"That's indeed the case," Rosse nodded lightly.
"In fact, we have a common enemy. And on top of that, they once shed blood for the Soul Society as comrades. I believe there aren't that many irreconcilable contradictions between us."
"Right now the 13 Divisions have suffered heavy losses, and two captain seats are vacant. We can take this opportunity to recruit them back, replenish our fighting strength, and resist foreign enemies together."
After finishing these grand and righteous-sounding words, Rosse turned his gaze toward Shihoin Yoruichi standing nearby.
"I'll leave this matter to you, Yoruichi."
Of course, he didn't actually intend to bring those people back. Otherwise this whole play would become far less interesting.
He was rather curious to see what kind of surprise Urahara Kisuke could produce after combining with the information given by Kyoraku Shunsui.
Words were just words. But whether they could return to the Human World and whether they could actually invite those people back was another matter entirely.
"Hah? What a bunch of awkward people."
Shihoin Yoruichi laughed heartily, patting her full chest as if she was taking everything upon herself.
"Fine, leave it to me. After I return to the Human World, I'll go and explain everything clearly to that guy Urahara."
"Tch! He was the one who misjudged people and got used as a pawn by that bastard Kyoraku. Luckily I'm clever enough to see through the truth."
"I apologize for the matter concerning the Shihoin family."
Kuchiki Byakuya suddenly spoke again. His tone remained flat, with no noticeable emotional fluctuation.
"But I do not regret the actions I took at the time. That was my stance as the head of the Kuchiki family."
"Save it, little Byakuya."
Yoruichi waved her hand dismissively. She didn't even look into Byakuya's eyes, and her voice grew slightly colder.
"I don't need meaningless apologies from you people, nor do I need your hypocritical guilt."
"Kyoraku is the one responsible for everything. He planned it all, making us, who should have been allies, kill each other."
"As for the blood debt of the Shihoin clan…"
Yoruichi narrowed her golden eyes and looked toward the sky where Kyoraku Shunsui had disappeared. A chilling cold light flashed in the depths of her eyes.
"That kind of thing can be settled slowly after we completely defeat that bastard and twist his head off."
"In that case, regarding the matter of recalling Urahara and the others from the Human World, let's settle it like this for now."
Rosse nodded slightly, calmly controlling the rhythm of the postwar situation without any hesitation.
"There's no time to waste. Yoruichi, depart immediately and return to the Human World. Inform them of the current situation to prevent them from being manipulated by Kyoraku again. Once things here in Soul Society stabilize a bit, I'll personally go to the Human World and hold the final negotiations with Urahara."
"Understood."
Shihoin Yoruichi didn't waste words and nodded readily.
Although her current status was somewhat awkward, she was the most suitable person to serve as a liaison.
Rosse said nothing more and instead turned his gaze toward Aizen beside him.
"I'll handle opening the Senkaimon."
Aizen pushed up his cracked glasses, the familiar gentle smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.
For captains of their level, opening a Senkaimon was as simple as breathing.
Although Yoruichi herself could easily do it, her current identity was still that of someone bearing guilt and she had not yet regained her status as a Soul Reaper of the Soul Society.
Having Aizen, an active captain, formally open it made things appear more legitimate and in line with procedure.
Clang!
Kyoka Suigetsu slid gently from its sheath. With a turn of his wrist, Aizen elegantly traced a cross in the air with the tip of the blade.
Spiritual particles surged, and two enormous gate pillars appeared out of thin air, followed by a heavy, ancient-style Japanese sliding door.
As Aizen continued pouring spiritual pressure into it, the door emitted a heavy grinding sound and was just about to slowly open.
Click!
A crisp yet extremely grating abnormal sound suddenly rang out, like the locking mechanism of some delicate device being forcibly jammed.
The next second, the Senkaimon that had already taken shape flickered violently like a holographic projection suffering from a poor signal.
Then, under everyone's gaze, it instantly collapsed and scattered into countless points of light, vanishing without a trace.
"What's going on?"
Yoruichi's golden catlike eyes widened in shock.
'The Senkaimon failed to open?'
'And it was even operated personally by a captain at Aizen's level?'
