Playing With Other Supernaturals

Chapter 1256 Defense

Uryu and Chad looked at Ichigo strangely, and the former asked, "How did you even learn something like that so fast? I've only started detecting this Magic Power around me."

"He's strangely been perceptive of things like these all the way back, so I'm not really surprised," Chad commented while letting out a small breath.

"You'll get the hang of it soon enough too," Ichigo replied while jumping to another building.

Uryu and Chad looked at each other for a moment before following him.

After several hops and traveling over almost half of Karakura Town, Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad arrived at another building where Claire was standing all alone, holding a bow.

"Ah, Kurosaki-niisan, Ishida-niisan, and Sado-niisan. It has been a while," Claire greeted them first while guessing what they were after when they approached her.

Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad had no idea that behind that cheerful and innocent smile was a cunning mind trained to succeed a powerful and influential house.

"Claire-chan, isn't it? You're alone today?" Ichigo started a small talk.

"Well, there's just too much ground to cover so we have to spread out a bit."

As soon as they heard that, the three men froze. Claire saw this reaction and understood that they took it wrong and started chuckling, "I didn't mean it like that. Our enemies predominantly use a sub-type of Magic Power, and it's a lot better for those who understand Magic in the first place to be in different spots in case something unexpected comes up."

Ichigo sighed in relief, "I thought that we shouldn't be in just one spot."

"No. I actually advise you against that. We're expecting a long drawn-out battle, so covering each other's back has more merit than just acting alone."

"But..." Ichigo looked around and used his newly learned detection skills, "You're alone right now?"

"I was actually thinking of joining a group after I finish my survey. Although I can fight at close range, I'm more effective from far away."

"That's great." Uryu stepped up, "You could join us... No. Please join us. Truthfully, we also don't fully know the situation and how it came to be. We just know that an alien species was about to invade the world. We also know that something is happening in Soul Society, but Tessai told us nothing about it and just said that we can't get involved in it."

"...Big brothers don't have the big picture of the situation?" Claire furrowed her brows and started muttering to herself, "Looks like the dissemination of information has some problems... Though it's true that they can't get involved with Soul Society with their status as outsiders... Tessai-niichan probably thought that they'll force themselves in, so he didn't tell them anything." Claire was surprised that they only have information that was given to normal people.

After thinking for a moment, the smile on Claire's face reappeared as she said, "If you're fine with me, please take care of me."

"Likewise. I hope you'd let us understand the situation better." Ichigo stretched out and offered his hand.

Claire took the hand and said, "You should have been informed in the first place."

Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad were absolutely speechless throughout Claire's narration of the events that have transpired.

"Unbelievable... an operation to take out the former Captain-Commander... The nobles' rebellion... And Ichibei's transformation that started this invasion." Ichigo muttered while holding his head as he was reminded of what he was doing at that time, 'I was gleefully enjoying my vacation on the couch.'

He thought that since Kazui was somehow involved, he'd be informed in one way or another, so he had just been waiting at home for any news. He didn't know that world-changing events were already taking place, 'Dammit... I thought I'd at least get a call from Renji.'

"Well, everything was resolved in the end." Uryu fixed his glasses while also calming himself down, "But we can talk about the specifics of this later. Let's now focus on the current situation."

"Alright." Claire nodded. She wanted to finish informing them because she could feel the surrounding Magic Power is increasing, signifying more holes opening up and the arrival of the insects, "As of now, the defensive lines of all three worlds are now up and running, so we don't have to worry about the others until they call in for help. The main coordinator in the Human World will be Sera-neechan, and she's going to be the one commanding all the forces.

"She's going to give out commands, but our main objective is to protect the shelters, so we'll be moving with that in mind."

"I see... But why are the normal Human soldiers part of the defensive effort? Small arms won't do anything against these worms, and larger weapons are a double-edged sword. They are too fragile on top of that too. Of course, I'm not saying I'm against them joining the effort because you probably have a plan. I want to know what that plan is and react accordingly if we get too close."

At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Claire's head, "Oh right. Since you didn't receive proper information, you probably also didn't get supplied with materialization pills."

"...Materialization pills?"

While the men were confused, Claire was rummaging through the small bag that she had and said, "Regarding the Human firearms, that'll be covered by the Vatican so that even the smaller calibers will be effective against our enemies. However, the bigger problem is that most of you, especially your abilities, are invisible to them so Kisuke-niichan crafted these pills to make everyone visible to normal Humans."

Claire gave them a bottle each containing a hundred or so small red pills, "Once you eat one, your body will absorb a tiny amount of Magic Power from the surroundings, and it'll create a mirror image of you through [Illusion Magic] that will be visible to everyone around you. It might become a bit uncomfortable, but it shouldn't have any effect on your abilities."

The three of them received the bottles and looked at them for a second. Ichigo was the first one to take them and was soon followed by Uryu and Chad.

"It feels like something is covering me... But it shouldn't be a problem," Ichigo commented while moving his body around.

"Let's look for the Quincies. They probably also didn't receive anything since they avoid contact as much as possible," Uryu took out his phone.

"And the Fullbringers too," Chad added.

Claire nodded and warned them, "Then let's hurry. They are about to arrive."

'There's still the plan of moving the Shinigamis to a new body, but the procedure isn't very clear yet, so I'll keep it to myself for now.'