Within the underground hideout below the Urahara Shop was a silent group of people sitting at a very long table.
The table was around 60 feet long and the people at it were divided into two with them sitting on each end. Despite the distance between them, the air is palpable and it seems that at any time one side could explode into action with the amount of killing intent they were emitting. This was not intentional, but this is the only result possible due to the people present.
On the northern side of the table was the group of Quincy that assisted Ichigo's group in defending the Human World from the maggots. Bambietta, Liltotto, Meninas, Candice, Giselle, Bazz B, and Askin.
With the exception of Askin, everyone else was pouring their killing intent on one person sitting on the opposite side of their table and that person was the blindfolded Yhwach with Ouetsu and Senjumaru sitting on each side.
It had been half an hour now since the former members of the Sternritter were invited down here and aside from the obvious provocation of the other side with their deep animosity, there hasn't been a word that has been spoken.
Senjumaru looked at each side before sighing and loudly muttering, "So you guys really are just going to stare at each other?"
"What do you mean? This guy can't see." Ouetsu immediately responded with a chuckle.
That earned him a glare from Senjumaru, "You know what I mean. Besides, I still don't get it. What's the point of doing this?"
With that question, everyone from the Quincy group's ears instantly perked up.
"Hmm... We can't really guess what's on Kyouraku's mind." Ouetsu rested his chin on his right hand and tapped the table with his left, "But I have an idea." He figured out Senjumaru's intention and agreed with it rather than just wait for these guys to sort themselves out.
"And that is?"
"To bolster this world's apparent military might." Ouestsu answered while lowering his sunglasses, "Even without seeing the full extent of it, you can guess what the other side is capable of, can't you? They're a dangerous bunch that was able to make Urahara the way he is now."
Kisuke's monstrous form flashed through Senjumaru's head which made the corner of her eye twitch. But after thinking about it more, she realized that can't be the whole truth and shrugged her shoulders, "Urahara was a strange one from the beginning. It's an insult to his ability if you say it like that."
"My bad. What I meant was what he's capable of now thanks to that world. Everything is new and we'd have to adapt to it to properly compete."
"I know that, but aren't they also divided and at each other's throat? Can they really go past that and take advantage of this world?"
"That's the problem. We don't know them. Their culture, their morals, their views. We don't know much of it. What we thought is impossible and unacceptable within our society could easily be the opposite for them. We sent Tenjirou to their side for initial recon but our situation right now is similar to that of a fat sheep with an unknown beast in a dark room. As long as we're sure that this beast won't attack us, we can't let our guard down."
"And the solution for that is to revive the Wandenreich? I've always thought that there's something wrong with his head, but now I can surely say that he's an insane one." Senjumaru let out a mocking smile.
"As I've said, it'll bolster our military strength as a whole and make it hard for them to even think about sinking their teeth into this world. Like it or not, once Yhwach restores the Sternritter, they'll have as much combat ability as the current Gotei 13."
But before Senjumaru could say anything, the two of them heard someone slamming at the table at the opposite end. When they turned their head, they saw Bazz-B standing up with a royally pissed expression, "And what!? Hand over our lives to that man once again!? How stupid."
He then started walking off towards the ladder to get out of this place. Bazz-B really wanted to dig out the heart of 'His Majesty' but he knew he couldn't win against the two members of the Zero Division.
The other watched his back for a few seconds before standing up one by one to follow him with Liltotto giving Yhwach a side glance, "There's a limit on how gullible you think we are."
A few minutes later, everyone except for Askin left the underground hideout.
"Oh? What a surprise." Senjumaru commented, "I thought it would be a complete disaster but it turns out that there's a chance for reconciliation even with just you?"
Askin smiled wryly, "I don't know about that. If those guys won't do it, then forget about it."
Ouetsu stared at him for a short while and asked, "Then why did you remain here? Wouldn't they suspect your motives?"
"Oh. They will, alright?" Asking looked up, "I just want to prepare myself to meet the guy upstairs again. You never know. He might just cut off my head suddenly just for blocking his path."
"Ah... You two have a wonderful history, right? I think you're overthinking it. He's not petty enough to take revenge for a war that has already ended..." As his sentence goes, Ouetsu also realizes how ridiculous his statement is and even both Senjumaru and Askin are looking at him strangely, "...Well... We probably all share the sentiment that he's probably petty as hell so I'm taking that back. But cutting off your head? You're still useful to him so the most you'll probably get is a nonstop diarrhea for a few days."
