In the world of Shinigami, names must be taken very seriously.
As the saying goes, all power is contained within names.
The great monk of the Zero Squad has the ability to sever names, and losing a name means losing power.
Therefore, the names that appear in one's mind are extremely important.
Generally speaking, the "Espada" in "Hueco Mundo" have Spanish names, which is why many people believe that "Hueco Mundo" corresponds to Spain in the real world.
However, Angra Mainyu is clearly not a Spanish name; it's the dark lord from Persian mythology.
Of course, he has a more famous alias: the root of all evil and darkness, or more precisely, 'All the World's Evil'!
This name...
It's quite good.
Hmm, my Zanpakuto's true form is Lonely Hell, and its Hollow value is All the World's Evil—no matter how you look at it, it seems like a major villain.
Oh well, since I'm already Aizen, it's hard not to be a bad guy.
Spirit Split had no effect on my reishi, which means Angra Mainyu's current strength is very weak.
So Yoshio opened a Garganta and first sent Angra Mainyu to the Human World to train him, planning to send him to Hueco Mundo once he grew a bit stronger.
Suddenly, two perspectives appeared in his mind, which was a bit inconvenient at first, but Yoshio quickly adapted.
Because in the end, it's still himself...
After handling Angra's matters, Yoshio released the Gatekeeper's ability and lay down on the bed.
Yoshio didn't know how Seireitei would handle such incidents occurring inside it.
He hadn't paid much attention before, but now he started thinking about it.
Because he needed to consider what benefits this matter could bring him!
He had already separated out a Hollow factor, but it was too weak now and not very useful.
Yoshio needed Angra Mainyu to grow into a Vasto Lorde over the next forty years or so, which was almost impossible.
The way Hollows advance is different from Shinigami; Shinigami can leap multiple levels in a short time. If you're talented enough, becoming a Lieutenant in a few years and a Captain in about a decade isn't impossible.
But Hollows are predatory creatures; their power comes from devouring other souls, whether Shinigami, humans, or Hollows...
They absorb others' souls to accumulate reishi, then change forms.
From ordinary Hollows evolving into giant Menos Grande Gillians.
Then devouring other Menos Grande, increasing their reishi while compressing it, improving its quality, and condensing their forms to grow into Adjuchas.
Typically, a Gillian is formed from the fusion of tens of thousands or even millions of Hollows, and a powerful Vasto Lorde Arrancar is a terrifying monster with billions of souls condensed within!
Generally, devouring so many souls not only brings a massive increase in reishi but also an overwhelming flood of memories.
Therefore, a "Menos Grande" is no longer the original "Menos Grande."
Perhaps one of those thousands of souls was too strong and took dominance, or maybe the mixture of thousands of souls formed a entirely new dominant consciousness.
So, Yoshio needed to be careful in this regard.
He planned to create a memory storage device so that when Angra devoured other souls, he would only absorb the reishi and filter out the memories and emotions.
This wasn't impossible; he just needed to use Telaraña in reverse.
Telaraña's ability is to extract information from things, including people's memories, emotions, and thoughts. So Yoshio could naturally use this property of Telaraña to filter out people's memories, emotions, and thoughts.
This could be considered his first step on the path to becoming a scientist. Once he returned to Hueco Mundo, he would start his own research.
Additionally, he was considering more areas he could exploit.
For example, this 'imaginary body' incident...
Each imaginary body was strengthened based on the Captains' past 'ideas,' among which...
He specifically emphasized that Roka Paramia should extract the 'thought body' of Tōsen Kaname's past resentment toward the Tsunayashiro Clan, meaning the imaginary body Tōsen Kaname was very likely to take action against the Tsunayashiro Clan.
And... probably not just Tōsen Kaname alone...
In the Gotei 13, there are many people dissatisfied with the Tsunayashiro Clan.
He pondered whether he could take this opportunity to steal some good things from the Tsunayashiro Clan.
