The lowest level of the underground prison, Muken!
This is a place used to confine criminals who cause concern in Soul Society. Without exception, all those imprisoned here are beings who could pose a great threat to Seireitei.
And Muken was a special prison created to 'erase their existence'.
Almost no one in Soul Society now knows who the first prisoner confined here was, nor do they know who exactly is held within. But the last criminal sealed here is still fresh in the memories of the Shinigami of Seireitei.
Aizen Sōsuke.
However, in this space that should have been devoid of light, a faint glimmer appeared. A slender man walked through the dark Muken, carrying a lantern.
Although many Shinigami do not know who is confined in Muken, the Supervisory Team and the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, who jointly manage Muken, all know that before Aizen was sealed in Muken, one other person had been sealed there.
That was—
The Eighth Kenpachi, Azashiro Soya.
What crime he committed is no longer known, and no one knows what kind of abilities he possesses, except for those who have served as Captains for over 200 years.
But now…
This person, who should have been sealed in Muken, was walking through Muken as if taking a stroll, carrying a lantern that emitted a faint glow, his expression quite gloomy.
"Hahahaha… How embarrassing, truly embarrassing. You claim to 'know everything about Seireitei,' yet after merging with Seireitei, you didn't even discover the enemy hiding right under your nose. If it weren't for Ishikawa, you might not even know how you died."
Azashiro Soya ignored the incessant mockery in his ear and continued walking forward with a gloomy expression.
However, the next second, he paused, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.
"Oh. Oh? Oh!"
The voice in his ear, switching between three different emotions with the same word, looked at the halted Azashiro Soya.
As these three words fell, a figure appeared beside Azashiro Soya. It was a young woman, elegantly dressed and seemingly noble, her pretty face now filled with surprise and doubt.
Then she briefly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the darkness was gone, replaced by a dim world illuminated by golden light.
However, her form did not appear; instead, she shared the same vision as him.
The faint light-and-shadow form of Azashiro Soya frowned as he looked at the distant pillar of light, but then a strange ripple spread out from him.
He had actually entered this world much earlier. Strictly speaking, the moment Ishikawa made Wandenreich manifest in Seireitei, he used the overlapping phenomenon caused by Ishikawa to merge into this world.
Initially, it was only because he felt an anomaly within his 'body' that he awoke from his slumber and instinctively began to investigate.
This 'body' does not refer to a physical body in the conventional sense, but rather to the 'Seireitei' itself.
This is the ability of Azashiro Soya's Zanpakuto after Bankai. Azashiro Soya himself does not know the name of his Bankai. Its ability is to merge his own Reishi with the Reishi contained within other living or non-living things, thereby allowing him to manipulate them at will.
His Bankai is extremely unique; once activated, it cannot be deactivated, and after Bankai, he can no longer enhance his physical strength. Because he has maintained Bankai for several hundred years, he has not trained his body for centuries.
This has resulted in Azashiro Soya's physical strength being as weak as that of an ordinary soul in Rukongai. Once his Bankai is forcibly terminated, he is at risk of being at anyone's mercy.
But this does not hinder Azashiro Soya's power. Just as his true body freely walks in Muken, as long as he integrates his own Reishi into the Reishi of a non-living object, he can freely control that substance to attack or restrain enemies as if using his limbs.
Moreover, once he completes fusion with a certain space, he can monitor, listen, perceive, and control everything within it, and can freely create clones to appear anywhere in that space.
The larger the fused area, the more time it requires.
The space he chose to merge with was Seireitei, where the Shinigami reside. This means he could know everything happening within Seireitei, and the entire Reishi of Seireitei was a part of his body.
It was precisely for this reason that when Ishikawa invaded Wandenreich, he immediately felt an anomaly 'within his body' and attempted to merge his Reishi into Wandenreich through the 'overlapping phenomenon.' However, although the two were in 'the same dimension,' it was extremely difficult to merge Reishi.
Finally, using the Reishi devoured by Ishikawa, he barely managed to reach this Seireitei-sized space and began to attempt to merge with it.
As mentioned earlier, the larger the space Azashiro Soya's Bankai attempts to merge with, the longer it takes. It took him nearly a year to merge with Seireitei, so naturally, he couldn't merge with Wandenreich in such a short time. However, he didn't need to fully integrate with Wandenreich.
He merely wanted to see if Ishikawa, this unstable factor, intended to do anything detrimental to Soul Society.
