Chapter 53: Sorry I Am Strong
Tenjirou Kirinji, the Demon of the Hot Springs, spasmed once before finally succumbing to the effects of Nina's power. He lay motionless on the Vestibule Road. Still protruding from his head and pointing up at the sky, his pompadour began to droop.
"Goodbye, Tenjirou Kirinji," Nina Redwing (The Blood) said, an air of regret clinging to her voice. "You fought well."
Turning away from the deceased Royal Guard, the red-haired girl began to walk back towards Yhwach and his entourage.
"Very nicely done, Nina," Yhwach said, his praise echoing down the white path in front of him. "It appears I was right to bring you with me to the Palace. Kirinji was one of the more troublesome members of the Zero Division. We couldn't just have him heal the other members now, could we?"
"No Sir," Nina replied, her voice flat and the gaze from her deep brown eyes perfectly level.
Yhwach chuckled slightly and patted her on the shoulder, before stepping past the Sternritter and making his way towards Tenjirou's corpse. Narrowing his blood red eyes, Yhwach stomped down on the chest of the dead Shinigami.
"Yhwach..." suddenly arose a voice from the direction of the Palace.
Senjumaru Shuutara stood, staring down from an elevated platform at the Quincy King. Behind her back, the numerous ceramic arms that adorned her clacked and rattled. Stepping up onto the path surrounding her was a legion of black-clad soldiers.
In front of Yhwach, the Vestibule Road rose up, each wooden plank that constituted it sitting slightly higher than the last until it had formed an enormous staircase.
"To think that you would invade the Royal Palace," she continued, beginning to descend the stairs towards the Kaiser of the Quincy. "You must have lost what remained of your sanity when you defeated Genryusai. Make no mistake, retaliation will be swift and severe."
"Retaliation?" he mused, raising a single eyebrow. Opening his tattered black cloak, he revealed the body on Kirinji beneath his foot. "Retaliation from whom?"
Shuutara's body stiffened. "Such insolence."
The soldiers that flanked her charged down the stairs and all moved at the same time to stab Yhwach. He didn't even attempt to dodge. Passing by him, every single attack failed to find its mark.
Eyes opening wide, Shuutara was stunned by the occurrence. Why is it that none of the blades hit him?
The soldiers all jumped back, away from Yhwach.
"If you believe that mere foot soldiers are enough to reach me, then you are sorely mistaken," Yhwach said, his voice low and flat. His eyes betrayed nothing and he didn't so much as move an inch. Beneath his feet, bubbling from the black depths of his shadow, a legion of Soldat rose up and revealed themselves. "For the likes of these, my Soldat are more than enough." He returned his piercing gaze to Shutara. "And as for the Royal Guard... My Schutzstaffel shall be your opponents."
Extending underneath the feet of Shuutara's soldiers and the Soldat, Yhwach's shadow reached the bottom of the great staircase. Rising from the darkness, three figures revealed themselves. They were each clad in a large hooded white cloak, emblazoned with a black six-pointed Zeichen and fastened at the front with three buttons, bearing the symbol of the Vandenreich.
Uryu, still stood behind Yhwach at the very end of the Vestibule Road, turned towards the genderless white figure of Beraht Kailash Wakahisa (Sternritter A), for an explanation on who the new arrivals were. Instead, he found empty air.
Beraht appeared amongst the cloaked individuals and tipped its hat, throwing its face in shadow.
"That's His Majesty's personal Elite Guard," Nina explained, walking up beside Uryu and staring back at her four fellows at the bottom of the staircase. "The Schutzstaffel... Three of them are ranked among the Top Seven strongest Sternritter, and all of them are beyond dangerous." She glanced sideways at the teenage boy. "If I were you, I would watch closely. This isn't going to last long."
One of the cloaked figures threw back his hood and sat down on the ground. Onmar Gunther (Sternritter G) tilted his head to the side and groaned.
"You okay down there?" came a pleasant voice from inside the hood of another figure. Joseph Fehler (Sternritter M) pulled back the fabric obscuring his face and broke into a charming smile. Pushing his half-rim glasses up his nose, he looked down at his comrade. "I must say, I didn't expect you to be the one who was promoted."
