“The founder of the Tsunayashiro clan was a powerful man who was yet more suspicious than any other.” The Manako Osho spoke those words in front of the crystal that was sealed away by multiple layers of barriers.
Around him, the silent members of Squad Zero all lent an ear to his tale. The place they were was a throne and also an altar and was not only occupied by them, but also by the imperial guards who were new to protecting the temple. Many of the soldiers had met their end by way of Pernida and Yhwach’s other royal guards, so they had needed to supplement the ranks with new ones.
But there was that throne and the godlike enemy Yhwach’s remains sealed within it.
The newcomers who had been informed that this was the current Soul King had been considerably baffled by it. After seeing the strife in the Kyogoku, the Osho had likely thought this a fitting opportunity.
He had fetched Oh-Etsu from Hoohden, then he had gathered the soldiers who protected the Reiokyu—in other words, the only people who knew the secret that, at present, a Quincy’s remains were being revered as the Soul King—and spoke of the Soul Society’s past.
“In that age, in all of creation many things were ambiguous. There was no such thing as life or death, and without progress, there was no retreat. While it swayed to and fro, you see, this was a world where one could only wait for all things to chill over the course of ten thousand or even one hundred million years. Even becoming a Hollow was part of the circulation of reishi.” Speaking in a matter-of-fact manner, the Osho recalled the world prior to the birth of Hueco Mundo or the world of the living.
“Eventually, however, the Hollows began to eat humans. At that point the circulation stopped. Had things gone on as they were, all the konpaku would have been reduced to one gigantic Menos and the entire world would have come to a halt. But how curious it was—as though the world were rejecting that outcome, suddenly a life was born. A life that could destroy the Hollows, turning them to reishi sand, and once again allowing the world to circulate.”
“Was that…the first Soul King?” a new soldier unintentionally murmured.
As though believing they had been impertinent, the new soldier rushed to cover their own mouth, but the Osho paid it no mind and nodded at those words.
“Indeed. Others such as myself, with special abilities, had appeared, but the Reio was exceptional. It may even be said he had a power that was close to being almighty, omniscient and omnipotent.”
Almost nostalgically, the Osho recalled the form of the past Reio who had long since disappeared from this throne.
“However, it was not as though the stagnation of the world had been averted by the simple act of destroying the Hollows. The Reio continued in that way to protect the world that would have slowly melted into chaos.”
Taking a step forward and stroking his beard, the Osho continued. “But there were those who did not believe that was a good world. Although they did not reach the level of the Reio, there were five people who possessed powerful abilities. …They were the ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans, the Shiba family included.”
The Osho spoke.
Their motives were different.
The Tsunayashiro clan’s ancestor feared that the power of destruction might someday be turned against him.
Another clan’s ancestor believed a lid was needed to cover the pit that would later become known as “hell.”
The Kuchiki clan’s ancestor believed a new order was needed to guide the world into stability.
The Shihoin clan’s ancestor believed that an even greater cycle of circulation was needed to progress the stagnant world forward.
The Shiba clan’s ancestor believed that it was necessary to explore the route of purification rather than destruction for Hollows, as Hollows also had minds.
Curiously, their different motives led them to the same goal: to separate the current world. There would be a reishi world, a kishi world, and also a sand paradise that would be the destination of the Hollows both worlds produced. Or, alternatively, other forms of worlds might come to being, but what was most important was to have worlds with a clear distinction between life and death.
In order to make the separation of the three realms reality, they required the power of the man who had transcended everything.
“It is said that the Shiba clan’s ancestor attempted to persuade him, but in that opening, the Tsunayashiro clan’s ancestor sealed the Reio into a crystal. I did not view what had happened then firsthand, but everything that followed is the history of the Soul Society itself.”
The man who would later be called the Soul King…
Using his almighty power as the linchpin, the five created the foundations of the new world: The Soul Society, the world of the living, and Hueco Mundo.
Souls were given a division between life and death, and through that cycle, the world moved on to a new stage.
At some point, those who were tasked with managing the world came to be known as…
The Soul Reapers.
“He may have seen no future where it was avoidable no matter how he struggled, or he may have detected some kind of hope in the new world; it is impossible to fathom his will…but the Reio, it seems, intentionally did not resist.”
