Crack! Crack!
A massive, iron-forged hand gripped a fragile neck, hoisting the Shinigami into the air. Broken limbs dangled limply, blood dripping steadily.
Across the Seireitei's streets, countless homes lay in ruins, bodies strewn densely across the ground.
The air reeked of iron and rust.
Adalbert stood motionless, his cold gaze flicking to the 'X' emblem on the Shinigami's left arm, his voice low and heavy:
"You must be what they call a 'lieutenant,' right?"
"The highest-ranking Shinigami below a captain."
"Here's how it works: I ask, you answer."
"Understood?"
His carrot-thick fingers dug into the lieutenant's neck, eliciting faint cracks of grinding bone. The man's bearded face, stained scarlet with blood, purpled from oxygen deprivation.
Yet, hearing the Quincy's words, he trembled, raising his chin, a savage grin splitting his lips:
"Pfft!"
Spittle mixed with organ fragments splattered the ground.
Adalbert, unfazed, pressed on:
"The Ōken."
"Ever heard of it?"
"They say it's the key to the Soul King Palace."
"..."
The bearded lieutenant merely lowered his head, his mocking smile growing sharper.
Ready to die.
Adalbert waited a few seconds, seeing no trace of surrender, then sighed helplessly.
Snap!
With a slight twist, his hand crushed the Shinigami's neck.
The limp body crumpled to the ground.
"I told you, you're wasting your effort."
"Dumbass Adalbert."
Metalica lounged on a 'couch' of piled corpses, nibbling candied fruit from an oilpaper wrap, her tone careless: "Guys like these would never know secrets like that."
"We should grab a captain or two."
Adalbert's hulking frame beside Metalica's petite form created a jarring contrast, like a beast next to a doll.
But at her voice, a flicker of fear passed through Adalbert's eyes.
"Then we'll do it your way."
Metalica brushed off fruit pits, tossing the crumpled wrap aside, hopping up from the corpses:
"Should've done that from the start."
"But, is it really fine?"
Adalbert agreed verbally but hesitated: "If we're not guarding His Majesty, won't that..."
Metalica's steps halted.
She turned, tilting her head, her gaze icy as it swept over Adalbert:
"Are you doubting His Majesty's greatness?"
"Adalbert."
Her small frame and childish voice carried a sharp edge, like a venomous threat, drawing a bead of sweat to Adalbert's temple.
"Absolutely not!"
"..."
Metalica's cold stare lingered, silent for a long moment, before she dropped a single line:
"There won't be a second time."
Adalbert bowed his head, tense.
But then...
Boom!
A brilliant blue beacon exploded in the distant sky, its octagonal cross sigil radiating reishi, instantly seizing everyone's attention.
Metalica and Adalbert whipped their heads toward the signal's origin.
A cruel smile crept across Metalica's delicate face:
"Well, how convenient."
"That's... Liestya's direction, isn't it?"
...
This man...
He's a monster!
Liestya propped herself on one hand against the damp ground beneath the cratered tiles, her body battered, tattered white cloth clinging to her bloodied wounds, quivering with her ragged breaths.
Yet none of the injuries were fatal.
She struggled to lift her head, staring at the man approaching slowly.
This guy was like a cat toying with a mouse, idly playing with her body until she had nothing left to offer, only then delivering the killing blow.
If she wanted to survive...
"Not ready to behave yet?"
Makoto's tone was mild, as if discussing tonight's dinner with a neighbor, utterly casual.
"Or do you have another card to play?"
"Want to take a last shot?"
"..."
"Wait, wait!"
As if resolving herself, Liestya flung aside the iron staff she'd clung to, raising a hand toward him.
Her face tightened, stripped of the flippant swagger she'd shown at their first meeting, her voice laced with tension and a faint, barely concealed fear:
"I surrender."
"I'll do as you say!"
Kneeling, Liestya's tone was earnest: "Intel on my comrades, His Majesty's plans, I'll tell you everything."
"Please spare me."
Makoto listened, his gentle smile unwavering, revealing nothing.
With someone whose power was 'Lie,' no word she spoke could be trusted.
"So, where's the sincerity?"
Liestya's body stiffened.
Then, slowly, she drew a reishi arrow from her waist.
Forming a spirit bow, she fired it skyward without hesitation, the arrow bursting into an octagonal sigil.
"They'll be here soon."
After this, Liestya exhaled, as if relieved, offering a placating smile, her expression strained: "Also, I have one more thing to offer you."
"Actually, we Quincy have another form, called 'Vollständig.'"
"Among the Quincy approaching now, there are some whose strength in this form is formidable."
Makoto studied her cautious demeanor, his smile as warm as a spring breeze, his voice soft:
"And you?"
Liestya said nothing, merely kneeling before him with effort, her hands presenting the iron staff she'd wielded.
As reishi gathered in the air, a strange power sprouted within her, like a seed buried deep, now unearthed.
Countless reishi circuits, stemming from the 'Schrift' seed, spread across her body, enveloping her entirely.
At last, it burst forth.
Zing!
A single reishi wing stretched skyward.
Surging shockwaves rippled outward, stirring fierce gusts.
The potent reiatsu, strong enough to surpass a Shinigami captain's threshold, carried an intimidating weight.
Yet, to Makoto, it was merely a gentle breeze.
He gazed quietly at the woman before him.
Liestya, feigning tension, bowed her head, her words quickening as she lifted the iron staff with both hands, extending it toward Makoto:
"I offer you a contract encompassing everything."
