Chapter 534: Aizen's Evolution Principle
"What is that guy going to do?" someone asked.
On the open-air top floor of the red attic, not far from the Dragon of Hades, several pairs of eyes observed curiously.
They were the three sisters of Sun, Moon, and Star.
The reason they could move during the time stop was due to special circumstances.
The youngest sister named Kōan, codenamed Star, had a stand ability called The Star, symbolizing hope.
This hope manifested as a redo or a return to the past.
Her stand's ability allowed her to travel back in time, though its scope was limited, typically affecting only individuals. Using it on too many people consumed excessive energy.
Now, with Joe Tlian's time stop in effect, Kōan activated her ability, turning herself and her two sisters into illusions of the past.
The logic was simple: Joe Tlian stopped the present, but it had no effect on their past state.
Thus, they existed in a past state, unable to influence the outside world, and the outside world could not affect them.
This was one application of Kōan's stand ability, though it had a time limit.
Compared to Joe Tlian's current time stop, her ability allowed them to remain active within it.
Besides Kōan, several others in the Competitive Canyon began to move.
Two of them were princesses from the Chaos Realm: Ankleya, the Domination Princess, and Saijō, the Death Tide Princess.
Their companion beasts resided in the time and space controlled by the Goddess of Chaos, a realm unaffected by the time stop.
When they attended the Mythical Beast Conference, they had coordinated with their beasts.
In case of anomalies, their beasts would automatically teleport to them.
Now, two teleportation arrays appeared.
A humanoid blue energy body, emitting arc-shaped energy light into the void, and a slender Western dragon with jet-black scales emerged simultaneously from the arrays.
They were the Void Dominator, Ankleya's companion beast, and the Black Death Dragon King, Saijō's companion beast.
As soon as the beasts appeared, they used their contracts to free the princesses from the time stop.
As favored beasts bestowed by the Goddess of Chaos, they could resist time-space anomalies to an extent by leveraging their connection to the beasts' time and space, provided they detected the disturbance.
The Void Dominator's power was closely tied to time and space, and though it lacked direct time-space abilities, it could sense anomalies, making resistance easier.
Thus, the two princesses broke free.
Though their movements were slower than usual, they could finally act.
"This is a world where time has stopped? It feels quite interesting to see everyone frozen!" Saijō said, casually flipping her beige hair with intrigue.
This was their first time experiencing a time stop so vividly.
Though the Time King's ability was renowned across the seas, few could perceive it without preparation.
They might not even notice it being used.
This was Saijō's first time witnessing a world frozen in time.
It reminded her of a move she had seen from the Void Dominator.
The principles differed, but the visual effect was somewhat similar.
Hearing Saijō's words, Ankleya did not respond but gazed at the Stand striking the golden sphere in the central area.
"That guy wants to take it all for himself. That's too much!"
"Xiaojiu, go deal with him quickly."
In response to Saijō's command, the Black Death Dragon King rolled its eyes and said, "Hundred Altars."
"Why don't you go grab it yourself?"
"Are you going it or not?"
"Fifty at most, or you can stay here and watch. I'll starve you when we get back." Saijō said.
Soon, the two reached an agreement.
The Black Death Dragon King roared, ready to join the battlefield.
On the other side, Buggy stood in another attic.
His eyes were filled with fear, darting around, but his body remained immobile.
Within his body or soul, a faint golden light stubbornly kept his consciousness from stopping.
This was the nature of his stand, The Fool.
However, it had not fully matured, and maintaining consciousness was its current limit.
It could do no more.
Thus, Buggy could only stare at the frozen time and space before him.
It felt like seeing a ghost while being pinned down by it.
Besides Buggy, Aizen hovered in midair, not far from the central area.
His eyes gradually sharpened with alertness.
His consciousness was immersed in the clash and adaptation of certain laws.
The Hogyoku's power was rooted in evolution, a law that was profoundly unreasonable.
Under the anomaly of stopped time and space, Aizen, fully in control of the Hogyoku, gradually developed resistance to the disruption through exposure.
This was evolution adapting to the anomaly.
First his eyes, then his expression, followed by his neck and limbs.
Soon, Aizen regained full control of his senses.
As he did, his resistance to time and space yielded results.
Perhaps, with more exposure to such anomalies, he could slowly become immune to time stops, ultimately ignoring them entirely.
This was the terror of evolution.
Of course, evolution had its limits.
It could make one stronger, but it rarely evolved itself.
This sounded complex, but it was clearer in terms of laws.
The Hogyoku's evolutionary law had a fixed capacity, and increasing it was difficult.
Otherwise, one could spiral infinitely upward, like stepping on one's own foot to ascend to the cosmos.
Aizen's current evolution could only deepen his understanding of other laws.
However, this understanding was capped by the limits of the evolutionary law itself.
This did not mean the evolutionary law could not improve, but doing so was extremely challenging and required vast accumulations of time.
"Is this a time stop? It's truly a remarkable power."
"Perhaps I could use Soul Society's time to learn the Forbidden Technique."
Aizen looked at the stand attacking the golden sphere nearby and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
In the present Soul Society, there existed Kidō related to time and space, all classified as Forbidden Techniques.
Only vice-captains, captains, and certain high-ranking Soul Society officials knew of their existence.
Only the highest-ranking Shinigami, such as captains and the Kidō Corps commander, were eligible to learn them.
As the captain of the Fifth Division, Aizen was naturally qualified.
That was for the future, though. For now, Aizen was more intrigued by the breaking seal in the center.
What was this so-called ultimate treasure, said to rival the power of gods?
Aizen felt a surge of excitement.
At the center of the canyon, Joe Tlian watched as his stand nearly shattered the golden sphere's chains, but his expression remained guarded.
From time to time, he noticed that several individuals could act within the stopped time.
None of them were simple.
They were watching him, likely waiting for the seal to break to strike him down.
He had to stay vigilant.
Yet, he had no choice but to press on and open the treasure.
(End of this chapter)