"Kirio!"
Senjumaru cried out in shock.
But her shout was clearly unable to serve as any warning. The fist-sized wound piercing through Kirio Hikifune's chest was already enough to take her life.
The combined technique of Senjumaru and Kirio Hikifune had indeed been sufficiently durable. Even Aizen had been unable to immediately break through the canopy's seal.
But that did not stop Aizen from using his overwhelming Reiatsu to forcibly change the canopy's shape.
From within the darkness, Aizen could sense Kirio Hikifune's position. Thus, he aimed at where she stood, concentrated his Reiatsu into a single point, and erupted outward.
Just as Aizen had expected, Kirio Hikifune failed to react to his sudden burst.
He had killed her directly.
Kirio Hikifune's death meant that the Cage of Life she had cultivated lost the support of her Reiatsu. The flourishing branches immediately began turning into withered wood. In other words, the combined technique of the two had already been half-broken.
A series of swishing sounds rang out.
Amid countless blood-red slashes, the black sphere shattered into scattered strips of cloth. Without the support of its framework, Senjumaru's power alone could not stop Aizen.
"Now it's your turn, Northern Divine General."
Aizen's tone was extremely calm, as if he were speaking of something utterly insignificant.
Senjumaru's expression was frighteningly cold.
Facing Aizen's threat, she did not choose to flee. Instead, she continued to mock him.
"You will regret this, Aizen."
"The four of you together could do nothing to me. Now only you remain. What arrogant nonsense are you still spouting here?"
Overwhelming Reiatsu wrapped around Aizen's body.
With only a single step, Aizen appeared in front of Senjumaru. He raised his Zanpakutō high, and in the next instant, he was about to cut Senjumaru down beneath his blade.
Boom!
There was no sound.
It was a tremor that came from both flesh and spirit. Only Reiatsu could create such an effect.
Before Aizen, terrifying Reiatsu gathered around Senjumaru's body just as it had around his own. This Reiatsu was so powerful that it could shake the heavens and earth of the Three Worlds.
Aizen's blade stopped above Senjumaru's head.
It could not fall.
Above Senjumaru's head, an equally powerful Reiatsu blocked the path of his blade.
A puzzled expression appeared on Aizen's face.
Why did Senjumaru possess such powerful Reiatsu, yet only use it now?
Senjumaru saw Aizen's confusion and took the initiative to explain.
"With our power, even the mere wave of a sleeve can shake the heavens and earth of the Three Worlds. Therefore, we bound our lives together and sealed our true swords."
Aizen immediately understood.
Because he had killed the other three members of Squad Zero, he had directly helped Senjumaru undo the seal.
"It seems you understand now. Your slaughter has only released the Blood Oath Seal we placed upon ourselves. Now, the battle truly begins."
The Reiatsu around Senjumaru immediately turned violent.
Heaven and earth became pitch-black. A torii gate with a mysterious sheen appeared behind her.
At that moment, Aizen seemed to have been brought by Senjumaru into some mysterious space.
Aizen immediately pulled back a distance and activated the power of his Bankai.
He dared not allow himself to overturn in the face of an unknown power — especially not when Senjumaru possessed Reiatsu in no way inferior to his own.
"Bankai: Kyōkan Shōmei!"
"Bankai."
Senjumaru's icy voice sounded at the same time.
The six metallic arms behind her merged together, and the torii gate behind her launched out metallic components. The components combined with one another, forming an enormous loom.
A bolt of vivid crimson fabric rolled down from the loom and swept forth. The red carpet extended all the way to Aizen's feet.
Along with the carpet appeared fabrics of various colors, displayed before Aizen in every possible form — hanging down, stretched horizontally, and spread across the floor.
In this dark space, the only things that possessed color were those fabrics and the enormous loom.
Senjumaru's Bankai had drawn Aizen into the space of a weaving chamber.
Senjumaru quietly appeared from behind a hanging cloth. She glanced at Aizen and said:
"Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji."
At the entrance to the Great Underground Prison beneath the Shin'ō Academy, everyone who had just been discussing how Squad Zero had yet to use Bankai now felt the shock brought by the Reiatsu produced by Senjumaru's Bankai.
"Every member of Squad Zero is a master beyond the level of Bankai," Kisuke Urahara commented.
Although what Senjumaru was using was still Bankai, he had already classified it as a power beyond Bankai.
In the hierarchy arranged by Kisuke Urahara and Tsunayoshi, when one fused with one's Zanpakutō and used a power that could affect the world itself, they placed that power above Bankai.
That was what Yamamoto's second-stage Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, represented.
The same applied to Senjumaru's Bankai after being strengthened by the Soul King's power, as well as Aizen's current state, which relied on the massive Reiatsu granted by the Hōgyoku.
"Old man, one member of Squad Zero alone can stand against you. If the rest join forces, it's hardly strange for them to suppress you," Tsunayoshi sighed.
"This old man merely refrained from engaging them in meaningless conflict for the sake of Soul Society's peace…" Yamamoto stubbornly insisted, making no mention whatsoever of the time when he had been invited by Squad Zero in the past, then suppressed by them after refusing.
The others looked at one another.
Before combat power of this level, only those with equal strength were qualified to speak.
Within Senjumaru's Bankai space, Aizen did not panic because Senjumaru had activated Bankai. On the contrary, he observed the surrounding space with great interest.
A Bankai of this level was not something one saw often.
"Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji, is it? What kind of ability will it be?"
"You will see soon enough…"
As Senjumaru's voice fell, Aizen discovered that he had been surrounded by a continuous expanse of cloth.
