(Empire Underground)
It was a couple of weeks after Makoto's meeting with the Revolutionary leaders and the civil war was brought to an end, but there was still plenty of damage that needed fixing. Makoto was traveling the country with his nation's best and brightest to repair what was broken and cure the sick, distributing what he knew was the stolen money of the people. Relations with the Western Kingdom were still strained seeing as the Empire invaded and conquered a few of their territories while Honest was in command and the people of the North were in far worse shape and mood, demanding Esdeath's head as recompense for their destroyed kingdom. In an effort to try and reach an understanding, he offered to meet the both of them in a neutral space of their choosing in the hopes that he could inform them of the true measure of the threat their world faces.
Budo and Chouri were working together to compromise on budgets, Chouri needing to focus on the economy and well being of the Empire and Budo with the military might and attempting to find any trace of the Quincy with Najenda. The hiccups there are that they don't always agree on what takes priority and every time Najenda brings up even the faintest of leads Budo wants to send a battalion to crush the enemy. Eventually Makoto had to make it an order that the grand general focus on strengthening their forces while Najenda handles the hunt for the Quincy and when she finds anything definitive she'll then inform Ichigo or Esdeath, since they were the leaders of the 'Spirit' unit. At the moment they heard nothing but rumors and hearsay, often around port towns and villages near forests. One of the most consistent rumors is that a small band of people go from place to place and put a dent in aggressive Danger Beast populations and offer any homeless people a place to live. So far Najenda has not yet been able to find any pattern to where these people may show up next, which leaves Spirit with nothing to do but train.
"I keep telling you to start your transformation into a Soul Reaper," Ichigo told a panting Izou, "you won't be able to beat me like this." The swordsman took a breath and charged at the hybrid once again, determined to at least make him draw one of his blades, but every swing was either dodged or blocked with Ichigo's bare hands. Izou was adamantly against that because he would rather die than betray his sword Kotetsu which he thought he'd do if he took up an Asuachi. Ichigo could've killed him and then hold the swordsman to his word, but the hybrid wasn't sure if Makoto needed Izou to execute any new criminals and bringing in gigai seemed like a slippery slope with Tatsumi.
"Come on, take this seriously!" Esdeath shouted from her area where she was doing a three against one sparring match against Bulat, Sheele, and Daidara. She eventually stopped defaulting to any of her Teigu abilities while in soul form and has been pushing herself to gain her Shikai, having only recently gotten the hint of the Zanpakuto being a reflection of the wielder. "Come at me like you want to kill me!" The ice user best understood herself in a life or death struggle, but Ichigo was occupied with honoring a bargain and the Arrancar were overseeing the newest Shinigami to the team. Thus she had to spar with the only other ones that managed to learn Shikai.
"Cut! Ten no Sendan!" Sheele called out, charging at Esdeath again while her katana morphed into a thick broadsword with a grip that resembled a scissors. She swung the large blade with ease, with Esdeath knocking it away by hitting the flat of their blades together. Eventually Sheele pulled the grips apart and revealed that her Shikai was just like her former Teigu, except the two halves came apart like dual blades and her movements became more about speed than power. Esdeath still adapted fast enough to outmaneuver the glasses wearing Soul Reaper and knock her back.
"Impale! Shiryoku no Yari!" Bulat yelled out, gaining a spear with a large triangular blade.
"Rend! Yokubo to Notatakai! Daidara roared, getting a large double sided ax. The two of them went at Esdeath in a pincer formation, swinging their blades at her at the last possible second. Esdeath used the hilt of her sword to knock the flat of the ax and throw the former Beast off balance while threw her leg up in a back kick that smashed into Daidara's chest and sending him flying. At the same time she grabbed onto the shaft of Bulat's spear and yanked on it, Bulat's tight grip on his weapon forced him to move with Esdeath's tremendous strength throwing him away as well.
"This is getting me nowhere!" She yelled out in frustration, releasing a pressure comparable to a strong lieutenant or a low ranked captain. She definitely had potential to be a great asset and Ichigo should probably focus on making her stronger, but she had to understand and confront herself if she wanted to get any stronger. Perhaps sending her to her inner world is necessary, but he was concerned with what he'd see in there and he didn't trust her enough to leave her unsupervised. Especially with what her potential Shikai might be.
