Chapter 21 - Hunt

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Wisp pov.

"I'm going after them." I said with bloodshot eyes.

"Who are you going after? What are you talking about?" Yoruichi voiced everyone's thoughts at me. "Mh, yes... I would like to know as well." Yamamoto grunted in agreement.

I glared at them not in the mood for explanation, there was no time and I had to find them quickly before the residual energy they leave behind disappears for good. I was about to tell them off but Soi Fon soothing voice entered my ears.

"Please Wisp, what happened out there? Please tell us, tell me." She borderline pleaded with concern in her gaze. I breathed in and out to calm my nerves, taking Soi Fon's small hand in mine I explained to them what happened.

"I found the cause of the sudden trail of death that was signalled to you, it's- they have the same origin as the enhanced hollows I fought years ago. Their leader, no, their master is called the War-Wielder, he's... he's the embodiment of War, meaning that everything related to war in the world he resides in will give him power and by that I mean, the four aspects of the apocalypse." I got cut of by Yamamoto.

"What does this mortal construct have to do anything with this ? And by the way you speak, is it correct to ȧssume there are multiple universes?" I grunted in approval and continued with my explanation.

"There are indeed multiple universes but War-Wielder comes from another plane or dimension if you will. As for this "mortal construct" it stands for the four aspects of the apocalypse which are Death, Famine, Pestilence and War. All of these aspects fuels him, he creates War by corruption or by simply making people kill each other." I stopped to think about what to say and how to say it.

"War-Wielder can, as I have already mentioned, corrupt anything and transform them into Wraiths. They're the ones I'm going after." I paused "They're strong, way stronger than any lieutenants and they are growing so I'm going after them..." Soi Fon was about to speak up but I cut her off "...Alone.

"What, but you can't go alone it's too dangerous. You said he can corrupt people w-what if you get corrupted?!" She protested.

"I can't get corrupted, you've seen it yourself... against the hollows, Reinhardt. I can control it and fight it, I've got the means to win against them, all of you do not." She opened her mouth to say something else but realised I was right. "How do we know you aren't lying or with them already? How do you even know about all of this?" The old man said.

"I... I have been blessed with a second life, but not in the same way as the other inhabitants of this dimension. I've been gifted with new powers and a new life by a god from another world, he gave the mission to banish War-Wielder back to his own world."

Suddenly the world stopped, colours faded away and no sound was made. The world had stopped moving.

A figure appeared out of nothing and bent down next to the old captain's ear and whispered in an unknown language, colours shot through Yamamoto's eyes as image played in his mind. Having done his part the figure faded away and the world resumed its course, the room was still silent as everybody looked at the Head-Captain. Meanwhile the old man's mind was working in overdrive to make sense of the new information that just appeared inside his head, he had been prepared to out right refuse to grant permission to the man in front of him but the stakes were higher than anything he'd imagined.

Finally, he made his choice and spoke out.

"I believe you, you will hunt them down and destroy every single one of them. If you fail, you will be punished by death, understood?" The old man said while slightly opening his eyes to look at me. I grinned in response not expecting to be granted permission this easily.

'You're welcome.' Fal's voice rang in my head making me smile even more.

From the faces the women in the room made, one could ȧssume they did not expect this outcome. Yoruichi was surprised but quickly got over it while Soi Fon was in the same shocked state but her concern doubled, she shakily gripped my hand but said nothing nonetheless.

Couple of hours later.

Soi Fon and I were back in her house, I had already cleaned myself and was now silently staring at Soi Fon.

She looked down at our joined hands, emotions passed on her faces. Concern, sadness and fear were the main ones, I brought one of her hand up and kissed it trying to comfort her any way I can, she smiled bitterly and wrapped her arms around me into a tight hug. I mirrored her action and we stayed there for some time until she spoke up.

"You know you don't have to go right?", I smiled "I do need to go, only I can truly fight them off."

"What, because some "god" told you to do it?" She hissed. I looked down at her and met her eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall any second. "No..." I said softly, "...I'm going so I can protect you, I'm going so I don't lose you as well."

"What do you me-" her eyes widened in realisation "No, it can't be. The wolves, that's why..." she didn't continue and neither did I respond but the look in my eyes was enough to tell her everything she needed to know. She once again wrapped her arms around me while mutteing "I'm sorry" over and over again, I put a hand on her cheek and brought her face up to meet mine.

"It's okay, I know it hurts. It truly does but I'm going to avenge then. I promise it will be okay." I whispered, "it's okay, I promise." I reassured.

I brought her closer to me and kissed her passionately, showing her just how much I loved her once again. She leaned into my embrace while kissing back, we slowly laid down on the bed as we prepared for our last night together in a very long time.

104 years prior to cannon.

Exact location : unknown

Snow crunched under my feet as I walked through the tundra, I was shrouded in a cloud of mist, steam to be more precise, since I have a very high body temperature especially in this type of environment, my body  produces more heat so I'm not cold.

