"Yours isn't bad either, Lord Oetsu."
Aizen smiled slightly, but he did not chase after Nimaiya Oetsu. Instead, he slowly raised his head and swung Kyoka Suigetsu, wrapped in violent purple lightning, toward what looked like an empty sky dome.
Boom!
Purple lightning flashed across the sky in an instant, like a massive electric net tearing apart a hidden space a hundred meters above.
"Ah!"
Along with a scream, a large scorched figure was swatted out of the sky like a fly and slammed heavily back onto the ground beneath Aizen.
That black figure was none other than Hyosube Ichibei, who had just been blasted into the ruins.
"My strength is indeed not weak, but I am not arrogant enough to think I could leave you near death with a single attack, Ichibei."
Aizen looked down at the monk who had fallen to the ground, the smile at the corner of his mouth full of mockery.
"Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough..."
Hyosube Ichibei climbed up from the edge of the crater, coughing up blood in large mouthfuls. His appearance was miserable to the extreme.
His trademark beard had been mostly burned away by the purple lightning. His Squad Zero haori and Shihakusho were torn to pieces, and burns and blade wounds of all sizes covered his body.
He was indeed not weak enough to be taken out in one move by Aizen, but his injuries were far from light.
It simply was not enough to threaten his life.
At this moment, there was barely any fighting spirit left in his eyes. He only wanted to hurry back to the Soul King Palace above.
But Aizen quietly floated in midair, purple arcs of electricity jumping around him.
His existence was like an unbridgeable abyss standing between heaven and earth.
Whether it was Squad Zero or the Gotei 13.
Today, not a single person would get past him.
———
[Meanwhile, Inside the Soul King Palace]
This was the residence of the Soul King, the nominal supreme ruler of the world. Every brick and tile carried an untouchable sense of holiness and grandeur.
But the truly ironic thing was that the real owner of this palace had long been wrapped deep within it like a cicada husk with its organs hollowed out, pitifully maintaining the balance of the world for millions of years.
And now, this Soul King had been pierced through the torso by Rosse's Sea God Halberd, while his head had been smoothly severed and fallen to the side.
Yet after carrying out this act of killing a god, Rosse merely stood quietly beside the broken corpse.
Kurosaki Masaki, standing behind him, showed a trace of surprise in her eyes.
From her perception, she could not sense any sign that Rosse was devouring anything.
Rosse had not consumed the Soul King, and the surrounding spirit particles had not surged either.
It was as if he had come to the deepest part of the heavens only to kill the Soul King, not to devour him and complete his own evolution.
"That's it?"
Kurosaki Masaki finally could not hold back her curiosity and asked.
Just a few minutes ago, she had secretly struggled in her heart over whether she should risk her life and betray Rosse while he was busy devouring the Soul King and unable to focus elsewhere.
But now it seemed like a joke.
There had never been any opening to begin with. Rosse had not exposed a single flaw.
She did not even need to struggle over whether to betray him.
"It's over," Rosse smiled faintly and slowly turned around.
On his retina, a system panel only he could see was quietly refreshing.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Rosse]
[Power: 1.2 billion / 2 billion (SSS-)]
[Fruit: Human-Human Fruit · Mythical Zoan · Watatsumi Form]
[Zanpakuto: Heaven-Dome Purifying Cycle]
[Combat Skills: Spirit Particle Power (SSS), Three Types of Haki (SS), Swordsmanship (SS), Hand-to-Hand Combat (SS)...]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
From beginning to end, he never needed to evolve like others by crudely devouring the Soul King.
He only needed to kill the Soul King, the cornerstone of the world, and obtain the Heart of the World. Then the system would naturally push his power into a dimensional breakthrough.
For Rosse, who possessed the system, there was no such thing as a bottleneck.
There was no need for him to personally swallow the Soul King's broken remains, nor spend endless years condensing the Heart of the World himself, nor rely on tricks to evolve.
As long as he killed or defeated higher-level beings, the system could turn them into pure nourishment for his evolution.
This was the true foundation of his invincibility.
And the SSS-level Spirit Particle Power on the panel was the skill reward granted by the system after he killed the Soul King, just like back in the Pirate World.
