Force of Souls Chapter 39

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Force of Souls! Aizen has revealed himself and been fought by Rangiku, who made the man reevaluate just which Captains could be a legitimate threat to him. Gin dealt with Toshiro easily enough, but rushed off after seeing Rangiku’s Bankai. Tōsen kidnaps Rukia from the group that was taking her to the safehouse set up by Ukitake. But he got a nasty cut across his face and the upper part of his chest from Yachiru for his trouble. But now the three traitors have been outed and everyone knows their location, Sōkyoku Hill. But there are still two people atop the hill, even if both of them are beaten, bloody, and worn out.

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Chapter 39 – End of Hypnosis

Atop the Sōkyoku Hill, both Byakuya and Ichigo felt the sudden arrival of two Reiatsu presences. Ichigo, able to sit up easier than Byakuya, looked over to see Captain Ichimaru and an unknown man that was a Captain according to his white haori. Having just gotten the message from the Lieutenant of the Fourth Squad, Ichigo assumed the man he didn’t recognize was the traitor Captain, Aizen.

“Why’d they come here?” Ichigo wondered as he tightened his grip on his nagamaki. While most of his armor had been shattered in his fight with Byakuya, his Bankai was still active, as Ban'yūinryoku hadn’t been broken or damaged. According to his Zanpakutō, both his nagamaki and his armor were part of the same whole, so long as one existed, the other would always recover.

Byakuya had no answer for Ichigo, even as he forced himself to sit up, ignoring the screaming pain within his body. He was the Captain of Squad Six, the Head of the Great Noble Kuchiki Clan that upheld the laws of the Seireitei. Traitors would be dealt with; it was his duty.

A breeze kicked up suddenly near Aizen and Gin. White cloth seemingly spun into existence before expanding outwards as it twirled around a central point. When the clothe spiraled out of the way, it revealed Tōsen, bleeding from a cut on his face and across his collarbone, but what caught Ichigo and Byakuya’s attention the most was that Rukia was being carried like a sack of rice under Tōsen’s arm, looking as if she was just returning to consciousness.

Despite both men being injured, broken, and their Reiryoku heavily depleted, the outpouring of Reiatsu from both Byakuya and Ichigo spiked incredibly high at seeing Rukia captured and manhandled by Tōsen. Pain became an afterthought, injuries were ignored. The two of them stood to their feet, swords in hand.

“Oh? You two can still manage to stand, even after nearly killing one another?” Aizen questioned, seemingly unbothered by the Reiatsu crashing down on the area.

“Tōsen…” Byakuya’s voice was colder than ice. “Remove your hand from Rukia, or I will remove it from you.”

Tōsen gave no reaction to Byakuya’s threat, his posture unchanged in the slightest and not a word was spoken.

“Rukia…” Ichigo’s eyes were solely focused on Rukia, only keeping track of the three traitor Captains because they were obstacles to saving her.

Aizen looked at both injured men with an almost amused grin. “I wouldn’t push myself any further.” He said to both Ichigo and Byakuya. “Your part in all this is over, Kurosaki Ichigo.”

Ichigo’s eye narrowed as he looked into the bespectacled eyes of Aizen. “What’s that supposed to mean? ‘My part’?”

“I knew you would be coming. I even knew from where. I knew you would arrive in west Rukongai.” Aizen explained with that same, almost amused, grin on his face. “That’s why I posted surveillance there. I lowered the wall around the Seireitei right after your arrival and placed Squads Three and Nine behind the gates and had Gin drive you away personally.” Ichigo’s eyes widened as Aizen spoke, the traitor Captain clearly having set things up from the instant he and his group had entered Seireitei. “With the wall down and the Captains patrolling within, Kūkaku Shiba’s ‘Flower Crane Cannon’ became your only way inside. Your arrival was spectacular. And your group outwitted all the Shinigami and even defeated Lieutenants, and brought down, however briefly, Kenpachi Zaraki; your group of ryoka even managed to escape a Captain. Every Shinigami in the Seireitei was looking for you. Yes, it was all very exciting…and very engaging. Thanks to you, even the murder of a Captain received little attention. You made things easy for me.”

“But…how? How did you know we’d arrive in west Rukongai?” Ichigo asked, not understanding how Aizen could’ve known something that happened BEFORE they’d arrived in the Soul Society.

Aizen’s expression changed, the almost amused grin replaced by the look of a teacher trying to get a particularly dim student to understand something. “That’s obvious. It had to be there. West Rukongai was Urahara Kisuke’s base of operations. The only place you could enter using a Senkaimon that he created was west Rukongai.”

“What?” Ichigo hadn’t known anything about the ‘why’ of the location they were entering the Soul Society.

“That surprises you? You do work for him, don’t you?” Aizen asked plainly, as if it should’ve been something that Ichigo was aware of. “Didn’t you come to ‘save’ Kuchiki Rukia on the orders of Urahara Kisuke?”

Ichigo glared at Aizen. “We came to save Rukia because we love her. Hat n Clogs was just the only way we had to get here.”

Byakuya’s Reiatsu fluctuated slightly, pressing down on Ichigo more strongly for just an instant at his words.

Had Rukia not just been coming out of near unconsciousness, she probably would’ve reacted to Ichigo saying that right in front of her brother.

