The man's smile dimmed, and his gaze on me became more focused on hearing me while the others around us started whispering to each other.
His face contorted into a confused frown, and with a scream of "SHUT UP!" he silenced the room.
His confusion was quickly replaced by something serious and dangerous, and I suddenly felt a strong pressure coming from him.
"Where did you come from?" He asked while slowly getting up, his hand holding what looked like a nodachi, its long blade serrated by countless chips and breaks.
"Uh, outside," I replied nonchalantly, pointing to the door behind me.
These people didn't look particularly trustworthy, and differently from my first trip to the Lovegoods, I now knew that I wasn't in my world, so my status as a Campione wasn't something I could rely on to get what I wanted.
"Pull the other one," the man snorted. "I didn't feel you approaching. You appeared when the door opened, so you're either a master of hiding your spiritual pressure without ever holding a sword or…"
His hold on his sword firmed, his gaze sharpened, and his bloodthirsty smile returned in full force.
I knew what was going to happen next, and as I silently braced myself for it, I uttered the words that would officially start the battle.
"Or…?"
"Or you're full of shit!" He screamed in glee, instantly appearing in front of me and swinging his sword.
He was fast. There was no build-up to it, no momentum. If I hadn't seen him take a step forward into his movement, I'd think he teleported.
I tried to backpedal, hastily applying defensive Runes in my arm as I raised it to block the incoming attack.
It didn't work, the Runes were only good enough to bleed off some strength from the blow before breaking. With the path free for his sword, it slashed my arm, leaving a deep cut that thankfully didn't reach the bone.
"FUCK!" I screamed, jumping aside while I used my uninjured hand to cast a quick, overpowered Healing charm on the wound before raising it so I could cast a Shield charm when he attacked again.
He was strong. Stronger than Doni in his base state. And while Doni could have done worse with his Authority active, without it, he had to put in effort to actually pierce skin.
This man had no such limitation. He swung his sword, and I was cut where it hit, as if my Campione protections meant nothing at all.
Was he a God of some kind? I hadn't been injured this easily since my fight with Odin.
He probably was, and I had just waltzed into his domain without knocking.
But the man didn't move; he just looked at me in disappointment, sighed, and pointed his sword at me.
"Now, who put you up to this?" He demanded. "Mayuri? Or was it Gin? It was Gin, wasn't it? That asshole always does this kind of shit. So you can go back and tell him that I'm not doing it! If he wants to get rid of you, he can do it with his own sword!"
My previous line of thought derailed at his accusation. Were these other Gods? And did one of them send the followers he didn't like on suicide missions here to avoid looking like a psychopath to the others?
"I have no idea who those people are," I said, and my confusion must have been evident on my face because the man lowered his sword and got his own confused look on his face.
"Huh? Then who are you and what are you doing here!?" He demanded.
"I'm Alex, and I already told you! I'm here for a sword and some training!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation.
"Then what about that bullshit excuse you gave, huh?" He slightly raised his sword again. "I didn't feel you come from outside, so where did you come from?"
"Hey! It's not my fault you assumed it was outside the building when I meant…" I stopped, wondering what I should say for a moment before making a decision.
"Actually, where the fuck am I anyway?" I asked. Pretending I knew where I was was a good way for me to be caught in another lie, and next time, I wouldn't have the excuse of a misunderstanding to avoid a fight. "I just took a Door to a good sword and some training and ended up here. But I have no idea where 'here' is nor who you are."
Of course, not lying didn't mean I couldn't distort the truth either; these people didn't need to know where I came from nor my status as a Campione. Just saying that I was a powerful dude who happened upon this place was enough.
"You were serious about that?" He asked, seemingly stumped for a moment before the vicious smile was back on his face as he turned to face me fully, resting his sword on his shoulder.
"I'm Zaraki Kempachi, Captain of the 11th division of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads of Soul Society!" He stated before calling out, "Ikkaku! Yumichika!"
"Yes, Captain!" "Yes, Captain!" A bald man at the back and a feminine-looking man answered.
"Get the rest of the seated officers, an Asauchi, and a shihakusho for him, and take them to the training grounds 2! We have a new member to run the gauntlet," He ordered, his smile turning predatory.
With another "Yes, Captain!" the men left.
On the way to the training grounds, I asked Zaraki the question that had been bugging me since I first heard the name of the place we were in.
"So, where is Soul Society in the world? I never heard of it. But from the language, the architecture, and everything else, I'm assuming Japan?" It was a gamble admitting that much, but if it was a big, well-known nation in the world stage, then this version of Earth would have been so different from what I knew that there'd be no point in pretending to be a native.
"Wait, you don't know?" Zaraki paused at my question, looking at me in confusion for a moment before bustling out laughing. "Oh, this is hilarious!"
"What? What's so funny!?" I demanded, but he kept laughing while the members of Squad 11 behind us sniggered.
"Kid," Zaraki said, still half-laughing. "Soul Society isn't in the World of the Living."
