()()()()()()()()()()()()(Unknown - Kazui and Senna)()()()()()()()()()()()()
Kazui had counted the tiles on the floor eighty-three times.
There were four hundred and twelve.
He was reasonably certain.
Senna thought there were four hundred and sixteen.
They had argued quietly about it for almost an hour.
Neither had won.
The room was white.
White floor. White walls. White ceiling. A single blue line ran around the room at shoulder height and gave off enough light to see by. There were no windows.
Kazui sat against one wall with a black chain wrapped around his right wrist.
Every time he tried to gather too much spiritual pressure, the chain became cold and his arm went numb.
He hated it.
Senna sat beside him with her knees pulled against her chest.
No chain held her.
39
That worried Kazui more.
"You hungry?" Kazui asked.
Senna looked at the untouched plate near the door. "No."
Kazui's stomach growled loudly.
Senna looked at him.
Kazui frowned at his own stomach.
"Traitor."
A tiny smile appeared on Senna's face.
Kazui leaned his head against the wall.
"Dad's coming."
Senna traced one finger over the floor.
"You said that already."
"its still true."
"What if he can't find us?" Kazui said as he turned toward her.
Senna's eyes stayed on the floor.
Her voice had become smaller.
"I can't feel Mom anymore."
Kazui's confidence slipped.
He hid it quickly.
"They're alive."
Senna looked at him.
"How do you know?"
Kazui thought about lying.
Then he remembered how angry Senna got when he lied badly. "I don't."
Her eyes lowered again.
Kazui bumped his shoulder against hers.
"But Mom's Mom. Dad's Dad. And everybody else is there too. Aunt Yoruichi. Urahara. Mirba. Ren. Acero."
Senna sniffed.
"Ren's dumb."
"Yeah."
"He'll probably get lost."
"Definitely."
That earned another small smile.
Senna placed her palm flat against the floor.
Kazui watched.
"You doing the thing again?"
She nodded.
A tiny green shoot pushed through the seam between two white tiles. Kazui leaned closer.
The plant should not have been able to grow there.
There was no dirt.
Senna did not seem to care.
The shoot lengthened until two leaves unfolded.
Then it bent toward the wall.
Senna's brow furrowed.
"It keeps doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Going down."
Kazui looked at the wall.
"Plants don't go down."
"Roots do."
"Oh."
Senna gave him a look.
"You're dumb too."
"Meanie."
The plant's roots spread beneath the tiles. Senna closed her eyes.
Her breathing slowed.
Then she flinched.
Kazui sat straighter.
"What?"
Senna opened her eyes.
"Something's under us."
Kazui stared at the floor.
"Like another room?"
"No."
She pulled her hand away.
The little plant trembled.
"Big."
A sound came from beneath them.
Scratching.
Slow.
Heavy.
Kazui stood.
The chain around his wrist tightened.
Senna rose beside him.
The scratching stopped.
For several seconds, neither child moved. Then something tapped the underside of the floor. Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Kazui stepped in front of his sister.
Senna grabbed the back of his shirt.
A thin red line appeared between two tiles.
It widened.
Heat rolled through the room.
Kazui's eyes narrowed.
"That's not Dad."
Senna shook her head quickly.
"No."
A voice came from beneath the floor.
Deep.
Amused.
"Children of Death."
Kazui's fists clenched.
"Who are you?"
The red line pulsed.
Senna's grip tightened on Kazui's shirt.
The voice laughed.
The sound made the tiles vibrate.
"I've found you." said the voice.
Kazui stepped forward until the chain pulled tight.
The door opened.
A Quincy guard entered.
He saw the red line.
His face changed.
"Move away from that!"
The floor broke.
A black scaled hand erupted through the tiles.
The guard raised his bow.
He never fired.
The hand closed around his torso and dragged him downward.
The Quincy screamed once.
The hole sealed behind him.
Silence returned.
Kazui and Senna stared at the floor.
Senna slowly looked at her brother.
"Dad needs to hurry."
Kazui swallowed.
"Yeah."
For the first time since they had been taken, he sounded afraid.
()()()()()()()()()()()()(Gekai - Outside Orario)()()()()()()()()()()()()
The first thing Acero noticed was that the city gates were closed.
The second was the smell.
Smoke. Wet earth. Human waste. Cookfires. Too many people living too close together without the infrastructure a city normally provided.
He stepped out of Urahara's temporary portal and stopped on a low hill south of Orario. Mirba emerged behind him.
Her boots sank slightly into mud.
Ren came through last and immediately looked toward the city.
None of them spoke.
Orario still stood.
From a distance, that almost made the situation worse.
The enormous walls remained intact. Babel rose from the center of the city exactly as they remembered it, a pale spear against the evening sky. Roofs filled the space between tower and wall. Familiar districts spread outward in circles.
But there was no traffic through the gates.
No merchant caravans.
No adventurers arguing with guards.
No distant roar from the market.
Smoke rose from several neighborhoods in slow black columns.
Outside the walls was another city.
Tents covered the fields for miles.
Some were military canvas. Others were blankets stretched over poles, wagon covers, sailcloth, or pieces of dismantled buildings. Wooden barricades divided the camp into sections. Trenches had been dug around the outer perimeter. Watchtowers stood every few hundred yards, each occupied by armed adventurers.
