Keep Moving Forward

by TheNyteblade

Two months had passed since Yhwach's death, and Ichigo Kurosaki, along with his friends, has not been the same since the wars conclusion. Now in a new city, they struggle to accept the consequences and the loss they suffered through the Blood War. However, with new friends being made, and an enemy that was more dangerous than even Aizen, will Ichigo and his friends be ready?

4. The Conflict

Hello! Sorry this came out late, some stuff came up IRL so I couldn't finish this in time. I just want to say sorry for the rant I did a while back, I just needed to get that off my chest since I got a lot of messages from extremely rude people about changing my story even after I told everyone what is going on and the future of this. Anyway, with that being said, I hope you enjoy!

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"Hello everyone and thank you once more for tuning into Channel nine news. I am your host, Kazuo Akuji." A middle aged man dressed in a black suit began then turned his gaze into another camera on his left and side.

"Continuing our story, new reports are coming in through the government about the strong earthquakes that rocked the country over two months ago. Originally, we had reports that the earthquake was a record-breaking 8.1 right off the bat. However, it steadily began to increase to a 9.1 before suddenly stopping entirely. While millions of Japanese citizens were misplaced due to their homes being destroyed, we are lucky and thankful that no one was fatally injured due to the earthquake stopping quickly."

---

"I remember that day." Rias Gremory muttered as she listened to the Anchorman broadcasting the news on the small laptop on top of the coffee table. It was two months ago, well before the fateful day she met Issei and her life changed forever. She was heading home after staying late in the clubhouse, filing the last bit of paperwork for summons that were going to head off to her brother in the underworld. Luckily, her and Akeno's apartment wasn't far from the school, only two blocks away to be precise. She decided to walk home that day to enjoy the breeze and the sun that shined that day.

However, when she got to the main gates, is when the exact moment she felt it. It started off as a rumble, as a crowd of bulls were rampaging through the street. Though, within a single second, it turned into a violent earth quake that almost made her teleport to her apartment or even take flight to avoid the shockwaves, though fought against the urge due to the likely chance of being spotted by a human.

She was a Japanophile through and through, and loved the countries natural beauty and its rich culture, but its natural disasters was something that she wasn't a big fan of in the slightest. Though, she would admit, something about this earthquake felt... different. Normally, the Japanese Government was able to give their people prior and early knowledge on when an earthquake will hit the country. She even had Ajuka's scientists monitor the country's seismic activity for a much earlier sign of one occurring, and yet none of them picked up on the sudden violent earthquake, and left as quickly as it came.

"I remember it too." Sona Sitri said as she walked over to the other couch and sat in front of her best friend. "Still have no idea what caused it. Though, that is the least of our worries, as we need to make this quick since lunch will almost end here soon. I have already filled in my peerage regarding the situation." She stated. Indeed, it was lunch time in the High School campus of Kuoh Academy, and Rias, as well as Akeno and Kiba Yuuto, were inside the Student Council office, headquarters of Sona Sitri, who was in the office along with her full peerage.

"I see," Rias sighed before looking over to her queen. "You interacted with him earlier. How did it go Akeno? Did he or his cousin give off any sort of Holy Aura?" She asked, and the ravenette cocked her eyebrow as she sipped on a cup of tea before smiling at her King.

"I didn't sense anything out of ordinary with them when I got close, and that includes magic energy as well. Unless they are good at hiding their power from High Class Devils, They don't seem to have any sort of power at all. To me, they just felt like ordinary humans." Akeno replied as she tapped her chin in deep thought. It was a simple task she was ordered to do by Rias, just to get near to him and see either of them pulsed with any sort of holy aura. However, she couldn't pick up any sort of magical energy emitting from the two of them. They were indeed, humans. That was much she could tell, otherwise herself and the rest of the peerage would've been able to pick up their scent given enough time.

However, their magical energy was next to zero.

"Interesting." Sona inquired as she rubbed her chin in thought. Though, after a few seconds, she looked back to the Ravenette with a raised eyebrow, and a slight glint from the sun glimmered off her glasses, and nearly hid her eyes from Rias' Queen. "Was there anything else? Did they say anything or react in a certain way when you approached Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida?" She continued. A slight giggle escaped her plump lips, and Rias knew what her queen was going to say just from the look in her eye.

"Well, just as a little joke, I tried to see whether or not they were just all talk and would look at us the same way my cute little pawn and the rest of the boys here would see us." She giggled, though, it was more of a half a chuckle compared to the normal sultry one she would use when she was in her teasing mood. Rias felt her eye twitch the moment she heard those words leave her Queen's mouth. It has only been a week since the defeat of Riser and the annulment of her marriage, and if she were being honest with herself, she did feel a connection with Issei that she hasn't felt with anyone prior.

After all, they did kiss on the Griffin, and to her it was one of the most romantic and the most memorable moment in her life. Though, before she could think on the matter longer, Akeno continued.

"Though, I am able to admit that they actually had shown no interest. In fact, besides a small little blush on Ichigo's cheeks, he actually seemed rather annoyed at me when I attempted it." She concluded. Granted, she hasn't gotten to the levels of flirting that she was known for with Issei lately, but she did put on her cutesy face and pushed her breasts up subtlety to catch his attention. She hated it, since that was all what was the rave the boys were after since Kuoh Academy became Co-Ed. The only reason why she even started to tease Issei the way she was doing was just to get a reaction out of her king; though recently her feelings were slightly beginning to change after she witnessed him charge into the wedding to save Rias, even though she knew he was going to do it judging by his character alone.

But Issei was one boy her age. He was a pervert indeed, but even she could see the redeeming qualities in the Pawn of Rias Gremory. So, when she pushed her breasts up to Ichigo to get him to notice, which was enough to get any boy in the school to crack and reveal their true selves or to freak out, she expected to have him be the exact same way. However, it shocked her more than she would care to admit that rather than a complete blush, a small miniscule tint of red was on his cheeks, followed by a deep frown.

"I would rather look for what's inside a person and their qualities, rather than their bodies."

She heard things similar to that during her time in school here, though it was always from teens that thought it was an easy way to talk to her or Rias rather than being the typical person who looked at them for their bodies instead. It was to the point that she knew the way they spoke and how they would hid their true emotions behind a façade. Though, this was completely different. Sure, the blush was there, but the frown was something that one simply couldn't fake no matter how hard they tried. Even the words he spoke, he sounded firm and final, as if he was stating a fact rather than a lie.

"Interesting." Rias mused, though the look she gave her queen was enough to silently say that they will continue about the part with Issei during a time when it was more appropriate rather than now. She looked back to Sona as she pushed a stray lock of hair behind her right ear. "I guess that helps to explain that they were being truthful when they defended us during that day." She chuckled.

"Putting that aside," The Sitri heiress began. "This still doesn't explain whether or not they are truly just men of faith and have no knowledge of the hidden world, or they are apart of the Church and Heaven's faction. Which if that is the case, it is a clear violation of the peace treaty, even though it's already fragile enough. A war is something none of the three factions cannot handle, otherwise we will all be killed."

It had only been a full week after the events of Riser, and two weeks since the issue regarding Raynare and Asia Argento. On one hand, there was something in the back of her head screaming at her that the situation of Raynare and now the group of suspected church members were somehow connected. She wasn't there during the raid on the abandoned church in the mountains, but from what Rias told her during the after report, Asia was an exiled nun that Raynare needed to take her Sacred Gear, known as Twilight Healing.

She didn't know Raynare at all, but from how intricate the plan was, made her suspect that she needed help to fully pull it off and hide from her and Rias' peerage for so long. Not just the three other Fallen Angels that she brought with her, but the Exiled Exorcist Freed Sellzen as well as the abundance of Priests and minor Exorcists as well. An amount of Holy Aura, both pure and tainted, would be next to impossible to hide from two High Class Devils, especially the sisters of Lucifer and Leviathan.

It seemed too much of a coincidence that this was all happening back to back without any sort of downtime. Currently down in the underworld, High Society was in an uproar due to the breakoff of her best friends engagement to Riser Phoenix, Heir to the Phoenix Clan and whose nobility helped them achieve control over forty percent of media finances in Lucifaad and Lilith, and the Gremory Family who were known for their Power of Destruction, with Rias being the most notable user of their generation; going as being granted the title "Crimson Haired Ruin Princess".

It was suppose to be a union of two devils and two houses, with the chance of having an offspring that would have the abilities of the Phoenix's Immortality and the Gremory's Power of Destruction. She could understand both sides of the argument. Rias wanted to be loved and seen as an individual without the Heiress title, while Riser took pride in their heritage and believed it was best for continue the race and legacy of their species, even though he went at it from an awful point of view.

Now, every noble household was locked into a screaming match with each other and demanded answers and repercussions to the event and to Issei, though thankfully, Sirzechs and the Maou's were able to quell the uproar, though the anger was still very much present. It seemed like it was an easy way to take their minds away from the Human World so Ichigo and his group can interfere in their territory without being noticed.

However, the more logical side of her head told her that it was all nothing but assumptions without any sort of proof to back it up. The issue with Issei smuggling in Holy Water and a rosary into his battle with Riser can be easily explained through Asia, who kept them after she was turned into a devil but still holding onto her faith in God, and the wedding itself was something that she knew from the get go was going to end without her being actually married to Riser.

The only thing that made her think was the situation with Raynare, though she kept it in her mind for later and when she gathered more evidence on the group of teens. Before she was able to say anything else, her pawn decided to speak.

"Well this is good right? I mean, they are just some humans after all, and if they are apart of the Supernatural they got no magic power. It will be child's play to send them packing back to where they came from." Genshirou Saji, Pawn of Sona Sitri, gloated with a prideful, arrogant grin. However, instead of getting a smile out of his king, similar to what would happen if his "rival" said this to Rias, all it gained was a disappointed frown from Sona.

"You would be mindful and speak carefully, Saji." Sona frowned, and her displeased voice was enough to break Saji out of his trance as she glared down at him like an ant. "Human's are still very capable of hurting those of the Supernatural, and that goes for supernatural beings with no magic power." She sighed. Instantly, her mind went to the mysterious Vasco Strada from the Heaven's Faction. She personally never met or even seen him for the matter, though she heard stories and read books about him while she was studying and preparing for her job in Kuoh Town's guardian. The man was fully human without any sort of heroic lineage or Sacred Gear, but was strong enough to actually fight and kill High and Ultimate Class Devils during his youth, even Cadre level Fallen Angels.

"She's right you know." Kiba Yuuto continued off where Sona left off. "Take a look at it this way, Issei is a pawn just like you, but barely has any sort of magical energy enough to use Demonic Spells. Though, that doesn't stop him at all from fighting, and he's starting to hold his own in a fight now." He chuckled softly, and the rest of the peerage and Rias herself giggled to themselves. It was true that Issei actually had no sorts of noteworthy demonic energy within him, but made up for it by being a brawler like Koneko and being the host of the Boosted Gear, which carries the potential to kill gods.

