In the Wandenreich, the exterior of many palaces was covered in a layer of solid ice, keeping the entire empire in a low-temperature environment.
Silbern was the main castle of the Wandenreich, located at its very center.
The throne in the main hall of the castle was empty; the King of the Quincy was still sleeping in his chambers.
Yhwach's chambers were located behind the Silbern's clock tower, connected by a long, deep corridor.
The Sternritter Grandmaster, Haschwalth, stood in the depths of the corridor.
Ever since the drum-like sound had come from His Majesty's chambers, he had been standing guard here.
He had also gone in to check on His Majesty's condition during this time, but he had not awakened.
"The one who has stolen His Majesty's power..."
Haschwalth was still thinking about the voice that had resounded in his mind, like a fragment of a dream without beginning or end.
The literal meaning was easy to understand: someone was stealing His Majesty's power.
But the problem was, he had no clue who this person was or where they were.
Thump, thump, thump, thump—
Just as Haschwalth was pondering the deep meaning of this sentence, he once again heard the thunderous drumming sound coming from the chambers.
Yhwach's heart was beating again, and this time, the beats were more frequent.
"Haschwalth... come in..."
Haschwalth was shocked. His Majesty's voice echoed in his mind again.
His Majesty was calling for him!
Haschwalth immediately turned and stepped into the palace chambers.
Yhwach's chambers had no extra decorations, yet they were vast.
Twenty-four thick stone pillars supported the roof.
The pillars were arranged in a circle, surrounding Yhwach in the center.
Yhwach was sleeping while sitting, looking as if he were just taking a short nap.
He did not open his eyes, but the sound of his heartbeat coming from his chest made Haschwalth realize that His Majesty was in an "awake" state.
"Your Majesty."
Haschwalth came before Yhwach and bowed respectfully.
"Haschwalth..."
Yhwach's lips did not move, but his voice resounded in Haschwalth's mind.
"Your Majesty, have you awakened from your slumber?"
"Not yet... my sleep was merely interrupted..."
"By whom?"
A ripple appeared in Haschwalth's calm eyes.
An external force had interrupted His Majesty's sleep?
Had His Majesty not "seen" this part of the future?
Or was this also within His Majesty's expectations?
Many questions arose in Haschwalth's mind.
Yhwach's Schrift was "The Almighty". In Haschwalth's understanding, this was the power to know all futures.
Everything that would happen in the future should have been seen by Yhwach.
"I did not see the future of the one who stole my power..."
Yhwach's eyes, which possessed "The Almighty", had been sealed long ago.
Therefore, the "future" he had seen was the one he saw before the Wandenreich launched its war.
But what was happening now had deviated from the "future" he had seen in the past.
His power had been stolen!
Yhwach was born a special being.
He possessed a very unique ability to share his power with others.
Furthermore, this shared power would return to him after the host's death.
This power would also be passed down through bloodlines.
The descendants of those who had received his power would also possess it.
After ruling the Lichtreich, all Quincy in the human world received his "blessing".
All Quincy became connected to Yhwach.
His power flowed through the Quincy bloodlines, growing stronger as the host Quincy grew stronger.
After the Quincy died, this power would return to Yhwach.
Therefore, he was constantly becoming more powerful.
However, a portion of that power had now been disconnected from him.
He had completely lost it.
This had never happened before. This was something that could potentially shake his very foundation.
He had to interrupt his slumber to ensure this accident would not affect his continued accumulation of power.
"From the will that returned, I sensed the power of a Shinigami..."
Every piece of power Yhwach distributed contained a wisp of his will as a connection.
It was through this connection that he reclaimed the power he had given out.
Yhwach could sense that before that power was severed, it had come into contact with a Shinigami.
"A Shinigami?" Haschwalth frowned. "Can Your Majesty identify that Shinigami?"
"During my slumber... I cannot perceive such details...
Haschwalth... give this power to the soldiers...
Let them regain human bodies... and go to the human world... to spread their seeds..."