“Well, I suppose your own reasons suited Urahara’s designs just as well.” Aizen didn’t seem thrown off by the reasoning for the ryoka’s invasion of the Soul Society. “I suppose I can tell you the real reason of why Urahara Kisuke helped you invade the Seireitei.” He held out his hand and Tōsen passed Rukia to him, her stumbling steps made trying to fight back impossible, on top of the Reiatsu of Aizen pressing down on her. Grabbing the red collar around her neck, Aizen held Rukia at his side as if she was a misbehaving pet. “As I’m sure you already know, Shinigami have four basic combat arts. However, in each of these disciplines, a certain level of power is required. But in attempting to master those any of those arts, one eventually hits a wall determined by their potential. Improvement stops short at that point. All Shinigami have these limits.” Aizen’s grin returned as he looked at Ichigo and Byakuya, both men having reached levels in at least one of the four arts that most Shinigami would never achieve. “But could it be possible to break through the walls?” Not getting an response from Byakuya or Ichigo, mostly because Byakuya was clearly watching for even the slightest instant where he could safely take Rukia from Aizen, the traitorous Captain continued. “It is…but only by one means. It’s called Hollowfication.”

Byakuya narrowed his eyes into a cold glare at Aizen. “You’d become a Hollow just for more power, Aizen?” The sheer abhorrence in his tone was like a blade itself.

“Become a Hollow?” Ichigo tightened his grip on his nagamaki. If Aizen was trying to become a Hollow, or even like a Hollow, did that mean he was planning to devour Rukia?!

“Shinigami gaining the power of Hollows… Hollows gaining the power of Shinigami… By removing the barrier between these two opposing beings, new heights can be achieved. The theory has been around for a while.” Aizen said, as he completely ignored Byakuya’s words. “I focused my efforts on Hollows. Eventually, I was able to send out a number of Hollows that had abilities similar to a Shinigami. Hollows that could suppress their Reiatsu… Hollows that could make a Zanpakutō disappear with a touch… Hollows that could fuse with Shinigami…”

Rukia’s eyes widened and she began to sweat in panic, her memories from that horrific night flaring up. “Y-You…caused that…?”

Aizen’s eyes were bored as he ignored Rukia’s horrified words. “But none of them could truly be considered a new kind of being. Others who delved into this field were hindered by ignorance and ethics. In the end, no one was successful…until Urahara Kisuke.” Aizen barely paid any attention to the horrified gasp from Rukia or the sharp glares from Ichigo and Byakuya. “Working outside of the Seireitei’s scientific community, he created a substance that could remove the barrier between Hollows and Shinigami in an instant. It was called ‘Hōgyoku’ (Breakdown Sphere). It was very dangerous. Or at least he seemed to think so…because he tried to destroy it. However, he found that he could not. Eventually, he did what he had to do. Urahara placed a protective shell around the Hōgyoku. By doing so, he was able to implant it within another soul.” He glanced at Rukia, making her violet eyes widen while Ichigo and Byakuya’s Reiatsu became even more crushing. “Now do you understand? The hiding place he chose was you, Kuchiki Rukia.”

“Son of a bitch…” Ichigo growled, his eyes filled with a burning anger.

Byakuya’s cold glare could’ve frozen Aizen’s blood in his veins, if he had such a power.

“By the time I discovered this secret, you’re movements in the Living World had become impossible to track. Only the Reiatsu of a Shinigami slaying Hollows proved that your work was still being done. But I knew that Urahara Kisuke was the reason for your sudden change.” Aizen stated, as if having access to Rukia’s location in real time while she was stationed in the World of the Living was something easy for a Captain of another Squad to obtain. “All Gigai are constructed of highly concentrated Reishi in order to compensate for the power that the Shinigami lacks while using them. Consequently, all Gigai made by the Soul Society can be tracked. It is inconceivable that a Shinigami in a Gigai could, even briefly, go missing. But Urahara created a Gigai with no Reishi…and in such a creation, a Shinigami’s power would only continue to dwindle away until they could never recover. Eventually, the soul within loses all spiritual power and becomes just a normal soul.” Aizen glanced at Rukia, his cold brown eyes staring into her wide, panicked violet eyes. “Do you understand now? Urahara wasn’t trying to help you. He was trying to turn you into a regular human, to hide the Hōgyoku in hopes that the loss of your power would cause the Hōgyoku to lose its power and disappear.”

Rukia could only recall how swiftly Urahara had reappeared the night that she’d made Ichigo a Substitute Shinigami. The first thing he’d done was offer her a Gigai, even before assessing her or Ichigo’s injuries.

Aizen, seeing the turmoil in Rukia’s eyes, gave her an empty smile. “Luckily, your indiscretion of giving humans Shinigami powers was more than enough reason to issue your arrest. I immediately…”

Crash

A large figure crashed down directly behind Aizen. Without even waiting for the dust to clear, Komamura attacked with a roar, his Shikai released. “AIZEN!!!” The massive hand and sword slammed down on Aizen, cracking the already devastated ground of the Sōkyoku Hill, throwing up a massive cloud of dust.

“Rukia!” Ichigo yelled out, worried that she’d been caught up in the sudden attack.

The dust was cleared by a minor flex of Reiatsu, showing Aizen had caught Komamura’s sword, preventing the massive version of his Shikai from actually hitting him as it mimicked every move, or lack of motion, that Komamura made. “It’s been a long time…since I saw your face. What brought about the change, Komamura?” Aizen asked with the half-amused grin on his face, Rukia held behind him by her red collar, having been dragged there roughly so that she wouldn’t be killed by Komamura’s sudden attack.

