Aizen and Ichibei exchanged blows back and forth as waves of force rolled outward.
Every collision made the captains and Soul Reapers nearby feel their nerves break.
A battle at this level had already gone completely beyond anything they could interfere with.
Even after evolving through the Hogyoku, they had only barely reached the limit of a Soul Reaper. Compared to the two before them, they were on a completely different level.
Seeing that ordinary ink smearing could not get close at all, and that his ink even showed signs of evaporating when it touched the violent purple lightning, a fierce look flashed through Hyosube Ichibei's eyes.
The Rosse before him felt even harder to deal with than Yhwach. He could not drag this out any longer.
He suddenly pulled back to widen the distance, holding Ichimonji across his chest while his left hand brushed hard along the shaft.
The pitch-black brush instantly lost all color and turned into a flawless white brush.
"True Release · Shirafude Ichimonji!"
Hyosube Ichibei released his final trump card.
Looking at the calm and composed "Rosse" across from him, a confident smile finally appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Rosse, did you think that just because you're an outsider, I wouldn't be able to obtain your true name? As long as something exists in this world, the Soul King can sense it."
Ichibei laughed wildly as he rapidly wrote through the air with the white brush.
Every character carried dense power of rules. Every stroke contained spiritual pressure close to the extreme, as though even heaven and earth were resonating with it.
"An outsider like you has no understanding of the terror behind the Soul King Palace! A name is everything, and now, I know your true name!"
"Jaygarcia Rosse!"
As Ichibei let out that thunderous roar, white power of rules spread like a heavenly net and instantly locked onto the Aizen opposite him.
Ichibei finished the final stroke with a solemn expression.
"From now on, your name is no longer Commander of the Gotei 13, nor King of Hueco Mundo. You are now a black ant beneath my foot! That violent power of yours will become as weak as a black ant as well!"
The white light of rules passed through Aizen's lightning defense without any obstruction and stamped itself firmly onto his chest.
Ichibei breathed heavily, joy of victory already on his face.
Any existence given a new name by Shirafude Ichimonji would instantly become prey for others unless they had reached the level of the Soul King.
And during their battle just now, he had not sensed Soul King-level power from Rosse.
However, in the next second, the smile on Ichibei's face froze completely.
The "Rosse" opposite him did not weaken, nor did he show the slightest panic.
He still floated in midair. The purple lightning around him not only had not gone out, it burned even brighter from its owner's mockery.
"How is this possible? How could it not work?", Ichibei's eyes nearly popped out as he frantically waved the white brush, "Your name is Black Ant now! Kneel for me!"
"Black Ant? What a tasteless name."
Aizen raised a slender finger and casually brushed away the white light of rules that had already faded from his chest. The smile on his face on full display.
"Ichibei, your ability really is troublesome. If the one standing before you were truly Lord Rosse, perhaps this move might have caused him a tiny bit of insignificant trouble," Aizen slowly raised his right hand. In his palm, a purple lightning sphere compressed to the extreme pulsed wildly, "But unfortunately, those eyes you take pride in are still blind in the end. The name you shouted has nothing to do with the soul inside this body..."
A mocking tone entered Aizen's voice.
"At all!"
Because Aizen was not Rosse in the first place, Ichibei's law-based seal that relied on the true name struck him like a light breeze. It was completely useless.
"This... impossible! You're not Rosse? Then who are you..."
Hyosube Ichibei looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His large bell-like eyes stared at the man before him as his mind completely shut down.
Not just him. Every captain, vice-captain, and Soul Reaper present was stunned.
'How is that possible?'
This man who had instantly killed the former head Kuchiki Ginrei and blocked Ichibei's full assault in a flash... was actually not Rosse?
But if he was not Rosse, then who could he be?
Since when had another monster like this appeared in the world?
Their shock was not without reason.
From beginning to end, Aizen had not revealed even the slightest bit of Soul Reaper spiritual pressure.
He had fought entirely with his body and Devil Fruit powers.
This combat style, which completely concealed spiritual pressure fluctuations, instead became the perfect disguise, leaving these battle-hardened captains unable to determine his true identity.