"Neither did I..." Onmar muttered in reply. "It's as much of a surprise to me as it is to you."
"Well you'd best make sure to do your best," Joseph chuckled, checking his watch and tapping the face. "We wouldn't want you making a mistake and losing your life like our former comrade."
"It is truly a shame that Kirmie has passed on to his eternal rest," Beraht said softly. "However, let us not dwell on it. The world is afflicted by death and decay; but the wise do not grieve, having realised the nature of the world. Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely."
"What a lovely saying!" Joseph exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips and leaning forward before turning his head to look at the pure white being. "That was really rather good."
"I doubt Kirmie lived wisely..." Onmar muttered, cupping his chin in one hand and resting his elbow on his knee. "Disgusting bastard." Even now, he still held an overwhelming hatred for his former comrade. Killing him had done little to quell his anger towards Kirmie.
"All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?" Beraht's voice was flat and calm.
"Um... I don't mean to step on anyone's toes," Joseph said, politely raising a single finger and breaking into a wide smile. "But I believe that hurting others is the point of what we do?"
The last remaining member of the Schutzstaffel ignored his fellows, instead striding forwards and beginning to climb the stairs.
"Oh dear..." Joseph commented, following his comrade with his emerald green eyes. "There he goes again. This does not bode well."
Reaching the top of the stairs, the large cloaked man stood directly in front of Shuutara and stared down at her, without a word. After several seconds a snickering laugh began to emerge from the depths of his hood.
"What are you laughing at?" Shuutara asked, practically spitting out the sentence.
The figure said nothing. The quiet laughter grew louder, until it had become a giggle.
"Enough of this..." Shuutara hissed. "Shield of the Soul King! Stop this wretch in his tracks!"
Dropping out of the sky, an enormous man, clad in the same garb as Shuutara's minions, landed behind the Zero Division member. Rising to his full height of well over four stories, the giant cast down an ominous presence.
The cloaked Sternritter continued to laugh, growing progressively louder until he had nearly doubled over. An increasingly manic sound cackled out of his hood.
"Oh jheeze..." Joseph muttered, pulling an exasperated expression and holding two fingers up against his forehead. He once again looked down at Onmar. "Please, let's step back a few paces... Trust me, you don't want to get involved in this."
The enormous soldier drew an equally huge black sword from the sheath strapped to his side. Light licked against the blade, shimmering off of the flat surface. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung the weapon down at the cloaked man, with all of his might.
"NICE SWORD YA' GOT THERE!" suddenly screamed an ecstatic voice, from inside the large white hood.
The behemoth's entire arm, still gripping the sword, was ripped clean off by some powerful unseen force. Blood rained down upon the pure white path and began to flow down the stairs, towards the remaining three Schutzstaffel.
Tearing off the cloak that covered him, the last of Yhwach's elite guard revealed himself. Stood at close to six foot four, he was a tall and muscular man. Shaggy blonde hair was pushed out of his face and swept back behind his head. Beneath his right eye was a swirling black tattoo, and running down the left side of his face, from forehead to chin was a long lateral scar. A bright blonde goatee framed the man's mouth, which was twisted into a sickening grin.
The sound of metal on metal rang through the air as he moved. The white military jacket that he wore was open at the front, revealing a multitude of black leather belts and chains covering and binding his bare muscular torso.
Sternritter P, Haans Lander (The Psycho-path) caught the sword as it dropped out of the air, arm and all, as easily as catching a tennis ball. Leaping forward with a scream of joy, amidst a veil of crimson blood, he began to hack away at the giant.
Watching the display, Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. Closing his eyes behind his glasses, he sighed. "So uncivilised..."
Shuutara took a single step back, her eyes opened wide in shock and dismay for a brief second.
Like a soundtrack to the chaos, Haans laugh punctuated the numerous hacks and slashes that he dealt upon the Shield of the Soul King. Once he was finished, all that remained of the giant was a pile of limbs.
