Kaede Ishida - The Adverse Sternritter (96)

Flashback

A young woman with long black hair walked the streets of Karakura Town, her blazing golden eyes resembling the setting sun. She wore a casual shirt with black jeans—because why not?

At her hip, a holster could be seen, containing a revolver. She loved cowboy movies, and that's why she had it.

She even went through the trouble of making her Ginto exactly resemble the bullets of a revolver. Had to have some good workers craft it for her.

As for her figure, it couldn't really be seen—her outfit left a lot to the imagination. Anyone looking at her would have to guess her body type. That was just how covered up she was.

She was outgoing, yes, but she was still raised in a traditional household. Sure, she told them to fuck off with the arranged marriage thing—not like Sōken could force her into it.

Old man already had one foot in the grave... so why did she feel like she'd die before him?

Heh. She didn't blindly follow the Quincy King's ways. She might get killed because of it.

Apart from members of the King's elite squadron, not many could kill her. She stood at the top—a predator, one might say. {A/N: Wonder who talks like this...}

She sighed a bit.

Gerard was a battle junkie. Lille Barro was way too damn devoted. Jugram was basically on the King's meat 24/7. Sometimes she wondered if they were secretly gay.

Food for thought.

Now that she had finished telling the old man about Yhwach's next plan, she wondered what to do.

"Yhwach plans to invade Soul Society in twenty-two years."

Those were her words to him.

That information alone should have sent every Quincy scrambling to prepare, but Sōken... He always tried to find a way to reason with things. Even after everything, that old man clung to his ideals of peaceful coexistence like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline.

She scoffed. Weak.

It wasn't like they could achieve peace that way. Sure, the old man's ideology wasn't all wrong—it just placed the Shinigami on way too much of a pedestal.

Like, come on. Just because they purified souls didn't make them better.

Plus, hadn't they committed mass genocide twice now? No reasoning could justify that.

In her opinion, they were just the police beating on the minorities... Wait, that actually made sense.

Which race would the Hollows be then? Hm... Mexicans, maybe? And the Quincy would be Germany, of course.

So, yeah. Beating on minorities.

The Soul King they so glorified was just stuck in a state of limbo. That info came from Yhwach himself. She didn't know how much to trust his word, but that was basically something he told her the second he realized she came from Sōken's side of the world.

Probably to sway her.

Who cares?

History is written by the winners.

Justice always prevails—because the winners are justice. If you win, you can make it seem like you were right while the others were wrong.

She wasn't weak.

She was strong.

She was one of the strongest Quincy alive. A Schutzstaffel. A warrior of Yhwach's personal guard. The strongest female Sternritter—one who had walked among the elites and made them bow to her overwhelming might.

Her Schrift, The Adverse, was feared for good reason.

Every attack used against her would turn against the attacker. Fire? She became ice. Lightning? She turned into rubber. Someone who converted pain into power? Her attacks would never heal. Someone who saw the future? She could rewrite the past.

Jugram and The Balance? She could counter it by turning The Balance into a curse that forced Jugram to bear every consequence himself instead of offloading it onto others.

And Pernida—the left arm of the Soul King? Simple.

Instead of her body mutating, Pernida itself would start breaking down, losing control over its own form, causing it to be subjected to the same uncontrollable "evolution."

If Pernida tried to evolve further to counter her, its own evolution would reverse, causing it to degenerate instead—potentially back into a more primitive or unstable state.

Every time Pernida's Compulsory tried to take effect, it would be forcefully overwritten. Its nerves would fail to take hold and instead follow her command rather than its own.

She was, in every sense of the word, an impossibility.

If she fought Gerald, her condition would likely transform into despair, extinguishing the miracle of the man and bringing about misfortune—whatever bad thing that could happen would happen to him.

Oh, you have an illusion ability; that's cute, 

Yet somehow, even with her condition, Ryuken managed to keep up, thanks in part to his own ability. His Reishi domination helped a lot.

And yet, despite her power—despite her unwavering loyalty to the Quincy—she was here, walking alone, far from Yhwach's watchful gaze.

She was tired.

So much fucking work... She would much rather go back to being a Sternritter. Why did she wake up one day and decide to become the first woman to join Yhwach's elite squad?

