The Butcher's Blade Against the Quincies!

The Quincy are an incredibly ancient race.

So ancient that they can be mentioned in the same breath as Shinigamis.

If Shinigamis and Hollows are merely different states of the soul, then the Quincy are an anomaly among humans. They live in a Kishi World entirely distinct from the world of spirit particles, yet they possess a formidable power capable of rivaling both Shinigamis and Hollows.

Although they are humans of the Kishi World, their bodies are not composed of spirit particles, nor does spiritual power exist within them. Instead, they possess a more mysterious Quincy Power hidden deep within their bloodlines.

By leveraging this power, they can manipulate the surrounding spirit particles, causing them to aggregate or disperse according to their will, shaping them into various weapons under their control.

Because of this unique, heaven-sent ability.

Any Hollow killed by a Quincy does not even leave behind spirit particles; they are thoroughly annihilated from the heavens and the earth.

Nearly eight hundred years ago.

That was the most glorious period for the Quincy. During that era, all the powerful Quincy in the Human World, led by their "King," launched a massive invasion of the Soul Society.

To counter the Quincy.

Under the leadership of the Five Great Noble Families, the Soul Society began to assemble its forces.

In the name of protecting the Seireitei, the Gotei 13 was established.

The original Gotei 13 was a killing machine devoid of all emotion. Every member was mere cannon fodder to be sacrificed in the war; to defeat the Quincy, they would stop at nothing.

Since the Gotei 13 still exists today, there is no doubt that the Soul Society won that war.

It was also after the war ended that the Quincy suffered heavy casualties, and the small number of survivors fled back to the Human World.

Because they could no longer pose a threat, the Soul Society did not pay them much mind.

Little did they expect that, after nearly eight hundred years of reproduction and growth.

The Soul Society has set its sights on the Quincy once again.

This time, the Gotei 13's decision to strike at the Quincy is not due to racial hatred, but rather... balance.

In the years following the defeat of the Quincy eight hundred years ago, the operational style of the Gotei 13 gradually became more moderate. From their initial purpose of simply guarding the Seireitei and protecting the nobles, their duties expanded to maintaining the balance of the entire soul world under the guidance of the Soul King's will. To this end, they actively fought against Hollows and guided the souls of those who died in the Human World to the Soul Society.

But even with the Shinigamis' efforts, there was always a group of anomalies that seemed out of place.

That group was the Quincy, who had hidden in the Human World and multiplied for nearly eight hundred years.

The Quincy are a race that places great importance on lineage; the power of the Pure-Blood Quincy far exceeds that of the mixed-bloods. Therefore, to continue their bloodline, they could only intermarry with other pure-blood families. It seems that because so many Quincy died in that war eight hundred years ago, it was essentially impossible to restore the race to its former glory relying solely on the survivors. Eight hundred years have passed, and while the number of Quincy has indeed increased compared to the post-war period, the vast majority are mixed-blood Quincy. Pure-Blood Quincy are few and far between; in fact, there are even fewer pure-blood families now than there were eight hundred years ago.

Yet, even as mixed-bloods, they still possess the ability to manipulate spirit particles.

For the sake of power and wealth, they attached themselves to the Shogun in the Human World, actively exorcising various evils for him. If it were merely the exorcism of evil, that would be one thing, but in recent years, they have been killing far too many.

This caught the attention of the Soul Society.

When Natsuki was still in Hueco Mundo, he had actually noticed some changes.

The number of Hollows appearing on the outer rim of Hueco Mundo had increased, and Menos Grande appeared from time to time.

Later, when Ashido arrived as reinforcements in Hueco Mundo, he even reported that Vasto Lorde-level Menos Grande had appeared within the Soul Society.

By the time Natsuki returned to the Soul Society and became a member of the 11th Division, he felt this change firsthand.

Basically, every day or two, Hollows would appear in the Soul Society, and Menos Grande would appear occasionally as well.

This situation was not an isolated case.

According to the records of the Soul Society, this meant the Hollows of Hueco Mundo had entered another period of prosperity.

They were breeding rapidly.

Usually, this situation is related to the Human World.

When the Human World falls into chaos, the death toll surges. Because they are not at peace before death, their souls are swayed by the lingering emotions they held in life, subsequently falling and becoming Hollows.

Generally, when encountering such a situation, the Soul Society's approach is to actively dispatch Shinigamis to the Human World to stand guard—purifying souls that have not yet fallen into Hollows and guiding them to the Soul Society, while simultaneously slaying the Hollows that appear in the Human World.

At the same time, to solve the problem once and for all, dispatching an Expeditionary Force is also an option, directly reducing the number of Hollows in Hueco Mundo through various means to maintain the balance between souls.

However, some things that Shinigamis can do do not mean others can.

When the number of Hollows in the Human World surged, and the Quincy began to intervene in this chaos and strike at the Hollows, it aroused the vigilance of the Shinigamis. Furthermore, due to the impressions left by the war eight hundred years ago, the Shinigamis already held a grudge against the Quincy. Upon discovering what the Quincy were doing, the Central 46 researched and decided that the Quincy were no good; there was no need for this race to continue existing. It would be better to wipe them out.

The butcher's knife was thus swung!

Whether the Quincy were wronged or aggrieved, no one cared.

Once the order from the Central 46 was issued, and after the captain-commander held a captain's meeting to convey it to the captains of the other divisions, the entire Gotei 13 was set into motion.

As a lieutenant, Natsuki naturally could not go to the Human World to fight immediately. Those who initially moved against the Quincy in the Human World were some Seated Officers and ordinary squad members. It seems that due to the sense of crisis brought about by impending genocide, the power of the Quincy erupted to its limit, and for a time, the Shinigamis suffered many casualties.

The Gotei 13 was immediately enraged, and as a result, more powerful Shinigamis were dispatched to the Human World.

By the time Natsuki, as the lieutenant of the 11th Division, led his men to the Human World as reinforcements.

The war in the Human World had actually been raging for some time.

Natsuki also had his first encounter with the Quincy.

Irrespective of right or wrong, and without asking for the reason, he simply started fighting.

He gripped his Zanpakuto, utilized Shunpo, and charged toward the Quincy.

However, in the next instant, he discovered that his Shunpo was being interfered with. It wasn't just Shunpo; even when he cast Ghost Way, if he chanted slowly, it would also be disrupted.

"Is this the unique ability of the Quincy to manipulate spirit particles?"

Natsuki's eyes flashed. He swung his Zanpakuto, and a wave of Sword Pressure emerged, shattering a Spirit Particle Arrow that was hurtling toward him, before he quickly charged toward the Quincy ahead.