As Aizen no longer concealed his true nature, his immense spiritual pressure announced itself with overwhelming authority.
The invisible force pressed down like a tangible weight upon the hearts of everyone within miles.
"Gulp."
Below at street level, the guests and Lore Cardians who had already evacuated the Golden Phoenix Tower couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Even at such a considerable distance, their legs felt heavy as if filled with molten lead.
Compared to ordinary civilians, the Association's Lore Cardians could truly comprehend the devastating threat that Aizen's presence represented at this moment.
"That must be the Vice President's trump card."
Fortunately, the spiritual pressure radiating from Aizen wasn't directed at them specifically, bringing only psychological oppression rather than physical harm.
Otherwise, while the Lore Cardians might have survived such an onslaught, ordinary people would have certainly perished under the crushing weight of his immense spiritual energy.
At that moment, high above the Golden Phoenix Tower, a sudden gust of spiritual pressure whipped through Lannide's pale hair. She glanced upward in surprise before her expression transformed into one of excited anticipation.
"How fascinating!"
"You Lore Cardians never cease to amaze me!"
"In that case, "
The female demon materialized a gnarled wooden staff from thin air and tapped it against the atmosphere itself.
The next moment, a vast, shimmering barrier instantly enveloped the entire surrounding area.
"You two shall remain here where I can study you thoroughly."
A venomous expression filled Lannide's pale features as she spoke with scientific curiosity.
Aizen regarded Lannide coldly as she hovered in the air with predatory grace, slowly drawing his Zanpakutō from its sheath at his waist.
His deliberate movement immediately captured Lannide's undivided attention.
"What? A melee-oriented card?"
Despite the excited female voice, the brown-haired man spoke his liberation command with perfect calm.
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the air, and Lannide tilted her head in confusion. "What manner of power is this?"
"Never mind, I'll capture you first and conduct my research at leisure."
With that declaration, several magical arrays materialized around her position, each one condensing terrifying waves of destructive energy.
The next moment, a torrent of multicolored light erupted toward Azrael and Godfrey with devastating force.
"BOOM!"
The explosion thundered across the sky as thick smoke obscured the battlefield from view.
Lannide, floating in mid-air, frowned deeply, sensing that her attack had somehow missed its intended targets.
"Speaking too arrogantly only reveals your weakness,"
a cold male voice suddenly resonated from directly behind Lannide's position.
"Clink!"
"When did you, ?!"
Lannide's pupils contracted sharply. At that exact moment, the owner of that voice should still have been stationed on the fourth floor of the Golden Phoenix Tower.
However, her reaction wasn't slow. The instant she sensed the imminent danger, she generated multiple defensive arrays in rapid succession.
"Blocked it."
A terrifying energy wave suddenly erupted from behind her defensive position.
"He missed again?!"
Lannide's heart sank with growing concern.
Her counterattack had failed once more.
She should have already established a barrier to prevent spatial movement abilities.
What she couldn't understand was that while the Shinigami's Flash Step appeared to be a spatial technique, it was actually an advanced physical movement skill. However, as an elite member of the Demon Army's research division dispatched to Donglai to assist Li Gang, Lannide naturally wouldn't surrender without exhausting every option at her disposal.
She also recognized exactly what her opponent was attempting to accomplish.
"Illusion? Hypnosis?"
"You don't seriously believe these exotic cards haven't appeared in the northern territories, do you?"
Lannide spoke with a mocking smile of confidence.
After countless years of confrontation with the Empire of Aetherlight along the northern border, the Demon Army had encountered virtually every conceivable type of card imaginable.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
She flipped through the tome in her hands with practiced speed, then stopped at a particular page that held the solution she needed.
Invisible detection waves swept across the entire battlefield in expanding ripples.
"Found you!"
A targeting magic circle materialized instantly, and countless energy projectiles poured toward a specific location on the ground far below.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
A transparent barrier formed from the void itself, once again intercepting the female demon's relentless assault.
