AStoryForOne
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Chapter 353
🕑 Added 2023-05-31 06:47:05 +0000 UTCThis was a strange situation I found myself in.
The rather monotone way he said it to me did not betray the undertone of fire that accompanied the words.
I had no doubt that he was ready to make good on his threat.
Even if I felt my lightning bubbling up wanting to meetthis threat, I pushed it back downwards, recognizing that it wasn’t the correct moment.
I could give in to my inner fighter if things went side ways after I gave my attempt to settling things amicably.
“This is really good tea.” I couldn’t help but comment after taking a sip to taste it.
His eyes opened slightly and he grabbed his own cup almost with a hint of aggression, but still maintain a proper decorum as he brought it up and took a drink, setting it back down for me to see that it was now halfway empty. “Your time is running out.”
Right, straight to it then. “It’s against your laws for a Shinigami to transfer their powers to a human, yes?”
“To interfere with the living world is met with intensescrutiny for all Shinigami who are deployed. To disrupt the balance by turning a human into a Shinigami is met with only execution.” He barely reacted.
“Regardless of the reason?” I asked, seeing if there was any wiggle room.
“The law makes no exception.” He didn’t budge.
“She did it to save a kid from a Hollow.” I calmly took another sip.
I didn’t know the specific to be honest, but Ichigo wasn’t shy about that little tid bit. Claimed that without her doing what she did, he and possibly his family would have died.
The old man grunted, taking another sip himself closing his eyes. “She will receive full honors upon death.”
“But death is still certain.”
“No exceptions can be permitted.” He said unwaveringly.
“And if she didn’t give her powers to a human?”
He grunted again.
“I’m guessing Shunsui already mentioned something like that?” His lack of a response made me think that Shunsui already started on that aspect.
“The ruling of the Central 46 cannot be changed lightly.” He stated.
“Even if they made a ruling off incorrect information? Shouldn’t she get some kind of trial to defend herself?” I admit I wasn’t the most knowledgeable on their system of criminal justice.
“Her trial was conducted in her absence.”
“That’s pretty bullshit.”
His eyes narrowed slightly and he held up his cup of tea taking a much bigger drink than before. “Our system is not for you to question, youngster.”
I was really hoping he’d be more receptive to this.
However, I think there was also a hint of annoyance in his tone when speaking about it as well.
“Even if she was technically innocent, they wouldn’t want to reopen any discussion without prompt, would they?” I vaguely could understand the mindset of this ‘Central 46’. Their supposed governance system comprised of noble families passing judgment on criminals.
Another grunt answered that question perfectly.
“It’s not for me to question, that’s right. But Shunsui mentioned her Captain.” I fingered the warm rim of my cup. “I don’t suppose he’s someone who has the capacity to formerly question the ruling?”
“Captain Jushirō has the authority to petition the Central 46 in the event that new evidence brings about questions regarding Kuchiki Rukia’s crimes.” The Old Man responded. “His appeal for a stay of execution has been signed off by myself and will be submitted to the Central 46 for deliberation immediately.”
“…..I’m sensing there’s a but coming here.” The way he said it didn’t really fill me with confidence.
“Due to recent events by a Ryoka invading Soul Society, War Time protocols have been in effect. As such, all criminals sentenced to execution will be carried out at the earliest possible opportunity. At this moment, the execution platform is being unsealed and will be available in Seven Days.” There was a bit of heat to his words as his eyes narrowed at me.
“Oh….”
“By the time we receive a proper answer, the execution will already have been completed.” He added.
“The wheels of bureaucracy spin slowly even in the afterlife it seems.”
He snorted again, looking down at his cup of tea. “You have one last opportunity, youngster. Make it count.”
“Well….what if someone, or rather some people were in the unique opportunity to cause some…..damage. Enough to force a delay on her execution.” I offered.
He looked at me, with eyes slightly open. He then threw his head back and downed the last bit of tea he can, slamming the cup back down.
….I suppose he didn’t like that idea….
“My cup is empty.” There was an accompanying increase in temperature with his words as well. As in, the room noticeably got warmer by probably about a dozen degrees, and it began climbing.
I blinked, looking down, then back up at him as he eyed me intensely. I reached for the tea pot and refilled his cup.
His expression didn’t change, well, that’s not entirely accurate. There was a very slight twitch of his eyebrow. “Cheeky brat.” He snorted and the heat emanating from him dissipated quickly. “And who taught you to pour tea!?” He raised his voice, smacking the table.
“Pardon?” I was taken off guard by his sudden expressiveness.
