Episode 72: Opening Moves
Episode 72: Opening Moves
An unending choir of hungry howls rippled across Las Noches, filling the air with unearthly song. Adagio did her best to drown it out with her pillows, but the constant drone of howling was impossible to entirely cancel out. As such sleep was minimal and irritation was high for the young Vasto Lorde. Retiring to her abode after the events of Thorax’s party had made the most sense, but there was little rest to be had with Las Noches packed nearly wall to wall with a teaming tide of Hollows called in by Lord Tirek’s war horns. They were out there, covering the vast sands of Las Noche’s interior in a rowdy, howling mass. If Adagio cared to she could glance out her room’s windows to see the thousands of Hollows scampering around in a carpet as far as her eye could see, with the towering Gillians like swaying algae rising from the masses.
Controlling so many Hollows and keeping them from devolving into a feeding frenzy upon each other was the work of the Espada, and the massive horde of Hollows was being divided up piece by piece as each Espada laid claim to a portion of the feral Hollows, often through sheer dominance of their reiatsu. She’d paid the work little mind, favoring getting what rest she could. Rumors had it that the Quincy would be attacking any day, perhaps even today, and she didn’t want to be caught without some proper beauty sleep.
Not that such was possible with all the damned racket!
When Adagio heard something land on the banister of her open window, she assumed it was yet another of the winged lesser Hollows peeking inside out of curiosity, so she didn’t even look up from her pillows or get out of bed before sending her tail out to slash at it.
She felt her tail be blocked by a hand, however, followed by Ember’s voice, “You’re one of those grouchy morning types, aren’t you?”
“Is it even morning?” Adagio groaned, rolling over in bed as she pulled her tail back. Ember hopped in through the window, rubbing her hand where she’d blocked the bladed fin of Adagio’s tail. Seeing the gesture Adagio muttered, “Sorry. Thought you were another small fry pecking at my window. They’ve been doing it all night.”
Ember shrugged, “No worries. Just reminds me that if I ever need to wake you up to do it at a distance. And yeah, it's morning, more or less. Who keeps a watch around here anyway?”
Adagio rose from her bed, rubbing the back of her neck and yawning, “Fair enough. So what brings you through my window? Any fallout from last night?”
“Nah,” Ember shook her head, “Not yet. Gilda won’t make a move too soon after getting chastised by her Espada. As for Garble...”
Ember licked her lips, rubbing her arms, “He’s why I’m here. We didn’t have time to talk much after everything went down last night, and I want to know what you did to him, Adagio. He’s acting way too subservient. I know you used your song powers, but just how much did you screw over his head?”
Standing up and stretching, arms languidly arcing over her head, Adagio said, “I didn’t hit him nearly as hard as you might think. All I did was plant the idea that by backing off he’d be earning your respect, and that he ought to keep an eye out for your safety when the Quincy attack.”
“Huh? Wait, why would he even care about that?” Ember asked with a confused tilt of her head, and Adagio’s lips quirked in amusement.
“Oh, you haven’t noticed? That he’s... into you?”
Ember’s head tilt only got more pronounced, “What?”
Adagio ran a hand through her hair, chuckling lightly, “Ember we’re going to have to do something about your perception skills. Look, don’t worry about it. Garble shouldn’t be much of a further threat, and I somehow doubt he’s going to figure into any future equations, outside of perhaps being a useful errand boy if he continues to behave himself. Its Gilda and Guto I’m concerned with now. Well, them and Grogar.”
A dark expression swept across her eyes, “And Chrysalis.”
Ember’s confusion about Garble gave way to a swift look of equal dourness, “Yeah, Chrysalis. Still can’t believe what she wants you to do. Are... are you sure we can even pull this off?”
“You could always back out, Ember. It's my task, not yours, and you don’t have to risk anything on my account,” Adagio said but Ember held up a hand before she was even done speaking.
“No, I’m in. One hundred percent. Just feels like a tall order, and if even one thing goes wrong, we’re both basically dead meat. Even my dad couldn’t protect us if we screw this up.”
“I’m equally dead if I don’t follow through, so its something of a moot point,” said Adagio, walking over to her window and peering outside. “Still, your concerns have merit. I’ve been thinking about our game plan, and as it turns out Thorax showed me a means to pull it off.”
“Thorax?” Ember frowned, then nodded thoughtfully, “Yeah, I guess that pans out. I mean, weird as the guy is, he’s still got to be loyal to Chrysalis, and probably knows what we’re doing for her. What exactly did he show you that’s gonna be of any help?”
“Question, have you have ever thought about where Las Noches gets its water from?” Adagio asked, and Ember’s face screwed up with confusion.
“Not really. I mean, water’s a nice luxury, but its not like we Hollows need it to survive.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t change that its available, if for no other reason than as you said, a luxury,” Adagio said, pointing downward at the floor, “And it all comes from below. A deep underground reservoir.”
“Yeah,” Ember nodded, “Dad’s got a well in back of his throne spire...” she blinked, “Waitasec, your lake...?”
“Bingo,” Adagio tapped her snout, “Its connected. Using that I can get anywhere I need to in Las Noches without being detected.”
“Well that’s handy. Problem, I can’t breathe underwater.”
“No worries, I can manipulate water to create air pockets. How do you think I kept Garble from drowning?”
“Okay, makes sense. How are we going to know where to go?” Ember asked, clawed fingers tapping on her arm, “There’s still a lot of holes in the plan.”
Adagio nodded at that, turning from the window to lean against the banister, “There’s no way to plan for what we have no way of knowing. When the battle begins we don’t know who’s going to be fighting where. It's possible we won’t even have an opening during the battle itself and will have to wait until it's over and strike during the aftermath. No matter how things develop, my plan is to use the advantage of those underground water tunnels to get to wherever we need to be. The key here is for us to stick close to each other, and be able to slip away when the opportunity presents itself.”
“Won’t Garble be a problem then? You know, if he’s staying near me the whole time we’re going to need a way to ditch him.”
“That won’t be an issue. If need be I can use my song on him again,” Adagio said, but anything further was interrupted by a shaking that reverberated through the floor and walls, causing both her and Ember to glance at each other with momentary confusion.
“What was that?” Ember said, even as the tremors were repeated with an accompanying echo of distant booms and crashes that sounded to Adagio like they were emanating from outside the fortress walls. She could only think of a handful of things this could possibly be, and she somehow doubted it was the boys downstairs getting rowdy again.
“Ember, is there a way to the top of the fortress walls?” she asked, voice now deathly serious. Ember gave a swift nod, already rushing for the door.
“Follow me.”
Out in the hallway they both saw a warily confused Dumbbell poking his head around the next turn, “Hey, what’s going on? You all feeling those shakes?”
