In the world of Shinigami, names are treated with great care.
It is said that a name contains all power.
The monk of the Zero Division possesses the ability to sever names, and losing one's name means losing one's power.
Therefore, names that appear in one's mind are of great importance.
Generally, the names of the Espada in Hueco Mundo are in Spanish, leading many to believe that Hueco Mundo corresponds to the real-world region of Spain.
However, Angra Mainyu is clearly not a Spanish name but rather the name of the dark chief god in Persian mythology.
Of course, he also has a more famous alias: the source of all evil and darkness, or "All the World's Evil."
This name...
It's quite fitting, isn't it?
Hmm, my Zanpakutō's true form is the "Lonely Hell," and my Hollow essence is "All the World's Evil." It seems like I'm destined to be a major villain.
Well, whatever. Since I'm already mixed up with Aizen, it's hard not to be a villain.
The split in my spiritual body hasn't affected my spiritual power, which is why Angra Mainyu is currently very weak.
So, Haruki opened a Garganta and sent Angra Mainyu to the human world to develop. Once he grows a bit stronger, he'll head to Hueco Mundo.
Having the perspectives of two individuals in his mind was a bit inconvenient at first, but Haruki quickly adapted.
After all, they are both still himself...
After dealing with Angra Mainyu's affairs, Haruki deactivated the Gatekeeper's ability and lay down on his bed.
With such events happening in the Seireitei, Haruki wasn't sure how the Seireitei would handle it.
Previously, he hadn't paid much attention, but now he found himself thinking about it.
Because he needed to figure out how to benefit from this situation!
He had split off the Hollow essence, but it was still too weak to be of much use.
Haruki needed Angra Mainyu to grow into a Vasto Lorde within the next forty years, which seemed almost impossible.
The evolution of Hollows is different from that of Shinigami. Shinigami can potentially leap several ranks in a short time if they have enough talent. It's not impossible to become a vice-captain in a few years and a captain in another decade or so.
But Hollows are predatory creatures. Their strength comes from devouring other souls, whether they be Shinigami, humans, or other Hollows...
By absorbing the souls of others, they accumulate spiritual power and undergo physical transformations.
From a common Hollow, they evolve into the massive Gillian.
By devouring other Gillian, they increase their spiritual energy while compressing it to improve its quality, eventually evolving into Adjuchas.
Typically, a Gillian is formed by the fusion of tens of thousands, or even millions, of Hollows. The powerful Vasto Lorde Arrancar are monstrous beings that have condensed hundreds of millions of souls within them.
Generally, devouring so many souls not only results in a massive increase in spiritual power but also subjects the Hollow to a flood of memories.
Thus, a Menos Grande is no longer its original self.
Perhaps one of the tens of thousands of souls becomes dominant, or a new consciousness emerges from the mixture of countless souls.
Therefore, Haruki had to be careful in this regard.
He planned to create a memory storage device that would allow Angra Mainyu to absorb only the spiritual power of others while filtering out their memories and emotions.
This wasn't impossible; it could be achieved by reverse-engineering the Negación threads.
The Negación threads have the ability to extract information from things, including memories, emotions, and thoughts. Haruki could use this feature to filter out the memories, emotions, and thoughts of others.
This would be the first step in his journey as a scientist. Once he returned to Hueco Mundo, he would begin his research.
In addition, he was thinking of other ways to exploit the situation.
For example, the recent "Imaginary Body" incident...
Each Imaginary Body was created by amplifying the "thoughts" of the captains from their past...
He had specifically instructed Rōka to extract the "thoughts" of Tōsen Kaname's past hatred toward the Tsunayashiro family. This meant that the Imaginary Body of Tōsen Kaname would likely target the Tsunayashiro family.
And... it probably wouldn't be just Tōsen Kaname...
There were many within the Gotei 13 who held grievances against the Tsunayashiro family.
