Chapter 265
The enormous column of water, like a world-ending flood, instantly washed away all the buildings around Aqua, including the several massive Riden surrounding the Soul King Palace.
The entire Soul King Palace was surrounded by the flood. Except for the highest Soul King Palace, all the other palaces were swept away by the flood and carried far away. None of them could escape!
The entire Soul King Palace was completely destroyed by this world-destroying flood, and after destroying the Soul King Palace, the floodwaters rushed relentlessly towards the Soul Society below.
The head Great Monk, who had been on guard against Aizen, was completely dumbfounded when he saw the Soul King Palace ravaged by the flood.
478. Soul King Aizen
The Soul King Palace doesn't actually have many buildings. The main building is the central pavilion where the Soul King is housed, and the rest of the buildings are the Riden of the Royal Guard members.
Those who Riden represent the members of the Royal Guard, and are also their foundation. After being selected for the Royal Guard, their bodies are modified to become special Bleach, and their souls are also integrated into their respective Riden.
The so-called "Riden" are the palaces surrounding the Soul King Palace. These are the private territories of the Royal Guard members and their very foundation. By joining the Royal Guard, they gained immense power and immortal bodies, but they also had to pay a corresponding price. This price is that they are bound to their respective Riden, and their lives are in the hands of those Riden. Riden exists, they live; Riden dies, they are likely to die. The second price is that they can never leave the Soul King Palace, even for millions of years. They must always guard the area around the Soul King Palace.
Now, the Riden surrounding the Soul King Palace were directly destroyed by the massive flood summoned by Aqua. The Riden, like everything else, were creations of Reishi. Faced with Aqua's purifying power, they were immediately dispersed and transformed into the most basic Reishi, which, along with the flood, rushed towards the Soul Society below.
Along with the four Riden, four members of the Royal Guard were also swept away. The floodwaters, imbued with Purification Power, continuously washed over their bodies. As they struggled in the flood, their expressions gradually became Buddhist, then they looked as if they had seen through the illusions of the world. Gradually, their expressions faded, and they transformed into the most basic Reishi, dissipating into the air.
The Four Divine Generals of the Royal Guard died at the hands of Aqua in a very bizarre way, turning into the most basic Reishi and returning to this world.
The Great Monk stared wide-eyed as he witnessed the entire process of the four people returning to their Reishi, and was dumbfounded for a moment.
As the leader of the Royal Guard, he could clearly sense that the four had disappeared from this world. Even calling their names with his own abilities was useless, and there was no way to revive them. They were truly dead.
The destruction of the Riden had a tremendous impact on them.
To be honest, the information about the Royal Guard was completely exposed. The enemy knew that if they wanted to target the members of the Royal Guard, they had to destroy their respective Riden. So they just destroyed all the Riden in one fell swoop and took away the main bodies of the Royal Guard members in one fell swoop.
This situation was truly unexpected for the Great Monk.
That's right, he really didn't expect that when he resurrected the remaining Four Divine Generals of the Royal Guard, he wanted them to kill Aqua through close combat and physical means, rather than letting them all be taken away by Aqua in one fell swoop.
What is this? The Royal Guard was wiped out by 80%? And he's the only one left?
Fortunately, unlike the other Royal Guard, the Great Monk has integrated his name into his concept. Even if he dies or disappears, he can be resurrected in this world as long as someone calls his name.
However, he did not think he would have a chance to be resurrected after he died, because if he died now, the Soul King would definitely be finished as well. Once the Soul King was finished, the entire Three Realms would be finished. The Three Realms that were originally separated by the Soul King would be restored to one, returning to their original chaotic state.
This is something he cannot allow. No matter what, he must maintain the stability of the Three Realms and absolutely cannot allow anything to happen to the Soul King. If something happens to the Soul King, then he must create a second Soul King immediately.
But the prerequisite is that he can survive until then and defeat Aizen and Aqua, who destroyed the Royal Guard, when he creates the second Soul King. Only in this way can the new Soul King be effective.
But can he, on his own, defeat Aqua destroyed the Soul King Palace with a single blow?
