At the mention of a structural flaw from Rasatsu's mouth, Myoren was the first to react with fierce opposition.
"What are you talking about, Rasatsu! A flaw?!"
"It is exactly what it sounds like. The Three Worlds we created is an incomplete world, riddled with defects."
Of course it is. It's an incomplete and unstable world. If this damn world were perfect, you lot wouldn't even be here.
I swallowed the words that almost slipped out and leaned my back against a wooden pillar.
"After all the resolve we put into—!"
"Stop it, Myoren. You're just dragging this out for no reason."
"…Tch."
That girl used to be a crybaby back in the day; I wonder how she got so headstrong. Well, I suppose it's only natural for things to change after a thousand years.
"Keep going."
"As you said, we divided the world into three and devised a method to maintain it in the most stable way possible. First, we separated life and death, establishing a 'Beginning' and an 'End'."
To put it simply, they opened the floodgates. There's no end if there's no beginning, and what's the point of beginning something if there is no end?
The primordial world was exactly like that. Humans didn't give a damn whether they lived or died.
When there's no difference between being dead and being alive, what does it matter? Because of that, they would wither away and become Hollows without offering even a hint of resistance.
In that sense, the fact that these fools separated the concepts of life and death was a job well done.
"Of course, this alone was insufficient. By dividing the world into three, we created a more stable flow. Those are the Three Worlds we know as the Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo."
"If you just kept them separate, it wouldn't be any different from how things were before."
"Yes. If that were the end of it, we would be no different from 'That Person' who simply eradicated the Hollows. Thus, we connected the three worlds into one, creating a singular massive current to link the smaller flows. That is the reincarnation I spoke of earlier… what we call the Great Circle. The flow of Reishi that encompasses the Three Worlds."
From the World of the Living to the Soul Society, then back to the World of the Living. If one becomes a Hollow, they go to Hueco Mundo, and if they die there, they return to the Soul Society. It's a cycle of infinite repetition. Like Penrose stairs, or a Möbius strip.
But if it ended there, problems like Hozuki wouldn't be cropping up. And...
I shifted my gaze slightly toward the garden. At a glance, it looked no different from before, but upon closer inspection, black stone dust could be seen scattered here and there.
"Yes. Bad Karma. That was the problem."
"You probably thought you could just drop those with bad karma into Hell and grind them into dust. No, wait, you probably didn't even know that back then. Did you just think you would 'filter out' the pitch-black ones from the flow of the Three Worlds?"
"Yes. That is what we thought."
"I'm sure that wasn't the end of it."
"…The reincarnation itself, designed to create a flow between Reishi, also had its problems."
Finally, that topic comes up. I was wondering when we'd get there. I let out a smirk, pulled my back away from the pillar, and rested my chin on my hand.
"…Reishi acts like gravity. It attracts the surrounding Reishi and makes it its own. Like a snowball. I thought this would be resolved through death and reincarnation."
But it didn't work. Why? Think about how many 'times' I had to smash those black stones to turn them into powder.
At least dozens of times. To turn them into complete dust, it would have taken over a hundred.
That is what death in Hell is. But the Three Worlds? Once in the World of the Living, maybe once in Hueco Mundo if you're unlucky enough to become a Hollow, and once in the Soul Society. That's it.
At most, three times. Fine, considering only the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are places where one can accumulate spiritual power—and even then, only those with talent can do so—it might seem manageable, but the act of death itself is simply far too infrequent.
Since souls can't die repeatedly like they do in Hell, Reishi inevitably accumulates. When you cram all that into a single body, the Reishi naturally becomes compressed, and when that happens...
"It results in the birth of a being with Spiritual Pressure so immense it cannot be processed by the self-cleansing mechanisms of the Three Worlds—by life, death, and reincarnation."
"Spiritual Authority (Yeong-wi)… That is the name I gave it."
Just then, Shiba, who had been listening silently, crumpled his face in a grimace and spoke up.
"Wait, wait a moment please. Does this mean the reason Hozuki fell into Hell wasn't because of our original sin, but simply because his 'Spiritual Pressure' was too high...?"
"Original sin? What, sealing the Soul King?"
"Are you saying... it wasn't because of that...?"
"Of course not. Did the Soul King create the Three Worlds? No, you lot did."
The Soul King's role was strictly that of a linchpin. The problems of the Three Worlds are entirely of your own making.
