Chapter 487 - 487: A Save File? Aizen: It’s That Easy?

And then Ichigo actually charged.

Even the Soul King was stunned by the sheer impulsiveness of it.

He had thought rather highly of the boy's potential before, believing Ichigo might eventually travel farther than Aizen and bring him even greater results, but seeing this now made him seriously question his own judgment.

As Ichigo rushed straight at him, Cyrus merely raised one hand and flicked a finger against the descending blade.

The instant his fingertip touched the Zanpakutō, the sword began crumbling from the tip downward.

It looked as though countless years had passed over it in a single moment, weathering the blade into dust through nothing more than the natural passage of time.

Ichigo's expression froze.

He still had both hands wrapped around the hilt when the decay reached it and continued onto his wrists.

Before his eyes, his hands and arms turned brittle and scattered into the air as easily as dust caught by the wind.

He barely had time to process what had happened.

"Hah!"

A low shout sounded from the distance, almost like a signal.

More than a dozen figures moved at once, including several members of Squad Zero and a handful of people dressed in elaborate robes, all attacking Cyrus together.

None of them reached him.

The flames that had been slowly consuming the world suddenly accelerated, engulfing the entire group in an instant.

By the time the fire passed, there was nothing left.

Clang.

Kyōka Suigetsu slipped from Aizen's hand and hit the ground.

He simply sat down afterward, propping the side of his face against one fist as he watched Cyrus.

The Soul King glanced at Cyrus once, then his figure rapidly began fading.

"He's running."

Aizen smiled as he offered the reminder after the Soul King disappeared completely.

"He can't."

Cyrus shook his head.

"He's already fused with this world."

Aizen sighed with a strange sort of disappointment. "I never imagined the one behind this entire world would turn out to be someone like that. It's almost embarrassing."

After a moment, he looked back at Cyrus.

"Tell me something. Are you really going to destroy this world?"

Cyrus paused, then looked at Aizen with genuine surprise.

"Not bad. No wonder you managed to scheme for so many years. You really do have a good head on your shoulders."

That answer alone was enough.

"So you were forcing him to flee."

This time, Aizen spoke with certainty.

"Exactly."

Cyrus sat down as well.

"It's still an entire world. It may look underdeveloped right now, but it's an enormous asset. Destroying it for no reason would be a ridiculous waste."

He glanced around the collapsing reality.

"You were created by this world, and your existence is fundamentally tied to it."

"So none of us are particularly important. The world itself is what matters."

Aizen nodded, understanding immediately.

Cyrus smiled.

"So, how would you feel about becoming the god of this world?"

That finally caught Aizen off guard.

Until now, everything Cyrus had said and done suggested there was no reason he would ever spare him, much less hand him authority over the world.

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

Aizen asked before remembering something Cyrus had said only moments earlier.

"Ah. You already answered that."

His gaze became thoughtful.

"I'd rather leave this place and see what exists beyond it."

"That probably won't work."

Cyrus looked at him.

"You already know how I arrived here. A Hollow from this world entered mine, and I followed the passage back."

Aizen's eyes sharpened.

"So it is possible?"

The idea that he and everyone else here had been created by this world clearly bothered him, but Cyrus's answer had opened another possibility.

"It is."

Cyrus nodded, then added, "But only temporarily. What happens after enough time passes, I honestly don't know."

The Menos that had crossed into the One Piece world hadn't remained there very long, so Cyrus had no way of knowing whether creatures produced by this world could survive indefinitely somewhere else.

Most likely, they couldn't.

"In that case, forget it."

After thinking it over, Aizen shook his head.

"That's more like it."

Cyrus smiled.

"This world is still growing. Becoming its god isn't exactly a dead-end future."

"You just want someone to manage it for you."

Aizen understood him perfectly.

"I'd still be giving you plenty of freedom."

Cyrus raised one hand as he spoke, then tore open the space beside him with his left.

A mass of gray mist was dragged out from the crack.

The strange substance twisted continuously in his grip, occasionally forming a human face almost identical to the Soul King's.

Aizen watched in silence.

Whoosh.

Flames flashed across Cyrus's palm. The gray presence burned for only an instant before vanishing completely.

Cyrus closed his eyes briefly.

"As I thought."

He shook his head and stood.

"I found what I wanted."

The moment he said it, the surrounding flames surged violently again, rushing inward until they burned directly beside both men.

Aizen felt no heat whatsoever despite standing only inches away.

That was somehow even more terrifying.

He rose as well and looked toward Cyrus.

"There are still some survivors in Hell. Do whatever you want with them."

Cyrus lifted a hand again.

"For now, let's watch this world enter its next cycle."

He tore open space, revealing the great forest on the other side.

Aizen followed without hesitation.

The region beyond the forest had already been reduced entirely to empty void.

Yet shortly after Cyrus and Aizen arrived, something changed within that absolute darkness.

A single point of light appeared.

At first, it was almost impossibly small, but it rapidly expanded until it became a slowly rotating vortex.

Tiny lights emerged from nowhere and began streaming toward it from every direction.

Cyrus stood with his hands behind his back and watched carefully. Aizen did the same.

More and more lights appeared, growing denser until the entire void was saturated with blue radiance.

Then, for the briefest instant, the rotating vortex stopped.

Its direction reversed.

The countless points of light that had been pouring into it erupted outward at an even greater speed.

Images began flashing within the torrent, one after another, as though reality itself were being played backward.

At the edge of the great forest, several Arrancar stood silently watching.

None of them understood exactly what was happening, but even they knew they were witnessing something far beyond anything ordinary.

Then illusion began becoming matter.

Familiar scenery returned before their eyes as though someone were rewinding the world.

A barren desert appeared.

Then enormous Hollows emerged one after another and immediately began killing each other.

Aside from Cyrus, everyone watching was stunned.

Aizen's voice actually trembled.

"That's it?"

He had expected the recreation of an entire world to be unimaginably difficult.

Instead, it looked almost effortless.

"You can think of it as loading a save file."

Cyrus smiled.

He raised one hand, tore open another spatial fissure, and stepped through.

Aizen immediately followed.

Then his eyes widened.

Ichigo Kurosaki—the boy who had completely disappeared before his eyes not long ago—was walking down the street with his familiar orange hair and a school bag hanging from one hand.

A few steps behind him, Orihime Inoue walked with her own bag held in both hands, her head slightly lowered as she followed him.