"My name is Soken Ishida. I am a pure-blooded Quincy, from..."
The man took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled—as if it were the last breath of his life.
"From the Wandenreich."
When he spoke that name, his wife involuntarily let out a sound caught somewhere between a whimper and a scream of terror. It was obvious that merely vocalizing the name of the place where she had once lived felt like a blade slicing directly into her soul.
Sosuke Aizen's interest deepened even further. To be called an 'Empire,' and to undoubtedly possess a complete and effective set of management methods... this meant that the Quincies, who were supposed to have gone extinct in the World of the Living, had actually established a brand-new nation!
And yet, the existence of this nation was unknown to any Shinigami. Whether it was Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, who had once personally defeated the Quincy King Yhwach, or the Great Spirit Book Gallery, which claimed to record all intelligence in the Soul Society, they were evidently completely ignorant of this empire.
After speaking that name, Soken Ishida seemed to completely let go, pouring out everything he knew like spilling beans from a bamboo tube. At least, based on Suzuki Makoto's understanding of the plot, there were no major issues with the situation described by this defector. After all, Yhwach had only just passed his first nine hundred years, and everything in the current Empire was still under the full jurisdiction of Jugram Haschwalth.
Unlike Suzuki Makoto, Sosuke Aizen, who was encountering the Wandenreich for the first time, was indescribably astonished. That former King of Quincies had not only failed to be killed by the Captain-Commander but was actually slowly regaining his power. And the most exaggerated point was that this Wandenreich was actually located inside the Seireitei!
No wonder this man could immediately recognize his and Suzuki Makoto's identities. After all, they had been 'spending time together' every single day.
"Is the most dangerous place the safest place? That is indeed a psychological blind spot. After all, even the Captain-Commander would never imagine that his defeated foes were grandly hiding within the shadows of the Seireitei, and even slowly developing and growing stronger."
Even Aizen had to admit the power of this Quincy King. First, he survived a direct confrontation with Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto in his prime. Then, he managed to construct a kingdom of shadows vast enough for the entire Quincy race to rest and recuperate, all while keeping this kingdom undiscovered right under the noses of the Gotei 13.
This was on a level far higher than that fellow who styled himself the King of Hueco Mundo.
"In the Wandenreich, there is a prophecy passed down: The Quincied King recovers his pulse after 900 years, his intellect after 90 years, and his power after 9 years. Finally, he recovers the world in 9 days."
Soken Ishida finished reciting the final part of the prophecy and closed his mouth, awaiting the judgment of the two men before him.
"Then, has that King you speak of recovered anything yet?"
"The King's heart has already begun to beat again. This is an undoubted reality. Everyone believes in this prophecy; the King will inevitably return."
"But you still ran away."
Suzuki Makoto pointed out the issue with a single piercing remark.
"Because the King's resurrection requires fuel. And all Quincies within the Wandenreich are the King's fuel! The meaning of our existence is to dedicate our power and souls to the King—I absolutely could not endure my child meeting such a fate!"
Soken Ishida's tone was shrill and laced with a trace of madness. Clearly, successfully escaping from such high-pressure rule, only to be found by Shinigami and forced to spill this intelligence, had created a rollercoaster-like situation that pushed this man's mental state to the brink of collapse.
Both men noticed this. They did not want to drive this hard-won Quincy insane at this juncture, so Sosuke Aizen stood up and spoke.
"I am very satisfied with your cooperative attitude, Mr. Ishida. As long as you do not do anything superfluous, I will maintain my silence toward the Soul Society. We may need to obtain more intelligence from you in the future; I hope you can remain this cooperative."
"O-Of course."
Suzuki Makoto stood up as well. The two said nothing more and left the place directly.
After the two Shinigami departed, Soken Ishida let out a long sigh, covering his face with his hands as his entire body trembled.
"Honey?"
"It's okay, I'm okay. It's treason either way; being caught means certain death. Telling the Shinigami these things... it doesn't matter anymore. At least the other party is a Captain. If he is willing to shelter us, that might actually be safer."
He comforted his wife, who was equally trembling with fear. Aside from this, he didn't know what else he could do.
However, Soken Ishida did not regret fleeing the Wandenreich. Because compared to the Shinigami, the Wandenreich was still a bit more terrifying.
Meanwhile, Suzuki Makoto and Aizen were walking through the Precipice World.
"Suzuki-kun, what do you think of what that man said?"
"I think the credibility is quite high. After all, he is already a traitor. To deceive us with false intelligence after offending the Wandenreich would be leaving himself no path to survival. Soken Ishida is a man with a strong will to live; he shouldn't do something so irrational."
Suzuki Makoto found a reason that was half-true and half-false. After all, he could indeed judge the veracity of the other party's intelligence based on his own knowledge.
"I believe so as well. It is just that the intelligence he provided is truly shocking to the world. Even I find it somewhat hard to believe before verifying it."
"Speaking of verification, I have actually discovered some clues more or less. You know how my control over Reishi is. While in the Seireitei, I had actually already sensed that there were issues with two layers of Reishi. It's just that at the time, I thought this was some trump card of the Gotei 13 or the Nobles, so I never investigated deeply. Thinking about it now, that is likely the protective barrier of the Wandenreich."
Aizen nodded thoughtfully. Suzuki Makoto's Reishi control capabilities were indeed exaggerated, able to use an incantationless cast to perfectly reproduce the power of Hadō #99. Even compared to a Quincy, this power was not inferior in the slightest. If not for the fact that there were no issues with the other party's Reiatsu, he would have suspected that Suzuki Makoto was also a Quincy who had fled.
"Regarding that King, do you have any thoughts?"
Now it was Suzuki Makoto's turn to be curious. For Sosuke Aizen, regarding an existence like Yhwach, would he want to make contact, or did he want to do something else?
" The omniscient and omnipotent King of Quincies?"
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Aizen's mouth.
"If I could confuse 'The Almighty' with Kyōka Suigetsu, I imagine that would be a very interesting thing indeed."
____
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