"What did His Majesty want?"
Returning from the Ice Palace to his quarters, Baelz found Liltotto leaning at his door, snacking.
"Lili, not asleep?" Baelz yawned.
He'd pulled an all-nighter. Time to catch up.
"Couldn't sleep," Liltotto said. "Came for food, but you'd been called by His Majesty."
Baelz opened the door and led her in. "I think His Majesty is preparing for war with the Shinigami. He wants a Shinigami-countering tool. If I complete it, I might join the Schutzstaffel."
"Schutzstaffel?!"
Even Liltotto, who rarely showed strong emotion, was surprised.
Everyone knew the weight of those three syllables.
Baelz?
He'd only been a Sternritter for a few years—and now Schutzstaffel?
Absurd.
"I didn't expect it either," Baelz smiled. "But it's just reserve. Not sure I'll make it."
Liltotto picked up bread, opened it. "This may sound weird…"
She looked at Baelz meaningfully. "Don't push too hard. Take care of yourself."
Then she left.
Baelz stood there.
"…That girl." He chuckled.
Liltotto was one of the few clear-headed Quincy in the Wandenreich.
She was right—don't push too hard; guard your life.
Don't stand too close to the mountain; your life matters most.
She didn't know the Sternritter A—but Baelz, spending time with her, found her thoughtful.
No wonder she was the girls' core.
Even as a newcomer, she sensed something off about the Empire.
But she knew too little, so could only hint so subtly.
She didn't know Baelz didn't care about Auswählen.
Baelz wanted to study Yhwach—rare opportunity.
He could use it to request anything.
Before leaving, he'd asked Yhwach for a drop of blood.
Yhwach's blood could boost others—activate their Schrift.
Baelz had drunk Yhwach's blood twice—first to awaken his Schrift; second as a reward after returning the vengeful spirits.
He'd always had to drink it in front of Yhwach to show loyalty.
This time, he requested a drop for research.
He used his Safehouse to mask his home as Bankai-medallion research, but in truth he'd study Yhwach's bloodline.
Theoretically, Quincy inherit the Soul King's power.
The Soul King had countless abilities.
Every few decades, an incomplete one appears among Quincy.
Deemed a calamity, they're killed young.
Yhwach was the first to reach adulthood.
All he bestowed returned to him upon their deaths.
After years of study, Baelz believed this was atavism.
He mapped the Soul King lineage:
Soul King
↓
Soul King's Son—an incomplete one like Yhwach with Soul Absorption. Once grown, can reach "The Almighty."
↓
Incomplete ones like Haschwalth with only distribution. Without Soul Absorption, they either are killed young or die from over-sharing their soul.
↓
Normal Quincy.
Even Sternritter were normal Quincy.
Including Baelz.
To break the Quincy limit, he couldn't stay normal.
Like Shinigami or Hollows borrowing each other's essence to break limits, he needed a soul-level breakthrough.
Not via Hollowfication or Shinigami apotheosis—but via atavism.
Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy mutually check and balance—but incomplete ones are above them; Soul King's Son is closer in essence to the Soul King.
Yhwach only needed to absorb souls to strengthen. Incomplete ones lack Soul Absorption, but their soul essence is higher than normal.
Meaning, if Baelz could atavize to incomplete, he'd break his soul limit.
Of course, as R&D head, he still had to work.
His plan:
By day, go to R&D. There, without Safehouse cover, he wouldn't commit treason like atavism study.
At the lab, he'd focus on the Bankai-stealing medallion.
At home, he'd study atavism.
Thanks to Yoshio's prior research into Quincy (from when he made the Hōgyoku), Baelz found it easy to pick up.
As for the medallion…
With the Auswählen model, it was trivial. Even without it, there were ways to block Bankai.
Szayelaporro could've done it; why couldn't he?
For a scientist, given the enemy's data, countering them is simple.
Even if you asked him to 1v1 Yamamoto now—he wouldn't flinch.
To display his capability, Baelz didn't delay.
…
In under a year, he forged the Bankai-stealing Sternritter medallion.
He presented it to Yhwach, who was quite pleased.
Yhwach was waking more and more frequently as the Ninety Years to Regain Sanity neared its end.
He convened the Sternritter and formally named Baelz the fourth Schutzstaffel.
It caused a stir, but none could object to Yhwach.
From the stage, Baelz ignored varied looks, focusing on the three Schutzstaffel who appeared beside him.
Schutzstaffel Captain Lille Barro—Yhwach's first bestowed Schrift, his greatest creation.
Lille's soul ability: "Cling to Life."
