Invisible to sight, Erich circled high over the execution stand, keeping an eye on the events happening below. The Captains were beginning to gather and the sun was nearly at its zenith; he needed to be watchful for the approach of the girl to be executed.

None of the Captains seemed to sense his presence, either, though at least one was on high alert, constantly scanning the sky and scowling.

“Do you know a short, female Captain with black hair in two long, cloth wrapped braids?” Erich asked Ishida as the Captain scanned the sky then turned her attention on the gathered Captains.

“Doesn’t sound familiar. Why?”

Erich hummed and tilted his wings, carrying them a few meters further into the sky. They were locked inside a Silencing spell over the spell of Invisibility, so he had no worry that she could hear their conversation, but her level of alertness left him uneasy. There should be no way that she could see or hear or even sense their presence, but she suspected it, and that suspicion meant she was continually searching for them. The smallest hint they existed and she would alert everyone else.

“She is more alert than the others gathered below,” Erich said once they leveled out again. “I was curious if you knew who she was.”

“I don’t. Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize for things you have no control over,” he chided gently, inwardly annoyed at whoever had taught Ishida the opposite, “it’s not your duty to know everything.” Ishida remained silent, tiny tugs on Erich’s mane letting him know the boy with fidgeting. Opting to not press the subject, Erich switched topics to something more immediate, “Do you have any questions about the plan?”

Ishida’s hands stilled in his mane. “It… seems simple enough. You’re going to hold the firebird in place, and that Shinigami who helped us will come and destroy it.” Ishida shifted position in the harness and let his hands sink deeper in Erich’s mane. His voice, when it came again, held an undercurrent of worry, “Rerugen-san… won’t it — the firebird, I mean — isn’t that going to be… without my powers…”

“You’ll be safe,” Erich reassured. He’d prefer not to take Ishida into battle like this, not when the boy was so defenseless, but there was no one he trusted to keep Ishida safe. “Even if I need to bite to hold it steady, you’ll be safe. Normal fire cannot affect a Dragon of my age, and so long as you stay close that protection will extend to you as well.”

“What if it’s not normal fire, though? If the Shinigami are using this zanpakutou to destroy souls… isn’t that like your fire?”

“It depends upon how the souls are being destroyed. Enough heat will destroy a thing, with or without the inherent purification of Dragon fire,” Erich answered. Movement down below caught his eye and he angled his wings to circle around again. “Posturing aside, what we do to souls is burn away the experiences of the world and return them to the very start of the cycle. We unmake them, and whatever is eventually born of that soul has no connection to anything that came before.”

“Oh… so you don’t think..?”

Erich snorted and twisted his flight into a tight spiral, gaze fixed on the sight of the young soul being led towards the execution stand. Bitter words lingered on his tongue — of course Shinigami would not balk at using the very thing they decried, so long as they were the ones using it — but he swallowed it back. Ishida did not need his views twisted by Erich’s own hatred. “We will see shortly enough.”

Ishida’s hands tightened in his mane, the boy leaning over to peer down at the ground below them. “Kurosaki… where are you..?”

He spared a moment to scan the area around the hill, but without knowing this ‘Kurosaki’, it was difficult to tell if any of the signatures he could feel were the boy. There were two signatures nearby that held traces of Ishida’s power coiled amongst their own, but that didn’t mean anything.

He didn’t have any more time to question. The halberd rose into the air, power rising as the shackles around it fell away—

Erich folded back his wings. Tucked in his limbs. Straightened his tail. Dove.

Ishida yelped and hunkered down, clinging to Erich’s mane like a limpet. Below them, flames ignited with a whoosh and a gust of heated air that rushed past them.

The phoenix cried. Spread its wings and focused on the girl trapped before it—

Erich slammed into its back. Dug his hind claws into its hips and his front claws into the base of its wings. He flared his wings and let the Shinigami see—

The phoenix writhed within his grasp. Shrieked in pain and outrage and fury at his gall. Its flames licked at his paws and met their match in his inner flames. Unable to break free, it twisted its head around to strike—

He struck first. Sank his teeth deep into burning power at the back of its— of her head. Held her in place. Countered Soulfire with Soulfire.

(Bound-betrayed-tormented and forgotten-alone and tired-together and exhausted-peace-peace-please-we want to sleep and never awaken!)

Erich fought through the rush of emotions. Fouled her wing-beats and pulled her neck straight. Let his own power fill with a promise of peace.

Her struggles faded, hope bleeding into her soul. A hope that didn’t waver even when a golden rope looped around her stretched neck and pulled tight. A hope that didn’t waver even as her phoenix form shattered within his claws, returning to the halberd that contained her.

He struck before the broken halberd could fall too far, grabbed the broken shaft in his claws and tightened his jaws on the bent blade. Several wing-beats drove him higher while flames gathered in his throat.

Blue-white fire swept out and bathed the broken weapon in heat. The metal in his teeth melted and boiled away, the broken shaft turned to ash, and the entrapped souls in both faded away like mist.

“Rerugen-san?” Ishida asked, voice small.

“Hmph. It’s fine. They wanted peace so I gave them peace. They never wanted to be used for such a purpose, but could not escape on their own.” He swiveled his neck to glare down at the Captains below, gaze lingering on the eldest. He wanted to fight, wanted to show his rage at the travesty he — they — had just corrected, but—

Ishida shifted on his back again, movements tugging at Erich’s mane.

He couldn’t fight like this. He needed to protect the future, not rage about things already past.

Erich held his tongue and drove them higher.

Below, the Shinigami fell into chaos.