Barragan stared blankly at the scene before him, a faint sense of confusion flashing across his ancient eyes.
He couldn't understand why the man in front of him—Aizen—kept being torn apart by his attacks, only to reappear unharmed every time.
Yet that very peculiarity intrigued him. He decided to ask for the man's name. After all, he wouldn't bother remembering the name of a weakling he could crush at will. Only someone exceptional could stir the still waters of Barragan's calm heart.
"Does it confuse you?"
After stating his name, Aizen smiled faintly at Barragan, whose sharp eyes glimmered with thought.
"Hm?"
Barragan frowned slightly. He couldn't tell what Aizen was trying to say.
Was this man… provoking the ruler of Hueco Mundo?
"Would you like me to tell you what my ability is?"
Aizen's calm, composed smile didn't falter for a second.
It was as if nothing in the world could disturb him—
as if everything in existence already danced within his grasp.
"Hmph!"
"There's no need for your explanation. I can unravel your feeble trick myself," Barragan replied coldly.
"If I simply crush everything in existence, your ability will crumble with it."
Rage burned within him. The idea that a mere Shinigami would so casually offer to explain his power to the King of Hueco Mundo was an insult—
an intolerable act of arrogance.
"How amusing. Then why don't you try?"
Aizen smiled faintly, unfazed.
"Hmph! I am the sovereign of time itself! All things decay before me—I am Barragan, the Skeletal Emperor!"
The youthful monarch raised his massive battle axe and chanted softly:
"Arrogante!"
A tidal wave of crushing spiritual pressure erupted, shaking the air itself.
Dark mist coiled around Barragan's body, and his attire transformed into a flowing black shroud adorned with golden ornaments on his forehead, wrists, and ankles.
The pristine white crown atop his head dimmed, its color deepening to a shadowy hue.
Before Aizen's eyes, the boyish figure aged in moments into that of a young man—
a living embodiment of his claim: the master of time.
"How astonishing," Aizen murmured.
"So this is your true form… like a Shinigami's Zanpakutō release. Fascinating. Perhaps the evolution of Hollows is indeed a path that mirrors the Shinigami. But where did that power come from? From contact with a Shinigami, perhaps? A long existence, and through it, absorption?"
Ever the scholar of evolution, Aizen analyzed Barragan's transformation with clinical interest. His deductions were almost perfect—
though he missed one crucial detail: it wasn't that Barragan had stolen power from a Shinigami,
but that the faintest trace of a Shinigami's essence had assimilated into Barragan himself.
"Perish."
Barragan swung his colossal axe in one slow, divine motion. His voice was like that of a god declaring judgment—
not boastful, but absolute.
"What—?!"
Aizen's eyes widened.
In an instant, his body disintegrated into gray dust, scattering into nothing.
"Lord Aizen!"
Kaname Tōsen's voice trembled as he stared at Aizen's vanishing form, sweat pouring down his face.
"You too—vanish."
Barragan turned his gaze upon him, and in the next heartbeat, Tōsen too dissolved into drifting ash.
"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes… all things fade within the great river of time."
The self-proclaimed god of time smiled serenely.
"Ara how terrifying so very scary~"
From behind came a sing-song voice—
Gin Ichimaru. His trademark sly smile never left his face, even as he stood before Barragan's overwhelming presence.
"You're not afraid?" Barragan asked, frowning.
"Afraid? Why, I'm terrified absolutely trembling" Gin replied cheerfully, tilting his head, his narrow eyes never opening.
"Smack!"
Suddenly, Gin flinched, clutching his head as if someone had just whacked him hard.
"Ow! That hurts!"
Barragan frowned. He could feel something—someone—but saw nothing.
"Well then, could you hurry up and kill me already? I'm on a bit of a schedule," Gin said flatly, glancing at the empty space beside him.
Barragan was momentarily speechless. In all his reign, he had seen countless strange beings in Hueco Mundo—
but never one who asked to die.
"You…"
Gin opened his mouth again to speak—
and before he could finish, his body, too, crumbled into gray dust.
"What a waste," Barragan muttered softly, shaking his head. "Begging for death… truly absurd."
Now only one remained—
Ilforte Granz.
"L-Lord Barragan…" Ilforte stammered, trembling as the oppressive aura of a god loomed over him.
"Shh."
Barragan vanished and reappeared before him, pressing a finger gently to his lips.
"No need to explain. I understand."
His tone was almost kind. His smile—gentle, almost divine.
"Facing three Shinigami must've been difficult for someone like you."
"Th-thank you, Lord Barragan. I will forever remember your grace—"
"Schhk."
A sudden flash of steel.
Barragan's axe impaled Ilforte through the stomach.
"W…why?"
Barragan smiled faintly.
"You ask why I kill you? Why should one so weak continue to live?"
"Look at what's become of Hueco Mundo—how weak our kind has grown under your watch."
"Your death… is mercy."
He caressed Ilforte's cheek tenderly, then withdrew his weapon.
Ilforte's eyes dimmed with regret as his body disintegrated into dust.
"The weak do not deserve to live… nor to rule," Barragan declared coldly.
Hueco Mundo was simple:
Only the strong survived.
"The time has come for me to descend once more—to reclaim my throne."
With divine arrogance, Barragan strode from his palace, crushing all who defied him.
He once again became Emperor of Hueco Mundo,
yet… something felt wrong.
Something unreal.
A month later, as he sat upon his throne, Barragan's eyes suddenly narrowed.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!"
From the shadows, two figures emerged—
"Damn it, I told you to stay hidden," one scolded the other, knocking him on the head.
Barragan froze.
Tōsen and Gin—both alive, standing before him.
"How…?"
"Strange, isn't it?" Aizen's voice echoed behind him. "You wonder why we're still alive. Perhaps now you'd like to know my ability?"
Barragan turned. Aizen was there once more, calm and unscathed.
"You…"
He could barely form words.
"Attack them! Kill them all!"
He roared to his newly gathered Hollows—
but none moved.
"Why?! Are you betraying me too?!"
Aizen chuckled softly.
"Barragan, haven't you realized yet? Look closely. Where do you think you are?"
Barragan froze. The truth dawned on him.
The palace shattered—
and in an instant, the grand throne room melted away into a barren white desert beneath the moonlight.
Aizen, Tōsen, and Gin stood a short distance away, just as they had at the beginning.
"What… what is this?!"
"Still don't understand?" Aizen asked gently, stepping closer.
"From the very first moment you saw me, you were already trapped within my Zanpakutō's power."
"My Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu, completely controls the five senses. Everything you've seen since—every moment, every illusion—was my creation."
Aizen spoke freely, confident that his power could never be undone.
Barragan stared at him in silence, regret flickering in his ancient eyes.
He should have killed him the instant they met.
"Yes," Aizen said softly, reading his thoughts. "You should have. But curiosity stayed your hand… and thus, this was the result."
He smiled faintly, his voice steady and entrancing.
"But don't worry—I am not your enemy. In truth… I am your ally."
Aizen extended his hand, his calm eyes glinting with ambition.
"Join me, Barragan. Become my comrade."