Deafening booms rolled one after another.
The surrounding captains were stunned into stopping, fixated on the duel. It was blade versus staff, yet the visuals were apocalyptic—shockwaves rippling through space like rings on water. The weaker Shinigami couldn't even spectate. Momo, for one, was blasted eight hundred meters away by the shock alone.
The longer Aizen fought, the angrier he became. He realized that while he could suppress Cole, he couldn't finish him quickly. Even Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon) was useless—Cole had never seen his shikai. Just a human. In his eyes, a grub even weaker than Ichigo. He'd been in Seireitei not even half a month—yet here he was, matching swords with Aizen.
Rage at its peak brought Aizen clarity. Palming the Hōgyoku shard, he decided to withdraw from Soul Society for now. He was destined for the throne of heaven; there was no reason to tangle with an insect.
The watching captains sensed his intent. Sajin and Soi Fong launched in without hesitation.
"Aizen!!!" Sajin roared as the black-armored war god behind him, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō (Black Rope Heavenly Punishment King), cleaved down with a brutal strike.
"Jinteki Shakusetsu! Suzumebachi!" (Sting all enemies to death! Hornet!) Golden stinger flashing, Soi Fong darted in.
"Hey—hey—don't pile in!" Cole shouted. "If you do, I'm not taking responsibility!"
But they didn't listen, sprinting at top speed. Fighting one-handed, Aizen forced back Cole and freed his left hand. He leveled a fingertip at Sajin and said coldly:
"Hadō 91: Kurohitsugi." (Way of Destruction No. 91: Black Coffin)
In an instant, black substance congealed from nothing, forming a cube that sealed both Sajin and Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō inside. From afar it was a coffin of pure darkness—death incarnate. Wet, piercing sounds ripped from within. Three seconds later, the towering coffin shattered sky-high. Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō was gone. Sajin lay in a heap, drenched in blood.
"Impossible…" he whispered, eyes disbelieving even as he blacked out. A mere human could cross blades with Aizen, yet a captain—he—was crushed in a heartbeat.
"What's to be shocked about?" Cole snorted. "You really thought you could beat Aizen? That's some world-class lack of self-awareness."
Among the Thirteen Court Guard Captains, strength varied wildly. In Cole's eyes, the weakest were Sajin and Tosen—there were lieutenants who could beat them. Monsters like Shunsui and Retsu(Unohana) could solo three captains apiece. And the old man? Genryusai could take twelve at once and walk away.
Cole's thoughts snapped as he leaned aside, a golden stinger whisking past his cheek.
"Aizen!!!" Killing intent flashed in Soi Fong's eyes as she peppered Cole with golden thrusts.
"Kyōka Suigetsu, huh?" Cole arched a brow. While slipping past Soi Fong's attacks, he heaved his golden staff to catch Aizen's descending blade.
"Yes, Cole-kun," Aizen said smoothly. "Would you truly strike down Captain Soi Fong—"
Before he finished, Cole rapped Soi Fong on the head with a thundering crack.
"Bang!"
Stars burst in her eyes. Cole instantly caught her, arm wrapping around her shoulders. "Soi Fong—how about now? Clearheaded?"
"...Aizen…" she said dully.
"Bang!" Another bonk. This time Cole wasn't sure if it cleared the haze—because Soi Fong went limp in his arms.
"A human who can strike his comrade so decisively," Aizen said mildly. "I may have underestimated you."
Cole shot him a look. "Compliment me all you like, but could you maybe stop your right hand from shaking?"
He was still crossing weapons with Cole one-handed—and that hand was trembling like it had palsy.
Gloom shadowed Aizen's gaze. He exhaled, then looked over the gathered Shinigami. "Commander-General. Captain Shunsui. Captain Ukitake. Captain Retsu. Yoruichi. Ichigo. And Cole…"
He finished calling names, then said, flat and lofty, "You've done well enough to make even me pay a price. I'll commend you for that. But this is the end. Next we meet, I will ascend—before your eyes—to that so-called throne of heaven."
As he spoke, the sky above his head convulsed. Space twisted open like torn cloth.
Cole tightened his hold on Soi Fong and stepped back two paces. He glanced at the Commander-General. "Hey, old man. Still standing there? That traitor is yours. Maybe do your job?"
Rage flickered in Genryusai's eyes. He snapped at Shunsui and the others, "Didn't I tell you to get back!?"
With so many people here, how was he supposed to cut loose?
The captains grimaced and retreated a few hundred meters. Cole didn't like where this was going. If Genryusai in bankai got hypnotized and mistook him for an enemy—that would be worse than ten Aizens.
No more dithering. Cole hooked Soi Fong with his left arm, scooped Rukia with his right, slung Byakuya over his shoulder, and let Orihime climb onto his back. Then he bolted toward Shunsui and the others, yelling as he ran, "Ichigo! Forget that smiling fox and MOVE! If the old man's hypnotized, he's scarier than ten Aizens!"
On the way, he spotted Toshiro sprawled on the ground, teeth clenched. "Outsider… mind hauling me too…?"