Like, come on. She had it easy before.

But nooo.

Oh no.

Just because some sexist Quincy said she couldn't do it, she had to do it.

Well, at least it was worth it. Had that dude walking on all fours in a dog outfit as revenge.

...Was she sadistic?

...Just a bit.

She was tired of knowing that no matter how strong she became, it would never be enough to change fate.

Speaking of which, if she ever had a kid, she'd probably name him Sora.

So what if Quincy were German? Didn't mean she had to stick to tradition.

For Christ's sake, she'd had so many arranged marriage proposals. Way too many people wanted to hit that... She crushed them. Might have castrated the ones who got too handsy.

That Kaedussy stayed untouched.

...She was childish.

Maybe she should go buy some ingredients. Teach that Gremmy kid how to cook. He said he wanted to open a bakery. Maybe she should help him out.

She was, after all, the only person willing to get close to him.

As she pondered this, she sensed it.

A Hollow.

Not just any Hollow—a Vasto Lorde.

And someone else.

A Shinigami.

Kaede stopped, watching from the rooftop as a monstrous, towering Hollow loomed over a lone, bespectacled Shinigami. Its jagged claws reached for him.

Pathetic.

This wasn't even a fight—it was an execution.

She sighed, raising a single finger and forming a gun with her hand. A tiny silver bullet of Reishi materialized at her fingertip.

Then—BANG.

The bullet pierced through the Hollow's mask. With a howling scream, the beast disintegrated instantly.

The Shinigami flinched, barely processing what had happened before Kaede landed gracefully a few feet in front of him.

Hm. Something was odd.

Vasto Lordes were smart. This one seemed to be rampaging... like a failed lab experiment.

She got a good look at him then—thin frame, dark messy hair, a weak-looking face, and a pair of nerdy-ass glasses that made him look like a total wimp.

Tch.

"You look like a complete pushover."

The Shinigami blinked, adjusting his glasses as he nervously looked at her.

"I—uh—who are you?"

This sounded fake. Her instincts never lied.

"None of your business, wimp."

She tilted her head, arms crossed.

He didn't run. That was surprising. Most Shinigami were either cocky bastards or outright cowards when confronted by a Quincy stronger than them.

She could kill him in an instant...

Hold up.

Why was his Reiatsu twice her own?

Not to toot her own horn, but she had very high Reiatsu. Granted, since she was a Quincy, as long as there was ambient Reishi, she could still fight—but still. That was unbelievable.

Twice her Reiryoku? How could such a wimp have so much?

He knew that.

And yet, he stood his ground.

"Why are you here?"

The Shinigami swallowed, his hand tightening around his Zanpakutō.

"I'm the Shinigami assigned to Karakura Town."

A pause.

Kaede stared at him.

Then burst into laughter.

"You? You're the Shinigami in charge of protecting this place?"

She took a step forward, looking him up and down with barely concealed disappointment.

"You couldn't protect shit." his expression didn't waver.

"That doesn't mean I won't try."

Kaede froze.

It was such a simple answer—one spoken with absolute sincerity.

No bravado. No arrogance.

Just determination.

Something about that... tugged at her heartstrings.

She scowled, clicking her tongue. Damn it.

Why did he have to say something like that?

"Tch. Just don't get yourself killed, four-eyes."

She turned to leave but hesitated, glancing back.

"Oh, and take off those dumb glasses. They make you look like a nerd."

Her Shrift activated as she waved her hand in front of him.

The sound of glass shattering could be heard, as whatever illusion was placed there was removed.

....

She looked at him in the eyes.

"Are all Shinigami this cautious as to have barriers around their true appearance" She stood up and walked away, waving him off saying.

"Don't get yourself killed mister four eyes, and if you wanted my attention so badly, could have just asked, your Hollow making skills are about as good as Ryuken flirting skills"

Somewhere....a man who was in the middle of making breakfast...found himself catching a stray....it was Kaede...it had Kaede

The shinigami who was still on the flow furrowed his brow a bit...his tricks...This was proving a bit more fun than he had expected.

A/N....As you can tell...Sora got a lot from his mother