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| This article, Hunger and Greed: Doubling Down, is part of Bleach: War for the King's Seal, which continues on from the opening segments of the site's former Fanon Canon project. Use of this page's contents is determined by the author of this page, unless otherwise specified. |
This article, Hunger and Greed: Doubling Down, is the sixth chapter of the Hueco Mundo arc, which is part of Bleach: War for the King's Seal. This chapter features Akira as the POV character with Vlad serving as primary support.
To say we were in a pickle would be a monumental understatement. Everything was happening too quickly, but then that was just another example of the multiverse at work. I couldn’t expect everything to play out here exactly as they had in my own world. Things were similar, sure, and at times the only difference appeared to be an individual missing here, an event happening earlier there, but down the road that led to intricate changes that couldn’t be predicted by any party.
For one, Kusaka laid Averian’s premier Battle Doll low in my world. Here? There was no Kusaka. The Stalwart, the famed Sword Demon, Kenji’s Shadow, and the legendary Slayer of Gods, was absent. And the world was lesser for it.
Clairvoyance would be a wonderful thing, right about now.
Unfortunately, that was one thing we did not have the benefit of. Averian was here now and nothing could change that. We either doubled down now and worked out a plan of action, or he ran rough-shod over everything in his path. In my own world, Averian proved himself an absolute beast right out of the gate. In their first battle, with what my father later discovered to be a defective Battle Doll, it took everything Van and Kenji could throw at him just to force a retreat! The real deal had managed to manhandle the assembled Visored reinforced by Tadashi and Shin, and later Kenji, Van and Anika. In fact, granny Anika hadn’t walked away.
That was the kind of creature we were dealing with.
And whilst knowledge was power, as Vlad and Myst and Asuka had correctly pointed out, this Averian had already proved quite different to the descriptions I had provided to my companions. We didn’t know enough at the moment, which is why I was once again back in Naruki City, in a darkly lit room of opulent decoration and fine furniture, sitting opposite a Vampire. He was actually a Reikon Kyuuban, but Vlad himself had always introduced himself as a vampire. Given his other name was Dracula, aka the most famous vampire in literature, who was I to argue with him?
Besides, there was the small detail of me being scared shitless of him.
Vlad did not look happy to see me. Or maybe he was just unhappy that I had poured a glass of wine whilst I waited without his permission? I didn’t know.
He advanced on me so quickly, I half expected him to sink his teeth into my neck!
“Boy, you were given access to my spies as per my Queen’s command. That does not give you leave to come and go from my residence as you please. I do not like my servants informing me of Shinigami trespassers, nor do I condone one of the young drinking my wine!”
And with that, he snatched the glass of fine red from my hand.
“You barely look old enough to drink it anyway, and you are certainly not old enough to savour it properly.”
“You sound like my mother, you old spoilsport.”
For the second time in as many days, the temperature plummeted, and I found myself experiencing the unrestrained might of Vlad, old amongst the Elders, and feared as The Impaler. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was almost like it possessed a personality of its own. Like the man himself, his reiatsu felt ancient, otherworldly. His reiatsu was old, very old. Full of memory. And anger…!
I gulped nervously. I’d really have to start watching my mouth more.
“Look, I’m sorry for intruding, but you’re one of the few people I can think of who might know something, given your age and experience.”
His expression lightened a hair, but his voice still had a whip-like quality.
“So, now you need the knowledge of this ‘old fool’, hmm? Typical.”
Even in light of his softening expression, I couldn’t tell if he were happy, or if he smiled whenever he was about to sink his fangs into the neck of his next victim, but he was smiling now, his canines glistening. I gulped and pointedly pulled my cloak tighter around my neck.
“... Speak quickly.”
I wasn’t going to argue. Rather than addling my wits, fear sharpened them, though my words tumbled out of me in a rush!
“Are you familiar with any ancient Hollow, or Arrancar, at all? Anything at all! It’s important.”
He blinked once, twice. He followed this with a deadpan expression, the kind that would have put Shinji Hirako himself to shame.
“That is your question? Isn’t that something you would normally ask a Shinigami, given it is their job to deal with the Hollow threat? What makes you think a vampire such as I know anything of ancient Hollows and their ilk?” Vlad asked. “They do not lend themselves to our… unique culinary requirements.”
“I’m asking because you helped my father a lot in his earlier years, although he said you were a cantankerous old ba- I’m going to shut up now.”
There it was again! Plummeting cold, followed by the ghost of a smile. Only this time it appeared that I had opened my mouth one too many times, for Vlad was on me in a second! I thrashed, of course, and tried to draw my Zanpakuto, but he seemed to dance, his body flowing from one location to the next, and in mere moments he had me pinned to the chair and his fangs sunk into my neck!
Pain.
There was no other word to describe it. I felt paralysed, yet my body and mind still processed things like shock and pain, which was quite a strange sensation. As my vision blurred, I felt time slow to a crawl. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and I honestly don’t know how long Vlad knelt with his fangs at my neck.
Long enough, I suppose, that I was suddenly very aware of my heart beating, for it was like thunder in my ears.
When he finally released me, I didn’t move. I could barely lift a finger if I was being honest, never mind drawing my Zanpakuto to attack.
