[So, that is why the 'Great Quincy Purge' happened 19 years ago?]
The lives of tens of thousands of Quincies. That power.
[Because you are my biological son.]
The blood of the Emperor.
[Surely you did not think I gave up the Soul King's arm just to destroy one worn-out eye?]
The obstruction of The Almighty.
[The pioneer who will rewrite the wrong story... the one by my side who will change a twisted fate.]
...Ah.
"Ugh...!"
A sudden wave of nausea hit Ichigo, and he collapsed, retching.
'To bring me into this world... all those people...'
His Majesty had been cold at times, but he had never shown such a merciless, genocidal side before.
In fact, His Majesty had always been kind to him.
And yet, all of that was a sacrifice just to create me?
"...That can't be..."
He didn't want to believe it. But he couldn't deny it. Every piece of evidence fit perfectly.
Ichigo looked up, desperate for any other explanation.
"Right!! I finally see what you're doing!"
Ichigo forced a laugh, pointing a trembling finger at Zangetsu.
"You want me to become a Soul Reaper. Isn't that it?"
Zangetsu watched Ichigo with an unreadable gaze.
Taking the silence as affirmation, Ichigo shouted urgently.
"The fact that you only appeared after I used Letzt Stil... and that you were the one who handed me 'Zangetsu.' Since your name is Zangetsu, you must be the manifestation of my Soul Reaper powers. That's why you're trying to make me a Soul Reaper instead of a Quincy—"
"I'll give you credit, Ichigo. Even if it was a lucky guess, you're close."
Zangetsu, who had been listening quietly, murmured in a low voice.
"I am the manifestation of your 'Quincy power.'"
"....."
Ichigo was speechless.
The man with His Majesty's face was his Quincy power?
Yet he handed him a Soul Reaper's sword and told him to deny His Majesty?
Ichigo's head slumped again.
The confusion was making his head feel like it would explode.
"....Why? Why are you telling me this?" Ichigo muttered in a trembling voice.
Hearing the resentment in his voice, Zangetsu stared at Ichigo with the same steady gaze before speaking.
"To ensure you do not move according to Yhwach's plan."
"...Why? Why is His Majesty the villain? You say he threatens world peace? His Majesty's goal is..."
The goal Yhwach had publicly proclaimed.
"To create a 'world without death,' I presume."
"...Yes."
A world where death did not exist.
"How is creating a world without death the path to destruction? His Majesty wants a world without the fear of death—"
"Explaining that might take a while."
Zangetsu looked up at the sky and muttered.
"Listen well, Ichigo. This much isn't a 'spoiler.'"
**
In the beginning, the Three Worlds were not three.
There was only a single world.
A world where Hollows and humans lived together.
Of course, living together did not mean coexistence.
Hollows ate humans, and humans became Hollows.
A world defined only by predation—that was the primordial world.
And alongside the 'Soul King,' a god-like entity, a monk named Ichibe Hyosube and the ancestors of the Five Noble Families were born.
They attempted to maintain the world by using the Soul King's power to 'extinguish' Hollows, erasing them from existence.
However, the Soul King's eradication of Hollows broke the balance of the world. It was clear that eventually, every soul in existence would vanish.
Thus, for the sake of the world—and also because they feared his power—the ancestors sealed the Soul King. They turned him into a 'wedge,' using his power to split the world into three and maintain them.
Those are the Three Worlds.
Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living.
Do you understand now, Ichigo?
This world is a sandcastle supported by a scapegoat called the Soul King.
**
"So, what does it truly mean to 'eliminate death'?"
Having finished his explanation, Zangetsu looked at Ichigo and asked.
"Huh?"
Ichigo, who had been listening blankly, was startled for a moment before he began to think about the question.
It had felt like a complex story at first, but thanks to Zangetsu's clear explanation, he found it surprisingly easy to deduce.
"First, it would mean releasing the Soul King from his seal. Since it was the Soul Reapers' misdeeds that caused this, he'd release the seal and use the Soul King's divine power to—"
"The answer is to kill the Soul King and destroy the balance of the Three Worlds."
".....What...?"
Zangetsu cut Ichigo off and continued.
"Yhwach had no intention of saving the Soul King, who had become a mere puppet. He intended to kill the Soul King and return the Three Worlds to their original state, thereby eliminating death."
As Zangetsu explained Yhwach's goal, Ichigo stared at him, his voice trembling.