His initial goal was only to stop Ishikawa's actions, but through observation, analysis by the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, and reports to Akon and Captain Commander, he realized that Ishikawa was not acting to endanger Soul Society; quite the opposite.
Strictly speaking, Azashiro Soya's arrival here was somewhat coincidental.
If it weren't for Ishikawa, or if he hadn't merged into this place before Yhwach returned from Hueco Mundo, he wouldn't have been able to enter Wandenreich, no matter how hard he tried.
Even if he had luckily merged, Yhwach would have noticed the anomaly in the Schatten Bereich if he hadn't been completely suppressed by Ishikawa.
Through a series of coincidences, he finally succeeded, merging with the Schatten Bereich before Yhwach's return, and witnessing Ishikawa's battle in its entirety.
Even at the last moment, Azashiro Soya mobilized the localized areas he could control to hinder Yhwach's actions.
The light-and-shadow form of Azashiro Soya watched Ishikawa disappear into the crack, then looked downwards.
What met his eyes was Yhwach's incredibly gloomy and murderous gaze. Before Azashiro Soya could react, he felt his vision go black.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already back inside Muken.
"Hahahaha. You were instantly expelled, as easy as swatting a fly. Aren't you too embarrassing? But it's no wonder, without Ishikawa, you would never have been able to merge into that space in your lifetime."
"And you must know that when you merge with non-living things, if the constituent Reishi of the space you merge with is destroyed, you will also be harmed. With the Quincy's absolute Reishi subordination ability, if you were to merge with that space, you would be instantly sucked dry like a husk."
The woman continued to mock him, but her mockery also conveyed a sense of warning.
Azashiro Soya frowned, but ultimately chose to ignore it.
Because what the woman said was not wrong.
"By the way, didn't you hate Hollows so much? You also hated Ishikawa. Why did you decide to help Ishikawa at the last minute?"
The woman leaned forward, her face full of curiosity. As Azashiro Soya's Zanpakuto, she knew better than anyone Azashiro Soya's aversion and rejection of Hollows. He had even once wanted to transform Rukongai residents into war weapons to invade Hueco Mundo.
However, he was ultimately stopped by the Squad Zero and imprisoned in Muken.
Strictly speaking…
Azashiro Soya did not actually come into contact with the Squad Zero. Instead, upon sensing the Squad Zero's arrival, he realized that the Soul King did not approve of his actions and chose to surrender himself to the Central 46.
Regarding the question from the woman beside him, his Zanpakuto, Urozakuro, Azashiro Soya did not continue to ignore her as before. Instead, he said calmly:
"My disagreement with Seireitei is one of ideals, not of stance."
With those words, Azashiro Soya continued to walk deeper into Muken, carrying his lantern.
He finally arrived at a room… or more precisely, a dark space. By the faint light of his lantern, he looked at the figure completely wrapped in sealing bandages at the center of the space.
The figure's appearance was unclear, because in addition to being wrapped in sealing bandages, his facial features and skin sensation were completely sealed. The strength of the seal made anyone who saw it uncontrollably curious… curious about the identity of the sealed person.
However, the next second, a part of the sealed person's senses suddenly broke free from the seal.
Without any warning, one of this person's eyes, one ear, and the cloth seal wrapped around his mouth, using Bakudo bamboo as a medium, suddenly peeled away, revealing a part of his face.
This person was…
After Azashiro Soya, the former Captain of the Fifth Division and former King of Hueco Mundo, who was sealed here.
—Aizen Sōsuke.
As the sealing cloth fell away, his tightly closed left eye slowly opened, looking at Azashiro Soya with the lantern, and the corner of his revealed mouth curved into an arc:
"Isn't this the old senior undergoing punishment here? Should I say it's an honor to behold your esteemed countenance?"
A calm voice emanated from Aizen's mouth. An ordinary person, after being gagged for over a year, would surely need time to regain the flexibility of their tongue and throat, and might not even be able to produce a sound when first speaking. However, Aizen's manner of speaking was identical to how he spoke before being confined to Muken.
He looked at the man before him with a relaxed demeanor and an all-knowing gaze:
"What should I call you? Your real name, Azashiro Soya, or the title bestowed by Soul Society to honor its strongest Shinigami… the Eighth Captain of the Eleventh Division… Azashiro Soya?"
"Oh ho ho ho, truly worthy of Lord Aizen! Hurry and kneel down and pledge allegiance. Maybe he can even protect you from the Quincy invasion."
