With the help of the "local native," Ashido, Tsunayoshi's group smoothly captured two Menos Grande and returned to the relatively safe edge of the Menos Forest.
Inside the Menos Forest, Ashido was far more useful than Grimmjow, their so-called "guide." On top of that, Ashido already had no friendly feelings toward Adjuchas, which left Grimmjow silent from beginning to end.
After returning to the edge of the Menos Forest, Tsunayoshi immediately switched into his Earth Flames form. With a punch carrying intense gravitational pressure, he crushed one of the Menos Grande into dust.
After throwing the punch, Tsunayoshi did not simply wait in place. Instead, he condensed a tiny black hole at his fingertip. Under the black hole's effect, one could clearly sense the Reishi formed from the Menos Grande gathering around it.
Kisuke Urahara stood nearby, tapping away at the portable instruments he had brought with him, while Mayuri Kurotsuchi stood behind him and observed.
Annoyed with Urahara or not, Mayuri was still very interested in his research. After observing for a short while, he realized the purpose of Urahara's experiment this time.
"You are collecting Reishi?" Mayuri asked Tsunayoshi.
"More precisely, we are collecting Reishi shattered by Quincy power," Tsunayoshi corrected him.
"What does that mean?" Ichigo asked, carrying a curious Nel on his back.
"There is a fundamental difference between how Shinigami and Quincy eliminate their enemies. It is precisely because of that difference that Shinigami have always rejected the Quincy's practice of destroying Hollows."
Unexpectedly, Mayuri seemed to be in a good mood and actually took the initiative to explain.
"What kind of difference?" Ichigo could not quite understand once the topic involved deeper theory.
"You mean the soul cycle theory?" Uryū asked curiously. When studying Sōken's notes, he had also seen records stating that Soul Society had once waged war against the Quincy in the World of the Living for precisely that reason.
"Correct. Under normal circumstances, when Shinigami fight Hollows, they purify them. Hollows slain by Shinigami power have their souls returned to the normal cycle of the Three Worlds, thereby maintaining the balance of souls across each world."
"But Quincy are different. You are more inclined to destroy Hollows. Hollows destroyed by Quincy cannot enter the normal cycle of souls at all, which leads to an imbalance of souls between worlds."
"If the numbers are small, it is not much of a problem. But if Quincy destroy Hollows in large numbers, it will inevitably cause the worlds to fall out of balance. What follows is a catastrophe that can bring about the destruction of the worlds."
"That is why Soul Society once purged the Quincy in the World of the Living. It was to maintain the balance of souls across the Three Worlds."
Mayuri stated everything he knew.
"But that explanation does not completely hold up, does it?" Uryū pushed up his glasses and stared at Mayuri. "The Wandenreich."
Hearing Uryū's rebuttal, a rare bitter smile appeared on Mayuri's face.
"Indeed. Based on the intelligence from Sawada Tsunayoshi and Captain-Commander Yamamoto, it has been proven that Shinigami and Quincy fought a great war a thousand years ago."
"As for whether the rhetoric used to justify the war against you Quincy in the World of the Living was adapted for the sake of launching that war, it is hard to say. The Central 46 from back then no longer exists. I suppose only the Captain-Commander would know the truth of that matter."
Given Yamamoto's hostility toward the Quincy, it was not impossible that Central 46 had simply found an excuse to wage war against the Quincy families in the World of the Living once they had grown into a modest force.
Uryū had not personally taken part in the events of the past, so he could not muster much hatred over them. The only hatred he had inherited from Sōken had already been repaid the first time he met Mayuri.
"So the soul cycle theory was fabricated?" Uryū asked.
"No. What it says is true. Hollows killed by Quincy truly do not enter the normal reincarnation cycle of souls," Mayuri said. During his years of researching the Quincy, he had already thoroughly investigated that theory.
Listening to these people openly discuss how Hollows were killed, Nel unconsciously shrank closer against Ichigo's neck.
Sensing Nel's fear, Ichigo simply stopped listening from the side. He carried her a little farther away with Ashido and began chatting with him about interesting stories from Soul Society.
"Hollows destroyed by Quincy do not disappear. They are converted into Reishi," Tsunayoshi explained. That was exactly what he was doing now: collecting the Reishi formed from the destroyed Hollow.
"Because Quincy fight by manipulating Reishi, Hollows destroyed by Quincy likewise become Reishi and accumulate in the area where the battle took place."
"These Reishi, which have already been shattered into fragments, cannot enter the normal cycle of souls at all. That is why the so-called soul imbalance phenomenon occurs."
"Is that so? I have not researched that particular situation," Mayuri said.
"That is normal. Most of the time, Shinigami fight using Reiatsu, so they subconsciously overlook the more microscopic Reishi. On top of that, when you researched Quincy, you mostly looked down on Quincy power. Your arrogance caused you to overlook the more subtle conclusions."
Mayuri's expression turned indescribably sour. His gaze shifted off in another direction. Being criticized by anyone would have been one thing, but the one lecturing him just had to be Kisuke Urahara.
