"Aizen…"
Byakuya lay sprawled across the ground, staring up at Aizen in shock, unable to believe that the man possessed this kind of power.
Back in Seireitei, Aizen had always put on the act of a gentle, frail, good-natured captain.
Even after he'd betrayed the Gotei 13…
Even knowing he had fought the Captain-Commander…
Byakuya had still believed he could defeat him.
Yet in reality—
He hadn't even managed to withstand a single strike.
Mayuri, however, showed not a hint of fear. A twisted laugh slipped out of his mouth.
"Aizen, this is the first time I've ever seen you this flustered. That human named Cole… is he really that important to you?"
At the mention of that name, anger flared in Aizen's eyes—but he forced it down, his tone turning cold.
"That human… is simply unforgivable…"
Back in Seireitei, Cole had already ruined his plans once, forcing him to expend tremendous effort just to obtain the Hogyoku (Breakdown Sphere).
And now, it was the same story all over again.
He had been about to shatter the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow, to grant himself every trait a Hollow possessed.
He'd been a single step away.
And then Cole had run.
Run.
Because of that one escape, his evolution had stalled at roughly one-third completion, leaving him in a half-baked state.
If he wanted to keep evolving—
The sense of crisis he needed was no longer there.
As his killing intent ebbed, the Hollowfication of his body diminished. The white substance covering him crumbled and fell away, fragment by fragment.
Suppressing his fury with effort, Aizen looked at the three captains before him, his expression utterly indifferent.
"If only you were a little stronger."
If, just now, Byakuya and the other two had joined forces and actually pushed him to the brink, there was a chance his evolution could have continued.
Instead, from the moment they encountered him, not a single one of them had even used Bankai.
Not that it would have helped.
Byakuya clenched his teeth in frustration, using healing kidō techniques again and again to knit his wounds—but there was no way he'd be able to move freely anytime soon.
"That's enough. You three are coming with me."
Aizen's interest had clearly waned. He swung his zanpakuto; a second Kyoka Suigetsu, identical to the one in his hand, appeared out of thin air.
The manifested zanpakuto said nothing.
It simply stretched out its hand to grab Byakuya and Kenpachi.
Just as its fingers were about to close—
Its expression shifted. In an instant, it snapped its arm back and leapt away.
Flash.
A streak of golden sword light sliced through the space where its hand had been.
If it hadn't withdrawn in time, that arm would have been severed on the spot.
"…Oh?"
Aizen frowned and looked over.
The source was immediately obvious.
Kenpachi, his chest bearing a massive, gaping wound, blood pouring out in torrents, was slowly pushing himself back to his feet.
The most battle-crazed Shinigami in all of Seireitei was, in the midst of grievous injury, unleashing reiatsu even greater than before.
Golden spiritual pressure surged into the air, taking the shape of a roaring beast.
It howled and raged.
Its master—Kenpachi—wore an even more savage and ecstatic grin on his face.
He hefted his chipped zanpakuto, glaring at Aizen as he laughed like a wild animal.
"Aizen! This level isn't enough to beat me. Let's keep fighting!"
Boom!!!
Golden reiatsu blasted skyward.
Faced with the charging beast, Aizen knit his brows, meeting the attack with a swing of Kyoka Suigetsu.
Clang!!!
Steel rang on steel.
A rare hint of surprise flickered through Aizen's eyes.
That blow should have cleaved Kenpachi's broken sword in two—
Yet it hadn't.
"Little Aizen, Ken-chan's really strong now, you know. He's not going to lose to you that easily!"
A tiny figure peeked out over Kenpachi's back—Yachiru, waving her small hands with all her might.
"Yachiru…"
Aizen's frown deepened.
In Seireitei, there were only a handful of captains he couldn't see through: people like Kyoraku, Unohana, Ukitake…
But after the zanpakuto rebellion incident—
There was only one Shinigami whose depths he still couldn't feel out.
The man who'd killed the previous Kenpachi a hundred years ago to claim the title of Eleventh Division captain:
Kenpachi.
No matter how he'd investigated back then,
He'd turned up almost nothing.
All he knew was that Kenpachi had come from the Rukongai, that he loved to fight, and that was about it.
As Aizen pondered, Kenpachi burst into roaring laughter and swung his zanpakuto down once more, a feral beast in human form.
With each slash he threw out,
his reiatsu climbed higher, until it almost seemed to condense into a golden sun.
Aizen had no intention of wasting more time.
