"Bye-bye, Rocky-Rocks!" Yachiru calls, waving to the elementals.

Big Boulder waves back. / None of us are Cousin Rocky, but bye! /

/ She was giving us a nickname, Big Boulder, / one of the twins says patiently.

/ ...I knew that. /

With a puff of dust, the Boulder Brothers vanish. Fortunately, most of the pile of treasure was already sorted out to your specifications - and what isn't, you still have the Greater Earth Elemental to deal with.

As you predicted, it takes three castings of your Mass Shrink Item ritual to cover everything. That's mostly due to the requirement that everything being targeted with a single casting be within a thirty-foot diameter - the rug-sacks are big enough for that to be an issue, and heavy enough that you couldn't risk piling them up on top of each other. The smaller carpet-bags were another story, as long as the elementals found well-padded spots to set them down on.

In the process of shrinking everything down, a few more empowered items slip out of their containers - most noticeably, a standing mirror with a spiritually charged aura of Divination about, which gives you brief flashbacks to your Original's encounter with the Mirror in Navi's Trial. Aside from that one, the other pieces are neither so large nor so numerous as to overload your pocket, and the not-actually-magic mirror is not so big that you can't pick it up and teleport with it.

Gained Pile of Loot
Gained Quincy Mirror

By this point, you, Briar, your summons, and the little lieutenant are the only people still in this part of the fortress. You saw the two ninjas exit Jugram's chambers while you were shrinking your loot, holding several reclaimed zanpakutos between them, and a few more of Second Division's agents hurried past as well, giving their compatriots odd looks for the somewhat stuffed appearance of their uniforms. Yachiru also spent a moment talking to thin air-

"Okay, Glasses!"

-and then informed you that the call to reassemble in the Gate Room for final evacuation has officially been given.

...okay, what she actually said was, "Hurry up, Shady! It's time to go!"

You don't have to dismiss the Celestial Tyrannosaur right this moment, as between its natural speed and all the boosts you gave it, it's demonstrated itself more than capable of returning to the Gate Room in a reasonable period of time. Also, you can let Briar give Yachiru one last dino-back ride.

The Greater Earth Elemental, on the other hand, has no such enhancements, and is slow enough without them for it to be an issue. So you should probably send it on its way.

Is there anything you'd like to say to this elemental, besides thanking it for its assistance in knocking down Silbern's interior doors and looting the rooms, before you end the spell keeping it here?

You also make a point of asking Yachiru for the jewelry she's wearing.

"But I haven't showed Kenny, Baldy, and Yun-Yun how I look, yet!" she complains.

With all of that sorted out, you make your way back to where this invasion began.


Thanks given, you dismiss the elemental without further ado.

"Bye, other Mountain!" Yachiru calls, getting the Terran honorific approximately half right.

/ Goodbye, little spirit, / the Greater Earth Elemental replies. / May you smash your enemies to dust. /

"Aw, thanks! You too!"

And then that one's gone, leaving the nearby Celestial Tyrannosaurus and the elemental that you left back at the Gate Room as your only currently active summons.

Although you really would like to have that jewelry back, you decide you can live without it for a few more minutes.

You tell Yachiru to go show Zaraki and the others her new look, and that she can give everything back to you after that.

"Really?" The pink-haired girl beams at you. "Thanks, Shady! You're really nice!"

It's more like you have a severe aversion to puppy dog eyes, but whatever.

After all the time you just spent filling your own pockets, you decide that taking the most direct route back to the Gate Room would be for the best. As such, while Yachiru scrambles back onto the Tyrannosaur's back-

"Let's go, go, go! Dino Charge!"

"Onward!" Briar cries.

The T-Rex roars and begins to stomp away.

-you gather your energies, ready a Spell of Teleportation, and hold it for a moment as you pick up the Quincy Mirror. Then, you let the magic do its thing.

The fortress around you blurs out and then back in, and you find yourself standing just down the corridor to the right of the Gate Room's broken entrance. Despite your attempt to pick out a landing zone that wouldn't spook anybody, some of the Shinigami in the area - and there are quite a few of them - still start in surprise as you appear out of nowhere, hands going to sword-hilts or entering ready stances for unarmed combat. Fortunately, once they see who just popped out of thin air, they relax-

"The hell is up with the mirror?"

"Is he... is he STEALING it?"

-and ask silly questions.

"Welcome back, Shadow," comes a greeting from one of Arturia's knights that remained behind to keep an eye on Ambrose. The King herself and the forward party are not present, apparently having yet to return. "Have fun looting the castle?"

"It was a profitable experience," you reply, adjusting your grip on the framed glass. "Has the Wizard started opening the Gate, yet?"

"Not yet, he mentioned wanting to wait until you got here."

"Then I should go and get on that."

You suit your actions to your words, and head into the Gate Room. The Shinigami that were disabled or killed storming this chamber have been moved to one side; in a small blessing - and perhaps as a direct consequence of your own contributions - most of the former appear to be back on their feet, though some of those are still visibly injured or moving gingerly to avoid aggravating unseen wounds. There's no sign of the dead and detained Quincy that were left here, just an empty corner that the reapers are avoiding and not looking too closely at.

Speaking of empty corners, you can't help but notice a distinct lack of a pile of plunder waiting for you to pick up.

Ambrose and the other knight are near the back of the room, three horses lined up nearby, saddlebags bulging in a manner you don't recall seeing when you went your separate ways.

/ Welcome back, small summoner, / the first and last of your elemental allies greets you, as it half-emerges from one of the walls. Some of the Shinigami glance its way or shake their heads at the entrance, their attitude suggesting they've seen this trick often enough recently for the novelty to have worn off. / How did the attack go? /

"My part in things went pretty well. I ended up summoning more of your kin as door-breakers and looters - have you ever heard of five Huge Earth Elementals calling themselves 'the Boulder Brothers', by chance? Or perhaps an Elder trained as a monk?"

/ The name 'Boulder' is not uncommon among my kind, whether as a personal name or for a family group, but I do not recall meeting five individuals of that name and stature, / comes the reply. The response is followed by a mountainous shrug. / That means little, though. The Plane of Earth is vast beyond reckoning, and holds many secrets in its depths. /

You nod.

/ As for the other, while I am not personally familiar with any Elders who follow that path, I have felt rumbles of such warriors among my kin. One tale has them dwelling near portals to other planes, that they may train and contest with beings not of the earth; another claims that they reside in the deepest corners of our realm, seeking the purest essence of the earth and the mysteries it hides. / There is another great shrug. / As to which is the truth, I could not say. /

"Do they have a name?"

/ Formally, they are known as the Circle of the Shattered Stone. More generally, I have heard them called 'Shatterers,' 'Shatterstones,' and 'Shatterhands.' /

You make a note of those names, and move on to a related topic. "Going back to looting for a moment, does the Wizard have everything you picked up?"

The elemental nods.

Well, that saves you some pocket space and some energy, although now you're regretting not taking the slower way back just a bit.

Ah, well.

You probably don't need any more assistance from this elemental now; do you want to dismiss it, or keep it around a bit longer?

Similarly, is there anyone here you want to talk with before you get on with opening the Gate. Aside from Ambrose and the two knights, Captains Komamura and Aizen are both present, along with various rank-and-file Shinigami. From the spiritual auras you can sense down the hallway, the first returning members of the rest of the invasion force are perhaps a minute or two out, and not overly hurrying as they make their way back to the Gate Room.


You ask the elemental if it would like to hang around for a while yet, and maybe spar with one or two of the Shinigami.

/ Others might disagree, small summoner, / comes the frank reply, / but I find little satisfaction in wrestling an opponent that has just been through a deadly struggle, especially when that one has lost friends or kin to mourn. If you command it, I will do so, but I would prefer to leave the small spirits to their business, and return to my own. /

That'll be a "No," then, or at least a "Not really." It's a bit of an unexpected response, given how eager this elemental was to fight when you first summoned it, but then again, the circumstances have changed since then. This is also a good reminder that just because a being is CAPABLE of fighting, that doesn't automatically mean it'll always be EAGER to.

Maybe you've been hanging out with too many martial artists and proud warrior types?

...

Nah. What a silly idea!

Regardless, the elemental has made its opinion known, and since your next stop is going to be on Earth, where a thirty-foot-tall ambulatory rock formation would be just a little attention-getting, you're inclined to respect this one's preference and send it on its way.

While you're confident in your own ability to analyze the supernaturally empowered spoils of this short campaign, a second informed opinion is always nice to have - and you do have that outstanding arrangement with Ambrose to split up the loot by percentages, which would require determining how much everything is actually WORTH, first.

With that in mind, you hoist the Mirror and head over to the Wizard.

"For me?" the old meddler exclaims as you approach, clasping his hands together in mock delight. "Shadow, you shouldn't have!"

You manfully resist the urge to bop him over the head with the Mirror. Even magical glass is fairly fragile, after all.

Instead, you let the Wizard know about some of the more outstanding spoils you and your assorted summoned sackers managed to pick up over the last...

...has it really only been twenty minutes?

Thinking back and counting off on your fingers, you realize that this whole operation has gone down in less than three-quarters of an hour, a little over half of which was taken up by the actual "invasion" portion of events.

You wonder if you're going to lose track of time like that whenever the opportunity to swipe large amounts of loot comes up, or if this reaction was brought on by the novelty of the whole experience.

You suppose only time will tell.

Most of the stuff you picked up isn't remarkable or concerning enough that you feel the need to place any particular emphasis on it just now, but there were a few items that might merit the Wizard's attention before the two of you start working on leaving this place.


You thank the elemental for its assistance, and send it on its way.

And now only the Celestial Tyrannosaurus remains...

"So, Wizard."

"So, Shadow."

"Among the numerous and varied items I happened to pick up, there was... this ugly little number." You produce the Corrupted Tome.

Ambrose regards the volume with a gimlet eye and reaches out with one of his wands, using the tip to open the battered cover and flip through some of the pages without directly touching them.

"My, my," he murmurs, lips puckering in distaste. "What a fascinatingly disgusting little thing you have there, lad. Wherever did you find it?"

You quickly describe Jugram's gallery of war trophies, and your belief that the adjacent collection of books had the same origins.

"And it was just... sitting there, under physical glass and locks? No anti-theft wards or the like?"

"There was some sort of spiritually powered preservation ward on the books," you reply, "but that was it as far as I could tell."

Ambrose looks like he wants to take a page from Lu-sensei's book and ENLIGHTEN some deserving idiot.

"In fairness to the Quincy," you add, "this was the only OBVIOUSLY nasty piece of work on the shelves, and even it isn't ACTIVELY trying to corrupt anybody."

"Mm," Ambrose replies neutrally. He flips through a couple more pages before shaking his head and withdrawing his wand, gesturing for you to go ahead and close the book. "Well, from what I can tell, the book was written at least partly in Gnomish, and by an actual gnome, if the size and spacing of the writing is any indication - one who was probably a warlock, and quite mad to boot. Not a very reassuring combination, all told."

"I'm not familiar with gnomes," you admit. "Lawn ornaments aside, I mean."

The Wizard huffs in brief amusement at that. "I'd have been surprised if you were, though; the gnomes got hit pretty hard by the separation of the mundane and magical worlds. They're too small and too varied in appearance to be mistaken for humans, and while they do have something of a knack for Illusion Magic, they aren't psychologically suited to living their entire lives in hiding. Disguising themselves to play pranks, or misdirect a dangerous enemy? Certainly. Hiding their entire species and way of life, all day, every day, for the rest of time? No chance. Gnomes are simply too outgoing, too individualistic, and too inquisitive to be compatible with that kind of lifestyle - and don't get me started on the bloody tinkers!"

You nod, and take the advice. "And gnome warlocks are bad news?"

"Gnomes are ultimately descended from the Little Folk of Faerie," Ambrose explains. "Their warlocks have a distinct tendency to look to the Old Country, as it were, when they go seeking patrons."

...ah. Yes, that could be Bad.

"Of course, whoever wrote THAT" - Ambrose eyes the book still in your hands with distaste - "appears not to have been satisfied by making ill-advised bargains with his or her ancestral liege-lords. Those broken summoning diagrams looked like they had more in common with extreme-range teleportation arrays than conventional summoning circles, which says things about What, exactly, the author was dealing with, and Where It was coming from."

You frown, re-open the Corrupted Tome, and flip through a couple of tattered pages until you find one of the images in question.

...

...it DOES have some similarities to the formulas you've been studying for the Spell of Interplanetary Teleportation, doesn't it?

Well, that's a whole other flavor of Bad.

You're not usually one to go in for burning books, but you might just have to make an exception in this case. The monsters of Hyrule give you quite enough horrible gribbly Things to worry about, without adding a whole OTHER branch of excessively-eyed, many-tentacled, slime-dripping horror to the pot.

For now, you return the Corrupted Tome to your pocket, and turn to assist Ambrose in preparing the Gates.

Due to your lack of any planar keys for Soul Society, you can't return the Shinigami directly to their domain, but the captains were entirely okay with that when you discussed the matter earlier. A brief detour to Japan, a quick call to open up the Senkaimon, and they'll be on their way.

All things considered, you're not about to take this lot too close to any of the Japanese individuals and groups that your Original either calls friends or has regular business dealings with. That rules out Karakura, the Shuzen Estate, and various locations in greater metropolitan Tokyo as potential landing zones.

Did you have some other destination in mind?


"Somewhere in Tokyo" will do. It's a big city, after all.

You are tempted to revisit the arena complex where the World Martial Arts Tournament was held, for not only is it a location familiar to both you and Ambrose, and thus easier to reach, it would also have more than enough space to accommodate the Shinigami task force.

That said, you decide to go with a different location. In part, this is because you don't know if the arena is currently in use for some other event - and while you could answer that with a quick Spell of Scrying, the OTHER reason you don't want to go to the stadium is because it might get some of the Shinigami looking at the place more closely, to try and figure out what your connection to it is.

Given that it's where your Original's name, face, and place of residence became known to thousands of people over the course of a few days, introducing the Shinigami to the arena seems like it might be tempting fate.

So you fix the idea of Tokyo in your mind, plug the city's general coordinates into your Gate Spell, and when it's ready, you open the way.

The Gates open into what appears to be an elevated observation deck, looking out at the Tokyo skyline. The location isn't one you immediately recognize, but as the Shinigami begin moving their wounded and dead through the portal, the sight of certain vaguely familiar buildings starts to tickle your memory. If THAT skyscraper is there, and THIS one is over there...

...oh, you must be in the Tokyo Tower!

...

Wait, isn't this observation deck open to tourists?

Cautiously, you step forward, pull back the cowl of your Warmage's Robe, and put your head through the Gate to take a look around.

...

Yup, there's a small group of four or five people standing near one of those binocular viewers, just down the way to your right, and when you turn and look in the other direction, you spot a few more civilians, and someone wearing a uniform - a security guard or Tower attendant or something like that, you're not really sure which. The good news is that everyone's looking out at the city, and none appear to have noticed the holes-in-space or the head sticking through one of them. They also haven't registered the presence of the Shinigami, but as those guys are spirits and not normally visible to your average human being, this was always less of a concern.

Ducking back through your portal, you turn to Ambrose. "I don't think we can take the knights and their horses out there."

Sparing you a glance of curiosity, the Wizard repeats your previous action of sticking his neck out for a moment, smiles and waves at someone, and then draws back.

"Not the most convenient place to drop off a dozen fully-equipped knights and their mounts," he agrees. "Just as well I was planning to send the horses back to base directly, then. They're smart enough to handle themselves, as long as a few of the knights go along to provide hands."

Opposable thumbs are very useful things, you have to agree.

"Still," you say aloud, "close to a dozen people in medieval European armor just showing up in the Tokyo Tower?"

"Not to worry, I took precautions."

That doesn't make you feel much better, to be honest, but you're a little busy removing and stowing your own out-of-place equipment to comment. Fortunately, unlike a full suit of plate, your armored robe comes off almost as easily as if it were ordinary cloth.

You're in the middle of changing when the steady *thump, thump, thump* of enormous clawed feet draws your attention back to the hallway, where the Celestial Tyrannosaurus has come into view, having finished its run.

On the other side of the Gate, you hear someone say, "Does anyone else hear that?"

You spare a telepathic nudge to Briar, letting her know that it's just about time for Rex to go bye-bye, and that she and Yachiru should dismount. After all, if you can't take a bunch of horses into the Tokyo Tower observation deck, you're CERTAINLY not about to try letting a dinosaur in.

While the Shinigami have been operating in good order all this time, they're not moving with the kind of speed they displayed in the opening assault. Some of it's the lack of urgency, more is to do with the need for care with the wounded, and the simple burden of the bodies - to say nothing of the loot that many of their number are hauling along.

On a related note, it's NOT just the members of the two advance teams that have their pockets and improvised satchels stuff full of shinies; you see several guys who you're sure stayed back with the reserve team showing off their loot to one another and laughing or arguing good-naturedly over their take.

Seems like the Captain-Commander's allowance of a spate of looting was conveyed to the rest of the strike force.

In any case, the slower pace of the exfiltration compared to the initial attack means that your Gate Spell has just about run out the clock while there are still about twenty Shinigami to see off - including most of the captains, although Kyoraku, Sui-Feng, and Komamura headed through the portal with the main body of troops. The knights are also present in full, although you notice that they've picked up battle damage since you last saw them assembled in their entirety.

Signaling for those that are about to step into the Gate to step back, you begin closing the portal-

The Tyrannosaur rumbles from outside the Gate Room's broken door.

"There it is again!"

-while Ambrose does the same with his.

Checking to make sure Briar and Yachiru are clear, you find your partner hovering in front of the Tyrannosaur's head, rather than above it, while the little Shinigami is bouncing around over by Captain Zaraki and two of his men, grinning happily as she shows off her jewelry.


-Hey, Briar/partner?-

-?-

-Mind thanking the T-Rex/predator/BIG TEETH for its help/assistance/terrifying impact before I dismiss it?-

-You know,-

comes the reply, after a short pause, -if I weren't a fairy/Fae/one of the Little Folk, I might think that you were going overboard with being polite/displays of gratitude towards your summons/minions/unreal beings.-

-But you ARE a fairy/Fae/one of the Little Folk.-

-Yeah/of course/don't you forget it, which is why I approve of the extra effort to stay on good terms with anything that could make your life difficult/bite you in half/step on you, if it had a mind to.-

While Briar's audible conversation with the Celestial Tyrannosaurus takes on a different tone, you turn your attention to Yachiru.

"Lieutenant Kusajishi," you call out.

"Un?" Yachiru replies, turning your way in mid-bounce.

"If you've finished showing off, I'd like the shiny bits back now."

Heaving a great sigh of, "I s'pose..." Yachiru begins removing the jewelry.

"Also, if you want to say goodbye to the T-Rex, now's the time-"

"Here'syourstuff'scusemegottago!"

*Zoom!*

Ah, hell.

While you scramble to catch the half-dozen jeweled odds and ends the little Shinigami just pulled off and threw your way, she dashes over to "Rexy!" with calls of "Bye-bye!" and "I had lots of fun!" and "We'll play again sometime!"

Thank Lu-sensei for teaching you Ki Enhancement; without the boosts to your reaction time and hand-eye coordination, you definitely would have dropped something. As it is, you "catch" close to a third of the shiny stuff by letting it hit you in the chest and fall into the awkward scoop formed by having one arm pressed against the top of your stomach, and snatch one of the necklaces out of the air with your teeth.

"Need a hand there, lad?" Ambrose chortles.

"Ha go' i'," you reply, as you begin pocketing the last of your loot. You pause in the middle to reach out and accept the scepter, handed over by the Eleventh Division officer with the feathers in his hair, who caught it - and the necklace wrapped around the head - when Yachiru sent it flying. "Thank you."

"And thank you for indulging our little lieutenant," he replies with a gracious nod. "There aren't many people willing to play with her like a regular child."

"That's 'cause she usually runs 'em into the ground or breaks their stuff," the bald one adds. "Or, y'know, breaks THEM."

"Well, yes."

It wasn't really a hardship, and aside from your desire not to accidentally be robbed of what you'd rightfully looted, you didn't have any particular issue with Yachiru's behavior during this whole incident.

Then again, your Original spars with super- and/or inhumanly strong little girls on a semi-regular basis, so your mutual perspective might be a little skewed.

"Speaking of 'playing,'" Captain Zaraki cuts in then, giving you a keen look. "I hear you fought two of the more impressive Quincy, and cast a whole lot of magic besides. You going to be good for that match you offered me?"

You take a moment to consider your reserves. Physically, you're fine, the Spell of Persistent Vigor having long since patched up the various bumps, bruises, and somewhat more serious injuries you sustained during the raid, and your spiritual and mental energies are pretty close to full as well. Your ki isn't quite so well-off, down by over a fifth of your maximum, but you've got more than enough left for a good fight.

The real issue is your mana, which is down by almost two-thirds, and will drain a little further with your next Gate Spell. True, you do still have a couple of restoratives in your pocket, but the two of them combined are still only good for replenishing about a fifth of your maximum mana.

That said, you still have almost all of the buffs you cast this morning, with only Greater Spell Immunity having been dismissed - and that one being no real loss, as taking resistance-slash-immunity to Quincy powers into a fight with a Shinigami would have been entirely pointless. Plus, given how fast you've seen the Shinigami junior officers move in a fight, to say nothing of the ridiculous level of spiritual power Captain Zaraki emanates even when he's calm, it seems a safe bet that a lot of your spell repertoire wouldn't have been much use in this planned bout anyway.

Though there IS also Maximum Power to consider, but you're leery of showing that one off again, especially when multiple captains will probably be hanging around to spectate and take notes.

Still...


You should probably take a rain check.

You have a pocket full of plunder and a head full of information, all of which needs to be passed on to your Original, and while you could entrust the loot to Ambrose as a precaution against the worst-case scenario in your spar with Captain Zaraki, there's no guarantee that you could pass a copy of your memories along via wizarding express.

In fact, there's one piece of critical data - that being what you've learned about the Soul King's status - that you explicitly CAN'T hand off to the old man, on penalty of the displeasure of the Goddesses, and as philosophically interesting as it is to speculate about the sort of divine punishment the shining sisters might visit upon an oath-breaking Shadow, it's the sort of thing that really is better left as a thought exercise.

With that in mind, you have to admit that it would probably be for the best if you took a rain check on that match.

You say as much, while ending your mystical "grip" on the spell holding the Celestial Tyrannosaurus here.

Sensing its dismissal, the great reptile rears up and roars, before fading from view.

"So cool!" Yachiru squeaks.

Meanwhile, Zaraki nods at your response, looking... not exactly disappointed with the answer, so much as if he'd expected it.

You then add that it'll be more enjoyable if you're at full power when you DO have that fight.

In the middle of flying back to her usual place on your shoulder, Briar sighs.

Yachiru, returning to HER spot on Zaraki's back, grins, nods, and exclaims, "Uh-huh!"

The eyepatch wearing maniac grins at that. "We'll see. Still," he continues, "this was a pretty good day. Got to bust some heads, got a few names and faces to look forward to fighting - with PERMISSION, even, and ain't that a first? - got a chance to grab some loot for the first time in a century, and Yachiru had fun."

"Yup! I did!"

The captain nods, visibly pleased.

"Out of curiosity, Captain Zaraki," Aizen says then, adjusting his glasses, "what happened to catch your eye enough that you thought it was worth taking?"

"Found some gold armbands, bracelets, and chains that all looked like they might fit," the Eleventh Division Captain replies, patting an unseen pocket through his long white coat. "Thought I might see how they feel in a fight, maybe get some adjustments made - and if they aren't worth wearing, they're still gold. I could always sell 'em, have 'em melted down and get a new set of bells made, or just let Yachiru have 'em." Zaraki eyes his fellow captain with a sort of larcenous comradery. "How'd you make out?"

"Not so well, I'm afraid," Aizen admits with a touch of wry humility. "I tried to focus on securing files and books, but not being fluent in the Quincies' written language made it difficult to tell what was worth taking."

Zaraki and Yachiru trade glances, and then shake their heads in unison.

"Never try to sort out somebody's books on the scene, Aizen," Zaraki says in a weirdly instructive tone. "Either you go in knowing exactly what to look for, or you leave 'em be."

The look the treacherous Fifth Division Captain gives his counterpart at that is a sight to behold.


The old wisdom holds that one should never interrupt an enemy when they're in the process of making a mistake. By extension, then, offering advice that would help an enemy correct a bad habit and/or perform more effectively is something else that one should avoid.

So you hold your tongue, and get on with opening the next Gate.

Ambrose already has another portal open, and the knights' horses are moving through double file, accompanied by four of the knights: the young woman; the redheaded archer, whose armor has clearly been punctured in a couple of places, but who moves easily enough despite that; the knight in dark armor whose face isn't entirely obscured behind his helmet; and the knight in silver armor who was guarding the Gate Room door when you returned.

The other end of the wizard's Gate seems to have come out in the middle of a wooded area of some size, where the trees grow tall enough to cover the appearance of over a dozen warhorses, but not so thickly as to make it difficult for the beasts to move around. You don't recognize the location, but the light of dawn can be seen creeping through the branches, which would put the place about eight hours behind early afternoon Tokyo. That would tend to suggest that Ambrose's chosen drop-off point is somewhere in Wales, either on the Drake property, close enough to it that the knights and horses can make the trek in short order, or perhaps just within range of a teleportation device or four.

The lack of a fairy welcoming party doesn't really rule out the first possibility, as the Drakes' resident sprites could still be asleep at this early hour. Alternately, they could just be far enough away to have missed its opening, or to still be en route from wherever they were when they noticed it.

Trusting that Ambrose would not lead danger to the Drakes' doorstep first thing in the morning, you turn your attention to your own spellcasting.

In short order, another Gate opens, and the remaining knights and Shinigami begin to pass through.

As the knights approach your portal, each of them reaches for a small device on their person - a brooch here, a belt buckle there, that kind of thing - and is briefly swallowed by a pale aura of Summoning Magic. When the lights fade, arms and armor have vanished, leaving some very sharp suits in their place. Several of the knights are granted top-of-the-line sunglasses in the process, but others aren't; a few don hats of assorted styles - the knight with Middle Eastern features gains a modest headdress of the sort common to that region - but others remain bareheaded. Most are wearing gloves.

The young knight with the shield is an exception to the status quo. Instead of a dress suit, he's wearing a violet hoodie over a black shirt and a white-collar shirt underneath that, with black pants. A pair of rectangular-framed eyeglasses sit atop his nose, and he squints at their presence - half in mild discomfort, half in clear puzzlement - before lowering them so he can see over the tops of the lenses. In the process, you note a bracelet on his right wrist, with a bangle in the shape of his shield hanging next to what looks like a fancy goblet.

