Mugen Hōka.
Surely none of those watching the battle would ever forget that name.
Seeing that his goal of displaying his divinity before others had been achieved, Aizen nodded in satisfaction. Then he turned his head and swept his gaze over Ōetsu and the others under his control. A faint look of disdain appeared on his face.
It was time to go and claim the throne that belonged to him.
Aizen slowly flew toward the sky. Looking down at the Zero Division's detached palace, which grew smaller and smaller beneath him, he casually waved his hand and scattered a shower of black-violet fire toward Ōetsu's palace.
It was called a rain of fire, but every single droplet was as large as a Sōkatsui.
Rather, it was Sōkatsui.
Aizen had merely improved it, injecting the power of the Hōgyoku and Hollows into it, then turning a small number of Sōkatsui into a meteor-like rain of flame.
Booms rang out without end.
Ōetsu's Zero Division palace was soon swallowed by black-violet fire. The sea of flames consumed everything within Ōetsu's palace. Without Ōetsu's support, the palace gradually failed to hold together, beginning to crack, collapse, and topple.
Aizen flew straight toward the pestle-shaped palace at the very center.
That was where the Soul King resided.
The Dairi.
As soon as he reached the lowest level of the Dairi, Aizen saw a bald man with a kind face and a large beard sitting cross-legged there. The man even smiled and waved at Aizen in greeting.
"Sōsuke Aizen. Welcome to the Soul King Palace."
Looking at this seemingly benevolent man, Aizen found him false no matter how he looked at him. There was something about him that made one feel an irresistible urge to beat him down.
"You are Ichibē Hyōsube? The true leader of Squad Zero?" Aizen asked the Monk.
The moment he heard his own name, the Monk immediately withdrew his smile. He then warned Aizen with a solemn expression.
"You may call me the Monk. Ichibē Hyōsube is not a name you are qualified to speak!"
Aizen knew the Monk's name.
The Great Archive was not something he had visited for nothing. Since he intended to invade the Soul King Palace, he had naturally paid attention to information regarding Squad Zero. However, the information he could obtain was limited. He had only learned their names and number.
Now, after this brief meeting, Aizen realized that Ichibē Hyōsube was not an easy opponent.
He was strong.
Far stronger than the other members of Squad Zero.
That was why he had the confidence to sit here calmly and receive him.
"Put away your hypocrisy. Surely you do not think such fake things can deceive me, do you, Ichibē Hyōsube?"
Aizen countered without the slightest courtesy.
At the same time, a powerful Reiatsu surged toward the Monk along with Aizen's words. Under the impact of that tremendous Reiatsu, a massive character for "illusion" appeared behind the Monk.
The Dairi behind him also changed.
It was no longer the vertical palace from before. Instead, it became an ancient-looking hall.
Aizen's gaze swept rapidly downward, and he immediately understood what had happened.
One of the five detached palaces of Squad Zero was missing.
It seemed this man called the Monk had used his own detached palace to swap places with the Dairi.
The Monk showed little emotional fluctuation at Aizen seeing through his illusion. Instead, Aizen speaking his name stirred his displeasure far more.
His eyes turned pure white as he glared viciously at Aizen.
"If you continue speaking that name, your throat will become mute!"
Aizen naturally did not believe the Monk's words.
Just as he was about to continue probing him verbally, he discovered that no matter what he did, he could not make a sound.
"I told you not to say my name!"
The Monk's voice appeared behind Aizen.
He raised his palm high, then slapped downward as if swatting a fly. A huge palm formed from condensed Reiatsu appeared above Aizen's head and smashed him down toward the ground of the detached palace.
"Senri Tsūtenshō!"
Looking at the huge palm formed from his Reiatsu, the Monk calmly left behind the name of the technique.
The Reiatsu dispersed, and a massive handprint was left in the ground, as though it had been struck by a divine palm technique.
But at the center of the palm print, there was no trace of Aizen.
As someone who had reclaimed the power of Kyōka Suigetsu into himself, Aizen was releasing the charm of Kyōka Suigetsu at every moment.
The instant he realized something was wrong, he had used an illusion to hypnotize the Monk's senses.
Aizen's true body had appeared in the air farther away.
Aizen pinched his throat with two fingers.
Being unable to speak was truly unpleasant for him. He loved mocking his enemies while fighting far too much.
His first priority was to restore his voice.
After fusing with the Hōgyoku, the range of Aizen's abilities had expanded greatly.
Since the Monk had stripped away his voice, he would simply create a voice of his own.
Violet light flashed over his two fingers. Using the Hōgyoku's creative power, Aizen created a voice that belonged to him within his throat.
He opened his mouth, about to mock the Monk.
But after recalling the discomfort of being unable to speak, he decided to listen to the other party's advice this once.
"The Monk, was it? Your technique seems to have been useless."
It was still mockery.
But without the Monk's true name, its force was clearly reduced.
"Dodging just one move is enough to make you so proud? Young people these days really are…"
The Monk suddenly vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already at Aizen's location. He drew the huge brush from his back and swung it toward Aizen.
That was his Zanpakutō.
Ichimonji.
A smooth sensation traveled through Ichimonji into the Monk's hand. In that single instant, he judged that he had been mistaken again.
As expected, Ichimonji swept across Aizen's face, and Aizen rapidly transformed into a mirror shard.
His real body was not there at all.
"Kyōka Suigetsu, is it? You use that blade quite skillfully," the Monk said, not at all angered, as he looked at Aizen, who had appeared once again in the distance.
"Kyōka Suigetsu was my power to begin with."
Aizen snapped his fingers.
