bit. I was escorted out by two guards that had remained after Murtagh was led away. They didn¡¯t speak to me and just pushed me along until we arrived at a plain room and I was suddenly alone again. A quick investigation of the room didn¡¯t reveal anything interesting either. It was pretty similar to a hotel room in terms of furniture and there weren''t any books or similar things lying around. So I had a pretty safe place to think about my next move with no distractions. I was now deep in the Varden and even if I did nothing I wouldn¡¯t be locked up for too long. That small army of Urgals wasn¡¯t only in the mountains chasing after Eragon. They were supposed to join up with even more of their kind for an invasion into Farthen D?r pretty soon, though I was shaky on the exact timing. So if I wanted I could absolutely just sit here and relax if I wanted. Not that I really considered doing that. I had been bored out of my mind recovering in the Fourth Division barracks, and that was when I wasn¡¯t being confined to a single room. There was no way I was just going to lay around here, especially since the city itself was so beautiful. I wanted to explore, dammit! So really I had two options. I could burst out of the room, knock out the two guards and try and vanish into the general population. Not the most subtle approach, but it might even have the hidden benefit of getting the Varden on guard before an army was knocking on their door at the cost of tanking my relationship with the Varden and my personal trustworthiness for a time. Alternatively, I could try and sneak out somehow, either by getting past the guards or by going through a wall. Too bad the walls were probably thick stone and I had no way of going through that without making a lot of noise. So how was I going to sneak past the guards? I doubted they were going to conveniently leave themselves open to a situation where I could easily knock them out with no chance of them raising the alarm. These were men that were trusted to take orders from their leader directly so they were definitely pretty well trained. Too bad I couldn¡¯t turn invisible. That would make this super easy. I paused. My palm crashed into my forehead as I mentally cursed myself for my stupidity. I could turn invisible! So without wasting any more time, I Astralised. The first thing I noticed was even in the invisible but tangible Spirit Form I had trouble moving. It wasn¡¯t too bad, but anyone moving faster than a brisk walk could probably leave me in the dust. It seemed without Reishi or a similar spiritual source supporting me, I wasn¡¯t about to be doing much running around invisible besides short trips. In the spirit of being thorough I also checked out the full Astralization Spectre Mode. Once I finished a few basic tests, I dropped out of that one as fast as I could. Yes I could still move through things, but without a Servant Bond forming an anchor I could barely see anything other than a wall of blurred colors and it took almost five minutes to move from one side of the room to the other. That wasn¡¯t much of an issue though. Spirit mode was plenty for what I needed. I spent some time revising how to go about my plan and making sure I was positioned close to the door and out of the way before I started the hardest part of my plan. I sat down and waited. Rider 1.6 I whistled a cheerful tune as I practically skipped down into the streets of Tronjheim. My plan had gone off without a hitch, simply waiting invisibly until the guards came to check on me and walking out the door when they freaked out. Ajihad was probably going to freak out and send out an order to hunt me down but I wasn¡¯t too worried about that. ¡®Find me the tall blonde woman¡¯ was a much more difficult task when only a handful of people knew what I looked like and blonde hair wasn¡¯t exactly a rarity among the people here. I felt even more confident once I shifted my clothes to resemble the local fashion as well. The Varden would be on the lookout for my red and black combat uniform, not just another common girl in the giant city. At least for a time. I was under no illusion that they would manage to think of some way to track me down eventually if the Varden really felt like it but until then they would need to search the entire city for one person. Their only hope at speeding that up would be magic. Unfortunately for them, I did remember scrying magic was a thing here and had taken steps to protect myself. A simple bracelet with a crude black gemstone would do for now until I could find a spot to use as a temporary workshop. Too bad Gemcraft required precision on a level I couldn¡¯t do on the fly. Still, it would take a dedicated effort on a magician¡¯s part to scry me. I should have plenty of time, especially if I could convince a craftsman to borrow his shop. Meh, thoughts for later. For now I was much more interested in enjoying the scenery. The Seireitei was nice in a ¡®not quite feudal Japan¡¯ kind of way, but honestly it was kind of boring. Not sure if it was because most of what I saw belonged to the government or if I just don¡¯t appreciate that aesthetic, but yeah, Soul Society has nothing on a fantasy Dwarf-city in the middle of a mountain. ¡°Don¡¯t come to the city often?¡± a soft voice came from my left. I startled and turned to see a middle aged woman looking at me in amusement. I must¡¯ve really not been paying attention if she got that close without me noticing, but seriously! Giant glowing crystal rose! Why wouldn¡¯t I want to look at that for a bit than pay attention to random people? ¡°Uh, yeah. I¡¯m new to Tronjheim.¡± I replied a bit sheepishly. ¡°I mean I heard about...this,¡± I waved my hand at the scenery, ¡°but seeing it in person is completely different.¡± The lady chuckled. ¡°Aye, it¡¯s a bit different than the stories right? They can never quite seem to capture all the little things that catch the eye. I¡¯ve been here for years and even now I find something new to wonder about...when I have the time.¡± ¡°Oh? What do you do?¡± I asked curiously, from what I knew about this world human women didn¡¯t have many roles to keep them busy. ¡°I run a tavern nearby.¡± The lady said proudly. ¡°It¡¯s a bit early for customers so I occasionally take some time to wander around and catch up on the goings on around the city.¡± I smiled. So she was going out and redirecting customers to her tavern before mealtime? That was clever. I also realised I still had no idea what time it was and it was starting to throw me off. I kinda assumed it was evening based on when we all woke up and walked through the mountain and eventually meeting with Ajihad, but I was also in that room for a while and I wasn¡¯t about to dismiss the Twins not abusing their position to make me miserable. Obviously nothing overt, but delaying a meal until the next day would be easy enough. ¡°Nearby, huh? Any chance I could get some directions? I think I could use a good meal.¡± And the chance to ask about the layout of the city¡­ Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The amusement in the lady¡¯s eyes morphed into a full blown smile. ¡°Oh, no need for that. I have been wandering a bit too long anyways. I¡¯d be happy to lead you there myself.¡± I eyed her carefully. She was up to something, but she didn¡¯t seem malicious. So I agreed and followed her back as we struck up a conversation. -o- I was wrong. I managed to find the most malicious person in this entire city. The tavern owner, Sandra, had a very simple business scheme that ensured that her tavern attracted at least a small crowd throughout the day. She wandered around and found young women with nothing to do and invited them back to her store and paid them a free meal and some drinks to talk to the groups of men that came by. Considering many of the Varden were living hard lives fighting the Empire or supporting the ones that did, it was unsurprising many of the warriors jumped at the prospect of meeting a pretty girl and boasting of their ability. So in essence, Sandra had created a hostess club¡­and then managed to arrange it so that I was seated right near the entrance so everyone walking by could see me. If it was only that, I could ignore the way the nice middle aged woman had tricked me into basically working for her for free but that was when she revealed exactly how evil of a person she was. Sandra...had a habit of playing matchmaker. ¡°...and then the blasted fool decides to block with the edge, the edge!¡± the large man on the other side of the table practically roared, incidentally spraying me with tiny bits of meat. ¡°If it hadn''t been a training blade, he would¡¯ve ruined both weapons in a true clash.¡± the man calmed enough to take a massive gulp of mead while I discreetly wiped myself clean and glared at Sandra from across the tavern. She had been sounding out my preferred type on the way here and I hadn¡¯t given her an answer because I had no intention of hanging around long enough for a romance, but I¡¯m not sure how she translated that into ¡®giant drunken warrior¡¯. Fredric seemed nice enough, drunkenness aside, but I would be leaving as soon as possible. I definitely felt I had paid Sandra back for the meal after dealing with this. ¡°Aaah, good stuff this¡± Fredric sighed and placed a now nearly empty flagon on the table. ¡°Sorry for the rant, lass. But dealing with idiots on the training fields can wear at you time to time.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never really trained someone. I was always the one learning from others.¡± I replied with an understanding smile. It did make me think about the times I trained with Urahara and Yoruichi though, and I never actually got around to teaching Ichigo beyond that one spar. I wondered if those two ever got as frustrated as Fredric while training others? Something to ask if I ever found myself back there. Fredric waved me off. ¡°Aye, completely different to be the one teaching. Though I suppose a lass like you doesn¡¯t want to listen to a warrior moan over training. Not with the rumors going around being more interesting.¡± I perked up at that. ¡°Rumors?¡± ¡°Aye, folk are talking about the Rider and his dragon blessing a child yesterday. The whole city is talking about almost nothing else. I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t heard.¡± Damn it, I missed the opportunity to stop Eragon from fucking up the blessing. And this confirmed the Twin bastards tried starving me out for a day. ¡°I haven¡¯t been out for a day or so, busy finishing a project.¡± I explained with a shrug. ¡°A craftswoman are you?¡± Fredric¡¯s eyes darted to my wrist where the scry warder was located. ¡°A jeweler perhaps? I¡¯ve never seen a piece like that, even among the dwarves.¡± I had to reevaluate my opinion of the large man, even drunk he was more attentive than I first suspected. ¡°You have a good eye.¡± I complemented without answering him. ¡°And as pleasant as this has been, I do have more errands to finish today.¡± Like actually tracking down a metal supplier, or maybe checking out more of the city. ¡°Of course!¡± Fredric said proudly. ¡°Need it to whack the fools into shape. If you¡¯re ever looking for something to do, feel free to stop by the training fields. Might actually get the lazy louts to put some effort in.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± I said. I was actually probably going to take him up on that considering Eragon was going to wind up there eventually and I¡¯d like to make sure the Twins couldn¡¯t take out their inevitable frustration on my disappearance on him. I said by goodbyes and headed over to Sandra, who greeted me with another of her amused smiles. ¡°Have a nice chat?¡± she asked hopefully. I tried to smile back, but it came out more of a grimace. I could still feel the bits of meat Fredric had unintentionally splattered me with afterall. ¡°It was certainly...spirited.¡± Sandra sighed and shook her head. ¡°Oh Fredric, you¡¯re never going to find a wife if you don¡¯t learn some manners.¡± she looked back to me, ¡°I apologise for my little brother, but do give him a chance. He is actually quite sweet when he tries.¡± I blinked hard at the revelation that those two were related, especially that Fredric was the little brother, but recovered quickly. ¡°Oh, uh, I¡¯m sure he is but like I said, I¡¯m not really looking for a partner.¡± ¡°Nonsense,¡± Sandra said with a patronising pat on my arm. ¡°You¡¯re right around that age, dear. I know it feels like you have all the time in the world but your second decade will be upon you before you know it.¡± I realised that while my age could appear between late teens to early twenties in a more modern world. Here, where people worked hard and aged early, I would look much younger. Or like a noble I suppose. ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡± I said dryly. ¡°Now I¡¯m off to find someone to help forge a rather special alloy, so if you¡¯ll excuse me¡­¡± I trailed off. ¡°Oh? Oh, of course!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for that, I actually know a very good smith. Dwarven naturally, most of them around Farthen D?r are, but very good with metals. Tell him I sent you and it should get you a meeting at the least. Halldor is a bit prickly, but he does good work.¡± I thanked her for the information and the directions before setting off in search of the smith. With a bit of luck I would have the alloy I needed to fix the Azure Horizon and I¡¯d be free to explore the world a bit before I left. Somehow I had a feeling it wouldn¡¯t be quite that straightforward but a girl could hope. Rider 1.7 Tronjheim got much more crowded the lower you went. Something I was a little surprised about considering the upper levels seemed just as cared for and that it was a little weird to put that much effort into building such a large city and then just leave most of it abandoned, but then I remembered one of those useless history facts that you never seemed to be able to completely forget. Before the invention of the elevator, living near the top in highrise buildings was reserved for the poor. Why? Simple. Stairs were a pain and rich people didn¡¯t want to constantly walk ten flights every day if they didn¡¯t need to. So while the view was nice, usually no one lived that far from everyone else unless they had no other option. Tronjheim was the exact same way. Most people, humans and dwarves, lived on the lower levels while the occasional outcast or hermit lived further up. Of course craftsmen tended to live and work in the outskirts of most cities anyway. It was easier to expand, there was less risk of burning everyone¡¯s house down, and certain smells that came from the crafting process could be...tolerated... when they were further away. Why was I thinking about the societal reasons craft areas were out on the fringes and the population density of a dwarven fortress city? I was bored. The worst kind of bored where you can¡¯t leave because you¡¯re waiting for someone to finish something but can¡¯t find something else to do in the meantime, so it¡¯s just a cycle of stewing in your own thoughts and peeking over to see if the other person finished yet. I was sitting outside the forge of Halldor, a dwarven smith recommended by the tavern owner I met earlier and I was stuck waiting for him to finish work on a blade while I had nothing else to do. I couldn¡¯t even look for a different smith because I had dropped in on five others on the way here, but apparently everyone was at an important stage of some project or another and had no time to talk to the annoying girl asking questions. Hell, only Sandra¡¯s referral had gotten me this far otherwise I¡¯d have been kicked out of this forge too. The tavern owner undersold Halldor¡¯s personality in my opinion. She said he was ¡®a bit prickly¡¯ when in reality he was about as approachable as a cactus. The first thing he said to me was ¡®get out¡¯ and when I tried to keep talking he threw a hammer at me. When I name dropped Sandra, he just told me to sit down, shut up, and wait for him to finish. There was a hiss of steam as Halldor shoved a glowing rod of metal into an oil bath. After a few corrections, he placed it on a rack to finish cooling and finally made his way over. ¡°Well, you¡¯re still here. Whaddya want?¡± he said bluntly. I pushed down my annoyance and pulled out the tiny sliver of the reactor alloy I had managed to recover that wasn¡¯t either altered or corroded when the thing melted and showed it to him. ¡°I need a good amount of this alloy made and you were highly recommended by everyone I asked¡± by virtue of being the only person recommended but still, everyone likes flattery. ¡°Do you think you would be able to make more of it? I can get you more materials if needed.¡± Holldor took the shard and looked it over while muttering to himself as if I wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Hmm, harder than steel...doesn¡¯t bend much...not natural shape either...could it have? Ah, yes it was...the shine though...is it?...¡± I think he actually forgot I was standing in front of him after a while. ¡°Look, can I get a guess here at least? Can you do it, yes or no?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Halldor startled for some reason and looked at me in a way that made me distinctly uncomfortable. ¡°Do you actually know what this is or are ya just looking for a fancy trinket to wave around?¡± the smith asked in a very intense tone. I shrugged. ¡°I know what it¡¯s called where I¡¯m from but I have no idea what it would be called in this language.¡± I really doubted anyone would understand if I started listing the different metals in the alloy by name. They didn¡¯t exactly have a periodic table of elements to reference. Holldor grunted. ¡°Aye, no clue who taught you dwarfish, but not even a deep dweller would be crazy enough to teach you the words since you aren¡¯t of the stone.¡± Wait, taught me dwarfish? I hadn¡¯t been speaking any differently than normal. ¡°So can you do it?¡± I asked again, this time paying close attention to how he spoke rather than just the words. ¡°Sorry, Lass. No one in the city is going to be able to help you. This is a shard of what the elves call Brightsteel. They used it to make Rider¡¯s swords back in the day, but after the Fall hardly anyone sees them anymore. Most are probably rotting in some treasury somewhere or buried in the muck where the Rider died. That is if the Black King didn¡¯t loot it for himself.¡± Halldor shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t say there¡¯s none in Tronjheim, but if there is you ain¡¯t getting it.¡± Huh, the words I was hearing and the sounds he was making didn¡¯t line up at all. ¡°Hvorfor ikke? Jeg kunne¡­¡± I coughed as I suddenly felt my throat moving in a way I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting but still seemed natural. ¡°Sorry, why not? I¡¯d be more than happy to pay.¡± The instant I stopped paying attention to how I was talking the weird feeling went away and I could hear myself speak normally, even though I knew I was still speaking in another language. Was this normal for beings like me? Or was this some unexplored aspect of one of my soul fragments I never knew about? I had written off understanding Japanese since both the Archive fragments spoke it, but that might not have been the case. I forced myself to stop thinking about it and focus on Halldor. Ultimately I wasn¡¯t going to figure it out now and suddenly becoming an omniglot didn¡¯t really change anything for me in the short term. ¡°Soft-headed fool, Brightsteel is one of the most revered metals to anyone of faith and finding it is considered a blessing by Ur?r. You could offer three times its weight in gold and even then no one would think of taking that deal.¡± Fuck. Of course the alloy I needed was a naturally occurring meteorite that was either completely monopolised by an insane king or, from what I could remember, buried underneath a sacred tree in the elves¡¯ homeland. And from the sound of it, the locals hadn¡¯t gotten around to managing to recreate it themselves. The only other source I could think of would be to steal Eragon¡¯s sword, but that wouldn¡¯t even be enough metal to cover everything I needed so there wasn¡¯t much of a point. I would need two or three Rider¡¯s swords just to have enough metal and that was just hoping that none of the material was wasted. Dammit I was going to have to either get ridiculously lucky and find a new node of Brightsteel, revolutionize the metallurgy industry so someone else had the equipment to forge the alloy I needed, or raid the Empire¡¯s treasury at some point if I wanted to get off this planet. And only one of those options was realistic. As fun as it would be to try and shove metallurgy years forward, the entire point of trying to find a local smith to help me was to save time by getting someone else to do it for me. Not make things easier for everyone else while I was forced to manually do everything. At least today was informative, even if I didn¡¯t like it. I also learned I had a new power! Or, I learned I possessed a power in the first place. In fact now that I focused on the fact I knew I could speak languages I had never heard of, I felt a small part of my fractured soulscape click into place like a puzzle piece. A small change considering the massive damage I was still recovering from, but progress was progress. I had no real reason to hang around once my business with Halldor was finished so I left shortly after to his apparent delight. I also didn¡¯t really have a reason to hang around the area either so I made my way back to Sandra¡¯s tavern to consider my next move. Sandra was more than happy to repeat her little scheme from earlier in exchange for another meal and a room for the night provided I helped out a bit after dinner. We had a nice chat about recent events and I subtly probed for any hints that the Varden was openly searching for me. That kind of gossip usually made its way to bars and taverns eventually, but Sandra hadn¡¯t hinted at anything like that yet. I took a bite of a good, if rather bland, vegetable stew as the day was winding down. The tavern was mostly empty outside some stragglers, Sandra was starting to clean up, and I was free to turn in for the night anytime. Since it looked like I wasn¡¯t going to be able to get what I needed any time soon there was one major choice I needed to make; was I going to get involved with the Varden and their war? I didn¡¯t exactly have a reason to help out beyond quickening how soon I had a chance at finding more Rider¡¯s swords. But at the same time, was I selfish enough to ignore a war against a tyrant just because it didn¡¯t affect me? A large part of me was saying yes, and I wasn¡¯t really okay with that. I knew my first priority would always be trying to get myself fixed up, but I didn¡¯t want to be the kind of person that just let everyone else hang because it didn¡¯t directly affect me. Eventually I was going to find something that would get rid of my issues and I would lose my major driving force. When that happened I didn¡¯t want to look back and realise I had become the kind of person who sacrificed others just because I didn¡¯t know them. I finished the last of the stew as my thoughts continued to spiral. At this rate I wasn¡¯t going to have a solid plan any time soon, but I should be able to at least set guidelines for myself. I could always revisit the issue again later. I gathered up my bowl and utensils before dropping into a back room to help Sandra with the last bit of washing before heading up to my room. Now to figure out exactly how involved I actually wanted to be here. Rider 1.8 I didn¡¯t exactly wake up with all my problems and doubts settled, but I did feel well rested and that did wonders for my mood. A nice breakfast later, I was wandering towards the training fields Fredric told me about the other day. I was heading there for two reasons. One, I wanted to make sure my actions didn¡¯t have any unforeseen blowback on Eragon and I was about 80% sure he was going to be there today, and two, I wanted to see how I stacked up in my weakened condition. I was confident no one could match me physically without cheating, but I could always be surprised. And getting surprised in the middle of a fight was a good way to end up dead. I wasn¡¯t sure ¡®baseline human¡¯ was the same as what I normally associated with the term because from what I remembered; Eragon¡¯s cousin Roran ended up fighting, killing, and more impressively surviving a force of 200 soldiers basically on his own. And that was without any special weapons or powers. So unless the world operated on some kind of Dynasty Warriors logic, ¡®baseline¡¯ had a surprisingly large range. So when I actually arrived at the training fields and saw what they were doing, I was...less than impressed. I had been expecting a series of dueling rings or lines of warriors training against each other in mock combat, and while there were plenty of those, most of the trainees were milling around in formations, most of them struggling to just keep up under the weight of their chainmail armour and heavy shields. The warriors were split into two distinct groups, humans and dwarves, with little mixing between the two. Although I guessed that made sense. If you were going to be drilling formations, it was best to make sure everyone participating was at least relatively the same size. The archers were a bit more mixed, and the steady thwacking of arrows hitting the sackcloth targets was much more enjoyable to listen to than the clanging and cursing coming from the foot soldiers. Maybe they would be up for a friendly competition? A group fired their next arrows and all but three missed the targets entirely. ...Maybe I''d hold off on the competition. Either I was here when a bunch of amateurs were just getting started, or the Varden had a severe lack of quality archers. Probably the former though, newbies always got nailed with early drill times and it was still early in the morning. Without any definite purpose I just started wandering up to the grounds. Hopefully I could find someone to- ¡°Alexandria! Good to see you, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to take me up on my offer so soon.¡± I turned to see it was Fredric who attracted my attention, not exactly hard considering he was still a giant of a man and was now covered in rough oxhide armor and a chainmail coif on his head. ¡°Fredric, how are you?¡± I smiled back weakly. I still hadn¡¯t forgotten the meat and saliva shower from yesterday afternoon and now I was face-to-face with him again. At least this time wasn¡¯t eating anything and he wasn¡¯t spraying all over my face. Surprisingly Fredric¡¯s mood darkened with my question. Not what I was expecting from the large man. ¡°Bah, this new batch doesn¡¯t have any grit at all. A few matches and they''re already ready to run. Dwarves aren¡¯t much better, though they stuck around longer.¡± I eyed the sword Fredric had attached to his back. The thing must have been six feet long at least. ¡°Trouble finding a sparring partner then?¡± ¡°Aye, I might need to track down some old friends and convince them to join in the mornings if I want any kind of challenge.¡± he grumbled. I was about to volunteer for a spar when I noticed Frederic wasn¡¯t paying attention to me anymore. I turned to follow his gaze since from the short time I had known him, it was uncharacteristic for him to stop paying attention to someone mid-conversation. I couldn¡¯t exactly blame him though. Saphira slowly ambling towards the training field was plenty of a distraction. In fact I noticed several people not in the middle of an exercise or similar stop and stare at the incoming dragon. I watched somewhat bemusedly as Fredric apologised for needing to address the new group when he noticed Eragon and Orik approaching with her. It was also pretty funny that he didn¡¯t seem to notice me follow along behind him. Saphira noticed me immediately. Her eyes appraised me but I didn¡¯t get a sense of outright hostility from her, more...some kind of guarded wariness. Ah, someone must¡¯ve told them I escaped from the ¡®prison¡¯ Ajihad put me in. Not that the dragon seemed to care that much since she hadn¡¯t even bothered to bring my arrival to Eragon¡¯s attention while Fredric was introducing himself. So in return for her not immediately calling me out to everyone gathered, I gave her a closed-mouth smile and a polite wave. She just nodded slightly and slowly began to look at the rest of the training field. I mentally shrugged at her behavior and refocused on the others. They had finished their introductions and neither Eragon nor Orik had spotted me standing behind Fredric. So I decided to make my presence known. ¡°Hello, Eragon. So eager to run off that I don¡¯t even get a hello?¡± I said, totally enjoying the startled jumps from everyone gathered minus the dragon. ¡°Alexandria?! What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Touring the sights mostly.¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°Tronjheim is a gorgeous city. Much prettier than the last one I saw on this scale¡­¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Not worried we¡¯ll drag you back to Ajihad, girl?¡± Orik grumbled, hand idly resting on the handle of his weapon but making no moves to actually draw it. ¡°Not really.¡± I replied. ¡°The only person here with any obligation to Ajihad is Fredric here. But he probably has no idea what¡¯s going on.¡± Not technically true since Orik could have me arrested for illegally trespassing in the Dwarven kingdom, but I sincerely doubted I ranked as high enough of a problem for either of the rulers to demand me brought in on sight. They certainly hadn¡¯t advertised my presence yet... ¡°And what is going on?¡± the large man demanded, unhappy with the sudden situation he had no knowledge of. ¡°The lass refused to be examined.¡± Orik explained. ¡°Held off the Egraz Carn, refused Ajihad¡¯s protection, and vanished out of the room they put her in without a trace while supposedly being unable to use magic.¡± He directed that last part at me accusingly. ¡°I didn¡¯t want them in my head.¡± I deflected. ¡°Can¡¯t blame you for that.¡± Fredric muttered and turned back to Eragon. I was a little surprised that he didn¡¯t make any comments about me escaping captivity, though after I thought about it I realised it simply wasn¡¯t his job or responsibility to care and he was just THAT uncomfortable with magic. In their current society magic was something incomprehensible to the common folk so if I didn¡¯t want to get caught up in magic, Fredric was perfectly happy ignoring my actions as long as I didn¡¯t hurt anyone. Or so I assumed. ¡°Enough of that though, do you know how to use any weapons besides that sword and bow?¡± ¡°Only my fists.¡± Eragon replied after a bit of thought. ¡°Good answer!¡± Fredric laughed. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll start you off with the bow and see how you do. Then once some space has cleared up on the field, we¡¯ll try --¡± it didn¡¯t take a genius to spot why Fredric had stopped peaking and was looking past Eragon with a hostile scowl on his face. Despite that the Twins continued to stalk forward even when confronted by the much larger man. ¡°I thought I told you two to stay away from the training area.¡± Fredric growled. Oh, maybe that was why he had no inclination to capture me. Inter-group politics. Yey. ¡°We were ordered by Ajihad to test Eragon¡¯s proficiency with magic, before you exhaust him banging on pieces of metal.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t someone else test him?¡± ¡°No one else is strong enough.¡± The two sniffed arrogantly. Saphira growled, smoke drifting from her nostrils. But the two ignored her. ¡°That says more about the unfortunate weakness of the Varden¡¯s spellcasters than your own strength. Especially since you were trying to steal Eragon¡¯s knowledge during your ¡®examination¡¯.¡± It might¡¯ve been a little reckless to immediately antagonise them like this, but the Twins would¡¯ve spotted me soon enough, and now Eragon and Saphira knew the bastards were looking to abuse this test to learn more for themselves. Sure, they would¡¯ve figured it out pretty quickly, but now they knew what they were getting into from the beginning. Of course I was now directly in the Twin¡¯s sights. ¡°You!¡± They hissed. ¡°Me!¡± I sing-songed back. ¡°We don¡¯t know how you escaped, but you will not do so again. You will-¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be focusing on Eragon right now?¡± I interrupted. ¡°You know, the thing Ajihad ordered you to do?¡± The two grit their teeth and look like they are honestly about to attack me, but eventually reign their tempers in. ¡°Yes, testing the Rider IS more important than some harlot...¡± I narrowed my eyes at the insult. ¡°...and we will deal with you afterwards. Come with us.¡± With those parting words, they strode off towards a more empty part of the field. The Twins began their tests and Eragon did his best to complete them all by using short, muttered phrases so no one could hear him, much to the Twin¡¯s obvious displeasure. But I wasn¡¯t really paying attention to that. I was too busy looking at the wide showcase of magic going on in front of me and doing my best to dissect it all. Water manipulation, telekinesis, fire conjuring, scrying, healing, earth manipulation, and a host of other tasks were presented one after the other for over an hour and I had to say the whole thing was...rather disappointing. I mean the range of utility Eragon was displaying was incredible, I couldn¡¯t do that much back to back without the help of a device to keep track of everything or at the very least more time to formulate a spell; the advantages of having your magic dynamically shaped by language and intent alone I suppose, but the power behind it all was pitiful. Like I could do twice the effect for half the effort pitiful. That and I discovered that nearly every spell demonstrated purely affected the physical aspect of the world entirely. Elemental manipulations? Purely natural forces. The heat of any fire summoned was the same as what you¡¯d get from a torch, water didn¡¯t gain any healing or purifying qualities, earth wasn¡¯t stronger than normal, they didn¡¯t even touch on air or lightning¡­ The only spells that seemed to have a spiritual component were the scrying spells, and even then it was very limited. So by the end of the testing I was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because even with half finished training, Eragon was one of the best human spellcasters around so the Empire¡¯s magicians shouldn¡¯t be too hard for me to deal with if I needed to. Disappointed because I doubted I could learn or find anything to help me with my injuries here since the spiritual aspect was so neglected by this style. Ironic since they were powering everything via soul magic¡­ Ah right, I also figured out Eragon, Saphira, and the Twins(who were cheating, subtly trying to make Eragon fail the tests, the bastards) all were using their souls to fuel their spells. This was why people could die from magic overuse. They strained their soul and body too much at a time and drained them both. That snapped the connections between the soul and the body, killing the caster. Well, even if it wasn¡¯t immediately helpful it might be worth studying how the Ancient Language interacts with magic. Like I thought at the waterfall, being able to talk to people with no chance of them doubting my word sounded really freaking useful...just as long as I could turn it off. The tests continued and while Eragon was starting to struggle, I hadn¡¯t seen the Twins try anything overtly dangerous so far. Finally, the two bald magicians seemed to run out of ideas. ¡°There is only one more thing to do. It is simple enough...any competent user of magic should find this easy.¡± Alarm bells started blaring in the back of my mind. I didn¡¯t actually remember what the Twins tried to pull, only that Arya interrupted it, but it didn¡¯t take a genius or even foreknowledge to realise the Twins were not asking Eragon to do something simple. I was actually pretty worried that the Twins might¡¯ve accelerated their scheme since Eragon caught on to them fishing for knowledge from the get go and that I might need to step in if the elf didn¡¯t get here on time. A quick look around confirmed the elf was on the way, the thunderous expression letting me know she knew exactly what was going on and was NOT happy about it. ¡°Stop!¡± Arya¡¯s rather musical voice cut through the air and interrupted Eragon before he could attempt casting. It also had the delightful side effect of making the Twins pale white. ¡°Shame! Shame to ask of him what only a master can do. Shame that you should use such methods. Shame that you told Ajihad you didn¡¯t know Eragon¡¯s abilities. He is competent. Now leave!¡± Arya pointed one hand at the silver ring the Twins had given Eragon earlier and focused. ¡°Arget!¡± She exclaimed thunderously. The ring shimmered and a ghostly apparition appeared right next to it. The two were perfectly identical except the ghostly copy seemed purer somehow and glowed white. My eyes widened as I examined the magic. Arya had actually summoned the spiritual essence of the silver ring! At first I was excited because that meant the Elves definitely knew more about the spiritual side of magic, but I quickly calmed down when I realised the rest of what she said. Just conjuring that much was already in the realm of Masters, not even imbuing the essence into another item or manipulating it. The Elves might be more knowledgeable, but probably not by much all things considered. At the sight of Arya¡¯s magic, the Twins paled even further, stumbling back a few paces. ¡°The...the girl comes with us!¡± One of them managed to croak. Arya waved dismissively, either trying not to overstep her authority or just genuinely not caring about me I couldn¡¯t tell. But I figured this would be a good time to reveal my own magic, since if summoning a ring was enough to scare off the ¡®most powerful magicians of the Varden¡¯ then no one would mess with me without good reason. ¡¯Trace on.¡¯ I quickly browsed the lower quality weapons I was confident I could Trace easily in my current state while the Twins recovered from their fright. They approached quickly, obviously trying to catch me and get away from Arya as fast as possible. ¡°What was that word you said?¡± I pretended to ponder. ¡°Oh yeah! Arget.¡± I snapped my fingers and a glowing white blur speared itself between me and the Twins, who had their hands out grab me. The glowing white silver sword that appeared in front of them was enough to get them to stop. The twelve others floating behind me like wings was enough for two dark spots to appear on the front of their robes and for them to spin on their heels and flee for their lives. Satisfied with the result, I allowed the thirteen swords to vanish into motes of mana and turned back to the group. Eragon and Arya were looking at me with large eyes after my display, while Orik, Fredric, and Saphira looked like they were ready for a fight to break out any second. I waited for a bit but no one seemed like they were going to say anything. ¡°What?¡± Rider 1.9 The small group remained silent long enough that I began to question if my display had been a little over the top. Arya¡¯s original demonstration, despite being a million times less impressive than mine, was enough to send the Twins running on its own. Mine might¡¯ve potentially broken several fundamental rules for their system of magic. Oh well, too late to put that particular genie back in a bottle. I¡¯ll just have to deal with the fallout as it comes. Their silent reactions mostly varied by how familiar the individual was with magic. Despite their status of being a Rider and Dragon pair, neither Eragon or Saphira were knowledgeable enough to know exactly what I did, save that it was incredibly impressive based on Arya¡¯s reaction. The elf was actually stressed enough that she was covered in a sheen of sweat, her hand never leaving the hilt of her sword while she watched every slight movement I made. Orik and Fredric were completely lost. The only thing they could do was brandish their weapons and look back and forth uncertainly between Arya and myself. ¡°...So, if you all don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m going to go look for a sparring partner¡­¡± I trailed off awkwardly. ¡°Unless one of you wants to give it a go?¡± ¡°What was that?¡± Eragon was the first to break the silence, his natural curiosity too strong to not ask about the strange, by their standards, display of magic. ¡°A pretty basic spell called Gradation Air.¡± I replied with a shrug. Of course I wasn¡¯t going to tell him that while the version I used was so far removed from the original spell it was like comparing the Ford model-T with an F-1 race car because they both had wheels. ...Of course I would need to use a more relevant comparison. ¡°So Eragon, if you¡¯re done with your magic tests, do you want to spar? I need an opponent and I don¡¯t think anyone here is willing at the moment.¡± I waved at the other three. ¡°I will be the one testing him.¡± Arya interrupted, finally finding her voice. ¡°And do not lie to us. That was no ¡®basic spell¡¯.¡± ¡°Maybe if you¡¯re an Animancer,¡± I admitted. ¡°For a Magus it really is a basic spell, one taught to nearly every apprentice. Though I admit I¡¯m a little better at it than most.¡± I had some mixed feelings about the elf at the moment. Sure, she was treating me one step away from an outright enemy but that was understandable since the only thing she could possibly know about me is that I entered Tronjheim with Eragon and then escaped from Ajihad. She was also probably told I couldn¡¯t use magic, but then I pulled something not even the most powerful of her race could do and made it seem like it was a casual thing. Anyone sane would absolutely not let their guard down around me under those conditions. The only real complaint I could make against her was her willingness to hand me over to the Twins...but realistically there was no way for her to stop it. From what I could remember, Arya wasn¡¯t a member of the Varden. She was an ambassador to them from the elves, and while the leaders of the Varden probably respected her opinions, she most likely couldn¡¯t order them around as she pleased and I actually had escaped, so it wasn¡¯t like she could decide the Varden was being unreasonable. Interfering could cause issues politically for her. I was just annoyed she kept staring at me like I was about to attack them all. It was rude and completely uncalled for. ¡°What¡¯s an animancer or a magus?¡± Eragon asked. ¡°An animancer is a magic user like you or the elf here,¡± I explained. ¡°You both use your own life energy to fuel your spells. A magus, or mage, like me uses mana. That and we need to shape our spells differently beyond just a chant, so don¡¯t try replicating anything a mage does without truly understanding. At best you will be drained to the limit. At worst...well I expect you know that already.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of either of those terms.¡± Arya said. I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if you did. I¡¯m not in this part of the world by choice and I doubt many magic users are travelling here after what you Mad King did to his order. Assuming they are even aware your countries exist.¡± Eragon opened his mouth, probably to ask more questions, but Arya must have been on something like a schedule and dragged him off to the dueling grounds before he could ask them. An action that meant there was a good amount of attention on our group. Not many of them got to see a Rider and an Elf spar afterall. Not to mention the other eye-catching members of our group. Eragon and Arya began their duel, with the Rider quickly realising going easy on the Elf would be a bad idea, and it drew a large crowd as most of the other warriors stopped their own training to watch. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. It started off pretty awkwardly. Eragon was hesitant and Arya made him pay for it. His weak probing attacks were smashed aside and he was barely able to react in time from the elf¡¯s retaliating strikes. Arya never took advantage of the openings in his stance after she attacked though and the young Rider caught on that Arya was looking for a full demonstration of his skills. From there the duel became something fun to watch. Despite the short time he had been trained in sword fighting, Eragon was a natural. He was able to move through several sword forms smoothly and was even starting to mix them together. None of that mattered to his opponent though. Arya was practically dancing around the Rider, despite his best efforts. The other warriors watching might¡¯ve been caught up in the spectacle of the fight but it was clear to me Arya was far more skilled than Eragon even without her superior strength and speed. Of course if the elf had been less skilled than a human that had picked up a sword for less than a couple years at most I would¡¯ve been massively disappointed. She was simply holding back enough to give him the illusion of a chance and it was making my hands itch just watching her. Arya was good. Top ranking Soul Reaper good even if she didn¡¯t have the raw power to match up to one of them, and I really wanted to have a match with her. She was simply perfect for my goal of finding out where I stood physically at the moment. The duel ended predictably. Eragon lasted far longer than I was expecting but thirty minutes of intense fighting took its toll and he made an almost sloppy lunge forward. Arya easily sidestepped the red blade and snapped her own up to rest on his jawbone, ending the match. The crowd burst into loud cheers at the conclusion, a certain dragon making sure to add her voice to the group. Both Fredric and Orik left me behind to go congratulate the exhausted Eragon, both of them praising him on the match. The Rider didn¡¯t seem particularly happy about it, probably due to the fact he lost or maybe because Arya seemed perfectly fine to continue. I couldn¡¯t tell. I was prepared to catch Arya on her way out to schedule a match at some point, but the elf beat me to it. While everyone swarmed around Eragon, Arya managed to sneak through them and stand next to me. ¡°I have spoken with Ajihad.¡± She said as an opening, and I felt a little bad for Eragon that his best effort wasn¡¯t enough to warrant the full attention of the elf if she was able to have a telepathic conversation in the middle of the spar. ¡°If you are willing to give us a demonstration of your skill and swear to not harm the Varden during your stay here, he will overlook your trespass and allow you to stay in Tronjheim.¡± I smirked. Translation: we are really scared of the unknown magic that breaks everything we know about the subject and are willing to ignore you as long as you give us a peek at what you can do and leave us alone. Oh, I¡¯m sure there were some advisors screaming at Ajihad to arrest me or kill me, but if the rest were willing to leave the scary magic user alone I would be happy to return the favor. ¡°I don¡¯t mind a bit of exercise. Although I would recommend we limit things to just some basic tricks. I don¡¯t want someone to get hurt by accident.¡± Arya blinked at my wording. ¡°Is your magic so uncontrollable that that is a possibility?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I said seriously. ¡°I wasn¡¯t joking earlier about the differences between your magic and mine. You are much more flexible but what I can do, I do very well. And most of that includes some very damaging spells you don¡¯t want going off in a crowded field. Not unless you want a lot of injuries.¡± Arya contemplated that for a second. ¡°How should we proceed in your opinion then?¡± I shrugged. ¡°For today why don¡¯t we just focus on swordsmanship. I admit I was looking for the chance to face you myself after that display. We can find a more secluded area for me to show off a bit of magic later.¡± We went back and forth a bit on what the limits for the both of us should be. Arya and the Varden obviously wanted as much of a demonstration as they could get, but I was serious about the potential for collateral damage. A careless strike from almost any of my enchanted weapons could accidentally kill one of the spectators that were guaranteed to hang around and I didn¡¯t have the materials for setting up a Bounded Field to make sure the observers would be safe. In the end we decided on a similar match to the one she had with Eragon, mostly out of consideration for the surrounding trainees than anything I said. Although we both agreed to allow utility spells as desired. For instance if one of us was disarmed, we could use magic to either retrieve the weapon or in my case, summon another one. As expected, the warriors on the training ground circled around us when it became clear Arya was going to have another bout. There was plenty of confused muttering when they saw I was her opponent though, especially when they saw I didn¡¯t have a weapon. That muttering turned to cries of shock when a near-exact replica of Arya¡¯s sword appeared in my hand, the only change was the blunted edge to prevent me from cutting anything. It was a bit petty but I enjoyed the surprise in Arya¡¯s eyes at the sight of the weapon even if it wasn¡¯t anything special. It might have just been a blade given to her to replace the one she lost when she was ambushed, but copying it showed that I wasn¡¯t limited to ¡®obviously glowing magic sword¡¯. I wondered if anyone was going to go looking for the bow they had taken off of me and realise that it had already vanished. The elf was the one to start things off. She danced forward and slashed at my ribs, clearly lighter than when she faced Eragon. I caught her balde on my own and easily threw her off. My message was clear. ¡¯I¡¯m not weaker than he was.¡¯ Arya definitely understood since the next attacks were faster and stronger. We traded blows back and forth for a while, both of us getting faster as time went on until I started to outpace her. I idly noted I could still move a bit faster without Reinforcing myself as I ducked underneath a retaliatory slash. It definitely answered my question about how my base state compared to the warriors here but I also took the possibility Arya was still recovering into consideration. She was in pretty bad shape the last time I saw her after all. That didn¡¯t mean she was losing out to me in terms of skill though. Every feint, every trick, the elf responded fluidly and without hesitation. I was having a blast. There were no sudden bursts in speed, no suddenly elongating swords, and we were even using the same sword! This was more like a sport fighting demonstration than actual combat, so I decided as a reward for letting me enjoy this so much, I would show off my airwalk spell. An angled yellow spell-circle materialised behind me and the crowd got very noisy at the sudden display of magic. Arya was already moving in for another attack and was unable to stop in time. My plan was to kick off the circle behind me, recast it in the air and surprise the elf with an attack from behind. I got as far as kicking off the circle before my foot continued straight through it with only the barest resistance. Off balance and suddenly confused, Arya was able to attack me uninterrupted with a blow strong enough to rip my sword from my grip. Unwilling to let her win because a spell suddenly failed, I threw myself at her, grabbed her sword arm, and quickly placed a Traced dagger up against her ribs. Both of us froze for a second before Arya nodded in recognition that the bout ended and we both separated. The observing warriors broke out into cheers again at the conclusion of the match, but despite that I couldn¡¯t help but be in a bad mood. One of my spells wasn¡¯t working as expected. Which meant more might have the same issue. And I had no idea as to why¡­ Rider 1.10 ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why you are sulking. You won the duel, did you not?¡± Sandra asked as she placed another drink in front of me. My time at the training field had been cut short not long after my fight with Arya. As it turned out most of the warriors there were biased against magic, so even though they were very impressed by the show the two of us put on, no one was jumping at the chance to fight us personally. Eragon didn¡¯t seem to be excluded much since he didn¡¯t show off anything magical to the group, but both Arya and I had a pretty obvious ring around us where the warriors didn¡¯t want to get too close to us. Arya due to her Elfish-ness I supposed and me because of the spell-circle. Even if it didn¡¯t work, obviously magical glowing circles appearing in the air freaked out a lot of them. Not that it mattered to him. Unlike the two of us, he was exhausted from his duel with Arya and left the field with Saphira shortly after Arya wandered off. I had tried to scrounge up another partner but had no luck. So instead I retreated back to a remote corner and started testing every spell I could to see if I could figure out what went wrong with Air-Walk. Unfortunately even when I tore it down to its base components, I still couldn¡¯t figure out what was going on. Several other spells were weaker than they should be as well and a few of them were dependent on my FATE style of casting so it wasn¡¯t the style of magic, or at least whatever it was was affecting both styles. That had been yesterday and even after working most of the night on the issue I wasn¡¯t any closer to an answer. ¡°I am not sulking.¡± I declared and took a long pull from the mug. ¡°I¡¯m stuck on a problem I can¡¯t seem to figure out.¡± Sandra raised an eyebrow and waved a hand at one of the other tables. ¡°And that¡¯s why you were glaring at poor Gorm when he was regaling everyone with the tale?¡± ¡°No, I was glaring at him because he was saying I cheated during the duel so he didn¡¯t need to pay out on a bet.¡± The tavern owner smirked and was about to respond when the door smashed open. A grim looking Fredric and a handful of fully armored warriors pushed their way through the door and for a second I thought the Varden had decided to be stupid and prepared myself for a fight. I relaxed a bit when I noticed that, beyond a quick glance, he ignored me in favor of making his way towards Sandra. ¡°By the gods, what has gotten into you Fredric?¡± She started to scold. ¡±You can¡¯t just be bursting in-'''' Fredric interrupted the woman by grabbing her shoulder and pulling her close enough to whisper, but not much that I wasn¡¯t able to hear him anyway. ¡°Go to the back and start getting a travel pack ready to go. There''s trouble.¡± His stern expression killed any questions Sandra might¡¯ve had at the moment. She just nodded and disappeared into the back room while Fredric shouted to the rest of the tavern for attention. When all eyes were on him, he finally explained why he was acting weird. ¡°I have word directly from Ajihad.¡± The large man projected his voice so everyone could hear him clearly. ¡°An army of Urgals has been spotted marching for Tronjheim. All warriors are to report to their captains immediately. Anyone not willing to remain in the city, we will be organising refugee caravans shortly. Go to your homes and prepare whatever you can carry with you.¡± The tavern burst into a frenzy of activity as everyone inside suddenly tried to be somewhere else, but a few whacks from the warriors accompanying Fredric got them to calm down enough that they weren¡¯t crawling over each other trying to get out the door. The man himself silently motioned me to follow him into the back where Sandra had disappeared too. I drained the rest of my mug and followed after him. ¡°You wanted to talk?¡± I asked, shutting the door to the backroom behind me. The giant of a man nodded, eyes following Sandra while she was stuffing things into a reinforced backpack before focusing on me. ¡°I have a personal request from Ajihad. With the Urgals marching on us we cannot be picky with trust. He wants to know if you will join the defence.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I let out a long, slow breath as I considered my answer. I was going to help, no doubt about that, but I thought I had more time than a couple days to set up a workshop. Now I was out of time and hadn¡¯t even started on getting something set up. ¡°Do we know how long before the Urgals get here?¡± ¡°Our best guess is a day, possibly two.¡± So no time at all. The best I could do that quickly is some wide area bounded fields, but they would be limited to weak effects. Even if I got started now I wasn¡¯t going to be thwarting an invasion on my own. ¡°Alright, what does he want and what are you offering?¡± I was frustrated that I let myself get caught off guard like this, but moaning about it was useless. Best just to move on and see what I had to work with. Fredric shook his head though. ¡°Your participation is all the Varden asks for, the specific manner of that is up to you. We will provide as much material aid as possible, within reason, or if you plan to leave then we ask you agree to safeguard the women and children.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help in the main battle, don''t worry. Beyond that...¡± I furiously thought of all the things I could create quickly that would be useful. ¡°I can work on some illusion fields that will disorient anyone inside them, they won¡¯t be much on their own but it will prevent any ranged fighters from accurately targeting anyone outside the field. And if you can get me a few gems I can try getting a healing mystic code, an enchanted object that helps with spellcasting,¡± I clarified seeing his confusion. ¡°That will slow bleeding and prevent infection for the wounded. It won¡¯t do much on it¡¯s own and I can¡¯t make a stronger one without more time, but it might help out whatever healers you have.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure someone will be grateful for that.¡± Fredric still looked uncomfortable at the mention of magic, but wasn¡¯t going to dismiss the utility of it. ¡°So you will be in the healer¡¯s tents?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, I¡¯ll join the battle itself. Probably with the archers. A benefit of my style of magic is I never run out of arrows.¡± ¡°Useful.¡± Fredric grunted. I agreed. Not much more was said. We helped Sandra gather up some things but then we needed to head out into the city and check in with the people organising the defense. Thanks to the current situation my request for materials was passed through with zero complaint and I was introduced to the group in charge of the healers. There was no polite way to say it. They sucked. The field surgeons were little better than butchers in disguise and only a handful treated sterilising bandages and tools as an essential step rather than just a waste of time. The magicians weren¡¯t much better. Most of them belonged to a group called the Du Vrangr Gata, theoretically a magician¡¯s association working together to share knowledge, but so many of the ones I talked to had only a passing understanding of their magic that it was clear they really had no idea what they were doing and more of them had even less of an idea on how to actually heal someone. I very quickly determined that they would be better off learning how to use the mystic codes I was creating rather than continuing their own efforts. Thankfully transforming vital energy into mana (or prana if you were technical) was something I was already familiar with due to a few rituals within the Archive so it wasn¡¯t hard to add that as an automatic feature. By the time the day was done I had made almost two dozen of the MCs and singlehandedly advanced medical theory about a hundred years in the future. I also might have accidentally taken over as group leader after I threatened to castrate a particularly arrogant bastard going on about ¡®balancing humors¡¯ if he didn¡¯t shut up and do as I said. The hour-long rant about how he was wrong and the reasons for it, according to my limited knowledge, probably helped their decision. That would probably come back to bite me later, but I would deal with that after the battle. I finally left the medical area late in the day and made my way over to one of the three tunnels the Varden were planning on confronting the Urgal Army. It was actually pretty impressive for only a bit more than a day¡¯s work with the hundreds of lanterns, torches, and fires all illuminating the mouth of the tunnel ensured that nothing would be sneaking out unseen. Added to that was the forest of sharpened spikes all pointing at the opening. And topping everything off were massive cauldrons of bubbling pitch waiting to be poured on the heads of anything that made it out. Not exactly clean ways to kill something but very good at delaying an approaching army for a time. What I was going to add to the defenses would only make getting out of the choke point even harder for the Urgals. If I had a few months I could set a Bounded Field up that could potentially hold off the entire army until someone destroyed it or it ran out of power. Illusions making the Urgals fight among themselves, curses that automatically targeted any magic users, straight up just locking them inside for the Varden¡¯s archers to target at will¡­ All possible but not in the time I had remaining, so I was going for something simple, weak, and hopefully effective. I was going to set up a large scale Field that would just slightly throw off the equilibrium of anything inside. Archers would find themselves aiming just a little bit off their target, warriors would find themselves misstepping even on flat ground, and hopefully mages would find their concentration messed up for long enough that the defenders could take advantage. Two fields went up without issue but I found myself getting delayed working on the third. One of the Twins was trying to stalk me and I was forced to be stealthy to avoid giving him any hints on what I was doing. I doubted he was going to be able to figure out anything just by looking but I wanted as little as possible making it back to the king about other systems of magic. I would¡¯ve even been looking for a subtle way to assassinate one or both of the Twins during the battle but according to some of the other magicians I had talked to, one of them was hiding out in the Dragonholds above the city and the other was going to be next to Ajihad the whole time. I might be able to kill the latter unnoticed, but the chances of Ajihad getting caught in some last screw-you attempt was too high to risk. Speaking of, I finally managed to shake the Twin following me when I spotted Ajihad in a gathering with Orik, Arya, Eragon, Murtagh, and Saphira. Considering someone had taken the time to fit the dragon with a pretty impressive suit of armor, making her stand out even more than she normally did, it was actually surprising I hadn¡¯t spotted them earlier. As soon as it was clear where I was going the annoying bald magician stopped following me and disappeared to thankfully somewhere else. I exchanged greetings with the group and then just fell back into generally observing the surroundings. Now all that was left to do was wait for the Urgals to get here¡­ Interlude Ajihad In his most private thoughts Ajihad found it amusing how the threat of imminent death and destruction removed many of the petty arguments he needed to navigate from day to day. If the Varden ran this smoothly on the regular he could scarcely imagine the kind of progress they could make. Unfortunately, it seemed reality was less kind and that was precisely what he was dealing with. All the cooperation in the world didn¡¯t matter when there was no time to leverage it. Ajihad just hoped the presence of the newest free dragon rider was enough to let them hold out. If they fell here¡­ ¡°How are the tunnel preparations?¡± He asked J?rmundur, his second in command and longtime friend. ¡°Finished. Eragon and Arya¡¯s assistance was enough to collapse all the marked tunnels with some time to spare.¡± ¡°And the warriors?¡± J?rmundur¡¯s grimace was not reassuring. ¡°Most of them are under equipped. The smiths are trying to hammer out as much last minute armor as they can but a good amount will be marching with only a sword and shield.¡± At least they would have that much. Another unfortunate fact of life was the Varden was not a rich organization. If not for the generosity of the dwarves, they would¡¯ve been bankrupted several times in the past few years. But the dwarves also had lives to lead and could not simply give away weapons and armor. Ajihad simply hoped what little they could spare would ensure fighting the Urgals was not an immediate death sentence for his forces. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting otherwise, but it still is unpleasant to hear.¡± the leader of the Varden sighed. ¡°Anything else I should know about the preparations?¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Whatever you do, do not make an enemy of Alexandria.¡± his second said gravely. Ajihad was surprised. J?rmundur was not usually one to make absolute statements like that. Even receiving word that she had bested Arya in a restricted duel had not caused this reaction. What had the girl done now? Upturned everything their healers knew about the art, it turned out. Not only had she provided them with some incredibly powerful enchanted objects that could near instantly put many of the Du Vrangr Gata¡¯s poorest healers into the same level of mastery as their strongest magicians, she had also handed out more advanced knowledge about the body than all the healers probably knew combined before wandering off to set up even more magical defences that no one had the first clue how they functioned. Their golden-haired visitor had revealed herself to be a magician of terrifying strength along with being a formidable warrior in her own right these past few days. No wonder she had been unconcerned with any actions he could take against her. ¡°Do you think there is any chance of her working for Galbatorix?¡± it was incredibly unlikely at this point, but it still needed to be asked. ¡°None. The Mad King would never let one of his agents spread information like that outside one of his recruiting grounds. He would make them swear binding oaths long before they left his reach as well.¡± Ajihad nodded, that was what he had concluded as well. Where she came from was still a mystery, but it was one he could ignore until the crisis was over¡­ or they would all be too dead to care. He left J?rmundur to deal with his own work and moved to the field the future of the Varden would be settled on. He had to ensure Murtagh¡¯s release would not cause issues and a request to make of Eragon. He even saw Alexandria working her way through the crowds but made no move to intercept her, there was simply too much to do with the upcoming attack. Her presence was a comfort though. Before his departure from the Varden and his later death, Brom had been one of a very small number of assets that had the power and skill to kill a dragon rider Ajihad could call upon and while Eragon would hopefully grow into that role, he was still far too uneducated to face either Galbatorix or his red dragon rider. Alexandria, on the other hand, seemed skilled enough that with the support of the Varden they had hope of resisting the mad king and his new rider should one of them appear during this fight. Possibly even killing the latter. Ajihad just hoped that that wasn¡¯t a gamble they would need to take today. They had thought it impossible for their spies to not notice one of the two dragons heading east, but at the same time they had thought it impossible for Galbatorix to sneak an army close enough that they would not notice. Those thoughts were banished as quickly as they could. There had been no sign of the red dragon rider leaving the capital yet from when the second newest Rider presented himself to Galbatorix¡¯s service. Ajihad would just need to trust his agent¡¯s hadn¡¯t been fooled and focus on the present. Another runner approached and soon Ajihad no longer had the time to be lost in his thoughts. But when the Urgals reached them, they would be prepared. Rider 1.11 Five minutes before the battle started I had been nervous. Scouts had come running back letting us know the Urgals were getting close and I had never been in a battle with more than a dozen participants. The scale of the fight alone had been enough to unnerve me. Ten minutes after the start of the battle nerves had turned into exhilaration. It was still nerve wracking, but watching an army of non-human monsters splinter against our defences tickled something in the back of my mind. I would probably be having nightmares about the pitch defences though. Burning to death was not clean in any sense of the word, not at the comparatively low temperatures the Varden was working with. Between that, the archers focusing on the mouth of each path, and my Bounded Fields messing with the Urgal¡¯s perception, the attackers were crawling over a mound of their fallen before they even had a chance to strike back at us. It was even worse for them at the tunnel entrance where I was because not only was I cheating with near unlimited ammo, I was also shooting about five times as fast as the next archer and all my shots had the potential to kill. There were a handful of magic users in the attacking army and they had certainly set up protections around key personnel so a random arrow didn¡¯t hit them out of nowhere, but those protections usually failed to deflect my attacks or I simply focused on the ones that survived the first time until they did. An hour after the fighting began I was numb to the killing. The frontline defences had long since fallen to the Urgal assault and the main armies clashed against each other. Something that clearly favored the larger, stronger Urgals. I had occasionally spotted Saphira (and presumably Eragon) flying from battlefield to battlefield, ambushing soft targets and doing their best to disrupt the enemy. I didn¡¯t know how successful they were but whenever they were near it was an excellent morale burst to the soldiers. But morale wasn¡¯t enough to hold back the Urgals. A small band of them broke through the Varden warriors and started charging directly towards me. Unsurprising because I was definitely one of the main factors keeping this part of the defenses from being overrun. The few warriors between the band and me didn¡¯t stand a chance. The better equipped, more experienced warriors had long since been sent to reinforce the holes in our line. We couldn¡¯t afford for them to be standing around guarding me. The Urgals barely slowed them down. The first one caught an arrow in the forehead before the others got close enough to take their own swings. Once they were, though, I allowed my bow to dissipate into mana and without thinking summoned a copy of Benihime. The sword part of the sword worked just fine, Benihime¡¯s razor edge sliced through two of the Urgals like butter, but when I pulsed mana into the blade to activate one of it¡¯s abilities that¡¯s when things went wrong. I had to pour three times the mana than normal just to get the energy beam to fire, and even then it was maybe a quarter of the size it normally would be. It was frustrating. Another ability arbitrarily not working as expected. I was just glad I used Benihime and not Zangetsu. If I had, the drain would have been so much worse. The silver lining was I was at least back up to tracing Zanpakuto. Hopefully I would be able to freely use Noble Phantasms again pretty soon. Even undersized, the energy blast did kill the remaining Urgals so I was free to swap back to my bow and resume mechanically shooting. There was...just so much death around me. In a way I would¡¯ve almost preferred more urgals breaking through so I could justify close quarters combat more. I could distract myself from the amount of bodies getting trampled on the ground by focusing on the next opponent. Instead I got to see the whole field, my enhanced vision doing me no favors since the low light and dust hid nothing from me, and in an ironic twist of fate act as some kind of death god where anyone that fell under my sights wasn¡¯t long for this world. I lost track of time at some point. I fell into an almost trancelike state of mechanically firing arrow after arrow, only breaking out of it on the increasingly more common instances where urgals broke through the lines as the more experienced warriors were forced to spread out even more. It got so bad that I almost reflexively stabbed a messenger that came up and grabbed my elbow. