The Quincy King fully awakened having been rejuvenated by the Auswahlen enough to regain consciousness. Kneeling before him in a reishi constructed throne room was his other half, the one who has been maintaining the Schatten Bereich in his absence.
"We have long awaited your awakening, your Majesty" Jugram responded while alluding to the Kaiser Gesang. The classic Quincy tale which mentions the return of the confirmed Quincy King.
Having taken the lives from all the remaining Gemischt Quincy in both the living world and the Schatten Bereich; Yhwach had gained the memories, talents, pain and experience of all those individuals whom he selected with the Auswhalen. Due to this along with centuries worth of Quincies returning to him upon their deaths he was already well informed about events that had transpired during his sleep.
Yhwach learned of Jugrams governance over the Wandenreich, the various Quincy technological innovations, and the newest rendition of the Sternritters which Jugram was currently finalizing. He learned of the collapse of the Lichtreich and the diaspora it caused. He learned of the Soul Reapers genocide of the surviving Quincies. The events that had transpired both pained and appalled Yhwach although he didn't express it.
"Haschwalth, you may stand. I'm proud of what you've accomplished during my rest." Yhwach said as he lethargically stood up. Despite the Auswahlen he still had nothing but a mere fraction of his prior strength.
Jugram simply bowed before Yhwach in response to his praise.
Yhwach recalled the Auswahlen and the feeling of absorbing the Quincies, and he noticed an anomaly. It was an unusual feeling which he's never felt before, but he was quickly able to pinpoint the cause.
"It would appear as if there is an exceptional Gemischt whom has been unaffected by the Auswahlen in the living world"
Jugram was surprised by this although his expression remained stoic. A Quincy being entirely unaffected by the Auswhalen is an unheard of phenomenon, but what Jugram really found peculiar is that this child was his first priority.
"The Gemischt is a child from the traitorous Ishida family, Uryu Ishida. The child reflected the Auswhalen back onto me which caused himself to be entirely unaffected by the Auswhalen while I simultaneously drained and absorbed my own power due to the Auswahlen being used on myself." Yhwach sighed upon finishing his sentence.
"It was an indescribable sensation which I've never felt before and Uryu Ishida isn't my only exceptional child. It would appear as if the last remaining Echt Quincy of the Kurosaki lineage had absorbed a hollow and thus became a Gemischt. She only survived hollowfication due to the interference of a Soul Reaper. She had several children with those Soul Reapers. However, only one select child inherited not just the power of the Quincies and Soul Reapers, but they inherited the hollow as well. That one goes by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki"
Jugram composedly understood these by all means extraordinary revelations. A Gemischt Quincy that reversed the Auswahlen and a Gemischt hybrid between a hollow, a Soul Reaper and an Echt Quincy. This was the first time either scenario had ever been heard of, but Jugram kept a level head regarding these revelations which would have shocked anyone else. Jugram was perceptive enough to predict what Yhwach would say next, and was already planning a way to carry out the unspoken order.
"Those exceptional children of mine should stand at my side where they belong."
"I'll see to it that they're brought to your side quickly, your Majesty." Jugram replied before turning around to retrieve the two anomalies immediately.
"That won't be necessary." Yhwach said. Jugram instantly turned around to face his Majesty once again.
Jugram was surprised to hear this, so he stoically waited for Yhwach to elaborate on this further
"They are suffering through the affects of my Auswahlen currently. Now would not be the time to take them in, less we attract the attention of their families and the Soul Reaper present by simply taking them, nor would they truly ever be loyal to us considering the Auswahlen if we were to take them so soon" Yhwach elaborated remorsefully.
"Understood. May I suggest an alternative then, your Majesty?" Jugram questioned.
"You are always welcome to voice your thoughts to me, Haschwalth." Yhwach responded, which indicated his approval for Jugram to continue.
"I would recommend that we send a Sternritter to go undercover and properly guide the two of them until the time is right." Jugram stoically said.
Yhwach slightly grinned in response but for whatever reason, Jugram can tell that he wasn't grinning solely due to his proposal.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" Yhwach questioned. Jugram seemingly pondered about this momentarily before responding.
"There's a young Sternritter who only recently became a Sternritter a few months ago due to her prodigal performance, lethality, skill and ruthlessness despite her young age. Her name is Bambietta Basterbine. She's already shown exceptional potential, and she's expected to mature into a powerful Sternritter by the time you regain your strength. She's a young child presumably like the two you mentioned. She can easily infiltrate human society and influence the two of them without arousing much suspicion. However due to her young age, naivety and rather explosive and impulsive personality she would be accompanied by an experienced Sternritter."
