"Run quickly..."
"Hurry and escape..."
On this day, the villagers of Miyahara Village encountered an unprecedented crisis.
First, countless invisible terrifying monsters came to attack, destroying over half of the houses and trampling the farmlands into huge deep pits...
Fortunately, the adults in the village took action and killed the invisible giant monsters. But soon after, even greater terror descended. The sky seemed to rumble endlessly like thunder.
The adults with extraordinary power were killed one by one by invisible enemies...
During this time, whenever someone showed signs of being able to see the Shinigamis, they would be instantly killed.
Within minutes, nearly one fifth of Miyahara Village's villagers had died.
The remaining villagers knew nothing at all, only able to frantically flee in all directions in terror.
Under the slaughter of nearly a hundred elite Shinigamis, all the Quincies who had conjured spirit bows were killed.
Even behind the villagers who fled scattered in all directions, one or two Shinigamis tailed them.
If the tailing Shinigami was unwilling to kill more, they would follow at a distance and give up tailing after confirming their target was an ordinary person without Reiatsu.
And if the Shinigami tailing the villager was willing to wrongly kill rather than let go, then when they felt they were out of Captain Ukitake's line of sight, they would directly strike down their target...
Ailin blocked the one road to the east of Miyahara Village. Any person escaping this way, the Shinigamis did not continue chasing.
After all, this side was being guarded by a captain-class powerhouse personally. If they made a move against the people here, wouldn't that be looking down on a captain?
Soon, the escaping villagers also discovered there were more survivors coming from this direction.
"Hurry hurry hurry, go this way!"
Thus, more and more villagers rushed over following Ailin's direction in escape.
One ragged villager after another ran past Ailin's side. As a Shinigami without a Gigai, ordinary humans couldn't see Ailin. Only those possessing Reiatsu could see Ailin standing in the middle of the road.
The ordinary people who couldn't see Ailin would frantically sprint ahead with all their might. While the Quincies who could see Ailin were so frightened their entire bodies shuddered as they stood paralyzed.
"Thirteen Divisions Guardians of Seireitei, Captain?"
As mortal enemies who had fought Shinigamis for nearly a thousand years, how could the Quincies not know of the existences standing at the pinnacle of Shinigamis?
Even when the three most powerful elders used Soul Dispersal Gloves desperately, they didn't stand a chance at all.
No one had imagined there would be another Shinigami captain present outside this village who hadn't made a move.
No wonder the villagers escaping this way weren't being chased. With such a powerful figure here, what chance at survival could they still have left?
However, upon seeing children being carried off by ordinary villagers, gratitude also rose within the Quincies' hearts.
At the very least, the Shinigami captain before them didn't seem to harbor intentions of killing every single villager.
As long as the children could survive, they didn't have any more regrets about their own lives!
***
The skies were overcast by dark clouds as large raindrops poured down, seemingly holding a funeral for the last remaining Quincies.
The Shinigamis had achieved complete success in encircling and suppressing the Quincy remnants this time.
Having finished the slaughter, the Shinigamis were now conducting soul burials on the ordinary dead villagers, sending their souls towards Soul Society.
Of course, the Quincy souls were directly annihilated, sending them into the world's cycle of reincarnation.
"We have you to thank this time, Captain Ailin."
Captain Ukitake was conducting purification work in the village with the Shinigamis of the 13th Division while Yoruichi Shihōin brought Kisuke Urahara over before Ailin, smiling as she patted Ailin's shoulder.
Through this incident of exterminating the Quincies, Yoruichi had found new beliefs under Kisuke Urahara's guidance, no longer entangled by her identity as a "descendant of rebels".
Facing Yoruichi's thanks, Ailin rolled his eyes. Frankly speaking, he had been schemed against by Yoruichi and Ukitake this time.
Of course, as the son-in-law of the Kuchiki family, neither the Central 46 Chambers nor Captain-Commander Yamamoto would punish him over a single failed mission.
Moreover, things were still good right now. Yoruichi didn't run into problems and the mission of annihilating the Quincies was perfectly completed. Ailin didn't have to become the scapegoat shouldered with responsibility for a failed mission.
"No no, Captain Yoruichi. Don't speak of thanks first."
Shaking his head, Ailin looked seriously at Yoruichi and Kisuke Urahara. "If you really want to thank me, I'd like to ask 3rd Seat Urahara for a favor."
"Oh?"
Yoruichi and Kisuke Urahara exchanged a glance. The puzzlement in both their eyes could be seen.
Within the 2nd Division, although Kisuke Urahara's strength was great, his lazy temperament and couldn't-care-less attitude meant the number of people who truly understood his abilities could be counted on one's fingers.
Although Ailin had spent over thirty years in the 2nd Division and was even Vice Captain for close to six years, his interactions with Kisuke Urahara were few.
Logically speaking, if Ailin needed help with something, he should be asking Captain Yoruichi.
"May I ask what Captain Ailin wants me to help you with?"
After glancing at Captain Ukitake in the village and confirming his voice wouldn't travel to Ukitake, Ailin softly said, "3rd Seat Urahara, my wife Haruko Kuchiki has shown signs of soul disruption and collapse three years ago. In recent years, Haruko's rate of soul collapse has sped up more and more... So I'd like to ask 3rd Seat Urahara to think of a way, some method of stopping Haruko's soul collapse..."
Getting Kisuke's help to research a method of preventing soul collapse—this was Ailin's reason for so straightforwardly agreeing to come on this mission to the living world alongside Yoruichi this time.
In Ailin's perspective, in the entire Shinigami world, the only two people capable of researching a method to prevent soul collapse would be:
One, Kisuke Urahara, the intelligence ceiling of the Shinigami world.
The other, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the mad scientist still locked up in the Maggot's Nest currently.
After hearing Ailin's words, puzzlement first flashed through Yoruichi and Kisuke Urahara's minds over how Ailin could be so certain Kisuke Urahara had a method to prevent soul collapse. But soon after, shock replaced that puzzlement.
Soul collapse was a situation that generally only occurred among the souls of Rukongai. Many Rukongai residents possessed no Reiatsu. They would often suffer immense damage to their souls under the pressure exerted by Shinigamis' Reiatsu.
Without the protection and recovery of a physical body, souls that underwent trauma would start leaking away bit by bit, gradually weakening themselves.
This was also why Seireitei would normally forbid Shinigamis from lingering in Rukongai districts for too long.
However, if Yoruichi and Urahara hadn't misheard earlier, the person Ailin mentioned suffering soul collapse was Haruko Kuchiki?