Chapter 47: Time to Bully Kensei Again
Finally managed to talk Aizen down…
Mizuma let out the faintest sigh of relief.
Negotiating with someone like Aizen was always a delicate balance—too forceful, and you risked being cut down; too meek, and you'd be manipulated. He'd even considered tossing out something cocky like "Kyōka Suigetsu is nothing but a parlor trick" just to throw him off rhythm. But that kind of bravado could just as easily make Aizen flip the table—if this man got provoked and decided to slice this clone into pieces, then went off to start his rebellion early… Mizuma would have nowhere left to cry.
So he had to rely on wit instead. And that kind of verbal fencing was exhausting. That brief conversation alone had killed off a good number of his brain cells. Thinking about all the times he'd have to verbally spar with Aizen again in the future made him feel an almost suicidal urge.
This is torture… absolute torture.
The reason he'd insisted on taking part in this operation was simple—to personally bully Kensei… ahem, to take control of the situation.
It wasn't that he felt safe just because he'd read the manga and knew the Visoreds would survive the Hollowfication incident tonight. After all, the manga never mentioned anything about a "Divine Sword." If he'd landed in the wrong timeline, and Aizen accidentally went a little too far and killed one of the future Visoreds?
Yeah, better to handle things himself.
"Lord Aizen, are you done talking?"
At that moment, Gin Ichimaru's lazy drawl drifted over. "The Ninth Division guys are already nearby—just a few miles away. If we don't prepare soon, we'll be late, y'know."
"Patience, Gin."
Aizen's voice was calm as ever. "Wake the Hollows and send them to the designated site. Miss Messenger and I will follow shortly."
"Yes, yes~ as you wish."
Gin shrugged, then jogged off toward the trees. He jabbed each unconscious Hollow in the rear with his short blade—once per Hollow. Before they could even get angry, he followed up with a series of swift kicks and slashes, herding all ten of them toward a nearby district full of civilians.
"How about we go take a look?"
Aizen turned to Mizuma, his expression unreadable, and began walking.
"Of course."
---
There wasn't much to say about the battle—it was a one-sided massacre.
The men of the Ninth Division under Muguruma Kensei arrived right on time.
They rescued a group of children who were about to be attacked by Hollows, and there were no casualties.
Though Kensei got mocked often, he was still a Captain. If not for the squad following him, he probably wouldn't have even bothered drawing his Zanpakutō—his fists alone could've pulverized those ten Hollows.
From the start of the fight, Mizuma and Aizen had been watching from nearby. Aizen even made a bit of deliberate noise, drawing Kuna Mashiro toward a certain spot in the woods—where she just happened to find ten scattered shihakushōs lying on the ground.
Worth noting was the little boy Kensei had saved: Hisagi Shūhei.
That man would one day become the second-biggest tank in all of Soul Society, capable of pushing the pseudo-Soul-King Hikone to a dead-even brawl using his Bankai, Kazeshini: Fushi no Kōjō.
Right now, he was just a kid from Rukongai. But after this incident, he'd begin idolizing Kensei, later getting obsessed with motorcycles, and eventually becoming the poorest lieutenant in the Gotei 13.
Having the foresight of a prophet was… kind of satisfying.
Come to think of it, maybe he should take Shūhei under his wing once the kid joined the Gotei 13? That Bankai of his was really handy—perfect for group battles. As long as you bound the enemy's big boss first, then focused the squad's fire on him to drain his reiatsu, you could win easily—aside from a few broken-tier opponents, of course.
"Aizen Sōsuke," Mizuma asked, watching as Kensei told Shūhei to get to safety, "are you planning to use these Ninth Division members for further experiments?"
He tilted his chin toward the battlefield. "So what's the plan? Capture them and strap them onto test tables?"
"No—that would be unnecessarily troublesome." Aizen shook his head, then drew a small vial from his sleeve and tossed it to Mizuma. "This contains soul elements extracted from Hollows. Once a Shinigami comes into contact with it—whether by ingestion or through a weapon coated with it—the Hollow essence will fuse into their soul, shattering the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami. That is what I'm asking you to do, Miss Messenger."
Mizuma turned the tiny bottle in his hand—it only contained a few drops of transparent liquid. "You want me to use it on all of them? There doesn't seem to be enough."
"No. Ordinary Shinigami are no longer of any value for experimentation," Aizen said. "Only Muguruma Kensei and Kuna Mashiro need to be dosed. As for the rest of the squad—Miss Messenger may do with them as she pleases."
"I see. That does make it simpler."
Mizuma unsheathed Ryugetsu, popped the cap off the vial, and smeared the liquid along the blade. He wasn't worried about any tricks Aizen might've hidden in the mixture—if anything went wrong, he could just dissolve this clone. No matter how insidious the method, it would reset to zero.
"Knock out the Captain and Vice-Captain, then use them to lure in more Captain-class targets as test subjects—clever strategy," he said, giving a few graceful spins of his sword. "Shall we begin?"
Aizen gave an ambiguous smile. "That choice is yours, Miss Messenger."
"Then I'll make it quick…"
Mizuma swiped his hand across his face, removing the mosaic that masked his features.
He was counting on Urahara to handle the aftermath and send the soon-to-be Visoreds to the World of the Living. If the two sides ended up comparing notes and Urahara learned that the attacker was a walking mosaic, Mizuma could kiss his Messenger persona goodbye forever.
Revealing his true face to Aizen wasn't an issue, though. The face of Ryugetsu was completely off the records in the Soul Society—essentially a ghost identity. As long as he kept the "Watanabe Mizuma" identity safe, everything would be fine.
After Mizuma left the forest, Gin quietly stepped up beside Aizen.
"Lord Aizen, are you really gonna work with her?" Gin asked, eyes half-lidded. "That woman looks mighty dangerous."
"Indeed."
Aizen frowned slightly as he stared at Mizuma's departing back. "Gin—you've fought her before. What happened then?"
Gin's fox-like smile didn't waver. "I attacked her three times. Missed the first two. The third hit—my Shinsō actually connected—but as you can see, she's perfectly fine. Not even a scratch."
"She could evade slashes, yet took a direct hit from Shinsō?" Aizen murmured, more to himself than to Gin. "Some ability that requires a time interval to activate, perhaps? …No. There's too little data. We'll keep observing."
---
TL: That's Dad Keikau for you.