Aizen Sōsuke clutched the wound on his shoulder in disbelief. He couldn't comprehend it—how could someone still injure him after he'd evolved to such a level?
"Why did you pull away just now?" Ichigo looked up at him, his gaze full of disdain.
That one sentence utterly enraged the prideful Aizen.
"Don't get cocky, human!!"
With a furious roar, the eye on Aizen's forehead snapped open.
A stream of blood dripped from the third eye, followed by a pillar of light shooting into the sky and a fresh torrent of blood erupting from within his body.
Aizen had evolved once more—into an even higher dimension.
His facial skin was completely torn away, revealing a jet-black Hollow-like face. His three eyes were now pure white, and from each of his wings sprouted white skull heads.
His body bore three Hollow-like holes, with the Hōgyoku embedded in the highest one.
In this form, aside from losing what little aesthetic appeal he had left, Aizen's power had grown dramatically.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, I should thank you. If not for you, I wouldn't have evolved this far so quickly. Even the Hōgyoku must be ashamed that a human is surpassing me in evolution!"
Hōgyoku (off-screen): "Bro don't blame me! You crushed me! I couldn't give you bloodline hacks like that guy even if I wanted to!"
Aizen flared his wings, and one of the skull heads fired a high-density blast of reiatsu at Ichigo.
A new move exclusive to this evolved state—
Fureppa.
Its sheer force obliterated mountains, reducing them to ravines in a single blow.
But when the dust cleared, Ichigo stood there completely unscathed.
The blast hadn't even torn his shihakushō, let alone scratched the hardened Hierro-like skin covering his body.
Aizen, stunned, lunged at Ichigo and wrapped his wings around him, firing a series of powerful compressed reiatsu rings from the skull heads—forming his ultimate move in this form:
Final Fureppa.
But Ichigo didn't feel like playing anymore.
With a single swing of his left sword, he shattered the entire attack.
Even with another evolution under his belt, Aizen was now little more than an ant—albeit a slightly bigger one.
Floating in midair, Ichigo looked down on him.
"Give it up, Aizen. You can't kill me. Let me show you what this form's Getsuga... really looks like."
He raised Tensa Zangetsu in his right hand, and black-and-white spiritual pressure surged from his body like divine light piercing the heavens—contrasting starkly with the grotesque blood-and-bone evolution of Aizen.
That holy glow soon turned into pure black reiatsu.
Although his form didn't change, this was not Final Getsuga Tenshō.
Yet even so, it terrified Aizen.
His instincts—and the Hōgyoku—screamed the truth:
Ichigo now possessed the power to kill him.
Aizen shouted in panic, "This is impossible! How can a mere human evolve beyond me?!"
But Ichigo didn't bother responding to his tantrum.
"Getsuga... Tenshō."
The pitch-black reiatsu condensed like a razor-thin line on Ichigo's blade.
With one swing—it cut clean through Aizen's body.
The world went silent.
Color faded from the land.
As the black Getsuga vanished into the sky, Ichigo landed calmly, staring at the bisected Aizen.
But—
Aizen didn't die.
The Hōgyoku healed him again.
Surpassing regeneration, he completely restored himself.
Ichigo blinked.
So... he could still evolve?
The grotesque features faded. Aizen's monstrous face returned to a more human form.
He had succeeded in evolving again.
"HAHAHAHA!! Kurosaki Ichigo! Your strike didn't kill me—it helped me evolve further!"
Even more, his Zanpakutō had disappeared.
Aizen spread his arms, triumphant.
"Behold! The Hōgyoku has deemed I no longer need a Zanpakutō! I have transcended it!"
Just as Ichigo prepared to hit him again with a Getsuga Cross Slash to see if he would turn into a carpet like Ulquiorra—
A beam of red reishi pierced Aizen's chest.
Urahara Kisuke had arrived.
"Aizen Sōsuke," he said, "that was the seal I embedded within you during your earlier evolution—when you were most vulnerable."
