Chapter 279: Sosuke Aizen x Draw the Sword! Confrontation of the New and Old Suns
"We think the flower on the cliff is beautiful because we stand on the cliff. There is no need to fear, because like the flower, our feet have not stepped outside."
Water's moon, mirror's flower, true or false, who can really tell clearly? And why insist on distinguishing them so clearly?
Just like humans, who are merely monkeys draped in gorgeous coats. Gods are merely humans adept at disguising themselves.
Seireitei.
Shin'o Academy.
A certain calligraphy teacher, a man "moonlighting" as the Captain of the 5th Division of the Gotei 13, thoughtfully displayed his Zanpakuto to the students during another graduation season. He quietly conducted a "hypnosis test" on everyone, smiled, bid them farewell, and walked back to the 5th Division barracks.
Finding his desk, he rolled out a pristine sheet of white paper, dipped his brush in ink, and wrote a large character for "Tranquility" (靜) in the blank space. This character lacked the expected sharp, forceful strokes; instead, it was graceful and elegant, much like the man himself... earning the admiration and respect of his students.
"Captain Aizen is so good and handsome, and he is very gentle and considerate, knowing how to take care of everyone's feelings. He really is a perfect man..." Some infatuated female students had more than once made "obsessed, outrageous remarks" behind his back. Even in front of him, they dared to boldly flash "starry eyes" and stare at him intensely.
To this, Aizen would always respond gently.
It was as if he would forever wear this face, never revealing any unseemly negative emotions—such as "anger," "mockery," "jealousy," or even a trace of "sorrow"—other than "gentleness."
But today, pushing the door open and stepping to Aizen's side, watching him continuously wield his brush to write the character "Tranquility" over and over on the blank paper, was the former Vice-Captain of the 5th Division who had assisted Aizen and was now officially the Captain of the 3rd Division: Gin Ichimaru.
With his hands tucked into his wide sleeves, Gin squinted his narrow eyes at Aizen and said, "Rare. I haven't seen you write the character for 'Tranquility' in a hundred years. Let me guess..."
"Your heart,"
"Is disturbed..."
The man who compared himself to "a snake with cold skin, devoid of emotion, that slithers around searching for prey to swallow whole," spoke in a Kyoto dialect, asserting his conclusion.
Aizen's brown hair draped down his back, looking slightly more imposing compared to Gin's smooth, light purple short hair. He neither spoke nor remained silent, but merely continued writing the character "Tranquility," occasionally pushing up the black-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose to prevent them from slipping down. His ears twitched, allowing Gin to stroke his chin and continue speaking to himself: "Hmm... there aren't many things that can disturb our Captain Aizen's heart..."
"Let me think." At a certain moment, Gin paused his words and asked abruptly, "Does it have something to do with the Captain-Commander?"
As his words fell, Aizen's brush paused. This immediately caused Gin's narrow eyes to squint further as he realized, "Everyone is saying the Captain-Commander's state has been very abnormal recently. It seems... he really does have a problem..."
"Gin," Aizen dragged his brush, pulling the last horizontal stroke of the "Tranquility" character extremely long, ruining its overall aesthetic.
This 5th Division Captain, who always presented himself as a "gentle good guy," pushed up his black-framed glasses, suddenly looked up, glanced at Gin, and said, "Do not arbitrarily discuss the Captain-Commander."
Gin Ichimaru's light purple short hair swayed slightly. He tucked his right hand back into his sleeve and said casually, "I'm just curious. Aren't you?"
Amidst the silence, Aizen replaced the paper and resumed writing the character "Tranquility." Without lifting his head, he said, "You know where the 3rd Division barracks are better than I do. The door is right behind you."
"I won't see you out..."
Gin Ichimaru: "..."
His long, narrow eyes squinted.
After a moment of silence, he slowly turned around and left.
Creak~ The office door opened and closed. Faintly outside the door, a greeting could be heard, followed by... Momo Hinamori, the current Vice-Captain of the 5th Division, with her hair tied in buns, wearing the standard Shihakusho, and bearing the 5th Division Vice-Captain badge on her left shoulder. Carrying a basket of peaches, she greeted Gin, pushed open the door, and walked in. She quietly placed the peaches on the corner of the desk.
"Captain, have a peach."
"The peaches are sweet." With large brown eyes blinking rapidly, the petite girl, looking entirely like a little loli, spoke adorably.
Aizen, who had just fallen into a state of displeasure due to Gin Ichimaru's "probing," finally revealed a trace of a smile on his handsome face. He smiled at Momo Hinamori and said, "Leave them there, I will eat them."
