In Ethan's view, among the Quincy organization Wandenreich, the only truly troublesome one was Yhwach. Although the others had some abilities, the Gotei 13, whose combat strength had not suffered major losses, was not incapable of dealing with them.
Leaving others aside, if they did not rely on schemes, Yamamoto using his Bankai alone would be enough to cause the Wandenreich serious trouble.
The Wandenreich's advantage was only that they had been hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment, then launching a surprise attack before the enemy could react, taking advantage of the Soul Reapers' lack of knowledge about them to gain as much advantage as possible.
Now that Ethan had completely exposed the Wandenreich's situation and directly eliminated their leader and strongest member, the one with the greatest advantage, Yhwach, if the Soul Reapers still could not defeat such a Wandenreich, then they truly deserved to be wiped out.
"There is one last question."
"What?"
"Do you think the old man, I mean Captain Commander Yamamoto, will believe what I said?"
Although he was Yamamoto's student and the captain of the Eighth Division responsible for intelligence, making him one of Yamamoto's most trusted people, the matter he had to report was simply too unbelievable. Even Shunsui, who had witnessed everything personally, still found it difficult to accept.
If he went back and reported this to Yamamoto exactly as it happened, even if everything he said was true, would Yamamoto believe it?
"Oh, that is your problem, not mine."
Whether Yamamoto believed it or not had nothing to do with Ethan.
His mission was to destroy the world core of this world. Under normal circumstances, he would not need to pay excessive attention to this world at all.
This was different from the worlds he had previously visited using the space time orb. Ethan was still uncertain what this world truly was.
Was it one of the trials of the Tower of Babel, a test arranged by Eugene? Was this world a fully existing real world? Was it merely a projection of a world? Or was it simply an illusion?
If he had not lived here long enough to develop some attachment, he could have completely ignored it, just like the island world and the Van Helsing world he had experienced before.
If he had wanted to clear the trial quickly, once he understood how to complete the mission back then, he could have destroyed this world immediately without hesitation.
Now that the world still existed intact, Ethan felt he had already been very kind. Did he still need to consider the feelings of people like Yamamoto?
Whether Yamamoto believed it or not, Ethan had already done everything he could.
As for what would ultimately happen to this world, he was not very concerned. The people he cared about all had enough strength to protect themselves. With Byakuya's current strength, who in the Wandenreich could stand against him?
"I understand."
After Ethan finished explaining these matters, he turned and walked up the staircase that had always existed but had been invisible to Shunsui, Gin, and the others.
As Ethan stepped onto the stairs, the scenery around him instantly changed. The Soul King Palace disappeared, replaced once again by a blue sky with scattered light clouds.
Looking to both sides, all he could see was blue sky and white clouds. Directly above him was a seemingly endless staircase.
Behind him was not the floor of the Soul King Palace, but another staircase extending downward, also appearing endless.
Standing beside him was Yoruichi. Having stepped onto the stairs slightly earlier than Ethan, she had not waited long in this space. For her, she had only just stepped onto the stairs, and less than half a minute later Ethan had caught up.
In the past, Ethan would not have been able to reach such a precise conclusion. Now he was gradually understanding what Eugene had once told him. As long as he could complete the trial, he could resolve matters related to time himself.
"Is this considered touching the threshold?"
"What threshold?"
"The door to a higher realm."
Yoruichi looked at Ethan and suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity. She had never seen this side of him before.
Perhaps this was the real Ethan.
"So you have been completing missions in different worlds just to reach a higher realm?"
"There are still many things I have not told you."
Ethan looked both ahead and behind. This time was different from the previous one. There was no sign of any door. It seemed he would have to climb the stairs for quite a long time again.
He just did not know what kind of changes would occur while climbing this time.
"Let us move forward. Now that you are here, there is no turning back."
Yoruichi had already realized this without Ethan saying it. From the moment she stepped onto the stairs, the surrounding scenery had changed, and she could not see any way back. It seemed she could only continue climbing forward with Ethan.
"Why not go down?"
Going down should be easier than climbing up.
"Going down will never reach the end."
After leaving the Soul Society world this time, Ethan felt that his understanding of this space had improved further. He could clearly see that the downward path was actually an infinite circular spatial maze. It looked like an endless road, but in reality it only led in circles.
