He could not control his body in midair and slammed into a bronze pillar of Sōkyoku Hill with a dull boom. Cracks spread across the pillar, and fragments of stone rained down.
Kenpachi struggled to prop himself up. A thin line of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly—not from pain, but from shock. He could not even comprehend how Captain Aizen had exerted his strength just now.
Captain Aizen slowly withdrew his left hand. There was not the slightest mark on his fingertips, as though he had not blocked a deadly surprise attack, but merely brushed away a speck of dust.
He looked at the battered Kenpachi, his eyes utterly devoid of emotion, holding only the cold indifference of someone looking down on an ant:
"Captain Kenpachi, it's difficult to understand, isn't it? How exactly did you lose?
"The strength you take such pride in is nothing more than something built upon never having witnessed true power."
He took two steps forward and stopped before Kenpachi, his shadow completely engulfing him:
"Defection? No. I am merely leaving a place that cannot contain me. And you... are not qualified to stop me!"
Kenpachi gritted his teeth and tried to draw his sword again, only to find that the pain in his chest made it difficult even to lift his arm.
That burst of spiritual pressure had injured his internal organs and temporarily sealed the flow of his Reiryoku.
He raised his single eye and stared fixedly at Captain Aizen's retreating back. There was no humiliation in his gaze, only fiercer fighting spirit, like sparks about to set the plains ablaze:
"Aizen... just you wait... I will definitely..."
Captain Aizen did not look back. He did not even consider finishing Kenpachi off,