Author Notes: This chapter, I'm giving the rundown on how the World's Sword are organized as a group. Also a reminder of what's been happening in the Urahara Shop. This chapter is shorter than what I usually do, but its to emphasize the danger of the situation.
Chapter 30: Infinite Terror
The World Sword was thought by the Soul Society, the 13 Court Guard Squad and the Royal Guard as an inferior knockoff of their organization, if one were to look back in the past- the truth was significantly more complicated.
Due to mysterious events that occurred 4,000- the Soul King became the sole lynch- pin of the world to keep things in balance. The Royal Family, the only remnants of the previous order, made sure that at least some of the older system from before the Soul King remained in tact to a degree as they took over the duties left behind by the precursors before the Soul King, mainly the traditions of rebirth, purpose, relationships with the other Realms, etc. The predecessors of the Soul Reapers, Death Gods and Angels of Death would all work under them.The Soul King and the Royal Family had different views on how the world should be operated.
The Soul King's view was that a large piece of land would later become Karakura Town, Naruki Town and a couple of other unimportant cities to be the gateway to another dimension that would later be called the Soul Society. Souls would go there once they had died and would return to the World of Living as other human beings once they've lived long enough in this dimension in peaceful lives without worry or suffering. In order to maintain this system, the rest of the world would erased from existence and only the Soul Reapers could maintain the balance while he divided his being in order to become a perfect balancer; the Angels of Death and the Death Gods would of course...cease to exist. It was not out of conceited elitism, the Soul King simply did see how they could function in his system- mainly because unlike the Angels, Death Gods and the Royal Family, he lacked the ability to see the Yokai as well as Daemons the others could see. To the Soul King's annoyance, the Realm of the Hollows was connected to this dimension, in spite of having isolating this space from the rest of the World of the Living. As a result, the Souls would be at the mercy of the masked creatures if the predecessors of the Soul Reapers did not protect them, but the Soul King refused to admit that his views were flawed at best.
The Royal Family's system was far more simple- Souls would reincarnate through the Six Realms based their karma and the three groups- Soul Reapers, Death Gods and Angels of Death would slay any Hollows, Yokai or Daemons that would cause trouble to the Souls during the reincarnation process maintained of the five members of the Royal Family, each performing a separate duty for the system to remain functioning.
The resulting "argument", ended with the Soul King ruling only the large set of land that he had decided his system should be run, which became the current system used by the Soul Society while the Family took charge of the rest of the world using the older system long forgotten by the 13 Court Guard Squads.
The Soul King at some point had four sons, though publicly there were there were three due to reasons currently undocumented. They were the one that became known as Yhwach that founded the current generation of Quincy, two currently unnamed children and the fourth, the one who founded the current Soul Reaper generation- Momotarō Fumei, who incarnated on earth as a mere man that would become the first modern Soul Reaper; teaching the first men the special arts that he had learned from the predecessors of the Soul Reapers. It is through him, that the Soul Reapers were modernized into their current form, one that had once agreed with the Royal Family's way of running the balance of the world and not the Soul King as they would later do. Initially, the Soul Reapers would work alongside with the World's Sword, an organization founded 3,000 years ago by the Soul Father whose main fighting force were the Death Gods and the Angels of Death. After Momotarō's death however, the Soul Reapers gradually became more corrupt as they gradually moved away from his vision and towards the Soul King's- turning it into an elitist fighting force with 320 districts of slums that was hard to live in, especially those with the high numbers.
As a result, the World's Sword and what would become the Soul Society stopped working with each other, beginning once Oetsu began to create Zanpakuto in a method that contrasted those of his teachings and especially, once Yamamoto founded the 13 Court Guard Squads- turning the Soul Reapers into a group of brutal executioners. As it stands for the moment, the Soul Society protected the stasis that is the Soul King and the other serving the keepers of the ever-changing cycle- the Royal Family under the banner of the World's Sword that worked alongside the Death Gods and the Angels of Death, which the Soul Society saw as delusional heretics, grouping them together with the Full-Bringer and Quincy groups due to their similar powers to both.
Ironically in spite of their extreme differences, their hierarchy were very similar in structure.
Like the 13 Court Guard Squads, the group is divided into 13 Divisions with a slight difference- they went from 14-26. Rather than flowers, the divisions were based on the various lands that Momotarō had gone to in his travels through the world during his life selecting disciples to follow his teachings and are called by their respective group names based on their respective virtues. They were called 14- Balance (China, Japan, etc), 15- Duty (United Kingdom, France, etc), 16- Judgment (Egypt/Africa, etc) 17- Remembrance (Germany/Norway, etc), 18- Inheritance (Mexico, Central America, etc), 19- Enlightenment (India, Tibet, etc) , 20- Faith (Rome, Israel, etc), 21- Imagination (Australia), 22- Determination (Russia, Italy, etc), 23- Heroism (Greece) 23- Necessity (Romania, etc), 24- Secrecy (Atlantis, Mu, etc), 25- History (Mesopotamia, Babylonia, etc) and 26- Bonds (North America, Canada, etc). The World's Sword shared the same 20 seat ranking system with the most powerful person of that group being the Captain of that Division and several seat-less subordinates . Everyone of their members to the recruit to the Captains especially, all have powers that surpass the Royal Guard and their equivalents in the other Branches of the Soul Society, are positioned all across the planet with the exception of the areas that the Soul Society takes care of.