"Come on! Don't let up!" Marik shouted at the three sparring pairs with Mira shooting the occasional bolt of electricity at them. Mira in her new Arrancar form had a slender and firm build with a six pack on her stomach and a large chest, slightly bigger than Leone's and the lion girl checked, all colored in an exotic mocha colored skin. Her mask fragment was in the form of a hair clip made from shark teeth on the left side of her head with her Hollow hole in where her heart should be. Her outfit consisted of tight black arrancar pants, white sandals, black socks, a white vest that stops above her naval, a black shirt, white fingerless gloves, a sword on the left side of her hip, a choker with the kanji for "lightning" and her golden locket with the picture of Masaki and herself. Marik and herself had the rest of the team sparring against each other while Marik unleashed his Reiatsu with Mira shooting anyone she thought wasn't trying hard enough. Akame was fighting Wave, Tatsumi was fighting Kurome, and Leone was fighting Run, all of them having completed the task of claiming their own Asuachi.
'Well, it's something.' Ichigo thought, catching Izou's blade in his fingers before thrusting his palm into the swordsman's chest and sending him flying. 'I doubt it'll be enough though. I doubt Gilgamesh would have weakling under his command.'
(Somewhere in the Eastern ocean)
Enshin sat on top of the bridge of his new ship, an armed cargo freighter powered by experimental Reishi propellers and was large enough to hold a crew to fifty to operate it with a cargo bay for one thousand or two thousand people if he wanted to push his luck. He took a moment to breath in the ocean air, excited to get back to his original profession of pillage and rape. Dorothea convinced his new master Gilgamesh to grant him a Schrift and this new vessel with a crew of forty-eight soldats to command, along with Syura who was gifted this chance to prove himself. Three weeks of waiting around for their new plan, gathering meat for Dorothea's creations and materials for this vessel, now he was to sail into unknown lands to cut loose and bring back as much materials as he could.
"There you are." Enshin purred when he saw the massive and ever present storm that separated the East from the rest of the world. He jumped onto the deck, where Syura was waiting, and grabbed a blue jeweled trident. The trident was a magical artifact to control the seas and Syura was there so he could record the location data for Shambala so they could leave the storm intact to cover their trail. "You ready to taste what the East has for us my friend?" Enshin asked his dark skinned partner before holding the trident aloft. "LET'S GO!" He shouted as the spear's head pulsed and the waters and wind before them calmed. "All ahead full!" He yelled, thrusting the trident forward and sending his vessel flying through the waters.
It was a genius plan in theory, even if some found it rather disgusting. Because of that storm the way to the Eastern lands was impassable to the point it the nation was almost a myth if not for the book Teigu Rongo Rongo being a complete series of maps of the whole world. Syura studied that book extensively before leaving on his journey around the world and the East was the one place he failed to go to, a problem he was now going to rectify. As for the plan itself? It was no secret that Dorothea's experiments demand a lot of resources, but they had to keep their base of operations a secret while they gathered their strength. So they aimed for the one location where the Soul Reaper wouldn't be able to track their Reishi, the Eastern nation, where they could gather all the 'food' for the Alchemist's chimeras that she would need. Nothing could go wrong for them.
Except for a single scout ship that found the calm waters and wondered on its significance for twenty minutes before the storm resumed.
(Empire Palace: War Room)
News of the strange weather phenomenon reached the capital three days later, calling a meeting of the leaders of the capital and Ichigo Kurosaki. Every record the Empire had on that region of the sea never once had a case of calm waters and with the only Teigu that could've had any part of that being in the possession of the Empire the only other conclusion was that the Quincy had begun to act. So now the emperor, the generals, and navy admirals privy to the situation were meeting in the room with a large copy of the map of the Eastern nations and territories.
"Okay, here's what we actually know," Budo started, holding up Rongo Rongo itself, "though the knowledge we have is thousands of years old, we do know that there is land to the East, we have a translation of what is likely the language of that nation, and that nation is actually connected to the origins of the Teigu Murasame. We know that the Quincy are heading to that location but we don't know why. Shinigami, do you have any ideas?" Ichigo stood up and addressed the gathered officials.