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°You need to fall back, Lady Alexandria! We¡¯re about to be overrun!¡± I threw the quickly traced dagger into the chest of an unlucky urgal and tried to pretend it was a natural movement, not me realising I was going to stab a human at the last second, before taking a look around. Yes, we were getting pressured but it didn¡¯t seem that bad. ¡°We¡¯re holding just fine!¡± I shouted back to the messenger. ¡°Yer also about the only one who is! The rest of the line is collapsing, if you don¡¯t fall back you¡¯re going to end up surrounded!¡± Damn, I hadn¡¯t considered that. We pulled back far enough that some of the more rested warriors were able to take over and I went hunting for more information on how the battle was going. Something that wasn¡¯t as easy as just pulling aside a random messenger and getting updates. Eventually I was able to track down the commander for this battlefield and get some answers, but they weren¡¯t all that great. J?rmundur, the man in charge, let me know it wasn¡¯t just here where the Varden were struggling. All three battlefields were on a slow retreat for one simple reason, the Varden was tired and the Urgals remained fresh due to their seemingly unending supply of reinforcements. The Varden would eventually lose just because their warriors would be too tired to keep fighting. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s bad.¡± I worried my bottom lip at the situation. ¡°Is there anything we can do about it? Shift some people from here? I could probably fill in if I start using more draining magic...¡± Enchanting arrows to explode wasn¡¯t much more difficult than enchanted weapons. Even if they were way less powerful than a broken phantasm or similar weapon, carpet bombing the battlefield should buy us a little time at least. J?rmundur was already shaking his head though. ¡°We¡¯ve been doing that already. But after a certain point the Urgals won¡¯t even bother facing us, they¡¯ll just target the bigger groups. We would need to give them a reason to keep focusing on us and I do not think they will continue to do so for one magician, no matter how powerful, if it means they can kill the rest of us.¡± A reason they had to focus on me, huh? The carpet bombing idea wouldn¡¯t work then. I could kill as many of the Urgals as I wanted but that didn¡¯t matter to Galbatorix in the end. Hell, I could kill the entire army and he wouldn¡¯t mind as long as the Varden was shattered. I needed to do something to make him, or rather the commander he sent, target me. Thankfully I think I had an idea. ¡°Can the lines hold without me for ten minutes?¡± I fixed J?rmundur with a serious stare. ¡°If we commit everything, possibly?¡± the officer said with an air of desperation. ¡°We won¡¯t have much more after that. Not since Arya and the Rider were called away¡­¡± I blinked at that. Eragon and Arya left? ¡°Well, with a bit of luck this should give us some breathing room.¡± ¡°And what do you plan on doing?¡± I took a deep breath because once I did this, there was no putting that particular genie back in a bottle. ¡°A siege spell. Specifically a bombardment spell that will wipe out the entire army if I can cast it enough times. That should be enough to make the urgals focus on me.¡± ¡°Wip-, wipe out the whole army?!¡± J?rmundur sputtered, eyes wide. ¡°Lady Alexandria-¡± ¡°Why are people suddenly calling me a Lady?¡± I asked, rolling my eyes. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m going to get started. Be ready, because when I¡¯m done this is going to grab a lot of attention. Should ease the pressure on the other two battles though.¡± I gave him a falsely cheery wave and ran off before he could say anything. It didn¡¯t take long before I found a spot with some decent sightlines and started casting. Honestly I hated the whole process. I had practiced manual casting bombardment spells a few times just to make sure I could, but it was a pain. I had to manually encode the mana into the spell and a single decent twitch or miscalculation would ruin the whole thing. Something that made trying to cast this in the middle of a battlefield even more stressful¡­ And that was before I started drawing attention with a giant, glowing yellow spell-circle. The Varden endured though. Twelve minutes after I started drawing out the spell, it was ready to fire. I gave one final warning to get out of my way to the few warriors around me and triggered the firing section. I took an instant to pray that this actually worked like I was hoping because otherwise it was going to be a colossal waste of time. Luckily, I only had to worry about the output of the spell since the mana cost was fixed while I manually drew the circle. ¡±Nova Blast!¡± The yellow-white beam of destruction carved a path straight through the urgal army and didn¡¯t stop until it crashed into the distant wall of Farthen D?r, effectively cutting the attacking forces into two uneven halves. The entire battle across all three fields stopped in the wake of my spell. Well, the good news was my siege spell worked just fine. There was actually a twinge of annoyance at that fact because now I definitely had no idea why some of them misfired. The bad news was the spell worked just fine and now I had the near undivided attention of an army. I took a deep breath. This had been the plan after all. Of course now I needed to live through my plan and I had a sneaking suspicion limiting myself to arrows wasn¡¯t going to be enough. Well, one more trick wouldn¡¯t matter at this point¡­ ¡±Trace Bullet¡± Hundreds of swords projected themselves behind me and launched forward at the rate and power of a particularly large machine gun. Eighty percent of them might have been normal steel but that wasn¡¯t an issue as the blades created a kill zone in front of me, tearing through bodies, armor, and magical protections alike. I was now holding off a good amount of the forces directly in front of me by myself and the rest of the forces were shifting away from the Varden¡¯s battered lines to focus on me. Which made drawing another spell-circle a bit of a challenge and much slower, but it was doable. I ended up firing off two more Nova Blasts, each one taking an increasingly longer time to cast as fatigue started to take its toll, before what I was hoping for finally happened. A terrible wail echoed out from the city behind us and three spectral shapes flew across Farthen D?r. The Urgals paused as the spells forcing them to cooperate and attack failed. They quickly fell into infighting or started running back into the tunnels they came from. The battered forces of the Varden and dwarves broke out in cheers and pushed forward, eager to take advantage of the sudden confusion and rout the urgals before anything changed. I was done though. I had killed...fuck, who knows how many urgals in the past few hours. Possibly thousands. My stomach almost rebelled at being directly responsible for so much death even if it was to protect people from being slaughtered to the last woman and child. I¡¯d let the others pursue the remnant forces, I was just going to head to the medical tents. See if I could balance out the number of lives I had taken by trying to save some others. Somehow I doubted I would be feeling better anytime soon. Rider 2.1 I was certainly right about not feeling better. Just because the battle had ended didn¡¯t mean that people weren¡¯t still fighting for their lives. Unfortunately, these battles were much harder because you couldn¡¯t just kill your enemy and move on. No, instead it was a race against the clock. Either the healers managed to fix whatever was wrong, or at least just stop the wounded from bleeding out, or the patient died. And we had been at it for hours. What made it worse was even with the assistance of my mystic codes making the other healers significantly more useful, the sheer numbers of the wounded were an issue. It also didn¡¯t help that the codes weren¡¯t designed for fine detailed work, more of a ¡®stop this thing from bleeding¡¯ effect. That meant I spent a lot of time elbow deep in some poor bastard¡¯s innards removing arrowheads and the like so they didn¡¯t die from infection or internal bleeding a few days later. Of course that didn¡¯t mean we were able to save everyone. Some simply died before a healer could make it to them. Others by the unfamiliarity with the new methods I had handed out; one lesson wasn¡¯t exactly enough to make everyone expert doctors. And some simply couldn¡¯t be healed due to the nature of their injury, thankfully I hadn¡¯t personally run into many of those yet. Mostly, I dealt with serious wounds requiring delicate surgery while the rest of the healers focused on simpler wounds. One particularly unlucky, or very lucky depending on your point of view, man had an arrow miss his heart by millimeters before it snapped inside of him. I was actually using my hands to keep his organs away and a telekinesis spell to extract all the little splinters and the shaft while another magician assisted by immediately healing the little nicks left behind. Once all the little bits were out I let my assistant deal with sealing him up -the wonderful thing about magical healing is stitches usually aren¡¯t needed- and used the nearby washbasin to clean the blood off my hands. I handed off the now dirty towel to one of several women helping run the triage tents, people who either couldn¡¯t or refused to run before the battle started, when a messenger ran up to me and handed off a hastily written message. I skimmed it, sighed heavily, thanked the messenger, and then intentionally ignored his muttered ¡®Lady Alexandria¡¯ as he ran off again. I¡¯m going to have to find out whoever started that and hurt them. That will have to wait for later though. The message in my hand is a direct request from Ajihad to head back to Tronjheim and assist healing Eragon and Arya after their confrontation with the Shade, Durza. Honestly I was panicking inside. I knew Eragon was likely going to get hurt, it was a pretty defining moment for his development, but I didn¡¯t remember anything happening to Arya. Considering she was also the estranged daughter of the Queen of the Elves, her dying here would be a massive political blow to the Varden. So I ended up running back to the marble city after a quick explanation to the rest of the healers that I wouldn¡¯t be around for a while. -o- The inside of the city was still mostly deserted but enough people were roaming around that I was able to get directions to where I needed to go or snag someone as a guide. ¡° ¡®ere we are.¡± the dwarf I co opted for the final leg said as he pointed at a door guarded by a squad of heavily armed warriors. ¡°Ajihad and the Rider are just through there.¡± I thank him and walk up to the group. A quick flash of Ajihad¡¯s letter is enough for the guards to let me through the door. Inside is a scene of barely organized chaos as I watch a short dark haired woman still in armor dancing between several grinding stations, a table full of various herbs, and a boiling pot of some unidentifiable liquid before running back to smear something across an unconscious and face-down Eragon and shove a cup of something down the throat of a barely cognizant Arya. Ajihad is inside but keeping himself out of the way by hugging a wall. Saphira is also present, as much as she can be, by sticking her head inside through another door. I greeted the both of them with a nod and took a second to examine the woman running around at the same time. Short, dark curly hair, with dark eyes. Physically, she is my total opposite. Amusingly enough, she seemed even less willing than I was to listen to the leader of the Varden and was actively telling him to get out. ¡°...I do not have time to watch over some third-rate magician¡¯s ego! I¡¯ve already got my hands full -Ah ah! Drink all of that, Arya- keeping these two alive, I can¡¯t afford the distraction.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Ajihad nodded, though he had a slight smile on his face. ¡°I would never. The woman I asked for help is a master in her own right and has greatly improved our own healers with just a few contributions.¡± ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be hard.¡± the short woman muttered. ¡°And now that she¡¯s here, I shall follow your advice and leave. If you require anything, send a runner and I will make sure it is done.¡± Ajihad continued as if she hadn¡¯t spoken. He tilted his head at me as he walked past, leaving me under the angry gaze of whoever this was. I was tempted to curse the man but that would only interfere with healing the two people in here more. So I swallowed my indignation at being volunteered despite not being wanted and maybe not even needed and waved at the healer. ¡°Right. Sorry about this, I was under the assumption no one was able to help them.¡± I waved a hand at the two injured. ¡°What are you doing and how can I help?¡± ¡°Well at least you know not to change going about things in the middle of a treatment so that places you higher than most others here.¡± the woman said without stopping her preparations. ¡°I need to finish another poultice to draw out the rest of the infection trying to set into Eragon¡¯s wound. How is your stitching? Arya has a gash in her arm that I haven¡¯t had a moment to do more than staunch the bleeding.¡± I didn¡¯t know the first thing about stitching. The most I could do was some half-forgotten lessons on fixing a button from a life that I didn¡¯t actually live. ¡°Probably terrible, but I don¡¯t need to.¡± I held up the mystic code in my hand. ¡°This can handle closing a wound easily enough if it¡¯s clean.¡± That actually got the healer to stop for a second and look at me for the first time since I opened the door. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re that Alexandria person everyone has been talking about? I heard you managed to knock some sense into the fools pretending to be healers. I guess your help would actually be appreciated.¡± ¡°You heard about me?¡± I asked back. ¡°I make it a point to be informed about interesting people.¡± She said, ¡°But even the most unconnected people around will have heard stories of you by now, I reckon. Your performance wasn¡¯t exactly what we would call subtle now, was it?¡± I had to give her that one. A rain of swords and pillars of light were pretty noticeable. ¡°Yeah, guess not¡­¡± The woman went back to grinding a bunch of herbs into a paste. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about it. I¡¯m sure something new and exciting will happen soon enough for the gossip mongers to focus on. Enough of them will be focusing on Eragon killing a Shade that your own efforts might fade into the background...in a year or so¡­¡± I groaned at that. I didn¡¯t want to deal with random people gawking at me in the streets or randomly running up and asking for blessings. I actually started to miss the Bleach world and how people capable of leveling buildings could walk around like normal people. ¡°Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Angela.¡± the woma- Angela continued and I actually recognised the name. ¡°Normally I work as a herbalist, but these aren¡¯t normal times. Speaking of, how familiar are you with the craft?¡± ¡°Alexandria Cross, but you knew that apparently.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I know the definition and some of the basics but that¡¯s it. My methods are much more direct.¡± I walked over to the injured elf and started working on her arm. It was a bad cut but while deep, it was also fairly straight. My mystic code was easily able to close it after I made sure the wound had been cleaned. Angela watched the whole process out of the corner of her eye while she continued working on her mixtures. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting trinket.¡± She said when I had finished. ¡°And you didn¡¯t use the Ancient Language at all.¡± Then she handed me another cup full of some greenish potion and instructed me to make sure Arya drank this one as well. ¡°It¡¯s honestly not much. Sure, it looks impressive but all it really does is convince the body to heal slightly faster than normal and blood to clot if it comes in contact with the air. Good for sticking wounds closed if the cut is clean enough but not for much else.¡± Even that was giving the simple device a lot more credit than it probably deserved. Sure it could stick two sides of a cut together, but the wound wouldn¡¯t be fully healed and would still leave a scar. ¡°Which means you should be careful with your arm until you¡¯ve recovered enough to heal it yourself or it heals on its own.¡± I directed at Arya, getting a groggy nod in return. ¡°Not much is it?¡± Angela half-said to herself. ¡°In that case, care to look at that one-¡± she pointed at Eragon. ¡°-and see if there is anything you can do for the scarring? I¡¯ve done everything in my power to keep him alive, but as you said, my methods are less direct.¡± I didn¡¯t need to look long to realise the wound crossing Eragon¡¯s back was beyond my ability to heal. Well, not the wound itself, that would be time consuming since I would need to manually guide the spells myself or create a better mystic code to do it for me, but rather because there was a curse lingering in the cut that I couldn¡¯t do anything about. Curse-breaking hadn¡¯t been something I needed to study up on beyond knowing how to identify them and counter-curses to my own magic since I hadn¡¯t run into anyone capable of them until now. Rule Breaker might have helped depending on the nature of the curse, but since I couldn¡¯t Trace it or any other Noble Phantasms at the moment it didn¡¯t really matter. ¡°I can reduce the scarring a little but beyond that, nothing that wouldn¡¯t require a lot more time than would be practical.¡± I finally told the herbalist. ¡°Please, do what you can.¡± she said gravely. ¡°He rid the world of a great evil, but paid a great price in return.¡± I nodded. There was no reason not to, afterall. We worked in silence for a few minutes. Both Saphira and Arya had fallen asleep at some point while I was busy doing what I could for Eragon¡¯s back and Angela was now carefully adding herbs to a boiling mixture. ¡°So what do you do when you aren¡¯t helping rebels drive off Urgal armies?¡± I asked while trying to remember what I could about Angela, not that I managed much. I knew she was a herbalist out of a coastal city Eragon and Brom had stopped by briefly and a fortune teller on top of that. She also tended to appear near major events, but that could have been attributed to the fortune telling thing, and was incredibly knowledgeable compared to most around her. Beyond that...she was mostly the reason many major players of the Varden were able to survive their various brushes with death, and that was about it. ¡°Oh, the normal things. I make potions and cures for all manners of ails...the occasional fortune telling...and I suppose lately I¡¯ve done a bit of animal research.¡± Angela said vaguely. ¡°Animal research?¡± I had a feeling I had just made a grave mistake. The gleam in the herbalist¡¯s eye was one I recognised belonging to people that had a passion project and couldn¡¯t wait to tell anyone they could all about it. ¡°Oh yes! Tell me, what do you think about toads?¡± Rider 2.2 Talking with Angela was an interesting experience. On one hand she was rather brilliant and had several well researched examples and arguments to support her opinions and she seemed open to new knowledge when it was presented to her. On the other hand, she was rather stubborn and even though she accepted my arguments that didn¡¯t mean she was willing to change her viewpoint. We spent a couple hours arguing over my opinion on how every toad is a frog but not every frog is a toad without really coming to an agreement. Part of me suspected she liked leaving topics like this unresolved so she could come back and restart the argument later. It seemed like something she would do. It certainly helped pass the time though. While we continued arguing the finer points of biology and it¡¯s magical implications Arya was declared fit enough to be released, though she decided to remain close by, and we had managed to get Eragon to the point where he wouldn¡¯t die if left unmonitored for a few minutes. That didn¡¯t mean he was healed. Even with my help his wound remained heavily cursed and a closer examination with a Structural Analysis spell revealed that part of the spirits that had made up the Shade had grafted itself onto his soul. Something I wasn¡¯t sure if either of us would be able to do anything about. Angela had seemed stumped when I mentioned the issue and none of my available repertoire focused on that kind of healing. The thought that I could study the interaction between the lingering curse and Eragon¡¯s soul popped up and I had to forcefully put it aside. I could be curious about studying the phenomenon after he woke up and if he didn¡¯t mind me poking at his soul. -o- Not long after I left the house behind and went back to the medical tents. We had done everything we could for Eragon but others still needed healing. And sitting around waiting for him to wake up wouldn¡¯t help them. Angela stayed behind, the effort gone into healing the young Rider had exhausted her supply of materials and potions so she needed to build up a supply again before she could continue. Luckily for a couple dozen warriors, I had no such limitation. Unluckily for several, I wasn¡¯t a miracle worker. I ground the heel of my palm into my tired eyes as two assistants carried away my latest patient. One of the large horned Urgals, a Kull, had shattered the poor man¡¯s leg to the point I needed to amputate it. He would live, my healing eliminating the possibility of infection and ensuring the wound was sealed, but his career as a warrior was over. I wearily motioned for the next one but instead of another patient a nervous looking woman in dark green robes walked up to me. ¡°Pardon me, Lady Alexandria. I apologise for delaying your work but could you spare a moment?¡± ¡°First off, don¡¯t call me that.¡± I sighed, then waved at one of the stools nearby. ¡°And sure, what do you need?¡± I was simultaneously grateful for the break and annoyed that my flow was broken but I could still be polite...ish. ¡°Y-yes Lad-, erm, ah¡­¡± the woman floundered, so I decided to throw her a bone. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Alexandria or just Alex is fine. I really don¡¯t know where that ¡®Lady¡¯ business came from.¡± ¡°But you¡­ ah, I see.¡± Leona comes to what I¡¯m fairly confident is a wrong conclusion but I don¡¯t care enough right now to deal with it. ¡°In that case, Alexandria, would it be possible for you to make more of those healing items? I realise you have already been beyond generous with us, but¡­¡± she trailed off. ¡°Is something wrong with the ones I gave out?¡± There shouldn¡¯t be. They might have been made in a hurry and rather crudely, but I did make sure that they would be sturdy enough for constant use for a few weeks at least before the mystic codes burned out. Leona frantically waved her hands in front of her. ¡°No, no! The magic items are working superbly! In fact they have been a tremendous boon to our efforts! It''s just¡­¡± I raised an eyebrow as the woman paused again, avoiding eye contact entirely. ¡°...would it be possible to convince you to create more? The ones you gave us...there just isn¡¯t enough¡­¡± I closed my eyes and started cursing silently. Of course the handful of mystic codes I created in a few hours weren¡¯t enough to help an army get back on their feet. Especially because the most they could do was stop bleeding and stick flesh back together. That left plenty of other issues healers needed to deal with. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s something I should have thought about before now.¡± I turned to look at Leona. ¡°Who ordered you to come speak to me?¡± The woman looked confused. ¡°Ordered¡­?¡± Well that was a surprise. I half expected her to be the lackey of one of the other healers that was too proud to admit they needed more from me. That or this being a scheme to weasel more knowledge and resources out of me without actually asking. Leona simply asking because she saw a problem I could deal with more effectively showed she had a good head on her shoulders. That, and my building fatigue was making me paranoid. I would need to find time to sleep soon. I was already somewhere in the realm of two days without sleep and that didn¡¯t seem like it was going to change soon. ¡°Well if no one ordered you, you officially have more sense than half the healers hear at least. No one else decided to come to me and mention the lack of tools was an issue.¡± I snagged a nearby messenger and sent him running to get someone to deliver the materials I needed to make more mystic codes and motioned Leona to follow me. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m drafting you as an assistant for that alone. I¡¯ll need someone to make sure everybody knows how to use the mystic codes while I¡¯m busy making more.¡± ¡°A-assistant?! Bu-but there are so many others more skilled than I am, I¡¯m just a hedge witch who barely finished her apprenticeship!¡± I did notice she seemed rather young, early twenties at a guess, still that just meant she should be easier to work with and I could offload simpler tasks without feeling awkward about ordering someone who looked significantly older than me around. ¡°Good, then I won¡¯t need you to unlearn a bunch of superstitious crap that has nothing to do with healing.¡± I said shortly. ¡°But there is a more important reason I¡¯m picking you. Out of all the healers and magicians helping with the wounded, even the ones I gave those codes to, you were the only one to realise I hadn¡¯t made enough and bothered to talk to me about it. Congratulations, you¡¯ve got the job.¡± I ignored the sputtering of my new assistant and started heading to where I told the messenger to send the materials. Once they were delivered, I started the process of making more mystic codes similar to the ones I handed out while figuring out what other features would be useful now that an army wasn¡¯t knocking at the door. Infection was at the top of the list. No matter what there would be plenty of germs and filth getting into wounds and even light infections could be a real drain on the healer¡¯s already limited resources at the scale we were dealing with. Something to fix broken bones was also high on the list. I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to directly heal them but making sure breaks were correctly aligned and getting the process started shouldn¡¯t be too hard. So while I started on those I began to narrate what I was doing and why to my assistant. Not how to make a mystic code. Obviously that would mean teaching her how to use mana, then teaching her how to apply that to enchanting objects. No, I explained the reason why I was making something to deal with infection and the processes that included both magical and mundane. I also let her know I fully expected her to share these lessons with the other healers which caused her to immediately fumble for a notebook and start scribbling furiously. After each completed mystic code, I would send Leona out to deliver it to the healers and have her teach them how to use it. Once the two new codes were finished I showed her how to use those and had her teach them as well. Time kind of blurred together after a while. Between my already apparent lack of sleep, the fact Farthen D?r was in the middle of a mountain, and I didn¡¯t have a watch, I basically lost myself into a mindless cycle of crafting, teaching, and occasionally eating when Leona brought something in. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had gotten absorbed in my work like this and it probably wouldn¡¯t be the last either, but when I finally felt like I was in a good place to stop - definitely not because I was so tired I missed hammering the mystic code I was working on and hit the table three times in a row - I discovered that I had been up for five days straight. A day and a half for the battle, then two and a half days healing or crafting. Roughly one hundred and twenty hours. A new record. I decided that would just have to be good enough. The healers should have plenty of codes to use and Leona could handle things for a little while. As I finally laid down to sleep I couldn¡¯t help but feel I had forgotten something incredibly important, but nothing came to my exhausted mind. Hopefully I would remember in the morning. With that final thought, I closed my eyes and was out in an instant. Rider 2.3 As it turned out, I didn¡¯t need much help figuring out what I had forgotten about during my healing fugue. The entire Varden was talking about it and by extension making me feel like an absolute idiot for forgetting. Ajihad had been killed on his way back from dealing with the Urgal remnants and Murtagh and the Twins had been ¡®taken¡¯, presumed dead. To make things worse, I wasn¡¯t sure that given the chance to go back in time for a do-over I wouldn¡¯t choose to stay in the medical tents anyway. As important as Ajihad was to the Varden, I don¡¯t know if I could live with myself ignoring hundreds of warriors dying right in front of me to save one person. No matter how important that one person was to the group. I didn¡¯t have too long to regret my actions though. Because the death of the leader of the Varden didn¡¯t mean much when there was still so much to do. If anything it added to the mountain of things that needed handling. But I resolved to stay out of the politics of the upper level of the Varden. It was bad enough that I had now cemented my accidental leadership over the healers, I didn¡¯t want to add more headaches if I could help it. Which is why I was incredibly annoyed when a young boy ran up to me with a message saying the Council of Elders were waiting to meet with me. ¡°And when were they expecting this meeting?¡± I asked sourly. I had things to do, and talking in circles with politicians was not on that list for today. ¡°Im-immediately Lady Lightbringer.¡± the boy stammered, referring to me by the title I picked up after the battle. From the conversations I heard in passing most of the Varden were trying to figure out if my actions on the battlefield were more impressive than Eragon killing a Shade with no winner in sight. I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose they will leave me alone if I tell them to reschedule?¡± The boy went pale. ¡°Er -- well¡­ they are already waiting with Eragon Shadeslayer¡­¡± he trailed off. So it was going to be like that, huh? Fine. I hadn¡¯t played politics nicely with Ajihad for the little time I had known him. I certainly wasn¡¯t going to play any nicer with this Council. Might as well teach them early. ¡°Alright, take me to them.¡± -o- The council had gathered in a circular meeting room that was big enough to accommodate Saphira and still have room for a round marble table in the middle. I took a quick glance around as I walked through the door. Of the six humans in the room, I only recognised J?rmundur and Eragon. ¡°Alexandria, thank you for joining us. I know you are incredibly busy at the moment.¡± J?rmundur said from his seat once I had taken my own. ¡°Most of the life-threatening cases are dealt with by now. I can stay away from the medical tents for a while with no issue.¡± I replied, truthfully even. He nodded and introduced me to the rest of the council. Um¨¦rth and Falberd, the two other men at the table and Sabrae and Elessari, two women. All of whom greeted me in turn. ¡°I assume this meeting is for something other than simply introducing us all since Eragon was brought here before me?¡± I asked once all that was over. The council stiffened while Eragon¡¯s mouth narrowed into a fine line. The council obviously got him to agree to something and he wasn¡¯t thrilled about it and now they were attempting to get me to do the same. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± J?rmundur nodded in my direction, ¡°with Ajihad¡¯s death the Varden is facing a crisis that must be solved quickly; his successor as leader of the Varden. We have already decided who to support and Eragon has agreed.¡± A sudden snort from Saphira let me know ¡®agreed¡¯ was a strong word for it. ¡°The Varden can''t withstand infighting over its leadership right now. Which is why we need your word of honor that, agree or disagree, nothing we say will leave this room.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I assume they asked you the same thing?¡± I asked Eragon. ¡°Aye.¡± I raised an eyebrow at the curt reply but didn¡¯t comment on it. ¡°Very well, you have my word I will say nothing.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± one of the other male council members exclaimed. ¡°As we explained to Eragon here,¡± he waved at the Rider in question, ¡°we plan on asking Nasuada to take on the role -- not that we doubt she will accept -- and for both you and Eragon, as the heroes of the last battle, to be present when we make the announcement and swear fealty to the Varden.¡± Ah, so that was their game. They wanted to get control of both me and Eragon at this ceremony and had already gotten the Rider¡¯s word. Now they were trying to pressure me into giving the same because he had. ¡°I don¡¯t mind attending the appointment.¡± I said easily. ¡°And your word that you will swear fealty?¡± one of the women asked immediately. Apparently Eragon had also tried to omit that promise and got called out on it. Welp, only one answer to that question. ¡°Of course I won¡¯t be swearing fealty.¡± ¡°Good, then the only thing that remains...what?¡± Everyone in the room - even Saphira - looked at me in shock after I blatantly refused. ¡°Did you all forget I refused Ajihad when he demanded things of me?¡± I said a touch mockingly to the group. ¡°I worked with him due to the emergency but I am not part of the Varden and I have no plans to become part of it.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do that! The Varden would be disgraced if one of their heroes failed to support them!¡± another of the council cried. I shrugged. ¡°Not my problem. I won¡¯t speak against Nasuada¡¯s appointment like you asked, but I have no need to devote myself to the Varden or the desire to do so.¡± ¡°That may be for now, but without joining us we cannot justify supporting you as we have in the past.¡± One of the women threatened. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Them supporting me? I doubted most of them knew I existed until after the battle finished. ¡°That''s fine. I¡¯m sure the Du Vrangr Gata and the other healers will understand when I am forced to stop teaching them, I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the costs myself after all.¡± I smiled as every council member stiffened. They tried coercing me by saying they wouldn¡¯t stop any hidden threats or slights from affecting me and would even try restricting what materials I had access to, I responded by threatening to piss off the majority of their healers. There was a very good reason people didn¡¯t piss off healers even when they were as bad as the Varden¡¯s before I started fixing their training. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can discuss this another time.¡± J?rmundur tried to ease the tension in the room. ¡°What is important is Nasuada accepting the role.¡± He called for a messenger boy, a different one than the one that called me, and sent him scurrying off to find both Nasuada and Arya since she was currently the only representation of the elves. The council started muttering amongst themselves while Eragon looked like he was deep in thought but I did want to talk to the young Rider and now was a pretty good opportunity. So ignoring that he might want to think on his own - and from what I knew about him, that was dangerous enough to discourage anyways - I wandered over and sat down next to him. ¡°You seem concerned.¡± I commented, keeping my voice low enough that it didn¡¯t travel to the others. ¡°Just thinking things through. It seems this isn¡¯t a situation that favors hasty responses.¡± he replied. ¡°Although I did want to thank you. I heard from Angela that you assisted in healing us after the battle.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I waved his thanks off. ¡°It was my job at the time and we didn¡¯t exactly finish the job.¡± ¡°Is there-¡± ¡°Not at the moment.¡± I cut him off before he started getting hopeful. ¡°It may not seem like it but I¡¯m recovering myself. I can¡¯t even attempt some things until I heal and that requires time. But that¡¯s for later, I assume you got suckered into promising to give your word on the fealty thing?¡± Eragon¡¯s expression soured. ¡°Yes. Would it have been better to just refuse like you? And is there a way to get out of it?¡± I waggled my hand back and forth. ¡°Eh, it depends on how you look at it. I don¡¯t really care if the council gets upset with me because I¡¯m only staying until I accomplish a goal. Once that is over I will probably leave the Varden immediately. It also doesn¡¯t hurt that I somehow managed to become the leader of the local healers so I have my own way of making life difficult if I wanted. You, on the other hand, don¡¯t have your own followers and seem to want to work closely with the Varden so you can¡¯t just dismiss their opinions and even if you slipped this attempt, they would try to bind you tighter to their organization at some point. As for getting out of it? Several ways depending on how sincere you want to be about it. You could simply deny giving your word in the first place. The council will be pissed but it will be your word against theirs.¡± Eragon frowned. ¡°I gave my word.¡± Clearly he wasn¡¯t a fan of that option. ¡°It¡¯s just an option,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Besides, if they make an announcement at you refute it, it could lead to infighting. Another method would be to make such a vague or halfhearted oath that it is essentially worthless besides showing your support.¡± Eragon¡¯s eyes flicked over to Saphira then back to me. The two were obviously communicating through their bond. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound terrible...what is the downside?¡± ¡°Morale would probably take a hit when someone takes offence to anything less than a full oath. And I¡¯m sure others would use that opportunity to try and strip some power away from the Council and Nasuada for themselves.¡± ¡°...oh.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what comes to mind immediately, and it¡¯s likely people will try to gain a little more power for themselves no matter what you do; it¡¯s just how a power transition to a new leader is.¡± Eragon said nothing for a while, no doubt still talking things over with his dragon. ¡°So no matter what things won''t be the same then?¡± He asked eventually, reinforcing how little practical experience he had with political situations. ¡°Nope. But that¡¯s normal. Even if Ajihad survived, something like this would have happened eventually. It¡¯s what happens when a new power or group meets another.¡± Like me, I didn¡¯t say. ¡°But no matter what you end up doing, let me give you both some advice.¡± I said, making them realise I wasn¡¯t ignoring Saphira¡¯s contribution to his decision. ¡°Always define the end condition for your oath. If you swear wholeheartedly to the Varden or even just one person; your oath ends when Galbatorix is overthrown. If you just pledge to support them; your oath ends when a new leader is chosen. For some other third thing; your oath ends at some point.¡± I stressed that last point. ¡°Why is it so important to make sure my oath ends? That isn¡¯t how swearing fealty is done!¡± Eragon protested, straining to keep his voice down. ¡°Because you are the unofficial leader of the Dragon Rider¡¯s even if there is only one of you.¡± and his eyes widened. ¡°Any Riders that come after you, if they want the same training, will likely wind up swearing to you and that can be dangerous if your loyalty is already held hostage.¡± ¡°The Varden can¡¯t be worse than the king.¡± He argued. ¡°And for now they might not be.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Even in the future they might not be...but remember, one of the gifts of being bound to a dragon is a long lifespan. Just because you agree with someone now, that doesn¡¯t mean you will years later. So have an escape clause¡­¡± I paused. ¡°Maybe ask Arya for assistance on the wording. Rumor has it Elves are notorious for vague promises that mean nothing in actuality.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how true that was in this universe. It was a stereotype among long lived races for a reason though and Eragon needed all the help he could get. Our conversation had to end there though, as Nasuada and Arya both entered the meeting room¡­ Rider 2.4 ¡°¡­I, Eragon, first Rider of the Varden, Shadeslayer and Argetlam, give you my blade and my fealty, Nasuada, until Galbatorix is removed and a fair leader is appointed in his place.¡± Well, at least he took some of my advice. I mused as the new leader of the Varden was sworn in. The meeting with the Council hadn¡¯t lasted long after the last two arrived. In fact it barely lasted another five minutes before Nasuada accepted and the meeting broke up. Though the new leader had managed to get Eragon to remain behind and presumably secure his fealty despite my warning to wait. Arya had not been happy but besides the deathgrip on Eragon¡¯s hormones -that she was not going to lower herself to use- she really had no way to influence the situation. And I hadn¡¯t seen the Rider since the meeting a few days prior. So now she was standing beside me with a blank expression as the amphitheater shook with the cheers of the Varden as Nasuada accepted the oath. ¡°I guess that means we will need to leave soon.¡± I commented to the raven haired elf. ¡°The Council was just denied their toy, and like the spoiled children they are, they will try to throw a tantrum.¡± ¡°We?¡± ¡°Well of course I¡¯m coming with you.¡± I said blithely. ¡°Someone needs to keep him from killing himself and I suspect you¡¯ll be too busy with your mother to watch him all the time. The dwarves will no doubt choose someone as well, but let¡¯s be honest, anyone they send won¡¯t be much of a factor.¡± Arya stiffened at the mention of her mother. ¡°How do you¡­¡± ¡°Know who your mother is?¡± I interrupted. ¡°I have my ways. That and Angela has some very interesting things to say if you can ignore the insane tangents that woman brings up.¡± A small misdirection that had the intended effect of making Arya assume the witch was the one who told me. Her reputation for just knowing things and turning up at odd places was very useful. ¡°You play a dangerous game. And I have no reason to allow this, Eragon would be perfectly safe among us.¡± I shrugged minutely. ¡°You can try and stop me, I suppose. But someone needs to keep an eye out on the curse he has on his back. And unless you have gotten significantly better in the past couple days, I am the best healer around.¡± Arya¡¯s lips narrowed into a fine line. ¡°Then we will be happy to have you along.¡± The whole conversation brought up some nostalgic feelings of how Yoruichi used to pester me, each of us too stubborn to give in unless we had to. Too bad for her, Arya had nothing on the ex-Squad Two Captain and this truly wasn¡¯t the time or place to get in an argument. So the elf folded fairly fast even though I¡¯m sure she could have put up a better fight if I wasn¡¯t taking cheapshots at her. Maybe that would change later. I kinda missed the flighty assassin and it would be nice to find a similar relationship here. Even if it would be weird that I would be the more playful of us. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t slow you down any. Though I would like to discuss magic with you. Who knows? Maybe we can both learn something. Never worked with an animancer before.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She just hummed noncommittally and we both went back to observing the ceremony. -o- Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nasuada asked for a meeting not long afterwards. Despite my obvious desire to stay out of Varden politics, I was still widely regarded as a hero by the troops for my actions during the battle. Something only reinforced by my actions after it as well. It¡¯s hard not to spread rumors about the woman who held off an army with magic and then turned around and spent days healing the wounded. I probably would have been following the rumors myself in other circumstances. So that meant the new leader of the Varden had to at least know my opinions about certain things or she ran the risk of having a fracture in her followers if I made my displeasure known. And she didn¡¯t have an oath of fealty from me to tell me to shut up about any disagreements. So I soon found myself outside of what used to be her father¡¯s office, with far more guards than previously, waiting to be let in. To her credit, Nasuada didn¡¯t have me wait long and I¡¯m ushered inside not long after I got there. Not much had changed since the last time I had been in here, a small vase of flowers is probably the biggest change. Nasuada was seated at her father¡¯s desk still wearing black mourning clothes, silently observing me as I took a chair. ¡°I admit I don¡¯t know what to make of you, Lady Lightbringer.¡± She said softly after some time. ¡°You are the most powerful magician I have ever heard of besides an elf or a Rider, you treat priceless secrets as worthless things to be shared among healers, and you fight ferociously to remain independent from being a part of the Varden. And yet, no one has ever heard of you before you arrived with Eragon, Murtagh, and Arya. You effortlessly claimed leadership of nine out of ten healers with an ease that tells me you are used to being in charge. But when you had the chance to take control of the Varden - and do not think I did not hear them calling your name alongside Shadeslayer - you said nothing.¡± ¡°Is there a question in all of that?¡± I asked her with a slight smile. ¡°What do you want, Lady Lightbringer? What can the Varden offer you to ensure you support our cause?¡± My smile widened. Just like her father, she was very direct. No obvious flattery, no toadying to my ego. Just a straightforward admittal she had no idea what my game was and what could she do to make sure I didn¡¯t cause trouble. She would definitely make a decent leader if she got the support she needed. Unfortunately¡­ ¡°There is nothing the Varden can do. The minute I have what I need I¡¯ll leave.¡± Well, probably not the exact minute. The only way I was getting my hands on enough brightsteel was going to be after Galbatorix was taken care of. Which meant I would probably be healing the aftermath of that battle. ¡°As for what I want¡­¡± A brilliant red blade shimmered into existence between us. ¡°You want Eragon¡¯s sword?¡± Nasuada did a good job of hiding any fear at the sudden display of magic under the confusion in her voice. ¡°Not quite.¡± The single sword becomes four. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± That¡¯s fair. And I am being deliberately unhelpful at the moment. Partly because I¡¯m trying to give Nasuada the image that I¡¯m going to do things my own way no matter who she is, partly because I¡¯m having fun before I spend weeks in the company of extremely literal elves. ¡°Every Rider sword is made of an incredible metal. One that I need for a very important project. Apparently the only way I am going to get enough is to acquire three or four swords and melt them down.¡± ¡°Three or four¡­? No one has that many Rider blades! And they certainly would not let you melt them down!¡± I shrugged. ¡°I figured that out the first few days I was here. Which means I will be around until I figure out where to find some.¡± We sat in silence for a bit as Nasuada absorbed the information. I¡¯m not entirely sure what she was taking away from that little speech because I wasn¡¯t asking for help. Just stating facts. Eventually she just decides it¡¯s something to think about later and moves on to the next topic. ¡°I¡¯m planning on moving the Varden to Surda.¡± I nodded along because I already knew that would happen. ¡°The dwarves won¡¯t be able to support us much longer and recruits from the Empire are few and far between.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ll send Eragon to the elves while you are moving.¡± ¡°Yes, he needs to get stronger before he faces Galbatorix.¡± She replies with narrowed eyes. ¡°I agree with you. Also I¡¯ll be going with him to make sure his injury doesn¡¯t worsen.¡± ¡°Is that a possibility?¡± More points to her, she is more worried about Eragon as a person than his status as a Rider. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely.¡± I admitted. ¡°But the Shade left a pretty potent curse on the wound. If I was at my best I might be able to do something about it. But that will take some time.¡± ¡°You were wounded during the battle?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, it''s an older injury from before I arrived at these mountains. Not to worry though, it¡¯s healing pretty well and I should be able to access my full magic soon enough.¡± ¡°...your full¡­¡± Nasuada went pale enough that I could see it, despite her dark complexion. Yet at the same time she seemed a bit more hopeful than before. I suppose she would be excited, an already strong mage working on her side was only going to get stronger. ¡°Well then, I hope you recover soon. As for you accompanying Eragon, I have no objections. Though Hrothgar will probably demand a representative to observe his training as well.¡± ¡°I already mentioned the possibility to Arya. She didn¡¯t seem against the idea.¡± We continued planning for a while before I took my leave. I had a trip to pack for. Rider 2.5 I found the thing I hated most about dwarves. They were entirely too comfortable digging tunnels miles long and not having anything to light the damn things with. Yeah, illuminating tunnels when they weren¡¯t heavily used would probably be a massive waste of resources but I¡¯m sure they could have come up with something. It also didn¡¯t help that the rest of my traveling companions seemed mostly fine with our situation. Orik, who had been chosen by the dwarven king as a representative to oversee Eragon¡¯s training, was naturally fine. Arya, being an ambassador for the elves, had probably traveled these tunnels often. But even Eragon and Saphira seemed to be handling the journey better than I was. It didn¡¯t help that I had accidentally scared Eragon off talking to me for a bit after I snapped at him. The feeling of being trapped was definitely making me irritable. So we ended up walking what seemed like forever down a dark corridor with only a couple torches for light and featureless stone walls for scenery. Needless to say, I was getting a little claustrophobic by the time we made it to the exit. So much so that I didn¡¯t even mind nearly going blind from the sudden light from the sun. While I was enjoying the open skies and the sun on my face we got our first look at Tarnag, our destination. It was actually a really cool looking city. The dwarves had carved ¡®steps¡¯ into the mountain to allow areas for farming and give them room for the city itself, almost like a fantasy Machu Picchu, all leading up to a massive gold and white dome that Orik explained was a temple to the dwarven gods. As we walked Eragon was getting an impromptu history lesson about surface-dwelling dwarves and how they were forced to abandon most of their cities after the fall of the Riders since Galbatorix¡¯s Forsworn would often fly though the mountain range, killing anything they found. Little else happened while we made our way towards Tarnag. A scout stopped us to find out who we were, but it seemed like a routine thing considering the dwarf would have to be a special kind of stupid to mistake Saphira for anything other than Eragon¡¯s dragon. The scout had more likely been the one to run back to the city and prep the welcoming party that greeted us outside the gates and offered to shelter us while we were in the city. It would have been a lot more impressive if the dwarves hadn¡¯t been riding¡­well, there was no better way to put it¡­they were riding giant mountain goats. It would have been ridiculous if it wasn¡¯t for the fact the dwarves clearly respected the animals, and Orik¡¯s earlier explanation that the Feld?nost were relied on for milk, wool, and meat let us know just how high the dwarves¡¯ level of respect was. Basically, without that one animal living in the Beors would be impossible. Once we were inside the city things started to get¡­interesting. Right before we left Tronjheim, King Hrothgar had offered to adopt Eragon into his clan. This made the Rider, culturally, a Dwarf belonging to Clan Ingeitum. Not necessarily a bad thing considering it gave the Dwarves a link to Eragon beyond just being allies to the Varden, but it had consequences. By its very nature the adoption was a slight to the other twelve Clans. Something that was pretty obvious by the angry glares and even angrier shouting coming from some of the crowd once they saw the clan symbol on Eragon¡¯s helm marking him as a member of the Durgrimst Ingeitum. I was glad neither Eragon or Saphira had any idea what was being shouted at them because if they did¡­ well, angry dragons tended to be rough on crowds. I did have to admire the sheer gall of the one idiot who decided to call a Dragon Rider that killed a Shade a ¡®whoreson spawn of a male goat milk drinker¡¯. Though I think he was one of the ones that was banking on us not knowing dwarven considering how much he paled before fleeing into the crowd when I fixed him with a particularly unimpressed look. If that wasn¡¯t interesting enough, our next bit of excitement came when right before we made it to our final destination a group of armed dwarves ran out from the surrounding buildings and formed a thick line, blocking us from moving forward. Long purple veils covered their faces and draped over their shoulders. The one I assumed was the leader cried. The veiled dwarf began to rant angrily for a while, even drawing our local guide into an argument. This was going to end in blood or tears; several dwarves were reaching for weapons only to check themselves and move their hands away. And then the veiled dwarf looked at Eragon; more importantly he looked at the clan crest. the dwarf screamed in disbelieving horror. Yup, time to step in before someone starts a clan war. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Instantly complete an utter silence. I continued, happily ignoring the fact everyone was staring only at me. I seemed destined to piss off entire groups of people in this dimension. The dwarf in front of me was so mad that what little skin I could see was so dark with rage I was half expecting him to pop a blood vessel. I replied pleasantly. This time when hands went to their weapons, they tended to stay there. To counter some hot headed idiot from deciding a brawl was better than¡­whatever they were hoping to accomplish, I released a trickle of mana into the air. See, the thing about mana is; it conducts things. Sounds stupid, I know, but that¡¯s how people that could tap into the stuff and use it managed to convey the intent to make a small fire on top of their hand instead of say, lighting their hand on fire. What I allowed my mana to conduct was my certainty that if anyone attacked, they would be the first to regret it. Otherwise known as Killing Intent. Something I rarely used because the impact of technique was dependent on the target¡¯s sensitivity and easily ignored under the right circumstances. But with all of their attention on me? Oh, they felt my Intent alright. Just enough to make them hesitate. Of course that didn¡¯t mean I could influence them to make a smart decision - they had already decided lining up in front of a dragon and insulting her and her Rider was a good idea - so I was unsurprised when the lead dwarf pulled an iron ring from his pocket, pulled three hairs from his beard, wrapped them around the ring, and threw it at Eragon¡¯s feet. I was a little surprised when proceeded to pull out a dagger and cut his palm with it. Blood welled from the cut and the dwarf used his injured hand to yank off his necklace before throwing that at me as well. Then, without another word, the purple dwarves filed away. Gasps rang out from the guards meaning something significant had just happened beyond me getting a bloody piece of jewelry thrown at me but I had no idea what it was. And I had failed to stop the veiled dwarf from declaring a clan war against Eragon as well. I was starting to not like this city. ¡°Well, that happened.¡± ¡°That happened, she says.¡± Orik scoffed as he picked up the ring and placed it in a pouch. He also handed me the necklace, but treated it as if it was something disgusting. ¡°What do those mean?¡± Eragon asked, visibly unsettled by the turn of events. ¡°It means,¡± our guide said. ¡°that you have enemies.¡± -o- After our little encounter we were quickly ushered off the streets and into the great hall of the Clan chief. Our hosts, ?ndin; clan chief of D?rgrimst Ragni Hefthyn and Gannel; clan chief of D?rgrimst Quan, had greeted us in an open courtyard but had sent us to some guest rooms to give us some time to freshen up in preparation for a feast after Orik presented the ring the veiled dwarf threw at Eragon and had me do the same for the necklace. Both leaders were visibly taken aback by the objects. In our absence ?ndin had called a few additional guards but didn¡¯t seem to be expecting an attack. So the feast continued as planned, Eragon sitting to the right of ?ndin with Orik beside him and Arya and myself sitting directly across. We had barely sat down when ?ndin slammed a hand on the table and called for the food to be brought out. A parade of gourmet dishes poured out of the kitchens but the centerpiece easily held my attention. It¡¯s hard to appreciate a mushroom carved to look like a castle when it''s placed next to a boar the size of a horse. ¡°Nagra,¡± Orik whispered to Eragon, just loudly enough for me to overhear. ¡°Giant boar. ?ndin truly honors you tonight, Eragon. Only the bravest dwarves dare hunt Nagran, and it''s only served to those who have great valor.¡± I can see why. The tusks on this thing are basically short swords and it''s big enough that hitting a vital organ not only takes both strength and skill, but that it also might kill you through sheer momentum alone even if you do manage to stab it. ?ndin started things off by taking the first bite and declaring it safe to eat. The rest of us dug in soon after. I spent most of the meal talking to one of the servers who apparently was also one of the cooks. We ended up playing a fun game - for me - where I tried to guess the ingredients and techniques that went into every dish. Something incredibly easy with structural analysis but I tried to limit my usage of it to make things more fun. I really only used it when the prick started giving me dishes with ingredients I had no way of guessing because they relied on mushrooms only found in the Beors. Jerk. Anyway, the feast ended up lasting long into the afternoon simply due to the size of it and everyone was enjoying themselves. Then ?ndin fucked it up by indirectly treating Saphira as just another animal when he said he moved the feast just so she could be there. Not exactly the best idea with her Rider right there. And Eragon proved himself to be every inch a petty human teenager in revenge. ¡°Saphira and I thank you.¡± Followed by, ¡°Sir, why were those things thrown at us?¡± Silence quickly filled the courtyard as nearly every dwarf scowled. ?ndin sighed and looked between Eragon and myself. ¡°The knurlagn you met are of a tragic clan. Are either of you familiar with the tale?¡± Eragon shook his head. ¡°Only the basics,¡± I admitted, it would be weird for me to have called them out earlier and then suddenly claim to not know who they were. ¡°The clan fully supported the Rider¡¯s during the Fall. But between that and them living to the west, nearly every member of the clan was killed except for a woman named Anh?in and her guard. The clan renamed themselves after her when she died.¡± ¡°A decent understanding, though you are right. That is only the basics of the story.¡± ?ndin nodded. ¡°D?rgrimst Az Sweldn rak Anh?in, or the Tears of Anh?in in common, have sworn themselves to revenge and have dedicated long decades of rebuilding in order to achieve it. And then you, Eragon, appear before them wearing Hrothgar¡¯s mark. To them, it is the ultimate insult, no matter your service in Farthen D?r. Thus the ring, the ultimate challenge. D?rgrimst Az Sweldn rak Anh?in has set them utterly against you and will oppose you in every matter, large or small.¡± ¡°Rather short sighted of them, since Eragon could very well be their best hope of getting rid of Galbatorix.¡± I commented. ¡°Hold your tongue!¡± ?ndin snapped. ¡°You may disagree with their actions but the sacrifice of their clan demands your respect.¡± I disagreed, but didn¡¯t say so just to keep the peace. ¡°What about the necklace?¡± Eragon asked, trying to shift topics. The clan leader sighed. ¡°If the ring is the ultimate challenge then the necklace is the ultimate declaration, though the tradition is more for the clan symbol rather than a necklace specifically. It means there will never be a reconciliation between the clan and the receiver. They will do their utmost to ensure you perish by their hand.¡± ¡°They mean to harm us then?¡± the Rider asked. ?ndin faltered a little and shot a look to Gannel before forcing a laugh that was just a bit too loud to be genuine. ¡°No, Shadeslayer, Lightbringer! It is forbidden to harm a guest. For as long as you remind guests of our hall not even they would dare.¡± Somehow I don¡¯t think any of us believed that. Rider 2.6 It seemed despite ?ndin¡¯s declaration the night before that we would be perfectly safe in his city, he seemed pretty eager to kick us out the minute it was no longer considered rude to do so. Eragon had gone off to the massive temple we had seen on the way into the city to learn more about the culture he had been adopted into while Orik continued to talk with ?ndin about plans for our departure. For myself, I decided to check in with Arya to see what she would be doing since I imagined she wouldn¡¯t be very busy at the moment. I found the elf doing a light stretching routine in her room. I waited until she finished holding her latest pose before tapping on the door frame to announce myself. ¡°Good morning, Arya. Did you have plans for today?¡± ¡°Alexandria.¡± Arya greeted me with a nod. ¡°I do not. I have visited this city several times in the past, so sightseeing has little appeal to me. We are also preparing to depart soon so I thought to just remain here.¡± ¡°Would you be up for a light spar? I have no idea what to do with myself right now and going out into the city is just asking for trouble.¡± With any luck I might also figure out a hint to fix my spell¡¯s misfire issues since just examining the spells by themselves hadn¡¯t gotten me anywhere and a fight would be much more enjoyable than anything else I could entertain myself with for a single day. ¡°A spar, hm? Yes, I suppose I could join you for a little while.¡± Arya retrieved her saber from her belongings and had me follow her to a training room. She really knew her way around the hall. I guess she wasn¡¯t kidding when she said she had been here several times before. I projected a simple iron longsword and took my position opposite her. This was going to be for fun, no need to get fancy right out of the gate. We stood perfectly still, then at same time, moved towards each other and the spar began. -o- We must have gone at it for a couple hours, yet both of us had barely broken a sweat. I sidestepped around a slash and swung upwards with the spear I was currently using. Arya had decided to take advantage of my abilities to train against several different types of weapons. Not that she was unskilled at all. As evidenced by the elf ducking under my blow and gracefully cartwheeling away. Normally I would have pursued her to keep up the pressure, but instead I backed off and settled into a stance. Across from me, Arya did the same. ¡°You want to go again?¡± Arya shook her head. ¡°I think that is enough for now. Though would you mind answering a few questions?¡± ¡°I guess not?¡± ¡°This magic of yours, we were supposed to speak more about it before the attack on Farthen D?r. How are you able to create things from thin air?¡± I was shocked for a second but I probably should have expected it at some point. Though to be honest I had forgotten she wanted to talk to me about my magic. She certainly had the time to ask before now but had never brought it up. Still, no harm in talking about it I guess. ¡°I don¡¯t create things from ¡®thin air¡¯, what I do is create an object out of mana that mimics the properties of the real item.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Ah, so that is why you are seeking Rider¡¯s blades, you can¡¯t simply replicate the metal by itself.¡± I waggled a hand back and forth. ¡°Kinda, I could if I wanted to,¡± I formed an ingot of Brightsteel in my hand as proof, ¡°but at its core it¡¯s still my spell. If it broke for whatever reason then I¡¯d have a much bigger problem. Especially for what I plan to use it for.¡° A mana reactor becoming a bomb because the walls simply vanished? There were simpler ways to commit suicide. ¡°I see¡­¡± Arya mused. ¡°But how are you able to cast such spells? Even our greatest magicians have declared creating objects like you have impossible, or at least require so much energy it might as well be.¡± ¡°I believe I told you the difference between a mage and an animancer?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, one uses ¡®mana¡¯ and the other uses ¡®life energy¡¯, though I admit I am skeptical.¡± ¡°Skeptical?¡± ¡°Many claim to be different from other magicians, yet are very similar in the end. You are one of the few that seem to be truly unique.¡± Oh, I see. She was getting confused about the base differences¡­ I Traced a piece of paper and a stick of charcoal so I could give her a visual guide and started explaining as I drew. ¡°From what I have seen the magicians you are familiar with draw power from three sources to create magic. No matter what, each magician will need to use their Mind, Body, and Soul to cast the spell they want.¡± I arranged each word in a triangle and connected them with a single line. ¡°Soul? I wouldn¡¯t have believed you one to put faith in that nonsense.¡± Arya interrupted. I traced a copy of Tobiume, one of the least stressful Zanpakuto I could summon with pleasantly little difficulty. I was healing pretty well from my fight with Aizen. I should be back to being able to use Noble Phantasms in a few more months. ¡°Souls are very real. I have several weapons such as this one specifically designed to attack them.