"What?!"
Sōken exclaimed, "The Quincy: Letzt Stil?!"
"You don't know? It's a power that, once used, causes you to lose all spiritual power. It's the Quincy's last and strongest trump card."
Yoshio gave a wry smile. "In short, while it's powerful, once you use it, you lose your Quincy abilities."
"How could I not know?" Sōken hurriedly replied. "I'm just shocked that someone actually used that power."
The Quincy: Letzt Stil is essentially an internal Quincy secret—at least not something common Quincies would know.
Others might not know, but Sōken definitely did. It was precisely his obsession with the Letzt Stil that got him exiled from the Wandenreich to the Human World.
The Wandenreich…
Hidden in the shadows of Seireitei, it's the faction formed by the Quincies who survived the war a thousand years ago.
For a thousand years, the Quincies have never stopped thinking about revenge.
When a people are consumed by vengeance, their methods of war expand rapidly.
The Wandenreich refined the Quincy: Letzt Stil into Quincy Vollständig.
One reason Sōken was expelled from the Wandenreich was his refusal to accept this new power—Vollständig.
So how could he not know about the Quincy: Letzt Stil?
It's just that someone suddenly showing up and bringing this up still shocked him.
As for what Yoshio said…
How to put it—about sixty percent believable.
Because Yoshio immediately brought up three fairly secret Quincy matters.
One was the Quincy surname Kurosaki; another was the Quincy: Letzt Stil; the third…
He knew about the Wandenreich, and he knew Sōken had been expelled.
That alone was enough to prove the other party was also a Quincy, since up to now only Quincies know of the Wandenreich's existence.
Shinigami only know the Quincies weren't completely annihilated—they don't know about the Wandenreich or Sōken's expulsion.
All in all, Sōken was fairly confident in Yoshio's Quincy identity.
He examined Yoshio's reiatsu carefully and found it was very faint at the moment.
No wonder Kisuke Urahara's gigai was such good quality—once worn, it's almost indistinguishable from a living human.
Curious, Sōken asked, "What happened… are you planning to use a power like the Quincy: Letzt Stil?"
"…" Yoshio fell silent.
Sōken quickly added, "If you don't want to say, I won't force you. I'm just curious why you came to my house."
"It's nothing—just had a falling-out with someone."
Yoshio gave a self-mocking smile. "Those guys developed Vollständig, right?"
"They think it's stronger than the Letzt Stil. I disagreed, so I had a match with that person."
Sōken's pupils widened!
For a moment, he even felt he'd found a kindred spirit!
He too believed Vollständig shouldn't be used!
But he was still shocked. "Just for that, you were willing to throw away your power?"
Vollständig is a refined version of the Letzt Stil, and its greatest advantage is that it doesn't cause power loss after use.
So even if Yoshio won that match, as long as the opponent survived, that opponent effectively "won."
"Honestly… it's not a big deal." Yoshio smiled. "Even if I kept my powers, in a few decades I'd just be another grunt dying on the battlefield. To be frank… I have no interest in that grand revenge narrative."
"…"
By now, Sōken could basically confirm Yoshio was indeed a Quincy—and not just a Quincy, but a like-minded one.
Because everything Yoshio said was known only to Quincies.
And even among Quincies, only those with a certain status would know such details.
"As for why I came here—truthfully, I'm not too sure myself."
"After leaving the Wandenreich, I just wandered around the Human World. I was napping in a tree earlier, fell out, and realized it was your place."
Yoshio added, "Maybe it's fate? Haha…"
"Fate really is unpredictable," Sōken nodded in agreement.
"But I am curious, Kurosaki… why did you refuse Vollständig?"
"I don't want my life and death controlled by someone else," Yoshio answered without hesitation.
"Even though Vollständig is an improved Letzt Stil, I can't shake the feeling that once we use it, even our souls won't belong to us."
Yoshio grew solemn again and said:
"You know this, right? The sleeping Quincy King—nine hundred years to regain his heartbeat, ninety years to regain his consciousness, and nine years to regain his power…"
"…The Quincy legend, the 'Kaiser Gesang'," Sōken said gravely.
"Yes. Our leader… possesses the ability of Seele Schneider. But we pure-bloods aren't subject to the power-recall of Seele Schneider."
Yoshio also became serious and said earnestly, "Still, I feel that once we use Vollständig, we'll lose that 'special' exemption. The more we drown ourselves in Yhwach's power, the harder it becomes to escape his control."
"…" Sōken didn't respond immediately. He regarded Yoshio intently, then after a moment, nodded in agreement.
"I've thought the same. That's why I resolutely oppose using Vollständig." He gave another wry smile. "It's just that our idea is destined to be unacceptable to others."
"Look on the bright side—everyone has their own pursuits," Yoshio shook his head. "So I think my current state is just fine. Live a few decades in the Human World, then die of old age. Isn't that a good enough life?"
"Haha, you've got a point."
At that moment, Yoshio noticed Sōken's favorability toward him had reached sixty-five.
Great. Looks like he made the right choice.
The persona he fabricated was indeed the type most likely to earn Sōken's approval.
Sōken is someone banished by the Wandenreich, someone who doesn't harbor much hatred toward Shinigami, and someone who rejects Vollständig.
Therefore, he's someone who has abandoned the Wandenreich, bears no grudge against Shinigami, and refuses Vollständig.
Having never met a kindred spirit, Sōken would likely soon recognize him as a "Quincy."