“Why you…” Komamura nearly growled. “How dare you grin at me like that, AIZEN!!!” He punched forward with his hand, his Shikai creating a massive replica that smashed the ground where Aizen had been, only for the traitor Captain to easily dodge as he made a single large leap and landed next to Tōsen and Gin once more. “You betrayed and deceived us all! But you’ll pay!” His eyes glared at his old friend. “And so will you, Tōsen! Explain yourselves, if you can!” His gaze sharpened further. “Or can’t you?” When Tōsen didn’t speak, Komamura held his Zanpakutō to his side. “I’m sorry, Tōsen. Ban…!”

Aizen was suddenly in front of Komamura, his right hand held up, his fingers half-curled as black Reiryoku emitted from his palm.

‘What?’ Komamura glanced down at the Aizen in front of him, then looked back at the Aizen he still saw. ‘Aizen is still standing next to Tōsen!’

“Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi!” Aizen cast the powerful Hadō without the incantation.

A black box of Reishi formed around Komamura, the air shook powerfully and everyone, barring Ichigo who simply nullified it, felt the pull of gravity from the massive box. Large lines of Reiryoku jutted out from all sides and the top of the black box before it burst into wisps of Reiryoku and vanished. Komamura’s shoulder armor shattered, his haori and shihakushō were both cut in dozens and dozens of places, blood erupted from the wolf-head man’s body like a fountain of crimson before he collapsed face first to the ground.

‘They’re both Captains… How could they be so unequal in strength?!’ Ichigo wondered as his eyes widened in shock. Having cast the Kurohitsugi before himself, he knew just how much that particular spell took, and yet Aizen looked as if he’d done no more than cast a single digit spell.

“My Kyoka Suigetsu’s Kanzensaimin is flawless.” Aizen said as he looked back at the fallen Komamura with a his vaguely amused grin. “Even if you know it’s coming, it’s impossible to evade.”

Gin, having take hold of Rukia’s collar while Aizen dealt with Komamura, spoke up with his fox-like smile on his face. “A number ninety Hadō without an incantation! Now that’s scary! When did you achieve that?”

Aizen shook his head once as he walked towards Gin, seemingly not caring that he was exposing his back to both Ichigo and Byakuya. “No, it was a failure. I couldn’t even summon a third of its normal destructive capability. Hadō in the nineties are unwieldy.”

Ichigo looked a mix of shocked and confused by Aizen’s statement. The Kurohitsugi that Aizen had used to take out Komamura had looked and acted just like the one Ichigo had slayed Grand Fisher with…but he’d used the full incantation. ‘Does that mean even with the full incantation…I didn’t manage to cast the spell properly?’ Back then it had nearly taken Ichigo out of the fight to cast the spell even once, but Aizen could conjure that same power seemingly on a whim.

“Well then,” Aizen looked down at Rukia as he took hold of her red collar from Gin. The way her violet eyes were wide in a mix of panic and confusion at the revelations she’d had shoved into her face so suddenly barely seemed to register to Aizen. “I’m sorry. Where were we? Oh, yes… Kuchiki Rukia, as soon as it was discovered that you’d given Shinigami power to humans, the first thing I did was eliminate the Central Forty-Six.”

Byakuya’s glare would’ve killed Aizen, Tōsen, and Gin while reducing their bodies to dust as he instantly put the pieces together and realized that Rukia’s execution sentence and the constant moving of her execution date was all Aizen’s doing.

“W-What…?” Rukia didn’t understand why her crime would prompt Aizen to kill the Central Forty-Six.

Aizen almost seemed amused by her lack of understanding. “I’m sure Lieutenant Kotetsu has already told you something to the effect that Aizen Sousuke faked his own death and disappeared, then murdered the Central Forty-Six. But that’s not how it happened. As soon as your crime was discovered, I eliminated the Central Forty-Six and used my Kyoka Suigetsu to make it appear that everything was normal within their chambers. Then the three of us hid ourselves within the chambers and issued orders as if we were the Central Forty-Six ourselves. To ensure you were caught without arousing suspicion, I followed protocol and had your Captain and both Third Seats go to retrieve you. To separate you from the humans, your Gigai was ordered destroyed. And to evaporate your soul and extract the Hōgyoku, we decided to execute you with the Sōkyoku.”

Ichigo nearly cracked a tooth from sheer rage at Aizen admitting to being the culprit of all of this, and of being the one to try to kill Rukia.

Byakuya was no better, seeing that the law itself had been commandeered to suit the ends of Aizen and kill his sister for the actions of another.

“Knowing that your ryoka friends might have a slight chance at rescuing you… I needed a backup plan.” Aizen reached into his shihakushō and pulled out a small cylindrical device. “There are only two ways to remove a foreign object from a soul. The soul in question can be made to evaporate by a super high intensity thermal disruption such as the Sōkyoku…or the soul’s composition can be tampered with.” He held up the strange little device and looked at it with what seemed to be respect. “I consulted the Central Forty-Six’s great archive, the Daireishokairo, while hidden in the chambers. As it contains all of the records of the Seireitei within it, I poured over Urahara Kisuke’s confiscated research. He had developed the method for implanting foreign objects into a soul, so I suspected that the secret to removing them would be there as well.” He clicked the top of the small cylinder and Reiryoku shot from it, forming a circle around him and Rukia. From the circle of Reiryoku, six green, almost plant-like, pillars shot upwards. At the same time, the strange Reiryoku surrounded Aizen’s hand and forearm, turning the limb green and wrinkled, almost like a withered plant itself. “This is the secret.”

“No!” Ichigo vanished to the eyes of most as he charged forward.