Hearing this from both the Knight of the Gremory Peerage and his King made Saji deflate in defeat and hunch over in shame, while quickly muttering apologies to Sona who only shook her head with a sigh. Behind him, Ruruko Nimura, the other Pawn of Sona's peerage consoled the teen and rubbed his back soothingly.

"Let's get back on track before lunch ends, since we don't have that much time." Sona said before looking over to her queen, Shinra Tsubkai, who stood behind her. No words were exchanged, but it was enough for her to understand what she wanted and handed her four different files that were clutched underneath her left arm. She slid them onto the table and opened each of them in front of Rias and Akeno. Inside, were pictures of Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime.

"It took me a while to get a hand on their files, but this is what we were able to come up with on such short notice." She began as Rias and Akeno picked up the files of Ichigo and Uryu. There was a single picture on the right hand side that was clipped on with a paper clip, and showed Ichigo dressed in a Grey Uniform and holding his backpack over his shoulder. On Uryu's file, it was him wearing the same uniform, though what was most interesting was that his hair was shorter than what it is now, suggesting to Akeno that the picture was old.

"Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida. Both are seventeen years old and transferred from Karakura High, where they were at the top of their class." Sona began as the two began to read over the files of both Kurosaki and Ishida. Rias had to admit, that the grades they achieved was indeed impressive. They were both on the honor roll for the majority of their stay at Karakura High. She hasn't been to the town, but it was one of her first choices when she was prepping to move to the human world, though she eventually landed upon Kuoh Town nearly an hour away from Karakura.

"What's this here?" Akeno spoke and broke Rias out of her train of thought. "Their mothers died when they were young?" The ravenette questioned as she pointed out to the bottom frame of the file. It was a cut out from a news article, with a picture of a young boy with orange hair, which she could guess was Ichigo as a child, bundled into a burly man's arms, as they pushed through a crowd of reporters. Though, before she was able to get another word out, the Sitri Heiress beat her to it.

"Indeed." She said with a frown, though Rias could sense the tad bit of sympathy laced in her tone, though it was quickly replaced with suspicion and confusion. "What's interesting and odd is the death of Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki's mother. There was no witnesses the day she died near the river, and no other leads that led the case being cold even to this day. According to Ichigo himself for that matter, the police stated that he didn't remember what happened. To him, he woke up on the ground with his mother's corpse protectively hugging him. While Uryu Ishida's mother, Kanae Ishida, had died due to stage four cancer, Masaki's death is the most troubling to me." She finished as she cupped her chin in thought. As Rias continued to stare at the picture of Ichigo in the file, they didn't notice the odd look that momentarily danced in Akeno's eyes, before it instantly vanished.

Both of their death's was interesting... and slightly worrying if she was being honest with herself. She didn't look hard enough to develop a well thought out file that was more detailed to the ones that were in school records, but the deaths of Masaki Kurosaki and Kanae Ishida still continued to trouble her. Both of their deaths happened roughly around the same time, with Kanae passing away a month after Masaki's untimely death. Masaki's case was still cold even to this day, with the police and even higher ups of the PSIA struggling to find an answer on what happened that day.

They didn't probe what happened with Ichigo, due to him being a child and potentially being scarred mentally by waking up to see his mothers corpse. It was understandable to her, since it would be a traumatic thing even for some children in the underworld. However, what ever chance of finding out what happened to Masaki was locked in Ichigo's head, and she didn't want to use memory or mind manipulation magic to probe into his mind.

Uryu's mother on the other hand, was interesting but from a different perspective. She was diagnosed with Stage Four Cancer years before she had her son from what was stated in the obituaries of that article, though strangely enough, without chemo-therapy it miraculously vanished from her the day she had her son. It was a medical miracle and doctors from all around the world wanted to study her, though her husband was quick to deny them. However, it seemed like that it came back a month after the day Masaki Kurosaki had passed away.

It was too much of a coincidence to her. They were both cousins, meaning that of course, Masaki and Kanae; or Dr. Isshin Kurosaki and Dr. Ryuuken Ishida had to be related. Though, both of their mothers had died in mysterious ways that were odd and interesting. She knew that cancer can travel through family via genetics, but the event of that happening was rare, and she didn't have access to Masaki's medical records to see whether or not she had cancer like her sister, nor did she have any sort of knowledge on the familial sides of Dr. Kurosaki and Dr. Ishida, but there was something nagging in the back of her head, that she was missing something.

Something important.

"Odd indeed." Rias agreed as she stared at Ichigo's file in her hand. "Could it perhaps be related to something like a Sacred Gear or related to the supernatural?" The Gremory Heiress asked. "Memory manipulation magic is quite common to various Supernatural beings, perhaps his mother was attacked and she sacrificed herself to protect her child." Rias theorized as she continued to stare at the picture of Ichigo, not noticing the look in her queen's eyes that danced once more before disappearing.

"It's hard to say." Sona replied. "The human mind is something that scientists and even some supernatural beings struggle to understand. The brain once dealing with something traumatic will lock itself away from the memory, forcing you to "forget" certain parts of a memory or the memory all together. Ichigo might've had something similar happen to him." She said with a sigh before looking at the other two files on the desk.

"While Inoue Orihime and Yatsutora Sado's files aren't extensive compared to Ichigo and Uryu's, they all share something in common, two things to be in fact." Tsubaki began. "All four has lost a family member. Inoue Orihime lost her brother to a car accident, while Sado lost both his parents and his grandfather, effectively making him an orphan. From what I can see now, they all formed their own "peerage" of a sorts, their own little family away from their own, as Karakura High records dictate that Ichigo Kurosaki, Inoue Orihime, Uryu Ishida, and Chad are almost always together. Now recently, they have all been attending school less and less, and sometimes missing several weeks in one go." The Sitri Queen finished.

"So the question remains, where did they go?" Rias said as she closed the file and slid it back on the desk, with Akeno doing the same and looking towards Sona.

"Exactly." Sona confirmed. "We have no knowledge on what we are dealing with currently, and Karakura Town is out of our control, and there is too many variables that don't make any sense when we take a closer look at them. All four have missed school and seemingly vanished off the earth for several weeks without anyone knowing where they had gone too, and the death of Masaki Kurosaki is something we cannot ignore either. If we want to proceed with this lead, we need to get permission from your brother and my sister to get someone over there." She stated.

Herself and Rias were joint leaders over the Kuoh Town, and had complete authority over the town regarding the Supernatural less their brother or sister stepped in personally. However, outside of Kuoh Town, nothing was under their control. Several cities like Sapporo, Yokohama, Saitama, and Koriyama were under control of other High Class Devils and their families, while others such as Kyoto, Osaka, Gifu, and Kanazawa were under Yokai and the remaining remnants of the Shinto Faction. No one in the Underworld has control over the township of Karakura for over four hundred years.

"I am heading to their cousin's diner today with Koneko after school to see whether or not if its legitimate." Kiba said as he stood up from the chair he was sitting down in and straightened his school uniform.

"Remember that we have our club meeting at Issei's house after school today Kiba, so don't take too long and call me when you are leaving." Rias warned, and the Gremory Knight could hear the worry laced in her voice clear as day. To ease her wordiness, the blonde smiled and gave his King a slight bow.

"You have my word Rias, any sign of trouble and I will make sure Koneko and I will retreat with haste." He smiled, and Rias smiled back at her Knight before looking at Sona. The school lunch bell soon rang throughout the school and signified that lunch was almost over. Almost instantly, the two peerage's could hear the excessive amounts of humans loudly beginning to clean up and get ready for their next classes.

"Keep your eyes open, Rias." Sona began as she stood up from the couch and fixed her skirt. "Something weird is going on here, and the fact so many things has happened consistently can't be ignored."

"You as well Sona. I can already feel Issei, Koneko, and Asia on the floor now and left Ichigo and his friends on the rooftop. Hopefully they have gotten a decent start on where to look for them." The Gremory Heiress said as she stood up with Akeno beside her. It slightly worried her that her three peerage members were around four suspected members of the Church by themselves. Granted, she could tell Ichigo and his friends were ordinary humans since they sensed no magical energy or any sort of aura radiating from them that suggested that they were something other than human, but like Kiba said earlier, humans were still capable of hurting Devils in certain ways.

She knew that Koneko could hold her own in a fight, that much was certain due to her past and her expertise in several martial arts. However, even though Issei was getting onto solid ground when it came to fighting with his powers, it still wasn't enough to get him to not rely on others as much as he did. She didn't care on the matter if she was being honest, since she liked Issei and her feelings for him started to grow by the day after he broke her engagement, though anyone would know that unless he picked up the pace on his training and find a way to bring out his Balance Breaker without the issue of sacrificing a part of his body, he was an easy target.

"At least they were safe." Sona sighed as she began to walk to her desk. "I was worried that a fight would break out and we would have to reveal ourselves to the humans here. I know we can erase their memories, but it's something I want to try to avoid-"

She instantly stopped talking, and she felt herself begin to break out in a cold sweat. Rias wanted to speak, but felt the words die in her throat as several oppressive, absurd levels of power ripped into the air like a colossal gust of wind. The windows in the office slowly begin to rumble, as if a stampede of bulls were running outside in a frenzy. Saji had his eyes widen completely, his body turning into stone as an indescribable, immeasurable amounts of instinctual fear seeped into his soul. He felt his lungs constrict on themselves, and goosebumps were visible all over his arms as he continued to fearfully stare off into space.

"W-w-w...what is this..." Kiba coughed out as he leaned onto the top of the couch to keep his balance. Rias couldn't blame him, as the power trumped her own by a league she couldn't even fathom. The worst was Akeno, who felt like her entire soul was shaking in uncontrollable terror as tears began to well in her eyes. The power felt completely wrong. An oddity that the universe hasn't corrected. It wasn't magical energy, that much was certain, it was a power that they had no knowledge of or ran across from in their past.

It was five of them, five monstrous levels of power radiated throughout the entire school, with the fifth one off campus. The first two, Rias could sense that they were at the very least, High Class level beings. The first one felt strong yet bare, as if she walked into a large empty room that radiated nothing but pure physical strength, while the other was warm and welcoming. However, they completely paled in comparison to the other three. Two of which, were easily high Ultimate Class beings, with one of them in particular bordering on Super Class. While the High Ultimate Class aura was hot, as if she was standing in front of a sun, the latter felt akin more to perfect synergy of potent power.

The last however, was something in its own league. It felt wild, untamed even, like a ferocious tsunami that had the aura of malice and rage. However, it was mixed with the same type of feeling from the other two beings, electric and light mixed into a perfect being, and all three were mixed into another aura that spoke nothing but death and darkness. The most odd thing however, was that even though they were vastly different power signatures, they were all mixed into one perfectly. If she was being honest, there was only one way that Rias could even describe the power from the monster.

It was like she was standing in front of a god.

As quickly as the aura ripped through the school, it faded away instantly, as if it never existed in the first place. The rumbling stopped as well, and they finally felt their bodies give in and they were freely able to move once more. Each and every devil began to breathe heavily, as sweat was trickling down their faces as they tried to get their balance back. It took them over five minutes to do so, but slowly they began to stumble back on their feet as they continued to breathe heavily, though it too was beginning to calm down.

