Journal 17 - Entry 6

We were truly foolish to believe in everything Yhwach said. I was never one of the blind fanatics like Quilge, but every one of us had at least some belief in what we were doing; that it would lead to a better world for us all. Turns out that was bullshit, and Yhwach was just using us, like tools, to throw away when we weren't useful anymore.

Hell, it seems like we were no more than batteries to him. I guess we weren't exactly thinking clearly when we took the Shinigami's deal to go up to the Wahrwelt. Trying to take on Yhwach by ourselves was clearly suicide. I was just so fucking pissed. We should have died, but I guess at that point we were little more than ants to him, because he didn't even bother to kill us. Talk about insulting.

Help came from an unlikely source. My feelings towards Uryu Ishida were… mixed, at best. I wasn't furious about it like Bazz-B or some of the others, but I did think it was extremely odd. He stayed by Yhwach's side after he arrived and didn't talk to us (not that there was much time between invasions). I like to think I'm decent at reading people, and he didn't give the vibe that he really wanted to be there.

Either way, it was me, Bazz-B, Meninas, Giselle, and Candice that tried to fight Yhwach. We got crushed. I fell unconscious with a wound I was sure was fatal. Because of that I didn't see the entire fight. Giselle was apparently thrown off the side of the Wahrwelt, and we haven't seen her since. I find it hard to believe that cockroach died though. The others managed to barely survive in various states of injury. I think Yhwach was so focused on his objective, he didn't care to waste time on us.

Honestly I really should have died, but Bazz-B is too soft for his own good. He carried me with him, and we came across a dying Uryu Ishida. Apparently he'd turned traitor. I guess Yhwach really did betray everyone but Haschwalth. We were never told what Ishida's Schrift was, but he used what was left of his energy to use it on us. He seemed to take all our injuries onto himself, and swapped them with his. The catch that saved our lives was that when he moved his injuries to us, they were split between the four of us, and rather than his injuries duplicating to each of us, it seemed to spread just the one person's worth of wounds across the four of us, and that was enough for all of us to survive. Not only that, it allowed us to keep both our Schrift and ability to use Vollständig.

He only had one condition for doing so. A last request. To help the Shinigami, and specifically Ichigo Kurosaki defeat Yhwach. We were all firmly on the "kill that bastard" bandwagon, so, while fighting alongside the Shinigami wasn't something we're all that keen on, if it meant ending Yhwach, we would do it.

Unfortunately, by the time we had fully recovered, Kurosaki was already fighting Yhwach back on the ground below the Wahrwelt. We arrived just in time to see the end of it. Kurosaki had seemingly been victorious, but he hadn't managed to strike a killing blow. Haschwalth arrived and took Yhwach's body. We were planning on pursuing, but that was when it happened. Just like when we would travel from the Schatten Bereich. Shadows opened up, like massive gates, and soldat poured out, being led by, to our utter disbelief, Sternritter. Ones we had never seen before. That son of a bitch saw us as so expendable he had another army for when we were all dead!

We did get some good news when I received contact from the second-in-command of my brigade, Kommadore Serebryakov. She confirmed that a portion of my brigade was still intact, though when these new soldat arrived, they apparently had orders to make sure none of the Quincy that witnessed the betrayal survived. The Shinigami were already booking it out of the Schatten Bereich, through the north gate, but these new troops appeared between us and them, so for the time being, we weren't going to be able to honor Ishida's wish.

We gathered the remains of all our troops and began our own retreat out of the east gate, though quite a few Shinigami that, ironically our troops had been fighting with a few minutes prior, went with us. Bazz-B gave the order to allow it. He had stepped up and taken de-facto command. I really didn't have a problem with it. I certainly didn't want to lead, Meninas is too much of an airhead, and Candice is a bullheaded bitch that would absolutely get us all killed.

Our retreat through the districts wasn't exactly smooth. We did have the benefit that the new Sternritter and the bulk of their forces pursued the Shinigami to the north. So while we didn't have to deal with pursuers, the bulk of our issues came from the locals. It shouldn't be a surprise they didn't take kindly to the people that had just invaded them marching through their homes. We tried to stay on the outskirts of major population centers as best we could. Luckily we had those Shinigami with us that could at least vouch for us. Though the farther out we got, the less that worked. Seems the Shinigami weren't exactly loved in the outer districts. Luckily the further out we got, the less population centers there were so we could keep out of the towns and cities.

Speaking of the Shinigami, they reluctantly fell in line and agreed to follow Bazz-B, mainly because there wasn't anything they could do. The strongest one, and the one who took the role as their leader was just a 13th seat Sergeant by the name of Toru Acura, with his second-in-command being his sister Akari, the 14th seat of his division. I believe they said they were from the 5th Division. Even I felt a tinge of sympathy for them, surrounded by people that, not too long ago, were trying very hard to kill all of them.

We kept moving east until we were near the coast, and we hit the jackpot when we got there. There was some kind of coastal fort that looked long abandoned. It's very possible that it had been unused since the last Quincy war 2,000 years ago. When we went to investigate, we found a carving with the name of the fort, Castle Morne.

Well, that's a pretty good recap of how we ended up here. We've been setting up barracks and rebuilding defensive structures; getting the fort back in working order. We are on a peninsula, which will make it hard to siege, but nearly impossible to retreat should shit go south, so we've been digging trenches forward of the entrance to the peninsula. Scouts have reported a company of enemies on their way, so it'll be time to put our defenses to the test.

My gut tells me this is only the beginning. I just have a feeling it's not going to be a nice and quick war like Yhwach was saying.

Well, speaking of my gut, I'm starving. We were able to bring provisions with us on the retreat, but setting up a steady food supply is a priority. That will definitely be something I help with. Off to the mess hall then.

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Liltotto Lamperd

The True Sternritter G

August 31, 2003

Author's Notes:

The first chapter written by a Quincy! While I don't plan to write any chapters from the main enemy Quincy perspective, the rebel Quincies provide an interesting insight and unique perspective on the events of the war.

Apologies for the slow updates, I got distracted with a project I was doing for Youtube. (My Youtube is Zerochroma too *shameless plug*). Updates will overall be slower for a bit, but I'm certainly not dropping this story, I have too many things I want to do.

As always, thanks for reading!