Chapter 170 -- The Gathering
1.2k
Nifuji's mind went wild.
"We're here."
There's more of them?!
His senses, however, didn't let his mind process any more information. The overbearing mush of reiatsu poured over the young healer, steely boulders of spiritual essence holding him to the ground. His breath came hard, sweat pouring down on his body as he consolidated his reiatsu in an effort to shield against the cascade of power.
His breaths coming no easier, all Nifuji could do was see through the reiatsu-based cataracts in his eyes and make out who stood in front of him. Though he couldn't see details at first, he saw they all stood on either side of Yukihime. All of them had a cold glint in their eye as they looked at him, as if disgust for a lower being was contaminating their judgement.
Nifuji started his observation on Yukihime's right. A young man, with dark flowing black hair in a ponytail, was dressed rather oddly. A navyvest, perfectly fitted at the shoulders, hung down to the man's thighs with a silver hem, nicely complimenting the similarly colored and hemmed pants. A large daikatana was buckled to the back of the man's shoulder, its sheath barely an inch off the ground. He had cold eyes, Nifuji noted, and wore no expression on his face as his Zanpakutou pulsed somehow.
His eyes lingered on the man but moved down the line. Two twins now stood side-by-side, though one was a full head above the other. A female and a male, the male a full head taller than the female, stood side by side. The male had a good tuff of hair on his head, falling a little past his ears and winging out at the bottom. It was brown, and the kid's eyes were a vicious brown as well. The female's hair was long and pink, in a low double-ponytail that was formed just above the end of the hairline.
Nifuji blinked twice, suddenly realizing their young age. Though they weren't as young as he, they looked not a day over 15, 16 at the oldest. Both of them were fairly short, the boy standing at 5'8" and the girl at 5'4" or so. Nifuji frowned, despairing suddenly at how much taller they were than him. He grumbled something to himself as his eyes passed over Yukihime, falling to Ceer.
Ceer wore a pink vest with a white shirt under that, black dress pants and dress shoes completing the Earth-like look she carried herself with. Nifuji's eyes fell upon hers, and they locked for a moment. Hatred sparked between Ceer's eyes and Nifuji's. Wincing, Nifuji immediately averted his gaze, which earned a small chuckle from Ceer.
"...so...there are four of you?" Nifuji asked softly to break the silence, unable to squander anything above a whisper in this suppressing field of reiatsu.
"Well, there are actually two more." Yukihime stepped forward, spreading her arms wide, "But one of them has no wish to join us, and the other's temporarily inconvenienced."
"I wonder which one Sanakame is." Nifuji said dryly, rolling his eyes
"Yes, Sanakame." The taller of the two twins, the male, responded. Nodding his head serenely, Nifuji noticed the thing had an amount of reiatsu far lesser than any of the other combatants, except for his sister, who had a little over the boy's, "She's rather stubborn and wishes to have nothing to do with us. It's a little annoying, really, to have a Promethean oppose us so vehemently..."
"...Promethean...?" Nifuji repeated, blinking, "...what's that?"
"Well, since you don't know what a Seraph is, we'll start there." Yukihime took the conversation's head again, much to Nifuji's thanks. Everyone else was creepy, except for Ceer, who was just annoyingly arrogant, "You know about your father's plans to create Vizards out of the Bantenfuu, right?"
"...no." Nifuji shook his head, "What was the Bantenfuu?"
"The Bantenfuu was a training program that, officially, was designed to find and improve candidates so that they could be initiated into the Army of Masks." Yukihime dictated, as if lecturing a history class, "The Bantenfuu found pluses with powerful energy realizations and, estimating their potential, swiped them. We also acted as a 'dead cell' of sorts, assassinating those who would pose great threats to the Army of Masks, or even to their interests. Mainly, we were used for killings of Hollows, but a few pluses were deemed 'unusable' and were forcefully dissimilated through various tools that Sessha had created."
Nifuji pursed his lips through all this, knowing just how very little he actually knew. Nodding his head as Yukihime paused, she continued.
"It's not easy to believe that Vizards were behind the orchestration of all of this, including a fortress in Hueco Mundo, a hit group, and a group of this size. Really, the support staff was nothing more than a few captives of war or subservient souls. We never really knew them, and there was a designated reason for that. Some were even Vizards themselves, undercover of course, to check up on the Bantenfuu's progress." Yukihime sighed, "They never really trusted us, and for good reason; Sessha betrayed them the moment that he could.
