EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 243: Pressure
Chapter 243 - Pressure
'Who could be interfering with my plans...?' Aizen wondered to himself, seated atop a white, high-backed, throne-like chair at the head of a long table with rounded ends, leaning onto the knuckles of his right hand with a relaxed expression as he listened to reports from the ten white-dressed individuals gathered before him.
"It's strange..." expressed a slender, exceptionally pale man with messy, soot-black hair, melancholic features that included thick, drooping brows, dark-green, ostensibly lifeless eyes with cat-like pupils, bangs that parted his face down the center, and thin teal lines that ran from his eyes to his jawline, resembling permanent tears. Like everyone else present, he wore predominately bone-white clothing with soot-black trim and a soot-black interior, but his most conspicuous features were the segmented, horned, helmet-like mask adorning the left side of his head and the billiard-sized hole above his clavicle—an abyssal black void in his throat that appeared to swallow all light.
"My efforts to infiltrate the Seireitei without triggering their sensors were successful, but before I could set out in search of the one called Kuchiki Rukia, I found myself returned to Hueco Mundo, transported by means I could not perceive..." explained the pale man, Ulquiorra Cifer, also known as the Cuatro(4th) Espada.
"You sure you didn't just chicken out and turn tail...?" asked a tall, notably lanky man with long black hair, thin black eyes, one of which was covered by a white, black-trimmed eyepatch, and a toothy, distinctly inhuman grin that wouldn't look out of place on the face of Mayuri.
Instead of reacting to the grinning man, the Quinto(5th) Espada, Nnoitra Gilga, Ulquiorra closed his eyes and calmly appended, "In my sixty-three subsequent attempts to transgress the Soul Society, I consistently found myself back at my starting point. This leads me to conclude that someone or something is preventing us from leaving Hueco Mundo..."
'The capacity to redirect travel through the Garganta...it's not outside the Soul Society's capabilities, but if it were them, they wouldn't simply return him to us...' determined Aizen, his sharp, hazel-brown eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"I suppose that's my cue," remarked a voice no one present recognized, accompanied by a basket-ball-sized crystal ball materializing, suspended in the air approximately one meter above the table's surface.
"Huh? And who the hell is this supposed to be...?" asked a man with spiky, pale blue hair, sharp, pale blue eyes accented by spiky green markings at the ends, and a bone-white mask resembling the right side of a predator's toothy maw. His attire consisted of bone white hakama, a black sash, and a ragged, open-front top with a black, flared collar, exposing his muscular body and the large, softball-sized hole in his abdomen.
"A pertinent question, Grimmjow..." hummed Aizen, maintaining his calm facade as he gazed at the crystal ball and attempted to probe it with his senses.
"My name is Vahn Mason, the Dragon God of Intertwining Fates," stated the voice emanating from the crystal ball. "As for why I'm here, it's to give you a choice."
"The Dragon God of Intertwining Fates...that's quite the title..." remarked Aizen, his deep, velvety voice exuding calm but his thoughts racing as he searched his memory for a person or entity bearing Vahn's name and title.
"More importantly, you and your Espasda find yourself at a crossroads of fate," stated Vahn. "If you, Aizen Sosuke, truly wish to sit upon the throne of the heavens, then embrace your role as the ruler of Hueco Mundo and develop a proper, prosperity-focused society. Prove that you have what it takes to govern better than those you demean and denounce for helming your world toward stagnation, and you will be afforded the opportunity to attain power and status transcending your world in its entirety."
"Hoooooo...this is starting to get interesting..." remarked a bespectacled, pink-haired man with neatly combined bangs framing the right side of his face and sharp amber eyes.
"I would prefer that only Aizen expresses his opinion or thoughts at this moment in time," stated Vahn, causing everyone at the table, including Aizen, to tense as a powerful spirit pressure descended upon the room, causing it to tremble violently as the crystal ball emanated an amethyst-purple hue.
'So this is the spiritual pressure of one who calls himself a Dragon God...' noted Aizen, using the power of his Kyoka Suigetsu to maintain his mask of calm in the face of Aileen's soul-quaking Draconic Aura. He presumed it belonged to Vahn, but as the latter wanted to get his point across quickly, he had the petite and inordinately buxom Great Black Dragoness perched atop his lap, glaring menacingly with her bright blue eyes.
"Can I presume this is an ultimatum and that you won't be allowing us to leave Hueco Mundo for the time being...?" asked Aizen, having reinforced his self-suggestion to see Vahn as just another player in his grand design, a cog whose structure he had yet to grasp but would inevitably fit into his ever-evolving plans.
"That's not entirely the case..." answered Vahn, patting Aileen's head to indicate she should retract her aura before clarifying, "More accurately, Kuchiki Rukia and several others have come under the protection of the transdimensional organization I represent, the Dragon's Pavilion. You and your ilk are free to move about at your leisure, but we will naturally step in if we determine your actions place our charges in danger."
"I see..." hummed Aizen, feigning boredom and a hint of amusement as he closed his eyes, adopted a faint smile, and asked, "Then, there is a matter that I would have you, Dragon God Vahn Mason, clarify. Tell me, what is a proper, prosperous-focused society to you? What—"
"I'm not really in the mood to argue semantics," interjected Vahn, causing Aizen's bottom right eyelid to twitch ever so slightly as he added, "You're neither a child, a fool, or a sociopath, Aizen Sosuke. Even with the crutch that is your Kyoka Suigetsu, you couldn't have fooled the Gotei for as long as you did without having a comprehensive grasp of right and wrong. I'm giving you the chance to prove it—"
[For her sake...] added Vahn, transmitting the words directly into Aizen's mind. The man's expression didn't change, but his irrepressible discharge of Reiatsu, causing the meeting room to vibrate nearly as much as when Aileen unleashed her aura, made it clear he was shaken...