"If I had to say, they're recruiting people and maybe even Danger Beasts. The ancient Quincy King, Yhwach, could make normal people into Quincy by sharing a part of his soul and empower them to become Quincy. Since that was a thousand years ago, I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility for them to somehow figure out how to do it without Yhwach present. Especially since that bastard is still alive. He's not in this plane, I would've sensed him." The hybrid quickly said when Budo started to raise his hand.
"So we're suspecting that they're trying to bolster their numbers by gathering people and animals in a foreign land." Esdeath surmised, her own tactical mind working to piece together the puzzle before her. "They still have the Teigu Shambala, which can teleport to pretty much any location but I'm guessing it requires a lot of energy for distance and numbers. Meaning if we want to stop this before it gets out of hand then we must act now." She looked to Ichigo, expecting a bad answer to her next question. "Do you think any of Spirit is ready for the fights to come?"
"You, Marik, and Mira are the only ones I think are ready enough to fight and I don't have to worry about dying without me to watch you, but I don't have a choice since the Quincy are moving. So here's who I'm taking for this mission, Esdeath as my second in command, Wave for his naval experience, Akame for her sword skills, and Mira. Admiral, prepare us a small vessel that can hold enough supplies for a month at sea and I'll see if I can't make an electrical engine."
(Two days later, Eastern seas)
"Man! Day one and what a haul!" Enshin cheerfully shouted as he checked out the cargo bay, three hundred able bodied people bound in chains with coolers holding more body parts from the people's dead comrades. Enshin and Syura were expecting hostilities as unknowns, especially when they begin to pillage and rape the village they'd come across, but they never even reached land when they got these people. They were already fighting each other by the time the Quincy found them, two opposing armies already tired and weak became easy prey for the Quincy pirate and his crew. But all those bodies only filled half of the cargo bay, the rest was used to house a massive sea serpent Danger Beast that attacked them while they were crossing the Storm region of the sea... what was left of it at least.
"You'd think at least one woman would be still be alive." Syura complained, stuffing a female torso into a cooler. "Haven't had any relief in weeks. But at least we completed our objective... gonna need a bigger boat for next time."
"It's a ship Syura!" Enshin snapped, taking vessel terminology seriously. "And yes, if we do this again then we'll need a larger ship to hold more bounty. Let's go topside and get you a decent landmark to get us back here." Syura nodded, heading up to do just that with Enshin following close behind. The vast waters surrounded them, only broken by two masses of land of the island nations and the canal dividing them. This is where the battle took place and their harvest began. When they return, they'll land and sample more of what this land has to offer. Syura activated his Shambala and the entire vessel disappeared from sight.
(With Spirit)
As he ordered, three days later, they had a vessel from the imperial navy. It was a scout ship with a single turret on the bow of the vessel and armored for light combat, not an issue for some of the crew but better safe than sorry. The outfitters installed the new electrical propulsion system while Ichigo attached the power cords to Mira to serve as their battery. Now they were a day and a half out at sea and covered five days worth of travel otherwise. Ichigo had with him Mira to power the ship, Esdeath who was trying to commune with her Zanpakuto, Wave who piloted the ship, Akame who did enter jinzen, and Mine, Chelsea, and Tatsumi. The last three were because Makoto wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the Eastern continent and those three would serve as his diplomats.
"We should reach the storm region in another two hours!" Wave called out over the roars of the wind and engine. Ichigo paid little attention as he kept watching Esdeath, the subtle twitches of irritation giving away her current attitude. Whatever was stopping her progress was deep, subconscious rejecting herself deep, and after so many weeks of waiting for her to get to this point naturally his patience wore out.
"Alright Esdeath, looks like we're doing this the hard way." He said as he got up and went over to the general, who opened her eyes when she felt him come near. "I think we can both agree that this is taking too long and we don't have the time to have you do this naturally. So just relax and open your mind." She took a deep breath and watched Ichigo place his hand in front of her face. She saw a white light eminent from his palm and she blacked out. "Wave! Wake us up when we get to the storm!" Ichigo called out to the young navy officer as he picked up and carried Esdeath to the sleeping quarters. "Alright," he said as he set her down, "let's see what this world of your is like." He sat down and used his connection to her soul to go to her inner world.
