At this moment—
Inside the footage.
In the dimly lit Central Great Underground Court,
as the camera moved and finally settled on the center of the room,
what came into view was a massive execution chair, specially designed to restrain those on trial.
On that chair,
Aizen's entire body—his torso, his limbs, every single joint—
was wrapped tightly in layers of black sealing bands.
His whole body was bound.
Even his handsome face had not been spared:
only half his face was left exposed, along with his left eye and his mouth!
The instant this scene appeared,
because the binding looked so over-the-top,
it immediately caused an uproar; the viewers burst into excited discussion:
"Gotta say…"
"This new batch of Central 46 at least has some brains! They actually know to seal every spiritual pressure node on Aizen's body!"
"They're trying to make sure that during the trial, Aizen has absolutely no chance to release his reiatsu and make everyone in the room suffocate!"
"Looks like this new Central 46 is scared to death!!!"
The viewers in Soul Society,
true to habit, had one immediate reaction: they already had a terrible impression of Central 46, so they naturally launched straight into cold ridicule!
However—
once their focus
shifted to Aizen's face—now that all the white, hardened outer armor had fallen away and his features had reverted to that cool, handsome look—
every single viewer shivered involuntarily.
A chill shot up their spines, making their scalps prickle!
At the same time,
starting from this round of ranking,
all the oppressive pressure in his reaper form that Aizen brought with him—
and that sense of sharp, overbearing menace hidden in every mocking word he spoke—
all of those sensations… came flooding back!!!
"Aizen…"
"He's clearly the one on trial right now, but just from his expression and the look in his eyes, you can see the arrogance and contempt!"
"With that attitude, he really is a headache to deal with!!!"
Inside the First Division barracks,
Kyoraku Shunsui frowned.
Once again, he saw that strangely familiar feeling on Aizen.
In fact,
just from those few glances alone,
Shunsui even briefly had the illusion that Aizen wasn't the criminal here at all.
On the contrary—
it felt more like he was the one holding the highest authority in this chamber!
As if he stood above even Central 46,
sitting there with complete ease, listening lazily to the "sages" report to him with reverence!
Even though he was sealed,
his entire body immobilized, looking extremely constrained, yet his refined aura and overwhelming presence
still managed to give viewers exactly that kind of impression!
It really made Kyoraku Shunsui's head pound!
"Did you notice?"
"The Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu has really disappeared. Ever since it shattered, it's never been seen again…"
"Could it be… that it really fused completely with Aizen himself? That's why they had to seal every spiritual pressure node in his body!"
"To prevent the power of that 'five-sense hypnosis' from being released so easily?!"
Ukitake Jūshirō spoke, his tone growing colder as the implications sank in.
His words
were heard clearly by the other captains,
and each of them had a visible change of expression, an instant surge of dread!
If that were the case—
then if he weren't sealed,
from now on, just a single glance from Aizen would be enough for him to unleash illusions at will.
Or, alternatively,
just by moving his lips in casual conversation, he could hypnotize someone without them even noticing.
The moment they imagined that possibility,
even the Head Captain among them felt as if the sky were collapsing onto their heads!
Damn it…
On the surface, Aizen looked like he had lost—defeated and about to be sealed away and imprisoned.
But in reality,
he was actually the biggest winner of all—he'd won so hard it was absurd!
Using that final, peak battle,
he had completed the most perfect evolution!
As of now,
Aizen in this state—
you could basically just regard him as the very embodiment of "Kyōka Suigetsu" itself!
And what was even more terrifying—
was that they must not forget: the Hōgyoku was still inside Aizen's body!
Like a perpetual-motion engine, it would endlessly supply spiritual pressure and growth!
That meant…
as long as Aizen did not die—
then the power of Kyōka Suigetsu, along with the potency and range of its hypnosis—
would continue to grow in step with his spiritual pressure, endlessly amplifying to its maximum potential!
"..."
As they thought through this whole chain of horrifying consequences,
the captains of the Gotei 13 could no longer force out a single laugh; the atmosphere turned dead still, like stagnant water.
Aizen—
this man really was invincible!
Is it still too late to surrender now?
Aizen… he should… be willing to forgive us, right?
——
Meanwhile,
after hearing that Aizen had been sentenced to eighteen thousand eight hundred years in prison,
the man bound to the execution chair curled the corner of his mouth upward, a mocking smile lifting his lips.
"I see… So that's all you're capable of…"
His black eyes shifted left and right.
He slowly swept his gaze across the courtroom, taking every "sage" of Central 46 into his eyes.
Then Aizen followed up with a cold, cutting sneer:
"This is honestly rather ridiculous…"
His cool, calm tone
didn't even carry any deliberate mockery,
yet like a sharp dagger, it punctured the solemn atmosphere of the courtroom; with just a single line, he completely shattered the composure of Central 46!
"Damn you!!!"
"Silence, Aizen! You treacherous, heretical criminal! Do you think just because we spared your life you can be this arrogant and out of control?!"
