Chapter 871: Slay Mercenary Tao, The Struggle of the Creations
The so-called Complete Hokyoku was the synthesized product forged when Sosuke Aizen seized the prototype developed by Kisuke Urahara and fused it seamlessly with his own.
The completed jewel possessed an autonomous will, actively shielding its bearer's physical vessel while continuously guiding their evolution in direct accordance with their deepest desires.
Relying on the Complete Hokyoku, Aizen had shattered the evolutionary ceiling of the Soul Reapers, ascending into a transcendent being far above their order.
Moreover, the jewel's true mechanics were never confined to Aizen's public claims of merely tearing down the boundary separating Soul Reapers from Hollows. Its authentic function was guiding an entity's conceptual trajectory along the path of their will.
The prerequisite was that the bearer possessed the raw mass required to reach for that evolution in the first place.
Its value sat leagues above a crude hybrid catalyst.
"It seems your master no longer requires the power of the Hokyoku himself."
Kaito Shirogane did not reach for the token immediately. He had encountered Substitute Soul Reaper Badges across the Paradise once or twice before, though none commanded a quality rating this absurdly high.
Furthermore, the secondary effect—the fall of the Seireitei—pointed directly toward the narrative convergence of the Thousand-Year Blood War.
Within the Bleach cosmology, that war arc was exceptionally lethal, yet overflowing with astronomical systemic resources.
Yhwach marching the Wandenreich from the shadows; the Sternritter commanding terrifying, rule-breaking Schrift authorities. An ordinary Reincarnator securing even a fraction of a single Knight's conceptual Schrift would instantly catapult to the echelon of an apex operative.
And at Kaito's current baseline, he held the undisputed credentials to wade into that bloodbath.
The entity resembling Sosuke Aizen issuing such an invitation at this specific hour reinforced Kaito's earlier deductions:
That man was deliberately accelerating Kaito's trajectory—both in terraforming the physical earth and in chasing the absolute summit of personal combat power.
"Lord Aizen naturally has outgrown such crude instruments. He has already... transcended all things!"
Having crossed paths with Kaito several times before, Kurushi spoke of Aizen with unvarnished, manic fervor.
Kaito's Primordial Dragon Eyes clinically dissected the trio standing before him. Every single one commanded combat mass ranking near the absolute summit of apex Reincarnators.
Given the exotic mechanics woven into their builds, select Sovereign Monarchs might struggle to secure a clean victory against Kurushi or The Tyrant.
The numbered cadre of the Throne of Virtual Reality was terrifyingly formidable.
Judging solely by the baseline displayed thus far, they vastly outstripped any competing syndicate.
Neither the Paradise nor Avalon commanded equivalent collective mass across their broader rosters.
Yet that gap was closing at blinding speed.
"The world I am being invited to enter... is no standard derivative realm, is it?"
Before Kaito even finished his thought, the core executives of the Paradise had already closed ranks behind him with bared fangs. At Lord Mercenary Tao's current threshold, unless plunged into an anomalous, rule-breaking realm, virtually nothing across standard mission worlds posed a mortal threat.
The cadre had assumed that only competing Spaces could challenge their Lord moving forward.
Yet now, the Throne of Virtual Reality had stepped out from the shadows, openly intervening in the broader war among Reincarnators, immediately casting a suffocating shadow over the board.
Nearly twenty pinnacle-tier operatives, over a hundred high-tier veterans, and an elite core exceeding a thousand strong spanning all four quadrants—a true, unassailable behemoth.
Worse, virtually zero actionable intelligence had leaked regarding their specific builds. The parameters of other apex Reincarnators were widely cataloged across the market, whereas in an unexpected encounter, most operatives would be effortlessly dismantled by the bizarre, uncataloged authorities wielded by these top-tier numbered elites.
Enhancements derived from the Bleach cosmos combined raw numerical scaling, unforgiving conceptual mechanics, and reality-warping will. They could overpower through brute violence, or execute sudden checkmates through esoteric curses even when at an operational disadvantage.
And every high-ranking operative under the Throne was cast from that exact mold.
Kurushi moved to speak, but The Tyrant extended an arm, cutting her off. He stared calmly at Mercenary Tao—the ultimate masterpiece in their King's eyes.
Lord Aizen frequently declared that compared to Mercenary Tao, all other creations were merely crude, half-finished prototypes.
Though The Tyrant maintained absolute deference before Aizen, complex emotions churned deep within his soul regarding Kaito.
If he is truly the ultimate, flawless masterpiece... then no matter the trial, he should conquer it with ease.
"How could we presume to fathom Lord Aizen's designs? We have occupied countless worldlines; we cannot even predict which specific branch you will breach."
Kaito waved an indifferent hand, signaling that the audience was concluded.
[You have acquired Item: Substitute Soul Reaper Badge]
The moment the wooden talisman settled into Kaito's palm, it flared with brilliant luminescence. The suffocating soul energy coiled within Kaito's vessel established an active, resonant link with the artifact.
