Ch 196: The Sternritter are coming.

Noah frowned as he noticed something was wrong. The Hollows were much slower than normal to respawn. It was as if he had already farmed the area just before and thinned the ambient miasma. And there weren't enough Hollows roaming around.

That was very inconvenient, this happening at a time when he wanted to increase his farming because he expected Akeno to need a lot of Yin points soon.

Noah sighed, deployed his devil wings, and flew upward, until he was about a kilometer above ground. He started scanning the landscape… There! A dozen kilometers away, among some rocky formation, he spotted a large assembly of small black or gray dots.

He flew closer, and the dots slowly grew larger, and he finally came close enough to understand what was happening.

Several dozens of white-clad men were herding a large group of Hollows of various types. From what he could see, the normal Hollows were killed, while the Adjuchas were put in chains.

Noah sighed and drew Seifuku from her sheath.

"It's the start of the Thousand Year Blood War, right?"

Seifuku vibrated in her hand.

"Then I should get to it."

Noah flew toward them, trying to minimize his energy signature as they didn't seem to have noticed him yet.

When he came close enough to use Shunpo, he created a foothold to have something to use Shunpo from, appeared behind two of them, and slashed out with Seifuku and one Eclipse.

"What!" exclaimed one Quincy, before Noah cut him down.

Noah managed to nail two of them before the others jumped away using Hirenkyaku, their equivalent of Shunpo.

"Who are you!" yelled one of them.

Noah didn't bother answering and activated Augment. Between his active buff and his attributes advantage, the Quincy wouldn't be able to evade his attacks. Noah was about to target his next opponent when a voice came from behind the bulk of the Hollows

"Freeze, everyone." came a male voice from the other side of the crowd of Hollows.

Noah didn't intend to listen to an enemy's orders, of course, and pointed Seifuku toward the crowd.

"Thundergia." muttered Noah.

A stream of lightning fanned out from the formation that appeared on the tip of Seifuku's blade, and Hollows and Quincy alike screamed as they were injured or outright died.

"Desist, I said!" exclaimed the talker from earlier, using Hirenkyaku to appear near Noah.

Noah was forced to interrupt his attack and jump backward. He recognized this Quincy. Quilge Opie - the Jail. A tall, slender man with short black hair and rounded glasses, dressed in a pure white uniform, small white cape covering his shoulders, white gloves and white hat.

"And why should I listen to the orders of an enemy?"

"Why do you consider us enemies, though? You killed a lot of Hollows over the last few months. And yet, you attack us when we do the same. We know that you aren't a Shinigami. instead of fighting us, how about you join us?"

"You do intend to attack the Shinigami, right?"

"That is His Majesty's will." nodded the man.

"Then we're enemies." shrugged Noah.

"Very well, Noah Enfield." smiled Quilge.

"As expected, Yhwach knows about me. I hope he said some good things." said Noah.

"A Special War Potential of the Shinigami, to be dealt with as soon as possible. A user of Rune Magic who countered Aizen's illusory curses, and possessing a dangerous Bankai."

Noah nodded, dubious. Quilge's description seemed to imply that Yhwach had witnessed the fight against Aizen, the only time when he had used his Bankai. And Quilge didn't mention any of the abilities he hadn't used during this fight, like Hard Light Arsenal, Hole, Divide, or his Shikai.

"As I once said to Aizen, It is good that my efforts are recognized. I've been working hard, you know? But I won't let you guys kill the Shinigami." shrugged Noah.

"I see that negotiations have failed." said Quilge as he pushed his glasses up with a finger. He drew his own sword, pointed it at Noah, and Reishi expanded from the sword's guard, forming four nodes of concentrated power. The four nodes fired four arrows at Noah, only hitting a mirage as he already had moved.

Noah wasn't interested in wasting time with a Sternritter whose power he wouldn't be able to copy using his Gemini Drive, so he directly went for the kill. He created golden shackles around Quilge's ankles, surprising him enough that he failed to use his Hirenkyaku in time.

Noah pushed away Quilge's sword with Eclipse and found his throat with Seifuku, piercing it. Quilge's eyes widened in shock, but it was too late already. Noah pushed forward, dragging Quilge by the blade impaling his throat like a bull, and pinned him against the nearest rocky formation.

Quilge moved his right arm toward him, and used the power Yhwach had granted him, creating a cage made of Reishi to surround them both. He weakly smiled, as if he was confident that he would bring Noah down with him.

With his right hand, Noah slashed upward, severing Quilge's left arm, then beheaded him.

