"How did you do that?"
Kyoraku's voice trembled slightly.
Aizen himself was clearly still standing right in front of him, and he hadn't even drawn his Zanpakuto… no, that wasn't right. Aizen's Zanpakuto was already gone.
But no matter what, for Aizen to project the battlefield of the Royal Palace, tens of thousands of miles away, so clearly, so vividly, right before their eyes, this wasn't just a display of power. It also proved that he could ascend to the Royal Palace at any time.
He wasn't going simply because he didn't want to.
"Just as you see."
Aizen stood with his hands behind his back, standing atop that illusory cloudscape, his tone calm:
"With my current spiritual pressure, if I wished, I could even drag that lofty Royal Palace down inch by inch and smash it onto the ground of Seireitei."
He looked down at Kyoraku's pale face, his eyes full of mockery, "So, Captain Kyoraku, even after seeing this, do you still naively think it's Captain Rosse who's preventing me from going to the Royal Palace?"
Those words hit like a hammer against Kyoraku's chest, leaving him completely silent.
That's right. If it were merely Rosse stopping him, with Aizen's current overwhelming ability, he had countless ways to bypass it, even storm up there directly.
And yet the reality was, Yhwach, that pawn being used, had rushed up there, fighting until he was battered and bleeding.
While Aizen, who truly had both strength and ambition, stood here at ease, calmly broadcasting the battle like he was watching a show.
A terrifying thought surfaced in Kyoraku's mind.
He suddenly raised his head, staring straight at Aizen, his voice dry:
"Yhwach… the reason he went up there…"
"You forced him up together?"
"You already anticipated that he would panic and abandon the Wandenreich?"
"Not just Rosse plotting against him, you were too?"
"There was only one goal: to use him to probe the Zero Division's trump cards? To have him go up and see whether that throne was still 'clean'?"
"Or even…"
A chill ran through Kyoraku Shunsui to his bones, "You wanted to use Yhwach's hand to eliminate the Zero Division?"
The unknown was far more frightening than the known.
Compared to the Zero Division, which had existed since the creation of this world, Yhwach was clearly the lesser threat.
If Kyoraku had to choose, he would probably also choose to let Yhwach go up first.
If he won, then just kill Yhwach afterward.
If he lost, then at least they'd uncover the Zero Division's trump cards, laying the groundwork for what came next.
"Correct."
Aizen nodded slightly, a trace of undisguised approval in his eyes.
He was beginning to understand Rosse's peculiar taste.
When a plan was flawless, when victory was already within reach, if there were no spectators who truly understood to witness it, then this grand performance worthy of being recorded in history would feel far too lonely.
Today might very well be the day the old order collapsed.
If Yhwach could break through the Zero Division's blockade, then the moment the gates of the Royal Palace were blasted open, that would be when he and Rosse would ascend to the summit together.
At that time, it would be a clash of two titans.
A truly fair battle with nothing held back. The victor would become king. The loser might not die, but would have to bow that noble head and submit to the new god.
This was an unspoken understanding. But he knew Rosse was waiting for this moment as well.
Waiting for him, Aizen Sosuke, to stand before the Royal Palace and challenge him.
If he still lost under such perfect conditions, then Aizen Sosuke would accept that defeat completely.
"Captain Kyoraku, why don't you take a look at this?"
The smile at Aizen's lips deepened slightly. He slowly raised his right hand, elegantly rolling up the wide white sleeve, revealing a firm yet pale forearm.
On that skin, there was no decoration, except for a single-eye tattoo that seemed alive, quietly dormant.
That eye was closed, yet it emitted an ancient, tranquil, and deeply unsettling spiritual pressure.
"This is!"
Ukitake Jushiro's eyes widened suddenly, his voice breaking from sheer shock:
"The One-Eyed God?"
No mistake. Having been parasitized by the Soul King's right arm for nearly a thousand years, he knew this presence too well.
That power representing absolute stillness, that godlike spiritual pressure once the seal was released, there was no mistake, this was the Soul King's right arm that Kurosaki Masaki had forcibly dug out of his body.