"RIAS!" The door slammed open, and Issei, Asia, and Koneko ran through the door and slammed it shut behind him. Their faces was pale in fear, with Asia being the most terrified out of the trio as she clutched onto Issei's arm like a life line. A bright flash of crimson light flooded the room as Boosted Gear manifested on his left arm. Draconic armor wrapped around the pale flesh up to his elbow as he got in front of Rias protectively. Everyone else readied themselves for a fight, as their magic circuits brimmed with demonic power and Sacred Gears manifested one after another.

"Issei," Rias worriedly said. "You are okay!" The Gremory King breathed out in relief. "All of you. Thank goodness."

"Who would attack now of all times!?" Saji, although terrified from the shaky legs, growled out as he readied Vitra around his hands.

"The power is gone." Sona muttered. "Everyone, calm down." She said to the devils in the room, and to herself as she too was equally terrified of the power. "I don't know what that was, but it would've killed us by now. Either way, it's gone." The Sitri heiress sighed as she stumbled back into her seat.

"But President!" Saji protested, but one look from his king made the Sitri pawn slowly relax and his sacred gear deactivated. One by one, her peerage began to deactivate their respective Sacred Gears and their Mana Circuits. They were still visibly shaken, but they slowly began to relax themselves as Sona did have a point. Rias looked to her peerage, and slowly, hesitantly nodded at them to do the same. Issei wanted to protest, but eventually caved as he noticed that power signature was indeed, gone. He dismissed Boosted Gear, wincing slightly as a slight amount of pain ripped through his soul. Rias herself extended her senses to search for the missing power signature, but it was completely gone, as if it never existed to begin with.

"Okay..." Sona shakily said as she took off her glasses. "This isn't a coincidence. Not anymore." She continued once more. "I am calling my sister now. We need to know if she knows anything about this, or if she knows how to track that... thing." She finished before looking at Rias. "You should call your brother too, Rias. My sister can only do so much now considering the state of the Underworld after the Wedding incident, but We need everyone we can get to figure out what the hell is going on."

Rias wanted to protest, since she didn't like involving her family into matters regarding her territory, but this was something she couldn't ignore anymore. "I am already on it. As much as I don't want too, you are correct on this matter. We are going to need to cover all bases now before things get out of hand. We need to contact the church now, as dealing with exiled priests is one thing, but this is pushing it too far and is borderline asking for a war." The Gremory Heiress said before looking over to Issei. "Did they tell you anything? Anything that could help us figure out the lives they had before they came here?"

"Nothing too concrete..." Issei started as he started to scratch the back of his neck. He was still visibly shaken from the power signatures earlier, but he was able to somewhat speak and talk once more. "Though, they did mention that they had a friend in Karakura Town who owns a BBQ restaurant, called "Kenny's BBQ". Maybe that's a start?" He nervously asked.

"It's better than nothing." Sona replied for Rias before looking at the red head herself. "Okay. Foreign Affairs is more of my houses policy, so I'll see if I can get someone over in Karakura to see if that place is a front or not."

"While we work with them and continue to see whether or not they are apart of the church while my brother contacts the Vatican back in Italy. We have an in with Issei, and another opportunity with their other cousin, Bazzard Black. It doesn't seem like they found us yet either, or they are possibly waiting until after school so they can attack. Either way, it looks like we are in the clear for now." Rias said before looking over to her peerage. "Stay on high alert, all of you. If someone tries to attack you, run as fast as you can and contact me or Sona, understood?"

"Yes!" Everyone shouted back. "Be careful Sona."

"You as well, Rias." The Sitri Heiress replied before Rias and her peerage left the Student Council Office, leaving Sona and her peerage alone. Though, before she left, Akeno turned her head and looked back at Ichigo's file that was still on the desk. An odd look danced in her eye for just a moment, before quickly fading away as she finally left and closed the door behind her.

---

It was near the end of the day, and Ichigo Kurosaki had trouble paying attention in the final class for the day. It wasn't the fact that the problems on the board was difficult to say the least. He wasn't completely forgetful on what he has learned in school before the Winter and Blood War, since he had a little over a year to focus on his studies before the Fullbring situation occurred. He couldn't help but replay what happened earlier today when lunch was seemingly over, and even before lunch something wasn't right. Something didn't feel right. It might of just been the after effects of the war playing with his head, but something else was at play here, and it was beginning to freak him out a little.

He made sure that no one from the Hidden World was in the school by constantly pumping out his spiritual pressure when he first arrived, and he knew that Uryu has done the same as well when they first walked through the gates of Kuoh Academy. Normally, someone who was spiritually aware would have their own Spiritual Signature pulse back reflexively to the one releasing its own signature, regardless of it being intentional or not, and luckily nothing came back to him that would notify if a Fullbringer, Hollow, Quincy, or another Shinigami was near by.

It was quite simple to differentiate the four races if one could look hard enough, including the sub-race of Hollows, known as the Arrancar's. Shinigami usually would have an aura that would feel cold and heavy, with the slight feeling of death radiating from it as well, though Shinigami who were experts in sensory abilities would be able to feel certain after products of someone else's power. For instance, Toshiro and Rukia radiated the same feeling of heaviness with death, one would be able to feel like they were standing in a tundra of sub-zero ice and snow. Hollows, and the Arrancar sub-race, were wild and untamed, as if one was standing in a rageful hurricane of power. Quincie's on the other hand, would radiate an aura that felt akin to something like bolts of lightning and ozone, and Fullbringers felt similar to that of a hollow, but was perfectly balanced with the light, innocent aura of a human.

And yet, none of those pinged back to Ichigo or Uryu at all. It was quite uncommon, since Soul Reapers and Hollows were throughout Japan and Asia, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He knew his dad and Shunsui was right, that he needed a life outside of fighting Hollows and saving the world, and if he were being completely honest, his grades were slipping more than he would like to admit. So, he figured that if he could just hunker down and focus on his studies for the remaining school year, while occasionally taking down the odd Hollow or two, then he would be fine.

Though now, he began to second guess his original thought process the moment he felt it.

He knew from a fact, that those power signatures were nothing like he has ever felt before in his life, and he had a vague understanding of the Hidden World even before he met Rukia and fully understood the world that existed behind mortal eyes. But this was something completely different. It wasn't Spiritual Pressure, and it wasn't something like Reishi that Uryu and the Quincies use to form their bows, or Reiryoku that Chad and Orihime use to activate their Fullbring. It was something completely different, and it startled him more than he would like to admit, as there was several that were in the school.

Majority of the power signatures were nothing to worry about, as at most he could give a rough estimate on their level and chalked to them being as powerful as a regular seated officer or an Adjucha's hollow. However, it was the other five that made his skin crawl. The four he felt at first, were about as strong as a lieutenant class Shinigami. Though, it was the feeling that one in particular gave off was the most troubling, as it felt like Destruction Incarnate was staring back at him. The other three had different radiating powers as well, ranging from Lightning, Water, and the last one was something akin to being copied.

But, the last one was something that made him slightly worried if he was being honest.

The power that felt off him, felt oddly similar to that of a Zanpakuto that was currently sealed, while the person themselves felt like was a Seated Officer bordering on Lieutenant Class. Though, it wasn't the power the person was giving off that made him slightly worried. It was the thing that was echoing off the person's soul as well. For all tense and purposes, the thing was strong, absurdly strong. It felt like the being was on the level of a captain level Shinigami, and was getting near the levels of his old Bankai back in Hueco Mondo, with the potential to get even stronger.

Matter of fact, majority of them felt similar to that of a Zanpakuto to some degree, but it was that one in particular that felt borderline the same with key differences. It wasn't a Hollow-like power akin to Zangetsu, it was something different entirely, and it was beginning to freak him out a little. He knew that after today, he needed to have a talk and figure out what to do with Uryu, Bazz, Orihime, and Chad.

"Mr. Kurosaki!" The teacher slightly shouted, and it was enough to get him out of his stupor. The class was looking at him, some of them were snickering while the rest just idly stared. In front of him, Orihime stared at her crush. She knew what he was thinking, as herself as well as Uryu and Chad were all in the same mindset after feeling those odd power earlier today. Beside him, Uryu gave Ichigo a look and nod, confirming that he too was on the same page and they will talk about it after school, and Chad nodding as well. Coughing in his hand, Ichigo straightened himself in his seat and looked at his teacher.

"Y-Yes sir?" Ichigo asked his teacher, who only sighed as he straightened his papers on his podium.

"If you have time to daydream, then you can answer this question on the board, correct?" The teacher asked and pointed to the black board. A few seconds went by as Ichigo stared at the question related to math, a subject that was his strong suit along with language and physics. Everyone in the class waited for his answer, including the teacher who spent majority of the time breaking down the complex equation for his students to understand. It took Ichigo over six seconds, but it was all he needed as the answer popped into his head,

"The answer is minus eight pi alpha." Ichigo replied, and the teacher's eyes widened when the answer he gave was indeed, correct. It was a simple yet hard physics question that not a lot of students were capable of understanding without the equation being broken up into several different segments, yet Ichigo glanced at the board for a simple six seconds before giving the answer. Meanwhile, Ichigo wasn't trying to show off or anything the moment he saw the equation, as he did know the equation since Urahara tutored him in physics when he was younger and in middle school. He even recently had to beg Mayuri to give him a crash course refresher test in advanced physics after the Blood War since Urahara was busy assessing the damage done to the Soul Society.

"C-Correct." The teacher mumbled. The girls in the class all giggled, and he could hear a few of them mumble his stupid nickname he gained during his time here, which only made him scowl and the girls slightly swoon. Orihime smiled at Ichigo and gave him a nod, while Chad gave his best friend a thumbs up and Uryu just gave a slight smirk as he pushed his glasses up on his face. Before the teacher was able to continue, the school bell rang and signified that it was the end of the day.

"Okay students! remember to complete your homework tonight and go over chapter forty five in your textbooks for tomorrows quiz!" The teacher yelled over the symphony of students getting up from their desk and filing their way out of the classroom and into the halls. Ichigo stood up next and slid his textbook into his backpack, with Orihime and Uryu doing the same and Chad just grabbing his binder off his desk and tucking it under his arm. The group of four walked out of the classroom, and began to duck and weave through the students as they made their way to their lockers.

They walked by Issei and Asia, with the former offering a quick wave and the latter being shy and clutching onto the brunette's arm before they disappeared into the sea of students. Turning a corner, Uryu and Ichigo got to their lockers and quickly opened the metal doors, grabbing their other homework and things they would need before slamming it shut and began to walk in the opposite direction where the front doors were. Chad, being the tallest out of the three, made sure that no one was following them as they opened the door and walked outside and into the back of the school. Students that were apart of after school clubs were getting ready for their meetings while other students just sat and talked to themselves as they enjoyed the fresh air.

"Uryu." Ichigo began as he looked to his cousin. "We need to bring everyone in tonight. Get Bazz and the rest over to the house as fast as possible, you got that?" The strawberry said to his cousin.

