Half a month later, on a quiet morning, sunlight filtered through the curtains of a bedroom in the Aozaki family estate.
Masatsuki Aozaki slowly opened his eyes, groggy from sleep, and sat up on the soft, oversized bed. His gaze drifted toward the window, as if trying to see through walls and glass to the world outside.
The light beyond the window was dimmer than usual, but still carried a pleasant warmth. The grass on the lawn swayed gently in the breeze, and vibrant flowers bobbed along with it, as if showing off their colors. In the courtyard, several neatly uniformed maids were already bustling about—trimming the garden, sweeping the paths. It wouldn't be long before one of them came to call him for breakfast.
Masatsuki reflected on everything that had happened lately. Since absorbing Gerard, subduing Hell, and taking up the mantle of Captain-Commander, his confidence had skyrocketed.
The old rule banning maids from entering the core areas of the Aozaki household had been lifted—only the underground lab remained off-limits. After all, aside from that lab, there weren't any real secrets left in the house. His rumors had already been spread far and wide.
And with everyone enjoying increasingly flexible schedules, Hisana's workload had grown significantly. It only made sense to bring in more help.
Sunlight streamed into the room in golden patches. By the bed, a blonde beauty was sprawled out, snoring softly, and behind her lay a number of other girls, all still lost in sleep.
"Yeah, guess the saying's true—like husband, like wife... No, wait, I'm the one working day and night. They're the lazy ones," Masatsuki muttered to himself, conveniently forgetting who'd made this situation what it was.
He instinctively reached out and gently pulled the covers over the girls, then quietly got out of bed, dressed, and tiptoed to the door. He opened it and slipped out of the room.
After washing up in the bathroom, he made his way toward the living room.
The past couple of weeks had been a blast—just him and the girls enjoying their time together.
Being Captain-Commander meant giving the whole Gotei 13 time off wasn't difficult... and he'd taken the liberty of giving himself vacation too. Getting paid while approving his own time off? It felt amazing.
Still, there was one lingering regret—he'd issued a request half a month ago for all female Shinigami to switch to miniskirts. Unfortunately, Aizen had shot it down without mercy.
Masatsuki still hadn't gotten over it. Sometimes he even questioned whether appointing Aizen as his Lieutenant had been the right call.
But in the end, between Aizen and miniskirts... he chose Aizen.
"A friend like me is truly one in a million."
...
The sun still shone high in the sky, and the moon still rose every night like clockwork.
Other than daily briefings from Nemu Kurotsuchi and Nanao Ise, Masatsuki had little contact with the outside world. But his life was full.
He cooked regularly, sharing his dishes with the others. He spent the rest of his time training with the creation power inside him and deepening his relationships with the girls.
His routine was disciplined—he made sure to be in bed before seven every morning, and always woke up exactly half an hour later.
"Must be Aizen's influence... I'm turning into a model student," he murmured, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.
Now that the crisis of the Three Worlds' collapse had been averted, he finally had time to reflect on some deeper matters.
First off—the power of creation was incredibly potent.
He pulled a blue-black orb from his pocket. It wasn't some leftover from Aura Michibane's experiments, but something he'd made with his own hands.
It was a high-precision soul aggregate. Since fragments of the Soul King couldn't be created directly, he used this as a training tool.
Giving the orb a light squeeze, it cracked with a crisp snap and disintegrated into a faint mist, vanishing into the air.
While this training method had some utility, its actual effectiveness was minimal.
He sighed.
Using objects to develop this power clearly wasn't a viable long-term strategy.
Still, he'd always had solid determination when it came to training—it was something others had acknowledged in him. If he could really improve through repetition, he'd have already driven himself to exhaustion mass-producing Hōgyoku replicas every day.
But the efficiency was just too low. It wasn't worth sinking so much effort into.
"Hmm... as the power that creates all things, do I really need to understand the essence of everything I make?"
"Then, wouldn't it make more sense to say that when I create something, I should be the one to define its essence and power—rather than blindly copying existing things?"
Masatsuki Aozaki murmured to himself, when suddenly, a memory surfaced—of that Quincy brat from the Wandenreich's Sternritter: Gremmy Thoumeaux.
His Schrift was "V" for "Visionary," an ability that allowed him to instantly materialize whatever he imagined.
It was a formidable power—he could conjure objects out of thin air, and imbue them with whatever functions and power his imagination deemed fit.
Of course, there were limitations. He could only create things from within his mind. He couldn't destroy or alter existing matter unless it originated from his own imagination.
Still, that didn't change the fact that his ability was incredibly potent.
Precisely because of how dangerous and unpredictable it was, Gremmy had been locked away in a cage sealed with a special barrier by Yhwach himself.
In other words, despite having little real understanding of the inner workings or "truth" of what he created, Gremmy could still manifest objects with real power.
This sparked a thought in Masatsuki's mind—maybe it wasn't about how to create a world, but what kind of world he wanted to create.
Even so, that was still just a concept. As for how to actually make it happen, he was still fumbling his way through.
...
The second thing was his newly awakened third eye. Ever since his twin pupils had evolved into triple pupils, his ability to perceive the future had grown dramatically—he was now on the brink of true omniscience.
Omniscience meant knowing all things and, by extension, the power to change the future itself.
And the key to that was simple—knowledge.
Only by understanding could one change.
"But those Schrift powers really are like cheating—you don't even have to train to use them."
Learning and applying were two very different things. And even with such overwhelming powers at his disposal, Masatsuki felt no sense of fulfillment.
To speak plainly—and yes, a little arrogantly—if used correctly, these two abilities could make him a godlike being.
But for now, he hadn't even figured out how to use them effectively in real combat.
"There's still a lot to explore... but once I truly master these two powers, wouldn't that mean I could do whatever I want?"
Masatsuki stroked his chin thoughtfully as he paced the hallway, nodding as he mulled it over.
And after thinking it through, he came to one clear conclusion:
Yhwach had to be eliminated.
As long as that man lived, he would always pose a threat.
Maybe not to Masatsuki personally—but to those around him, it was an ever-present danger.
With that thought, he loosened his fingers, then clenched his hand into a tight fist.
His mind was already made up.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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