Through the metaphysical currents, Kaito felt another colossal, watchful consciousness stir.
"My Lord... is that Aizen truly the Sosuke Aizen from the Bleach world?!"
"A mere narrative character... how could he possibly—"
Black Butler's reaction was uncharacteristically volatile. As a premier intelligence broker, he had tracked rumors of the King of Souls since his early days, well aware that the sovereign's avatar mirrored Sosuke Aizen down to the millimeter.
Cross-referencing how the Throne had virtually cornered the market on Soul Reaper enhancements, Black Butler had previously dismissed him as an eccentric roleplayer obsessed with the character.
Yet judging by the genuine reverence of these numbered elites and the cold recognition in Lord Mercenary Tao's eyes, that entity was quite literally Sosuke Aizen himself.
The revelation was existentially jarring.
A narrative character had not only breached the Infinite Dimensional Space, but had also erected an overarching syndicate spanning all four quadrants—and was now ordering his legions to systematically slaughter Reincarnators.
Narrative figures belonged inside narrative worlds. No matter how formidable their output, no matter how elevated their character design, to Reincarnators, they were fundamentally creatures trapped inside a box.
Reincarnators were conditioned by the meta to look down upon them from an elevated plane.
To have a narrative figure suddenly ascend to the absolute summit of the Space, ruling above all operatives, provoked visceral, cognitive dissonance within Black Butler.
Tenkyo and Jin Yue'an wore similarly shaken expressions.
Scanning the room with his Six Eyes, Gojo parsed their micro-expressions with icy clarity. He mused that no matter how humble or pragmatic a Reincarnator might seem, this lingering, systemic arrogance was etched into their bones.
That innate superiority assuming a Reincarnator was naturally above a narrative figure—that petty, higher-dimensional condescension—deepened the cold detachment in Gojo's gaze.
While Madara Uchiha and Artoria maintained stoic expressions, the spirits of the narrative characters drew together in silent solidarity, distinctly cleaving the chamber into opposing factions.
"Narrative characters... Boxes... Hah."
Kaito spoke softly, and the hall fell dead silent in an instant. Leaning against the wall, Li Qingzi lifted her eyes to listen.
Though she masked her thoughts, she too harbored that baseline disregard for narrative figures. Aware of the Black Kings, she vaguely sensed that the Sosuke Aizen ruling the Throne held deep ties to that archetype.
"How do any of you know... that we are not simply trapped inside another box?"
"Because you once read their works and knew fragments of their plots, you foolishly assume you inhabit an elevated tier?"
"All of it is merely the observation of the Observer. A gathering of cattle who cannot even control their own life, death, or fate, bickering over imaginary hierarchy... How laughably absurd."
The narrative spirits and the Reincarnators stiffened simultaneously.
Lord Mercenary Tao's tone was as flat and indifferent as ever, yet his words delivered an absolute, unvarnished rebuke to everyone in the room.
Reincarnators or narrative figures—in his eyes, both stood identical beneath the cosmic ceiling, rendering their petty philosophical debate utterly meaningless.
Before absolute, higher-dimensional power, all lesser identities collapsed into dust.
Much like within the Sage Monarch or World of Cultivation cosmologies: beneath the shore of transcendence, all were merely crawling ants. Trapped within the mortal sea, they remained entirely blind to the shifting of temporal currents or the rewriting of their destinies.
Only entities who seized authentic pinnacle might could be classified as genuinely real.
Ordinary Reincarnators and narrative characters alike—whether their worldlines were rewritten, their bodies butchered, or their souls twisted—held zero agency over their own survival.
A single shift in the Observer's focus rewrote their entire reality.
"In a world like this, instead of fighting to tear your way to the absolute summit, you sit around squabbling over seating arrangements... What pathetic meaning is there in that?!"
Kaito's words struck both Gojo and Li Qingzi like a physical blow.
Only absolute might held ultimate meaning.
The reality of this cosmos was that simple.
Labels like narrative character or Reincarnator were completely hollow. Even the identities bestowed by prior worlds, sovereign factions, planetary wills, or native gods were entirely devoid of weight.
Only by seizing supreme, transcendent power could an entity carve out their own meaning!
Kaito had understood this truth from his very inception, as though it were carved directly into his marrow. Thus, when he had first learned that he was allegedly Sosuke Aizen's creation, he had not experienced a single microsecond of existential dread.
Such trivialities were fundamentally meaningless.
The day his strength eclipsed that of Sosuke Aizen, who cared who was the Creator and who was the creation?
Between two sovereign predators, the dynamic was never Creator and creature; it was simply the King and the mount.
A feral, unbridled smile slowly spread across Kaito's face, radiating an unshakeable will that filled the chamber with absolute gravity.
An unyielding conviction anchored purely in absolute violence.
