Ambush

The peaceful days passed little by little.

The Quincy had been very quiet lately. Occasionally, conflicts broke out along the borders.

This made Captain-Commander Yamamoto sense that something was wrong, but most of the nobles did not think so.

That day,

Shuichi entered meditation at home.

Ever since seeing the sea of red spider lilies in his Inner World that day, Shuichi had tried to enter it every day. Sometimes he succeeded; sometimes he did not.

But Shuichi was not in a hurry. Today, he got in.

Shuichi opened his eyes and stood amid that four-colored sea of flowers.

The cabin was still in the distance.

But the figure was no longer standing before it.

Suddenly, that figure vanished.

Shuichi whirled around.

The figure stood three paces behind him.

He wore a white cross-collared robe and a red cloak. His face was still hazy and indistinct, impossible to see clearly. But unlike before, he held a sword in his hand.

A silver-white blade, a rose-red hilt, and a black truncated-square guard.

A sword identical to Shuichi's.

The man said nothing and made no gesture. He merely raised his sword and slashed down.

Shuichi instinctively dodged sideways. He had no sword in hand. In the Inner World, his Zanpakutō was not with him—it was in the other man's hand. Yet his evasion was still smooth, his body reacting faster than his mind.

The man did not pursue.

He merely stood where he was, sword in hand, its tip hanging toward the ground.

Then the blade changed.

The silver along its edge slowly faded, replaced by a profound blue—the color of the deep sea, or the darkest blue at the heart of the night sky.

The man spoke.

His voice seemed to come from far away, muffled and low, yet every word landed clearly in Shuichi's ears.

"Dance, Flower of Death."

Points of light began gathering on the blue blade. Then hundreds of Blue Light Butterfly Swarms poured from it, spilling from the man's hand like a glowing river.

The butterflies circled above the sea of flowers. As they wheeled through the air, blue Reishi motes drifted from their wings like rain.

Shuichi stood there, watching the swarm. The blue butterflies circled him a few times before scattering and disappearing into the four-colored sea of flowers.

Then the blade changed color again.

The blue receded, and gold emerged.

The man spoke again.

"Burn, Flower of Agony."

The golden blade glimmered beneath the sunlight.

There was no visible effect.

The blade simply shone, brilliantly golden.

Shuichi frowned.

He could not make out what this ability did.

Then the blade changed again.

The gold faded, replaced by a blade like white jade.

"Bloom, Flawless Flower."

Reishi spread outward from the white blade, pushing outward in expanding rings. The ripples solidified in the air, forming a hemispherical transparent barrier that enveloped Shuichi and the man.

Inside the barrier, everything became clearer.

Shuichi could sense that the barrier was perceiving and analyzing something.

The barrier lasted for a moment, then dissipated.

The blade changed one final time.

The translucent whiteness faded, and red emerged.

"Scatter, Flower of Longing."

A red slash flew from the blade, skimming across the sea of flowers close to the ground. It carved a deep trail through stems and soil as sword energy swept past Shuichi.

Countless chains emerged from the trail and bound Shuichi.

The man stopped moving, held the sword horizontally before him, then dismissed the chains and pointed at the red mark left by the first slash.

Shuichi more or less understood the red blade and its ability. It required the path of a slash—the mark left behind by the sword energy could trigger chains.

Then the man tossed the sword to Shuichi. Shuichi picked it up, examined the blade, and looked at him.

The man conjured another sword.

Then he began sparring with Shuichi, feeding him moves.

The blue butterfly swarm could create illusions.

The golden light enhanced Reiatsu and spiritual-body recovery.

The white barrier filtered illusions and sensed Reiatsu.

The red sword energy and chains were its rare offensive abilities.

He had learned a great deal today...

While Shuichi was still in his Inner World, Seireitei changed.

Along Seireitei's outskirts, throughout Rukongai and Seireitei itself, pillars of concentrated blue Reishi flames shot into the sky. It was not the blue of the sky or the sea, but an intense, dazzling blue like molten sapphire. The pillars surged straight into the heavens.

Then came a second.

A third.

A fourth.

Blue pillars of flame rose across Seireitei—outside the West Gate, the South Gate, the North Gate, and even within Seireitei itself, in areas long considered absolutely safe.

Within moments, the number of flaming pillars rose from a few to dozens, then from dozens to hundreds.

The air around every pillar twisted, and Reishi crackled as it burned.

Then the shadows moved.

On the ground near the pillars, shadows began to swell, spreading outward like ink dropped into water.

One white figure after another crawled out from the depths of the shadows—Holy Soldiers.

The Quincy's Holy Soldiers, wielding Reishi bows and wearing white Reishi Armament, poured from the shadows. Like a swarm of ants, they rushed into Seireitei's streets, barracks, and homes.

There was no warning.

No assembly.

No negotiation.

The Holy Soldiers began attacking the instant the pillars of flame rose.

Storms of Reishi arrows poured down from every direction, blanketing entire blocks.

Soul Reapers who were still asleep, training in the morning, or on patrol did not even have time to draw their blades before arrows pierced through them.

First Division Barracks.

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto sat in his office with his eyes closed, unfinished documents from the previous night spread before him. His eyes suddenly opened.

There was no surprise or fury in those eyes, only something deep and heavy, like magma trapped beneath stone.

