Rangiku froze for a moment before understanding what he meant. "Captain, are you saying there's something suspicious about Aizen's death? That it might be fake?"
"There's a very good chance," Harry said with a nod. "Aizen has been plotting something for a long time. Now, with Rukia's execution approaching, he suddenly turns up dead. The timing is far too convenient. If he truly is dead, who benefits the most? And if he faked his death, what is he planning?"
Aizen's death was undoubtedly part of an intricately staged performance.
The purpose of that performance was most likely to make everyone believe the mastermind behind everything was dead, causing them to lower their guard and allowing him to retrieve the Hōgyoku without interference on the day of the execution.
...
The crimson corridors outside the Fifth Division barracks seemed taut beneath the oppressive Reiatsu in the air. Members of the First Division stood on both sides of the cordon with their hands wrapped around the hilts of their Zanpakutō.
As Harry led Rangiku Matsumoto, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, and Momo Hinamori through the gathered crowd, he could clearly sense the many layers of tension surrounding them.
There was the panic of the Fifth Division members, the vigilance of the patrol units, and the sharp, distinctive Reiatsu of the captains who continued to arrive one after another.
The atmosphere was so tense that it felt as though violence might erupt at any moment.
"Captain of the Tenth Division, that is where Captain Aizen's body was discovered."
The Fifth Division member guarding the entrance barely dared to breathe after seeing Harry. He quickly stepped aside to let them pass.
Beyond him, they could vaguely see a large pool of blood on the ground and a motionless figure lying beside it.
Harry entered the courtyard and immediately began sensing the traces of Reiatsu remaining in the air.
There was no residual Reiatsu from an intense battle. There was no trail of spiritual power left behind by an attacker. There were only ordinary particles of reishi floating in the air, no different from any other day.
It really was remarkably clean.
Aizen's corpse lay faceup on the ground in front of him. A penetrating wound had torn through the chest of his shihakushō, and dark red blood had run down the fabric before pooling across the white Sekkiseki floor.
His eyes were closed. The gentle expression he usually wore had been drained of all color, and even the strands of hair hanging across his face seemed lifeless.
The members of the Fifth Division crowded around the entrance, but none of them dared to approach.
Several of the younger members kept their heads lowered, their shoulders trembling slightly.
The more experienced officers wore grim expressions and whispered among themselves.
"How could this have happened?"
"Captain Aizen was so powerful. Who could possibly have killed him?"
They could not conceal the fear in their voices. None of them had ever imagined that the captain who always handled the division's affairs with a smile, and who never treated his subordinates harshly even when they made mistakes, would die such a gruesome death inside his own barracks.
"You're all so damn noisy."
A coarse voice suddenly cut through the murmuring.
Kenpachi Zaraki pushed his way through the crowd with Nozarashi resting across his shoulder. His bloodthirsty gaze swept over the corpse on the ground. Instead of showing sorrow, he curled his lips in irritation.
"It's just one dead captain. What are you all crying for? Instead of wasting your time whining, go find the killer and avenge him!"
He turned to leave, only for Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's Reiatsu to slam down upon him and hold him in place.
Captain-Commander Yamamoto stood in the center of the Fifth Division barracks, his body rigid beneath his white haori. The wrinkles across his forehead had tightened into deep furrows, and the rage in his eyes seemed hot enough to burn through the air.
"Zaraki! Conduct yourself properly!"
His voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable authority. The entire Fifth Division barracks fell silent in an instant.
"Members of the Fifth Division, secure the scene immediately. Do not disturb anything. All captains will remain here. Everyone else, leave!"
The Fifth Division members retreated as though they had been pardoned, leaving only the guards stationed at the entrance.
Harry walked to the desk and crouched beside the corpse. He did not touch it. Instead, he gathered a faint thread of Reiatsu at his fingertip and extended it toward the penetrating wound.
As his Reiatsu passed through the blood, he could clearly sense the reishi fluctuations that should have been present in a fresh wound. However, the sensation it gave him was strangely unnatural.
It was like touching an invisible membrane. The reishi around the wound was distorted so subtly that almost no one would have noticed it.
Harry immediately sensed the anomaly. Although Aizen's corpse appeared completely real, there was something fundamentally false about it.
His instincts told him that a corpse was indeed lying before him, but it was most likely not the corpse of Sōsuke Aizen.
"Hmph. A flawless experimental specimen like this is certainly a rare sight."
Wearing white gloves, Mayuri Kurotsuchi leaned closer to Aizen's body, his eyes shining with excited curiosity.
"Captain-Commander, it is not every day that we obtain the corpse of a captain-level Soul Reaper. Would you allow me to use this body for my experiments?"
He had just begun reaching toward Aizen's wrist when Yamamoto stopped him with an icy shout.
