Chapter three
First contact
*Aizen*
I am not a man who is prone to intense emotion. I am not a person who is affected on a large scale by much at all. Truthfully my only real loss of composure came as I lay, defeated at Kurosaki Ichigo's feet, devastated at the fact that I had been surpassed by a creature of my own creation, and then falling prey to Kisukes Urahara's Kido, and still on a platform by myself, seemingly fated to suffer the solitude of my existence alone…But when I felt the arrival of not one but Two Transcendent beings into the world, I felt adrenalin surge through my body.
Excitement that I didn't know I was capable of feeling welled up from the very bottom of my soul. A grin quite out of character for me split my face as I felt the familiar presences of both Ichigo and Juha'Bach flood the world and fuse with the cycle of rebirth.
All thoughts of gleaming any information from these supposed demons fled my mind in an instant. All plans I may have had for these beings disappeared and was replaced with a far more important desire as a lifelong seemingly impossible dream had been realized.
So I escaped.
No, I shouldn't say escaped. Saying so would imply that I as even trapped in the first place.
I remember the stupefied, gob smacked looked on face of that dreadlord as I broke my restraints and let my reishi burst free without even trying, turning him and everyone within twenty feet of me to dust.
Priceless.
I wasted no time.
Unfortunately, Ichigo and Juha'bach proved a lot harder to track down than I had initially thought. You would think that two beings of god-like powers would be easy to track down, but the two had taken to travelling and staying within the cycle of rebirth, appearing amongst demon camps who had been closer and closer to being able to tap into the cycle of rebirth. Already, demons were appearing throughout the world who had been altered in some way by the experiments with reishi done on them or who could boast a prolonged stay upon the planet itself.
Earth was unique in that way. The energy free-flowing through the planet were that potent that you didn't even have to do anything for it to change you and make you stronger.
But I knew, as well as everyone else fighting to defend this planet that the invaders didn't care to wait.
I decided to take a page out of Ichigo's book and traverse the world waging war against the burning legion. It was pathetically easy. But I knew it was going to be when I set out to lend a helping hand in an attempt to gain the attention of Juha'Bach and Ichigo. It was also a different experience. I wasn't used to fighting just to do so. Nor was I used to fighting to protect anything or anyone.
But I must admit it felt a bit…nice to be part of something other than myself.
I encountered many throughout the years. Meeting people like Kurosaki Karin, whose powers manifested as those of a fullbring, altered by her Shinigami/Quincy hybrid nature and making her as strong, if not stronger than Ichigo had been after his mastery of his hollow, or Yuzu Kurosaki who became a togabito bordering on the line of a transcendent being, her hybrid nature also serving as an augmentation of her main powers.
Yes it is truly a wonder what breaking down the barriers, or simply breeding between different species could produce. These two girls were extraordinary, much like their brother.
I remember arriving at the remains of the Human nation. The entire area stank of death and despair. A malignant curse-like disease ran rampant amongst the people, warping their minds, bodies and reishi into something not of this world, until all that was left behind were rabid, wolf-like beasts ruled by animalistic instinct and bloodlust. But they were recovering, the reiashi in the air started purging the negative effects of the curse and altering it within, and giving the humans the ability to master and make the curse their own power, and they were led by two of Ichigo's formerly human friends. Ah yea. I remember them. It was no wonder they were among the first to recover and were helping their kind do the same. They possessed will unlike any other.
I remember seeing Grimmjow emerge from within the earth with what was left of Hollow kind, leading them as they rejoined the rest of the world and entered the war as the sixth and final race, forming the coalition.
I met them all. And after we went through the customary greetings, them attacking and me chuckling as I shrugged off their meager attempts to kill me, I explained to them what I was doing and what my plan was. They were reluctant at first but as the years passed, I was able to prove to them that I really meant no one any harm.
It wasn't until a few years after I left my captors behind that I finally managed to pin down the other two transcendents. It was tense at first, so very tense. Ichigo was hostile and Bach was indifferent. But I could tell that neither of them really wanted to do anything with me. But I pressed on. I couldn't let them slip away from me. I had to convince them.
It took hours of me explaining my past, how I escaped from Mugen and what I had been doing all this time. It wasn't until Bach himself said, "Hmm so you're the one we've been feeling," that we were able to come to terms. I still remember my words as I held out my hand.
