Silas returned to the precipice world, his mind a whirlwind of plans, strategies, and the haunting memory of his loved ones.
He felt a subtle disorientation cling to him. The absence of characters, even for background purposes, in America was odd. The world itself felt wrong. During his time in America, the air lacked the subtle vibrancy of spirit particles, which he had come to understand after being in this world for so long.
An unsettling thought wormed its way into his mind.
He had sought to travel all the continents when he garnered more power. Yet, the desolation he'd encountered in America wasn't what he had expected to see. It was far more profound—an unsettling emptiness that hinted at something far more insidious.
Just where was Silas sent upon finding himself in Ichigo's body? Was it hell? Not likely. Was it a pocket dimension forged in someone else's imagination? Plausible, but those things didn't exist.
The possibility that this world wasn't the world of Bleach was both tantalizing and terrifying. This whole time, he had been writing his own narrative. Yet, without the inherent instability of those converging forces, what kept the fabric of this world from collapsing into non-existence?
The Hōgyoku pulsed faintly in his chest, as if responding to his unspoken questions. Regardless of where he was, it wouldn't change his mindset.
Clenching his jaw in determination, Silas pressed forward through the corridor of the precipice world.
That same whirlwind of space distortion and shifting hues recurred. He focused on his desired location while lowering his spiritual pressure. This helped subside the currents, but now he wasn't too sure what was on the other side.
Turning back now would likely be a terrible idea, so he continued forward.
Exiting the precipice world, Silas braced himself, half-expecting to emerge into the streets of Karakura Town. But as his vision cleared, the sight that greeted him was beyond his expectations.
It was night once more, with a full moon high above the clouds. So far, that already doesn't make sense. He had gone to Karakura Town in the afternoon, and then he went to America, where morning shone.
Time flowed differently between the realms. But that didn't mean the hour of day would change this much.
The once-sterile entrance to the laboratory was adorned with vines and overgrown with moss. Signs of decay and disrepair marred the surfaces more than he remembered. It wasn't the subtle disarray that would accumulate over days or even weeks. This spoke of neglect, measured in years or perhaps even decades!
His senses were kept high as he approached the concealed entryway, his mind reeling.
What could have caused this temporal anomaly? How much time had passed since he left, compared to the mere hours spent away?
The rusted mechanisms creaked in protest as he forced open the hidden hatch, his shoes crunching through layers of accumulated dust and debris. The air within was stale, heavy with the scent of neglect and damp earth. Cobwebs draped the neglected equipment, and all the vaccines and serums he'd created expired.
While the ingredients weren't too hard to come by, it was the amount of time spent through trial and error that disheartened Silas. Months of hard work were gone within a few hours.
Silas stood frozen, a wave of disorientation washing over him. Had he really traveled forward in time?
But even amidst his growing disquiet, a sense of certainty emerged. His personal handiwork could always be replicated, for he knew where to find the needed materials and could recreate things at a much faster pace than before.
There was no sign of a struggle, no evidence of another's presence within this hidden space. This was a place left untouched, abandoned by the passage of time. If this were the case, then it also meant that his plans in the past had been successful.
The temporal anomaly was his own doing.
Suddenly, a surge of spiritual pressure erupted like a geyser on the outskirts of his awareness. It was potent, chaotic, and unnervingly familiar. A ripple of both alarm and understanding shot through Silas.
He knew to whom that power belonged—that unique signature. It was his own!
Silas didn't hesitate.
Vanishing in a blur of motion, he propelled himself towards the source of that familiar spiritual pressure. In the back of his mind, the pieces were beginning to fall into place, forming a terrible and exhilarating picture.
He was not in his own forthcoming, but his own historical feats, pulled back to a crucial turning point in his past: the moment of Aizen's defeat, the first release of his Bankai!
There was no way that it wasn't his other self. The Silas of this time was not yet aware of the troubles he would undergo after this event. More so, he wasn't even aware that his conquest of the Hōgyoku wasn't inside Rukia.
This Silas was a dangerous and unpredictable force. He would undoubtedly be strong enough to sense the presence of another being with his power, leading to an inevitable confrontation.
Silas made a split-second decision. Rather than go to witness that battle, he abandoned his trajectory towards the Soul Society, his spiritual pressure quickly lowering itself as he shifted direction.
Hueco Mundo would be his new destination. It was the last place his other self hadn't visited before his ill-fated dimensional journey, and thus the safest realm for avoiding a catastrophic encounter with himself.
• • •
As Silas soared over the moonlit sands, he felt a surge of anticipation mixed with an almost unbearable sense of nostalgia.
The path that diverged into this quest for ultimate power was unfolding again. Yet he was also keenly aware of the danger—one wrong move before the other Silas travels back in time—and that could create a ripple in the timestream, causing unforeseen consequences that would jeopardize everything he had worked for.
He would tread carefully and avoid interacting with anyone from Karakura Town or the Soul Society for a while. At least until his other self coerces Rukia to be defeated by Zaraki, go through an unfair trial, escape from Muken, and fight against almost all the thirteen court guard squads at once!