...
Where am I?
This was Seiya's first reaction after 'awakening.'
Because the scene that came into view at this moment wasn't the familiar Soul King Hall, but a chaotic space.
Here, up and down, left and right couldn't be distinguished, and no traces of any living beings could be seen... it was lonely, empty, and also permeated with a deep 'darkness.'
Making one unconsciously want to curl up into a ball.
But now wasn't the time to do that.
Because Seiya retained fragments called memories... he clearly knew his situation and everything he needed to face.
—I still have to fight Yhwach, I must leave this place.
So then.
Where was the exit?
In this chaotic space, Seiya began running around like a headless fly.
But from beginning to end, he couldn't find any 'traces.' There were no reference points here at all, as if time itself had lost meaning.
Why... did I appear here?
Vines called confusion climbed all over Seiya's thoughts, binding them tightly, making even the act of thinking itself feel exhausting.
Perhaps.
Just sinking down like this...
Was also a way to resolve things?
But just as this thought emerged.
A familiar voice quietly transmitted from his mind.
'Really? Are you giving up so quickly? Well... this is indeed very much like something you'd do!'
Seiya's body trembled slightly, and he couldn't help but open his eyes at this moment.
He knew the owner of this voice, and was even more shocked by this current situation.
'Do you think you might be hallucinating?'
'Well... having such thoughts isn't strange! After all, I don't believe it myself.'
'But the fact is that I, Sāgara Ryū, have magnificently revived!'
Seiya's eyes widened slightly, showing an expression of disbelief.
"But... why?"
'Shouldn't you be the one who understands this best?'
"I don't understand..."
'Don't be so hasty. You just haven't figured out the current situation yet. Calm down and think from the beginning.'
Sāgara Ryū's voice was very gentle. She used her unique tone to smooth over Seiya's complex emotions at this moment, until she completely calmed his heart.
'This place, you've actually known about it from the very beginning.'
'After all, this is the secret between us, something we've mastered from the very, very beginning...'
'But haven't been able to use.'
Sāgara Ryū's...
True power...
Past memories surfaced bit by bit.
Seiya at this moment examined his various past experiences, touching fragments of memory in the haze.
Taking the stage as a Soul Reaper.
Finding his own Hollow mask.
Through the method of not entering the path of participation, mixing and merging both powers, completing the fusion process without using the Hōgyoku.
After that...
Abandoning his own soul.
In a completely different form, fully accepting Quincy power.
The complexity of the soul was destined from the beginning—like Ichigo, as a collection of multiple powers, he had already stood at the pinnacle from birth.
But Seiya was different. He had to find ways to complete his power...
Even if it was this kind of patchwork method, it didn't matter.
And through this behavior.
Seiya finally mastered the powers of Soul Reaper, Quincy, and Hollow.
Through his Zanpakutō's assistance, he could use this power more skillfully and make it completely surpass its original level.
The Almighty was the result of this power fusion.
If it was just to target the previous Yhwach, achieving this level would have been enough.
But things went against his wishes.
The re-evolved Yhwach became a more threatening opponent. If Seiya couldn't continue progressing, everything up to now would become futile.
So where was the direction to continue striving?
Seiya had prepared the answer long ago...
That was the reincarnated soul.
—Those who possessed power wouldn't fall into hell when they died.
—Execution methods couldn't destroy the soul body, so it naturally entered the three worlds' cycle of reincarnation.
—Of course, this also required participation from multiple forces... Ichibē was responsible for extracting power, Mayuri fixed the reincarnation, Urahara shaped the physical body.
Seiya would definitely be reborn as a human.
But what meaning did all this have?
Naturally, it was to... completely digest the 'seed' gifted by the Soul King.
Long ago, when Seiya had been active in the Invisible Empire as a Quincy, he had also heard Gerard and Pernida speak of similar 'familiar' feelings.
This was not only because they were fellow Royal Guards, but also because Seiya's body more or less manifested some of the Soul King's aura.
