Make sure to check my Patre.on out if you want to support me and want to read advanced chapters: Patre.on.com/VQuintessence
[31 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
...........
Chapter 44: The Truth Of The World II
...........
Akashi's eyes slowly lifted. The moon reflected in their depths. His lips moved; slowly, cracked, and soft.
The words... The moment those words passed Akashi's cracked lips; "...Captain Aizen… I truly cannot do much more...So, will you show up, please?" The world itself seemed to stop breathing.
The noble standing over him, blade raised to end his life, froze.
His body turned to ice, not from Kidō or the chill of fear alone, but also from recognition.
Even the other noble still locked in brutal combat with the nightmarish form of Cthulhu halted mid-strike, eyes wide in incomprehension.
That name…
Aizen Sōsuke.
In the next instant, their heads were severed.
No fanfare. No visible blade. No sound.
Just a shift in air pressure, a blink in reality; and their bodies collapsed while their heads rolled lifeless across the dirt.
What was most disturbing wasn't the swiftness. It was the extra head that tumbled onto the ground beside the other two.
The noble who had fled had been caught. Even flight had offered no escape.
Akashi, eyes half-lidded from exhaustion, barely registered it.
His perception couldn't follow what occurred, and he knew that. Even if he was at his peak, the chance he would be able to see what happened is low to none.
Not even his instinct could trace the path of death that had come and gone like the passage of a breeze.
That's the disparity.
Even as the nobles perished, Cthulhu's massive form retracted, its tentacles unraveling and melting back into the shadows like ink retreating from the sun.
The monstrous entity; this embryonic horror from Akashi's soul; lowered its bulbous, winged body toward the ground.
Then it dissipated entirely into the black pool from whence it had emerged, returning to Akashi's shadow.
Aizen merely observed the bizarre scene with interest, curiosity apparent in his eyes.
The silence afterward was haunting. Then a voice broke it; smooth, confident, impossibly calm.
"I must say," Aizen Sōsuke said as he stepped into view, "I am most impressed. You've surpassed my highest expectations."
He stood pristine, hands folded behind his back, eyes half-closed in that way that always made him look both serene and omniscient.
Not a trace of blood touched his white haori. Not a wrinkle marred his uniform.
Akashi's lips curved into a tired smile, "Thank you. I surprised myself as well."
Aizen looked over the corpses, then glanced at Akashi, "It was a reckless decision to face all six of them alone."
"It was dangerous," Akashi muttered, voice hoarse, "Reckless, it was not."
The reality was that he never felt like he was really risking his life, and that's all that mattered to him.
The pain. The injuries. That's whatever. He considers his body to be a tool, so what if he got injured? As long as he stood in the end, that's enough.
And he knew that his life was assured for he had two lifelines he could rely on.
The first lifeline was standing before him, none other than Aizen Sosuke.
He is the biggest pervert of them all, always watching.
Tell Akashi the Soul King isn't watching over everything, and he might believe you, but say Aizen isn't peeking into your soul? Now that's just bad fiction.
Birds blink, gods sleep, and even fate takes coffee breaks; but Aizen? Yeah, No.
The second lifeline, and the one he'd rather not use is the First Eldritch, and fortunately, he didn't have to call upon it.
Aizen's lips twitched, the faintest hint of admiration in his expression, "I saw you enjoying the battle far too much to interfere sooner. It would've been a shame to interrupt something so… enlightening."
Akashi chuckled softly, "I did enjoy it... I've learned something new about myself."
Neither of them seemingly had doubts about the elephant in the room. How did Akashi know Aizen would be watching? Why was Aizen watching?
It was as if they had a tactic understanding not to ask unnecessary questions.
They shared a look; two men who knew masks far too intimately. Then Aizen turned slightly, as if remembering something.
"Come with me."
He didn't elaborate. He didn't have to. Akashi nodded, expression lacking surprise, and didn't resist as Aizen stepped forward.
"Do not resist," Aizen said quietly as his hand touched Akashi's shoulder. Could Akashi resist even if he wanted to?
Akashi took one last look at the battlefield, the chaos everywhere.
The six nobles took the trouble to set up Kido so as to not affect the living, not out of the kindness of their heart, but simply to not alert Seireitei.
The rest, the bodies of the six nobles; Well, Aizen should take care of it. So Akashi could relax.