"Sessha had, actually, created an ulterior motive for the Bantenfuu; the completion of the Seraphic Genesis Interest. Originally started and founded under the strict supervision of key Central 46 members during the Great Hollow War, it was Sessha's goal to be able to create artificial shinigami from raw pluses that had enough spiritual power. By extracting key elements, he hypothesized, one could force a plus into a shinigami, ranging from weak level to medium level, in a type of constription."
"...that's horrible." Nifuji whispered, "No one can be forced...to go through the pain we felt during the Siege..."
"That's not even the start of it, but you have to understand what time they lived in." Yukihime shook her head, "When Sessha started this, they were easily in the hardest part of the Great Hollow War. Numbers and hope were dwindling, Hollows multiplying. There wasn't a day when the Gotei emerged both victorious and lossless, and so conscription of sorts was of great interest to those who didn't wish to see the afterworld ruled by Hollows."
Flashes of pain, destruction, death, all of these, entered his mind. What Seireitei would be like, if the Hollows had won during the Siege? This question haunted Nifuji as Kanie's wild eyes entered. Would...Seireitei be filled with possessed resistance? He shook his head, unable to properly speculate without Kanie becoming involved.
"Whatever you're thinking, that's what they feared the most." Yukihime nodded, understanding the reason behind Nifuji's vehement opposing of his memories, "They didn't want the world to fall apart; the men of Rukongai were eager to become shinigami, but didn't possess the means.
"Sessha estimated that a mean 33% of the Rukongai population could become shinigami, and a good 6% of them shinigami of decent power. This excited the Central 46, and they kept it underground. As Sessha's research progressed, he become dangerously close to an answer before Masaru returned.
"When Masaru returned, everything went haywire." Yukihime sighed, "Sessha's program was put on faster-track so that Masaru could have decent bulks of reinforcements, but he hit a brick wall. Unable to continue, Sessha gave up the experiment and went to fight himself in the War to escape political pressure. It worked, and he returned a Seated Officer of the Gotei.
"...then where do all of you come in?" Nifuji questioned as Yukihime paused
"Us?" Yukihime snickered, "Haven't you figured it out yet?
"We're the Seraphs. We're the end product of the Seraphic Genesis Interest."
1.2k
Nifuji's mind went wild.
"We're here."
There's more of them?!
His senses, however, didn't let his mind process any more information. The overbearing mush of reiatsu poured over the young healer, steely boulders of spiritual essence holding him to the ground. His breath came hard, sweat pouring down on his body as he consolidated his reiatsu in an effort to shield against the cascade of power.
His breaths coming no easier, all Nifuji could do was see through the reiatsu-based cataracts in his eyes and make out who stood in front of him. Though he couldn't see details at first, he saw they all stood on either side of Yukihime. All of them had a cold glint in their eye as they looked at him, as if disgust for a lower being was contaminating their judgement.
Nifuji started his observation on Yukihime's right. A young man, with dark flowing black hair in a ponytail, was dressed rather oddly. A navyvest, perfectly fitted at the shoulders, hung down to the man's thighs with a silver hem, nicely complimenting the similarly colored and hemmed pants. A large daikatana was buckled to the back of the man's shoulder, its sheath barely an inch off the ground. He had cold eyes, Nifuji noted, and wore no expression on his face as his Zanpakutou pulsed somehow.
His eyes lingered on the man but moved down the line. Two twins now stood side-by-side, though one was a full head above the other. A female and a male, the male a full head taller than the female, stood side by side. The male had a good tuff of hair on his head, falling a little past his ears and winging out at the bottom. It was brown, and the kid's eyes were a vicious brown as well. The female's hair was long and pink, in a low double-ponytail that was formed just above the end of the hairline.
Nifuji blinked twice, suddenly realizing their young age. Though they weren't as young as he, they looked not a day over 15, 16 at the oldest. Both of them were fairly short, the boy standing at 5'8" and the girl at 5'4" or so. Nifuji frowned, despairing suddenly at how much taller they were than him. He grumbled something to himself as his eyes passed over Yukihime, falling to Ceer.
Ceer wore a pink vest with a white shirt under that, black dress pants and dress shoes completing the Earth-like look she carried herself with. Nifuji's eyes fell upon hers, and they locked for a moment. Hatred sparked between Ceer's eyes and Nifuji's. Wincing, Nifuji immediately averted his gaze, which earned a small chuckle from Ceer.
