Sora stood still. He needed some time to process those 200+ years of memory. There were a lot of memories, but he held them.
Something that never happened in the royal palace finally did happen... it began to rain.
Sora's face and body were drenched in the rain, yet he didn't care. Hm, this felt nice.
Rain fell like silver needles, tapping his coat and eyelashes, seeping into the silence between breaths. His gaze drifted skyward—not in pride, not in triumph...
Just in tired reflection.
He had done it.
Aizen Sōsuke was no more.
But instead of celebration, there was only... a sigh.
He turned from the battlefield. He had some stuff to do. His gaze landed toward where the current Soul King was being held. Yeah, he had a plan.
There he saw it—the Soul King, in his cage, as comfy as a vegetable could be.
He walked toward the man. While the Royal Guard were incapacitated, he would use this chance to see the real Soul King.
He made his way inside.
And there he was—the Soul King—entombed in his crystal prison, floating like a memory stuck in limbo.
Their eyes met.
And for a moment... two beings who had seen the fabric of creation split open shared an understanding. Wordless. Weightless.
Sora stepped forward.
Raised his hand.
Fingers touched glass—cool and humming with ancient energy.
"...I did it," he said quietly.
"If you're proud... say nothing."
He smirked. The Soul King remained silent. As expected.
With care, Sora pumped Reishi into the crystal, threading life into death like a needle through fate's tapestry.
Not enough to awaken him fully.
But enough to nudge him closer to the living side.
A pulse responded—slow, soft.
The Soul King's head twitched. His lips almost curled into what could've been a smile... or maybe that was just Sora projecting. Sora would then do the switch.
"Uryu, I will borrow your Schrift for this."
Using his power, Sora swapped the Soul King's subconscious mind with a lot—and I mean a lot—of Reishi.
Creating his strongest clone yet, using all of the Reiryoku he currently possessed to do that.
When he was finally out of power, he sighed.
And then—
A torrent of power surged into Sora.
BZZZZZZZMMM—!!
His body trembled.
His eyes widened as his soul nearly cracked from the sheer volume.
"Shit—this is—!"
Reishi. But on a scale his senses couldn't even interpret.
He felt himself losing control—like trying to juggle a sun while blindfolded.
His Adaptation Wheel spun wildly above his head, glowing brighter, faster, hotter.
He was adapting, sure—but at the cost of one of his greatest weapons.
His control over Reishi was gone—for now.
He steadied his breathing.
"...I'll get it back. One way or another."
Then, before he left, he reached into his coat.
Pulled out a bouquet of flowers.
Laid them on the steps before the crystal.
"...Just in case."
He tapped the crystal once more—downloading a copy of the Soul King's essence into the corpse he'd brought along, like backing up a divine OS.
The original?
Came with him.
He would need all the knowledge a man could get. He did plan to make a clone and download the Soul King's consciousness onto it, so the man could enjoy the fruit of his labor—letting him see the human world.
He knew what he just did. He had essentially downloaded the Soul King's subconscious into his mind. In a sense, he had become the host of the Soul King.
So yes, he was now the Jinchūriki of the most powerful being alive... if you could call him that.
He made his way toward where his friends were and started using Healing Star to heal them. After all, they did get their backs broken by Aizen. He'd need to have Ichigo get a new sword. While they were here, he could help with that.
Not like the guy would say no. Ichigo helped greatly in the defeat of Aizen. He was a great shield, and very good at taking Aizen's attention away from Sora's actual plan.
And considering how racist the Shinigami are, they're more likely to give Ichigo the credit than a Quincy.
So hey, win-win. Sora doesn't have to be honored as a hero, and Ichigo gets a sword. All Sora wanted was space-time, his girlfriend, his friends, to relax, and so on.
But now he had to fight space Satan.
Of course he had to do that.
Mind you, he didn't want to do any of that. If he wasn't born, chances were either Ichigo or someone from his bloodline would have had the potential to do such a thing.
But Aizen got curious, Ryuken banged his cousin, and now Sora was born—being a group project of 3 dudes and 1 mom.
He'd much rather not think too deeply into it... and apparently he had a brother. His name was like Gremmy.
Hm, wonder how he is like. By now his physical appearance should resemble a young adult, since he allowed his body to show signs of aging after Kaede left.
So considering like 15 years had passed, he should have the appearance of a young adult. And Sora now knew he was actually like 17... more like 18 now.
Killing your dad on your birthday wasn't really a good thing.
A/N....hm, this should end this arc for the most part.