A line of refugees waited beside a row of water barrels.
Children played quietly between tents while exhausted adults watched the walls. Mirba stared.
Her face lost its color.
"What happened?"
Ren's usual smile was gone.
"That's everyone."
Acero studied the camp.
"Not everyone."
Ren looked at him.
Acero pointed toward the nearest barricade.
A wooden sign had been nailed above it.
QUARANTINE LINE - NO ENTRY WITHOUT GUILD AUTHORIZATION. Below that, in red paint:
IF BITTEN, SCRATCHED, OR EXPOSED TO BLACK FLUID, REPORT IMMEDIATELY. Mirba's eyes narrowed.
"Exposed to what?"
A spear touched Acero's chest.
He had heard the approaching boots and allowed them to come.
Four adventurers surrounded the trio.
Their armor did not match. One wore Ganesha Familia markings. Another had a Guild armband tied around his upper arm. All four had cloth masks covering their mouths and noses.
The man holding the spear looked exhausted.
"Names. Familia. Authorization."
Mirba turned toward him.
The guard saw her face.
His eyes widened.
"Mirba?"
She frowned.
"Do I know you?"
The guard lowered the spear.
"Gods above."
He pulled the mask down.
The man was older than Mirba remembered him being, with gray beginning to show at his temples.
"Kellin. Ganesha Familia. We met during the Apollo mess."
Recognition reached her slowly.
"You were level two."
Kellin laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Level three now. its been a while."
Mirba looked back at the refugee camp.
"Apparently."
Kellin's expression changed.
"You came back at a bad time."
Ren spread his hands.
"We noticed."
Kellin looked at Acero, then Ren, then back to Mirba.
"Where's Lord Ichigo?"
Mirba's jaw tightened.
"Occupied. We came in his stead."
Kellin glanced toward the sealed gates.
"Then come with me. The Guild needs to know you're here."
They followed him through the quarantine camp.
Every hundred yards revealed another piece of the disaster.
A smithy had been built beneath a long awning where dozens of weapons were being repaired at once. A healer's station occupied what had once been a merchant caravan. Priests from several Familias worked together beneath white tents, checking refugees for fever and wounds.
Near one barricade, a row of people sat alone inside fenced pens.
Ren slowed.
"Why are they separated?"
Kellin did not look toward the pens.
"Possible exposure."
"Exposure to what?"
Kellin's mouth tightened.
"The dead."
Mirba stopped walking.
Kellin turned.
Her voice was very controlled.
"Explain."
The guard looked around the camp.
Mirba stepped closer.
"Kellin."
He met her eyes.
Whatever he saw there made him answer.
"People who die inside the city get back up."
Ren stared at him.
Acero's expression did not change, but his hand moved closer to his sword. Kellin continued.
"At first it was only a few. Then anyone they killed started coming back too. Some people turn after bites. Some after getting the black fluid in a wound. We don't know exactly how it spreads. We know burning the bodies works. Destroying the head usually works. Strong magic works."
Mirba's face had gone still.
"When did this begin?"
"Days ago."
That surprised all three of them.
Ren looked toward the enormous camp.
"You evacuated almost the whole city in days?"
Kellin nodded.
"We had help. Ganesha Familia, Loki Familia, Freya's people, the Guild, every god with enough sense to cooperate. The first night was chaos. By the second day, we stopped pretending it was a normal monster outbreak. By the third, the Guild ordered full evacuation."
He pointed toward Orario.
"Now we treat the city like the Dungeon. Nobody enters alone. Every team logs its route. Every team carries fire. Every team has a return time. If they miss it, another party does not automatically go after them."
Ren's expression darkened.
"That's cold."
Kellin looked at him.
"It's why we're still alive."
Ren said nothing.
They continued.
The Guild command center occupied a large collection of tents near the southern road. Maps covered several tables.
Not maps of the Dungeon.
Maps of Orario.
The city had been divided into colored sectors.
Green marked areas considered relatively clear.
Yellow marked uncertain streets.
Red covered almost half the city.
Black circles had been drawn around several neighborhoods.
Mirba approached the largest map.
She recognized the district where Ichigo's mansion stood.
It was black.
Her stomach tightened.
A woman in a Guild uniform approached.
Her eyes widened when she recognized the trio.
"Ichigo Familia."
Mirba turned.
"Formerly. The circumstances are complicated."
"They always were with you people."
The woman looked exhausted enough that the remark came without malice. She extended one hand.
"Misha Flott. Guild field coordination."
Ren blinked.
"You're still here?"
Misha looked at him.
"You disappeared for six years and that's your greeting?"
Ren smiled weakly.
"Nice to see you too."
Misha looked toward Mirba.
"Where is Ichigo?"
"Soul Society. At war."
Misha stared.
"Of course he is."
Acero stepped toward the map.
"We require a complete account of the outbreak. Beginning with the first confirmed reanimation."
Misha's expression changed.
She looked at the black circle surrounding Ichigo's old district.
"Daphne Lauros."
Mirba did not understand the words at first.
Then she did.
Her hand fell away from the map.
"Daphne?"
Ren's face emptied.
Acero looked at Misha with sudden intensity.
