[Thirteenth Division barracks, Shadow Reishi Space]
This was the reverse side of the real world, a gap where light could not reach.
The invisible empire that once existed here had long vanished along with Yhwach's defeat.
Now, what remained was only a web of intricate pathways temporarily constructed by Kurosaki Masaki's ability, like a massive spiderweb quietly covering every inch of shadow beneath the Seireitei.
Though crude, it was far more deadly and efficient than that bloated empire from before. Through these reishi pathways, everything happening in the Human World could be seen as clearly as lines on one's palm.
"He believed it."
Ishida Ryuken stood at the edge of the shadows, pushing up the glasses on the bridge of his nose. A cold glint flashed across the lenses.
His gaze pierced through the barrier of space, watching Kurosaki Ichigo kneeling on the ground, crying in collapse, and the group around him, Kyoraku Shunsui and the others, trying to use that grief to ignite war.
"So what if he believed it? And what if he didn't?"
Not far behind him, Kurosaki Masaki stood quietly.
She wore that signature Espada outfit. Her pale face held no trace of color, and her eyes were nothing but hollow stillness.
Watching the scene before her, Kurosaki Masaki almost wanted to laugh.
'Here it is again. No matter how much ti passes, no matter who it is, this world just keeps spinning in this nauseating cycle.'
'Rosse is rotten. Just to witness a scene like this, he can trample over everything without hesitation.'
'I am rotten. Just to keep living, I wagged my tail and bowed to Rosse in the na of protecting my family, yet I can only watch as my family slips into hell one by one.'
'Kurosaki Isshin is rotten. In the end, he is nothing more than a useless man raging in vain, dying while still believing the world and people wouldn't change, leaving behind a sentintal letter that changes nothing.'
'Kyoraku Shunsui is rotten. Even knowing the world has already decayed, he still runs it with the sa old thods, trying to drag more people into the mire.'
'Kurosaki Ichigo is rotten too.'
"'Those who understand the tis are wise.' Is that really so hard to get?"
Kurosaki Masaki's voice carried no warmth, "In a situation like this, isn't it better just to survive? Why cling to those outdated ideas that should've been thrown in the trash long ago?"
'What does my sacrifice an?'
It brought Kurosaki Isshin's death, brought Kurosaki Ichigo's suffering and the fate of dying sooner or later, and brought yet another dood bloodshed to the Soul Society.
"What do you think these Shinigami will choose?"
Ishida Ryuken didn't turn around, only asked indifferently.
Ever since his wife, Katagiri Kanae, was taken by Yhwach's Auswahlen, his heart had already died.
To him, this world was nothing more than an execution ground called revenge.
Now, Yhwach had been driven like a stray dog into fleeing to the Royal Palace, only to fall to his death in the end, becoming a stepping stone for the new world.
His revenge was complete. As for the rest… His and Kanae's son, Ishida Uryu, had already gone to another world. The fact that he was willing to accept his arrangents and go there to study dicine was enough.
"How will they choose?"
A mocking curve lifted at Kurosaki Masaki's lips, "If the Master wanted, these Shinigami should have already worshipped him like a god and obediently followed him out of this rotting Soul Society to that new world. But clearly, the Master doesn't enjoy that kind of play."
She understood Rosse's almost pathological taste far too well.
Rosse didn't care whether these people lived or died. He didn't even care whether they were loyal.
What he cared about was the choice they made in despair—whether they would follow the tide of fate or resist like moths flying into a fla.
Those willing to follow would be granted a dignified survival.
And those who chose to stand against him would only beco clowns crushed by fate in the next act.
The ending had already been decided. Nothing would change it.
"With the thods of Kirinji and Kyoraku Shunsui's group, they'll probably be able to stir up more than half of the Soul Society."
Kurosaki Masaki looked at those Shinigami still scheming, her empty gaze like she was watching a group of lemmings racing toward a cliff:
"When the ti cos, the scene might be quite entertaining. At least it'll amuse the Master."
After saying that, she cast one last deep look at her son, who was still kneeling on the ground, pounding the floor and swearing to confront her.
That child she once cherished like a treasure now looked like nothing more than a pitiful puppet toyed with by fate.
If that was the case, then let him be.
Kurosaki Masaki turned around, her figure gradually fading into the shadows, without a trace of attachnt.
———
And at the very mont she left, Kirinji, who had been staring in that direction, suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with deep apprehension.
In truth, Kurosaki Masaki and Ishida Ryuken had never deliberately concealed their presence.
As a mber of the Zero Division, Kirinji had always been able to clearly sense a powerful and cold spiritual pressure staring at them from within the shadows.
That was Ishida Ryuken's spiritual pressure. He had heard about him from Kyoraku Shunsui.
However, just now, in the area where Ishida Ryuken had been, all the reishi in that region had seed to be swallowed in one gulp by so indescribable existence, along with Ishida Ryuken's spiritual pressure completely vanishing from his perception.
At first, he thought Ishida Ryuken had left.
But when that suffocating vacuum sensation disappeared and Ishida Ryuken's spiritual pressure reappeared, Kirinji suddenly realized.
That wasn't soone leaving.
It was sothing far more terrifying descending.
That existence didn't even need to deliberately hide. Simply by standing there, the surrounding reishi would instinctively submit, leaving a blank void in the perception of an observer like him.
'That level of reishi control…
'Kurosaki Masaki!'
The na surfaced silently in Kirinji's mind.
From previous exchanges of information, he already had a certain understanding of the current Espada.
"This level of reishi control… it's terrifying."
Kirinji stared fixedly at the now-calm patch of shadow, a layer of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
But at the sa ti, a trace of doubt rose in his heart.
'We are acting so openly, yet Rosse is just letting us turn Kurosaki Ichigo?'
'What exactly is he trying to do?'
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