"Wait… the truth of Hell!?"
The Shinigami present all went numb, black lines practically sliding down their faces as they stared at the ones talking.
Seriously, how many secrets did Soul Society have?
They'd already thought the truth about the Spirit King was outrageous enough.
It had stripped away the noble halo of the five great families.
Exposed the deepest sin at Soul Society's core.
Even dredged up events from countless ages ago.
And yet.
That still wasn't the end.
Now an existence older than the Three Realms themselves had come jumping out—Hell.
And Hell even had its own so-called "truth."
Cole was speechless too and couldn't help complaining,
"C'mon, how deep does this world go? It's like a bottomless pit at this point!"
The World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, the Dangai (Precipice World),
and now they were adding Hell on top of it.
One map hadn't even finished loading yet,
and another was already popping up.
Good thing the Fullbringers and the Invisible Empire hadn't shown up yet.
Otherwise, who knew how much worse the mess would get.
Ichigo was completely fried. His eyes were spinning in circles as he lifted his right foot and kicked his old man in the butt.
"You brat, what do you think you're doing!?"
Isshin spun around, face dark, glaring at his unfilial son.
Ichigo stared back at him, eyes lifeless.
"Old man, kick me back, will you? 'Cause this seriously feels like I'm dreaming."
What the hell were these people even talking about?
Why couldn't he understand a single word?
Isshin's mouth twitched.
To be honest, he was pretty lost himself.
He couldn't make sense of what was going on either.
Bombshells were going off one after another.
He hadn't even processed the last wave.
And the next one was already here.
So he raised his foot, intending to send his idiot son flying with a kick.
But Ichigo reacted even faster—
the moment Isshin lifted his leg, Ichigo's own kick shot out first and sent his dad sailing.
After that, Ichigo ruffled his hair in frustration.
"Yeah… that impact doesn't feel like a dream either."
It clearly wasn't a dream, but why did everything feel so unreal?
Had he been hit by Kyoka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon)?
In the distance, Isshin climbed up off the ground with a dark face, rubbing his fist and getting ready to go all out on his stupid kid.
Seeing this, the chubby Kirio sighed helplessly.
"You two father and son… can you calm down for a second? Do you even realize what kind of situation we're in right now? Why are you still horsing around?"
The truth about the Spirit King had been dragged into the light.
And now, the truth about Hell was about to be dragged out too.
You could say that this was the greatest crisis Soul Society had faced since its founding.
If they handled it poorly…
The entire Three Realms could plunge into chaos.
Amid the scattered commotion, Byakuya let out a long breath and said in a low voice,
"As for intel concerning Hell… I do not know much either. Only scraps passed down from the Great Spirit Book Gallery and my clan's archives."
"Hurry up and spit it out then," Ichigo said impatiently. "Quit beating around the bush."
Right now he just wanted everything to end quickly.
Either hurry up and start fighting.
Or hurry up and let him go home for dinner.
Anything was better than standing here listening to these astronomical concepts.
Byakuya's expression darkened, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with a brute like Ichigo. He just snorted coldly and began,
"So-called Hell came into being even before the Three Realms were born. It is the world's garbage dump, a place of neither life nor death, filled with all darkness and filth."
"Hell itself possesses a 'Hell Will' that instinctively seeks to expand and devour other worlds."
"As for where Hell lies, it is beneath the Three Realms—
a trash pit for them. Everything the Three Realms cannot digest is thrown down there, including but not limited to Shinigami and hollows…"
Hearing this, Cole couldn't help raising an eyebrow and cut him off.
"Hey, bro-in-law, I know Hell drags off sinners' souls. But when you say 'everything the Three Realms can't digest,' what exactly are you talking about?"
He knew from the original Thousand-Year Blood War story that Yamamoto had ended up in Hell.
But he still couldn't help wanting to confirm it himself.
Byakuya stared at Cole with a black face.
"You," he said flatly, "are exactly the sort of existence the Three Realms cannot digest. Understand now?"
Understand your ass, they all thought silently.
From the moment the topic of Hell had come up, they'd been completely lost.
Just being strong meant going to Hell?
Wasn't that a little too unreasonable?