¡± As I was talking something went wrong with Tobiume. The mana cost to keep the weapon stable skyrocketed, almost as if¡­ My eyes widened. ¡­almost as if I was suddenly being forced to provide energy the sword would naturally bring in from its environment. This world did not have massive amounts of Reishi in the background supporting its magic system! And all of my created spells had taken those Reshi levels into account when I made them, so the sudden lack of it would of course destabilize the spell. I found the reason my magic wasn¡¯t working like I expected it to! Neither my Tracing or Bombardment magic assumed anything with Reishi so of course they weren¡¯t affected, but I had specifically modeled Airwalk off of Reishi techniques. That was why it couldn¡¯t support my weight! It was like trying to build a sandcastle in the ocean! I was ecstatic but pushed those feelings aside for now. I was in the middle of a lesson. ¡°This is a Soul Cutter, or Zanpakuto in its native language. Its main purpose is to cut directly at the soul. While it¡¯s perfectly decent as a normal sword, this will also cut immaterial things like Spirits.¡± Arya remained doubtful. ¡°Simply enchanted to cut Spirits then. That does not mean souls exist.¡± ¡°Fine, let''s look at it this way then. Replace the word Soul with Experience. It¡¯s the thing that lets master magicians say a spell and get a completely different result. Like saying water and manipulating a crystal or something. I know you want to argue and say that should fall under Mind, but in this case Mind refers to pure facts and knowledge.¡± The elf still didn¡¯t look convinced but said nothing. So I returned to my drawing and pointed at the corner marked Body. ¡°Animancers use the body to cast spells shaped by the Mind and fueled by the Soul.¡± I moved my finger to Soul. ¡°Summoners use the Soul to connect to other beings like spirits to assist their casting, relying on their Mind and Body to control the things they connect to.¡± and finally to Mind. ¡°Alchemists and the like use the Mind to determine how properties of things, or their Body, react to each other ,through the Soul, to determine their spell¡¯s effect.¡± Arya was a lot more receptive to my explanation when I didn¡¯t decide to add in a bunch of mysticism. In fact she was paying rapt attention. Of course most of this was dumbed down to the bare basics and was much more complicated in reality, but I didn¡¯t want to spend all day explaining. ¡°As for mages, we cheat.¡± I chuckled at Arya¡¯s confusion and added another word to the diagram directly in the middle. Mana. Connected to Mind, Body, and Soul. ¡°Unlike magicians, mages do not use Mind, Body, and Soul to cast spells. We use them to affect Mana. This roundabout method means in general Mages are much less flexible than magicians, but can be much more powerful.¡± ¡°And because it is this Mana that forms the spell it is why you can form those blades, because you are not actually summoning the metal like a magician would, but simply forcing it into the properties of metal.¡± Yep, she got it. I nodded in confirmation. ¡°That explanation answers several of my questions, but what -¡± Whatever Arya was going to ask next was interrupted by a dwarf barging into the training room. It didn¡¯t take me long to recognize ?ndin, the clan leader from last night. By the scowl on his face, this wasn¡¯t going to be pleasant. ¡°Something wrong?¡± ¡°The Az Sweldn rak Anh?in are agitating the citizens against you. I thought tradition and guestright would be enough to prevent them from acting out, but I was wrong. I fear the younger, more hotblooded ones in the city might be called to action if they spot you in the city. It shames me to admit my hospitality will surely be lacking, but I recommend you and Shadeslayer should remain in my halls until your departure.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Arya replied. ¡°And where is Eragon now?¡± ¡°He is in Celbedeil learning from Gannel.¡± ¡°Then I will retrieve him.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Alexandria, you should remain here. If they are stirring up the civilians there is no need to present them a target for their ire.¡± I sighed at that because no matter how little I cared about what some random dwarves thought of me, causing a city-wide fight because I didn¡¯t want to stay inside for a bit was too stupid to contemplate. It looked like I would have to wait to explore another dwarven city. Shame. ¡°Yeah, I agree. Go on, I have a book I can entertain myself with¡­¡± Arya nodded and glided out of the room leaving me alone with ?ndin. ¡°Do not worry, lady Lightbringer. You will be safe in the halls.¡± he attempted to comfort me. In return I just gave him a sharp smile. ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m not worried at all. If the Tears make the mistake of acting against me¡­I¡¯ll be sure it is the last mistake they make in their unfortunately short lives.¡± Rider 2.7 Arya sighed as we finished loading the horses onto the raft. ¡°You don¡¯t need to keep pouting. Nothing happening is a good thing.¡± ¡°They started a riot the other day. I was expecting them to attack us on our way out if they went that far to make us feel unwelcome.¡± ¡°Assaulting us right now would mean making enemies of three Dwarf clans, the elves, and the Varden. Even if your enemies are reckless, they are not stupid. They will not risk everything to strike at you when there is a chance you will escape and create even more enemies for themselves.¡± I huffed. ¡°Selectively intelligent enemies. The most annoying type.¡± Surprisingly Saphira seemed to agree with me with an irritated snort. Although considering she was almost completely submerged in the water with only her head visible it was possible she was just clearing water out of her nose. I chose to believe she shared my opinion of the Az Sweldn rak Anh?in until someone clarified. ¡°Here is where we must part.¡± ?ndin said, clasping Eragon¡¯s arm. ¡°You have my best men; they will protect you until you reach Du Weldenvarden.¡± The Rider tried to thank him for his help but the Dwarf just shook his head. ¡°No, it is not a matter for gratitude. It is my duty. I am only shamed that your stay was darkened by the hatred of Az Sweldn rak Anh?in.¡± Despite him saying that I still thanked the clan chief before joining the others on one of the rafts. And with little fanfare, the mooring ropes were released and we drifted through the water towards our destination. -o- ¡°I feel like a less racist version of Tom Sawyer.¡± I mumbled as we drifted down the river. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Ama, one of the dwarf guards asked. ¡°A character from some children¡¯s stories back home. He lived on a river like this one and had a few minor adventures. Little things like tricking other children into doing his chores for him or trying to impress a girl into marrying him.¡± Or something like that. I hadn¡¯t exactly read those stories any time recently. ¡°I think most were intended as ways to teach children to think things through instead of just listening to others blindly.¡± ¡°That seems rather cynical. Why not just teach your children that lesson directly?¡± I laughed at that. ¡°Yeah, because children always listen to their elders.¡± Ama just nodded. ¡°Indeed, children must listen and be instructed by their parents and the clan. Only then can they learn the proper way to interact with the world. Unless human children are different?¡± I stared at Ama in shock at the rather totalitarian view of raising children before I saw the slight smile and realized the entire thing had been a joke. The guard was apparently a dry comedian, hilarious. Still, I could deal with one snarky guard for a view like this. The entire river reminded me of some pictures I had seen of Alaska. Calm blue waters, thick marches along the riverbanks with various birds all along the waterline, and thick forests untouched by civilization extending all the way up to the massive mountains overlooking everything else. It was beautiful. Especially once the sun started to set. The peaceful mood was shattered as a piercing scream rang through the air. Everyone on the rafts looked up to see Eragon and Saphira flying above us tangling with three flying lizards. I hesitated to call them dragons, they seemed too small and more snakelike than Saphira and she was already small for a dragon here considering how young she was. ¡°The hell are those things?¡± I was on my feet in an instant, bow appearing in my hand and arrow ready. The only thing stopping me from shooting was the fact I wasn¡¯t confident about not hitting the Rider pair just yet and the fact they didn¡¯t seem to be in grave danger for the moment. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Fanghur.¡± Orik informed me, even as he moved to my side to watch the aerial duel. ¡°Not as large or as smart as dragons, and they can¡¯t breathe fire. But still formidable foes.¡± ¡°You can put your weapon away, Alexandria. It seems Saphira is taking the opportunity to practice flying against an opponent.¡± Arya added. I turned back to the four flying shapes to see the elf was right. Saphira had already injured one of them enough that it decided to flee and a sudden blume of blue tinged fire from her maw quickly convinced the other two to follow suit. ¡°...seems so.¡± I wasn¡¯t going to get to fight anything this trip, was I? -o- ¡°I had a¡­vision during my sleep.¡± Eragon announced to me and Arya the next day while we were sitting at the front of one of the rafts. ¡°A black and crimson sky. Crows and eagles swirling high over a great battle as arrows rained on either side. There¡¯s a man there in damaged armor, but I can¡¯t see his face. And then a¡­a hand just blots out half the world pointing down at him.¡± Goddammit, I didn¡¯t want to deal with prophecies. ¡°If it¡¯s scrying, then¨C¡± ¡°It¡¯s not scrying.¡± Arya interrupted, speaking with deliberate slowness. "I thought for a long time about how you saw me imprisoned in Gil¡¯ead, and I believe that as I lay unconscious, my spirit was searching for help, wherever I might find it.¡± ¡°Wait, you vehemently deny souls exist, then go spouting off you went on a spirit walk to find help?¡± I interjected. It had been one of the topics we had been discussing on and off during our travel. ¡°The spirit and consciousness of a spell caster has been well researched by both the elves and by sorcerers. That there is some mystical element to magic such as souls that you can not prove exists is childish.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve told you repeatedly I can prove the soul exists by several methods. You just likely wouldn¡¯t survive any of them!¡± ¡°Which conveniently leaves you absent of any solid proof of your claims, as I said before.¡± ¡°I literally have swords designed to cut them!¡± ¡°A combined mental and physical assault is not a new idea. Even if managing to imbue the weapon with that property is.¡± ¡°Yeah, well¡ª¡± ¡°So why me?¡± Eragon interrupted our growing argument. Arya and I gave each other a look that screamed we would continue this later, admittedly before she turned back to Eragon. ¡°I grew accustomed to Saphira¡¯s presence during the fifteen years I guarded her egg. I was reaching out for anything that felt familiar when I touched your dreams.¡± ¡°Are you really strong enough to contact someone in Teirm from Gil¡¯ead? Especially when drugged?¡± The elf smiled slightly. ¡°I could stand on the very gates of Vroengard and still speak to you as clearly as I am now.¡± She said. ¡°If you did not scry me in Teirm, then you could not have scryed this new dream. It must be a premonition. They have been known to occur throughout the sentient species, but especially amongst magic users.¡± Eragon didn¡¯t look pleased at her answer. ¡°If what I saw will come to pass, then how can we change anything that happens? Do our choices matter?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it too much. In most cases future sight is unreliable at best, downright useless at worst.¡± I commented, idly playing with the water. ¡°I agree, but what makes you say so?¡± Arya asked. ¡°I¡¯ve read a lot about the dangers of prophecies and such and came to the conclusion; worrying about seeing the future is useless.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The act of observing the future changes the future. Trying to base your life on visions and such means you will be caught off guard if something changes. There¡¯s actually several stories that outline the dangers of trying to learn how to control the future.¡± ¡°Oh? Care to share any?¡± I decided to give them the classic cautionary tale, the tragedy that was Oedipus Rex, much to their disgust. Still it was a classic example of how trying to preempt a prophecy might enable it to begin with. Then I told them my personal favorite, the tale of the dueling precogs. It was a simple story. Two seers that hated each other were tasked to figure out the best way to prevent a flood from destroying the town they lived in. They both came up with a solution and looked to the future to see what worked better only to realize the other would sabotage the other. From then on they came up with increasingly elaborate plans to get the edge over the other with neither gaining a clear edge. ¡°So who was the winner?¡± Eragon asked when I took a break from storytelling to eat lunch. ¡°Neither.¡± ¡°Neither?¡± ¡°Mhmm, the two got so caught up in the future they forgot about the present. While they were fighting a heavy rain caused the flood they were supposed to stop in the first place and both of them drowned.¡± ¡°Your stories are not very happy ones are they?¡± I smiled at him. ¡°Then let that be another lesson. Everyone who tries to bend the future to their whims is either disappointed by the result or they become a cautionary tale themselves.¡± -o- Those days set the standard for much of our trip. We would drift down the river, chat with one another or share a few stories, then stop along the banks to eat or sleep. Eragon attempted to train his swordsmanship once, but managed to trigger the curse in his back. I was able to study it enough to at least block the pain but I was nowhere near removing it. The spirit that latched onto him was really connected. I would absolutely paralyze the Rider if I tried to remove it with the tools available to me right now. At one point Orik decided to go hunting and showed Eragon his bow made of Urgal horn. It was very well made, but far too small for my taste. I also noticed around this time that Arya was starting to act off. Her arguments in our conversations became a little more cutting, she stared off into the distance a little more, and her temper became shorter and shorter with Eragon¡¯s questions. At one point it got so bad Eragon had to go running after her to apologize. ¡°I take it you aren¡¯t excited to return home then?¡± I asked her when she walked away after telling Eragon the reason for her tense behavior was out of fear. ¡°I did not seek your company to discuss topics I have been harsh with Eragon for broaching.¡± ¡°What did you come over here for then?¡± ¡°Truthfully I do not know. Perhaps because you know about my status yet still pester me as if I am no one of importance? Perhaps because I would prefer another outsider than the company of humans and dwarves? Perhaps¡­¡± Arya seemed to run out of words, but I got the idea. She came looking for a distraction and a friend. If she didn¡¯t want to talk about her fears I could at least help her ignore them. ¡°Fine, did you want to continue our conversations on different magic systems or do you want me to embarrass myself with more poetry?¡± That got a small smile out of the elf. ¡°Let¡¯s not repeat that incident. I¡¯ve learned my lesson on that.¡± ¡°See, things would go so much easier if you just listened to me instead of trying to prove yourself right.¡± Rider 2.8 You learn some really weird things traveling with others for a while. Did you know that Dwarves have seven toes? I certainly didn¡¯t! But now it¡¯s one of those random bits of trivia that keep popping into my mind whenever I was least expecting it. Arya even caught me staring suspiciously at her own feet and actually rolled her eyes in exasperation before informing me Elves had the same number of toes as humans. I would believe her¡­for now. But the first chance I had, I was going to verify for myself because an entire race having extra toes for no apparent reason couldn¡¯t just be limited to Dwarves. Anyways, after the encounter with the Fanghur, the rest of the trip was perfectly peaceful. So much so that when one night Arya moved to the center of a meadow and called out to more of her kin that our group meant no harm I was taken completely by surprise. I had no idea we were getting close to the elven lands. Meeting other elves than Arya was¡­weird. I was so used to Arya¡¯s calm manner that suddenly seeing several more dancing, laughing, singing around her with childish abandon was jarring. But I put up with it because it meant we were close to our destination. We ended up saying goodbye to our Dwarven guards and Orik, Arya, Eragon, and I were escorted to two canoe-like boats to finish our journey to the elven capital. -o- I had expected Arya to spend more time with the two elves that joined us for the last part of our trip. So I was a little surprised when Arya started spending even more time conversing with me as time went on. It almost seemed like she was using me as an excuse to not interact with the other elves, but if it was none of them drew attention to it. I was happy to help her if that was the case though. I couldn¡¯t stand talking to Nar¨ª and Lifaen. Nothing against them personally, but every answer to a question was given through roundabout expressions that added little to what I actually wanted to know. Like, why would Lifaen launch into a poem about the brief blooming of a flower when I asked when we planned to stop for lunch? It made a twisted kind of sense when I finally got him to explain that the flower in question only fully bloomed for three hours, but it didn¡¯t explain why he didn¡¯t just say three hours in the first place! The next day didn¡¯t start out any better. First there was a panic when Eragon started getting scry¡¯d by someone. The necklace he received from Gannel prevented anyone from succeeding but it was a dark reminder that his enemies weren¡¯t just sitting around waiting for him to finish his training. Then there was the incident by the waterfall. The river we were following wasn¡¯t a straight shot into the forest and it was a natural river so waterfalls were expected. That said, the two elves we were saddled with were horrified when Saphira offered to move our gear upstream. Then of course they were prepared to wail about the dishonor of letting a dragon carry something when Saphira decided to do it anyway. At least Arya got a kick out of it. It was maybe the third time I had ever heard her genuinely laugh. Of course then we started getting close to an elven city and it was decided that Eragon and I needed to hide our human features so the first person to see us was the Queen. Well, honestly in this context it was more important that Eragon was presented to her first. I was just required to hide to not attract attention. -o- We were camped close to the city of S¨ªlthrim and far enough from the water that the ground wasn¡¯t wet when I felt the first stirrings of magic. It started innocently enough. A single musical voice ringing through the forest, soon joined by several others. But with them came an almost tangible wave of magic that swept over our camp. I could feel the magic trying to affect me even through my defenses. Telling me to throw away reason for passion, listen to my desires, and rush to join the celebration that no doubt was going on in the city. Thankfully, the spell wasn¡¯t strong enough to actually force me to do anything and was somewhat easily ignored afterwards. Eragon and Orik were not as fortunate. Arya was forced to restrain Eragon before he could go sprinting into the forest and Nar¨ª and Lifaen were forced to wrestle Orik to the ground to stop him from doing the same. I could actually see the surprise in their faces when they noticed I wasn¡¯t running off myself before they returned their focus to the struggling dwarf. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°What¡­?¡± Eragon asked, dazed, once the initial impact of the spell was broken. Orik was also freed from the effects and growled for the elves to release him, which they did while offering their apologies. ¡°I miscounted the days; I didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near a city during Dagshelgr. Our saturnalias, our celebrations, are perilous for mortals.¡± Arya said regretfully while she stared off in the direction of the city. ¡°We sing in the Ancient Language, and the lyrics weave spells of passion and longing that are difficult to resist, even for us.¡± ¡°We should be at a grove.¡± Nar¨ª stirred restlessly. ¡°We should,¡± Arya agreed. ¡°But we will do our duty and wait.¡± Eragon asked what the point of Dagshelgr was and was told it was basically a forest-wide fertility spell. I chuckled a bit when a trio of hedgehogs bumped into his hand and Eragon pulled it back like he had been burned. Which naturally attracted his attention. ¡°Alexandria, how did you not get affected? Was it some kind of spell? Could you teach me?¡± I glanced at Arya to see if she had any preference to how I handled this but she was still looking longingly towards the city. Guess I was on my own. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you could call it a spell, but I do have passive defenses that protect me from outside magic. As for teaching you¡­maybe? It¡¯s not necessarily tied to my own school of magic so it might be possible, but I doubt you could learn tonight.¡± I explained, as I sidestepped a pair of squirrels sprinting through our camp. This was getting a little ridiculous. ¡°By my beard and ax, I¡¯ll not be controlled by magic against my will by magic.¡± Orik cursed over the noise of the forest. ¡°If it happens again, Arya, I swear on Helzvog¡¯s stone girdle that I¡¯ll return to Farthen D?r and you will have the wrath of D?rgrimst Ingeitum to deal with.¡± ¡°It was not my intention for you to experience Dagshelgr,¡± Arya said. ¡°I apologize for my mistake. However, though I am shielding you from this spell, you cannot escape magic in Du Weldenvarden; it permeates everything.¡± ¡°So long as it doesn¡¯t befoul my mind.¡± Orik shook his head and eyed the shadowy figures moving through the forest outside the campfire light. ¡°Alright then,¡± I explained suddenly. ¡°Now that that¡¯s all cleared up, I¡¯m going to put up a bounded field. I¡¯d like to get some sleep tonight. -o- Apparently the elves¡¯ magic was enough to push Saphira to sexual maturity. And that was honestly a tiny bit heartbreaking. Spending the whole night celebrating passion only to realize she would never have a mate? Even if I managed to get the metal I needed right now I might stick around just to make sure Murtagh and Thorn were out from under Galbatorix¡¯s thumb so the poor dragon had a chance at a relationship. That would have to wait though. We were now getting close to the heart of the forest. The trees were easily double the size of a redwood and bigger than any tree we had seen on the way here. Naturally, Eragon needed to comment on this. ¡°It means we are getting close to Ellesm¨¦ra.¡± Arya explained to the curious farmboy. ¡°These trees are among the oldest creatures in Alaga?sia. Elves have loved them since first we saw Du Weldenvarden, and we have done everything within our power to see them flourish.¡± She followed that up with a warning to Eragon about flying with Saphira until we reached the city. Apparently there were wards that protected this part of the forest we had already triggered. I was prepared to set off again when Arya¡¯s hand held me back even as the others started moving. Looked like Arya wanted a private conversation. ¡°Yes?¡± Despite making sure we were out of causal earshot, Arya still hesitated. That probably meant this was going to be uncomfortable for one of us. ¡°Alexandria¡­¡± She started, falteringly. ¡°I know you tend to disdain the political games of those you do not pledge loyalty to, and you have that right, but do you think you could¡­hold your tongue when we are presented to my mother?¡± I blinked at the sudden request. ¡°You think she will do something I¡¯m not going to like?¡± Arya nodded. ¡°She is the queen of our people and a wise ruler. But that means certain¡­performances¡­must be done to ensure her position is respected. I ask you not to get involved.¡± Shit, I barely remembered Arya¡¯s mom¡¯s name, let alone anything she did in the story. But Arya was specifically calling me out because she had an idea of what was going to happen and knew I wouldn¡¯t like it. So what was more important, listening to a friend¡¯s request or telling her mom to fuck off? ¡°...Alright.¡± I reluctantly agreed. ¡°But I can only promise to try.¡± Arya smiled wryly. ¡°That is already more than I expected. Thank you.¡± Really, just what kind of image did she have of me? I could be reasonable¡­ -o- I had to admit Ellesm¨¦ra was gorgeous. The magically crafted buildings grown directly from the massive trees in the forest would have been incredible by themselves. The fact that every building was unique and blended in perfectly with the surrounding trees and any buildings that those contained? It was simply¡­magical. At this point it was impossible to hide Saphira as we were guided through the city. It didn¡¯t take long for the elves to start coming out of the woodwork, literally, and gathering around us as we moved. One of them started singing after Eragon greeted them all. I watched in mild amusement as they danced literal circles around us, laughed, joined in on the song, and made sure to compliment just about everything about Saphira. They really seemed excited at our appearance. Eventually our path ended at a building that looked to be made from saplings simply growing so closely together that they formed a solid wall and opened up into a ceiling of hundreds of interconnected branches. Inside twenty four elves in much richer looking clothes and jewelry than the ones outside lined the walls of the hall. I took a moment to notice the decorated swords on the hips of each of them, the first visibly armed people that we had seen in the city so far. At the end of the hall, a white pavilion stood with a wooden throne sheltered underneath. It would be hard to mistake the Elf sitting there as anyone other than Queen Islanzad¨ª. Given the finery she was wearing and the similarities she shared with Arya, it was fairly obvious. Islanzad¨ª wasn¡¯t wearing a sword. The only other item she had was an odd curved rod that served as a perch for a pure white raven. The bird stared at Eragon long and hard enough before giving a long croak and shrieked, ¡°Wyrda!¡± Fate. How fitting. The doors closed and our little party approached the queen. Arya knelt on the moss covered ground and bowed first, soon followed by Eragon, Orik, Lifaen, and Nar¨ª. Even Saphira lowered her head. I was the only one that remained standing, looking on in amusement at the reactions of the various elf lords and ladies. Some of them were amused right back at me, while some looked to be fuming with rage. All that was put aside when Islanzad¨ª stood and descended down the throne to stand trembling in front of Arya. ¡°Rise.¡± As Arya did so, the queen studied her with increasing intensity until she finally cried out and embraced Arya. ¡°O my daughter, I have wronged you!¡± In the common language. Instantly my amusement vanished and I scowled at the queen. It seemed like my promise to keep quiet was going to get a hell of a test. We barely got here and the queen was playing stupid fucking games. Rider 2.9 ¡°Islanzad¨ª Dr?ttning.¡± Arya replied formally to her mother¡¯s statement, making the queen flinch as though she had been slapped. ¡°O my daughter, I have wronged you.¡± She repeated this time in the Ancient Language before switching back to common. ¡°Ever since you disappeared, I¡¯ve barely slept or eaten. I was haunted by your fate, and feared that I would never see you again. Banning you from my presence was the greatest mistake I have ever made¡­Can you forgive me?¡± I had to admire the sheer fucking gall of the woman if nothing else. Her daughter makes it home after disappearing for months, yet despite being ¡®haunted by her fate¡¯ Islanzad¨ª seemed no worse for wear. She obviously didn¡¯t send people to investigate if Arya was still even alive, yet the first thing she says when Arya returns is basically ¡®I messed up but this was really hard on me, forgive me?¡¯. And not even in her native language either. Something must have shown on my face because Arya pinned me with a glare out of the corner of her eye and shook her head slightly. I made an effort to calm down as Arya finally replied. ¡°For seventy years, I have lived and loved, fought and killed without ever speaking to you, my mother. Our lives are long, but even so, that is no small span.¡± A tremor ran through Islanzad¨ª as she drew herself upright and raised her chin. ¡°I cannot undo the past, Arya, no matter how much I might desire to.¡± ¡°And I cannot forget what I endured.¡± ¡°Nor should you.¡± Islanzad¨ª went to clasp her daughter¡¯s hands. ¡°Arya, I love you. You are my only family. Go if you must, but unless you wish to renounce me, I would be reconciled with you.¡± Arya was around one hundred. That meant she had been estranged from her mother for practically three quarters of her life. Her mother had all that time to mend bridges, instead she decided to do it now, in front of several high ranking elf lords, where Arya either forgave her or created a permanent rift not only with her mother but potentially with the lords surrounding them as well. It was a very political move and I felt my disdain for it pushing my self control. Naturally there was only one answer Arya could give and she publicly forgave her mother to the smiles of everyone around us. The white raven cackled and hopped on its stand. ¡°And on the door was graven evermore, what now became the family lore, Let us never do but to adore!¡± ¡°Hush Blagden, keep your doggerel to yourself.¡± Islanzad¨ª said as she released Arya and turned to the rest of us. ¡°You must excuse me for being discourteous and ignoring you, our most important guests.¡± Eragon surprised everyone there by performing the traditional greeting in the Ancient Language followed by Saphira as they introduced themselves. ¡°You carry a powerful name,¡± Islanzad¨ª said softly, ¡°one we rarely bestow upon our children¡­ Welcome to Ellesm¨¦ra, Eragon Shadeslayer. We have waited long for you.¡± She moved on to Orik. ¡°And your name, dwarf?¡± ¡°Orik of the Durgrimst Ingeitum, Majesty.¡± the dwarf said gruffly, if respectfully. Then it was my turn. ¡°And yours, human?¡± ¡°Alexandria Cross, though I¡¯ve apparently picked up Lightbringer as a title.¡± I stated blandly with what only the most generous would call a nod in acknowledgement. Islanzad¨ª¡¯s eyes widened at the blatant lack of deference, Arya sighed a little, and the seated elves around us shifted angrily. Hey, this was already me being behaved! The queen chose not to make an issue of it though, at least for now, and returned to her throne. ¡°I assume by your presence here, Eragon, so soon after Saphira¡¯s egg was captured, and the ring on your hand and the sword on your hip, that Brom is dead and that your training with him was incomplete. I wish to hear your full story, including how Brom fell and how you came to meet my daughter, or how she met you, as it may be. Then I will hear of your mission here, dwarf, and your adventures, Arya, since your ambush in Du Weldenvarden, and finally the reason for your presence, human.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Making me go last out of spite? I don¡¯t think the queen liked me. I fully reciprocated that attitude. ¡°Well, I guess it all started when I was hunting in the Spine, a mountain range near where I grew up¡­¡± Eragon began recounting his story. He was clearly making an effort to keep to more relevant things, such as the trail of events that led to him leaving his village with Brom, but he was also making some effort to skip over details the elves might find distasteful, such as the abuse Arya was subjected to. I saw some glances between the assembled elves when Eragon explained the cause and lingering effect of his back injury. Eragon¡¯s account ended with him presenting a sealed scroll from Nasuada to the queen that prompted Islanzad¨ª to comment on how foolish she had acted. Literally the only thing stopping me from saying something was Arya pinning me with a glare and I had to sheepishly look away when I realized I had almost reflexively commented anyway. When the young rider asked about his training Islanzad¨ª could only assure him that he would be trained¡­and then told him that as long as he remained affected by his curse he would only be useful as a figurehead and a shadow of the hope they had waited for. Bitch. Islanzad¨ª addressed Orik next, but there wasn¡¯t much to say since his only request was for the elves to provide their support against Galbatorix again and that had been promised during Eragon¡¯s conversation. Then it was Arya¡¯s turn. I¡­was not ready for her story. I don¡¯t think anyone was. Arya recounted months of brutal tourture in the same detached monotone of someone reading off a list. And while everyone around her remained silent, I saw hands tightening and faces hardening at the descriptions she gave. At this point I was sure the elves would demand retribution even if Islanzad¨ª hadn¡¯t already recommitted them to the war. It was even enough to crack the political mask the queen was using as she fully understood exactly what she had condemned her daughter to by cutting all contact from the world. One of the elf lords stood from his seat and declared them all in her debt for managing to resist long enough to deny Durza, and by extension Galbatorix, the knowledge and location of the elven cities. To which Arya simply thanked him in return. Then it was my turn. ¡°We have spoken of evil things for too long and our guests are tired.¡± Islanzad¨ª said and turned to me. ¡°We have heard from the others, but what brings you here to our halls?¡± Part of me still wanted to poke at all the failings of the queen. How she nearly doomed the continent to the rule of a mad tyrant because she decided to hide in the trees. How she clearly didn¡¯t love her daughter as much as she pretended to simply assume her dead and not investigate. How she¡­ there were a lot of things I wanted to mock her for, okay? But after listening to Arya¡­I simply didn¡¯t have the motivation anymore. So instead of any of that I simply said, ¡°I¡¯m one of the healers that saved Eragon¡¯s life after the battle with Durza. I¡¯m here to make sure his curse doesn¡¯t cause any additional problems and even remove it with time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure our own healers will be interested in speaking with you about his care. Perhaps they would even be willing to instruct you if they are feeling charitable.¡± Islanzad¨ª casually insulted me. ¡°And while we may discuss things later I will not have this occasion marred by lingering on past injuries.¡± She smiled, ¡°My daughter has returned, a dragon and her Rider have appeared, and I will see us celebrate in the proper fashion!¡± Islanzad¨ª clapped her hands and the area was covered in flowers before everyone whisked away to prepare for a feast. -o- The speed at which everything was prepared showed that even if we were trying to ¡®sneak¡¯ into meeting Islanzad¨ª first, the rest of the elves noticed us on the way in and made preparations. We were led back out into the forest where several long tables were set up while elves continued to run around delivering fresh bread, vegetable dishes, and fruit. All very fancy and delicious, but the lack of meat was noticeable. Something I was surely going to miss in a few days. Rather expectedly, the main attraction of the feast was Eragon and Saphira. Practically everyone wanted to speak to them, though it seemed Saphira was the more popular of the two. I watched on for a little bit since no one was all that interested in speaking to either me or Orik beyond some polite greetings but I eventually lost interest and started interrogating one of the servers on how everything was prepared when it became clear nothing beyond some bland conversation was going to happen here. When Islanzad¨ª decided the feast was at an end, everyone hurried to finish eating and began to disperse. Initially I was going to follow along after Eragon and Arya but the elf that I assumed was going to be my guide was rather insistent I follow him instead. ¡°Du Weldenvarden is a place unlike any you have been before, human.¡± He lectured me as he led me through the forest. ¡°Take care to be respectful while you are here, there are those who do not want your presence here and would be grateful for the excuse to remind you of your place.¡± ¡°Meh, let them try. Might do them good to be reminded the sun doesn¡¯t shine out their asses.¡± I realized I might have had too much to drink at the feast. Whatever it was the elves were serving was rather strong¡­ My guide paused. ¡°And you think yourself capable of instructing them? Many have already heard of your arrogance when meeting Islanzad¨ª-elda. Someone so ignorant in even meeting someone of her station would be a poor teacher of respect.¡± I was tipsy enough that the warning tone in his voice failed to register. ¡°Hardly ignorant, I just think she¡¯s a terrible queen. Wasn¡¯t going to respect her after her little performance.¡± There were some gasps from the other elves on the path that overheard my comment. Clearly they never thought anyone would badmouth Islanzad¨ª in public. ¡°You are obviously lacking your wits, so I will give you one chance to apologize, human.¡± My guide hissed, hand grasping where a sword should be but wasn¡¯t because of the feast. ¡°Or what?¡± ¡°Or I will teach you respect. In a duel.¡± ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not my fault she decided to be a shit mom on top of being a bad queen. I¡¯m not goin¡¯ to apologize for nothin¡¯.¡± I said stubbornly through the haze of alcohol. If my previous comment was gasp worthy, this one was enough to get everyone whispering to each other like bees. ¡°Fine then!¡± my guide snapped. ¡°If you insist on spitting on our hospitality then you shall reap the consequences. I will give you a lesson of respect tomorrow at the sun¡¯s highest point, unless you are as craven as you are disrespectful?¡± A duel? Fine by me! I might even get a workout too! The elf didn¡¯t seem to appreciate the dig when I repeated it out loud but he informed me that someone would stop by to show me to the field the fight would take place before stalking off into the trees. Another elf appeared to finish escorting me to my room and this time made no effort to communicate with me. As I laid down to sleep the last thing I thought was that while I kept my promise to Arya about not getting involved with the games Islanzad¨ª pulled¡­I was still going to cause a scene that was no doubt going to cause my friend no end of headaches¡­ Rider 2.10 I woke up the next day with a headache and an annoyed elf poking me with a foot. Why was she bothering me? Didn¡¯t she have princess stuff to do or something? Let me sleep! ¡°Guh¡¯way Arya.¡± I said blearily. ¡°Sleep¡¯ng.¡± ¡°If you sleep any longer you are going to miss the duel you decided to accept.¡± Arya replied as she mercilessly dug her foot into my ribs. Duel? What duel? ¡°The one you agreed to after insulting the Queen where anyone with ears could hear you.¡± She replied when I asked out loud. Did that really happen? I remembered most of the night but after a while things got¡­hazy. Damn I drank way too much didn¡¯t I? And now I had to pay for drunk!me¡¯s mouth¡­ Blegh, not what I wanted to wake up to. ¡°Any chance I can claim drunkenness and skip the whole thing?¡± I asked hopefully. Arya just stared deadpan at me and raised an eyebrow. ¡°If it had just been you two, then yes. But like I said, you decided to scream your insults to the queen for everyone to hear. If you wish to make yourself more presentable, you should hurry. There is not much time before noon and you will still need to make your way two the practice field.¡± ¡°Mrrrrrrr¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± I groaned but ultimately resigned myself. Stupid elves. -o- I was a bit surprised to see that Eragon, Saphira, and Orik were nowhere to be found. Had no one told them I was fighting a duel today? Actually, that would make sense if Islanzad¨ª wanted me out of the way with no one interfering. Eragon asking for a cancellation would be pretty hard to deny without potentially pushing him away. She had already alienated her daughter more ¨C bullshit ¡®reconciliation¡¯ aside ¨C thanks to yesterday. Perhaps it was easier for her to pretend she had nothing to do with this until it was over. Or she really did have nothing to do with it and I was reading too much into things. The others could simply not be here because no one thought to tell the important official guests what I did last night. Though plenty of other locals seemed to have gotten the message¡­ ¡°I suppose it must count for something that you managed to arrive on time.¡± The Elf I assumed was my duel opponent said imperiously. ¡°Even if you still look like a drunken wretch.¡± ¡°Whatever, I¡¯m here. Can we get this over with so I can go back to bed? I have a massive hangover.¡± I lied as I faked a huge yawn causing the elf to frown deeply. I had healed myself of any lingering aches from last night long before I arrived at the field, but I hadn¡¯t taken any steps to fix my appearance so I looked like I had just rolled out of bed in the clothes I wore last night. ¡­which I technically had. ¡°Very well, to the terms then,¡± He scowled at my actions before looking at Arya, ¡°Arya Dr?ttningu has declared that death and serious injury are forbidden, thus I propose we settle this with first to yield or be rendered unable to continue.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m fine with that.¡± I was actually a little relieved I wasn¡¯t about to get stuck in some ¡®to the death¡¯ nonsense. Because no one won in that circumstance. Either I ended up killing a ¨C probably ¨C important noble in the middle of the elven capital and then being stuck here until Eragon needed to return to the Varden, or he managed to kill me. Which I wasn¡¯t much of a fan of even in the unlikely hypothetical. ¡°Should I win, I demand that you retract your words and apologize to our Queen. You will then swear an oath in the Ancient Language to never step foot in our lands again and be escorted out of the kingdom.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Apologize for calling out Islanzad¨ª on her utter lack of maternal ability? No way was I going to lose now. ¡°Fine, but when I win¡­¡± I trailed off. Actually, what would I want for winning? ¡°You don¡¯t happen to have a Rider sword, do you?¡± I asked eventually, though going by the shocked gasps I might have accidentally committed another social misstep. ¡°I do not possess such a blade.¡± my opponent said, only the fury in his eyes informing me that he wasn¡¯t perfectly calm. I think I stepped on a landmine there. I also couldn¡¯t really think of anything I would want from winning this so in the end I just settled for him promising to give me any information on unclaimed Rider blades or Brightsteel he heard about. Not a great prize, but eh. ¡°So how are we doing this?¡± I asked once the rewards were confirmed to the surrounding witnesses. ¡°As the challenged party, you are the one to set the terms.¡± Oooh, in that case¡­ ¡°Then how about any weapon you want and any spell that doesn¡¯t directly target your opponent?¡± Meaning no annoying mental/soul battle and no trying to just tell my heart to stop beating or something. Neither strategy should affect me since I had altered my mental and soul defenses after dealing with the Twins and the natural density of mana in my body should counter direct magic effects, but I also didn¡¯t really want to have to test that right now. Especially since I was going to scare the hell out of everyone here without revealing those tricks. Now that everything was set the two of us were ready to begin. The witness moved back so there was no chance of anyone getting in the way, leaving the two of us in the middle of a wide circle. And both of us drew our swords. I wanted my tracing ability to be a bit of a surprise so I had actually carried a blade here similar to what I had done when I first ran into Eragon and Murtagh. Nothing outwardly special, just a simple double edged steel sword. My opponent, Lord Vrealian according to Arya, had a longsword that he held easily with one hand, showing his familiarity and control over his blade. It also showed his arrogance since just by looking at his sword I could tell it was clearly meant to be handled two-handed. I fell into a technically acceptable, if lazy, defensive position myself and waited for the duel to start. When it did, Vrealian fell directly into my trap. Honestly it wasn¡¯t even his fault. He did the thing nearly any experienced warrior would do, punish a flaw and create an opening. His sword smashed into mine faster than a normal human could move and was raised overhead to give a finishing blow. Vraelian apparently wanted this finished quickly, but unfortunately for him the disheveled state of my clothes, my lazy stance, and even my uncaring attitude had all been misdirections to encourage him to perform an aggressive opening. He assumed I was going to retreat or panic when my own blade was forced out of position to defend against his. He wasn¡¯t expecting me to step closer instead. Or move as quickly as I did. I stuck close, maybe inches from actually touching him, as I stepped in and around his body until I was at his back. Then my sword snapped back up so I was basically hugging him from behind with the blade pressed lightly along his chest from hip to shoulder. ¡°Do you yield?¡± I practically purred into his ear. And considering the dead silence that had fallen over the field, every elf there heard it. Vrealian went purple and practically shuddered with rage. He reached up and shoved my sword away from him while moving to get some distance. I didn¡¯t really try to fight it. This was his freebie. I wasn¡¯t some human he could effortlessly crush. I was a much bigger threat. Something I emphasized by adjusting my posture so I was no longer slouched and straightening my outfit. ¡°Cheap tricks!¡± Vrealian hissed. I shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re the one who fell for them. And it would have lost you the duel if I didn¡¯t want an actual fight.¡± That seemed to piss him off even more as he was soon in my face again. But even angry Vrealian wasn¡¯t a pushover. Yes, he was being overly aggressive. But he was just as fast as Arya, perhaps a touch more skilled, and rapidly regaining control of his emotions. Once his initial flurry of slashes failed to pierce my defenses he shifted to a much more controlled style of fighting. Swords flashed and clanged off each other as we danced back and forth across the field. I couldn¡¯t help but grin as I felt the little tugs on my clothes from the near misses of Vrealian¡¯s sword. He was experienced in the same way the older Soul Reapers were. Practically perfect form caused by decades of practice a normal human simply wouldn¡¯t live to see. I twisted to avoid a thrust and caught the blade with my own. Vrealian muttered something and I felt a shock leap between our swords. I could have fought through it but I realized as much fun as this had been there were other things I needed to do today. Time to take this seriously. I deliberately loosened my grip and allowed the plain sword to be ripped out of my hands. Now it was Vrealian¡¯s turn to hold me at swordpoint and gloat. ¡°Do you yield?¡± He asked, parroting back my earlier words. ¡°Why would I do that?¡± I shot back, still smiling confidently. Somewhat shockingly, Vrealian didn¡¯t bother giving me a reason why or asking again. He just jumped straight to trying to stab me again. Not an unreasonable reaction to facing a spellcaster smiling at you while apparently unarmed. Bakuya dropped into my hand and gasps rang out at the sight of the traced blade and its twin appearing in my hands. Vrealian fell back, shocked, after the sudden display of impossible magic ¨C to them ¨C and then scrambled even further when more swords appeared midair behind me as they shot forward at him. Some missed as the elf tumbled acrobatically, others were deflected by his sword, but a good many were only stopped by Vrealian¡¯s wards as they were magically deflected or halted before they skewered him. Another muttered spell actually animated some of the fallen swords to either block the new incoming ones or shoot back at me, but I simply dismissed those when they got close. Unnoticed in the chaos of flying steel, a single cross shaped dagger formed and shot forward. Unlike all the others, this one wasn''t aimed at Vrealian at all nor was it launched in a way that would prevent him from dodging another blade so it went nearly ignored until it stabbed into his shadow and locked him in place. I needed to immediately dismiss the rest of my projectiles as Vrealian lost the ability to move but since a single Black Key wasn¡¯t going to prevent him from using magic I projected dozens of swords hanging over him like a sword of Damocles. ¡°Now then,¡± I said confidently as I pushed some hairs that had come loose during the fight out of my face, ¡°unless you want to become a pincushion I think this is my win.¡± I looked around at the stunned silent observers. ¡°So, anyone else want to challenge me?¡± -o- Arya was the one to ruin my fun. Apparently there was a schedule today for everyone that came with Eragon and the only reason I wasn¡¯t taken there already was the fact I was challenged to a duel. Going by the slight twisting on Islansad¨ª¡¯s face when she spotted me coming to join the group I had a sneaking suspicion that she was really hoping I would lose my duel. Yeah, she definitely didn¡¯t like me. But I paid the queen very little attention beyond agreeing to the oath she demanded before we met Eragon¡¯s teachers. While I already knew who ¨C and what ¨C they were, no one here had any reason to think I did, and Islanzad¨ª was quick to threaten to kick me out if I didn¡¯t agree. So once everyone had given the oath, we were escorted to a nice field leading up to a cliff. Moments later a dull thud echoed through the forest as a wave of air washed over us. Then it happened again. The third time it happened a massive golden shape rose from the cliff bottom. It was a dragon. A huge golden dragon, with a Rider on its back. Rider 2.11 I watched silently as the other three guests of the elves dealt with the revelation of another Rider and dragon, casually going over their appearances. The golden dragon was massive. Easily three times as large as Saphira. It was like a small hill had decided to run around covered in shiny metal scales. It was almost enough to distract from the fact he was missing a good bit of his left foreleg, the end of it simply stopping in a nub of white scar tissue. He was beautiful though, if a little gaudy in my opinion, and it was a little funny that his Rider seemed to prefer plain, undecorated clothes despite his partner''s coloration. Not that the Rider wasn''t striking in his own way. The elf moved with the same fluid grace I had seen in all of them so far and was a perfect example of fitness and physical health. Even with the plain outfit and unassuming face, he gave off the same feeling as a big cat stalking through its territory. In fact the only sign of age on him was his pure silver hair and the heaviness in his eyes from seeing far too much over the years. Eragon and Saphira seemed to be flip flopping between disbelief and awe at the pair''s arrival. Orik just seemed understandably pissed at the secrecy regarding Glaedr and his Rider Oromis. To him the elves had hidden away a massive trump card the Varden sorely needed. His anger was placated at the reveal that the giant golden dragon wasn''t the only part of the pair that was crippled ¨C the missing left forelimb got several more glances ¨C but that Oromis himself had lost the ability to cast anything but the smallest of spells after being held captive by some of the Forsworn, traitor Riders that sided with Galbatorix during the Fall. In fact Orik wasn''t the only one pissed off at the Rider. Islanzad¨ª didn''t take the revelation that Oromis had been aware of Eragon''s existence and Arya''s survival and had chosen to not tell her very well. To my quiet amusement the elven Rider told her off in an incredibly polite manner that basically boiled down to ''I''m not going to do your job for you'', much to the queen''s chagrin, since it was by her order that the elves closed themselves off and turned away any messengers. Oromis turned and went back to his dragon, nimbly climbing into the saddle. "Come, Eragon and Saphira. We have much to talk about." Then his eyes drifted to me. "I will need to speak to you later as well, young healer." And then they were off. Glaedr leaping off the cliff and flying away without giving me the opportunity to ask any questions of my own with the younger Rider pair following soon after. "And we couldn''t have talked right now, because¡­?" I muttered pointlessly aloud. They were long gone already. "The Shur''tugal [Dragon Rider] has his reasons, I''m sure." Islanzad¨ª sniped, though I mentally noted she seemed just as annoyed with the Rider as I was. "I must return to my duties. Arya? Will you join me?" "¡­no Mother, I think I will roam the city and see what has changed. It''s been some time since I could wander without a purpose in mind." Arya denied after a small pause. Islanzad¨ª was obviously not pleased, but she said nothing. "Something wrong?" I asked gently, knowing this was a sensitive topic. "Eragon continues to be far too open with me about his emotions." Arya replied, deliberately misinterpreting me. "It may be problematic." I could only shrug at her. Teenage hormones weren''t one of the things I could help her with. I was saved from even trying to respond to that by Orik stomping his way over. "A Rider, Axe and Stones! Can you believe it? And now I''m stuck with knowledge I can''t share with others. The problems we could have avoided just by knowing there was someone else¡­" he grumbled. "We couldn''t risk it." Arya said. "If Galbatorix knew someone survived the Fall¡­" "Aye, I understand. I don''t like it but I understand. It just rankles that I cannot tell my King something this important." "As a consolation why don''t I show you both around the city?" Arya offered. "It may not be a solution for your irritation, but it may soothe it." With that the three of us headed back into the forest, listening as Arya began to tell us the various importance of several buildings along the way. -o- It was pretty late into the evening when a slight presence brushed against my defenses. Nothing intrusive, just a bit of pressure telling me someone was poking around. "It''s rather rude to poke around where you aren''t wanted, you know?" I called out into the air. "My apologies," Oromis replied, casually walking into the open. "I meant no offense. It is common for visitors to lightly announce themselves when they are unsure if they are wanted. I just wanted to make you aware of my presence." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Well, I''m aware. How can I help you tonight Rider Oromis?" I asked, offering him a seat. One he gracefully took. "I thought you would summon me when you wanted to talk." I was actually a little surprised at his visit. If there was one thing that tended to be true about hermit-like mentors, it was that they rarely went back into civilization unless it was required. Oromis didn''t strike me as the arrogant type but he definitely seemed like the kind of person to prefer his home in the wilderness. Not to mention how impatient he had seemed to begin training Eragon. I was expecting a meeting in a few days at least. Not him showing up in front of me like this. "As much as I prefer to be away from the city for my own peace and clarity of mind, I do not mind visiting once in a while." Oromis replied. "And it''s unlikely I will have much time to spend elsewhere until Eragon''s training is complete or he is requested elsewhere." Ah, so this was just the easiest time to meet and he didn''t want me stumbling around in the dark trying to reach his house. "And as much as I would like to spend time in idle conversation, I must return soon to prepare for tomorrow''s lesson." Oromis continued. "What can you tell me about Eragon''s injury? He mentioned you came along specifically to assist with that." I sighed and leaned back into my chair. This wasn''t a topic I was particularly eager to dig into. "In a word? He''s cursed." Oromis said nothing but was certainly giving me his full attention. "I''ve been able to identify three aspects to the curse. First, it triggers extreme pain along the cut if he strains himself too much. Healing the scar won''t do anything, it''s not anchored that way. Second, when the curse triggers, it will try to keep Eragon lucid and aware of the pain as long as possible. Knocking him unconscious is possible but he won''t do so himself. And third, there is a mental aspect to it. It grows stronger the more fearful Eragon is of it." I paused. "Or it triggers more easily, I haven''t exactly figured that part out yet." "Have you tried removing it?" I shook my head. "As I am right now, attempting that will kill Eragon. It''s too intertwined with his soul." "Is that so? How unfortunate." Oromis hummed. I raised an eyebrow at that. "That''s it? No screaming about how souls don''t exist or can''t be the anchor of a spell? That there is a more logical explanation I''m just unaware of?" I asked. "Arya and I have some pretty intense debates over it so I''d figure you would be skeptical as well." "As talented as she is, Arya is still very young." The Rider said with a small smile. "There are many mysteries of the gramyre she is unaware of and I have witnessed much more than her. Besides that, it seems your own magic does not follow the same principles as our established methods. Creating tangible blades from nothing? Enchanted ones on top of that? I''ve only seen dragons perform similar feats. So if you are confident in your diagnosis, I will trust you know what you speak of." My lips twitched at that. The old Rider was surprisingly reasonable. "In that case will you humor a particularly invasive question from a healer?" I asked. "It''s been bothering me for a while now." "Ask. If I cannot answer I will not hold it against you." "Why is Glaedr still missing a limb? I know there are many elven healers capable of fleshshaping at least. Even if the energy requirements are massive you''ve had a century to restore it." Oromis''s face went blank. After he said nothing for several seconds I started to think I might have pushed a bit too much and was ready to apologize. But the elder Rider responded before I could get the first word out. "You would be curious about that wouldn''t you?" He said thoughtfully. "You are right. Even if we were limited to just the healers in this city we should have been able to restore my partner''s limb by now." "Then why haven''t you?" "At first, pride." Oromis said bitterly. "We were confident that my own injury would be healed and I would tend to him myself. But as the years went on and it became clear I was unable to grasp anything but the smallest of magics it became a matter of impracticality." Impracticality? To heal one of the last remaining dragons free from Galbatorix? I couldn''t think of any reason Oromis or Glaedr would be content to leave an injury like that in place. "Our defenses were completely srtipped away when I was captured." He continued. "I was forced to layer countless weak spells as often as I was able in order to rebuild them thinking I could redo them properly later. In my haste, I neglected to think things through completely and made no allowances for others to work magics on us without triggering my new wards." Oh. Now I saw what he meant. "So in order to begin healing Glaedr''s leg you would need to strip all of your wards away again and then start from scratch." Oromis nodded. "Yes. Forty years had gone by before we felt safe that Galbatorix and his agents would not march on Du Weldenvarden. But we could not take the risk of him moving again when we would be so vulnerable." So they had just left it alone instead. Not the choice I would have made but I suppose the golden dragon had become accustomed to it by then. Oromis stood and lightly dusted his hands. "The hour grows late and I believe I have begun to overstay my welcome. Thank you for the explanation of Eragon''s malady. I will make sure to keep what you mentioned in mind." I was a little surprised he was leaving so soon but not much. But what was surprising was¡­ "You didn''t want me to look at your own injury?" I couldn''t help but ask. He paused. "I have long since accepted that I will bear the mark of my injury until my final days. So I had not even thought to ask." Oromis admitted. "Though I suppose it would not hurt to have a new perspective, perhaps¡­" He trailed off, but I could still see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. Without another word I offered a hand, which he accepted, and analyzed him with Structural Analysis. Since the Rider wasn''t a weapon I didn''t get much assistance from my soul-shard ability in terms of understanding the information I was getting. I had to mentally shift through every scar, every imperfection, all the way down to the cellular level and a bit beyond to the point I could even see the metaphysical connection to his magic that connected to his magic before I found what was wrong. It was hard to put into words exactly ¨C not surprising since metaphysical representations of magical pseudo-organs were hard to describe in even basic terms ¨C but the best way to describe it was that the Rider''s capacity to transfer the energy his spells demanded had been crippled. Like someone had stretched and cracked his soul''s connection until it was barely functional. Any time he used magic would be like trying to fill a bucket with massive holes in the walls and a crack along the bottom. Sure he could fill it a little before the bucket naturally drained ¨C allowing him to use small spells ¨C but anything beyond that the vessel simply couldn''t fill fast enough to do much else. I had seen worse damage of course. I saw worse than that everytime I looked at myself after all. This was easily the worst I had seen in another, though. Even Eragon''s was simpler if harder to treat given the entwined nature of the curse and my own injuries. But what fascinated me was that there were signs of healing in a couple places. At first I was confused since if there was an effective treatment, why did they stop? But then I realized that the elven healers likely didn''t have a way to directly analyze the soul like I did. I wasn''t sure how long I stayed like that, constantly investigating the healing parts. If I could identify what caused that¡­ I might be able to apply it to myself. Apparently I took too long though, because Oromis began to draw back his hand. "You don''t need to trouble yourself over this. As I said, I have long acce¨C" "I can heal it." I interrupted. The silver-haired elf''s eyebrows went up at that. "I can see parts where the damage was repaired. It was stopped, likely because no one knew it was working, but they are there." I said, deadly serious. "I don''t suppose your healers took notes on what was attempted?" "I¨C, yes. But the records are unavailable to others." the Rider muttered, still stunned by my response. "But that can change right?" I asked, almost desperate at getting the chance to study a soul-mending method. Even if it was an accidental one. "...I''ll have someone sent to you tomorrow. You can discuss it with them." Rider 2.12 To say that I got a bit obsessed with my research would be like saying water was wet or that the surface of the sun was a tiny bit warm. Every free moment I had was spent pouring over various medical records and interoga¨C interviewing the healers that had worked with Oromis, often turning into multiple all-nighters trying to figure out what was useful and why. Unsurprisingly, about ninety-nine percent of everything I looked at was useless to me. Most of the cures and remedies were things that had either been used for years, centuries in some cases, and were well documented but I needed to check just in-case and others were costly remedies that were only used because it was important that Oromis returned to the fight, or at least survived to train the next generation of Riders when it became clear his participation would change little. And I had to test each and every single one of them individually and then in combinations based on what had been administered to Oromis just to see if they created a result that none of the healers had known how to look for. And after a hundred years or so of ongoing treatments¡­there was quite a bit to go over. And that didn¡¯t even include the thousands of spells the elven healers used. I just hoped that the cause of what allowed the bit of recovery in Oromis wasn¡¯t one of the plant based cures. Trying to keep a consistent supply growing for myself sounded hard and annoying now, not to mention what I would need to do when I finished up and needed to head back to the Horizon. I hadn¡¯t exactly designed the thing with a large hydroponics bay in mind. But I digress¡­ I spent so much time researching medical notes and hunting down properties of plants and reading dictionaries to determine exactly what words made up certain spells that often I was only kept from accidental starvation thanks to Arya sending someone to check up on me every so often. Arya herself stopped by a couple times and usually managed to drag me out to look around the city a bit or for a bit of exercise. That was my life in Ellesm¨¦ra with little variation for weeks. Though it wasn¡¯t without some results. