The Susanoo trapped inside Sangai swung its massive blades, cutting the cage into pieces in just a few strikes.
In the next instant, the blade edge pointed straight at Kirio Hikifune, the one who had created the prison. Caught off guard, Kirio Hikifune could only blow out more seeds, forming a wooden shield in front of herself to defend.
But if even the fully formed cage had been broken open, could a hastily formed shield truly withstand that terrifying slash?
Kirio Hikifune herself was not confident.
Speed was not her strong suit. While forming her defense, she could only watch helplessly as the blade pressed down on her like a black cloud.
"Oh? So you do have some skill."
As the blade fell, Aizen felt slightly surprised.
Failing to eliminate a member of Squad Zero with a single strike was truly somewhat regrettable.
Just as the massive blade was about to reach Kirio Hikifune, a streak of golden light flashed past.
Just like the Zanpakutō in Aizen's hand earlier, the Susanoo's tachi was cut in two.
The blade that opposed it was that failed creation: Sayafushi.
"Phew. Good thing we made it!"
Kirinji wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead.
The instant he realized something was wrong, he had activated his Shunpo, grabbed Ōetsu, and rushed toward Kirio Hikifune. Fortunately, Kirio Hikifune's defense had managed to have some effect, allowing the two of them to make it in time.
Ōetsu's expression, however, was not as relaxed as Kirinji's.
He stared at the Zanpakutō in Aizen's hand and said, "Is this the ability of your Zanpakutō? No… how could a broken Zanpakutō unleash power this strong?"
A broken Zanpakutō did not become complete scrap, but its ability would be greatly reduced. Under such circumstances, it would not even be able to fully display the power of Shikai, let alone use Bankai.
Yet Aizen's attack, first breaking Sangai and then slashing at Kirio Hikifune, was impossible to classify as Shikai-level power in Ōetsu's understanding.
But how could a Zanpakutō that had already been broken use Bankai?
"Enough."
Seeing that his attack had failed, Aizen withdrew the power of Susanoo.
He knew this giant's ability was certainly not so simple. Unfortunately, that fellow Sawada Tsunayoshi had not displayed much more of it, resulting in Aizen being able to do nothing with Susanoo except swing its swords.
This move was the result of Aizen combining his Zanpakutō ability with the Hōgyoku.
Kyōka Suigetsu's ability was to influence the five senses. Logically speaking, it should not have been able to produce an ability that materialized something in reality.
But under Aizen's intense desire, the Hōgyoku had responded to him, raising Kyōka Suigetsu's illusion ability to another level.
That was how Susanoo had appeared.
After dismissing Susanoo, Aizen stepped on nonexistent stairs and walked toward Ōetsu and the others one step at a time.
As he walked, his Zanpakutō began growing back. After five steps, it had returned to its normal appearance.
"When did you fall under the illusion that you had severed my Zanpakutō?"
Every word Aizen spoke struck Ōetsu's heart like a heavy hammer.
As the God of the Sword, Ōetsu had actually made an error in judging a Zanpakutō.
That was unquestionably humiliating.
Aizen, meanwhile, felt secretly relieved.
Fortunately, before he came to the Soul King Palace, Sawada Tsunayoshi had interfered. Because of that, Aizen had already fused Kyōka Suigetsu into his body.
The blade he was using now was entirely condensed from Hollow power.
That was precisely why Aizen had not truly had his Zanpakutō cut in half by Ōetsu. Otherwise, his combat ability really would have been partially crippled.
As expected of Squad Zero.
Even a failed blade casually taken out by them could crush most Zanpakutō.
This Sayafushi was the natural enemy of every close-combat Zanpakutō.
Watching Aizen's Zanpakutō recover, Ōetsu's expression shifted from humiliation to confusion, then to understanding in rapid succession.
"So that's how it is. You hid your Zanpakutō inside your body. You are the Zanpakutō, and the Zanpakutō is you!"