"I already texted Bazz a minute ago." The Quincy King replied and showed his phone to his cousin, and indeed, Uryu had already texted Bazz and the rest of the Sternritters to their house tonight. Nodding, Ichigo looked around and noticed a part of the forest that led near the Occult Research Clubroom building, with no students being around the area.

"Perfect." He muttered, and looked to his friends. "We need to get home as fast as possible, and stay there until we know what's going on. When we get in the forest far enough where humans can't see us, we flash step or run as fast as possible." He said as he began to walk over to the forest with the rest behind him. Some students looked at them funny, and some of the girls tried to follow them into the woods to see what they were up to. However, when they got in the woods, Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, and Chad were simply gone.

---

"ORDER UP!" Candice Catnipp shouted as she slammed her hand onto the bell that was on the diner counter. It was already four in the afternoon, and the café was booming with business. Students from both the High School and College division of Kuoh Academy were packed in the small cafe, with the odd salaryman or salary woman being in the mix of people. It was somewhat odd that there would be so many people coming to the cafe that wasn't near the school, but she could take a wild guess on what was making everyone flock to here.

On one hand, you had the students who were wanting to spend the day with their friends or had time to kill before they had to go to their school clubs or study for an upcoming test or quiz. She wasn't in school anymore, since the last time she went to school was during the Second World War where she was living in Nazi Germany with Bambietta, Giselle, Lilltotto and Meninas. When the war broke out, she along with her friends were inducted in the SS to varying positions. Bambietta and Giselle were sent off into several Death camps due to Bambietta's brutality and Giselle's violent nature, Liltotto and herself was assigned to Anti-Aircraft, and Menina's was stationed as a combat nurse. However, over the years, they were assigned into a unit by themselves to oversee the Ravensbruk facility before the war ended, and at that point, Jugram Haschwalth had already offered them a position in the WandenReich. She had no need to go back to school, as she spied on the world and made frequent visits to different countries during the Cold War to the present along with her best friends.

But, from what she learned from Bazz-B, Japan and even Asia took their education very seriously, almost to an unhealthy degree.

On the other hand, she could tell that most of them were here just to stare at her and her friends, which was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that money would constantly flow through the café, but it meant that some college students, and even some salary men thought they could get handsy and feel them up as they served food. Just earlier, she ended up breaking a Salaryman's hand after he smacked her ass when she was walking by. She knew she dressed sexually, so did Menina's and Giselle that showed off a majority of their assets or body, while Liltotto dressed more conservatively out of them, and she wasn't going to change the way she dressed for anyone. Though, she had half a mind to start killing anyone who stared at her boobs or her butt.

She knew that she had a body, that much was certain, and her friends was just as developed in that department as well. Back in the eighties during their vacation in Manhattan, they were bored one night and decided to measure themselves just for the fun of it, though Liltotto sat out due to her clearly not as gifted compared to her friends. It took them well over an hour to get accurate numbers, and when they read them off, it was both funny and somewhat ironic to them.

It turns out, that Bambietta had the biggest set of boobs out of the group, with herself coming in second, Meninas coming in third, and Giselle coming in last. However, it was the other way around when it came to who had the biggest ass, as Giselle's ass was the most biggest and plump out of the girls, with Menina's coming in last, Bambietta coming in third, and herself coming in second.

They were all sexy and beautiful and they knew it, even during their days as SS officers which they used to their advantage, and they weren't going to change any time soon.

As she continued to work on the Expo counter, Meninas, on roller blades, skated by and picked up the plate. It was a simple cheese burger with fries, and a milkshake on the side. "Table three!" Candice shouted to her best friend before hearing the door open. Bazz soon walked in, his college jack unbuttoned and showed off his chiseled abs that looked like they were cut straight from marble. Almost instantly, some of the college girls, and even some of the salary women, started to blush at the Sternritter who simply rolled his eyes and walked behind the counter.

"Your late." Liltotto deadpanned as she opened the cash register and slid the yen inside.

"Sorry squirt, had a problem to take care of." Bazz replied, which Liltotto kissed her teeth and flipped him off. The Heat user simply chuckled as he stuffed his jacket underneath the counter. "If it was this busy all day, why not get Askin or Gerard to help? The fuck are those two idiots doing anyway?" He asked. Ever since that day in the underground, he hasn't seen or heard a single word from the duo since.

"They were here earlier." Liltotto replied. "And to answer your other question, they are trying to open up their own bar, but are having trouble to figure out where and what the bar will be like. Gerard want's it to be manly, which I actually have no fucking idea what he means by that, while Askin want's it to be more classy." She said before taking the yen from another customer.

"Of course." Bazz deadpanned. He should've guessed that those two were doing there own thing, even though everyone knew Gerard was easily irritated by Askin and vice versa. He didn't really know either of them outside of the typical roles of Gerard being a member of the Elite Guards, and Askin's entire existence was shrouded in mystery even to some Sternritter's; since none of the Sternritter's had a collective thought or seen each other as allies and would instead stay in there collective friend group. Bambietta and her friends were always together, he had a rocky relationship with his best friend, and As Nodt was usually by himself, which was the exact group that Askin was in. He couldn't remember the time he seen Askin have a lengthy conversation with someone if he didn't need to, and would usually be a wisecracking asshole if he had the chance.

He could chalk it up to them trying to understand each other more, now that the Quincy Empire was now under the rule of Uryu Ishida, and the looming threat of the Shinigami over their heads. Before, he wouldn't doubt that they would be able to retaliate against the Shinigami due to their overwhelming numbers and the Sternritter's on top. However, he was now unsure, as without Yhwach, and majority of the Sternritters and Quincy Soldat's dead, there wasn't much they were capable of doing against the Five War Powers. Besides Gerard and Uryu, who he knew would never go against them, it was only Askin and himself that would be able to put up a capable fight against the Shinigami, and if they fell then the Quincy Race would cease to exist.

"Hey!" Candice barked to Bazz, who looked at her as he was wrapping his apron around his waist. "Both of you shut the fuck up and let's go!" she snapped before slightly fast walking over to the expo window. She could Giselle humming to herself cutely as she was rushing through the many orders of food that was piling up on the small railing. "Giselle! Hum one more fucking time and I SWEAR I'll rip your fucking throat out! FOCUS!" The Thunderbolt beauty shouted to the French cook, who only flipped her off and continued to hum to herself.

"Two orders coming up." Liltotto deadpanned as she gave Candice the ticket from Meninas. Candice ripped the ticket out of her hand and stared at it for less than a second as Liltotto ran back to the cash register. The cafe was slowly beginning to calm down, as most of the Salarymen and Salarywomen was beginning to file out of the building at a leisurely pace, and only left the large crowd of College students in the restaurant. Meninas continued to roll around the floor with her rollerblades, collecting the dirty dishes and delivering fresh meals to happy customers, while Bazz helped with the remaining dishes and helped get the finished patrons out the door.

It didn't take a genius to understand why a lot of College girls were coming to this cafe, as they heard that Bazz was working here. They swooned like school girls when they would watch his bulging muscles as he effortlessly picked up trays and helped around the cafe. However, none dared to approach him, as Candice would scare them off or he had a really angry look in his eyes.

As time continued to pass, the cafe soon began to be completely empty as the final customers paid and left in a hurry. The college kids had to quickly rush back to the school to help study or meet their clubs, which meant the rush was quick and done as fast as it started. The Bambies and Bazz simply didn't care however, as they made a large profit today and exceeded their expectations for their sales margin, and Candice was slowly beginning to get irritated by the amount of college kids were beginning to hit on her.

"Come again." Liltotto deadpanned as the last kid left the cafe, leaving the restaurant in complete silence.

"Glad that's over." Giselle fanned. "I couldn't stand the heat back here any longer. Any more and I would have to strip down to my bra and panties." She giggled, and her heavy French accent soothingly echoed throughout the Cafe as she stepped out from the Kitchen and behind the counter. Wearing a simple Hot Pink tank top with a black skull on her stomach, along with faded black denim short shorts with fishnet stockings and combat boots, it gave her the look of a goth girl. Candice and her friends would have to admit, that it was simply ironic that she was wearing something like that, considering her Schrift allowed her to raise the dead and involves voodoo.

Then again, she was always into the dark, and borderline demonic aspects as life. In their group, they all had their little role that added a sort of lively hood and life to their respective friendship and sisterhood. Bambietta was sadistic and loved to blow things up whenever she was in the mood, and was brutal to anyone who stood in her way. Men were not safe from her wrath either, especially those that tried to force themselves on her. Usually, those types of men would die in the most gruesome, painful deaths that sometimes made her cringe from the amount of viscera and guts that she would leave in her bloody warpath.

Herself and Meninas, was oddly similar but different in smaller ways. She was always a tomboy and hated the girly girl look that Menina's loved. She didn't mind showing off her body with skimpy clothing, but she wasn't one who liked the look of a girly girl, and was brash, rude, and crazed in her own sense. She had no filter, and usually swore like a sailor, while Meninas liked the girly girl and hated the tomboy look. However, when she usually got angry, she would swear every second word, but never once did her voice change from something other than a Sailor Moon knockoff.

Liltotto was something of an enigma. She rarely if ever showed emotion, which was bad enough since it meant no one could ever understand what she was thinking. However, it still didn't make her any less dangerous. Unlike herself [Candice], Bambietta, and Menina's, Liltotto was a cannibal, even without her Schrift. She didn't know what compelled her to do that to bodies, which even grossed out Bambietta to that matter, but to this day, she never explained the reason. She had a guess that it was a by-product of her Schrift, but they could tell she genuinely liked eating flesh and human organs.

However, none of that compared to Giselle.

In all tense and purposes, Giselle was nothing short of a monster. A devil wearing a humanoid, busty shape of a girl. There was lines that Candice, Bambietta, Meninas, and Liltotto wouldn't cross no matter what the circumstance maybe, but that wouldn't be an issue for the French woman. She had no limits on what she would do to her victim even before turning them into a corpse under her command, and Candice knew that necrophilia was just one of the things she would do to her corpses regardless if it was a male or female. Even when she took Bambietta under her command, Liltotto told her that she found them under a pile of rubble, savagely ripping into the zombies body and getting off in the process.

Even during the Second World War, her name was met with fear and horror from even the most high ranking Nazi officers. Her work in the death camp they were stationed in before they were picked up by Haschwalth was nothing short of inhumane and cruel to captured POWs, and the amount of degradation and blood she spilt during the year they were there was enough to completely cake the walls in twelve inch thick blood, bone marrow, clumps of skin and hair, and guts. And the worst of it all, She would take what she could salvage and eat with a smile on her face. A giant, demented, insanity filled smile, identical to that green haired clown in the comics Liltotto loves to read.

"I'm pretty sure you would get naked even if no one told you too." Liltotto deadpanned to the French woman, who only laughed like she said the best joke in the world.

"Oh you know me so well!" Giselle beamed happily and stars replacing her eyes.