He wondered if he could take advantage of this to steal some valuable items from the Tsunayashiro family.
As the head of the Five Great Noble Families, the Tsunayashiro family had many treasures, especially fragments of the Soul King...
If he could obtain a large number of Soul King fragments, Angra Mainyu, as a Hollow, would undoubtedly level up quickly.
Haruki was already planning his next moves.
He thought about it until dawn.
Soon after, a Hell Butterfly floated into Haruki's room.
Haruki opened his eyes, put on his Shinigami uniform, fastened his vice-captain's badge, and hurried to the First Division.
Following protocol, he entered the Second Side Chamber, only to find that he was the second to arrive.
The earliest was actually Ōmaeda!
Ōmaeda seemed a bit drowsy, and Haruki caught him yawning as he entered.
"Haruki, you're here early," Ōmaeda said, looking listless.
"What's wrong? Did you not sleep?" Haruki naturally sat down next to Ōmaeda.
Ōmaeda's soul ability was so overpowered that Haruki had been working to gain his favor.
However, since they worked in different divisions, they didn't see each other often.
Theoretically, they only met during these gatherings, but Haruki had found a workaround by leveraging his fame as a renowned writer in the Seireitei to collaborate with Ōmaeda's family business.
The Ōmaeda family ran "Ōmaeda Jewelry," the largest jewelry company in the Soul Society. The vice-captain of the Second Division, Ōmaeda Marechiyo, was also the general manager of the precious metals department. Although most Gotei members couldn't afford their products, it didn't stop the company from being well-known.
The collaboration involved Haruki endorsing their jewelry and promoting it in his novels.
Haruki agreed and even earned a decent sum from it.
This partnership allowed Haruki to interact more with Ōmaeda.
What started as a casual hobby of writing novels had now become a medium for making connections, which he found quite satisfying.
Ōmaeda Marechiyo said, "Don't even ask. Last night, Captain Soifon woke me up and had me patrol the Seireitei all night!"
"That's rough," Haruki comforted him, then asked, "So, what exactly happened? I received an emergency summons, but I don't know the details."
Ōmaeda shook his head and said, "From what I heard, Captain Kyōraku was attacked. Beyond that, I don't know much."
"Captain Kyōraku was attacked?!" Matsumoto Rangiku walked over, looking surprised. "No way, who would dare attack Captain Kyōraku?"
"With attacks happening in the Seireitei, who cares if you're a captain?" Haruki sighed. "Things are going to get chaotic."
"No matter how you look at it, it's still unbelievable," Rangiku said, shocked. "When was he attacked?"
"Probably around ten last night," Ōmaeda said.
"Ten?" Rangiku and Haruki exchanged glances. "Wasn't that around the time we were heading back after drinking?"
"Yeah," Haruki nodded. "Did you sense any spiritual pressure?"
"How could I?" Rangiku said. "If I had, I would've gone to check it out!"
"Same here. I had a bit too much to drink and was still a bit groggy," Haruki said. "But it seems Captain Kyōraku is fine, which is good."
The room fell silent for a moment, and soon more vice-captains arrived.
Including Ise Nanao, Kyōraku's vice-captain.
By now, the vice-captains had learned about what happened last night, so when they saw Nanao, Rangiku asked, "Nanao, is Captain Kyōraku okay?"
"He's fine," Nanao said calmly. "But last night, not only was Captain Kyōraku attacked, but several nobles were also attacked by unknown enemies."
"What?" The vice-captains looked surprised, especially Ōmaeda, who couldn't help but say, "Huh? The nobles were attacked too? I had no idea."
Given his status as a noble and his position in the Onmitsukidō, he should have known about this.
But no one found it strange, as Ōmaeda was notoriously unreliable, and Captain Soifon sometimes forgot to inform him of important matters.
"With this, the Seireitei will probably go into a state of emergency, right?" Haruki said seriously.