As the head of the Five Great Noble Families, their household holds many precious items, especially Soul King fragments...
If Angra Mainyu, as a Hollow, could obtain a large number of Soul King fragments, he could definitely level up quickly.
Yoshio was already thinking about what to do next.
As he thought, dawn was approaching.
At that moment, a Jigokuchō flew into Yoshio's room.
Yoshio opened his eyes, put on his Shinigami uniform, then his Lieutenant's badge, and rushed to the First Division.
He arrived at the second assistant's office as per regulations, only to find he was the second earliest to arrive.
The earliest was surprisingly Ōmaeda!
Ōmaeda seemed a bit sleepy; Yoshio arrived just as he was yawning.
"Yoshio, you're here early."
Ōmaeda said listlessly.
"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep?" Yoshio naturally sat down next to Ōmaeda.
Ōmaeda's Souls Ability was so overpowered, so of course, Yoshio was also trying to gain his favor.
But since they worked in different divisions, they rarely met.
In theory, they could only meet at times like this, but Yoshio had found another way: using his identity as a famous writer from his Seireitei days to collaborate with Ōmaeda's family company.
The Ōmaeda family's "Ōmaeda Jewelry" is the largest gem company in Soul Society. Second Division's Lieutenant Ōmaeda Marechiyo is also the general manager of the precious metals department. Although most Gotei 13 members can't afford their products, that doesn't stop them from being very familiar with the business.
The collaboration they reached was Yoshio endorsing their family's jewelry and heavily promoting it in his novels.
Yoshio naturally agreed and earned a considerable income from it.
It was through this connection that Yoshio could interact more with Ōmaeda.
This novel, which he started writing out of boredom, had now become a medium for making friends, and he thought it was pretty good.
Ōmaeda Marechiyo said: "Don't get me started. Last night, Captain Suì-Fēng woke me up directly and took me patrolling Seireitei all night!"
"That must have been tough." Yoshio comforted him and then asked: "So what exactly happened? I just received an emergency message, but I don't know why."
Ōmaeda shook his head and said: "Apparently, Captain Kyōraku was attacked. I don't know anything else."
"Captain Kyōraku was attacked?!" Rangiku walked over at that moment, somewhat surprised, and said: "No way, someone actually dared to attack Captain Kyōraku?"
"If they're attacking Seireitei, who cares if you're a Captain." Yoshio sighed, "Seireitei is in trouble now."
"It's hard to believe no matter how you think about it." Rangiku said in shock, "When was he attacked?"
"Around 10 PM last night, I think." Ōmaeda said.
"10 PM?" Rangiku and Yoshio exchanged glances and couldn't help but say: "Wasn't that right after we finished drinking and went back?"
"Yes." Yoshio nodded and said: "Did you sense any reishi?"
"How could I?" Rangiku couldn't help but say, "If I sensed reishi, I would have gone!"
"Same here, I was pretty drunk, my head was fuzzy." Yoshio said, "But Captain Kyōraku seems fine, which is good."
The room fell into silence, and soon more Captains arrived.
Including Kyōraku Shunsui's Lieutenant, Ise Nanao.
By now, the Lieutenants had also learned about what happened last night. Seeing Nanao, Rangiku asked again: "Nanao, Captain Kyōraku should be okay, right?"
"He's fine." Nanao said calmly, "However, it wasn't just Captain Kyōraku who was attacked yesterday; the nobles were also assaulted by unknown enemies."
"Hmm?" The Lieutenants showed surprised expressions, especially Ōmaeda, who couldn't help but say: "Huh? The nobles were attacked too? How did I not know?"
Whether due to his noble status or his position in the Onmitsukidō, he should have known about this.
But no one noticed anything off, because Ōmaeda was always unreliable, and Captain Suì-Fēng sometimes forgot to tell him things.
"So, does that mean Seireitei is going into wartime readiness?" Yoshio said seriously.