"Guards! Seal his eyes and mouth as well!"
"And increase the sentence—make it twenty thousand years!!!"
In the end,
as that last order was screamed hysterically from the mouths of the sages,
this segment of footage—
the post-war trial of Aizen, concluding with that terrifying sentence of twenty thousand years—
came to an end.
Only—
the viewers' final impression
was not at all that Aizen had fallen and become just another common prisoner in chains.
On the contrary,
through that brief verbal jab he'd thrown at Central 46, and the way they had immediately lost their composure afterward,
they once again felt the terrifying impact of Aizen's mastery of words as a weapon!
Without lifting a finger,
he'd made them feel once more just how troublesome and hard to handle he truly was, and how…
after fusing with Kyōka Suigetsu,
the oppressive aura he radiated had risen to yet another dreadful level!!!
——
"Aizen-sama is brilliant…"
"You've been the winner from beginning to end!"
"No matter what form you take, those Shinigami in Soul Society will never be able to do anything to you!!!"
Inside Las Noches in Hueco Mundo,
the Menos and Arrancar were even more fanatical, their emotions running wild.
Indeed,
they not only no longer felt repulsed by the way Aizen's Hollow-like armor had disappeared, unlike before when they'd questioned whether he still counted as one of the Hollow race—
they actually felt that
the sense of familiarity had returned!
The one they remembered—that ruler of Hueco Mundo whose presence was always towering and untouchable, who was a master at verbal provocation and whose aura and momentum crushed everyone in the room—
had returned once more, in an even more powerful form!
What's more, this time, he was walking down the "correct" path of evolution.
He had fused perfectly with the Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu!
Such an Aizen was unquestionably more terrifying—flawless and untouchable!
And as everyone knew,
Hueco Mundo had always followed the law of the jungle: strength was everything!
So,
naturally,
after watching that clip, the entire Arrancar army only became even more fervent in their admiration and devotion toward Aizen!
That was how the current scene of collective cheering in Las Noches had come to be!!!
In response,
on his throne,
Aizen's expression remained as indifferent as ever.
But at the corner of his lips, a faintly pleased smile had appeared.
"Everyone…"
"Just wait and see."
"The reason you were once afraid of me and Kyōka Suigetsu's power…"
"Was simply because you were not yet capable of understanding it."
"Once you learn what it means to look up at it from below, you'll realize that the realm I strive for is nothing more than a height…"
"One that Shinigami will never be able to reach!!!"
As his words fell,
the transparent projection screen went completely black.
However—
it didn't stay dark for long.
The darkness quickly faded as the screen lit up again, and a brand-new segment of footage began to play:
Darkness.
Enclosure.
Silence.
The first frame of this new scene—
was no longer any location the audience had become familiar with in previous reveals.
Instead, it shifted to a brand-new place—a pitch-black space!
Everywhere you looked—
was darkness.
All around, the lighting was so dim that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
Anyone who so much as glanced at it would feel suffocated by the pressure.
Those who reacted even more strongly—
might very well develop claustrophobia on the spot, gasping and choking for air!!!
"?!"
"Where is this?"
"What a creepy place!"
"It feels like some kind of cage. Don't tell me this is the prison in Soul Society that's meant specifically for locking Aizen up?"
Considering that the last segment
had ended with Aizen sitting on the execution chair being sentenced to twenty thousand years,
some of the quicker-witted viewers immediately jumped to conclusions. They guessed that this must be the prison where Aizen was locked up in the future.
Among the captains,
the Head Captain in particular had a change in expression. His face darkened as he confirmed in a low voice:
"This is Muken. It lies at the very bottom of the land beneath our feet."
"It is the place reserved for imprisoning those most heinous criminals who are to be suppressed forever!!!"
The Head Captain tapped his wooden staff,
deliberately knocking the floor to draw the captains' attention to it—a silent reminder.
"Muken, huh?"
Soi Fon nodded thoughtfully. "That place is the extreme of punishment. Once a spirit steps into that darkness, it means Soul Society has cast them aside—they will vanish from history's record."
"And with how dangerous Aizen is, and everything he's done, sending him to Muken is only natural!"
As the captain of the Second Division,
and the Commander-in-Chief of the Stealth Force,
Soi Fon naturally knew more than most about the imprisonment and disposal of criminals.
And she very much agreed
that Aizen deserved this; he ought to be judged this severely!
"Heh…"
"So it's a place right beneath the First Division barracks, huh? That means the old man is guarding it personally?"
"In that case, stuck in endless darkness, there's no way Aizen will ever get to see another living soul again, right?"
Zaraki Kenpachi bared his teeth, speaking in his usual rough, feral tone.
Just from the environment shown on the screen—
even a dog would refuse to go there; any sane person would shake their head the moment they saw it!
Kenpachi really couldn't imagine
who would be stupid enough to risk falling into depression just to make a special trip into Muken,
and on top of that, to visit someone as extremely dangerous as Aizen?
