Sora's appearance drew everyone's attention.
"Was that explosion just now... your doing?"
Bazz-B's eyes went wide. He had assumed the arena's collapse was Sōken Ishida and Cang Du's work.
Sora observed the situation outside the arena.
It had become a battlefield for Gerard, Sōken Ishida, and Cang Du. The soldiers who were originally waiting here had already been evacuated.
"Sōken Ishida has gathered a group to fight Yhwach's personal guard. I should help his side and maintain a balance."
Sora thought to himself.
Sōken Ishida's side wasn't strong enough to fight Yhwach's elite guard on their own. But with him joining, they could maintain a fragile balance and stop Haschwalth's plan.
"Ishida, what are you all doing?"
Sora moved to Sōken Ishida's side and asked.
This... Kurosaki Usaki... actually has this much power? I don't remember him at all... But maybe he's a strong ally
Sōken Ishida hadn't forgotten the Kurosaki clan Quincy he had met a short time ago. He thought for a moment and decided to pull him onto their side against Haschwalth.
"We are stopping this selection hunt! We don't approve of a screening method that causes so many needless sacrifices!" Sōken Ishida said with a serious expression.
"If you are willing, please help us!"
Before Sora could even agree, Gerard made a move.
"Were you the one who destroyed the arena?"
Gerard spread his arms, and a golden Reishi bow materialized.
He looked like a divine hero from mythology, and holding the golden bow made him look even more holy.
Fwoosh—
A Heilig Pfeil vanished from the bowstring, shooting straight at Sora.
Clang—
Sora drew the Reishi saber from his waist. The Heilig Pfeil that reached him was instantly sliced in two, flying past him.
Boom—
The two halves of the arrow exploded behind him, kicking up a gust of wind and debris.
"Are you a sore loser already? I don't think there was a rule against destroying the arena."
Sora sheathed his sword, drew his bow, and fired countless Reishi arrows into the sky.
The next moment, the arrows fell on Gerard like a violent storm sweeping the land.
Puchi Puchi—
Gerard's body was riddled with arrows, but he seemed to feel no pain, completely ignoring his injuries.
Gerard's special ability was 'The Miracle'. He could turn any negative events that happened to him into positive ones.
For him, getting injured was just like getting a power-up.
He was the type of berserker who just got stronger the more you hit him.
"These little wounds can't stop me!"
Gerard, 'The Miracle', flew through the rain of light and launched a jumping slash.
Sora's figure vanished, and the shield hit empty air.
Sora reappeared a short distance away and threw five small, shell-casing-sized objects.
"Hamōjin."
The next second, the five specialized silver tubes flew to five corners. Highly concentrated, compressed Reishi solution sprayed out of them.
They formed a five-pointed star array centered on Gerard.
Gerard was bound by Reishi chains, unable to move for a moment.
But for Gerard, 'being trapped' was also a negative event. The Spiritual Pressure in his body surged, and the Reishi chains binding him snapped one by one.
"Anything that affects his movement just makes him stronger..."
Sora frowned slightly. An opponent like Gerard had to be killed in one hit. A long fight would only put him at a disadvantage.
"You cannot stop me from carrying out justice!"
Gerard, 'The Miracle', drew his golden bow again.
"That's enough."
Haschwalth suddenly appeared in front of Gerard and pressed down on his bow.
"Haschwalth, why are you stopping me?"
Gerard looked at Haschwalth with a trace of doubt.
"As a Quincy participating in the selection, he did not violate the rules I set," Haschwalth said calmly. "I just didn't expect someone could destroy the arena. That was my oversight."
"Don't you forget what the real purpose of this selection is," Gerard questioned.
In his view, since that Quincy destroyed the arena and ruined the selection, they could just use that Quincy's life to fill the gap. It would still achieve the goal of helping Yhwach reclaim his power.
"If this continues, they might not be the ones who die," Haschwalth said.
Gerard looked up and saw that Sōken Ishida, Cang Du, and Bazz-B were already standing by the strange Quincy's side.
