"Bakudō #39: Enkōsen."
With a flick of his fingers, Aizen formed a circular energy shield, barely blocking the tail end of the explosion. He then turned his head, eyes calmly settling in the direction the golden laser had come from.
Even while surrounded earlier, Aizen had kept his Reiatsu perception active and was well aware of the nearby energy signature. As soon as Ran En's Reiatsu appeared, he'd sensed it but seeing his brother leisurely spectating the fight, he decided to ignore it and continued battling.
Unexpectedly, just moments later, a golden laser ended the entire siege in one decisive shot.
"An opponent of this level... and you let them waste so much of your time, Aizen?"
Ran En retracted his outstretched finger as he met Aizen's gaze.
"They brought me quite the welcome gift," Aizen replied lightly. "In return, I had to show them as much of this world as I could. Consider it the best parting gift I had to offer."
"Oh?"
Ran En raised a brow, eyes drifting toward the Zanpakutō in Aizen's hand.
"You already know its name?"
"Kyōka Suigetsu," Aizen replied calmly. "Its ability is Complete Hypnosis. Once you've seen it even once, your five senses are under my control permanently."
"And yes," he added with a faint smile, "it's the strongest Illusion-type Zanpakutō."
He let the blade's tip rest gently on the ground, voice rhythmic, relaxed, and unmistakably proud something he rarely showed, except perhaps in front of his older brother.
"Kyōka Suigetsu, huh?"
Ran En's smile deepened. Aizen didn't hold anything back from him, even casually revealing the Zanpakutō's abilities. That alone was proof of trust and perhaps competitiveness.
From how he'd carried himself earlier, Ran En could already tell: to others, Aizen remained the perfect picture of grace and kindness. But beneath the surface, he was cold, strategic, and ruthless.
To him though, Aizen was simply one thing.
His younger brother.
"And you?" Aizen asked. "When I expanded my Reiatsu perception earlier, I couldn't sense yours at all. But then, suddenly, there you were moving faster than lightning in a flash of golden light."
He paused, eyeing Ran En curiously.
"Creating and controlling light to fight… is that your Zanpakutō's ability?"
"You guessed right," Ran En answered with a faint smile. "It manipulates light, moves at the speed of light, and strikes with the force of light."
"This is Candle Yin."
He let that settle for a beat.
"And yes... it's also the strongest Flash-type Zanpakutō."
The moment mirrored what Aizen had said earlier same tone, same words just flipped back at him.
"..."
Aizen's smile stiffened.
Same delivery. Same phrasing.
But now it was Ran En delivering the line.
It was strange. Despite wielding the most powerful Illusion-type Zanpakutō, he didn't feel particularly victorious right now.
A brief silence.
Then both brothers suddenly laughed at the same time.
Only when facing each other did they show this kind of genuine smile.
Whoosh
Two powerful Reiatsu signatures suddenly entered their perception range.
Though the brothers' smiles didn't vanish, they shifted growing gentler, more composed, and a little more guarded.
" Ran En. Aizen. Are you two alright?"
Jūshirō Ukitake arrived with a flash of Shunpo. As he landed, his eyes scanned the surroundings sword marks, wreckage, and a field full of corpses, all dealt with cleanly and efficiently.
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni stood quietly beside him, leaning on his cane-shaped Zanpakutō, his gaze deep and unreadable as it rested on the two brothers.
"It was an ambush," Ran En said plainly. "After classes ended, we returned to our dorms. Just as we opened the door, the world around us distorted we were pulled into separate spaces. Then came the attack."
He paused.
"As you can see, we had no choice but to eliminate the assailants in self-defense."
"Kidō enchantment. Forbidden-level space transfer. A well-coordinated ambush." Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, silently assembling the entire sequence in his mind as if he had witnessed it himself.
"Ah, I almost forgot to introduce you."
Jūshirō Ukitake straightened slightly and gestured toward the old man beside him.
"This is the Head Captain of the Gotei 13, the founder of the Spiritual Arts Academy Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni."
"Headmaster."
"Captain, sir."
Ran En and Aizen greeted him in turn, though each used a slightly different title.
Yamamoto's eyes twitched slightly. It was subtle, but he noticed.
And he understood.
"Headmaster" showed respect and student-like deference.
"Captain" acknowledged authority but from one equal warrior to another.
He smiled slightly.
" Ran En is calm and unrestrained."
"Aizen is composed and courteous."
"A fine pair of brothers."
Though he only just met them, Yamamoto who had led Soul Society for over a thousand years could already sense much about them through those brief interactions.
"Shame none of them survived."
Jūshirō Ukitake crouched down, pulling the hood off one of the corpses. The face underneath was unfamiliar.
"If even one had lived, we could have sent them to the Detention Force or Kidō Corps. They would've been able to extract the truth."
"But it's alright." He stood. "We'll get to the bottom of this. And when we do, the Soul Society will give you two an answer."
If it had been anyone else, their deaths might have gone unnoticed.
But Ran En and Aizen weren't ordinary students.
They were once-in-a-century prodigies. Future captains of the Gotei 13. Potential disciples of the Head Captain himself.
This incident would not go unanswered.