Bleach: Teaching Makes Me Stronger-Chapter 388: Aftermath

When Nanatsuki shifted his focus back to his true body, Auswählen had already ended.

The Quincy of the Wandenreich had been almost completely purged by Yhwach’s own hand.

"’Did the Soul King foresee Yhwach’s Auswählen...?’"

Nanatsuki recalled Kurosaki Mei’s sudden, unexplained premature labor.

What had happened now made it impossible to ignore the suspicion—that early birth may have been the Soul King’s doing.

If Mei hadn’t gone into labor early, Nanatsuki wouldn’t have redirected his attention here in time.

Kurosaki Mei’s premature delivery may have been the Soul King’s way of warning him—so that he could protect the newborn Kurosaki Shin.

"Shishō!"

Flash Goddess Yoruichi, Shiba Isshin, and Yadōmaru Lisa gathered around Nanatsuki.

Yoruichi and Lisa had only suffered minor injuries. Isshin, however, had been badly wounded while restraining "God’s Judgment" Lille Barro, though his condition had been temporarily stabilized with medication.

None of the other captains had fallen.

Thanks to Nanatsuki exposing nearly all Quincy intelligence, the Shinigami had secured an overwhelming advantage—even after their reinforcements were cut off.

"The Quincy were killed by pillars of light fired from Silbern!" Yoruichi said grimly.

"...Yhwach has awakened. Those pillars were him reclaiming power through Auswählen."

Nanatsuki extended his senses toward Silbern.

"Why is there Hell’s aura in Silbern?"

"And why is Mayuri Kurotsuchi there?!"

He suddenly detected additional spiritual pressure signatures in Silbern—beyond Yhwach and Haschwalth.

Mayuri’s Reiatsu flickered and vanished, as if he’d suffered catastrophic damage.

Moments later, the Shinigami captains arrived at Silbern.

Inside the royal chamber, the throne stood empty.

Two bodies lay on the path before it.

One was Haschwalth—lifeless.

The other was Mayuri.

"Vice-Captain Mayuri!"

Everyone froze when they saw his condition.

Only half his body remained.

"That... and he’s still alive?" Kyōraku Shunsui muttered in disbelief.

Despite losing half his body, Mayuri hadn’t died.

"Cough—! Pick up my Zanpakutō—now!"

Only broken stumps remained where his arms should have been. He couldn’t even grip his own sword.

The Quincy King’s power far exceeded his expectations. A single casual strike had reduced him to this state.

"Your Zanpakutō—what do you want me to do?" Isshin asked, retrieving the blade that had fallen nearby.

"Stab it into my throat."

"...What?"

"Now!"

Seeing no trace of humor in Mayuri’s expression, Isshin complied.

The moment the blade pierced his body, Ashisogi Jizō injected a substance directly into Mayuri’s arteries.

In the next instant, his body melted into a mass of viscous sludge.

It was his emergency contingency plan.

By liquefying his body, he could halt further deterioration for an extended period—long enough to return to the Ōtsuka Workshop and treat himself properly.

The sludge-like Mayuri writhed across the floor like a living ooze.

"Can you still talk in that state?" Nanatsuki asked.

"Naturally."

His voice was muffled, distorted—like sound traveling through water.

"How long can you maintain this form? Do you need immediate treatment?"

"Treatment can wait. As long as I receive nutrient solution, I can sustain this state for quite some time. Let me address your questions first."

Mayuri knew everyone was desperate for answers.

"I encountered Yhwach here... and Miyamoto Tetsuya."

"Miyamoto Tetsuya?!"

"Wasn’t he already dead?!"

Everyone remembered that name—tied to the Reishi Shell incident years ago.

"He returned from Hell."

"He claimed to be an emissary of Hell. He gave Yhwach a small bead saturated with Hell’s aura—and Yhwach followed him into Hell."

Mayuri hadn’t dared act recklessly after realizing Yhwach was already awake. What he hadn’t expected was the reappearance of someone who should’ve been dead.

"So he fled to Hell..." Yamamoto snorted coldly.

Had reinforcements not been cut off and manpower stretched thin at the Solar Gate battlefield, he would’ve personally gone to Silbern to cut Yhwach down.

"That means the Quincy King has allied with Hell," Kyōraku said, frowning.

Hell was a mystery even to Shinigami—but decades ago, its denizens had already caused chaos in the Soul Society. An alliance with Yhwach was nothing but bad news.

"How many pupils did Yhwach have?" Nanatsuki asked.

He needed to know how far Yhwach’s power had recovered.

"Pupils... right. After speaking with Miyamoto Tetsuya, both of Yhwach’s eyes split into dual pupils."

"Dual pupils... He’s activated The Almighty."

Nanatsuki’s expression darkened.

With The Almighty awakened, Yhwach was unquestionably the strongest Quincy.

Yet instead of fighting, he fled.

Which meant he had foreseen a future where staying here spelled disaster.

And rightly so.

If Nanatsuki and Yamamoto joined forces, even The Almighty would struggle to prevail.

Especially since Yhwach had not yet absorbed the Soul King—The Almighty’s power was still limited.

"So that was The Almighty... No wonder he saw through my invisibility."

Mayuri finally understood his failure.

He could conceal his body.

He could suppress his Reiatsu.

But he couldn’t hide his future.

Yhwach had simply seen the future in which Mayuri appeared here.

"The Almighty is troublesome. The Tenshihō Banshōban will need to upgrade its surveillance systems. We must prepare contingency plans for Hell’s forces and Yhwach entering the Soul Society."

Nanatsuki was certain—Yhwach had seen the future where he and Yamamoto fought together, and chose to retreat into Hell instead.

What would happen after Yhwach came into contact with Hell’s ruler was unknown.

Perhaps the next time he emerged, he would already possess the means to counter their combined strength.

Which meant one thing—

Nanatsuki still had to grow stronger.

He produced a container and carefully collected the sludge-like Mayuri inside.

The others began clearing the battlefield, while the Tenshihō Banshōban engineers started rebuilding the Solar Gate.

Several days later, the Shinigami transported the Wandenreich treasury back to the Soul Society.

The Wandenreich had inherited the foundations of the Kingdom of Light—its riches were immense.

And the Ōtsuka Workshop gained no small number of advanced Reishi technologies as a result.