"The history of the Quincy…"
Cole repeated the words slowly.
Even though Ryuken's explanation was brief—cramming vast stretches of history into just a few sentences—Cole still heard something terrifying beneath it.
A Quincy Empire that had once been unimaginably powerful… and unimaginably cruel.
Ryuken hadn't said it outright, but from his wording alone, Cole could already picture the status of mixed-blood Quincy inside that empire a thousand years ago.
They didn't just rank below pureblood Quincy.
They were practically slaves.
And even after a thousand years, the discrimination had clearly never truly faded—people still didn't take pride in being mixed-blood.
But that was all the past.
If you didn't count the Quincy inside the Wandenreich, then in the Human World, there was only one pureblood Quincy left:
Ryuken Ishida.
Cole thought for a moment, then asked, "So in other words… pureblood Quincy are almost unaffected by Yhwach's Auswählen, right?"
"More or less."
Ryuken nodded, then added a bit more.
"Because the Ancestor created the first generation of pureblood Quincy based on naturally awakened Quincy, they have a very high degree of resistance to Auswählen."
"But it isn't complete immunity."
"After all, their power ultimately comes from the Ancestor. One way or another, there will still be some effect."
As he spoke, Ryuken's mind flashed back to that day over a decade ago.
Not only was his wife, Katagiri Kanae, heavily injured—unable to recover—she still died after three months of desperate treatment.
Even he himself had been affected to some degree.
Cole nodded slowly. "So that means… Yhwach's ability can't affect naturally awakened Quincy."
"Of course."
Ryuken nodded calmly.
"They never accepted the Ancestor's power, so naturally the Ancestor can't influence them."
"As for the Ishida family… although our true origin traces back to naturally awakened Quincy, over the span of a thousand years we've become indistinguishable from the Quincy Yhwach created."
"Which means—even inside my body—there is still a portion of Yhwach's power."
"So his Auswählen can affect me."
"But because I'm a pureblood Quincy, I can resist it."
Cole wasn't surprised.
He didn't know how many naturally awakened Quincy had existed, but the number couldn't have been large.
If a bloodline wanted to maintain "purity," it would inevitably intermarry with the Quincy created by Yhwach.
For the Ishida family to maintain a pureblood Quincy lineage for a thousand years under those conditions was already a miracle.
There was no way to demand "even purer."
Still…
If that was true, then why were Sternritter members affected by Auswählen?
While Cole was thinking, Uryu finally couldn't hold it in. He clenched his fist, teeth gritted, and pointed at himself.
"You keep saying 'pureblood' and 'mixed-blood.' I'm mixed-blood, aren't I? Then why wasn't I killed?"
Ryuken was pureblood.
But Kanae had been mixed-blood.
That made Uryu mixed-blood too.
And yet, he'd awakened as a Quincy when he was very young.
When his mother died…
He didn't die with her.
Ryuken looked at him, fell silent for a moment, then shook his head and gave an answer that left Uryu stunned.
"That… even I don't know."
Then he added something even more brutal.
"Based on my investigations over the years, in the Human World there were a total of 79,478 mixed-blood Quincy."
"That is, 99.9% of the Quincy race—died on that day."
"And among those mixed-blood Quincy… you were the only one who survived."
"You could call it a miracle."
Uryu's eyes widened. He staggered back two steps, bracing himself against the table, his throat dry.
"Seventy-nine thousand Quincy…"
"How is that possible…"
He had never imagined that, over a decade ago, the Quincy race still numbered seventy thousand.
Was that really a race on the brink of extinction?
Ryuken spoke flatly.
"Not every Quincy wants to hunt Hollows."
"Some don't want to fight at all."
"And some, because Shinigami exist, chose to give up fighting Hollows."
"And I've told you before—if a Quincy doesn't use their power, they're no different from an ordinary human."
"So over a decade ago, most Quincy were hidden inside human society."
Uryu's scalp went numb. His face turned pale, and it felt like he couldn't breathe.
Seventy thousand.
An unimaginable number.
And yet, because the Ancestor activated a single ability, they all lost their lives.
Only him—
He alone survived out of those seventy thousand.
At that moment, Cole let out a slow breath.
He had a rough idea now why even the Sternritter were affected by Auswählen.
Over the span of that thousand years, Yhwach had likely modified Auswählen—so it could also be used against pureblood Quincy.
As for Ryuken, during the original Thousand-Year Blood War, he hadn't been affected by Auswählen.
Most likely because his "pureblood" still contained some naturally awakened Quincy power.
And that portion of power interfered with Yhwach's authority.
Meanwhile, the Quincy inside the Wandenreich—from Sternritter all the way down to the lowest Soldat—were saturated with Yhwach's power.
Naturally, they couldn't resist Auswählen.
It was only a guess—
But it was probably close to the truth.
Otherwise, it was hard to explain the difference between Ryuken and the Sternritter.
Ryuken looked at Cole, his voice calm.
"I've answered your questions."
"So shouldn't you answer mine?"