"Confirmed?"
Misha nodded slowly.
"Her body was found inside your old residence. Or what we thought was her body." Mirba's voice became quiet.
"What happened to her?"
Misha hesitated.
"She attacked the recovery team."
Ren turned away.
His hand covered his mouth.
Mirba stared at the map.
For a moment she saw Daphne as she had been six years earlier: arms folded, expression annoyed, calling Ren an idiot while Cassandra tried not to laugh.
Mirba's fingers curled against the edge of the table.
"Where is she now?"
Misha shook her head.
"We lost her in the district."
Mirba closed her eyes.
Acero stepped closer to her, though he did not touch her.
"Captain."
Mirba opened her eyes again.
The grief remained, but it had been placed behind duty.
"I am alright. Continue."
Misha watched her for a moment before pointing to the map.
"The recovery team found signs of an intrusion at the residence. Five attackers, we think. There was evidence of some kind of black crystal device in the bedroom, as we found black shards of it, but it was gone by the time we arrived. We found something else, a substance that we've named 'Divine remnants' "
Acero's eyes narrowed.
"From Lady Hephaestus?"
"Partly."
Misha looked at Mirba.
"Mostly Ichigo."
Silence fell over the table.
Ren slowly turned back.
"What do you mean mostly Ichigo?"
Misha reached beneath the table and removed a sealed glass vial.
Inside was a smear of black-red material that moved like oil even when the vial remained still.
"Our gods can feel it. Every one of them who examined this said the same thing. It carries his divinity."
Mirba stared at the vial.
"Lord Ichigo did not create this."
"Nobody said he did."
Misha set it down carefully.
"But whatever caused the outbreak used something of his."
Acero leaned closer without touching the glass.
"Daphne died before she reanimated?"
"Yes."
"Her soul?"
Misha frowned.
"We don't know."
Acero looked at Mirba.
"We do."
Mirba understood.
Ichigo had explained enough about souls over the years.
If Daphne had truly died, her soul should have departed according to the rules of Gekai. The corpse standing afterward was not resurrection.
Ren's expression became sickened.
"So that's not Daphne in there."
Acero shook his head.
"Almost certainly not."
Misha looked between them.
"You know something we don't."
Mirba reached for the vial, then stopped herself before touching it.
"Ichigo's divine authority is tied to death itself."
Misha's eyes widened slightly.
Mirba continued.
"Not merely killing. Death as a function. Souls. Their passage. Their end." Acero's gaze remained on the black-red substance.
"If someone extracted enough of that authority and altered it..."
Ren finished the thought.
"They could make death stop working right."
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Misha looked toward the city.
"That would explain too much."
Mirba's expression hardened.
"Whoever did this used Lord Ichigo as a catalyst."
A voice came from behind them.
"Correct."
Everyone turned.
A woman stood just outside the tent.
Black armor covered most of her body. Her skin was pale. Dark markings ran from beneath her eyes toward her jaw.
Kellin drew his spear.
Mirba's sword was already in her hand.
Acero moved one step to the side, opening his angle.
Ren reached for a knife.
The woman raised both hands.
"If I wished you dead, I would have remained inside the city."
Mirba's blade remained pointed at her chest.
"Name."
"Farenia."
Mirba's eye twitched.
She remembered the name from the dragon artifact and the fragments of information they had gathered.
Acero's voice remained calm.
Heat gathered around Mirba's free hand.
Ren shifted closer to her.
Acero did not move, but his attention sharpened.
Farenia watched the spell forming.
"If you kill me now, you lose the explanation you came here to find."
Mirba's jaw clenched. The heat remained.
"Speak quickly."
Farenia's eyes moved toward the vial.
"The Black Dragon required the residue of a god whose authority could overwrite the laws governing mortal death. Your lord provided more than enough."
Ren's voice became hard.
"He didn't provide anything."
Farenia looked at him.
"Then call it theft. The result is unchanged."
Mirba's spell brightened.
"Choose your next words carefully."
Farenia inclined her head.
"Lord Itorash extracted the divine remnants left within the home of Death and the Forge. He refined the portion belonging to Ichigo and introduced it into the city through a prepared medium."
Misha looked toward the sealed gates.
"The black fluid."
"One expression of it."
Acero's eyes narrowed.
"A poison."
Farenia considered the word.
"A localized corruption. The dead within its influence are denied the proper stillness of death. Flesh continues after the soul has departed. Those bodies spread fragments of the corrupted authority through fluid and injury."
Mirba looked at the vial.
"Why localized?"
"Because the stolen authority is finite."
Farenia smiled again, though there was no warmth in it.
"Your lord is not."
Acero understood first.
"Then the phenomenon can be exhausted," Acero said. His gaze remained fixed on the moving black residue inside the vial, his expression calm even as the implication sharpened his attention.
Farenia's eyes shifted to him. A faint smile touched her mouth, though it carried no reassurance.
"Possibly," Farenia answered.
Acero leaned a fraction closer to the table. "Neutralized?"
"Possibly," Farenia repeated, watching him with quiet amusement.
Ren stepped forward before Acero could continue. His usual humor had disappeared, and he pointed at the vial with a tense hand.
"Cured?" Ren asked.
Farenia's smile widened slightly.
