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While this was happening, somewhere else, that wasn't in the Soul Society—
Somewhere in the Human Realm, a certain scientist could be seen.
Aizen Sōsuke could be seen looking at the Hōgyoku in his chest.
That shit had fully fused with him; he didn't even have his Zanpakutō anymore. At this point in time, he was the strongest he had ever been.
The strongest he ever could be.
Though he still felt weak. Even from where he was, he could feel Gabriel's power, and the remnant of that power was enough to suppress the Hōgyoku.
He still needed time. Enough time to fully fuse with it, so that the Hōgyoku's power became his own and no longer a tenement of the Soul King.
As he realized—as long as it remained a remnant of the Soul King—his ass could get suppressed like no other.
He needed more.
His gaze landed on a picture of Byakuya Kuchiki. If his guess was correct, Byakuya should currently be determined to kill Lucius no matter what.
All he would have to do was plant the seed in his mind, and when he eventually got humbled—
This would be Aizen's chance to get some stuff from the Kuchiki family.
While yes, Gabriel did rob the noble families blind—for fuck's sake, there weren't any noble families left at this point.
It was just the Gotei 13. During the war, Gabriel's army had targeted the nobles like no other, meaning they had as many resources as someone from the Rukongai.
Yes, it was indeed that bad.
Pov change Byakuya
Byakuya could be seen pushing his body to its absolute limit. He kept swinging and swinging. It had reached the point where he was controlling every single individual petal from his Shikai.
Yes, every single one... individually. Some blood could be seen coming out of his nose—he was pushing himself way too hard.
"I need more," he would say, his gaze on the beaten and broken Shinigami that had been summoned to help him.
Mind you, those Shinigami were from Squad 11, so fighting was their bread and butter.
Byakuya was thinking of maybe fighting against Kenpachis again.
Yes, again. It wouldn't be his first time, and while his record with Kenny was a positive K/D, his with Unohana was in the negative. As for the third Kenpachi currently going around—
It was tied.
Not because he was stronger, but because his ability was annoying as hell to fight.
And as for why 3 Kenpachi were allowed to roam the Soul Society right now—technically, only Zaraki had the title. If the others wished for it, they would have to defeat him.
They were forbidden from killing each other as Soul Society currently lacked the manpower.
For fuck's sake, seated officers of the Gotei 13 were getting fucked up by the basic Hollows in Gabriel's army.
The basic Hollows.
And from Byakuya's own expedition in Hueco Mundo... Lucius was way stronger than he had been when they attacked Soul Society.
Like a shit-ton stronger.
And he refused to fall behind.
As for how strong current Byakuya was—well, he would beat the living shit out of his Royal Guard training self. Even his CFYOW version would get beat—mid to low diff.
The shit that revenge does to a man.
Even if his wife was dead, his hate carried on.
Meanwhile, Rukia would watch as her brother once more pushed his body to the brink. She wanted to tell him to stop—that he'd pushed too far—but she knew how her brother was: dignity over mercy, pride over comfort.
He looked like he was possessed by something, his mind replaying the memory of that day over and over again.
How Lucius had beaten him senseless, and how the only reason he lived was because—
"You're not even worth killing."
He gritted his teeth.
Lucius Null...
That name haunted his dreams.
He could still remember how easily he had been overwhelmed. His Bankai, his Kidō, his speed—all of it reduced to nothing.
And as if fate wanted to spit on his pride once more, he noticed he wasn't making as much progress as he used to.
So he went to Kisuke and Mayuri and allowed them to test his body.
Yes, he allowed Mayuri's crazy ass to run some tests on him.
After the tests, Kisuke would tell him some truly horrible news.
"Your body has reached its peak, Kuchiki-taichō. You've wrung out every drop of potential it can offer. Unless you step outside the boundaries of Shinigami... there's no more room left."
Byakuya's lips tightened. Hollowfication. A path he had rejected with every fiber of his noble blood. He could not—would not—taint himself with such corruption. And yet...
What use is nobility, if my strength cannot even graze the one I swore to cut down?
He had asked about it, but the man told him it was too dangerous. They didn't have a way to test it yet—you know, the usual.
Byakuya would release his sword.
**"Bankai—Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."**
The thousand blades erupted, swallowing the air in a storm of petals. But this time, he didn't direct them. He pulled them inward. Compressed. Condensed.
The petals collapsed into ribbons of cutting light, compressed so tightly that even the air seemed to recoil.
The space around the blade trembled, warped, cracking faintly like glass under strain.
Byakuya thrust forward.
The strike didn't just cut the training dummy. The very air screamed as the fabric of space itself sheared apart, opening a narrow tear that quickly stitched shut with a violent *shhhht* of displaced reishi. The aftermath left a black scorch-mark where no blade had touched.
Rukia staggered back, wide-eyed. "Nii-sama... what was that?"
Byakuya lowered his sword slowly, his chest rising and falling with exhaustion.
"Compression," he murmured. "The petals... forced into a singular edge. So fine... so sharp... even the space between breaths cannot withstand it."
His gaze hardened.
"If Lucius is beyond my reach, then I will simply carve a path through the world itself to reach him."
He clenched his fist.
"Hollowfication." Not once did he think he would be tempted by such a crude method, but yet—it was there.
No. He could match the beast with his current strength. He could win.
He didn't need Hollowfication.
The other sectors of Soul Society were there. Worst case scenario, he learned their techniques and upgraded his strength from there.
He could do it.
He didn't need Hollowfication.
POV change.
Aizen held a Hollow mask in his hand, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Guess he would use the captain after all.
Now to wait for the breaking point.
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A/N This was written on my phone so if writing feels off probably that.