User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 581 - THE HERO 2/@comment-24153155-20140521225952/@comment-24153155-20140522062153

Yeah, Hirako was absolutely awesome (and it was good to see Omaeda was tougher than his usual self)! @ SpaceCornet: You're absolutely right about the significance of the War Potentials and Ywach (and I guess Haschwalth), but I don't think that is what Hirako meant (translation issues aside). It's too early into the war to directly go for Yhwach, there are still too many Sternritter around (and the same goes for the Quincy: the Sternritter and Soldats are aiming at taking down as many Shinigami as possible so they have a bigger chance at defeating the War Potentials-and Soul King- the other way round would be suicidal for several (tactical) reasons). Therefore, the main goal for the war as of now would be to stabilize Kenpachi and taking down Sternritter. As the majority of taichos have difficulties taking down Sternritter (be it through severe injuries or just sheer reiatsu over kill), it would be up to Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya (and Ichigo now he has returned, though with caution as he is a War Potential himself) to take on the Sternritter on the scene, not being Haschwalt or any other Sternritter similar in strength. Renji and Rukia both proved to be able to take down Sternritter relatively easy. This, however, is indeed affected by the reiatsu spread as Darkhunter-x implies. The spread indeed could work in case the Sternritter were stronger than the Shinigami (this is why the Sternritter can sense eachother, but I guess they should have problems detecting the Shinigami with lower Reiatsu), which has also been proven. However, since Rukia and Renji at least have proven to be way stronger than the Sternritter they have fought, their reiatsu must be overpowering the Quincy spread, and therefore I think it would be illogical no one else can sense their presence. I guess this is why I am a bit puzzled about the whole thing with the Shinigami that have returned from the Soul Palace. On a different note, I personally think Byakuya using shunpo to be able to help Rukia would be kinda suicidal, but it has been long known that manga-physics does not quite obey our physics ;) As for Aizen...true...but I have to say, I have some problems imagining where he would technically be, since the Seireitei is not exactly one happy, cosy place at the moment. I kinda think about it as it's hidden in some sub-dimension, and therefore I think he is.