4.2 Spirit

Lily

Sitting across from Urahara with a cup of tea in front of me was far from unpleasant. Oh, my instincts had screamed at me that he was dangerous when he’d been trying to figure out what I’d done to gain powers similar in nature to Ichigo’s but they’d calmed down almost as quickly as he’d made them act up.

Urahara, as far as I could tell, genuinely just wanted to exchange knowledge with me. There was, ultimately, very little danger in that. In fact, it was even an opportunity. After all, this world was one that was essentially centered around souls. I could not say that I knew what souls truly were and I was incredibly interested in finding out!

Besides, Kidou, Shunpo, all the various fun things Urahara had created! He had so many things I wanted to know as much about as possible!

And, even better, I’d gained an asauchi for healing Ichigo and granting him aura so I had no need to try and steal one of those!

“Now, before we begin, I just want to make sure that you are aware that there is a spirit that seems to be attached to you in some way.” Urahara pointed out, not even bothering to hide how much this entire situation intrigued him.

I was aware of the black ‘cat’ that entered the room as I answered, “I know. Melina and I have a contract in which I help her in exchange for her own assistance in something. She, being dead, doesn’t really have options for entertainment other than observing my actions but, generally, her presence isn’t even noticed.”

“Interesting. She does feel more anchored than most spirits. I suppose her connection to you explains it.” Urahara commented, his interest in this topic almost tangible to me.

“It’s even more interesting because, in the world Melina is from, souls are meant to all enter a construct called the Erdtree which would then return those souls to their bodies. In fact, I’m only aware of two spirits that escaped that fact without being denied entrance to the Erdtree by its creator. One of them now possesses a puppet body they’d prepared in advance while the other is Melina herself.” It was curious. Both Melina and Ranni also had marks over their eyes.

I doubted that Melina’s circumstances were related to Ranni as some had suspected but there was a chance that they both had died the same way now that I thought about it. Destined Death killing their bodies but not their souls. Only, Ranni had achieved such a thing by coordinating her ‘death’ with the assassination of Godwyn. If that’s the case, who was running around without their soul aside from Godwyn?

Then again, Marika herself might have been responsible for Melina’s predicament. If she was, as many had believed, the Gloam-Eyed Queen, then Marika would’ve certainly had reason enough to sentence her to such a fate. And certain item descriptions had heavily implied Melina to have been Messmer’s brother, too, therefore making her a demigoddess who Marika might not have wanted to erase entirely even if she desired to punish her.

“Did you realize something about her circumstances?” Urahara questioned once my thoughts on the matter were finalized.

“Nothing that I can speak of with confidence. Maybe Melina herself would be able to confirm or deny my theories but they’d be quite personal so I believe those questions would best be asked in private.” I had no desire to make my ghostly companion resent me, after all. Not when I still had yet to see if her experiences at my side would change her choice once we reached the Mountaintop of the Giants and I’d killed the Fire Giant.

I desperately wanted to see if the Kindling Maiden would renounce her fate after seeing several worlds while accompanying someone whose mere presence in a world broke fate.

“Then I suppose we can talk about something else. What is it you desire to know in exchange for some of those sodas to study.” Urahara got straight to the point, probably interested in trying to replicate them.

I was about to ask for his knowledge on souls when I found myself hesitating. In theory, souls had been explained in Bleach. Konpaku, Tamashi, Kokoro – I knew the parts of the soul that mattered in this world. None of them told me what I really wanted to know, they only explained how reiryoku functioned, not what a soul truly was. The soul had to hold the mind in some way and yet the mind was also physical. The soul had to be present in the body for one to live and yet the Lands Between had shown that that wasn’t necessarily true. Something which this world would’ve been unable to explain because it functioned differently.

This world could not answer me were I to ask it what a soul was in true detail, for it had looked at souls as bodies in and of themselves. I didn’t care for the bodies made of reishi, however, for I already understood them. I cared for the thing that gave them consciousness.

And maybe there was no definitive answer to my question. There were differences between worlds and it was entirely possible that different worlds had different types of souls much like they had different types of mana.

In the end, this was a question I’d only be able to answer if I were capable of perceiving souls myself, I decided. Maybe Urahara could’ve told me something he’d never mentioned in the manga or maybe he couldn’t have. In the end, I wished to understand what the soul was at its core and to do so through my own ability.

“I want your knowledge on Kidou.” I decided, at peace with the resolution I’d arrived at.

“Now now, Biron-san. Something I’d have to figure out myself isn’t equal to me just handing you that knowledge.” Urahara replied, wearing an amused smile.