It was just that in recent years, he had only been killing trash mobs, so it had been a long time since he had obtained an ability of such a high tier.
SSS-level Spirit Particle Power was also the Soul King's strongest and most core source ability during his lifetime.
In fact, the power Kurosaki Masaki evolved after being modified by Rosse was already very close to the Soul King's Spirit Particle Power.
However, if measured by rank, her Absolute Spirit Particle Control was at most only SS-level, nowhere near Rosse's current SSS-level.
As long as Rosse wished, Kurosaki Masaki would not be able to use even a single spirit particle.
"Then what about this corpse?"
Kurosaki Masaki glanced at the relaxed Rosse, then at the headless Soul King corpse on the ground, and still could not stop herself from asking.
This was the Soul King. Even tiny fragments of his body could mass-produce terrifying combat power like the Espada.
Yet now he was simply being left here like a discarded sack?
'There is really no need to consume this flesh and blood to further stabilize himself?'
Even Kurosaki Masaki, whose emotions had long been drained away and who believed herself heartless, still found her thoughts shaken when looking at a treasure that could drive every living thing in the three realms mad.
"If you're tempted and want to devour it, feel free."
Rosse saw through her thoughts and spread his hands indifferently.
"But I should remind you that most of the Soul King's remaining body parts are merely energy containers filled with massive spirit particles. The truly valuable parts are very few. Those authorities and core abilities related to the laws of the world had already been split apart back when the ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans dismembered him."
Rosse spoke with a smile, looking completely unconcerned about whether Kurosaki Masaki would make a move.
"I'm not interested," Kurosaki Masaki shook her head without hesitation.
In truth, she had no desire for evolution at all.
Even the power she had now was something Rosse forced onto her, and the price of it was so great that she would rather have died.
Unfortunately, she could no longer go back.
Having already reached this point, she could not kill herself anymore either.
Anyway, Rosse only satisfied his desires and had never done anything even more excessive, so she just let him do as he pleased.
Besides, Rosse was only one man. A day only had twenty-four hours.
Not to mention that most of the time, he spent it accompanying people from the other world. Even when he often spoiled her here, in reality, it only happened once every many days.
After all, there were simply too many people around Rosse.
And if she really had to compare, she was not the most favored one. Shutara was actually more favored.
Though Kurosaki Masaki guessed that woman would rather not receive that much attention.
But precisely because that woman did not want attention, Rosse focused on her even more.
And because Kurosaki Masaki had long understood how terrible Rosse was, she had always shown endless obedience and tolerance, so Rosse's interest in her remained at a fairly normal level.
"Aizen doesn't want it either?"
Kurosaki Masaki relaxed a little. Since there was no need to think about betrayal anymore, and it looked like Rosse had already completed his evolution, then she already knew what would happen next.
Soul Society would most likely soon meet its end.
And Aizen would become the greatest contributor. With Rosse's personality, he would definitely grant the greatest reward.
"Aizen? He already willingly gave up both the Hogyoku and the Soul King's right arm. Why would he care about picking up this leftover corpse?"
Rosse answered casually, his tone carrying some praise toward Aizen.
"If Aizen devoured this remaining part of the Soul King, perhaps he could take a shortcut and quickly reach a realm infinitely close to the Soul King. But that would also be the end of his path."
"Remember this, Masaki. Debts borrowed from others must eventually be repaid. A throne built from the corpses of predecessors will never climb out of this little pond."
Naturally, Rosse would not truly treat the Soul King's body as garbage. Whether it was used to nourish his world or as experimental material, it would definitely be used to its fullest in the end.
"Alright, leave him here for now. Later, let Aizen come collect the body," As Rosse spoke, he casually adjusted his collar and started walking toward the exit of the Soul King Palace.
"We should head down and watch the show. If I don't arrive soon, and Aizen kills those flies too quickly, then this final performance won't be entertaining enough."
Kurosaki Masaki lightly nodded and could not help looking at the god's corpse on the ground two more times.
Then she silently followed behind Rosse. The two left the Soul King Palace together and turned into streaks of light, rushing toward Soul Society below.
