"Quincy?"
Starrk frowned, apparently unfamiliar with the term.
Angra wasn't surprised; Aizen hadn't told the residents of Las Noches about the Quincy.
Yoshio hadn't told them either.
The Quincy had been annihilated by the Shinigami over a thousand years ago. Even though a few in the Human World survived, most were wiped out again more than two hundred years ago, leaving only scattered remnants.
For Arrancar who spent most of their time in Hueco Mundo, their impression of the Quincy was even more nebulous.
Some Hollows didn't even know what a Quincy was!
Starrk had virtually no impression of the Quincy; after all, he was a lone wolf who had never set foot in the Human World, so he naturally knew nothing about them.
He only knew that there existed such a force among the Three Realms, and that they seemed to be enemies of Hollows.
What little he knew was thanks to Lilynette's constant nagging.
Lilynette had learned about them from Yoshio's novel, "Thousand-Year Blood War."
So when Angra mentioned the Quincy, Starrk thought for a moment and realized that most of his impressions came from a piece of fiction.
He couldn't help asking, "You mean that group who use bows and arrows?"
In truth, "Thousand-Year Blood War" wasn't popular in Las Noches; it was nowhere near as popular as "Stone Mask."
In "Thousand-Year Blood War," Hollows mostly played comedic roles, like the World Government's "Seven Warlords"—some of whom had already been defeated by the protagonist.
Compared to the main boss, the Quincy, Hollows came off as lower tier.
So the Arrancar didn't like reading "Thousand-Year Blood War."
Even Lilynette didn't care for it much, so Starrk had even less interest.
Angra had to explain to Starrk: "Similar, but that's just a stereotype. Bows made of reishi manipulation are only their basic ability. Powerful Quincy fight with all kinds of techniques, much like Shinigami with their Zanpakuto."
"Oh? Where are they?" Starrk couldn't help showing some interest.
"Seireitei."
"Seireitei?!" Starrk said in surprise. "Isn't that Shinigami territory?"
"This is Shinigami territory, but it's also Quincy territory, because the Quincy hide beneath the shadows of Seireitei!"
"There's something like that?!"
Starrk furrowed his brow; he was indeed curious about the Wandenreich.
But…
"Why come to me?" he asked, looking at Angra.
Angra chuckled softly, then looked up at the sky.
Hueco Mundo's sky was eternal night, with only the "artificial sun" Aizen made in Las Noches maintaining a counterfeit "daylight."
A pale new moon hung above. Angra looked up and felt a chill.
In the moonlight, Angra said softly, "Who else in Hueco Mundo do you think is qualified to accompany me?"
Starrk immediately turned away. "Don't forget, we're enemies now. Our positions differ. Even if we're both Arrancar, I've no reason to help you."
"There is a reason."
Seeing Starrk about to leave, Angra pulled out his trump card. He lowered his voice: "I can completely separate Lilynette from you into two distinct people."
"Hm?" Starrk halted mid-step, turned his head, and asked, "What did you say?"
Angra smiled lightly and repeated, "I said I can help fully separate you and Lilynette, so you can be rid of this somewhat awkward arrangement."
As an insider, Yoshio was hardly unaware of what Starrk and Lilynette wanted.
As Starrk drew closer to Segunda Etapa, the relationship between him and Lilynette had become increasingly unique.
Though always considered distinct entities, they ultimately split from the same person.
For example, when Starrk used Resurrection, Lilynette returned to him, giving the constant impression she was subordinate to him.
Starrk believed he and Lilynette were equals in every way. Even if their power levels differed, their personalities—or rather, their Hollow personae—were equal.
But the problem now was that Starrk seemed to play the leading role in their relationship.
For instance, he had Resurrection, and Resurrection required Lilynette to revert back to him.
As an Arrancar, Lilynette didn't even have a Resurrection state. Was that reasonable?
Although their bond looked "closer" this way, Starrk still felt a complete separation would be an act of respect toward Lilynette.
Lilynette was his friend, the most important person to him, but she could not remain his subordinate—or a part of him.
In his dealings with Starrk, Yoshio had vaguely perceived this dynamic.
And so, at this moment, he spoke through Angra Mainyu.
Now he felt his guess had been correct.
Angra said flatly, "Looks like you've made up your mind."