Ōetsu pointed his blade at Aizen once more.
"Looks like I went too easy on you!"
In the next instant, Ōetsu, Kirinji, and Senjumaru appeared around Aizen at the same time, launching a joint attack.
Kirinji's attack was still fast and blindingly bright. Ōetsu's Sayafushi was something that could not be touched at all. The golden arms behind Senjumaru moved rapidly, threading needle and thread as they wove six masses of cloth into spear shapes and sent them attacking Aizen.
Aizen still did not dodge.
Around him, three figures suddenly appeared, blocking Squad Zero's advance.
Luffy, Naruto, and Ichigo.
It was still a copied version of Tsunayoshi's original set of techniques. However, this time, the three protagonists were not opposing Aizen. Instead, they used their techniques to protect him.
The Rasenshuriken contained dense, needle-like energy, instantly tearing Senjumaru's cloth to shreds.
Ichigo's unreasonable, wide-area Getsuga Tenshō directly swallowed Kirinji.
What surprised Aizen the most was Luffy's side.
That black-red, metallic-gloss fist actually blocked Sayafushi, the blade that could cut through anything, and sent Ōetsu flying with one punch.
…
At the entrance to the Great Underground Prison beneath the Shin'ō Academy, Ichigo stared at the large screen with his mouth agape.
He pointed at himself in disbelief.
"That's me? Since when did I go help Aizen?"
"No. Strictly speaking, that is not the current you, Kurosaki!"
Uryū pushed up his glasses with one hand, a wise glint flashing across them.
"Whether it's the Zanpakutō or the outfit after Bankai, there are subtle differences from your current state!"
"Exactly! I think so too!" Orihime Inoue, Ichigo's little fangirl, immediately agreed.
"All right, the battle is getting intense. We can discuss unrelated matters later," Tsunayoshi quickly said, cutting off Ichigo's follow-up question.
Otherwise, with how familiar Ichigo was with him, once he started asking, it would never end.
…
Just like the previous Susanoo, the three figures disappeared after unleashing one attack.
Since Aizen had merely copied them, he had no way to deduce their later abilities.
The one that interested Aizen the most was Luffy's pitch-black fist. If he could use that continuously, he would no longer need to fear Sayafushi's threat.
Unfortunately, he did not understand the principle behind it at all, and Tsunayoshi would never tell him what kind of power it was.
The pincer attack of the three Squad Zero members was broken by Aizen in the blink of an eye. Each of them looked somewhat disheveled.
Kirinji and Ōetsu were still all right.
The worst off was Senjumaru, who had taken a Rasenshuriken head-on.
The attacks suffered by the other two were surface-level impacts. Only the Rasenshuriken's energy pierced directly into the body like needles. After one hit, Senjumaru spat blood, heavily injured internally.
Naturally, Aizen would not let this opportunity pass.
He raised his palm flat and condensed Reiatsu.
"Hadō…"
A large hand formed of wood attacked Aizen, forcibly interrupting his chant.
It was Kirio Hikifune. She had been observing from the side for some time, already prepared to support her teammates.
Having been forcibly stopped, Aizen could only fire the Kidō at the wooden palm.
Hadō #63: Raikōhō.
In order to keep Senjumaru suppressed, Aizen had deliberately used a quickly released Hadō.
To an ordinary Shinigami, this spell counted as a powerful Kidō, but before Kirio Hikifune, it was somewhat insufficient.
The thunder only tore through the surface of the palm. After crushing Raikōhō, the hand restored itself to its original form and continued grabbing toward Aizen.
Kirio Hikifune's Sangai used her own Reiatsu. As long as her Reiatsu was not exhausted, Sangai could continue growing.
Unless it was broken apart instantly with overwhelming force, as Susanoo had done, one would be dragged into a battle of attrition against Kirio Hikifune.
And Kirio Hikifune's plump body existed precisely to deal with Reiatsu consumption.