Gin’s Zanpakutō extended like a bullet straight at Ichigo.

Ban'yūinryoku didn’t even slow down as it cut through the Shikai, sending the top half of Gin’s blade flying dozens of meters away.

In the same instant, Byakuya had moved, but Tōsen had used Shunpo at the same instant. Their swords clashed, Byakuya’s broken blade pressing against Tosen’s blade. Neither man was anywhere close to one-hundred percent though. Byakuya’s entire body was riddled with injuries from his battle with Ichigo. Likewise, Tosen’s savage wound from Zaraki had barley closed thanks to medicine and the special bandages he had wrapped around his torso.

Ching

However, Byakuya was still a member of the Kuchiki Clan, and like all members of one of the Five Great Noble Clans of Seireitei, he had overwhelming Reiryoku reserves compared to other Shinigami. Even depleted, his Reiryoku, and therefore his Reiatsu, was greater than the equally injured Tosen’s. The missing chunk of Tōsen’s Suzumushi a clear testament to that fact as the two broke their clash with force.

Both Ichigo and Byakuya had been stalled enough, however, to watch as Aizen’s hand pierced straight through Rukia.

“RUKIA!!!” Ichigo’s bellow shook the air and cracked the ground as his Reiatsu and gravity lashed out.

Aizen pulled his transformed hand back, his eyes widening in shock as there was no foreign object within Rukia’s soul. He dropped Rukia to the ground, the woman landing on her knees, her violet eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

‘It’s not there…’ Aizen thought, his expression a portrait of confusion and surprise. ‘Where is it then? I had the Gigai destroyed, so it couldn’t have been there. But its not here… Urahara Kisuke’s research into placing a foreign object into a soul…I read it all. His plan was to try and hide the Hōgyoku and have it destroy itself with the loss of Kuchiki Rukia’s powers…wasn’t it?!’ That was the only thing that made sense! The entire purpose of the Gigai without Reishi was to remove all spiritual powers and turn her into a normal human. It was only as he thought of that did he recall that Rukia HAD her Shinigami powers when she’d been arrested by Captain Ukitake and brought back to the Seireitei. ‘If her powers recovered somehow… Would removing her from the Gigai also remove the Hōgyoku as well? Where would Urahara Kisuke take it next?’ For the first time in far too long, Aizen Sousuke was on the back foot in a mental battle and his predictions and plans were derailed from how he expected them to go.

Ichigo saw the hole in Rukia’s chest closing up, like watching smoke fill a void. His relief was still eclipsed by his desire to kill Aizen, however.

“The soul isn’t even harmed. How amazing.” Aizen said, though his tone was clearly different than it had been previously. His hand turned back to normal as the strange device’s effect came to an end and the six spires collapsed into Reishi and then into Reiryoku that vanished. “However, you are no longer of any use.” He said to Rukia as he picked her up by her red collar until her feet dangled above the rocky ground. “Gin, kill her.”

“I’m gonna need to use a Kidō for that…” Gin said, showing Aizen his Zanpakutō with only half of it blade. Ichigo’s Bankai had removed the sharp tip of his blade, making its Shikai much less lethal.

Ichigo was right in front of Aizen, his nagamaki swinging towards the traitorous Captain’s side.

Aizen caught the black blade negligently. “Hm?!” Only to let go of it swiftly in surprise as he felt an intense sting along his palm. Aizen’s brief distraction allowed Ichigo to grab Rukia from his opposite hand as the blade of Ban'yūinryoku turned into a black void rather than a normal blade.

“Jūryokuga!” Ichigo roared out and the intense arc of navy blue and black Reiryoku was launched into Aizen at pointblank range. With the best Shunpo that his body could muster in its current state, Ichigo blurred right next to Byakuya and handed Rukia to him while putting himself between Rukia and the three traitors.

Byakuya swiftly held Rukia close with his injured left arm, ignoring the screaming pain of his body and the blood loss that was setting in now. He held his broken Zanpakutō forward, putting everything he had left into the defense of his little sister should Aizen, Gin, or Tōsen try to attack.

Aizen was revealed to be fine…for the most part. His left hand was bleeding where the skin seemed to have been torn away by the contact with Ichigo’s Bankai. His previous grin was also nowhere to be seen as his right hand reached for the hilt of his Zanpakutō. Cold brown eyes looked at Ichigo like an annoying chore that needed to be done.

In an instant, his hand and the hilt of his sword were wrapped in a thick, white bandage that was clearly not normal cloth, but had tied his hand to the hilt of his sword and tied the tsuba to the scabbard preventing it from being drawn. A leg came around to trap his left arm to his side in the same instant. The tip of a kodachi blade rested against the bottom of his jaw, while a second kodachi blade rested against the left side of his neck.

“Ah. There’s a face I haven’t seen for a while.” Aizen said, his tone controlled once more, despite the two blades at his vital points and both his hands and his Zanpakutō trapped. Yoruichi and Soi Fon had trapped Aizen in less than the time it took most people to blink.

Yoruichi’s golden eyes looked into Aizen’s calm brown with intensity. “Don’t move. You so much as twitch a finger…”

“…and you’re dead.” Soi Fon finished, pressing her kodachi harder against Aizen’s neck, just short of cutting him.

“Oh?” Aizen didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest.

Thud

Thud

Thud

Thud

Thud

Colossal footsteps thundered as three giants stomped their way through the Seireitei towards the Sōkyoku Hill. Soi Fon and Yoruichi both glanced at the destruction and saw the other three gate guards for the Seireitei approaching, clearly not caring what buildings they crushed underfoot in the process.