Behind the protective barrier, Azrael and Godfrey observed the battle unfolding in the sky above.
"Kyōka Suigetsu's Complete Hypnosis has been compromised!" Azrael wasn't particularly surprised by this development. While Aizen's Shikai was notably troublesome within the Bleach universe, it wasn't necessarily invincible on this world.
After all, who could predict what bizarre abilities Lore Cardians and demons might possess in their respective arsenals?
Lannide's recent attack had been aimed directly at him and the middle-aged director beside him.
The moment Aizen had activated Kyōka Suigetsu's Complete Hypnosis, Azrael had instructed his Shadowkhan to relocate both him and Godfrey away from the Golden Phoenix Tower to a safer position.
The Director of the Public Security Office, though still maintaining that characteristic deadpan expression, couldn't help but feel genuinely surprised by recent developments.
The Vice President's new card that had appeared in the secret realm hadn't displayed such formidable power during their previous encounters.
"At minimum, a Gold-tier card."
If Godfrey had initially assumed that Aizen's powerful illusion abilities would merit at least Purple-tier classification, then given his current display of overwhelming power, it had to be at least Gold-tier or higher.
"Perhaps even beyond that."
He now felt convinced that the young man before him was a genius on the same level as the Association's most legendary figures.
In the air above, Lannide was becoming increasingly irritated by her inability to land a decisive blow.
"Tsk..."
"I still need to deal with you first."
The previous exchange made her realize that she couldn't bypass the two Lore Cardians' summoned entities and attack their masters directly, even though this represented the most effective strategy in wilderness combat.
However, Aizen wasn't the only combatant on the battlefield at this moment.
A torrent of water rushed in from the void, instantly submerging Lannide's aerial position.
"Sizzle, sizzle..."
The subtle sound of evaporation could be heard as steam rose from the collision.
A massive fire lotus bloomed with destructive beauty, and the flood summoned by [Prime Minister Turtle] was instantly vaporized into superheated steam.
Just as Lannide had successfully dealt with the aquatic threat posed by [Prime Minister Turtle], an enormous lightning bolt descended from the heavens above.
A blazing pillar of electrical energy engulfed the Golden Phoenix Tower, its thunderous roar audible even from kilometers away.
A moment later, the lightning faded, leaving the air thick with the acrid smell of ozone from atmospheric ionization.
Yet even after absorbing two potentially fatal attacks in rapid succession, Lannide remained stubbornly airborne.
Even her clothing remained intact, with only slight scorch marks marring her pale face.
"Hmph, Lore Cardians are truly formidable opponents," she casually tucked her disheveled pale hair behind her ears with practiced indifference. "But did you really think you could kill me with such elementary tricks?!"
The tome in Lannide's hands had been replaced by her wooden staff of power.
Pointing the staff's crystalline tip toward the ground, beams of destructive energy rained down like a deadly meteor shower, completely obscuring the sky with their brilliant intensity.
"Hahahaha!"
"Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi."
Lannide's somewhat manic laughter echoed alongside Aizen's cold, calculated voice.
Kurohitsugi represented Aizen's most frequently utilized high-level Hadō technique in the original series. Even in its weakened form with an abbreviated incantation, it possessed sufficient power to instantly eliminate a Squad Captain.
Although it was often said that certain captains were considered the weakest among their ranks, they still stood at the absolute pinnacle of Shinigami power and capability.
Moreover, in subsequent story arcs, even those considered weak had successfully redeemed themselves through heroic actions. It wasn't that they were inadequate, rather, Aizen was simply that monstrously powerful.
What's more, with Misaka and [Prime Minister Turtle] providing crucial battlefield delays, he had sufficient time to complete the full incantation.
The pitch-black walls rapidly climbed from the ground toward the sky, and within mere seconds, a colossal coffin had formed around Lannide's position.
If the Kurohitsugi used by ordinary practitioners resembled crude burial shrouds meant for commoners, then Aizen's version was the magnificent coffin reserved for emperors.
