Chapter 381: Satoru's Resolution
High in the sky, Aizen calmly turned his gaze toward Satoru.
The latter raised his hand, directing it at Kurosaki Masaki.
An intangible force different from Reiatsu captured Kurosaki Masaki.
Then, the light surrounding him formed a massive ring that instantly expanded, covering the entirety of Karakura Town.
At the Ishida residence, Ishida Ryūken stood by the bedside, his eyes filled with despair.
On the bed lay his wife Katagiri Kanae, her expression contorted in agony.
"Father, what should we do... What can we do?!"
Ishida Ryūken couldn't help raising his voice.
Sōken Ishida stood nearby, his brow deeply furrowed.
No wonder... Not long ago, Satoru had sought him out to inquire about information regarding Auswählen.
It seems that Lord had already discovered something long ago.
Unfortunately, even that Lord appears to have been unable to change anything in the end.
Indeed... this outcome was hardly unexpected, given that our opponent is Yhwach, the progenitor of the Quincy.
Even if Satoru possessed heaven-defying abilities capable of defeating Yhwach, he still couldn't possibly stop the Auswählen.
After all, all Quincy are essentially Yhwach's subjects, his descendants.
As the Quincy King, Yhwach could take whatever he wanted from any Quincy.
He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, preparing to persuade his son to give up.
But just then, a golden ring of light swept through the room.
Under the astonished gazes of the Ishida father and son, the light enveloped Katagiri Kanae.
The pained expression on her face gradually eased.
"What is this?"
Sōken Ishida was momentarily stunned.
He reached out, trying to sense the source of the light.
The moment he touched the light, an image surfaced in his mind.
Though the figure was shrouded in light, revealing only a shadow-like silhouette, he instantly recognized the identity.
"Satoru!"
Sōken Ishida exclaimed in surprise.
Meanwhile, Ryūken Ishida shared the same perception.
After a brief moment of shock, a relieved smile appeared on his face.
Placing one hand over his chest, he knelt on one knee toward the light.
"Lord Mikami... please save us..."
By the riverside in Karakura Town, light swirled in Satoru's eyes.
Isshin and Ichigo could only sense some mysterious power operating within him, unable to perceive its true nature.
But Aizen could clearly feel that Satoru had now ascended to a completely new form.
Though he stood alone, countless "roots" had extended from his body, reaching into countless worlds and infinite possibilities.
Based on the Priest's analysis and his own test results, Aizen deduced the essence of Satoru's mental simulation ability.
Long before transcending, Satoru had already touched the threshold of rules through his extraordinary talent.
The subjects of his mental simulations would draw upon possibility factors from various parallel worlds, manifesting in Satoru's spiritual realm.
These simulated entities were actually manifestations of his opponents from different parallel universes.
This was precisely why, no matter how his opponents altered their combat styles or innovated in real-time after becoming aware of his ability, they could never surpass Satoru's predictions.
Because all these variations had already been attempted by their counterparts in parallel worlds.
As Aizen entered the third stage of the Hōgyoku, Satoru's rule ability finally fully awakened.
At this moment, he was observing all parallel worlds, searching for the path to victory among them.
Soon, Satoru found his target.
Among the infinite parallel worlds, there existed some where Kurosaki Masaki hadn't been affected by the "Auswählen."
These versions of Kurosaki Masaki all existed in worldlines where she never encountered Hollow White and wasn't attacked by Hollows.
It appeared that Yhwach's criterion for conducting Auswählen was "whether one had been contaminated by Hollows."
No... if that were the criterion, there would be no reason for Katagiri Kanae to be affected by Auswählen as well.
After some thought, he reached a rather surprising conclusion.
Yhwach's Auswählen was likely based on "pure-blooded versus mixed-blood."
Katagiri Kanae was undoubtedly a mixed-blood Quincy.
Although Kurosaki Masaki was pure-blooded, having been contaminated by Hollow power, she had in a sense become mixed-blood as well.