I took a sip of the nice matcha he’d prepared before responding, “Ah but I’d have to learn those things myself. I’m not asking for tutelage, after all, just something written that I can use to learn. And, much like how you are the only source of your knowledge of Kidou, I am the only source of those sodas.”

“Still, I feel like it is quite the uneven bargain. However, seeing how you are interested in Kidou and these are healing sodas, how about trading my knowledge of Kaido, healing Kidou in case you are unfamiliar?” He offered.

I shook my head, a better idea entering my mind. “I want you to create a healing hot spring for me instead. I’ll be able to study it myself afterwards, just like how you will be able to study my sodas.”

“That sounds like an acceptable bargain.” He told me before turning a bit serious. “Had you taken my knowledge of Kaido, you would have learnt all you needed to know to construct them yourself, you know?”

My shrug seemed to amuse him. “I thought that might be the case but this is a fairer bargain and I already have quite a lot of healing techniques to study. Much as I wish to learn Kidou, I might as well give us both more to do.” I had other ways to trade for Kidou in mind, anyways.

Urahara hummed in response. “Well, I suppose we might as well see what else we can trade with each other.”

“Well, I do have magics – and I do mean magic, rather than something running on reiryoku – that are based on celestial bodies and gravity respectively. I can even grant you the ability to use them by just giving you a short lesson on them. In exchange for that and my notes on all of them, I want your compiled knowledge of Kidou.” My offer was another chance to throw a stone into the pond that was this world’s fate and observe how it’d hold up against the waves it’d create.

Considering the fact that it’s Urahara, it might change nothing. It might also change a lot. It all depended on what he was willing to do with what I’d give him.

“Interesting. However, what can these magics actually do?” He questioned, probably wanting to see what he’d be buying.

In response, I smiled before taking another sip of tea, “If practiced enough, both are capable of slaying gods. And it should also be mentioned that the greatest user of gravity sorcery I know of is still preventing the stars of Melina’s homeworld from moving thousands of years after he lost his mind.”

“Oh? That sounds quite impressive indeed. I suppose teaching me something with such potential would be worth my notes on Kidou.” He replied nonchalantly and it was fascinating to see in him not a desire for power but a simple hunger for knowledge.

I could’ve said those exact words to most humans and I fully believed that most of them would’ve been drawn in by the power offered. Even I had found myself drawn to the power on top of the knowledge. Admittedly, my desire for the power had primarily been to be able to say that I was greater than Radahn – bragging rights, essentially – but I’d still wanted it. Urahara Kisuke was much more refreshing in that he was simply curious.

Should I find a way to halt the aging of shinigami, I decided I would offer it to him for free. Or, rather, I’d offer him a method he himself would be able to learn. Hypocritical as it was for me out of all people to say that, I felt like eternity was best earnt rather than given. Well, more accurately, I felt like one had to choose eternity. Not just in a single sentence to one who could make you eternal but in one’s very being.

If Urahara would disagree and elevate others, so be it. I would not refuse him that. I just wished for the ones I myself raised above mortality to have to put in some effort.

“Then we have a deal?” I questioned, ignoring those thoughts of a future that was still not yet in sight.

“We do.” Urahara confirmed with a nod before an almost childlike excitement took form on his face, “Now, I don’t suppose you have candy from another world?” I did, indeed, and I had to agree that candies were important business. Good ones were, at least.

I could always teach him sorcery and give him the mana of a B-Rank hunter once we finished discussing sweets.

Kurosaki Ichigo

“Who is she?” I asked, looking at the strange girl that had come in after Urahara’d gotten me to agree to train with him. Wearing a strange outfit and clearly a foreigner, she’d have looked out of place just about anywhere except for next to the weird shopkeeper.

“I’m the one who saved you.” She answered, making me remember the words I’d heard before falling unconscious. “I’m Biron Lilian, nice to meet you.” Her introduction sounded almost bored.

I didn’t really know what to think about a girl who wore a top hat and a suit that was star-themed but I at least knew enough to incline my head, “Thank you.” I felt like she deserved that much from me, at least. “But why are you here?”

“Urahara-san and I had some stuff to discuss and I felt like I might as well wait for you to wake up before making you an offer.” She explained as if that told me anything.

“And what do you want to offer me?” I pushed, not in the mood for that. If not for Urahara telling me we wouldn’t train until tonight, I’d have been a lot more impatient already.

“I can save Kuchiki Rukia right now.” She declared, stating it as if it were a simple fact of life. “It wouldn’t even be hard. Breaking boundaries between dimensions and going where I please is trivial to me. There’d be no risk, nothing that could honestly stop me.”

