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The Living World.
Urahara Shop.
"What the hell…? Isn't this going way too far? Are we sure they didn't switch the channel to some sci-fi movie?"
Inside the humble shop, the scene projected before them—so similar to Hueco Mundo and the Gotei 13—had Kisuke Urahara, Isshin Kurosaki, and the shop duo staring at the transparent screen with the same stunned, disbelieving expression.
"A giant, world-ending meteor from outer space."
"It's about to wipe out the entire Soul Society."
If someone had told them this an hour ago, they'd have been written off as a lunatic.
What a joke.
The Seireitei had stood for over two thousand years. How could something like a meteor possibly smash it to pieces?
But when the impossible was unfolding right in front of their eyes…
All three of them were struck completely speechless.
"Do either of you have any impression of this 'Sternritter' group?" Kisuke was the first to recover. He steadied his emotions and asked, serious for once.
The name was unfamiliar. Kisuke searched his memory carefully, but nothing surfaced.
"Nope!" Isshin shook his head without hesitation. "Not in the Living World, and not in the Shiba clan records either. At least nothing in the family archives from the past hundred years mentions anything like that."
As the former head of the Shiba branch family, and by seniority once the uncle of Kaien and his siblings, Isshin had read through every ancient record the clan still possessed before he hid his identity and left Soul Society.
Even though the clan's downfall had caused many of their records to be lost, the ones that remained still held plenty of secrets.
Unfortunately…
Isshin had no idea that the war Yhwach once led took place a thousand years ago. The Shiba archives only covered a few centuries, not that distant era.
So it was only natural he remembered nothing about the Thousand-Year Blood War.
"Sigh. I've never heard of them either…" Tessai slumped a little and sighed helplessly.
Even as the former Grand Kidō Chief—someone who had seen far more than most—he couldn't recall a single clue.
"…"
Kisuke fell silent, his expression growing more serious.
He didn't doubt the authenticity of what they had seen. He knew these events belonged to the future.
And because of that, he intended to act.
The Living World, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society—these three balanced realms made up the entire structure of the world. If any one of them collapsed, the others would be thrown into crisis.
If Soul Society were destroyed, the Living World would suffer too. Their very environment would change drastically.
So there was no choice.
They had to stop this before it happened.
And the only lead they had was the mysterious Sternritter.
Meanwhile.
In the video—
The clouds split open as the massive meteor plunged straight down, blazing as it fell.
Below it, the Gotei 13 barracks lay in ruins from the earlier battles. The exhausted Shinigami gazed upward in despair.
"A meteor… damn it!"
"What is even happening right now?"
"How do we fight something like this? Do we even stand a chance…?"
Some froze.Some trembled.Some collapsed as their eyes followed the seemingly endless mass of rock falling from the sky.
At that moment, every last Shinigami lost their will to fight. Resistance didn't even seem possible.
What kind of joke was this?
The difference in power wasn't just a gap—it was a different dimension entirely.
To ordinary Shinigami, this wasn't a technique. It was divine wrath.
The image froze on the meteor mid-fall. Even after the last frame vanished and the screen turned completely black, the raw shock of what they had witnessed remained carved into the hearts of everyone watching.
5th Division Barracks.
"Well now…" Gin Ichimaru blinked lazily as he recovered from the shock. His trademark fox-smile returned as he admitted, "I gotta say, compared to Hitsugaya Tōshirō's 'weather-summoning', this disaster cooked up by that Gerremy… Guremi… whatever his name was… is definitely on a whole other level."
No exaggeration, no embellishment.
Gin genuinely acknowledged Gremmy Thoumeaux's strength.
But the amazement faded quickly.
Gin was impressed, sure—but fear? Not in the slightest.
His Zanpakutō, Shinso, once in bankai, could extend infinitely and slice through anything from miles away. With a piercing speed over five hundred times the speed of sound, Gin was confident he could slice that meteor into tiny pieces long before it hit the ground.
"A surprise indeed," Aizen said softly. His eyes gleamed with something warm—almost delighted—no longer the cold, detached stare he usually carried. "This 'Sternritter' is quite the exciting discovery."
Earlier, watching the Arrancars and Espada fall one after another, Aizen's faith in his plans had wavered. He had even begun to doubt the usefulness of the Hougyoku.
After all… part of the reason he had schemed for so many years to obtain it—besides breaking limits—was to mass-produce powerful Arrancars to serve as his forces.
Yet what he had seen so far…
Pathetic. Disappointing. Completely unable to meet his expectations.
If his allies couldn't even stall the enemy, then even with his power—strong enough to stand at the apex of Shinigami—he would still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
And that wasn't even mentioning Gin at his side, a traitor waiting for the perfect opportunity to stab him in the back.
How was he supposed to overthrow the Soul Society like this?
Fortunately…
Gremmy's appearance changed everything.
In the boy's absolute confidence and overwhelming strength, Aizen saw a reflection of himself—a true natural-born superior being.
He found himself agreeing with the Captain-Commander for the first time:
No matter what it takes…the Sternritter must be found.
However…
While the outside world reeled from Gremmy's display,
Inside the Seireitei, the sunlight cast long, angled shadows across buildings of every shape and size.
Nobody knew that within these ordinary-looking shadows was a hidden realm woven from spirit particles, existing since a thousand years ago. A sealed world of ice and snow.
Inside this secret domain—
The territory of the Invisible Empire, a land almost completely white.
At the very center of the frozen plateau stood a palace that had endured for a millennium, gleaming like a crystalline flower blooming at the edge of a cliff.
Wandenreich.
The capital of the Invisible Empire.
And just like the outside world, inside the grandest palace of Wandenreich, a massive transparent screen displayed the scenes from beginning to end—from the very first ranking video all the way to the falling meteor.
The entire Sternritter watched every moment unfold.
"..."
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