Short Change Hero

This is the first chapter of The Wars Within arc

Act 1 Mother Forgive Me...
Night time....

A fairly small cabin lay in the damp, dark blue tinted woods within the mountains. Moisture gathering in the leaves surrounding the trees, dark grey clouds dotting the blue, starstruck skies. Animals nearby the cabin began to shiver, looking up to the skies briefly before running back to their shelters. The wind began to pick up, trees rustling with it's calm, and yet...pressurized gale, making a rather loud hissing sound.

"Aye...looks like that storm is gonna get us after all...."

Inside of the small, one room cabin, decorated with fairly simplistic and yet, notably eye attractive features. A stone fire-place leading up to a smoke stack outside of the cabin, tables, cabinets of clean, eloquent wooden design. Hardwood floors that were all cleaned and waxed, marked occasionally with a rug of simple, dark and un-flashy colors. Off in the right corner of the house, just a little to the right of the front door, was an average sized bed, with a red comforter and white pillow, and next to it was a smaller bed of similar design, other than a blue blanket occupying it in face of the red comforter of the larger one.

"Is it gonna be a big storm, papa?" a young voice asked, the source of which being a small, 5 year old boy with short white hair and big blue eyes, sitting in the lap of a middle aged appearing man with grey hair, wrapped into a short ponytail. The grey hair of this entity stretched down to the lower part of his face, going under his chin, and just above his mouth, splitting into two small, mutton chop like pieces of facial hair. Wearing a grey sweater along with black jean pants and black shoes, along with a pair of grey tinted glasses, the man sighed.

"Nah, lad." he said in a fairly rough, glaswegian accent, ruffling the boy's hair briefly before looking out at a window next to the wooden rocking chair that he sat in, noticing the rain beginning to fall already. "This is just a little hissy fit compared to the one we had last week. Damn thing tore the apartment to shreds, it did."

"A hissy fit?" the boy asked in his big eyed curiousity, wearing his light yellow shirt, the ends of it's sleeves marked with a slightly darker green shade, as well as the collar around the top of the shirt. His white, slightly spikey hair had always made him stand out amoungst other children, but none of them really seemed to mind it. Many of them even found it to be unique and, dare he think it, cute. "What's a hissy fit, papa?"

"Let's just say..." the old man began, adjusting his glasses slightly as he continued to look out at that rain-trodden window. "...it's something that alot of things do when things don't go their way..."

"So something didn't go the storm's way?" the boy replied.

"..." the father then blinked as he started thinking about the comparison he had just made, realizing that, to one as naive as his son, it wouldn't make much sense. "Nevermind it, lad." he grumbled.

Sitting more upright, the young boy reached down next to the wooden chair and held up a rather large book that was previously sitting next to them. Fairly big, roughly one hundred pages, the book was black in color, with four silver lines going down and across all of it's sides to make a sort of cross. In the center, was an actual Quincyc Cross, with a blue diamond in it's center. Holding it up to his father, he persisted. "Can you tell me the story about the Quincy again, papa? Please~?"

"That story again?" he sighed as he adjusted his glasses a little. He recalled telling his son about the story several times in the past. How on earth he enjoyed listening to something as...depressing as their history so many times really did baffle him. He did usually try to keep it from sounding too horrible, merely telling him that rather than kill all of the Quincy, the Soul Reapers simply took away their powers. Thankfully, he bought it each time. He wouldn't want him to know the real truth about them, after all...

"Yeah! I love hearing about them!" his son beamed. "It was so awesome to hear about them killing those big bad monsters!"

"Killing certainly fits it..." the elder grumbled more. "Look lad, I don't think i'm in the right mindset to tell you this story again. Tomorrow morning maybe?"

"Aw. Alright..." the boy began to reply, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back.

"You already know how it works." his father said to him with a sweat drop. "Quincy are special humans blessed with incredible powers. We can use spiritual energy to make holy tools to defeat evil. As they grew, their powers began to evolve and become more destructive. But it was revealed by several men in black robes that their powers were actually evil in nature, and that they could destroy the world. Several Quincy wished to continue using their powers, and fought against the Soul Reapers. Since they didn't want to kill them, the Soul Reapers simply took away their powers. And now, any remaining Quincy are just regular humans. How is that?" his father finished in a very brief form of the story.

"It's not as fun if you're not using the book..."

"Bah, get over it ya little bugger." the old man grinned as he rustled the boy's hair playfully, making him laugh. "Now, get over to your bed and get some sleep. You've got to go back to your mum tomorrow and-"

He stopped.

His eyes flashed and widened as they looked over towards the door. Sweat began to run down his scalp

He had felt something, something he wished that he hadn't felt.

"What's wrong papa-mrf!?" the boy began, before his mouth was suddenley muffled by his father's mouth, the latter continued to look out the window with uncertainty.

"Lad..." he said quietly without shifting his gaze. "Remember that special door I showed you this morning? The one under the rug?"

"Mhm?" the wide eyed boy replied, despite being muffled.

"Get into it, now." he replied, gently but quickly getting the boy off of his lap. As he did so, the boy, not one for arguing with his father, quickly ran over to the beds seen earlier. Uplifting the red and brown rug under the smaller bed, of which was high enough for him to crawl under, he then slid a black sliding door to the side, under the floor, revealing a black pit within it.

Feet first, he slid down under into the pit, revealing it's destination to be a large, black room, with incredibly cold standing walls, and a single, foldable black ladder to it's left. He could feel almost nothing, as he usually could. His father, the trees, the wind...nothing. It was as if he were in a great void...with no end in sight of escape.

What could his father have felt that led him to send his son here...?

