Watching Cyrus casually fracture the surrounding space with a fingertip, Starrk let out a quiet sigh and instinctively scratched at his hair, a habit that surfaced whenever something was bothering him.
Cyrus naturally noticed. "What are you worried about?"
"The same thing as before." Starrk didn't bother hiding it. "No matter what you're planning to do next, what happens to us? We've been doing what you told us this whole time."
The earlier conversation between Cyrus and Aizen in Las Noches had made one possibility disturbingly clear: this entire world might collapse because of what was about to happen.
If that really occurred, it wasn't difficult to imagine what would become of those who existed within it.
"Is that just you asking, or do all of them feel the same way?"
"Probably most of them, aside from a few battle maniacs."
Cyrus considered that for a moment before answering. "I don't know what the final outcome will be either, but I'll try to look after you if I can."
Most Hollows had difficult personalities, but as subordinates they were actually quite useful, and for the most part, they obeyed orders.
Cyrus could easily imagine finding uses for them again in the future.
If circumstances allowed, preserving some of them wouldn't be a problem as long as doing so didn't become too troublesome.
There would also be another chance later to separate those who were genuinely useful from those who weren't.
Not every Arrancar was simple-minded, after all.
Someone like Baraggan, who had lived for an absurd length of time, was bound to have plenty of thoughts of his own.
Then there was Aizen.
Now that he had Orihime Inoue, even if she hadn't awakened her abilities yet, Aizen would probably find a way to make that happen.
Once he truly fused with the Hōgyoku and obtained greater power, he would inevitably turn that power against Cyrus.
There was no doubt about it.
Cyrus could see that coming, and Aizen knew perfectly well that Cyrus could see it too.
After all, Cyrus, Robin, Hancock, and Baby 5 were outsiders, while Aizen and the others belonged to this world.
"Go on," Cyrus said with a wave of his hand. "And if anyone wants to withdraw, don't stop them."
"All right."
Starrk visibly relaxed.
After seeing the losses in the World of the Living, several Arrancar had already begun reconsidering their involvement.
Some had quietly drifted toward the edges of the battlefield, wanting to return to Hueco Mundo but too frightened of Cyrus to actually leave without permission.
With those words from him, Starrk would have a much easier time handling the situation.
…
At the center of the great forest in Hueco Mundo, flames suddenly gathered and took human form before fading away.
Cyrus had returned.
"Is it over?"
Robin, Hancock, and Baby 5 immediately looked toward him with curiosity.
"Not yet. It'll take a little longer. Not all the actors are onstage."
Cyrus shook his head and sat beside Hancock.
Robin moved a little closer. She had clearly spent plenty of time thinking while he was away.
"If you really find the passage you mentioned, does that mean we could travel to other worlds in the future?"
"That's possible."
Cyrus nodded.
"In that case, then this really is something we have to do."
Robin nodded as well, though her expression remained somewhat complicated.
Cyrus immediately understood what she was thinking. "Feeling sorry for them?"
"It's an entire world."
"That's fair." Cyrus leaned back slightly. "But this world is unusual. It continuously cycles itself, and what's happening in the World of the Living has already made that pretty obvious."
"So it's fake?" Hancock asked, blinking.
"I wouldn't call it fake. But it isn't exactly a normal, complete world either. As long as its foundation remains intact, the cycle will simply begin again."
"The Soul King?"
Baby 5 suddenly joined the conversation, apparently having started thinking through the situation herself.
"His power, yes. Though saying it's the Soul King himself isn't exactly wrong."
Cyrus nodded.
"Then the Soul King must be incredibly powerful."
"If he were still truly alive, he would be."
Cyrus agreed without hesitation. "After all, it's the Soul King's power that allows this entire world to keep sustaining and recreating its cycle."
Robin lowered her head in thought. A moment later, she looked up again, her eyes bright with realization.
"If this world has a power like that, then couldn't our world have something similar too? And if someone could control that kind of power…"
She trailed off, because the implication had already moved beyond anything she knew how to describe.
"God."
Cyrus supplied the simplest answer.
"Yes. A god."
Robin looked directly at him. "So it really might be possible to reach that level?"
"I don't know yet. Once I fully understand what's happening in this world, I might have an answer."
Cyrus shook his head and casually wrapped an arm around Hancock beside him.
"And if it turns out not to be possible here, that's fine too. If there's one world like this, there can be a second. It'll just be a little more troublesome."
There were already so many worlds intersecting with one another. If necessary, he could simply keep looking.
"I wonder what's been happening back on the seas while we've been gone."
Baby 5's comment made Robin and Hancock exchange a glance, and both women fell into thought.
"We'll find out once we go back," Cyrus said. "At worst, things are either a little better or a little worse than when we left."
Robin nodded. "With Crocodile there, things probably haven't gotten too chaotic."
At the mention of the former Warlord, the corner of Cyrus's mouth twitched.
Crocodile being there was one thing, but could that guy really keep everything under control if Cyrus wasn't around?
Then again, Issho and Mihawk were there as well. Surely things couldn't have gone completely off the rails.
Cyrus rubbed his chin before slowly shaking his head.
Of course, people in the pirate world tended to have rather abnormal ways of thinking.
Even after joining forces with the Marines to rebuild the world's order into something better than the system that had existed under the Celestial Dragons, there was no guarantee someone wouldn't come up with some ridiculous new disaster.
"Forget it. We'll know what happened once we return."
Cyrus leaned back.
"For now, all we have to do is wait and see how far they can push things."
…
Over the next several days, the World of the Living remained anything but peaceful.
Aizen's sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance had created considerable unrest, yet subsequent investigations produced very little useful information.
Cyrus, meanwhile, never showed himself, leaving the Shinigami under constant tension as they waited for the threat they knew was coming.
At least the replica Karakura Town was nearly complete.
The attacks from Arrancar and Menos had also begun to decrease.
The most aggressive Hollows had charged in first and died, another group had already withdrawn, and those who remained were generally smart enough to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
Most were now lingering around the edges of the fighting and contributing as little as possible.
Ichigo, however, had been having a much harder time.
After watching Orihime get taken directly in front of him, he had spent the last several days visibly depressed.
Eventually, he went to Urahara and begged for help becoming a Shinigami.
Unfortunately, there was nowhere near enough time.
Urahara was already overwhelmed with other preparations, so all he could do was help Ichigo awaken his spiritual power. Proper training would have to come later.
The World of the Living waited for the real conflict to begin, while Hueco Mundo fell into an equally strange calm.
So many Menos had been mobilized into the World of the Living that large parts of Hueco Mundo now felt noticeably emptier.
Las Noches was the exception.
Its numbers had hardly decreased at all.
After all, Cyrus's presence hadn't weakened Aizen's ability to manipulate people in the slightest.