The end of the world—
Darkness everywhere.
Black radiance spread out, filling every corner of the Shinigami world.
As Hōgyoku Aizen's killing intent surged and he unleashed his ultimate move—
By itself,
Black Coffin was already a legendary-level kidō ranked all the way up at #91.
Now, under the blessing of a terrifying, transcendent level of tangible spiritual pressure—
This was only the prelude,
And yet both present and future were already suffering a disaster-class, large-scale negative impact!
What was even more terrifying—
Was that the process was still continuing.
Until finally, within the footage, that enormous black barrier that connected heaven and earth
Gradually took shape!!!
"Holy—"
"That's… kidō?!"
"The scale of this Black Coffin is insane, it has to be several hundred meters tall!"
"Compared to that thing, the mountains that got flattened just now look short and pathetic!"
"Hōgyoku Aizen… he's a total monster! His spiritual pressure is ridiculous!!!"
In that instant,
Countless viewers stared wide-eyed, so shocked it felt like their eyeballs were about to fly out.
Right now,
In everyone's field of view—
The entire transparent screen, even its four corners, had no space left.
Everything was packed full by that colossal black barrier.
And the most absurd part—
Was that the target of this attack,
Kurosaki Ichigo's figure, wrapped in that black tailcoat,
Looked only slightly bigger than an ant in comparison to that gigantic Black Coffin.
The sheer visual contrast—
Naturally delivered another brutal impact to everyone's senses.
On top of that—
The height of the Black Coffin pierced the clouds.
The destructive ripples radiating from it actually caused the surrounding space
To warp visibly to the naked eye…
As though reality itself couldn't withstand this world-ending power!!!
That was the detail
That truly made the audience's hearts quake.
"This is too violent…"
"That bastard Aizen—he's just flexing on purpose!"
"A Black Coffin of this scale has to be one of the strongest kidō ever, right?"
Inside Squad One,
The captains' faces changed, their expressions filled with horror.
Even though in the previous ranking,
They had already been fortunate enough to witness the Eye Monk's "Senri Tsūten Shō" when he returned to battle,
And sincerely admitted that it was a force that truly pierced the heavens—
Right now, watching Hōgyoku Aizen unleash this colossal Black Coffin,
The feeling they had—
Was ten times, even a hundred times stronger than before!!!
"Aizen…"
"He's trying to completely kill Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Wipe out, once and for all, the last person who might pose a threat to him…"
The Head Captain looked up at the screen,
His old eyes filled with unease and dread.
He had no choice but to admit—
That Hōgyoku Aizen's kidō prowess had already far surpassed his own,
The very founder of the Shin'ō Academy's Demon Arts Division.
That barrier on the screen—
That ultra-massive Black Coffin that practically pierced the sky—
Honestly—
Without some truly ridiculous power, you simply couldn't control it.
You wouldn't be able to support something of that size at all.
In fact,
The Head Captain asked himself—
If he, in Kurosaki Ichigo's place,
Were to stand inside that Black Coffin—
Even if he released the Bankai of Ryūjin Jakka…
Whether it was "Remnant Flame Prison Garb" or "World Reduced to Ashes,"
In the face of such a gaping spiritual pressure difference,
They might not even be able to break the outer shell.
He wouldn't be able to pierce that dark barrier.
He would ultimately be trapped inside,
Becoming a target for countless shadow-like blades,
Until he was erased completely.
That was his instinct.
The truest impression carved into his heart as he watched!!!
And if even he felt that way—
There was no need to mention the other captains.
Everyone released their spiritual pressure outward in unison,
Racing against time.
Their hearts trembling,
They frantically tried to construct a sufficiently sturdy spiritual-pressure barrier
Before the colossal Black Coffin fully detonated.
Otherwise—
The consequences were obvious.
Squad One would be pierced straight through in an instant!
They'd be crushed into dust
By the torrent of tangible darkness overflowing from the screen.
Every captain present—
The core combat power of the Gotei 13—
Would be taken out in a single sweep.
They would all suffer indiscriminate damage
From this ultra-massive Black Coffin!!!
However—
Right then—
An unexpected twist occurred once more.
"Crack—!!"
The sound of shattering glass
Was especially sharp and clear in the deathly silence.
You could even say it was ear-piercing.
And then—
Despite having fully taken shape,
Standing like a towering black monolith—
That gigantic Black Coffin barrier—
Did not explode.
The earth-shattering scene everyone had imagined never arrived.
Instead—
At the bottom of the Black Coffin,
Exactly where Kurosaki Ichigo's body had disappeared—
Cracks appeared.
They spread rapidly,
Like a spiderweb tearing through the dark barrier!
The sudden development
Startled everyone so much they almost jumped.
