Chapter 1: The Soul Shatters
---
The sky was unusually clear that morning over Karakura Town.
Sunlight painted soft golden streaks across tiled rooftops and fluttering laundry lines, while a quiet breeze stirred fallen petals along the schoolyard pavement.
Inside Homura High School, the day had begun like any other.
Except for Kairo Tsukihara—who sat near the back of the classroom, staring blankly at a math problem he hadn't touched in ten minutes.
> "When evaluating the exponential function—"
The teacher's voice faded into a fog. Kairo leaned forward, chin resting on his hand, eyes half-lidded.
But it wasn't sleep dragging at his focus.
It was something else.
His vision had started to flicker again—subtle at first. Just a strange, silvery shimmer at the edge of the window. The kind of thing you'd mistake for heatwaves or bad lighting.
Only it wasn't.
Because it wasn't just happening here. It happened everywhere he went now. The bus. The hallway. The convenience store.
Little glitches in the air, like reality didn't quite know how to hold itself together around him.
---
As lunch bell rang and students shuffled out, Kairo remained at his desk a few moments longer, pretending to pack slowly while watching the window.
Then, almost too soft to notice, he felt it:
A pulse.
Like his heart had skipped a beat—but not inside his chest.
It came from outside. From the sky.
---
Meanwhile, in Soul Society...
Deep beyond the clouds above Seireitei, in the hidden royal realm where no ordinary soul could reach—
—the Soul King's Palace groaned.
Ancient walls shuddered with invisible force. Golden light cracked across the smooth white crystal that imprisoned the Soul King's body—a mutilated, half-conscious husk suspended in spiritual chains.
Squad Zero—guardians of the King—felt it instantly.
Ichibei Hyōsube's ink-black beard bristled as he looked toward the sealed chamber, his brush trembling slightly in his hand.
> "No…" he murmured. "Not now… Not after all this time."
The air grew heavy. The spiritual flow that balanced all worlds began to bend.
From Hueco Mundo to the Human World, everything felt wrong.
---
Back on Earth, Kairo wandered the streets alone after school, earbuds in, backpack slung over one shoulder. The sunset dyed everything in deep orange light.
Karakura looked peaceful on the outside.
But Kairo's heart beat harder with every step.
The pulse had returned—stronger this time.
It wasn't pain. It wasn't fear.
It was like something inside him was waking up.
He passed an alleyway and stopped suddenly.
Everything fell silent.
The city's noise dropped out. No birds. No cars. Not even the wind. Just… nothing.
A thin line of black energy hovered in the air ahead of him, no wider than a thread, but pulsing like a heartbeat.
> "What… is that?"
He took a step back—
And then the sky cracked.
---
Across the worlds—all at once—
the Soul King's prison shattered.
A sound like a million pieces of glass collapsing into space rang out, heard only by those with high enough spiritual sensitivity. Aizen. Ichibei. Kisuke. Ichigo.
The fragments of the King's power shot outward like shooting stars—blazing back into existence, into the path fate had been holding closed for centuries.
In Hueco Mundo, the black god-arm known as Mimihagi crumbled into dust.
In the Wandenreich, Gerard Valkyrie let out a scream as his body split into glowing shards of light.
Even Yhwach's dormant presence in the void let out a ripple—as if sensing the return of a familiar but long-feared will.
---
And on a quiet street in Karakura Town…
Kairo screamed.
His knees hit the pavement. His vision exploded in white-gold fire. His body trembled with pressure not even captain-level beings could withstand.
Symbols—ancient, alien, divine—flashed in his mind.
He saw places he'd never been, heard voices he'd never met, and felt griefs so old they echoed through time itself.
---
He saw—
—A throne made of bones
—The birth of the first Quincy
—A boy born of light and void: Yhwach
—The sealing of the Soul King by fearful Shinigami
—The betrayal of gods
—A black blade that shattered a world
—A war that never ended
---
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't scream anymore.
Everything was collapsing into him.
> "This… isn't real…"
But it was.
Because he wasn't real anymore either.
---
Inside his mind, a vast space opened—pure void and swirling energy.
Floating before him stood a silhouette. Tall. Silent. Faceless.
The voice came not from the figure, but from everywhere at once.
> "The balance has been broken."
"The body returns."
"The soul remembers."
Kairo took a shaky step forward.
> "W-Who are you?"
The figure didn't answer with a name.
It raised a hand and pressed it to Kairo's chest.
Suddenly—
Kairo felt everything.
The birth of the world. The laws of spirit and death. The agony of being used as a tool for eternity. The slow decay of identity. The pain of being forgotten.
> "You… are me now."
> "And they will all come for you."
---
Kairo's eyes snapped open.
He gasped, lying flat on the street.
But the world wasn't the same.
The sky above shimmered unnaturally—cracks of gold spiraling out like spiderwebs across the atmosphere, visible only for a second before fading.
Birds fled in flocks.
Somewhere far off, a car alarm screamed.
Spiritual pressure rolled across Karakura like a wave.
---
At the edge of a tall building, Aizen Sōsuke leaned against a wall, eyes narrowed, feeling the shift.
> "So… it begins."
"The throne is empty no longer."
---
Far in the shadows of Seireitei, Urahara Kisuke placed a hand to his hat.
> "Well now… that's a problem."
"Or maybe… a solution."
---
And in the silence of the void, Ichibei Hyōsube turned his ink-black gaze toward the mortal world and whispered:
> "He's awake."
"The Soul King… is walking among us once again."
---
To Be Continued.
---