"Now you are asking the useful question."
Mirba's sword moved until its point touched Farenia's armor.
"Answer it."
Farenia looked down at the blade.
"The corruption recognizes Ichigo's authority because it was made from it. If the original authority were applied correctly, it may be capable of commanding the stolen fragment back into obedience."
Misha stared.
"Ichigo can cure it?"
Farenia looked at her.
"I said may."
Mirba's breathing slowed.
Hope was dangerous. She knew that.
But it existed now.
"Why tell us?"
Farenia's expression became unreadable.
"Because Pandemic is a test. Not an ending."
Acero's hand settled on his sword.
"For what?"
Farenia stepped backward.
Her boots touched the edge of the tent's shadow.
"Ask Itorash."
Mirba lunged.
Her blade passed through black smoke.
Farenia disappeared into the ground.
Mirba's sword struck dirt.
"Damn it!"
Ren rushed outside.
Nothing moved beyond the tents except refugees and guards.
Acero crouched where Farenia had vanished.
He touched the soil with two fingers.
"No residual heat. No obvious magic trail."
Mirba sheathed her sword with more force than necessary.
"I despise people who leave conversations that way."
Ren looked back at her.
"You married into the wrong extended social circle."
Mirba stared at him.
Ren raised both hands.
"Bad timing."
"Very."
Misha looked at the vial.
"If what she said is true, we need Ichigo here."
Mirba's expression became troubled.
"He cannot come yet."
Misha looked toward her.
"Why?"
Mirba thought of Kazui and Senna.
"Because his children have been taken by the enemy currently invading Soul Society." Misha closed her eyes.
"Of course they have."
Ren leaned toward Acero.
"People say that a lot around us."
Acero stood.
"There is a reason."
Mirba placed both hands on the map.
"Until Lord Ichigo can return, we treat the city exactly as you have been treating it. Containment first. Investigation second. Reclamation only when we understand what kills these things without spreading the corruption."
Misha nodded.
"We have an expedition leaving at dawn."
Mirba looked toward the black circle around the old mansion.
"Change it."
"How?"
"We're going with them."
Ren looked at her.
"We are?"
Mirba turned her head slowly.
Ren straightened.
"We are. Absolutely. I was just confirming."
Acero looked at the map.
"Objective?"
Mirba's eyes remained on the district where Daphne had died.
"The residence. We recover whatever evidence remains."
Her fingers tightened against the table.
"And if we find Daphne..."
She stopped.
Ren's expression softened.
Acero finished quietly.
"We give her body peace."
Mirba nodded.
"Yes."
()()()()()()()()()()()()(Orario Quarantine - Dawn)()()()()()()()()()()()()
The gates opened only wide enough for one wagon.
Chains rattled through pulleys above the southern entrance while adventurers stood on both sides with weapons ready. Beyond the opening, Orario's main avenue disappeared into morning fog.
No one cheered when the expedition entered.
The people outside watched in silence.
Mirba understood why.
Every person passing through those gates was someone who might not come back.
Their team consisted of twelve.
Mirba, Ren, and Acero walked near the front. Kellin led four Ganesha Familia adventurers. Two Guild scouts carried maps and marking chalk. A healer named Sera traveled in the center. The final two members carried heavy packs filled with oil, rope, spare weapons, and sealed containers for samples.
Every person wore thick gloves.
Every exposed section of skin had been covered.
Each carried a small flask of lamp oil on the belt.
Kellin stopped just inside the gate.
He turned toward the group.
His mask muffled his voice.
"Rules haven't changed because we have famous people with us. Nobody leaves line of sight. Nobody touches fluid. If you get bitten, scratched, or splashed, you say it immediately. If someone dies..."
He paused.
The healer looked down.
Kellin continued.
"We burn the body before it moves."
Ren shifted uncomfortably.
Mirba's face remained steady.
"Understood."
Kellin looked at her.
"If we call retreat, we retreat. I don't care what you see."
Mirba nodded.
"Agreed."
Acero looked down the empty avenue.
"How long since this route was cleared?"
"Yesterday afternoon."
Acero's eyes moved to an overturned cart twenty yards ahead.
"Then it is already out of date."
Something moved behind the cart.
Kellin raised one fist.
The expedition stopped.
A man stepped into the street.
Or what had once been a man.
His clothing was torn open at the stomach. Gray skin stretched over his face. One eye was missing. Black fluid covered his chin.
He saw the group.
His mouth opened.
A low moan rolled down the avenue.
Then three more figures emerged from a shop.
Ren drew his sword.
"There it is."
Kellin pointed.
"Front line only. Quiet kills. Don't draw the street."
Mirba stepped forward with Acero.
The first corpse ran.
That surprised her.
It did not shuffle.
It sprinted with an uneven, violent gait, one shoulder lower than the other. Mirba adjusted.
She waited until it entered range.
The corpse reached for her face.
Mirba knocked the arm outward with her forearm, stepped past the grasp, and drove her sword through the side of its skull.
The body went limp immediately.
She pulled the blade free and moved away before it hit the ground.
Acero intercepted the second.
The corpse swung both hands at him.
He stepped inside the attack and placed one palm against its chest, controlling the distance while his sword came up beneath the jaw.