"I wouldn't mind getting a little more revealing if it means I can evade the heat, and give the guys a show." Meninas said cutely and innocently, which was the direct opposite of what she just said. Beside her, Giselle high fived her best friend while Candice simply rolled her eyes and Liltotto just stared blankly off into space. Meanwhile, the only male in the group sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, and felt the Heat radiate from his soul as he tried to quell the growing annoyance that was festering in his heart.

"I am surrounded by fucking dumbasses." Bazz spat before looking over to the clock. Noticing it was already six in the evening and the sun was beginning to set, The Heat user sighed as he walked over and took a fresh sandwich and can of Coca-Cola out the display case and began to make his way to the door that led upstairs. The girls all watched him silently, knowing where he was going since the only remaining friend that was missing was their resident bomb thrower who never left her room ever since they moved here. Without missing a beat, Bazz opened the door and slammed it shut behind him, with the sounds of his heavy feet marching their way up the wooden stairs before eventually disappearing from all together.

"I don't get why my big tit bomb bitch won't come down! I miss Bambie so much!" Giselle whined dramatically and leaned onto Meninas for support, both physical and emotional. Candice simply rolled her eyes while Liltotto took off her medical eyepatch. Her milky eye was visible to the open air, and Candice could see the makeup hiding the black and blood red veins was slowly beginning to fade as the Glutton took several deep breaths of fresh air, as if she was relieved that her eyepatch was no longer covering the appendage, and her scar from her eye to the crown of her head slightly flexed with each breath she took.

"You really have to ask that?" The Glutton asked. "After all the shit you put her through over the years, I am surprised she now cracked and doesn't want anything to do with your dumbass." She deadpanned, and the rest of the girls save for Giselle had to agree with her. While Bambietta was the most cruel out of the group, she was also the most sensitive out of them all.

{Play Bleach OST- Oh So Tired}

"WHA!?" Giselle shrieked loudly, as if Liltotto said something completely sacrilegious and blasphemous. "I DO NO SUCH THING TO MY BAMBIE! NAME ONE!" The Zombie screamed as she cupped her face in her hands. Her face was animated as if she was a looney toon, while the rest of her friends just stared at her blankly.

"Really." Liltotto deadpanned. "Are you forgetting Woodstock 69, where you fed her acid and cocaine before eating her out?"

"Okay well that's one time." Giselle defended herself, although they had to admit it was rather feeble as they could clearly see her sweating nervously.

"Or the one time you spoiled the ending for Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, where Vader tells Luke he's his father?" Meninas cutely proclaimed before letting out a snicker.

"In my defense, she had ten years to watch it!" Giselle shot back with a huff. "And that's such a mindfuck moment too! Ugh... seeing Vader beat him makes me so wet~" Giselle shuddered, and Liltotto facepalmed herself in annoyance.

"Or how about recently when you turned her into a zombie, and practically raped her." Candice shot back.

"Good times!~" Giselle huffed seductively and felt a tingle run down her spine, before looking at her best friends with an annoyed look. "And I don't seem to recall you bitches stepping in and stopping me! I just wanted Bambie to stay with us forever! And if she can get off her fucking high horse and treating us like lackeys, then I would've healed her and those stupidly big cow tits!" Giselle shouted.

The girls were silent, as they knew The Zombie had a point there. They really didn't stop her from turning Bambietta into a zombie, and in fact encouraged it to some degree. They were best friends for years, even before they joined the WandenReich. However, Bambietta slowly began to consider herself the unofficial leader in their group and started to make decisions for them without their input on the matter. Granted, she always had the tendency to act as the leader when they were serving in the SS, but it only grew worse as the years went by during their time in the Wanden Reich.

They did consider her a friend after all. They been through a lot together and considered themselves sisters in all but blood, but they couldn't deny that Bambietta was slowly beginning to go mad with power before the invasion of Soul Society started.

"Maybe we should apologize to her. I can make a nice Red Velvet cake for her?" Meninas hummed out loud and tapped her chin with her index finger.

"Or not." Liltotto stared back at her. "I don't get how after all this time, you still can't bake worth shit." She deadpanned.

"I'm improving!" Meninas cutely pouted, though Liltotto wasn't having any of it and continued to stare blankly at her.

"After having that annoying European bastard taste test everything." She frowned at the memory. When they were getting the menu ready for the Cafe, they had both Askin and Bazz try every sort of food they could think of in order to see what can stay and what can not. At the drop of a hat, Askin agreed and showed up at the Cafe the next morning with a bottle of wine and fruits, and wearing a ridiculously loud all white Armani suit with a white tie. For hours upon hours, Meninas and Askin would sit and go over the pastries and treats that he would try and give her critique on, while leaving the "American, fatty sludge" of Burgers, Fries, Milkshakes, and Eggs to Bazz, who almost incinerated him at the indirect insult to him.

"Okay knock it the fuck off." Candice harshly spat, with more venom laced in her tone than usual. "If he wants to go with her then fine, let him do that." She growled before looking over to Giselle, who was smirking at her which only irritated her more. "And you, If I see any sort of a nipple or exposed ass from you, I'll turn you into ash." The Thunderbolt wielder said as her eyes started to glow a faint green hue, and the smell of ozone was quickly beginning to become more potent. Instead of backing down for that matter, Giselle's grin grew wider and more sadistic, and her navy blue eyes started to grow darker as the heavy feeling of death soon erupted in the air.

Liltotto only sighed while Meninas just stared at her friends. Any human would've soon passed out or had their heart explode from the intense cold and deathly feeling Giselle was radiating from her Schrift, but Liltotto and Meninas were perfectly fine and continued to stare at the two ladies who were in a standoff. The slight sound of crackling made it's way into the air, as Liltotto and Meninas could see lightning beginning to crackle between her finger tips and her eyes beginning to glow brighter, so much so that her entire eyeball was now nothing but a glowing green ball.

However, before they were able to do anything, the sounds of the door opening and the bell hitting the top of the doorframe brought them out of their tunnel vision. Almost instantly, Candace turned off the Thunderbolt and Giselle reeled in her aura, and both of their eyes returned back to normal. Quickly, Liltotto slipped back on her eyepatch and made sure it was completely covering her milky eye as they turned around and greeted the new customers with smiles, albeit completely fake.

"Welcome!" Candice greeted, with the rest of the girls waving to the newcomers, except for Liltotto who just gave the newcomers nod. The girls quickly looked over them both, and realized that they were high schoolers, since they were dressed in the Kuoh Academy High School Division Uniform. The first was a teenager who was slightly taller than Giselle, putting him around five feet and five inches if Candace had to guess. He had dirty blonde hair, and light blue eyes, and a mole underneath his left eye. If the girls had to put some sort of title on him, they would easily say he was a pretty boy, like one of those K-Pop idols that Meninas loved to listen to when she was cleaning.

The second, was like staring at another Liltotto. She had the same blank stare as her, and was equally the same height and body build as The Glutton. Of course, their was some differences about the two girls. For instance, Liltotto's eyes were dark purple and her hair was beautiful gold, while the other girl had pure white hair that ended just on her shoulders. Neither girl said a word, and continued to stare at each other as if to size one up.

"Sup." Liltotto dryly introduced herself to the girl.

"Sup." The girl replied. That was the only interaction the two girls said to each other before continuing to stare at each other blankly. Meninas snickered at the sight in front of her, while Candice simply rolled her eyes before Giselle looked over the teen like a piece of meat, and a smirk danced on her plump lips as she sauntered her way to him. However, she wasn't only able to take two steps before Candice grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her back.

"Hello!" The male teenager greeted with a smile. "I am wondering if we can order to go please?" He gently and sweetly asked the group. Neither of the girls moved for a few long seconds, which made the teen slightly chuckle and scratch the back of his neck nervously. Though, before it got any more awkward, Liltotto nodded.

"Sure." She began. "What do you want." She deadpanned and stared at the two students. The two kids hummed to each other in thought, before shrugging their shoulders.

"I'll take an Vente Americano and one cake pop please." The blonde teen ordered. Liltotto nodded and looked over to the white haired girl. The girl remained silent as she stared in the display case where the sweets were, and Liltotto could see her slightly drool at the sight of sweets in front of her. She couldn't blame her really, since she had a major sweet tooth herself which consisted of half of her diet. A few seconds went by before the white haired girl looked over to Liltotto blankly.

"I'll get the Ichigo Daifuku." She ordered, though Liltotto raised an eyebrow at her. Behind Liltotto, Candace snorted before giving out a bark of laughter, though it was quickly quelled as she covered her mouth with her hand. Rolling her eyes at the obvious play on words of the food and their leaders cousin, Liltotto looked back at the white haired teen in front of her.

"I'd get the Asakusa as well as the Cake Pops too. It's good." Liltotto offered her, and the teen raised an eyebrow at her suggestion before shrugging her shoulders and nodding. Nodding back, She walked away from the counter and began to prep the coffee machine. As they waited, Candace noticed that the two were looking around the area, subtlety but it was noticeable to her. Though, Giselle, not caring for anything else for that matter, slipped through her grasp and walked over to the teens.

"Ooo la la~" She giggled and batted her eyelashes as she sat in one of the open stools of the counter. She made sure to cross her legs as slow as possible and seductively as possible to catch the teens attention, giving off a sly smirk in the process as she stared at the two in front of her. "I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name pretty boy?" She seductively winked.

If the teen was flustered, he didn't show it at all and instead just smiled at her, while the white haired teen just continued to stare blankly at her. "I know, we just been super busy lately with school, so when we heard this place opening we thought we should give it a try before we head back to our after school club." The teen smiled at her before offering Giselle and the girls a bow. "My name is Kiba Yuuto; and this is Koneko Toujou, pleasure to meet you." Kiba introduced himself with a smile after bowing, while Koneko just simply offered the girls a head nod.

'I think we found Liltotto's twin.' The girls sweat dropped. Liltotto was capable of showing emotion to those she considered friends or she felt equally close too, but other than that she rarely if ever showed emotion to anyone. This girl on the other hand, was a complete blank slate with no visible signs of life in her at all.

"Well look at that, a handsome young man with manners. You don't see that everyday." Giselle giggled before looking over to her bestfriends. "That's Candice. Don't let those big tits of hers fool you though, she's actually pretty smart when she wants to be." Giselle laughed, which Candice replied with a snort and the middle finger, though Kiba and Koneko can see the smirk of friendliness banter in her eyes and mouth. The French woman turned her gaze to Meninas who smiled and waived at them. "That's Meninas. Sweet and cute as a button, but equally an airhead." She giggled, and Meninas only pouted and gave Giselle a deadly glare, which she ignored.

"That little girl over there is Liltotto. She's cool, but silent as a church mouse and flat as an iron board." She laughed, and Liltotto only kissed her teeth in annoyance before giving her the middle finger. Afterwards, Giselle gave the teens a seductive look at winked at them. "And I am Giselle. The most beautiful of them all." She winked.