Throwing down the severed arm and accompanying sword, Haans wiped a single leather glove across his blood-smeared face, to remove the fluid. Bright blue eyes, like distant stars, peered through his fingers at Shuutara and creased in amusement.
"I can see iiit~" his voice chimed, a musical air of madness to it. He spoke fast, his voice tumbling rapidly from his lips like running water. "The look in your eyes. You're afraid that you're going to lose. That you're going to die." Haans removed his hand from his face and continued to grin. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Don't know know... You were already dead, the moment His Majesty arrived here!"
A single muscular arm rapidly shot up into the air. Haans' eyes twinkled as he balled his hand into a fist.
"Smash, smash, SMASH!" he shouted, excitedly.
Rapidly bringing his fist down, Shuutara was suddenly driven down into the ground, even in spite of being several feet away from him. It was like a great weight had descended upon her from above.
As opposed to being crushed, the Shinigami woman's form instead crumpled into a heap of silky fabrics.
The sky around the staircase and the accompanying road suddenly began to warp and pull apart, almost as if it were a stage curtain being drawn at the start of a performance.
"The Soul Palace... Is a fake...?" Onmar gasped, staring around himself as he realised that the platform upon which their entire party were standing was not infact connected to the Soul King's Palace, but rather floating out in the open air.
"Ha!" Joseph laughed, clapping his hands. "This is amazing! I never thought you would have been capable of something like this. I must say, you really had us all fooled."
"All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and a falsehood passing from words into things," Beraht said, slowly. Its voice was faint and flat, like a distant whisper.
Onmar raised an eyebrow and glanced sidelong at his strange gender neutral comrade.
Noticing the look, Joseph broke into a slight smile. "You'll get used to it."
"I'm sorry, but we've been pulling the wool over your eyes, to coin a phrase," Shuutara said, appearing behind Nina and Uryu, facing the opposite direction. "The real Soul Palace is this way, where the Monk is lying in wait."
An enormous black symbol, in the shape of the Kanji for "conceal" appeared floating out in midair, in front of where Shuutara stared: 隠
Behind the symbol, the real Soul Palace was finally revealed. Sat cross-legged on the end of the real Vestibule Road, a large calligraphy brush set across his knees, was Hyousube Ichibei.
"Hmm, it appears that someone spilled the beans already..." He narrowed his large eyes. "Then that must mean that the prison is ready?"
Spinning on the heel of his black leather combat boot, Haans turned about himself and rapidly summoned a bow into his hands. Loosing an arrow in the direction of Ichibei, he widened his eyes.
The raised platform on which Haans stood suddenly dropped down, until it was perfectly level with the road on which his comrades stood; the staircase following suit. Springing up into then air, an enormous tree branch intercepted Haans' attack.
Onmar turned his head and stared around the wooden platform on which he sat. The entire structure was now situated in the centre of an immense cage, formed from the branches of a tree.
"Tenjirou..." suddenly arose the voice of Kirio Hikifune, addressing the body at Yhwach's feet. Her large rotund form appeared around the edge of one of the humongous branches. "Your sacrifice wasn't in vain. Because of you, I had enough time to set up this cage. Don't worry... They won't move a single step from this point."
"Really?!" Haans laughed, beginning to belt the cage with arrows. As opposed to doing damage, however, they caused the tree to grow.
"Really," Kirio parroted back. "To control food is to control life. This Cage of Life feeds off of the essence of life itself; reishi. Your attacks only make the cage grow stronger."
Ignoring the Zero Division member, the blonde-haired Quincy continued to launch arrows at the branches. As the condensed reishi continued to slam into the wooden structure, the cage began to grow more and more, further trapping the invading force.
"Haans! Haans!" Joseph shouted, attempting to be heard over his comrade's laughter. "Haans!"
"What?!" the crazed blonde man cried, ceasing his attack and focussing on the bespectacled man.
"You're making it worse," said Joseph, walking forwards and gently gripping his fellow around the wrist. "You keep that up and all that's going to happen is this cage is going to get harder to break out of." Releasing Haans, he pushed his glasses back up his nose. "We need to be smart about this."
