(Soul Society, 1st Division Barracks)
It was not often that the Captain Commander left his office and went out on an evening stroll in the Sereitei, as the endless mountains of paperwork prevented him from doing so. However, Yamamoto decided to leave the paperwork and let Sasakibe attend to it as he had too much on his mind. As he was walking, the many Shinigami that were on patrol duty quickly moved out of his way and bowed to him, showing respect to the ancient Shinigami. He inwardly sighed as he felt pity for the young men and women, knowing that in less than five years, they would all be slaughtered by Yhwach and his army. He knew that was unfortunately going to happen, regardless of the amount of preparations that they did. He could only hope that the damage and casualties were not going to be as devastating as he thought, but it was wishful thinking at this point. His stern expression made way into a frown as he thought about his old nemesis. Yamamoto was not going to fool himself, he knew that he would not be able to kill him a second time, he was old and after the Winter War with Aizen, his age was starting to catch up to him. Hell, the only reason the Quincy King was even defeated a thousand years ago was because of his lieutenant stabbing him through the heart and catching him off-guard, creating the opportunity for Yamamoto to strike him with Tenchi Kaijin, and he was doubtful Yhwach would fall for the same trick again. Damn that man. A very powerful and annoying fiend to the very end, although something about the Reio's words deepened his frown.
"In general, the Almighty is arguably one of the most powerful abilities in all three realms, four if we count Hell, alongside Kyōka Suigetsu's Perfect Hypnosis, Zanka no Tachi's flames, and a few more. The Almighty allows him to not only see every possible future but also control which one occurs. However, as I've said, his version is incomplete and only has three pupils, using half of his power. He has not unlocked its full capabilities, which is indicated by my four pupils."
How powerful had the Quincy King become to have the power to see every possible future, but also control which one will occur? Was he holding back in their last battle a millennium ago? No, Yamamoto decided. If he was indeed holding back, why did he not use this ability during the entirety of their battle? Perhaps he knew he was to be defeated and decided to keep it hidden to use it against them in the future, or perhaps… It hit him like a wave of reiatsu. 'The Monk!' he realized. Ichibei had come to him and told him that he was going to try and create peace between the Soul Society and the Licht Reich as the Quincies called it at the time, but when he offered to go with him, he waved him off, saying that it was unnecessary and that he was going to ensure that the upcoming war ended one way or another. Could he have done something to negate his Almighty before they met? That would certainly explain why he could not predict his lieutenant's strike from behind. Maybe he would do so again when he was unable to defeat his old nemesis.
Deciding that they were not going to do much except create confusion, the wielder of the most powerful Zanpakuto in the Sereitei put his thoughts at the very back of his mind and, deciding that it was time to do what he was going to do before the idea, rather, the order eluded him, he went to the 12th Division's Research and Development Institute to speak with the one captain he wished was not one, at all.
X
"A very long time ago, millions of years before you even became a thought, there was no such thing as the Soul Society. There was no Hueco Mundo, World of the Living, or even Hell. All the worlds were connected in what was called the Primordial World. Humans and Hollows lived in this Primordial World and as you can guess, it was not going very well for the humans as they were being relentlessly hunted and devoured by the Hollows. When the human population was on the verge of extinction, the Reiō appeared before them. No one, including myself and the Zero Division, knows when or how he came to be, but it was good that he did. According to the records I have in my library, he observed the world around him for a small amount of time before he decided that a change had to be made immediately. It is unclear how he did this, but he managed to separate the Primordial World into four different realms: the World of the Living, the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and Hell. He placed all the humans in the World of the Living, placed the human souls in the Soul Society, and sent all of the Hollows to Hueco Mundo where they could devour each other in that realm and leave the World of the Living in peace. If the Hollows did somehow managed to escape their realm to devour human souls or pluses, he created the Shinigami to stop them. The truly evil humans were sent to Hell to repent for their sins for all eternity."