In the distance, Godfrey stared at the giant black coffin standing between heaven and earth and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
As a Gold-level Lore Cardian, he could naturally sense the dangerous aura emanating from the technique.
"Red-tier quality..."
To be completely honest, Godfrey felt that his [Prime Minister Turtle]'s strongest attack was roughly equivalent in power to this black coffin technique.
Not to mention the brown-haired card's devastating illusion abilities demonstrated earlier.
Without question, the second card crafted by the young man beside him was also Red-tier quality.
It wasn't, as he and Diesel had previously assumed, a Purple-tier card hastily created to solve the secret realm crisis.
At that moment, the massive pitch-black coffin enveloping Lannide shattered instantly with tremendous force.
All structures within the affected area vanished completely, and Lannide herself appeared before everyone present, battered and bloodied.
The female demon, who had previously seemed arrogant and untouchable, now displayed unmistakable signs of panic and fear.
She had genuinely sensed the possibility of death from that devastating attack.
"Li Gang, save me!"
Her shrill cry echoed across the battlefield, clearly terrified by her narrow escape.
In the distance, Azrael and Godfrey exchanged meaningful glances.
However, the expected middle-aged man in the distinctive red dragon robe failed to appear.
"Abandoned by her ally?"
On the battlefield, a brilliant orange energy beam shot forth, impacting the defensive formation hastily erected in front of Lannide's position.
Lannide still possessed the strength to continue fighting, but she no longer had the will to press the battle.
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"
She couldn't accept this turn of events.
As a Level 2 Researcher in the Demon Army's Research and Development Department, she held a position equivalent to mid-level officer status.
And although she was considered old by some standards, that was only relative to shorter-lived species.
For Lannide, whose race possessed natural immortality, she was still in her prime years. "I cannot die yet. I still have so much research to complete regarding Lore Cardians and their abilities."
Her desperate desire for survival gradually overwhelmed her rational thinking processes.
"Li Gang! If you don't reveal yourself immediately, I'll expose your entire operational plan!"
Just as she made this threatening declaration, a middle-aged man wearing a red dragon robe materialized on the scene.
Li Gang's expression was thunderously dark with barely contained fury.
He had never expected that Lannide, who had acted so arrogantly confident the previous night, would now behave like a cornered, desperate animal.
However, their plan was already progressing slowly due to the sabotage efforts of the Crimson Oath Society. If this unstable woman beside him actually leaked classified information, he could consider relocating the entire operation to another city, assuming they survived.
Unfortunately for Li Gang, Aizen had anticipated his inevitable appearance.
"Do you comprehend how difficult it is to control the precise force needed to crush an ant without accidentally killing it?"
"Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu."
The highest-numbered Hadō technique, unleashed by the brown-haired man without requiring an incantation, materialized with devastating effect.
Five massive dragon-shaped phantoms materialized behind Aizen's position, their purple energy forms solidifying from ethereal wisps into terrible reality within seconds.
Li Gang's pupils contracted sharply upon witnessing this display, "A calculated trap?!"
Before his fusion with the Hōgyoku, Aizen remained primarily an intellectual combatant who had learned from Azrael that Lannide possessed a companion. He had been deliberately controlling his power output, fearing that an unrestrained blow might eliminate his targets before their ally revealed himself.
Fortunately, exactly as he had predicted, the mysterious Li Gang had finally made his appearance.
"Your fate is already a fact of the past."
The next moment, five giant purple dragons roared in unison and launched themselves at both Lannide and Li Gang, their ferocious maws instantly engulfing both targets.
The earth itself cried out in anguish.
Under the devastating impact of Goryūtenmetsu, the surrounding streets crumbled like fragile tofu.
The violent tremors caused ordinary civilians who had already fled to considerable distances to stumble and fall to the ground.
Turning around, they were confronted by a scene of apocalyptic destruction and devastation.
