"...In short, anyone whose spiritual nucleus has been restructured by me will form a connection with me."
Inside the spacious tower, Ishikawa looked at the surrounding people and explained the principles and process of the Reiatsu Crest and spiritual nucleus restructuring: "This connection is two-way. That is to say, not only can I sense you and contact you in a way similar to Picaro, but you can also contact me. There is no such thing as a superior or subordinate relationship."
"Normally, a spiritual nucleus restructured based on the Reiatsu Crest only grants Arrancars the ability to perform multi-stage Cero, it's not an evolution on a life-level."
Ishikawa said this and glanced at Cirucci, who was yawning beside him: "I'm not sure exactly what happened with the changes in Cirucci and Picaro, so I have no idea what you will ultimately become."
The people present did not react much to Ishikawa's words, because before gathering here, Cirucci had already told them about the changes after spiritual nucleus restructuring.
As the new king, Harribel was the first to step forward after Ishikawa finished speaking.
She wasn't particularly keen on pursuing strength, but as the new king of Hueco Mundo, she had to possess the power to deal with all situations.
Following Harribel were her three Fraccións.
Seeing Harribel and her three subordinates step out, Cirucci nodded behind her, and three figures immediately came forward.
These three were Rudbornn, Dordoni, and Gantenbainne. Dordoni and Gantenbainne could be said to be Cirucci's few friends in Las Noches during Aizen's time. Although after the battle not long ago, the two began to consider themselves Cirucci's Fraccións, abandoning their obsession with the Espada.
Rudbornn was the same; ever since he lost to Cirucci, he had been extremely obedient to her.
Next was Nel, who directly pushed Byakuya and Dondochakka beside her: "You two go too."
Byakuya and Dondochakka looked at the Espada and former Espada in front of them… their expressions were a bit nervous. Compared to these people, they felt out of place standing among them.
Finally, Ulquiorra came before Ishikawa.
His mindset was somewhat similar to Harribel's; he wasn't very interested in growth in strength, but… that evolution on a life-level made him feel anticipation.
Because Roka, who, like himself, had a missing heart due to being artificial, after her spiritual nucleus was restructured, he felt as if something had been added to her, something that he and the former Roka both lacked.
Ishikawa's gaze swept over the people in front of him, and he suddenly regretted saying that he would modify as many as came…
So many people, it seems one arm is not enough.
But the words were already out, and it was hard to take them back now.
In fact, Ishikawa could completely avoid using his own flesh and blood to create the Reiatsu Crest. After all, the Hollow Mark he initially created was simply his Reishi transformed into a Hollow Mark, which then fused with the Arrancar's restructured spiritual nucleus, thereby granting them the ability for further release.
The reason Ishikawa incorporated his own flesh and blood was simply that he didn't want Aizen to discover his modifications to Cirucci. His flesh and blood happened to be able to achieve this, so he combined flesh and blood with Reishi to form the Hollow Mark.
But now that Aizen was gone, there was naturally no need to hide anything.
However…
Cirucci told Ishikawa all about the changes in her second Cero and her own conjectures, which made Ishikawa vaguely understand… why the Reiatsu Crest he created would produce effects it shouldn't have.
So in the end, he still decided to continue restructuring Arrancar spiritual nucleuss based on Reishi and flesh and blood.
He had a premonition that if he could figure out the changes in Cirucci and their second Cero, he might be able to understand the peculiarities of his own body.
However…
Ishikawa's gaze shifted to a corner of the hall. Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but follow his gaze.
There, Lilynette was trying to pull Starrk, who was lying on several chairs.
Seeing this, a strange look flashed in the eyes of Cirucci and the others.
Because including Ishikawa, they all knew Starrk's consistent pursuit.
Just as Aizen's meaning to him, Starrk's sole pursuit from beginning to end was to bid farewell to loneliness.
He disliked fighting and would even show mercy to enemies depending on the situation. He was lazy but hated loneliness and valued his comrades, even being emotionally shaken by the death of an Espada he wasn't particularly close to.
