Under the shockwave of Aizen's Reiatsu, cracks of varying sizes spread across the palace walls. Faced with a powerful opponent, all he felt was a surging will to fight. As for Las Noches, it could simply be rebuilt later.
Just as Aizen lifted his head proudly and prepared to challenge the even greater existence above him, Sawada Tsunayoshi vanished.
All Aizen could see was a vast expanse of pale white mist.
Aizen smiled.
He had still been able to obtain basic intelligence on Tsunayoshi. This was likely the power of Tsunayoshi's illusions. He had not expected that, after crossing blades with him in Tōshirō Hitsugaya's inner world, he would also have the chance to fight him in reality.
Driven by intense excitement, Aizen activated the power of his Zanpakutō. He knew Tsunayoshi possessed a special ability that could see through his illusions, but so what? In a battle of this level, even consuming the slightest fraction of Tsunayoshi's mental focus would be worth it.
All it required was a little Reiatsu.
Aizen's Reiatsu probed into the mist.
Then came the sound of shattering mirrors.
A deep, heavy male voice asked, "How many floors must one sack of rice be carried?"
A puzzled look appeared on Aizen's face.
Pain?
That did not sound like something Sawada Tsunayoshi would say. And just as he expected, once the mist dispersed, there was no Sawada Tsunayoshi at all. Instead, there stood a man wearing a black robe patterned with red clouds, his face decorated with bizarre piercings.
Not Sawada Tsunayoshi.
What exactly was Tsunayoshi doing? Creating an opponent with no Reiatsu whatsoever to fight him? Was he not looking down on Aizen a little too much?
Aizen no longer paid attention to the strangely dressed creature. His gaze swept across the surrounding area. He did not believe Tsunayoshi would run away. He was definitely hiding somewhere.
Seeing that Aizen did not answer him, the man Tsunayoshi had conjured seemed somewhat displeased. He raised his palm toward Aizen and answered his own question.
"A sack of rice must be carried to the second floor!"
A terrifying repulsive force suddenly struck Aizen.
Only at that moment did Aizen sense the aura of Reiatsu. It was an extraordinarily powerful force. For a moment, he was actually unable to resist. His entire body was slammed into the ground by the repulsion, and the palace floor beneath him was violently shattered along with him.
After knocking Aizen down with a single strike, the man merely said indifferently,
"Shinra Tensei."
Aizen rose to his feet in a somewhat disheveled state. Even the battle at the Sōkyoku had never left him in such a sorry condition. His custom-tailored uniform had already been thrown into disorder by the force of Shinra Tensei. Lowering his head, he laughed in anger.
"Good. Very good, Shinra Tensei. State your name."
Although this was an illusion created by Tsunayoshi, Aizen had a strange feeling that this was a real person. Such a powerful opponent was worthy of having his name remembered.
"God. Pain."
Standing high above like a deity, Pain looked down at Aizen with his ringed eyes, his gaze full of disdain. This enemy amounted to little. He could not even withstand Shinra Tensei.
"God?"
Aizen raised his head furiously.
The other party called himself a god.
Then what did that make him?
Whether this was an illusion created by Tsunayoshi or not, Aizen decided that he would begin defeating Sawada Tsunayoshi by killing this false god.
"Then today, I shall show you what it means to kill a god!"
Aizen stepped forward with Shunpo and appeared before Pain in the blink of an eye. The Zanpakutō in his hand, wrapped in an eerie blue light, slashed toward Pain. A mere Cero-infused slash was something he had long since analyzed with the aid of the Hōgyoku.
But this was no ordinary Cero.
It was a slash of Gran Rey Cero.
What Aizen did not expect was that the instant his Zanpakutō descended, Pain's figure before him suddenly changed.
A gourd-shaped fan nearly as tall as a human blocked his attack.
The light of the Gran Rey Cero contained within the Zanpakutō did not even stir the slightest ripple. Just like that, it was easily stopped.
"Do you also want to dance?"
The voice was completely different from Pain's in tone and cadence. In just a single sentence, it revealed boundless arrogance.
Before Aizen could think further, he heard the man's next words.
"Uchiha Reflection."
A blue light identical to the flash of the Gran Rey Cero erupted from the fan.
At such close range, Aizen had no way to evade. In his haste, he only had enough time to condense a round shield for defense.
Bakudō #39: Enkōsen.
But how could the thirty-ninth Bakudō, especially an unchanted version, possibly block the Gran Rey Cero Aizen himself had just condensed?
The blue beam swallowed Aizen whole.
High in the air, only the wielder of the gunbai remained. He wore crimson armor and had long, spiked hair. On his invincible-looking face, there was a trace of boredom.
"Dull. Fighting Hashirama is still more interesting."
In the eyes of the invincible Madara Uchiha, only Hashirama Senju was worthy of his attention.
"Honestly, one after another… who gave you permission to act so arrogantly here?"
A furious roar erupted from Aizen on the ground, his uniform now tattered and ruined.
At the same time, four black walls instantly rose from the ground and surrounded Madara Uchiha.
Aizen pointed with two fingers and declared,
"Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi."
An instant-cast Kurohitsugi was not enough.
Although this opponent did not appear as strong as the previous one, Aizen still began chanting the incantation for Kurohitsugi at high speed.
