"Come as you please, leave as you please?"
"You little brats."
"What do you take this place for?!"
Stepping from the roiling lava, the man swept a chilling gaze across the battlefield, his eyes locking onto the four figures swallowed by the twin magma hounds. A twisted, blood-chilling smile spread across his lips.
But that smile froze in the next moment.
Tsk tsk—
The magma beasts, which should have engulfed the four Sosuke brothers in a single strike, suddenly shattered—BOOM—into thousands of searing fragments, spraying molten chunks in all directions.
And then—
A radiant gold brilliance burst through the smoke, followed by a high-density shield of compressed Reiatsu, shimmering like a barrier forged of starlight.
"If by 'this place,' you mean what's under your feet..."
"Then it's nothing but a relic of the past."
"Just like you."
"Furuoki Otagawa."
Aiyan stood with one hand casually in his pocket, his entire figure sheathed in golden spiritual light, each facet of the crystal-like glow refracting like shattered sunbeams. He stared down the man who'd emerged from the magma with detached indifference.
The man was none other than the legendary captain of the First Generation Gotei 13, Division 10—
Furuoki Otagawa.
"Shinigami or Hollow, doesn't matter."
"The back of the neck is always the biggest blind spot."
"You think I'd make a move on the Tsunayashiro clan without accounting for you?"
"Especially knowing that you—the Tenth Division's original captain, the strongest of the First Generation—might be here?"
Aizen smiled faintly, speaking without even turning his head.
"You knew he was here...?"
"Master Aizen...!"
Tōsen Kaname and Yamada Seinosuke, having barely escaped the blast, turned to look at the golden figure of Aiyan and the impenetrable Reiatsu shield on Aizen's back.
They were stunned.
They had arrived together at the Tsunayashiro compound—yet they'd been caught completely unprepared by the sneak attack.
Meanwhile, the Sosuke brothers had predicted everything, countered everything.
Sneak attacks. Ambushes. Threats.
None of it could faze them.
In that moment, both men deeply felt the vast, unbridgeable gulf between themselves and the brothers at their side—not only in strength, but in awareness, in foresight, in presence.
"Destroying one of the Four Great Noble Houses... there is some justification for that."
"And to face my Shikai without flinching…"
"In this era's Gotei 13, you two truly stand apart."
Furuoki Otagawa planted one foot atop a broken slab of stone, his voice neither mocking nor sarcastic—he meant it.
But the next instant, his expression twisted, his words thundered with murderous rage,
"—But don't mistake that for permission to leave this place alive!"
As the words fell, the Reiatsu cloaking his body surged upward like an erupting geyser, dragging with it a killing intent like ten thousand howling spirits.
But—
The Sosuke brothers' response stunned him.
"Aizen, this one's mine!"
"No, no. Kuchiki Ginrei was yours. Tsunayashiro Nakahara was mine. That's what we agreed on. But Furuoki Otagawa here—he's not Kuchiki, not Tsunayashiro."
"Then we leave it to fate. Let God decide whose blade gets the kill."
"Fine. You take front, I'll take back."
Facing down the strongest First Generation Gotei captain, the brothers didn't just turn their backs to him—
They pulled out a coin and tossed it.
Casually.
As though they were choosing who would get the last piece of dessert.
Clink—clink—clink...
The coin spun midair, dropped to the ground, rolled a few times—
And landed face up.
"Shame."
Aizen glanced at the coin and let out a quiet sigh.
After all, it wasn't just any opponent. This was Furuoki Otagawa.
One of the few who might actually push them.
Killing him would be satisfying... like closing a chapter from a thousand years ago.
Unlike the modern captains, this one wouldn't go down without a blade in hand.
"Well, no matter."
"Just means I get a front-row seat to see how much stronger you've grown."
"The first captain of the Tenth Division... perhaps he'll even brush against the hem of your coat."
Aizen's eyes glittered with a quiet eagerness.
Opportunities like this were rare.
To see Aiyan go all out.
To witness the depths of his brother's power.
"That instinct... that animal-like focus... it's worthy of a First Generation Captain."
"But no need to be so tense."
Aiyan turned to face him now, gazing at the man standing in the lava.
Even now.
That level of vigilance—so deeply embedded it became reflex—was rare.
Not even the most powerful modern captains possessed it.
No.
He'd only seen it once before—
In Unohana Yachiru.
Another First Generation captain.
In the days of the Academy's dueling tournaments, the aura Unohana exuded—the sheer pressure—was exactly like what now poured from Furuoki Otagawa.
That kind of murderous intent… could only be forged in oceans of blood.
"Believe my enemy? I'd have died a thousand years ago."
Furuoki's voice was cold.
His eyes remained closed.
No matter what tricks Kyōka Suigetsu might play, so long as he relied on Reiatsu perception alone, his power wouldn't falter.
"I'm not asking you to believe."
"I'm just saying—there's no one in Soul Society who even deserves to face Aizen and I at the same time."
"There's no Zanpakutō worthy of standing beside Kōfūin."
Aiyan smiled faintly, hands still spread in mock innocence.
"Save that talk for after you've stepped on my corpse!"
Furuoki's voice hadn't shifted—but his body vanished with Shunpo.
He reappeared in front of Aiyan, Zanpakutō already raised.
From the blade surged a terrifying magma-like Reiatsu, as though the sword itself was not metal, but a living mountain of flame.
Reiatsu is volcanic enough to incinerate Seireitei.
"The Flame Lion Roars."
Magma engulfed Furuoki's body, forming into a massive lion in mid-swing. Its fangs formed from molten energy, opened wide—
And lunged straight for Aiyan's head.
"—As you wish."
Aiyan stood unmoving.
He didn't even bother drawing his sword.
Facing the molten lion—
A creature capable of melting through mountains in a single bite—
He merely glanced at it.
And whispered:
"Hadō Forbidden Art · Amaterasu."
...
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