Two hours later, Emily no longer looked even remotely pleased with herself.
The smug delight she had been wearing not long ago had completely vanished, replaced by a sour, unmistakably dark expression.
The reason was simple.
Just moments earlier, the director had decided to let Rebeca Verne audition for the role of Serena.
It was not as though Emily had been given a small part in this drama. Her role was substantial enough to place her firmly in second-lead territory.
But that was not the point.
The point was that she was playing the villain.
Back when they had worked on that big fantasy romance production, she had already ended up serving as little more than a foil to Rebeca Verne.
And now it was happening all over again.
Again.
"Director, can't you let me try for the female lead one more time?"
Emily still refused to give up, forcing out the question with the last traces of stubborn hope.
The director wore the bitter expression of a man already stretched to his limit.
"Miss Emily, your appearance just doesn't fit Serena."
Serena needed the aura of a battle-hardened heroine, the kind of woman who could ride into war and command soldiers without saying more than a few words. Emily, on the other hand, had the sort of face that was too seductive, too naturally alluring. She looked more like someone born to ruin men than lead an army.
It simply did not work.
At first glance, having so many stars in one production seemed like a blessing. In reality, keeping all of them satisfied was exhausting.
Especially Rebeca Verne's mother.
Right after the audition, she had pulled him aside and asked whether the role had any kissing scenes. Only after hearing "No" several times in a row did she finally relax, wearing the exact expression of someone who would have pulled her daughter out of the project on the spot if the answer had been different.
The director had nearly cursed right there.
He only swallowed it back because he still needed Rebeca Verne's popularity.
For the first time in a long while, he found himself envying Alex.
The so-called tyrant of the set.
Rumor had it that no matter how big the celebrity, once they were under his hand, they behaved like obedient little chicks. If someone had dared ask that kind of question in front of him, they probably would have been thrown out on the spot.
It was enviable.
Painfully enviable.
"Emily, don't be upset. You're still the second female lead in Bleach. The boss will definitely give you an even better role later."
Bella quickly moved over to comfort her.
Although Orihime Inoue's screentime in the final season was nowhere near as strong as it had been during the Arrancar arc, Bleach alone was enough to cement Emily's place at the top. For quite some time, her first-tier status would be impossible to shake.
Once she thought of that, Emily's mood improved a little. She lifted her chin and shot Rebeca Verne a provocative glance.
After all, in Bleach, Rebeca had only played a tiny role that disappeared after a single episode.
Compared to her, the difference in weight was obvious.
Rebeca Verne was furious enough to feel faint, but she still forced herself to swallow it down. Deep inside, she knew the truth.
For a long time to come, Emily was going to suppress her completely.
Because Bleach was at the height of its popularity.
Its momentum was monstrous.
"Uh... how about we all go out for dinner tonight and watch Bleach together? There's a new update tonight."
As the male lead, Mark only felt the suffocating tension spreading through the set and tried to smooth things over with an awkward laugh.
"I'll pass. I'm not interested in catching the box-office curse some people carry around and ending up flopping for the next seven or eight years."
Emily left without even turning around, dragging Bella along with her.
Rebeca Verne was livid, but in the end, she still managed to force the anger back down.
"You people from Bleach don't need to do any promo?"
After finally steadying herself, she turned and spoke to Mark.
Mark glanced at Rebeca's mother in the distance, who was watching him like he was some kind of threat, and let out a smile full of helplessness and pride.
"Does Bleach even need promotion?"
The moment he said that, Rebeca had no response.
Because it was true.
On her way from home to the set, she had seen Bleach everywhere. Airports, subway stations, bus stops, giant billboards, storefront displays - its presence had swallowed the entire city. Even drink brands had rolled out all kinds of Bleach collaborations. Online, the trending charts were flooded with clips, theories, arguments, and discussion threads.
There was no escaping it.
As long as you were still alive during this period, it was impossible not to hear about Bleach.
The scale of it was so overwhelming that Rebeca could not help thinking of the World Cup.
No.
At least in this moment, the World Cup might not even have matched Bleach's level of heat.
After all, their national team had not even qualified.
And so, something rather amusing happened within the cast that night.
After returning to the hotel, the male actors gathered in one private room to watch Bleach together. The actresses returned to their own rooms, but in the end, they were doing exactly the same thing.
Episodes three and four began.
After last week's update, countless viewers across the world were desperate to know how the Gotei 13 would withstand Aizen's assault after the fall of the Head Captain.
And the situation was even worse than before.
Yamamoto was dead.
Aizen had completed his evolution.
And the strongest Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, was now in Aizen's possession.
There was no question anymore.
At this point in the story, he was unquestionably the strongest existence in the entire series.
As soon as the screen opened, Aizen coldly gave the order to wipe out every member of the Gotei 13 before him.
The top three Espada and their Fracción charged forward all at once.
Just as the audience's hearts were climbing into their throats, Harribel - the first to move in to finish off Toshiro Hitsugaya - suddenly realized that her blade had cut through empty air.
The little Shinigami, who should have been on the verge of collapse, had vanished right before her eyes.
When she turned, she found that the buildings around her had flipped upside down as though the entire world had become a mirror image of itself.
"Collapse... Sakanade."
A voice the audience knew all too well echoed through the scene.
Harribel looked toward the source and saw a blond man with a bowl cut and straight bangs standing before her upside down.
