The Hogyoku—the hyper-substance with the power to manipulate the boundaries between Soul Reaper and Hollow.
Throughout the long history of the Soul Society, many have attempted to manifest this concept into reality. From the Great Noble Tsunayashiro family's obsession with using the Spirit King's factors for spiritual science to the nameless scholars whose research was hidden within the Central Underground Assembly, the path was long. But it was Kisuke Urahara, the first President of the Research and Development Institute, who finally brought it to the stage of practical application.
Surprisingly, Sosuke Aizen's research into the Hogyoku had predated Urahara's. Driven by a desperate awareness of his own limits as a Soul Reaper, Aizen looked to Hollowfication as a means to evolve into a transcendent being. The Hogyoku was one of the conclusions he reached at the end of that research.
However, Aizen's research eventually stalled.
He tried using Soul Reaper souls as the core. He tried Hollow souls. He even tried the souls of Arrancars who possessed the powers of both. Yet, no matter how many souls he fed into his creation to stimulate evolution, a Hogyoku with the performance he desired never materialized.
He questioned why a theoretically correct method would fail so consistently. Was it the technology? The materials? Or was the theory itself flawed? The accumulation of these doubts eventually led him to a new hypothesis, which he verified sixteen years ago with his masterpiece: the birth of Ichigo Kurosaki.
—The Hogyoku is not a "Hollowfication substance," but a law of nature that manifests the desires of those around it, provided they possess the latent potential.
The source of this nearly omnipotent power lay in the material used for the core. While the core could be made of Soul Reaper or Spirit King factors, Aizen found his original Hogyoku unsatisfactory. Why should the foundation of his evolution be built upon the meager, unremarkable hearts of commoners? How could such inferior beings ever follow him to the heights he sought?
Furthermore, the "perfected" Arrancars, who had merely had the walls between their powers removed, lacked the status befitting a true transcendent.
From that frustration, his research turned toward Refined Purification—using identical souls, or clones, to create a Hogyoku. By fusing with an original spirit, this method would explode the soul's scale and achieve a true apotheosis.
Yet Aizen faced a second setback. A Hogyoku made of countless souls usually loses individual ego, retaining only a primal instinct. However, a "Purified Hogyoku" made from identical souls developed a singular, unshakable individual will.
Desktop simulations suggested two failures: either the Hogyoku would rebel and erase the original spirit's mind, or the despair of the clones would turn the Hogyoku into a non-functional failure.
In the midst of this deadlock, a miracle occurred in Aizen's laboratory.
The birth of a second Hogyoku, using the clones of Momo Hinamori.
It was a mystical accident—the result of Aizen's "playfulness." He had originally created an artificial soul of Momo just to see her reaction to a "Goddess Momo" clone. Then, in another moment of whim, he decided to use those clones for his purification research.
When he gathered the clones and informed them they would be consumed to serve the original's ambition, they paused for only a second before answering:
"—Please, go right ahead!"
They were beings whose very core was defined not by individuality, but by obsession—the desire of the heart. Every single one of them offered themselves up, reborn as a Purified Hogyoku that was absolutely obedient to the original Momo Hinamori.
It was a glimpse of the God Factor that defied all of Aizen's predictions.
He became certain. That "God Factor" was what made Momo Hinamori the transcendent being she was—someone who looked down upon the world from above. He realized that using his own clones would raise his soul's limits, but without that same factor, he could never reach her domain.
It is impossible for even the most talented person to turn a complete "zero" into something else. But if it weren't a zero? If it were a "one"? Could a one ascend into the hundreds or thousands?
When Aizen realized the only way to obtain that "one," he did not hesitate.
"What!? You're going to use me as a material for your Hogyoku, Captain Aizen!?"
When he revealed the plan to a specific artificial soul of Momo Hinamori, she had initially reacted with shock. But Aizen had plenty of material to persuade her, even as she mumbled about it being "the worst kind of NTR."
