Chapter 212
"Sacrifice and suffering."
"These are always with us."
"In order to gain power, some people have to be sacrificed."
If this assumption is true, then Kurotsuchi Mayuri's experiments-torturing souls and using the lives of his subordinates to achieve victory-could also be considered "sacrifices made to gain power." The difference was that Aizen Sōsuke and his followers carried out direct killing and seizing of power, while Mayuri engaged in inhumane torture to obtain the "answers" he sought. Both paths led to the same question: were these atrocities justified by the pursuit of progress?
After all, the world itself was steeped in darkness. To defeat darkness, one might need something darker than darkness; to defeat madness, something more mad than madness; to defeat the devil, something more devilish than the devil. This is likely how Mayuri Kurotsuchi would rationalize his actions.
Even in the original timeline, peace came only through sacrifice. Ichigo Kurosaki secured victory over Sōsuke Aizen at the cost of his own powers. After the battle, he ceased to be a Shinigami and returned to an ordinary human life stripped of spiritual strength.
The distinction was that Ichigo sacrificed himself, while Aizen sacrificed others.
Could a world without sacrifice and pain ever truly exist?
Sōsuke Aizen once explained: "For us, power will always be limited. If one exists as a Shinigami, his highest power is restricted by the boundaries of a Shinigami. If he is human, then his limits are human. If one is Hollow, then the highest potential of the Hollow is likewise restricted. Constraints exist everywhere in this world."
"It is just that everyone bears them differently and at different weights."
"No matter how strong someone is, at most, how few can he defeat? One? Two? How could one who is born as a Shinigami, who does not bear the 'power of transcendence,' possess the strength to change everything?"
"The answer is to increase your weight-to transform yourself from one individual into a multitude."
The Hōgyoku itself was formed from the condensed souls of hundreds of Shinigami who all possessed potential. These were not ordinary souls but geniuses in their own right, condensed into a single creation whose power became unparalleled. Through the Hōgyoku, the limits of the world could be defied.
If the three other powers-Hollows, Fullbringers, Shinigami, and Quincy-all drew their origins from the Soul King, then those powers were nothing but fragments distributed unevenly. Some inherited more, others less. A select few-like Sōsuke Aizen and certain captains of the Gotei 13-received more than others. The weaker, unknown members of the squads possessed less of that divine fragment, their potential already capped at birth.
Thus, if one only relied on the power they began with, they would inevitably meet their limit eventually. To surpass it, they needed to seize the fragments within others and integrate them into their own being-even fragments belonging to Hollows. Each fragment absorbed caused their portion to grow larger, bringing them closer to the source-the Soul King himself.
When the fragments gathered within one individual overshadowed all others, when their size dwarfed the scattered remnants across the world, that person would gain the strength to crush everyone else beneath them. Victory would cement their place as the next Soul King, and they would gain the ability to rewrite the rules of existence entirely.
This, Aizen once believed, was the only path to ascension for those without external power. But standing before Yuta, he had a different perspective.
"But you are different," Aizen said, his calm voice cutting through the silence as he fixed his gaze on Yuta. "From the very beginning, you have been an existence that transcends transcendence itself. I suspect that people like you-those who cannot be explained by the framework of this world-are beings who stand outside of it entirely. Only someone like you could hope to change the rules without destroying lives."
"Because… you are special."
As he listened to Aizen's words, Yuta spoke in return, his thoughts clear. "Sōsuke, have you ever heard a story?"
"Please speak, Captain," Aizen replied, shaking his head faintly.
"It was a science fiction story. In it, after suffering countless cruel things, a girl became hopeless about the human world. She sought salvation from a power outside of humanity, wishing for goodness beyond this world that could save them. But what awaited her wasn't salvation at all. The so-called 'good' of that world couldn't even save itself. What she finally gained was 'the evil beyond this world.'"
Hearing this, Aizen allowed a small smile to form. "That is correct. To us, you are the good beyond this world. Your power is enough to destroy everything and to change the rules that bind us. Following behind you is to walk ahead of all others. You alone are invincible."
...
The story then shifts back slightly in time.
After Yuta's battle with Aizen Sōsuke had ended, Chad Yasutora found himself returning to a boxing gym to hone his fists once more. To him, Ishida Uryū had refined his skills as a Quincy since childhood, and Ichigo Kurosaki had studied karate when he was young. Shinigami trained in Zankensoki at the Shin'ō Academy. Perhaps, Chad thought, what he lacked was foundation itself.
...
At a karate dojo, Arisawa Tatsuki trained with a sharper focus than ever before. Once the runner-up in her high school karate competitions, she could even defeat Ichigo back then. But now, she recognized that even standing against Ichigo was impossible, and to someone like Aizen Sōsuke, she was at best insignificant. With that realization weighing on her, Tatsuki had devoted herself to relentless practice these past two years, unwilling to remain powerless any longer.
...
Elsewhere, Inoue Orihime visited her brother's grave, bringing with her a carefully prepared cake. Karakura Town's cemetery held not only Sora Inoue's tombstone but also numerous others, including that of Ichigo's mother. Orihime gently swept the dust from the stone before setting her offering down.
"Onii-san," she said softly, "this cake is fragrant and sweet."
"This cake tastes like happiness melting in your mouth. Just looking at it makes me feel so greedy already."
Before she realized it, Orihime was already opening the package and tasting the cake with a guilty smile, the sweetness filling her completely. She froze for a moment and whispered apologetically, "What am I doing? Why did I just eat the cake already? I wanted to give it to you, but… I couldn't resist. It's too delicious. I couldn't stop myself."
Her eyes grew damp with emotion as she lowered her voice again. "But… Onii-san, if you're watching me right now, can you feel a little of my happiness too?"
Her gaze drifted upward, her words quiet in the solemn air. "Onii-san, do you know? The world has been changing so much lately. Everyone in Karakura Town almost lost their lives."