"Cole…"
Hearing that familiar voice, Rukia's pupils instantly widened, tears immediately welling up in her eyes.
She whipped her head around
And there, that black-haired man stood behind her, smiling at her as he gently wiped away her tears.
"Why are you crying so hard your face is a total mess!?" Cole grinned, pinching Rukia's cheek.
Rukia's eyes filled with tears. She suddenly threw herself into Cole's arms, her voice trembling with sobs as she said:
"Cole, Cole… Captain-Commander-sama was killed… that Yhwach was fake… the real Yhwach killed Captain-Commander-sama…"
Right now, she hated herself more than anything—why hadn't she realized the earlier Yhwach was fake?
If she had realized, then Captain-Commander-sama wouldn't have been killed…
Thinking that, Rukia started pounding on Cole's chest again, still choking up as she said:
"Why couldn't you come back earlier!? You knew Yhwach would invade Seireitei—so why were you still staying in the Wandenreich!?"
Cole kept smiling, gently rubbing Rukia's hair, then held her hand and pointed toward the center of the battlefield.
"Then look again now, okay?"
Rukia, eyes blurred with tears, looked toward the battlefield—
And the moment she saw it, she froze. Then she rubbed her eyes in a daze, looking almost silly.
"Captain-Commander!?"
Just a moment ago, she had watched Captain-Commander-sama be split in two, blood flooding the ground.
But now—
The picture had reversed.
Captain-Commander-sama was simply standing there, holding Ryujin Jakka, completely unharmed, quietly staring up at the Soul King Palace in the sky.
And that corpse from before…
Had somehow changed into the Quincy who had been acting as Yhwach's substitute.
"This is…" Rukia looked at Cole in delighted disbelief, terrified that what she was seeing might be fake.
Cole pinched her nose and said with a smile, "Relax. Captain-Commander won't be hurt. That bloody scene you saw just now was basically all an illusion."
At that moment, Unohana suddenly turned her head, as if she had noticed Cole, and said with a smile:
"Kyōka Suigetsu, right?"
Cole looked surprised and turned to Unohana. "Hana-nee, how did you figure it out? You even broke free of Kyōka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis."
Unohana smiled. "I just kept feeling something was off… like that hazy sense of déjà vu, like looking at flowers through fog."
"Later, I thought about when I'd felt that before… and I ended up connecting it to Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu."
"Even complete hypnosis will reveal tiny flaws sometimes, if you look closely enough."
Hearing that, Cole couldn't help clapping in admiration. "As expected of a veteran Shinigami who's lived over a thousand years—your alertness is insane. Not a single Shinigami here noticed."
As he spoke, Cole's eyes flicked over toward Tōshirō, grumbling inwardly:
You've been hit by Kyōka Suigetsu so many times, and you still didn't notice—no wonder you've been stabbed so many times.
But Unohana didn't look pleased at all. Instead, her face darkened, and she shot Cole an unfriendly look.
"Are you saying I'm old?"
Cole gave a dry laugh—he hadn't expected his teasing to get caught.
So he quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, that's how it is. Next, you guys just keep fighting the Quincy like you're 'doing chores' here. I'll go check what's happening on the Reiōkyū side."
Rukia nodded excitedly.
Just like she thought—if Cole was here, Soul Society would definitely be safe.
So that meant Aizen hadn't betrayed Soul Society either—he was just like Gin before, choosing to act as an undercover agent.
No… not really undercover.
Because judging by how Yhwach and Aizen interacted, it was less "boss and subordinate" and more like "partners."
Thinking that, Rukia suddenly remembered Shunsui and the others. She looked over nervously—
Only to discover they were completely ignoring her, Cole, and Unohana.
Cole chuckled, then threw an arm around Kyōka Suigetsu's shoulder and said with a grin:
"With this guy here, you can relax. Almost nobody can escape his complete hypnosis—no one will notice anything."
Kyōka Suigetsu gave an awkward, dry laugh.
Even now, he still hadn't recovered from the terror of seeing Aizen.
Because the moment he arrived here, he had already met Aizen—everything after that had been acting.
It was basically serving a tiger at close range, with the risk of getting swallowed at any moment.
If he didn't trust Cole completely, he wouldn't have helped at all—he would've already run off to another world.
Rukia let out a breath of relief, then lowered her voice and asked Cole:
"Um… aren't we going to remind them?"
She could see the Shinigami here were practically going insane—eyes red, fighting the Quincy like their lives didn't matter.
Especially Shunsui. That normally sloppy, lazy-looking uncle had turned into a madman.
While fighting, his spiritual pressure surged to its limit, and right then he roared:
"Bankai!!!"
"Katen Kyōkotsu: Karamatsu Shinjū!!!"
With his roar, his Bankai domain spread wildly almost covering Squad 1 through Squad 7.
And at that moment, Kyōka Suigetsu said helplessly:
"No good… he's going to figure it out."
Kyōka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis had an absurd effect on people who had never been hypnotized before.
Because they didn't know what hypnosis felt like—so even if they sensed something was wrong, they wouldn't immediately think they were under hypnosis.
