It's weird.
Nothing changed between Izzy and I, yet at the same time, everything did. She was still the same wonderful and amazing woman that I considered an irreplaceable friend. Someone I trusted with my life and even that of my loved ones. But there was that extra little something there now. Maybe it was always there but I had just ignored it because of my own stupidity.
The little looks we gave each other, the small smiles when our eyes met. The little touches too were always welcomed.
Our overall relationship didn't really change much. We still poked at each other, we still were close, but with a bit more romantic affection. And we would definitely still do things in the future like we did –
….oh.
"You have that look on your face, what's wrong?" Izzy asked me.
"I just realized."
"Hmm?"
"We've been dating for awhile now, haven't we?"
"….Oh." She blinked in realization as well.
The things we've been doing together, the little bit of closeness that seemed to toe the line between romantic and platonic relations.
"Yeah…." I lowered my head onto her shoulder. "The Girls know, don't they?"
Izzy pursed her lips. "They were aware that I….perhaps had more than platonic feelings towards you. Yasaka was more than upfront about the acceptance and Artoria has been….pleasant about it."
"Yeah I'm remembering things now that I ignored back then. They're going to be insufferable when they find out, aren't they?"
"Without a doubt."
I closed my eyes and let out a groan. My head slid off her shoulder and planted right in her lap. "Can I be spiteful and just –" I made a squelching sound while pressing my hands against my head, an obvious insinuation about killing myself. " So they don't have the satisfaction?"
"There there." She ran her fingers through my hair, probably one of my favorite things at this point.
I relaxed in her lap, enjoying the moment. "We're dating."
"How good of you to notice. Did the trading of confessions not tip you off? Or perhaps you require another kiss as evidence?"
"I'm just saying it out loud because it was sudden and I'm still processing. Don't misunderstand, I'm positively thrilled. But processing, in a good way." I paused. "Actually, no. I need more kisses."
She playfully slapped my shoulder. "Still no regrets?"
"Absolutely not. I have many regrets in my life, but you will never be one of them." I gave her a smile.
"I don't understand how you could be so willfully oblivious and still spout that kind of nonsense to me even before our little confession." She let out a cute huff in response, and the tiniest red tingeing her cheeks.
"And I don't have to feel awkward about staring at your butt anymore."
"And you ruined the moment." She poked my cheek, her lips twitching in amusement. "And I thought you were staring, but it's not like I was going to call you out."
"Obviously I was. A beautiful woman like you wearing tight clothing like that and just throwing it in my face…."
"And you can say that to my face without a hint of shame. I'm astonished, truly astonished at your shamelessness."
"You call me shameless but you don't even deny what I said."
"Are you implying that I seduced you?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yup, it's all your fault. Now you have to take responsibility."
"Is this how you gathered your other Harem members?" She snorted.
"…..I don't wanna answer that question."
"I'm sure you don't." Izzy replied. "Are you finished with everything in this world?"
"More or less. I would have left sooner if it wasn't for this whole – thing. It was annoying and took awhile, but I can't deny that it was interesting and beneficial."
"Did you atleast do everything you wanted since coming here?"
I forced myself to roll over slightly so I could stare up into her eyes. "What I could." I hummed. "I originally came here because I wanted to find a way to….I guess weaponize my soul properly, which I think I succeeded. I was mostly just anxious and felt I had to do something and have since calmed down. Realistically, I didn't expect to just conveniently solve all my problems and significantly increase my strength with a snap of my fingers."
"They have interesting abilities here." Izzy acknowledged. "Some of them would be very dangerous if they were a bit more powerful."
"Yeah, and just look at the Old Man leading them. He just bulldozed through several of those Quincies all at once. I would have to get serious if I took on that many opponents of that level." One or two I could be casual about, but start adding on more…quantity can overcome quality in some situations.
