Izuru Kira stared in shock at the person beside him. Sōsuke Aizen, who had just been fighting the Captains, had turned into Momo Hinamori. Then the Momo Hinamori who had been beside him moments ago...
Pain from a blade cutting across his body shattered his thoughts. Izuru Kira collapsed powerlessly to the ground, forcing his eyes open as he watched Sōsuke Aizen walk farther and farther away.
Shinji Hirako fixed a hard stare on Sōsuke Aizen. "You... when did you..."
"When? What an interesting question." Sōsuke Aizen answered at an unhurried pace. "Unlike your Sakanade, which can only manipulate sight, my Kyōka Suigetsu is complete hypnosis. It can control every sense at any time and make a person experience illusions under any circumstances."
"That's why I'm asking you..." Shinji Hirako pressed, unwilling to let it go. "When did you start using Kyōka Suigetsu?"
"Then let me ask you this..." Sōsuke Aizen's low voice descended along with terrifying Reiatsu, like a mountain given physical form. "When did you begin to believe I wasn't using Kyōka Suigetsu?"
"Aizen!" Rolling dark clouds echoed Tōshirō Hitsugaya's roar, whipping up a biting wind that followed him as he charged toward Sōsuke Aizen.
"Wait!" Shunsui Kyōraku immediately sensed something was wrong. "Captain Hitsugaya..."
"Every one of you..." Sōsuke Aizen took a single step. Behind him, Shinji Hirako, Shunsui Kyōraku, Suì-Fēng, and Tōshirō Hitsugaya all sprayed blood at once and fell from the sky. "Is full of openings."
"I won't kill you. With your strength, wounds like those won't make you lose consciousness." Without sparing them another glance, Sōsuke Aizen calmly declared, "So watch. Lie there helplessly and watch this war come to an end."
Of the eight members of the Visored, Hiyori Sarugaki and Lisa Yadōmaru had been gravely wounded by Harribel, Love Aikawa and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi by Starrk, and Mashiro Kuna by Wonderweiss. Sōsuke Aizen had dealt with the remaining three, Shinji Hirako, Hachigen Ushōda, and Kensei Muguruma.
Three Captains of the Gotei 13 had defected. Of the ten remaining Captains, four, Retsu Unohana, Byakuya Kuchiki, Kenpachi Zaraki, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, were still in Hueco Mundo.
Of the six Captains in the World of the Living, Jūshirō Ukitake had been pierced through the chest by Wonderweiss, while Suì-Fēng, Sajin Komamura, Shunsui Kyōraku, and Tōshirō Hitsugaya lay gravely wounded on the ground.
The only one left was...
Raging flames shot into the sky. A pillar of fire stretching from earth to heaven scorched the air until it warped, and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's figure became clearer within it. Surging heat waves whipped up howling winds, fierce enough to shake the soul.
"So the Captain-Commander finally shows himself? But it's already too late. Among the Captains who can still be called combat power, only you remain." Sōsuke Aizen's relaxed expression stood in sharp contrast to Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's fury. "Once I defeat you, the Gotei 13 will collapse completely. You missed your chance. You should not have appeared at all."
"Do not get carried away, boy." Killing intent moved through Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's aged eyes. "With your level of ability, you think you can kill me?"
"I never thought I could kill you." Sōsuke Aizen's voice suddenly came closer. "I already have."
The distance between them closed in the blink of an eye, and the blade drew a crimson arc of blood.
"As expected of the Captain-Commander. You actually reacted at the last moment." Sōsuke Aizen chuckled, his Zanpakutō piercing Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's body. "Though it was only a useless reaction."
In that instant, Sōsuke Aizen had moved behind Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and attacked.
It was a movement none of the other Captains could have reacted to, yet Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto saw through it instantly. At the last moment, he turned and avoided a fatal wound.
Crack!
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's withered hand clamped around Sōsuke Aizen's arm. His fingers dug into flesh, drawing blood. "I have you."
"How amusing. And what if you have caught me?" Sōsuke Aizen reminded him. "Is the hand you are holding truly mine?"
"If I relied only on what my eyes saw and what my skin felt... then yes, I would be affected by your ability." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's fingers curled tighter. "But I am not so far gone that I would mistake the Zanpakutō Reiatsu piercing my abdomen."