"We are one in the same. We stand at the top, the pinnacle of existence, ready to cast judgement down upon any who would dare to threaten OUR domain. We are as gods. So join me, let us be the final vanguard against our…guests should the others fail. Let's protect our planet."
The two of them took some time to respond. I could see the silent conversation going on in their minds. Finally Ichigo spoke.
"Your god damn manner of speech still pisses me off Aizen." He growled out. Then he sighed. "But fine. Enough of that god crap though."
The absolutely genuine smile that adorned my face must have been huge, because both Ichigo and Juha'Bach recoiled in mild discomfort. I didn't care.
I finally had…brothers.
*Isshin*
By the time Grimmjow brought the hollows into the fray, by the time Tatsuki and Keigo returned with the backing of a newly transformed and empowered race, and by the time Aizen Souske revealed himself, the ongoing war with the burning legion had become an exhausting routine.
The never ending tide of invading demons were no longer a terrifying, nerve shattering cataclysmic event that threatened to crush us all under the sheer weight of the fear they brought, this is true. But the sheer constants presence of them was beginning to wear us down.
We had grown used to fighting them of course, had grown stronger because of it, and had learned to adapt on the fly to the constant surprises they brought upon us, but it was tiring.
We got tired of facing massive beings of living rock and glowing green fire whose tough make up made killing them hard as hell. We came to hate anticipating the mental manipulations of nethrezim and succubae and being prepared to counteract them. We grew weary of facing the absurdly versatile and powerful magics unleashed against us by Eradar and other such magical using beings and we figured out quickly that in order to effectively combat the mechanical monstrosities constructed by Mo'arg and others that we too would also have to have our own machines and technologies. Tatsuki's werewolves proved most adept at that particular venture, being former humans who, even after mastering their curse hadn't really developed any other spiritual powers and decided to compensate, and we got better and better at traversing the world, hijacking portals to travel quickly to a destination, making it difficult for the burning legion to establish a solid foothold on our world, and we leaned…quickly, to fight against multiple enemies at the same time. Those that couldn't…died quickly.
But we adapted.
This of course did not mean that we grew complacent. To do would have spelled the end of us years ago. Because as rapidly as we adapted to the things the legion brought down upon us, and as easily as it was for our stronger fighters to slay them, they too adjusted. It should also be noted, that none of our populations are very large. Between the winter war, the thousand year blood war and the period we spent all killing one another, there has been some pretty drastic alterations to our numbers.
So while we generally consisted of competent fighters led by warriors able to slaughter legions of their forces with relative ease, and had three literal demigods on our side as well, we did not have the numbers we used to have and against an endless tide like the legion, that was even more apparent. So we have to be careful whenever we engage them, take care to preserve every single life out there. And the constant surprises and new strategies they kept throwing at us were not helping, and that's on top of all the attempts at tapping the cycle of rebirth that kept us in a constant state of alertness. Even the transcendents found themselves occupied by traversing and protecting the cycle of rebirth, keeping them from assisting us in battle often.
It was exhausting! Some of us came to the realization that THIS is how these guys conquered stronger worlds. They simply wore them down with their limitless numbers.
And all of that crap is just the beginning.
About a decade after the first invasion we started noticing anomalies among their ranks, powerful new demons, paragons of strength amongst their kind wreaking absolute havoc on our weaker forces and even amongst some of the stronger kind.
I myself had two encounters before we learned what was going on. My first was against a succubus, a generally common, low level demon easy to take down for the most part. But this one had been different, astonishingly so. It was the first time I'd had to use anything other than swordsmanship to take someone of her class down, requiring both the uses of shunpo and kidou as well.
My second encounter made my concerns truly manifest.
Only against higher level demons such as pit lords and other demonic generals had I ever needed to use my bankai. That record was shattered when I encountered a wrath guard of all things who seemed to have the same sort of enhancement as that succubus.
After he was dealt with I immediately called a gathering of the other leaders, and it was a week or so after that, that we finally managed to figure out the reason for this new strain of demon suddenly attacking our ranks.
Earth's reishi.
Kami it was disheartening to learn this. But it turns out that much like all of us, there were some survivors of the great upsurge of the cycle of rebirth amongst demon kind, those lucky few that managed to live through the chaos of ten years of war and recovery long enough for the potent reishi in the air to empower them. They trained together, mastered their new powers and strength, honing their abilities to perfection before rejoining the war, blending in amongst their ranks and attacking suddenly, wreaking havoc on our forces.
