Shunsui did not answer directly, and Ethan did not continue pressing the matter. He had only asked casually, and whether Shunsui agreed or refused would not affect him in any way.
In the end, the position of Soul King was not for Ethan to take, and he had no interest in becoming the ruler of the Soul Society. Even if Shunsui agreed, he would not become Ethan's subordinate.
They returned safely to the Soul Society. Ethan did not delay and directly took Rangiku's portion of the soul from the Hōgyoku. Under Ichimaru Gin's slightly tense gaze, he returned it to Rangiku's body.
"The current situation is similar to being seriously injured. Although there is no obvious effect on the surface, it will take at least several years, possibly even decades, to fully recover."
Rangiku nodded and did not show any dissatisfaction. She had never expected to retrieve this stolen portion of her soul. For Ethan to help recover it and return it to her was already a pleasant surprise.
"Gin..."
She knew that Gin had played a significant role in this matter. Everything he had done previously had actually been for her sake.
This made Rangiku even more worried about him. While lurking beside Aizen, Gin had done quite a few bad things. The Seireitei's attitude toward him was now very conflicted. On one hand, he had killed the great traitor Aizen, which should be considered a major contribution.
However, Gin's undercover actions had never received any authorization. It had been entirely his personal decision. Because of this, who could prove that he was truly an undercover agent rather than someone who simply turned against Aizen when the situation became unfavorable?
Because of this situation, there was still no conclusion on how he should be handled.
However, Ethan gave a solution with a single sentence.
"What is there to be conflicted about regarding Gin's situation? If the Gotei 13 cannot accommodate him, then he can simply leave the Gotei 13."
With Kaien and Gin, the new Royal Guard could be considered to have a foundation.
After fulfilling his promise, Gin was also willing to accept Ethan's invitation.
"But are you really confident you can kill the Soul King?"
"I never do things unless I am confident about them. Otherwise, I would not have endured for a hundred years."
A hundred years ago, he lacked confidence, so he allowed Aizen to shift the blame onto him, Kisuke, and others, avoiding the danger by hiding in the Human World.
Decades ago, after he finally learned about his mission, he still did not act because he did not have complete confidence. He simply continued to improve his strength quietly while considering how to solve the problem perfectly.
Only now, after gaining sufficient confidence, did he finally begin to act. Ethan's personality was such that once he decided to act, the original difficulty would no longer be a problem but merely a small obstacle that could be resolved easily.
Ethan had always been this type of person. In his previous life, when playing real time strategy games, he would always defend carefully and develop quietly, never attacking the opponent until he had produced a large number of ultimate units.
When playing games, there was still the possibility of failing to defend and being eliminated by the opponent.
Now that he could travel through different planes and timelines, he naturally found ways to create a safe environment for development. Only after his strength became sufficient would he step out and sweep away everything in his path.
In other words, once he took the initiative to act, it would result in a crushing victory, unless he was in a completely unfamiliar environment facing an enemy with an unknown background.
Therefore, when Ethan casually broke open the small separate world where the Soul King Palace existed, then brought Gin, Kaien, Yoruichi, and Shunsui, who had come to watch the situation, and easily rendered the few members of the Royal Guard incapable of fighting, it was not surprising.
Ethan did not strike heavily. Even Kirio Hikifune, with whom he was relatively familiar, was not injured at all. She had already given up fighting the moment she realized the situation was unfavorable.
After Ethan revealed that the Soul King had long since lost his self awareness, several Royal Guard members who were completely unaware of this fact fell into doubt. If the Soul King truly had no consciousness left, then who had been issuing those orders?
The leader of the Royal Guard, Ichibe Hyosube, became the most suspicious.
The facts soon proved that Ethan's words were not nonsense. Ichibe had concealed the Soul King's condition, and the greatest beneficiary of this was himself. The Royal Guard had essentially become his personal army, and he could command the Soul Society's Shinigami as he wished.
Aside from the title itself, Ichibe enjoyed the treatment of the Soul Society's true ruler.
However, his experience as the real ruler ended today.
Facing this person, Ethan had nothing to say. He did not argue or debate. He simply killed him decisively.
To ensure that Ichibe could not revive, Ethan's attack was extremely thorough. The power that allowed him to revive when his name was called was also completely destroyed by Ethan's strike. It could be said that Ichibe was completely and permanently dead after that single attack.
