The War of Four: Dark Revelations

The Foreboding Journery, Imminent Danger Beyond the Horizon!
When meeting up with the convoy, Daisuke began to get a real sense of why a lot of the Soul Reapers unaffiliated with the Gotei 13 dreaded being assigned to guard the prisoners. There is such a...dark presence hanging around them. Not just around the ones who are known bloodthirsty psychopaths or known criminals, it was also the ones who stared at the wall with a blank empty expression. Most of these prisoners weren't fit to be in the Maggot's nest because of their murderous brutality or their unusually high intelligence, some cases a little bit of both added with mental instability.

Most of the prisoners were kept on large carriages with thick Sekisekki armor plating around the hull, with a good majority of the inmates bound tightly in straightjackets with the same Spirit binding mineral chains wrapped around their ankles and segmented into the interior of the carriage. However, with the rarity of the said mineral, only half of the more actively hostile inmates were kept in the more secure ones while the more docile were kept in reinforced carriages with simple chains and bindings. One of them, held Shidai Kagai, though strangely enough...the name held no real meaning to the Warden who was in charge of the transportation.

"Strange," Daisuke said as he trotted alongside the carriage that moved itself with steam power, having a slow yet steady speed as it moved through the forest lands towards the Land of Yūrei, "why doesn't anyone seem to know the name Shidai Kagai? If a mastermind criminal could know of the entire release and exchange of so many prisoners, how come we don't even know who the man is?" He looked over to his Captain in query as he spoke his thoughts.

"It's just how close criminals can connect to one another, Daisuke..."

Hachiro took in a deep breath through the nose, breathing in the smell of the air and looking up at the sky. Above their heads and dominating the sky was a number of five Dragonbirds, each of them operated by a lone pilot. The straight flight path that they took as well as their hovering directly over the convoy presented a rather eerie and intimidating visage. It would certainly make any enemy force think twice before assuming this particular convoy to be an easy defense. This, as well as the mass group of foot mobiles from the 9th Division, would make it seem as if they were a force going to war instead of simply defending a convoy.

"We and they are on different sides of the coin..." He continued to say, switching his gaze over to Daisuke. "Enemies are unable to connect with one another outside of aggression, hatred, and violence. They do their best to distance themselves from each other, even though they insist on finding new ways to destroy one another. Birds of a feather, however, are bound to know each other more closely... even if it is by something so simple as a name."

"Do you think the Inner Circle posed the invitation to the masses?" Ryōken asked Hachiro out of curiosity, walking alongside him as he crossed his arms in posture, "it would make sense to use a lot of second rates to slow or weather us down before they initiate their own forces...the promise of a fortune could drive a lot of desperate fools to attempt to take on the convoy, no matter how prepared or equipped we are."