(Esdeath's Inner World)
Ichigo wasn't surprised by what he saw, he was expecting a blizzard and ice... lots and lots of ice and rock. It was a frozen wasteland of death and that fit Esdeath perfectly, it was only missing thousands of corpses and the general would likely feel right at home. Instead she was looking around with a frenzied focus, trying to find something that only she could feel.
"He's coming." She said cryptically as the ground began to shake. Soon a massive skeletal hand broke through the ice and started to push the rest of a massive body free from beneath them. A colossal skeleton with ice for its flesh, a freezing cold blue glow in its eyes, mouth, and chest flashing like a beating heart. In its right hand was a massive blade as long as the creature's arm, on the head were four massive and weathered horns, with what looked like two lower jaws that split open to release of stream of frozen air, so cold that frost was appearing on the pair's skin.
"You.... are not welcome here.... boy." It said in an ancient and tired tone that still spoke volumes of madness and bloodlust. "Leave this place." Instead of getting intimidated, Esdeath stepped forward and challenged the being.
"You're MY Zanpakuto, are you not?!" She roared at the giant, standing tall and proud. "Give me my power! I don't have time to care about whether you think I deserve it!"
"Do not.... presume to..... command me.... weakling!" The giant growled, making ice spikes erupt from the ground and stop just inches from stabbing into Esdeath. "'The... strongest of... the empire?' So... easily broken. So... desperate... for power. You... enslaved... yourself."
"Is that why I'm not welcome?" Ichigo called out. "Because I pretty much decide whether she lives or dies?" The giant's response was to lift its sword aloft and bring it down on Ichigo's head, but just as it begun the downward swing he was restrained with lines of burning black Reishi. Ichigo's Reishi.
"Down. Behave yourself." Zangetsu ordered, appearing on the giant's horn. The blizzard grew fiercer, reflecting the giant's rage. "Like you can scare me." The hybrid blade taunted as it dropped down to his master. "So, how do you think to fix this?" Ichigo took a moment to think.
"Esdeath, do you resent me for beating you?" He asked the ice mistress, surprising the woman. "Do you think of yourself as weak? Do you hate me for our deal?" She was about to answer before Ichigo pointed at the skeletal giant. "The Zanpakuto is a reflection of its master, your every strength and weakness, so before you answer you should take a good long look at yourself." She looked at Ichigo, then up to her Zanpakuto spirit who remained silent, then back to Ichigo.
"...yes. I do." The general admitted. "I grew up on the concept that the strong devour the weak and I was the strongest of all before you appeared. Instead of killing me, you dominated me, then enslaved me for your war. It's humiliating, but I ignored that in favor of gaining more power and fighting greater battles. Even now, I burn to defeat you... but now I only want to do so under my own power." She faced the giant and unsheathed her blade. "If you are a reflection of my soul, then I now know how to hear your name!" She settled into a battle stance. "I shall make you submit!"
"....tain! ….go!" Everyone paused, hearing a new voice. "...aptain! ...higo!" Ichigo went over to Esdeath and clapped with a flash of light.
(Back on the ship)
"Captain! Ichigo!" Wave yelled out, breaking the pair free from their trip into Esdeath's inner world. "There's the storm." He pointed to the impassable section of the sea and everyone on board fully understood why the East had remained out of reach for so long. A massive funnel cloud so vast it could consume an entire city was above them and groups of competing whirlpools fighting each other with violent waves. Under normal circumstances, no one would be able to pass through and realistically expect to survive. This is where Ichigo and Esdeath come into play.
"Freeze the waters, I'll take care of the sky." The hybrid ordered as the two went to the bow of the ship. Esdeath jumped off the side and focused all of her energy into freezing the water before her. Within minutes of freezing everything, many cracking and breaking into separate chunks before freezing again, the path before them was frozen solid and the effort showed with Esdeath panting from the feat. Ichigo helped her back onto the ship and pointed his gaze skyward.
"Alright, let's try this again." He said, raising a hand up and created an aura in to shape as a dragon's head with puffed up cheeks. "Ura Hado: Sannodo. Teppusatsu!" He roared, chopping at the sky and making the dragon shot out its breath. The technique created a gust of wind so strong it pushed the ship out of the water, sent streams of ocean water and ice chunks into the air, and blew away the funnel cloud into nothingness. "Still needs some work." Ichigo grumbled, rubbing his numb right arm.
