Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

Yoruichi stood at the edge of the crowd, her golden eyes gazing up at the silhouette of the city that had been stripped away in the sky.

Unlike the others who were speechless with shock, she slowly curved her lips into a smile.

"Brother Shen Jue."

"You did not betray Soul Society."

"This is wonderful...this is wonderful..."

Several team captains around him glanced at him slightly.

Yoruichi crossed her arms over her chest. She had been feeling quite down, but that didn't stop her from being incredibly happy right now.

Even when the enemies whom the Grim Reapers had buried in history were right in front of her, she showed no fear.

As long as her brother Shen Jue is still on their side, there is nothing to worry about; this is Ye Yi's deepest thought.

As long as Shen Jue and Aizen don't betray Soul Society, even if Yoruichi's Shen Jue brother has a fetish for Hollows, she can accept her Shen Jue brother.

The Invisible Empire in the Shadows

Yhwach sat on the throne.

His body was thin and frail, his gray skin clung to his bones, and his thick white hair hung down to his shoulders, giving him an appearance of extreme old age.

But the power contained within that body was enough to make the entire Soul Society tremble.

At this moment, his eyes were open.

What those eyes reflected was the crumbling space above their heads.

The palace was shaking.

To be precise, it was the entire invisible empire that was shaking.

"How is that possible?!"

Standing beneath the throne, Raingrain Hasward, the man with the holy letter "A," had a crack appear on his ever-calm face.

He looked up as the shadow barrier covering the invisible empire was being peeled away layer by layer, like layers of skin being forcibly torn off his body.

"Your Majesty!" Hasward turned around and said in a deep voice.

"The shadow is being stripped away! The enemy has found the Empire's coordinates and is forcibly separating us from the Seireitei's shadow!"

On the throne, Yhwach helplessly touched his forehead with his hand.

"I know, Haschward."

But there was nothing I could do, Yhwach sighed inwardly.

As the omniscient and omnipotent being in the world of Bleach.

Except for the defeat and sinking of his army more than nine hundred years ago, Yhwach, the son of King Spirit, had a smooth journey.

But Shen Jue's existence completely disrupted his plans.

Even if one obtains omniscience and omnipotence through the power of the Spirit King, it is completely impossible to obtain all information about Shen Jue.

Even Shen Jue's own existence was, in Yhwach's eyes, a complex and dense mass of matter that was completely incomprehensible.

In the years since Yhwach regained consciousness, he has been completely unable to see any outline of Shen Jue's fate and future.

This caused him anxiety day and night, yet he had no one to confide in.

If his subordinates were to learn the truth about Shen Jue, the Quincy would definitely question his power as the progenitor of the Quincy.

Yhwach closed his eyes briefly.

Those all-knowing and all-powerful eyes reflected countless possibilities for the future.

But in all the futures, he cannot see himself successfully preventing this invisible empire from being separated from the Soul Society.

But Yhwach could see why he couldn't stop this separation from happening.

Because of that device.

The spiritual structure of that thing was beyond his comprehension.

It does not belong to Shinigami, Quincy, Hollows, Fullbringers, or any known spiritual system.

It was something entirely new, integrating several power systems to form a perfect closed loop.

A perfect golden ring... something that even he, as the son of the Spirit King and the progenitor of the Quincy, could not decipher.

The "gurgling" device, composed of several forces, surpassed everything that this world itself possessed.

This is also the fundamental reason why Yhwach could not prevent all of this from happening.

Yhwach opened his eyes.

"Hasward".

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Send the entire Holy Script Legion to prepare for battle," he said in a hoarse, low voice, "but do not initiate any attacks."

"Temporary defense."

Hasward's pupils contracted slightly, and he struggled to compose himself as he said, "Your Majesty?"

The omniscient and omnipotent progenitor of the Quincy ordered the Holy Script Legion to take the initiative in defense and resist the enemy's attack.

What about their revenge plan, which the Quincy have been preparing for nearly a thousand years?

"Didn't you see?" Yhwach looked at the Shadow Dome above his head, which was gradually crumbling.

"That device does more than just remove us from the shadows."

"This 'Gugu Gaga' device also has a sealing effect."

To the side of the throne, several Holy Knights suddenly raised their heads.

"What?!"

"That's impossible!"

The sacred letter B, "All things pervade," signifies the emergence of a tall, slender Black man in a white uniform from the shadows, the lettering in his eyes gleaming faintly.

"Your Majesty, the stripping of the shadow is still ongoing. If the Empire is completely stripped from the shadow layer, our spiritual space structure will collapse by more than half."

"At that time, the Quincy will lose their sanctuary," Yhwach finished the sentence for him.

"Our millennia-long plan for a surprise attack will lose its greatest advantage."

"Surprise attack."

The word echoed throughout the hall.

Yhwach tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the throne.

"Hasward".

"Your subject is here."

"Bring out the list of special combat personnel."

Hasward nodded slightly and took out a silver-white star badge from his pocket.

He pressed the Star Emblem into his palm, and spiritual light spilled out from between his fingers, projecting an image in mid-air composed of Quincy spiritual particles.

Five figures stood side by side.

"Gentlemen," Hasward's voice was steady and clear.

"During the millennium of preparation, His Majesty personally examined all possible obstacles to the Wandenreich in the Soul Society with his 'omniscience and omnipotence'."

Ultimately, five people were marked by His Majesty.

"Special Record of Combat Strength".

All eyes in the hall turned to it.

