Crimson Edge Arc: The Opening [Event Five] -Complete-

Kei did not heed the random Shinigami's protests as she opened the door to J's office. This was too important, and it could not wait. She closed the door in whatever officer's face that was. "Sir. I think I am ready to open the Vault." Kei walked to J's desk. "I've notified Captain Ishizaki to come here as well, but while I have just you, I want to explain what I've discovered." Kei lifted her larger, coat-like Haori and brought out a small cube. It was faintly glowing blue.

"Basically, the vault is protected by an extremely intricate barrier. This barrier is, technically a single piece. But it's like sewing a blanket from a single thread." Kei held out the cube, then retracted her hand. It stayed floating at J's eye level while he was seated. "This cube is protected by a similar, less dangerous, and far less complex design." She brought out a second cube, this one not glowing. It floated alongside the other.

A quick, glowing barrier shot up around the cube. "A normal barrier can be broken with enough force." A third barrier in the shape of a wedge appeared above the second cube. It drove down, further and further until the barrier around the cube broke. "Like so. What is protecting the vault..." Kei repeated it with the other cube. It didn't break. In fact, the barrier bent inward and began touching the cube. "Won't. We couldn't force our way into it. So I had to look at the pattern of the barrier's weaving. That's when I noticed what makes the barrier of the vault so secure."

"The vault's barrier is constantly moving. It's like the thread is being constantly tugged. I stared at it for four hours until I noticed a pattern. The movement also opens up gaps in certain areas. This isn't enough for someone to get through, but it is enough for someone's Reiryoku to get through. I think that is... the design of maybe an override feature, or it may be an additional security feature, I don't know. But! If my calculations are correct, the movement will create an opening over the 'keyhole' today. The next chance will be sixteen days from now."

"But there's a problem. I don't have the exact 'key' Kidō. I can't reverse-engineer what's needed to start the actual unlock process. That's the secret technique you would have been taught, had you come into this position normally." Kei realized the implications of those words, but she didn't bother to apologize. "But what I do have is a way to open the actual lock. In the notes kept by previous Fifth Division Captains, and even going back so far as to the Archmagus of the Kidō Corps, I found something that seems to be the basis for actual locking mechanism. I have modified it in the ways I would have if I had been a crotchety old man hell-bent on keeping secrets. I think it'll work."

"Going back a step, I don't have the intended way to actively stop the barrier from moving. If it's not stopped, everything inside will be turned to ash. But I have an idea..." Kei breathed in deeply. This next part was the hard part. "I will be invoking Article 20, Section 4 of the War Powers Act." Kei stared over J's head as she recited the next bit. She would have been ready three hours ago, but memorizing this had been painstaking. "'In the event of a Catastrophic Event, as described in Article 1, the restrictions of the laws on Kidō can be altered within reasonable amounts, as determined by the Captain of the Fifth Division, or his Appointed Representative. These removed restrictions are to only be given out to a specific individual or individuals by a written order given by the aforementioned Captain or his Appointed Representative. Once the Catastrophic Event has been declared contained, as per Article 2, the restrictions are to be returned to the normal pre-Catastrophic Event levels.'"

Kei produced a rolled scroll, sealed with her own Captain's seal, and broke the seal so J could see it. Kei read the scroll aloud. "I, Kei Makabe, Captain of the Fifth Division, under the powers given to me by the War Powers Act under Article 20, Section 4, hereby grant Kei Makabe the one-time usage of the Kidō 'Jikanteishi.'" Kei presented the scroll to him. "I think after this is over, you should have one of your legal scholars rewrite that bit."

Two days. They were long and stressful. J slept very little, knowing so many people were out fighting the onslaught of hollows without help. He wanted to be out on the battlefield, but was stuck here to deal with the Vault situation. No one but him was allowed in it once it was open. It was the Captain Commander's Vault. Anyone else stepping in without his permission would be one hell of a crime. And with his brother and friends fighting, he felt useless and it frustrated him more. In addition to that, nothing had come back from Captain Gogatsu. Captain Arishima had to rush to the World of the Living and was dealing with the aftermath of that attack. Though he expected Captain Blake to be fighting, he could still sense her in the Seireitei. In the depths of his stomach, J knew something was very wrong and it was making him feel ill.

