The outside world naturally had no idea what was happening inside the Wandenreich.
And everything that happened outside had already reached a conclusion.
After Kisuke Urahara and Sōsuke Aizen finished their conversation, the war abruptly ended.
The Visoreds in the Human World retreated, and the Espada in Hueco Mundo pulled back to Las Noches.
And just like that, it ended!
The besieged Captain in the Human world let out a sigh of relief, and so did the Captain in Hueco Mundo.
The people Kisuke Urahara had arranged hadn't even arrived yet, and the Espada besieging them had already withdrawn.
After that, several captains in the Human World gathered together.
Everyone bore marks of battle—especially Ichimaru Gin, who looked badly injured.
Originally, Kisuke Urahara's target this time was Ichimaru Gin.
On the surface, it was about dealing with Aizen, but the fake Aizen couldn't truly be eliminated; if something really happened to the fake Aizen, the real Aizen would have no reason to keep using that disguise.
Then Aizen might well take the playacting seriously and wipe out all the captains under siege in Hueco Mundo.
That would be counterproductive. So from the start, besieging the fake Aizen was just for show—the real target was Aizen's subordinate, Ichimaru Gin.
But Ichimaru Gin wasn't ordinary—especially with several captains nearby; if they moved, the captains moved too.
Aside from the initial ambush on Ichimaru Gin, it turned into a melee.
Gin's injuries came during the opening sneak attack and the encirclement.
Though the enemy had the numbers, Aizen alone pinned down two extremely powerful captains, Kisuke Urahara and Hirako Shinji, and the rest of the forces were even more mismatched in strength.
There were eight Visoreds in total, but only four were captains; three others were lieutenants, and along with a former Kidō corps lieutenant, Hachigen Ushōda, who wasn't good at combat and didn't participate at all.
In other words, the pressure on Ichimaru Gin wasn't as heavy as imagined.
What's more, they had hypothetical constructs of Kyōraku Shunsui and Jūshirō Ukitake helping them.
However, after the battle, the virtual bodies of Kyōraku Shunsui and Jūshirō Ukitake also disappeared.
Now, only the original four captains remained.
Komamura Sajin said in a deep voice, "In the end, Kisuke Urahara and the others still escaped!"
"I don't think it was just us…" Aizen said then. "The other captains must have been besieged too; otherwise someone would have come to support us long ago."
"After the battle ended, Kyōraku and Ukitake vanished," Kuchiki Byakuya said. "Does this have anything to do with Kisuke Urahara?"
"For something like that… shouldn't we ask Captain Kurotsuchi?" Though injured, Ichimaru Gin's tone was still light. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "What a cunning bunch, targeting us like that."
"Of course. After all, there are only four captains here," Aizen said. "Though we don't know why the enemy withdrew, I think we should return to the Soul Society immediately and report this to Captain-Commander Yamamoto."
"What a pity Captain-Commander Yamamoto must guard the Soul Society. Otherwise, if he were here, dealing with these traitors would be easy," Gin waved and smiled.
Right now, only Captain-Commander Yamamoto was left in the Soul Society; he couldn't leave lightly, or who would protect it?
They are the Gotei 13—guarding Seireitei is their main duty. They can't abandon Seireitei over Kisuke Urahara, can they?
He didn't know the captains in Hueco Mundo were besieged, but he could see the Human World's situation and still didn't act.
Now the captains had to report in.
The four captains conferred and finally decided to have the 5th Division remain in the Human World for now, act cautiously, and avoid exposing themselves to Kisuke Urahara and the others; the remaining captains would first return to the Soul Society.
They at least had to figure out what on earth had happened.
Why did Kyōraku Shunsui and Jūshirō Ukitake disappear? Why did Kisuke Urahara suddenly show up and then vanish just as suddenly?
But no matter what, there was one thing they could be sure of.
Namely, Kisuke Urahara and the others really had researched "hollowfication," just as previously judged!
Because in the battle, many of those captains and lieutenants used hollowfication.
That evil spiritual pressure was definitely not fake.
"Where were you just now?"
After the other fifty-six squads withdrew, even the 5th Division dismissed a large number of members, leaving only the 45th squad's mounted officers and above stationed in Tokyo.
Then Tōshirō Hitsugaya headed to Yoshio.
During the earlier fight, Tōshirō Hitsugaya hadn't intervened lightly—by the time he arrived, the battle was nearly over.
"No need to worry about the captain's side. They mainly targeted the captains. I'm not injured."
Yoshio reached out a wicked hand and ruffled Hitsugaya's hair like petting a cat.
Hitsugaya disdainfully slapped Yoshio's hand away. "I didn't ask whether you were injured."