———
[Soul Society, in Front of Squad Ten]
In barely five minutes, this place had already turned into a living hell filled with corpses and rivers of blood.
Not because Aizen's methods were especially cruel, but because the maniacs of Squad Eleven led by Zaraki Kenpachi were simply too violent.
Once these pure battle lunatics were released and charged into the already shaken ranks of ordinary Soul Reapers, they became like tigers entering a flock of sheep, unstoppable.
Any enemy who dared draw a sword and stand before them quickly turned into torn chunks of flesh amid their wild laughter.
Back then, Rosse's method for recruiting Zaraki Kenpachi had been extremely simple and direct. He had easily defeated him and calmly told the beast: As long as he followed him, there would be endless fights in the future. Even the Espada could be challenged anytime, provided Kenpachi could beat them.
For Zaraki Kenpachi, who lived only to enjoy slaughter at his core, that sounded far better than staying in Soul Society, a place full of rules and empty talk.
"Hahahahaha! I'll cut you down! I'll cut you down!"
Zaraki Kenpachi's golden skull-shaped spiritual pressure burst outward wildly, as though it wanted to dye the sky gold.
Like a blood-covered demon, he swung his blade again and again at Kirinji Tenjiro. There was no technique to it, only overwhelming force.
Even a Squad Zero member fighting at full power with agile movement was steadily forced backward under Kenpachi's completely unreasonable assault, barely managing to defend himself.
Meanwhile, at the center of the battlefield around Aizen, captains already lay scattered across the ground.
"Huff... Huff..."
Sticky blood slid down Nimaiya Oetsu's exaggerated hairstyle, flowing across his forehead and staining one eye completely red.
He hunched forward, his chest rising violently as he breathed heavily, staring at Aizen ahead with his remaining eye.
Too strong.
So strong that even they, Soul Reapers standing at the peak, could not stop a feeling of helplessness from rising inside them.
Before today, in the understanding of everyone in the Gotei 13, Aizen's most terrifying and unsolvable weapon had been Kyoka Suigetsu, which could completely hypnotize the five senses.
But only now, after truly fighting this man with their lives on the line, did they realize how wrong they had been.
Aizen's true strength was not just Kyoka Suigetsu.
Every aspect of him was monstrously powerful.
Whether it was swordsmanship, Hakuda, Kido, or Flash Step... every one of his basic abilities had already surpassed the limits of Soul Reapers without question.
Combined with the deadly lightning power he now possessed, as well as the five-sense manipulation that could activate at any time, Aizen no longer had any weakness at all. They could not find even the slightest flaw.
How had a monster with talent like this willingly chosen to follow Rosse?
The more Nimaiya Oetsu fought, the stronger the confusion and frustration inside him became.
With Aizen's monstrous talent, if he had been willing to walk the proper path honestly, the Soul King Palace would have recruited him long ago into Squad Zero.
With his terrifying research ability and talent, even without Squad Zero reconstructing his body with the Oken, he could eventually have reached this level on his own. Maybe in the future, he might even have had some chance of standing equal to the Soul King.
For someone born to stand above all others, was there really any reason to lower himself and side with Rosse?
"I don't understand..."
After another violent clash powerful enough to tear apart the air, Nimaiya Oetsu borrowed the impact to slide backward more than ten meters.
The hand gripping his katana trembled as he stared at Aizen with his one eye and gritted his teeth.
"Why are you standing on the side of that outsider Rosse? There's only one Soul King throne in this world. You, Aizen Sosuke, should have been fighting for that throne yourself. Why lower yourself and stand here guarding the gate for him?"
"There may indeed be only one throne. But is the only path to the highest point really that dull dead end you see?", Aizen suddenly let out a deeply mocking laugh.
He casually rotated his wrist and effortlessly spun a dazzling flourish with his sword through the air.
His relaxed posture made it seem as though he was not standing on a battlefield of corpses and blood at all, but merely practicing ordinary swordsmanship in the training hall of the Shin'o Academy.
Even though he alone was holding back more than half of the Gotei 13, not a single person could place him under pressure.
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