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Chapter 394: Interlude 29

My elite soldiers.

It was difficult to say what emotions I felt at this moment. I don\'t think I\'ve ever been quite as enraged in my entire life and that was a significant feat. Perhaps I\'ve gone past pure rage and my mind cleared allowing me full coherence?

Candice Catnipp, the one for whom I bestowed the letter \'T\', a part of my own soul onto hers. Allowing her to achieve power reminiscent of the Shinigami Captains.

The Thunderbolt, how quaint.

It was straightforward, but that didn\'t mean it was unworthy of my bestowment. Perhaps average amongst the other Sternritter, but Average among Elites was still Elite.

She had nearly died.

Bazz-B, for whom I gave the letter \'H\'. His power came about in the form of flame manipulation. He liked to brag about his flames being comparable to that man. I never corrected him, he didn\'t need to know how terrifying the Strongest Shinigami was.

Cang Du, who received letter \'I\' for The Iron. The person with the strongest defensive ability in the Sternritter bar my Royal Guard. Combined with his Blut, there were very few capable of harming him significantly. Yet, he also looked weathered.

Lastly, As Nodt with the letter \'F\', for the Fear. A very powerful ability that I considered of great use and would have been very beneficial for the War in the future.

The War itself was...muddled, even with my previous use of the Almighty. I was mostly able to perceive events that led up to it, and plan for certain outcomes. But the finer details, I would not know until my true powers returned once more. It was enough that I was able to foresee my stepping onto the palace of the Soul King.

As Nodt was one I felt would be quite beneficial with his ability being extremely difficult to counter for nearly any Shinigami.

And yet.....he was absent.

I had to use a very precious reserve of my own power to bring them and everyone else back. The tiniest spark I had kept in case of an emergency.

And by all means, this qualified.

"We accept our punishment." They spoke together.

Rehearsed together.

A bid to get out of real punishment.

"You yet live because of one reason alone." Jugram continued. "You were wise enough not to reveal your Vollst?ndig."

The method devised to match a Shinigami\'s Bankai.

It was something we did not possess in the past, and it was one of our true trump cards in the conflict that was supposed to erupt in a little less than three years.

I had witnessed the proper path needed to be taken. Many years ago, I used the last gasp of my power before I had to recuperate. And I was able to see which steps needed to be taken, and what I was required to do to achieve my goals.

The Almighty.

My own ability to perceive the future.

I had seen it all happen. The events that would play out, and the ensuing conflict that would inevitably happen.

That was until a very special War Potential defied my vision, something only the Soul king, my Father should be capable of!

For reasons I\'m still trying to comprehend, fate was upturned, and the inconceivable happened! Sōsuke Aizen appeared in the Mess Hall while several of my Sternritter were holding a Banquet!

How!?

In every possible iteration of the future, that turn of events never occurred on any probable level. Not even in a 1 in a trillion chance did one of the most volatile entities fall into the Shadows of Soul Society in which we hid ourselves all these years ago.

Did my Father make a move?

Impossible, he shouldn\'t even be capable of proper thought with what the Zero Division did to him.

Nothing more than a thing now.

But that didn\'t seem to be the end of the absurdity that had been the past day. I received their reports ahead of time. And I was thankful that I did, for I did not wish for my subjects to see me fly into a rage.

This was no mere coincidence.

There was a leak somewhere, someone set these events in motion and ruined over a thousand years of planning.

We were not ready.

I was not ready.

My power had yet to return.

I need just under three more years to fully recuperate everything I have lost. As I was now, I was fearful to stand before that damnable Yamamoto, much less siege the Soul king\'s Palace. And now, circumstances may have forced our hand.

Our greatest boon, the element of surprise, had been lost.

Now we have to be prepared for an invasion into our own stronghold!

Who and how?

My sight saw none of this occurring.

I needed more information. I heard their reports, but perhaps something else was left out that I could use?