After the three powers, where was the last piece that could fill and complete the power puzzle?
That was an ordinary person with the Soul King's aura, called...
Fullbring power.
Urahara's groundwork was for this, and Isshin and Ryūken's efforts were also for this.
This wasn't the result of one person's efforts, but the concerted effort of many, a meticulous plan to create a net that would completely strangle Yhwach.
All endpoints led to this.
The four powers combined at this moment, not only completing Seiya's soul but also filling in the last missing memories.
As Aizen had said.
He was complete.
A dazed, subtle, contemplative expression appeared on Seiya's face.
And after a long time, as if he had understood something, he slowly closed his eyes at this moment.
Sāgara Ryū's voice came.
'See? It seems even without my reminder, you've already understood our situation.'
'This is also why I didn't want you to use this part of your power... after all, once used, there's no turning back.'
'But saying these things now is useless. Let's go together.'
To clean up the final aftermath.
Seiya nodded slightly, then reopened his eyes.
Three clear and distinct pupils at this moment stood out clearly against each other, shining like gems.
...
Yhwach looked at the brilliant ball of light before him, his brows unconsciously furrowing into a knot.
He didn't like unexpected things.
No exceptions in any form.
He had to eliminate all uneasy factors... even if it cost him something, it didn't matter.
He silently waved both hands, and the pitch-black Soul King Torrent began surging wildly, sweeping toward the light sphere not far away.
After power reached a certain level, form lost its meaning.
Just summoning the Soul King Torrent at this moment could unleash Yhwach's full strength.
After all, there absolutely couldn't exist anything in this world that could resist this power—Yhwach believed this firmly and showed a triumphant smile at this moment.
He seemed to already see what the ending would be.
But...
The Soul King Torrent was completely bounced away.
A moment of displacement, ineffective power, made Yhwach's expression completely freeze on his face.
As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing with his own eyes, his mouth opened slightly at this moment... yet he seemed to have aphasia.
Unable to utter half a word.
"What is... this?"
"Heh, curious?"
Aizen didn't mind at all that his behavior might offend Yhwach. His smile was somewhat flamboyant, but this was also one manifestation of emotions that couldn't be suppressed.
"This is the power you sought but couldn't obtain, Yhwach."
"The power that even after absorbing the Soul King and controlling the three worlds, you still couldn't know and understand the essence of."
"And this is the true Soul King's power... the power that can create everything."
The power of... creation?
Before he could chew on these words, the light sphere began blooming at this moment.
Among the bright light and heat, Seiya's figure appeared and slowly stepped forward at this moment.
Not quite clear what the other party had done... but it didn't matter. With the Soul King's foundation within him, he absolutely wouldn't lose.
"Mystifying!"
The Soul King Torrent roared and began surging, sweeping over and crashing hard into Seiya.
But the result was the same as before—the torrent couldn't harm Seiya in the slightest, being completely bounced away the moment it made contact.
Why?
Yhwach at this moment completely couldn't understand what was happening.
He unconsciously widened his eyes, but the power he had trusted so much until now didn't respond meaningfully—the Almighty couldn't see the other party's future.
Aizen took in this reaction completely.
A pleased smile appeared at the corner of his mouth at this moment.
"Someone like you is ultimately just someone who inherited his father's legacy... you don't understand how true power should be used."
"Yhwach, have you ever thought about what the so-called Soul King's power actually comes from?"
The master raised his hand, chuckling as he pointed to his temple.
He was too happy.
Since meeting Seiya and researching the Hōgyoku, this was probably the loudest Aizen had ever laughed.
The Soul King separated the three worlds and created all things.
So then, if one wanted to recreate such great power... what kind of preparation should the living side make?
"You probably haven't thought about this part. But that's normal."
"After all, you have neither the devotion of a seeker nor the impulse of a knowledge-seeker. You're just a locust lying on the record of achievements, a stinking bug that sucks blood and eats flesh."