And yet Mayuri had no way to refute him. Back when he researched the Quincy, he had indeed failed to study them thoroughly enough, which was why Uryū had caught him off guard.
Compared to saving face, his curiosity toward the unknown still drove Mayuri to turn his head back toward Urahara.
"So? What are you planning to do with a pile of Reishi?"
"For the purpose of artificially creating a Jūreichi in Hueco Mundo," Tsunayoshi answered.
"A Jūreichi? Isn't the Karakura Town you live in already one? Is its Reiatsu concentration still not enough for you?"
"Aizen's target is up there." Tsunayoshi raised his hand and pointed upward. "To cross the Seireitei and the many barriers above it, armor or battle attire made from the Ōken is indispensable."
"And when creating the Ōken, an enormous amount of Reiatsu is consumed. That is why Aizen's original target was Karakura Town, the place known as a Jūreichi."
"As you know, I cannot possibly allow Aizen to run wild in Karakura Town. But I also want to see how Aizen intends to fight for that throne."
"So I am preparing to give him a little push by artificially creating a Jūreichi here in Hueco Mundo."
"Reiatsu is formed from countless Reishi layered together. And within this vast Menos Forest, whose full size no one even knows, there are countless Menos Grande. From another perspective, this place also possesses a tremendous amount of Reishi."
"By using my Quincy power to forcibly reduce the Menos Grande of the Menos Forest into Reishi, then using the power of my Earth Flames to collect it, and finally having Urahara modify it, this Menos Forest will become a new artificial Jūreichi."
"Hey, hey, don't say something that terrifying in such a calm tone!" Hearing this, Grimmjow could not hold back from retorting.
Although Grimmjow himself did not care whether Hollows he did not know lived or died, those creatures were still technically the same kind as him. The way Tsunayoshi so casually decided their fate made Grimmjow feel an inexplicable chill.
"What are you afraid of? The vast majority in here are mindless Gillians. You Adjuchas treat Gillians as disposable pawns all the time. Don't tell me you actually consider them your own kind?" Tsunayoshi asked in return.
As a higher class of Menos Grande, Adjuchas could summon Gillians to assist them in battle. Normally, these Adjuchas did not see Gillians as their own kind either.
"I don't…"
"Then that settles it. What are you getting worked up about? At worst, I will let you drive all the Adjuchas out of here first when the time comes." Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes at Grimmjow.
"What kind of joke is that?! Why would I care whether they live or die?" Grimmjow was irritated. He was not the type of person who liked meddling in other people's business.
"Exactly. Manager, how is the situation?" Tsunayoshi ignored Grimmjow and continued discussing serious matters with Urahara.
"Hmm. I am currently testing whether I can modify a substance capable of gathering Menos Grande Reishi," Urahara said while tapping on his equipment.
"Kisuke Urahara, have you forgotten what kind of place this is?" Mayuri snapped, stomping twice on the ground. "Aren't these branches the best research material right here?"
The reason the Menos Grande in the Menos Forest gathered here was closely related to the branches beneath their feet. It seemed that these unconscious Menos Grande naturally felt drawn to the Menos Forest.
"Oh, right." Urahara clapped a hand against his head. "Fixed thinking really does cause mistakes. Benihime, come out and help me."
Benihime, dressed in a red kimono, appeared under Urahara's direction and tried to use her modification ability on a sliced-off fragment of branch.
Ironically, what limited Urahara's thinking was his heaven-defying creative ability. Benihime's Bankai could restructure anything, which meant that whenever Urahara solved a problem, he often liked to start with himself first, seeing whether the things at hand could be modified to solve the issue.
Mayuri was also a researcher, but his perspective differed from Urahara's. As an observer, he did not need to devote his attention to processing the data. After hearing Urahara's goal, he immediately thought of making use of the Menos Forest's environment.
After a period of waiting, Urahara's cheer rang out.
"Beautiful. It is complete!"
The object in Benihime's hand no longer looked like a fragment of branch at all. Instead, it looked like a small lump of mud, with dense Reiatsu clinging to it.
The artificial Jūreichi was complete.
Kisuke Urahara carefully placed the small lump of mud into a transparent sealed jar. This was their bargaining chip for negotiations with Aizen.
"This proves that the Reishi converted by Tsunayoshi's power can indeed complete an artificial Jūreichi. Next, we need to test whether the Quincy power of someone other than you can do the same."
Urahara put the jar away and said to Uryū, "Uryū, you go first. You inherited the most orthodox Quincy tradition. If you can do it, then Ichigo should be more or less capable of it as well."
"No problem."
Uryū was just about to condense his Heilig Bogen and destroy the Menos Grande lying there when Urahara hurriedly stopped him.
"Do not use your own power. Use the Quincy's most traditional ability."
"You mean Sprenger? No problem."
Uryū agreed readily. To him, this was a fundamental skill of traditional Quincy. He had already trained it to the point of complete familiarity, and using Sprenger was effortless for him.
Though, naturally, the two unconventional Quincy beside him did not know this traditional technique at all…
Author's Note: Regarding the Quincy portions, some secondary setting material is involved.
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