"Rumble!!!"
A pure white figure tore through the pale sky.
Like thunder, like lightning, it pierced the void and fell toward the vast earth like a meteor.
In the shattered ruins of the Kurosaki family's yard, a meteor-like crash descended once again.
"Rumble!!!"
Aizen lay sprawled on a chunk of broken stone, vacant eyes staring up at the sky.
"How… is this possible!?"
He couldn't even remember how many buildings and walls he'd smashed through.
All he remembered was the scenery madly retreating in his vision.
Even the sharp pain in his arm couldn't calm him down.
His heart was in utter turmoil.
He himself was already a top-tier powerhouse, and now he had completely broken the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow, surpassing both.
Compared to either side, he had evolved into a brand-new dimension. It could be called a complete rebirth.
His spiritual pressure, slashing power, speed, defense, and regenerative ability were all stronger than before, reaching a "god" level.
Take someone like Kyoraku, whose strength had once been comparable to his.
Or Gin, who had almost killed him.
Right now, he could kill either of them with a single swing.
Yet a mere human, a high schooler named Cole…
Had a speed even faster than his, and power dozens of times stronger.
At the moment that golden staff and his palm collided…
All he felt was a mountain crashing down on him.
The sheer power and hardness behind that strike far surpassed even Yamamoto.
But the problem was—he had already evolved!!!
Had Cole evolved too?
How could that brat's growth rate be even more ridiculous than his?
Even though Aizen himself was dazed, his evolved body was not.
His wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Normal high-speed regeneration only needed a single second to regrow a severed limb.
Aizen's injuries, however—
Recovered completely in just an instant.
But to Aizen, the injuries on his body were nothing compared to the damage to his psyche.
"Can't I finish this guy with a single hit?"
Cole rested the golden staff on his shoulder, standing in midair above Karakura Town, looking down at Aizen with a hint of helplessness.
In this moment, he finally understood how Ichigo had felt facing Ulquiorra in the original story.
After beating the enemy half to death with great difficulty…
The opponent just evolved once and immediately became stronger than you.
And when it came to Aizen—so long as you couldn't one-shot him, he would keep evolving, until he broke through the entire world itself.
"Do I really have to keep fighting him nonstop, wait until he's completely worn out, and then seal him?"
Cole rubbed at his temples, giving himself a headache.
Beside him, Urahara's lips twitched as he looked at him speechlessly.
"Cole, what are you sighing for? If I'm not mistaken, you were the one who just knocked Aizen flying with a single swing, right?"
The guy with the upper hand was the one sighing.
He honestly had no idea what was going on in Cole's head.
Cole gave him a sideways glare, annoyed.
"Why don't you go a few rounds with a copper pea you can't smash flat or pound into paste and see how you feel."
Urahara could only let out an awkward laugh and keep quiet.
Though he prided himself on being a bit smarter than Aizen…
If it really came down to a fight—
Aizen could beat the crap out of him.
Isshin ran over, brandishing his zanpakuto wreathed in flames, laughing heartily.
"Cole!!! That was beautiful just now! Next, you just have to keep it up and take Aizen down for good, hahaha…"
Cole turned his head, staring at him speechlessly.
"Uncle Kurosaki, what happened to that calm, dependable image you had just now? How did you switch back into gag-dad mode again?"
Ichigo also looked helpless.
"Old man, were you really a former squad captain?"
The fact that the former captain was his dad…
Just thinking about it was enough to make a person despair.
The Seireitei really needed to take some medicine.
"Cole, Ichigo, what silly things are you saying?"
Isshin puffed out his chest proudly, laughing loudly.
"Of course I used to be a squad captain. And when I was captain, everyone in the Gotei 13 respected me—"
"Huh!?"
"Huh!?"
Cole and Ichigo couldn't help but look toward Kyoraku.
Respected by the entire Gotei 13?
They honestly couldn't even imagine that scene.
Kyoraku rubbed his temples and gave a bitter smile.
"Captain Shiba's not wrong. Back when he was captain, he was a very serious person, always happy to help others. He was very much respected—until one day he suddenly disappeared…"
To see the once-disappeared Shiba Isshin suddenly show up again was already unbelievable.
What made it even more unbelievable was that in less than a hundred years, this guy's personality had completely changed into a walking gag.
Cole and Isshin both had metaphorical black lines on their foreheads.
Then—
The two of them viciously grabbed Isshin by the collar.
"If you used to be that serious, then stop messing around all day long already."
Ichigo was the one who felt the most wronged.
He was a high schooler.
The first thing that greeted him whenever he came home every day wasn't a warm greeting from his family.
On the contrary, what awaited him every single day was a surprise attack from his dad.