"Yhwach."

When Yamamoto spoke that name, his voice was not loud, yet the Reishi throughout the entire office trembled.

The documents on the desk were swept into the air by an invisible force, fluttering wildly. The next instant, Yamamoto vanished.

Only the falling papers and a chair cracked apart by Reiatsu remained in the office.

Above Seireitei.

A blazing light shot from the First Division Barracks, streaking across the sky like a meteor and trailing a long tail of flame.

The light was so brilliant that even the blue pillars of fire paled beside it.

Then the flaming meteor plunged down, and raging flames erupted within Seireitei.

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's flames—his Ryujin Jakka.

Seireitei's layout differed from that of later generations.

At this time, most division headquarters were not located within Seireitei. They were scattered throughout Rukongai, with several division barracks in each of the east, south, west, and north.

Other than Central 46's council hall, the First Division Barracks, and the nobles' estates, almost no Soul Reapers were permanently stationed within Seireitei.

This was where the nobles lived.

The Four Great Noble Clans, the Upper Nobility, and the lower nobles occupied most of Seireitei's land. Their estates had high walls, deep courtyards, soaring eaves, and upturned roofs. Every one was a miniature fortress, with its own armed forces, barriers, and Reishi Armament.

When blue pillars of flame rose throughout Seireitei, the first to react were not the Soul Reapers, but these nobles.

Not because they were faster than the Soul Reapers, but because their armed forces were always on alert and ready to assemble.

Ever since the Quincy extermination order had been issued, the nobles had outwardly scorned the Quincy, but secretly, they had never stopped their arms race.

The nobles had continuously reinforced their estates' barriers, stockpiled Reishi Armament, and trained their private forces. The Heaven-Bestowed Divine Armament of the Shihōin Clan and the Reishi Armament of the Kasumioji Clan had sold out within a single month.

So when the Holy Soldiers poured from the shadows and slaughtered Soul Reapers, these noble armed forces had already filled their respective estates.

The first to enter battle were a group of lower nobles near the West Gate.

Their estates were less than two hundred meters from a blue pillar of flame. The moment Holy Soldiers crawled from the shadows, some of the noble armed forces were killed, but the survivors swiftly organized a defensive line.

Reishi bows exchanged fire, Zanpakutō clashed in close combat, and Hakuda fighters engaged at point-blank range. In an extremely short time, they stabilized the West Gate's defenses.

But they only stabilized them.

There were too many Holy Soldiers. And it was not only Holy Soldiers—Vice-Captain-Class Quincy emerged from the pillars of flame as well.

Their Reiatsu far surpassed that of ordinary Holy Soldiers. Their Hirenkyaku was too fast for the naked eye to follow, and their Holy Arrows were powerful enough to pierce noble Reishi shields in a single strike.

One Vice-Captain-Class Quincy could suppress an entire squad of noble armed forces. And dozens of such Quincy appeared throughout Seireitei.

The noble armed forces began suffering casualties.

Not one or two at a time, but whole groups falling one after another.

Until the captain of the Twelfth Division arrived.

Zenteiji Yūbin charged out from the depths of Seireitei and immediately slaughtered a large number of Quincy.

The Twelfth Division Barracks was the only division headquarters located within Seireitei. Since Zenteiji Yūbin was Upper Nobility, his estate was the barracks, and the barracks was his estate. Thus, when the attack began, he was one of the first Soul Reapers to react.

Zenteiji Yūbin's hand-to-hand combat was neither the clean, efficient martial art of Soul Reapers nor the refined combat techniques of the Quincy based on Reishi manipulation. His fighting style was pure, primal, nearly barbaric violence.

At their first exchange, he shattered the jaw of a Vice-Captain-Class Quincy.

One punch, smashing downward into the Quincy's face like cracking a walnut. The sound of bones breaking echoed down the entire street, and the Quincy collapsed before he could even react.

A second Vice-Captain-Class Quincy tried to retreat and create distance to fire arrows, but Zenteiji gave him no chance. He used Shunpo to appear behind him, seized the arm drawing the bow, and twisted.

Like wringing out a towel, he twisted that arm into a spiral from the shoulder. Bone, muscle, and fragments of Reishi Armament mixed together as blood and Reishi sprayed out.

The Quincy screamed, but only once.

Zenteiji smashed his throat with an elbow.

The Holy Soldiers began to retreat.

Zenteiji's unnatural fighting style and Captain-Class power made the Holy Soldiers instinctively fall back, form defensive lines, and organize an encirclement.

Zenteiji stood amid the corpses and shook the blood from his hand.

His Zanpakutō still hung at his waist, looking as insignificant as a toy beside his massive frame.

"Any more?" he asked.

His voice was not loud, but the Holy Soldiers heard him clearly.

No one answered.

Then two Reiatsu appeared.

But their posture as they walked, the way they looked at others, and the confidence radiating from their bones—those were not things ordinary Quincy could possess.

The Sternritter.

Though they did not possess Schrift, they were official members of the order.

Zenteiji placed a hand on his sword hilt.

"Finally, someone who can fight," he said.

His Reiatsu surged violently. Dense, honeycomb-like Reishi patterns appeared across his Zanpakutō's blade, emitting a high-frequency buzz.

"Rend apart! Quake Calamity!"