Thank you Windblade67 for your review! Yep it did crumble to the ground just like that, and from this next chapter, you will see that it is not the only one. This enemy is determined to destroy everything. Also since it is the spirit world and you have zanpakutōs like Yamamoto's burning things to nothing, I do not think that it is all that far fetched. They are bombs from afar, there will be assassins and swords up close. The stakes are going to keep getting worse until the big reveal at the end of this arc, Chapter Twenty I think. Yes 1000 years, there was one of those non cannon episodes that suggested that time moved differently in the living world then it did in the soul society. I thought that capitalising on this idea would not be too unbelievable. Yes Shirūba Ōji does have more control. As for Delilah loosing control and loosing control of her powers, has a lot to do with why the enemy also choose to attack at that point. Though what happened to Delilah will only be shown in the next arc (if I get there that is!).
One or two bombs was worrying, bombs everywhere, well that was cause for increased panic. One by one they started to fall over the soul society. The residents had long since given up trying to go back to their daily lives. Now they were in flight mode, they were angry, they felt like rioting. They might have even gone marching to the Seireitei for not protecting them. In the minds of the Rukkon residents, the soul reapers were the protectors. They were the ones who should face the enemies. They should not have to deal with this sudden invasion on their own.
The worst thing about the situation was that it was not as if the soul reapers could actually come to the rescue. In fact, they would not get out of their divisions let alone the walls of the Seireitei itself. The enemies had locked them in somehow. They had been smart. They had got all the captains away from their divisions before the invasion began. Everything was going too much to plan. Most soul reapers only managed to get out of their divisions once the bombs forced them out. Many serious injuries came as a result, even death.
The soul reapers were too far away to try to help them. Without their captains, things were even harder. They were still trying to deal with how the enemy had gotten into the Seireitei in the first place. Many only realised that the barrier which had protected for so long was no longer there. It had fallen, but that did not mean that they were going anywhere. Not when armies were not approaching them from all sides. Their captains were M.I.A., and it was no coincidence, that was for sure. The breakdown in communications was only making things worse.
So if the soul reapers were not present to fight off the enemies, then who was? Wherever the enemy was leading the charge from, they were no longer holding back? The schools across the soul society began to fall one by one. Students soon came flooding out as the buildings collapsed. Those most affected were the older students, the ones doing exams. Their studies were the most important, but they were the first to react. When the alarms went off, they knew what that meant. The town hall meetings had instructed them on that. And they were the ones who actually dragged their teachers out of the building as well.
There were at least twenty schools that went down. To an outside observer, it was starting to look targeted. Attacking the Seireitei was not that much of a surprise, but the schools. Some of the students thought that schools were a target to wipe out the new generations. But then it became evident that it was something else. Introducing education on a mass scale was a joint venture of Delilah and Gin's part. So by obliterating the buildings, it was as if they wanted to wipe out that legacy.
Yes, the older students had jumped into action, they got everyone to safety. They had felt that something was off long before the alarms sounded. And by their instincts, they had saved more lives than losing them. They stood outside in the sports fields for now. They waited and watched as their school building collapsed into dust. The younger students cried, the teachers seemed to want to join them. This was an ambush, this was not something that no one quite knew how to deal with. One by one the world that she built, Delilah was starting to crumble to the ground. The world which had built a bridge between the Rukkon district and the Seireitei.
But it seemed that things were only poised to get that much worse. The enemies had bombed them out. No one could seek protection anymore, and that was how they seemed to want it. The students who had been crying or in shock at seeing their world gone had more horrors to face. For it was as they stood in the courtyards of their schools that the enemy targeted them head-on. One cloaked figure appeared, then another and another. Some thought it was only an effort to inspire fear, but it was much more than that. As one by one the students across the soul society started to fall to their death.
It was random at best, and it caused panic to run that much higher. Some wanted to run for cover. Some huddled together to shield themselves from the inevitable. And some only waited for death to come. Their world was already falling apart, so it did not make much sense to want to remain in it. The enemy had won, there was no way out, defeat was already long on the menu... until, until something that no one could have anticipated happening. One that would make for the most memorable stories at the end of it all.
For the next time, the enemies came to slim down the crops of students, the older students began to band together. The next time a student had their throat cut, another student leapt into action. It was a boy, who anger rose in what witness could only describe as being rogue reiatsu. This student took no notice. He just rushed forward, push the cloaked figure to the floor. He then punched and punched and punched again. He went so far that once he regained control, the enemy soldier moved not a single muscle.