The red knight is another standout, in that she doesn't reach for any device that you can see, instead just sort of dismissing her armor in a crackling burst of red lightning. When she emerges from the glare, she's wearing blue jeans and a tank-top, with a red bomber jacket slung over one shoulder. Even with the sunglasses that have appeared, the sight of her face has several of the Shinigami glancing at the Knight-Captain, who underwent a similar unassisted transformation - in a burst of gold rather than red - but came out dressed like most of her knights.

"Wow, Red!" Yachiru exclaims. "You're really cute!"

A few of the knights wince at that.

"I am NO such thing!" the figure you're pretty sure by now is Sir Mordred snaps. "My sister's the cute one!"

Again, several pairs of Shinigami eyes turn to Arturia.

"Not him!" Morded protests. "The short one that left with the horses."

The red knight isn't really in a position to be calling other people "short," but the description does at least make it clear which of the absent knights she's referring to.

"Hmmm," Yachiru muses for a moment. "Maybe she was, I didn't get a good look - but you're definitely cute, too!"

"You wanna go, brat?" comes the flat reply.

The little lieutenant grins fiercely. "Yup!"

"Let's just put that on hold, shall we?" Clad in navy blue, the tall knight with short blond hair steps forward and half-pushes, half-drags Mordred towards the portal. "Come along, now, we can't keep the Sorcerer waiting."

"Thank you," you comment.

The knight nods graciously.

"Oi, get your hands off me, you gorilla!"

Fortunately, everyone gets through the Gate without incident. Ambrose pauses on the threshold to give his wizard hat a deliberate quarter-turn, which triggers a surge of Illusion Magic and makes him appear to be wearing his own suit and hat, with his staff disguised as a cane.

That leaves you and your partner as the last people in the Gate Room, and most likely in the entire fortress. You take one last look around and then step through your portal, walking a few steps clear of the gap in space-time before allowing it to shut.

And that, as they say, is that.

Looking around the observation deck, you note that some of the Shinigami have already moved out, exiting the Tower by the simple expedient of walking through the viewing windows and then moving along through the air, descending a bit as they go, until they reach one of the nearby rooftops. Most of the departures are taking place by twos and threes, uninjured reapers supporting their walking wounded and carrying the more serious cases. One of the solitary figures is Captain Kyoraku, whose straw hat and pink mantle stand out in the crowd as he opens the Senkaimon once again, allowing twenty or so Shinigami to begin the trip back to the Soul Society.

It is a little odd to see dozens of black-clad figures running over empty air in plain sight of civilians - some of whom are armed with binoculars, even - and not having even a single person bat an eye at the casual defiance of gravity.

Then again, the potential audience seems to be a bit distracted by the other sights available to be seen. Arturia and her knights are, to a one, exceptionally good-looking people, and their outfits just enhance that.

"Come here, you!"

"Nah-nah!"

...though Mordred's angry pursuit of a bouncy little pink-haired girl none of the regular humans can actually perceive is getting a few looks for completely different reasons, however abbreviated they might be due to Japanese social mores.

You get a few looks yourself, although these seem a bit more nervous on the whole, the fiery hue and golden lining of your Red Suit apparently once again giving folks the wrong impression about your allegiances.

"Huh," Captain Ichimaru notes. "Now ain't that something? And here I thought we'd have to bring all of ya back to Soul Society for another trip through the spirit convertors."

What is he-?

Oh. Right, you were technically turned into spirits (or at least spiritual matter) by your trip to Soul Society, and since you didn't go back the same way, you should have been invisible upon your return to Earth.

But Gates - and for that matter, the lesser Spell of Plane Shifting - allow passage to and from such spiritual realms as a matter of course. While they don't protect you from environmental dangers like extremes of temperature, corrosive substances, or hazardous energy fields or discharges, they DO let you interact with the environment relatively normally, which would necessitate the same kind of... adjustment... that the Senkaimon makes. And it works both ways.

"Sorry to disappoint," the Wizard replies dryly.

Do you have anything you wish to bring up before parting ways with the Soul Reapers?


As it happens, there are a few things that you feel need clarification, before you and the Shinigami go your separate ways.

To the Captain-Commander, you bring up the possibility that even the very thorough destruction of Yhwach's body may not have been enough to truly "kill" the Sealed King, due to whatever mechanism he used to cheat death the first time. Seeing as how the man didn't spring up fully re-formed in the immediate wake of the assassination, and likewise isn't leading the Wandenreich against you right now, you can tentatively rule out the worst-case scenario of Yhwach having spontaneously resurrected himself at full power, but you can't say the same regarding lesser or later forms of revival.

The captains present trade speaking glances.

"Silbern WAS technically within or adjacent to the Soul Society," Aizen muses, frowning. "It's possible that the Quincy who died there COULD have begun the process of being reborn on Earth already, just as a soul that passed in the Seireitei or Rukongai would."

"If that's the case," Captain Komamura's voice echoes within the shadows of his helmet, "they would merely be infants with unusually high spiritual potential - even their King would no longer be a threat."

"Maybe, maybe not," you say. "Yhwach already took a shot at cheating death; who's to say he didn't figure out a way to cheat reincarnation, too?"

Zaraki frowns. "How would you even 'cheat' something like that?"

"I believe the Shadow is suggesting that Yhwach might manage a conscious reincarnation," Aizen says slowly.

"Ain't that supposed to be impossible for anyone who ain't kinda ridiculously holy?" Ichimaru inquires.

"If it's been done before, then it's not impossible," you state. "Just very difficult. But that's not really the point." Turning back to Yamamoto, you continue. "I'm bringing this up because I personally want to know what happened to Yhwach's soul, and whether or not I have to get ready for him coming back in some form. If I do find an answer to that, would you prefer that I pass the information on through the same channels I used before, or would a more direct communique be appropriate?"

"How 'direct' do you mean?" the Captain-Commander inquires.

"I know how to cast the Spell of Sending. It sends a spoken message of up to twenty-five words directly to a single recipient, even if they're on a separate plane of existence from the caster, and then allows the receiver to reply in kind."

"How fast do these messages travel?" Aizen inquires.

"Basically instantaneously," you admit. "Allowing for the time it takes both parties to speak and/or hear the messages, of course."

The captains consider that.

"And you can just, what, whistle up anybody? Just like that?" Zaraki asks.

"Anyone that I'm familiar with, at least," you admit. "Having met face-to-face is enough to qualify."

"If it transpires that Yhwach is still active in some form," Yamamoto rumbles, stroking his beard, "then yes, I would prefer to be informed promptly." Then he cracks open one eye, shooting you a keen look. "But I would hope not to be disturbed for any lesser concerns."

In other words, don't bug the old death god with the Soul-Cutting Sword of Fiery Doom unless it's VERY important, as in "the world as we know it may be about to end, again." A simple enough request, and one you have no real issue with honoring.

"Not a problem, sir," you tell him. "Though speaking of lesser concerns, there's an issue or two with some of the spoils from this little campaign that ought to be cleared up as well."

"Oh?"

You recount how you assisted two of Sui-Feng's men in clearing out the Wandenreich Grandmaster's personal files, with a brief aside to the Second Division Captain that the shrunken filing cabinets can be restored to their original state simply by tossing them on a solid surface, or by waiting for the spell to run down.

"That should take between nine and eleven days," you add, allowing for your personal uncertainty as to just how capable all of your summoned helpers were in the School of Transformation. The terms of the Spell to Summon Monsters allows for some variation in the results, even with multiple castings of the same iteration of the spell, and group summons like you were using it for just compound that. "You'll want a fairly large room to hold everything."

"How large?" the boss ninja lady asks.

"The main archive was spread out over three levels, with roughly fifty filing cabinets per floor - each about four feet by two feet by one foot - and I found another half-dozen in a hidden room just off of Haschwalth's office."

"...so, very big," Sui-Feng says after a moment.

You nod. "In addition to that, I personally made off with the contents of the man's libraries - one of which seemed to be a collection of battle trophies and mementos, the other mainly for entertainment - as well as several safe-boxes he had hidden away. Some of their contents were additional files-"

Sui-Feng started looking at you sharply again when you mentioned the libraries, and her gaze grows keener now, to the point where you have to wonder if the Shinigami have ever developed a technique for cutting things or setting them on fire just by glaring at them. She seems the type to have learned such things - or, in their absence, to create them from scratch.

"-which I don't mind handing over copies of or passing on the relevant details of, after I've had a chance to go through everything myself," you continue. "Provided I'm paid in kind, anyway."

Ichimaru actually opens his eyes to stare at you. "Didn' you just have half a dozen giant rock men lootin' the place for everything that wasn't nailed down or on fire?"

"Yes, and that plus your helping me to not get killed during the proceedings covers the costs of the magic I used for transportation and combat. The information-gathering's something else, though, and I figured you'd want to clear any and all debts as soon as possible."

You did mention the issue with mystical debts during the pre-battle briefing, but even with that heads up, it's clear that the Shinigami captains aren't really used to thinking in those terms.

"I would prefer to compensate you for your... assistance... monetarily," Sui-Feng says.

"Your men mentioned that, but like I told them, I'd rather trade intel."


"On a side note, once I'm recovered and ready for that fight..."

Zaraki grins. "I'll be looking forward to hearing from you, then."

"You will still be required to submit a request for leave and undergo the standard power-sealing before you can travel to Earth, Captain Zaraki," Yamamoto reminds him firmly. "And don't expect to receive permission to release your limiter just for a private brawl."

The big man slumps. "Ruin my fun, why don't you..."

"What's this about limiters?" you ask.

"Any lieutenant or captain deploying to the Living World must have the Soul-Limiting Seal applied," Captain Komamura replies. "It reduces the amount of power we can use by eighty percent, making us less likely to accidentally frighten or injure living souls and Pluses, and reducing the damage we cause to the environment when we must fight."

An interesting policy, although given the Hakuba kami's comments about the messes patrolling Shinigami are prone to leaving in their wake, you have to wonder if Soul Society came up with these limiters entirely on their own, or if they were some sort of concession to Japan's other divine powers.

Probably best not to ask right now.

Anyway, while fighting a weakened Zaraki is definitely something you'd try to angle for in a serious battle, when it comes to a friendly spar, the prospect is admittedly a little disappointing.

As it happens, you have access to a couple of demiplanes, where won't be anyone around to injure - at least, not as long as you check with Balthazar ahead of time about scheduling. Perhaps they'd be willing to make an exception to official policy if you mentioned this?

You tell the captains that you're mainly interested in two categories of information.

The first is basically any and all data the Wandenreich had on the use of spiritual power, ki, youki, magic, and other exotic energies. A big part of the reason why this raid worked out so well is that the militant Quincy weren't prepared to deal with arcane magic on the level that you and Ambrose were capable of throwing around, but that state of affairs is undoubtedly going to change as the escaped Wandenreich process their defeat, the death of their King, and what led to it. You want to know what sort of powers they WERE used to dealing with, and what avenues they might explore to shore up their understanding of and ability to contest with non-spiritual energies.

The second category of information you'd like to get your hands on would be a list of the Wandenreich's Earthly assets, whether materials, manpower, finances, or contacts. You know of a few of these through your dealings with the Archers and Ishidas, Ambrose was able to identify a few more on his own, and you could probably find others by contacting the Shuzens and the Drakes, but access to the Wandenreich's own records of such things would speed any such search up - and speed is going to be important, as the surviving members of the Wandenreich are probably securing, calling upon, and/or reorganizing their resources even as you speak.

The Wandenreich WILL be looking for you after this, and for anyone connected to you. If your Original is going to avoid and survive that attention and keep your allies and the people he's taken responsibility for safe, he needs to know who and what to be on the lookout for.

By and large, the captains - including a returned Captain Kyoraku, who appears to have run out of critical cases in need of rapid evacuation - find your request pretty reasonable, and even beneficial to them.

As Captain Ichimaru puts it: "We ain't supposed to get involved with the Living World, particularly outside Japan, but it's kan to riceballs the Quincy know that and'll stay as far from the country as they can - which is gonna make it a pain in the neck to try an' track 'em down. Havin' a few pairs of mortal eyes on the problem is better'n the alternative."

His support is... touching. Really.

There is one point that most of the captains are against, however, and that's regarding a particular subset of spiritual powers. Quite simply, they don't want to hand over any information the Wandenreich had about Shinigami capabilities, or Soul Society's other assets.

Do you want to try and press them on this point?


What was that?

"What was that?" Captain Kyoraku asks, blinking in surprise as he turns to you.

"I said, I have access to an uninhabited demiplane," you repeat yourself.

"No, not that, the other part."

You frown. "...I'd like to fight Captain Zaraki at his best?"

That's my boy's Shadow!

Fight, fight, fight!

That's what I thought he said.

"Yeah, that." The unshaven man tilts his hat back to regard you with an expression of some disbelief, which is shared by several of the other captains. "Did you get hit in the head at some point, or are you just crazier than I thought?"

"Maybe the former," Briar interjects, "but almost certainly the latter."

"What's crazy about wanting a good fight?" Zaraki wonders.

"I'm not crazy," you retort. "If I were, I'd be asking to fight him right now, when I'm not at my best and have a bunch of stuff that could be damaged, lost, or inconveniently misplaced in the process."

"You could hand your loot off to the Wizard and the knights before we fought," Zaraki suggests helpfully.

"I could, but I've got some things I need to confer with my Original about in person. No real way around that."

"Damn."

"But you're not worried about getting killed?" Kyoraku presses.

"Don't forget that I'm a projection, Captain. From a certain perspective, I 'die' every time the spell that created me runs its course, and the version of me that is 'born' the next time my Original uses the spell involved is a new entity. We're extremely similar, because we're always patterned off of the same person, but there isn't a true continuity of consciousness from one Shadow to the next."

Though it will be interesting to see if that changes, after you pass this incarnation's memories on to Alex.

"If it makes you feel better, my Original wouldn't be so sanguine about risking his life." You pause, thinking back on your Original's exploits to date, and then add, "Probably."

Captain Kyoraku doesn't appear to have been reassured by your reassurance.

In any case, even with your claims of the demiplane lacking any souls to be endangered by the full force of a Shinigami captain's unleashed strength, there is still a reluctance among the other senior officers to allow Captain Zaraki to fight you on a realm previously unknown to them.

As Ichimaru points out, the Senkaimon is set up for trips between Earth, Soul Society, and occasionally Hueco Mundo. It might be possible to modify the system to reach your pocket realm, but that would require an investment of manpower and materials that the captains aren't really keen on making - not for this one-off match between you and their bloodthirstiest member, at least.

Sending Zaraki to meet up with you somewhere on Earth so that you can open a Gate to the demiplane isn't considered a particularly good alternative, because if you lost the bout badly enough, your opponent (and very likely his lieutenant as well) would be stuck on the demiplane, with no easy way for Soul Society to mount a recovery operation. Fighting him in the Soul Society is the other possibility, but you sense that the Shinigami would kind of like to avoid inviting you back into their domain if they can reasonably avoid doing so.

The easiest option that you can see would be to get a third party capable of creating Gates to tag along to the fight, to make sure Zaraki makes it back to Soul Society in good order if he manages to kill you. You'd have to pay for that service, of course, but you're flush with loot, so this is rather less of a concern than it might otherwise have been.

It's also occurred to you that you could potentially bypass the whole problem by using the Spell of Planar Binding to call Captain Zaraki to the demiplane. As long as he agreed to fight you in exchange for his freedom, then the outcome wouldn't really matter; he would be returned directly to the Soul Society at the conclusion of the match.

Of course, there is the non-zero possibility that Zaraki is too powerful to be called upon in such a manner. And if it DID work, you can't see the Shinigami captains being too thrilled to learn that you were capable of calling and binding them to your service. It might be better not to mention this facet of your magic.

You figure your Original can live without the Wandenreich's notes on Soul Society. If it turns out that he urgently needs to know something about how the Shinigami operate in the future, he's got a few exiled reapers he can go to who he has much better relations with.

And if that doesn't work, there's always Divination Magic.

With that concession made, the captains have no remaining objections to giving you the information you wanted - eventually, anyway. It's going to take them a while to go through all the files you helped the two ninjas swipe, let alone to confirm what's relevant to your interests and what isn't.

That's fine, though. It's going to take a while to sort out the books and the handful of files that you made off with, too.

Then the ever-so-annoying Captain Ichimaru raises a valid point: "So what happens if the Shadow's creator finds something in those books that would be a security concern for us?"


Your offer to bring in another spellcaster to handle the transportation issues takes some of the wind out of the captains' sails. You can see that a few of them still want to protest the idea, whether it's for a lack of trust in you, your Original, and whoever you might hire (Sui-Feng), simply for the annoyance's sake (Ichimaru), or because they're too used to shutting down Zaraki's attempts at picking fights (Kyoraku).

The Captain of the Eleventh Division is, of course, approximately one hundred and ten percent behind your suggestion, and the Captain-Commander has already let it be known that he at least doesn't disapprove of it, as long as all the paperwork is filed ahead of time. You aren't sure, but you think Yamamoto may be treating this as a chance to let one of his more problematic captains blow off some steam in a manner that won't meaningfully inconvenience the Soul Society.

Captain Komamura takes his cue from his superior, and Aizen at least puts on a show of leaning the same way. What he's actually thinking behind that harmlessly mild-tempered facade, you couldn't say.

You wonder how many of the captains have figured out that you could "hire" your Original to do the job, and have him turn up magically disguised - whether in a variation of the idealized adult form you're currently wearing, or as one of a thousand other possible guises.

You also wonder if Alex will agree to that, or if he'll think it's too big a risk.

Regardless, this settles the matter.

Gained Bout With Kenpachi

If there actually is anything in Jugram's books that Soul Society would consider sensitive information, the only way to be absolutely certain that it didn't get out would be for you to hand over or destroy the books right here and now, and you're not about to do either. You and your proxies looted them fair and square, they're yours.

Well, MOSTLY yours, minus Ambrose's cut.

Besides, those books were previously in the possession of the Wandenreich - some of them for centuries, if the styles and states of the bindings were any indication - and they HAD to have been looked over at least once before ending up on the Grandmaster's shelves. Unless there's something hidden away in the handful of enchanted books that the Quincy couldn't recognize or crack, any information the libraries contained that posed a risk to the Soul Society would ALREADY be in the hands of enemies of the spiritual state. It's possible that the militant Quincy haven't USED that information as yet, waiting as they were on the resurrection of their spiritual liege, but they would certainly have incorporated it into their plans by now.

The possibility of your Original learning anything about Soul Society seems like a trivial concern compared to the verified security leak that they already have to deal with, but you suppose that might be all the more reason for them to want to prevent further information breaches.

Outwardly, you reply to Captain Ichimaru's question, "I could probably convince my Original to agree to return the books in question to you, without making copies."

"An' if that ain't good enough?" the fox-faced Shinigami replies.

You shrug. "Then you can take comfort in the knowledge that my Original is one sorcerer who doesn't bear you, your organization, or the Power you serve any particular grudge, isn't a suicidal idiot, and has more than enough problems of his own to be getting on with-"

"Can confirm," Ambrose notes, nodding sagely.

"-without making trouble for an entire well-armed afterlife." You pause at that and turn back to the Captain-Commander. "Although speaking of afterlives, and planes linked to them, what's going to happen to Silbern?"

"Hoping to go back for another round of looting?" Zaraki guesses.

"The thought had crossed my mind," you admit.

Yamamoto speaks then. "Since we were first alerted to Silbern's existence, elements of the Twelfth Division and the Kido Corps have been working to determine how its sub-dimension is attached to Soul Society, and how it might be detatched with minimal damage to Soul Society and the other realms. Captain Kurotsuchi has been arguing for the fortress to be relocated somewhere within the Soul Society proper, that it might be studied, or failing that, for the Senkaimon to be recalibrated to allow our forces to travel there independently-"

You were afraid that might be the case.

"-but between the survival and escape of the Wandenreich's forces, Jugram Haschwalth's possession of the Almighty, and the continued existence of those portal chambers, I am of a mind to have the place destroyed as soon as is practical."

...better than letting a mad scientist who didn't directly contribute to the invasion having free run of the place, you suppose.


If the Shinigami want to blow up their enemies' main stronghold rather than strip it down to the foundations for anything useful or shiny, that's their choice. You aren't bound by their decision, and the correct Spell(s) of Divination will allow you and your Original to determine how long you have before Silbern goes up in smoke, as well as whether or not the Wandenreich will be returning. You can plan further loot runs once you have that information.

"Still going to make another run at the place, huh?" Zaraki guesses.

"Most likely," you admit.

"Fair enough. But if I find out you delayed our fight to go looting," he adds, raising his ragged-edged blade at you in warning, "I'm going to get cranky."

You will consider yourself warned.

Several of the other captains shake their heads, sigh, and/or look away from the two of you, pretty clearly done with the topic in question.

"Should you run across any other information that would be useful to the Soul Society," the Captain-Commander says, "it would be appreciated if it were passed on with the remainder."

"I will keep that in mind," you answer, not promising anything. "Just remember my price."

The old man nods.

That's all any of them have to say on the matter, which is just as well. You weren't particularly inclined to offer to escort another force of Shinigami to ransack Silbern again, and you might have had some trouble keeping your refusal polite - especially if Captain Ichimaru started needling you again. He seems to be entirely too good at that.

Regardless, you have no further questions for the Shinigami.

Neither does Ambrose, at least not at this time. The Wizard notes that his primary concern in the aftermath of this business is what to do about the Wandenreich survivors, and that there's not much point in making any concrete plans on that front until all the information from this raid gets sorted out.

He also notes that, like you, he's willing to trade information in kind, though he admits - with a mock-sour glance in your direction - that he and the knights didn't have your good fortune in discovering a major library or archive. They did pick up some books and paperwork from various offices and private collections, but for sheer quantity of intel, you and the Shinigami are well ahead of them.

Quality, as noted, remains to be determined.

"Then for the moment, our business is concluded," Yamamoto intones, rapping the butt of his sword-disguised-as-a-cane against the floor.

The other captains respond to this by breaking the loose ranks they'd adopted and - in some cases immediately, in others after exchanging farewells, the odd bit of thanks, and once with a cheerfully homicidal "see you soon" - making their way out of the observation deck, passing through the glass wall to make their way down to the rooftop where Captain Kyoraku opened the Senkaimon earlier, and where some of the lieutenants have been waiting out your impromptu meeting.

You wonder, idly, why they didn't just open the Senkaimon here in the Tower. Was it concern about exposing the tourists to too much spiritual energy, does their equivalent of the Gate Spell require the caster to be outside, or is there some other factor at play you aren't aware of?

As you probe at the area around you a little more intently than before, you note that Yamamoto has hung back a bit, and is looking at Arturia and Ambrose.

"Was there something more?" the King inquires.

"You may recall that I mentioned the Shinigami operated differently, long ago," the Captain-Commander replies, with something of the absentminded air of the wizened elder he appears to be. "One of those differences was the Senkaimon. It was less convenient, then, reliant on extended rituals whose secrets were held close by the noble families and their most trusted vassals. To activate it required a secure location, preferably one whose ambient spiritual energies were strong enough to make up for the shortcomings of those calling the gate."

Wait. If they needed secure locations on Earth just to deploy here-

"You held territory on Earth," Arturia concludes.

-what she said.

"We did," Yamamoto admits, "and so, we had regular contact with living humans. That changed gradually as the Gotei 13 was born and took on its current shape, but even by the time of the war with the Lichtreich, a millennium ago, we still maintained some connections with Earth - which meant that we heard things. News from afar, tales of other lands inhabited by strange people with stranger ways, and their own heroes and monsters. And while I have stood at the heart of the Thirteen Divisions since their inception, in my younger days, that authority and responsibility sometimes chafed. From time to time, my restless younger self would walk the Earth, following those stories far afield - at times, very far indeed. Even to the land of the Britons, some fifteen centuries past."

...

...is he saying what you think he's saying?

"Forgive me if I do not recall meeting you," Arturia replies, not so much as the singular protruding hair on her hair being ruffled by the old Shinigami's words.

"That would be because I happened to cross paths with your spell-weaving sister first," Yamamoto grumbles.

King, wizard, and most of the knights collectively wince.

"Do I dare ask what happened?" Arturia sighs.

"Oh, the usual witchery," the Shinigami grumbles. "Fall asleep with a beautiful woman in your arms-"

Mordred snorts and shakes her head at this, while the other three knights who appear to be related to Arturia flinch, groan, or otherwise display signs of despair.

"-wake up strapped to an operating table while she's trying to inextricably bind you to her will," Yamamoto continues, shaking his head.

"Yeah, that sounds like the old hag," Mordred agrees, before pausing. "Hang on a minute. I remember one of the witch's workshops burning down, and her going missing in Faerie for most of the next season. Was that you?"

"I did start the fire," Yamamoto admits. "Something in her workshop reacted poorly to it, and the next thing I knew, I was in the Fae realm."

The knight in jeans grins. "Least stressful summer of my life. Thanks for that, old timer."

"You're welcome."

"On behalf of my nation and my family," Arturia sighs, "I am dreadfully sorry about my sister. She's... well. She is."

"Indeed," Yamamoto agrees.

You frown at the use of present tense. In your admittedly brief experience, the Once and Future King has been fairly precise in her language, which means... actually you don't want to know.


The part of you that "remembers" dealing with Koume and Kotake's witchy shenanigans is just as happy not to inquire after the fate of an Earthly witch who might well be on the same level as the Gerudo crones, if not worse.

By that same token, however, you realize that you probably SHOULD make sure of what exactly happened to one of the most infamous magic-users in this world's history, just on the general principle that dark witches, necromancers, evil sorcerers and the like have a really bad habit of not staying properly dead. And that's BEFORE taking into account your ongoing association with the girl who is the current reincarnation of King Arthur.

That having been said, you don't feel the need to bring any of that up right now. If it was urgent, you're fairly sure that Ambrose would have said something before now.

"By the time I made my way out of Faerie, I was overdue to report back to Soul Society," Yamamoto continues, "and it wasn't until some three decades later that I was able to arrange another period of leave, by which point I discovered that your realm had fallen most of a generation prior. The entire affair gave me a rather poor impression of the Western world, which later incidents did absolutely nothing to redress - but I will admit, I was always disappointed at having missed my chance to see the truth of the tales surrounding you and your cohort with my own eyes."

"And what do you think, now that you've seen these shades of what once was?" Arturia inquires.

"Now, I truly regret not having the chance to see you fight in life, Artur Pendragon." As the old Shinigami speaks, you catch a hint of something akin to Zaraki's thwarted eagerness for a fight in his tone and features. "But I am pleased to have been able to fight at your side - even if I must now resign myself to the fact that Lieutenant Sasakibe will NEVER let me hear the end of it when he puts the clues together and realizes your identities for himself."

