Arc II - The Quincy Strikes Back (XP Request)

by **Zenji Hatayama** Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:19 pm

~~Episode~~ Arc II: The Quincy Strikes Back

XP Request

Threads----------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: All That Glitters Is Not Gold // Here we see Zenji training in the Kido arts, his main strength, as he has confronted his weakness as a Soul Reaper and has begun to actively work harder after the events of Arc 1. Zenji comes across a young graduate in the First Division Courtyard and offers to show her around which eventually turns into a Kido Session. Here we see his Zanpakuto’s conniving nature start to slip through. However, despite everything that has happened, Zenji still seems to be the kind and charitable man he’s always been despite his new drive to start down the patch of becoming a better Shinigami.

Chapter 2: Battle Arena Crackdown! // Starting off on boring administrative duty which Zenji is becoming increasingly unhappy with. He comes across an unofficial duel, what he considers a brawl, which has broken out in a makeshift arena. Seeing Yuki involved with Nao as a bystander Zenji shows a moment of unusual leadership and commands his fellow First Division member to assist him while he, uncharacteristically, involves himself in the fight to break it up using high level kido. When all is said and done we see Zenji, once more, pushing Nao to advance up the ranks to improve the rather poor leadership in the Gotei now that she has openly shown her skill with Shikai.

Chapter 3: Spellcraft 101 // Zenji having gained quite a bit of experience teaching the Demon Arts in the past few weeks is approached by his superiors in the First Division, being the part of the Gotei most closely linked to the Academy, to teach some students. Here we see Zenji doing so not only showing himself a masterful teacher but also showing particular interest in the promise of a particularly talented student. Here he lays the seeds for the young man to avail himself of some special privileges for further study so that the Gotei could benefit from his skill. Zenji also decides to take the initiative, something he would not have cared to do in the past, to inform his superiors of the Academy’s poor quality of tuition although we see that Zenji doesn’t hold much hope that his superiors will take any action.

Chapter 4: Hunting the Hunter // Zenji out on a normal patrol, something he volunteered for, the first of many to start improving his experience after being an desk jockey for a century. However it turns out to be more fateful than he could ever imagine. Detecting a Soul being literally destroyed he races to the location of the other Hollow his patrol had been sent to deal with and eventually runs into a Quincy. Due to Zenji’s religious upbringing this is akin to running into the Devil in the flesh. Following the advice of his Zanpakuto he plays along when the Quincy mistakes him for a guardian spirit and uses the opportunity to gain knowledge of this supposedly long-dead threat. Out of caution, and fear, Zenji cuts his losses and returns to the Soul Society believing the Gotei stands no chance against the Quincy if they still exist in mass and have decided to come out of the shadows with their destructive powers. Knowing the threat this carries to all of existence he returns to the Soul Society to plan his next move.

Chapter 5: Cast Your Shell // Again we see Zenji throwing himself into patrols as he continues to fulfil the promise he made to himself at the end of Arc 1. He attacks what he believes to be an ordinary Hollow however it turns out to be something he’s never seen before, although he’d read about them, a more advanced and intelligent pre-Menos Hollow. Growing too tired to carry on the fight he uses the creature’s natural curiosity, with some barrier magic, to win back time. However as the conversation progresses we see Zenji doesn’t actually consider a single Hollow that great a threat to the Balance, especially with the newly discovered Quincy threat in mind. He even lectures the Hollow on the Balance of Souls and it’s importance out of the sheer curiosity of what one of the corrupted souls would do with that knowledge. Leaving without any further conflict, due to his previous failures, he does however call in the sighting and report it to the Command Center. Just because he’s curious doesn’t mean he’ll completely disobey his duty to hunt Hollow.

Chapter 6: The True Nature of a Soul // Whilst performing Jinzen Zenji manages to enter his Zanpakuto’s Inner World for the First Time. The Spirit’s attempts to continue it’s deceit and trickery fails however and Zenji is able to break the illusion. Coming to understand the true, rather distasteful, nature of his “partner” he confronts Binbōgami. Showing dominance over her Soul Reaper she dismisses him and he awakens in the world of the living. For a moment he almost abandons the weapon after seeing the truth but, remembering Nao’s Shikai, he knows he needs the power to keep up and keep going forward.

Chapter 7: Paper Beats Rock // Nao, a new friend and ally of Zenji’s, has requested he serve as her second during a challenge duel for the Third Seat of the First Division. Zenji who, up to this point, had rather been pushing his friend to take that step is more than happy to do so. Zenji is mostly a bystander for the duel however when his friend wins but finds herself unconscious he decides to act with her new authority as Nao’s second. When Nao’s, now former, supervisor tries to rescind her win Zenji commands the man to step down showing his dislike for the weasel. Zenji’s patience finally snaps when the man insults and then even attacks him, whilst Binbōgami screams furiously in his mind, and he retaliates with cold fury. When the high level Black Coffin strikes Zenji feels momentarily horrified at what he’s done but, despite his masterful skill, the nobleman’s relatively weak Spiritual Power means the spell isn’t fully effective. Once the former-supervisor is shown to still be alive he commands nearby healers to stabilise then arrest him for the Third Seat’s future judgement once she was healed up.