"You belong to Kisuke Urahara. How am I supposed to trust you?" Starrk's voice cooled.
"Whose man I am is irrelevant. For Hollows, such things are meaningless," Angra said in a low voice. "I exist only for myself."
"…"
Starrk seemed to think it over. After a while, he asked again, "Why do you need me to go with you?"
"I need someone to draw fire," Angra said bluntly. "Only you can do it. It won't take long—just buy me a short window of action."
"Alright." Starrk found Angra's straightforwardness oddly convincing.
He didn't ask how strong the Quincy were. Starrk had absolute confidence in his own power—especially since Angra said he only needed a decoy. That meant Starrk was up to the task.
For some reason, he felt an unconscious trust toward Angra Mainyu.
Was it because they both revived themselves? Because they were Arrancar? Or for some other reason?
"Go in your Resurrection state."
Angra Mainyu said, "Don't underestimate the Quincy. I think you've already reached Segunda Etapa."
"You know a lot," Starrk said, puzzled, staring at Angra.
He didn't know how this person knew so much. What he'd just mentioned were secrets known to only a handful within Las Noches—the Espada.
Fewer than five people in all of Las Noches could know.
How did Angra Mainyu know?
Was it Kisuke Urahara? Was that man really that terrifying?
"You don't need to tell me." Starrk's body vanished in an instant, leaving only a sentence behind.
"Wait for me here in three days."
"Heh…" Angra chuckled and left as well.
Starrk might tell Lilynette. Whether he'd tell Yoshio and Aizen was hard to say.
…
The following night, when Yoshio arrived at Las Noches, he indeed heard Starrk report his meeting with Angra Mainyu.
Yoshio had no objections, saying it was vacation time and staff could do whatever they wanted.
So, on the third day, when Angra Mainyu reached their rendezvous, he found Starrk ready to go.
Seeing Angra arrive, Lilynette was still suspicious. She kicked the sand, raising a spray of white grains.
The white sand curved around Angra Mainyu and dissipated before it reached him. Angra smiled. "Looks like you both have no objections."
"When do we leave?"
Starrk asked directly.
"No Resurrection?" Angra said. "I told you, the place is dangerous. You'd better go at your strongest."
"What about you? You haven't used Resurrection either." Starrk looked calmly at Angra.
"My condition is a little special. To ensure we can both enter Seireitei and the Wandenreich, I need to be in a 'stealth' state."
Starrk gave Angra a deep look, then held out his hand.
Lilynette walked over unhappily. "Hey, do you really believe him?"
"He sounds exactly like someone tricking a kid!"
Still, she fell into Starrk's grasp.
In the next moment, Starrk activated his Resurrection.
The two became one, and a pair of pistols appeared in Starrk's hands.
His transformation didn't stop there. As his spiritual pressure surged, he entered Segunda Etapa!
Twin Hollow holes shone with soul-light, and the mask on his face nearly vanished. In this moment his Shinigami-like form was deeper, more refined than when Aizen's Hogyoku had forcibly pushed him into Segunda Etapa.
Angra clapped. "As expected of you. Such tremendous reiatsu is rare in this world."
"You can use Segunda Etapa too, can't you?" said Starrk, calm in his Segunda Etapa state.
"Well, in terms of completeness, it's not as good as yours."
Angra didn't hide it. After fighting Tenshintai, under Kisuke Urahara's observation, he'd basically grasped the principles of Segunda Etapa and taken the first step.
His subsequent training focused on mastering Segunda Etapa.
However, his current completion was still too low—even less than Starrk's Hogyoku-forced Segunda Etapa.
But he believed he could perfect Segunda Etapa in at most ten years.
After Segunda Etapa, he would seek a third-stage Resurrection—existing only as a hypothetical in Kisuke Urahara's plans!
Third-stage Resurrection meant becoming a transcendent being!
Starrk might not have thought about a third stage; even Szayelaporro probably hadn't.
Starrk truly lacked a strong desire to become stronger. While he didn't yearn for weakness like in the original, his obsession with power was still much weaker than other Hollows.
So he didn't react much to Angra's words, and simply asked again: "Shall we go now?"
"Of course—the sooner, the better."
Angra finished, then opened a Garganta.
Upon entering, they did not appear in Seireitei, but in Rukongai.