The point entered the skull.
Acero withdrew in the same motion.
The third corpse lunged at Kellin.
A Ganesha adventurer hooked its ankle with a spear and pulled. The body fell. Kellin brought the butt of his own spear down on its neck, pinned it, and another adventurer drove a short blade through the temple.
The fourth stopped.
Its head tilted.
Mirba stared.
The corpse wore a Guild uniform.
A young woman's uniform.
The dead girl's mouth opened.
"Hhh...elp."
Ren froze.
Kellin's face hardened.
"Don't listen."
The corpse took one step.
"H-help..."
Ren's sword lowered by an inch.
Acero moved.
He crossed the space and ended it with one clean thrust.
The corpse collapsed.
Ren stared at him.
Acero cleaned the point of his blade with a cloth and placed the contaminated cloth into a burn pouch.
"It was not speaking," Acero said quietly. "The body retained a pattern. Nothing more." Ren looked at the dead girl.
"You sure?"
Acero met his eyes.
"No."
That answer was worse.
Mirba looked toward Kellin.
"Have they done that before?"
"Sometimes yes but its rare." the disturbed man said
"Words?" Mirba asked.
"Usually one or two. Things they said near death. Names. Help. Run. Mom." Kellin's jaw tightened beneath his mask.
"Don't build a person out of it. That's how people get bitten."
Mirba looked at the corpse she had killed.
The idea of Daphne doing the same thing made her stomach turn.
"Move," she ordered.
The expedition continued.
Orario changed as they went deeper.
The outer market had been stripped during evacuation. Doors stood open. Food rotted in abandoned stalls. A fountain continued to run in the middle of an empty square, its water pink from something Mirba chose not to examine closely.
They marked intersections with white chalk.
One line for safe passage.
Two for obstruction.
A circle with a slash for infected concentration.
The Guild scouts recorded everything.
At the third intersection, they found a barricade built from furniture.
Bodies lay behind it.
Kellin stopped.
"This wasn't here yesterday."
Acero crouched near the nearest corpse.
"Fresh."
Sera the healer stepped closer.
"How fresh?"
Acero studied the blood without touching it.
"Hours."
Ren looked at the rooftops.
"Survivors?"
A noise answered him.
Three knocks.
From inside a bakery.
Everyone turned.
Kellin raised his spear.
"Call out."
Mirba stepped toward the door.
"Anyone inside, identify yourself."
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
"Guild?"
Kellin answered.
"Ganesha Familia and Guild expedition. How many?"
"Five! Two hurt!"
Mirba looked at Kellin.
He nodded.
Acero moved to one side of the doorway. Ren took the other.
Kellin opened it.
A middle-aged man stood inside holding a kitchen knife.
Behind him were four people, including a child no older than ten.
The man's knees nearly gave out.
"Thank the gods."
Sera moved forward.
"Nobody touch anyone yet. I need to inspect you."
The survivors obeyed immediately.
Mirba looked around the bakery.
Furniture blocked the rear door. Blood covered part of the floor.
"What happened?"
The man swallowed.
"We didn't evacuate. My mother couldn't walk. We thought we'd wait until things calmed down."
His eyes lowered.
"She died yesterday. Fever. Then she got back up." Ren looked away.
The man continued.
"We ran. More of them came. We've been here since last night." Sera inspected his arms.
"Any bites? Scratches? Fluid exposure?"
"No."
The child raised one hand.
Everyone looked at him.
A black scratch ran across his forearm.
The man's face collapsed.
"Tomas..."
Sera moved toward the boy.
"When?"
The child began crying.
"Last night."
Kellin's grip tightened around his spear.
The other survivors backed away instinctively.
Mirba saw it.
The boy saw it too.
"I'm not sick!"
Sera crouched in front of him.
"I know. I just need to look."
The scratch was shallow.
Black discoloration had begun spreading beneath the skin. Sera's face tightened.
"We need to quarantine him."
The boy's father stepped forward.
"He's my son."
"Then come with him," Sera said. "But he cannot go into the general camp." Mirba watched the black veins beneath the boy's skin.
The stolen death authority.
A poison made from Ichigo.
And somewhere in Soul Society, Ichigo was trying to save his own children. The thought made the world feel cruelly symmetrical.
"We turn back," Mirba said.
Kellin looked at her.
"The mansion is another forty minutes."
"There is an exposed child here."
"Captain," Acero said quietly.
Mirba looked at him.
Acero's expression was calm, but his eyes moved toward the map.
"We can divide. Kellin and the healer return with the survivors. The remainder continue only if Guild protocol permits it."
Kellin considered.
"Eight is enough for this route."
Mirba looked at the boy.
Sera was wrapping his arm.
"Then do that."
The father caught Mirba's sleeve.
She looked down at his hand.
He released her immediately.
"Sorry."
"It's alright."
His eyes were desperate.
"Can your god fix this?"
Mirba looked at Tomas.
She could have lied.
She wanted to.
"I don't know," she said. "But we have reason to believe he may be able to help." The man's eyes filled with tears.
"Then bring him."
Mirba's chest tightened.
"We will try."
Kellin and Sera took the survivors back.
The remaining expedition continued with seven members.
The city became quieter.
Too quiet.