He then remembered the explosion from earlier. If an attack like that hit him, 'The Miracle' might not even happen.
"Haschwalth, if you make a move..." Gerard didn't want to just let this go.
"It won't work even if I do. They have one more trump card." Haschwalth looked off to the side.
Gremmy, 'The Visionary', was standing in the air, watching everyone.
"Gremmy, why are you on their side?" Gerard demanded.
"I'm not on anyone's side." Gremmy, 'The Visionary', stood with his hands in his pockets, calmly watching them.
"I just heard the 'elite guard' was making a move, so I came to watch."
Gremmy considered himself the strongest in the Sternritter and didn't have a good opinion of the elite guard, who acted like they were above the rest.
Sora recalled his memories. Gremmy was powerful, but he didn't follow the rules. He was kept locked up in a prison right until the invasion of the Soul Society.
"Is that all you've got, Gerard 'The Miracle'?" Gremmy mocked.
"You're asking to die!"
Gerard pulled the longsword from his shield and swung at Gremmy.
Clang—
The sword hit Gremmy's shoulder but made the sound of metal hitting metal.
"You can't even break my defense."
Gremmy shook his head, and a golden blade appeared in his hand.
Sora thought Gremmy's sword looked familiar.
Wasn't that Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Ashisogi Jizō?
This Gremmy had no sense of copyright at all!
"He can even materialize a Zanpakutō?"
Sora frowned.
Theoretically, it was possible.
After all, Gremmy could literally create a new Quincy life. If he understood Mayuri's abilities, he could create a sword that had the abilities of Ashisogi Jizō.
It just wouldn't be Mayuri's actual Zanpakutō, just a sword with its powers.
"That interesting Shinigami gave me some inspiration."
Gremmy smiled slightly and stabbed 'Ashisogi Jizō' into Gerard's body.
Gerard didn't seem to care and instead laughed loudly.
"Injuries only make me..."
Gerard's expression froze. He looked down and saw some white substance oozing from the wound on his chest.
"A Hollow?" Gerard frowned.
"That's right." Gremmy nodded lightly. "I'm curious, will your 'Miracle' work on a Hollow?"
He used a modified version of Ashisogi Jizō's poison-injecting ability to inject Gerard with Hollow power, contaminating his body.
Hollow power is a deadly poison to Quincy. Any Quincy infected with it will usually die quickly.
Gerard took several steps back, putting distance between himself and Gremmy.
Squish—
Gerard actually reached in and dug out the white substance, and his aura immediately grew stronger.
"It seems the Hollow poison doesn't affect you." As Gremmy spoke, the ground split open and swallowed Gerard.
Rumble—
A giant hand, over a meter wide, clawed its way out of the ground. A giant-sized Gerard climbed out.
Gerard's form had changed drastically. He was over ten times bigger, making everyone else look tiny.
"Are you helping us or him?!"
Bazz-B felt Gremmy was making things worse. Gerard had just gotten much stronger.
"Do you have a way to send him to the Soul Society? If he goes there, it'll be hard for him to come back," Sora suggested to Gremmy.
If Gremmy sent Gerard to the Soul Society, Head-Captain Yamamoto would definitely kill him.
"I can try..." Gremmy raised his hand, and a Garganta began to open behind Gerard.
"Stop!"
Haschwalth couldn't sit back anymore. He moved to block it, slashing the half-formed Garganta and cutting it apart.
Gerard didn't move recklessly this time. Gremmy's ability was tricky to handle, and he didn't have a way to kill Gremmy right now. He would just be toyed with.
"This incident ends here."
The selection couldn't continue. Haschwalth and Gerard left the area.
"Thank you all for your help," Sōken Ishida said, thanking the group.
"Don't celebrate too early. They definitely won't let this go," Bazz-B said, shaking his head.
Even though they had interfered and stopped the selection, Yhwach's goal hadn't been met. The elite guard would definitely be back.