Day after day, that kick after kick—he was sure he'd nearly gotten a concussion.
Isshin was almost strangled, barely managing to speak.
"Cole, Ichigo, you're misunderstanding me. If I didn't ambush you two every day, how would you have such combat experience!?"
Ichigo's mouth twitched, his face dark.
"I really don't think you've contributed anything to my growth."
Cole nodded in deep agreement.
"You guys… if you're going to underestimate someone, at least have a lower limit!"
An angry voice drifted up from beneath their feet.
Everyone's gaze focused, finally remembering Aizen, who'd been smashed into the ground.
Under their stares, Aizen's body erupted with blinding white light, like a rising sun.
The white radiance completely enveloped him.
In the blink of an eye—
That white light reappeared in the sky as if it had teleported.
Ichigo sucked in a breath of cold air, instantly tightening his grip on Tensa Zangetsu (Heavenly-Chained Slaying Moon).
"What is that ability!?"
It wasn't hoho, nor was it sonido.
It was a speed that had already transcended both, reaching an extreme of another dimension.
Not far away, in her Thunder Beast state, Yoruichi couldn't help but swallow.
"So fast…"
She felt that the speed Aizen had just displayed already surpassed her in this form.
If Aizen had used this ability from the beginning…
Then even in Thunder Beast form, she would have been easily defeated by him.
Aizen was no longer looking down on them from above.
He stopped in midair, glancing down at them coldly.
"This is light-form movement. I've already broken the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow and reached a new dimension. My body can turn into light."
Upon entering the fourth stage of fusion with the Hogyoku, he felt as if he'd already stepped into the realm of the gods.
He could move his body at the speed of light.
An invisible "million shield" surrounded him, its defensive power far surpassing any Arrancar's hierro.
In an active state, he could even create an additional ultra-dense spiritual pressure barrier at his side.
On top of that million-ton base, its defense grew even stronger.
Even though, just now, it had been completely useless against Cole's strike.
"So…"
Aizen looked toward Cole, anger and solemnity intermingling in his eyes.
"What was that ability just now!?"
Under Cole's earlier strike, he had felt himself being rejected by the entire world, that terrifying force like the world itself crashing down on him.
Even though he had already broken through dimensions and stepped into the god realm…
He still could not resist that power.
He wanted to know—
Just what that ability was.
"That thing…"
Cole scratched his hair, not planning to hide it.
"That's my bankai's power, the suppressive force of Dinghai Shenzhen (Sea-Calming Divine Needle)… "
Before Cole could finish speaking, Yoruichi suddenly shouted in a low voice:
"Shunko - Raijū Senkei - Shunrai Black Cat Battle Maiden (Instant Roar - Thunder Beast Battle Form - Instant Roar Black Cat Battle Maiden)!!"
The instant she entered this state, Cole's pupils shrank as he stared, dumbfounded, at Yoruichi's clothes.
They really did shatter.
Her black, skin-tight suit, already just a thin layer—
Turned to nothing in an instant.
Her spiritual pressure transformed into white lightning, flowing over her body like water, forming cat ears and a cat tail.
Her clothing was entirely replaced by crackling lightning—
And by lightning-formed cat claws.
Cole gulped, not even knowing where to put his eyes.
Yoruichi already had an amazing figure to begin with.
Now she was enticing to an extreme.
She was basically like a succubus—
Stirring up an intense desire to conquer.
After entering this state, Yoruichi dropped to all fours, like a spiritual cat, yet her alluring, curvaceous body made anyone who looked at her drool.
Her entire body was covered with frequent electric discharges.
Her spiritual pressure could fluctuate forty-eight times in a single second.
The most obvious trait was that she had taken on a half-human, half-beast form.
And once she entered this form, Yoruichi's habits seemed to become feline as well.
She lightly licked her paw, then lifted her head and meowed:
"Meow~~"
"Swish!"
The sound of the air splitting rang out.
Yoruichi's figure vanished from where she'd been, reappearing behind Aizen in an instant like a bolt of lightning.
Her white, thunderous cat claw—
Swung viciously at Aizen's neck.
Aizen frowned in irritation.
Without even turning his head, he substituted his hand for a blade and slashed backward.
"Get lost, furball."
He clearly didn't have a blade in his hand.
But the instant he swung, a terrifying sword pressure was born.
Like a white storm of calamity, it exploded against Yoruichi's body and sent her flying dozens of meters away.
Wounds appeared all over the skin beneath the white lightning covering her.
Despite suffering such heavy injuries, Yoruichi in this state felt no fear at all.
Instead, she let out an angry cat's howl, her body flickering like lightning as she darted around at high speed…
Cole finally managed to drag his gaze away with difficulty and looked over at Urahara.
