"Shunsui, you're being far too optimistic."
Kazuma's expression turned serious.
"Transcendent-class reiatsu doesn't just overwhelm anyone below that level — the gap between two transcendents can be enormous as well. Someone who has only just crossed the threshold is nowhere near someone standing at the very peak."
Most of the captains were used to fighting above their apparent reiatsu tier, so overcoming a gap in spiritual pressure hardly seemed unusual to them.
That mindset would get them killed against enemies like the noble founders, and Kazuma needed to make the distinction clear.
"The transcendent tier has ten stages."
"Stages One through Three are the early tier. Four through Six are the middle tier. Seven through Nine are the late tier, while Stage Ten is the peak."
He paused before continuing.
"And the difference between stages is far greater than anything you're familiar with. The gap between two adjacent transcendent stages can exceed the entire distance from Tier Twenty to Tier One. The higher you climb, the wider that gap becomes."
The room grew quieter as Kazuma continued.
"Captain Unohana and Batsu'unsai have only recently entered the transcendent tier. Old Man Yama is already in the middle stages. As for me, I'm at the peak."
Then came the part that mattered most.
"The four surviving noble founders are also peak transcendents."
Kazuma looked directly at Shunsui.
"So, Shunsui." He smiled faintly. "Still think we have the advantage?"
Shunsui's relaxed expression disappeared.
Four peak transcendents changed everything.
Unohana and Batsu'unsai might now belong to the same overall tier, but if Kazuma's explanation was accurate, the difference between them and the founders was still enormous.
And Kazuma hadn't even told them the worst part.
Behind those four founders stood an outside god on a level comparable to the Soul King.
There was little value in revealing that now — telling everyone they were facing four peak transcendents was already enough to crush the mood.
"Effective immediately, the entire Gotei 13 is on full alert."
Kazuma swept his gaze across the room.
"Anyone not assigned to the Human World remains on standby. Every division must be ready to respond the moment another incident occurs."
He then added,
"All captains stay behind. Lieutenants, return to your divisions and relay today's orders."
"Yes, Captain-Commander!"
The lieutenants departed in quick succession. Once the doors closed, Shunsui glanced at Kazuma.
"There's more, isn't there?"
Years of experience told him Kazuma had deliberately kept the captains behind for something that wasn't meant to spread any further.
Kazuma took a breath.
"Captain Kurotsuchi." Mayuri looked over. "Can the Department of Research and Development build something capable of keeping the entire Seireitei illuminated around the clock?"
Several captains frowned.
Kazuma continued.
"I don't just mean artificial daylight. I want every shadow eliminated."
Mayuri stared at him, the request seeming to come from nowhere.
"All shadows?" He began considering the technical problem. "Well, theoretically—"
"Captain Kurotsuchi." Kazuma cut him off. "I don't need a lecture. Can you do it or not?"
Mayuri's eyes narrowed. Then he answered decisively.
"Yes."
Kazuma nodded, satisfied.
The exact duration didn't matter — twenty-four hours, forty-eight, a week, it was irrelevant. The important part was eliminating the shadows throughout the Seireitei, because something was hiding inside them.
Kazuma looked around the room.
"Tell me. Have any of you heard the name Yhwach?"
The atmosphere changed immediately.
Shunsui answered first.
"Yhwach — the progenitor of the Quincy." His expression grew more serious. "A thousand years ago, he led the Quincy army of the Lichtreich in an invasion of Soul Society. Captain-Commander Yamamoto and the original Gotei 13 defeated them."
Shunsui glanced toward Kazuma and Unohana.
"As for what happened to Yhwach after that battle… very little was ever made public."
Which made Kazuma's question all the stranger.
Kazuma and Unohana had both lived through that war. Why ask them about Yhwach unless there was something the current captains didn't know?
Unohana supplied the answer.
"Yhwach never died."
The room froze.
Even Unohana didn't know exactly where he'd gone after the war, but she knew he'd survived, and hearing it directly from one of the original captains removed much of the room for doubt.
