Chapter 251: The World I Long For (Part Six)
"...Yhwach really believed that?"
"Of course not," Aizen said. "But he is not asking for much. All he wants is for you to stay out of the fight."
Turning a potential enemy into a neutral party was already a victory.
Aizen Sōsuke sat in the living room and popped open a can of soda. On the projected screen, Yhwach's cool, domineering face filled the room like a looming statue. Aizen's smile never faded. For a moment, it almost felt like the old days, when he could laze around and binge watch dramas without a care in the world.
After all, no matter how fiercely the war outside raged, it was meaningless at its core, hatred in motion, piled up until it became a machine.
The Quincy hated the Shinigami to the bone, yet how well had the Shinigami ever treated the Quincy?
Blood feuds had drowned both sides long ago.
Even if someone leapt forward claiming they had found a path to world peace, begging everyone to lay down their hatred, could it ever happen?
This was not a world where everyone had rights. It was not a world where the powerless could casually take another's life, or survive after doing so. This world ran on the judgments and whims of a tiny few.
More precisely, only three.
The Soul King had shown no response, so he hardly counted. Ichibe Hyosube entered the Soul King Palace and vanished without a trace, reiatsu included, so he was out as well. That left only Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, Yhwach, and Aizen Sōsuke to steer the situation.
And with Aizen now a complete fossil waiting for the star of ruin to fall, the duel was reduced to those two.
Every one of them believed, without doubt, that Aizen Sōsuke was gravely wounded. None of them questioned the claim.
What Yhwach had to do was simple.
Eliminate every threat.
Obliterate Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, fulfill the wish that had lasted a thousand years, then destroy Aizen Sōsuke's Shinrin and merge with the Soul King to become the sole ruler of the world.
At this stage, Kurosaki Ichigo's stance was essential.
Askin could not truly kill him. His power could interfere, but the moment he tried to take it further, Ichigo's near bottomless strength would erupt and drag everything into a rampage, an outcome too messy to control.
The information was top secret.
So Aizen Sōsuke, in his kindness, planted it in everyone's mind.
For someone who commanded illusions, tampering with memories for his own advantage was trivial. It was nothing more than placing a mental trigger, subtle enough to make them uneasy, yet strong enough to make them crave stability whenever Kurosaki Ichigo was involved.
The result was inevitable.
Yhwach judged that Kurosaki Ichigo held no real hostility, no malicious intent.
Who would bear genuine enmity toward a man who might self destruct at any moment?
As long as that fellow stayed stable and stopped wrecking other people's plans, that was the greatest stability Yhwach could hope for. His dream was a mixture of truth and falsehood, delivered with such confidence that it became utterly convincing.
A trap made specifically for Kurosaki Ichigo.
No need to overthink it. Just ask yourself whether you wanted to protect your family, or become fodder for invisible forces. Anyone with a conscience, or ambition, would hesitate to say no. Help was welcome, but simple neutrality was already a fine outcome.
Judging others by himself, Yhwach assumed Aizen Sōsuke would never reveal core truths that might deepen their bond. He did not know what lay between Aizen and Kurosaki Ichigo, but his current intelligence was enough to drive a wedge.
He never suspected that every move he made was under Aizen's surveillance.
Nor did he suspect that Aizen had already told Ichigo everything.
Everything.
Including the fact that the Hollow had been his own test subject, and that it might have indirectly hastened death, Aizen laid it bare during months of instruction. To the ever mystifying Yhwach, such openness was unthinkable.
Confidence in his power, confidence in his plans, hatred and arrogance toward his foe, all of it guided Yhwach straight down the broad road Aizen had paved for him.
He was already convinced he had persuaded Kurosaki Ichigo.
All that remained was to end the ancient fate once and for all, to bury his nemesis forever in ash. High above the Soul King Palace, the enemy of destiny was waiting for him.
And those Quincy had already become both the defeated and the nourishment for the Soul King Palace and Aizen Sōsuke.