Noah drew a few Stop runes on the bars made of Reishi, and the cage shattered, causing the smug expressions on the faces of the remaining Quincy to turn into horror.

They tried to kill him by firing arrow, and Noah activated Barricade to block them.

A few seconds later, they were all dead. The surviving Hollows were using the opportunity to run for their lives, but Noah had more important things to do than hunt them. He took his smartphone and called Ren.

"Hello, Noah."

"Hi, Ren. How are you doing?"

"Fine. I'm not buried under paperwork anymore, thanks to you. Do you wish for me to come?"

"Please teleport to me in a minute, ready for a fight. The Quincy are making their move."

"I'll warn the other Chiefs." said Ren with a much more serious tone. But he could hear a bit of eagerness in her voice.

"See you in a minute." smiled Noah.

Ending the call, he took a deep breath, and teleported to Soul Society, half expecting it to find it already under siege.

…

Noah appeared near the top of Soul Society, in the plaza in front of the large building where the Gotei 13 Captains assembled to discuss things and glanced around.

No crumbling buildings, no smoke on the horizon, no discharges of Reishi or Reiatsu he could feel. Things seemed to be peaceful.

A few Shinigamis nodded to him, and Noah nodded back. He walked to the closest of them.

"Greetings. I'd like to speak to the Captain-Commander. Is he in that building?"

"Yes." nodded the Shinigami. He flinched as Ren, Fubuki and Kyouka suddenly appeared near him, then relaxed as he recognized them.

Ren looked around, registering the notable lack of any Quincy in the surroundings, and made a 'Tsk' of disappointment.

"Thank you for coming quickly." grinned Noah. "But I may have jumped the gun a little."

"It seems so. Are we expecting an imminent attack?"

"I don't really know." shrugged Noah. "I found a bunch of Quincy in Hueco Mundo, led by one of the 28 Sternritter. The Jail. I killed him, then came here to see if Soul Society was already under attack."

Noah turned his head as she saw two people climbing the stairs toward the plaza. Soi Fong and Yoruichi. The latter grinned as soon as she saw them and used Shunpo to close the distance, stealing a kiss from Noah before he could react. Soi Fong became all flustered.

"Just the people I wanted to see." said Yoruichi, nodding to Ren, Fubuki and Kyouka. "It seems the Quincy are killing a lot of Hollows in Hueco Mundo. They should take action soon."

Noah told her why he had come to Soul Society.

"It's imminent, then." said Soi Fong.

"Maybe." sighed Noah. "They could launch their attack in one minute, or in one month or more. There's no way to…"

Noah suddenly fell silent when many columns of blue light erupted all over the Gotei 13.

"…Never mind."

Alarms started to sound all over Soul Society, although they were, to say the least, superfluous. There was no way any Shinigami would fail to feel or see what was happening.

As previously planned, the average rank-and-file Shinigamis started moving away from the pillars of erupting Reishi. They weren't anywhere strong enough to contribute to the fighting, and Soul Society would have a difficult time replacing heavy losses.

Only Captains and the handful of Lieutenants strong enough to fight opponents on that level would take to the field.

The Captain-Commander and Captain Kurotsuchi, the mad scientist, came out of the building and nodded to Noah and his group. They both flew toward the two closest invaders.

Noah turned to Ren, Fubuki and Kyouka.

"Let's start, girls. Kyouka, please teleport to Asuna and warn her before choosing yourself a target. And remember about that one."

"Yes, yes. We won't kill that brat." smiled Ren. They knew that among the Sternritter, there was one Noah intended to add to the harem. After thoroughly reforming her, of course. They would be careful not to kill her if they found her first.

"Good luck, everyone." smiled Kyouka, and with a last nod to each other, they took off.

The columns of light had dissipated when Noah reached the first location, and saw Lieutenant Kira's corpse, his right arm and a large part of his torso missing. His killer was standing near him, smiling at Noah in his pure white uniform. He was mostly shaved bald, aside from a mohawk of thick red hair.

"Was he your friend? If so, sorry, but the order is to kill you all."

"No." shrugged Noah. "I only feel a vague disappointment that he died so fast."

"…that's cold." snorted the Sternritter.

"I'm searching for Bambietta Basterbine. Would you be so kind as to point out her direction?" asked Noah.

"Do you know her?"

"Not yet. But I know about every Sternritter. From your looks, you are Bazz-B, the Heat."

"Bingo. Well, she's about two kilometers over there, judging from her Reishi signature. But too bad, your path stops here." smirked Bazz-B.

