"My... Bankai!"
Tsunayashiro Nakahara turned his head, and what he saw was his own transformed Zanpakutō.
It was the same Bankai he had just tried to unleash before being light-speed kicked away by Aiyan—now stabbing through his back.
"How... how is this possible?"
"They've materialized... So why didn't we sense anything?"
"And when did they even get behind us?!"
The other two elders shared the same disbelief.
They had fully anticipated that Muramasa's ability would cause their Zanpakutō to materialize and rebel, so they had activated their Reiatsu perception to the limit.
Yet despite that, they had sensed nothing.
Not even the presence of the materialized Zanpakutō, let alone an attack from behind.
They didn't react—until the blades were already through their hearts.
"Why are you all so fixated on Muramasa?"
Aizen's voice drifted in with an almost gentle mockery.
"I clearly stated it."
"I even spoke Kyōka Suigetsu's name in front of you."
With a faint chuckle, Aizen slowly sheathed the Zanpakutō in his hand.
"Illusion…?"
"I understand now. Hikifune Kirio… the reason she believed Urahara Kisuke was the killer... it was because you used Kyōka Suigetsu on the captains."
"Everything they saw in the Great Spirit Book Gallery… it was all an illusion conjured by you."
As his own Bankai stabbed through his heart, Tsunayashiro Nakahara suddenly realized the truth in the final moments before death.
He finally understood the power of Kyōka Suigetsu.
And why Urahara Kisuke became the scapegoat.
"Just like you, Clan Head Nakahara..."
"You've been living inside Kyōka Suigetsu this entire time."
Aizen's blade struck again—merciless, elegant—hastening Nakahara's descent into the afterlife.
"You..."
Cough cough cough!
"It's me… no, it's the entire Seireitei who underestimated you... Aizen..."
Tsunayashiro collapsed in a pool of blood, eyes wide with pain and regret, murmuring broken words.
He had always seen Aizen as the harmless little brother living in Aiyan's shadow. A Lieutenant, protected under his elder brother's wing.
But at death's door, he finally understood.
This is not a shadow. This is a monster.
A monster who, even without Aiyan, could crush a noble clan head with ease.
Tsk
Tsk.
Aizen ignored the corpses of the three Tsunayashiro elders bleeding out around him. He took out the Hōgyoku from his pocket.
As the blue-black light bloomed from his palm, the souls of the Shinigami within the Tsunayashiro mansion were harvested one after another, drawn into the core as nourishment.
The Hōgyoku, after having devoured half of the Soul King's Hakusui, now consumed the entirety of the Tsunayashiro clan's Hollowfied remains.
And for the first time—
This gluttonous, insatiable artifact pulsed with satisfaction.
"...Finally full?"
Aizen adjusted his glasses, and the reflected gleam was colder than ice.
Before now—
Even after consuming the Soul King's remnants, the Hōgyoku had remained in a state of insatiable hunger, needing constant spiritual power to evolve.
But now, thanks to the Tsunayashiro clan...
It was complete.
Not just in form, but in essence.
And not just Aizen's Hōgyoku.
Aiyan's too.
"The moment a Shinigami pushes Zanpakutō, Reiatsu, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo to the absolute limit..."
"Only then can the Hōgyoku's true power be drawn out."
"To break the wall between Shinigami and Hollow—and ascend to a higher plane of existence."
Aizen smiled faintly, thoughts turning inward.
He could already see it—his soul stepping beyond the confines of Shinigami and Hollow.
Yes, the Hōgyoku could forcibly fuse soul types even now—but he was a perfectionist.
Unless he reached the pinnacle of a Shinigami's combat system with his own strength, the fusion would remain Imperfect.
That included the act of creating the Hōgyoku itself.
He once thought this would take centuries.
But now—
The Hōgyoku had awakened in less than a year. And he was not far from reaching the ultimate limit.
"Brother..."
"You must be even closer than I am."
"So—"
"What will you do?"
"Will you use the Hōgyoku fragment hidden inside Matsumoto Rangiku..."
"Or will you do as you claimed—shatter the boundary with your own strength?"
Aizen glanced at Aiyan walking beside him, unable to suppress the curiosity that surged from within.
If it were anyone else, he would scoff at such a notion.
After all, even the future creation of Hikone Ubuginu — transcending Shinigami and Hollow alike—was only possible through the combined power of the Hōgyoku, Soul King fragments, and advanced fusion techniques.
Even Kurosaki Ichigo, the so-called anomaly, owed his existence to the Hōgyoku.
His Hollowfication—his hybrid nature—all born of it.
But Aiyan...
When he said he would not use the Hōgyoku...
Aizen believed him.
Not just believed—he was enthralled.
He wanted to see it happen.
To see the impossible become reality.
"Master Aiyan."
"Everything is in place. Once we leave, Seireitei will believe this was all orchestrated by Urahara Kisuke."
"They'll see it as revenge against Central 46 and the Tsunayashiro clan, using it as justification for the Urahara family's imprisonment."
Yamada Seinosuke approached, bowing slightly.
"Let's go."
Aiyan nodded, turning calmly toward the gate of the ruined mansion.
Aizen stored away the Hōgyoku and followed at his side.
The others moved in silence.
Click.
Just as the four turned and walked away—
A sudden crack split the ground behind them.
Flames erupted from the broken earth, sending out waves of hellish Reiatsu that surged like a volcano awakened, swallowing everything in a blazing inferno.
The Tsunayashiro clan grounds, still wrapped in a barrier, felt like they had dropped straight into a volcanic crater—one that had begun spewing molten fury.
The scorching Reiatsu flooded the barrier like tidal magma.
The barrier, built to trap even a Gotei captain—perhaps even Yamamoto Genryūsai himself—began to tremble and warp under the pressure, as if melting from the heat.
"The Voice That Melts — Shikkoku no Ryōken!"
With a piercing screech, the magma-solidified Reiatsu burst from the cracks no longer as flames—but as substance.
Boom!
A surge of lava exploded upward.
From the molten hell stepped two monstrous hounds, each the size of a small mountain, their bodies formed entirely from blazing magma. They bared fangs of flame, eyes glowing like molten gold.
With a thunderous snarl—
They leapt like twin meteors, barrelling down upon the Sōsuke brothers with deadly speed.
"Not good!"
"It's scorching!"
Tōsen Kaname and Yamada Seinosuke were instantly engulfed in waves of heat so intense it felt like their skin was melting off.
But there was no time to react.
From the first crack in the earth, to the rising of Reiatsu, to the eruption of molten beasts—
All of it had occurred in the blink of an eye.
Even Tōsen, strengthened by the Hōgyoku, could only raise his Zanpakutō in defense—
But the magma beasts were already upon them.
"Hmph!"
"You dare trample the Tsunayashiro name… and think you can walk away?"
"Not that easy."
From within the flames—
A figure emerged.
Draped in a red-hemmed captain's haori over a sleeveless Shihakushō, fair skinned, black hair and chest length bangs.
He held his Zanpakutō casually over his shoulder.
He wasn't tall—but every step he took radiated authority, rage, and sheer killing intent.
His Reiatsu burned like wildfire, but there was a chilling undertone beneath the blaze—
A murderous aura honed from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
...
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