“Get Score and Hoops, and prepare yourselves for a fight!” Commanded Adagio sharply, “I think we’ve got Quincy knocking at our doors.”
That got Dumbbell’s eyes to shoot wide and he scrambled away to go gather his two cohorts while Adagio and Ember swept past him to go down another bend in the hallway. Adagio’s territory essentially occupied an area right along the innermost portion of Las Noche’s south wall, west of the center. If they were being attacked from the south then those impacts had to be happening right outside!
“How did they get this close without being spotted? Didn’t Lord Tirek have scouts posted?” Adagio said as they hit a spiral stairwell going upwards.
“He did. They must have been overrun before they could get a warning out,” Ember said, face grim. Even as they went up the stairs the impacts got louder and the shaking that accompanied them more severe. This was followed by a blaring, deep and resounding cry from Las Noches’ war horns. Ember nodded at the sound.
“That’s the signal we’re under attack. Even if the rest of the fortress didn’t realize it yet, that should get everyone moving.”
At the top of the stairs was a sealed door that didn’t lead to the rooftop so much as it led into a bunker-like room with lines of small window slits showing the view outside of Las Noches. Here Adagio could hear the impacts more clearly now as a peppering of explosions, some close, some distant. Rushing to one of the open window slits she peer out to see what was happening.
At first she didn’t see much, but after a moment she saw streaks of fire trails, like distant lightning bugs at first, which rapidly grew with the accompanying shrieks of missiles as dozens of the projectiles smashed along Las Noches’ walls in fiery bursts. The massively thick stone walls were holding up under the barrage, showing some pockmarks from the hits but staying largely intact. Adagio strained to get a look at where the attacks were coming from and could only barely make out distant points of light on Hueco Mundo’s dark horizon. But there were many of them, and whatever they were, they were approaching quickly.
Ember was watching out the window as well and her eyes narrowed, “Guess this is how the Quincy announce their attacks these days. Never seen them actually roll right up on Las Noches like this.”
“Can those missiles even do anything?”
“To these walls? Not unless they got thousands more to throw at us. Nah, this isn’t the trying to breach the walls. This is them saying ‘Hi Arrancar, come out and play’.”
“And we’re going to, aren’t we?”
“You better damn well believe it!” Ember said with heat in her voice, “If we stay in here, they’ll get bored of poking at us and hit the wall with something harder. Might as well get out there and make them sorry they dragged their holier than thou asses to our doorstep. C’mon, let’s get to my dad. He’ll already be mobilizing the horde.”
Adagio gave a shallow nod and followed Ember back down the stairs, where they were soon joined by Dumbbell, Score, and Hoops, all three of which bore jittery looks as they filed in behind Adagio.
“Is it really the Quincy? Like, all of them?” Score asked with a nervous twitch.
“It certainly isn’t a tax audit,” Adagio replied with dry certainty, “You three just stick close to me and don’t do anything without my say so. Good help is hard enough to come by around here, I don’t need any of you getting separated and picked off.”
“What about those other two? You know, the fish-guy and the big dino?” asked Hoops, “They gonna be able to fight or what?”
That was a good question. Adagio had no intention of having Gaw or Di-Roy participating in this battle, given they were both still recovering, but she also had not given them explicit orders in regards to an attack on Las Noches. She doubted there was time to go to the Fourth’s tower and check up on them. She’d just have to hope they were smart enough to stay put. Or rather that Gaw was smart enough to stay put, and had the wherewithal to sit on Di-Roy if he got dumb and tried to head out to fight.
“They can take care of themselves,” was all she said, and hoped it was true.
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“Do you think we got their attention yet?” asked Coloratura with a sing song note of sarcasm in her voice as she draped herself off the wing of the Quincy fleet’s command VTOL, dangling her legs with lazy kicks as she watched the light show several miles ahead as hundreds of missiles detonated across Las Noches’ seemingly indomitable walls.
“I rather think that’s a moot question,” said another woman who stood next to the ethereal looking Coloratura. This woman was older, but hardly showed it in her own lithe dancer’s figure, light yellow skin contrasting with a head of curled neon blue hair that swayed down to her mid-back. She wore an odd and more dazzling version of a Quincy uniform, much as Coloratura did. Puffed out elbow poofs extended to lacy sleeves, and a slimming dress flared out to gold trimmed leaf-like petals along the edge of the dress, while an adornment ruffles went up her back and chest. All was capped off by a tall, white top hat she wore at a slight angle. Gold eyes, bearing long lashes and heavy eye-shadow, observed the bombardment with a hint of disdain, “Kind of a waste of a good light show. All we’re doing is rattling the hornet’s nest.”
“That’s the point, Sapphire. We want them to come out to us,” Night Light said, perched on a raised deck platform atop of the central fuselage of the command VTOL, looking through a pair of thick, digital binoculars that showed him a zoomed in view of the fortress and the missiles impacting it. “We’re not about to run out of missiles with so much reishi to refuel our ammo stores with, so we can keep this up for as long as it will take Tirek to respond. And he will, because even if this barrage can’t break his walls, this is a challenge he can’t afford to ignore.”
The missile barrage was stemming from the flights of VTOLs approaching Las Noches in formation. The pods on either wing could disgorge a steady stream of explosive warheads, fueled by internal mechanisms that converted raw, stored reishi particles into additional ammunition reloads for the launchers. They were firing from extreme range, well beyond the point of any effective accuracy, but Las Noches was such a large target it hardly mattered. They were also beyond the engagement range of the enemy’s Ceros, but that wouldn’t last much longer at the rate they were advancing.
Night Light glanced behind him. The command VTOL was nearly twice the size of the normal models, with a third deck dedicated solely to command-and-control with numerous communications and monitoring equipment. The wider wings allowed for additional weapons, while the broader top of the VTOL acted as an observation platform for not only command officers and Sternritter such as Night Light, but a high-backed throne from where His Majesty could also observe the battle.
“My King, shall I commence landing operations?”
Sombra nodded at Night Light’s words, making a small gesture, sweeping his hand out, “Begin deployment. Convey my words to every member of our army, Night Light.”
Night Light saluted, and closed his eyes as he concentrated upon his own unique power, the Schrift of ‘C’ that gave him his title as a Sternritter; the Command. Simple and yet wholly potent in a large scale battle such as this, the Command had many uses, one of which was the ability to link with the minds of every individual within an allied force to both witness and construct a full mental picture of the battlefield, but to also convey orders across all of those subjects at once.
Within moments his mind was linked to the hundreds of Quincy riding along in the large flotilla of VTOLs, as well as the advancing ranks of tanks and armored cars in the desert below. Each Quincy would feel Night Light’s power as the lightest of touches on their minds before Night Light’s voice spoke to them.
