".....?!" Robin furrowed his brows hard, the muscles in his face tightening beneath the cold tal mask. For a fleeting mont, a sharp wave of dizziness hit him, as if the ground itself had begun to spin and tilt beneath his feet.
The Soul Society had halted all of its manufactured products and suspended 80% of its delivery services? This wasn't just disruption-this was catastrophe. This... this was paralysis!
A complete and utter paralysis sweeping across the entire Middle Belt, a region that relied on the Soul Society in a total, deeply intertwined manner, from logistics and industry to trade and daily circulation!!
Robin instinctively felt the urge to step closer to the influential figures gathered beside him, to ask loudly about the reason behind this sudden halt-perhaps even curse the Soul Society under his breath for interfering with his own operations and interests as well... yet a disturbing thought surfaced.
There was a chance. A very small chance.
That he himself was the reason behind all of this?
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh
While Robin was lost in thought for a few brief monts-re fractions of a second- the number of people inside the Great Hall nearly doubled in an instant.
The Great Hall itself began to expand in a way that was almost impossible to notice. Despite the massive influx, the distances between people did not shrink dramatically, creating an awe-inspiring, almost illogical scene. Only those who kept carefully observing the faces around them would notice sothing unsettling: the people beside them had grown farther away, and new individuals had appeared in the gaps between them, as if reality itself were being quietly rearranged.
"But you know, cousin?" a voice whispered nearby. "I heard the Soul Society's factories haven't stopped for even a single mont. They truly locked themselves off from the outside world, but the work inside is more intense than ever. And that terrifying 80% of the Soul Society's delivery services? Not only did they not stop, they've been continuously feeding those factories with raw materials-thodically, relentlessly-like an enormous beehive pushed into overdrive."
"Hasn't anyone leaked anything yet?" another asked. "No worker rumors? No one talking about what they're actually producing?"
"I heard that every factory is only responsible for a small fragnt of sothing much larger. They mass-produce that tiny fragnt in horrifying quantities. Then all those different pieces-from countless factories-are transported to an assembly center personally overseen by one of the sons or grandsons of the Drear Behemoth himself!"
"Isn't that... excessive? Almost absurd?"
"Hehe. What if I told you this entire process is being carried out separately in every single sector?"
"Woooow!"
"..." Robin's eyes trembled violently beneath his tal mask.
So the Soul Society was mobilizing factories in every sector, forcing each one to manufacture precise, small components to prevent information from spreading-then assembling everything at centralized facilities supervised by the sons or grandsons of the Dreaming Behemoth?
Didn't that an there were nearly a thousand sons and grandsons scattered throughout the Middle Belt?
Whoosh Whoosh
"Hm?" Robin finally began to look around. Even he-still half-drowned in calculations and implications-could no longer ignore the overwhelming surge of people inside the Great Hall. The crowd had multiplied several tis since the mont he entered. "What's going on here?"
"Oh, you didn't know, brother?" A man standing close to Robin smiled casually as he spoke. "The reason behind the shop's shutdown will be officially announced shortly." He extended his hand with practiced ease. "Nice to et you. My codena is Cotton Candy-18968, from Sector 44. And you are?" "Nice to et you," Robin replied, shaking his hand before asking quickly, "You said the announcent is happening today?"
"Yes. All of us have been receiving notifications throughout the past month about a major announcent scheduled for today-specifically just a few minutes from now. Everyone's been waiting for this." The strangely styled man raised his hands with a loud laugh, excitent evident in his voice, before lowering them and studying Robin with sudden curiosity. "...Have we t before? Your tal mask looks strangely familiar."
"I don't believe I've had that honor," Robin said calmly. "Excuse ."
He withdrew swiftly from the area and began weaving through the dense crowd. Monts later, he summoned his soul cloak, pulling the hood down to conceal his head entirely.
It would be a serious problem if anyone recognized him. His tal-faced appearance had been fully exposed during the auction day, photographed clearly, and broadcast across every corner of the Middle Belt.
Hoooooooom
"Hm?" Robin slowly raised his head as he sensed sothing unusual stirring above him, a subtle pressure rippling through the air itself.
Monts later, a colossal screen unfolded in the skies of the Great Hall-a display engineered with absurd precision, ensuring that billions upon billions of beings could perceive every detail with perfect clarity. Then, a figure appeared upon it, unmistakably familiar to anyone who had ever dealt with the upper echelons of power:
"Lord Morval!"
"So that's him? The one in charge of managing the Soul Society? He's...
unexpectedly handso!"
"Yes, that's him- A grandson of the Dreaming Behemoth, and he holds the rank
of a first-class son!!"
"Lord Morval, take with you-let work under you!!"
The instant the gigantic projection manifested overhead, the reactions within the hall fractured into clear divisions.
Tens of billions stood frozen in disbelief-this was the very first ti they had
ever laid eyes upon Lord Morval. Ordinarily, he appeared only during the most exclusive grand auctions, events so restricted that only a handful of cosmic emperors were ever permitted to witness them.
Another segnt of the crowd stared upward with unease and sharp anticipation, unsettled by the implications. First, the store had been shut down for an entire month without explanation-and now Lord Morval himself had erged. Had the ancient progenitor of the space beasts returned? Or had sothing even more catastrophic occurred?!
Lord Morval paused deliberately, then drew a deep, steady breath.
"Lord Human!"
"So Lord Human is the one behind all of this?!"
"I knew it-I should've guessed!!"
"Ahh..." Beneath his tallic mask, Robin began to sweat, a chill crawling down
his spine.
Lord Morval continued, his voice unwavering and confident.
Morval allowed the silence to stretch for a brief mont, amplifying the
tension.
A broad, practiced smile spread across his face.
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