Chapter 9

"The Holocausto de las Almas? What are you talking about?"

Kagine gave me a look of confusion mingled with just a bit of pity. I had to come up with some excuse for not knowing what was apparently something I definitely should have been aware of. I scratched my head, grinned and said, "Well, I guess you must of beaten my ass pretty hard, you know?"

However he didn't take it as a joke.

"I guess." He shrugged. "It's the ongoing war against The Hollow Lord."

Wrath? I'd never heard of him before. "When you say the Hollow Lord, you're referring to Aizen right? The Soul Reaper Captain that sided with the hollows?"

Kagine sighed at that. "No, its not Aizen. Far worse than him, actually."

My stomach knotted up at the mere thought of someone worse than Aizen. Impossible! How could there be anyone worse than him? He'd have to do something ridiculously atrocious, like burning orphans alive or something, to beat Aizen's standard of evil.

"So who is he?"

"No one knows for certain. Aizen claimed that he created him in secret, a new type of hollow, and he released him when
the time was right. However, his creation betrayed him, then took control of the hollows and waged war on Soul Society."

"When did this happen?"

"About ten years ago, right after the Battle of Karakura town."

Ten years! I had missed ten years!

"Saidō, you okay?" Kagine asked.

Honestly, I wasn't, but I couldn't let my guard down and reveal the truth about myself.

"Oh, uh, sure! It's really quite a shock though. So, who died in the Holocausto de las Almas?"

He looked toward the crystal and motioned. "Read it for yourself."

I stared at the crystal and tried to read the markings, however they were too small and somehow distorted for me to
make any sense of them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't read it."

Kagine, sensing my confusion, said, "Read it from the water. Its a mirror lake. The inscriptions are inverted."

Amazing! I see now, the sapphire light generated from the crystal glares across the water, making the inscriptions readable.

"Let me guess? It was also Kisuke that came up with this contraption too?"

Kagine nodded. "Yes. He discovered this place before creating the haven. During the Holocausto de las Almas, he was heavily injured in combat and he rested here. He spent day and night inscribing the names of his friends and other soul reapers who fought there, and the ones who died fighting in the war against Aizen. However..." His head hung low. "Other people took over his duties. And today, it remains the only monument of its kind."

Damn, so Soul Reapers died in that war too. I looked toward the giant crystal and then looked at the shore. I started reading from the bottom; it was just random soul reapers at first (hardly anyone I know), until I came down to a the last name in the row: Rukia Kuchiki.

Rukia? I remember her. Many months ago (many years, really) I was sent on a mission to capture her and return her to the Soul Society. That was when I fought that spiky haired kid that took her powers. Strange couple, really.

In the end, I let them go. Hmm, what a shame, she was really well known in Soul Society.

As I continued reading up, I was appalled at how many of my friends died in the war. It was depressing. Kagine read as well; I imagined that he must have come here often. When I came to the middle, there was a line separating the names below and above. I guess Kisuke separated each the officers from the lower ranks.

I realized that these must have been the lieutenants: Chōjirō Sasakibe, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Momo Hinamori, Isane Kotetsu, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, Shūhei Hisagi, and finally Rangiku Matsumoto. That's more than half of the lieutenants of Soul Society!
I saw there was also a list of Captains! I didn't want to read it, but I had to force myself to do it.

From the left it was: Jūshirō Ukitake, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Shunsui Kyōraku, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

I threw up after reading that. It was bad enough that four Soul Reaper Captains died, but the Head Captain? Who else could lead Soul Society? There were five other names on that list, damn it! "That's nearly all of the captains,"

I thought. It was over. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Wait! That's the runt's name! I remember him, it was with that mission with Rukia, he was the guy that stole her powers. Why is he in the captain's list? Whatever." I continued on until I came to Isshin Kurosaki.

"I don't remember him; he sounds like he's related to Ichigo. Maybe he was promoted during the Holocausto de las Almas." The list continued on: Yoruichi Shihōin, Retso Unahana and finally, Kisuke Urahara.

Guess I'll never meet the man.

It took me a couple of silent moments to cope with the loss.

"Does Soul Society even exist anymore?"

"Yes, but there are few survivors. Last I heard, Byakuya Kuchiki is leading Gotei 13. So far, he proves to be an excellent leader."

"Damn it all to hell Kagine, do you think we're going to win this war?"

"Honestly, Saidō," Kagine shrugged, "No."