After listening to Yhwach's words, the Schutzstaffel finished making preparations to withdraw. They had received their orders; naturally, they had to be ready for the next operation.
Right before they left…
The other three bodyguards all looked at Aiwass in a daze.
Unlike Haschwalth, who were standing below, Aiwass remained by Yhwach's side like a guardian angel.
This person…
Who is she?
After leaving the Silbern, Lille Barro asked:
"Baelz, do you know who that is?"
Baelz paused. "Why do you say that?"
"Do I even have to ask?" Gerard Valkyrie grinned broadly. "If there's something rare in the Empire, nine times out of ten it's something you made."
"I've never seen her before, though."
"I have." Lille said lightly. "It's not my first time seeing her, but I still don't know who she is."
"You…" Baelz thought for a moment, then said, "You can think of her as His Majesty's guardian angel, right?"
"Guardian angel?" Lille raised his brow. "His Majesty needing something like that? Now that's interesting."
"It's like fate," Baelz said quietly. "A small 'accident' gave birth to a powerful Quincy. If this isn't a gift from destiny… then what is it?"
"A gift from destiny?"
"Yes. Almost like a present from God."
As that was brought up, Lille once again turned his one eye back toward the Silbern, as though trying to see everything happening inside with that single gaze.
But in the end, he didn't have that sort of power—nor the courage to pry into it.
He had always claimed to be Yhwach's most perfect creation, God's own emissary. Yet the inexplicable appearance of Aiwass…
It was as if it had stripped away his status as first Quincy Sternritter.
"I understand." Baelz smiled. "No matter what she is, His Majesty will have his own rational arrangement for her. You'd better think more about the next battle instead."
"It's only death, that's all," Lille said indifferently. "Baelz, you're a researcher. If you don't want to fight, you can stay behind us."
"For the next engagement, the main frontline and vanguard will still be death and emptiness."
The other three had no objections. Even if they wanted to request to go out under Yhwach's command, now was not yet the true time of war. Otherwise, there'd be no reason to summon all four Schutzstaffel at once.
Yhwach had only dispatched his guards because he didn't want the existence of the Wandenreich to be exposed. Everything needed to be done in secret.
Therefore, the main force in this operation had to be Lille. The sniper would be the one to shatter the covert operation!
The four gradually departed.
…
Inside the Silbern, only Yhwach, Haschwalth, and Aiwass remained.
"As you guessed, Kurosaki Ichigo and Urahara Kisuke have already begun to move," Aiwass said calmly.
"What of your『Ring of Dominion』?" Yhwach asked lightly.
"Unfortunately, while its effects are currently satisfactory, Urahara Kisuke is teaching Kurosaki Ichigo how to fight as a Shinigami. Once his Shinigami powers fully awaken, the control effect will weaken."
Aiwass spoke in a soft, even tone.
Aiwass's ability is "Ring of Dominion": she can transform reishi into vessels.
However, because the properties of reishi differ from those of a given tool, there is some maneuvering room for her during the transformation.
For example, in the material world, a flame is essentially a high-speed, heat-releasing reaction over a reaction zone that emits light—a very scientific and physical phenomenon. In the reishi world, it's broadly similar, but more mysterious, following the physical laws of Shinigami.
In the process of turning reishi into a tool, Aiwass can, according to her own ideas, add new attributes to the vessel.
Suppose she turns an ice sphere made from reishi into a vessel of fire: the outside is still ice, but touching it doesn't feel cold at all—it only burns with intense heat.
Before entering the Wandenreich, she could already alter material attributes to some degree. After entering and accepting Yhwach's Schrift, her abilities greatly increased.
From then on, changing attributes during the conversion became far more convenient.
Because of this, Yhwach changed his approach.
He forced Aiwass's power to manifest within Kurosaki Ichigo's body, compelling her to use her ability on him.
Ichigo himself is a vessel, but he is also fully immersed in the reishi world, constantly switching between states of raw reishi and vessel.
In this state, Aiwass can remodel Kurosaki Ichigo's vessel attributes and thereby achieve a control effect over him.
However, Ichigo is also Yhwach's son, with Yhwach's blood flowing in his veins, and the Quincy power within him is unexpectedly tenacious.
Even though Ichigo had been Yhwach's doppelgänger a thousand years ago, the annihilation-type power within him refused to cede its dominance to Aiwass. Otherwise, Yhwach would have already brought Ichigo into the Wandenreich.
"No matter. Time in the future does not end," Yhwach rose from his throne with a smile. "This world shall yet shine, held in our hands."
…
"…Ugh…"
Kurosaki Ichigo slowly regained consciousness.
