The Ishida residence is close enough to Urahara Shop that walking back won't cost you an excessive amount of time - certainly not compared to the two hours and change you've already spent crossing town (twice), talking to people, and performing rituals.

You let Akkiko know your plans, and then because your inherited sense of etiquette pipes up - sounding a lot like Briar - you offer to walk her back to the shrine regardless.

The woman pauses and looks at and somehow past you for a long moment, a grin slowly growing on her face - but then she shakes her head.

"Thanks for the offer, but you've got more important places to be. I can get home fine on my own."

With that settled, you nod, bid Akkiko farewell at the foot of the Ishida driveway, and then turn and head up the street in the opposite direction.

As it's now past eight in the morning, Karakura is showing more signs of life than it did on your two earlier cross-town jaunts. A few teenagers in school uniforms go hurrying past you-

"So late, so late, SOOO LATE!" one guy groans.

-a mostly unspoken reminder that Japan has classes on Saturdays, which has you wondering idly how many of the kids that just evacuated with the Original remembered to let their teachers know about their absences in advance

Still, you appear to have missed the bulk of the morning academic rush, and as it's a weekend, there's less work-related traffic, if still not none. Take away the need to slow your pace to accommodate much smaller and slower people, and you're able to make good time even with the occasional pause at a crossing.

That said, you can't help but notice that you're attracting even more attention this time around than you think the increased number of fellow pedestrians and passing vehicles should really account for. And is it just your imagination, or are some of those people trying to sneak glances at your hands, wrists, and neck before they politely avert their gazes?

You don't have the bevy of sensory- and skill-enhancing spells going that the Original did, but between Foresight, Greater Heroism, and Tears to Wine, you still enjoy a respectable improvement to your overall awareness. Combine that with Akkiko's comment about being mistaken for a yakuza, and you're pretty sure it's NOT your imagination that people are looking at you a bit awkwardly.

Maybe you should have stuck with your regular suit...?

On the positive side, nobody stops to talk to you.

Even better, you don't cross paths with any other young gentlemen who might or might not be affiliated with certain chivalrous organizations.

But through your Spell of Foresight, you can see a police officer on foot patrol coming around the corner ahead, doing a double-take at the sight of you, and then frowning and striding forward purposefully. He doesn't reach for the radio strapped to one hip or the baton hanging from the other, and he's not displaying any of the tension that would suggest he's restraining the urge to do so, he just seems determined to intercept you and have a word.

At your current pace, Urahara Shop is less than five minutes away. You could be there in a fraction of the time if you called upon your ki techniques, although there's enough people around that your sudden acceleration or outright disappearance could pose issues later - a drawback that also applies to the Spell to Walk Through Space that you've had running all morning. The next option that comes to mind is a quick Spell of Enchantment, something to encourage the cop to ignore you or just render him unable to follow you for a short time, though depending on which spell you used, that could have long-term consequences as well. Alternately, you could duck into the store just ahead of you and to your left - they seem to sell musical instruments - and wait a couple of minutes for the officer to move past without ever seeing you.

Or you suppose you could just walk on by. It's not like you've done anything wrong - you know, apart from being in the country illegally and being a party to smuggling a number of Japanese nationals out of the country with a similar lack of travel permits.


Shrugging off the temptation to resort to supernatural means in public, you do your best to look like you're nothing more than another law-abiding foreigner, taking a perfectly innocent walk to an unremarkable destination - and maybe in just a bit of a hurry to get where you're going before the storm that's been building up for the last couple of hours finally decides to begin.

And if your well-practiced acting skills prove to not be enough to convince the policeman that you're harmless, your similarly finely honed manners are ready and waiting to execute the first maneuver in politeness judo.

Maybe it's the subtle shift in your posture, the relaxed, unthreatening expression that settles on your face, or the glance of mild concern that you cast at the sky.

Whatever the case, when the officer rounds the corner and catches sight of you for real, his reaction is subtly different from what you originally foresaw. He still does the double-take, but instead of frowning, his next action is to follow your gaze skyward - at which point he does frown, evidently experiencing a sudden or perhaps renewed concern about getting caught in the rain himself.

Instead of striding towards you on a purposeful intercept course, the officer stops where he is, opens up a large pouch hanging off the back of his belt, and pulls out and begins unfolding one of those transparent plastic rain slickers.

"I don't suppose you have a spare I could borrow, officer?" you inquire wryly as you approach the man.

The cop chuckles. "Unfortunately, no - and if you'll forgive me for saying so, I don't think it would have fit you anyway."

You nod wryly, because he's not wrong. At somewhere past five-foot-seven, the officer is somewhat above average in height for an adult Japanese male, and he's reasonably well-built besides, but your adult form is distinctly larger.

"Well, I don't have much farther to go," you sigh. "Hopefully, if I walk quickly, I'll beat the rain."

In the distance, thunder rumbles.

"...or maybe I should run," you add, sparing a scowl for the impending weather.

"Do you need directions, sir?" the officer inquires. "Or perhaps a taxi?"

"Thank you for the offer, but it really is just a few minutes away - unless you know a faster way to Urahara Shop than just following this road and taking the next right, and the second left after that?"

The policeman blinks at you, then turns and looks up the street. You see his left hand, the one not holding his raincoat, do some absent pointing, as if navigating.

"...no," he admits a moment later, "as far as I know, that would be the quickest way."

You nod. "Then I'd better be on my way. If you'll excuse me?"

"Of course. Sorry that I couldn't be of any help."

"It's no trouble, officer. Thank you for your time."

"Have a pleasant day, sir."

Oh, if he only knew.

"You as well," you reply.

And like that, you part ways, hearing the crinkle of plastic behind you as you pick up your pace.

A short distance along, you ask your partner if you're being followed.

"He's just finished pulling on his poncho, or whatever you call those things," Briar replies. "Got the hood up, and... nope, he's going the same way he was before he saw you. We're clear."

Thunder rumbles again, sounding closer.

"Now we just have to not get drenched," she adds cheerfully.

You accelerate, and start considering ki enhanced speed again.

It doesn't come to that, however. The thunder roars a couple more times, and you get hit by a few stray droplets of water, but the rain proper hasn't truly begun when you arrive at Urahara Shop and duck inside-

!

-only to pause as the half-score armored knights standing around in the aisles turned their helmed heads to regard you. Some have enough of their faces exposed for you to make out eyes, mouths, and patches of skin, but most are enclosed to the point where only your enhancements let you pick out the glint of eyes, and a couple - one fairly short and clad in red and silver, with a fearsome horned helm; the other tall and dark - seem to be completely impenetrable, and not just to your gaze. As far as your assorted passive senses are concerned, none of these knights is alive. They have no ki, no spirit, no mana... or more likely, they've been shielded against detection as you have.

None of the knights speaks, and those that weren't holding weapons before you arrived don't reach for them now. Even so, recalling what you and your Original have seen of the Drakes and their allies at work, you can't help but feel a little intimidated.


"...Ambrose."

In response to your singular statement, the assembled knights heave a collective sigh, several of their number visibly slumping as they reply, "Ambrose."

"You would be Mr. Harris's representative, then?" a knight wearing black armor and a dark blue mantle inquires in formal but modern English, with an accent you can't place. "And... companion?" he adds in a suspiciously mild tone, helmed head turning ever so slightly in Briar's direction.

"I am, and she is," you respond.

The knight makes a neutral sound of acknowledgement, and gestures towards the back of the shop. "You are expected."

You nod and thank the knight, and though there is a mighty temptation to inquire with whom you're speaking, the lack of an introduction, the slightly brusque manner in which he's directing you towards Urahara's sitting room, and the fact that all the knights have their faces at least partly covered and no coats of arms on display, all make you think that he's unlikely to respond.

Has Ambrose planned to keep the knights' identities secret the entire time, or is that information just being held in reserve, for the moment where its revelation will have the greatest dramatic impact? For that matter, could it be something the knights themselves have decided on? You know Ambrose said he was considering creating simulacra for this event, but while such creations are typically loyal to their maker, that doesn't preclude them from having their own ideas...

Rather than waste time chasing possibilities around the inside of your own head, you just go to see the wizard.

As you cross the store, you hear a short conversation behind you.

"He's a big one," a voice that might belong to a woman or a young boy murmurs. You believe it's coming from one of the shorter knights, whose gold-limned white armor didn't really give any hints to their gender one way or the other, while what you saw of their face could have gone either way. "Are we sure he's really a sorcerer?"

"I thought he was supposed to be some kind of projection?" another young-sounding voice half-states, and half-asks. That one, you think, was the short knight with the purple surcoat.

"That is so." This voice, definitely belonging to an adult male, could be that of any of the taller knights besides the one that actually spoke to you. It might belong to the one in dark armor whose face was entirely concealed, or it could be the white-cloaked knight with the bow-like weapon who was standing a short distance from him. "But a projection of a sorcerer... who is apparently nine years old?"

"Che," a new speaker says, with an echo that makes their gender impossible to identify, but also strongly suggests it's the knight with the large, all-concealing helm that's talking. "You saying you don't think a nine-year-old could use magic, old man?"

"Using magic is one thing," comes the frank reply from another male knight whose position you can't pin down. "Using it well enough to make the old meddler COMPLAIN about it? That's something else."

"It's also kind of funny," the knight who spoke first adds, laughing softly.

There are sounds of amused agreement from most of the other knights at that.

On the Original's behalf, you decide to take a certain sense of validation from that moment.

Urahara's sitting room proves to have more occupants than you were expecting. The shopkeeper himself, Tessai, and Ambrose are all present, of course, and the latter is back in his robe and wizarding hat, plus staff and a few other accouterments you don't think you've seen since the time when he accompanied Arthur Drake and his friends into Castle Dracula.

Seated to the wizard's right is another knight of at-best modest height, this one clad in silvery steel and blue fabric that seem of a higher quality than the already fine armor and coats worn by the warriors standing in the front of the shop. Like the rest, this knight has a helmet, but it's been removed for the sake of good manners and Tessai's tea. Her features are a perfect mirror to Altria's, plus a remarkably few years, though held in an expression of impassive dignity that makes the British girl's usual well-mannered seriousness seem cheerful. Hair of the same golden sheen is worn in a similar braided style, with that one lock that sticks out almost like an antenna doing so. The eyes are exactly as green, but there's a weight behind them that the young lady your Original calls friend lacks, a sense of experiences acquired, lessons learned, and responsibilities shouldered that Altria simply hasn't had the chance to obtain.

You were kind of expecting this, and even so, the sight of Arturia, King of the Britons, still takes a moment to get used to.

You almost miss the knight standing at ease behind her, a cream-colored mantle with darker shoulders hanging over plain steel armor.

"Oh, good; you're back," Urahara says then. "How did everything go with the Kurosakis and Ishidas?"

"Well enough," you reply, before delivering a quick summation of events, and adding that your Original plans to go pick up the last few Japanese Quincy that couldn't make the meeting.


Once you've caught Urahara, Ambrose, and the King up on your side of things - taking a seat and accepting a cup of Tessai's best in the process - you make a few inquiries of your own.

First and foremost, you ask what plans, if any, have been made regarding the impending event.

"Only very tentative ones, at the moment," Arturia replies in a businesslike tone. "We have a respectable amount of information on the layout of the fortress, the general capabilities of its defenders, and those of our putative allies, but we have yet to hear much about the plans and preferences of the little death gods, aside from Ambrose's personal experiences and general hearsay."

That seems to be a cue for Urahara. "Soul Society's made a larger committment than I was expecting," he says promptly. "About eighty souls, all told, or a third of a full Division by the numbers - but given that those numbers include almost half the captains, lieutenants, and stronger seated officers, with the Captain-Commander himself leading the attack... well, that's a lot of firepower."

He quickly explains how the Shinigami ranks are laid out, and how that correlates to the combat ability being brought to the table for this operation. A fair bit of this revolves around the fact that their weapons, the zanpakuto, are not simply swords capable of cutting spirits, but can also unlock abilities more or less unique to the wielder. Known as "releases," these come in two stages: the shikai, or "initial release," which first activates those powers; and the bankai, or "final release," which can greatly refine and empower the shikai abilities, add entirely new ones, or both, and is on average a five- to ten-fold increase in raw power.

Urahara fully expects that every seated officer taking part in the raid will either have unlocked their shikai, or possess sufficient skill in the other Shinigami arts to make up for the lack - more than likely both. The lieutenants are almost certain to have both traits, while standing head and shoulders above their juniors in terms of spiritual strength, while the captains will be on another tier entirely AND have bankai on top of that.

"It's required for someone aspiring to a captain's seat to have achieved bankai," Urahara notes, "and preferably to have obtained a degree of proficiency with it. There's only been one exception to that rule in the entire history of the Soul Society, and that's because the captain in question is an absolute beast in combat."

"'Is'," the King repeats. "Will he be joining us on this attack?"

"He will," Urahara answers.

Aside from the Captain-Commander and this "absolute beast", who oversee the First and Eleventh Divisions, respectively, the Captains of the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions will be taking part in the attack on Silbern, accompanied by the Lieutenants of the First, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh.

Urahara then gives you a rundown on who the captains are and what you can expect them to be capable of.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, Captain of the First Division and Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Divisions of the Imperial Guard of Soul Society, is the oldest and most powerful of the currently active Shinigami. Urahara notes that you'll recognize him by dint of his being the oldest-looking person on the field, with some very pronounced scars on his forehead.

While his physical abilities may have declined from his peak due to sheer old age - an opponent to which not even the greatest of the Shinigami are immune, it seems - Yamamoto's two MILLENNIA of experience easily make up for them, making him a past-master in every field of combat modern reapers are trained in, and probably a few more besides. His zanpakuto, Ryuujin Jakka, is the oldest and most powerful fire-type zanpakuto in the Soul Society, and possesses the greatest offensive power of any of the soul-cutting weapons. Its shikai wreathes it in flames so intense that even other experienced captains evidently can't stand up to a direct hit, but it also seems to grant its wielder a variety of large-scale fire-generating and -manipulating powers.

What the Captain-Commander's bankai might be, Urahara doesn't know; if anyone other than the old man has seen it and survived, they're not talking. Considering that the shikai ability sounds like "all the fire", though, you wouldn't be surprised if the bankai involved summoning a dragon or a phoenix, or perhaps converting the intense but otherwise conventional fire to a more exotic state, such as the divine power of a Flame Strike or hellfire.

The Captain of the Second Division is Sui-Feng. You already know what she looks like, but for the others, Urahara says she's the only woman likely to be present wearing a captain's white haori - if the other current female captain turns up, Sui-Feng will be the shorter of the two.

Arturia, who is by no means tall herself, doesn't even hint at reacting to this.

Combat-wise, the Second Division captain fights like a faster, more skillful, and more powerful version of the "ghost ninjas" that she oversees, excelling at pure mobility and hand-to-hand combat. Her zanpakuto, Suzumebachi, is a poison-type, whose released form resembles an almost entirely fingerless right-handed gauntlet, with a blade shaped like an insect's stinger worn over the middle finger. Its special ability is a "two-hit kill," which requires her to stab an enemy twice in the same location, but thereafter causes irrevocable death. Her bankai is unknown to Urahara; he tells you that Yoruichi was able to find a record of it being demonstrated to a closed session of three of the senior captains as part of Sui-Feng's promotion to her current rank, but the details were not written down.

The Third Division captain is Ichimaru Gin, easily distinguished by his silver hair, fox-like grin, and near-perpetually closed eyes. His abilities are well-rounded in all areas, and backed up by a prodigal intellect, which allowed him to graduate from the Shinigami Academy, gain his shikai, and be promoted directly to the position of a Fifth Seat, all in the span of a single year. That was about a century ago, and he's more fully grown into his potential as a result, making him quite dangerous. Ichimaru's zanpakuto is Shinso, a relatively straightforward weapon whose shikai extends the blade up to a hundred times its normal length at high speed, allowing it to stab enemies from mid- to long range, and even strike multiple targets with a single thrust. This extended form also retains the durability and cutting power expected of a captain-level Shinigami's blade, meaning Ichimaru can rapidly clear out a relatively large area of weaker opponents, or anything else not strong enough to stand up to his weapon. Shinso's bankai, Kamishini no Yari, is much like its shikai, only with massively increased range, speed, and striking power - again, Urahara isn't sure of the particulars.

As he's talking about this particular captain, you notice a certain tension in Urahara's voice. It's faint enough that even with your various enhancements, it's far from obvious, meaning you'd have missed it entirely if you'd gotten rid of those before now - but as it is, you frown at the hint of hostility and anger from the usually seemingly light-hearted scientist.

"That brings us to Aizen Sousuke," Urahara goes on, a tightness entering his tone that Ambrose, Arturia, and even the knight standing against the wall all take notice of. "Captain of the Fifth Division, high traitor to the Soul Society, and all-around evil mastermind."

This... doesn't sound promising.


You decide to hold off on asking questions until Urahara is done, or at least until he's gotten through discussing this latest and rather concerning character.

On that note, the shopkeeper describes Aizen as an outwardly unassuming and harmlessly charming individual, who is nonetheless one of the most capable overall fighters in the Soul Society. Like Ichimaru, he excels in every field of combat - and markedly exceeds the former in most respects - but Urahara emphasizes that Aizen's most dangerous attribute is his mind, which combines an exceptional intellect with keen powers of observation and analysis, particularly regarding other people. Aizen is a master manipulator and long-term strategist, having spent the last two centuries or more making himself the darling of the Seireitei in order to gain access to its resources and secrets, which he has been using for almost as long in order to perform illegal, unethical, and highly dangerous experiments on souls and the nature thereof.

One of the keys to Aizen's success is his zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu. Most of Soul Society believes it to be a water-type that creates false images, but in actuality, it is a pure illusion-type with a power that Aizen refers to as "complete hypnosis," which is triggered by the sight of Aizen's unsheathed blade.

"How 'complete' are we talking, here?" Ambrose inquires with a frown.

"He can deceive all five physical senses with perfect accuracy, and modify the image he creates in real time," Urahara replies. "It works on single or multiple targets simultaneously, regardless of the strength of their reiatsu relative to Aizen's own or their ability to perceive reiatsu, and even those who were aware that they were under an illusion haven't been able to break out of it."

"...so, VERY complete," the wizard admits.

Urahara nods sourly. "I can't confirm any limits on exactly what sort of images Aizen is able to create, how many people he can affect at a single time, or if he has some maximum limit on the number of minds he can ensnare. I will note that, in the few cases I know of and have been able to discuss with the victims, he seemed to favor using images of himself as a distraction - sometimes moving around on their own, other times cast over another person - while concealing his actual location. But that could be simple preference or a desire for efficiency at work, rather than evidence of a hard limit."

"Do you suppose True Seeing might help?" you ask then.

"Provided it's an actual Illusion? Almost certainly," Ambrose replies offhandedly. "But I prefer not to give someone a hook into my central nervous system in the first place, if I can possibly avoid it, and this COULD be an Enchantment. Although in that case it would run up against Mind Blank..."

"Um," Urahara interrupts. "Mind Blank I've heard of - and still want to do tests on, by the by - but what is 'True Seeing'?"

"It's a Spell of Divination that shows reality as it really is," you reply. "Darkness, invisibility, magical concealment, displacement, or transformation, illusions in general - it either cuts through them, or at least shows you what the real thing underneath the fake image looks like and/or where it is."

The scientist considers that, sitting very, very still as he turns the implications over in his head.

"Would this spell happen to have a similar range of effectiveness as Mind Blank?" Urahara asks slowly. "That is to say, would it work on supernatural effects not produced by wizardry or sorcery, such as, oh, spiritual power?"

"There is some speculation that the Spell of True Seeing was originally developed for use against the denizens of Faerie," King Arthur speaks up, "who rank among the pre-eminent tricksters in recorded history."

"Speaking of pre-eminent tricksters," you add, "I can confirm that it's effective against the illusions of a nine-tailed kitsune. Granted, she was crazy at the time and never got a chance to give her best effort, but... it also works to reveal ghosts."

Urahara sits there in silence for a moment.

"Fair warning," he says at last. "I may hug you."

"Yes, well, before you go getting all touchy-feely," Ambrose says, "you should be aware that True Seeing isn't without its limitations. The spell normally only operates for a short time - ten to twenty minutes, depending on the caster - and while the boy or his shadow here could probably modify that-"

That is true.

"-they couldn't make it last indefinitely."

That is also true. At least until you crack eleventh-circle Divination rituals...

"The spell also requires a modestly expensive material component," Ambrose continues. "It's a kind of ointment that needs to be applied under the eyes of the intended recipient, to help anchor and maximize the magic, so that it doesn't go warping your other senses."

"And you don't have any of it?" Urahara guesses.

"I don't have enough to cover a hundred people," Ambrose corrects him. "Not even enough for our little band, here."

"I've got some," you speak up.

Wordlessly, wizard and Shinigami turn to regard you in unison.

"It's what was left over from the batch the Original made to deal with that fox I mentioned. We didn't specifically know it'd come in handy today, but we didn't know that it wouldn't, either. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"How much do you have?" Ambrose asks.

"Enough for five people, assuming they all have two eyes."

"They do, and that would be enough to cover everyone," he admits. "That said, do you think you could cast the spell on this many people, and make it last any appreciable length of time?"

"If I were to perform the spell as a ritual, I could cast it communally and make it last upwards of half a day. Although," you add, "the ritual would take nine minutes to perform each time. Do we have that long?"

"The Soul Society said they would be sending someone to escort the 'wizards' to their staging area by nine o'clock, local time," Urahara replies.

Less than an hour from now, then, and you'd have to cast True Seeing three times to cover all the knights, yourself, and the wizard.

Also, when you cast True Seeing, do you want to remove a spell you already have active? It isn't strictly necessary, as you have enough "space" to apply one more self-enhancement effect without risking interference, but it might be convenient to retain that benefit going forward, in case you find an urgent need for another spell in the not-too-distant future.


Yeah, you should probably take care of that as soon as possible. Thankfully, you can perform most of the ritual right here, and still listen in on Urahara's briefing about the Shinigami captains.

You do think to ask the two knightly figures if they've ever had this spell cast on them before.

"For myself, no," King Arthur replies. "There were times when it would have been... useful" - and given her otherwise outstanding self-control, there must be QUITE a story behind that brief pause - "but either Ambrose was not present to lend his assistance, the situation resolved too quickly for it to matter, or events went on long enough that the spell would have given out, based on what has been said here."

"It was much the same for me," the apparent bodyguard replies.

You nod, sparing a moment to wonder just how much of the experience of the original knights these copies retain. It seems a foregone conclusion that Ambrose created them using the Spell of Simulacrum or some variation thereof, but that's not a spell your Original has learned yet; the closest the two of you come to it is the much lesser Spell of the Twine Double, which you understand to have rather significant limitations in comparison, not the least of which is that it can only create a copy of the caster.

Given the nature of your own existence, you can't help but be curious about the various methods of creating duplicates, body-doubles, and outright clones.

Leaving that aside, you warn the pair that seeing the reality of... well, reality... while advantageous when dealing with illusionists and transformers, can occasionally be hazardous to one's sanity. There are some things Man Was Not Meant to Know, and other things Man Doesn't Like to Know, and you ARE going to be diving into the private realm of a purportedly god-like entity, tucked away in the shadow of an afterlife. There's a decent chance of you seeing something that doesn't fit into your personal understanding of how the cosmos works, although the odds of it being as nasty as, oh, seeing what a Hellmouth looks like during a semi-stable teleportation are pretty low.

"An... interesting example," King Arthur says after a moment. "Do you expect to encounter such a phenomenon in this excursion, or was it merely an example of how severe things could get?"

Mostly the latter, you admit. While you're not at all familiar with the environs of Soul Society, much less the subsection of it that the Wandenreich have established themselves in, what little you do know about the place tells you there shouldn't be any demonic influence there. Hollows, perhaps, but not demons.

"I can confirm that," Urahara notes.

With that warning out of the way, you're about to reach for your mana when you recall the mildly prophetic dream that the Original had about the attack on Silbern, and decide you'd better speak up about what he saw during it. If nothing else, letting your allies go into this battle expecting to face archers and instead encountering gunslingers would be bad form, and never mind that the projectiles involved are all made of the same sort of energy; modern mundane firearms shoot faster, farther, and with greater force than mundane bows, and you're not going to bet against their spiritual equivalents being any different.