The silver-white blade arced through the air.
A spray of dazzling color blossomed in its wake.
For an instant, Kenpachi's vision blurred.
"Urgh!"
Another slash ripped across him.
Blood fountained.
A new wound opened beside the first—one on the left, one on the right, forming a jagged X across his chest. Blood poured from both.
Yet even with injuries that would have killed a normal person a hundred times over,
Kenpachi refused to fall.
On the contrary—
He only grew more frenzied, laughing wildly as he raised his sword and hacked at Aizen again with all his strength.
This time,
his reiatsu surged yet higher.
Aizen's anger finally began to boil over. He swung his blade again and again.
Blood sprayed through the air like a waterfall.
Kenpachi's entire body was covered in deep, crisscrossing cuts, as though he'd been turned into a walking blood gourd.
Anyone else would have dropped dead on the spot from a single one of those wounds.
But this guy…
The more he fought, the stronger he became.
Even Aizen, with all his experience and schemes, felt his temper strain at the sight of this humanoid monster.
If you had this kind of power,
why didn't you show it earlier?
You might have even helped me evolve.
What use is it now?
Just to irritate me?
…
Seireitei, within the Ise family estate.
Cole swallowed hard as he took in the sight of the densely stacked bricks in front of him.
Right beside him, Nanao, sporting heavy dark circles under her eyes, stifled a yawn and pointed weakly at the pile.
"Twenty-seven thousand bricks of compressed spiritual power… To make all of these, my family and I haven't rested at all for days…"
She was truly spent.
To help Cole grow stronger and finally break the curse on her family's sword, she'd spent this entire period doing nothing but compressing reiryoku.
She'd reached the point where just looking at spiritual energy made her want to dry heave.
Cole was genuinely moved.
He patted her on the shoulder and spoke seriously.
"Don't worry. Since you trust me this much, I won't let you down. Even if I have to snap that sword in half, I'll lift the curse."
Nanao, who'd been moments away from passing out, jerked upright as if jolted by lightning and shook her head furiously.
"No way! Shichiseiken is our clan's heirloom artifact, and one of Seireitei's ceremonial treasures. It absolutely can't be damaged!"
Cole rolled his eyes at her.
"You just don't want to lose your noble status, do you, you little rich girl?"
Ceremonial treasure, heirloom artifact—
Yeah, right.
He'd specifically asked Rukia about it.
Turned out Seireitei hadn't held any real "great rituals" in hundreds of years.
Maybe there had been some ages ago…
But now?
Not so much.
The so-called "shrine maiden family" was essentially a decorative title.
Nanao's cheeks went bright red. She lowered her head, fiddling with her fingers.
"I can't help it… There aren't any truly strong Shinigami in our family. If we lose the artifact, we'll lose our noble standing…"
The Shiba clan might have fallen from the ranks of the great noble houses—
But at least they still had Kuukaku to hold the line.
Her zanpakuto might not have a Bankai, but her kidō skill was long past the captain level.
More than enough to maintain the Shiba name.
If Nanao lost her clan's noble status though, she was nowhere near strong enough to save the Ise family on her own.
"Typical vested interests…"
Cole sighed, then placed his hand on the nearest block.
Teaching the Seven Mirror Sword a lesson was secondary.
The most important thing was still the power he could get his hands on.
In an instant, the compressed reiryoku bricks dissolved into blue streams of light, flowing into his palm like gauzy ribbons.
"Hiss…"
Cole couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.
He'd absorbed spiritual power more than once.
But this—
This felt better than all of them combined.
It was like his entire body had been plunged into an ocean of reiryoku.
Warm.
Comfortable.
He didn't even have to move; endless spiritual energy surged into him on its own, making him want to just sink into it and never come back out.
If only this could last for a month…
Or a year…
Before he'd even finished the thought, the sensation of immersion was gone.
He opened his eyes.
All twenty-thousand-plus reiryoku bricks had vanished.
Forget a month or a year—
They hadn't even lasted three seconds.
"That's still not enough… It'd be great if there was more."
He sounded honestly disappointed.
Beside him, Nanao felt her scalp go numb, her voice on the edge of tears.
"That was already the limit! I haven't slept properly this whole time, just constantly compressing reiryoku—don't you dare back out, you promised to lift the curse!"
She was genuinely terrified Cole would weasel out of the deal.
After all, this bad man had his hands on several girls at once. Obviously, he was a scumbag who liked to lie.