For the first time, the Great Monk felt that the future was extremely bleak.
We must find a way to get rid of this woman named Aqua, otherwise, not only the Soul King, but the Soul Society could be destroyed by her!
Unfortunately, although he had this idea in his heart, the reality was that it was too late.
"Take this! The Goddess's full-force attack! Divine Exorcism Magic!!!"
In the flood, Aqua suddenly jumped out and launched the most lethal attack on the Great Monk. A seven-colored light burst from the staff in her hand and hit the Great Monk in mid-air. The Great Monk immediately became transparent with a scream, and then, under the watchful eyes of Aizen and the others, he was transformed into the most basic Reishi and dissipated.
There was no struggle or hesitation throughout the entire process; it simply vanished.
Even Aizen, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
This woman... no, this Goddess, her control over souls is terrifying. Even Hyōsube Ichibē, who has existed for millions of years, was killed so easily. If she were allowed to stay in Soul Society any longer, Soul Society would probably be completely purified by her.
Aizen couldn't help but clench the Kyōka Suigetsu in his hand, feeling that only in this way could he give himself a sense of security.
Fortunately, after Aqua dealt with the Great Monk, she didn't look around again, but immediately returned to Li Yue's side.
"Li Yue! The guy you were supposed to get rid of, I've already taken care of him for you!"
With her hands on her hips, Aqua proudly recounted her story to Li Yue immediately began to play along.
"You've really worked hard, Aqua. You're amazing."
"No, no, for the great Goddess of Water, clearing away an evil spirit is just a matter of a wave of the hand. Of course, you can't feel this ease, but there's nothing we can do about it. After all, I am the great Goddess of Water, Aqua, and you are human. What the Goddess can do is too difficult for you."
Upon being praised by Li Yue, Aqua immediately became arrogant and began to boast.
"As expected of Lady Aqua, she is truly a reassuring Goddess of Water!"
Li Yue didn't think she was arrogant at all; in fact, she continued to praise her.
"Lady Aqua, thank you for your trouble. I will take you back immediately and then give you your commission fee."
"Mmm~~ This is my most loyal follower, Aqua. Don't worry, if you encounter any trouble in the future, you can pray to the great Aqua. Aqua will definitely respond to your prayers."
Aqua was putting on a Goddess -like act, but inside she was incredibly excited. Fifty million Eris! Although the currency was something she usually disliked called "breast padding," money was unavoidable in the human world. Fifty million Eris would last her a very long time, enough to keep her drinking endless bottles of sparkling wine!
Seeing Aqua nodding rapidly, Li Yue understood that this wise Goddess couldn't wait any longer. So, after nodding to Aizen in the distance, he immediately drew his Enma's Blade, cut open Portal to the Konosuba World, and sent Aqua back to the Konosuba World, along with her commission fee.
Li Yue took Aqua to the Konosuba World, and Aizen began his final operation. He took Yhwach to the Soul King Palace, the only place that hadn't been violated by Aqua. After flying into the Soul King Palace, the two went directly to the top hall, where the Soul King was kept. The Soul King, whose hands and feet had been severed, was made into a human pig and sealed in a crystal of Reishi, existing as a wedge to stabilize the three realms.
The Royal Guard, which guards this human pig, actually possesses the power of the Soul King. Below the Royal Guard are the noble groups led by the Five Noble Clans of Soul Society, and then comes the Seireitei.
Although Old Man Yamamoto seems very powerful, Old Man Yamamoto actually works for the nobles. The Gotei 13 are essentially a group of dark and violent elements, but they later gained the recognition of the nobles and became their exclusive henchmen. In other words, they were whitewashed and became the official violent organization of Soul Society. In essence, they still serve the Five Noble Clans of Soul Society.
In particular, the Central 46 are filled with people from the Five Noble Clans and their subordinate noble families. These people have the power to decide any action of the Gotei 13, and even Captain Commander Yamamoto is subject to their control.
Aizen was not a nobleman; he was a Bleach of commoner origin and a genius. He joined the Seireitei as an ordinary soul from the bottom tier and then climbed to the position of captain. However, the higher he rose, the more he understood how deep the darkness of the Soul Society was.