Ambrose doesn't seem surprised to hear that Original Alex is having sort-of visions in his sleep. "It's common enough among sorcerers, agents of the divine, and specialists in Divination Magic," the wizard explains. "The former are so connected to their magic that they can't help but react to things most practitioners would ignore as a matter of course. Gods send visions to their followers whenever it fits their grand designs, and diviners are just open to the cosmos in general."

The two knights also take it in stride - little surprise there, as you've seen versions of the Arthurian legend where Merlin used dreams to communicate with the knights, even after his supposed imprisonment. Which is something you're still curious about, given Ambrose's existence, but that's a question for another time.

Urahara and Tessai seem to be the least comfortable with your account of prophecy, but even they've seen the Original's near-mastery of Divination Magic at work, so it's at least less of a surprise to them than it might otherwise have been.

...that does bring up the question of how the other Shinigami are likely to treat the information.

"Don't try to explain it as a dream or a vision," Urahara advises when you ask. "It's too likely to be dismissed out of hand. You've got the excuse of powerful scrying magic, go with that and say you followed up on mapping part of Silbern by taking a closer look at the Quincy themselves."

That works, and it's even true, as long as you don't let on that the latter effort was unconscious in nature and done by someone else, who's only nine.

"Exactly."

As for the matter of guns versus bows, you ask Ambrose if there's anything he could do about that.

"Again, probably not on the scale of helping the entire strike force," the wizard replies. "Mostly because I doubt their willingness to let a strange mortal magic-user use magic on them, however beneficial he might claim it to be."

Urahara nods.

"The knights and I already have that angle covered," the old man continues. "If you're asking for yourself and your partner, the standard Spell of Protection From Arrows works against mundane bullets, but wouldn't be effective against spiritual attacks in the shape of bullets. I believe you already tested Spell Immunity against Quincy arrows?"

The other you did, yes.

"Then that should work. I do know how to cast a spell that wards off ranged attacks in general, rather than just cushioning the blow, but that one will only last about three and a half hours."

Hm.


You've got several layers of defense set up or on standby, and will be adding another in the not-too-distant future; all in all, you figure you're good as far as dodging or tanking spiritual bullets goes.

That said, you make a mental note to inquire after a copy of that Spell of Bullet Shielding after the dust of this invasion has settled. You've seen that firearms have a role in modern supernatural combat, and sooner or later you're going to run into someone or something unfriendly that uses them. It only makes sense to be prepared.

While you focus on your spell, Urahara runs through the remaining names on his list - after first backtracking a bit to caution that Ichimaru is in cahoots with Aizen.

Because of COURSE there couldn't just be one semi-immortal, quasi-divine warrior of tremendous power to watch out for on this outing.

Of course!

That would be too easy.

The Captain of the Seventh Division is Komamura Saijin, who is the tallest and overall largest of the captains, and also one of the only Shinigami who wears armor - he has never been seen in public without a helmet, "or so the rumor has it," as Urahara says. Befitting his size, Komamura is possibly the strongest and hardiest of the captains in pure physical terms, and his raw prowess is matched by his skill with a blade, making him one of Soul Society's most dangerous warriors in any kind of straight fight. Komamura isn't without his weaknesses, though, chief of which is his speed; although markedly faster than most Shinigami of the lower ranks, he's average at best among the captains, and while he makes up for that to some degree with sharp senses and fast reflexes, it's still a vulnerability. Another is his similarly middling grasp of kido.

Komamura's zanpakuto, Tenken, is much like its wielder in how it favors straightforward application of force in combat. Its shikai summons parts of a gigantic armored body that mimic the captain's movements, such that when he swings his blade, an arm several times longer than he is tall will swing a sword of similarly colossal proportions to match. Punches, kicks, stomps, blocks, and other such movements are likewise copied, giving Captain Komamura outstanding attack and defensive power - to say nothing of his REACH - but no particular advantages besides that. His bankai is much of the same, summoning the entire hundred-meter-tall giant, which continues to mirror its master's movements, adding the overwhelming mass of its armored form to every attack and defense. Although it is the largest of targets, the titanic samurai can withstand a staggering amount of punishment, and terrifyingly fast for something of its size.

After that is the Captain of the Eighth Division, Kyoraku Shunsui, one of the oldest serving captains behind Yamamoto himself - and one of two renowned prodigies to have trained under the Captain-Commander. Although he may come across as something of a lush with a fondness for pink coats and straw hats, he is another well-rounded combatant who excels in practically every field, only falling short in terms of raw strength - and then not by much. While perhaps not so deviously cunning as the treacherous Fifth Captain, Kyoraku is no slouch mentally himself, and has far more experience besides; Urahara describes him as scarily perceptive and almost annoyingly charming, "the sort of guy who'd just as soon invite an armed intruder to sit down and have a drink with him as fight them, and have them figured out before they finished the first cup or the first minute of combat." Unlike the Captains of the Third and Fifth Divisions, however, Kyoraku's loyalty to the Soul Society and especially to his former master are beyond question.

Captain Kyoraku is famous for a number of things - his age, his prowess in combat, his peculiar fashion sense, his love of fine drink and finer women - but among those is his being one of the few Shinigami to wield twin blades. Known as Katen Kyokotsu, they are a single zanpakuto despite their dual embodiment of tachi and wakizashi, and while it's commonly believed that their power involves the element of wind, Urahara's information says otherwise. Evidently, when Kyoraku releases his zanpakuto, it can bring various children's games to life - the wind, for instance, comes from a game of spinning tops, which manifests as deadly cyclones. Anyone caught in the sword's range when it is activated becomes subject to the rules of the game Kyoraku chooses to play, and those who break the rules or lose the game pay with their lives. Urahara lists a few such games the Eighth Captain is known to have "played" in the past, but adds that there are likely more, and that Kyoraku isn't limited to using just one of them per release, although he apparently can't invoke more than one at a time.

Urahara admits to some uncertainty regarding Katen Kyokotsu's bankai, as it's fairly indiscriminate in nature and the captain refuses to use it if his allies are too close, meaning there are few reliable accounts of its nature. The bankai is known to cover a large area with an aura of darkness that causes those caught inside to feel intense despair and hopelessness, but that seems to be largely a side-effect. After comparing various long-distance observations, post-combat analyses, and certain medical reports, Yoruichi and Urahara believe that Kyoraku's bankai reflects any injury he sustains upon his attacker, only to greater effect; combined with the supernatural hardiness of Shinigami, which has more to do with the power of their souls than it does the forms they wear, it makes for a reasonably effective ability. Urahara doesn't believe for a moment that this is all Kyoraku's bankai can do, but he simply doesn't have the data to speculate further.

Last among the captains taking part in the Wandenreich assault is the aforementioned "beast", Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the Eleventh Division and the only Shinigami captain in history to not possess a bankai - or indeed, even a shikai. He's described as being very tall, strongly built, and having an almost savage appearance and demeanor, with long, spiky black hair, a scar that runs down the left side of his face, an eyepatch over his right eye, a chipped zanpakuto that seems on the verge of dulling or breaking - though it cuts as well as ever - and a ragged captain's haori. The last was taken from his predecessor, whom he killed in single combat to claim the captaincy of the Eleventh Division and the name "Kenpachi," which is said to be held by the greatest swordsman in the entire Soul Society.

In some respects, Zaraki lives up to the reputation of the title, possessing almost overwhelming strength and spiritual power, incredible resilience, and a long string of bloody victories since he assumed his current position. Whether or not he qualifies as a "swordsman," however, is a matter of debate in certain circles, for Zaraki has never been known to use proper techniques from any style of swordsmanship, instead simply swinging his blade with sheer brute force, bloodthirsty enthusiasm, and the kind of experience that comes from spending countless hours fighting to the death against all comers. Such is Zaraki's love for combat that he deliberately handicaps himself, donning bells in his hair to let his enemies hear even the slightest movement, and covering a perfectly functional eye with a patch that also seals away a large portion of his spiritual power, which is so immense that it rivals that of any two other captains combined.

That little note and how it echoes the sheer depth of magic you and your original possess leads you to question if the Kenpachi has any talent for the Shinigami style of spellcasting. Urahara informs you that as far as he's aware, Zaraki has never used or even so much as learned a single kido, or even the movement arts of hoho.

"He's the sort of man who believes that a battle should be fought head-on and decided by strength of arms and strength of will alone; no spells, no tricks, no running away."

"Admirable," King Arturia notes, with a note of interest in her voice.

"Indeed," her bodyguard agrees.

Ambrose spares the two of them an exasperated glance before turning away and shaking his head, muttering, "Knights," under his breath the way most people would say his name.

Urahara's sidelong look is of a similar nature, but he keeps his voice neutral when he adds that he expects Zaraki to try and challenge the knights to a fight at some point - one at a time, all at once, he's not too likely to care about the particulars.

This doesn't appear to dissuade the two replicas in the least.

The shopkeeper finishes up his summary with quick descriptions of the lieutenants. From the First Division, white-haired Sasakibe Chojiro Tadaoki, whose Gonryomaru transforms into a rapier that strikes with such speed and force, his opponents are left momentarily stunned; moody blond Kira Izuru of the Third Division and his zanpakuto Wabisuke, whose shikai doubles the weight of whatever it strikes; tattooed redhead Abarai Renji from the Sixth Division, whose Zabimaru transforms into a segmented whip-like blade; Iba Tetsuzaemon of the Seventh Division, whose description makes you think of a yakuza, an impression not diminished by how his blade's released form apparently looks like a club with a nail in it; from the Ninth Division, Hisagi Shuhei, who bears a curious facial tattoo and is another of the rare wielders of a twin zanpakuto, Kazeshini, which transforms into a pair of double-bladed kusarigama when released; and finally, Kusajishi Yachiru of the Eleventh Division, a pink-haired girl younger in appearance and behavior than most of your peers, whose Sanpo Kenju summons two bizarre monsters that fight alongside her.

By the time Urahara has run through the list, you've got the Ointment of True Seeing out and are applying it underneath your own eyes. Ambrose has gotten his own brand of the stuff out and applied to himself and Arturia, while the other knight in the room adjusts his helmet enough to allow you to apply the gunk properly.

"Um..." Urahara ventures.

You know what he's going to say, and you glance at Ambrose.

"We've got enough between us for ONE spare dose," the wizard informs you. "Your call."

Urahara puts on a hopeful smile.


Even though he's not coming along on the invasion - for reasons that haven't been openly discussed, but which you have Certain Suspicions about, now that you've been informed of the danger posed by Captains Aizen and Ichimaru - you decide to give Urahara a break and let him see what True Seeing looks like from the inside, as it were.

You also decide not to apply True Seeing to your partner. Granted, this means that she might get caught up in this Aizen guy's illusions, but you're pretty sure any such influence won't persist past the point of her being dismissed and re-summoned. That's just how it works where summoned creatures are concerned, even ones that are summoned from part of and/or as altered reflections of another creature's psyche.

On that note, you're very sure that Original Briar is in no danger of being snared this way. If Aizen's shikai involved voodoo curses or something of the sort, you'd be more concerned, because there's definitely a link between Shadow and Original that can be exploited that way, but applying an illusion upon what is, from a certain perspective, another illusion, in order to affect the original being that the second illusion was based on? That's just not going to work.

And on a purely practical front, you need to see how well Mind Blank works (or doesn't) against this guy's tricks, without the bane of illusions effect to back it up. Not to mention if your partner DOES get caught, you'll have a convenient subject to help you determine just what is involved in this "Complete Hypnosis" - unlike any other possible victims of the technique that Urahara might direct you to, you know what Briar's aura looks like WITHOUT any death god mind-affecting spiritual shenanigans applied.

...you think your magical researcher tendencies might be leaking through your bond, because Briar is starting to give you a suspicious look.

Clearing your throat, you tell Urahara, "I'll add it to your tab," reminding him that a sorcerer's favors come at a cost.

"Done and done," he agrees.

As you're in the middle of using up a third dose of the Original's ointment, Tessai - who left the room when you and Ambrose broke out the material components - returns with one of the knights from the front room. The big man pauses at the sight of his manager with boar fat, saffron, and pulped mushroom smeared under his eyes, and you swear a momentary expression of scientific envy flashes across his face.

When he speaks a moment later, you're sure of it: "I don't suppose there's enough to spare for one more person?"

"Sorry," you apologize, "but we'll need all the rest for the knights."

And now he's sulking.

Goddesses save you from overeager science nerds.

Nope.

Thus spake the Patron Goddess of Nerds.

Hail!

I will smite you two.

The knight following in Tessai's wake is the individual whose gender you couldn't quite pin down - not the one with the all-concealing helm, the other one.

"Someone asked for a magical test subject?" they ask brightly.

The King thanks them for coming and quickly recounts the situation - not naming the knight in the process, you note. That's becoming a distinct theme in this.

The knight frowns. "Just to be clear, si-ir, Ambrose is NOT the one that will be casting the spell?"

The wizard sighs the sigh of the much put-upon.

"He will not," Arturia replies.

"Okay!" comes the bright smiling reply. "Then I volunteer."

"No respect, I swear," the wizard grumbles.

"Oh, don't even try," the newcomer chides him, still smiling. "You've earned your reputation, you know it, and you enjoy it."

Arcane grumbling intensifies, though it is interspersed with a brief nod of admission.

The knight nods and steps towards you, smiling up - and up - and then adds, "Wow, you're even bigger up close!"

Ambrose bursts out laughing.

The bodyguard sighs.

"Phrasing, Sir Knight," the King chides her follower.

That earns a confused, head-tilting expression. "...huh?"

Why do you have the sudden feeling that you're dealing with a puppy?

Regardless, you explain to the knight what's involved, and they adjust their helmet enough to let you apply the ointment. You get a better look at the knight in the process, end up deciding that whatever gender they claim and/or are historically recorded as, their BODY is most likely female - the face is a bit too pretty, the skin too smooth, and what you can see of their throat indicates the larynx isn't as developed as it would be for a grown man. A bunch of little things like that, plus the example of their King - whose physical sex has previously been confirmed for you - add up to give you this impression.

Once the material component is applied, you have everyone stand close, enact the communal version of True Seeing that you've been holding, and quickly tap each person on the shoulder. And then you take a look around.

...

From the way the knights and the wizard fail to look the least bit different, you can safely say that Ambrose cast Mind Blank on all of them. You spend a moment wondering exactly what method he used - because even for casters on your level, Mind Blank isn't a trivial spell, and there are quite a few knights - before turning your attention to Urahara and Tessai.

"Awww," Urahara makes a sound of disappointment that isn't quite a whine. "Everybody looks exactly the same!"

"I make no apologies," Ambrose says. "A wizard must protect his secrets. Sorcerers and fairies, likewise. But look on the bright side: at least now you know that your home, workspace, and co-worker aren't figments of your imagination."

"Ah, but that's exactly what an illusion WOULD say, to make me let my guard down!" It's mostly a joking declaration, as Urahara mentioned he has no evidence that Aizen can modify his illusions from beyond visual range, much less across planar boundaries, but there is the faintest hint of honest worry underneath the humor.

When dealing with master illusionists, you can never be quite certain if what you're experiencing is real, or just a deception.

"Speaking as someone that actually IS a figment of another being's imagination," you declare dryly, "I'll ask you if you REALLY think this treacherous captain would be capable of recreating the energy signatures of no less than THREE major goddesses."

I would like to see him try.

THAT appears to give the shopkeeper some serious food for thought.

While he's chewing on that, you perform a minor Ritual of Illusion to confirm your first spell's functionality, and to allow everyone present to see what an Illusion viewed through True Seeing looks like, just in case they run into something like it in the field.

Once that's done, you take a moment to ask another question that you've been meaning to, namely about whether or not any coordination has been set up with the Shinigami, and how you're planning to avoid friendly fire incidents?

"As to the latter, it's very helpful for our purposes that the standard Shinigami uniform is all black, whereas the Quincy traditionally wear white," Urahara notes. "You'll want to watch out for the captains, of course. And rare individuals like Captain Komamura aside, neither group goes in for armor much" - he turns to you and Ambrose at this point - "which leaves only the magic-users. Who I think will be alright."

You glance at Ambrose's Robe and Wizarding Hat, then look down at your own Red Suit. Even superimposing the mental image of the Memorian Warmage's Robe over that, you can see where Urahara is coming from.

"As for coordination, though," the shopkeeper goes on, "I think you can expect a certain amount of... friction from the Gotei 13. They don't like mortals getting involved in their fights at the best of times, and this one's happening in their backyard, so to speak; the fact that they were blind to the threat until a mortal sorcerer gave them a heads up has already bruised a few egos, which just compounds the usual territorial issues. I'll also note that you two" - he looks from you to Ambrose again - "aren't only responsible for opening the Gates to let the attack force in, but ALSO for getting everybody OUT again once the mission is accomplished. Unless they've got Twelfth Division and the Kido Corps working on their own version of an escape option - which is LIKELY, but Yoruichi wasn't able to confirm; Kurotsuchi is a little too good at information security, and the Kido Corps is almost as secretive as the Onmitsukido - there are solid tactical reasons for keeping the two of you and your 'bodyguards' as far back from the main fighting as possible, which would also cut down on the chances of any accidents."

"In a conventional assault, that would be the case," the King agrees. "However, this operation is meant to be a raid within the heart of the enemy's power. We will have neither the time nor the manpower to properly secure any location, which would argue for keeping our forces mobile and together, to maximize force concentration, keep the opposition guessing as to our location, and deny them time to muster their own strength in its totality."

Urahara tips his hat to Arturia. "I'm just saying, those are the arguments I think the captains will make. Some of them, anyway."

While they hash that out, you get on with your second ritual-casting of True Seeing.


The King and the shopkeeper continue to talk tactics for a while, and are still going at it when you take up the small jar containing Ambrose's version of the ointment and excuse yourself to go apply True Seeing to the next batch of knights. Tessai sees you out, muttering something about wanting to make sure the knights haven't broken anything.

"A fair concern," the lady knight admits with wry humor.

"Unfortunately so," the bodyguard agrees.

"Truly," King Arturia concurs, looking as though she's remembering prior incidents. Possibly a LOT of incidents, if the weary sigh that escapes her regal facade is anything to go by.

The young knight in white armor goes with you, to vouch for the trustworthiness of your magic to her comrades.

"Some of them are just a BIT suspicious," she admits sheepishly. "Especially where magic is concerned."

"Ambrose?"

"Ambrose," she agrees. "But also... one other person."

For a moment, she looks so very sad.

Then the knight shakes it off and steps out into the front room, "And I return! Sound the trumpets!"

A couple of the knights obligingly cheer or make fake trumpeting sounds.

"Bah," the one in the impenetrable helm scoffs. "You walked all of thirty feet, to a room that had the lackey and Fa- I mean, the Ki-" They stop, and for a moment, radiate frustration that's apparent even through armor and magical wards. "The day's barely started, and this secrecy shit is already getting old," the red knight growls.

"I don't want to hear that from you/you're one to talk/look who's talking!" several knights shoot back at the masked figure.

"It wasn't my idea, you bastards!"

"Yes, yes," your escort says, raising her voice over the impending argument, "it's all Ambrose's fault-"

"As usual," comes the grumbling chorus.

"-but for once, he actually had a good idea."

"Will wonders never cease," is the general response.

"So!" the lady knight forges ahead brightly. "In the spirit of continued good ideas, we have a tactical update with a few mildly concerning details."

"Oh, this should be good," the red knight sighs. "Let's hear it."

The white knight recounts the highlights of Urahara's intel.

That the Shinigami are probably not best pleased at having to work with your group doesn't faze the knights in the least.

That one of the captains you're going to be meeting and ostensibly working with will likely want to fight them all is greeted with a certain amount of interest from all parties. Even the somber-faced knight in black and the pair whose faces are completely concealed by their helms give off that sense of anticipation.

That two of the captains are secretly criminals and traitors to their organization earns a less sanguine response, and when the lady knight adds that one of them has a power which can be summed up as, "You just plain lose, Illusionary Edition," there is some outright anger and a lot of aggressive posturing.

She quickly moves on to explaining about the Spell of True Seeing.

As predicted, a number of the knights seem wary about allowing a complete stranger to cast a spell on them, even with one of their own vouching for you AND the implicit approval of their leader.

Then the young knight in purple steps forward.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" the faceless knight in black and red inquires, his echoing voice carrying an oddly protective note of concern.

"Cease your unbecoming fretting," the boy replies in a calm, flat tone. "It's neither necessary, nor wanted."

The taller knight sighs and seems to slump a little.

"Our comrades and our leader have vouched for this man's reliability at patching a hole in our defenses. Doubting him doubts them, which I think we have ALL had quite enough of." He pauses, and adds, "Besides, the alternatives are going into battle without a shield against the foe's deceptions, or allowing the wizard to cast the spell."

There is much sighing, grumbling, and general agreement that they'd rather not have Ambrose cast more spells on them if they can avoid it.

Man, even the wizard's own conjurations don't trust him. You could almost feel bad for him.

Almost.

Aside from the sharp-tongued young boy, your next batch of targets includes a tall blond man who bears enough of a resemblance to the lady knight - both in facial features and in the design of their white armor - for you to wonder if their originals were related. The pale, dark-haired knight in black is next, and when you get a closer look at his face without the helmet in the way, you think he might be another kinsman - it's just less obvious, given his much darker hair and sour expression. The same holds true for the fourth knight, who seems just a little older than the lady and steps forward with an air of "I won't be left behind!" that you've seen on the playground plenty of times. In fact, looking at the four probable siblings side-by-side, you start noticing a certain collective resemblance to the King in the other room.

The fifth knight who volunteers for the spell has very different features from any of the rest, looking more like he would have hailed from the Middle East than from ancient Britan. You wonder what his story is. And no sooner has that warrior stepped up than the redheaded archer does likewise, sparing the other knight a challenging look that is answered in kind.

You cast the spell, and the six knights look around.

"I don't see anything different," the lady knight's slightly older probably-brother notes in confusion. "Did the spell fail?"

"No, the same thing happened in the back room," his probably-sister replies. "That spell the wizard cast to shield us from detection is just getting in the way."

With your credentials openly proven, the remaining knights doff their helmets to allow you to apply some of the dwindling supply of ointment to their faces. This incidentally gives you your first real look at the dark knight, who proves to be exceptionally handsome and oddly tired-looking, as if he hadn't slept well for an extended period of time.

Back and forth you go, until the only person in the room to have not revealed their face is the red knight in the greathelm.

"Come on, then," the lady knight encourages brightly.

"Yeah, you're holding us up," her youngest older brother adds in a similar tone.

"I will stab you two," the red knight grumbles halfheartedly, even as they step forward and raise their empty hand to their helm - which, at the touch, sort of splits apart along several previously unseen seams. You don't know if they're going to pull the helm off or just keep opening it up, but regardless, the red knight pauses in the middle of the action to glare at you. "Not a word from you about what you're about to see, wizard."

"Sorcerer," you correct.

"Whatever." And then the helmet completely opens up, folding back and down onto the rest of the armor-

You're briefly reminded of Stargate.

-and you find yourself looking at another version of a familiar face. The hair is styled differently, worn pulled up into a sloppy tail and just messier in general, and the expression is one of restrained anger you don't think you've ever seen before, but the features are otherwise almost a perfect match for the King sitting in the next room.

"Well?" the knight demands. "Get on with it, already."

Without a word, you reach out and apply the paste.

"Ugh, what IS this crap?"

"I don't know what Ambrose used, but our version is made of saffron, crushed mushrooms, and boar fat," Briar replies cheekily.

The red knight stares at the fairy for a moment, then at you, and then huffs. "Fucking wizards, I swear..."

"Sorcerer."

"Whatever!"

As soon as you've finished the spell, you cast another of those minor illusions to give all the knights an idea of what to watch for.

Used up Ointment of True Seeing

Tessai, meanwhile, has meandered over to the entrance, and is peering outside and upwards. "I had better fetch the manager and our other guests," he announces. "I do believe your escort has arrived."

Some of the knights visibly go on guard at that, the red knight's helm snapping shut once again.

"Oh, ick! It's smearing all over everything in here!"

"At least it smells nice?" the lady knight in white offers.

"I'm going to be breathing this crap all day! Ugh, how the hell am I supposed to fight seriously smelling like a damn spicerack...?"

"Speaking of fighting seriously," you inquire, as you get out your Warmage's Robe. "Do any of you veterans have any advice for someone who's about to step into his first warzone, as opposed to a monster's lair or a sparring ring?"

That question earns you some looks, a few surprised, others fairly concerned.

"Yeah," the red knight answers. "Don't get killed."

