The Truth That Strengthened Aizen's Resolve

Zero and Ulquiorra stood on a giant, slanted stone pillar in Las Noches. Below them, in the Arena, were two Experimental Subjects: one with two heads and four arms, the other with one head and two faces. Neither of them looked particularly normal, but their consciousnesses were already synchronized.

With two against six, and all eight Menos Grande in the arena having a Reiatsu level of around 0.5, the Modified Menos Grande, possessing more abilities, easily emerged victorious in their fierce battle.

When they switched to two Adjuchas with Reiatsu of 0.7, they still won against the Modified Menos Grande. Then they switched to two Adjuchas with a spiritual pressure of 0.9, and unsurprisingly, they lost...

"Not bad. The initial synthesis has already allowed Adjuchas, with such low Reiatsu, to fight against those high-ranking beings. If it continues to be developed, it might be useful."

Ling was slightly satisfied. To have achieved something in such a short time, going from nothing to something, was already a pleasant surprise. He had originally prepared himself for decades without any major achievements.

Unfortunately, some of the researchers still intended to rebel, which is unforgivable.

"How's the experiment of injecting the void into the Pluses going? Any progress?" Zero changed the subject and inquired about another experimental project.

This project was initiated by Zero. He proposed transforming the Menos Grande Reishi and then injecting them into souls with considerable Reiryoku, allowing them to cooperate and achieve mutual benefit.

Because he himself was a success story, he felt he could emulate him and create a powerful army capable of both Hollowfication and the release of Zanpakuto.

"Progress is slow. If Adjuchas is injected, they will instantly take over the host's body, eventually exploding and killing the host because the host cannot withstand the power of Adjuchas."

"Injecting the lowest level of void energy will cause both to continuously seize control of the soul and body. Over time, the soul and body will collapse and die... In my opinion, the root cause lies in the fact that their souls are too weak to withstand it..."

Ulquiorra knew where the current experiment's bottleneck lay: they lacked powerful human souls.

The souls captured or lured from the last few districts of Rukongai are not strong enough. Even if there are occasional exceptions that allow them to live a little longer, they ultimately cannot escape the fate of death.

"I see."

Ulquiorra's words reminded Zero of his past struggle with Yanis, and Zero was prepared to lose at least one of his hands.

If it weren't for Yanis's strong sense of self and fear of death, I probably wouldn't have been able to tame him so easily.

"Then let's go to Rukongai and find someone with high Reiryoku, to find the balance point between the real and the real..."

Speaking of powerful figures in Rukongai, Zero thought of Kenpachi Zaraki... but then he thought better of it. Given his personality, which exists solely for fighting, bringing him here would likely result in the complete annihilation of the Arrancar Army.

Zero then thought of his several capable and loyal Vassal, Maki and Kuzō, who had already Shikai. Zero decided that he could let them give it a try.

As for Kiganjō and Ashido's subordinates from the 11th Division, Zero felt that they might not be able to accept his cooperation with Utsuro.

Soul Reaper are all afraid of Hollows, and their duty and goal is to kill Hollows. Ashido takes this to the extreme. Unlike Zero, they do not move forward from the beginning with the goal of gaining enough power to transcend the rules.

Ten years have passed again. The Gotei 13 Captains' Meeting has not been held for several years, Soul Society has once again entered a rare era of peace.

Unnoticed by everyone, a young man felt his progress as Soul Reaper had slowed down; this man was Aizen, who had grown to an extremely terrifying level.

From entering the Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy until graduation, the unassuming Aizen spent six years like any other student, but the strength he displayed upon graduation was completely inconsistent with reality.

To make a comparison: When Aizen was that age, Zero relied on Yanis's abilities to easily defeat Gosuke, while Aizen relied on his own natural talent to grow.

That puts Zero at a disadvantage in terms of talent.

More than a decade after Aizen graduated, he used all the knowledge he had learned, both overt and covert, to determine that every Soul Reaper has a golden period of growth, after which their progress becomes extremely slow.

When Aizen sought to develop his own system by learning various kinds of knowledge, he discovered that very little, if any, knowledge was available to non-nobles.

Things that even some noble children know, the Seated Officers from Rukongai Gotei 13 might not know.

Aizen was truly disgusted. What kind of being was the Soul King who created such a system? Aizen was genuinely curious, but he preemptively defined the Soul King as 'not a good person'.

