"Tsk tsk tsk…"
"Captain Aizen, I bet even you didn't see that twist coming just now, did you?"
Fifth Division.
Inside that hidden base.
Gin Ichimaru wore his ever-playful smile, turning his head toward Aizen as he deliberately asked.
To be honest, when he saw the Visoreds appear just now, Gin himself was shocked.
He hadn't expected…
Those people who had long since cut ties with Soul Society would one day return to the Gotei 13—
donning shihakushō once more, and even the white captain's haori!
"No matter…"
Aizen shook his head ever so slightly.
From start to finish, his expression never changed, and his cold voice carried no concern:
"Just a few failures, that's all. Even if Shinji Hirako and the rest ally with the Gotei 13 in the future, they'll still be crushed without a trace…"
"The answer has already been shown by the video, hasn't it?"
From Aizen's perspective, the Visoreds were nothing more than failed products of the hollowfication experiments.
In fact—
Had it not been for Kisuke Urahara, those few would already have been executed as Hollows.
And faced with such defeated pawns, Aizen's vision was far too lofty to even spare them a thought.
But after a pause of several seconds, Aizen's eyes gleamed faintly as he continued:
"From the fragment we just witnessed, I can more or less deduce the direction the future takes."
"Oh? Let's hear it…" Gin tilted a brow, his sly smile twisting wider.
"It's simple," Aizen replied.
"I imagine in the future, once our defection plan has succeeded flawlessly, our departure will leave captain positions vacant."
"And for that reason—or perhaps because the Gotei 13 and I, along with Hueco Mundo, eventually wage war—Shinji Hirako and his ilk intervene, reconcile, and return to Soul Society."
Always one to control every variable, Aizen's brilliance and sharp logical reasoning, after only a brief reflection, pieced together the chain of cause and effect.
It was as though he'd opened a god's-eye view, and nearly pinpointed the truth of what was to come.
Of course—
This was, at the moment, just speculation.
But Aizen was confident—nine times out of ten, this would be the truth.
"I see…" Gin murmured.
"No wonder Shinji Hirako and the others would be there."
Shifting his gaze back toward the glowing screen, Gin's foxlike eyes narrowed on the towering, giantized Gerard Valkyrie.
"Still…"
"Who is that guy? And that ability—growing ever larger the more he's injured. I've never heard of such a thing before."
In Gin's impression, the only vaguely similar ability belonged to Yammy, whose Resurrección "Ira" allowed him to transform into a monstrous behemoth fueled by rage.
But no matter how he looked at it—
Valkyrie bore none of the hallmarks of a Hollow, nor an Arrancar.
So then what was he?
Not Shinigami.
Not Hollow.
Not Arrancar.
Could it be… a completely different race altogether?
Before Aizen could reply—
The translucent screen flickered rapidly, scenes skipping forward.
"Krrrchhh!"
A surge of cold.
Freezing air tore through the sky, darkening the battlefield's light.
Because the video had skipped much of the combat, the next time Valkyrie appeared, his colossal lower body had already been frozen solid!
Not entirely encased in ice, but bound tightly enough to rob him of free movement.
The sudden change of scenery—
the battlefield's climate shifting drastically, the momentum swinging sharply—
once exposed, immediately triggered an uproar:
"?! What the hell?!"
"What's going on here!"
"Someone new stepped in—someone who can control ice on such a massive scale?!"
"Don't tell me… that's Captain Hitsugaya?!"
The Shinigami watching all thought of the same person—
Hitsugaya Tōshirō, wielder of the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō, Hyōrinmaru!
Surely only he could unleash such widespread cold.
But before speculation could settle—
from just outside the frame came Byakuya Kuchiki's calm command:
"Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
The camera swung swiftly, following the sound—
and locked onto Byakuya's figure.
"BOOM!"
Spiritual pressure surged violently.
His haori flared like a banner in the gale of his reiatsu, and his entire presence radiated overwhelming strength.
And then—
his lips moved again, delivering words the audience had never before heard, unveiling Senbonzakura's ultimate secret technique:
"Shūkei: Hakuteiken!!" (Final Scene: White Imperial Sword)
Standing at the center of an impossibly vast sword array—
With a mere gesture, billions of gleaming pink blades rose, perfectly aligned, filling the heavens.
The shot widened—
from a bird's-eye view, every viewer was dragged into the perspective, forced to witness the scale firsthand.
Layer upon layer, countless swords—
a sight of almost divine majesty.
Even Gerard Valkyrie's godlike titan frame was swallowed by the formation, made to look insignificant within its boundless ocean of steel.
The moment the ultimate technique was revealed—
the scene's sheer grandeur set the world alight with shock.
"Unbelievable!!"
"The scale, the quantity of blades—it's ten times stronger than his earlier Bankai!"
"This kind of power—can a mere captain truly control it?"
"Could it be… that Byakuya Kuchiki has already reached the absolute pinnacle of Shinigami?"
The Gotei 13 erupted.
Even other captains—veterans who had seen centuries of combat—were shaken to the core.
For even through a screen—
merely gazing at Senbonzakura's ultimate secret left them trembling with the illusion of imminent annihilation.
It was as though—
anyone.
Be it a captain.
Be it an Espada.
Once caught within that bloom of endless blades—
the outcome was certain:
bones shattered, body pierced, soul obliterated in an instant.
This was the instinctive terror etched into every heart who witnessed Byakuya's ultimate scene.
(End of Chapter)
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