"Jugram." I interrupted my second in command of his justified scolding. Amongst everyone present, there was not a single peep to be heard. "Candice Catnipp, Bazz-B, Cang Du." I spoke their names and each one stiffened at my proclamation. And every other Sternritter that I have bestowed a letter to looked onwards, silently. "There is one name I did not call. Why is one of my Sternritter not present? Explain to me, from the beginning and I might offer leniency depending on the circumstance."

At this point, I was forced to look past their momentous failures because the future had somehow changed considerably.

"We –"

"I –"

"The Invad –"

I raised my hand with a tired sigh, silencing them. "Cang Du. You may speak."

"Yes, your Majesty." He bowed his head. "I will report from the beginning. We were present when the Shinigami invaded the Wandenreich. Upon noting what exactly he was, we immediately moved to action to apprehend or eliminate this intruder."

Sōsuke Aizen just suddenly appeared in my Wandenreich.

Absurd, even hearing it again.

"Continue." I commanded.

"It was the four of us that happened upon him when he attempted to flee. He used his....sword to some effect and was able to commandeer several of our Soldat to discover a means to...escape. Through the use of just under a hundred, they were able to deploy a Shadow despite the normal limitations."

I see.

Sōsuke Aizen\'s Zanpakutō was a headache for sure. Absolute Hypnosis was it? He took control of around a hundred of my soldiers and used them as fuel to breach through to Soul Society via the Shadow. It would be easy enough to find out any information he needed with that annoyance. This situation normally shouldn\'t have been possible, but with so many \'willingly\' sacrificing themselves, the limitations as he said were overcome.

I have no doubt that those involved directly were all dead.

And that led to the phenomena.

Perhaps Sōsuke Aizen made use of his own extraordinary Reiatsu to facilitate the process.

It would explain why a portion of the Wandenreich disappeared along with many of my Soldiers and Sternritter.

The only question is how that damnable Shinigami got here in the first place. Because even from the report, it\'s clear he was just as surprised as we were! He clearly fled and sought an escape as soon as possible.

"Continue from when you arrived at Soul Society." I waved him onwards.

"Yes, your Majesty." He respectfully replied. "Once we arrived, we immediately focused on the Shinigami that was the cause of the situation. We began to fight him, but he continued to flee, and that was when Soul Society became aware of our presence. By the time we caught up.....he was already dead. That was when we encountered two more Captains and.....two other individuals."

Sōsuke Aizen dead?

Utterly ridiculous.

Two more Captains appearing, that would be expected, however. But what\'s this about two unknown individuals? Was he referring to the humans that \'invaded\' with the other War Potential, Kurosaki Ichigo? That should be happening at this time.

That child of mine, born in darkness.

"Describe them."

"There was a man, with red hair. He was very clearly not a Shinigami but..." He glanced at Candice.

"Candice Catnipp." I turned my attention to her. She had still yet to fully heal, but at this particular moment, I was very far beyond mercy for her situation. "You fought this individual. Report."

"Y-yes, your Majesty." She replied, still clearly in pain. "He....was unaffected by my Lightning. Nothing I did to him was able to hurt him. I hit him with everything I had but my Vollst?ndig! And He just walked it off! He had Lightning of his own and –"

I tapped my throne in annoyance, and she stopped her incessant prattling. I could gleam the details beyond her whining.

Who was this person?

I had no knowledge of him. I had no glimpse of him in my visions.

Either, he is someone who should not exist, or.....perhaps he was a piece of Father?

The only being I had been unable to perceive was him, afterall. A being with a similar ability as mine would obviously be beyond my own sight.

"And the second person?" I asked.

"The second one was a...woman with silver hair. She dressed like a normal human woman with no noticeable Reiatsu." Bazz-B was the one who spoke up. I turned my head to him and he shuddered under my gaze. "S-she was the one who fought Nodt. When your Majesties\' shadow was sent to retrieve us..." He clenched his jaw.

"Speak."

"She reached into the shadow and pulled him away, your Majesty." He lowered his head, expecting my anger.

