Inside the grand hall of the pure-white manor, Cole sat on the throne with dead fish eyes.
No matter what, he never expected that because of a single sentence from Yhwach, Rukia would be able to come up with that many wild conclusions.
A dangerous look surfaced in his eyes as he said,
"You're making a lot of sense. If you hadn't said it, I wouldn't have thought about opening a massive harem in the Wandenreich."
"But honestly… it really is a good idea. Those Quincy girls are all pretty too."
"Especially Minnie, Liltotto, and Candice. Not only are they beautiful, they're strong too, perfect for filling out the ranks of my harem's concubines…"
"Ahhh! You jerk, Cole! So you really were thinking that!"
Rukia lunged at Cole in grief and fury, grinding her teeth as she wrestled with him viciously.
Cole's forehead filled with black lines. Speechless, he grabbed Rukia by the collar.
Like he was lifting a five-year-old kid, he held her dangling in midair while she kicked and flailed with all her might, yet she still couldn't touch him at all.
Rukia got even angrier.
She was furious at how short she was. The moment Cole lifted her, both feet left the ground, making her look like an elementary school kid from the Human World.
Watching those two fool around, Unohana couldn't help laughing softly. With a gentle smile, she said,
"Are you two done messing around? From what I can sense, Ryuken, Ichigo, and Uryu are about to arrive."
Rukia startled, her cheeks turning red as she hurriedly told Cole,
"Cole—quick, put me down!"
Messing around with Cole in private was one thing, but she didn't want to act like this in front of other people.
She was, after all, a captain of Seireitei now—she had to maintain her image and couldn't embarrass Seireitei in front of the Quincy.
Cole clicked his tongue, then set her down.
"Now you care about your image? Where was that a second ago? I thought you suddenly swapped personalities."
Rukia ground her teeth in frustration.
Yoruichi smiled.
"Relax, Rukia. With conditions like that, Cole couldn't possibly be tempted."
Then she looked at Cole and said with a grin,
"Besides, Yhwach's goal is to become the Soul King. Even for the sake of the Three Realms' survival, Cole wouldn't agree."
Cole blinked.
Yoruichi wasn't wrong… but for some reason, it still annoyed him.
So he put on a thoughtful expression and said,
"Well… I actually think Yhwach has a point. Those noble clans in Seireitei aren't exactly good people."
"How about I let him wipe out the nobles first, then I'll deal with him after? It'd be like cleansing Seireitei."
"Especially the members of the Shihoin clan. They're all old landlords. Their family has a ton of divine artifacts—gotta smash that rotten, greedy clan."
Yoruichi instantly panicked. She forgot all about her "image" and threw herself at Cole, glaring fiercely.
"No! There are plenty of good people in my clan—especially my little brother! You can't let Yhwach kill them all…"
She also felt the nobles could be disgusting, but there were still many good people among them.
Like her little brother.
Like Byakuya.
Like Nanao.
If Cole really wanted to use Yhwach to erase all the noble families, she'd have nowhere to cry.
Cole coughed heavily and pointed toward the entrance of the hall.
"Yoruichi-san. Image! Image!"
Yoruichi froze—then realized Ichigo and the other two had already walked in.
Her face flushed immediately.
She felt embarrassed… but after remembering what Cole had just said, she still looked at him with watery, aggrieved eyes.
She wasn't wrong!
Her little brother might be a bit of a pretty-boy, but he was genuinely kind and had never done anything bad.
Completely different from the Tsunayashiro clan.
Cole also felt a little guilty and hurriedly said,
"Alright, alright. I was joking. I'm not happy with Seireitei's nobles, but I'm not going to slaughter them all."
Then Cole glanced at Rukia and smiled.
"Besides, if I killed your big brother, Rukia, you'd probably fight me to the death, right?"
Rukia swung her fist at him viciously.
Only then did Yoruichi relax. Blushing, she climbed off Cole.
Ryuken acted like he'd seen it all. Calmly, he said,
"I've always heard Shihoin Yoruichi-san is very bold. Seeing it today… the rumors were true."
Yoruichi's face turned even redder.
Ichigo didn't care about any of that. He rushed up and asked Cole impatiently,
"Cole, when are we going to take down Yhwach!? I can't wait anymore—let's do it right now!"
Cole's head hurt. He didn't know how to calm this hotheaded idiot down.
After thinking a moment, a plan flashed through his mind. He smiled.
"Ichigo, since you're in such a hurry, go back to Soul Society first. I have something I need you to do."
Ichigo froze.
Cole didn't explain. He turned instead to Ryuken and Uryu, his gaze studying Uryu carefully.
He rubbed his chin.
"Ishida-kun… do you want to get stronger?"
Uryu blinked.
"What do you mean!?"
Of course he wanted to get stronger—but the question was how!?
In the year-plus he'd spent in the Wandenreich, he trained day and night, and only barely managed to grasp Blut Vene and Blut Arterie.
In this situation, forget revenge on Yhwach—he couldn't even beat Ichigo.
Blue reishi flames burned along Cole's right hand as he smiled.
"I've got a handle on Quincy power now, so I can sense a little about your body."
The women all showed surprised expressions.
He could "sense" Uryu's body?