“Elbow out!” He ordered. “Back straight! Don’t splash it, you brat.” He grunted as I fixed my posture at his sudden insistence. “Keep it four inches away from the cup when you pour. Pinky extended and index finger leading.”
Honestly this took me utterly by surprise and I just followed his instructions until his cup was full.
With a harumph he quieted down. “Acceptable.”
“I’m glad I could meet your expectations.” I drawled.
He ignored me, apparently savoring another sip of tea as he closed his eyes again. “Your first time here. What was your purpose?”
I blinked again, taken back by the sudden question. I considered how I should answer, but I just decided to be truthful. “Stole an Asauchi and a book on Kidō. Came here specifically for both.”
He nodded and didn’t outwardly react much at my confession. I suppose his Lieutenant was right, he preferred hard truth even if it’s something like that.
“Speak.” He stated, breathing out. “I will fully hear what you have to say as a courtesy for your actions.”
“A courtesy for my actions?” I once more blinked in confusion.
“No lives were lost in your actions. That alone has earned you a modicum of good will. Tread carefully.” He warned sternly before shifting back to the topic at hand. “You would not have come here with only what you have said thus far. Continue.”
Why did I feel like he was testing me up until this point?
“Alright, I’ll just lay all my cards on the table. I didn’t have plans to come around again like this, but I didn’t expect a bunch of kids I had the barest relations with to decide to invade the afterlife to save a friend of theirs.”
His eyes opened a little and I think I could vaguely feel like he wanted to face palm at my explanation.
“And of course, they haven’t really considered anything beyond rescuing her. Such as, what to do with her afterwards because it’s not like she can just drop everything to bunk up with Ichigo again and just run around with him and help him with Hollows in Karakura for the rest of her life. Regardless of if they succeeded, it would be a significant insult both to the prestige of Soul Society and your own personal honor that would require a response.”
He nodded, not denying it again.
“And there’s the issue that even if Rukia is somehow pardoned in the next few minutes, we still invaded what is essentially a Military facility and caused all sorts of problems that come with that.”
“You understand your crimes then.” He said evenly.
“Supposed crimes.”
He looked at me dryly.
I gave him a cheeky smile and continued. “So there’s two glaring issues, one with our presence here, and the entire matter with Rukia.”
“Mmm, and how do you plan on solving it?” He asked. “Tell me, youngster, how do you intend to escape punishment?”
“I think I can understand you a little bit.” I reached for the tea pot again, taking the precautions this time to pour myself another cup properly. I think I saw the faintest hint of amusement from him as I did so. “You are unbending on the rules, but at the same time you obviously care about your subordinates if you were willing to honor Rukia after her death. If you really saw her as this supposed criminal, I don’t think you would go through with the effort. And you never denied that her actions were honorable and righteous.”
“A Shinigamis’ first priority is always the greater good of Soul Society.” He said calmly, gently taking another sip of his drink.
“A split between the responsibility and duty of your position and the wellbeing of those under you.” I said quietly.
He didn’t disagree as we enjoyed a moment of silence.
Frankly, I didn’t care much about Soul Society, but this man was the leader here, the amount of blood and sweet he poured into this place was something I couldn’t really fathom.
“You would follow through with the execution without a second thought, wouldn’t you? Even knowing that she may be innocent now?”
“As is my duty.” He nodded without a hint of shame.
“I don’t agree with you, but I can understand your position.”
“I didn’t ask for your understanding, you brat.” He snorted dismissively again. “Youngsters these days, blinded by arrogance.”
“There’s an idea, in the human world.” I smiled slightly, forming an idea in my head on how to make everyone happy. “Companies….sort of a gathering of merchants –“
“I am aware of the concept. I am not ignorant of the living world.” He grunted.
I nodded awkwardly. “Companies will sometimes do this thing where they hire outsiders, specialists if you will. Their purpose is to stress test the company’s defenses. For the outsides to poke around and find any vulnerabilities and exploit them ruthlessly to show where the company can improve for genuine threats.”
His large eyebrows raised ever so slightly, showing more of his pupils. “You are asking for my permission to continue your invasion…” He asked almost incredulously.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Central 46 is your…..government, more or less. You are the Military leader while the Central 46 handles the laws and actual governance and such. I don’t know how much that is separated, but you should have authority to organize a….military exercise.” I paused, giving him the opportunity to rebuke me, but he just continued staring so I took that as a hint to keep going. “Shunsui said his people were getting lazy and hand waived it when I beat up some of his division members.”
There was a slight twitch above his eye as I mentioned that.
“What better opportunity is there to practice for an actual invasion than outsiders showing up like this? Especially in a situation where they will actively not be killing or overly harming your people?”
