Indiscriminate Auswählen

The roar that echoed in the air had not yet dissipated when the light from the edge of the abyss refracted almost imperceptibly.

With a soft, shattering sound like glass breaking, a tall, slender figure slowly emerged three steps away from Ichigo Hu.

The black Restraining Suit clung to the man's body, surrounded by a deep and unfathomable aura of Reiatsu.

His chest, which had been pierced by Yhwach's sword, was now completely smooth, and even his severed arm hung perfectly at his side.

Sōsuke Aizen stood with one hand behind his back, his expression calm and leisurely.

He turned his face slightly, his indifferent gaze falling on Ichigo.

"Long time no see, Ryoka."

Ichigo froze on the spot, almost dropping his Zangetsu.

He instinctively jumped back half a step, his brows furrowed, his face filled with undisguised astonishment.

Ichigo looked the man who had suddenly appeared up and down, his memories surging rapidly through his mind.

That handsome yet aloof face, that composed demeanor that seemed to control everything, was far too deeply etched in Ichigo's memory.

"Who are you..."

Ichigo scratched his orange hair and blurted out, "The one who was defeated by Yoriichi... Aizen?"

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

The elegant curve of Aizen's lips paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Those deep, abyss-like eyes narrowed slightly, a barely perceptible emotional fluctuation flashing across their depths.

But soon, that calm and breezy smile reappeared on his lips.

Ichigo, oblivious to the subtle shift in the atmosphere, pressed on with his questions, becoming even more confused.

"Wait a minute, shouldn't you be sealed in the deepest part of the Muken?"

How did you end up in the Soul King Palace?

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck, his head full of question marks. "And what's with all this black clothing? Surely the Soul Society didn't send you out as reinforcements?"

Aizen calmly gazed at the still impetuous boy before him, his eyelids lowered.

Ichigo Kurosaki.

Aizen spoke slowly, his tone so calm it revealed neither joy nor anger, "Several years have passed, and your Reiatsu has indeed improved remarkably."

"Unfortunately, your eloquence and insight seem to still be stuck in the crude rubble of Karakura Town."

"The workings and choices of all things in the world often contain profound laws that cannot be summarized by the simplistic cause-and-effect logic of ordinary people."

"Using the narrowest understanding to define incomprehensible situations—that's probably one of the few, yet enduring, aspects of your mediocrity."

Ichigo blinked twice, his expression growing increasingly bewildered.

He went over those words in his mind over and over again, but he still didn't fully understand what the other person was trying to express.

However, judging from this flowery tone, it's probably not something nice to say.

"Huh? What are you going around in circles with?"

Ichigo pouted and Kaido irritably, "Have you forgotten how to speak properly after being locked up in jail for so long?"

Aizen sighed almost imperceptibly, deciding to stop looking at the boy beside him who had absolutely no talent for languages.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the scorched plain, the air at the edge of the abyss was heating up rapidly.

Yhwach stood on the edge of the collapsing Obsidian, his tattered robes fluttering in the hot wind.

Thick blood continued to drip from the charred wound on the man's left chest, and the exposed white bone looked particularly glaring in the dim light.

Since his arrival in Soul Society, this was the first time his body, which could control all things, had suffered such a humiliating and devastating injury.

What he found even more unacceptable was that all of this was caused by tiny specks of dust that had long been obliterated from his field of vision.

"Sōsuke Aizen!!"

Yhwach's face became somewhat ferocious, and a chaotic halo appeared deep within his compound eyes.

The man took a step forward, and the pebbles beneath his feet were crushed into fine dust by the overflowing Reishi Storm.

"How dare you... how dare you use such a low-level hypnotic trick to defile my eyes?!"

Yhwach's pure white broadsword emitted a sharp tremor as it pointed at Aizen not far away.

"Before the Almighty authority, all the past, present, and Future unfold in the palm of my hand!"

"I clearly saw through all the lines of cause and effect, so when exactly did you...?"

"When exactly did you tamper with my abilities?!"

As the ruler of Wandenreich, he has always regarded all living beings as playthings in his hands.

However, just now, the Future he thought he had rewritten turned out to be nothing but Kyōka Suigetsu, a mere illusion.

The sense of disorientation from falling from the throne of gods to the mortal realm caused this Quincy founder to completely lose his original composure and tranquility.

Faced with the almost outrageous the Roar, Aizen remained calm, not even lifting an eyelid.

"The Almighty?"

Aizen said casually, "What a grand and arrogant title."

"From the moment you stepped into the Muken, attempting to entice me to become a stepping stone to the new world, the illusion of Kyōka Suigetsu had already subtly permeated your senses."

"You rely too much on your eyes that can glimpse the Future, Yhwach."

Aizen raised his right hand, his fingertips tracing an elegant arc in the air.

"For ordinary people, the things that their five senses perceive constitute all of reality."

"And for someone like you who claims to be able to foresee millions of Future, the countless possible paths to the Future have become the best fig leaf."

"Simply shift the focus slightly in the depths of your mind on the Future you yearn to see."

"You will then walk with unwavering certainty into the trap you have built yourself."

Aizen's lips curled into a playful smile. "So-called omniscience, in the face of self-righteous blind faith, is nothing more than the best shield to cloud reason."

Yhwach's chest heaved, and the black mist swirling around him surged violently like a tidal wave.

Those twin eyes, with multiple overlapping pupils, were fixed on Aizen and Ichigo's figures.

"Insolent prisoner!!"

Yhwach roared and slashed down with his broadsword, unleashing a black sword beam that tore through the scorched earth.

However, the sharp sword energy swept across dozens of feet, passing straight through Aizen's afterimage, leaving only a bottomless crack on the rock wall behind him.

Aizen's figure solidified again a few steps away, his alabaster face still bearing that composure that made Yhwach want to vomit.

Looking at his opponent, who was as elusive as a phantom, Yhwach's manic rage suddenly froze for a moment.

The violently churning black shadows fell into absolute silence in an instant.

The twisted expression on the man's face gradually faded and disappeared, returning to his calm, cold, and unyielding expression.

His violent aura completely subsided, and he suddenly became quiet.

He glanced down at the charred, mangled flesh and blood on his chest, his eyes freezing cold.

A viscous, deep black fluid overflowed from the edges of the wound, weaving and reconstructing itself at an astonishing speed.

The broken ribs healed rapidly with a cracking sound, the burned flesh was covered with new, white skin, and even the Obsidian robe was repaired to its original state at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just a few breaths, the severe injury that would have killed Captain-level Soul Reaper vanished completely.

Yhwach slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the ruins and coldly fixed on the two people in front of him.

"I'm tired of playing this childish game with you guys."

He raised his arm, gloved in pure white, and gestured towards the sky above his head.

"Auswählen!!!"