"Summon the girl, I would like to meet her eye to eye" Yhwach ordered, having already been aware of Bambietta and her identity through the memories of her victims.
"Yes, your Majesty" Jugram responded before walking through a shadow within a crevice of Yhwachs luminescent throne room. Moments later Jugram returned with a young girl who had long black hair and dark brown eyes, dressed in an otherwise standard Sternritter uniform that was personalized to suit her small stature. Yhwach and the girl wordlessly stared each other down.
Her expression was confident, cold and collected. A display that's befitting for a Sternritter however there was more to it than that. Nothing can escape the perception of Yhwach's keen eyes. Despite her perfect display of authority and power which he'd expect from a Sternritter he can still tell that she was intimidated by him albeit through no fault of her own. Yhwach had seen the expression of true terror and despair that he'd instilled into thousands of his enemies during the era of the Lichtreich. He had seen this fear so often that he learned to recognize it no matter what form it took, no matter how much his enemies attempted to hide it, he would know. Bambietta was no different. He picked up on the minuscule drops of sweat that dripped down her face, his senses were so keen that he could hear her abnormally rapid heartbeat, and his sight allowed him to see the way her eyes didn't reflect the hardened and calm expression that was on the rest of her face.
These are things that no one but himself would notice. He'd seen Bambietta's emotionally induced impulsiveness through the memories of her victims, but in spite of her emotional impulsivity she was still capable of standing before him with hardly a shred of fear made apparent. Nothing less was expected of a Sternritter, the holiest knights who set the standards for the inferior Quincies.
He wouldn't hold her concealed fear against her for he is the King of the Quincies and feeling such things within his presence is expected. Especially taking her ruthless actions into consideration.
"Bambietta Basterbine. Are you aware why you have been brought before me?" Yhwach questioned.
"No, your majesty. I'm unaware of why I've been brought before you." Bambietta replied coldly.
Her behavior towards him in no way reflected 'The Explode' which he saw within her soul. She knew better than to lash out towards him like she would towards her inferiors. This gave Yhwach a good first impression of the girl. Despite her unhinged destructiveness and mercilessness she still recognized her place and role within the Wandenreich and fulfilled it accordingly. She showed none of the intolerable insolence which Yhwach had grown to despise as King of the Lichtreich before he was confined a thousand years ago.
Yhwach also noted that she seemingly recognized the potential consequences for any of her actions based on her current display towards him. Bambietta knew not to display her explosive brashness and fear towards Yhwach despite how much it goes against the highly emotional core of herself, the core that's embodied by her Schrift 'The Explode'.
This trait was more important than it may seem at first glance. Even if she is childishly emotional and impulsive, she's still able to pragmatically recognize potential consequences and act accordingly which would be a necessary trait for her mission. After all there's no way she'd have made it this far up the Wandenreichs hierarchy without integral skills such as this.
"My daughter, you have a very important task you're going to fulfill for the Wandenreich. You'll be tasked with recruiting two people of interest to our cause. Two Quincies named Uryu Ishida and Ichigo Kurosaki. You have until I gain my strength back to fulfill this goal. To aid with this I will now commence your official Sternritter ordination by engraving a Schrift onto your soul. Come here, Bambietta."
Bambietta complied and kneeled in front of Yhwach due to already being informed on how Schrifts were engraved from rumors passed around within the Sternritters.
Yhwach used the surrounding reishi to form a small knife, and pricked open a minor wound on his finger. Blood from his finger dropped into a reishi constructed chalice. After enough blood spilled into the chalice he handed it to Bambietta who then slowly drank the contents of the chalice before absorbing the reishi which the chalice was constructed from when she finished.
"I hereby bestow upon you the letter E 'The Explode'." Bambietta could feel that something changed within herself, but she couldn't yet understand what the ritual did to her or the powers that came with her Schrift. Before Bambietta could say anything Yhwach continued speaking.
"This is all for now. You will receive a full briefing on your mission within the coming hours. You are dismissed. Yhwach said. He didn't feel the need to keep her anxious for any longer, and he only said what was necessary."
"Thank you for trusting me with this, your Majesty." Bambietta said while bowing to Yhwach. She then walked back to the shadow which she entered through before once again disappearing through the shadows.
After she left Yhwach continued his discussion with Haschwalth.
"Who do you intend to make her corrector during the operation?" Yhwach questioned. Jugram paid no attention to the odd term he used for the Sternritter that'd be accompanying her since he already knew from the start the grander reason why she needed an accomplice.
"I've concluded that Quilge Opie would be the best suited for this." Jugram responded.