"Kurotsuchi! Do not touch the body!"
Mayuri clicked his tongue in displeasure, but reluctantly withdrew his hand.
Byakuya Kuchiki stood nearby. He did not approach the corpse, instead sweeping his gaze across every corner of the courtyard as he searched for clues.
"The scene is too clean," he said suddenly, his voice cool and composed. "Anyone capable of killing a captain-level Soul Reaper should have left some kind of trace. Either the killer possesses concealment abilities far beyond anything we have anticipated, or..."
He did not finish the sentence, but the suspicion in his eyes was unmistakable.
Harry's gaze flickered. In the end, he decided to voice his own doubts.
"Could Captain Aizen have faked his death? There was no warning whatsoever before this happened. How could someone at the level of a captain be assassinated so easily?"
"Captain Harry, watch your words."
Yamamoto's gaze swept toward him with a clear warning.
"Aizen is dead. Our most important task is to identify his killer, not indulge in reckless speculation."
Harry spread his hands. He had expected that response.
To the Captain-Commander, the truth itself was less important than preserving the stability of the Seireitei.
Yamamoto was simply too confident. He always believed that as long as he remained here, he could suppress any threat or dissident that emerged.
What he did not know was that there were now at least three individuals within the Seireitei whose strength rivaled or even surpassed his own.
The Captain-Commander had long since ceased to be invincible.
Harry shook his head. "I merely feel that everything about this is far too deliberate. It does not seem real."
"Deliberate?"
Shunsui Kyōraku slowly waved his folding fan. His tone retained its usual carefree quality, but his eyes were sharp.
"You mean Aizen intentionally arranged for us to find him dead here? Why would he do that?"
Harry shook his head without answering.
He had spent the past several decades in what could only be described as an inactive state, so his understanding of Soul Society was far inferior to that of the other captains.
Although he had quickly familiarized himself with Soul Society's general situation after awakening, and had even uncovered parts of Aizen's conspiracy, he still did not know Aizen's precise objective.
Seeing that Harry could not provide a specific explanation, Shunsui stopped questioning him.
Inside the Fifth Division barracks, the Captain-Commander continued assigning missions related to the search for the killer.
Mayuri muttered under his breath about what a shame it was that he would not be allowed to perform a dissection. A captain's corpse was such rare research material, yet it was going to waste.
Kenpachi had already lost his patience and was leaning beside the entrance with his sword across his shoulder.
Only Byakuya, Shunsui, and a handful of the other captains occasionally glanced toward the corpse, their eyes carrying the same suspicions as Harry's.
Even after an extensive examination, Fourth Division Captain Retsu Unohana failed to discover anything unusual. The other captains eventually shook their heads and departed one after another.
In the end, only Harry and Unohana remained at the scene.
Unohana narrowed her eyes slightly, though her tone remained as gentle as ever.
"Will you not be leaving, Captain Harry? The Ryoka intruders have still not been dealt with.
"I will be taking Captain Aizen's body away for an autopsy. Is there anything else you require?"
Without changing his expression, Harry drew his Zanpakutō and released it.
With the Zanpakutō's ability to control reishi, he was finally able to perceive the corpse's true appearance with greater clarity.
It was indeed not Sōsuke Aizen.
It was the body of an unfortunate Fifth Division member who had recently disappeared.
Unohana's eyes grew darker as she observed Harry's actions. She asked in a probing tone, "If I remember correctly, your Zanpakutō's ability involves controlling reishi. Have you discovered something, Captain Harry?"
Harry did not tell her what he had seen. Instead, he deliberately adopted a troubled expression.
"I haven't discovered anything. It appears my earlier suspicions were mistaken. There is nothing unusual about Captain Aizen's death.
"I will leave the rest to you, Captain Unohana. Thank you for your efforts."
After Unohana acknowledged him with a nod, Harry turned and walked away.
Unohana remained where she was, staring thoughtfully at Harry's retreating back.
In truth, compared to Captain Aizen, who had most likely faked his death, her instincts warned her far more strongly about the sixty or seventy-year-old Captain Harry.
If Captain Aizen resembled a deep and shadowed pool, one within which some terrifying danger was quietly taking shape, then Captain Harry was like a boundless ocean that could swallow the entire world at any moment.
She could still sense something unusual about Aizen, yet she could perceive almost nothing of Harry's schemes.
Had her instincts not continuously warned her that something was wrong with Captain Harry, and had he not recently erupted with Reiatsu of an intensity completely unlike anything he had previously displayed, she might truly have dismissed her concerns as an illusion.
Thinking about this, Unohana shook her head slightly.
The waters of Soul Society were growing deeper by the day. Even a captain who had lived for a thousand years could no longer see what lay at the bottom.
Unohana considered the matter only briefly before setting it aside.
