Chapter 247: The World I Look Forward to (Part 2)
At this point, there was essentially nothing left to worry about.
The outer universe had already received the Chakra signal. The conclusion was set in stone. The only thing left was to watch them finally exert their full strength, fight together, and attempt to uproot the giant Chakra tree from Hueco Mundo.
In truth, it was an impossible task.
Under the Espada's combined efforts, the reishi desert that once stretched endlessly had long since vanished beneath a sprawling maze of trunks and branches. The God Tree's growth was no longer a matter of roots and leaves, it was steel like timber spreading with unchecked arrogance, swallowing Hueco Mundo whole.
If those trees were truly harmful, Hollows would have attacked them by instinct.
They did not.
After Aizen's targeted improvements, the God Tree released a reishi energy that Hollows loved. It was bait and salvation in one breath.
Countless particles that had once been unabsorbable were continuously drawn in, refined, converted into a form Hollows could accept, then siphoned again, most of it calling outward to the universe beyond. The entire God Tree, fused with the Great Hollow Forest that already existed in Hueco Mundo, completed its trump card in silence.
Aizen had said Hueco Mundo was unimportant.
That was only because Hueco Mundo was already his.
The ancient kings of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan and others like him, had been his subordinates long ago. Their movements proceeded without resistance. Once the forest finished establishing itself and the signal had been broadcast thoroughly to the outer universe, the rest was simply a matter of time.
They had to unite.
If they did not, this so called fated struggle would be won with insulting ease. That was a reality neither Yamamoto nor Yhwach could accept. Yet forcing those two to join hands was itself a task bordering on absurdity.
That was why the road to the Soul King Palace had become inevitable.
If not for an "unexpected incident" in a place sacred beyond measure, they would never truly unite. Neither Yhwach nor Yamamoto would.
But crises were opportunities.
Even if they could not unite properly, making them fight was easy. Only after a genuine clash, only after they had bared their teeth and bloodied their pride, could they be forced to notice where the real problem lay.
It was just a pity that Yhwach, as always, was a coward.
Kurosaki Ichigo's news from within the Wandenreich had already proven it. Yhwach had not left at all. The internal control and atmosphere in the Wandenreich had grown even tighter, more suffocating.
If not for the fact that their transmissions did not rely on ordinary Chakra, but on splitting a clone, killing it, then transmitting through quantum effects, they would likely have been discovered long ago.
Still, that same sense of crisis was precisely how Yhwach had survived for a thousand years under Yamamoto's nose, gathering information everywhere without being exposed.
Since he would not come out, his Sternritter could not simply be allowed to roam free.
Likewise, the Shinigami's Zero Division could not be released casually either.
The Soul King Palace was both sacred land and prison. Those without the Zero Division's flesh and blood could not enter or exit freely. That rule had been set by the Soul King himself.
So, by making modifications that followed those rules, Aizen's goals could be achieved.
Royd Lloyd was one such target.
A considerable portion of Yhwach's power resided within Royd's body. If he were simply taken by Auswählen, the power would return to Yhwach and Royd would die. But a man capable of perfectly imitating another's abilities was valuable material, the kind that could not be discarded casually.
And now, it was time for words to do their work.
"You are Yhwach's substitute," Aizen said, hovering with one hand in his pocket. "His impersonator, used when he has something to do. I am well aware."
Behind him, violent explosions kept blooming across the surrounding islands. Giant swords appeared from nowhere, carving grotesque scars into ancient halls. Destructive spiritual pressure crisscrossed the air like blades. Some Quincy were already sensing Shinigami traces and preparing for initial contact.
Yet Royd, suspended in midair, did not dare to move.
He stared at Aizen, cold sweat tracing down his temples.
His entire body felt locked by a chilling presence, like countless unseen snakes watching his muscles and bones, patiently measuring where to bite. At any moment, those fangs could tear his flesh into fragments.
Royd was not afraid for himself. Loyalty did not leave room for that.
What gnawed at him was something else.
If he died here, could His Majesty truly retrieve the power inside him through Auswählen?
"He cannot retrieve his power," Aizen said calmly, as if answering a thought Royd had not spoken. "This is a completely closed circulatory space. Auswählen returns power through a torrent of souls, does it not? But it cannot function here. He has no way to break my seal."
"You know why."
"Heh." Royd's face remained Yhwach's, cold and proud. "I do not know what you are talking about, Aizen Sōsuke. There is only one Yhwach in this world, and that is me."
"Oh?" Aizen's smile stayed gentle. "Is that so? Then try to transmit your power outward."
He paused, then tilted his head slightly.
"Or perhaps…"
Aizen raised a hand and, with deliberate care, tore open a small gap in space.
He made it look effortless, like parting a curtain.
"Only by leaving an opening like this can…"
"Now!"
Royd's expression snapped sharp. In the same instant, the power around him transformed into a pale blue stream, pouring into the opening like a flood through a cracked dam.
Yhwach's light vanished in a blink, flowing away toward the Wandenreich.
Royd looked at Aizen as if he had won.
A smug curve touched his lips.
"Now His Majesty will know everything. Aizen Sōsuke, you will surely be defeated by Lord Yhwach."
"Hm." Aizen's expression did not change. If anything, his voice sounded satisfied. "It seems this plan is also proceeding smoothly."
He turned slightly, as though the conversation had ended before it began.
"Well then, goodbye."
"…What?"
Royd's smugness shattered.
Aizen released the seal as easily as he had formed it, and his figure disappeared from the enclosed space without leaving so much as a ripple.
The world around Royd went quiet.
In that stillness, the "Yhwach" who remained became strangely pale, as if the light that had just poured away had taken more than power with it.
Royd stood frozen in midair, staring at the emptiness where Aizen had been.
Only then did the feeling settle into his gut, heavy and wrong.
As if, in trying to prove something, he had done exactly what Aizen wanted.
.....
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