Some blue threads floated out of Yhwach's body, converging in the air to form a blue sphere of light.
The Quincy who remained in the Wandenreich had become spiritual bodies with extremely long lifespans, but their reproduction and growth rates were too slow.
Yhwach needed to transform them into humans and send them to the human world.
Human bodies had a natural advantage in terms of reproduction and growth speed.
"Go... Haschwalth... I will continue to sleep... I hope you can awaken me sooner..."
Yhwach's voice seemed to grow more and more distant until it disappeared.
The thunderous, drum-like heartbeat Haschwalth had been hearing also gradually subsided.
The chambers once again fell into a dead silence.
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
Haschwalth took the floating blue sphere of light, stood up, and left the chambers.
As he walked out of the corridor, he was met by several Quincy.
The sound of Yhwach's heartbeat had traveled far, and many of them had heard it.
Hearing it again, they couldn't help but come to find out what was happening.
"Haschwalth! How are you going to explain it this time? I'm sure even more people heard the sound!"
The red-haired young man, Bazz-B, demanded.
He had been training and had come as soon as he heard the sound.
Unfortunately, the sound didn't last long and had disappeared by the time he arrived.
"His Majesty was awake for a moment," Haschwalth said calmly.
"His Majesty really was awake?!"
"Why did he wake up early?"
"Didn't the prophecy say it would take 900 years for his heartbeat to return, 90 years for his mind, and 9 years for his power?"
The Quincy began to murmur among themselves.
"His Majesty has announced a new decree," Haschwalth said, holding the sphere of light. "Summon all Quincy to assemble in the main hall."
A short while later, all the Quincy of the Wandenreich had gathered in the main hall of Silbern.
"Haschwalth, what did you gather us here for?"
Haschwalth hadn't explained the reason before everyone had assembled, and Bazz-B was already getting impatient.
Haschwalth stood beside the empty throne, looking down at the neatly arranged Quincy below.
The row of Quincy standing in the front all wore unique uniforms, distinctly different from the soldiers behind them.
They were the members of the Sternritter, the core strength of the Wandenreich. Yhwach had established them to be the equivalent of the Shinigami captains.
"You must all have many questions about the sound that came from His Majesty's chambers.
That is because—His Majesty has delivered a new decree."
Haschwalth said with a blank expression.
In reality, Haschwalth was not calm.
Yhwach's sudden awakening was undoubtedly an accident.
And it was an accident that even Yhwach's "Almighty" had not foreseen.
As Yhwach's personal guard and the Grandmaster of the Sternritter, Haschwalth also knew about his ability to reclaim Quincy power.
He naturally understood what Yhwach's move to give power to the soldiers was for.
His Majesty wanted to accelerate the speed of spreading and reclaiming his power, to shorten the time needed to awaken and accumulate strength.
"The Quincy in the human world are being suppressed by the Shinigami and are on the verge of extinction. Their numbers are now less than a tenth of what they once were."
Haschwalth raised the sphere of light. "This is the power bestowed by His Majesty. Those who receive this power and honor will go to the human world to complete their great mission—to let the glory of the Quincy shine upon the world once more!"
"That is the power bestowed by His Majesty!"
"What an honor!"
"The great King of the Quincy has not forgotten the struggling Quincy in the human world even in his sleep!"
Haschwalth's words excited the Quincy.
"So, who gets to receive this 'honor'?"
Bazz-B pouted. Although he didn't know about 'Auswählen', he vaguely felt that Yhwach's purpose was not that simple.
"It is all according to His Majesty's will."
Haschwalth released his hand. The sphere of light in his hand rose into the air and transformed into countless blue threads.
The blue threads floated down and entered the bodies of the soldiers.
"What magnificent power this is..."
"Thank you for Your Majesty's blessing!"
"All hail the King of the Quincy! We shall make the glory of the Quincy shine upon the world once more!"
The soldiers were moved to tears.
Seeing that the blue threads did not float towards him, Bazz-B was both relieved and annoyed.