And now, it was perfectly residing within Aizen's arm?
"Rosse actually gave you something like the Soul King's right arm?"
Kyoraku Shunsui sucked in a sharp breath, staring at Aizen in disbelief.
At this moment, his entire worldview was overturned.
Rosse's ultimate goal was also to devour the Soul King and become the one true god.
Yet he was generous enough to hand over such a crucial piece of power directly to his greatest rival?
What kind of confidence was that?
Or rather, what kind of arrogance?
Was he so certain that even if Aizen possessed this power, he would still end up beneath his feet?
"Kyoraku, this is exactly why you can't become king, and why you can't become the Commander-General of Soul Society."
Aizen slowly lowered his sleeve, covering that shocking tattoo again, his tone carrying a faint trace of pity, "Back then, when Captain-Commander Yamamoto founded the Gotei Thirteen and suppressed the three realms with overwhelming might, he clearly held the strongest power. Why did he still share authority with those decaying nobles of Central 46?"
"You're saying the old man did it for balance? For magnanimity?", Kyoraku laughed at himself, no longer pretending ignorance, "No. That was just arrogance. He believed that no matter how much power he gave those nobles, as long as Ryujin Jakka remained, he could keep them in check."
"Which means you still don't understand."
Aizen shook his head lightly, smiling, and with Rosse absent, he rarely spoke his thoughts so openly, "If Rosse only wanted to win, he could simply crush everything with absolute power and bulldoze through the Royal Palace. He might win that way, he might even crush me like an ant…"
"But I wouldn't accept him."
"Those unruly Espada in Hueco Mundo wouldn't accept him."
"That sword-obsessed First Kenpachi wouldn't accept him either."
"What he seeks has never been to conquer us through suffocating brute force, nor through meticulous, godlike schemes, but through the bearing and charisma of a king."
Aizen's eyes gleamed with intense admiration, "With his help, I obtained the Hogyoku I long desired. Through his gift, I even gained this right arm of the Soul King that represents stillness."
"If under these conditions, with him personally paving the road for me and filling in my weaknesses, I still cannot surpass him—"
"Then what reason would I have not to submit?"
"Heh! That sounds nice."
A weak, twisted voice filled with ridicule suddenly cut in.
"So you're just like a dog wagging its tail. He throws you a bone, and you can't wait to lick it clean?"
The one speaking was Hirako Shinji, now completely unrecognizable.
His current appearance was disturbingly grotesque.
The Hollow mask had grown at his backside. Bone-like legs covered his arms. A long tail sprouted from the top of his head, while the bones that should have been in his arms now covered his legs.
His whole body looked like a pile of blocks randomly assembled by a child, inverted and mismatched, so twisted it made one's stomach turn.
"Captain Hirako."
Aizen sighed regretfully, his gaze becoming even more pitiful, "As expected, you still don't understand. I can answer your earliest question now. My dealings with Mr. Ishida are indeed recent, but as early as a hundred years ago, I already knew exactly where you Visored were hiding in the Human World."
"You thought you'd hidden somewhere I couldn't find, but in truth, you were only deceiving yourselves. If I had wanted to kill you, you would have died that very night," His tone carried no warmth at all.
"So we're supposed to thank you for sparing us, huh?", Hirako sneered.
"That's exactly why you don't understand. In this world, the only one who truly understands me is Captain Rosse."
"Look," Aizen spread his hands, as if presenting a gift, "I gave you the evolution you longed for, letting you break past the limits of a Shinigami. And what about you? Not only do you feel no gratitude, you still treat me as an enemy and never once considered following me."
"Isn't that behavior worse than a dog?"
"BULLSHIT!"
Hirako roared. The arm covered in leg bones swung fiercely, slashing toward directly behind him.
This was his ability.
Though he attacked backward, the sharp claw-like wind seemed to cross space itself, carrying a force that tore everything apart as it howled straight toward Aizen's face.
This was the extreme result of his fusion with Sakanade.
