"Heh-heh…"
"So it's finally been exposed, has it?"
"The Wandenreich's greatest trump card—used in war to deal with us Shinigami!"
"That cross-shaped medallion that can steal Bankai… that's what it is, right?"
Behind the blue-and-white mask, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's eyes burst with an intense light.
He felt surprised—
but at the same time, thrilled, excited, and delighted.
Because earlier—
in the previous rankings—
the video had never told them that the captains' Bankai could be stolen!
Naturally,
the specific method and means had remained a secret the whole time!!!
Who would've thought…
the Thousand-Year Blood War arc
had only just begun playing,
and right out of the gate it delivered a huge shock—
exposing the Wandenreich's greatest advantage.
To Mayuri Kurotsuchi,
this information was invaluable—worth a fortune!
In fact…
it wasn't an exaggeration to say this:
If they could crack the secret of that medallion
so that the pure-blood Quincies could no longer steal Bankai in the future,
then—
the new Thousand-Year Blood War…
its process and its outcome
would definitely be completely different from before!
And the Gotei 13
would not only stop being passive—
they could seize the initiative from the very start
and calmly face the coming war!!!
"Heh-heh…" Shunsui Kyōraku laughed. "In that case, our Gotei 13 owes Ichigo Kurosaki three more favors."
"If it weren't for him—and that battle with the Arrancar who betrayed his kind—this secret wouldn't have been exposed so early."
As he spoke,
Shunsui lowered his head and stared again,
his gaze carrying scrutiny as it fixed on the screen—
on that special cross-shaped medallion that was about to be revealed.
Indeed, even from here,
he could sense an unsettling,
strange ripple of energy.
"It shouldn't work, should it?"
Soi Fon picked up the thread, arms folded across her chest. "Second-generation Zangetsu is a divine weapon. How could some average Arrancar possibly steal its Bankai so easily?"
Everyone knew what Zangetsu represented—
power on the level of the Spirit King!
And Asguiaro Ebern was nothing but a third-rate Arrancar—
not even an Espada!
How could he possibly control that god-tier power?
So the outcome…
went without saying.
The theft would fail—without question!!!
——
However,
on the Wandenreich's side,
the atmosphere was the complete opposite—seething with anger and frustration.
"Damn it…"
"The medallion theft plan…"
"This is the most important research secret our Wandenreich has developed over a thousand years!"
"It's also our most reliable winning method against Shinigami and Zanpakutō!"
"And it gets exposed this easily by some ranking video?!"
Lille Barro, captain of the Schutzstaffel, spoke with a grim, shadowed expression.
His tone was extremely displeased.
And beneath that… there was even a faint, creeping unease.
"Yeah…"
Gerard Valkyrie's killing intent churned.
Staring at the Arrancar on screen, he ground his teeth. "Exposing the Empire's greatest secret is bad enough, but the key point is this—why was the one sent to deal with Ichigo Kurosaki some trash Arrancar no one's even heard of?!"
"A brain-dead decision like that can't possibly have come from His Majesty, can it?"
Gerard Valkyrie was honestly speechless.
If this plot point hadn't been exposed—
then even with this new ranking showing Zanpakutō "Zangetsu" at this level of strength,
he would still have believed that, with the Wandenreich's overall combat power—
and with Yhwach,
the dark Spirit King,
with his spiritual pressure maxed out…
and that invincible, supreme omnipotence—
they could still win in the future.
They could still defeat the protagonist,
snap "Zangetsu" in half,
and kill Ichigo Kurosaki!!!
But now—
with this scene exposed,
everything became uncertain!
With geniuses like Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Kisuke Urahara around,
Gerard Valkyrie didn't even dare imagine
how quickly those two would reverse-engineer it—
and develop some absurd countermeasure
that made the cross medallion useless!!!
If that happened,
it would mean the pure-blood Quincy clan's
hundreds—no, thousands—of years of effort
would be destroyed in one stroke!
And all of this…
would be thanks to Asguiaro Ebern,
that garbage Arrancar!!!
A perfect example of getting cocky and flipping the car!!!
"Yeah…"
"You're right. From this moment on, if we want to win the war in the future…"
"then we'll truly have no choice but to rely on His Majesty's personal combat power!!!"
Even Jugram Haschwalth—
his tone still cold—
couldn't hide the way his expression turned visibly bleak beneath his pale blond hair.
He was clearly just as dissatisfied with the early leak.
And he also believed—
there was absolutely no way that garbage Arrancar
could steal the Bankai of second-generation Zangetsu.
What a farce…
——
Sure enough.
The result was exactly what the pure-blood Quincies predicted.
"Dissolve, and become Sea of Clouds!"
