Faced with the Noble Phantasms raining down like a storm, the Zanpakutō Aizen used to carve a path forward flashed with a mirror-like brilliance. Three square mirrors, each as tall as a person, appeared around him, reflecting the forms of the Noble Phantasms within their surfaces.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.
The continuous sound of weapons colliding rang out.
Those sounds accompanied Aizen as he advanced completely unharmed. No matter how dense the barrage from the Gate of Babylon became, there was always a flash of mirror-light that precisely blocked the Noble Phantasms' attacks for him.
Under the mirrors' reflections, the Noble Phantasms fired from the Gate of Babylon always collided with the Noble Phantasms reflected inside the mirrors. Aizen relied on these illusions within the mirrors to resist attack after attack.
The square mirrors blocking Aizen's path were like miniature Dankū barriers.
This was the product of Aizen combining Dankū with Zanjutsu.
Bakudō Sword Art: Reflection Void.
Aizen understood very clearly that the king in golden armor below was merely a product of Tsunayoshi's illusions. That meant those endless treasures were likewise illusions.
What Aizen did was very simple.
Through the power of his mirrors, he repeatedly conjured false Noble Phantasms identical to the real ones, causing them to collide.
In other words, Aizen had hypnotized the flying Noble Phantasms, making them believe they had crashed into themselves.
Gilgamesh's expression turned ugly.
Aizen's actions awakened unpleasant memories in him. Why was it that, after merely coming out to fill some screen time, he had encountered a technique that reached the same result as that fellow who had once broken through the Gate of Babylon with counterfeits?
Gilgamesh's face instantly soured.
A golden hilt emerged beside him. Just as he was preparing to make this ignorant fool experience the mighty power that opened heaven and earth, his hand paused.
A speechless expression appeared on his face.
What was the meaning of calling him out, yet not allowing him to use his true power?
Gilgamesh's gaze swept toward the corner near the palace entrance.
Unfortunately, that person was not his true Master. Otherwise, he would have let that fellow experience what it meant for a Servant to kill his Master.
With no other choice, the King of Heroes could only sit upon Aizen's throne with a dark expression, silently waiting for Aizen to charge through the storm of weapons and deliver the fatal slash.
With his eyes full of resentment, Gilgamesh vanished into a cloud of smoke beneath Aizen's blade.
At that moment, Aizen felt utterly exhilarated.
Another king had fallen beneath his sword.
He felt as though he had drawn one step closer to the true throne, and his fusion with the Hōgyoku had deepened even further.
"Come, Sawada Tsunayoshi! Try whatever other tricks you have!"
Aizen threw his head back and laughed wildly.
Where else could one find a trial like this, one without any danger to his life?
It was far too satisfying.
At that moment, in the corner near the palace entrance, three figures were crouched together, watching Aizen "fight desperately" while constantly munching on snacks like spectators enjoying gossip.
"Say, those people never used their true power, did they? You're just letting Aizen off like this?"
Kisuke Urahara asked curiously.
As an observer, he could naturally see that Aizen had defeated each of them right before they could bring out their true strength.
The ones crouched together with Urahara and watching the show were Gin Ichimaru and Sawada Tsunayoshi, who should have been the one fighting.
Tsunayoshi stopped eating his melon and replied irritably,
"It's not like I'm actually trying to kill Aizen. Giving him some pressure is enough. Besides, we're going to take over Las Noches later. It wouldn't be good for us to destroy this place with our own hands, would it?"
Tsunayoshi pointed at Aizen, who was laughing wildly in the center of the hall.
"He's the one who broke it. So he has to fix it himself, right?"
Just thinking about techniques like Super Shinra Tensei, Tengai Shinsei, and Enuma Elish made Tsunayoshi decisively give up on using them.
If techniques of that level were unleashed even once, Las Noches would probably be flattened. Wasting that much Reiatsu would not be worth it.
Moreover, under Tsunayoshi's deliberate control, aside from the palace ceiling that had been blown apart when he used his Transcendent Bankai, all the current damage inside the palace had been caused by Aizen.
That was right.
Even the floor destroyed by Shinra Tensei had been an illusion.
Now the palace walls, the throne, and everything else that had been damaged had all been destroyed by Aizen alone.
It had absolutely nothing to do with him, Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Gin Ichimaru did not speak. He merely looked quietly at Tsunayoshi, pondering the ability of Tsunayoshi's Transcendent Bankai.
He had clearly seen that every time Tsunayoshi conjured a figure, one of the horizontal lines on his robe opened.
Yes, opened.
Those were not decorative lines at all. They were real eyes.
When Aizen's opponent changed, the eyes on the robe changed as well. The originally opened eye would close, and another eye would open.
Gin Ichimaru had a bold guess.
The dense lines covering Sawada Tsunayoshi's body represented countless eyes.
If he truly wanted to kill Aizen and transformed into a hundred-eyed monster from the very beginning, would Aizen not be crushed instantly?
"What? Trying to calculate my ability?"
Tsunayoshi noticed Gin Ichimaru's gaze and asked casually.
"I am a little curious about the power of your Transcendent Bankai, Sawada-kun."
Gin Ichimaru spoke honestly.
He had no conflict of interest with Tsunayoshi, so there was no need to worry that Tsunayoshi would scheme against him.