“Warriors of the Vandenreich, take heed for His Majesty, your King, has words for you all...” Night Light said, then looked to Sombra as he nodded, letting Sombra’s mind join the link so that when Sombra spoke, his voice reached every single Quincy through that link.
“Do you see it, my Quincy?” said Sombra in a low yet powerfully resonant tone, “Do you see the hovel before us, where our enemies lair like slinking rats? Are we coming upon it in secret? Do we ambush it in sudden silence to slaughter children? No, we come forth boldly, with the light of righteous fury heralding our arrival for every filth stained, murderous Hollow to see and hear our coming!”
He rose from his throne and began a slow, deliberate march across the shining steel roof of the command VTOL, reaching the front and flinging his hand out as if to grasp the distant, fire engulfed walls of Las Noches, his voice rising to a rich bellow.
“Within those bloodstained walls are the very beasts whose existence plagues the souls of all mankind, and they think themselves safe in their multitudes, safe in their corrupt power. Today, my Quincy, we shall rip asunder that fragile illusion for them. We shall educate this rabble of fallen spirits on the error of their judgement, the profound misstep they made in assaulting and butchering our children.”
He drew forth his sword, the thick black steel reflecting the pale light of Hueco Mundo’s crescent moon as he pointed it at the approaching Hollow fortress.
“My Quincy, my children, I only ask one thing of you; to fight as your hearts dictate. It is not my fury the Hollows must fear, but yours. Let them feel the wrath I know courses through your veins! From lowest soldat to highest Sternritter, all of you bear the blood and pride of the Quincy! Does it burn as hotly as my own? Do you feel the righteous heat welling inside you? That is justice, my children. Let that fire burn within you as you bring that justice to bear upon the monsters before us. For the fallen. For the Quincy!”
Even without Night Light’s power conveying the response to him Sombra would have sensed the thunderous reply of cheers and stomping feet from countless of his Quincy, and Night Light himself gave an approving nod as he settled the link and proceeded to start directing the landing process. Squadrons peeled off from the formation, beginning to deploy the troops on the sands below.
“Well said, My King,” said Sapphire Shores, tapping a finger to her lips, “I can feel the passion burning brightly across our little stars. Why even my heart is pumping a bit faster now.”
‘Little stars’ was her pet name for the vast majority of the Quincy, and Sombra ignored most of Sapphire’s more eccentric comments usually. He turned a glance at her, creeping a small smirk onto his face, “I don’t speak idle words. I want all of you to give this everything you have. No slacking off, Sapphire. You too, Coloratura.”
“Why do I get lumped in with her?” Coloratura said with a huff, rising to her feet and jutting a chin at Sapphire Shores, “I take everything seriously.”
Sapphire rolled her eyes, “We know. That’s the problem. Well My King, shall I stay by your side? A King should remain close to his prophetess, shouldn’t he?”
He waved her off, eyes fixed upon Las Noches. He could sense the growing waves of Hollow reiatsu within. The fortress was fit to burst with countless Hollows, a veritable ocean of them with the large sharks of the Espada swimming among the shoals. It wouldn’t take them long to respond to the attack on their walls.
“I want you and Coloratura to focus your efforts upon Chrysalis, should she appear,” he said, “The Quintessence and the Octave combined can keep her pinned down while Night Light directs things from here. Tirek, of course, is mine when he shows himself.”
Sapphire Shores, Sternritter ‘Q’ the Quintessence, and Countess Coloratura, Sternritter ‘O’ the Octave both saluted and bowed to him at the same time. Neither looked particularly pleased to be working together, but Sombra knew both women were more than capable of fighting as a team despite their rivalry over trivial matters of music. Perhaps dealing with their occasional childish escapades was his punishment for making two pop stars Sternritter, but talent was talent, and whatever their side hobbies were both were counted among the stronger tier of his Sternritter, and some of the few he’d trust to keep the Second Espada occupied without getting themselves killed.
“My King,” Night Light drew his attention, gesturing for Sombra to look towards Las Noches’ walls. Sombra took the binoculars from Night Light, not that he really needed them to sense what was happening.
While Las Noches has largely flat, featureless walls, there were in fact numerous places where doorways both vast and small could open both within the wall itself and from the numerous large, square stone openings dotting the sands near the walls. The Quincy bombardment had gone unchallenged for several minutes now, while the VTOLs swooped down in teams to start deploying the soldats in swift moving squads that started taking defensive positions among the nearest dunes.
Now the walls of Las Noches boiled with a wave of motion. From dozens of exits swarms of Hollows emerged like the sluices gates had opened on a dam of brackish sewage. Lesser Hollows in their multitudes of thousands poured out in a howling, stampeding mass. They were joined by hundreds more of the tall, uniform black behemoth forms of Gillians, trudging with wide steps amid the thousands of their lesser brethren. Fewer in number but still noteworthy were the large and varied forms of Adjuchas-class Hollows, commanding their lesser brethren like sergeants, whipping the lesser Hollows into a higher frenzy.
Sapphire Shores made a face of distaste, brushing off her dress as if the Hollows were already getting it dirty, “What a rabble. I do hope Tirek doesn’t believe we’ll be satisfied crushing these dregs.”
Coloratura gave her companion an eye rolling look, “Of course not. Aren’t you the one who goes on about being a prophetess? It doesn’t take any fortune telling to see this is nothing more than a sacrificial offering to distract us and test our defenses. The Arrancar will wait until we’re busy slaughtering this lot before attacking.”
“Which is why we must appear to take the bait,” said Sombra, glancing at Night Light, “Tell Filthy Rich to begin with the fortifications, and Shining Armor to deploy his Bastion. Signal all forces, ‘engage at will’!”
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On the ground hundreds of Quincy soldats waited among the dunes, their white clad forms blending in with Hueco Mundo’s pale sands. Cloaks rustled stiffly as the soldats tensed, preparing themselves as the Hollow horde drew ever closer. Their faces were hidden behind the goggles and gas masks of their uniforms, but every man and woman wore expressions of varied tension, some with eager bloodlust and need for revenge, otherwise with a more solemn visage.
For many of these soldiers the Hollows represented the pinnacle of the spirit realm’s hypocrisy and unfairness. A ‘natural’ order that allowed human souls to become corrupted into bestial monsters that fed on other souls. A vast majority of the Quincy soldats had lost friends, lovers, and children at one point or another to the war with the Hollows. Quincy may have detested Soul Reapers, but that was nothing compared to their hatred of Hollow-kind.