"And the one who has the IQ of a Walnut." Candice teased with a smirk, which caused Giselle to face plant herself on the counter and flip Candice off. Kiba and Koneko would admit, that they were a lively bunch compared to their friends. Granted, Rias and the other's didn't swear or use sexual profanities whenever they spoke, but they could tell that the girls were close enough to insult one another without any signs of hostility.

"Here you go." Liltotto said as she capped the coffee cup with the lid, and took the Ichigo Daifuku and the rest of the sweets in a small paper bag and slid them onto the counter. The two teens smiled as they walked closer to the counter, while Liltotto rang up their order in the cash register. "Okay, so your total comes up to two thousand yen." She dully said to the teens. Nodding, Kiba fished out his wallet and quickly yet gently gave her a wad of Yen, then taking his coffee in his hands while Koneko took the treats in her hand. She didn't dare to hesitate as she took out the cake pop and bit into one. Liltotto seen Koneko's eyes widen by a fraction as she continued to chew on the food before swallowing.

"Good, right?" Liltotto asked Koneko, who simply nodded.

"Bitchin'." Koneko deadpanned, though Liltotto could hear the approval in her voice as she finished the cake pop in and tossed the garbage back in the bag. Liltotto stared blankly at her, though a tiny, almost non-existent smirk danced on her lips as she continued to stare.

"Bitchin'." Liltotto replied before reflexively, both girls fist bumped each other. Before they were able to say anything else, the doors open that led upstairs, and Bazz-B and Bambietta walked out into the floor. Bazz was wearing the clothes he was wearing before, but the apron was now off. Behind him, Bambietta protectively stood and shook fearfully as she was near Giselle. She was wearing a leather jacket that was stylized into a crop top, with a white tank top underneath that was cut off above her stomach, exposing her toned yet scarred stomach. To top it off, she wore a pair of tight fitting blue jeans and black boots that were stylized into heels.

Kiba tried to get a look at the woman behind the buff man, though her face was buried in his back. Though, he can somewhat make out the forms of a surgical mask and eyepatch similar to that of Liltotto.

"Lock up now. We gotta go." Bazz ordered as he walked around to the counter and took out his leather biker jacket. He looked to Kiba and Koneko, and noticed that they already had their drinks and snacks ready to go. "Sorry there kids, better come back tomorrow, we gotta lock up and leave, so get out." Bazz ordered.

"FINALLY!" Giselle sighed out in relief. "I was going a little crazy here, and need a good beer or two." The French woman cheerfully said as she ran into the back and began to shut everything off. Bazz only rolled his eyes as he walked back to Bambietta and protectively stood in front of her, while Candice and the rest of the girls were in the process of shutting everything off.

"What's wrong?" Meninas asked Bazz as she fixed her hair and took off the waist apron. Rather than replying verbally, Bazz only tossed his phone to her and open to the text that was sent to his phone. The rest of the girls stood beside her and looked over the text, and quickly understood the assignment as their persona's dropped instantly. Candice looked to Bazz, a silent conversation was spoken between the Thunderbolt and Heat wielder in the span of a single second before she nodded.

"Everyone ready?" Bazz asked, and the girls nodded as they shut off the lights and made sure everything was locked.

"I'm sorry, but when will you guys be open tomorrow?" Kiba asked politely, and Bazz simply raised an eyebrow as they all filed outside, with Liltotto locking the doors behind her.

"Nine in the morning tomorrow, and because I kicked you guys out, you can get a free meal on me. Cool? Alright now fuck off." Bazz ordered, and the two teens were simply shocked at the vulgar language before nodding and began to walk in the opposite direction of the Sternritters. Bambietta tightly clutched onto Bazz's hand, as the moment both parties turned the corner, The Sternritter's vanished using the Hirenyakku Speed technique, while the devils sent a text to their King before teleporting out of the area, leaving the city block in perpetual silence.

---

Three hours had passed, and the town of Kuoh was cast into silence and darkness.

It was nine in the evening, and the Kurosaki Residence was cast in complete darkness. Nothing was visible from the inside when looking on the outside world, and made the house look like it was completely abandoned and haven't lived in for decades. However, to the untrained eye, none were able to see the dozens of Soldat's hidden around the area outside.

Uryu didn't take any chances, and ordered his Generals to call in every Soldat around the area and the reserves on standby. Surrounding the house, was several squads of Kommando Soldats guarding the area in every direction. Some were hidden in the shadows, completely invisible to the naked eye by using the Shadow Technique that allowed them to hide in the Shadow Dimension, while others were standing on top of the telephone poles and bent the light to their advantage, rendering themselves completely invisible to the naked eye as well. Their hands were rested tightly on the hilts of their swords, while the other was on the modified Reishi pistol in their holsters. Some of them even had their Reishi Rifles that looked akin to Silver AR-15's ready for any signs of hostile movement of the Hidden World.

A mile outward, was several Quincy Archers. They were hidden in the trees and on top of several small houses, bending the light around their bodies to blend into their environment. They clutched onto their Quincy Bangles tightly and silently dragged in Reishi from the neighborhood as they watched every car and civilian walk by the area, ready to spring into action and protect their king and the rest of the individuals.

Two more miles outwards, laying down on the rooftops of Skyscrapers with Reishi Sniper Rifles, was Quincy Marksman's and Sharpshooters, who were experts in long range shooting with Firearms. They were as still as a statue, and stared through the scope of their rifle which took the appearance of Barret M82 and DSR 50 PRECISION Sniper Rifles, though modified of course to take a silver appearance and of course, fired Reishi like actual bullets. While the moonlight was bright, they used it their advantage, which made the large glint their scopes gave off blend into the skyscraper perfectly.

This didn't even account the remaining battalions and legions of Soldats on standby, ranging from Demolitions experts, Medics, Calvary, Anti-Vehicle, Assassins, and Infantry men that were sitting in the basement of Urahara's candy shop, ready to race to the Kurosaki residence to defend their King and his allies.

"All clear!" Gerard Valkyrie boomed as he marched himself into the living room of the Kurosaki residence. Each step he took shook the house violently as he was wearing a pair of steel toed boots, black jeans, a leather biker jacket and a white shirt underneath. His pure white eyes were shining with happiness, though one could see the readiness for battle as he was holding onto Hoffnung and his shield. "Whoever maybe stupid enough to come near Lord Ishida and his allies shall face the wrath of the Quincy!" He laughed whole heartedly and smacked his thigh, which in turn made a large sonic boom from the force of the smack.

"The Archers and Snipers have no signs of hostile movement outside either." Askin Nakk Le Varr, wearing a white Armani suit, said as he took his index and middle finger off the earpiece that was in his left ear. The generals of the Quincy Military stood in the formed circle that the group was standing in. The light from the moon shined brightly in the living room, and gave enough light to fully show everyone in the living room who looked at one another.

"Good." Uryu replied with a frown. "I made sure that the Quincy Spells were secured around the house, and only those we recognize will be allowed to enter." He commented with an analytical stare out the window. When they got home earlier, Uryu quickly went around the house both inside and outside and casted Quincy Spells in each part of the area to make sure no one can spy on them. Originally, he wasn't proficient in wards and spells, but Yhwach forced him to study certain Quincy Spells and techniques that his grandfather didn't teach him when he was a Scribe.

They were simple recon blocking spells, but they were said to be the same ones that allowed them to exist within the Shadow Dimension for over a thousand years without the Shinigami knowing their existence. There was other spells he had to learn from the previous King of Quincy's, but there was others that he was currently studying in the tomes and books that he was able to steal out his Yhwach's vault before he buried it forever.

"So, wanna explain what the fuck is going on?" Candice Catnipp barked as she crossed her arms under her breasts. She was leaning against the wall, with her left foot pressed against the wall while she looked at the group of Shinigami, Fullbringers, and fellow Sternritters.

"It better be good, since I am missing precious hours of me time, which involves a nice showerhead~" Giselle seductively chuckled, which got Orihime to blush and Ichigo to frown.

"Fucking moron." Bazz-B muttered under his breath before looking over to Uryu. "For real, why the fuck are we here? You only texted us to get here as fast as possible, and ordered the Soldats all around the city." The Heat wielder asked. Uryu looked over to his cousin and his friends for one last look of confirmation, before nodding and looking back at his subordinates.

"Earlier today at school, we had came into contact with several power signatures within Kuoh Academy." The Quincy King began. "It was for a brief instant before they disappeared, but none the less it was there. However, the odd thing was that it wasn't Spiritual Pressure that myself, Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad had felt. This was something completely different, something that I have never felt before." Uyru stated.

"Not Spiritual Energy?" Meninas asked. "But everyone has Spirit Energy. Are you sure you aren't mistaken, My lord?" The Power wielder asked, though Uryu only shook his head in response.

"He's right." Ichigo stepped in and began to speak. "I felt it myself, so did Orihime and Chad. I been around Spiritual Energy all my life, and I have a good understanding on how Spiritual Energy feels for Shinigami, Hollows, and Fullbringers, and this wasn't any of those I felt. None of them felt like Spiritual Pressure at all, and felt like something I personally never felt before." He finished. He has been around Spiritual Pressure for as long as he could remember, and besides the aura that Quincy can give off, he understood the feeling of Shinigami, Hollows, and Fullbringer's after being around his friends in Soul Society, Grimmjow, Nel, Tier, Orihime, and Chad for so long. But this was something completely different, something he never felt even in the abundance of Spiritual Pressure during the Winter and Blood War.

"So that's what I was feeling today." Bazz muttered under his breath. He was in class earlier, and was getting ready to leave before he felt it. It was faint due to the signature being far from the College campus, but he felt it nonetheless. At first, he thought it was Ichigo or one of the others who flexed their Spiritual Pressure for some reason, but quickly tossed out the notion the moment he focused on the powers that he felt throughout the school. They weren't Spiritual Pressure, that was for certain, and no matter how much he searched through his past of thousands of years being alive, he couldn't remember a time he felt something like that power before. Granted, he was over twelve hundred years old, and the most well seasoned and experienced Sternritters and Soldats were killed both in the Original and recent Blood War.

"Exactly." Uryu nodded. "I am asking you, any of you. Do you know of another powerset that isn't Spiritual Pressure?" He asked the million dollar question. The Sternritter's looked at each other for answers, each having a silent conversation with one another as they searched through their memories of the past. Giselle and Meninas hummed in thought, while Askin narrowed his eyes as he was burrowed deep in thought. A few seconds went by, before Gerard was the first to speak.

"Not Spiritual Pressure you say lad.." His voice boomed as he slammed Hoffnung into the floorboard, and cupped his chin deep in thought. "Well, the first thing that comes to mind is Phospho-plasm from Hell, but it doesn't feel like the way you were describing. Phospho-plasm is violent and dark in nature, and brings out the worst in people. Lord Yhwach tried to wield the energy of Hell in an effort to bridge the gap between the Sternritter and Gotei 13 back in the original war, but all attempts were proved to be unsuccessful and he didn't try again." He said with a frown. "If Lillie Barro was here, he would know who and what you are talking about, as he was the first Sternritter to be born well over nine thousand years ago, but of course he is dead."