J sat impatiently, looking out of the window when Captain Makabe suddenly burst into his office. Dark bags were under his eyes and sweat on his brow. He kept his mouth shut as Captain Makabe went on about the Vault and how to open it. Finally, some good news. He watched the display of floating cubes in front of him. He parsed most of the complications she mentioned about the moving barrier. "So, one chance and that's it." he thought and took a deep breath, stress about the narrow window they had increasing. Then Captain Makabe went on with some archaic ruling that obviously shouldn't exist in their time. Hearing that only dulled his expression. He stared at her like she was an idiot. He would have allowed this anyway. Frankly, this attempt to override his authority through loopholes and narrow-minded thinking of ancient men was insulting and only brought about his irritation. Luckily, he was not in the mood to deal with that.

"Obviously." J grabbed the scroll and tossed it into his desk. As far as he was concerned, to get that Vault open, she could do whatever the hell she needed to do. J went to stand up and another person pushed passed one of his Squad members to get in. Captain Ishizaki came in with a chrome suitcase in hand and Captain Asami following right behind. "We figured out a way to mimic former Head Captain Endo's reiryoku. It's only a prototype, but I had been working on something similar for a while, so it should work." Captain Ishizaki tapped her fingers excitedly on the suitcase and smiled in excitement to test her new toy. "Good." J said and then walked out of the room. "Captain Makabe has figured out her end. Now, we open the Vault."

Kei adjusted her coat and followed J. "You sober enough to understand what's going on, Asami?" Kei asked Daisuke as she passed him, meaning it mostly as a joke. Her voice did not lend well to joking. She knew that the Third Division Captain wouldn't show up to another important event drunk. Most of the bars in the Seireitei had been shuttered due to the war anyway. Along the way, Kei explained her plan to Touko, answering any questions the scientist might have.

Kei stared at the vault as they walked down the stairs into the catacomb that contained the Captain-Commander's Vault. She felt the Kidō from where she was. The room practically thrummed with energy. "Captain Ishizaki," Kei stopped in front of the vault, mere feet away from the yellow-orange glow. "This is going to rely on a lot of ifs. I'm confident in what I planned. How confident are you in that... thing? If it's not exactly right, then we're going to have to find out how to seal that hole on our own."

"I don't have to be sober to understand the basic bitch coming out of your mouth, Captain Makabe." Daisuke replied without hesitation and with no concern for the possible joke that Kei was attempted toward him. The fact was, Daisuke could be just as an asshole as she could be a bitch. He had no problem coming back at anyone who snubbed him, especially since there wasn't much else he could lose in this life.

"ENOUGH." J snapped back at them, not caring for their unprofessional behavior. He was too tired, too stressed, too worried, and too damn angry to deal with anyone's bullshit. The shout came with one hell of a warning: He was ready to kick any of their asses if he needed to. Don't make him say the word. He would.

The group followed J down the hallways to the Vault room. Touko had a few questions to ask, but not much. She explained the basics of what her new invention was supposed to do while they walked. Once they arrived and Kei asked Touko the question about her faith in the invention, Touko gave a confidence thumbs up. "Quite. I based it off of another invention of mine that i have already proven works. I merely added an adapter, an extra power supply, and reinforced the metal to make sure it wouldn't backfire. I'd say I'm about ninety-eight point fourteen percent positive this will go off without a hitch."

Kei trusted Touko's certainty than Daisuke's sobriety. "Then get that set up. I'll be performing the Kidō to unlock it." Kei examined the vault as Touko set her device up. She had to make sure that it was behaving the way her theory said it would. Once Touko had the device set up, Kei was walked through the basics on how it worked. It was adjusted and re-adjusted for Kei and the vault multiple times. "Good. We have about an hour to spare."

Kei went back to watching the vault, staring at it with amazement. It was a beautiful construct, and learning how it was made would be extremely... what? Helpful? She didn't have anything she'd need to keep this secure except her own personal notes on Kidō. Then, the time neared. Kei shoo'd everyone away from the Vault. "If any of you so much as sneeze, I'll turn you into ashes." There was a "don't challenge me" finality to her statement. "I'm starting." Kei inhaled deeply. Then, she got to casting.