No one in this world—
would commit such a foolish act!!!
However…
just as Kenpachi was thinking that—
in that same dim scene, a strange set of footsteps suddenly echoed out of nowhere.
Thud—!
Boots struck the ground,
each step steady and heavy.
The sound reverberated through that claustrophobic space,
amplified several times over until it sounded especially loud.
"Huh?"
"Who is that?!!"
"Who would suddenly break into Muken? It can't be the Head Captain, can it?"
The Shinigami captains widened their eyes.
They stopped talking, their expressions became serious again, and their nerves tightened.
Every gaze was glued to the screen.
Before they knew it, they were tense once more; the atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive.
And then—
the answer was revealed very quickly—
Swish…!!
A deep-red cloak swung into view.
That coat, the symbol of the Quincy King's authority, entered the frame in an instant!
The dark crimson hue
stood out starkly against the surrounding blackness,
as if to announce that this was an intruder who had absolutely no business being here!
And as this scene unfolded,
because it clearly involved… Aizen and Yhwach—
these two figures in the Bleach world—
the most evil men in history, who each in turn dominated the story as its greatest final villains—
the world fell instantly into an uproar!
The viewing atmosphere, which had finally calmed down a bit after Aizen's trial and imprisonment,
barely stayed quiet for more than a moment
before surging back into the same turbulent, ominous tension as before.
Viewers across the world felt so on edge that it was as if they didn't even dare breathe three times in a row!!!
"?? Yhwach…"
"Damn it… how is that guy appearing in Muken?"
"Is this taking place at some point during the later Thousand-Year Blood War? But… the First Division is supposed to be under the old man's personal guard!"
"And later on, during my own ranking round, I even left the First Division to go personally fight Yhwach!"
"Logically, there shouldn't have been any gaps in the timeline that would've allowed Yhwach to get close to Aizen!!!"
Among everyone,
the one who felt the most shaken and utterly confused
was, unsurprisingly, the Head Captain himself.
Even if he was old,
even if he looked every bit the elderly man,
that did not mean
his thinking had dulled or that he lagged behind others in perception.
On the contrary,
Yamamoto Genryūsai's instincts were razor-sharp.
He immediately sensed that something was off here!
Thinking back to
the scenes involving Muken that had appeared during his own ranking video,
the old man felt an ominous premonition rising in his chest.
Could it be…
that in the future, he really had fallen for some kind of scheme?
That he'd been lured away by a trap, giving Yhwach the opening he needed to exploit?!
"Yhwach…"
"What is that evil man trying to do with Aizen?!!"
The Head Captain's eyes burned with fury,
and he unconsciously slammed his staff down again.
The blow punched a hole straight through the floor, sending out a ring of fiery ripples and making the temperature in the room spike.
The viewing atmosphere grew even more agitated and stifling!
——
On the other side,
in the Silvery Realm, within the Ice Crystal Palace—
the pure-blooded Quincy of the Wandenreich reacted much the same as the Shinigami captains.
They were all startled!
Yhwach's sudden appearance in the footage had frightened them!!!
"His Majesty…"
"He actually went to see Aizen himself?"
"Could he be planning to invite Aizen to work together with him, or even… to join our Wandenreich?"
No matter which of these possibilities it might be,
the pure-blood Quincy all felt it was unbelievably far-fetched, something they could hardly wrap their heads around!
That was Aizen we were talking about…
A former captain of the Gotei 13.
Now the ruler of Hueco Mundo, and in the future an existence who would transcend all limits!!!
On top of that,
he had fused with the Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu and was walking down the proper path of evolution.
Faced with such an extremely dangerous man—
wasn't the smartest course of action
to leave Aizen alone, totally ignore him,
and let him slowly rot away over tens of thousands of years,
until his spirit turned hollow and he became nothing but an empty shell?
That,
surely,
was the wisest way to avoid accidents and prevent unstable variables from appearing, right?
At this moment,
the vast palace was inundated with noise.
Especially among the top-tier members of the Sternritter—Jugram Haschwalth, Gerard Valkyrie, Lille Barro, and the like—
each one of them was stunned.
Their brows were furrowed tight.
None of them could understand what Yhwach was thinking or what his true goal was!
And when they thought about the events that might unfold next,
a deep sense of unease—and even dread—took root in their hearts.
On top of that,
they also thought of another possibility.
What if—
when His Majesty finally met Aizen,
if Yhwach really did lower himself and extend an invitation to cooperate—
but then…
got thoroughly talked down and mocked by Aizen, and was rejected to his face…
wouldn't that be unbelievably humiliating?
After all,
these ranking videos
were being broadcast live to the entire world without interruption!
If something like that really happened,
their Wandenreich, the pure-blood Quincy as a whole, and even Yhwach himself—
would be utterly disgraced, more humiliated than they could ever imagine!
What a catastrophic loss of face that would be!!!
(End of Chapter)
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