The King nods gravely. "My apologies for the inconvenience, then. It has been an honor, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13."

"Likewise, Your Majesty."

With final salutes exchanged, Yamamoto goes on his way, blurring down to the rooftop to join his troops and return to the Soul Society.

The old death god's departure clears the air a bit, the aura of elemental flame and spiritual power that accompanied him thinning out and giving you a better sense of the normal conditions within the Tokyo Tower.

...

Why do you still sense a divine being in the area? Not a Shinigami, but one of the Earthly kami.

On an unrelated note, with the main portion of your mission complete and the Shinigami gone, do you want to dismiss some of the many-layered buffs you've been maintaining? You have a LOT of magic active on your person right now, most of which is no longer necessary, while Mind Blank is preventing the spells' auras from being detected, you've had some prior indication that even this defense doesn't prevent random supernatural phenomenon from being drawn to your general location.

That said, most of the Wandenreich ARE still out there, and at least some of them know what you look like and have reason to think ill of you.


While you don't expect any particular trouble from the Wandenreich just yet, you feel it's best to leave your enhanced defenses in place for the time being - at least until you've made contact with your Original and passed on your loot, as well as discussed the matter of the Heart of the Soul King.

It would be rather embarrassing to get killed before managing all of that, not to mention ruinous to your profit margin.

The Earthbound kami tend not to wander far from their places of power, but it's not like it's impossible for them to do so - you've seen proof of that firsthand - and while you aren't sure why one of the little gods of Japan would have been in the Tokyo Tower when your Gate opened up, you can make an educated guess.

As Balthazar's account of events after you left New York earlier this morning made clear, the opening of a Gate is a rather noticeable event all on its own, and while you, Ambrose, and the Knights are warded against detection, the Shinigami weren't. It's entirely possible, then, and even likely, that the kami - whether singularly or collectively - foresaw the portal's opening and decided to investigate. Or maybe protest.

You suppose the kami in question could have been in the Tower on business of their own, perhaps even just doing the tourist thing, but that seems a bit unlikely, even taking your Original's experiences into account.

...then again, he's never made such abundant use of Gates before today...

Regardless, you figure it would be best to locate the kami and explain what happened, to try and smooth over any offense you might have caused.

With that in mind, you start moving.

"Something caught your eye, lad?" Ambrose asks.

"There's a kami in here," you reply. "I thought I might go introduce myself."

"Oh? Mind if I tag along?"

The divine aura is of modest strength and feels rather restrained, which you suspect is part of the reason why you didn't notice it until after the Shinigami had left. This makes it a little tricky to track down, but after wandering the length of the observation deck for a couple of minutes, the trail leads you up the stairs to the second level, where things get a lot clearer.

And by that you mean there's a Shinto shrine set up here, a little fenced-in area with two of those wooden lantern-like posts before the main shrine and offering box.

The kami you've been sensing is in that "ball of light" form you've seen some of the other divinities of Japan use, and is huddled down behind the altar, pale glow muted so that it's difficult to see.

Briar takes one look, sighs, and flits over. "Hey, it's okay."

You hear a tight, whispered voice: "Are they gone?"

"Yes, the scary death gods are all gone. You can come out."

There is a pause, and then the ball of light shoots up in the air to a point about a foot above the shrine, radiance intensifying. Although the main body glows pure white, little motes of eye-catching orange orbit it, their own light bright enough to be apparent, yet dim enough to avoid washing out the cool, pale hue of the central mass. At the same time, the previous sense of restraint falls away, and the structure around you seems to thrum with the rush of energy.

"Whew!" what you suppose to be the kami of the Tower itself exclaims. "That was too close. I thought for a minute there I was going to have a front-row seat to a real-life Godzilla movie! Oh, uh, could you maybe forget that you saw me hiding like that?"

The somewhat sheepish request is addressed to your partner, suggesting that the kami either hasn't noticed you or hasn't connected you to her. But...


"Suit yourself."

"Don't mind if I do," Ambrose replies, as he joins you on your little search.

As you try to track down the source of non-Shinigami divine energy you can sense across the observation deck, an unrelated matter occurs to you.

"By the way, Wizard; what would it be worth to you to see my Original's face when I tell him what happened in Silbern?"

There is a long pause as Ambrose considers that.

"I would almost be tempted to give up my claim on one of the better items the Knights grabbed," he finally admits.

"But only almost," you state, seeking confirmation.

"I don't actually know what they grabbed," Ambrose explains himself. "There might be something in the lot that's too good to pass up, even for such a worthy cause."

You nod, understanding where he's coming from on several levels. You don't particularly want to give up your claim on the magic items you grabbed from Jugram's collection, nor any of the ones the elementals grabbed, even though you have at best a passing notion of what any of them can do.

"Sure."

At the sound of your voice, the ball of light goes still. You don't see it move, exactly, but you have the sense of being regarded by a Presence that was previously there, but not really paying much attention to you.

It - or rather, he, if the tone of the voice is anything to go by - is paying attention now.

"You, uh, heard that?" the small god asks, orange-flecked white glow taking on a slight pinkish hue.

"I did."

"...how?" Curiosity bleeds through the obvious embarrassment. "And for that matter, why can't I pick up anything off of you?"

"Well, to the former, I'm her partner" - you nod towards Briar - "and also sort of a Chosen One of another Goddess. And as to the latter, I'm under the Spell of Mind Blank."

There is a beat.

"That just makes me want to ask even more questions!" the kami complains.

"I know that feeling," Ambrose mutters.

"What, you can see me too?" The Presence shifts and regards Arturia and her two escorts, the ash-blond knight in the cream-colored suit, and the grey-haired young shield-bearer. "Can you?"

"I can," Arturia replies.

"As can I," the young knight in the hoodie replies, still wearing those glasses low enough that he's looking over them rather than through them.

"I as well," the tallest member of the group says, before adding, "Our other companions would also be able to perceive you, Holy One, if with differing degrees of clarity. Each of us has years of experience dealing with the Fae, sorcery, and other supernatural phenomenon, and such things tend to leave those who survive them... mindful of their surroundings."

"What, even the children?"

"I am older than I appear," Arturia replies.

"I am blessed by Our Lord," the other young-looking knight answers, his tone purely factual.

"Oh. Well, that's different, then."

The novelty of being seen by so many people at once appears to have put the kami of the Tower in a chatty mood. Thinking on it a moment, you can understand why. For all of the traffic the Tokyo Tower must see - probably hundreds of tourists even on a slow day - the only people that would normally and routinely be able to interact with the kami would be the attendants of his shrine, and those people (who you don't see at the moment) would usually be busy directing tours and performing their spiritual duties to just chat with the little god. Even when they had a few minutes to take a break, the constant traffic would be something of a damper on any potential conversation - what would it look like to the public, if one of the people chosen for such a prominent role as this were to be found talking to an imaginary person?

All things considered, the kami of the Tower probably doesn't get to socialize much.

Do you have anything you'd like to ask this kami?


"If not an item, could you see your way towards owing me a minor favor instead?"

Ambrose pauses. "Do you mean owing your creator, or owing YOU, specifically?"

You pause in turn, considering that. From a certain point of view, you are simply an agent of the Original Alex's will, something created of, bound to, and destined to return to him; any debts you incur would be his to pay or receive, as appropriate.

Original Alex has a few outstanding debts to the wizard, and something as minor as what you're offering Ambrose wouldn't clear any of them, but it would reduce the weight of your maker's obligations a bit.

At the same time, from that "turn your head and squint" perspective so useful in working with Illusion Magic and the powers of Shadow, it's possible to think of you as an entity in your own right, for though you arise from your creator, you are NOT him. You are very similar, certainly, but you have your own will and motivation - you've merely chosen to align them with your maker's.

So you could, indeed, claim whatever small debt Ambrose would owe you for the chance to see Original Alex's reaction to the events of the Silbern Raid.

That raises another important question, however.

"What do you want?" Ambrose asks.

You feel it would only be proper to make a small offering to the shrine, as recompense for the disturbance you inadvertently caused by opening the Gate here.

That does beg the question of what, exactly, you want to give up; you didn't bring any of Original Alex's money with you, not seeing the need at the time, and the mundane loot you filched from Silbern is currently in shrunken cloth form in your dimensional pocket, and would require some doing to sort out.

As you consider just what form your offering should take, you ask the kami of the Tower if he's seen anyone else pop into - or for that matter, out of - the Material Plane using his territory.

"Only on an almost daily basis," comes the wry reply. "Local magic-users and other beings capable of teleportation or similar forms of travel have been using the Tower as a destination point since it was built. In the early days, it was just because it was an easy landmark to remember, but decades of such activity - to say nothing of the impact of all the tourists coming and going - has reinforced its nature as a destination." The kami pauses, and then adds, "Of course, all those appearances in movies, TV shows, and manga probably helped."

You nod slowly. Your Original has seen enough Japanese media by this point that you're aware how often the Tokyo Tower turns up in "modern" settings, and is "visited" by this or that monster, alien, or mystical being - often as the scene of a battle of some sort, or simply getting destroyed in the process.

So it's kind of a "default" location for planar travel to Tokyo, then? Interesting.


You can't really think of anything you personally want that would count as a MINOR favor.

Well, no; the idea does come to mind to get Ambrose to sit the Knights down to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so that he can record their reactions and pass that on to you. Not only would be it entertaining and a bit informative, it would be repayment in kind for what you're offering.

You blame your Original's sense of humor for that one.

For your part, spending Ambrose's favor for a momentary chuckle when you could be paying down your Original's outstanding debt to him - even just a bit - feels like a wasted opportunity. So you decided not to do that, and instead just ask the wizard to count whatever he'd owe you as a debt owed to Alex instead.

Ambrose nods and lets the matter end there.

As you review what you've got in your pocket, you mental cross all of your recent loot off the list of potential offerings. You aren't about to hand over any of the enchanted items or files that you picked up, much less the ones you started the day with, and the idea of unshrinking, sorting through, and then re-packing one of those bags or boxes of plunder doesn't appeal - partly due to the issues that come with being in a public location, but in greater part because you just don't want to give up any of your treasure.

This doesn't leave a lot to choose from. A Mana Gem, a Mana Rupee, and the Shards and/or Dust of an expended Mana Rupee - but you want to analyze those last two, while the others are charged with your Original's magical energy, and could be dangerous to leave behind.

In the end, you take out a bit of the Gold Incense that Original Alex passed on to you and drop it into the offering box. While it was conjured, it's also as close to real as your maker could get it, carrying only a lingering trace of his power - far less concerning than the active charge imbued into the Mana Gems.

"Do you often carry high-quality incense around?" the kami wonders.

"I rarely leave home without it," you answer.

"Huh. Well, thank you for the offering."

"You're welcome, and my apologies for the disturbance."

As you step back from the shrine, you glance at Ambrose, to see if he's going to do anything.

Meeting your gaze for a moment, the wizard shrugs, pulls a gold coin out of his pocket, and drops it into the offering box.

"Gold!?" the kami exclaims in shock.

"A small portion of the spoils of a recent victory over evil," the wizard replies with an air of solemn grandiosity. "Please accept it as recompense for my role in the, ah, intrusion."

"I will! And thank you!" As you walk away from the shrine, you hear the little god chuckling behind you. "Gold! Actual gold! Won in battle, offered freely... oh, wait 'til those smug old-timers hear about THIS!"

You join Arturia in turning an exasperated look upon the wizard, who merely smirks unrepentantly.

"On that note," you say to the King, "we should probably be on our way, before he does anything else."

"Agreed."


All things considered, you should probably stop by Urahara Shop before you link up with your Original again.

For one thing, you've got a computer and some disks that were either adapted or designed to function on the Spirit Plane, and you're not sure how they'll function on the Material Plane - if they will at all - or what the consequences of a malfunction might be. Odds are good there's some valuable data on those, you don't want to take chances that it might be erased, corrupted, or otherwise lost, and since your understanding of even conventional computers is modest, at best, much less when taking the spiritual angle into consideration, it only makes sense to check in with an expert.

On another point, Urahara deserves to hear how the Silbern Raid went. He and his may not have been directly involved - or at least, you didn't see hide or hair of a black cat during the proceedings - but they've got connections to the people that WERE handling the operation, and are probably concerned about some of the individuals in that crowd, to say nothing of the final outcome. Catching the shopkeeper up on the highlights of the affair would set his mind at ease - and, not incidentally, cover some of the "cost" of getting his advice on the computer.

You also want to make sure that you're clear of any Shinigami spies, tracking devices, and the like before you open the way to Original Alex and the Quincy refugees. Mind Blank is an excellent defense, and your Spell of True Seeing hasn't so much as altered the perceived color of something since you cast it, but you've seen that some of the little death gods are technologically adept, and your spells have a history of being less than entirely effective where (near-)modern machines are involved. Granted, the spiritual elements of the devices in question might render them vulnerable to your defense regardless, but if you're going to see the mad scientist anyway, it wouldn't hurt to get his opinion on the matter.

With all that in mind, you ready a Spell of Teleportation. Given the state of your mana reserves, you take the time to use the ritual method. There are enough knights that neither you nor Ambrose could convey the entire group with a single casting, which has you pondering the possibility of Spells of Mass Teleportation... but for today, you just nudge the wizard into doing some of the work.

Shortly thereafter, you are back on the streets of Karakura, just across the road from Urahara Shop. You take a moment to look around, as while the lack of any reaction from your Spell of Foresight indicated no danger in your arriving here and now, that magic wouldn't be set off by something like a random civilian passerby happening to see you - not unless they drew a weapon in response, or posed some similar, direct threat to life and limb. Nobody's around, however, so once Ambrose's half of the party blips into existence a moment later, you all head across the road and into the shop.

As the ring of the door-bell announces your entrance, Urahara and Tessai look up from where they're re-stocking some of the shelves. A certain tension immediately fades from their shoulders, although as they count the number of returnees and come up four knights short, they start to frown.

"Welcome back," Urahara greets you. "How did it go?"

"We return in triumph, and rather well compensated for our troubles and contributions," Ambrose replies, "though not without some potential for future difficulties."

Urahara and Tessai trade glances.

"I will get the tea," the bigger man says, before moving towards the back of the shop.

Do you have any specific questions or observations to bring up with Urahara, aside from the matter of your electronic plunder and the possibility of your being tracked by the Soul Society?

It takes about twenty minutes for you to bring the two Shinigami exiles up to speed on the day's events, with the knights and the wizard cutting in - some more politely than others - with their own account of events.

Ambrose, by and large, just walled off and booby-trapped passages and stairways, and while one of those had a reinforced Quincy patrol hurrying down the hall in his direction at the time, spiritual energy blades blazing and soul-piercing arrows flying, his knightly bodyguards and personal defenses were up to the task of holding the line until he finished sealing the way. As predicted, the Soldats managed to force their way through the conjured Wall of Stone in relatively short order, but it slowed them down enough for the Shinigami to reinforce the area - and just as that fight started to get serious, the Quincy disappeared in a haze of golden light.

The wizard gives you a pointed look at that part.

Arturia's account makes it clear that her knights and the unit of Shinigami with the Captain-Commander had quite the little battle going against the defenders. Sir Valkyrie in particular gave them a remarkable amount of trouble before the Grandmaster called out that their King was in danger, at which point the Viking-esque Quincy up and vanished, while Jugram's remaining elite guards activated their versions of the power-up you prevented that gunslinger from using.

The results were concerning, as the black man with the worryingly large gun turned into some sort of glowing angelic entity, capable of firing projectiles that pierced through almost any defense the attackers could bring to bear against it.

Well, technically he could ALREADY do that, but the Vollstandig transformation apparently made a bad thing for your allies even worse.

"How did the lad's shield stand up to that?" Ambrose asks, frowning.

"Not ideally," Arturia replies, wearing much the same expression. "The enemy's attacks proved unable to simply punch through it, the way they did most other protective measures, but the sheer force behind them was enough to push him back even when he was properly braced." She pauses to sip her tea.

The wizard sighs. "I knew you lot wouldn't be at full strength, but I'd thought..." He trails off, and then shakes his head. "Back to the drawing board, I suppose."

Then there was the Big Giant Hand that Zaraki mentioned, which...

"I have no explanation for that," Arturia admits frankly.

...basically that.

The tactical situation was distinctly Not Great, as Yamamoto was pretty much the only one present on your side who seemed to be able to stand up to the Wandenreich's three elite warriors - Zaraki was giving it a good effort, but sheer brute force and bloodthirsty enthusiasm only go so far, especially against guys in a similar power tier. The seated officers were doing a bit better against the Soldats; there may have been a bit of a power disparity in the Wandenreich's favor, but your contributions of Spell Immunity, a giant Earth Elemental, and a rampaging Tyrannosaurus evened things out nicely.

"You summoned a WHAT?!" Tessai blurts out.

"What he said," Urahara adds.

The knights themselves enjoyed the particular advantage of being just about the only guys on the field wearing actual armor. While some of the Wandenreich did don protective gear - Gerard comes to mind again, and Jugram had a big shield - it wasn't nearly as complete as the full panoply of the Simulacrum Knights; instead, much like the Shinigami, they largely relied on mobility to avoid every hit they couldn't take, hardening their spiritual pressure to deflect, absorb, or just ignore the consequences of those attacks they couldn't avoid.

Like so many other approaches to self-defense, that one tends to work perfectly well, right up until it doesn't. Most of the time, it happens because the enemy enjoys too great an advantage in speed and/or power - whether due to an innate gap in ability, or merely because they're fresh and the defender isn't - because you don't see a particular attack coming in time to react, or because the very nature of the threat makes a direct defense useless.

Armor doesn't care about most of those issues. Magical armor cares even less. The knights weren't invulnerable, by any means - you've seen the holes, cracked plates, and missing bits for yourself - but that layer of enchanted steel made them harder to kill than their opponents were expecting, and THAT appears to have made up for a good part of the loss of power that Ambrose is grumbling about.

Then there were the warhorses. NOBODY on EITHER side of that fight seems to have had the slightest idea of how to deal with heavy cavalry in close quarters, much less INDOORS, and the knights took full advantage of their opponents' ignorance.

That said, the Quincy DID still manage to damage most of the Simulacra, several to the point where their combat effectiveness was beginning to degrade. Given they'd started out less powerful than Ambrose had initially hoped and had to work harder to make up the difference, thereby burning more of their limited energy supplies than planned, it was just as well that the Wandenreich soldiers vanished when they did.

"We still would have defeated them," Arturia replies with regal confidence, "but the next group to appear would likely have managed to inflict casualties, and the third wave definitely would have. I would prefer not to see any of my knights fall, if it could be reasonably avoided, so this outcome was acceptable."

"Especially when it left more time for looting," her one attendant murmurs.

"Yes, espec-" The King stops and directs a look of Royal Displeasure over her shoulder at her knight.

The expression loses some impact to you because a) you're not on the receiving end, b) Arturia appears young enough that she can't completely escape the suggestion of a pout, and c) you have seen Lucia making exactly this sort of face, and it was DEFINITELY a pout then.

In response to the glare, the knight just smiles and folds his arms-

!

-and for the first time, you notice that his right arm doesn't look quite right. Previously, he had armor and a cloak in the way, but now that he's wearing a modern suit, you can see the outline of something... almost mechanical under the fabric.

Your knowledge of Arthurian legend isn't developed enough to identify a knight with a false arm, or even a completely missing one, but at least you've got something for your Original to work with when he tries to sort out who all these guys - and girls - were later.


Leaving the matter of the knight with the artificial arm for your Original to worry about, you get on with asking your questions.

First up is the matter of whether or not you're being tracked by the Soul Society, which Urahara tells you is not impossible, but fairly unlikely.

"Don't get me wrong," the shopkeeper says, as Tessai excuses himself once again. "Captain Kurotsuchi is well-versed in most major scientific fields, it's just that he does his best work with biochemistry. He wouldn't try to tag you with the equivalent of a radio transmitter or send a robotic drone to track you down, he'd develop a bio-agent that he could track across the worlds, and then introduce that into your system."

"An invasive organism, or an infectious one?" Ambrose wonders.

"He prefers the infectious, asymptomatic variety," Urahara replies. "They let him monitor subjects without overly altering their behavior, especially if he can expose them without their awareness - but you mentioned that the scans in the Senkaimon couldn't pick you up?"

You nod.

"Then he'd have to use something larger and more complex, with the capacity for independent analysis AND signal transmission. That way, it could broadcast past that stealth field of yours and he could monitor that, even if he couldn't tell exactly where the signal was coming from." Urahara pauses and looks up as Tessai returns, carrying a couple of blinky devices. "On that note... Tessai?"

The big man aims one of the gizmos at you and waves it up and down slowly for a moment. There is no reaction.

"No signal detected, Manager." He sets that device down on the counter - but notably, doesn't turn it off - and holds up the second gizmo, a sort of gun-shaped thing with a syringe worked into it. "If you wouldn't object?" he inquires.

"Blood sample?" you guess.

"We can do a quick analysis, to see if there's anything unusual in your system." Urahara frowns. "Unless that 'Mind Blank' spell of yours would carry over to the sample...?"

No, it wouldn't. Leaving bits of yourselves laying around where another spellcaster could get ahold of them IS one of the potential perils you and your Original still have to be mindful of, even with the Spell of Mind Blank running pretty much constantly. There are plenty of spells that can be empowered using sympathetic links, many of which aren't Divination Magic or of a mind-altering nature, and so wouldn't be inconvenienced by Mind Blank in the slightest.

Are you okay with this? Quite aside from helping to determine if Captain Kurotsuchi has bugged you or not, giving the exiled Shinigami scientists a blood sample might provide an avenue for them to investigate the matter of any traces of divine energy in your system...

After getting that sorted out, you move on to your last item of concern - namely, the computer and disks you swiped.

Urahara approves whole-heartedly of your theft of enemy information, and also of your caution regarding its security and utility.

"It'll depend on whether or not the Quincy made the machine from scratch themselves, or if they modified one they got from Earth," he says. "Did you see a manufacturer's label on it anywhere?"

You think back, but shake your head. The computer was devoid of brand names and logos.

Urahara just nods. "They could have just changed the housing," he says simply. "Alright, did you unplug all the components when you packed it away?"

You did.

"And can you retrieve those components from your pocket separately from one another?"

You can.

"Then what we need to do is take one of the USB cords you swiped, and plug it into some things to see if it works."

"To the lab?" you guess.

"To the lab," Ambrose agrees.

"To the lab!" Urahara concludes.

"I believe I will remain here, and continue enjoying this tea," Arturia says, raising her cup for another sip.

Tessai appears torn by this remark, but only for as long as it takes the knight with the artificial arm to offer to take over tea-pouring duties.

Should the tests prove it is safe for you to bring out the disks and the hard drive of Jugram's Computer, do you want to let Urahara take a look at them?


"Alright," you agree, as you begin to unbutton your right cuff. "Two things, though."

"Yes?"

"First, my Original and I never thought to try taking samples of my blood, so I can't be sure if it'll behave like real blood or just dissipate into shadows and energy when it leaves my body."

"That would be informative in and of itself," Tessai notes.

It would at that.

"Second," you continue, rolling back the sleeves of your coat and shirt, "I'd like to have the sample destroyed after you've tested it."

"Easily done," Urahara agrees.

With that settled and your sleeves out of the way, you raise your arm, and Tessai brings down the syringe-gun-thing. There is a small, brief surge of spiritual energy that reminds you a bit of cleaning spells, of all things, and then-

*Pinch*

Why is it that things like this always feel worse when you're looking at the process?

Regardless, as Tessai gradually draws off a sample of your blood - which continues to behave like blood, you note, at least for the moment - you decide to bring up something else the mad scientists might notice in their analysis.

"On a potentially related topic," you begin, "I had an unexpected encounter with a divine entity during the raid."

Tessai twitches as if he would like to look up from what he's doing, but he keeps his eyes on his work. Ambrose and Urahara, meanwhile, both lean closer, looking interested.

"I can't reveal the details," you add. "I swore an oath of secrecy-"

Ambrose groans. "Now why would you go and do something like that?"

"I just SAID I can't reveal the details, or are you getting hard of hearing?"

"Oi!"

"As I was saying, I can't reveal the details, but there is a possibility that the encounter may have... left a mark. Spiritually speaking."

The wizard frowns. "Are you suggesting that you might be cursed?"

"No, or at least no more than usual, to my knowledge."

One eyebrow slowly climbs. "Are you BLESSED?"

Why does he make it sound almost as bad as being cursed?

I would like to know the answer to that myself.

It DOES depend on the god granting the blessing.

Yeah, not everybody is as amazing as us, especially locally.

...okay, fair.

"I am just saying," you reply carefully, "that the encounter may have left traces that would turn up in a spiritual analysis. If so, I'd appreciate a professional opinion, because right now, I have no idea what to expect."

"I will keep that in mind," Tessai replies, as he does something to the gun that causes another, somewhat stronger surge of spiritual energy. This one reads as very similar to healing magic, and when the big man draws the device away from your arm, there's no sign of a puncture wound, nor any subsequent bleeding.

You consider your unmarked arm for a moment, and then look up. "You know, you guys could probably make a mint selling that little gizmo to hospitals and clinics."

"Not as much as you might think," Urahara replies with a disappointed expression. "That model requires the user to have a certain degree of familiarity with kaido or equivalent powers, on top of conscious control over their spiritual power. We sell a few to Ryuuken, the Kurosakis, and a few other local medical practitioners every so often, but they have to be careful about when and where they use them - mostly on patients in the know, or for emergency cases when nobody's paying too much attention. They work as injectors, too, you see."

Ah, yes. The unfortunate need to keep up the masquerade.

"But if you can make a 'manual' device," you add, "couldn't you make an 'automatic' one?"

"We can, but the pricetag is too high for it to be competitive with mundane methods, even if we make the syringe portion disposable - and that's without getting into the fact that it's still a spiritually powered device, and the complications that come with that."

...yeah, that WOULD be a problem, wouldn't it? Spiritually powered devices would tend to attract spiritual attention - and not just nosy Shinigami or hungry Hollows; you know that Sunnydale Memorial is fairly well rife with garden-variety shades - which could be anything from annoying to a serious danger for the staff and patients. Shielding the gadgets could avert that risk, but would make them more costly than they already are, and if they were made disposable on top of that, the warding would eventually break down, meaning there'd probably be spiritually-charged piles of garbage sitting in a landfill or recycling depot somewhere.

And even leaving all of THAT aside, there's still the matter of how a shady guy like Urahara would be asking trained medical professionals to trust tools whose exact functions they wouldn't be able to decipher. Some doctors and nurses might eventually be convinced to use the things, for the sake of better aiding their patients, but others...