"Cling to Life: In battle, continue fighting endlessly."
Baelz frowned inwardly—wrong match? Shouldn't that belong to the Soul King's heart?
Though Lille was annoyingly hard to kill against Kyōraku, Gerard was the true won't die menace.
The most aggravating Thousand-Year Blood War fight was probably Gerard versus Hitsugaya, Byakuya, and Kenpachi.
Gerard's whole deal was not dying. No matter how you hit him—he just wouldn't die.
But considering Lille's performance against Kyōraku, Baelz accepted it.
He already had a survival-type from Liltotto's Calamity Undying, but that applies after events—surviving the aftermath.
Lille's Cling to Life applies during events—surviving ongoing danger.
The distinction didn't excite Baelz.
Gerard Valkyrie—the Soul King's heart—had the soul ability "Descent of the God."
"Descent of the God: Enter a godly form, immune to all control and rule-based abilities."
!
Now that's busted.
Baelz practically drooled.
Immunity to control and rules likely explained why Gerard ignored Hitsugaya's Shikai Hyōketsu.
And this soul ability was stronger than Gerard showed.
Excellent—you'll be my friend.
Favorability might be hard to grind, but worth it.
The left hand, Pernida Parnkgjas, had "Targeted Evolution."
"Targeted Evolution: Upon receiving an attack, rapidly evolve tissues to become immune to that category."
Baelz wasn't interested.
It was like Urahara's "Universal Countermeasure," but worse.
And Pernida couldn't even communicate now. Time was precious—no desire to grind his favorability.
Decision made: among the three, he'd only focus on Gerard.
After the meeting, as Baelz was leaving, he felt someone's gaze.
Robert Accutrone.
An elder Quincy—one of the most senior Sternritter.
He confronted Baelz, reflective glasses glinting. "What did you do? How did you become Schutzstaffel?"
"His Majesty explained it clearly," Baelz said evenly. "I forged the Bankai-stealing medallion. That's why I was elevated."
Yhwach had distributed the medallions at the meeting—everyone wore one.
With it, the Shinigami were finished.
Without Bankai, what could they do?
Many felt Baelz's merit was indeed worthy of Schutzstaffel.
Only veterans like Robert knew Yhwach wouldn't elevate someone for that alone.
So…
What had Baelz done?!
Robert knew: not just common Quincy—even Sternritter were Yhwach's spare batteries.
If Yhwach wished, he could reclaim their power anytime—especially those like Robert.
The longer you'd followed Yhwach, the less you could resist Auswählen.
Only the Schutzstaffel—only by being useful to Yhwach—could you avoid being discarded.
He desperately wanted to be chosen; he didn't want to die. He thought stellar performance in war would draw Yhwach's eye.
But Baelz became Schutzstaffel on the strength of a medallion?
Ridiculous.
Baelz said calmly, "If I did anything, it's… this."
He tapped his temple. "You're all brutes. Beating Shinigami now is trivial. With my medallion, even Captains aren't your match."
"After we wipe out the Shinigami, the world will be led by Quincy."
"You only know how to fight. I can build."
"Plenty can destroy the old order for His Majesty. Few can build the new. Perhaps that's why I was chosen."
Baelz also understood: Yhwach hadn't set a deadline for the medallion. He could've taken ten or twenty years.
He delivered in under one—to showcase ability.
The shorter the time, the stronger you are.
"So think broader," Baelz added. "The times have changed. Strength isn't everything. Sometimes the brain beats brawn."
His lightly mocking tone stunned Robert.
"Think it over," Baelz continued. "Many stronger than you. Why would His Majesty value you? Show your uniqueness. Do what only you can do."
He knew others were listening, not just Robert.
Yhwach might be using the Ishida Uryū tactic: elevate a newcomer to draw attention and force loyalty.
So Baelz told them: stop staring at me, and improve yourselves.
He returned home. His atavism research had reached a critical point.
…
Yoshio, Angra Mainyu, and Baelz all specialized in bio-modification. Pooling their intellect, they sprinted to perfect the method.
In a year, they decoded Yhwach's genetic information from that drop of blood.
Yoshio also had a large Soul King fragment and the Soul King's Lock. Baelz decided to fuse the Lock, then graft key information extracted from Yhwach's blood.
Getting the Lock to Baelz wasn't hard.
Baelz had built the Wandenreich's defense barrier—he could open a backdoor anytime.
Once the Wandenreich and Seireitei weren't sealed off, Angra's black mud could transport supplies.
When Angra had entered the Wandenreich with Starrk, he'd tossed Baelz a clump of black mud—Baelz had kept it.