Cole turned around and planted his hand firmly on top of her head, rubbing her hair roughly.
"Relax. I'm not the kind of guy who'd bully a widow."
Nanao nearly died of rage.
Ignoring the gap in their power, she lunged forward and bit down on his arm.
"Brat! I don't even have a boyfriend yet—don't curse me like that!"
After finally sending Nanao off to get some sleep,
Cole strolled through Seireitei and quickly noticed how tense the atmosphere had become. Every Shinigami he passed was on high alert.
He could even hear snatches of their conversation about Aizen and the others.
Clearly, they were all worrying about the looming war between Aizen and the Gotei 13.
"The war's going to take place in Karakura Town. Aside from Twelfth Division, who's in charge of the R&D Bureau, the other divisions shouldn't be in much danger…"
"Can't say that for sure. If Aizen really forges the Ōken—the Royal Key—and invades the Soul King Palace, all three worlds could be in danger…"
"In that case, for the sake of victory… I should help myself to another round of Seireitei's reiryoku."
Muttering to himself, Cole cheerfully cast off what remained of his conscience and started absorbing the buildings again.
This time,
none of the Shinigami who saw him even tried to stop him.
They'd given up.
This human boy… seemed determined to drag them all back into the stone age.
As he went about his "buffet," not a single division's captain showed up.
It was as if none of them were even in their barracks.
Cole found that very pleasing.
It was a proper all-you-can-eat feast.
He didn't get interrupted until he reached Tenth Division.
There, at last, a captain stepped in—Soi fong. She stormed toward him, teeth grinding.
"You brat, you're still stealing?"
Cole finished absorbing a section of wall, then turned to her in puzzlement.
"Why are you coming from Twelfth Division?"
Soi fong snorted.
"Something's off in Karakura Town. The Captain-Commander ordered us all to gather at Twelfth Division so we can respond immediately."
Cole finally understood.
No wonder he hadn't seen any captains.
They'd all gone to Twelfth Division.
And from the sound of it…
Aizen was finally about to make his move.
After explaining, Soi fong glared daggers at Cole.
"The Captain-Commander said if you absorb even one more brick, he'll ignore Aizen for now and deal with you first."
Just now in Twelfth Division, every captain had been clenching their teeth in fury.
If Yamamoto hadn't personally stopped them,
they'd probably have rushed out together already.
Cole thought it over and decided to stop absorbing Seireitei's reiryoku.
Not because he was scared.
But because there really wasn't much left of Seireitei's buildings anyway.
Instead of scraping up the leftovers here, going to Hueco Mundo to take more would be far more efficient.
Most importantly—
Hiyori and Lisa were still trapped in Las Noches.
The sooner he rescued them, the better.
With that in mind, Cole raised his right hand to his lips and blew Soi fong an exaggerated kiss.
"Soi fong, love you!"
Born and raised in Soul Society, with the sensibilities of a very traditional woman, Soi fong's face went scarlet.
She stomped the ground hard.
"Don't do that! What if someone sees!?"
Cole chuckled and, deciding not to tease her any further, took a light step and vanished from Tenth Division.
Only after a long while
did Soi fong finally get her feelings under control. Her expression returned to its usual icy calm as she headed toward Twelfth Division.
…
Before long,
Cole arrived at the Kuchiki estate.
Seeing Rukia sitting alone, he walked into the sitting room in confusion.
"Where are Orihime and Tatsuki?"
Rukia ground her teeth and glared hard at the brat in front of her before reluctantly jabbing a finger toward her bedroom.
"They looked exhausted. After washing up, they went straight to sleep."
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became.
This rotten sixteen-year-old—obviously the boyfriend she'd chosen for herself—
Why was he always messing around with other girls?
Once he'd confirmed the girls' situation,
a smile tugged at Cole's lips. He held out his hand to Rukia.
"In that case, since they're resting, why don't you come to Hueco Mundo with me?"
Rukia blinked, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"I'm already the captain of Ninth Division. I'm not going to elope with you."
Cole almost choked.
"Is that really what I look like to you?"
Rukia nodded emphatically.
Cole was speechless.
"I ran into a Hollow in Hueco Mundo whose face… looked a lot like the Kaien you told me about. I wanted you to come and confirm it."
Rukia froze.
A cold glint slowly rose in her eyes as she clenched her teeth.
"A Hollow… and Captain Kaien…?"
…
(End of Chapter)
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