Look, your Original's Mom has STORIES about the people she works with. Even accounting for the Hellmouth doing its best to make everything and everyone worse, it sounds like there are some serious jerks in the medical profession.

Besides, Urahara's got other things to do with his time than play medical salesman.

...

In theory, anyway.

Moving into the lab, you do some simple experiments. Urahara disconnects the USB cords from a couple of his devices, you take one of the cords from Haschwalth's computer out of your pocket and hand it over, and the shopkeeper plugs it in and turns the machine in question on.

"It works," he reports a moment later.

Then he does it again with the other machine.

And then you test a couple more USB cords, followed by the mouse, keyboard, and flat-screen monitor from the Wandenreich Grandmaster's office desk set-up. Everything proves functional, although there are some compatibility issues between the stolen items and Urahara's home-built system.

Feeling reassured, the next thing you take out is one of the disk cases that was in the desk - the less-private files, as it were. Selecting the first disk in the box, you pass it to Urahara, who inserts it into his computer and calls up a menu.

A number of file folders are visible in the new window, and you read off a few of the names: Reports 06/00; Action 06/00; Review 29; and other combinations of words and numbers, most of which mean nothing to you, but are at least legible.

"Looks like mostly text documents and spreadsheets," Urahara reports, scrolling down. "Some images. And it even seems to run on Windows."

Convenient, that.

The bucket-hat turns your way, revealing a hopeful smile. "Do you mind if I make copies?"

You don't, but-

"Could you hold off on that for now?" you ask. "I don't have any objections to sharing the data with you eventually, but like I said, I have an outstanding oath of secrecy to worry about, and I don't want to accidentally violate it because the Grandmaster mentioned the thing I'm not supposed to talk about in his private files."

Granted, it would be a fine way of honoring the letter of your vow while sidestepping the spirit of it, but you'd rather not try and get clever about a promise to the Goddesses.

Smart.

You'll leave that to your Original.

Heh.

Urahara doesn't quite pout. "That's fair," he sighs, closing the window and ejecting the disk.

Do you want to try and reassemble Jugram's computer here, just to make sure that it works and have Urahara on hand in case something goes wrong, or is the verification that the other components and the disks work sufficient for you?


Confirming that every other part of Jugram's Computer works normally despite the transition from Spiritual Plane to Material has greatly eased your concerns about the hard drive. Under different circumstances, you'd probably go ahead and assemble the entire machine here, so that Urahara could thoroughly assess its workings, but you have to keep your Oath of Secrecy in mind. Since you can't currently confirm what is or isn't saved on the hard drive, you have to assume that the Soul King's condition IS mentioned somewhere in those files, until you, your Original, or the Briars have gone through them in person and ruled that out.

...it's probably going to be you, though.

Anyway, if you aren't going to let Urahara take a look at the contents of the hard drive, there's not much point in bringing it out of your pocket, much less in putting the whole computer together here. Instead, you start putting all the other parts away.

Tessai arrives towards the end of that, carrying the blood-filled tube from the syringe-gun.

"The tests did not reveal any new surprises," he reports, as he hands the glass container over to you. "I found no evidence of a spiritual infection or infestation, and the only divine energy that registered was the trace signature we've previously recorded from your original self."

It would seem, then, that the Soul King's Heart has not blessed YOU, the Shadow. Is that because the blessing went straight to your Original instead, or is there another reason for it, like the boon having to be delivered by a divine messenger because of some rule of cosmic etiquette, or simply because the Heart decided to give you a physical reward?

...

Okay, you just pictured a giant beating heart dressed up like the Postman. That might be a sign for you to abandon this train of thought.

The good news is that you seem to be clear of any of Captain Kurotsuchi's biological trackers.

Calling up a bit of Fire Magic, you incinerate the blood sample and pass the ash-filled glass tube back to Tessai for final disposal.

With that taken care of, your business at Urahara Shop is done for the day. True, you could bring up your discovery of that picture of the Kurosaki twins in Haschwalth's odd little shrine, but that seems like the sort of thing you ought to discuss with Isshin and Masaki first.

Then again, you're already HERE...

"Time to be on our way, then?" Ambrose ventures.

"It is," you agree.

"I will cross my fingers, then," the wizard notes, even as he reaches out to rap his knuckles on the nearest wooden surface.

"Why are you invoking good luck now?" Urahara wonders.

Ambrose waves his staff-disguised-as-cane in your direction. "Our good Shadow, here, offered to let me tag along to see the look on the original boy's face when he hears about everything that went down in the invasion. I am hopeful that his reaction will be a memorable one."

Urahara considers that.

"Would you mind if I tagged along?" he inquires.

Gathering up the King and her knights, you make your farewells and borrow Urahara's basement to open the Gate to the demiplane where your Original has been hiding out with the Kurosakis, Ishidas, Archers, and Muhlfelds for the last...

...huh. It occurs to you that it hasn't even been three hours since you saw the last of the assembled Ishida clan off through Alex's Gate. It FEELS like it's been a whole lot longer, but maybe that's just everything that's happened in the interim?

Well, regardless, you open the Gate.


No, this is definitely something you should discuss with the Kurosakis before revealing it to anyone else. While you think there's a very good chance that Isshin and Masaki will bring Urahara and Tessai in on the matter, it's still not a choice you should be making for them - this is about (two of) their kids, after all, THEY'RE the ones who should be making the calls.

You consider Urahara's request for a moment, and then shake your head.

"Better not," you tell him. "There's a lot of Quincy there, and a couple of them weren't too pleased with my Original when I left. Plus they've got kids and other non-combatants to worry about; best not to risk provoking them."

Urahara acknowledges that with a shrug and a nod, and sees you down to his basement.

When you open the Gate, some part of you expects to find the demiplane full of fire and screaming. Instead, it looks pretty much the same as when you left, with a small fleet of cars parked awkwardly among the low-lying but lush growth, and several groups of people scattered about.

Some of the Quincy have gathered by the vehicles, sitting in the seats (doors alternately opened or closed), on the hoods, or just leaning against the sides; those are just looking your way, and you see a mix of features from three different continents looking back at you, most of them in the younger adult range.

A few more figures can be seen standing or moving around in the area where the doors to the Mansions are set up. You can make out Isshin and Ryuuken talking together by themselves, three more Quincy gentlemen of about the same age carrying on a discussion of their own, and a lady who's just passing through.

Farther along is a large group that includes most of the pre-teens, who are running around playing what appears to be a game of dodgeball, while Masaki, a few more of the Quincy parents, and some of the older kids spectate and referee. You count three balls flying back and forth, and wonder if somebody thought ahead while packing, or if your Original broke out the Conjuration Magic.

You can also make out a few solitary individuals or pairs roaming the demiplane, but all in all, you see only about a third of the refugees, suggesting the rest are holed up in the Mansions.

You don't see your Original or his fairy partner, either. On the bright side, you ALSO don't see any evidence of destructive landscaping, so if there have been further arguments since you last saw these people, they've been kept relatively non-violent.

"Who are you-" Begins one of the nearby Quincy, who you recognize as a member of the Archer family, and who was leaning against one of the cars. He's straightening up and looking at the knights that had preceded you into the demiplane, but as he takes in the entire group, he catches sight of you at the back, and gives a start. "You! You're back! How did it go? Is everything alright?"

The other nearby adults are clearly thinking along the same lines as their distant kinsman, and you hold up one hand to forestall the flood of questions you can see about to take place. Stepping through the Gate, you look around to make sure everyone who's coming is through and clear, and that nobody and nothing has gotten too close to the portal, before you close it.

With that taken care of, you spend the next couple of minutes calming down this group of Quincy, introducing your current companions as some of the non-Shinigami who helped out with the situation, and telling them that the immediate threat to their lives and their families has been dealt with.

They want to hear the details, of course.


You don't see a problem with telling the Quincy refugees how things went in Silbern - indeed, after how they've had their lives upended and threatened with termination due to Auswahlen, they have every right to know!

That said, it's not a tale you're interested in repeating more often than you absolutely have to, because there's a fair amount to tell, and there will undoubtedly be questions asked along the way, making the whole thing take longer.

You explain yourself to the small group of Quincy, who are visibly frustrated at not getting to hear what they want to hear, but fairly understanding of your reasoning. A few of them agree to let the other adults know that you've returned in triumph and that there's going to be a general assembly to discuss the incident - and also to let everybody know not to shoot at Ambrose and the knights - while another informs you of what your Original is up to.

End Shadow Alex Quest, resume Xander Quest.

After parting ways with your Shadow, the next item on your agenda was to retrieve the last few members of the Ishida clan.

Given the presence of her direct descendants, you had the location of the ailing Elder Michiko verified as soon as you finished the ritual. She was shuffling down a short hallway with the aid of a walker, talking in a slightly louder than necessary voice to a woman in her late twenties, who your Quincy assistants identified as the nurse, rather than the granddaughter. That young lady didn't appear in your scrying spell, but once you'd opened a Gate to the house and gone through with Elder Asuka, she turned up in very short order.

The whole retrieval took about fifteen minutes, half of which was spent on the Greater Ritual of Scrying. The hardest part was honestly convincing the nurse of your good intentions and that your demiplane wouldn't be dangerous for her patient to visit - the old lady herself seemed to like the idea of taking a short walk to another world that had "No damn Hollows" running around, and her granddaughter wasn't far behind.

Tracking down the ronin was also quite straightforward, as you had his parents on hand, and could trace the blood-connection back to him in short order. Unfortunately, as soon as the two of them caught sight of their son and his girlfriend walking around a jewelry store and looking at a very particular sort of ring, Mom and Dad just about exploded in disapproval.

One note in their favor: it wasn't their son's choice in potential fiancees that they objected to - she's spiritually aware and knows the score when it comes to Quincy, Hollows, and Shinigami - just that THEY weren't being consulted first, and that the "children" were even considering an engagement before university.

Keeping them from forcing their way through the Gate with you and Elder Asuka took some doing, to the point where you had to call in several of the other adult Ishidas to run interference.

The ronin - Touji, by name - was quite surprised when his Great-Aunt Asuka popped out of a hole in space-time in front of him, if not so surprised as the jewelry store attendant, who started freaking out badly enough that you ended up casting the Sleep Spell you'd originally considered using to ease Elder Michiko's short trip across the planes. The prospective fiancee took it a lot better, something she attributes to having spent the last decade or so getting used to seeing ghosts, youkai, and other residents of Japan's supernatural side. She was also rather open to the idea of meeting the entire extended family.

Touji was less enthusiastic about that part, but took the news of a potential threat to his life and his family very seriously.

You did have to spend about fifteen minutes after that escorting the young couple back to their current lodgings, so they could pick up their stuff and pay the bill. Taking all the delays into account, that retrieval ate up about forty minutes - not counting the shouting match that ensued between Touji and his parents almost the instant he stepped through the Gate.

Elder Asuka was right on the money with her prediction about that.

You're glad you didn't return to the demiplane at that point, instead closing the portal and teleporting yourself and the Elder to her general neighborhood, so that she could go home and dig through the family photo albums to come up with a picture of the last girl, Sumika.

Who naturally turned out to be in school, having lunch in the school cafeteria with half a dozen classmates, and easily a hundred more nearby. Because it's Friday, Japan's school year hasn't reached summer break yet, and she's a teenager.

Sorting that out was a bit of a hassle. You ended up teleporting to the school, going to the office, and using some low-level Enchantment Magic to encourage the secretary and the vice-principal to overlook the fact that Elder Asuka isn't one of Sumika's listed contacts, so that they'd call her to the office.


While you might have been able to treat some of Elder Michiko's age-related medical conditions with a successful casting of the Heal Spell, you have yet to attempt that particular magic on a human being, and you didn't think the Ishidas would be too thrilled at you using their most venerable kinswoman as your first human test subject.

The Spell of Age Resistance would have been much less problematic, but after considering it a few times, you decided not to cast that one, either. It seemed a little cruel to give an ailing old woman a taste of the strength of her youth again, particularly when her mental condition was... less than ideal. Potentially dangerous, too; what happens if she remembers being able to move so much more easily than normal, but not WHY, and tries to do it again after you've left and Age Resistance has worn off?

That said, there was still the Spell of Restoration. While it wouldn't address her physical frailties and might not properly cure her senility - much less assure the prevention of a relapse - it could certainly ease the symptoms. As a bonus, your skills were sufficient to offset the normal material cost of the spell with extra mana, without compromising its effectiveness.

You got permission from Michiko's daughter-in-law, grandson, and granddaughter-in-law to cast Restoration on her before leaving the demiplane, and it worked exactly as expected, clearing the haze from the old woman's mind.

It didn't do anything for her diminished hearing, but the difference in her behavior was nonetheless quickly apparent to her two caretakers. This did a lot to help convince the nurse to let you relocate the Elder, although the fact that you were basically just asking her to walk a few steps to somewhere she could sit or lie down also helped.

You WERE a little concerned that Elder Michiko's walker-aided shuffle might be an issue, but the old girl was able to move through your Gate in good time.

Once it became apparent that you were headed to a school, you figured that turning up in your normal nine-looking-twelve-year-old form wouldn't be helpful. As such, you took a few minutes before leaving Elder Asuka's to ritually invoke the Spell of the Threefold Aspect and change into your Formal Spider-Silk Suit.

It was, perhaps, a bit much for the setting - Elder Asuka did a double-take when you stepped out of the bathroom, and you don't think the secretary stopped staring at you the entire time you were in her line of sight - and you made a mental note to look into sourcing some more casual outfits for your adult guise. If nothing else, though, you think you managed to avoid coming off like a could-be Yakuza, and between the Enchantment Magic and letting Asuka do most of the talking, neither the secretary nor the vice-principal thought to ask you what your role in things was.

Sumika was less sanguine about your presence. When she walked into the office a couple of minutes after being called over the intercom, her gaze went first to her Elder, prompting a deep frown, and then to you - resulting in a double-take, a wide-eyed once-over, and then a growing suspicious glare that shifted back over to Asuka.

"Auntie, I swear to god, if this is some kind of omiai-"

You managed to sort out THAT misconception without any yelling, or even too much embarrassment, but it kind of set the tone for the whole trip. While Sumika seems to respect her (Great-)Aunt, and maybe even love her a bit, she clearly doesn't LIKE the older woman very much, and she was entirely unenthusiastic about attending the little "family reunion" you and Souken managed to put together. Mentioning that it was for her protection just made her more suspicious than she already was, and once you'd explained the situation, she refused to leave without at least talking to her aunt, and that only after you argued her down from finding her whole non-Quincy family and bringing THEM along as well.

In passing, you offered up a prayer of thanks to the Goddesses for the spark of inspiration that led you to enhance your diplomatic skills before meeting the Quincy today. You don't doubt for a moment that the meeting would have gone rather worse without the boosts.

In the end, it took you another forty minutes in total to sort things out with Sumika and get her back to the demiplane - at which point you had to apply Greater Spell Immunity and Death Ward to the four late arrivals and Elder Asuka. This was accomplished while fielding questions and comments about your change in appearance and enduring numerous raised voices: some for the convenience of the hard-of-hearing Elder; others for the ongoing family arguments; and more from the kids, just because everybody else was doing it.

You were seriously tempted to Gate over to the other demiplane and spend the next few hours of ACTUAL time meditating to get a break and replenish your reserves. And in fact, you ended up doing just that, or mostly so.

In actuality, you only got about one hour of real time to yourself - two of accelerated time, which in terms of mana recovery meant hardly a patch on all the magic you've spent so far today - before another Gate whirled open nearby to reveal Shadow Alex, Shadow Briar, a cheekily waving Ambrose, someone who looks suspiciously like an older Altria in a suit, and a bunch of similarly well-dressed complete strangers that you take to be the rest of Ambrose's fake Knights of the Round Table.

You're about to ask if they won or not-

/ Ba-dump. /

-when what sounds like the largest heartbeat ever goes off in your head.

"Oh," your not-evil twin says promptly, with a look of dawning realization.

"Shadow," you begin warningly.

"I can expl-!"

/ Ba-DUMP. /

And then an unfamiliar golden light flares-

!

-and something that looks like a Heart Container begins to drift down from the false sky of the demiplane, moving towards you.

You say "looks like" because while it's definitely heart-shaped, it's also rather more... anatomically correct than the vessels bestowed by the Goddesses. Which is to say it has visible chambers, a cluster of arteries and veins at the top, and a somewhat irregular shape overall, all of it done in faceted crystal-

/ Ba-dump. /

/ Ba-dump. /

-and, uh, beating. Somehow. Each pulse sends a mist of golden droplets flying out of the open-ended blood vessels.

Okay, that is much creepier than I thought it'd be.

Definitely regretting giving him permission to do this...

Wimps.

/ Ba-dump. /

What. The actual. HELL?


You don't know exactly what's going on with this... abnormal... Heart Container, but your Shadow clearly does, and he doesn't appear particularly worried by its presence, only by your reaction to it.

On top of that, the Goddesses are, if not entirely enthusiastic about the thing, not especially concerned by it themselves.

There's definitely a story here, and you very much want to hear it-

/ Ba-dump. /

-but at the moment, there's a (beating) Heart Container that needs your attention.

As the crystalline relic draws near, you reach out with both hands to catch it, considering its shifting aura and the options they represent.

As ever, there's the straightforward use of the Heart Container. It's a good, practical application of the gift, but it's also one you don't really need that much; while you haven't exactly been left unscathed by your various adventures, you have a rather lengthy list of options for avoiding, mitigating, or healing injuries you might sustain - and those you HAVE taken. That tends to lessen the value of this form of Heart Container, especially when you consider how many of those methods can be used to help other people, whereas the relic's enhancement would really only work for you, your Shadow, and perhaps your fairy partners.

More tempting is the aspect which exhibits Quincy energies, bound up in a Spell of Summoning. You've foregone most "Hearts of Summoning" in the past because you don't typically need to have monsters of the big stompy variety around, and when a situation comes up where they ARE required, you've got other methods to obtain such assistance. But this Heart won't summon a monster of any sort - it'll summon a Quincy, which is to say, a person. And Shadow Alex has quite thoroughly demonstrated just how useful being able to call up another person to help you with your projects can be.

That said, a Summoned Quincy almost certainly wouldn't have the same breadth of capabilities that your not-evil twin does, which does diminish the utility of this form of Heart. You also can't be sure how much of the Quincy Arts the summoned individual would be versed in: their abilities could be on par with one of the Sternritter you've heard about; they might only be a match for a kid like Ishida Uryuu, who's only learned the basics of his ancestral traditions; or it's possible the Summoned Quincy would be somewhere in between the two extremes.

One of those would obviously be more useful to you than the others, but you suspect it's also the one you're least likely to acquire, and that makes the Heart of the Quincy less attractive once again.

Finally, there's the elemental application, the Heart of Shadow. You're honestly not sure why this affinity is being offered to you, and make a note to inquire about it when you speak with Shadow Alex, assuming his account of the events in Silbern doesn't provide you with the answer by default. Still, you've been collecting Elemental Hearts for a while now, and this is only the second time you've had the opportunity to grab one aligned with an element from the highest circle of powers in your personalized magical philosophy. That makes it rather tempting even before considering the boost to your associated magical abilities, which you suspect would primarily involve the School of Illusion.

Though on that note, you have to stop and ask yourself: what effect would your obtaining a Heart of Shadow have on YOUR Shadow, a being summoned from and formed of that selfsame metaphysical force? How would increasing your affinity for the element, its creatures, and their subtleties be reflected upon your manifest "Dark Self"?

...

You want to know.

The choice is made.

You raise the Heart of Shadow high.

/ BA-DUMP. /

"Da-da-da-daaaah!" Briar's Shadow chants.

Gained Heart of Shadow

Tradition upheld and that unfamiliar presence already fading, you pocket the relic and hurry through your Shadow's Gate before it closes - no sense wasting time or mana forcing one of you to open the way again.

"Alright," you say, as the portal swirls shut behind you. "What did I miss?"


Over the next twenty minutes, before an audience consisting of most of the Quincy - minus only those kids too young or flighty to pay attention and/or remain quiet the entire time, as well as the adults who got the short end of whatever family mechanisms were used to select minders for the less-attentive children - Ambrose and his escorts, and of course, yourself and Briar, Shadow Alex recounts the events of the raid on Silbern.

While your darker double doesn't go into exhaustive detail, he doesn't leave a whole lot out, either. He describes the initial meeting with Captains Kyoraku and Sui-Feng, his first sight of the Soul Society, and the meeting with the Captain-Commander and the other senior officers taking part in the attack. He briefly mentions the spells he cast in preparation-

"You summoned a WHAT!?" several voices exclaim, at the mention of the Celestial Tyrannosaurus.

"Somehow, that never gets old," Ambrose muses.

"Did it... eat... anybody?" Ichigo gulps.

"I didn't look too closely," Shadow replies, "but it definitely chewed in self-defense."

The strawberry blanches.

"Cool," Tatsuki says, with a toothy grin.

-some of which get more comment than others.

From there, he covers the highlights of the attack itself, with Ambrose - referred to as "the Wizard" - and some of the knights being called upon to provide testimony for events the Shadow wasn't present to witness. Even then, you note that none of them had eyes on the advance through the servants' quarters.

There is muttering from certain quarters as the fights between the mostly-Shinigami invasion force and the Quincy defenders are covered.

It grows louder and takes on a darker tone when Shadow Alex describes finding the Sealed King still asleep, and assisting the woman who is probably Soul Society's top assassin in trying to kill Yhwach before he could wake.

When he reaches the point where he brought his Power to bear against this Gerard Valkyrie character, your doppelganger pauses.

"I can't say precisely what happened next," he states, picking his words carefully for some reason. "I can only tell you that when our energies clashed directly, I was able to see and interact with the source of Sir Valkyrie's ability to bend reality. I managed to separate it from him, but before it vanished, it relocated all of the surviving members of the Wandenreich from the fortress - except for Yhwach himself."

There is a dead silence.

"And then you killed him in his sleep," one of the Ishidas earlier identified as a Wandenreich sympathizer accuses bluntly.

The crowd shifts uneasily at that. Most of the adult Quincy are somewhere between disapproving and grudgingly accepting in their reactions, while those you know to have ties to the Hidden Empire are more angry - though Henry Archer looks more resigned than anything else, while Ishida Souken is paying rather more attention to his kinsmen than he is to your lookalike.

Shadow Alex regards his accuser.


Your Shadow frowns at the objector, "I'm not going to claim that it was sporting, but considering that the man was going to kill a thousand people from an entire plane away, none of whom would have seen it coming, I'm not exactly going to lose any sleep over what happened, either. Especially not after Sir Valkyrie admitted that was the plan."

Not mentioned is that YOU'LL be the one who has to deal with any nightmares resulting from this event.

Thanks for that, Shadow Alex.

Either not noticing or simply ignoring your thoughts, your darkened doppelganger continues. "I might also point out that our information" - he gestures to Ambrose and Balthazar - "had Auswahlen going down some time this afternoon, by Japanese reckoning. If it hadn't been prevented, the difference in time zones means the Archers and the Muhlfelds would almost certainly have been asleep themselves when it hit."

The Ishida objector opens his mouth to respond to that, but then blinks and looks around, having noticed that a number of his various cousins are giving him unimpressed looks - more so after your Shadow noted how the time zones would have affected the more distant relatives.

Perhaps wisely, and certain conveniently, he falls silent rather than press his argument. You can see the man still isn't happy, and that he isn't alone in his objection to your offshoot's actions, but you really can't find it in you to be much bothered. They were warned that Yhwach was due to wake up, that most of them were going to be sacrificed to fuel that revival, and that the Shinigami had been alerted and were mustering an armed response to stop their old enemy - what exactly did they THINK was going to happen?

Part of you that feels a bit like Briar concedes that these people might not be idiots, just kind of in shock about the whole business. You DID kind of upend their worldview a few hours ago, telling them that their ancestral savior-ruler was about to come back and kill a bunch of them, and now your Shadow is hitting them with the after-action report. This would be like... the nearest equivalent that you can think of is telling a group of devout Christians that the Second Coming was nigh, only Jesus had been planning on killing everybody, and that your Shadow was teaming up with the forces of Hell to kill him first - and they succeeded.

So, yeah, you can see where the Quincy might have some Issues with recent events, as well as your role in them, and be struggling to process it all.

That said, if you come out of this affair with a reputation as "Quincy Satan," you're going to be annoyed.

At any rate, no one else currently seems to be willing to get on Shadow Alex's case for the strategy and tactics used in the raid, so he finishes up his summary of events, saying that after Yhwach's death, the Captain-Commander incinerated the corpse, and the invasion force spent about half an hour ransacking the place before pulling out.

"Isn't looting considered a war crime?" somebody in the crowd ventures.

"It is according to modern international law," Balthazar observes. "That said, modern international law doesn't usually admit to the existence of the supernatural. I don't imagine I have to tell any of you what THAT can be like."

There are some sighs, shaken heads, and wry laughs from the crowd of spirit-hunting mystical archers.

"And that's for those of us who still fundamentally think like and identify as human beings," says the sorcerer who's well into his second millennium of life. "Plenty of nonhumans are older than many modern nations, let alone the laws they're constantly making, altering, or repealing, and have trouble seeing them as anything but newfangled human nonsense. Others refuse to consider themselves bound by laws they were never given any say in making or that don't acknowledge their existence, when they're willing to recognize the rule of law at all. Then there's the issue of enforcement, which is anywhere from difficult to practically impossible, depending on the types of creatures involved and what they're supposed to have done wrong."

You have a momentary vision of an ordinary jail with a row of cells occupied by an undead vampire, a Hollow, a Shinigami, and your Shadow.

The corpse-demon exerts a bit of its supernatural strength to break open its cell door, and starts walking away.

The two spectral entities phase through the walls separating their adjacent cells and start trying to kill each other.

Shadow Alex casts the Spell of Knock to open his cell, uses a Ki Wave to incinerate the parasite, and then casts the Spell of Banishment to give the other two the boot mid-battle. Then he teleports away, just as a guard arrives to see what all the commotion was about.

"Difficult to enforce," indeed.

"If it makes you feel any better," Shadow Alex says then, "a good part of the 'looting' was focused on securing intel - files, books, and even a computer. I'm fairly sure that's still allowed."

"'A good part'," the Quincy in question, one of the Archers, repeats. "But not the whole of it?"

"I did see pieces of art and jewelry stuffed into sacks," Shadow admits.

You'll just BET he did - and YOU had better see some of the same before the day is over, or you're going to get cross for a whole different reason.

mine

Shadow Alex concludes his summary by stating that the Gotei 13 plan to destroy Silbern and its pocket realm in the not-too-distant future; the only thing really holding them back is how the sub-plane is attached to the Soul Society, and needs to be separated from it and then moved far enough away - in whatever spiritual-spatial directions are required - for there to be minimal or no backlash on the other realms.

