Chapter 774: The Final Miracle
Mori-Summer raised her head. She saw countless pages drifting about as if shattered. This was likely the final form of Ye Zi's [End of Rhapsody]—summoning all enemies at once in a near self-destructive manner.
These enemies, who had witnessed Azure Sky's journey, appeared together as if to thoroughly bury Azure Sky here and now.
Mori-Summer sprinted through the air at extreme speed. The demonic sword Kokorowatari trailed behind her, the blade naturally cutting through the air and the Sea of Life. As she charged with her blade trailing, all magical beasts that neared her were cleaved by countless bursts of sword intent.
Her eyes locked onto each enemy. Once upon a time, these individuals had caused them immense hardship.
Pfft!
Mori-Summer stepped past the green-skinned Meruem. Before the Chimera Ant King could even fully open his eyes, a massive gash exploded across his chest.
But today was not the past. The formidable enemies of yesterday were nothing to her now...
"Ho, quite the impressive statement, Miss Mori-Summer~"
A deep, magnetic male voice sounded by Mori-Summer's ear. She could almost picture Sosuke Aizen's nauseating smile.
She turned into a streak of light, aiming straight for the figure in the sky.
[Shinga Musou Ittou]!
The heroic sword light was about to explode, but at the final moment, Mori-Summer's heart suddenly palpitated, and the sword's trajectory instantly veered off course.
Screech!
Reinhardt turned pale. Watching the terrifying sword pressure graze past him, he was nearly killed outright.
Mori-Summer turned her head, only to see Sosuke Aizen appearing in yet another direction.
But she couldn't tell at all whether that was another illusion.
Theoretically, Complete Hypnosis wasn't that incredible of an ability, but Aizen's power was built upon the overwhelming strength of his soul.
Mori-Summer felt malice appearing from all directions. The disastrous battle in the distant airspace was still spreading, completely destroying the airspace within a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
The battle between those three monsters proceeded as if no one else was around, and the level of power was something the Sosuke Aizen Ye Zi had witnessed couldn't possibly interfere with.
Therefore, the coordinates of those three were absolutely real.
Besides that, Guild Master Sousuke possessed the [Miracle of Absolutely Being Unable to Be Manipulated], so he wouldn't be affected by Kyoka Suigetsu either.
Facing the Sosuke Aizen manifested by the End of Rhapsody, she just needed to stay calm...
Pfft!
A sword light flashed. Mori-Summer's body reacted naturally to dodge, but the skin on her back was still sliced open. The bone-deep wound caused a large amount of blood to spray into the air.
Mori-Summer's pupils contracted. Turning her head, she saw that the person who was just Reinhardt had now reverted to Sosuke Aizen's appearance.
No, rather, he maintained Reinhardt's face but held a Zanpakuto, wearing that signature smile.
That smug smile of controlling everything and toying with everything.
Mori-Summer unleashed a backhand slash, but Aizen's Shunpo was incredibly fast, instantly opening up distance.
Brynhild watched Mori-Summer get struck in mid-air but didn't activate [Cover]. She was certain now that she, too, was under the influence of Kyoka Suigetsu.
Moreover, for some reason, the Guild Master's miracle still hadn't descended. Without absolute certainty of dispelling the Complete Hypnosis, blindly activating Cover would only expose Roman to the enemy.
At the same time, she might also be killed from behind by Sosuke Aizen.
She watched the massive figure of VenomMyotismon spread its arms, sending countless vampire bats flying towards the human cities. The desperate cries of dying humans echoed continuously from all over.
Possessing the special perception ability [Clairaudience], she forcefully suppressed the anxiety in her heart, hoping the Guild Master could resolve this predicament soon.
Sousuke was blocked once again by the Great Whore of Babylon. The opponent's Authority of Depravity heavily countered his Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mori-Summer get injured.
That Sosuke Aizen exuded a presence completely different from a regular projection. He vaguely guessed the truth of the matter; the situation was developing far more cruelly than imagined.
The illusory purple clock behind Sousuke ticked incessantly. The fire of his life had truly entered its countdown, becoming as unstable as a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
But the closer he got to a moment like this, the more he felt the preciousness of life.
He wasn't as carefree as he and others thought he was. Of course, he wanted to live.
FXXK! Being alive is great. He could drink, he could curse, he could do whatever he wanted, and he could make those people utterly helpless against him.