His frozen body gradually thawed; when he opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room.
"Rukia!"
His mind was still stuck in the previous battle. In his memory, the last thing he did was clash with that strange Hollow at the final moment.
It was clearly a Hollow, but the mask—
This was the first time Ichigo had seen a Hollow like that. It didn't even look human.
Humanoid Hollows were rare but not unheard of. Take Inoue Sora: in the end he became a serpentine Hollow, but at first he had been humanoid, and even after turning into a snake-type Hollow, his upper body remained human.
The Hollow that led him to Karin had also been humanoid.
The clearest trait, however, was the mask.
Inoue Sora had had his mask shattered in the end, but according to him, even after the mask was broken, it re-condensed, and he went berserk until he was finally defeated and driven out of this world.
Neither of them could compare to Grimmjow. When Ichigo saw him, aside from a bit of mask remnant around the lower body, he looked almost indistinguishable from a normal human.
That was why Ichigo cried out Rukia's name at this time.
Rukia always performed well, but when facing Grimmjow, Ichigo didn't think he could win.
And as though responding to his shout, the door to the room slowly pushed open and…
Someone else walked in.
He wore a green-and-white striped bucket hat. Beneath the brim were short, pale-yellow hair and an unkempt beard at his chin. A short, dark-green coat draped over him, and he waved a folding fan as he entered.
"You really did wake up quickly. Your condition's better than I expected."
Ichigo lay on the bed. Hearing that voice, he tried to move immediately, but all he felt was pain. Even the slightest movement made his body feel like it would fall apart.
He forced himself and managed to speak in a very weak voice:
"Y-you… who are you? Where is this?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. Urahara Kisuke, manager of a small reading room in a little bookstore."
Urahara smiled. "This is our first 'meeting,' but I've actually seen you long ago."
"Long ago…?" Ichigo blinked, stunned. "What do you mean?"
"Ever since you first came into contact with death, I've been watching you."
Death.
Hearing that word, Ichigo immediately thought of Rukia again and urgently asked:
"Where's Rukia? How is she?!"
"You're really anxious, but I can answer that."
Urahara's gaze deepened; those turquoise eyes watched the agitated Ichigo as he said quietly:
"She's returned to the Soul Society."
"What?!"
Ichigo was shocked. He knew Rukia would have to return to the Soul Society sooner or later, but—
Why now?
Didn't Rukia say she'd stay at least another month before going back?
Was I in a coma for a month?
"You haven't been unconscious that long."
As though reading his thoughts, Urahara calmly continued:
"In other words, she did not return to the Soul Society 'of her own will.' She was taken."
"…Taken?"
"That's right. In the previous battle she violated one of Soul Society's taboos and entered a hollow state. That's why she was brought back to the Soul Society, convicted, and sentenced."
Ichigo's pupils dilated. "Sentenced?!"
"If she's lucky, she'll just be locked up in a hellish cell from which no one ever emerges. If she's unlucky…"
Urahara paused, then uttered two even more terrifying words:
"She'll die."
"Die?!"
"Yes. Hollowfication is one of the gravest crimes in the laws of Soul Society. Once it's discovered, even members of the Five Great Noble Clans are handled with extreme severity."
"Damn it…"
Ichigo tried to get out of bed, but the intense pain left him utterly unable to move.
Watching him struggle, Urahara said softly:
"She can be saved. But…"
"It will take time."
…
"Captain Yoshio!"
Time passed.
Yoshio returned to the Tenth Division.
He had just gotten back and was about to review the paperwork that had piled up in his absence when a man's voice came from outside the door.
"Come in."
Still reading the recent documents, Yoshio spoke without looking up.
The door slid open, and it was Renji who came in.
Renji looked rather tense. After receiving permission, he stepped in quickly.
"Captain Yoshio!"
"No need to panic. Speak slowly. What's wrong?"
Yoshio's expression didn't change. He picked up the glass of water on the desk and took a sip.
Renji wasn't in the mood to sit. He blurted out:
"The Central 46… have they decided what to do with Rukia?"
"…"
Hearing that question, Yoshio fell silent for a moment, then answered:
"Not yet. Don't worry. This is still classified. In other words…"
Before he could finish, Rangiku stepped through the doorway and asked curiously:
"What happened to Rukia?"
"…Rangiku, eavesdropping again."
Yoshio looked slightly helpless.
"I wasn't eavesdropping. You two were just talking way too loud, Captain."
By now, Rangiku wasn't as aloof and cold as she used to be; when she'd heard Renji mention "Rukia's punishment in the Central 46," she'd naturally paid attention.