"I'll be your sword against them."
But beneath her words, a cold glint flickered in her eyes.
In a blind spot Makoto couldn't see, a 'thread' running through the staff shimmered faintly with reishi.
Lies were her essence.
Spoken lies, misdirection through expressions and actions, deceptions woven by environment and scene, or even...
Lies inscribed on paper.
Conversely, belief in her lies took countless forms.
Heartfelt trust, the trust implied by silence, trust sealed by a signature.
And trust manifested through a handprint on a contract.
Liestya knelt, her silent prostration a beacon of submission, offering the staff like an 'axis.'
Having survived ages, she had her own methods to counter the strong.
Verbal manipulation, submissive posturing, and... countless inscriptions on this staff, not iron but a rolled sheet of metal, the [Hound's Rite], a reishi device crafted by another Sternritter's ability.
This completed her 'Lie.'
If he pressed his handprint...
He'd become her utterly obedient servant.
A savage grin crept across Liestya's lowered face.
But as Makoto's hand neared the staff, he paused.
"As expected."
"I'm not cut out for these mind games."
"All this guessing makes it hard to relax."
Liestya froze, lifting her head, her expression stunned.
Makoto smiled at her: "I mentioned when we met, didn't I?"
"Our abilities have pretty good synergy."
"So..."
He leaned down, meeting her gaze, his voice calm: "You'll tell me the truth, won't you?"
He dropped the pretense, tired of the game.
Under the absolute dominance of his reiatsu and ability, this woman had no chance from the start.
Liestya's expression stiffened.
[Binding Truth]
As his words landed, faint heart-shaped glints flickered in both their eyes.
"I..."
"I wanted you to press your handprint."
Liestya's mouth opened, spilling her true intentions involuntarily.
Realizing too late, she tried to cover her mouth, but her hands froze inches from her face, her voice unstoppable.
Terror flooded her eyes:
"The staff is inscribed with the [Hound's Rite]. If you pressed your handprint under my 'Lie,' you'd obey me completely, becoming my... What did you do to me?!"
"My... slave."
Kneeling, she frantically covered her lips, biting her tongue until blood seeped, unable to stop.
Her gaze on Makoto grew more fearful.
She'd said everything.
How was this happening?
A Shinigami... with this kind of ability?!
Impossible!
"Oh?"
"That dangerous, huh?"
Makoto eyed the staff on the ground, his expression innocent, his curiosity piqued:
"How do I use it?"
"Tell the truth."
[Binding Truth]
Liestya's body trembled uncontrollably, biting through her tongue, blood pooling.
But before her expression could ease, her fingers moved on their own, dipping in blood, scrawling rapidly on the ground under her horrified stare.
Makoto crouched beside her, nodding thoughtfully as he watched her write, murmuring in awe.
"Wow."
"Inject blood and reiatsu, huh..."
"Like this?"
When she finished, Liestya's body felt like it had plunged into ice, shaking violently.
She looked at Makoto, still studying her writing.
In a fleeting pause, her reishi wing flared, propelling her along the ground at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
A deafening sonic boom erupted, shattering the air with a white shockwave.
Liestya's speed reached her lifetime's peak.
She couldn't let this man catch her!
Yet Makoto stood calmly, dripping a single drop of blood onto the staff.
Escape! Escape! Escape!
Liestya's beautiful face twisted, her features contorted in despair.
Never had she felt such fear.
Even facing His Majesty, she'd never known this utter, all-encompassing sense of being controlled.
It was as if, from the start, she'd been a puppet in his hands.
If he caught her...
The thought barely formed when a gentle voice came from behind:
"Where are you going?"
Her muscles tensed, and she instinctively turned toward the sound.
In that split-second reflex, a slender hand clamped mercilessly onto the back of her head.
Bang! Screech!
The hand pressed her blonde head into the ground, dragging her dozens of meters, carving a long trench, before hurling her tumbling into an empty palace.
An explosion roared.
Liestya lay in a crater, her body wracked with pain, her vision blurring.
As she struggled to rise, a familiar sound rang out.
Clang!
The iron staff stabbed into the ground beside her cheek.
Makoto loomed above, smiling down at her:
"Didn't you say..."
"You'd offer me 'everything'?"
Liestya's breath stopped.
...
"Is this the place?"
Metalica turned, surveying the ravaged ruins around them.
Adalbert's gaze was wary.
Since arriving, they'd heard no echoes of battle: "Liestya wouldn't be dead already, would she?"
"Her reiatsu's still here."
Metalica frowned, scanning the area, puzzled: "But... these battle marks..."
No matter how you looked at it, one side had been utterly dominated.
They'd clashed with so-called 'captains' before.
Though she hated to admit it, Liestya's lies were nearly impossible to counter on a first encounter.
Could a Shinigami captain really reduce her to this?
Doubt gnawed at Metalica.
"Ahead."
Adalbert's brow furrowed as he spoke: "In that palace, Liestya's reiatsu is still there."
"But beside her..."
Adalbert stepped into the half-collapsed palace.
His voice cut off.
Metalica's steps froze, her eyes locked on the scene.
A striking young man in a black Shihakushō sat atop the hall's highest seat, one hand propping his chin, gazing toward the entrance.
At his feet, Liestya, tattered and scarred, knelt like a dog, a tether around her neck, her eyes vacant as she panted softly.
Her marred yet beautiful face bore a fawning smile aimed at him.
Only when the two entered did Makoto rise from the seat.
"You two are slow."
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
If you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (removespace)