"Isn't the Wandenreich under Seireitei's shadows?"
"That's right, but to enter the Wandenreich, we must first infiltrate Seireitei in secret."
"How do you plan to do that?"
"Don't worry—we'll be there soon."
As Angra finished, a disturbance came from ahead.
Starrk frowned; he sensed a Shinigami squad approaching.
Black sludge flowed from Angra's body, like a passage to another dark world.
"In you go," he said in a low voice. "If you're worried I have ulterior motives, shield your body with spiritual pressure."
Starrk didn't reply. He quietly stepped in.
In the next instant, all the black sludge retracted into Angra's body.
Alone, he squinted at the incoming Shinigami.
It was Momo Hinamori's Fifth Division unit.
Angra came here because he knew the Fifth Division would patrol this area today and soon return to Seireitei.
Because he had arranged this in the first place; as Fifth Division Lieutenant, he naturally had the authority to schedule patrol shifts.
His target wasn't Hinamori but an inconspicuous Shinigami among them. His entire body liquefied into an unremarkable puddle, appearing along their inevitable path.
Not a single Shinigami rushing back to Seireitei noticed the black puddle. Only when one stepped on it did the sludge activate, burrowing into the Shinigami's body in an instant.
The Shinigami, who had been sprinting, paused for a moment, then resumed with the group as if nothing had happened.
They were already near Seireitei, and soon passed through the gate.
No one noticed two Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar hidden inside a minor Shinigami's body.
Since this task was patrol duty, everyone could go home and rest upon return.
When this Shinigami got home, his eyes turned black.
A small black sword appeared in his hand.
This was the "key" Kisuke Urahara created by extracting the Quincy's shadow power, allowing the user to enter and leave the Wandenreich.
Of course, Angra believed Kisuke Urahara had left some mechanism inside to collect information from the Wandenreich upon entry.
For someone as brilliant as Kisuke Urahara, even tiny scraps of information could be extrapolated into something big, eventually tearing a hole in a vast web.
Kisuke Urahara had that ability.
This wasn't bad for Angra either. For him, Aizen wasn't his enemy, Kisuke Urahara wasn't his enemy, Yamamoto and the Monk weren't his enemies. The only one worthy of being called his enemy was Yhwach.
After all…
Whether it was Aizen's rebellion or Yamamoto and the Monk maintaining Shinigami rule, none of that harmed Yoshio.
But Yhwach intended to madly obliterate the entire Three Realms!
Even with a Quincy clone, he could never help Yhwach do such a thing!
What a joke—he wasn't insane or photophobic. Why would he destroy the Three Realms?
People always have reasons for what they do; he wouldn't act without one.
Therefore, the more information Kisuke Urahara and Aizen collected about the Quincy, the more they analyzed, and the more anti-Quincy tools they created—the better!
Ideally, when the Wandenreich's Quincy confidently declared war on the Shinigami, they'd find every Shinigami captain carrying a badge that could snatch away the Quincy's Vollständig when activated.
Of course, the Sternritter were just the appetizer; the main dish was the Sternritter and Yhwach—or more precisely, only Yhwach.
He wondered whether he could develop a tool specifically for Yhwach, or design a special Kido targeting him…
Yoshio no longer had the bandwidth to do those things.
He was currently focused on creating his own Hogyoku, then designing a ritual to fuse his main body and his clones.
In short, Angra plunged the toy-like black sword into a room's shadow. The next instant, the shadow came alive.
It rippled like the surface of the sea, then parted. Although a shadow has no structure, weight, or volume, in this moment it seemed to gain dimension, opening in layered depths.
Angra maneuvered the Shinigami inside, and the surrounding space immediately tilted into blackness.
He felt as if he were falling; the air grew cold.
The next instant, he plummeted from the air—and just before hitting the ground, straightened himself and appeared in the Ice Palace of the Wandenreich!
According to Kisuke Urahara, since he couldn't go to Seireitei himself, he hadn't fully grasped the shadow mechanism of the Wandenreich, so there might be "minor disturbances" crossing over.
And although that seemed minor on the surface—his sudden appearance—Angra knew he'd been discovered, especially with Baelz acting as an inside man in the Technology Research Institute relaying intel!
