Antithesis of Death-Dealing
"Manipulate the reishi of one's body to reduce their temperatures to temperatures as far down as Absolute Zero?" Askin chimed in. "Manipulating the reishi of her body to move sounds like a Quincy ability, not a Shinigami one…" Askin's words caused gears to click together in Uryu's mind, and an impossible realization came to his mind, his eyes widening in response. "…But it sounds like something like that should kill her, unless she had a secondary ability like my "Death-Dealing"."
"And how are you still alive, you little shit?" Grimmjow growled, looking at Askin. His eyes widened as he saw the hole in Askin's body now closed. Now, everyone was turning to look at Askin. "But I tore out your heart!" Grimmjow protested. "And I thought you Quincy were supposed to be poisoned by Hollow reiatsu."
"Oh, please," Askin moaned. "I adapt to reiatsu, remember? My body has always adapted to Hollow reiatsu, albeit it is still very painful for me. His Majesty took me in because, despite being the victim of a severe Hollow attack, I was still alive and kicking. Once he gave me his Schrift, I 'became immune' immediately, and recovered."
"To explain my 'secondary ability'," Askin continued, "it pains me to say this, but my power instinctively adjusts my own "lethal dose median" towards any form of injury, no matter how severe. It is very…" He winced, as he grabbed the area over his heart. "…It is very much an inconvenience, having to regenerate a heart and deal with Hollow reiryoku at the same time. Tough luck, my friend."
Grimmjow ground his teeth together. The next chance he got, he'd just tear Askin's head off. "…But enough about me," Askin said. "Now, as you were saying about this Kuchiki girl, Urahara? What is her special ability…And what part does she have in the world you seek to make with your own hands? After all, Absolute Zero is something that should be impossible to achieve."
"And what makes you think he'd want to explain anything to you?" Tatsuki asked. "Wouldn't you just try to tell Yhwach the moment we let you go?"
Askin looked at Tatsuki sadly. "Who said anything about 'going back to His Majesty'? I lost in battle, it is that simple. He will have no more use for me and, at one point or another; I will become another victim of the Auswahlen. I assume this fate befell me from wherever you came from, yes, Ishida?"
Uryu looked at Askin with sympathy. He knew full well what Askin was talking about. Once Yhwach had absorbed Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow power in his timeline, he had used Auswahlen on all the remaining Stern Ritter because he no longer had any use for their powers. "…Yes, that was the case."
"...I see," Askin spoke in resignation. "Although dying does sound nice, I would have liked to see what world comes after this one. Either way," he raised his hands in surrender, "I suppose my fate is now in your hands…Your Majesty."
Uryu's eyes narrowed. "I am not 'Your Majesty'."
"You may not think so," Askin retorted, "but you are His Majesty's chosen successor all the same. The fact you are even standing here while all the other Stern Ritter died…I can see why you were chosen: you are immune to his power."
"…Yes. Immune to Auswahlen…" Uryu's memories flashed to his mother, and all the Quincy killed by the Auswahlen while he himself was unscathed, "…And immune to his ability "to alter the future"." Uryu looked out over the horizon to the East. There was a glimmer of light starting to shine over the Wahrwelt. "It is almost morning. Tatsuki," Uryu said, "you should get going. …Be careful."
Tatsuki looked at Uryu, and nodded wordlessly. They had already discussed this before they had been sent into the past: Because Uryu was already present in these events; he could not risk undue involvement in them and change the future in a way they did not want.
…At least, not until Tatsuki was able to prevent "That Moment". When she did so, only then would Mirai Ishida decided to intervene in events. "I will," Tatsuki replied, and made her way for the seat of the Wahrwelt.
Urahara looked on as Tatsuki ran off to confront Yhwach. He gave a sad smile. "Yet another example of how the Path could have changed, had I chosen to do things a little differently. I just…Didn't want to bear even more responsibility for my actions."
Uryu analysed Urahara's expression closely. "You mean the Hogyoku?"
"Yes. I knew that, when Kuchiki came to Karakura Town with the Hogyoku inside her…When she was by Kurosaki's side, I always knew the chances were likely that there'd be Humans who would end up manifesting spiritual abilities, or begin to see spirits. So long as it was the latter, I could let things be for a time. But with the former…Yasutora and Inoue both manifested the power of Fullbring, due to the circumstances under which the Hogyoku "manifested their desires". At that point, I had to take responsibility for them. That is the sole reason why I decided to have Yoruichi teach them how to use their powers.
"It is sad," Urahara commented. "As much as I like to plan for all the possibilities, I, much like Aizen, also leave so much up to chance, in the hope things play out as I desire them to."
Urahara looked around at everyone remaining. "Mirai Ishida," he said, "I noticed in your eyes that you must have realized something about Kuchiki when Askin spoke," he gestured to the Schutzstaffel on the ground. "I advise you to keep it to yourself for the time being. Right now, all you need to know is the true ability of her Zanpakuto. Do you understand?"
Uryu replied. "Yes, I do." If it is what I think it is, it could end up changing everything. Urahara…Did you know this when you did not tell us?
Urahara nodded at Uryu's response, and drew in a breath to speak. Urahara spoke. "The ability of Sode no Shirayuki…Is to manipulate Entropy itself."
NOTE: I was originally going to post the previous chapter, this one, and the next one as one chapter, but the resulting chapter would have been too big, and tackled too many subjects at once, so I decided to divide them into three chapters for the purpose of subject organization.