“Relax, I did not feed on you.”
“Yeah, right… The puncture holes in my neck tell me otherwise!”
“We Reikon Kyuuban can read the memory locked in one’s blood, child,” he began explaining, with the tone of a man speaking to a very young student. “Suffice to say, I have seen enough of your memories to know that your ridiculous tale about hailing from an alternate world is true, so at the very least, the Queen will know that you were truthful with her.”
“... That- You- Damn, that’s convenient. Wait a minute! You didn’t see Asuka and-”
“I am no voyeur, and if you insult me in my own home again, I’ll feed on you for real! Know that it leaves me hungry, and you leave me irritable. Not a safe combination for you, young Akira. Now-”
He stopped, the mahogany doors opening to permit a female servant, who placed a tray of assorted confectionary on the table. She bowed low to Vlad, regarded me as warmly as one would the excrement on their shoe, and departed as quickly as she came.
“Charming girl,” I quipped.
“Those are for you,” Vlad stated matter-of-factly. “The reading of memory can be draining, for both parties, so you’ll want to recover your strength. And then there’s this,” and he lifted the earlier confiscated glass of wine. “Given that your lips have already befouled it, you may as well finish it.”
As I accepted the wine glass, I watched as Vlad walked towards the wall and fingered the spines of several books, which sat on shelves lining the wall on opposite sides of the fireplace. He ruminated over several, shaking his head at times, before apparently finding what he sought, all whilst I ate with a pang of ravenous hunger! With a red book in hand, which was old but well cared for, he settled himself into one of the high-backed chairs opposite the blazing hearth.
He gave me a look as if to say “have you no manners” before settling down to read.
“Ancient Hollow, hmm? The first to evolve past the Adjuchas stage was Baraggan Louisenbairn and those who followed him, and after a struggle for control with others of his ilk, he became the undisputed God-king of Hueco Mundo. Another travelled to the Soul Society, defeating a young Yamamoto in the process, before being stopped by the Royal Guard. I know not what happened to it after that, and neither did the author of this tome.”
“It was sealed away inside a Zanpakuto, at least according to my father, and given a new name: Ikomikidomoe.”
“... Surprisingly effective, if indeed the same solution was used here. I will update it as a possibility, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I replied, stunned.
“Those are the most noteworthy of the Hollows,” Vlad continued. “I believe you asked after Arrancar as well? According to the accounts compiled by my brethren, one arose around the same time as Baraggan and Ikomikidomoe, possibly as one of Baraggan’s followers, becoming a Vast Lorde himself as well. He would, in turn, become the first naturally occurring Arrancar, and attempted to overthrow Baraggan. He failed.”
“Do you know his name?”
“Averian, although Baraggan stylized him as ‘Teki’, citing their altercation and labelling Averian as an enemy.”
It was as I feared then. The Adjuchas I killed at the start of the year had impeached its master, Teki, to save it. And Teki was just another name for Averian. This time, instead of being a help to me, my father’s drunken ramblings had been a hindrance, giving me false signals. According to them, Teki was the name of the being who had been pulling Averian’s strings. Maybe it was too much to hope that he didn’t exist in this world, the same way Kusaka didn’t?
Was I that lucky? I doubted it.
“... I’m asking you this because Averian has returned. My companions confirmed it to me yesterday after I met with yourself and Myst.”
Vlad’s eyes momentarily widened in anger.
“Queen Myst. And that is why you suddenly look terrified. Your fears have been confirmed.”
“What happened to Averian after he fought with Baraggan? I can’t imagine he’d be allowed to wander free.”
“The account appears to vary. There is one account here that claims he fought a group of six Captains, killing all but two of them in the process. It then claims that he fled. Another claims that he was sealed away in a forest of trees, never to emerge again. Personally, I do not know. This account is an old one, young Akira, very old, written in one of our oldest cyphers.”
“Does it mention anything about his powers? Weaknesses? Anything like that?”
“No, outside an offhand reference to his hunger and greed devouring all before it. In that, he and Ikomikidomoe are quite similar. It is quite vague.”
I could help clear that up to, I guessed.
“He absorbs the power of those he kills,” I answered. “Regardless of race. He then gains some measure of their skills, even if an Arrancar would otherwise be incapable of using whatever technique or skill he absorbs. Damn it! I was hoping for more insight than that.”
By now, my wine glass was empty, and Vlad was pacing in front of the fireplace, the flames casting long shadows across the room. My hunger was sated, I was no longer shaking, and I was surprisingly clear of head despite the glass of wine. He beckoned me to rise, pointed towards the door, and leaned against the mantle of the fireplace, suddenly looking like an old man.
“Seek Anika Shihoin,” he said at last. “She was Clan head of the Shihoin when they agreed to safeguard Fushicho. Now leave. I hunger, and you are distracting.”
My backside never left the premises so quickly in all my life! Fear rose in me anew, and it lent my feet speed. But I stopped just short of walking out the mahogany doors. There was one more question I would like him to answer.
“Vlad, why are you helping me?”
There was that ghost of a smile again, but of course, I couldn’t see it, as his back was turned to me.
“Because it is rare for one of the young to seek knowledge rather than power. Now go, and remember the arrangement you have with the Queen.”