"Ah… the gap."
Hitsugaya stared at the scene, envy showing in his eyes.
Just a summoned projection was enough to beat him down with ease.
Things like what had just happened had already occurred many times.
The facts had proven it. Captains like them were basically just making up the numbers. Among everyone present, the only ones who could truly fight a Hollowfied Aizen were probably only Rosse and Unohana Retsu.
"Tch! I really hope Captain Aizen succeeds. If he does, we might get a chance to try Hollowfication too."
Hitsugaya sighed. A kind of longing that had never appeared before surfaced on his youthful face.
Those words spoke the thoughts of almost everyone present.
Who doesn't crave power?
Who would willingly hide in the back like useless baggage at a moment where life and death were on the line?
Not far away, Komamura Sajin lay on the ground, unable to move. But in those beastlike eyes staring at the sky, the same desire burned.
And Zaraki Kenpachi, covered in blood and forcing himself to lean against the wall, now had a hint of greed for power mixed into the savage grin at the corner of his mouth.
Even Kuchiki Byakuya, who had always taken pride in noble honor, now had fingers trembling slightly as he gripped Senbonzakura, as if struggling within his own heart.
Even if they couldn't break through their limits the way Aizen had, just advancing to first-class spiritual pressure would already be an enormous improvement.
At the very least, they wouldn't be as powerless as they were now.
"Give it a rest. Stop daydreaming."
Yoruichi sat at the highest point and mercilessly dumped cold water over them.
"If you don't have a soul and will strong enough to support it, forcing yourself to fuse with Hollow power leads to only one outcome. The Hollow inside you will devour you instead, and you'll fall completely into a monster that only knows slaughter."
She rolled her eyes and swung her legs idly.
"That's what that guy Urahara Kisuke personally warned the Visored about back then. I don't really understand the theory either, but he probably wouldn't lie about something like that."
"Keh! Heh! Heh! Ignorance! You think Urahara Kisuke's technology can compare with mine?"
Kurotsuchi Mayuri let out a piercing, strange laugh. Fanatical light flickered in his mismatched eyes.
"If he failed, it's because his ability only reaches that level! Creating the Hogyoku was purely a coincidence."
"But after improvements and calculations by this genius, if Captain Aizen succeeds, I'll have a way to mass-produce the Hogyoku. Those low-level side effects simply won't exist!"
"Mass-produce it?", Yoruichi raised an eyebrow, "Hey, hey. That divine thing called the Hogyoku isn't some cabbage you can mass-produce. No matter how you think about it, that sounds ridiculous. If it were that easy, why would Ukitake Jushiro fight to the death over it?"
"That's exactly why explaining science to monkeys who only know how to cut people is like playing music to cows," Mayuri snorted with disdain.
"What do you think the Hogyoku is? Just a tool that turns people into Hollows? How shallow!"
"It's the power of evolution. That's what you wrote in the report to Squad Ten. The power of the Soul King that symbolizes the rules of evolution."
A cool yet resolute female voice suddenly cut into the conversation.
Everyone turned their heads.
They saw Matsumoto Rangiku standing beside Rosse's projection, one hand lightly rubbing the hilt of the Zanpakuto at her waist as she looked up at the sky with a complicated gaze.
As Rosse's closest lieutenant, and the woman who had completely entrusted both body and heart to him, she knew far more than anyone else present.
At the core of the Hogyoku, that fragment of evolutionary law. Part of it had actually come from her.
She was someone with a missing soul. Someone who had been near Aizen when he was conducting an experiment, and had part of her soul taken away.
That stolen portion of her soul happened to contain a fragment of the Soul King's power.
By all logic, someone incomplete like her should have been destined never to reach captain level in this lifetime, and even less likely to achieve Bankai.
But Rosse had broken that restriction.
Thinking of this, Matsumoto Rangiku's gaze softened.
Rosse had used a kind of fundamental power from another world to miraculously complete her soul.
It was no longer the original piece, but this gift allowed her to possess strength surpassing Ichimaru Gin.
Even though she still couldn't match those veteran captains with first-class spiritual pressure, a far broader path had already opened before her.
So from the bottom of her heart, she hoped Ichimaru Gin would no longer remain shackled by the hatred of the past.