Perceptual inversion.
Clang!
Yet faced with this bizarre attack, Aizen didn't even turn his head. He simply raised his hand backward slightly.
Though their arms were several meters apart, a crisp metallic clash rang out in midair.
The attack was blocked.
"Captain Hirako, your ability is Sakanade, to invert all things."
Aizen lowered his hand, his tone as calm as if grading a failing paper:
"But unfortunately, my ability is Kyoka Suigetsu, to control the five senses."
"To perfectly manipulate countless people's senses in an instant and weave it into reality, the level of calculation and precision required is far beyond your simple up-down, left-right inversion."
Though he was merely stating facts, the implication in his words struck like a slap across Hirako's face.
In terms of intellect, in understanding rules, the gap between you and me is like that between a child and a scholar.
"Hah!"
Hirako let out an unwilling cold laugh.
The next second, the Hollow mask on his backside opened its mouth wide.
Buzz!
A high-density yellow Cero formed instantly, blasting backward with world-destroying force.
This was his struggle.
Looking at Aizen's face, he couldn't hold back at all.
This man had destroyed everything he had, everything his friends had, forcing them to hide in the Human World like dogs, and now he expected gratitude?
"It seems you still don't understand. I'm tired of this, Captain Hirako."
Aizen's indifferent voice sounded, like a death sentence.
He gently raised the right hand bearing the one-eyed tattoo, his fingers slightly spread.
Buzz!
No explosion. No roar.
That violent yellow beam of Cero suddenly froze in midair, like a three-dimensional painting paused in place.
Even the flow of the light particles was clearly visible.
At the same time, Hirako Shinji's twisted body also froze in place, unable to move even his eyes.
Absolute stillness.
This was the divine authority of the Soul King's right arm.
"Ukitake."
Aizen didn't spare another glance at the frozen clown. He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on the pale-faced Ukitake Jushiro.
"In my view, you Shinigami who sit on a mountain of treasure yet remain unaware, who have spent a thousand years doing nothing but clinging to the status quo, this behavior itself is equivalent to degeneration."
He raised that right arm, a trace of fervor and regret flashing in his eyes, "If I had possessed this arm, even dragging along a body riddled with illness—"
"After a thousand years, I would easily stand above Yhwach, even above Captain Rosse."
"And then? Charge toward the Royal Palace? You should understand, the moment the Soul King dies, this world ends. What meaning would anything you've done have then?", Ukitake sneered.
"That's exactly why I say you cannot understand me. Including Urahara Kisuke, all of you only focus on the small patch right in front of you. You've never once thought to look toward a farther sky."
Aizen looked at them with pity and let out a soft sigh, "Why is it that ascending the throne of the heavens and devouring the Soul King, the linchpin, must lead to the collapse of the world?"
"The Soul King himself had to seal himself to maintain the stability of the three realms," Ukitake said seriously.
"If the Soul King couldn't do it, I can't? Yhwach can't? Urahara Kisuke can't? Rosse can't?"
Aizen's eyes were completely devoid of emotion, "Is it truly impossible, or is it simply beyond your imagination?"
"If you can't imagine it, it is simply impossible, isn't it?"
"Let me tell you the consequence of that."
"You cannot do it, yet you refuse to let those who dare to even try. You cling only to your naive, small ideologies. When someone who can actually do it appears, we become like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, destined to rely on you, pathetic fools, for mercy just to secure a place."
"Heh! Stability is best. If not for people like you, Rosse, and Yhwach, these ambitious types, this world would only be better," Ukitake scoffed.
"Rosse comes from outside this world, doesn't he?"
Kyoraku Shunsui suddenly raised his head, looking toward Aizen.
Having experienced so much, he could naturally see certain things.
Aizen now looked like someone who had already seen the path ahead.
And the path Aizen saw was clearly connected to Rosse.
Obviously, Rosse was the one who had achieved it.
If what Aizen said was true, then all of them had indeed been wrong.
Facing an invader from beyond the world, their stubborn refusal to change left them with no ability to resist at all.
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