The Ice Palace.
Yhwach had emerged from the coffin and was helped into the Hall by his Royal Guards. He sat on his Throne, which was his only possession, but he remained listless.
"Greetings, Your His Majesty." Jugram Haschwalth had led the rest of the Sternritter to the scene, and everyone knelt on one knee, shouting their greetings.
Yhwach didn't let them get up. He raised his right hand with difficulty, and Jugram Haschwalth instantly understood. He quickly got up, walked to him, and knelt down again, letting Yhwach place his hand on his beautiful blond head.
Sensing the faint Reiryoku emanating from Jugram Haschwalth's body, Yhwach's previously weary eyes gradually brightened, and his strength was slowly returning.
Only after all the powers residing within Jugram Haschwalth had returned did Yhwach withdraw his right hand, then, palm facing upwards, he softly uttered, "Auswählen!"
News of Yhwach's awakening quickly spread throughout the entire Wandenreich, igniting a frenzy.
Those people had been deliberately educated and guided to blindly worship Yhwach and firmly believe that the awakened emperor could lead the Quincy clan out of their predicament and back to the World of the Living.
Soon, Holy Light burst forth from the depths of the Ice Palace, elevating the entire passionate, Wandenreich to a new level.
The beam of light that shot into the sky split into tens of thousands of parts, each rushing towards the outer perimeter of Silbern, as if it had eyes, and entered the bodies of some of the elderly, weak, sick and disabled.
Then the light rose again from the chosen one's body and gathered once more towards the Ice Palace.
As the Holy Light faded, the bedridden and the elderly died instantly, while some of the younger, injured became listless and their days were numbered; their Reiryoku had been almost entirely drained away...
What is that?
Ryūsaki gasped in surprise as she watched the light gathering overhead toward the Ice Palace.
The Holy Light that departed and then returned carried wisps of Reiryoku. Although each individual wisp was weak, when they coalesced, they became an extremely powerful force.
The Elderly Reserve Yorick beside him looked desolate and said in a deep voice, "That's 'Auswählen's Farewell,' His Majesty's move. It seems His Majesty has truly awakened."
"All those chosen are those whom His Majesty deems unnecessary or whose continued existence is no longer necessary. Once the Holy Light enters their bodies, their power will be stripped away, and no one can survive after their power is taken away."
After explaining, Yorick couldn't help but sigh, "Sigh, I wonder when it would be our turn."
"Why do you say that, senior?" Ryūsaki asked in surprise again.
Is it possible that someone as skilled as Yorick could be Auswählen?
Before Yorick could continue explaining, a figure that Ryūsaki recognized came before them— 'Holy Soldier' Cang Du.
The man's severed hand had already been reattached, and his face was full of arrogance. As soon as he appeared, he shouted, "All members of the Eighth Squad, come with me to the District 19 to clean up the corpses."
The group consists of fifty-two people, including Ryūsaki Yorick. Ryūsaki had already taken up the Vice-Captain of the Eighth Squad two months prior, while Yorick was the Captain.
Generally, there are very few missions that require their help; there is only one mission per month, and they are all the same: to capture those Hollows who travel between Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living from the Garganta.
This task of disposing of the corpse was the second one Ryūsaki had received.
Everyone moved quickly using the Hirenkyaku, with Cang Du running in the lead. Soon, they arrived at the District 19 on the outskirts.
The fanatics in the streets were still rushing toward the joyous news of the emperor's awakening.
But sobbing could be heard from many houses along the street, clearly indicating that some people were grieving for their deceased family members...
However, when Ryūsaki arrived at a house with two Holy Soldiers, the young head of the family and his wife did not show any resistance. On the contrary, they were happy that the Holy Soldiers were taking away his father's body.
The young man said sincerely, "Thank you Holy Soldier, for allowing my father to do his last bit of service for the Empire. May the Empire prosper."
Ryūsaki simply nodded without saying anything more; he found it difficult to understand what these people were thinking.
Their loved ones were taken from them, and their corpses were to be broken down into Reishi, becoming part of the foundational structure of Wandenreich. Didn't they hate it?
Before Ryūsaki could be curious for long, the moment they carried the corpse outside, a battle broke out on a rooftop not far away.