As the wall of oncoming Hollows got within five hundred yards a shining beacon of light cut across the sky, an arrow of potent reishi loosed from the bow of Shining Armor himself. The soldats sent up a cheer as Shining Armor’s arrow burst in the air three hundred meters away and the light from it expanded into a brilliant white dome that encapsulated the Quincy army in its protective barrier. The power of the Bastion set, Shining Armor descended from the VTOL he rode upon to land amid the center of one of the Quincy company formations, where Filthy Rich waited.
“You left enough room at the bottom for them to slip through, yes? We can keep the Gillians out, but His Majesty wants us to have target practice on the small ones,” Filthy Rich said, and Shining Armor nodded.
“They’ve got about ten feet of clearance. The Bastion will absorb any incoming Ceros for now. Better get to giving our soldiers something to fight from, Filthy. The first wave of guests are already past the welcome mat.”
Indeed the Hollow horde passed beneath the opening that Shining Armor had left in the Bastion’s dome. The Gillians were too large to pass through, and in frustration started howling in rage and battering against the gleaming white wall, only to find the energy of it burning them as they made contact. Some fired Cero beams upon the dome, but the Bastion absorb the blows readily enough. It was just the lesser Hollows and some of the smaller Adjuchas getting through, now, still closing with the soldat formations.
Filthy Rich cracked an easy grin and pulled back the wrists of his uniform like a magician about to go to work. His silver Quincy cross dangled from his right wrist, and it flared with silver-blue light as Filthy touched the sands beneath his feet with the palm of his hand. Suddenly a ring of blue reishi spread out around him, until he stood upon a disc of light that sand tendrils into the ground.
Shining Armor watched as Sternritter ‘M’, the Mason, went to work.
Within moments the sand dunes beneath the feet of the waiting lines of hundreds of soldats gleamed with ethereal reishi light, and suddenly thick metal walls were rising from the ground in multi-layered tiers. Prepared for this, the soldats weren’t tossed aside, but instead were readily and easily able to find new perches on fortified metal ramparts as these new fortifications rose from Hueco Mundo’s desert. In front of the walls the tendrils of cobalt light spread out, converting more sand into constructs; long, spike-lined pits and other jagged metal obstacles that barred the path of the advancing Hollows.
This was Filthy Rich’s Schrift, the Mason, in action. While all Quincy learned the techniques for manipulating spirit particles form their weapons and alchemy, and a larger scale version of those arts was used in building vehicles like the VTOLs and tanks, Filthy Rich’s power took the concept to a much higher level. The Mason could rapidly deconstruct and reconstruct inanimate reishi particles on a large scale, and with remarkable strength and precision.
That was how, inside of a mere ten seconds, the battlefield was transformed with the addition of massive fortified walls that the numerous Quincy companies now stood upon facing the Hollow horde while the Hollows suddenly found themselves struggling to get through an abrupt field of deadly traps and obstacles.
Wiping sweat from his brow, Filthy Rich stood, still grinning, “Whew, don’t tell your father, boy, but I’m getting a bit too old to be doing so much at once.”
“I’m sure my father wouldn’t agree. You’ve done a fine job. Now let’s get up there before the regular soldats get to have all the fun,” Shining Armor said, leaping up towards the top of the new fortified wall. Filthy Rich joined him after a moment, only pausing to glance back to the south with a faintly worried expression.
Upon the wall, which consisted of three stepped tiers, each wide enough to hold hundreds of Quincy, Shining Armor could see the mass of incoming Hollows tearing through the obstacles Filthy Rich had put in their way. They were tearing themselves apart to get through, but their sheer mass of numbers was more than enough that before long those behind could walk over the bodies of their fellows to bypass spiked pits or razor wire.
But the horde was slowed, and now were perfect targets. Already First Class soldats were calling orders to form bows and commence firing, and Shining Armor joined the ranks alongside Filthy Rich, each summoning their own bows. Their bows stood out uniquely among the more common, plain energy bows most the soldats formed. Shining Armor’s with its wide curved spar and the shield connected to its center, and Filthy Rich’s which was less a ‘bow’ and more a long barreled, old fashioned musket of ashen colored wood and silver filigree.
As one the Quincy took aim, and as one unleashed their wrath. A incandescent tidal wave of reishi arrows blasted into the Hollow ranks with unmatched fury. Hollows fell by the score, their bodies pierced by dozens of blue reishi bolts. Each individual soldat could maintain a high rate of fire, simply drawing out more reishi to repeatedly shoot without needing to concern themselves with running out of ammunition. Aiming was hardly a necessity, for the Hollows were packed so densely that it was near impossible to miss.
The damage to the Hollow horde was further compounded by the VTOLs that were still airborne bringing their weapon pods to bear and raining down a stream of missiles and gunfire that strafed across the Hollows.
Then there were the Sternritter themselves.
Shining Armor’s bow let loose a white volley of arrows that arched upwards and rather than fall among the Hollows, they instead burst in mid-air. The power of the Bastion caused each bursting arrow to form a wide pillar of light, each one trapping dozens of Hollows apiece and incinerating them with a cascade of reishi within each barrier.
The musket Filthy Rich held blasted out a silver reishi bullet that then rapidly multiplied into a bush-shot style storm of flechettes, hundreds of them that cut out a large swath of the advancing Hollow horde on the first shot. And unlike a normal musket Filthy Rich didn’t need a complex reloading process, as his own reishi created a fresh bullet for him to fire a moment later, cutting down even more Hollows.
They were not the only Sternritter present upon the wall, either. Appearing next to them was the broad, heavy set figure of Gladmane, his perfectly coiffed hair barely stirring as he twirled in his hand a large gold chain bearing his own Quincy cross.
“Hello gents, don’t suppose you mind me cutting in on the action a little here?”
Filthy Rich shrugged between musket shots “Not at all.”
“Thank you very much,” Gladmane said and twirled his chain and cross up into the air. It shined with golden light and formed into a gold plated, long barreled revolver. The revolver still bore a bow of reishi energy sprouting from its barrel, but otherwise looked very much like an ornate hand cannon that would’ve fit right in with some old cops and robbers action flick. Gladmane caught it with a stylish ease and fired from the hip, fanning the trigger with six rapid shots.
Each individual ‘bullet’ didn’t at first seem to do anything as they landed among the Hollows, until a split second later when sudden deep craters formed as if giant fists were crushing down the desert and Hollows alike in wide chunks. This was the power of Sternritter ‘W’, the Weight. Shining Armor knew well that Gladmane could change the gravity in an area to either crush opposition to dust, reverse gravity to send them flying out of the atmosphere, or anything in between. The total area he could affect was limited, but even so it was a deadly power when used right.
“Got to love the simplicity of Hollows,” Gladmane said, giving his handiwork an appreciative look, “They ain’t much for subtly.”
