Bankai Training: Illusion

Standing at the edge of the third flight of stairs, Liu Hao took a deep breath. He could clearly feel the change in his Reiatsu: compared with the first and second trials, its strength had diminished considerably, as though climbing the stairs itself had been steadily draining his power.

"The path to Bankai really is difficult," he murmured. Without hesitation, he raised his foot and stepped onto the first step of the third flight.

In an instant, the world changed again.

This time, there were no familiar streets, no cozy rooms, no dreamlike encounters. Before Liu Hao stretched a boundless river of time, its current rushing endlessly onward.

The river was not made of water, but of countless interwoven lights and shadows. Every beam of light was a memory, every patch of shadow a piece of history. And on the river's surface, the story of "Bleach" that he knew so well played out like a holographic projection.

Liu Hao floated above the river of time like a ghost, silently watching the scenes flow beneath him. He saw Ichigo Kurosaki meet Rukia Kuchiki for the first time, saw the fierce battles of the Soul Society rescue arc, the brutality of the Hueco Mundo invasion, and the tragic grandeur of the final battle in Karakura Town...

"What is this supposed to be?" Liu Hao couldn't help asking, his voice echoing across the empty expanse of time. "Showing me a story I've already seen, only in 3D? But what's the point...?"

No one answered. The Imperial Princess did not appear, nor did the throne. Only the river of time flowed silently on, as the story continued to unfold.

At first, Liu Hao managed to stay calm, watching the familiar events like a spectator. But when he saw those familiar companions injured and in danger, he couldn't help feeling the urge to act.

In the scene, Kaien Shiba was attacked by a Hollow undergoing Hollowfication, leaving him at death's door. Liu Hao instinctively reached out, wanting to pull him to safety. But his hand passed straight through the scene, as though through the phantom of a holographic projection, unable to touch anything.

He pulled his hand back awkwardly and could only watch as the Hollowfied blade pierced Kaien's chest.

"Damn it..." Liu Hao clenched his teeth and forced himself to keep watching.

The story unfolded scene by scene, from the World of the Living to Soul Society, from Hueco Mundo to the Wandenreich. When the final scene of Yhwach's defeat and the return of peace to the Three Worlds slowly faded, Liu Hao found himself back at the beginning of the river of time.

"What's the point of showing me all this?" he asked again, a trace of weariness and impatience in his voice.

At last, the Imperial Princess's voice came from the void, distant and ethereal. "Who knows? It's not as if I can control any of this."

Liu Hao frowned. "You mean... these are all things I want to see deep down?"

"Of course." The Imperial Princess's voice was calm and even. "Everything here is built from the thoughts in your heart. Whatever you want to see will appear. I can't interfere, and I won't."

"But I didn't want to see any of this!" Liu Hao protested. "I already know these stories. What's the point of watching them over and over again?"

"Who knows?" The Imperial Princess's voice grew more distant. "There's no use asking me. Think about it yourself."

As soon as she finished speaking, the scenery changed again. Liu Hao returned to the beginning of the river of time, and the story started once more with Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki's first meeting.

"You've got to be kidding... I have to watch it again?" Liu Hao sighed helplessly.

This time, the Imperial Princess's voice vanished completely.

Endless loops and a strange sensation

The first time, the second time, the third time...

Liu Hao had lost track of how long he had spent in the river of time, or how many times he had watched the same story. He knew every detail by heart and could recite every line along with the characters. The endless repetition began to wear away at his patience and gradually erode his sanity.

Then, during one viewing, Liu Hao suddenly noticed something strange.

The people in the scenes—the characters he knew so well—seemed to be... looking at him.

They weren't staring directly at him. Rather, their glances were fleeting, almost imperceptible. When Ichigo Kurosaki beat up some thugs, those lying on the ground would glance in his direction. When Byakuya Kuchiki carried out his duties, he would occasionally look up at the sky—right where Liu Hao was floating. Even Aizen, while handling official business in the Fifth Division, would suddenly put down his pen and gaze thoughtfully into the void.

At first, Liu Hao thought it was an illusion. But by the fifth and sixth times through the story, the feeling grew stronger and stronger. He tried to follow their gazes, but whenever he turned his head, the people in the scenes would return to normal, as though everything he had just seen was his imagination.

The feeling of being secretly watched by countless pairs of eyes gave Liu Hao a bone-chilling sense of unease.

Finally, after one story ended, Liu Hao did not immediately return to the beginning. Instead, he remained in a dark void.

"Imperial Princess," he said into the void, "why do I get the feeling... they can see me?"

There was no response.

Liu Hao waited a while, but all remained silent around him. Just as he thought this trial might be different, the space before him lit up again—the story had begun once more.

This time, Liu Hao decided he would no longer watch passively. Since he couldn't escape the loop, he would at least find out what was really happening here.

When the story reached the scene where Ichigo Kurosaki beat up the thugs, Liu Hao floated in midair and carefully observed everyone below.

Then something strange happened.

The thugs Ichigo Kurosaki had knocked down suddenly raised their heads in unison, staring straight at Liu Hao in the air. Their eyes were no longer those of hollow projections, but held a certain... awareness.

