'Yhwach, what will you do now?'
'What kind of future do you see?'
After leaving the meeting room, Kyoya looked towards the direction of the Seireitei.
As his strength increased, Kyoya's Observation Haki could now perceive the massive space within the Seireitei's shadow.
However, because the shadow realm belonged to the 'land of shadows', isolating external light, Kyoya couldn't use his Light Perception to probe the situation within the Wandenreich.
But as Kyoya said, he would not stop Yhwach.
In fact, before the Soul King's death, Kyoya would even assist Yhwach to a certain extent.
Whether it's Yamamoto or Kisuke, they want to protect the Seireitei.
But they never considered whether the Soul King is still willing to be the linchpin stabilizing the world for its continuation.
Even if the Soul King, born from the world initially, was a 'god', over these millions of years, having seen through countless human futures and witnessed human 'evil', could he still maintain his own "divinity"?
Perhaps the Soul King has also seen a future where he awakens 'humanity' and ultimately destroys the world?
To prevent himself from ultimately heading towards such a future, he decided to kill himself before he could destroy the world?
Closing his eyes, Kyoya expanded his perception.
In the Soul King Palace, Ichibe'e sat in meditation within the Soul King's inner sanctum, guarding the Soul King.
The other Zero Division's members were each attending to their own tasks.
The Hikifune Kirio Kyoya was familiar with had now become the plump lady.
In Hueco Mundo, Aizen was not in the Las Noches's hall meeting with the Espada, but was in his own laboratory, beginning the fusion of the Hogyoku.
Moreover, he was starting to attempt the targeted creation of Hollows with specific abilities.
Gin and Tosen stood on the left and right sides of the Las Noches's throne, seemingly both lost in thought.
In the human world, Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad had returned. Only Orihime, because of her ability, was specially invited by the Seireitei to participate in the later treatment of the wounded.
It must be said, Orihime's ability is very well-liked.
She might not be the strongest in combat, but she is the most indispensable.
Whether it was pulling Ichigo back from the brink of death multiple times or later restoring the Zanpakuto severed by Yhwach for Ichigo, none of it would have been possible without the help of Orihime's ability.
Rejection of Phenomena… this is an ability that trespasses into the domain of the gods.
This isn't just Aizen talking nonsense.
It's just that the gap between Orihime's Reiatsu and others is simply too large.
Otherwise, Kyoya suspects that if Orihime possessed Aizen's level of Reiatsu, even without Ichigo, she could solo Yhwach.
She's simply invincible.
Santen Kesshun rejects external harm, Soten Kisshun rejects internal harm, Shiten Koshun can both defend and counter, Koten Zanshun severs everything...
Ichigo stacks attributes to the limit, while Orihime stacks mechanics to the limit.
Watching Orihime smiling as she treated one Shinigami after another, Kyoya stroked his chin.
'On Aizen's side, wanting to fully fuse the two Hogyoku is impossible without the assistance of Orihime's ability.'
'But, placing a young girl like that in Hueco Mundo is too dangerous.'
'Although Aizen had Ulquiorra protect Orihime, there were still situations where Orihime was bullied by Arrancar.'
'If Grimmjow hadn't happened to appear, Orihime would probably have died at the hands of those two Arrancar.'
'After all, by that time, Aizen's Hogyoku had completely fused, and Orihime was useless to him. Whether she lived or died, Aizen didn't care.'
'Just right, I won't have much to do then anyway. I'll follow Orihime to Hueco Mundo for a trip.'
…
'Hey now, these guys, are they in the wrong set?'
By now, a week had passed since the battle between the Revolutionary Army and the Seireitei.
In the human world, Ichigo and the others were attacked by the Bounts. Finally, somehow the Bount Clan obtained Senkaimon Technology and directly broke into the Soul Society.
In the Anime Filler, the Bounts' purpose for entering the Seireitei was to detonate the [Jokaisho] buried underground in the Seireitei, thereby destroying it.
Although they ultimately failed, the Bounts' entry into the Seireitei still caused significant damage.