As soon as his son was out of sight, the old man got up from his chair and walked towards the large brown door. Taking a cigarette out of his pocket, as well as a camoflauge lighter, he lit the former, stuck in his mouth, sighed, and then opened it casually. The rain had all but cleared, the wind still picking up in a calm manner.

Upon taking his first steps out of the building and onto the wet, stone plated walkway, he found the source of his previous sensing.

A few meters in front of him, was a fairly tall man of mid 40 appearing age. Wearing a white trenchcoat, concealed mostly by a large black cloak with torn ends, donned with long black hair as well as a pair of mutton shops on his face, the being appeared to have a calm, civil expression and stance.

On his left and his right were two hooded figures with the signature Quincy robes and cloaks, ever ready to guard their supposid master with their lives.

"Ah, Grigori..." the being said with his retained voice of civility and inhostility, smiling casually. "It's been far too long, my old friend..."

"Not long enough it seems..." Grigori replied in the same gruff tone, cigarette in his mouth and his hands in his pockets as he stared over at the other man with a half-lidded, smooth glare. "I'd ask why you were here, but it won't matter in the end I suppose. All of our little reunions always end up the same anyways..."

"Come now, Grigori..." the other man replied without changing his tone, holding out his left hand in emphasis. "Let's not be that way. You know how much I despise conflict in these sorts of situations. We're just a couple of old friends who haven't seen each other in years is all."

"You've still got shit in the corners of your mouth, Juha...but in that case..." the cigarette wielding man replied as he took the lit, smoking device from his mouth and exhaled a large breath out of his mouth. "Why are you here then?"

"The Cross." Juhabach replied, now with his expression lowering into a more serious one. "I'm sure you know just exactly what i'm referring to, Grigori. It was you who found it, after all." he continued as he took a single step forward.

"There are plenty of crosses, just like the one you're searching for." Grigori said back without moving or changing his pose. "The latter of which, i'm afraid, has already found it's way towards another client."

"You know, I don't like lying, Grigori..." Juhabach went on as he and his respective guards continued to walk towards Grigori and his home. "That cross can make a great difference in our respective futures, for better or worse. I advise that you give it to me now, while i'm feeling generous..."

"Fraid' I can't, 'old friend' there..." Grigori said back to him in the same, calm manner..."I grew wise to your "future" a long time ago. I won't have any part in it, even if you kill me here, that cross ain't getting into your hands anytime soon...."

"So be it." The black haired Quincy replied with a squint of his eyes. Of all of the times that he would need things to run smoothly, this particular scenario just had to play out with unneeded violence.

Brrrrzzzzzing!!!!!!

A blue line of light, manifesting in the form of a fairly large arrow appeared within Juhabach's hand, as he then threw it at Grigori with incredible speeds. "If you will not tell me, then I will force it out of you!"

However....

Snatch!!!!

The old man dropped his cigarette, and without a hardly visible show of effort or strain on his part, stopped the arrow in middair as he looked back at the powerful Quincy with the same expression as always, causing the latter to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "Looks like you've already forgotten my special abilities there."

"How...?" Juhabach began before his eyes squinted and he let a low scowl creep it's way onto his face. How foolish of him, to forget the special ability of one of his former top agents. "I remember now..."

"M." Grigori continued as he slowly began to turn the arrow back to face it's original owner. "That's the letter you referred to me as, M for "The Mirror." Every time a spiritual energy based attack is sent towards me, I can take it, and throw it back at it's user ten fold."

He then smirked, a brief glint in his eye that shined through his glasses as he reared his arm back, prepping the arrow like a javelin. "Here you go!" he said aloud as he then threw the projectile back at it's creator with much greater force and speed. If it didn't hit him, at least Juhabach would know better than to attempt it once more. If not...

Juhabach's eyes focused, folding his right arm into his cloak, before....

Bing!!!!

eeeeeeeeeerrrrroww.....boosh!!!!

...slamming the back end of his hand into the projectile, effortlessly sending it into the distance behind him, eventually making a large blue mushroom-cloud shaped explosion, fairly the size of a small building.

"And you seem to have forgotten the gap of power between the two of us, Grigori." the black haired man replied in a smooth, and yet annoyed tone of voice as he stood back up. "A shame really, you were quite the capable Stern Ritter. Truly, a force to be reckoned with...Alas, I suppose things like this happen when I let you all overstep your bounds."

"Maybe some of us opened our eyes..." Grigori stated as he drew his Quincy cross, gathering spiritual energy around him to force the object to take the appearance of a large lance of sorts, with a cross shaped bottom end, and a very thin, needle like end on it's top. "...to all of your bullshit!"

Holding the spear in a fighting pose, the man lunged at Juhabach with incredible speeds. Knowing that doing so was practically suicide, it was his intention to die then and there, so that his old King would never find the location of the thing that he sought.

And Juhabach responded appropriately, catching the lance with his right hand and rearing his left hand for a strike. The result of their two powers created a large burst of spiritual energy...resulting in a white flash that would briefly blind all in the seeable area...

Silence...

The boy, now within his large, empty and seemingly endless black room, could feel nothing. He could not hear the wind outside, the rustling of the trees. He couldn't feel the rain consistantly fall onto the roof of his home, he couldn't hear the small creak of his father's rocking chair...

...and he couldn't feel his father either.

Call it his basic ability to sense Reishi, as his father had originally taught him, though not to a very noticeable extent, he felt...empty. The entire world, moreover, had just become empty to him. What kind of place was this? Why would he be sent here? Did his father feel some sort of threat from the outside? If so...what was it?

thump....

His train of thought stopped, as did his heart-beat. Previously, he couldn't here anything, but now he could hear a foot step? How...?