Nobody seems to have anything to say to that, and if they haven't considered that you could send your darker side back for another round of plundering in the time that remains, you're not about to remind them.

"So what happens to us now?" another Ishida says. "Do we just... go home?"

"That's up to you," Shadow Alex says, while casting a quick, subtle glance in your direction.

What's your thinking on the matter?


Over the course of the morning, you've cast the Gate Spell over a dozen times across three separate continents while evacuating the Quincies, your Shadow opened several portals of his own shuttling the Shinigami around, and Balthazar and Ambrose both contributed to the effort. That's quite a bit of planar travel to have packed into just a few hours, let alone when the lion's share of the spellcasting was performed by one person - and that even leaving aside any attempt to claim your Shadow's work as your own.

Considering the reaction those three Gates in New York drew, you're of a mind to suggest that the Archers, at least, might be better served by spending the next couple of days on your demiplane while the heat dies down back home. On a similar note, after all the portals that have been opening up around Japan today, you don't doubt that there are individuals and organizations looking into the matter; the Ishidas might prefer to avoid such attention, and if so, it would make sense for them to sit tight for a day or two.

It's possible that the Muhlfelds could return home without attracting attention, as you only opened the one portal while picking them up, and only long enough to transport their single van, at that. On the other hand, somebody could be poking around that street in Recife at this very moment, trying to figure out what interest a magic-user with access to ninth-circle spells had in their fair city.

The matter of the Wandenreich also has to be taken into account. You currently have no idea where the survivors of the Hidden Empire were sent by who or whatever your Shadow is carefully not going into detail about, so you can't rule out the possibility that some of the militant Quincy might be in Recife or New York. At the very least, you know that they have a branch office in the Big Apple, and you can safely assume they'll be getting in touch with the personnel deployed there in the wake of today's disaster - and sooner rather than later.

Which leads into the issue of the sympathizers. You aren't too worried about Henry Archer, who was the most visibly sympathetic to and supportive of the Wandenreich, before you dropped the bomb on him regarding their ultimate agenda and what it meant for his family. He's still quite subdued.

His brother James is more of a concern. While not so obvious about his loyalties as to show up wearing the uniform as his brother did, the way he blew up when the truth was revealed to him made it clear that he's at least as dedicated to the Hidden Empire as his brother was - and where Henry has clearly been thinking things over since talking to you in the garage, James's temper is still at a low boil.

The handful of Ishida sympathizers are honestly less of a worry. True, there are half a dozen of them to James's one, but none of them appear as angered by all of this as he did, and they also don't have the established working relationship with an active Wandenreich outpost that the Archer brothers do. While that doesn't eliminate the possibility of them eventually contacting their distant kinsmen and passing on what they've seen and heard of you, it will slow them down - and more so, if you can get them to hang around for a few days.

For all of these reasons, that's what you suggest to the assembled Quincy as their next course of action. You emphasize that you'd like a chance to investigate the aftermath of the raid, confirm what the Wandenreich survivors are up to, and determine whether or not they have any contingencies in effect that might endanger your collection of refugees - because it would suck if you went to all this trouble to save them, only for them to get killed by something like Yhwach draining their powers from beyond the grave.

You're fairly sure he can't actually do that, but 'fairly' isn't 'absolutely,' and it never pays to underestimate a being with divine heritage.

True.

You also remind the assemble Quincy that it IS the weekend, so if they do end up sticking around your demiplane, the impact on their regular lives should be less than if they'd up and disappeared in the middle of the week.

"And if we want to leave immediately?" inquires one of the Ishidas, who is not among the identified sympathizers. "What then?"

You check your mana reserves, which are down to less than half, and also take in the state of the demiplane's ambient energies, which your earlier rituals have largely depleted. Not great, but you've still got that last Spring Dew you didn't hand off to your Shadow, and he might have some recovery items left, on top of whatever mana he's still got to spare. Worse comes to worst, you can ask Balthazar and/or Ambrose to lend you a hand.


"Then, I'll send you back to Earth..."

You consider your response for a moment, different impulses wrestling for control.

"I will admit that I would prefer to have time to investigate the immediate fallout of today's events before I sent anyone here back to Earth," you respond slowly. "However," you add quickly, raising your voice a bit along with one hand, to forestall the responses you don't need enhanced perception to see coming, "I have no intention of holding anyone against their will. This place was created to be a temporary refuge, not a prison. So while I would ASK that you give me enough time to see how safe it is or isn't for any of us to leave here, if you insist, then I'll send you back to Earth right away - or I'll ask one of my seniors in the arcane arts to do so in my stead," you admit honestly.

"Starting to get a bit tired?" Balthazar guesses.

"I've got enough gas left in the tank to go for a while, yet, but the less of it I need to use, the happier I'll be. You know how it is."

The Merlinean Master nods. Managing one's use of mana is a critical element of the arcane arts: use too much in one crisis, and the next one may catch you before you've recovered enough to deal with it; but by the same token, if you use too LITTLE of your power for fear of future threats, the current one might end you. It can be a fine line to walk, sometimes, and Balthazar's been doing it for over a thousand years.

So yes, he definitely gets it.

As for the Quincy, your statement appears to have satisfied some members of the crowd, or at least calmed their worries enough that they're not pushing to be let out of the demiplane right away. That said-

"Then I say we get back to our lives," one of the Wandenreich sympathizers among the Ishidas declares.

-not everybody is as obliging.

That one call to leave is joined by another, and then a third, and in short order, perhaps a dozen of the Ishidas are asking to go. This includes three of the potential security leaks; most of the others are their immediate family members, although there are a couple who seem like they just want to leave. The way they keep glancing around, not at their relatives, you, or your other guests, but at the demiplane ITSELF, suggests they're kind of uncomfortable with the place, and would be just as happy to be done with it.

You wonder what it is that has them so fidgety. The lack of native spirits, perhaps? There's plenty of spiritual ENERGY here, but it's very faint and weirdly bland compared to any location on Earth you could call to mind, where billions of years of life and death - not just of plants, animals, and the like, but of the planet itself - have stirred and shaped the ambient energies.

There's also that faint, faded hint of divinely-touched Fae essence, the lingering trace of Navi's will upon the pocket realm of her making. Evidence of the involvement of one of the Fae would be plenty of reason to worry, and even if these two Quincy don't know what it is that they're picking up, the fact that it's powerful and non-human would be worthy of caution regardless.

"Oh, sit down already, you lot," Elder Michiko huffs at her younger kin in her too-loud voice. She's sitting at ease atop a large root that has oh-so-conveniently grown and been covered with thick, soft moss in such a way as to make a reasonable stand-in - or should that be sit-in? - for a chair. "Children, always in such a hurry."

"Elder-"

"That's right. 'Elder.' Which is a polite way of saying I survived my own stupidity as a proud young Quincy, to say nothing of the collective bad decisions of all the hotheads I grew up with, so I can recognize the same foolishness when I see it."

"Grandmother!" her young caretaker exclaims. You can't help but notice that her tone is one of delighted scandal rather than censure.

"Hush, child," Michiko says in an aside, gentle but firm. "Let an old woman speak her mind while she's got it for a change, hm?"

Most of the Elder's nearest relatives wince at that reminder of her long-standing condition prior to your use of the Spell of Restoration. Elder Asuka, on the other hand, is staring at her nominal peer with a look of dawning realization and chagrin.

What's that about?

"Now where was I?" Michiko muses. "Oh, right. Young idiocy - and don't you interrupt me, young Josuke! I know your mother taught you better manners than that!"

Ishida Josuke, who had indeed been about to speak up, falls silent.

Michiko waits for a moment, and then nods. "Now then, as I was saying: idiocy. Do you SERIOUSLY not see the danger in what you're about to do? To yourself? To the entire family?"

When it's clear the Elder is waiting on a reply, the young man answers, "Elder, assuming for the moment that we accept everything our host has told us at face value-"

You allow yourself to quirk an eyebrow at that.

I would say something about 'trust but verify', but...

Yeah, it's pretty clear he DOESN'T trust the kid.

Points for stepping carefully around guest-right, though.

"-then the danger is passed."

"The danger of getting our souls ripped out, yes. The danger of being shot by the Wandenreich as traitors and collaborators? Not hardly."

Elder or not, THAT remark prompts shouting.


While it might be more efficient for you to step out of this particular argument and attend to other matters of importance while the Quincy sort themselves out, it'd also be a bit rude.

Besides, you want to see how this plays out.

So you sit tight while the shouting goes on, trying to sort through the numerous raised voices to make sense of what's being argued.

While the known Wandenreich sympathizers are leading the group, close to a quarter of the assembled Quincy - Ishidas, Archers, and Muhlfelds all - are exhibiting varying degrees of shock and outrage at Elder Michiko's declaration that their distant kinsmen would turn on them. That said, your magically heightened senses make it a simple task to pick out that quite a few of those people, even among those shouting in protest, don't actually believe the notion is impossible - quite the contrary, they're afraid that it's all too likely.

Despite that, several of the Ishidas you've been concerned about show a distinct lack of concern for their safety, as do a few of their closer kin and several members of the other two families. Three or four of these individuals are young enough - despite being twice your age - and/or "civilian" enough in their demeanor that they may simply not have the experience to accurately judge how people would behave in a situation like this.

Others don't have that excuse, which leads you to conclude that Michiko called it, and they're just being idiots.

It's worth noting that no one that you KNOW to have had direct contact with elements of the Wandenreich is speaking out against the Elder. James Archer looked like he WANTED to for a moment, but he held back that initial impulse in favor of trading speaking glances with his brother - and at Henry's depressed nod, James started looking very troubled indeed, if no less angry than before. Ishida Souken, meanwhile, is just shaking his head in dismay at his relatives' behavior.

As the Quincy "debate," it occurs to you that their distraction would be useful for something else you've had on your mind for a bit. With that thought, you reach through the familiar bond.

-Briar/partner?-

-Alex/partner/yello?-

-I have an idea/scheme/trick...-

-Curiosity/interest/puzzlement/what, right now?-

You explain your desire to grab a few hair samples from the known Wandenreich loyalists in this crowd, so that you can scry on them later, if the need arises.

-Oooh/good idea/hadn't considered that/while they're distracted, huh?/leave it to me!-

Your fairy companion flies... over to her Shadow, and after a moment of inaudible conversation punctuated by bursts of psychic giggling, the two fairies consult with Shadow Alex, who rolls his eyes and casts a modified Spell of Invisibility on the two of them.

You turn that over in your head for a second and then shrug, conceding that it's a reasonable precaution. While fairies are imperceptible to most people, and the Spells of Mind Blank the Briars are currently sharing with their respective partners would make them unnoticeable by spiritual sensitivity, you don't know exactly who in this crowd can or can't see through their standard invisibility. Better to err on the side of caution, then.

As the fairies disappear even to your eyes and get on with their fun business, you shift your thoughts back to the ongoing argu-

?

Ambrose is regarding you curiously, while resting his staff-turned-cane in the crook of one arm so that he can bring both unoccupied hands togeth- oh, he's asking why you haven't interrupted the argument with your usual method!

...

Hmmm.


Although you are tempted to quiet things down in your own particular manner, the ongoing argument provides a good cover for Briar (and Shadow Briar) to discreetly gather those hair samples you wanted. True, the double-layered Invisibility plus Mind Blank makes the fairies very difficult to see or sense by exotic means, but they could still be heard or physically felt by their targets - the shouting neatly prevents the first, and must be at least a little distracting from the latter.

You would prefer not to interrupt until the girls are done. With that in mind, you reply to Ambrose's unspoken inquiry by tapping at the back of your wrist, as if you were wearing a watch.

Now he looks even MORE curious, but he nods and goes back to holding his cane the usual way.

A minute passes, and several of the shouting voices are reduced to "merely" raised ones-

!

-and then you feel two almost-imperceptible weights settle on your shoulders.

"Get 'em?" you murmur.

"Got 'em," the Briars chorus.

"Good."

Gained Quincy Hairs

Making a mental note to sort out which hairs belong to which Quincy later on, you pocket the supplementary focus materials and then bring your Conjured Book out in their stead. Opening it wide, you take in the state of the ongoing argument, and decide that it hasn't really made any headway in either direction.

As you gather your ki, you notice that Ambrose has raised his hands to cover his ears. Several of the knights are giving him funny looks at that, but Arturia and Balthazar merely sigh and copy the old man, the King managing to make the childish motion appear almost dignified.

Almost.

Several of the nearer Quincy notice these actions, and end up looking your way.

Elder Nicolau's eyes widen and he immediately covers his ears, saying something to his daughter that earns both of you puzzled glances, even as she heeds the warning.

The watching Archers and Ishidas also get looks of dawning realization, and shield themselves as best they can.

A moment later, you close your book.

*WHOOMPH!*

Gained Ki Shout E
Gained Thunder Clap F (Plus) (Plus)

Oooh, that was louder than usual! Progress, and also convenient for cutting through all the shouting!

While the latest book-slam doesn't drown out the yelling the way previous attempts have - possibly because you're "outside," where the sound waves have the opportunity to spread out, instead of in a relatively confinded space where the echoes are concentrated - it still suffices to get a lot of attention turned your way.

Much of that attention comes in company with looks that say clear as words that the Quincy in question can't believe that a) you did that, again, or b) they got caught by it, AGAIN.

"What in the world was that?" Elder Michiko wonders, looking in your direction and frowning behind her glasses.

"Just my preferred method of getting people's attention, Elder," you reply.

"You slam books?"

"It has yet to fail me," you tell her, as you tuck the Conjured Book away again.

She considers that, and then shrugs, clearly taking the 'whatever works' approach. "Was there something you wanted to add to our little debate?"

"Two things, if I may."

She gestures for you to proceed.

"First," you state, looking around, "I should point out that after all the Gates my associates and I had to open today" - your gesture takes in Shadow, Balthazar, and Ambrose as a group - "there WILL be people, creatures, and organizations watching for further activity of that sort in and around the various locations that we traveled to and from."

"Didn't you say one of those spells you cast on us made it almost impossible for us to be detected by anything other than the naked eye?" somebody in the crowd points out.

"I did, and it does, at least when it comes to supernatural methods of detection. Somebody could still take your photo or record you speaking, as long as the device they were using was mundane technology - which is part of what we need to watch for when we leave. The other part is that those spells I cast are tied into the timeless nature of this pocket realm; it allowed me to use a lot less energy casting them, but it also means that they'll run out as soon as you folks exit this pocket realm. They CAN be replaced, but we" - again, you gesture at your fellow arcane magic-users - "have been making pretty extensive use of magic today, which puts a limit on how much we can do going forward. Half the reason I was hoping to wait a few days before sending you all home was so that I could rest and recover."

A few of the Quincy that were in such a hurry to leave have the good grace to look embarrassed by that.

"And the second thing you wanted to add?" Michiko inquires.

"I was hoping that it hadn't escaped anyone's notice that those among you who I know to have had DIRECT contact with the Wandenreich AREN'T speaking out against the idea that they'd try to kill you all."

"Souken has made his position clear," Ishida Josuke says dismissively, rather pointedly leaving off the honorific title the old man is owed.

The Karakura Ishidas aren't the only ones to frown at their young cousin.

"Fine," you reply. "Ignore the Elder who helped come up with the plan that saved all your lives. What about them?" you ask, pointing at Henry and James Archer. "As of this MORNING, Henry was working for the Wandenreich branch in New York, just like his father did before him. Are you going to ignore HIS worries about what his co-workers may do, too?"

From the stubborn expression on Ishida Josuke's face, you think he just might be.

The good news is that most of the other sympathizers are regarding Henry with new interest, and the first signs of concern.

Whatever. You've said what you wanted to say. Let them sort it out from here.


Signaling for Shadow Alex to join you, you turn and start walking away from the Quincy gathering.

"Where are you going?" Josuke calls after you.

"He and I have a few matters to discuss in private," Shadow replies, before you can.

"Such as?"

You sense your darker side pausing at that, and can easily picture him turning to frown at the troublesome Quincy before he says, "Private ones," with a certain cautionary emphasis.

"Quit bothering our hosts, Josuke," Elder Michiko snaps. "I may not be able to turn you over my knee, but I could still manage a caning, and you're pushing for one!"

"I have a cane," Ambrose offers cheerfully.

Not helping, Wizard.

Shaking your head, you keep going, heading away from the meeting area near the Mansions and the faint cluster of living presences that denotes the location of the kids and their minders. You eventually end up at the "north" end of the demiplane, on the far side of the Mansions from where all the vehicles were parked.

Shadow Alex's adult stride allowed him to catch up to you easily, and you take advantage of his greater height now, letting him look around for potential eavesdroppers. The fairies, meanwhile, have blurred back into view.

"We're clear," your darkened doppelganger reports. "But just to be sure..."

He then casts the Spell of the Silent Table, surrounding the four of you with a barrier that will prevent your conversation from being easily overheard.

You raise an eyebrow at this, and when the spell has settled, you ask, "What's so important that you feel the need for the extra secrecy?"

"I learned something fairly important during the raid," comes the frank reply. "I had to swear an oath of secrecy on the matter, but I am allowed to tell the three of you about it, as long as you agree to keep the secret yourselves."

What.

...it takes you a moment to realize that not only did you say that out loud, but both Briars spoke along with you.

"I didn't resort to a Geas or anything that extreme," Shadow continues quickly, "but I did invoke the Goddesses, and they answered. So."

...so, either you swear the same oath, or you miss out on the secret.

"How important is 'fairly important'?" you inquire.

Shadow Alex considers the question. "Under different circumstances, the information would be... interesting, potentially in the ancient Chinese sense, but probably not directly relevant to us or for any of our purposes."

Oh, good. "And under the current circumstances?"

"It's definitely relevant." Your sensory enhancements tell you that the Shadow wants to say something more on the subject, but is actively holding himself back from doing so, out of a sense of caution.

Maybe he's concerned that saying more will give away the secret he's supposed to be keeping?

Well, regardless, it's a straightforward choice.

Once the business of the secret is handled, Shadow Alex starts digging into his dimensional pocket. First, he returns a couple of the restoratives you handed off to him earlier, as well as the remnants of the used ones.

After that, comes the loot.

So.

Much.

Loot.

mine

(Re)Gained (most of) Shadow Alex's Inventory

As he hands over each item, your Shadow offers a brief account of where and how it was obtained. He also mentions your deal with Ambrose about the division of the spoils, Urahara's counsel regarding the spiritually-augmented computer, and his agreement to spar with the Captain of the Eleventh Division at some point in the not-too-distant future. All things he COULD have just let you find out about when he passed a copy of his memories along, but important enough to merit making sure you know up-front, rather than forcing you to sort through the information.

Second-to-last of the things that Shadow Alex brings out is a collection of photographs, most of which mean nothing to you. The last one, however...

Finally, Shadow Alex turns to the topic of the memory download you'd planned, asking how much of his experiences you want to receive a copy of. He warns you that he saw a number of serious injuries and deaths during the Silbern raid, and was responsible for some of both, not the least of which was Yhwach's demise.


If your Shadow felt that this information was important enough to willingly take on a vow of secrecy and all the issues that come with it, then you think you'd better find out what the deal was.

And so you swear an oath to the Goddesses not to reveal what Shadow Alex is about to tell you, to anyone outside your little group.

"You could probably also speak about it with the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13," Shadow Alex adds. "Or anyone he confirms has clearance."

Shinigami business, then? Eh, not really surprising, given the timing.

Regardless, your word is given.

Gained Alex's Oath of Secrecy

"So noted."

You blink at that.

"Yeah, they did that earlier, too," Shadow confirms.

Then he tells you what he left out regarding his encounter with Gerard Valkyrie: about the Heart of the Soul King; about the apparently dismembered state of said divinity; and about the Heart's opinion of and response to the events in Silbern, as translated from heartbeats by a dismayed and grudging Sternritter.

"So THAT's where that creepy Heart Container came from?"

Your doppelganger nods. "I have to say, I really wasn't expecting that."

"That another god's blessing would take the form of a Heart Container, or that it would be all... pulsing?"

"Yes."

Fair enough. You doubt YOU would have expected it either, had you been in your Shadow's place.


The image of the twins is concerning, to say the least, and it poses all sorts of questions.

How did the Grandmaster of the Wandenreich even get this picture? Why did he keep it in a collection that appears to have spanned centuries? That collection was clearly important enough for the de facto ruler of the Wandenreich to maintain for all that time, so why was it located in a hidden room? Who were the other Quincy, and what were their connections to Haschwalth?

You don't have any answers, and while a part of you would like to hold off on informing Isshin and Masaki about this until you have some actual information to work with, you decide that you'd better speak to them as soon as possible.

There IS the outside chance that Masaki might know something, or be able to point you in a useful direction, but even leaving that aside, they simply deserve to know.

Before you go in search of the Kurosakis, however, Shadow Alex has one final thing to pass on.

Lowering the Spell of Mind Blank to prevent it from interfering with the memory transfer, you tell him to hit you with everything he learned.

"You're sure?" he asks.

The Spell of Foresight flickers a warning image of your Dark Self's hand coming up, finger extended to poke your forehead and complete the connection - and subsequently, of your future self recoiling in surprise and grimacing at whatever he sees.

You take a deep breath, set your jaw, and nod. "Let's do it."

Shadow Alex readies the spell, raises his hand, and then pauses, giving you one final chance to change your mind.

"Hit me."

*Poke*

Ancient Earth History E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Blooded D
Disarm F (Plus)
Earth Affinity C (Plus)
Earth Elementalism B
Elementalism A
Filial Piety C (Plus)
Firearms E
Gnomish F
Grappling C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Hand-to-Hand B (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Honest C (Plus) (Plus)
Illusion C (Plus)
Iron Stomach D (Plus)
Ki Enhancement A (Plus)
King of Men B (Plus)
King of Spirits D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Knowledge of Power D (Plus) (Plus)
Local Knowledge (Soul Society) D
Local Knowledge (Tokyo) E
Logistics E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Looking B (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Mage Sight A (Plus)
Mental Power D
Mental Sense C
Mounted Combat F
Necromancy B
Past-Life Experience C (Plus)
Power Aura E (Plus)
Power Blade E (Plus)
Power Overload F (Plus) (Plus)
Power Sight E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Power Word F (Plus)
Quincy D
Ranged Defense F
Reiki E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Riding E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Scholar's Soul C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Skullduggery E (Plus) (Plus)
Sneak Attack D (Plus)
Soul King's Favor E
Spirit Resistance D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Spiritual Sense A (Plus) (Plus)
Spiritual Sight A (Plus)
Strategy E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Telepathy E (Plus)
Terran D
Thunder Affinity E (Plus) (Plus)
Thunder Clap F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Thunder Elementalism D (Plus)
Trapbreaking F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Traumatic Memories C

...

Okay, the Celestial Tyrannosaurus was even cooler than you were expect-

Ow.

Ugh.

Oh, ick!

"...Alex?" Briar asks, as if from a great distance. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just... ugh, he wasn't kidding about there being some nasty parts." You turn to your Shadow. "You really couldn't think of another solution besides... 'squish'?"

"Considering how the Shinigami boss ninja lady was gearing up to stab him through the heart, even if it meant ripping her OWN heart to pieces in the process?"

You pause, and review the information. "Bit of a time crunch, huh?"

"Just a bit."

Fair enough.

Shadow Alex reaches out to dismiss the Spell of the Silent Table, and then pauses. "Did you want to talk to the Kurosakis yourself, or would you rather I took care of it?"

You consider that. If your Shadow were to handle that side of things, you could get started on those follow-up Divination Rituals you wanted to perform. Of course, you could have your not-evil twin handle the spellcasting-

"I'm starting to run low on mana," he warns you.

-or maybe not. Though you do have a couple of restoratives left...


You decide that you should speak with the Kurosakis in person.

Shadow Alex nods. "While you're doing that, I'll Commune with the Goddesses, and see what information they're able to pass on. Any thoughts about what I should ask them?"

The four of you spend a few minutes hashing out a list of questions, which you write down on some of the blank pages in your Conjured Book, leaving plenty of room between them for answers to be added later. Passing the tome off to your double, you leave him and Shadow Briar to their work, while you and your partner go in search of Isshin and Masaki.

Following the sounds of children playing turns out to be a good choice. Although the bulk of the Kurosaki family actually aren't in the grassy corner of the demiplane that the kids and their minders have taken over for a game of soccer, Ichigo pauses long enough to let you know that the twins were getting tired and cranky, so his parents took them to one of the Mansions to put them down for a nap.

Fortunately, you remember which of the conjured accommodations the Kurosaki family picked out to stay in, so you don't need to drag Ichigo or Tatsuki out of the game in progress to play tour guide.

You find Isshin in the dining area of the Mansion in question, seated at the table with no plate or bowl before him, only a crystal glass of what appears to be water.

"Oh, hey, Alex," the Shinigami turned clinical doctor says as he catches sight of you. "Did my in-laws finally chase you off with all their yelling?"

"No, I just had more productive things to do with my time than listen to them argue," you reply.

He frowns. "What sort of things?"

"My Shadow found something in Silbern which concerns you and Masaki." You pause and glance towards the bedrooms at the back of the Mansion. "Is she still-?" You make a rocking gesture with one hand.

"Yeah, it's only been a few minutes since we got the twins settled. It'll be another five to ten before they've conked out enough for their mom to slip away."

Since you'd prefer to speak with both parents together, you fill the time until Masaki turns up by letting Isshin know how the raid went. Although his reaction to most of the names you mention among the captains and lieutenants is subdued, it's clear that he recognizes them and is pleased to hear that they came out of the raid in one piece.

He makes no such attempt to hide his feelings about Aizen and Ichimaru, and actually questions you rather intently on your Shadow's interactions with the treacherous Captain of the Fifth Division.

You reply that your doppelganger was never alone with the man, reported no "missing" time, and did not encounter any illusions. It's going to take you a while to fully sort through and internalize your copy of those memories, so you can't verify the Shadow's claims just yet, but between Foresight, Greater Heroism, Mind Blank, and True Seeing, he had a pretty solid set of defenses against being mind-jacked.

You've just gotten onto the matter of the Wandenreich survivors - or perhaps escapees is a better term? - when Masaki enters the room.

She takes one look at you and her husband in halted conversation, and sighs. "What's gone wrong now?"

Good instincts.

Also, ow.

Reaching into your pocket, you start pulling out the photographs that Shadow swiped from Jugram's private shrine, setting them up on the table in chronological order as you explain where they came from. You also show off some of the half-melted jewelry, pointing out the strong similarities to the items worn by the woman in the oldest portrait, and explaining that - while you have some suspicions - you haven't investigated Grandmaster Haschwalth's connection to any of these items or individuals as yet, feeling it was more important to speak with the Kurosakis.