"Tsk, you're not asking?" Yoshio said. "You'll be transferred to the Thirteenth Division when you get back. From now on you can't touch me like this anymore—hands off!"
He reached out again, pressed his hand on the black-line-streaked Tōshirō's head, and said, "I'm not your pet!"
He immediately used Shunpo to open distance from Yoshio.
With a look of regret, Yoshio said, "Sigh, you really have grown up—won't even let me get close now."
Veins popping on his forehead, Hitsugaya turned around. "I'm going to the captain. You stay here and get sentimental."
With that, he chained Shunpo steps toward Aizen.
Yoshio smiled and didn't follow. His attention was on his imaginary body, Angra Mainyu.
….
Hueco Mundo.
Because of Aizen's and Yoshio's orders, the Espada, who had thoroughly suppressed the captains earlier, had to stop. Even though they felt they had the upper hand, they could only withdraw helplessly.
In truth, only a few were truly unwilling.
At least the top-ranked Espada—Starrk, Nelliel, and Halibel—had no objections. If even they didn't object, the remaining Arrancar's dissent was meaningless.
As they left, Angra Mainyu, who had been watching from afar, also prepared to leave.
He was Yoshio's insurance left there—mainly to see if anyone would die.
He wasn't trying to babysit—he just hadn't yet acquired these people's Souls Ability!
Even if they were going to die, they should at least wait until he permanently obtained their Souls Ability!
Some abilities he didn't need, true, but many he desperately wanted!
Once his favorability reached eighty, they could die the next second—but at least not the second before!
If they died, wouldn't he lose out on an ability for nothing?
Thankfully, that didn't happen. The Gotei 13 captains who remained in Hueco Mundo were all elites!
Kyōraku Shunsui, a healthy Jūshirō Ukitake, Shiba Isshin—these were very powerful captains.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi goes without saying—the king of black tech. Aside from being somewhat disadvantaged against Ishida Uryū, at other times he could even face down the Left Arm of the Soul King head-on.
Suì-Fēng's raw power was relatively weaker, but her speed was lethal. As long as it wasn't a monster like Baraggan or Starrk, her speed wouldn't easily lose.
Tōsen Kaname… as for that traitor, nothing more needs to be said.
The Espada were strong, but aside from Starrk, the rest weren't as powerful as in the original's Karakura Town battles.
If they truly clashed, it would be hard to say who was stronger!
After leaving, Angra Mainyu headed to the Negal Ruins.
Soon after, he met Kisuke Urahara there.
It was as if they'd had a tacit understanding—after the war ended, they both came here.
Yoruichi had seen him before. Back then, Yoruichi wanted Angra Mainyu to meet Kisuke Urahara, but he refused.
He said if Kisuke Urahara wanted to meet, he should come himself.
And now, he had come to Hueco Mundo in person as agreed.
"So you're Kisuke Urahara."
Angra sized him up and said:
"I'm curious as well. We already have near-complete Arrancar," Kisuke Urahara said. "You shouldn't have been created by Mr. Aizen. With his current technology, he can't create Arrancar of this caliber."
Arrancar completeness varied. As in the original, Aizen had created Arrancar before the plot began.
But only after obtaining Urahara's Hōgyoku and fusing two Hōgyoku into a new one could he create fully complete Arrancar.
In Urahara's view, the current Arrancar were incomplete.
Among them, only Angra Mainyu and Starrk had very high completeness.
From the earlier battles, Urahara believed that he, Aizen, and Mayuri had all been collecting data on both sides.
Aizen had just started creating Arrancar and wanted to use the war to evaluate their power and observe experimental data.
Data on the Visoreds appearing in Karakura Town had likely also been collected by Aizen.
No helping it—observation is something both sides can do. If Urahara could observe, so could Aizen.
For scientists, as long as there's data, everything can be discussed.
"As for Arrancar, I've figured it out. As to how I became an Arrancar…" Angra Mainyu said flatly, "That's my secret. Why should I tell you?"
"I can more or less guess," Urahara said.
"I know you previously infiltrated the Soul Society and that the Tsunayashiro family secretly collected Soul King fragments. If I'm not mistaken, you used Soul King's power to complete your Arrancar metamorphosis, didn't you?"
That wasn't the truth, but the interpretation worked.
So Yoshio said nothing, and Urahara took the silence as confirmation.
Urahara continued, "Soul King's power is miraculous—virtually omnipotent. How about we cooperate? If you still desire 'evolution'."
Urahara's words were very tempting, and Angra Mainyu was genuinely intrigued.
He had considered joining Aizen's Arrancar army to hitch a ride on Aizen's Hōgyoku for enhancement.