Yhwach had no issues with this decision due to already being familiar with Quilge's efficiency. Quilge was one of Yhwach's soldiers as far back as the first war with the Soul Society. Although he never got a Schrift back then he was still one of the most skilled and powerful members of the Lichtreich. This would make Quilge one of the most experienced and trusted Sternritters. Quilge could no doubt properly manage an operation such as this while training and correcting young Basterbine at the same time. A smile crawled across Yhwach's face. With Ishida and Kurosaki inevitably ending up on his side, the odds of the Soul Reapers stopping them dwindled even further.
"Haschwalth summon Quilge here so that we can inform him of his mission and commence his Schrift ceremony. After this the announcement of my awakening will commence as planned."
Jugram nodded in acknowledgment before leaving through another shadow to fetch Quilge.
Bambietta immediately flopped onto the small bed in the corner of her illuminated room upon emerging from the shadows. She had felt a wide myriad of emotions in response to her current situation. She had initially felt fear upon being personally summoned to see his Majesty. Jugram had informed the Sternritters prior to the Auswahlen that there would be a group assembly after his Majesty awakened. It was pretty obvious when the Auswahlen occurred considering the thousands of beams of reishi that flowed through the Wandenreich and accumulated at the throne room, so she was expecting the announcement of his return, but she was completely surprised when Jugram told her that she was personally summoned by his majesty. Bambietta had instinctively assumed that his majesty knew about her treatment of her Soldats, so she expected to be punished for it. Although that wasn't why she was summoned, she was hardly reassured after Yhwach explained his true plans for her.
Bambietta was relieved that she wouldn't be getting executed however she had mixed feelings about her mission. On one end she was honored and proud that Yhwach trusted her with such a seemingly important mission, but on the other hand she hated what her mission entailed. She would have to travel to the human world, and mask her true self to indoctrinate some previously unheard of Quincies. This is the last thing Bambietta would want to do nor is she even suited for it. Destroying her enemies is a whole lot easier for Bambietta than trying to coerce them. She probably wouldn't even be able to try out her new Schrift properly nor would she have her Sternritter status and privileges while incognito. The idea of losing the status that she worked so hard for frustrated her whenever she thought about it.
She wanted to annihilate something or someone to vent her frustrations and clear her head, but she was pragmatic enough to realize that behaving in such a way right after his Majesty awakened wouldn't do her any good whatsoever. Besides, she'd have to get used to it since destroying everything in her proximity won't go unnoticed in the living world. Bambietta followed through with the next best alternative available to her which was to absolutely decimate one of her pillows while envisioning that it was that stupid Soldat that ruined one of Sternritter outfits a few weeks ago. Unfortunately no matter how much she deluded herself it didn't feel the same as actually beating a dude to death.
Bambietta audibly growled in frustration after completely destroying her pillow beyond repair. She impulsively left her room and headed towards the training center so she could properly vent her annoyance upon realizing that there was nothing else worth destroying in her room. Regardless of her frustrations, she needs all the time she can get to try out her Schrift since she has no idea how soon she'd be sent to the living world.
While she roamed through the halls of Silbern the various Soldats and Maids all stepped aside having noticed Bambiettas evident anxiety and frustration which usually results in some type of explosion afterwards.
Bambietta was unfortunate enough to come across Askin right before reaching the training center. He just so happened to be at the training center at the same time Bambietta had wanted to train for some ungodly reason which is pretty surprising considering that she hadn't seen Askin train a day in her life. It's almost as if he showed up solely to annoy her.
"What do you want Askin?" Bambietta demanded while pointing up at him.
"Well what's got you so uptight this time Bambi?" Askin smugly responded. If his goal was to aggravate Bambietta further then he was surely succeeding.
"I told you not to call me that!" Bambietta pouted. "Besides, what does it matter to you?" She said while staring up at Askin defiantly.
"I'm just concerned about the wellbeing of my comrades." Askin clapped back at her somehow even more smugly than before. Bambietta simply scoffed in response, and pushed him aside to access the training center.
Most of her Sternritter 'comrades' annoyed her to no end one way or another with the exception of the minority who simply let her be like BG9, Cang Du, Jugram and the elite guards. Unfortunately most Sternritters weren't like them. Driscoll, Askin, Nanana and Bazz B relentlessly teased her, and people like Quilge and Robert were such hardasses. On the bright side when she does get to the living world she won't have to deal with their bullshit anymore which is an upside she hadn't considered until now.
The thought was so enticing that she unknowingly grinned simply thinking about it which of course Askin just had to point out.
"Smiling already? You were fuming just a few seconds ago." He teased
"Fuck off!" Bambietta yelled as she disappeared into the Sternritter only training center.