Yhwach, confident that Auswählen and the soul fragments would proceed without a hitch, had no way of knowing that even the souls of the Quincy had been preserved by Aizen.
Since they were people with a certain utility, they might as well be put to good use.
For the former Soul Society Aizen Sōsuke, it would have been impossible.
For today's fused Aizen Sōsuke, if it was something he could accomplish with a casual wave of the hand, then what reason was there not to do it?
"In the end, everything's still inside your calculations, huh, Aizen?" Ichigo said, pulling a can of cola from the fridge. He kept his eyes on the projection, studying every flicker of the screen, then turned to look at Aizen, sunk deep in the sofa opposite him, no different from any middle aged man rotting happily in front of a drama. "From start to finish, they're all caught in your web. There's no way out."
"Master the data and the perceptions," Aizen replied, "and this is the result."
He took a sip, unhurried.
"In truth, I could always do it. Back then, I was simply stubborn. I wanted to prove myself through another method. People are contradictory. We like to test real difficulty."
On the screen, Ichigo sat brooding while Yhwach's low grin hovered behind him like an omen. Aizen watched it with mild regret and shook his head.
He had already had the chance to finish everything long ago.
He could have slipped away early while crossing the Senkaimon. He could have used Kyoka Suigetsu to carry out every scheme and task with ease. With his reiatsu, it was entirely possible. And he knew the Hōgyoku had never abandoned him.
Theoretically, he could have pursued final evolution, reached a state free of fear, stormed the Soul King Palace and fought Ichibe Hyosube to the death, then, by deceiving him for an instant with Kyoka Suigetsu, enter the palace, slay the Soul King, and take his place.
All of it was feasible.
Yet Aizen Sōsuke had not wanted to.
He had not wished to keep walking forward alone.
So he had engineered Kurosaki Ichigo, the man who could one day end him completely.
Even now, having seen so much more, Aizen Sōsuke still trusted him. He still expected great things of him. Because the world would keep moving forward, and the true protagonist was none other than this young man sitting opposite him.
Ask why, and the answer was simple.
From the very moment of arrival, the script was already written.
In this world, the appearance of a foreign body spawned a true powerhouse. The Soul King himself was born that way. The Hollow that devoured worlds was slain by the Soul King while he was still young.
So how could Aizen Sōsuke, who had crossed worlds, possibly escape being detected?
This was the world Aizen Sōsuke wished to see.
An open future, where everyone could reach their own perfection.
It was also what another had hoped for, a world where all could finally decide their own fates. A saint who sacrificed himself, glimpsed the future, ugly and numb, and yet still believed.
"The one waiting in the Soul King Palace has long anticipated this," Aizen said softly. "Every debt of gratitude and vengeance will end in a single battle. Every grievance will be settled in the final showdown."
He looked at Ichigo, then back to the screen.
"Then, in a world cleansed of grudges, we can truly step into the new one. A world without death is incomplete, yet a world steeped only in death is equally twisted."
"Our Soul King does not wish to leave the world in tatters. When the time comes, we will have to tidy up the scene."
"Eh?"
Ichigo paused mid sip, tilting his head.
"So we still have to show up for this so called final battle in the end?"
"After all," Aizen said, "the master of this world has granted us generous favors and helped us so much. When we watch it step toward a new beginning, we ought to show the host a bit of courtesy."
He set his drink down.
"Going in person poses no problem for us."
On the screen, Yhwach walked toward a cylindrical device, preparing to head for the Soul King Palace.
Aizen shook his head once, as if pitying the simplicity of it all, then snapped his fingers.
The instant the crisp sound rang out, a black, mosaic like fissure opened in the air before them.
It was the road to the Soul King Palace.
A result of the Soul King himself opening the barrier and granting passage.
Within an ice crystal that seemed to contain the very sky, a man sat sealed, brilliant cross shaped eyes fixed on this world.
His lips curved, just slightly, into a faint smile.