But if Urahara could do the same, cooperating with him wasn't impossible.
So he asked, "What can you do? And what do I do?"
"What can you do" meant what Urahara could do for him—how he could evolve.
"What do I do" meant what he needed to do to receive that help.
"I need 'reinforcements' and 'power,'" Urahara said gravely. "Because of this, I discovered a terrifying force lurking within the Three Realms."
"Oh?"
"My research into the Quincy started long ago," Urahara said bluntly. "Over two hundred years ago, the Soul Society exterminated the last remaining Quincy, and most of their corpses were shipped to the Research and Development Institute."
"Even after leaving the Soul Society, I continued researching human and Quincy souls in the Human World."
Yoshio knew this.
For instance, the vaccine that allowed the Visoreds to survive their hollowfication process was made from Quincy spirit arrows and human souls.
In that sense, Urahara was not a merciful man; human souls were merely research materials to him.
No helping it—his abilities were that strong.
This world itself was built on mountains of corpses and betrayal; the Soul Society, as the protagonist faction, was particularly corrupt and dark. Naturally, Urahara wouldn't stay untainted.
So, in the Human World, Urahara immediately thought of the Wandenreich at Suì-Fēng's disappearance site.
Professional to the core.
Urahara's Quincy research was evidently far ahead of Mayuri's.
Mayuri had studied Quincy for a century, and even after witnessing the Wandenreich's first attack, he still didn't realize they existed in the shadows of Seireitei.
Well, perhaps the Quincy Mayuri analyzed were too weak.
"After this war, I can confirm…the Quincy still exist and have amassed considerable power."
Clever, but…
"What does that have to do with me?"
Hands in his pockets, Angra said coolly, "By your account, they're just cowards hiding in the shadows."
"Quincy and Hollows are natural enemies," Urahara looked at Angra Mainyu, serious. "Which means they will certainly try to eradicate all Hollows!"
"…" Angra frowned.
Seeing his attitude soften a little, Urahara said, "By comparison, perhaps even Mr. Aizen's matter can be set aside for now. Compared to Mr. Aizen's designs, the Quincy's aims are far more sinister."
Heh—so you also know what Yhwach wants?
What an interesting world—Aizen knew Yhwach's goal, Urahara knew it, but Yamamoto, who fought Yhwach himself, didn't know what he wanted.
What a brute…
Yoshio reminded himself he mustn't become a thug.
But Urahara had a point.
Aizen only wanted to replace the king of the Three Realms, while Yhwach wanted to destroy the Three Realms—that was indeed more evil and outrageous than Aizen.
Thus, after hesitating, Angra Mainyu said, "So your idea is…"
"Let's cooperate. I can lead you to a higher realm of power—you'll become our main force against the Quincy!"
To deal with the Quincy, one must rely on Hollows!
In fact, Urahara hadn't yet discovered that Hollow power is toxic to Quincy; he just instinctively felt that since the Quincy were obsessed with eradicating Hollows—so fanatically that they'd rather be destroyed than reconcile—that obsession was terrifying.
The Hollow void must contain something that counters Quincy.
That was Urahara's belief.
As a scientist, he believed there are solutions to all things; there is no invincible power in this world. No matter how strong something looks, it must have a weakness.
In other words, if you seize that weakness, even the strongest will crumble.
Yoshio suddenly realized he'd grasped a great opportunity.
First, Kurosaki Ichigo hadn't been born yet.
This meant that all factions believed they lacked a top-tier combatant.
After all, from birth to adulthood, Ichigo had been watched by Urahara, Aizen, and Yhwach. His existence was a key piece for all three.
Now, all three lacked that piece!
Without Kurosaki Ichigo—but with an early discovery of the Quincy—what would Urahara do?
Of course, he would use Hollow power! In fact, he could only use Hollow power!
This made Urahara's approach far more reasonable: to deal with the Quincy, he wouldn't hesitate to deploy Hollow power like his own—and even claimed he could elevate him further…
Yoshio instantly understood: Urahara wanted Angra Mainyu to become his top enforcer. But was he so sure a Hollow would obey him?
That said, Urahara did understand Hollow psychology—their obsession with evolution was frightening. Aside from the outlier Starrk, which Hollow didn't yearn to evolve?
Ironically, the one least desirous of evolution—Starrk—evolved naturally, while those yearning for evolution needed outside help.
Not the only irony here.
Back then, millions of years ago, people feared Hollows—leading to the birth of the Quincy progenitor, the Soul King's opposite, to eradicate them.
And now, millions of years later, people feared the Quincy and planned to use Hollow power to fight them?
One must say, people's positions are remarkably flexible.