"But we're different."
We're different.
Constantly researching, analyzing, progressing.
Chewing and digesting the essence of the world step by step, until converting it into part of oneself.
"You don't understand our efforts up to now, but this is the effort of mortals, and behavior you could never understand in your entire lifetime."
"The current Seiya possesses the power called creation. So naturally... he can also refuse."
"Refuse the power of this world."
Seiya no longer belonged to the three worlds.
Your Soul King Torrent.
Was worthless.
Yhwach widened his eyes, mouth slightly open. At his level... naturally he couldn't understand what was happening.
He could only see Seiya standing calmly in the Soul King Hall, while behind him...
Was an entire chaotic space.
At this moment, he was the 'Soul King' of another world.
With methods failing, he inevitably showed his ugly side. But Yhwach wasn't simply a good-for-nothing either—should one say his intuition was indeed strong?
This guy quickly found the 'blind spot.'
If he was the Soul King, if his own methods didn't work...
"Then you now... also can't harm me anymore, right?"
As the words fell.
Seiya's body began floating uncontrollably.
As if the very air was rejecting him, as if the entire three worlds were excluding him... Seiya uncontrollably 'returned' to that chaotic world.
"Ha!"
Yhwach was overjoyed.
Indeed so, indeed it was like this!
"You certainly exceeded my expectations, Seiya! But unfortunately, you're no longer permitted by this world!"
This was still his paradise.
Also the pure land and heaven under inherited succession.
"Is that so."
From reappearing until now.
Seiya spoke for the first time.
His voice carried a subtle overlapping quality, colliding and layering tones constantly rolling and forming within, just hearing this sound...
Could make one's heart and spirit tremble.
"Do you think you've already won?"
"Do you think I can't do anything..."
"And can only watch you do whatever you want here?"
Absolutely not.
Seiya slowly closed his eyes.
The world that belonged to him alone began boiling at this moment.
Creation was a very complex process... like what the Bible described, everything from nothing to something required a process called precipitation.
But Seiya didn't have extra time.
So he needed assistance from other aspects.
Intent moved with his heart, the world's will transformed according to Seiya's thoughts, until on his slightly raised right hand...
The outline of a blade condensed.
Zanpakutō.
Sāgara Ryū.
For someone who mastered the power of creation, did the Zanpakutō's power still have other meaning at this moment?
In fact... it indeed did.
Because this was the ultimate power Sāgara Ryū had described.
"Bankai: Eight Aspects of the Heavenly Dragon..."
"Eight Guardian Deities."
With these words settled.
The space behind Seiya burst forth with incomparable brilliant radiance at this moment.
Symbolizing eight different powers, yet from another perspective, they were also heavenly gods who ruled the celestial realm and governed various directions.
Lotus flowers bloomed in layers, wine flowed and flowers fragrant, ten thousand rays of Buddhist light.
Dragons and phoenixes danced among the clouds with gentle cries, vajra-holding beings stepped on auspicious clouds, fierce-looking Yaksha roared and ran wild...
The sun slowly rose, the moon hung behind it.
The ultimate essence stored in the blade perfectly utilized the resources of this new world, transforming them into reality in the shortest time.
This was Seiya's world.
This was...
The Celestial Realm.
"You're..."
Yhwach seemed to have his throat seized, feeling speechless at this moment.
Without doubt, the current Seiya was definitely above him... but, but...
"You can't come over!"
"But everything you care about is here! Want to invade my world?"
"Then I'll destroy everything you care about first! Seiya, did you hear me?! Don't casually provoke my dignity!"
No response.
Seiya just calmly watched him.
Then... said softly.
"Invade? No... I won't do such meaningless things."
"I'm no longer a person of this world, so these so-called grudges..."
"Should also be handled by internal personnel."
What did that mean?
While Yhwach was slightly dazed, he saw that Seiya's celestial realm was beginning to operate at this moment.
All gods gathered together.