"I'll tell you what. If you agree... I will do everything in my power to help with the 'Toshiro Hitsugaya Performance' you all desire so much."
"Really!? Yes! Absolutely! I'll do it! Please make me into your Hogyoku, Captain Aizen!!"
And so, the contract was signed.
By making Momo's clones a part of his own Hogyoku, Aizen obtained the "God Factor" and began his walk toward the heavens. On the same day Momo successfully fused with her Hogyoku, Aizen spent two thousand years' worth of time—achieved through the manipulation of space-time in the Dangai—to purify his own. Using the momentum of Momo's transformation during the final battle, Aizen proved the correctness of his plan to his own rebellious clones.
In the final battle of Karakura Town, the Demon King completely absorbed the will of the Hogyoku. His massive soul finally reached the domain of the transcendent.
***
A massive crater stretched to the horizon, a place where all matter had been erased. In the center of that dead earth, two figures stood.
One was a bare-handed hero, his chest sliced open. The other was a white-clad Demon King, his blade stained with blood. Both had poured everything into a final strike, and now they stood in a frozen moment of aftermath.
The world held its breath. The silence was absolute.
Crack. The sound of something hard splintering broke the quiet.
The hero—the "Black"—was the first to show the change. The blue-grey bandages covering his right arm and torso began to crack. Piece by piece, they crumbled away like old plaster. When the last fragment fell, the long black hair reaching his knees dissolved into the wind, revealing his original orange hair.
It was a tragic sight—the visual confirmation that something precious was vanishing from within him.
"Sorry... Zangetsu..."
Following his whispered apology, Ichigo Kurosaki coughed up blood and collapsed.
Next to move was the "White" Demon King. His alabaster body swayed, threatening to fall. But at the last second, he caught himself.
He forced his creaking limbs to stay upright, taking a massive step that shattered the ground beneath him. His "power" responded to his final bit of willpower. The crimson flesh mended instantly, and when he finally let out a deep breath, his skin was pure, unblemished white once more.
Between the Soul Reaper robes and the colorless skin—between the light and the dark—the victory had gone to the "White."
『—It seems... the battle is decided... Ichigo Kurosaki.』
The Demon King's low voice reached the ground. Ichigo, using what little consciousness he had left, looked up to see Sosuke Aizen wearing a dark, satisfied smile.
『That was a truly terrifying strike. You should be proud. You forced me to witness the illusion of my own death... even with the power of the Hogyoku.』
"..."
Sosuke Aizen opened his arms as if applauding the youth. His breath was ragged, and his movements were stiff from the exhaustion of his wounds, but he stood as the victor.
Ichigo's heart, however, was filled only with the crushing weight of having sacrificed everything without defeating the enemy.
『My dear fuel, you fought well. You met my expectations, overcame despair time and again, and finally grasped a blade capable of defeating me—even at the cost of your own being.』
"You... bastard..."
『Allow me to thank you, Ichigo Kurosaki. Through your sacrifice, the path to the heights I desire has been opened!』
As the Demon King's spiritual pressure flared with joy, the helpless youth tried to stand. But his arms shook uselessly, and his shout was nothing more than a raspy whisper. He could do nothing but glare at the monster from the dirt.
Aizen offered a merciless choice.
『Now then. This will be our final conversation. Out of respect for your efforts, I shall let you choose the conclusion of your "Heroic Tale."』
"What...?"
『Tell me, Ichigo Kurosaki. Now that you have lost all your spiritual power, which do you prefer?』
—To die as a martyr in a divine comedy, or to live out your days as a common human?—
Ichigo gritted his teeth at Aizen's mockery.
"Who's... going to die...!?"
『Oh?』
"I won't... let it end like this...! I'm going to... take you... down...!"
He desperately tried to shake off the paralyzing sense of helplessness. He tried to gather the shards of his broken will. But there was no source of spiritual energy left within him to give his words power.
『I see. So you choose to walk your own path rather than the one I provide.』
Aizen looked impressed.
