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Forget The Rails: Arc 4: Chapter 3 Final Part
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 21:49:41 +0000 UTC...
It was starting. Their gambit was finally taking off. Following this very moment, the rest of eternity would be decided once and for all.
In light of that, Aizen Sosuke took in a deep breath as his fingers moved the pieces on the board before him. As the picture he painted figuratively came to life. Every so often, Kyoka helped align a misjudged piece.
He was alone currently, alone to sift through his thoughts at everything that had led to this moment. The Captain Commander, along with every other ranked and un-ranked shinigami were currently beating back and holding the force of hollows that had suddenly invaded. Hollows that had no name, nor thought to themselves- Endless in numbers but weak in truth. Anything more and Josh Groban's curse forbade them from so much as entering the realm, let alone any victory they hoped to achieve.
The Captain Commander briefly considered asking him to aid them before he was reminded that Aizen Sosuke's Zanpakuto obeyed only Aizen Sosuke himself.
Truthfully, he probably could've gotten away with simply refusing. The recent truths that had been dumped on Soul Society's footsteps had turned the very notion of what a Zanpakuto spirit in of itself was on it's head, and far be it for the aged commander to try and command a 'spirit' that knew that truth explicitly. Odds were, the old man was likely relieved he was simply not obeying any orders, as opposed to something worse.
As far as the Hollows were concerned, he understood why they were invading. For all that the boy had elected to take Josh Groban's mantle in full, they still shared a connection, and through that connection, he'd known of what was to come.
The 'Hollow' had elected to kickstart an invasion that threatened the Balance in name only, if only to keep the Soul King preoccupied with the endless futures that came with it.
He was not particularly concerned with the millions of hollows that slowly poured through. No. He was more concerned about what lay in Hell and the Human World, both of which he was limited in what he could do and yet both of which he knew needed an absolute victory for them to succeed.
Hell, he could leave in the hands of his mantled... companion. And though he was still confused as to Ichimaru Gin's involvement, he understood why Urahara Kisuke had been needed.
Of those in existence, only two ever came close to creating a certain dangerous artefact.
That aside he understood what awaited those three, and while he had enough faith in them to succeed- The boy's own... conditions practically guaranteeing it, it was still a hard pill to swallow of its truth.
The Lords of Hell, the future rulers of the next Society's cycle awaited them with their heirs. Their heirs, the pieces of the Soul King himself. Another facet that helped dampen what the Soul King could truly do. All these chains on that being and still, his threat was almost unsurmountable.
Still, a small part of him was curious as to how the three would manage against the Visionary, how they would triumph against the Heart of Miracles, how they would beat the Left Arm of Evolution, how they would overcome the Right Arm of Stagnation, and what they would lose to the Chain of Fate.
He could not help them until all five were dealt with. He could not aid them until they came upon Hell's Throne.
The connection to Josh Groban had instilled within him more horrors than he imagined. More damning truths than he'd wanted. Secrets that if not for his slow acceptance of the changing world around him, would've broken him.
Everything had been leading up to this moment.
But for all that, he could offer no solace to the Captains of Soul Society as the mounds of hollows grew. As the lower and uninitiated faced their almost certain dooms against the jaws of hunger. He could offer no aid to Hell's damned, not until they proved their mettle. Not until they poured a path to the Moment.
The Soul King was watching them all. Was waiting for their mistakes. Was waiting for the Moment himself.
No.
He pushed another piece forward, his eyes taking in the picture it turned elsewhere.
His job was to hope and hold faith that the two realms would find their way to the destination point. To the necessary end, for anything less would lead to their end.
Even from here, hidden away within the Shadows of Soul Society, he could feel Hell's breath as the balance of souls shifted with every passing moment.
He could taste the air left by ones who'd called themselves the Star Knights.
He could feel the untethered force of the one who'd once held the power that had set this reality into stone.
He could sense the residue of the one who'd called himself the Son.
That same Son had been removed from the board before his time, and yet also forever after- Yhwach had lost his place in the universe the very day his companion had stepped foot into it.
His body was taken and used to uphold the Balance in place of his so-called father.
His mind was broken and torn into a monstrosity by another fool who'd thought a distraction filled with madness would allow him to escape.
He hadn't known who'd truly been responsible for that clown until Josh Groban had put his name to his thoughts- And for a long time had wondered endlessly of when that monster would come back to bite them. At some point, he'd been convinced that thing had been a figment of the boy's imagination come to life- Of the boy's need for a neverending adventure. In the end, while it was indeed his imagination, it was another fool that had brought him to being.
Another fool who had used his power to peer at what he shouldn't have.
Yhwach had been split apart by his 'father, his body taken to hold and replace the Soul King's place, while his mind and power had been tampered with by a former Captain of the Gotei Thirteen.
Soya Azashiro had been gifted the opportunity for power by the Soul King and a place in the Human Realm, provided he obeyed the Balance that had been designed.
A Human, for that was the Soul King's original designation, and a Shinigami were working together to uphold this sick mockery.
A Human, even if the boy had come from another realm, and a Shinigami working together to destroy it.
Even in this, the Soul King never strayed far from his Edicts. Even in this the Soul King followed his rules.
Even if the odds were stacked against them, he could not deny the Soul King was a being of his word.
Still, it was another mountain they had to climb for so long as Soya Azashiro roamed the Human World, holding a piece of the Almighty within himself, the Soul King would never lose- But to simply attack that realm was out of the question as it risked Hell's gates opening too soon. A Hollow invasion was manageable, one from Hell was not.
No, he, much like the Being that watched him, could not directly interfere in the Human Realm. He could only hope his agents succeeded.
Ichigo Kurosaki was a... trusted factor in that regard, but the Quincy with him was a wild card. He wondered which side of fate they would fall on. Would Quincy take the picture of the substitute shinigami for his value and help a fellow human against the monstrous Shinigami? Or would he see the shinigami mask that substitute held and help the familiar Almighty that held that monster's strings?
He wondered why the boy's Certainty had chosen Askin Nakk Le Vaar as the perfect companion for the Human Realm's trial.
Still, while he couldn't help his agents in Hell in their trial- At the very least not yet... He could still nudge the trial in the Human Realm in his favour and all that required was the trust of one of the Royal Guards.
He wondered what Senjumaru's price would be.
He hoped the threat of Soya Azashiro was enough to sway her to his side. Hoped the threat of an unending Balance was enough to change fate once again.
"A story." Kyoka Suigetsu remarked by his side, its head laid on one hand as it stared at the picture on the board before them. "You should tell her a story."
He stared at his spirit for a moment, a strange feeling coursing through as he took in the one being that had stuck true by his side despite the truths of the world they lived in. Despite the truths of its own creation.
Aizen Sosuke made a note then and there, that should the world change for the better or worse, Kyoka Suigetsu would be by his side.
"And what story would that be?" He questioned curiously as he slowly got up from an Emperor's former seat.
Kyoka Suigetsu turned its gaze towards him as it did the same, in it's hands a book materialised in front of him.
A book with a title that rang eerily and dangerously familiar to his eyes.
Without context, it was a meaningless string of words.
"The truth," Kyoka remarked easily as it held the book up before him. "Tell her the story of the world's worst swordsman."
He wondered if he could as he stared at the haunting title etched onto it's cover.
'Forget The Rails, I Can't Find The Train!'
For all that the boy had used his name and face to spread one dangerous truth after another regardless of the consequences, Aizen wondered if he could do the same himself.
...
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