If he could abandon that hatred, the new world would have a ticket waiting for him. It would repay the life-saving kindness she once received, and Rosse would help her repay that debt.
But the premise was that Ichimaru Gin had to abandon his hatred. Abandon this world.
"That's right!"
On the other side, Kurotsuchi Mayuri heard Rangiku's explanation and looked like a cat whose excitement switch had been stepped on. His speech instantly sped up.
"The most terrifying part of the Hogyoku lies in the evolutionary power it contains! This law is the complete opposite of the stopping law inside Ukitake Jushiro that represents stillness!"
"If someone could simultaneously control these two powers, opposing yet unified and capable of endless growth, then theoretically any mortal could break through the boundary between life and death and become the number one being beneath the supreme Soul King."
"And achieve true immortality! Impossible to destroy by any method. Even if shattered into spirit particles, they could rapidly reassemble through the power of stillness and evolve again through the power of evolution."
Those words made the captains present breathe more heavily.
Immortality.
What an enticing phrase.
"So…", Yoruichi frowned, trying to follow the mad scientist's thinking, "You mean the little Hogyoku you mass-produce will also have this kind of heaven-defying effect?"
"Heh! Heh! Of course it won't be exactly the same."
Mayuri was arrogant, but not insane.
"The mass-produced sub-Hogyoku naturally won't possess the infinite evolutionary potential of the original. What I truly plan to do is separate part of the evolutionary power from Captain Aizen, the successful mother body, and distribute it into other containers."
"Although the evolution speed and upper limit will be locked, because it's a downgraded version controlled by humans, it will become more controllable and safer."
"For it, something like Hollowfication, the most basic stage of evolution, would be child's play."
At this point, Mayuri spread his arms wide as if embracing a brand-new era.
"Given enough time, it might even break the natural spiritual pressure bottleneck every Shinigami is born with. Every Shinigami here would have the chance to reach the peak that only a few Shinigami have ever touched before, the so-called limit of first-class spiritual pressure."
"Everyone like dragons. That is the ultimate scientific ideal I, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, pursue! Keh! Keh! Keh! Keh!"
This passionate declaration plunged the entire ruin into silence.
It sounded insane. Even Dangerous.
But looking at the absurdly powerful Aizen in the sky, and then looking at Rosse standing there like a manifestation of a god.
A seed called ambition had already begun to sprout quietly in everyone's heart.
What if?
What if it succeeded?
Would they also gain the power Aizen possessed right now?
"Tch! You've been babbling forever."
Yoruichi clicked her tongue and broke the silence.
"To put it plainly, you can make a bunch of power banks and charge them using Aizen as a nuclear power plant, right? Why can't you just say it in human language?"
"To be honest," She crossed her arms, looking disgusted, "That swindler Urahara might love talking in riddles, but his plain explanations are still way better than your mad scientist nonsense."
"Hmph!"
The smile on Mayuri's face vanished instantly. He turned away coldly.
"Talking with idiots who only understand monkey language is an insult to my intelligence. When this experiment succeeds, I'll show you that Urahara Kisuke is nothing special."
Though he acted as if he had no interest in continuing the conversation, the excitement burning in his eyes only grew stronger.
———
Another hour passed.
The battle in the sky finally entered its final stage. The sounds of fighting grew quieter, and the battlefield descended lower and lower.
At last, under everyone's watchful eyes, Rosse and Aizen appeared in their field of vision.
Compared with when he left earlier, Rosse was still dressed in the captain's haori.
Despite having just gone through an intense battle, his haori didn't seem to have a single speck of dust on it, let alone any damage.
Rosse remaining completely unharmed was within everyone's expectations.
But the changes in Aizen nearly made their jaws drop.
At this moment, Aizen had completely returned to human form. If not for the white robe temporarily formed from spirit particles on his body, there was no trace of Hollowfication at all.
Those butterfly-bone wings had disappeared.
Aizen simply stood calmly in the air, upright and composed, as if walking on solid ground.
The mask from before had already shattered, revealing the handsome face beneath.
After his eyes and hair had been reshaped, the gentle aura Aizen once carried had vanished completely, replaced with a hint of wild freedom.
The contrast left Hinamori Momo staring blankly below, practically drooling.
Gentle Aizen had always been good.
But she'd been looking at him for nearly a hundred years.
And now suddenly there was this domineering version of Aizen.
