Chapter 28 – A Different Aizen
Soul King Palace —
The activation of Auswählen by Yhwach shook the foundation of the world.
But this time… it wasn't like the original tale.
This time, he left nothing behind.
Not a single trace.
He absorbed not just the lifeforce and powers of every mixed-blood Quincy across the realms—he even wiped out the pure-blooded Sternritter without hesitation.
And with the extinction of the Quincy race…
A monster unlike any the world had ever seen was born.
His name—Aizen Sōsuke.
— — —
His appearance had changed drastically.
Half of his face was now covered by a white bone-like mask from his Hollowfication. Behind it glowed a pair of eerie twin pupils—eyes that seemed to pierce through reality itself.
A blood-red heart pulsed openly in the center of his chest, encased by a jagged cage of rib-like bones. Thump… thump…
He had fully fused with Yhwach's heart, the core that held all the Quincy King's power.
And that wasn't all.
While the Gotei 13 was preoccupied with the war in Hueco Mundo, Aizen, under Yhwach's instruction, uncovered what had long been hidden in Soul Society—
The Hōgyoku.
Just like in the original timeline, Urahara Kisuke had secretly sealed his creation inside Rukia Kuchiki's body during Aizen's initial rebellion.
But none of this escaped Yhwach's omniscient Schrift:
A – The Almighty.
— — —
Now, the fusion between Aizen and Yhwach stood at the edge of perfection.
Only one step remained: absorbing the last remnants of the Soul King's divine power.
Once that was done, the Aizen-Yhwach entity would possess the strength to dominate all Three Realms.
But why would Yhwach give up his power and allow Aizen to take control?
The answer was simple.
Because even with all his foresight, even with The Almighty, Yhwach saw only one conclusion—
Neither of them could defeat Tachibana Kyūjō alone.
And time… was not on their side.
Kyūjō wouldn't give them a moment's rest.
He wouldn't allow them the luxury of a slow and methodical absorption.
They had to gamble everything—now.
Only by merging Aizen's potential with the limitless evolution of the Hōgyoku… did they stand a chance of balancing the scales.
It was their final move.
A desperate bet.
Because if they didn't… then Tachibana would come for them, one by one, and erase them from existence.
That was the future Yhwach had seen.
Everything—the chaos in Soul Society, the Gotei 13's deployment, the war in Hueco Mundo—
It was all part of their plan.
A carefully staged distraction to pull Yamamoto and the captains away.
To buy just enough time for Aizen's full rebirth.
But of course, Yhwach wasn't so generous as to give up his power without conditions.
The new body was shared.
Split between two minds.
And the one who would rule in the end… would be the stronger of the two.
Aizen, the cunning genius with the Hōgyoku?
Or Yhwach, the all-seeing King regaining his divine might?
No one knew.
— — —
And now, within the walls of the Soul King Palace, a spiritual pressure beyond anything in history surged like a storm.
Even the Zero Division, guardians of the divine, felt a tremble in their hearts.
The first to confront the fusion of Aizen and Yhwach…
Was the one man who had always stood at the peak.
— — —
He was the head of the Zero Division.
The one who gave names to all things.
The oldest, most powerful Shinigami of them all—Ichibē Hyōsube.
If Yamamoto had been the strongest for the past thousand years—
Then Ichibē was the origin of all that power.
And now… he faced something not even he had seen in the fabric of fate.
— — —
A towering figure stepped forward—bald head, thick eyebrows, a flowing black beard reaching his chest, and a wide nose that added to his imposing frame.
He wore a full Shihakushō, with a loose-sleeved haori marked by the crest of the Zero Division on his back.
This was the Monk Who Calls the Real Name—
Ichibē Hyōsube, Guardian of the Soul King, and the Shinigami who named the very foundations of the world.
— — —
The Entire Zero Division Was Present:
Ichibē Hyōsube – The Monk Who Calls the Real Name
Tenjirō Kirinji – The Hot Spring Demon, founder of Kaidō
Kirio Hikifune – The Goddess of Grain, creator of soul-modification
Ōetsu Nimaiya – The Blade God of the West, creator of Zanpakutō
Senjumaru Shutara – The Great Weaver of the North, tailor of the Shihakushō
— — —
The moment Aizen stepped foot into the palace, Ichibē moved.
Without hesitation, he raised his massive calligraphy brush—his Zanpakutō, Ichimonji—and struck.
"I slice your name—not your body."
That was Ichimonji's true power even before Shikai.
With every strike, it cut the name of the target in half—
And with it, halved their power.
Simultaneously, the other members of the Zero Division unleashed their own divine techniques:
Tenjirō Kirinji – "Shikai: Amatsuki Issen – Kinpika!"
Kirio Hikifune – "Sanju!"
Ōetsu Nimaiya – "Zanpakutō: Sayafushi!"
Senjumaru Shutara – "Bankai: Shatakaragara Saizorojū!"
— — —
But in the middle of this divine onslaught—
Aizen said nothing.
He calmly reached for his blade.
"…Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
Ichibē's eyes narrowed instantly.