"As a Goddess, I can say that he was impressive. He lacked the same standing as my own, but his pure power was respectable. Once he released his sword, I could see more clearly his peak even if it was still mostly sealed. I dare say he would command respect back home even amongst the Gods."
"Kidō is interesting and I'm still learning to use it properly." I held a finger up. Still needed to get the higher level ones, but they're nothing to scoff at and didn't work off the same paradigm as Magecraft. A second finger joined the first "Shunpo was an amazing find, it'll increase my speed quite a bit." I think I got to the point where I just need to practice more with that now, getting the 'fundamentals' down as it were. "But the real prize is my Zanpakutō" A third finger joined the others. "Overall, I think I made out with quite a bit on this trip."
"They take a while to…form or what-not. The situation that you were dealing with was dire, was it not? Can you wait that long?"
"It's…. complicated." I frowned thinking of that Demon again. "I'm obviously abusing the time dilation between world-lines, but that only goes so far in a situation like this where I can't just come and go on a World-line as I please." I know for a fact that any overt moves there by me would be detected. "Sir Wiggles is keeping watch from the inside, and Gramps was doing something from the outside. I wanted to wait until I talked with him before committing again. Especially after almost dying…."
"Good. I would be most upset if you died." She said dryly.
Even if she was half-way joking, I did love to know she cared. "And even if my Zanpakutō takes a while, I can feel it's going to be something special."
Really, my only concern was how to replenish my own Reiryoku since the Reishi wasn't native outside of this world-line. I'll need to do some experiments, but I think I can cannibalize my own Aura to get what I needed that way. After taking in so much Reishi during my stay here, my Aura had sort of…. acclimated.
"Are you ready to go back home?" She asked.
"More or less. Make sure the kids get home and then we're good to go."
"Will you come back?"
"Hmm, probably. I like Shunsui and Yoruichi. And I feel like we may have had the tiniest bit of a hand in the chaos that happened so….probably check in on them every now and then."
"That's good. I will make sure they are doing their jobs properly."
Yeah, Izzy was pretty intent that they clean this place up if they were going to be using pieces of Japan.
"We've put it off long enough." I patted her leg, pushing myself up. "We should probably go see them. They've been waiting outside for a while now."
Izzy grumbled in acknowledgement. Despite her whole wrathful Goddess persona, she was hesitant to actually interact with people outside of the circle she already had in a more pedestrian capacity.
I reached for her hand, bringing it up and giving it a quick kiss. "Come on now, no need to be shy."
She rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Not all of us are utterly without shame."
"I think it's one of my better qualities."
"Sure, keep telling yourself that."
"I'm fairly sure it's what landed me all the wonderful women in my life, so I will." I said smugly.
"As much as I want to deny that statement, there is significant evidence to back it up, which is troubling in hindsight."
"Oh Izzy." I pushed my shoulder next to hers. "It's far too late for you to have second thoughts." I leaned in, claiming her lips once more. She didn't show any signs of hesitation and welcomed me with enthusiasm for the short moment it lasted. "You're mine now."
"So I am." She smiled.
I fully moved to my feet and helped her up as well. "Let's go wrap things up so we can get made fun of by the girls when we get back home."
"I'm suddenly feeling in agreement with your earlier statement. We can simply end it now and save ourselves the trouble."
[***]
Izzy and I stepped out of the private room that Shunsui had given us and the others were all standing around.
Yoruichi leaned against the nearby wall watching us intently.
She visibly perked up once they saw us, but at the same time, she awkwardly shrunk back, not wanting to actually speak up.
I can understand, Izzy was probably a little intimidating. Personally, I found it attractive when she's all wrathful Goddess, but I know not everyone else feels that way when their Creator Goddess appears and smites some idiots.
"This feels like a funeral, who died?" I looked around. "….besides all the people who actually died."
"Smooth." Yoruichi looked at me. "Surprisingly, not that many died. There was a lot but…less than there probably should have been." She glanced at Izzy. "Considering…."
"Was Mayuri one of them?" I asked hopefully.