"Alright," Isshin says slowly. "I know I'm probably going to regret asking, but what about these pictures made you think you needed to talk to us?"

Your response is to take out the framed photograph of the twins and set it down for their parents to see.

...

After silently staring at the picture of his daughters for a long moment, Isshin gets up, walks over to the mini-bar that you included in the Mansions - high end to be out of reach of the smallest people, with a dedicated servant under orders to make sure nobody tried to get clever - opens one of the bottles, and takes a long drink.

Masaki holds out one hand. "Share."

Being a good husband, Isshin does as requested.

Once properly fortified, the two of them start talking.

To the best of Masaki's knowledge, the Kurosaki bloodline has no connection to Jugram Haschwalth. She admits that it's entirely possible there IS a link and she never knew about it, whether because she wasn't old or trusted enough to be told before becoming an outcast to most of her relatives, or because they themselves had long since forgotten. That said, she tends to discount the idea, because if the Grandmaster WAS collecting these pictures out of a sense of familial connection, there should be a lot more of them, and of more people that Masaki recognizes.

"Not having a picture of ME, I could understand," she begins.

"The man CLEARLY has NO taste," Isshin adds, earning himself a light, backhanded swat to the chest.

"Hush, you. As I was saying, I was infected by a Hollow, saved by Shinigami, and then married one of them and had his children. Plenty of reason for this guy to throw out any pictures of me he might have had. But what about my parents, grandparents, or the Ishidas? Why aren't any of them in this collection? For that matter, why isn't Ichigo? By the logic of that bloodline nonsense, the twins are just as tainted as he is, so why were THEY in this gallery when HE wasn't?"

All good questions.

Masaki doesn't recognize any of the other people portrayed in these images, although she agrees with Shadow's assessment of her being part of the Japanese Quincy population. She can also give you an approximate age for that picture, as the style of the uniform worn by the girl - the same style still worn by Souken and Uryuu - dates back two centuries, to when the Soul Society exterminated the bulk of the resurgent Quincy population.

The twins, from the modern day.

A girl from two hundred years ago.

Jugram Haschwalth's possible fiancee, likely dead and gone with the Lichtreich, a millennium past.

Pictures of three other individuals, clearly separated by long spans of time - four hundred, six hundred, and eight hundred years, perhaps? Or maybe you're reading too much into this.

As for the photo itself, both Isshin and Masaki are quite certain it was taken at the park in Karakura, and - by the clothes Karin and Yuzu are wearing - within the last few months.

"We only bought them those outfits this spring," Isshin explains.

So the Wandenreich had the family under some level of surveillance for at least the last three months?

Well, you suppose it's better than confirmation they've been under observation for, say, fourteen months. That would have put it right around the time of the World Tournament, which would be concerning to you for a whole other set of reasons.

...not that you can actually rule out the Quincy militants having kept an eye on the tournament, though. At least not yet.


As you pack the pictures back into your pocket, you tell the Kurosakis that you left Shadow Alex setting up a ritual to make contact with the Golden Goddesses and ask them a number of questions, and that a couple of the inquiries that you and the fairies came up with had to do with the photo of the twins. It hasn't quite been ten minutes since you came looking for them, so if you hurry, you might be able to make it back in time to hear the answers in person, or maybe suggest a few different questions.

You ask Isshin and Masaki if they'd care to accompany you.

"We would," Masaki says at once.

"We really, really would," Isshin agrees.

"Follow me," you tell them, as you turn to leave.

The three of you don't quite hit the ground outside the Mansion's door running, but you're definitely moving at something closer to a jog than a walk.

"What's the hurry?" someone in the crowd of Quincy calls, having caught sight of you.

"Private business," Isshin calls back. "Excuse us please sorry thank you!"

Some of the crowd sit or stand where they are, watching you go but making no move to interfere.

Some of Masaki's relatives aren't so obliging.

"Masaki-" one of the women begins.

"Not now, Su," the Kurosaki matriarch replies, not slowing down as she brushes past the woman.

The man with a blackened eye makes a grab for Masaki's shoulder, growling, "Not until you explain-"

*POW*

And down goes Cousin Haruto, for the second time in as many days.

Nice.

I'm not sure that was entirely necessary...

Get in the way of a mama bear, get mauled.

At least his eyes should match after this?

Also, the rest of the intrusive bunch make way.

Once you're far enough along for the crowd to be out of earshot, you ask the Kurosakis if they think Urahara should be involved in this.

"Probably, but let's wait and see what your Goddesses have to say, first," Isshin replies.

The four of you arrive to find Shadow Alex in the middle of asking a question. Shadow Briar is standing at his side, in her human-sized teenage form, the Conjured Book and a pencil in hand, writing quickly as her partner carries out the ritual. Both of them glance in your direction as you approach - though mainly at the Kurosakis, you expect - but do not allow themselves to be distracted from what they're in the middle of.

"-without a password?" your doppelganger finishes saying.

"No."

Having seen Isshin and Masaki, Shadow Briar turns the pages of the Book and holds it up for Shadow Alex to see, indicating a particular set of questions that hadn't been asked yet. You hurry over to catch up on what questions have and haven't been asked for yourself.

"Who took the picture of the Kurosaki twins?"

"Private investigator."

You blink, honestly surprised by that one.

"What connection does Jugram Haschwalth have with the people in the hidden pictures and paintings that I took?"

"No single connection."

Okay, what does THAT mean?

With assistance from Shadow Briar, you confirm that about half of your original list of questions have been asked and answered. In addition to the three you just heard, Shadow Alex has also confirmed that: Silbern will be destroyed in seven days' time; there are no tracking devices on him, his partner, or the loot they brought back with them; some of that loot is either booby-trapped or cursed; there is nothing on Jugram's computer that threatens your oath of secrecy; and the computer isn't set up to erase any of its files or self-destruct if someone other than the Grandmaster accesses it.

Shadow Alex seems to have skipped over the question regarding potions at Gen's, given the much larger window of opportunity than either of you were expecting to have for another looting run on Silbern.

You've got nine questions left. Do you want to try changing some of them?


You can think of at least a couple of questions to ask, and since your Shadow already skipped one question and your list didn't use up the full number of inquiries the Spell of Communion allows you to make, you should be able to fit the new questions in without dropping any of the remaining ones.

Rather than try to write the new questions into the Conjured Book, you cast the Spell of Minor Image and start writing in the air, first making sure that you're facing in the same direction as your doppelganger, so there won't be any nonsense about reading letters backwards or the like.

As it takes you a few seconds to cast the spell, Shadow Alex continues to move down the list: "Will any segments of the Wandenreich try to execute the Quincy currently in this demiplane for being 'traitors'?"

"Yes."

Lovely. You had a feeling that would be the case, but there was always the hope-

Shaking that off, you finish "writing" the questions you want Shadow Alex to ask next.

"What is one of the connections between Haschwalth and the people in the secret pictures?"

"Empowerers."

...huh?

"What is it about the Kurosaki twins that most drew Haschwalth's interest?"

"Yuzu."

Isshin's spiritual energies have been bubbling along at a level that registers as "Angry, Worried, and Protective Dad" since you showed off the photo of the girl. Now, they spike.

Masaki, meanwhile, gives off a cold, focused, lethal intent, like she's lining up a kill-shot.

You certainly don't begrudge them the parental instinct to kill something that threatens one of their children - if you found evidence that this guy was monitoring Zelda, the things you'd be tempted to do would be many and dire - but considering the sheer power your Shadow sensed from the Wandenreich Grandmaster in those brief moments when the man was in his direct sensory range, the Kurosaki parents are nowhere near ready to pick that particular fight.

"How intently are the Wandenreich going to be looking for Shadow Alex after his role in killing Yhwach?" your duplicate asks, without displaying a hint of self-consciousness from referring to himself in the third person.

"VERY."

Emphasis noted. In that case-

"Do you have any suggestions to help Alex protect himself and his family?"

There is a short pause, and then, "Avoid unwarded Quincy."

Okay, you THINK that's a warning to steer clear of Quincy who aren't covered by Mind Blank or a similar anti-scrying defense. MAYBE Nondetection, at the low end. If Yamamoto was right about Haschwalth having Yhwach's all-seeing eyes - and you doubt the old Shinigami would have lied about a tactical and strategic threat like that in front of half his captains - then even if he couldn't scry on YOU directly, he could try looking for Quincy who were talking to someone that wasn't there to his (borrowed) eyes.

Somewhat of a hassle on his end, especially since there are a thousand or so Quincy he'd have to check on a regular basis, but entirely worth it if it leads him to you.

That's going to complicate your future dealings with the Archers, Ishidas, and Muhlfelds, but if you avoid showing up in your idealized adult form, employ the Spell to Alter One's Self to hide your obvious similarities to Shadow's current appearance, and maybe drop Mind Blank in favor of Nondetection, then you might be able to slip past Jugram's surveillance. Or maybe-

"Are any of the Wandenreich sympathizers among those we saved planning to give information to the Wandenreich?" Shadow Alex presses on.

"Yes."

Of COURSE they are.

"Will a Geas to 'Keep the details of events on June 16th, 17th, and 18th secret until the Original Alex's death' prevent the Wandenreich sympathizers from giving away that information?"

"No."

Damn. You did your best to word the potential Geas in a way that wouldn't leave any loopholes; did you miss something? Or is it just the fact that even the strongest Geas is ultimately only a deterrent, and one or more of the Quincy refugees would be willing to suffer the consequences of talking to the Wandenreich, whether out of genuine loyalty (however misplaced) or spite towards you?

"Which of the Stenritter are going to do their best to kill Shadow Alex no matter what happens?"

"Too many to say."

Ouch. Someone just got popular, in the worst sort of way.

Two questions remain...


Shadow Alex asks the second-to-last of your questions: "Does Alex need to evacuate his family to Bali Ha'i to keep them safe from the Wandenreich?"

"No."

You actually have conflicted feelings over that response.

On the one hand, it's obviously a good thing that your family aren't currently in enough danger from the militant Quincy to require an evacuation.

On the other hand, it would have been a really good reason to get them out of Sunnydale, and perhaps even to get your parents thinking seriously about making such an arrangement permanent.

Oh, well.

Your aged-up duplicate voices your final inquiry: "What day, if any, will the Wandenreich send people back to Silbern?"

"NOW."

And with that last declaration and a burst of golden light, the Goddesses sever the connection and end the spell.

Shadow Alex goes through the closing portion of the ritual, dismissing the lingering energies, extinguishing the burning incense, and thanking the Goddesses for their insight and advice.

Then he turns to you. "I can't help but feel that last answer is going to cost us some loot."

Yeah, you were thinking along the same lines. It's been well over an hour since your Shadow, the Shinigami, and Ambrose's bunch departed Silbern, and the better part of two hours since the Soul King's Heart sent the Wandenreich Quincy... wherever it sent them. While it's been all but confirmed that whatever sensory powers Haschwalth "inherited" from Yhwach couldn't see anyone who was under Mind Blank, none of the reapers had that particular protection, and as soon as they could be seen to have departed the fortress, the Quincy could have returned in relative safety, especially if they traveled through a Gate OTHER than the one that your little invasion used: your Shadow never got anywhere near another portal; and you don't think any of his allies did, either.

Given the strong implications that the Grandmaster has at least some of his late liege's power to see the future, it seems a safe bet that Haschwalth is or soon will be aware of the deadline on Silbern's existence. With that in mind, it's likely that he will be having as many of his people as possible clearing out all the supplies and intel they can carry, and destroying whatever they can't.

And the more the Quincy take or ruin, the less there will be for you to loot.

It is... annoying, but you console yourself with the knowledge that Silbern is a VERY big place, and the Wandenreich had a thousand years to stockpile potential plunder of all kinds in its many chambers. It's very unlikely that they'll be able to clear the place out in just seven days, especially once the impact of Yhwach's death really sinks in and starts eroding their morale. You'll have to plan Shadow Alex's further excursions carefully, and take the possibility of encounters with angry Soldats or Sternritter into account... but that is a matter for Future Alex to deal with. Here and now, you have other concerns.

Taking back the Conjured Book from Shadow Briar - who reverts back to her usual size with an unnecessary *VWORP* sound effect - you flip through the questions and replies for a moment before closing the tome and turning to face the Kurosakis.

"How often can you cast that spell?" Isshin asks.

"In theory, as long as I have the mana and the material offerings, I can cast it every ten minutes or so."

"And in practice?"

"I'm not really sure," you admit. "I've only cast it a few times, most of them weeks or months apart. That said, while I do have a fairly good relationship with the Goddesses, I'm pretty sure that calling them up every ten minutes wouldn't be taken all that well."

I mean, would YOU want to be getting a Sending Spell every ten minutes? Even from people you liked?

Granted, if the matter is important, we can be flexible, but the local Powers would take umbrage eventually regardless.

Besides, past a certain point, "asking for guidance" turns into "asking to be told what to do." And that just defeats the purpose.

Yeah.

Still...


There is a certain respectful symbolism in the act of (directly) contacting your divine patrons no more than once each day. On top of that, your magical reserves are drawing towards the point where a full night's rest won't be enough to fully restore all the energy you've expended today, and each spell you cast from this point on will only extend the time you need to recover your full strength - which you'd really like to get back as soon as possible, as you have Plans that would be best performed from a starting position of maximum strength.

And THEN there are the Quincy that are in need of wrangling, an act which is probably going to cost you some additional mana regardless of how you tackle it.

For all of these reasons, you'd prefer to put off communing with the Goddesses again until tomorrow.

Isshin and Masaki look a little frustrated at being told that they'll have to wait, but they accept your terms - though they also ask if you could leave the photo of the twins with them. They'd like to see if they can figure out where and when it was taken, at least more precisely than "in the park, some time since this spring."

Do you have any problem with this?

With this matter tabled for the moment, you decide your next move will be for you and your Shadow to convene with Ambrose and Balthazar. Four magic-users are better than two, after all, and the Merlinean Master in particular has prior experience in the careful handling of spiritual archer-monks that don't like or trust him.

As you turn to leave, however, a thought occurs that has you turning back to Isshin. "So, on a side note to the rest of today's events, my Shadow has agreed to have a sparring match with Captain Zaraki-"

Isshin gapes at the two of you.

"-and I was wondering if you had any advice for him?"

"Run screaming?" the man offers in a dazed tone of voice, before shaking his head. "Wait, no, that would just make him chase you..."

You can see it.

Once he gets over his dumbfounded shock at the idea AND is convinced that your Shadow isn't suffering the aftereffects of a head injury-

"Why does everybody keep asking that?" Shadow wonders.

-under mind control-

"I think we've earned a LITTLE confidence in our abilities, haven't we?"

-or just self-destructive-

"Oh, come on!"

-Isshin does have some tips.

First, bring a healer. Bring TWO, or more, if you can manage it.

"Covered!" the Briars say together.

Second, don't rely on long-range firepower to inflict injury. Ordinary Shinigami are taught how to focus and "harden" their spiritual energies to reduce the effects of impacts and injuries, and Zaraki's version of the technique is powerful enough that even projectiles generated by high-end kido, Hollow techniques, and released zankpakuto are often little more than a waste of time and energy.

For reasons similar to the above, don't rely on bindings or seals. Zaraki's eyepatch is proof that they CAN be applied successfully, but that one is a manufactured item rather than a conjured construct, he wears it voluntarily, and it has limits even so.

On that note, DON'T damage or remove the eyepatch - and if at all possible, keep Zaraki from taking it off.

As for the inevitable melee, Isshin notes that while Zaraki never attended the Shinigami Academy, and hence has not been formally trained in their "zanjutsu" style, he's had a century to see others using the core art and many of the personalized variations that individual Shinigami develop out of it - many of which he's "helped" to hone personally, as Eleventh Division ARE Soul Society's melee specialists, and making sure one's subordinates are trained and fit to fight IS among a captain's responsibilities. This isn't even getting into all the fights the man's rumored to have won before officially joining the Gotei 13.

"He doesn't bother with formal stance or technique himself, but he knows what they're about," Isshin states. "Combine that with the number and variety of opponents he's defeated over the years, and you shouldn't expect to surprise him with pure swordsmanship OR hand-to-hand - and definitely not twice with the same trick."

Good to know.


You take a moment to run through your mental spellbook, seeking to confirm if the inclusion of this photograph as a focus for any of your Divination Spells would make it easier to track down the private investigator that the Goddesses mentioned.

You can ALMOST rule out the Spell of Scrying from consideration, as you don't know the investigator's appearance, and the picture had already been handed off to Haschwalth by the time you got your hands on it, making it HIS property - assuming it didn't count as such from the beginning.

The investigator WAS on the Wandenreich Grandmaster's payroll when they took the picture, after all.

It's true that there should be a lingering connection between the image of the twins and its "creator," but you've never tried to trace such a thing before, so you can't speak to how well doing so with a Spell of Scrying would work out. The picture looks like it was taken with a traditional photofilm camera, so the magic might lead you to the P.I. - assuming they developed the picture themself - or it might instead home in on someone who works at the nearest Kodak outlet. If the image was recorded digitally and then printed out later, your spell may not work at all, or could just lead you back to Jugram. He DID have that printer in his office...

That possibility aside, the only other spells you can think of that would require you to have the picture on hand are Legend Lore and its more powerful variants, and those might well not work at all.

Despite its importance to the Kurosakis and the interest Jugram Haschwalth had in it, the photograph is, in the end, merely that. It simply may not have enough large-scale significance for the Spell of Legend Lore to pick up on.

No other spell in your information-gathering arsenal really seems to apply for this purpose, but given your overall skill in the School of Divination, you are confident that you could make something work.

With that in mind, you let Isshin and Masaki know that you'll be wanting the picture back, and why, before you hand it over.

They agree to keep it safe until then.

Following your brief discussion with Isshin about Shadow's match with Zaraki, you go in search of Ambrose and Balthazar, making your way back to the center of the demiplane where you last saw them.

As you draw near, you note that the "Quincy assembly" has broken up a bit since you and the Kurosakis swept past a few minutes earlier. Where the crowd previously numbered around forty - not counting spellcasters and simulated knights - a quick head count turns up only half that many. You can sense enough spiritual energy leaking out of the open doors of the nearby Mansions to account for most of the "missing" individuals, and stretching out your senses a bit reveals the remainder moving off towards where the kids are playing.

Ambrose appears to have drafted Arturia and her knights to put on a reenactment for the remaining Quincy, using a combination of "live" actors - back in their armor - and Illusion Magic for a somewhat more dramatic telling of events in Silbern. As the wizard wasn't present to see things himself, the knights are offering their own commentary, which currently seems to be aimed at getting the placement and appearance of the Sternritter and Soldats that they faced outside the Royal Quarter correct. Those knights who departed the Wandenreich stronghold with their loot train are replaced, of course, but Mordred is also being represented by a phantom image; you look around, but there's no indication which way the Red Knight went, Ambrose's Mind Blank spells evidently still running, and nothing having happened that would leave an obvious trail.

You can live with the lack of explosions.

Balthazar is also in the audience, if standing a bit apart from the majority.


You circle the crowd, heading for Balthazar's position with the fairies riding on your shoulders and Shadow Alex trailing along behind you.

The sorcerer isn't the only one who notices your approach, but only about a third of the Quincy in the much smaller crowd actually look your way, and most of those spare you only a brief glance before turning their attention back to the ongoing performance. One turns away from the show with a distinctly reluctant air, and heads for a nearby Mansion doorway at a walking pace, looking back over his shoulder a couple of times as he goes - particularly when Ambrose raises his voice or his puppets do something that audibly wows the audience.

Speaking of whom, while you don't doubt that the wizard and some or all of the knights have noticed your approach, none of them let on that they have.

The show must go on, after all.

As you come to a stop next to Balthazar, he murmurs, "Did you manage to calm the Kurosakis down?"

Some of the nearest Quincy twitch at that, and two of them can't quite refrain from looking your way, their expressions a mix of curiosity and wariness.


Frowning at the two Quincy, you quickly gather your magic and shape a spell. At the moment of completion, you pause long enough to quietly declare, "Eavesdropping is rude."

The pair have the good grace to look abashed, and a few more people who have their backs to you flinch.

Then you let the Spell of the Silent Table take effect, centered on yourself and extending to Balthazar (to your left), Shadow Alex (to your right), and the fairies (still riding shoulder-guns).

"So, aside from people being nosy for its own sake," you ask the older sorcerer, "have you notice anyone who seemed likely to be a Wandenreich loyalist ASIDE from the ones we already knew about?"

"Not as such, no," Balthazar replies. "A few clear cases of loyalty to close family and long-held beliefs outweighing trust in near-perfect strangers, even ones that have the support of more distant relatives; plenty of heads having trouble wrapping themselves around the idea that a nine-year-old magic-user would be an authority on matters of life and death; and a bit of old-fashioned suspicion of foreigners; but nothing that I'd be willing to make any accusations over."

You nod slowly, a little disappointed.

With that train of thought having abruptly dead-ended, you shift tracks, fishing out your Conjured Book and opening it to the first of the latest additions before handing it over.

"The results of a Spell of Communion Shadow cast to get in touch with the Goddesses," you explain.

Balthazar begins reading at once, and stops almost immediately.

"Would you happen to be planning on sending your double back for more loot?"

You and Shadow Alex nod in unison. "I am/he is."

"Are you going to ask Ambrose for further assistance?"

"I see. Would you object to my joining you?"

You consider that. Adding another high-end magic-user to the affair WOULD increase the absolute size of your haul, though you're not sure by how much. That said...

"I thought you wanted to stay out of Silbern's plane because you weren't sure how it would interact with your magic," you say.

"For a full-scale battle? Yes. For a bit of in-and-out looting? I feel a bit more confident-"

"Check the last question," you advise wryly.

Balthazar blinks, flips a couple of pages, and reads. "...ah. Bold of them, to go straight back to a fortress their enemy has already demonstrated the ability to invade."

"According to the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, the Wandenreich Grandmaster had possession of Yhwach's all-seeing eyes - somehow." You shake your head, unsure as to how that occurred - not because you can't think of any ways to do it, but because you CAN think of various possibilities, and have no way to narrow the field as yet. "Given the Goddesses' warnings about the Quincy being back in Silbern and for me to avoid unwarded Quincy, I think we can safely assume he still HAS the eyes, even though Yhwach is dead."

"Even with Mind Blank, precognitive opponents always find ways to be annoying," Balthazar sighs. "Still, if I could get a description of the planar conditions and how they interact with sorcery, and we don't get reckless or over-greedy, I think I could manage."

Hmm.


There are too many potential benefits involved in bringing Ambrose - and the knights - along on a second run at looting Silbern for you to consider doing otherwise. More hands to make the work go faster; extra arms, backs, packs, pockets, and saddlebags to carry stuff with; additional bodies for backup (and cover) in case you run into the Wandenreich again; the list goes on and on.

True, Ambrose might have other plans that preclude his taking part, but you're at least going to ask.

You don't have any real problem with Balthazar joining in on plundering the other-planar fortress. In fact, you find that you're perfectly willing to give him the same terms that you gave Ambrose.

Sure, it means you'll have to split that quarter-share three ways instead of two, but it also means that slice of the pie will be BIGGER than before - and you'll still be getting the other three-quarters of everything you and your summoned allies abscond with.

Balthazar accepts your terms with a great deal less fuss and barter than Ambrose did.

"Getting to keep eighty-three percent of whatever I can carry off would be a pretty good deal under any circumstances," he admits, "let alone when I'm late to the party. One thing, though: is that quarter-share we're going to split up counting everything you and Ambrose pilfered today, or just what we grab going forward?"

With the terms settled - pending Ambrose's (dis)agreement, anyway - Balthazar gets on with reading the results of the Spell of Communion. He finishes reading without further interruption, but you notice him frowning a couple of times along the way.

Once he's done, you ask if he's got any better ideas for dealing with the issue presented by the Wandenreich sympathizers than your divinely-disapproved notion of using a Geas.

"I can think of a few options, none of them without their attendant issues," the Merlinean Master replies, as he hands back the Conjured Book.

"Run me through them?" you suggest.

"I would, but I think someone else wants a word," Balthazar replies, nodding past you, to where several Quincy have emerged from the nearest of the Mansions. You recognize the most outspoken members of the Going Home Group leading the way, while the one who left the audience when you arrived is trailing along behind them. They're coming your way, and clearly determined to have a confrontation of some kind, though from their body language - and especially the lack of drawn spirit weapons or medallions - you don't feel like it's intended or expected to come to violence.

Verbal aggression is likely still on the table, though.

"Give me the short version, then," you state.

"From least objectionable to most: put on your best diplomatic face and try to convince them not to tell; let them go after they've sworn a magically binding oath; let them go, but send minders with them to make sure they stay out of trouble; detain them for a little while; detain them indefinitely; attempt a memory modification; or resort to curses or mind control."

"That last one is two options," you note.

"And they're about equally ba- wait, no, you have an issue with curses, don't you?"

Yeah, curses would be your last resort, possibly even beyond just killing them. Not that you're considering THAT, of course, but a quick, clean death would be preferable to what you saw happening the last time you cast a curse on a living being.

That aside, you can see some of the issues Balthazar mentioned with each of his suggested options: the least objectionable methods rely on the sympathizers agreeing to your terms, and in the one case, not deciding to change their minds later; dispatching observers would require you to summon or call something to do the job, and would be a temporary and perhaps costly measure; the middlingly bad options infringe on the Quincies' personal freedom, which is something you object to as a good Dinnite, particularly when you already said you weren't going to do that sort of thing; messing with their heads is too likely to be obvious and upsetting to their kinsmen; and cursing them is pretty much out of the question.

You could ask Ambrose or Balthazar to do it in your stead, but Balthzar is clearly not keen on the idea, and who knows what Ambrose would come up with, given free reign.

He CAN be creative...

That said, every method has something to recommend it, too.

You've already got several spells in place that would help you in a second round of negotiations, and talking to these four objectors face-to-face rather than as part of a large crowd could help you to sway them. Though additional buffs might not be a bad idea.

A binding oath not to speak of today's events would be what you were aiming for with the Geas Spell, and the second-least invasive of all the methods you can think of.

Sending minders would put agents in place to assess and act upon a developing situation.

Detainment could be done simply by not letting them go - and perhaps by re-casting Spell Immunity, just in case your "guests" decide to get violent.

Memory-modification or mind control would be quick.


Balthazar nods at your response. "That's what I thought you'd say, but better to make sure we're both on the same page."

While you don't particularly feel the need to layer more diplomacy-boosting enhancements on yourself, you nonetheless think that Balthazar was on to something when he suggested giving the diplomatic approach another go. Shadow Alex's invocation of the Goddesses confirmed that at least SOME of the Wandenreich are still a threat to your band of rescuees, and that certain individuals within the latter group have not yet been dissuaded from making contact with their militant cousins.