“Approach your point quickly before I lose my patience.” He warned with a hint of fire to his words.
“Let the kids down below run wild for a few days. We’ll do what we can to delay Rukia’s execution. Afterwards you can say you let it go intentionally as a training exercise to sooth any egos.”
I was severely oversimplifying things, but I think my point was obvious.
Basically, I was just giving him a sorta valid justification to let everyone win in this given scenario.
I heard him make a grumbling noise before he slowly pushed his chair back and sat up from his seat. He grabbed his cane and with methodical steps, walked towards the balcony once more.
“I have heard what you wish to say.” He finally spoke, casting his gaze at the buildings below. “Now you will hear a question of my own."
“What’s that?”
His head slowly turned back towards me. “What gives you the courage to try and negotiate with me, youngster?” Flames erupted from his person, filling the room entirely.
They were intense, searing hot. I could feel the ends of my hair nearly burning away at their sudden arrival.
My Aura flared up protectively, but I found myself getting annoyed and calling up something else.
With a crackle, my Lightning lashed out, fending off the flames that sought to consume me.
“Do not take my respectful tone and difference as weakness.” I let my Lightning erupt outward, fighting against his flames in a head on clash.
A snap of fire met a whip of lightning in front of my face. Similar instance of the two elements meeting were happening all around us as this old man and I never broke eye contact.
He was the first to break it. With a harumph, the flame she produced were snuffed out within the blink of an eye.
I followed suit, reeling back in my lightning.
I did admire the fact that nothing in the surroundings was burned due to his fire. That was amazing control of his flames.
I can’t really say the same for what my Lightning did….
“I will send out an order to capture every Ryoka alive without exception.” He suddenly spoke. “What punishment they will receive will be determined by the events that unfold up to Kuchiki Rukia’s execution.”
Well, that made me feel relieved that they weren’t in any overt harm. And I could read between the lines here in what he was saying. Basically, I was being given the green light, but if things played out badly, we would be taking the blame.
It was a fair conclusion given the circumstances.
“However.” He grunted. “Your debt has yet to be paid.”
“Noted.” I would not deny it then. He didn’t make a fuss about me stealing stuff and caused my own messes, so I would acknowledge that I owed them a little bit.
With another grunt of acknowledgement, he didn’t elaborate. “You may leave.”
I walked out towards the balcony. “Thanks for sitting down and talking.” I gave him a quick smile, leaning against the edge. He looked at me rather…suspiciously. “And…..what happened to your desk and papers isn’t my fault.”
I saw his head jerk towards the where his desk used to be along with what remained of everything else in the pile of ash and debris.
His head snapped back to me and I realized it was quite a good time to skedaddle.
“No take backs! Later Gramps!” I hastily jumped off the edge because I felt the temperature rising quickly.
@***@
A/N
The Old Man is a little unyielding this early on, but he also cares pretty deeply about his subordinates. Finding a compromise that would allow him to walk both lines I think wouldn't be remiss for him. Combined with a genuine respect for an opponent of strength and everything else, I think he'd be willing to be amicable about this whole thing considering that it's not a big deal based on how canon turned out and it was just sort of forgotten. If you think about it, he gives his Captains a shit ton of leeway that they get away with a lot more than what the kids did in canon.
Comments
CkLance
There was no 'subservience' at all. Wilhelm is showing a lot of growth here to be honest. He is taking responsibility for his actions while trying to smooth over any forseeable issues his solo invasion (and the current one) would have on Ichigo and the other kids.
CkLance
You seem to be looking at each world's scaling individually and discounting the fact that the storytelling is going to take a [Fate] tinted look at the overall setting by virtue of the story's origin.
Lord Mistfire
Also it will be interesting to see Ddraig and Paarthurnax having a chat
Lord Mistfire
I’m curious, in general which gods are stronger ‘DxD’ or ‘Campione’?
Nazarickk
Thanks for the chapter
Matt M
Also remember that Izzy said that he couldn't scratch Alduin at that time, because Alduin is essentially protected through the authority of Akatosh. If/when he gets to the point where he could destroy Akatosh then authority or not he could kill Alduin. So yeah, authority matters right up until you have more power than anyone else.
Kirito Nura
nice, thanks for the chapter
Caliburn0
A soul is a soul, it encompasses all you are. Shinigami souls are basically worlds onto themselves, albeit minor ones. Basically every shinigami worthy of the name has a nascent Reality Marble within them. It makes perfect sense then that they are inherently 'limitless'. Sufficiently powerful souls should be able to hurt... anything and anyone as long as they get a good shot imo. They're at a heavy disadvantage against divinity with conceptual authority over them, but I don't think it's at all unreasonable to rule them being able to overcome even such a hurdle. It's up to the author how they want the rulings to go, and I think this is a perfectly valid way to judge it.
