Chapter 248: The World I Look Forward to (Part 3)
This was not an isolated incident.
Every scattered Quincy group that tried to move independently was intercepted by Aizen Sōsuke's clones.
Before anyone could truly decipher the Chakra power system, those clones were almost impossible to detect. Combined with Aizen's mastery of illusion and spatiotemporal techniques, it became a dimensionality reduction strike against both the Quincy and Shinigami worlds. They were fighting an opponent who was not merely stronger, but operating on principles they could not even properly define.
Just as Kidō and Zanpakuto could produce effects in the Shinigami world that had no equivalent elsewhere, techniques from the Naruto world behaved differently here as well. It was precisely because of that mismatch that Aizen began to understand, then pursue, a path he called peace.
The least effort for the greatest result.
That was progress.
The Quincy, of course, did not know these were clones.
More accurately, no one had ever seen Aizen's true body.
With nothing more than a slight bluff, the power that had been scattered and tested returned to Yhwach again, pouring back into him. It refilled the soul of the Soul King's son with memories he despised, pain and despair that he had spent a thousand years nurturing into fuel.
Yhwach had devoured Quincy souls and their power. Naturally, he knew what they had seen in their final moments, what they had understood in helplessness. And among those fragments, one image engraved itself into his consciousness.
Aizen Sōsuke, smiling, bowing slightly, as if greeting a respected guest.
"Aizen Sōsuke…"
Even coordinating with Haschwalth could not deceive him?
What was Chakra using to make its judgments?
From his throne in the Wandenreich, Yhwach slowly opened his eyes. The powers returned to him at the cost of lives, saturating his body, strengthening him, making him whole. Yet instead of satisfaction, a genuine bewilderment spread through his chest.
He had seen a complete victory in the infinite future. He knew this convergence would happen.
He knew he would win.
He would end the Soul King's long suffering and humiliation, permanently kill him, and seize that power.
But why was Aizen doing this?
Why summon the approaching guest star, why deliberately allow him to recover, why gather everyone into one place?
What was it all for?
Yhwach had awakened from a long slumber, and for once, he truly did not understand what was happening inside his own mind.
It felt as if Aizen Sōsuke was intentionally releasing power to him.
But he was Yhwach.
The Son of the Soul King.
The strongest in this world.
With infinite growth and endless accumulation, he could crush and shatter men like Yamamoto on the battlefield. And Aizen, was he not supposed to be severely injured, beyond healing?
Why would Aizen have the confidence to come here?
…Wait.
Why did he believe Aizen was severely injured in the first place?
From what perspective, from what idea, had that judgment formed?
It was as if, from the beginning, he had clung to the belief that Aizen could not recover. Yet time had passed. Why would he still insist on it? Where had that certainty come from?
His temples began to throb.
A strange pain pulsed through his skull, as if something were growing there, pressing against the inside of his thoughts.
Something fatal seemed to have been detected.
Then the pain subsided.
Some of the memories that had flashed through his abilities, along with certain predicted threads, began to vanish from his mind. Perceptions returned, rearranged. The matter of the so called severe injury was quickly forgotten, erased as if it had never mattered.
Yhwach rose.
Following residual illusions and half formed thoughts, he caught a single keyword, Kurosaki Ichigo.
So he did not think further. He walked straight to Ichigo's room by instinct, guided by an impression that felt entirely natural.
He entered without pause.
Bambietta was inexplicably sitting obediently beside Ichigo's bed. Yhwach ignored her completely. He looked at Ichigo, who seemed awkward for reasons he could not explain, and spoke directly.
"How much do you know about Aizen Sōsuke, Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"Aizen?" Ichigo hesitated, then answered honestly. "He's a pretty good guy, I guess. At least, most of what he did was to fulfill what I wanted."
"For you?"
"Yeah." Ichigo nodded, as if that were obvious. "Aizen's actions were largely influenced by what I said."
There was no exaggeration in his tone. For Ichigo, it was simply an objective fact.
In his eyes, Aizen respected him in a way that felt almost unnatural. Despite possessing immense power, Aizen remained courteous to a male high school student. He trained Ichigo, listened to his suggestions, and adjusted plans without the slightest impatience.
Ichigo continued, choosing his words carefully, but not trying to soften them.
"That guy, Aizen, doesn't look like a good person. But he's patient, and he understands what's going on. So I think he probably wants you and that old man Yamamoto to have a decisive battle."
"You're the leader of the Shinigami, and he's the leader of the Quincy. Ishida and I can be together. Even if you two have grudges that go deep, the world still has to move forward."
"Hostility is hostility, but death is another matter. Everyone can live peacefully. There's no need to fight until one side is wiped out. That's what I think, so I asked Aizen to help me do it."
Ichigo's voice steadied as he spoke, as if repeating something he had already weighed many times.
"Otherwise, with Aizen's original plan, he didn't even need all this. He could have just spread Chakra everywhere. For him, time was enough. He could implant it, let it be absorbed, let it replace things little by little."
"But because of what I wanted, and because I wanted to save Rukia, Aizen came to help me. He caused a lot of problems, but after he got Chakra, he realized his own issues. Now he's trying to fix them."
"So for me, Aizen is a pretty good guy. I don't think he's a saint, but he's not bad to me. That's how it is."
"…?"
For the first time in a long time, Yhwach truly looked at Kurosaki Ichigo as if he were seeing something unbelievable.
.....
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