"For millennia, there was much success. However, as the Hollows began to evolve into spiritual beings, the swords that the humans created were beginning to be no match for the supernatural monsters. The Reiō feared that if something was not done soon, the balance he created by the realms would collapse, resulting in all the realms' destruction. Luckily, he discovered someone who could collect dead souls and mold them, creating a blank sword that back then, could theoretically not only cut down a Hollow but purify it as well. This man's name was the dark-skinned man you saw earlier, Ōetsu Nimaiya."
"In the beginning, it was working perfectly, with the Reiō using the blank sword to purify Hollows, but there were two problems; the sword did not have a name and there was only one of them. He ordered Nimaiya to create an infinite number of the blank swords and found me afterward, wanting me to name them, as I have the power to name anything and everything, granting power to whatever I have named. I named the blank swords Asauchi, and when Ōetsu discovered that the blank swords could have a first, final, and ultimate power release and sentient beings within them, he came to me to name them. I named the first release Shikai, the second release Bankai, and the ultimate release Shukai, although you do not need to know about the last one and what it entails."
"Seeing our abilities as great contributions to the Soul Society, he gave us the Ōken, gave us our titles; those being the Monk who calls the Real Name and the God of the Sword respectively, and made us the leaders of the Royal Guard. Ōetsu didn't want to be a leader, saying that it would 'diminish his swag.'" He shook his head at the reasoning. "The Reiō agreed and eventually created the Central 46 to govern the Sereitei, where the Shinigami lived, and the Rukongai, where the pluses lived. There were many Noble families in the Sereitei at the time, but the Reiō entrusted five of them with various tasks that would contribute to the Sereitei and the Soul Society as a whole.
After a few years, I and the original Five Great Noble Houses, those being the Shiba, Shihōin, Kuchiki, Tsuyanashiro, and another clan whom you do not need to know as their name is classified, started noticing the Reiō's behavior change drastically. He went from making sure that the Hollows were purified, to absorbing the Hollows to fuel his power. In the end, all of whom I mentioned made a plan to stop him before it became too late. We requested a meeting to speak with him and he agreed. When we met him, we quickly surrounded him and removed power off his limbs and various other parts of his body, since they had the most reiatsu flowing through them, finally sealing him in the crystal you saw earlier. However, it seemed as though our ritual caused the Reiō to lose his memories. Taking advantage of that, we, on the spot, fabricated a story about him sacrificing his life to save all the realms, but in doing so, he lost most of his power. He believed us and has been maintaining the balance between the realms ever since. Do you understand me so far?" Hyōsube asked as he finished the first part of his story.
The orange-haired hybrid sat there, slowly processing the information he was told. Truth be told, he had no idea that the Reiō was that powerful. Being able to separate an entire universe into four realms had to require an astronomical amount of reiatsu and strength to pull off. He heard chuckling in his Inner World as the Reiō read his mind and the image it created.
'Did you honestly picture me just grabbing the air in your fictional version of the Primordial World and ripping the air in half as if it was some piece of paper and magically creating the four realms? How childish. A mortal's imagination does run wild.' His chuckles increased when Ichigo blushed in embarrassment. The chuckling stopped almost immediately, something Ichigo was barely able to notice. 'However, back to the Monk. What do you think about him?'
'His story? To be honest, I don't know.' Ichigo answered honestly. 'Aizen and Kisuke were very brief and vague about you and not once did they mention your origins.'
'True, but I was not talking about that.' His comment confused the hybrid. 'I meant him specifically. What do you think about the man sitting in front of you?'
Ichigo refocused his attention to Ichibei. At first glance, he looked like a middle-aged, traditional monk who had a vast amount of knowledge. During his time with him, he seemed like a nice man who took everything in stride and did not get easily offended. Virtually, nothing was out of place with the old man, however, Ichigo could not help but feel that there was something… off about the smiling man (even his smile looked creepy). Like there was something he knew about him and he was hiding it, an aura that was not lining up with his personality. Some things would have to be looked into as the man was still looking at him, this time with eyes slightly narrowed. He quickly nodded.