This time, whether due to a Senkaimon error or the guidance of the Soul King's will, the Bounts did not appear directly in the Seireitei, but in the Rukongai.
Unfortunately, Rukongai is the Revolutionary Army's territory.
After these Bounts entered the Soul Society, each of them, due to the high Reishi Concentration, absorbed a considerable amount of Reishi, significantly boosting their strength.
Under these circumstances, the Bounts inflicted considerable casualties on the Revolutionary Army.
Fortunately, after these guys entered the Soul Society, their appearance location was a bit off, so Kyoya had the Revolutionary Army's Commanders and Vice-Commanders go to intercept them early.
Otherwise, given these guys' nature, they would probably devour the Rukongai's residents like Hollows.
Ganju faced the Bount twins, Ho and Han.
These two brothers' dolls were water contained in bottles.
Coincidentally, Ganju had strong mastery in the Shiba Clan's secret art [Stone Pulse], which could turn any substance into sand, making him a decent counter to the two brothers.
Although he hadn't comprehended the ultimate technique, it was still something the twin brothers couldn't withstand.
The old man Sawatari encountered Rukia.
Although Sawatari's doll possessed spatial abilities, even allowing his doll, Baura, to travel underground as if through the sea.
But encountering Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki and its absolute zero temperature, Sawatari had no chance of survival.
Fighting Yoshi was Renji.
Yoshi's fan had strong defensive power, and his sword's attack power was not bad either.
But unfortunately, Renji was stronger.
Without even releasing his Zanpakuto, with the Rokuogan, the ultimate technique of the Rokushiki, he directly sent Yoshi packing.
Mabashi encountered Yumichika.
His doll could parasitize and control the host enemy.
Yumichika was caught off guard and fell for it.
But after releasing his Zanpakuto, he turned the tables and absorbed all the spiritual pressure of Mabashi's doll, causing Mabashi to be backlashed by his own doll and die.
Koga Go encountered Hitsugaya.
Without any surprise, even though he was the strongest among the Bounts second only to Kariya, he still couldn't withstand Hitsugaya and was directly slain.
The Bount leader, Jin Kariya, encountered Shusuke.
A week ago, Shusuke was defeated by a Lieutenant, becoming the laughingstock among the Revolutionary Army's Army Commanders.
This time, with enemies invading the Revolutionary Army's territory, Shusuke directly requested Kyoya to leave the enemy leader for him.
Kariya's doll can control wind, while Shusuke's Zanpakuto can control fire.
Their battle was a clash of wind and fire.
The scale of their fight directly destroyed the forest on a small mountain.
It must be said, as the leader of the Bounts, Kariya's strength absolutely reached Captain-level.
Even Shusuke had to expend considerable effort to finally slay Kariya.
Ichigo, who had just arrived in the Soul Society via the Senkaimon and sensed the Bounts' Reiatsu fading, showed a bewildered expression.
How long had it been? The Bounts were already completely wiped out?
One must know, when they had broken into the Seireitei before, the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 took a week and still couldn't capture them all.
Although there was some covert assistance from the various Division Captains in that, Ichigo had been fighting constantly, never absent.
The Bount group was, if anything, stronger than they were back then!
Even when Ichigo used Bankai and fought Kariya, he didn't gain much advantage.
But how long had it been since they rushed from the human world to the Soul Society?
The entire Bount group was annihilated?
Suddenly, Ichigo felt extremely relieved.
It was a good thing they had broken into the Seireitei back then.
If they had broken into the Rukongai, probably not only him, but even Yoruichi might have been wiped out together, right?
Ichigo didn't know the other members of the Revolutionary Army well, as he wasn't very familiar with them.
But Ichigo's memory of Kyoya was particularly vivid.
Even the later encounter with Aizen, in Ichigo's heart, fell short compared to Kyoya.
"Yo, Kurosaki-kun, we meet again."
"Kyoya-senpai!"
While Ichigo was stunned, golden light condensed in front of him to form Kyoya's figure.
Seeing this, even though Ichigo had already learned about Kyoya's ability from Kisuke, he still felt it was utterly overpowered.