As for Ichigo, although he was a hybrid, he was so mixed that he had become similar to himself, approaching the essence of the Soul King, making him immune to Yhwach's Auswählen.
The more he thought about it, the more this conjecture seemed to align with reality.
For a moment, Satoru couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust.
If not for having read works like Harry Potter and realizing the Western obsession with blood purity, he might never have considered such a possibility.
As the progenitor of the Quincies, shouldn't he treat all his people equally?
At the very least, distinctions should be based on ability and character.
What kind of reasoning was it to judge based on pureblood or hybrid status?
Such a despicable existence was no wonder he sought to invade the Soul Society.
With these emotions swirling within him, a brilliant light flashed in Satoru's eyes.
With the support of the third-stage Hōgyoku evolution, he activated his ability, extracting the possibility that "hybrid Quincies were not stripped of their powers" from parallel universes.
Then, he transformed this possibility into reality, overwriting it onto the hybrid Quincies of this world.
Under the watchful eyes of the Shiba father and son, spiritual energy fluctuations gradually returned to Kurosaki Masaki.
In just a few seconds, Kurosaki Masaki went from being powerless and on the verge of death from weakness to recovering her peak condition!
Kurosaki Masaki slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing the two Shinigami men, one tall and one short, beside her, she was initially surprised.
Then, she smiled.
"I'm back."
The two Shinigami rushed toward her together:
"Welcome back... Mom (Honey)!!!"
The same scene unfolded at the Ishida residence.
Throughout Karakura Town, cries of joy and relief echoed from Quincy households.
Satoru curled the corner of his lips upward.
Then, he raised his head and looked at the powers that Yhwach had stolen.
These powers were flying into the sky, about to vanish into the void.
Satoru narrowed his eyes.
The power of our Quincy clan in the Living World isn't so easily consumed!
He stretched out his hand and made a grasping motion toward the nearly vanished powers in the sky.
Streaks of gray spiritual energy materialized out of thin air, merging into the light of the Auswählen before disappearing along with it.
"Yhwach, taste the gift I've prepared for you."
"Keh keh keh..."
Amid Satoru's cheerful laughter, Aizen slowly descended beside him.
Having accomplished his mission objectives, he halted the Hōgyoku's evolution.
The Hōgyoku responded perfectly to Aizen's command, stopping the evolution process.
Even so, having broken through three stages of the Hōgyoku's evolution in succession, Aizen felt uncomfortable with his body.
He looked at Satoru and extended his hand.
Understanding the gesture, Satoru opened the Shadow Space and pulled out a large roll of black, bandage-like material.
Aizen took it and unfurled it with a swift motion.
The black bandages moved as if guided by an unseen wind, swirling around his body before tightly binding him from head to toe, wrapping him up like a large zongzi.
Only his hair and facial features remained exposed.
Once bound by the bandages, Aizen let out a sigh of relief.
He raised his hand, flexed his fingers wrapped in the black bandages, clenched his fist, and nodded in satisfaction.
This was special equipment he had commissioned from Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi before coming here.
It served as a powerful restraint, halting spiritual energy activity within the body and preventing uncontrollable situations caused by overly active Reishi.
If it were an ordinary captain bound by this thing, they'd probably be lying on the ground completely immobilized.
But for Aizen, the bandages only served as a slight restraint, not hindering his movements in the slightest, nor even affecting ordinary combat.
Looking at Aizen wrapped head to toe in bandages, Satoru grinned and said:
"Sōsuke's limited edition battle-damaged skin is quite rare. I should take a photo to commemorate it."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, aiming at Aizen.
Aizen was somewhat puzzled.
This guy didn't even bring a camera—how was he going to take a photo?
The next moment, under Aizen's what-the-hell-is-Komamura-watching gaze, Satoru actually manipulated the Reishi in the air to materialize a photograph out of thin air.
Since it was completely generated from visual effects, the result was even more realistic than machine-produced photos.
