1 Exorcist Origin

"Jisan, what did you just say are we?" Yon asked his grandfather since he thought he heard him say something absurd.

"I said we are from a clan of Exorcists. If a Quincy and Shinigami hunts hollows, we exorcise them. That reminds me. How were you able to control spirit energy without using any inscriptions?"

"Huh? what are inscriptions for?"

"As an exorcist we control and manipulate spirit energy as weapons to exorcise hollows. But from the way you're talking, it seems that you didn't even know what an inscription is much less use one."

"And here I thought we were the only ones that's not normal here in Karakura Town." Exclaimed Masaki. Both her and Isshin didn't even know that such a clan exists until today when Chouji himself said so.

"Hahaha, you never know what kinds of people are actually hiding here in this town." commented Chouji to Masaki's statement.

"Then Jisan, were both my parents' exorcist?" asked Yon to his grandfather. 'It doesn't make sense why did I awaken as a cultivator if I had the blood of an exorcist?' was Yon's most pressed question.

"Your mother was one, and that's the reason why you could see ghosts since you were born. But your father was not an exorcist."

'Then does that mean my father was a cultivator?' his face was full of questions and Chouji could see it.

"Masaki-san, Isshin-san I asked for the both of you to keep this information to yourselves. And I think we all have answered our curiosity. We will be leaving first since I will need to tell Yon about his birth right."

"We understand Chouji dono. You can rest assured that we can keep it. Our doors are always open if you guys need any help at all." Isshin answered.

"As well as ours Isshin san." Chouji and his grandson went home. Yon still wanted to ask more questions to his grandfather but held it in since he can always ask once their home.

Upon going inside Chouji asked Yon to wait in the dining table. Yon sat there as he waited for his grandfather to return and explain more.

A few moments later Chouji returned carrying a large box with him. He settled it in the center of the table and looked at Yon who still had a very curious face. He smiled at this.

"You really want to know huh?" Chouji said. Yon just nodded repeatedly and didn't say anything, but his face was serious.

"Alright then." Chouji sat down on a chair facing Yon while still holding the box in between them.

"We as exorcists know of the existences of Hollows, Ghosts, Soul Reapers, Quincies, Fullbringers and even Vizards that recently appeared a hundred years ago. But none of them knows the existence of exorcists, or shall I just say they will never get the chance to."

"What do you mean? and why did you tell both Aunt Masaki and Isshin us being exorcist?"

"You'll understand why I did that later. For now, let me tell you about the exorcists first." Yon nodded and held his many questions.

"Our origin started during the war between Soul reapers and Quincys more than a thousand years ago. I honestly don't care anymore about how long our heritage was formed." Upon saying this Chouji wore a pained expression as if recalling the past was hurtful for him. He continued like this:

It was when they were busy fighting each other that hollows in the living world became more active than usual. With no one to help us from the supernatural and no mortal weapon effective enough to defend ourselves, we humans were pitiful foods for them. These hollows were not visible to a mortal's eye and only a select few who possess strong enough spiritual energy inside them from birth could.

They were the very first generation of exorcists. But they were titled as Guardian Watchers only at that time by the people. Although the first generation doesn't know how to fight and could just see hollows. We prevented a lot of casualties but not totally and this went on for 10 years.

This changed one day when a guardian watcher's loved one was killed by a hollow during an evacuation. Due to a sudden outburst of emotion his spiritual energy was riled up. With spiritual energy flowing through his body, he was able to move faster than normal, his strength was more than normal too, and his senses were so sharp he could tell where anyone was especially the hollow that killed his loved one.

This was a phenomenon we call awakening. It is said that when an exorcist awakens their powers, they gain control of the spirit energy inside them to be able to have enhanced speed, strength and awareness.

Over time more and more of the guardian watchers awakened that it was no longer an option to simply run away each time a hollow appears. Some were able to influence a weapon to be able to defeat a hollow for example they could infuse their spirit energy into an arrow, sword, spear, staff, mace, or even daggers. Slaying a hollow was now possible for humans even without the help of a Quincy or Soul Reaper.

The elders of the village renamed their title as 'Guardians' and made them a group that 'serve' the village. This was a move by the elders since their powers threaten the position of the leaders in a village. With this the guardians were tagged as dog of the higher ups and could never become a leader if a day comes that they want to.

If there was anything redeeming to an exorcist's personality. It was that all of them are pure of heart and good-natured people. And because of this nature the exorcists possessed that they weren't feared by the masses instead they were very much revered. The elders/leaders however didn't see them in a good light and perceived it as a threat to their positions.

And that was how exorcists were brought to slavery when the leaders and elders planned to control them. How? The elders weren't fools, they were leaders for a reason so they knew that they can't face them head on. That was how the very first inscription was made, and it was to render an exorcist powerless in a specified area.