The Demon King, who sought to overcome destiny by any means to reach the heavens. The Hero, who had lost his power but still refused his enemy's choices, believing in his own path.
Ichigo Kurosaki had been dancing in the palms of others since before he was born. To a performer who failed his role, mockery was the expected reward. Yet Aizen felt a genuine respect for the brilliant light of the boy's unbreakable spirit. It was a subtle shift in his heart—one he might not have even noticed himself. But for a man like Sosuke Aizen, it was a fundamental turning point.
『Very well, Ichigo Kurosaki. While I carry out the creation of the Oken, I shall leave you alive.』
"Wait...!"
『Stay here and watch as your town is destroyed. If you ever find the strength to fight again, you are welcome to try.』
The Demon King turned away. He began a leisurely walk toward the distant Karakura Town. Ichigo reached out a hand, desperately trying to grab onto Aizen's retreating back.
"Stop... Aizen! Damn it!"
His enemy drifted further away. His hand reached for nothing. Darkness filled the defeated hero's heart.
"Move! Damn it... MOVE!"
He scolded his convulsing limbs with a voice that sounded like a sob. He managed to sit up, but when he reached for the partner at his right hand, his fingers closed around thin air.
Zangetsu was gone. White was gone. The power the Goddess had released was gone. He had nothing left.
"I... I don't give a damn about that!"
It was a level of frustration and helplessness he had never known. But even as his vision darkened, Ichigo's heart did not break.
"I'm the one... who's going to win!"
Kneeling in a pool of his own blood, the weaponless youth clenched his fists—the first weapons of man.
"I'm going to... take him down!"
I can't lose here. If I don't have a sword, I'll use my fists, my legs, my nails, my teeth. Even if his bones shattered and his teeth were knocked out, he would keep going. For the people waiting for his help, he would stand up as many times as it took.
"I'm going to...!"
...beat him and...
...protect...
"I'M GOING TO PROTECT THEM ALLLLLLLL!!"
In that moment, Ichigo Kurosaki possessed zero combat potential. He had thrown away his Soul Reaper, Hollow, and "Third Power" to unleash Mugetsu. It should have been the end.
But Ichigo had one final way to resist. A mysterious technique that had always watched over him and saved him in his time of need. It wasn't exactly "power," which is why it hadn't been consumed by Mugetsu. It had been waiting inside him for this exact moment.
『WHAT!?』
Two voices of shock echoed across the wasteland. Both the Demon King and the Hero looked at Ichigo's chest, where a peach-colored spiritual pressure had suddenly begun to overflow.
The name of the technique was Jaw-Lock Seal.
With Zangetsu and White gone, "She" was the only one left to receive the full weight of Ichigo's intense desire. With her own will and agenda, she unleashed a "Fang" that even her creator had not anticipated...
—A strike aimed directly at the Great Evil.
***
『Oh? So you still had some fight left in you.』
Sensing the sudden surge of spiritual pressure behind him, Sosuke Aizen turned around. His voice was tinged with joy—a final thank you to the "stepping stone" that had exceeded his expectations one last time.
『—What...?』
But then, Aizen's eyes widened. The color of the spiritual pressure was not the pitch-black of the night sky.
Impossible. Aizen gasped.
Ichigo's Final Getsuga Tensho was supposed to have been the ultimate sacrifice of all his talent. Indeed, the Reiatsu Ichigo was currently radiating was a mere remnant. Yet, the power now overflowing from his chest was so intense that even the transcendent Aizen felt a shiver of dread.
Suddenly, several chains of light erupted from the kneeling Ichigo's chest, lunging toward the Demon King.
『!? What is this!?』
"What the...?"
Caught off guard, Aizen was instantly entangled by the peach-colored chains. They coiled around his neck, torso, and limbs with an impossible strength, robbing him of his freedom.
Ichigo watched in confusion, but he felt a powerful sense of déjà vu from the Reiatsu. This feeling...