"Yooooooo!" suddenly cried a voice, from the far end of the platform.
The four Schutzstaffel turned their attention towards the source of the voice. Behind them Yhwach, Uryu and Nina all did the same.
"Juu, Kyuu, Hachi, Nana, Roku, Go, Shi, Ni-maya Ohetsu!" shouted the new arrival, throwing one hand up into the air and throwing the victory sign. "Paree-pear your-shelves for number one Zanpakuto creator!" As was typical of his introductions, he spoke in English and his accent was horrible.
There was a dull thump as Nimaya dropped the large tank that he carried on his back. Inside the open-topped tank was a block of thick gelatine, and jammed into the gelatine was a blade, the hilt poking up out of the top of the tank.
Silence settled onto the scene for several moments.
The silence was broken by the sound of clapping hands. Joseph beamed towards the Shinigami. "Gut gemacht! Gut gemacht! Very flashy!"
Nimaya broke into a slight grin and locked eyes with the scruffy-haired man. "You have good taste. Any other time and I may have liked you..." He reached down and grasped the blade of the sword, before pulling it out of the tank with a wet pop. "But right now, I'm just not in the mood. So shut your mouths an' all come at me at once. The battle of Squad Zero starts now."
The blade of the sword, clasped in his hand, began to wobble.
"Oh no..." he muttered, pulling it close to his face to observe the sword. "It's been so long since I've drawn it... The forte is loose..." Midway through his inspection, he looked up and peered towards the Schutzstaffel, through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to attack me?"
"Such an action would be unfathomably rude," Beraht said softly. "As would all of us attacking you in unison."
Nimaya moved slowly and narrowed his eyes. He did not expect the enemy Elites to be this honourable or eccentric. It was unsettling.
"Would any of you be opposed to me fighting him?" Joseph asked, looking around at the other Sternritter.
When he received no response, he took it as them giving him their blessing to proceed. Removing the cloak draped across his shoulders, he stepped towards Nimaya and tightened the black tie fastened around his neck.
Beneath the cloak, he was revealed to be wearing a double-breasted white military jacket, fastened as high as it would go. The collar was pulled up high and touched the bottom of his ears, and on his left shoulder a decorative patch of fabric, bearing the mark of the Vandenreich, was pinned in place with a silver button. The black belt strapped around the middle of his jacket bore at least a half dozen silver rod-like objects that dangled down and tapped against his side. Hanging down his leg and looping behind his back on the left hand side was a thin silver chain. The pure white suit trousers that he wore fell neatly over a pair of shiny black dress shoes.
"I'd really rather not have to kill you," Joseph said, his emeral green eyes twinkling behind his glasses. "I don't like taking lives." One of his pupils quickly flicked to the side, towards Yhwach who watched him wordlessly. "But orders are orders. So please... Don't make this difficult. I don't want to have to hurt you too much."
"You're confident," Nimaya said, breaking into a wide smile.
Joseph didn't reply. Instead he tilted his head to the side and pulled the corner of his mouth up into a friendly smirk.
Without a second's hesitation, Nimaya rushed him.
Bending his body backwards, Joseph avoided a horizontal slash from the elite Shinigami. Rapidly pulling one of the thin rectangular object from his belt, light burst from the tip and formed into the shape of a blade.
Dipping to the side, to avoid Joseph's retaliatory attack, Nimaya moved out of range and took several steps back. "Nice dodge there!" he cried, praising the Quincy's agility.
"Why thank you!" Joseph replied, leaping towards his opponent. Swinging the Seeleschneider in a narrow arc, before reversing the attack back on itself, the Quincy elite made two rapid slashes at the Royal Guard.
Dodging the attacks, the small tan-skinned man struck back.
Taking one step back, to avoid the stroke of the sword, Joseph broke into a slight grin as a lock of his hair tumbled from his fringe, down his face.
"Whoa-ho," he laughed. "Sharp!"