How? Human experiment! They hired a very bright and talented young man who was very curious about a guardian's body and how it works. Through various experiments and research, he found a way to negate how guardians manipulate or control spirit energy by drawing inscription patterns he found and compared inside a human and guardian's body both.

This however could not be done by any normal human, the inscription pattern itself needed to be written carefully by a guardian and must contain spirit energy. The bodies used by the researcher were of course from those guardians who died in battle. But this time they needed to get a live one, so they sent one on a solo mission only to capture him.

Upon capturing one they force the guardian to write the patterns by threatening to kill their family in front of them, their only weakness. That was how the guardians were branded as slaves since the elders found a way to weaken them. From a guardian watcher to a guardian then to a slave.

There was a flaw with the elders' move. Since the guardians were rendered useless who will protect them from hollows now? The war between the soul reapers and Quincy was still ongoing that they have no idea of this development in one of the villages in the living world. The guardians refused to act when the hollows attacked even with their seal taken off by the elders' order.

However, hollows tend to be attracted to those who possess more spiritual energy than normal humans. The guardians also noticed this as the hollows weren't satisfied anymore from devouring just normal humans. Freed from their shackles they fought back against the hollows and defeated them easily.

Together with their families the guardians left the village and confiscated everything the elders worked on them. They of course didn't spare the researcher who experimented on their fellow guardian's body and executed him. The guardian responsible for making the inscriptions was saved and brought along.

They moved to another village and formed under a single clan, the Tokisawa Clan. Since a village was composed of multiple clans, they needed to be under one to be able to live in the new village they moved in. This was how they were able to interact with normal people. However, hidden from the villagers' knowledge they also formed a secret group called Spirit Guards. Its only purpose was to save their clansmen from the clutches of hollows and only their clansmen.

To avoid the eyes of the common people and repeat the same conflict this was how they operated from the start. Until that individual who was responsible for making inscriptions to render them powerless was able to come up with an idea. What if inscriptions weren't just to render them powerless? what if it could also function in another way?

So he proposed in the group that he be permitted to do research on inscriptions. This was approved by the many due to his circumstance of being held prisoner and forced to make such things against them.

They felt like it was his way of repaying back what he's done wrong. None of them really blamed him instead they pity him. He was monitored during his research to make sure what he researched on was still on the right path.

Using inscriptions, we found a way to exorcise hollows unlike a Quincy who completely eradicates hollows we purify them by using inscriptions just like what happens when a soul reaper slays them. However, in our case we don't send them to soul society like they do but just return them to normal ghost.

This time without any resentment that would make them turn into a hollow once again. We leave it to the soul reapers to perform Konso on them or if the soul itself can ascend directly they can do so. Since we don't send them to soul society directly then we can't be called anything related to the Soul Reapers.

That's when we took the title Exorcist and called our action of purifying/defeating hollows as Exorcism. It was in that era that we were able to develop different fields of mastery when using an inscription. Those that excel in weapons were called weapon specialist. Using spirit energy to infuse in their weapons they were able to bring out the weapon's power.

However adding inscription patterns in them gives their weapons unimaginable powers too. Swords could produce spirit energy slashes, arrows could explode, daggers could multiply, even staff and spears could elongate and many more.

"Cool! Can I also do that Jisan?" Asked Yon disturbing his grandfather's story telling mode.

"Ofcourse you can. But we will get into that later, I still have more to tell you."

"Really? there's more? Do I really need to hear all of it?"

"Yes, it's very important that you know about your roots! So that you'll know how and where you're going to walk in the future."

"I don't really understand that but if I get to try those cool things afterwards then please go ahead and tell me more!" Yon excitedly explained.

'Mei my lovely daughter, your son seemed to have inherited your tendency to try cool things' Chouji was staring at Yon as if he was looking at his daughter. In Chouji's memories when he was training, his daughter would often come and disturb him.

"Daddy daddy! I finished my homework now please teach me so I could try those cool things too!"

"Jisan! Jisan? Jisan!!!"

"Huh?"

"Is there something wrong Jisan?" Yon's image intertwined with his mother in Chouji's eyes it was as if his daughter was the one asking him. "Is there something wrong Daddy?" Tears suddenly escaped Chouji's eyes upon what he saw, and he started crying. "Nothing's wrong, I just- it's just that-"

"Huh? Jisan why are you crying suddenly?" Yon asked with worry as he hugged chouji and rubbed his back to comfort him. 'come on now gramps, don't make me worry like that. You are already a family to me' Yon thought while smiling himself.

End of chapter 1

Volume 2: Exorcist Arc