He pointed two fingers toward him, and Noah immediately opened a Portal-type Hole to swallow the two finger-wide beams of extremely compressed flames.

The speed and power of his fire beams were Bazz-B greatest advantage, although he could mold his flames into different attacks. Single fingers extended toward his target would fire multiple fire beams.  Two fingers would leave a trail of fire in the air that he would then be able to launch, similar to how a wind blade functioned. Three fingers would cause an area of the ground to quickly heat up before  erupting into a pillar of flames, and four fingers would shape his flames into a huge sword. All five fingers would unleash terrifying flames in a cone.

But in this instance, the largest factor that made the fire beams so dangerous, their travelling speed, worked to Noah's advantage.

When Bazz-B saw the Hole open and swallow the beams, doing something His Majesty hadn't warned them about, he focused his whole attention on Noah. And for that reason, he failed to see the portal opening behind him, above his left shoulder.

By the time he felt the radiant heat of the beams emerging from behind him, it was already too late to try to evade or use his Blut Vene to harden his skin. The two beams pierced through his torso, causing terrible damage on the way.

And Noah wasn't going to just watch.

A dozen light swords appeared all around Bazz-B and were launched at him.

Bazz-B, his body pierced by the swords, spat blood and collapsed to his knees.

Noah could see him try to use his last remains of willpower to attack Noah, but he simply erected a large hole in front of him, big enough to cover himself against any direct attack, and launched more light swords.

"D…Damn…you…" croaked Bazz-B before he collapsed and died.

Noah wasted no time stuffing his corpse in his inventory. There was a Sternritter who could revive the dead and make them their puppets, and Noah didn't want to have to fight someone as dangerous a second time.

He then deployed his devil wings and flew in the direction indicated by the late Sternritter. A second later, he realized he never needed to ask for her location in the first place.

He only had to follow the sounds of the explosions!

…

"How does it feel, to fight someone exactly as strong as you?" asked Ren, smiling.

Ren was also smiling as she slashed toward her opponent's waist.

"It feels great… I'd want for this to last a while, but there are more interesting fellows to fight."

"Eheh, as expected of me." said Ren.

Both were surrounded by the floating cards of Vairocana, and the same mandalas were seen in their pupils.

"Your name should be Loyd Lloyd, the Yourself. Am I correct?"

"This is right. And it is uncanny that you know already."

"I do not think you have much room to talk about uncanny, when you take the appearance and powers of your opponent. But I do not dislike it. In fact, I think I will keep you. You will make for a good sparring partner after being broken in."

"…We really are a crazy woman." said the fake Ren.

"Let's see how far your imitation can keep up with me." said Ren, activating her Augment.

The fake Ren also cast Augment on herself.

"Let us see." grinned 'Ren'.

…

Fubuki cursed her luck as she used the shaft of her naginata as a lever to break the hold Mask De Masculine, the Superstar, tried to force her into, ruining his balance and sending him to the ground. The Sternritter, his torso naked save from a thick metal belt around his waist, and his head covered by a white wrestler's mask, rolled away just before the business end of the naginata could tear open his throat.

Why did she have to face Superstar? She wondered if she was somehow cursed into fighting opponents that were all brawn and no technique.

"Star Dropkick!" yelled the Sternritter as he jumped at her, feet first.

Fubuki stepped to the side while lifting her naginata, and slashed as he passed her by, opening him from crotch to throat.

Superstar crashed into the wall behind her, causing it to collapse. He laid among the rubble, spitting blood as he barely held his intestines together.

"Please get up, Su-per-star!" screamed James, his "fan". The small humanoid, looking like the caricature of a human, didn't make a move to attack. he wasn't even strong. And yet, he was the reason Fubuki was irritated.

Hearing his scream, a bright light erupted from Superstar's wounds, instantly closing them, and he jumped to his feet before ushing Hirenkyaku with a "Star Eagle Kick!" yell, intending to ram his right knee into Fubuki's face.

Fubuki planted the rear end of her weapon to the ground and placed her feet on it to block it, holding her Naginata like warriors of old used spikes to break cavalry charges, and extended it. Superstar impaled himself on the naginata's blade with a grunt of pain, and Fubuki lifted him off the ground, creating two large swords with Hard Light Arsenal.

The fight would be endless if she didn't kill Superstar and James at the same time, as they kept resurrecting each other.

"Star Flash!" yelled Superstar as he put his fingers on the points of the star engraved in his mask, and a star-shaped beam burst through it. Only to hit an after-image, as Fubuki knew about this special move, thanks to Noah.