It was not that Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto could not dodge Sōsuke Aizen's attack. He needed to be struck in order to confirm that the one he had seized was the real Sōsuke Aizen.
"You said I missed my chance? Quite the opposite. The timing is perfect now!" Pillars of fire rose one after another, surrounding the two of them. A terrifying heat wave surged and roiled, carrying Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's bottomless Reiatsu as it set all of Karakura Town ablaze. "Ennetsu Jigoku. Everything was done to create this opening."
"Does everything include the desperate battles fought by your subordinates?" Sōsuke Aizen lowered his eyes slightly. "How cunning."
"And you... will die with me in this Hell!"
"What about your subordinates? You will kill them too."
"They accepted that long ago." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto remained unmoved. "To die in order to destroy a great evil. That is the will of the Gotei 13!"
The pillars of fire swelled, the power within them linking together to form a blazing cage. Then... they abruptly vanished.
"Ah..."
A muffled voice sounded behind him. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto immediately turned and swung his blade. Burning Ryūjin Jakka swept across with raging flames.
The flames vanished in an instant, caught in a single hand.
Bang!
A fist smashed into Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's head, knocking him out of the air and embedding him in the ruins.
"The power of Ryūjin Jakka is beyond question. If he fought seriously, his combat ability should surpass mine. But that does not mean there are no countermeasures. By abandoning every other ability and strengthening only one, it becomes possible to oppose even the strongest Zanpakutō." Sōsuke Aizen introduced the Resurrección form of Wonderweiss beside him. "Wonderweiss is the only modified Arrancar. His name is Extinguir."
Wonderweiss had clearly grown taller. His shoulders and thighs were especially broad, while his limbs were long and thin. The areas around his ribs and both sides of his abdomen were half-hollowed out, and the broken mask once on his forehead had become a tall, almost swollen hat on his head.
"Extinguir's ability is to seal flames. Whether it is your Ryūjin Jakka or Muten Natsu's Hell Flames, neither can be used before him." Sōsuke Aizen looked at the old man rising from the ruins. "For this ability, Wonderweiss lost his speech, his knowledge, his memories... even his reason. Faced with the ability he traded everything for, you have no way out."
Sōsuke Aizen waved his hand. "Farewell, Genryūsai Yamamoto."
"Uu... ah!"
Wonderweiss let out a garbled cry and lunged straight at Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
Boom!
His grotesque body was blasted backward at even greater speed, crashing through several buildings before finally smashing into a high-rise and coming to a stop.
"You thought sealing Ryūjin Jakka would be enough to kill me?" Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's outstretched fist clenched tight. The sleeve of his Shihakushō fluttered, revealing bulging veins along his arm. "You are naive. So naive it makes me dizzy."
"Why do you think I have remained Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 all this time?" Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto opened his palm, and in his slightly narrowed eyes, Sōsuke Aizen was reflected between his fingers. "Because even after a thousand years, no Shinigami stronger than me has appeared."
The ruins beneath his feet shattered. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto appeared in front of Sōsuke Aizen and swung his clenched fist.
A blurred white figure blocked Sōsuke Aizen and was sent flying by the punch.
Flesh writhed around the horrifying hole in Wonderweiss's waist and abdomen. He made a muffled sound, and the cracks covering his body healed rapidly.
"You really can take a beating. Since [Ikkotsu] was not enough..." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto rolled his shoulder, and the upper half of his Shihakushō fell away, revealing a powerful body crisscrossed with scars. A thousand years had not broken the old man. Instead, it had carved the lines of his muscles even more sharply. "I will let you taste a little pain."
Wonderweiss, who had already lost the ability to speak, simply swung his fist. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto snorted coldly, hooked his arm around it, and snapped Wonderweiss's arm.
"Oooaaah!" Wonderweiss growled. Arm after arm extended from his back, raining down on Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto like a violent storm.
Explosive cracks of air rang out without end. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto braced both arms in front of himself, blocking Wonderweiss's attacks.
Wonderweiss reached out, grabbed Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's wrists, and forced his arms apart.
His high, bulging shoulders suddenly burst open. One white hand after another twisted out and clenched tight as Wonderweiss smiled. Then...
