"The wedge of the three worlds!?"
"Falling into Hell!?"
"Ichibe, what are you even talking about!?"
Outside the shattered fourth level of the Spirit King's inner palace, the gathered Shinigami were completely lost.
They hadn't understood a single word of what Ichibe had just said.
Wasn't the Spirit King supposed to be the supreme existence?
He had already been reduced to such a miserable state.
What value could he possibly still hold?
And what did he mean by "wedge"?
On top of that, there was Hell.
Wasn't that supposed to be the final destination for sinners?
Why would the three worlds fall into Hell?
Only a few Shinigami present truly understood the deeper meaning behind Ichibe's words.
Cole glanced over at Ichibe and sighed helplessly.
"Big monk, have you been alone so long you've forgotten how to use normal words?"
"You explained it so badly nobody understood a thing."
"How about you start from the beginning—how the Spirit King was born, and how he ended up like this, and just lay it all out properly?"
Ichibe's beard practically bristled with fury as he glared at Cole.
"You damned human! Can't you have a little patience!? Don't I have to build things up step by step!?"
His life span was tied to the very heavens and earth, yet in all those long ages, Cole was the only one who had ever dared speak to him like this.
Urahara frowned slightly and turned to Cole.
"Cole, from the way you talk, it sounds like you know a lot about the Spirit King…
But if I'm not mistaken, this should be your first time here in the Spirit King's Palace, right?"
The other Shinigami couldn't help but stare at Cole as well.
They also found it strange.
Why was Cole so familiar with the Spirit King?
Wasn't he just a human?
Barely not even twenty years old,
And he had only possessed Shinigami powers for less than two years.
Where had he gotten his information?
From Seireitei?
But even Seireitei shouldn't have such detailed knowledge of the Spirit King's Palace.
In the face of their doubt, Cole lightly swung the golden staff in his hand, then tapped the blue crystal behind him with it and smiled.
"Oh, that?
Obviously, the Spirit King told me."
The words landed like a thunderclap.
The gathered Shinigami gaped at him.
Even Aizen's pupils shrank sharply.
"The Spirit King… is still alive!?"
He had examined the Spirit King's condition earlier as well.
No matter how he looked at it,
the Spirit King inside the blue crystal had seemed like nothing but a corpse.
So he had assumed the Spirit King was already dead.
But now—
He was still alive?
Compared to Aizen, Ichibe's reaction was even more extreme.
The monk's eyes bulged as he roared,
"What did you say!? The Spirit King still has consciousness!?"
As he shouted, he snapped his head around to stare at the Spirit King,
now reduced to only a partial body within the blue crystal.
The Spirit King's dark eyes remained vacant and lifeless.
But Ichibe, too familiar with those eyes to count,
Suddenly felt a jolt of pure terror.
He stumbled several steps backward.
"N-No way…
There's no way the Spirit King still has an independent will!"
Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he raised his voice in denial.
He looked more shaken now than he had when he'd sensed the Spirit King was in danger.
His mind flashed back to that distant era,
To the scene of the founding heads of the five great noble families betraying the Spirit King and carving him apart.
Back then, those founding ancestors had clearly said so.
They hadn't let the Spirit King live.
Nor had they killed him.
They had cast him into a contradictory spiral—
A state they called "dying while alive."
It sounded convoluted,
But to put it simply, in that state the Spirit King would be trapped in an endless spiral between life and death.
He would neither truly live nor truly die, forever.
And because of that state of neither life nor death,
The Spirit King would ultimately abandon all thought.
A being without even thought—
How could he possibly possess an independent will?
So there was no way the Spirit King had his own will.
Absolutely not!!!
Ichibe took a deep breath and stared hard at Cole, as if he wanted to dig the truth out of him.
"How did you communicate with the Spirit King!?"
No one understood the Spirit King's terror better than he did.
He was a being born in the same era as the Spirit King,
Granted the name "Eye Monk" by the Spirit King himself,
Later changed to "True Name-Calling Monk."
In that ancient time, he had witnessed with his own eyes the Spirit King's godlike power.
Creating the three worlds.
Sealing off Hell.
Setting a completely still world into motion.
One feat after another,
Each one proof of the Spirit King's terrifying might as a creator god.
If the Spirit King possessed even the faintest shred of independent will,
Ichibe had no doubt he could destroy all three worlds.
For an existence that overwhelming,
He still didn't fully understand how the five founding noble families had managed to seal him.
