Two Newcomers

Aizen deliberately had Ulquiorra patrol nearby at the chosen summoning location.

Not only had Aizen leveled up in the recent battle, Ulquiorra had also broken through to Level 21.

Aizen had sent Ulquiorra to patrol because Ulquiorra's current sensing ability surpassed Grimmjow's.

Unexpectedly, Ulquiorra's breakthrough to Level 21 and acquisition of his second Soul Ring had been as simple as eating and drinking.

Just like when he had obtained his first Soul Ring.

Everything had seemed perfectly natural.

Name: Ulquiorra

Race: Human (can transform into a Hollow)

Age: Seven

Level: Level 21 Soul Power

Martial Soul: Black Winged Great Demon

Skills: Cero, High-Speed Regeneration.

The second Soul Ring's skill was a passive skill: High-Speed Regeneration.

Having learned this, Aizen could determine that the next Soul Ring skills might be Iron Skin and Sonido.

Together with Cero and High-Speed Regeneration, those were the Hollow's four great abilities.

Hollows who fought by instinct rarely used any skills other than Cero.

In their human forms, perhaps they would only gain true skills after reaching Level 50 or above.

Grimmjow's evolution was not as fast as Ulquiorra's, but he was not far from obtaining his second Soul Ring.

At the same time, Grimmjow wanted to catch up to Ulquiorra, and Aizen intended to fulfill that desire.

After making his preparations, he began summoning.

To speed things up, Aizen used ten-pulls for his more than one hundred and fifty opportunities.

The system allowed this method as well.

As ten orbs of light floated out from his chest, they hatched into ten people.

Seeing how low their levels were and how abysmal their potential was, Aizen did not even blink before killing them.

They were all trash!

After spending one thousand Soul Coins, he recovered less than three hundred from recycling them.

He continued with another ten-pull.

The results this time were equally unsatisfactory, but Aizen did not intend to kill them himself. He handed them over to Grimmjow instead.

When Grimmjow and the others killed Soul Masters or Soul Beasts with Soul Power, they could also obtain Soul Power.

More precisely, when they killed an enemy, they could acquire a portion of the other party's soul through the act of slaughter.

It was far too similar to Hollows.

Devouring souls to strengthen themselves.

When Grimmjow and the others killed Soul Masters and Soul Beasts, Aizen could likewise obtain Soul Coins, without the slightest depreciation.

Put another way, the Soul Coins Aizen received were the final soul value of the dead Soul Masters.

Now, Aizen was responsible for summoning, while Grimmjow was responsible for taking out the trash.

Soon, his Soul Coins were nearly exhausted. When only one thousand Soul Coins remained, Aizen stopped summoning.

He had performed a total of one hundred and seventy-eight summons, and only two were worth keeping.

Looking over the corpses scattered across the ground, Aizen showed no sympathy for the only two children standing among them.

After a brief exchange, he learned that the brown-skinned person with naturally curly purple hair and blind eyes was Tosen Kaname.

He was deeply terrified of the unknown, and he seemed to hate this dark world as well.

He hated the world he had been unable to see since birth. He hated how death always came for him. He hated how the person he had wanted to protect had been killed.

At that moment, the Hogyoku mercilessly altered Tosen Kaname's memories.

The girl he loved most had yearned for great love and justice, only to be killed by a powerful Soul Master in the end.

After seeing through all of this, Aizen said only one thing. "Would you like to entrust the hatred overflowing from your heart to me, for now?"

Aizen's voice was immensely seductive. From Aizen, Tosen Kaname sensed strength and confidence.

Without the slightest hesitation, Kaname stretched out a hand in the direction of the voice and grasped Aizen's warm yet unfamiliar hand.

Aizen smiled faintly, then looked at the long-haired Retsu Unohana and asked, "What about you?"

Retsu Unohana narrowed her eyes at Aizen and asked in return, "Can you help me reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship?"

Aizen did not answer directly. He released Tosen Kaname's hand and handed him over to Grimmjow.

Walking up to Retsu Unohana, he said, "I do not know whether I can help you reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship, but I can assist you where I am able. I have some modest insight into sword techniques."

Retsu Unohana struggled slightly before extending her hand and accepting Aizen.

"I hope you are someone who can please me."

Aizen chuckled softly. "Even if I cannot please you, I will certainly find someone who can, and it will be in the near future."

Holding Mao Zhi Hua's small, tender hand, Aizen gently led her out of the pile of corpses.

He placed Retsu Unohana and Tosen Kaname together, then drew his Zanpakuto.

"Let me awaken your Martial Souls for you."

Using the awakening method he had learned at Spirit Hall, Aizen began helping Retsu Unohana and Tosen Kaname awaken their Martial Souls.

At Level 30, awakening two children was no difficult task for Aizen.

A moment later, both Retsu Unohana and Tosen Kaname awakened Zanpakuto, and their names were called forth at the same time.

"Minazuki."

"Kiyomushi."

However, Retsu Unohana quickly released her Shikai. Compared to her Shikai form, she preferred the appearance of a blade.

Looking at the blade in her hand, Retsu Unohana said with faint fanaticism, "Battle is everything to me!"

Tosen Kaname, meanwhile, put away Kiyomushi and stood beside Aizen without saying a word.

Retsu Unohana saw this behavior and said contemptuously, "Can you not survive without relying on others?"

Tosen Kaname retorted, "In order to uphold the justice in one's heart, whatever one does is justice!"

Retsu Unohana said disdainfully, "Then what do you think justice is?"

After thinking for a moment, Tosen Kaname said, "Justice can be called justice precisely because one's own justice must always be questioned."

"Twisted logic!" Retsu Unohana no longer paid Tosen Kaname any attention.

In her eyes, people like him had no meaning in living.

All their motivation came from fear.

Fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of disappearing, fear of everything.

But Aizen did not see it that way. He interrupted Retsu Unohana before she could say anything further.

"This is exactly what I value."

A cold glint flashed in Aizen's eyes.

A person who lived for others.

In that case, would it not be enough to make Tosen Kaname live for him?

He would devote everything to realizing Aizen's ideals, answering the "justice" within Tosen Kaname's heart.

When Aizen proposed hunting Soul Rings for them, they refused.

They did not need Soul Rings. They only needed to communicate with the Zanpakuto in their hands through Sword Meditation, and they could naturally obtain Soul Rings.

It was the first time Aizen had heard of such a novel method.

This was his first time summoning Shinigami, while he himself had broken the limits of Soul Rings.

Aizen had Grimmjow keep watch over the two of them through the night, allowing them to obtain their Soul Rings on their own.

In the middle of the night, Retsu Unohana and Tosen Kaname obtained their Soul Rings one after the other, both yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

After resting briefly, at daybreak the next day, Aizen led the four of them deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest.

"There are still two targets left. Let me kill to my heart's content in one go!"