Aizen was like a statue, allowing the Monk to knead and mold him without showing the slightest change. He simply continued falling toward the lower world.
The force of the Monk's Senri Tsūtenshō-style kick was also perfectly controlled. While it smashed Aizen through the barriers, it did not damage even the slightest trace of ink on his body.
As Aizen fell through more and more layers, the tremendous booming caused by the shattering barriers echoed throughout the Seireitei and the Rukongai.
"This is getting rather troublesome. Ukitake, you will have to properly receive the shockwaves."
Kyōraku and Ukitake had already arrived at the predicted landing point. Looking at the noble district around them, if that "ant" was truly allowed to fall here, the resulting losses would be immeasurable.
"No problem."
Ukitake held up a page of paper as he spoke. He had already activated his Bankai and incorporated the surrounding area into the drawing.
"In a little while, we will be directly opposing Squad Zero. Do you think we should make it look a little more convincing?"
Kyōraku fell silent for a moment.
He understood what Ukitake meant.
The Gotei Thirteen had not stopped Aizen from invading the Soul King Palace. One way or another, they needed to appear as though they had suffered some damage.
"Ahem. You do not need to. Just maintain your usual condition from the past. As for me…"
Ukitake only needed to maintain his old appearance of coughing as if he were half-dead.
As for Kyōraku, after hesitating briefly, he activated Katen Kyōkotsu and played a game with his Zanpakutō, deliberately letting Kageoni pierce through his foot.
"Hiss… That should be about enough."
The corner of Kyōraku's mouth twitched.
"It is coming!"
Hearing the explosions overhead, Ukitake immediately gave a warning.
Aizen—or rather, Aizen's heart—had remained submerged in confusion.
He walked alone through a pitch-black world. The only light in that world was the word "Ant" hanging high in the sky.
Was he truly an ant?
From the bottom of his heart, Aizen refused to accept it.
But what was he, then?
He could not find it.
He could not find the direction.
Or perhaps, his direction had been covered by this blackness.
Yet Aizen's heart told him that emotions such as confusion and doubt should never have appeared in him.
Why?
Why was he confident to such an extent?
After walking for an unknown length of time, a lake appeared before Aizen's eyes.
When he looked toward the surface of the lake, the image of a dignified, confident man appeared before him.
Was this what he looked like?
Was this his appearance?
Aizen raised his pitch-black hand, and the reflection on the lake moved in perfect sync.
In that instant, lightning seemed to flash through his mind.
Everything became clear.
That was him.
He was not some pitch-black ant.
He had a name.
He was Sōsuke Aizen.
Reflected on the mirror-like surface of the lake was his truest self.
Sōsuke Aizen.
The man destined to stand above the heavens.
In the sky, the word "Ant," written in white, shattered with a crash.
The pitch-black ink on his body began to soften, turning into droplets of ink that slid away from his body and revealed his true appearance.
Aizen crouched by the lake and gently touched the reflection on its surface.
A faint mocking smile appeared on his face.
Ichimonji's power was indeed terrifying.
Its techniques of blackening and rewriting names were truly frightening.
Unfortunately, among all things in existence, one could always find something that restrained another.
The opponent of Ichimonji was his Zanpakutō.
The power above Kyōka Suigetsu:
Kyōka Suigetsu.
To allow the user to maintain absolute clarity.
That was Kyōka Suigetsu.
Looking at the reflection on the lake's surface, an intense sense of pride welled up within him.
Aizen raised his head, and his powerful conviction broke through the dark sky.
I am myself.
I am Sōsuke Aizen!
At the same time his conviction returned to him, the power deep within his body produced a violent resonance.
Brilliant violet light pointed out the path ahead for Aizen.
It was the Hōgyoku.
No.
They were one to begin with.
That was the power of Mugen Hōka.
Just as Aizen was about to be stomped down into the Seireitei by the final Senri Tsūtenshō-style kick, he stopped above the last layer of the barrier.
Dazzling violet light held up the Monk's giant foot.
A faint smile appeared on Aizen's lowered face.
It was as though he could see through the solid barrier and observe the situation in the Seireitei below.
Those were Kyōraku and Ukitake's Reiatsu.
His objective had yet to be achieved.
Aizen could not go meet his former colleagues yet.
He raised his head. His gaze pierced through the height of seventy-one barrier layers and looked straight toward the Monk's position.
It was time to counterattack.
Aizen raised his fingertip above his head.
Mirror flowers bloomed one after another overhead.
With a flash of light, the giant foot formed from Senri Tsūtenshō was blasted to pieces.
Far away in the Soul King Palace, the Monk staggered slightly. It felt as though something had stabbed the sole of his foot.
The relaxed, cheerful expression on his face disappeared.
As the one who controlled names, he already knew that Sōsuke Aizen had recovered his name.
Violet light shot into the sky.
This time, Aizen did not choose to walk step by step back to the Soul King Palace.
First, he released a massive amount of Reiatsu to announce his return to the Monk.
In the next instant, that man wrapped in dreamlike colors appeared before the Monk once again.
Sōsuke Aizen.
He looked even more spirited and imposing than before.
"I did not expect you to actually retrieve your name, Aizen," the Monk said first.
"It was nothing remarkable. I simply refused to become an ant trampled beneath your feet."
Aizen appeared calm and indifferent, but anger was hidden beneath his words.
Anyone who had been trampled on like that would find it difficult not to feel anger.