Immediately afterward, Ichigo Kurosaki also turned to look at Liu Hao. The orange-haired boy no longer wore his usual impulsive, reckless expression. In its place was an indescribable calm and profundity.

"You don't belong here," Ichigo Kurosaki said, his voice clear and rational, nothing like that of a fifteen-year-old boy. "And this isn't the first time you've watched us. We've always been able to sense your presence, but only this time... can we truly see you."

Liu Hao froze, then slowly descended to the ground. Looking at this Ichigo Kurosaki, so familiar and yet so strange, he reached the height of his confusion.

"Being able to ask those things doesn't seem much like you," Liu Hao said cautiously.

Ichigo Kurosaki smiled, a world-weariness beyond his years in that smile. "Yes, I really shouldn't be able to speak so rationally right now. But as I said, this world has been looping. The fact that we can sense your presence proves that, although I look young right now, do you still think... I'm the real fifteen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Before he had finished speaking, Ichigo Kurosaki's body suddenly trembled slightly. A translucent figure separated from him: Ichigo Kurosaki as a Soul Reaper, dressed in a Shihakushō, with a Zanpakuto at his back and another at his waist. It was also his complete form, having undergone the Zero Division's special training and mastered his true power.

Liu Hao stared at the scene in shock. "So... every time I passed through this world like a ghost, you could all sense me? And you also know... that this world keeps looping?"

"Of course," Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki replied, his voice more mature and his gaze sharper. "We may have experienced this loop even more times than you have. Every time the story ends, everything starts over. We repeat the same conversations and make the same choices, until... you appear again."

He paused, his expression growing complicated. "But a voice told us that this endless loop would disappear only if we dealt with you. So... sorry, but I'm going to kill you here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki drew the Zanpakuto from his back and slashed at Liu Hao without warning!

Liu Hao instinctively tried to draw his sword to defend himself, but when his hand went to his waist, it found nothing. In this world, he had no Zanpakuto, nor even a physical body.

In that instant of hesitation, Ichigo Kurosaki's blade swept through Liu Hao's body.

Yet nothing happened.

The blade passed through Liu Hao's body as though cutting through air, meeting no resistance, doing no harm, and not even touching anything.

"It seems I was still being naive." Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki withdrew his sword and shook his head with a bitter smile. "How could we possibly touch a ghost like you?"

Liu Hao was silent for a moment before suddenly speaking. "A ghost? Why not... the being who created you?"

"The being who created us?" Ichigo Kurosaki looked thoughtful. "Maybe so. But I think even if you did create us, you shouldn't have trapped us in this endless cycle."

"I didn't want to trap you in this cycle," Liu Hao said seriously. "To be precise, I'm trapped in it too, constantly watching everything that happens to you, over and over again."

"Like Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu?" Ichigo Kurosaki asked.

"Yes." Liu Hao sighed. "Since we can't bring any of this to an end, would you... like to watch with me? I think we must have missed something important, and that's why we can't get out of here."

Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki stared at Liu Hao for a long time before finally nodding. "Sure. I can't touch you anyway. In that case... I'll watch with you."

The moment the two reached an understanding, a gentle light shone on the "young Ichigo Kurosaki" lying on the ground. The fifteen-year-old boy scratched his head, stood up, and looked at the thugs around him, as though nothing had happened.

The thugs returned to normal as well. Completely unable to see Liu Hao or Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki, they began grappling with the young Ichigo Kurosaki.

Liu Hao turned to the Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki beside him and asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

"I don't know either." Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki shrugged. "It seems to have something to do with you. Because you invited me to watch with you, I was completely freed from that shell—in the same ghostly form as you."

Liu Hao reached out and tried to touch Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki. As expected, his hand passed through the other man's body, as though through a holographic projection.

Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki laughed. "It's still the same. Now I'm a ghost, just like you. But at least... you can see me and talk to me."

And so, the two "ghosts" stood side by side and began another round of watching.

This time, the experience was completely different. With Ichigo Kurosaki's company and explanations, Liu Hao saw many details he had overlooked before.

"Look there." Ichigo Kurosaki pointed to a subtle expression on Aizen's face in the scene. "In my original memories, there shouldn't have been anything unusual about Aizen at this point. But in this loop... his eyes are clearly searching for something."

Liu Hao looked closely and indeed saw Aizen's gaze occasionally drift toward the void, as though confirming the presence of something.

"And here," Ichigo Kurosaki said, pointing to Sōkyoku Hill as the story reached the Soul Society arc. "At the time, I thought Captain-Commander Yamamoto was watching my fight with Byakuya Kuchiki. But looking at it now... his gaze is slightly off, at just the right angle to be looking where you were floating."

As they observed more closely, Liu Hao discovered that nearly every important character displayed similar "abnormalities" in the looping story. They would occasionally look toward Liu Hao's position, deliberately or otherwise say things they originally shouldn't have said, and make small choices at crucial moments that were nevertheless enough to change the course of the story.

"This loop... is evolving on its own," Liu Hao concluded. "It's no longer the fixed story I remember, but a dynamic system that adjusts according to my presence."