Most others followed Aizen to pursue strength. Even Harribel chose to follow Aizen and use the Hōgyoku to gain greater strength because her power was insufficient to protect her companions.
That is to say…
Many of them had already reached their limit in growth.
But Starrk was different. From beginning to end, he had never used the power of the Hōgyoku. Instead, many, many years ago, he had already broken through the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow on his own.
It was precisely because his strength was so great… that weak Hollows would automatically have their souls worn away and die if they approached him, that he felt lonely. He could only travel alone in Hueco Mundo, seeking powerful companions who could be with him without being weakened to death.
Finally, to escape loneliness, he split his soul into two entities: Starrk and Lilynette.
Rather than saying Starrk had reached his limit in growth, it was more accurate to say that he subconsciously chose to halt his growth, even wishing he could become weaker.
But even so…
He was still the strongest Espada!
Even Baraggan, the former king of Hueco Mundo, could only be subordinate to Starrk after accepting Aizen's help.
Ishikawa didn't rush but quietly waited for Starrk's decision.
He personally hoped that Starrk's strength could advance further. Even if doing so would make Starrk incredibly terrifying, even to the point of threatening himself, Ishikawa still wanted to prepare in advance for potential future events he remembered.
Wandenreich!
Aizen was terrifying, even as powerful as a god.
But he was not a god after all.
However, the king of the Wandenreich was an existence Ishikawa had never known how to defeat from beginning to end.
Omnipotent and Omniscient.
The meaning symbolized by these four words alone sent shivers down Ishikawa's spine.
From the first day Ishikawa entered the Seireitei, no matter how relaxed he was, he never stopped his basic vigilance.
After defeating Aizen, he meticulously searched within the Seireitei, but no matter what, he couldn't detect the so-called Shadow Realm, nor could he find the Wandenreich hidden in the shadows of the Seireitei, just as its name implied.
"Ah…"
Getting back to the point, suddenly being stared at by so many people startled Lilynette, who quickly let go of Starrk.
"Sigh—"
Starrk sighed, sat up from the chair, and scratched his messy, bird's nest-like hair.
"Do I have to go too?"
After a long silence, Starrk suddenly asked Ishikawa.
Meeting Starrk's gaze, Ishikawa hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "I personally hope you can become stronger."
"Is that so?"
Starrk gazed at Ishikawa for a long time upon hearing this, then smiled: "Then count me in."
With that, he got up and came to Ishikawa's side with Lilynette.
"Heh heh—"
Ishikawa smiled upon hearing this. Someone who could become the leader of the Espada was not foolish. Although he hadn't mentioned anything about the Wandenreich, Starrk clearly sensed something vaguely.
Regarding this matter, he actually didn't plan to tell anyone, including the Gotei 13.
Firstly, this was just his memory, and he didn't know the exact time, only being able to increase vigilance around a general timeframe; secondly, because… it wasn't necessary!
It should be known that Kurotsuchi Mayuri, after becoming a Captain, never stopped his research on Quincies.
And both Commander Yamamoto and the Central 46 tacitly approved his actions, which indicates that although the Seireitei was unaware of the Wandenreich's existence, they were very clear that certain things would happen within the 'approximate time' Ishikawa knew about, even before he came to Soul Society… or even before he was born, they already knew.
Although all of this had no effect in the face of the words 'Omnipotent and Omniscient'.
Ishikawa didn't know how much the Omnipotent and Omniscient could see, or how far into the future, but one thing was certain: before he truly 'opened his eyes,' he shouldn't possess true omniscience and omnipotence.
So Ishikawa wanted to try his best not to let the other party'see' him.
Only in this way…
Could his ideas have a chance of being implemented.
The modifications for a total of twelve people took Ishikawa nearly a day.
During this day, the entire Hueco Mundo was in turmoil, but because the towering purple light pillar emanated from Las Noches, it did not cause too much disturbance.
The twelve purple light pillars existed for a full day and night, their fluctuations spreading throughout Hueco Mundo, and even Soul Society felt the changes in Hueco Mundo.