The training room is big enough for nearly half the Sternritter to train simultaneously without disrupting each other, featuring several different sectors which focus on honing different skills.
Unfortunately the training center wasn't empty, so her Schrift wouldn't be a secret for long, however the only other one training was Cang Du who was practicing his hand to hand combat with training dummies, so it can certainly be worse. Luckily Cang Du isn't the type of guy to spread rumors and other people's abilities. God forbid she had to train with Nanana in the room. Everyone else in the Wandenreich would know about her Schrift by the time she left the center.
She went to the opposite end of the room where the archery range was located. Bambietta had a good guess of what her Schrift does, so she immediately decided to test something out. She constructed her Heilig Bogen which took the form of a crossbow rather than a typical bow unlike most other Quincies. She loaded her Heilig Pfeil and pulled the trigger which launched an arrow at the nearest target. Just as Bambietta expected, the target blew up which confirmed her theory to be true causing her to smugly grin.
Prior, her arrows were the same as every other Quincy but now they were far more explosive. Bambietta further tested her ability by constructing her Heilig Klinge, a Quincy's reishi blade to see if it would still apply. She traveled to the same sector as Cang Du and slashed the nearest sturdy target with her reishi blade. Although there was still an explosion it was far smaller and less potent than the explosion from her arrow which she found peculiar. Cang Du also noticed the mild explosion from her reishi blade, but he didn't comment on it before returning to his training.
Bambietta reconstructed her Heilig Bogen and shot an arrow at an identical target with a similar reishi density in her arrow as her blade, and once again the explosion was smaller. This indicated to Bambietta that the strength of her explosions is directly tied to the density of her reishi. Typically Heilig Pfeils are much more dense reishi constructs than reishi blades which would explain why her arrows did more damage than her Heilig Klinge despite using a relatively equal amount of reishi and reiatsu to construct the objects. Bambietta then performed the same test again however this time she poured less of her own power into her reishi constructs than before and unsurprising the explosions from the arrow and sword were both proportionately smaller.
She tried one more thing and attempted to apply the explosive effect to an actual sword she got from the training center's armory which yielded no results.
Bambietta concluded from her testing that her Schrift "The Explode" applied an explosive effect to all of her reishi constructs, and the strength of the explosions directly correlated to the density of reishi and the strength of her reiatsu rather than the pure amount of her reishi her bombs are made from. That's why her arrow and sword had differing explosions despite her using the same amount of power for both constructs.
Naturally Bambietta then created a dense reishi ball which would be more energy efficient than her arrows and swords for using her Schrift. Due to the high reishi density of the constructed ball, Bambietta concluded that it would have the best explosiveness to reishi used ratio out of any of her possible reishi constructs, and her hypothesis was confirmed when her reishi ball did the most damage to her target despite using the same amount of power to construct it as her Heilig Klinge and Heilig Pfeil.
She then created several balls of reishi and tossed them at the toughest target around, and she was more than pleased when the target was practically disintegrated entirely. Her bliss from the destructiveness of her Schrift effectively drowned out all other doubts and worries she was currently having as she continued annihilating targets using increasingly flashy maneuvers.
Cang Du was now surprised and captivated by her abilities, and questioned how she gained so much power in such a short amount of time. He came to the conclusion that she must have already obtained her Schrift from Yhwach which is the only reasonable explanation he can come up with. Bambietta was too distracted to notice Cang Du watching her or simply didn't care, however both Cang Du and Bambietta stopped what they were doing when they heard Jugram on the intercom.
"All available Sternritters are to immediately meet at the dining hall within the next fifteen minutes, to commemorate the awakening of his Majesty.
"Already?" Bambietta said disappointedly while dissolving all of her current reishi constructs.
"I guess so." Cang Du replied while starting to stretch despite being fully aware that Bambietta was talking to herself. He then immediately left afterwards which left behind a perplexed Bambi who was currently trying to figure out rather or not she was hearing things. Cang Du hardly spoke unless necessary let alone to her.
Bambietta finished putting away the weaponry she took out, and ordered for some Soldats to clean up all the destroyed targets. She left before the Soldats arrived, but left the door unlocked so they could enter and clean up her mess.
She took the shortest route to the dining hall which meant passing by Jerome's room who just so happened to be lazily leaving his room right before Bambietta passed which earned a scoff and some intelligible muttering from Bambietta.
"Is there something you're tryna say, kid? Jerome said while approaching her; Cleary trying to intimidate her.
"I didn't say anything," Bambi responded in a similarly cold tone. Unwilling to deal with unnecessary bullshit currently, Bambietta attempted to go around him, but Jerome moved in front of her to block her way.
