Yhwach was the progenitor of the Quincy.
A thousand years ago, he led the Quincy army in an all-out invasion of Soul Society, plunging the Seireitei into one of the darkest wars in its history.
At the height of the conflict, the Quincy forces nearly overwhelmed the entire Gotei 13.
Only Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's overwhelming power had managed to turn the tide and defeat Yhwach, bringing that ancient war to an end.
Afterward, the Quincy gradually faded from history.
At least, that was what most Shinigami believed.
Then, roughly a century ago, the truth surfaced.
The Quincy had never truly vanished.
Even the Quincy extermination carried out by the Soul Society two hundred years earlier had only targeted the Quincy living openly in the Human World.
The true remnants had survived in secret.
Beneath the shadows of the Seireitei itself existed a hidden realm known as the Schatten Bereich the Shadow Realm.
There, the surviving Quincy descendants had concealed themselves for centuries, rebuilding their strength in silence.
When the Gotei 13 eventually discovered traces of the hidden empire and launched an operation into the shadow domain, they encountered an army of Quincy possessing terrifying power far beyond expectations.
Those Quincy called themselves the Wandenreich.
Their sole purpose was revenge against the Soul Society.
Unfortunately, the Gotei 13's operation had been rushed and incomplete.
Although heavy damage was inflicted upon the Quincy forces, the Soul Society ultimately failed to eradicate them entirely.
The surviving Quincy vanished once again into the shadows.
Since then, the Gotei 13 had continued searching for their whereabouts, but no decisive results were ever obtained.
As a former captain, Isshin naturally knew about these classified events.
In fact, he knew even more than most Shinigami.
Beyond his status as former Captain of the Tenth Division, he was also the head of the Shiba branch family.
Although the Shiba Clan had long since fallen from the ranks of the Five Great Noble Families, their archives still preserved fragments of ancient records inaccessible to ordinary Shinigami.
Among those old records were mentions of the war a thousand years ago.
Very little had been written clearly.
But one fact stood above all others.
Yhwach had been terrifying beyond imagination.
That ancient war had nearly destroyed the Soul Society itself.
And now
If Yhwach had truly awakened once more…
Did that mean the Quincy King intended to restart the war against Soul Society?
The mere thought made Isshin's expression grow heavy.
He looked directly at Gosuke.
"You said Masaki's power loss is related to Yhwach."
"How?"
Beside him, Kisuke Urahara also focused his attention on Gosuke.
Before Isshin arrived, Gosuke had already shared some information regarding the Quincy and Yhwach.
Long ago, Gosuke had warned Kisuke that the Quincy threat had not truly disappeared.
He had even hinted that Yhwach himself might still be alive.
That warning was one of the reasons Kisuke had continued researching Hollowfication and spiritual hybridization over the years to prepare for future threats that ordinary Shinigami could not handle.
And now, with Masaki suddenly losing her Quincy powers, those old warnings no longer seemed hypothetical.
Still, Quincy remained an extremely secretive race.
Even Kisuke's knowledge about them was limited.
So when Isshin asked the question, Kisuke listened just as seriously.
Gosuke folded his arms and began calmly explaining.
"You both know that Yhwach is called the ancestor of the Quincy."
"But titles like that aren't symbolic."
"They carry literal meaning."
"The Quincy are an extremely bloodline-oriented race. Their entire society revolves around inheritance and purity."
"That's why Quincy are divided into pure-blood Quincy and mixed-blood Quincy."
"In that regard, they are fundamentally different from Shinigami."
"A Shinigami's potential depends on spiritual power."
"A noble's child may be born spiritually ordinary, while a soul from the Rukongai may unexpectedly possess immense talent."
"In other words, the birth of powerful Shinigami is irregular."
"But Quincy are different."
"Their abilities are inherited directly through blood."
"And as the progenitor of all Quincy, Yhwach's blood flows through every Quincy descendant."
Isshin's eyes narrowed slightly.
Kisuke remained silent, listening carefully.
Then Gosuke continued.
"However, because I once spent time in the Royal Realm and came into contact with information preserved by Squad Zero, I know certain things ordinary people do not."
"For example…"
"The true nature of Yhwach's power."
Gosuke's voice became quieter.
"It is called Soul Distribution."
Both Isshin and Kisuke reacted immediately.
"Soul Distribution?" Isshin repeated.
The soul itself was already one of the most mysterious domains in existence.
Anything involving direct manipulation of souls could never be simple.
Gosuke nodded slowly.
"Yhwach is an extremely abnormal existence."
"According to ancient records, when he was born, he possessed no senses whatsoever."
"He could not see."
"He could not hear."
"He could not speak."
"He could not even move."
"And yet… he survived."
Isshin and Kisuke both frowned.
Even Kisuke found this difficult to imagine.
Gosuke continued.
"Because Yhwach possessed the ability to divide fragments of his soul and bestow them upon others."
"At first, perhaps someone simply pitied the helpless infant and held him out of kindness."
"But afterward, that person's physical defects began disappearing."
"The blind regained sight."
"The crippled regained movement."
"The sick became healthy."
"As news spread, more and more people approached Yhwach seeking miracles."
"They worshipped him."
"They protected him."
"And every time they touched him, fragments of Yhwach's soul flowed into them, repairing their deficiencies."
Kisuke's eyes sharpened instantly.
"So that's how his power worked…"
Gosuke nodded.
"However, those gifts always came with a price."
This time, Kisuke spoke before Isshin could.
"And that price?"
Even someone like Kisuke could not hide his curiosity now.
The story was too unbelievable.
The terrifying Quincy King from ancient history had once been a helpless infant incapable of even moving?
It sounded absurd.
Yet Gosuke's expression remained completely serious.
"The people who received Yhwach's soul fragments all died eventually."
"Without exception."
"And after their deaths…"
"The fragments of soul he granted returned to him."
Gosuke's gaze darkened slightly.
"When those soul fragments returned, Yhwach absorbed everything attached to them."
"Their strengthened spiritual power."
"Their experiences."
"Their memories."
"Their talents."
"Their abilities."
"All of it became Yhwach's."
Silence fell over the room.
Even Kisuke's expression became grave.
Only now did they begin to understand why Yhwach had become such a terrifying existence.
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