“I wouldn’t drop our guard,” Shining Armor said, “They outnumber us by a wide margin, and this here is just the appetizer.”
As if the horde was eager to prove Shining Armor’s point the Hollows began their retaliation in earnest. Despite the withering hail of fire coming from the Quincy the hundreds of slain Hollows barely slowed the multitude of thousands pressing towards the fortifications. While many of the lesser Hollows lacked a means of ranged attack, many others were more than capable of returning fire at their hated Quincy enemies. Some Hollows sprayed globs of acid or poison from open maws, while others could shoot lethal spines or spikes from their hides. Others still had more eccentric powers, disgorging swarms of insects or worms from their bodies that exploded upon contact with their prey, or others that could shriek out waves of devastating sound.
There were plenty of flying Hollows that went after the VTOLs, swarming towards the craft like flocks of demented birds, and while the turrets on the VTOLs cut down dozens upon dozens, it was impossible to get them all and some Hollows started trying to chew or claw their way through VTOL armor.
The Adjuchas-class Hollows were far more dangerous than their lesser kin, and were smart enough to hang back from the vanguard, instead firing upon the fortifications or VTOLs with well aimed Cero beams. Shining Armor saw one such beam strip a VTOL in half and sent it tumbling from the air in a burning wreak, while another beam blasted away a portion of the fortification walls, taking several soldats with it.
If he wanted to keep casualties light, Shining Armor would need to focus most of his attention on defense. Of course his father was already well ahead of him.
Shining, we’ve snagged enough of them in our net, so go ahead and close the Bastion. I’ve got Jet Set ready to be the hammer to your anvil. Keep the Adjuchas off our VTOLs in the meantime.
His father’s voice spoke clear and calmly in his mind through the power of the Command, and Shining Armor responded both mentally and with a quiet whisper, “Understood dad, I’m on it. How’s Twilight?”
She’s fine. The cadets just landed. Keep your mind focused on the fight, son. This is just the opening move. The real fight hasn’t even started yet.
That much was obvious. So far it was just the easily disposable Hollows being thrown at them, and while a few Quincy soldats were being injured or killed here and there the Hollow horde had hardly made a dent in them yet. But Shining Armor knew the Arrancar would soon be joining the fray.
As per his father’s orders Shining Armor closed the openings at the bottom of the Bastion, effectively cutting the Hollow horde in half and separating those still pouring in from outside from those now trapped inside the Bastion’s massive dome. Now the inside became a true killing field, with the soldats and Sternritter redoubling their fire into the mass that was now just a few dozen meters from reaching the wall.
Shining Armor focused his efforts on defending his people from the Adjuchas’ Ceros, firing his own arrows out to create small individual barriers of light to cancel out the destructive crimson beams. Meanwhile Gladmane and Filthy Rich both continued to destroy Hollows en masse, Filthy Rich going so far as to use the Mason to forge all new spike fields to impale Hollows trying to climb the walls.
Then at the back of the cut off horde, near the wall of the Bastion, a sudden and massive wave of glowing blue tendrils appeared, dozens of meters wide. The tendrils acted like living things, spearing into, sweeping aside, or coiling around to crush Hollows with impunity. At the center of this moving wave of reishi tendrils was a handsome, gray skinned man in a sharp Quincy uniform and black hair tucked into his military cap. His bow was shaped much like a circular halo from which sprung the dozens of large reishi tendrils, like the arms of a vast underwater monstrosity.
Which was appropriate for Jet Set, Sternritter ‘K’, the Kraken.
Within the area that Jet Set cleared out several VTOLs managed to swoop in and land, unloading squads of soldats to take up advancing positions around Jet Set’s tendrils as they fired into the backs of the Hollow horde. This assault from behind threw the Hollows into confusion, stemming the tide even further. Shining Armor imagined they’d be able to clean up this portion of the Hollow horde in short order, but he didn’t feel any boost of confidence from that.
As far as they knew this was exactly what Tirek wanted them to be doing. They’d taken his bait, hook, line, and sinker. It was only a question of whether by doing so they’d effectively dupe Tirek into taking their bait in turn.
And to compound Shining Armor’s worries, his sister was out there somewhere observing this whole battle, and he wasn’t there to guard her. On top of that the love of his life was tasked with finding and killing one of the Espada during this whole battle, and his mother was on that very same team. Ironically for the one member of the Sparkle family on the front line of the battle, he was least worried about his own safety. And much like his father before him, Shining Armor was starting to get a very bad feeling...
----------
The scenes of battle played out on the clear image being projected by a large device being carried by a pair of misshapen half-Arrancar under Grogar’s direction. The elderly Espada stood before his fellow Espada, who in turn occupied the wide exterior walkway atop the wall extending from Las Noches’ central tower to its distant outer walls. On either side of the interior wall, waiting for their leaders’ commands, scores of Arrancar stood in silence. The screen Grogar’s machine projected had been large enough for all to see, and now Tirek’s voice spoke loud enough for all to hear.
“A pitiful display. They come to attack the greatest bastion of Hollow might in existence, and this is what they muster to battle us?”
Every inch of his imposing red figure bristling with mirth, Tirek strode across the wall, looking out at the gathered Arrancar, then back at the other Espada.
“Perhaps in the spirit of sport we should only attack one at a time, to give our Quincy guests a fair chance?”
There was a chorus of dark chuckles from the gathering of warriors, while among the Espada several laughed out loud, such as Guto and Torch, while others remained impassive, such as the exceedingly silent Lament. Hydia, one of the ones laughing, elbowed the Fourth Espada jokingly.
“Hey, lighten up you morose nutter. You’re finally out of your man-cave and you’re going to spend the whole time looking like a walking can of depression?”
“Do not touch me,” was the terse reply.
“Pfft, heard that before.”
“Be kind, Hydia,” said Catrina with a smokey tone to her voice as she eyed Lament up and down, “The poor man has had little time to adjust being out among his peers. Dispense with the jibes for once, as we do have somewhat more pressing matters to attend do. Don’t we, Lord Tirek?”
The First Espada and undisputed ruler of Las Noches smiled with ruthless and hungry light blazing in his pitiless yellow eyes, “We do indeed. The Quincy have stepped into our trap, now we must close it around them.”
Torch’s massive frame stepped forward, huge axe already in his meaty fists, “I’m more than ready to split some Quincy skulls! That said, seems likely they know we’ve got a trap ready for them. What’s our countermove?”
“Sombra will expect us to try and surround his forces while they’re busy slaughter our weaker pawns,” Tirek said, gesturing at the screen still showing the images of the battle between the lesser Hollows and the Quincy, “He’ll have another force ready to sweep in on us once we’re joined in battle, hoping in turn to flank us. That is why when we attack it will be with only half of us.”