"What?" I admit that my brain stopped working for a second there. The sheer disconnect of hearing 'not in the world of the living' in a sentence had completely blindsided me.
But I remembered the Veil. And how the Runes it housed could only represent the division between the world of the living… And the world of the dead.
"I'm in the afterlife!?" I exclaimed, bringing forth another wave of laughter from everyone around me.
But I was still confused. I knew that Authorities were ridiculous, but I had never heard of one of my siblings messing with the Netherworld directly.
It was at that moment that we reached the training grounds, where the bald man, Ikkaku, was already waiting with the shihakusho and my new sword.
"Ikkaku, you're here. Good, go with him to explain things," Zaraki said before pointing at me. "He thought he was still in the World of the Living," he finished with a snort.
Ikkaku looked at both of us weirdly for a moment before nodding, giving me my new clothes and sword, and indicating for me to follow him.
"So, how did you get here from the living world?" He asked as we got inside a small building, where I found a stall for me to change.
"I have the power to access any door that I remember," I said while trying to figure out the clothing. "And sometimes, I get to access one I don't know that has something I want. Although I never thought I'd end up in the afterlife for it, which is kinda weird."
He snorted. "Weird is an understatement. I think you're the first human to get into Soul Society without dying first."
"Wait," I said, putting my head out of the stall to look at him. "Does that mean you're not human?"
"Huh, I guess you wouldn't know," he muttered. "Yes, 'human' is something that only the living can be. After that, they become spirits. And if they're powerful enough, they can become Shinigami like the members of the Gotei."
Happy with his answer, I went back to getting dressed.
"Now, the Gotei 13, as the name implies, are the armed forces of Soul Society," he continued in a lecturing tone. "Our job is to keep the balance between the world of the living and the afterlife, and we do that by helping souls pass on and killing Hollows."
I barely opened my mouth to ask when he kept going.
"Hollows are what happens to souls who don't pass on from the world of the living. The soul changes; it becomes a monster only interested in eating souls," he said, his tone turning serious.
I got out of the stall to see him leaning on the wall in front of me.
"So you use these, Asauchi, to kill it?" I asked, holding up my sword to get a better look at it.
"Kind of. Asauchi are the blank state of this," he held up his own sword, with the only difference from mine being the tsuba, which was oval, with what looked like three small teardrops in relief on both the top and bottom end. "This, is a Zampakuto, the ultimate weapon of a Shinigami. After a while at your side, your Asauchi will have absorbed enough spiritual power from you to change, although most Shinigami never reach that stage."
With a nod of understanding, we moved out of the building as he kept talking.
My head was swimming as we approached the training grounds. All of the information about Plus and Menos, the duties of a Shinigami, Shikai, and Bankai left me overwhelmed, even though Ikkaku only gave me the Cliff Notes version.
The sheer concept of a sword gaining sentience and becoming part of my soul, to then having to learn how to partially and later fully release it for a massive power boost and unique abilities had me salivating. Although the knowledge that it would probably take me decades to get to that point slightly dampened my spirit, until I reminded myself that I was a Campione and my bread and butter was making the impossible, possible.
The last thing I asked about was simple, but things were moving pretty fast for a military Squad that just had some random stranger drop on them wanting training without explaining anything first, and I wanted to know, "Why?"
"You want to get stronger, and you don't seem like a bad dude, so why not?" Was Ikkaku's answer, shrugging his shoulders as he pushed me to the middle of the filled training ground, where Zaraki was waiting with a small, pink-haired little girl perched on his shoulder.
What gave me pause was the fact that the little girl was wearing a Lieutenant's badge and had a fully realized Zampakuto, as evidenced by the purple scabbard, pink hilt-wrapping, flower-shaped tsuba, and a pair of wheels at the tip.
I did a double take at that, wondering if it was a natural part of her Zampakuto or something she added so the scabbard wouldn't scrape on the floor due to her height.
"Is this the new one, Kenny?" She asked Zaraki, and before he could answer, she was already by my side, looking me up and down while circling me.
"That's the one," Zaraki nodded, content to wait and let the girl do… whatever she was doing.
She hummed in assent and then, with an exclamation of "Boring!" huffed and kicked me in the shin before jumping back on Zaraki's shoulder.
With a snort, Zakari then looked around at the rest of the Squad surrounding the training ground, ending with his eyes on me as he said, "Time to start. Let's see how far you'll go."
A/N: And here. We. Go!
I was recently rewatching the SS arc, and it's hilarious how accepting Squad 11 is. Seriously, they were accepting Orihime while she was an active invader, so it's hard to see them not going along with Alex's request.
In other news, I am currently at War with ants. It took months, but they finally managed to breach containment and get into my apartment from the rest of the building. I spent of lot of time the last few days tracking them so I could put poison in all their entry points.
As always, thank you all for your support, and see ya next week!
Like my writing? Want to be able to read a full four chapters ahead? Then check me out on P a treon . com (slash) NickKane.