"Go to the Wandenreich!?"
Isshin immediately looked tempted.
But after thinking for a moment, he ultimately shook his head, sighed, and said, "I won't go. A Shinigami like me going over there would be a hassle—and Yuzu and Karin are still at home."
Ichigo quietly let out a breath of relief.
If only Yuzu and Karin were left at home, he really wouldn't feel at ease. After all, they still weren't in middle school yet.
"The Wandenreich…?"
Ryuken pushed up his glasses. He didn't object to Cole's suggestion.
He wasn't proud of having Quincy power.
He only wanted revenge for his wife.
Ryuken and Ichigo naturally wouldn't refuse either—both of them clenched their fists.
Seeing everyone other than Isshin agree, Cole smiled.
"Got it. Then make your preparations first. I still need to go take care of something."
Ichigo, Ryuken, and Uryu all nodded, planning to settle things on the Human World side first.
Rukia, however, looked puzzled and asked Cole, "Where are you going?"
Cole chuckled and tore open space.
"Hueco Mundo!"
Hueco Mundo—Las Noches.
Even though Cole had been gone for a long time, the "star map" here still remained exactly as it had when he left.
"Master… you're back!?"
Tier Harribel was wearing a maid outfit, teeth clenched as she glared at Cole.
Cole laughed, rubbed her head, and walked forward as he spoke.
"What, you miss me?"
"As if! You lust-filled bastard…" Harribel's face flushed as she followed after him with a vicious glare.
Cole didn't care. He simply gave a quick warning to the Arrancar in Las Noches—
So they wouldn't be captured by the Wandenreich.
Because based on what he'd learned in the Wandenreich, the power of Arrancar-level Hollows had some natural "counter" value to Quincy tech.
For example, the new technology the Quincy had developed—
Sklaverei (Enslavement).
It could steal a Shinigami's Bankai, but it couldn't steal an Arrancar's Resurrección.
That was also why, in the original story, the Wandenreich's first target wasn't Seireitei—
It was Hueco Mundo.
"In the original Thousand-Year Blood War, most of the Arrancar were already killed off during the Karakura Town battle."
"But now at least half are still alive."
"When the war starts… it'll be fun."
Thinking that, Cole couldn't help smiling. After walking through the massive Las Noches for a while, he arrived at the center.
This was the core of the spiritual barrier—the node that madly absorbed Hueco Mundo's reishi.
After a long period of accumulation, this place had formed a vast lake of reishi, so dense it felt oppressive.
And that was only because the ones standing here were Cole and Harribel.
If it were a regular Gillian, it would be crushed into paste instantly under this kind of pressure.
Cole licked his lips and reached into the blue reishi lake.
In an instant, the blue reishi surged like it had a will of its own, flooding up his arm—
To the point that Blut Vene (Static Blood Armor) manifested.
In barely a dozen seconds…
Cole had swallowed an amount of reishi equal to thousands of Seireitei buildings.
"You monster…" Harribel muttered under her breath.
She couldn't understand what Cole's body was made of.
Was he a bottomless pit?
Cole smiled, closed his eyes, and dumped all that newly absorbed reishi straight into his Quincy power.
Boom—
Blue Quincy power erupted from his body like a storm.
Harribel's face changed instantly. She stared at him in fear and stumbled back several steps.
"What is this kind of power…? It's terrifying…"
Under Cole's Quincy power, she felt like her very existence was about to be erased.
The next second, something even more shocking happened.
Behind Cole—
Blue wings unfolded.
Twelve holy wings of pure azure.
The moment they opened, they blotted out the sky.
With a single spread of his wings, it felt like he could cover all of Las Noches.
That fear of "being erased" spread through every Arrancar's heart.
In that state, Cole slowly opened his eyes.
Azure.
With a sacred light that felt like annihilation itself.
In that moment, he looked like a god—or a demon—beyond comprehension.
"So this is a Quincy's Vollständig (Complete Holy Form)…?"
"But it feels different from normal Vollständig…"
Cole stared at his blue wings, surprised.
And he could also feel it—no, in this state it felt as if he could command all the reishi in heaven and earth.
As if he could turn all reishi into something "belonging to him."
Of course, that was an illusion—an erroneous sense of omnipotence born from a massive surge in power.
But even so, after testing it, he found he really could control all the reishi around Las Noches.
He couldn't help grinning.
"Not bad… I just still haven't fully awakened my Schrift."
After boosting his Quincy power so sharply, he could feel his Schrift beginning to incubate inside him.
It was similar to forging a zanpakuto—
It needed even more spiritual power to fully "take shape."
"I wonder how much more I need…"
Cole exhaled and withdrew his Vollständig wings. His body settled back onto the ground.
Harribel hesitated for a long time before she dared step closer.
"Your power… it's terrifying…"
Before, Cole was strong, but not to the point of absolute despair—she still felt like she might have a chance to resist.
Now, Cole made her feel like she was facing a god.
She had completely given up any thought of resisting.
"Right?" Cole smiled, rubbed her head again, and said, "When I have time, I'll take you and Nel to the Human World and Soul Society."
"I'll show you a more prosperous world."
