[Three Days Later, 10th Division]

This was a day destined to be recorded in the history of Soul Society’s transformation.

Today was the crucial moment when Captain of the 5th Division, Aizen, would fuse with the Hogyoku and break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow.

To everyone’s surprise, Aizen had actually chosen to carry out such a life-and-death fusion ritual at the 10th Division barracks where Rosse was stationed.

Even Rosse himself felt a little surprised by this decision.

On the surface, it looked reasonable. Rosse was currently the strongest combat force in Soul Society, so having him personally guard the process seemed perfectly logical.

But Rosse knew very well that Aizen chose this place for only one, almost absurd reason.

In Aizen’s understanding, Rosse was the only person in the world he could trust completely.

That kind of unconditional trust made Rosse smile in a mixed amusement.

Looking back over the years he had lived through, not even people like Sakazuki had ever given him such pure trust.

The irony was that this trust came from someone who appeared to be a partner now, but was destined to draw his blade against him as a future enemy.

Inside the vast training ground of the 10th Division, the atmosphere was so heavy it felt like water could drip from it.

Aside from a few captains who didn’t want to get involved, most of the remaining captains of the Gotei 13 had gathered here.

Even Ichigo, who had been running around investigating the cause of Orihime’s death, had immediately put aside his investigation and arrived early in the morning to wait here.

He would definitely avenge Orihime.

But before that, he didn’t want to see anyone else he respected come to harm.

Although he still only half understood the principles behind Hollowfication experiments, he was the only Shinigami present who had successfully mastered Hollowfication.

If something really went wrong, he felt that he could at least help somehow.

“Sensei, will it really be alright?”

Ichigo stared fixedly at the Hogyoku in Aizen’s hand, his voice slightly hoarse.

“A fusion powerful enough to overturn the boundary between species… shouldn’t it be done step by step? Wouldn’t it be better to master Hollowfication first and then fuse later? Directly performing a complete fusion seems way too risky.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the necessity of this fusion.

He just genuinely felt there was no need for Aizen to take the risk personally. Why couldn’t he, the one who had already undergone Hollowfication, act as the pioneer instead?

Or even those old schemers could do it. Why wasn’t Captain-Commander Rosse stepping up himself?

“Kehehehe! What a foolish question.”

Not far away, Kurotsuchi Mayuri let out a spine-chilling laugh. Fanatical excitement burned in his paint-covered eyes.

“Step by step? That’s nothing but an excuse the incompetent use to hide their weakness! True evolution has always come hand in hand with destruction and rebirth!”

“If Captain Aizen can ascend in a single leap this time, that means we’ll have grasped the core data of Hogyoku fusion! At that point I’ll be able to mass-produce Hogyoku without restraint, and the entire Gotei 13 will undergo a leap in the level of life itself!”

“Hey, hey, aren’t you being way too optimistic?”, Ichigo couldn’t help retorting, “What if it fails? What if it goes out of control? There should at least be a backup plan for failure, right?”

And that talk about mass-producing Hogyoku sounded unreliable.

Something that both Ukitake Jushiro and Urahara Kisuke took so seriously didn’t look like the kind of thing that could be easily mass-produced.

“Ichigo, it’s alright,” Aizen’s gentle voice interrupted his anxiety.

Wearing his pure white captain’s haori, Aizen stood in the center of the training ground. His expression was calm, as if he were simply attending an ordinary tea gathering, as though life and death no longer mattered to him.

“If it truly fails, then take it as the last tiny contribution I could make for the future of Soul Society.”

The words sounded heroic, but in Aizen’s deep brown eyes, as profound as an abyss, there wasn’t even the slightest trace of doubt that he might fail.

This wasn’t just confidence built from countless simulations over many long years.

It was also because…

Aizen turned his head. His gaze passed through the crowd and met Rosse’s eyes on the high platform.

“Besides!”

The smile on Aizen’s lips deepened slightly, his voice sincere and resolute.

“With the Captain-Commander personally present, even if I truly lose control and turn into a monster, I believe he’ll still be able to pull me back.”

This wasn’t flattery.

In Aizen’s mind, the people he could trust had never been Hinamori Momo, who obeyed him in everything, nor Tosen Kaname, who treated him like a god, nor even Ichigo, who respected him like a teacher.