That earns her disapproving looks from several of the knights, most of which she casually ignores. The disappointment of her fellow lady knight does seem to sting a bit, though.

"While I might have put it less pithily," the somber knight in black comments, "the essence of the statement is accurate. Rather than trying to read the entire battlefield, focus on yourself and your immediate surroundings - wait, is that a sword?"

You just pulled out your copy of the Blessed Blade.

"A sorcerer with a sword," somebody comments. "The world is truly full of wonders."

"Ambrose used to use a sword."

"Ambrose used to CARRY a sword, I'd debate how well he ever USED it..."

"That sword, anyway," the man himself declares cheekily, as he strolls into the front room.

Some of the older knights chuckle at the remark; other members of the group roll their eyes or frown at it.

"Anyway, lad," Ambrose goes on, "leave direct combat to the experts as much as possible, and if you must fight in person, fight defensively rather than aggressively. Focus on holding the other guy off until backup can arrive."

"Don't try anything flashy in the melee, though," another knight interjects. "If you're going to cast a spell or use a technique that needs a similar build-up of energy, make sure you're well back from anybody that might stab you before you're finished."

"Also good advice," the wizard agrees, "although I'll note for those who haven't seen him in combat, he's pretty fast."

"Considering we're going up against an army of distance fighters, find cover whenever you can - and if you can't find it, make it."

"On a related note, other bodies count as cover, especially if they're armored. Stay behind us, stay behind the guys in robes" - that knight pauses to consider the outfit you're pulling on - "I mean, the guys in black robes..."

"You will not like what you see," the King says then. "Even when a battle is waged for the noblest cause, the battlefield itself is still hell on Earth. You will witness things there that are as shocking and horrifying as anything monsters could do, and they will be all the worse because you will be one of the ones doing them. You WILL be frightened, disgusted, and confused as you have never before been in your life."

You think about some of the spells you have up - specifically, Greater Heroism, which makes you immune to fear, and Persistent Vigor, which makes you unable to get nauseous.


It's not a difficult decision to make. You asked for advice; the King is giving it to you; and it would be rude on several levels not to let her finish.

Fortunately, she doesn't have much more to add.

"Those reactions are not shameful," the image of Altria's spiritual predecessor says. "They are a normal, natural human response to being surrounded by violence and carnage, especially without prior experience or preparation. Do not feel ashamed for being afraid, for that fear will help you stay alive, but do not surrender yourself to it, for panic will only get you killed." She pauses. "If you would prefer, I could assign one of my knights to guard you."

Several of the knights promptly voice variations on, "Not it!"

"Idiots," the red knight growls. "If Fa- if he tells you to do something, you do it!"

"So if YOU were ordered to-"

"The hell am I some wizard's babysitter!"

"Sorcerer," the lady knight corrects in your stead.

"Whatever."

Again, Arturia's regal countenance is briefly dented by that faint look of exasperation.

"Thank you for the offer," you reply.

While you finish sorting out your equipment, the knights conduct their own checks, tightening a strap here, closing the visor of a helmet there, and in several cases picking up a shield or weapon previously left to lie against a wall or shelf.

Urahara excuses himself to go greet the incoming reapers.

"Interesting robes, by the way," the lady knight's youngest older relative notes, looking at your attire with a mix of approval and bemusement. "I don't think I've ever seen a magic-user wear so much metal."

"Really?" you reply with some interest of your own. "They're patterned after robes that were worn by warmages in a Roman-descended legion."

"Really, now?"

"What's this about Romans?"

The white dame spins around, sword half-drawn. "Where!?"

"There, there," Ambrose says, giving the spooked lady knight a reassuring pat on the armored shoulder. "They were all long dead when the boy met them-"

"Roman ghosts!?"

"That's even worse!"

"-and he was making arrangements to help them settle their business and properly move on," the wizard continues, before turning back to you. "How is that working out, by the way?"

"We were on schedule to open up their base in a couple more weeks, before all this happened," you reply, gesturing around at the knights, Urahara Shop, and the event linking them. "I'm not sure if there'll be any delays because of this mess, but I haven't HEARD anything to indicate that. Yet."

"Fingers crossed, then."

Further discussion is tabled as Urahara comes back inside, accompanied by three figures in Shinigami black.

"You!?" Sui-Feng blurts out, pointing up at your face. "What are you doing here!?"

Ah, so she DID see the Original walking around in adult form the other day. Good to know that the leader of Soul Society's ninja has that level of situational awareness and recall.

"What's this?" the unshaven, sleepy-eyed man coming up behind her asks in a tone of scandalized delight. The pink kimono draped atop his captain's haori is at least as eye-catching as Urahara described. "Why, Sui-Feng, have you made a friend?"

A long-suffering sigh comes from the practical-looking female Shinigami behind Captain Kyoraku. Her uniform's fairly standard, except for her eyeglasses, the large book she's carrying tucked under one arm, and the lieutenant's armband wrapped around the other. You don't see a sword anywhere on her, though, unless it's a knife or something she's got up one sleeve...?

Sui-Feng spares a glare for her fellow captain, and then rounds on the shopkeeper. "Urahara. Explain."

"Captain Kyoraku Shunsui, Captain Sui-Feng, and Lieutenant Ise Nanao. Maybe I present "-the Sorcerer's Shadow."


"-but I think I'll be alright, and I would hate to impose. It is your group's first fight in... a while."

To put it mildly.

Some of the knights make sounds of appreciative agreement.

The King frowns. "You're certain."

It wasn't a question, but you nod anyway. "It helps that I'm currently immune to most of the problems you mentioned."

"Ah. Magic." And if there's a slight note of disapproval in there, well, knight.

"Which spells?" Ambrose inquires.

"Greater Heroism and Persistent Vigor are the relevant ones," you tell him.

The wizard nods, and to the knights, says, "He'll be fine, as long as nobody hits him with a dispelling effect. And quite possibly even then."

It would take a pretty high-level dispel to knock out your enhancements, at that.

Urahara didn't object to your desire to keep your Original's name out of things, but he did caution you that he wasn't sure how well it would go over with the Soul Society. They don't like mortals knowing too much about them, but they dislike it less when they at least know the mortal's identity in turn.

Ambrose, incorrigible old goat that he is, rolled with it and asked to be introduced as the Wizard, while Arturia is going by the moniker of Knight-Commander. The knights are, naturally, the knights, and Briar is simply your Familiar.

Captain Sui-Feng was already glaring at you suspiciously; Urahara's introduction just extends her unspoken disapproval to the rest of your party.

"Straightforward, yet mysterious," Captain Kyoraku replies good-naturedly. "This is going be interesting. I don't mind admitting that I'm a bit lost as to what 'Shadow' is supposed to mean, though."

"Almost exactly that," you reply. "I'm actually a projection of the Original Sorcerer, who felt that getting personally involved in the upcoming battle might be ill-advised, and had other urgent business in need of attending to besides, but wanted to lend his assistance regardless."

"Oh? And what might this other urgent business be, if you don't mind my asking?"

"He's trying to pull as many non-Wandenreich Quincy out of the line of fire as he can, WITHOUT letting on to their... militant kinsmen about it. Just in case the attack on Silbern doesn't manage to stop their King from waking up and eating their souls," you reply frankly.

That earns a wince from the man in pink, and some grimaces from his two companions.

"How many can he get?" Kyoraku asks frankly.

"We managed to evacuate about seventy people this morning, but the number's not likely to go much higher than that. Our circle of contacts just doesn't extend to the right people or places to have found more of them in the time we had."

You suppose the Original might try to call up Quincy using Planar Binding, but at ten minutes and no more than three people per casting, to say nothing of the negotiations, limited acommodations, and limits on his mana...

"Damn," Kyoraku says regretfully. "Not that I was planning on failing, but that would have been a comforting backup plan to have in place."

"It would," Arturia agrees. "We shall simply have to ensure it isn't required."

"True enough!"

Lieutenant Ise has been looking around, evidently counting heads - or helmets. For some reason, she's frowning by the time she's done. "Will everyone here be coming?"

"Aside from myself and my assistant, yes," Urahara replies. "As I understand it, we're still persona non grata in the Soul Society."

"Central Forty-Six is willing to look the other way about your involvement in this affair, given you did warn us of a direct threat to the Soul Society, as well as the..." Captain Kyoraku trails off for a moment, pursing his lips as he considers how to continue. "Let's say, the 'interesting' political situation Takamagahara's involvement has created. But yes, letting you back in would be pushing things. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, Captain." The shopkeeper smiles fakely. "We are exiles, after all. It would kind of defeat the purpose if we were walking around the Seireitei."

"Actually, given what your intel said about the Quincy being based in Seireitei's 'shadow,' we decided to set up the staging grounds in the Rukongai," Kyoraku replies. "But yes. Speaking of which, we should get going."

"We may need to make two or three separate trips with this many people, sir," Lieutenant Ise comments.

"Oh, not to worry, my lovely little Nanao; the Senkaimon can handle deployments larger than this."

"Including horses, sir?"

Kyoraku pauses at that and looks around himself. "Um..."

"That will not be an issue," Arturia assures them. "The Wizard will call our mounts to us when they are needed."

"I am amazingly useful that way," Ambrose agrees.

"Ah, problem solved, then!"

Your group files outside, where it's still not quite begun to rain, although the clouds are thicker than ever. There are no other pedestrians around, which is handy, but you have to wonder what any of Urahara's neighbors will think if they happen to look out a window right now. The Shinigami, at least, should be invisible, but a dozen knights, a wizard, and sorcerer still make for a pretty strange picture.

Captain Sui-Feng walks ahead of the group a ways, draws the wakizashi-like sword that hangs sheathed across her lower back, and holds it upright before herself for a moment, gathering energy to the blade. Then she lowers the weapon and thrusts it forward in a slow, ritualized manner, the upper end of the blade disappearing from your spiritual sight as if sinking into an invisible body.

Twisting her zanpakuto like a key in a lock, Sui-Feng declares, "Unlocking," in an authoritative tone, and a moment later, with a surge of spiritual energy, a shoji appears before her, sliding open to reveal a traditional room beyond. True to Captain Kyoraku's prediction, it looks large enough to handle your current group with some room to spare, although the lady lieutenant's concerns about horses wasn't misplaced.

Another sliding door at the back of the room opens up, releasing...

"Butterflies!" the lady knight declares in delight. "And look, they match Sir La- I mean, uh, the Black Knights!"

"Hopefully they're better behaved," the boy-knight in purple comments, raising his hand to allow one of the insects to land.

"Indeed," the other black-armored knight agrees, casting his fellow "black knight" an even more sour look than usual.

The handsome knight in the dark armor slumps in despair again.

"Why are there bugs in your magic doorway?" the red knight asks sourly, swatting at those that come near her.

"Please don't swat the hell butterflies," Captain Kyoraku says.

"They're from Hell?"

"They're from the Soul Society," the Shinigami corrects, "or at least we've been breeding them there for several thousand years. I'm... not actually sure where the name comes from, now that I think about it." He scratches his head, and then shrugs, as if it's of no matter. "The point is, they're a necessary part of navigating across the spiritual plane. Without them, there's a good chance you'll end up falling into the Dangai, the dimension that exists between Earth and the Soul Society. Time moves much faster in there than elsewhere, and it's easy to get trapped besides - at least until the Kototsu comes along and throws you out, which is generally fatal."

...wow. And you thought YOUR methods of planar travel had issues.

The knights take all of that in, and those that hadn't allowed the black butterflies to land on them do so and then begin to file into the waiting room. The red knight ends up with one daring to perch atop her helmet, which shifts enough to make you think she's glaring up at it.

"Don't get comfortable, tiny."

Black wings flutter in a manner you've seen from Briar when she's being particularly smug.

From the way your companion giggles, you think it may mean the same thing.

Speaking of whom, while one hell butterfly perches on your empty shoulder, a second one flies over to Briar's side and flutters around for a bit, looking confused, before it settles down next to her.

"All set?" Captain Kyoraku comments, looking around. "Right, then we're off!"

Behind you, the paper door slides closed.


You've been told several times, from several different sources, that the Soul Society as a whole doesn't like having to deal directly with mortals. That they're allowing your party entrance to their realm at all is a sign of how seriously they're taking the Wandenreich situation, as well as the involvement of the Shinto pantheon. Once this situation has PASSED, however, you expect you will be asked to leave promptly - or made to - and then not be invited back.

For that matter, you might not survive the upcoming battle, or you could be forced to bail out of the spiritual plane under your own power rather than by using this "Senkaimon" in reverse.

And if this could be the only opportunity you'll get to observe how an organization of spiritual entities affects planar travel, you'd be a poor arcanist to let the chance to glean new secrets pass you by.

With that in mind, you open up your Mage Sight and Spiritual Sight, and look around.

In magical terms, the Senkaimon registers primarily as a mix of Abjuration, Necromancy, and Summoning, with some Divination and a surprising amount of Transformation added in. The Summoning is primary, which makes sense for a method of planar travel. The Necromancy would be a consequence of this mode of travel being meant primarily for spiritual entities, and for passage to and from the afterlife where they reside. The Abjuration is undoubtedly coming from the safety measures that are keeping all of you from falling into that Dangai place Captain Kyoraku mentioned, and probably safeguards against other threats besides.

Hollow attacks come to mind.

The Divination effects seem to be a mix of the targeting measures required to aim this entire construct, and a security system for examining travelers and making sure everyone who travels through the Senkaimon is who and what they appear to be. As for the Transformation effect, it echoes magic of the Polymorph sub-school, and seems to be aimed at the "living" occupants of the room...?

As for what all of this looks like in spiritual terms, you're kind of at a loss. It's not that you can't see anything or that you're being overwhelmed by what's going on around you, it's just that the bulk of your experience with spiritual techniques is based on various forms of self-enhancement. You have a modest idea of how to infuse spiritual power into physical objects to enhance their utility, but the Senkaimon is a full-fledged spiritual construct, the equivalent of a high-end magic item fashioned from and operating upon entirely spiritual principles and power. You simply have no idea where to begin unraveling something like this.

That isn't to say it's a complete loss - looking at the Senkaimon in operation has given you a few ideas as far as MAGIC goes - but you need more experience with pure spiritual techniques before you can try breaking down something on this level.

"Why does it ITCH?" the red knight demands.

"It does what, now?" Captain Kyoraku asks in surprise.

"There has been a certain sense of discomfort almost since the outer door closed," the King speaks up. "It's similar to a spell being disrupted, though without the... burn, I suppose, of a magical reaction."

"Oh, bollocks," Ambrose sighs. Turning to the Shinigami, he asks, "This gateway of yours seems to have a phase-shifting effect on mortals. Conversion of a mixed physical-spiritual existence to a purely spiritual one, I assume?"

"Well, yes," Kyoraku replies. "You wouldn't be able to survive in our environment otherwise. Everything there is made of spiritual matter, not physical, including the air and the ground."

"There are ways around that," the Wizard replies dismissively. "What's happening here is that-"

"Captain Kyoraku!" a nasal, nervous voice interrupts, projecting from a speaker hidden somewhere in the traditional Japanese woodworking. "The Senkaimon is reporting multiple potential failures of particle conversion! Whatever your mortal guests are doing, tell them to stop it!"

The Captain tilts back his hat and regards the knights for a moment, before glancing at the ceiling. "I'll get right on that," he says to whoever that was. To the lot of you, he continues, "So what ARE you doing?"

"As I was saying," Ambrose says, "several of the knights possess innate magic resistance, while others are protected by their equipment. Even when they're not actively exerting it, the protection is still there, and while magic isn't spiritual power, there's enough overlap that I'm not surprised there are a few issues." To the knights, the Wizard says, "Relax, the lot of you."

It occurs to you that having the entire group under Mind Blank might also be responsible for the anomalous readings. While the spell wouldn't prevent the Senkaimon from working, your time as a test subject in Urahara's lab showed that it WILL block spiritually-enhanced sensors. Purely spiritual ones probably aren't faring any better.


While there are some risks inherent in allowing Ambrose to talk, you figure that as long as the conversation - or monologue - sticks to the topic of magic, it's safe enough to allow him to be the exposition fairy and potential lightning rod.

Instead, as your party moves through the brightly glowing passageway between worlds, you take the opportunity to cycle your energies a few times, testing to see if the shift from flesh-and-spirit to just spirit has taken place yet - which, since you don't have innate spell resistance the way Altria's spiritual ancestor almost undoubtedly does, it most likely has - and if so, how that's affected your powers.

After running through mana, ki, and mental and spiritual energies twice each, you have to concede that you don't FEEL any different.

While you're doing that, and the next sliding door at the far end of the passage remains firmly shut even as your group close the distance, Ambrose gets into an argument with whichever Shinigami flunky is overseeing the doorway to the afterlife today.

"Does your conversion system affect all those within the target area, yes or no?"

"Yes, but-"

"And does that target area include the entirety of this charming facade?"

"Again, yes, but-"

"And does the system say it's completed its task?"

"The convertor has finished its cycle, but we still can't confirm if the process was successful! The primary sensors are only detecting the signatures of three Shinigami and eighteen hell butterflies within the Senkaimon!"

"That you say 'primary' sensors implies the presence of 'secondaries'," Ambrose notes. "What do THEY say?"

There is a short pause.

"The pressure sensors in the floor are registering an additional fourteen masses within the range for human body size," comes the grudging response, "and the thermal and atmospheric sensors are reporting changes in ambient conditions roughly consistent with that number of bodies. But that's purely circumstantial-"

"Really? So not only do you have no faith in your own work, you don't trust the lieutenant and two captains that are in here as well?"

"That's not what I said!" comes the swift reply.

"Look," Ambrose says, "I will put this simply. The Knights brought down their magic resistance."

"So did I!" Briar chimes up.

"So did the Sorcerer's Familiar," the Wizard says without missing a beat. "The Sorcerer and I don't have such a defense in place at this time, and the spell that is stopping you from scanning us down to our bones, blood types, and brainwaves in no way interferes with transformative forces."

"So you SAY-"

"So I say, with the weight of several MILLENNIA of evidence from archmages across the planes backing me up," Ambrose retorts. "And if you try to claim your files don't have any such data on the Spell of Mind Blank, I will laugh. Mockingly."

"He's very good at that," one of the knights comments to no one in particular.

Captain Kyoraku nods. "I was starting to get that impression." Then he raises his voice. "Alright, let's cut this short before we've hung out in here so long that the Kototsu shows up. Wizard, you're sure you and your party will be alright when we reach the Soul Society?"

"I am, Captain."

"Control, confirm that the convertor DID activate and the secondary sensors ARE indicating fourteen human presences, and one very small non-human?"

"Thank you," Briar says.

The Captain tips his straw hat to her.

"That... is tentatively confirmed, sir," the lower-ranking Shinigami says with reluctance. "But-"

"Then on my own authority, I'm clearing them to enter the Soul Society. I'll take responsibility."

"Sir, I-"

"And if Captain Kurotsuchi has an issue with that," Kyoraku adds, "he's welcome to take it up with me."

There is a pause.

"Opening the Senkaimon now, Captain."

A moment later, the door slides open, and you get your first look at Soul Society.

...

Honestly? The place looks a lot like pre-Meiji Japan. You suppose that IS fitting with the samurai theme the Shinigami have going, but it must be something of a shock to modern Japanese souls that end up here.


It's tempting to take a closer look at the environment and see if you can determine its makeup, but that's really the sort of study best conducted in a properly outfitted workshop. For that matter, you could probably get the information from Urahara - for a price, you're sure, but he does technically owe you for allowing him to examine Mind Blank the other day and casting it on him this morning.

With that in mind, it seems a better use of your limited time in the Soul Society to do something you can really only do while you're here.

And so it is that as Captain Kyoraku leads the way through the dusty streets, you turn your attention to the regular citizens, who have started bowing respectfully, staring in shock, or moving along a little faster at the sight of your group. Most of the respect is directed squarely at the three Shinigami in your midst - specifically at the captains - while the shock is spread out much more evenly.

There are a few ways you could interpret the latter. It seems a given that Soul Society doesn't see a lot of new arrivals bearing the arms and armor of European knights, so that's probably some of the surprise accounted for. You also know that most newcomers aren't personally escorted to this realm by the captains, or even by the rank-and-file of the Gotei 13. The Japanese Spirit Dossier the Kurosakis gave you for your birthday mentioned that Shinigami customarily send Plus souls to Soul Society using a simple ritual called a konso, which involves tapping the hilt of a zanpakuto to the soul's forehead and simultaneously summoning a hell butterfly to guide the departing individual to the Soul Society. There was no mention of other methods, and while it likely IS possible, there's only around three thousand Shinigami in total; they don't really have the numbers for any sort of personalized "customer service."

That much is all very understandable, but the way some of the locals hurry along at the sight of your party - and the fearful, furtive looks you catch sight of from the fleeing individuals and even among those doing the bowing, looks that are largely if not entirely aimed at the three Shinigami escorting you - suggests some other, more concerning factors are at work as well.

It's not to suggest that the entire crowd is reacting badly. Quite the contrary.

Down one side-street, a small group of kids "oohs" and "aahs" at the sight of the captains and the strangers walking with them. From the postures two of them assume - one with both hands clenched around empty air, the other holding his arms apart as if grasping two different objects - you think your passage may have inspired an argument about samurai versus knights.

Several women are casting speculative looks at Captain Kyoraku, some of the knights, and even you and Ambrose. You ignore those; Ambrose doesn't, so you ignore him, too.

And then there's the man standing in the doorway of what may be the old Japanese equivalent of a tavern, who greets Captain Kyoraku by name and title and asks if he has time for a drink.

The good captain apologizes, claiming prior business, but tells the man to keep a jug of sake chilled for him.

Captain Sui-Feng and Lieutenant Ise appear neither particularly approving of nor especially surprised by that.

But despite the general goodwill and/or tolerance of the armed agents of the afterlife among the average residents, those few fearful expressions have you a bit concerned. Taken in a vacuum, they might not be worth worrying about - you've passed a couple hundred people on the main street alone at this point, with dozens more down the side-streets and in the buildings; human nature being what it is, odds are that a few of those would have reasons ranging from the ideological to the legal for not wanting to stick around near Shinigami. When combined with other things you're seeing, though...

Case in point: For all that this is a spiritual realm, none of the common citizens you're passing by seem to have any spiritual power or presence worth mentioning. True, the ambient energy of the Soul Society itself makes your passive readings a bit fuzzier than they would be on Earth, but then again, these souls don't have physical bodies to obscure their signatures, so in that respect, your readings are clearer. The two factors more or less cancel one another out, with a slight advantage to Soul Society.

The people you've seen thus far are no stronger than the average living human being, and many of them are markedly weaker than the folks you interact with on a regular basis. And that's just in spiritual terms; when you try peering through your other senses, you pick up no signs of arcane potential, no ki training - although given how ki mixes the physical energies of a LIVING body with those of the mind and spirit, that might be unavoidable - no psychic energy - though that's not your best field, so you could have missed something - and definitely no hints of divinity or inhuman heritage.

After all the time you've spent hanging out at the Shuzens', the Drakes', and the South Pole, to say nothing of your residence in Sunnydale itself? It's kind of jarring.

You also find it worth noting that pretty much everyone you can see is dressed like a Japanese peasant. Their clothes are clean and well-kept, and there are a few more prosperous types, like that tavern owner, mixed in - most of them near buildings that are obviously businesses - but you've yet to see a single article of clothing that doesn't look like it came out of the 1800s or earlier. Plain fabrics, drab colors, and simple patterns dominate, all of it looking handmade, with not a brand name to be seen. Leather, synthetics, watches, and personal electronics are entirely absent, silk, cosmetics, and jewelry are sparse - and what you do see of the latter lacks actual jewels - and EVERYBODY is wearing sandals.

When you compare the average resident of the City of Wandering Souls to the three Shinigami in their midst... well, it's really no comparison at all.


If you've got questions about the afterlife, who better to ask than the local experts on the matter? And since Captain Sui-Feng looks to be somewhere between ignoring your existence and wanting to stab you a little, you focus your inquiry to the other two.

"So what do people do for a living here?"

There are some sighs from behind you-

"Nothing!" Captain Kyoraku laughs. "Because they're all dead!"

-which escalate into groans, a chortle from Ambrose, and a sigh-and-adjustment of glasses from Lieutenant Ise.

