Seireitei, Twelfth Division.
"Are they dead?"
Kisuke Urahara stood quietly in front of a machine.
His gaze fell upon the two skeletal figures inside the machine, and his brows furrowed slightly.
As expected, they were indeed dead.
Perhaps this was a method of assassination developed by the Wandenreich to eliminate those of their Quincy who fell into enemy hands.
Its purpose was to prevent information from being obtained by the Shinigami, thereby disrupting their plans…
"This is troublesome. Although I had speculated about this early on, I didn't expect that even with them placed within a barrier, they would still be affected by those Quincy…"
Kisuke Urahara sighed softly; the death of his enemies brought him no joy.
Losing a source of intelligence was already a significant loss.
But what was worse was that this action undoubtedly indicated that the Wandenreich had already realized the Shinigami were aware of their existence.
In other words, the Quincy's future actions would likely become even more cautious and careful.
This was undoubtedly very bad news.
Fortunately.
The deaths of the two were not without value.
Kisuke Urahara rubbed his temples, then moved to another machine.
The machine recorded the scene when the two died: two streams of reishi escaped from their bodies and then vanished near the Shakonmaku.
The Shakonmaku is located above Seireitei, serving as a barrier that can effectively resist external invasions.
It was precisely because of this that Kisuke Urahara felt a heightened sense of vigilance.
"Why did they disappear near the Shakonmaku, and not somewhere else?"
"Could it be that the entrance to the Wandenreich is there?"
"Hmm… that's possible, but to be safe, it's best to continue investigating further."
"Lest we expend a lot of manpower and resources only to find it was all for naught."
Kisuke Urahara pondered to himself. After regaining his composure, he called Hiyori and decided to temporarily entrust this important task to her.
He, meanwhile, would take this time to go to the Gotei 13 to report this news to Yamamoto Genryusai and also inform Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
Yoriichi was currently still in the Human World and had not returned. This action was also to prevent those Quincy from launching a surprise attack.
While the situation remained unclear, the more hostages, the better.
Arriving at the Gotei 13, Yamamoto Genryusai's expression changed slightly upon hearing about the anomaly near the Shakonmaku:
"Kisuke Urahara, is what you say true?"
Thump.
He forcefully tapped his cane, and the surrounding atmosphere immediately became solemn.
If the Wandenreich truly was near the Shakonmaku, it was no wonder they had searched for decades without finding anything.
Who would have thought that the very thing that usually protected Seireitei would one day turn around and threaten Seireitei…
Kisuke Urahara nodded slightly, completely unaffected by the aura emanating from Yamamoto Genryusai.
"Yes, Captain-Commander. I am over eighty percent certain that the Wandenreich is located above Seireitei."
"The Shakonmaku has always been a blind spot in our search for the Wandenreich."
"Before this incident today, not just me, but over ninety percent of those privy to the information believed that the Wandenreich must be hidden within a certain space in the Soul Society."
"Now it seems we were wrong, and terribly so."
Yamamoto Genryusai slowly narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp, as if wanting to penetrate all appearances and reach the core of the problem. He asked in a deep voice:
"Then, Kisuke Urahara, how do you think we should proceed?"
"Eighty percent? That's not enough. What this old man wants is one hundred percent certainty. Only then can we annihilate those villains in one fell swoop."
"Do you have any ideas?"
Kisuke Urahara hesitated for a moment, then, based on the existing technological conditions, slowly articulated a method.
Although this method was unlikely to be realized in the short term.
But it was still much better than sitting idly by and waiting to be slaughtered.
…
Human World.
Haschwalth passed through the Shadow Realm and quickly arrived on a street.
It was already night, yet bustling Tokyo had not diminished its vitality in the slightest due to the darkening sky.
People came and went, various auras intertwined, and dazzling lights illuminated the city as bright as day.
After a brief assessment amidst the bustling crowd.
Haschwalth slightly raised his gaze, then headed towards the nearest location, which was where Gernal Lee had left his last reishi trace.
