— — — — — —
Clang—
Ukitake's blade fell to the ground.
Tall and slender, Ukitake was lifted clean off his feet, held aloft by Ryo's hand clamped around his forehead.
"Captain Ukitake!"
Rukia, still held firmly by Ryo's arm around her waist, stared in shock.
Ryo leaned slightly toward her and spoke in a calm, advisory tone. "Don't move. Even for me, pulling out the Soul King's right arm without killing him takes a bit of effort."
"The Soul King's… right arm?"
Rukia's expression shifted to stunned confusion.
Ukitake let out a few muffled groans, gritting his teeth. "So that's it. Your goal is the Soul King's power. That's why you turned on Aizen."
"Turned on him? That's a little dramatic." Ryo looked at him as if making small talk.
"We were just reaching for the same piece of bread. My hand just happened to be quicker."
"…"
Ukitake gasped for breath, chest heaving. "To treat the Soul King as food… what arrogance."
"It seems I, Shunsui, and even Teacher Yamamoto all underestimated you. You're more wicked than Aizen Sōsuke."
Ryo's lips curled slightly. "Don't make the Soul King sound so dignified. It only makes me laugh."
His eyes sharpened as he looked at Ukitake. "If the Soul King were truly some exalted being, why was his right arm severed? Why is it attached to you? Isn't the Soul King the ruler of Soul Society?"
Rukia's eyes widened as she looked between them.
Captain Ukitake… carried the Soul King's severed arm? And someone cut it off the Soul King?
If he was the king, why would his arm be severed? And why would that arm end up inside Ukitake instead of being returned?
If a subordinate holds something their lord lost, shouldn't they return it immediately?
Ukitake seemed to sense where Ryo was heading and quickly warned her. "Rukia, don't listen. Don't ask. Don't repeat anything you hear next."
"If you want to avoid execution by Central 46, just do as I say."
Just knowing could get her executed? Rukia froze.
A faint understanding bloomed inside her—maybe the Soul King was the key behind all the chaos.
Aizen's rebellion… Ryo's arrival… the Quincy resurfacing after a thousand years…
Every unanswered question might begin with the Soul King.
"Oh? Afraid your subordinate will learn the truth and get silenced?"
Ryo raised a brow. "I'm curious. Any captain could wipe out Central 46 in under a minute, yet you're terrified of those insects?"
Ukitake coughed, then spoke firmly. "Someone like you would never understand the meaning of order."
"Authority equals justice? That's such an outdated mindset." Ryo gave a small shake of his head and sighed.
"No wonder the Soul King wants to die. After all, having his limbs cut off, his organs hollowed out, being turned into a living husk, then propped up as a divine ruler… while every crime committed in his name gets forgiven by you nobles."
"No wonder, after millions of years of this, he wanted release."
"That's why a thousand years ago he guided Yhwach's birth. A thousand years later he guided Ichigo Kurosaki. And now, he's waiting for Aizen to finish him."
"How pitiful."
"The Soul King… was made into a living husk by nobles…" Rukia's face turned ghostly pale.
"Scared?"
Ryo glanced at her, unsurprised. "Can't blame you. Soul Society has spent a million years drilling into everyone's heads that the Soul King is sacred and righteous."
"That kind of brainwashing hides the fact that Soul Society is a place that eats souls."
"Eats… souls?" Rukia whispered, dread creeping in.
Ryo's smile deepened. "You've never noticed? Or wondered why the souls need to eat?"
Rukia answered automatically. "That's because souls with reiatsu burn through it constantly and need food to replenish it."
Ryo countered instantly. "Then why can souls in the human world exist for decades, even centuries, without hunger?"
"Why do regular souls without Reiatsu fade within twenty years of entering Soul Society, while nobles live for thousands?"
"Did those ordinary souls really reincarnate?"
"And why do Shinigami need to perform Konsō to enter Soul Society?"
Rukia's eyes shook. She bit her lip hard.
"Looks like you've figured it out." Ryo smiled.
"Soul Society feeds on souls. The living world is the farm. Humans are crops. Shinigami are the harvesters. The Soul King is the processing plant. And the nobles… are the consumers."
"With that in mind, everything suddenly makes sense, doesn't it? Even why Orihime Inoue chose to help me."
"Orihime… because of her brother, right?" Rukia's voice was barely above a whisper.
Everything she'd never dared to consider connected all at once.
"So then… my sister, Hisana… didn't die from illness. She was 'eaten,' wasn't she?" Rukia gave a bitter smile.
Ukitake fell silent.
He could feel the Soul King's arm being peeled away from him.
He could also feel his organless body creeping toward death now that that power was leaving.
And he sensed Rukia's faith in Soul Society shattering. Something was replacing it. Something dangerous.
He'd seen that look before—on Aizen, on Tosen, on Ginjo.
This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
Ukitake's lips trembled as he tried one last warning. "Rukia, don't be swayed. Everything he's saying is one-sided."
Rukia stared back at him calmly. "I'm not being impulsive, Captain. I just… I just think Soul Society shouldn't be like this."
That wasn't impulsive at all. That was full conversion.
Ukitake's heart sank. His sweet, honest little subordinate was being stolen away by a smooth-talking devil…
Ryo chuckled. "Wanna help me remake this world?"
Rukia froze, hand instinctively touching her zanpakutō.
"I won't attack Captain Ukitake," she said quietly.
Ryo waved it off. "Relax. I was just asking casually."
That answer stunned Rukia.
Shouldn't this be the moment he tries to recruit her? Why wasn't he following the script?
She stared blankly, unable to process it.
Ryo simply smiled, ignored her confusion, and sent a thread of spiritual energy into the dying Ukitake, stabilizing him just enough to live.
At the same time, he murmured. "So the Soul King's right arm can predict the future… and substitute for outcomes?"
"Interesting. I'll have to test how that works later."
He narrowed his eyes, looking toward the distant direction of Sokyoku Hill, feeling the surging pressure belonging to Aizen.
A slow grin spread across his face. "Looks like I'm one step ahead of you, Aizen."
.
.
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