"Impressive as usual, but how are we going to cross now?" Wave asked, making everyone look ahead to the massive chunk of ice stretching for miles before them, completely impassable by sea vessel. Ichigo wordlessly held up his good arm and fired a nameless Sokatsui that burned a canal in the ice with a large Shakkaho melting away the remaining ice between the ship and the canal. "Of course he does." Wave mumbled as they weighed anchor and proceeded on their way.
(With Gilgamesh)
"How much longer until you can make your next trip?" Giglamesh asked of Syura, who was kneeling before him with Enshin. The corpses were all but exhausted but the sea serpent Danger Beast provided ample nutrition for the growing horde of chimeric beasts the alchemist was making, not that it would last forever. "I have given you a much larger vessel to use and I expect ten times the amount you brought back last time."
"Another three days my lord," Syura told his master, "it'd be unwise to rush Shambala."
"I don't care about that trinket. Do whatever you have to to limit the wait time and keep your cover. My monsters won't feed themselves on my men, unless they truly fail me." He left them with the threat hanging like the sword of Damocles over their heads. As he was returning to his study to indulge in some fine drink, his trusted second silently made his way to his master. "Xaro, what news do you bring?"
"It appears that the Empire has learned of your expeditions into the East and Ichigo has gone to lead them." The raggedy dressed hooded Quincy answered. "The Empire is left without its strongest protectors. Do you have any new orders?" Gilgamesh took a moment to think over this new information.
"Enshin and Syura are not to be told, they need to prove themselves capable in a fight. Personally, I find most of these native mongrels to be completely disgusting and reprehensible. Bring me the fat clown and the singer, I'll be sending them to the Capital. Maybe they can figure something out, and I hope that hybrid mongrel takes his time with killing that clown when he returns."
"You believe Ichigo will return from the East victorious?" Xaro asked, seeing his master smirk.
"That mongrel will die by my hand alone. Anyone else are mere toys."
(Illustrated Guide to Forgiveness)
Letting Go
After making the choice to become a Shinigami, Kurome was confronted by Ichigo about the Teigu she had. Truth be told ever since she got clean from the drugs she had the ability to see spirits and all of them were the ghosts of people she killed. Each one accusing her, reminding her of her crimes, and the ones trapped within Yatsufusa crying out for release. It didn't surprise her when Ichigo called the Teigu an abomination that must be broken but he let it be to serve as Kurome's first steps toward paying for her sins.
The first task was digging a grave for the sword, representing all of the lives it took and the souls it trapped within itself. Kurome had no help, only the occasional break for food and water, as she did the first labor of her penance. It would never be deep enough to all of the lives she ended, but it was a start. She started in the morning and ended as the sun set. Once she finished, Ichigo ejected her from her body and told her to Konso every apparition that appeared before her and save the people in her Teigu for last. She looked each one in the eye and apologized to every last one as she sent them off.
"Okay... finished." She panted, exhaustion hitting her hard from a long day of digging and a long night of Konso. The sun began to rise again by the time she got to the last soul. "It's... it's time I... let you go... Natala." Kurome said, starting to tear up. Natala was a young man with short blonde hair and blue eyes with a mask over his mouth and wearing a white trench coat with knee high boots. "I know it was selfish but... I...." Kurome did start crying, crying for having to let go of her old friend she couldn't let die. He was with her through their assassination training and with her through many many missions. He reached out to Kurome and patted her on the head, making her stop and look at him with tears pouring down her face.
"I forgive you Kurome." He told her, removing his mask and giving her a smile. "Besides, you got some good friends watching over you now. More importantly, you got your sister back." Kurome released a few more sobs before looking at Natala with a smile.
"Rest in peace. You deserve it." She tapped her Zanpakuto against his head and sent him on, dropping to her knees as soon as his soul was gone and being hugged by her sister. Ichigo took hold of Yatsufusa and held it skyward. He charged a Cero and wordlessly blasted the Teigu into oblivion. Kurome returned to her body, picked up the shovel, and began to fill in the hole. Now she had to bury her past, Akame and Ichigo didn't leave her side once. And neither did Kurome's new smile.