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. While I hadn¡¯t found what I was looking for, I had noticed some additional benefits and applications to several existing remedies and shared them as thanks with the elven Healers. After a few tests to prove the discoveries worked as advertised many of them were starting to join me once in a while. This was their passion afterall. Too bad they weren¡¯t fully focused on the same thing I was. No. The Agaet¨ª Bl?dhren, or Blood-Oath Celebration, had caused many of them to focus on what new discovery they could present at the ceremony instead of searching for the perfect condition needed to heal their crippled Dragon Rider. In a way it made sense, the elves were so used to their long lives and the lack of urgency that came with it that it made no difference to them if they found the cure today or ten years later. The knowledge that something was effective in the first place reinforcing that mindset even more. And none of them were going to listen to me otherwise anyway. Not on the day that marked the end of the elf-dragon war and created the Riders in the first place. I had actually planned to skip the celebration, but Arya wouldn¡¯t hear it and dragged me along. My feeble protests of not having a place there overruled due to the amount of unintentional breakthroughs I had caused in their medical practices. One or two would have been overlooked, three might have been commented on but nothing special, sixteen new applications had forced even Islanzad¨ª to recognize my contributions and she spent every effort to pretend like I never existed. So I was forced to spend a night watching the elves lose their collective minds thanks to the amount of enchantments in the air, the rivers of alcohol, and the festive atmosphere. Pretty sure there were some drugs being passed around as well, I doubted it was just tobacco in those pipes. Not my idea of a good time, but at least the art presentation time was interesting. What really stole the show was when two identical elvish dancers summoned a giant flaming spectral dragon that rose up into the air and roared. It was magic on a scale I hadn¡¯t seen in this universe before and I doubted I would come across many other examples elsewhere. Why? It was a manifestation of Time magic. When it touched Eragon it started to accelerate the change every human Rider experienced over the course of decades into a few seconds. The young Rider¡¯s features sharpened and smoothed out until he looked very similar to the rest of the elves, small cuts and scars from a lifetime as a farmhand and later his journey across the Empire fading away as we watched. In a beautiful twist of irony, the manifested dragon was using Durza¡¯s curse to fuel the changes. The remnants of the Shade¡¯s spirits that had latched onto Eragon losing energy until they were subsumed by the rest of the magic running through him and leaving him free of the curse that had plagued him for months now. At last I wouldn¡¯t have to spend time healing the results of his attacks anymore even if it pricked at my newly developing pride as a healer that I wasn¡¯t able to fix the issue even when I knew the cause. But a small injury to my pride was worth Eragon finally being able to fully commit to the training he needed even as I knew our time in Ellesm¨¦ra was ending. The Varden would need him back soon and I had almost exhausted the available records. Which meant I was hopefully close to the discovery I was¡­ I paused at the spell I was on. At first glance it was just a general ¡®feel better¡¯ spell similar to the one Eragon learned early on. But the more I looked at it, it was less about repairing the body as it was about soothing the pathways in the body. Sure the caster probably literally meant the veins or arteries, but if the intention to heal the connection to a person¡¯s inner magic was added¡­ Holy shit, I think I just found the spell I was after! I needed someone to help me test this, now! Rider 2.13 "...and as an expression of our gratitude for the discovery of a technique capable of healing one of our most revered Elders I, Queen Islanzad¨ª, bestow upon you this ring and the title of Elf Friend." It was a nice speech, full of emotion and regality. Too bad the look in Islanzad¨ª''s eyes made it clear she would rather french kiss a donkey than compliment me. But when someone delivers on a way to heal Oromis''s injury and proves it works, that person needs to be recognized for the achievement. Queen''s misgivings or no. Of course Islanzad¨ª went out of her way to do the whole ceremony in Common despite me proving myself perfectly fluent in their native language. As a favor to me of course. Just so there was no mistaking how much the Queen valued my presence. Bitch. Still, I accepted the ring and took a moment to admire the Yaw? symbol carved into the face of the bright green gem set into it before slipping it on a finger. I started reciting the customary response Arya had drilled into me but my mind was already elsewhere thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow we were heading back to the Varden. Well Arya and I were. Eragon had decided to try for a relationship with my friend again after the ceremony and had even gone so far as asking Arya to share all her memories with him so they would be the same experience-wise. A move by an infatuated boy riding high on the miracle night before or not, it had been the final straw and now Arya was eager to leave Ellesm¨¦ra as soon as she could. I decided to go with her now that I had found a way to at least put a band-aid on the mess that was my soul condition and Eragon no longer needed me patching him up after one of his seizures. Orik was staying behind as the continued observer for Eragon''s training but I could tell he was jealous I was free to leave. There honestly wasn''t much here for the dwarf to do and, unlike me, there wasn''t a passion project he was focused on to sink his time into. I felt for him, but since he was determined to stay even when I offered to let him come with us there wasn''t much I could do for him. So without further fanfare, Arya and I left the elven capital and began our journey south. And without the need for secrecy or people unable to keep up with us we made incredible time. So much so that we were in Surda, a small independent country between the Empire and the Beor Mountains, within a week. -o- "So, you ever been here before?" I asked my traveling buddy as we waited for someone to alert Nasuada of our arrival. Surda as a whole wasn''t much different than what I imagined a typical medieval country to look like, with most of the population being focused on farming or fishing and the wealthier members occasionally dabbling in more intellectual pastimes. King Orrin in particular was known to be a lover of the sciences. "I have not," Arya replied. "Most of my duties kept me in the Beor Mountains as it was too dangerous to wander close to the Empire. But from what I understand it isn''t too dissimilar from the average town in the Empire in many ways." Yeah, that was about what I expected. Without a way to increase the production of food through technology or magic, most towns would be fairly similar beyond the occasional specialty or art produced as hobbies by the workers rather than the dedicated artisans the elves and dwarves had available. I made a note to talk to Nasuada about requesting someone to come down and teach the local farmers any techniques they could. If they had something like crop rotation, irrigation, or even just better tools then in a few years there might be enough spare food for a mini renaissance in the bigger towns. Or not, but that wasn''t my problem. "Guess we get to visit a new place together then." I smiled at her before scowling at the guards keeping us out of Nasuada''s meeting room. "Or at least we would if we ever get to this stupid meeting." Besides one of them swallowing heavily, none of the four made any movement. Which was actually impressive considering my reputation in the Varden. The ''Lightbringer'' title had made the journey into Surda along with the army and I was sure the story behind it had only grown in the retellings. Still wasn''t enough to let me walk freely up to the Varden''s new leader without at least being announced. My grumbling was interrupted by a door opening and the arrival of Nasuada and J?rmundur. "Alexandria, Arya. Your timing couldn''t be better. Is Eragon with you?" Nasuada asked after she greeted us. "No, he is still in the middle of training. Has something happened?" Arya replied. "Not yet, but we have word from our spies and through our scrying that Galbatorix is sending an army towards Surda." J?rmundur answered. "We plan to give Eragon as much time as possible before recalling him, but the Varden will need to prepare to meet them soon." I frowned at that. There was something about Galbatorix''s army I was forgetting. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Not the inclusion of Murtaugh as a dragon rider, that I remembered just fine, but something about the army itself that caused problems. But no matter how much I tried, I simply couldn''t recall such a small detail. Shaking my head, I gave up on trying to remember and refocused on the others. "...preparing to move out in two days." Nasuada finished saying. "But enough of that for now. What brings you two here? I would have thought you would stay with Eragon until we called." "Is there anything you need us to help with?" "Not anything specific of you, Arya. But if Alexandria could get a handle on her followers it would be appreciated." Huh? "I''m sorry, my what?" I couldn''t quite decipher what kind of smile was on Nasuada''s face. "Yes, your followers. After you left with Eragon, your apprentice was quite active in spreading your teachings. She began gathering every healer ¨C magical or mundane ¨C into her new guild much to several people''s displeasure. Not that many can be openly critical. She has managed to draw many of our most talented into her organization. It''s been¡­interesting seeing how quickly Leona managed to secure her position." Leona? The girl I had used as a gopher/secretary/assistant?! What the hell has she been up to?! "You seem surprised. Did you not instruct her to do so?" J?rmundur asked. I shook my head. "I have no interest in staying here long. There''s no way I would shackle myself here by starting an organization¡­oh." Arya glared at me. "I know that tone Alexandria. What did you do?" I scratched the back of my head while avoiding the gazes of everyone present. "So during one of my lectures I may have complained about the lack of standardization and collaboration between healers a few times. Leona and a couple others asked about how others did it and I passed on some things. I didn''t think she would take that as permission to create a guild in my name or something though!" "Well, good to know you created a political faction by accident rather than in an effort to undermine my position." Nasuada commented dryly. "And as much as I''d like to continue, I need to begin coordinating the army''s departure." Arya tilted her head. "Are we pressed for time then?" "No, as I said, we have a good idea where his army is located. I just prefer to be prepared." -o- I wouldn''t admit it but I was a little nervous about meeting Leona after my discussion with Nasuada. It wasn''t everyday you found out someone started an organization in your name. It was even rarer that that organization turned out to be one of the more influential factions in a rebellion but I suppose the old adage still rang true. Never piss off your healer. Thankfully, from what I learned from talking to, Nasuada the Healer''s Guild as it was now known was more interested in actually teaching people how to become qualified healers and sharing the knowledge I had given them ¨C limited as it was ¨C than gaining political power. There were a few that tried but Leona and a few others had quickly kicked them out, banning them from the resources and lessons I left behind and basically had them blacklisted. At first it didn''t do much, but as the Guild grew in reputation it practically forced those who had been blacklisted to leave for other towns just to find patients willing to accept their treatment. I honestly had no problem with that. If the guild was going to drive out greedy or underqualified hacks then that just meant standards would rise. What I had an issue with was that it was done in my name. The last thing I needed was some noble complaining to me about things I had no hand in. So that was what led me to the Guild''s temporary headquarters and waiting to speak to a receptionist. Sure, I could announce myself and get to Leona that way. But I wanted to see how service was to the average person seeking help. "Greetings, Lady Alexandria. Guild Master Leona and the others have been expecting you." The receptionist said the moment I made it to the front. I grimaced. Guess it was stupid to not try disguising myself. So much for that plan. "Ah, hello there." I said helplessly, trying to pretend that I wasn''t floundering. "Which ''others'' are you talking about?" "Oh! Besides the Guildmaster, Master Hendrickson and Miss Angela are also here." came the helpful reply. I thanked her and was quickly led to what looked like a conference room in the back where I was promptly abandoned to the attention of the three people in the room. Angela caught my eye first by virtue of being the one already facing the door. She looked quite a bit different now that she was out of armor and her hair was down and not speckled with the blood of her enemies. Much more like the herbalist she passed herself off as rather than the many-hatted warrior I first met. I gave her a polite smile and a wave before glancing over the only man in the room. Who, honestly, wasn''t very interesting. He was a bald, older man with a thick white beard and looked like he spent most of his life outdoors like many others I had seen but that was about it. I didn''t recognize him from my classes or the battle and he was wearing rather plain clothes so he wasn''t some kind of noble. And finally there was Leona. She had actually changed quite a bit from the last time I saw her. Instead of the simple green robes I first met her in, she had a rather striking red and black silk dress that seemed loosely inspired by my battle-costume. For a moment I worried she was using my name to enrich herself, but then I saw a rather hefty leather belt practically bursting with papers and writing supplies that clearly showed she was still in the habit of writing everything down and keeping it on hand if she needed it for later, something I noticed from when she would shadow me after Farthun D?r. If she was still doing that, then she was obviously working seriously. Not just reaping the benefits of her new position. By now, the other two noticed my entrance. Master Hendrickson was rather reserved but Leona perked up at the sight of me. "Lady Alexandria, you''re back!" I had a brief hallucination of a dog tail gleefully wagging behind her. "How was your trip to the elves? Was it productive? Also, I was hoping to get your opinion of how to rank healer initiates, currently we are putting them through your standardized courses but at some point we will need to judge between novice, journeyman, adept, master, and possibly a few more. I was thinking we could¡­" I blinked at the sudden rush of words. It seemed the time creating a guild had burned away much of the young woman''s shyness because this was a far cry from the person who practically panicked at being made my assistant. "Okay, okay¡­just wait a second." I held up a hand to cut her off. "First off, I could have sworn I told you just to call me by my name." "Y-yes, Lad- I mean Alexandria! It''s just¡­you''ve helped us to begin building something great." Leona gushed. "We were just speaking with Master Hendrickson about expanding the Guild into Surda. Once we get the details ironed out, we''ll be able to start spreading out into the surrounding villages and towns. Soon we might have a branch everywhere! All with the training to reliably deal with all sorts of ailments rather than just the few they''ve specialized in or they''re just guessing at." Ah, that explains why I didn''t recognize Hendrickson. And good for Leona, it sounds like she was really passionate about this. "I have to admit, this is one of the more interesting ventures I have seen." Angela commented. "That it isn''t just a better way of teaching how to bash someone in the head or horde everything for a select group is rather refreshing." Hendrickson huffed. "If it works." "I guess that means you''ve been helping out, Angela?" I asked, ignoring the comment. "Oh yes, it''s been endlessly entertaining. Watching the crushed egos of those who fail the mastery test is a treat, and I''ve rather enjoyed speaking to the few that have more than one trick and a mess of superstition between their ears." "Angela has also been a great help in making sure no one tries abusing the Guild for their own gain." Leona added. "She seems to just know when people are about to cause trouble." "A small talent. Hardly worth talking about." I smiled at that because I doubted it was as small a thing as Angela made it out to be. "As much as I would like to let you all catch up, I do have a schedule of my own to keep." Hendrickson interrupted, though not rudely. "If we could return to the topic?" Leona practically jumped up and started shifting through papers. "Of course! Right, as we were saying while magicians have a significant advantage in the range of options available to them as healers, the Guild has several courses and techniques that can be learned by anyone that significantly reduce the need of magic for a wide range of common ailments. One such thing is how to minimize the chance of infection through proper preparation like boiling bandages and using clean hands and tools. The reasoning for this is¡­" Once again I smiled and took a step back as Leona dove into her pitch on the benefits of expanding the Healers Guild across Surda and including everyone who wanted to join, magician or not, into the fold. While I still needed to speak with her about whatever she was doing that was making her seem ''uncontrolled'' to Nasuada, to understand the perceived problem if nothing else, that could wait until we were in private. From what I had seen it wasn''t urgent and I wouldn''t let politics get in the way of what was being built here. Rider 2.14 "They tricked us." Those were the first words Nausada said to us when we answered the urgent summons. I looked around at Arya, J?rmundur, the new apparent leader of the Du Vrangr Gata Trianna, and some various other officials or advisors whose names I didn''t bother to remember. None of them seemed to know what she was talking about either. "Okay, I''ll bite. Who tricked us and how?" I asked. Nasuada sighed and motioned to the map that had been laid out on a central table. "We just got an urgent report from our scouts. While we thought Galbatorix''s army was here," she pointed at a spot on the map, "it''s actually closer to here." She slid her finger much closer to Surda''s border. "...that''s barely two days'' march." J?rmundur said, horrified. "How did they get so close?" "The only way they could is if they had magicians covering them and fooling our own scrying attempts." Trianna didn''t sound much better. "The only way is for an incredible amount of magicians to simultaneously cast an illusion, or¡­for one incredibly powerful one to do it." "You mean Galbatorix." Nasuada stated grimly. She frowned and turned to me and Arya. "If that''s the case then we need Eragon for this. Complete training or no. Without him the only ones that could potentially face the Mad King are Alexandria and Arya, but without a dragon he could simply ignore them while he burns the army to ashes. Do either of you have a way to send him a message?" I shook my head but Arya nodded. "Now that the Queen has opened the borders again I can send a message to an outpost. But it will still take time." "Do that now then. Every moment counts." Arya nodded once at Nasuada''s order and left the room. "So what''s next?" I asked once the elf was gone. "We''re going to have to move the army as quickly as possible to intercept them." J?rmundur said, not taking his eyes off the map. "And without time to set up fortifications we are going to need somewhere that will negate their numbers." Three locations were brought up and discussed, but in the end only one of them was really viable. "So the Burning Plains then." One of the advisors said finally. "It seems like our best bet." Nasuada said. "Very well, begin preparations for departure. Alexandria, could you stay behind?" I waited patiently as everyone else filtered out to handle their own tasks. Once they were gone, Nasuada seemed to deflate. "Well this is a mess." She muttered and I raised an eyebrow at her casual manner. "Oh, don''t give me that look. I realize by now you don''t care about authority. Between you and Angela I''ve realized it''s better to just ignore position and title occasionally." I shrugged. "Fair enough. So why have me stay?" "Is there anything you can do to shift the odds in our favor? If Galbatorix really is coming to face us then we will need every trick we can pull to delay him until Eragon arrives." Nasuada said seriously. "Like what you did at Farthun D?r?" I thought about it for a bit. "I could set up defensive wards and bounded fields with a bit more time than we had last time but I doubt I could do the perception one or anything more offensive. There simply wouldn''t be a way to hide the anchor points in such a large open area in time. Other than that¡­more healing codes, maybe? Leona mentioned someone was trying to make their own version that didn''t have to be made by me, but more can''t hurt¡­" "You don''t know anything that could affect an army? Slow them down just a bit?" "I know plenty." I scowled. "The problem is most of them would need time to make, weeks in some cases, and that is if I had the proper tools. Right now I''d have to make the tools to make the tools for those. And that could mean months of work, time we don''t exactly have right now." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "Of course. My apologies." Nasuada seemed unsurprised. She probably already had or heard similar conversations with magicians in the past. "One last thing, about the Healer''s Guild¡­" "Hm? Oh yeah, I checked in a bit ago. They seemed to be doing fine." "Did you mention to them to stop running roughshod over the local healers and their methods?" I blinked. "No? Why would I do that?" Nasuada looked pained. "I had hoped you would control them more once you saw what they were doing. While a lot of untrained healers are flocking to the guild, it''s upsetting many of the more established ones." I shrugged. "If they do things properly they have nothing to worry about. If not¡­well I don''t think I care about them getting upset." Now it was Nausada''s turn to sigh. "I thought that would be your answer. I''d like to talk with you about it later so maybe we can avoid stepping on so many toes but we have more important things to worry about now." I don''t know what she expected me to do about it. I was perfectly happy to leave Leona in charge of everything but I nodded anyway and walked off to find something I could help with. -o- "Fredric! How are things?" I waved to the giant of a man as I made my way through the throngs of people scrambling to get things loaded onto carts and wagons. The Varden weaponmaster was pretty easy to spot considering his height and the raw oxhide he wore. Not many others running around in that stuff. Which was probably the point, now that I thought about it. "Lightbringer, good to see you!" Fredric returned with a smile. "Finally decided to pay a visit? Sandra was sad to see you leave without a word." "Sorry, I wasn''t in charge of the schedule. No time to find either of you." I replied, even as I made a mental note to apologize to the tavern keeper later. I might not have known either of them long, but they were good people. "She still in Tronjheim tricking innocent girls into dates for a meal?" "Hah! Nay, she followed the rest of the Varden to Surda. She should be kicking around the food wagons. Says she can''t trust us to pack anything other than meat and ale." Fredric said with a laugh. "Can''t say she''s wrong where I''m concerned either!" I smiled. "I''ll have to stop by later. Is there anything I can help with here?" He shook his head. "This was the last of it. Nothing left to do but march out at dawn unless I miss my guess." "I see¡­" I mused and looked around me. While there were still plenty of people packing things away, they seemed like personal packs and bags. Not really the types of things you wanted strangers messing with more than needed. There really didn''t seem to be much left to do than start walking. "Well if you''re set I won''t get in the way." I said. "So anyway, how does the army feel about another large battle on the horizon?" Fredric''s smile fell away and he pulled me by the arm to a place where no one would causally overhear us. "Don''t want this spreading further than us." he explained his action. "But honestly morale is pretty low. Thank the gods you came back when you did or it would be even worse." "That bad?" I asked, surprised. Everything had seemed tense to me, but nowhere near like what Fredric was describing. "I thought it would be better considering how the last battle went." "If we were marching normally, maybe. But we are rushing. Nasuada may not announce it to the masses, but it is obvious the Empire caught her unaware." The weaponmaster said grimly. "How does not really matter right now but for the second battle in a row, the Varden are scrambling to the battlefield like we have the dogs nipping at our heels and this time we have no Dragon Rider to put our hopes in." He looked off into the crowd. "Most of the common warriors think this is going to be another desperate last stand." "...not a lot of faith in me, huh?" I tried joking but it fell fairly flat. I had no idea that morale was that low. Was it because of something Nasuada or one of the others in command shared? Or worse, was it because of something they didn''t share and now rumors were taking a life of their own? Fredric was polite enough to laugh anyway. "Just the opposite actually. You''re the reason we don''t have deserters by the dozens." He said, confusing me. How could people have faith in me but morale be terrible? "Most of the soldiers think this is going to be a hard, disorganized, mess of a battle but not many of them think we will lose." Fredric smiled. "We have the Lightbringer on our side afterall. Just need to last long enough for you to win the battle for us." I gave him a friendly grin and made my excuses to leave, all while ignoring the slightly ill feeling in my stomach from the reminder that most of the Varden was counting on me to slaughter hundreds of Empire soldiers in the next few days. I didn''t really consider myself shy about killing, but it felt different when it was a duel or personal fight and not me simply erasing scores of faceless soldiers that stood about as much a chance of killing me as an army of ducks. Theoretically possible. Extremely unlikely. -o- "Well, there''s certainly a lot of them." I commented as I watched the Empire''s army march ever closer over the Burning Plains. I guess it was the movie-goer in me, but I couldn''t help but notice how¡­disorganized¡­the enemy army was. That wasn''t to say the Varden was any better, but some part of me expected the evil empire to have either hordes of slavering monsters or orderly lines of faceless soldiers. The Urgals had filled the role for the first type well enough, but the army in front of us wasn''t much more disciplined than the Varden. "...yes, there are." Nasuada agreed bitterly, still upset her intelligence groups were fooled and that there was no indication that Eragon had gotten their message. I had no intention of telling her not to worry and that the Rider would be here in time. I had no desire to add prophet to my list of titles. "We will have to make do without him." Arya stated simply when Nasuada mentioned the missing Rider out loud. "We could ponder over ''what ifs'' all we wish to later, but that won''t help us deal with the situation now." "Very well, let us make use of what time remains." The Varden leader nodded. "I suppose we should try delaying the start of the battle as much as possible. The Empire''s supply train has to stretch much farther than our own. The longer we can draw things out the better for us. It will also give Hrothgar''s army time to arrive." "Any word on where they are?" I questioned. Nasuada had Arya reach out to the Dwarves the same day she messaged the elves. Unlike with Ellesm¨¦ra, the response and confirmation that the dwarves would march to the battle came barely a day later. The timing didn''t quite work out and they wouldn''t get here for another five days or so, but the promise of reinforcements was still welcomed. "None so far." Nasuada sighed. "I''d like it if we could put off the start of the battle until their arrival, but much of that relies on Galbatorix''s army deciding to wait. "Well, they won''t attack today." I pointed out. Between setting up their own camps and the fatigue of the march, the Empire would be idiots to attack now. No matter how much they outnumbered us. "True enough. I''m sure both of you have things you want to do during the wait. I''ll dispatch a messenger if I need either of you." With that dismissal I made my way towards my personal tent/temporary workshop. There were a few nasty toys I was putting the finishing touches on¡­ Rider 2.15 ¡°I see it¡¯s going to be one of those battles then.¡± I scowled as I watched the Empire¡¯s messenger flee back to his own camp. Probably for the best considering he had just come here to scream about how we would either surrender or die. ¡°Bastards.¡± Nasuada cursed. ¡°As much as I would like to suggest we send some riders to kill the cretin, it would most likely signal the start of the battle.¡± J?rmundur said stoically, even if he was trying to kill the messenger himself with his glare. ¡°We need more time. For either our defenses, reinforcements, or our message to reach Eragon.¡± ¡°So they just get away with it.¡± ¡°I could snipe him if it makes you feel better.¡± I offered, though Nasuada immediately shook her head. ¡°No, as much as I would like to, J?rmundur is right. We need to stall as much as possible. I¡¯ll have to send my own messenger with a response. Maybe we can at least come to terms regarding individual surrenders or prisoners.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± I might have let the guy go but in my mind I decided that when the battle did start I was opening up with a Nova Blast. If the Empire wanted to try demoralizing us by going on a tirade about how justified they were to slaughter every man and woman in the Varden for not licking Galbatorix¡¯s boot, let''s see how they feel when their secret dragon rider takes a siege spell to the face. Scaled back, of course. While Murtagh and his dragon Thorn were our enemies, it was mostly because it was magically enforced slavery or death for them. I was hoping that I¡¯d recover enough to Trace Rule Breaker and nix that little issue, but no dice just yet. But it also wasn¡¯t far off. -o- Despite not really wanting to be in charge, I often found a stream of requests from the Healer¡¯s Guild that only I could handle making its way into my tent every morning. While some of it was just asking for my thoughts about some proposal or tweaked process, sometimes it was asking me for explanations of things I had just aped from existing systems. I found myself once again explaining the purpose of a tagging system to a healer that was definitely too soft to be doing triage on a major battlefield. ¡°You can¡¯t just not treat someone if they are injured! We are healers, we have a duty to uphold!¡± The man seethed after my explanation of the system. ¡°And I understand that.¡± I said calmly. ¡°But time is critical during a battle. You cannot spend an hour treating someone near guaranteed to die from their injuries if that means five others bleed out from lesser wounds.¡± I held up a hand expecting another outburst. ¡°I¡¯m not saying just leave them to suffer. But if a man comes in with a cut on his arm and a man comes in with an arrow to the gut, you better treat the arm injury first so he can either rejoin the fight or get out of the medic area.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That is barbaric.¡± I shrugged. ¡°That is war.¡± Not that I disagreed with him. Before either of us could say something else one of the assistants Leona had lent me since she was too busy running the rest of the guild pushed her way into the tent. ¡°Pardon the interruption, but I thought you¡¯d like to know that Eragon Shadeslayer has just arrived.¡± Oh, well I guess that means things are going to get busy soon. -o- I sighed and let my head fall into my hands. Nasuada why do you do this to me? Is it revenge for the Healer¡¯s Guild thing? Leaders aren¡¯t supposed to spring meetings with groups of people that had recently tried to kill them and their followers on people. Especially when some of the people requested ¨C namely me ¨C are responsible for killing hundreds of them and they might have a grudge. A group of Urgals that had apparently survived the battle of Farthun D?r had been spotted nearby flying a truce flag and wanting to speak with her. And she had agreed without consulting anyone. That was probably going to piss King Orrin off if nothing else. Which meant he would be a pain in the ass for a while. Eragon had thrown away his ¡®wise Rider¡¯ persona he had been affecting after his transformation and was asking to be allowed to slaughter them all, and J?rmundur was trying to convince Nasuada to let him. The main one advocating for not burning the group of Urgals to death with dragon fire was ironically the Dragon. Despite being less than five, Saphira once again proved to be the more level headed of the pair. I had to admit, I respected the sheer amount of courage the Urgal representative had walking into the Varden camp alone, the discipline he had to not react to the various insults and accusations hurled at him by the soldiers, and the balls to greet Nasuada with the traditional method of screaming as loud as possible at her and not stopping even when a small forest of spears and other weapons were pointed at him in retaliation. ¡°What is this?¡± The Urgal grunted after his roar finished, seemingly unbothered by the weapons pointed at him. ¡°I was promised safe passage. Does the Varden break its word so easily?¡± Well, if everyone wasn¡¯t pissed off having an Urgal around they weren¡¯t allowed to kill, that certainly did it. Thankfully, despite obviously wanting to do nothing more than behead the representative, Eragon did explain the roar was how they showed respect and what the normal response was, though he advised against it ¨C I agreed. Headbutting the guy with a neck as thick as my waist and massive ram horns curling out the sides of his head sounded like a bad idea ¨C and the rest of the meeting went¡­not catastrophically bad at least until the end. Nar Garzhvog, the Urgal representative, laid out some fairly simple demands for an alliance. They would fight for the Varden as long as they got two things. Enough land for their people to grow and expand once the war was over with, and the blood of Galbatorix. Simple enough, right? Of course not. Urgals were a lot like orcs. They were crude, violent, and more than willing to kill you and take your stuff. No one wanted to give them room to get stronger, but Nasuada agreed anyway. Hard to be picky about allies when you¡¯re facing an army four times the size of your own. And then King Orrin crashed the meeting, furious that Nasuada hadn¡¯t felt the need to inform him of our little meeting. Before he could say much though, he was interrupted by a shout from the sentries. ¡°A horseman from the Empire approaches!¡± That stopped the imminent argument from really getting started as we all rushed to make sure we reached the vanguard before any message was delivered. I arrived at the front fortifications just in time to see the messenger stop far enough from our lines he was theoretically safe from being killed but close enough to be heard. ¡°By refusing King Galbatorix¡¯s generous terms of surrender, you choose death as your fate.¡± He shouted for all to hear. ¡°No more shall we negotiate. The hand of friendship has turned into the fist of war! If any of you still hold regard for your rightful sovereign, the all-knowing, all-powerful King Galbatorix, then flee! None may stand before us once we set forth to cleanse Alaga?sia of every miscreant, traitor, and subversive. And though it pains our lord ¨C for he knows that most of these rebellious acts are instigated by bitter and misguided leaders ¨C we shall gently chastise the unlawful territory known as Surda and return it to the benevolent rule of King Galbatorix, he who sacrifices himself day and night for the good of his people. So flee, I say, or suffer the doom of your herald.¡± With that the messenger removed a severed head from a sack and threw it before turning his horse and fleeing as fast as possible back towards the Empire lines. He didn¡¯t make it far though. In a surge of blue scales, Saphira pulled herself halfway up one of the erected ramparts and let out an ear-splitting roar. One so loud that the messenger¡¯s horse panicked and threw its rider to the ground just in time for one of the vents dotting the plains to erupt in flame. The unlucky man gave one final scream of pain and then laid still. I studied the body for a second before turning and walking back to my tent. This was the final straw for both sides. The battle would probably begin tomorrow. And I had a lot to do¡­ Rider 2.16 I sighed as I made my way up the rampart, hating every second I was out of the bounded field I had set up to filter out certain sounds from the Varden camp. The sounds of many poisoned Empire soldiers for example. I mean, I got it. We were incredibly outnumbered and any dirty trick was preferable to dying in a fair fight. It was why I had given Angela a few mystic codes that would help her sneak around unnoticed. Why I hadn''t spoken out against her when she brought the idea to Nasuada. It didn''t make the screams any more pleasant. I made a mental note to check in with Angela when I had a chance. Despite her normal rather irreverent attitude, she wasn''t the type of person to be unaffected by this much suffering. Not if she chose to be a herbalist. That her profession was twisted to this extent was probably taking a toll on her. Especially since not many were going to thank her for giving the Varden an edge. That would have to wait until later though. The Empire was expected to attack at dawn, which was only a short time away, and I had been assigned a spot pretty far from where the witch, Nasuada, Eragon, or Arya had decided on. A tactic to make sure a desperate attack wouldn''t target incapacitate all of us at once. So I didn''t have time to wander around looking for Angela to have a chat. As the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon I looked around at the men and women that were about to go into battle with me. Unsurprisingly a few of them seem nervous about what''s about to happen, but fewer than I expected. So morale was good but it could be better. And I remembered the promise I made to myself the other day about opening the battle with a bombardment spell. ¡­hm, no sign of Murtaugh and Thorn but I wasn''t sure exactly when they showed up to the battle anyway. Guess I just needed to target the army instead. ''My body is made of stars.'' There were a few cries of surprise as my mana surged and a spell circle appeared in front of me, the arcane symbols slowly rotating and changing as I made the calculations needed. Across the plains, the Empire''s soldiers began moving and the Varden prepared to meet them. The time for doubts, thinking, and waiting around was over. Now it was time to show the Empire they never should have come here. "Nova Blast!" -o- "Die, you damn witch!" The last Empire soldier that managed to break through the defensive screen in front of me screamed while trying to stab me with a spear. I calmly put an arrow through his heart and returned to searching for the magician that had redoubled his attempts at attacking my mind/soul. Opening the battle with a bombardment spell did exactly what I was expecting for both armies'' morale, but did come with the downside that I was now a high priority target for enemy magicians again. Several of them were scratching at my mental defenses or casting spells at me in a desperate attempt to wear me down, but unfortunately for them my defenses worked differently than anything they had encountered. My conscious thoughts and soul were hidden behind the incredibly territorial and vicious H¨­gyoku that absolutely refused to let anything past a certain point so while Galbatorix''s mages could launch all the probes they wanted, they couldn''t do more damage than a metaphorical scratch. And my physical defenses weren''t any less complete either. The Knight Armor spell made affecting my body directly with external magic nearly impossible unless I allowed it or they broke through and it became clear pretty quickly none of the mages Galbatorix sent were all that powerful. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. That left physical assault. And the Empire was doing their best to not give me the time or space to do another Nova Blast by constantly sending troops at me. I had also been ordered by Nasuada to not repeat my shower of explosive swords trick just yet because everything was pointing to this battle being a marathon rather than a sprint. The Varden needed me in the fight as long as possible, not ducking out because I exhausted myself. And it was a good thing she did, because unlike the battle in Farthun D?r this was less about getting slowly rolled over by giant rampaging barbarians and more about the two armies trying to grind each other to paste. Sure, both sides had tactics to break through the lines and end the battle if left unchecked like the Varden''s calvary and Eragon sortieing out to deal with a few ranks of soldiers or the catapults used by the Empire for a while before they were destroyed, but for the most part it was just hours and hours of killing that got neither side anywhere fast. Yet the Empire still refused to send the trump card I knew they had hiding somewhere forward. "The Dwarves! The Dwarves are here!" A loud trumpet and cries from the east side of the battle broke out over the sounds of battle and I immediately began preparing a Nova Blast and searching the skies over the Empire''s soldiers. This had to be the thing that forced their own Rider out into the open, right? But there was nothing¡­ The only dragon I spotted was Saphira flying west for some reason. Did I somehow change Murtagh being chosen as a Rider? That didn''t seem likely. I barely talked to him, let alone doing something that would cause an impact large enough to make him incompatible with his unhatched dragon. Maybe Galbatorix didn''t like his chances facing off against both me and Eragon? While I''m sure the mad king had little care about his new Rider personally, it would be a blow to his reputation if he deployed Murtagh only for him to get taken out in his first battle. Still, without the red dragon making an appearance that meant I had a siege spell ready with no target. ¡­well, it would be a waste to not use it I guess. I picked out one particularly unlucky magician in the empire''s ranks and unleashed a burning yellow beam of death. The Varden took up another cheer as their enemy''s morale took another hit and I went back to hunting more magicians. -o- Despite trying to pace myself, as the day went on I could feel the strain of battle setting in from all kinds of things. Multiple Nova Blasts, the constant assaults from enemy soldiers, and some emergency frontline healing just to name a few. And by the time late afternoon rolled around I was eventually forced to take breaks to catch my breath. It bothered me to stop fighting, especially since casualties went up a lot during my absences, but it was during those breaks that I finally got a clear picture on how the rest of the battle was going. Hrothgar did actually arrive with an army of dwarves and was really pounding the eastern front and it turns out that the reason Saphira went flying the other way was because of a ship coming up the river to the west. A ship that just happened to be carrying Eragon''s cousin because of course it was. I had to admit I hadn''t really thought about Roran much since he didn''t really affect my goals. Hell, I barely thought about him now beyond demanding someone to keep an eye on the ship and inform me immediately if it looked like they were going to be attacked and overrun. The last thing we needed was Eragon''s only family being kidnapped on top of everything. But while the ship was doing a good job of demoralizing the Empire soldiers on the western front, it wasn''t really more than a nuisance. Its weaponry more suited for ship combat than attacking an army. Hopefully the Empire commanders wouldn''t¨C My train of thought was quickly derailed by the sound of drums from the Empire camp. I dropped what I was doing and shoved my way back to the ramparts just in time to see the shape of a flying dragon lift over the horizon. While I desperately tried making the calculations needed for a Nova Blast I watched as the Rider flew closer and closer through the heat haze shimmering in the air. Man I really wished I had a proper device. This charge time was way too inconvenient. I''d have to put finding a place with the proper tools to make one higher on my priorities list. I pushed aside those useless thoughts as the new Rider flew directly towards our eastern flank. It was a race between my casting speed and the flying Dragon and it was going to be incredibly close. The Rider who could really only be Murtaugh raised a hand at the Dwarven army in preparation to cast a spell just as my own finished a second beforehand. A cheer went up as the red dragon was swallowed by yellow light, but I could tell from the way my spell was splintering where it hit that the Rider had figured out how to protect himself from my attack. That didn''t mean he was unharmed though. The cheers redoubled when a wobbly and scorched dragon emerged from the light and veered away from the army. Those cheers were silenced when a second dragon appeared from apparently nowhere and cast a spell that struck the dwarven king, killing him almost instantly. The heat haze! That wasn''t a mirage caused by the setting sun, it was a camouflage spell to warp light around the caster! How did the Rider pull that off?! Optical camouflage shouldn''t have been a thing here let alone understood enough to do without needing enough power to drain hundreds of magicians dry in an instant! For the third time in under an hour, I had to cut off my train of thought as the new unknown Rider turned and started flying directly at me this time. I briefly entertained the thought of charging another Nova Blast since the last one had at least hurt one Dragon Rider, but abandoned the idea pretty quick. There wasn''t enough time. "Evacuate the area." I ordered a nearby captain, never taking my eyes off the dragon heading my way. "Send a runner to Nasuada and let her know I''ll do my best to deal with this one. Have anyone she can reinforce Eragon in dealing with the other." "Lady Lightbringer, we can still assist you here." the captain protested. Brave of him, since I gave him a perfect excuse to not be in the path of an angry dragon, but pointless because regular soldiers were just going to be slaughtered or get in the way. "Get going, captain. We don''t have time to discuss this." "My Lady¡­" He tried again but I just snapped at him to get moving and started shooting arrows at the incoming dragon. They simply bounced off the enemy''s wards but every little bit helped. If only I could use G¨¢e Dearg¡­ But I couldn''t, so I Traced Kanshou and Bakuya instead and prepared myself for the initial confrontation. The dark red dragon crashed to the ground mere feet from me and then my vision was filled with nothing but red scales and flashing teeth and claws. Rider 2.17 I let out a pained gasp as my back slammed into the dry rock of one of the plateaus dotting the Burning Plains. But I had no time to just lay there. I pushed myself to the side just before the giant red dragon landed on my previous location and hurled Kanshou at the lizard¡¯s head. The enemy Rider simply deflected it with a quick spell and parried Bakuya with his sword at the same time. I scowled at that but didn¡¯t waste time thinking about how easily he blocked my attacks. We had already had similar exchanges a few times now after this new Rider decided I was going to be his primary target. Getting grabbed by a forty foot flying gecko and having an improvised fight midair had only been the start. I looked at the dragon¡¯s bloody forelimb where my swords had sliced through its scales. At least I was giving as good as I got. Or at least I was until I saw the wound stitch itself back together before my eyes. ¡°Really? It¡¯s already two on one and one of those is a fire breathing iguana, but you¡¯re not even letting me have a few scratches?¡± I complained. ¡°I know you¡¯re an evil bastard and all but there should be limits.¡± ¡°Heh, heh.¡± The armored figure laughed darkly. ¡°You¡¯re probably the only one that would understand this, so, get good noob.¡± My jaw practically hit the floor. ¡°No fucking way¡­¡± ¡°Surprised? What, did you think you were the only one special enough to get a second chance?¡± The Rider mocked before his voice turned bitter. ¡°Cause I fucking did, but nooo, can¡¯t even have this fucking thing for myself. Instead I get to share this shitty world with a dumbass that went the rebel option and their asspulls, because of fucking course she did, instead of being smart and picking the Empire. Tell me did Eragon tell you about the giant golden surprise he¡¯s been hiding from everyone or did you already know about it?¡± Despite being a much rougher society in general most of the people here rarely cursed casually, so the sudden onslaught of swearing actually threw me for a second. Then my brain caught up to what he actually said. He was a reincarnate?! He fucking knew about OROMIS?! HE CHOSE TO JOIN GALBATORIX?! ¡°Sounding pretty judgmental for the guy that ran off to join a mad king.¡± I shot back, mostly to keep him talking while I processed that. ¡°Old Galby?¡± The Rider scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, the guy is batshit crazy but the thing is, he knows it. That¡¯s why we made a promise; I follow his orders until everything is under his banner and then I¡¯m in charge. We¡¯re gonna Empire of Man the shit out of this world!¡± ¡°Oh, how wonderful. Now I definitely want the genocidal madman to win.¡± I said dryly. ¡°I totally want to swap sides, Horus.¡± ¡°Shut up, bitch. I meant the Fantasy game, not that 30K shit.¡± Because the fantasy evil German empire that killed anyone they felt was different or dangerous without restraint, oppressed their citizens for everything they were worth, and were just assholes in general was SO much better than the Sci-Fi evil German empire that killed anyone they felt was different or dangerous without restraint, oppressed their citizens for everything they were worth, and were just assholes in general. ¡°And what does your friend there think of working for the guy who killed most of his race?¡± I shifted gears and directed my question to his dragon. ¡°Who gives a shit what it thinks? It¡¯s just a mount.¡± And if that didn¡¯t tell me everything I needed to know about this bastard, I don¡¯t know what would. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Even from what little interaction I had with Eragon and Saphira it was obvious one would defend the other to the death if that¡¯s what it took. Yet this guy considered what should be a soul-bound partner as an object for transportation. I don¡¯t even think he cared about the dragon as an animal let alone a sentient creature. ¡°Anyway,¡± The bastard continued. ¡°I wanted to kill you quick so I could go catch that blue dragon but that¡¯s not happening. Any chance you really do want to swap sides? If you help with the dragon I¡¯ll even put in a good word for you. Maybe get Galby to let you learn actual magic instead of whatever slow ass shit you¡¯re trying to use. You¡¯ll need to teach me the sword trick first though. That¡¯s pretty badass.¡± Even if I wanted to pick up an apprentice, it¡¯d be a cold day in hell before I taught this psycho anything. ¡°Not happening, jackass.¡± ¡°What, you one of those ¡®power of friendship¡¯ losers too?¡± The bastard sneered. ¡°Hate to break it to you blondie, but you¡¯re in the wrong genre for that. You think everything will just work out if you can beat the big bad guy? That¡¯s stupid. Yeah I liked picking that option in games too but in real life the ones with the most power decide how things are run. And guess what? That isn¡¯t your little club of rejects.¡± I narrowed my eyes at him and projected another pair of swords. ¡°Well I guess we have nothing left to talk about then.¡± The Rider sighed explosively and slammed his free hand down on the back of his dragon, who twitched under the impact and almost looked back at him before continuing to stare at me. ¡°Fucking stupid-, no. I don¡¯t give a fuck. You should just drop dead.¡± I felt the spell slam into my defenses and thankfully stall out. I hadn¡¯t been able to specifically test them against those types of spells but it looked like he would need to completely overwhelm me magically before he could directly influence my body. ¡°Tch, of course it wasn¡¯t that easy.¡± I ignored his complaint and hurled my swords at him. Then quickly projected a second set and threw those too. A third set fell into my hands as I rushed forward, doing my best to avoid the Dragon¡¯s mouth, because teeth, and trying to find a way to unseat the Rider. While the bastard was distracted by the blades arcing around him I slid under a bite that would have torn me in half and slashed at the dragon¡¯s exposed neck. Sparks exploded as the blades skittered over both the bastard¡¯s wards and the dark red scales but this time they failed to cut through. Bastard probably added something after I cut through them last time while we were talking. Even if the edges didn¡¯t do damage, the dragon couldn¡¯t ignore the pressure of two metal objects attacking such a vulnerable spot. It reared back - and I could hear the bastard curse at the sudden movement - but more importantly, I had an almost completely open shot at its chest. Some distant corner of my mind complained that this would be the perfect time for me to Trace an anti-dragon weapon but I still hadn¡¯t worked my way back up to Noble Phantasms besides Kanshou and Bakuya, and if they were having issues a normal weapon would be even worse. That didn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t have options. In an instant I sorted through the limited number of Zanpakuto I had added to my arsenal and selected the one I wanted. I threw my twin swords away once more and grabbed the tan handle of the segmented spear. H¨­zukimaru shot forward taking advantage of a key feature most of the other Zanpakuto I had lacked. Reach. The speartip just barely missed a flailing forelimb where the dragon expected me to try and get closer and stabbed the giant lizard at the base of the neck. Once again sparkes jumped from the point where magic and scale fought to resist sharp metal but this time I was using something specifically designed to cut through souls. It could slip through a general defensive ward with enough effort. A roar of pain almost deafened me as H¨­zukimaru stabbed deeply into the dragon. Too bad I could instantly tell it was mostly a flesh wound. Between the wards and scales my attack shifted up enough that I stabbed mostly into the shoulder, cutting through enough muscle flying would be a challenge but not something that would kill. It did distract the bastard enough for me to knock him out of the saddle though. I hadn¡¯t just randomly thrown my last pair of Kanshou and Bakuya away. I had arced them in a way I¡¯d hoped meant I would get a cheap shot in. If I was actually up to EMIYA¡¯s level I might have been able to say I planned it, but it was mostly luck that the two swords came anywhere close to hitting the bastard of a Rider. That one of them sliced through the leather straps securing his legs in place while the other smashed into his armor was nothing less than a miracle. Once again the glancing attacks failed to actually hurt anything through his defenses but between his dragon shifting in pain, one leg slipping its restraint, and getting smacked with a sword, the Bastard wasn¡¯t staying in the saddle. He was quick enough to cut his second leg free before he was shaken like a ragdoll though, unfortunately. And going by how quickly he stood up, he wasn¡¯t exactly hurt by the experience either. Still, he was off the dragon and now I was facing two opponents rather than one combined one. ¡­Why did I think separating them was a good idea again? Right, I didn¡¯t want the bastard to just fly around out of reach throwing spells at me. ¡°Tsk, you think I don¡¯t know what your fucking plan is?! Huh, bitch?! Nice try, but it won¡¯t be that easy!¡± The bastard screamed at me and charged. At the same time a dust cloud suddenly kicked up between me and the dragon, obscuring it nearly entirely. Obviously he didn¡¯t want me getting close enough to do more damage to his ¡®mount¡¯. Which was a shame because killing or crippling the poor creature would have made the rest of this fight much easier. I decided to burn one of my trump cards. Without modern machining equipment, replacing my spell pistols was almost impossible so I had been limiting any potential use as long as I had another option. I hadn¡¯t planned on using one today, but why have them if you don¡¯t use them when fighting a dragon? The small silver device cleared the holster, I aimed, fired, and had to quickly parry a sword thrust as Bastard finally got in range. But that didn¡¯t stop the yellow beam that lanced through the cloud of dust and slammed into the dragon¡¯s side even as it tried to retreat. It didn¡¯t do as much as I hoped. It didn¡¯t burn straight through the wards protecting the dark red dragon or blast a chunk out of it, but it did hit the giant lizard with the force of a runaway train and throw the creature skidding off the side of the plateau. Probably wouldn¡¯t seriously harm it, considering the amount of protections it had and that despite everything else it was a dragon, but with the earlier damage, it wouldn''t be making its way back up here without either climbing or getting healed first. Either option gave me time to deal with the Bastard one-on-one. I slipped the burned out device back into its holster and turned to stare the Bastard fully in his face-concealing visor. Just you and me now, asshole. Rider 2.18 As much as I hated to admit it, the Bastard wasn¡¯t a terrible swordsman. He didn¡¯t try using his blade like it was a hammer to get through my guard, kept his feet moving, and maintained his distance. He had managed to avoid the trap of thinking supernatural strength and speed was the same as skill. Unfortunately for him, not terrible didn¡¯t really cut it with me. And I was used to fighting people faster, stronger, and more skilled than he. I ducked under a swing that would have taken my head off and lashed out. Kanshou bounced off his knee while Bakuya dragged along the side of his breastplate, his wards managing to stop the blades from cutting through. For now. A burning wall of fire made me back off a bit, but I could still see the rents starting to form in his armor. I was wearing down his protections, and his more liberal use of magic proved he didn¡¯t want me getting close if he could help it. Once he realized he couldn¡¯t target me directly he switched to more indirect methods of attack. Forming vacuums to suck the air from my lungs, trying to trap my feet in quicksand, using fireballs and other elemental attacks¡­he had quite a few tricks up his sleeve that would have been a nightmare for a local magician to deal with. It was a good thing I wasn¡¯t a local magician. My Knight Armor spell was able to keep up with the destructive attacks, Air Walk was fine for ignoring him changing the terrain now that I had fixed it, and the fact I was just fast enough to close the distance no matter what he did covered for a lot of the rest. He was firmly on the defensive. Something that obviously pissed him off a lot. ¡°I HAVE THE POWER OF DRAGONS AT MY FINGERTIPS!¡± He roared as he bolted me with more magic attacks. ¡°HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!¡± ¡°Fuck you, that¡¯s how!¡± Yes, it was childish. But I was pissed and not feeling particularly eloquent at the moment. My twin swords cut through the air as I threw them at my opponent. He managed to redirect one with a spell and block the other with a frantic wave of his sword, but all that did was buy me enough time to project my bow and a modified magic sword arrow. There was a sharp crack as the metal shaft lept of the string followed by three more as I rapidly shot off more of them. The Bastard flinched as his wards saved him from impalement once again. He waved a hand and I lost him behind a dust cloud. More arrows pierced the cloud but I had no idea if they hit or not. Time to change that. The bow faded into particles of light and a sword fell into my hand. Wind enchantment. It wasn¡¯t a Noble Phantasm so even pushing enough mana into it that it nearly broke didn¡¯t produce more than a heavy gust of wind, but that was more than enough to clear away the dust. Bastard snarled and shoved himself back to his feet. He was losing. Both of us knew it. But that didn¡¯t make me relax at all, because all that meant was he would be getting desperate. And desperate people did unpredictable things. Like summoning three glowing orbs and forcing them into a pile of rocks. Holy shit were those spirits? As I watched the rocks shift into a vaguely snakelike shape my thoughts were racing. Spirits weren¡¯t something I knew a whole lot about. The elves tended to ignore them in general and the only member of the Varden that used them with any skill was Trianna and I never talked to her about them. The most I knew was that if you lost control they might take over your body and create a Shade, killing the summoner and leaving behind a malicious creature puppeting their body that could only be killed by stabbing it in the heart. No one ever told me how to kill a rock-snake. ¡°Kill her!¡± The thing lunged forward and I cursed. No time to think of a plan. I would just have to avoid it if I couldn¡¯t hurt it and see if taking out the summoner made the spirits go away. Stolen story; please report. I dismissed the enchanted sword and traced Kanshou and Bakuya. Those two would deal with slicing through rock much better than the simple steel, enchantment or not. Something I proved by carving two deep grooves in its rocky body when I dodged its charge. I don¡¯t think it even noticed. The snake turned to charge again and I crouched in response, only to fling myself to the side when I saw movement from the side which turned out to be Bastard firing off more spells now that I wasn¡¯t getting close. And when I turned to focus on him, the snake charged again only for the pattern to repeat again and again. It didn¡¯t take long to understand what he was doing. He wanted to turn this into a stamina game. Wear me down piece by piece by relying on magic and his summons. Not a bad plan considering I had been fighting all day while he was waiting around in the back. But it was a plan I wasn¡¯t going to comply with. ¡°Trace: Overedge.¡± My blades lengthened and warped and this time I charged the snake. Swords flashed and easily cut through rock and once again didn¡¯t seem to inconvenience the thing more than a moment but that was enough for me to slip past it. With nothing between me and Bastard my bow made another appearance, something a little more impressive than enchanted swords ready to use as ammunition. A part of me noticed the snake rearing up to body slam me from behind. Another part twisted the swords I had left embedded in its body just a tiny bit more. *BOOOOM!!!* Kanshou and Bakuya exploded with enough force to rip the rock-snake in half. Something I only half paid attention to as I took aim. Of course Bastard wasn¡¯t going to sit there and do nothing. Whether by luck or skill he brought his sword up to block just as I released the string and managed to deflect the ¡®arrow¡¯ from hitting him in the heart by the narrowest of margins. ¡°GAH! YOU BITCH!¡± The narrowest of margins wasn¡¯t enough to prevent the modified Benihime from piercing through his wards, armor, and then going clean through his shoulder. Nice to confirm Zanpakuto cutting through his wards wasn¡¯t a fluke. Too bad they were so mana expensive to make and I didn¡¯t have much to spare at the moment. Kanshou and Bakuya did slightly less damage for only a fraction of the cost. I needed to wrap this up. No more feeling him out. Bastard obviously didn¡¯t like the look I was giving him but to my surprise instead of using a spell to keep me away from him, he shot three glowing orbs into the sky. Not more spirits, that much I could tell, but some kind of signal? Whatever it was, I couldn¡¯t stand around anymore. I dashed forward, both dodging the rock-snake once more and closing the distance between me and the Bastard. He started cursing me out but I wasn¡¯t really paying the words much attention. I was more interested in hacking him to pieces. My black and white swords might not be able to cut through his defenses as easily as a literal Soul Cutter, but since the Bastard only had one arm to defend himself they didn¡¯t have to. ¡°When I get my hands on you, I¡¯ll make you wish I had just killed you!¡± Bastard screamed as I made another gash in his armor. This one went deep enough to draw blood too. Maybe that was what caused his next mistake, his injuries piling up, or even just blood loss, either way he overextended his next thrust and I punished him severely for it. I swayed out of the way of his sword and brought one of mine up on his wrist. Bone cracked and metal bent, but I failed to make a cut. At least I did until my second sword scissored down less than a tenth of a second later and lopped his hand off. ¡°Well, I guess I only have to worry about you getting one hand on me.¡± I quipped, kicking his sword away and preparing to take off his head. ¡°Ah, I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t do that.¡± That was all the warning I got before a wall of wind and pressure washed over me and another red dragon landed nearby. Its Rider on its back. Unlike Bastard, this one had removed his helmet at some point and not only had a steel longsword sheathed at his hip, but also carried a familiar red blade in his hand. Eragon¡¯s sword. Guess it wasn¡¯t his anymore. ¡°Hello, Murtagh.¡± I said simply, though I did shift so my swords pressed up against Bastard¡¯s neck. One swift tug would be enough to take his head off. ¡°Alexandria.¡± He nodded back. ¡°You don¡¯t seem surprised to see me. I suppose you heard from Eragon?¡± ¡°No actually. I just figured the Twins were traitors when neither their or your body were left behind. The Urgals certainly wouldn¡¯t have needed captives for anything.¡± Is what I told him, since he probably wouldn¡¯t believe the real reason. Though depending on Bastard maybe he would¡­ I put the thought aside for later. ¡°I figured we¡¯d see the both of you again eventually.¡± ¡°You will probably be pleased to know they are dead.¡± That was good to know, yes. I would need to find out how it happened later. ¡°But no outrage for me being on the Empire¡¯s side?¡± ¡°Unlike this one,¡± I tapped Bastard¡¯s cheek with a blade. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t go to the Empire willingly. Hard to get mad at someone for being made a slave.¡± Murtagh¡¯s dragon growled at my words but the Rider just laughed bitterly. ¡°You are not wrong, I suppose. Thorn and I never chose this.¡± He looked at Bastard. ¡°And Samuel! I¡¯m surprised. Weren¡¯t you telling us there was no one in the entire Varden who could defeat you? I had to abandon capturing Eragon thanks to your orders.¡± That must have been what the signal earlier was for. ¡°You would have tried letting him go anyway.¡± Bast-Samuel snarled weakly. ¡°Well we will never know now, now will we?¡± Personally I doubted Murtagh would have been given the option to try if the Bastar- Samuel, had been in better shape. That thought did bring me back to the current situation. ¡°Any particular reason why I shouldn¡¯t just kill him now?¡± ¡°That would force me to fight you. And while you don¡¯t look injured I would like to think you do not want to fight two Dragon Riders back to back after fighting all day if you can help it.¡± he frowned. Well, he was right about me not wanting to fight him being true. A quick check showed me I was down to somewhere around ten percent of my mana reserves. I could still fight, but a single mistake would be enough for me to lose. And Murtagh didn¡¯t seem all that winded either. ¡°Fine, but on one condition.¡± ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± Murtagh temporized. ¡°You take him, his dragon, and leave the battle.¡± I demanded. It would mean the Varden would have to deal with them later, but I couldn¡¯t worry about that for now. ¡°NO! I order you to kill¡­!¡± Bastard tried, but he was too late. A yellow spell circle formed around his head as I finished the calculations and he slumped forward. I had to move my blades so he didn¡¯t slice his own neck open but other than that I just allowed him to fall face first onto the dirt. ¡°What did you do to him?¡± Murtagh asked tersely, readying himself to attack. I waved him off. ¡°Sleeping curse. Unfortunately it will wear off on its own in a few days. Enough time for you to leave.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± He relaxed and seemed to agree. ¡°I have already said as much to Eragon, but try not to allow our paths to cross again. Galbatorix will surely make us swear more oaths to avoid us letting you go without a fight again.¡± Murtagh reached out and grabbed the unconscious form of his fellow Rider with magic and floated him to him. He quickly sealed the worst of Samuel¡¯s injuries before securing him to his saddle. Once that was done, he nudged Thorn forward towards the plateau¡¯s edge. I watched him like a hawk the whole time. ¡°One more thing.¡± He said with their backs facing me. ¡°Take care of Eragon for me. I don¡¯t want to see my younger brother wind up like us.¡± And then Thorn was flying off into the distance, the other dragon eventually appearing and following after them. Oh yeah, that was a thing wasn¡¯t it? I sighed at the ¡®revelation¡¯. That was going to be something to deal with later. Things weren¡¯t that bad though. Down on the plains below me, the Varden was routing the Empire¡¯s soldiers, I could now see Eragon and Saphira moving on another plateau, and Murtagh had very ¡®conveniently¡¯ left Samuel¡¯s sword behind. Which meant I finally had some of the materials needed to repair the Horizon. There was just one problem. ¡°How the fuck am I going to get down from here?