Then he remembered, the door!

Grabbing the ladder to his right, the foldable one that he had noticed earlier and attempted to stretch it out to reach the open hole in the ceiling of the black room. How stupid of him...he was so focused on the room and the emptiness that he felt, that he didn't even bother to check on the barely opened sliding door.

Once the ladder was in place, he quickly started climbing up to try to close the sliding door. However, once his hand reached the handle...

fwoship!!!!

Someone else opened the door, and it wasn't his father, but instead, a rather youthful appearing man with a white hooded cloak, concealing all but the part of his face just below his nose. His expression could not be deciphered from where the boy was, but his tone of voice suggested nothing but fierce loyalty...but to whom?

"Your Majesty!" the man said aloud as he reached down and grabbed the back of the boy's collar in a rough manner, causing him to flail about, grit his teeth and close his eyes tightly as he tried to fight the man's grasp. But there was a profound amount of strength in the man's grip. It felt as if a machine were holding him!

"Here is another one, Grigori's son possibly." the man said in the same undetered voice, holding the boy out for his leader to see.

Juhabach, who was the first to enter the cabin, turned casually to see the little boy being held so...violently. He let a friendly smile come onto his face, and spoke in a rather pleasant tone. "Now now, there's no need to treat one so young as he in such a manner. Release him."

The Quincy did so without a sign of hesitation or defiance, letting the boy drop to his feet. When he landed, he couldn't help but look up at this imposing figure with...fear, and intimidation. He could barely muster the strength to even speak in the face of one so terrifying and imposing.

"So, you're Grigori's son, yes?" Juha went on without changing his tone or expression. "What is your name, if I may ask?"

"G-Galen...sir..." the boy replied in a shaky voice. With no familiar person to cling to or hide behind, he felt all but helpless. What was worse, he couldn't feel his father anywhere! "W-Who...are you...?"

"Me? Oh, my name isn't really important, Galen." the man replied with a slight chuckle, holding his hand out of his cape to his side in emphasis. "But, if you truly desire to call me anything, you may refer to me as "My Lord." I am in charge of a kingdom, after all."

"Where...where is my dad?" Galen continued with his same timid voice. "He-he went out to see you, I think..."

"Oh, Grigori? He had to make a special trip that will keep him occupied for a long time..." Juhabach continued with a devilish glare in his eyes, knowing that one as young as Galen would truly never guess what had really happened. "He left me in charge of you, actually. We've been trying to find you for a few minutes. What were you doing under there?"

"He told me to hide there, while he went out...si-I mean, my lord." the boy replied.

"Ah, he must have been taking precautions in case someone else was here..." Juhabach surmised, as his eyes trailed off into thought for a brief few seconds. How predictable of Grigori, to send his son into a supposid room that blocked off all flow of Reishi to where all on the outside wouldn't be felt. Did he really underestimate someone as powerful as he, Juhabach that much?

Shaking his head briefly, he looked back at Galen with a much more composed tone. "Now then, Galen, let us go. We have much that we need you to do for us."

"What about my mom?" Galen insisted as he inched closer to the initially turning Quincy, the latter's gaze glanced back at Galen with smooth expressions.

"Your mother has been notified...." he quickly added, realizing now that Grigori's son would likely keep in touch with his mother. "...and she'll be checking on you in a regular basis. Now come, time is of the essence."

With a flow of his cape, he left the building.

"Go on." the other Quincy said with a light shove to Galen's back. At this point, Galen knew better than to question them on anything. From what he could tell, none of this was any good. But if his parents had approved of it...surely it was for the better, right?

With a single step onto the cold, wet ground, he gazed forward as Juhabach appeared to open a supposid rift into the air, a black tear into the very fabric of their existance, before coming to it's side and motioning Galen forward.

"Come, Galen Abendroth...." he said with a rather wry expression and tone. "...your journey awaits."

With a single, short exhale, Galen stepped forward...and into a whole other world...

Act 2 No Place for a Better Man...
(Tune Kicks In)

---

The following scene is performed in a montage manner and spans several years

---

''He stands in a long, straight line of boys and girls around his age and potentially older ones as well. Some with stoic faces, others with frightened expressions and nervous poses, sweat beading down some of their faces. Across from them were several robed figures, like the kind that he had seen in his house earlier that day. They were in a large hallway, possibly formed of what he could only percieve as ice, only...it wasn't at all that cold. It wasn't warm either, really he could feel no temperature...just nothingness, like before...''

''The man that he knew only to refer to as "My Lord" walked calmly in between the children and the robed beings, his torn black cloak dragging along the ground as a king's cape would, his expression calm, but also one full of analysis. Even one as young as Galen could see that he was looking to see which of these children he would let into his service.''

''He motioned to one child, and then another, and another, and another...eventually coming down to at least ten children that he had chosen. And then, he came to Galen, staring over him in what appeared to be deep thought, almost as if he didn't know whether to let Galen in or not.''

''However, after a few seconds, of which felt like hours, the man motioned for him to come, and he did so. Now, there were eleven children out of at least twenty-six. Following him into the other end of the large hallway, and leaving the other, unchosen children to their supposid fates...''



''He sits in a chair, within what appeared to be an ice-like barbor shop, a white garb over him as if he were about to have his hair cut. A cloaked man wearing a white breather mask came behind him suddenly and began to shave his usually white hair with a razor in a rough manner. He flinched, cringed and gritted his teeth as he felt the painful razor run through his silver hair, throwing it around on the ground and making it a mess. When it was finally over, he was shoved out of the seat, and ordered to get back in line with the others, all of which had shaved heads like he did, and leave the room via another hallway to their right.''



