Chapter 225: Long Distance Father and Son
If one ignored Yhwach's coldness, and the way he treated subordinates like disposable rags, he still looked like a king on the surface.
He carried himself with bold confidence. He spoke with calm certainty. His face was aged and resolute, the kind of face that made people instinctively believe he must be reliable.
The reality, however, was grotesquely different.
Yhwach was twisted from the moment he was born. His existence demanded sustenance, and that sustenance was the souls of others. He survived by absorbing what belonged to other people, again and again, in endless cycles.
Even touching his body could fill someone with a strange satisfaction, a sudden warmth toward their own life, and then an inexplicable worship of him. But that worship did not stay pure. It warped. The one who adored him would begin to change, their body and spirit subtly drawn toward him, as if trying to merge with his shape.
In the end, their soul would be torn free, shattered into fragments and nutrients, and used to fill whatever emptiness lurked inside him.
That was how he lived as a child.
Later, he created the Quincy power and distributed it.
The Quincy would learn. Cultivate. Grow. Die in battle.
Then everything they had, power, knowledge, even the shape of their souls, would dissolve and flow back into Yhwach once more.
It was not that he never received trust. It was not that he never possessed the power people dreamed of. He had everything.
He simply remained unsatisfied.
So he promised a world without fear, without the dread of death, and gathered the Quincy to wage war against Seireitei.
Regrettably, the difference between Quincy strength and Seireitei strength was too vast.
His Sternritter were wiped out. He himself was ambushed and vaporized by Zanka no Tachi.
And not a single Shinigami captain died.
Yhwach reflected on that failure for a long time. In his mind, the reason he lost to Yamamoto was not strategy, not timing, not fate, but cruelty. He decided he had not been savage enough. Waiting for the slow decline of the Quincy was too gentle, too slow, too uncertain.
He wanted a permanent solution.
A power that could resist Yamamoto, and later, even the Zero Division.
That desire gave birth to Auswählen.
From that moment, his reign of terror became inevitable. Bonds among the Quincy became a joke. Love, friendship, communication, all of it became meaningless. No matter what a Quincy felt, no matter how strong or strange their abilities were, no matter how much resentment they carried, everything could be stripped away and reduced to ash beneath Auswählen.
All Quincy had taken out a loan with impossible interest.
What they gained was Quincy power.
What they paid was their souls.
Then Yhwach would wear the mask of a benevolent king, handing out authority to Sternritter he claimed to trust, letting them believe they were cherished, while he sank into dreams and searched for a future where victory was guaranteed.
He plotted for a thousand years. He searched, filtered, and collected hints from the dream world, hiding his true strength until the moment he was ready.
In that sense, he made the correct choice.
His thunderous strike nearly shattered Soul Society. The black torrent of spiritual power threatened to sweep across the Three Realms.
The only problem was that he overlooked Kurosaki Ichigo.
He overlooked the hatred his own actions forged.
Still Silver, the seal born from the rage and remains of countless Quincy, anchored everything about Yhwach to a single point.
And Zangetsu severed him completely, killing him inside his own dream.
If The Almighty could be deceived, then was it truly omniscience and omnipotence?
Ichigo believed the answer was simple.
It was neither.
It was a monster's title, worn by a monster that fed on souls to complete itself.
And among the countless souls that formed Yhwach's body, that became his nourishment, there was even the soul of Ichigo's mother.
On that rainy night, targeted by Auswählen, she met death standing tall, wearing her confidence like armor.
Ishida Uryu had lost his mother too. In the original world, Uryu and Ishida Ryuken brought forth Still Silver, the embodiment of Quincy rage and destiny. Only then was Yhwach's endless resurrection sealed.
But now, maybe it would not even come to that.
Even so, seeing his mother's killer right in front of him made Ichigo's fingers itch.
He understood clearly that he was a clone, that he lacked the main body's ability to shave space apart with every step, yet he still wanted to walk up and slap Yhwach across the face.
Unfortunately, Yhwach misunderstood that trembling fury completely.