"The Ancestor—no. Yhwach."
"Where is he?"
As he spoke, he tightened his grip on the spirit bow in his hand. Thinking of Kanae's tragic death, a cold light flashed in his eyes.
He wanted revenge—for his wife.
And for his childhood friend, Masaki Kurosaki.
Everyone's gaze fixed on Cole again.
This time, Cole didn't stall. He pointed up at the sky, then gestured at Rukia and the others.
"The 'Ancestor' you're talking about is in Soul Society—inside Seireitei."
"He never left."
"What!?"
Isshin's eyes went wide. He slammed the table and stood up, staring at Cole in disbelief.
"The Quincy Ancestor is in Seireitei!?"
"Cole—are you joking!? You're telling me he's been living right under my nose!?"
Isshin had once been a captain in Seireitei—he was even the head of the Shiba family.
Seireitei held no secrets for him.
How could a Quincy be hidden there?
If he knew there were hundreds of thousands of Quincy hiding there, he'd probably wet himself.
Cole complained inwardly, then said out loud:
"Just because you never noticed them… doesn't mean they can't hide in Soul Society."
"So it really is Soul Society…"
Ryuken didn't look too shocked. Instead, it was as if something finally clicked. He exhaled heavily.
"I thought they might be in Hueco Mundo."
For over ten years, he had searched widely for traces of other Quincy and found nothing.
Back then, he already suspected the Ancestor wasn't in the Human World.
Hueco Mundo was possible.
Soul Society was possible.
Even the countless layers of the Dangai might've been possible.
There were too many possibilities—
And no way to investigate them all.
Now, Cole's words confirmed one of his strongest suspicions.
Before Ichigo, Isshin, or Uryu could bombard Cole with more questions, Cole exhaled and looked toward Yoruichi.
"Alright. I've been talking so much my mouth is dry."
"Next, Yoruichi will explain the rest."
Everyone turned to Yoruichi.
She didn't refuse. At this point she was used to explaining these things. She sighed.
"Honestly… this is practically a humiliation for Seireitei."
"To have let the Quincy Empire hide in the shadows for a thousand years…"
She continued, her expression serious.
"A thousand years ago, after the Quincy Empire lost, they didn't retreat to the Human World."
"Instead, through some method, they hid within Seireitei's shadows."
"And they renamed themselves the Wandenreich."
"Right now, the Wandenreich has more than 400,000 pureblood Quincy."
"And they're under militarized management."
"Their leadership is called the Sternritter."
"They have over thirty fighters on the level of Shinigami who possess Bankai…"
"…."
After hearing about the Wandenreich, everyone in the room—without exception—was stunned.
Even Ryuken, who had already expected something like this, looked dazed.
He never imagined the Quincy Empire still existed.
And not only that—
It was far stronger than it had been a thousand years ago.
And all this time, Seireitei's Shinigami had been like blind men, never noticing a thing.
"More than four hundred thousand Quincy…"
Uryu swallowed, genuine shock rising from deep inside him.
Even if—like Yoruichi said—only a bit over a hundred thousand served as Soldat, it was still terrifying.
Before Auswählen, there were only around seventy thousand Quincy in the Human World.
"Thirty-plus Quincy with Bankai-level power…"
Isshin sucked in a sharp breath too.
He never dreamed that inside Seireitei… there was something like a nuclear bomb waiting to explode at any time.
If not for Cole, Yoruichi, Unohana, Rukia, Soi fong, and Sode no Shirayuki all serving as witnesses, they would never believe it even in their dreams.
Ichigo was the first to recover. He swung his zanpakuto angrily.
"So what if there are hundreds of thousands of Quincy!?"
"I'm definitely going to kill Yhwach!"
"What does he think life is!?"
Cole mocked inwardly.
Yeah… that's Ichigo for you.
After a long while, the others finally recovered too.
Isshin stared at Cole with a serious expression.
"If you already know the Wandenreich exists, then why not immediately report it to the Head Captain? Is there some difficulty?"
This time, Cole didn't answer. He just snapped his fingers and looked at Yoruichi.
Yoruichi's teeth itched with anger—she practically wanted to jump him and bite him—but she had no choice.
She explained again about the Soul King… and the fact that the current Soul King was an artificial one.
Everyone was stunned again.
But maybe because they'd been shocked too many times today, they recovered much faster this time.
Isshin fell silent, then looked at Cole.
"If that's the case… then why did you come here at all?"
"Under The Almighty, the more you do, the higher the chance you'll be discovered."
Cole's lips curled into a small smile. He looked at Ichigo, Uryu, and Ryuken.
"I'm here… to take them to the Wandenreich."
"And if you want to come too, Kurosaki-ojisan, I won't stop you."
As he spoke, Cole looked at them and licked his lips unconsciously.
Using these people—
He would completely split the Wandenreich apart.
And while he was at it…
He would obtain his own "Schrift."
When Yhwach woke up and saw he'd been hollowed out of his own empire, he'd probably be shocked too.
(End of Chapter)
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