The White Sand Wilderness of Hueco Mundo.
In the sky hung a crescent moon that would never wax or wane, forever frozen in the night.
Its pallid light spilled down, coating the endless reishi dunes in cold silver-gray. There was no wind, no cloud; even the passage of time had lost its meaning here. From the moment heaven and earth first came into being, Hueco Mundo had looked like this, and it would remain this way forever.
With the Seventh Division as the main force, supported by the Eleventh and Eighth Divisions, along with a special operations squad from the First Division, the Kidō Corps, and accompanying medical and observation teams from the Fourth and Twelfth Divisions, the long column stretched into a winding black line across the pure white dunes.
White haori, ink-black Shihakushō, and the faint glow of Reishi Lamps stood out sharply against the maddening monotony of white.
This was no routine mission.
The last time the Seventh Division had entered Hueco Mundo as a full unit had been shortly after its former captain, Konishi Qianyi, took command. That had been a routine expedition written into the Gotei 13's century-long plan.
There had been clear objectives, meticulous contingency plans, and an escape route that would let them withdraw safely. This time, however, an invisible weight had pressed down on everyone's heart from the moment they stepped out of the Garganta.
Because the order had come from Central 46, and the document bore a red stamp marking it urgent.
The frequent spatial rifts in Rukongai's eastern District 70, the mass Hollowfication of wandering souls, that ancient entity lodged in the gap between the Dangai and Soul Society-the sages seated behind the curtains in the Underground Chamber needed the Gotei 13 to give them an answer.
And so,