Cold sweat rolled down Kurotsuki Renya's temple as he stared at the figure standing before him—Aizen Sōsuke.
If it had only been Tōsen Kaname and Ichimaru Gin, he might have had a chance to retreat using his speed. But with Aizen here… escape was impossible.
"Captain Aizen… Captain Ichimaru… Captain Tōsen," Renya said coldly, gripping the hilt of his Zanpakutō tighter. "Why are you attacking me? What are you trying to do?"
Aizen smiled with calm amusement. "You should already know the answer."
Renya's brow furrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh?" Aizen tilted his head slightly, the glint in his eyes sharper than his blade. "Then tell me, why didn't you look directly at my Zanpakutō when I released it? At your birthday gathering, everyone witnessed Kyōka Suigetsu—everyone except you."
Renya replied softly, "That doesn't mean anything. Maybe I just… missed the moment."
"But you pretended you had seen it," Aizen countered, his tone still polite, almost conversational.
Renya met his gaze. "So you noticed I turned away and concluded I knew the secret behind your Zanpakutō?"
Aizen chuckled, adjusting his glasses. "At first, you almost fooled me. You were subtle—shorter than most, easily overlooked in a crowd. But you made one mistake. In the eyes of everyone else, I stood on your right. Yet you looked left… toward my real body. That's when I was certain."
So that's how he saw through it…
Renya's expression darkened. He had taken every precaution, but even a single misstep before Aizen was fatal.
"You know the true ability of Kyōka Suigetsu," Aizen continued, "and you also know how to avoid it. Yet in all of Seireitei, only Gin and Kaname are aware of its nature. I'm curious—how did you learn that?"
Renya remained silent. How could he tell them he wasn't born in this world—that he had memories from another? No one would believe him.
Aizen's smile thinned. "Don't bother lying. Whether you answer or not, your death is certain. But I'm generous. Tell me where Urahara Kisuke and Hirako Shinji are hiding, and I'll make your death painless."
Renya frowned. "Urahara Kisuke? Hirako Shinji? What do they have to do with this?"
Aizen's voice carried that calm, assured cruelty only he could manage. "Without them, how could you know what you know? You were sent here by them, weren't you? That's why you knew about Metastacia killing Shiba Kaien before it was ever reported."
Renya's eyes widened slightly. "You think… they sent me?"
"Of course," Aizen replied smoothly. "You arrived in Rukongai as an eleven-year-old with fifth-class Reiatsu—a level far beyond any ordinary soul. Even prodigies like Gin or Kaien Shiba didn't reach that level until decades later. Now, at your current age, your Reiatsu is well into the seventh-class, bordering on lieutenant-tier. That isn't coincidence. That's cultivation."
He paced slowly, hands folded behind his back. "Your Zanpakutō is of the lightning type—an unusual and powerful nature. Its applications are vast: high-speed movement, energy projection, even metallic acceleration. Your so-called Electromagnetic Cannon—a technique that manipulates magnetic fields through Reiryoku—has no precedent in the Shin'ō Academy or even in the Great Spirit Library. Knowledge like that belongs to the realm of Urahara's science."
Renya's eyes hardened.
"Then," Aizen continued, "there's your combat method—using the explosive recoil of condensed lightning to enhance physical power. A secret long-lost to the Shihōin Clan, one that even Soifon had never mastered until you showed her. That alone tells me Yoruichi Shihōin must have taught you. And Yoruichi… fled Soul Society alongside Urahara eighty years ago."
Renya's breath caught.
"So," Aizen concluded, "your knowledge of my Zanpakutō, your spiritual growth, your technological concepts—all of it leads to one truth. You were sent here by Urahara and Hirako. They groomed you, planted you within the Stealth Force, the very division Urahara once supervised. Nine years of infiltration, pretending loyalty while observing me from the shadows."
He adjusted his glasses again. "When you saw Metastacia consume Shiba Kaien, you acted. Urahara must have told you—never meet my gaze when I release Kyōka Suigetsu. You obeyed that order, didn't you?"
Renya's mind raced. He couldn't reveal his real origins. And worse—Aizen's logic, twisted as it was, made sense even to him.
"So that's it then," Renya said quietly. "I'm already dead in your eyes."
"Precisely," Aizen replied. "But you could still choose how you die. Speak, and I grant you mercy. Stay silent… and Kaname will extract the truth through pain."
Renya's voice was firm. "If you're going to kill me, do it. I owe you no answers."
Aizen's smile didn't waver. "So be it. Kaname, use your Bankai. Break him."
"Yes, Aizen-taichō."
Tōsen's hand tightened on his Zanpakutō. "Bankai—Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kōrogi."
But before the sound could engulf him, Renya's lightning-wreathed wings flared. His form blurred, vanishing into a streak of blue light.
"Hmm," Gin murmured, his eyes narrowing.
A flash of steel—Renya's body jerked midair, blood spraying as a deep slash tore across his back, severing one of his lightning wings.
Aizen appeared before him, effortlessly matching his speed, feet crackling with blue light.
Renya's eyes widened. "That's—Shunpō… infused with lightning?"
Aizen smiled. "You call it Shunko, don't you? I've seen it in action many times—yours, and Soifon's. I simply refined the principle."
He copied it… just by watching?
Aizen's tone softened mockingly. "Your speed is remarkable. In all of Seireitei, only Yoruichi's Shunko once surpassed it. But observation and intelligence make all things attainable."
Renya gritted his teeth. "You learned my technique… and surpassed it."
"You flatter me," Aizen replied, sheathing Kyōka Suigetsu. "Kaname, Gin—make him understand despair. But leave him alive."
"Yes, Aizen-sama."
The rings on Tōsen's Zanpakutō handle multiplied, scattering outward to form a wide circle that trapped Renya within. He flared his lightning wings, trying to burst free—but Aizen's blade intercepted him in a flash, slashing him back into the barrier's center.
A pitch-black dome expanded, engulfing him completely.
Bankai—Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kōrogi.
Sound vanished. Sight vanished. All that remained was the dark.
And within it—Aizen's voice. Calm. Inevitable.
"Tell me, Kurotsuki Renya… how long can you hold out in a world without light or sound?"