He knew that name.
He knew exactly what that Zanpakutō could do.
Total Hypnosis—Kanzen Saimin.
But while Ichibē saw the truth…
The others did not.
And now… Aizen was no longer just Aizen.
He was fused with Yhwach.
He was fused with the Hōgyoku.
And in the next moment—
The entire Zero Division turned their weapons against each other.
— — —
"Shikai: Blacken, Ichimonji!"
Ichibē's voice boomed like thunder.
With a sweeping arc, his brush slashed the air.
Every conflicting attack around him vanished into nothing.
"Guard the Soul King's core."
"This battle… is mine alone."
With another flick of Ichimonji, he sent the other Zero Division members flying—pushing them deep into the palace, far from the fight.
Then, raising his brush again, he painted a massive kanji character in the air—
「封」– Seal.
As the seal shimmered above him, he turned back toward the monster before him.
"Aizen Sōsuke, the Shinigami…"
"Or Yhwach, the Quincy King…"
"What… are you now?"
He gripped his black brush tighter.
"What name… do you want me to give you?"
— — —
Within the mind of Aizen, a voice echoed clearly.
Yhwach.
"No time to toy with the monk. His abilities can be neutralized by mine. Crush him immediately. Unleash everything. Leave the defense to me."
"Tachibana Kyūjō has returned to Hueco Mundo. I can sense it… he's almost finished evolving."
"We must act now. Fuse with the remaining power of the Soul King—only then do we stand a chance."
Aizen said nothing, but gave a silent nod.
And in that instant, the Hōgyoku's power surged forth—unleashed at full force.
Despite the immense transformation happening within, Aizen's body did not mutate grotesquely as before. Thanks to the balance Yhwach's essence provided, his appearance remained humanoid… eerily perfect.
But the sheer pressure radiating from his body made the very air of the Soul King Palace tremble.
Walls cracked. Floors shattered. Space itself warped.
"Hadō No 99 — Goryū Tenmetsu..."
"Hōgyoku-Modified Version—Kyūryū Tenmetsu!"
Nine colossal dragons formed from pure spiritual energy tore through the heavens—rising like meteors, all aimed directly at Ichibē Hyōsube.
Even far away in Hueco Mundo, where dimensions separated the realms—
Tachibana Kyūjō opened his eyes.
He could feel it.
— — —
Hyōsube's face tensed. This wasn't something he could block carelessly.
He extended his right palm and summoned the full might of his spiritual strength.
"Senrī Tsūten Shō!!"
A massive spiritual hand surged forth to counter the incoming storm.
But in terms of raw spiritual power, even a being as ancient as Hyōsube—who had lived for millions of years—couldn't match the current Aizen.
The divine hand crushed one dragon…
But the remaining eight shattered through its defenses and slammed into Hyōsube's body.
Explosions erupted across the palace. The walls of reality groaned under the strain.
Blood burst from Hyōsube's mouth as his body was thrown back—his bones cracked, his robes torn.
— — —
"Everything I see… cannot harm me."
"That is the power I was born with…"
"Schrift A — The Almighty."
The words came from Aizen's mouth.
But the voice, the weight behind them—belonged to Yhwach.
— — —
Hyōsube collapsed.
Unconscious.
He never even had the chance to release his Bankai, Shirafude Ichimonji.
A Bankai capable of rewriting the true name of anything touched by his brush—rendering their power nonexistent.
But his brush… had never even reached Aizen.
And even if it had—
It would've meant nothing before the eyes of The Almighty.
— — —
But a question still lingered.
If Aizen and Yhwach now held such overwhelming power…
Why was Yhwach still afraid of Tachibana Kyūjō?
The answer was simple.
The Almighty could not perceive Kyūjō's Infinity.
If Yhwach couldn't see it—
Then he wasn't All-Knowing.
And if he wasn't All-Knowing—
Then he wasn't All-Powerful.
That was the reason Yhwach fused with Aizen.
That was why he sought the Hōgyoku.
Only by combining Aizen's limitless evolution, Yhwach's dominion over fate, and the fragments of the Soul King's divinity…
Could they possibly surpass Kyūjō's infinite spiritual threshold.
Only then would they have a chance.
A desperate one—but the only one.
— — —
And in a twisted sense of irony—
Yhwach's The Almighty shared a concept similar to Kyūjō's Infinity.
But that's where the resemblance ended.
Yhwach, as the Soul King's son, was bound by the laws of the world.
His power was that of rules and restrictions.
Kyūjō, on the other hand—
His Zanpakutō, his Infinity World, was born of his soul itself.
It did not follow logic.
It broke it.
That was why, in the end, Kyūjō had once defeated Yhwach without even needing to fight.
And that was why Yhwach was now betting everything.
Everything that happened in Soul Society—the chaos, the distraction, the deception—
It was all part of his final plan.
A hidden route not found in the original tale.
The only path he hadn't seen before.
And now… even with The Almighty…
Yhwach could no longer see what lay ahead.
The end of this path—
Was shrouded in darkness.
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