Ordinarily, she stored excess Reiatsu in her body. When her Reiatsu was consumed down to the level of an ordinary Shinigami, she would return to the appearance of a purple-haired, busty mature beauty.
Since Kidō had no effect, Aizen directly used Shunpo to dodge Kirio Hikifune's attack.
This ability was clearly troublesome at a glance.
Aizen could not use Susanoo again in the short term. Forceful copying naturally came with drawbacks.
Aizen was in no hurry.
Right now, three members of Squad Zero had been crippled by him. Only Kirio Hikifune remained. He could deal with her slowly.
Kirinji's entire body was burned. Ōetsu's sword hand was twisted abnormally. Senjumaru went without saying; she could only rely on the six arms behind her to move with difficulty.
As long as he dealt with Kirio Hikifune, this so-called Squad Zero would be finished.
Aizen's Shunpo rushed straight toward Kirio Hikifune.
Sayafushi was indeed powerful, but his own blade was not dull either.
Kirio Hikifune's body visibly shrank at high speed. Countless seeds rapidly expanded with her as the core.
She directly consumed all the Reiatsu in her body, using herself as the center to seal Aizen off.
Looking at the branches baring their claws at him, Aizen frowned almost imperceptibly.
The branches were growing with Kirio Hikifune as the core.
In other words, if he wanted to cut Kirio Hikifune, he would inevitably be attacked by the branches.
Retreat?
That was not Aizen's style.
Looking at the tree branches rapidly reaching toward him, Aizen made a decision.
Hadō #99: Kurohitsugi!
His signature Kurohitsugi was unleashed.
This time, Aizen enclosed both himself and Kirio Hikifune within it.
A normal Kurohitsugi attacked indiscriminately on the inside. But because of his familiarity with Kurohitsugi, Aizen was confident he could injure Kirio Hikifune without harming himself.
After a brief silence, the black outer walls slowly fell away.
Kirio Hikifune, who no longer had excess Reiatsu protecting her, had become a bloodstained beauty.
As for Aizen, he had been sealed with all of Kirio Hikifune's strength inside a cage of roughly three cubic meters.
The branches were packed so densely that the inside of the cage could not be seen at all.
Aizen, standing in darkness, felt somewhat speechless.
He had not expected the other party to disregard even her own life, abandoning protection of her physical body just to seal him away.
Fortunately, Kirio Hikifune had already been heavily injured by him. Otherwise, if this cage shrank any further, Aizen would instead be in trouble.
Reiatsu covered his Zanpakutō, and the blade turned mirror-like.
With a single Kyōka Sen slash, Aizen opened a long gap in the cage.
As expected of something Kirio Hikifune had created with all her strength, even Aizen could not break through it in one slash.
No matter.
All the members of Squad Zero had been wounded. He had plenty of time to slowly break out.
Aizen's gaze suddenly sharpened.
Through the gap, he unexpectedly saw the other three members of Squad Zero standing in the distance, completely unharmed.
Kirinji was holding the injured Kirio Hikifune horizontally in his arms. Senjumaru's needle and thread rapidly shuttled back and forth, stitching up the wounds. Ōetsu's gaze seemed able to meet Aizen's through the narrow gap.
"What? Surprised?" Ōetsu mocked without restraint. "The people you exhausted yourself to defeat are standing here perfectly fine again."
"I am the God of the Sword, Ōetsu Nimaiya! You have already witnessed the abilities of the Great Weave Guard and the Grain King. Surely you haven't forgotten that we still have the Hot Spring Demon, have you?"
As Ōetsu's voice fell, Kirinji tossed the stitched-up Kirio Hikifune high behind him.
A wave of heat suddenly surged out from behind him, enveloping Kirio Hikifune.
The hot spring water slowly fell away.
Kirio Hikifune stepped out of the spring without even the slightest wound on her body.
All of Aizen's hard-fought battle and calculations had amounted to nothing.
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