With his current strength, he could completely impose order on Hueco Mundo.
Hueco Mundo's "lower layer" was chaotic, evil, and dark, but the upper layer had intelligence no different from humans.
If you removed the truly evil Hollows, the rest could live a lot happier.
Even Harribel, usually cold and proud, felt her heart thump slightly at those words.
She nodded without realizing it.
Cole laughed, tapped the ground lightly, tore space open again—
And returned to the Human World.
That round trip took less than two hours.
When the prepared Ryuken, Ichigo, and Uryu saw Cole again, they all felt something was off.
A trace of surprise flickered through Ryuken's eyes as he examined Cole up and down.
"Did you… get stronger?"
He was the last pureblood Quincy in the Human World—he also understood Quincy history better than anyone.
He was deeply familiar with Quincy power.
Even though Cole had drawn in his "reishi dominion," Ryuken still sensed a change in Cole's very essence.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't Shinigami.
It wasn't Hollow.
It was something beyond all three—
Something like divine power.
But how was that possible?
Cole smiled and led them out.
"You're imagining things. In that short time, how could I have improved that much?"
Ryuken was doubtful, but thinking it over, it did make sense. So he decided it must've been his imagination.
Then he shifted all his attention—
To the Wandenreich they were about to enter.
When the three of them stepped into the black rift, passed through endless darkness, and emerged…
A pure white world came into view.
Maybe it was a shared Quincy aesthetic—
But almost every building in the Wandenreich was white.
After walking only a few steps, they were already stunned by what they saw and sucked in cold breaths.
"They really are Quincy… and so many…"
Uryu stared at the army in front of him, too shocked to speak.
He had thought the Quincy race had been wiped out.
Yet here, just at a glance, there were easily over a thousand.
Ryuken's pupils tightened too.
"All of them… pureblood Quincy…"
He was pureblood, and he could sense the bloodline of the Quincy present.
But even he hadn't expected there to be so many.
Cole's "over four hundred thousand" wasn't an exaggeration.
It truly existed in this nation.
Ichigo wore a white uniform, his left hand gripping a spirit bow as he growled, "Where is Yhwach!?"
Cole lifted his right hand and pointed toward the very center of the city.
There, an enormous palace was sealed in ice.
"He's there."
"At the throne."
Even though Yhwach was sleeping, his sleep still occupied the supreme seat.
Normally, every Wandenreich meeting was held beneath the face of the sleeping Yhwach.
"I'm going to kill him…"
Ichigo gritted his teeth and tried to rush forward, but Cole grabbed his shoulder at once, speechless.
"Hey, Ichigo. Calm down."
"What are you going to do if you charge in right now?"
"Did you forget the plan we discussed?"
"But—" Ichigo was still unwilling.
His mother's killer was right in front of him—how could he stay calm?
Uryu felt the same.
But he could still restrain himself.
Cole exhaled.
"And even if I didn't stop you… do you really think you can kill Yhwach with your current strength?"
Rukia added at the right time, "The Sternritter here are all at least captain level. Some are worse."
The other girls also chimed in, and only then did Ichigo reluctantly back down.
He snapped, "Then where are we going now? Are we just hiding here until that bastard wakes up?"
"Of course not."
Cole smiled and walked forward.
"Next, you're going to train in the Military Police Corps."
"At the very least, you need to raise your Quincy power."
Uryu hurriedly asked, "Train Quincy power? But what if someone notices something's off?"
According to what Cole had said, after a thousand years, the Quincy in the Wandenreich had advanced tremendously.
Coming here was like an ancient fossil walking into modern society.
One wrong step, and they'd be exposed.
Cole glanced at Yoruichi, confused.
"You didn't explain the Military Police Corps to them?"
He had assumed Ichigo and the others already knew what kind of influence he had in the Wandenreich.
Yoruichi, wearing a white robe that covered her tempting curves, answered lazily.
"I figured it was the same whether I explained it earlier or here."
Cole's face darkened. He flicked her forehead.
"You lazy little cat. I'll make you pay for that later."
Then he pointed ahead at the majestic, holy, yet stern and heavily guarded building.
"That's the Military Police Corps."
"And just so you know… I'm the Corps Commander."
Everyone's eyes widened.
"…"
In the Wandenreich, there was almost no sense of time.
They stayed there for a full month.
On a training ground—
Some Soldat who were training couldn't help glancing toward an open area where a few people were practicing various Quincy techniques.
"They're incredible…"
"Seriously—how did they master Blut Vene and Blut Arterie that fast…?"
"They've even grasped a Quincy's Vollständig (Complete Holy Form)…"
"It really is thanks to the Commander."
"Under his guidance, those guys progressed insanely fast… they even mastered Vollständig in just a few days."
"And especially that blond guy—his Heilig Pfeil is way too big, isn't it?"
"Not just that. He even fought Lord Cang Du before, and he actually forced a draw…"
"…."
The people being discussed were Ichigo, Ryuken, and Uryu.
At this moment, Ichigo wore a white robe—
And he was also beginning to touch something new.
"Along with… the so-called Fullbring power."
(End of Chapter)
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