After the Soul Reaper's consciousness controlled the Hollow's power, it didn't grant Aizen any Hollow abilities. Aizen was dissatisfied with this, ultimately concluding that it was just a failed experiment, and that his expectations had been too high.
"Go to hell!"
Instead of Sonído, Seigen used Shunpo, moving behind Aizen and drawing his Asauchi slash fiercely. Aizen parried with his Zanpakuto, sparks flying, and Aizen was forced back.
... Since Seigen didn't Zanpakuto with him when Zero took him away, and this Asauchi was one he robbed from other villains in Rukongai, he couldn't release it either...
Seigen pressed his advantage, hacking and slashing relentlessly until he finally felled Aizen with a diagonal slash... The mask was removed, Seigen was panting heavily.
"They talk so big, but they're so incompetent. I should have just left them here!"
Seigen glanced at Aizen on the ground and concluded that this mastermind wasn't as powerful as Zero had claimed.
But suddenly, many Reiatsu appeared around them, directly locking onto the Seigen. First, two people Shunpo together using Shunpo, namely Ginrei Kuchiki and Yoruichi, followed by a group of Stealth Force.
They were initially surprised to see the corpse on the ground, but then they saw Jung- Seigen holding Asauchi weapon. Could it be that Jung-won, the one who did it, was Seigen Kyōshiba?
"Seigen Kyōshiba, you really were hiding here..." Ginrei Kuchiki called Seigen by his name directly, showing no respect for her colleague.
"What exactly happened? Did you kill Third Seat Honda?" Yoruichi asked Seigen coldly.
Because of a report that someone resembling Seigen Kyōshiba had appeared in Rukongai, they received a secret order to come here to arrest Seigen and take him back for questioning. They didn't expect this extra incident to happen.
Seigen was bewildered. Third Seat Honda? He was supposed to have killed Aizen. But when he looked closely, there was no Aizen there, only a blond young man lying in a pool of blood.
"Yes, it was him! I... I just happened to be passing by after my mission and recognized him. He was about to kill me..."
Unfortunately, Honda still had a breath left, and he stubbornly clung to Seigen, finally kicking the bucket after speaking in fits and starts.
Ginrei Kuchiki and Yoruichi stared coldly at Seigen, the evidence of his guilt irrefutable.
"Hey, listen to my explanation, it's Aizen..."
"Stupid, you can't explain it clearly at all! They came here to capture you! You've been tricked."
He tried to explain Seigen he still had a lot of feelings for the Gotei 13, but Zero's voice suddenly appeared and interrupted him.
"Nangong Ling?"
"They really have colluded."
Upon seeing Zero appear, Ginrei Kuchiki and Yoruichi immediately tensed up, their expressions becoming strained...
Why is he here? What is his purpose? Has Seigen Kyōshiba been confirmed as a traitor? With Zero's sudden appearance, a series of questions arose in the minds of the two.
They were well aware that even a two-on-one fight against Nangong Ling would be too much for them, so Ginrei Kuchiki and Yoruichi exchanged a glance and remained on guard without making a move.
"Let's go! Come back to Hueco Mundo with me, we'll talk then..."
Zero opened the Garganta and walked straight in. Seigen glanced at the corpse on the ground again, feeling dizzy and disoriented, and followed. He couldn't understand why...
Aizen leisurely watched the twisted Kidō that no one else could detect. He didn't need either side to take action; he only needed to confirm and deepen the hostile conflict.
In Aizen's view, sacrificing a mere Third Seat subordinate was nothing; he could easily train someone of that caliber, and even spending some time training a few Captains and Vice-Captains wouldn't be a problem.
That's right. As a prisoner of Kyōka Suigetsu, how could Seigen have possibly seen Aizen in person? He was merely hypnotized by Aizen and fought a puppet, revealing all the Hollowfication information.
That's not all; Aizen also wanted to use the Seigen to incite a war Seireitei and Hueco Mundo.
According to Aizen's calculations, once the two sides truly clash, Hueco Mundo could definitely cripple the Seireitei with a large number of Adjuchas; if Nangong Ling were to perish together with Captain-Commander Yamamoto, that would be perfect, giving Aizen even more opportunities...
Yama-jii convened Captains' Meeting and ultimately characterized the incident as 'Seigen Kyōshiba's betrayal, Nangong Ling instigated Seigen to provoke the Seireitei.'
Ika was shocked to receive the message from the Captains' Meeting. Her brother had been perfectly normal for the past few years, so how could he suddenly commit murder... The so-called facts had already emerged, and many people who knew the inside story pointed fingers at Ika because she was Seigen's sister.
The tongue has no bones, yet it can pierce the heart.
Unable to accept this fact, Ika submitted her application for leave of absence to Captain Unohana again. Unohana did not make things difficult for her and even helped her with the leave.
Ika chose to leave. She possessed the Reiryoku left behind by Seigen, and was just waiting for Seigen to come to her so she could find out the reason.
Back in Hueco Mundo, Zero had someone retrieve the Spirit Worm stored on Seigen, and another one was there to overlook everything below from God's-eye view. There were two Spirit Worm in total, and everything they recorded was released. Kyōka Suigetsu had no hallucinogenic Spirit Worm.
