Aizen glanced at Harribel and the others before him, his eyes calm and unreadable, his expression composed as ever. He gave a faint nod, a signal more than a gesture.
"Lady Harribel, remember your place! Are you questioning Lord Aizen?"
Before Aizen could even respond, Tōsen Kaname's voice cut through the air, stern and sharp.
"I meant no offense, Lord Aizen," Harribel replied immediately, lowering her gaze. "I was only concerned for your safety."
"There's no need to apologize," Aizen said, raising a hand with a faint, knowing smile. "Your loyalty is clear to me, Harribel. The Shinigami you encountered earlier is not an enemy—he is a guest of mine."
"Understood, Lord Aizen. Then, I shall take my leave."
Though she bowed in obedience, a faint trace of doubt flickered in her golden eyes. Someone Aizen called a guest… someone capable of defeating both Ulquiorra and Gin so effortlessly—such a person could not be ordinary. Harribel's curiosity lingered.
When Shiraha's Reiatsu had erupted earlier, it had wrapped around his figure, obscuring his face. Neither Harribel nor the other Espada had clearly seen what he looked like. Aizen's indifferent glance dismissed the matter, and Harribel turned without another word. Her three Fracción followed her, using a Garganta to vanish into the rippling air.
Gin's usual sly smile returned as the space settled. "Well, it seems No.3 Harribel really is loyal to you, Captain Aizen. Out of all the Espada in Las Noches, she's the only one who came here."
The Reiatsu that had torn open the sky above Hueco Mundo had surely been felt by every Espada in the palace. Yet, only Harribel had appeared. Her loyalty, then, was unmistakable.
"Loyalty is a trivial thing, Gin," Aizen replied with quiet amusement. "Whether they are faithful or not has no bearing on the outcome of my plan."
He shook his head slightly. In truth, the loyalty of the Espada meant little to him. To Aizen, they were merely pieces on the board—tools to advance his vision.
"By now, Shiraha should have returned to the Soul Society," he said softly, the curve of his lips deepening. "I wonder if he'll appreciate the little gift I prepared for him."
Gin tilted his head, one eye narrowing in intrigue. "A gift, Captain? You didn't—set his Garganta to open inside the Seireitei, did you?"
"Precisely," Aizen replied, his tone almost playful. "And not just anywhere. I chose a rather special location for him. It took considerable effort, I must admit."
Even for Aizen, setting the exit point of a Garganta within the walls of the Seireitei required precision. The entire area was fortified with Sekkiseki—murderous stones designed to block and disperse spiritual pressure. When Gin had once infiltrated the Soul Society, his Garganta had only been able to open outside the city walls; he'd had to slip in under the cover of his cloak.
"Good luck, Captain Shiraha," Gin murmured, rubbing the side of his face where Shiraha's earlier strike still faintly stung. He looked in the direction Shiraha had vanished, a smile lingering on his lips.
"Come, Gin," Aizen said, turning away. "Let's return."
---
Soul Society — Seireitei.
Inside the training hall of the Seventh Division, space twisted silently. A black void split open in midair—the Garganta. A figure stepped through, landing lightly on the wooden floor.
Shiraha had returned.
As he emerged, the Garganta behind him began to seal, its obsidian edges folding inward until the air was still again.
"Finally… back to Seireitei," Shiraha murmured. "That Aizen, though—always one step ahead."
But as he looked around, his brows furrowed. The scenery was wrong. This wasn't outside the city walls. The Garganta had deposited him directly inside the Seventh Division's barracks.
That meant the Twelfth Division's Technology Development Bureau had almost certainly detected his entry already.
"Good thing no one's around," he said quietly, scanning the surroundings with calm, ice-blue eyes. His Observation Haki swept through the area like a tide, confirming only faint spiritual signatures. Most of the division's members were out on patrol, leaving only a handful of seated officers inside—and the vice-captain, Tetsuzaemon Iba, asleep at his desk.
"I'll have to use Shikai to mask the trace."
He sighed, understanding the risk. Even a brief Garganta signature within Seireitei would set off alarms.
"I'm sorry, but you'll need to sleep for a bit."
He drew his Zanpakutō in one smooth motion, its pale blade gleaming. Reiatsu surged through the room, the air trembling as white light flared from the weapon.
"Reverse everything—Baiyue."
The words resonated, and in the next instant, a brilliant wave of spiritual pressure exploded outward. A dazzling glow consumed the dojo, and a powerful mix of blue and violet Reiatsu spread through the division grounds—so immense it rivaled Captain Kyōraku's in sheer intensity.
"What's happening?! Whose Reiatsu is that?!"
"That pressure—Captain Shiraha's?!"
The startled voices of the few remaining Shinigami were cut short as the wave hit them. One by one, they collapsed, rendered unconscious by the overwhelming force. Under Shiraha's precise control, the Reiatsu washed over them without harm, ensuring only temporary fainting.
Vice-Captain Tetsuzaemon stirred, the impact jolting him awake. Sweat broke across his brow as he felt the sudden, suffocating pressure.
"Captain Shiraha's Reiatsu… it's skyrocketing! Could it be—Bankai?"
He could hardly believe it. Shiraha's spiritual power was growing exponentially, pressing down on the building itself. Even as his body trembled, Tetsuzaemon forced himself to move, gritting his teeth and taking one heavy step after another toward the door, determined to reach his captain.
And then—
A piercing alarm tore through the night sky of Seireitei.
WEE-OOO—WEE-OOO—WEE-OOO!
The entire Jingling Court shuddered as sirens blared in unison, signaling the sudden surge of Reiatsu detected from the Seventh Division's barracks.
The alarm that could shake the Soul Society itself—had been triggered by Kuchiki Shiraha.
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