Unable to control his body in midair, Kenpachi crashed into one of the bronze pillars on Sōkyoku Hill with a dull boom. Cracks spread across the pillar as fragments of stone rained down.
Kenpachi struggled to push himself upright. A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly, not from pain, but from shock. He could not even understand how Aizen had exerted that force.
Aizen slowly withdrew his left hand. There was not the slightest mark on his fingertip, as though he had brushed away a speck of dust rather than stopped a lethal surprise attack.
He looked down at the battered Kenpachi without the slightest emotion, only the cold indifference of someone observing an insect.
"It's difficult to understand, isn't it, Captain Zaraki? You cannot even comprehend how you lost.
"The strength in which you take such pride exists only because you have never witnessed true power."
He took two steps forward and stopped in front of Kenpachi, his shadow completely engulfing him.
"Defection? No. I am merely leaving a place that cannot contain me. As for you, you are not qualified to stop me."
Kenpachi clenched his teeth and tried to raise his sword again, only to discover that the pain in his chest made it difficult even to lift his arm.
The impact of Aizen's Reiatsu had injured his internal organs and temporarily obstructed the flow of his spiritual power.
Kenpachi raised his single eye and glared at Aizen's retreating back. There was no humiliation in his gaze, only an even fiercer desire to fight, like a spark waiting to ignite an entire prairie.
"Aizen... just you wait... I swear I'll..."
Aizen did not look back. He did not even consider finishing Kenpachi off, as though he had merely swatted aside an insignificant fly.
In truth, that was exactly how he viewed it. Kenpachi Zaraki was nothing more than a trivial interruption on Aizen's path toward the throne in the heavens.
At that moment, a graceful figure descended from above, rapidly chanting as she fell.
"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hadō Number Sixty-Three, Raikōhō!"
A sphere of lightning several yards across formed above the woman's palm and descended upon Sōsuke Aizen with unstoppable force.
Aizen easily moved beyond the lightning sphere's range. However, the instant he stopped, two figures appeared at his sides.
Yoruichi Shihōin and Second Division Captain Suì-Fēng held blades against Aizen's neck and heart.
Even in such a situation, Sōsuke Aizen showed no concern. Instead, he casually remarked, "What a nostalgic face. It has been a long time, Lady Yoruichi."
Yoruichi had no intention of reminiscing with him. She tightened her grip on the blade resting against his neck and warned him, "Don't make any sudden movements. The instant you try anything, I'll take your head."
The other captains gathered around them as well, surrounding Sōsuke Aizen.
Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto released his Reiatsu and focused it upon Aizen, preventing him from using his overwhelming strength to break through the captains' encirclement.
After seeing the forces assembled against him, Yoruichi released a quiet breath of relief.
"It's over, Sōsuke Aizen."
Yet Aizen remained completely unconcerned and even chuckled softly.
Yoruichi frowned in confusion. "What's so funny?"
A mysterious smile remained on Aizen's lips.
"My apologies, Lady Yoruichi, but the time has already come."
The moment he finished speaking, a square pillar of golden light descended from the sky and enveloped him.
At the same time, two other golden beams descended around Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, slowly drawing their bodies into the air.
The abnormalities did not end with the beams.
The previously clear sky suddenly darkened. It was not the heavy gloom of storm clouds obscuring the sun, but a cold and oppressive darkness that carried a bone-piercing chill.
It was as though something were devouring the light itself. Even the wind abruptly stopped, and the stagnant air became suffocating.
The next instant, the sound of shattering glass rang through the sky.
Two enormous claws with a cold, hornlike sheen suddenly emerged from the void. Like rusted blades cutting through silk, they dug into space itself.
Space groaned beneath the strain. Dark cracks spread along the claws' path, while tiny black sparks danced around their edges, as if the very fabric of the dimension were being forcibly pried apart.
The claws violently pulled in opposite directions.
With a thunderous roar, space was completely torn open, revealing a circular Garganta dozens of yards across.
There was no blue sky within the opening, only darkness so dense that it seemed almost solid. It resembled the deepest reaches of the ocean or ink that had congealed into a black mass. Dark Reiatsu continuously seeped from its edges, staining the surrounding clouds an unnatural color.
The first thing to emerge from that darkness was a mask of terrifying size.
