chapter 13

R, the repetition.

Derieri's schrift. With each consecutive attack, her attacks get heavier. Walter had simply given her the ability she was lacking.

Never once had Walter intended to use the auswhalen. Ruthlessly taking someone's life away because they'd disappointed him was something that he would never be able to do.

Thats... not this kind of man he is.

He stood, ready for another barrage from derieri.

But as her fist approached, he noticed.

Blut arterie.

The offensive form of blut vene. It seems as if derieri had activated it accidentally.

The first blow struck right into walters right arm, he felt as if he'd been tickled.

But she struck repeatedly, and he could feel the weight of the blows. The damage built up until his arm had feint signs of bruising after her barrage of blows had destroyed his sleeve.

"Impressive." The hybrid swiftly grabbed her by the throat.

"but how will you get out of this?" Derieri attempted to crush his wrist with her right arm, nothing. No results.

The woman acted quickly, covering her index and middle finger in darkness before attempting to jab his eyes out. Walter was caught off guard.

But he still caught her hand.

"alright. I'm satisfied. You've impressed me. Any sort of fighting style still needs work but we can sort that later. For now, you have officially become sternritter R." Derieri frowned.

'I could only bruise his arm. What kind of monster is he, and why has he taken an interest in melascula? That... thats something I can't understand.' A snap threw her from her thoughts.

"you seem quite bothered. What's wrong?" The blonde recoiled. She'd been read so easily.

"why take an interest in melascula? No... what's your end goal?" Her suspicion had leaked through and spilled into her words.

"end goal? That's... quite a good question. I don't know myself. But as for taking an interest in melascula, I would assume my words hold no weight towards you, so why not ask her yourself?" In a blink, derieri found herself within the cabin again.

Melascula awoke with a groan causing derieri to shoot right to her side.

Walter appeared next to his first sternritter.

"let's... talk upstairs."

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Inside of Walter's bedroom, there was a tense silence.

Walter didn't know what to say, he could only wait for mitsuri to speak.

But she didn't, mitsuri stood up and slowly walked towards her leader.

A slap rang out before mitsuri hugged him.

"you're such an idiot. I already understand the situation with senjumaru. But why... why'd you have to go and do something as stupid as self harm?!" Tears began to roll down her face, Walter could feel them hitting him, even if they didn't touch.

Guilt.

"I don't want to be scared. It's not just my life that I'm responsible for. But melascula, derieri, ophis, tenjiro, maybe even rose and senjumaru. I looked far into the future, but just before heading off to fight yhwach's army... i-i can't see anything! I'm scared. Even when I rewrote my death, I could still see. But, I'm blind to the future." The woman of love slowly stroked his hair.

"I don't understand but, why fear the unkown? Not even you or I know what our fates hold. So why not enjoy the moment. I understand that's hard for you, knowing the future, but I'll be here. Every step of the way. Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on, you can lean on mine. Now sleep, Walter. You've earned it." Mitsuri pulled him onto the bed and slowly rested his head on her lap.

Walter slightly smiled, slowly drifting away as mitsuri ran her hand through his hair.

A truly peaceful moment for these two.

Ophis had calmly yet rudely eavesdropped on the conversation.

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"melascula. I need to know. Why is it that he's taken such an interest in you?" Melascula chuckled ever so slightly.

"I don't know. He saved me when another demon was about to kill me. He gave me this form, my magic, even my schrift. All he asked, was for me to create a place for familiars to thrive. Truly, that man is a mystery. I couldn't tell of a single ulterior motive when he spoke to me." The snake leaned back into the couch.

"but what about your fight with rose?" Melascula smiled. No bitterness, no wicked intent, no hatred. A simple and content smile.

"that fight... Walter knew the outcome from the beginning. He hates seeing people get hurt, but he pushed through that so I could develop and grow. He's a sickeningly compassionate man." Derieri was so... confused.

"what... what is... compassion?" Melascula smirked at her.

"I forgot how much knowledge you lack about emotion. Compassion. Everyone has a different opinion but mine is being kind and nice with no ulterior motive. However, I sense that he gave you a schrift too. Why is that?" Her one friend sat on the opposing couch and raised her left leg in front of her, hand propped on her own knee.

"you're my one and only friend. After seeing you injured, I didn't want to be separated from you. I asked Walter to join, he tested me but, now I'm officially sternritter R, the repetition. I... I don't deserve it. All my strikes amounted to a small bruise on his arm. That was it."

The pinkette flicked her on the forehead.

"stupid. To compare yourself to Walter, a man who can not only see the future, created this entire dimension, pacified the infinite dragon god as well as giving us our schrifts.  That's like comparing omnipotence to a cockroach." The blonde brawler had been left speechless.

"I'm sorry melascula. I... I was being stupid." She was flicked again.