"But... you said the primordial world was unstable. Isn't that dangerous?"
Zangetsu nodded at Ichigo's question.
"Yes. If the plan succeeded, in the world returned to its original state, Hollows would eat humans, humans would become Hollows, and eventually, a massive Menos Grande would be formed, bringing about the end of the world."
At Zangetsu's cruel and cold words, Ichigo's voice rose.
"Then you should have told His Majesty the plan was wrong!"
"Ichigo, you have a fundamental misunderstanding about Yhwach."
Zangetsu met Ichigo's eyes with a hollow gaze.
"Suppose you visited a village to protect people from Hollows. People are dying even now. But suddenly, an ant at your feet tells you that killing Hollows will destroy the world. Would you believe it and walk away while people die?"
"...That's sophistry. Do you really think His Majesty would still think that way after an explanation?"
When Ichigo countered, Zangetsu let out a dry, hollow laugh.
"Heh... Yes, Ichigo. To be precise, I thought I could control everything with my 'Almighty.' But I died at the hands of 'Ichigo Kurosaki' without even getting to try. And then I became the wedge—"
"Wait. What? 'Me'?"
Ichigo sensed something strange and asked back.
Zangetsu's expression stiffened for a moment, then softened into resignation.
"Oops. I meant to tell you later... but since you've noticed, I'll be brief."
Zangetsu—no, Yhwach—smiled thinly.
"I am the second Soul King, the wedge, who was defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki 1,000 years from now. I am the Yhwach of the future."
"........"
Ichigo felt like his head was finally going to explode.
.
.
.
The shattered Seireitei was in the midst of reconstruction.
Soul Reapers were treating their war-torn bodies and carrying construction materials for repairs. The ground, completely pulverized by a certain Quincy, had to be reinforced with soil brought from Rukongai.
While the reconstruction of the Seireitei was underway, the thirteen Captains gathered in the 1st Division barracks.
Standing among them, Yamamoto slowly spoke.
"Yachiru Unohana. I assume you dealt with Yhwach's son properly."
Ichigo's explosive Reiatsu and his persistent life force.
Yamamoto was certain that the boy was of Yhwach's bloodline.
Unohana nodded slowly without a change in expression.
"Yes. I killed him."
"...A pillar rose from the battlefield. Did he not escape through it?"
Yamamoto's eyes sharpened as he questioned Unohana.
A pillar had appeared where the Quincies were surrounded.
Yamamoto, who had witnessed Quincies escaping through that pillar, was suspicious of Unohana's words.
Nevertheless, Unohana simply looked back at Yamamoto without a hint of color changing in her face.
"Just before he fled, I pierced his heart. Likely, only a corpse made it through."
"......"
Yamamoto stared at her with suspicious eyes for a moment before turning his gaze toward Chika Shihoin.
"And the Quincies in the World of the Living?"
"They've all fled. They took the buildings and everything with them. It was just an empty lot, a complete wasteland."
Chika yawned and waved his hand.
By the time he had gone to investigate the land where the Lichtreich had stood, it had long since been reduced to a vast plain.
All the castles and buildings had vanished, as if someone had moved the entire space itself.
Yamamoto pondered those words for a moment before speaking.
His heavy voice dominated the room.
"End the pursuit of the Quincies."
Yamamoto slowly stood up.
"The war is over."
Most of the enemy's combatants had already died at the hands of himself and the Captains.
He judged that killing the remaining Quincies would be meaningless.
As Unohana prepared to leave the barracks following Yamamoto, someone spoke to her.
"Hey, did you really kill him?"
"...Yes."
Furofushi Saito, standing perfectly fine on her own two feet, glared at Unohana with dissatisfaction.
"Who gave you the right to steal my prey? I was going to get up in a few minutes anyway, but you went and attacked him more, you crazy bitch."
Furofushi Saito's Bankai was a constant-release type. In exchange for never dying, she would be incapacitated if she took fatal damage.
She had survived immediately after being hit by Ichigo's Letzt Stil, but she had been temporarily incapacitated. In reality, she would have been active again in just a few dozen minutes.
.......If only someone hadn't stabbed her in the neck with a Zanpakuto while she was down to buy more time.
"Oh my, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Unohana smiled gently and left the barracks. Furofushi watched her go, spitting out a curse before leaving herself.
Unohana hummed a tune, hiding her racing heart.
If she didn't hurry to the Rukongai and kill some souls soon, she felt like her heart would burst from the excitement.
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