Aizen's Conspiracy

"The net of black and white! Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns, footprints, distant thunder, sharp peaks, return to the earth, night lurking, sea of clouds, azure sequence. Filling the cosmos, straight to the heavens! Bakudo #77 - Tenteikūra." With Isane's spiritual words, a net of Spiritual Power unfolded.

"To all captains, vice-captains, and acting vice-captains of the Gotei 13, and to all fellow Ryoka, this is Isane Kotetsu, vice-captain of the Fourth Division. It's an emergency! This is an urgent message from Unohana, Fourth Division Captain, and from me Isane Kotetsu. Everything I'm about to tell you is the truth..."

Isane recounted everything she had seen and heard, and everyone was stunned. No one could have predicted this outcome. Everyone stopped fighting, because their only target had now become Aizen.

The Sōkyoku Hill was now a scene of utter devastation. Renji looked at Aizen and said, "I said, I refuse! I would rather die than Rukia over to you!"

Aizen stopped Gin from drawing his sword, and as he walked towards Renji, he said, "You're really stubborn, Abarai. If you're not willing to put Rukia down and step back, there's nothing I can do. In that case, I'll just have to leave your arm behind."

Renji blocked the attack, but he was still injured. Even so, he held Rukia tightly and refused to let go. The person he was holding was the one he had sworn to protect!

"If possible, please don't insist too much on Abarai. You know, stepping on an ant without killing it is a difficult thing to control. After all, I don't want you to die."

Renji stared at Aizen with a piercing gaze. "I finally understand. You're not the Captain Aizen I knew anymore. I don't know why you did this, but I'd rather die than hand Rukia over to you!"

Aizen lightly flicked his Zanpakuto: "Isn't this the Sōsuke Aizen you know anymore? Unfortunately, that was just your illusion, Abarai. The Sōsuke Aizen you know never existed in the first place."

Aizen raised his Zanpakuto at Renji, but at that moment it was blocked by a dark figure. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Ichigo who had arrived at some point and saved Renji. The two immediately jumped away and distanced themselves from Aizen.

The two stood on the same side, and although their cooperation was indeed decent, it couldn't bridge the huge gap between them. Ichigo's sure-fire attack was blocked by a single finger, and he was instantly killed. Renji met the same fate. After the two fell, Aizen instantly appeared in front of Rukia.

Aizen was holding Rukia's clothes, while Ichigo stubbornly kept his head up, calling out "Rukia"...

"Are you still conscious? Your strength and vitality are completely mismatched. What a waste. Stop now. You've already served your purpose. Your mission is complete." Aizen Zanpakuto.

Ichigo looked at him, puzzled. "You mean... a mission..."

"Yes, I knew you would be invading from West Rukongai, so I have spies around there. Gin will rush over as soon as you arrive. There are Captain-level officers waiting inside the gate, so the only way for you to enter Seireien is with Kūkaku Shiba's Kakaku Cannon. What a massive invasion!"

Aizen continued, "Furthermore, the Ryoka are strong enough to escape from Captain-level figures, which means all the Shinigami in Seireien will be focused on them. Your performance after entering Seireien has been truly remarkable. Thanks to you, even the death of a captain has become less important, making operations much easier."

Ichigo, dumbfounded, asked, "Wait... how did you know we came in from West Rukongai?"

"That's a strange question. Isn't it obvious? Because West Rukongai is Kisuke Urahara's base, the exit of the Senkaimon he created can only be in West Rukongai, right?" Aizen said matter-of-factly.

Instead, Ichigo found Aizen's surprised expression odd. "What's with that expression? You're his subordinates, aren't you? Weren't you ordered by Kisuke Urahara to retrieve Rukia Kuchiki?"

Ichigo was even more confused. "What... what's going on..."

"I see. It seems you haven't heard anything. But never mind, since we're at the end, let me tell you. You know the four fighting styles of a Shinigami, right? Zanjutsu, Hakuda -to-hand combat, Shunpo, and Kidō. But no matter which one, there is a so-called maximum limit. No matter which skill you strengthen, you will encounter the Shinigami's own strength barrier, and your growth will stop there. That is the limit of a Shinigami. But is there no way to break through the limit?" Aizen asked rhetorically.

"Yes, there is only one way: the Hollowfication of Shinigami and the Shinigami -Shinigamification of Hollows. By eliminating the boundary between these two contradictory existences, one can reach a higher realm!" Aizen's tone was slightly excited, because he was about to obtain this power.

Ichigo's eyes widened instantly, as if he had remembered something, but Aizen wasn't paying attention to him at the moment.