"What're you lying for? Too scared to tell me what you said?" Jerome said with a smile on his face.
"Maybe you should stop yelling so much, it's clearly starting to affect your hearing." Bambietta stoically responded entirely unaffected by Jerome's intimidation attempt.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?!" Jerome said, becoming increasingly aggravated.
"So you really are going deaf." Bambietta replied with a nonchalant and stoic attitude. Jerome was visibly about to go apeshit
"You little shit!" Jerome yelled while stomping towards her.
Bambietta used Schnellblitz to quickstep away, and she quickly constructed a reishi ball in each hand. She was tired of other Sternritters looking down on her and viewing her as inferior due to her small stature, gender and young age. She went through the same things they did to become a Sternritter. The same rigorous trials, the same tests, and the same struggles. She earned her place as a Sternritter, so they have no right to look down on her and think they can get away with disrespecting her like this.
"Try me!" Bambietta yelled back. Bambietta was about to toss her explosive reishi balls, and release months of worth of frustration from being looked down upon on Jerome, but she was interrupted by an unwelcome voice.
"My, my Bambietta, I've never seen you pull out a trick like that before. What are those miniscule balls supposed to do?" Quilge questioned confidently while simultaneously pushing up his glasses. Both Jerome and Bambietta stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Quilge let his question linger before he continued.
"Now we know that infighting between Sternritter is strictly forbidden… Do we not?" Quilge finished in a threatening tone which was far more intimidating to Bambietta than Jerome could ever hope to be. Bambietta dissolved her reishi constructs and Jerome backed off.
"Good." Quilge said with the same casual tone he used before.
"Now follow me." Quilge demanded.
Both Bambietta and Jerome obeyed without question. All Sternritters learn early on that they should never anger Quilge one way or another. He was the holy executioner and instructor of the Sternritters for a reason. Cang Du has a scar on his mouth from a time he angered Quilge when he was young, and Quilge's presence was scary enough to cool down the likes of Jerome and Bazz B. Bambietta, despite only recently becoming a Sternritter, knew better than to get on Quilge's bad side.
The trio soon after arrived at the dining hall. Despite the celebratory occasion it still had its usually cold and militaristic atmosphere albeit there was some really good food on the central table that was prepared. The main cafeteria had several tables and the Sternritters could eat wherever they wanted, however at the dining hall there was a massive rectangular table with assigned seats for each Sternritter.
When they had arrived several Sternritters were already seated. Bambietta took her spot which happened to be right next to Askin. She took her spot and crossed her arms. Thankfully Askin didn't make any annoying remarks this time or try to start a conversation. However most of the other Sternritters we're having their own conversations about anything and everything. I heard some valuable information about the Schrift ceremonies from Quilge and Robert's conversation, but on the other hand she was forced to listen to Bazz B and Driscoll talk about their clubbing sessions from a few days ago since whispering is a foreign concept to them. The final Sternritters to arrive were unsurprisingly Nanana, and pretty surprisingly BG9.
"How could a robot lose track of time?" Bambietta asked herself.
"Raise your crosses!" Jugram suddenly demanded. His voice wasn't particularly loud, and yet it was still powerful. Every Sternritter heard him and they all simultaneously raised their Quincy crosses towards him. Jugram nodded in approval and took his spot near the head of table with the Schutzstaffel members shortly followed by Yhwach who took his seat at the head of the table. Seeing Yhwach himself in the flesh had most Sternritters feeling overwhelmed. This is their god sitting before them after all. Even though his strength has yet to return he is still more than capable of killing us all on a whim using the Auswahlen.
"Sternritters" Yhwach started.
"I'm very pleased with your achievements and innovations you've all made during my absence. Thanks to your efforts we will be more than able to defeat the complacent Soul Reapers when the time comes. Out of respect for your accomplishments I have organized this feast in your honor. It isn't any typical feast. The wine in each of your chalices contains my own blood and by consuming everyone who hasn't already will have a Schrift engraved onto their soul and gain a powerful ability."
"Rejoice Sternritters, may this monumental day signify the beginning of the end for the Soul Society. You may commence with the feast"
Upon the completion of Yhwach's speech rather than calmly and formally continuing the Sternritters actually celebrated, due to the efforts of Gerard, Driscoll, Jerome, Askin and Bazz B. Bambietta wasn't against this however and quickly joined them. This was a celebratory feast right? They might as well treat it as such. Eventually even the more reclusive and well mannered Sternritters began to act out of character with a few exceptions.
