"Ahem... Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm Askin Nakk Le Vaar. Nice to meet you, friend."
Askin, who had momentarily frozen at Ichigo's declaration of disqualification, brushed back his hair with a sly, nonchalant air as if nothing had happened.
Bazzard, who had passed the second round of the selection, watched him with his arms crossed and gestured with his chin.
"So, why don't you tell us why we should pick you to be a Sternritter?"
Despite Bazzard's somewhat sharp question, Askin spread his hands with an exaggerated gesture and a relaxed smile.
"Because the goal of His Majesty Yhwach, the Emperor of the Wandenreich... is fatal."
Askin's 'fatal' eyes gleamed with a strange light.
"Creating a world without death. That means the collapse of the existing world and the re-creation of a new one. Anyone would want to see that, wouldn't they? That world."
"...So it is merely out of curiosity?"
At Haschwalth's sharp observation, Quilge adjusted his glasses and shook his head.
"What matters is loyalty to His Majesty, and the potential to put that loyalty into action. That curiosity could be sufficiently satisfied even in a commoner's house within the Schatten Bereich, Master Askin."
"You're right. It's perfectly reasonable to think that way."
Askin nodded readily at Quilge's pointed remark and continued speaking.
He paced leisurely with his hands behind his back, turning his head as if taking in everyone currently conducting the selection.
"However, curiosity is a person's driving force. It's thanks to that driving force that we move toward a goal. My curiosity to see His Majesty succeed eventually translates into the driving force toward His Majesty's success."
"With only the precarious driving force of curiosity, can you truly be of help to His Majesty, Master Askin?"
"Of course."
As if it were time to get to the point, Askin curled the corners of his mouth and pointed directly at Ichigo.
"Ichigo. I'll prove my potential by battling you, the most fatal one here."
"...Why me again?"
Ichigo's face crumpled openly.
It felt strange to be constantly singled out.
.
.
.
"You've already decided to choose this man, Askin."
"...That's correct. You've noticed already."
"Well... it wasn't that difficult."
Accutrone whispered softly as he watched Ichigo trudging toward Askin.
"There are plenty of points to argue against... but simply watching in silence is a way of expressing your intent. Is there something special about that fellow?"
At Accutrone's question, Haschwalth narrowed his eyes as if recalling something and answered.
"I don't know about now, but there will be later. Perhaps a glimpse of it exists even now."
"I see."
Watching Haschwalth's confident demeanor, Accutrone turned his gaze back toward Ichigo.
Meanwhile, Ichigo was shaking out his body, preparing for the duel.
In the ten selection rounds so far, Ichigo hadn't rested once.
Whether it was confidence or arrogance, the hearts of the Quincies screamed at them to challenge Ichigo.
Some showed enough prowess against Ichigo to be inducted as Soldat, but most simply returned home after a miserable defeat.
Currently, Ichigo was glaring at Askin, feeling a strange tension.
'...This guy, he's got something.'
Askin didn't seem to have the slightest intention of fighting properly; he wasn't even warming up, let alone preparing to take out his Quincy Cross.
Watching him, Ichigo stepped up in front of him.
"I don't know what you're hiding, but if you don't go all out, I'll send you right back to the arms of your family."
"Whoa, how rough. I'm glad that won't be happening."
Askin shot back with a hearty laugh.
Soon, the two took their combat stances after distancing themselves appropriately.
After a moment of silence, Ichigo kicked off the ground.
—Flash!
It was a preemptive strike. He immediately charged forward while firing a barrage of Heilig Pfeil.
"This much is..."
Instantly manifesting arrows in the air, Askin used Licht Regen toward the ground while simultaneously backstepping to create distance.
Striking the incoming Heilig Pfeil from the side to shoot them down while blocking Ichigo's approach, Askin swung his arm horizontally to create more arrows when—
"..!"
Ichigo activated Blut Vene and rapidly closed in on Askin using Hirenkyaku.
The shower of arrows swept over Ichigo, but the blue veins clearly visible through his clothes flashed.
"You're sturdier than I thought."
"Thanks for the compliment!"
Ichigo narrowly dodged the arrows fired rapidly before his eyes by lowering his upper body, then used that momentum to drive his combat boot into Askin's abdomen.
"Kh..!"
Askin hurriedly crossed his arms to protect himself, but the heavy impact sent his body flying.
Without hesitation, Ichigo flicked his index and middle fingers back, and arrows poured toward the back of the flying Askin.
—Thwip!
—Thwack!
"Kh... seven hits, huh."
Frowning at the pain in his back, Askin activated Hirenkyaku to brake and land.
Feeling the hot sensation radiating from his wounds, he instead smiled leisurely.
"Impressive, Ichigo. You're more fatal than I imagined."
"Whatever. Why don't you take out whatever you're hiding? I've given you the wounds you wanted."
"...Did you notice?"
When Askin asked with a shrug as if surprised, Ichigo snorted.
"You were showing so many openings, I had to live up to your expectations."
"I see."
Askin smoothly brushed back his disheveled hair.
"I have an ability where I develop 'resistance' proportional to the wounds I receive, gradually taking less damage from the target. It makes things less fatal for me, and eventually, you won't be able to wound me at all."