Aizen, who was still unaware of the truth about the Soul King, couldn't make a careful judgment. At this moment, he set his sights on the Great Spirit Book Gallery managed by the Tsunayashiro Clan, a crucial location controlled by the Five Great Noble Clans...

With the bright moon shining and stars twinkling, the night view of Seireitei was beautiful to the newly arrived Soul Reaper. Often, people would lie drunk on the yellow-tiled rooftops, bathed in the night breeze.

Coincidentally, Zero, who dislikes power struggles, was also admiring the moonlight from a high tower, while pondering the controllable power and destructive range of 'Hadō #99'.

However, for some high-ranking members of Soul Society, this kind of scene was already commonplace and quite boring. So they simply used it to enjoy themselves at home after work or send people to collect wealth.

At this moment, a figure that even a Captain-level couldn't easily detect moved swiftly. His target was the most mysterious and powerful place in the Seireitei — the Central 46!

The guards of the Central 46 are all highly skilled, having held positions at least within the 10th Seat of their Squad, yet they were completely unaware of tonight's intrusion... This demonstrates just how terrifying the intruder's strength was.

The figure arrived at the Great Spirit Book Gallery, constantly moving through and flipping through the layers of Reishi books, searching for what he wanted to know. (At this time, there was no Research and Development Institute, so one-click access was not possible.)

More than an hour later, the figure finally found the answer to his question, and he exclaimed inwardly, "Hmm? The Soul King is actually this kind of being? That's quite unexpected!"

This person is Aizen. His thirst for knowledge far surpasses that of others because Aizen believes that with more knowledge, one can think better.

"So that's how it is. The Five Great Noble Clans ambushed him and turned him into a human pig. It seems the so-called Central 46 and the noble families were nothing but a deception..."

After another ten minutes or so of astonishment, Aizen directly concluded on the nature of this world, leaving no room for rebuttal... How could a human pig possibly issue orders? Therefore, it could only be that the Seireitei was fabricating lies.

The Five Great Noble Clans first monopolized knowledge, and then, like Tsunayashiro, monopolized history, while the other four families also agreed to prevent the world from knowing what had happened.

A world without knowledge and education is terrifying. The Pluses of Soul Society can only rely on Soul Reaper to fight Hollows. When they want to fight on their own, they can only become Soul Reaper themselves.

Once you become Soul Reaper, you become an slave to the nobles and the Central 46. When you try to escape, you'll encounter a situation like Aizen's, where you can't possibly give up some of your interests to escape.

Money is fine, but how could the Soul Reaper (death gods) be willing to hand over their Soul Reaper Zanpakuto) that symbolize power? Power is the most tangible thing in the Soul Society.

It must be said that Aizen's wisdom is indeed much higher. Compare him to the protagonist, Nangong Ling... Ling only knows that in this world, power is supreme, and he doesn't care who makes the rules. He only wants to become stronger and surpass the rules.

Aizen, on the other hand, enjoys the feeling of being in control of everything, so he is curious about everything and wants to understand the origins of everything.

Upon receiving this information, Aizen, who already disliked the old system, instantly escalated his aversion to hatred. His thoughts completely changed from wanting to break away from the Thirteenth Generation or become the Captain-Commander to carry out reforms.

There's no longer any need for reform; this world system is only suited for overthrow and reconstruction... The truth about the Soul King directly solidified Aizen's belief in creating a new order and New World...

"Who!?"

A loud shout rang out, startling Aizen, who was engrossed in reviewing various materials and hadn't noticed the arrival of the group. He was also jolted awake by the thunder.

'A few worthless pieces of trash gave me the nerve to jump off my feet.'

Aizen looked down at the people on the lower levels; they were just guards. Aizen, who had originally planned to make them disappear completely, changed his mind and slowly drew the 'Kyōka Suigetsu' sword from his waist.

"Go! Grab him!"

Five men, all dressed almost identically, were determined to capture this unknown thief in order to avoid punishment.

"Hmph, then bring it on!"

Aizen's feigned smile played on his lips; he had already devised a plan to manipulate these pedantic fools...

This small team is just the beginning. Aizen plans to use Kyōka Suigetsu to hypnotize all the Guards responsible for guarding the Central 46, so that he can easily enter and exit the Great Spirit Book Gallery, which records all kinds of events in Soul Society.