From Soifon, a strange connection surged up in Yhwach's heart — a faint resonance, almost like a bond of shared blood.
Yhwach was briefly taken aback, then settled back into calm.
Of course. She had drunk his blood, awakened the Schrift power he had granted her — it was only natural that such a close bond had formed. If anything, it gave him an even stronger sense that Soifon was now "one of his own."
With this connection established, it didn't matter how powerful Soifon grew — there was nothing to fear. As long as the prophesied hour of the Kaiser Gesang arrived...
He made no move to ask what specific power Soifon's Schrift [A] had awakened. He had already begun to anticipate just how formidable a force she would harvest once her Holy Selection was complete.
Seizing the moment while all Sternritter members were present, Yhwach's resonant voice rang out again with a command:
"Soifon."
"Now that your Schrift has awakened, I have a task to entrust to you."
"Within Hueco Mundo, a Sternritter — Meninas McAllon — has long been held captive by the traitor Sōsuke Aizen. I command you to lead a team into Hueco Mundo and bring her back to the Empire safely."
As his words fell, the pale blue flames surged suddenly, swallowing the throne whole. When the flames extinguished, the throne sat empty.
Soifon turned around. Her gaze drifted slowly over the assembled crowd, until at last it came to rest on three particular figures.
"Bambietta."
The girl whose name was called went deathly pale in an instant. Her body gave a visible shudder, and she instinctively pressed her hands to her stomach and shrank backward.
"Liltotto."
Liltotto's lollipop-licking motion froze. She blinked her large eyes — mildly surprised, but not particularly resistant.
"Candice."
A flash of blue electricity flickered between the green-haired girl's brows. She gave Soifon a thumbs-up; she had long since grown fed up with sitting around in the suffocating atmosphere of the Wandenreich.
Soifon looked at the three of them. "Just you three — follow me."
With that, she turned and walked out of the palace, not giving the three of them even a chance to refuse or ask questions.
Bambietta's face went whiter and whiter.
She stared at Soifon's retreating silhouette until it disappeared into the shadows beyond the palace doors, then finally turned to her companions, trembling, and squeezed out: "Do I... have to go...?"
Liltotto pulled the candy stick from her mouth and licked the corner of her lips. "What do you think, little Bambi?"
Candice let out a sigh and patted Bambietta on the shoulder. Everything that needed to be said had been said without words.
The three of them shuffled along reluctantly, passing through the pale corridors, heading in the direction of the Gate of the Sun.
On the way there, the mood was heavy. Liltotto ate her candy in self-absorbed silence; Bambietta kept her head down and said not a word.
Candice quickened her pace until she was walking beside Soifon and asked out of curiosity:
"Your Schrift A... what exactly is your ability?"
"The last person with Schrift A was Uryū Ishida, who was chosen by His Majesty as his successor..."
Soifon didn't break her stride. She glanced sideways at Candice for a moment, then turned her gaze forward and kept walking.
"Just an ordinary Schrift," Soifon said offhandedly, naming some ability on the spot. "Roughly — it lets me attack enemies from behind."
"Something like this..."
She snapped her fingers at the air. The walking Bambietta suddenly lurched violently forward, nearly faceplanting. She clutched the back of her head and straightened up — furious, but far too afraid to say a single word.
Schrift A — Assassin:
When Soifon activates this ability, she can force anything to manifest at the rear of any target — including attacks.
Hueco Mundo.
Soifon led the three of them through the portal and stepped onto soft, yielding sand.
"This is Hueco Mundo? What a desolate place."
Candice wrinkled her brow, kicking idly at the sand with her foot.
"The spirit particles in the air... they're unpleasant."
Liltotto licked her lollipop, small face scrunching with distaste. Hollow Spiritual Pressure was, after all, a potent toxin to a Quincy.
Bambietta stuck close to the rear, head bowed — completely unlike her usual brazen and domineering self.
Soifon paid their grumbling no mind. She got her bearings, then set off in the direction of Las Noches.
The vast, pale silhouette of Las Noches soon appeared on the horizon.
When the four of them reached those enormous palace gates, the two Arrancar standing guard clearly stiffened for just a moment — then immediately suppressed all hostility, bowed respectfully, and stepped aside to clear the path.
"Lady Soifon, welcome back."
The sight left all three Quincy trailing behind Soifon visibly startled.
"Do they still take you as their boss?" Candice muttered quietly beside Soifon. "Be honest—"
"So — you want to pick a fight with a bunch of Arrancar right now?" Soifon stopped walking and turned back to look at the three Quincy with a cold, unsettling gaze. "Just so we're clear: I won't be stepping in to help you..."
"..."
Candice made a zipping motion across her lips and indicated she would say no more.
They passed through the grand yet somewhat cavernous corridors of the palace. Every Arrancar they encountered along the way bowed respectfully to Soifon, while their gazes toward the three Quincy at her back were heavy with undisguised hostility and wariness.
The strange atmosphere made the three Quincy increasingly tense. Without realizing it, they drew closer together, practically pressing up against Soifon's back.
Soon, they arrived at the main hall of Las Noches.
Inside, several powerful Spiritual Pressures had already gathered to wait.