They passed streets where every door had been painted with evacuation marks. They crossed a bridge over a canal filled with abandoned carts. Once, something large moved inside an alley and chose not to follow them.
Ren did not joke anymore.
Acero checked every rooftop.
Mirba counted intersections.
When they reached the district containing Ichigo's old residence, the smell changed. Rot.
The black circle on the map had been justified.
Dozens of corpses wandered the street.
Some wore adventurer armor.
Some wore ordinary clothes.
Several had pieces missing that should have made movement impossible. The expedition stopped behind a stone wall.
One of the Guild scouts looked over the top and immediately ducked.
"Too many."
Mirba studied the map.
"Alternate route?"
The scout pointed.
"Alley east, through the old bathhouse, then over the courtyard wall."
Acero looked toward the rooftops.
"The roofs are cleaner."
Ren looked at him.
"You want to take seven people over roofs while carrying sample equipment?"
"No. I want you and me to clear the roofs while Captain Mirba moves the others through the bathhouse."
Ren considered.
"That makes much more sense."
Mirba nodded.
"Do it."
Acero and Ren climbed.
Mirba led the remaining five into the alley.
They moved single file.
The bathhouse door was locked.
Mirba placed one hand against it and pushed.
The frame cracked.
The door opened.
One of the scouts stared.
Mirba looked at him.
"It was already damaged."
The scout looked at the intact lock hanging from the broken frame.
"Right."
Inside, the bathhouse was dark.
Water dripped somewhere in the rear.
Mirba raised one hand.
A small flame appeared above her palm.
They moved past empty changing rooms and into the bathing chamber. Steam no longer filled it.
The pools were cold.
A body floated face-down in the largest one.
Mirba stopped.
The corpse moved.
"Back."
Everyone retreated.
The body rose from the water.
Then another.
Then six more.
The infected had been lying beneath the surface.
Black fluid spread through the pool around them.
Mirba's eyes widened.
"Do not let that water touch you!"
The first corpse climbed out.
Mirba cut its knee out from under it, stepped around the falling body, and drove her blade through the base of its skull.
A second lunged from the pool.
One scout thrust a spear into its chest.
It kept coming.
"Head!" Mirba shouted.
The scout changed his grip and shoved upward.
The spear point entered beneath the chin.
The infected collapsed.
Two more climbed from the water at once.
Mirba backed toward the doorway.
She could burn the room.
The contaminated water made that uncertain.
Instead, she raised her free hand.
"Focus Boost."
The world sharpened.
She saw every movement separately.
One corpse dragging its left foot.
Another reaching with both hands.
A third still climbing over the edge of the pool.
Mirba moved.
Her sword entered the first corpse's eye and exited behind the skull.
She withdrew, pivoted, and kicked the second in the chest. It fell backward into the third, tangling both bodies.
Mirba stepped onto the pool ledge without entering the water.
Two fast thrusts.
Two skulls pierced.
A hand grabbed her ankle.
Mirba looked down.
A corpse beneath the water had reached over the edge.
Its fingers tightened around her boot.
She drove her sword downward.
The blade passed through the top of its head.
The grip loosened.
Mirba jumped back.
"Clear?"
The scouts checked.
"Clear."
Mirba looked at the black water.
"Mark this building red. Nobody comes through here again."
They exited through the rear courtyard.
Ren was waiting on the wall.
His face was pale.
"You guys okay?"
Mirba looked at the blood on her sword.
"Yes."
Acero appeared beside Ren.
"The residence is ahead."
Mirba looked over the wall.
Ichigo's old home stood at the end of the street.
The front door hung open.
Windows were broken.
Dark stains covered the steps.
Mirba's throat tightened.
"Move."
They crossed the final street together.
The front hall had not changed enough.
That was the first thing Mirba hated about it.
The table near the entrance still stood against the wall. One of Hephaestus's old decorative vases remained on the shelf above it, cracked down the center but somehow intact. A coat hook Ren had once broken and badly repaired still leaned to the left.
Six years had passed.
For one breath, Mirba expected Ichigo to walk down the stairs complaining about someone leaving boots in the hallway.
Then she saw the blood.
It began near the stairs and continued upward.
Acero crouched beside the first stain.
"Old."
Ren stood behind him.
"Daphne?"
Acero did not answer.
Mirba moved toward the staircase.
One of the Guild scouts caught her attention.
"Captain."
He pointed toward the wall.
Three long scratches had been carved into the wood.
Black residue filled them.
Mirba's grip tightened around her sword.
"Nobody touches anything."
They climbed.
The master bedroom door was gone.
Inside, the room had been stripped almost bare by time and whatever Itorash's, The black dragon's people had done. The bed remained. So did part of a dresser. The floor near the center of the room was scorched in a perfect circle.
Acero entered first.
He examined the circle.
"Here."
Mirba approached.
Black crystal dust glittered between the floorboards.
One of the sample carriers removed a sealed metal tube.
"This matches the material in the Guild vial."
Mirba looked toward the bed.
"This is where Lord Ichigo and Lady Hephaestus lived."
Ren leaned against the doorway without touching it.
His expression was unusually serious.
"So Itorash came here because the room had soaked up their divinity." Acero nodded.
"That appears consistent."