Taxel
I did not read Wilhelm behaving subservient in any way. Where did you get that from? Maybe my reading comprehension is wrong, but all i got from Wilhelm's Attitude was wary caution. Not for himself, but for Ichigo and kids. If it was just himself on the line i could see him provoking a fight instead.
SoralTheSol
You are looking at the wrong Shinigami. Bleach has some really Heavy Hitters and Yamamoto is at the top of that list. In fact, he specifically had to be beaten useing a special tool to render his bankai useless, and his shikai before that. It is kinda like why everyone back in DXD still regards Izanami with respect, she may not be in the top ten, but she is a "Creator Deity" an that has a lot of weight behind it.
Maybe, but willingness to listen isn't bad. You have to look at it like he said. What life will the kids have afterwards if they are Antagonistic with soul society? Once William leaves they will be hunted forever. Simply killing won't fix things. Playing a game of it has the best outcome
Nitorxs
I agree that it seems weird. I had a discussion with the author on discord the other day about Izzy's authority and they said with sufficient enough power, someone could overcome the advantage she holds because of it and places Aizen around high ultimate class. I get where they're coming from but I don't really agree with them. It makes divine authority seem like typing in Pokémon where if you just level up a bit, you can overcome a disadvantage. I'm pretty sure that Meridia said earlier in the series that Wilhelm would not be able to scratch Alduin because he lacks the conceptual authority to be a threat to him. Even some Pokémon no-sell attacks of their type, but then the goddess of death feels threatened by an attack fueled by spirit power, from a soul in an afterlife made from the land she created? Nope, doesn't make sense. Even god slayers in other media are usually either partially divine themselves, have assistance from the divine, embody some sort of concept, or have god-slaying equipment and only then do they manage to take out some minor god (which Izzy is most definitely not). Campione is the weird one with their bargain-bin godslayers (who don't really kill the god, just dissipate their avatar back to their myth/legends). None of those really exist in Bleach as far as we know, so I don't get why they are so powerful. I feel like divinity should be a much larger hurdle to surpass than the author is making it out to be.
I’m glad he didn’t attack, but his attitude comes across as subservient until the very end rather than respectful- which is weird especially considering how arrogant the shinigami are acting. Negotiation 101 is you don’t wanna look like the weaker party even if you are(which he’s not anyways). It seems like a very novice mistake for him- naïveté rather than maturity. And I’d agree with that first part of he didn’t have the Boosted Gear or the True Longinus. Both of those are obscene levels of BS.
Tristan R Mitchell
Despite all of his power, he is nowhere near the peak of DxD. He is an ultimate class, sure, but that puts him in the top tier of Shinigami, and the lower half of the top tier at that. Further, as the story has gone on he has matured quite a bit, going from the kind of person who would just attack to the kind of person that would attempt negotiations, THEN attack. Basically, he moved from Han Solo to Anakin-with-Padawan, or perhaps even Obi-wan Kenobi. Finally, there is a big thing about kharmic ties to worlds that he is just starting to explore, where if he takes something he has to pay the world back. He is avoiding Kharmic Ties to this world.
Atlas Titan
The power scaling confuses me. To make a shinigami declared equal to a war god like odin in dxd is a little bit much as shinigami by Lore definition should only amount to being Heroic tier with the exception of Yhawch (and this still wasn't fully explain how he manage to surpass the supposed 'soul king'). The fact that they unconsciously bow down to Izanami that has dominion over death means they are still spirits, strong spirits, but ultimately just spirits.
Feels sort of weird that Wilhelm is being as… passive as he is. This is the same guy that killed a god for this level of arrogance. But Susanoo at least deserved it. As much as people hype the shinigami, they’re big fish in a small pond. Mere specs of dust compared to the utter bs powerscaling of DXD. He’s acting as if he’s in the inferior position and it’s just a little weird and overly polite, feels like he should more experienced than that by now to act the backhand in a negotiation.
ExodiaTheForbiddenOne
Ah yes Wilhelms famous technique running away from the consequences of his actions poor Yamamoto is gonna have to re do all his paperwork
Tristan R Mitchell
"Why should I let you leave?" "Because if you don't, the Goddess of Death and Mother of Japan will take back the land your progenitor stole"
Lazy Ghost
Nice chapter, I like that Wilhelm seems to be slowly getting used to being more diplomatic. Anyway I hope that this arc ends with Izzy doing a name drop and scaring the shit out of everyone forever.
