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Chapter 60: The First Quincy
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"Kurayami," He said aloud, smiling faintly, "I truly love you."
Within the infinite shadows of the Forest of Menos, beneath towering quartz trees that creaked like ancient bones, Akashi began his most ambitious experiment.
His haven; the Eldritch City; had flourished with monstrous elegance. But even its safe walls were not enough for what the future holds for him, what the future holds for this World.
He knows he needs more. That's the prime reason why he came to Hueco Mundo.
Peace and Serenity required the rebirth of the first being he had ever conjured: the First Eldritch.
The laboratory was a sprawling chamber carved from silvery stone and bleeding black veins.
Its walls pulsed faintly with a corrupted heartbeat, releasing tendrils of inky corruption that twisted and formed in accordance with the horror workers' wishes.
The Eldritch City is a living city, and it can change and twist according to Akashi and his horrors' will, making it the perfect research facility.
Worker horrors crawled across the lab in total synchrony, their bodies wrapped in tight black cloth, their eyeless faces angled toward the center of the room.
They clutched pens and notebooks, scribbling notes as if their lives depended on every stroke.
At the center of the laboratory stood Akashi. He was in deep thought as he eyed the notebooks and pens.
The worker horrors' minds exist in a network, the hive mind. Through it, they can quickly exchange information and visions.
It's like a more advanced computer, in some way. Technology, computers especially, are still very valuable, but they haven't been invented yet.
Akashi had heard of elementary computers in the Shinigami Research Institute under Captain Mayuri, but they still aren't up to standard.
Akashi also doesn't really know how computers are made, just random knowledge he read while using them in his previous life.
With that and the Hive Mind as examples, he hoped the Worker Horrors would come up with something more advanced soon, but progress is slow.
Therefore, for now, just pen and paper will have to do.
In his hand were three vials filled with human blood; vibrant and shimmering unnaturally under the serene light.
Beside him stood the First: a humanoid creature of pure blackness, faceless yet undeniably alive.
And beside the First was a coffin. It seemed strangely bright, all due to the few Kido spells cast upon it to preserve whatever was within.
Akashi raised his arm and gave the mental signal.
With a jaw that unhinged without sound, the First devoured the coffin. Its mouth bent like a broken hinge, swallowing the thing whole with a silence more terrifying than a scream.
Then, one by one, it drank the vials of blood, crimson sliding down into the void of its form, vanishing into shadow.
The change was instantaneous and bizarre.
Bones cracked within the First as its black surface rippled like water under moonlight.
Features pushed outward; first arms, then legs; then skin began to turn pale, supple, and human.
Its form narrowed, sculpting itself into a reflection.
Within moments, standing before Akashi was a being with the exact frame, posture, and presence as him; except its hair was the color of the sky, not black, and its eyes burned like polished sapphire.
The First's face was beautiful, terrible. A mirror distorted by purity.
Akashi closed his eyes, the link between them flaring to life like a nerve exposed to lightning.
The First was not just a creation; it was his second mind, another vessel through which his will could operate. Through it, he could see, think, and act.
Control of the First was a strange sensation. It was like slipping into a suit of skin that remembered every movement, but not how it felt.
A stiffness lingered in the limbs as if he were still adapting to the changes that took place in the First's body and soul.
Hueco Mundo was thick with Reishi. Here, it hung in the air like golden dust beneath the Black Sun's false night.
Reishi, the spiritual particles that composed all things, were the breath of souls, the residue of life and death, clinging to every surface like dew.
In the World of the Living, it was sparse. In Soul Society, it was abundant. But here; it was heavy, fertile.
It made Hueco Mundo perfect for what Akashi had planned.
Akashi focused through the First's senses, and the First raised a hand.
Reishi responded.
With the quiet dignity of a storm gathering, the spiritual particles twisted together, drawn by his will.
A ball of glowing blue energy formed in his palm, humming with contained potential.
It was pure Reishi, shaped not by Shinigami power, but by Quincy instincts.
Quincies. The enemy of Hollows. Humans with the ability to manipulate Reishi directly, crafting weapons and abilities to destroy spirits outright. They did not purify. They erased, thus why they were 'exterminated' by Shinigami, for their power breaks the balance of the World.
Akashi had studied them.
While in the Human World, he had discovered a freshly buried Quincy corpse in a graveyard.
It was visited by a few Quincies of Karakura Town, and he's been observing them, leading him to the graveyard where they often bury their loved ones.
More importantly, the Hat Man, his stealthiest horror, had been dispatched to extract blood from weak, unsuspecting Quincies across the region.
It was mostly children that have yet to learn their power, allowing the horror to easily extract blood without disturbing their sleep.
The horror moved through shadows, undetectable. It left no trace, no pain, as it siphoned drops of blood like whispers stolen in the dark.
Now, that blood had been fed to the First. Akashi had theorized that if the First devoured enough Quincy essence; flesh, blood, perhaps spirit; it could become one.
The results had exceeded his expectations.
Flesh shaped the soul. And the soul, in turn, shaped power.
The First was now Quincy in lineage. And it seemed, Quincy in capability.
Akashi furrowed his brow. If this were true, then there was a pressing question; one that bothered him.
Would Yhwach's Auswählen affect the First?
He didn't know. The First was a vessel, a mimic, a monstrosity. It wasn't truly alive in the way other souls were.
It had no mother or father, only darkness. Still, to be safe, more tests on soul mechanics were required.
Akashi studied the form of the First again. The vibrant blue hair and eyes made no sense to him, considering the true Quincy of legend had none of these features.
Yhwach. Haschwalth. None had such colors. Perhaps it was a manifestation of spiritual purity.
Well, he will simply treat it as an aesthetic choice. Either way, it made for a striking presence.
The First raised its hand again. More Reishi flowed toward him, forming several orbs.
Then, a bow; glimmering and angular, crackling with energy.
He nocked an arrow.
Released.
The lab shook as a beam of light crashed into the reinforced wall, leaving behind a deep crater of molten stone.
The worker horrors waved their hands, and the wall was back pristine, then they continued scribbling furiously.
Now came the true test.
Hirenkyaku.
Akashi willed it, and then the First focused beneath its feet, gathering Reishi in a shimmering platform. Slowly, it rose, standing atop the energy.
It hovered there.
Then moved.
Faster than a blink, it vanished from one end of the lab and appeared at the other, its body trailing lines of silver and blue.
The sound came after, like the rip of thunder across the night. Again and again, the First blurred through space, each time faster, smoother.
Hirenkyaku, the Quincy equivalent of Shunpo. A method of high-speed movement where the user rides gathered Reishi to any destination within line of sight.
But unlike Shunpo, which relied on personal Reiatsu control and footwork, Hirenkyaku demanded communion with the world's soul. It required the user to command the fabric of spirit itself.
Akashi stroked his chin in deep thought, his eyes sparkling in wonder. The First had gone from novice to savant in mere minutes.
The First landed. Its bow dissolved into particles. All the while, worker horrors darted across the lab, documenting everything; vibrations, Reishi flow, emission patterns, structural stability.
Akashi couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
Even he had underestimated the First.
This was power, his own unique, unspeakable power. The First was created by his own ideas and darkness.
It's Akashi's mind that did the writing.
And If the First could become a Quincy with only remnants of blood and bone, what else could it become?
What else could he become? Hollow?
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