Restricted Death

Chapter 219 Prophecy
Outside the living room's huge floor-to-ceiling windows, dusk slowly descended, blurring the carefully manicured outlines of the garden in the courtyard into a hazy, dark blue.

"You talk as if you know us very well."

Ishida Sogen's voice broke the brief silence. He stood ramrod straight, and his eyes behind his glasses, which had previously been trying to maintain a negotiating calm, now revealed a sharp, cold light. His jawline was tense, as if he was forcibly suppressing something.

Ishida Sogen was quite blunt with the letter.

His emotions suddenly surged, and he abruptly leaned forward from the expensive velvet sofa, staring intently at the composed Xin opposite him. His voice rose unconsciously, each syllable carrying the anger of being offended and the sting of being misunderstood: "What can a Grim Reaper like you, living in this peaceful era, possibly know? So what if you're the captain? Countless guys like you died in that war a thousand years ago. Your understanding of us comes only from that massacre more than 200 years ago!"

Ishida Sogen's rapidly heaving chest gradually calmed down. He seemed to have exhausted the power of his earlier impulse, slowly leaning back on the sofa, wearily taking off his exquisite frameless glasses, and rubbing his temples.

"Sorry, I was talking nonsense..."

Seeing his contradictory expression, Xin was not annoyed. Instead, he seemed to have observed something intriguing and chuckled.

"The 'we' you speak of still considers you and them to be the same kind of people. If you hold such a self-righteous stance, then why did you leave that place in the first place? Why did you leave your supreme 'His Majesty' and his empire?"

Upon hearing this, Ishida Muneaki frowned. He looked at the letter with some surprise and doubt: "Just how much do you know?"

Xin rested his hand on the armrest of the sofa, propped his chin up, and said, "It's definitely not as much as you have."

"..."

It's clear from the letter that Ishida Sogen is gripped by a deep-seated fear.

This fear was heavy, like an invisible shackle, keeping him restless day and night. What made Shin even more certain was that this overwhelming worry did not originate from the Shinigami of Soul Society. He did indeed harbor a deep-seated aversion to Shinigami, but within this aversion, fear became secondary, even carrying a kind of fatalistic calm.

What truly tormented him seemed to originate from a deeper, more hidden place.

The silence continued to fester amidst the ticking of the clock, filled with an invisible pressure.

After a long silence, Ishida Sogen said, "I know you want to know something from me, but some things are beyond your control. Even if you knew, it would be useless and would only cause you more trouble. You might as well give up on this idea. Your status in Soul Society is already so high. Wouldn't it be better to just enjoy your good life?"

Xin smiled faintly and said, "The way you're saying this makes it sound like the end of the world is coming."

Ishida Sogen's expression remained completely calm, like a deep well, yet that calmness contained an absolute pessimism that was suffocating. In this tranquility, he uttered a shocking statement: "The world is created from nothing, and who can guarantee that it won't one day return to nothingness?"

Xin narrowed her eyes slightly, "If such a day were to come, would you want to see it?"

Ishida Sogen remained silent.

The letter continued, “You have children, family, and friends, and I’m sure you’re not happy about this, so we should be on the same page.”

Ishida remains silent.

The huge living room was empty except for the two of them. The servants did not approach to disturb them. The room was magnificent and luxuriously decorated, but it felt rather deserted and empty.

In the midst of the silence, a voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"I am back!"

Young Ryugen Ishida and Yoru Katagiri returned, their faces still flushed from playing outside, their eyes sparkling with carefree light. They entered the living room, followed steadily by a middle-aged maid.

Ryūgen Ishida immediately saw the letter sitting in the living room.

"Uncle?"

Xin's face immediately darkened.

Seeing his reaction, Ryūgen Ishida realized his mistake and quickly corrected himself: "Big...brother...what are you doing here?"

Xin smiled and said, "I'm your father's friend."

Ryugen Ishida nodded blankly, then realized something: "You're Dad's friend, so shouldn't I still call you Uncle?"