Just as he realized the truth, the "Answer" appeared behind him.
"You...!"
Ichigo spun around as the chains extended from his own back, coiling together to form a small, white figure. It was the girl in the white Soul Reaper robes—the masked girl who had been the seal on his massive power.
『...I see. So that is her final card... the one she entrusted to you!』
Aizen was the first to understand. Even as his face twisted with the pain of the restraint, his voice carried an unshakeable glee.
『A magnificent move! Yes, a trump card is only worthy of the name if played at the absolute perfect moment! And there is no greater opening than now—when I am exhausted from my battle with Ichigo Kurosaki!』
"!"
『You realized it, didn't you? That my Hogyoku had consumed your cloned souls—Momo Hinamori!』
Ichigo remembered now. The pink chains that saved him from Yammy in Karakura Town. The way the masked girl had turned into chains to fuse with Tensa Zangetsu. And finally, when the "book-loving big sister" had touched his chest at the riverbank...
"No way...!"
Aizen's words made it all click. She hadn't just released his power; she had set a trap. The cloned souls of Momo Hinamori had been absorbed into Aizen's Hogyoku. The same seal that had suppressed Ichigo's power—a seal made of her own soul—had resonated with the clones inside Aizen. The moment the seal was released from Ichigo, it had shifted its target to the person holding the matching souls.
The second technique she had applied in the inner world was the final mechanism for this very moment.
But...
『—How naive.』
Even under the weight of her ultimate move, the Great Evil was laughing.
『Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Did you think I wouldn't realize her artificial soul could be used as the key to my own destruction!?』
"What!?"
『I told you, this is a trial! And the conclusion of my battle with Ichigo is merely the beginning! I absorbed those souls specifically because the danger they posed was the fuel I needed to truly master her "God Factor"!』
Aizen flared his spiritual pressure, his indigo-purple aura beginning to dye the peach-colored chains.
"ARGH!"
The girl behind Ichigo let out a stifled scream of agony, clutching her body.
"Are you okay!?" Ichigo grabbed the chains, pouring his remaining spiritual pressure into them. He offered a silent, desperate prayer that his meager remnants would be enough to help her.
『It is useless, Ichigo Kurosaki! My Hogyoku is already under my control! With your current power, you cannot save her clones—you can't even protect the version of her inside yourself!』
"I won't know that until I try!!"
But the erosion continued. The masked girl, sacrificing herself to seal Aizen, was slowly being consumed by the Demon King's color. Aizen smirked and declared his second victory.
『I have won, Ichigo Kurosaki!』
"Guh... AAAGH!!"
『Now, Hogyoku! Follow my lead! Destroy the protection of the Goddess and bring this war to its end!』
The Final Getsuga Tensho had failed. Only the "Masterpiece" the Goddess had written remained. If Aizen could overcome this, his ambition would be fulfilled. He would finally achieve the status of a true individual life.
Driven by ecstasy, Aizen slammed his bottomless spiritual power into the chains... finally turning all the peach-colored light into his own indigo.
...Or so he thought.
Suddenly, from Aizen's chest...
—A cross of brilliant crimson light erupted.—
『WHAT!?』
Both Aizen and Ichigo shouted in surprise. A new spiritual pressure—one that belonged to neither of them—began to swirl around the Demon King, forming a shell.
『What is this...!? Kido!?』
Aizen immediately tried to destroy the technique with his own power. But his spiritual pressure was sucked into the shell-like spirit-body, only accelerating the process.
『Impossible! Not this!』
As Aizen panicked and Ichigo watched in confusion, the final actor took the stage.
"Looks like it finally activated."
The man was Kisuke Urahara.
The greatest scientist in the spirit realm had spent a hundred and ten years preparing for this moment. His final trump card now slammed into his nemesis, Sosuke Aizen.
***
『Kisuke Urahara... this is your doing!』
The Demon King's fury manifested as a piercing spiritual pressure. Unfazed, Urahara adjusted his hat and revealed the truth of his technique.