"Cloud becomes rain—rain becomes dew!"
"The formed becomes the formless—amid our joy, we lower the cup to the earth!!!"
Facing the camera,
Asguiaro Ebern pulled out the medallion and clenched it in his palm.
Power erupted—
and as the entire sky was swallowed by solid blue light,
his mouth released a strange chant.
Then,
a few seconds later,
when Ichigo Kurosaki's figure was swallowed by it—
the audience, shocked, discovered
his state turned slightly chaotic.
His orange hair whipped violently in the storm.
And the black glove-like stripes that came with his black tailcoat—
began visibly collapsing at a speed the naked eye could track!!!
When this happened—
and the ranking video broadcast it into the real world—
it immediately caused a massive uproar!
The audience went from initial disdain
to sudden, genuine astonishment.
Who would've thought—
once the medallion's power was released,
this Bankai-stealing ritual
actually had some bite!!!
"Tch…"
"That useless Asguiaro Ebern almost pulled off something big…"
"The Wandenreich's move really does hard-counter Zanpakutō, huh?"
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez frowned,
a cold flash passing deep in his eyes.
Watching Ichigo Kurosaki struggle on screen,
he didn't doubt it for a second—
if the target of the theft hadn't been the protagonist,
but some other Shinigami,
or even a captain—
then there probably wouldn't have been an "after."
In that instant just now,
the Zanpakutō's Bankai would've already been taken.
It was only because this was second-generation Zangetsu—
a divine weapon belonging solely to the protagonist—
that it could resist for this long.
It was genuinely shocking.
"Szayelaporro…"
Coyote Starrk turned his head to look at him, expression serious. "If this technology is that powerful—and it's already been fully exposed by the ranking video—then can Hueco Mundo imitate the Wandenreich?"
"With your intellect, could you create the same kind of tool…"
"and help Lord Aizen in the future when he attacks the Spirit King Palace?"
As the Primera Espada,
Starrk's personality was the most laid-back among the Espada.
He normally had little interest in fighting or slaughter.
But—
with an opportunity right in front of them,
and with his loyalty to Aizen—
and his desire not to lose comrades again and fall back into loneliness—
Starrk naturally asked the question immediately.
It was, in a way, asking on behalf of Aizen and the other Hollows and Arrancar—
the question everyone wanted answered.
And the answer
didn't disappoint.
Szayelaporro Granz raised a hand with elegant ease, lightly pushing his glasses-like mask as he nodded confidently.
"It shouldn't be a problem…"
"Ever since the ranking video first appeared, I already set my palace to copy mode."
"So the entire process of this scene will be recorded afterward as research material."
"I believe that with Hueco Mundo's resources—and with my peak intellect—achieving something like this won't be difficult…"
Szayelaporro's tone was full of certainty.
As if he'd already grasped a new, even more unsolvable piece of technology—
one that belonged exclusively to Hueco Mundo.
Hearing that,
on the throne above,
Sōsuke Aizen's mouth curved upward in satisfaction.
"Szayelaporro…"
"I grant you the right to research."
"After the ranking video ends, spare no effort and carry it out."
"The people you're competing against…"
"are Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi!!!"
In truth,
Aizen himself—
as a researcher—
was also clearly interested in the cross medallion.
And with the confidence of someone who believed he controlled everything,
he felt that succeeding in the research wouldn't be hard.
At the very least—
no matter what—
in this new arc,
Hueco Mundo, the side that had collapsed in the original story,
now had a chance—
under Aizen's lead—
to keep watching without worry…
and reap the benefits like a fisherman.
And later,
if any more secrets about the Wandenreich,
or about the Gotei 13,
were exposed—
that would only add more winning chips to Hueco Mundo's future.
——
Then,
moments later,
Ichigo Kurosaki shouted—
and swung Zangetsu down with all his strength.
In an instant,
the entire sealing light formation shattered!
Before Asguiaro Ebern's utterly despairing eyes,
it broke into blue fragments—
and Ebern himself was cut down from a distance,
severely wounded!
In the end,
relying on the black shadows,
he managed to escape in disgrace.
And with that,
the battle ended—
curtain falling as the screen turned temporarily black.
"Hm?"
"Kurosaki's shadow?!"
Inside the shop,
Kisuke Urahara narrowed his eyes.
From the way Asguiaro Ebern vanished,
the high-IQ mind of his
immediately connected the dots.
After a storm of thought,
Urahara smiled—
and three sharp glints flashed through his eyes.
A new conclusion formed.
"Everyone…"
He swept his gaze around the room—
at Yoruichi Shihōin, Tessai Tsukabishi, Isshin Kurosaki, and the others.