Two boys shot Bow and Arrows at the Holy Soldiers who came to collect the corpse, and a battle broke out. After a few rounds, the two boys were severely injured and captured by the Holy Soldiers.
Hearing the commotion, a few scattered households opened their doors to see what was going on.
"Damn it, our grandma is already nearing the end of her life, why are you taking away the last of her time?"
"Yhwach is not the Quincy Emperor; he is a demon who will lead the Quincy back to the abyss."
"Now they are the elders of our family, but later it will be our turn. Revolt, my fellow countrymen!"
Two lucid teenagers shouted loudly, trying to incite people to resist.
However, their neighbors remained indifferent, since their families had not been 'Auswählen,' and given the population size of the Wandenreich, those who were 'Auswählen' were ultimately a minority.
Regardless of the education they received that 'they should unconditionally dedicate everything to the empire,' the pressure from the Holy Soldiers and Knights made even the most intelligent people without power afraid to rebel.
Such hotheads only add to the number of corpses in the end.
"Dare to incite rebellion, die."
Sure enough, Cang Du walked over from not far away with a cold face. As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and fired two Heilig Pfeil, instantly blowing the two teenagers' heads off.
He has already executed one family who refused to hand over the body, and with these two, there are only five who dare to resist.
Many others showed absolute obedience to their superiors and had no intention of rebelling.
The subsequent body collection proceeded normally. There were too many corpses, and the Holy Soldiers didn't have enough manpower, so they had to recruit lower-ranking soldiers to help carry them.
One by one, the cold corpses were transported into Silbern in an orderly manner, and the Holy Soldiers became the overseers.
The bodies were thrown into piles of burning Reishi fire in Silbern, where someone was reading a eulogy, the gist of which was that the sacred fire would cleanse these people and free them from resentment.
As he watched the corpses being thrown into the fire, Ryūsaki was slightly lost in thought. He didn't believe in the eulogies anyway... To him, this act of burning corpses seemed more like a cover-up for some kind of crime.
Yorick was also staring blankly at the scene, his eyes even showing a hint of fear, which was caught by Ryūsaki, who happened to turn her head to look at him.
"Are you afraid, senior? Are you afraid that you might become one of them someday?" Ryūsaki asked softly.
Yorick was clearly taken aback, and looked at Ryūsaki with a complicated expression.
He then glanced around and, finding only the two of them in the corner, softly replied, "As Quincy, yet having your fate held in the hands of others since birth, shouldn't you be afraid?"
"As Reserve Forces members of the Knights, we are needed, right? We shouldn't be Auswählen," Ryūsaki said with a faint smile.
"Things are different now. His Majesty's awakening means he will definitely launch a campaign against Soul Society. At that time, he will surely allocate the old, weak, sick, and disabled to the elite forces. As for us old ones, hehehe..."
Yorick smiled but didn't continue. He had been Reserve Forces for over a hundred years.
Because this world is composed entirely of Reishi, and his body is no longer that of an ordinary human, he could even live for another hundred years.
But what's the use of living longer? His talent has already reached its limit. Without talent, he can't go any further, which means His Majesty might decide he's no longer needed and eliminate him directly with Auswählen.
Before Yhwach woke up, many elderly Quincy were just getting by.
We can't afford to slack off now. The potential wars of the future don't allow for defeat. Therefore, the best option is to extract the power from those who don't need it and distribute it to those who do.
Ryūsaki felt a chill run down his spine. It seemed he needed to speed up his research on the Knights and find an easy target to take his position.
In addition, we need to learn more about 'Auswählen' and try to find a way to break it, otherwise, if it suddenly befalls us one day, we can only let fate decide when to break free.
A month has passed since the last 'Auswählen', Yhwach performed another 'Auswählen', this time taking away the power of about five thousand people.
For the next year, Yhwach did not perform any more 'Auswählen' ceremonies.
Seemingly in an effort to appease the general public, the Holy Soldier expanded its recruitment again, with over five hundred people joining.
Over a long period of time, the number of Holy Soldiers had already exceeded three thousand, and now there are ten more squads added.
Ryūsaki overheard again that Yhwach was awake during the day but could not move for long periods of time, and could only sit in a chair and give orders, while at night he would definitely fall into a deep sleep.
From this perspective, war may still be some time away before it can begin.