Chapter 8: The Balance of Deliberation and Action // We’ve seen Zenji take control of a situation and wield authority, we’ve also seen his reaction to the heretical and dangerous existence of the Quincy. Now we see those two events combining to push the man into action. Summoning the two most authoritative Shinigami that he personally knows, both now Third Seats, he has Nao and Watari come to his Estate. Zenji then reveals the existence of the Quincy and why there is an absolute need to deal with them before they destroy everything. However he also has them promise to, as high level officers, use their authority to control the flow of any future Quincy reports so that they end up in Nao’s division. This is because Zenji believes any strike on the Quincy will fail and only alert the wider community to the Shinigami’s wish to destroy them due to the current incompetent leadership. Here he also reveals his own ambitions for the Third. With three Divisions soon to be under the cabals direct control, with Watari’s assurances for most of the others, Zenji believes they are in a good place to begin preparing the Gotei 6 for inevitable war.

Chapter 9: Push The Limits! // While out on patrol Zenji deals with half a dozen Hollow however while chasing a fleeing beast he comes across a far worse monster. A Quincy. Trying to stop the Quincy from destroying the Hollow, a creature that may contain hundreds of innocent souls, he uses Kido to counter the Destroy’s Reishi attack. This eventually turns into an attack with Zenji resolving to destroy the Quincy before he can further damage the Balance and endanger the stability of the three realms. However Zenji, exhausted and already injured, turns out to be no match for the man and is eventually laid low.
However at his lowest is when Binbōgami finally offers her partner a lifeline. Pushing him to accept her, to do whatever it takes to fulfil the Mandate of the Soul King, he agrees and takes her hand. Releasing his Shikai for the first time through the powers of fortune and absorbing some residual power from Kevin Zenji is able to gain a second wind and use his masterful spells once more to defeat Kevin. With the man’s life finally in his hands Zenji briefly falters at the sight of the defeated man, but steeling himself and prepares to destroy him. However outside interference arrives and not only stops the attack but removes his hand. With his Shikai collapsing Zenji throws a powerful spell at the duo and begins to flee but when they turn the attack back on him the Soul Reaper’s pride, pain and hatred can not allow it. Retaliating with the most powerful, albeit imperfect, Hado he can, Zenji decides he no longer cares about collateral damage and tries to destroy the Quincy completely.
One-handed, with broken bones, bleeding heavily and nearly collapsing from a lack of energy, the dying Shinigami escapes into the City in the wake of his spell hoping he would never see either abomination again.

Story Summary----------------------------------------------------

Zenji’s Second Arc starts at a high, despite the horrors he endured at the end of Arc 1, where we see him working with renewed vigour to become better. He’s training hard, volunteering for patrols and even teaching others so he can share his mastery of the Demon Arts with his fellow Shinigami as well as the students at the academy.

We see that he’s become less passive and is quicker to involve himself in the affairs of others when he feels it is the correct thing to do such as when he breaks up the duel between Yuki and Rei. We also see Zenji more freely throwing around his authority and even taking up a leadership role. Be this commanding Nao, despite being of equal rank, when trying to break up a fight or asserting his authority around as Nao’s Second and a Nobleman to force others to recognise his friend’s new position as Third Seat.

However Zenji’s rise seems to hit an unpleasant stutter with his discovery of the Quincy not being quite as distinct as was believed. Due to his position as leader of the Clan of Balance, religious followers of the Soul King, and self-proclaimed wielders of the Divine Mandate to defend the Cycle the man is incredibly disturbed by this discovery. However despite his fear and rage at what he perceives as a heretical existence we also see that Zenji hasn’t completely changed and that he can still be a cautious man. Withdrawing back to the Soul Society he begins his plotting to prepare for what he believes to be an inevitable war.

This is the real turning point in his life.

We see that Zenji has been greatly effected by the encounter. He begins scheming in secret, outside the chain of command, with two Third Seats at his estate so that they can begin preparing their respective Divisions for war if necessary. We see he has also resolved to act on new ambition to take the Third Seat of the Kido Corp to fulfil his end of the plan.

Zenji’s second Arc ends on a low when he unfortunately confronts a Quincy. Here Zenji lets his full fanatical fervour show, just as he had at the meeting with the Third Seats, and resolves to destroy the Heretical existence of the Destroyer. During the battle Zenji, already injured and exhausted, is defeated by the Quincy Kevin. However reaching a new low he accepts his Zanpakuto’s power, a Spirit he is still not very comfortable with, and turns the battle around. We see Zenji being colder, less merciful, than he has ever previously been in the presence of the Quincy who are an existence he can not abide. However due to the unexpected arrival of another abominable.

With a single hand and dying from his injuries the exhausted Shinigami escapes. Stumbling away, perhaps doomed by his own act of hatred in using up the last of his power on a high level Hado, the man's fate is unknown as he vanishes into the City.

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by **Meridith** Sat Jul 25, 2020 6:20 pm

It's a solid arc with a lot of content. Some of these threads or sets of threads could justify extra points but none of them are quite strong enough to grant it across the rest. I don't think this is an issue, it's still very good. Happy to delve into more nuance and praise but since you didn't ask I think I'm comfortable moving forward and make you wait no longer!

Highlights in no particular order: Cast your shell is very great, I'm impartial but I liked Push Your Limits, Paper Beats Rock was a solid buddy thread, and The Balance had some real ominous overtones I loved even if it took a few rounds to get into it.

Congrats! This is a solid FIVE STAR request! Go ahead and link this post to your profile and redeem for

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Arc II - The Quincy Strikes Back (XP Request)

Arc II - The Quincy Strikes Back (XP Request)

Re: Arc II - The Quincy Strikes Back (XP Request)