Ichibei looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds more, before continuing, "After that, many centuries went by with peace being the primary factor in the Sereitei and the Soul Society in general. It was then that the trouble began." He sighed. "We started hearing about a faction in the World of the Living that was conquering villages and recruiting soldiers. We learned that this faction was, sometimes forcefully, recruiting people who could absorb and manipulate reishi in the atmosphere to create weapons, such as bows and arrows. I trust you know what I am referring to."
A memory of Uryu in their first meeting flashed in his mind. "Quincies."
The Monk nodded. "Yes. At the time, it was called the Licht Reich, and its leader was named Yhwach." He lightly chuckled when the boy raised his hand. "You do not need to raise your hand, but go ahead."
A light blush of embarrassment appeared on Ichigo's face, but it quickly passed. "Isn't Yhwach a Biblical God from the World of the Living? I don't remember the religion, but I could have sworn that was it."
Ichibei blinked. 'I never would have guessed that he knew who the God of the Israelites was. Just goes to show that the boy is not who people think he is, regardless of his outside appearance.' "Very close, my boy. The God that you are referring to is the God of the Israelites, YHWH."
A tilted head is what he got as a response. "Huh?"
"I will explain later," The ancient monk said, wanting to get through this part as quickly as possible. "Now where was I? Ah yes. The Licht Reich. When I went there, I met the Quincy King and politely asked him to refrain from destroying any more hollows, as the Quincies were causing the balance to shift. Being the stubborn man that he was, he refused and ended up going to war with the Shinigami. This proved to be a very fatal mistake on his part. The Original Thirteen Court Guard Squads decimated his forces and Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto soundly killed him with his Bankai, or so we thought. It turns out that there is a prophecy about his return. It is called the Kaiser Gesang. The prophecy goes as follows: The Sealed King of the Quincy. After nine hundred years, he would regain his heartbeat. After ninety years, he would regain his intellect. After nine years, he would regain his strength and after nine days, he would regain the world from the power of all Gemischt Quincy in the world. This is where you come in." Noticing Ichigo sit straighter, he said, "It is time you were told the truth about the fateful day when your mother, Masaki Kurosaki, died."
X
Yoruchi Shihoin, in her cat form, slept soundly in her room without a care in the world. Tessai was busy cleaning the shop, Jinta and Ururu were with the Kurosaki twins playing soccer, and Kisuke was in the underground basement doing some tinkering. That was the last thing she saw before she went to take her usual long naps anyway. Suddenly, a violent shaking woke up. As she quickly regained her bearing, she realized that there was an earthquake. To be honest, she didn't care much about it but decided to go check on the kids to see if they were okay. When she got out of her room, she saw that the kids and Tessai were rushing into the shop when the shaking suddenly stopped. Kisuke was on his computer typing away frantically. However, what concerned her was the fact that there was a look of pure shock on his face as he typed.
"What's going on, Kisuke?" She asked. Her friend said nothing and continued to type away on the computer's keyboard. He then finally stopped and looked at Yoruichi with a serious expression on his face, replacing the one of shock he had moments ago. He gestured to her to come see what was on the screen and when she did, her eyes narrowed in confusion as the numbers on the screen started going higher and higher.
"Kisuke… what am I looking at?"
"That, Yoruichi, would be the reiryoku measurement that I created a century ago." He said before getting whacked in the head by Yoruichi.
"I know that!" She yelled. "What I want to know is why the hell are the numbers so high?!"
The shopkeeper simply shook his head and once again gestured at the computer. When she did, the former Clan Head's eyes widened considerably when she saw the single word staring at her through the screen.
Immeasurable
"What does this mean, boss?" Tessai asked after he had seen the word.
Kisuke sighed. He was getting too old for this shit. "It means that something even stronger than the Quincy King is coming on the horizon." He then took a deep breath and pulled his hat downwards to cover his eyes. "… and it is going to be catastrophically bad for all of us.
X
A/N: If you're confused by Ichibei's monologue, it will be explained in the next chapter (whenever that is). If you've figured it out, congratulations.
A.A/N: I'm back and I am staying. Yay.