This was not the only time that the phenomenon occurred. As it was from that moment on that when the enemy soldiers appeared, the older students stepped into action. They did not think, they only let the rogue reiatsu to take over their bodies. They let it lead them straight into battle to wipe out the enemies. Many in the end did not know who they ought to fear. But what they did know that that was the turning point. The random killings happened less and less until all the students were safe. But the older students now riled up for battle knew that for now, they would have to become the soul reapers.
...
Panic, that was the weakness of the untrained. It was not something that any soul reaper of any calibre should have been experiencing. But it was, it most definitely was. Whoever this enemy was, they knew exactly how to immobilise the squads. They knew that no matter what squad, their reliance on their captain was consistent. So what better way to lay siege to the Seireitei then get the captains out of the ways. The captains too had their own problems. After all, in times like this, it would have been the head captain to take charge. But he could not be a part of the war effort, this time.
Yes, the captains were what the made the world of the Seireitei function. It was not a common occurrence for a captain to teach their subordinates to be at a level with them. Not every captain was like Sōsuke Aizen had been. Indeed amongst many circles, he had come to don the nickname kingmaker. It was a cliche title, it was a little off point too. Yet no one could deny that he along with Yamamoto himself had been the only ones to raise new captains. Or in the case of Delilah, a new ruling royal.
The prospect of bombs falling out the sky was not one that the Seireitei had ever faced. In the past, their enemies had come at them head-on. In the past, they had had informants that there were those conspiring against them. There had been none of that sort of information available to them now. The thirteen court guard squads had nothing to go on. This was not something that sat well with either one of them. Especially not when it came to the thirteenth division. They were the ones the least prepped for this sort of battle.
Their squad building was the first to collapse into nothingness. For outside spectators, it would have been the most horrendous sight. For those belonging to that division not so much. They had all been trying to get out of there for a long time. So when the place that had become their prison did, in fact, crumble around them, they took it as an escape route. The thing was though, they would not get very far. Not when upon getting ready to head towards the first division, the enemy armies came their way. And they all knew that this was not a battle they could avoid.
Squad ten found themselves in a situation a little more favourable. From the moment that the bomb hit their squad, they were already on high alert. From the moment that cracks began to appear on the inner walls, Rangiku was ready. She was the lieutenant with the youngest captain. This would usually work to their disadvantage. Having a young captain like Tōshirō at times meant that he did not have the same experience as the others. It meant that he might not react in the right way. But now this provided to put the tenth in the best position.
Tōshirō had been a teen when he had the role of captain thrust upon him. The tenth still at times saw him as their child. They let him do the paperwork, give him the illusion of control. But when it came to the nitty-gritty, well they were the ones who would act without orders. Rangiku was the official figurehead in such situations. She was the most senior, she ought to have been captain. And with Tōshirō away, she was the one who marched everyone out of the barracks. That way they did not get caught under the rubble.
The thirteenth was now facing an army, the tenth was now dealing with assassins. The seventh though, they had jumped the gun. At the slightest whiff of trouble, Tetsuzaemon came out of his office to gather the other seated officers. Their captain was at the meeting. This was something they all knew. They also knew that this was the ideal time for an enemy to attack if they wanted to. So they did not hesitate to gather the rest of the division. This was all done in one order, get your weapons ready.
It was a good order too, considering that from the moment they had left the barracks, the enemy came. There was no doubt that these enemy forces had been waiting. They had all clustered into the prime positions after all. These soldiers were the ultimate turncoats. Thus making them the perfect army in this sort of situation. They were mismatches in some case, but they all had one goal, destroy the Seireitei. If their higher-ups would have paid them to do it, it would not have been such an effective ambush. No their desire to destroy the Seireitei was personal.
The only squad that had decided not to go through with the confrontation was the twelfth division. For now, it seemed that the enemy was avoiding to drop bombs on them. It was most likely thanks to their own captain's tendencies to at times blow his surroundings up. It was because of this that the twelfth had the best defences. They might have been the crazy bunch, but they sure knew how to scheme. And they were also the only division who still had somewhat of a connection to the first.
Squad twelfth was not a division of fighters. Some might have even considered them to be the opposite of squad eleven. No this was a division that prided itself in the subtler sciences of war. They were the ones who had built up the communication networks after all. It infuriated them to no end that it should fail. Their first job was to stabilise the links to the first division, then to the others. If they could after that, they would reach out to the rest of the soul society. At the moment they had a fair chance to succeed. Though that depended on whether the enemy would still consider to target them given the risks.
