Kazuma's reiatsu burst lasted only about two and a half minutes before he drew it back into himself.
"So? Do you still want to continue?"
Kazuma looked at Aizen Sōsuke with a smile.
He wanted to see whether this man still had the will to resist after being crushed by that kind of pressure.
"Captain Kazuma... I admit you are strong. This strength is far beyond my understanding. But that is precisely the dream I have been pursuing! From what I know, the strongest reiatsu a Shinigami can possess should only be Grade One. Yet the strength you just displayed should not be something Grade One can reach, should it?"
After enduring that wave of reiatsu, Aizen did not attack again.
He sheathed his Zanpakutō on his own and sat down on the ground without any regard for his image.
"Then let me ask you this. Who was the one who decided the twenty-grade reiatsu ranking system for Shinigami?" Kazuma asked a question worth thinking about, staring at Aizen sharply as if waiting for his answer.
"The reiatsu grading system? The origin of that concept is too vague. It may have been the Soul King who created the Three Worlds, or perhaps the ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans."
Aizen was not certain who had proposed the concept.
Even the spirit records did not have a clear account of it.
"Then what makes you think Grade One is the absolute limit of reiatsu?"
Kazuma's words awakened Aizen.
That's right.
Who said the strongest reiatsu could only be Grade One?
"Want a drink?"
Kazuma pulled out his beloved little wine flask from his clothes, then took out another one of slightly worse quality and tossed it to Aizen.
Aizen did not act pretentious. He caught the flask, opened it, and took a sip.
"One more question. How did you become this absurdly powerful in just over three hundred years?"
"Three hundred years? I'm over a thousand years old. Do you still think I'm abnormal now?"
Kazuma's words nearly made Aizen choke.
Over a thousand years old?
That was not what the spirit records said!
Ichimaru Gin, who was pretending to be dead off to the side, trembled slightly after hearing this.
Kazuma being a little over three hundred years old was something he and Aizen had personally looked up in the Great Spirit Book Gallery.
Had the spirit records been falsified?
Or had the records they saw been fake in the first place?
Rukia, meanwhile, sat off to the side and happily watched the drama unfold.
She had known for a long time that her teacher was an old fossil, so she was not surprised at all.
As for the reiatsu grading system and whatever else Kazuma and Aizen were discussing, Rukia did not really understand it.
But that did not stop her from continuing to enjoy the show.
"Gin, stop pretending. I know you're awake. Get up and talk."
Kazuma pulled out another wine gourd and tossed it toward Ichimaru Gin.
"Oh my, Captain Kazuma's insight really is impressive. How did you know I was pretending?"
Gin sat up, picked up the flask, and also began shamelessly flattering him.
"Teacher! Teacher! I want some too! Give me a little!"
Seeing Kazuma toss out two flasks of wine, Rukia's heart started itching like a greedy little cat.
"Hey, what's a kid like you doing drinking alcohol? Go drink soda or something…"
Although Kazuma was still sharp-tongued, he tossed Rukia a flask anyway.
And so, several people who were clearly not on the same side ended up sitting in a row, drinking and chatting here.
The whole scene looked incredibly bizarre!
Did that mean they were all getting along beautifully?
No!
All of this was built on Kazuma's overwhelming strength.
"Did you show us fake spirit records?"
Since Gin was awake now, Aizen had a mouthpiece and was too lazy to speak himself.
"Fake spirit records? I can't fake that kind of thing."
Kazuma laughed.
He had no idea how Gin and Aizen had come up with that thought.
"Don't tell us you altered the spirit records. The spirit records are formed according to the Soul King's will!"
Gin's words stunned both Rukia and Aizen for a moment.
How did he even dare think of something that bold?
Alter the spirit records?
If that were true, would that not mean Kazuma's strength was at least on the same level as the Soul King?
At that moment, Aizen and Rukia's gazes suddenly shifted to Kazuma.
They stared at him intently, strange light flickering in their eyes.