The first was the forbidden Kidō. She had self-taught herself this Kidō. She began chanting under her breath, still loud enough for the World to hear. However, none of the other three Shinigami could hear her. She brought her hands together vertically. She slowly brought them apart, revealing a green rectangle of reiryoku. As she said the Kidō's name, the square shattered. A green circle appeared underneath the vault, and the thrum kept repeating the same note over and over. "Now onto the hard part."

Kei stuck her arms in at the same time, and with Touko's help, it snapped on. It was an uncomfortable position, but it was the only way the prototype worked. Needles slid into her arm. Kei felt the pressure build within her as it turned on. Her Reiryoku didn't go past a certain point in her body while this foreign Reiryoku was being forced in. She gasped for breath, her body feeling like it was going to explode. It was like her body was trying to push out the Reiryoku itself, but another pipe had been forcing it both outward and back towards her own source. It was the worst kind of bloated feeling. "I... I think I see how this works. I... I can do it." Kei focused hard, her eyes almost bulging from the invisible pressure inside her.

"Bars of liquid flame,
Key of gold, lock of iron,
Break thee not on thine own self,
Swirl, swirl, swirl,
Become one in body,
Still, still, still,
Become three in spirit,
Flow into the drained world,
Split, split split,
Rain a drop of light into thine hands,
Grasp with thine hands,
Shatter, Shatter, Shatter,
Break the bonds of the one, the one-hundred, then one-thousand, the one million,
Knit and break, break and knit,
Weave upon the world a door,
Through the door, a mirror,
Gaze with thine thrice-sealed eye!
See, see, see!

In the name of Fu Endō, I deem thee unlocked!"

A gout of golden flame poured from her hand before coalescing into a single, thin line. The line shot straight for the the middle of the vault. The vault shuddered and groaned. And then the barrier began to fall apart like fine china hit by a wrecking ball. Kei gasped again. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she felt blood dripping from her arms. Her Reiryoku began flowing back in a torrent, freezing the left barrel and melting the right. "That," Kei panted, "fucking hurt."

The temptation to sneeze... was overwhelming, but Daisuke held back. The ritual began and the other three stood back and watched. Kei recited an incantation that none of them recognized. After a surge of power, brought to life through golden flames, the Vault seemed to unlock. Touko's first reaction was to return to Kei and pull the device off her. Once she made sure Kei was okay, she looked at the device and sighed. It was slightly damaged, but not too much. Then... the Vault. Touko stood and watched curiously.

J and Daisuke walked up to the Vault. Daisuke had an excitement in his eyes, one that people had not seen in many, many years. "Back up." J said to him. Daisuke looked to J and then stepped back. Opening the large door did not take too much effort, but more than J expected to have to use. The heavy door was pulled open and inside was what looked to be a large office. The walls were covered by shelves of books, files, scrolls, and so much more. There was a large desk and many scattered papers strewn about the floor.


J stepped in. The moment his foot hit the metal flooring, he felt a strange sensation. He couldn't place it immediately, but realized it was a slight sense of pride. His team succeeded in something deemed impossible in two short days. He took a deep breath and looked around, his tired eyes taking in whatever he could, until they fell on a little black book on the desk. He stepped over and picked it up. "Journal" was written on the front. He opened it and immediately recognized Fuu's handwriting. He quickly shut it back.

"Looks like the former Captain Commander was able to leave his little girl something after all." J said, a soft smile on his face as he tucked the book away in his inner pocket. "Captain Asami." J spoke in a low tone. "I'm not touching anything." Daisuke raised his hands. "Just looking around." "You're not even allowed in here." J added, but chose not to force him out. "If you find anything having to do with the Crimson Edge, don't touch it. Just tell me." "Yes, Commander." Daisuke's voice trailed off as he looked around.

Touko stepped into the Vault after receiving a nod of approval from J. She looked around with an excited curiosity, eyes wide and lips pursed as she skimmed over titles of many history books and journals she came across. The tags on some of the scrolls were pretty old, but nothing seemed to be worn away. "I think all of the previous Captain Commanders took the time to restore these when they could, preventing old histories from being lost." Touko said, running her finger on an old book to find no dust. "Spotless."