The sample carrier used tongs to collect several fragments.
A floorboard creaked in the hall.
Everyone stopped.
Ren slowly turned his head.
Another creak.
Closer.
Mirba raised one finger to her lips.
Acero moved to the left side of the doorway.
Ren moved right.
The Guild scouts formed behind Mirba.
A shadow crossed the hall.
A woman stepped into view.
Mirba forgot how to breathe.
Daphne's hair was tangled around her face.
Her skin had turned gray. Dried blood covered her ears, nose, and chin. The pajamas she had died in were torn and dark with old stains.
Her eyes were cloudy.
But it was Daphne.
Her body, at least.
Ren's sword lowered.
"Daph..."
Acero's arm moved across Ren's chest.
"Do not."
Daphne's head tilted.
Her mouth opened.
"M...Mir...ba."
Mirba's face broke.
For a heartbeat, the captain disappeared and the woman underneath stood in her place. "Daphne?"
Acero looked sharply at her.
"Captain."
Daphne took one step.
"Mir...ba."
Ren's eyes filled.
"She knows her."
Acero did not take his eyes off the corpse.
"Or the body remembers the sound."
Daphne moved again.
Her right foot dragged slightly.
Mirba saw the black fluid around her fingernails.
She remembered Kellin's warning.
Do not build a person out of it.
Daphne's lips moved.
"Help."
Mirba's sword trembled.
"Daphne, if you can hear me, stop."
The corpse stopped.
Ren inhaled sharply.
Mirba's hope rose before she could stop it.
Then Daphne smiled.
It was wrong.
Too wide.
Her body lunged.
Acero moved first.
His sword came up.
Mirba knocked it aside.
"NO!"
Daphne crashed into her.
Mirba caught both wrists.
The dead woman's strength surprised her.
They slammed into the bedroom wall.
Daphne snapped her teeth toward Mirba's throat.
Mirba turned her face and shoved one forearm beneath the corpse's jaw. "Daphne!"
Black saliva struck Mirba's shoulder armor.
Acero seized Daphne from behind and pulled.
The corpse released one hand from Mirba and clawed backward. Acero leaned away from the nails.
Ren stepped in and kicked Daphne's knee.
The joint bent sideways.
She did not react to the pain.
That convinced Mirba more than anything else could have. Daphne would have cursed Ren for that.
This thing did not.
Mirba's face hardened through the grief.
"Acero. Release her."
He did.
Daphne surged forward.
Mirba stepped aside.
Her sword moved once.
The blade entered beneath Daphne's ear and passed cleanly through the brain. The corpse froze.
Its cloudy eyes remained on Mirba.
The mouth moved.
No sound came out.
Mirba caught the body before it hit the floor.
She lowered Daphne carefully.
Ren turned away.
Acero stood beside them in silence.
Mirba knelt on the ruined floor with Daphne's head in her lap. She brushed tangled hair away from the dead woman's face. "I'm sorry," Mirba whispered.
Nothing answered.
Mirba closed Daphne's eyes.
They did not stay closed.
She tried again.
The muscles no longer obeyed.
Mirba swallowed.
"Ren."
He looked back.
His face was wet.
"Yeah?"
"Find something clean."
Ren wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
"Okay."
He searched the dresser and found an old sheet that had somehow escaped most of the damage.
Together, they wrapped Daphne's body.
Acero tied the cloth without speaking.
One of the Guild scouts shifted awkwardly near the door.
"Protocol says infected bodies have to be burned."
Mirba looked up.
The scout flinched.
Her anger was not directed at him.
"Then we burn her."
Ren stared at the wrapped body.
"Here?"
Mirba looked around the bedroom.
The home had already been violated enough.
"No. Outside."
They carried Daphne into the courtyard.
The sample carriers built a pyre from broken furniture and oil.
Mirba stood beside it while Ren placed Daphne down.
Acero remained on her other side.
No prayer came immediately.
None of them knew which god had received Daphne's soul six years ago. Mirba finally drew her sword.
She held the point toward the ground.
"Daphne Lauros was annoying."
Ren made a broken sound that might have been a laugh.
Mirba's mouth trembled.
"She was stubborn. She complained whenever Ren did anything, which meant she spent most of her waking hours complaining."
Ren wiped his face again.
"Accurate."
Mirba looked at the wrapped body.
"She was brave. She stayed in Orario because this was her home. She had family here. She protected our home after we left."
Her voice weakened.
"And she deserved better than this."
Acero bowed his head.
Mirba raised one hand.
A small flame appeared above her palm.
"Wherever your soul went, Daphne...this thing does not get to keep your face." She released the flame.
The pyre caught.
They watched until the sheet disappeared beneath fire.
Ren stood with his arms folded tightly across his chest.
"When Ichigo gets here..."
Mirba looked at him.
Ren's eyes remained on the flames.
"He's gonna blame himself."
"Yes." Acero said.
"He shouldn't." Ren responded.
"No." Said Mirba.
Ren finally looked at her.
"You gonna tell him that?"
Mirba wiped her cheek with the back of her glove.
"Repeatedly."
Acero looked toward the mansion.
"We should finish our search before the fire draws attention."
Mirba nodded.
"Five minutes. Then we leave."
