Chapter 886: Chapter 887: Become the Soul King!
Isshin finally reacted and realized that Aizen had indeed made a move against him, and the wound he suffered was no illusion.
Now that he had been involved in this matter, could he still return to the Soul Society and calmly continue serving as the captain of the Tenth Division? No matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.
"Is the position of Tenth Division captain cursed?"
It took Isshin only a short time to assess his situation. He also figured out what he should do next, disappear like Ethan, Kisuke, and the others, and hide his identity in the Human World.
"And it is not just the position of Tenth Division captain that is cursed."
The captains of the Third Division, Rojuro Otoribashi, the Fifth Division, Shinji Hirako, the Seventh Division, Love Aikawa, the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma, as well as the captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi Shihoin, and the captain of the Twelfth Division, Kisuke, were all hiding in the Human World.
Ever since their Hollowfication stabilized, these people had moved out of Kisuke’s shop. Having so many people living in a small store was too conspicuous. Moreover, they were either captains or lieutenants, with seniority higher than Kisuke’s, so it was uncomfortable for them to stay there for long.
Isshin suddenly fell silent. Seeing the heavy atmosphere, Ishida Ryuken only wanted to take Kurosaki Masaki and leave.
What conspiracy in the Soul Society? That was the business of Soul Reapers and had nothing to do with him as a Quincy. He did not even know these people. He had come only to bring Masaki for treatment. Now that her treatment was complete, it was time to leave.
Just as he was about to speak, Ethan suddenly said something that made him feel especially frustrated.
"Do not think you are not involved. The moment Kurosaki Masaki appeared in that battle, you were already drawn in. You do not have the right to opt out."
"..."
Masaki was still stuffing food into her mouth, looking like a carefree high school student, completely unaware of the danger hidden in Ethan’s words.
"Also, you are a pure-blooded Quincy, right?"
"So what?"
Ryuken was the heir of a pure-blooded Quincy family. The Ishida family had taken Masaki in precisely because they valued her status as a pure-blooded Quincy.
"Just a reminder. This girl’s spiritual power has been affected by a Hollow, so..."
Masaki’s future death was related to the contamination of her bloodline. After Yhwach’s resurrection, he reclaimed the powers of most Quincies, especially the mixed-blood ones. This action led to the successive deaths of many Quincies.
Besides Masaki, the mother of Ishida Uryu, who would later join the protagonist’s group, also died during that period.
There was no need to worry about this now. Ethan mentioning Masaki’s contaminated bloodline was purely out of mischief. Isshin, this is as far as I can help you.
Isshin had already decided to remain in the Human World. After Ethan’s words, Masaki would likely leave the Ishida family. As for whether the two would end up together in the future, Ethan believed the chances were high.
From the beginning, they had feelings for each other. What happened later only accelerated the growth of those feelings.
As for Ryuken, Masaki had truly treated him like a brother all along.
Events unfolded exactly as Ethan expected. After that conversation, Masaki left the Ishida family. No longer considered a pure-blooded Quincy, she naturally lost her status as Ryuken’s fiancée and felt awkward about continuing to rely on the Ishida family.
She moved out to live on her own, working part-time to support herself while continuing her studies. The place she worked was Kisuke’s shop.
Isshin used a special gigai made by Kisuke to completely conceal his spiritual pressure. With Kisuke’s help, he began learning how to integrate into ordinary life in the Human World.
On the surface, that was all. In private, the seemingly ordinary Isshin and Masaki frequently underwent special training. The enemy was powerful and hidden in the shadows. For now, all they could do was hide and grow stronger, waiting for the right opportunity to strike back.
Because they trained together so often, their relationship developed extremely quickly. Ethan’s earlier judgment proved correct. They had long had eyes for each other.
Poor Ryuken. Fortunately, he did not agree to join the training group at Kisuke’s shop. Otherwise, he would have suffered emotional damage every day.
As they became increasingly bold, Isshin even changed his surname to Kurosaki, claiming it was more convenient for hiding his identity.