This guy... couldn't he use his abilities for more serious purposes??
Blood pressure rising.
"Big bro! Master!"
Isshin grinned widely as he ran over to greet the two.
He was carrying Kurosaki Masaki on his back. Although she insisted she had recovered and didn't need to be carried, Isshin stubbornly persisted.
Ichigo, wearing his Shinigami uniform, followed alongside.
Looking at his father clad in Shinigami attire with a Zanpakutō at his waist, Ichigo felt momentarily confused.
After all this time, it turned out his old man was actually a Shinigami?
His origins were really something else.
His mother was a powerful Quincy, his father a Shinigami...
What kind of combination was that?
Looking at Shiba Isshin, Aizen asked:
"Seeing your son like this—don't you have any particular thoughts?"
"Huh?"
Isshin turned his head to look at Ichigo standing nearby.
Ichigo subconsciously tensed up, bracing himself.
Isshin turned back and laughed heartily:
"Nothing to be surprised about. I'd already noticed this kid became a Shinigami... with his clumsy attempts at hiding it, who could he possibly fool?"
"Originally, I wanted to investigate who was behind it, but that happened to be when you, Master, were visiting the Living World."
"If there was anything wrong with this kid sneaking out in his Shinigami form right under your watchful eye, Master, you would have definitely stopped him."
"Since Master didn't react, it meant everything was fine, so I didn't bother pursuing it."
"Looking at it now, it was indeed Mikami-aniki playing with Ichigo."
Hearing this, Aizen let out a light laugh, a satisfied gleam in his eyes.
Truly a disciple he had trained himself—far more reliable than that certain irresponsible fellow.
As for Ichigo, hearing his father's words, he completely lost his composure.
So his old man had known all along that he'd become a Shinigami...
Masaki Kurosaki was a bit angry as she reached out and tugged on Isshin's ear.
"Dar~ling, how come you've never mentioned any of this to me~?"
"Oww, I just never found the right opportunity... No, no, wife, I was wrong, aaaahhh!!!"
Amid Shiba Isshin's screams, Ichigo scratched his head.
For him, the amount of information today was simply overwhelming.
Fortunately, the final outcome was good.
His mother was safe and sound, and the Hollows that had invaded Karakura Town hadn't caused any major trouble.
Thinking of this, he suddenly froze:
"Wait... Dad, Mr. Mikami, just now many Hollows descended upon various parts of Karakura Town. A humanoid Hollow suddenly appeared and told me to protect my mother, saying he would handle the situation... Do you know who that was?"
As he asked this, he looked toward Satoru.
Because that pale-skinned Hollow had mentioned the term "Lord Mikami."
But before Satoru could answer, Shiba Isshin grinned first:
"That's Ulquiorra, he also works under Mikami-aniki... Although he's a Menos Grande, he's one of us."
"Back in the day, your old man here was almost beaten to death by Mikami-aniki, and it was Ulquiorra who saved my life."
"So in terms of this relationship, calling him uncle wouldn't be inappropriate at all."
Ichigo tilted his head in confusion.
Shinigami and Hollows were supposed to be enemies, right?
How come his father had connections with Hollows?
This was too confusing, way too confusing.
The next day, Ichigo woke up very early.
After confirming that his mother was truly fine, he contentedly left for school.
At noon, Uryū Ishida arrived right on time.
While eating together, Uryū frowned and said:
"Something strange happened at my house yesterday."
"My mother suddenly fell critically ill yesterday morning. Neither my father nor my grandfather could do anything about it, and from their expressions at the time, they had almost given up hope."
"But then a beam of light suddenly appeared and saved my mother."
"I tried to sense that light and found it contained no Reiatsu component at all. It's really strange..."
"Could it be that miracles truly exist in this world?"
Hearing this, Ichigo chuckled, puffed out his chest, and showed a proud expression:
"Idiot, that wasn't any miracle. It was my master who saved your mother."