It seemed to have been carved from white bone, its surface covered in twisted patterns. Its eye sockets were two bottomless pits, and deep within them glowed two points of crimson light, like predatory beasts watching from concealment.
The mask occupied most of the Garganta. The curve of its lower jaw alone was wider than the height of an adult Soul Reaper.
Before the onlookers could recover from the pressure created by that enormous face, the darkness behind it began to churn.
Countless black silhouettes writhed within the Garganta. Most possessed hunched bodies and membranous wings resembling those of bats. The blood vessels running through those wings were clearly visible, pulsing gently with every breath.
A deep roar emerged from the depths of the Garganta.
It was followed by another, and then a third.
Soon, countless roars overlapped, like an entire horde of beasts awakening within the darkness.
"Menos Grande!" a Soul Reaper cried out.
"How many of them are there? Are they all Gillians?"
"No, there's something else farther inside!"
"We can't let them escape!"
A lieutenant drew his Zanpakutō and prepared to attack the golden beam, but Captain-Commander Yamamoto stopped him.
"Do not interfere. That light is called Negación. It is used by Menos Grande to rescue their own kind.
"Once someone is enveloped by that light, the interior and exterior of the beam become two separate worlds. Not even I can interfere with what lies within it.
"Every Soul Reaper who has fought a Menos Grande knows that the instant the light descended, Aizen passed beyond our reach."
Jūshirō Ukitake stared at Sōsuke Aizen, with whom he had once shared a cordial relationship, his expression complicated.
"Have you truly fallen so far, Aizen, that you would cooperate with the Menos Grande? What could possibly have driven you to this?"
Aizen looked down at him from above, his expression unfathomable.
"To pursue a higher realm.
"You are too arrogant, Ukitake. No one has ever stood atop the heavens. Not you, not me, not even the gods."
Aizen gently removed his glasses, revealing the unusually sharp eyes that had been concealed behind the large frames. As he swept his hair back with one hand, his voice became utterly large frames. As he swept his hair back with one hand, his voice became utterly cold.
"But that unbearable vacancy upon heaven's throne must finally come to an end. From this moment onward, I will stand in the heavens.
"Farewell, Soul Reapers. And farewell, Ryoka boy. For a human, you truly are quite fascinating.
"Finally, farewell, Harry Potter. Of everyone in Soul Society, you are one of the few opponents besides the Captain-Commander who has earned my attention. I hope you can offer me an even greater surprise the next time we meet. Do not leave me too terribly bored."
As Aizen's words fell, the air around Sōkyoku Hill seemed to freeze.
The roars from the Garganta continued echoing in the distance, but every Soul Reaper's attention was suddenly drawn toward Harry, who stood at the edge of the crowd.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's hand paused upon his cane. He had not expected the defecting Aizen to evaluate Harry so highly. This captain was clearly nowhere near as simple as he appeared.
Shunsui Kyōraku's usual carefree smile disappeared. His folding fan stopped in front of his chest, and his eyes filled with intrigued curiosity.
He had never expected Sōsuke Aizen to pay so much attention to Harry. Harry usually looked absentminded and did not appear particularly powerful.
Could Harry, like Aizen, have been concealing his true strength all this time?
"One of the few opponents he acknowledges besides the Captain-Commander?" Shunsui murmured, shifting his gaze between Harry and Aizen's ascending figure. "This is becoming more interesting by the minute."
With that single statement, Aizen had transformed Harry from an inconspicuous captain on the fringes into the center of Soul Society's attention.
Harry's expression remained unchanged as he slowly stepped forward.
Whispers surged behind him like a tide. Countless gazes settled upon his back. Some were filled with curiosity, others with vigilant scrutiny, while Kenpachi Zaraki's burned with a desire for battle that seemed ready to erupt into flames.
Harry acted as though he noticed none of them.
He walked steadily through the crowd without deliberately hastening his pace or avoiding anyone's gaze. His captain's haori swayed gently in the breeze.
When he passed Shunsui Kyōraku, the Eighth Division captain was hiding half his face behind his fan, his eyes filled with playful investigation. Harry merely inclined his head and continued onward.
His pace remained perfectly even. Every step followed his own rhythm, leaving the whispers and complicated stares behind him.
