The people who had originally intended to rush in and rescue Kazuma no longer dared to move recklessly.
One by one, they halted in their tracks, their expressions turning grave.
They knew that charging in blindly would not save Kazuma. On the contrary, it might worsen the situation, or even give Aizen an opening to exploit.
"Shinji Hirako, back off already. If you keep interfering, you might end up mistaking me for Aizen and cutting me down next."
Kazuma looked at Shinji, a trace of helplessness flashing through his eyes.
He understood how deeply Shinji hated Aizen, but the situation had already gone beyond what they could casually interfere with.
Shinji had actually rushed in without making any plan at all. If things continued like this, it could easily lead to all of them being wiped out.
"Captain Kazuma! Are you sure you don't need my help?"
"Don't worry. I won't die that easily. Hurry up and get out of here."
Kazuma turned back toward Aizen.
"I have to admit, the ability of your Zanpakutō really is absurdly impossible to deal with. But if you think that's enough to kill me, you're far from right."
With that, Kazuma raised his sword high above his head.
"Star's Protection."
In an instant, countless streams of stellar power were drawn down from the night sky and gathered upon the sword in his hand, forming a dazzling radiance.
That starlight wrapped around his body like a shield, and the hideous wound across his chest began healing at a visible rate.
In only a few seconds, every injury on his body had vanished completely.
Kazuma pointed his sword forward.
"Aizen. Come!"
"Captain Kazuma, the ability of your Zanpakutō is truly unusual," Aizen said. "The Fourth Division is where you truly belong. What a pity. From today onward, Soul Society will be losing a master healer. Are you certain you won't reconsider joining me?"
"Enough nonsense."
Kazuma had no interest in wasting more words on him.
The corner of Aizen's mouth lifted slightly, and Kyōka Suigetsu in his hand gave off an eerie gleam.
"Is that so? Then allow me to test this power of the stars."
Before his voice had even faded, Aizen's figure flashed, charging toward Kazuma like a specter.
Kazuma's gaze sharpened. He raised the Ziwei Sword and swung with all his strength.
In an instant, starlight blazed, and sword energy crisscrossed the battlefield.
Their attacks collided in midair, sending a violent wave of reiatsu surging outward.
Yet what startled Kazuma was that Aizen's strength exceeded even his own estimates.
After only a brief deadlock, Kazuma was actually forced several steps back.
He had fallen into an extremely awkward position.
Because he could not determine whether the Aizen before him was truly Aizen, he did not dare launch attacks recklessly.
All he could do was defend and counterattack passively.
This suffocating method of fighting was agonizing.
"Everyone, leave this area immediately! Now!"
Kazuma finally could not hold back any longer. He decided to unleash a large-scale attack.
He raised his sword high.
"Starfall."
As his words fell, a tiny meteor appeared in the sky.
Wreathed in raging flames, it illuminated all of Karakura Town as it plummeted swiftly toward Aizen's position.
A crazed look surfaced on Kazuma's face.
"Aizen, since I can't break through your Kyōka Suigetsu, then I'll reduce everything in front of me to ash! I refuse to believe you can survive once that meteor comes crashing down."
After doing all this, Kazuma stood where he was and laughed wildly.
The moment Aizen saw the meteor, his eyelid twitched, and for an instant, he almost failed to react.
'This man really is a lunatic. That meteor may be relatively small, but if it actually lands, this entire area will cease to exist. Everyone here will die. This is practically a suicide attack.'
He could not help being shocked by Kazuma's decisiveness and madness.
At the same time, he became even more aware of just how dangerous Kazuma truly was.
Even so, Aizen was not swallowed by fear.
Instead, he smiled.
"Captain Kazuma, I must say, you are truly ruthless. This is the World of the Living. There are countless innocent humans here, as well as people like Shinji Hirako and Kisuke Urahara. Do you truly intend to kill them all?"
His voice carried mockery and provocation, as though he were trying to enrage Kazuma.
But Kazuma did not answer.
He only stared coldly at Aizen, waiting in silence for the meteor to descend.
"What a madman."
Watching the meteor draw closer and closer, Aizen could already clearly feel its scorching heat.
He took a deep breath and gathered every bit of reiatsu in his body.
"Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō."
Aizen recited the incantation, and a powerful beam of linear energy shot toward the meteor.
It was the eighty-eighth Hadō, cast with nearly all of his reiatsu.
Destroying this small meteor would not be a problem.
But at that very moment, Kazuma launched his attack.
"Aizen! This is the chance I was waiting for. You shouldn't be an illusion now, should you?"
He swung the sword in his hand, sending a fierce wave of sword energy slashing toward Aizen.
Aizen, however, had long expected Kazuma to strike at that moment.
He had kept a move in reserve, and Kazuma's slash cut through empty air once again.
At the same time, the small meteor in the sky collided with Aizen's Hadō, producing a thunderous explosion.
The overwhelming power of the Kidō instantly reduced the meteor to dust, scattering it through the air.
Once again, all of Karakura Town was lit up.
"Captain Kazuma, I have to admire your nerve," Aizen said. "But you still weren't ruthless enough. If you had restrained me directly before I used Kidō, the worst outcome would have been both of us dying together."
"That move must have consumed a great deal of your reiatsu," Aizen continued. "I wonder how many more attacks from me you can block now."
Zanpakutō in hand, Aizen slashed toward Kazuma.
The two clashed at close range. For a moment, sword shadows crossed, and reiatsu scattered in all directions.
Kazuma fought as he retreated. His reiatsu was now nearly exhausted.
Aizen pressed forward step by step, giving Kazuma no chance to catch his breath.
Every time Aizen swung his blade, another wound appeared on Kazuma's body.
"Aizen! Looks like today is my loss."
Kazuma seemed to have given up resisting.
He actually stepped forward of his own accord and met Aizen's descending blade.
The sword pierced through his body without mercy.
His sword fell weakly from his hand.
Without the support of Kazuma's reiatsu, it returned to the form of an ordinary Asauchi.
Shock.
The captain of the Seventh Division, Kazuma, had died just like that, without warning!
A deathly silence fell over the battlefield.
Every faction present was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
After confirming that Kazuma's reiatsu had completely vanished, Aizen did not hesitate.
He grabbed Gin Ichimaru, whose life or death remained uncertain, and disappeared from the scene in an instant.
Although he had successfully killed Kazuma, Aizen himself had also consumed a tremendous amount of reiatsu.
With so many powerful enemies present, retreating was undoubtedly the wisest choice.
Just then, two masked figures suddenly emerged from the ruins of the battlefield.
One of them swiftly hoisted Kazuma's 'corpse' over their shoulder.
The other picked up the Asauchi. Then, with astonishing speed, both fled the scene.
Kisuke Urahara, Shinji Hirako, and the others had not yet recovered from their shock.
"Don't let them get away!"
After exchanging a look, Urahara and the others snapped back to their senses and immediately chased after them.
In the end, however, they returned empty-handed.
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator