Chapter 246: The World I Expect
"…"
"It is useless to pretend you are still Yhwach."
Aizen hovered in midair, his robe barely stirring, his expression gentle as ever. He looked at the figure before him, a perfect imitation of Yhwach's silence and arrogance, and regarded it the way one might regard a well made mask.
"Because, in essence, this place does not belong to any known space time. Everything that enters here is analyzed, reconstructed, then reenacted. Disguise as much as you like, falsehood remains falsehood, and truth remains truth. Everything leaves a mark in time and space."
"Aizen Sōsuke…" The impostor's voice tightened. "It really is you…"
"It is useless to stall and hide behind that face." Aizen's tone did not change. "Did I not tell you? The scenery I see is completely different from what you see."
Royd Lloyd's heart was anything but calm.
As Yhwach's substitute, his purpose was simple, complete the task His Majesty had assigned. Yet this entire journey toward the Soul King Palace felt like a dream that refused to end, an impression too smooth, too convenient, too wrong.
Yhwach had sensed that wrongness as well. That was why he had not come personally.
Instead, he had sent Royd.
A substitute, yes, but one who inherited a terrifying portion of Yhwach's power, reinforced by his Holy Schrift. From any angle, he was Yhwach. His thoughts, his logic, his manner, even the pressure he carried, all matched the Yhwach of a thousand years ago.
And yet, that "Yhwach" had not sensed how Aizen Sōsuke had appeared here.
It was as if an extra segment had been inserted into the cycle of space and time, and Aizen had simply stepped into it.
Natural. Calm. Inevitable, as though he had always belonged here.
"Did you notice?" Aizen asked softly.
Royd's expression flickered, startled and uncertain.
Aizen did not even bother to keep watching him. He turned his gaze outward, toward the Quincy threading their way along the Royal Path to the Soul King Palace, and toward the Shinigami moving across the other aerial courtyards.
From this angle, only three islands should have been visible.
Yet in Aizen's eyes, the barriers of space and time seemed transparent. The Zero Division's struggle, the Shinigami's confusion, the Quincy's unease, he saw it all with perfect clarity.
Because it was all his arrangement.
If you descended into a world, you had to interact with the world itself. If the world had no master, like a certain world where the Six Paths Sage had been killed the moment Aizen arrived, then none of this would matter.
But this world still had its master.
The embodiment of its fate. The existence born to resist the void that devoured worlds. The avatar of the World Will.
The Soul King.
It existed, always, sealed away, watching without moving.
From the beginning, the Soul King's thinking never truly included survival. It only wished for the world to become better. If a more perfect future appeared, then even death could be accepted as a choice.
What a magnificent spirit of self sacrifice. What a commendable existence. As if that end had always been waiting for him.
Only Aizen's arrival could break that cycle of sacrifice and redemption.
Why?
Because Aizen was an outsider. A traveler who brought tidings from beyond the universe. To the Soul King, a being nurtured by this world itself, Aizen's existence was dazzling, like a sun that did not belong in this sky.
Naturally, Aizen's actions, Aizen's thoughts, could not escape the Soul King's notice.
So why had things reached this outcome?
The answer was simple.
From beginning to end, Aizen had not intended to sacrifice anyone, nor to destroy anything.
He only wanted to make this world more complete, more beautiful, and the Soul King understood that.
So everything unfolding now was a game.
A game meant to grind down old grievances, old destinies, old hatred, until they finally dissipated within this world.
Only, some people refused to play. Some even tried to run from the board.
That forced Aizen to allocate resources again, correcting the plan's trajectory.
"Aizen Sōsuke," Royd said, voice cold, still wearing Yhwach's face as if daring the world to deny him. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"If you desire true death, I will grant it after I complete my plan. You are too eager to act."
"Eager?" Aizen smiled faintly. "Perhaps. But I did come here for my own reason."
He looked at Royd, and his calm carried an odd, almost courteous weight.
"Because I believe you are also an existence worth winning over."
"…?"
Royd's mind jolted.
Someone like me? Personally win over?
Did this man not understand what absolute loyalty meant? Royd had never once considered betrayal. He was not moved by Aizen's "sincerity."
He was simply convinced Aizen had lost his mind.
Perhaps sensing the thought, Aizen's smile deepened. He pushed up his glasses, then spoke in a low voice, as if discussing something trivial while looking down on the ant like crowds far below.
"Do not misunderstand. You might think I intend to personally win everyone over, to stand here and preach sincerity and ideals."
"That is not the case."
Royd's eyes narrowed.
"I am a clone," Aizen continued, unhurried. "I possess the main body's wisdom, thinking, and behavioral patterns, but I was created to assist the plan, and stabilize its operation."
"What?" Royd blurted before he could stop himself. "A clone?"
"Of course." Aizen's tone suggested this was obvious. "The me who went to the Wandenreich to perform Heavenly Obstruction Quaking Star, the me who teaches and guides in Rukongai, the me currently hidden in Seireitei to win hearts, the me waiting for results in the dojo, all of them are clones."
"In common sense terms, it is a matter of course, is it not? I can create clones, correct your actions, and maintain the plan's direction. So why would I need to move my true body?"
Aizen's gaze returned to the puppet before him, his smile still gentle, still maddening.
"Is Yhwach any different?"
And in that calm voice, Royd heard the true terror, not power, but certainty. A certainty that treated the world like a board already solved.
.....
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