After all, he can't possibly go to the Gotei 13 and complain about the nobles, right?
And it's one of the five great noble families at that. Instead of pursuing Tokinada for his offense, Central 46 will just order to throw Akashi into the Nest of Maggots instead.
The moment contact was made, Akashi felt something odd, incomprehensible.
His vision blurred, not into darkness, but into light. The battlefield, the corpses, the twisted ground; all faded.
The pain, however, remained. He couldn't move. Couldn't think properly. He felt like his entire being had been sealed in stasis.
Then, suddenly, he was elsewhere.
A brightly lit room. Pristine white walls. Cool air. The faint hum of medical technology. He was lying on a medical bed.
And next to him stood Ichimaru Gin, his trademark fox-like grin firmly in place.
A short distance away stood Tōsen, silent and still. Aizen sat at a nearby table, examining a paper or a device, seemingly uninterested in everything yet fully aware of it all.
"Good morning," Gin drawled, his tone sly, his eyes half-closed as he placed a hand over Akashi's chest and released a steady flow of Kaidō energy.
Akashi blinked, eyes adjusting to the brightness. His pain had lessened drastically.
The dull ache still lingered, but the worst of the wounds were healing. Still, what left him stunned wasn't the recovery; it was how seamlessly he had been moved.
There had been no corridor, no Senkaimon, no sensation of travel. One blink. That's all it took.
Had Aizen used Kyōka Suigetsu?
Had his senses been bent, warped into accepting a false moment?
Or had he simply passed out?
It mattered not.
He gave Gin a polite nod and then, wordlessly, brushed his hand away.
Gin raised a brow, "Now, now… That's not very grateful."
"I appreciate the help," Akashi murmured, "But I'm better at healing myself."
He slowly sat upright, wincing slightly, and then placed both palms over his chest and began casting Kaidō himself.
Emerald light flowed from his fingertips, smoother and more precise than Gin's general approach.
The difference was noticeable. Even Gin whistled in amusement.
"My, my. A perfectionist, huh?"
Akashi raised a brow, definitely not. He would never pursue something so hopeless such as perfection, he merely desires improvement.
He simply knows his body better than anyone else for he has used Kaido on himself more than anyone else.
Therefore, he was very proficient in Kaido.
Aizen turned in his seat, his eyes calmly meeting Akashi's.
"Good morning."
He was very casual, so Akashi responded in kind, "Good morning."
Aizen smiled thinly and gestured toward a chair.
"Come. Sit with me. Let us speak of truth... The Truth of The World."
What followed was a conversation that peeled back the layers of the world.
Tōsen remained mostly silent, arms crossed. Gin lingered at the edge of the room, listening with interest.
"Do you know of the Soul King?" Aizen began.
A pause.
Akashi nodded, "Of course."
The Soul King is not involved in governing Soul Society and never interferes, and most Shinigami have never seen him.
However, they know of him. To them, he is revered and symbolic, although not present in their lives.
Aizen stood, walking slowly across the room.
"The Soul King is not a god. He is a prisoner. He exists in a constant state of mutilation; limbless, sealed, sustained unnaturally; and held in place by the ancestors of the very noble houses you fought today."
Akashi's brows narrowed.
"They dismembered a god?"
"They committed the Original Sin," Aizen said, his voice now edged with disdain, "They've been allowed to commit the Original Sin."
"In the primordial age, the world was chaotic. Dimensions bled into one another. The Soul King was a being who could bring order; a pivot point in existence. But rather than let him guide the world, the noble houses feared his power."
"So they crippled him."
"Yes. They cut off his limbs, destroyed his ego, sealed him inside a crystal prison, and built an entire spiritual ecosystem atop his mangled body. The precipice world? The balance? It all hinges on his existence."
Akashi didn't speak.
Aizen continued.
"The five great noble houses were complicit. Each provided something: a piece of the ritual, a fragment of the sealing. And to maintain this grotesque sin, they crafted institutions. They buried the truth, rewrote history, and made puppets out of gods."
Akashi's hands rested calmly on his lap, his eyes neither wide nor narrowed. No disbelief crossed his face.
Aizen's gaze sharpened.
"You do not seem surprised."
----------------------------------------------
[ 500 Power Stones For An Extra Chapter!]
----------------------------------------------