"And," Ichigo Kurosaki added, "our awareness is awakening too. With each loop, we become a little more aware of our situation. Until this time... we can finally speak to you directly."

At last, the story reached its end once again: Yhwach was defeated, and peace returned to the Three Worlds. But unlike before, the scene did not immediately reset. Instead, it lingered on that peaceful ending.

Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki turned to Liu Hao. "Do you think... the story is over?"

Liu Hao shook his head. "How could it be over? It's just that... I don't know the story that comes after."

"Then what do you hope the story afterward will be like?" Ichigo Kurosaki asked.

Liu Hao smiled bitterly. "I just want to live a peaceful life. I don't want anything too troublesome to happen."

"But can anything go the way you want?" Ichigo Kurosaki's voice grew solemn. "Things don't develop the way we want them to just because we want them to. All we can do is try our best to keep them from getting worse."

Liu Hao fell silent. Ichigo Kurosaki's words touched a sensitive place deep in his heart.

"That's why I did some unnecessary things," Liu Hao said quietly.

"They really were 'unnecessary' as far as you're concerned." Ichigo Kurosaki's tone softened. "But for me... they were a good thing. After all, the people you chose to save are all my family."

Liu Hao looked sharply up at Ichigo Kurosaki. The orange-haired Soul Reaper wore an understanding, forgiving smile.

"I think I see it now," Liu Hao said with a sigh. "You never really wanted to kill me and make this cycle disappear. You've been trying to persuade me... to stop clinging to this illusory world."

"That's right." Ichigo Kurosaki admitted it openly. "Everything here really is an illusion, because this entire loop was built from the thoughts in your heart. And the reason you've never been able to forget this world is that, deep down... you still haven't truly accepted that you're 'a person of this world.'"

"But I really have accepted it," Liu Hao protested, though a trace of uncertainty crept into his voice.

"Have you?" Ichigo Kurosaki only asked in return, his voice carrying a profundity that seemed to see through everything.

Then he smiled. There was understanding in that smile, relief, and a kind of farewell.

The next second, Ichigo Kurosaki's figure began to turn transparent. Not only him, but the entire scene of the story and the whole river of time began to disperse like smoke.

"Wait—" Liu Hao reached out, but could grasp nothing.

Ichigo Kurosaki's final words echoed through the void. "Remember, the real world is waiting for you. There are real battles there, real pain, real bonds... and real possibilities."

Then everything disappeared.

Liu Hao stood alone in pure darkness. There was no light, no sound, no sense of time passing. There was only him and the thoughts surging in his heart.

He stood there for a long, long time. So long that he almost forgot who he was and why he was there.

Then he slowly raised his hand.

"Since I can't walk out of this illusory world..." Liu Hao's voice rang out in the darkness, calm and firm. "Then I'll just destroy it."

The instant he finished speaking, his right hand closed around empty air, and a sword of light formed in his grasp, made entirely of Reiatsu. Its blade radiated a cold blue light, illuminating his resolute face.

Liu Hao swung his sword.

With no target, he simply slashed at the void before him, delivering the simplest, most direct strike.

Hum—

Space tore wherever the blade passed. The scenes of the story that had played out countless times, those familiar people and settings, appeared like a shattered mirror, then broke into countless fragments in the light of his sword.

"Destroy it?" Ichigo Kurosaki's voice suddenly came from all directions. "But can you really do it?"

Liu Hao did not answer. He simply kept swinging, strike after strike. He poured all his strength into every blow, each one carrying resolute determination.

Reiatsu surged wildly around him, and the blue-white light grew brighter and brighter, gradually illuminating the darkness around him. The broken scenes dissolved and faded in the light, like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun.

"I don't want to be a ghost anymore," Liu Hao murmured, his voice carrying a sense of release. "I don't want to keep watching someone else's story over and over... I want to create my own story."

One final strike.

He concentrated all his Reiatsu at the tip of his sword and thrust it into the deepest part of the void. In that instant, time seemed to stop, and space seemed to freeze.

Then—

Crack.

A clear breaking sound rang out, like glass shattering. An enormous crack spread through the void, and behind it was brilliant starlight.

Without the slightest hesitation, Liu Hao leaped into the crack.

The instant his body passed through it, he felt a long-lost sense of "reality": the weight of his body, the movement of the air, the sensation of Reiatsu surging through his meridians... It had all returned.

The moment his feet touched solid ground again, the scenery around him stabilized.

He stood before a new flight of stairs—the fourth flight.

He looked up. The throne was still high in the starry sky, and the Imperial Princess still stood beside it, holding the Imperial Sword in her arms. But this time, her gaze held something that had not been there before: approval, and perhaps a trace of relief.

Liu Hao looked down at his hands and felt the Reiatsu within him, greatly depleted but more condensed than before. The corners of his mouth rose slightly.

The third flight of stairs: passed.

He glanced back at the stairs behind him. He had left those trials of the past, of illusion, and of obsession behind him.

Then he turned around, his gaze fixed resolutely on the fourth flight of stairs and the throne still higher above.