Rosse was the person he trusted the most in this world.

The only one he recognized as his equal.

Aizen knew better than anyone that Rosse was plotting to devour the Soul King.

He also knew that Rosse allowed him to fuse with the Hogyoku because Rosse needed him to act as the vanguard, to probe the depths of Squad Zero and clear obstacles for that final god-devouring plan.

But so what?

That only proved Rosse recognized his strength.

At Rosse’s near-omniscient level, ordinary pieces didn’t even qualify to be cannon fodder.

He hadn’t chosen the Espada who possessed three kinds of power.

Instead, he firmly believed that he, Aizen, could shoulder this responsibility.

What immense trust that was.

This recognition from another powerful being even gave Aizen a strangely twisted sense of finding a kindred spirit.

Since Rosse thought highly of him, Aizen would never betray that expectation.

And precisely because of that expectation, Aizen believed with complete confidence, this fusion would succeed.

“Alright, everyone.”

Aizen withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath, bringing his state to its peak.

He slowly raised the Hogyoku in his hand, glowing with a strange purple light. His voice wasn’t loud, yet it clearly echoed across the entire field.

“If I completely lose my humanity in a moment and become nothing but a beast that knows only slaughter… then please don’t hesitate to use your blades.”

As his words fell, under the silent and complicated gazes of the captains, Aizen slowly pressed the Hogyoku toward his chest, toward the core of his soul.

Buzz!

The moment the Hogyoku touched his skin, a vast spiritual pressure like the deep sea erupted instantly.

It was first-class spiritual might, the very limit of a Shinigami.

And it belonged to Aizen himself.

The originally invisible pressure had become visible due to extreme compression, turning into a pale blue mist that filled the entire 10th Division barracks.

The air grew thick like mercury. Some weaker vice-captains even found it difficult to breathe.

It was absolute suppression from the hierarchy of spiritual pressure.

“My, my… Captain Aizen’s spiritual pressure is dazzling no matter how many times I see it.”

Among the crowd, Ichimaru Gin still wore his fox-like smile, his eyes narrowed into thin slits.

But the hand hidden in his sleeve had quietly rested on the hilt of his sword, Shinso. A cold and sharp killing intent flickered for just an instant.

“What are you trying to do?”

Almost at the same moment, Ichigo appeared in front of Gin like a wall, blocking his line of sight toward Aizen.

Ichigo frowned slightly. His hand had already grasped the hilt of Zangetsu at his waist, his eyes watching Gin warily.

During these three days, he hadn’t gained nothing.

After recording that unfamiliar yet cold spiritual pressure, he had followed the list given by Byakuya Kuchiki and challenged them one by one.

The process didn’t go smoothly. Only some captains accepted his challenge, and most of them didn’t fight seriously, making it difficult to observe anything.

And Ichimaru Gin was one of the ones who refused.

In Ichigo’s mind, that made him highly suspicious.

And thanks to the heightened perception brought by his Shinigami-Hollow hybrid state, his senses were sharper than anyone else’s.

Just now, in that single moment, he had caught it.

That always-smiling man had produced an extremely subtle killing intent toward Aizen, who was undergoing the critical fusion.

Something was seriously wrong with this guy.

“Now, now, Captain Kurosaki, don’t be so nervous.”

Gin chuckled. Very naturally, he released the sword hilt and raised both hands above his head, making a gesture of surrender.

“I was just startled by this terrifying spiritual pressure and reacted instinctively to protect myself. Besides, with my humble strength, how could I possibly harm Captain Aizen while he’s evolving?”

“You’d better mean that.”

Ichigo gave him a long look. Remembering Aizen’s teachings, he forcibly suppressed the suspicion and the urge to act.

This was the critical moment of the fusion. Any disturbance might cause Aizen to lose control.

Now wasn’t the time to create trouble.

He turned around and focused all his attention back on the center of the field.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred.

Within the light of spiritual pressure, Aizen’s body slowly began to float.

There was none of the expected violent rejection or flesh tearing apart.