"?!"
"What… just happened?"
"The Black Coffin hasn't detonated yet, and it's already collapsing from the bottom?"
"Did Hōgyoku Aizen's spiritual pressure fail to sustain a full release of the kidō? No, wait!!!"
"Look—over there… that's Kurosaki Ichigo's arm!!!"
"No way… he punched through Black Coffin with his bare hands?!"
"He's literally showing us what it means to rip apart Black Coffin by hand?!"
With just one glance—
Viewers across the world were completely stunned.
Everyone stood there slack-jawed, their expressions frozen.
It was like they were witnessing something that should have been absolutely impossible.
Especially the ordinary humans in the present world—
they were utterly dumbfounded, faces twisted in disbelief.
They'd seen people tearing roast chicken apart,
or TV dramas where someone "ripped an enemy apart with bare hands,"
but they never imagined…
That even the ultra-massive Black Coffin unleashed by Hōgyoku Aizen at full power—
Could also be broken.
For real.
It was like watching someone slice open the impossible—
Their worldview was ripped wide open on the spot.
It was outright absurd!!!
————————
At that moment,
Even Kurosaki Ichigo himself—
After personally seeing everything that happened—
Was completely stunned.
His jaw dropped.
"Huh? Th-this… for real?!"
"You're telling me… you can do that?!"
His entire worldview collapsed.
This went beyond imagination—it shattered the limits of rational thought.
Never in his wildest dreams
Would Ichigo have imagined that his future self—
Whom everyone had already written off as dead—
Would suddenly pull off a move like that.
Once again, the story took a sharp turn,
Cranking the absurdity up to max.
Right now,
Ichigo genuinely doubted—
Was he still watching a ranking video…
Or was this actually some sci-fi movie starring his future self and Hōgyoku Aizen together?
Ripping Black Coffin apart by hand…
Was that really the kind of plot a human could come up with?
It was madness.
Pure madness.
————————
Meanwhile,
In the footage—
Under Ichigo's gaze,
It took only a brief moment for that titanic Black Coffin
that had loomed between heaven and earth
To begin collapsing from the base.
Like a mirror shattering,
Large fragments broke apart and rained down from midair.
From a distance,
It looked like a black waterfall crashing toward the ground.
The entire screen
Began to shake violently once again.
The shockwaves that rolled outward
sent countless viewers flying, throwing everything into chaos.
And within the cascade of collapsing darkness—
Kurosaki Ichigo's figure
Gradually emerged,
Once again appearing clearly in the image.
"Huh?"
"He's completely unscathed!!!"
"This is insane—how did he do that?!"
"His expression is even crazier. After pulling off something that outrageous, he looks totally emotionless!"
"Hōgyoku Aizen's mentality is done for. This has to have shattered his composure—he's gonna snap!"
With eyes like tempered steel,
Expressionless—
Ichigo stood beneath his messy orange bangs,
indifferent as he watched the dark fragments rain down around him.
Throughout the entire process,
His expression never changed.
It was as if he were silently saying:
Ripping Black Coffin apart with his bare hands
Was just a trivial, everyday thing for him.
So simple—
That it was easier than eating or drinking.
So his heart didn't even ripple.
That—
Was what truly shocked the audience the most.
————————
At the same time,
Inside Las Noches—
Because of what they had just witnessed,
The Arrancar army,
who had been eagerly waiting to see Hōgyoku Aizen's splendor
and the full might of his perfected Black Coffin—
All stood frozen where they were,
Their shock taking a long time to fade.
One after another, their gazes shifted
To the man sitting on the throne—
Aizen himself.
At this moment,
Anyone could imagine
That even if Aizen wasn't "crushed,"
he had to at least be feeling disappointed, right?
And in truth—
That was exactly the case.
"So Black Coffin was destroyed that easily?"
The handsome man's face
Carried no smile,
No air of casual superiority.
Aizen's brows furrowed slightly,
And in the flicker of his dark eyes
there was both disappointment and a hint of anger.
He had originally thought
He could witness his future self, as a Transcendent,
Releasing his ultimate move,
Displaying an overwhelming invincibility.
But he hadn't expected—
That the final outcome
Would defy his expectations completely.
Black Coffin's grand debut
Had ended in such a rushed, anticlimactic way.
For the first time since these ranking videos began,
Aizen felt an emotion he rarely experienced—
Frustration.
Below him,
As the person who knew Aizen better than anyone—
Gin noticed the shift in his mood,
And though surprised,
He still narrowed his eyes with a cheerful smile:
"Aizen-taichō…"
"Looks like it's Kurosaki Ichigo's turn again."
"If your future self doesn't have any more cards up his sleeve…"
"It's going to be hard to kill a fellow Transcendent like Kurosaki Ichigo."