Like a sudden sun rising over a dark, frozen ocean—there was no great noise upon landing, but the intrusion of abnormal reishi stimulated the Wandenreich's defensive layers!
Just as Seireitei had its Barrier, the Quincy, who excelled in reishi manipulation, naturally set multiple barriers throughout the Wandenreich.
In fact, the shadow itself was a barrier.
A hole opened in Angra's body to spit out Starrk, and then he said, "We split up and meet back here later!"
With that, Angra became a puddle of black mud again, sinking into the Wandenreich.
Starrk understood—this was why Angra brought him; he needed attention drawn for a while.
Clearly, the Quincy had sensed the anomaly; he felt many powerful reiatsu converging!
"Such powerful reiatsu…"
Starrk was stunned. He had never underestimated the Quincy, but now he realized that not underestimating them was, in itself, underestimating them.
Judging by their reiatsu, there might be over twenty Quincy at Espada level!
Starrk vanished instantly. A few Quincy in white uniforms appeared where he'd been, felt the reiatsu, and said in surprise, "A Hollow? Strange—why would a Hollow suddenly appear here?"
"Don't worry about that. If we don't catch him fast, His Majesty will be angry."
A green-haired woman said anxiously, "Damn it, where did he go?"
"Idiot, didn't I tell you to train your reiatsu sensing?"
The blonde Liltotto arrived too, glanced at the Sternritter who had resumed the chase, and said, "Let's go. Maybe we can snag some credit."
With Starrk as the obvious focal point, the mission was accomplished.
With Baelz's memories, Angra Mainyu knew the Wandenreich's layout and the locations of various facilities.
He next headed for the Technology Research Institute.
At that moment, the Institute was in chaos.
Although they hadn't set the barrier themselves, an intrusion of this magnitude demanded they quickly determine the Hollow's location.
So, inside the institute, everyone was furiously pounding keyboards at their stations.
Baelz looked around and activated his Souls Ability in that instant.
Yes, Baelz might also possess a Souls Ability, although he'd only recently acquired it.
Like Yoshio, he had first awakened a Souls Ability after his spiritual power reached officer level.
When Baelz split off, he had been too weak; he only recently gained a Souls Ability after training alongside the Quincy in the Wandenreich.
His Souls Ability was "Holy Trinity."
"Holy Trinity: Centering on oneself, form a circle with a maximum diameter of six kilometers. When exactly three allies are inside the circle, one's power triples, and one gains the abilities of the other two allies."
Baelz had this Souls Ability not only because Yoshio, Angra Mainyu, and Baelz formed a "triangle," but also because he was a Quincy.
Quincy had, after all, some connection to mysticism. In this world, the Soul King is God, Yhwach plays the Son, and the Quincy—at least the Sternritter—can be considered "angels."
In short, the Souls Ability's activation conditions were fully met.
His side comprised himself, Angra, and Starrk—forming a "holy triangle."
This meant Baelz could use Angra's and Starrk's abilities, and his reishi would triple!
Baelz activated the Souls Ability and gained Angra's abilities.
Notably, this didn't just include Bankai, Resurrection, or Super High-Speed Regeneration; it also included Souls Abilities!
At the time, though, Baelz primarily used Angra's Souls Ability: "All the World's Evil."
All the World's Evil could absorb malice to become stronger, and could also instill malice into others.
That meant Angra had two ways to grow stronger: absorbing external reishi (like Hollow or Shinigami), and absorbing malice.
Absorbed malice would also convert into reishi.
This Souls Ability didn't come via "Holy Trinity," because while clones split off from Yoshio couldn't share Souls Abilities acquired post-split, they could share their inherent Souls Abilities.
This was simple: when one's favorability toward someone reached 80 or higher, one permanently obtained that person's Souls Ability, so…
Shouldn't it be easy for a person to have favorability of 80+ toward themselves?
Thus, Yoshio himself could use "Holy Trinity" and "All the World's Evil." Angra himself could use "Holy Trinity" and "Safehouse," and Baelz could use "All the World's Evil" and "Safehouse."
Now he glanced at the Institute's deputy director and flooded him with malice.
He focused on leveraging internal resentments to target the director.
Well, nobody is truly satisfied with their boss, right?
Even people who get along day-to-day sometimes feel a flicker of resentment; it may pass quickly, but it still happens.
