บท 105: Start of the Invasion
A bit more time passed, and Ichigo, Orihime, Sado and Ishida were currently hanging out in Yuna's house after defeating the previous Hollow wave.
While Orihime was munching on some bread, which she had brought a ton of with her, Ichigo, Sado, and Ishida were simply leaning back, relaxing on a comfortable couch.
Opposite said couch sat Yuna, Hinata, Naruto, and Tatsuki, with Hinata and Tatsuki resting their heads on their partner's shoulders.
Seeing that display of affection by Tatsuki, Ichigo could feel his eyebrows twitch. He was already used to Yuna and Hinata flirting, but seeing Tatsuki doing the same, he couldn't help but feel weirded out.
Obviously, he had no deeper feelings for Tatsuki, but seeing the usually tomboyish Tatsuki acting like a maiden in love just felt weird to him.
Meanwhile, Orihime, who was currently munching on a whole loaf of bread, couldn't help but occasionally steal glances at Ichigo before jealously looking at Hinata and Tatsuki. Obviously, she imagined herself in a similar position, which Yuna, Hinata, Naruto, and Tatsuki easily realized.
Of course, the other men in the room were dense as a brick in love matters, so neither of them noticed anything weird about Orihime.
While a silent but relaxed atmosphere covered the room, someone suddenly barged into the room through the window.
"Greetings, my name is Eb..."
*SPLAT*
That was as far as the person got with their introduction before he crashed onto the floor, cake in his face, tied up, blindfolded, and gagged.
While one couch was utterly dumbfounded by what they had just seen, on the other one, Tatsuki decided to ignore what had just happened, while the other three could only shake their heads.
Attempting to enter Yuna's home without permission? Yeah, good luck with that.
"Well, well, well, look what the cat brought in. Mhh, are you some kind of Arrancar reject, Eb? Mhh, your Spiritual Power is somewhat similar to a Quincy; how interesting~"
Eb, or as he was really called Ebern, felt chills go down his spine when he heard Yuna's playful voice. He wanted to make a preemptive move to shop of how useful he was to his leader, but what was the reality? Not even three seconds into his surprise attack, he was already captured and regarded as a toy.
'Coming here was a huge mistake.'
Unfortunately, that realization hit him a little late, resulting in his current predicament. Since he was still gagged, he was incapable of saying anything comprehensible, so, expecting an answer, Yuna swiftly removed the gag from Ebern's mouth, allowing him to speak.
"I-I'm not an Arrancar. I'm a proud Quincy!"
Hearing those words, everyone's eyes landed on Ishida, who was giving Ebern a weird look.
'Quiny? No matter how I look at it, that's the remnants of a Hollow mask on your face. What kind of Quincy is this supposed to be?'
However, before anyone could comment on Ebern's words, a weird shadowy figure appeared out of his body, causing him to smirk while putting a few people in the room on guard.
"Hehe, no need to panic. This shadow will only conceal those who have been chosen."
Hearing Ebern's smug tone, Yuna could only shake her head, as moments later, the shadow vanished... leaving a still smug-looking Ebern behind.
"Eh?"
Seeing his dumbfounded expression, Yuna couldn't help but snicker in amusement. She leisurely got up from the couch and squatted beside him for easier eye contact.
"You don't honestly believe that I would allow people to enter and exit my home willy-nilly, do you, Eb?"
"W-What did you do!?"
Hearing a hint of despair in Ebern's voice, Yuna licked her lips excitedly.
"Well, well, I'm the one asking the questions here, but since I'm in a good mood, I'll humor you. The space around this house is locked in place. The only way to get in is by physically walking inside. Spontaneously leaving, whether it is by changing dimensions through the shadows or by using teleportation, is impossible~"
"WHAT!?"
Ebern couldn't believe what he had just heard. After all, he had never heard of such a setup. He was aware that within Seireitei, it was only possible to teleport to certain official places or by using items that were connected, which resulted in the Quincy abusing their use of the shadows to infiltrate Seireitei.
'How is this possible? How can a human household have better safety measures than Seireitei, a city that has existed for thousands of years!?'
Seeing that Ebern was getting more and more nervous, Yuna grinned as she returned to her place on the couch.
"Well, I plan to interrogate this guy; interested in watching?"
Initially, Ichigo wanted to agree, but seeing the sadistic smile on Yuna's face, he decided that watching might be a bad idea. No need to risk damaging his mental health.
Seeing that Ichigo and his friends were unwilling, Yuna shrugged her shoulders, took a sip of tea, and glanced at Naruto.
"Basement, Nee-san?"
"Basement."
Following that brief conversation, Naruto snapped his fingers, causing Ebern to vanish.
"Well, I'm in no hurry, so I'll question him after our little get-together is over."
"Is that fine? This might be important."
"Meh, unlikely. That guy was so weak, I doubt he has anything worthwhile to tell me."
After Yuna answered his question, Ichigo simply nodded his head in understanding, no longer asking anything else about the bizarre encounter they had just experienced.
Around an hour later, Ichigo and his friends left, leaving Tatsuki behind, who claimed she wanted to have a "sleep-over" with a crimson flush on her face.
Anyway, the group consisting of Yuna, Hinata, Naruto and Tatsuki were currently walking down a set of stairs leading them deeply underground.
"Where did this place even come from? I can't imagine a normal house having such a deep basement."
"Yeah, we built most of it by ourselves. Remember the hidden training area underneath Kisuke's shop? We copied large parts of his design and construction technology. As expected, after reaching a new world, the easiest way to advance one's technology is stealing it from other people~"
Naturally, Tatsuki had never seen this place before, so she couldn't help but ask a question. After Yuna's explanation and after remembering the secret space underneath Kisuke's house, she simply nodded her head in understanding.