¡± Rider 2.19 A ragged cheer echoed across the front line once I finally made my way back to the Varden¡¯s lines. Getting off the plateau with my mana levels critically low had been a bit dicey, and wandering through the aftermath of the battle had me constantly looking at the dead and dying ¨C I had to in order to not trip over them or step on a sword or something ¨C so it was nice to come back to something positive and know I was appreciated. Even if it was more because I was more a symbol to these soldiers rather than that they were happy to see me unharmed specifically. That happy feeling was swiftly kicked aside when one of Leona¡¯s guild members rushed up to me, basically dumped command of the nearby triage center on me, and then ran off to assist the wounded before I could say more than a greeting. If I hadn¡¯t just spent an entire day fighting, been dragged off to fight an enemy Dragon Rider, and then been forced to walk all the way back to friendly territory I wouldn¡¯t have minded too much since I was somehow the top medical expert around despite not really knowing more than some modern basics, but at the moment I had done all those things. I wanted to take a break, dammit! But, it was kinda hard to tell the guy missing a hand to look for someone else because I needed a nap. So instead I forced my fatigue aside as best I could and started categorizing everyone that entered the triage station. Even if I was going to keep working, I realized I had neither the energy or focus to do the actual medical work right now and someone had to keep the other healers from focusing on every little scratch. I mean, I got it. They wanted to make sure everyone got healing. Unfortunately, our resources were limited and even supported by my mystic codes we couldn¡¯t focus on every person that came to us. Thankfully the bastardized tagging system I introduced had done a great job of stretching those resources as far as possible. Green tags were for anyone that could move on their own or would be fine without a healer stepping in. They would have to move on to the healing station a bit further back for assistance. Yellow was for anyone that needed at least some intervention from the healers before they could be moved which included the guy with the missing hand. The most we could do for him was slap a tourniquet on his arm, stop the bleeding, and send him on his way. Maybe one of the healers further back would be able to reattach his hand if he was lucky. And last were the Red tags. Those were the ones that absolutely needed help or they would die and/or couldn¡¯t be easily moved. Those were the ones the forward triage stations would focus on, either fixing the wounded when possible or stabilizing them for a trip back to a more established field hospital. Technically there was another tag ¨C Black ¨C for the ones too far gone to help but we didn¡¯t have any made. The last thing we wanted was to demoralize the healers we had by running out of black tags so the dead were simply moved to another area where they would be given their respective funeral rites later. The one silver lining of the battle was there were much fewer injuries the Healer¡¯s Guild couldn¡¯t deal with on their own or needed me for specifically. The Urgals fighting on our side this time meant there were much fewer shattered bones and bludgeoning injuries and the higher quality weapons meant fewer arrow shafts splintering inside of people and cleaner cuts. All things the healing codes could fix. So while the guild healers did that, I stayed back managing the new arrivals and occasionally stepping in for some more difficult cases. -o- In what was starting to become a worrying habit, I quickly lost track of how much time I spent absorbed in medical work. In fact I barely noticed when a lower ranking member of the Du Vrangr Gata pushed through the people surrounding me and practically sagged in relief. ¡°Lady Lightbringer, thank the gods you¡¯re safe. When we couldn¡¯t contact you we feared the worst¡­¡± I blinked slowly at the man while my exhausted brain struggled to process what he said. The Varden¡¯s magicians couldn¡¯t contact me? Then why didn¡¯t they just have Arya send me a message telepath¨C oh, my mental defenses were still fully up. Yeah that made sense. Without a clear idea of where to find me even Arya would have a hard time locating me, let alone sending me a message. Probably going to get yelled at for that later. ¡°Well you found me. I assume I¡¯m needed somewhere?¡± ¡°Yes, my Lady. Lady Nasuada requested anyone who managed to contact you to direct you to the command tent. Oh, but one more thing. Have you seen Shadeslayer or his dragon around anywhere?¡± The man rattled off. ¡°Can¡¯t say that I have. But some of the soldiers have mentioned seeing him wandering the battlefield healing the wounded.¡± I mentioned, cleaning my hands and letting a passing assistant know I would be leaving shortly. ¡°I¡¯d look for them there if you need them.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. He thanked me and rushed off while I headed off towards the command tent. Hopefully whatever Nasuada needed wouldn¡¯t take long. -o- I was mildly amused to see that either someone had found Eragon or the Rider had decided to make his way to the command tent before me. That by itself wouldn¡¯t have meant much, but thanks to his partner I found the entrance blocked by about five tons of blue dragon butt. ¡°Come on, you oversized lizard. Budge over and let me through.¡± I grunted as I sidled past a foreleg. Saphira grunted back but did actually shift her bulk enough for me to slip inside where I came face to face with Nasuada, Arya, Eragon, and a man I didn¡¯t recognize that was staring at me like I was insane. ¡°Alexandria, good you made it.¡± Nasuada greeted me with a nod. Neither she or Arya looked surprised to see me, so the messenger had probably told them I was on my way. ¡°Nasuada, Arya, Saphira, Eragon.¡± I nodded to each of them then refocused on Nasuada. ¡°You wanted to see me?¡± ¡°I did, we were just about to discuss the recent developments with the Empire having not one but two more Riders.¡± She said, ¡°But first, to complete the introductions. Eragon?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­Roran, this is Alexandria Cross, a magician of great power.¡± Eragon explained to the other man. ¡°And Alexandria, this is my cousin, Roran.¡± He introduced me as well while Roran bowed to me. ¡°Enough dawdling and jump to the meat of the matter!¡± Nasuada exclaimed after I returned my own greeting. ¡°Tell us about the Riders!¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Eragon sighed. ¡°As you know, after Galbatorix destroyed the Dragon Rider order he was only able to claim three dragon eggs for himself,¡± he began explaining for Roran¡¯s sake, as the only one of us here that didn¡¯t know the story of the Fall. ¡°The spells surrounding the eggs ensure that they can only hatch once their destined Rider is near so they sat unhatching for decades until a Varden raid led by Brom was able to capture one of them.¡± He looked pointedly at Saphira. ¡°Of course Galbatorix did not just leave the eggs undefended. Morzan, the last surviving member of the Forsworn, a group of Riders that assisted Galbatorix in his war against the Riders, was there protecting them. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about what happened ¨C Brom refused to tell me much ¨C but after a fierce battle he slew Morzan and escaped. Galbatorix was furious and summoned Morzan¡¯s son, Murtagh to begin training as a potential replacement for his father. Murtagh eventually realized the extent of the king¡¯s madness and escaped, choosing to oppose him in secret. Eventually he saved me from an ambush and assisted me in bringing Arya to the Varden, even joining in battle later on. But he was ambushed in the tunnels of Farthen D?r afterwards.¡± History lesson over Eragon went on to describe the battle with the first Rider and his dragon. ¡°As soon as he spun his sword around, I realized we had dueled before, so I threw myself at him and tore off his helm.¡± He eventually paused. ¡°It was Murtagh, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Nasuada asked quietly. ¡°How¡­?¡± ¡°If the Twins survived, it only made sense that Murtagh did as well.¡± She sighed. ¡°Did he tell you what really happened that day in Farthen D?r?¡± Eragon explained how the Twins betrayed the Varden, controlled the Urgals into faking their deaths, and kidnapped Murtagh. Nasuada sighed at the end of it and turned to Roran. ¡°It seems I am also personally in your debt for slaying the traitors who murdered my father.¡± I scowled at the revelation that the two of them were dead. I had been hoping to deal with them myself, but I suppose them being dealt with would just have to do. ¡°Murtagh said one more thing before he left but I would like to hear what happened with the other Rider first.¡± Eragon said nervously which got him several considering eyebrow raises. I had an idea of what he was talking about and he was right, talking about that now would just cause us to go off on a tangent. ¡°I guess I can tell you my observations.¡± I said a little flippantly, trying to dispel the heavy atmosphere that settled inside the tent. ¡°My opponent wasn¡¯t anyone we would have known about before becoming a Rider, but he¡¯s certainly a whiny little jackass. Self-entitled too, considering how everything needed to be about him. The ¡®good¡¯ news is that he is more along the lines of a Forsworn than a proper Rider.¡± I frowned and leaned forward. ¡°He described his dragon as nothing more than a mount. The poor thing seemed almost mindless too.¡± While most of the group reacted with shock, Saphira was the one that reacted the most, filling the tent with a loud reverberating snarl at the disregard Samuel had for the bond she shared with Eragon. ¡°He¡¯s also only a somewhat competent swordsman.¡± I continued. ¡°Decent enough, but I¡¯d say less skilled than most of your veteran warriors. He offsets that with superhuman strength and speed, of course, but if it comes down to a straight fight me, Arya, or Eragon could defeat him without much issue.¡± ¡°And the ¡®bad¡¯ news, Alexandria?¡± Arya asked dryly. She knew me too well. ¡°The bad news is that he is a very dangerous spellcaster.¡± I said seriously. ¡°Obscure methods of attack, indirect area effects, and enough power behind anything he casts to overwhelm any defenses he can¡¯t slip past. If it wasn¡¯t for the unique nature of my own defenses, the fight would have been much closer. I wouldn¡¯t recommend anyone else fight him on their own if possible.¡± ¡°But you were able to drive him off?¡± ¡°I was actually able to beat him.¡± I admitted which got everyone to perk up. ¡°Might have even killed him if it wasn¡¯t for Murtagh interrupting. But I was nearly completely spent from all the fighting, so I just let them leave.¡± ¡°A wise choice.¡± Arya said. ¡°If you were injured or disabled we would not have been able to come to your aid very quickly, if at all. Before you all arrived we were discussing how to even attempt trying to reach where Eragon was fighting. If Murtagh was forced to kill or worse, kidnap you¡­yes you made the correct choice.¡± I sighed. ¡°I know. It¡¯s just¡­in hindsight, I feel like I should have at least tried to convince him to surrender or even just leave Samuel behind.¡± Arya shook her head. ¡°Oaths in the Ancient Language are very serious matters and often unpredictable in how they react to someone trying to subvert them. Not even the most experienced masters I know would attempt something like that mid-battle and cut off from any allies.¡± ¡°I guess¡­¡± It still bothered me a little. If I had access to Rule Breaker¡­ ¡°but there is one more thing I need to mention. Samuel was aware of exactly who Eragon and Saphira¡¯s teachers are.¡± I said gravely. Eragon¡¯s face was white along with Arya¡¯s. ¡°How? I thought the enchantments around the forest prevented any kind of scrying?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. But you should inform Islanzad¨ª.¡± I told Arya. Nasuada looked concerned and confused. ¡°Why is this important? I understand the Elves¡¯ defenses being breached is cause for concern, but why Eragon¡¯s teachers specifically?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say.¡± I shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s an oath involved.¡± The dark skinned woman was clearly not happy about that but let it go after Arya mentioned she would see if the oath could be released because of my information. There was some more discussion on several topics but now that I wasn¡¯t concentrating on a specific task I found my focus drifting and my eyes closing without permission. Surely it would be fine if I just rested¡­them¡­for¡­a¡­moment¡­ Rider 3.1 If there was one thing I would miss when I left this world, it would be Leona¡¯s skills as a secretary. Sure, she was actually one of the heads of the Healer¡¯s Guild and technically my apprentice as far as the Varden was concerned, but for me her most valuable role was as a personal assistant. How the woman simply remembered everything I told her and kept track of my schedule was incredible. She was honestly better than most smart phones I had used. Probably because I couldn¡¯t mute her by accident or leave her somewhere to get lost. ¡°...our supply of bandages is still running low.¡± Leona continued her breakdown of our current situation after the battle. ¡°We still don¡¯t have enough healers trained to use the devices for more complicated injuries or enough devices in general, so we¡¯ve been rotating them to ensure they get at least some rest but we still have more wounded than we can care for.¡± ¡°How are the medic classes going? Can we use some of the participants to take the pressure off?¡± I asked. The idea of the medic classes was simple. Teach some of the Varden¡¯s regular warriors how to properly bandage, tourniquet, or just generally keep someone alive until a healer could get to them. Unfortunately¡­ Leona shook her head. ¡°They aren¡¯t going very well. Most aren¡¯t interested beyond basic bandaging, which helped at first but¡­¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have enough bandages in the first place.¡± I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Why had I decided taking over the healers was a good idea again? Oh, right. I hadn¡¯t. ¡°Well, do what you can. I¡¯ll ask King Orrin if Surda can spare more resources, but I doubt it will go much differently than the last three times we talked.¡± Leona nodded and started going through the rest of the updates which were mostly more of the same. We were short on some things with no idea of if we would be getting more. We were short of people that knew what they were doing. And the people that did know what they were doing had to be forced into breaks to avoid burning out. Eventually we got through everything and Leona ran off to handle the hundred other things she was responsible for while I tinkered in the laboratory someone set up for me. Between ferrying Eragon to the elves, running back to the Varden, and the battle progress of my personal projects had ground to a near halt. If it wasn¡¯t for the massive breakthrough I made in Ellesm¨¦ra I would have been upset about the wasted time. But even then I wasn¡¯t free to ignore the outside world. Not even two hours later a messenger was outside my tent with an urgent message from Nasuada. Politics waited for no one apparently. I gave one last longing look to my latest project before securing my notes and following the boy to the command tent. -o- ¡°Alexandria, good you¡¯re here.¡± Nausada greeted me when I arrived. ¡°Maybe you can talk some sense into these two.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I looked between her, Arya, Eragon, and his cousin Roran. The latter two staring at the former stubbornly while Saphira loomed behind them looking bored and irritated. ¡°Okay¡­¡± I drawled. ¡°What exactly am I talking to them about?¡± ¡°These two,¡± Nasuada seethed. ¡°Want to invade the Empire by themselves.¡± I waited for her to continue, but the leader of the Varden seemed too frustrated to explain. I sighed and decided to just ask what was going on. ¡°The betrothed of Eragon¡¯s cousin was captured by agent¡¯s of the Empire.¡± Arya explained. ¡°They want to venture into the Empire to retrieve her.¡± ¡°Okay? What¡¯s the problem with that?¡± ¡°The problem is that it¡¯s a harebrained scheme that will have catastrophic consequences for everyone in Alaga?sia if it goes awry!¡± Nasuada exploded, which kicked off a round of arguing between the four of them. While I enjoyed being ignored despite being called here presumably to help settle this, I skirted around to Saphira. ¡°So how long do you think it will take before they calm down and remember we¡¯re here?¡± I asked her, getting a smoke laden snort in reply. ¡°Far longer than needed.¡± She replied. ¡°They are all being stubborn.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I mean none of them are wrong. Roran won¡¯t be able to rescue his wife without your and Eragon¡¯s help, and if anything goes wrong it¡¯s going to be all of our problem.¡± ¡°Just because they are not wrong does not mean they are not being foolish.¡± Well, it was hard to disagree with her on that. -o- Several minutes later the argument was still going strong. I managed to stay mostly neutral in the whole thing the few times either side tried to drag me into the argument and focused on something else. Planning what we would do with Saphira. Because the dragon was right, just because neither side was wrong that didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t a clear risk if we did nothing. We even managed to put together a pretty good plan, which was a good thing because Saphira was long out of patience for the argument. A brief warning was all I got to cover my ears before a tremendous roar shook the command tent and quickly killed the ongoing shouting. Despite being the youngest in the room, Saphira glared down at everyone like an exasperated adult dealing with children. ¡°I am sore and tired, and Eragon is doing a poor job of explaining himself. We have better things to do than stand around yammering like jackdaws, no?... Good, now listen to me¡± Since I had helped craft the plan and argument Saphira was in the process of explaining, I didn¡¯t listen very closely but the main points were thus: We couldn¡¯t leave Roran¡¯s betrothed in the Empire¡¯s grasp. As long as Katrina was their hostage, Roran ¨C and by extension Eragon ¨C would be completely open to manipulation. All it would take would be Galbatorix threatening to kill her and Roran would take off to rescue her or just flat out submit to his demands. And since he was the only family Eragon had that he was still on good terms with, Eragon would follow after him. The second point was that we likely wouldn¡¯t get another window of opportunity to pull off a rescue like this. Galbatorix likely wouldn¡¯t expect a lightning raid into the center of the Empire after a major battle. It made it the best time we would get to try rescuing Katrina and possibly killing the agents responsible for her capture, the Ra''zac, before they could be deployed against us. The fact that the death of the Ra¡¯zac would also complete the quest for revenge for killing his uncle/father figure Eragon had initially left his home for would just be a bonus. And since both Murtagh and Samuel were spotted flying towards the capital ¨C likely to get chewed out for failing Galbatorix¡¯s orders in person ¨C there was little chance of anyone stopping Saphira for flying in or out uncontested. Of course if everything went to plan, she would only be flying one way. The third point, which was more a warning to Nasuada than anything else, was that forbidding Eragon from doing this could wind up poisoning the relationship between them which could bleed over into other arguments or cause a lingering resentment. Both things that could undermine the Varden¡¯s cause if left to fester. ¡°The choice is yours.¡± Saphira finished. ¡°Keep Eragon here if you wish. However, his commitments are not mine, and I, for one, have decided to accompany Alexandria and Roran. It seems like a fine adventure.¡± Several heads snapped to me at the dragon¡¯s announcement. ¡°Alexandria, you¡¯re going along with this!?¡± I raised an eyebrow at them. ¡°Yes? Someone needs to keep a level head for a mission like this and since Saphira will likely be too busy wrangling Eragon I¡¯m the best choice to go along with them.¡± ¡°You are almost as important to the cause as Eragon! You can¡¯t just abandon everything like this!¡± Nasuada protested. ¡°I¡¯m mostly a figurehead for the Healer¡¯s Guild at this point. Leona does all the actual work.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Plus there¡¯s two very important things you are overlooking.¡± I raised a finger. ¡°One, I¡¯m the only one strong enough to support Eragon and Saphira if they have trouble that doesn¡¯t come with severe political risks. Two,¡± a second finger joined the first. ¡°I¡¯m still not sworn to the Varden in any way. I can leave and do whatever I want, when I want.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Nasuada clearly didn¡¯t like that, but didn¡¯t argue the issue. ¡°I don¡¯t like it one bit, but you are correct. I assume you have some sort of plan to make this fool¡¯s endeavor less risky?¡± ¡°I have an idea, yes.¡± I explained my and Saphira¡¯s plan. By the end of it, Arya was scowling at me, Nasuada looked like she had a headache, Eragon was barely holding back the hundreds of questions he no doubt had, and Roran looked like he was going to be sick. But none of them could come up with something better so later that day Eragon, Roran, and I loaded up what we needed for a long flight on Saphira and flew towards the Empire. Rider 3.2 "Well¡­" Eragon let out a long breath as we watched a procession of humans disappear over a distant hill. Considering what we just watched, I couldn''t blame him for seeming a little disturbed. "Well what?" Roran grunted, significantly less composed than his cousin. "I''ve traveled among both dwarves and elves, and nothing they did was ever as strange as what those people, those humans, do." I snorted at the comment. "Never underestimate the capacity for insanity an intelligent creature has, especially if religion or belief is involved. I''m sure both the dwarves and elves have plenty of examples that would turn your stomachs just as much as what we just saw." I''m not sure I was comfortable with the fact that I was relatively unbothered watching a bunch of priests ritually bleed themselves on an altar, drink human blood, and celebrate when one of their members volunteered to hack off his own right hand, but to be fair¡­it was far from the worst thing I had seen. And it was going to take a lot to top Akihiro Kanou''s basement of horrors. "You''ve seen something worse?" Eragon asked, his curiosity piqued. "There''s a religion out there that believed the sun was the embodiment of their god." I didn''t feel like explaining anything I had seen personally and the Aztecs were a good example of how far some crazy fanatics would go without needing to explain too much. "He was locked in an eternal battle with his sister, the moon, and where everyone would perish if he lost because if he did the moon and the stars would devour everything." "That doesn''t sound too strange¡­" "Well, he was also empowered by blood, so everyday a priest would cut out the heart of a living sacrifice in front of the entire city to ensure their god would have the strength needed to continue to protect them." "Sounds monstrous," Roran said. "How could people let them do that?" I shrugged. "It wasn''t monstrous to them. To be a sacrifice was actually considered a great honor, where that person would be sent to an afterlife in paradise or to join the sun god''s army against the darkness. Good luck trying to convince them to stop if it meant the destruction of everything if they did." "Monstrous. Maybe even worse than the Ra''zac." Roran repeated and turned to Eragon. "But that''s not important right now. The priests and any magicians among them are gone. Can you search for Katrina now?" "I''ll try, but be ready to run." Eragon said, closing his eyes and presumably trying to locate Roran''s finance. I had to admit I was jealous how easily animancers like him were able to detect things over vast distances. While I hadn''t really needed to yet, the only spell I had that was remotely similar required dedicated hardware that I simply couldn''t make here. "I think I found her." The Rider said eventually. "It''s hard to be certain because Helgrind is so far away and I''ve never touched her mind, but I think she is in that peak, concealed somewhere near the very top." That made sense considering what I knew of the Ra''zac. Not much was ever really explained about whatever race the Mad King''s servants were really called. Apparently they were natural predators of humans in this world which had followed after Eragon''s ancestors when they migrated to Alaga?sia and despite some avian characteristics, their life cycle had more in common with a butterfly or a moth than a bird. When they were young, they could somewhat pass as human by hiding under thick clothes and avoiding showing anyone their faces. But when they became adults they somehow morphed into something called a Lethrblaka, a giant hairless creature that sounded like a weird chimera of a bird, a naked mole rat, and a dragon. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I wasn''t looking forward to coming face to face with those things. Roran, of course, had other concerns. "Is she sick? Is she injured? Blast it, Eragon, don''t hide it from me; have they hurt her?" "She is not in pain at the moment. More than that, I could not say." Eragon replied. "It took all my strength just to make out the glow of her consciousness. I wasn''t able to communicate with her." A troubled look crossed his face as he stared up at the bare mountain in the distance. "What I didn''t find were the Ra''zac or the Lethrblaka. Even if I somehow overlooked the Ra''zac, their parents are so large their lifeforce should blaze like a thousand lanterns, even as Saphira''s does. Aside from Katrina and a few other dim specks of light, Helgrind is black, black, black." "Unless they are being hidden from you." I pointed out. "The Ra''zac managed to ambush you and Brom despite his experience. It might be a spell or even just a natural trait for them, but we should treat the situation like we expect them to be there waiting for us." "It doesn''t matter if they''re there or not." Roran said lowly. "It doesn''t make sense for us to attack tonight. Night is when the Ra''zac are strongest, and if they are nearby, it would be stupid to fight them when we are at a disadvantage. Agreed?" "Yes." "So, we wait until dawn." Roran gestured to the pair of slaves the priests had left behind, chained to the blood covered altar, as a sacrifice. "If those poor wretches are gone by then, we know the Ra''zac are here, and we proceed as planned. If not, we curse our bad luck that they''ve escaped us, free the slaves, rescue Katrina, and get back to the Varden before the King''s agents can hunt us down. Either way, I doubt the Ra''zac will leave Katrina unattended for long, not if Galbatorix wants her to survive so he can use her as a tool against me." Not a very complex plan, but good enough for me and Eragon. So with nothing else to do for now, the three of us headed back to the camp where Saphira was waiting for us, hidden under an illusionary bounded field on the off chance someone wandered out this far and saw the giant blue flying lizard. -o- Despite being woken up several times through the night thanks to Roran and Eragon - and even Saphira, on occasion - acting like teenagers on a camping trip, I was up and ready just before dawn. Eragon and Roran were also up and armored, ready to head out any minute. Saphira hadn''t actually been unsaddeled, so she was also ready to go. So after one final check anything that wasn''t needed was abandoned in the camp and I made one final check on the thick bundle of cloth in one of Saphira''s bags and made sure it was still undamaged. It was critical to our escape plan after all. Nothing was wrong with it though, so I simply placed it back in the bag and made sure the quick release string holding it in place wasn''t slipping but still able to detach in a hurry if Saphira needed to fight something. And with that taken care of, the four of us were in the air heading towards the peak of Helgrind. -o- As it turns out? Galbatorix wasn''t an idiot. Most of the Ra''zac and Lethrblaka had been hunted down before the Rider''s Fall but even with all of them dead, he didn''t skimp out on defending his favorite hunter''s lair. The sheer height and steepness of the mountain would have stopped most people from finding it, but that was only the first half. The King had actually used the same method I had on occasion ¨C like on the camp last night ¨C and hid the entrance behind an illusion. Honestly, I wasn''t even sure how Eragon and Saphira found the right spot because one minute we were aimlessly circling the mountain, and the next we were flying straight at what looked like a solid stone wall. Thankfully for all of us, it actually was an illusion and we flew into a cave rather than getting splattered on a rock face. Still, I was going to have words with the two of them later. Either one could have warned us with a thought! "Warn me before you do something like that again." Roran had no issues letting his cousin know he wasn''t pleased either. But that was all we had time for as everyone looked around for any signs of our enemy. We were definitely in the right place. While there was absolutely nothing in the initial cavern, the stone floor was covered in a mat of scratches from something with claws roughly the size of Saphira''s all over. Coupled with the several dark tunnels along the walls leading into the mountain and who knows where else, this was clearly the home of something big and predatory. The smell certainly gave that away. Keeping an eye on the tunnels I leaned forward over Eragon''s shoulder. "Can you sense anything?" He silently shook his head. Not that that really meant anything. Like I had mentioned yesterday, the Ra''zac could have been naturally undetectable or hidden by Galbatorix somehow. In fact there were probably wards tied to the entrance that would let them know if something other than them entered this cave so if they were here ¨C and the fact the slaves were missing on the way here hinted they were ¨C they were probably waiting in ambush deeper inside. Or watching us right now from one of the tunnels¡­ With that thought sticking in the back of my mind I quickly dismounted Saphira by dismissing the projected straps while Eragon and Roran worked on their own. I hadn''t really fought them on using projections rather than the actual straps, despite my projections being stronger and more convenient, because I thought it wouldn''t matter much in the end. I was regretting that choice now. I landed softly on the scarred floor before either of the other two were more than halfway out of the straps and stared at the tunnels for any sign of movement. Nothing. Okay, looks like we had a bit of time then. I that case, I needed¨C It turns out it didn''t matter what I needed. As if to mock my previous thoughts, Eragon and Saphira''s heads jerked up at an unknown sound. I reflexively Reinforced my ears to catch the tail end of what sounded like a bunch of clicks and possibly the sound of claws digging into stone. Half a second later, a massive shape rushed out towards Saphira. I had a brief moment to spot a long spear-like beak, black beetle-like eyes, and disturbingly fleshy body before the two giants collided. Eragon and Roran were sent flying through the air at the impact and I managed to dive out of the way to avoid being crushed under Saphira''s bulk. Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to dodge completely as the Lethrblaka''s flailing tail caught me under the ribs and flung me into a wall. My head hit rock and the world vanished in a flash of white. Rider 3.3 [Roran POV] At some point the world had stopped making sense. Unlike most from Carvahall, Roran knew exactly when it did so, during the weeks after he left for a job in Therinsford and his cousin discovered one of the few remaining dragon''s eggs left in the world. A lot had happened after that. The death of his father, hiding in the Spine to escape the Empire''s soldiers hunting for him, Katrina''s kidnapping, and then leading the rest of the villagers away from their home and certain death to find the Varden. All in hope of letting the people that put their trust in him find a new home and for him to find his cousin to help get Katrina back. Roran didn''t know what he was expecting when he finally met Eragon again. Part of him was expecting something out of one of old Brom''s stories, a towering hero straight out of legend. Part was just expecting Eragon, the same daydreaming boy with an almost unceasing amount of questions he had grown up with. In reality¡­he got something of a mix. Even ignoring the physical changes Eragon certainly acted differently, calmer than Roran had ever thought possible, but underneath that he was still the same person. Still Roran''s family. It gave him confidence because truth be told? While Roran had accepted that he could die trying to rescue his beloved, never once did he consider Eragon might also. Not after seeing him walk off the battlefield. Then Alexandria, a magician that even a Dragon Rider admitted he couldn''t match in whatever sorcery they used, was killed in the first few seconds of the fight after being run over by a creature the size of a small hut. Roran had known people killed by a stray kick from a mule, let alone a strike so hard the stone wall behind her broke as well. Regrettably he didn''t have time to worry about the fallen magician, not with the Ra''zac finally making an appearance. Roran grit his teeth at the two creatures responsible for his father''s death and staggered to his feet to meet them. Before he could, both of them were forced to step aside as a great ball of fire shot towards them, driving them apart while Eragon rushed to his side and stood back to back. "Hold them off for a minute." His cousin shouted before chanting in that magical language of his. "Hope you know what you''re doing, Eragon." Roran couldn''t help but comment as he did his best to cover both Ra''zac coming to attack. He tightly clenched his hammer and swung at the shrouded creature closest to him. Just like the time in Carvahall the damned thing was weirdly quick. It jerked back to avoid the blow and struck as quickly as a snake. Roran was lucky enough to catch the creature''s blade on his wooden shield. The Ra''zac leaned closer and while Eragon''s magics protected him against the weakening powers of the Ra''zac''s breath, it did nothing against the smell. Roran felt his nose burn at the scent of fetid and rotten meat. "Ffffoooollss," The creature hissed. "Weee will enjoy sssucking the marrow from your bonesss!" Roran didn''t bother replying. He was too busy trying to fend off the two of them. Time and time again, their weapons struck against his shield and armor or missed cutting his skin and face by a hairs-breadth while he tried to smash their limbs or body with his hammer. Seconds passed like minutes as he did his best to hit the unnatural creatures, but it was in vain. He was simply too slow but as long as he bought enough time for Eragon to finish whatever he was attempting it would be enough. Then the smaller of the two lunged for his face even as he caught its blade on his shield again. Remembering the feeling of the Ra''zac''s beaklike mouth cutting through his shoulder muscles, Roran tried to back away. That turned out to be a mistake. The Ra''zac ripped its sword from his shield and quickly stabbed at his leg. He expected another thud of pain as Eragon''s protective magic stopped the blades from cutting him, but he still felt some of the impact. Instead there was a scream of pain and the feeling of something wet and hot splashing on his leg. Roran paused, expecting to feel where the blade pierced him, when he realized he wasn''t the one that cried out. Instead, the smaller of the Ra''zac pulled away clutching at its forearm where an arrow had pierced through it. Roran barely had time to wonder where the missile came from before something passed close enough to his cheek to tickle and another arrow appeared in the Ra''zac''s shoulder. Then Eragon finished his chant and one of the massive beasts his dragon was fighting began to flail randomly like it could no longer see. "Pay attention Roran!" The voice of the impossibly still alive Alexandria called out to him. He refocused on the Ra''zac and did his best to support Eragon, but as the fight went on it was clear he was mostly just in the way. The two enemies did their best to get at Eragon while using him to hide from Alexandria''s arrows, occasionally taking a stab at him just to make sure he couldn''t attack one when they were distracted. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. That didn''t mean the battle was going against them. Eragon managed to get a few hits in with the staff he had brought. He hadn''t managed to kill either of them yet, but they were definitely wounded. Especially the smaller one since it had gained a third arrow lodged in its body at some point with the larger only sprouting one. The real turning point came when Roran moved to intercept a blow and misstepped into one of the gashes covering the floor. His ankle twisted, and unable to support his full weight, he ended up falling to the ground. Unwilling to be an easy target, Roran rolled with the fall and readied his shield just in time to see Eragon strike the larger Ra''zac over the head with his staff and fell it. Before any of them could make a move, a deafening roar filled the cave and Roran turned to see Eragon''s dragon standing victoriously over the corpse of one of the bigger monsters. Apparently Alexandria had been assisting there as well because Roran could see even more, larger arrows sticking out of it as well, including one that seemed to have penetrated one of its eyes. The second leather-whatsit didn''t hesitate. It immediately tackled the blue dragon towards the lip of the cave before both of them went over the edge, fighting each other the whole way. Though judging from Eragon''s reaction - besides an initial start - Saphira was still fine. The last remaining Ra''zac finally decided that there was no way to win this battle and to just run. That didn''t stop it from deciding to take at least one of them out and directing a flurry of blows at Roran faster than he could react. One he got lucky on and managed to block with his shield, the second bounced off his helm leaving his head ringing, but the third finally broke the web of magic Eragon had cast and cut through his chainmail and deep into his thigh. He gasped as his leg buckled under him and twisted so he rolled a bit rather than just fall on his face. As he scrambled back to his feet, he looked up just in time to see another impossibly accurate arrow sprout from the hollow of the fleeing Ra''zac''s knee, causing it to trip to the ground. A strange calm fell over Roran even as his blood seemed to burn with purpose. For the first time in this battle, his enemy was vulnerable. Roran shoved himself to his feet, ignoring any pain the movement caused him, and leapt at the fallen figure with his hammer raised high. With a wordless bellow he brought it down once, twice, three times with all his strength. With each blow something cracked and then it was done. The Ra''zac were dead. "Roran, your side." Eragon''s words broke whatever spell Roran was under as his body suddenly reminded him of every bump and bruise he had just collected, to say nothing about his more serious wounds. "The other one?" He demanded, just to be sure. "Dead." "Good riddance. Can you do something about this?" Roran asked, gesturing at the cut on his thigh. While Eragon poked at his wound Roran turned to the third member of their group, the one he was convinced had died after getting hit by something nearly the size of his cousin''s dragon into a solid rock wall, yet, seemed completely fine if not a little scuffed from the experience. "Thank you." He told her. He wasn''t stupid. That last arrow could easily have been put through the fleeing Ra''zac''s heart if she wanted, but she had crippled it instead and gave him a chance at revenge at the same time. Alexandria just waved him off. "We ready to go?" She asked instead, looking at Eragon. "Yes," Eragon nodded, rising to his feet. "I don''t sense anyone else nearby but I''ve locked the door to Katrina''s cell. Only one of us can open it now." "Great, then let''s find her and get out of here. I don''t like the feel of this place." -o- The more the three of them walked the dark halls of Helgrind the more Roran agreed with the female magician. There was something evil about this mountain. Something that seemed eager to trap them within its tunnels and never let them leave. Even with the magical lighting from both Eragon and Alexandria, Roran would have been hopelessly lost after a few turns let alone the winding path that Eragon was leading them down. But despite that Roran could only focus on one thing¡­every step he took brought him closer to Katrina. Soon enough they were standing in a rough hallway with ironbound doors on both sides. The only thing stopping him from running to the first one and ripping it off its hinges was the knowledge Eragon already knew where Katrina was. "Where?" He did his best to not sound impatient. He was also sure he failed. "Ninth down, on the right." Eragon informed him. "You two go get her. I''ll check on the other cells. The Ra''zac might have left something interesting in them." Roran didn''t wait a second longer, though that didn''t stop him from noticing the suspicious look Alexandria as she passed by. That wasn''t important now though. "Can you open it?" He asked the Magician. "Yeah, just give me a sec." She replied, placing a hand on the lock and closing her eyes. Roran shifted from foot to foot in impatience and almost shoved her aside to just start hammering at the hinges himself when Alexandria opened her eyes again and held up a hand. In a flash of light a key materialized in her hand from thin air. "Care to do the honors?" She asked, holding it out to him. He took it and was through the door before he realized he even moved. "Let me alone, you toothless bastards! I¨C" Roran felt his heart flutter at the sound of her voice, regardless of the anger in it. And he couldn''t keep the smile off his face as she stopped, stunned at the sight of him. She was pale from the lack of sun and covered in filth, but Roran had never seen a more beautiful sight than seeing her alive and unharmed. Then she smiled at him. A tender, joyous thing that took his breath away. "You came." "I came." Did she think he wouldn''t? He had been ready to burn the Empire down when she was taken. How to get her back was one of the only things he could think about for weeks. None of that mattered now though, not with Katrina right here. She reached out to touch him and he pulled her into his embrace. Trying to tell her through his actions she was safe now since this throat had suddenly closed up, unable to speak past the joyous sobs that threatened to break free. "You grew a beard." Of all the things she could have said. The light chuckling from behind told him that Eragon, apparently done with his task, agreed. "Eragon? Is that you?" "Aye." "He''s a Dragon Rider now." Roran explained. "A Rider?!" "As much as I would like to let you all catch up. We need to leave." Alexandria broke in. "Saphira is waiting for us back by the entrance. Eragon? Could you do something about her chains?" "Wait! What about my father? Did you find him?" "I''m sorry¡­we were too late." Katrina slumped in Roran''s arms and he did his best to support her, but at the same time he felt very little sympathy for Sloan''s fate. The butcher might have been Katrina''s father, but he was also responsible for telling the Empire about Eragon discovering his Dragon''s egg which led to his father''s death ¨C something he might have eventually forgiven since Sloan had no way of knowing what the egg really was, but when the soldiers came to hunt down Roran, Sloan had eventually betrayed them, murdered one of the men on nightwatch, and allowed the soldiers to attack the village undetected while he kidnapped his daughter to escape alone. "So be it." Katrina said eventually. After freeing Katrina and checking her for spells or compulsions, something Eragon insisted on doing immediately, the four of them returned to the entrance where Saphira was waiting for them. Seeing daylight again after what felt like hours underground was a relief only slightly dampened by the revelation that Kartina hadn''t seen the light for so long she feared she was going blind. Thankfully Alexandria conjured a pair of heavily tinted glasses so Katrina could avoid tripping. While Roran and Eragon introduced her to the Dragon, Alexandria busied herself retrieving and unraveling the cloth she had packed before they left. Just looking at it knowing what was about to happen caused a sour feeling to appear in his stomach but he did his best to not show it for Katrina''s sake. "Alright boys and girls, gather round. For Katrina''s sake I''ll explain what''s about to happen." Alexandria announced once she was satisfied with the layout of the cloth. "This fabric has a teleportation circle knit into it that is paired to one back with the Varden''s army. All you have to do is stand in the middle and I''ll do the rest." She explained. "Eragon? You and Saphira are up first." "Roran and Katrina should go." Eragon argued. "They are the ones most at risk if something happens and we need to return some other way." Alexandria narrowed her eyes at him, possibly insulted by the thought her magic would fail but simply nodded. Roran guided Katrina to the middle of the circle and held her close. "Okay, three, two¡­on-" There was a flash of yellow light and a pulling feeling that caused Kartina to scream next to him but even as he rushed to steady her, Roran noticed that Alexandria had actually managed it. They had gone from a barren cave to one of the Varden''s large tents in a heartbeat. Roran finally allowed himself to relax fully for the first time in weeks and felt like a huge weight had fallen from his shoulders. Katrina was finally rescued and the Ra''zac were dead. They had accomplished everything they had set out to do and survived. He gently moved Katrina off the circle so the others could come through, already making plans for what needed to be done. Katrina would need to see a healer at least. And then they needed to find Horst and the rest of the villagers and tell them the good news¡­ Rider 3.4 I knew Eragon was going to be a pain in the ass the second Roran and his fiance were teleported away. He wasn¡¯t exactly a master of subterfuge and I had months of practice dealing with a bored Yoruichi. I knew the signs of someone gearing up to do something incredibly frustrating to me and running off before anyone could retaliate. So before I did anything else I tossed a handful of the gems I used to make the illusionary bounded field for our camp the other night to hide the entrances back into the mountain. It wouldn¡¯t actually stop him ¨C the fields were only strong enough to show an image and put up some very slight resistance to anything moving through them ¨C but it stopped him from rabbiting long enough for Saphira to realize something was wrong and pin her Rider underfoot. ¡°So Eragon,¡± I said calmly to the trapped teenager. ¡°Any particular reason you looked like you were about to run off when we are leaving?¡± ¡°L-look, I can¡¯t leave yet.¡± Eragon stuttered as he tried and failed to push the very unimpressed dragon off his chest. ¡°Think about what the Ra¡¯zac had here in Helgrind! Potions, scrolls, information about the Empire¡¯s activities ¨C things that could help us!¡± He tried to dislodge Saphira again. ¡°We can¡¯t let Galbatorix recover those and you and Saphira can¡¯t stay here, so I¡¯ll stay behind and¨C¡± ¡°Figure out what to do with Katrina¡¯s father?¡± I interrupted. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about the man. He wasn¡¯t exactly important outside of his relationships to Roran and the others from Carvahall. I likely never would have remembered he existed if Katrina hadn¡¯t asked about him. I¡¯m not exactly sure how either one accepted Eragon¡¯s word he was dead because the Rider was a terrible liar. My guess Katrina was too distraught by her own captivity and Roran just didn¡¯t give a damn if he was dead or not. It was only thanks to Eragon that I remembered the man was the reason the Rider stayed behind in the Empire out of some sense of responsibility and his desire to not execute a man when he was helpless or something like that. A little weird considering Sloan was condemned to death thanks to his betrayal that led to him being held captive in the first place but for once I wasn¡¯t going to judge too harshly. While he had killed dozens of normal soldiers in the last battle, if he didn¡¯t want to kill a man off the battlefield then that was his line and I¡¯d do my best to accept it. I wasn¡¯t about to support his nonexistent plan to not kill Sloan, but I could respect his choice. ¡°How¨C?¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t that good a liar.¡± I replied. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t matter right now. All you need to worry about is getting you and Saphira onto the teleportation circle and getting back to the Varden.¡± ¡°Alexandra¡­I can¡¯t let Katrina or Roran see him, and I can¡¯t just leave him to die. I have to deal with this.¡± I shook my head. ¡°I get it, you don¡¯t want to be an executioner. But the deal was once the Ra¡¯zac were dealt with and Katrina was rescued, you and Saphira go right back to the Varden. I might not take my word as seriously as most of you, but I do try to keep it when I can. So onto the circle with you, I¡¯ll deal with Katrina¡¯s father.¡± Eragon continued to protest, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do as his Dragon refused to let him go and moved over to the teleportation circle. ¡°Right, here we go. Three, two¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I didn¡¯t say you could leave yet.¡± An annoyingly familiar voice said behind me as a streak of red whizzed past and hit the corner of the tarp Saphira was standing on. I panicked a little seeing the tarp starting to go up in flames but managed to trigger the spell safely. In a flash Eragon and Saphira were both teleported to the Varden and I was alone with the newcomer. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I turned, and just as I suspected, saw a rather stunned Samuel standing at the entrance to one of the other tunnels going into the mountain. ¡°Bastard¡­¡± ¡°How did you do that!¡± He interrupted me. ¡°None of you knew I was here. You didn¡¯t move. None of you cast a spell, so how did you deflect mine?!¡± Deflect? I snuck a glance at the still burning tarp behind me. Ah, so Samuel had tried to hit me in the back as part of his big entrance. Either kill or wound me, gloat about it, and then try and capture Eragon and Saphira. Only to miss because of the slight distortions caused by the bounded field I used on the tunnels to stop Eragon from running off. I snorted. Because that meant he was already inside and had been watching while we¡¯d been sending Roran and Katrina ahead and deliberately waited just so he could make a more dramatic entrance. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. You just have bad aim.¡± ¡°Liar!¡± Samuel snapped before he forcibly calmed himself down. ¡°But that¡¯s fine. Bring them back and I¡¯ll consider sparing your life. Or don¡¯t and I¡¯ll just use you as bait. The Hero can¡¯t just leave you to die right?¡± ¡°Well, can¡¯t do that. Circle was one way only and even if it wasn¡¯t the other side is useless now that this one is destroyed.¡± I said as the tarp finished burning. I wasn¡¯t really bothered telling him about the ¡®design flaw¡¯ of the teleportation circles. I was the only one that could make and use the things anyway so it wasn¡¯t like he would be able use the info for anything anyway. Hell, it might send Galbatorix down a rabbit hole trying to recreate what I did if I was lucky. ¡°And use me as bait? Pretty arrogant considering how our last fight went. How¡¯s the hand treading you by the way? I¡¯m impressed you managed to grow it back so quickly.¡± ¡°Grrrr. You can¡¯t use that laser gun without bringing the roof down on our heads and I know how you fight now. This time will be different.¡± He snarled, drawing a normal looking steel sword and pointing it at me. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± I agreed with him as I traced Kanshou and Bakuya and leapt forward. ¡°This time I¡¯m not running on fumes.¡± I snarled as our blades collided. -o- As much as I¡¯d like to say I easily crushed the bastard, he was still putting up a good fight and he was right about me being afraid to use anything too powerful for fear of causing a collapse. Of course he had the same issues to some extent. He couldn¡¯t reshape the ground or use those giant rock summons like last time, but that didn¡¯t stop his more insubstantial attacks like giant waves of fire and such. At least he did the few times he was able to get distance from me. Most of the time I was too close for him to attempt that without hitting himself. ¡°How are you even here anyway?¡± I complained as Bakuya cut a notch into Samuel¡¯s sword while Kanshou glanced off his helmet. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be on your way to get your ass chewed out by the king?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who thought about teleportation. If the elf bitch can move an egg across the whole damn kingdom, a couple dragons can move me here.¡± The bastard growled as he tried impaling me from behind with a rock spike. A trio of greatswords stabbed into the ground, forming an impromptu shield while I considered his answer. It was certainly possible. Originally, the whole secret to Murtagh suddenly having enough power to rival Eragon despite being completely human was the fact Galbatorix had collected a number of magic gems that naturally grew inside dragons that let their minds survive after their bodies died and let them retain their magic. I forgot the name of them at the moment, but using a few of those as a battery to teleport a few days'' travel by dragonback wasn¡¯t a stretch. He probably appeared at the bottom of Helgrind somewhere and made his way up after he saw Saphira fly out to hunt down the second Lethrblaka. But¡­ ¡°Yeah? So what took you so long then? Galby¡¯s going to be pissed you let his toy bugs die.¡± I had the pleasure to see Samuel actually shiver at the thought of that. ¡°You¨C You bitch! It¡¯s all your fault!¡± He snarled as he hacked at my leg. I jumped over the strike and stabbed down from above but he rolled away before I could land a hit. A wall of earth rose up to block the projected daggers I shot after him. ¡°Eragon was supposed to be captured at the Burning Plains, if you hadn¡¯t interfered none of this would have happened!¡± So that was why nothing had changed even though Samuel had to have known about this mission. Both him and Galbatorix expected Eragon and Saphira to be out of play, so there was no reason to change anything to try and trap them. Samuel had likely realized he could try and worm out of punishment by catching us all here and then fucked up out of arrogance. ¡°Well, good news then! If I kill you here you don¡¯t need to worry about getting punished!¡± I taunted as Zangetsu made a brief appearance to demolish the wall before fading back into blue particles. Hozukimaru speared through the gap and almost between Samuel¡¯s visor, but he managed to block the spear with the same hand I cut off last time and deflect it at the last second. ¡°Bitch!¡± He snarled as he ripped the blade out of his palm and I noticed something strange. His hand wasn¡¯t bleeding. Before I could question that little mystery Samuel surprised me by throwing the increasingly chipped and broken sword he¡¯d been using at my face. ¡°Giving up already?¡± I taunted as I parried the thrown blade. But internally I was on guard for a trap. ¡°You wish, blonde bitch.¡± He snapped. ¡°I know I can¡¯t beat you with that trash weapon, but I just realized something¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re a dumbass edgelord working for the bad guys because putting in effort is hard?¡± I guessed. ¡°As much as I¡¯d like to get some payback for fucking up my plans, I realized it doesn¡¯t matter as long as you¡¯re dead.¡± He continued as if I hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°Also between the two of us, I can teleport whenever I want¨C¡± I flinched as the entrance to the Ra¡¯zac¡¯s cave we initially flew through collapsed suddenly, only the lingering fires from Samuel¡¯s attacks giving us light. ¡°¨C and you needed that drawing. So yeah, I can¡¯t beat you. I can drop a mountain on your head though.¡± As he spoke the entire cave shook and bits of rock rained down from above. He really was going to bring the whole place down! ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll be sure to tell the Varden we¡¯re taking good care of you somewhere safe. Maybe we¡¯ll get another shot at Eragon that way.¡± He said smugly before vanishing in a burst of red light. Something in the ceiling shifted, and then everything came crashing down. -o- It took me several hours, but I eventually managed to dig myself out of the rubble by chipping away at the rock while reinforcing my slowly expanding tunnel in a cage of swords. Once I felt the cool breeze from the outside air I was more confident in my digging and soon enough I was free. I looked out from the ruined mountaintop into the setting sun. ¡°So¡­what do I do now?¡± Rider 3.5 At the end of the day, I really only had two choices. Head back to the Varden on foot. Head into the Empire on my own. And between the two, I found myself wandering northward instead of heading back to my allies. I could make up reasons or excuses why I decided not to head back as quickly as possible but most of it boiled down to one simple reason. I didn¡¯t actually need the Varden for anything right now. Sure they were a great help at providing a basic workshop for me to experiment and make a variety of mystic codes as needed, not to mention getting the materials I asked for, but I had long passed the point where I was actually doing anything new. If I wanted to make new or better tools, I needed better methods to manufacture them with. Purer metals, better instruments, things like that. And none of that could be easily made in the middle of a marching army. If I needed a comparison, I was a hobbyist that had maxed out what could be done with random tools in a basement or garage. I would need a dedicated shop with a professional setup to push myself further and that wasn¡¯t happening without more time and effort than I was willing to invest. Which is why I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to return. Sure I could go back, keep trying to stay out of internal politics and hope that I came across the swords I needed to get the Horizon fixed at some point¡­ ¡­or I could go looking around some major cities without having to fight through the walls since Samuel, and by extension Galbatorix, thought I was dead and weren¡¯t likely to be on the lookout for me. Besides, I¡¯d taken a tour of a few fantasy Dwarven and Elven cities. Why not check out the evil human Empire and see if it had any cities that stacked up? I was avoiding the closest city of Dras-Leona though. I really didn¡¯t want to see a place where people worshiped the practice of amputating parts of themselves. -o- Of course that didn¡¯t mean I could reach another major city just because I decided to. The next closest city after Dras-Leona was Uru¡¯baen, the capital of the Empire and Galbatorix¡¯s seat of power. After fighting Samuel I was confident that I could at least put up enough of a fight to run away from the mad king if I couldn¡¯t just kill him, but that didn¡¯t mean I was going to try taking him, his dragon, an entire army, and possibly Samuel and Murtagh on all at the same time by myself. There were a few bigger cities to the north that I had taken note of, mostly thanks to them being called out during strategy meetings, with the biggest being Gil¡¯ead. Considering it was basically a fortress-city, it was the most likely place outside the capital for what I was looking for and therefore my destination. I just had to get there. ¡°Look, I told you I¡¯m traveling north by myself. I¡¯m not running from anyone, and I¡¯m not someone¡¯s mistress! I¡¯m here to spend the night, restock some food I don¡¯t need to hunt down myself, and then move on.¡± I argued for the third time. Turns out the biggest challenge I had with the Empire¡¯s forces wasn¡¯t their Dragon Riders, or their magicians, or their soldiers. It was a suspicious middle-aged gate guard. ¡°And we don¡¯t need some unknown woman coming in and stirring up trouble.¡± He repeated. ¡°With clothes like that, yer either a noble runaway or a thief. Doubt a thief would wear them so openly though, so which is it?¡± ¡°Neither, I¡¯m just a traveler!¡± ¡°And I¡¯m the Queen of the Empire.¡± Urgh, I was ready to strangle this jackass! ¡°Okay, fine.¡± I said as I wrestled the last bit of my patience. ¡°If I¡¯m a thief, then I have to be the single most arrogant or stupid one around. Since if anything goes missing you¡¯re going to come running straight to me. So pretty unlikely, right? But if I am a noble like you think ¨C even though I¡¯m not ¨C what could you possibly gain by frustrating me like this?¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Personally? Not a damned thing.¡± The guard had the nerve to shrug! ¡°But if this is some kind of noble¡¯s game, then I can warn the scoundrels here to be polite instead of you taking offense and hanging them from the gallows. If you¡¯re a mistress or wife on the run, though, we don¡¯t lose our heads when whoever is following you catches up and asks about a woman with finer gear than even the Governor was seen in the area. Might even get a reward to boot.¡± Part of me wanted to ask if runaway wives were common enough for that to actually seriously consider, but a much larger part of me was tired and hungry. If this guard wasn¡¯t going to let me in nicely, then I was just going to have to go through him. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t give you a chance.¡± I grumbled as I placed a hand on his chest, a small spell circle appearing around where I touched. ¡°What are you ¨C WHI¡­!¡± He began to shout before he crumpled like a puppet with cut strings. Schlummern was a really useful spell for things like this. I quickly grabbed him and leaned him against the wooden palisade hopefully out of sight from random civilians or other guards. Then it was just a matter of repositioning him to look like he fell asleep on the job and that was that. With a little luck someone would come by and wake him up or the sleep curse would wear off naturally and he would think the whole encounter was a dream. Now then, time to go find an inn for the night. -o- Unsurprisingly, the inn was a loud and rowdy place. It was practically a guarantee when you mixed alcohol, music, and bored people. And considering there wasn¡¯t a whole lot for normal people to do once the sun began to set besides party and drink, inns were a great place to do both. It was also a pretty good place to pick up information if you knew who to ask, which was why I was politely grilling the waitress who brought me my food when she stopped by. I¡¯d like to say she was enjoying my good looks and company, but considering I was offering a few extra coins and was hiding my face under a traveling hood, she was likely just after my money and a chance to avoid being harassed by the bunch of drunks a few tables down. ¡°So nothing about heirloom blades or special swords?¡± I asked one more time. ¡°Sorry, not the kind of thing a small town like ours really hears about.¡± the waitress apologized. ¡°Some of the guards or older folks might know more, but¡­¡± I waved her off. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine¡­don¡¯t want to bother anyone over nothing. I¡¯m just looking for stories.¡± ¡°Are you sure? Because I wouldn¡¯t mind. I know a few men that are decently well traveled before they decided to settle down here.¡± I got the impression that she was using me as an excuse to not talk to the other customers. Considering how drunk some of them were, I couldn¡¯t really blame her. ¡°I¡¯m sure, but I¡¯d love to hear any other interesting rumors you¡¯ve picked up if you want.¡± I offered as an out. ¡°Interesting rumors, hmm?¡± she mused. ¡°I doubt you care much about hearing about who¡¯s been sleeping with the miller¡¯s daughter and things like that, but let me think¡­¡± I ended up getting some fairly generic news about items some local shopkeepers had picked up from traders that stopped by, unconfirmed rumors about some bandits off to the east, and some of the happenings around town, but nothing really useful to me, personally. My conversation partner also seemed to avoid saying anything about the war, the only time she even came close was mentioning some local¡¯s son had run off to join the army. I didn¡¯t know if it was because she didn¡¯t want to or was actively told not to, but I didn¡¯t mind. Even if I was trying to spy for the Varden I doubted a random inn waitress would be able to tell me anything anyway. I was just about to excuse myself for the night when a man burst through the door. Nearly every eye turned to him and I was a little surprised to see more than one person with a naked blade in the crowd. ¡°News from the capital!¡± The newcomer shouted in the resulting silence. ¡°The Sun Witch was captured by Rider Samuel!¡± And just like that he was gone again, running through the town shouting the same thing over and over. Not that I could hear him. The inn erupted into a screaming match almost the second that he rushed back out. But the thing I was paying attention to was the few men in the crowd reluctantly or disappointedly stuffing daggers back into sheaths while glaring in my direction. The fact my waitress nearly collapsed onto my table hinted that wasn¡¯t a coincidence either. ¡°...captured? But I thought for sure¡­¡± Well that made it pretty clear what was going on. ¡°You thought I was the Sun Witch?¡± I said in a falsely offended tone. Though seriously, Sun Witch? That was the best they could come up with? ¡°Then this whole time was, what, a distraction so your friends could get close and assault me? You do this often?¡± ¡°No, no!¡± The waitress frantically denied. ¡°It is just¡­you looked so similar to the poster, and with the added taxes to support the war in the south, we thought¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°...poster?¡± Without a word she produced a carefully folded piece of paper and handed it to me. Once I opened it I was face to face with an actually very good drawing of my own face, but how¡­ Ah, right¡­mind readers. Galbatorix probably had any one of his spies share a memory of what I looked like with an artist and had it replicated enough to have one in a small inn out of some random town. That was really freaking clever. Also really annoying because I wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to be able to recognise me unless I started using magic around other people. Luckily Samuel¡¯s attempt to convince the Varden he managed to capture me would deter most people from thinking I was an enemy walking among them. Too bad there was surely going to be a handful too stupid to let that stop them or just plain hadn¡¯t heard the announcement. Problems for later. ¡°I can see the resemblance, but I obviously can¡¯t be her.¡± I lied, handing the paper back. ¡°Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯m going to head to my room. I¡¯m not feeling very welcome at the moment.¡± ¡°O-of course. If you need anything-¡± ¡°I¡¯ll call for someone.¡± And with that, I quickly retreated to the small room I rented for the night. Some basic protections were put in place to keep out pests and deter casual intruders and then I simply collapsed on the thin mattress to think. I still didn¡¯t regret going off on my own into the Empire but now I would need to be careful about how I did it. If only to keep Galbatorix¡¯s agents from reporting where I was. It would definitely get Samuel in trouble, but that would probably mean getting the king¡¯s personal attention. Something that would definitely end my little sword hunt. A hunt that was probably going to be more difficult than expected. Because if a town only a few miles away from a major city like Dras-Leona didn¡¯t have any rumors of them floating around, then there was very little chance of others being in someplace smaller. Granted, I could just have bad luck and this particular inn didn¡¯t know about it, but with Samuel¡¯s announcement that I had been captured getting out I was on a bit of a timer. I wasn¡¯t about to turn around and head back to the Varden, but I definitely wanted to get into contact with them somehow. If only to stop them from doing something stupid. Too bad I couldn¡¯t replicate the local methods for long distance communication. It should be fine though. Nasuada and Arya were there. They should be able to keep everyone¡¯s head on straight. Interlude Nasuada ¡®The center is crumbling.