Guto bristled slightly at that, “And who receives the honor of being in on the attack and who will be stuck twiddling their thumbs...hrrk...”
His grunt was the result of Tirek turning his eyes towards Guto and exerting a crushing hammer of spiritual pressure that choked off the Sixth Espada’s question as Guto struggled to remain standing under the wave of unimaginably dense reiatsu.
“Whomever I choose, with no argument. Fortunately for you, Guto, I’m aware how ill suited you are towards any task that requires patience, so you shall be joining the initial attack, as shall Torch, Hydia, and Lament.”
Guto accepted that with a gruff nod, while Hydia made a more sour face.
“Aw, Groggykins isn’t going to be out there having fun alongside me?” at Tirek’s look, shortly followed by Grogar making a small choking sound in the background, Hydia quickly raised her hands, “Oh I’m joking, Tirek, you know that. I wouldn’t want poor Grogster to strain himself against those nasty Quincy. No fears, my honeybear, I shall slay them all in the name of... I don’t know, love or something like that. Is mild lust a good reason for slaughter? I think so!”
Tirek pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed as he said, “Do as you will, as long as you kill Quincy in the process your motivations don’t concern me.”
“Noticed you said half of us are going out there first,” said Torch, “But you listed off four of us.”
“The fifth is myself,” Tirek said, “A necessity, given that their so-called ‘King’ is with them. Sombra will be mine to deal with while you handle his lesser servants. Once the Quincy spring whatever counter-trap they have planned for us, that will be when Chrysalis shall take Smooze and Catrina and launch a counter of their own.”
All eyes turned to Chrysalis, who stood with regal and predatory eagerness, like a wolf that’d just found the gate to the sheep pen left hanging open. She licked her lips, a throaty purr on her lips as she said, “You always give me the most enjoyable tasks, Tirek. I love surprises, especially when I’m the one giving them. Oh, and I get to work with Catrina, what fun. Do try to keep pace, dear, I’d hate for some Quincy harlot to get a lucky hit in on you.”
Catrina bristled but controlled herself quickly, putting on a smile of frozen honey, hiding her face partially behind her metal war fan, “To you as well, Chrysalis. It would be tragic anything happened to that perfect face of yours.”
“You think it perfect? Such a complement, you’re going to make me blush, little Cat,” Chrysalis said, laughing heartily while Catrina continued to grit her teeth in a snarling smile.
“We are wasting time,” Lament’s cold voice cut across the conversation, “Our own kind are slaughtered while we talk.”
“Trash,” said Guto, gesturing at the screen, “Lesser Hollows and Gillians. A few Adjuchas. All disposable while they lull the Quincy into a false sense of accomplishment. I’m more curious what Grogar and Squirk’s role will be in all this.”
“Grogar will be on reserve in case any Quincy do penetrate to Las Noches’ interior. Squirk’s task is to coordinate the movement of our forces with his Garganta, which is another reason I want Grogar here as well. He can continue to monitor the battle and provide Squirk the information needed to place his Gargantas exactly where they will be most effective,” Tirek said, glancing at Squirk, who puffed out his chest at the sense of importance he felt at being the keystone of the battle plan.
“It's my pleasure, Lord Tirek,” Squirk said, “just give the word and you’ll have all the portals you need.”
“Then let us begin. You won’t be able to penetrate the space beyond the barrier one of Sombra’s so-called ‘Sternritter’ has erected, but that’s no matter...” Tirek’s scarlet arms flexed as he reached behind his back and drew forth the massive, gold hilted claymore that was his Zanpaktou. Fully drawn one could see the blade itself was edged in gold, while the core remained black as obsidian glass. The gesture of drawing his blade alone exuded a wave of power from the First Espada, and all the hundreds of gathered Arrancar warriors bowed their heads in respect, reverence, or simple fear.
Tirek grinned, the gold iris of his eyes filling with infectious confidence, his voice a gravely promise. “That supposed ‘Bastion’ will not withstand me.”
----------
Adagio stood among the ranks of Arrancar that served Torch, and while she kept one steady eye on the meeting of the Espada taking place up on the wall leading from the central tower, she was also paying attention to the gathering of Hollows around her. They were grouped in loose clusters, each one clearly serving their individual Espada. Torch’s people were easy enough to spot from their general rowdy appearances, and the fact that many of them sported the draconic horns, frills, or faint scales.
She saw scores of the strange masked warriors that served Smooze standing in eerily stock still rows. Beyond them was a group of nearly a hundred Arrancar who had to serve Guto, since Gilda was at the very head of the ranks. Unlike Torch’s somewhat disorganized horde, the warriors of Guto stood in well organized blocks of six by six. Somebody apparently was a bit obsessed with their Espada number. Adagio didn’t miss the glare Gilda shot her way when she saw Adagio looking towards her. Adagio just blew the irritable woman a cheeky kiss, daring her to try anything here and now. Gilda just scoffed and looked away.
“Man, she hates you,” Ember said, and not far away Garble grumbled.
“Gee, wonder why.”
“You still talking?” Adagio asked, and Garble shut up.
“This is nuts. Never seen everyone, like, literally everyone in Las Noches gathered up like this,” Dumbbell said, shading his eyes as he looked out across the length of the wall, “Look at them! How many of this weird fuzzballs does Lady Catrina have?”
He was referring to the hundreds of short, unusual white furry Hollows that Adagio wasn’t even sure were Arrancar. With beady, glowing red eyes peering from their fuzzy faces, the squat creatures had Hollow holes in their seemingly formless bodies, but she saw no Zanpaktou or other indicators of them being Arrancar. Yet this ‘Bushwoolie’ tribe served Catrina exclusively. The only Arrancar among them was Rep, who gave Adagio a slight nod of acknowledgement but nothing else.
“At least Hydia’s host is waaaaaay over there away from us. You can smell them from here, and I don’t wanna know what they’re like up close,” said Hoops, and Adagio glanced towards the far end of the gathered Espada hordes. There she saw perhaps a couple dozen of Arrancar. To a one they all seemed misshapen in some way, with either withered or enlarged limbs, strangely shaped heads, giant bodies that were still somehow asymmetrical, or otherwise seemingly just borderline humanoid in shape.
Adagio shrugged, “Their appearance or smell is irrelevant to whether they can fight. Besides, I can appreciate that Hydia doesn’t seem to care about form so much as function. Shows she’s practical.”
“I also hear she’s sweet on Grogar,” said Ember, and Adagio blanched.