"There's a section about old rituals over here. One about sealing the king? What king? They couldn't mean the Soul King, right?" Daisuke went to reach for the book, but his hand was slapped by Touko. "Look, I am as curious as you are, but the fact that we're in here would mean our execution in any other circumstance, Captain Asami." Touko crossed her arms. "Do not forget who's Vault this is. It's not ours. Only Commander J has the right to pull anything off of these shelves." "Yeah, right. Sorry." Daisuke just sighed.

"Sir, one thing you should look for in here is a way to key this to yourself." Key rubbed her bare arms. She'd file for the new Haori to be coming from the First Division's budget. "I'm the only one in the Gotei that can perform that ritual, and I'd really rather not go through that again." She followed the other two in, but she wasn't as interested in the books or scrolls.

Kei examined the walls, noting how there were pre-Kanji symbols scratched into the stone and woodwork. It must have been how the room was warded. The room seemed to have a perpetual light. It was enough to read by for hours and not get a headache. Another facet of the wards? This would be an amazing office. "That or they were just hidden and never used." She almost chuckled as Touko slapped Asami's hand. "The idea is that in a normal circumstance, the Captain-Commander picks someone that they can trust. Although our leader's promotion was rushed, I do think he's one of the only people I know I would trust with some of the information in here. And that includes myself, so it definitely includes the two of you." Kei returned to looking. There was almost too much to process, especially in such a limited time.

Kei was the first to see it. "Mmm... I think I found something." She pointed up. "That's a diagram of the Crimson Edge." On the ceiling was a beautiful artistic interpretation of the Crimson Edge. Twelve dots, each with a Kanji numeral from 2 to 13, were scattered evenly along its perimeter. A thirteenth dot was located in the center, numerated with the number one. "I bet each of those is one of the Pillars. Pillar One's location was never actually known. I know my predecessor's theory was that it was actually ground to dust and put into the Seireitei's walls. He was wrong."

"And if I had to guess as to where the information on this would be..."Kei traced her finger down from the number five dot. About halfway down, there was a section of bookshelf that only contained about half a dozen scrolls. "One of these scrolls is it." Kei reached for the shelf, but pulled back. It was both reflex and instinct. The hair on her arms had stood up as she reached. She slowly moved her finger along them until she stopped at one particular scroll. "It's this one. It's been warded with the same Kidō I used earlier. This scroll... I don't think you could destroy it. It's entirely frozen in time."

As the others were checking the vault, J. had a familiar rush of anxiety that stopped him in his tracks. He stood still, barely glanced around, and calmed his breathing. After a few moments, he continued. He had one or two of those since all of this began. He assumed the stress of the Broken Edge was eating at him more than he thought; however, he was unaware of other dark events that were occuring outside of this building.

J took Kei's advice and began looking for something to connect him to the vault. If he couldn't find anything, he knew who to ask. While Captain Blake couldn't help with the opening of it because of the requirement of Head Captain Endo's signature, she could help with reinstating control now that it has been opened. J found a book that might have information on relocking the Vault, but was distracted by Kei's find.

Touko watched Daisuke cautiously, but with more curiosity than anything. She understood being curious about the contents of this Vault, but he seemed to be looking for something in particular. When Kei announced her findings, Touko turned to them. Daisuke took that moment go slight of hand a couple things off the shelves that he found, hiding them in his haori and shihakusho as naturally as any professional thief.

No one noticed and Daisuke walked over as well. Everyone watched, impressed, at Kei's ability to find the scroll so quickly. J walked over and pulled it down. Once his hand touched it, he felt an weird stiffness in his fingers and retaliated against the scroll by sending a rush of his reiryoku through his hand. The group watched the scroll light up and a pulse fire from it. The kido used was broken much easier this time.

"It must not have been keyed to any specific person. Since only a Captain Commander could enter here, it didn't need that type of protection." Daisuke suggestion and Touko nodded in agreement. J opened the scroll and went to lay it down on the desk. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow anyone else to look at this scroll. I've done more than enough allowing the three of you in here. Please, leave." J said kindly, but it was an order.

Once they were gone, J got to work. He opened the scroll and began memorizing it over and over again. He'd normally write it down, take notes, but he couldn't do that here. If that little piece of paper with his notes on it ever got into the wrong hands, he'd never be able to forgive himself. Instead, he studied in silence, taking information about the "elevator" and a sacrifice of power. Soon, he'd call another Captain's meeting.