These types of attacks were getting more and more common and it forced us to start taking special interest. These…enhanced became priority targets.
All in all it just wasn't looking good at all.
Like I said before, we were exhausted from constantly fighting these invaders, and just when things seem to at least balance out a bit, this happens. But we persevered. We fought on.
It sucked, but we did what had to be done. We put on our big boy pants and sucked it up, even if it started wearing us all down.
Then…a light at the end of the tunnel.
I received a visitor.
I'm not gonna lie to ya. When I first laid eyes on her I almost killed the shit out of her on the spot. She looked sooo much like an eredar that the only thing that stopped me from killing her instantly was the fact that she managed to block my first two strikes and speak quickly, getting a word in edgewise that caused me to pause.
I was still weary but as I relaxed and listened to her tale I found my eyes getting wider and wider.
I couldn't help the sigh that escaped me as I set out to gather yet another damn meeting between the leaders.
Kami this sucked.
*Ishida*
The Horde and the Alliance.
The six of us and our advisors or seconds in command stood in a circle as the representatives from these two…factions explained to us what was going on and how they even got to our world in the first place.
It was kind of surreal. We watched as the Draenei who found Isshin and the Orc who found Yuzu explain the history of their world and the numerous cultures that have risen and died throughout the generations. The Orc explained his race's own story, how their home world had already fallen to the burning legion and how they had been enslaved and used as an invading army to Azeroth. The Draenei's story was similar, both races have found sanctuary on Azeroth, gaining the comradeship of the other races already living there. It explained why she looked so much like an Eradar demon anyway. They both wove a tale of wonder and intrigue, offering their aid against our own demon problem.
They offered trade, weapons, soldiers, powerful adventurers experienced in facing the burning legion. They promised to bring forth numerus schools of…magic, technology and fighting styles to aid us, and they promised access to their world, to explore their world and to see the wonders they had to offer.
It was so tempting.
It was no secret that we as a whole were…tired. This ongoing war we fought was breaking us down, chiseling ever so slowly at our psyches and threatening to overwhelm us, so the aid of a whole other world who had experience facing this scourge was an extremely tantalizing offer, however.
This Horde and this alliance…
Would it truly be worth all the drama they threaten to bring with them? Two factions each consisting of five races, plus a sixth race who split even amongst the two factions, constantly finding reasons to fight each other would bring nothing but more chaos to our world.
We the both of them back with a message for their leaders.
"Tell them all to come here. Then and only then will we discuss any…alliances."
As the two of them headed off, we all exchanged unsure glances.
Just what were we getting ourselves into?
AN: And here's the next chapter. Hope ya enjoyed it.
Also why is it that whenever i get a legit review/criticism its almost always from an anonymous person? You think I'm gonna go all ignorant pissy little angry man on you in a response? Not at all! You have legit concerns man! Though I will say that some of your questions came a bit too fast. Gotta remember the story has barely began. But I will get a coupla things explained now to ease your concerns as to why I did the things I have. First off, the bleach world didn't change completely because of the burning legion. Sure they played a part in causing the great upsurge but the main reason the world changed as much as it did was because the soul king was killed. When he died the balance of the worlds was thrown asunder causing everything to break down and begin to merge. Im pretty sure I explained this in chapter one. Also, certain people died while others survived because of realistic as possible situations. No one saw the burning legion coming for one. So it's entirely possible to blindside certain people or groups. Case and point the ambush of Ichigo, Bach and those around them. Orohime and Renji died in that attack. Simple as that. Not cause I'm bashing or because I dislike those two. Quite the opposite really. They just never had the time to react and never saw the attack coming and Orohime, despite having crazy powers, is not a goddess her rejecting shield was not up at the time of that attack so she died, engulfed in a massive blast of demonic energy. Chad and Rukia survived out of sheer luck alone. It's the same with Keigo. Not everyone who survives something like this is gonna be a massive powerful fighter/hero or whatever. Keigo got lucky and was good at staying hidden and out of the way. Similar things happen in real life all the time. And Kon? I know people forget but Kon is a military weapon designed for combat, inhabiting Ichigo's human body. Of course he survived. Barely but he survived. He can fight and did, getting far enough away from Karakura when the demons came.
Anyway that's all I have to say. AN was gettin stupid long lol. Till next time yall.