And above them were a group of powerful Death Gods and Angels of Death that were the World's Sword equivalent of the Royal Guard. These seven individuals are known as the Kōyanoshichinin (The Magnificent Seven); they protect the Royal Family as well as the chosen one selected to aid the Soul Father in managing the Breath of Existence, once they win the selection process to chose the assistant being a certain tournament that he fancies in North America. These seven warriors in are seen as supreme beings to the World's Sword, just like the entire organization is similarly seen as deities to the Royal Guard.
At this moment, one of the Captains of the World's Sword was deciding whether or not to end the fight below...a fight that had the 14th Division's 20th Seat against the 11th Division's Captain.
An ancient man was standing in the exosphere above, using an advanced use of the Bringer Light technique - the soles of his feet oriented a transparent sphere with an emerald outline around his ancient wizard like form- thus keeping him from suffocating in the void of space. He looked down at the fight with an expression of absolute severity as he began to speak in a deep and ancient voice to the ones down below.
"Thou art prolonging this squabble to indulge in thine hedonism, Hao Asakura. Those four hath also been too irresponsible in thine duties. I shalt take action in order to resume the pursuit of the Nephillim in the area below once this rabble are dealt with. Even if they are with the Soul Society; the will of the Royal Family is absolute."
These words telepathically entered Hao's mind as he continued to fight the unrestrained Zaraki, with the dark brown haired boy still having a huge advantage despite Kenpachi having released his eyepatch.
Make sure to revive me later with your little fancy ability, Captain Infinitas. I'd say you're a brat for barking orders to me when I'm in the middle of something, but since you're actually older than my over 1000 year self...and to my annoyance, my absolute superior in the arts., Hao internally spoke to the man above with a tone of calm irritation.
"I Blaise Infinitas, the Captain of the 15th Division of the World's Sword recite this Spell in the name of the World's Sword- Dominus respicit viam peccati ad homines descendisse. Convocantes fluctus aeternitatis praecipit Dominus XL diebus et quadraginta noctibus usque ad oblivionis hostem in ignes gentiles abstersa diluvium mundo. No Spell III: Ad Infinitum Formido.," the old man recited a powerful spell similar to that of the Soul Reaper's Kidou except his variant was far stronger. A purple magical circle was formed in front of the man and fired a massive black colored liquid substance with Latin writing inscribed onto it with purple coloring with green glowing dots of light trailing behind. It was like it was both a liquid and a living creature at the same time as it .
The pitch black mass headed towards Japan- specifically where eight Soul Reapers were currently located with the intent of obliterating them all.
While Kenpachi was too engaged in the fight with Hao, the latter knew what was about to occur with a more sullen expression while still smiling. Ichibe and Senjumaru were the only Soul Reapers to realize that something powerful was about to coming down from the heavens above- a truly powerful technique beyond comprehension intent on finishing the fight below for whatever reason the user deemed fit. The others were all focused on Kenpachi's fight with Hao to notice this incoming attack.
Desperate, Ichibe used his brush to write a character, one that he would only use in the worst case scenario- 生きる. The character expanded in size as it surrounded the entire area with a golden light for what was going to happen in the next second. A gust of force forced the entire group to fall down from the immense pressure. Tenjiro, Kirio, Oetsu, Kenpachi would keep afloat with their Kūki Tsūro; Hao would use the Bringer Light from his Kurobi to keep from being pushed to the ground. The ones on the ground were immediately shoved to the ground as they lay on their sides.
The entire grassland was engulfed in a black flood of unnatural liquid that swerved and splashed as it covered the ground below it- all form was obscured by the darkness. While the rest were knocked out by the force, only Senjumaru and Ichibe remained awake to see the darkness surrounding them and trying to get into the barrier he had summoned to protect everyone from being swallowed by the attack.
Ichibe thought to himself in the darkness with a more serious expression, As long as this is active. All who are under this character will remain alive even if the universe itself is altered.
Blaise then spoke in a morbid tone as he narrowed his eyes from behind his helmet-
"Thou art mistaken in one aspect. This spell knows when it hath not destroyed its target."
Ichibe look to see that the black substance was seeping into the barrier and threatened to engulf everyone in an instant. He narrowed his eyes in resignation for what was to come.
"Heilig Acht Leben der Ewigkeit: Gott Welt (Sacred Eight Lives of Eternity: God World)."
A young woman's voice spoke with an intense pronunciation as an orange light began to reject the attack made of darkness, returning it back to its point of origin to Blaise's narrow eyed shock. Ichibe and Senjumaru looked in awe at who was in the center of the grassland below that was causing the attack to retreat. The girl was surprised at what she just did at this moment, unaware of how she managed to use that power. On her right side was a dark skinned woman with long purple hair, laying unconscious in a black kimono as she wielding a giant black fan.
It was a well endowed teenage girl with waist length burnt orange hair with eight orange Spiritual Energy wings on her back, wearing a loose pink kimono with her midriff/cleavage exposed and matching colored hakama and white tabi socks worn with simple sandals. Isshin looked closely at the young woman, Mayuri turned his attention to her as well and both Kenpachi as well as Hao gazed at the new arrival with either grimacing confusion or interest.
It was Orihime Inoue, with her Visored mask worn over her face; with a new power awakened with her gray/black iris ripple pattern eyes.
Chapter 31: Eternal Halcyon