At the forefront stood Sōsuke Aizen. His appearance was utterly unlike what Soifon remembered from Soul Society — the unsettling Hollow-like features and butterfly-like wings had vanished entirely. He had reverted to the appearance of the Hōgyoku fusion's first stage, and the areas that Ichibē Hyōsube's Ichimonji had dyed black had long since faded back to normal.
Behind him stood Kaname Tōsen and Gin Ichimaru, along with the surviving Espada: Starrk, Nelliel, Harribel, Grimmjow, and Szayelaporro.
"Captain Soifon, welcome back to Las Noches."
Aizen wore his habitual smile, offering Soifon a warm greeting.
"Lady Soifon!"
Both Nelliel and Harribel showed genuine smiles upon seeing Soifon. Nelliel even gave her a cheerful wave.
Soifon gave them a small nod, the corner of her lips curving slightly.
Then her gaze fell on the transparent stasis pod standing beside Aizen. Inside, a pink-haired female Quincy lay quietly — Meninas McAllon.
"It seems you already know my purpose, Captain Aizen," Soifon said.
Aizen stepped to one side and made a welcoming gesture.
"Since it is Captain Soifon's request, it was only natural to prepare in advance." Aizen's tone carried its characteristic air of mystery. "However, before that—"
Before the sentence was finished, Soifon suddenly felt a subtle disturbance in the air.
The Spiritual Pressure of Kyōka Suigetsu — releasing.
Soifon's gaze snapped to Aizen's waist — only to find that his Zanpakutō had not been drawn.
At that same moment, everyone around her came to a simultaneous halt. Bambietta, Liltotto, and Candice behind her. The Espada behind Aizen. All of them frozen at once.
"As expected... still ineffective against Captain Soifon."
Aizen had been watching Soifon's expression closely. Seeing that she remained entirely unaffected, he let out a helpless laugh.
"It seems Captain Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu has grown somewhat stronger," Soifon remarked, tilting her head to study him.
"Don't be surprised, Captain Soifon."
"I've merely used Kyōka Suigetsu to subtly warp their perception of time. Right now, a single second stretches out to feel endless to them — they won't perceive our conversation at all."
"Even after I release the ability, they won't notice this gap in time."
Aizen's voice reached Soifon's ears with perfect clarity.
I see... so this is what his solitary epiphany has wrought — even from merely confining himself here in Hueco Mundo.
"By the way — Captain Soifon has defected to the Quincy this time?" Aizen stepped forward, observing the Quincy standing behind her.
"That's right. The Royal Palace has already decided — the next Soul King will be Yhwach."
"I'm just a cog in the machine too, in the end, Captain Aizen..."
Soifon relayed everything from her conversation with Ichibē Hyōsube in full, wanting to see what reaction the news would draw from him.
For a brief, flickering instant, a flash of unwilling rage crossed Aizen's eyes — then he laughed lightly and shook his head.
His words carried a contemptuous sort of pity:
"The great King of the Quincy, Yhwach — sovereign of the Wandenreich for a thousand years..."
"And in the end, even ascending to the throne of the Soul King depends on the charity of the Royal Palace. How utterly pathetic."
Aizen and Soifon held each other's gaze for several seconds. Then, without warning, he stepped forward — closing the distance between them.
"Captain Soifon... what if I told you I have a method? One that requires no such elaborate machinations, no need to rely on Zero Division's arrangements — a way to deal with the problem of Yhwach entirely?"
Soifon raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue.
"Replacing the Soul King's seat is not something only Yhwach can accomplish, Captain Soifon..."
"I too can sustain the Three Worlds. I too can become the Soul King!"
As the words fell, Sōsuke Aizen spread his arms wide — as though embracing all of Hueco Mundo, all three worlds at once.
Soifon stared at him for a long moment, genuinely wondering whether Ichibē Hyōsube's Ichimonji had actually painted this man's brain black.
Didn't the monk already make it clear — you don't have the qualifications...?
But then — Aizen was not a man who spoke empty words. If he had said this, it at the very least meant he had already formed some kind of concrete plan for how to become the Soul King.
Soifon kept her eyes fixed on him for a long while. "Are you serious?"
Aizen lowered his arms. "I have never been more serious, Captain Soifon."
After witnessing power on a higher plane — and cross-referencing it against the Soul King's resonance he had sensed from within the inner sanctum of the Royal Palace — the Hōgyoku in Aizen's chest had once again evolved in response to his will, even gradually breaking free of the Ichimonji's suppression.
However, relying solely on Meninas's blood, Aizen was still unable to perfectly replicate the power of a Quincy.
And so, he had turned his gaze toward Yhwach — the Progenitor of the Quincy.
If he could observe Yhwach's power at close range, extract his flesh and Spiritual Pressure for research and experimentation...
No — more precisely: extract Yhwach's power in its entirety, and absorb it directly into the Hōgyoku within his chest.
That way — would he not have unified the powers of Quincy, Hollow, Shinigami, and Soul King into a single vessel?
It was quite obvious where Sōsuke Aizen had drawn his inspiration: from Ichigo Kurosaki — the Three Worlds' greatest half-blood.
____
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