After around half a minute of walking down the stairs, they reached a huge underground space that had a few storage halls here and there and quite a few different environments that served as training grounds.
Seeing the vast landscape before her, Tatsuki couldn't help but be dumbfounded, causing Naruto to chuckle in amusement, which earned him a pinch at the waist from Tatsuki.
The little group continued walking and reached what appeared to be a large storage hall that was clearly built sturdier than the other halls in this underground space.
Yuna put her hand on the door handle, and after a few seconds, it started glowing green, allowing her to push it down and enter the building, silently followed by the rest of the group.
Moments later, Yuna reached her destination, which was a holding cell, and opened the door to it, revealing Ebern. However, as soon as Yuna saw Ebern, her eyebrows raised, while looking at Naruto, who had a sheepish expression on his face.
Currently, Ebern was not in the condition he previously was in. Right now, the only clothes he wore was a white piece of underwear, which was currently fastened to the ceiling, resulting in quite a heavy wedgy. Additionally, his whole body was covered in suspicious liquids, while his eyes seemed to be rather dead-looking.
"What's this about, Naruto?"
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Naruto awkwardly scratched his head before explaining the current situation with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Hehe, oops~ Yesterday, I activated the prank array to tweak it a little and add a few features, but it seems like I forgot to deactivate it after I was done working on it."
Although Ebern was barely conscious, he still somewhat heard that what he had just gone through was due to Naruto's carelessness, resulting in a single flowing down his lifeless eyes.
Well, considering Ebern's current state of mind, the interrogation went rather smoothly, revealing that, apparently, the Quincy king, who had died a long time ago, has been revived in accordance with some ancient prophecy.
Apparently, now that the Quiny king had been revived, he planned to wage war against those who previously defeated him, namely, the Soul Society.
Unfortunately, just as Yuna had predicted, Ebern didn't have much detailed knowledge about the exact plans of the Quiny, disappointing Yuna a little.
Frankly, one might think that Ebern was concealing some information, but considering he was begging and begging to no longer be exposed to what he had previously experienced, with snot flying everywhere, Yuna decided to trust that he didn't have any significant intel.
Simultaneously, within Hueco Mundo, Harribel was sitting on the throne within Las Noches, making it clear that she was the new queen of the Hollow.
However, instead of sitting normally, her legs were flung above the backrest of the throne while her torso was lying on the throne's seat, and her head was placed upside-down, almost touching the ground. Within her hands, she held a sleek, black device with multiple buttons she was currently furiously pressing while vibrant colors were flashing all over the device's screen.
'Damn, this place is so boring~ Good think Yuna gave me one of these hi... right, one of these handhelds for me to kill some time.'
Harribel continued pressing buttons as the screen continued flashing, and around a minute later, the letters "Congratulations" appeared on the screen, causing Harribel to smile smugly.
'That was pretty fun~ Okay, should I play the next one, or maybe I can pay Yuna another visit? Mhh, might as well take my three girls with me~ Nah, I'll play through another one and then go."
Harribel was just about to reach for the stack of carton boxes piled up next to her throne to select a new game when some entered the room.
"Harribel-sama, there is..."
Emilou Apacci, one of Harribel's followers, entered the room. She clearly wanted to report something important, but after seeing Harribel slouched over her throne, hanging upside down while playing video games, she couldn't help but pause as her eyebrows started twitching like crazy.
'Yuna-sama, no matter how much I respect you, I'll never forgive what you did to Harribel-sama. How in the world did you manage to turn the stoic, calm, and collected Harribel-sama into... this.'
"*Cough* Harribel-sama, there are a few individuals out there that indiscriminately capture Arrancar, forcing them to either join their cause or die."
Hearing Apacci's report, Harribel decided to put her games down for now and moved on her throne so she could sit on it properly. Although she didn't really care about Apacci seeing her lazing around like a bum, since this appeared to be an official business, she had to put up a proper front, at least.
"Oh? Someone is messing with the remaining Arrancar? Tell me what you know about this situation, Apacci."
Honestly, Harribel cared very little about the remaining Arrancar. Hueco Mundo has always been a mess, and by now, she had accepted that it would probably stay that way as well. Considering the only Hollow who could genuinely think for themself were those at the very top of the food chain, it simply couldn't be helped for Hueco Mundo to be like it was.
However, despite not carrying too much, since she was the new queen of Hueco Mundo, she would at least have to take action if someone were to threaten her people.
"We are not entirely sure what is going on yet, but apparently, we are being attacked by a Quincy army."
"Oh? Quincy?"
Hearing Apacci's report, Harribel couldn't help but be slightly surprised. After all, Quincy were supposed to be pretty much extinct.
She briefly remembered the single Quincy, who seemed to be near Yuna occasionally, but quickly dismissed him as irrelevant.
'Although his strength is pretty decent, attacking us has no purpose to him. Besides that, Yuna would undoubtedly intervene if he tried to attack us.
Considering that, it probably is some kind of hidden Quincy army that has been gathering people in the shadows for a long time now. How interesting.'
"Very well, I'll make a move. Additionally, get someone to contact Nel as well. Considering they dared to attack us, they must have a few cards up their sleeves, so I would rather have all of our combat potential ready."
Although Nel still had trouble with her child form, after Yuna and Naruto tried out all kinds of methods, she could at least maintain her adult form for a full hour, making her a good asset.
"I understand, Harribel-sama. I'll make the preparations."
Apacci swiftly accepted Harribel's order and started moving while Harribel lazily stretched her back, causing a few muscle joints to pop.
'Few, it's been a while since I had a decent fight. Let's see where this is going~'
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