Askin wanted to say that he's immune to anything 'poisonous' but immediately recalled the existence of Magic and Ki, '...My adaptation and immunity probably only work on Spiritual-based harm... Fuck.'
He shuddered at the possibility of nonstop diarrhea but thought that it was still better than losing his life, 'As long as I'm useful, right?'
Askin sighed and changed the topic, "I'm also curious about how the two of you came in to moderate this whole thing. Those guys didn't think about it because they were blinded by their rage at the 'traitor'. What's in it for you?"
Asking was hoping for some reaction from the blindfolded man but was disappointed to see that he didn't even twitch, 'He's not asleep, is he?'
"To get more stuff for ourselves. The Zero Division is gone, you see? But as luck would have it, Soul Society is currently in the middle of restructuring and figured we'd get more if we do a bit of their request."
"You don't have to worry about it, though?" Senjumaru added, "You've helped Urahara substantially so you didn't really have to do this."
"What are you talking about? I betrayed you, yes, but you guys are still my precious comrade-in-arms. Your plight is my plight. Besides, it's a lot easier to do this with us working together so just accept it, okay?"
"Hmmph..." Senjumaru turned her head away with a small harumph. She still resents the fact that he went behind their backs, but deep inside, she's happy that the years they fought together wasn't meaningless. There's a chance that Ouetsu is lying to gain her trust, but it's the risk she's willing to take.
Editors:
28th00: That is in fact, a fucking crazy and reckless idea.
Goyya: You forgot one more adjective. It’s also a wonderful one.
After doing her duty, a woman with long white hair and a face covered with a black veil returned to her private quarters.
She first made sure that no one was around and that nothing else was on her schedule before she activated her personal teleportation pod.
A second later, she reappeared in a dark room that couldn't be illuminated despite the Teleportation Magic emitting light. She stopped for a moment to feel her surroundings and didn't do anything to turn on any lights because it was specifically designed to be pitch black no matter what.
She then reoriented herself slightly to the left before walking straight. Her pace was neither slow nor fast. In complete darkness, only her confident steps echoed. It was at the five-minute mark of her walking that her surroundings suddenly changed and she reached a very heavy-looking 10-meter tall and 3-meter wide unadorned metal door.
"Welcome back, Lady Corvina." A tall beautiful mature lady with long black hair and bangs parted in the middle and wearing tightfitting black and white combat gear greeted her. She has dark purple eyes that contrast her fair skin.
"You came back earlier than expected, Adrenna." The veiled white-haired woman replied, "Were you able to investigate it?"
Adrenna nodded, "Yes. And you were correct to obscure the appearance of that sword the moment it appeared."
"Is that so?" The lady known as Corvina turned towards the door and it automatically opened. Contrary to its appearance, it opened very smoothly and quietly, "Tell me more about it." She added as she walked inside.
Adrenna followed Corvina and entered the room. The circular room wasn't that big and it's just almost the same height as the door but it was sturdy and secure enough to contain various things. And currently, there is only one person inside it, or rather, two if one considers the obviously autonomous giant mannequin a person.
In the middle of the room was Corvina's beloved daughter, Stralit, lying on the floor unconscious with various stitches on her body and convulsing from time to time. On top of her was the top half of a giant mannequin with long black hair, eyes closed, and hands hovering on top of Stralit, constantly moving.
From time to time, stitches would disappear on Stralit's body but they would soon be replaced by a new one. To this day, they still couldn't understand how the mannequin was doing this and most surprisingly, this 'operation' wasn't just happening on her physical body but also in the soul.
Going back to the day that it all went down, Corvina immediately understood the threat of the unknown man who suddenly appeared from Stralit's shadow, bearing killing intent towards her daughter.
Because this heavily involved her daughter and she still hasn't found the traitorous ones in their ranks, her first thought was to protect her, not just from the unknown man but also from the ensuing aftermath. While it was already too late for the man, Corvina had enough ability to deceive everyone's eyes and was able to change the appearance of the sword that also suddenly appeared.
However, she severely underestimated the unknown man and was hit with an ability that absolutely pushed her away.