The wielder of the Strongest Light-Type Zanpakuto, the person with the strongest swordsmanship talent in the Soul Society's history, and also the one who elevated swordsmanship to a higher level.
Moreover, according to Yoruichi, he learned that Kisuke had been tricked by Kyoya more than once.
Ichigo could tell that no matter how much Kisuke grumbled about how detestable Kyoya was, in his heart, he held great respect for Kyoya.
But Kisuke didn't dare to trick him back, afraid of getting beaten up by Kyoya!
"What, run into some trouble again?"
"Uh..."
"These small fries count as trouble?"
Ichigo scratched his head and laughed awkwardly: "It was a bit troublesome originally, but it looks like the Revolutionary Army's people have already taken care of them."
Kyoya's words made Ichigo's eyebrow twitch.
'Small fries?'
'Someone I couldn't even defeat was called a small fry by Kyoya-senpai?'
Well, in that battle, neither he nor Kariya were very serious. If they got serious, Ichigo felt he might also be able to kill Kariya in such a short time.
But it seemed, in front of Kyoya, he really was just a small fry too...
Sighing, Ichigo said, "Kyoya-senpai, you're strong, you're always right."
This was Ichigo's final stubbornness.
"No, you misunderstand, Kurosaki-kun."
Kyoya shook his head: "The trouble I'm referring to isn't these Bounts."
"..."
"You've seen it, haven't you?"
Kyoya's words made Ichigo's pupils contract violently.
He knew what Kyoya was talking about.
In his battle with the Bount, Koga Go, Ichigo felt the presence of that thing for the first time.
Moreover, due to the setback in battle, his body was controlled by that thing for a period of time.
Although Ichigo ultimately regained control of his body, it left him with a psychological shadow regarding combat.
This was also the main reason Ichigo didn't defeat Kariya in their fight.
These past few days, he had been living in fear.
He didn't dare to exert himself too much, afraid that if he used his full power, he wouldn't have enough Reiatsu left to suppress the thing inside him, leading to his body being taken over.
But he didn't know who to confide these fears to.
Family?
He didn't dare.
Becoming a Shinigami was supposed to be about protecting his family, making them happy.
Making them worry about him in return would be too lame.
Orihime? Chad?
Useless.
They had absolutely no solution for his situation.
Uryu?
Indeed, Ichigo admitted that Uryu's mind was very sharp. If he told Uryu about his situation, Uryu would definitely give him good advice.
But unfortunately, Ichigo knew that Uryu had lost all his Reiatsu and was currently fighting Hollows relying on previously collected Reiatsu.
Under these circumstances, Ichigo didn't want to add to Uryu's burden.
As for Kisuke...
To be honest, the incident with Miyako made Ichigo feel a sense of wariness towards Kisuke that he himself wasn't fully aware of.
It was undeniable that Ichigo felt very grateful towards Kisuke for allowing him to regain his Shinigami powers.
But he wasn't sure if Kisuke was truly on the same side as him.
Miyako's soul contained the Hogyoku.
Kisuke didn't want Miyako to recover her Reiatsu, so he gave her a special gigai, only wanting her to die naturally to destroy the Hogyoku.
So did he also do something to Ichigo's own body?
Was that thing Kisuke's doing?
After thinking about these things, Ichigo was even less likely to tell Kisuke about his condition.
Now, Kyoya's words made Ichigo feel that telling Kyoya about his situation seemed like the best course of action.
Moreover, from Kyoya's tone, he seemed to know about his condition.
"Yes, I saw him."
Finally, Ichigo took a deep breath.
"Kyoya-senpai, that guy is practically another me!"
"He has the same appearance as me, the same memories, the same Zanpakuto..."
"Even, compared to him, my fighting seems too childish."
"Just seeing him, I can feel that if I relax even a little, he will take over my body..."
Kyoya didn't say anything, just quietly listened to Ichigo's words.
The current Ichigo needed emotional release.
After Ichigo finished speaking and his emotions stabilized, Kyoya then asked him, "So, Ichigo, did you hear what he said?"