'Kyahhhhh! I absolutely love it!'
"Captain Aizen, did you succeed?"
Hitsugaya couldn't help asking. Compared with noticing the strange look in his childhood friend's eyes, he cared more about Aizen's current state.
"Thanks to the Captain-Commander for buying me enough time and weakening the Hollow within my heart. I have now completely fused with the Hogyoku and finished Hollowfication," Aizen smiled slightly.
"Then what about your Zanpakuto?", Komamura was still lying on the ground, but he refused to stay quiet and asked about the details.
The desire for Hollowfication in his eyes had practically become tangible.
Three times. In less than a month, he had already been instantly defeated three times.
First by Hollowfied Ichigo.
Then by Kyoraku.
And finally by Hollowfied Aizen.
If this kept happening, he would be too embarrassed to remain in the captain's seat.
He had to grow stronger.
To protect the Soul Society, he had to become stronger.
"The Zanpakuto is originally a part of a Shinigami. I don't know what path Kyoraku Shunsui and the Royal Palace have chosen, but as a Shinigami, I naturally chose the righteous path of the Shinigami."
Aizen spoke with dignified certainty as he explained.
"I fused the power of Hollowfication and the power of my Zanpakuto into myself, strengthening my own foundation."
"Keh! Heh! Heh! A genius idea! Simply put, using Shinigami power as the foundation, supplemented by the characteristics of Hollow power and the Soul King's power, while still maintaining all Shinigami traits and stripping away every impurity related to Hollows."
Mayuri exclaimed in fanatic admiration.
"Ah? Even after you simplified it, we still don't understand."
Hitsugaya scratched his head, inwardly agreeing a little with Yoruichi. It really wasn't easy to follow.
"To put it simply, the current Aizen is a pure Shinigami. In fact, he's closer to the essence of a Shinigami than any of us," Rosse explained calmly.
"He turned Hollow power and the Soul King's power into nutrients for evolution, letting the Hogyoku tailor a unique evolutionary path that belongs only to a Shinigami."
Rosse had already understood Aizen's state the moment he fully recovered.
It wasn't a simple fusion of multiple powers.
It was pushing one single path to the extreme.
A path no one had walked before.
A path only the Hogyoku could help Aizen achieve.
And also a path destined to eventually reach a dead end.
The Hogyoku's power came from the Soul King. That meant even if Aizen evolved to the limit, he would only reach the Soul King's level at most. Surpassing it would be extremely difficult.
In other words, Aizen's limit was merely Rosse's current level.
Unless Aizen fused power from other worlds and caused the Hogyoku itself to evolve again, truly turning it into his own power instead of a simple fusion.
But if he never left this world, that would be impossible.
So from the very beginning, unless Aizen submitted to him, his road ahead was destined to end.
"I see!"
Rosse's explanation was simple.
Even though they didn't understand the theory, everyone understood what Aizen had done.
He had walked a unique Shinigami path.
For the other captains, the attraction of this path was far greater than Hollowfication.
If they had a choice, who would want to turn into a Hollow?
"Captain Aizen, could you explain the method in detail?", Kuchiki Byakuya couldn't help asking.
There was no way he could abandon the honor of the nobility and become Hollowfied.
But if Hollow power could instead be used as nourishment, allowing Shinigami power to evolve toward a more perfect state, that was completely different.
"Everyone's situation is different. I can't explain the details of evolution clearly in a short time. I'll need some time to sort it out. Once Captain Mayuri and I figure out a concrete method, we'll inform everyone as soon as possible."
Aizen was no longer as gentle as before. His words now carried a stronger presence.
The content of what he said was the same as when he used to act like a kind old man.
But when everyone heard it, they felt an instinctive urge to follow.
"It's fine. Captain Aizen has just completed evolution. We're not in a hurry."
The captains all spoke up, saying they weren't in a rush.
They understood Mayuri's personality well enough. With that impatient man involved, they probably wouldn't have to wait long.
And just as everyone gathered around Aizen, chatting happily—
Suddenly, the voice of Ichigo shattered the peaceful atmosphere.
"Captain Ichimaru, shouldn't you explain something?"
"Why did you try to kill Aizen-sensei just now? And why did you kill Orihime Inoue, then put the corpse in my room?"
The moment those words came out, the entire place fell silent.
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