"Alright."
She climbed the seemingly endless stairs with Ethan while listening to his explanation of the overall situation.
Only now did Yoruichi finally learn Ethan's true identity. A human who, through his own efforts, gradually grew into a god, and then because of a conflict with a certain god, ended up provoking that god's father.
That even more powerful ancient god did not side with his own child but instead proposed a test.
"The world I lived in, was it only an illusion?"
"I do not know."
Ethan glanced at Yoruichi beside him.
"You do not need to dwell on such small matters. Even if it was originally false, you are no longer an illusion now. And the world that exists because of you, even if it once was illusory, now has a foundation of reality."
Yoruichi grinned.
Of course she would not dwell on such matters. That was not her personality.
Anyone who heard such a truth for the first time would naturally feel shocked. Compared to that, her reaction was already very calm.
"So standing on these stairs was actually the correct choice."
Regardless of whether the past was real or not, the future was more important. Yoruichi even felt somewhat fortunate that she had taken this step impulsively. Otherwise, the entire world might have disappeared the moment Ethan left.
At least according to Ethan's explanation, such a possibility did exist.
What Ethan did not mention was that if such a situation truly happened, a trace of their souls, including Yoruichi's, would be protected by his power and temporarily stored within his body, waiting for an opportunity to resurrect them later.
However, there were differences in closeness. Only those with a certain level of connection to Ethan would receive such treatment.
Although he could theoretically protect the souls of all living beings in that world, why would he do so? He did not have a savior complex.
Now it seemed he had saved himself some trouble.
"Phew, why do I feel a little tired?"
"That is normal."
After climbing an unknown number of steps, Yoruichi began to feel tired. This was not a normal situation. With her current strength, it should have been impossible for her to feel tired after climbing stairs for such a short time.
Ethan was not surprised.
From the moment he stepped onto the first stair, he already understood why these stairs appeared endless this time.
From the very first step, a strange power had begun altering his body.
Unlike the previous process that constantly compressed his power into a tiny core while preserving the most essential part and integrating his power with various rules, this change was different.
This time, it was giving him a physical body.
The material for that body did not appear out of nowhere. The material was actually Ethan himself. The so called change was the transformation of his spirit body's nature.
After explaining his discovery to Yoruichi, she realized that her own body was also gradually transforming into a physical body.
"But why am I getting tired? Is this body very fragile?"
"I checked. This body is basically at the level of a relatively healthy ordinary person. I do not know whether there will be further changes later. I think it is unlikely, so do not expect too much."
According to the nature of this trial world, it would not provide such a great benefit.
At the same time, he also guessed what kind of trial the next world would involve.
From the beginning, his power had been compressed into a tiny core, preserving only the most essential part while integrating it with various rules, and along the way testing his mental will.
Then he was made to understand that only by discarding those useless shells could he move forward. After that, he used the perfectly integrated rule based divine power to condense this spirit body and gradually allow the spirit body to adapt to those powers.
Once the core and soul completed their sublimation, the next step would naturally be a powerful divine body.
"You seem to have gotten smaller."
"You too."
As they climbed more stairs, they gradually felt their bodies becoming heavier.
After climbing for an unknown period of time, both of their bodies had completely transformed into real physical bodies. They were no longer the spirit bodies from the Soul Society world.
Their appearances had also changed greatly. Compared to their original adult appearances, they had become much younger.
Ethan now looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, and Yoruichi looked roughly the same age.
"Why did we turn into kids?"
Yoruichi was unhappy about this change, but Ethan did not mind. He had experienced similar situations many times before. Compared to superficial changes, he cared more about deeper aspects.
"A body with great potential."
The physical body condensed entirely from rule based divine power was extremely compatible with Ethan. However, this body only possessed great potential.
At present, it was only at the level of a healthy ordinary person, and it had completely sealed the power of his soul and core within the body.
In other words, his level had once again been reset to zero by these stairs.
"It seems the next world is where I will release the power inside me."
Once the body had been formed, a door appeared before his eyes.
With this realization, seeing a small child with a strange hairstyle and a tail behind him would no longer be surprising.
(To be continued.)