Time quietly passed within the distorted rules of Hell.
For the [Hell Resistance Army], which had clear goals and acted efficiently, one year was enough to change many things.
At first, it was just patrol teams of the Will of Hell in scattered areas going 'missing'.
The 'jail administrators' of the Ota Clan didn't pay much attention.
Hell was always full of accidents and mutual devouring. The occasional loss of a few 'jailers' was not rare during their long reign.
However, as the missing reports increased, the frequency grew higher, and the affected scope widened...
Strange situations even began to appear where entire patrol areas completely went 'silent', with not a single trace of battle remnants or Reishi Dissipation to be found.
The Ota Clan's vast yet somewhat rigid ruling machine finally belatedly sensed something was wrong.
Urgent intelligence reports were sent one after another to the depths of Hell, to that fortress built of dark red crystals, emanating an ominous majesty… the Ota Clan's main castle.
"Clan Head-sama, urgent military intelligence!" A Shinigami clad in the black uniform of a jail administrator, his face pale with panic, knelt in the cold great hall, his voice trembling with barely suppressed fear.
"Over the past year, cases of [Will of Hell] disappearances, loss of contact, and even entire teams being wiped out, reported from various regions, have accumulated to over three hundred and seventy!"
"Especially in the last three months, the losses have shown explosive growth! Preliminary statistics indicate that the overall number of the Will of Hell... may have sharply decreased by nearly forty percent!"
The Ota Clan's head, seated high upon his throne of bone, was wreathed in dense sin and ancient Reiatsu.
He couldn't help but rage: "Are you all idiots? You only report after a forty percent decrease?"
But inwardly, he understood. The Ota Clan's rule over Hell had lasted too long, so long that clan members had long lost all sense of reverence.
Suppressing his anger, he asked: "The cause?"
"We have investigated through multiple channels, piecing together chaotic consciousness fragments barely transmitted back by a few scattered Will of Hell that managed to escape..."
"We have deduced that this is suspected to be the work of those remnants of the Gotei 13 who hide in various places throughout Hell, retaining their consciousness!"
The reporting one's head bowed even lower: "They seem to have mastered some method to completely annihilate the Will of Hell, and... they seem able to absorb the Will of Hell's Reiryoku!"
"Completely annihilate? Absorb Reiryoku?" The Ota Clan's head's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of incredulous anger and shock.
"That's impossible! The Will of Hell shares the same origin as Hell itself. It cannot be truly destroyed. Those remnants of the Gotei 13... how could they..."
But he quickly calmed down. No matter how unbelievable, the facts were right before him.
The continuous, abnormal, large-scale loss of the Will of Hell had already severely threatened the Ota Clan's grip on the grassroots level of Hell, and could even shake the very foundation of their rule.
"Send the order." The Ota Clan's head's voice returned to icy cold, containing sky-high murderous intent.
"Assemble all Will of Hell still under our control. Cease all routine patrol duties."
"Centered on the main castle, radiate outward, conduct a carpet search and destroy operation!"
"Key areas… the zones with high incidence of past disappearances, and those dangerous fissures and ancient ruins where the remnants might hide!"
"Find them! Crush them! I want to see the souls of those rebels wail and turn to yellow sand under the light of 'degeneration'!"
In an instant, all across Hell, countless massive figures of various forms ceased their aimless wandering.
Like an army receiving unified commands, they converged from all directions towards the Ota Clan's main castle, then slowly but unstoppably advanced and crushed towards the suspected areas.
The scene was terrifying.
Thousands upon thousands of colossal Wills of Hell, with Reiryoku at least at the 3rd-class, many among them reaching the 1st-class.
Like moving mountain ranges, wherever they passed, the earth trembled, space hummed, and weak Togabito and Hollows were even directly crushed by the collective Reiatsu they emitted.
This was the first time in a million years of the Ota Clan's rule over Hell that they had mobilized the Will of Hell legion on such a large scale and in such an organized manner.
The Ota Clan's intention was to use absolute numerical and strength advantage to conduct an overwhelming suppression, to finish the job in one stroke and completely eradicate this thorn in their side.
However, as the black tide of the Will of Hell advanced into a dangerous area known as the [Endless Rift], they encountered the [Hell Resistance Army], waiting in strict battle formation.
Standing at the very front of the resistance army was Setsuna.
In one year, the Gotei 13 had hunted non-stop. He had absorbed the pure Reiryoku of thousands of Wills of Hell.
His Reiatsu had already grown to an astonishing degree that made Hell itself tremble.
Roughly measured by the standards of Soul Society, his Reiatsu at this moment had likely surpassed the sum of Yamamoto's and the Monk's Reiatsu.
This was truly a one-man army, already transcending the ordinary Transcendent.
If named according to Saiyan conventions, Setsuna was now a Transcendent that transcended Transcendent… one could call it Transcendent 2.
Facing the overwhelming tide of the Will of Hell, Setsuna merely calmly took one step forward.
No technique was needed. Just the full release of his Reiatsu.
A vast majesty, as if capable of propping open the world and ending all things, erupted with Setsuna at its center and crashed towards the tide of the Will of Hell.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The dozens of Wills of Hell charging at the forefront, under this impact of Reiatsu disparity on a dimensional level, crashed into an invisible iron wall like porcelain dolls.
In an instant, the surfaces of their massive bodies were covered with cobweb-like cracks. Their forward momentum stopped abruptly, and they were even pushed back, staggering.
Within their chaotic consciousness, an instinctive fear and trembling surged, facing what felt like a natural enemy, originating from the depths of their souls.
And this was only the beginning.
"Kill!"
With Setsuna's command, the first-generation Captains behind him, who had long been unable to restrain themselves, charged forth first.
These first-generation Captains were almost all elites among 1st-class Reiryoku, with combat experience, Kido skills, and Zanpakuto abilities all thoroughly tempered.
As for those transformed ancient Shinigami, even if they might have been 1st-class Reiryoku in life, after losing self-awareness, being left with only killing instinct, and having rigid fighting styles...
Their actual combat effectiveness was fundamentally incomparable to the first-generation Captains of the same level. It often took two or three 1st-class Reiryoku Wills of Hell to barely tie down a single first-generation Captain.
On the resistance army's side, there were also many Captains and Lieutenants who died in later generations. Their Reiatsu might be slightly inferior, but they were equally experienced and coordinated well, forming local numerical advantages or tactical counters.
More importantly, there was Setsuna, the strategic core, like a stabilizing force.
Wherever a dangerous situation or stalemate appeared, one of his [Sekishiki - Meifu Saibansho] strikes would arrive in an instant-
Precisely eliminating that most threatening Will of Hell, and instantly draining its Reiryoku.