“Please do it.” It hurt to make that request but I’d rather Rukia be safe and sound than for her to risk execution just because she’d saved me. I even made myself bow to the strange girl.

“If I do it, there’s no chance of her ever returning to Seireitei as anything but an outlaw. I haven’t even told Urahara-san this but I know quite a bit about the most likely future. Theoretically, if merely speaking about it wasn’t enough to change the future, one could call it both the worst and best outcome leading to a lot more outcomes down the line that one could call terrible or good depending on how one felt in any given moment. You could gamble it all on my vision of the future remaining true. Only, even the smallest change might lead to the death of yourself or at least one of your friends. The alternative is safer. Your friend will be safe and Seireitei will not want you dead for invading it to save her.” What she said was a lot and I barely understood half of it but she was basically asking me to pick between saving Rukia myself and maybe getting a better result or her saving Rukia.

“Ignoring the knowledge of that potential future,” Urahara cut in, “Biron-san is right that invading Seireitei is a risky endeavour at the best of times. If you do it, you might find yourself dead before you know it. It all comes down to your resolve in the end.”

“How bad is that future you saw?” It sounded absurd to me even as I said those words but that didn’t matter.

If that future was good, that’s that.

“There’s several moments in which a slight divergence would be enough to kill you and all your friends. Maybe even the entire world once you walk far enough past this point.” She explained casually as if it didn’t matter to her in the slightest but there was an intensity in her green eyes.

“So it all comes down to whether or not I think I can do well.” I muttered to myself, only thinking about it for a few moments before nodding to myself. “If this future just needs me to be as strong as I can be, I will be.”

Lilian sighed in response, looking almost amused. “Well, I offered an alternative. If you have such an unwavering confidence, so be it.” She told me before turning towards Urahara, “Would you mind terribly if I returned from time to time. It was quite a pleasant experience to be able to talk to someone who enjoys learning so much.”

“Go ahead, though we really have to discuss that future you saw at some point.” There was something weirdly intense about Urahara as he answered but I supposed hearing that someone hid the fact that they know the future would do that.

Then, it looked as if the world around Lilian just broke as she waved goodbye before vanishing into the things behind the cracks that I couldn’t remember anymore once it closed.

Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I decided to forget whatever that was.

Lilian

As soon as I returned home from Urahara’s shop, I took out my asauchi and began to meditate on the Force while feeding it both my aura and reiryoku. I was curious to see if the influence of aura would maybe speed things up when it came to the entire first phase of forming a zanpakuto spirit. After all, my aura was an extension of my soul and, given time, the same would be true for my zanpakuto.

Besides, to do this now let me practice controlling mana, aura, and the Force at the same time by combining with my exercise to regularly manipulate the space between me and the vending machine before using the Force to press the button and carry the soda to me so I could put it into my inventory.

Even better, Melina chose to appear to strain my (very slowly) growing ability to multitask even further. I was…reluctantly aware of the fact that actually pushing myself rather than taking things easy would see me growing faster, after all. “Offering to save another without requesting something is unlike you.” She pointed out, referring to my offer to save Rukia.

I, slowly and carefully, allowed myself to feel my amusement at her question without letting it control me into wanting more. I was getting better about that lately but I was addicted to my own emotions in the end and I had no true goals beyond ensuring that Scion’s ritual wouldn’t bother me. In such a scenario, I had very little reason to not let myself indulge my desire to feel.

“I’d have received more than enough in return.” I told Melina calmly even though my heart raced in excitement at the thought of how much of a shame it was that Ichigo hadn’t let me make the fate of his world even more uncertain while making it possible for me to potentially recruit Rukia since I’d have taken her to another world to guarantee her safety. Saving her would’ve also hopefully given me a second asauchi to give to Missy since I was not at all confident in stealing one of those without losing my life in the process. “For one, I’d have gotten to see such a different world that it’d have entertained me for years. For another, Rukia could’ve become useful to me if I’d saved her.”

Alas, Ichigo chose to gamble on his own power. Power that wouldn’t be enough if Yhwach changed his plans due to my presence almost certainly doing something to his power to see the future. At least, I found it incredibly unlikely for the presence of someone who had no fate and didn’t belong to that world to not have created some chaos when I’d interacted with Urahara and Ichigo both.

Even in the timeline I knew, Yhwach had been prepared for Ichigo on his own. Had it been a fight between none but Yhwach and Ichigo, his Bankai would’ve been broken and Yhwach would’ve probably won that fight. It’s only due to the assistance of others that the being with the power to see possible futures and then pick whichever one he desired had lost.