Her heart sank the moment the realization of her not reaching her daughter in time set in. But to her relief, her daughter actually turned the unknown man into a black puddle.
Sadly, it didn't end there and the space opened up beside Stralit, and Corvina instantly guessed the intention of the one controlling her. Not knowing whether the mannequin meant harm or even understood her, Corvina sent a telepathic message to the mannequin through Stralit and pointed out a safe place for them to settle. And that safe place was exactly this room.
Since then, however, there has been no movement other than the mannequin moving its fingers and any attempt of communication failed.
And as much as she wanted to pull out Stralit from the mannequin's influence, their own health scans on her told them that Stralit was currently in a very precarious situation with her organs spontaneously rupturing apart, only to be repaired by the stitches.
As long as they can't figure out why Stralit is in this state and cure it from the root, they can only hope that the mannequin will continue what it's doing until they can find a solution themselves.
"As the sword appears to have the ability to manipulate Spiritual Power, there are only a few places to look at. There are some complications but I found a match for it on Draconic Deus."
Corvina turned her head towards Adrenna and under her veil, her brows furrowed, "Draconic Deus? What complication and is this why Stralit involved herself with that place?"
"I'm still not sure about the young miss' involvement with that world but I indeed found a match of the sword." Adrenna took out a terminal and manipulated its screen for a few seconds before a holographic image appeared on top of it, "Apparently, this sword is named Benihime and its owner is someone called Kisuke Urahara."
"...Kisuke Urahara. Isn't that one of the three people designated as [Special Spirit Users] from Draconic Deus?" Corvina muttered while reading the detailed report about Kisuke. It even shows him utilizing the same mannequin in the Underworld incident. But although it's an amazing report, Corvina noticed the problem right away, "He's still part of that designation, isn't he? And even if that's still the case, this is still too much."
The information lock on [Special Spirit Users] is on the highest level because of the implications their abilities could bring. The lock is so thorough that even if Corvina was the head of one of the major households within the Etoulde society, the only thing available for her was their names. Not even their appearance was available in the accessible data bank. Then the question is where did Adrenna acquire this information?
"That's the complication I mentioned. Thanks to the lead I got and the urgency of the situation, I had to go through to a third party to discreetly gather this report. I wasn't really expecting much when I requested it..." Adrenna pursed her lips.
"So you were trapped," Corvina concluded.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You didn't have a choice after seeing this." Corvina scrolled through Kisuke's profile and said, "So who's this informant and what do they demand?"
"You already heard about her. She was the same informant that helped us dig out those related to Aurelius, Yoru."
Corvina stopped her hand and turned back to Adrenna, "That Yoru? Does she also have access to Draconic Deus? Is she confident or just plain reckless?"
Adrenna shook her head, "I don't know. I couldn't get anything out of her even after talking to her directly. There was also no prior information about her until she registered as a mercenary in Hartagertle. Many are trying to look into her, but none of them managed to dig anything out."
Corvina became quiet. Both of them now realized that when they contacted the informant for the first time, it might not have been a coincidence.
Corvina sighed and said, "There's no point in thinking this now and further investigation will take too much time and put too much attention to what we're doing. What does she want?"
"She wanted to meet Lady Stralit, the current holder of Benihime."
This time, Corvina became very surprised, "...Did she ask for that specifically?" As far as she knows, she only asked Adrenna to search for the origins of the sword and she trusted her not to make any mistake.
Adrenna was silent but nodded.
"I see... You really can't get out, huh?" Corvina clicked her tongue. Yoru doesn't appear to be hostile, but she knows far too much.
Adrenna hesitated for a bit but ultimately shared her opinion, "In hindsight, she's also our biggest clue to solving the young lady's plight. I implore Lady Corvina to consider this."
Corvina was silent for a few moments before she started walking toward the center of the room where Stralit was. But just a few steps in, she felt the threat of the unknown ability and found a cut on her arm. She immediately jumped back and soon the cut mended itself.
She gritted her teeth and while looking at Stralit, she instructed, "Invite her in."
Editors:
28th00: Lol, they’re buying info from the people themselves. “Why wouldn’t I know about my Husband/Lover’s Zanpakutou?” or something like that, kek. Being used as a host by a Transcendent against another Transcendent is not good for your continued existence, who knew?
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