The Quincy were an extremely ancient race.
So ancient that they could be compared to the Soul Reapers.
If Soul Reapers and Hollows were different forms of souls, then the Quincy were a breed apart among humans. They lived in the Kishi World, utterly different from the Reishi World, yet possessed power strong enough to contend with both Soul Reapers and Hollows.
Though they were humans of the Kishi World, their bodies were not made of Reishi, and they had no spiritual power within them. Instead, they possessed the more mysterious Quincy Power, hidden in their blood.
With this power, they could manipulate the Reishi around them, gathering and dispersing it as they pleased, shaping it into all kinds of weapons and wielding them at will.
It was a gift few could match.
Any Hollow slain by the Quincy ceased to exist even as Reishi, vanishing completely from the world.
Nearly eight hundred years ago.
That was the Quincy's most glorious era. In those days, all the powerful Quincy in the Human World invaded Soul Society in force under the command of their "King."
To fight the Quincy,
the Five Great Noble Families led Soul Society in assembling its forces.
Under the pretext of protecting Seireitei, the Gotei 13 was formed.
The original Gotei 13 was a slaughter force devoid of all emotion. Every member was expendable cannon fodder in the war, and they would use any means necessary to defeat the Quincy.
The fact that the Gotei 13 still existed proved beyond doubt that Soul Society had won that war.
After the war ended, the Quincy suffered heavy casualties, and the small number of survivors fled back to the Human World.
Since they were no longer a threat, Soul Society paid them little attention.
But no one had expected that, after nearly eight hundred years of growth and reproduction,
Soul Society would set its sights on the Quincy once again.
This time, the Gotei 13 was preparing to move against the Quincy not out of racial hatred, but for the sake of... balance.
After defeating the Quincy eight hundred years ago, the Gotei 13's approach gradually softened over the years. Their role had initially been limited to protecting Seireitei and the nobles, but under the Will of the Soul King, it expanded to maintaining balance throughout the spiritual world. To that end, they actively fought the Hollows and guided the souls of the dead in the Human World to Soul Society.
Yet despite the Soul Reapers' efforts, there was always a group of outsiders who stood apart from them.
Those were the Quincy, who had spent nearly eight hundred years hiding in the Human World and reproducing.
The Quincy placed great importance on bloodline. Pure-blood Quincy were far more powerful than Mixed-Blood Quincy, so preserving their bloodline required marriage between pure-blood families. Perhaps because so many Quincy had died in the war eight hundred years ago, the survivors alone had little chance of restoring their race to its former strength. After eight hundred years, the Quincy population had indeed grown from its postwar low, but most were Mixed-Blood Quincy. Pure-Blood Quincy were exceedingly rare, and there were even fewer pure-blood families left than there had been eight hundred years earlier.
Even those of mixed blood, however, could still manipulate Reishi.
In pursuit of power and wealth, they served the Shogun in the Human World, eagerly exorcising all manner of evil spirits on his behalf. There would have been nothing wrong with that if they had merely exorcised evil spirits, but in recent years, they had gone too far.
This drew Soul Society's attention.
Natsuki had already noticed some changes while he was still in Hueco Mundo.
Back then, the number of Hollows appearing in Hueco Mundo's outer reaches had increased, and Menos Grande appeared from time to time.
Later, when Ashido went to reinforce Hueco Mundo, he reported that a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande had appeared in Soul Society.
After Natsuki returned to Soul Society and became a member of the 11th Division, he experienced these changes firsthand.
Hollows appeared in Soul Society every day or two, and Menos Grande showed up occasionally as well.
This situation was no isolated incident.
According to Soul Society's records, Hollows in Hueco Mundo had entered another period of prosperity.
Their numbers were growing rapidly.
Usually, such a situation was connected to the Human World.
When the Human World fell into chaos, the death toll soared. Since those who died had often lived unhappy lives, the lingering emotions they carried after death could overwhelm them and cause them to become Hollows.
When that happened, Soul Society would send Soul Reapers to the Human World to stand guard. They would purify souls that had yet to become Hollows and guide them to Soul Society, while also slaying any Hollows that appeared in the Human World.
As a long-term solution, dispatching an Expeditionary Force was another option. They could reduce the number of Hollows in Hueco Mundo directly and maintain the balance between souls by various means.
But just because Soul Reapers could do something didn't mean others could.
As the number of Hollows in the Human World surged and the Quincy joined the chaos by attacking them, the Soul Reapers grew wary. Memories of the war eight hundred years ago already left them resentful of the Quincy. After learning what the Quincy were doing, Central 46 deliberated and concluded that they were no good, and that their race had no reason to continue existing. It would be better to wipe them out.
And so the executioner's blade fell!
No one cared whether the Quincy were innocent or aggrieved.
Once Central 46 issued its order, a captains' meeting was held in the 1st Division, and the order was passed on to the other Division captains. The entire Gotei 13 then sprang into action.
As a lieutenant, Natsuki couldn't go straight to the Human World to fight. At first, the ones sent to attack the Quincy there were Seated Officers and ordinary Soul Reapers. Perhaps because they felt the threat of imminent genocide, the Quincy unleashed their full power, and the Soul Reapers suffered heavy casualties.
The Gotei 13 was enraged, and even more powerful Soul Reapers were sent to the Human World.
By the time Natsuki, as lieutenant of the 11th Division, led his team to reinforce the forces in the Human World,
the war had already been underway there for some time.
Natsuki had his first encounter with the Quincy.
There was no debate over right or wrong, and no questions about the reasons. They simply fought.
He gripped his Zanpakuto and used Shunpo to charge at the Quincy.
But in the next instant, he realized that his Shunpo was being disrupted. It wasn't just Shunpo—even when he used Ghost Way, his casting was disrupted if he took his time chanting.
"So this is the Quincy's unique ability to manipulate Reishi?"
Natsuki's eyes flickered. He swung his Zanpakuto, and Sword Pressure appeared, shattering a Spirit Particle Arrow flying toward him. Then he rushed toward the Quincy ahead.
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