“Well, no accounting for taste,” she said, suppressing an urge to gag. She looked towards the opposite end, where among the largest gatherings of Arrancar was located. These Arrancar were notable in the fact that whether they be short or tall, male or female, each and every single one of them had onyx black skin that matched that of their Espada, Chrysalis. At the head of that horde she spotted Thorax, who true to character was relaxed in his stance with his hands clasped behind his head as he happily chatted with a tall Arrancar next to him. This man was like looking at a masculine mirror opposite of Thorax, his towering form shaped like a carved, black Adonis of muscle that was more lean and finely toned more than just bulging. A square jawed face held deep purple eyes and a wild crest of red and black stripped hair fell down to his shoulders.
Between that man’s pure testosterone appearance and Thorax’s more ethereal and feminine handsomeness, Adagio had to admit she wouldn’t mind getting that pair alone sometime...
Ugh, I must be getting stressed if I’m letting myself get distracted with those kind of thoughts. Although those two aren’t too shabby to look at. Bah, focus Adagio Dazzle, you have work to do.
“Seems like things are getting started,” she said as she saw the Espada had broken into two groups, with Tirek gathering with Torch, Lament, Hydia, and Guto.
Squirk moved to the side of the wall, joined by Grogar and his pair of deformed servant Arrancar who were carrying that projector device. Adagio couldn’t make out much of the battle being displayed by the screen, but it looked to her like the unfortunate lesser Hollows that had been sent out not so long ago were getting handily demolished. She imagined that was all part of Tirek’s plan.
Now she had to see if the next move he made would make her task more or less difficult. As if her thoughts drew the Second Espada’s attention Chrysalis gave Adagio the briefest of smirking glances, and Adagio cringed.
Yeah, I haven’t forgotten, you damned hag. I’ll keep my end of the bargain, don’t you worry.
One by one the Espada who’d be sallying forth first leaped from the wall and landed before their gathered forces. Torch shook the ground with his landing as he turned and swept his axe out to address his horde with a wide, fang filled grin.
“You slayers ready to spill some Quincy blood!? Finish the job we started!?”
Deep throated roars and cheers was accompanied by dozens of Zanpaktou being drawn with a clamor of steel. Adagio, figuring she might as well play her part and appear enthused, summoned her trident and raised it in the air alongside the numerous Zanpaktou, though she refrained from making any noise. She was too busy calculating. Squirk was remaining on the wall, and closed his eyes and concentrated, beginning to create dozens of Garganta portals all at once in front of the gathered Arrancar hordes.
“He’s staying here...along with Grogar...” Adagio muttered, and Ember leaned towards her.
“We figured he would, but Grogar is a complication, isn’t he?”
Adagio’s eyes narrowed, “Not if something, or someone, distracts him at the right time.”
“Any ideas?” Ember whispered, even as Torch started to lead the horde through their own set of Garganta portals.
“Oh, a few,” Adagio replied, but she said no more. Not only because Garble and her own three stooges were too close to risk much further talk about things she didn’t want any of them involved in, but because there was no more time for discussion. The hordes of Arrancar, both Torch’s and the many others that were being sent forth as the vanguard to face the Quincy, were pouring through the Garganta portals. Beyond them would be a near instant trek across the Precipice Realm, then straight into the threshold of battle.
A battle Adagio fully intended to ensure she and her people survived.
----------
As the hordes poured through the portals, Chrysalis walked casually away from the other Espada remaining behind. She watched with keen eyes shining with anticipation as she watched her new favorite little toy vanish through the Garganta amid Torch’s horde, the loyal dragon-girl by her side. If Adagio wasn’t killed, she was going to be so much fun to keep teasing and playing with. Chrysalis hadn’t been this happy to find a new toy since she’d stumbled across Luna and Celestia all those centuries ago.
She passed by Squirk, who was concentrating so hard on his Gargantas he didn’t pay her any mind. Well enough, Squirk was a tragedy in action. So very, very talented at one or two things, but apocalyptically lacking in all other areas. A shame.
Grogar turned a flicker of a glance towards her as she stood beside him, making a show of paying attention to the projected screen of the battle with the Quincy.
“I see you didn’t take my gift,” he said with a dusty chuckle, “Who did you foist it on as a test subject?”
“My sweet, loyal Pharynx,” she said, “He’s always been the most... straightforward of my children.”
“Ruthless as ever,” Grogar commented with an amused ghost of a smile. Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Only if your ‘gift’ doesn’t work like its supposed to. I trust you have fail safes in place if it doesn’t. I might be rather put out if you turned out to be that stupid.”
“As stupid as one who plays both sides against the middle and continues to think she’ll escape the notice of others?” he asked, and at her acidic look he just laughed in a disarming fashion, “Relax, my ‘Queen’. I know which horse to back in this race. I have since the day you first arrived in Las Noches. No need for us to nettle each other so. Let’s just... enjoy the show, shall we?”
Smiling as thin as a sliver of glass, Chrysalis watched the screen as the battle unfolded, “Yes, let’s.”
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Yes! The battle has begun! Now we will see which characters will be leaving the story permanently in the next chapter or two. (If any)
"Oh, it's just another crossover."
>800k words deep
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/344/719/8fc.png
So wait a minute, what dictates an ALLIED force in Night Light's schrift? It seemed really vague, why wouldn't he be able to do this to enemies too if only to taunt them? Is it only Quincies he can link the minds of, or is there something he has to do first to be able to do it, like how Fluttershy has to touch someone?
Half expected you to take some inspiration from Avengers: Infinity War and have Hollows killing themselves trying to get through the Bastion.
So yeah I think Adagio's going to have to make her way towards the lake if she wants to get back inside to kill Squirk. I don't see how she can guarantee the Diamond Dogs wont die while she and Ember deal with Squirk. I can see Chrysalis sending Thorax or Pharynx (disguised as Chrysalis) to distract the two singers while she confronts Cadence.
I'm more convinced than ever that Tirek knows Chrysalis is up to something, leaving Squirk inside with the only other espada who is openly working with Chrysalis is just too damn convenient to be by accident. Me thinks the primera is on to you Chryssie.
8963110
Yeah, I'll probably need to do some more elaborating on Night Light's Schrift and how it works, because it has a lot of stipulations and limitations that'll be pretty important in the upcoming chapters. First of all to address the idea of an "allied force", this is basically hyperbole, as in order to link to people within the realm of the Command he either needs A) for them to to be his subordinates, (ie any Quincy with a lower rank than him), or B) Someone who's willingly accepted the link for the duration of a battle, which is how he usually does things with his fellow Sternritter who aren't under his command. This process can work with non-Quincy, but only if they allow him to create the link (which is a fairly simple process where he ties a reishi link to them, not unlike the 'tracer' Cadence showed Twilight). Now this bits a bit weird, but he can also "link" an area, as well as people, and doing so to an area gives him a limited form of his sensory and communication abilities to anyone who's inside the area. This is limited, however, in that he can only affect an area of a certain size, usually a couple hundred meters, whereas if he's linking with people the effective range extends for miles. He can do both at the same time, but this weakens both abilities slightly. Its very key to understand that while Night Light can monitor and direct hundreds of linked individuals at once, he can't see every facet or ever perspective of those he's linked with at all times. He simply doesn't have the capacity to handle that much sensory input all at once, so he compartmentalizes it all mentally, focusing his attention on specific areas of a battle at a time. Think of it like playing an RTS. You can see the whole battlefield, and command your troops easily, but you can still only select so many units at once or pay attention to any one given area of the map at a time. Make sense?