Ichigo had to bite back a flinch at the mention of Hell. He could still remember vividly the day when Kokuto tricked him and his friends to venturing down into Hell to rescue his little sister, and the feeling of Hell's energy coursed through his soul and forced his mask to reveal itself whenever he tried to fire a Getsuga Tensho. It even got worse when he accidentally transformed into the Vasto Lorde form, as he was absorbing Hell's energy into his soul at an alarming rate.

Although he was successfully able to defeat Kokuto, it didn't come without drawbacks and unforeseen consequences. Hell's Energy was forever entwined with his and Yuzu's soul, and he couldn't figure out how to materialize the armor or its energy that was locked away in the depths of his soul. Granted, he never had the time to figure out how to do it, since right after the situation with Hell, the Winter War soon began, but he knew it was there. He could still feel it every day he woke up, and he knew that Yuzu felt it as well.

"Interesting." Askin chuckled as he slipped a French cigarette in his mouth. Quickly taking out his silver lighter and with the swag of a gentlemen, he lit the cigarette in his mouth and stuffed the lighter back in his pocket. The smell of nicotine wafted in the air as the European chuckled and took a few puffs. "Personally, I never ran into something like that in the past, but I do know Phospho-plasm, and let me tell you something amigo, that shit you felt ain't Spiritual Pressure." The Death Dealer chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad we got that out the way." Ichigo rolled his eyes and sarcastically said with a huff. "But that still doesn't answer the question on what the hell was it. Does anyone have any sort of knowledge on what it was? Or was there something odd that you noticed today?" The Protector asked everyone.

"I got jack shit." Bazz said with a huff and grabbed onto Bambietta's hand.

"Nada." Giselle shrugged her shoulders as she began to file her nails.

"Nope." Meninas replied.

"Dumbasses." Liltotto deadpanned before looking to Ichigo. "Earlier today, we got two customers in the cafe. I thought nothing of it at first, but I caught them looking around the place. At first I thought it was typical customer bullshit, but this was different. It was like they were scoping the place out for something. I sent out a pulse of Reishi to feel if they were apart of the Hidden World, but something else pinged back to me." The Glutton said.

"And?" Ichigo asked.

"They weren't exactly... human." She began. "I could feel Spiritual Energy in their souls. It was faint, but there. However it felt blocked by something... something they were radiating. I never felt it before." Liltotto said with a frown. It confused her greatly, as the make-up of their souls felt wrong yet unique at the same time.

"What did they look like?" Uryu pressed on and asked, though Candice beat her to it and answered the question.

"First was a blonde brat and was a damn K-pop model from his looks alone. Blonde Hair, blue eyes, and a little mole underneath his left eye, while Liltotto's twin," The Thunderbolt user teased, which only got her the middle finger from her best friend as she continued. "Was about as tall as her and had short white hair and gold eyes. Completely silent like her too." She replied.

It was that, what made Ichigo and his friends eyes widen by a mere fraction, but it was enough for the Sternritters to notice it.

"You don't think..." Orihime muttered, and Chad only sighed as he shook his head in slight annoyance.

"It's her." Ichigo scowled and the Sternritter's looked at him with the silent question of "who" dancing in their eyes. "You guys ran into Koneko Toujou, first year of Kuoh Academy, and the only person who fits the role of Blonde and blue eyes is Kiba Yuuto. Though, I am struggling to understand how we missed the aura from them on the rooftop." He thought out loud.

"It could be due to the pulse of power we all released, and the fact we couldn't sense them since we aren't used to it, though it would be better if I can get some sort of sample of what we are dealing with." Uryu theorized before snapping his fingers. "Perhaps the answer is in the tomes I have collected in Yhwach's library. Some of the books I have date back during the Roman Empire era."

"Okay, while you do that, I'll get in contact with Hat-N-Clogs tomorrow and see what he knows. He might've ran across something like this back in the day." Ichigo replied. If there was anyone who knew all sorts of phenomena related to the Hidden World, there was no doubt in his mind that Urahara knew the answer, or at the very least, had the key to the answer. Although lazy, he lived and breathed science and anything in between, and even though they were rivals, he and Mayuri's intellect combined together was unstoppable.

"Ya know, there's something that bugs me." Bazz began, and all eyes turned to him. "Since the time we been here, not a single Hollow or Shinigami has shown up and done their patrols." The Heat wielder said with a frown.

"Maybe because Lady Harribel and Mr. Grimmjow are stopping them from leaving Hueco Mondo?" Orihime asked, though Bazz only shook his head with a frown.

"That only accounts for the Adjuchas not under her rule and the mindless Gillians. I am talking about the souls already here that stayed for too long. I haven't heard a single Hollow scream or one of the Shinigami run by here." He countered. It was a simple yet fair question, as Souls and Hollows were apart of the natural cycle of reincarnation for everyone and had to be routinely checked upon, though not a single Hollow or Shinigami indeed was in Kuoh Town since they all arrived.

"He's right Ichigo." Uryu began. "Perhaps there was something that Kisuke Urahara and Shunsui didn't know about here, or they did know and refuse to tell any of us." He said before looking outside the window and to the street. "Something weird has been going on ever since the war ended, and having those weird powers fluctuate throughout the school is something that can't be chalked up to a coincidence on why there are no Hollows or Shinigami roaming the streets." The Quincy King thought out loud.

"Your right..." Ichigo frowned before looking at the clock in the living room and noticing it was already close to eleven at night. "Alright, until we know more about what Koneko Toujou and her friends are, we shouldn't interact with them. Chance's are, she and Kiba felt your power too before you kicked them out, so business as usual tomorrow and don't attack them unless you are hit first." He proclaimed. Beside him, Uryu looked to Gerard and Askin.

"Keep the Soldat's on standby and throughout the city on my command, and do not let them attack Koneko Toujou or her allies unless provoked. Observe if they come near, but do not attack unless needed." He ordered, and Gerard and Askin nodded before vanishing out the house and away from the house completely, with Askin using Hirenyakku and Gerard taking off on his bike. Quickly nodding, he looked over to Bazz and Bambietta. "Tomorrow, you both are heading out and getting in contact with Queen Harribel and Kisuke Urahara. We need to make sure they aren't envoys of Hueco Mondo and Soul Society if we do attack. The last thing we need is another war." He ordered.

"Yeah yeah." Bazz yawned before taking Bambietta into his hands and heading to bed upstairs, leaving only the Bambies, Ichigo and his friends in the living room.

"The rest of you stay alert and aware at the cafe. If worse comes to worse, I'll have you on standby." Uryu ordered. Before they were able to reply, they all heard it. A simple shriek of a Hollow that shrieked into the distance. Judging off the Spiritual Energy it gave off, they could tell it was an Adjuchas.

"We got it boss! it's on our way back home!" Giselle happily exclaimed before leaving the house with Hirenyakku, with the rest of the girls following after her and leaving only the group of friends left in the living room.

"Never a dull moment, right?" Ichigo asked, and Uryu only sighed.

"What the hell are we getting ourselves into Ichigo?" Uryu asked his cousin, and Ichigo only scowled as he stared out into the moon.

"I don't know Uryu." He began as he continued to stare. "But I don't like it."

---

The sounds of a rumbling Harley echoed off the dead streets of Kuoh Town as Gerard Valkyrie began to make his way back home. Hoffnung was strapped tight and secure on his back, and his shield was disassembled on his forearm and was perfectly hidden underneath his sleeve.

His bike was modified to deal with the two hundred and ninety pounds of pure muscle on his frame as he continued to ride off back home. His blonde hair ruffled and waived in the wind as he turned a corner and continued to speed down the street. He knew that this was a much slower way of getting back home, since a single use of Hirenyakku would get him to his home from the Kurosaki residence in less than a second, but he liked the novelty of riding through the city on his bike.

It was relaxing to him, and helped take his mind off things whenever he was troubled. He knew that he wasn't the brightest bulb in the sense, but he had feelings none the less, and riding through the city was one way of calming himself down or easing his worries on something.

He wasn't scared about the possibility of fighting someone, since there was only a handful of people that were fully capable of stopping him and overpowering Hoffnung, which was powered by the concept of Hope. Though, there was something at the back of his mind that was beginning to bug him as the minutes went by. He was well over a thousand years old and existed through the age of Vikings, and seen a lot of historical figures in his life time due to the gift of an extended life expectancy that was a passive by-product of drinking Yhwach's blood, granting those the ability to stop aging all together.

Though, the description of the power was something he felt like he knew years ago. He knew that it wasn't phospho-plasm, since he knew what that felt even before joining the Wanden Reich, as Erik The Red was sent to Hell after his years of bloody conquest and its energy oozed from the gates of Hell, and further got to experience it when Yhwach was trying to weaponize the energy with little success due to its complex nature. Though, he felt like he was missing something, something extremely important.

Though, before he was able to think any further, a bright orange hue caught his attention and pulled him out of his train of thought, forcing him to focus and quickly maneuvered his bike out of the way from a falling tree that was currently set a blaze. He pulled the brakes to a complete stop and looked to the source of the fire. In front of him, was a simple town house that was set a blaze, with the scorching heat radiating off the house and the fire breaking several windows on the second floor.

"Good god!" Gerard shouted as he quickly jumped off his bike and stared at the house. He quickly sent out a pulse of Reishi to identify if anyone was stuck inside the home, and several corpses pinged back to him. Though, one in particular caught his attention. It was faint and weak, but he could recognize the pulse back to him, signifying that there was one person alive.

"HOLD ON LAD! I WILL SAVE YOU!" Gerard shouted and quickly and quite literally ran through the rusted fence and inside the house. The fire was intense, and the heat was unbearable, but it was nothing to the God of Miracles as Gerard pushed through and ran into the living room. Thick black smoke was in the air, though he could see an almost endless sea of corpses and gallons of blood and guts painting the floor in thick crimson. His boots were stepping onto an exposed part of a small intestine that was coming from the lower half of a bisected body, and he could see the corpses of men and women who were killed in horrifying ways. Some had their heads separated from their bodies, some were caught in half either from the waist or right down the middle, and some were reduced to a mess of chunky bits. If he had to guess, there was over twenty dead bodies in the living room.

Gerard however, showed no signs of being disgusted or horrified at the sight in front of him. After all, he himself caused much more graphic and cruel deaths to people, both as his time with Erik the Red and his time as Yhwach's guard, so this was nothing to him. Though, what caught his interest, was several of the intact bodies were wearing robes and priest garbs, with their rosaries around their bodies, and several sword hilts and pistols were hap-hazardly around the floor.

He wasn't a genius, but with the conversation earlier about odd powers appearing in the city today, even he could take a shot in the dark that this had to be connected to some degree. So, quickly rummaging through the debris and getting a functioning Apple Laptop, Gerard quickly ran out the living room with a single second to spare as the ceiling fell and buried everything inside. Now standing in the kitchen, he looked down and found the weak life signature that pinged back to him. It was the same kid that Candice and Liltotto were talking about, the teen named Kiba Yuuto.

