"Move quickly. Begin treatment immediately."
Inside the Fourth Division barracks, Captain Unohana Retsu issued calm but urgent instructions. Her gaze swept across the wounded as medical staff rushed to obey.
Shiba Kaien, Kurosaki Ichigo, Abarai Renji, and Iba Tetsuzaemon were placed on adjacent treatment platforms. All four had suffered severe internal and external injuries, but none were in immediate danger of death thanks only to Unohana's swift intervention.
Kuchiki Byakuya had already regained most of his mobility. Though his injuries were serious, his spiritual pressure remained stable, and he assisted the Fourth Division members in coordinating treatment for the others.
Elsewhere in the ward, Hinamori Momo and Hitsugaya Tōshirō were also being treated. Both had sustained grievous wounds, their reiatsu fluctuating dangerously.
After ensuring the healers were properly assigned, Unohana turned her attention to Kuchiki Rukia.
"Come with me," Unohana said quietly. "Aizen Sōsuke's true target has always been you."
Rukia stiffened.
"Captain Unohana… what is happening? Captain Aizen was declared dead. Why would he attack the captains? And why me?"
Her thoughts were in chaos. Even within the Repentance Cell, she had been informed of Aizen's death. Yet the image of him standing on Sōkyoku Hill alive refused to leave her mind.
"And… who was the one who took him away?" Rukia asked hesitantly.
She remembered the sky tearing apart in blazing arcs of spiritual fire, a pressure so immense it made breathing painful.
"You will be safe only in Muken," Unohana replied. "There is no time to explain now."
Without waiting for further questions, she led Rukia out of the ward and toward the inner depths of Seireitei.
High above Sōkyoku Hill, the flames still raged.
Yamamoto Genryūsai's Kidō fire sealed the sky itself, forming a blazing prison. Any shinigami who approached was instantly repelled by overwhelming heat and spiritual pressure.
Yet at the very center of the inferno, two figures stood unharmed.
Aizen Sōsuke adjusted his glasses slightly, a faint smile on his lips as he looked at the man standing opposite him.
"Kurotsuki Renya," Aizen said calmly. "You're not making a move. Are you hesitating?"
Renya's expression was cold.
"The Soul King does not rule this world," he said flatly.
Aizen paused.
"…What did you say?"
Renya met his gaze without fear.
"You seek the Hōgyoku. You intend to create the Ōken and ascend to the Royal Palace. But your hatred is misplaced. The Soul King is not a ruler."
Aizen's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know this?"
"That doesn't matter," Renya replied. "What matters is that the Soul King is merely a linchpin—a stabilizer holding the Three Worlds together. A mutilated existence stripped of will. Kill him, and everything collapses."
For the first time, Aizen's expression darkened.
His ambition had always been clear to stand above all, to sit upon the throne of heaven itself. Yet the truth Renya spoke struck directly at the foundation of that dream.
"…So what?" Aizen said at last. "Then I will be the one who replaces him."
Renya drew his Zanpakutō.
"I'm telling you this," he said calmly, "because everything you're pursuing is meaningless."
Aizen chuckled.
"So you intend to shake my resolve."
The blade in Renya's hand pulsed with violent reiatsu.
"Bankai."
Lightning erupted.
Pure, destructive spiritual electricity surged outward, shredding the surrounding flames as Renya's reiatsu skyrocketed. His Zanpakutō dissolved into crackling energy, merging directly with his body.
White lightning tore through the air as Renya's form transformed his reiatsu no longer flowing like a shinigami's, but detonating like natural disaster incarnate.
Electric arcs burst from his eyes, ears, and skin. His shihakushō disintegrated, replaced by condensed lightning armor. A rotating halo of compressed electrical reiatsu formed behind him, radiating annihilation.
But the cost was immediate.
Blood tore through Renya's skin as his body began to break down under the strain. This was not a stable Bankai it was forced fusion.
Aizen raised an eyebrow.
"…Interesting."
"Bakudō #81," Aizen intoned calmly.
"Dankū."
A barrier formed but Renya moved.
In an instant, he vanished.
Thunder screamed.
Renya reappeared directly before Aizen, his lightning-forged spear already thrust forward.
The strike pierced straight through Aizen's chest.
"…What—?" Aizen gasped as blood spilled from his lips.
"Die," Renya said coldly.
The spear detonated.
Aizen's body was torn apart by an explosion of pure reiatsu.
Renya staggered back, gasping. The lightning rapidly faded, his Bankai collapsing after four seconds.
Too long and his body would have been destroyed entirely.
"It's over…" Renya breathed.
But then
"It was an impressive strike," a voice said behind him.
"…But not enough."
Renya's eyes widened.
Steel flashed.
Pain tore through his back as a blade cut deep into his flesh. He barely twisted aside in time, avoiding a fatal blow.
He turned
Aizen Sōsuke stood behind him, unharmed.
"How…?" Renya whispered. "That reiatsu"
Aizen smiled softly.
"You were not under Kyōka Suigetsu. That much is true."
He stepped closer.
"But you forgot something."
Before Renya could react, Aizen's blade pierced straight through his chest.
"I, too, possess Bankai," Aizen said calmly. "Its ability is simple perfect replication. A false body indistinguishable from the real one in every sense. Sight. Sound. Reiatsu. Even touch."
Renya's body trembled.
"The one you destroyed was my substitute," Aizen continued. "When it falls, I reappear."
Blood spilled from Renya's mouth as his strength faded.
"…I overlooked it," Renya thought bitterly.
"Aizen never revealed his Bankai in the original history… but of course he has one."
His body collapsed, consciousness slipping away.
Aizen withdrew his blade, looking down without emotion.
"The illusion you tried to kill," he said quietly,
"…was never the real me."