Shiba Kaien's Happiness

After his grand wedding, Shiba Kaien was visibly, radiantly happy.

Although the massive expansion of the 13th Division kept him busier than ever, he remained cheerful every single day, making it obvious to anyone who saw him just how blissful he was.

He was so happy, in fact, that whenever he met Aoto, he would incessantly pester him to hurry up and find a girlfriend to marry.

Because Aoto had knocked Kūkaku Shiba unconscious in front of everyone at the wedding, the girl finally stopped pestering him... though she had started constantly looking for opportunities to ambush him and get her revenge.

Kaien had subsequently abandoned the idea of having Aoto as his brother-in-law.

Yet, urging Aoto to get married had become a hobby for Shiba Kaien.

However, marriage was absolutely out of the question.

Not a single member of the 11th Division had ever married; they were all confirmed bachelors.

Furthermore, aside from Yachiru, there wasn't a single female Soul Reaper in the entire division! Even if they wanted to find someone, they couldn't!

Did people really think they didn't want to find partners? They simply lacked the capability, you know! They just didn't have the ability!

But Aoto would never admit his lack of ability to Kaien.

And so, Aoto had started avoiding Kaien.

If I can't win an argument against you, can't I at least hide?

Tch!

"Bang!"

A cracking sound rang out, and before Aizen, a Hollow appeared with a mask covering only half of its face.

Its stature was that of a normal human, yet it was not a Vasto Lorde.

An Arrancar—this was an Adjuchas-level Arrancar.

Judging by its subsequent actions and speech, it was clear that its intelligence and other faculties had not been suppressed.

A truly perfect Arrancar.

"Congratulations, Aizen! You've succeeded!"

Starrk walked to Aizen's side to offer his congratulations.

But Aizen shook his head modestly, "It takes six attempts on a single Adjuchas to achieve a perfect Arrancar. If not for the power of the King of Hueco Mundo, I don't know how many companions would have been wasted for nothing!"

Aizen's research into the power of the Hogyoku was, in fact, just like a scientific experiment; many things required control groups to determine with one hundred percent certainty whether the results were a success.

If one were careless while turning a Menos into an Arrancar, errors would occur, and once an error happened, the Hollow would undergo all sorts of indescribable mutations.

Since every Hollow was fundamentally different, the experience gained from one success could not be perfectly applied to the next.

This seemed to make the consumption of Adjuchas an unavoidable reality.

However, the power of the King of Hueco Mundo made the existence of a "control group" possible.

Did the Arrancar transformation fail? Then simply "reproduce the past," revert it to before the transformation, and try again.

Even in standard control group experiments, the data between the experimental group and the control group could never be one hundred percent successful.

But this power drastically shortened the time Aizen spent on his Arrancar research, allowing every single Hollow to achieve a one hundred percent success rate.

This truly was a case of failure being the mother of success...

He looked up at the King of Hueco Mundo sitting on the high throne, and a certain thought deep within Aizen's pupils nearly burst forth.

Theoretically, the power of the King of Hueco Mundo would also have an extremely potent effect on his research into the Hollowfication of Soul Reapers.

If he could capture a lieutenant-level Soul Reaper and conduct repeated experiments, Aizen's progress would undoubtedly be much faster.

But... Aizen could not grant the King of Hueco Mundo his absolute trust.

If he had conquered Las Noches himself and made the King of Hueco Mundo his subordinate, that would be one thing.

As it stood, he and the King of Hueco Mundo were merely in a cooperative relationship, and in the future, they might even become enemies.

He had to keep plenty of contingencies in place.

After the successfully transformed Adjuchas expressed its gratitude to Aizen, it was summoned before the King of Hueco Mundo, who observed it carefully before returning it to Aizen's side.

The one hundred Adjuchas gifted to Aizen by the King of Hueco Mundo would all fall under Aizen's command once they had successfully become Arrancars.

This force was already enough for Aizen to accomplish many things.

Even a direct invasion of the Soul Society would cause immense destruction.

After all, an Adjuchas-level Arrancar's strength would double in a short period after releasing its sword.

For the elite among them, reaching the Vasto Lorde level was not a difficult feat.

Such strength was enough to contend with captains who had achieved Bankai.

It all depended on how Aizen chose to use them!

"First Dance: White Moon!"

Drawing a white circle on the ground, Rukia channeled a beam of moonlight down from the night sky for her attack.

From the ground to the atmosphere, everything within the circle was enveloped by the moonlight, and then... instantly frozen into ice.

However, her opponent was Toshiro.

Toshiro offered no resistance whatsoever, allowing himself to be completely encased by the freezing light.

Yet, he remained entirely unharmed.

In fact, after being completely frozen, he walked out of the ice block without the slightest obstruction.

It was as if Toshiro himself had turned into ice.

"A great technique, but the execution speed is too slow!" This was Toshiro's assessment of the move.

As a fellow wielder of an ice-type Zanpakuto, Toshiro's evaluation could be considered quite objective.

That was, until someone crashed the party.

"So cool, 6th Seat Hitsugaya!"

The sound of Aoto cheering from the sidelines caused several veins to bulge on Toshiro's forehead.

What should one do when they have an increasingly unreliable master?

Well... just endure it, right? It's not like he could defect from the division.

Recently, Kaien had been busy with all sorts of matters, even asking Aoto to help with Rukia's training... and Aoto had simply dragged Toshiro along.

When it came to ice, Aoto had no experience; Toshiro had long since surpassed him.

However, Aoto wasn't making him work for free; there was compensation for Toshiro.

And that compensation was a battle against him!

After today's training with Rukia concluded, the master and disciple engaged in a brief spar.

Excluding Shikai, the battle encompassed all aspects of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kido, and Hoho, and it was no less intense than the previous fight between Aoto and Kaien.

The continuous exchange of strikes left Rukia dazzled.

Toshiro was truly a genius, his strength growing steadily with each passing day.

Furthermore, his mastery of Kido had also improved!

"Bakudo #21, Curved Light!"

Upon casting this Kido, his figure vanished instantly... like a chameleon, he had erased himself from sight.

It definitely had something to do with his childhood friend.

But he was still far too green to defeat Aoto right now.

"Bakudo #30, Red Smoke Escape!"

Toshiro, who had intended to launch a sneak attack while concealed by Curved Light, found himself completely shrouded in thick smoke. Not only could he no longer see Master Aoto, but he had been countered and exposed by him instead.

After all, the Red Smoke Escape was filled with Aoto's spiritual pressure; he could sense exactly where anyone was within it.

Closing his eyes, Aoto charged straight in.

Rukia, sitting on the sidelines, only heard the sound of two Zanpakuto clashing within the smoke before 6th Seat Hitsugaya was sent flying out.

Moreover, he was bound by a rope of light.

It seemed the victor had been decided!