"He wasn't even at the execution."
"So? Maybe a stray arrow flew across Soul Society and just happened to impale him right through the head."
"No, he wasn't one of them." She said dryly. "As much as I'd also probably enjoy it."
"Oh well, there's always next time."
"Yeah….next time." She sighed, pushing off the walls she was leaning on. "About that."
"What?"
"So, got out of a meeting with the Captains while they tried to make some plans going forward. Dealing with Aizen and his army of Hollows – which is thankfully now in the open and I'm not a criminal anymore – and apparently the Quincy who we didn't even know existed until now."
"What are you getting at?" I gestured for her to continue.
"They want to know…..what both your plans are." She frowned even saying it.
"Your conflicts are none of my concern." Izzy immediately replied. "I told you Shinigami what I expect and that is all."
Yoruichi flinched slightly. "Yeah…..don't worry about that they're not….arguing with any of your….demands." She seemingly chose her words carefully. "Thankfully, Aizen killed the Central 46 before he openly betrayed everyone."
"Thankfully? Aren't they your governing body?"
"Yeah, but they're a bunch of elitist assholes. They'd probably do something to piss off the literal Goddess in our presence."
"Ah, I getcha."
"And Aizen isn't going to sit still. Especially since you took the Hogyoku he was after."
"Hogyoku, is that what the marble Is called?"
"Of course you'd have no idea what it is. Did you take it just to piss off Aizen?"
"It was shiny.."
"I'm glad you're my friend." Yoruichi laughed. "Kisuke would know more about it since he created it. But I doubt he's going to leave you alone. He'll track you down to the ends of the world if he has to if our thoughts about his need for it are right."
"I wish him good luck with that." Though, the idea of him getting frustrated that he couldn't find me would be fun to see. "As for my plans in particular, I was going to go home. Far out of Aizen's reach, so you don't have to worry. And if you want, I can come check in every now and then. I….don't mind lending a hand later if things get bad."
"No idea what's going to happen with two wars brewing, but I think 'bad' is a good estimate." She reached into her shirt and took out a bound book. "Here, this is for you." She said, tossing it to me.
"This is…" I started flipping through it briefly.
"All Kidō up to 90. I stole that when I had a minute, but the others are significantly harder to get so you're out of luck there unless you want to go ask the Old Man."
"I'm kinda refraining from seeing him after our last talk, so I will thank you for this." This was actually really helpful. "I'm a little surprised that you're taking Izzy's claim seriously. I honestly expected a lot of finger pointing and disbelief."
"When someone calls themselves a Goddess and threatens to completely upheaval Soul Society and shows they can do it with a gesture, it's pretty hard to dispute." Yoruichi snorted. "Don't misunderstand, I am completely confused how it's possible for her to exist and trying my best not to freak out."
Izzy hummed in amusement, but didn't speak up.
I feel like I was completely overshadowed, but I can't really blame them there.
"There's been a sudden resurgence of people reading up on human myths and legends." Yoruichi added. "Lots of people are scrambling to check old records and all of that. The rumors have been spreading and it's already causing a big commotion."
"I couldn't imagine why."
The thought of them scrambling to dig up some old references to Izzy's myths or cracking open a Bible to study is honestly hilarious.
"Right, says the supposed Devil."
"Half Devil. My mom was human." I corrected.
"How does that work?"
"I would presume how any sex works, but I don't really want to think about my mom doing it, thank you." I jokingly replied, stepping towards the kids who had been silently listening.
"I don't really know much about human myths and stuff, but I thought it was the Devil, but you make it sound like there's more of you. How many of you are there running around?"
"Yeah, not The Devil, just A Devil. And there's a bunch of us, but they don't usually come to the human world." I shrugged. "But then again, I don't really pay attention to them."
"And that's not a scary thought." Her arms dropped to her side and she let out a sigh. "Jeez, this is all crazy and I don't even know where to start. Honestly, thanks for everything so far, you really did help us out. Godddess, devil, I don't really care, but genuinely thank you."
