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The Light of Destruction

Prologue

There had been a time once, when he might have been welcome here. Considering his current affiliation, that was impossible now or ever again. The Stern Ritter 'L' briefly thought on this, and then just as quickly dismissed the thought. He'd learned a lot in the last few months, and one of those things was that thinking of the impossible was as useless as it sounded, and was therefore not worth the time or effort.

And so he quickly dismissed the useless sentiments, even as he just as quickly cut down another Shinigami charging at them. A part of him felt demeaned by this duty, even if it was given by their Emperor.

He was a Stern Ritter. Escort duty for anyone short of the Emperor was for the Soldat, and not for one of the Quincy elite.

But orders were orders, and so the Stern Ritter silently put the thought aside as the party continued to make its way towards the Captain-Commander's office. As they entered the large, well-lit room, they found it empty apart from the old man himself and a messenger kneeling on the floor a good distance from the Captain-Commander.

The 'L' wondered if they should leave the messenger – clearly unaware of their presence – to the spokesperson, but the answer to that question was apparently no as the Shinigami literally exploded the moment they entered the room. He almost laughed. The Stern Ritter 'E' the Explode Bambietta Basterbine had an all but literal short fuse, and she had verbally protested among their fellow Stern Ritter the fact that an Arrancar would be delivering their declaration of war.

The fact that she would be escorting said Arrancar and protecting him from harm on approach would probably have driven her temper to the boiling point. No doubt she'd been itching to let an 'accident' happen along the way – everyone else apart from him and the Arrancar probably did – if not for the Emperor's orders.

Hmm…perhaps they should have left her with Driscoll outside the building?

The 'L' immediately redirected his attentions to the task at hand as the Arrancar began to speak. The Captain-Commander appeared unfazed, and the Quincy wondered if he'd sensed their approach. He immediately realized that if he had, then he probably didn't consider them a threat considering how easy it had been to get here.

In hindsight I'm not surprised at the extent of such arrogance.

"There is no need to worry." Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 and the Captain of the First Division returned the Arrancar's comment on the lax security. "I am here. There is no better security than this."

Behind his mask the Stern Ritter couldn't help but chuckle quietly. The old man was exactly how he remembered. "I see…" the Arrancar returned. "…those will be your arrogant last words, Genryuusai Yamamoto."

Almost as if on cue, one of Driscoll's heilig pfeil flew through the windows on one side, and flying through the room impaled against the other wall a Shinigami which the 'L' recognized as the First Division's Lieutenant Choujiro Sasakibe.

The Stern Ritter 'O' the Overkill Driscoll Berci was clearly living up to his title.

"Do not grieve. You should praise him." The Arrancar said shortly afterwards. "He was so kind as to show you what your end will be. In other words after fighting and sacrificing everything you will die a desperate death. In five days the Soul Society will be annihilated by the Vandenreich."

Fire flashed with the ancient Shinigami's rage and fury, and in the blink of an eye the Captain-Commander destroyed Driscoll's heilig pfeil and allowed his injured subordinate to fall to the ground. "Those eyes…" the Arrancar commented. "…I know what you want to ask. Who are we? Surely you understand that we're not going to give an answer."

Shadows flared around them preparing to transport them back to Vandenreich, but the 'L' found himself tensing. Even five of the most powerful Stern Ritter could not hope to last long against the leader of the Shinigami. And he was right. Even as their spokesperson said his farewell, the Captain-Commander lashed out in fury, his flames barely avoiding them as the Emperor's shadow engulfed them…

…and the party found themselves transported before the Emperor's throne room. The Soldat on guard duty immediately gave a salute, and the doors opened. The Arrancar walked through them first, arrogantly discarding his mask, cap, and cloak as he approached the Emperor's throne with a smug smile.

The 'L' snorted in disdain as the Stern Ritter instead stood at attention to the sides. The mission technically wasn't over until the report had been delivered to the Emperor, and the throne room was hardly a place to be overly-concerned about one's attire. Not that he and the other Stern Ritter expected the Arrancar to ever leave the place alive.

There's really no point in learning his name, considering that his life was forfeit the moment he accepted this mission. That was all the Arrancar Vanguard was for anyway, to perform suicide missions, and when their given tasks were done, they were to be disposed of.

The 'L' didn't hate Arrancar and Hollows to the same extent as his fellow Quincy, but it was still with a sense of satisfaction that he observed the Emperor putting the arrogant Arrancar in his place. And apparently the idiot didn't learn his lesson, considering how he was going off-tangent.

It was his funeral.

"I just asked you…" the Emperor was saying. "…whether you are a prophet or not…?"

"Ah…no…I'm not…"

"Then why are you talking about the future? I want to hear about now."