Momo Hinamori nodded enthusiastically. Taking another look, she leaned over the edge of the desk and saw Aizen writing the character "Tranquility" one after another on the blank paper. She blurted out, "Oh, Captain, you haven't written this character in a really long time."
"A long time?" Aizen paused his brush.
"Very long, let me count..." Momo Hinamori actually started counting seriously on her fingers.
Beside her, Aizen watched her with a smile. After a moment, he heard her say, "It's been a whole hundred years!"
Aizen calmly placed the brush on the pen rest. Looking out the window, Seireitei sat under the afterglow just like any other day. Ripples surfaced in his eyes as he recalled this day a hundred years ago. It was...
The day he used hundreds of souls possessing Shinigami power to create the incomplete Hogyoku,
The day he targeted the young Rangiku Matsumoto, consequently inviting the wolf into the house and meeting Gin Ichimaru,
And moreover, the day he... wholeheartedly desired to surpass the limits of a Shinigami, firmly believing and convinced... that he could achieve it.
Aizen stared blankly out the window, unmoving for a moment...
Momo Hinamori took a crisp bite of a peach, extended her fair hand, waved it in front of him, and asked curiously, "Say~ Captain, what are you thinking about? You're spacing out..."
The young Shinigami, as Toshiro's childhood friend, clearly still retained her childish innocence and was indeed... a bit lively.
She ate the peach bite by bite, cheeks bulging like a hamster... pulling Aizen back to reality. He couldn't help but rub her small head, answering with a mix of sigh and ambiguity, "Yes~ what am I thinking about?"
Why is my heart disturbed again?
Gin was right... The man turned his head to gaze deeply into the distance at the location of the 1st Division barracks deep within Seireitei. With profound eyes, he murmured in his heart, "It's all because of you... Captain-Commander!"
"How could someone like you, standing as unmovable as a deep abyss and a towering mountain for over two thousand years, suddenly zone out? And suddenly lose focus?"
"Or is there something, some matter, attracting your attention behind my back, or perhaps... some person?!"
Crunch Another peach went into Momo Hinamori's stomach.
Feeling the warmth from the top of her head, the little loli shyly offered Aizen a peach as well, stuttering, "C-Captain, you eat one too."
Aizen: "Alright."
He took the peach and took a light bite. Crisp, sweet.
His thoughts drifted far away, but they weren't brought back by the delicious peach. Instead, like the spiritual wind blowing across the entire Seireitei, they hovered outside, firmly fixed upon the location of the 1st Division barracks.
And for a long time, they didn't fly back...
Whoosh~ The wind blew, blowing out of Seireitei, where the sky was clear for ten thousand miles.
Blowing out into the Demon Slayer World, where the night was deep and heavy.
Midnight.
Demon Slayer World.
One old and one young, with their backs to the moonlight, stood high in the sky. Without the contrast of the Nen light, the two immediately turned into two inconspicuous black dots in the sky, disappearing from the sight of everyone in the Demon Slayer World...
"The... the sun has disappeared... The great Sun God has returned to his divine kingdom. May you bless my son/my wife/my father/my mother, with good health and smooth sailing in all things..."
"And me too,"
"Me too,"
"The same for me,"
"Namo Amitabha, Praise the Sun..."
Worship, prayer, devotion like all living beings, continued to continuously provide [Faith Power], accompanied by notification sounds echoing in Roy's ears.
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, leaning on Ryujin Jakka, casually glanced downward. His Reiatsu swept across the earth with the breeze, and he instantly noticed... the men, women, young, and old were all living, breathing people... Living people worshipping the boy, deeply grateful to him...
So, could this also be called "Kyoka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon)?"
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai tilted his head, looked deeply at the boy, and said, "The eyes of the people are bright, their devout worship is true, and the trembling of their souls is even more visible to the naked eye. Therefore,"
"Boy, do not bully this old man's eyesight... just because I am old..."
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's white beard was meticulously braided, almost hanging down to his toes.
A casual glance from his old eyes was imposing without anger... Gripping his cane hiding Ryujin Jakka, he quietly looked at Roy.
Roy calmly glanced at his panel.
[Panel Prompt: [Faith Power] +0.0001 +0.0001 +0.002...]
[Current [Faith Power]: 578]
And it was rapidly climbing upwards with lightning speed...
A shallow arc traced the corners of his mouth. He released his hands clasped behind his back, and consequently, his fiery red long hair draped over his back cascaded down, a strand sliding to the tip of his nose.