"What are friends for?" I nudged her shoulder. "Come on, let's go get the kids and bring them back home."
"Yeah, I wanna get out of here before I get pulled into any more crap as it is." She chuckled. "It's funny, with everything that happened, everyone seems to have forgotten that you apparently ran around and beat people up with a brick on your first visit here."
"Ah, good times." Actually, I should make sure to grab another brick while I'm here.
….for a souvenir.
I obviously wouldn't use it for any other purposes.
[***]
Yhwach, King of the Quincy POV
"Your Majesty, I have the records you requested." Jugram knelt down, holding up the bundles to me. "However, I was unfortunately unable to find anything more in this short time, your Majesty. If you would permit it, I will send someone to the Human World to acquire what you desire."
I held my hand up to silence him. Taking the top most bounded book, I looked at it and flipped through a few pages. "This will be sufficient for now."
I did not think I would be researching old myths of human origins like this. It was utterly ridiculous, preposterous and outright nonsensical, yet….the facts presented themselves in plain view.
Izanami.
A Goddess of Death in legends. Was it merely coincidence?
A God walked the earth and I had no idea about her existence until this moment. She shouldn't exist, she couldn't exist. It made no sense and anything I did I was unable to perceive her existence which just led credence that she was what she claimed to be.
The Soul King split the original world into the three realms present today. Was it really possible that other deities existed in the past? Was it something lost to history, or something wiped from any records?
No, it wasn't just her, but the man who accompanied her. Claiming to be another Race that shouldn't exist, yet evidence was provided to the contrary.
What other things have we missed? What other variables had so easily been able to slip through my carefully laid plans?
"Jugram, have the casualties been calculated?" I set the book down with annoyance.
"Yes your Majesty. Do you wish to know which subjects were lost in the fight in Soul Society or in addition to Bambietta's negligence?"
Bambietta Basterbine – E The Explode.
I could barely refrain myself from strangling her the moment I found out what happened. I couldn't completely blame her for what happened. Literal Divine intervention was something even I can't perceive it seemed. But that didn't mean she escaped punishment.
One of her large Bombs was subverted and pushed down into the Wandenreich.
And now a significant part of the Silbern was gone.
"Give me the full list."
"Yes, your majesty." He bowed. "The following Sternritter have been killed in combat; As Nodt, PePe Waccabrada, Berenice Gabrielli, NaNaNa Najahkoop, Quilge Opie, and Driscoll Berci. The majority of the other Sternritter dispatched were severely wounded. As for the casualties due to Bambietta's bomb, roughly 37% of the Soldats were killed and Jerome Guizbatt was severely injured and in critical condition. In addition about half of the Silbern is…unsalvageable."
I took a deep breath and calmed myself. "And the losses for Aizen?"
"One of the Espada under Sosuke Aizen's command was killed by the Captain Commander."
"Good." I felt myself crack a smile.
Acquiring the Hogyoku was never the main priority. It would have been…beneficial, but not required. It was ultimately a useless trinket to me and simply keeping it out of Aizen's hands was the best case scenario. No, my Sternritter did exactly what they needed to do. The Sacrifice of a few was worth it to cast the eyes of the Shinigami away from us. They were the dregs anyways, ones that could be replaced given time.
Now, in their eyes, our losses would be substantial, and the forces of Sosuke Aizen would appear the more immediate threat giving us needed breathing room. Even with the significant loss that was the piece of power I granted PePe. I didn't need to use my Almighty to know who was responsible for taking away that again.
The Shinigami would not seek to invade for the time being. We could reorganize our forces, and evaluate our next course of action in light of these changes that have occurred. Time to figure out who and what these entities that had involved themselves. This Goddess and this Devil who appeared out of nowhere and shouldn't by any rights exist.
What else existed out there hiding in the shadows that even I didn't know about?
[***]
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