And he was right to expect it, however, my attention was not focused solely on him, but these individuals that I had no knowledge of.

Someone who could ignore my shadow? Someone who could reach inside and prevent my retrieval of one of my Sternritter?!

Not even Yamamoto could interfere with my Shadow in such a pedestrian manner.

Who was this woman? Who was that man?

Why were they there, how were they able to escape my sight?

Were they the cause or was their presence a side effect of someone else subverting me?

All my plans, burned to ashes in a mere day.

And at this moment, I didn\'t know who to blame. There was an enemy I was unaware of, someone was working against me.

"It seems our plans must change." I finally spoke, addressing everything.

"We await your orders, your majesty." Jugram bowed his head.

We must adapt.

I knew Yamamoto, he wouldn\'t sit there and wait. As soon as he received word of our continued existence, he would immediately rally his Shinigami to search us out. I don\'t know how long it would take for them to discover us, but we had one benefit going for us.

Sōsuke Aizen\'s little rebellion should be moving forward. He would still seek to retrieve his artifact at the earliest convenience and even with his discovery of us and subsequent reveal to the whole of Soul Society, he would likely not delay much longer. The man is too arrogant to allow himself to be subservient for any longer than needed.

He would rebel, and then he would claim his throne of Hueco Mundo and Soul Society would be preoccupied with a war on their doorsteps. The only issue was to make sure that Aizen is perceived as a threat large enough that they can\'t commit too many resources on us.

"We will prepare for war." I Let my voice echo outwards, reaching every corner of the Wandenreich. The fire that I had lit inside them for centuries was finally ignited with a fury. They had been training and waiting for this moment for many years. For them, it didn\'t matter if it happened now or in a few years time.

We, I?will be at a disadvantage, but I must adapt and change my stratagem.

Aizen wished to wage war against Soul Society, so be it. I will use that to my advantage. While both were weak, we would eradicate both of them. Hueco Mundo has many resources we can acquire for our own war against Soul Society. The Arrancar are numerous and require no training. They were originally intended to be used as disposable soldiers, but perhaps they could play a slightly bigger role?

Those Hollows that blurred the lines between Hollows and Shinigami, they would be adequate to tip the scales.

I planned for a Blitzkrieg, but a prolonged War was something we were capable of.

"Your Majesty, if I may." Jugram spoke up again.

"Speak." I replied.

"What do you wish to do about As Nodt?"

Yes, him.

No doubt he\'s being shuttled off to their research division to be dissected and experimented on. I could still vaguely feel his soul essence, he was alive...for now.

It would be a mercy then.

I would allow him this for his part in relaying important information, by happenstance..

His letter I will retrieve it and find a new host for it.

The link that I shared with all my Sternritter, I reached for it. The piece of my Soul that was attached to his and I –

Eyes looked back into mine.

My retrieval of my soul piece was prevented.

Eyes stared back at mine.

A woman.

I could not feel her presence, I could not ascertain her existence. She stood there, towering over the piece of soul I attempted to retrieve.

No.

A simple word sent ripples backwards through the link and a shockwave completely tore apart whatever claim I had.

It felt like....I was looking at Father.

That presence, the weight behind her existence.

I slammed my throne, shattering the arm rest as I looked out and grabbed hold of a hundred random Soldat. Mere foot soldiers, but it would be enough.

And I took back the Quincy power within them.

I, as the Origin, commanded their essence back to me.

It was enough, for a mere flicker. The tiniest spark to ignite my Almighty for a singular moment when combined with what miniscule amounts of power I had remaining from my forceful use of the Shadow.

Jugram stumbled in place, but I paid him no mind. His ability, the letter \'B\' I bestowed on him, Balance.

He would shoulder some of the burden for me as was his duty.

I used to it try and view this woman. To see the immediate futures available around this anomaly.

And there was nothing.

I couldn\'t see her, and her presence was frighteningly similar to his.....

.....did I have a mother?

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