When did I ever give you the impression that I was weak?

"Interesting."

Aizen gently set down the teacup in his hand. His eyes narrowed slightly behind his lenses, while that inscrutable smile remained on his lips.

"Captain Kuchiki, why did you suddenly ask me such a question?"

Rather than giving a direct answer, he smiled and kicked the ball back.

The Byakuya Kuchiki before him was not an illusion created by Illusion, but the genuine article.

Byakuya Kuchiki had only just returned to the main house after dealing with the Shihoin Clan's affairs. He had not even had time to change out of the haori stained with the scent of blood before rushing here without pause.

At this moment, Aizen perhaps understood better than even Ross why he had come.

Because the sages the Kuchiki Clan had planted within the Central 46 Chambers had completely lost contact with the family.

Or, more accurately, they had lost contact forever.

And not long ago, Byakuya Kuchiki's formal request to enter the Central 46 Chambers and meet the Kuchiki Clan's adjudicator had also been coldly rejected by Aizen in the voice of those dead men of the Central 46 Chambers.

Judging by the timing, that rejection should only just have reached the Kuchiki Clan.

Such an abnormal signal was enough for the perceptive Byakuya Kuchiki to catch the scent of danger.

The only thing that surprised Aizen slightly was that, after noticing something was wrong, Byakuya Kuchiki had not gone to Ross first. Instead, he had sought out Aizen, the usual invisible man.

The implications of that were rather thought-provoking.

"Then, Captain Aizen, why did you deliberately hide your strength in the past?"

Byakuya Kuchiki did not answer Aizen's counterquestion. His gaze was sharp, his voice calm yet certain.

"The true strength you displayed yesterday was likely greater even than that of Captain Kyōraku,