Although he knew in his heart that after so much time had passed, the Shinigami who had captured Gernal Lee had probably already left.
Yet, even a single clue would be good.
Haschwalth's attire was quite conspicuous. Walking on the street, he seemed like a nobleman on an outing, exuding a unique aura.
Regrettably, no one could see him.
After suppressing his reishi.
Even if someone could see him, they would only take him for a cosplay enthusiast, as this was Tokyo after all.
Thus, he successfully arrived at the location where Gernal Lee disappeared.
Traces of Kido remained on the ground, spread throughout the park, quite conspicuous.
If he was captured in one blow, it meant that the Shinigami at least possessed Captain-level strength.
Haschwalth stood quietly for a while.
Then, he slowly walked to a more secluded spot—there was a faint, almost imperceptible, pool of blood there.
Based on the aura, it could be determined that the blood originated from a Shinigami…
Were both sides injured?
Haschwalth narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
If that were truly the case, it would be good news for him.
This meant that the Shinigami who appeared here, even if strong, had limited power.
When they appeared again, with his own strength, he would surely be able to deal with him, to prevent any further accidents.
—Sternritter members are not so easily killed.
Exhaling lightly, and knowing all that had transpired here, Haschwalth walked in another direction.
Although a considerable amount of time had passed since Branda's incident, to the point where her residual reishi had become somewhat indistinct…
Fortunately, Quincy are a race inherently extremely sensitive to reishi.
And for some reason, whether the Shinigami deliberately didn't clear it, or for some other reason.
Haschwalth used his perception to quickly arrive at the location of the Kurosaki household.
Ishida Ryūken had already left, and Yoriichi Tsugikuni was there.
As soon as the two met, a trace of surprise flashed across their indifferent faces simultaneously.
Both were surprised by the other's presence.
—A formidable foe!
Haschwalth instinctively pressed his hand to the long sword at his waist. His slender fingers tightened slightly, and his eyes slowly deepened.
Even though he had been with Yhwach for a long time and was accustomed to powerful individuals.
Yet at this moment, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of disarray.
It was similar to Tyson encountering the Hulk; the strong muscles were unmatched.
Right now, Haschwalth only felt that the man before him possessed unfathomable luck.
Compared to his own luck, there was an immense difference…
—This is bad.
…
"Seeing" luck is one of the abilities of Haschwalth's Sternritter B—Balance.
With this ability, he can completely change the direction of a battle by distributing luck.
Its principle is like a scale, with fortune and misfortune being the weights on the pan.
If his own luck surpasses that of his opponent, then the opponent will inevitably fall into misfortune.
And misfortune often means death.
In other words.
In the face of Balance's power, under normal circumstances, there is no enemy Haschwalth cannot kill.
However, there is always an exception.
That is, if the opponent's luck completely overwhelms his own, making him unable to inflict a suitable amount of misfortune on the opponent, then only he himself will face death…
The Shinigami before him was clearly a formidable opponent who could put him in mortal danger…
His gaze darkened slightly, but even so, Haschwalth showed no intention of backing down.
Because in his opinion, distributing luck and misfortune was merely one of Balance's many abilities.
Haschwalth took a deep breath, trying to calm the subtle ripples that had arisen within him.
But his heart uncontrollably began to beat rapidly, thump after thump.
However, having experienced many storms, he quickly used his strong willpower to forcefully suppress his erratic heartbeat.
He stared intently at Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and before he could speak.
Yoriichi, as if sensing his inner emotions, suddenly said:
"Are you… afraid?"
Upon hearing this.
Haschwalth imperceptibly stiffened. Afraid… how many years had it been since he heard that word?
Since meeting Yhwach nine hundred years ago, he had discarded all useless emotions.
Now…
"Heh." Haschwalth chuckled softly, not denying the statement, as he indeed felt a hint of fear.
That feeling was as if he had returned to nine hundred years ago.