A Captain being attacked, and nobles too—this matter absolutely needed a thorough investigation.
That's why they were summoned for a meeting so early.
After a while, the Captains emerged from the meeting room.
Captain-Commander Yamamoto had issued special wartime orders.
"First, all senior officers, including Lieutenants, may carry their Zanpakuto at all times within the court."
"Second, they are permitted Bankai during wartime."
The Shinigami on site read Captain-Commander Yamamoto's orders to the many Lieutenants, and Yoshio and the others all looked grave.
Indeed, a special wartime order had been issued…
…
"Captain Kyōraku, I didn't expect you'd be assassinated right after we parted last night." As Yoshio left the vice office, he saw Kyōraku Shunsui and other Captains coming out.
He knew this "Kyōraku Shunsui" was definitely "fake," but he still walked over and said.
'Kyōraku Shunsui' wasn't nervous at all and said naturally: "It's fine, I can handle it."
"However..."
Aizen, standing next to 'Kyōraku Shunsui,' said with a grave expression: "The enemy dared to assassinate a Captain directly, and after failing, they could escape quickly, which shows their strength is also very strong."
"Although it's not a big threat to Captains, if they target Shinigami below Captain level, it would probably be hard to deal with."
So alike, so alike!
Yoshio felt his acting skills still needed to learn from Aizen. Is this the style of a veteran actor?
"Captain Aizen is right." Retsu Unohana, who was nearby, heard their conversation and said: "Last night, several nobles with reishi levels reaching seated officer status were killed with a single sword strike. The depth of that sword—probably even well-trained senior officers would have trouble withstanding it."
"Something like that happened..." Yoshio said somewhat surprised, "I heard the nobles were attacked, but I didn't expect one-hit kills. That's too exaggerated, right?"
"That means..." Nanao said nervously, "Even we could be instantly killed by the opponent?"
"Probably... yes." Unohana replied softly.
"Don't worry." 'Kyōraku Shunsui' said, "Nanao, you just stay in the squad office from now on. We'll handle this."
"No way!" Nanao immediately said: "I'm the Lieutenant of the Eighth Division, after all. How could I let you fight outside alone!"
Aizen also nodded and said: "Both Kyōraku and Nanao make sense. We certainly need to be cautious of the enemy, but we can't be overly cautious because of them. Otherwise, if thousands of Gotei 13 members live in fear, wouldn't that make us a laughingstock to the opponent?"
"So, what is the plan discussed by the Captains?" Nanao asked.
The Captains and Lieutenants had gathered early in the morning at the First Division; they couldn't have been talking about irrelevant things. They must have countermeasures in advance.
Unohana slightly raised her head and said in a rather calm tone: "We checked the surveillance in several incident areas, including where Captain Kyōraku was attacked. However, at the time of the incidents, the surveillance in those areas was all destroyed. This proves the opponent knows us very well."
"Moreover, according to Kyōraku, the opponent was wearing a Hollow mask. Based on the Captains' discussions, we preliminarily judge the enemy to be Kisuke Urahara, who betrayed Seireitei decades ago and caused the 'Hollowfication incident.'"
They knew Seireitei's surveillance network like the back of their hand, could infiltrate easily, and possessed Hollow masks—deducing the enemy as Kisuke Urahara seemed only natural.
"So..."
Aizen then said in a somewhat inexplicable tone: "Based on the resolution of Central 46 and the Captains' meeting, it has been decided to launch a punitive expedition against Soul Society's greatest traitor, Kisuke Urahara."
"Before he brings greater crisis, we will kill him! Nip his brewing conspiracy in the bud!"
"However, it's a bit regrettable..." 'Kyōraku Shunsui' said with a face full of regret, "This matter also involves Yoruichi Shihōin."
"Those matters of the great nobles are not for us to consider."
Aizen said softly: "What we must do is arrest and execute Kisuke Urahara..."