Angra couldn't take it back then.
That mud could be a supply conduit.
Any black mud shed from Angra was part of him, anywhere.
So if you give the Lock to Angra, he puts it into his mud; Baelz can retrieve it from his own mud.
Baelz fused the Soul King Lock, then prepared the atavism serum.
No test subjects—he'd test on himself. But with Calamity Undying, he wasn't worried.
As long as it was active, no drug could kill him.
The serum contained Quincy soul essence, information factors from Yhwach's blood, and catalysts to trigger fusion.
He derived the catalyst from the Devourer Hollow's fluid—courtesy of Szayelaporro's research on Aaroniero's brain fluid handed via Yoshio.
Add his own work, and the serum wasn't hard.
To do big things, do many small things first.
Thanks to accumulated small wins, Baelz could make the serum quickly.
He locked the door—no interruptions—took a deep breath, and injected it.
Instantly, a strange pressure surged from within. Eyes wide, mouth gaping as if to vomit.
He retched dryly, then collapsed to his knees.
"…"
Hands on the floor, he felt the serum rush to his heart.
It felt like a knife stabbing the heart.
Clutching his chest, he fell. Breathing grew difficult—his heart was changing.
After injection, blood from the heart began to change.
New blood from hematopoietic stem cells clashed with the old, making his body surge.
Not just blood—reiatsu, too.
Reiatsu arises in the Saketsu, flows via the heart, and is driven throughout by the Lock.
As reiatsu flowed into and out of the heart, it changed.
Writhing in pain, Baelz had prepared.
He staggered up, leaning on a machine. Tentacle-like cables latched onto him.
His bleeding-and-life-support device.
It could drain all his blood yet keep him alive—until new blood filled his body again.
As the sluice opened, he felt better, not worse.
Once the old blood was gone, he felt light. As new blood flowed, strength returned.
Blood was solved—but reiatsu remained. He couldn't purge all reishi—that'd waste years of training.
Fortunately, he'd fused the Soul King Lock. With its push, his reiatsu could still circulate.
He stepped out of the device, felt his renewed self, and smiled.
Everything went as planned. Success.
Neither the old Quincy factor nor the new Soul-King-Son factor had fully settled, though.
It wouldn't be simple; he'd need to drain blood often and let time shift his reiryoku.
When blood and reiatsu fully turned new, his metamorphosis would be complete.
How effective would it be?
Could he reach incomplete-one level? Or… become like Yhwach, a Soul King's Son?
Either way, his upper limit would rise.
He took a deep breath, flopped face-down on the bed, and rested.
With step one—atavism—done, time for step two:
Find a way to suppress soul leakage during atavism.
Step three: after atavism, grow strong enough to surpass past soul limits.
Suppressing leakage was crucial.
If he became an incomplete one, he'd involuntarily distribute his soul to those around him, like Yhwach or Haschwalth.
Irreversible and uncontrollable. If too much leaked, he'd die from soul drought.
Best solution: isolation.
No people around; no distribution.
Impossible—he lived in the Wandenreich.
Unless he were sealed like Gremmy.
Speaking of, poor Gremmy. Released during the Wraith incident, then re-sealed after fighting others.
Baelz couldn't be like Gremmy. He had experiments to run—and favorability to grind.
He had to resolve this before Yhwach fully awakened.
Now Yhwach was mostly hazy. In ten years, fully lucid—he'd notice Baelz leaking soul.
The sooner Baelz solved it, the better.
A rough idea: bind himself to Yoshio and Angra so his leaking soul flowed into them.
But that might expose their connection…
Thus plan B:
Create another incomplete one, then bind the two of them to each other.
Baelz channels all his leakage into the other; the other channels all of theirs into Baelz.
Baelz suspected Yhwach and Haschwalth used this method.
But who?
He didn't trust many Quincy in the Wandenreich…
…
Finding a compatible Quincy was hard—but Yoshio didn't have to pick from the Wandenreich.
Seireitei would do.
Because anyone cut by the Blade that Rends the Heart would become a Quincy.
But… who?
Yamiko?
That could work—she already mimicked incomplete-one traits. Yoshio felt himself progress faster around her.
But Yamiko's soul didn't seem to be drying out—perhaps Aizen periodically replenished her.
Yoshio didn't fully understand Yamiko. Though she stuck by him, only Aizen knew her essence.
He wasn't in a rush—Baelz's atavism would take time.
Find the right person before then.
He'd been 10th Division Captain for a year. Six months ago, Yamiko graduated from Shin'ō Academy.
