One year.
It had been one full year since Kurotsuki Renya vanished from Hueco Mundo.
Within the Sixth Division barracks, Renji Abaraistood alone in the courtyard, gripping a wooden practice sword.
He swung downward.
Again.
Again.
The rhythm was harsh, uneven.
Renya's disappearance and the revelation of his alignment outside Seireitei's authority had left fractures among many. For Renji, the anger was complicated. Betrayal stung. Confusion lingered.
The theft of the Hōgyoku.
The silence.
The disappearance.
"Why?" Renji muttered under his breath.
He struck harder, splintering the air.
After a final swing, he lowered the blade.
Without thinking, his feet carried him toward the Thirteenth Division.
He paused outside its compound.
"Captain Abarai?"
The gentle voice belonged to Kaien Shiba, now serving as vice-captain of the Thirteenth Division.
Renji stiffened slightly.
"Vice-Captain Shiba… I was just…"
"You're looking for Rukia."
Renji scratched his head.
"…Yeah."
Kaien smiled faintly.
"She's training at Mount Reifū, in North Rukongai's Third District."
Renji blinked.
"That place?"
Kaien nodded.
"It's where I trained. And where Renya once trained as well."
Renji did not respond to that.
"Thanks."
Absolute Zero
Mount Reifū was cold even by Rukongai standards.
But as Renji advanced deeper
The temperature plummeted unnaturally.
Frost crept along tree trunks.
Branches snapped under crystalline ice.
Reiatsu saturated the air like frozen mist.
Renji stepped into a clearing
White.
The ground was layered in thick ice.
At its center stood an ice sculpture.
It was unmistakable.
The face was hers.
"Rukia…?"
A crack split the statue.
The ice shattered outward.
And from within emerged Rukia Kuchiki, exhaling softly as frost evaporated from her skin.
"Four seconds," she murmured. "Still the limit."
Renji approached cautiously.
"What was that?"
Rukia looked at her hands.
"My body temperature."
Her Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, did not merely release cold.
Its true nature discovered only through disciplined research was the manipulation of her own temperature.
Absolute zero.
At that point, molecular motion ceased.
Everything froze.
But so did she.
"If I move while fully lowered," she explained calmly, "my body risks structural collapse. I would shatter."
Renji's expression tightened.
"That's insane."
"It's necessary."
Her voice held no hesitation.
During the failed expedition to Hueco Mundo, she had intended to refine this technique.
Now she pushed it further.
Renji exhaled slowly.
"Just… don't die practicing."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"I won't."
The tension eased.
"I'm starving," she said suddenly. "Coming?"
Renji brightened.
"Of course."
They left the frozen clearing behind.
Disappearances in Rukongai
Elsewhere, in West Rukongai's Sixty-Fourth District
Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawastood within an empty settlement.
No civilians.
No bodies.
Only footprints.
"They were here," Yumichika observed.
The prints converged into a single point
Then stopped.
"They weren't killed," Ikkaku muttered.
"They were taken."
Before they could investigate further
A crushing Reiatsu spread across Seireitei.
The Wandenreich Arrives
Inside the First Division headquarters, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto opened his eyes.
A shadow detached itself from the far wall.
White cloaks.
Black accents.
Quincy crosses.
A man stepped forward.
"We greet you, Head Captain."
His voice was calm.
"We come bearing a declaration of war from His Majesty."
The atmosphere tightened.
Simultaneously
Within the corridor outside
A towering man materialized before Chōjirō Sasakibe, Vice-Captain of the First Division.
"You are the lieutenant," the stranger said.
"I am."
The man smiled.
"My name is Driscoll Berci."
A Sternritter.
"My purpose is simple. Your death shall serve as our opening statement."
Driscoll vanished.
A fist the size of a boulder struck forward.
Sasakibe blocked with his blade
but was blasted through the corridor wall.
He steadied himself mid-air.
This opponent's strength exceeded expectations.
Without hesitation, Sasakibe raised his Zanpakutō.
"Bankai"
Lightning surged skyward.
"Kōkō Gonryō Rikyū!"
Thunder gathered.
Storm clouds condensed.
But before the technique could fully manifest
Driscoll raised a medallion engraved with Quincy script.
The lightning collapsed inward.
Vanished.
Sasakibe's eyes widened.
"My… Bankai"
Driscoll grinned.
"Stolen."
The medallion pulsed.
The Quincy now wielded the captured Bankai.
Without it, Sasakibe's power dropped sharply.
Driscoll moved instantly.
A blow shattered Sasakibe's left arm.
Another strike sent him crashing across the courtyard.
Blood stained white stone.
"Without Bankai," Driscoll sneered, "you are insignificant."
He formed a Heilig Pfeil.
Before he could release it
A flash of lightning intercepted him.
A palm strike enhanced by compressed spiritual force pierced cleanly through his torso.
Driscoll's eyes widened.
Behind him stood Soi Fon, electricity coiling around her frame.
Shunkō surged violently.
Driscoll staggered.
But he did not fall immediately.
Quincy Blut Vene hardened across his body, preventing instant death.
Soi Fon withdrew, assessing.
"Lieutenant Sasakibe," she said sharply. "Retreat to the Head Captain."
Sasakibe, injured but conscious, seized the fallen medallion from Driscoll's grasp.
"This device… steals Bankai."
Soi Fon's eyes hardened.
"Understood."
Driscoll coughed blood, fury distorting his face.
"You will all kneel before His Majesty."
Before Soi Fon could finish him
A shadow swallowed the courtyard.
Multiple Quincy signatures retreated simultaneously.
They had accomplished their purpose.
Declaration delivered.
The first blood drawn.
Soi Fon stood still, lightning crackling around her.
The war Renya had anticipated
Had begun.
Inside the First Division chamber, Yamamoto's voice echoed like distant thunder.
"Prepare for full mobilization."
The Thousand-Year Blood War had arrived.
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