"The Captain-Commander jests,"
"With your experience and knowledge, how would this junior dare to bully you." The boy shrugged and said, "Earlier, I merely did some small things for them, it's nothing much..."
According to the original development of the Demon Slayer story, even without his intervention, within the next two or three years, the Demon Slayer Corps with Tanjiro joining would also be able to kill Muzan, eradicate the evil demons, and return peaceful nights to the world.
"No, whether it is small or big, is not for you to decide," Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's scarred old face silently told tales of the past. His gaze flowed from the slits of his eyes, sweeping past faces—whether belonging to Kyojuro Rengoku, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, Gyomei Himejima, or every ordinary person prostrating on the ground in the vast world. He said leisurely, "It is for them to decide."
Roy fell silent,
He did not refute this time,
Accepting it calmly and with gratitude...
"This is also what I hoped for," The boy, with his fiery red long hair resting on his back, stood with the bright moon behind him, looking down at the earth from high above, and said, "Hoping to bring them even a sliver of hope is enough."
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai nodded approvingly: "It seems this place, like the Human World, has also experienced... pain."
The Human World had Hollows... Fallen souls unwilling to perish, opening [Garganta] to wreak havoc on the human realm.
The Demon Slayer World had Demons, ravaging the dark night, feeding on humans.
However, that was all in the past... Past events have vanished like clouds and smoke, there's no need to mention them again.
Roy gathered his thoughts, turned his head, and glanced at Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, focusing his gaze significantly on the cane he was leaning on... All things in the universe, turn to ashes, Ryujin Jakka; he couldn't help but look.
"It's called Ryujin Jakka." Noticing Roy's gaze, Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai raised his cane flat and gently stroked its body as if caressing a lover, his voice muffled.
Roy's gaze followed the rhythm of his fingertips. He took a deep breath and said, "I know."
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's white eyebrows raised: "I didn't know you knew."
Roy: "I knew you didn't know I knew."
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai: "..."
Visibly,
His forehead tightened, and a cross-shaped vein suddenly popped out, just as ferocious as the long cross-shaped scar spanning across his cheek!
The old man shot a dangerous look: "Boy! In two thousand years, you are the first person who dares to speak to me like this!"
"What about the others?"
"They are all dead!"
Having lived for over two thousand years, having fought for over two thousand years, a Captain-Commander who carved his way out through slaughter, truly lived up to his name.
Roy fell silent.
Facing Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai directly, feeling the explosive, volcano-like power contained within his withered body, the boy said honestly, "If I say I didn't mean it, do you believe me?"
"Since you are here, whether I believe it or not is irrelevant." Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's white beard swayed with the wind. He said calmly, "Draw your sword... A sword that incarnates a blazing sun should not be hidden; it should be upright and illuminate all directions."
Boom!
Suddenly, an overbearing, scorching, and unreasonable Reiatsu tore through the darkness, shattered the moonlight, and roared as it pounced towards Roy.
Rustle... Wood splinters flew... Ryujin Jakka, hidden within the walking cane, seeing the moonlight, revealed its true form in one move. It was instantly gripped in Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's hand, the tip of the sword pointing straight at Roy's face.
Coupled with the Reiatsu,
In an instant, it made Roy's senses feel as if he were plummeting straight into the Avici Hell, his breathing... growing rapid along with it!
Draw the sword! Draw the sword! Draw the sword!
"Since the Captain-Commander requests it, it is what I wish for!"
Suddenly, a "sword cry" rang out!
"Clang!"
The blazing sun pierced the heavens.
Amidst its trembling, [Solar Eclipse] was materialized by Roy. In one second it turned red, in two seconds it ignited, and in three seconds, roaring flames erupted.
As Roy opened all the aura nodes in his body, he explosively released [Ren] to resist Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's Reiatsu impact.
At this midnight hour,
A sudden change occurred!
The night sky was instantly lit up once again, except... this time, in the sky above, there was no longer just one sun, but... two!
One based on "Nen Aura," and one relying on "Reiatsu."
In an instant, even the moon they carried behind their backs grew dim!
Whoosh~ The men, women, young, and old who had just returned to their normal lives—either pulling up the covers to go back to sleep, putting on clothes to prepare for morning chores, or throwing on a coat to tuck their children in—because Roy had finished absorbing the Blue Spider Lily, actively retracted his Nen aura, and restored the night... were in an instant illuminated by the intense light piercing through their windows!
They froze,
Frantically ran out of their houses, and looked up at the sky.
Every single one of them,
Was instantly dumbfounded, completely stupefied!
"Two... two suns?!"
☆☆☆
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