"Huh?"
Uryū looked at him as if he were a fool.
"Although I don't know who your master is... if even my grandfather couldn't solve the problem, how could your master possibly manage it?"
"Bastard, how dare you insult my master?"
"Bastard, how dare you insult my grandfather?"
The two put down their lunch boxes and began passionately wrestling.
...
…
Meanwhile, things weren't going so well for Satoru.
Seireitei, First Division barracks.
"You damn fool!!!!"
Yamamoto's loud voice, after a long absence, shook the entire barracks.
Sasakibe, walking through the corridor, looked up.
Dust was falling from the ceiling.
He'd need to schedule a major cleaning soon...
In the study, Yamamoto glared angrily at his foolish disciple.
From the communication received from the Zero Division, he knew that Satoru had returned long ago.
At first, he had waited here for his disciple to return, report on his work, and give him a shoulder rub and leg massage.
But this wait continued endlessly.
At one point, he even suspected that this foolish disciple might have been detained by the Zero Division, almost going up to demand his return.
Before setting out, Aizen had heard the news and came to inform him of Satoru's whereabouts, thus preventing an unnecessary conflict.
Now, as he looked at Satoru standing innocently in the room, Yamamoto's only desire was to use his charred blade to mercilessly turn this troublesome disciple into barbecue.
Extra cumin included.
After Satoru's professional apology, the old man's attitude finally softened slightly.
Under Yamamoto's displeased gaze, Satoru recounted everything that had happened over the years in detail.
When Yamamoto heard that Satoru could now confront the Priest head-on, he couldn't help but open his eyes wide in astonishment.
Then, upon learning that both Satoru and Aizen had somehow broken through their limits again, becoming existences that surpassed all living beings, the old man's eyes widened even further.
He glanced at Aizen standing beside Satoru, completely wrapped in black bandages like some sealed object, and showed a subtle expression.
Finally, when he heard about Satoru's newly acquired power, Yamamoto felt as if he were dreaming.
The ability to browse countless parallel worlds, find even the most minuscule and nearly impossible possibilities, extract them, and overwrite reality...
Just hearing about it sounded utterly unbelievable.
These flashy abilities seemed like they belonged to a completely different world compared to his own cultivation method of breaking ten thousand techniques with a single sword.
For a brief moment, Yamamoto suddenly thought about trying to fuse with Hollow power himself.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
No... if he did that, could he still call himself a Shinigami?
Thinking this, he curled the corner of his mouth upward.
How fortunate.
If not for this kid, he'd probably be supporting this crumbling institution all by himself now.
Facing Yhwach's unprecedented storm of terror, how long he could hold out would be a big question mark.
With Satoru here, he could finally breathe easier.
Unconsciously, that clumsy boy who used to swing his sword beside him had already grown to the point where Yamamoto had to watch his back...
Yamamoto Shigekuni, you've grown old...
He felt somewhat sentimental, but more than that, he felt relieved and joyful.
Yhwach would be the final battle where he could help this kid.
After this, whether he died in battle or miraculously survived, he could hand over the Gotei 13 to this troublesome brat.
Hmm... what kind of expression would the kid make then?
The thought brought Yamamoto some pleasure.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he said to Satoru:
"Kid, with your power having improved so much, your control over the shadow world must be much stronger than before, right?"
"Can't you just pull Yhwach out from the Shadow Space directly now?"
"With you, Vice-Captain Aizen, and myself - the three of us together - no matter how strong Yhwach is, he stands no chance of victory!"
Satoru shook his head:
"I thought of that right after returning from the Living World."
"The conclusion is, it's not possible."
"With the completion of Auswählen, Yhwach has fully awakened and recovered most of his power."
"Under his enhancement, Wandenreich's defensive barrier is no longer just a static object."
"Now, we can only wait for Yhwach to reveal himself. It's absolutely impossible for anyone else to find him."
