The jumping of a lifetime continued.
Sora ducked under a strike, Ichigo using his shoulder to jump over it.
Uryu, behind Aizen, pulled the string of his bow back.
In the sky, Ichigo had his Getsuga Tenshou ready.
Sora, in front of Aizen, had his gun pointed at the man.
Aizen looked at Sora's gun. Hm, this model Sora was using seemed old—like a Wild West-type gun. Then... the man saw it.
Kaede Ishida proprietary... oh, so the boy was using his mother's weapon.
Hm. The same gun... which had nearly ended his life a couple of years earlier... the same gun which was the reason for the scar he had over his body.
Yes, he had made an off-comment about potentially revealing Ryuken's link to her and, thus, to the Quincy Empire to the nobles of Soul Society to gauge her reaction... she popped Vollständig that instant, and he had no choice but to use his Bankai. The first ever time he was forced to use it.
The third time, of course, was when he faced Sora a couple of hours ago.
Hm. Those two really had a way of damaging him.
As Sora fired his gun, Aizen dodged. Uryu's arrow went for his head.
The man grabbed the arrows in his hand... before crushing them.
As for Ichigo's attack—
He simply raised his hand... and caught Ichigo's blade while it was in the air.
"This was truly a commendable strategy," his voice was still quite arrogant.
Sora gritted his teeth. Come on, was he that far ahead of his teammates? While Aizen needed to dodge his strike not to get hurt, he could simply do this to his teammates. Sure, a 1 vs. 1 would be good.
But Sora seemed to need Ichigo's Bankai ability.
Aizen's eyes seemed to glow a bit.
SLASH
A huge wound appeared on Ichigo's chest, the boy's eyes going white.
"Ichigo!" Sora rushed toward him.
Ichigo, losing consciousness... launched Zangetsu toward Sora.
Sora formed a light energy ball behind his hand, tossing it somewhere—in Uryu's line of sight, but not Aizen's.
Before the sword could reach Sora... Aizen grabbed it.
"This sword seems very important to you."
"No." Aizen raised a brow—who would buy that BS?
"Hand it over."
"Sure," the man said... before shattering the sword under his immense grip.
Oh dang.
"Oops... my hand slipped." Was he... fucking with Sora? Sora's eyes turned.
"You fuck!" Using Lichtschritt, he appeared in front of the man.
Sora cocked his fist back before—
"Fesselkunst: Kettenlied."
As Sora's punch landed on Aizen's face, white sparks could be seen flying everywhere across the battlefield. Sora's fist made solid contact with the Hogyoku in Aizen's chest.
Crack
Kaboom
The man was sent flying. Sora looked at it before rushing toward Ichigo.
CLICK
The wounds on Ichigo's body began healing. Yes, Sora seemed to have sacrificed his guaranteed win-con in order to make sure his friend was fine.
His life was more important.
"Sorry about your sword. I know a Bankai... can't be repaired."
"I will beat your ass if you dare blame yourself for this!" Ichigo shouted, punching Sora. What seemed to be Blut Vene could be seen on Sora's cheek.
Ichigo felt like he was punching a wall of steel... So, Sora's automatic defense did work—even if Ichigo wasn't really trying to harm him or had the best intentions, it still turned on.
The question now was... why Rukia?
Did it have anything to do with her practically being his wife? Heh, maybe.
If he were to look at his "people I trust" list, she'd be top 3. Ichigo would be top 5. Orihime placed above him—she was just that trustworthy.
Aizen? Somewhere near the bottom. With Mayuri, Urahara somewhere in there too... yes, the man was his boss and yes, he proved to be helpful. Yet this man wouldn't bat an eye if Ichigo was turned into the new linchpin of the world—nor if it was Yoruichi. The balance of the world mattered more to him.
So yes, he trusted the man... but at the same time, he knew when not to. A careful balance, really.
"AH!"
'Shit—Uryu!'
While Sora was busy with Ichigo...
Up in the sky, Aizen could be seen next to Uryu.
He had twisted Uryu's hand in a very unnatural angle... the bones could be seen.
Then, he kicked Uryu down—
Kaboom
CLICK
Uryu's body began to heal.
Aizen smiled a bit at this.
"Why trust in your companions? They are merely burdens. You cannot use your full might with them around. You are forced to only use a fragment of your power in order to match them. You are forced to lower yourself to their level—while you could do so much more without them."
"It's called trust. I trust they would have my back—and because I know for a fact they would do something stupid if I left them behind."
"Oh? So you chose this path because you were scared of the alternative? If that's the case, why not take them out of the fight? You have the power."
Sora took a deep breath.
"Because... I wouldn't want something like this done to me."
Aizen gripped his sword.
"Bonds are weakness."
"I don't give a fuck about your view. To me... they are everything. I refuse to lead a life where there are no bonds, no trust. I refuse to go back to that state of infinite loneliness—that cold, dark feeling. I despise it. I do not like it at all," Sora said.
Oh... that would explain a lot.
A/N....Sora vs Aizen next chapter...Also Sora plan is already in motion, anyone who can't see it, is quite blind, I made it hella obvious to the readers.