At last, Harry stopped at the edge of Sōkyoku Hill, where fragments of the shattered execution instrument still littered the ground.
He turned to face the Soul Reapers who continued watching him, and a mysterious smile suddenly appeared upon his lips.
It was not Aizen's cold mockery or Kenpachi's bloodthirsty excitement. It carried a calm and knowing certainty, as though Harry had already seen through events that had yet to occur.
"Aizen said we would meet again?" Harry's voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly across the silent execution grounds, suppressing the remaining whispers. "I'm afraid he won't have that opportunity."
The Soul Reapers immediately erupted into commotion.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's brow furrowed even more deeply, and his cane gleamed coldly beneath the sunlight.
Shunsui lowered his folding fan, the amusement in his eyes replaced by surprise.
Kenpachi shouted directly at Harry, "Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean? You think you can keep Aizen from escaping?"
Even Aizen's expression became more solemn as an ominous premonition rose within him.
Among all the captains, he could discern at least part of even Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's strength and intentions. Yet he could perceive absolutely nothing of Captain Harry.
Looking at Harry was like staring into a bottomless abyss.
Until recently, Aizen had also believed Harry to be an ordinary captain. That assumption had changed when Harry completely suppressed Twelfth Division Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi with his Reiatsu at the Fourth Division Relief Station.
That degree of Reiatsu had unquestionably reached Spirit Class One.
Even that alone would not have concerned Aizen too greatly, but he had also discovered that Harry had previously given Ichigo Kurosaki a special Runic matrix.
That Runic matrix could balance the powers of a Hollow, a Soul Reaper, and a Quincy.
How could such a thing possibly exist?
Even Aizen could only rely upon the Hōgyoku to break through the boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows.
Aizen tightened his grip around his Zanpakutō, ready to act at any moment. If Harry possessed a method capable of breaking through Negación, Aizen's situation would instantly become dangerous.
What method could Harry possibly use to destroy Negación?
Harry did not answer Kenpachi's question directly. His smile merely deepened.
He paused and swept his gaze across every Soul Reaper present, from the Captain-Commander to the ordinary division members, before finally looking toward the sky above Sōkyoku Hill.
Aizen and his two companions had nearly reached the Garganta. They were moments away from leaving Soul Society.
Harry leaped into the air and stopped directly in front of Aizen.
Golden light shimmered within Negación. Reishi flowed slowly around it like currents of water, isolating everything inside from all external attacks.
Aizen floated in the center of the golden light with both hands tucked inside his sleeves. As he looked at Harry, who had suddenly appeared before Negación, he showed no surprise. Instead, a faint, probing smile appeared on his face.
"My, my. It seems I have still underestimated you, Harry Potter."
He tilted his head slightly, interest flickering through his eyes.
"Could you truly possess a way to destroy Negación? You should understand that Negación is not merely one of Hueco Mundo's secret rescue techniques. It is the condensed power of high-level Menos Grande.
"To destroy it would mean opposing all of Hueco Mundo. Other than the Soul King standing high above us, I doubt anyone could possess the power to oppose an entire world."
Harry did not answer.
He drew his Zanpakutō and recited its release command.
"Sever falsehood, ferry souls to their end. Amplify, Dangai Reitō!"
After his Zanpakutō was released, Harry's control over reishi increased once more.
He could sense the fundamental structure of everything around him. Every individual particle of reishi was clearly visible within his perception.
The Negación before him was no exception.
Unlike everything else in the surrounding area, however, the density of the reishi composing Negación was hundreds or even thousands of times greater.
Harry had sensed another reishi structure with a similar density.
It was the structure that composed the space of Soul Society itself.
Aizen's claim that destroying Negación meant opposing Hueco Mundo was not wrong. Negación was essentially an extension of the space of Hueco Mundo.
However, Harry's Zanpakutō was perfectly suited to countering that property.
When Harry had first designed his Zanpakutō, he had deliberately granted it the ability to control reishi so that he could eventually devour the entire Bleach world.
Naturally, that meant he could also control the reishi composing Negación.
Harry erupted with Reiatsu and poured it into the Zanpakutō in his hand.
He then swung the blade with tremendous force.
A sound like shattering crystal rang through the sky.
A massive crack appeared across Negación.
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