All the more so with someone you deal with daily as your superior!
Individually, each person's malice wasn't much, nor especially vile, but accumulate all the institute's malice and the quantity became outrageous.
Most criticism was directed at the director, but some at colleagues as well.
In the Wandenreich's repressive environment, human relations were still rife with malice.
After Baelz instilled that malice into the deputy director, the deputy froze for a moment, then continued typing.
Finally, he seemed to settle on a plan and left quickly.
No one in the institute thought much of it; a deputy easing off for a bit was understandable.
The director glanced at him too and said nothing. Maybe he just went to the bathroom?
However, as they continued to search for the intruder's location, a strange sound suddenly rang out.
"What's that sound?"
A female Quincy in front of Yoshio heard it, pushed up her glasses, and asked curiously.
Everyone else heard it too.
The director frowned; a moment later, his expression changed. "No—it's the self-destruct sequence!"
He leapt from his chair and sprinted for the door!
Baelz reacted instantly—at the director's first word, he moved.
He bolted out of the Technology Research Institute, and in the next instant heard the explosion within.
Baelz dashed ahead, but the blast wave still struck his back.
If he hadn't tripled his reishi with Holy Trinity and used Starrk's and Baelz's soul ability, plus his own Blut for defense, the shockwave might have shattered his organs!
Even so, Baelz was hurled far and slammed into the ground.
At the same time, there was a puddle of black mud on the ground where he landed.
A little black sludge appeared inside him too, which Baelz seamlessly absorbed back into his body.
Quincy rushed out en masse.
The Institute's director lay beside Baelz; though affected by the blast, Blut and his substantial spiritual pressure protected him from serious injury.
He stood, face dark.
"Bastard!"
The director flew into a rage, ignoring the subordinates strewn about, and went straight to confront the deputy.
Baelz sighed in relief; if the director scrutinized him, he might notice he wasn't actually badly hurt.
Luckily, he had magnified the director's hostility toward the deputy at just the right moment, driving the director to attack first without restraint.
Given his intellect, it wasn't hard to deduce the deputy had caused the explosion.
Seizing the moment, Baelz drew reishi onto himself to incur more injury—stopping when it was not too heavy, not too light.
With others unconscious and the director gone, no one noticed.
He simply lay there, unmoving.
"Liltotto?"
Just as Baelz exhaled, he heard Liltotto's voice.
He rolled over on the ground and looked up at Liltotto standing before him.
"Liltotto… Lady Liltotto."
At this point, Baelz was also badly hurt—at least his clothes were soaked in blood.
"What happened?"
Liltotto had been chasing the intruder, but upon hearing the explosion from the Institute's direction, she went to investigate.
"I don't know…" Baelz said, feigning pain. "The director said someone activated the institute's self-destruct."
"Where is he?" Liltotto paused, then asked quickly.
"He was also affected by the blast, but after getting up, he suddenly left."
"Tell me everything that happened earlier!" Liltotto crouched, took out an ointment, and applied it to Baelz's wounds.
Baelz thanked her and recounted what had transpired.
Liltotto's face was grave. "Go rest and recuperate first. No matter what happens later, do not come out."
"Honestly, I hate this kind of trouble the most."
She sighed. "Why does this have to happen to me?"
Under the ointment's effect, Baelz's injuries clearly improved; when he stood, Liltotto had already vanished.
He then moved his fallen colleagues to safety.
His tasks were done.
But…
Angra had one more thing to confirm.
With Starrk drawing many Sternritter away and the Soul King fragments delivered to Baelz, Angra appeared in a secluded corner.
Sensing the Ice Palace's spiritual pressures, he headed toward the palace complex.
Soon, he saw a woman.
She wasn't pursuing; she sat atop the snow-covered palace roof, observing.
However, when Angra tried to approach, he suddenly felt the temperature rise.
In the next instant, the woman's gaze locked onto him!
Such sharp perception!
Once discovered, he no longer hid and studied Surtur.
Surtur had been Baelz's classmate; upon graduation, she immediately joined the Sternritter. No—more accurately, she had already been a Sternritter.
He was very interested in Surtur (a Sternritter who hadn't appeared in the original) and wanted to see who she truly was.
"A Hollow?"
