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Ryan leaned against the far right wall which was closest to the door. Miria stood on a small dais looking out over the class. They both had changed into the Instructor uniform which consisted of a dull grey kimono with a black haori worn over it, with black hakama.
‘Good morning class!’ Miria exclaimed enthusiastically. ‘My name is Miria Fujibayashi and I’ll be your Instructor for this special class.’
The classroom was large. Too large some would say. It sported three rising rows of tables and chairs until they hit the back wall, each with twenty rows comprising a single block with ten students to a single row. A single corridor ran up the right and left side of the middle block, splitting it off from those on its right and left flank. Despite having roughly six-hundred students in this one classroom Miria wasn’t nervous one bit! Of course she had experience teaching large classes while Ryan did not. She taught an optional dance and Hakuda class that was quite popular, while all Ryan taught was a small class catering to advanced Kidō usage. He was well out of his depth here.
‘Good morning, Ma’am!’ The class responded in one voice.
Ryan would have to make sure and check that his hearing was still working properly after this lesson. The boom of that response had caused a bloody echo that was still travelling! He couldn’t help but take note of something though. Had some of them came from an advanced Zanjutsu class? Some sported their zanpakutō at their waists.
‘This is my co-Instructor, Ryan Kuchiki, Lieutenant of the 5th Division.’
Murmurs rose amongst the class. “Wow, two Lieutenants” and “This is going to be so cool” and “I wonder what they’ll teach?”
Personally he would have left out the part about him being a Lieutenant and instead said he was Head of the Kuchiki Clan. People could spill all sorts of information if they thought it would get them into the good graces of a powerful noble. A Lieutenant had plenty of pull, sure, but a noble baring the Kuchiki name? That pull was on a completely other level.
‘How many of you have heard of the Quincy?’ Miria asked. She pointed to a young girl in the front row who had raised her hand. ‘Yes?’
‘They’re Human mediums capable of controlling reishi. With this ability they learned how to battle Hollows.’
Miria smiled. ‘Very good; but as some of you are aware, the Quincy simply destroy the Hollow they attack -- they cannot cleanse them. Does anyone know what effect this has?’
Ryan looked on casually to try and gauge the expressions of the class. He had a good eye and could see almost to the back of the room, but so far he didn’t see anything that shouted suspicious. So he returned his attention to the class in time to listen to a young boy near the middle rows of the right-most block answer Miria’s question.
‘Ugh… don’t they… um… endanger the Spirit Cycle?’
Ryan interjected himself by walking towards the dais. It was time to throw in some personal interpretation.
‘That is correct,’ he said with an encouraging smile. ‘It was for this very reason the Quincy pose such a threat. You see, in the past, the Quincy often spoke to us of their pride. When the Shinigami appealed to them to stop hunting Hollows and leave that task up to us Shinigami, the Quincy refused to listen. They increased in number like rabbits and the danger only grew.’
Ryan then drew his zanpakutō for demonstration.
‘Everyone here knows what a zanpakutō is.’ The students nodded. ‘This is what cleanses the soul of a Hollow.’ He then directed his attention to the projector Miria had been setting up. On the screen there was a black-haired female with a pulsating blue bow in her left hand. ‘That is a Quincy Spirit Bow. Most take the form of bows, though Quincy in recent years especially, has begun using a diverse range of weaponry. These weapons -- in whatever form they take -- lack the zanpakutō’s cleansing power and instead destroy the Hollow completely, endangering the cycle. If allowed to grow erratic the cycle could very well destroy the world.’ That sent murmurs through the crowd. ‘Yet the Quincy refused to listen and carried on regardless. You’d have thought they wanted to destroy the world.’
The last he said more to himself but the effect was almost instant. A single student in the fifth row of the left-most stand jumped to his feet! He didn’t say anything but the hatred in those eyes was unmistakable. Ryan had seen it many times before in the eyes of the Vandenreich during their Invasion.
Ryan had him now.
‘Forgive Ryan his views,’ Miria said. She then turned to him and whispered, ‘Perhaps it was a mistake asking you to help me with this lesson?’ He knew she was acting so decided to play along. ‘If you cannot remain impartial then I’ll have to ask you to leave.’
Ryan made a show of being disappointed but nevertheless excused himself politely with the excuse that he could stay no longer. Leaving the clean up of the class to Miria, Ryan stepped outside and waited. He cloaked himself in Kidō so that he became invisible and then disguised his spiritual power. The Quincy race was much more sensitive to spiritual energy than Shinigami were. If he played his cards correctly he could remain oblivious to the senses of the Shinigami students while surprising the young man he hoped was a Quincy. He only had to wait forty minutes.
The students left the room in an orderly fashion at Miria’s request and Ryan smiled inwardly. Soon… and his trap could be sprung.
Miria kept the left-most stand until the end and only then allowed them to leave behind their classmates. She also stopped some groups to ask questions and inquire as to their opinion on the class. Her efforts helped break up the crowd and Ryan seized his chance the first moment he had. He exerted a small trickle of reiatsu towards his suspected Quincy. The boy’s eyes went wide as saucers! He began looking around for the source and Ryan then projected his aura as killing intent to intimidate him. As expected the young boy exerted his own reiatsu to compensate.
‘Show yourself.’ He whispered.
So Ryan did. He drew back the air as though it where a curtain and stepped out from a fold of shimmering light which promptly vanished. The young boy sported a goatee and standard academy attire coloured blue and white with the academy symbol emblazoned on the front.
‘I have questions for you.’ Ryan said. ‘Please, this way.’
Miria had joined him now and both flanked their target on either side. They made a distinct effort to walk away from the crowd and soon entered into Miria’s office. It was small with a desk against the far wall and a couch near the door. Miria sat herself down on the couch and Ryan contended himself to sit on the tabletop.