And just as everyone was filled with uncertainty, the members of Squad Zero, Hyosube Ichibei, Kirinji Tenjiro, and Nimaiya Oetsu, suddenly changed expression together.
They abruptly raised their heads and looked toward the top of the sky with unconcealed fear.
At that moment, they clearly felt it.
Their connection to the Soul King had been severed.
This not only meant that something huge had happened in the Soul King Palace, it also meant the immunity protecting them had been completely destroyed.
Originally, because of their Oken bodies, as long as the Soul King Palace remained and the Soul King's power did not disappear, they could be endlessly reconstructed and revived after death.
But now, the connection was gone.
If they died here today, then they would truly die.
"Rosse... he's up there."
Kirinji Tenjiro clenched his teeth and forced out those words. The grass stem he always held in his mouth had already been bitten into two pieces.
Clearly, the truth was now obvious.
The man standing before them really was not Rosse.
The real Rosse had already quietly ascended to the now-empty Soul King Palace while all the members of Squad Zero descended together to deal with the Soul Society crisis.
"What a scheme!"
Ichibei's face turned dark, all trace of his earlier calm gone.
Without hesitation, he shattered the ground beneath him. His massive body turned into a black afterimage as he prepared to rush into the sky no matter the cost.
"Do you think this was a clever diversion tactic?"
But before Ichibei could rise into the air, Aizen's mocking voice had already appeared directly above him.
"But have you ever considered another possibility? In our eyes, you are nothing more than powerless cats."
Aizen gave Ichibei no time to react or change direction.
Looking down at him from above, the lightning sphere compressed in his palm exploded.
"Hado Number 99 · Goryutenmetsu!"
"Thunder Dragon!"
The ninety-ninth Hado combined with the violent lightning power of the Devil Fruit detonated at point-blank range under Aizen's control.
No longer just purple spiritual pressure, it became five giant dragons of destruction woven perfectly from dark purple spirit particles and blinding purple lightning.
They instantly tore through space itself, letting out terrifying dragon roars that shook the ears apart as they smashed into Hyosube Ichibei's large body with mounting-crushing force.
BOOM!
With an explosive sound that nearly overturned the entire Seireitei, the raging purple lightning became a pillar of light stretching through heaven and earth.
Blood rained out from the lightning.
Before this destructive power unleashed at such close range, Hyosube Ichibei had no strength to resist.
Like a charred meteor shot from the sky, he dragged a long trail of black smoke behind him before crashing heavily into the buildings hundreds of meters away, smashing a bottomless crater into the ruins. His life or death was unknown.
At the final moment before his consciousness sank into endless darkness, he still muttered in despair and confusion:
"Impossible... you're not Rosse, so how can you... be this strong..."
Dead silence filled heaven and earth.
Until a dry, suppressed voice filled with deep hatred broke the silence.
"You are... Aizen?"
Hirako Shinji tightly gripped the handle of Sakanade and called out the name he had hated day and night for hundreds of years.
He looked upward, staring at the figure in the sky that originally looked exactly like Rosse.
No mistake, it was Aizen.
Even if he turned to ash, Shinji would still recognize him.
And when the name Aizen echoed across the plaza, everyone in the Gotei 13 felt as though they had fallen into an ice pit and froze completely.
They subconsciously turned their heads toward the direction where Aizen's fake body had been standing earlier.
Then, to their horror, they saw purple arcs of electricity appear around the edge of that fake body.
Afterward, the fake body slowly turned into pure purple lightning. Like a tired bird returning to its nest, it flew directly into the sky and merged into the body of the man above.
At the same time, the figure in the sky rippled like water.
He removed all disguise. His body shrank back down, and his appearance changed.
When the light faded, he became the appearance everyone remembered most clearly.
A neat Shihakusho, the familiar black-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and that gentle smile that seemed capable of accepting everything.
"Captain Hirako, as expected of you. Leaving you alive on purpose really was the correct choice."
Aizen pushed up the glasses on his nose, the smile on his face becoming even gentler.
The moment he finished speaking, Aizen did not even turn around. He simply swung the Zanpakuto in his hand lightly toward the space on his right.
Slash!