In the hundreds of years she had lived in Soul Society, this was the first time she had seen such a basic mistake.
"Hm?", A hint of perfectly timed surprise flashed through Aizen's eyes, and then he looked toward Rosse.
"Let me try," Rosse frowned slightly, his expression becoming appropriately serious.
He directly drew his Zanpakuto and made a similar slash through the air.
Spiritual particles condensed. The gate appeared again.
However…
Click!
The same locking sound. The same collapsing scene.
No matter how many spiritual particles were poured in, the door seemed to be rejected by the world itself. It only lasted for an instant before collapsing again.
"What the hell? Why can't the Senkaimon open?"
Yoruichi refused to believe it. Ignoring procedural concerns, she personally tried it herself.
The result was still useless.
Spiritual particles simply could not construct a stable spatial passage.
This clearly wasn't the operator's problem but a major malfunction in the spatial transmission system itself.
"Don't waste your effort."
Just as everyone looked at one another in confusion, a sharp, slightly manic electronic synthesized voice suddenly cut into the scene.
Everyone followed the sound and saw that Kurotsuchi Nemu had appeared at the edge of the ruins at some unknown time, holding a strangely shaped portable communication device.
And that unpleasant voice was coming from the device.
"Kurotsuchi Mayuri? Do you know what's going on?", Yoruichi asked irritably.
"Hmph! Although I have no interest in the boring affairs of you barbarians, the moment I detected certain abnormal spatial fluctuations, this genius had already begun investigating."
Mayuri Kurotsuchi's voice was filled with the arrogance and fanaticism of a top scientist.
"It only took two minutes. Did you hear that? Just two minutes! This genius discovered the cause! That is an efficiency that Urahara Kisuke will never be able to reach!"
"Yeah, yeah, we know you're the most amazing in all of Soul Society."
Yoruichi rolled her eyes and urged impatiently while resisting the urge to hit someone.
"Stop the nonsense and get to the point. Why can't the Senkaimon open?"
"Heh! As expected of a group of uncivilized rodents who only understand cutting people."
A harsh sneer came from the communicator.
"The reason is simple. Just now, the passage connecting the Human World and Soul Society completely disappeared."
"Disappeared? What do you mean?", Rosse asked with a trace of confusion.
"Literally."
Mayuri's tone became playful.
"The Senkaimon we usually use appears to be a door directly leading to the Human World. But from the perspective of spatial science, what it actually opens is an entrance to the Dangai."
"If a Soul Reaper wants to reach the Human World, they must first enter the Dangai through the Senkaimon, and then follow the stabilized path previously laid within the Dangai to reach the Human World."
"And now…"
Mayuri paused.
"According to my monitoring, the passage inside the Dangai connecting the two worlds got completely destroyed by an extremely violent method."
"Because it was destroyed violently, the chaotic spatial currents inside the Dangai also sealed the pathway from Soul Society into the Dangai."
"In other words, Soul Society has now become an isolated island. We can't get out, and people from the Human World can't get in."
After hearing this, all the captains and vice-captains fell silent.
"Why is everyone suddenly so quiet?"
Ichigo scratched his head and quietly asked Rukia beside him.
Although he had undergone special training with Aizen, he didn't know much about things like the Dangai and Senkaimon. After all, when it came to Kido he only knew the abilities of the spells, and actually casting them was still difficult.
"The spatial structure of the Dangai isn't stable, but that doesn't mean it can be easily destroyed. An ordinary captain can't even fight the Kototsu, let alone cause the Dangai passage to collapse," Rukia said seriously.
She had some understanding of this matter, though compared to the captains, her knowledge was still limited.
"Rukia is correct. To cause the Dangai passage to collapse and become blocked is something even I, with my current strength, can hardly imagine. Even Captain-Commander Yamamoto at his peak probably wouldn't be able to do it," Aizen added from the side while inwardly marveling at Rosse's methods.
This collapse of the Dangai was clearly Rosse's doing.
To achieve such a thing, either Rosse personally acted, or someone with special methods acted, or Rosse gathered the combined strength of all the Espada and forcibly blew the passage apart.
No matter which possibility it was, it meant that Rosse's power had already reached a level that made Aizen look up to him.