“Those three…” Yoruichi grimaced that Aizen had pulled the three remaining giant guards into his plans, assuredly against the giants’ own will as they were all loyal to Seireitei and had been for centuries before Aizen had been around.

The lead giant had light bushy eyebrows and his head is shaven bar a patch in the center where his hair was dyed in an alternating pattern of light and dark. He wore a shihakushō like any Shinigami as well. This was Danzōmaru, the guardian of the Kokuryōmon (Black Ridge Gate) at the north of the Seireitei.

The giant to Danzōmaru’s right had a standard shihakushō as well, but with the addition of a white robe over his right shoulder which was tucked into his obi sash at both the front and back and a white covering over his head. His face was rather plain, but clean shaven and his grey eyes were clearly seeing something besides what was really in front of him. This was Higonyūdō, the guardian of the Shuwaimon (Red Hollow Gate) on the southern edge of the Seireitei.

The final giant had long black hair and black facial hair styled in to two bushy stripes on both cheeks but was otherwise clean shaven. He wore black hakama with a white obi sash, but was topless, leaving his massive muscled torso and arms on full display. He was bearing his teeth in a menacing grin meant to intimidate whoever he was seeing while under Aizen’s hypnosis. This was Kaiwan, the guardian of the Shōryūmon (Blue Stream Gate) on the eastern side of Seireitei.

“Now what will you do? Not even you can fight them while restraining me.” Aizen said as if he was merely talking of something inconsequential, and not three giants stomping their way through the Seireitei.

“RAAAAAAHHHH!!!” The thundering bellow of Jidanbō was heard as the final of the four giant gate guardians seemingly fell from the sky and landed with a tremoring crash before his three fellow guards.

A very familiar Reiatsu filled Yoruichi’s senses and she smirked as she saw who was on Jidanbō’s shoulder. “Kūkaku!”

“Hey, Yoruichi!” Kūkaku smirked back, her white cloak fluttering in the wind kicked up by Jidanbō’s landing. “I was bored waiting, so I came to help out!” She grinned wildly as she clenched her right fist. “Let’s go, Jidanbō! I’ll take one and leave the other two to you!”

“Right!” Jidanbō agreed, easily able to tell that his fellow giants weren’t in their right minds.

“Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!” Kūkaku chanted as powerful yellow lightning crackled around her right hand. “Hadō #63: Raikōhō! (Thunder Roar Sear)” A massive blast of lightning struck Higonyūdō head-on and blasted the giant off his feet, sending him flying backwards before he crashed into the ground unconscious. In the next instant, Kūkaku blurred from Jidanbō’s shoulder and reappeared between where Aizen was restrained by both Yoruichi and Soi Fon and where Ichigo was.

Aizen’s expression hadn’t changed much, but if one looked closely into his brown eyes, they’d seen further confusion at not only Kūkaku’s sudden appearance, but also at her restored right arm. ‘She’s not under Kanzensaimin… I never had a reason to place the head of the fallen Shiba Clan under hypnosis.’

“So, you’re Aizen Sousuke, huh?” Kūkaku looked the man in the eyes with a glare. She drew her Zanpakutō from her hip and pointed it at Aizen. “The Shiba Clan has come for vengeance.”

Tōsen leaned forward slightly, but before he could use Shunpo, an immense Reiatsu crashed down onto Sōkyoku Hill with such intensity that he swore he felt his injuries start bleeding again as his body flinched from the sudden pressure.

“If I haven’t given you permission, don’t move.” Kūkaku said with all the authority of the Head of a Great Noble Clan.

WHAM

The sound of Jidanbō’s fist smashing into the face of Danzōmaru and laying the other giant out nearly shook the air and sent debris flying from the wind kicked up.

Gin raised his hand and knocked a piece of debris away from himself. “What should I do?” With the unexpected appearance of Kūkaku Shiba and her Reiatsu trying to crush him, Tosen, and Aizen, he wasn’t exactly sure the best way to respond. The decision was taken out of his hands when someone grabbed his raised hand in an iron grip and a pain erupted from his side. “Well… That wasn’t very nice, Rangiku…” He grunted out as he looked over his shoulder at Rangiku. Her Zanpakutō stabbed through his side was almost as painful as seeing the cold look in her blue eyes.

“Don’t move.” Rangiku ordered Gin cooly.

Gin looked at Aizen, his face not giving away the pain he was in at all. “Sorry, Captain Aizen. I got caught.”

“It’s over.” Yoruichi said to Aizen.

“What?” Aizen barely glanced at her.

“Can’t you see…” Yoruichi asked as over a dozen people blurred onto Sōkyoku Hill. “…that you’re surrounded?”

Yamamoto, Chōjirō, Ukitake, Kyoraku, Nanao, Tetsuzaemon, Ōmaeda, Isane, Hisagi, Nemu, Kurotsuchi, and Unohana had all appeared atop Sōkyoku Hill. Iba stood between the traitors and Komamura, his Zanpakutō out and already in Shikai from his ‘fight’ with Ikkaku. Mayuri stood behind Tōsen, his sword resting against the traitor’s neck, a wide smile on the scientist’s face that revealed all of his teeth. Unohana, meanwhile, was behind Byakuya, the soft green light of Kaidō suffusing the grievously injured man and slowly restoring his Reiryoku while healing the other injuries quickly under Unohana’s expert technique.

