49 Ukitake's Thoughts  

"Phew..."

Seeing these Hollows annihilated by the arrow rain, Yoruichi Shihōin let out a long sigh.

As expected, in Yoruichi's perception, all the Hollows killed by the Quincies dissipated into black smoke.

This meant that those Hollows and the souls devoured by those Hollows had been completely annihilated, vanishing from this world. Whereas the Hollows slain by Shinigamis would dissipate into white or blue spirit particles.

The souls of Hollows, along with the souls swallowed by them, would begin reincarnating in the mortal world again as the spirit particles dispersed.

Although her own existence was a rebellion, to the world, the existence of Quincies was even more dangerous.

If the Quincies were allowed to annihilate Hollows like this, the total number of souls in the world would gradually decrease until destruction.

From the perspective of the world, the Quincies did deserve death!

After figuring this out, Yoruichi no longer had any burdens regarding this mission.

Yhwach must have known all of this before he came up with the idea of killing the Soul King, absorbing the Soul King's power to recreate the world.

Perhaps in the world he wanted to recreate, the Quincy power of destruction represented the means to send Hollow souls into reincarnation, while the Shinigami power of death reaped and destroyed souls...

After the Quincy elder took action, the Hollows lured over by Kisuke Urahara's bait were completely annihilated in less than five seconds.

Such a swift death also made the Hollows behind the Garganta hesitate. In the end, after that Quincy elder shot an arrow rain at the crack in the sky, the Garganta swiftly closed up.

"Lord Kurosaki!"

"Lord Kurosaki!"

Seeing all the Hollows killed, the villagers with spiritual power started loudly cheering.

Lord Kurosaki, whose real name was Takuya Kurosaki, was a pureblood Quincy. At the same time, he was also the elder who had taught everyone cultivation.

Within this village, Takuya Kurosaki's prestige was comparable to Captain-Commander Yamamoto's in Soul Society.

However, unlike everyone else's cheers, although he had slain the attacking Hollow horde, Takuya Kurosaki was still warily surveying his surroundings.

Usually, even if Hollows attacked, there would only be one or two at most. For hundreds of Hollows to attack simultaneously this time, it was utterly impossible for it to be a coincidence.

As a pureblood Quincy, Takuya Kurosaki knew from reading the texts recording Quincy history that Quincies could create bait to attract Hollows through certain methods. The commotion those baits could cause were very similar to what happened today.

Perhaps this was a junior who had seen that part of the records and secretly created the bait. In any case, so many Hollows had come here today that they could no longer stay.

"Shuta Katagiri, Junichi Ishida, immediately organize people to pack up belongings. We must leave this place right now."

"Yes, Lord Kurosaki."

The two middle-aged men exchanged a glance before starting to organize everyone to return home and pack up, preparing for a long migration. And without much complaint, the villagers also began orderly preparations one by one.

Ever since His Majesty Yhwach's disappearance, the Empire of Light was completely unable to withstand the Shinigamis' assault, collapsing in just a few years. Afterwards, the Quincies had started several hundred years of escape.

Although their clansmen gradually withered under the Shinigamis' pursuit, they also left behind precious experience at the same time.

The Quincies' control over spirit particles was even more precise than the Shinigamis'. As long as they didn't voluntarily flare up their Reiatsu to fight, ordinary Shinigamis wouldn't be able to distinguish them out. While Quincies possessing spiritual power could see Shinigamis.

Therefore, as long as they pretended to be ordinary people who couldn't see "spirits" before Shinigamis, or ordinary people with a bit of spiritual power who could see "spirits", there wouldn't be any issues.

In terms of fighting, as long as they didn't annihilate too many Hollows within a short period, the Shinigamis also wouldn't be able to track the Quincies down.

However, their frequency of acting these past days had been too high. Coupled with today's battle, Takuya Kurosaki knew that this place would soon be discovered by Shinigamis.

If they didn't hurry up and leave now, he feared the Quincy bloodline would be severed by his own hands.

***

"Is everyone clear on all the targets?"

Not far away from the Quincy village in the woods, Jūshirō Ukitake confirmed with all the present Shinigamis.

Kisuke Urahara had lured those Hollows to attack the village for the sake of discerning which people inside were Quincies and which were ordinary villagers.

None of the Shinigamis present were rookies. Although the earlier battle didn't even last five minutes, everyone who made a move had already been secretly marked down by them.

Facing Captain Ukitake's question, no one spoke up to expose anyone else's targets. They only nodded in response.

"Remember, our only targets are the Quincies. Do not implicate any ordinary people!" After saying this line, Jūshirō Ukitake's gaze slanted towards Ailin's direction.

As expected, after he finished speaking, Ailin slightly nodded. Jūshirō Ukitake had deliberately said those words for Ailin to hear.

"Captain Ukitake, Captain Yoruichi, looks to me the Quincies in this village won't require me making a move. So I'll stand guard on this path. If any Quincies try escaping my way, I'll handle them. You guys can take care of the other directions."

"Alright, we'll leave that direction to you then, Captain Ailin."

Regarding Ailin taking the initiative to stand guard at one side, Jūshirō Ukitake was more than happy to oblige. After all, his mission this time was to completely annihilate the Quincy remnants.

Through his Shindō (God's Pendulum) ability, he foresaw Soul Society suffering terrible losses from the Quincies' attack at some unknown point far into the future.

For Soul Society's sake, he had to eradicate all Quincies. At the very least, he needed to reduce the number of Quincies Soul Society would encounter in the future to a quantity they could deal with. Exterminating all living world Quincies was the first step in his attempt to change the future!

What he said earlier about only killing exposed Quincies was merely for Ailin to hear. When it came time to truly take action, aside from those Quincies who stepped forward, the people who first discovered the Hollows' descent and led the villagers in evacuation must also die.

Furthermore, aside from them, Captain Ukitake didn't wish to spare any villagers, whether women or children, who could see Shinigamis and possessed spiritual power...

Now that Ailin had taken the initiative to stand guard at one side, it also conveniently facilitated Captain Ukitake's maneuvers.

If not necessary, Ukitake was also unwilling to make an enemy of an "upright" captain like Ailin.

Ailin was naturally oblivious to how many schemes Jūshirō Ukitake had spun in his mind over the course of those few short breaths. But since he already obtained Captain Ukitake's permission, Ailin flash stepped over a few times, appearing on the village's only road connected to the outside world. Folding his arms, Ailin stood with his back facing the village.

After Ailin's departure, Ukitake nodded at Yoruichi before ordering: "Everyone, begin!"

"Kill!"