Kazuma felt a chill crawl over him, and his scalp tingled.
He quickly lifted his flask and gulped down several mouthfuls of wine, trying to use alcohol to warm his suddenly nervous nerves.
"What the hell are you all thinking? I admit I've touched the spirit records before, but that doesn't mean I've reached the Soul King's level!"
Kazuma explained while drinking nonstop.
However, Aizen, Gin, and Rukia did not seem convinced by his words.
They continued staring at him as if trying to see through him.
Facing their sharp gazes, he quickly lowered the wine flask and moved both hands through the air, forming one mysterious and strange hand seal after another.
The changes came extremely quick, dazzling to the eye.
Even Aizen, with all his experience and knowledge, could not understand what they meant.
"This is not Kidō. What ability is this?"
Aizen stared curiously at Kazuma's moving fingers, trying to see some clue.
As Kazuma's hand seals continued changing, brilliant stars actually appeared above the Seireitei.
Those stars radiated dazzling light, echoing the seals in Kazuma's hands.
Then star power poured down like a waterfall, spilling into every corner of the Seireitei.
Starlight gathered into a massive formation that enveloped the entire place.
The formation gave off a powerful pressure, as if it could suppress all things.
Kazuma murmured, "Hokushin, seal the heavens and lock the earth!"
Under his control, the starlight within the formation grew brighter, turning into chains that firmly locked the space around them.
This sudden change struck like thunder from a clear sky. Aizen instinctively raised the vast reiatsu inside his body, his heart full of suspicion.
They had been talking just fine.
Why had Kazuma suddenly turned hostile?
He carefully focused and sensed the surroundings. After a moment, his expression gradually eased because he did not detect even the slightest killing intent from Kazuma.
Only after confirming there was no danger did his tense nerves slowly relax.
"What exactly is this?"
A trace of confusion flashed through Aizen's eyes as he asked.
"Relax. Don't be so nervous. It's just a barrier that isolates space," Kazuma said softly, soothing him.
"The conversation we're about to have is not something I want Yhwach to hear."
"Who?"
Aizen's eyes sharpened with caution as he asked again.
"Who did you say?"
Gin was also a little confused.
"Who else? Yhwach, the one who has been secretly watching us from the shadows. The King of the Quincy. Don't tell me neither of you have heard of him."
At the side, Rukia looked at Aizen and Gin's shocked expressions and suddenly felt a strange sense of satisfaction, as if some kind of balance had been restored.
These were things she had already known for some time, but from the looks on their faces, they seemed completely ignorant about it.
"The King of the Quincy? I did see some records about him in that mysterious spirit record. But are you saying this legendary King of the Quincy is actually in Soul Society? That is truly unexpected."
This matter had already touched Gin's blind spot, so Aizen had no choice but to speak for himself, his expression was serious as he began asking questions.
"That's right. Yhwach is indeed in Soul Society. More precisely, he is inside the Gotei 13."
Kazuma took a small sip of wine, narrowed his eyes slightly, and a meaningful light flashed through them.
Then he gave Rukia, his usually somewhat clever "mouthpiece," a look, signaling that it was her turn to explain the reason.
"Hey! Say it! Teacher, keep going! Don't just stop there and leave people hanging!"
Seeing Kazuma suddenly stop talking, Rukia immediately grew anxious and urged him from the side.
"Look at you. Where's your ability to read the room? Didn't I just hint that I wanted you to explain it?"
Kazuma helplessly glared at Rukia, his eyes carrying a trace of disappointment.
Only then did Rukia suddenly snap back to herself.
"Oh~ So Teacher wanted me to say it! I thought you were deliberately testing me."
Rukia stuck out her tongue, a mischievous expression appearing on her face.
Then she organized her thoughts and prepared to explain what she knew.
Kazuma, meanwhile, helplessly covered his face.
'Why is this student of mine sometimes like an idiot? Kōga was much better by comparison. At least he wouldn't be this slow and could always understand what I meant right away.'