A World of Mutual Balance!

Everything one does has a motive behind it.

Natsuki truly could not fathom the motives of Azashiro Kenpachi.

Although his life within the Seireitei was monotonous and practically devoid of entertainment, having lived there, he naturally possessed some understanding of the Seireitei.

Within the Seireitei, there existed a very special group.

Nobles!

The nobility was not a class formed by souls who arrived in the Soul Society after dying in the Human World; they were natives of the Soul Society. Even before the Gotei 13 was established, they already existed as the ruling class within the Soul Society.

The founding of the Seireitei and the establishment of the Gotei 13 both stemmed from the support of the nobility behind the scenes.

The profession of Shinigami began as a warrior class serving the nobility.

With later evolution, the noble groups gradually retreated behind the scenes, but even so, they still enjoyed immense privileges within the Seireitei and the entire Soul Society.

The highest judicial body in the Soul Society was called the "Central 46." They could interfere with the operations of the Gotei 13 and arbitrarily judge whether a Shinigami was guilty. The Central 46 was composed of representatives of the nobility.

It could be said that those at the apex of the Soul Society were never the Gotei 13, but rather—the Five Great Noble Families.

Whether Azashiro Kenpachi came from a high-ranking or low-ranking noble family, Natsuki did not know, but he was clearly of noble birth.

His noble status granted him an illustrious background, and as a Kenpachi, he possessed formidable strength.

What could a person like that possibly be plotting?

Upon hearing the word "noble," a flash of icy coldness crossed Azashiro Kenpachi's eyes before vanishing just as quickly. He answered Natsuki's question calmly, "I wish to eradicate all Hollows."

He did not explain why he chose to do such a thing despite already possessing everything.

He simply stated his goal.

"!!!"

Natsuki could not help but feel a shock in his heart; he could not help but think of the questions the other had asked during their last meeting in the Rukon District.

No wonder he had asked for his opinion on Hollows.

So, he hated Hollows to such an extreme degree that he wanted to wipe them all out.

"That is simply impossible to achieve!"

Calming his shocked heart, Natsuki spoke to Azashiro Kenpachi again.

He was not someone who understood nothing.

As long as humans continued the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and as long as desire existed, Hollows would continue to be born. Even if one were to temporarily annihilate every Hollow in Hueco Mundo, new ones would soon emerge.

Furthermore, killing all Hollows was not necessarily a good thing.

This touched upon a deeper issue: balance.

Within the Expeditionary Force, Watanabe Yuji had once told Natsuki a great deal.

The balance between souls was, in essence, the balance of the world itself.

The Human World, the Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo formed a triangle, which could also be viewed as a scale. Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society were worlds of spirit particles, while the Human World was a world of matter. The world of matter was heavier and scarcer in spirit particles than the worlds of spirit particles.

This was why Shinigamis and Hollows, who possessed high concentrations of spirit particles, could easily hover in the sky when they came to the Human World, or leap great distances with a single jump.

When humans died in the Human World, their souls would go to the two spirit-particle worlds: Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society.

These two worlds were situated on either side of the Human World, balancing each other out.

When the number of souls in one world became too high or too low, the balance would be broken.

Because the souls in the Soul Society were managed by the Gotei 13, their numbers were controllable. Hueco Mundo was different; new Hollows were born every moment, and when the Human World suffered turmoil, the number of Hollows in Hueco Mundo would increase.

An excessive number of Hollows would severely endanger the two neighboring worlds.

They harmed humans and devoured the souls of the Soul Society. Over time, this would cause the entire world to become a world of only Hollows, leading to the destruction of the world.

Therefore, Shinigamis needed to fight Hollows to eliminate the excess.

However, having too few Hollows was also problematic, as that would also cause the world to lose its balance.

Hueco Mundo already had a slightly higher concentration of spirit particles than the Soul Society. If the number of Hollows were too low, the spirit particle concentration of the world itself would become even higher, making the world heavier and causing it to lean toward the other side, thereby squeezing the neighboring world.

Of course, if such a situation were to arise, there were ways to compensate.

One would only need to erase a portion of the existing souls in the Soul Society, turning them into pure spirit particles to be integrated into the world itself, and balance could be restored.

But unless it was an absolute last resort, the Soul Society would never do such a thing.

These subsequent countermeasures were, of course, not told to Natsuki by Watanabe Yuji. Although Watanabe Yuji knew quite a bit about soul balance and world balance, he had not reached that level of understanding.

The rest were all conjectures Natsuki had made by combining his memories with the plot of the original work.

Ever since he realized what kind of world this was, he had been constantly recalling the plot.

Although there were still many things he had not remembered, he had managed to recall quite a few scattered fragments.

"Yes, under normal circumstances, it is of course impossible," Azashiro Kenpachi said in a deep voice. "Even if the entire Gotei 13 entered Hueco Mundo, it would be difficult to annihilate all of them in the face of such vast numbers. Therefore, if I could transform the Pluses of the Rukon District, grant them power, and turn them into warriors to fight the Hollows, could this be achieved?"

He paused, his gaze falling on Natsuki's face. "You once said that Pluses without spiritual power cannot obtain the strength to contend with Hollows. I do not believe that statement is correct."

"Why is it that souls without spiritual power can obtain such immense strength after falling and becoming Hollows?"

"If the principles behind this could be understood, would it be possible to use similar methods to grant the strong power?"

Natsuki remained silent. After Azashiro Kenpachi finished speaking, although there were still many questions in his heart, he saw no need to ask them.

At the very least, he already knew.

The recent disappearances of souls in the Rukon District were the work of Azashiro Kenpachi.

He had been conducting experiments within the Rukon District, attempting to bestow great power upon these souls so they could serve as warriors to combat the Hollows.

The results, evidently, had ended in failure.

"You are too extreme!"

Natsuki offered his assessment of Azashiro Kenpachi.

If Azashiro Kenpachi were to truly succeed in such an endeavor, pitting the souls of the Soul Society against those of Hueco Mundo until they perished together, it might not necessarily disrupt the balance of the world itself. However, such a world would hardly be a perfect one, and in any case, it was not something Natsuki could bring himself to endorse.