Perhaps, as far as she was concerned, the deeper those waters became, the better.
Sooner or later, someone might emerge who could fight her to her heart's content.
After leaving the Fifth Division barracks, Harry returned directly to the Tenth Division.
He did not leave for the next several days. Instead, he summoned his friends to the Tenth Division barracks, where they held a series of private discussions whose contents remained unknown.
Outside the division, several clashes involving extremely powerful Reiatsu erupted during those days.
The confrontation that attracted the most attention was the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Eleventh Division Captain Kenpachi Zaraki.
Because of Harry's Reiatsu Amplification Array, Ichigo was initially overwhelmed by Kenpachi.
However, the tremendous pressure stimulated his potential and drove his strength to an even greater level, allowing his Reiatsu to truly reach Spirit Class Three.
Combined with the many unusual qualities within his body, and Kenpachi's deliberate suppression of his own Reiatsu, Ichigo actually managed to defeat the captain of the Eleventh Division.
Time passed quickly. Several more days went by in the blink of an eye, and soon the date of Rukia Kuchiki's execution arrived.
Dawn in Soul Society carried a bone-piercing chill. In the plaza outside the Senzaikyū, the white stone steps had been washed pale by the morning mist.
Countless Soul Reapers stood in orderly formations on both sides of the execution platform. The hems of their shihakushō fluttered slightly in the wind, but not a single conversation could be heard.
Every pair of eyes was focused upon the towering execution instrument in the center of the plaza, the Sōkyoku.
The Sōkyoku's pillar, forged from Sekkiseki, rose directly into the clouds. The enormous spear at its summit gleamed with a cold metallic light, while the Reiatsu wrapped around it was so dense that it made breathing difficult.
It was one of the oldest execution instruments in Soul Society, a weapon that carried out sentences in the name of purifying sin. Its power was great enough to pierce even the body of a captain-level Soul Reaper.
Rukia was bound to the stone pillar at the center of the Sōkyoku with a spiritual arts rope. The collar of her shihakushō had been pulled open, exposing her slender neck.
Her Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, had long since been confiscated. Her hands were tied, and her powerless body hung against the pillar.
Yet even with death moments away, there was no fear in her eyes. She merely stared calmly into the distance.
"The time of execution is approaching," a member of the First Division whispered to Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
At the edge of the plaza, the captains of the Gotei 13 stood in a line.
Yamamoto stood at the very front, his white haori snapping in the morning wind.
His grip tightened slightly around his cane, and his eyes were filled with solemnity.
Aizen's death remained unsolved, yet Rukia's execution could no longer be delayed. The instincts of the First Division's captain told him that this day would not pass peacefully.
Byakuya Kuchiki stood among the assembled captains, his Zanpakutō reflecting the cold light of dawn at his waist.
He did not look at Rukia on the Sōkyoku, but he could clearly sense the steady rhythm of her Reiatsu.
He had participated in nearly every stage of Rukia's arrest and had personally crushed Ichigo Kurosaki and Renji Abarai's rescue attempts several times.
That did not mean he did not love his sister.
It was simply that, according to his principles, the honor of the nobility outweighed everything else.
To preserve the honor of the Kuchiki Clan, he could abandon not only Rukia, but even himself.
Byakuya tightened his grip around the hilt of his Zanpakutō until his knuckles turned pale.
Images flashed through his mind, the day he adopted Rukia many years ago, the smile on her face when she first achieved Shikai, and countless other memories.
His heart felt as though it were being squeezed, and even breathing became difficult.
"Hmph. Would you hurry up already? I can't wait to see that man again!"
Kenpachi rested Nozarashi on his shoulder and spoke with obvious impatience.
Ever since his previous defeat at Ichigo's hands, he had released part of the Reiatsu sealed within his body. Now he was eagerly waiting for Ichigo to arrive.
Ichigo was one of the few opponents capable of making his blood boil. Kenpachi could hardly wait to fight him again.
Harry stood beside Rangiku Matsumoto and Tōshirō Hitsugaya, his green eyes fixed on the spear at the top of the Sōkyoku.
Today might very well become Aizen's celebration, but the opportunity did not belong to Aizen alone.
It was also an opportunity for Harry.
As long as he gathered enough Soul King fragments, he could use them to reduce the difficulty of devouring the Soul King himself, then seize control of this entire world in a single decisive move.
From that perspective, his objective was similar to Aizen's.
However, Aizen merely intended to break through the boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows, escape the restraints limiting his current strength, and bring himself closer to the Soul King.
Harry intended to take direct control of the entire Bleach world.
"Captain, Ichigo still hasn't arrived," Rangiku whispered. "According to our calculations, he should have reached the Senzaikyū by now. What happens if he doesn't come? Do we continue with the plan anyway?"
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