Surtur appeared in front of Angra almost instantly.
Angra's pupils shrank—not only because of her speed, but because he noticed Surtur's movement combined Hirenkyaku with elements of Shunpo.
As if fusing Hirenkyaku and Shunpo into a technique faster than either alone!
A stitched-together person…
Could she be, like Black, a Soul King candidate? Black was created by Aizen.
Unlikely.
Angra quickly dismissed the idea; why would Yhwach create such a candidate without cause?
"You're not a Quincy either, are you?"
Angra wasn't worried about being exposed by Surtur; instead he countered, "You do resemble someone, but look more mature."
He meant Suì-Fēng.
In fact, combining Suì-Fēng's missing imaginary body… and Yamamoto's and Komamura's imaginary bodies being trapped in the Wandenreich, he had basically figured out who Surtur was.
By some method, the Wandenreich had used Suì-Fēng's imaginary body as the main body, fused the Reversal Bodies of Yamamoto and Komamura into it, and produced a three-way amalgam.
Combined with a Schrift and Quincy power granted by Yhwach, a brand-new Quincy was born.
However, what Angra, Baelz, and Yoshio were most curious about was: what was Surtur's ability?
Yhwach surely had his reasons.
He would use this opportunity to test her.
Time was short; Angra didn't say much. He simply raised a finger and fired a Gran Rey Cero!
Boom!
As it approached Surtur, a giant flaming sword appeared in her hand, easily swallowing the Gran Rey Cero.
At the same time, an ocean of flames swept toward Angra.
Impressive!
Angra instantly moved far from Surtur, appearing in the sky, while the sea of fire easily melted the surrounding ice and devoured a whole row of buildings!
The next instant, Surtur appeared behind him again, thrusting a blazing sword!
Angra's body instantly revealed another Hollow, causing the thrust aimed at his heart to miss!
?
Surtur showed surprise, but Angra reshaped himself into a puddle of black mud and slid away.
Of course, to test Surtur's power, he let her fiery blade graze him during a flowing movement.
That slight touch left a mark on the wound.
Was it similar to Suì-Fēng's Nigeki Kessatsu wasp mark?
And reminiscent of Ryūjin Jakka's flames…
Surtur's ability was likewise a fusion of three captains; what would happen if the same mark was struck again?
Angra frowned and, from then on, refused to be hit by Surtur again.
Similar though the ability seemed, he wasn't sure what would happen upon a second hit, or whether it needed to strike the same spot.
How could something Yhwach crafted specifically be simple?
All told, he decided the test was over.
He decisively went into his strongest state!
Segunda Etapa!
In an instant, all scattered black mud rapidly condensed; as it drew in, a new Angra form emerged. In Segunda Etapa, his Hollow hole emitted a strange light, and, more importantly, his hair turned from black into spiky silver.
In Segunda Etapa, Angra lost the shapeshifting freedom of black mud, but his base capabilities soared.
Sonido fired, directly exceeding Surtur's Shunpo-Hirenkyaku blend, with massive stride—he appeared almost instantly at the rendezvous point previously set with Starrk.
At that moment, Starrk was trading blows with Quincy. Seeing countless light arrows, he pulled both triggers; in an instant, the number of Cero doubled the arrows!
In his Segunda Etapa, Starrk's Cero weren't purely normal blasts; they were laced with more powerful Gran Rey Cero and Black Cero!
Rumble…!!!
Continuous explosions roared across the sky.
Starrk seemed to hold the enemy at bay, but suddenly his shoulder exploded—someone had shot him from concealment and blasted his shoulder.
After his shoulder blew, the arm fell away.
However, in Segunda Etapa, Starrk had regained Super High-Speed Regeneration; even severed arms could be regrown easily.
Seeing Angra had apparently finished, Starrk stopped entangling with the Quincy and moved to regroup with Angra.
"Trying to run? Not so easy, right?"
A Quincy with a purple-red mohawk suddenly appeared in front of Starrk, laughing: "Burner Finger 4!"
Boom!
In an instant, a long flaming sword appeared in his hand.
Sensing the threat, Starrk's pupils dilated, but he didn't dodge—he went straight at the flaming blade!
Huh?
Bazz-B was stunned. Was this guy an idiot?
He swung, and in a flash cleaved Starrk in half!