The Collapse of Conviction Often Takes Only an Instant

Boom! Boom!!

Violent lightning and heavy water collided and annihilated each other endlessly in the void.

Yet this clash between the two existing at the very pinnacle was destined not to last long, because of the urgent countdown over in Soul Society.

Aizen had almost completely abandoned defense.

Like a tireless berserker, he drove the destructive power of his Take Mikazuchi form to its utmost limit. Every slash and every move contained all his strength without reservation, becoming violet thunderbolts that tore through space as they frenziedly shredded Ross.

But precisely because he had gone all out, Aizen sensed that suffocating disparity more clearly than anyone else.

There was absolutely no way to resist it.

Or rather, they simply were not on the same level.

His lightning slashes, powerful enough to vaporize mountains, fell upon Ross's deep-blue sea like stones sinking into the ocean, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.

Ross did not even need any elaborate technique. A casual sweep of the Sea God Halberd brought hundreds of billions of tons of heavy water crashing down, easily crushing Aizen's lightning defenses and tearing apart his body.

Other than Illusion, Aizen could not find any method to withstand that overwhelming power.

Yet the pride of a seeker of the path within him ensured that, in this pure collision of strength, he would never use such a cheap illusion.

Thus, again and again, he allowed the Sea God Halberd to split apart his thunderstorm and sever his flesh and bones.

Blood sprayed, and limbs broke apart.

But the fatal wounds Ross inflicted were always rapidly repaired the next second by the Hōgyoku in his chest, which flickered with an eerie glow.

Moreover, every time it pulled him back from the brink of death, the Hōgyoku raised his Spiritual Pressure another