''He stands in a large room, again composed of the same ice material that he had already grown accustomed to seeing and being around in the short time that he had been there. It was a large square room, solid ice floor that wasn't slick, in fact, it felt as if it kept his feet planted on the ground without the hope of them moving.''

In front of him and the other ten children, was a large black square along the wall in front of them, large enough to make it seem as if it were a chalkboard.

''A man stepped into the room, wearing a white buttoned trenchcoat, with a black belt around his waist, along with a pair of white trench pants and black boots. He also wore a pair of circular black sunglasses, along with a white hat that had a black leather frill along it's front, an officer's hat it appeared. He stood in front of them, removed his glasses to reveal a pair of grey eyes that dispassionately stared them down.''

"''Sie haben alle mit seiner Majestät Erlaubnis, diese mächtige Armee gesegnet worden." he began in a monotone voice, speaking so fast that some of the children could hardly catch onto what he was saying. From what Galen could understand, the man was saying something along the lines of them being blessed with his Majesty's permission for them to join the army...''

On the black screen was an image of several people in black haori's...

"A-choo!!"

"''Als solche sind sie alle erwartet..." he continued, but his eyes snapped over to Galen who had accidentally sneezed in a fairly average sounding volumne. When this happened...''

''"Sie!" the officer yelled out, stomping over to Galen, grabbing his head in a tight grasp. "Sie müssen nicht niesen! Sie sprechen nicht!" he continued to yell at him, harshly criticising him for sneezing so rudely in the middle of his speech. "Do you understand me?!" he finished as he switched intentionally to english just so Galen would get it.''

By the time Galen had nodded his head in approval, the man threw him onto the ground face first with a snarl.

''He now stands in a circular arena looking room, appearing to now be in the age range of thirteen. His hair was grown back out more by this time, only a little spikey and still shorter than it was before he had it shaved. He wore a white shirt, along with white pants, wrapping around his arms and fists and a rather composed, yet fiery eye filled expression on his face. The same officer from before was in the center of the circular room, and across from Galen was another boy around his age with fairly shorter red hair and the same expression as Galen's.''

''The officer then stepped back, and motioned them both to come forward. As they did so, he drew a straight sword from it's hild on his left hip, and held it straight down between the two boys.''

''"Go!" he suddenley said as he raised the blade into the air. When this happened, the red haired boy threw his fist towards Galen, it was time for them to spar!''

''Galen quickly swerved his head back and to the left, promptly avoiding the strike. When this happened, the silver haired boy quickly grasped the other boy's arm with his hands, and then threw him over onto his back with a loud smack.''

''Briefly releasing his hold of the now floored other boy, Galen brought his foot up all the way, and slammed the back of it into the boy's chest. This caused the red haired kid to breifly yell out in pain, before his head fell back onto the ground, completely incapacitated by the incredibly well placed strike.''

''"Aufhören!" The officer spoke aloud, sheathing his blade and taking Galen's wrist, holding it up into the air, speaking in a moderately pleased voice. "Galen herrscht!"''

--

''He stood inside of a massive courtyard along with several others, with a star filled night sky above them all and the massive ice palace that they had come to call home for the past few years behind them. He now appeared to be in his twenties, his hair now regrown out to be smooth and more kept than before, and his face and body more adult than before as well. Wearing an officer's uniform, just like the one that had trained him in the past, he stood stoically along with other similarly dressed men and women.''

''In the distance of the courtyard, full of silver sand that seemed to stretch for miles, were several humanoid looking targets. They looked incredibly real, far too real to be classified as mere dummies, and they all dotted the landscape with blindfolds and white prisoner outfits.''

''Behind Galen and the others was his old officer, their mentor, their trainer, who had been with them most all of their lives. And behind him was Juhabach, sitting on a fairly average sized throne, with white cloaked figures on his left and his right. His form hunched and leaning forward, his hands folded in front of his mouth and his elbows resting on his knees, he awaited for the new initiates to show what they had learned.''

The officer held up his right hand high into the air. "V''orbereiten!" he said aloud. Upon saying that command, Galen and the others drew out their crosses, and with the flow of energy around them, said crosses formed into bows and weapons of various shapes and sizes.''

''Galen's manifested in a cross, a simple cross in design with a single circle in the center of the cross. They all then prepared to gather Reishi from around them into the form of their arrows...''

"S''chießen!" the officer yelled, before Galen and the others released a massive barrage of blue arrows upon the targets. The supposid dummies never stood a chance. While most of them were simply shredded to pieces, something happened to the ones that Galen hit that drew both the officer and Juhabach's eyes.''

''His target, upon having one of the arrows lodged into his chest, began to shiver and shake, his form beginning to take a light blue hue, before he finally froze entirely, shattering into hundreds of shards of ice. Galen's powers revolved around ice?''

''To his right was another initiate, who's cross manifested in the form of a fairly long blue pistol, who completely blew away other onlookers as he blew head off after head off of his targets. Juhabach motioned for both he and Galen to approach him. They did so, and Juhabach stood stoically in front of them....before slowly clapping his hands in approval.''

-

''He and the other initiate stood calmly along side each other in a crowd of other Quincy, all of them wore the same trench coats as before, but they appeared to be a couple of years older than before. All of them stood in an orderly fashion, five rows of at least one hundred and fifty people inside of what could be classified as the main throne room. In front of them, on a large pedestal was the throne of their king, Juhabach, who now sat upright in a calm manner.''

''The officer that had been with Galen since his initiation stood in front of the large stair case that lead to the throne, standing straight and with his arms behind his back. On each of his sides were lines of other officers of similar rank. To the man's direct left was a youthful appearing woman, holding two folded pieces of white clothing in her hands.''