Hearing this, Yamamoto clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"Nine hundred years to regain a heartbeat, ninety years to regain consciousness, nine years to regain power."
"Counting from the moment of his death..."
"The final battle will be in eight years!"
"Boy, order all divisions to begin intensified training against Quincy invasions starting today!"
"The Mikami Technical Bureau and Twelfth Division must expedite the renovation work throughout Seireitei!"
"We cannot rely solely on the Soul Shroud... The Quincy excel at controlling Reishi, and we cannot predict how they might invade. We must be fully prepared!"
"Additionally, although the battle time has been predicted, we cannot completely trust a single inherited poem. We must prepare for the possibility that the Wandenreich might invade earlier!"
"All Reishi detection devices must remain operational around the clock. We cannot afford to overlook any possibility!"
As Yamamoto issued decree after decree, the entire Seireitei became bustling with activity for the first time in a long while.
Just as Satoru and Aizen were about to leave, Yamamoto called out:
"Wait."
"Vice-Captain Aizen, you've previously declined captain positions citing insufficient ability."
"Now that you've become an existence surpassing Shinigami, just like this boy... I trust you won't give that same answer anymore?"
Sensing the pressure emanating from Yamamoto, a trace of resignation flashed in Aizen's eyes.
He looked at Yamamoto and slowly responded:
"If the Captain-Commander requires it, I shall naturally follow orders."
"Hmm."
Yamamoto nodded with satisfaction.
"There's no rush for now... After the matter with Yhwach is concluded, I will assign you a suitable position."
Upon hearing this, Aizen pondered for a moment.
Then, curling the corner of his mouth without saying anything further, he nodded and departed.
Walking back along the road, Satoru looked at Aizen:
"The old man is quite strange. He says he'll assign you a position but doesn't do it immediately... Talking about something that'll happen after the Yhwach situation is resolved - that's so far away, why mention it now?"
Aizen glanced at him with a somewhat sentimental expression.
"Don't worry, you'll understand when the time comes."
...
...
Satoru's return to Seireitei caused quite a stir.
First, the entire Eleventh Division was in uproar.
From top to bottom, the whole Eleventh Division erupted in cheers.
While not violating the alert orders issued by Yamamoto, the entire division began preparing a banquet.
Fine liquor, quality meat, and bands were all carried into the Eleventh Division.
Satoru's exclusive fur-covered throne was already prepared, placed right in the center of the courtyard.
The squad members were arranged in several long rows below, reminiscent of Hogwarts' Great Hall, with tables laden with abundant food.
Not only members of the Eleventh Division, but familiar faces from other divisions had also come to join the festivities.
Yoruichi Shihōin from the Second Division.
Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi from the Third Division.
Retsu Unohana from the Fourth Division.
Ichimaru Gin from the Seventh Division.
Shunsui Kyōraku from the Eighth Division.
Kuchiki Byakuya from the Ninth Division.
Komamura Sajin from the Tenth Division.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi from the Twelfth Division.
Jūshirō Ukitake from the Thirteenth Division.
As for Fifth Division Captain Shinji Hirako, it was said he had been attacked by a Hollow the previous day and was currently bedridden, thus unable to attend.
Satoru glanced at Aizen and, seeing the latter's faint smile, immediately guessed the identity of the Hollow that had attacked Hirako.
Sitting on his fur throne, looking at the hall filled with friends and comrades, Satoru couldn't help but feel emotional.
Two hundred years ago, he was just an ordinary student at Shin'ō Academy.
Back then, his greatest ambition was simply to become an ordinary Shinigami, preferably a seated officer, so he could live a carefree, parasitic life.
Before he knew it, everything had changed.
The people around him, the position he now held, and most of all, the responsibilities he carried.
No matter what, he would definitely protect this peaceful daily life.
No matter the cost, he would definitely defeat Yhwach.
The Thousand-Year Blood War... would become, at his hands, a brutal slaughter from which the Quincy race would never return!