Letter: "...Let's each talk about our own things."

At this moment, Ishida Sogen said to the maid, "Take them to rest."

"Yes."

Ryugen Ishida and Yoru Katagiri were led upstairs by the maid. Shin's gaze fell on Yoru Katagiri, the little girl who was timid and quietly nestled next to Ryugen, like a delicate shadow.

She seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere here as well, and as she walked up the stairs, she quietly glanced back.

Even after the two small figures disappeared around the corner of the stairs, Ishida Sogen's gaze seemed fixed on the direction Katagiri Yoru had gone. He didn't look at the letter, as if he was lost in thought, and suddenly said, "That child, isn't she cute?"

Xin was taken aback by what he heard, and then looked at him with a strange expression.

Ishida Sogen seemed not to see Xin's gaze. He spoke as if to himself: "Her name is Katagiri Yoru. Her mother was once an ordinary maid in the Ishida family. The Katagiri surname is insignificant. Just like the impure Quincy blood flowing in her veins, she carried a predetermined mission from the moment she was born."

He closed his eyes slightly, and a barely perceptible fluctuation finally appeared in his voice, "Her purpose in life is to take care of Long Xian. Regardless of whether this fate is good or bad, it will be something that fills her entire life..."

"But even this 'whole life'—which, though not exactly wonderful, is the only one she possesses—will be completely taken away one day in the future."

Xin hesitated for a moment, then said, "Saintly farewell?"

Ishida Sogen was struck dumb, and then suddenly looked up at the letter.

Shin seemed unsurprised by Ishida Sogen's violent, ghost-like reaction, remaining calm: "The next Holy Partition will be around twenty years from now, right? That is, the stage in the Holy Emperor's Hymn... where consciousness is retrieved in 90 years. And the target group for this Holy Partition is these hybrid Quincy, am I right?"

“You…you…” Ishida Sogen finally managed to squeeze out a voice, hoarse as if sandpaper was being rubbed, “How…why did you…” His thoughts were completely in disarray.

"You want to ask me how I know?" Xin said with a faint smile. "It's hard to say. I've known these things since I was born into this world. You could call it precognition. However, there are some things that I definitely don't know as well as you do."

The deathly silence in the living room wasn't truly still; the ticking of the antique clock was amplified in the vast space, each passing second striking a chord with Ishida Sogen's taut nerves. "No..." Ishida Sogen began, stunned.

"The next sanctification, and the target group for sanctification... these are things I do not know."

The letter was somewhat unexpected.

Ishida Sogen slowly lowered his head, his eyes widening. His tone was stiff: "I suspect... that after His Majesty awakens, there's a very high probability he'll activate the Sanctification to reclaim some of his power. And in this Sanctification, half-blood Quincy will be the first choice, but whether it includes pure-blood Quincy, I can't be sure... Yet you speak with such certainty... What exactly are you..."

He then realized something and quickly asked Shin, "So the Soul Society already knew about this all along?!"

“No.” Xin shook his head and said, “Among the Grim Reapers, I am the only one who knows, which is why I came to find you.”

The living room was deathly silent. After a long while, Ishida Sogen smiled bitterly, then his expression returned to calm: "I know... You are definitely going to be His Majesty's enemy, I can't help you."

His mind raced, and in a short time he had figured out many things.

If he already knows so much information, then his continued quest for more information probably only requires a little more.

I want to know how to get to the place where the Quincy are hiding!

While the Quincy are still inactive, this will be the Shinigami's best opportunity.

And Ishida Sogen did indeed know this method.

Xin pointed upstairs: "So you don't care at all about whether that girl lived or died?"

"..."

Xin suddenly laughed and said, "You don't still harbor any wishful thinking about going back, do you?"

Ishida Muneaki sighed and said, "You don't understand us. You wouldn't know."