His hair was covered in dried blood, and his shirt was leaking blood from an alarming rate from several fresh gashes that were on his stomach and chest, though he could tell the boy was alive, albeit hanging by just a thread.

"Hang on lad, I got you." Gerard said as he bent down and picked up Kiba into his arms, and quickly shot out the house with Hirenyakku. The moment he left the house, the flames grew worse, and he knew that if he took too long, then Kiba was most definitely going to die. He looked down at the teen in his arms and ran the options through his head. Whatever happened in the house was in his head, and he didn't know if the boy was the aggressor in the fight or acted in simple self-defense, which meant that he couldn't drop the kid off in a hospital for his enemies to finish him off.

He has killed people before and done unspeakable acts to his enemies, but if there was one thing he never liked going back on, was letting kids get into harms way if he can help it. So, making up his mind, he got back on his bike with Kiba secured in front of him, and drove off into the night at full speed, with the engine of his motorcycle being quickly replaced with the sounds of sirens in the distance as Gerard and Kiba drove out of sight.

---

AND CUT! so sorry this took forever, as this chapter went through several rewrites and to be honest, i'm still not happy with this one LOL, but I will say that this is OBJECTIVELY better than the original chapter I wrote for this one. Again, I apologize for the lack of quality on this and I promise it will be better next time. Believe it or not, trying to write Uryu as a king is pretty hard, so PLEASE let me find my footing on that and don't flame me LOL.

So, I wanted to have this chapter focus more on the Bambies and Rias's group rather than it being focused on Ichigo and the gang, since after all, Ichigo and the Gang, as well as Rias and Sona along with their peerages, are the main characters of this story, and I didn't want it to end up where the characters like Bazz, the Bambies, Askin, and Gerard were just there and one dimensional, so I took a lot of their characters and their appearances and played it off that. Liltotto actually is like that in the novels, as she does swear a lot but does care about her friends and food like Koneko, so I thought it would be funny if those two interacted albeit briefly.

Now, you maybe wondering why I made the Bambies Nazi's, well Since I already said they were in Germany in the Second World War, all I simply did was take their character tropes (Giselle being bat shit insane, Meninas being adorable yet demented, etc) and figured "what would they be doing with personalities like that" and figured they would most likely helping the Nazi's and agree with them, since after all, you can EASILY tell Kubo designed the Sternritters after Nazi's. I mean COME ON, they are literally called the Wanden Reich, their uniforms are HEAVILY inspired by SS officers, and he literally named Yhwach's elite guards after the SS. YOU CAN NOT TELL ME HE DIDN'T TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THEM LOL

Regarding Gerard, he isn't going to be OOC or anything for that matter, I am just fleshing him out a little more and making him more like Chris Hemsworth Thor from the MCU, so he's still going to be the badass warrior, but expect to see some humor from him as well. Askin on the other hand, have you seen Jojo Part 5? Think of his character outside of fighting like a mix of Giorno and Bruno. No explanation needed LOL.

Like I said, they aren't going to be OOC, all I'm doing is giving them Personalities outside of battle. When shit hits the fan, they are going to be the badasses we all love, TRUST ME.

Now, onto the Soldats and their gear. I'm not trying to be edgy here lol. The Quincies always had guns. Robert had guns, and in the flashback in the TYBW anime cour 2, you can see a female soldat shooting a reishi rifle at Ichibe, so its not going to be completely weird. They are still Quincies after all, so they are going to have their Heilieg Bogen of course, but they will have swords and guns as well.

Kiba and Koneko going to the Cafe was originally going to be longer, but I had to cut it to what it was now since I didn't want this chapter to be clunky and incoherent, which is why the next part will go back to Rias' point of view when they were talking to each other in Issei's room in season 2 episode 1.

Lastly, I just want to say that this will be a pretty bloody story, so expect our group of heroes to kill and have VASTLY different fighting styles compared to canon. No hate to Ishibumi or anything, but I think the one thing that held DxD back was the lack of weight to fights. I mean, these factions are actually enemies before the peace treaty, and they usually don't go write for the kill, and were always TOLD that Koneko is a great fighter, Kiba is the fastest and most deadly young devil in history with a sword, etc, and usually the anime just shows them to doing simple sword parries or kicks, so to rectify that, below is the revamped moves and fighting styles some of them will have!

Koneko:

Fighting Style- Silat, Tiger Silat, Karate, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, and Taekwondo.

Special Moves- Hundred Lightning Kicks (Based from Chun-Li in Street Fighter), Tensho Kick (Chun Li), and Dragon Kick (Liu Kang from MK 11)

Kiba:

Fighting Style- Kenjutsu, Iaido, Iaijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Kendo.

Issei:

Fighting style- Street fighting (not trained), Boxing (not trained)

Special Moves- Dragon Shot.

Not a whole lot, but you get the gist, and when more characters come and join Rias' peerage, they will get a fighting style upgrade that suits them.

Like I said in the last chapter, this isn't going to be a power trip were all of Bleach will be infinitely stronger than all of DXD, since later on in the story, theres going to be moments were Ichigo, Byakuya, Kenpachi, Uryu, Rukia, Renji, Bazz, etc will have to go all out to fight someone, and that includes using their bankais as well, though that won't be for a while. As of right now Orihime, Tsukishima and Chad are on the same levels of High Class devils, while the Sternritter's and Captains, alongside Grimmjow, Ginjo, Rukia, and Renji (due to their true powers getting unlocked due to their training),\ are on the ultimate class range with Byakuya and Toshiro bordering on Super Class due to the formers amp from the Royal Palace and the latters true bankai, while Ichigo, Uryu, Aura Michibane, and the War Powers (Ichibe, Aizen, Kenpachi, and Urahara) are in the god tiers. And before you ask, I put Uryu there because of his power amp I gave him from ingesting Yhwach's blood, who remember is the son of the Soul King and gave him the same letter as him.

Don't you worry though, the Gremory and Sitri group are going to get ABSURDLY strong down the line and would be able to stand alongside of the Bleach high tiers like the Captains, Grimmjow, and Nel. Theres going to be a training arc in the series where the Shinigami and Hollows will train them to fight like them and wield their Spiritual Pressure down the line, effectively making them a be similar to that of a Fullbringer. If you can guess What captain or Arrancar will train Rias, Akeno, Tsubaki, Sona, Irina, Issei, Kiba, Koneko, Asia, Xenovia, Rosswiesse, Saji, and Gasper, I'll give you a cookie lol. COMMENT BELOW WHO YOU THINK WILL BE BEST SUITABLE TO TRAIN WHO!

Now, with that out the way, the Kokabiel arc has OFFICIALLY BEGUN! AND WE HAVE OUR FIRST EVER CANON DIVERGENT POINT IN THE SERIES! How did y'all like it!? I wanted it to be a little more dialogue heavy without the needless exposition, which I think I found the sweet spot for. Though don't worry, OUR FIRST OFFICIAL FIGHT WILL COME NEXT CHAPTER, AND THE GREMORY GROUP COMES ACROSS THEIR FIRST HOLLOW! TRUST ME WHEN I SAY Y'ALL DON'T WANNA MISS THAT!

Expect some more canon points being dodged or completely re-written, as there are going to be SEVERAL changed plot points in the Kokabiel arc going forward, and by the time we get to the Peace Summit Arc, Canon will completely be ignored in the DxD timeline! For instance, Ichigo has the Hell Armor in his soul and Phospho-plasm stuck in their some where. WILL HE GET IT UNLOCKED!? WHO KNOWS!? DOES THAT MEAN URYU, CHAD, RENJI, AND RUKIA ALSO HAVE PHOSPHO-PLASM IN THEIR SOULS AS WELL!? YOU JUST GOTTA WAIT AND SEE, AND DROP SOME THEORIES!

Lastly, I thought LONG AND HARD (giggity) about pairings, and I'm pretty sure I got it all fixed, with like one or two still working out the kinks for. Before anyone asks, I am not going in the story with the ships in mind, as I already got the story planned out in my head. Idk just look at them:

-Ichigo x Orihime x Akeno

-Bazz-B x Bambietta x Candice

-Gerard x Rossweisse x Tiamat

-Uryu x Sona x Seekveeria x Jeanne

-Askin x Roygun

-Kiba x Tsubaki X Reya

-Saji x Momo x Ruruko

-Vali x Kuroka

-Gasper x Valerie x Tomoe

-Grimmjow x Tier x Nel (ADULT FORM! NOT THE CHILD FORM YOU SICKOS!)

-Issei x Rias x Asia x Irina x Xenovia x Koneko x Ravel x Tsubasa x Ingilvd Leviathan x Bennia x Giselle

-Chad x Meninas x Liltotto

-Ginjo x Aura

-Isshin x Serafall

-Ryuuken x Yasaka

-Riser x Yubelluna x Xuelan

-Saiaorg x Kushia Abaddon

As you can see, there are characters here you don't see a lot in the series, and it sucks cause Ishibumi stated that Seekveeria, Rias, Saiaorg, and Riser are like the next generation of Devil Leaders, like the Konoha 12 of DxD and it sadly went no where, and Sona's peerage was done SO DIRTY and the girls liking Kiba, Saji and Gasper also went nowhere, so EXPECT THEM TO SHOW UP AND ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING IN THE STORY AND HAVE A LOVE ARC! CAUSE LIKE I SAID EARLIER, CANON WILL SOON BE FORGOTTEN ENTIRELY IN THIS STORY!

Last thing I wanna mention here, is that currently although Gerard and Bazz are the oldest Sternritters of the bunch, they don't really know how the feeling they were told about. they have to be near it more to fully grasp what it was, thats why Gerard said it might of been Phospho-plasm. If Lillie Barro was there, he would've instantly figured out what was going on, at most Gerard is just suspecting of something but doesn't know specifically until he gets into that laptop. They aren't acting dumb or anything or did I make them dumb for the story. I just wanna clear that up right now. Also, Rias and the group don't know about EVERYTHING regarding Ichigo. What was in their files was just the school reports like full names, medical reports etc, while the news snippet part about their moms was in the newspaper. They aren't pulling a CIA level guess and figure out they are apart of the Supernatural in the span of an hour. sorry if that wasn't clear guys.

NOW! WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NEXT IN THE STORY!? WHAT WILL GERARD AND ASKIN LEARN WHEN THEY GO THROUGH THE LAPTOP!? HOW WILL KIBA REACT WHEN HE WAKES UP IN GERARDS AND ASKIN'S APARTMENT!? HOW WILL RIAS AND ICHIGO'S GROUP REACT WHEN THEY FINALLY RUN INTO EACH OTHER!? HOW DO YOU THINK THEIR FIRST HOLLOW ENCOUNTER WILL GO!? WHAT IS URAHARA AND SHUNSUI KEEPING FROM ICHIGO AND THE GANG!? WILL ICHIGO LEARN TO FUSE PHOPHO-PLASM INTO HIS POWERS!? WHERE ARE THE FULLBRINGERS!? I WANNA HEAR SOME THEORIES PEOPLE!

FIND OUT NEXT TIME IN

"THE CONFLICT II"