Darkness~!
As far as the eye could see, everything was pitch black.
But in the pitch black, a pair of eyes slowly opened.
"Yo, you've been opening your eyes more often lately, haven't you? Not long ago, when that Shinigami named 'Aizen' was sent in, you opened your eyes once, and this time you opened them again."
A strange, playful laugh came from the darkness: "Hahahaha~ Did something interesting happen again? Has that little guy named Ishikawa also been locked in? Sister is very interested in him, but unfortunately, I've appeared in front of him many times, and he has never seen me."
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm talking to you, why don't you tell me why you opened your eyes this time?"
The owner of the eyes ignored the incessant chatter, only a flicker of hesitation in their gaze.
"What? What? Do you want to leave here? I advise you to give up."
The strange, playful laugh came again: "Anyway, even if you go out, you'll be sent back by Ishikawa, just like that 'Aizen.' As an old senior, and one who once held the name 'Zaraki,' to be defeated by a kid not even fifty years old…"
"Hahahaha— That's too embarrassing, isn't it? I'm actually looking forward to it."
"Shut up!"
The incessant chattering finally angered the owner of the eyes, who couldn't help but coldly rebuke them.
"Eh, you spoke? Hahaha, when was the last time you spoke? A few years ago? Decades? Centuries? Oh, right, the last time you spoke was when you were breaking Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu, wasn't it?"
"When you were breaking the illusion of Kyōka Suigetsu, you kept muttering 'strange,' '詭異,' 'the feeling on my body doesn't match the reality' and so on. As a result, you finally broke his ability, but it only worked within the Seireitei."
"How embarrassing, so embarrassing!"
"…"
The owner of the eyes suddenly regretted opening them.
The mere existence of this guy made him feel incredibly annoyed.
"Hey, hey, hey, you're not really going to go out, are you?"
The voice sounded again, but this time with a bit more seriousness: "You couldn't even defeat Aizen with certainty, let alone that little Ishikawa."
"You be quiet!"
"What? Not convinced? You can only show off your might within the Seireitei. You yourself admitted that outside the Seireitei, you couldn't defeat Aizen at all. Why don't you just change your address to Lord Aizen, like Kaname Tōsen? Maybe he'll be happy and take you as a subordinate."
"You also said that the only ones who could stop Aizen were the Squad Zero, but they didn't even need to act before you surrendered. The little brother I favor has already defeated Aizen."
"Besides, although you and Ishikawa have never met, he doesn't even know of your existence, but unconsciously, you've suffered a lot at his hands, haven't you? Hahahahaha—"
The owner of the eyes did not speak in response to the woman's mocking laughter, but a trace of helplessness flashed in those extremely bright eyes in the darkness.
Because…
No rebuttal was possible!
It was indeed as the woman's voice said: even though he had never interacted with that brat named Ishikawa, he still suffered greatly at his hands, and every once in a while, he would make him uncomfortable…
"When you became one with the Seireitei, you never thought someone could create an ability that forcibly devours Reishi, did you? Even with a Vice-Captain's strength, it made your face change drastically."
"Hahahahaha— He probably doesn't even know that every time he fully activates that so-called Reiatsu Crest, forcibly devouring the Reishi of an area, or even the entire Seireitei, someone is experiencing pain as if being torn apart."
"If Ishikawa, the king of Rukongai, knew that you once wanted to transform the residents of Rukongai into war weapons to conquer Hueco Mundo, our little Ishikawa would surely suck you dry. Such a death would be too unsightly, wouldn't it?"
"Shut up!"
Under this relentless barrage, the owner of the eyes finally couldn't control himself and spoke: "I opened my eyes only because I felt the changes in Hueco Mundo. I never thought of leaving here. With him in Soul Society, there's no need for me to leave."
"Hahahahaha… You're scared, aren't you? So you know fear too!"
"…Are you annoying or what?"
"Eh? You didn't refute me, you actually didn't refute me, hahaha, I'm getting more and more excited to meet that little Ishikawa."