"This theory has existed for a long time, so I secretly tried to Shinigamification, Hollows that could hide their Spiritual Pressure, and Hollows that could make Zanpakuto disappear and possess the ability to merge with Shinigami just by touching them."

At this point, Rukia incredulous. She remembered Kaien's death; the Hollow's power was the latter. She never imagined that it was just Aizen's experiment.

Aizen didn't notice Rukia's expression, and simply continued walking forward, dragging her along. "But nothing went smoothly. Neither I nor anyone else found a feasible method. However, Kisuke Urahara created it—something that can instantly shatter the boundary between Hollows and Shinigami, something that transcends the common sense of Soul Society. Its name is: the Hōgyoku!"

"That was an extremely dangerous thing, Kisuke Urahara noticed this as well. So he tried every possible way to destroy it, but he couldn't find a way to destroy the Hōgyoku he had created. In desperation, he resorted to a method: to place a protective barrier around the Hōgyoku and hide it deep within other souls!"

Aizen back and pointed at Rukia: "You understand now, right? The hiding place he chose was you, Rukia Kuchiki. He previously created Gigai that continuously decomposes the Shinigami's power. Shinigami entering it wouldn't regain their Spiritual Power; instead, it would slowly absorb the Spiritual Power, eventually turning them into ordinary souls. In this way, his Hōgyoku could be hidden permanently."

Rukia and Ichigo both Ichigo with disbelief. The news was too shocking for them; they felt like they had been used and were even being paid for it.

"But fortunately, you were discovered in the World of the Living a few months later. For this, I immediately gave the Central 46 to..." Aizen was interrupted before he could finish speaking. At this moment, a huge figure appeared behind him. It was Sajin Komamura, the captain of the Seventh Division.

"Aizen..." His anger was evident in his words, but anger could not bridge the gap in strength. "Hadō #90 - Kurohitsugi!" Aizen instantly appeared in front of him and killed him with a single Hadō #90.

Yin stepped forward and said, "Even the ninth level of the Hadō can Incantation Abandonment? That's terrifying. When did you become able to do this?"

Aizen shook his head. "No, it failed. The power wasn't even a third of its original strength. As expected, Number 90's Hadō is more difficult to use." He walked to Gin and picked up Rukia: "Sorry, I only got halfway through."

At this moment, Ichigo's companions from the World of the Living also arrived, but they couldn't even withstand Ichimaru's Spiritual Pressure and collapsed immediately. Aizen turned back to Ichigo and continued his speech, "After learning that you were in the World of the Living, the first thing I did was to kill all the members of the Central 46."

"The disappearance you heard from Isane must be like this: Sōsuke Aizen faked his death to hide his whereabouts, and soon after, he killed all the Central 46. In fact, I had already killed the Central 46 when I found you, and then used the Kyōka Suigetsu technique in the council chamber to make it look like the Central 46 were still having a meeting."

"After that, one of the three of us would always stay in the Central 46 to issue missions. I assigned the mission of arresting you to the two members of the Sixth Division. In order to retrieve the Hōgyoku, I ordered your spirit to be vaporized through extermination..." Aizen revealed all his plans, smiling as if he enjoyed people's surprise.

Aizen then took out a device from his pocket. "He invented the technique of implanting souls into foreign objects, so the method for removing those objects must lie in his past research. Sure enough, I found that thing."

Aizen inserted his wood-like arm into Rukia's body and pulled out a blue crystal. "How unexpected, it's just such a small thing. Is this the Hōgyoku?"

Rukia's chest hole miraculously healed itself very quickly. Aizen exclaimed in amazement, "It doesn't harm the soul at all? That's quite impressive technology. But you're useless now, kill her, Gin!"

"There's really nothing I can do," Gin sighed as he walked, picking up his Zanpakuto and pointing it at Rukia. "Shoot him— Shinsō!"

Blood splattered everywhere, but it wasn't Rukia's blood. Byakuya had appeared in front of Rukia at some point, holding her in one arm and the blade of the Shinsō Rukia the other. Part of the Shinsō was already embedded in Byakuya's body.

"Big brother..." Rukia in astonishment at the scene before her. Her older brother, who was about to send her to her execution, was actually risking his life to save her. She asked anxiously, "Big brother... are you alright?"

Byakuya quickly distanced himself from Aizen. Byakuya's mind was no longer clouded; he now had to fulfill his promise to Hisana. Kurosaki's words had deeply moved him, and perhaps he even had to thank Ichigo, for this battle had cleared his mind...