"Seriously, though," the man in pink continues in a more level tone, "being dead IS a factor. Once you no longer have a biological body to look after, a lot of the daily necessities become more like luxuries for most people. Oh, they still WANT to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, and all the rest, but that's the habits of however many incarnations more than a true need; your average soul can survive off of Soul Society's ambient energy indefinitely without issue. Hunger generally stops being a problem within a few years, thirst within a couple of decades, and if you make it to a century or two - and quite a few do - you start getting over the need for sleep as well. In theory, a soul that hung in there for a couple of millennia could learn to stop breathing, but I don't think there's ever been a non-Shinigami who went that long before reincarnating."

Huh.

"You said that the 'average' soul can survive off ambient energy," you note. "There are exceptions, then?"

"Anybody who has enough spiritual power to actually USE it gets hungry for real," the captain replies easily. "Those who aren't aware of their potential tend to tap into it instinctively whenever they feel strong emotions, and as useful as instinct can be, it's never as efficient as conscious, trained control. Those who ARE aware run into the issue that all but the weakest techniques burn more energy than can be replenished just by breathing. Either way, they need to replace the energy they use up, and that translates to hunger. So getting back to your original question," he continues, "there are quite a few people who take up farming, professional cooking, or related services. The Shinigami and the noble families need food, most other people still WANT it, and there's plenty of money to be made as a result."

From there, he goes on to describe the other sorts of jobs you'd expect to find in pre-Meiji society. Farmers work better when they've got proper tools, storage facilities, and a roof over their heads; merchants need vehicles to transport their goods, proper roads for greater efficiency, and warehouses and shops to store, display, and sell their wares; cooks need kitchens to work their culinary magic, many of which come attached to restaurants; and so there must be craftsmen to produce and maintain all of those (and more merchants, to sell what the craftsmen make). Food is valuable, so there are those who try to steal it, control the supply, or otherwise attempt to make a profit through less-than-legal means, and there are organized groups who strive to prevent that sort of thing - some with official recognition and backing from the Court of Pure Souls, others as more grassroots movements, and a few who are little better than criminals themselves.

And on and on it goes. Clothiers and sandalmakers; producers of all manner of furnishings; makers of paper and ink, and messengers, reporters, and authors to make use of those; a positively THRIVING industry in brewing various forms of alcohol; beggars and drifters and professional tourists; religious movements that maintain the traditions found in the Living World and others unique to Soul Society; and more besides.

In the process of describing Soul Society's layout, Captain Kyoraku does admit that much of its wealth, manpower, and material resources are concentrated in the Seireitei, which is the heart of the realm and the home of both the Gotei 13 and the noble families. The nearer Districts of the City of Wandering Souls are relatively well-off due to their proximity to and regular patronage from the Court of Pure Souls, but as one gets further and further out, the standard of living tends to decline. You're currently in the Forty-Third East District, which is not one of the better locations - though still a far cry from the worst.

"No modern technology, though?" you inquire.

"Not much of it, no," Captain Kyoraku admits. "Part of the problem is that, for all that modern humans USE technology, not that many of you really UNDERSTAND it to the point where you can reproduce it."

Fair point. As just one example, the number of teenagers who use cellphones FAR outweighs the number that could build a working cellphone from spare parts, let alone if they had to assemble the parts from scratch.

"Then there's the issue that the Soul Society doesn't operate on the same set of physical laws as the Living World," he goes on. "Sure, we have a lot in common on the SURFACE level, but when you go deeper, spiritual particles start exhibiting different properties and behaviors than physical particles. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure atoms and the like don't suddenly implode if someone glares at them hard enough. Figuring out which rules are the same, which are different, and which are negotiable is a lot of work, and most people don't have the time, talent, or inclination to figure it all out for themselves. The Fourth and Twelfth Divisions both run educational programs to try and help with that: Kurotsuchi made the argument that even if they can't teach regular souls how to USE spiritual power, learning ABOUT it makes for a more productive and useful workforce; Unohana told horror stories about the lack of proper medical care in the greater population until people voted for her proposal just to get her to stop talking-"

Kyoraku shudders in memory.

Sui-Feng does likewise.

"-but they've only got so many resources to throw around, and not everybody cares to make the effort to learn, or even admit that they need to," the captain in the hat finishes wryly.

"Ah, human nature," Ambrose sighs. "Even in the afterlife, you remain a pain in the ass."

Captain Kyoraku chuckles at that. "Yeah, no matter where you go, people are always going to be people. But even then, I think the real reason for the lack of widespread technology is the Hollows."

"How so?"

"Relatively simple structures and crafts like these," he nods at the buildings around them, the clothes people are wearing, and various little tools, "made of materials that haven't been too heavily altered from their natural state, have spiritual auras fairly close TO those natural states, though they start feeling like their owners over time - which is to say, like ordinary souls. Hollows tend to ignore them. The sort of materials that you need for modern technology have to be refined, though, and here in Soul Society, that means using spiritual power on them - which, again, not everybody can do, and also changes their auras enough to stand out."

You wince at that. "And then the Hollows get curious."

"Yeah." Captain Kyoraku grimaces. "Twelfth Division ran a little experiment on that a few decades back, with some help from the Fifth and Thirteenth. They walled off parts of an abandoned district, cleared out the old buildings, and replaced them with new ones built entirely out of Twelfth's best attempts at reproducing modern materials and architecture. One area had a single new house all by itself, another had a new house surrounded by old ones, and other areas mixed greater numbers of new-built structures with empty space or old buildings, all the way up to an entire new neighborhood. Nothing happened while they were working and the kido barriers were up, but when they started bringing the barriers DOWN..."

"Bad?" Ambrose inquires.

"The lone houses fared alright," Kyoraku admits, "but once you had five or six modern buildings in an area, Hollows started showing up to investigate, and the more buildings there were and the closer together they stood, the more Hollows appeared. That 'new neighborhood' I mentioned got so much attention, it was reduced to a vacant lot again by dawn."

What a charming mental image THAT is.

"Inside the Seireitei is one thing," the senior captain says frankly. "We're fortified, we've got dozens if not hundreds of Shinigami within quick responding distance of any given location at any given time, and the average resident has the strength and training to stay alive until help arrives. None of that applies out here in the Rukongai. None of it CAN; the place is just too big, and we don't have the numbers to cover it all."

You get the impression that there's a lot more about the Soul Society that has yet to be said or even hinted at - as one example, Captain Kyoraku has mentioned nobles a few times, with the implication that they're distinct from the Shinigami, but he hasn't gone into any real detail about what those distinctions are.

But the crowd and the houses around you have been thinning out as you've walked and talked, and up ahead, you can see that the city-scape comes to an abrupt end, replaced by a large area of undeveloped grassland and forest. There's a kind of gate located at the border, with a dozen guards carrying simple spears standing the watch alongside a quartet of Shinigami, who've already turned your way and are straightening up at the sight of three of their superiors.

"Captains, Lieutenant, sir, ma'ams!" one of the reapers says.

"Anything to report?" Sui-Feng inquires.

"No, ma'am! No messages from the staging grounds, no activity from the forest, and no trouble from the locals! All remains quiet, ma'am!"

"Very good. As you were, then."

"Yes, Captain!"

The guards let you pass without incident, but as you move away from the residential area, you notice the atmosphere around you changing. Some of that is the resurgence of nature in the absence of human civilization and the noise, dust, and smells that come with it, but there's something else as well, a hint of wildness and darkness that seems to be coming from the nearby trees. When you look in that direction with your Spiritual Sight, a shadow hangs over the forest, growing stronger as one heads deeper, until at the very edges of your awareness, it reminds you of youkai, and places of spiritual power you've visited on Earth.

The air is not so dark and bloodstained as the interior of the Shuzen estate, it lacks the demonic taint that afflicts the woods around of Sunnydale, it's too dark to be mistaken for the forest on Bali Ha'i, and it definitely doesn't have the primordial, inter-planar feel of the Lost Woods, but there are similarities all the same.

"Welcome to District Forty-Four East," Captain Kyoraku notes. "Known to the locals as the Forest of Death."


"I've seen worse."

"Oh?" Captain Kyoraku regards you curiously. "If you don't mind my asking, where would that have been?"

"I've been to a forest on a Hellmouth," you reply honestly.

Kyoraku winces. "Yeah. That definitely counts as 'worse'."

Lieutenant Ise, meanwhile, looks curious. "'Hellmouth,' sir?"

"You are... not referring to the Gates?" Sui-Feng adds, with a puzzled frown of her own.

"No, he's really not," the male captain agrees, shaking his head. "A Hellmouth is a location in the Living World where the boundaries between the Earthly plane and certain demonic realms are unusually thin, allowing forces, materials, and entities from one side to cross over and exist on the other. Some of those things can only exist in the area immediately around the Hellmouth, but others can range farther out - sometimes on a global scale."

"That sounds... unpleasant, sir," Nanao finally ventures.

"It also sounds like a danger to the Balance," Sui-Feng says, scowling once more. "Why have I not heard of these places before now, Captain Kyoraku?"

"Ah, well, that would be because all the Hellmouths in Japan were closed centuries ago," Shunsui replies with a shrug. "Their guardians were slain; the actual... portals, cracks in the walls of reality, whatever you want to call them, were sealed shut, buried deep wherever possible, had shrines built on top of them, and guardian spirits invested to keep an eye on them; and spiritually powerful mortal families were entrusted to start cleaning up the taint from the surrounding areas."

"They've actually finished that job," you mention offhandedly.

"Oh?"

"I spoke to a few Japanese priests about scrubbing off the Hellmouth taint," you explain. "The oldest of them mentioned that the work of cleaning up after the Japanese Hellmouths was completed in his grandfather's time - probably about a century ago, I'm guessing - which was why his son didn't know what they were until I brought the term up."

"Oh, that's a relief. Looks like I'm going to have to track some people down after this; I owe them drinks!" Kyoraku chuckles. "Anyway, the information on all of this is in the archives. It's not classified or anything, it just doesn't come up much any more."

"Yet there are still more of these Hellmouths out in the world," Sui-Feng counters. "Unsealed, uncleansed, and allowing demons to run about as they please?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but our hands are kind of tied in regards to them. They're not in our area of jurisdiction, so we'd have to get the approval of whichever Power is in charge locally to even investigate, and given a lot of those Powers are demon lords, in cahoots with them, or bound by oath to help maintain the status quo, that's... unlikely, at best. On top of that, the EXACT location of a Hellmouth can be hard to pin down. They're usually underground, some of the Japanese ones were in remote areas where nobody sane lived, and they can have... very weird effects on local space-time, all of which made just finding them a headache in and of itself. I suspect it's even worse today; given how many people there ARE in the Living World, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Hellmouths are under significant population centers."

He glances your way, and you nod. "The one I've been to is in a town of about forty thousand," you admit.

"There's another in Cleveland," Ambrose adds. "Population over a quarter of a million, I'd have to check to be sure."

Kyoraku just shakes his head at that. "Yeah, so that would be a bit of a problem to deal with. To add another wrinkle to the mess, the environment of a Hellmouth is spiritually toxic. Every moment you're there, you're being exposed to the essence of chaos and/or evil, which isn't healthy for ANYBODY, and does annoying things to a lot of kido, besides." The unshaven man sighs. "Assuming we caught a bunch of lucky breaks and got permission to take action, it would need a serious commitment of forces - probably a rotating deployment from two or three Divisions, with heavy monitoring from Second, Fourth, and Twelfth to make sure nobody was getting sick or going insane on us, and sit on anyone who started showing signs - and even without this Quincy craziness, you know as well as I do that we can't spare the manpower for something like that right now."

The Second Captain grimaces, but acknowledges the point.

"Finally," the Eighth Captain says, "it's been a while since I read up on the subject, but I'm pretty sure nobody ever came up with a single method for reliably sealing Hellmouths. The dimensions, forces, and Powers involved are different every time, which means each one has to be closed in a different manner - sort of like killing demons themselves, just writ large. One thing I DO remember for sure is that it was always, ALWAYS the action of a mortal soul that was responsible for finally closing a Hellmouth."

You are half-tempted to volunteer, just on general principle of wanting to get rid of the Sunnydale Hellmouth, but you'll hold off on that until you know more about what might be involved.

Also, you're kind of technically NOT a mortal soul, or at least not the whole of one. It might complicate matters.

You've kept up the pace all this time, and have at last reached the Shinigami encampment. A wooden barricade has been raised around it, with three-story watchtowers at every corner and shorter ones above the gate, which is currently closed. While you can't see over the wall, you can hear quite a bit of activity coming from inside.

The guards here are entirely Shinigami, and when they see your group approaching, two of them break ranks and come forward to greet the captains and lieutenant. Identities are confirmed and your group's presence vouched for, at which point the guards return to their posts and give the word to open the gate.

As the doors swing wide, you see a large field that was grassy not too long ago, but now is half torn up, with loose clods of turf scattered everywhere and a few craters for style. Long, single-story buildings that make you think "barracks" just by looking at them are lined up along the back of the encampment, while storage buildings occupy the right-hand side. Opposite them is a larger, more formal sort of structure that gives off a sense of authority - officers' quarters or the command center.

Shinigami are, unsurprisingly, everywhere. Aside from the guards standing the watch and patrolling the interior, you see a number of souls out on the training field. Some are sparring with their zanpakuto, whether in their standard sealed sword forms or various unsealed states, while others are exchanging barehanded blows and grappling. The intensity of these fights is fairly light, suggesting that rather than last-minute training, this is more an effort to use up nervous energy or avoid thinking too hard on the imminent battle.

More reapers are standing or sitting together in small groups, talking about who knows what. You can also see a few individuals sitting apart from the others, be it on the grass or up on the roofs of various buildings, arms folded and heads bowed in recognizable meditative poses.

Quite a lot of heads turn towards your group at this point, and you can see everything from honest curiosity to scowling disapproval to fierce eagerness on the faces involved.

A messenger has been sent to inform the other captains of your party's arrival. Will you be attending that meeting?


With all due respect to the arcane simulacrum of the Once and Future King, you are not one of her knights. The simple fact of her superior inherited experience has you very inclined to follow her lead on the field of battle and potentially in the court of politics besides, but that is your choice, not an obligation.

Similarly, while Ambrose is your senior in terms of physical age and position within Earth's magical community, you are not his apprentice, his ward, or otherwise in any position where you must follow his orders if you don't want to. Thankfully.

Your presence here is not as a subordinate of the King or the Wizard, but as a peer. You represent not only your summoner, but also the Golden Goddesses - and if you tilt your head and squint, perhaps the Earthly kami as well - and you would expect to be accorded recognition of that fact, as well as your own voice in the impending meeting. Naturally, you will have to be present to speak on your own behalf.

Nobody appears remotely surprised when you state your intention to join the meeting.

"Will your companion be accompanying you?" Lieutenant Ise inquires. "Or will she be remaining with the knights?"

You turn to Briar. "Well, partner?"

"Hmmm... if it's alright, I think I'd prefer to tag along. I probably won't say anything-"

That will be the day.

"-I'm just more comfortable when I know where the big guy is and what he's up to. It's a familiar thing."

"That should be fine," the lieutenant replies.

"She could hardly be any more of a disruption than Lieutenant Kusajishi," Sui-Feng mutters.

"True," the lieutenant agrees.

"Is someone talking about me?" a little girl's voice pipes up from the nearest group of Shinigami, which quickly parts to reveal the speaker.

"Pink" is your first impression. Her short hair is the hue of fresh cherry blossoms, which stands out vividly against all the black robes in the area. Her eyes are a darker shade, closer to red, her cheeks bear a rosy flush, and the wrapped hilt of the sword at her hip is pink as well. Even her aura, which you catch a flicker of, seems to be pink.

Idly, you glance at Captain Kyoraku, and in particular, his pink over-kimono, or whatever it's called. A connection, or a coincidence?

The newcomer is also tiny. While she looks a few years older than the Kurosaki twins, she's not much taller, and the Shinigami uniform she's wearing just about swallows her arms and legs; likewise, the lieutenant's badge strapped to her left arm covers most of the upper arm from shoulder to elbow, and hangs rather loose rather than being tied on as firmly as the one Lieutenant Ise wears. As the little Shinigami gets closer, you notice that her zanpakuto is of normal proportions for a katana, which - due to its owner's diminutive height - makes it long enough for the scabbard to drag on the ground. This somewhat undignified situation has been avoided by the attachment of a small pair of wheels to the scabbard.

This, then, would be the Lieutenant of the Eleventh Division, Kusajishi Yachiru - the one who Urahara cautioned you was seldom to be found far from her fight-happy captain.

"Hey!" the little lieutenant exclaims, face breaking into a smile. "It's Shun-shun and Nana! And the Ninja Lady! And oooh, shiny metal people!"

"'Shiny metal people'?" you hear one of the knights murmur.

"Uh-huh!" Lieutenant Kusajishi replies with a cheerful nod. "'Cause you're all covered in shiny metal! Hey, hey, why are you dressed like that, anyway? Doesn't it get hot? And heavy? Do you make clanking noises when you walk, or only when you fall over? How much did all that cost, anyway? Because the only person I know who wears armor is Koma-Koma, and he's a CAPTAIN, and even he doesn't wear this much metal, and there are so many MORE of you than there are of him, that must have cost a LOT!"

You can SEE some of the knights floundering under the barrage of childish curiosity.

Ambrose, meanwhile, is regarding the girl with suspicion, and the faintest hint of worry.


As the little lieutenant bounces around, bombarding the knights with eager questions, you turn to Ambrose and murmur, "Problems, Wizard?"

"Hopefully not," the old man replies absently, before shaking his head. "My apologies. It's just that the sight of a short, pink-haired, hyperactive chatterbox reminded me of someone I used to be vaguely acquainted with, and for a moment I almost thought... but no, this far east, there's no way she's related." He glances at Yachiru again, and adds a cautious, "Probably, anyway."

Arturia frowns at her court mage. "I do not recall ever meeting anyone of that description."

"I would be surprised if you did," the Wizard admits easily. "I didn't meet him until quite some time After, and I really only had any contact with him through his cousin." The old man smiles, and it's a look of fond reminiscence and unexpected pride - almost paternal. "Delightful girl, that one. Beautiful, earnest, an attentive and respectful student... her love-life was a bit of a running disaster, but it worked out in the end."

The royal frown has mustered reinforcements. You get the distinct impression that if there weren't a few Shinigami officers standing right there - Captain Kyoraku isn't even trying to hide his interest, you note - and a couple dozen of their subordinates within earshot, the King would have a few things to say to her Wizard.

Evidently Ambrose reads the same message you do, or something similar to it, because he clears his throat and casts about for a distraction. "Oh, look, here comes the messenger."

One delivered report and a brief discussion later sees the two captains leading your little "command group" off to meet the rest of their peers, while Lieutenant Ise remains behind to keep an eye on her tiny counterpart - although by this point, the young knight in purple seems to have the exciteable girl in hand, having knelt to face her more equally as he began answering her storm of questions.

You're led over to the command post, where the two Shinigami standing guard outside the front door slide it open when they see you approaching, and then cross the room ahead of your group to open up a second set of doors inside. This reveals a larger room where roughly half of the Shinigami leadership has assembled in two rows on opposite sides of the chamber.

To your right stand four figures wearing white captain's coats, the two nearest of which physically tower over everyone else in the room. The nearer of these, spiky-haired and radiating an aura of bloodthirsty eagerness even when he's ostensibly standing at ease, is tall enough that you can look him in the left eye - the right being covered by an eyepatch. This, then, would be Captain Zaraki Kenpachi.

The next captain - separated from the avowed madman of the Eleventh Division by enough space to accommodate another person, which Captain Kyoraku moves to fill after giving you, Ambrose, and Arturia a brief nod - is well over nine feet tall, and wears a partial suit of eastern-style armor whose massive helmet completely covers his head. By default, this must be Captain Komamura.

The third captain in line appears positively modestly proportioned when compared to the first two, even though he's clearly tall and strong by normal standards. Between the square-framed glasses, the faint, politely smiling expression, and the short, slightly unkempt hair, you might take him for an absent-minded scholar - or maybe a mild-mannered reporter, he has that sort of Clark Kent-ish vibe going. Which makes you wonder if Captain Aizen has ever read DC Comics...

Beyond the traitor is his co-conspirator, silver haired, close-eyed, and foxily-grinning Captain Ichimaru, and then another empty space, which Captain Sui-Feng is headed for without so much as a backwards glance at your group.

On the left side of the hall are five men wearing lieutenant's armbands, and a sixth space, nearest to your position, which is probably meant for Lieutenant Kusajishi. Past that are a dark-haired young man with a tattooed face, a thuggish-looking fellow in glasses, and then a man with red hair pulled back in a style that makes him look a bit like a pineapple, who combines a visor (worn up over his forehead at the moment) with jagged red tattoos, almost like some weird hybrid of the first two. After him is a tired-looking blond, and then a somewhat older-looking white-haired and mustachioed fellow with an air about him almost akin to a Proper English Gentleman.

Privately, you tick the names Hisagi, Iba, Abarai, Kira, and Sasakibe off a mental list.

Lastly, and in no way least, there is the man at the far end of the aisle, seated in the only chair in the room and with both hands folded atop a gnarled walking stick. His white, plaited beard reaches halfway to the floor, his thick mustache is nearly half THAT length, and his long eyebrows frame an ancient face that, like Captain Ichimaru's, has both eyes closed - to the point where their owner would seem to be asleep. Your enhanced senses warn you that is not the case; though he may well be taking the opportunity to "rest his bones," the ancient Shinigami is very much awake and alert.

The pressure and heat that momentarily falls upon you when Captain-Commander Yamamoto turns his attention your way would have given that away regardless.

You sense the two Shinigami guards behind you bow before they exit the chamber and slide its doors shut once more.

For a moment, no one says anything.

"So which one of you do I get to fight first?" Captain Zaraki says with a grin, as he looks from you to Arturia.

Several of the other Shinigami sigh.


"I'm pretty sure the Quincy have first dibs," you reply. "That said, if we're both still alive when this is all over..."

Briar sticks to her guns about not saying anything during this meeting, but she made no claims that she would not facepalm.

Zaraki's grin, meanwhile, has grown, and the air about him thrums with eagerness. "I'm going to hold to you that, Red," he says with dark glee.

The other Shinigami are regarding you with a mix of disbelief, pity, wonder (at whether or not you're crazy), and some interest. Red-headed Abarai actually looks a bit impressed, though he, too, seems to think you're out of your mind.

It's at this point that the Captain-Commander raps the butt of his walking stick against the wooden floor. "Enough, Captain Zaraki. Save your energy for the enemy."

"If I gotta," the wild man replies with a shrug, as he settles back into his place in the line.

Yamamoto regards the Eleventh Captain for a moment longer, and then shifts his attention to the next in line.

Heeding the unspoken instruction, Captain Kyoraku handles the introductions on both sides. "So, the big one is the Sorcerer's Shadow-"

Although there are no outbursts, quite a few of those in the room express surprise.

"-the little spot of darkness on his shoulder is his Familiar, the elder gentleman is the Wizard, and the lady in armor goes by Knight-Captain."

"Yer parents had interestin' taste in names," Captain Ichimaru notes with amusement.

"Technically, some of us don't actually have parents," you reply.

"Oh? Do tell."

You go ahead and repeat what you previously told Captains Kyoraku and Sui-Feng about your artificial nature, and when they naturally ask why the Original sent you here in his stead, you explain what he's up to.

"Don't worry, though," you add, glancing at Captain Zaraki. "I have all his abilities."

"Good to know. I hate fighting wimps."

"If your creator is so determined to save lives," Lieutenant Kira says somberly, "why didn't he ask for our help?"

...really? He's really asking that?

Captain Kyoraku's wince, and the way Captain Ichimaru is tsking and shaking his head at his lieutenant's question, tells you they're having similar thoughts.

"Well, for one thing," you answer evenly, "we'd observed a certain amount of distaste or distrust for Shinigami among the Quincy we'd already met. Considering how some of the ones we spoke to jumped to the conclusion that the 'worldwide threat to all Quincy' involved the Shinigami-"

There are several rueful looks at that.

"-despite having lived on a whole other continent for the last century or more, I'd hate to see how they would have reacted to a couple of you turning up on their doorstep uninvited. Aside from that, the Quincy my Original has been hiding away are all the ones we were able to find who could be evacuated safely. The rest were either too well hidden to track down in the time we had, or too likely to alert the Wandenreich that their secrecy was blown."

"...ah." The blond lieutenant looks chastened and embarrassed.

Captain Ichimaru, meanwhile, has turned his attention to Ambrose and Arturia. "So if the big guy and his little buddy ain't really real, what about you two?"