This makes them a danger to the rest of the group - to say nothing of themselves - which means that the rest of the group deserves to be involved in the final decision about what is to be done with their problematic kinsmen.

You would like to be able to set up a Zone of Truth to help verify your claims and take the element of uncertainty out of the general discussion, but you DID cast Mind Blank to help conceal the Quincies' location from Yhwach (and now, from Jugram), and while the spell doesn't automatically defeat Enchantment Magic, it offers enough protection against most such effects that you're legitimately unsure if you'd be able to bypass it. It doesn't help that even in your hands, Zone of Truth is a relatively weak and easily resisted spell, or that the average Quincy is exactly the sort of strong-willed and mystically sensitive individual likely to throw off such magic.

Useful traits when they're working in your favor, to be sure, but decidedly less so when they aren't.

With that thought, you dismiss the Spell of the Silent Table, allowing sound to flow freely around you once more.

At the head of the group of approaching Quincy, and currently holding the Number One spot on your personal List of Troublesome Quincy, Ishida Josuke's posture shifts slightly. You're not sure if he sensed the cancellation of your magic, picked up on how the sounds produced by your movements just went from "faint and heavily muffled" to "merely faint," or is just responding to the shift in your body language. Either way, it's clear he means to say something.

You promptly cut him off, using a Ghost Sound cantrip to generate a couple of brief bursts of a klaxon-like wail, calling for attention rather than alarm.

On cue, the audience and performers turn your way.

"Sorry to interrupt the show," you apologize, "but we need to speak with the Wizard and the Elders again."

"You can wait five minutes-" Josuke begins.

"You can't wait five minutes-" Ambrose says at the same time.

Both of them stop and look at one another, Josuke nonplussed, Ambrose looking like he's tempted to say something, but holding back for some reason.

Elder Michiko - who appears not to have left her makeshift seat since she sat down on it, though she did turn a bit to better see the performance - speaks into the ensuing pause. "What do you need to talk about?"

"If you recall those 'private matters' my tall friend and I mentioned earlier..."

At your polite pause, she gestures for you to get on with it.

"...well, one of them was to do some magical information-gathering about the aftermath of recent events."

You glance at your clone, who takes it from there.

"There was a lot of ground to cover," Shadow Alex says, "so most of the inquiries I made didn't directly involve or affect you and yours. The ones that DID, however, got some concerning answers."

"Of COURSE they did," Josuke drawls.

As you turn to frown at him, you concede to yourself that this man is really getting on your nerves - and from the way Shadow Alex's expression is sliding towards Burning Glare levels, you aren't alone in that feeling.

While you know him to be more abrasive than you normally are, let alone when you have half a dozen different magical effects bolstering your interpersonal skills that he doesn't, Shadow Alex refrains from snapping something at the vexing Quincy - like, say, your impulse to scold him for interrupting when the adults are talking, or that actual curse that shoots fire from your eyes - and repeats your request to reassemble the Elders, so his new information can be distributed and discussed.

Michiko agrees, and sends a few of her younger relatives off to fetch the rest of the Elders, while chivvying most of the remaining ones into making themselves scarce.

You've got a minute or two while that's going on.


While it's tempting, you opt to forego using the Zone of Truth. The Mind Blank Spells covering everyone here just make it too unreliable, and even if it DID work, you're not sure that it would convince Josuke and his fellow doubters to accept your information.

You could tell them that the spell forces people to tell the truth, you could get Ambrose and Balthazar to tell them the same, and you could demonstrate the spell in action and get the Muhlfelds to describe THEIR experience with it, but if the sympathizers are determined enough to disbelieve you, they will. Probably by telling themselves the spell forces people to say what you want them to, or something like that.

Shaking your head, you decide to make a slightly more productive use of your time by satisfying a minor curiosity.

Trudging over to the wizard, you ask him what he was thinking about saying when he and Josuke spoke over each other.

"That? I was just pondering the merits of calling a jinx, is all," the old man says.

...of course he was.

"What stopped you?" you ask, your curiosity having taken a turn for the morbid.

"Well, there was the possibility that a suspicious man, such as that one clearly is" - he gestures absently at Josuke - "might not take it well if a demonstrated magic-user were to use the word 'jinx' around him."

A potential concern, you suppose, but by itself, it hardly seems like enough to deter Ambrose.

"But more importantly," Ambrose continues, "Akkiko has shared stories about Japanese beer brands, some for the better, some for the worse, and I don't know which sort that fellow favors."

This, on the other hand, makes perfect sense.

Your small collection of Quincy Elders arrive shortly after that, and once the last potential eavesdroppers have been shooed away - save for Elder Michiko's nurse, who isn't about to leave her patient unsupervised when she's entering another potentially spirited and blood pressure raising argument - you get on with explaining the results of Shadow Alex's Communion with the Goddesses. He does most of the talking, while you walk around with the Conjured Book, displaying the relevant questions and answers to Nicolau Muhlfeld, Miles and Alice Archer, and the half-dozen Ishidas.

Most of the Elders require very little convincing in this matter, but they do ask sensibly cautious questions about the accuracy and reliability of Shadow's information. With Balthazar, Ambrose, and the Briars providing supportive testimony regarding the known history, usage, and limitations of the Spell of Communion, as well as some insight into the nature of the Golden Goddesses, your darker side is able to answer these inquiries well enough to satisfy the concerns of all gathered.

They're hardly thrilled to have confirmation that at least some of the Wandenreich will seek their deaths, but most of them were already expecting it, so they at least have the truth. And thanks to the phrasing you chose for that question, there is a potential silver lining in that particular cloud: namely, the possibility that not ALL of the Wandenreich will want to kill their cousins.

Of rather more immediate concern to the Elders is learning that some of the sympathizers fully intend on going to the Wandenreich with the information they have, despite the danger they've been told this will put their families in.

The question of what to do about Josuke and his cohorts is asked, and the possible responses that you and Balthazar came up are voiced once more, with Ambrose weighing in. He seems rather more inclined to resort to imprisonment than his student, and not just because - as he points out, explaining for the crowd - as long as your Spells of Mind Blank are in place and keeping Grandmaster Haschwalth's eyes blind to the troublemakers' current location, Enchantment-based effects like binding oaths and memory-modification are much less likely to work on them.

You were inclined to give talking to the Wandenreich sympathizers one more go, but if that fails to convince them to keep quiet about today's events...


You feel that the simplest and least objectionable solution to this issue would be to knock the Wandenreich sympathizers out, erase their memories of the last few hours, and then put them back on Earth before waking them up. The problem is that those Mind Blank Spells you're relying on to keep Jugram Haschwalth from finding your little hideout also interfere with any sort of mind-affecting magic, and you're coming up short on ways of working around that without compromising your guests' only real shield against the Almighty.

And so you turn to your peers in the field of magic, inquiring of Balthazar, Ambrose, Shadow Alex, and the Briars if they can think of any workarounds that you aren't able to - some alternative to Mind Blank that would keep Jugram's hand-me-down eyes blind to events, without tying your hands.

The fairies shake their heads.

Shadow Alex wracks his brain for a minute, before finally saying the best idea he can come up with is to pray to the Goddesses, and then either try to summon help or cast a ritual spell to try and brute-force a variation of Mind Blank that screens an area, preventing those on the outside from looking in via supernatural methods, but not interfering with spells cast inside its area of effect.

You MIGHT be able to pull that off by cribbing elements of the Spell to Create a Private Sanctum, but then again, you might not.

The wizard and the other sorcerer trade speaking glances.

"Spell of Sequestering?" Balthazar suggests.

"Only works on the consenting or the inanimate," Ambrose replies, shaking his head. "I doubt we can GET consent, and the latter approach would just engender hard feelings all around. Spell of Imprisonment?"

"Nearly as difficult to implement, and we couldn't do it HERE, because the demiplane's going to fade away after a week or so, which would complicate the recovery effort."

"But if we go go back to Earth, the boy's Mind Blank spells end," Ambrose continues, "and if we replace those spells, it just brings us back to the main issue." He sighs and looks down for a moment... and then looks up. "Hang on a moment. Who says we have to take them back to Earth?"

Everyone regards the old man askance.

"Uh... me?" you venture, raising your hand. "I gave my word and all that."

"Not like that," Ambrose says. "I meant, why do we have to take them back to Earth right away? Wasn't part of the point of using these Fae-crafted pocket realms to try and get outside the Quincy King's eyeball range? Why not just do that again? Haschwalth's either on Earth or back in Silbern, so just pop over to a quiet spot in Faerie or one of the nicer Outer Planes, put the troublemakers to sleep as their Mind Blanks fail, edit out the dangerous intel AND the memory of the side-trip, and then take them home and wake them up. Bam, problem solved."

...

That... MIGHT work. You still don't know exactly what the Almighty's "maximum range" is, when it comes to crossing planar boundaries, but you do have reason to believe Yhwach's eyes are less potent when they're in someone else's eyesockets - ugh - plus, Grandmaster Haschwalth would have to be looking for those particular Quincy in those few moments when they're unshielded and not on Earth... unless he can look BACKWARDS in time as well as ahead, which would certainly be in-keeping with the name of the power, and would tell him that these Quincy were interacting with someone or something immune to his sight and then went somewhere beyond its reach for the critical hours of the day.

...actually, that is a point of potential concern for everyone here who doesn't or can't have the Spell of Mind Blank running at all hours of the day and night. Even Shadow Alex, now that you think about it, as he doesn't have any spells affecting him in those moment when you first summon him.

You think you'd better get another expert opinion on the matter.

"...now that you bring it up," Ambrose says slowly, "I don't recall anyone ever mentioning it."

So that's a "?" from the wizard.

Just as well that he wasn't the expert you had in mind, then.


You break out the Gold Incense and the Augury Sticks, and hand the latter and a bit of the former over to Shadow Alex, along with some instructions. Then you start setting up for the Ritual of Divination, while he does likewise for the Ritual of Augury.

"Wait, you actually consult prayer sticks?" one of the Ishida Elders asks. His tone isn't one of denigration, but rather surprise and interest.

"For certain matters," Shadow Alex replies, as he plants the incense sticks.

"How well does it work?"

"It depends," your counterpart answers. He pauses to summon a bit of Fire with a cantrip, and then continues to speak as he lights the sticks in turn. "The ritual is fairly reliable, but it isn't entirely guaranteed to work: novices generally only get useful information three out of four times, on average; and even the most experienced casters max out around nine times in ten. There are ways to shore that up, the most reliable of which is to make your questions very straightforward, while others use empowered focuses or special reagents, but there's always the outside chance of failure."

"Alright," the Quincy says slowly. "What sort of success rate do you have?"

"Not quite nine times out of ten," Shadow Alex admits, "but close. Now, if you'll excuse me...?"

"Of course. My apologies."

It's nice to see that SOME members of this family haven't forgotten their manners.

While Shadow Alex begins the ritual, the Elder in question turns to Ambrose and Balthazar and quietly inquires about the specifics of the magic. Being divine magic, it's not precisely in either arcanist's repertoire, but they've both been around long enough to have a good idea of what's involved in the rite.

A minute later, the hushed conversation pauses as Shadow Alex reaches the critical point in his mini-ceremony, and speaks aloud: "Would I be safe from the Sternritter if I were to return to Silbern right now?"

Then he throws the Sticks.

...

"Bad?" Shadow Briar asks her partner.

"Weal and woe," your Dark Self replies.

Mixed results, then.

Scooping up the Augury Sticks, Shadow Alex repeats the entire process, this time asking: "Would I be safe from traps if I return to Silbern right now?"

Again, he throws, and again, the answer is, "Weal and woe."

As you continue with your own spellcasting, the part of your mind that's been following the other rites reviews their results, and tries to figure out the meaning.

Judging by the "woe" elements, at least some of the Sternritter HAVE returned to Silbern, and there ARE traps in place - though whether those have been added by the banished-and-returned warriors, or were emplaced defenses you simply didn't run into the first time around, you can't say.

The "weal" portions are where it gets tricky.

Your best guess is that there is a CHANCE your Shadow could encounter the Sternritter or get caught in a trap if he went back to Silbern in the next half-hour - and by the same token, there is a chance that he might avoid one source of danger, the other, or both.

It's a big fortress, after all, and its ENTIRE population was kicked out by the Soul King's Heart. The odds of all of them having returned seem fairly long, just for the time and effort that would be involved, to say nothing of the risks.

You put your speculations aside and focus on the ritual before you.

About eight minutes of chanting and focus later, you finally ask your question: "Is Jugram Haschwalth capable of seeing the past using the Almighty?"

There is a pause.

"He struggles now to carry on,
and wonders where it all went wrong.
One future lost for a now unseen,
the past glimpsed only in memory."

...

The Briars just sigh.

Still, that seems like a "no" to you.

Answer received, you take back the Augury Sticks and hand Shadow Alex some more of the Golden Incense, which he sets up for a Divination of his own. You pass the time giving the curious Quincy Elder and the rest of his peers an explanation of what the Rituals of Augury and Divination look like from the inside, as it were.

Ten minutes later...

"Will the Wandenreich look for memory wiping spells on the Wandenreich sympathizers currently in this demiplane within the next week?"

There is another pause.

"Reap memories instead of lives;
this has long been their foes' way.
So why not hinder the enemy
by restoring the matter grey?
Destruction and isolation
were poorly suited to this task.
Who would risk life and soul for thoughts?
Who would even manage to ask?"

...

Okay. That is... probably a no? Or maybe, "they could try, but they'd most likely kill the person in question."

So, what now?


You're going to try talking Ishida Josuke and his supporters around one more time, in the hopes that dealing with them apart from the larger group will increase the effectiveness of your diplomatic efforts, or at least remove distractions that were undermining you before - but if that fails, you tell the Quincy Elders, you're inclined to go with Ambrose's suggestion.

The Elders, for their part, aren't thrilled at the prospect of some of their kinsmen having their memories altered, but as it's come to a choice between that and the lives of most of their extended families, their reluctance to sanction this course of action is rather less than it otherwise might have been.

It helps that the mindwipe is the backup option, rather than your default course of action, and also that you've talked the matter through with the Elder and sought their blessing - or at least their agreement not to interfere - instead of taking unilateral action and forcing them to deal with the aftermath.

In any case, with your course of action chosen, there is the matter of where, exactly, you'd prefer to take the Wandenreich sympathizers. Between them, Ambrose and Balthazar have planar focuses for Faerie and certain "safe" Outer Planes that they're willing to temporarily lend you, so that's no issue, but there is the matter of where you mean to go.

You only know a couple of locations in Faerie well enough to feel comfortable opening a Gate to, those being the area outside the Memorian Outpost, and Lady Chloe and Lord Raka's domain. Each location has its ups and downs.

The Outpost falls outside the claimed territory of any of the Greater Fae, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. Unless one of the Big Folk is passing through the area - which you have to admit IS a possibility, however remote - you shouldn't have to worry about dealing with them, and while this lack of a local lord would normally make the Little Folk and other residents more rambunctious and dangerous, the presence of the base, its ghostly occupants, and Lord Mars's attention would encourage them to stay clear or at least behave themselves. The only real issue you can see is that you'd be revealing the Outpost's existence to people you do not trust - but since you're planning to wipe their memories back to the moment they met you, that's not really an issue at all, is it?

Lady Chloe and Lord Raka's territory has the advantage of being secure against random encounters with wandering Fae lords, but you'd have to get their permission to bring a bunch of strangers into their territory before you went and did it - so they, at least, would know something. You don't think that a Great Fairy or the Great Tree she chose to marry would do anything bad with that knowledge, but you'd be taking a small chance regardless. Unless you got their agreement not to speak about it, of course, which would leave you owing them.

The Outer Planes are also an option, but however safe the Wizard and the Sorcerer claim them to be, you've never been there before, so you'd be at a considerable disadvantage compared to dropping in on either part of Faerie.


Reviewing your options, you quickly rule out going near the Memorian Outpost. There's no guarantee that one of the Greater Fae won't either be in the area or show up to investigate a Gate opening there, and whether Summer, Winter, or wild, that's the sort of encounter you really don't want to have right now.

That's not even getting into how the base is full of ghosts. Even if you warned Captain Marcus ahead of time to keep his men out of sight before you showed up, bringing a band of not-really-friendly ghost-hunting spirit-archers near the place just seems like it'd be tempting Fate.

The idea of visiting Lady Chloe and Lord Raka's domain is tempting, but after a bit, you discard this one as well. You've visited the area before, with Shadow Alex accompanying you and without using a disguise, and you have long-term plans to do so again. While the Quincy won't be telling anybody about you after you trim their memories, you can't say the same for every single denizen of the woods.

Again, you doubt that Chloe and Raka would give you up, but some of their kids might let something slip. Likewise, while Kat, Liantiel, and Vira, MISTRESS OF THE DARK-

Hail!

-probably value your deals with them enough not to risk losing said arrangements - at least not before they've got what they want from you - Vira's entourage of bats did not strike you as the most security-conscious, and Liantiel has kids of her own. Granted, they're spiders, but the same principle of not knowing when to stop talking applies. Probably.

The Skull Kid you met could go either way, depending on his mood at the time, whereas that tribe of boggards and the partly demonic Great One they serve would probably sell you out for a good meal.

You have NO idea what the fish would do, if anybody even thought to try questioning them.

And these are just the beings that you interacted with directly, and which survived the experience. Who knows what other Faerie creatures observed you from a distance, or have heard the tale of your grimstalker-hunting, ophidian-slaying, barbecque-cooking mining adventure?

Yeah, you're just a bit too well-known in that part of Faerie to want to risk leading the Wandenreich back there.

That leaves the Outer Planes... which, even allowing for the limited selection of focuses your fellow arcanists have on hand, still has you spoiled for choice, given just how many there are of said planes!

That said, you can rule out trying to visit any of the lesser realms, as those are invariably the domains of gods, demon lords, highly successful mortals, and Powers by any other name. Even if you cleared the trip with the local landlord(s) first, you'd owe them something for allowing you safe passage, and you're not comfortable owing any of the big Names attached to Earth a favor like that.

It'll have to be one of the larger planes, then, realms too vast for any single Power or coalition thereof to control more than a small corner, however much of the whole they might lay claim to.

Ambrose and Balthazar both refuse to give you a planar focus attuned to any of the Lower Planes, stating that your planned side-trip does not require and is unlikely to be aided in any way by you dragging the Wandenreich sympathizers to one of the Hells, some equally unpleasant alternate afterlife, or a demon dimension. The chaotic realms are dismissed for being too unpredictable and potentially dangerous for first-time travelers, whereas the Planes of Order get ruled out for being too organized, with guard patrols, many-layered detection wards, and just plain tight scheduling and precise organization almost guaranteed to get someone opening a Gate into some kind of trouble.

With the Planes of Chaos, Law, and Evil eliminated from consideration, you look at what little is left on your mental list and scratch the Plane of Neutrality off as well. Much as you couldn't rule out an encounter with a curious Fae Lord in Faerie, you can't be certain that one of the more troublesome sorts of outsider won't be passing through the "unaligned" realm close enough to present an issue.

That really only leaves one destination.

Balthazar hands over a small silver cylinder that resembles a Buddhist prayer wheel.

"Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you've walked into a Disney movie while you're there," he advises, "because it's really not, no matter what it looks like."

...huh?

"You'll see," Ambrose mutters.

Ominous.

When Shadow Alex returns with Ishida Josuke and the rest of his lot, you see they've packed their bags and brought them along, doubtless as a statement of intent. It bodes ill for your plan to speak to them one final time, but you go ahead and make the attempt regardless, explaining the Spell of Divination and the questions your Shadow asked through it regarding the Wandenreich's future actions.

That elements of the Hidden Empire will be looking for your Dark Self (and you) after his role in Yhwach's death, and with malice aforethought, doesn't surprise anyone listening. Most are understanding of your desire to avoid being found, even sympathetic - you notice that most of that feeling is directed at you rather than your Shadow - but it doesn't appear to shift anyone's decisions.

Being told that segments of the Wandenreich will try to kill them and their families as traitors if they get wind of your rescue and refuge activities prompts some uneasy looks, but one glance at Josuke - who doesn't even need to speak to make it clear that he rejects this idea - firms a lot of that shaken resolve.

Having the Elders largely on your side of the argument helps your case, as the younger members of the small crowd shift uneasily the entire time, but even with that and your magically enhanced eloquence, you have your doubts that it'll be enough.

Should you give them one more push, perhaps, or would it be better to declare this a lost cause and go with Plan Ambrose?


While a part of you just wants to be done with these frustrating individuals, the greater whole isn't quite prepared to abandon diplomacy just yet. There is one more piece of information you have that might finish pushing some of these people out of their stubborn determination to endanger themselves and their families. Of course, it will ALSO reveal that you're aware of what some of them mean to do, and that this has factored into your decision-making - if not HOW - so there could be some blowback from admitting to having this intel.

But it's the only other card you have in your hand that you can see making a difference, and so, you play it.

"There was one other question Shadow asked the Goddesses that's pertinent to this topic," you begin.

"And that was?" Josuke asks impatiently.

"I quote: 'Are any of the Wandenreich sympathizers among those we saved planning on giving information to the Wandenreich?'"

Everyone stops-

PressurewarningdangerNOThimoverTHEREMOVE-!

-and stares at you, clearly not having expected this last-minute addition.

For your part, you're a bit distracted by the sudden flare-up of your Spell of Foresight. It's been so quiet for so long that you half-forgot it was there, making the abrupt vision of one of the younger Quincy - NOT Josuke, to your considerable surprise, but the fellow two places to his left - visibly panicking and summoning his spirit weapon to take a shot at you.

Luckily, your acting skills are up to the task of concealing your response to that unexpected burst of information, helped along as they are by a couple of your operating enhancements.

On a related note, you're suddenly quite glad that you hadn't gotten around to dismissing any of those spells yet.

"...what was the answer?" Josuke manages to get out.

"Ye-"

Even as you shape the word, you see that one Ishida reacting as your Foresight predicted. Shock explodes into panic, triggers a surge of spiritual pressure that sends everyone near the guy momentarily reeling, and has everyone else turning to stare. You can see that the Elders, to a one, are already shaping their own powers in response, but as fast as they are, the younger man has the element of surprise and desperation. Those are not-inconsiderable advantages, and if he'd been about to assault one of the Elders, they might have been enough to grant him success.

Seeing as how YOU are his target, none of the Quincy are going to be able to react in time. Ambrose is shifting his staff-cane to a sword-like guard position, and Balthazar is doing something with his hands, but you know perfectly well how long it takes to shape a proper spell, so you have to assume the two of them won't be able to respond in the next couple of seconds, either. As for your Shadow, while he's focusing his ki, he's slower at it than the Elders are at shaping their spiritual powers, and the fact that he wasn't the target of this "surprise" attack means he didn't get a precognitive danger-flash from his Spell of Foresight, so he's starting a little behind them anyway.

But that's fine. You already have a plan.


For all the time you've spent around the Earthbound Quincy today and in the preceding weeks, you're still not all that clear on just how good their training is on average. You've seen Souken in action - from the receiving end, even - but he's an Elder and had some experience as a member of the Wandenreich besides, so he's not the best yardstick by which to measure the abilities of his kinsmen. Measuring spiritual strength doesn't tell you all that much, either, as there's a world of difference between raw power and trained skill, particularly with the Quincy, who don't rely solely on the energy of their own souls in combat.

You're also aware that these Quincy are the descendants of those that managed to survive TWO separate wars with the Soul Society, as well as generations of predation by Hollows - to say nothing of any OTHER unfriendly supernatural entities they may have run into down through the years - so they've undoubtedly inherited a fair-sized body of lore on how to deal with their traditional adversaries. Given the range of abilities Shadow Alex saw in use during the raid on Silbern, that covers quite a few fields of combat, but the one that most concerns you right now is the "hard-hitting speedster" category - as that's your personal preference, when you aren't throwing magic around.

And since there's a chance that this Quincy whose name you can't call to mind knows how to deal with such opponents, you'd probably be better served not trying your usual "Body Flicker into melee and strike from behind" trick against him.

Being hit by soul-destroying arrows would probably hurt, a lot.

As you flicker out of the archer's line of sight-

*Flicker*

-and hit the ground running, it belatedly occurs to you that you could have cast the Spell to Create an Emergency Force Sphere to shield yourself where you stood. While not so hardly as a proper Resilient Sphere, you know the manifested force-bubble can take a fair pounding, and it would have bought you time to cast at least one more spell.

After all, while it wasn't PRECISELY for this purpose, you DID spend all that time adjusting the Spell of Spell Immunity to nullify common Quincy attacks. Might have been nice to make use of it yourself.

Oh, well. Missed opportunities, and all that.

A glowing blue-white arrow hits the ground where you were standing, followed by two more flashing through the trail of disturbed air you left in the wake of your ki-boosted dodge. Guided by his spiritual senses, the archer has already turned in the direction you moved - to his right - and drawn back the luminous bowstring of his expressed weapon, additional projectiles surging into existence.

"Yukio?!"

"What are you doing-"

"Put it down-"

"Take it easy-"

"Holy shi-"

"-you IDIOT?!"

Yukio, if that is indeed the shooter's name, doesn't respond to the exclamations of his kinsmen. You're not sure if it's because he doesn't know what to say or because he's tunnel-visioned on hitting you, but from the wild look on his face, the latter seems likely.

Yukio fires again-

*Flicker*

-and you shift into high gear once more.

Three, four, five arows go screaming by, two in your wake, two ahead of you, and the last actually causing you to dodge out of reflex in the instant between two Flicker-assisted rushes-

Gained Ranged Defense F (Plus)

!

*POW!*
*ZAP!*
*Thud*

-and then Shadow Alex hits your assailant like an oncoming train, using a Body Flicker to close the distance and augment his strike. Yukio goes flying, but gets a shot off in turn before he hits the ground, tumbles, forces himself over and to his hands and feet-

"That's QUITE enough of that," the Wizard says bluntly, cane-staff pointed menacingly at Yukio. "[ SLEEP! ]"

-only for his eyes to roll back in his head and his spirit weapon to flicker out as Ambrose's spell hits him, sending him straight to La-La-Land.

*Whump*

Which naturally means he falls over, landing roughly on one side.

Remarkably, the impact doesn't wake him up.

You suppose it would be a pretty terrible spell if it were THAT easy to break, though.

A few feet away from the rather anticlimactically neutralized hostile, Shadow Alex has also come to a stop, hands pressed over lower left side of his torso where Yukio's counter-fired arrow hit him.

"Should. Have left. The armor. And Spell Immunity. ON," your dark doppelganger hisses through clenched teeth.