A captain being attacked, and nobles as well—this matter would undoubtedly be thoroughly investigated.
That's why they had been summoned for an early morning meeting.
After a while, the captains emerged from the meeting room.
Captain-Commander Yamamoto had issued a special wartime order.
"First, all high-ranking officers, including vice-captains, are permitted to carry their Zanpakutō at all times within the Seireitei."
"Second, they are permitted to fully release their Zanpakutō during wartime."
The Shinigami who had arrived announced the orders from Captain-Commander Yamamoto, and the vice-captains, including Haruki, looked grave.
As expected, a special wartime order had been issued...
"Captain Kyōraku, I didn't expect you to be attacked so soon after we parted last night," Haruki said as he left the side chamber and saw Kyōraku and the other captains walking out.
He knew this Kyōraku was an "Imaginary Body," but he still approached him.
Kyōraku, however, didn't seem tense at all and said casually, "It's fine. I can handle it."
"But..."
Aizen, who was standing beside Kyōraku, spoke with a serious expression, "The enemy dared to directly assassinate a captain and was able to escape quickly after failing. This shows that they possess considerable strength."
"While it may not be a significant threat to a captain, if they target lower-ranking Shinigami, it could be disastrous."
So convincing!
Haruki felt he still had much to learn from Aizen's acting skills. From Aizen's words, Haruki could sense a deep concern for the Soul Society. Tsk, this is what a true veteran actor is like!
Even a seasoned director would be impressed!
"Captain Aizen is right," Captain Unohana, who was also nearby, said after hearing their conversation. "Last night, several nobles with spiritual power at the level of seated officers were killed with a single strike. The depth of the blade's force suggests that even well-trained high-ranking officers would struggle to withstand it."
"That's..." Haruki looked shocked. "I heard about the nobles being attacked, but I didn't expect them to be killed in one hit. Isn't that a bit too much?"
"In other words..." Nanao said nervously, "Even we could be instantly killed by them?"
"Most likely, yes," Unohana replied softly.
"Don't worry," Kyōraku said. "Nanao, you can stay in the squad quarters. We'll handle this."
"How can I?!" Nanao immediately protested. "I'm the vice-captain of the Eighth Division. I can't let you fight alone!"
Aizen nodded and said, "Both Kyōraku and Nanao have valid points. While we must be cautious of the enemy, we can't let them make us too timid. Otherwise, the thousands of Gotei members will live in constant fear, and our enemies will laugh at us."
"So, what's the plan the captains have come up with?" Nanao asked.
With the captains and vice-captains gathering at the First Division so early in the morning, they must have some preliminary countermeasures.
Unohana raised her head slightly and said in a calm voice, "We reviewed the surveillance footage from the areas where the incidents occurred, including where Captain Kyōraku was attacked. However, the surveillance in those areas was completely destroyed at the time of the incidents, indicating that the enemy is very familiar with us."
"According to Kyōraku, the enemy wore a Hollow mask. After discussion among the captains, we have preliminarily identified the enemy as Urahara Kisuke, who betrayed the Seireitei decades ago and orchestrated the 'Hollowfication Incident.'"
With such intimate knowledge of the Seireitei's surveillance network and the ability to easily hack into it, combined with the Hollow mask, it seemed only natural to conclude that the enemy was Urahara Kisuke.
"So..."
Aizen spoke in a somewhat enigmatic tone, "Based on the decision of the Central 46 and the Captain-Commander, we have decided to launch a punitive expedition against Urahara Kisuke, the greatest traitor of the Soul Society."
"Before he can cause greater harm to the Seireitei, we will eliminate him and nip his schemes in the bud!"
"It's a bit of a shame, though..." Kyōraku said with a regretful expression. "This matter also involves the princess of the Shihōin family. I wonder how the Shihōin family will handle this."
"The affairs of the great noble families are not for us to worry about."
Aizen said softly, "What we must do is capture and execute Urahara Kisuke..."