Dividing flesh and blood, refining and forging. Selfless shouting and screaming. The cries of birds and beasts, the light and shadow of sun and moon rotation...
All living beings at this moment forgot themselves and devoted to 'work.'
And they seemed to be creating something.
Everything precipitated at this moment. At the cost of an entire world, Seiya raised his right hand.
And in his palm.
A silver arrowhead...
Quietly emerged.
Silver arrow!!!
Yhwach's breathing seemed to freeze at this moment.
"You, this... how... could?!"
Speechlessness caused by shock made Yhwach seem as if his throat had been strangled.
"There's nothing surprising about it, Yhwach."
Seiya's gaze was calm, as if for him at this moment, nothing in the world could move his heart anymore...
"I know the rules of how this world operates, and I possess the power to create."
"So then... this is just a manufacturing process."
"I've already broken through the difficulty from 0 to 1. Do you think... this still has any difficulty for me?"
Yhwach stepped back half a step, slumping back into the royal chair at this moment.
The cold touch made him suddenly come to his senses.
It wasn't time to give up yet.
—Seiya couldn't invade this world. Even if he had the silver arrow, he still had time.
No one in this world at this moment could drive this disgusting thing into his body in front of him... he had to seize this last opportunity.
Find a way to discover something that could threaten Seiya!
But before he could begin acting.
A mocking voice came from the side.
"Really don't learn from experience, Yhwach."
It was Aizen's voice.
Yhwach's heartbeat seemed to stop for half a beat.
"You already fell for similar methods before, but you still didn't pay attention at this moment?"
As the words fell.
The light and shadow before his eyes twisted.
And after slightly focusing, on Uryū's spirit bow raised high...
The silver arrowhead had already shot forth at this moment.
—What he saw wasn't reality.
But a 'false image' deeply disguised by Aizen.
Everything was under control.
Pfft...
The silver arrowhead penetrated the tyrant's body.
The Soul King's power began running wild, and in his wailing, Yhwach's body was forcibly 'squeezed' out from the surging torrent.
Falling from the lofty throne...
Yhwach returned to being that pathetic abandoned child.
As if foreseeing his own ending, he let out a shrill cry.
"Stop, stop it!!!"
In response, there was only Ichigo's cold gaze and energy waves flickering with bright yellow light.
"Getsuga... Tenshō!!!"
The spiritual power mass completely tore apart Yhwach's body.
Life force severed, spiritual power collapsed.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the power Yhwach used to maintain eternal night vanished without a trace.
The sky shed its gray-black tone and returned to bright radiance. The constantly shaking, faintly collapsing earth also stabilized at this moment.
The Soul King Torrent that had been raging on the earth disappeared in distortion... and at the same time, everyone looked up to the sky.
They couldn't see what was happening in the Soul King Hall.
But they could see through the world that Seiya had personally created, which possessed the same nature as the three worlds...
Now floating in the towering sky.
Countless gods and Buddhas, birds and beasts... all stood behind Seiya at this moment.
Without doubt...
This was the existence that ruled everything, possessing a realm equal to the Soul King.
"It's... over."
Ichigo watched Yhwach's body fall downward, his knees weakening as he collapsed completely.
There were too many emotions, and even more he wanted to say.
But before that... he had already turned his head to the side.
"Mr. Seiya! Thank you, if it weren't for you, we would have already lost!"
In response.
Seiya merely nodded blandly.
A subtle atmosphere spread at this moment. Though nothing was said explicitly, Ichigo seemed to sense something.
His expression couldn't help but change slightly.
"Mr. Seiya, you..."
"I can't go back anymore."
Calmly interrupting the other party's statement.
There was a barrier between worlds, and this was also the foundation of Yhwach's confidence in turning things around just now.
"Just sending something over might not be difficult, but for me to go over would be absolutely impossible."
Ichigo's mouth opened slightly.
"Then, in that case..."