There was a flash of light and the Arrancar whose name he couldn't be bothered to remember – the Emperor had mentioned it but the 'L' was certain the Emperor would understand if he forgot about a dead Hollow's name so quickly – was blown apart. The Emperor made a gesture dismissing the Stern Ritter present, who bowed and quietly proceeded to leave the throne room.

Everyone apart from Grand Master Haschwalth, although that was to be expected considering that he was the Emperor's advisor, and would be needed to discuss their next move in the war.

The moment they left the throne room, the Stern Ritter on duty had immediately relaxed and discarded the caps and masks they'd been made to use while on the most recent mission. "That mission was so dreary…" Bambietta immediately complained while fishing out her commissar cap from inside her cloak and putting it on her head. "…but I suppose it's worth it considering how His Majesty wasted that Arrancar in the end."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance Bambietta." The Stern Ritter 'L' the Light Ichigo Kurosaki commented while smoothing out his uniform. "At the latest we'll be invading the Soul Society within a week. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun when that happens."

"Humph…" the girl scoffed. "…Driscoll over here had a lot fun today, didn't you?"

"As if…" the larger man scoffed in his turn. "…even that lieutenant was so weak, he was barely worth the time and effort."

"And let me guess…" Ichigo commented. "…the only thing that made it worthwhile was the man's Bankai?"

Driscoll laughed. "Naturally…" he said, and Bambietta rolled her eyes. She was among the Stern Ritter who while admitting that the idea of stealing Bankai and using them against their owners had merit, had been disdainful of using a power that wasn't theirs to begin with.

Somehow I can relate.

Ichigo's thoughts on the matter were immediately disrupted when the rest of Bambietta's entourage arrived and immediately surrounded her. "And how was your first mission, Kurosaki?" the Stern Ritter 'D' the Death-dealing Askin Nakk le Vaar asked, appearing out of nowhere as was his norm. After having it happen to him more than once in the past, it barely fazed the younger Stern Ritter.

"Oh it's you Askin…" he said. "…it was satisfying, I suppose. Neither His Majesty nor the Grand Master will have to worry about my performance in what is to come."

"Excellent…" Askin said mockingly with faux and theatrical applause. "…that is most reassuring. As a Special War Power, having you on our side is most comforting. We all have high expectations of you Kurosaki."

"And I have no intentions of disappointing."

There was too much at stake to disappoint the Emperor.

"Hmm…oh well, I'll just have to wait and see for that to happen." Askin said with a shrug before looking over Ichigo's shoulder and giving a smirk. "Oh and by the way your girlfriend is getting impatient."

"She's not my…ugh, why do I even bother?" Ichigo said, and Askin laughed at his expense while he strolled over to where Bambietta was waiting for him.

"Did you have a nice chat with Askin, Ichigo?" the girl asked as they began to walk away from the Emperor's throne room.

"Is that sarcasm I hear?"

"Maybe…Askin's rather…unusual…"

"And I'm not? Technically speaking I'm gemischt, remember?"

"…you're a Special War Power…" Bambietta said firmly. "…you're also a Stern Ritter and therefore one of us."

"So is Askin…"

"True…oh enough about that. You should stop worrying about your status."

"...I don't worry about it." Ichigo assured her. "I've too much at stake to worry about it, seeing as worrying about things will just end up distracting me. And in any case, it's as you say: I am a Stern Ritter."

"That's better." Bambietta said approvingly. "And when the invasion comes, you can put to rest any further questions of your loyalty."

"I've every intention of doing so."

"How is our Special War Power progressing?" the Emperor Yhwach asked.

"He's doing well for himself." The Stern Ritter 'B' the Balance Jugram Haschwalth answered. "The Explode and her clique appear to have accepted him, as has the Superstar and to an extent the Death-dealing. The others are waiting for further confirmation of his skills and loyalty, although they have been cordial. He has after all received the Schrift, Your Majesty."

"Indeed…" the Emperor responded with a nod. "…the Light will prove most useful in what is to come. You may go Haschwald…unless you have something else to add?"

"A question has rather concerned me recently, Your Majesty."

"And that is…?"

"Uryuu Ishida…" Haschwalth said. "…I have no fears regarding our newest Stern Ritter's loyalty. I did personally oversee his initial training, and I can practically guarantee his loyalty. But the other…"

"It is of no concern." The Emperor said dismissively. "No doubt Ishida won't nearly be as loyal as the Light, considering that we have not the time to properly reeducate him given our time frame, but I already have taken that into consideration."

"I see." Haschwalth said before giving a bow. "In that case Your Majesty I have to nothing more to add. May I take my leave?"

The Emperor nodded. "You may go Haschwalth."

A/N

I'll start in media res, so why Ichigo is with the Vandenreich and the reason behind his loyalty to Yhwach will be explained in flashback chapters later on.