The sound of Kaiwan crashing to the ground below Sōkyoku Hill made it obvious that Jidanbō had won the fight against his fellow giants as well.

Yoruichi looked sharply into Aizen’s eyes. “It’s over, Aizen.” She said again with cold finality. Seeing Aizen smirk, Yoruichi narrowed her eyes into a piercing glare. “What is it? What’s so funny, Aizen?”

“Oh. I’m sorry. It’s time.” Aizen said just as a loud buzzing sound filled the air.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

“Soi Fon, get back!” Yoruichi warned her former protégé.

Soi Fon instantly shot away from Aizen at the same instant that Yoruichi did.

A beam of light in a perfect square hit where Aizen was standing. Yoruichi’s special cloth was cleanly burned through where the strange light had touched it. Likewise, Soi Fon’s hakama on her left leg was ragged and burred where the trailing edge had been touched by the light.

“Wh-What is that?!” Ōmaeda questioned as he looked up at the sky where the beam was coming from, only to see a small black crack in the sky.

The small crack was then violently torn open by multiple white hands, revealing the glowing red eyes and uniform white masks of dozens and dozens of Menos Grande. Two more of the yellow beams shot from the black void filled with Hollows to engulf Gin and Tōsen. Mayuri grimaced as even though he’d dodged the light easily enough, his plans to ask for one of the traitors as an experimental subject for some of his inventions went up in smoke. Rangiku also leapt away from Gin, pulling Haineko from his side swiftly, making the wound bleed freely as she got clear of the light.

“Menos Grande!” Soi Fon’s eyes were wide at seeing so many of them in a single place.

Nanao looked up as the towering Hollows began to emerge from the split in the sky. “Gillians! How many of them are there?!”

“No… There’s something behind them!” Hisagi said loudly, his eyes wide and a bit of sweat falling down his face at the sliver of a glowing purple eye that dwarfed even the Gillians in front of it.

Gin glanced over his shoulder at Rangiku as the ground he stood upon cracked and began to rise into the air. “It’s too bad. I wouldn’t have minded being your prisoner a little longer.” He held his bleeding side, keeping pressure on the hole that she’d pierced through him. “Goodbye, Rangiku. I’m sorry.”

“They’re rising?!” Ōmaeda cried out in surprise as Aizen, Tōsen, and Gin all began to rise into the air within the square beams of yellow light.

“You think you can get away?!” Iba demanded of the traitors that had injured his Captain. He stood to launch himself at Aizen, planning to bury the pick of his Zanpakutō into the smug bastard’s face.

“Stop!” Yamamoto’s powerful voice made everyone planning to attack stop in their tracks.

Iba looked at Yamamoto in confusion. “Head Captain, sir?”

Yamamoto’s eyes looked at the light enveloping the three traitors with experience and a tiny hint of annoyance if one looked closely. “That light is called ‘Negación’. The Menos use it to rescue each other. The moment that light envelops something, it’s all over. They’re in another world now. There’s nothing we can do. Anyone that’s fought the Menos knows that the moment that light came down Aizen was beyond our reach.”

“Bullshit!” Kūkaku roared, not planning to let the one that had been instrumental in the death of her kin and the fall of the Shiba Clan from their place amongst the Five Great Noble Clans get away so easily. “Just kill the Gillians that’re creating the beams!” She shot into the air with a powerful leap, had anyone looked at the rocky ground before it shattered from the force, they would’ve seen the symbol of the ’trembling current’ launching Kūkaku upward. “Burst in brilliant color, Bakusaiten!”

Kūkaku’s Zanpakutō changed noticeably, the kodachi lengthened into a katana with a rather unique design. The backside of the blade featured various rune-like lines running along it, while the hilt lost its tsuka-ito wrappings and turned beige with similar lines matching the back of the blade. Both the tsuba and the kashira turned a dark gunmetal gray color, while the tsuba became rounded, rather than rectangular.

“Hyah!” Kūkaku swung her Zanpakutō as green and yellow Reiryoku leapt from the blade in a wide arc.

Dozens of the Gillians rushed forward to shield the ones that were creating the Negación. The instant the green and yellow Reiryoku hit the Gillians, explosions tore through the horde of Menos Grande. Every explosions was like a massive firework going off in dazzling colors. Even the Gillians that were behind the initial wave weren’t spared as the explosions rapidly spread from one to the next, blowing them to pieces in brilliant bursts of colorful sparks and fire.

The massive…thing…behind the horde of Gillians seemed to shift slightly and the Gillians that were exploding were all shoved out of the black void entirely. With the path towards the others cut off, the last of the Gillians exploded without the powerful effect of Kūkaku’s Zanpakutō reaching the void and everything within it.

“Tch! Damn it!” Kūkaku cursed as she began to fall back towards the ground, seeing the massive purple glowing eye looking at her the entire way, as if wary of her and her Zanpakutō’s power.

Ichigo, much like Kūkaku, wasn’t about to just let the ones responsible for Rukia’s unjust execution sentence walk free. Shifting his grip on his black nagamaki, he gripped the base of the long handle with both hands. Wielding the sword more like a staff by using its absolute full length, Ichigo poured the rest of the Reiryoku that he could into his next attack. The blade of his nagamaki once more looked more like a pitch-black void than a metal blade as light visibly warped around it. With a fast swing aimed at all three of the beams of light, and specifically Aizen in the center beam, Ichigo roared out the name of the third technique that he’d learned from his Zanpakutō. “Kairetsu Kokugetsu! (World-Splitting Black Moon)”

A thin line of black so dark that reality appeared and disappeared as it passed raced through the space between Ichigo’s blade and the three Negación beams. To most watching, a black line had suddenly appeared on the beams of light. But to the fastest and the oldest among the present Shinigami, they’d all seen the arc of the…void in space…that was Ichigo’s attack as it seemingly invalidated distance and struck the three Negación.

