That day in Hueco Mundo, Mazuru had defeated him. And in the words he spoke afterward, he mentioned a name — Wandenreich, the "Invisible Empire".
Now, the quincy who attacked Chojiro had declared war on the Soul Society before leaving, and the power they claimed to belong to was also the Wandenreich.
This meant that what Mazuru had said that day was true.
Of course, there was another possibility — that the matter of the quincy and the Wandenreich had been a lie fabricated by Mazuru from the very beginning. Even the attack on Chojiro might have been arranged by him.
However, the probability of that possibility was extremely low.
The thought appeared briefly in Shunsui's mind, but he quickly rejected it.
After shooing away that seemingly inexplicable thought, Shunsui continued.
"Thousands of years ago, Yhwach appeared to have died at the hands of old man Yama. But in reality, he still probably had a breath left. Afterward, with the help of the remaining quincies, the enemies seemed to have escaped from Soul Society. However, in truth, they never left."
"How could that be?!"
Someone could not help but exclaim.
If what Shunsui said was true, and the quincy named Yhwach had been hiding within the Soul Society for a thousand years, how had no one ever discovered them?
Kurotsuchi Mayuri also glanced toward Shunsui.
Although the Eighth Division was responsible for intelligence, the Twelfth Division was responsible for monitoring spiritual particles throughout Soul Society. If quincy had truly been hiding within Soul Society for thousands of years, the Twelfth Division should have detected some trace of them.
"I know what you want to ask." Shunsui said calmly.
"You want to ask why, if they have been hiding within Soul Society all this time, we have never discovered them for a thousand years."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"That's because they are hiding in a place we would never imagine."
Shunsui did not prolong the suspense.
"They are in the shadows of Seireitei."
"The quincy possess the ability to manipulate spirit particles. Using spirit particles, they can form weapons. Similarly, they can also construct spaces made of spirit particles. Those quincy who survived the war a thousand years ago, together with the quincy who later joined them over the centuries, have been hiding in the shadows of Seireitei, continuously building that spirit particle space."
"In the shadows beneath us, they created a powerful empire."
"Because it exists within the shadows… the name of that empire is Wandenreich, the Invisible Empire."
With calm words, Shunsui explained the origin of the Invisible Empire.
Everything he said was reasonable and logically consistent.
And precisely because it was so logical, it made the captains feel an icy chill.
If what Shunsui said was true, and the quincy had truly been hiding beneath the shadows of Seireitei for a thousand years, then it meant that the quincy had been fully aware of everything happening within Seireitei.
Previously, the only person known to have completely merged with Seireitei was the Azashiro Soya.
Through the power of his Zanpakutō, he had become one with Seireitei itself. Even the prisons of the Central Underground could not contain him, and because of that connection, he could perceive everything occurring within Seireitei.
And now Shunsui was saying that, aside from Azashiro, there was another terrifying organization hidden underground — the Invisible Empire — which had been secretly watching them all this time.
The thought alone made people feel cold.
Since when had the shinigami been living under constant surveillance?
Did they have no privacy at all?
"Even if what you say is true," Mayuri said suddenly, "since they have been hiding in the shadows of Seireitei all this time, why did they wait a thousand years before declaring war on us?"
Indeed, if the Invisible Empire had been hiding within Seireitei for millennia without the Twelfth Division ever discovering them, that would undoubtedly count as Mayuri's, the current captain's, negligence.
However, his question was still reasonable.
During those thousand years, Soul Society had experienced countless crises and periods of weakness.
The most severe crisis had occurred about a hundred years ago.
During the hollowfication incident, six captains of the Gotei 13 were lost at once. Several vice-captains were also lost, and even the chief and vice-chief of the Kidō Corps disappeared in that battle.
Afterward, it had taken decades to fill those empty captain positions.
If the Invisible Empire had chosen to launch their war during that period, the outcome would have been extremely uncertain.
After all, the Invisible Empire had been preparing for thousands of years. Their strength would certainly not be weak.
"There is naturally a reason," Shunsui replied.
"Although Yhwach survived the battle a thousand years ago, he paid a heavy price."
"The reason the Invisible Empire has only now declared war is most likely because he has only recently recovered."
Of course, Shunsui did not know the exact details.
He did not know that after the war, Yhwach required nine hundred years to regain his heartbeat, ninety years to regain his consciousness, and another nine years to restore his full power.
Mazuru had never told him that.
These were merely speculations made by Urahara Kisuke.
"There is still one last question."
Mayuri spoke again, almost as if he deliberately wanted to cause trouble.
"Where did you learn all this information?"
Fortunately, Shunsui had a very good temper. He did not react to Mayuri's sharp tone.
After hearing the question, his expression became slightly complicated.
Then he gave the answer.
"Kyo Mazuru told me."
The moment that name was spoken, the atmosphere inside the hall changed.
For everyone in Soul Society today, the name "Kyo Mazuru" had already become something close to an absolute taboo.
Beside Shunshui, Nanao's body trembled slightly.
Not far away, Rangiku and Sui Feng showed complicated expressions.
Toshiro and Byakuya — both once disciples of Mazuru — looked particularly unpleasant.
Many other captains and vice-captains who had dealt with Mazuru before did not look much better.
Mayuri even recalled some rather embarrassing memories. His face immediately darkened.
"Kyo Mazuru is a traitor to the Soul Society!" Mayuri said sharply.
"And you actually believe the words of a traitor?"
"At first, I didn't want to believe it either." Shunsui replied calmly.
"But now, I have no choice but to believe it."
"Not only because of the Invisible Empire."
"But also, because the Invisible Empire possesses the ability to seize shinigami's Bankai."
"Mazuru seems to have known about this long ago. That's why he had entrusted Urahara Kisuke to create a countermeasure capable of reclaiming our stolen Bankai."
Hearing this, many captains immediately thought of the medicine Head-captain Yamamoto had distributed to them earlier.
At that time, they had assumed it was meant to deal with Hueco Mundo.
But now it seemed, it had actually been prepared as a precaution against the Invisible Empire.
*****
Support me on my Ko-fi page to keep me motivated to continue uploading chapters.
https://ko fi.com/rroy28 (put a "-" between "ko" and "fi")
I have added Uncensored NSFW Illustrations in my Discord server, available only to paid members.
I am working on the following projects:
✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]