"Truthfully," the King responds, "I am also not 'really real.'"

"Wait, what?" Kyoraku blurts out.

"You don't look like another Shadow," Ichimaru comments.

"That is because I am what's known as a Simulacrum. The person I am patterned off of is long dead, but I possess her knowledge and abilities, much as the Shadow has those of the Sorcerer."

That prompts a general round of surprise.

"How exactly is such a feat achieved?" Captain Aizen asks, frowning with what appears to be concern.

"The ritual to create a Simulacrum invokes the principle of similarity," Ambrose answers. "By combining a physical duplicate of the intended target with the right sort of anchor - anything from a portion of the body to an important personal possession will do - and a variant of Summoning Magic, you essentially invite a partial, temporary copy of the original soul into the body."

"A temporary copy," Aizen repeats intently. "But not the original soul, or a truly new one?"

"No. Despite having a tangible physical component, the spell's actually classified as part of the School of Illusion; like every illusion, it eventually fades."

And saying something like THAT to the face of a guy you've been warned is a master of illusions himself... man, you can say a lot of things about Ambrose, but you can't doubt his guts.

"So, if you're a Simulacrum," Captain Kyoraku is saying to Arturia, "then does that mean that all your knights are also...?"

"Yes," the King confirms.

"How many of these 'knights' are there?" Yamamoto inquires.

"Thirteen in all, counting her," the Eighth Captain replies, looking honestly chagrined. Then he turns to Ambrose. "So, are YOU a real wizard, or just another creation of one?"

"Now that would be telling," Ambrose chides.

"What you're sayin', then," Ichimaru says, hand resting idly on the hilt of his weapon, "is that you're basically a bunch of Mod Souls, and one old guy who may or may not be another. Is that about right?"

You don't know what a Mod Soul is, but from the Third Captain's prior remarks and current challenging tone, you can guess what he's leading up to. If your party is mostly - or even entirely - made up of "fake people," why should the Shinigami be bothered to treat you as if you were real? By not turning up for this meeting and the following venture, the Original Alex has on some level snubbed the reapers, saying that he doesn't consider them worth his time to deal with in person, or that he flat-out doesn't trust them - and your use of titles rather than names, not to mention the Spell of Mind Blank you have going and whatever Ambrose did to ward the knights, suggests the latter.


This meeting, and especially the point Captain Ichimaru appears to be leading up to, is a matter of politics, which is a field you've really only dipped your toes in and observed from the edges. It's also not really an area that you can gain much of an advantage in from leaning on Ganondorf's memories, as his grasp of politics was a bit... direct... for this sort of environment.

Being the prophesied absolute monarch and buttkicker-in-chief of a desert-dwelling warrior culture doesn't really prepare one to deal with the viper's den of a centuries-old royal court in a land blessed with abundance - and while what you've seen of Soul Society thus far doesn't match up to Hyrule's divine bounty, it's far closer to that than the ragged edge of survival faced by the Gerudo. Socially, it's definitely got more in common with the Hylians of Ganondorf's day than the Gerudo, which is a whole OTHER reason not to rely on the Thief-King's political methods here and now.

And the less said about the sort of "politics" employed by a Demon King of Evil, the better.

As such, while you're tempted to try and head the Third Captain off before he can build up to whatever cutting remark he's going to make, you decide instead to let the two practiced political operators on your side handle things. King Arthur's grasp of politics might be a thousand years and more out of date, but she DID actually rule a country for a generation or so, managing its warriors and nobles without any enormous issues until towards the end of that period. Ambrose, meanwhile, has at least a couple of lifetimes' worth of dealing with powerful individuals and organizations, and while he can be amazingly annoying, he has yet to try burning anyone or their country to ashes.

...okay, there was that time he got sucked into a hell-dimension and chose to force his way out rather than trying for a more diplomatic approach, but burning down evil demons that are trying to rip your face off totally doesn't count.

Anyway, Arturia has clearly guessed at the same thing you have, because she says, "I would think that the value of the aid we offer would outweigh any misgivings about our nature, particularly now that the Shadow and the Wizard have clarified that the manner of our creation does not interfere with your own responsibilities."

"Ya might think that," Ichimaru replies easily, "and really, I've got no problem with havin' a few more bodies to put between my guys and the enemy - especially bodies that haven't got real souls to worry about. I'd certainly sleep easier after losin' a few dolls than I would losin' Kira over there, even if he does ask dumb questions now and then."

The blond slumps.

Abarai reaches out and pats him on the back.

"It just seems to me that your lot ain't really riskin' anything in this fight," the Third Captain goes on. "More'n that, between the fake bodies and the fake names, the original magic-users have kinda gone out of their way to AVOID risk. Which, don't get me wrong; not fightin' when you don't have to, gettin' other people to fight in your place? That's just bein' smart."

Zaraki huffs at that.

"But speakin' as one of the people that'll be doin' the actual fightin', I can't help but feel a bit like I'm bein' used, ya know? That, and I gotta wonder what the Shadow of a guy who spent so much effort on avoiding danger is gonna do, when he finds himself in the middle of an all-out war."

"Fair concerns, I suppose," Ambrose replies dryly, "although if you dislike the idea of putting your life in danger for other people's benefit THAT much, I have to wonder why you joined a military organization in the first place. As to the other issue, though, the Shadow actually asked the question himself earlier."

The Wizard then briefly recounts your earlier discussion with the knights about what a battlefield is like, and the follow-up about the defenses you have in place to prevent or ameliorate some of the more common hazards.

"Interestin'," Captain Ichimaru says at the end, giving you a considering look - his permanent squint would normally make it a bit hard to be sure, but your sensory enhancements clear up any confusion there. "Got any other tricks we should know about?"


You consider the rather extensive list of your capabilities, weigh the merits of preserving information security against those of bringing your nominal allies up to speed (and perhaps easing some tensions), and decide to go with a partial list.

"I'm best at magic," you reply, "to no-one's surprise, I'm sure. My greatest skills are in the fields of Divination and Summoning, though I'm not far behind those in Abjuration and Elementalism."

"And that means, what, exactly?" Zaraki asks.

"The School of Divination Magic covers all spells meant to acquire information," you inform him, and anyone else who isn't already aware. "Everything from revealing magic auras at short range or translating an unfamiliar language to looking into the future or finding things on other planes of existence."

"Things like a fortress full of Quincy," Kyoraku notes.

"Exactly."

You describe the other three schools in similar detail, giving examples of what you can do in each field that don't reveal too much of your overall capabilities - like the Gate Spell you'll be casting before too much longer. While your primary contributions in the area of Divination Magic have already been mentioned, and those of Elementalism will mainly be different ways to blow stuff up, the other two schools include a few spells that have the potential to make a significant impact on the operation, and which you might want to specifically mention.

"As far as non-magical combat goes," you continue, "I'm not terrible with a sword, at least by mortal standards, I'm proficient at unarmed combat, with the same caveat, and I can channel my ki. I also have prior experience in live combat against a range of supernaturally empowered opponents, though as the Wizard said, this WILL be my first time taking part in a full-scale military operation."

Captain Ichimaru turns to Ambrose and Arturia. "An' you two?"

"My own capabilities have a fair amount of overlap with the Shadow's," Ambrose replies. "I'm somewhat better set up for preparing additional measures ahead of time, however, and based on his information, I put together a few presents for the Quincy. If I may?" He gestures to one of the pouches at his hip, while glancing at Yamamoto.

At the Captain-Commander's nod, Ambrose pulls out a small stone cube, about the size of a six-sided die. Given its proximity to the Wizard and his non-detection spells, you can't get a read on its aura.

"This item is based on the Spell to Create A Wall of Stone," Ambrose explains. "Set it down on a stone surface, speak the command word, and it will expand to fill the surrounding area with solid rock, up to a maximum volume of eighteen thousand cubic inches - or about five hundred square feet at five inches of thickness. It can be adjusted for smaller areas and thicker barriers, but I've pre-set this one and the others like it with the intention of sealing the corridors and stairways adjacent to our planned attack route."

"That would be useful," Kyoraku muses. "One problem, though; Quincy can deconstruct inanimate objects composed of reishi."

"Annoying little trick of theirs," Ambrose agrees. "I've got a couple of reinforcements I can add once a Wall's up that should help slow that down, at least force them to waste a few minutes trying to go through."

The Eighth Captain nods. "Still tactically valuable, then."

"That was the idea. On that topic, I also brought a few wands I had handy."

That gets your interest. "Which spells?"

"One for Summoning Monsters, Fourth Circle. One for the Spell of Slowing. One for the Spell of Invisibility - the lesser version, unfortunately - and one for casting my own modification of Explosive Runes."

"What sort of 'modification' are we talking about, here?" you inquire cautiously.

"I always found it annoyingly inconvenient that the standard spell only works on books, scrolls, and the like," Ambrose replies. "My version sacrifices some power, unfortunately, but in exchange, you can cast the Runes on just about any flat surface."

Suddenly, you're picturing some poor soul reading the words "Ambrose was here!" on a wall, and then BOOM.

From the way the King shakes her head, she's envisioning a similar scene. She follows that by giving a quick summary of the battlefield roles of her knights - mostly melee specialists, unsurprisingly, with a few mid-range options and the one archer - mentioning that the interior corridors and major halls of Silbern are large enough for what she describes as a 'close quarters cavalry charge', and adding that Ambrose can summon the knights' horses for that.

Several of the lieutenants and captains appear unconvinced of the utility of that, but the white-haired First Lieutenant Sasakibe grins and says he would VERY much like to see such a tactic in action.


While you're discussing Summoning Magic, you make a point to mention the Spell to Summon Monsters. Although it is distinctly limited in terms of duration, the number of creatures it can call up, and their individual power, instant expendable reinforcements are still nothing to sneeze at. It helps that you have the skill to modify the parameters of the spell and increase its duration - at least for most versions of it; the ninth-circle form is the exception, due to the added effort you have to push into it to ensure it works at full strength

As Urahara noted earlier, summoning other creatures for assistance in battle isn't a common tactic for Shinigami, and the captains express some curiosity as to the sort of creatures you could pad the ranks of the attack force with.

You privately rule out demons and devils at once. While you are certainly ABLE to summon fiends, you've had no reason to take that risk as of yet, and if and when you ever did, you wouldn't trust the creatures out of your sight - or even while they were still IN it - to say nothing of the objections the Shinigami are likely to have to such "help."

Adding celestials to the raid is a possibility, though again, the Shinigami might not be pleased at having direct agents of other Powers "interfering" in their affairs. Actually, on that note...

"I'm assuming you'd rather not have more agents of other Powers involved in this affair if it could be avoided?" you venture.

"That would be preferred," the Captain-Commander replies.

You nod, and mentally cross out the servants of the Goddesses as well. "In that case, we're probably looking at greater elementals and magical beasts - the latter, mostly celestial or spirit animals. Packs of dire bears, dire tigers, and elephants-"

"Tyrannosaurs," Ambrose interrupts, to some VERY startled looks.

You pause, and then nod. "Tyrannosaurs."

"You can DO that?" Kyoraku blurts out.

"Not EASILY," you admit, "but, yes. Dinosaurs were around for such a long time, had such a violent end, and left so many fossils, they've still got something of a presence that can be latched on to. It helps that they're so prominent in the modern collective consciousness, though."

"It also helps if you have one of those fossil to focus your magic," the Wizard adds, patting a different pouch. "Fresher samples would be better, of course, but those are a pain to acquire."

You pause and give the old man a suspicious glance for the way he phrased that. "Fresh samples" would require LIVE dinosaurs, or ones only recently dead, and for it to be merely "a pain" as opposed to flat-out IMPOSSIBLE...

Is he SERIOUSLY saying there are still LIVE DINOSAURS out there!?

"Are... are we actually talking about going into battle with DINOSAURS?" the yakuza-looking lieutenant asks faintly.

"Looks like," Zaraki replies, grinning. "Man, Yachiru is gonna hit the roof..."

"Perhaps it would help to think of them as dragons that don't breathe fire?" Aizen offers.

An actual dragon would probably take offense at that comparison, you muse but don't mention.

Continuing on with your assessment of your abilities, you eventually reach the School of Abjuration, and decide that two of its associated spells are worthy of particular notice, the first of which is Spell Immunity.

You can't cast Greater Spell Immunity on the entire Shinigami force: there just isn't time to do so the long way; you'd run out of mana long before finishing using the normal method, even if you drained all your mana restoratives; and the spell is too powerful for you to convert to a multi-targeting format with any reliability, unless you strip its duration down to nil - which is just a waste of energy outside of a timeless environment.

On the other hand, the lesser form of the spell is the equivalent of fifth-circle magic for you. That gives you enough breathing room to make it multi-targeting - not enough for a true Mass spell, unfortunately, but a Communal version with the duration increased to hours would be doable, and would give the rank-and-file Shinigami some added protection against those soul-destroying Quincy arrows that Captain Ichimaru alluded to. The Sternritter could likely overpower this protection, of course, but against regular Soldats, it might make a difference.

The captains are understandably interested when you mention this spell, particularly when you admit to having tested it against the Heilig Pfeil of a friendly Quincy.

"Though on that note," you add, "there's a possibility that the Wandenreich have upgraded their techniques and weapons technology over the last couple of centuries."

You go on to describe the firearms and heavier weapons Original Alex saw in that dream, using Urahara's suggestion about phrasing it as a consequence of Divination Magic rather than the noise of the human unconscious mind.

Even with that warning, most of the officers are in favor of the added defense for their men. When it comes to the question of accepting it for themselves, on the other hand, opinion is more mixed. Zaraki and Yamamoto seem to feel it's unnecessary, while Kyoraku is leaning that way, but still kind of curious. Both Aizen and Komamura appear supportive; the former you suspect of wanting the chance to examine your magic first-hand, whereas the latter clearly puts more stock in defense than most of his peers. Sui-Feng seems torn between appreciating a form of protection that doesn't impede the user in any way, and simple annoyance that you are the source of said protection. Ichimaru claims to be withholding judgement until he sees the spell in action.

As for the lieutenants, the First, Third, and Seventh come down on the same sides as their respective captains, whether out of loyalty or similar reasoning. Abarai seems at once open to using the spell, and reluctant to admit it in front of Captain Zaraki, while Hisagi displays no such hesitation.


You could argue the point. The captains and lieutenants are the most powerful combatants the Gotei 13 can muster, and it makes sense to protect them, because the stronger their personal defenses are, the longer they'll be able to keep contributing to the invasion, and the greater the likelihood of its success - to say nothing of their surviving to return to the Soul Society and keep its defenses strong in the aftermath. If you were calling the shots, and had been given more time and resources, you'd have enough Scrolls of Greater Spell Immunity to cover every officer, and they'd be used.

But it's not your call to make. If some of the Shinigami leadership feel they don't require your assistance to protect themselves, or even if they simply don't trust you enough to make use of a spell that they haven't seen being tested and proven to do what you claim it does, then that's their choice.

Heck, for all you know, they could be RIGHT about not needing Spell Immunity, in which case more power to them.

Besides, considering how much of your mana you're going to use up warding the lower-ranking Shinigami, you're just as happy to save a little energy by skipping some of their command rank. Which is, by the by, another reason why you don't try to convince any of them to accept Greater Spell Immunity.

But there is one other spell you know that could have a significant impact on the upcoming operation, provided that one Shinigami in particular was willing to allow you to cast it on him. But how to broach the subject without offending the Captain-Commander...?

Your gaze slides to your right, and the old man standing there.

That might work.

"While we're on the subject of shoring up potential vulnerabilities," you say, turning to your companion, "are you using the Spell of Age Resistance right now, Wizard?"

Ambrose smirks. "Worried I might keel over from the upcoming excitement, lad?"

"Petrified," you reply dryly. Although it occurs to you that if he DID have a heart attack, you might actually be able to treat it. Ordinary healing spells wouldn't work, of course, but Regenerate's ability to repair damaged organs seems like it ought to be applicable...

"Well, you can relax," the Wizard assures you. "I am, in fact, taking that particular precaution."

"So, what, this spell makes you immortal or something?" Lieutenant Abarai asks with some suspicion.

From the shifts in expression and posture among his peers and superiors, he's not the only one wondering about that.

"God forbid," Arturia mutters.

Ambrose spares her a sidelong glance before turning to the red-headed Shinigami. "If it did that, we'd call it the Spell of Immortality, and you lot wouldn't be the only death gods taking issue with mortals for using it. No, the Spell of Age Resistance doesn't reverse, halt, or even slow the aging process, nor does it prevent the target from dying of natural causes. What it does is reinforce the body to offset the physical decline of advancing age, so that the user can keep performing at their best."

"So rather than increase the absolute lifespan, the spell lightens the burdens that normally contribute to a premature death," Captain Aizen concludes.

"Exactly."

The Shinigami relax.

You make a mental note to highlight this particular memory when you pass it to your Original. It seems relevant to certain of his long-term goals.

"And you know this spell?" Captain Kyoraku asks, looking in your direction.

"I do," you answer readily. "Not that I need it for myself, as yet, but I will one day - and in the meantime, I can modify it to work on other people, so it's a way to make life a bit more comfortable for some of my family, friends, and allies."


Rather than waffle about, you decide to bite the bullet and make the offer directly.

Turning from Captain Kyoraku, you face the Captain-Commander and ask, "Would you accept my casting that spell on you, sir?"

One of Yamamoto's long eyebrows quirks up. "Bold of you, to suggest that I would require such a thing."

"You probably won't," you admit, "but I share my Original's preference to prepare against worst-case scenarios. In this case, that would be Yhwach waking up, ready to fight and stronger than he was a thousand years ago."

"Do you think that's likely?" Kyoraku inquires.

"I think it's a possibility that needs to be kept in mind," you reply, somewhat evasively. "Kaiser Gesang stated that Yhwach's body would lie for nine centuries, that his intellect would waken after another nine decades, and that it would be nine years after THAT before he opened his eyes. While that could be taken to mean that he would sleep the entire time, it's just as possible that he'll regain consciousness today, and simply have to keep his eyes physically closed."

"That would track with his purported clairvoyance and precognition," Ambrose says. "Both traits generally include visual components, they're frequently associated with the 'third eye', and if Yhwach's versions were channeled through his ACTUAL eyes-"

"They were," Yamamoto rumbles, frowning.

"-well, that sort of wordplay is unfortunately common in prophecies," the Wizard concludes.

"How dangerous would he be, then?" Captain Kyoraku is directing his question at his superior.

"The Almighty was one of the Quincy King's greatest assets," the Captain-Commander recounts, "and by far the most annoying to deal with. It was not merely SEEING the future; he claimed to be able to see all the possible outcomes of a particular situation, and then CHOOSE which one he preferred to come to pass."

What.

What.

"Pardon my French," Ambrose says, "but bullshit."

What he said!

Yamamoto huffs with something that might be amusement. "There was some evidence to support the claim. The forces of the Lichtreich reacted too quickly to our movements during that war. More than once, I gave an order on the battlefield, only to find the Quincy had somehow anticipated it and placed forces of their own to counter. Stealth forces were ambushed, Quincy units bypassed traps they should have been ignorant of, and officers who were over-reliant on their shikai were targeted by opponents who knew exactly how to defeat them." He shakes his head. "The casualties and constant reversals were ruinous to morale, and drove more than one officer to paranoid claims that there were spies or traitors in our midst, or that the Quincy could simply see our plans as we made them from miles away."

"And one Quincy actually could," Arturia muses. "Annoying, indeed. How did you overcome it?"

"With difficulty," comes the wry reply. "We noticed that Quincy forces not under their King's direct command lacked the apparent omniscience of their allies. They could still surprise us, but when brought to battle, their tactics lost that all-knowing adaptability. Individually, our warriors had the edge in endurance and resilience; the Quincy tired sooner, were more susceptible to injury and took longer to recover from it, and they were dependent on ambient reishi for their weaponry - long or large-scale engagements could deplete their supply of ammunition past the point of usefulness. It wasn't reliable," he adds, "but certain Shinigami unlocked their shikai mid-battle, catching the enemy unprepared to deal with them - and the Quincy had no answer to a bankai, save the raw power of their King and his inner circle, who could not be everywhere."

He pauses, as if waiting.

"The Senkaimon," the Simulacrum of the King of Knights answers the unspoken inquiry. "Deploy simultaneous strikes against multiple targets, ideally valuable enough and far enough apart that the enemy must divide his forces to meet them-"

"Define 'valuable'," the old man interrupts.

"Settlements," Arturia replies bluntly.

Some of the Shinigami visibly startle at that, clearly not having expected the answer.

"In farming communities, target crops, livestock, food storage, and farmers," Arturia counts off. "In more trade-oriented towns, hit the warehouses, stores, and wealthier homes. In coastal settlements, destroy the docks and any ships in port. Hunger is the enemy; make your opponent fight it, after you take away his best weapons for doing so."

A voice in the back of your head rumbles in approval.

Half the Shinigami are now giving the knight in their midst looks of disbelief and protest.

Sui-Feng and Ichimaru look approving, while Kyoraku sighs, but doesn't disagree.

Yamamoto just nods.

"Send two captains with each force," Arturia continues. "One might be overwhelmed by the enemy response, three could seem overly dangerous and would represent too large a loss of strength if they fell. Try to bait the Quincy King out, and have a reserve unit standing by to deploy as soon as his location is confirmed, or his elites' - and if neither show themselves, destroy the target and its defenders, and move on." She pauses, considering. "Attacking smaller fortifications might also be on the table, depending on how much directed firepower a captain's bankai could deliver."

"What?!" several people exclaim.

Again, the Captain-Commander nods. "Not bad, girl. That was essentially what we did. Yhwach foresaw it, of course, and had stockpiled as much food in his strongholds as he could buy, beg, or steal from his neighbors and trade partners in advance of the war, but once the fighting began in earnest, his external supply lines were gradually cut off - and then we burned his internal lines down around him. He and his Sternritter accounted for seven captains in the process-"

This time, you catch outright ALARM on certain faces.

"-but their own numbers were whittled down in exchange, forcing Yhwach to take the field more and more often himself. That wore him down enough that when I confronted him for the last time, he lacked the strength to make himself a way to escape as he had before. Or so I presumed at the time," the Captain-Commander concludes, fingers drumming on the handle of his walking stick. "Now, I find myself wondering if THIS was not the future he saw and chose to walk all those centuries ago..."

That's a disturbing existential question, but it doesn't answer the one you put to him earlier.


You decide not to push for an answer while Yamamoto is working through his existential concerns, and after a short pause, the old Shinigami shakes his head, apparently dismissing that train of thought.

"Even if that WERE the case, we would still fight," he declares firmly. "Yhwach's existence is a direct threat to the Soul King, and by extension, to all of Soul Society and the balance of worlds - and I know, from personal experience, that his powers have limits. The Almighty may show him the path to his desired future, but he must still walk that path under his own power, in his own time. Deny him that time, destroy his resources, exhaust his power, and we will have him." He pauses, stroking his beard. "As to your offer, Shadow... I will consider it."

You nod, sensing this is about the best you can expect. "I will await your decision, then. I would pass on a word of caution from my own master in the martial arts, though."

This actually seems to interest and even amuse the old man. "Oh?"

"The first time I cast the Spell of Age Resistance on him, he noted that it took some time to get used to the difference in how he could move - and that was in a relatively peaceful environment."

Yamamoto nods slowly, catching the broad hint that it would be a good idea for him to get used to the effects of the magic before diving into a battlefield. "How long does the spell last?"

"Twenty-four hours is the default," you reply. "Though that can be adjusted."

"You will have my answer before we depart."

And that is that, at least for the moment.

With a better idea of what sort of capabilities their temporary mortal (and simulated) allies bring to the table, the captains review and update the plan of attack. An image based on the partial map of Silbern you put together and sent to the Soul Society weeks earlier is projected from somewhere

It begins with you and Ambrose hijacking the Gate of the Sun. Captains Sui-Feng and Ichimaru will lead a fast attack squad through the portal first to secure the chamber on the other end. You and Ambrose are asked about the Gate Spell, and from your replies about how large you can make the space-time passages and how long they can be kept open, it's worked out that a single casting from each of you, with the Gates at full size, should be enough to move the entire force.

It helps that Shinigami can apparently move very quickly when they need to.

