Chapter 204: The Soul King (Part Two)
Boom!
Outside the dojo, smoke churned through the sky. The residual shockwaves from countless dissolved Kido techniques swept past the wooden structure, rattling it like a paper lantern caught in a storm.
Under the shifting glare of fractured light and swirling energy, Kisuke Urahara's face looked darker than usual, and far harder to read.
Kukaku was not foolish, and neither was Urahara. Setting aside the embarrassed fragment of the Soul King's body, Lieutenant Rangiku, who still looked like she had been dropped into someone else's story and forgotten there, even Yoruichi, in her cat form, understood how strange Aizen's behavior was this time.
From beginning to end, the Soul King had never openly exercised his will. Everyone knew that. Everything in Soul Society ran inside a game built upon the Soul King's sacrifice, according to rules written by the Five Great Noble Families. No matter how violently they struggled, no matter how many purges they carried out, even if captains died, were replaced, or a new Soul King was installed, the system itself would remain.
That was what the Soul King wanted. What he demanded.
He wanted stability. He wanted a world that could continue.
But now chakra had appeared, along with the direction of an entirely different world. How was a power that did not belong to the Soul King system supposed to be handled?
This was not something Squad Zero's messengers could brush away with a stern glance and an execution order. It struck at the meaning of the Soul King's sacrifice itself.
Even sealed and imprisoned, the Soul King was still the Soul King. To claim he knew nothing would be arrogance on the level of suicide.
Several days had already passed, and chakra's traces were still being repaired inside Seireitei. Urahara could even sense new developments in the Research and Development Bureau, where Mayuri Kurotsuchi was already testing chakra's applications with an enthusiasm that bordered on worship.
Chakra's presence was no secret anymore. Another eruption was only a matter of time.
So what, exactly, was Squad Zero doing?
This was not a minor disturbance. It was a tremor at the foundation of the Shinigami world, something that could shake the entire system. Ichigo Kurosaki, Ganju Shiba, the younger generation, none of them truly understood what Aizen was doing.
He was challenging the rules that held everything together.
In severity, it surpassed even his old arrogance, the plan to replace the Soul King. This was no longer about winning or losing. If Aizen failed, he could drag the entire structure of the Three Realms down with him.
From a defensive standpoint alone, Squad Zero should have descended immediately.
They were the ultimate guardians of order. The Shinigami system was built on the technologies they refined. The cycle of the world was judged under their authority. Only those agents in the royal court truly knew the Soul King's condition and the state of the seal.
If the first silence could be explained by chakra's concealment, then fine.
But now, with ash and pressure blooming high enough that even the sky seemed stained, how could they still be unaware?
And yet, no one came.
There was not a single voice, not a single directive, not even a cold, negative decision.
Even if they intended to crush the problem, they should have acted. Stabilize public sentiment. Eliminate the variable. Wipe out anyone in Rukongai infected with chakra if necessary. That ruthless efficiency was exactly what Squad Zero excelled at.
But nothing happened.
Which meant Squad Zero itself was hesitating.
They did not accept chakra, but they did not deny it either. Those who represented the highest authority in Soul Society were watching the situation unfold and choosing, for now, to do nothing.
That uncertainty was the most terrifying possibility of all.
"Well, even though Lieutenant Matsumoto does not understand any of this, she has fully recovered."
Urahara sat cross legged inside the dojo, voice low, gaze steady as he watched Kukaku's expression grow tighter and more conflicted by the second.
"Lieutenant Rangiku once had a portion of her soul and spiritual power taken by Aizen. That fragment was part of the Soul King, a piece of his body. Even if no one has acted so far, we all know it is an extension of him. If the Soul King wished it, having it return to its origin would be the most natural thing in the world."
Rangiku, who had been listening with widening eyes, flinched, as if she had just realized everyone was discussing her like a sealed container on a laboratory shelf.
Urahara did not pause.