The moment I finished speaking, Shiryu clutched his chest and grit his teeth.
"Then... the reason that young child fell into Hell was simply because his Spiritual Pressure was high...!? Just for a reason like that...! You're telling me an innocent child had to be cast into Hell for such a trivial thing!!"
"Yes. He had to fall into Hell for just such a 'trivial' reason. And it was you who built it that way."
What can you do? That's the limit of the system. It is what it is, so just give up. ...If I had come here to say something like that, I wouldn't have bothered coming at all.
If I intended to give up and walk away like that, I would have smashed the Three Worlds myself before these bastards even finished building them. I would have crushed it all and told them to start over from scratch.
"That's why I brought a solution."
"A solution...?"
"Keep in mind, as long as the fundamental issues of the Three Worlds aren't resolved, this is nothing more than a temporary measure. Remember that what I'm giving you isn't the answer to eliminate the problem, but merely a solution to prevent an even greater disaster."
I sat down and placed the white stone I had brought earlier in front of me.
"The current Three Worlds repeat death only three times. Even 'reincarnation' is a simple, primitive method where humans become Hollows, Hollows are purified by the hands of a Soul Reaper to become humans again, and dead souls are reincarnated as humans. Am I wrong?"
"…You are correct."
You selfish bastards, I knew you'd handle things this sloppily. I let out a deep sigh and broke the stone into three pieces.
"I've decided to make more use of Hell. I'm going to insert Hell into the 'Great Circle' you mentioned."
"Then... does that mean the innocent will also fall into Hell?"
"To be precise, we will establish clear laws and judge the souls. Based on their sins, we will determine what they will be reincarnated as. Like this: the Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, the Animal Realm, the Asura Realm, the Human Realm, and the Deva Realm."
Yes, what I'm trying to do is apply the law of the Six Paths of Reincarnation from Buddhism to this world. I didn't think much of it at first. But when I saw Kagaya reach enlightenment and break free from the cycle, I realized it.
'Ah, the foundation of the Bleach universe is Buddhism.'
That was the inspiration for this Bleach-style Six Paths of Reincarnation. Not enough deaths? Then just reincarnate them as something like an insect and let them repeat death tens of thousands of times before they reincarnate as a human again.
Then, spiritual power won't have the chance to accumulate. Of course, it means a hell of a lot more work for me, but it's a thousand times better than seeing innocent people suffer unfairly.
"What kind of logic is...! For a human to be degraded to an insect...."
I smirked at Myoren, who was looking horrified. Yeah, I was waiting for that reaction.
"What, you don't like it? Then what, you're just going to keep shoving everyone with high spiritual power into Hell and feign ignorance? Humans remain humans, beasts remain beasts, and insects live as insects forever? Look where that got you!"
SLAM!!
I brought my hand down on the stone, crushing it into complete dust.
"An innocent brat fell into Hell!! Because of your arrogance and selfishness! And yet you dare talk about guilt?! I'm sure I told you! Covering a pile of filth with a lid doesn't make the filth disappear!!"
I can excuse the others who don't know any better, but you lot shouldn't be acting like this, you sons of bitches. As I let out a long sigh and scratched my head, Rasatsu and Myoren hung their heads with sour expressions.
The only one who didn't protest my words was Shiryu.
I expected it, but I didn't think he'd accept it quite this readily.
"…If that is the case, one could become an insect or a person again depending on the sins they have committed?"
"Perhaps they could even reincarnate directly in the Soul Society."
"I see…."
After closing his eyes to think for a moment, Shiryu nodded with a smile. When he opened his eyes again, his expression was more serene than ever before.
"I am in favor. Paying for one's sins is only natural."
The next person to nod was a truly unexpected figure.
"…I will follow your lead."
"Rasatsu…."
"Myoren, I… I cannot provide an answer better than that…. For me, I can only follow that method."
Since the two of them agreed to follow, Myoren, left alone, eventually had no choice but to accept it. This was the moment the logic of the Three Worlds' Six Paths was engraved into the world.
"Oh, by the way, you guys are all going to Hell too, so just keep that in mind."
I smirked at the three stunned figures. What, you brats. You think you're not sinners?
"Don't worry. I won't tell you to reach enlightenment through death like the others."
Let's just work ourselves to the bone together for the rest of our lives. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll gain realization and shed your shells like Kagaya did.
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