Fubuki moved her golden swords for a simultaneous strike. One would cut the trembling Jams in half vertically, while the other would behead Mask De Masculine.

Superstar somehow managed to stop the blade from reaching his throat by parrying with the palms of his hands, in a move that Fubuki had only seen in movies. But he didn't see the third and fourth swords that Fubuki had created behind him, and they took his head.

Fubuki warily observed the bodies for a moment, half-expecting them to rise again, then shook her head and left. Maybe she would be luckier with the next one.

…

Kyouka and Asuna headed together for the closest source of Reishi they could feel, and saw Yoruichi one knee on the ground, with a streak of blood leaking from her mouth, and more of it on the ground. She was facing Askin Nakk Le Vaar, the Deathdealing. One of the most dangerous Sternritter, who could turn any innocuous element into a toxic substance.

Asuna used Shunpo to appear near Yoruichi and got her away from Askin, before using Purge ang Greater Healing on her.

"Thanks, Asuna." sighed Yoruichi. "I really should have gone all the way with Noah."

"That would have helped." smiled Asuna. "I don't think you'll mind if we assist you a bit?"

"Be my guest."

"More pretty ladies. It's a pity that we are enemies." sighed Askin.

"Thanks for the compliment. How about you surrender? I think we can arrange for you to walk away unscathed." asked Kyouka, sword in hand.

"A compassionate offer. It shows that you aren't a Shinigami. But I do feel seriously underestimated. Since there are now three of you, I guess I should take things seriously."

Kyouka and Asuna felt the Reishi coming from Askin increasing in intensity and range, and Yoruichi collapsed.

Asuna picked her up and used Shunpo to leap fifty meters away,

"Sorry. I guess I should go after another Sternritter."

"We'll deal with him." nodded Asuna.

"It's strange." frowned Askin. "You two seem unaffected by my Lethal Dose."

"I wonder." smiled Kyouka, activating Augment.

Askin's expression changed suddenly, and he barely managed to avoid Kyouka's first slash as she appeared near him. He hurriedly jumped back, the bangle on his right wrist emitting Reishi that took the shape of a bow. Askin fired two arrows made of more Reishi, but Kyouka avoided them easily before getting closer again, forcing him to use Hirenkyaku repeatedly. He fired more arrows, and in salvoes of dozens of projectiles, without any better result.

"What happened to your earlier confidence? I am pressuring you, and your Vollstandig isn't going to help you." said Kyouka, referring to the Sternritter's Bankai equivalent. The one Askin possessed boosted his Death Dealing in various ways, but would be useless against anyone sharing Noah's immunity.

"We are still open to the possibility of you surrendering." pointed out Asuna, joining the fight.

"I will admit that I do not follow that man because of loyalty." said Askin.

"We know. You're curious about what Yhwach will try to create after he destroys the Human World, Hueco Mondo and Soul Society. But he will fail."

"What makes you so certain? You seem to know a lot, but his power is nearly unlimited."

"Emphasis on 'nearly'." shrugged Kyouka. "Asuna and I work for the Goddess who created this world and many others. Someone so far above the Soul King or Yhwach that she could crush them with a mere thought. She sent Noah and the rest of us because she enjoys the show and is unwilling to interfere directly with her creations. But that unwillingness will go out the window if we fail to stop him by ourselves."

"One way or the other, Yhwach will be stopped." nodded Asuna. "The best thing he could do would be negotiate his surrender while not too many Shinigamis are dead. And the same applies to you."

Askin didn't make a move to attack them as he considered for a few seconds. He didn't necessarily believe them, but on the other hand, he was at a clear disadvantage. Each of those monstruous women were slightly faster and stronger than he was, and he couldn't steal their Bankai if they didn't try using it, assuming they had any.

Ever the pragmatic, he sighed and lifted his hands.

"Fine, I surrender."

Kyouka nodded and walked to him.

"I will temporarily seal your powers and teleport you to the Human world. After Yhwach is defeated, I will remove the seal."

Askin nodded reluctantly and let Kyouka engrave three Stop runes on the nape of his neck.

Kyouka teleported him to the abandoned church in Kuou City.

"After Yhwach is defeated, I will return and remove those runes. But from now on, you better not harm anyone without a very good reason, or we will track you down and kill you." warned Kyouka.

Askin nodded, and Kyouka disappeared. No doubt returning to Soul Society to fight more of his colleagues. Or should he start thinking of them as former colleagues? Either way, he hoped his instincts weren't wrong.