After checking to make sure Shadow Alex is alright-

"Do. I. LOOK. Alright?!"

-and that his Spell of Persistent Vigor seems to be handling the wound just fine, "soul-destroying" arrow or no, you start talking down the spooked, angry, and armed Quincy - preferably without anyone else getting shot at.

As an aside to that, you ask Ambrose how long his spell should keep Yukio down.

"Oh, at least an hour," the Wizard replies, leaning on his cane and peering down at the unconscious young turncoat with a certain smug satisfaction. "He could stay like that for days, provided nobody disturbs him."

"Bit of overkill, don't you think?" Balthazar murmurs.

"To be fair, I prepared that one in anticipation of running into one of the Wandenreich's heavier hitters - and then none of them had the decency to try and attack me, the cheeky buggers."

In any case, you've got some time to decide what to do with your bowstring-happy Quincy.


You have questions for this guy, and you want answers - and you doubt you're the only one.

So, for the time being, he gets to keep his memories. In exchange, you'll...

You pause, hand half-raised to cast, and lower it as you turn to the other Quincy. "Just to be clear: I'm going to cast a couple of spells to secure... Yukio, was it?"

Not taking his angry gaze away from his kinsman, Josuke gives a short nod.

Several others in the small crowd do likewise, though most of them at least look at you - and some of those that don't, you notice are looking elsewhere, as other Quincy return from the other parts of the demiplane in response to the sudden, brief surge of spiritual pressure.

That's going to be fun to deal with.

"Right. So, will binding his hands and feet be enough, or should I just put him in a block of stone for a while?"

Because you can, and after that display, you absolutely will, if that's what it takes to prevent any repeat performances. You may just do it even if it ISN'T necessary; you're rather annoyed with Yukio at the moment.

"No full-body rock prisons," Balthazar interjects. "They can make it difficult for the captive to breathe, and a lot of people just panic when they realize they're effectively paralyzed."

...okay, you DO want him to be able to talk, and while fear has its place as a motivational tool, causing your prisoner breathing difficulties would just be counterproductive.

Instead of simply letting the earth swallow Yukio up to his neck, you cast the Spell to Soften Earth and Stone, causing the ground where the young man came to rest to shift. Rich loam takes on the consistency of thick mud, and with a faint bubbling noise, Yukio's body starts to sink - albeit not very far. You don't need the muck to be all that deep to trap the man's forearms and lower legs when he's laying on his back.

Once Yukio's limbs have reached a suitable depth, and following a few cautious adjustments of his sleeping form so that he won't be in actual PAIN, you cast the Spell to Transmute Mud to Rock.

Like that, he's stuck.

After a moment's thought, you borrow some silk scarves from Ambrose-

-and improvise a blindfold. It'll disorient Yukio, reinforce the message of imprisonment, and should also stop him from shooting spirit-powered glares, if those are even a thing.

Once you're satisfied-

"Alex," Masaki says in a bemused tone, "why are you turning one of my cousins into modern art?"

-and have explained things to the returnees, you slap the man awake.

...

It takes a couple of tries.

"A regrettable but somewhat unavoidable side-effect of my spell," Ambrose observes to some of the Quincy, not sounding like he regrets it at all. "In rendering an enemy so deeply unconscious that they're unlikely to wake even in the middle of a battlefield, you also make them considerably harder to wake by any normal means."

"...can I have a shot?" somebody asks.

"We are NOT making a line for people who want to smack Yukio one," someone else replies sharply. "Even if he does deserve it."

"He really does, though..."

Eventually, Yukio does regain consciousness, giving a grunt and trying to sit up - and then tensing as he realizes his extremities have been very thoroughly restrained, and his eyes are covered.

"What- where-"

"Welcome back, Mr. Ishida," you greet him, affecting a politeness that, for once, you don't really feel. "Did you have a pleasant nap?"

Yukio's mouth tightens. "...damn."

"I would apologize for the rough accommodations, but I hadn't foreseen the need to restrain prisoners here, so I had to improvise."

"So we ARE your prisoners-" he begins.

"YOU are my prisoner, Mr. Ishida," you interrupt, "and that because you chose to attack me and endanger your relatives, who were and continue to be my guests, and whose well-being I am responsible for while they enjoy my hospitality. On that note, Mr. Ishida..."

"Yukio, you IDIOT!" Ishida Josuke finally explodes. "What were you THINKING?!"

You spare the man an annoyed glance for the interruption, but let him have the "question."

"I was THINKING that one of the suspicious sorcerers keeping us here against our will had just claimed that he 'knew' some of us were going to go to the Wandenreich! I was THINKING that he was going to use that as an excuse to keep us locked up in this place, or to cast the kami only know what sort of spell on us 'for our own protection'!"

"And you thought SHOOTING HIM would HELP!?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time!"


You know that many spells call for unusual focuses and reagents - you're carrying more than a few such things yourself. You're simply having trouble calling to mind a spell that requires the sort of light, brightly colored bits of material that you'd expect to see in the hands - or up the sleeves - of a mime or sleight of hand artist.

That you can't think of one, however, doesn't mean that they don't exist. Your knowledge of spellcraft is by no means exhaustive, after all, and if there's anyone who'd know a few tricks that you don't, it'd be Ambrose.

...or, you know, Balthazar.

Quite aside from that, you're cautious of asking the wizard questions, as he's all too likely to answer them, and you can never be sure if you'll appreciate what he has to say until it's too late.

You resist the impulse to reach into your pocket for a book.

"How was shooting a KID supposed to help?" Josuke demands.

"Oh, come on, Josuke; do you SERIOUSLY believe that THAT is a kid?" One of Yukio's arms shifts in its stone sleeve, as if he'd been about to point it in your general direction. "Ow, damn..." The earth-bound and blindfolded Quincy shakes his head. "I mean, what kind of KID can do even a TENTH of the stuff we've seen him do? Not to mention the way he TALKS..."

Several members of the crowd glance your way, their expressions saying that Yukio kind of has a point, there.

You concede it with a gesture halfway between a shrug and a nod, because you know that you really don't act or sound like the twelve-year-old you resemble, much less the nine-year-old that you actually ARE.

Even so, that's surely neither a reason nor an excuse for someone to take a shot at you.

"Probably a displaced soul walking around in some kind of creepy meat-suit, like the Shinigami use," your prisoner goes on. "And that's assuming he didn't just STEAL the body from some ACTUAL kid-"

There is sudden shouting from several quarters at this accusation.

Fortunately, you have multiple individuals - including multiple Quincy Elders, no less - who met you before you started using the Spell of Mind Blank around the clock, and can vouch for you being... well, YOU, and not some body-jacking parasite walking around in the body of Alexander Harris. You are not surprised to hear that the Elder have anecdotal, and in some cases, personal experience at recognizing and dealing with possessing spirit, and are reassured to hear that your soul doesn't give off any of the signs-

"Granted," Souken admits, "he has an exceptionally STRONG soul, abnormally so for a child of his years, but that is hardly unprecedented even within this generation."

Gazes shift towards Masaki.

Her flat glare fairly well DARES anybody to suggest that ICHIGO is possessed.

Nobody takes up that particular gauntlet.

-or at least not any of the CONCERNING ones.

Masaki adds that she's met your family, as well as a number of your classmates, and that the relationships were readily apparent and entirely genuine.

"Or do you really think the sort of creature that would steal a kid's body would spend their time and energy making enchanted gifts for OTHER kids?" she adds.

"...that might depend on the gifts," Josuke replies slowly. Even as he speaks, you get the impression he doesn't really believe his own words.

Just to be sure, though...

"I gave Ichigo a karate gi that would make him a little less likely to get hurt in sparring," you reply. "Aside from that, I made a couple of Bags of Holding, a pair of magic-detecting glasses, an amulet to let one girl talk to her pet cat, and a fork that makes everything eaten with it taste like bacon."

That earns a snicker from the crowd.

"The gifts were just things like that, that suited people's needs or preferences," you conclude.

Ambrose and Balthazar back all of the various arguments, for what their support is worth with some of these people, and Nicolau mentions that you're on good terms with an old friend of his, who would have spotted a possession and done something "fairly nasty" to the spirit responsible.

The arcanists back THAT, as well, wincing.


"You take that back!"

Yeah, as much as you prefer to keep a lid on your temper, there are just some things you can't let slide, and the suggestion that you're some kind of body-stealer is definitely one of them.

You're not so angry that you start glowing or anything similarly dramatic, and while your temper is showing, you haven't truly "lost" it - but you are closer to that than any time you can recall in recent memory.

Consequently - and judging from the way some of those in the crowd flinch, pause in their shouting, and/or turn to regard you with startled expressions - your aura is pushing at people a bit.

You take a moment to lock it down again, and then glare at Yukio.

Even though he can't see you, he shifts uncomfortably, at least as much as his bindings will allow.

"You don't trust me," you say levelly. "I get why. I don't talk or act like someone my age, I'm way too powerful, I've upended your life, and I'm an accomplice to the death of someone you probably looked up to. Given all of that, if you want to suspect me? That's fine. You want to insult me? Rude, but I can deal. You want to insult my FAMILY?" Your glare ratchets up a notch, and your aura momentarily rises again. "So. Not. Okay."

"I-I didn't-!"

"You suggested this wasn't my body," you snap. "You implied that I wasn't my parents' son. That is NOT cool."

Really, the aspersions that Yukio's remark casts upon your character are bad enough, but the idea that you're NOT the real Alex Harris, that Tony and Jessica AREN'T your parents, that Zelda ISN'T your sister, and that they and the whole extended Harris Clan are just a means to an end...

...yeah, you're kind of pissed off at this guy. Just. A. LITTLE.

Gained Rage E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

Even if they were all given and largely received in the same spirit, there is a rather considerable difference between the "quality of life" and "friendly joke" gifts you handed out to various friends, and the enchanted arms and armor you gave to Altria and Kahlua. And since you don't think it would be terribly constructive to get into an argument about how appropriate it is or isn't for a nine-year-old to be making weapons for his friends - one of whom is a vampire - you decide not to mention it.

What Josuke doesn't know won't be too inconvenient for you.

"What's that about?" you inquire curiously.

"What's what about?" Ambrose asks.

"The looks. You and Balthazar both kind of went" - you pause, copying their expressions - "like that, when Elder Nicolau referred to Shaman Tiriaq doing an exorcism. What's the story?"

Wizard and sorcerer trade glances, and then play a quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Ambrose curses softly as his Scissors are smashed. "Alright, the short version. When a priest performs an exorcism, he's channeling a portion of his god's power, authority, and divinity. Any one of those factors could potentially cast out a possessing spirit, but all three of them together tend to spook the spooks something fierce."

"A literal holy trinity, then?" you venture.

"Yes, yes, very punny." Ambrose waves dismissively. "In addition to that, though, your average priest is a member of an organized religion within a relatively advanced society. He's got an education, based on information compiled by generations of priests who came before him. He's got resources to draw upon, like a place the victim of a possession can be kept safely and securely, extra food to sustain them, and caretakers to keep an eye on them. He can turn to other members of his faith for advice, or to request a specialist at confronting and casting out spirits."

You consider all of that, and then contrast it with what you've seen of Tiriaq's lifestyle.

"And shamans don't have that," you conclude.

The wizard shakes his head. "Unfortunately, that is generally the case. Shamanism comes from an older time, when populations were smaller, resources more limited, and survival - of one's self, one's family, one's tribe - was the greatest and sometimes only good. Your knowledge was limited to what your teacher told you and what you put together on your own, your power was limited to whatever you could beg, borrow, or browbeat out of the local spirits, and if there was another shaman around with the strength and knowledge to assist you, he probably wanted to drive you out or kill you, so he could take your place as the tribe's intermediary with the Spirit World."

"Modern shamans aren't so badly restricted as their distant forebears," Balthazar notes, "but they DO try to maintain the old ways. Most spirits are comfortable with the established routines, and people who are drawn to shamanism these days tend to be the sort to prefer a simpler lifestyle, or just have issues with how mainstream society handles things."

"Who's telling this, you or me?" Ambrose demands.

Balthazar bows out.

"As I was saying," the outwardly old man goes on after a moment, "shamans have a lot of disadvantages that make exorcisms more difficult for them to perform than they really need to be, just as a consequence of HOW they approach their calling. The real issue, though, is that most spirits aren't gods. They aren't without some power and authority of their own, and they're still divine beings, but in all respects, your average spirit is simply LESS than a typical deity - and that has consequences. Possessing spirits that would flee a god's presence will dig in and fight what they consider to be their peers, or just laugh at their supposed inferiors, which means the exorcism lasts longer, consumes more energy, and is more taxing on the exorcist and the victim - sometimes fatally so. Granted, priestly exorcisms can end in death as well, but it's distinctly uncommon unless a major demon or something similarly nasty is involved. Unless he's got a Great Spirit in his corner, a shaman has to accept that ANY exorcism could end in death, and THAT means that unless he's an idiot, he's going to use every nasty trick he can to tip the scales in his favor."

"What sort of nasty tricks?"

"Distraction. Disorientation. Sleep deprivation. Drugging - and NOT the fun kind. Starvation. Dehydration. Exposure. Beating. Scarification. Burning. Drowning." Ambrose recounts the methods one by one. "The ability to experience what its host does is half the allure to most possessing spirits, so taking that boon away or turning it into a negative tends to sap their desire to hang around. Putting spirits into proximity of or contact with forces they hate or fear, like exposing a water spirit to fire, can weaken them in advance of the actual exorcism, and of course the threat of death - of EXPERIENCING it, even if you aren't truly the one at risk and will technically survive - is often terrifying to beings that are basically immortal."

...so they torture the VICTIM?

Nature isn't nice, kiddo, and neither are its spirits. Anyone who has to deal with that sort of thing, with no backup, and help keep a whole tribe going in the bargain? They can't AFFORD nice.

Okay, that is... definitely worth a grimace or two.


With the aspersions cast against your identity answered and refuted - and some of the people around you looking like they're just as disturbed by Ambrose's account of shamanistic exorcisms as you were - you decide to move on.

"Backing up a bit," you say, "and just to be clear, Mr. Ishida - you're saying that you tried to kill me, one of the few people here capable of getting you and your relatives OFF of this demiplane, because you don't or at least didn't think I was who and what I appeared to be, believed I was trying to create an excuse to confine all of you, use magic on you against your will, or both... and because it seemed like a good idea at the time?"

Yukio turns his blindfolded head as if looking away from you. There is a touch of defiance in the movement, but mainly, he just seems embarrassed by your summary of his actions, especially the last part.

"Mr. Ishida?"

"...that is... basically accurate," the man grudgingly admits.

You nod. "Out of curiosity, had it worked... what exactly was the follow-up supposed to be? After all, you still would have had to deal with three powerful magic-users and a couple of fairies, none of whom would be positively inclined towards you for killing me, a group of warriors capable of throwing down with some of the Wandenreich's strongest and then walking away intact in the aftermath-"

There are twitches at that, and not just from Yukio. Evidently, despite that earlier account of what went down in Silbern, not everyone has fully internalized what the knights were actually DOING - or maybe they're just uncomfortable with being reminded of it again so soon?

"-and of course, all your relatives, at least some of whom are ALSO given to think well of me. Most of the time," you add, glancing at Masaki, and then Ryuuken.

Yukio hesitates, but eventually admits that he hadn't thought quite that far ahead. He does mention trying to signal for rescue or opening the way back to Earth with the combined skills and power of the family, but these are clearly ideas he's just throwing out, as opposed to well-considered plans. It's also pretty clear, from the way the Elders and older or more experienced Quincy shake their heads, that they don't think it would work.

The Wandenreich had - and will have, for a little while longer - access to a method of planar travel, but it's one that dates back a thousand years or more, and was housed in a carefully prepared sanctuary that was built with the resources of their first, fallen empire, as well as the input of their god-king. In addition, the Gates of the Sun had centuries to be studied, refined, and built upon within the pocket realm where Silbern stood.

In that same span of time, the Earthbound Quincy suffered near-extinction, saw the Lichtreich erased from the pages of history, and were scattered across the planet - and then were nearly wiped out AGAIN two hundred years ago.

It's not hard to see how they might have lost the knowledge of planar travel in the process, especially if the methods their ancestors knew of were all as resource-intensive as the Gates of the Sun or the Shinigami Senkaimon.

You regard Yukio in silence for a moment, and then ask, "Mr. Ishida, why are you so willing to risk the lives of your family?"

"Just because you claim that the Wandenreich-" he begins, some of the prior heat returning to his voice.

"I wasn't referring to the Wandenreich, Mr. Ishida," you interrupt, "or at least, not ONLY them. Rather, I was commenting on your ideas for dealing with being stuck on this demiplane - because quite frankly, if you'd attempted either of them, they'd likely have ended badly."

Sending out a flare of spiritual power in the hope that the Wandenreich picked it up and decided to investigate isn't a completely terrible idea, on the face of it, but it ignores the fact that the demiplane is located on the Ethereal Plane - an endless fogbank devoid of almost any solid matter, yet far from empty of life, or states of being that approximate it. Much of what dwells on the Ethereal is either predatory or so alien that conflict is near unavoidable, and although nothing has shown up to investigate Navi's demiplanes as yet - a consequence of the greater plane being so vast and so empty, you suspect - a sudden burst of spiritual power where there previously was none would be just the thing to attract the hungry, the territorial, or the just plain curious.

While the Quincy could deal with the lesser hunters of the Ethereal and the usual wandering ghosts readily enough, there are much more dangerous beings roaming the mists...

Trying to force a portal back to Earth would be even more dangerous. At best, such an action might "only" punch a hole from the "interior" of Navi's demiplane through to the Ethereal proper, giving the natives a more direct means of entry than the plane-shifting they'd otherwise need to use. Not that THAT would stop most of them, planar movement is a pretty common ability among such creatures...

It's more likely, though, that breaking through part of an artificial plane would cause part of the thing to collapse, ejecting anyone in the area out into the mists, with no easy way back. And then they'd float around out there until something else found them, or they died of thirst.

You try to express all of this using small words, to ensure Yukio appreciates the danger, and once again, Ambrose and Balthazar back you up.

Yukio... doesn't really have a lot to say in response.

"Leaving aside the quietly alarming possible outcomes for what Yukio MIGHT have done," one of the other Ishidas says, adjusting his glasses, "there's still the matter of what is to be done right now. Are we leaving as promised, or will we be remaining as your guests for somewhat longer, due to the admittedly entirely understandable security concerns?"

You had planned to take the ones that wanted to leave promptly to an Outer Plane, wipe their memories of the last few hours, and then drop them on Earth. Has Yukio's behavior changed your mind on that front?


"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and for having to go back on my word," you reply, "but in light of-" You wave at Yukio "-this gentleman's actions, I think I have to insist that you all stay for a while longer."

"Any idea how long?" the man inquires.

You consider it. "At least a day. Like I said earlier, I could use the time to rest and recover, but more than that, one of the spells I've been using to investigate current events is a bit limited in how often I should cast it."

"How so?"

"If I were a corporate employee," you answer after a moment, "casting that spell would be a lot like calling the CEO for advice."

Granted, a CEO that likes you and has a vested interest in your success and general well-being, but the point remains: the Goddesses have better things to do than answer your questions all day; and they would eventually get annoyed by being constantly pestered for information.

Some of us faster than others.

Fair cop.

There is a pause.

"...are you an executive in this analogy?" the Ishida ventures slowly.

"No."

"Upper management, at least?"

"Also no."

"...well. I can see why you would want to avoid overusing such a resource."

You nod. "Aside from that, waiting out the day is just an added bit of insurance. Yhwach's resurrection was supposed to take place later this afternoon, and while he SHOULD be All Dead as opposed to just Mostly Dead-"

That reference gets mostly puzzled looks from the Japanese Quincy contingent, but the Americans get it and oblige you with various amused huffs and disbelieving head-shakes.

"-I do have some concerns that something could still happen at the ordained moment. He DID have a prophecy going for him, after all, and those are always tricky. At the very least, there was a thousand years of energy building up for a specific purpose, which is now impossible; under those circumstances, some sort of misfire wouldn't be unlikely. I also wouldn't be entirely surprised if Grandmaster Haschwalth being in possession of the Almighty counted as 'Yhwach' enough for the resurrection to go off in some form. Either way, better that you're all still removed from the intended target area and under magical defenses until the original danger has well and truly passed."

Those Quincy that weren't already pressing to leave accept your reasoning readily enough. Those that HAD been chafing to depart the demiplane glance at Yukio, and concede that you have a Pretty Good Reason to wait on sending them home - or at least that their kinsman's attempt to shoot you has cost them whatever leverage they might have exerted.

A few details still need to be sorted out.

For one, while you're certainly going to question Ishida Yukio more thoroughly, what are you going to do with him AFTER that? You can't just leave him half-sunk into the stone like he is, but giving him free run of the demiplane once more is quite out of the question. You could put him under guard, place him under "house arrest" within one of the Mansions, create a cell and lock him inside, have Ambrose put him to sleep again, or any number of other approaches.

Polymorphing him into something harmless is probably off the table, if only because you can't be sure how the other Quincy would take it, and you're not inclined to transport him out and mindwipe him at this time. Within those limitations, though...

After dealing with Yukio, there's the question of what to do next. Your mana is diminished but still some way from exhausted, especially if you use your last Mana Gems, so you could resume your efforts to divine goings-on outside the demiplane, or even depart it to start putting what information you HAVE acquired to work - perhaps by making a second raid on Silbern, or dropping off those computer discs with Urahara.

Alternately, you could try going through the paper files and journals you swiped from Jugram's chambers, or assessing some of your considerable collection of loot. OR you could just skip over to the temporally accelerated demiplane and meditate again, to shore up your mana...

A rumble from your stomach has you adjusting your plans to include lunch. After that, however...


You've already spent more time and energy dealing specifically with Yukio than you really wanted to, and there are other things you'd much rather be attending to at the moment. Is there some way you could delegate this - say, by having the other Quincy take custody of their troublesome kinsman? They must have some way of restraining their own malcontents and criminals, and getting them to handle this matter for you would go some way towards making up for the problems Yukio has caused.

You speak with the Elders for a moment, and are informed that, yes, they do have ways of suppressing the powers of misbehaving Quincy, which they can use here - and also that they are perfectly willing to take responsibility for making sure Yukio behaves himself going forward.

They note that none of them brought along the proper tools created for restraining Quincy abilities, but they can set up the binding ritual that those items were based on. It'll take longer to finish than simply strapping a pair of bracers on Yukio's wrists - this being the form the restraints were given - and the effects will be shorter-lived, but it's entirely doable as long as he's kept still for the binding process.

On that note, they ask you to leave him in his current confinement. They'll dig him out once they've got his abilities locked down.

You regret missing the opportunity to observe Quincy "magic" at work, but this ritual isn't going to be a quick one, and you've got other matters to attend to - so you leave the Quincy to their work, and get on with your own.

Gathering up Ambrose, Balthazar, and Shadow Alex, you quietly propose a discussion of how to best go about denying further assets to and reducing the capabilities of the Wandenreich.

When asked, none of the three think you should bring the Quincy elders into this conversation, at least not yet. Ambrose notes that there is an important difference between actively working against one's relatives, and merely standing aside when you know a third party is working against them, and only Souken has demonstrated a willingness to actually cross that line.

Shadow Alex reminds you that by his own account, the Ishida Elder's information on the Wandenreich is decades out of date, and included at least one Earthside facility that was subsequently destroyed.

"If they were that worried about one guy turning on them, they probably would have killed him instead of letting him go," Shadow points out. "It would have been a lot easier and more certain, and we've seen that they don't care much about the lives of their cousins on Earth."

"You think they trashed that base for another reason?"

Shadow nods, but then admits, "I'm not sure what, though."

"Speaking as a man with some experience in the matter," Balthazar declares, "it can be problematic to maintain ownership of a particular property for longer than the average human lifetime without drawing too much attention to yourself, especially when said property is located in or near a living settlement. Neighbors and clients get curious, governments demand taxes and enforce building codes, the rich and powerful want the land for themselves, thieves and dumb kids try to break in, and sooner or later, the place inevitably gets caught up in a natural disaster, a man-made one, or a supernatural incident."

"But you have magic," you state.

"I do, and the fact that I STILL have to deal with those issues should tell you something," the Merlinean Master replies. "But we're talking about the Wandenreich, who don't appear to have the same breadth of ability."

This is a good point. In fact, while you've seen that Quincy powers offer equivalents to the techniques of numerous arcane schools, the diversity of abilities within each school has been a bit limited - and you've seen nothing thus far that truly maps to Elemental, Enchantment, Illusion, or Transformation Magic. Those last three are the ones they'd really need to deflect and dispel attention on their Earthly holdings, meaning...

"You're suggesting that the Wandenreich periodically scrubs its old bases and moves changes location?" you guess.

"It would make sense," Ambrose muses. "A family that lived in the same area for several generations could get away with maintaining a hidden cache of weapons, supplies, and information, but it would take something on the order of an entire neighborhood or small town populated by Quincy to reliably get away with much more than that, and they don't have that sort of population density anymore - or didn't, anyway. It'll be interesting to see how the Wandenreich getting the boot from their little planar fortress will change things..."

Interesting, but getting off-topic.

You inquire of your fellow arcanists what they think of the idea of sending Shadow Alex, under a Spell of Greater Invisibility and his ongoing Spell of Mind Blank, back to Silbern to destroy all of the Gates of the Sun other than "Gate J," and then casting the Spell of Dimensional Locking to temporarily seal that one.

"Risky," Ambrose replies. "Even Invisibility and Mind Blank together don't make one completely undetectable: hearing and scent can both still pick you up; you'd have to open any doors or gates that were in your way; and someone could always bump into you by accident. Intangibility could help with those, but traveling ethereally would get expensive, as you'd have to keep dismissing the spell to meaningfully interact with your targets. Gaseous Form wouldn't be much help; you'd be too slow, and couldn't use spells... unless you've mastered silent and still casting?"

You have not, but you note that Shadow Alex does still have that long-term Spell to Walk Through Space AND the Spell of Foresight going, so he'd be able to teleport to the other side of any closed doors he encountered, with enough forewarning of mishaps to abort the jump without incident.

"Hmmm, maybe... but how were you planning on destroying the Gates? I was under the impression there was a whole alphabet's worth of them, spread out through that fortress. Unless you've got some sort of time-delayed disjunction effect that you could set up in each chamber and then set off simultaneously, I can't see your bigger half, here, getting more than a few of the portals before the Wandenreich noticed and raised the alarm - and that's assuming he even has the juice for it."

"At the moment, I really don't," Shadow admits.

He doesn't have to do it NOW, of course, but as to the method, you were thinking...