Seated on a throne carved from jade, Aizen, clad in a white haori, lightly brushed aside the lock of hair hanging over his forehead. He looked down at the figures kneeling below him with his usual gentle smile, as soothing as a spring breeze. Yet his fathomless eyes held nothing but disdain and indifference toward everything in the world.
Arrogance, aloofness, tenderness, deceit, coldness... So many qualities and emotions blended together without the slightest sense of discord. Instead, they made this man seem utterly removed from the mortal world, like a god enthroned far above it.
Kanae Kocho, whom Aizen had resurrected as a soul body, wore the white attire of Las Noches. Her long black hair fell to her waist, a strange bone mask rested on the upper right side of her head, and a slender Zanpakutō hung at her hip. Expressionless, she stood in attendance to the left of Aizen's jade throne.
Hiraga Ichirō, his trusted aide, bowed slightly and spoke in a deferential tone. "One-tenth of the humans in the nation beneath our feet have now transformed into Hollows and Shinigami. Approximately five million humans have accepted our protection and become subjects under Las Noches.
"Beyond Japan, nations across the world have fallen into turmoil because of the Hollows and Shinigami. Twenty-three Western Supernatural Forces have already pledged themselves to Las Noches of their own accord, willing to serve at your command."
Aizen's smile deepened as he listened to Hiraga Ichirō's report. "To think we've grown to such a scale in just a few short months, almost without noticing."
Three months ago, this world had still been an age in which firearms held sway and Demons ran rampant. Because of him, Hollows and Shinigami-beings that should never have existed in this world-had been brought into existence by