At that point, the Osho cast his eyes down and returned to his telling. “However, the Tsunayashiro ancestor doubted even the Reio’s nonresistance. He was most frightened of the Reio using his powers to escape the seal and destroy them. And so, without letting the Reio live or die, they tossed him into a contradictory spiral of simultaneous, continuous life and death. They even tore away his right and left arms that ruled ‘stillness’ and ‘advancement.’”
The new soldiers held their breath while the members of Squad Zero, not including the Osho, remained silent, each with a unique expression on their face.
Then the Osho himself uttered a cruel fact in the same tone he might use to merely discuss the weather. “Well, that likely was not enough. With the Tsunayashiro leading them, several of the ancestors spent a great deal of time carving out the Reio’s heart, whittling away his legs, scraping out all of his internal organs and removing them from his body. They did this in order to carve away his power and to render him simply a convenient figurehead for their benefit.”
Taking in the Manako Osho’s words, Senjumaru Shutara, who had been silent until that time, smiled as he said, “Unable to have a voice over the governance or the economy, in a body that couldn’t so much as exhale, much less incite rebellion, he continued to act as the linchpin for the Soul Reapers. Though they are the ancestors of the Soul Reapers, the deeds they committed to create a puppet ‘king’ for themselves truly run deep.”
At her words, which somehow seemed removed from the situation, the Osho nodded deeply; he then brought up another aspect of the story. “Yes, however, the Reio certainly had his own will. It might be appropriate to call it a ‘flow’ that essentially guided things over time… It was because he had a will that Ichigo Kurosaki and the others were called here. We felt it as well. It can be sensed by those whose bones are turned into Oken who have entrusted a part of their konpaku to the Reiokyu.”
In actuality, the Reio’s right and left arm each truly had exhibited their own wills and had returned to the Reiokyu in the end. The right arm that had long been worshipped by the Soul Society had done so to protect the world while the left arm had joined Yhwach as a natural-born Quincy seeking to return the world to how it was before. As though to agree with the Osho’s words, Tenjiro Kirinji let his long toothpick bob up and down as he spoke animatedly. “Right on! Well, can’t comment on his lineage, but the kid raised by the man from the Shiba family coming here under the Reio’s will is a pretty entertaining turn of fate! Ain’t it?!”
“Indeed. The Soul Reaper who was the ancestor of the Shiba clan opposed the Tsunayashiro clan continuing to forcibly seal the Reio away. ‘We must make known far and wide the sin we have committed and entrust our judgment to the world,’ the ancestor insisted. In addition, the Shiba ancestor had been searching for a technique to make their own body into a sacrifice in place of the Reio.”
“Oh-ho, sure seems like something a Shiba ancestor would do.”
“Mhmm. Those who persist in attempting to make themselves a sacrifice are in their own way the most self-indulgent kind. It seemed the Shiba ancestor was determined to become the linchpin of the three realms, had convincing the Reio failed, regardless of whether they had the power to or not… But when you consider that it was because the Tsunayashiro ancestor attacked the Reio that the Shiba family bloodline persisted, it is a very ironic story.”
Kirio Hikifune’s plump, round shoulders shook as she spoke of the past nostalgically. “The Shiba family, you say…Kaien certainly did have that way about him.”
“Well, the Shiba ancestor was obscured from history by the Tsunayashiro family, and as a result, the remaining descendants ended up receiving a cold reception from the Five Great Noble Clans.”
At that point, the Osho sighed emotionally and looked up at the ceiling. “However, when a Shiba descendant who bore the right character—Ichigo Kurosaki—showed up and truly did possess the attributes to take the Reio’s place, I thought that was also fate. But seeing how that did not come to be, it seems the world might still need him.”
Though the Osho attempted to end his tale with a light tone, the newcomers among the holy soldiers looked to each other, and several of their faces seemed pale under their uniform masks. The members of Squad Zero realized this was to be expected, because the truth the Osho spoke of hinted at something…
To wit, the very history of the Soul Reapers…
…had been built upon a crime more cruel than murder, and they continued to commit that sin.
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