Ignoring all ethics, morality, and philosophical doctrines, measuring the universe solely through raw force—crude, yet relentlessly pure.
Looking back toward the Reincarnators, the hesitation in Gojo's eyes evaporated entirely. His usual breezy, dismissive smirk returned, his chin tilted upward as he peered down his nose at the mortals he found uninteresting.
He was strong; they were weak. That was the beginning and end of the equation.
Li Qingzi flashed a cold, sharp smile, the illusory ripples of her soul stirring behind her back. Meeting Gojo's gaze without flinching, she acknowledged that while narrative figures enjoyed monstrous innate baselines, Reincarnators possessed peerless systemic mobility.
Given sufficient capital, a Reincarnator could replicate everything Gojo commanded in an eye-blink!
Just as Dead of Night had secured the Six Eyes after a single deployment, a few more transactions might grant her the Limitless technique as well.
Feats that native figures viewed as impossible miracles were merely commodities to them.
The ones who would ultimately stand at the summit were the Reincarnators.
Li Qingzi turned on her heel and departed, the hunger for absolute power rekindled within her chest.
The crushing despair born of watching Kaito leave her in his dust began to burn away.
Even if she could never match that monster, she would ensure that in the coming era, she stood as an independent sovereign commanding absolute authority—never an ignorant mortal whose life was snuffed out without a whisper.
When White Face and Victor returned to the Black Tower, they walked into a remarkably surreal scene. Every operative looked as though they had been injected with high-grade stimulants.
The narrative spirits were engaged in manic cultivation, while the Reincarnators were aggressively negotiating contracts across the plaza stalls.
Every soul appeared to have rediscovered the purpose of scaling their might.
"So... what exactly happened here?" White Face murmured in bewilderment.
She and Victor had finalized an actionable blueprint: by pooling immense alchemical resources to erect vast bounded fields across several metropolitan centers, backed by over a hundred magic-side Reincarnators channeling mana, they could successfully anchor the physical world's inaugural Phase!
Kaito waved an indifferent hand, having zero interest in debating philosophy or existential standing with White Face.
He knew she lacked the biological framework to comprehend it anyway.
"Take it up with the council. That Phase must be operational without delay."
Holding the Substitute Soul Reaper Badge, Kaito channeled his perception, tracing that elusive sovereign will once more.
It was his first time parsing an intent of this nature from a spatial artifact.
"To think his sensory perception has already scaled to this threshold..."
"Magnificent. Truly worthy of my ultimate masterpiece."
Within the monochromatic sanctum of the Void Throne, Sosuke Aizen watched the white soul-sphere shift and ripple, parsing the exact moment Kaito channeled his spiritual pressure into the crafted badge.
Beneath the dais, two unbroken columns of silhouettes stretched from the base of the throne to the grand gates of the hall.
The numbered elites from No. 1 to No. 100 were assembled in their entirety.
Most conspicuously, The Tyrant, No. 1 of the Silver Vanguard, did not occupy the vanguard seat.
He stood second in line on the right flank.
The three figures standing at the absolute front wore garments woven from shimmering golden threads, radiating blinding, incandescent majesty.
The Golden Battle Group!
The supreme strike vanguard of the Throne of Virtual Reality—a circle reserved exclusively for the most terrifying anomalies among the numbered ranks.
"Haha! That Mercenary Tao certainly moves quickly. Scaling to that tier within a single cycle... Isn't that identical to that woman in the West?!"
"Indeed. What a pity I failed to extinguish her back then; otherwise, Avalon wouldn't exist to clutter our board today."
Standing first on the left was a figure with long black hair, draped in a golden garment resembling a ceremonial robe, their gender completely unreadable, their skin cast in pristine white soul-matter.
Their voice was airy and delicate, speaking casually of an operational deployment where they had nearly butchered Yoko Ekaterina.
The figure leading the right flank chuckled softly: "Boasting of failures only invites Lord Aizen's mockery."
"That woman carried specialized karmic destiny. Even had you committed everything, you lacked the means to put her down."
"If anything, you might have found yourself counter-slain in the dirt."
The entity leading the right was similarly forged of pale soul-matter, a radiant golden brand set between their brows. Golden luminescence rippled through the ambient Reishi with every syllable they spoke.
The unmistakable resonance of Miracles.
Aizen raised a hand, pressing his palm downward; the hushed murmurs vanished instantly.
He looked upon his alternate creations. While none achieved absolute perfection, as instruments tailored to counter the King of Miracles, the King of Destiny, or even his own authorities, their specific lineages carried lethal, structural advantages against exotic builds.
Aizen's gaze settled upon the figure standing second on the left flank.
"Ran. You shall deploy this time."
The entity stepped forward, bowing their head: "Lord Aizen... my objective is?"
Aizen's smile remained as serene as an autumn lake:
"Slay Mercenary Tao."