This arrogant Quincy king, who saw no one but himself, who arranged the fates of others and enjoyed their offerings as if it were natural, leaned forward as though he had grasped Ichigo's heart.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, you are angry because what I said feels like an insult, is that correct?"
"The child of a Shinigami, with special power, dragged before me without Aizen Sosuke even reacting. You feel uncomfortable. You feel humiliated."
He spoke with a calm certainty that made his words sound almost reasonable.
"However, you are wrong. I did not bring you here because you are a Ryoka, nor to leverage your relationship with Aizen Sosuke. Aizen is talented, but his vision is narrow. He only wishes to see the future descend into chaos, yet he ignores the cornerstone of peace."
His gaze sharpened, turning heavy.
"And you, Kurosaki Ichigo. You surprise me. Quincy blood truly flows through your veins."
"Even so, I am not your son."
Ichigo stared at him, rooted in place, and sneered with open disdain.
"You want me to bow to some bearded old man like you and call you father? Don't look down on me, Yhwach. Even now, I can still pull something off."
Yhwach laughed, deep and pleased, as if he had just heard a child's stubborn denial.
"Hahaha. All Quincy are my children, Kurosaki Ichigo. As for your chakra, I will not deny it is wondrous. When it is held by Aizen Sosuke, I can barely find any way to influence him. I am not even certain whether that power is truly real."
His smile thinned.
"But Ichigo, you are too young."
"My children? All Quincy are your children? What are you even saying?"
"Still don't understand?" Yhwach's voice lowered, each word pressing down. "Your bloodline, your actions, even the power within your body, all of it is tied to me. Even part of your soul is me. If you are not my son, then who is?"
Ichigo's pupils trembled. He stumbled back two steps, shock ripping through him in spite of himself.
Yhwach's smile widened, bright with conviction.
"You are my son, Kurosaki Ichigo. Quincy blood is in your body."
"What are you even talking about!"
"Do not be disrespectful."
A hoarse voice cut in from the side.
A thin, gaunt man stood with his arms crossed, his expression indifferent, almost impatient.
Askin Nakk Le Vaar.
The Deathdealing.
The pressure that came from his Schrift was not simply strength, it felt like a rule being placed on reality itself.
Ichigo, only a clone, instinctively pressed a hand to his chest and coughed.
It was not acting.
He could feel it, Askin's ability had activated. Even though this was a Wood Clone, its interior had been converted into flesh and blood through chakra. The puppet that could deceive anyone still staggered, and Ichigo forced himself to look up, wary and surprised.
"That was you…?"
Askin's gaze did not change.
"Your Majesty, Kurosaki Ichigo's attitude toward you is disrespectful. I administered a minor punishment. Does this meet your approval?"
"Hahaha, it's fine."
Yhwach waved a hand lazily, as if dismissing an annoyance.
"I am not the kind of tyrant who strikes whenever questioned. The relationship between you, Kurosaki Ichigo, and Aizen Sosuke is strange. It is only natural that hearing you are my son would make you waver."
Askin bowed his head and stepped back.
The deathly sensation inside Ichigo's body vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
Yhwach strode forward, long robe and military uniform swaying with controlled authority. He stopped before Ichigo, then patted his shoulder like a father comforting a stunned child.
"It is natural for you to be shaken. Everything has moved too quickly, and you do not understand yet. Perhaps Aizen Sosuke told you some things, but you will soon learn that the closeness between souls cannot be denied."
His palm lingered, heavy.
"You are my child. I am your father. No one and nothing can sever that bond."
"For now, stay here in the Wandenreich."
Ichigo remained silent, his jaw tight.
"Too shocked to speak?" Yhwach chuckled, then looked aside. "Bambietta. Take him to familiarize himself with the area and help him settle in. From now on, he is our comrade."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Bambietta rose smoothly from her kneel, then turned toward Ichigo with a sweet smile that did not reach her eyes.
"Shall we go, Kurosaki Ichigo?"
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