''"Visari, Armin!" the man yelled out, causing the other initiate standing next to Galen to come forward. Galen himself did not see what happened with Armin came before the officer, as his gaze was told to be directed forward, not to be distracted by anything.''

But he couldn't help but briefly glance at Armin, now wearing a white cloak and walking up to the stair case towards Juhabach, but he left Galen's sight as he ascended higher.

''"Abendroth, Galen!" the officer shouted once more, which allowed Galen to carefully and quickly leave the group of people he was with as he came and stood stoically in front of his long time mentor. The man looked him over in a ceremonial fashion, before calmly turning to the woman to his left, and taking the remaining piece of clothing from her hands. He then held it calmly in front of Galen, before unfolding it and letting it flourish out completely, revealing it to be the cloak worn by the highest ranked of their army...''

''The Officer then put it around Galen's back as the white haired initiate closed his eyes as he did so. Fastening it's front two buttons, and then stepping back slightly to look him over, the officer then put his hands on Galen's shoulders.''

"''Seien Sie stolz, Sie haben gelungen." he spoke with a nod, before stepping aside and holding his hand out for Galen to approach Juhabach.''

''Galen bowed in the face of his mentor, before walking up the steps to his King. His white cloak billowing behind him as he came to the spot in front of Juhabach's throne. Getting on one knee and bowing his head, Galen awaited for what his king would order from him.''

''Juhabach stood up, and pulled his sword from his sheathe that was on his left hip, and then held the tip to Galen's left side of his head. "You, Galen Abendroth, are hearby declared, Stern Ritter "B." the Boreal." he said with slight pride in his voice, before sheathing his weapon and sitting back on the throne.''

''Galen then stood up, bowed before the king, and descended the steps, and then moving to his left down another hallway. Armin stood at it's entrance, smiling slightly as he nodded towards Galen and entered the hall before him, with Galen following. They entered a large room with other Quincy of various expressions and sizes, all wearing the same cloak as they. ''

They were now Stern Ritter.



''It was only a few years latter, that he and Armin stood along with the other Stern Ritter, all wearing their hoods as they stood in a V shaped formation, with one Stern Ritter in front of the formation. They stood in a rather large dark room, as Galen and Armin stood directly on each side of their leader.''

wrrrrr.....

The massive door in front of them began to go up, revealing a brief light that dimmed down once it fully opened, revealing more silver sand, and in the distance was a massive castle, that they knew as Las Noches.

Their leader took one step forward towards the castle...and the others began to follow...

Act 3 Three Months later...
Snow.

It was the only thing that could be seen, deep within the vast mountain range of the Himilayas. It came down like a merciless barrage of bullets, stinging into the skin of those who were foolish enough to tempt the land with uncovered skin. No wildlife, not even at the very bottom of the mountains could be seen, for they had all wisely chosen to remain in their shelters, hiding and waiting for the storm to show them its rare sight of mercy, so that they may live to see their next meal...

Upon a much higher elevation, on the side of one of the more lengthy and flattened mountains, was a fairly wide stretch of ground, going at least one-hundred yards in width and nearly a kilometer in length. While most all of the ground was covered in snow, there was a fair number of dry spots of rock that one could walk on without fear of slipping and falling to an inevitable doom. This was due mainly to the larger part of the mountain acting as a "wall" of sorts, protecting most of the stretches ground from the snow that was moving in the direction to where it would clash with the massive wall.

What was on this ridge, however, was a much more eye-catcher for the average hiker.

It was a settlement of sorts in appearance. There were at least seven small shacks, large enough to house at least three people individually, dotted along the fair stretch. Each of them appeared to be made of mostly wood, short, thick pieces of lumber that could have only been taken from the villages far below them. However, each of them appeared to have certain...modern features to their exterior. Some of them had conduit boxes on their outside, neatly placed and set up without the fear of runaway sparks. Others had propane tanks just a few feet away from them, mostly to their back side.

There were other features that one could spend several minutes citing and pointing out, but its inhabitants were dressed in a much more primitive and local style, wearing fur-made robes and caps, but all of them, male and female alike, wore strange grey gas masks. And they also each had silver a blue cross-like necklaces around their necks...

"Jörg!" a yell suddenley rang out from one of the shacks that was several meters from the one furthest to the edge of the stretch of land on the mountain. It was a rather scrawny appearing young man, wearing black pants along with the standard brown and tan colored fur coat, complete with a fur-cap and the gas mask worn by all of the others. He ran towards a taller appearing man, whom of which was slowly pacing around the village with both arms folded and his head down, trying to keep the cold off of him as he found his gaze turning towards the man who called out his name.

"Jorg, have you..." the man tried to start as he finally caught up with his destination, panting a couple of times as he tried to get his words out. "...have-have you heard back from...from you scouts yet...? Whoo boy..." he finished as he squated down briefly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Jorg continued his pace, briefly turning his head to look at the man after he finished his sentance, before turning his head back towards the ground and shaking his head in a negative response. "No, havent heard a bloody thing all day..."

"Andreas is getting worried." the smaller man replied as he followed the man by his side. "And youve heard nothing? No yells, no Reishi senses, no messages, nothing of that sort?"

"No." Jorg replied in a much more stern voice, clearly not the kind to be asked the same question twice. "Ive heard nothin and I dont plan on goin out to find em unless this damned weather lets up for a change!"

"Not even if Andreas says so?" the younger man said back in a bit of a matter-of-fact tone.

"Bloody wanker can go and do it himself if he finds it so damned important." the larger man replied in the same tone, but a bit lower in volume. "It's his fucking fault that we're here to begin with. Had he simply let us all stay with the Vandenreich, where everything was nice and simple, and not insist that we all run off on his lil' crusade of his, then we wouldn't be freezing our arses off out here!"