As the ones holding the door, so to speak, you and Ambrose will be part of the rearguard, and the knights and their horses with you. While the main force is crossing over, Ichimaru and his men will hold the door to the main fortress, while Sui-Feng leads a probe of the nearest hallways. Once it's made clear that Ambrose's Instant Walls can be used by those without magical training, the lady captain agrees to hand some of them out to her team, so that they can close off the corridors and stairwells nearest to the portal chamber that aren't on your planned attack route. Those Walls won't have the benefit of the additional protections Ambrose can provide them, at least not until he catches up to start working on them, but the value of walling those routes off in the early minutes of the invasion, while the Quincy are still too shocked to muster a proper response, is judged worth what damage they might do to the Walls in the meantime.

Ambrose doesn't have enough Walls to seal all the ROOMS in the area, and there's some debate as to whether it would be better to ignore them and their occupants for the sake of maximizing speed, or if you should take the time to secure the rooms - or even just some of them - so as not to get hit from behind. You get the impression the captains have argued this point before, but given the limits on their available manpower and the need to get the job done before the Wandenreich musters their full strength and just buries the attackers in bodies, it was decided - grudgingly in some cases - to focus on speed.

Once the full invasion force is through, a small detachment under Captain Komamura and Lieutenant Iba will be left to hold the Gate Room, while the remainder of the Shinigami move deeper into Silbern. One group, headed by the Captain-Commander and Captain Zaraki and their respective lieutenants, will take the main route to the Royal Quarter, while Captains Ichimaru and Kyoraku - accompanied by the Third and Sixth Lieutenants - try to penetrate through the servants' quarters. Sui-Feng's squad will mainly be providing reconnaissance, though they will assist in combat as able and required; the Second Captain in particular will try to take out any individual Sternritter she manages to surprise, or if she encounters another captain already fighting them. Captain Aizen will be providing operational oversight, using a particular communication kido to keep all parts of the invasion force in contact; like Sui-Feng, he will also move to assist his fellow captains against enemy strong-points.

Ambrose has more or less volunteered himself to focus on sealing and shoring up passageways. A couple of the knights will stay with him as protection, while Arturia leads the rest - given the difficulty in getting even the best-trained horses up and down stairs, it's agreed that the knights will remain on the upper level and support the Captain-Commander's push.

The ultimate goal, of course, is for SOMEBODY to get to Yhwach's chambers and kill him before he regains consciousness. It's quite clear that the Captain-Commander would very much like to "correct his mistake" in person, but he's far too pragmatic to do something as foolish as ordering his subordinates to leave the Quincy King to him at this stage of things. Yes, if Yhwach wakes up, Yamamoto may well be the only one who can take him in a fight, but UNTIL then, it's basically open season.


Intellectually, you're aware that Original Alex had some concerns about the safety of Silbern's servant class during this invasion, but due to the method of your creation and your fundamental makeup, you're not as troubled about the welfare of complete strangers as your Original would be in your place. You're not interested in harming them, of course - that would be a waste of your time and energy, as well as an open invitation to the Curse to increase its influence upon you, which would just be stupidly self-defeating - but you're not inclined to go out of your way to help them, either.

Besides, the plan is to get in, get to Yhwach, take him out, and then leave. The faster that gets done, the less chance there is for the civilian Quincy to come to harm - and you have one particular option for getting someone to Yhwach VERY quickly indeed, if the circumstances are right.

With that in mind, you volunteer to accompany the main attack force, explaining that after all the scrying you did on the area, if the Shinigami can get the doors to the Royal Quarter open - or for that matter, if they're open when you arrive - you'll be able to teleport yourself and as many as six other people straight to Yhwach's room.

"That," Yamamoto says, "will be useful."

"Only seven people in the heart of enemy territory, though?" Kyoraku adds. "Risky."

"You say 'risky'," Zaraki replies with a savage grin, "I say, 'fun'."

"Timing would be the key," Aizen muses, rubbing his chin. "Get enough of the enemy, especially these Sternritter, running to reinforce the outer door, then drop in behind them..."

"I can summon additional assistance once we're in," you remind the captains.

"More dinosaurs?" Zaraki asks.

"Maybe one or two," you admit. "The hallways are big enough..."

What you have in mind is to summon some Wizzrobes. They're not the toughest creatures, but their ability to teleport and engage from long range would be very useful, especially in Silbern's Royal Quarter. After all, that's one of the locations within the fortress most likely to hold the REALLY valuable stuff - and Wizzrobes ARE fellow magic-users. Of all the creatures on your summoning roster, they're among the most likely to recognize the sort of plunder you'd be interested in, and to be able to hide the fact that they actually swiped it. The latter does depend on whether or not they know the dimensional pocket trick, but you think it's pretty likely that they do, or else have Bags of Holding; that sort of thing was pretty widespread in Hyrule, and the limitations of the Spell to Summon Monsters wouldn't-

!

-wait a minute.

Creatures summoned by that particular spell are unable to teleport, summon other creatures, or travel between the planes. It's a side-effect of being inter-planar projections of creatures rather than the actual creatures themselves, a state where one is both "here" and "there" and yet neither, and hence cannot define one's own position precisely enough to employ certain elements of Summoning Magic. This also ties into summoned monsters' inability to use some of their more potent powers, the ones that usually demand sacrifices of valuable reagents, because if the reagent isn't "real," as it were, then there is no sacrifice.

But Batreaux summoned half a dozen Wizzrobes to help you and your Original test out the Spell of Foresight, and they were blinking around like they always do. Batreaux didn't have enough time to call the Wizzrobes with Planar Binding or the like, so what was going on?

...

...were... were they throwing ILLUSIONS at you that entire time? Phantasms probably wouldn't have worked - your Original was using Mind Blank, and while it doesn't completely no-sell mind-affecting effects the way it does Divinations, the defense it DOES offer against such things is still pretty solid - but if they'd cast Invisibility, modified in such a way as to make it LOOK like the blurring-out of Wizzrobe teleportation, which you EXPECTED to see?

...

You're going to have to talk to Batreaux after this. And possibly yell at some sneaky little spellcasting shits. Or maybe congratulate them. Or both.

While you're wrestling with the belated realization that you got snookered, the Shinigami Captains have adjusted plans slightly. Ambrose will go through the Gate to Silbern ahead of you and cast a Spell of Scrying to check on the state of the entrance to the Royal Quarter. If the way is clear, you will take Yamamoto, Sasakibe, Zaraki, Kusajishi, and the Third and Fourth Seats of Squad Eleven straight to Yhwach's front door; and instead of making a two-pronged attempt to penetrate the Royal Quarter, Kyoraku, Ichimaru, and Sui-Feng will simply combine their forces into one straightforward assault to make sure the door to (and from) the Royal Quarter stays open.

If the way is shut, the plan will proceed as previously outlined. Should either of the strike teams manage to breach the warded doors leading into the Royal Quarter, you'll be informed to scry ahead to check on the guards at the King's Chamber - which is likely to have been reinforced by then - then teleport there with the Captain-Commander and the strongest fighters that can be spared. Zaraki is pretty sure he'll have found "someone worth killing" by then, and the same might be true of his two underlings and the First Division Lieutenant, so it's a little up in the air as to who will be accompanying you.

Arturia notes that she and her knights are best left to assist the force holding the door, mainly on account of their horses being large enough to cause issues for your teleportation.

With all of that decided, there's just the matter of the exfiltration. The "opening" of the doors to the Royal Quarter is likely to be fairly permanent in nature, so as long as you're still in one piece and your group isn't overwhelmed by Yhwach or his Sternritter, you can just teleport them back to the Gate Room. Everyone else, though, is going to have to fall back the old-fashioned way, and while Shinigami are fast, the halls of Silbern are long, wide, and very open, making them natural shooting ranges - almost certainly a deliberate choice on the part of the architects and defenders. Ambrose's Instant Walls will be depleted by then, but depending on how quickly the assault proceeds, there might be enough of them left for the Shinigami to raise defensive barricades within the halls themselves.

"Maybe not seal them off entirely," the Wizard admits. "At least not for very long - those are some damn big hallways, the Walls would come out relatively thin - but even a few seconds where your men don't have to worry about getting shot in the back would be helpful."

You and the Wizard are the "way out," so of course you'll be expected to return to the Gate Room first, so you can begin the evacuation. Wounded will go through first, then you and Ambrose, followed by the seated officers and lieutenants, while the captains bring up the rear.

There is some debate about what to do with the knights.

Arturia reminds everyone that she and her knights are ultimately expendable, due to their artificial nature, so leaving them to hold the line while everyone else clears out is entirely practical.

Ambrose grumbles about "damn fool chivalry," "spending other people's money," and "not considering I might want my work back," but admits that if it comes down to it, he can always replace the Simulacra. Possibly for less time and expense than it would take to repair them.

The Shinigami are a bit divided on the matter. Ichimaru and Sui-Feng have no issue with using up expendable manpower, but Kyoraku says it would leave a bit of a bad taste in his mouth, some of the lieutenants seem to agree with that, and Zaraki just says he isn't leaving until the fight's over.


For a moment, you have a vision of a Tyrannosaurus leading a charge, backed by a line of mighty Earth Elementals that periodically pause to poke their heads through the walls of the Quincy stronghold, looking for interesting things to steal - and when they find it, directing a vast swarm of unaccountably clever (and larcenous) rocks in the shape of rats to glide through the walls and loot the room in question down to the tiles.

Then reality intrudes, as it so often does.

The plan of attack calls for speed, which is not a trait Earth Elementals are known for. If you have them trying to loot the place, they'll be slowed down even more - especially if they look into a chamber that's occupied - not to mention not really contributing to the mission's chances of success, which simply won't go over well with your current allies. And THEN there's the matter of how the best stuff in Silbern is likely to be in the Royal Quarter. If you summon a thirty-foot tall mass of sapient rock outside of that area, you'd have to leave everyone ELSE behind to teleport it in with you, and if you left IT behind, it would need forever to catch up with you under its own power.

The rats would also have problems keeping up, due to how small they are. By that same token, you suppose you might try carrying some of them, but running through a battlefield with a dozen or more nervous rodents clinging to you seems like it would be incredibly awkward - and even if you teleported with them to minimize that, they'd still count against your maximum passenger limit.

Plus, you'd be covered in rats. Honestly, your skin kind of crawls just thinking about it.

But before all of that, even, lies the simple fact that you don't yet know if Earth Elementals can even move through Silbern's walls. It would be a horrendous waste of magic to go to all the trouble of summoning and augmenting these creatures, only to find out that all the white stone you've seen through your scrying spells is just a facade or something, and that the interior of the wall consists of metal, synthetics, or even just wood.

That said, this does give you another idea.

"It occurs to me that it might be a good idea to let the rank and file see what the creatures I'm likely to summon actually look like before we launch the attack," you venture. "Just to avoid any friendly-fire incidents. With that in mind, would there be any objections if I took a few minutes to call up some examples?"

"As long as you summon the Tyrannosaurus, I'm fine with it," Zaraki says.

"What would you be summoning?" Aizen asks, adjusting his glasses.

"Well, aside from the T-Rex-"

Zaraki grins.

Most of the rest of the room sighs or shakes their heads.

"-I thought that having a couple of Earth Elementals join the first or second wave through the Gate would be handy. From what I saw, Silbern's Gate Room had a heavily reinforced door - complete with portcullis - probably specifically to prevent the sort of thing we're about to attempt. Earth Elementals are pretty good at tearing down obstructions like that, particularly the bigger ones."

"That they are," Ambrose agrees.

"How big is big?" Kyoraku wonders.

"Depends on how powerful the specimens the Shadow summons are." The Wizard turns to you. "Greater or Elder?"

"Probably Greater," you admit. "I could keep them around longer, and apply some enhancement spells to make up the loss in raw power."

"Right." Ambrose turns back to Captain Kyoraku. "So about thirty-six feet tall and weighing twenty-seven short tons, on average."

"...lower mid-tier Menos size, then." The Eighth Captain nods. "Yeah, we probably should let the troops see something that big in a friendly setting first."

As far as the use of the knights as an expendable rearguard goes, you don't have much of an opinion one way or another. You do mention, though, that it's a role your summons would excel at, since they're not truly present and so wouldn't be endangered.

With the overall plan decided upon, the Captain-Commander announces half an hour until departure, and orders his officers to make all final preparations and assemble their troops - save for Lieutenant Abarai, who's tasked to help you and Ambrose find a suitable location to set up for your particular contributions.

Seeing as how the Shinigami will be assembling in the cleared area directly in front of the command center, you and the Wizard agree that it makes the most sense to have the Gates open not too far away. You hand the Key of the Sun over to Ambrose so that he can get a better idea of how the local energies might affect the portal, and he sets off with a couple of lower-ranked Shinigami that Abarai called over to "keep an eye on the old man."

As Ambrose walks off, dangling the Quincy-made medallion before him almost like a dowsing instrument and muttering things to himself that leave his escorts blinking in confusion, you get on with your bit.

Deciding that you should start with the creature(s) you can reliably communicate with, you Ask Briar to handle communications and then cast the Spell to Summon A Monster of the Seventh Circle, upping the duration so that it will definitely last for the entirety of the assault, provided that the creature doesn't get killed prematurely.

The earth before you trembles-

"Is that an earthquake?!" somebody yells in confusion.

-as a giant, massively built humanoid shape rises from the soil.

Abarai looks up - and up - at the newcomer, and takes hold of the hilt of his zanpakuto, but does not draw it.

"Big bastard," he mutters. Then, more clearly, he asks, "Is that thing even going to fit through your portal?"

"He'll have to duck," you admit, "but an elemental of this sort isn't quite as set in its overall shape as some other entities."

That said, Abarai does have a point about the size. One Greater Earth Elemental will essentially block a Gate for the duration of its passage, and while it won't take more than a few seconds for the creature to get through, that's still a few seconds in which the flow of Shinigami will be cut off. The T-Rex won't be much better in that regard, so maybe you should stick to summoning just one elemental, for now?


You'd rather not remove any of your active buffs, and while that means you might end up having to rely on your rudimentary grasp of Terran once the fighting starts, it would be for the best if the elemental had a better idea of what the plan was going into things. At the very least, that would make whatever you have to say to it later on easier to parse.

Fortunately, you have a translator handy.

Turning to Abarai, you state, "My partner and I are going to fill the big guy in on the plan, but elementals of this sort don't normally speak human languages, and their own 'speech' makes significant use of body language."

Abarai eyes the elemental's towering form, particularly the powerful arms that reach from the level of its approximately thirty-foot-high shoulders almost to the ground.

"So you're saying I should be ready to duck," he concludes.

"Pretty much," you admit.

"Alright." And with that, the redhead takes a cautious step back. "Try not to let it knock anything over, though, alright?"

A fair request; you are close enough to a couple of the temporary buildings that the elemental might do some damage if it got too expressive.

"I will do my best." Turning to the elemental, you clear your throat, shift your shoulders a bit, and then call out in the Terran tongue. / Great Hilly One! This soft one and tiny wind-walker would speak! /

The roughly shaped head looks down, amber eyes flashing in the light of Soul Society's mid-day sun. / Then speak, small ones. Why have I been summoned? To do battle with these soft spirit ones? / It peers at Abarai at that point.

"Sounds like a freaking avalanche," Abarai mutters. "And why is it looking at me like that?"

/ Not to fight them, Tall One, but with them! The tiny one can speak it better. / You glance at your partner, an unspoken question passing between you.

/ On it. / Briar launches her shadow-shrouded self from her spot on your shoulder and flies close enough to the elemental for it to have a reasonable view of her as she "speaks" its language. That done, she proceeds to lay out the situation and the plan that has been more or less agreed upon.

"To answer your question, Lieutenant," you reply, "the elemental wanted to know if it was supposed to fight you or not."

Abarai considers that, and takes another glance at the elemental. "Might have been interesting," he replies, "but this isn't really the time."

You nod at that, and let Briar work. At the same time, having confirmed that Abarai, at least, seems unable to understand Terran - hinting that Shinigami either don't have that "comprehend spoken languages" quality that some other types of outsider do, or else that there are limits on what languages it works for - you lean on the familiar bond and open up a telepathic channel to your partner, letting her know to inform the elemental of your personal plans regarding potential looting.

All told, it only take a few minutes for Briar to lay everything out to her, your, and the elemental's satisfaction. The Great One has no objections to helping you invade and loot Silbern-

Briar translates that part as, / Show the spirit-shooting soft ones the strength of Earth! /

/ SMASH THEM! / the elemental declares, fists raised.

You notice a few of the nearby (but not TOO near) Shinigami flinching or reflexively ducking at that.

-or to accepting a few magical enhancements to let it fight better. It can't truly die as a result of being summoned, but it still feels pain when hurt, and frustration when it fails; avoiding such things, or at least reducing their likelihood and severity, is almost always preferable to the alternative.

For the time being, you decide that one massive Earth Elemental is plenty, particularly when the other type of creature you were planning on summoning is basically a very large animal.

On that note, once the elemental has been caught up on your plan, you move a certain distance away and begin gathering your mana again.

Light flares, an enormous form materializes atop the earth instead of rising from it-

!

-and a thunderous bellow rings out as what may well be the first Tyrannosaurus ever to walk the Soul Society announces its arrival.

There is much shouting, more than a few screams-

"Oh, WOW! Kenny, Kenny, look, look, look! It's a DINOSAUR!"

-and one pink-haired little Shinigami so excited, you have to wonder if somebody was feeding her sugar while you were in that meeting.

"So it is," Captain Zaraki says in response to the little girl bouncing in place on his shoulder. He looks up at the prehistoric predator - its scaly hide gleaming burnished gold and its teeth glinting like steel - a considering expression on his face.

The Celestial T-Rex returns the look.

"I could take you."

Briar, fortunately, is already exerting her ability to communicate with animals to appeal to the dino's better nature.

Here's hoping...


Despite the stare-off with Captain Zaraki, Lieutenant Kusajishi's high-pitched squeals of delight and subsequent attempt to "ride the dinosaur!" - thankfully thwarted by the watchful and quick-handed Lieutenant Ise - and a short-lived general panic among the Shinigami, Briar manages to keep the Tyrannosaur calm.

She may have used the Spell to Charm Animals in there, but you're not going to complain. A friendly dinosaur is better than an unfriendly one any day of the week.

You take advantage of the audience your two gigantic summons have drawn to start casting some of the enhancement spells you had in mind.

At the top of that list is Spell Immunity, not only for the sake of protecting your summons from Quincy arrows and a few other techniques that Souken mentioned were commonly used by Soldats, but also to demonstrate to the watching Shinigami that this spell is safe to cast. Your proficiency with Abjuration Magic is high enough that making the spell communal, and thus splitting its duration between two targets, would still give them a bit over an hour's worth of protection.

While you're doing that, you dismiss the Spell of Tears to Wine and cast Greater Spell Immunity upon yourself. You may be an artificial entity and possibly not have a soul - whether that's a soul of your own, a soul as it is generally understood to be, or even at all - but you'd still rather not get shot with soul-destroying arrows and other attacks.

Next up is a modified version of the Greater Spell of Magic Fangs. You sacrifice some of the usual range in order to free up enough energy to split the effect between both targets, and cut down the duration slightly as well so as not to waste power.

The Tyrannosaur's teeth gleam more brightly for a moment, while the Elemental's massive stone fists crackle and surge with power.

/ I LIKE this, / the hill-sized figure rumbles, as it slams its mitts together.

After that, comes the Spell of Greater Heroism, which enhances most of your summons' skills, makes them somewhat harder to put down, and renders fear a non-issue. While you're able to increase the spell's duration to the same degree as the other enhancements you've cast, the limits of your mastery of Enchantment Magic won't allow you to make the already fairly potent and costly magic communal at the same time - not without a ritual, which you don't have time for.

A similar issue arises with the Spell of Divine Power. Casting it would imbue your summoned allies with even greater strength than they already possess, but this spell is normally only meant to affect the caster, and only for a short period of time. While your grasp of Augmentation Magic is sufficient to make the spell affect other creatures OR extend its duration, you can't currently do both - at least not without a ritual, which again, isn't currently an option. As it would otherwise run out before you even got around to opening the Gate to Silbern, you don't bother casting Divine Power at this time.

It's kind of a shame, though. It would have been very appropriate for agents of the Shadow of the Chosen of Din to have their strength boosted before a fight.

One of the benefits of the Spell of Divine Power is how it increases the subject's attack speed; fortunately, you have other means of bestowing that particular blessing on your summons, such as the Spell of Haste, which will also go some way towards making up for the limited speed of the Earth Elemental. Not enough for it to keep pace with you or the Shinigami, but a massive mound of stone moving twice as fast as it normally would is still a significant increase - just ask anyone it hits.

The Spell of Haste is kind of startlingly overbuilt for a third-circle spell, and since you only need it to affect two creatures, you're able to trim out a large section of its standard formula. Most of that "space" and energy is promptly redirected into extending the spell's duration, but even so, you end up with a bit of a discount.

You would have liked to use your Spell of General Augmentation next, so as to give your summons' basic parameters a nice little boost across the board, but since you have to use a ritual to cast that one at all, it's simply not an option under your current time constraints. Running through the list of lesser possibilities and taking the nature of your conjured combatants into consideration, you decide that increasing the toughness of your Earth Elemental and T-Rex, to ensure they stay on the battlefield and in fighting form as long as possible, is probably the best use of your energy.

With that in mind, you cast a modified Spell of Bear's Endurance to improve their vitality, then add a few additional layers of defense: the classic Spell of Mage Armor, rendered Communal and shortened a bit for efficiency's sake; then the Spell of the Shield of Faith, boosted to a similar degree; and finally the Spell of Ironskin, which takes some extensive boosts to affect both creatures at once, but works.

That last spell, incidentally, makes it look more like you summoned an Iron Elemental-

/ Oooh, SHINY. /

-and makes the metallic overtones of the Celestial Tyrannosaur's appearance all the more prominent.

While you're working on all of that, a Shinigami with a head like a polished cue ball comes up next to Captain Zaraki.

"Who's the guy in the weird outfit, Captain, and what's he doing to his... pets?"

"He's a sorcerer who's going to be lending us a hand today," Zaraki replies, voice raised just enough to carry to the entire assembly. "He's also one of the guys who let us know about this fight in the first place, so be grateful."

Baldy, maybe a dozen of the rougher-looking Shinigami in the crowd, and one guy who looks entirely too pretty to be hanging out with such a bunch of obvious ruffians all regard you with sudden interest.

"As for what he's doing right now... I don't know, some kind of magic crap." Zaraki pauses. "Was one of those that spell you mentioned wanting to put on the troops?"

"The first one," you reply.

"Wait, what?" Baldy says, looking from his captain to you and then back again.

"Shadow here mentioned he had a spell that should be able to stop the weaker Quincy from turning our sorry carcasses into pincushions," Abarai replies.

"And what if we don't want his help?" Baldy demands obstinately.

You notice a few members of the crowd showing dislike of the idea in their own way. Most of the thugs look like they're about to start yelling in protest, and there are a number of distasteful sneers.

"The captains voted in favor of it, Ikkaku, including Captain Zaraki, so suck it up and take the help."

Baldy turns to his commanding officer in clear disbelief. "Sir?!"

"You can try taking it up with the old man, if you want, Ikkaku," Zaraki notes. "But I don't think you'll have much luck with that, seeing as how even HE was at least considering letting the sorcerer cast a spell on him, too."

Baldy isn't the only one who does a double-take. "Say WHAT?"

"Something about helping him fight like he was young again. Be a hell of a sight to see, if it works."

Whether it's the implicit approval of the Captain-Commander or just Captain Zaraki's lack of protest to the idea, this statement appears to take the wind out of a number of sails. A few Shinigami still look ready to argue the point, but then the other captains start turning up with the remainder of their force and making it clear that THEY'RE backing the proposal as well. Resistance pretty much dries up at that point.

You get to work casting Communal Spell Immunity, again, and again, and AGAIN, your mana reserve dipping steadily lower as you work your way through the crowd in batches of six. Every so often, you pause to uncork one of your Bottles of Spring Dew-

"Hey, is that booze?" one of the Shinigami asks.

"Magical restorative," you reply.

"...so, it's booze?"

-trying to pace yourself so that each potion has completely worked through your system before you down the next-

*Glug*

"Chug!"

*Glug*

"Chug!"

*Glug*

"Chug!"

-amid a growing chorus of encouragement.

Used Spring Dew x3
Gained Clay Bottle x3

Once that's done, the Shinigami are called to attention, forming ranks behind the lieutenants in front the command center, where the captains have assembled to face them. Arturia and her knights are standing off to one side-

"Are we SURE this isn't some kind of dragon?" one of the knights mutters, glancing up at your Tyrannosaurus.