The black line across the square beams of light suddenly became three perfectly round circles of pitch blackness, revealing, if only briefly, what appeared to be the Dangai within. The instant that the line had become a ‘black moon’ on the Negación, the beams separated entirely from their source, leaving Aizen, Tosen, and Gin hanging in the air without their previously invulnerable protection.

Yoruichi wasted no time, her simple kodachi changed without a word from her, the silver blade becoming a gleaming gold as the simple tsuba turned into a golden ‘X’. A spark was all that was seen, almost too bright to look at, before a gold and blue beam was piercing through Aizen’s hand that had tried to swat the attack away. The true nature of the hyper fast attack revealed itself as electricity sparked from Aizen’s smoking left hand, the same hand that was already bleeding from touching the blade of Ichigo’s Bankai for even a fraction of a second.

“TOSEN!!!” Komamura roared as she shot to his feet, blood flying off his many wounds, and swung his sword. “ROAR, TENKEN!!!” The giant ghostly hand and sword slammed into Tōsen’s hastily raised guard. The giant Zanpakutō taking another small chunk from Suzumushi’s blade from the force of their clash.

Gin’s eyes opened wide as he moved, as much as he was able on the small platform of rock he stood upon, and both Kyoraku and Ukitake’s Zanpakutō passed through the air where he’d been. His Captain’s haori was sliced through, as was his shihakushō, but his swift, if awkward, dodge had managed to see him avoid having his head and his right arm removed even as blood flew through the air, the very air pressure of two of the oldest Captain’s swings having split his skin.

As Ukitake and Kyoraku dropped from the air, Yamamoto’s Zanpakutō was a blur as a massive conflagration of flames leapt from the swift draw of his sword and roared like dragons as the hell storm rushed at the three traitors. At least Tōsen and Gin would’ve been reduced to ashes had the three Negación not engulfed them again. The wall of intense fire washed over the three beams of light but did nothing, even as Yamamoto looked at them with such intensity that one might believe he could tear through them with his gaze alone.

“Tōsen!” Komamura yelled up at his former friend. “Come down, Tōsen!” Seeing Tōsen tilt his head down to show that Komamura had his attention, the wolf-headed man bellowed. “Why?! Why did you become a Shinigami?! Wasn’t it for your dead friend?! Wasn’t it to uphold justice?! WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN ANY OF THIS?!”

“I told you, Komamura. I follow the path least soaked in blood.” Tōsen replied, his voice the same as ever, as if betraying all of Seireitei wasn’t unjust. “Justice is there, always. The path I walk is justice.”

Komamura collapsed to one knee, even as he growled up at Tōsen within the Negación. “Tōsen…”

Ukitake stepped forward, his brown eyes sharp as he looked up at Aizen. “You joined forces with the Menos. Why?”

“To seek greater heights.” Aizen responded, his face blank as he looked down at Ukitake.

“How far do you plan to fall, Aizen?” Ukitake demanded, his Reiatsu rising sharply, especially as he was one of the few that knew everything that Aizen had been responsible for over the last century.

Aizen’s expression changed, becoming almost disappointed as he looked down at the older Captain. “Don’t kid yourself, Ukitake. No one has ever stood atop the heavens before. Not you, or I, or the Gods.” He pulled his square glasses off with his right hand and let them shatter into nothing under his Reiatsu. “But the unbearable vacancy of heaven’s throne ends now.” He slicked back his hair with his right hand, his left notably hanging at his side. “From now on, I will stand at the top.” Without his glasses and with his hair slicked back as it was, Aizen barely looked like the Captain that all of the Seireitei had known for the last century.

“You dare…” Yamamoto’s voice was like stones griding together, grabbing Aizen’s attention as the Head Captain held his gaze with a burning look for the much younger man’s words. Within those eyes was knowledge beyond what most other Shinigami had and the truth of just who currently held the position that Aizen described as the ‘throne of heaven’.

“Goodbye, Shinigami.” Aizen said as he looked down at everyone on Sōkyoku Hill. His gaze fell onto Rukia for just a short second as his current plan had been setback. Then his sharp brown eyes looked at Ichigo who was using his nagamaki to remain standing, his face covered in blood and sweat as every breath came in a heavy, ragged gasp. “Goodbye, Kurosaki Ichigo. You were interesting, for a human.” The three Negación were drawn into the black void and then it practically slammed shut, the cracks swiftly sealing up until the sky was normal again.

“Ichigo!” Rukia ran towards her boyfriend as she saw him collapse. Her steps were still unsteady from her time in the Senzaikyū and now being surrounded by the powerful Reiatsu of so many Captains, but she made it to Ichigo’s side even after stumbling twice. “Ichigo! Ichigo!” She was turned him over onto his back and was about to place her ear to his chest when a small, and slightly pained, chuckle got her attention. “Ichigo…” She looked into his warm eyes and couldn’t help the relieved smile that spread across her face.

“I told you…that I’d save you.” Ichigo smiled slightly at Rukia.

Rukia nodded once, tears welling up in her violet eyes. “Yeah…” She took his hand in both of hers. Without even thinking about it, Rukia leaned over to place a gentle kiss on Ichigo’s lips.