Cole, however, suddenly thought of something—
Yamamoto's Konso Reisai (Soul Funeral Ritual) from the Thousand-Year Blood War in the original story.
He licked his lips and said,
"Bro-in-law, this is just my guess, but hear me out. You're saying… all the powerful Shinigami and hollows, once they die, end up falling into Hell—right?"
At those words, everyone fell silent.
In their minds, it felt like ten thousand stampeding beasts thundered past.
Even the Arrancar who had been happily watching from the sidelines—
Starrk, Harribel, Ulquiorra—were stunned.
Wait, why did they have to be included too?
None of the benefits.
All of the downside.
The Shinigami were just as rattled.
All powerful Shinigami and hollows would fall into Hell after death!?
What kind of joke was that?
Shouldn't Shinigami, after death, go through the Konso Reisai (Soul Funeral Ritual),
return to the natural world,
and rejoin the cycle of life within the Three Realms?
How did that suddenly turn into going straight to Hell?
It wasn't like they'd done anything wrong.
Only the few who already knew the truth wore expressions of pain and bitterness.
Kisuke sighed.
"Let me explain that part," he said. "But once you know, you'd better stay calm."
He really was worried that once the truth came out, someone here would lose it on the spot.
The truth was that cruel.
You could say it was several million times darker than the truth of the Spirit King.
Everyone swallowed hard when they heard that.
They all felt a vague premonition.
That what they were about to hear would be even more explosive than before.
Under their collective gaze, Kisuke's expression turned deadly serious.
"Whether Shinigami or hollow," he said quietly, "once their power reaches a certain level, they can no longer participate in the life cycle of the Three Realms."
"Their strength makes their very existence into something… indigestible."
"At that point, their deaths become a burden on the Three Realms. To get rid of that burden, the Three Realms instinctively send all such beings into Hell."
"Only that way can the system of reincarnation remain complete and avoid collapse."
When Kisuke finished, the place fell into the deepest silence yet.
You could barely even hear anyone breathing.
What had happened with the Spirit King had been shocking enough…
but that all felt too distant from them.
What Kisuke had just described, though, was directly connected to almost every person here.
After all—
They were all top-tier powerhouses in their respective worlds.
Exactly the kind of beings Kisuke had just said would go to Hell after they died.
After a long, heavy silence, Starrk—the Arrancar—actually spoke up for once.
"Shinigami," he asked quietly, "when you say 'powerful Shinigami and hollows'… what level are we talking about here? Do I count as powerful?"
Kisuke glanced at him, then turned to look at Nanao.
She blinked in confusion when she found herself suddenly dragged into this.
Why was she being included?
She was just a vice-captain!
Kisuke mercifully gave her an answer a second later, pointing straight at her.
"Out of everyone here," he said, "she's the only one who won't fall into Hell when she dies. Everyone else has a place reserved there."
Everyone was stunned all over again.
They all looked each other up and down.
Great—
you're a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar.
Great—
you're a Seireitei captain who's mastered bankai.
What a bright and beautiful future awaited them all.
A one-way trip to Hell.
Shinji jabbed a finger at his own chest, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"So what you're saying is… as long as a Shinigami has mastered bankai, they go straight to Hell when they die?"
"Mm. You've got it right."
Kisuke nodded calmly.
When he'd been head of the R&D Bureau and learned this himself, he'd been just as shocked.
He'd simply had time to come to terms with it since then,
even though it was never anything he wanted.
Shinji's hair practically stood on end.
"That's impossible! When we Shinigami die, don't we undergo the Konso Reisai (Soul Funeral Ritual)?!" he shouted.
According to the official Seireitei line, the Konso Reisai (Soul Funeral Ritual) returned a Shinigami's soul to the world,
Completing the system of reincarnation.
"Oh, that was a lie," Kisuke said.
His tone was as flat as ever, but the thing he'd said was brutally cruel.
Shinji felt like someone had smacked him over the head with a club, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
If this wasn't a dream…
How else was he supposed to have heard something so outrageous?
Even Aizen was left a little at a loss.
He'd only wanted to kill the Spirit King.
How had it turned into unlocking a whole new map?
"Wait, wait, wait, Kisuke, slow down…"
He raised a hand to stop him, rubbing his temples. Then he looked over again and asked,
"If things are as you say… then the captains of Seireitei who died before me are all in Hell now, aren't they?"