Being alive meant he could see tomorrow's sun, watch the unicorn he secretly raised in the Tianshan Mountains grow up, and look forward to the joy of explorers encountering the fairies he released into the wild.
Sousuke was a man with many desires. He would do all sorts of things precisely because of his overly strong desires, ideals, and the "self-satisfaction" bred from them.
He had changed world after world. The pursuit of the so-called perfect timeline also stemmed from self-satisfaction.
What is "perfect"? It means using his own heart as the standard. If he believed a certain development was better and satisfied everyone, then it was perfect.
Sousuke didn't consider himself the last glory of some idealist. On the contrary, he was a hopelessly, selfishly inflated guy.
But all of this was destined to end today.
Sousuke touched his chest. That heart, unaware of its impending doom, beat forcefully. With every beat, golden Spiritual Light rippled outward from his body like a halo.
Every beat was more forceful, the Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light more intense.
"Nero, I'm going to die soon... For the sake of a dying man, let me play that role one last time."
"The Savior~"
Sousuke slapped his cheeks, slightly alleviating the overwhelming terror of approaching death. The fear of one's own existence dissipating was rooted in the heart of every "human."
He thought that perhaps only by truly dedicating one's heart to another existence, through the power called [Faith], could one transcend this emptiness and panic.
Thump!
The smile on the ever-giggling Beast of Depravity gradually vanished. She touched her chest. In that spot, something began to beat at the same frequency.
Nero seemed to see many different futures. Futures containing herself, and futures containing this dying man.
She and the man seemed to have conversed for many days, ultimately reaching some sort of understanding.
At this moment, the Authority on the Beast of Depravity began to dim.
Whether it was [Depravity] or [Anti-Savior], both began to lose their luster.
"You..."
Watching this scene, Sousuke burst into laughter. He actually walked step by step towards the Beast of Depravity riding the massive beast, patted her shoulder, and then stepped right past the obstruction.
The next moment, the golden light could no longer be stopped.
Accompanied by that heartbeat, it directly illuminated the entire ocean.
The pitch-black Sea of Life was gilded. The newly born magical beasts stopped in their tracks under the illumination of the Spiritual Light. Astonishingly, those pitch-black magical beasts began to take on unique shapes.
Sousuke granted these creations a miracle, allowing them to gain a sense of self.
He walked forward step by step, the golden ripples sweeping across the chaotic battlefield.
The smug smile Sosuke Aizen had been wearing gradually faded as the golden light brushed past everyone.
Mori-Summer's injuries healed instantly. Even the injuries Reinhardt sustained from forcefully blocking the aftershocks of Kaito Shirogane and Sousuke's battle vanished in a flash.
[Miracles] seemed to have become the cheapest commodity, extravagantly bestowed upon everyone, every existence, and every creation on this battlefield.
"Aizen, you shouldn't have even obtained the position of a [Black King], yet you acquired such immense Authority. What exactly makes you so special..."
"You hid the unobserved [Unnavigated Sea] within Mercenary Tao. You forged him into an unpredictable beast. Did you ever consider that even you wouldn't be able to control him?"
Sousuke walked step by step towards Sosuke Aizen, who wore the white Captain's haori. The man looked exactly as Sousuke remembered from their first meeting.
But Sousuke had long since understood through his miraculous flashes of insight that this Sosuke Aizen was merely a disguise. It was just a small soul fragment intentionally left behind by the current King of Souls.
Together with that King of Destiny whose motives were unknown, they had woven many possibilities.
Even things like the [Law of Causality] and [Fatalism] were released one by one. Those two were gambling on a much more distant future.
Sousuke raised his hand and squeezed the empty air. Sosuke Aizen raised his hands as well. Amidst the warping of the surrounding world, Shunpo became meaningless, and Kyoka Suigetsu was incapable of shaking the King of Miracles' will within this golden ocean.
Sosuke Aizen suddenly sheathed his Zanpakuto. He stood calmly in place, meeting Sousuke's gaze.
"Sousuke-kun, you truly are a very interesting fellow."
"If you could be a bit more decent, a bit more committed, things would probably be much more interesting."
His words carried a hint of indescribable pride, or perhaps genuine regret.
At this moment, Sosuke Aizen no longer hid the fact that he wasn't just a simple projection summoned by Ye Zi. He did indeed possess the Authority to perceive information across planes and space-time.