Ordinary souls have no human rights. Nobles control everything in Soul Society. Even the Gotei 13 are nothing more than executioners for the nobles, with no autonomy whatsoever. The so-called Sages of the Central 46 are nothing more than a group of old, powerless nobles who can't bear to part with their power.
This Soul Society is absolutely terrible.
After studying the Soul King, he understood even more that this world was utterly corrupt, so he wanted to overthrow the Soul King, ascend the throne high in the heavens, and change the rules of this world.
During this process, he encountered other geniuses, or rather, the only genius he truly Kisuke Urahara.
Unfortunately, despite being a genius, Kisuke Urahara willingly submitted to the rule of the nobility and to the puppet-like Soul King. This is why Aizen, after being sealed away, said he looked down on Kisuke Urahara.
Now, Aizen has finally ascended the throne of the heavens. Without the obstruction of the Royal Guard or the hindrance of the Bleach, he has arrived before the Soul King.
Before the enormous, transparent crystal, Aizen and the controlled Yhwach faced the Soul King sealed within it.
The Soul King had neither hands nor feet, only his torso and neck were visible, and he stared blankly ahead from inside the crystal.
Although his eyes were lifeless, Aizen knew that the Soul King actually possessed his own consciousness and was now staring at him, waiting for him to deliver a fatal blow and free him from this seal.
"You have maintained the stability of the Three Realms for millions of years. Although you chose to die to maintain the stability of the Three Realms when you were betrayed by the Five Noble Clans who followed you a million years ago, you no longer want to continue to maintain it. This is the reason why Yhwach was born. After all, he was born according to your will, to kill you and replace you."
Aizen, facing the Soul King, began his habitual lecturing.
"To be honest, if it were the old me, I probably wouldn't have the right to say anything to you, because I would probably be acting according to your expectations. But now I've deviated from your expectations. After all, I no longer look down on fools who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of stabilizing the Three Realms."
"Fool," was Aizen's assessment of the Soul King.
"You have indeed made a great contribution to the Three Realms. Even I must thank you. After all, without your stability, I might not have been born and would not be where I am today. But that does not stop me from despising you. Betrayed by followers weaker than yourself, and still willing to die. As the Soul King, you could have had a better way to stabilize the Three Realms, but you chose the most foolish method."
"And it is precisely your most foolish method that has created the Soul Society as it is today, Soul Society that has been ruled by nobles for millions of years. Those nobles are the real cancer of the three realms."
The nobles who were forgiven and allowed to go their own way are the most interesting. They gained the power and status of Soul Society by betraying the Soul King Soul King, but in reality, they became the people who looked down on the Soul King the most. On the surface, they had the Royal Guard guard the Soul King, and the Soul King's status was supreme, but in reality, they didn't respect the Soul King at all.
"I will not be like you. I will purge those nobles who are a cancer and make the Three Realms what they should be, instead of letting them develop recklessly like you do."
"Now that I have said this, Soul King, prepare to face your end, and then welcome the new era that belongs to me, Aizen Sousuke."
Now, please call Aizen the great revolutionary of Soul Society!
As soon as Aizen finished speaking, Yhwach, under his control, walked towards the crystal. When he reached the crystal, the shadow beneath Yhwach's feet spread out, enveloping the entire crystal where the Soul King was located. He grabbed the Soul King's crystal and pulled the entire crystal into his body. The huge crystal was larger than Yhwach's body, but it easily disappeared into Yhwach's body like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
Having accomplished all of this, Yhwach returned to the original location of the Soul King Crystal and stood there, strangely spreading his arms.
"Li Yue-kun, I'm counting on you from now on."
"Leave it to me!"
Li Yue appeared beside Aizen, drew her sword, and slashed directly at Yhwach.
Let's separate!
With a single slash, Yhwach was cut from Yhwach to toe, but there were no wounds on his body. Instead, orbs of light reappeared from Yhwach's body.