The letter points out the child, striking precisely at the most vulnerable point in Ishida Sogen's contradictions. He fled from there, but could not escape its shadow. He was concerned about the safety of those around him, yet he was trapped in absolute fear of the emperor's power and the curse of his bloodline.

Shin asked earnestly, "I'm really curious, if you really stand with the Quincy, then why did you come out from there? If you're not with them, and you're unwilling to help us Shinigami fight them, are you certain that the Shinigami can't win in the future? If the Shinigami lose, do you and your family think you'll be spared?"

“…This has nothing to do with you.”

Xin sneered: "How could it be unrelated to me? This kind of thing concerns the entire Three Realms."

Ishida Sogen suddenly looked impatient: "There's no need to put such a big label on my head. What will happen in the future is all predetermined."

"The Hymn of the Holy Emperor, is it?" Xin Dao stared intently at him. "But the Hymn of the Holy Emperor doesn't specify what your fate and that of your family will be, nor does it specify whether the Quincy King simply wants to rule the world or destroy it. Are you just going to do nothing and leave everything to your emperor? Pray for his mercy?"

The letter speaks a stark reality: indeed, the Holy Emperor's Hymn does not record their life or death; they are merely a group of insignificant people. Ishida Muneaki has always hoped that both the Quincy and the Shinigami would forget about them, ideally, that no one would care.

But he was also afraid that His Majesty would completely forget about them, otherwise, who knows, he might die under the Holy Decree one day and no one would care.

Ishida Sogen was indeed praying for His Majesty's mercy towards them, but would it really come to pass?
What right do these traitors have to make such a demand...?

Ishida Sogen looked at the letter coldly and said, "If I choose to help you and truly become a traitor, then we will be the first to die!"

“I can save you,” the letter said.

Ishida Sogen looked at the letter as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, as if he were looking at a fool.

He said, "All the power of the Quincy comes from the one and only Quincy King. We all have His Majesty's blood in our veins, and he can take everything from us, including our lives, in the blink of an eye."

The Quincy have always admired the Emperor more than they feared him, but Ishida Sogen felt more fear than respect for him.

“Then let’s give it a try,” Xin said.

“…” Ishida Sogen frowned. “Test what?”

"I will not let that little girl die during the next Apostolic Reunion."

Ishida Sogen was stunned: "What nonsense are you talking about? You don't understand what Sanctification is at all, let alone what we Quincy are. Sanctification cannot be stopped! You are a Shinigami, a completely different species from us Quincy, how could you possibly interfere with our fate?!"

Xin grinned and said, "Really? That's why I said let's give it a try. We can make a bet. If I can do it, you'll come and help me."

Ishida Sogen: "..."

He looked at the letter as if he were a madman, while thinking to himself: If I believe it and agree to it, then I am a madman!
"Would you dare to bet?"

After a long silence, Ishida Sogen suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! Let's bet, but what if you can't do it?"

Xin looked at him and said with amusement, "If I can do it, it means I have the power to oppose your emperor. If I can't, then everything is meaningless. You should just accept the fate you've decided on and wait to die."

Ishida Sogen was speechless.

It seems that what Xin said is indeed true. If Xin cannot do it, then what is the point of everything? Why should he pursue a gambling stake?

It sounds like he's at a disadvantage in this bet, but if he actually succeeds, then everything will be a good thing for him, and perhaps there will be new hope for the future.

When the letter presented that seemingly ridiculous "bet," the shock Ishida Sōken felt even outweighed the sense of absurdity. It was the instinctive reaction of a drowning person seeing a floating straw, a faint impulse that he knew was futile but could not resist.

However, after this faint stirring of the heart, what followed was a deeper sense of powerlessness and self-mockery. To gamble the name of betrayal for a slim hope, regardless of winning or losing, seemed to lead to an unsolvable dead end.

Xin's voice slowly rang out: "Don't worry, I won't let you lose."

Ishida Sogen stared at him in a daze, and through his glasses, he saw Shin's relaxed smile.

(End of this chapter)