But with endless ages gone by,
He had gradually accepted the "death" of the Spirit King as a fact.
And now—
That fact had been called into question.
Meeting Ichibe's murderous gaze head-on,
Cole lazily waved the golden staff and answered in a relaxed tone,
"I wouldn't really call it communication.
I can just sense that within the Spirit King's domain,
there's a faint, almost imperceptible wrongness…"
Compared to the range of the Ruyi Jingu Bang's domain,
The Spirit King's domain stretched far wider.
Deep within it, there was the tiniest trace, almost impossible to notice, of a sliver of will.
As if it were watching all living things with a cold, distant gaze.
As if it were silently guiding the development of everything.
Hearing this, Ichibe broke out in a full-body sweat.
He turned his head stiffly toward the Spirit King again,
shaking his head over and over.
"No.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
He can't have consciousness…
If he did, how could he be sealed here like this?"
While Ichibe wrestled with his shattered belief,
Aizen had already regained his composure.
"For me, whether the Spirit King is alive or dead doesn't make much difference.
My goal is to kill him."
The moment those words fell,
Ichibe snapped back as if struck.
He glared at Aizen with blazing rage.
"You dare!!!"
Cole could see a fight about to break out again and shook his head.
He stepped in and cut them off, speaking to Ichibe.
"Big monk, things have already gone this far.
Just tell us the whole story."
He really didn't want to waste any more time.
If he had extra time,
he'd rather go around the Spirit King's Palace and soak up more spiritual energy.
At his prompting, Ichibe forcibly suppressed the chaos in his heart,
Took a long breath, and said solemnly,
"I don't know if what you're saying is true or not.
But now that it's come to this,
I'll tell you about the Spirit King."
At those words,
The eyes of every Shinigami present lit up.
The Spirit King's Palace was the holiest, most exalted, most mysterious place in Soul Society,
And also the sacred land in the hearts of all Shinigami.
Anything about the Spirit King was wrapped in mystery on top of mystery.
No one knew any concrete details about him.
Even the information that trickled down to Seireitei leaned more toward myth than truth.
Yet now, here,
They had been deemed worthy to hear the real history.
Under everyone's gaze,
Ichibe began in a deep, resonant voice.
"The Spirit King was born at the dawn of chaos.
At that time, the world was a place where neither life nor death existed—
No progress, no regression, only pure confusion."
"The Spirit King was the first entity of power in this world,
The source of all abilities such as Quincy, Shinigami, and Fullbringers."
"He is the creator of Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, and the World of the Living.
At the same time…"
"He is also the supreme ruler of Hell, the Dangai, and other realms."
The crowd listened so intently
they practically stopped breathing.
The silence grew so absolute
they could clearly hear the beating of their own hearts.
My god!!!
They were listening to the Spirit King's myth—
Beginning all the way from the primordial age.
So that was what the world from countless years ago had been like.
What an utterly hopeless environment.
On top of that—
The scope of the Spirit King's authority was far too vast.
He didn't just hold dominion over Soul Society.
Even Hueco Mundo, the World of the Living, the Dangai, and Hell were within his grasp.
He was the ruler of endless worlds.
And that only made everyone more curious—
How had someone with such a shocking origin,
Such boundless authority,
And such a lofty position,
Ended up like this?
While Ichibe spoke,
Yoruichi, Byakuya, Isshin, Urahara…
All fell silent,
Their faces tinged with shame.
Urahara couldn't help letting out a small sigh.
He turned his head and glanced at Yoruichi and Byakuya.
Yoruichi bristled under his gaze,
Her patience finally snapping as she glared at him.
"What are you looking at me for?
You believe I won't kill you right here?"
Urahara could only give a bitter smile and turn away,
choosing not to provoke her further and focusing back on Ichibe's story.
"In that era, there were humans and Hollows.
Their existence barely allowed life to circulate,
So the world did not fall completely into silence."
"But!!!"
Here, Ichibe's expression grew especially grave.
He glanced briefly at the Arrancar and Hollows present,
then continued in a low voice,
"That cycle was eventually broken—
Because the Hollows began devouring humans."
Starrk, Barraggan, Ulquiorra, Harribel…
They all looked up at Ichibe in surprise.
They had not expected Hollows to appear in the Spirit King's myth.
And what was with that phrasing?
Of course Hollows needed to devour humans.
Wasn't that just one part of the natural cycle of life?