As expected, Aizen had been watching everything from behind the tree from the very beginning, merely distorting the light with his Kidō.
"Damn it!" Seigen was furious.
"So, you're now labeled as a fellow thief, just like me," Zero said with a faint smile.
The scene shifts again, and Zero's smile vanishes as Aizen looks up at the Spirit Worm in the sky, revealing what he perceives as a benevolent smile.
"Was my plan too naive? This guy... it feels like he deliberately let me know that he was the one who orchestrated everything."
Zero was a little annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. He hadn't thought things through too much; he just wanted to see if he could lure out the mastermind and then kill him.
It turned out that they had anticipated all of this, and even reported Seigen, prompting the Gotei 13 to send two Captains over. He was merely observing from the shadows...
Having fulfilled his promise to Zero, Seigen chose to return to Soul Society. Zero taught him a Kidō to conceal his Reiatsu and then ignored him.
Seigen didn't betray Zero's information; he worked as an earthworm for several years to help with fishing, which was his way of repaying Zero's kindness. Zero also didn't force Seigen to join the Arrancar Army; as a friend, Zero respected Seigen's choice...
In the following period, Zero devised a plan to conquer the Seireitei and the Soul King Palace, and he also included the Zero Division, which had been promoted from Soul Reaper, in his list of enemies.
To break the old order of Soul Society, a complete overhaul is necessary, allowing him to speak from the perspective of the Soul King... but for now, we need to accumulate power.
The Gotei 13 is already strong enough, but the Zero Division, with only three members, is stronger than the Gotei 13 with Yama-jii. Zero can't calculate the combined power of the two divisions, but it's definitely stronger than Hueco Mundo right now.
Order has been restored in Hueco Mundo. Successful Menos Grande -Half-Arrancar no longer need to hunt their own kind or degenerate, so more Adjuchas are choosing to join the 'Arrancar Army'.
The newly joined Adjuchas were given new orders: to go to Soul Society and capture Pluses with Reiryoku to create Spirit Potion that would allow them to Half-Arrancar.
Many Menos Grande rushed to the Soul Society or the World of the Living, which caused turmoil for the next few decades...
Twenty years passed in a flash, and time moved to 125 years before Aizen was sealed away.
The number of Soul Reaper die in battle in Soul Society each year has at least doubled. The number of Soul Reaper has decreased from more than 10,000 remaining after the initial Quincy to around 6,000 now.
The Soul Reaper leadership deeply resented Zero because they had learned that the Menos Grande were capturing souls to induce mutations, making themselves stronger and preventing them from regressing.
In a recent battle, two Vice-Captains died: Sōjun Kuchiki of the Sixth Division and Hikosei of the Tenth Division.
... Three-year-old Byakuya Kuchiki looked at his father's body and cried uncontrollably, tears and snot mixing together and flowing into his mouth...
The death of two Vice-Captains is no small matter, especially since the Sixth Division is a noble unit. This heavy casualty incident will be a great blow to some minor noble families.
Someone with ulterior motives took advantage of this, directing the resentment of the minor nobles towards Shiba Kūsei, who was the Captain at the time...
In the days following this incident, people everywhere were hurling insults at Shiba Kūsei, and some were even led to go to the Tenth Division to hurl abuse.
Kongqing's volatile temper was too much to bear, especially since he was one of the Five Great Noble Clans. He killed more than a dozen people on the spot... When Kongqing came to his senses, he realized that someone was plotting against him, but he had already made a grave mistake.
Because there was a reason for the incident—those people had started the insults— the Central 46 acquitted him, but his actions caused the Shiba Clan to lose prestige...
Therefore, the Shiba Clan of the Five Great Noble Clans, hastily moved away from Seireitei, with only a handful of their original followers remaining. The incident was quickly suppressed.
The fact that the Shiba Clan had fallen into such a state filled Kongqing with immense frustration. In order to restore his prestige, he began to wage war with his subordinates for a long period of time throughout the Soul Society.
The war lasted for ten years. Kongqing killed too many Adjuchas, and was then betrayed by the clever Adjuchas who plotted to kill him. Several powerful Half-Arrancars also participated in the ambush.
Time flies, ten years have passed, and it's been 115 years since Aizen was sealed away.
The Soul Society and the real world gradually calmed down, mainly because Zero had collected enough souls, so he no longer sent Hollows to capture more.
At this time, Shiba Kūsei had already died in battle, the position of Captain of the Tenth Division was vacant, and the Tenth Division was leaderless... At this time, his son Kaien Shiba had not yet joined the Gotei 13.
In the same year, Kasumioji Yakumo also killed a strange Adjuchas, Zanpakuto was sealed by it before its death. After several years of trying to unseal it, he was forced to retire.
In the same year, Kirio Hikifune also completed the creation of 'Modified Soul', which allowed her to create simple souls for various foods, greatly enhancing their support abilities... This concept was learned by the Zero Division...
Three years later, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi succeeded Third Division Captain, but the Tenth Division was still vacant, with few capable individuals remaining.
Urahara, the only one still capable of taking over the Captain, is currently engrossed in various research projects every day.