One hundred years after the Incident Involving Aizen and his Espada. The Hougyoku was tossed into the Dangai Precipice World and has made its way into the hands of a certain set of rouge Shinigami that now hide out in the Valley of Screams. These shinigami have secret plans to tap into the power of the Hougyoku and annihilate the Real world in one swift movement and become gods themselves. Unfortunately for them, they are having problems with the powers of the Hougyoku as they did not understand its powers. Currently they control the Dangai area, and occasionally ambush people who pass by the area. These people have also gained control of "The Sweeper".
The beings that were hollows discovered their own ways of becoming Espada without the power of shinigami, and have become stronger than their previous partners. The Espada are lead by their 0 Espada and are unified, bound by code to never betray their kind. These Espada are numbered from 1-12 now as they wished to expand their ranks.
The Shinigami went on after the Aizen Incident and the captains have each left their spots and now new Captains have taken their place. The Captains now each working in greater harmony than they had before, as approved of(forced by) the Captain Commander. They Currently work with the Vizard and humans to figure out exactly what was going on in the Dangai world and what the Espada were up to, each now taking a solemn vow of death to never leave their posts.