"Mm. You're right about that too."
Kisuke nodded again.
Aizen had no words this time. He just kept rubbing his temples.
Good grief.
He honestly didn't know what to say anymore.
So this was the new map, huh?
And they'd started with something this big.
Now that he knew about Hell,
Was there really still any point in killing the Spirit King?
It was starting to feel kind of meaningless.
Cole was at a loss for words too, but he still had plenty of questions he wanted answered.
"Hey, hey, Kisuke," he said, "I heard Hell is supposed to be where sinners get punished—an endless nightmare. So when Shinigami and Arrancar go down there… they're not gonna get tortured too, right?"
Once again, everyone's eyes fixed on Kisuke.
This was what they most wanted to know.
It affected every one of them directly.
No one wanted to die and then go get tortured in some hellscape afterward,
for all eternity, with no chance of reincarnation.
Under those stares, Kisuke frowned slightly and slowly shook his head.
"That part, I don't know," he admitted. "Almost no one has ever escaped from Hell. The situation down there is a complete unknown."
"But based on the intel I do have… powerful beings who fall into Hell don't necessarily suffer torment."
"Of course, that's not guaranteed either."
Everyone looked at each other again, any desire to fight completely gone.
What remained in their hearts was only a sense of sheer absurdity.
It didn't matter what they had been in life.
Enemy or ally.
After death, they would all go to Hell,
to be subjected to who-knows-what kind of torment—if any.
And even if there were no torture at all,
Just hearing the word "Hell" was enough to know it wouldn't be a pleasant place.
If that was the case…
What the hell were they still fighting for?
Everyone was going to Hell sooner or later anyway.
A long while passed before Aizen finally pulled the conversation back on track.
"Kisuke," he said quietly, "so this is the truth of Hell… and that's why it keeps expanding?"
"That's right," Kisuke replied with a slow nod.
"Even before the Three Realms were born, Hell expanded by ravenously devouring sin and powerful beings, continually enlarging its space and its world."
"Only when the Spirit King was born and the Three Realms split, borrowing the Spirit King's power, was Hell's expansion finally checked."
"But even the Spirit King's power can't completely stop Hell's growth. It can only slow its advance."
"In fact, with every minute and every second we stand here talking, Hell is still expanding—bit by bit."
Isshin couldn't help jumping in.
"Then by your logic, isn't Hell bound to swallow up all the worlds someday?"
"More or less," Kisuke said, nodding, "but that day is still very far off."
"So long as the Spirit King's power holds it back, Hell would need at least tens of trillions of years to devour everything."
The Shinigami present finally nodded slowly.
At last, they'd heard a piece of relatively good news.
Tens of trillions of years.
They could live and die eight hundred times over and it still wouldn't scratch that number.
As for what might happen tens of trillions of years from now…
With that kind of timescale, they had no choice but to trust in the wisdom of future generations.
Even so, the importance of the Spirit King had never felt so tangible.
This so-called Spirit King…
Was truly the world's guardian god in every sense.
Without the Spirit King,
Who knew how many times the world would already have ended.
Gin thought for a moment, then said slowly,
"If things are like you say… then when we die and go to Hell, there's a chance we could see those ancient powerhouses down there, isn't there?"
In that instant, countless faces flashed through his mind.
Powerful foes and comrades.
Tosen, who had died not long ago.
The Arrancar of Hueco Mundo.
He had believed they'd returned to the natural cycle.
But now…
It was possible they'd all meet again in Hell.
Kisuke nodded once more.
At that, Cole rubbed his chin, his gaze turning strange as he looked up at the Spirit King's blue crystal, cutting off the conversation again.
"Hold up, everyone. I just thought of a really crazy possibility. It sounds ridiculous, but it isn't impossible…"
All eyes turned to him again, waiting to hear what he'd come up with.
Cole spun his golden staff and tapped the blue crystal, then glanced at the still-silent Ichibe.
"Guys," he said, "tell me this isn't possible."
"Those founders who stabbed the Spirit King in the back—those five noble ancestors we've all heard are long dead…"
"What if they're all in Hell right now?"
Everyone present: "…"
(End of Chapter)
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