"Why? Why didn't you just finish me off?" Byakuya looked at Ichigo.
"You may be a bit stubborn, but you still have redeeming qualities. No matter what, you're still Rukia's brother. I couldn't really go too far with you, could I?" Ichigo replied casually.
Byakuya stared deeply at Ichigo.
"Kurosaki Ichigo… if you were me, what would you have done?"
Ichigo smiled. "Haven't you already figured that out?"
Byakuya paused for a moment, then said, "You win, Kurosaki Ichigo. I will no longer pursue Rukia."
With that, Byakuya disappeared from the top of Sōkyoku Hill in a flash.
Ichigo sighed as he watched him vanish. "What an honest liar."
After Byakuya left, Ichigo used High-Speed Regeneration to heal the wound on his shoulder. Of course, he kept the blood and the torn clothes as they were—after all, there was still one mastermind behind the scenes who hadn't shown up yet.
He didn't run off either. He sat calmly atop Sōkyoku Hill, waiting—Unohana would definitely return with Rukia.
Elsewhere, Hitsugaya Tōshirō and Matsumoto Rangiku finally entered the Central 46 Chamber. But what they found there chilled them to the bone.
"Captain! What happened here? The entire Central 46… wiped out!" Rangiku shouted in shock.
Hitsugaya remained calm and stepped forward to touch the dried blood on the table.
"From the looks of it, they've been dead a long time. At least a month."
"A month?! Then doesn't that mean all the orders over the past month… weren't from them?!" Rangiku asked in disbelief.
"Just as I thought…" Hitsugaya gritted his teeth. But at that moment, they spotted a familiar figure fleeing the scene.
"After him!"
Hitsugaya gave chase with Rangiku right behind. As they exited the chamber hall, they got a clear look—Kira Izuru!
Immediately, Hitsugaya sensed something was off.
"No—this is a diversion!"
"Captain, you go back. I'll hold him off!" Rangiku called out.
Hitsugaya nodded and turned back toward the Central 46 chamber.
Kira tried to block him, but Rangiku intercepted.
When Hitsugaya re-entered the hall, what he saw was Hinamori Momo lying in a pool of blood.
The Three Realms' number one human shield—once again, downed.
And standing before Hitsugaya were Gin Ichimaru and Aizen Sōsuke.
"Aizen! You're alive! I knew it—you're still alive!" Hitsugaya roared.
"Why?! Why did you hurt Hinamori?! She became your lieutenant because she admired you!"
Hitsugaya's voice broke.
Their relationship had always been like that of siblings.
(Ahem, in fact, Hitsugaya is actually older than Hinamori. The only reason he never enrolled at the Shinōreijutsuin earlier was because he didn't want to leave his grandmother. Otherwise, he would've entered before Hinamori.)
Looking at the enraged Hitsugaya, Aizen shook his head.
"Captain Hitsugaya, I don't know if you realize this… but admiration is the furthest distance from understanding."
With that line, Hitsugaya completely lost it.
"Bankai—Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"
A massive blue ice dragon coiled around Hitsugaya as he charged straight toward Aizen, fully consumed by rage!
But what he struck… was only an illusion.
The real Aizen stood behind him.
"Such a powerful bankai, such a powerful Zanpakutō… but what a pity, Captain Hitsugaya. You haven't grown enough yet," Aizen sighed with a mixture of admiration and regret.
He swung his Zanpakutō once—and in a single blow, shattered Hitsugaya's bankai and knocked him unconscious.
Say what you will, Aizen genuinely envied Hitsugaya.
If only he had Hyōrinmaru as his Zanpakutō, would he have bothered with all these illusions and games?
But it was exactly because Aizen had grown to loathe his own Zanpakutō that he never truly mastered bankai.
(That's right—Aizen doesn't have bankai. The one he used during his captain's exam was a fake, fabricated using Kyōka Suigetsu.)
Ichimaru Gin stood with his hands in his sleeves, grinning as he looked down at the fallen Hitsugaya and Hinamori.
"As expected of Captain Aizen… still as ruthless as ever."
"You're talking too much, Gin," Aizen said calmly.
Gin raised a hand in mock surrender and fell silent.
Just then, Unohana Retsu entered the Central 46 chamber with Kotetsu Isane.
As for Rukia, she had been consumed by Unohana's released Zanpakutō and was currently recovering her spiritual power.
Seeing the bodies strewn across the room, Isane couldn't help but cry out—
"How could this happen?!"
But Unohana remained expressionless as she looked at Aizen and Gin.
"Should I be calling you Captain Aizen… or traitor Aizen Sōsuke?" she said, sharp and cold.
Aizen looked at her and couldn't help but sigh.
"As expected of a captain who's been with the Gotei 13 since its founding… Unohana-senpai, you've given me quite the surprise. How did you know I wasn't really dead?"
As he spoke, Aizen raised his Zanpakutō, and to Unohana, Gin, and Isane—it was like Aizen was lifting an exact replica of his own body.
Unohana stared at him and replied,
"I've worked with corpses for so many years… I know the condition of a dead soul better than anyone. And your spiritual body? It reeked of something off."
Of course, that wasn't the truth.
Unohana hadn't bothered with Aizen's corpse at all. She'd simply filed a quick report and never touched it again.
After all, Ichigo had already told her the truth long ago.
And now, she was hiding Ichigo's involvement, claiming the discovery as her own.
"Amazing, Captain Unohana. I admit—even though I thought I had been careful in covering my tracks, I still underestimated you," Aizen praised sincerely.
"Now then, Aizen Sōsuke… care to tell us how exactly you pulled this off?"
(End of Chapter)
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