A streak of blood bloomed in the air.
Shihoin Yoruichi had just tried to quietly approach with Flash Step, and she had not even fully unleashed her move yet, the instant she appeared within half a meter of Aizen's blind spot, his seemingly casual slash precisely cut open her abdomen.
Yoruichi groaned, clutching the wound spraying blood as she weakly fell downward.
Aizen did not even lower his head to look at the defeated Yoruichi. He swept his gaze across the crowd below, who all looked ready for battle, and spoke in a calm, commanding voice, "Today, I stand here. If you wish to return to the Soul King Palace, or reclaim Hueco Mundo, then the condition is actually very simple. Defeat me, and that will be enough."
"This is also a condition personally agreed to by Lord Rosse. As long as you can step over my corpse, then with his honesty and straightforwardness, you should know he would never lie over something this trivial."
"Hmph! Rosse indeed disdains lying."
Kyoraku Shunsui lowered his straw hat, hiding the killing intent in his eyes as he snorted coldly.
"But you, who have perfectly fused with the Hogyoku, are already immortal, aren't you? Offering a condition where you can't even be killed, what kind of chance is that supposed to be?"
"Foolish."
Aizen lightly shook his head. The way he looked at Kyoraku Shunsui resembled someone looking at an old relic too stubborn to change.
"Do not always use outdated thinking to judge those walking ahead of you, Senior Kyoraku. Not everyone will spend their whole life playing insignificant little tricks like you."
As he spoke softly, he raised his left hand and gently pulled open the front of his Shihakusho.
Under everyone's gaze, the place where the Hogyoku had once been embedded in Aizen's chest was completely intact skin.
The Hogyoku that had once fused with him was not there at all!
"You... you actually abandoned the Hogyoku?"
Kyoraku Shunsui's pupils suddenly shrank, disbelief filling his voice.
"That's right. The Hogyoku never belonged to me."
Aizen spoke casually, as though he had merely thrown away a poorly fitting piece of clothing.
"As far as the road ahead is concerned, it was only a tempting shortcut. In essence, it was merely an obstacle preventing me from surpassing my own limits."
Before his words even finished, Aizen's gaze suddenly turned cold.
Without even looking downward, he tightly gripped Kyoka Suigetsu in his right hand and stabbed the blade directly into the elongated shadow beneath his feet at a strange and vicious angle.
Slash!
"Ugh!"
A large amount of glaring blood sprayed from Aizen's shadow, completely defying common sense.
Kyoraku Shunsui's figure, which had originally been standing on the ground dozens of meters away, dissolved like ink wash.
The real Kyoraku Shunsui, clutching his pierced and bleeding chest in pain, stumbled out from Aizen's shadow in an extremely miserable state and crashed heavily through the air nearby.
Kyoraku's proud Shadow Demon technique looked like a joke in front of Aizen.
Swish!
Aizen did not pause even while pulling out the blade. Right after heavily injuring Kyoraku, he smoothly turned and slashed backward toward empty space beside him.
At that spot, Nimaiya Oetsu had just appeared from the void holding an unbelievably sharp katana, the blade aimed directly at the back of Aizen's neck.
Clang!
An ear-piercing sound of metal colliding rang through the sky.
Sparks exploded everywhere as a terrifying storm of spiritual pressure spread outward.
Aizen's shoulder shook slightly as he stepped half a pace backward.
Meanwhile, Nimaiya Oetsu, who had launched the sneak attack with the force of a charge behind it, looked as though he had slammed into an immovable mountain of lightning. The violent recoil forced him back again and again, circles of air bursting beneath his feet in midair as he retreated dozens of steps before barely stabilizing himself.
"Yo! Your sword is pretty good, Aizen Sosuke!"
Nimaiya Oetsu shook his numb wrist while staring at Kyoka Suigetsu in Aizen's hand. Even after taking one of his strikes head-on, it did not have the slightest chip or even a scratch mark. His tone still carried its usual careless teasing.
But his eyes had already turned extremely serious.
[T/N: If you are liking the novel so far, considering leaving a review, power stone and comment below the chapter. You can also join the p@treon to support if you want. Enjoy~ Have a great day.]