"It's a seal. I hid it in the opening created when you were distracted by the 'monster' Hinamori."
The researcher explained. During their battle in the fake Karakura Town, Urahara had used a level-90 Destruction spell as a decoy. While Aizen was distracted, Urahara had secretly implanted his masterpiece—a self-designed Kido specifically for sealing a transcendent, no matter how they achieved that state.
"Captain Aizen, you really are a terrifying person. To withstand Ichigo's ultimate strike and then push back the Goddess's final card... this seal never would have worked without their efforts to weaken you first."
『Paltry tricks... to think such a disgusting, mediocre man would try to step onto our stage now! Know this: there is nothing you can do here!』
Aizen's face was a mask of rage as he flared his Reiatsu. But the moment he focused on Urahara, the chains on Ichigo's chest turned peach-colored once more, re-asserting their suppression of Aizen's power.
『Gah! What!?』
"Those chains seem to be attached to her clones inside your Hogyoku. Since they share the same soul, your Hogyoku is currently occupied just trying to resist her seal. In your exhausted state after Ichigo's strike, you simply don't have the strength to fight both."
『Impossible... this... this cannot be happening!』
Aizen's composure was gone. He struggled desperately to break free, but he was trapped by Ichigo's chains and Urahara's seal.
"My technique only had an opening to activate because Ichigo and Hinamori weakened you. It is a seal perfected through long, long years of trial and error. It isn't fragile enough to be broken mid-activation."
Urahara pulled down the brim of his hat, breaking eye contact. It was a declaration of victory—one that, given Urahara's genius, Aizen knew was his final sentence.
『Tch! To think my ambition would be thwarted by a pathetic establishment lackey like you! A truly farcical end. Destiny is indeed a cruel thing!』
Realizing the end was here, the Demon King groaned with passion. It was a voice of resentment that sounded like it came from the depths of hell.
"Establishment...? Are you talking about the Spirit King? I see. So that was your motive all along."
『Don't make such a ridiculous mistake.』
Aizen shot Urahara a look of pure contempt.
『The innocent age where I felt anger toward such a thing has long passed. That pathetic 'Hero' who sits on a false throne, and you who worship him—you are all nothing more than insects crawling on the ground.』
Ichigo stood by, confused by the cryptic exchange. He couldn't understand a single word they were saying.
"Captain Aizen... you don't mean..."
Urahara, however, seemed to grasp the implication. He narrowed his eyes, radiating a dangerous aura as he prepared to demand answers.
『Oh? Do you actually have the courage to broaden your meager perspective? I suppose putting me in the dirt earns you that much, even if you relied on others to do it.』
Aizen let out a dry laugh. He looked at Urahara one last time.
『A word of advice, "Genius" Kisuke Urahara.』
The white shell had now reached Aizen's neck. Only his head remained, yet his sharp, white eyes showed no sign of fading.
『This world is built upon an unbearable humiliation. An abysmal truth that, once known, you can never come back from.』
"What...?"
『All of creation is a dream, and every soul is consumed by a cycle of manufactured comedies and tragedies. On this plane where we live, pathetic clowns who call themselves gods dance day and night, offering their lives to the heavens...』
"—...just to satisfy the hollow heart of a God whose name they do not even know."
Urahara's eyes widened in shock. The man's lips curled into a final, meaningful arc as the shell began to cover his face.
『If you value the peace that satisfies your petty curiosity...』
"—...then do not get too close to the girl who calls herself the 'Bookworm.'"
Sosuke Aizen—the Great Traitor who had orchestrated the worst rebellion in the history of the Soul Society—was finally sealed by the hand of Kisuke Urahara.
Even as his ambition crumbled, the Demon King looked down at the two victors with a defiant, unsettling smirk. His presence remained majestic—an aura that suggested that in a domain far beyond this battle, it was he who had won, and Ichigo and Urahara who had truly lost.
***
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