Anything related to the Central 46 was never a trivial matter.
Rangiku had a good impression of Rukia. Although Rukia belonged to one of the Four Great Noble Houses, she was nothing like those foolish nobles.
The two of them alternated on empty-town duty, so while they weren't exactly close partners, they could be considered fairly friendly colleagues.
So now, of course, she wanted to know what had happened.
Rukia's arrest was still in the confidential stage, because the term "Hollowfication" could easily cause unnecessary panic, and they still needed to investigate why Kuchiki Rukia had entered that state.
Right now, apart from Renji—who had been directly involved—only the captains of each division in the Gotei 13 had been informed.
Hearing Rangiku's question, Yoshio sighed.
"I know you're anxious, but worrying now won't help. Until the Central 46 come to a decision, we don't have any say. Even captains can only obediently carry out their verdict."
"Besides, they're still in the investigation and evidence-collection phase. If it's determined that Rukia was framed, she might get off with a lighter sentence."
After all, this wasn't like the situation after the original Arrancar arc, where the Gotei 13 had lost multiple captains and were understaffed.
Now, the Gotei 13 weren't lacking captains, let alone Lieutenants.
In other words, in the original timeline, they'd allowed Visored-class figures to serve as captains, and they weren't particularly interested in Lieutenant-level combat power.
If Rukia weren't a member of the Kuchiki clan, the Central 46 might have ordered her direct execution already.
Of course, that was the logic most people in Soul Society would consider reasonable, and it was how the other captains saw it as well.
But Yoshio knew this was actually Aizen's way of stalling Kurosaki Ichigo.
Ichigo was a crucial piece in Aizen's plan—no less important than the Hōgyoku hidden within Rukia. That was why Aizen hadn't yet set his plan in motion.
Yoshio didn't know every detail of Aizen's new scheme, but given the state of things, he could make a rough guess.
Renji could only console himself with Yoshio's words, but Rangiku still looked puzzled.
"So… what actually happened to Rukia?"
Seeing her confusion, Yoshio had no choice but to explain. Then he turned to Renji.
"You've just left Fourth Division, haven't you? How's Hitsugaya doing?"
After they returned to the Soul Society, both Renji and Hitsugaya had been sent to the Fourth Division due to serious injuries. Dark Rukia lacked area-of-effect attacks, but her single-target damage was quite high.
In sheer damage, plus the Reaper's Scythe she wielded—its cutting power was extremely strong, with an armor-ignoring property.
One swing of those twin scythes, and both Hitsugaya and Renji had taken severe wounds.
So they'd both been in Fourth Division all this time. Now that they were nearly healed, Hitsugaya's condition should be better.
"Captain Hitsugaya… I heard he went to check on the Central 46. I wanted to go with him, but he told me to come here to see you instead, Captain Yoshio."
"I see. But I don't think he should be anywhere near the Central 46."
Yoshio said mildly, "Don't forget what happened a hundred years ago."
"…"
Renji and Rangiku both fell silent.
A hundred and ten years ago, the Central 46 had been about to sentence Urahara Kisuke—the supposed mastermind of the Hollowfication Incident. Right then, Yoruichi had suddenly broken in and abducted the prisoners.
Ever since, without the Central 46's permission, even captains weren't allowed to set foot in the Seireitei's deeper restricted zones like the Central 46 Compound.
With such a rule in place, it had become easier for Aizen to exploit. He only needed a pretext to keep captains away.
"But Hitsugaya has a point," Yoshio continued. "The best way to resolve this is to go directly to the Central 46. That way… we can find a means to save Rukia."
Hearing that, Renji's eyes shone.
"Thank you so much, Captain Yoshio!"
"No need for thanks. Rukia is an important junior of mine as well. Now that something's happened to her, I can't just watch from the sidelines."
"However… before that, we must find out clearly why she hollowfied in the first place."
This was what confused the Shinigami most of all:
Why did a Shinigami, Rukia, suddenly fall into a hollowfied state?
Their entire reason for coming to the World of the Living had been to investigate a powerful Hollow reiatsu response. The reaction had been so strong that a captain-class deployment was warranted.
Yet when they arrived, Rukia was already down on the ground, and the Hollow had vanished.
That made no sense.
What was the point of a Hollow fighting Shinigami? Wasn't it just to devour souls?
How could it be like this incident, where it defeated a Shinigami and then simply left her there alone?
Then what was its objective?
Those in the Gotei 13 who were in the know all felt something was off, but they had no evidence. Even if they knew it was a conspiracy, there was nothing they could do.
At the very least, they still had to put Rukia in restraints in the end.
…