Several captains exchanged stunned looks.
The Quincy king who had once brought war to Soul Society was still alive — a thousand years later.
The implications were obvious.
Yhwach had been terrifying enough to threaten Soul Society once.
If he'd spent the last millennium recovering and preparing for another war, then the four noble founders were no longer the only catastrophe waiting on the horizon.
"Yhwach is hiding in the shadows of the Seireitei."
Kazuma's words silenced the room. Even Unohana's composure cracked.
So that was where Yhwach had been all this time. She'd considered countless possible hiding places over the past thousand years, but never the Seireitei itself.
Kazuma turned toward Mayuri.
"Now you understand why I asked for a device that can eliminate every shadow in the Seireitei."
Data flickered across Mayuri's golden eyes.
"A Quincy's reishi structure can indeed reconstruct itself within darkness. But eliminating every shadow across the Seireitei would require…" He suddenly snapped his fingers. "A full-area spirit-light network. Four high-output reishi reactors feeding a mirrored array capable of maintaining continuous illumination at the photon level."
Kenpachi frowned.
"Speak normally."
He didn't give a damn about the science.
All he'd heard was that another war was coming.
Mayuri clicked his tongue.
"In simple terms, we build four reishi reactors at the Senzaikyū, Sōkyoku Hill, the Shin'ō Academy, and the edge of the Rukongai. Their light is redirected through an array of mirrors until the entire Seireitei is permanently illuminated."
Suì-Fēng immediately spotted the problem.
"What happens to the Rukongai residents?" Her black ponytail snapped behind her as she turned toward Mayuri. "Flooding the area with that much light and reishi could destabilize the local environment."
Mayuri looked utterly unconcerned.
"Everything has a cost, Captain Suì-Fēng. Surely you understand that much."
Before becoming captain of the Twelfth Division, Mayuri had been imprisoned in the Maggot's Nest for a reason. Concern for civilians was not one of his stronger qualities.
Suì-Fēng turned to Kazuma instead.
"Captain-Commander, do we really have to erase every shadow? Can't you simply locate Yhwach directly?"
Kazuma shook his head.
"Anywhere a shadow exists in the Seireitei, Yhwach and his Quincy army can appear."
He'd considered the civilians too. Unfortunately, there was no perfect solution.
Hitsugaya's expression tightened.
"So he can move through the Seireitei's shadows?"
"Not exactly."
Kazuma took out a map and spread it across the table.
"He isn't merely using the shadows. He exists within them."
Large sections of the map had been shaded black, marking areas where the Quincy could emerge freely.
Almost the entire Seireitei was covered.
Only the First and Seventh Division compounds remained white — Kazuma had placed protective barriers around both areas back when he served as captain, preventing the shadows there from being hollowed out and occupied.
Mayuri stared at the map, then started laughing.
"Hehehe… fascinating." His pupils narrowed into thin slits. "So those unexplained reishi voids the Department of Research and Development has been detecting all these years weren't natural at all. The Quincy have been eating away at the Seireitei from inside its own shadows."
Kazuma suddenly grinned.
"Have you thought of a name for the device yet?"
Mayuri blinked.
"A name? The design doesn't even exist yet."
"Well, its entire purpose is to eliminate shadows and cut the Seireitei off from the Wandenreich's shadow realm."
Kazuma looked very pleased with himself.
"So let's call it the Shadowless Lamp."
The captains stared at him. That was it? That was the name?
Komamura tilted his head.
"Captain-Commander… have you been watching medical dramas lately?"
Kazuma ignored him.
Suì-Fēng still wasn't satisfied.
"But the Rukongai residents—"
"Captain Suì-Fēng." Kazuma's expression sobered. "The brightest light often comes from the deepest darkness."
He drew his Zanpakutō and pointed its tip toward the darkest region on the map, where the Quincy emblem had been marked.
"Once the Seireitei becomes a cage without shadows, the emperor hiding in that shadow kingdom will have no choice but to step into the light."
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