...
So if their comrades in the Seireitei were on the edge of panic. The guards left over in the Rukkon districts were doing quite well then. Neither one of them could quite see the point of such an extreme emotion anymore. Unlike in the Seireitei where the squads were beginning to get overwhelmed. In the soul society, these guards could see a ray of hope. Why? It was quite simple yet miraculous, they had other soul reapers on their side now. And to think that this increased rise of spiritual pressure among the Rukkon residents was actually a bad thing.
It was not a bad thing, it was, in fact, turning the tide in their favour. The guards fought at times, but if anything they were trying to maintain a semblance of order. Chaos ensued, destruction happened, that was what the enemy wanted. The guards had no clue what their higher-ups were thinking at that moment. All they could see from the outside was that the Seireitei was also suffering from an ambush. But the guards did not worry about that now. Instead, they helped the most vulnerable to navigate away from the danger zones. It was the least that they could do.
Yes, they all had good intentions in mind, but things were still descending into a war zone. They still had to engage the assassins that came their way in battle. Though it soon became clear that they were not the target of the enemy. It was those that they were guarding who were. These Rukkon residents were those much more advanced in age. They were the ones who could not move around all that well. But in this sort of situation, not staying in the same spot was the safest thing to do. It lessened the chances of any of them getting killed.
They were now in the thick of things, they were holding on, just about. But there were some who lost their lives. Some of them were on their side the others lying dead on the ground were the enemy fighters themselves. Things were getting very bloody now. In the past enemies had always attacked the Seireitei in some form or another. Now the enemy seemed to want to bring about destruction to the whole of the soul society. Some could only speculate why this was. Though as a whole the soul society could agree that returning to how things once were would not be a good thing.
Things seemed to be simmering along for now. The guards remained separate for most of the time. They were each transporting vulnerable people. Some of them had thought to seek refuge with them in the living world. But then, they were also not going to run away from the battle either. So when the guards did meet up once again, it was Daisuke who brought up the suggestion anew.
"Should we trying to cross over?|
Another guard was quick to respond:
"Are you sure that you are thinking right in the head Daisuke? You know that if we tried to cross over with an official pass to do so we will end up in the Dangai. We could survive it, those who are fighting back might even be able to. But do you really think that those we are protecting could do so? They are vulnerable for a reason."
Daisuke hung his head in defeat. Most of his fellow guardsmen were still attempting to do things by the book. But it was starting to become more and more pointless. It was not as if the Seireitei could actually send them reinforcements.
Considering that they were now all together, Daisuke not long after choose to take a detour. Some might call it sulking that they did not pay attention to his suggestion. Some might call it blowing off some steam. Some might call him reckless for striking out on his own. Things might no longer be looking so bleak, but the enemy had the numbers. The enemy had blocked them off from the Seireitei. It was all a matter of time until the enemy would once again gain the upper hand. Daisuke could not ignore the dead bodies he had seen in the street after all.
So he walked and walked and walked, he did consider making that crossing himself. But before he could even undertake such a risky thing, he found a bag placed over his head. His first reaction was to reach for his zanpakutō. That led to it being knocked right out of his hands. He then tried kicking and screaming. He knew that it was a childish manoeuvre. Whoever had blindsided him, would most likely think of it as one too. And Daisuke hoped to throw them off, to let him go so he could make a run for it.
Yet such drastic measures were not required. Yes, they dragged and dragged and dragged him away. His surrounding suddenly began stuffy. He took that as a sign that he was no longer out in the fresh air. And then the bag on his head soon disappeared. The first thing to hit him was the artificial low light, one that his eyes had to accustom to. He appeared to be on the floor amongst some boxes. He might have searched through them too if he did not overhear voices. Ones that lead him to creep towards the exit.
"Whoever this enemy is, they had been biding their time."
"For hundreds, if not thousands of years..."
"They waited until Delilah was out of the way..."
"Are you so sure about that? What if the enemy is also there?"
"Do you think that there are traitors that high up?"
"There must be. It could be the same enemy that had been trying to wipe out the Ukitake clan ever since the breakup."
Daisuke found himself slipping out of the side room towards the one with the fireplace. This seemed to belong to a compound of sorts. And as his eyes scanned the walls, he saw it, the family emblem belonging to none other than the Kyōrakus.
Oh a twist, though it looks like with most of the soul reapers cut off, it is up to the nobles to step up. Until next time!