With no one left to stop him, Ethan finally saw the Soul King, the being that symbolized the foundation of this world.
Or perhaps it could be called the Soul King's corpse.
Perhaps it could also be called the core of this world.
Because he was the core of the world, even though the Soul King had already disappeared, his body still remained here.
"Should we act?"
Looking at the figure that resembled a human stick before them, none of them felt any sense of reverence. Even Shunsui no longer held his previous concerns. If the Soul Society was ruled by something like this, perhaps replacing the Soul King was not such a bad idea.
"Of course we should."
His Zanpakuto appeared in his hand and immediately transformed into a black nodachi. As Ethan moved, an immense and indescribably terrifying spiritual pressure gathered on the black blade. It faintly emitted a strange light that seemed capable of devouring everything.
Even though he was simply standing casually, the spiritual pressure on the sword could not be concealed. The power it released created enormous pressure throughout the Soul King Palace.
The few Royal Guard members who had barely regained the ability to move were once again forced to the ground, unable to rise. They could only stare toward the main hall of the Soul King Palace with terrified eyes.
If they had not just experienced this spiritual pressure themselves, they might have believed the Soul King had gone berserk. This level of power completely exceeded their imagination.
"Who exactly is this man?"
These Royal Guard members did not know Ethan at all. Aside from Hikifune, who had been promoted after Ethan joined the Gotei 13, the others had become Royal Guard members long ago.
As for Ichibe, he had been beside the Soul King since the very beginning of the Soul Society, which was why he had received so many blessings and became the leader of the Royal Guard.
Even Hikifune could not answer this question. When she was promoted, Ethan had still been working in the Fourth Division. At most, she knew that the Fourth Division had a talented Shinigami who had performed extremely well at the academy and had been promoted quickly after joining the Gotei 13.
However, she had never imagined that there would be a Shinigami who would force his way into the Soul King Palace and even prepare to kill the Soul King.
Things they could never have imagined before were now actually happening. Judging from the situation, the man named Ethan was about to succeed.
"Is the Soul Society going to be destroyed?"
"Perhaps..."
Unlike Shunsui, who had received various explanations from Ethan, these few had no such luck. In their minds, the destruction of the Soul King meant the destruction of the three worlds.
However, Shunsui's presence made them vaguely feel that things might not be that terrible.
In reality, it was not that terrible.
After Ethan completely eliminated the Soul King with a move that looked like a massive beam of light, the world did not collapse immediately.
After launching the attack, Ethan seized the opportunity to grab the shattered world lines into his hand.
These lines symbolized the existence of this world. They had originally been connected to the Soul King as the central core.
Not all worlds were like this. In many worlds, the lines representing the world did not connect to a single origin. However, the world created by the Soul King existed in this form.
When Ethan destroyed the Soul King, the space around him changed.
Everything around him seemed to turn into nothingness. Only the bundle of lines held in Ethan's hand extended in different directions.
"So this is the so called world?"
"Doesn't it feel incredible? At this moment, if I slightly loosen my grip and let one of these lines slip away, a certain part of this world might collapse completely. Do you want to see?"
Shunsui quickly waved his hand.
He had no desire to witness the collapse of the world. He only hoped Ethan would hold those lines tightly. One of the lines was not far from him, and he tried to reach out and touch it.
However, the lines seemed to not exist at all. He could not touch them.
He immediately understood that these threads representing the existence of the world were not something ordinary people could interact with.
So how would Ethan allow someone else to replace the Soul King and become the foundation of this world?
Ethan took out two Hōgyoku, then gently squeezed them together. The two Hōgyoku merged into one and even changed their appearance slightly.
Then Ethan brought his hands together, one holding the Hōgyoku and the other holding the bundle of lines.
A faint light flashed. It was not dazzling.
The scene of Ethan standing in the void holding countless threads disappeared.
Instead, he was now standing in the spacious hall, holding a blue sphere of light in his cupped hands.
"This is the new core."
Shunsui wanted to ask, Is it really that simple?
But in the end he held back.
Because Ethan casually pushed this ball of light directly into Yoruichi's body.
Yoruichi looked down at the hand pressed against her chest. After briefly sensing it, she did not feel any obvious change.
If there was any feeling at all...
"Have you grabbed enough?"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)