"no more melascula. You and I are practically sisters. Call me Mel. I'll call you deri. Is that alright, sister?" Deri smiled, it was faint but nice for Mel to see on her usually emotionless face.

"yeah, sis."

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Ophis finally decided to walk into their room, to confide in mitsuri.

"oh, ophis-chan!" Mitsuri held a finger in front of her mouth, a cute smile on her face.

"I have something to discuss with you. Mitsuri kanroji." The first sternritter was confused, what could ophis have to discuss with her?

"what is it?" Ophis walked forward, sight locked upon the object of her desire.

"i love Walter. I want him to be mine and I to be his. Walter is everything I desire. There is no simpler way to put it. As such, I wish to become a sternritter. But after listening to you're conversation, I realise, he loves you. I will make no attempts to steal him from you, it is his choice whether he accepts my love." A tear had rolled down her left cheek.

'I see. What a mess you've been put in Walter. I want you all to myself, but something tells me that's not possible. But, its all up to you.'

The fate of many, hung upon his shoulders. Not just their physical health, but their emotions.

The path of a king is truly a lonely one.

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Walter slowly tried to get up, but he saw mitsuri was tightly gripping her arms around him.

"such a peaceful look on her face." Walter smiled, a thought gracing his happy mind.

"how is melascula doing? I... hope she's alright." A sharp intake of breath alerted him to the sleeping ophis who was hugging a pillow.

'I... what do I do about her? I don't want to reject her... but... I... I love mitsuri.' Walter made his decision...

And got out of bed.

He barely managed to ensure mitsuri would stay asleep.

He carefully left his room, quietly descending the stairs to see melascula and derieri asleep on the two couches.

Walter slowly walked up to the two and placed a blanket onto each of them, the blankets having appeared from thin air.

"hah... its nice to relax a little. The persona of a king is not one I like to uphold." He opened the door to the cabin, closing the door as he left.

Before taking a seat on the steps.

"I'm... so lost. Why... why can't I see past that point? Do I die? No... I'd still be able to forsee that... so what is it?"

"What's wrong?" The voice of ophis startled him. When did she wake up? Nevermind that, should he tell her?

"I... don't know. The future after a certain point is unkown to me. And I don't know what to do." Ophis sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder.

"why think about it now? If you concern yourself too much with one singular event, you'll end up doing everything you can simply to find out what is that unkown. That is my experience of curiosity. Why stress over something that may never come to fruition?" Walter smiled, allowing ophis to rest her head.

He really is bad at making decisions. Well... they do say Kings are made, not born. He has time, time to grow, to develop and mature to his position.

Not that he ever really wanted to be a king. Far too stressful for a simple man like Walter.

But, fate has a strange way of going about things.

'the hell am I thinking? This isn't jojo, fate doesn't exist. All that exists is what I imagine, and this is the world I envisioned in my mind. Come to think of it, I haven't visited the human world, have I? I'll visit it later. For now, let's try and look again.' The almighty fragmented his sight once more, watching through the film reel he eventually reached a wall of darkness.

He reached forward, placing a hand on it. He flipped the switch on the wall of his mind, a firm punch broke through to the unkown future.

Another flip as he viewed into the veil. A singular shadowy figure, cutting, tearing and even biting his way through the crowd of people.

"who is that? Is it one of the individuals I saw in the future? Maybe a vasto lorde? Too many questions, not enough answers." The future he saw shattered as he returned to the steps of his cabin.

Only silence, slow subtle breathing.

"she fell asleep... huh. Must've forced herself awake. I wonder, in bleach, each race had individuals who had reached the precipice of power. The Quincy had yhwach, soul reapers had individuals like aizen, yamamoto, kenpachi. The hollows... did they ever have anyone? Stark and yammy couldn't compare. Even thousand year blood war arc harribel couldn't compare to yhwach."

As ophis slept, he grew slightly concerned.

Can dragons get a cold? He didn't know, but just to be safe, Newgate carefully picked up and pushed the door back open.

Ascending the stairs, he returned to his room.

'what's next on the list of agenda's? Talk to sen-' Walter cut that line of thought short.

He didn't want to talk to her. No... he couldn't even face her.

He wasn't sure he'd be able to.

The second king had already put ophis into the bed.

"Walter? What are you doing?" Mitsuri's voice surprised her king.

"I was putting ophis back into the bed. She fell asleep leaning on my shoulder." Mitsuri hugged him.

"ophis told me something. That she wants you... for you to be hers and her yours. But she also wanted to be a sternritter. What... what's your opinion?" The mans silence only emphasised her stress.

"I don't know. I'll be honest, I love you mitsuri. I really do. But I dont want to reject ophis, I feel like it would break her. Though, I am fine with her becoming a sternritter."

A tear rolled down ophis's cheek.

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