Hasward pointed to the first figure.

He was a boy with orange hair, carrying a huge Zanpakuto on his shoulder, and his eyes revealed a resolute spirit.

"Ichigo Kurosaki. Special note: 'Potential Ability'."

"He is a hybrid of a Shinigami and a Quincy, and the power of a Hollow resides within him."

"His Majesty's 'omniscience and omnipotence' cannot fully predict his evolutionary path."

"His growth has no limit; every near-death experience brings about an uncontrollable qualitative change."

"Of all the futures Your Majesty has seen, Ichigo Kurosaki is the only one," Haschwald paused before continuing, "that could potentially touch Your Majesty yourself."

A low gasp filled the hall.

"Therefore, His Majesty has placed him as the highest priority for exclusion."

Hasward pointed to the second figure.

The man had a rugged appearance with a hideous scar on his face and a savage grin that resembled that of a wild beast. The Zanpakuto on his shoulder had neither Shikai nor Bankai, only the most primal killing intent.

"Kenpachi Zaraki, remember the key word as 'combat power'."

"He possesses the purest, unadulterated fighting ability among all the captains in Soul Society."

"His Majesty judges that if he is allowed to unleash his full potential on the battlefield, even the most skilled close-combat members of the Sternritter cannot suppress him head-on."

Hasward pointed to the third figure.

He was a tall, bald man with a shiny bald head, wearing a white haori, and with a deep look in his eyes.

"Hyōnobu Ichibei, the key word is 'wise'."

"Captain of the Zero Division, one of the oldest beings in Soul Society."

"He knows the true names of all Zanpakuto and can grant or deprive things of their power through 'calling them by their true names'."

Hasward pointed to the fourth figure.

He was a bespectacled man with a gentle and refined appearance, but deep within his eyes lay a void deeper than the abyss.

"Aizen Sousuke, the key word to remember is 'spiritual pressure'."

"As the captain of the 5th Division of the Gotei 13, even His Majesty cannot fully know his spiritual pressure level."

"Even the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, cannot match him in terms of spiritual pressure alone."

Hasward pointed to the fifth figure. It was a man wearing a green and white fisherman's hat, holding a folding fan, smiling, and looking like a general store owner.

"Kisuke Urahara. Special note: the key word is 'method'."

"Former captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13, and manager of Urahara Shop."

"His spiritual pressure isn't outstanding, and his swordsmanship isn't top-notch either. But he possesses the most brilliant scientific mind in Soul Society." Haschwalth paused for a moment.

"But he's not much of a threat."

The five figures in the video slowly rotated before finally coming to a standstill.

There was a moment of silence in the main hall.

Then, Yhwach spoke.

"Hasward".

"Your subject is here."

"The video is missing one person."

Hasward's hand paused slightly.

He raised his head and looked at Yhwach on the throne. His Majesty's expression did not change, but a very faint darkness appeared in his all-knowing and all-powerful eyes.

"What does Your Majesty mean?"

Yhwach slowly raised his hand, his fingertips tracing an extremely subtle arc in the air.

Spiritual particles condensed at his fingertips, outlining a new shape.

The sixth figure.

He was a handsome captain of the Grim Reaper, dressed in a magnificent haori and always wearing a smile.

"Shen Jue".

When Yhwach pronounced the name, his voice lacked the scrutiny and calculation he had shown when mentioning the other five.

He calmly uttered the name.

"Special note: Key words."

""unknown"."

"The Five Special Forces are five 'variables' that I marked with 'omniscience and omnipotence' during my thousand-year preparations," Yhwach said.

"Each of them represents a threat that I can identify, anticipate, and deal with."

"But Shen Jue..."

Yhwach's gaze passed through the dome of the main hall, through the shattering shadow dome, and landed on the device in mid-air.

He paused for a moment.

"What exactly is he?"

The air in the main hall seemed to freeze.

When Yhwach opened his eyes again, what he saw was the device in mid-air, and two figures standing side by side below it.

"That person named Shen Jue."

"And Aizen Sousuke."

"They are not death itself, or at least not entirely."

Silence fell over the main hall.

Yaskin Nakruvar leaned against a pillar, his face, which had been somewhat weary, now bearing an indescribable solemnity.

He tilted his head.

"One of the six special combat forces is completely unknown? That's really something."

He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Plans can't keep up with changes."

The red-haired Bazby didn't laugh. He stared at Shen Jue's silhouette in the image, his fist clenched, sparks flickering between his fingers.

Lijie Barrow emerged from the shadows, his tall figure casting a straight shadow in the spiritual light of the hall.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the sixth figure.

"Your Majesty, should I locate him in advance?"

"No need," Yhwach said. "Understanding what he is is pointless."

The cracking sounds of the Shadow Dome grew more frequent, and the white, invisible imperial architecture was being dragged out inch by inch from the shadows, exposed to the daylight formed by the Soul Society's spiritual particles.

"Hasward".

"Your subject is here."

"Pass down the order."

"Sternritter, prepare for battle!"

Beneath Yhwach's throne, the white empire is being dragged out of the shadows.

In his all-knowing and all-powerful eyes, countless paths to the future are reflected, each leading to the same destination.

A blood-stained future, a reshaped Three Realms.

Above all the crimson futures, however, floated Shen Jue's figure, which he could not decipher.

Quiet, transparent, as if it does not exist on any causal line.

Tell everyone.

"The final battle between the Quincy and the Shinigami."

"here we go."