Chapter 128: Quincy’s Gambit

The clash of Chiyo’s Sōren Sōkatsui and the Gillian’s Cero lit up the Rukongai night, a blinding explosion shaking the earth. Dust and smoke swirled around the cliff’s edge where Chiyo stood, her small frame trembling from exertion.

“I… blocked it?” she gasped, wiping sweat from her brow. But her relief was fleeting. The Gillian’s mask, though cracked, still loomed above, its hollow eyes glowing with relentless malice. Another Cero was already charging.

A sickening creak echoed from the cliff beneath her feet. Chiyo glanced down, dread pooling in her stomach. “No way. The cliff breaking? That’s too clichéd, even for me!” she muttered, her voice tinged with despair. Before she could move, the ground gave way under the Gillian’s colossal weight. The cliff shattered, sending both Chiyo and the Hollow plummeting into the darkness below, her scream swallowed by the void.

In the Seireitei, Yamabuki Haruto sparred with Captain Unohana Retsu in a reinforced training chamber. Her blade, Minazuki, danced with lethal precision, but each strike was thwarted by Haruto’s newfound spatial barriers—small, void-black spheres that materialized to deflect her attacks. Remarkably, creating these spheres consumed minimal reiatsu, less than Haruto’s natural recovery rate, making them a near-perfect defense.

Their duel was interrupted by a commotion above. Haruto sensed multiple reiatsu signatures approaching—weak, but numerous. He frowned, sheathing his Zanpakutō, and ascended to the surface. A group of Shin’ō Academy students stood before him, their faces pale with panic.

“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” Haruto demanded, his voice sharp.

A student from Chiyo’s team, Kenta, gasped for breath. “Instructor Yamabuki, it’s bad! A Gillian appeared in Rukongai, and Chiyo’s holding it off alone! We came to get help—please, hurry!”

Haruto’s expression darkened. A Gillian in Rukongai wasn’t unheard of, but it was far beyond a student’s capabilities. Chiyo, however, was no ordinary student. Her reiatsu rivaled a seated officer’s, and her Zanpakutō, Kiribana, could buy her time. “Return to the academy and stay there,” he ordered coldly. “I’ll handle this. Chiyo’s strong enough to survive until I arrive.”

Dismissing the students, Haruto vanished in a flicker of Shunpo, racing toward the Rukongai district where Chiyo was last seen.

He arrived at the scorched battlefield, the air thick with residual reiatsu from Cero blasts. But before he could search for Chiyo, a rift tore open in the sky—a Garganta, the dimensional gateway used by Hollows. From it emerged not one, but dozens of Gillians, their bone-white masks glinting as they poured into the Rukongai like a plague.

Haruto’s eyes narrowed. One Gillian could be a fluke, but this many? This was no coincidence. Something—or someone—was orchestrating this invasion.

The Gillians, driven by instinct, sensed Haruto’s potent reiatsu and charged. Their intelligence was minimal, their actions fueled by a primal hunger for souls. But to Haruto, they were little more than fodder. He drew his Zanpakutō, its blade shimmering with an otherworldly aura. “Invert, Ginkō Tenshi!” he called, releasing its Shikai. The blade flared with silver light, and with a single sweeping strike, he cleaved through the Gillians, their massive forms dissolving into reishi particles.

As the last Hollow fell, a voice cut through the darkness, calm and mocking. “I expected those beasts to catch only small fry, but it seems I’ve hooked a big fish. State your name, Shinigami.”

Haruto spun, his senses locking onto a figure emerging from the shadows. The man wore a pristine white cloak adorned with a cross-shaped insignia—a Quincy. His presence explained the sudden Hollow surge. Quincies, with their ability to manipulate reishi, could destabilize the spiritual balance, drawing Hollows like moths to a flame.

In Bleach’s timeline, set a thousand years before the main story, the Quincy-Shinigami conflict was at its peak, with the Gotei 13 and the Quincy Empire locked in a bitter war. The absence of the Technological Development Bureau meant the Soul Society had no means to monitor such incursions, leaving them vulnerable to stealth attacks like this.

“Quincy,” Haruto said coldly. “State your name.”

The man smirked, brushing a lock of dark hair from his face. “Call me Thomas Young. Remember it when you’re groveling in the afterlife.” He raised a hand, and a bow of glowing blue reishi materialized, its form pulsing with concentrated spiritual energy.

Haruto’s mind raced. He needed to buy time and gather information. Playing on the Quincy’s arrogance, he decided to bluff. “Did His Majesty send you to meet me?” he asked, feigning familiarity. “I’ve gathered plenty of intelligence on the Soul Society.”

Thomas froze, confusion flickering across his face. “What?”

“Didn’t Yhwach tell you?” Haruto pressed, his voice steady. “I’m his agent, embedded in the Gotei 13.” To sell the lie, he focused his reiatsu, mimicking a Quincy’s reishi manipulation. A bow of silver reishi formed in his hand, identical to Thomas’s—a trick made possible by the Soul King fragment within him, granting access to powers beyond a Shinigami’s norm.

Thomas’s eyes widened. A Quincy? The Shinigami before him wielded reishi with unmistakable precision, a hallmark of their kind. Yhwach, the Quincy Emperor, was known for his cunning strategies. Could he have planted an agent this deep in the Soul Society? “His Majesty… didn’t mention you,” Thomas admitted, lowering his bow slightly.

Haruto stepped closer, his expression a mix of feigned offense and caution. “I’ve been undercover for months, rising to a high-ranking position in the Gotei 13. The Soul Society knows of your kind and is planning your extermination.” He pulled a folded paper from his shihakushō, holding it out. “This details their strategy. But first, prove you’re with Yhwach. Are you alone, or are there others?”

Thomas hesitated, his suspicion waning. The reishi bow was undeniable proof of Haruto’s Quincy nature—or so he believed. “We’re not alone,” he said. “A unit of Quincies is preparing a larger assault to destabilize the Soul Society. These Hollows were meant to sow chaos and weaken your morale.”

Haruto nodded, hiding his satisfaction. The Quincy’s plan was reckless but effective, exploiting the Soul Society’s blind spots. “And my ability?” he asked, steering the conversation. “You saw the spatial spheres. Think they’re a Zanpakutō’s power?”

Thomas frowned, intrigued. “A Zanpakutō? Quincies don’t wield those. Was that… your doing?”

Haruto smirked, letting the question hang. He needed to find Chiyo and end this encounter before Thomas’s allies arrived—or before his bluff unraveled.