-with your two summoned creatures standing behind them, looming over the entire gathering.


As the Captain-Commander begins to speak, you move to join Ambrose get started on the ritual to open the Gates, but you've barely taken your first step in the Wizard's direction when it occurs to you that you have enough metaphysical "space" left on your Blessed Blade to accommodate a couple more spells.

Sorting through your rather extensive repertoire - and nursing the third and last of your Spring Dew Potions as you go - you find the Spell of the Heart of the Metal coming to mind almost at once. Your scrying sessions revealed a rather large number of giant, weapon-bearing humanoid statues scattered through the halls of Silbern, and even if you didn't have extensive theoretical knowledge of golems or numerous memories of Ironknuckles, Darknuts, and other such monsters to make you wary of statuary on general principle, Souken DID mention that the things could be animated to defend the fortress.

Although your personal sidearm is merely a shadow of the weapon given to your Original by the Goddesses, you would really rather not risk breaking it on some construct's unflinching stone skin, so it makes sense to give it the ability to slice through stone as easily as it would flesh.

Since you're casting the spell on just one weapon, you can shrink its targeting parameter considerably, enough to pay for offsetting the normal material cost and the necessary boost to duration. A little bit more mana, pulled from the range - because it IS your weapon, you just have to reach down to slide it from the scabbard a little and touch the blade to properly instill the effect - and you're done.

The other spell that comes to mind is one of the less pleasant entries in your mental spellbook, a magic meant to allow a weapon to feed upon the spiritual energy of those it cuts down, and so grow deadlier. In theory, the spell doesn't actually require the deaths of its victims, merely their complete incapacitation; in practice, anyone making full use of this magic would almost certainly leave a trail of dead bodies behind themselves, unless they stopped and took the time to stabilize every opponent they defeated.

Original Alex would likely reject the Spell of the Reapoe's Coterie out of hand, and while you're pragmatic enough to at least consider its use, you are still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of drawing power from the wounding and possible killing of other human beings.

Shades of Ganondorf, and all that... although, being completely honest? You can't actually remember the King of Evil ever using this particular spell. That kind of says something, even after taking your fragmentary recollection into account.

With the last of your enhancements in place, you slide your weapon back into its sheath and finish the short trek to the Wizard's side.

"All set?" Ambrose inquires.

"My partner has the T-Rex in hand" - and isn't that just the most ridiculous image to consider? - "and the Elemental has his instructions. Speaking of which," you add, lowering your voice slightly, "I had her let it know to be on the lookout for possible valuables."

Ambrose grins. "Remember: pillage, THEN burn."

"That's exactly what my Original said," you reply, nodding. "I might call up a couple more with similar instructions, depending on whether or not the first one can move through the walls, but if it IS doable, would you mind keeping an eye on him, maybe lending a hand?"

"I could be convinced, for, say, a thirty percent cut?"

You give him a sharp look.

"You DID do most of the work already," he admits.


After some thought, it occurs to you that a spell which feeds on spiritual energy might not fly with the Shinigami. It has a certain similarity to how the Quincy themselves gain the energy they need to fight with, and more worryingly, to what you've been told of the feeding practices of Hollows. Making yourself appear to be similar to either in front of the reapers seems like a bad idea.

You scratch that spell off your list for today.

"Twenty," you reply. "Like you said, I DID do most of the work already."

"Twenty-five," the Wizard retorts.

"Done," you answer.

"Bah, you- wait, what? Are you sure?"

"I'm feeling unaccountably generous today," you tell him. "But I want first refusal on whatever we find."

"Just to be clear," the Wizard says slowly, "is that limited to whatever this one elemental recovers, or will you be taking the loot acquired by any other elementals you summon into account? Or for that matter, did you want to go all-in with everything our little magical band pulls together, magic-users, knights, critters, and all?"

You turn that over in your head, glancing at King Arturia and her warriors. "Do the knights have instructions to grab anything shiny?"

"Ha!" Ambrose laughs softly. "More like they have instincts to that effect... but yes, I did let them know to keep their eyes open. They won't go out of their way to plunder anything while they're on the front lines, of course, and CERTAIN someones" - he seems to glance in the direction of the young knight in purple, as well as the dark-armored one with the face-concealing helm - "are too perfect to lower themselves to 'petty theft', but the rest are more practical - or just plain acquisitive. Especially the Knight-Captain and Red."

So Altria's previous incarnation liked her plunder?

Ganondorf's rumbling approval intensifies.

Having come to terms, you and the Wizard get on with the Gate ritual. As it happens, Ambrose's wandering about with the Key of the Sun didn't reveal any particular location within the Shinigami encampment that was particularly closely aligned to Silbern, nor any that were actively opposed to opening a portal there.

It could be argued that you're not in one of the better locations within Soul Society for punching a hole through to the Quincy's secret hideout. By the same token, though, you're not somewhere that they'd have an easy time observing - and you know they must be watching their enemies somehow, in a manner that doesn't rely on their once-comatose King and his Magical Eyes of Absolute Nonsense.

Given the lack of any fortuitous locations, Ambrose opted to set up the portals in front of the wooden gate. Not quite within it, though that would be almost idea if you were planning to open just one Gate, using the symbolism of the physical framework to set bounds upon and reinforce the stability of your magic; instead, just close enough that you can open both Gates, and draw upon a lesser amount of the nearby structure's metaphysical support.

Ambrose holds out the Key by its chain, you cup your hand underneath the silvery metal, and the two of you begin to cast.

Where you are building the matrix of the Gate Spell from the ground up, Ambrose proves to be doing almost the exact opposite, his words and the gestures of his staff causing a pre-existing mass of information and energy to manifest about him in its entirety. Even though you know exactly what it is, the old man's spell is initially too dense to make sense of, diagrams and runic script compacted so tightly together that they appear to be jagged bolts of raw power, as if the magic were simply let loose with no skill or control. Yet for all it initially resembles a crackling storm of polychromatic lightning, Ambrose's spell resolves far more slowly, the irregular arcs stretching out lengthwise and then unfolding from within themselves, revealing tiny gaps where the edges of individual characters are no longer blotted out by layers placed over them.

Bit by bit, you assemble individual motes of mana into a larger whole, weaving a web of power out of words and will.

Bit by bit, Ambrose's prepared spell unpacks itself, symbols growing more distinct as its own matrix decompresses and takes its proper shape - though here and there, you notice a few changes to certain portions of the formula. Some areas are only just now being filled in, a few final details on location and destination deliberately left incomplete to avoid triggering the spell early. Another section is removed entirely, falling out of the greater construct and dispersing into a glowing cloud of dust-like particles - safeguards, you suppose, which are no longer required.

On and on you go, and then, abruptly, you realize that you have both finished. Two circles of power hover in the air before you, each one twenty feet across, their nearest edges not quite touching.

"Now that IS an impressive sight," Captain Ichimaru's voice comments from what was probably intended to be Way Too Close For Comfort, but which - thanks to your naturally keen senses and assortment of boosts - comes as no surprise at all.

"Glad you like it," you reply, turning to face him and the rest of the Shinigami. You see Sui-Feng standing close to her peer, and a squad of lower-ranking troops behind each of them, one batch dressed in the standard uniform, the other group looking more like ninjas. Behind them loom your two titanic summons, the Elemental flexing its fingers in anticipation while the Tyrannosaur rumbles with reptillian eagerness, Briar's presence a patch of shadow above its metallically gleaming head. Behind THEM, you can just make out how the rest of the attack force has formed up, Captain-Commander in the center and slightly to the rear of the Shinigami ranks, with a generally older, vaguely more professional, and unsettlingly calm bunch bringing up the rear. These, you suspect, would be First Division troops, Yamamoto's own hand-picked officers. The knights are grouped to the left, their armor looking a little out of place amid all the robes, but their own postures revealing nothing but readiness-

"Are we doing this, or what?" the Red Knight calls out.

Some of the Shinigami, the Eleventh Division lot among them, laugh and cheer in agreement with that statement.

-and some eagerness.

You catch Yamamoto's eye, and do your best to express the question: Age Resistance, yes or no?

He nods, once.

Making a note to take care of that promptly, you turn to Ambrose, give him an affirmative look and receive the same gesture in kind.

As one, Wizard and Sorcerer face the portals of your own making, and raise glowing staff and hand of power in gestures of command.

"GATE, OPEN!"

The magic bound into Souken's stolen Key of the Sun surges to life, reaching out to its matching Door within the Wandenreich's hidden pocket realm. Piggybacking on that inter-planar signal, your Gates open wide, revealing the interior of the portal chamber-

!

-and about twenty Quincy, a mix of obvious guards, more generically attired Soldats, and even some of the servant staff - porters, to judge by the assorted crates, boxes, and other containers they're in the middle of lifting.

Looks like you may have interrupted a supply run.

Regardless, the Quincy are, to a man, shocked by the opening of the Gate, and more importantly by the sight of what stands on the other side.

"Who the-!?"

"What the-!?"

"Shinigami!?"

"Is that a DINOSAUR!?"

And in that moment of surprise, the Shinigami MOVE.


"I do owe you for that Spell of True Seeing," Ambrose admits, "but I think I might need a little more encouragement before I agree to cut you in for quite THAT much of the spoils."

"Didn't you just say that the knights weren't going to be trying to loot anything while they were fighting?"

"Which is precisely why I want to keep as much of what they DO grab as possible!"

"...okay, how about this?" you offer. "I get first refusal and a seventy-five percent cut on whatever me and MY summons plunder, and you get the same for whatever you and YOUR summons plunder."

"Tit for tat, eh?" Ambrose strokes his beard, and then nods. "I could live with that."

"Done, then?"

"Done!"

And that is that.

Human athletes can move fast enough to leave regular people gasping in the dust. Most monsters, demons, and martial artists with access to their ki are quick enough - even if only in bursts - to close distance before a normal person could call for help, while their elders can move so fast that an ordinary soul would never even see it coming. And THEN there's the kind of ridiculous speed you know Lu-sensei to be capable of, and which you've been working towards not only with your ki, but your study of the (somewhat misnamed) Spell to Stop Time - speed such that it renders even a large portion of the supernatural population helpless before it.

In short, you've seen fast. You KNOW fast.

So when you say that the charge of the Shinigami from Second and Third Division is fast enough to make YOU blink... well.

It's not that their speed is unprecedented in your personal experience, but you've never seen nearly twenty master-level martial artists rush down their opponents at once before. More than that, while the Shinigami MOVE like highly trained and experienced human martial artists, the way their auras shift as they blitz through the open Gates reminds you as much of the energies of monsters in a fight as it does of humans - possibly more so. The little death gods are not burning ki or some equivalent to reinforce and accelerate their bodies beyond their normal limits, they've just stopped holding back from reaching speeds they were always capable of. And even then, you're pretty sure this isn't top speed for some of the reapers; the two captains, in particular, give the impression that they're still restraining themselves, so as not to waste energy against opponents that don't require it.

And speaking of the Quincy, they DO react to the invasion beyond just staring and shouting in surprise: the guards lower silvery spears, while two of their number move for the door at speeds comparable to what the Shinigami are displaying; the Soldats start pulling together reishi to form weapons, and in at least three cases reach for radios or the like to sound the alarm; and the servants... well, they mostly drop whatever they were holding and dive for cover. Points for trying to get out of the line of fire rather than freezing up, though.

On an open battlefield, with time to see their enemy coming and less of a disadvantage in numbers, it might have been a different story, but as they so often have down through the ages, the first seconds of surprise prove critical to the engagement.

Soldats are cut down or knocked cold even as they form glowing guns and blades; a couple of them get shots off, but they go wild, hitting nothing but the walls, floor, or ceiling.

No field tests of Spell Immunity, then, you muse idly.

Transmissions are cut off before they can begin, and voices silenced, or reduced to strangled noises of pain. The runners are caught before they can get the large door open - one drawback to such grandiose architecture making itself plain - and Captain Ichimaru quickly reforms his unit and presses on into the hall, hitting the guards stationed there before they can investigate or call in about the disturbance in the Gate Room, or just drop the portcullis. Sui-Feng's group takes charge of the prisoners, and begins moving the bodies of the fallen.

Then your view of the chamber is blocked as your summons come forward. The Earth Elemental flows over and through the soil of the Soul Society in that strange gait that seems like a cross between a man wading through water up to his knees, a fish simply swimming along, and an avalanche rumbling downhill. As the currently iron-skinned entity hunkers down-

/ Excuse me. /

-and awkwardly squeezes its bulk through the portal, you see it lift one broad, pillar-like foot in an actual step, which produces a deep, low BOOM as a dozen tons come down on Silbern's stone floor.

The Tyrannosaur's advance is a more familiar stride, each step crushing soil beneath its lesser but still incredible weight. There is a hiss of displeasure that comes out more like a horn-blast as the great reptilian beast ducks its head to avoid the top edge of the Gate, and of course, the steady breathing of lungs bigger than your entire body...

"WHY IS THERE A DINOSAUR?!" that one Quincy demands with more than a hint of hysteria.

You're not sure what, if anything, the Shinigami say in response to that, as that's about the point where the rest of the invasion force starts moving through the portals. While they're not going as fast as the first wave, the Shinigami still pass through the Gates at some speed and in good order, making up for some of the time lost allowing your two huge summons - and incidentally, reassuring you that you made the right call not to slow things down further by summoning additional elementals yet.

As agreed, you, Ambrose, and the knights wait until all of the reapers are through the Gate, before following them into Silbern.

You look around, trying to get a sense of the chamber and a feel for the atmosphere. It's cooler here than it was in the sunny encampment you just left behind, and for all the white stone construction and abundant sources of illumination, you can't help but think that it seems darker as well. The stark white walls and blood-red carpeting make what shadows there are appear deeper than they should, and there's something in the spiritual energies of the frozen fortress that just feels oppressive.

Glancing back at the Gate under your control, you see that the last of the knights is through and clear of the portal. Only a few Shinigami remain in the encampment, guards and others who will not be joining the assault; Lieutenant Ise seems to have been left in charge of these, and you see her trading speaking glances with her captain.

You give them a moment, and then announce, "Closing the portal in five," for the benefit of all within earshot.

"Closing the portal," Ambrose echoes.

"-four-"

"Everybody stand clear!"

"-three-"

"Two," the Wizard notes.

"-one," the pair of you say together.

And then the Gates close.

Letting your mana cycle, you reach into your dimensional pocket to fish out a Green Mana Rupee. While you opened the Gate using ambient energy, your previous bouts of spellcasting ate up enough energy that even downing all three of your Spring Dew Potions only brought you back to about four-fifths of your full capacity.

"That's... not an emerald," Captain Kyoraku observes, squinting at the crystal.


"No," you agree, as you link your energies to those contained within the Mana Rupee. Feeling a certain Fae-like urge for mischief and drama, you clench your fist around the stone, concealing it from view for a moment, and then open your hand again to reveal enough broken shards and fine green crystalline powder to account for a single Green Rupee. "It's not."

Used Green Mana Rupee
Gained Green Rupee Dust
Gained Green Rupee Shards

Leaving Kyoraku to wonder about that, you start making your way over to Yamamoto, gathering some of your freshly almost-topped-off mana and weaving it into the Spell of Age Resistance as you go.

"Status, Wizard?" the old Shinigami says.

Looking off into the distance, Ambrose frowns. "The way is shut," he declares gravely. Then, in a lighter tone, he adds, "They don't appear to be on alert as yet, however."

"A mixed blessing," Arturia notes.

"Then we proceed as planned," Yamamoto declares. Turning to you, he nods and extends his right arm.

You reach out, briefly touch his forearm, and complete your spell.

There is a momentary pause, and then the old man slowly stands straighter, his aura welling up like a fire taking to a fresh load of wood.

"How do you feel, Old Yama?" Kyoraku asks.

"Like I could thrash you with one arm tied behind my back, you scamp," comes the oddly amused reply.

The captain in the pink coat chuckles at that, ducking his hat deferentially. "I'll be good."

"Hey, if you don't want to fight him-" Zaraki begins.

"Later, Captain Zaraki," Yamamoto says, getting a few startled looks from his troops and another of those looks of savage anticipation from the Eleventh Captain. "For now, we have an enemy to crush."

As the Shinigami sort themselves out, you check on your summons. Briar still has the Tyrannosaur under control, although you notice that the beast is looking around eagerly, scenting the air as if- ah.

That would be the blood, wouldn't it?

You're probably going to have to find a suitable target for the big lizard sooner rather than later, preferably before Briar loses what control over it she has due to its instincts taking over...

Setting that aside for a second, you check on the elemental, which has moved over to the corner of the room left of the door, and is investigating the wall there with its thick, short fingers.

/ What rumbles, Great One? / you say, asking for news.

/ The rumbles are good, Soft Summoner, / the elemental replies. By way of demonstration, it sinks its digits into the wall above the door, well over your head. / Though the stone is a strange one, and worked by soft ones, I can yet pass it. /

Oooh, your prospects for looting just got a lot better-!

/ What of this metal gate? / the creature continues. From its posture, you think it's gripping something inside the stone. / Shall I break it, or leave it be? /

/ I will ask the elder fiery one, / you reply, turning back to Yamamoto. "Did you want him to wreck the portcullis before we move out, or leave it alone for the time being?"

"Leave it for now," the Captain-Commander replies. "But if the gate is lowered or the alarm raised, he may destroy it then."


Under the current circumstances, reducing the effectiveness of the Spell of Age Resistance would gain you nothing, and could end up costing you quite a bit if Yhwach wakes up and fights Yamamoto. Conversely, shortening the spell's usual twenty-four hour duration by somewhat less than half doesn't cost you anything - if you're still in Silbern fourteen hours from now, something will have gone badly wrong.

You want to make this outing as profitable as possible, because who knows when you'll get another chance to raid the previously impenetrable stronghold of a thousand year-old supernatural military organization? That said, while it's inevitable that the Wandenreich will notice your presence, having a twenty-five ton earth elemental looting their rooms is likely to get the alarm raised sooner - which is something that would probably annoy your current allies.

With that in mind, you request that the elemental do its best to be sneaky. While earth elementals aren't exactly renowned for their stealth skills, they aren't entirely devoid of them - their ability to sink into and move through earth and stone without trace is a big part of it.

You also let the elemental know of your little arrangement with the Wizard, and that dropping its plunder off with the old meddler is an option.

The elder elemental hears you out and responds by nodding its massive head and then stepping backwards, first pressing up against the wall, and then passing INTO the stone.

/ They will not feel me coming, / it assures you, before its earthier colors disappear behind the white facade.

Interesting phrasing, there; it says something about which of their senses earth elementals find the most important in their day-to-day lives. Considering those lives are spent primarily inside of the very earth and stone they're born from, which would neatly block most forms of vision, it does make sense that the elementals would put more stock in their ability to perceive and interpret vibrations.

Turning back to the Shinigami, you say, "He'll stay out of sight until the alarm is raised."

"And what will he be doing until then?" Aizen wonders.

You were kind of hoping none of them would ask that, but...


"Checking the rooms." It's even true. Just not the whole truth.

"Don't worry," you add, before Aizen or any of the other captains can reply to that. "I asked it to stay out of sight, and earth elementals can sense movement within sixty feet or so, even when they're completely submerged like that."

Bells ring as Zaraki shakes his head. "Asking a bruiser like that to sneak around? Talk about a waste."

"I don't know, confirming whether the rooms along our route are empty or occupied could be useful," Kyoraku disagrees. Glancing at you, he adds mildly, "A little more warning would have been nice, though."

You nod. "I'll probably summon a couple more elementals as we go. If nothing else, they can help us get the door to the Royal Quarter open - speaking of which...?"

"Indeed," Yamamoto says. "We should not keep the Quincy King waiting."

After his brief moment of clairvoyance, Ambrose moved off to one side of the room, away from the prisoners, the bodies, and the cargo crates, shooing Shinigami out of his way with swings of his staff. Once he had a space cleared, the Wizard began using a simple cantrip of levitation to set down little statues of horses - fourteen of them in all, most laid out in a grid four wide and three deep, with the last two positioned at the front and several feet of distance between each of the icons. He's just finishing with that now, and as you watch, Ambrose raises his staff and utters a word of command:

"Get thee up!"

...okay, a phrase of command.

In response, the statues surge with energy, complex matrices of Conjuration, Transformation, and Summoning blazing into life around and within them. Then the stone figurines vanish, replaced by living, breathing warhorses of formidable size, each one armored and ready for battle. To a one, the horses are devoid of any marks of heraldry, but it's not difficult to pick out which ones belong to which knight; most are at least clad in matching colors as their intended riders.

Arturia moves towards one of the two lead horses, a tall creature with very pale brown hide, almost white, and a mane that is paler still. Clad in plain steel barding and white caparisons, there's nothing to immediately suggest that this is meant to be the King's horse - and yet, the moment it bows its head to her and she lays one hand upon the side of its muzzle, where the barding doesn't reach, it's like you're seeing a reunion of two old friends. Similar reactions are occurring between the other knights and their mounts.

Is... that supposed to happen?

Ambrose, meanwhile, moves towards the other horse in the front row of the assembly, a grey that wears rather less armor than the other beasts-

!

-and which promptly tries to bite the Wizard as soon as he gets into range.

Pulling his hand back with less than a finger's length to spare, Ambrose glowers at the horse. "Nice to see you, too."

There is a sort of rumbling honking noise, a heavy thud of massive footsteps on stone, and more than a little nervous whinnying from the horses as the Tyrannosaur takes note of - and interest in - the new arrivals.

"No! Bad Rex! Those are not food! Back away!"

There is a distinctly disappointed sound, but somehow, Briar manages to coerce her enormous mount into behaving itself.

"I think we'd better get this guy moving, partner," the shadowed fairy warns you. "Find him something to bite, or at least chase."

You have to agree. One of the features built into the Spell to Summon Monsters is that the creatures it brings forth are always ready, willing, and able to do battle - and often enough, eager to do so. While that's useful when you're in the middle of combat or close enough to see it, this is one of those instances where the downsides of having an aggressive summons are apparent.

With further encouragement, and some difficulty, Briar convinces the Celestial Tyrannosaur to hunker down and stomp a bit awkwardly out the Gate Room's door and into the hall-

"You brought a T-REX!?"

-where at least one more Quincy freaks out at the sight.

If nothing else, you're getting your mana's worth from that summoning in pure shock value.

While the knights mount up, the Shinigami start moving out. Sui-Feng and her unit disappear in blurs of movement, leaving their prisoners to Komamura and Aizen's troops, while Ichimaru and Kyoraku lead their combined team out the door and in the direction of the stairs. The rest of you head straight for the heart of the fortress, working out as you go what sort of pace needs to be set to allow Shinigami, mounted knights, a dinosaur, and one ki-using sorcerer to all keep together.

As you head out, you glance at Ambrose as he moves off in a different direction with two of the knights.


"Good luck, Wizard."

"Have fun storming the castle," Ambrose replies.

Heh.

"Why do I feel like the Wizard's laughing at us?" Lieutenant Abarai asks of no one in particular.

"It is an occupational hazard, when dealing with that one," the grim-faced knight in black grumbles.

"Oh, come on," the cheerful lady knight chides. "That was funny!"

...you do hope she's just taking the remark at face value, because the idea that a Knight of the Round Table could catch a Princess Bride reference opens up a bunch of questions you don't really have time for.

Although you can certainly see some utility for a couple of Ambrose's wands, you decide not to borrow any of them. In part, it's because you've only got two hands, one of which your Blessed Blade has spoken for, while the other is reserved for spellcasting; but also, you're just not used to using wands, much less in open combat, where there's a good chance for them to get broken, stolen, or simply lost.

You've already agreed to split your spoils with the Wizard. There'd be no profit in incurring an actual debt to him on top of that - possibly literally, depending on how your looting goes.

On a related note, you give a moment's consideration to summoning another creature, something a bit more suitable for looting small, valuable objects than a Greater Earth Elemental. Earth elementals of lesser stature wouldn't be a good idea; while their now-confirmed ability to pass through at least some of Silbern's walls would be invaluable, it's an unfortunate fact that age, physical stature, intelligence, and skill are more or less all directly correlated among common elementals. Smaller elementals would, ironically, be LESS capable of sneaking around than your thirty-foot friend, to say nothing of their ability to recognize worthy plunder and nab it without breaking it.

