Yoshio entered a strange world.
It was pitch-dark; he stood alone in the darkness like a ghost.
Countless green points of light floated in the void, like fireflies dancing at night—or like a cold, merciless flow of electrons.
Each point of light carried a message. These innumerable lights intertwined into an invisible net, trapping him at its center.
["This author has to be kidding, right? The protagonist is way too weak! Dying in one hit!"]
["…Is Yoshio cheating? One-shotting a captain?"]
["It's fine. This Yoshio is Aizen's subordinate. Aizen is obviously way stronger."]
["So what even is the Hōgyoku? Rukia and Ichigo didn't use it to become Hollows, but they need it to become Hollows? Uh… is that how it works?"]
["Obviously they reached the Shinigami limit and are trying to break through it. Ichigo and Rukia can control Hollowfication, but it's clear they're still Shinigami."]
The green lights stored countless comments, and Yoshio had the ability to realize one of those comments.
For example, if Yoshio chose the first option, he would gain the ability to kill Kurosaki Ichigo in one hit.
No matter how strong or how weak Ichigo became, he could kill Ichigo with one strike!
This ability was meaningless, because Yoshio could already instantly kill Ichigo right now. What he wanted wasn't "protagonist killing." What use was it to merely be able to one-shot Ichigo?
The second comment replaced the instantly-killed Ichigo with a team captain. That meant if he used the ability on this comment, he could instantly kill any captain.
Even Yamamoto Genryūsai—or even members of Squad Zero—if they were "captain level," Yoshio could one-shot them.
This ability was fairly useful. Even if he looked down on most captains, that monk was still somewhat of a threat.
But he didn't choose that statement for this reason. If he took one more step forward, that monk would no longer be anything special.
Not a threat to him. Rather, in the current Three Realms, there were very few beings that could threaten him, so he didn't need to deliberately acquire an ability to restrain opponents.
If the third comment became reality, it would grant Aizen power surpassing Yoshio's own.
If he chose the fourth comment, the power of the Hōgyoku would become unknown—Aizen and the others already knew its ability, but if he chose this comment, no one would understand the Hōgyoku's power anymore.
The fifth comment said he and Aizen would become ultimate Shinigami.
These three comments clearly weren't options he could choose, so they were discarded.
These points of light were not permanent; they changed as the story progressed. But because he hadn't yet met Kurosaki Ichigo, they hadn't changed so far.
He wanted to select the most suitable comment for himself from this massive amount of information.
This function allowed only one comment to be chosen, and once chosen it could not be changed, so it required caution.
Yet even after staring for a long time, Yoshio still couldn't decide.
These comments…
How to put it?
They were unbelievably ignorant…
But since they likely followed Ichigo's viewpoint, he couldn't blame them.
Or, like the original manga, although other characters were mentioned, the main perspective still followed the protagonist.
Meaning: they knew about as much as Kurosaki Ichigo did.
Among all the things Ichigo had experienced so far, the strongest person they had met was actually Yoshio himself.
So they couldn't say anything particularly outrageous.
They could only talk about how impressive he was, how cruel he was, or whether he had some hidden secret—just as Rukia had said.
After reading these comments, Yoshio frowned and disabled the Special Combat Power ability.
A few comments were decent, but even the best was far from the minimum standard he expected.
If Special Combat Power was probably one of Yoshio's strongest abilities, why could it only be used to fulfill such superficial wishes?
If he wanted them to infer more intense settings and offer more imaginative interpretations, it seemed he first needed Kurosaki Ichigo to understand the worldbuilding—rather…
Not even in detail. Just a rough impression would do, or simply knowing that extremely powerful gods existed!
When you fully understand something, the "filter of mystery" is lost. Only when you understand something partially does a vague longing arise.
Yoshio's goal this time was to raise Starrk's favorability to 90 and obtain an ability called "Friendly Aura."
What should he do? Simple—just rescue Lilynette.
Now that that was arranged, the next step was to give Kurosaki Ichigo a little "spoiler" about the so-called Three Realms and gods.
Yoshio narrowed his eyes slightly. If he did this, wouldn't the commenters also "broaden their horizons" a bit?
He stood quietly at the entrance of the cave, waiting…
...
Starrk walked down another corridor.
This corridor really wasn't as dark as before. White light radiated from the walls or somewhere else, bringing a faint warmth to this underground world.
He looked ahead and quickened his pace.
Midway through, he suddenly felt the world around him becoming strange.
It was as if light were leaking out of space—or as if space were twisting and refracting light—so he stopped instinctively.
His instincts told him that if he went farther, it might be dangerous.
Starrk extended one hand forward, as if preparing to test the illusion with a Cero.
"What are you doing here?"
But a man's voice suddenly came from the distorted space ahead, startling Starrk.
After thinking a moment, he said, "Angra?"
"It hasn't been that long since we last met, right? You haven't forgotten me, have you?"
Angra Mainyu stepped out of the distorted space and said calmly, "Are you the only one who came?"
He glanced at Starrk's side and asked again.
"…" Starrk knew he meant Lilynette. With Angra's help, Starrk had been able to separate completely from Lilynette.
