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Eleventh Division.
"Wait…"
It took a long moment for Madarame Ikkaku to snap out of his shock.
But the instant he heard the words "Sternritter", his eyes lit up with a fierce, blazing excitement. His breathing quickened.
"You all heard that, right?! He finally revealed who he is!!!"
Finally…
This enemy—one who could no longer be described with mere words like monster—
Had finally given them a new lead!
Ikkaku let out a long breath.
He wiped away the fine layer of sweat from his forehead, relieved.
Compared to the scenes in the footage, where heaven and earth seemed to collapse under the fight, what terrified him most was actually Gremmy Thoumeaux's identity.
After all…
The rankings video always jumped around.
You could pick up hints here and there from the fragments, but every clipped scene brought with it a new pile of questions.
Like Gremmy's appearance.
He didn't use spiritual pressure.He had no zanpakutō.He had none of the traits of an Arrancar.He looked like an ordinary human boy.
But that harmless-looking face…
Displayed power that shattered imagination and shook the world.
What unnerved Ikkaku more than fear was not Gremmy's strength—it was not knowing what he was.
"Sternritter… What kind of organization is that? I've never heard of it!" Ayasegawa Yumichika rubbed his temples, thinking hard, then shook his head.
Across all of Soul Society—
Outside the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, there were only a few associated groups: the Kido Corps, the Stealth Force, the Research and Development Department…
As for the World of the Living—
Yumichika didn't know much.
But even without thinking too hard, he was certain of one thing:
There was no way a monster like Gremmy Thoumeaux came from the human world.
If someone like that existed there, the world would've been destroyed ages ago.
So then…
Just what was the Sternritter?
"Hey. Stop yapping about it. What's there to guess?"
While the two of them were racking their brains,
Kenpachi Zaraki slammed his hand in annoyance, waving them away as if swatting flies.
"Ikkaku. Yumichika."
"Move. Don't get in my way. I'm trying to enjoy this fight between monsters."
To him, battle was more important than life.
Unlike his two subordinates, Zaraki had never cared about Gremmy's identity from the start.
Sternritter?Who cares?
The only thing the King of Swinging His Sword wanted to know was whether he could push himself to the edge… and break past it.
—
Elsewhere.
Twelfth Division Barracks — Research and Development Bureau.
Red warning lights flashed nonstop, dyeing the entire building crimson as though it had been swallowed by infrared light.
Inside the surveillance room on the first floor—
"Hm? Sternritter?!"
The moment Gremmy uttered the name,
Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who had stood with his hands behind his back watching quietly, widened his eyes behind the blue-and-white mask—several times larger than normal.
"Captain, what's wrong?! What happened?!"Akon immediately noticed Mayuri's reaction and rushed to ask carefully.
"Heh… heh… hehehehehe!!!"
After a brief silence—
A crazed laugh suddenly burst out of Mayuri's throat, overflowing with excitement.
His pupils darted wildly; bloodshot veins crept across both eyes. He curled his sharpened nails upward, trembling with glee.
"Akon, weren't you just asking where this monster came from?"
Mayuri's voice was hollow, eerie—like something whispering out of a dark corner.
"Y-yeah… so what about it?"
Akon swallowed hard. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
What did the Captain discover?
What secret could make him laugh like this?
"No wonder I couldn't find anything in the database. Not a single trace. So… that's who they are. People who vanished a thousand years ago!!!"
As if he'd discovered a new world, Mayuri burst into ecstatic laughter.
This revelation thrilled him more than any scientific breakthrough ever could.
"What do you mean… vanished a thousand years ago?"Akon froze, trembling.
If he didn't know Mayuri's personality after years of working together, he would've already run for his life. With the Captain in this state, he might cut open his own subordinates for "research" at any moment.
"Hehehehe…"
Mayuri didn't answer directly.
He narrowed his eyes, letting out a low, chilling chuckle before saying something even more cryptic:
"As for your question…"
"I think the Captain-General understands it far better than I do."
—
Scene shift.
First Division Barracks.
"Impossible!!! Those sinners—those failures—how could they reappear after a thousand years?!"
A loud crack shattered the air!
The wooden desk, meticulously crafted, couldn't withstand the Captain-General's fury and exploded into splinters.
Shards of wood flew across the room.
For a brief instant, Yamamoto's face flashed a dark, ugly shade.
Yes.
Just as Mayuri had implied—
The moment he heard the name Sternritter,
The Captain-General reacted far more violently than Mayuri. He nearly blew the entire room apart.
At the same time,
A memory buried for a thousand years began replaying in his mind like a film.
About a millennium ago—
Under Yamamoto's command, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads fought a decisive war against the pure-blood Quincies, battling for control over the world of the Shinigami.
In that earth-shaking fight, Yamamoto used Zanka no Tachi to defeat Yhwach, robbing him of his heartbeat and consciousness.
After that—
The pure-blood Quincies declined overnight, their race nearly wiped out.
As centuries passed, even Yamamoto gradually forgot about that "failed race."
But—
Even before this revelation, watching Gremmy in the footage—injuring multiple captains and arrogantly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the sun—
Had already angered him.
And hearing the word Sternritter was the final straw that broke what little restraint he had left.
Which led to the violent outburst just now.
"…"
The room was a disaster.
Chōjirō Sasakibe looked around silently, not daring to touch his captain's temper at a moment like this.
He knew very well—
That war from a thousand years ago was like a barbed thorn, rooted deep in the Captain-General's heart.
The Seireitei had enjoyed peace for centuries…
But Chōjirō was certain—Yamamoto absolutely did not want pure-blood Quincies to ever return.
"Chōjirō…"
Yamamoto's hunched back straightened.
The arm gripping the wooden cane bulged with thick veins from sheer fury.
He spoke without turning around, his voice low, solemn, and filled with murderous intent so cold it could freeze bone:
"Go. Immediately. Go to the Research and Development Department."
"Tell Mayuri: no matter what methods he uses, he must find those hiding rats!!!"
"..."
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