"If you find it so bad of him to have done so, why did you bother following him?" the much more scrawny man persisted in his questioning.

"Because I wanted a change of pace from all of that boring sand duned wasteland, Hueco Mundo of course!" he went on. "That place was so dull and dead ever since we conquered it! When I heard Andreas say that he was looking for volunteers to go on an expedition to the human world, obviously I jumped on the first train out of that place! But now I see it was nothing more than a damed goat-roping!"

"Adventurer eh?" the smaller man replied, before turning around to go back to his superior.

Coming to the final shack at the end of the long walk, of which was fairly taller in comparison to that of the other shacks before it, the man slowly opened the door and walked inside. The shack was actually rather clean, with what appeared to be a concrete floor as well as basic pieces of furniture such as wooden seats and a small couch. Near the end of the shack was a metal table, with various pieces of odd, arcane appearing tools and devices, and in front of that table was a fairly tall young man with spikey white hair, grey military grade pants, black boots and a white sweater, of which had two silver shoulder pads on it. He was looking down at something on the table, his hands on the table's surface as he leaned towards it somewhat.

"Lord Andreas, sir." the man said towards the white haired being with a bow, despite the latter's back being turned to him. "I'm afraid to report that Jorg's three scouts haven't returned yet, he said he hasn't heard from them all day."

"Hm...." the being, known as Andreas, slowly stood straight up and folded his hands behind his back. "...that's unfortunate. I was really hoping we'd have everyone be present today..."

"Do you have something planned m'lord?" the other man asked, retaining his attention like stature and tone.

"No, I don't." Andreas said back in a much more official tone, while his pose remained the same albeit with his head tilting up slightly. "But if anything were to happen, say, we were attacked by anything, i'd like to be at least somewhat prepared."

"Who would be attacking us, m'lord?" the subordinate continued. Although he was clearly fearful being in his master's presence, it wasn't in his usual nature to just leave with questions stuck in his head, otherwise he would drive himself nuts when he didn't have an assignment. "We haven't seen or heard of Hollows since we arrived and set up. Soul Reapers don't travel out this far due to the absence of Hollows. What is it we could fear?"

"Valid points, but I still refuse to take any chances." the superior finished, holding out his right hand and waving it a couple of times in a dismissing manner. "Go then, find Jorg, tell him and a couple more of his men to go out and collect what scouts they can. Bring them back here immediately."

"Yessir!" the subordinate replied with a respective bow, before quickly turning towards the exit, and leaving his leader to his devices.

Andreas simply let out a sigh as he then leaned forward on his metal table once more. His gaze was completely focused on what lay between his hands, right in the center of the table. It was a dark blue glove, medium sized, though it appeared to be made of an elastic material to where it could fit any hand larger than it's default size. In the center of the glove's back-side was a silver piece of metal, shaped like a start...the Vandenreich's star insignia, all five of it's points connected to an overlaying circle.

Staring down at it for a few more seconds, Andreas inhaled while closing his eyes, before opening them back up and reaching into his back pocket to pull out what appeared to be a stark white cell phone. Pressing a few numbers on it, and then pressing the speaker button, he set it down on the table and awaited an answer.

''"Ah...Andreas..." ''a rather deep voice spoke through the cell phone in a rather casual tone of speaking. "Deciding to call back finally? I trust what you have to say is worth listening to..."

"That depends on what you're wanting to hear." Andreas replied with a wry tone, smirking somewhat as he spoke. "I'm just giving you another status update, as usual. Though, I must say, it's getting rather....tedious keeping the nature and intention of our agreement from the men that followed me..."

''"They are just as expendable as the rest, as long as you get to us what we are needing, we could care less what is sacrificed. You were cunning enough to convince them that this was all a mere escapede on your end, and you're just as clever now to be able to decieve and hide your real alignment from them. Do not falter, not after we've come this far." ''the voice replied in a much harsher tone.

"Alright, alright..." Andreas replied, holding up his hands in a surrendering pose, obviously for comical relief in his mind. "I'm just saying, I may be a Stern Ritter in power, but I am still human after all."

''"A common excuse." ''the voice went on in a more sophisticated and calm way of speaking. "What so many of the spiritual denizens fail to realize is that we humans are far more capable of wonderous things than they can be at times. You are no different.... Now...show us what you've learned about the device."

"Very well." Andreas said with a clasp of his hands. "Brace yourself, it may not be what you were expecting..."

Elsewhere...

The previous subordinate, along with the larger form of Jorg and three other members of their organization slowly trecked through the large snowfield on the top of one of the mountains a little ways from their base of operations. They were cold, already exhausted from the treck that they were having to make for the sake of finding four other people that were likely already dead and gone.

"Gah! That's it! I'm leaving this bloody place!" Jorg finally yelled out as he quickly turned to his left and began breaking formation.

"Hey!" the previous subordinate called out to him as he and the other three members stopped, snow from above pounding their forms like unmerciful blasts of wind. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"What I just said you pecker-headed shit!" Jorg yelled back at him in an incredibly angered tone. "I'm sick of Andreas and all of his shit! I'm goin' back to Lord Juhabach and tellin' him all about Andreas and his stupid, useless crusade!"

"Get back here!" the other man yelled as he took a single step forward, preparing to follow Jorg and hopefully convince him to come back, via persuasion or force....

eeeeeeeeeeoooooooWWIZIT!!!!!!

Blurch!!!!

