"Why?"
Ishida Uryu was silent for a long time. Then he suddenly raised his head. For the first time, the naive arrogance in his eyes faded, replaced by something deep and sharp.
"Tell me why." [T/N: Ain't nothin but a heartache~]
He wasn't stupid. His father was an extremely rational man, even cold-blooded.
He was definitely not the kind of coward who would surrender to the Hollow King Palace out of fear of death, nor the kind of person who would abandon his principles just for his son.
Whatever he did, Ishida Ryuken must have had a reason he had no choice but to act on.
"Oh my, you still need to ask that?"
Sung-Sun smiled as she asked back. Her voice was gentle, yet it struck like thunder.
"Do you know how your mother died?"
BOOM!
Uryu's head snapped up. He stared at Sung-Sun, his eyes filled with disbelief and trembling.
"Don't tell me…"
"Exactly."
Sung-Sun nodded calmly. A trace of pity flashed in her eyes.
"Your mother, Katagiri Kanae, and Kurosaki Masaki, they were both harvested by Yhwach through Auswahlen for the ridiculous reason of being mixed-blood. It's just that Kurosaki Masaki had His Majesty's protection at the time. Your mother wasn't so lucky."
At that moment, the world shattered like glass.
Uryu's pupils shrank to pinpoints. His breathing nearly stopped.
He stiffly turned his head and looked at his father's back, the man currently slaughtering his own kind without restraint. Then, his bloodshot gaze locked onto Yhwach in the distance.
Everything made sense.
Why his father had always kept him away from the Quincy.
Why his father had joined the Hollow King Palace.
Why his father had been so cold to him…
'So that is it!'
'That selfish bastard is actually the one who killed my mother!'
"BASTARD!"
An unprecedented wave of regret and fury crushed his reason.
Not only had he been forced by his enemy to accept power, he had even felt smug about it, preparing to help that very enemy fight against the one person in this world who had truly paved a path for him, his father.
'To hell with saving the world.'
'To hell with the glory of the Quincy!'
"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"
After confirming Sung-Sun wasn't lying, Uryu let out a hoarse roar. Spirit particles exploded beneath his feet as he turned into a streak of light, charging toward Yhwach without a second thought.
Revenge! That was all that remained in his mind.
However, after only a second, before he had even covered ten meters, his body suddenly froze in place as if someone had pressed pause.
He was clearly running toward Yhwach, yet the world before his eyes suddenly grew dim and distorted, until all that remained was endless darkness.
And in the deepest part of that darkness, a pair of enormous, cold vertical pupils, faintly glowing gold, slowly opened and stared at him.
They were snake eyes.
They were also Sung-Sun's eyes.
"What an impulsive little kid."
That seductive yet dangerous voice echoed in his mind like a dream.
"Even though I understand how you feel, I can't let a little ant like you disturb His Majesty while he's watching the best final performance."
"Sleep."
With that final whisper, Uryu felt his consciousness recede like a tide.
He didn't even have time to form the thought to resist before everything went black. His body collapsed cleanly to the ground, completely unconscious.
———
Deep within the Wandenreich, in a quiet alley that seemed forgotten by time.
Kyoraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jushiro, Hirako Shinji, Sarugaki Hiyori, Kuna Mashiro, and Muguruma Kensei, six figures hid within the shadows, their auras suppressed to the extreme.
"Hey, Kyoraku, why are we hiding here like rats?"
Hiyori finally couldn't hold back. She lowered her voice and complained, "There's so much fighting going on outside. Are we just going to sit here and watch?"
"Keep it down, Hiyori."
Kyoraku leaned against the mottled wall, lowering the brim of his hat slightly. His voice carried a kind of weary clarity that had seen through everything.
"The current situation is the Wandenreich's final act. It has nothing to do with us. If it does, then someone suitable will come find us. Maybe Aizen, maybe that unknown Shinigami Espada."
"And what if it doesn't?"
"Then that's even better," Kyoraku sighed, "We'll just stay here and quietly watch how these Quincies meet their end."
"But… are we really not going to help?"