This Sosuke Aizen, from an unknown timeline and world line, still possessed the consciousness of the current timeline's King of Souls.
He calmly allowed Sousuke to bind him using the [World]. Then, he turned to look at the battlefield of the three monsters, his eyes full of admiration.
"Sousuke-kun, you're wrong about one thing."
"Sometimes, creations don't need to be controlled. The very notion that humans must control their creations is merely the arrogance born from you 'humans' who consider yourselves the only true existences."
"As for me, a plot character, I have never viewed the world from that perspective from the very beginning."
Sosuke Aizen spread his arms, directly expressing for the first time his scrutiny, from the perspective of a low-dimensional "plot character," towards the "humans" who considered themselves high-dimensional beings.
Sousuke probably truly felt the end of his life approaching. Hearing Aizen's words, he merely gave a self-deprecating chuckle and didn't argue further.
Arguing is a meaningless activity only those with endless free time engage in.
Sousuke squeezed hard. The sphere-like small world suddenly shrank. Aizen within it was also compressed to the point of being nearly invisible, eventually vanishing like a popped bubble, reintegrating into the macro-world.
"I'll leave these enemies from the past to you guys. No problem, right..."
Sousuke's gaze swept over his comrades one by one. They all looked back at him, their eyes reflecting their individual personalities.
Mori-Summer had a cold personality, so she merely nodded calmly, her eyes brimming with sword intent. This woman probably harbored the resolve to forcibly bear everything after his death, which was why she kept pushing herself.
Roman had a gentle personality. Her eyes were filled with tears, but to prevent herself from making his passing too unsightly, she held them back, her spiritual power surging wildly. She was likely the type who would truly grow up after his death.
Brynhild subconsciously took a step towards him, the Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light for sacrificing herself to save her comrades shining intensely behind her. But Sousuke merely waved his hand, and Brynhild felt herself trapped by the "World."
As for the usually most reliable Reinhardt, he was currently in a state of utter panic. Even though Sousuke had already explained everything, this old friend who had known him since their very first task world was continuously tearing at his hair, trying to find a "Perfect Timeline."
"Haha, Chen Lailai, you really are an idiot. Something like a Perfect Timeline doesn't exist..."
Sousuke waved his hand. The farewells ended here, and this show-like Gift Game should also end here.
Thump!
In this moment, the sound of Sousuke's heartbeat seemed to synchronize with the world. Even the human, the beast, and the dragon engaged in their fierce 4-Digit level battle were simultaneously startled. Their eyes all turned toward the man standing upon the golden ocean, as if he stood at the center of the world.
"An Astral Spirit?!"
Sousuke raised both hands. His entire body transformed into brilliant golden light and began to drift upwards, piece by piece.
There is no medicine for regret in the world, but for the Little Garden world and the Mesopotamia of this Age of Mythology, turning back time and reversing causality weren't impossible feats.
And as long as a possibility exists, the gap between it fundamentally not happening and actually happening only requires a single miracle.
Outside the Gift Game, Ye Zi clutched her head. By forcefully using the Queen's Gift to push her [End of Rhapsody] ability to this extent, she had long since suffered permanent mental damage.
But at this moment, the golden miracle was healing her injuries.
That guy was going to restore everything, including the price she had paid...
"Sousuke, you bastard! Can't you even kill me?! Useless! Useless!"
Ye Zi was somewhat frantic. She didn't accept Sousuke's miracles. She didn't accept that even after she chose to bear the sin of hundreds of thousands of lives, Sousuke was still choosing such a naive path.
Her curses naturally fell into the ears of Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen. The two of them, however, wore smiles, as if this development was a rather good result.
But the next moment, Shiroyasha's folding fan stopped, and the Queen's expression also changed.
Two overwhelmingly intense powers, one golden and one pitch-black, erupted simultaneously.
"Don't do such boring things!"
"Don't interrupt our fight!"
BOOM!
Two streams of light instantly blasted Sousuke away in a flash.
The three-headed evil dragon Kaito Shirogane and Izayoi Sakamaki erupted simultaneously. Kaito Shirogane in particular, at this moment, with the world on the brink of destruction, had acquired a [Savior] privilege, in a sense, identical to Sousuke's.
The world favored him just as much.
[Despair Salvation], Open!