That was even more true for Aizen, a man whose ambition towered higher than the heavens.
"An ant is still only an ant. If I can defeat you once, I can defeat you a second time!"
The Monk clapped his hands together.
Violent Reiatsu condensed around him, forming a golden dragon woven with lightning. The thunder and fire hidden in the dragon's mouth carried power capable of destroying heaven and earth.
"Ura Hadō: Hachi no Dō—Rairyūsatsu!"
The golden dragon charged toward Aizen.
With a single glance, Aizen saw through what the dragon held in its mouth.
Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō.
It seemed the Hadō #88 used in the Seireitei had been improved from this Ura Hadō.
In that case, he would use Kidō learned from the Seireitei to defeat him!
"Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu!"
However, the so-called Goryūtenmetsu in Aizen's hands was no longer ordinary.
Five colossal dragons constructed from violet crystals charged together at the Ura Hadō released by the Monk.
The Ura Hadō unleashed by the Monk was indeed powerful.
But it still could not withstand the siege of five giant dragons.
It was not that Aizen had not considered using his favorite, Kurohitsugi.
But when he thought of the fact that all black was under the Monk's control, he simply gave up on Kurohitsugi.
After his awakening by the lake, Aizen had gained a new idea.
He raised his head.
Oval mirrors appeared one after another above him, and Aizen flew into them.
With every mirror he passed through, Aizen's body grew larger.
After passing through a series of convex mirrors, Aizen had become a giant, as tall as the Dairi he had seen.
Looking down at the two Kidō attacks struggling against each other below, they seemed like mere child's play from Aizen's current perspective.
As for the Monk, he was now something within Aizen's palm.
A kaleidoscope-like flower bloomed in Aizen's palm.
The Monk was trapped within that flower, suffering the tearing force of chaotic and disordered power.
"Fall. Sink into hesitation, confusion, and disorder, until you are finally crushed and erased!"
Aizen's voice resounded through heaven and earth, striking directly at the Monk's soul like the whisper of a demon.
Aizen fiercely clenched the flower in his palm, determined to crush the Monk along with it.
The muscles across the Monk's body tensed.
Even his body, forged with the Ōken, felt the pressure rising sharply. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
How impressive.
This urgent sensation of approaching death…
The Monk could no longer remember how many years had passed since he last felt such pressure.
Threads of golden Reiatsu emerged from the Monk's flesh.
A golden body formed and expanded around him. As the mirror flower shattered, a golden giant broke free from Aizen's palm.
It followed the same principle as Senri Tsūtenshō.
The Monk could freely use Reiatsu to condense enlarged limbs. In the past, he had at most only used individual body parts to attack enemies.
Now, Aizen had forced out his full power.
A giant golden Monk appeared within the Soul King Palace.
The Monk himself was located inside the golden giant's chest.
"Congratulations. You are the first person to force out all of my Soul King power."
The golden giant's face revealed the same terrifying smile as the Monk.
"I will bury you completely!"
As a Shinigami who had existed since ancient times, no one knew how many years of Soul King power had accumulated within the Monk's Ōken-forged body.
When released all at once, it vaguely showed a tendency to suppress even the enlarged Aizen.
"What an honor. A powerful opponent like you will serve as the final stepping stone before I ascend the throne!"
Before Aizen had finished speaking, he launched an attack toward the golden giant with graceful flowers blooming across his body.
Even though his body had grown massive, Aizen's battle intelligence still remained.
The position he attacked was the chest where the Monk was located.
Hearing Aizen's words, the Monk was clearly stunned for a moment.
After taking a punch to the chest, he had no choice but to counterattack with all his strength.
Both of them had used the vast majority of their Reiatsu to condense these powerful bodies. As a result, they had no excess strength left to release ever-changing attacks like Kidō.
Instead, the battle returned to the most primitive form of combat:
the collision of flesh.
Boom, boom, boom.
The sounds echoed through the Soul Society like thunder.
Outside this battle, there was still one person silently working hard.
Tsunayoshi cursed the two brawling figures on the screen in his heart.
The reason the Soul Society only heard thunderous sounds, rather than falling into an overall tremor, was largely thanks to Tsunayoshi.
Rain-attribute Flames on the same level as the two figures in the sky were being driven at full force.
A fine drizzle spread to every corner of the Soul Society. The power of Tranquility seeped into every inch of the land.
Compared to Tsunayoshi, the others did not need to consider so many things.
They were simply admiring the strongest hand-to-hand battle in the history of the Soul Society.
"I told you Hakuda was more useful than Zanjutsu!"
Amid the entranced atmosphere, Yoruichi spoke proudly.
"Lady Yoruichi is right!"
In this setting, only Suì-Fēng would echo Yoruichi's words.
Hearing Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng discussing Hakuda, Yamamoto could not help but lower his gaze to his scarred arms.
The power of Sōkotsu, the twin-bone strike of the Genryū style, suddenly seemed somewhat inadequate…
"Hey, old man Yamamoto. If you and I cooperate, it may not be impossible to fight them!"
After witnessing the battle between the Monk and Aizen, Ryūjin Jakka rarely took the initiative to communicate with Yamamoto.
Before even greater power, Ryūjin Jakka no longer had the mood to act willful toward Yamamoto.
After all, its personality was extremely similar to Yamamoto's.
Both were equally proud and competitive.
Any quarrels could wait until they once again became the strongest Shinigami in the Soul Society…
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