They found one more thing.
Beneath the bed, protected from weather and scavengers, was a shard of black crystal larger than the others.
It pulsed when Mirba approached.
The sample carrier nearly dropped his tongs.
"It reacted to you."
Mirba stared at it.
"No."
She held out her hand without touching the shard.
The crystal pulsed again.
"It reacted to my Falna."
Acero understood.
"Ichigo's Familia."
Ren looked at the shard.
"So it recognizes things connected to him."
Mirba's eyes narrowed.
"Which means we can test Farenia's claim."
They sealed the shard.
Then they left the mansion burning behind them.
Not the whole building.
Only the pyre in the courtyard.
Mirba looked back once from the end of the street.
Smoke rose over the wall.
"Goodbye, Daphne."
Then she followed the others toward the gate.
()()()()()()()()()()()()(Soul Society - Urahara's Temporary Laboratory)()()()()()()()()()()()()
Urahara had built the laboratory inside what used to be a supply warehouse. Half the wall was missing.
He had covered the opening with three layers of Kidou barriers and complained that the ventilation remained poor.
Mayuri had told him to stop whining. That conversation had ended with both scientists threatening each other with increasingly specific forms of experimental surgery.
Ichigo had left for ten minutes and hen he returned, they were working together.
He decided not to ask.
A large table occupied the center of the room.
Above it floated a map of Wandenreich's shadow layers, Orange and gold lights marked Kazui and Senna.
The signals had become stronger.
Ichigo stood with both hands planted on the table.
"They moved."
Urahara adjusted a dial.
"Approximately sixty meters relative to the previous coordinate."
Mayuri clicked his tongue.
"Assuming distance means anything in a folded dimensional layer, which it may not." Ichigo looked at him.
Mayuri's painted face stretched into an unpleasant smile.
"What? Would you prefer comforting nonsense?"
"I'd prefer you quieter."
"Then become smarter so my explanations can be shorter."
Ichigo's eye twitched.
Urahara placed himself between them without looking up.
Ichigo pointed at Mayuri.
"He started it."
Mayuri laughed.
"How delightfully juvenile."
Hephaestus entered on crutches.
Ichigo immediately turned.
"Why are you walking?"
She stopped in the doorway.
Her hair had been washed and tied back. A clean eyepatch covered her damaged eye. She wore a borrowed black robe over the brace on her leg.
"Because I possess another leg."
Ichigo stared at her.
Hephaestus raised one eyebrow.
"Do you intend to carry me for the remainder of the war?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Hephaestus."
"Ichigo."
Urahara quietly turned back to his equipment.
Mayuri watched with obvious interest.
Hephaestus crossed the room slowly.
Every step with the crutches was deliberate. Pain showed in the tightness around her mouth, but she refused to rush.
Ichigo moved beside her anyway.
He did not touch her until she leaned slightly toward him.
Then his hand settled around her waist.
"Thank you," Hephaestus murmured.
Ichigo looked smug.
"Don't."
His expression immediately became neutral.
"Wasn't doing anything."
"You were thinking loudly."
They reached the table.
Hephaestus studied the map.
"Their signatures are stronger."
Urahara nodded.
"Senna is helping us."
He enlarged part of the projection.
Thin green lines spread through the shadow layer.
Ichigo stared.
"Roots."
"Exactly. She is growing them through whatever material forms the lower layer. They carry a trace of her divinity."
Hephaestus's expression filled with pride and worry at the same time. "Clever girl."
Mayuri leaned over the projection.
"More importantly, the roots are damaging the dimensional partition." Ichigo looked at him.
"That's good?"
Mayuri smiled.
"For us. Potentially catastrophic for whoever is inside."
Hephaestus's eye narrowed.
"Then we shall avoid collapsing the structure around my children."
Mayuri looked disappointed.
"How limiting."
A device on Urahara's table chimed.
Urahara turned.
A new signal appeared.
Mirba's voice came through in static.
"Lord Ichigo?"
Ichigo grabbed the receiver.
"Mirba. You okay?"
A pause.
"We are alive."
Ichigo heard something in her tone.
His expression changed.
"What happened?"
Mirba took a breath on the other end.
"We reached Orario. The majority of the population has evacuated beyond the walls. The Guild has established a quarantine settlement. The city itself is being treated as hostile territory. Expedition rules. Logged routes. Contamination protocol."
Hephaestus closed her eye briefly.
Ichigo's hand tightened around the receiver.
"Why?"
Mirba's voice became quieter.
"The dead are reanimating."
Nobody in the laboratory moved.
Ichigo stared at the wall.
"What?"
Mirba explained.
She told him about the outbreak, The black fluid, The bites, The evacuated city, Then she told him about Daphne.
Ichigo sat down.
He did not remember choosing to.
Hephaestus moved closer and rested one hand on his shoulder.
Mirba's voice shook once when she described finding Daphne in the mansion.
"Her soul was gone, Lord Ichigo. I am certain of it. Whatever attacked us wore her body and retained fragments of speech, but it was not her."
Ichigo looked at the floor.
"You..."
He stopped.
Mirba understood.
"I ended it. We burned the body."
Ichigo closed his eyes.
"What the fuck is happening around here" Ichigo exclaimed in disbelief.