The spirit particles pouring from his chest transformed into countless delicate pale blue threads as if alive, wrapping around the Hogyoku both gently and greedily, pulling the forbidden jewel little by little into his body.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Heavy, powerful heartbeats exploded against everyone’s eardrums like war drums.

That wasn’t just the beating of a heart.

It was the pulse of the Hogyoku.

The two were rapidly synchronizing. With each beat, the Hogyoku’s light flashed once, illuminating Aizen’s organs with crystal clarity.

Then an astonishing scene appeared.

Rip!

Amid the surging spirit particles, the captain’s haori on Aizen’s back was suddenly torn open by an invisible force.

Six wings of light, as transparent as crystal yet carrying the pale texture of bone, burst from his back and slowly unfolded behind him.

They were not angel wings.

They looked more like a structural part of a Hollow’s body.

At the same time, his previously meticulous and gentle hairstyle was blown apart by the chaotic currents of spiritual pressure.

As if coated with invisible hair gel, his hair stood straight back, leaving only a single strand of bangs hanging down.

In an instant, that warm face gained a cold and domineering aura belonging to Hollows.

Boom!

At the moment his form finished transforming, an even more terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from Aizen like a volcanic explosion.

This power was no longer pure.

It carried the orderly gentleness of a Shinigami, yet mixed with the violent, chaotic destruction of a Hollow.

Two completely opposite forces had perfectly fused together, forming a new power that stood above all living beings and instantly spread across the skies of the entire Seireitei.

“So strong!”

At the edge of the field, the tall Komamura Sajin couldn’t help stepping back two steps. The wolf-like face that was usually so steadfast now showed pure shock.

Just the unconscious leakage of spiritual pressure already made him, a captain-class warrior, feel instinctive fear.

He didn’t even dare imagine what kind of terrifying realm Aizen had stepped into.

“In terms of sheer spiritual pressure, Captain Aizen in his normal state has already touched the ceiling that Captain-Commander Yamamoto once reached when releasing Bankai.”

Rosse stood with his hands behind his back, observing Aizen in midair and making a calm evaluation.

But in the next second, his tone changed slightly, carrying a hint of deliberate guidance.

“However, if that’s all it is, it’s still far from enough to fight against Kyoraku Shunsui, Shutara Senjumaru, or even the mysterious Hollow King.”

“Captain Aizen, you haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Rosse’s voice pierced through the violent storm of spiritual pressure like a spell, reaching directly into Aizen’s soul.

“According to Captain Mayuri’s research, the Hogyoku’s true core mechanism was never some low-level Hollowfication of an individual. It reads the deepest desire within its host, and then materializes that wish for evolution.”

“And the Soul King’s power, the strongest in existence, isn’t simply the combination of Shinigami and Hollow.”

Boom!

Those words exploded like thunder inside Aizen’s chaotic spiritual world.

In his half-fused state, Aizen’s bone wings trembled violently, and his whole body shuddered.

Of course.

Habitual thinking truly was the most dangerous poison.

A hundred years of research into Hollowfication experiments had made him subconsciously treat the Hogyoku as nothing more than a Hollowfication amplifier.

He had realized this before.

He had even tried to desire the power of the Quincy in his heart.

But perhaps the desire wasn’t pure enough, or the Hogyoku hadn’t absorbed enough Quincy spirit particles as samples.

That attempt had ultimately failed.

But, just as Rosse said, the path to omniscience and omnipotence wasn’t limited to a single combination.

What if he didn’t insist on the difficult Quincy power, and instead desired another power?

For example—

‘Fullbring.’

Aizen’s mind raced.

In his theoretical model, the Soul King’s power consisted of four fundamental forces:

The power of rebirth represented by Shinigami.

The power of destruction represented by Hollows.

The power of harmony represented by Quincy.

And the power of rules represented by Fullbring.

Although the power of Fullbring wasn’t as fundamentally strong as the other three, that was only because normally an individual could master at most one rule.

Moreover, since Shinigami could indirectly obtain rule-type power through Zanpakuto as a medium, it seemed less remarkable and he had subconsciously overlooked it.

But to go further, to overtake Rosse on a curve, the power of Fullbring was also necessary.

“Hogyoku… respond to me.”

“Respond to the intense desire for evolution within my heart!”

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