I sighed as I continued to walk through this snow forest. It's been a year now since I've gone on my ghost hunt, I didn't have any contact with the people I know this past year and I haven't found my targets as well. Though, I've met warriors of different types and origins, some were good... some were not and some of them were corrupted albeit it wasn't anything I couldn't cure, there's only been one case of Wraith appearance since I've started this. I had a run in with a huge corrupted bear, it gave me a hell of a hard time since it was a lot stronger than me even in bankai. The bear gave them the chance to dissapear once again, so I am now following their tracks.

This year taught me multiple things, first of all even if I'm able to control War-energy I am not immune to it; secondly, hollows cannot be controlled by the corruption but can still be empowered by it.

I continued to walk for a about an hour until I came across a small village with a few burnt houses, I approached the village and took notice of the situation. Multiple wounded people and some dead, I also noticed the corpses of robed individuals who seemed to have purple skin but looking closer though, I realised it was purple paint.

My ears twitched when a man came up behind me and just stopped, I didn't think anything of it since I was in "shinigami mode" and mortals couldn't see me but I could just feel him glaring daggers at me. I slowly turned around and looked at the man before me, he was on the short side but had bulging muscles and had salt and pepper hair with a big beard that reminded me of old man Yamamoto. The real problem is that he's looking straight into my eyes, "Yer' goin' ta stand there any longer or are ya goin' to scram?" He said in a gruff voice.

"What's the matter chief ?" I heard a man say next to him, "Don't attack me and I'll show myself to everyone here." I responded to the old man.

He continued to glare at me bit relented, he turned around and ȧssembled the people behind him, to my surprise they didn't question him and waited patiently. I slowly shed my shinigami clothes and appeared before them, they instantly grabbed weapons or at least anything that they could use as one and prepared to charge me.

If they had been given a few more seconds they would have charged at me but the old chief stopped them, he approached me once again. "Who're ya, kiddo?" He frowned, "A 'human' with a number of powers." I answered.

The old man visibly didn't buy what I just said. "Don't bullshit me! Yer a shinigami! They've sent ya to finish the job right?!" He growled, "My job has nothing to do with you, old man. I don't even know who you are!" I responded.

The old man grabbed some kind of pendant and took a stance akin to someone holding a bow, nothing happened at first but then a bow made out of reishi appeared out of no where. 'Oh, so that's why he's so mad at me. He's a Quincy.' I though to myself.

Before the man could speak up again he coughed up some blood and fell on his knees, the villagers hurriedly came to his aid. A sturdy looking fellow hoisted the chief up dissapeared behing a house, another young man that resembled the chief walked up to me.

"So you're a shinigami hu-?" I cut him off "Listen kid, I'm not a shinigami, well I am but that's besides the point, I am Human!"

"Cut the crap! You can't be a shinigami while alive! I bet you've come to finish your purple friends job, right!?" This wasn't getting us anywhere.

I brought my arms up in the same position as the old man and concentrated on the forming a bow from the energy around me, the form of a bow began to fizzle into reality. It was pretty hard to form the bow with all those different energies crashing into each other but a glass like red bow of solid energy formed into my hands, this was something I could do with my powers and I just needed a little example.

"What?! But that's impossible, you can't be both a shinigami and a quincy." He was truly shaken by this and he wasn't the only one, everyone present was speechless.

"It's just not-" I once again cut him off. "Possible? Is that what you were going to say ? Keep this in mind kid, in this world everything is possible." I paused to let it sink in before talking again. "So... are you going to tell me what happened here or am I going to have to figure it out myself?" Dispelling the bow as I finished my sentence.

The young man hesitated to tell me, on the one hand he probably could but he also probably shouldn't. "I... can't tell you myself, you'll need to talk to my grandpa tommorow, after has recovered."

"Fine by me I guess, as long as you all don't attack me we're cool." Suddenly, the bell tower became alive with loud bell noises.

Everyone began to run around, grabbing weapons or putting people to safety. I felt someone grab my arm and shake it to get my attention, it was the young man, "Hey! C'mon stranger you wanted to know what happened? Well, you're going to be served!"

He pulled me towards the back of the village and showed me the dark and burnt ground spanning for over fifty meters all the way to the forest, from the smell it wasn't fresh but the smell of blood was. Also and most importantly, the miasma of war was strong here and it mainly came from the forest. I studied the forest for signs of movement when an oversized bear came out of the wood, toppling trees over when it bumped into them and it wasn't alone too.

Around fifty other robed individuals followed after it, the most shocking thing was that only a few armored Wraiths and the bear was amongst them.

The young man donned a white robe, he was sided by a new person in white robes. 'Huh, so I guess they're both quincies.' I looked at the young man 'Although, he has not awakened yet.'

"So what do I call you then?" I asked, he gave me a side way glance "The name's Olivias, if you get through this drinks are on me."

"I'm Wisp, I'll take you up on that offer."

TO BE CONTINUED