Yhwach's expression was unreadable, so no one actually knew how he felt about the Sternritters celebration of the inevitable downfall of the Soul Reapers, but the others either didn't care or took the fact that Yhwach wasn't stopping them as a sign of approval. Especially when Jugram himself publically announced to the rest of the Wandenreich during the feast that his Majesty has returned, so there were celebrations from Soldats, maids and children on the streets as well.
Bambietta didn't know at which point she ended up getting a piggyback ride from Gerard, but she certainly wasn't against the admittedly entertaining experience. It relieved Bambietta seeing the Wandenreich and Sternritters like this.
The Silbern was usually cold, stoic and brutally efficient. They never had a reason to celebrate before but this occasion felt earned. After a thousand years of seclusion and isolation and centuries of oppression, the Quincies will finally get the hope they deserve. A part of Bambietta wondered how the others like Yhwach, Jugram and the Schutzstaffel felt about their antics. That part of her questioned if they were acting the way Sternritters should be, but the rest of her wanted to make the most out of the only celebration the Wandenreich has ever had during her lifetime.
Minutes later Jugram spoke again. "Sternritters" he with a calm, and pleased yet stern and powerful voice which once again caught everyone's attention.
"There are more announcements that must be made. The first of which is the latest innovation of the Quincy arts and technology. The pinnacle of a Quincy's power. The Voll Stern Dich. It is an enhanced version of Letz Stil without any of the downsides. It's been developed by Quilge Opie in collaboration with the Wandenreich's best engineers and scholars of the Quincy arts. It's been an incomplete prototype until now but with the awakening of his Majesty and the power provided to us by him the project has been completed. All that's required to activate the Voll Stern Dich is a catalyst for the transformation, a Schrift and enough power, skill and energy to activate the demanding transformation at will. Quilge Opie will demonstrate this power to you all."
Upon hearing this Quilge chuckled: he was visibly smiling maniacally even though he was trying to poorly hide his delight. He walked to the far end of the room within sight of everyone present.
"I'll need distance for this." He said as he raised his hand revealing a black glove with the Wandenreich crest engraved on it.
"Behold, the Quincy Voll Stern Dich!" He yelled as the glove triggered.
A massive beam of reishi erupted into the air, taking the form of a Quincy cross. The Reishi pillar barely fit in the room with ghe tip of the pillar being just feet away from the ceilimg. Bambietta's eyes widened at the sight of the cross and the massive fluctuation of his reiatsu. The pillar quickly dissolved which revealed Quilge with a new pair of turquoise Reishi wings and a halo over his head.
The Sternritter stared in awe. They could sense the power difference of Quilge before and after his transformation. He was at least several times more powerful than he was before. To prove this Gerard went up to him with his sword and struck him directly to the chest only for it to deal no damage. This baffling display elicited a gasp from some of the Sternritters.
Quilge chuckled at the Sternritters reaction.
"This isn't even the full power of the Voll Stern Dich. Using the Heiligenschein I can use an ability known as Sklaverei and quickly absorb all the reishi from my surroundings several times better than I'd be able to without the Voll Stern Dich. Using this accumulated energy our Voll Stern Dich can enter a second stage which is an even superior version of the first transformation, further amplifying our raw power and Schrifts. Unfortunately It would be unsafe to use such an ability here, so I'll refrain from utilizing it for now. This is a power that nearly each and every one of you can come to possess." Quilge then deactivated his Voll Stern Dich and his wings dissolved, its particles being absorbed by the surrounding structures once again.
Quilge then returned to his seat while most of the other Sternritter looked at him in stunned silence. No doubt further inflating his already high ego.
"That isn't the only announcement." Jugram said before anyone could comment on the Voll Stern Dich. Jugrams hasty announcement quickly diverted everyone's attention back to him.
"There are two Quincy children with incredible abilities and potential that caught the attention of his Majesty. The allegiance of these two individuals may be deciding factors in the upcoming war, so we have decided to send Sternritter E, Bambietta Basterbine and Sternritter J, Quilge Opie on an operation to peacefully and entirely win them over to our side before the war starts. They will be making their way to the living world for an indefinite amount of time starting tomorrow for this operation. The final announcement is that within the coming years the vacant positions among the Sternritter will eventually be filled. That is all for tonight." Jugram concluded.
The others stared at Bambietta, Jugram and Quilge in confusion and an intense conversation between the Sternritters commenced. Bambietta listened as they questioned why they would trust a little girl with this mission and why they would send one of the most valuable and skilled Quincies on a long term operation that doesn't even require combat? Wouldn't someone like Robert be better suited for such a task? There were varying levels of approval amongst the Sternritter and the decision was certainly controversial. Quilge himself didn't entirely know why he had been chosen for this operation although he had a few guesses.