Urahara removed his hat and spoke leisurely:
"I think I've figured out where the Wandenreich's lair is."
"?!"
At that,
the others' eyes widened.
Excitement erupted as they all blurted out together:
"Seriously?! If even that secret gets cracked…"
"then we won't need to wait three years—Wandenreich and the pure-blood Quincy clan could be wiped out ahead of time!!!"
Shock.
Curiosity.
Hope flooding their voices.
Sure, Urahara liked pranks.
He often cracked jokes out of nowhere.
But—
when it came to matters this serious,
if he wasn't absolutely certain,
he wouldn't speak so casually.
"Shadows…"
"A space built within shadows—one that never existed before… that is Wandenreich territory."
"And the greatest possibility is that it's inside the Seireitei!!!"
"Nearly every patch of darkness is an entrance. If you step into one, you can launch the war in reverse!"
"Strike first—eliminate future trouble!!!"
In fact,
long ago—
during the earlier rounds of rankings—
Urahara had already suspected a connection
between the Wandenreich's existence
and the Seireitei.
Because…
in the original story,
the outbreak of the Thousand-Year Blood War
seemed to come out of nowhere.
At the start of the war,
Chōjirō Sasakibe—lieutenant of the First Division—was killed!
And even the Captain-Commander's office—
even with the Captain-Commander personally guarding it—
was openly infiltrated by Wandenreich soldiers!!!
All of these signs
proved one thing:
that mysterious shadow space
had to be seamlessly connected to the Seireitei.
That was the only reason the pure-blood Quincies
could launch a war that was practically a sneak attack—
and seize a huge advantage in the early stage.
All of it—
came from the existence of that shadow space!!!
"So it really was shadows…"
Hearing the answer,
Isshin Kurosaki froze for a moment, then couldn't help sighing.
"All I can say is… the most dangerous place really is the safest place."
"To openly survive right under the Gotei 13's noses—growing steadily for a thousand years…"
"The Wandenreich's pure-blood Quincies really are cunning!!!"
Honestly,
without the ranking's exposure—
and without repeated confirmation from the footage—
no one would ever have guessed where the Wandenreich was hidden.
In the entire world of Bleach,
only Kisuke Urahara
could see it that clearly!!!
——
After that,
the video resumed—
but it jumped ahead.
It didn't continue the aftermath of that battle;
it simply cut to a new location.
And it was no longer Karakura Town.
The scene shifted—
to Hueco Mundo.
Inside a black-walled corridor,
Ichigo Kurosaki ran at the front.
Behind him followed Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado, and their companions.
And also—
from the earlier Hueco Mundo arc—
one of their former "teammates" there:
Pesche Guatiche, an ordinary Arrancar.
At that moment,
he ran with all his might,
speaking in a grave tone as he told them how bad things had become in Hueco Mundo:
"Ever since the Karakura Town decisive battle ended…"
"The one who actually ruled Hueco Mundo was Lady Harribel."
"But not long ago, Yhwach personally invaded Hueco Mundo with his subordinates!"
"Lady Harribel couldn't hold out alone—she was brutally defeated!"
"And she was captured… forcibly taken away!"
"And now all of Hueco Mundo has completely fallen!"
"The Hollows and Arrancar have been utterly enslaved by the pure-blood Quincies!!!"
When those words
were broadcast into the real world through the ranking video,
they immediately caused a sensation.
Anyone could hear it—
Pesche was begging Ichigo Kurosaki.
Before saving Soul Society—
before saving the Gotei 13—
he wanted Ichigo, as a "savior," to descend upon Hueco Mundo first…
and rescue all Hollows and Arrancar
from fire and water!!!
"Hee-hee-hee…"
"Putting out fires all over the world, huh?"
"In the future, Ichigo Kurosaki's about to become a firefighter…"
"If he ever disappeared…"
"then the whole Bleach world clearly wouldn't even be able to function normally…"
Inside Las Noches,
Gin Ichimaru wore a foxlike smile and teased with sly amusement.
Not long ago,
in Hueco Mundo's story,
Ichigo Kurosaki had been constantly targeted by the Espada—
and more than once, nearly lost his life!!!
In the end,
he survived only thanks to outside help—
and he even went through that terrifying Hueco Mundo "dungeon."
But now,
at the very start of the Thousand-Year Blood War,
Ichigo Kurosaki had become the hope of the entire "village."
Right now, with Hueco Mundo fallen—
if anyone wanted it liberated again—
then the only possibility…
was to rely on Ichigo Kurosaki
and that second-generation Zangetsu in his hands!!!
A development like that
was truly beyond anyone's expectations.
(End of Chapter)
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