‘Show me your zanpakutō.’ Ryan instructed.
He accepted the offered blade and inspected it brusquely. He took particular note of the guard. It was thick and when he knocked against it hollow. When he did that the young man also narrowed his eyes. Ryan also noticed something else: the reiatsu of the weapon was identical to its owner. They had him!
‘I know what you are.’ Ryan warned. ‘A Shinigami’s zanpakutō is not completely identical to their wielders spiritual energy signature. There are always slight variations in feel and consistency. But how would a Quincy know that? Your lack of knowledge betrays you. What’s your game, Quincy? Do you plan to corrode the Soul Society from within, or are you simply here to spy on us? Well?’
‘You must think you’re terribly smart.’ The Quincy replied. ‘You aren’t. It took you years to find me. My mission was long complete!’
Ryan dodged to the left instinctively as an arrow tore through the back wall of Miria’s office! Drawing one of his dual zanpakutō Ryan slashed towards his enemy who promptly vanished. His hand grasped Ryan’s leading arm and from there he pulled on Ryan and released! He was sent skidding into a nearby wall and when he reaffirmed himself the Quincy had reclaimed his blade.
‘I know a lot more about zanpakutō than you think, Lieutenant.’
Ryan and Miria where both sent flying out into the corridor by a shockwave of pure force! Miria recovered first and drew her zanpakutō as she flash stepped towards her enemy with timed manoeuvres. They clashed briefly in the air beyond the ruined wall though it was Miria who was ousted. With a parrying slash followed by a shockwave-aided-roundhouse kick the Quincy launched Miria down to the ground, where he then proceeded to lunge towards her defenceless frame! Memories of the Vandenreich Invasion flooded Ryan’s mind and he appeared between Miria and the Quincy. He brought his zanpakutō across his body for added momentum and diverted the Quincy into the nearby wall!
‘Begin, Satsuriku!’ Ryan exclaimed.
Ryan’s second zanpakutō vanished from his hand but in its place formed countless other katana blades with circular guards which floated around the Lieutenant and his Quincy opponent in an ever moving, column-like array.
‘You’ve turned one of those Vandenreich medallions into a sword, haven’t you!?’ Ryan asked. ‘Which Shinigami did you kill to gain that power?’
‘Wouldn’t you just love to know?’ The Quincy rebuffed.
He then released an omni-directional shockwave from his body that expanded so that it blew away the surrounding buildings and anyone unfortunate enough to be inside. The Quincy then vanished via Hirenkyaku and moved towards Ryan’s left side. Shifting on the balls of his feet Ryan intercepted the strike but was sent skidding along as a result.
‘Tch! You know how to use Blut!?’
This wasn’t good. His opponent was a lot more powerful than he had anticipated and he certainly never expected him to have a medallion! His only saving grace was that it already had a Bankai stolen and stored within. If push came to shove then he could always use his own. His usage of Blut also complicated things. If he could use Hirenkyaku to the level Ryan suspected by watching how he countered Miria, then he would have trouble catching him to exploit his weakened defence to accommodate the offensive Blut.
‘Are you struggling, Shinigami?’
It was only then that Ryan noticed that the Quincy’s earlier shockwave had effectively imprisoned them here. It pushed back anyone who tried to intervene, though most of those who where trying to intervene had been injured when that shockwave had hit.
‘No.’ Ryan answered simply. ‘I’m just wondering whose Bankai that is.’
By all he could determine watching the power it could harden and forcibly fire the user’s spiritual power as an incredibly forceful shockwave that was capable of inflicting excessive brute-force trauma. Miria had been knocked unconscious from a single kick which had been greatly strengthened by the shockwaves velocity.
‘Why? You’re only a Lieutenant! How are you able to hold my blade back!?’
Ryan repelled his attacker and inhaled sharply. This was what he had been waiting for. ‘My zanpakutō intensifies fearful emotions. That’s why your sweating and shaking so much.’ Ryan then flash stepped towards him and unleashed a flurry of heavy-handed strikes. Even with the offensive blut, the Quincy’s fear had dulled his strength. Ryan knocked aside his defences and slashed him down the shoulder!
‘You are beaten.’
‘Not so fast.’
A javelin pierced Ryan’s lower abdomen and he was forced to retreat as the Quincy fired spirit arrows from the tip of a pulsating blue lance! Dodging the attacks to the best of his ability Ryan stepped his way towards Miria. At the rate this Quincy was firing some could easily hit her. All thought left his head though! He saw the tip of an arrow jut out through his shoulder and he immediately looked over his other shoulder to see another Quincy with light-blond hair and yellow eyes holding a solid bow in his hand.
‘There are two of you? No choice, then. Bankai, Muhensai Satsuriku!’
Ryan stabbed his zanpakutō into the floor and released a spiritual pulse that caused the ground to shake and split. He then waited as the blades surrounding him danced around him. Each then phased into the blade he held which he promptly levelled at his enemies.
‘So predictable,’ the newly arrived Quincy said.
Ryan’s eyes went wide as his enemy raised a medallion into the sky! He tried to deactivate his Bankai but he was too late. He felt the presence of his zanpakutō leave him and in that instant he knew it was gone. His enemy held aloft the medallion and laughed softly.
‘We are done here, Siegfried. We had best return. Good work.’
‘Thank you, Ricky.’
The two Quincy vanished into a Shadow as Ryan looked on in shocked disbelief. Satsuriku… was gone.
This story, Defeat and Robbery, ends the current segment of the story taking place of the Soul Society. The follow-up returns to Kenji Hiroshi.