¡¯ was all that Nasuada could think as another meeting ended in angry people storming out of the command tent. You would think that coming out victorious in a battle with the Empire and driving off two enemy Dragon Riders would bring the various factions together. Instead it had emboldened several of them to make demands of her in an attempt to seize control of the Varden for their own ambitions. Her arms throbbed at the thought as the self inflicted wounds from the ¡®Trial of Long Knives¡¯, the latest and most blatant attempt at usurping her position. The Warlords that followed her father had taken advantage of both Alexandria and Eragon being absent to demand high ranking positions throughout the Varden essentially for free and when she called them out about it, they demanded the Trial to have her prove she followed her people¡¯s traditions. That had been the start of the collapse. She had called on J?rmundur and King Orrin to bear witness to the Trial because she did not trust Fadawar and his advisors to be truthful about the results, especially when they had been surprised that she knew the Trial would grant her leadership of Fadawar¡¯s tribes as well should she succeed. J?rmundur had accepted her decision easily enough out of loyalty to her but King Orrin had surprised her. Instead of the storm of protests she had expected, he had gone cold and simply asked once for Fadawar to release her from her oath. When he was refused the Trial began. Fadawar and Nasuada took turns slicing their forearms with ceremonial knives to show their dedication to endure for their people. After six such cuts Orrin did try to stop the contest out of concern for them killing themselves but Nasuada had told him to not interfere. After a full nine cuts, she was declared the victor but that was when she made her most damning mistake. Pain-drunk as she was she misspoke and ended up insulting the Surdan king for being unwilling to take risks to advance their cause¡­and was swiftly reminded that while the Varden had been sheltered by the dwarves, Surda had been fending off encroachment from the empire longer than she had been alive. The words had been hasty and ill considered and while King Orrin realized that, he was also more curt and distant when they spoke. Gone was the easy friendship they had had and in its place was an uneasy alliance between leaders. One Orrin was unsatisfied with due to Nasuada¡¯s failure to consult him on several matters. She would be spending a lot of time trying to mend that relationship. Among others. Eragon had not been pleased to find out that not only had his liege-lord risked her life without even notifying him, he had also taken her refusal to heal her wounds as an insult as well even if he did express his understanding for the reasoning when she explained her thoughts. Saphira was much less accommodating and straight up called Nasuada a fool¡­but thankfully no one had spread that around or trust in her would have plummeted among the groups not familiar with the tradition of the Trial. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Besides, the Rider pair had their own troubles. The ¡®minor¡¯ one was that Elva, the infant Eragon had ¡®blessed¡¯ on his first appearance in Farthun D?r had confronted him about the compulsion that made her seek to shield others from misfortune at the cost to herself. A hellish existence, especially in the middle of war, that had rapidly advanced her growth till she resembled a child of six years at least instead of the babe she had been mere months ago. To his credit, Eragon was aware of his mistake and had prepared to remove the blessing long before he was confronted by the girl. He was apparently not completely successful and only managed to remove the compulsion to prevent harm from everyone around her while she was still perfectly aware of the suffering, but Elva was satisfied with the result. Nausada was also secretly relieved ¨C much to her own guilt ¨C that she would not lose such an incredibly effective bodyguard as Elva as a result. But the bigger issue the Rider was facing was that his actions during his rescue mission had some drastic consequences. No one had been pleased to discover Eragon had planned to remain behind to buy more time figuring out how to deal with Katrina¡¯s father. While on a personal level Nasuada was pleased Eragon hadn¡¯t simply executed the man, though it would have been well within his rights, as a leader she was incredibly frustrated the Rider they were placing all their hopes on would risk himself over a murderer. If that had been the end of it, Nasuada could have ignored it. But Eragon¡¯s ill-thought actions had allowed a mage from the Empire to sneak up on them and now Alexandria Cross, the single most powerful human mage outside of a Dragon Rider they had ever seen, the leader of a sizeable fraction of the Varden¡¯s magicians and healers, and one of the most terrifying warriors she had ever seen¡­was lost in enemy territory with no way of them knowing what had happened to her. To make things worse the gossip mill had already noted her absence when people noticed her leave with Eragon only to not be seen after he returned. They were placating the rumors as best they could for now while trying to come up with plans how to proceed but nothing they could come up with was very workable without more information. Unlike Eragon and the elves, Alexandria lacked the ability to communicate over large distances and her own defenses prevented other magicians from scrying her. The only consolation was that she was definitely alive because she was still shielded but whether or not she had been captured was unknown. As a result unity between the leaders of the Varden was at an all time low. Eragon had nearly raced off to find the missing mage when she did not follow through the magic circle she had expected them to use. Orrin and some of the other commanders had immediately protested that by pointing out the Empire¡¯s army was still only a few miles away. They needed Eragon as a deterrent, not out on a rescue mission for someone who had repeatedly refused to swear loyalty to the Varden and its allies. Leona, Alexandria¡¯s apprentice, had all but threatened to close the Healer¡¯s Guild to them as a response. Tensions ran incredibly high for a while and Nasuada had to dismiss everyone for the rest of the day lest something be said neither side could take back. She had hoped the next day would be more relaxed but an urgent message from one of their spies in the Empire quickly dashed those hopes. Alexandria had been captured by the enemy and was set to be executed in the city of Feinster in a few days. That news had really put the cat among the pigeons. Eragon had almost immediately demanded to be allowed to take Saphira and fly into what was surely a trap on his own. It was only by the timely arrival of the contingent of elven bodyguards Queen Islanzad¨ª had sent to protect Eragon that had stopped him from running off and that was because they would follow after him even if they had no way to keep up with a flying dragon. Nasuada had relaxed when Bl?dhgarm finally managed to convince her headstrong Rider to abandon his foolish mission only to realize hours later that Eragon had fooled them and had only been drawing everyone¡¯s attention while not only Leona but Arya as well had slipped away from the Varden¡¯s camp heading Northeast. The young leader of the Varden could only despair as two very politically important figures sped off towards a trap, her advisors and companions fought and schemed amongst themselves, and that she herself had no way of quelling the unrest without becoming a tyrant. She could only hope Alexandria was successfully rescued. If only so she would have the pleasure of lecturing the blonde woman for hours about the trouble she caused. Rider 3.6 I muttered several curses as I sped over the landscape. A combination of Haste and Air Walk making the trip over the untamed wilderness almost effortless as I backtracked days worth of travel distance because karma was a bitch. My initial plan had been to keep heading north until I hit the garrison city of Gil¡¯ead, but not only was the city much further away than I expected there was still no guarantee they would have what I was looking for. So I was looking for solid leads anywhere I could find a Rider¡¯s sword and would head there over Gil¡¯ead depending on how good the info was. And in the last town I had stopped in, I had gotten a confirmed lead on the location of a sword¡­in a city down south. If it was just a rumor I might have continued on and investigated it later, but not only had the merchant I had talked to given me a story about how the blade was used as a showpiece by the local lord to cut normal swords in half, he even had a drawing of the thing - well a portrait of the previous lord posed with the sword drawn. But unless a smith had gone out his way to figure out how to stain a normal sword a pale venomous orange I was looking at the genuine article. Which meant if I wanted to actually find the stupid thing I needed to do an immediate about face and double time it in hopes of making up the time I spent wandering the completely wrong direction. A small snarky part of my mind whispered that if I moved fast enough I might be on time to my own execution. Afterall, while Feinster was far away, I was pretty fast when I didn¡¯t need to worry about other people keeping up. -o- ¡°Reason for visiting?¡± A bored guard asked me with the same disinterested tone of someone who had asked the question so many times the individual words no longer held any meaning for him. I had learned from my first disastrous attempt of entering a town. Instead of walking up in my normal outfit and just saying I was passing through, I had taken steps to blend in with the rest of the travelers. A simple brown cloak I had picked up, some random plants hanging from a pack I had made, and a bit of dust and dirt on my face and hands. All that combined with a polite but distant attitude made getting in and out of towns fairly easy. Especially if there was a queue like the one behind me now. ¡°Just here to sell off some medical herbs.¡± I said, idly waving towards the plants. It was a good thing Angela wasn¡¯t here or I would have either been subjected to a long lecture about propagating misinformation or drawn into a vicious debate on what each plant did while trying to act as if I knew what I was talking about. I was knowledgeable about many magical things. Botany was definitely not one of them. I gave myself a little mental shake. Only a few days away from the Varden and I was missing the few friendly faces I had gotten accustomed to. Which was weird because I hadn¡¯t missed Yoruichi or Kisuke like this despite being separated from them in a much more decisive manner. Or maybe it was because of it that I didn¡¯t miss those two as much? Maybe I subconsciously knew I couldn¡¯t meet with them until I fixed my ship, fixed myself, and figured out how to navigate back so I simply didn¡¯t dwell on it? Whatever the reason was, it would have to wait until I wasn¡¯t sitting in the middle of enemy territory. I was able to enter the city with no extra fanfare and started making my way towards the center of the city. Ironically, ¡®my¡¯ upcoming execution was making it a lot easier to move around the city. There were simply too many people around for the city guard to realistically pay much attention to every single new face and since these types of events were supposed to be a combination of warning and entertainment to the people no one would pay me much attention even with my rather travel-worn appearance wandering around the more upper class areas a commoner might normally be chased out of. Stolen novel; please report. Of course, I wasn¡¯t the only one taking advantage of the event for my own ends. Plenty of minor criminals were out trying their luck on the crowds. I had already seen over a dozen pickpockets, thieves, and cut-purses going after those not paying attention, along with some other, much less discrete criminal behavior like snatch-and-grabs, muggings, and one possible kidnapping. Speaking of muggers and kidnappers, I seemed to have picked up a few of those myself. A group of five had been alternating between following me and running ahead while pretending to be interested in other things while they watched which directions I picked so they could follow later. I hid a smile and turned down a dead end alley. I was starting to get hungry and if a bunch of muggers wanted to donate to my dinner fund I wasn¡¯t about to stop them. When I turned around all five of them were blocking the exit with smirks on their faces, smirks that vanished pretty quickly when they realized I was not surprised to see them at all and was suddenly holding a sword I definitely hadn¡¯t had on me when I was walking through the city. ¡°Hello, boys. Here¡¯s how it''s going to work. You drop all the money on you and you get to walk away clean. Anything else and I¡¯m going to have to get a bit rough with you¡­¡± -o- ¡°I¡¯ll have the stew and an ale, please.¡± I cheerfully requested from the tavern waitress as I sat down in one of the more out of the way tables. I was feeling good. The group of muggers had been good stress relief and while they didn¡¯t have a huge amount of money on them, they had enough that I wouldn¡¯t need to worry about paying for food with magically projected coins for a while. My good mood continued when the food was not only freshly made, but rather tasty too. They actually used spices for once. The ale was just an ale though. I probably couldn¡¯t expect much else from a random tavern but it would be nice if I could find a decent drink outside of the dwarves or the elves. While I ate I thought about my main goal here. I needed to figure out how to not only steal from the city lord, but also get out of the city without an army on my heels. My biggest issue was finding the sword in the first place. Just because it was important to me didn¡¯t mean it was important to the current owner. Hell, it could be buried in some storage closet gathering dust for all I knew or it could be in the guy¡¯s bedroom being polished daily. It was likely somewhere in between those two extremes but the point remained, I couldn¡¯t exactly search the entire property for a single object. So step one was to find out where the sword, if it actually existed, was located. Step two was pretty easy, but came with conditions. Steal the thing - and do it unnoticed if possible. I was self aware enough to know that if one of Galbatorix¡¯s pet Riders wasn¡¯t too much of a threat to me, a random guard or hedge magician didn¡¯t have a hope of actually stopping me. The real danger was if word of where I was got back to the king and he decided to drop by with Samuel and Murtagh. I was confident about one Rider. I wasn¡¯t so sure about three. Step three was simply get out of the city and back to the Varden. As much as I would like to continue gallivanting around the Empire I wouldn¡¯t be able to move freely with a Rider¡¯s sword on me. People would notice. Not to mention I needed to go back and make sure no one ran off with the sword I already had. I trusted the people I interacted with among the Varden but I was under no illusions that there were either spies or just greedy people that would take advantage of me not being there to steal my stuff if given the chance. But back to step one of the plan¡­ I needed information. And there were really only two ways to go about getting it. Get hired for a position where I could wander around the manor without anyone looking too closely or find someone who already knew everything about the inside or where the owner kept the sword. The first was possible, but because of the execution scheduled for two days from now no one was really hiring new staff. In fact I would bet money that there were people watching out for newcomers that even tried hoping to catch spies or agents of the Varden. I wasn¡¯t even sure I would be in the city after the execution. Mostly because I knew myself and unless they were punishing an actual criminal and just plastering my name on her, I was probably going to stick my nose into things and helping her escape. I could possibly do that without anyone realizing who I was, but my luck wasn¡¯t that good. I was expecting things to go to hell at some point. So that meant going with the second option and convincing them to help me out within a day. That wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Once again I wished I had the convenience the local spellcasters had. This would be a lot easier if I could read people¡¯s minds or create new spells on the fly instead of needing to work out the proper math. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. I finished my stew, leaned back, and hummed in contentment. Welp, better get started then. -o- My good mood dampened a bit when I left the tavern only to pick up a follower again. Only one so far, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing. If I was going to be mugged again a group usually meant they would lean into intimidation to get what they wanted. Just one person meant they were either skilled, desperate, or just planning on looting a body. And that was only if they were planning on stealing from me and not following for some other reason. From the quick glances I managed to get I couldn¡¯t actually tell what the person was after. They had a cloak on that hid practically everything about them. Okay, I didn¡¯t have time to play with every single person that wanted to stalk me. I ducked into another alley and hid out of sight, a projected dagger falling into my hand at the same time. A little scare wouldn¡¯t hurt them¡­unless they were stupid about it. I waited until the cloaked figure walked past and reached out to grab their shoulder, planning to simply overpower them, shove them into a wall, and demand to know why they were following me. I wasn¡¯t expecting them to throw off my grip, grab my wrist and throw me into the wall instead! My knife slashed up - nothing serious, just enough to give me some space - and bounced off a ward. Shit. Either magician or someone important enough to be protected by one. Options ran through my mind, but most of my defaults were too flashy. I¡¯d have to give myself some time¡­ Or at least I thought I would need to. My brain kinda blanked out when the person spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re looking remarkably free for someone who is supposed to be waiting for their execution.¡± I recognised that voice! ¡°Arya?!¡± Rider 3.7 My brain kinda shut off for a bit while my friend led me through several twists and turns, ducking through alleys and buildings to throw off anyone attempting to follow us. The whole time I was just trying to wrestle with the fact she was here, why was she here?! She was supposed to be making sure the Varden was running smoothly! But despite my brain being locked up for the moment, I was still functional enough to realize demanding answers when we were not in a secure area would be stupid and a waste of time until Arya stopped pulling me along. So I kept quiet until we stepped into a house where Arya locked the door behind us. Must be where she was staying in the city. Though why a house and not an inn or something? ¡°Lady Arya? You¡¯re back early, did something happen?¡± WHY WAS LEONA HERE!? ¡°I was fortunate enough to run into a familiar face that basically completes our task here. And while I haven¡¯t heard the story behind her escape, I decided we needed a secure space before we had a discussion.¡± ¡°A familiar face? Who - Lady Alexandria! Thank the gods you¡¯re safe! When we heard the news¡­everyone was so worried!¡± ¡°Hi Leona, nice to see you too.¡± I replied. ¡°But¡­what are both of you doing here? Shouldn¡¯t you be back with the army?¡± I froze as a thought occurred. ¡°Eragon isn¡¯t here with you, is he?¡± Thankfully Arya shook her head. ¡°He remained behind along with Saphira. The bodyguards my Mother sent were due to arrive and would be honorbound to follow them if they did leave. A group that large would be hard to move around the Empire undetected.¡± That was good then. No need to worry about the Varden¡¯s Rider getting ambushed somewhere while we were talking. Which meant I could get back to the main issue¡­ ¡°Great, but what are both of you doing here?¡± Both women looked at me like I was an idiot. ¡°Alexandria,¡± Arya said slowly. ¡°The Empire announced your execution as far and fast as they could. Did you expect us to not do anything? Even if it was a trap, which it certainly is, did you expect me to leave you at their mercy? When I know exactly how little their torturers possess?¡± I winced at that. I was an idiot apparently. I hadn¡¯t fully considered what news of my capture would mean to my friends. Yes, I expected them to be worried. Yes, I expected them to do something about it - mostly keeping Eragon from running into a trap. But I made assumptions about their behavior because of their responsibilities to the Varden and discounted Arya¡¯s experiences in particular. I didn¡¯t think about how she¡¯d react to me being captured because I hadn¡¯t. I was just running around the Empire doing my own thing, but she probably got flashbacks to her own ambush and captivity and rushed to save me. I¡¯d need to do something to make up for not figuring out how to contact the Varden sooner and letting Arya know I was alright. I¡¯d have to do something nice for Leona too. She¡¯d come a long way from the nervous barely trained witch I¡¯d first met if she was willing to invade a city with only one other person for a rescue mission. ¡°Yeah, okay. That was foolish of me. Thank you both for coming.¡± I said sincerely. Now for the awkward part. ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t leave just yet.¡± Arya cocked an eyebrow. ¡°You have some reason to remain in a city ready to spring a trap set for a Dragon Rider?¡± I nodded and explained the situation. Both of them already knew about my need to hunt down the Brightsteel that was used in Rider¡¯s swords even if I hadn¡¯t explained to them exactly what it would be used for. I told them about the lead I had on one such sword somewhere in the City Lord¡¯s mansion and the issues I had with locating it. Needless to say neither one was particularly thrilled that I was planning to potentially risk my life when I didn¡¯t need to, pointing out I¡¯d have other opportunities to search for swords when a trap wasn¡¯t waiting to spring on anyone, but I was determined. And rather than try to convince me otherwise anyway or drag me back to the Varden, they decided to help me out instead. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Something I was incredibly grateful for since they both proved invaluable soon after. -o- ¡°So there is definitely a magician in there?¡± I asked after Arya had mentally scouted some of the staff in the mansion. Nothing too invasive just yet, mostly just counting how many people were inside and if their thoughts were actually guarded. To my mild surprise, several of the staff were mentally protected one way or another either from training or as Arya had just found out, warded by a magician. ¡°It seems so. Not a very strong one, though. I could easily break the protections, but it would be noticeable.¡± I nodded. ¡°And we want to avoid being noticed as long as possible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s generally the preferred option when planning a theft from someone as influential as a city lord.¡± Arya said dryly, which I ignored. ¡°So we won¡¯t be able to find out where the sword is by going through the servants¡¯ memories without alerting whoever is protecting their minds or the ones trained to protect themselves noticing. Do we try sneaking in? Disguising ourselves somehow?¡± I was shocked when Leona actually laughed at my suggestion. Despite me never caring about how she spoke to me or any of the master/apprentice formalities and often just telling her she could speak normally to me, Leona was always unfailingly deferrant and polite around me. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing, just surprising she did something so uncharacteristic. ¡°S-sorry, I didn¡¯t m-mean to laugh, my Lady.¡± Leona apologized, still laughing. ¡°I-it¡¯s just¡­the thought of y-you and Lady Arya trying to blend in with a bunch of servants¡­hahaha¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve gone undercover before!¡± I retorted, feeling strangely defensive. Arya must have agreed because she nodded at my words. ¡°As have I. Disguising myself as a human is well within my abilities.¡± Leona just giggled some more and pointed a finger at Arya. ¡°That is what I mean. The way you speak and present yourselves just makes it impossible to imagine either of you as a simple servant. Both of you draw the eye too easily.¡± The corner of my lip twitched into an almost smile as she managed to make being called ¡®pretty¡¯ into an insult and sound completely sincere at the same time. ¡°That still leaves us without a way forward.¡± I pointed out. Leona shook her head and stood up. ¡°You and Lady Arya are too eye-catching. I can blend in perfectly fine. If the sword is famous enough that there are portraits of it, some general questions won¡¯t be too suspicious. Let me investigate on my own. We can plan more afterward.¡± I didn¡¯t like her going off on her own. Out of the three of us, she was the one most in danger if she was caught by herself but after a short argument I gave in. As she pointed out, no one would be looking for Leona specifically and Arya would be keeping an eye out for her as best she could. I¡¯d just have to trust them. Of course, that immediately left me and Arya with nothing to do. And while I could spend hours or even days focused on something if I needed to¡­I got bored easily without something to hold my attention. ¡°Say Arya¡­while we¡¯re here, do you want to give the Empire and a certain annoying Rider a black eye before we leave?¡± -o- Two days wasn¡¯t a huge amount of time to do research about a person scheduled to be executed, but unlike the City Lord¡¯s mansion, there were simply too many people involved for every detail about the prisoner for everything to be suppressed. The same thing had been true when Arya was imprisoned. Nobody not under the Shade Durza¡¯s command might have been allowed to see her, but people definitely knew she was there. And it was the same for my stand-in, though many of them simply assumed the slender, blonde haired man was being used as a lure for Varden agents and not supposed to be me. Everyone just assumed I was really being held elsewhere. From there it was pretty simple to figure out the background of the stand-in because no one was trying to hide it. He obviously wasn¡¯t me, so why would they? My first idea was to rescue him and embarrass the Empire by parading that fact around during the execution time. Unfortunately, it was really hard to justify rescuing a serial killer that made a habit of stalking young girls, killing them, and keeping a collection of their severed hands. This was the kind of criminal I had no problem getting a death penalty and was a little surprised he wasn¡¯t simply killed when he was captured, but it turned out Samuel was behind that too. In fact according to one Guard Captain Christopher Paolini the killer would have been unceremoniously hanged days ago if the Rider hadn¡¯t arrived and co-opted the criminal for his own purposes. So a rescue attempt was out of the question, which was probably a good thing since doing so would definitely have triggered a few traps that were no doubt set up around the whole event but that did mean we¡¯d need to come up with another way to rub Samuel¡¯s failure in the Empire¡¯s face. Arya and I traded some ideas back and forth, mostly to kill time waiting for Leona to come back or signal for assistance, with some ideas (mostly mine) getting so intricate and ridiculous that I wasn¡¯t sure they were possible without a perfectly coordinated army spread out over the city and a few weeks of preparation. It was fun though, and it kept my mind off of Leona being off on her own. And eventually my patience was rewarded, because not only did we come up with a reasonable plan that satisfied my desire to humiliate Samuel but it also was considered safe enough that we didn¡¯t expect to have to fight our way out of the city, Leona came back with information about the sword! ¡°And it¡¯s just in his sitting room?¡± I repeated for clarification. Because a big part of me was expecting it to be hidden away rather than just out in the open. ¡°It is. The servants I talked to mentioned the Lord is obsessed with it. He makes them polish the thing several times a day when he isn¡¯t busy with other matters. Honestly, once I got one or two of them complaining about the thing, the rest practically couldn¡¯t resist joining in.¡± Leona smiled smugly. And she deserved to. She had basically single handedly made the whole reason I was here a trivial matter. Either Arya or I could sneak by in the night and swipe the sword. It might not be the most subtle plan in the world but it would work. Ironically, it would actually be easier with most of the city¡¯s security focused on either the bait or the Lord himself. There simply weren¡¯t enough trustworthy people to cover everything and guard a room where the most valuable thing in it was a sword that was more of a trophy than weapon at this point. ¡°Well done then.¡± I praised her. ¡°Then all that leaves is our exit strategy once we crash the execution. But we can talk more about that in the morning. Right now I just want dinner. Anyone opposed?¡± ¡°The pantry has plenty of ingredients stocked. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to whip something up, is there something in particular you wanted, my Lady?¡± Leona asked. I had a sudden idea. ¡°Let me see what we have, because I have a recipe I¡¯d love to share with the two of you now that I have access to an actual kitchen.¡± I¡¯d been craving pizza for a while now. And this seemed like a perfect opportunity to share the recipe with friends. Rider 3.8 It was weird to see how much of the city turned out for the execution. Intellectually, I knew events like this were used as much of a celebration as a warning and punishment for cultures like the Empire. A way of showing the ability of the government to remove threats to their citizens and punish/scare criminals with the threat that if they stepped beyond a line they would be next. But it was incredibly disturbing to see a bunch of young children urging their parents to get closer to the execution platform so they could ''get a look at the witch before her head was lopped off'' with big smiles on their faces. I don''t think they fully understood what getting your head cut off meant just yet, but it made me viscerally uncomfortable. It also made me glad for the fact that Arya and Leona were elsewhere getting ready to steal the sword for me. I don''t know how I would have reacted if they approved of what was happening here, even if it was a show execution and the victim was a serial killer. I knew them well enough to know they probably wouldn''t. But that niggling doubt was enough to make me glad I didn''t need to find out just the same. The crowd quieted down as someone walked onto the platform and I shoved my thoughts aside to focus on him since it seemed things were starting. I only paid attention for a little bit when it became clear this was more of a ''rah, rah, the Empire is so great'' kind of speech rather than anything informative or interesting. Most of it boiled down to propaganda and various crimes I had supposedly committed to make sure everyone knew how evil I was. And while it was a little fun to see what the Empire was trying to pin on me, it obviously wasn''t going to be the last speech because my stunt double hadn''t been brought out yet. While I listened to the speaker I mentally dismissed one of my projections, a simple ring I had left with Arya and Leona, to let them know they could get started on the heist. The big trap for any Varden agents trying to rescue ''me'' was in swing. The city guard couldn''t just drop that to deal with simple thieves no matter how much the city lord loved that sword so the only resistance they should run into were the people in the manor. And a few maids and servants weren''t much of a threat to Leona let alone Arya. They would be fine. Now for the hard part. Listening to pro-Galbatorix and Samuel drivel without objecting to the obvious white-washing going on. -o- Luckily for my sanity I didn''t actually need to stand in one place and watch every second to keep an eye on things. After an hour or two, I wandered over to a street vendor to get something to eat while keeping half an ear out for any major disturbances in the crowd. Nothing fancy, just some grilled meat skewers. On the way back I started eavesdropping on random conversations just to see what the random citizens thought about everything. Unsurprisingly, most of them were all for the execution of a Varden agent. They were dangerous rebels afterall, and many of the people here had family in the army. Family that I might have killed in the last battle and they were eager for a bit of revenge. That¡­was actually a little hard to listen to. After Farthun D?r I had come to terms with the fact I would never really know how many people I killed in battle simply because of how widespread my attacks could be¡­or at least I thought I had. Listening to three different groups of women wondering if I had killed their sons/husbands and hoping I suffered in whatever hell I ended up in was¡­a lot harder to listen to. I took a bite of my skewer and pushed those feelings aside for later. Up on the stage things seemed to be moving along. The speaker had shuffled off while a group of men stacked a bunch of - oh, they were setting up a pyre. I shuddered at the sight of one of the most painful, least efficient execution methods in history. The victim could burn for hours and not die because surprise surprise, people weren''t actually flammable and could survive quite a lot if their organs were intact. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. But I guess Samuel had decided to go with a lasting spectacle. Or maybe a sick joke. They called me the Sun Witch so burn the witch, I guess? I shook my head and focused as the bastard himself walked onto the stage and cast a spell to let his voice be heard by everyone in the square. "Hello, people of Feinster. Today we rid the world of a great evil. A witch that selfishly used her powers to join the Varden rebels and killed many of your husbands, sons, and friends." I scowled in annoyance as the crowd cheered for the hypocritical bastard. "But you don''t need to fear her anymore! After an intense battle, I, Samuel, First of the New Dragon Riders, defeated and captured the Sun Witch and have brought her before you to face justice for her crimes!" The crowd roared again and more men escorted my struggling double up to the pyre and tied him to the stake. I noticed his hair was the same length and color mine was and despite the thrashing he wasn''t actually screaming. Obviously Samuel had used magic to sell his bait and keep them quiet despite being the opposite gender but even from a distance I could see enough obvious differences that he probably didn''t put too much effort into it. ¡­or just wasn''t skilled enough to make it more convincing since that wasn''t something simply throwing more power at could really fix. Either or. "King Galbatorix mercifully offered this witch the opportunity to serve the kingdom and make up for her crimes, but she refused, so the only answer we can give is DEATH! Bring up the torches!" We were rapidly approaching the point where I wasn''t comfortable sitting back and watching anymore. Executing a serial killer? Fine by me. Dressing up said serial killer as another person so you could execute them after presumably killing that person by dropping a mountain on them? I could see a few arguments for it. Dragging things out to make it painful instead of a quick death? Not okay. If you wanted a showy execution there were plenty of other options. I sighed as the first few tongues of flame caught on the pyre and left to find a more open spot to crash the party from. Arya and Leona should be done by now anyway. It took a bit of effort to escape the crowds and jump up to the rooftops. From there I projected my bow and thought about what to use for the arrows. As much as I would have loved to hit Samuel in the face with a Nova Blast or a Noble Phantasm arrow¡­no one was going to ignore a giant glowing yellow spell circle popping up out of nowhere for the few minutes it took to prepare the spell and the last time I tried projecting a NP it felt like my nerves had been dipped in battery acid. So those were out, but I still had plenty of other options even if they weren''t nearly as powerful. I formed what was going to be the core of my weapon, a lance with an enchantment that allowed it to thrust forward faster than should be possible. Then I attached smaller, thinner blades with fire enchantments all around the shaft in places where it wouldn''t catch on the bow itself. The idea was simple. A technically two-stage missile with multiple explosives on it to give it a bigger kick than any single weapon I could project at this moment. Then, just to be cheeky, I made a replica of the sword Samuel had left behind during our first fight and had it hover next to me while I drew back the bow. The sword shot forward with a mental nudge and plunged into the chest of the my disguised duplicate just as the flames started to lick at his ankles. It was morbidly hilarious how quickly everyone fell silent when they had been screaming for an execution, but when they got a much quicker one they felt scared. No matter. I waited just long enough for Samuel to recognize the sword before releasing my arrow. The improvised missile cracked the air and shot off towards the enemy Rider. People screamed and ran away in panic as the execution stand was engulfed in a massive explosion. A part of me hoped that the surprise attack was enough to get rid of the jackass, but I wasn''t that lucky. Sure enough, Samuel survived to claw his way out of the rubble looking worse for wear but still alive. "WHO DARES?!" He roared, voice amplification spell still active. Well, there was my cue. "HI, SAMMY BOY! DID YOU MISS ME?" "CROSS!" "Yep! Still alive!" "I dropped a mountain on your head! How?! How did you escape that?!" I smiled. Samuel was making this too easy for me. "That''s my little secret, just like how your''s was executing a serial killer disguised as me as a publicity stunt!" I looked at the remains of the pyre that had been scattered by the explosion. "Though it looks like I stole the kill from you there. Sorry!" I wasn''t sorry. There were a bunch of different reactions from the crowd that still hadn''t run off. Some continued running, hoping to get away from the whole mess. Some tried hiding in buildings or behind objects scattered around. And others just sort of froze in place. My favorite were the ones that were just glaring at Samuel now that they realized he had been lying to them. "And guess what! You get to explain to Galbatorix that you''re not only a fuckup, but the whole kingdom is going to know you''re one too!" Samuel paled at the reminder that this whole trap was based on his assumption I was dead. An assumption he had probably used to deflect some of the blame Galbatorix heaped on him for not only failing to capture Eragon and Saphira at the Burning Plains or at Helgrind, but also allowing the Ra''zac to be killed as well. "I-it doesn''t matter!" He stuttered. "As long as you die here nothing will change!" My smile turned mocking. "Die here? I''ve got better things to do. Have fun explaining this fuck up to the Mad King. I''m sure he''ll be very understanding!" With that I turned and jumped off the roof, hitting the ground at a sprint and headed for my exit strategy. "Running away?! COWARD!" I laughed as I ran down the street. As if deciding not to fight an entire city on my own was cowardice. And while my own estimation of my intelligence had taken a hit recently, I still wasn''t stupid enough to think Samuel wouldn''t use every soldier, magician, and even civilian as a tool to take me down. Not when failure meant dealing with the madman he decided to join and whatever consequences that meant. And leaving him to crawl back to Galbatorix with absolutely nothing to show for his efforts was worse than anything I could do in the short time I had before I had a bunch of pursuers on my tail. It didn''t take me long to backtrack to the pre prepared alley I''d blocked off with a simple Bounded Field that kept anyone from getting too close. There wasn''t much there ¨C just a simple teleportation circle like I had used to infiltrate the Seireitei, already configured to send me several miles east away from the city. But simple was all I needed. I gave one last sarcastic salute back towards the execution platform where I could feel the rhythmic spikes of air pressure from a dragon''s wings and activated the circle. It glowed for a second and then in a flash, I was somewhere else. A quick look around later and I was relieved to see both Arya and Leona heading towards me looking perfectly unscathed. I was even happier to see that they were successful in stealing the sword from the mansion, going by the package in Leona''s arms. Two down, one to go. Rider 3.9 We were able to slip back into the army with very little fanfare. Something I was grateful for because after getting a taste of how it felt to walk through a town without practically every person staring at me or whispering behind my back about one thing or another, I don¡¯t know if I was ready to deal with all of that again so soon. Especially when a messenger tracked me down at my personal tent to let me know I was being summoned to a meeting first thing in the morning by Nasuada and the rest of the Varden¡¯s leadership. Which was¡­fine. I got it, they wanted to know what happened and where I was. But all I really wanted to do was hide out in my tent and spend more time working on how to break the enchantments on the Rider swords I had. Now that I almost had all the material I needed, this was starting to become more important because even if I got my hands on more brightsteel it would be useless if I couldn¡¯t actually form it. Unfortunately Rhun?n was really damn good at what she did and the elven smith had made the damn things nearly unbreakable in a way that wouldn¡¯t cause issues and leave the metal still usable. For instance, I could douse the blades in dragon fire for a few days and eventually the enchantments would fail, but I really doubted Saphira would agree to sit still doing nothing but heating up a few slivers of metal for that long without a good reason. And anything else I could think of either involved dissolving the blades in something or blowing them up with enough force to break the spells on them. Neither was really practical since I had no idea how to go about extracting metal from a solution with middle-age tech and searching for slivers of metal in a crater didn¡¯t sound fun. I sighed and once again wished I had talked more with the smith when I had the chance. But I had other things to do at the time and Rhun?n was also a notoriously prickly bitch. There was no telling how the forger of all the Rider¡¯s swords would react to me asking how to erase her best works even if she had literally taken a magically enforced oath to never make another after the last war. Artists were temperamental like that. Nothing for it, I would just have to keep trying until I managed. And if I was really lucky, I¡¯d be able to get a solution that would let me disenchant a sword midfight. The thought of finally dealing with Samuel after turning whatever sword he ended up with as a replacement and turning it to scrap gave me warm fuzzy feelings. So instead of getting to work, I gave my work table one look of longing before slipping into bed. If I was going to spend tomorrow dealing with political meetings I could at least be well rested for them. -o- ¡°...and then I met up with Arya and Leona and we made our way back here.¡± I finished narrating my unplanned adventure to the group. The usual group was here. Nasuada, King Orrin, J?rmundur, and a few other advisors. And of course Arya was here as the Elvish representative. Eragon and his new group of bodyguards were absent though. I wondered what he was up to¡­ Orrin leaned forward. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that you abandoned your duties and the Varden on a whim to galavant around the Empire?¡± He said with barely contained anger. I was a little taken aback by the tone, and I could see I wasn¡¯t the only one. ¡°I took advantage of an unexpected setback to pursue my own goals, King Orrin.¡± I said formally but as evenly as I could. ¡°I wasn¡¯t taking a vacation for the fun of it.¡± ¡°But you did desert us the very moment you had an opportunity.¡± I bristled at the insult. In fact I wasn¡¯t the only one. Both Arya and Nasuada looked ready to object but were holding back for now. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Two things, your Majesty.¡± I snarled. ¡°First, I did not ever actually join the Varden, only offered my support, so I literally could not desert. Second, I came back immediately after getting my prize instead of searching for another. Something I remember several people here promising to help with yet failed to deliver anything beyond vague rumors.¡± Some of the advisors shifted awkwardly at that, well aware that there were at least a few Rider swords in Surda yet no one had given me a location for one yet. ¡°Another issue we need to address. I¡¯ve withheld commentary until now, but I find it unpalatable that one of the most recognizable members of our army is in fact not a member of any organizations that make it up.¡± My scowl stayed on my face. ¡°We¡¯ve had this discussion before.¡± He nodded. ¡°We have. And at the time we were happy to leave you as a mercenary if that was what you wanted,¡± I had to hold back a scoff, they were anything but happy, ¡°but that was before your little adventure. It¡¯s a good thing you are who you are, Lightbringer, and that you came back on your own, otherwise we¡¯d have executed you for desertion.¡± ¡°Orrin, have you lost your mind!?¡± Nasuada exclaimed in outrage. ¡°We would have revolts if we even suggested such a thing!¡± ¡°And we would have just as many problems if warriors think they can do whatever they want because they are powerful!¡± Orrin snapped back. ¡°We¡¯ve already had to execute some deserters. Or lash the ones that returned without a fight.¡± J?rmundur ¡®helpfully¡¯ added. ¡°Common warriors, not a woman hailed as a hero by most of the army!¡± ¡°A woman that is not even a part of that army.¡± ¡°Alexandria is no more part of the Varden than I am.¡± Arya jumped in. ¡°Are you going to take issue with my departure as well?¡± Orrin looked like he swallowed a lemon and several advisors broke out into concerned muttering. ¡°Of course not, Lady Arya.¡± He admitted. ¡°But you are acting as Ambassador to your mother¡¯s will. Alexandria does not have that excuse. Your actions are not the same.¡± ¡°What do you want then, Orrin?¡± I demanded, tired of this whole thing and not feeling particularly respectful. ¡°Either you are punished for desertion to show no one is above our laws,¡± Nasuada, Arya, and even J?rmundur were about to protest again but paused as the king continued. ¡°Or that you properly swear fealty to one of our camps.¡± I had to admit, as annoying as this was, it wasn¡¯t exactly unsurprising for Orrin to pull something like this. Despite being King of Surda and supplying most of the army¡¯s current needs, he was constantly being overshadowed by Nasuada and it was obvious it was getting to the man. Even if it was clear he didn¡¯t want to run the entire war getting looked over by everyone to a teenage woman had to grate on his pride quite a bit. His solution? Be the one that finally forces the Lightbringer to bend the knee and join the Varden. A prize so attractive that Nasuada didn¡¯t immediately speak out against it. Something she rushed to correct when she noticed me glance at her but the damage was done. Everyone else had noticed her pause as well. There was quite a bit of yelling after that - mostly from the advisors once they felt it was safe enough with everyone distracted. But like I said, I was tired of this whole thing. I stood suddenly and almost instantly there was silence. ¡°I¡¯ve made my refusal to join the Varden very clear several times now and that won¡¯t change here.¡± I declared to the group. ¡°And I refuse to submit myself to some unearned punishment to soothe your ego, Orrin. If you want me punished, find someone capable of forcing me. I¡¯m done here.¡± And with that I walked out of the tent, ignoring Nasuada¡¯s calls for me to wait. -o- I didn¡¯t immediately head back to my tent. For one, I didn¡¯t want to be bothered by anyone until everybody cooled off. And secondly, the only thing to do there was tinker with the various experiments I kept there. Several of which were potentially explosive if handled wrong. And considering I might be tempted to start throwing things at the moment? Much safer for everyone around me if I didn¡¯t touch those until later. Instead I decided to just sort of wander around the camp and take in some of the changes I¡¯ve made while considering future paths open to me. The biggest, most obvious change I introduced was the idea of generic mystic codes that any magic user could use with a bit of training.. Every once in a while I would see a magician with two or three of the things hanging from a belt. Most of them were still the same healing codes I introduced, but Leona had told me entire groups were popping up dedicated to creating their own codes with custom spells if they could. And I was excited to see where they ended up. It was also proof I was going to leave a lasting mark on this world far beyond anything I intended. Between the codes and the Healer¡¯s Guild, that was obvious. But at the same time I was making enemies. I still hadn¡¯t resolved anything about the dwarven clan that declared a blood feud with me - unsurprising considering I hadn¡¯t really spent much time in an area where they could get to me - but at some point that was going to have to be resolved. And that was probably going to be a headache and a half now that King Orrin was trying to throw his political weight around and Nasuada was proving to not be the solid ally I¡¯d prefer. I didn¡¯t really blame her though. The power difference between us was enough to make any normal person nervous. I recognized that. Only a few short years ago I was practically tiptoeing around Yoruichi and Kisuke because of how dangerous they were. It wasn¡¯t until I could fight close to their level and a good amount of time interacting with them as friends and colleagues that the relaxed facade I used around them changed into something more real. Nasuada was feeling the same thing I did about being trapped in the same room with a 400 pound tiger, and unlike me, she wasn¡¯t narrowing the power gap. Orrin giving her a legitimate way to get some sort of leash on me would have been incredibly tempting. Though it spoke well of her character that she didn¡¯t push the advantage despite what she might have wanted to do. But between the political problems from the Varden and the mess dealing with the Az Sweldn rak Anh?in was going to cause¡­did I still want to see the war play out to the end? Samuel had to go, so I was definitely committed as long as he was still alive. But after that? Maybe try to find a way to free Murtagh and Thorn from Galbatorix¡¯s control or otherwise remove them from the war, set Eragon up so he was better prepared to deal with the Mad King, and start planning how I was going to split from the Varden without things devolving into a fight or shattering the army¡¯s morale when I decided to leave. Not exactly how I thought this little adventure was going to shape up honestly. I rolled my shoulders and shoved my depressing thoughts to the side. I wasn¡¯t going to let politics completely ruin my day. I should go bother Angela and see what she¡¯s up to. Yeah, that was a much better idea than getting caught up in my head about things that hadn¡¯t even happened yet. Maybe I would actually win an argument with her today. Rider 3.10 Tensions between me and most of the Varden¡¯s leadership stayed high since that one meeting despite Nasuada and a few others trying to smooth things over. But Orrin had made his ultimatum and his position didn¡¯t really allow him to backtrack without throwing his pride away, something the man seemed unwilling to do, and I wasn¡¯t going to let others decide what I could or could not do just because they wanted to feel like they had some control of me. So in the end I simply spent most of my time working on personal projects or with the Healer¡¯s Guild documenting how to introduce and improve all the ideas we had come up with on creating the Guild in the first place. I figured it would be good to have if I ever needed to repeat the whole process elsewhere and they wanted to eventually expand across the entire continent. It was also a good way to fill the time as we marched to our next target ¨C ironically we were headed back to Feinster, the same city I had humiliated Samuel in. That wasn¡¯t to say that things were uneventful though. Roran had finally managed to marry Katrina and I had been invited as a guest. Not that I was involved much beyond most of the former Carvahall villagers making sure to stop by and thank me for helping Roran and Eragon rescue her. It was actually a very refreshing experience simply because outside of those thanks, the villagers were more focused on the newly wed couple and Eragon so I managed to simply sit off to the side and enjoy the sights and sounds of a genuinely happy event. Something of a rarity at the moment. I even managed to play a prank on Roran by giving him a ¡®potion¡¯ that would help him during the wedding night that had both him and Katrina almost glow red in embarrassment, much to the amusement of the villagers. Even funnier was when several girls including Katrina cornered me asking for a similar potion only for me to reveal it was just a potion that made the drinker feel warm. That was it. I almost pulled something laughing at the looks Roran got that day. It seemed that no matter the setting people were still nosey as fuck about what went on in someone else¡¯s bedroom. And apparently Roran now had a reputation. Well, another reputation anyway. Because he was the next one to run into the wonderful world that was politics. Eragon was sent back east to try and speed up the election for the next Dwarven king or queen, something I only knew because Saphira wanted someone to complain to about being forced to separate from her Rider for such a long time. For everyone else, Eragon would simply be a bit more reclusive as one of his new elven guards would act as a body double. While that was going on, Roran went out with the Varden on a few assignments and actually did fairly well for himself. Managing to complete a mission despite running into Galbatorix¡¯s weapons, soldiers that had been magically altered to feel no pain making them remarkably similar to zombies where only headshots or bleeding out would put them down. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was after that, that Roran had the twin misfortunes of a commanding officer that couldn¡¯t handle the slightest challenge to his orders or authority without handing out punishment and needing to completely disregard the man¡¯s orders to not only save his captain¡¯s life but the entire group. Roran not only saved his men from being wiped out but also almost single handedly killed nearly two hundred Empire soldiers. And Captain Edric had him arrested for insubordination almost immediately after. I didn¡¯t hear about it until it was over, but Roran cooperated with the arrest, was brought before the Varden¡¯s leaders, and was given the option of 30 lashes and a discharge from the Varden or 50 and that would be the end of it. Roran took 50, and was almost immediately given command of a mixed group of Urgals and Humans and sent on another raid. And I¡¯ll admit, I almost decided to storm up to Nasuada and rip into her for that decision. I¡¯d be the first to admit I didn¡¯t have much of a connection with Roran, but I considered Eragon a friend - if not a very close one. But still, I felt like I should at least look out for his friends and family when I could. The fact that his cousin was punished so harshly without me even knowing about it until it was too late to do anything made me feel like I failed that friendship. It was only Angela pointing out how much extra trouble me publicly arguing with Nasuada would cause when she stopped by to inform me of the whipping incident and that she had been instructed to heal Roran quite a bit before he left and the fact Edric was no longer a captain and likely wouldn¡¯t ever be one again that stopped me. It also helped that Roran seemed to thrive in his new role. Not only did he do well commanding his new soldiers, he even played a vital role in integrating the Urgals to the Varden as a whole. Not easy when they had a reputation for barbarism and in many cases lived up to the stereotypes. But with a leader both the Varden and the Urgals respected, many of those issues were being resolved simply because the Urgals would follow ¡®Stronghammer¡¯ for his strength and the men would follow the cousin of a Dragon Rider that managed to command what they considered savages. Probably not the best thing to base interspecies relations on, but if it got them through the siege and later the rest of the war I doubted many would care. And speaking of sieges, there was a slight knock outside before Arya made her way into my tent to update me on what preliminary plans to expect since we were only about a day away from Feinster at this point. It was nothing super surprising, instead of directly helping with the siege my job was to keep an eye out for either enemy Dragon Rider to show up and handle them as best I could. The worst case scenario would be me fighting both of them at once but I didn¡¯t think that was too likely. The elves had also started making their way down south out of their forest and if Galbatorix planned on seriously confronting them at all he would need to send one of his Riders to face them. There was really just one problem. ¡°Any news about Eragon and Saphira?¡± I asked my friend. Because, naturally, Eragon had to make things complicated. Not only had he been attacked while the next Dwarven leader was being decided by the Az Sweldn rak Anh?in - which is why Saphira had left to join him - he had also sent a message back saying he was going to Ellesm¨¦ra to briefly meet with Oromis. And while I ¡®knew¡¯ he was going to do that, it was still hugely inconvenient trying to plan around him when I didn¡¯t remember when he would make it back to the Varden. He better have at least gotten me some of the brightsteel he dug up to make up for the headache. ¡°They¡¯ve left the forest, but we have no idea how long it will take them to arrive.¡± Arya responded. I nodded. ¡°Hopefully they get here within a few days, because both Murtagh and Samuel being in Feinster would be disastrous. I can fight them off easily enough, but I can¡¯t be in two places at once and their dragons are a huge mobility advantage.¡± ¡°You¡¯re assuming both of them will be there?¡± ¡°No, but hope for the best, plan for the worst, you know?¡± ¡°True. And I suppose the only thing worse would be if Galbatorix himself came to face us.¡± Arya mused to which I disagreed. ¡°I¡¯d actually consider that one of the better scenarios.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d have a chance of killing him away from his seat of power and then I could focus more of my time on getting the materials I need to leave.¡± Arya looked surprised. ¡°You truly think you could kill the Mad King alone?¡± I shrugged and gave her a small smile. ¡°Maybe not alone, but I think I¡¯d have a pretty good chance. I finally managed to heal myself enough to have access to some of my more powerful weapons.¡± I¡¯d finally hit the point where I could Trace Noble Phantasms again. Even if I was restricted to anything considered D tier or lower, the fact that I could Trace any of the anti-dragon weapons I suddenly had access to again was a massive trump card. One Samuel and Galbatorix would find particularly unpleasant, I hoped. ¡°Even if you could manage it, I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t attempt to do such a thing alone.¡± Arya said seriously. ¡°It¡¯s not worth the risk.¡± I simply agreed with her and promised I wouldn¡¯t intentionally face Galbatorix on my own and then changed the subject. There were only a few hours left before we would be up to our necks in another battle, and I wanted to spend them not thinking about serious things for the moment. Rider 3.11 It was a little concerning how quickly you could tune out the sound of people dying, I thought as I listened to a Varden captain outlining the situation and orders to various sergeants. For the entire day we had been besieging Feinster¡¯s walls and unfortunately for us, the Empire¡¯s soldiers were doing a pretty good job of keeping us out. Their magicians had managed to stop me from blowing a hole in the walls three separate times and even counterattacked the third time viciously enough that Nasuada suggested I hold back until we could pinpoint and eliminate them. I agreed since Samuel was likely here providing them with the raw power needed to hold me off. This would be the fourth time we faced each other and while I considered myself in the lead so far, I think both of us were planning on only one of us walking away alive this time. So I was being a lot more careful in this battle then I had in the past. Instead of announcing to the entire battlefield where I was with a rain of swords and giant glowing death beams, I was acting as probably the most terrifying sniper the Empire had never seen. With my regained ability to trace D rank Noble Phantasms I had swapped from using projected arrows to modified swords. And while D rank wasn¡¯t too impressive, three feet of steel with properties for cutting through magic defenses made for excellent arrows for hunting down any magician or officer that dared show their face without them ever knowing where it came from. Though even with their leadership constantly getting picked off and morale in the dirt, the soldiers were still managing to hold the walls. ¡°They are being remarkably resilient, don¡¯t you think?¡± Angela commented from my side, twirling her fancy dual-bladed staff though she really wasn¡¯t here to fight. For the most part she was assisting with the triage stations the Healer¡¯s Guild had scattered around the battlefield. ¡°I wonder how much of that is because they are defending their home and how much is because of Galbatorix¡¯s forced oaths?¡± ¡°Probably a mix of both,¡± I muttered as I put another projectile through the head of a soldier attempting to rally the men around him. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they simply couldn¡¯t surrender or flee unless every superior officer was killed or surrendered themselves.¡± ¡°And how long are you going to skulk around in the background? Usually you like making yourself look like a lighthouse and making magicians panic over how much magic you can use.¡± I chuckled at the witch. ¡°Ah, can¡¯t do that until we figure out where that Rider is hiding. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he decided to attack a completely different flank than where I set up while every magician in the city tried to exhaust me before he would commit to another fight.¡± Angela gave me a look and opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a messenger running up to us with news from the frontline directly in front of us. The Empire was sallying out to destroy the siege equipment the Varden had set up. Things like the ladders and battering rams that would make taking the city a hundred times more bloody if they were allowed. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was the orders of one of the more competent Empire officers or a probe by Samuel, but either way I wasn¡¯t going to just let them do what they wanted. After thanking the messenger and splitting up from Angela as she disappeared somewhere into the army I found a slightly raised section of earth that let me see the group of soldiers pouring out of one of the wall¡¯s smaller gates and pulled back the string of my bow. Thanks to my sniping efforts, any badge or mark signaling the leader of the group had been removed but after watching for a bit it wasn¡¯t hard to spot the one in charge. He was the one who they all followed when he pointed out a direction. So he was my first target as I lined up the modified sword to his breastplate. Half a second to aim, then release. A perfect shot. Only for the arrow to fucking bounce off the armor somehow. I hissed out a curse and snapped off three more arrows. One more at the leader and two at random soldiers only for them all to deflect off, even the ones that hit bare skin. Samuel must have done something to this group then. Probably something like putting so much power into the wards an arrow wasn¡¯t enough to break through before it deflected. And to make things worse, the soldiers were just about to hit our own lines. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I bit out another curse, dismissed my bow, and ran towards the front while Bakuya and Kanshou fell into my hands. Yes it was going to give away my position, but you couldn¡¯t win a battle by playing everything safe. If Samuel was going to use this as a distraction I could only hope the group of elves under Arya could hold him off long enough for me to chase him down. With that in mind I ignited a yellow spell-circle under my foot that launched me to the front of the Empire¡¯s charge just as they surged over the line of spearmen trying to hold them back. Black and white flashed as my twin swords lashed out and thankfully whatever magic Samuel had used to protect his soldiers from my arrows wasn¡¯t enough to protect them from my blades. Three soldiers were taken out of the fight before they could even realize what had happened as I cut the head off the leader I had spotted earlier, stabbed another through the heart, and lopped off the arm of one more before he could stab a Varden soldier instead. ¡°It¡¯s the Sun Witch!¡± Several soldiers screamed and turned to face me. Something I was fine with since it gave the Varden more time to regroup. ¡°Abandon the mission, kill her!¡± Well, it was nice to be appreciated I guess. But even with some fancy wards, they were simply too outmatched. Not to mention outnumbered now that the Varden men were forming up behind me. Whatever soldiers that were funneled towards me by my allies¡¯ spears were pretty quickly cut down until there was only a third of the force that sallied out of the walls. At that point I gradually began to fall back and let the soldiers deal with the heavy lifting. The Empire¡¯s troops no longer had any chance of breaking through which meant I could try reaching out to the web of magicians we had across the battlefield for any sign of Samuel making an appearance. But as the sun slowly lowered on the horizon and no sign of a dragon, it became clear that Samuel wasn¡¯t going to show his face today. And so ended the first day of the siege. -o- ¡°Good you¡¯re here.¡± Nasuada greeted as I pushed aside the flap to the command tent. ¡°Were there any new issues on your front?¡± My relationship with the Varden¡¯s leadership might have been strained after Orrin¡¯s stunt, but the middle of a battlefield where hundreds could die because of one mistake wasn¡¯t the place to hold a grudge. So by unspoken agreement Nasuada and I decided to ignore the issue until later. ¡°They¡¯ve started spreading out wards that can deflect my arrows to the more important officers that remain on the wall I was at, but not anywhere else when I tested a different section. Unless I spend the entire day running from one end of the city to the other I¡¯m probably not going to be able to pick them off as easily.¡± I mentioned while I scanned the rough map detailing the siege. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t look much different than the one I had seen the night before, so I wasn¡¯t the only one that had nothing to show for a day¡¯s worth of battle. Though if I had to look on the bright side, neither did the Empire. There were several mutters and grunts from the surrounding advisors that showed they were just as pleased with that news as I was. An enemy without leadership or morale was much easier to wear down or even convince to surrender. And there were a lot fewer people willing to step up and lead when a magic steel arrow(sword) would come out of nowhere the moment you were noticed leading. ¡°Impenetrable gates, magic resistant walls, and now arrow proof soldiers.¡± One of them grumbled. ¡°And their Dragon Rider is still hiding in the shadows. Is it even possible to take the city?¡± J?rmundur looked at the man. ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged just yet. We may not have made much progress but it has only been a single day. The rams may still break through tomorrow.¡± ¡°We could also send agents to open the gates from the inside.¡± Arya commented. ¡°A small team could scale the walls and reach the mechanisms, allowing the army to enter the city.¡± It wasn¡¯t exactly a novel idea, but it was a pretty good one. The biggest issue would be slipping the infiltrators in without having them immediately swarmed by soldiers. That meant they needed to slip past any wards the enemy magicians put up, reach the mechanism, and then survive long enough to escape or link up with the army storming the gate. Criteria that only fourteen people in the army met. Me, Arya, and Eragon¡¯s twelve bodyguards. ¡°No, we can¡¯t afford risking the elves in a mission like that.¡± Nasuada eventually denied after some thought. ¡°All of you are our only counter to Samuel and his dragon until Eragon returns. It¡¯s risky enough scattering you throughout the army to fend them off for a time. We can¡¯t risk a trap culling those numbers. Not until we see if conventional measures will help us break through.¡± ¡°If we cannot get through the walls the Varden might not have the strength to take the city, let alone march against Galbatorix!¡± Arya argued. ¡°Do we know when Eragon is supposed to return yet?¡± I interrupted. It was likely there wouldn¡¯t have been a fight. Arya was a lot more collected than I was, but I didn¡¯t want to sit through more arguments. I had other things to do tonight. ¡°Within two weeks. Potentially as few as a few days.