After the wedding, Shiba Kaien had visibly become even happier!
Although the 13th Division's massive expansion had made him even busier, he was still grinning from ear to ear every day. Anyone who saw him could tell just how happy he was.
He even kept urging Aoto to hurry up and find a girlfriend and get married whenever they met. That showed just how happy he was.
Because Aoto had knocked Kūkaku Shiba unconscious in front of everyone at the wedding, the girl had finally stopped clinging to him... Instead, she was always looking for a chance to sneak up on him and get her revenge.
Kaien had also taken the opportunity to give up on the idea of making Aoto his brother-in-law.
But persuading Aoto to get married had become one of Shiba Kaien's hobbies.
As for getting married, that was definitely out of the question.
No one in the 11th Division had ever gotten married... They were all bachelors.
And now, apart from Yachiru, there wasn't a single female Soul Reaper in the whole division! Even if they tried to find someone, there was no one to find!
You think they didn't want to find someone? They just couldn't, okay? They simply weren't capable!
But Aoto would absolutely never admit to Kaien that he wasn't capable.
So Aoto had started avoiding Kaien.
If I can't talk you out of it, can't I just avoid you?
Tch!
"Bang!"
A cracking sound rang out. Before Aizen appeared a Hollow whose mask covered only half his face.
He was about the size of an ordinary human, yet he wasn't a Vasto Lorde.
An Arrancar—this was an Arrancar of the Adjuchas class.
And judging by his next actions and the way he spoke, his intelligence and other faculties had not been suppressed.
A perfect Arrancar.
"Congratulations, Aizen! You did it!"
Starrk walked over to Aizen and congratulated him.
But Aizen shook his head modestly. "It takes six attempts with the same Adjuchas to achieve a perfect Arrancar. Without the King of Hueco Mundo's power, who knows how many companions we would have wasted for nothing!"
Aizen's research into the Hogyoku's power was much like scientific experimentation. To determine with absolute certainty whether an experiment had succeeded, many tests needed control groups.
Turning a Menos Grande into an Arrancar could go wrong. If it did, the Menos Grande would undergo all sorts of indescribable changes.
And every Hollow was completely different. It was difficult to transfer the success of one attempt to the next with absolute certainty.
That made the loss of Adjuchas seem inevitable.
But the King of Hueco Mundo's power made control groups possible.
The Arrancarization failed? Then he could use "Past Reenactment" to return the Hollow to its state before the transformation and start over.
Even in an ordinary control-group experiment, neither the experimental group nor the control group could achieve a one-hundred-percent success rate.
But this power had greatly shortened the time Aizen needed to study Hollow Arrancarization, allowing him to ensure that every Hollow became a successful Arrancar.
It really was true that failure was the mother of success...
Looking up at the King of Hueco Mundo seated above him, Aizen felt an impulse deep in his eyes that nearly burst forth.
In theory, the King of Hueco Mundo's power would also be extremely useful in his research into Soul Reaper Hollowfication.
If he could capture a Soul Reaper at lieutenant level and conduct repeated experiments, Aizen's research would progress much faster.
But... Aizen couldn't place his complete trust in the King of Hueco Mundo.
If he had conquered Las Noches back then and made the King of Hueco Mundo his subordinate, that would be one thing.
But now they were merely partners, and might even become enemies in the future.
He had to keep plenty of contingencies in reserve.
After the successfully transformed Adjuchas thanked Aizen, the King of Hueco Mundo summoned him over and examined him carefully before sending him back to Aizen.
The hundred Adjuchas the King of Hueco Mundo had given Aizen would all become his subordinates once they had successfully become Arrancars.
This force was already enough for Aizen to accomplish many things.
He could even invade Soul Society and wreak tremendous destruction.
After all, once an Arrancar Adjuchas released its Zanpakuto, its strength would double for a short time.
The most outstanding among them could reach Vasto Lorde level without much difficulty.
With that kind of strength, they could even hold their own against captains who had achieved Bankai.
It all depended on how Aizen chose to use them!
"First Dance: White Moon!"
Rukia drew a white circle on the ground, and her attack drew down a beam of moonlight from the night sky.
Everything within the circle, from the ground to the atmosphere, was covered in moonlight and then... instantly frozen solid.
But her opponent was Toshiro.
Toshiro didn't resist at all. He was completely engulfed by the freezing light.
Yet nothing happened to him.
Even after he had been completely frozen, he walked out of the ice without the slightest hindrance.
It was as though Toshiro himself had turned into ice.
"Great technique. You're just too slow to use it!" That was Toshiro's assessment.
As someone with a fellow ice-type Zanpakuto, Toshiro's assessment was quite objective.
He just happened to be heckling her.
"That was so cool, Sixth Seat Hitsugaya!"
Aoto's shout from the side made a good number of veins bulge on Toshiro's forehead.
What was he supposed to do with a master who was getting more and more unreliable?
Just... put up with it, right? It wasn't like he could leave the school of his own master, was it?
Lately, Kaien had been constantly busy with all sorts of matters, so he had even asked Aoto to help train Rukia... and Aoto had simply dragged Toshiro along.
When it came to ice, Aoto had little experience. Toshiro had long since surpassed him.
But Aoto wasn't asking him to work for free. Toshiro would be rewarded.
And the reward was a fight with him!
After today's training with Rukia, the master and disciple had a brief battle.
Apart from Shikai, they used every aspect of their abilities in swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, Kidō, and movement. Their fight was no less intense than Aoto's earlier battle with Kaien.
They traded blows without pause, leaving Rukia dazzled.
Toshiro really was a genius. His strength kept increasing every day.
And his Kidō had improved, too!
"Bakudō #30: Curved Light!"
After using the Kidō, he vanished in an instant... making himself invisible, like a chameleon.
It definitely had something to do with his childhood friend.
But Toshiro was still far too green to defeat Aoto.
"Bakudō #21: Red Smoke Escape!"
Toshiro had used Curved Light to hide himself and attempt a sneak attack, but a huge cloud of smoke completely swallowed him. Now he couldn't see his master Aoto—and Aoto could see him instead.
After all, the Red Smoke Escape was filled with Aoto's spiritual pressure. He could sense exactly where anyone was.
Closing his eyes, Aoto charged straight in.
Rukia, seated nearby, heard only two clashes of Zanpakuto from within the smoke before Sixth Seat Hitsugaya was sent flying out.
A glowing rope was wrapped around him, too.
It looked like the winner had been decided!