Ichigo returned the soft kiss as best as he could in his condition before Rukia pulled back from his lips. “I missed you, Rukia.” He said with a tiny grin.

Byakuya, who had been approaching Rukia after Unohana’s emergency treatment had made walking a bearable pain, rather than the excruciating agony it had been previously, stopped in his track as he watched Rukia kiss Ichigo. Almost instinctively his right hand went to the hilt of Senbonzakura.

“Don’t.” Unohana’s calm, collected voice from behind him stopped the nobleman from drawing his sword.

“Hah…” Byakuya let out a small sigh as he dropped his hand to his side.

Unohana nodded as dozens and dozens of Squad Four members began to rush onto the top of Sōkyoku Hill, clearly having been brought by their Captain, but had been waiting in the wings until the battle had died down. Unohana herself headed towards Ichigo to begin his treatment.

She was joined by Kūkaku, who had sealed and sheathed her Zanpakutō, and the Head of the Shiba Clan smiled as she knelt by Ichigo’s side, opposite of Rukia. “You’re something else, Ichigo.” She grinned at the barely conscious young man. “But you’re a true Shiba man, that’s for sure.”

Rukia’s eyes widened in shock at Kūkaku’s words.

Ichigo’s mind was a bit too hazy for him to really process Kūkaku’s words and he slipped into unconsciousness as Unohana’s soothing Kaidō washed over him.

Yoruichi would’ve already been at Ichigo’s side, but as a member of the Shihōin Clan, there was a very important matter that she had to attend to as she sealed and Sheathed her Zanpakutō at her hip. Soi Fon walked at her side as they approached the fallen Sōkyoku. The unsealed Hogu was already beginning to emit hot Reiatsu again, and it needed to be taken care of until it could be properly sealed again.

“Never thought I’d be doing this when I came here.” Yoruichi said as a golden Reiryoku appeared on her index and middle fingers of both hands. With practiced motions, she drew lines on the blade of the Sōkyoku until the image of the Shihōin Clan’s Mon was shining on the metal. A moment later and thick white cloth burst from the glowing symbol and tightly bound the entire halberd, completely suppressing its Reiatsu and temporarily sealing it. “We need the Kidō Corps up here to rebuild the stakes and reseal this thing properly.”

Soi Fon nodded and without a word vanished into a Shunpo to fulfill the task herself.

Yoruichi couldn’t help but chuckle just a little. “There’s still a lot we need to talk about, but you’re still the Soi Fon that I know after all.” Now she needed to find Tatsuki, Orihime, Chad, and Ganju and make sure that they were all okay so that they could be there once Ichigo woke up. “No rest for the weary.” Her golden eyes looked over to where Ichigo lay as he was being treated by Unohana with Kūkaku watching over the young man that had captured both of their interests so thoroughly.

-Hueco Mundo-

Aizen, Gin, and Tōsen stepped out of the black void and into an immaculate room of green tile floors and white walls. The three took a few steps forward as the void closed behind them. All three were leaving small drops of blood behind them from injuries they hadn’t expected to have upon their escape from the Seireitei.

“So, what do we do without that Hōgyoku object that you were trying to find within Kuchiki?” Gin asked while masking the pain he was currently in.

Before Aizen could speak, the front of his Captain’s haori, along with his shihakushō, split across the torso, just above the stomach, and fell open. A bright red line spread from the center of Aizen’s torso and reached the very edges of his sides before it opened up to release rivulets of blood.

“Lord Aizen?!” Tōsen felt the shift in Aizen’s Reiatsu as another injury was made known.

“It’s fine.” Aizen said, his right hand glowing with the soft green light of a simple Kaidō spell. He placed his glowing hand over the newly revealed injury and had a contemplative look on his face. ‘Had the angle of Kurosaki Ichigo’s last attack been different, both Tōsen and Gin would’ve suffered similar injuries. But as I was his main target, his attack only reached me.’ While that was a new variable to look into, the biggest question that Aizen needed to find an answer to was where Urahara Kisuke had hidden his Hōgyoku. ‘I also need to heal.’ Aizen noted the lack of feeling in his left hand and the injury across his stomach had only just now stopped bleeding. If Ichigo had been a bit stronger, that injury may have been deep enough to be a slight concern. “For now, we settle in and then begin looking for the target.” He WOULD have Urahara’s Hōgyoku for himself…it would be what completed his own, he was sure of it.

-End Chapter-

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Well, damn! That was certainly different than Canon!

With both Byakuya and Ichigo there from the start, and both seeing Rukia being handled like a sack of rice, things took a bad turn for the three traitors.

Aizen learned not to touch a gravitational field…by losing the skin off his palm, some of his blood, and fucking up his left hand!

Gin found out that Rangiku wasn’t joking when she said that she’d DEAL with him if he fucked up! Hope he enjoyed that hole in his side!

Tosen’s Suzumushi suffered so much damage, even if the man himself didn’t attain any new injuries.

Kūkaku and Jidanbō stop one of Aizen’s contingency plans, and we got to see Kūkaku’s Shikai! I’m sure a few anime fans will recognize that sword! Kek!

Neither Kūkaku or Ichigo is just going to sit by why the traitors escape in their slow-moving Negación! We see the third technique that Shingetsu taught Ichigo overall and the second from Bankai: Kairetsu Kokugetsu! It cuts through SPACE and the barriers between the worlds!

Now that the three traitors have been exposed and escaped, what will happen now that the truth is out for all of Seireitei to know?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!