She joined 10th Division and, considered a genius on par with Hitsugaya, was promoted to Third Seat after half a year.
With her help, Yoshio was finally less swamped.
One day after work, passing the 12th, Yoshio thought Mayuri might be a candidate.
Mayuri was smart but cruel—like Frieza—disregarding life and loving torture.
If cut, his Quincy opposite would be sunny, kind, valuing life?
Use it on a big villain to spawn a righteous hero.
But then Yoshio reconsidered.
He was a dragon, not a princess. If the hero disliked him, trouble.
He dropped it.
Someone like Mayuri—even a sunny version—wasn't easy to control.
Which left Yamiko.
Tonight, then. In the Safehouse.
That evening, Yoshio brought Yamiko home.
They skipped mess hall, bought food on the way.
Yamiko's appearance hadn't changed—still short, about Hitsugaya's height or slightly taller, but shorter than Rukia.
Hitsugaya is 134 cm, Rukia 144 cm; Yamiko about 136.
Yoshio did feel a twinge cutting a little girl.
But Yamiko wasn't, really—maybe in years, not in mind.
Mid-meal, Yamiko looked up, as if sensing something. "You want to do something to me?"
"Eh? That obvious?" Yoshio feigned surprise.
"Not obvious, but I can feel it." Yamiko said flatly. "What do you want to do?"
"Heh, nothing much," Yoshio smiled. "I'm interested in your body. Captain Aizen says you're a Soul King candidate, but I think you're more than that."
"What do you think I am?"
"I don't know. Few things I don't know in this world. That's why I'm fascinated by you," Yoshio said bluntly.
Yamiko took another bite. "Captain Aizen said you're my senior. If you don't understand something, I can cooperate."
"Wow, Captain Aizen, you really…" Yoshio arched a brow. "He's… I'm in tears."
Apparently Aizen knew Yoshio would eventually notice Yamiko's uniqueness. He didn't hide it—he told Yamiko to allow inspection.
Greatness needs no words.
But Aizen didn't know Yoshio had already seen Yamiko's essence. He wasn't researching—he'd split her.
Aizen was candid; Yoshio was scheming.
Smallness demands strategy.
"How will you do it?" Yamiko asked.
"Sleep for a bit," Yoshio said gently. "When you wake, it'll be over."
Yamiko nodded, didn't sleep right away.
She finished eating, brushed her teeth, then lay down.
Yoshio rendered her unconscious and activated the Safehouse, projecting the illusion that he was analyzing her structure. In reality, he formed the Blade that Rends the Heart again.
He set the ethereal blade on Yamiko and pressed down.
At once, a writhing shadow mass emerged from her.
Normally, like with Hela, the mass would grow a body.
But the shadow struggled a moment, then stilled.
Yoshio frowned. Failed?
He examined it: a high-density reishi clump, no different in composition from Yamiko.
That didn't surprise him.
Yamiko's makeup was mixed—Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, Human.
The opposite would still be those four—composition wouldn't change.
Unlike Barragan/Hela: Barragan was an Arrancar—Shinigami-apotheosized Hollow.
Hela was an Quincy-fied human.
A Quincy-fied human isn't a Quincy, same as an Arrancar only has a zanpakutō.
Hela likely had one or two Quincy traits, but was closer to a Fullbringer.
Wait…
Opposites…
Yoshio's frown eased.
He understood why the split was an formless mass.
Yamiko had formed a body out of the chaos of fused souls—something from nothing, albeit not fully set.
Her opposite would be a body returning to chaotic fused soul—nothing from something.
Same composition, wholly different state.
Still a headache.
He'd wanted the split to bind with Baelz—but as a formless mass…?
He studied the shapeless soul clump, silent.
He closed his eyes, thoughts racing.
After a while, he opened them.
"Whatever—time to try."
He had an idea.
Since it lacked form, he'd let it enter Baelz's shadow—attaching and growing there.
Yamiko witnessed the world through her eyes and grew.
The split would witness through Baelz's eyes—becoming his true shadow.
Baelz would then exchange soul with his own shadow—more covert than ever.
If it worked…
It'd be the best plan.
He called Angra to his room, handed him the clump, and sent it through the black mud to Baelz.
Baelz received the pulsing soul clump, squatted down, and tried to merge it into his shadow.
Only Baelz could do this—Quincy manipulate shadows.
Opening a space within shadow was trivial to Sternritter.
Let it rest there first; further integration would need better arrangements.
"It seems…"
Baelz stood in his room and murmured, "Everything is in place."
Hollow, Shinigami, Quincy—the three of us are almost ready…