¡± Was the answer. So, not great but not terrible. We could definitely wait that long, but the issue of Galbatorix organizing the soldiers from the surrounding cities and towns to send at our backs was something we couldn¡¯t ignore. If we gave the enemy too much time, we ran the risk of being surrounded. So after a brief discussion, Arya¡¯s idea was shelved for a day until we could see how much progress would be made now that we weren¡¯t setting things up and the captains could devote their full attention to assaulting the walls. ¡°Our next issue is what to do about their Dragon Rider.¡± Nasuada broached the topic. ¡°Alexandria, you mentioned special wards. Was that his doing?¡± I nodded. ¡°Both the wards and the last sally towards our line, I think.¡± ¡°I think he was focused on pinpointing where I was and testing some defenses today because I didn¡¯t see the wards anywhere else, and I can¡¯t think the Empire has another magician capable of warding a group of fifty men.¡± J?rmundur leaned forward. ¡°For what purpose?¡± ¡°Testing out defenses before we fight again.¡± I gave my best guess. ¡°I really humiliated him last time, so I think he¡¯s trying to stack every advantage he can against me. And since I¡¯ve already proven I can cut through his defensive wards¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s using his men as fodder while trying to draw you out so he can see if he can block you without fighting.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± It wasn¡¯t a terrible plan, especially because he had at least some success with any projectile I used, though it was pretty morally bankrupt. ¡°We¡¯ll need to keep that in mind the longer we fight. And we will have to find a way to draw him out before he can completely defend against your magic. Lady Lightbringer, how likely is it that Samuel will find a counter to all your weapons before we breach the walls.¡± I gave a brief thought to the almost literally uncountable number of weapon blueprints littering my soulscape along with the other spells at my disposal. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Rider 3.12 ¡°Still nothing?¡± ¡°No, my Lady. No sign of the enemy Dragon Rider anywhere.¡± The messenger updating me on the overall situation replied. ¡°There has been some discussion that he isn¡¯t actually in the city.¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s in there.¡± I said, glaring at the city walls. ¡°He¡¯s just not going to show himself until he feels he¡¯s ready or we force him out.¡± Two days. Two more days of continuous fighting and we hadn¡¯t made any progress getting through the walls. I had to give it to whoever created the defenses for this city, Feinster was very well built. No spell anyone tried did more than scuff the surface of the walls and even after getting pounded on continuously for days by a battering ram, the gate doors were barely dented. At this point it looked like Arya¡¯s plan to open the gates from the inside was our best path forward. In fact I already knew Nasuada was preparing a false night raid as a distraction. What worried me was the fact Samuel probably knew that too. While I liked to remind him every chance I could that he wasn¡¯t as smart as he thought he was¡­he wasn¡¯t completely stupid. It wouldn¡¯t take a lot to come to the same conclusion that the only people capable of infiltrating the walls and opening the gates were me and the elves. And once someone knew that it wasn¡¯t exactly a great feat of strategic brilliance to plan an ambush for a group you knew was coming. And since I really didn¡¯t want my friend walking headfirst into an ambush, I needed to figure out a plan to either convince Samuel to call his ambush off¡­or trick him into thinking that he caught us by surprise somewhere else. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. That was all for later though. Right now the assault groups were pulling back as the Varden withdrew from the battlefield. A few ragged cheers went up from the walls as the defenders celebrated another victory, but even from out here I could tell they were tired and desperate. Hard to be happy about winning when you knew the enemy hadn¡¯t thrown everything at you and would be coming back in the morning. I retreated back to the field command tent where I was joined by both Leona and one of the Varden¡¯s magicians. The next few hours were spent dealing with the normal things after a battle. Were there any urgent matters I needed to deal with? How were the supplies for the medical team? Were there any changes I needed to know about? And a host of other questions like that. Just like the past couple days though, there wasn¡¯t much of a change across the battlefield. In part that was a good thing. Even if we weren¡¯t winning, at least we weren¡¯t losing. Which all circled around to Arya¡¯s infiltration plan and my shrinking deadline to come up with something to draw out our enemy. Luckily, I did have a plan. It just wasn¡¯t a very good one. ¡°You want to do what?!¡± Leona practically shrieked in my ear. A rare lapse in decorum from my personal assistant. I flinched from the volume but calmly repeated myself. ¡°I¡¯m going to give our night assault team a way to get over the walls to draw Samuel out. And I¡¯m going to create a lightshow big and impressive enough to give them time to get there without the defenders focusing too much on them when they won¡¯t have cover.¡± It wouldn¡¯t even be that complicated to give the Varden a way over. Just upscale some of the greatswords I had available to the point they were just large metal ¨C dangerous ¨C ramps and drop them on the walls, then distract the enemy magicians so they couldn¡¯t dislodge them. Yes, the lack of handrails and terrible friction would make them treacherous to actually use, but between the threat of the assault teams finally getting over the walls and my own performance I was betting the Varden warriors would have pretty good odds of at least making the defenders feel like they were about to be overrun. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Lady Lightbringer, why did you not use this earlier?¡± The Du Vangr magician asked. ¡°If you could let our warriors scale the walls so easily, Feinster would probably have already fallen!¡± I shook my head at him. It was easy to forget hanging around Arya and Angela that most of the Varden¡¯s magicians were rather lackluster, especially after Leona helped reforge all the healers to at least be competent at that. ¡°It¡¯d be too easy for the enemy spellcasters to disrupt for them to be all that useful.¡± ¡°How so?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Create gusts of wind to knock the attackers off or disrupt their footing, break into the mind of one of the warriors and have him shove others off, make the surface of the ramps too slippery to actually use¡­there are dozens of fairly simple ways to make this tactic useless if you think about it, especially since I can¡¯t ward the swords against those spells directly. I¡¯m just not going to give the enemy any time to think of them.¡± Leona gave me an incredibly suspicious look. ¡°What exactly are you planning on doing as a distraction?¡± ¡°Well,¡± I grinned. ¡°The Empire calls me the Sun Witch and the Varden calls me Lightbringer.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m going to light the sky on fire!¡± -o- A few hours later I was standing in the sky watching the darkness below as dozens of torches representing the Varden forces prepared to attack. From this far up they looked like tiny pinpricks more than anything so I wasn¡¯t worried about anyone on the Empire¡¯s side spotting me. In the daylight I would have stuck out as the only thing in the sky, but right now even with my glowing yellow spell circle rotating beneath me I was just another light in the sky with the stars as my background. Time to get started. The first thing I did was focus on the modifications to the projection I needed. Selecting a sword and mentally scaling it up so it was a few feet wide instead of a few inches and then duplicating it several times. It was a bit of a mana drain but nothing too bad, so as the giant blades hovered around me I focused on aiming where I wanted my improvised ramps to land and adding a little velocity to them. Most of the massive swords did exactly what I wanted, wedging themselves in the dirt right in front of the walls and tilting so they made nice shiny access points for the Varden warriors. A few did fail to land right, though. And I had to quickly dismiss the projection to avoid them either falling on another ramp or somewhere they would just get in the way. Once those were in place I focused on part two of my plan. A massive spell circle bloomed behind me as I tweaked a few things. The base spell was my Nova Blast with the focusing element removed and the ¡®Blast¡¯ part slowed to a trickle. What this did was essentially turn the bombardment spell into a massive but harmless flare pointed directly at the walls, blinding the defenders and letting the Varden quickly advance. Your move Samuel. If you don¡¯t come out to play, Nasuada might actually decide to make this staged night raid an actual assault with a good chance of getting a foothold in the city. And just to make sure you can¡¯t brush the whole attack off as a distraction¡­ I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the bloody night ahead of me and let two swords drop into my hands. Not Kanshou and Bakuya, just two random D-ranked longswords that would let me cut through most armor with ease. It might be a bit foolish to not use the most powerful swords currently at my disposal, but I didn¡¯t want to stain two of my favorite blades with the blood of people just defending their home. With that rather morbid thought in mind, I dropped onto the top of the walls like a meteor. My first unlucky victim had barely recovered from the sudden surge of light when I cut him across his undefended chest before practically dancing with a twirl to the next soldier and stabbing him through the heart. The rest of the soldiers were far enough away that they had time to react to my sudden appearance, forming up into a crude shield wall as they tried to focus on me through the glaring light still high in the sky at my back. ¡°Call out Samuel to face me and surrender,¡± I called out to them. ¡°Do that and I promise you will be treated well!¡± To my disappointment the men just bellowed wordless war cries or variations of ¡®Die!¡¯ before charging me. I leaned out of the way as one of them stabbed at me with a spear, throwing one of my swords I grabbed at the wooden shaft and dragged the unfortunate man close enough to stab him before ripping the spear out of his hands and using it to finish the other unlucky soldier that had been wounded by my thrown blade. Sparks jumped through the air as I twirled my remaining sword to deflect an overhead chop from another enemy. Hot blood splashed over my hand as I Traced a dagger into my free hand and stabbed the man in the stomach. Two more spearmen attempted to jab at me from a distance and I basically repeated my earlier moves, throwing the bloody dagger at one while deflecting the spear of the second. These two were considerably luckier than their companions as the dagger actually struck a small wooden shield on the one spearman¡¯s arm. The dagger pierced through the shield but was far enough away from anything important that the man was uninjured and simply had a very dangerous attachment on his arm, at least until I dismissed the dagger. The second spearman lost his weapon as my sword easily cut through the wooden haft and left him with nothing but a slightly pointed stick. He wisely fell back, scrambling for the sword on his waist before I lost sight of him as another soldier stepped forward. The air around me quickly filled with a fine red mist as I danced from soldier to soldier, cutting down the defenders in my reach and either throwing projected blades or stolen weapons at the ones further away. Pretty soon the Varden warriors joined me on the wall and I had to balance being aggressive without overextending to the point the Empire¡¯s spellcasters could attack the ramps and strand the Varden on the walls with no way out. ¡°Head towards the gatehouses!¡± I ordered the warriors forming up around me. ¡°But don¡¯t overextend! We need to-¡± Everything I was about to say was lost under the titanic roar right above me. I felt more than heard a wing flap as the air pressure spiked. Not long after that there was a bone rattling crash as a few tons of giant lizard landed on a nearby building and stared right at me. ¡°Everyone off the walls!¡± I screamed and quickly followed my own advice by jumping into the air, not a second too late either as the dragon hosed the entire area in fire from its maw. Luckily for all the people on the walls, Varden and Empire both, the dragon was focused on me and directed its head upwards to follow me. I darted around for a few seconds until the torrent of flames stopped and turned to look at the new arrival. Just as expected Samuel was seated on the back of his red dragon, glaring at me. I happily returned the favor. ¡°Not even a ¡®hello¡¯, Sammy Boy? I¡¯m hurt, here I thought we were closer than that. You know, you show up and strut around like a peacock. I viciously mock you. And then we try to kill each other! You¡¯re jumping the script!¡± I couldn¡¯t see if he reacted in a particular way since he had a full helmet, but rather than react to my taunt, Samuel seemed to completely ignore me. Simply pointing his sword in my direction and urging his dragon forward. I guess we weren¡¯t doing banter today. But fine, if he wanted a serious fight, that¡¯s exactly what I would give him. Rider 3.13 Odd as it was to think, I might actually prefer when Samuel decided to angrily rant like the degenerate tryhard he was over the silent treatment. Turns out all it took to make a guy go from exasperatingly annoying to somewhat scary was to cover him in armor, put him on top of a rampaging dragon, and have him shut up. Though to be fair, it was mostly the rampaging dragon part. I dove out of the way as another building was reduced to a pile of broken wood and stone under the claw of Samuel¡¯s ¡®partner¡¯. I¡¯d have made a joke about our roles being reversed since I was the one supposed to be attacking the city, but I doubted Samuel would have cared even if we weren¡¯t totally focused on killing each other. But I didn¡¯t have time, since not only was the red dragon still hot on my heels but Samuel had been conjuring Spirits to make those stone snakes and was having them ambush me from odd angles over ¨C and in some cases, through ¨C other buildings. One of them burst out of a gap in the buildings and did its best to block off any escape routes I could use. A quick Trace of a Zanpakuto shooting out and spearing the minion through its head took care of that and let me slip away down a side street to avoid getting pinned in by the lizard hot on my heels. Samuel¡¯s dragon let out another roar of frustration as I pulled away again, which I shared to some degree. I wasn¡¯t running away from the strangely silent Rider because I needed to or because I wanted to. No, as planned I was keeping him occupied while the Varden¡¯s attack force retreated off the walls now that there was no chance of Samuel ambushing Arya while she opened the way for the actual attack. Because the last thing Nasuada or any of the other leaders wanted was to risk trapping dozens of men on the walls if something happened to me. And for once I agreed with them. So that left me playing the world¡¯s most destructive game of tag while I waited for the signal that everyone was clear. Another rock snake appeared overhead just as I heard Samuel finally shout something. A single word in the Ancient Language that caused the buildings in front of me to explode like a mine had gone off, blocking the street. A quick glance over my shoulder let me see the dragon lunging for me, animalistic joy reflected in its eyes, its prey finally cornered where it could get its claws on it. So I chose the path of least resistance and dove through the window of a building that hadn¡¯t been destroyed just yet. Wood and glass shattered around me and there were a few cut off screams from the second floor ¨C dammit there were people hiding in here. The rest of the wall exploded behind me as the dragon swiped a good part of it away. No time to worry about them right now. The best thing I could do was move the fight as quickly as possible. I spotted another window on the other side of the house, a flurry of projected swords tore through that easily enough and let me escape to the other side of the building as a rush of dragonfire filled the building behind me. As I rolled to my feet and turned to run I caught a glimpse of the retreating dragon. Samuel apparently didn¡¯t want to risk getting caught in the debris if they tried to follow me directly and were going around. And thankfully while the insides were pretty trashed, there weren¡¯t any big fires left behind in the house. The people hiding inside were probably safe for now, at least from the whole building burning down. That was good. What wasn¡¯t so good was the fact I still couldn¡¯t find a decently open area to properly fight Samuel in. Like I¡¯d already discovered, the streets were too cramped and made me have to keep an eye out for attacks from all angles. Going into the air was a slightly better option but not by much. My skywalk spell wasn¡¯t true flight and I wasn¡¯t about to bet the fight on how I could maintain that spell while fighting a dragon in its home territory. I needed something like a park or courtyard. If it wasn¡¯t guaranteed to be swarming with more people I¡¯d have risked heading towards the soldier¡¯s garrison buildings. Those were practically guaranteed to have a wide open space for training, but fighting a Dragon Rider pair, a few dozen soldiers, and whatever magicians happened to be in the area by myself sounded like I was trying to get myself killed. I would just need to keep looking until ¨C there! A space for an open air market! Thanks to the siege the place had obviously been shut down, but that actually worked in my favor. One or two wooden carts wouldn¡¯t mean much to a dragon anyway so the space being cleared out just gave me more room to move around. And not a moment too soon, because Samuel¡¯s dragon crashed into the middle of the space even as the cobblestone roads reformed into walls at the same time, turning the place into a makeshift arena. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Which was fine by me. ¡°You know most girls actually don¡¯t like the whole silent stalker routine. It¡¯s creepy. The constant trying to kill me thing isn¡¯t very flattering either.¡± I sniped at the Rider. To my surprise, he actually did something other than order his dragon to attack me or cast a spell. Samuel ripped off his helmet and gave me a look of pure loathing. ¡°You ruined EVERYTHING!¡± I gave him a winning smile and twirled the swords in my hands. ¡°Well I have to be doing something right then. Though what does ¡®everything¡¯ mean right now? Between the fake execution, your personal power trip, and your tyrannical boss I¡¯ve been poking my nose into a lot of stuff lately.¡± ¡°I was supposed to rule this stupid Empire once Galbatorix was done! I was going to make sure that these stupid fucking peasants could actually do somthing with their worthless lives.¡± Samuel ranted. ¡°But after everything you did, he doesn¡¯t trust me to hold up my end of the bargain! And you want to know the worst thing?!¡± I shrugged, not really interested but happy to let him waste time if it meant Arya could slip in and out while he was complaining. ¡°He has my goddamn Name! And he used it to put a leash on me, even worse than the one that emo Murtaugh has. You hear that?! Thanks to you I¡¯m now a fucking slave!¡± I shrugged again. ¡°What did you want an apology? Did you think that you were somehow immune from the insane control freak because you were special or something? Newsflash, all he cares about is if you were useful to him. Obviously he would leash you like the rest of his tools if you gave him an excuse.¡± Samuel¡¯s face went almost as red as his dragon¡¯s scales and I openly scoffed at him. He really did think that the man that destroyed the biggest peacekeeping force in the land, slaughtered an entire race, used everyone around him like tools, and enslaved people using near-unbreakable magical vows would change for him because of his ¡®specialness¡¯. ¡°Well, no one ever said you were smart.¡± ¡°I am going to enjoy killing you.¡± He growled and shoved his helmet back on his head. ¡°Heh, that¡¯s my line.¡± At an unseen signal his dragon surged forward. I ducked under its opening bite and had to jump backwards to avoid the following claw swipe. A sudden feeling of danger washed over me and I instinctually raised Bakuya to cover my heart. A ball of lead smacked into the flat of the white blade and only then did the crack of a sonic boom hit me. I looked incredulously at the Rider who still had a hand pointed at me, fist closed and thumb up from where he was holding the lead ball earlier. Samuel made a fucking railgun with his magic. That was actually pretty damn impressive and overkill for practically anything but had to be so magically expensive to use that it circled back around to being stupid. How many Eldunar¨ª did he deplete just to fire that one shot? I shoved that thought aside. Wasteful or not, that was a dangerous weapon I needed to be careful of. The dragon lunged at me again, but this time instead of retreating, I used Haste to quickly get in even closer. Part of me was hoping Samuel forgot I could do this or failed to prepare but no such luck. Bakuya was stopped by his sword ¨C another Rider¡¯s Sword, I noticed ¨C and Kanshou was actually grabbed by his other hand. That startled me a bit until I remembered that one was a prosthetic since I cut off the real one in our first battle. Fine, he could keep that one for now. I released the black sword and cocked my arm back, another copy of Kanshou appearing in my hand to stab at Samuel¡¯s legs. Cut the saddle straps and he would be busy trying to deal with undoing those while I could target¨C ¡°You think I didn¡¯t prepare for that, you moron?¡± Samuel spat as he simply slid off the saddle. He¡¯d been using magic to hold himself in place instead of actual straps. ¡°You need new tricks. Too bad I¡¯ll kill you before you can come up with any!¡± Enemies that remembered tactics I used before were annoying, but I was nothing if not adaptable. Both versions of Kansou disappeared with a mental nudge and a lance appeared in my hand instead. Then I stabbed down anyway. The unnamed D-rank Noble Phantasms wasn¡¯t the best at breaking through magical defenses, but it didn¡¯t need to be thanks to its anti-dragon properties. I had seen Saphira take some nasty wounds without complaining much, hell, I¡¯d given this dragon some nasty cuts in our first fight and it barely flinched. Yet, the moment the lance¡¯s tip pierced the red dragon, it gave a howl of absolute agony and began writhing around enough that both Samuel and I had to focus more on getting distance from the giant lizard than trying to kill each other. Samuel started shouting at the poor thing to ignore the lance still stuck in its back and attack me, but I guess the pain and fear of something that was literally its bane made it so it couldn¡¯t hear him. That didn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t feel guilty watching it twist and turn, snapping at its back trying to get at the lance until it ended up crashing into a building and getting buried in the resulting rubble. That dragon really deserved more than it got. I made a vow right there. Samuel didn¡¯t get to walk away this time¡­even if I needed to take a few risks. ¡°My body is made of stars¡­¡± Samuel¡¯s head snapped to me at the sound of my chant. ¡°What, are you doing poetry now?¡± ¡°Unquenchable is my spirit¡­¡± With each line more mana welled up inside me, straining my barely healed injuries. But it would be worth it if it let me put this poor excuse of a person down. I used Haste to close the distance again and slashed at the Rider. He tried to block but the sword I used wasn¡¯t Kanshou or Bakuya. It was a Noble Phantasm that made every blow unstoppable. Instead of taking it head on, Samuel dove out of the way at the last second. Unstoppable didn¡¯t mean it would always hit afterall. It could still be deflected or dodged. ¡°Unconquerable is my soul¡­¡± A rock snake launched itself at me from the edges of the marketplace. As expected, Samuel hadn¡¯t just stopped using them because I was out in the open. I suspected he had a few more hiding out of sight waiting to be brought in when I was distracted. I traced a sword as tall as a building and shot it down so it skewered the snake¡¯s head and pinned it to the ground. ¡°In these hands I hold the tapestry of heaven¡­¡± A saber appeared in my hand long enough to deflect Samuel¡¯s sword before the second slash cut halfway through the blade. Rider swords weren¡¯t a joke, huh? Bakuya appeared to deflect a stab and a rapier appeared in my off hand. Samuel moved to catch the thin blade like he did with Kanshou but thought better of it at the last second and dodged. Smart of him. The rapier would¡¯ve cut through his rock hand like paper. ¡°With no known beginning,¡± ¡°And a forever uncertain end,¡± Sparks and magic flew all around us as we circled the increasingly damaged marketplace. Neither one of us managed to land a solid hit beyond some superficial scrapes. Though Samuel actually came out better between the two of us. He could heal his cuts with a simple spell. I couldn¡¯t do the same and had to deal with a small trickle of blood and sweat occasionally dripping into my eye from a small cut on my forehead. ¡°The world will echo with my arrival,¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not poetry. It¡¯s some kind of spell, isn¡¯t it? That¡¯s why you can do all this, you have a different magic system!¡± Points to him for figuring it out eventually, I guess. Better late than never. ¡°Fine, you want to end this? Let¡¯s see how you like a ball of pure plasma created by the strength of a hundred dragon hearts!¡± My eyes widened at the sight of a small sun sitting in his prosthetic hand. ¡°Want to know the best part?! I couldn¡¯t do this without burning myself no matter what I did! But thanks to you, that isn¡¯t a problem any more, is it?!¡± ¡°So by my command¡­¡± This was going to be close¡­ Rider 3.14 Sweat dripped down my face as white flames danced all around me. Samuel¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t an explosion caused by the handheld sun he created like I first thought. It was more like a handheld flamethrower that directed all that plasma and force in my direction for a few seconds. If I had gone for an all or nothing defense¡­that probably would have killed me. Lucky for me my go to defense wasn¡¯t all or nothing. The four remaining layers of Rho Aias shattered and vanished as I dismissed the Noble Phantasm. ¡°Unlimited Blade Works.¡± I finished the invocation of my Reality Marble and then winced from the several new wounds throughout my body since the backlash from the broken layers was no joke. Still, better than getting turned extra crispy. Rho Aias was fantastic, but sometimes I really didn¡¯t like its drawback. ¡°Wh-what is this? What did you do!?¡± I looked around the surroundings, mostly ignoring Samuel for a second. My soulscape wasn¡¯t looking much better than the last time I saw it. Kinda expected considering the damage fighting Aizen had caused and the fact I was still working my way back up to the level I was when I fought him. Besides the newly created cone of blackened or glassed ground from Samuel¡¯s attack that I instinctively knew was mostly cosmetic ¨C there were still massive cracks running through the landscape and other signs of damage partially hidden by the fields of swords and weapons littering the ground. Damage using the Reality Marble in its current state was no doubt going to get worse. Oh well ¨C a little delay and some pain was worth having my full arsenal at my fingertips again. No more struggling to Trace weapons since they already existed in my Reality Marble and were only a thought away. ¡°Welcome to the Unlimited Blade Works,¡± I said, returning my full attention to the Dragon Rider. ¡°If you want to be scientific you can think of it as me overwriting a small section of reality with a dimension of my own. If you want to be poetic you could call it a manifestation of my Inner World.¡± ¡°Reality manipulation? I call bullshit.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t really care. If you prefer, you can just call this place your grave.¡± Samuel scowled and adjusted the grip on his sword. ¡°You didn¡¯t win shit yet.¡± I won the second I pulled him here. He just didn¡¯t know it yet. -o- Feinster was in chaos. The Varden had attacked in the middle of the night, the Sun Witch leading the charge onto the walls. When Rider Samuel finally flew out to drive her off many of the Empire soldiers rejoiced. Not out of any great love for the Rider or the King, but out of hope that their home would survive another day. They quickly stopped rejoicing when the Rider¡¯s great red dragon began rampaging through the city trying to hunt down the Witch while the Varden managed to retreat off the walls largely unharmed despite the dangerous assault only to turn around and continue a more conventional attack. Without magically created ramps that let the attacking army literally walk over the walls or their leaders getting picked off by magically accurate arrows, the defenders managed to hold off the attack better than they had during the daytime but morale was getting low. It was hard to feel like you were winning when there was an army in your face and two of the most powerful fighters on the continent were destroying the city behind you. Especially when the one seemingly causing the most damage was supposed to be on your side. But the soldiers couldn¡¯t give up. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. For some that was very literal. The oaths they were forced to swear meant they would keep fighting as long as someone higher ranked didn¡¯t order them to stand down. For others there was simply no choice. Their whole lives were here, and they did not trust the Varden to not destroy those lives should they take the city. Especially when they saw the monstrous Urgals fighting alongside them. And for a silent few? They didn¡¯t give up because they didn¡¯t see a way to escape. The axiom ¡®a cornered animal will fight anything¡¯ applied perfectly to them. Surrounded by the enemy and soldiers that wouldn¡¯t hesitate to cut them down for cowardice, they had no other option to keep fighting while looking for a way out. Feinster was in chaos. And then the second Dragon Rider arrived. Initially there was a lull in the fighting as everyone tried to figure out where the distant roars were coming from. The Empire¡¯s soldiers looked up hoping that Samuel had defeated the Sun Witch and was coming to finish driving the invaders off, while the Varden¡¯s warriors were hoping the two were still fighting. Then another roar accompanied by a bright tongue of blue flame appeared in the sky and both sides knew it wasn¡¯t Samuel¡¯s dragon roaring. A cheer went up from the Varden¡¯s forces and they threw themselves into battle with renewed vigor. Eragon Shadeslayer had arrived and with him the tide of battle changed once again. Feinster was in chaos, and it only seemed to be getting worse. -o- It felt nice to fight at one hundred percent again, if only for a little bit, I decided as I parried a desperate slash from Samuel with one hand while cutting through a nasty looking spell with a blade that ate magic. I was swapping swords so much I wasn¡¯t really paying them much attention beyond what abilities they had at the moment. A gust of wind exploded outward and scattered the wall of blades I had created as a makeshift arena only to be almost immediately replaced by more materializing in the air and stabbing into the ground a moment later. A roar followed by a flash of red out of the corner of my eye made me Flash Step to the side. Samuel¡¯s dragon landed on the spot I had just occupied, looking pretty beat up with a broken wing hanging uselessly down his side and wide gashes in his limbs and body spraying blood everywhere. I actually felt bad about that. Now that I had the ability to, the first thing I had done was hit the dragon with Rule Breaker to cut any magical ties to Samuel or Galbatorix forcing the poor thing to fight me in hopes that at the very least I could get him to sit the fight out and eventually recover from a lifetime of abuse. Unfortunately, breaking the chains that forced certain behaviors didn¡¯t do anything to change those behaviors when they were the only thing the dragon knew and his mind had never been encouraged to grow enough to think for himself. The dragon I wasn¡¯t even sure had ever been given a name was nothing more than a mindless animal trained to hunt everything but Samuel. Nothing I tried convinced the dragon to listen to me or even pause in its attacks. All it knew how to do was follow orders. I was going to have to kill the poor thing, I grimaced at the thought. ¡°How are you doing this? HOW ARE YOU THIS POWERFUL!?¡± Samuel screamed, taking advantage of my slight distraction. I furrowed my eyebrows and frowned. ¡°I feel like we had this conversation before.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense!¡± Samuel ranted, ignoring me. ¡°Even if you got some bullshit other magic system, I¡¯m using hundreds of dragons as a powersource! One person can¡¯t keep up with that. You shouldn¡¯t be able to get stronger like this out of fucking nowhere!¡± ¡°Not a fan of shounen anime, were you?¡± I snarked. ¡°But anyway, you made one big mistake about me getting stronger.¡± ¡°What?¡± I gave him a nasty smile as a certain sword appeared in my hands, the mere appearance of it making Samuel¡¯s dragon crouch down and back away. ¡°I¡¯ve always been this strong. This whole time? Since the first moment I appeared in this world, I¡¯ve been forced to hold back because of some injuries. But because of the Unlimited Blade Works, I can fight at one hundred percent for a little bit.¡± ¡°...so you¡¯re saying you¡¯re on a time limit, huh?¡± Samuel sneered. ¡°Pretty stupid to tell me that.¡± ¡°If you had a chance, maybe it would be.¡± I twirled the sword in my hand and let muscle memory take over. ¡°Thy dragon, originating from sin,¡± Normally this would require either being closer to the target or a horse to close the distance. A Haste powered flash step was a decent substitute. ¡°See the truth of Ascalon!¡± A perfect line of yellow energy cut horizontally through Samuel¡¯s dragon¡¯s chest, followed by a vertical one that formed a cross. I pulled the sword back in preparation of the final blow and sent a silent apology to the young dragon that didn¡¯t deserve this. ¡°[ASCALON]!¡± The now glowing blade stabbed right through both the center of the cross and the middle of the dragon¡¯s chest. A second later there was an explosion in the dragon¡¯s chest. The dragon looked down at its utterly ruined chest and let out a hiss that sounded uncomfortably close to a relieved sigh before falling over, dead. ¡°You utter BITCH! What did you do to my mount!?¡± I saw red as a faint buzzing sound drowned out any other words. A red spear barely had time to form before I snatched it out of the air and hurled it at Samuel. He was expecting the attack and had a hand already up, ready to cast a shield against whatever I threw at him. G¨¢e Dearg didn¡¯t care and easily cut through the magic, Samuel¡¯s wards, and the black pit where his heart should be. ¡°...wha-?¡± I wasn¡¯t done. Six massive spell circles appeared in the air around him. ¡°Solar Burst: Supernova.¡± Bombardment spells a level above the Nova Blasts I had used on occasion all converged on one spot. I don¡¯t know if it was the nature of the spell itself since I never tested this outside my Reality Marble or the fact we were currently in a manifestation of my soul, but there was no massive explosion as more mana than I ever put into a single spell bar the fight with Aizen went off with a massive surge of light so bright I actually needed to shield my eyes from it. When I managed to look again there was only a crater in the ground and some ash on the wind. -o- I groaned as a soul-deep ache pounded in my chest and my head. Using the Unlimited Blade Works didn¡¯t mess me up like it had against Aizen since I wasn¡¯t overcharging myself on mana like I had back then, but it still wasn¡¯t easy and I was still more damaged than when I used it then. Wouldn¡¯t be using it again for a little bit but then again I probably wouldn¡¯t need to. I looked around the destroyed marketplace and noticed that there were still sounds of fighting in the distance, definitely inside the walls which meant Arya¡¯s plan had worked out. But¡­I think I was tapped for a little bit. Taking out the enemy Dragon Rider should be enough to earn a ten minute break ¨C right? After that I could¨C A sudden pressure on my mind forced me to my knees and for a second I panicked. I did not want to deal with another fight right now! But when I noticed the H¨­gyoku wasn¡¯t reacting, I realized this wasn¡¯t an attack and paid attention to what was being blared in my mind. ALG-184-G ERROR 901 : Rouge Avatar Resolved Cause : Terminated by Avatar Template #29872 Contacting Administrator -ERROR:notfound- for retrieval ERROR : Admin undefined Scheduled : Automatic removal of Avatar Template #29872 in &^# : #^& : ^@% ¡°...well¡­fuck." Rider 3.15 ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you decided to go fight a Shade on your own.¡± I muttered to Arya again as we waited for everyone to gather for another meeting about the aftermath in Feinster. By now I was very familiar with spending days in meetings going over every little detail after a major event. It was unavoidable when dealing with something as large as an army. It also had made me incredibly jealous of Eragon who managed to miss most of these meetings for one reason or another. At least until Orrin threw his fit and I largely stepped away from attending anything to do with the Varden¡¯s internal politics. But the capture of the city, and all the events that happened during it, made an invitation pretty much unavoidable. Of course all that information needed time to actually find its way back to the leaders. So it was actually a day after the city leadership surrendered that we were all called to meet. Which was fine. It meant I got to grill Arya for the details around her night when I wasn¡¯t packing things away. Despite my night assault on the walls, some magicians had remained vigilant on other sections of the city and had managed to detect her and the other elf and raised the alarm. That wasn¡¯t an issue for the two elves until a squad of abnormally heavily warded soldiers showed up with magical backup and forced them into a corner. Arya had actually been moments away from calling for my help when Eragon had arrived and rescued them. Then the crazy elf had decided to tear across the city after the magicians that fled with the help of Eragon and Saphira while her companion finished the original mission to open the gates for the rest of the army. By this point I had already locked Samuel in my Reality Marble so there was no way for them to either ask for or come for help. So the three decided to just do it on their own. Which may have been a good thing since they eventually traced the magicians all the way back to the castle and found them in the middle of summoning a Shade. I still didn¡¯t have a benchmark for how powerful a Shade was, but considering it had nearly killed Arya while holding off Eragon and Saphira at the same time, it definitely wasn¡¯t a pushover. ¡°Does this mean people are going to start calling you Shadeslayer, too?¡± I asked with a teasing grin. ¡°It might get confusing if you and Eragon spend too much time in the same room.¡± ¡°As I said before, I think my achievement is going to be overshadowed enough that it will not be an issue.¡± She gave me a side eye. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, ¡®Dragonslayer¡¯?¡± I sighed and leaned back in my chair. ¡°You¡¯re too stiff, Arya. You should relax a bit, I know you can. I¡¯ve seen you do it!¡± The elf let out a small huff, but was interrupted from answering when the door opened and people started to filter in for the meeting. A few of them wandered over to us and made smalltalk in an effort to get some details in advance, but Arya was easily able to fend them off with some verbal sparring. I, meanwhile, just grabbed Leona and pretended to have a very in depth discussion about the manufacture of more specialized healing mystic codes. A conversation that we had already wrapped up a week ago but was a great excuse not to talk to anyone else. A few moments later the door opened again and Nasuada, Orrin, Eragon, and a few others I kinda recognised walked in. Nasuada took her position at the table and everyone took that as a sign the meeting was about to start. ¡°Good evening, I know many of us have other irons to attend to, so let¡¯s not waste time. With the capture of Feinster and more of the southern territories the Varden is in an excellent position to strike at the heart of the Empire.¡± Nasuada had to pause as some cheers went up around that. ¡°And we aren¡¯t alone there. Arya, any more news from the Elven army?¡± Eyes turned to the dark haired ambassador as she gave a quick update on what was happening up north. After we left the forest while Eragon continued his training with Oromis, the elves had been mobilizing for war. And not long after Eragon left for the second time after managing to get his own freshly forged Rider Sword they had swept through the northern sections of the Empire like an out of control fire. Something that was utterly unsurprising considering every elf was at least stronger, faster, and more experienced than any normal soldier they went up against. Combined with the fact every elf was also a magician¡­the best the Empire could do was delay and occasionally kill one or two of their attackers when they got lucky. And that was ignoring the fact that Oromis and Glaedr had come out of hiding and were leading the charge. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Even I didn¡¯t want to fight the gold dragon the size of a small hill. I couldn¡¯t imagine how a normal garrison soldier felt when facing something like that. All of that came to a head over Gil¡¯ead, though, when Murtagh and Thorn were sent to confront the other Rider pair. Arya didn¡¯t have all the details yet but the four of them fought over the city and after nearly a day of fighting, Oromis and Glaedr managed to capture their opponents at great cost to themselves. In a morbidly ironic turn of events Oromis lost an arm and Glaedr took a bad hit to the throat that prevented him from breathing fire. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the knowledge my little discovery had saved the lives of the ancient Rider pair and likely gave Murtagh a shot at a happier ending than what he got. It was also a relief to know Galbatorix had lost both his subordinate Riders on the same day. It made what I was going to bring up much easier to swallow for the others¡­hopefully. Eventually things circled around to me, since everyone wanted to know what happened with Samuel. I gave them a very cut down version of my assault on the walls, the fight through the city when Samuel showed up, and then an even more brief description of the final fight in the marketplace. I could tell that some people were frustrated by how little detail I was putting into the recounting. Some because they wanted to hear an epic story about the battle between me and a dragon. Some, like Trianna, who were frustrated that I wasn¡¯t giving more insight into my abilities. And then some, like Orrin, that were being bluntly reminded how powerful I was and how little they could control me. Which meant they would really enjoy this last part. ¡°...so after I killed his dragon, I speared him through the heart and hit him with a spell that reduced his body to ash. Unfortunately, this will be the last battle I fight for the Varden¨C¡± I said only to almost immediately be drowned out under the volume of protests from damn near everyone at the table. After a solid minute of yelling without anyone managing to get everyone under control Arya finally cast a spell that silenced the room. She held it just long enough to give everyone a stern look before dropping it and giving Nasuada a nod. ¡°Thank you for that, Arya.¡± The Leader of the Varden said with a nod of her own towards the elf. ¡°Now then, Lady Alexandria, please explain what you meant.¡± I resisted the urge to cross my arms over my chest defensively with everyone staring at me. ¡°There isn¡¯t much to explain. In the fight with Samuel I pushed things too far. I¡¯ve undone nearly all the recovery from my previous wounds and from what I can determine I¡¯m not long for this world anymore.¡± I said, slipping a small lie in with the truth. None of the wounds I got during the fight were permanent and I had already recovered from the strain of using the Unlimited Blade Works. However, that countdown was still present in the back of my mind. I still couldn¡¯t read it so I had no idea how much time I had left to leave this world before I was forced out, but I was pretty sure I wouldn¡¯t like what happened when it did. Sure, there was the small chance that whatever was supposed to remove me was as broken as the rest of that message, but there was just as likely a chance it could straight up delete me from reality. I wasn¡¯t exactly willing to test it out, so it was time to leave. Nasuada looked stricken, and several others gasped at my revelation. ¡°Alex, that''s¡­are you sure?¡± I chuckled, this is what finally got Nasuada to address me casually? ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°What about the elves?¡± Eragon asked. ¡°Their healers¨C¡± ¡°¨CCan¡¯t do anything I haven¡¯t already tried.¡± I cut the young Rider off. ¡°It was my research that was able to finally help heal your teacher after they failed to find a cure for decades, and his wound was a lot milder than mine.¡± ¡°...that can¡¯t be true. Arya, is there¨C¡± ¡°We¡¯ve already spoken about this.¡± Arya replied calmly, having already heard the actual story behind me leaving before swearing herself to silence. ¡°Alexandria is right, the Elves know nothing she does not or is not more skilled in herself.¡± ¡°Is there a chance you could be wrong, Lady Alexandria?¡± King Orrin asked. ¡°None.¡± ¡°Then it seems I have limited time to do this.¡± And to my shock, he stood and bowed low. Much lower than I had ever seen nobility do, let alone a king. ¡°Lady Alexandria, I must deeply apologize for my words towards you earlier. You have given much to the Varden even if you did not formally swear yourself to it, and now you have given us everything. I have shamed myself and cannot help but feel like I bear some responsibility. But I swear your sacrifice will not be forgotten.¡± ¡°Whoa! Hold on a second!¡± I protested and shot to my feet. ¡°Let¡¯s not act like I¡¯m going to just drop dead!¡± ¡°You still deserve to be recognized for what you did for us.¡± Nasuada argued. ¡°It¡¯s the least you are owed¡­and wildly insufficient for what you have sacrificed.¡± Crap, I was starting to feel bad. And I couldn¡¯t exactly say I wasn¡¯t actually dying now, could I? ¡°Why don¡¯t we just move on with the meeting?¡± I tried. Not that anyone was listening to me at this point. -o- My departure from the Varden was a much more sedate affair than the Soul Society had been. Part of that was to avoid the morale hit my absence would cause, but most of it came down to the difference in relationships I had with the people here. I had simply made more and closer friends in the Bleach world compared to the handful of acquaintances I had among the Varden. I had sort of set myself up in a mentorship role for Eragon, but he was often so busy with other things or even just in other places that I couldn¡¯t call us more than friendly acquaintances. Saphira appreciated me helping wrangle her Rider, but we never had much of a connection beyond that. I felt like Sandra and Fredric could have been friends, but I hadn¡¯t seen much of them once the war started in earnest. The only two people I would really miss were Arya and Leona. And while I considered asking them to come with me, Arya was a princess, an ambassador between humans and elves, and quite possibly a potential Dragon Rider if I or Samuel hadn¡¯t butterflied that away somehow. She simply devoted too much of herself here to pack up and leave. And Leona had gone from a barely educated hedge-witch to the de facto leader of the Healer¡¯s Guild. So after one final celebration with everyone to say goodbye, I slipped away and began heading towards the eastern side of camp, where I was very surprised to see someone waiting for me. ¡°Are you ready to depart, mistress?¡± Leona asked, a fully loaded horse beside her. ¡°Depart? Leona, you¡¯re a guildmaster. You can¡¯t just give that up for me.¡± She actually laughed. ¡°I never really wanted it anyway. It was more I became guildmaster because I was your apprentice, even if we never officially said it. Besides, I would be a proper fool to abandon that position when I have so much more to learn from you.¡± Leona was one of the few that knew I wasn¡¯t dying, but I didn¡¯t think she really understood what it meant when I said I was leaving. ¡°I understand enough, mistress.¡± She argued when I pointed that out. ¡°I don¡¯t know how, obviously, but you are leaving this plane of existence. And I want to come with you.¡± I huffed at her. ¡°You realize this could be a one way trip? We might never come back here again.¡± ¡°Even more reason to go, if this is the last chance I have to study under a teacher like you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile a little at that. Fine then, if she wanted to come along¡­ ¡°Then let¡¯s get going. We have a long way back to the Beor Mountains, and I still have a lot of work to do¡­¡± Rider 3.16 ¡°..and what does this do?¡± Leona asked, making me look up from the metal bracket I was struggling to remove. ¡°That¡¯s the navigational computer,¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s¡­basically like a team of surveyors and map readers I can give commands to tell what to look at.¡± ¡°And what about this?¡± ¡°That¡¯s where the ship AI is supposed to go. Think of it like a bound spirit that is supposed to help me run things. Well, it will when I get around to building it.¡± ¡°Bound spirits? Those are usually a bad idea.¡± ¡°If you do it wrong, definitely. But I would be creating the spirit to see the ship as its home, not binding it against its will.¡± ¡°Interesting, and what about¡­¡± We continued on like that for a long time. While Leona was fascinated and had little frame of reference for the purely mechanical parts of the Azure Horizon, she had worked with me long enough that some of the smaller quality of life improvements I had introduced when talking about or making the healing mystic codes that she could understand the broad strokes. It did make actually fabricating a new reactor and replacing the slagged one take much longer than it would have otherwise. But she was curious and I was hardly going to discourage that kind of thinking, especially when she would be following me to god knows where and not knowing something like say, what a car was, would make her stick out more than we absolutely were going to anyway. Besides, I was almost done anyway. A few extra minutes wasn¡¯t going to make a difference in the end¡­I hoped. Once that was done I had to check on anything else that might have been shaken up during my little crash landing now that I had power again, but for once luck seemed to be on my side. Besides a few burned out lights and a replaced length of cable for one of the doors, there was very little damage to the interior. The exterior was another story and was scraped to hell in some places, punctured by rocks in others, and a good bit of the front was still technically buried. According to the sensors the ventral weapons were probably scrap along with a good bit of plating, but the ship was still sealed so I would have to wait until I got to a world capable of supplying large amounts of sheet metal. Problems for another time. Inside was good, outside was as good as it was going to get. It was time to leave, I thought as I flipped the ignition switch. There were a few vibrations throughout the ship that had Leona looking around in a panic while I had a laser focus on the power readout. Theoretically the reactor was perfectly safe, but I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling I had just installed a giant bomb until it came online normally at least once. But once it did and the ship started going through its full startup checks I quickly relaxed. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Everything was good. ¡°Last chance if you¡¯re having second thoughts.¡± I told Leona, who was watching the control panel with astonishment. ¡°I can drop you off anywhere you want, no questions asked if you don¡¯t feel like you want to do this.¡± ¡°And miss seeing wonders like this? I could never!¡± My apprentice denied. ¡°But I thought you hadn¡¯t bound a spirit to the vessel yet, how are the little levers moving by themselves?¡± They were doing what now? I rushed over to see what she was talking about and sure enough, several switches were moving on their own. Some buttons too, now that I was looking at them. The ship was running through initial checks and startups after the reactor was replaced so they weren¡¯t doing anything, but what could have caused this to¡­ ¡°Son of a bitch, that¡¯s how he did it.¡± I muttered angrily as I figured out what was going on. ¡°That clever bastard¡­¡± ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Leona asked worriedly. I took a moment to calm down. No point freaking her out just because I was frustrated. ¡°Well, as you might have guessed from the fact I crashed here, I didn¡¯t exactly plan my landing. I was actually planning on visiting a different World entirely but one of the guardians there mistook me for one of the threats they have to deal with occasionally and managed to kick me out of the dimension entirely.¡± I explained. ¡°I thought it was some kind of spell or something, but the bastard just enchanted my control panel to repeat the last few actions over and over again. That¡¯s what caused me to skip through a few dimensions and eventually crash here when the reactor broke down and the safeties refused to let me do another jump¡­¡± ¡°He must have been incredibly powerful to do such a thing!¡± Leona exclaimed which felt like an arrow right through my heart. ¡°I mean, he called himself a master so he¡¯s probably no slouch, but this is such a simple spell I don¡¯t think he needed to try very hard¡­¡± I slouched over and hid my face. It was actually pretty humbling. While I couldn¡¯t consider myself a master of magic I at least thought I had been beaten because I¡¯d been up against someone simply stronger, more experienced, and with the backing of an organization that regularly protected their planet from extra-dimensional threats that kicked me out with irresistible force. And now I was finding out that I had really been beaten by the equivalent of a street performer doing a card trick. ¡°O-oh, um, well at least you discovered it now before it became an issue again?¡± Leona tried comforthing me, which did little to help since she was the one to notice it. Still, I appreciated the effort. ¡°Yeah¡­anyways, the spell is broken and I¡¯ll get some defenses over the controls when I have a chance¡­we shouldn¡¯t need it for where I plan on taking us and we just packed everything up¡­so, ready to go?¡± I rambled a bit, trying to push through my embarrassment. ¡°As ready as I¡¯ll ever be¡­but where are we going?¡± I nodded at the expected question. ¡°Eventually I want to try and find a World where I can deal with my injuries permanently, but thanks to my research with the elves it¡¯s not an immediate problem.¡± The dashboard beeped in front of me and I took a second to look over the various startup errors ¨C nothing that would stop us from taking off. ¡°So instead I want to try and find a more technologically focused World so I can build something to help me use my magic better.¡± I was sick of trying to calculate everything for my bombardment spells in my head. Getting even a basic device up and running would change all that. It would also let me do things with a bit more finesse than ¡®glass everything in that general direction¡¯. That would be nice¡­ ¡°How does that work?¡± Leona asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. ¡°Do you just look randomly until you find what you are looking for, or is there a kind of map you can use?¡± ¡°Usually I need to enter a world at random to see what¡¯s going on but there are ways to navigate the Dimensional Sea¡­it¡¯s kinda hard to explain if you don¡¯t have the senses for it¡­¡± I debated trying to teach her for a moment before discarding the idea. I barely knew what I was doing. Trying to teach someone as tech-illiterate as Leona would only end badly. ¡°But the good news is that I already have a good idea of where to go thanks to the random jumping the Azure Horizon was forced to do, ironically enough.¡± I had only gotten a brief view before the ship jumped out of the World again but there are some sights that just stick with you. Especially when you pulled up a saved image from the forward camera and put it on one of the cockpit screens. ¡°Is¡­is their moon¡­broken?!¡± Leona gasped as she moved closer to get a better look at the picture. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry too much about it. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Leona gave me an incredulous look. ¡°Their moon is broken! How is that not a big deal?! ¡°Cause it¡¯s been that way for a while and nothing bad has happened because of it.¡± I replied as I ran through the last few preflight tasks. ¡°Besides the god that broke it isn¡¯t even around anymore, so it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°The what?!¡± Ah, I should give her a bit of a history lesson on the way there so she knows what to expect. It¡¯d be awkward if she was labeled a crazy person for not knowing some of the basics¡­ Intermission 2 -- Reaper 1.1 Intermission 2 Nathanael sighed as he closed out another report. He really wanted to spend more time looking for the cause of all the incidents along his wavelength of reality, if only to make sure it couldn¡¯t happen again, but his boss had caught up with him only moments after he began looking just to tell him that he needed to get all the disturbances documented before he did anything else. It was pointless busy-work and Nathanael would be happy to tell that to anyone that asked his opinion. Unfortunately for him, his boss obviously didn¡¯t care about his opinion which meant Nathanael was busy filling out ten different forms for each incursion noted even if it had only been registered for a few moments before disappearing again. All while his own actual work piled up in the background. He still needed to figure out why ALG-184-G had given him an Avatar Already Uploaded error when he definitely hadn¡¯t finished the process to upload one. It was probably a read error or something equally annoying that was the result of a malfunction somewhere. Unfortunately, he just had his workstation replaced three millennia ago so there was almost no chance of getting another upgrade so soon unless he could prove what was causing issues. And even then his boss would probably just tell him to reset whatever it was and see if that fixed it. Speaking of his boss, another note just arrived. ¡®Good job resolving the 901 issue. Keep up the good work.¡¯ Nathanael could only stare at the message because he hadn¡¯t even gotten around to looking at ALG-184-G again, let alone actually doing anything to resolve the issues there but ultimately he shrugged his shoulders and decided to accept the rare praise. He would just look at the logs to get an idea of what happened later so if anyone asked he could pretend he knew what had happened. ¡­after he got through the rest of those incidents¡­ -o- ¡°You got most of them right that time.¡± I complimented as I finished looking over the primer I had given Leona. My assistant turned companion had a lot to learn about what more advanced societies took for granted. And while I had taught her quite a few things about some of the more abstract concepts like physics, biology, and math¡­I hadn¡¯t exactly done the same for things I hadn¡¯t expected her to ever encounter. Like a car or light switch. Some of it was easy to explain using magic as a metaphor or comparison, but there was plenty that Leona had trouble wrapping her head around which would have people familiar with certain things looking at her oddly. Not being familiar with how to use certain technology could be excused to some extent, but insisting that a computer was powered by a bound spirit would definitely get the wrong type of attention. So I was trying to teach a hedge-witch from a pre-industrial world how to blend in with a low sci-fi one by giving her a series of tests and seeing how she replied to a bunch of pictures and scenarios and then giving feedback based on her answers. Leona just sighed and closed her eyes, obviously annoyed that she didn¡¯t get a perfect score. ¡°It was my answer on what to do with a runaway vehicle, wasn¡¯t it? You said it was better to simply get out of the way but I figured removing the ¡®engine¡¯ would get it to stop quicker.¡± I waggled my hand. ¡°Eh, I gave you partial credit for that one because if we absolutely did want to stop a vehicle that could work, but lighting it on fire could cause an explosion that could either destroy the vehicle or hurt bystanders. In certain situations it¡¯s worth a try but not if we want to be able to use it later. No, the main one you got wrong this time was regarding what to do when you see several brightly colored liquids.¡± ¡°...I¡¯m guessing ¡®tasting them to determine what they are¡¯ was wrong?¡± I snorted at her. ¡°Considering the liquids I had in mind were all cleaning products that would be poisonous to you? Yes, yes it was. I would have accepted pretty much anything other than ¡®drink the unknown liquid¡¯ as an answer. Remember lab safety tip number five¡­¡± ¡°...If I don¡¯t know what it is, it shouldn¡¯t go near my mouth.¡± Leona completed with a sigh. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m ready for the next test.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re doing much better than I expected.¡± I gave her some light encouragement as I handed her the next test. ¡°And we should reach our destination in a day or so.¡± Leona gave the stack of papers I handed her a look of resignation. ¡°It cannot come soon enough¡­¡± Reaper 1.1 Thanks to the Azure Horizon exiting the Dimensional Sea in a much more controlled manner then my last journey we got to enjoy the view as we flew down towards the planet. Which was a good thing because choosing where to land was important for my short term plans. At some point I needed to head to Atlas in order to take advantage of their advanced manufacturing capabilities, both for repairs to the Azure Horizon and for the personal equipment I wanted to build, but I needed to approach them slowly. Atlas was advanced, but they were also very militaristic and disciplined so I doubted they would welcome an unknown ship of an unknown design anywhere inside their kingdom without me answering several questions I simply wouldn¡¯t be able to answer to their satisfaction. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. And from my understanding the ¡®kingdom¡¯ of Vacuo had the opposite problem. Being more of a loose coalition of desert city-states than a real kingdom. I wouldn¡¯t have an issue with people looking too closely at our paperwork ¨C if we managed to get any ¨C but at the same time I¡¯d have to keep an eye out for anyone that thought they could steal my stuff and get away with it and then having to worry about whatever group backed up the would be thief. Mistral was slightly better than its counterpart in the west simply because the government actually existed in more than name, but had the drawback of it being very culturally important about who you knew. You either were in the pocket of one of the upper class and had them open doors for you through favors or you were part of one of the criminal syndicates that ruled the underworld. Again, not exactly great if I wanted to keep my stuff without getting into a lot of fights. Which left Vale. Theoretically it was the best kingdom of the four for me to approach since it was more developed than Vacuo, less corrupt than Mistral, and less draconically bureaucratic than Atlas, but it also had the major drawback of being slated for destruction at some point depending where we entered in the timeline. And that wasn¡¯t even considering the body snatching, immortal wizard that was using the kingdom for his own whims in the background. I really didn¡¯t need him poking his nose into my business while I was trying to get my ship repaired. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like I wasn¡¯t going to have much of a choice. *BANG!* ¡°What was that?!¡± ¡°We just lost our atmospheric stabilizers and half our engines.¡± I said tersely as my hands flew over the control panel. ¡°Looks like the last crash did some damage I didn¡¯t catch.¡± ¡°What does that mean?!¡± ¡°Well, without the stabilizers we¡¯re eventually going to lose air pressure and oxygen, which means our maximum altitude is going to be severely limited for a while. As for the engines ¨C¡± ¡°Short version, mistress!¡± ¡°Ah¡­we¡¯re slowly crashing and unless we touch down on dry land we¡¯re going to choke to death on stale air.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bad thing?!¡± ¡°Yes, very!¡± I replied in a more cheerful tone. ¡°But we¡¯re doing better than the last landing I made already and unless something else breaks, we should be able to walk away with minor injuries. Now strap yourself in and brace for impact!¡± The Azure Horizon started fighting me more and more the closer we got to the ground, but I was able to wrestle it into a mostly flat descent. Between that and the still functioning air brakes and thrusters it looked like it would be a comparatively soft landing¡­ The hull of my variant YT-1300 smashed into the ground and the cockpit started shaking as we bounced to a stop. Alarms shrieked even as the two of us struggled to untangle ourselves from our harnesses. Leona simply flopped to the floor while I at least managed to stay on my feet and peer out the viewport. Green fields greeted me and honestly? I just considered it an improvement from the last landing since the front end was only partially buried instead of completely underground this time. Now I just needed to see what new issues popped up from another rough landing and add them to the list of things to fix. -o- ¡°Well the good news is that nothing is too badly broken.¡± I told Leona as we both settled in for lunch. ¡°Mostly some plating that will need to be replaced and a few components that are a bit smashed up. Which we already had on the list.¡± ¡°And the bad news?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Not that bad actually. We wont be sealing the ship any time soon or flying all that high, but it¡¯s functional and it moves. Which is better than I was expecting.¡± Which was an understatement. Two crash landings in a row, a handcrafted replacement reactor, and several damaged parts and the Horizon could still hover a few hundred feet in the air and move at what I estimated to be around 120 miles per hour before things got shaky showed exactly how tough my poor ship was. That it could move at all was already more than I could ask for. ¡°Now we just need to figure out where we are and where to go from here¡­¡± My apprentice nodded and looked out into the distance while I turned my attention back towards my food, both of us content to just let the silence stretch out while we enjoyed the day and push off worrying about where we were going to go for later. It was only several hours later when we had cleaned up both lunch and most of the ship¡¯s interior from the crash that we had any reason for discussion more serious than small talk. The reason for that was a pair of figures we saw walking towards us I happened to see through a viewport. ¡°Who do you suppose they are?¡± Leona asked. ¡°Depends how close we are to a town.¡± I replied. ¡°Most likely they are Huntsmen, but if we are close enough there might be some kind of town guard. We didn¡¯t see any major settlements on the way down so I doubt it¡¯s the military or anything like that.¡± ¡°Right, the aura empowered individuals that hunt the shadow spirits.¡± Leona said. I had given her a basic overview on the types of people we could expect to find on Remnant and it was always nice to know she listened to my lessons. ¡°Hopefully they can point us towards a town. While we have plenty of water and your ship is an excellent shelter, we only have two days worth of food stored unless we go hunting soon.¡± ¡°Well they seem friendly enough so far,¡± they weren¡¯t running at us weapons drawn at any rate, ¡°so I don¡¯t think that should be too much of a problem. Still, let¡¯s be careful just in case.¡± Leona nodded and sneakily palmed the modified spell pistol I had given her. Instead of a one use device that fired a bombardment spell, it was capable of shooting mana bullets as long as it had power. Not very useful for me, since even my Trace Bullets with normal weaponry were more powerful, but invaluable for Leona who had very little combat experience. And it doesn¡¯t get much easier than point and shoot. ¡°Hello there!