"Well look at you, already being trusted by Yhwach with such an important operation." Askin said. Bambietta couldn't tell if he was somehow trying to tease her or genuinely congratulating her.
"Don't be so uptight, I'm not teasing you Bambi, I swear. he continued.
Bambietta didn't know what annoyed her more. That he seemingly knew exactly what she was thinking or that he called her Bambi again. She just scoffed back at him in response (again).
Being the center of negative attention and with Jugram having already made his final announcement, she saw no further reason to remain at the dining hall. Bambietta quickly returned to her quarters, and she instantly plopped back onto her bed and torn pillow. She laid down with her face sunk into the pillow for at least several minutes; consumed by her own thoughts. As much as she hated listening to some of the others slander her, some of their words had some truth in them.
Why was she chosen for this operation? Talking to people isn't Bambietta's strong suit whatsoever, and similarly to Quilge she's adept at combat and an undercover operation to coerce children into joining your empire is about as non combative as you can get. Was it solely because she happened to be the same age as Uryu and Ichigo? This once again annoyed her. She was chosen because of her age? She hated that this was something that distinguished her from the others as the youngest Sternritter and even in this instance while it isn't inherently antagonistic, it still annoyed her.
Bambietta forcibly shifted her focus to the Voll Stern Dich. She was really captivated by the technique, but she doubted that she'd ever get to use it in the world of the living. The more she thought about it, the more annoying her mission seemed to become.
She balanced her doubts by considering the potential positives of the mission. She wouldn't have to deal with everyone else's bullshit anymore, and she wouldn't need to do the shity combat drills that were common practice for her which did admittedly please Bambietta more than she's willing to admit.
Bambiettas overthinking session was interrupted by a knock at the door. Bambietta curiously opened the door to see a Soldat with a folder in his hands.
"This is the briefing for your upcoming operation." He said while handing her the folder. Bambietta then promptly shut the door on him, and laid out the folder on her desk, so she can investigate the contents.
The first sheet of paper laid out information about the first of the two Quincies, Ichigo Kurosaki. He's a nine year old male. Currently attending Karakura Primary School. His mother died to a hollow following the Auswahlen, however he survived the hollow attack. He's a fairly small boy with distinct orange hair. His father is Isshin Shiba. A former Soul Reaper captain who has presumably lost his powers. His mother is Masaki Kurosaki. The last remaking Echt Quincy of the Kurosaki line however she became a Gemischt when she absorbed a hollow, only surviving due to interference from the Soul Reapers. She then married the Soul Reaper that saved her. This would make Ichigo a hybrid between a Soul Reaper, a Quincy and a hollow. He is currently unaware of his ancestry. Bambietta wondered if it would be a good decision to reveal his identity to him or not, but she set that thought aside for later when she'd be discussing it with Quilge.
The other boy was Uryu Ishida. A nine year old Gemischt Quincy from the traitorous Ishida bloodline. He's the only Gemischt to survive the Auswahlen. His mother died due to the Auswahlen. He's currently studying the Quincy arts under his grandfather Soken Ishida. Former Sternritter and hardcore Quincy traditionalist. Bambietta has no doubt that they wouldn't share the same Quincy values. Soken resented Wandenreich and its decisions. His only other surviving relative is his father, Ryuken Ishida who apparently gave up his role as a Quincy. Other than that Uryu currently goes to some elite private school.
The briefing included other information such as were she and Quilge will be residing, their official citizenship which the Wandenreich somehow pulled strings to achieve and her registration for Karakura Primary School where Ichigo attends, but more importantly it included her alias which she'll be going by.
Bambietta Bären. It felt like identity erasure being forced to use another family's name, but she understood why it was necessary. The Bären bloodline was a prominent high class lineage of European Quincies, but they disappeared entirely following the Quincy genocide. It turned out that they simply went into hiding and preserved the Quincy tradition after the genocide. However, they slowly became Gemischt Quincies over time resulting in their deaths to the Auswahlen. Bambietta would effectively be stealing there identity and masquerading as one of the last surviving Quincies of a doomed lineage.
The story which she was provided says that Bambiettas fake father died to the Auswahlen due to being a Gemischt, and her mother killed herself soon after which left Bambietta as an orphan, and of course leaves behind an implication of adultery behind her existence. With Bambiettas luck she wasn't exactly surprised that the Wandenreich decided to literally bastardize her. Bambietga was sure that the writer of her alias is laughing somewhere. After this Bambietta was taken in by loyal family friends who are aware of her Quincy lineage. Pretty cut and clear story. Bambiettas mother was an Echt Quincy and her father was a Gemischt; however only Bambiettas father died to the Auswahlen, meaning that he wasn't even her real father. After his death her mother killed herself which left Bambietta as the final Echt Quincy of the Bären bloodline. There shouldn't be any holes in it besides who her quote on quote real father is, but she didn't need to know that for her story to work.