"Yes, I'll become a god here. Just like the past Soul King, watching everything from on high, all-knowing and all-powerful... witnessing the birth and death of life, observing the transformation of seas into mulberry fields."
Seiya said this while half-turning his head to look behind him.
Countless...
Innumerable creations were his subordinates.
This was Seiya's playground, his castle where he could do as he pleased.
No one would say 'no' to him, and no one could refuse Seiya's requests.
It might sound interesting.
But.
"I... don't really like it."
Only by standing at the same height as the Soul King.
Could Seiya at this moment somewhat understand some of the Soul King's thoughts.
Was seeing everything clearly really meaningful?
Could controlling all things really make one happy?
Perhaps some people would like this supreme feeling... like people such as Yhwach.
But Seiya definitely wasn't one of them.
Humans are the sum of social relationships. Without social interaction and bonds, humans lose their meaning.
Gods don't need these things.
So...
"I don't want this."
Seiya silently closed his eyes.
His body began showing a twisted tendency.
As if realizing something, Aizen frowned slightly, quietly approaching Seiya's direction.
And in the next moment.
The 'Soul King's' body collapsed.
He became fragmented pieces.
His hands and heart penetrated the barrier, falling to the side of the three worlds.
They constantly changed shape in the air, finally becoming three 'Seiyas' with tightly closed eyes.
Soul Reaper, Hollow, Quincy.
The 'Soul King' had taken everything from the three, but this wasn't the ending Seiya wanted.
Everyone had the right to pursue happiness.
With different personalities and different powers, they should also return to their own paths.
I am not you.
And you don't need to be like me.
So then...
What about the remaining 'Seiya'?
After stripping away power, only the part that remained as a 'human.'
Seiya slowly closed his eyes.
Fatigue... surged like a tide.
He had lost his divinity and his rightful power. In the gap between two worlds, he might fall into the bottomless void, never to live again.
But Aizen wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.
"A hero's ending shouldn't be like this, Seiya."
The Hōgyoku's power wrapped around Aizen, allowing him to travel in areas outside the three worlds.
"You must be very tired."
"I think so too. You've done enough."
"And I'm also tired of this world..."
Holding Seiya's remaining consciousness in his arms, Aizen looked blandly behind him.
That place where he and Seiya had been born.
The three worlds that made one feel sentimental yet disgusted, the beautiful yet ugly homeland.
Parting was indeed sad.
But judging from the current members present, there didn't seem to be any worthy targets for farewell.
Aizen's gaze swept over and finally settled on Ichigo.
"Young Ichigo."
"...Ah! I'm here!"
"Please, give Gin a message for me."
Aizen's tone carried some apology.
"For many years, thank you for your care."
For accompanying him and Seiya in their mischief, stirring up heaven and earth.
In the end, only these words could express his feelings.
Of course... that was all.
"Well then, farewell, everyone."
Seeing that Aizen was about to turn and leave, Ichigo couldn't help but shout.
"Wait! Where, where are you going?!"
Where to go...
In a sense, this was a very profound question.
After all, what existed beyond the three worlds was unclear not only to Aizen but also to Seiya.
But because of this.
Precisely because of this...
It had value for exploration, didn't it?
The unknown brought fear, but for the brave, this was the best challenge.
Aizen had originally planned to leave, but at the last moment... he stopped.
In the chaotic gap, he half-turned around.
Toward the opening of the three worlds, he slightly lowered his head.
—Soul Reapers, Hollows, Quincy, humans.
—All living beings in the three worlds, the common masses.
—Sincerely wishing you can be happy, not wasting Seiya's efforts up to now.
As for the next story.
Perhaps seas of stars, perhaps lonely vastness.
But it didn't matter.
As long as someone accompanied him, this journey wouldn't be lonely.
"What do you think, Seiya?"
The drowsy consciousness couldn't give a proper answer.
But even so.
Aizen still heard a brief, light laugh.
'Yes, then please take care of me, Teacher Aizen.'
(End)
Side chapters incoming.