"Hey, Shopkeeper, what's going on? How come after Yoruichi enters this form, I get the feeling she's turned into a catgirl?"
If Yoruichi just now could barely be called "human"…
Then right now, she was a completely furious little cat.
Urahara gave a wry smile and explained:
"This is one of the derivative moves of Shunko that Yoruichi developed herself. After using this technique, she acts entirely based on emotion."
Cole suddenly understood.
"So it's like how Kenpachi swings his sword purely on instinct."
Once she entered this state, Yoruichi completely adopted a cat's way of thinking, fighting purely on the instincts of a "Thunder Cat."
"Still, even after transforming into this form, Yoruichi won't be able to beat Aizen."
Cole looked oddly at the two combatants' battlefield.
Yoruichi was basically getting completely thrashed.
If not for her speed being just barely fast enough, letting her evade fatal blows by a hair's breadth each time, she would already have turned from a little cat into a dead cat.
Urahara could only keep smiling bitterly.
In this form, Yoruichi's speed could rival the lightning of nature itself. It could be called the extreme of speed.
However—
Aizen's light form was true light speed.
No matter how hard Yoruichi tried, she could never surpass Aizen.
There was an essential gap between the two.
Hadn't they just been fighting all this time? Yoruichi was already covered in wounds, yet Aizen still didn't have a single scratch on him.
Gin watched their battle, a rueful smile on his face.
"What a pair of terrifying monsters."
His zanpakuto, Shinso (Sacred Spear), could reach dozens of times the speed of sound, enough to pierce an enemy's heart in an instant.
Yet he was shocked to discover that both Yoruichi and Aizen could easily surpass dozens-of-times-sonic speed.
After all, in nature—
Sound speed lagged far behind the speed of lightning and the speed of light.
"Meow!!! I'll kill you!!!"
Yoruichi slashed out another claw in fury.
She was the Goddess of Flash.
How could she allow anyone to be faster than her?
Aizen was completely fed up as well. With a thought, an invisible ultra-dense spiritual pressure wall appeared, encasing his entire body.
Yoruichi couldn't sense the existence of the ultra-reiatsu wall at all.
Her cat claw smashed into it—and her beautiful eyes instantly widened to the limit.
She watched helplessly as her thunder cat claw was gradually ground to pieces by the invisible wall…
And was about to tear her entire arm apart.
Seeing this, Cole let out a helpless sigh, stepped forward, and rushed in at a speed far beyond both hoho and Raishun (Thunder Flash).
Sensing this, Aizen couldn't spare any more attention for Yoruichi.
He clenched his teeth, raised his right hand, and shouted:
"Hyakuman Tate (Million Shield)!!!"
At the tips of his five fingers, a full one million layers of powerful spiritual pressure formed a blazing shield, big enough to cover his whole body.
With that on top of the ultra-reiatsu wall…
Aizen believed his defense had been pushed to the absolute limit.
Even a 70%-power Zanka no Tachi (Remnant Flame Sword) from Yamamoto's bankai might not be able to hurt him.
Yet his seemingly limitless defense crumbled layer by layer at a speed visible to the naked eye beneath Cole's golden staff.
Aizen's face turned purple with rage.
He could not understand where Cole's power came from at all.
It had been like this before.
And it was still like this now.
Countless emotions clogged Aizen's chest, making him feel a burning urge to kill.
But in the end, Aizen forcibly held back the urge to grind his teeth to powder.
His body turned into light once again and reappeared in the far distance in an instant.
Cole didn't chase after him.
Instead, he reached out and grabbed Yoruichi's black cat tail.
"Meow!!!"
Yoruichi jumped like she'd been startled, round mouth biting toward Cole's pants.
"Meow meow meow!!!"
Cole's forehead was full of metaphorical black lines.
He pressed his left hand over Yoruichi's mouth and wrapped his right arm around her waist—
Forcibly hugging her tightly in his arms.
"Yoruichi-nee, that's enough already. If you can't beat him, then you can't beat him. [Casual Storm Tyrant]."
Cole tried his best to persuade her earnestly.
But Yoruichi wouldn't listen at all.
Her soft, delicate body struggled in Cole's arms like a cat, her claws and teeth constantly attacking his body.
Cole really couldn't take it anymore.
He raised his right hand and smacked Yoruichi's rear heavily.
"Smack!"
"Bad kitty. Behave."
Yoruichi's beautiful eyes widened, her whole body going stiff. It was as if she had suddenly snapped back to her senses.
She raised her head, staring up at Cole in disbelief.
"Meow!?"
"Meow meow meow!!?"
(End of Chapter)
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