'"Agh!!!!!" 'However, as soon as his foot hit the ground, a flying blue projectile, being nothing more than a streak of blue light to their eyes, slammed right into the side of the man's knee, completely severing it from the full form of his leg in a gruesome display of blood. The projectile itself slammed into the ground next to him so hard, that a medium sized column of snow and rock shot up from the impact spot. The force was great enough to where it blew the man all the way on his back. Grasping his severed leg with sheer agony and pain, the man screamed as blood poored from the severed limb.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!! My leg! My fucking leg!! Aaaaaargh!!!!!!!" he screamed and wallowed around in pain. The other three could only look on in shock and fear. Even Jorg turned around in uncertainy and intimidation. What could have done something so fast...?

ZIT!!!

CRACK-BLURCH!!!!!

But then something else happened, something that would truly make Jorg regret coming on the journey to begin with. A hooded figure, wearing a long white cloak attached to his hood, along with a trenchcoat, belt, pants and boots, all white in color except for the belt, appeared directly in front of the large man. Only the bottom half of the man's face could be seen, and it would be the last thing that Jorg would ever see, as the man slammed the bottom of his right palm into Jorg's nose area, forcing the bone in his nose to break and fly up into his brain. Such force was used that the back of the man's head exploded in an even more violent display of blood and chunks of brain flew out of the back of Jorg's head, ending his reluctant journey for good.

The other three began to back up initially by a single step, but their journey too, was also at it's end.

ZIT!!!!

''Pack! SCRACK!!!! BLURCH!!! ''

CHITOW!!!!!!

Another figure, dressed in the same white attire as the other, appeared behind the remaining trio with a slightly blue tinted gun in his right hand. He quickly stood straight up, and smacked the left soldier's head with slight force to make him stagger and grasp the impact spot with both hands. While he was doing this, the cloaked figure then set his sights on the other two. Grabbing the barrell of his long pistol, he slammed the bottom of it's handle down on the middle soldier's head with enough force to kill him instantly. When he fell, the being then whirled around and slammed the handle of the weapon into the side of the remaining soldier's jaw, breaking it from it's hinges and killing him quickly as well. Finally, still in his whirling motion, the being quickly flipped his gun back to holding it by it's handle, and then fired another round into the surviving, staggering soldier's head, blowing it to bits entirely.

"Uhuuuuuuuuuhh....." the original subordinate, his knee blown off and losing a disturbing amount of blood, groaned in agony as he could barely muster the strength to grasp his leg further. He could only barely glimpse at the other cloaked being, the one who killed Jorg, standing over him. His eyes began to squint shut, when the figure raised it's boot over his head, and then slammed it down.

Darkness consumed his vision, and feeling left his body entirely.

The two cloaked figures, the armed one sheathing his pistol back in a holster, then slowly looked at the now dead group's tracks, leading back to where they had come from...and they too began to follow them.

Their targets had been found.

Back at the camp....

"...and that's why progress is becoming so much slower." Andreas finished his supposed report to the voice on the phone, his eyes half lidded and his eyebrows raised up as if he were becoming annoyed at the situation.

"With this in mind," the voice over the phone spoke casually. "do you think that you can get it to work at all?"

"Oh, I know that I can." Andreas replied as he stood up straight and held his arms out to his sides. "It's just, stealing one isn't like stealing a Bankai. They aren't as cooperative in nature, and can be quite unstable..."

''"Get it done, Andreas." ''the voice replied in a stern tone. "You were willing to join us earlier, and we told you what we expect. If it isn't finished within three days...well, we'll let you use your imagionation."

click!

The sound of a phone hanging up was heard over the phone, and the voice was gone.

Andreas let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head in annoyance. Of all of the places that he could chose to serve, rather than the Vandenreich, he chose someone who was so rude in conversation. Hanging up on him right in the middle of him talking? How rude!

"Well..." he stated to himself as he turned to leave his building, putting his hands into his pockets. "...guess I should break the news to everyone..."

However...

BOOOM!!!!!

The building shook violently as the sound of a large explosion shot out from the outside of the building. His cool and collected expression didn't change, save for both of his eyes opening halfway. "Oh dear..."

He opened the door to see many of his subordinates running around wildly in confusion, while several of them appeared in front of the building's door, bows drawn as they prepared to defend their master. Smoke was rising in the distance, showing that one of the buildings were on fire from the apparent explosion. In front of the building were the two white cloaked figures from before.

"Well well well..." Andreas replied with a smirk and outstretched hands. "Looks like ole' Bach found where I've been all this time."

The War of God
"Former Stern Ritter "P", Andreas." the left hooded figure said aloud and with authority, causing Andreas and the others to perk up their attention to him. "You and your accomplices have been charged with treason of the Vandenreich, and of his Majesty's cause."

"Treason?" one of the subordinates belonging to Andreas stated in fearful confusion.

"We-we never betrayed the Vandenreich!" the other, female subordinate guarding Andreas stated, lowering her bow slighlty.

"Now now, let's all just calm down and take a few breathers..." Andreas said to them, placing his hands on their shoulders. "Gentlemen, this whole "treason" thing is just a misunderstanding. I'm simply-"

"You've stolen valuble material from his Majesty's Research Wing." the hooded man snapped at him without changing his tone or his stance. "Possibly with the intent of distributing it's research to other factions. His Majesty has ordered the complete destruction of you and your accomplices."

His last sentance caused the other guards and subordinates to all gasp and step back accordingly. They had been decieved by this man, and now, they were going to die for it.

"I don't like being interupted, Visari." Andreas replied with a half-lidded, sinister stare, stepping forward past his guards. "I advise that you let me explain myself before you-"

CHITOW!!!!!