His tone was as playful as ever.
Gin had no intention of mocking him.
But—
Given Aizen's current mood,
Already shaken and lightly wounded in pride—
His brows tightened further, his voice tinged with displeasure:
"Gin… don't speak so absolutely."
"Since when did you fall into the illusion that my future self cannot deal with Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"Using an extreme method to strengthen his spirit body
and tearing apart Black Coffin with his bare hands—
such feats are indeed worthy of praise."
"However…"
"My future self has not necessarily reached his limit."
Aizen's gaze
Remained fixed on the Hōgyoku floating at the center of Hueco Mundo.
As one of the Hōgyoku's co-creators,
He knew better than anyone—
That the Hōgyoku's power would manifest itself
according to its host's desires.
And in Aizen's view of himself,
He believed without a doubt
That at this very moment, in the future,
His own heart—
Would be screaming to break past his limits.
Yearning to grow stronger.
To completely crush Kurosaki Ichigo.
And to achieve that—
There was only one path:
Continue to evolve.
Advance into the next and final stage—
Step into a higher dimension,
And push all the way into a new gear.
"…Aizen-sama…"
"You mean we're about to see a fourth evolution?"
Tōsen Kaname, listening to this, felt like he was going to lose it.
By now,
The Hōgyoku Aizen with angelic butterfly wings
Was already a Transcendent,
the very ceiling of combat power in the Shinigami world.
If he evolved further,
Wasn't the only realm left…
The level of the Soul King?
Damn…
There was only the Soul King's tier left?!
Were they really about to witness, with their own eyes—
The birth of "Soul King Aizen"?
At that thought,
Tōsen couldn't help but take a deep breath.
His heart pounded, his hands trembled with excitement,
his expression turning feverishly expectant.
At the same time—
He secretly felt relieved.
A hundred years ago, he had chosen correctly.
He really hadn't followed the wrong man.
Aizen was always brilliant.
Always flawless.
Whether now or in the future—
He would always stand at the very top.
Someone who deserved unconditional reverence.
————————
Sure enough—
Aizen's feeling was right.
His future self could not accept it—
The fact that his colossal Black Coffin had been shattered so easily,
And that he had been struck back by Kurosaki Ichigo.
His pale body had been wounded,
a long bloody slash across it.
He had been forced
To pull away,
temporarily retreating from Ichigo's blade.
All of this—
Had dealt a solid blow to Hōgyoku Aizen's psychological defenses.
He blurred out of sight with his invisible steps,
appearing at the very edge of the screen.
His emotions finally exploded.
"Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"You shattered my kidō and wounded my body—
I'm disgusted by this as well."
"Don't get carried away, human!!!"
Hōgyoku Aizen roared in fury.
His entire field of vision warped with madness.
His hysteria echoed like thunder.
Within that roar—
loud enough to shatter clouds—
The camera zoomed in,
Allowing the viewers to clearly see up close—
The wound on Hōgyoku Aizen's body left by the Zanpakutō Tensa Zangetsu.
White foam appeared at the edges of the gash,
And then, before everyone's eyes, it began to heal.
At the same time—
A primordial, terrifying column of violet spiritual pressure
Erupted skyward.
"Rumble—!!!"
The air trembled.
Reishi exploded.
Thunder boomed across the sky,
and the screen shook again and again.
Blinding violet light flooded the world,
Accompanied by countless crackling lightning bolts.
The display was so extreme—
The viewers were scared out of their wits.
People scrambled in all directions,
Trying desperately to get as far away from the screen as possible.
But as some of them glanced back—
They saw something that made their blood run cold,
Triggering another wave of global shock.
"Aaaaaaaahhhh—!!!"
Amid the roar,
Hōgyoku Aizen's body warped with rage.
Within the pillar of spiritual pressure,
His form twisted and evolved.
On his forehead—
That thin, sealed line finally split open.
A third eye opened, cold and eerie.
And even more horrifying—
As his face split apart,
His head seemed to crack from the center downward,
His skin peeling apart into two halves—
Revealing a pitch-black, hideous, demonic visage beneath.
Even worse—
At his abdomen,
The number of Hollow holes had become three!!!
They were lined up vertically,
Running through his entire body.
And the butterfly-like wings on his back
grew even larger.
At the end of each wing tip,
A Hollow's snarling head emerged,
Fanged and grotesque.
Overall—
He had lost any trace of a Shinigami.
He no longer even resembled a human—
He was a monster.
The moment this image was shown,
Viewers all across the world
Let out the same horrified scream:
"That's… Black Coffin's aftermath?!"
"His final evolution looks like that?!"
"So this is Aizen's 'true' form, huh? It's finally out in the open!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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