Chapter 240: Nightmare
Haschwalth had never considered himself a good person.
From the very beginning, he never labeled himself as good. The moment he learned he was Yhwach's other half, the moment he began working beneath Yhwach's shadow, he understood exactly what he was.
Not good.
And yet, even someone like him understood what true evil looked like.
True evil was not the butcher who knew he was butchering. True evil was the kind that did not even recognize itself as evil. Aizen Sōsuke was precisely that sort of existence. He spoke as if he carried everyone on his shoulders, as if his intentions were noble, as if his mercy were divine.
That was why he was terrifying.
In Haschwalth's eyes, the reason every future had collapsed into this pure white present was exactly what Aizen claimed. If the plan failed, the world would be erased.
Haschwalth had never met anyone like him.
Even with his rigid logic, even with his cold habit of separating good from evil, he had often refused to conceal futures that involved Aizen. Again and again, he tried to correct the flow, to carve out an alternate road.
But the end was always the same.
No matter how he adjusted it, the final destination remained this colorless world.
There were even moments, almost like deliberate provocation, where Aizen showed him the ending with his own hands.
Haschwalth saw color drain from everything beneath a torrent of chakra. He saw the Soul King and Yhwach. He saw everyone, reduced to powerless children, swept into dust by a flood of light. And at the center of it all stood Aizen Sōsuke, fully recovered, completely unsealed, watching the world collapse as if it were nothing more than a curtain falling at the end of a play.
Hell, Soul Society, the Human World.
Quincy, Shinigami, humans.
Even Kurosaki Ichigo and the others.
The moment Aizen's plan failed, every injury inside Aizen would vanish. Those glittering star like coordinates embedded in his flesh and blood would disappear in an instant. The Divine Trees would release grotesque, warping cries, and with branches like axes, an infinite dissolving white light would spread outward.
The result was always a world like this.
Aizen Sōsuke truly was heavily wounded, but if he wanted to recover, it would take only an instant.
He remained injured because the coordinates still flowed through him, because those products were still active within his body. He needed those coordinates. Without them, he could not navigate the universe freely, he could only gamble against time inside endless chaos.
But if the plan to turn this world into nourishment failed, then coordinates no longer mattered.
There was no longer any need for caution.
He would simply absorb everything, compress all energy into a fixed outcome, and use that outcome to negotiate with the one who observed the past.
This was what Aizen called anchoring the timeline.
There was nothing mystical about it. It was brute certainty, backed by absolute confidence that no one in this world could stop him.
When someone holds an overwhelming advantage, they become strangely tolerant.
When a conclusion is nailed into place, even cruelty begins to look like patience.
This was the source of Aizen's calm, and the core of his indifference.
"Do you think I am some villain who cannot be reasoned with? That is your misunderstanding, Haschwalth kun."
Aizen watched him, and though Haschwalth remained silent, his aura shifted, growing subtly sharper, more restrained, more layered. Aizen's smile only became gentler.
As if this pure white apocalypse had nothing to do with him.
As if the end of everything were simply scenery.
He stayed courteous and warm, a manner so polite it became chilling in a world that had already died. And Aizen understood that fear.
He simply had no intention of changing.
Or perhaps, to him, what he was doing could not even be called good or evil. It was like cleaning a room after waking up. Like loading a save file.
Killing people, destroying a world, it all carried the same weight as turning a page.
"Because everything here has yet to happen."
…
"A future that has never happened, and will never happen, is this pure white world. This is a world that never appeared. It is merely the embodiment of my resolve and my will."
"You believe I would destroy everything if my plan failed, but that is not the case. This is merely my method of communication."
…
Haschwalth did not believe him.
It was unmistakable sophistry. And he did not believe those words reflected Aizen's true feelings.
He simply stared at Aizen.
Because there was still something he had not understood, something simple, something fundamental.
Why do this at all?
Why not kill him and Yhwach outright?
Why choose such a roundabout method?
As if on cue, without being asked, without waiting for dialogue, Aizen began his familiar habit. Questioning himself, answering himself, like a fisherman idly describing the net while the prey was already inside it.
"I believe this is not the first time you have reached this timeline, nor the first time I have spoken with you. Even to break this meaningless stalemate, you should understand that I am sincere."
"Otherwise, I could have killed you in the original world. But I did not."
"Instead, I appeared weak. You know the state I showed you."
"I never intended to be your enemy, never. It is you who have continued to press closer and closer."
Aizen's tone remained mild, almost conversational.
"Aside from a few who absolutely must die, or rather, those who must be removed for this world to progress, I have done nothing."
"Even the Quincy who attacked me, that seemingly dead jailer, Quilge Opie, is not truly dead."
"I even resurrected Shiba Kaien in secret, allowing the Shiba Clan to reunite."
"Even if, in the end, it did not change their determination to sacrifice Kurosaki Ichigo, I have still shown sincerity."
"So, the reason I did not kill them is actually very simple."
His smile softened, almost kindly.
"I want you to live. I want you to use your vast numbers, your continuous progress, to become the cornerstone of my advancement."
…
So this was it.
Just like Yhwach, Aizen Sōsuke was also a monster that devoured others.
Mercy, in his mouth, was just a more elegant way of describing slaughter.
Haschwalth weighed it silently. But as if the thought itself had been read, Aizen gave an immediate answer.
"I am not absorbing the souls and powers of others to strengthen myself, Haschwalth kun."
He smiled as he continued, voice calm in the dead white world.
"Have you ever considered a simple question?"
"In reality, a large population can artificially produce geniuses."
"With countless geniuses striving one after another, civilization develops faster, society grows, and people reach toward a more distant future. That is what I believe."
"But sadly, the political systems of the Shinigami and the Quincy suppress potential."
"Everyone fights for the Soul King, or for interests, or for pride. Even when they understand each other, they refuse to recognize each other's beliefs."
"Fresh blood is spent in meaningless struggles, until only the most conservative, the ugliest, the most inconspicuous, and the strongest remain."
Aizen's voice did not rise. It did not need to.
"And geniuses are often not born for combat."
"Nimaiya Ōetsu refined Zanpakuto. Kirinji Tenjirō created hot spring techniques. Their battle strength exists, yes, but its foundation is invention."
"Even Ichibe Hyosube understands why Seireitei can be rebuilt again and again."
"Because the Zero Division controls the core technology."
Aizen's gaze remained steady, sincere.
"So why can everyone not live well, then pour their intelligence and ability into building a better path for me to see?"
"My own research energy is limited. No matter how many times I divide myself, no matter how long I endure, cognitive bias remains."
"I do not understand many human thoughts and actions. I do not fully understand how the Quincy operate."
"But I believe that in the future, all of this can be accepted."
"Shinigami and Quincy do not need to kill each other."
"Even Hollows can be recruited and won over."
"I want you all to become the cornerstone of my future."
Haschwalth watched him, and for the first time, his brow tightened.
"…You want to change the world?"
Aizen's smile deepened.
"It seems you have finally understood my intention, Haschwalth kun. In that case, our conversation can continue."
He lifted a hand, palm open, and gently patted the void, as if calming the surface of a still lake.
In the next instant, color exploded.
Countless waves of vivid light swept over Haschwalth like a tide, drowning him in noise and saturation. The silent white apocalypse shattered, and the world became vibrant in a single breath, as if someone had poured an entire sky back into existence.
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]