Failed?
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni clearly felt Kurotsuki Renya's spiritual pressure vanish completely.
The moment that reiatsu disappeared, his expression darkened. With a heavy sigh, he raised his hand and dispersed the sea of flames surrounding Sōkyoku Hill. The blazing inferno collapsed inward, vanishing as if it had never existed.
Renya's body fell silently from the sky.
Just before it struck the ground, Yamamoto moved, catching him with one arm. The old Captain-Commander's brows tightened.
There was no pulse.
No breathing.
No lingering fluctuation of reiatsu.
"…So it ends like this," Yamamoto muttered.
He gently laid Renya's body aside and looked up toward the sky, where Aizen Sōsuke stood calmly.
"Aizen," Yamamoto said as he drew Ryūjin Jakka, his voice filled with killing intent.
"I will kill you and avenge Kurotsuki Renya."
"Can you?" Aizen replied lightly.
a Garganta opened in the sky behind him.
From within it emerged countless Gillian-class Menos Grande, their towering forms filling the air with oppressive Hollow reiatsu. Deeper within the shadowed void, an enormous one-eyed Hollow loomed, its presence dwarfing the others.
Aizen adjusted his glasses and smiled faintly.
"My apologies. I didn't obtain what I came for today. But this is not the end."
As he spoke, both he and Ichimaru Gin were enveloped in a Negación, their bodies slowly rising toward the Garganta.
"Do not run," Yamamoto barked.
He swung Ryūjin Jakka.
A colossal wave of fire surged upward—not aimed at Aizen directly, but at the Hollows maintaining the Negación.
The Negación was an absolute isolation barrier. As long as it remained intact, Yamamoto could not reach Aizen.
Destroy the Menos, and the barrier would collapse.
But
The one-eyed Hollow opened its massive mouth and released a deafening roar. A violent shockwave of compressed air slammed into the advancing flames.
The fire was extinguished instantly.
Yamamoto's eyes narrowed.
"So it's Wonderweiss Margela," he growled the Hollow specifically created to counter Ryūjin Jakka.
With the flames dispersed, the Garganta began to close.
Aizen and Ichimaru Gin vanished into the darkness.
"…Damn it," Yamamoto spat.
He stood in silence for several seconds before turning back.
His gaze fell upon Renya's unmoving body.
"He's dead," Yamamoto said quietly.
Renya lay naked upon the scorched ground, his wounds still visible, his chest completely still. There was no doubt his heart had been pierced, his life extinguished by Aizen.
Yamamoto removed his haori, intending to cover the body.
But then
He stopped.
His eyes fixed on Renya's chest.
"…A necklace?"
Around Renya's neck hung a heart-shaped pendant.
Though Renya's clothes had been destroyed and his body battered beyond recognition, the necklace was completely untouched not even a scratch marring its surface.
Yamamoto reached out.
Before his fingers could touch it, the pendant emitted a sudden burst of white light.
The light surged forward
and pierced straight into Renya's chest.
Thump.
Thump.
A faint heartbeat echoed.
Yamamoto's eyes widened.
A moment later, Renya's chest rose sharply as he gasped for air.
"Hah!"
Renya's eyes flew open.
Seeing Yamamoto's face so close, he recoiled instinctively.
"C—Captain Yamamoto?!"
Yamamoto stared at him, stunned.
"…You're alive."
Renya froze.
The memories rushed back
Aizen's blade.
His heart being pierced.
The overwhelming darkness.
"…I was killed," Renya said hoarsely. "Captain… I should be dead."
Yamamoto shook his head slowly.
"Your heartbeat vanished completely. By all logic, you were dead. But that necklace shattered just now and restored your heart."
Renya looked down.
The necklace was gone.
Only fragments of light remained in his memory.
"…Rukia's necklace," he whispered.
Understanding struck him all at once.
A Fullbring.
Only objects deeply tied to a person's soul could manifest such abilities. Zanpakutō possessed souls. Fullbring drew power from cherished objects.
Orihime Inoue's hairpins.
Kūgo Ginjō's cross.
This necklace given to him by Rukia decades ago had absorbed his will.
The will to live.
The will to protect.
The Hōgyoku, reacting to those emotions during his time in the Human World, had awakened the object's latent power.
A single resurrection.
"…So that's it," Renya murmured bitterly.
He had tried to save Rukia
—
but in the end, Rukia had saved him.
The necklace she gave him forty-five years ago had granted him one return from death.
Fate truly was cruel.
Renya stood up slowly and bowed his head.
"Captain… I failed. Aizen used Bankai."
Yamamoto's brows furrowed.
"…Bankai?"
Renya nodded and recounted the battle in detail.
When he finished, Yamamoto exhaled deeply.
"So that is Aizen's Bankai. No wonder."
A perfect counter to Renya's absolute-speed combat style.
Even if Renya had five seconds or fifty he would never know which Aizen was real.
"…Your opponent was poorly matched," Yamamoto said. "Against me, such a technique is meaningless."
Renya clenched his fists.
He finally understood why Aizen never revealed his Bankai in the original history.
He never needed it.
Except against someone like him.
As Renya stood silently, troubled by the realization
Yamamoto glanced at him and said dryly,
"Brat. Stop overthinking it."
"…?"
"Put some clothes on first."
Renya stiffened.
"…Yes, Captain."