The Spirit King's inner palace, fourth level.
It seemed the entire inner palace had been built to the same design.
The same walls.
The same corridors.
The same stark emptiness.
There wasn't a single unnecessary object anywhere.
The fourth level was no exception—only walls and architecture.
Except for one extra thing.
In the center of the floor stood a round platform, its entire surface wrapped tightly in black cloth, without even the tiniest gap.
It radiated an air of mystery.
When Cole, Rukia, and Sode no Shirayuki had first arrived,
they had tried to tear the cloth open.
They soon discovered the cloth was unbelievably tough,
likely something woven by Senjumaru herself.
In the end, it had taken Cole's Hollowfied claws to finally rip a narrow opening, revealing what lay beneath.
Inside the shroud stood a blue crystal about two meters tall.
The crystal was clear and flawless, glistening with a moist, watery blue light.
One glance was enough to see everything inside.
And it was precisely what they saw inside that had left Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki so shocked their legs gave out and they collapsed to the ground.
"So this is… the Spirit King…?"
Rukia covered her mouth with trembling fingers, her eyes wet with tears as she stared at the figure within the blue crystal.
Sode no Shirayuki wasn't any better.
Terrified out of her wits, she instinctively grabbed onto Cole's pant leg, unable to even control the cold spreading from her body.
"The Spirit King… how could he look like this…!?"
When they had first approached the Spirit King's Palace, they had truly been awestruck.
This was the most exalted place in all of Soul Society.
They had yearned to see the Spirit King of legend with their own eyes.
In Seireitei, countless stories about the Spirit King had been passed down.
Some said the Spirit King had created the world alone, allowing the three realms to function and all life to flourish.
Some said the Spirit King stood above all, ruling over the cycle of life and death in every world.
Some said the Spirit King was selfless and merciful, tirelessly maintaining peace and stability, so that the three realms could remain safe and sound.
But no matter which version one believed—
The Spirit King's existence had always been supreme.
The five great noble families owed their status entirely to the fact that they possessed traces of the Spirit King's bloodline.
That was the belief Rukia carried in her heart when she came to the inner palace.
She had wanted to see the supreme Spirit King.
To bow, and say a simple word of thanks.
Yet what they saw now was completely different from the legends.
Forget being lofty and untouchable.
Forget incomparable majesty.
This was worse than a condemned prisoner.
Cole reached out and gently ruffled Rukia's and Sode no Shirayuki's hair, offering what comfort he could.
Only then did he lift his gaze to the blue crystal.
"The Spirit King, huh… You really are miserable."
It wasn't strange that he would say such a thing.
Because within the blue crystal—
The so-called Spirit King stood naked.
He had no arms.
No legs.
There were sutured scars across his chest.
Cole knew exactly what that meant.
The Spirit King's heart, his internal organs,
every single piece of his body that could be taken—
Had all been cut out.
In his current state,
he was far more pitiful than any human pig described in old torture records.
What was worth noting was that the Spirit King trapped in the blue crystal had neither a handsome face nor a powerful physique.
He looked like an ordinary person.
Seen from outside the crystal, one could not feel the slightest hint of overwhelming power from him.
It was as if he were simply a doll placed on display.
Thinking this, Cole lightly tapped the surface of the blue crystal and fixed his gaze on the Spirit King's black eyes.
"Spirit King… Adonais. I've heard you're all-knowing and all-powerful—
no, even greater than omniscience and omnipotence,
a god who created all things.
You still… have your own will, don't you?"
When he finished speaking, the Spirit King within the blue crystal remained utterly motionless.
There wasn't so much as a twitch of response.
He might as well have been a lifeless object,
a wax figure.
The black eyes in his face—
Contained not the slightest spark of light.
They were empty. Dead.
Rukia was so startled she darted behind Cole on reflex, her voice trembling.
"C-Cole, what do you mean by that? Are you saying the Spirit King is still alive?"
She felt sorrow for what had been done to him—
But if someone cut off all four limbs, carved out all organs,
and he still reacted…
That would be terrifying.
That would be a horror film.
What normal person could survive after having their limbs severed and their internal organs dug out?
Well… except for that lunatic scientist Mayuri.
Sode no Shirayuki was just as nervous,
and simply threw herself onto Cole's back altogether.
"Cole, why don't we just leave?"
Seeing the Spirit King like this, her heart was filled with nothing but sadness and fear.
She had no idea what they were supposed to do next.
Cole remained relatively calm.
He silently grabbed Sode no Shirayuki off his back and set her down beside him.
"Shirayuki, you do realize how cold you are, right?"
This time, she was different from before.
Perhaps because she had been reforged, her body was now unimaginably cold.
In just a few seconds, a thick layer of frost had formed on his hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
Sode no Shirayuki's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.
She shuffled to Cole's other side and hugged his arm with her right hand.
"I was just scared…"
To see the exalted Spirit King reduced to this…
It was more horrifying than any ghost story.
Had the Royal Guard betrayed their duty?
Or had the ancestors of the five great noble families lied from the very beginning?
After comforting Sode no Shirayuki a bit more,
Cole finally turned back to answer Rukia's question.