But if you were to summon a creature with the necessary skills and then turn it INTO an earth elemental, using the Spell of the Elemental Body, you'd get the best of both worlds. Well, more or less; for some reason, the spell doesn't bestow tremorsense upon the target when used to assume the form of an earth elemental. That would be a distinct downside, and would potentially risk sounding-

!

-your train of thought is interrupted as your Spell of Foresight kicks in.

-One of the doors along the main hallway opens inward to reveal a girl fairly close to your actual age. She's wearing a modified version of the uniform you've seen on the higher-ranking Soldats, which trades the usual pants for a knee-length skirt wide enough to allow easy movement. Her hair is black and worn to a little short of her shoulders, her eyes are dark, her aura is fairly overflowing with spiritual power, and her expression is angry.

"What the HELL is all the-!"

Her enraged yell is cut off short as the Celestial Tyrannosaur's foot slams down on the floor in front of her as it goes thundering past. The interruption is brief, but when the tyrant lizard's leg has moved out of the way, the girl's expression has gone from flinty-eyed fury to a blank stare.

"...dinosaur?" she manages.

One of the Shinigami closes-

"SHI-!"

-and is sent flying back the way he came as the doorway is filled and crushed by a wave of blue-white spiritual energy.-

Yeah. You probably want to do something about that. Like not be in the way, at the very least.


Although a part of you wants to close in with fist and/or blade, the image of an expanding blue-white shroud of spiritual power knocking a Shinigami off his feet stands out rather vividly in prescient memory. Rather than dive in and put yourself at risk of getting caught up in whatever that was, you gather your mana and start shaping a Spell of Enchantment.

Your choice is driven in part by a desire to get more intel on Silbern and its defenders. For all of Souken's testimony and the scrying you and your Original did on this place, you have to admit that you really only got a brief look at a small part of it. An insider's perspective could reveal any number of useful details you simply wouldn't have known to look for, or recognized if you did see them.

Practically speaking, there are also distinct tactical advantages to making an enemy into an ally... although Briar will probably veto any attempts to send the girl into harm's way, and for exactly the OTHER reason why you're going for mind-control over something more permanent.

Enemy or not, she's still a kid.

...probably, anyway.

Just to make sure that this works, you divert additional energy into the Spell to Dominate a Person, heightening it from the already respectable fifth circle to the seventh. Not quite as powerful as you could make it, but on the off-chance that you're looking at someone like Lieutenant Kusajishi, you'd prefer that the magic be fully stable and a little less powerful than to be full powered and a little unstable.

The decision to change your course of action causes the vision provided by your Spell of Foresight to shift and fade away, potential events overwritten by the unfolding reality.

The door opens inaward. Enter - or should that be exit? - one angry young Quincy.

"What the HELL is all the-!"

Cue the big stompy Tyrannosaur!

Even as Rex's foot falls in front of the girl, you're taking aim and finishing your spell-chant, guided by prescient memory of where the young Quincy's location. As the reptilian limb rises out of the way to reveal a blank, dark-eyed stare, you speak the final words of your spell, adding, "Your next line is 'dinosaur?'"

"...di-wha-?" the girl manages, turning to regard you with confusion.

You can SEE the moment your spell hits her.

It's nothing so dramatic as her head rocking back from a blow, or her body slumping as another will supplants her own - and she was already goggle-eyed from nearly getting stepped on by the supposedly extinct giant lizard, so it's hard to tell if there was any reaction to your magic there.

No, as the mana of your spell makes contact, the small Quincy just kind of... stops.

Physically.

Mentally, it's a whole other story.

The Spell to Dominate a Person establishes a limited telepathic connection between the caster and his target. It doesn't allow for full telepathic communication, just rudimentary commands and awareness of what the target is perceiving, but in your lessons with Batreaux and the priests, you've noticed that your inherent psychic abilities - limited as they are - interact with this sort of magic. It doesn't make your control any greater, but it does give you a better sense of what your target is feeling and even thinking, at least when you're as close as you are right now.

And right now, you're hearing screaming.

-THAT WAS A DINOSAUR/Who's this asshole/the fuck did he do/A FUCKING DINOSAUR/why can't I MOVE/SHOOT him/HOLY SHIT THAT WAS COOL/are those KNIGHTS/SHINIGAMI/AND ALSO TERRIFYING/FUCKING MOVE?!-

Furious, foul-mouthed, frustrated screaming.

You're REALLY starting to think this girl isn't as young as she appears.

For all of the internal screaming going on, however, all that comes out of the Quincy's mouth is a flat, uninspired, "...dinosaur?"

Also, that Shinigami you glimpsed in the vision has turned around and started moving towards the girl, but rather than coming in at speed and with martial intent, he's visibly slowing, frowning at the scene before him. Holding his already drawn zanpakuto with one hand, he steps forward and reaches out with his other arm, waving his hand in front of the girl's gaze.

-Get that thing out of my face/SHITTYGAMI/blow it off/KILL THESE FUCKERS!-

Clearly put off by the lack of outward reaction, the seated officer turns to give you a wary look.

"What did you do?"

"Mind control," you admit.

-oh shit/CHEATING ASSHOLE!-

Now the Shinigami looks kind of creeped out.


"Would you rather I used my fist?" you ask the Shinigami.

-I'd like to see you try/wait he's huge.-

"Or maybe a Fireball?" you continue, trying not to let on that you can hear some of what the girl is thinking.

-Fireballs are cool.-

Huh. That thought came through with remarkable clarity. Either you're getting better at telepathy, or this girl is really single-minded about pyrotechnics.

"I'd at least know how to DEAL with either of those," the reaper replies, shaking his head. "Plus, this is slowing us down-"

"Oi," comes Captain Zaraki's rough voice, as the monster himself stalks up behind you. "What's the holdup?"

"Sorcerer's got a prisoner, Captain," the seated officer says promptly.

Looming over the scene, Zaraki squints down at the girl. Peering over his shoulder from where she was riding on his back, Yachiru does likewise.

-Fuck/feels like a fucking NUKE/even bigger than the mind-control asshole/and he's got a shoulder loli/his sword is fucking garbage/does this Shittygami not have any fucking control/I didn't think shoulder lolis were actually a thing/or is he just fucking lazy?-

Bells ring as Zaraki turns his head in your direction. "What's with that creepy-ass stare of hers?"

"Mind control," you repeat.

Zaraki frowns, features darkened by a different sort of distaste than the lower-ranking Shinigami showed. Rather than complain about it, what he says to you next is, "Can you give her orders like that?"

-Oh shit/the HELL he can!-

"To a point," you reply carefully.

"Alright, bring her. The Old Man'll probably have questions; Sui-Feng DEFINITELY will."

-Shit shit shit/fuck fuck fuck.-

You take a second to think of how to word this for minimal resistance, and then say, "Follow the intruders to see where they're going-"

-Huh/what/why would I/not a bad idea, though/just fucking shoot them/too many Shittygami/find out what they're up to/how'd they even get IN here/like a super spy/and then kill them all.-

"-and stay close to me."

-Close enough to fucking stab you/cheating asshole/doesn't look like a reaper/weird robe/nice suit, though/wait, why am I/WHAT THE FUCK?!-

Your guess appears to have been good, as after a moment's hesitation, the girl falls in alongside you and, when you start running to catch up with the rest of this part of the raid force, accelerates to match. You take the opportunity to examine the technique she's using to boost her speed, as notes on a spiritual technique that lets a living human body move at these speeds would be much more useful to your Original than the Shinigami version, which relies too heavily on what they are.

Almost immediately, however, you discover - or more correctly, are reminded of - a problem with that plan.

The girl's a Quincy, and the bulk of her spiritual power is not generated internally, but drawn from the world around her - by force, if need be. That's not a trick you or your Original are currently capable of, and it has all kinds of knock-on effects in how these people use their power. With a lot of time and assistance from friendly Quincy who were willing to let you observe them in some detail, you might be able to replicate their powers in some fashion, but odds are that any such tools or techniques would never be as fast or efficient as the Quincy themselves are. Their abilities are built into their souls, after all, letting them do what they do by nature and instinct as much as by conscious training, and that's something you really can't copy.

...not SAFELY, anyway. The idea of mucking around with your Original's soul is disturbing enough to give YOU the creeps, so you can imagine how HE'd feel about it.

In short order, you and your new friend have caught up with the rest of the main force. Looking around and comparing things to the map in your head, you note that you're down the hall - a very LONG hall, it should be mentioned - and around the corner from the main door to the Royal Quarter. Briar is still wrangling the Celestial Tyrannosaur, although between the blood spilled in the Gate Room and the run to reach this location, the big beast is definitely looking worked up and past ready to bite something. The Shinigami have pretty clearly picked up on that, as all of them are giving the summoned animal a wide berth.

Sui-Feng and her band of ninjas are also present, the lady captain reporting briefly to Yamamoto; both of them look up as you, Zaraki, and the Quincy girl approach, and almost immediately lock on the white-clad little Soldat.

-OH FUCK/IT'S HIM/FUCKING DEAD/wow, he's ANCIENT.-

"What is this?" Sui-Feng asks flatly.

"A prisoner, of course," Zaraki replies, before throwing you under the bus. "Turns out Shadow here can control minds."

The Second Captain regards you flatly. "You didn't think to mention this."

You start to answer, then stop, raising one hand to ask for a moment. When it's given, you turn to the Quincy girl and tell her to cover her ears.

More precisely, you ask her, "Would you rather have one of us cover your ears so you can't hear this next part, or would you prefer to do it yourself? If the latter, do so now, until I signal for you to stop."

-You're kidding/fucking really/going to use bad language/don't want the enemy to see you arguing with your friends/maybe they're not friends?-

Not surprisingly, the girl covers her own ears.

With that settled, you turn back to the captains, and find that even Yamamoto is looking at you a bit oddly after that verification of your control over your prisoner - though that might be due to the roundabout method you had to employ to exercise said control.

"There's a LOT about my capabilities I didn't mention," you answer Sui-Feng frankly. "I didn't bring up the School of Enchantment before because it isn't one of my better styles" - far from your worst, though - "a fair number of its spells don't work well under combat conditions, and mind control in particular is finicky even at the best of times."

"Yet you used it anyway."

"I saw an opening, I took it." You gesture at your prisoner. "Now, do we have questions or instructions for her? Preferably ones that won't conflict with her loyalties or basic nature, and risk breaking the spell?"

You have an idea or two on that front, yourself. You're especially curious as to how much about Yhwach's awakening his "chosen elite" are actually aware of, and what they think about it. Depending on how much this girl knows - or more precisely, how much she doesn't know - it might be a way to rattle her confidence, and make her more willing to talk.

Meanwhile, that last qualifier in your sentence has turned Sui-Feng's seemingly perpetual frown thoughtful.

"Ask her where she'd WANT us to go," Zaraki says promptly, "where the people in charge that she hates the most ought to be right now, and how long it is until lunch."

By the time he's finished, people are staring at HIM.

Zaraki frowns back at them. "What? Shadow said not to ask her questions she wouldn't want to answer, but she's a kid; if she thought she could trick us into going somewhere we'd get torn to pieces, or just happen to stomp on people she hates, she'd do it."

You mean, he's not wrong... and Lieutenant Kusajishi is nodding along.

"And the food?" someone in the small crowd asks.

"Kids pay attention to meal times and the people who feed them," the Eleventh Captain replies, "and I don't want to get caught standing around like an idiot by the staff."

There is silence.

Zaraki looks around, his expression growing exasperated as he evidently fails to find whatever he was seeking in his compatriots.

"Seriously," he growls, "am I the ONLY one here who knows anything about kids?"

From atop the Tyrannosaur, your partner laughs.


Taking Captain Zaraki's advice on board, you turn back to the Quincy girl, and abruptly realize that you'd kind of like to have a name to call her. Chances are that you're going to run into other female Quincy before all is said and done, and while distinguishing between individuals in your own head shouldn't be too much trouble, it could become a bit of a problem when communicating with your allies.

Quite aside from that, addressing the girl with her actual name rather than as "girl," "kid," or "prisoner" might make the questioning go a little smoother. Treating other people AS people rather than things tends to be appreciated; you need look no further than your Original's friendships with assorted non-humans for proof of that.

You signal for your prisoner to lower her hands, and once she's done that, you ask her her name.

-Are you serious/what is with this weirdo/you want to know my name?-

"Bambietta Basterbine," comes the reply. "Knappe."

...

Okay, first of all, you now have an impulse to start making deer jokes and Disney references. You're going to resist that.

Second, where the heck does a name like that even come from? It's definitely not Japanese, English, Chinese, or Latin, and it doesn't sound German or Spanish, either.

Third... 'Knappe'? You're guessing that's some kind of rank or title, but it's not ringing any bells.

And finally, unless there's another spiritually powerful white-clad girl named "Bambi" running around, this is the very Sternritter-to-be that the Original overheard some of the Soldats talking about while scrying on the fortress, and made a mental note to watch out for.

Freaking typical.

-How about you go to Hell/this is a trick, isn't it/but if I could get them to do it...-

You get four locations out of her. The first, amusingly enough, is the sewage treatment plant; Zaraki chuckles at that, even as Sui-Feng glowers and Yamamoto appears unmoved. The second area Bambietta "suggests" you go is the front gate; you're not sure if she's saying that because she wants you out of Silbern altogether, or because Silbern is enough like a mundane fortress that its main point of entry is one of the most heavily defended, and so most likely to get a lot of you killed or captured.

Lastly, the young Quincy provides you with detailed directions to the personal quarters of Sternritter Gerard Valkyrie, and Grandmaster Jugram Haschwalth.

-Have fun dying with those two/Sir Valkyrie would thank me/probably with hugs/such a fucking ham/really good hugs.-

You quickly check your map, and find that while you could bypass Valkyrie's quarters on your way to the room where Yhwach rests, the Grandmaster's private chambers are almost directly adjacent to those of the King.

Meaning even if you teleport in, and the guy is in his room, somebody's going to have to deal with him while Yamamoto settles his grudge with Yhwach.

That's... not good, but certainly better to know now than to find out later.

Moving on, you ask Bambietta where the superiors she hates the most should be right now.

-Huh/weird/definitely a trick/on the other hand/fuck those guys AND these guys.-

"Fatass Waccabrada'll be at the kitchens by now," the girl replies with some heat.

-Fucking creeper/scaring the maids/Nana Kathy's going to shoot him/fuck rank and protocol/sicko deserves it/but he's too strong/but she's too old/gotta get fucking stronger/make him fuck off!-

"That scary weirdo Parnkgjas rooms on the other side of the Royal Quarter from Sir Valkyrie," she continues, revealing another name whose origins utterly baffle you. "Hardly ever leaves except for big meetings and events."

-Seriously fucking creepy/never see that guy's face/he doesn't move right/doesn't feel right/something is just wrong there.-

Nobody else seems to have drawn the girl's ire, or at least no one that's in a position of authority over her, so you ask the final question.

-What/lunchtime/seriously/did you skip lunch or something/I am getting hungry/fucking what?-

"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes?" Being mind-controlled doesn't prevent a hint of her confusion from leaking through.

Silbern's running on more or less the same time as the Soul Society (and by extension, Japan), then. That HAD seemed to be the case before this, but it's another little detail that's good to know.

Seeing as how you're probably only minutes away from people leaving their rooms for the nearest mess hall, or servants showing up to deliver meals, you'd best get on with things.

You've got a long corridor with half a dozen or so Quincy guards at the far end, a few of those warrior-statues spread out along the main passage to back them up, and a couple more of the things flanking the warded door that you mean to take and break down. The statues haven't moved so far, but you're sure it's just a matter of time and somebody flipping a switch somewhere, which will probably happen as soon as the guards see Shinigami black blurring down the hall towards them.

Do you want to contribute something to this phase of the raid?


Under other circumstances, it might be funny. Once or twice. But considering that you're on opposing sides of a conflict that may well result in "Bambi's" mother or some maternal figure getting killed, the joke stops being amusing.

Idly, you wonder if this "Nana Kathy" you caught in her thoughts is the same Catherine Adler that your Original eavesdropped on for a while when he was scrying through the servants' quarters.

With your questions answered and the assault about to go forward, you take a moment to figure out what you're going to do with your prisoner.

You dismiss taking her along out of hand. While you are confident in your magic, ordering Bambietta to attack her fellow Quincy outright would likely test your control, whereas ordering her to defend herself could still backfire - you can't guarantee that a Shinigami wouldn't catch her in the path of one of their attacks by accident, or even on purpose. You can't spare the time or attention to guide her through the battle when you're going to be involved in it yourself, and you'd really rather not have her thoughts intruding upon your own during the fighting anyway. It's distracting.

And while you personally aren't particularly torn up over the idea, you suspect that your Original and the Goddesses would prefer that you didn't send a child under a mentally impairing spell into lethal combat. By the same token, they'd have objections if you just left her somewhere she could get hurt.

With that in mind, you quickly weave a Spell of Deep Slumber, modifying it as your Original did the one he had on standby at the Archer home. Then, uttering, "Take a nap, Bambi," you let it fly.

-Don't call me that/not tired/fuck you!-

She blinks once, and then yawns-

-Hey wait/don't fall asleep/fucking cheater!-

-and then she's out, literally asleep on her feet.

You quickly lower the girl to the floor so that she doesn't fall over and shock herself awake, casting an extended Spell to Ward Against Death in the process. You follow that up with an extended Resilient Sphere, which serves double-duty as defense and imprisonment, and finally let the Spell to Dominate a Person lapse.

"Right," you say, turning your attention back to the Shinigami as you stand up. "Anybody want to see what a charging Tyrannosaurus looks like?"

Lieutenant Kusajishi's hand is in the air before you even finish speaking. "I do! I do!"

"It... would make a very good distraction," Sui-Feng admits reluctantly, glancing up - and up - at your summoned dinosaur. "What little stealth we've managed to maintain will be lost, however."

"I don't care, as long as it doesn't eat ALL the Quincy before I get there," Zaraki rumbles, hefting his blade.

"Stealth would likely have failed when we forced the door to the Royal Quarter, if it lasted even that long," Yamamoto decides. Glancing your way, he adds, "Speaking of which..."

You nod. "I'll start summoning another earth elemental."

Briar needs very little time to coax the Celestial Tyrannosaur into charging down the hall towards the guards-

"What the hell?!"

"Is that a TYRANNOSAURUS?!"

"Are you KIDDING ME?!"

"AAAAHHHH!"

-who react about as you'd expect, both in general and based on recent experience. For all the screaming, though, they are well-trained, and arrows of light begin streaking down the hallway only a couple of seconds after your Tyrannosaurus rounds the corner and starts its charge. While the first few shots are less than accurate, the Wandenreich guards quickly recover from their shock and adapt to the dinosaur's sheer speed, launching a veritable rain of projectiles against the beast.

Some of those attacks splash off the reptile's metallic-looking scales as if they were water, its celestial origins protecting it from their energy. Other blue-white bolts are turned aside or absorbed by the dual-layered barriers you placed upon the summoned creature. More either fail to penetrate its thick hide, or simply prove no more than a nuisance to something so big.

"It isn't stopping!"

"Fire faster!"

"AAAAHHHH!"

"Hey, what are those-"

"SHINIGAMI!"

"Sound the-!"

And then, with a thunderous bellow, the Tyrannosaurus closes the distance.

Trying to ignore the screaming, you focus on your spell, wondering idly if Bambietta slept through that.

You kind of hope so.


You know that Quincy can move almost as fast as the Shinigami, if by a different mechanism, and while the Spell of Haste you cast on the Tyrannosaurus makes it rather quicker than usual, the guards could probably still avoid its attacks, as long as they kept their heads and didn't let it get too close. Being so much smaller than your attacker isn't without some benefits, mainly in the areas of reaction time and acceleration.

The presence of the Shinigami changes things, however. The Quincy can't focus their attention on the dinosaur in the room, and their training has them further torn between trying to defend the doors and calling for help on whatever radio or cellphone equivalents they have.

Most of them still manage to evade the Tyrannosaur's first lunging bite.

One doesn't.

And then your second Earth Elemental rises from Silbern's red-carpeted white stone floor, blocking your view of the fight.

/ Command me, small soft summoner! / the new rocky giant requests. / Who are my foes? /

/ The spirit-shooting soft ones in white, Great Hilly One, / you reply quickly, / but leave them to the soft ones in black. I ask you to- hang on a moment. /

You break off and cast the Spell to Create a Pit at one of the faceless warrior statues, which had begun to step down from its place against the wall, brandishing the oversized polearm it carried. As the floor opens up beneath it, the twenty-foot-tall construct falls straight into the thirty-foot hole.

The elemental takes its cue from your action and turns to confront the nearest of the moving statues. Catching the spear-like weapon with one hand, the elemental wrestles its smaller opponent forward, then picks the entire thing up and half-carries, half-throws it towards the nearest wall. The noise as they collide with the solid stone surface the construct was previously standing against is tremendous, but that's not the end; using the wall for support, the elemental hoists the still-struggling statue into the air above its head with both hands, before dashing it against the floor and then falling upon the construct before it can pick itself up or even crawl aside.

You look around, thinking to perhaps open another pit to handle one of the two remaining statues-

"Grrraaaagh!"

-but Captain Zaraki seems to have one of them well in hand, or more correctly, without one of its hands, while the last is being dealt with by some of the knights. A couple of them have flipped their swords around, grasping the naked blades with gauntleted fingers as they deal shattering blows to the construct with the hilts, a third is pounding away with a warhammer you hadn't noticed before, and their redheaded companion is assisting them from range-

!

-with a bow that has enough strings on it to look like it's half harp.

You'd swear there shouldn't be enough room for three mounted warriors to maneuver that closely together around a single opponent, even one this large, but the knights are doing so and making it look easy, while their ally's energy-like arrows-

"Is he a Quincy?!" one of the Shinigami asks in confusion.

"Traitor!" one of the Quincy roars at the same time.

The knight seems to sigh, even as he draws back his next shot. "It is a burden, to be so misunderstood..."

"Spare us the melodrama," the Red Knight groans.

-appear to be quite effective even against a target made of stone.

Seeing that your allies have things under control, you turn back to the elemental to clarify your interrupted instructions. As you do so, your eyes are drawn to a shiny thing on the floor. One of the Quincy, felled by a Shinigami by the look of it, dropped his weapon as he collapsed, and while the glowing bits disappeared, there's a metallic silver section which looks to be quite stable.

Larcenous impulses tingle, and you amend your orders to the elemental. Once it's done pulverizing the statue, the earth spirit turns and rumbles towards the doors, pausing to scoop a couple of bodies up and set them aside, out of its way - and plucking a few interesting items for your later perusal in the process.

The Shinigami and the knights do something similar, moving a couple more bodies - which you don't think are dead, and possibly not even truly dying - as well as the wreckage of the other statues to the edges of the hall. All of them make a point of getting out of the elemental's way, though your Tyrannosaurus just sort of grunts at the larger being and licks its bloodied chops.

Ignoring the lizard, the elemental stands before the door for a moment, considering the structure. Then it sinks its massive hands into the stone atop the frame, its body wide enough that it has little trouble doing so even with the size of the doors, twice as tall as any of your party and similarly wide. You see stony shoulders shift and craggy arms tense as the earthen giant grasps something buried in the rock, and then-

!

-the wall groans and something within it cracks as the elemental's tremendous strength is brought to bear. For several seconds, the titan pulls, and you hear stone cracking, metal warping, and energy hissing and snapping as it works on the door.

Where a human might pause after a few seconds of such effort to give strained muscles a chance to rest, the elemental it simply continues to pull, rumbling to itself. The sounds of the failing door intensify, and you start to ready a Spell of Teleportation, moving closer to the Captain-Commander and the small group chosen to accompany him once the way is open.

Then, to the sound of shattering stone, snapping metal, and a deep oddly bell-like ringing, the elemental rips part of a spiked portcullis out of the upper wall, tearing the doors asunder in the process.

Your summoned ally backs up a step and moves to one side, allowing the metal doors to fall to the floor with a deep boom-

!

-and revealing some thirty or more Quincy arrayed on the other side, weapons at the ready. Most are Soldats, but no less than five wear some version of the Sternritter uniform. One is so heavily robed you can make out little about them; another, huge, burly, and blonde, wears a helmet of such a design that you can't help but mentally peg him as "Thor"; and a dark-skinned third has a large and very modern-looking gun aimed at you and your allies.

The long-haired leader, whose eyes appear to have two unsettling pupils apiece, doesn't hesitate: "In the name of the King, ATTACK!"