"Mother?!" — Even though Ichigo felt that there was something wrong in Ren's gaze, as if he had been there in that very moment, his attention was completely drawn to the name of his mother.

"Right, she was Kurosaki Masaki, your mother — and Yuzu and Karin's." Ren nodded slightly. "And she was also my mother, in a sense."

"What is that supposed to mean…?" — Hearing the words of his twin brother, Ichigo was completely bewildered, unable to understand what was happening.

"You really are an idiot, King," — Zangetsu scoffed beside him, giving him a disdainful look before turning his eyes back to Ren — "This bastard is that Hollow called White."

Ichigo's eyes widened so much they nearly fell from their sockets, and his whole body froze, as if the will to move had been forcibly stripped away.

"Wh-… what…?" — Ichigo muttered in an extremely low voice, still unable to process what he had just heard.

"Yes," Ren finally spoke, slowly and without a hint of hesitation. "White… is me. Or rather… I was White — after I regained my humanity."

The scene before them shifted abruptly — the angle of vision within the memory changed, showing Masaki breaking the laws of the Quincy at astonishing speed, intervening between Isshin and White, firing Heilig Pfeil with such mastery that White was forced to retreat for the first time since the battle began.

"Masaki… was not merely a noble Quincy," Ren continued, his voice now filled with a rare tone of deep warmth, "She was something else… something not easily explained… she could touch the soul of a being like White without her own collapsing."

On the screen, the scene played out clearly:

Masaki stepped toward White — without fear… without hesitation… and her eyes held unwavering resolve instead of terror.

White — who back then was nothing more than a pure monster — stopped.

Not because he was injured.

Not because he feared her power.

But because he recognized a kind of energy he had never encountered before.

"At that moment…" Ren said as he placed his hand behind his back, "my humanity… began to return — for the first time."

Ichigo swallowed hard.

"Are you… saying that you felt emotions… even in that form?"

"They were not emotions," Ren shook his head slightly, "but the beginning of an identity… an essence… the first seed that asked: who am I? And what am I?"

"Back then, I was completely fascinated by Masaki — she showed no anger, no disgust, not even a trace of hatred as I tried to end her life. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me with warmth and whispered a faint apology before firing an arrow straight into my skull."

Ren let out a short muffled laugh, as if he were reminiscing fondly about spending time with family — not about the memory of having his head blown apart.

"That was… the first time I was touched by light instead of a blade."

Ren spoke in a quiet tone, free of mockery or regret, as if describing something inevitable — the natural outcome of a meeting that was destined to occur.

On the screen, Masaki was shown standing over White's fallen body after the arrow pierced his skull, his body slowly disintegrating like pale ash scattering in the light.

"That arrow didn't kill me…"

Ren's voice rose slightly, tinged with something close to deep gratitude.

"It liberated me from being nothing more than an experimental product of Aizen… and reminded me of who I truly was."

"When Masaki embraced me, I bit her and transferred my power and soul into her — I tried to merge with her to understand her, to comprehend this human who gave me that strange feeling of safety and warmth… something I had never experienced before, yet somehow felt familiar — nostalgic."

But containing Hollow power was not something a Quincy could withstand easily — there were countless unpredictable complications, and Masaki would have died from Hollowification.

"That was when Urahara Kisuke

, that man as suspicious as Aizen — but far more irritating — interfered."

At the mention of Urahara, Ren's expression turned into a mix of gratitude and resentment.

Ren was grateful because Urahara saved Masaki at that moment — but he hated him because he was no better than Aizen. After all, Urahara had conducted experiments no less dark than Aizen's to create the Hōgyoku, meaning the two were not truly different in Ren's eyes.

"He used the power of the Hōgyoku to seal me inside Masaki's body using Isshin's power, and I remained sealed for several years," Ren said, lowering his head slightly so that his expression became unreadable to Ichigo and Zangetsu — "And after years of silence, I felt another presence — one that echoed against mine and tried to devour me."

Speaking of that presence, Ren lifted his eyes — and his gaze landed on Ichigo, filled with layered complexity.

"That presence… was the unborn child of Masaki and Isshin — you." There was a hint of unwillingness and bitterness in Ren's eyes as he mentioned Masaki's union with Isshin. "You were still nothing but a fetus — and yet, you possessed overwhelming power that tried to consume me."

"And you succeeded — partially. You absorbed around 30% of my existence, and I couldn't do anything about it back then." Ren's lips curved into a bitter smile, as if recalling the terrifying power possessed by an unborn child. "But at the same time, I felt Masaki helping me — so I began consuming your flesh and blood as well, creating a body for myself, protecting myself from you… without devouring you completely, because I did not want to see Masaki grieve over the death of her son."

"And that… is the origin of the Phantom Twin — the being who should never have been born — as well as the source of your Hollow power."

Ren continued, and the world around them began to crumble like shattered glass.

"That Hollow power merged with your soul and your Shinigami side… and became your Zanpakutō spirit."

"As for that old man you call 'Old Zangetsu,' he is merely the manifestation of your Quincy power — plus the lingering will of a man called Yhwach, who seems to have been shielding you for some reason, preventing you from synchronizing with your true Zanpakutō spirit."

"But don't worry — Mikazuki should have already finished dealing with that lingering will by now."

...

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