Yes—just a single Cero.
An ability almost every hollow has.
But the instant they grabbed Shinji's arms, everyone's faces changed. They stared at Cole in shock.
"So strong…"
"This kind of power…"
"Cole, how is your Cero this strong…?"
With a boom, Shinji—along with the ones clutching him, Mashiro, Lisa, and Kensei—smashed into the far wall, carving cracks through concrete.
Boom!!!
The black-red Cero erupted, light and shockwaves swallowing them in the warehouse. The blast roared on and on, dust billowing up to blot out half the room.
Cole chuckled, lifted his right hand toward the smoke, and intoned,
"Hadō 58: Tenran (Severing Storm)!"
Pure white wind coalesced in his palm, spinning into a small white vortex that swept forward.
The rolling dust was pushed aside—then, under Cole's precise control, the gale thinned to gentle strands of breeze and ebbed away.
A few seconds later, several very bedraggled figures limped from the wall, hissing between their teeth—it had hurt.
Lisa ground her teeth, face dark.
"Brat… since when are your Hadō this refined?"
Hadō is for killing. Yet in Cole's hand, even a storm stroked like rain.
"Is this really the time?"
Kensei glared at her, then turned to Cole, expression heavy.
"Cole, what's with your power?"
Before, Cole was strong, sure—but most of it came from his zanpakuto (zanpakuto: soul-cutting sword). Now, just a single black-red Cero from his hollowed state had flattened two captain-class and two lieutenant-class without a counter.
Was he even human?
Even their hollowfication didn't hit like that.
Cole lowered his hand, smiling.
"Relax. You weren't going all out either."
Never mind that one Cero had pancaked two captains and two lieutenants—only one of them had even released their zanpakuto.
"How are we supposed to relax!?"
Mashiro slapped dust off her suit.
"Even without releases, we're not weak. Your Cero is what's absurd."
"Enough—that's not the point."
Shinji shook feeling back into his wrist—the brunt of that Cero had almost sprained it. He drew breath.
"Cole—"
"Hold it."
Cole cut him off, eyes narrowing at Shinji's drawn blade.
"First things first: cancel your zanpakuto's effect. If you don't, I'll rearrange your face."
Sakanade's trick wasn't Kyoka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon), but it was just as nauseating—up/down/left/right, every bearing inverted. For anyone not used to it, it was hell. And the jerk still had it on him.
Shinji coughed, sheepish, and quietly sheathed his blade.
Once the release was sealed, he grew serious again.
"Cole, you just said Aizen is stronger than you. How much stronger?"
A hush fell. Cole's display had made them forget the real issue.
Stronger than Cole—by how much?
At what Cole had just shown, two Kensei probably wouldn't be enough.
If Aizen was stronger than that…
"Aizen, huh…"
Cole rubbed his chin, recalling how Aizen evolved under the Hogyoku in the original line.
"About this much stronger."
He held up one finger.
Shinji exhaled in relief.
"Only a little stronger than you?"
If it was just "a little," then maybe—no, odds looked good.
Cole shook his head slowly, still holding up one finger.
"What I mean is—
he's a whole dimension above me."
Silence crashed down.
They'd imagined "stronger by half," or "by one Kensei," or "by a century."
Not "by a dimension."
A dimension?
What did that even mean?
You could hear their hearts thudding in the warped stillness, a stone on each chest making it hard to breathe.
Hiyori finally snapped back, grinding out,
"What do you mean, 'a dimension'?"
The others locked their eyes on Cole.
A dimension? That wasn't space—it was a higher grade of world.
Aizen… a whole world above?
Cole didn't look particularly troubled.
"A dimension is a dimension—no longer the same world. Aizen, fused with the Hogyoku, is already a higher-dimensional existence."
Brows knit all around—they understood every word, yet together it sounded like madness.
"Explain it," Shinji said, frowning.
Cole thought for a beat—then stopped suppressing his reiatsu.
Black-red pressure surged—black clouds crushing a city.
The wave tore through the warehouse, evil and abyssal, like every wicked thought in the world poured into one tide. Seals in the room crackled and split; hairline fractures crept along the walls.