After devouring the Soul King, Yhwach became the new Soul King. Although turning Yhwach into a human pig could continue to stabilize the three realms, Aizen did not intend to follow the path taken by the Great Monk and the Royal Guard, as that would only bind him to the cage called the Soul King.
Aizen intends to divide the Soul King's power into individual conceptual powers, and then control each one, so that he, Aizen Sousuke, can become a Soul King who wields power and can travel freely throughout the Three Realms at any time!
479. A true man dwelling between heaven and earth, how can he...
Aizen shared his immense Reiatsu with Li Yue, allowing Li Yue's Enma's Blade ability to reach its full potential. He then extracted all the Soul King powers from Yhwach, and subsequently Aizen all of these powers into his own hands, becoming the True Soul King capable of controlling all powers.
As for Yhwach, who was merely a tool, Aizen made him dissipate throughout the Soul Society.
Just like a bucket of water merging into the ocean, Yhwach transformed into the most basic Reishi and merged into the Soul Society, which was filled with Reishi. After all, the three worlds still needed wedges, but for Aizen, having a wedge there all the time was too troublesome and required someone to guard it. So why not just turn the whole world into a wedge and then there would be no need for anyone to guard it?
Thus, Yhwach's Reishi filled the entire Soul Society, making the entire Soul Society a wedge. This was much more stable than relying solely on a single crystal that sealed the Soul King as a wedge. Moreover, it didn't require anyone to guard it. In other words, everyone in the Soul Society acted as a guard. Unless an enemy destroyed the entire Soul Society, there was simply no way to disrupt the balance of the three worlds.
Of course, if the enemy is powerful enough to destroy Soul Society directly, then they wouldn't need the Soul King's power to destroy the world. Moreover, after Aizen separated his power from Yhwach's body, Yhwach himself was just the Soul King's shell and no longer had any power. He was merely transformed into basic Reishi that spread throughout Soul Society, without any other function. Even if someone collected Yhwach's Reishi, it would be useless.
Having accomplished all of this, Aizen had become the true Soul King. When he ascended to the Soul King Palace, he took Yhwach with him. When he returned to Seireitei, he was all alone.
However, Seireitei's appearance also surprised him somewhat.
The original site of the Gotei 13 has now become a vast expanse of water. All the buildings in Seireitei have been destroyed, leaving only a huge circular lake.
Without a doubt, this must have been done when Aqua summoned the flood. That flood destroyed almost all the buildings in the Soul King Palace. Not only that, after destroying the Seireitei's Soul King Palace, it also washed away the Seireitei below.
Fortunately, although the Seireitei was destroyed, not all the Bleach were killed. When the flood came, the Bleach and Arrancar did their best to escape. They were already fighting and on high alert, so when the flood came, they all ran away as fast as they could.
However, some of the Bleach didn't have time to escape, namely the nobles living in the Seireitei's noble district.
The Seireitei not only comprises the Thirteenth Division, but also a large portion of its inhabitants are the nobles who reside within its Seireitei. These nobles live in the noble quarters and generally do not participate in outside affairs. Even if the Seireitei experiences riots, the Thirteenth Division will handle the situation while the nobles remain in their own courtyards, enjoying their luxurious lives. To ensure that the nobles are not affected by external influences, the Sixth Division of the Thirteenth Division is even designated to be controlled by a noble, and the Kuchiki Clan, the head of the Five Noble Clans, is responsible for controlling the Sixth Division.
Unfortunately, neither the Kuchiki Clan nor the nobles had time to react and relocate. The flood that suddenly fell from the sky instantly poured into the Seireitei. Originally, the Seireitei was surrounded by a huge barrier made of Sōseiseki to prevent enemy attacks, but this time, because of the previous battle between Yhwach and Captain Commander Yamamoto, the barrier had already been broken by the aftershocks of their attacks, so the flood did not stop at all.
Everything in the Aqua Seireitei transformed into basic Reishi in Aqua's flood, which contained Purification Power; even the outer Rukongai was partially affected.
Aizen had originally planned to purge those nobles after he came down, but now it's much simpler and he doesn't need to do it himself. These nobles were unexpectedly swept away by Aqua's flood, so Aizen doesn't need to deal with them anymore.