"I think so too. That's why... I hope everyone can continue to watch each other's backs and fight the elite guard together," Sōken Ishida requested.
"I already stepped up, so I was planning on it," Bazz-B said. "We can't just let the elite guard do whatever they want!"
Cang Du, standing nearby, also nodded.
"I'm not interested in your business, but I'm happy to cause some trouble for the elite guard," Gremmy said lazily.
"That's good enough."
Sōken Ishida nodded and looked at Sora. "Kurosaki... you must have a lot of questions. This selection was actually His Majesty Yhwach's way of reclaiming the Quincy's power..."
To win Sora over, Sōken Ishida revealed some of the secrets known to the Sternritter.
But to Sora, none of these were secrets.
"I'm sorry for pulling you into this," Sōken Ishida said, looking apologetic. "If you're willing, I hope you'll help us."
"I already destroyed the arena and made enemies of them. I don't really have any other choice. Of course I'm on your side," Sora agreed to help.
"That's great! With you joining us, the elite guard won't dare to act so recklessly!"
Sōken Ishida had watched Sora fight and rated his strength very highly.
"We will do our best to get you a spot in the Sternritter," Sōken Ishida continued.
"Only Sternritter members can get a 'Sun Gate Key'. Unless the Sun Gate is fully opened, the key can only take a few people in and out of the Wandenreich at a time."
"The more of us who have a key, the better. If things go wrong, we can evacuate as many soldiers as possible."
Sōken Ishida believed having a 'Sun Gate Key' was critical, as it allowed free travel within the Wandenreich.
"Isn't Haschwalth the Grandmaster of the Sternritter?" Sora was curious. They were pretty much opposing Haschwalth, so how could they get him into the Sternritter?
"The Sternritter selection is based on a vote. The votes of the current members are the real selection. The hunt Haschwalth organized was just to get you the right to be in the selection."
...
Several days later, Sora received a 'Sun Gate Key'.
He had actually become an official member of the Sternritter.
"I somehow fumbled my way into becoming an official member of the Sternritter... Yhwach... by the time you wake up, the Grandmaster might have already been replaced."
Sora played with the key in his hand, feeling a strange mix of emotions.
Other people spend years and years trying to become a low-level boss in a gang. He, on the other hand, had waltzed right into the Sternritter, the center of power in the Wandenreich.
But Sora knew that his status as a 'Knight' was likely the result of Haschwalth's left brain fighting his right brain. He probably had no real power.
"It seems Haschwalth has his own plans."
Sora thought about the bond between Haschwalth and Bazz-B.
Haschwalth was a very contradictory person. He still cared deeply for Bazz-B, but he also obeyed Yhwach's orders without question.
And Bazz-B had a deep hatred for Yhwach.
Bazz-B joined the Sternritter for two reasons: to defeat Haschwalth and to kill Yhwach.
This caused Haschwalth to sometimes act in contradictory ways.
"Is he planning to force us to flee to the World of the Living next? ...With me here, Bazz-B's chances of survival are a bit higher."
Sora tried to guess Haschwalth's next move based on his position.
"Professor became a Knight!!!"
His disciples seemed even happier than he was.
For them, who had grown up in the Wandenreich, the Sternritter was the symbol of authority. Becoming a Knight was the highest honor.
"You two are officers in Silbern now, as well," Sora said with a light laugh.
Even though Sora had destroyed the hunt, all the Quincy who made it out of the arena were given the right to enter Silbern.
[Sternritter recruitment ceremony complete. Meninas McAllon has been promoted to Silbern Officer. Calculating rewards.]
Received 10000 general experience points.
[Sternritter recruitment ceremony complete. Candice Catnipp has been promoted to Silbern Officer. Calculating rewards.]
Received 10000 general experience points.
Additionally, his four disciples had completed their bracelet spiritual tool training, which also gave him rewards, netting Sora 80000 general experience points.
Ever since his low and mid-level skills had reached the Grandmaster level, the general experience he got from missions had increased.
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