Urahara Kisuke knew that Ichigo Kurosaki just wanted to live a peaceful life and didn't want to join this war. The boy had already been through so much.
But now, Urahara could only pin his hopes on this remarkable high school student who had already accomplished the impossible multiple times.
Sometimes, Urahara felt that he was truly hopeless, using others to clean up his mistakes.
While the two were talking, Shiba Isshin suddenly tensed and called out, "Here they come! This is..."
Under the surprised gaze of everyone present, Aizen, now covered in white armor with only eerily glowing purple eyes visible, descended from the sky.
An inexplicable, overwhelming momentum filled the entire area, pressing down on them like an invisible weight.
"What on earth is this?" Looking at the transformed Aizen, Ichigo exclaimed again, his voice tinged with both awe and fear.
He had something else he wanted to say—that Aizen's reiatsu was now so intense that it made his body feel stiff and heavy. Except for Captain-Commander Uehara Shiroha, he had never felt such an overwhelming spiritual pressure.
"This aura..." Looking at Aizen who appeared increasingly inhuman, Uryū Ishida pushed his glasses up and said calmly:
"He has completely turned into a monster! What a repulsive presence!"
He could not sense Aizen's reiatsu at all anymore. This could only mean that the opponent was at least one dimension stronger than him.
Moreover, he also detected an inexplicable quality emanating from Aizen. It was an aura that made him, as a pure-blooded Quincy, instinctively recoil in disgust.
It was a Hollow aura, but also something entirely alien—something that should not exist in this world!
At this moment, Urahara made his assessment of Aizen's new form:
"What's wrapped around Aizen is materialized reiatsu armor. That is the power of the Hōgyoku manifesting. His soul form is changing, undergoing a process of evolution and reorganization."
Urahara's eyes narrowed with concern as he continued, "I didn't expect that the complete Hōgyoku would possess such powerful transformation abilities. This power has exceeded even my understanding and projections. Fortunately, I kept one final contingency in place."
At this moment, Aizen's very nature and life form had transcended Urahara's comprehension. However, he already had a plan for this eventuality.
But without absolute strength to back it, his plan would not succeed. Now, Urahara could only place his hopes on Ichigo Kurosaki and perhaps Uehara Shiroha.
If Uehara Shiroha chose to intervene directly, it would be a tremendous advantage. His plan would succeed nine times out of ten.
But Urahara knew this was unlikely. If Uehara Shiroha truly cared about the Soul King Palace and the Soul King, Aizen would never have had the opportunity to fuse with the Hōgyoku in the first place.
Therefore, he still had to gamble—gamble that Ichigo could realize his full potential, and gamble that Aizen's reiatsu and will would be significantly diminished in the process of transformation.
...
At the same time, Uehara Shiroha also analyzed the current Aizen with keen interest:
"Now Aizen has been enveloped by the power of the Hōgyoku. The layer of milky white solid armor surrounding him is essentially a chrysalis."
His eyes gleamed with understanding as he continued, "After fusing with the Hōgyoku, Aizen has begun to abandon his old power, no longer relying on the Shinigami system. This is similar to an insect spinning a cocoon—both represent a gesture of shedding the past to embrace transformation."
He nodded thoughtfully. "This evolutionary path is indeed something remarkable. It's unfortunate that Aizen cannot truly grasp its significance or control its outcome."
Of course, the strength of this Hōgyoku-fused Aizen was undoubtedly beyond the scope of ordinary Shinigami. Although he had not completely transcended the limits of his race, even among the captains of the Thousand Year Blood War era, he would stand as the strongest—an existence at the pinnacle of Shinigami potential.
The price, however, was that he had become monstrous in appearance. And this was not even his ugliest form yet.
Aizen's appearance still had room to deteriorate further. Although his power would continue to grow stronger, his appearance and reason would eventually collapse, and he would ultimately reap what he had sown.
The irony was that Aizen himself considered this form ugly—in essence, he looked down on both Shinigami and Hollows. Therefore, the evolution that Aizen was undergoing now was essentially a higher level of Hollowification.
The endpoint of his evolution would be neither Hollow nor Shinigami, but something alien—an otherworldly entity possessing the power of gods.
Uehara Shiroha was curious whether this endpoint represented the limit of Aizen himself or the limit of the Hōgyoku's capabilities. However, he believed he would discover the answer to this question soon enough.
...
The terrifying reiatsu, now mixed with the aura of an alien being, burst forth like a raging waterfall before suddenly returning to an unnatural calm.
Aizen, having unlocked this new form, looked at Urahara with his glowing purple eyes and spoke with disturbing tranquility:
"You used the 90th Hadō as bait to provoke me into a full-force attack, and then led me into your trap. After that, you activated the special kidō you developed specifically to make me burn from within."
A faint smile appeared beneath those inhuman eyes. "This was your strategy, and I must admit it was clever. If your opponent had not been me..."
He paused, reconsidering his words.
"No! If I hadn't made the Hōgyoku submit to my will, this battle would indeed have ended differently. But now I possess unlimited possibilities. Your secret techniques are meaningless against what I have become."
Urahara was as cunning as ever. It was just that his intelligence had not been applied in the right direction. From the beginning, Urahara had made the wrong choice and selected the wrong opponent to challenge.
So, Aizen continued with growing confidence:
"The spell you used against me was clearly developed specifically to counter my abilities. I recognize your talent and foresight. However, such spells can do nothing to me now. You yourself can do nothing to me either. Everything is already decided."
His voice carried absolute certainty as he concluded, "The truth is that the Hōgyoku you created has evolved far beyond your understanding or control."