Therefore, Aizen's task after landing became ordering the Bleach who were still fighting to surrender, as the new Soul King.
Shunsui Kyoraku surrendered directly. As a nobleman and a student of Old Man Yamamoto, he naturally understood what it meant for Aizen to become the new Soul King and even act independently. Therefore, he chose to give up resistance. As a nobleman, he understood that Aizen, who had become the new Soul King, did not choose to kill them directly but instead chose to make them surrender, because he definitely needed them.
After all, the Soul King needs subordinates to rule the world, and these Bleach are naturally the most suitable subordinates. Bleach, who are already familiar with everything in Soul Society, are the best choice to continue to maintain the rule of Soul Society.
Aizen shared the same idea, but this new ruling body would be fundamentally different from the previous Gotei 13. The Gotei 13 would no longer be an organization serving the nobles, but rather an organization serving Aizen and the three realms.
Because of Shunsui Kyoraku's leadership, most of the Bleach surrendered. After all, Shunsui Kyoraku was a veteran captain. Although he rarely appeared in public, anyone with a bit of knowledge knew his true status.
Unfortunately, although Shunsui Kyoraku surrendered, and most of the Bleach surrendered as well, there were still some Bleach who refused to surrender, namely the noble sons among the Bleach.
Not all noble children could see the situation as clearly as Shunsui Kyoraku; some were unwilling to give up their power or their social status.
Therefore, some Bleach born into noble families chose to rebel. As a result, the Arrancar under Aizen's command began to suppress those Bleach from noble families. After all, they were the same group of Shinigami Bleach had surrendered before, but they were still former colleagues, and it was not appropriate to let them take action against them.
Of course, some commoner Bleach don't care about the lives of these noble Bleach. They are overjoyed to be able to defeat them.
However, Aizen did not let them take action, but instead chose the Arrancar. Of course, among these Arrancar was a Bleach, namely Sasuke, who was brought by Li Yue.
After all, Li Yue brought Sasuke here so that he could quickly accumulate combat experience, so he would definitely let him fight if he could.
[This is Hip-Hop: Have you become the supreme ruler of your world? And successfully conquered it?]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: That's right, thanks to Li Yue-kun's help, I successfully became the new Soul King and officially took over my world, and am now preparing to transform the world under my command.]
[This is Hip-Hop: Wow!]
Uchiha Madara, who also wanted to become a savior, save the world, and bring an end to war, clicked his tongue in displeasure after seeing that Aizen had already achieved his goal. However, another person had a different reaction.
[Give Me Some Face: But wouldn't that be dictatorship? Wouldn't people have no freedom?]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Oh? Mr. Shanks thinks I'm a ***?]
[Give Me Some Face: Yes, your will determines the course of the world, which is nothing short of *** to the people of your world.]
Although Aizen is very strong, Shanks is not afraid. As the Emperor of the Sea, he pursues the will of freedom and will not be polite in the face of such a powerful figure.
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Mr. Shanks, you've misunderstood. I have no interest in one person ruling the world. In the past, I might have had some interest, but now I have absolutely no interest in dictatorship. I simply want to use my status as king to make my world a better place.]
[Meme Lord: That's right, please call Captain Aizen "the seeker of truth, the great revolutionary!"]
[Give Me Some Face: How do you say it?]
Shanks didn't know much about Aizen, but after interacting with Li Yue, he felt that Li Yue wasn't a bad guy, so he thought he could listen to what Li Yue had to say.
[Meme Lord: Captain Aizen's world is divided into the Soul World and the Human World. Humans enter the Soul World after death, but the Soul World is ruled by a group of nobles who have ruled for millions of years, oppressing the common people at the bottom. To maintain their rule, they even go to the Human World to kill humans indiscriminately—all for the sake of maintaining their rule.]
[Meme Lord: Captain Aizen, being of commoner origin, overthrew the nobility's rule and essentially wiped them out. Correspondingly, to gain the power to eliminate those nobles, he needed to become the Soul King, because the Soul King represents power and status, able to obtain power from the world level, thereby suppressing and striking down those nobles.]