What was supposed to be wrong with that?
Ichibe drew another deep breath and went on.
"From that point on, the cycle of life was completely disrupted.
If things had continued like that,
All souls would eventually have been reduced to one enormous Hollow."
"The world would have fallen into total stillness,
With no new life ever being born again."
"So after he came into existence,
The Spirit King continuously used Quincy power to destroy Hollows,
Suppressing the possibility that the world would be devoured and become the strongest Hollow."
At the mention of "Quincy power,"
Ichigo, who had been feeling bored out of his mind,
Suddenly widened his eyes and grabbed his father's clothes.
"Hey, hey, old man, I didn't mishear that, did I?
Did that big monk just say 'Quincy power'?"
As far as he knew,
Because of the large-scale extermination carried out by Shinigami ten-odd years ago,
Quincy in the World of the Living were nearly wiped out.
If Ishida Uryu didn't have children in the future,
There might not even be a Quincy race anymore.
And yet, this race—
Its origins could actually be traced back to the Spirit King himself?
Then how had the Quincy ended up in such a miserable state?
Isshin was listening with rapt attention.
He didn't have time to worry about his idiot son.
"Stop talking and listen properly.
If you miss this, you might never get another chance in your life to hear about this stuff."
Ichigo scratched his head in frustration.
He hated this kind of story the most.
He couldn't understand any of it.
Ichibe didn't care about the little exchange between father and son.
He spoke on, completely absorbed in his memories.
"In that era, the number of Hollows destroyed was beyond counting.
But Hollows were born from the souls of higher lifeforms,
Humans and others with advanced intelligence.
They were part of the cycle of spirit particles, too."
"The mass destruction of those souls made life across the world gradually grind to a halt."
"It was like cutting away cancerous tissue again and again,
Until the body itself became thin and weak.
The world's life would have grown sparser and sparser."
"Yet at the time, choosing the lesser of two evils,
The Spirit King could only maintain the cycle slowly,
destroying Hollows tirelessly."
"However, the five founding ancestors of the noble houses,
who were born alongside the Spirit King,
did not see it that way."
As he spoke, Ichibe couldn't help glancing again at the members of the five great families present.
Yoruichi, Byakuya, and the others didn't dare meet his eyes.
They knew all too well—
What he was about to reveal next
was the sin buried deepest within their five clans.
A sin that could not be washed away in a thousand years.
Ten thousand years.
Or even a million years.
It would only be etched deeper and deeper into their blood—
Reminding them that the blood in their veins carried unforgivable guilt.
Thankfully, Ichibe only looked their way briefly,
then turned his attention back to the crowd.
"They had their own designs.
But their choices all shared one common goal—
To separate the vessels from the spiritual particles,
To separate life and death,
And establish a new cycle and a properly ordered world of life and death."
At this point, Ichigo was completely lost.
His mouth twitched,
and he looked around at the others with black lines practically drawn across his face.
What kind of nonsense was this???
He had no idea what "vessels" and "spirit particles" were supposed to be.
Weapons and spiritual power?
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one confused.
Even Cole was stunned.
So he poked Rukia with his elbow.
"Rukia, what are 'vessels' and 'spirit particles' supposed to be?"
Rukia rolled her eyes at him.
"I've told you before—you should study more.
Now you see I was right, don't you?"
Cole stared back at her with a head full of black lines.
"I'm pretty sure you've never said anything like that to me.
At most you've drawn a few abstract pictures trying to explain things,
And your drawing is terrible on top of that…"
"Ow, ow, ow…"
Cole quickly pried Rukia off as she bit him in retaliation.
Fortunately, Sode no Shirayuki had a softer heart.
She stopped listening to Ichibe's explanation for a moment, smiling as she turned to explain to Cole and Ichigo.
"Cole-kun, 'vessels' and 'spirit particles' aren't anything special.
They're just another way of referring to something you already know.
For example, 'vessels' simply means the physical body,
And 'spirit particles' means the soul."
At her words, Cole and Ichigo suddenly understood.
So that was what "vessels and spirit particles" meant.
They both silently complained about Ichibe in their hearts.
This old fossil…
Could he not use more modern terms?
Would it kill him to just say "bodies and souls"?
Still, thanks to that explanation,
They finally understood why the World of the Living and Soul Society were structured the way they were.
In Ichibe's words—
Weren't those two worlds basically the world of vessels and the world of spirit particles?
(End of Chapter)
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