"....??? What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?"
Ichigo looked bewildered by the sudden appearance of a supernatural power, but Askin calmly pulled out an arrow stuck in his back and spoke.
"You don't need to understand. I was flustered at first too, possessing a unique ability that no one else knew about. But this is my power, my 'potential.' And I'm going to show that potential to you right now."
Soon, Askin spread his left arm wide and tapped it with his finger, provoking Ichigo.
"Shoot it. Right at my arm."
"........."
After hesitating for a moment, Ichigo realized that Haschwalth, Quilge, and the others were watching without reaction. He sighed and loaded his bow.
"It's hard to control my strength, so be careful."
—Psh!
As the bowstring left Ichigo's hand, a blue arrow flew toward Askin's left arm.
—Thud!
The arrow, which should have pierced right through the center, grazed his arm as its trajectory warped upon touching Askin's skin, as if it had struck something hard.
Crimson tears fell lightly from his skin.
"...."
"How about it? Is this enough potential for you?"
An ability that could make one invincible as long as they didn't die in a single blow and managed to endure.
A heavy silence descended upon the selection grounds.
.
.
.
"Agh! What the hell is that? What? Developing resistance to damage? Man, that's just ridiculous. Don't you think so, Ichigo? Jugo?"
".......It is certainly surprising. To think such a supernatural power existed."
"........I wonder."
On the way out of the selection grounds.
Bazzard scratched his head violently, venting his frustration.
In this 10th Sternritter Selection, it was practically confirmed that Askin would rise to the rank of Sternritter.
"That guy's basic skills seemed enough to crush most of the Soldat, but he even has some weird superpower?"
While Bazzard grumbled about Askin's ability being a cheat, Ichigo was lost in thought behind him.
'....If that ability isn't a privilege unique to Askin alone.'
The war between Soul Reapers and Quincies 1,000 years in the future, which Zangetsu had foretold and whose realization was confirmed by the existence of the Wandenreich.
He felt he now understood why those merciless slaughterers would be helplessly defeated by the Quincies without his original self's help.
'Surely more Quincies with such supernatural powers will be born and appointed as Sternritter. That's why the Quincy side's ability to control combat variables will skyrocket, giving them the upper hand.'
If this assumption was true, the plan he had built over the past 100 years might crumble.
A world where Quincies and Soul Reapers had no reason to fight—a world without 'unjust deaths,' in a different sense from Yhwach's world without death.
To realize the plan nestled in a corner of Ichigo's heart, having personally witnessed the meaningless sacrifices of Quincies and Soul Reapers in war, the balance of power between the two sides needed to remain somewhat equal.
".....Sigh. I'm worried about the future."
"Exactly! Let's just send that creepy guy to the Soldat."
"Calm down, Bazz-B."
Beside Bazzard, who was still repeating his badmouthing of Askin, and Haschwalth, who was trying to calm him down.
A boy who wanted to cherish this sight forever walked with them.
.
.
.
".....Have you waited long, Ichigo?"
"Hmm...... Za-Zangetsu?"
Ichigo, who had been rubbing his sleepy eyes, snapped them open and sat up in surprise.
Zangetsu's form, which had been blurry 100 years ago when Ichigo lost his Quincy powers due to Letzt Stil, was now reflected clearly and vividly in his eyes.
Ichigo, who had definitely fallen asleep in his own bed, had once again entered his inner world, where a forest of buildings tilted at 90 degrees stretched out.
"I apologize for making you wait. It took some time to handle the spoilers."
".....Spoilers? What does that mean?"
"There's no need to beat around the bush."
Zangetsu sat on the railing of a building's roof and adjusted the hem of his coat.
He gazed at Ichigo with a serious expression.
"The list of Sternritter—beings who could be your enemies or your allies—"
"Sternritter? Are you talking about Bazzard? Or Askin?"
Ichigo threw the question out casually.
Zangetsu's eyebrow twitched minutely.
".....? How do you know about the Sternritter?"
"..........? Why wouldn't I know? They reorganized the military structure while changing the empire's name to Wandenreich. I'm a judge for the selection."
At Ichigo's answer, Zangetsu pressed his hand to his forehead as if troubled.
A long sigh escaped from his slightly parted lips.
"It seems things are more tangled than I anticipated."
"What do you mean? Tangled?"
As Ichigo approached and asked, Zangetsu slowly stood up and met his eyes.
"You know as well. That the Yhwach of the past learned part of the future and caused you to be born here as well."
"Yeah, you told me."
"I did not know exactly how much of the future Yhwach knew. I thought he had grasped the future through core but fragmentary pieces. However.... to think he already knows the existence, members, and even the system of the Sternritter..."
"How do you know His Majesty knows that future? Is it a problem that Askin is a Sternritter?"
"...Listen well, Ichigo."
Zangetsu pointed toward the ashen sky.
"In the official history, the Wandenreich was supposed to start organizing the Sternritter 800 years from now, when I began to regain my pulse."
"....!!"
As Ichigo's pupils trembled, Zangetsu let out a faint, bitter smile.
"It seems he intends to prepare for the war much earlier."
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