At that time, he had no power and could only passively endure his uncle's abuse.
Alas, time had passed, and he had been reborn, no longer the weakling who was once bullied.
He was the Captain of the Sternritter—Haschwalth.
After taking a deep breath, Haschwalth tightly gripped his sword hilt and retorted:
"So what? I didn't expect that besides Yamamoto Genryusai, the Soul Society now hides a monster like you."
"No wonder those two were captured without any resistance."
"What is your name?"
The Wandenreich's reconnaissance of the Soul Society was basically once every hundred years.
A hundred years ago, Yoriichi Tsugikuni had not yet appeared, so he was naturally not within the scope of the intelligence collected by the Wandenreich.
In Haschwalth's eyes, Yoriichi Tsugikuni seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and calling him a monster was not an exaggeration at all.
After all, no Shinigami had ever reached a realm comparable to Yamamoto Genryusai's in just a hundred years.
The two each stated their names.
The imminent battle caused Haschwalth to slowly draw the long sword from his waist.
His opponent was too strong; even a slight carelessness could lead to death. He absolutely could not relax in the slightest.
He just needed to block one attack.
If he could block this one attack, Yoriichi Tsugikuni would surely be severely wounded.
…
"Bang!"
The ground suddenly cracked, and Yoriichi Tsugikuni instantly vanished from his spot.
Just as he swung his sword to strike Haschwalth, a shield abruptly appeared in the latter's hand.
The shield was held in front of him, gleaming with a silvery-white luster.
On the surface, this was a defensive maneuver.
In reality, it was still a product of Balance.
He took the hit.
Crack.
The shield instantly shattered, and Haschwalth, even though he immediately counterattacked with his sword, suffered a considerable injury behind the shield.
To dissipate the impact, he was uncontrollably sent flying backward.
Thud.
He slammed hard against a wall, the force so great that Haschwalth felt a tightness in his chest and couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of blood.
A few dark red blood droplets splattered, staining his pristine white clothing.
"Truly a monster…"
Haschwalth endured the pain in his body, narrowing his eyes and panting slightly,
"In nine hundred years, besides His Majesty, you are the first Shinigami to injure me in a single exchange."
"However, your good luck ends here."
"From this point on, even greater misfortune will befall you."
With that, the shield materialized again, and the ability of Balance was activated, causing all the injuries on Haschwalth's body to disappear without a trace.
After the pain also vanished, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
He had expected that the misfortune befalling the opponent, even if it couldn't critically injure him, would at least cause him significant harm, but he hadn't anticipated...
What met his eyes was a man whose finger was dripping blood.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni looked at the wound that had suddenly appeared on his finger, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He hadn't seen Haschwalth's attack at all; the wound seemed to appear out of nowhere...
Recalling what Haschwalth had just said, he felt a slight understanding.
"Damage transfer?"
Yoriichi Tsugikuni's gaze fell on Haschwalth, and seeing his injuries completely healed, his thoughts were confirmed.
"I see..."
He nodded slightly, "Your ability is to transfer the misfortune that befalls you, which is damage, to your opponent."
"The shield in your hand and you yourself are the mediums for receiving damage."
"Besides that, luck... Never mind, continue, let me glimpse more of your abilities."
"If it's merely damage transfer, then I apologize."
"The disparity in strength between us means that even if you are critically injured, the damage reflected back to me won't be much."
An attack that can kill a rabbit, when reflected onto an elephant, would only result in an additional wound.
Haschwalth was indeed very strong, but this strength was only relative to ordinary Captains.
If this ability were used by Yhwach, then it would be a different story.
But for an ordinary Quincy, the effect of this ability was truly limited.
If it weren't for testing more uses of the Sternritter to leave relevant archival records for future Shinigami.
Haschwalth probably wouldn't even have time to activate Balance.
"Monster." Haschwalth had already lost count of how many times he had uttered that word.
Even when facing Yamamoto Genryusai, he was confident he could critically injure him.