The hooded figure then suddenly whipped out his pistol, discharging a Reishi bolt from it like a blue burst of fire. The blast cleaved right through a small section of Andreas' hair, causing his eyes to widen as he felt the flaming blue bolt of energy slam into the head of the subordinate behind him, making blood fly out from it and into the wall of the building behind him.

"There is no explanation." the other figure beside the gun wielding one spoke with a stoic and calm tone. "You and your followers are sentanced to death."

Here, the spikey haired man gritted his teeth in annoyance. He now knew that his plot was dangerously close to becoming foiled by these two who once called him "friend". If he didn't act now, there wouldn't be a chance to rebuild, no chance to restart, ask his employers for more time, or more importantly, finish what he was assigned to do in the first place.

He didn't have any other option.

He inched forward just a small bit...

SIFT-FRWOOP!

He whirled himself around to the right, just behind the young Quincy woman guard's back, and rolled around her before running past the others as fast as he could. He had to get at least one of them away from his hut, lest they find what lays inside.

It was too fast for her to even react to the movement, but within her mind, she knew just exactly what this meant.

CHI-TOW!!!!

Her beloved leader, the one who smoothly convinced her to join him, was using her as a shield. A mere distraction, a wall from death's cruel, cold grasp, so that he could live for however longer these men would let him. The blue flash of the hooded man's gun appeared, and all sound seemed to stop except for the blast generated by spirit metal and fire. And it was the last thing she saw, that blue star shaped blast. So beautiful, she thought, time seemingly slowing down so that she would have just a few seconds to admire it's-

BLURCH!!!!

Her vision went dark. Painless, was her death, witnessing beauty in it's most violent, deadly form as she fell to the ground as a headless body in the snow. The first of many that would follow.

''"Damn..." ''The gun wielding Quincy inwardly cursed. How amateur of him, to fall for something so trivial as a human shield. His aim was dead center, he planned on blowing Andreas' head off in one clean shot. But there was the girl between him and his target, and his sights lined up and his finger moved too soon. She was dead and his target was escaping him.

He took a single glance at his partner, who looked back at him with those cool, smooth and steely blue eyes radiating a level of serenity and level-headedness he hadn't seen. The latter gave him a single nod, the only sign needed for him to know what to do, and how they would handle this situation.

FWOOOM!!!!

The Gunman flew off in the direction of Andreas' fleeing, intent on finishing what they started, and bringing order back to his organization.

The other Quincy looked at the remaining guards, their bows drawn and glaring at him with poses that symbolized defiance. They weren't going to run, despite knowing that they would die. They wouldn't die like cowards, they would die facing inevitability. This made him somewhat reluctant to kill them, deep down. To kill a fellow Quincy who wouldn't back down? It was distasteful, but there wasn't much he could do about it. His king had ordered no survivors, and he would deliver...

Andreas sped off as fast as his Hirenkyaku would take him. The snow obliderated into liquid for brief instances of seconds for every feet that he moved. His senses weren't lying, his pursuer was right on his tail by only a few yards. If he didn't pick up the pace, he would-

SCCCCCCCISH!!!!!

-almost fall off of a cliff.

Halting to a stop by skidding his feet along the rocky, snow covered ground, he found himself standing on the edge of the taller mountain that was just above his old HQ.

"Oh no..." he said in a light-hearted, sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes and turning to face his soon to be opponent. However, upon doing so, he saw that the path behind him was covered in mist, making it impossible to see his foe. It didn't matter, of course. His spiritual senses were all he would need, after all. "It appears that I have been trapped. Whatever am I to do?"

However, as he could feel his opponent getting closer, he wadded his right hand into a fist, revealing a silver, bat shaped ring on it's middle finger. Holding it out quickly to face his oncoming attacker, he spoke aloud. "Eat it!"

Froooooooom!!!!!!

The ring then shot out a Heilig Pfeil, but it wasn't like any other Heilig Pfeil. It resembled a collective of magenta tinted fire, shaped into a thin oval that flew back into the mist that was previously behind him, right where he felt his attacker would be...

.................boosh.....

...but he heard no explosion, no sound of an impact until a few seconds later, and it sounded too distant to be his real target. As the mist began to clear as a result of the intense heat that the projectile had sent out on it's journey, his eyes widened at what he saw.

The Stern Ritter who was chasing him had swerved to the right and stopped, avoiding the attack all together. His body was front facing to Andreas' right direction, his right hand extended and holding his pistol like spirit weapon directly at Andreas. In the distance, there was a small, and yet visible hole in a mountain nearly a mile from them. It appeared small from where Andreas was, but in actuality, the hole was nearly twelve meters wide. A testament to the power of his Heilig Pfeil.

CHITOW!!!!

The Stern Ritter then fired a Heilig Pfeil of his own at Andreas. It was too fast for him to avoid this time, and there was hardly any where else to go. All he could do was hope that the bullet wouldn't hurt as bad as he thought...

SPLURCH!!!

And then he took it, directly in his shoulder. Thanks to his Blut, the bullet had only barely gone into his skin, dissipating upon hitting the hard surface. So he could be fine from that, but the real problem was now where he was headed. The impact was so powerful, it caused his body to jerk back as a result. He flipped off of the mountain and out of the Stern ritter's view.

It looked like mission accomplished, but then he heard the presumibly deceased Quincy speak from under the mountain.

"Vollstandig!!!!"

BRWOOOSH!!!

A brief column of violet tinted light shot up from below where Andreas fell off, causing the Stern Ritter to turn his attention back to the mountain cliff. But the next sight was what really got his attention.

Andreas floated back up, with a pair of angelic wings on his back and three black sashes around his waist. his eyes were now red with violet sclarea as he smirked at his foe in confidence.

'''"Uriel!" '( ウリエル lit: "Fire of God"'')

To be continued....