Beneath the night sky.
Deep within the heart of the cliff, Las Noches crouched like a towering giant, bathed in the pale moonlight.
In the vast, silent hall, the pale, mottled walls reflected the moonlight like mirrors, while shadows in the darkness mingled with the faint beams cast from every direction.
Just then.
"Tap!" "Tap!" "Tap!"...
A steady rhythm of footsteps suddenly rang through the silent hall. Each step seemed to fall in time with a heartbeat, elegant yet measured.
When the figure that had appeared in the hall saw the ruin around him, a faint smile curled at the corner of his mouth for some reason.
Before him lay a scene of utter devastation, with rubble scattered everywhere.
Most striking was the enormous stone pillar lying directly across his path, as if a towering tree had snapped and fallen.
The tall figure paid little attention to the wreckage. Instead, his gaze came to rest on the broken end of the massive pillar.
Seeing the fracture marks, as though the pillar had been struck by tremendous force, he looked past it toward the two enormous craters in the hall's floor. A flicker of interest crossed his deep-set eyes.
"Such smooth depressions. Were they caused entirely by pressure?"
As the figure murmured softly,
"Whoosh!"
A slender figure suddenly appeared behind him and knelt respectfully, half-prostrate on the ground. Like a patch of shadow in the pitch-black night, he made no sound and was almost impossible to detect.
He slowly lifted his pale face. His emerald eyes, which stirred only when he saw the figure before him, gleamed with loyalty as he spoke softly.
"Lord Aizen, as you instructed, I tried to provoke the boy and test his strength."
Hearing him, Aizen stood beneath the pale moonlight, a faint smile lifting the