Yet, he hadn't expected that now, facing Yoriichi Tsugikuni, he could only cause a finger-sized wound...
Could this even be considered a Shinigami?
His Balance wasn't a child's toy!
Taking another deep breath, Haschwalth began to collect misfortune within a certain range around him.
The next moment,
He suddenly stepped forward, the misfortune he had barely managed to collect just enough to offset Yoriichi Tsugikuni's seemingly endless luck.
Immediately after.
The originally indestructible karma flames, which even Yamamoto Genryusai couldn't shatter, actually broke apart at that instant.
Then, Haschwalth seized the opportunity and unleashed a fierce strike directly at Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
The biting blade wind howled past, carrying an unstoppable momentum.
However, Yoriichi merely shifted his body slightly and easily dodged it, as if he had already seen through his attack trajectory.
"...Very interesting."
Seeing the Zanpakuto shatter, Yoriichi was completely unfazed; after all, this wasn't the first time this sword had broken in the past few decades.
What surprised him was that, in his original judgment, that strike should not have been able to harm the karma flames at all.
Instead, it should have been Haschwalth's weapon that sustained damage.
Unexpectedly, the result was completely opposite...
His own judgment couldn't be wrong, which meant Haschwalth must have used some means to alter the predicted future...
"Similar to The Almighty?"
"No, it should just be an inversion of the state of things."
"As expected of the Captain-Commander, he indeed has some tricks."
...
Hearing Yoriichi Tsugikuni's praise, Haschwalth couldn't feel happy at all.
Although he hadn't actively explained his ability, Yoriichi had already deduced a rough idea after just two brief exchanges...
Such keen insight truly made Haschwalth secretly click his tongue in amazement.
In a sense, this was indeed an inversion of a state.
Under normal circumstances, it should have been his own weapon that broke just now.
However, under the influence of Balance, the misfortune of the weapon breaking would be absorbed, thereby turning into a greater misfortune that would offset the luck on Yoriichi's body.
Thus, misfortune turned into luck, and luck, conversely, became misfortune...
He absorbed so much misfortune, and in the end, he could only sever Yoriichi Tsugikuni's weapon?
Haschwalth barely managed to sidestep the opponent's body, feeling the misfortune and luck on both their bodies, his gaze sinking once again.
"You are very strong, there's no doubt about that."
He tried his best to maintain his inner calm, saying with a composed expression:
"My Balance actually has no effect on you. It seems you are destined to become the biggest obstacle to His Majesty's conquest of the world."
"I will never allow you to affect His Majesty."
Considering the disparity in strength between them, Haschwalth decided to use Yhwach's power.
Previously, he had always fought Yoriichi Tsugikuni using Shinigami methods.
As a Quincy, this was undoubtedly an unqualified performance.
The reason was that he couldn't manipulate reishi.
However, under Yhwach's influence, he was about to become the strongest Quincy of the current era.
In an instant, vast reishi seemed to be summoned, gathered and converged by him, forming a gigantic blue bow and arrow.
This bow and arrow emitted a cold, eerie glow, looking very intimidating.
Indeed, the current Haschwalth could not use Yhwach's The Almighty.
But at this moment, the aura he emitted had already surpassed that of most Captains.
The Quincy form entered Yoriichi Tsugikuni's eyes, and Yoriichi nodded in satisfaction:
"Good, you are indeed much stronger than those two Quincy, both in terms of mindset and demeanor."
"Come, Haschwalth, you have your stance, and I have mine."
"This world doesn't need anyone to conquer it. It is most beneficial for the Three Realms for Yhwach to continue sleeping."
Haschwalth gave Yoriichi Tsugikuni a faint glance, his eyes seemingly filled with a myriad of unspoken words, which ultimately transformed into a cold stillness.
He slowly raised his arm, slightly drawing the taut bowstring.
As he moved, the bowstring emitted a low hum.
Immediately after.
Swish swish swish!