Azashiro Soya habitually ignored Urozakuro's incessant chatter and instead nodded:
"If you know me, then that makes things much easier."
"To avoid unnecessary questions in our upcoming conversation, let me state first… I am not interested in the crimes you committed, nor am I interested in the power of the Hōgyoku. I merely want to ask you a few questions related to the 'outside world'."
"Oh?"
Aizen chuckled, "For that unpleasant spiritual pressure fluctuation from above?" With that, he chuckled, "It's no wonder, after all, from the current situation in Seireitei, they probably arrived much earlier than you, so it's normal for you not to know of their existence."
"But before I answer your question, I'd rather know what you saw."
Azashiro Soya frowned slightly.
"No, let me guess first."
"The source of the current anomaly in Seireitei should be Ishikawa's doing, right?"
Aizen looked at Azashiro Soya, and although he saw Azashiro Soya's calm expression, he nodded, "To be able to foresee what is about to happen and respond immediately, that is indeed something he would do, it's just too impulsive."
"However, I imagine it must have brought a great surprise to that king of the Quincy."
"Haha, from your expression, did he eventually leave safely?"
Azashiro Soya did not speak, but after glancing at Aizen, he used the cloth seal wrapped with Bakudo Bamboo as a medium to re-wrap Aizen's mouth.
"Hahahahaha, are you angry from embarrassment? Are you angry from embarrassment because you can't argue with him? How undignified, for a senior to be led by the nose by a junior."
Ignored.
Azashiro Soya looked at Aizen, whose eyes were calm and who was not annoyed by his mouth being sealed, and said:
"You answer my question first."
… …
At the same time, in Hueco Mundo.
Inside Las Noches, Cirucci and the others were all gathered in the high tower, looking at Ishikawa, who was like a stone.
"What exactly is going on?"
"I don't know, but Ishikawa's Reiatsu Crest has been absorbing Reishi from the surroundings."
"Then should we increase the Reishi concentration in Las Noches?"
"Try it?"
"…"
Everyone was discussing back and forth. Ishikawa's current state was truly a bit strange. He clearly exuded strong vitality, but his entire body was like a stone, completely unresponsive to external stimuli.
"Wait Wait Wait!"
An anxious shout came, and Urahara, who was blocked outside the conference room by Ulquiorra, jumped up and shouted, "Don't mess around! Let me examine Ishikawa's condition first, then you can decide."
Hearing this, everyone in the conference room exchanged glances, all seeing hesitation in each other's eyes.
Although they didn't know Urahara very well, they knew Szayelaporro very well. That guy was always keen on dissecting and researching other Espada comrades, and had even secretly captured Picaro individuals for secret dissection and research.
And in their minds, Urahara was no different from Szayelaporro; both were equally crazy. Handing Ishikawa over to him for research, they always felt he would secretly do something to him.
However, Urahara was also right. Before they understood Ishikawa's state, they had no idea how to proceed.
"Let him do it."
Harribel frowned, then spoke.
Hearing this, everyone else nodded and did not refute, but their eyes were fixed on Urahara as he entered the conference room.
Urahara didn't pay attention. Instead, he walked around Ishikawa, observing him, then pulled out an instrument from his in arms. After unfolding it, it projected an image and keyboard similar to a computer screen. He quickly typed on the virtual keyboard.
In less than half a minute, Urahara frowned slightly.
"Hey, what did you find out?"
Seeing Urahara's reaction, Grimmjow, who was standing nearby, leaned over to look at the screen, then decisively withdrew his gaze and continued to stare at Urahara.
Urahara ignored him and muttered to himself:
"…Strange, the spiritual body is disintegrating? Sacrifice?"
In just half a minute, he had already analyzed Ishikawa's current state and thought of a way to resolve it.
However, the solution of cutting off the Reishi supply and allowing the spiritual body to disintegrate made Urahara somewhat unsure if this was Ishikawa's goal.
After all, for a Shinigami, spiritual body disintegration is no small matter.
After a moment of hesitation, Urahara informed everyone in the conference room of his conclusion.
"What are you talking about? What's the difference between spiritual body disintegration and dying!?"
Grimmjow's body immediately surged with powerful spiritual pressure, as if he was about to strike Urahara dead depending on his answer.
However, Cirucci and Harribel frowned.