"But Aizen released it without hesitation. Not only that, he allowed Gin and Rangiku to continue holding it. The noble houses have not moved. Squad Zero has not moved. No one has even reacted, as if they never received the news. Seireitei is still arguing about Kurosaki Ichigo's existence like it is the biggest problem in the world."
Urahara's gaze settled on Kukaku.
"No matter how much you hate the Shinigami, Kukaku, you understand what that means."
Kukaku's jaw tightened. Her sake bowl hovered near her lips, forgotten.
"This time is different from everything before," Urahara continued, voice dropping further. "We must confirm what the Soul King's will is."
The words were quiet.
Their meaning was not.
The Soul King was alive. No matter what state he existed in, he was the anchor holding the Three Realms together. If it were not his will, no one could truly harm him. Even the scattering of his body across the world was, in a grotesque sense, a choice the Shinigami made with his silent approval.
If the Soul King ever wished to return the world to chaos, no one could stop him.
That was precisely why he had chosen the cage.
That was why he had chosen the seal.
And yet now, with a fragment of him walking around in Rangiku's body, the Soul King had not recalled his power.
Squad Zero had not descended.
It was as if they did not exist.
That silence birthed a thought no one wanted to touch.
Maybe even the Soul King did not want to oppose Aizen's experiment.
Maybe, in the worst and most absurd possibility, the Soul King was allowing it to spread.
Urahara returned to Soul Society to prepare for this moment, because if the Soul King truly acquiesced, then it was possible Aizen had, in his own twisted way, saved the world.
If something like that happened quietly, without anyone understanding it, it would be disgusting on a level that made Urahara's skin crawl.
Kukaku scoffed, the sound bitter.
"All of this is just your opinion."
"That is why confirmation is necessary."
Urahara glanced at Rangiku, whose eyes were darting from face to face, then back to Kukaku.
"If it were the original Soul King, nothing the Five Great Noble Families did could truly harm him. That is fact. And yet the Tsunayashiro clan still carried out that cruelty, dismembering him to remove even the possibility of regret. He lives, but it is not much different from death."
He spoke those words without drama, and that restraint made them heavier.
"We also know this was a sacrifice he chose, to stabilize the Three Realms. As the system matured and technology advanced, the Tsunayashiro clan, fearing accidents, joined with the other four great clans to cut him apart."
Urahara's eyes sharpened.
"And even then, the Soul King did not resist."
He let that settle.
"Perhaps he truly wanted a better future. Perhaps he believed that this was the only way."
Urahara closed his fan slightly.
"But now Aizen has appeared, and the old path cannot continue, no matter what anyone wants."
He looked at Kukaku, then at Yoruichi, then at Rangiku.
"Whether we confront this head on, or erase it in silence, we will need Squad Zero."
Kukaku lifted her bowl and drank, the movement slow, mocking.
"I think I understand your relationship with that man now."
Her eyes slid over them, cruel and amused.
"You are hesitating. All of you. You do not know how to face this either."
Her smile was thin.
"No matter how ugly he is, technology itself is innocent. Technology that gives more people a better life is good technology. And the chakra he brought is the root of every argument you are having."
Urahara did not deny it.
"We hope he has thoughts like that inside Seireitei as well," he said. "But it is clear the situation, and Squad Zero's silence, are not normal. We need to know what they are thinking, precisely."
Kukaku's fingers tightened around the bowl.
In the end, neither the Shinigami nor Aizen seemed to care about what the Soul King felt.
Among the Five Great Noble Families, only the Shiba clan had clung to that principle, and they had been repaid with exile and ruin.
Kukaku's lip curled.
"…I can wait five more days."
She stared at Urahara like she was daring him to laugh.
"If there is still no response from above after five days, I will accept your request."
Urahara's eyes softened slightly.
"Of course. But we should investigate first."
His smile returned, faint and careful, like a blade hidden behind silk.
"I would like to gain something from this."
Outside the dojo, another blunt Shinra Tensei rumbled through the air. Dust swallowed half the world again, and the tremors rolled across the barrier like waves on glass.
Kukaku's expression darkened even further, as if the sky itself had decided to mock her patience.
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