After receiving a clear answer from Adnyeus, Kazuma fell into deep thought.
There was no question that Adnyeus was the most powerful existence in the world of Bleach.
If he hadn't brought Kazuma here, then who had?
Could it have been Hell?
Kazuma quickly shook his head and dismissed the idea.
He'd personally clashed with the will of Hell.
Although it had managed to wound him, he'd clearly sensed that its power was nowhere near as terrifying as Adnyeus's.
For now, the mystery seemed impossible to solve.
Kazuma wasn't particularly anxious about it, though.
As the old saying went, the cart would find its road once it reached the mountain. Sooner or later, the answer would turn up on its own.
Perhaps the truth would reveal itself one day through some unexpected stroke of luck.
"Adnyeus, there's something I've wanted to know for a very long time."
Kazuma temporarily set aside the mystery of his arrival and raised another question that had bothered him for years.
"Soul Society is famous for having five great noble clans: the Tsunayashiro Clan, the Kuchiki Clan, the Shihōin Clan, and the Shiba Clan. Who was the fifth?"
Kazuma already had a rough theory.
The mysterious final clan was either the family Urahara Kisuke came from or the Ise Clan to which Ise Nanao belonged.
Unfortunately, he'd never found enough evidence to confirm either possibility.
Now that the person who'd witnessed those ancient events was directly in front of him, he might as well ask.
"The fifth was the Ise Clan," Adnyeus answered. "It was a matrilineal family and something of an anomaly among the five great noble clans. Unlike the other four, the Ise Clan followed Shinto traditions."
Adnyeus seemed surprised that Kazuma needed to ask.
That information should have been recorded within the books of the Great Spirit Book Gallery.
Why would Kazuma question someone who'd personally lived through the era?
"The records don't say the Ise Clan was one of the five great noble clans."
Kazuma appeared to grasp what Adnyeus was thinking and immediately explained.
"That is impossible."
Adnyeus's voice sharpened.
"Absolutely impossible! How could the records contain no mention of it?"
"The spirit books exist according to my will. They automatically record everything that occurs throughout the Three Worlds."
"The Ise Clan was unquestionably one of the five great noble clans. Such an important, established fact couldn't simply be absent."
As the ruler who'd once governed the Three Worlds, Adnyeus had always stood above all others as an omniscient being.
Yet something inexplicable had apparently happened directly beneath his gaze.
His emotions surged like violent waves, refusing to settle.
"Hmph. Listen to yourself."
Kazuma's lips curled into a mocking smile as he looked sideways at the Soul King.
"You keep claiming to be omniscient and omnipotent, yet you didn't even know something this important. It seems you're not nearly as impressive as advertised."
First, Kazuma had appeared in this world without Adnyeus noticing.
Now someone had apparently tampered with the spirit books right beneath his nose, and judging by the result, the culprit's strength might not be much weaker than his own.
Was the supposedly supreme Soul King nothing more than an overrated fraud?
Adnyeus's expression darkened at Kazuma's merciless ridicule, but he didn't immediately argue.
Instead, the four pupils within his eyes began spinning wildly.
As they accelerated, they gradually merged into a single strange, unfathomably deep pupil.
Then a crimson tear of blood slowly ran down his cheek.
Adnyeus had been injured.
The supreme Soul King, wielder of immeasurable authority and power, had actually suffered a wound.
What terrifying sight had he found within the spirit books to produce such a backlash?
"My records have indeed been altered."
After a long silence, Adnyeus finally spoke.
"Judging from the method used and the traces left behind, whoever changed them possesses strength comparable to my own."
"Strangely, they didn't erase the Ise Clan from the records entirely. They merely weakened its presence and made it easier to overlook."
Once he finished, Adnyeus sank into deep self-reproach.
Only after staying silent for some time did he recognize a truly horrifying possibility.
He'd been an utterly negligent Soul King.
So many abnormalities had occurred one after another, yet he'd failed to notice any of them.
Had Kazuma not asked about the records today, this deliberately buried piece of history might have stayed hidden from him forever.
The realization sent a chill through Adnyeus.
It meant some mysterious, immensely powerful force had been silently influencing his will without him sensing a thing.
The supposedly omniscient and omnipotent Soul King, who'd once held the Three Worlds within his grasp, was gradually losing control over the very reality he'd created.
Had another god been born somewhere within these boundless worlds?
"Oh, come on!"
Kazuma listened to Adnyeus's explanation with a look of complete disbelief, as though he'd just heard the greatest joke in existence.
"You've spent all these years sleeping in a daze. Keep this up, and someone's going to rob your entire house while you're still snoring."
It was hard to imagine that the mighty Soul King had fallen into such a pathetic state.
At this rate, who knew whether Adnyeus would eventually gain the release he desired or simply be erased completely?
Adnyeus had long grown tired of his existence. He felt he'd lived too long and suffered too much within the world of Bleach.
However, that despair had applied only to this world.
After learning from Kazuma that other vast realities existed beyond it, his desire to survive had begun burning once more.
According to the future Adnyeus had originally arranged, either Kurosaki Ichigo or Yhwach would eventually replace him as the next Soul King.
Once that happened, he'd finally be freed from his burden and could devote himself entirely to finding a way out of this world.
Now, however, the situation had changed beyond recognition.
The release he'd once anticipated might arrive in a completely different form.
Rather than freedom, it might mean his genuine and permanent death.
That was certainly not the ending Adnyeus had intended when he first set his elaborate plan in motion.