Mashiro tilted her head, hesitating, "The Quincies look like they can't hold on much longer."
"Tch! Give it a rest."
Kensei clicked his tongue, clenching his still aching fist, and laughed at himself.
"With our current strength, going out there would just be feeding ourselves to them. We wouldn't help at all. We'd just get taken down fast and add to their kill count."
The alley fell into a brief silence.
However, only a few seconds passed.
Hirako, who had been leaning against the wall, Ukitake, who had been resting with his eyes closed, and Kyoraku, who seemed relaxed, all three of these top-tier spiritual pressure users suddenly lifted their heads at the same time.
Their expressions changed instantly.
Shock, disbelief, and something deeply unimaginable.
It was the kind of expression you'd have upon seeing something that absolutely shouldn't exist.
"Hey! What's with you guys? You all look like you've seen a ghost."
Hiyori was startled by the sudden change.
When no one answered, her temper flared instantly.
Smack!
Without another word, she took off one of her slippers and hurled it straight at Hirako's face.
"That hurts! You violent woman!"
Hirako covered his face, glaring at her in annoyance.
"Then don't ignore people! Who the hell showed up to scare you like this?", Hiyori shouted angrily.
"Sigh…"
Kyoraku let out an extremely heavy sigh and slowly straightened up. His hand was already resting on the hilt of Katen Kyokotsu.
"They're here."
"Who's here?", Kensei frowned.
"Of course, it's me."
A gentle, soft female voice, even carrying a trace of a smile, suddenly sounded from the entrance of the alley.
The moment they heard that voice, Kyoraku and Ukitake's expressions completely froze. It was a true, hopeless despair.
Hiyori blinked, scratching her head, muttering instinctively,
"That voice sounds familiar… where have I heard it before…"
Mashiro tilted her head, thinking for a moment, then suddenly covered her mouth in shock, her eyes wide.
"Ca… Captain Unohana?"
The moment her words fell—
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Clear footsteps came from the alley entrance.
That figure slowly stepped out of the shadows and into everyone's sight.
And in that instant, everyone's pupils shrank violently.
Because the person before them was completely different from the Unohana they remembered, the gentle Fourth Division captain with braided hair, a captain's haori, and a warm smile.
Now, her long black hair flowed freely down her back like a waterfall, swaying gently with the movement of her spiritual pressure.
What she wore was a bold, pure black Espada dress of the Hollow King Palace.
Although she still carried that familiar smile, the aura around her was suffocatingly sharp.
This was the true face of the first Kenpachi.
"Hiss!"
Hirako sucked in a breath, his voice dry like rusted gears, "It really is you, Unohana-senpai."
Though her appearance had changed drastically and her spiritual pressure had grown deeper and more violent, everyone present knew, the woman before them was Unohana Retsu, the one who had healed them countless times.
"Hehe, surprised?"
Unohana asked with a gentle smile. Her eyes curved into beautiful crescents, yet held no warmth at all.
"Not really."
Kyoraku took a deep breath, forcing down the storm inside him, and asked in a low voice, "I'm just curious, when did you join the Hollow King Palace?"
"When?"
Unohana tilted her head slightly. Despite wearing the attire of the Hollow King Palace, for a fleeting moment, she still gave off that illusion of her former gentleness.
"From the day you asked me to monitor Captain Rosse, I was already one of them."
"How is that possible?"
Ukitake's eyes widened in disbelief, "You had only known him for one day back then!"
He remembered it clearly. At that time, he and Kyoraku were still in the Gotei 13.
"One day… isn't that enough?"
Unohana gently stroked the hilt of her Zanpakuto, like she was caressing a lover's hand.
"For a swordsman, one true clash of blades is enough to know whether the other's soul is worth entrusting."
"In his sword, I saw a new future."
Everyone could see it, when Unohana spoke of this, there was light in her eyes.
It was the kind of devotion that would accept death the same evening upon hearing the truth in the morning.
Seeing her like this, everyone's heart sank to the bottom.
There was no saving her.
This wasn't coercion or manipulation. This was true belief.
