"Getsuga—Tensho!!!"
A massive, pitch-black crescent slash with blood-red edges roared forth, aiming straight for Aizen's head!
At this moment, Aizen was entangled by Asuka's reckless, airtight barrage of slashes that resembled a rabid dog.
Although he hadn't taken any substantial damage, the unique properties of his opponent's blade made him not dare to relax in the slightest.
Facing Ichigo's sudden sneak attack from behind.
A hint of impatience flashed in his eyes.
"What an ignorant brat," Aizen scoffed coldly, full of the arrogance of one who stood above all living things.
In the gap between defending against Asuka's attacks, he twisted his body and casually swung out a beam of sword light to meet that pitch-black Getsuga Tensho.
Boom—!!!
The Getsuga Tensho was forcibly shattered by him, rampaging wildly in all directions.
The ground, which had already been vitrified by Zanka no Tachi, cracked inch by inch at this moment.
"He just... blocked it?!" Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes widened in mid-air, unable to believe that his full-powered strike had been taken so effortlessly by the opponent.
"Don't space out! Keep suppressing him!" Asuka roared.
Although he didn't know this kid, it was enough that they seemed to be on the same side.
Aizen engaged in a fierce melee with the two, his gaze shifting between Asuka and Ichigo.
On the surface, he remained the unhurried ruler, as if the pincer attack from these two was nothing more than children playing around.
But in reality, to ensure his plan was foolproof, he had already performed several extreme operations today that were enough to hollow out an ordinary Soul Reaper's Reiryoku.
Whether it was completely releasing Kyoka Suigetsu, forcibly suppressing Head Captain Yamamoto whose Spiritual Pressure was as deep as the ocean, or extracting the Hogyoku and fusing with it... they were all extremely exhausting tasks.
Even Sosuke Aizen, who possessed First-class Spiritual Power and styled himself as a transcendent being, inevitably felt a wave of fatigue at this moment.
'How troublesome,' Aizen sighed in his heart.
On the other side of the battlefield.
A sky full of pink cherry blossoms, like a poignantly beautiful blizzard, was frantically strangling two figures.
Countless cherry blossom petals formed from blades, under the command of Byakuya Kuchiki, flanked the man who always wore a fox-like smile on his face from all directions.
"Captain Kuchiki, your killing intent is truly terrifying," Gin Ichimaru said as the Shinso in his hand transformed into streaks of silver lightning, precisely sniping and parrying within the cherry blossom storm.
However, his attention was not entirely focused on Byakuya Kuchiki in front of him.
His eyes were uncharacteristically open, observing Aizen, who was being pincered by Asuka and Ichigo in the distance, through the gaps in the flashing blades and sword shadows.
'Aizen's Spiritual Pressure... is in disarray,' Gin Ichimaru analyzed calmly in his heart.
As a venomous snake who had lurked by Aizen's side for a hundred years, no one understood this man's terror better than he did.
In order to find that single flaw capable of killing Aizen, Gin Ichimaru had abandoned his comrades and stained his hands with blood...
He knew how unsolvable Aizen's Zanpakuto was, and he knew how unfathomably deep Aizen's Spiritual Pressure was.
But he also knew that even the most perfect monster would expose its soft underbelly for just a split second.
'Could this... be the opportunity I've waited a hundred years for?'
Thump!
Gin Ichimaru's heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, his fingers tightly gripping the hilt of Shinso.
As long as he suddenly launched an attack now and pierced Shinso's strongest toxin into Aizen's blind spot, perhaps... he could really end everything right here.
Just as Gin Ichimaru's killing intent was about to become unsuppressible and he prepared to turn his blade—
"You dare get distracted while fighting me?!" Byakuya Kuchiki noticed the slack in Gin Ichimaru's defense, the cold glint in his eyes intensifying.
All the cherry blossom petals instantly converged, transforming into a cage of hundreds of millions of sharp light swords, tightly wrapping Gin Ichimaru within.
"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
"..."
'Crap!' Gin Ichimaru snapped back to reality, sighing helplessly in his heart. 'Captain Kuchiki really is a rigid and serious person.'
"Buto Renjin!"
Silver sword light exploded like a violent storm, tangling with the sky full of cherry blossoms.
This meaningless entanglement... coupled with Hitsugaya and Shihoin who were getting restless in the distance...
Finally caused Aizen to lose his last shred of patience.
"I admit, your performance has indeed exceeded my expectations," Aizen tilted his head slightly, looking deeply at Asuka.
"Seeing you in this state... feeling that chaotic power on your blade... I must admit, you have grown to a level that even surprises me."
"..."
His eyes instantly turned ice-cold, radiating the ruthlessness of a king of heaven.
"Today is truly unfortunate."
"My time is very precious, and there are simply too many things to do. I no longer have the leisure to continue this boring game of probing with you."
Clang!!
Aizen forcefully knocked Asuka and Ichigo Kurosaki away, putting several body lengths of distance between himself and them.
Hum—!!!
He immediately raised his finger, and surging Reiryoku like a celestial river gushed from his fingertip.
"Hado #90・Kurohitsugi."
"Not good!" Asuka's pupils contracted violently.
All around him, the air was forcibly torn apart by some pitch-black, unfathomable Reishi force.
Several black Reishi barriers as thick as city walls rose from the ground!
Carrying a gravitational field capable of crushing souls, they rapidly closed in around Asuka at a speed the naked eye could not capture!
Rumble—!!!
In an instant, the pitch-black sealed coffin enveloped him, locking him tightly within.
Inside the coffin was absolute darkness and despair.
There was no light here, no sound, only that terrifying gravity as heavy as a thousand mountains, and countless invisible blades condensed from high-density Reishi!
"Ugh—!!!"
Asuka let out a muffled groan of pain.
He felt his bones being crushed bit by bit, his muscles being frantically sliced by invisible blades.
That tattered Shihakusho was instantly dyed red with blood, and the bone-deep agony almost tore his consciousness apart completely.
"Asuka—!!!"
Because of the critical situation on the battlefield, Shinobu Kocho, who was being held back by Yoruichi, let out a heart-wrenching, shrill scream the moment she saw Asuka being swallowed by that black coffin.
"Just fall down obediently," Aizen declared in a flat tone from outside the black coffin. "Although abandoning the incantation reduced its power to a third of the original, this level of Kido strangulation is enough to take you down, Number Seventy-Eight."
"Just obediently follow me back to your cultivation..."
Crack...
An unsettling shattering sound suddenly rang out.
Looking closely, cracks were actually beginning to appear on the surface of the black coffin!
"How can this be? Even a number ninety Kido...?"
Crack, crack, crack...
The shattering sound grew louder and louder, and Aizen could even hear a furious roar from within the fissures...
"I survived against all odds... relying on fighting wild dogs for food... surviving in piles of corpses!"
"I crossed the Era of Demons, crossed the malice of another world, just to get here!!"
"How could I... how can I... just fall here so easily! Sosuke Aizen!!!"
Golden-red flames burned on the surface of the black coffin, and the sense of power overflowing from it made even Aizen frown.
"The heart's moon is solitary and round, its light swallows all creation..."
"Burn away all forms, devour heaven and earth..."
"Stand at the extremes of creation and end—"
Rumble!!!
From within the black coffin came a terrifying roar that seemed ready to blow the entire world apart!
"Bankai—"
"Gouka Kourou!!!"
"Avici・Scorching Hell!!!"