Shinji Hirako.
The reaction was immediate.
The arrival of the Visored made countless viewers exhale in one huge breath, as though their lungs had finally been released from a vise. At the very least, the terrifying gap in power between the two sides no longer felt quite so hopeless.
At least not for the moment.
Then Shinji's voice sounded again, twisted into a bizarre cadence that made the whole thing even more unsettling.
"This... is the inverted world."
The audience was equally confused.
What kind of ability was this?
Taking advantage of the opening created by Shinji's Shikai, which had completely thrown the Arrancar army into disarray, the Visored made their move. Though they still carried resentment toward the Gotei 13 for what had happened a hundred years ago, the existence of a far greater enemy was enough to force all that aside. One after another, they began rescuing the severely wounded, including Toshiro Hitsugaya and Soi Fon.
"This is the inverted world. Everything you see here is reversed."
Shinji calmly explained his Shikai.
"No one can fight in a place like this. No one except me."
And just as he said, that was exactly what happened.
Within Sakanade's domain, even the Espada could not properly identify where the Shinigami were. At first, they thought they only needed to attack in the opposite direction. But it was not just left and right that had been reversed.
Up and down.
Front and back.
Even the direction from which sound arrived had been inverted.
It was utter chaos.
Adapting to a battlefield like that in such a short time was virtually impossible.
The audience was stunned. It was an absurdly powerful and dangerous ability. But even in the middle of that excitement, most people still understood one thing clearly.
No matter how impressive Shinji was, Aizen still felt like a monster beyond measurement.
Then, like a nightmare Momoing directly into his ear, Aizen's voice echoed behind him.
"Isn't that a little too arrogant, Captain Hirako?"
In an instant -
A grotesque wound burst open along Shinji's side, as though a monstrous blade had nearly cut him in half at the waist.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Not even five seconds had passed.
In less than five seconds, the faint sliver of hope that had just begun to rise inside the audience was crushed back into despair.
"It is nothing more than a visual distortion... Compared to me, who governs all five senses, the gap between us is like that between a firefly and the moon."
Aizen looked down at him and spoke with disdain.
The inverted world shattered completely.
Only then did the audience remember.
Kyoka Suigetsu.
Aizen's Zanpakuto ability.
The very power he had not used during his battle against Yamamoto.
The power that could turn a swamp into a flower field.
A fly into a dragon.
Reality into illusion.
The power that had once toyed with the entire Soul Society and spun everyone around in the palm of his hand.
Even if Shinji's Sakanade was nowhere near the level of Kyoka Suigetsu, he had still bought enough time for the Gotei 13.
Because the reinforcements had not stopped coming.
"Hah!"
A broad-shouldered middle-aged man wearing a Shinigami robe appeared like a bolt of force, swinging a blazing Zanpakuto straight at Aizen.
Isshin Kurosaki.
A moment later, Yoruichi followed close behind, her armored arm driving a crushing punch toward Aizen's flank.
From the rear, Kisuke Urahara raised his hand as well.
"Hado 99 - "
It was the same supreme Kido Aizen had used earlier against Yamamoto.
But even through the effects alone, it was obvious.
Its power was nowhere near Aizen's level.
"What an unexpected reunion... It really has been a long time."
Faced with the simultaneous assault of three captain-level fighters, Aizen let out a cold laugh.
Then he simply swung his sword.
That was all.
One movement.
And all three of them were sent flying at once.
Too strong.
No - that was beyond merely strong.
It was overwhelming.
Absolute.
The kind of power that made resistance itself feel laughable.
"Hey, Kisuke... is there really still any chance of defeating this guy?"
Yoruichi crashed to the ground, then slowly stood, wiping the dust and blood from her face with the back of her hand. Her voice was tense, low, and edged with the refusal to give up.
Kisuke answered honestly.
"To be frank... killing the current Aizen is basically impossible."
"I'm very grateful to you, Kisuke Urahara. Thanks to the other Hogyoku you created, I was able to evolve to my current level."
Aizen smiled as if he were expressing polite appreciation.
"As compensation, I'll show you something. Your Head Captain's strongest Bankai."
The moment he took out the black badge, it was not only the Gotei 13 and the Visored whose expressions changed.
The audience froze as well.
They had nearly forgotten.
The power Aizen had taken from the late Yamamoto.
Zanka no Tachi.
At the final instant, just before flames as fierce as the sun were about to swallow heaven and earth again, a shout came from the distance.
"Kisuke! The rescue is complete!"
The Visored had finished evacuating the wounded.
"Good. Then let's retreat."
Kisuke Urahara opened the Senkaimon, preparing to move everyone away from that hellish battlefield.
"Trying to run?!"
Seeing that, Kaname Tosen immediately reached for his sword.
"It's fine, Kaname."
Aizen smiled faintly and made no move to stop Urahara and the others from leaving.
"The Oken will be completed soon enough. Once we enter the Soul Society, we can finish all of them then."
"...Yes."
Tosen's answer came low and obedient.
But by then, no one was paying attention to him anymore.
Because everyone - on the battlefield, in front of their screens, inside those hotel rooms, in every city where Bleach had become a phenomenon - could already feel it.
That suffocating sense spreading through the air.
The feeling that an era itself was being crushed before their eyes.
And that in front of Sosuke Aizen, even hope felt pathetically small.
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