“So your intention was to throw that world into chaos?” Melina questioned and, after a short moment of thinking about it, I nodded. In fact, I’d fully expected my act of saving Rukia to have negative consequences for that world. I’d have removed one Hogyoku from the equation but all that’d have meant was that Aizen probably wouldn’t have begun the process of transcending. He, too, had been of use against the quincy, though.

And Ichigo and his friends not invading Seireitei would’ve been amusing beyond belief for me. Much of his early growth had come from his experiences there and, even better, Seireitei would’ve never accepted him as an ally if not for his successful rescue of Rukia and Aizen’s open betrayal. No Hogyoku meant that Aizen wouldn’t have had to reveal himself for the time being and Ichigo being unproven would have led to Seireitei attempting to fight a war against someone who had prepared for all of them on their own the moment Aizen did choose to go ahead with his plans.

The Zero Division and Yhwach could’ve thwarted his plans, of course, but the sheer uncertainty of those things made me want to see it all that much more!

My ghostly companion, however, had her expression darken in response to my nod. “Is that also what you desire for the Lands Between? To create a world that will entertain you?”

“Not particularly. The Lands Between, ruined as they might be at this point, are plenty interesting already. There’s plenty I don’t know about them and it’s future was already uncertain when I arrived there.” There was never a guarantee that the tarnished I’d killed would’ve risen to become a Lord, be it Ranni’s, Marika’s or the Lord of Frenzied Flame. He could’ve just as easily despaired and lost his will like all the ones who came before him.

Aside from him, however, the Lands Between had been in a stable chaos. Nowhere was truly safe and yet none of the schemes going on in the background would’ve progressed without someone steering them along.

Miquella and Ranni both required Radahn’s death and Mohg also had to die for anything to happen in the Land of Shadow. Marika was crucified, the Erdtree was sealed off and there was no one actually capable of claiming the Great Runes required to even attempt to enter it, much less to do so and then slay Morgott so they’d be able to reach the Mountaintops of the Giants, slay the Fire Giant, burn a finger maiden as a sacrifice to enter Farum Azula and then proceed to kill Maliketh, whose blade would kill you with such ease that even I worried about it despite suspecting that, if Naturalized Foreigner explicitly protected me from Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, it’d do the same for Destined Death.

Either way, the Starscourge was fittingly central to everything in the Lands Between. Even if I suspected the ones whose fates weren’t literally written in the stars didn’t suffer quite so much from his actions, in a world in which fate was real, who could truly say that the man holding back the known fate from advancing didn’t hold back everything else, too?

Theoretically, one could, of course, slay Godrick and Rykard or Rennala to enter the capital, kill Morgott and then walk that path until, eventually, becoming Elden Lord with Radahn still holding back the stars but all of this relied on a person powerful enough to do what everyone else had failed to achieve over several millenia.

“What is it that interests you so about the unknown? Why bother setting up things just to create chaos?” Melina’s question drew me out of my thoughts on the amusing state of her homeworld.

“It’s simple, really. I love seeing how people act in all kinds of circumstances. I know a good deal about the people of that world and I can figure out how they’d react without any outside influences. But, in giving Urahara magic, in offering Ichigo to save Rukia, in involving myself at all, I took a world that could be compared to a chess board on which I could predict every move that’d be made if I just gave it some thought and knew some unknown variables such as every single Kidou Urahara knows or Aizen’s Bankai and turned it into something unpredictable.” I explained, my heart racing in excitement at the admission.

“I have no idea what Urahara will do with even just the basic levels of the sorceries I gave him. I don’t know how other parties will react to the changes I’ve already set into motion. In introducing myself to this world, I presented these people with a problem they could’ve never even conceived encountering so how could I know how they’ll react? But I want to know. I want to see what will happen. Even if very little changes, even if things somehow stay eerily similar, I want to know if the fairly small ripples I’ve made in the pond that is that world’s fate will amount to anything or if they’ll simply vanish!” I felt a wide grin splitting my face from ear to ear and my cheeks flush as heat rose to them in anticipation, my breath leaving me in short, heavy bursts.

If there’s anything I lived for, it was this! It was this complete and utter uncertainty in the face of the future! Everything about this was a gamble. Maybe it’d amount to nothing, maybe it would even end that entire world. If such things happened, I could always find a similar enough one to conduct a new experiment on.

Besides, I wouldn’t suffer the consequences of my actions, anyways. I might stoke the flames of chaos some more in the future, though.

“I see.” Melina very clearly didn’t know how to handle my desire to witness something new and disappeared but that was fine. Maybe she would come to understand my feelings at some point in the future or maybe she wouldn’t. Either was fine with me.

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