Hiyori, Lisa, Mashiro, and Hachi slammed to their knees, drenched in cold sweat. They strained with everything they had…and couldn't stand.
Hiyori was worst—eyes swimming, jaw slack, drool stringing down her chin—a total collapse face.
Only Shinji, Kensei, Love, and Rose stayed upright—and even they sweated through their brows.
In hollowed state, Cole's reiatsu wasn't just violent—it was vile. Without releases, even they could barely endure.
"Enough—pull it back," Shinji grated.
Cole nodded. The black-red tide that had filled the warehouse ebbed to nothing.
Lisa gulped air, eyes now edged with fear. For that heartbeat when it fully burst, it truly felt like hell opening. Ten seconds more and she might have blacked out.
"Cole," Shinji said, steadying his breath, "you blasted us like that to say… what?"
Instead of answering, Cole walked over and lifted Hiyori, offering a towel with a wry smile.
"Sorry—I thought you could handle it. Didn't mean to do you like that."
He gently dabbed her face. The texture—well, never mind.
Hiyori blinked, tears beading, and glared, mortified.
"Don't laugh. This is your fault."
"Okay, okay—it's my fault."
He meant it. He wasn't worried for her safety—she was still lieutenant-class. She'd be fine.
He handed her the damp towel.
"At least wipe up."
Hiyori snatched it, scrubbing face and mouth—only flushing redder. Snot, tears, drool… If he'd kept it up a few seconds more, she might've… no, don't think about it.
Lisa shuffled over, cheeks pink.
"Hiyori… let me borrow that?"
She'd nearly gone vacant herself—and yeah, there'd been drool.
Once they'd pulled themselves together, every gaze snapped back to Cole—annoyed.
"Brat," Hiyori snarled, "you owe us an explanation."
"That's everyone's thought," the others' eyes said.
Cole didn't refuse.
"That hollow reiatsu I let out—felt intense, right?"
"No kidding! Are you picking a fight!?"
Hiyori nearly swung on him. She'd almost passed out; of course it felt intense.
Cole swept his gaze across them.
"But you still felt it. Right?"
That… threw them. Of course they'd felt it—they weren't dead.
"Are you messing with me—" Hiyori started.
"Wait, Hiyori," Shinji cut in, face paling as a bad hunch tightened.
"What do you mean?"
Cole smiled.
"I mean: if you can feel my reiatsu, we're still on the same tier. But Aizen's? You won't even feel it."
"Because we aren't in the same dimension anymore."
Some looked baffled; others, shaken—Shinji, Kensei, Love, Rose, Lisa, Hachi… they'd guessed it.
"You're saying when Aizen lets loose, we won't even sense it," Shinji said.
"Exactly." Cole snapped his fingers.
In the original line, with the Hogyoku driving his evolution, Aizen not only shattered the wall between shinigami and hollow—he bored through the dimensional ceiling. He practically stopped being in the same "world" as ordinary shinigami. If Ichigo hadn't used Saigo no Getsuga Tensho (Final Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer) to knock him down, he might really have punched his way to the Royal Realm. How he'd stack up against the monsters up there… who knows. Absolute mechanics versus absolute numbers—hard to call.
On the other side, after a brief think, Hiyori still came up empty and glared at the others.
"What are you even saying? 'Feeling reiatsu'? Can that feed you?"
Shinji wiped sweat.
"That's not it. Cole means Aizen's moved off our level. Naturally, we can't feel him…"
"???"
Seeing her confusion, Cole ruffled her hair.
"Still not clicking, huh?"
"What does it mean?"
Cole crouched, pointing at a line of black ants hauling crumbs along the floor.
"Simple version: right now, we're all ants. We fight with antennae and mandibles. Everyone gets that kind of power."
"But then one ant turns into a human. His way of 'fighting' becomes fists."
"To ants, that's incomprehensible—no sense of threat—because they're not even the same species anymore."
"That's what I mean by a dimension apart."
Even Hiyori got that. She stared at the ants, pupils blown, swallowed hard, and rasped,
"So… we're the ants?"
(End of Chapter)
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