He was relieved because he felt this matter was not as simple as Haschwalth had said. There was likely a deeper meaning to Yhwach suddenly waking up and granting power to everyone.
He was annoyed because he felt Haschwalth definitely knew more but was hiding everything from him.
"We were the ones who met first..."
Bazz-B thought to himself.
He and Haschwalth had known each other before they started following Yhwach, and they had been close friends.
But the Haschwalth of today felt more and more like a stranger.
After receiving Yhwach's "blessing," the soldiers began to take action.
The Wandenreich had long mastered the technology to give Quincy physical bodies made of kishi. After obtaining these bodies, the soldiers would be no different from humans and could have offspring with them in the human world.
"Haschwalth!"
In an empty corridor, Bazz-B blocked his way.
"Is there something you need?"
Haschwalth turned and looked calmly at the approaching Bazz-B.
"What does Yhwach really want? Him waking up early was definitely an accident, right!"
Bazz-B said with a very certain tone.
He had never considered Yhwach to be a benevolent person.
A thousand years ago, his hometown was razed by Yhwach and his army.
In fact, the reason Bazz-B had joined the Lichtreich was to get revenge on Yhwach.
"I have already said, His Majesty wants the glory of the Quincy to shine upon the world once more."
Haschwalth still showed no emotional fluctuation.
"Is that so... how annoying. Then my goal has changed."
Bazz-B held up two fingers and rubbed them together. A spark danced at his fingertips. "Let me just beat you up a bit!"
...
Soul Society.
Sarcophagus Stone Mine Laboratory, training ground.
In the center of the training ground, Sora sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.
His entire attention was focused on the soles of his feet.
Sora was training his Blut Vene ability. The crystal-clear blue lines had almost spread over his entire body, with only one last part left to complete.
He had started from the top down, and only the sole of his left foot was left.
The more complete the Blut and the larger the area it covered, the more difficult it was to spread.
Now, the crystal-clear blue lines were moving at a speed of a few tenths of a millimeter per hour.
Even achieving this speed was thanks to Sora's strong control over the reishi in his body.
If a normal rookie Quincy wanted to train this ability, it would probably take them tens or even hundreds of times longer to lay down the reishi network.
After a long while, the main vein of the blue lines finally traversed the entire sole of his foot and connected with the lines on the top of his foot.
The main vein quickly extended many finer branches, filling in the skin.
The crystal-clear blue lines soon covered all of Sora's skin.
A moment later, the blue lines gradually faded.
It was complete!
Sora looked at his panel. His Blut Vene had already reached level 50.
[Blut Vene Lv 50 (0/1000)]
"As expected, at level 50, Blut Vene can cover the entire body."
Sora nodded slightly.
He had finally covered his entire body with Blut Vene. Now, his whole body was protected by it.
During this time, Sora had mainly been training Blut Vene. He hadn't worked on Blut Arterie much.
[Blut Arterie Lv 10 (0/200)]
His Blut Arterie was still in the early stages, covering only one arm.
Sora was not an ordinary Quincy. He possessed Shinigami abilities and did not lack offensive power, so there was no rush to improve Blut Arterie.
Sora used a reishi blade to test the defense of his Blut Vene.
The defensive power was much stronger than before.
"It should be about the same as the defense of the Bakudō 'Enkōsen'."
If he continued to train his Blut Vene, its defensive power could still be increased.
"And if I acquire Hollow powers in the future... and have a Hollow's 'Hierro'...
With the two stacked together, my defense would probably be equivalent to having 'Dankū' permanently active!"
Sora was very satisfied with the defense provided by Blut Vene.
The defense it provided was balanced over his entire body. Now, his whole body possessed this level of defense.
Even his eyelids and eyeballs were the same, with reishi filling the blood vessels, leaving no weak spots.
Shinigami themselves could also resist some attacks with their spiritual pressure.
But this natural defensive ability that came with spiritual pressure was something Quincy also possessed.
It was far inferior to the defense provided by Blut Vene, which could be compared to a Bakudō spell.
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