"This is what a Lore Cardian can accomplish!"
Hearing the awed murmurs of ordinary people nearby, the Association's Lore Cardians' faces grew tight with concern.
"Don't speak nonsense! How could Vice President Azrael be compared to those criminals?!"
If they had faced Azrael as an opponent, their fate would have been no different from that of helpless civilians.
Forget Azrael, even Director Godfrey would have had little trouble dealing with most of them in direct combat.
However, the Director of the Public Security Office wasn't much more composed at this particular moment.
His expression remained carefully blank, though it masked significant emotional turmoil rather than true indifference.
He had heard Aizen's words with perfect clarity during the exchange.
"He was actually holding back his full power?"
Godfrey's heart skipped several beats as he contemplated the implications while staring at the two cards belonging to Azrael currently active on the battlefield.
Both were Gold-tier Lore Cardians, yet the gap between their respective capabilities was becoming increasingly apparent.
Remember, the young man beside him had only achieved Gold-tier status less than two months ago.
"I must report this development to President Kavach immediately."
On the battlefield, the five purple dragons gradually dissipated, leaving behind only shattered ruins and a single pale corpse amid the devastation.
Only one body remained: Lannide's.
"He escaped?" Azrael frowned slightly with mild disappointment.
He had finally succeeded in luring Li Gang into the open, but the man had somehow managed to escape at the last possible moment.
However, considering Lannide's earlier words, the young man suspected there might be some significant rift between the man and the demon.
The demon researcher might have been manipulating someone else's agenda to eliminate a potential rival or obstacle.
After all, Li Gang's official designation was "Onefold Doctrine Collaborator," not "Onefold Doctrine Member."
"Tsk, what a missed opportunity."
Although he had failed to eliminate the mastermind behind the Onefold Doctrine's operations in Donglai, Azrael wasn't particularly discouraged by this setback.
Lannide had been a significant figure in the enemy's organizational structure after all.
"I sincerely hope the older generation won't seek revenge for the younger."
However, thinking of the identity that Shiraori had analyzed through her abilities, he couldn't help but feel a developing headache.
A Level 2 Researcher in the Research and Development Department of the Demon Army.
If there happened to be a Level 1 Researcher or Department Head seeking retribution, then Azrael could seriously consider strategic relocation.
Level 2 Researchers were all Gold-tier in combat capability, so wouldn't Level 1 Researchers have to begin at Platinum-tier as a minimum?
However, research departments probably didn't organize their hierarchy according to pure combat effectiveness alone.
Azrael felt somewhat reassured by this rational consideration.
"Director Godfrey, please have your personnel begin repairs as quickly as possible."
After giving instructions to Godfrey, Azrael quickly approached Lannide's motionless corpse.
Retrieving the materials dropped by the defeated female demon, Azrael felt a surge of satisfaction.
Gold-tier [Knowledgeable Immortal Seed] (Red quality).
"With this, the required ingredients are almost complete."
Azrael gathered the precious materials and returned to Godfrey's position.
"This material, "
"I'll be taking it. How about I compensate you with some Association points later, Director Godfrey?"
Godfrey was momentarily stunned by Azrael's proposal. "Vice President, please just keep it. I have no current need for this particular material."
"And I don't require the points compensation either."
Azrael had played the decisive role in today's confrontation, and the middle-aged director felt confident that he could have easily eliminated Lannide without any assistance whatsoever.
It would be more beneficial to simply do the Vice President a personal favor.
Azrael observed that Godfrey genuinely had no use for the material, but he shook his head firmly. "Don't worry about it, Director Godfrey. If you ever need anything in exchange, just request it through the point system."
Godfrey didn't require the material, and thus Azrael successfully obtained the final ingredient necessary for creating his next signature card.
With Lannide eliminated and Li Gang missing in action, their previous investigative leads had been severed. The two prepared to return to Association headquarters.
They still needed to report the evening's dramatic events to President Kavach after all the commotion they had caused.