But people who had experienced complete hypnosis before, once their spiritual pressure climbed high enough, would always sense something off.
Sure enough—
The instant that black pine formed, Shunsui suddenly went blank, staring dully at the center of the battlefield where Yamamoto stood.
He kept his Bankai active and stayed silent for several seconds.
Like he was questioning his entire life.
Then, painfully, he turned his head and looked toward Cole, Rukia, Unohana—
And… Kyōka Suigetsu…
Shunsui's face instantly turned purple, and a murderous urge rose in his heart.
No.
You can't play people like this.
If someone gets scared into a heart attack, are you going to take responsibility!?
Cole quickly cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered, "Go fight already! Whatever it is, we'll talk after!"
In Shunsui's mind, ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeded back and forth. He wanted nothing more than to chop Cole in half on the spot.
What the hell is this!?
Playing with feelings like that!?
So what were those tears he just shed!?
Am I even allowed to cry!?
With that thought, Shunsui, wearing an expression like he'd just eaten something disgusting, continued fighting the Quincy.
After all, the old man was still alive.
Maybe everything was a plan—maybe only he and the other idiots had been kept in the dark.
Cole looked at that and couldn't help smiling, then withdrew his gaze.
"Alright, no need to remind them for now. The more they keep fighting like this, the better it fools Yhwach. We'll explain everything later."
Rukia and Unohana both nodded.
They understood Yhwach's abilities too—who knew what kind of weird scene he might "see."
Cole exhaled, then happily walked toward the center of the battlefield where Yamamoto stood, slinging an arm over his shoulder as he grinned.
"Hey, you stinky old man—what were you thinking just now? Why didn't you resist at all?"
Yamamoto's face instantly went black. The sadness he'd been feeling vanished completely.
He glared at Cole and said:
"You brat. What are you and Aizen plotting? Why didn't you hurry up and kill Yhwach?"
Just now, under that single slash from Yhwach, he had genuinely been ready to stop resisting.
Because he finally saw Yhwach's true strength.
Not something the earlier fake Yhwach could compare to—this was stronger than that, a power close to despair.
On top of that, he truly didn't want to see those old comrades of his awakened in the flames.
They had already sacrificed themselves for over a thousand years.
There was no reason to drag them back as skeletons to fight again, suffering flames without end.
That was why he hadn't made any move to resist.
But who would've thought
He had already accepted death, and yet…
Yhwach's slash had missed.
Missed!!!
It had hit the fake Yhwach instead.
Only then did he realize he had somehow fallen under Kyōka Suigetsu.
Because in his vision, that fake Yhwach's corpse should have already been blasted apart by Yhwach long ago.
Then he watched Yhwach act out a one-man show…
All the way until he left for the Soul King Palace.
Cole smiled and pointed toward Yoruichi, who looked utterly helpless.
"Let her explain what happens next."
With that, Cole lazily stretched, then looked up at the Soul King Palace that Aizen had dragged down, grinning.
"I need to hurry over. I don't know how long Squad Zero can hold."
"If that guy really devours the Soul King and digests that power… that'll be a huge pain."
With that, Cole stepped forward
And shot straight toward the lowered Soul King Palace.
Not long after he left, Ichigo—appearing out of nowhere, covered in blood—also rushed after him in a hurry.
Yamamoto was furious, but there was nothing he could do about Cole.
After all, even if his death had been an illusion…
His Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, had been stolen by Yhwach for real.
Right now, purely in terms of strength, he couldn't even beat Shunsui's Bankai form.
So he could only glare at Yoruichi with a black face.
"Shihōin Yoruichi-dono… could I trouble you to explain?"
Cold sweat immediately formed on Yoruichi's forehead as she hurriedly said stiffly:
"Captain-Commander-sama, you don't need to be so polite… this is a long story. First, we went to the Wandenreich…"
It was an extremely long story.
Yamamoto's forehead veins bulged as he listened—so badly he wanted to grab Yoruichi and roar:
Why don't you start from the beginning of the universe while you're at it!?
Can you get to the point!?
During that time, watching the Shinigami and Quincy slaughter each other, he had repeatedly gotten itchy hands and wanted to jump in—
But each time, Yoruichi stopped him.
Because in Yhwach's understanding, Yamamoto was already dead.
If Yhwach could still sense Yamamoto's spiritual pressure right now… it might scare him into literally shitting himself on the spot.
At the same time—
Elsewhere in Seireitei, another earth-shaking battle was unfolding.
The fighters were Uryū and Haschwalth, both striking without mercy as they tried to kill each other.
Haschwalth stared at Uryū with icy eyes and said coldly:
"If I hadn't sensed your blood, I'd have actually thought you were a member of the Wandenreich… you mixed-blood Quincy."
Uryū was already covered in blood, but he still dragged Haschwalth down stubbornly, gritting his teeth as he said:
"Give it up! I won't let you pass!"
"That bastard Yhwach… today, he has to die in Seireitei!"
(End of Chapter)
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