"...so...there are four of you?" Nifuji asked softly to break the silence, unable to squander anything above a whisper in this suppressing field of reiatsu.
"Well, there are actually two more." Yukihime stepped forward, spreading her arms wide, "But one of them has no wish to join us, and the other's temporarily inconvenienced."
"I wonder which one Sanakame is." Nifuji said dryly, rolling his eyes
"Yes, Sanakame." The taller of the two twins, the male, responded. Nodding his head serenely, Nifuji noticed the thing had an amount of reiatsu far lesser than any of the other combatants, except for his sister, who had a little over the boy's, "She's rather stubborn and wishes to have nothing to do with us. It's a little annoying, really, to have a Promethean oppose us so vehemently..."
"...Promethean...?" Nifuji repeated, blinking, "...what's that?"
"Well, since you don't know what a Seraph is, we'll start there." Yukihime took the conversation's head again, much to Nifuji's thanks. Everyone else was creepy, except for Ceer, who was just annoyingly arrogant, "You know about your father's plans to create Vizards out of the Bantenfuu, right?"
"...no." Nifuji shook his head, "What was the Bantenfuu?"
"The Bantenfuu was a training program that, officially, was designed to find and improve candidates so that they could be initiated into the Army of Masks." Yukihime dictated, as if lecturing a history class, "The Bantenfuu found pluses with powerful energy realizations and, estimating their potential, swiped them. We also acted as a 'dead cell' of sorts, assassinating those who would pose great threats to the Army of Masks, or even to their interests. Mainly, we were used for killings of Hollows, but a few pluses were deemed 'unusable' and were forcefully dissimilated through various tools that Sessha had created."
Nifuji pursed his lips through all this, knowing just how very little he actually knew. Nodding his head as Yukihime paused, she continued.
"It's not easy to believe that Vizards were behind the orchestration of all of this, including a fortress in Hueco Mundo, a hit group, and a group of this size. Really, the support staff was nothing more than a few captives of war or subservient souls. We never really knew them, and there was a designated reason for that. Some were even Vizards themselves, undercover of course, to check up on the Bantenfuu's progress." Yukihime sighed, "They never really trusted us, and for good reason; Sessha betrayed them the moment that he could.
"Sessha had, actually, created an ulterior motive for the Bantenfuu; the completion of the Seraphic Genesis Interest. Originally started and founded under the strict supervision of key Central 46 members during the Great Hollow War, it was Sessha's goal to be able to create artificial shinigami from raw pluses that had enough spiritual power. By extracting key elements, he hypothesized, one could force a plus into a shinigami, ranging from weak level to medium level, in a type of constription."
"...that's horrible." Nifuji whispered, "No one can be forced...to go through the pain we felt during the Siege..."
"That's not even the start of it, but you have to understand what time they lived in." Yukihime shook her head, "When Sessha started this, they were easily in the hardest part of the Great Hollow War. Numbers and hope were dwindling, Hollows multiplying. There wasn't a day when the Gotei emerged both victorious and lossless, and so conscription of sorts was of great interest to those who didn't wish to see the afterworld ruled by Hollows."
Flashes of pain, destruction, death, all of these, entered his mind. What Seireitei would be like, if the Hollows had won during the Siege? This question haunted Nifuji as Kanie's wild eyes entered. Would...Seireitei be filled with possessed resistance? He shook his head, unable to properly speculate without Kanie becoming involved.
"Whatever you're thinking, that's what they feared the most." Yukihime nodded, understanding the reason behind Nifuji's vehement opposing of his memories, "They didn't want the world to fall apart; the men of Rukongai were eager to become shinigami, but didn't possess the means.
"Sessha estimated that a mean 33% of the Rukongai population could become shinigami, and a good 6% of them shinigami of decent power. This excited the Central 46, and they kept it underground. As Sessha's research progressed, he become dangerously close to an answer before Masaru returned.
"When Masaru returned, everything went haywire." Yukihime sighed, "Sessha's program was put on faster-track so that Masaru could have decent bulks of reinforcements, but he hit a brick wall. Unable to continue, Sessha gave up the experiment and went to fight himself in the War to escape political pressure. It worked, and he returned a Seated Officer of the Gotei.
"...then where do all of you come in?" Nifuji questioned as Yukihime paused
"Us?" Yukihime snickered, "Haven't you figured it out yet?
"We're the Seraphs. We're the end product of the Seraphic Genesis Interest."