Cole felt it immediately. His face darkened as he glared at them.
"I can tell from your eyes you're thinking something perverted. Can your brains not be normal for once!?"
The women rolled their eyes. Who told him to be such a pervert himself?
Cole coughed and turned serious.
"I studied Auswählen before. I understand its principle a little."
"Auswählen is, at its core, Yhwach reclaiming the power that belongs to him."
"But Quincy grow up with that power from childhood—it fuses with their life force. So when their power is taken away, their vitality is ripped away with it."
"However, Ishida, you're different."
Uryu looked down at his hands, then looked up at Cole, confused.
"What's different about me?"
In the year-plus in the Wandenreich, he'd seen countless Quincy and never felt like he was any different.
If anything, he felt completely average—easy to disappear in a crowd.
Ryuken, however, looked thoughtful. He glanced at his foolish son and said flatly,
"No. You really are different. Because among the seventy thousand mixed-blood Quincy in the Human World… you were the only one who survived."
Uryu's face darkened. He didn't see what was so "proud" about that.
At that moment, Cole flashed forward and appeared beside Uryu, placing a hand on his shoulder.
After sensing for a moment, he nodded slightly.
"Just like I thought. You've developed immunity to Yhwach's power. The Quincy power inside you isn't branded with his mark."
"What does that mean!?"
Uryu stared blankly at Cole.
Ryuken sighed, helpless.
"He means you won't be affected by Yhwach's Auswählen."
He already understood what Cole was implying.
Uryu's body had mutated so much so that the Quincy power inside him belonged completely to Uryu himself.
In that regard, Uryu was even better off than Ryuken.
Because even Ryuken still carried some of Yhwach's power inside him.
Uryu gradually understood. He frowned.
"I get the logic… but how does that make me stronger? Even if it's unbranded Quincy power, it's still just ordinary Quincy power."
Cole reminded him,
"Did you forget the Sternritter's Holy Scripts?"
Uryu snapped awake, staring at Cole in delight.
"You mean… you can give people Holy Scripts now too?"
Cole coughed awkwardly.
"I… don't have that ability yet…"
His own Holy Script was still gestating inside him—how could he possibly inscribe one onto someone else right now?
"Then—"
Uryu was about to ask more, but Ryuken couldn't hold back. He said bluntly,
"He wants you to go defect to Yhwach and let Yhwach inscribe a Holy Script onto you."
"And you won't be controlled by Yhwach. It's that simple. Do we really need to think about it?"
As he spoke, Ryuken sighed again, more and more unable to understand where on earth Uryu inherited his "intelligence."
He didn't resemble him or his wife at all.
Why was he starting to look like Ichigo, that idiot?
Was it really true that you become like the people you hang around?
Ryuken gave Ichigo a strange look, wondering if he should separate the two of them for a while.
Uryu fell into silence.
Defect to Yhwach…
Was that really possible?
What if he got exposed and killed?
After thinking, Uryu finally made up his mind. He looked at Cole with determination.
"I understand. I'll defect to Yhwach!"
He'd thought it through.
With his current strength, forget killing Yhwach—he couldn't even beat Yhwach's subordinates.
If that continued, in the coming war, he wouldn't even get the chance to step onto the battlefield.
And that was something he absolutely couldn't accept.
Even if he couldn't directly avenge his mother with his own hands, he still had to achieve battle results in the war.
That would also count as revenge.
So… better to take a risk and let Yhwach inscribe a Holy Script onto his soul.
Uryu agreed quickly.
But Ryuken had far more worries. He looked at Cole anxiously.
"Will this really be safe?"
He always mocked his foolish son, but he still loved him—he just didn't want to say it out loud.
Cole thought for a moment, then said slowly,
"There's definitely risk, but it's manageable. And I'll set up safeguards to protect Ishida Uryu."
In Cole's view, Yhwach's ability to see the future had to consume immense vitality.
So much that he wouldn't dare look too deeply.
Otherwise, in the original timeline, if he'd seen Uryu killing Jugram, why would he ever inscribe a Holy Script onto him?
He'd probably slap Uryu to death on the spot.
Thinking that, Cole raised his right hand. His zanpakuto appeared in his grip.
He shrunk it down and tossed it to Uryu.
"Put this in your pocket before you go. Yhwach won't be able to see your future. And if danger comes up, I can intervene immediately."
Seeing Cole hand over even his own zanpakuto, Ryuken finally felt reassured. He nodded slightly.
In his view, this was also an opportunity for Uryu.
After all, not everyone was qualified to be inscribed with a Holy Script—in the Wandenreich, it was an extremely high reward.
Uryu nodded too, then suddenly remembered something.
"But how do you know he'll definitely inscribe a Holy Script onto me?"
This time Cole didn't even need to answer.
Ryuken truly couldn't take it anymore and kicked Uryu in the butt, scolding him with exasperation.
"Idiot. With that kind of body, if you go see him, as long as he isn't stupid he'll notice the problem."
Uryu suddenly understood.
So it really did come down to his mutated body—him being the only survivor.
"Then how do I defect to Yhwach?"
Hearing that, Cole laughed.
"That's easy."
"You go try to kill him."
(End of Chapter)
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