The surrounding space transformed into a kaleidoscope made of violet mirrors. One Aizen after another stepped out from the mirrored surfaces.
Compared to words, he preferred using facts to prove Kyōka Suigetsu's ability.
"I merely praised you once, and you made everything so dazzling. What a headache."
The Monk held his head, pretending to have a headache.
Yet the expression on his face showed no sign of being affected by the dreamlike world before him. This meant he had already prepared a countermeasure.
The Monk raised Ichimonji and quickly began writing in front of himself.
The two characters for "truth" appeared beneath his brush. Immediately afterward, the two characters rapidly shrank and were directly inscribed into the Monk's eyes.
"Much better. Now I do not have to look at all that messy scenery."
The Monk scratched his head, grinning as he turned to look toward the left.
A faint ripple stirred in Aizen's heart.
From the Monk's movement of turning his head, Aizen knew that the other party had already discovered his position.
He had only written two characters, yet he had broken through Aizen's illusion.
What exactly was that brush?
A divine weapon?
It was no wonder Aizen thought too much of it. A conceptual Zanpakutō ability like this was simply too unreasonable.
"Are you looking at this?"
Seeing that Aizen had been staring at his brush, the Monk deliberately gave a simple, honest smile.
"It is merely a Zanpakutō. A Zanpakutō that existed long before all other Zanpakutō."
"Tsunayoshi, is that brush the Zanpakutō you mentioned? The one that existed before Ōetsu forged Zanpakutō?" Urahara asked as he watched the battle.
"That is right. That blade does not cut flesh. It cuts names. It possesses the power to rewrite names. Remember this: do not say the name of Aizen's opponent. As long as you speak it, he will immediately know."
Tsunayoshi's eyes were fixed tightly on the screen, not daring to look away for even an instant.
He had not expected Aizen to really fight his way to the boss stage.
This had far exceeded Tsunayoshi's original expectations.
"If it does not cut flesh, what is the point of fighting with it?"
Unexpectedly, Kenpachi Zaraki was the one who spoke up to refute him.
"Whether it is interesting or not, I do not know," Tsunayoshi said. "But that blade can erase the name Kenpachi Zaraki with a single stroke."
"Tsunayoshi, you mean everyone would forget the name Kenpachi Zaraki?" Retsu Unohana immediately connected it to the consequences.
"Yes. Everyone. Including himself. Even he would not know who he was anymore…"
It was an ordinary sentence, but it made everyone present feel a chill in their hearts.
To forget even oneself.
Was that not far too tragic an ending?
"Old Man Yamamoto, have you fought him before?" Tsunayoshi asked.
There was no need to say the name.
The "him" he referred to was the Monk.
After learning that Yamamoto had once had a conflict with Squad Zero, Tsunayoshi had guessed that he must have fought members of Squad Zero before.
"This old man…"
After pondering for a moment, Yamamoto no longer concealed it.
"This old man was defeated by Ōetsu Nimaiya. Just like Aizen's sneak attack earlier, my connection to my Zanpakutō was suddenly severed."
Recalling that battle from the past, Yamamoto remembered it clearly.
He had already seized the initiative. But the flames of Ryūjin Jakka had suddenly gone out, catching him off guard.
From then on, aside from training his Zanjutsu, Yamamoto had also trained his Hakuda to the same level as his swordsmanship.
"So, is it still not too late for us to switch over and train Shunkō?" Shinji asked with a laugh.
His words, however, did not make the atmosphere livelier.
After what had happened with Aizen before, everyone could more or less guess that Ōetsu possessed a certain degree of control over Zanpakutō.
"You think Shunkō is something you can learn just because you want to, Shinji, you idiot?!"
Yoruichi used Shunpo to appear above Shinji's head and punched him.
Listening to Shinji's scream, the captains' heavy mood lightened slightly.
Yamamoto looked at Yoruichi with appreciation.
As a Shinigami who had always sought a way to overcome Ōetsu's restrictions, how could he not have felt pleased when Yoruichi created Shunkō?
The problem was that Shunkō's requirements were far too high.
One needed top-level ability in both Hakuda and Kidō just to begin learning it. For the vast majority of Shinigami, rather than wasting time learning both of those abilities, improving their Zanpakutō was far more effective.
At the entrance of the Shin'ō Underground Great Prison, waves of emotion surged through everyone amid a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Meanwhile, above the Soul King Palace, for Aizen, this was a battle of life and death.
The Monk, whose eyes now bore the word "truth," launched an attack on Aizen.
Naturally, Aizen did not fear the Monk's offensive. In his palm, he condensed a blade assembled from mirrors and clashed against Ichimonji.
What puzzled Aizen was that he did not feel any killing power from Ichimonji.
The Monk seemed to be holding a wooden stick and playing house with him.
Aizen's vigilance suddenly weakened.
And in that single instant, Aizen's blade shattered with a crash.
Amid dozens of dazzling crystals, Ichimonji's brush tip swept toward Aizen.
With a flash, Aizen rapidly retreated.
Fortunately, his reaction had been timely, and the Monk had not injured him.
But why had he failed to know the strength limit of the blade he had condensed?
More than that, Aizen had even forgotten to continuously pour Reiatsu into the blade.
When had he started forgetting the blade's existence?
Luckily, his body's instincts remained, allowing him to dodge Ichimonji's attack.
No.
Had Aizen dodged Ichimonji?
Or had Ichimonji simply never possessed killing power to begin with?
Aizen's eyes widened. One thought after another flashed rapidly through his mind.
The moment he reached that thought, he suddenly realized that his body seemed to have fallen into a weakened state.
Half of his physical strength had disappeared?
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