He'd charged in brandishing Daiguren Hyōrinmaru earlier, ignored Cole's warning—and never even glimpsed Aizen's shadow. Genryusai had cut him down with one stroke, then roasted him for good measure.
"Sure!" Cole beamed. He was a helpful human, after all.
Relief washed over Toshiro—right up until Cole launched a brutal punt.
"Off you go!"
A long, miserable scream trailed the blue streak that used to be Toshiro.
"Cole!!!" echoed from far away.
Cole kept pounding forward with four people in tow, utterly unapologetic. "Sorry, we're out of seats."
He and Ichigo reached Shunsui's group in short order—but he still didn't feel safe. So they fell back several hundred more meters. Only then did Cole set the four down with a sigh of relief.
Genryusai (Yamamoto) watched all this, face darkening, and gripped his burning blade as he faced Aizen. Behind Aizen, Gin, Tosen, and Ulquiorra stepped into place.
"I advise you not to act, Commander-General," Aizen said softly. "Are you certain the 'me' you see is real? Are you certain of the directions you perceive?"
Genryusai narrowed his eyes. That was why he hadn't moved—never in Soul Society's history had there been a pure illusion-type zanpakuto; even he didn't know Kyōka Suigetsu's limits. Could it hypnotize him in bankai? If so, it would be a calamity for the entire realm.
Thinking, he flicked a testing cut at the four behind Aizen. A fire dragon screamed forth—blocked, predictably—but it confirmed the target: this really was Aizen.
Genryusai clenched Ryūjin Jakka and unleashed suffocating heat, enough to melt all of Sixth Division's barracks. At peak pressure, he swung a world-ending stroke.
"Zanka no Tachi, Kita: Tenchi Kaijin!!!" (North—Heaven and Earth Reduced to Ash)
A razor-white line—heat at the limit—lanced toward Shunsui's group. The old man… cut a bad angle. Shunsui and the captains felt their scalps tingle. So confident—and still, he'd fallen under Kyōka Suigetsu again.
"Block it!!!" Shunsui bellowed, slashing forward with Katen Kyōkotsu (Flower Heaven, Crazy Bone).
Jushiro couldn't sit out. Coughing twice, he drew both blades and chanted:
"All flows in the sea, become my shield!"
"All flashes of lightning, become my blade!"
"Sōgyo no Kotowari!!!" (Twin Fish of Truth)
His zanpakuto released into twin silver blades bound by chains. The other captains also released and met Genryusai's stroke head-on.
The heavens thundered. Captains were blown away one after another. Even Shunsui failed to hold, hair, clothes, and shoes aflame as he slammed into Seventh Division's compound.
"Man… the old guy doesn't hold back, huh?" he muttered, crawling from the rubble—only to see the cut that sent him flying had been stopped by Cole, Retsu, and Jushiro together.
"Cole!" Shunsui shouted. "Why didn't you warn the old man!?"
"I did," Cole said with a shrug. "But his hearing's hypnotized too. He's basically a blind, deaf fossil right now."
"I can hear perfectly well," Genryusai growled, face black. He turned to Aizen, noting the pallor on the man's face. "Aizen—hypnotizing me in this state is wearing you down too, isn't it? How many more times can you manage it?"
House matters stay in the house. The strongest Shinigami in a thousand years—his spiritual pressure was monstrous. No ability could work on him without a price.
"Impressive, Commander-General," Aizen admitted—and then smiled down on them all. "But… too late."
The space above him fractured, opening a pitch-black rift. Gillians thrust their masked heads through, howling. A pale film of light poured from the tear, and within it, Aizen's group drifted upward.
Genryusai's face hardened. "Negación!" (Anti-Membrane) "Aizen. Gin. Tosen. So you truly consort with Hollows!"
The light was Negación—the power Hollows use to retrieve their own, a field that insulates those within from all external interference.
Cole appeared beside the old man, hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, old timer—you're the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years. Don't tell me you can't break that."
He'd always wondered watching the anime. Genryusai could raise Soul Society's temperature just by being in bankai—how could something like Negación stop him? If it was really that unbreakable, wouldn't it be the realm's ultimate defense?
Shunsui shuffled over in charred rags to explain, helplessly, "It's instinctive to Hollows—borrows the rules of all Hueco Mundo. If you smash it, you wound the entire Hollow realm."
Cole blinked. Right. Hollows were enemies of humans and Shinigami, but they were still part of the world's cycle. Harm Hueco Mundo, and Soul Society and the Living World suffer too. That was Negación's real terror.
He licked his lips despite himself. The golden staff he'd just obtained was said to suppress all things. Maybe it could strike this without backlash.
Cole swung the golden staff and tapped the Negación—testing. A crushing repulsive force slammed into him, but he braced and held.
Inside the light, two faces changed: Aizen and Gin. Ulquiorra remained impassive. Tosen was still out cold.
Gin's eyes curved. "Captain Aizen, that's quite the zanpakuto—he hit Negación without rattling the Forest of Menos."
Aizen said nothing, simply turned toward the opening above and drifted faster. "Human," Genryusai rumbled, "break it—now! We cannot let them escape into Hueco Mundo!"
As the words left him, Aizen slipped into the black garganta.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]
[Every 200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]