Ichigo side-eyed him. "You're sneaky as hell... I should start being more careful around you."
Urahara grinned innocently.
Aizen, livid, roared, "It doesn't matter! I'll break your seal!"
But—
His armor shattered.
Urahara spoke calmly, "That seal only activated now because your strength has weakened. Thanks to Ichigo's Getsuga."
"And now... the Hōgyoku no longer sees you as its master."
That sentence crushed Aizen more than any attack.
As if on cue, the red reishi beam in his chest spread into a cruciform seal—locking him in place.
Just before the sealing completed, Aizen roared:
"Urahara Kisuke! I despise you! A mind like yours—yet you bend to that thing?!"
He meant the Soul King.
Ichigo didn't know what "that thing" was—and didn't care.
Urahara replied, "If the Soul King disappears, the three realms will collapse. He's the linchpin that holds everything together."
"Once that's lost... all will fall into chaos."
Aizen screamed in defiance.
But the white spiritual crosses snapped into place.
He was sealed.
"Phew... it's finally over," Urahara muttered, returning to his casual demeanor.
Ichigo clicked his tongue.
So boring. He didn't even force me to use half of my fusion power.
But now that he'd accessed his Dual Form, Ichigo had sensed something odd.
Zangetsu didn't contribute anything...
Which meant—
What exactly was Old Man Zangetsu?
If White Ichigo and Muramasa had pushed Shinigami and Hollow powers to their peak...
Then what was Old Man Zangetsu?
Ichigo turned to Urahara.
"Kisuke... I need you to keep this form a secret."
Urahara looked surprised, but nodded.
Ichigo sighed.
"For a while, I'll pretend I'm losing my powers. There's something... I need to deal with."
He meant Old Man Zangetsu.
That mysterious being who always helped him in times of need—but clearly wasn't Shinigami... or Hollow.
He would find out.
With Aizen sealed, the world began to return to normal.
"Hey... Kisuke," Ichigo asked. "Do you think the Hōgyoku really rejected Aizen?"
"The old man once told me," Urahara said, "the Hōgyoku's true ability is to read people's hearts—and manifest their desires."
"So maybe..." Ichigo muttered, "Aizen... wanted to lose his power?"
Urahara was silent.
"In that last clash, when our swords crossed, I didn't feel ambition from his blade... only loneliness."
"If he was born extraordinary... maybe he spent his whole life searching for someone on his level."
"And when he finally gave up, deep inside, maybe he just wanted to be an ordinary Shinigami."
In the end, Aizen never found anyone who could understand or accept him.
Unlike Ichigo—who had Unohana, Senna, Soi Fon, Yoruichi, and most importantly... Rukia.
If the first Shinigami Ichigo had met wasn't Rukia...
Who knows—he might've walked a darker path than Aizen.
Aizen's final judgment: 18,800 years of imprisonment in the lowest level of the underground prison—Muken.
But for someone fused with the Hōgyoku, eternal life meant time was meaningless.
Even if the world fell into chaos, Aizen would survive.
He simply couldn't create another world again.
Back in the World of the Living—
Everyone injured had been healed by Unohana Yachiru.
The others looked at her with quiet reverence—and slight fear.
Even Yamamoto tensed up a bit.
But to their surprise, Unohana remained perfectly calm.
Even with her Zanpakutō still in hand, there wasn't a trace of bloodlust.
Yamamoto studied her with interest.
With Aizen defeated, the barrier around Hueco Mundo collapsed.
Rukia and Xiling returned to the human world with Orihime and the others.
Kenpachi, Byakuya, and Mayuri also returned to Soul Society.
Interestingly, Yammy had not been killed by Kenpachi and Byakuya.
At the last moment, Ulquiorra appeared and saved him.
Back in Karakura Town.
Everyone had gone home.
Only Unohana remained.
She looked toward the Dangai Gate—
And Ichigo stepped through.
Unohana smiled softly.
"Ichigo... welcome back."
(End of Chapter)
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