"So I'm not sure of Ishikawa's goal, whether it's to let his spiritual body disintegrate, or to strengthen the Reishi supply to heal his spiritual body." Urahara spread his hands, "I personally lean towards the former, believing Ishikawa's goal is to let his spiritual body disintegrate."
No one spoke, only Ulquiorra grabbed Grimmjow by the back of his neck and pulled him back.
"Let the spiritual body disintegrate!"
Just then, a voice came from outside the conference room.
Everyone looked over and saw Roka leading a group of people into the conference room from outside.
"Oh, Captain Mayuri, long time no see."
Upon seeing the person at the front, Urahara chuckled.
The person who came was Mayuri.
He glanced at Urahara, his face clearly expressing disgust, then he spoke, "His goal is to let his spiritual body disintegrate. Before his battle with Aizen, he ordered the Shinigami Research and Development Institute through the Central 46 to assist him in reconstructing his spiritual body."
"So after his spiritual body disintegrates, he has the ability to restore it."
With that, he waved his hand at the people behind him, who were clad in white cloaks with strange symbols on their clothes.
Immediately, several people walked towards Ishikawa, who stood still.
"What are you doing?"
This scene caused everyone in the conference room to narrow their eyes.
Urahara chuckled, took a few steps back, and put on a posture of not being familiar with him.
"What am I doing?"
Mayuri tilted his head, his teeth protruding, revealing an extremely bizarre smile, "You don't think the battle is over, do you?"
"No, the battle has just begun!"
Crack crack—
Mayuri twisted his neck like a madman, completely ignoring the increasingly intense killing intent from the people around him: "Next is a 'race against time'. If you stop me, then the person you are protecting will not be able to win the upcoming time race."
"And if he cannot win, it means Hueco Mundo will be invaded again!"
"Ultimately, he became like this, wasn't it because of you?" Mayuri's face showed a hint of mockery: "If it weren't for your weakness, he wouldn't have chosen to take the initiative to save you."
"On the front lines, without revealing his true strength, he could have played a far greater role than in this operation!"
These words caused everyone who had already prepared to kill Mayuri to stiffen.
"The enemy leader was greatly exhausted in his battle with him, otherwise he would have invaded Hueco Mundo again long ago."
Mayuri paused, glanced at Urahara next to him, his eyes filled with sarcasm.
Because Urahara could also know what he could see, yet this guy insisted on using an uncertain appearance to induce these Arrancar to make decisions, keeping himself out of it.
"If the enemy leader recovers first, then Hueco Mundo will be invaded again…"
At this point, Mayuri chuckled strangely, "Don't misunderstand, I'm completely uninterested in whether you live or die, it's just that if Hueco Mundo is controlled by the enemy, it's also trouble for us."
"To stop all this, it's very simple. As long as he recovers first and appears in Soul Society before the enemy leader recovers, then the situation I mentioned will not happen!"
"Why so much nonsense? Whoever comes, I'll take them down!!"
Grimmjow was as simple and direct as ever, but before he could step forward, he was once again pulled back by Ulquiorra, who grabbed him by the back of his neck.
"You, aren't you done yet?"
Grimmjow bared his teeth, looking at Ulquiorra with extreme annoyance.
Ulquiorra ignored him and looked at Harribel and the others, but Harribel and the others looked at Urahara on the side.
Although they completely distrusted Urahara, Urahara seemed much more normal compared to this Shinigami who seemed to have mental problems.
Urahara chuckled, saying with admiration, "Captain Mayuri is truly impressive. To deduce Ishikawa's goal from such little information, I think Captain Mayuri is right."
Mayuri snorted and ignored him.
Urahara didn't mind, and said, "However, while the Kidō Corps can stop the Kogotu, they should be helpless against the Kogotu. I'll handle that part."
Mayuri frowned slightly upon hearing this, understanding that Urahara must have made preparations before him, which made his gaze towards Urahara become even more disgusted.
However, he did not refuse, as it was a race against time, just as he had said earlier.
Mayuri withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Harribel and the others.
No matter how well prepared he was, if Harribel and the others wouldn't let them take Ishikawa, it would be completely useless.
As for forcing it…
That might require the entire Gotei 13 to arrive…
Harribel and the others exchanged glances, all showing hesitation.
"Leave it to them."
A voice broke the silence. It wasn't Harribel, but Cirucci, who had remained silent all this time.
"We indeed don't have the ability to help Ishikawa solve his predicament, but…"
Cirucci paused, then looked at Mayuri and said:
"We have the ability to attack Soul Society!"