"So that's how it is…", Kyoraku gave a bitter smile.
"Then you must be the 4th Espada who never showed yourself. When we went to Hueco Mundo before, it was you who deliberately exposed our movements, right?"
He recalled that mission. The one that led to Sui Feng's death and completely turned the situation upside down.
At the time, after confirming information with Hirako and the others, he had never suspected Unohana. Instead, he had suspected Tosen.
But who could have imagined it? Who would dare imagine it?
That the real traitor was this respected figure, trusted even by Captain-Commander Yamamoto himself?
Perhaps even until the moment the old man died, he had never doubted this old comrade.
'Ah… when the old man died, Ukitake and I had been the greatest traitors…'
Thinking of this, Kyoraku felt like something was stuffed in his chest, suffocating him to the point he wanted to cough up blood.
He had truly been toyed with by that bastard Rosse.
The ones he thought were good turned out to be the biggest villains.
The ones he thought were bad instead had their own convictions.
This world… was ironic to the extreme.
But looking at Unohana before him, her overwhelming presence pressing down, that deep sense of powerlessness rose again in Kyoraku's heart.
"Hah! If that's the case…"
He laughed at himself, his smile full of helplessness.
"If that guy Rosse had told me earlier that even you, Unohana-senpai, had surrendered… maybe I would've just surrendered too. I might've even tried to persuade the old man to surrender with me."
Those were his true thoughts.
But he also knew it was just a beautiful assumption.
Yamamoto Genryusai was a remnant of the old era, a guardian of the old order. He would never accept Rosse's new order.
Not to mention, Rosse intended to devour the Soul King and reshape the world.
As long as the old man refused to bow, as long as he died at Rosse's hands, there was no way Kyoraku or Ukitake could surrender.
This was a dead end. No matter how many times it was repeated, it would always lead here.
"Don't you already understand?"
Unohana looked at him with a clarity that saw through everything.
"Neither you nor Yamamoto would ever surrender."
"Yeah… we're people destined to die."
Kyoraku sighed. He slowly removed his hand from his sword hilt and looked at Unohana with a trace of pleading.
"But for the sake of our years as comrades, could you let Hirako and the others leave? They're different from us. There's no need for them to die here."
The Visored had already lost enough. If he could preserve these few remaining sparks, it would be the last good thing he could do.
Smack!
Before he could finish, a slipper smacked squarely across his face.
"Baldy! You make it sound like we're scared of dying?"
Hiyori, standing on one bare foot, jumped out angrily.
Under everyone's shocked gaze, this small, usually loud and hot-tempered girl drew her Zanpakuto without hesitation and began walking toward Unohana step by step.
At that moment, her small frame seemed unbelievably towering in the dim alley.
"I don't get all that big talk! And I don't care about any future nonsense."
Hiyori gripped her blade tightly. Her voice trembled, but it rang out loud and clear.
"But I know one thing, anyone who sides with the Hollow King Palace is my enemy!"
"What's there to be afraid of about death? Surrendering to the enemy and becoming someone you don't even recognize, that's what's truly terrifying!"
She took a deep breath and looked straight into Unohana's emotionless eyes.
"Come on, Unohana-senpai! I don't like this one bit, but I believe you've truly found your own path. In that case!"
"For the future you believe in, and for what I stand for, send me off!"
"Yaaahhh!"
With a sharp cry, Hiyori raised her Zanpakuto and charged at the unbeatable enemy without hesitation.
That strike held no doubt, no fear, only the resolve to face death head-on.
"As you wish."
Unohana spoke softly, her voice as gentle as if she were granting a child's request.
Shing!
No one even saw her move.
They only felt a blur pass before their eyes, and Unohana was already standing behind Hiyori, maintaining an elegant posture as she sheathed her blade.
Click!
The moment the Zanpakuto fully returned to its sheath—
Slash!
Behind her, Hiyori, still frozen mid-charge as if time had stopped, suddenly burst with a brilliant, almost beautiful spray of blood.
Blood splattered, staining the walls red.
And with that, the life of the energetic girl who always shouted and threw slippers came to an end.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.