The vast reishi arrows, like a surging blue ocean, swept forth with an unstoppable, devastating force, pouring towards Yoriichi Tsugikuni's direction.
The arrows were unavoidable, as if they would crush and devour everything in their path, leaving no room for the opponent to dodge!
Haschwalth wasn't sure how much of this attack would be negated by Yoriichi Tsugikuni's luck.
He only hoped it could turn the tide of the current situation.
Even if he couldn't defeat the opponent, it would be good if he could buy some time.
After all, his mission was to investigate, not to fight to the death with a Shinigami...
...
At the same moment the two were confronting each other, on the other side.
Bazz-B quietly arrived in the Human World with several Quincy.
He wasn't acting out of concern for Haschwalth's safety.
He was merely worried that the situation of a Sternritter being stripped of their power might happen to him.
He hadn't yet taken revenge on Yhwach; how could he die so confusedly?
He had to figure out what had just happened...
As soon as he appeared, the dazzling lights of the Human World met his eyes, and Bazz-B subconsciously squinted.
Before he could even speak a word, he suddenly sensed Haschwalth's unique and powerful spiritual pressure.
Along with this spiritual pressure, there was also a Shinigami's spiritual pressure.
Burning, and full of oppressive force.
Bazz-B's expression darkened.
—A fight?
"Hey, hey, hey."
At this moment, one of the accompanying Quincy couldn't help but speak, his voice betraying clear dissatisfaction and confusion,
"Bazz-B, this isn't what we agreed upon earlier. Didn't we say we were just coming to investigate the situation?"
"Why is that guy fighting a Shinigami in the Human World?"
"Isn't he afraid of being surrounded by Shinigami? Or is this His Majesty's order?"
"Is it really okay for us to appear so rashly?"
The speaker was wearing a neat white Quincy uniform, with a rather delicate face and a hint of youthful innocence in his brows and eyes.
As a member of the Sternritter, his strength among the many members could only be considered average.
In his daily missions, he often followed behind others, assisting them.
Even Haschwalth, who possessed an ability like [Balance], which could be considered a one-hit kill, couldn't end the battle immediately...
Instead, he was caught in such a stalemate...
Just how strong must the enemy be?
Bazz-B impatiently glared at him, his eyes showing clear disdain.
Then he reached up and vigorously ran his hand through his signature Mohawk, scolding him in an annoyed tone:
"Shut up, what do you know, you idiot!"
"It's precisely because even Haschwalth can't deal with it that it's worth fighting, isn't it?"
"If all the enemies were soft targets easily defeated, then what would I need you for?"
"Don't forget your identity!"
"If you're scared, then go back."
"But when I return, I will definitely report to His Majesty to erase your Sternritter and give it to someone who needs it!"
At these words, the man immediately retorted:
"Who's scared? Have you forgotten what my Sternritter is? It's just instinct."
"It's concern, do you understand, concern!"
"No." Bazz-B didn't even look at him. After tidying his hair, he immediately rushed towards Haschwalth's location.
"Sternritter T—Timidity, that's all, but that's no reason for you to be afraid of fighting."
Bazz-B shouted loudly without looking back as he hurried along,
"I don't believe that a Quincy favored by His Majesty and able to join the Sternritter would be a good-for-nothing coward."
"You better think it over carefully."
"Cang Du, and Gabriel, if you're interested, follow me."
"As for you, Pot, you can go wherever you want, just don't get caught by the Shinigami and don't hold us back."
In Bazz-B's opinion, an opponent Haschwalth couldn't defeat, combined with the strength of the three of them, would probably be enough.
Iron combined with The Question, plus his own Heat, would provide both offense and defense.
Timidity was merely a supportive ability, dispensable.
If it weren't for the severe shortage of manpower, he wouldn't have brought Pot along at all.
Seeing this, Pot felt looked down upon.
Watching the others leave, he gritted his teeth, hesitated for a moment, and then finally stomped his foot and chose to follow.