Ethan naturally had no objections. Only if these two got together would things continue along Aizen’s script. Ethan could continue watching the show while also thinking about the test that had been bothering him slightly.
"Ethan, your strength should already surpass Aizen’s, right?"
Another ordinary day passed. Isshin, now Kurosaki Isshin, had long since moved out of Kisuke’s shop. With Kisuke’s help, he opened a clinic and got together with Masaki.
Before long, Kurosaki Ichigo would be born.
It seemed nothing had changed. Ethan took out White. Without White’s power, Ichigo could still awaken his Quincy and Soul Reaper powers, but Hollow power would not simply appear within him.
Ethan could return White’s power without anyone noticing, ensuring everything matched the original plot and perfectly integrating it into Ichigo’s abilities.
But why would he do that?
As Yoruichi had said, Aizen was no longer an obstacle to him. He did not need to worry about attracting Aizen’s attention or triggering a conflict early.
If Aizen felt dissatisfied and came to the Human World to cause trouble, Ethan would not mind sending this major villain off the stage ahead of time.
He had not made any major moves simply because he had not decided what to do next. For now, he might as well stay on the sidelines, watch quietly, and think about how to resolve that test.
Ethan did not believe anything was absolute. The true focus of that test was not destroying the world, but attacking the world’s origin.
Although attacking and destroying the world’s origin would cause the world to collapse, there was still a difference between the two.
"Still troubled about whether to destroy the world?"
After so many years of sparring with Ethan, especially after Isshin joined them, Yoruichi had gained a clearer understanding of her own strength.
Her current strength had surpassed that of an ordinary captain. From her observations, Isshin was not weak even among captains, yet he could no longer force her to use her full power.
This version of herself seemed qualified to confront Aizen head-on.
Yet even she could not force Ethan to use his full strength. How strong had he become? Would Aizen still pose any threat to him?
However, Ethan never suggested returning to the Soul Society or exposing Aizen’s true nature. Most of the time, he simply trained quietly, watching everyone bustle about like an outsider.
This state made it difficult for her not to recall what Ethan had said back then.
"I am no longer troubled by such meaningless questions."
Even in worlds completely unrelated to him, Ethan had never destroyed them. He was not some God of Destruction, nor did he find pleasure in annihilating worlds. Although destroying a world allowed one to directly confront its laws and quickly comprehend them, he was unwilling to do so.
Call him sentimental if you like, but deep down, he believed that kind of act was wrong, so he refused to do it.
Since he did not want to do it, he would not. That belief had driven his efforts all these years.
"Then what are you thinking about?"
"Some matters concerning the aftermath."
Passing the test was easy. What Ethan wanted was a perfect resolution. He had lived in this world for more than a hundred years. It was impossible not to develop feelings for it.
Moreover, many friends lived here. He could not destroy the world they lived in just to pass his test, then walk away as if nothing had happened.
That would be too disgraceful.
"For some reason, hearing that makes me feel relieved, but also a little discouraged."
Yoruichi suddenly stretched out her limbs and lay flat on the ground. She had trained hard and gained great strength, only to find it seemed useless. It felt as if the biggest and most troublesome problem had already been solved by Ethan, and she only needed to stand by and watch.
"You feel your training was meaningless?"
"A little."
At first, she trained hard because meeting Ethan had sparked her competitive spirit.
Later, it was because Aizen posed a real threat, so she trained desperately. But now, she found herself lacking the motivation to keep moving forward.
Surpass Ethan? She had watched him go from roughly equal to her, with slightly weaker spiritual pressure, to surpassing her, and then leaving her far behind. Anyone would feel discouraged.
She had long since abandoned the idea of surpassing him and pinning him to the ground for a casual beating.
"Then how about I set a goal for you to give you motivation to grow stronger?"
"What goal?"
She was curious what kind of goal he would suggest. But when he stated it, she was nearly frightened to death.
"Replace the Soul King."
"Are you joking? Replace the Soul King? How could that even be possible? You might as well say defeat you once."
"Defeat me? That is far more difficult than replacing the Soul King."
(To be continued.)