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"Why did he seem so upset near the end...?" asked Aileen, tilting her head back with a curious expression as Vahn massaged her scalp and the base of her horns with the tips of his fingers.
"Mmn...it doesn't excuse what he's done these past two to three hundred years, but Aizen wasn't always the cold-hearted scheming mastermind he projects to others..." explained Vahn, revealing, "Long before he became a Shinigami, he was just a child residing in the Rukongai District, unaware of his past after dying at a very young age. Fortunately, he was taken in by a kind woman who quickly became like an older sister to him..."
"Something terrible must have happened to them both..." muttered Aileen, swallowing nervously.
"Do you want to know the specifics, or should I leave things vague? It's not a pleasant story and, as I said, it doesn't excuse Aizen's actions past his initial revenge..." noted Vahn.
"I'm definitely curious..." admitted Aileen. "But if the details are especially gruesome, I would prefer a general overview of the situation..."
"Then, to make a long and tragic story short, the critical details are that Aizen and his sister were targetted by Hollows due to their burgeoning affinity with spirit energy," revealed Vahn, appending, "They were saved at the last moment a group of patrolling Shinigami, but the leader of that group, the second son of a lesser Noble family, took an interest in Aizen's sister, separating them. After that, Aizen spent years developing the skills needed to enter the Shin'ō Academy and become a Shinigami, but by the time he uncovered the identities of the men who had abducted his sister, it was too late..."
"How terrible..." muttered Aileen, visibly deflating and puffing her cheeks slightly, sulking. Even before departing the Black Tower, she had come to understand how greedy and cruel people could be after learning what the leader of the Wild Boar tribe had done to the denizens of the White Rabbit Kingdom and others. However, that didn't make it any less vexing to know the greatest evils often propagated as a result of the most innocent being forced to endure needless, unreasonable trauma...
"All we can do is keep endeavoring to make things better..." sighed Vahn, kissing the top of Aileen's head before wrapping his arms around her in a warm, reassuring embrace. He also felt that what had happened to Aizen and his sister was a tragedy, but that didn't justify him experimenting and projecting his vengeful fury onto tens of thousands of innocent souls and Shinigami simply because they were part of a system he hated...
"Mmn...I want you to do me until I feel better..." muttered Aileen, catching Vahn a little off guard before he raised his head to exchange glances with Grayfia and Venelana. The latter smiled and exhaled faintly from her nose, but since Aileen had flawlessly executed the task of cowing Aizen and the Espada, she ultimately departed with Grayfia, leaving Vahn to shower the diminutive Dragoness with his affection...
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[January 14th TST/September 6th DBT]
With four days remaining until the Rating Game between the Dragon's Pavilion and the Gotei, set to take place on a field prepared in the Soul Society's Central Underground Prison, specifically the 8th Level: Muken, Vahn couldn't resist observing as both sides prepared. The format was a step-in match that would pit the Pawns of each team against one another while higher-ranking members were assigned to defend specific positions. Once two or more Pawns from either side were eliminated, the Knights of both sides would be free to move, followed by Rooks and Bishops. Kings and Queens could only act once the rest of their team was eliminated, so the representatives of the Dragon's Pavilion had been specially chosen to ensure Vahn could see at least some action.
"Hmn...nnn...shlp...chu..."
Though her birthday wasn't for another four months, January 14th back in her world, Miu's recent stint in the Tower, combined with the time she had spent training in the palace, caused her Status Window to reflect that she had turned eighteen. Upon realizing this, she immediately requested to be promoted from Third-Grade Maid to First, causing Vahn to be more than a little surprised when their paths crossed on the ninth floor, and he noticed her cleaning in a frilly, extremely short-skirted Maid outfit with a bikini-like top, letting her full, voluminous ass to hang out and barely containing her breasts.
Feeling her jaw beginning to strain, Miu, performing a deep squat in front of a standing Vahn, freed his cock from her mouth but dutifully stroked it as she looked up at him with a cute and deliberately pitiable expression, expressing, "Sorry...I'm doing my best, but Goshujin-sama is just so big..."
"Well, you know what they say...practice makes perfect..." hummed Vahn, staring down at Miu with a smoldering, narrow-eyed smile while using his left hand to caress her head and the right side of her face. This gave Miu the impression she should continue, but before she could do more than slip her lips around his glans, Vahn gestured to his right, producing a large and comfy-looking bed from his Inventory as he hummed, "And while you practice, I'll return the favor...though, from what I can see from here, you don't appear to need further preparation..."
With Vahn nestling the big toe of his left foot against her extremely wet, actively leaking pussy, Miu's face flushed an even brighter shade of red than it already was. Like most people who dedicated themselves to harsh training from a young age, she was exceedingly prone to arousal—at least when she recognized her partner as a suitable mate. Thus, while Vahn still spent the better part of twenty minutes eating her out as they sixty-nined atop the prepared bed, it genuinely wasn't necessary. She wasn't ready to be a mother just yet, but it wasn't an exaggeration to say her well-trained physique was built for breeding...
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