Staring at the Spirit King inside the blue crystal,
a body as still as a corpse with no waves of power at all,
he spoke in a grave tone.
"Personally, I think the Spirit King is still alive.
In the legends, he's a creator god, the strongest being in all three realms.
You really think injuries like this would be enough to kill him?"
In the original history, it had been said that even after the Spirit King had been reduced to something close to a human pig,
His will had not vanished.
On the contrary, it remained quietly guiding the development and continuation of the world.
Ichigo's arrival at the Spirit King's Palace had been influenced by the Spirit King's will from the start.
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki listened, their hearts pounding in their chests.
It felt as if they were listening to a myth.
And the protagonist of that myth was standing right before their eyes.
"T-Then… what should we do…?"
Rukia looked at the Spirit King in the blue crystal, swallowed hard, and asked in a dry voice,
"Should we… rescue the Spirit King?"
As she spoke, her heart beat faster, her breathing grew heavy, and sweat beaded on her forehead.
She was unbelievably nervous.
Because in truth, she had no idea why the Spirit King had ended up like this.
This was supposed to be the most exalted being in the entire world.
There had to be a reason he had been mutilated and sealed.
If they rashly liberated the Spirit King, who knew what kind of consequences might follow?
"Rescue the Spirit King, huh?"
Cole couldn't help but chuckle softly.
He tapped the blue crystal again.
"You don't seriously think this thing is just for show, do you?"
He had already tested it just now,
trying to pinch off a tiny bit of the blue crystal.
The result was that he only managed to hurt his own fingers.
The crystal didn't even show a single hairline crack.
With hardness like this,
even if he smashed it with the Ruyi Jingu Bang,
he doubted he could break the entire crystal by force.
Rukia, hearing this, tentatively tapped the blue crystal with her zanpakuto.
The result was exactly as Cole had said.
The blade left not even a faint white mark.
Rukia bit her lower lip, uncertain whether she should feel regret…
Or relief.
Sode no Shirayuki, on the other hand, let out a visible sigh.
She grabbed Cole's arm and tugged urgently.
"Cole, Rukia, since we can't break the blue crystal, let's just get out of here and tell everyone else about this."
She really didn't want to stay here a moment longer.
Every glimpse of the Spirit King's body made her feel an indescribable fear.
Cole, however, didn't answer right away.
He raised an eyebrow and turned his eyes toward the staircase leading up to the fourth level.
"No need to rush. I want to see how that guy reacts first."
"That guy…?"
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki looked up in confusion.
At the entrance, a figure slowly emerged and stepped into view—
Aizen, fluttering his white Hollow wings like a moth drawn to a flame.
He glanced at Cole first, completely unsurprised to find him here.
Then Aizen turned his gaze to the Spirit King.
Complex emotions flickered in his eyes—
Burning passion, killing intent, and a trace of confusion…
In the end, it all settled into a single, sharp doubt.
"Spirit King…"
"So this is the Spirit King?"
He took a step toward the blue crystal.
"Cole!"
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki both tensed, staring at Cole, their hands gripping their zanpakuto hilts in unison.
They might not know the exact reason the Spirit King had ended up like this,
But they both knew one thing clearly—
They absolutely could not allow Aizen to get what he wanted.
The ideal world he spoke of…
Just hearing him describe it was enough to make a person despair.
"It's fine."
Cole reached out and took both their hands, shaking his head.
"Let him try. There's no way he can break that blue crystal."
If even he couldn't break it,
He refused to believe Aizen could.
According to the information from the original history,
The seal binding the Spirit King was unimaginably powerful,
and the conditions to undo it were incredibly demanding.
Only by uniting five different spiritual power types—
Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, Fullbring, and Human—
Could the seal be fully broken,
allowing the Spirit King to be slain.
He had just tried to damage the crystal;
even without drawing his zanpakuto,
he knew he couldn't shatter it.
Under the watchful eyes of all three,
Aizen slowly pressed his right hand—
wrapped in white Hollow matter—
against the surface of the blue crystal.
Several seconds later,
He pulled his hand back and said calmly,
"A very powerful seal.
It doesn't belong to any known sealing technique.
With brute force alone, it's almost impossible to open."
Hearing this, Rukia, in spite of her fear of Aizen, couldn't help blurting out,
"Even if you and Cole work together, you still can't break it?"
Aizen glanced at Cole, then shook his head.
"No.
The strength of this seal has already surpassed my understanding.
There's no way a single person could have created it."
He had already evolved to a frighteningly high dimension of power.
Even so, he could feel that whoever had created this seal was stronger than he currently was.
At least three beings at his current level,
working together,
might be able to forge a crystal of this magnitude.
As he spoke, Aizen looked at Cole again and, for once, asked in a detached but not entirely mocking tone,
"Human…
After seeing that the Spirit King who rules this world is nothing more than this thing,
What do you think?"
Cole raised an eyebrow and stared at the lifeless Spirit King within the blue crystal.
"I feel fortunate… and respectful."
Aizen's brow furrowed, irritation flashing across his face.
"Human, why are your thoughts always so far from what a normal person would think?
Do you not have even a shred of ordinary reasoning?"
(End of Chapter)
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