¡± I call out once they are close enough to hear. ¡°Can we help you two?¡± ¡°¡®Ello yerself, Lass.¡± The first man shouted back, a thick accent coloring his words. ¡°We saw yer crash miles back. Any injured we can ¡®elp wif?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡± ¡°Sean McIntyre and Dann DeLyon, we¡¯re Huntsmen out of Thornbell.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re a little old to be Huntsmen?¡± I called back. And this wasn¡¯t me being snarky. Sean was a pretty large man but from the look of his generous stomach and the fact his once black hair was mostly gray at this point, it was pretty obvious he was past his prime and while his partner was in better shape and his yellow hair hid the gray better, I could still clearly see that he wasn¡¯t much younger. ¡°Aye, nothin for it tho¡¯. Thornbell aint like those fancy kingdom towns with Huntsmen crawlin all o¡¯er the place. Long as we can fight we can at least make the rounds now and again.¡± I frowned at that. ¡°Are you expecting a lot of Grimm?¡± Because we hadn¡¯t seen any. ¡°Not Grimm. But we¡¯ve heard rumors of bandits in the area.¡± Dann clarified and I noticed he was lacking his partner¡¯s accent. Bandits though, huh? I had a bit of metaknowldge about one bandit group on Remnant, but that was mostly centered around its leader. I had very little idea about how widespread bandits were or how much of a threat they could be. But then again if Thornbell was only sending out two older Huntsmen to look for them I guess they couldn¡¯t be that big of a deal. ¡°Any signs of them?¡± ¡°Na¡¯ a one.¡± Sean grumbled. ¡°Spose they could be hidin out inna hole somewhere but ya could stir up a Grimm nest just as easily as finding them. But enough o¡¯ tha. You lasses need an escort into town? Ain¡¯ safe and yer ship looks like it landed rough. Ye get caught by a Nevermore or some such?¡± ¡°No, just equipment trouble. But she¡¯ll fly just fine if it¡¯s a short trip.¡± I replied. ¡°We can give you a ride if you can give us some directions?¡± The two of them looked at eachother and had a sort of silent conversation before coming to an agreement and looking back to me. ¡°We¡¯ll take you up on that¡­¡± Reaper 1.2 ¡°That the place?¡± I asked as we flew towards a small walled town surrounded by what looked liked farms with a small copse of trees off to one side, but far enough anything trying to sneak up on the walls themselves could be spotted with plenty of warning. ¡°Aye, tha¡¯ be Thornbell aight.¡± Sean replied through gritted teeth as another shudder went through the Azure Horizon. The damaged and missing panels were really playing hell with the ship¡¯s aerodynamics. At this point I was mostly keeping the thing flying through the brute force of the engines. I knew nothing more serious than another hull panel ripping itself free would happen, but everyone else in the ship didn¡¯t seem nearly as reassured as I was. Especially poor Leona, who had the arms on her chair in a white-knuckled deathgrip. Sean and Dann were nervous, but keeping it to themselves. ¡°You¡¯re sure this bucket of bolts can get us there?¡± Dann added. ¡°We¡¯re close enough to walk without much trouble now!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s all turbulence, nothing to do with the ship.¡± I dismissed. ¡°Though I probably won¡¯t be flying her anymore until I can get the hull patched up after this.¡± ¡°Thank the gods for that.¡± Leona muttered, probably louder than she intended because everyone heard it going by Sean¡¯s barking laugh and Dann¡¯s more subdued one. My poor apprentice turned an almost glowing red and did her best to sink through her seat into the floor at that. ¡°You guys have a way to call ahead?¡± I asked the two Huntsmen. ¡°I¡¯d like to have an idea where I¡¯m going to park us.¡± ¡°Kin ya not do it yerself?¡± No, because I had no access protocols to whatever broadcast network they used and until I got those I¡¯d have to just guess the frequency and hope someone could hear it. But that would be way too suspicious to say so instead I just pressed a button that caused a bunch of red alerts to appear on the nearest screen. ¡°Comm system is a bit banged up. You¡¯re our best bet unless you think whoever is in charge would accept a scroll call from a random ship flying directly at them with a completely unknown pilot better than a call from one of you.¡± I fibbed as I cleared the alerts for the still uninstalled weapon systems. ¡°Still going to need a number in that case.¡± ¡°Nah, yer right about Jenkins freakin¡¯ out a bit. Better I call ¡®im before he does sum¡¯tin foolish.¡± Sean muttered as he pulled out his scroll and made a call. Thankfully for everyone things went pretty smoothly once the town found out two of their own were on the UFO heading towards them. Sure they didn¡¯t exactly welcome us with open arms and invite us to land in the middle of the town, but they did direct me to a decent sized lot close enough to some dedicated landing pads that I would be close enough to get my hands on some hardware if I could pay for it. I¡¯m sure the fact that it kept my ship from being in the way and in the theoretical case I decided to sell or abandon it the town wouldn¡¯t need to move it far to be worked on were also taken into consideration. I wouldn¡¯t ever consider it, but since it made things easier for me I also wasn¡¯t going to point it out or complain. Dann did plenty of that for me. ¡°No offense kid, but there¡¯s no way I¡¯m flying in that scrapheap you have there until it¡¯s all fixed up.¡± He said as we headed off into the town proper. ¡°I¡¯ll stick to some safer ways of traveling. Like jumping on the back of a Griffon.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Speak fer yerself,¡± Sean grumbled. ¡°I¡¯ll take a bumpy ride o¡¯er four days o¡¯ walkin¡¯ any time.¡± The two Huntsmen continued to poke at each other the whole time we walked but eventually our paths had to diverge. They had to go report to whoever they worked under about their patrol and Leona and I needed to figure out how to get our hands on some local currency. Easy enough since I had several pieces of jewelry I could pawn or sell off, but not exactly in the same direction. In the end we said our goodbyes and separated at a street corner, letting me turn my full attention to my rather overwhelmed apprentice. ¡°Taking in the sights?¡± Leona seemed to snap her attention away from our surroundings fast enough that I was a little concerned she had hurt her neck. ¡°No, mistress!¡± She hurried to say, only to slouch a bit when I raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie. ¡°I mean, I know what you said about wor¨C places more advanced than my home, but I never thought it would be so stark. The wealth they casually display¡­it¡¯s almost obscene!¡± I was confused by that for a second because while Thornbell was nicer than pretty much every town I had seen in Alaga?sia, Leona had seen Farthen D?r which I would consider significantly more impressive¡­up until I saw the building she had been looking at and something clicked. Glass. For a long time glasswork was incredibly expensive and how much you had was a statement of wealth. And it wasn¡¯t until new technology and techniques were introduced that large scale sheets were even possible. Yet in a random town Leona was not only surrounded by buildings with glass windows, even storefronts that in her experience should belong to simple merchants. For the average person on Earth it would be like going to the next town over and seeing that they paved everything with gold because they liked the color and had enough of it. The scarcity and inherent wealth associated with it simply didn¡¯t apply to the owners. ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± I assured her, causing her to huff and sneak a glance back to the store I had caught her looking at. ¡°I doubt that.¡± I shrugged and let the topic drop. For all that I could describe the places that we might visit it wouldn¡¯t mean much until Leona had seen them herself. Eventually things that she considered incredible and impossible back home might just be commonplace to her. As if sensing my own doubt Leona puffed up in annoyance. ¡°Anyway, what are we to do now? Trade for local coinage? Talk to the smiths about the order you want to place?¡± ¡°I want to get some local currency first and then get my hands on a couple scrolls for the both of us.¡± ¡°Those mystic codes the Huntsmen used? Would they make something like that for two unknowns even if we helped their defenders?¡± I smiled and pointed a little further down the street where several people could be seen eating outside a restaurant. Several of them, from older men and women to children, could be seen with a scroll in their hand. Leona¡¯s mouth dropped open as she quickly spotted children using a device she considered miraculous. Like I said, she would learn in time. ¡°Depending where you go, devices like that are used by nearly everyone.¡± I informed her. ¡°Sometimes they are simple communication devices, but more often than not they are basically handheld libraries. Something we are going to need since my abilities don¡¯t extend to witten words and it will help shorten the time you need to rely on that trinket.¡± I waved a hand at the choker she was wearing. I was actually being pretty dismissive calling the thing a trinket considering it was a mystic code that could transfer my own inbuilt omniglot nature to her through a combination of Runes, Jewelcraft, and Mana manipulation and abusing Leona¡¯s own abilities as an Animancer so that it would actually slowly teach her the language as she used it. The fact it worked instead of melting into a puddle like the first two prototypes was a minor miracle, but one that would only work for a few weeks before it broke down and while she was within a certain distance from me. Theoretically that was plenty of time for her to learn the language but I knew things happened and I wanted her fully fluent before whatever crazy situation that popped up forced my apprentice to fend for herself. ¡°Come on, I want to get this settled before it gets dark.¡± I nudged her to keep walking. ¡°The faster we get some money and ourselves a scroll the faster we can move on to the actually important things.¡± Leona nodded. ¡°Repairing the ship.¡± ¡°Finding a good restaurant.¡± The two of us spoke over each other. ¡°...mistress¡­¡± Leona groaned at my nonsensical answer. I was unrepentant. We¡¯d had nothing but jerky and nonperishable meals ever since we left Alaga?sia. I was absolutely going to prioritize food now that we had the chance! But even if I wanted to run off for a good meal we still needed the money to pay for it, so our first stop was actually to a small locally owned jewelry store where I could sell off a few pieces I had made specifically for this purpose. I was sure that I got absolutely fleeced by the owner for what those would actually be worth but at the end of it we now had several thousand Lien in a variety of colored plastic cards. From there it was a simple trip to an electronics store where Leona and I got a basic model scroll after spinning a tale about how ours had both been damaged while we were outside the town. I even made a projection of Sean¡¯s scroll to sell the story. And since I had no idea how the device actually worked and the projection was basically a thin metal shell rather than a working device, no matter what the sales person did he was unable to ¡®retrieve¡¯ our information or settings and was forced to set up two completely new devices. The poor guy was so embarrassed after failing to uphold his promise that he could get everything migrated to the new devices no matter the state they were in that I was able to get him to download a few language learning apps without him asking any questions about them. I was happy with it though. We had some money, we had access to everything we¡¯d need to learn Valeish, Eastern Minstrali, and Old Atlesian even if we probably wouldn¡¯t need the last two. That meant it was time for food! ¡°Come on, Leona. You can play with the scroll later. I think I saw a ramen bar this way. You¡¯ll love it!¡± Reaper 1.3 ¡°And that¡¯s the last of it.¡± I said cheerfully as I tightened down the last exterior panel replacement on the Azure Horizon. The ship wasn¡¯t completely fixed though. No, that would take a bit longer since I didn¡¯t have access to certain materials that a simple town like Thornbell simply wouldn¡¯t have a need for, which meant high altitude flight was still off the table. But the outer hull had been completely fixed so now I could at least take it on a short flight without it feeling like the ship was trying to tear itself apart. ¡°How¡¯s it look, Alex?¡± A voice below me shouted, causing me to shimmy to the edge of the ship and look over the side. ¡°Fits perfectly, Chief! Tell the boys I appreciate the quick turnaround!¡± The head mechanic of Thornbell¡¯s airport, who everyone eventually just defaulted to calling Chief, just scoffed at my words. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, girl. Our fault the last one wasn¡¯t up to spec.¡± I shrugged at that since it kinda wasn¡¯t. Somewhere along the line someone got the machining dimensions of the hull plating I ordered wrong and I was shipped a panel far too small for me to actually use. I knew from working with Chief and his crew that they had at least triple checked the order before sending it out so the issue was with the supplier. They even showed me the measurements when I went to tell them the plate didn¡¯t fit. There was no point in getting mad at them when they didn¡¯t have a hand in my problem. The supplier on the other hand¡­ I shook my head to clear those thoughts. They deserved it and the rest of the mechanics agreed with me. ¡°That the last of it then? I noticed you didn¡¯t place another delivery order, or did that lemon finally drain you dry?¡± ¡°That ¡®lemon¡¯ can outperform any three bullheads you can scrape together even if she is a bit beat up.¡± I shot back. ¡°In fact¡­¡± I went on rambling about the ways my ship outperformed any vehicle I had seen in Thornbell. Which wasn¡¯t all that impressive because it was the same as me bragging that my high-performance custom car was better than farm equipment and commercial vehicles. Yes, it absolutely was better but it wasn¡¯t a fair comparison to begin with. Still, it was an argument that we¡¯d had several times over the weeks Leona and I spent settling in and preparing to face a new world. More a ritual that Chief and I did at this point than either one of us trying to convince the other we were right. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ve heard it all before.¡± Chief eventually waved me off before he got a look in his eye. ¡°But I guess that means your hangar princess is good to go now. You and Leona gonna be heading out soon then?¡± ¡°So quick to get rid of us now that we¡¯re not a potential customer? I¡¯m hurt.¡± I smirked back. But he was right, now that the Horizon was flight capable again we were ready to move on to a bigger town where I could order more custom components or the materials to make them without paying a premium to have them shipped all the way out here. But just because we were planning on moving on hadn¡¯t stopped us from becoming friendly with the locals. ¡°But yes, once we finish up a few things and get things sorted out at our next destination we¡¯ll be off.¡± ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to throw you a going away party before then, huh? We¡¯re going to miss your help dealing with local grimm. And Jason is definitely going to challenge you to another marksman competition though.¡± ¡°Hah! If he really wants to get thrashed by me again I¡¯m not going to tell him no!¡± Dealing with the odd grimm that wandered close to the town was one of the ways I helped earn enough Lien to actually pay for the repairs I needed to make. All I had to do was stand on the walls and snipe the things when they got close enough. It was a great way for me to practice my long distance shooting on a moving target and the local huntsmen didn¡¯t have to leave town for a few hours to deal with the creatures.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Everybody won. Of course not everyone was one hundred percent thrilled with me taking over their jobs. One of the younger Hunters, Jason, had seemingly made it his life¡¯s mission to prove he was the better shot. Not that I was all that upset about it since, one, a little friendly competition pushed me to improve far quicker than mindlessly taking practice shots ever would, and two, I was never planning on hanging around forever. It¡¯s a lot harder to get worked up over someone¡¯s ego trip when you keep beating him and know you don¡¯t need to deal with it forever. ¡°Hey now, he¡¯s a good kid.¡± Chief protested. ¡°He¡¯s just a little¨C¡± Our conversation was cut off by an alert coming from my scroll. More grimm heading towards the town. ¡°Another one? There¡¯s been a lot of alerts lately.¡± the head mechanic muttered, concern on his face. A look I shared. ¡°Yeah, lots of grimm wandering nearby. I heard some rumors that a nest formed nearby but no one has been able to find it.¡± As expected for barely cognizant beings made of darkness and hatred, Grimm reproduction cycles were really weird. Most of the time they just seemed to form out of nothing, appearing in remote areas where they wandered until they were drawn towards some nearby settlement. But sometimes a Grimm Alpha would decide to make a nest or lair where it would spawn more Grimm like itself that tended to be stronger than average. Since the Grimm didn¡¯t actually need to eat or drink there was always a risk that a nest would continue to grow until it was discovered and destroyed, or became powerful enough to drive everyone else from the area. ¡°Well I won¡¯t keep you then. Knock ¡®em dead, girl.¡± I gave him a two fingered salute before running off towards the wall section that raised the alert. I was probably only going to do this a couple more times before I left, might as well do a good job till the end. -o- As I got closer to my destination I spotted not only the uniformed town guard but a small group that included Jason, Sean, Leona, and one of the captains all staring out over the wall at whatever was approaching. That was concerning. Heads turned to face me as I moved to join them. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡± It was Sean that answered, an uncharacteristically dark look on the older man¡¯s face. ¡°Bandits.¡± I looked around at the other men for a more verbose answer but got nothing. They had all turned to look back over the wall. There was definitely a bit more to that so I followed their line of view. It didn¡¯t take long to see what everyone was so interested in. Three vehicles, one motorcycle and two rough looking buggies, were racing towards the city walls. The motorcycle I vaguely recognised as something a few of the local huntsmen used when going to the even more remote settlements in the area. The buggies I didn¡¯t know, but considering that I could just barely see a passenger popping out to take a few shots at the fleeing motorcycle was enough to clue me in that they probably weren¡¯t friendly. ¡°Ah, I guess someone finally found the bandit hideout the huntsmen were looking for.¡± I mused. ¡°Any reason we¡¯re all standing around instead of going out there to help them or at least shooting back? Jason, I know you can at least get close enough to a target the size of a car from here even if you can¡¯t guarantee where it lands. A few shots would at least make them flinch.¡± ¡°Already tried.¡± My self-proclaimed rival replied. ¡°They dodged every shot. Best guess is one of them has some kind of danger sense Semblance that lets them see when I shoot. As for why we¡¯re up here¡­bandits have some kind of jammer blocking scroll calls. Our guy out there got cut off before he could tell us where the bandit camp is and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to live to tell us about it. Sean has a team rushing to get out there but¡­we figure we need to at least watch the whole thing, yeah? Make his sacrifice be remembered.¡± That was something I saw in a lot of the people here. That if they couldn¡¯t change a situation, they would make sure the people lost were remembered. I guessed it had a lot to do with being a smallish town where people could go missing for any number of reasons. Knowing people would try to remember them after the fact helped them keep going and made them return the favor on their own. It was pretty noble thinking at the end of the day. And perhaps unnecessary in this case. ¡°You said they managed to dodge your shot?¡± I said as I unslung my bow and pulled out a particular arrow, something I was still in the habit of keeping around since I didn¡¯t want to blatantly advertise my magic even if I could fudge some of it off as a Semblance. ¡°Well let¡¯s just give them something they can¡¯t dodge then.¡± ¡°Mistress, are you sure?¡± Leona whispered under her breath. ¡°You mentioned you wanted to keep a low profile while we were here.¡± I pulled back the string and sighted in on my target. ¡°Yeah, but the Horizon is as fixed as she is going to get for now and we¡¯ll be heading off soon. Besides, I¡¯m not going to let someone die in front of me just to keep a few things hidden.¡± That said, I made one final adjustment in my aim and fired off the arrow ¨C quickly followed up by several more. Only for all of them to land a short distance in front of all three vehicles, not even coming close to hitting any of them. I smiled a bit when the two bandit vehicles made no moves to avoid the arrows. ¡°What was that, Cross?¡± I could practically feel Jason¡¯s confused stare. ¡°You missed.¡± ¡°Give it a second.¡± Giving in to an urge for a little showmanship I raised up my hand and just as soon as the motorcycle cleared the field of arrows, snapped my fingers. Every one of the enchanted arrows I just shot went off with the force of a hand grenade and just like I hoped without a direct danger directed at the bandit, his semblance didn¡¯t give him enough warning to move out of the way or alert his buddies. I knew this probably wasn¡¯t enough to take out any of the bandits unless they didn¡¯t have an active aura, but that was fine. The buggies they were driving weren¡¯t nearly durable enough to escape unscathed. That many explosions to the lightly ¨C if at all ¨C armored underside of the vehicles tore them to pieces and allowed the Huntsman to finally escape and make a bee-line for the walls without getting shot at. Meanwhile I could see three bandits dragging themselves out of the wreckage and immediately began running in the opposite direction back the way they came. ¡°Can¡¯t dodge a carpet bombing.¡± I smirked as I watched the bandits flee. ¡°Should we check on the Huntsman now?¡± There was a beat of silence and then Sean spoke up again. ¡°Lass¡­tha was damn terrifying. Glad yer on our side.¡± Reaper 1.4 I watched with no small amount of amusement as Leona almost immediately took over as the medical lead almost the minute we arrived at the gate where the Huntsman had entered. She wasn¡¯t exactly the best educated compared to the doctors on Remnant ¨C something she was doing her best to rectify with a desire that surprised me quite a bit ¨C but she had more practical experience than most along with better toys than anything a town like Thornbell had. Thankfully there wasn¡¯t a whole lot she or anyone else needed to do. Besides a few scrapes that would have been taken care of by his Aura over the next day or two once it was restored from shattering and some bruises, the Huntsman was lucky enough to have avoided any major injuries bar one bullet wound that had caught him on the meatier part of his shoulder. Thanks to Leona that would be healed up in a week at most. As I was giving him a look over I realized I didn¡¯t actually know the man. Not exactly a surprise considering I didn¡¯t go out of my way to meet all the huntsmen in town and mostly knew the ones I did either because they went to the same bar Sean and Dann had introduced us to or because they came to me for one reason or another like Jason had. Sean seemed to know him though, going by the concerned way he was looking the guy over despite trying to look like he was unconcerned. ¡°Looks like ye got yerself inna pickle, Cedric. Hou did a handful o bandits get the drop on ye? It shoud have taken twice thon amount tae make ye break a sweat.¡± The middle aged Huntsman, Cedric apparently, tiredly flipped Sean off. ¡°That''s because there was more than twice that amount. More than ten times that amount actually. I took a turn down a game trail and damn near walked into the middle of their camp. Only made it back to my bike because of my Semblance and they still nearly got me.¡± I could see everyone besides me and Leona freeze at Cedric¡¯s words. The two of us shared a glance but I could only shrug helplessly at her inquiring look. I had no idea if more than thirty bandits was a lot or not. Going by the muttered curses though, I was willing to bet that the number was pretty unusual. The two of us stayed quiet as the others talked. Unlike with the Varden, neither one of us were in a position to really get involved with how the town was going to react to the bandit presence. We could obviously offer to help, but that didn¡¯t mean we could just take over the discussion and start dictating terms. Especially when most of the people here knew we weren¡¯t licensed Huntsmen. The concerning thing was that the idea of just giving the bandits what they asked for if it wasn¡¯t too outrageous started getting floated around and no one was really shooting it down. Which was¡­worrying, for a lot of reasons. In the meantime Leona finished patching Cedric up and he got dragged off by some of the more senior ranked guys to talk to the guys in charge of the town, leaving the two of us behind with Jason while the rest of the crowd slowly dispersed to go back to what they were doing. ¡°You two look pretty clueless. Not a lot of bandits where you¡¯re from?¡± Jason commented once we were mostly alone. ¡°There were a few where I grew up but they were only ever a concern to small groups on the road, never something that a town like this would consider a threat.¡± Leona responded. ¡°I don¡¯t know about mistress Alexandria, though.¡± ¡°You mean there¡¯s things about her you don¡¯t know, Fangirl?!¡± Jason said with mock shock, using the nickname he had come up with for Leona after couldn¡¯t come up with a cover story about why she called me mistress beyond her respect for me. We couldn¡¯t exactly explain it was because she was my apprentice when the main thing I had taught her beyond medical knowledge ¨C that she was now working on expanding on her own, and was probably better at than me by now ¨C was magical in nature and we were trying to keep any hints of that under a low profile. Naturally, Jason assumed it was something along the lines of a celebrity crush or something similar on Leona¡¯s end that I just put up with, and while the nickname did annoy her, we planned to just ignore it until we left. ¡°Well? How about it, Alex? Any roving bands of criminals you fought off to add to Fangirl¡¯s list of your exploits? Though I can kinda guess not from the looks you were giving each other.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I nodded his way. ¡°Not really. A few dangerous animals and a¡­criminal or two I suppose. But nothing the local Huntsmen ever got too worried about. Not the point they were considering something like that.¡± That was about the best way I could describe the Hollows that popped up in Karakura from time to time and eventually the Arrancar. They weren¡¯t really the same situations, but it was close enough to the truth I wasn¡¯t going to get hung up over the details. ¡°Yeah, I hear ya.¡± Jason muttered. ¡°And honestly no one here is thrilled to consider it either. But a dedicated group of thirty bandits is more than we can handle.¡± I was a bit confused. ¡°If they were decent fighters and all had Aura, sure. But Thornbell should have at least that many active Huntsmen, right? Between the walls, defenses, and them the bandits shouldn¡¯t be able to threaten the town itself. At best they could stop anyone from leaving on foot, but you could reach out to a neighboring town or even Vale by bullhead or CCT and have more Huntsmen come drive them off. So why the talk of just giving them what they want?¡± Jason was shaking his head before I finished. ¡°First off, we can¡¯t afford to hire the amount of Huntemen it would take to drive them off without issue. Even if we could, it would be obvious and they would just move on. Meaning we waste a bunch of Lien and they just come back in a month.¡± ¡°Second, yeah we might theoretically have similar numbers, but that doesn¡¯t consider more than half of our guys are mostly retired, green, or not here. Just because we found out about the bandits doesn¡¯t mean we can have everyone hide out here or the Grimm will overrun the smaller homesteads in the area.¡± ¡°Third¡­ third is that we can¡¯t afford a fight. Even if we run them off and only lose about ten Huntsmen for it ¨C Brothers forbid ¨C the fighting would attract a Grimm horde they can just ignore, wait for us to get pummeled by, and then come around for round two or to pick through the remains.¡± I grimaced at that. The Grimm really made everything more complicated. An implacable, inexhaustible horde of monsters attracted to negative emotion had actually negated the normal defender¡¯s advantage. The bandits could simply leave whenever they wanted and Thornbell would still have to drive the Grimm off. ¡°Would they really do that though?¡± I asked. ¡°Condemn a town to the Grimm like that?¡± Jason shrugged. ¡°Depends. Most of the groups we¡¯ve dealt with over the years haven¡¯t but there is that major group in Minstral, the Branwen I think they''re called, that do it. They¡¯re a much bigger group though from what I¡¯ve heard. If they were here they wouldn¡¯t even bother hiding, they¡¯d just overrun the town.¡± He gave the two of us a crooked smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it too much. This isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve dealt with bandits, won¡¯t be the last. Besides I heard from Chief you finally got that oversized bullhead of yours fixed up. You can just head out and avoid the whole mess. Though it wouldn''t surprise me if Dann asks you to deliver a message somewhere if you can.¡± ¡°You expect us to just leave?¡± Leona said with an affronted look on her face. ¡°If this is such a big issue that the town could be ruined, we don¡¯t mind helping out. I¡¯m a fairly accomplished hea¨C medic, and my mistress¡¯s skills speak for themself!¡± ¡°Leona, you don¡¯t even have an unlocked Aura!¡± Jason said, exasperatedly. ¡°And even if Alex is a great shot, there¡¯s a difference between dealing with the occasional Grimm and fighting for your life!¡± ¡°Alright, why don¡¯t we calm down a bit.¡± I decided to cut in. ¡°We don¡¯t know what the town is going to do about the bandits so there¡¯s no point getting wound up right now. And the Horizon still needs to get stocked up before we can leave. So we¡¯ll be hanging around for a bit if needed.¡± I said trying to placate both of them. Not sure how successful I was but at least they were content to just stare angrily at each other instead of screaming in the streets like they were about to. ¡°Come on Leona, we have some things to take care of. Jason, keep us in the loop if you hear anything?¡± ¡°I guess you¡¯re right. I¡¯ll send you a message if I hear anything. See you around Alex, Fangirl.¡± I watched him walk off for a second before turning to my apprentice. ¡°Come on, if we¡¯ve got a potential Grimm horde to deal with I want to make a few preparations. And something tells me time isn¡¯t going to be on our side.¡± Leona just gave me a smile and a determined nod. Both of us knew a straightforward fight would end in our favor, it was the unexpected twist we failed to account for that would hurt the most. So we¡¯d stack the deck in our favor as much as we could so if the bandits tried something clever, we had a few tricks up our sleeves. -o- The next day instead of getting a message like I expected, Sean and Dann had decided to drop by in person. And going by the looks on their faces ¨C this wasn¡¯t going to be a fun conversation. ¡°Sean, Dann. Good morning, can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, water?¡± I greeted them and invited them inside. They had been inside the Horizon enough that I didn¡¯t need to direct them to the small sitting area where Leona was already up and working on a personal project of hers. ¡°Nothing for us, we don¡¯t have time to stay long.¡± Dann said, interrupting Sean as the other man raised a hand to request something only to sadly lower it with a nod. ¡°We voted on what to do about the bandits last night, and safe to say we aren¡¯t going to give them anything if we can help it.¡± He gave the two of us a look. ¡±But a lot of us would feel better if the children and their caretakers were somewhere out of harm''s way. We know it''s a lot to ask last minute like this, but do you mind flying them to Vale?¡± Leona stopped and put down her project while I frowned at them. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but we did offer to stay and help out, you know? Sending people away isn¡¯t necessary.¡± Both Huntsmen shook their heads. ¡°Canae have ye doin thon for us. Neither o ye are huntsmen an we canae have twa young girls fichtin our battles for us.¡± Sean said. ¡°An besides, gin ye girls can put up thon kinda ficht, wha better tae make sure the wee ones are alricht?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t think of anyone more trustworthy than you two to make sure everyone is alright.¡± Dann added. ¡°So if you¡¯re sure you don¡¯t mind¡­?¡± I sighed at their attitude but nodded. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll take them. Have them pack up what they can carry with them and we¡¯ll leave in a day or two.¡± ¡°Aye, we¡¯ll tell em. Just don¡¯t go dragging yer feet outta concern for us. We¡¯ll manage just fine.¡± True to their word, both huntsmen didn¡¯t stay long - leaving almost immediately after our conversation. I escorted them out of the Horizon before giving them a wave good by and closing the door only to find Leona basically shadowing me. ¡°Since you told me earlier we were ready to leave whenever, I assume you plan on staying and helping out?¡± She asked me with a smirk, one that I easily returned. ¡°Yeah, if the bandits make a move before then we¡¯ll jump in and help deal with them. If they don¡¯t¡­¡± My smile turned sharper. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure we can figure something out.¡± Reaper 1.5 Over the course of the next day, the mood of the town plummeted to the dirt. Not only were people miserable about preparing to evacuate even temporarily, there had been several Grimm attacks that left the local Huntsmen constantly fighting throughout the day. Even if they rotated out on occasion to rest they had to resupply ammunition, bandage any wounds they took, and do quick and constant maintenance on their equipment. And since they needed to always be on alert, small issues that normally wouldn¡¯t be a big deal were starting to build up into bigger ones. There was at least one Huntsman that was rushed to the medical group because his weapon broke down after being hastily reassembled at just the wrong moment. It was a downward spiral that was just attracting more Grimm feeding the cycle as each Huntsman had to spend more time fighting them off, leaving a shorter and shorter amount of time to properly rest and recover. And that was without the bandit group making any direct moves against the town. No, they seemed content to let the Grimm wear the defenses down until they could just walk in and take what they wanted. Which was a little concerning because from what I knew, they should be under just as much pressure from the Grimm, but no one had noticed signs of fighting anywhere close to where Cedric had spotted their camp. That meant they had either relocated or more worryingly, had a way to hide themselves from the shadow monsters. If nothing changed, it almost wouldn¡¯t matter though. The Grimm swarms would spell the end of the town, bandits or no bandits. And I wasn¡¯t the only one that noticed. ¡°Another attack was destroyed on the other side of town.¡± Leona muttered under her breath in order to not panic the children around us. ¡°That confirms the worst case scenario, the Grimm have the town completely surrounded.¡± I nodded. ¡°I know. It¡¯s messing up our plans too. At this rate it''d be better to evacuate the entire town with the Horizon and any vehicles we can scrape together even if that means the bandits get away.¡± I¡¯d expected the bandits to lure a few handfuls of Grimm towards the town while making themselves a general nuisance that would slowly ramp up over a couple days. I don¡¯t think anyone was expecting a constant almost unending siege the very next day. ¡°Will the others agree to that? I saw people packing supplies but¡­¡± Leona trailed off, and I knew why. Yes, the town was packing up some supplies with the expectation that people would need to evacuate. But most of the townspeople themselves had picked up whatever weapon they could get their hands on and moved towards the walls. It helped¡­for now. A bullet was a bullet and could kill something like a beowulf whether it was shot by a huntsman or a farmer, but the problem was that a farmer was a hundred times more likely to miss and waste ammunition and had no chance in melee range if a Grimm got too close. And it wasn¡¯t like the town had an inexhaustible source of bullets, so Thornbell¡¯s residents picking up a gun and helping hold back the Grimm tide might buy the huntsmen a few hours to properly recover but their ability to help would run out pretty quickly and then the remaining huntsmen would be forced to cover for dozens of suddenly helpless civilians. At that point it would be game over. I had to give the bandit group credit where it was due, they had clearly planned this out for a while to have this many Grimm in the area and still be able to move around unseen. My scroll pinged and alert and I cursed after checking it. ¡°Another flock of nevermore. I¡¯ve got to go. Do me a favor, can you start asking some people to start packing the trucks with supplies? If we can convince enough people we need to abandon the town we can use them as a convoy. I think there¡¯s enough that everyone can hitch a ride even if we need to move slowly because of the older ones.¡± Leona nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, mistress.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I just hoped it was enough. As powerful as I was, I simply couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once if things went bad suddenly. And it was looking like things could go bad in a heartbeat. -o- The group of townspeople erupted into ragged cheers as the final nevermore exploded into a cloud of black feathers. As the only person here with functionally infinite ammo, I was making it a personal priority to deal with any flying Grimm. Just to let the defenders stretch their own ammunition as far as they could. It also helped that I could actually cover most of the town from any flying incursions from just about any decently high spot instead of having to relocate constantly to hit the ground based attacks. These Grimm were even fragile enough that I didn¡¯t even need to break out any special tricks. With just slightly enhanced arrows I was able to wipe out entire groups with a volley¡­and it was pissing me off because it didn¡¯t matter to the Grimm. Wipe them out with a volley of arrows, explode them with enchanted swords, vaporise them with a Zanpakutou or Noble Phantasm, hell, nuke them with a Nova Blast, the Grimm wouldn¡¯t care and they died the same to any of them. They would just keep swarming until one group got lucky and managed to get through the walls. And to make things worse the sun was starting to go down. I noticed some movement off to the side and turned my head slightly to see Dann making his way towards me. ¡°That was some good shooting, Alex.¡± He greeted me with a raised hand. I nodded back at him. ¡°Just doing my part. Something up?¡± The huntsman shrugged tiredly. ¡°Just what you would expect from something like this. Weapon issues popping up, the townspeople are starting to panic and waste shots we can¡¯t afford, and one of the boys ended up breaking a leg¡­ things aren¡¯t looking great for us. I think it¡¯s time you grab whatever and whoever you can and make for Vale.¡± I raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°And the rest of you?¡± ¡°Oh, we can hold out for a few days if we pull back a bit.¡± He replied with a cocksure grin, one I was sure was fake. ¡°Set up some chokepoints, cook off a few explosives, there¡¯s all kinds of things we can do to slow down the Grimm if we aren¡¯t worried about keeping the town intact.¡± ¡°Uh huh, and what about the people staying behind?¡± I asked. ¡°How are you all going to get out?¡± Dann¡¯s smile shrank. ¡°We¡¯ll think of something.¡± I sighed. Stupid, self-sacrificial idiots. ¡°Okay,¡± I said after taking a deep breath. ¡°Instead of that, why don¡¯t we go get everyone and leave together? Leona should be working on getting enough vehicles together so everyone can ride out of here and I haven¡¯t gotten a call saying she ran into issues.¡± But Dann was shaking his head. ¡°Nice thought, and it might have worked if it was just the Grimm, but that bandit group won¡¯t just let us go. Especially if we pack everything they want nice and neatly and put it in one place. They won¡¯t chase a small group escaping, but if too big a group goes, they¡¯ll have to assume the stuff they want is going with them.¡± That¡­was a good point. And not one I had an immediate answer to beyond; ¡®trust me¡¯. Before I could think of anything to say to convince him otherwise, there was a commotion nearby. At first I thought it was just another group of Grimm spotted heading towards the town only to realise the shouts were coming from inside the walls. There was the sound of squealing tires and I turned to see a small flatbed truck peel out around a corner and start heading for the nearby gate. Reflexively, I raised my bow ready to fire a shot into the cab, only to curse as Dann had the same idea and managed to unintentionally tangle our weapons when his rifle caught between one of the arms and the string of my weapon. Credit to him, he was quick to recognise the mistake and actually let go of his rifle to give me a shot rather than trying to fight me for control or disentangle the two weapons, but it was too late. The driver dove out of the vehicle and he must have wedged the accelerator or something because it continued speeding up towards the gate. I managed to snap off a single, poorly-aimed shot that blew off a wheel, but that didn¡¯t stop the truck¡¯s inevitable crash into the gate. If it was only that, it might not have been a big deal. Those gates had been built to at least temporarily hold off any Grimm that got close, after all. But the thing that made everything worse was that apparently that truck had been loaded up with boxes of raw Dust, crystals of raw elemental power that when properly used, could imbue machines and Aura abilities with all kinds of interesting effects and more commonly powered most day-to-day items. But when slammed into a gate at over sixty miles an hour? It gave a pretty good impression of a bomb. The town gate now had a decently sized hole in it. And I didn¡¯t even need to look at the others to know that time had officially started running out for Thornbell. Dann moved to retrieve his rifle, looked at the gate for a second and let out an impressive string of curses before looking back into town. ¡°Where¡¯s tha¡¯ bastard that was driving that thing?!¡± he yelled. ¡°I¡¯m gonna skin him alive before leaving him out as Grimmbait.¡± ¡°He got away!¡± one of the other men on the wall called back. ¡°Jumped out and ran into some weird red portal thing that appeared out of nowhere! Must¡¯ve been a Semblance!¡± ¡°Same thing happened at the North gate!¡± Another person called, scroll still held up to his ear on the call he must have answered. ¡°Bastards aren¡¯t even letting us try to get the women and kids out of here.¡± Dann cursed the bandits again, but I was distracted by the description of that portal. There was one person I knew that had a Semblance like that, but as far as I knew, she should be on another continent entirely. ¡°I¡¯m heading to my ship.¡± I suddenly told Dann and got ready to move. ¡°If the walls are breached we need to get out of here before the Grimm swarm over everything. I¡¯ll get the vehicles moving, you better meet up with us.¡± I turned to glare at each of the men individually. ¡°I mean it, don¡¯t go dying out here just because you¡¯re too stubborn to know when to quit.¡± Most of them looked like they wanted to argue, and part of me couldn''t blame them wanting to fight for their home. But no one said anything when Dann put a hand on my shoulder and spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re right, Alexandria. And I doubt the bastards stopped at two gates.¡± He said which drained the remaining fight out of the others. ¡°You go ahead and get everyone moving. I¡¯ll start rounding up the rest of us ¡®too stubborn to quit¡¯ and meet you by the East gate.¡± ¡°You better.¡± I replied before deciding to screw subtlety and stepped out mid-air onto a spell circle. I caught the start of some startled muttering before I vanished using Haste. Three casts later and I was back at the Azure Horizon looking at a scene that made my heart skip a beat. Leona kneeling on the ground in front of a group of townspeople, holding a bleeding arm and surrounded by five smirking bandits slowly moving closer. Reaper 1.6 Seeing my apprentice injured and surrounded made the kid gloves come off from the very beginning. A wall of massive ten foot long swords plunged between Leona and the bandits followed by a rain of glowing swords that plunged into the ground for all of a couple seconds before detonating like small bombs, and the only reason the explosions were that small was because Leona was too close to use anything bigger without possibly hurting her or the towns people behind her in the process. It was still enough that three of the five weren¡¯t getting back up again. I glared at the remaining two as the dust settled. Despite my bombardment, they actually seemed nearly completely unharmed. One looked like he had managed to hide before my attack detonated, slipping around a building. He was either impressively fast or managed to get an early warning somehow. The second was the exact opposite, going by the blast marks around his feet, he had withstood the equivalent of several magical RPGs going off in his face without moving an inch. I kept my eyes on him even as I landed next to Leona, only sparing a glance to see how bad her injury was. From my perspective it was just a gash on her arm, but just to make sure¡­ ¡°You okay?¡± I whispered to her, eyes back to carefully watching the two remaining bandits. I felt her nod next to me. ¡°It¡¯s just one scratch. My Wards deflected most of their shots, but one of them shot something that almost ignored them entirely. It looked like he was using fire instead of the normal bullets the others used.¡± I took a moment to consider her words. Leona had naturally modified her defensive Wards after seeing what guns could do, but neither of them had managed to test them against Dust rounds. Those were restricted to Huntemen or people with active Auras. Something the two of us didn¡¯t have and couldn¡¯t prove. At the time it hadn¡¯t been a priority because neither of us were expecting Leona to end up in a serious fight anytime soon while we were fixing the Horizon. Now, I kinda wished I had insisted on getting my hands on a few since Dust could apparently cut right through her magic. I¡¯d have to be a little more careful, too. My defenses were different from Leona¡¯s but they were also mostly magical. The last thing I needed was to end up shot because I assumed I could take a bullet only to find out I was wrong. ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out for that.¡± I muttered. ¡°You need to get everyone into the ship or headed towards the east gate. The walls were breached, we¡¯re abandoning the town.¡± Leona inhaled sharply at the news but recovered quickly. ¡°What about you?¡± I gave her a grim smile. ¡°I¡¯m going to deal with those two quickly.¡± The smile fell away, ¡°And then I¡¯m going to help escort all of you to the gate. At least nine bandits snuck in, I¡¯m not betting your safety that was all of them.¡± Especially if that portal came from who I thought it did. My apprentice gave me a single nod and moved to start herding the townspeople towards the vehicles, only slowing down to allow a woman to tie a temporary bandage around her wounded arm. That was all the attention I could spare for her though. It was time to meet the bastards that decided to kill a town just to fuel their own greed. Two swords making up my impromptu wall dissolved into blue sparks as I stepped through the gap. I instantly spotted the bandit that had tanked my attack standing in roughly the same place and couldn¡¯t help but frown. I exploded the better part of a street and put down three of his friends. Even if he was confident in his skills, he shouldn¡¯t be taking me this lightly. So the question was, stupid overconfidence or earned arrogance? ¡°So you¡¯re the one messing up our operation, huh?¡± The bandit said, giving me a lookover. ¡°Gonna be honest, I was hoping for someone that didn¡¯t look like they still belong in one of those fancy academies just so the Boss wouldn¡¯t chew me out as bad for how things went to hell. This was supposed to be my big break, you¡¯re making me look bad blondie.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s that big of a problem I don¡¯t mind cutting you down.¡± I said coldly, as Monohoshi-Zao appeared in my hands. I quickly brought the long blade to sit up next to my face. ¡°Won¡¯t be your problem after that.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Heh, scary.¡± The bandit scoffed, raising his own single handed axe into a ready position. ¡°You sound just like her when she gets mad. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t be mad over something like this either. The strong take what they want and the weak fall in line, blondie. That¡¯s the way of the world.¡± ¡°Then you don¡¯t mind if I take your head.¡± I muttered as I dashed forward. As much as I wanted to see what someone with an active Aura could do in a real fight, this wasn¡¯t the time to experiment too much. I¡¯d end things as quickly as I could and then get the townspeople to safety. Getting revenge on the bandits for causing this in the first place could wait until after that. The only thing I was going to test in this fight was the effectiveness of the blade in my hands. I¡¯d picked Monohoshi-Zao because it was a good litmus test for the rest of my projected blades against Aura. A normal sword overall for a Noble Phantasm, but one that almost guaranteed a hit. Not that the bandit seemed like he was planning on dodging. Even as I quickly closed the distance, he didn¡¯t show any signs of even taking a defensive stance. Just setting up for some sort of counter attack without guarding himself in any way, obviously willing to bet on either his Aura or Semblance tanking the hit like he did for my earlier attacks. ¡°Hiken: Tsubame Gaeshi.¡± One sword, three strikes. I could actually see the instant the bandit realised he might have underestimated me and activated what had to be his Semblance ¨C a solid glowing forcefield that covered him head to toe. All three of my attacks landed ¨C one at the throat, two carving up under the ribs ¨C and all three felt like I hit a metal statue instead of a person. Apparently his Semblance was something like a magic armor that was even tougher than the Wards Samuel could put up. Troublesome, but not unbeatable. Even without any special properties besides its length, I could feel as Monohoshi-Zao bit into the bandit slightly. And either because the Bandit was surprised I¡¯d managed to hurt him even that much or because he was expecting me to slow down after hitting him, the counterattack was slow. I barely needed to twist out of the way to dodge it completely. My attack carried me past the Bandit so I quickly turned back to face him in time to see him reaching up to the small cut on his neck. ¡°Damn, only the boss has ever managed a cut like that.¡± he said as he looked at the blood staining his fingertips. ¡°Almost makes me want to introduce you two and see if she¡¯ll take you into the tribe.¡± ¡°It¡¯d be a waste of my time, Belford.¡± A cool female voice spoke out behind me. ¡°She doesn¡¯t seem like the joining type.¡± I immediately used Haste to jump to the side, expecting an attack following up the words. But nothing happened. Instead I saw a woman wearing a red and black outfit leaning nonchalantly on the wall of a building, watching me carefully from underneath a full helmet shaped like a Grimm¡¯s head. She was one of the few people on Remnant that I recognized on sight. Raven Branwen, mother of one of RWBY¡¯s main cast, bandit leader, and depending on where in the timeline we ended up one of the four maidens - women granted incredible magical power when the previous owner died. ¡°Boss, what are you doing here?¡± My opponent ¨C Belford, apparently ¨C questioned in a vaguely whining tone. ¡°You agreed to letting me run the show this time.¡± ¡°That was before you kicked off a Grimm Tide.¡± Raven said blandly and prevented me from speaking up. I didn¡¯t know exactly what that was, but it also wasn¡¯t too hard to guess based on the name. ¡°We¡¯re pulling out. Anyone that wants to live is getting sent back to Mistral.¡± ¡°Damn, I put a lot of planning into this too. But I guess them¡¯s the breaks, ya?¡± ¡°Hold on a sec.¡± I interrupted. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m just going to let you walk away after you¡¯ve admitted you¡¯ve doomed the entire town?¡± Raven shrugged as she drew her sword. A curved, single edged blade resembling a katana that currently glowed red with the infused Fire Dust in the metal but could be swapped out for other blades as needed. An almost lazy slash through the air formed a swirling red portal to appear. ¡°I don¡¯t think you can stop us.¡± Raven replied. ¡°Besides, we didn¡¯t doom this town. A Tide can¡¯t form from nothing. This town was always going to be destroyed, Belford just moved the date up a little bit. You can complain about it all you want but that''s the truth. Now get moving, Belford, Cassander.¡± The second bandit, who I had mostly forgotten about, wasted no time sprinting towards the portal. More out of reflex than conscious thought a sword formed behind me and instantly shot out at the fleeing bandit, only to be almost instantly cut down when Raven moved to intercept the weapon, allowing the bandit to disappear into the portal. Belford glanced between the two of us and simply shrugged before moving to do the same. I just felt my insides burn with rage at the casual dismissal the two had over destroying a town and, as far as they knew, leaving everyone left behind to be killed by the Grimm. ¡°If you think I¡¯m letting you just leave¨C¡± I started before I was interrupted by Raven swinging her sword again. This time a wave of fire spread from the blade that threatened to consume me, or so it first appeared. I could sense a decent amount of magic enhancing the flames beyond the Dust blade just generating them. Which meant I couldn¡¯t just charge through them without thinking. Not when the blaze could keep moving down the street towards the townspeople behind me. I dodged even further back but by the time the flames died down, Belford was nowhere to be seen and Raven had her back to me, calmly walking towards her portal. ¡°Hold it!¡± Raven ignored me and kept walking. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t waste your energy, little girl. In moments this town will be swallowed by the Grimm. You can fight me, or you can focus on escaping with the people behind you.¡± I hesitated, caught in between the desire to take Raven down and protect the townspeople. And it cost me. By the time I realised I needed to make a decision immediately, Raven was already about to walk through her portal. ¡°Damn you.¡± ¡°The weak die, the strong survive. It was nothing personal.¡± She said as she stepped through the swirling red hole in reality before that vanished behind her leaving me with a lot of pent up anger and no one to take it out on. But if there really was something as dangerous sounding as a Grimm Tide heading for us, I didn¡¯t have time to waste complaining that the bandits responsible for this whole mess had run off. I needed to focus on making sure the rest of us got out alive. With that in mind I turned and sprinted back to where the Azure Horizon was parked and was at least pleased to see Leona had gotten it and the other vehicles in the area moving towards the East gate like I had told her to. Thanks to that, there was very little else for me to do besides urge the few people we ran into on the way to the wall to evacuate and snipe a few flying Grimm that had managed to slip past the remaining defenders until we met up with Dann¡¯s group at the gate and began fleeing the town for real. We were only a few miles out from the walls when I saw what it meant to face a ¡®Grimm Tide¡¯ through the Horizon¡¯s cameras. A solid carpet of black shapes emerged from the surrounding mountains and forests that blotted out every other color that slowly made its way over the horizon until it washed over what remained of Thornbell. Some of the townspeople watching from over my shoulder cried out in despair at the sight of their home getting swallowed up. I could only think of how paradoxically lucky we had been to not only have been preparing to evacuate the civilians while being unable to locate the bandit camp¡¯s new location. Because if I had gone out to deal with the bandits while this Tide hit the town unprepared¡­ Well, I didn¡¯t want to think about how many fewer people would be alive to run from them. Reaper 1.7 The very small silver lining to our current situation is that for the most part we had outrun the Grimm Tide. Between the convoy of vehicles and the Horizon, our group was fast enough that only creatures capable of flying or ones with ridiculous stamina had a chance of catching up to us. Of course there were a few Nevermore sighted further back following us thanks to the veritable beacon of negative emotions most of us were no doubt broadcasting, but considering except for me and Leona had lost their homes, most of their possessions, and considering we didn¡¯t have time to evacuate everyone ¨C friends and family¡­I wasn¡¯t about to blame anyone for being unable to just bottle those up and plaster on a smile like nothing was wrong. Besides, the handful of Grimm drawn to the convoy were manageable as long as we stayed ahead of the main group behind us. Something that was going to become harder as the trucks began to run out of the Dust needed to fuel them and our speed dropped to a crawl. Supplies in general were going to become an issue soon, since in the last scramble to get people evacuated a lot of things had been left behind for one reason or another. Food and fuel were the biggest issues. We simply didn¡¯t have enough of either and had no real way of getting more. I heard the sound of the Horizon¡¯s top hatch opening behind me and someone climb up from below. ¡°There you are, lass. Been looking all over for ya.¡± Dann said as he sat down next to me. I gave him a look. ¡°If you needed me you could have just called my scroll.¡± I pointed out. He just waved me off. ¡°Bah, sure I could. But then I wouldn¡¯t have an excuse to wander around and check up on people.¡± That made sense I guess. There was only so far you could push people on an empty stomach so we had stopped for a quick mean, but Dann wouldn¡¯t have said he was looking for me if he was just checking up on everyone. Which probably meant something else was up. ¡°Well you found me. What can I help you with?¡± The older Huntsman breathed out a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t really know if you can help, but it¡¯s something we¡¯ve been telling the others on the downlow. Spirits are already down in the dirt, no need to stomp on them if we can help it.¡± He now had my full attention. ¡°We¡¯ve got a Goliath following us.¡± I frowned at that. There were hundreds of different types of Grimm and I was by no means an expert on any of them, but there were a few types that I did remember for one reason or another. Beowolves, because they were the ¡®basic cannonfodder¡¯ type werewolf Grimm. Ursas, because they were basically just bear Grimm. And a few others like that ¨C normal animals changed into nightmare monsters. From what I remembered, Goliaths were elephant Grimm. Large, tough, and more concerningly smart since they tended to live long enough to actually learn to not just charge headfirst into the first target they found. But I also thought they only traveled in groups. So either I was wrong or this one was different. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± Dann nodded. ¡°Saw the scroll pic myself. One of the boys hung back to see what beasties were chasing us and sent it ahead. Followed us perfectly even when our route could¡¯ve split, even when it shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve been able to see us over the hills. Wanna know how?¡± I thought about it for a second before coming to an answer I really didn¡¯t like. ¡°It¡¯s following the Nevermore.¡± Dann nodded. It was a trick scavenger animals used in the wild to find food. Only now it was a very large creature of darkness using smaller creatures of darkness to hunt down and kill a bunch of refugees for no other reason than destruction. ¡°I think we got the worst of both worlds.¡± Dann commented. ¡°A Goliath old enough to figure out where we went, but young enough to not realise going off on its own can get it killed. ¡®Course we don¡¯t really have a good way to bring it down, but it doesn¡¯t know that.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°So what are we going to do about it?¡± ¡°Do about it? Probably not much.¡± Dann said, running a hand through his hair. ¡°Unless we get a whole lot luckier than we¡¯ve been lately we¡¯ll just have to try drawing it off at some point.¡± I gave him a look. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say you didn¡¯t have a good way to bring it down?¡± ¡°Aye, but at this rate it either gets some of us or all of us. And I¡¯m not about to let that happen if I have a choice. Most of us Huntsmen feel the same.¡± Meaning most of them were planning on sacrificing themselves to try and get the civilians away even if it wasn¡¯t guaranteed they¡¯d be able to reach safety. I felt another bout of rage towards Raven that she not only instigated this whole disaster, but was free to run away while objectively better people were preparing to pay the price for it. I sighed. This was going to put such a target on my back if the wrong people found out about it. ¡°Okay then.¡± I said, standing up and patting myself down. ¡°How far out is the Goliath?¡± -o- Not far as it turned out. Once I managed to talk not only Dann, but also half the adults riding in the Horizon, down that I wasn¡¯t going to sacrifice myself or something along those lines ¨C I managed to wring out some more details. The Goliath was only a few miles away from us and would be visible soon if nothing was done. I had a suspicion that I could spot it sooner if I had the Azure Horizon simply fly higher, but that had the risk of attracting the Nevermore and possibly damaging the ship. It wasn¡¯t likely, but no one wanted to risk missing one in the dark. Not when it was currently the main transport for most of the children and elderly. It wasn¡¯t necessary though, not when I could just create a platform in the air out of magic. Sure, it revealed I had something more going on to everyone that couldn¡¯t be explained away as a Semblance, not when I had implied that¡¯s what my Tracing was and standing in mid-air had nothing to do with that, but compared with what I was about to do¡­well, it was hardly going to add too many questions after this. One magic circle rotated lazily below me while I finished drawing out the other. By this point I had plenty of practice so once I was done all I had to do was wait for the giant Grimm to lumber into sight. And giant was an understatement. Even from so far away I could tell the thing was massive, easily standing over the nearby trees. Meaning this Grimm was somewhere over eighty feet tall. I could understand why the Huntsmen with us weren¡¯t confident about killing something like that. They would have to rely on close quarters combat to hurt the thing at all since bullets would essentially be needle pricks, which naturally meant being too slow or even momentarily unlucky would result in being crushed by its feet or armored trunk. Of course I wasn¡¯t planning on stabbing it either. ¡°Nova Blast!¡± I intoned as the spell circle for my bombardment spell activated. Maybe the Goliath realised something was amiss, maybe it thought it had nothing to fear from the bright yellow death beam. Whatever the case, it was no longer an issue as my spell vaporised its head and a good portion of its body. That was one problem dealt with ¨C maybe two even, I thought vindictively as I watched the lingering Nevermore scatter in several directions and cheers broke out in the refugee convoy below me. Something that made me look down at the ground with mild dread. Now I just had to tackle the next one. -o- It was official, Leona was a saint. I had expected to need to field a bunch of questions about what I just did and how when I rejoined everyone. But in the time it had taken me to run out of ways to distract myself and lower myself back down to ground level, Leona had already fielded a lot of them with some stern variations of ¡®it¡¯s not your business¡¯ and reminding them that we were all out in the wilderness fleeing from the Grimm with better things to do standing around questioning me. The reminder of what was after us got everyone moving quickly enough. Because while yes, the townspeople had just watched me kill a massive Grimm with one attack¡­they also saw me standing around preparing that attack for over ten minutes. They were smart enough to realise what I had just done wouldn¡¯t save them against a horde when Leona confirmed I couldn¡¯t fire that particular attack much faster than the first time. ¡­both she and I carefully didn¡¯t remind them that I was capable of carpet bombing entire areas with my more standard attacks. ¡°Now I just have to hide in here until we reach Vale.¡± I mused as I watched the scenery pass by from the cockpit of the Horizon. ¡°You would be climbing the walls out of boredom within hours, Mistress.¡± Leona commented as she joined me. Which, fair. If I was actually flying I could sit behind the controls for hours without complaint, but since the autopilot was more than capable of handling the slow speed we were traveling at there was nothing for me to do. I would absolutely go crazy from boredom very quickly. ¡°Let me at least pretend.¡± She gave me an indulgent smile and said nothing. Smartass. ¡°Okay, how are things looking? Are we going to make it to the city?¡± ¡°Now that the Grimm aren¡¯t chasing us the drivers decided to move forward using a ¡®low power mode¡¯. According to them it will make us slower but should allow every vehicle to reach the main city without needing to find more Dust. Unfortunately that means we¡¯re likely to run out of food a day before we make it, but that¡¯s something we can either supplement with more hunting or just accept.¡± Leona reported calmly. ¡°And how are the refugees?¡± I asked with a sense of dread. ¡°It¡¯s been a bit, are they demanding answers or worse ¨C signs of hero worship anywhere?¡± Leona sighed. ¡°Would being recognized for saving them really be such a bad thing? But to answer your question, they are talking about it but I don¡¯t think most of the civilians understand how significant killing a creature of that size by yourself is from the other things Huntsmen are capable of. The Huntsmen themselves are respecting your wishes but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they decide to confront you before we reach the city.¡± That made sense I suppose. A farmer or storekeeper wouldn¡¯t really need to know what it took to kill certain types of Grimm because they theoretically should never be in that situation. What I did was impressive to them, yes. But they didn¡¯t really get it. As for the recognition¡­ After the Varden I could confidently say I didn¡¯t want to be held up as a hero by anyone. The expectations, both by others and myself, had sucked and ended up ruining a lot of potential friendships before they really got going. I now fully understood why Kisuke and Yoruichi had preferred to hide out in their candy shop even after they cleared their names. It was much better to let others get the recognition so they could live their lives how they wanted. Hopefully I¡¯d be able to foist most of that on Sean and Dann while I either got a small reward I could put towards getting the devices I wanted built, or something that would make traveling between kingdoms a bit easier. Just a small, well-deserved reward without a lot of fanfare. Was that too much to ask for?