He intended to layer an even stronger Kurohitsugi over the first one.
A second layer of blackness rapidly climbed around the outside of the coffin. Just as the second Kurohitsugi was about to be completed, two enormous tachi pierced through the black coffin at the same time.
Judging by the length of the blades alone, they were nearly comparable to Aizen's current palace.
The blades swept through the air, and the Kurohitsugi rapidly collapsed, revealing the scene within.
A giant.
It was a blue giant clad in armor resembling a tengu, wielding two tachi. And Madara Uchiha, whom Aizen had attacked, stood completely unharmed at the center of the giant's brow.
"Interesting. You have value as someone to be killed."
Even after being forced to reveal his strongest defensive form by Kurohitsugi, Madara Uchiha still carried himself with that same superior attitude. His interest in Aizen had only increased slightly.
Looking at the giant before him, Aizen felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
Before this giant, he, who still remained on the level of a Shinigami, seemed far too small.
It was the same feeling he had when he had first witnessed Tsunayoshi's Transcendent Bankai. Zanpakutō fusion and the power Aizen currently possessed existed on completely different levels.
But that did not mean Aizen lacked the courage to attack.
In his Mirror-Clear State, his goal was incomparably clear.
He would ascend to that vacant throne in the heavens. Even if a god stood in his way, he would kill that god.
Madara Uchiha glanced indifferently at Aizen. The giant called Susanoo swung its twin blades down toward him.
This strike would decide the outcome.
Five black dragons coiled up behind Aizen. Facing a giant that looked impossible for human strength to resist, Aizen resolutely launched a charge.
The black dragons formed by Goryūtenmetsu gathered upon his Zanpakutō.
This was the ultimate strike, combining the pinnacle of Aizen's Zanjutsu and Kidō.
Hadō Sword Art: Five-Headed Dragon Flash!
The five black dragons transformed into powerful slashes, tearing Susanoo's armor to shreds.
Yet even in the face of this seemingly one-sided battle, Madara Uchiha's expression did not fluctuate much.
At the moment of his disappearance, only a faint look of regret appeared in Madara Uchiha's eyes.
A worthy opponent.
Unfortunately, he would have no chance to kill him with his own hands.
Exhilarating.
Watching Susanoo crumble bit by bit, an extreme pleasure surged into Aizen's heart.
This was his power.
Gods, giants, whatever they might be—he would cut them all down.
Gradually, the expression on Aizen's face began to turn strange. As though infected by some virus of mad laughter, he spread his arms and laughed wildly toward the heavens.
"Are you my Master?"
Another cold and arrogant voice interrupted Aizen's狂 laughter.
Having gradually understood that the figures within these illusions were all battle opponents created for him by Sawada Tsunayoshi, Aizen's tone became just as arrogant as his laughter.
"What Master? I am the king of the world, the owner of the vacant throne in the heavens!"
Such words should clearly have sounded unbearably childish, yet when spoken by Aizen, they were somehow utterly convincing.
He truly seemed like a king.
"A king?"
A faint emotional ripple appeared in that voice, which had previously sounded utterly bored.
Could this world's king provide him with even the slightest amusement?
"The king acknowledges. The king permits. The king bears the entire world."
A sharp gaze pierced through Aizen's body, as though it intended to see him clearly from the inside out.
"Let me see, then, what your kingship truly is!"
Guided by that gaze, Aizen finally discovered that inside the palace, seated upon what had originally been his own throne, was a blond-haired, red-eyed man.
He wore golden armor. Every movement he made radiated an arrogance that said he alone stood above all others.
A king.
At first glance, Aizen acknowledged the other party's identity as a king.
First a god, then a giant, and now a king?
How well done, Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Aizen sighed sincerely in his heart.
Although he had no idea what sort of brain Tsunayoshi possessed to create these strange individuals, Aizen had to admit that, if not for Tsunayoshi, he would never have had the chance in this world to cross blades with so many powerful beings.
As Aizen reflected on this, the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, rested his head on one hand, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Behind him, ring-shaped ripples appeared one after another. From within them emerged countless weapons, each clearly far from ordinary.
The next instant, under Gilgamesh's control, those countless weapons—each one worthy of being called a Noble Phantasm—shot toward Aizen.
Like a rain of golden light filling the sky, they swallowed Aizen whole.
The Gate of Babylon contained every treasure from the age in which Gilgamesh had lived. Each one, taken on its own, was a Noble Phantasm of considerable power. Yet now he used them like arrows, firing them as attacks.
Facing the dense barrage of Noble Phantasms, Aizen immediately activated the Kidō he was most skilled at.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
However, Dankū was like glass being savaged by a storm of hail. It did not last long before shattering into pieces.
Still, that brief moment was enough for Aizen to prepare his response.
The blade of his Mirror-Clear Zanpakutō, already as reflective as glass, became covered in another transparent layer of Reiatsu.
Aizen swung his Zanpakutō and charged through the suppression of the Gate of Babylon, rushing toward Gilgamesh.
At the same time, his voice carried unrestrained excitement as he shouted,
"Your kingship—I acknowledge it!"
P.S. Do not get too caught up in power scaling. These fantasy characters are all being reinforced by the Reiatsu of Tsunayoshi's Transcendent Bankai. At its core, this is still a battle of Reiatsu.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789