He now felt an even stronger desire to evolve through the Hogyoku.
"That powerful?", Ichigo was completely stunned.
'Stronger than Captain-Commander Yamamoto, and done by someone deliberately. What kind of godlike figure could that be?'
"Wait!"
Suddenly Ichigo realized a serious problem.
"Hold on! If the Dangai is closed, how am I supposed to get back?"
He wasn't from Soul Society.
The people of Soul Society could simply stay here and not go to the Human World, but he still wanted to go back.
He didn't even want to imagine how worried his family would be if they found out he had disappeared.
And if Kyoraku stirred up trouble during that time, things would be completely over.
"Kukukuku! Naturally, you can't go back."
Mayuri laughed sinisterly.
"If Urahara Kisuke were the one fixing it, it would probably take about a hundred years. But if it's me, then in about one year I should be able to restore the passage to normal operation. After all, we still have the coordinates of the Human World. As long as we work together to break open a path, it will be fine."
"Isn't there any faster method?", Ichigo asked unwillingly.
'A year? Given the strength and cunning Kyoraku, who knows what might happen during that time?'
"Of course there is!"
Mayuri replied matter-of-factly.
"Although the passage from the Dangai to the Human World has been sealed, we can use artificial Garganta technology to go to Hueco Mundo first. Then from Hueco Mundo we can use its passage to the Human World."
"That sounds simple enough. Then let's use that method," Ichigo said immediately.
"Captain Kurotsuchi, if we open a passage to Hueco Mundo, is it possible that Hueco Mundo will detect it?", Rosse suddenly asked.
"Of course they will!"
Mayuri sneered.
"When I thought of this method, I had already conducted experiments. Any Garganta opened from the Soul Society side will lead directly to the Las Noches Palace on the other side, and the landing point will be the residence of one of the Espada."
"If you think you can survive ten minutes in the palace of Hueco Mundo, then I certainly have the ability to open a passage to the Human World there."
Hearing Mayuri's words, everyone fell silent again.
Kurosaki Masaki was only the 8th Espada, yet she had already suppressed almost everyone present.
If they were teleported directly into the palace and faced a whole group of Espada of that level, it would be impossible to survive.
So this path was clearly a dead end as well.
"It seems the situation is quite clear. This was done by the palace of Hueco Mundo. They likely intend to cut off contact between us and the Human World," Rosse analyzed calmly.
"Then what should we do?", Ichigo asked irritably.
One year was far too long for him.
And who knew whether the enemy would continue destroying the passage? At that point he might truly never return.
"Since things have come to this, you and Yoruichi should remain in Soul Society for now. At present Soul Society lacks high-level combat power. If the other vice-captains and officers with captain-level strength are unwilling to be promoted, then the two of you should take the positions of captain of the Eighth Division and the Thirteenth Division," Rosse offered a suggestion.
"For now, that's the only option," Yoruichi said irritably.
She wasn't particularly anxious to return to the Human World, but the feeling of being cut off from it still made her uncomfortable.
"Oh right, Mayuri. The previous communication methods can't contact the Human World anymore either?"
"You ignorant rodent. Do you think communication means simply saying a sentence and the other side hears it?", Mayuri sneered disdainfully.
"Our previous communication method involved speaking here, converting it into spiritual particle signals, sending it through the Dangai passage to the Human World, and then having equipment there receive it and convert it into language or text you can understand."
"Because the transmission speed of spiritual particles is close to the speed of light, we could receive information with almost no delay."
"Now that the Dangai passage itself is gone, tell me, how would the spiritual signals we send be received on the other side?"
Hearing this, Yoruichi scratched her head.
"Ahhhh! I don't understand any of that. So basically it means we can't send information anymore, right?"
"You can say that."
Mayuri didn't bother continuing the conversation with Yoruichi. Instead he volunteered to Rosse.
"Captain-Commander Rosse, please make sure to bring Rukia to the Twelfth Division as soon as possible. I want to see exactly what Urahara Kisuke created that made Ukitake value it so much."
After Yamamoto Genryusai's death, he didn't even bother pretending anymore and directly addressed Rosse as Captain-Commander.
After all, in his eyes, Rosse inheriting that position was already a foregone conclusion.
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