"The deal is done! Aizen, hurry up and fuse the two Hōgyoku already. I might as well test how strong you are after merging with them."
Kazuma urged Aizen to get on with it.
By now, the other captains were probably about to arrive.
"We still have to fight?" Aizen said. "Perfect. I'd also like to see just how strong you truly are."
Aizen fused the two Hōgyoku into one and embedded it in his body.
The moment he finished, his reiatsu began climbing sharply.
It broke past the upper limit of Grade One and rose to a whole new level.
"Yes! That's it. This is what makes a fight feel good! But it's still not enough!"
Kazuma felt the astonishing pressure coming off Aizen and shivered with excitement.
"Be careful. I won't be holding back this time."
Kazuma drew his Zanpakutō.
As he gathered his momentum, the reiatsu inside him rose to match Aizen's.
Their leaking spiritual pressure collided again and again, and Kazuma quietly removed the barrier he'd set up earlier.
That was exactly what he wanted.
He wanted everyone to sense that he and Aizen had clashed — and not in some casual sparring match.
This was the kind of clash where one side wouldn't stop until the other was dead.
To outsiders, it looked as though the barrier Kazuma had placed was shattered by the collision of those two reiatsu. In truth, that wasn't what happened at all.
"Pierce the veil of night and rain down the heavenly wrath. Strike, Hokushin Raitei!"
Star power and thunder surged over Hokushin Raitei in Kazuma's hand.
Around him, several enormous thunder dragons appeared, coiling tightly around his body.
"So this is the true form of your Zanpakutō?"
Aizen looked at Kazuma, who now resembled a god or... a demon, and his heart shook uncontrollably.
This was the first time he'd seen Kazuma's true released state.
That pressure, whether to the eye or to the soul, was enough to make anyone afraid. Together with the changed sky above them, it grew even more menacing.
...
The moment Kazuma released his Zanpakutō, every captain arrived on the scene.
"Has this brat pushed his Bankai another step further?"
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni looked at Kazuma, ringed by thunder dragons, and felt countless emotions rise in his chest.
A thousand years ago, Kazuma's release hadn't looked like this.
"Yama-jii, what level are Kazuma and Aizen at now? Their reiatsu is clearly beyond Grade One, isn't it?"
Kyōraku Shunsui felt the reiatsu leaking off both of them, and real fear took shape in his heart.
He wasn't even facing it head-on, yet he already felt this way.
If that reiatsu came straight at him, would he still have the nerve to draw his sword and resist?
"I can't judge it clearly either. In any case, they've already passed the limits of Grade One."
Yamamoto's sharp gaze swept over the captains like a hawk, as though he could see straight through their souls.
As his eyes moved, his expression grew darker and darker, dark as a thundercloud.
He thought to himself that these new-generation captains usually looked energetic and capable, yet now, facing a scene like this, not one of them could withstand Kazuma and Aizen's pressure.
It truly disappointed him.
Their performance was so weak that compared with his own generation, the difference was night and day.
"Shunsui, Jūshirō, take a good look at what you've become! As this old man's students, you've fallen this low. Do you not feel ashamed?"
Yamamoto slammed his staff hard against the ground.
The sound of the cane striking the floor seemed to carry both anger and disappointment.
That look of frustration toward students who'd failed to live up to his hopes made Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō feel a wave of guilt.
Kyōraku Shunsui smiled bitterly.
He knew very well that the gap between himself and Kazuma was like an uncrossable canyon.
With Kazuma's terrifying strength, even if Shunsui trained for the rest of his life, he might still never reach that level.
At the thought, his heart dimmed a little, but he forced himself to gather his spirit and brace for whatever lecture Yama-jii would deliver next.
Beside him, Ukitake Jūshirō seemed to notice Yamamoto's gaze and coughed lightly at just the right moment, helplessness in his eyes.
"Genryusai-sensei, please don't expect too much from me. I've always been sickly. The fact that I've lived this long is already a miracle. Getting stronger is honestly too much to ask of me."
As he spoke, he lowered his head slightly, a bitter smile on his face.
"And the rest of you! What a disgrace! As captains of the Gotei 13, you're all this pathetic? You're an embarrassment to me!"
Yamamoto knew very well that his dignity and standing as Captain-Commander couldn't be carelessly damaged.
So even though his heart was full of anger, he forced himself to hold back from scolding his two prized students any further.
Instead, he poured that anger like an erupting volcano onto the other, innocent captains, barely easing the frustration inside him.
Among them, Suì-Fēng looked especially wretched.
Her already small body trembled without pause under the double weight of fear and shame.
That faint shaking seemed to give away the panic inside her.
The proud, valiant captain she usually presented seemed to collapse in an instant, making it hard to connect the shivering figure before them with the powerful woman she'd once been.
'That damn bastard! He actually has this much strength? What kind of training got him to this level? Even Yoruichi-sama never seemed to reach such a terrifying level, did she?'
Suì-Fēng raged inwardly.
Her face, already full of shame, grew redder and redder, as if blood might drip from it at any moment.
She felt that for a captain to lose her composure at a critical moment like this was an insult to all of Soul Society.
"The former captain of the Seventh Division was actually this strong? I really want to fight him!"
Zaraki Kenpachi was trembling too, an instinctive reaction to facing an opponent stronger than any he'd ever met before.
But unlike Suì-Fēng, his eyes burned with a scorching light. It was the flame of pure battle-hunger.
For a battle maniac like him, fear had never been something that stopped him.
Just the opposite — only in the middle of a fierce fight could he find his true self!
He longed for a satisfying battle against Kazuma and Aizen.
Whether he cut them down or was cut down by them, either way, to him it would be an honor.
Under Kurotsuchi Mayuri's seemingly calm face, faint ripples were spreading, like a lake touched by the wind.
His body trembled as if pulled by some invisible force.
The shaking wasn't dramatic, but every tiny movement seemed to hold layers of secrecy and disguise.
At first glance, his movements looked terribly awkward, every joint turning with deliberate stiffness.
That was the fine acting he'd honed over many years, all to perfectly sell his current "state."
In truth, his strength had already reached the top tier.
For a small test like this, he had no intention of showing even the slightest flaw.
Komamura's normally serious face now looked lit from within, bursting with blazing heat.
His whole expression was full of excitement.
On the way here, he'd only sensed Kazuma's presence through the movement of reiatsu.
But that had been a vague feeling. He hadn't seen Kazuma with his own eyes.
Now that the familiar figure truly stood before him, the emotions he'd held back for so long burst out like a broken dam.
His eyes widened, shining with excitement and joy beyond words, as if the whole world were cheering Kazuma's return!