The fabric was covered with patterns of thunder.
"First Hank: Unraveled. Swift as thunder, revealing decay…"
Aizen laughed disdainfully.
"A boring trick…"
In the next instant, countless bolts of lightning descended toward Aizen.
Aizen calmly raised a Dankū to block them. The golden lightning began ferociously, but it could not affect Aizen in the slightest.
Senjumaru's image appeared on the surrounding cloth.
The failure of the thunder seemed to disappoint her somewhat. Her bright red lips parted slightly, and the patterns on the surrounding fabrics changed once again.
The golden lightning gradually deepened in color, slowly transforming into the same dark brown as branches. The menacing lightning became branches swaying along with the cloth.
"Second Hank: Unraveled. Souls given life, unable to escape…"
The branches on the fabric suddenly came alive and reached out to capture Aizen.
Aizen began to find this somewhat dull.
Again with this.
He had already dealt with such branches countless times today.
"Hadō Sword Art: Kyōka Ring!"
A golden, circular slash expanded outward from Aizen as its center with the swing of his Zanpakutō. In an instant, the slash not only severed the surrounding branches, but also cut through the fabric encircling him.
However, the situation did not seem to change because of Aizen's slash.
A curtain hanging in the sky fell, and Aizen found himself in a high-temperature space. He himself was firmly bound atop an enormous furnace.
"Third Hank: Unraveled. With the body as material, perish beneath a thousand temperings!"
"Wicked one, behold with widened eyes. Threads beyond counting, woven in perfect order. The fate of death was decided long ago, Aizen!"
As Senjumaru's words fell, countless enormous hammers descended toward Aizen upon the furnace.
That was the final fate Senjumaru's loom had woven for him.
The sounds of hammering echoed throughout the entire Soul Society.
Each strike landed upon the hearts of the Shinigami.
"What's going on? Why do I feel Hyōrinmaru growing uneasy?" Tōshirō asked in confusion.
He placed his blade before him and could vaguely see minute tremors along the blade's body.
"It isn't only you, Captain Hitsugaya. Everyone else should be feeling it too, shouldn't they?" Kisuke Urahara said, sweeping his gaze across the captains.
Among everyone present who possessed Shinigami power, aside from Ichigo and Tsunayoshi, the others all frowned.
They had all sensed emotion coming from their Zanpakutō.
"Those giant hammers may be Ōetsu's power," Tsunayoshi said, drawing everyone's eyes to him with a single sentence.
"All Asauchi in Soul Society were forged by Ōetsu. It is only natural for Zanpakutō to fear the sound of those hammers."
"Only Ichigo and I are unaffected here. Perhaps it is because we were born with both Shinigami and Hollow powers, fulfilling the condition of Nimaiya's 'dual-bond.' Our Zanpakutō were not forged by Ōetsu, but born from within our own bodies."
"Ōetsu Nimaiya…"
Yamamoto murmured the name.
A large part of why he was so displeased with the Soul King Palace was because of Zanpakutō.
Zanpakutō could be called equipment that every Shinigami had to come into contact with. The vast majority of a Shinigami's power was tied to their Zanpakutō.
The Soul King Palace controlled the production of Asauchi at the source. That meant the Seireitei would forever be restricted by the Soul King Palace.
Only after Sawada Tsunayoshi appeared did Yamamoto finally see a ray of hope. Only then did he truly make up his mind to push Aizen forward.
The training method that surpassed Bankai caused a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō to become one. It allowed the Shinigami to truly grasp power that belonged to themselves, rather than merely reflecting it into reality through their Zanpakutō.
Only by cultivating to the level beyond Bankai could a Zanpakutō truly become equipment belonging to a Shinigami.
Otherwise, the Soul King Palace had ten thousand ways to restrict a Zanpakutō's power.
Just as when he had first trained Zanka no Tachi, a single order from the Soul King Palace had forced Yamamoto to limit his training, changing it into a process of silently accumulating power within his inner world.
While the Shinigami across all of Soul Society felt uneasy because of the hammering sounds, Aizen walked out from the impact of the ten thousand hammers as if nothing had happened.
In a certain sense, Kyōka Suigetsu had already fused with Aizen.
These false hammers woven by Senjumaru could not harm Aizen in the slightest.
Aizen calmly brushed aside the cloth hanging in front of him and stepped onto the red carpet that had already been prepared.
Step by step, he walked toward the enormous loom.
Before the loom, Senjumaru had long since seated herself upon a throne she had woven. Her red lips shone with a bewitching brilliance, and she was not surprised by Aizen's arrival.
"Have you stopped struggling?" A faint smile once again appeared on Aizen's face.
Once he dealt with this member of Squad Zero, he would be able to reach the throne he had long dreamed of.
"Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji weaves your fate. The end of your life does not lie with me. Why, then, should I resist?"
Senjumaru smiled.
As for death, from the moment she became a member of Squad Zero, she had already seen through it completely.
"Then die."
Aizen did not waste words. He raised his hand and fired a Cero.
Senjumaru made no defensive movement whatsoever. She allowed the Cero to open a large hole through her chest.
Blood flowed from the corner of Senjumaru's mouth, adding an even more bewitching shade to her red lips.
She paid no attention to her own injury. Her lips parted slightly as she spoke several words.
"Blood Oath Rotation: Kirinji Tenjirō."
Deep within the Soul King Palace, upon the lampshade that held the Blood Oath Seal, the needle-and-thread pattern symbolizing Senjumaru quietly vanished.
In its place, the bubble pattern symbolizing the Hot Spring Demon appeared…
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