They had cooperated once before, so Starrk had a fairly good impression of Angra.
"She's missing. I came to find her."
"…Missing?" Angra frowned.
"We suspect it's related to gods, so we came here." (Starrk didn't mention Yoshio, since by position they should be enemies.)
"Gods… you really came to the right place," Angra Mainyu chuckled softly. "If you found this place, you must have seen the murals earlier, right?"
"The God of Death and the Orochi?"
"So you already saw them," Angra said. "Then go inside and take a look. Maybe you'll find the clue you're looking for."
Hearing this, Starrk no longer hesitated. He stepped forward into the region like spatial turbulence.
The next instant, as if a spatial jump had occurred, he realized he was in a completely new world.
It felt like he was inside a gigantic altar. Angra stood beside him, and around them was a massive ring that seemed to float in midair.
The ring was slightly away from the altar, and its center was empty like an abyss—falling into it would surely mean death.
Just one step apart, yet two different worlds?
Even Starrk was somewhat shocked.
Only by experiencing this power personally could one realize how incredible it was.
"Where is this…?" Starrk asked involuntarily.
"This is where the Nergal civilization fought its final battle," Angra said calmly. "After death cut off their lives, before disappearing they wanted to pray to the [Orochi], so they built this altar."
"And then?" Starrk looked at the ring. It seemed to bear the story of the people of the Nergal ruins, but he still couldn't read the text.
Angra added, "Of course, it didn't work. The serpent ignored their pleas, and they ultimately vanished under the power of death."
"…"
"So don't believe in gods," Angra said gently again. "Gods won't save anyone. The only one who can save you is yourself."
"Whether it's a god of death, or a god of hope and light, in the end they're all [outsiders]."
"Outsiders?" Starrk was startled by the word. "What do you mean?"
"You'll understand as soon as you see what's depicted here," Angra said, gesturing for Starrk to look at the images drawn on the altar ring.
Starrk discovered it was actually an enlarged version of the mural at the fork in the road, mainly depicting how the void beings of Nergal learned of the "Orochi."
They originally believed in the God of Death, but one day a boy appeared before them, radiating infinite light.
The masses knelt before him and accepted the changes brought by the power of light.
"That… Orochi?"
"Of course not, but he is the serpent's messenger," Angra said. "Everyone seems to be searching for something."
"?"
"Whether it's the God of Death, the Orochi, or some other existence, they all seem to be searching for something," Angra explained.
"The God of Death and the Orochi seek the same thing, so they're enemies. The serpent's messenger came to the country of Death's followers to weaken the God of Death's power in the Three Realms, right?"
Their true forms existed outside the Three Realms, and the power they could send into the Three Realms was only a small part. What prevented them from entering the Three Realms was precisely what they were seeking.
"What are they searching for…?"
"I don't know, but I don't intend to let them find it," Angra said calmly. "If you look at the Nergal ruins, you'll know what these 'gods' are like."
"They call themselves gods, but all they bring is destruction. They're nothing more than 'gods' from another realm coming into the Three Realms. If they could enter this world now, they might have already enslaved all life here."
Angra smiled faintly. "In the end, I think beings called 'gods' are no different from the Soul King or the Hollow King—just powerful existences. Don't expect too much."
"…I didn't expect anything from them. I just wanted to find Lilynette," Starrk stared at the boy—the serpent symbol within the ring. For some reason, it felt like the boy was listening to them.
"That's right," Angra said quietly. "He's alive."
"?!" Starrk frowned in shock. "Alive?"
"Yes. A survivor of the Nergal civilization somehow created this mural. They weren't saved by the serpent, but they seem to have entered the mural."
"Because they were tainted by the Orochi's power, this mural—and even the messenger within it—came back to life."
Angra said softly, "Just call his name, and he'll appear and fight you at this altar. If you defeat him, he'll answer one of your questions."
"That's why I said you came to the right place."
"His name," Starrk said immediately.
"Chris."
Angra spoke the name, but the Chris in the painting did not emerge.
"I've fought him before, and everyone only gets one chance," Angra shrugged.
"Be careful. His strength depends on who calls him. The stronger the caller, the stronger Chris will be when he appears."
Starrk nodded, stared straight at the boy in the portrait, and softly spoke the words.
"Chris."
In an instant, Chris's eyes in the portrait became intelligent.
Golden light shone; the figure in the painting looked as if it had come alive. He gradually gained a living body—and then stepped out of the ring!
Because the ring was high up, after escaping it he took a single step forward, crossed the dark abyss, and set foot on the golden altar.
One hand in his pocket, he looked at Starrk and smiled. "Say your name, challenger."
"Coyote Starrk," Starrk answered honestly. "Before we fight, I want to confirm whether you know where Lilynette is."
"I know," Chris said gently. "This is a trial—for you and for her."
?
Starrk frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The reason you two discovered this place and were able to enter," Chris said with a quiet smile, "is because over the past million years, you two are the only ones who had the qualification to set foot into Hueco Mundo."
"As an existence who awakened on your own within Hueco Mundo and found light within yourself, you…"
"You are qualified to see me—and you are qualified to see a god."