It was getting late and Bambietta was tired from the events of the day, so it wasn't long before she unintentionally ended up passing out at her desk while rereading the briefing.
"Time to wake up young Bären." Some voice said.
"Huh? Wha-" Bambietta sleepily responded and turned to look at who was speaking before realizing that she was looking at Quilge which instantly woke up her up as if she's been, and Bambietta quickly tried to hide the fact that she had been knocked out cold less than fifteen seconds ago.
Quilges smug grin indicated that he found some level of entertainment from Bambiettas stumbling around and barely hidden panic.
"We're leaving in two hours." He said while pushing up his glasses. "This is your new Quincy attire for the operation."
Bambietta looked at the traditional Quincy high collared, form fitting, cassock-like tunic with visible aggravation.
"What's wrong with my regular uniform? I didn't spend my entire life training, so I can look like some blabbering old traditionalist fool!" Bambietta practically growled. Bambiettas childish outburst somewhat annoyed Quilge, but he does understand her frustration with the uniform change. Having to present himself as a lowly fool was unbecoming of a Sternritter.
"Could I at least keep my cap?" Bambietta asked. She hated this change and she didn't even consider it prior to this moment. She spent her entire life working to become a Sternritter. Even if she didn't have Sternritter privileges in the living world, the uniform would at least represent her efforts, struggle, pride and dignity. Without the uniform or her status Bambietta was essentially having a core part of herself erased entirely which more than pissed her off.
"The cap stays in the Wandenreich." Quilge said, which earned an audible sigh from Bambietta.
"I'll excuse your ignorance this time since you woke under a minute ago and evidently aren't thinking clearly yet. Even though you're the accomplished, ruthless and lethal prodigy, Bambietta Basterbine within the Wandenreich; in the world of the living you'll be the pitiful sole remaining member of a doomed bloodline. Remember that."
Bambietta understood not to protest any further not matter how much she despised this decision. "I'll wait for you at the cafeteria. Be there with everything you plan on taking within the hour."
Quilge began to walk out before suddenly speaking again. "Oh and one more thing." Quilge tossed her a necklace that featured a Maltese Cross. It was the family insignia of the Bärens. Why that bloodline used a Maltese cross and a Germanic last name despite living in the Anatolia and Balkan regions for centuries Bambietta didn't know.
"This cross won't fulfill the role of your regular Quincy cross. Instead it will serve as your Voll Stern Dich catalyst when the time comes." Quilge said with a grin before walking away.
The idea of being able to learn Voll Stern Dich herself excited Bambietta until she realized that would mean extended training sessions with Quilge, and she can't think of anything that would be more rigorously annoying than that. That was an immediate buzzkill but nonetheless she still put on her shitty traditional uniform and hid the necklace under her high collar.
Bambietta was initially worried about someone seeing her and her humiliating outfit, but Quilge must have woken her up real early since it was still pitch black out and no one else was roaming the halls except a maid here and there. There's usually at least some soldats roaming around but since there wasn't, Bambietta guessed that it was early morning. Probably three or four in the morning. Her hypothesis was confirmed when she reached the cafeteria. A clock by the entrance displayed that it was three fifty something. She couldn't make out the exact time due to how dark it was. She noticed Quilge sipping on tea in the central table, and joined him after making herself oatmeal.
"Do you always wake up this early?" Bambi asked. It would certainly explain why he never shows up near the same time as most other Sternritters. "Usually, it's far more cathartic when it's this quiet."
"There's nothing cathartic about waking up at nearly four in the morning," Bambietta said.
"Not when I have to listen to an insolent child it isn't." Bambietta nearly yelled in response, but remembered that it was Quilge she was talking to, and that it was four in the morning. Instead all she can do is eat her oatmeal quicker, and put up with the smug grin she couldn't see clearly due to how dark it was.
"We'll be heading to the Karakura Town sun gate once you finish." Quilge said.
"We're leaving already?"
"That's what I said is it not?"
"Yeah but why? You said we had two hours left before" Bambietta responded.
"Because why not. What do you need to stay here longer for?"
"I don't, I was just curious that's all" Bambietta said as she finished her oatmeal. "Let's go since you're in such a hurry"
Quilge followed Bambietta to the gate of the sun that leads to Karakura town. Quilge used his Sternritter key to activate the gate. Without saying a word to each other or anyone else for that matter they both left their life in the Wandenreich behind and initiated their operation.