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Chapter 47: Darkness Spreads II
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How things will turn out, he didn't know. For now, all he knew was that he needed more rest, his mind and body both still exhausted from pain and strain.
The sterile air of Aizen's hidden laboratory still lingered faintly in Akashi's lungs as he stepped out into the quiet streets of Karakura Town once more.
He had declined Aizen's offer of a permanent position in Rukongai; one that would have given him control over rescue missions and a justified reason to move between districts.
It was tempting. After all, Aizen's lab is in one of the middle districts of Rukongai.
He has more than one base, but that seems to be the main one, thus why the offer was so tempting.
But Akashi's gaze was set farther than Soul Society. There was still work left unfinished in the World of the Living, a stage more chaotic, more fertile, more vulnerable.
Aizen hadn't protested his choice. In fact, he had nodded slowly, a faint smile touching his lips, as if knowing what Akashi intended to do.
With Aizen's silent blessing, and the knowledge that Seireitei's eyes would turn blind to his comings and goings, Akashi returned to the living world.
He resumed his Konsō duties with professionalism as if nothing had happened, giving no cause for suspicion.
He continued with his work, hunting Hollows. He cataloged their behaviors, analyzed their emergence patterns, and compared them with those in the farthest districts of Rukongai.
For anyone who might observe, Akashi was simply thorough. Devoted. Tireless.
But beneath that performance, the gears of a deeper machine began to turn.
It was time to call back the First Eldritch.
Seated alone on the rooftop of an abandoned bookstore, Akashi closed his eyes and reached into his inner world.
A realm of darkness and Inky depths. A cost had to be paid; one measured not in blood or memories, but in spirit.
The spiritual toll was heavy. Especially for him.
Calling forth one of his horrors from the far reaches of the world was nothing like summoning it in battle.
It was a deliberate recall across vast spiritual distances, threading through dimensions like a tethered scream.
And then it was there.
The First Eldritch.
An avatar of his soul. A second brain, a living shadow given shape and instinct.
He had previously sent it on a mission to investigate something in Rukongai.
Yet now, it was with him in an instant. The ability to call back his horrors across distances speaks to Kurayami's specialness, its endless means.
Unfortunately, the cost is so heavy that Akashi can not imagine using it in battle anytime soon.
Akashi turned his gaze west.
He sent the First across the Pacific, sweeping through Southeast Asia before carving a slow and silent path through Europe, absorbing knowledge, sensation, and impressions.
The world was stranger than he remembered. Or perhaps just duller.
The internet wasn't here yet. It's still at least two to three dozen years before it becomes public.
There were no comprehensive databases, no Wikipedia, no real-time global awareness.
Therefore, gathering information was a difficult task, or rather, very time consuming.
The First's mission was threefold.
First, surveying the state of knowledge; particularly horror. Were there traces of eldritch stories? Has the Call of Cthulhu already been written? Does the Lovecraftian genre even exist in this world?
It found nothing. No Lovecraft. No Cthulhu. No Lovecraftian horrors.
And yet, ghost stories abounded; folk tales, urban legends, and tales of invisible monsters preying on human lives.
The invisible claws of Hollows were leaving their mark.
The horror genre in this world is even more mature than in his previous world, and it does make sense, hollows unintentionally made sure of that.
If a Hollow attacks a person in public, it looks like the person is being hit by something invisible; perhaps going insane or suddenly crushed by an unseen force.
So even though Normal people's memories blur around spiritual phenomena or their brain "rationalizes" traumatic or supernatural events; the impact of the supernatural on culture is still there.
The second goal of the First is to Establish a foothold; Akashi wanted to create a publishing company.
A shell entity to spread his horror across the world of the living. The First had no human identity, but that didn't matter.
With shapeshifting and a drop of blood from a random man on a dark Spanish alleyway; it became visible.
A human face. With forged documents, 'bribed' officials, and supernatural manipulation of weak-minded bureaucrats, the First created Umbra Verlag, a boutique horror imprint based in Berlin.
It then began distributing handbound volumes of Akashi's first horror tales to underground circles.
Translations in French, German, and English followed. Limited copies, sold in odd corners of secondhand bookshops and occult gatherings.
The stories were always unmarked. Always anonymous.
Shinigami, with their invisibility to most humans, spiritual powers, and extended lifespans, have massive potential to abuse their position when stationed in the Human World.
So, normally, what Akashi is doing would lead to issues. After all, Seireitei does have a few layers of control, although some are quite flawed.
Each division is led by a Captain who is ultimately responsible for their subordinates' behavior. Squad members, especially seated officers are expected to file mission reports.
However, Akashi's Captain is Aizen, and well... Yeah. Also, reports can be falsified.
That's why Seireitei also has spirit monitors and Reiatsu sensors that track Hollow appearances and Shinigami activity, tools researched and supervised by the twelfth Division.
Lastly, there are Covert Squads like Onmitsukidō and the second squad, under Captain Soi Fon.
The First Eldritch was Akashi's greatest method to avoid detection while still manipulating the world of the living.
The most important, however, is Aizen.
Back in Karakura, Akashi worked in parallel.
The Creed had begun as an idea. A way to make money and grow a force of his own.
Now, it was an organized belief system with a growing presence in multiple districts.
It's almost turning into a religious organization without Akashi trying to make it as such.
When Akashi returned to Rukongai; thanks to Aizen's open door policy; he wore a hood and a smile.
Then again, it's not strange to see why for acts spoke louder. Food was provided. Water purified. Souls protected.
District by district, he expanded operations. He used his spiritual senses to locate those with nascent spiritual power; and brought them to his side.
To them, he selflessly gave guidance, purpose, and a role in his expanding infrastructure.
The Creed wasn't overtly religious. It didn't demand faith in a god. But they took the liberty of thinking Akashi to be a God.
After all, in their unknowing mind, all he did seemed selfless, gracious, like a saint, and saints in Rukongai... Do they exist?
He offered them freedom from stagnation, and the Creed preached unity, not rebellion; at least for now.
All he asked from then now was two things: First, Read his stories. Second, Help others so that they may help you.
By the fourth month, he had published many stories.
He published these under pseudonyms. The First oversaw physical printing and distribution.
Books were smuggled into occult bookstores, left anonymously in mailboxes, or donated to public libraries.
In the spiritual world, the books were mostly given out for free to the people of Rukongai, specifically to those in the farthest districts.
It's just that things were turning more and more strange, much to Akashi's disbelief.
He found out that his books were read aloud in the Creed's circles, copied by hand, and then passed along. They were considered by them to be sacred texts in all but name.
If he had any thoughts about making a cult at the start, it was forgotten as he no longer needed it.
However, it happened anyway... No, it became a religion, and the religion's sacred texts were horror stories... He was confused.
It was multiple months later before he returned to the Fifth Division, it was as if he had never left.
His paperwork was immaculate. His Konsō tallies precise. His reports unblemished.
No one questioned his months of work in Rukongai and the human world. To all appearances, Akashi was merely diligent.
He planted the seeds. He spread the darkness. Now, he was just waiting for the ideas of his horror to be complete.
He wasn't lacking too much in Darkness. He was mostly lacking the second ingredient for Kurayami to manifest horrors, Ideas... They were coming soon.
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