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
A dense storm of fists came crashing down like rain beating against banana leaves, pummeling the defenseless old man for a long while before finally stopping.
"What..." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto looked up. "Finished?"
"Ah..." Wonderweiss tilted his head, staring blankly at the old man before him, who seemed completely uninjured.
"Sōkotsu."
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto drove both clenched fists into Wonderweiss's body.
Compared to Wonderweiss's barrage of strikes, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's attack was almost crude in its simplicity.
Yet that simple attack smashed Wonderweiss's body apart by sheer force.
His waist, abdomen, and chest, the places directly struck, vanished outright. The rest of his body was not spared either. Countless cracks spread through it, and even his arms and legs, far from the point of impact, were caught in the aftershock and broke apart inch by inch.
Only a shattered head fell to the ground, still wearing a blank expression.
"Even his emotions were stripped from him..." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto lowered his eyes. "How cruel."
"Cruel? To souls that have become Hollows, such things no longer have meaning. Now they only hunt souls endlessly. I gave him meaning. What is cruel about that?" Sōsuke Aizen corrected him. "You are the one who completely shattered his soul. You are the truly cruel one."
"I have no desire to debate your twisted logic." Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto descended from the air. "Say a few more words, then. You do not have much time left."
"Twisted logic? It is precisely because you look down on words that you failed to hear what I said." Sōsuke Aizen reminded him, "I said the Extinguir's ability seals flames. So... where do you think those flames are sealed?"
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto suddenly turned toward Wonderweiss's head.
The broken head, topped by that absurdly tall skull, was swelling. Crimson light glowed from the cracks splitting across it.
Boom!
Fire shot into the sky. A shockwave swept outward, lifting the shattered ruins before turning them into dust as they fell.
Sōsuke Aizen looked down at the old man in the deep crater, both arms charred black. "As expected of the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. You compressed enough power to destroy ten Karakura Towns into such a small area, and all it cost you was your arms."
His waist-length white beard had been burned away. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto struggled to prop himself up with arms still flickering with embers. "You... bastard..."
He could say no more. His badly injured arms could no longer support him, and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto collapsed to the ground.
If Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto had not suppressed the eruption of flames, then in that instant, not only this false Karakura Town but several surrounding cities would have been reduced to ash.
"Thank you, Genryūsai Yamamoto. You protected my world." Sōsuke Aizen drew his blade and approached. "Allow me to see you off, along with Soul Society."
"Do not make me repeat myself, brat." A charred hand grabbed Sōsuke Aizen's ankle. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto raised his head. "You are far too naive... Hadō #96, Ittō Kasō!"
Cracks appeared along his scorched arm. It was a forbidden technique that could only be activated by using a burned body as the medium.
Crimson flames surged into the sky. The terrifying power, compressed to its limit, still expanded into an enormous blade shape.
Scorching force churned through it, burning and crushing everything it touched without restraint.
Sōsuke Aizen released his Reiatsu, shielding his body as he rushed out of the flames at top speed.
At that moment, Sōsuke Aizen had to admit that he had indeed underestimated Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
But it did not matter. This was Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's final struggle.
A sharp, cold flash rushed toward him. Sōsuke Aizen raised his Zanpakutō and blocked it with ease. "It has been a long time, Muten Natsu."
Muten Natsu gripped Myōki with both hands, the Hell's Eye on his forehead glowing crimson. "I found you... Sōsuke Aizen!"
"I have been waiting here for you all along. Rather than saying you found me, it would be more accurate to say you arrived." Sōsuke Aizen chuckled softly. "Was it Genryūsai Yamamoto's attack that made you think there was an opening, causing you to attack so recklessly? You should not have attacked the moment you returned to the real world. At the very least, you should have spent enough time building up power if you hoped to injure me."
"Oh?" Muten Natsu's Reiatsu surged into the sky. "From where you're standing, did I only just return to the World of the Living?"
Behind Sōsuke Aizen, a deep blue radiance suddenly flared. Like a dazzling bolt of lightning, it stretched straight across the air. A violent torrent of Reishi crossed the vast distance and closed in within an instant, striking his completely unguarded back!