Even if Tsunayoshi did have some plan for him, so what?
As long as he could hand the thing in his chest to Rangiku, nothing else mattered.
"The power of my Mist-attribute Transcendent Bankai is called Dimensional Construction. Simply put, it allows me to create things that do not belong to this world."
Tsunayoshi explained casually.
Yet there would always be someone who could understand.
Kisuke Urahara asked,
"So, Tsunayoshi, your world is actually that dangerous?"
Naturally, Kisuke Urahara had classified the three fantasy figures he had witnessed as beings from Tsunayoshi's original world.
As for Tsunayoshi's existence, Urahara had long suspected that Tsunayoshi was not from this world. He had simply never said it out loud.
This question finally placed that matter openly on the table.
"You could say they're people from my memories."
Tsunayoshi did not explain in detail.
The matters of his previous life were already in the past. He had no interest in other worlds.
After living in Karakura Town for all these years, he had already formed bonds within the world of Shinigami.
All he wanted was to settle the troublesome matters and then live his own ordinary life.
Seeing that Tsunayoshi was unwilling to say more, Urahara did not press him. Instead, he shifted the topic back to Aizen.
"How long do you think it will take Aizen to break through his current state?"
"I don't know. I hope he puts in a little more effort. Otherwise, I really will have to attack him with the intent to kill."
Tsunayoshi half-lowered his eyelids and spoke coldly.
The potential that erupted between life and death was terrifying.
In the original story, Aizen was struck by Gin Ichimaru's Kamishini no Yari. Under circumstances where he was nearly killed by Gin, he touched the threshold of fusing with his Zanpakutō.
Aizen had just executed a group of swordsmen who had been shouting something about breathing when he suddenly felt a wave of heat appear behind him.
It was the same searing sensation only Yamamoto could give him.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Aizen could not even see who had launched the technique. He only saw a massive flaming tornado sweeping toward him.
This time, Aizen showed not the slightest trace of urgency. Instead, he leisurely raised his hand and aimed his palm at the flaming vortex.
A mass of thick white liquid emerged from Aizen's arm. The liquid formed a hollow mouth and swallowed all the flames completely.
This was the power Aizen had researched in order to seal Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's Ryūjin Jakka.
He had originally thought that one day he might transform this flame-sealing ability into an Arrancar. He had not expected to use it so soon.
However, perhaps this flame-sealing power would no longer be needed.
Sawada Tsunayoshi and Kisuke Urahara had come to Hueco Mundo together to provide him with the materials for the Ōken. If anyone said Yamamoto knew absolutely nothing about this, Aizen would not believe it.
Perhaps he would not need to face Yamamoto after all.
Then what was Captain-Commander Yamamoto's objective?
Thinking up to this point, Aizen could not help but smile.
He had not expected that the esteemed Captain-Commander also held such long-standing resentment toward the heavens.
He intended to use Aizen as the vanguard, a pathfinder to test the road ahead.
Having understood the reason, Aizen became even more carefree.
He did not care about being used as a pathfinder. He believed that with his power and the Hōgyoku, once he ascended the throne, that would be the moment he suppressed all of Soul Society.
Looking at Aizen, who had fallen into thought, the pink-haired boy clicked his tongue.
His Reiatsu had already been used up in that previous move, so he could only silently withdraw from the stage.
The pink-haired boy's departure did not mean Tsunayoshi's ability would stop.
A fierce aura appeared in the center of the battlefield, immediately drawing Aizen's attention.
Before he could even see his opponent clearly, a fist larger than a sandbag had already smashed into his face.
With a sharp whoosh, Aizen was instantly sent flying backward.
The blood at the corner of his mouth showed that he had truly been injured this time.
But before he could stabilize himself, that opponent had already caught up to him as if flying.
No.
He really could fly.
Aizen's back suffered another heavy blow, and he was sent flying once again.
Just as the opponent's next attack was about to arrive, Aizen had already adjusted his condition.
He casually hung his Zanpakutō at his waist, freed both hands, and began fighting the opponent barehanded.
Originally, Aizen had wanted to counterattack the second time he was struck. Only afterward did he discover that this opponent's strikes were abnormally fast. His direct punches were actually half a beat faster than Aizen's sword swings.
That was why Aizen decided to fight him with his fists.
He did not often use Hakuda, but that did not mean Aizen's hand-to-hand combat was weak.
The two clashed at an astonishing speed. Only then did Aizen clearly see his opponent's appearance.
He wore an orange martial arts uniform. His hair and eyebrows were golden, and an intense aura constantly surged from his body.
Dragon Ball. Son Goku.
Aizen could feel that every one of the opponent's punches was heavy and powerful. Before long, injuries of varying severity appeared across his arms.
Only after the white liquid representing Hollow power covered them was he barely able to withstand Son Goku's high-speed assault.
They were clearly only fists and kicks.
Why did they inflict even more damage than those previous opponents?
What Aizen did not know was that, seeing him fight with such excitement, Tsunayoshi had silently increased the Reiatsu output.
If he wanted Aizen to transform, he had to make him feel pressure.
From this moment on, Aizen's opponents would always be just a step stronger than him.
In other words, Aizen was about to enter beating mode.
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