Spinning on the ball of his foot, the Schutzstaffel member turned to the side and kicked out at the Royal Guard. Sidestepping, Nimaya again raised the bade he held clasped in his fist and took a swipe at his opponent.
The Quincy soldier narrowly managed to avoid having his throat cut.
"Close, but no cigar," he laughed, backstepping again in order to gain some distance.
"You're pretty quick on yer feet," Nimaya said, taking up a simple combat stance. "I didn't expect ya' to be so fast."
"Well, I have to move quick if I'm going to dodge all of your attacks," Joseph replied. "As an aside, you're pretty fast yourself."
"Why are ya' dodging all of them?" the Shinigami asked. "Why not block 'em or deflect 'em with that thing in ya' hand?"
"I think you know why," the Quincy said, pleasantly. "If I tried to block that blade with my Seeleschneider, you'd cut right through it."
"Man, you're a smart one," Nimaya chuckled, smiling broadly and creasing his eyes behind his dark glasses. "Like a doctor or some shit like that."
"I just pay attention to things," Joseph replied, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Holding up the blade into the light, Nimaya began to admire it. "Sayafushi is a failure as a sword. It's far too sleek and it's cutting power is far too high. Flesh, bone, blood- don't matter which. It all jus' slides right off the thing. Can't sheath the damn thing; the only way t' carry it is to use that big ol' tub back there. It's far too impractical for everyday use." Pulling the blade back down into a combat stance, he tilted it slightly to the side. "For that ya' have my thanks. Finally have a chance to let this one shine."
The Zero Squad member suddenly appeared in front of the Sternritter. It didn't even look like he'd moved; more like he'd always been there.
Thrusting his arms forward, Nimaya pierced Joseph through the throat. The tip of the blade exited the back of the Quincy's neck, covered in blood, before rapidly being withdrawn.
Falling forwards, Joseph crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"Next!" Nimaya cried, suddenly leaping towards the three remaining Schutzstaffel.
Lifting the glowing white bow clasped in his hands, Haans readied himself to fire, however the God of the Sword was far too quick. Ducking under the tip of the bow, he sliced upwards, gouging open the blonde man's torso.
Pulling back slightly, he flipped the hilt of the blade around his hand and pointed the sword down at the ground. Plunging the razor sharp point of the weapon down into Onmar, who was in the process of rising to his feet, he impaled the young man through the collarbone.
Spinning on the spot, Nimaya turned his attention away from the downed man and directed a sword swing at Beraht.
"If I lean while I swing, I should be able to extend my reach enough to cut him, if he moves back," Berhat suddenly said, its voice tumbling from its lips and an extraordinarily fast pace.
Dashing to the side, the genderless individual dodged the attack, as Nimaya leaned forwards to slash at it.
"What... Was that...?" Nimaya asked, suddenly ceasing his attack and turning towards the strange white figure. He was sure that the being in front of him had just spoken what he was thinking, faster than he could think it.
He received no response.
"Hmm," Beraht hummed quickly, its speech once again taking on a rapid pace. "Perhaps he can read my mind. Crap, I hope not. That'd suck something fierce. Wait, he's doing it again! Damn. Okay. Best thing to do is just clear my mind and move based on my instincts. Easier said than done though. Damn, is he still doing it? Man, I can see this getting old fast... Boobies! Haha. Okay that was kinda funny. Aaand now it's annoying again."
Reappearing in front of the marble-like form of the Quincy, Nimaya's arm flashed upwards. The action was extremely fast, the only glimpse to be caught of it being a sudden blur. Beraht was cleaved across the front of its body, before joining its comrades in falling to the floor.
Turning towards Yhwach, Nimaya briefly glanced down at the bodies of the Schutzstaffel. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to go and kill 'em all so quickly. So... What d'ya say, Y.H? Fancy goin' a few rounds with me ya'self?"
[A/N: Finally, all of the Sternritter have been revealed! While some of their powers remain a mystery, all of their names, letters and physical appearances have all come to light! We're down to the wire now!
I hope you're all still enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it! Much love!]
