The End

Congratulations on graduating? What does that mean? Has Aizen admitted defeat? Or is this just a trap to make me let my guard down?

Baiye was still suspicious of Aizen's sudden surrender, but Aizen wasted no time. He drew his sword and sliced precisely along the edge of the Four Symbols Seal, cutting into his own soul.

The moment the connection between their souls broke, Baiye felt a wave of relief. The power invading his very existence suddenly vanished, like a fine needle being drawn from a blood vessel.

Aizen's face turned deathly pale. Having his soul severed had to be excruciating, but he showed no change in expression.

"Why?"

"Why did I give up so early?" Aizen asked in return.

"Yes. With your abilities, sensei, you should have plenty of other methods at your disposal."

"Your question isn't unreasonable." Aizen sheathed his sword with the composure of a teacher putting away classroom materials. "But there's something you don't know. The authority I stole to oppose Him didn't come without a price. I used most of my abilities to divert His attention. And even so, He'll be here any moment now."

Baiye followed Aizen's gaze. Cracks in the space around them were growing more numerous and larger. The gray-white sky was like a pane of glass struck by a stone, fractures spreading outward from the center. Beyond every crack lay profound darkness without a trace of light. Reiatsu Detection was swallowed silently upon touching the edges of the cracks, unable to sense anything.

"In this state, even if I used Kyōka Suigetsu or a high-level Bakudō, I wouldn't be very confident of merging completely with you. Most likely, the fusion would only be halfway done when He fully descended."

"Even so, there should be a way around that, shouldn't there?" Baiye said.

"Yes. If you really are as important as I imagined, I could indeed use you as a hostage and continue to contend with Him." Aizen paused. "But what if I'm wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if, when the time comes, He finds He can't separate us or tell us apart? Would He simply wipe us both out?"

Baiye froze. He had never considered that. All along, he had taken it for granted that the system was a cheat that existed to serve him—a tool that would never hurt him and would only help him grow.

But what if Aizen was right, and he wasn't that important? What if he was only one of the system's many options, someone who could be sacrificed when the costs and benefits had to be weighed?

But that's the system. How could it possibly hurt me?

Although he vehemently rejected the possibility, he could never quite rid himself of his doubts.

His face, flushed from the battle, now turned pale.

Aizen watched his expression and smiled faintly. "Of course, that's only speculation."

Baiye fell silent. Aizen's smile was as irritating as ever.

"So when you said 'congratulations on graduating,' sensei, you really meant to give up?"

"Give up?" Aizen looked away from the cracks and fixed his gaze on Baiye. "I don't hate you, Baiye."

The conversation had suddenly taken an unexpected turn. Baiye stared at Aizen, at a loss for words.

"Although I'm a 'creation' with false memories," Aizen said calmly, as though stating a fact that had nothing to do with him, "even so, I am Sōsuke Aizen."

"I told you, I don't like the word 'fate.' Nor do I like anyone manipulating me in its name—even if He is my creator."

Baiye opened his mouth. "...In other words, I was only one step in your rebellion against Him."

"Though it may hurt your feelings, that is indeed the truth."

Baiye fell silent again.

He recalled the preparations he had made while walking alone through the desert of Rōran, the things he had said to Kakashi at the Hatake Clan dōjō, and Jiraiya's declaration before he passed out drunk at the izakaya: "Even dying on the road would be worth it."

He had always thought himself brave enough. But compared to Aizen's resolve in the face of his creator, his own rebellion seemed rather petty.

"Since I can't merge completely with you, I won't continue to pursue it... That would be too unsightly." Aizen looked at Baiye. "So you've graduated, Baiye."

Baiye looked at the man before him—his teacher, his opponent, a man who had chosen to give up of his own accord at the last moment rather than bring them both down.

He bent at the waist and gave him a solemn bow.

"...Thank you, Aizen-sensei."

Aizen chuckled softly. "You certainly do need to thank me. Illusion Control wasn't the only authority I borrowed—"

[Congratulations, host. You have completed the Shin'ō Academy graduation examination. Leaving the illusion immediately.]

The cracks in the surrounding space suddenly widened in unison and joined together, then shattered like a mirror. Baiye's figure gradually faded amid the fragments, like a drop of ink diluted in clear water.

The last thing he saw was Aizen standing alone at the center of the collapsing space, the hem of his robes caught in the currents of the void, a faint smile on his pale face.

And just like that, Baiye vanished from the space.

Darkness washed over everything in the space like flowing ink.

Stone pillars, stone slabs, the gray-white sky—everything the darkness touched disintegrated in an instant, turning to nothing. But when the darkness approached Aizen, it flowed around him, hugging the contours of his body, as though something were holding it back, or some presence wanted to keep him a little longer.

Aizen stood where he was and looked up at a point in the void.

"Hello. I've long known you in spirit, my creator. What should I call you?"

The darkness gave no answer. There was only the sound of the cracks widening, a dull reverberation like the whole sky being torn apart.

"Don't you want to talk? I have nowhere left to run."

There was still no response. Aizen rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, adjusting it to the most comfortable position out of habit. Unfortunately, even if he wanted to draw it, no enemy appeared before him for him to cut down.

"Very well. It seems my questions will go unanswered. Though I can't help feeling—you aren't as rigid as you appear."

[Anomalous creation locked on. Creation number 8. Assessing danger... Danger level: extremely dangerous. Fusion risk: extremely high. Disposition: immediate erasure.]

The darkness that had silently surrounded Aizen a moment before suddenly surged into waves.

There was nowhere to hide, because the waves were not coming from any one direction, but closing in from all sides at once.

Aizen stood at the center of the vortex, his hand still resting on his sword hilt. He still did not draw it.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in one final smile.

The darkness closed in. Everything fell silent.