In the spirit of the anime, are we going to get a filler chapter soon? You know, like right before some big moment you cut to Derpy baking muffins?
Damn, looks like a well and true tension bomb just straight up erupted in here now. Eager to see who plays out what.
I wonder how this all will end. Chryaslis' black op for Adagio seems to be that she has to kill Squirk, the Garganta Espada, for whatever reason. At the same time one of the Quincy's main objectives is it as well to kill him, and then there is Luna who will most likely want to attack Chrysalis when nobody expects it.
And Tirek is perhaps arrogant and thinks of himself as some god, but he isn't stupid. I am sure he's aware that the Quincy want to kill the one Espada who managed to OPEN GARGANTAS RIGHT INTO THE HEART OF THEIR KINGDOM LIKE IT WAS NOTHING.
But the one comment in the chapter about the Quincy being "holier-than-thou" has a true ring to it. They erase souls completely with their abilities without a care and think of themselves as mankind's salvation. It has a touch of a religious cult.
How many of this weird fuzzballs does Lady Catrina have
1. These.
Another good chapter.
This is going to go so very pear shaped.
Leaving Squirk like that is too obvious. That has to be a trap to ensnare Chrysalis' agents, only a Sternritter infiltration team will show up, too.
Pharynx has Grogar's prototype siren gem, making the already potent guy much stronger, on top of Chryssie's hive apparently having the greatest numbers.
It also seems like the Espada are expecting the hammer force to be more footsoldiers, when it's got a significant chunk of its numbers as heavy tanks that haven't yet joined the battle.
If Colorotura and Sapphire engage one of the lesser Espada (Like Hydia), they may overwhelm and destroy them before Chrysalis engages for them to stymie...and it doesn't seem like Tirek expects there to be dedicated strike teams like them. If those two paired up will stalemate the bug queen, someone near the bottom of the Espada ranks is in trouble...and aside from Adagio it doesn't seem like most of the others give a damn about their allies so that Espada won't get backup.
And on top of all of this, Luna and Second Squad are around and watching. I half expect them to show up in response to a sneak attack on the cadets to protect the young Quincies, only for that to cause Fleur de Lis to go berserk.
8963663
Please, no....those were almost guaranteed garbage.
8964986
Every now and then there's a good one though.
Pretty much, yeah.
8965104
Every once in a very rare while, perhaps. Almost all filler in almost all media, anime or not, television or not, is garbage because it's only there to pad out the time.
8965104
8965244
I don't really plan to do any 'filler' per se, but there are some segments I have in mind that are kind of more slice-of-life style story segments. Not to pad things out but rather to give the characters time to develop outside of life or death battles.
8965252
Downtime isn't filler. Downtime is very important for sanity, particularly with what the characters are going through. I'm sure you know what we mean by 'filler', and downtime slice of life stuff isn't filler. It's serving a story purpose.
8965252
8965266
I just had the feeling that if this was an anime, it would be right about time for some inconveniently timed "filler".
8965244 If you're talking about the one-shot filler episodes in Bleach, sure but even those tended to be decent at worst. Bleach fille arcs in general were actually very good, most of them were better than any of the cannon stuff that came after the Soul Society arc.
Though I certainly don't want to see any filler here.
And the battle begins! I just know the next few chapters will have me on the edge of my seat.
I'm looking forwards to it.
8966164
I'll give you that Bleach did tend to have better filler than most stuff...and that there was a sharp decline in quality...but in the context on this story, I really don't see that ever happening. Vex has made a much more solid and cohesive story than the anime/manga managed to.
Man, that's a hell of a callback.
*Yawn*
Okay, 2 am. I really need to get to-
*Sees update*
...Why do dis?
Seriously though, this is sick. Cannot wait for Sombra v Tirek, and I’m very pleased to see both of them anticipating the others counterpunch in advance.
I’m also getting the strong sense Chrysalis wants Squirk dead (probably on orders from Starlight or something along those lines). and has tasked Adagio with that. This will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Later in the story, Thorax seem to be describe as the oldest of the "true-blood" childrens of Chrysalis (by trueblood i meant with a actual personality, the named ones we know being Thorax, Pharynx and Ocellus).
Is this a inconsistency ? I also know than in MLP, Pharynx is the older brother, but still, the later descriptions in friendship souls and how thorax interact with Pharynx seem to make of him the older (although far less serious) brother.
10769013
Ah, this is definitely one of those situations where over the course of writing this story I have very likely had certain details slip through the cracks of my memory. As of the current chapters it's been my intention that Thorax is the oldest of Chrysalis' "trueborns", but back during this chapter I probably hadn't set that down in stone yet. I'm going to have to go looking for any other references to age to make sure that bit is properly changed.
10769823
Also, this is kind of different, but at the time Thorax was talking far more formally about his mother, calling her "my queen", was a part of it due to the fact than him talking of her with the term "mother" is only around those he felt kind of comfortable with (like Adagio) or because you wanted to give a less formal vibe about Chrysalis and her family (like Pharynx calling Thorax as brother with " ", or thinking of his mother by her name).
I thought than it was only to mock Grogar when Thorax in a earlier chapter when Grogar had said then he was "impersonating his queen" but in general, the more familial terms in Chrysalis family were far less present earlier.
Also, Ocellus vibe of earlier chapters seem to give more the impression of a 16 years old, while the later seem more like the 10-12.
10769888
In the earlier chapters I was still sort of getting a feel for the family dynamic between Chrysalis and her children. I hadn't quite set down how close the siblings were to each other, or even fully how they viewed their mother. That's solidified a lot more as Thorax's role developed, and hence Pharynx and Ocellus' roles also became more defined. Looking back at these chapters, I can definitely see a bit more formality and less clear familial bonds, and one day when I finish this story I'll probably be going back to do touch ups on the entire thing, and that might be something that'll get smoothed over then.
As for Ocellus' behavior, she sort of adapts how she acts depending on who she's interacting with. With Pipsquek, she let's out more of her more childish nature, something she can't often do when around her older siblings or mother.