The Human World's War

Natsuki wasn't unfamiliar with the Quincy.

Ishida Uryu, one of the original story's main characters, was a Quincy. The villains in the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc were Quincies too. In that arc, a few dozen Quincies had the entire Gotei 13 on the ropes. They ultimately lost largely because of plot-induced deaths. It was fair to say that the Quincies were truly powerful.

At that very moment, in the Human World, Natsuki was on the side that had raised its blade against the Quincies. After fighting them, he had experienced their strength firsthand.

A Shinigami's Shunpo involved gathering spiritual power in the soles of their feet and releasing it as Reiatsu, which collided and rubbed against the Reishi in the air. This created a powerful burst of reactive force that propelled the body in an instant step. It wasn't spatial displacement; it was simply very fast movement.

The technique wasn't especially difficult, so most Shinigami could master it quickly. The only difference was how fast they could move.

But when facing the Quincies, this ability was severely disrupted.

The Quincies could manipulate Reishi, drawing the Reishi around them toward their bodies and bringing it under their control.

Aside from their own spiritual power, Shinigami also needed to collide with Reishi in their surroundings to use Shunpo. The denser the Reishi around them, the faster they could move. That was why Shinigami received a boost in Hueco Mundo, where Reishi was abundant.

Under the influence of this Quincy ability, a Shinigami's Shunpo could be directly disrupted.

When they couldn't use Shunpo to close the distance, the Quincies could attack from afar with Spirit Particle Arrows. In that situation, their Shunpo was interfered with, leaving them no choice but to rely on their Zanpakuto to block the attacks head-on.

What about using Ghost Way to trade long-range attacks with the Quincies?

It was a decent idea, but Ghost Way also relied on the Reishi in the surroundings, and the Quincies could interfere with that as well.

The main reason the Gotei 13 suffered such heavy casualties early on, when it raised its blades against the Quincies, was that the Quincy abilities could interfere with the Shinigami.

Even if Mixed-Blood Quincies were weaker overall than Pure-Blood Quincies, every Quincy possessed the ability to manipulate and interfere with Reishi. If a Shinigami lacked solid fundamentals, this ability left them with only one possible outcome: defeat and death.

The Quincy before him had disrupted Natsuki's Shunpo once as well.

But Natsuki wasn't an ordinary Shinigami. Besides Shunpo and Ghost Way, he had considerable skill in both Zanjutsu and Hakuda. His Zanjutsu in particular had become quite impressive after Unohana Retsu's instruction.

Hakuda required close-quarters combat to unleash its full power.

The Quincy before him clearly had no intention of fighting the Shinigami at close range.

Although they possessed a powerful ability to manipulate spiritual power, their bodies were no more than ordinary human bodies. Against Shinigami, who were Reishi Organisms composed entirely of highly concentrated Reishi, they were inferior in both strength and physical durability.

Their only hope of winning was to launch long-range attacks with Spirit Particle Arrows.

That was something the Quincies had learned through their many casualties after the war began.

One Spirit Particle Arrow after another flew from the Quincy. As they reached Natsuki, he cut them apart in succession with his Zanpakuto, which carried powerful Sword Pressure. All the while, he tried to close in on the Quincy.

He noticed something.

The Quincies couldn't focus on two things at once.

When they manipulated Reishi to form Spirit Particle Arrows, they couldn't interfere with his Shunpo. That gave him a chance to use Shunpo to close the distance. The Quincies had naturally realized this too, so after firing their Spirit Particle Arrows, they used the high-level movement technique unique to their kind, Hirenkyaku, to reposition themselves and find a better place from which to attack Natsuki.

Hirenkyaku was actually even more useful than a Shinigami's Shunpo. In Reishi-rich environments like Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, it was the only one of the three movement techniques used by Shinigami, Hollows, and Quincies that allowed its user to fly through the sky.

But unfortunately, this wasn't Soul Society or Hueco Mundo. It was the Human World.

Hirenkyaku couldn't grant the Quincies control of the skies here, because Shinigami could also remain aloft in the Human World's sky. The main reason was that Reishi was scarce in the Human World, while Shinigami had highly concentrated Reishi in their bodies. Reishi was lighter than air, so in the Human World, Shinigami were almost as if they were in space. Gravity couldn't affect Reishi; with a light leap, they could travel great distances and even soar through the sky.

On top of that, although Hirenkyaku allowed its user to fly, it was also the most Reishi-dependent of the three movement techniques. If Reishi was plentiful, a Quincy manipulating it could move even faster than with Shunpo.

But with the Human World's low Reishi concentration, even the strongest Quincy could only use Hirenkyaku at limited speed.

The Quincy kept using Hirenkyaku to reposition himself, but as long as he couldn't constantly interfere with Natsuki's Shunpo, Natsuki's technique would remain superior. Soon, Natsuki reached him.

Natsuki swung, unleashing golden Sword Pressure that destroyed the Spirit Particle Arrow the Quincy had fired. Then it struck the Quincy's body.

Blood sprayed through the air, and his life ended in an instant.

After killing one Quincy, Natsuki didn't stop to recover. He continued toward the other Quincies.

They called it a war, but in reality, the two sides weren't both fighting freely on a single battlefield.

Even though the Quincies had inflicted heavy casualties on the Shinigami, they had suffered even more themselves.

And because they had lost the war eight hundred years ago, they naturally hated and feared the Shinigami.

When the Shinigami raised their blades against them, the Quincies first tried to hide. Only when they realized they couldn't escape did they choose to fight.

Against these Quincies, who had been hiding from the start, the Shinigami had to find them before they could wipe them out.

Fortunately, the Shinigami who had come to the Human World this time were numerous enough to ensure the Quincies were completely exterminated. The 12th Division was also providing technical support from the rear. One Quincy after another was found, and Natsuki's job was to reinforce the other Shinigami and kill the Quincies they had located.

When he reached another battlefield,

all he saw were several Shinigami, pierced through by razor-sharp Spirit Particle Arrows, lying dead.

On the roof of an old-fashioned building stood a middle-aged man with a ponytail and a scar on his face. His gaze was as sharp as a hawk's as he looked at Natsuki.

"Despicable Shinigami. Have you come here to die too?"

Natsuki sensed an aura from this Quincy that far surpassed that of an ordinary one.

Through his Spiritual Perception, he could see the terrifying amount of Reishi swirling around the man's body.

This was no ordinary Quincy. Without a doubt, he was a Pure-Blood Quincy.

"No. You're the one who's going to die!" Natsuki replied.