"Obey Aizen's will… and carry out hypnosis?"
"And in the end, he can freely control everything at will! He can generate any illusion, any phenomenon he wants?"
"This ability really does sound pretty terrifying…"
Inside the Royal Palace.
Before the gigantic transparent light screen standing in front of the Zero Division's palace, Kirinji Tenjirō spat out the stalk of grass dangling from his mouth and crossed his arms. Even though he was saying that,
his expression—
was still the same as always: frivolous and laid-back.
It was obvious he was being contrary on purpose. Deep down, he did not really think that highly of the Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu's power.
"Yo…"
"That's where you've got it wrong…"
After flashing a goofy hip-hop hand sign,
Ōetsu Nimaiya put both hands behind his head and joked, "No matter how strong an illusion technique is, no matter how completely it controls the enemy's senses… there's still a prerequisite, right? They have to get hit by it first."
"It's not like people are just going to fall into his illusion for no reason, just because Aizen flaps his lips a few times!"
"There has to be some kind of pre-condition for it!!!"
As the 'God of the Sword'—
Ōetsu was the man who had forged every single Zanpakutō that currently existed in Soul Society.
His understanding of Zanpakutō
had already surpassed his own conscious thought and sunk down into muscle memory.
Because of that,
after hearing the lines Aizen had just spoken,
Ōetsu, who was himself a mighty transcendent being,
didn't care in the slightest.
As long as he didn't trigger the ability, he would be immune to the illusion.
And he didn't believe that, once you stripped away the Zanpakutō's ability, even an Aizen fused with the Hōgyoku would be able to beat him.
That razor-sharp Zanpakutō—Sayafushi—currently soaking in nutrient fluid…
For all he knew, it might even be able to slice straight through the Hōgyoku itself!!!
However—
what Shutara Senjumaru said next
instantly dropped the room's temperature to freezing.
The spider-like six arms fanning out behind her, Shutara Senjumaru spoke coldly. "Have you ever considered…"
"What if the countdown video helps him?"
"What if it broadcasts footage of the hypnosis ritual itself…?"
"Wouldn't that mean that all the viewers across the entire world, just by watching, would already have been caught!"
"They'd all have fallen under the illusion of the Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu?!"
Those words
instantly plunged the entire hall into dead silence.
Ōetsu's pupils shrank.
Kirinji Tenjirō frowned deeply.
Kirio Hikifune's jaw dropped. Even the strongest, Ichibē Hyōsube—
had his goofy smile freeze on his face, and unconsciously reached up to pinch his string of red prayer beads.
Clearly,
Shutara Senjumaru's hypothesis
had scared cold sweat out of every single member of the Zero Division.
And they all agreed:
this possibility really wasn't far-fetched at all!!!
After all, the countdown video seemed capable of anything. It didn't just show the future—
it could expose scenes from the past just as easily.
In that case…
Showing the release of the Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu would be no problem at all.
Because of this,
none of the Zero Division dared to take it lightly.
They all started seriously pondering the question—
should they even keep watching this video?
Otherwise,
they might get caught up in it without even knowing,
stupidly fall under Kyōka Suigetsu's illusion without realizing a thing.
That was the truly terrifying part!!!
——
At the same time,
while the Zero Division's expressions shifted and they stared at the screen with growing wariness,
the countdown video
continued to play.
The full truth of that incident from a hundred years ago still hadn't been completely revealed.
"What?"
"Complete… hypnosis?!"
Hirako Shinji stared, dumbstruck.
He felt utterly unfamiliar with this power.
Ignoring his reaction,
Aizen held his Zanpakutō and calmly explained, in an indifferent voice, the real reason Hirako had failed.
"Captain Hirako, you're a perceptive man."
"If, on ordinary days, you'd interacted with me a bit more—talked to me the way the other Captains talk to their Lieutenants—"
"Then perhaps you would've seen through it from the beginning!!!"
In the dark of night,
the pale moonlight
shone through the sky, reflecting off the lenses of Aizen's glasses and highlighting his expression as a victor.
He continued coldly, "But… you didn't do that."
"You kept your distance, you didn't converse, you never opened up. Every minute of every day, you were on guard against me."
"However…"
"There's one thing I still need to correct you on."
As he spoke,
the corners of Aizen's mouth curled up.
Even as Hirako Shinji was struggling to get back to his feet,
to Aizen, who was facing a loser he had thoroughly toyed with,
there was no need to show even the slightest caution.
He simply sheathed his Zanpakutō.
Kyōka Suigetsu slid smoothly back into its scabbard.
Then, in a tone that was calm and indifferent, but whose every word stabbed straight into the heart, he said:
"Earlier, you said you chose me as your Lieutenant so you could keep an eye on me?"
He gave a slight shake of the head.
The curve of his smile widened, his tone gentle—
yet filled with absolute conviction that allowed no doubt.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken…"
"From the very beginning, you had it wrong."
"It was never you who chose me… it was I who chose you!!!"
As always,
the mockery in his voice was dialed up to the maximum; every syllable cut deep.
Combined with the desolate surroundings and the nighttime stillness,
Aizen's words sounded all the more chilling.
Even the spectators outside the scene
couldn't help but feel their scalps prickle and a shiver run down their spines.
"Damn… this Aizen guy…"
"Unless a person's intelligence and mental acuity are leagues above his—"
"Anyone will end up being toyed with by him and his Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu!"
"In front of him, no matter how cautious and guarded Hirako Shinji was, he still looks like a child! Completely outmaneuvered!!!"
Inside the Urahara Shop,
Urahara Kisuke stopped fidgeting with his folding fan.
The easygoing smile vanished from his face, replaced by a rare, solemn expression as he voiced his true thoughts.
He really wasn't trying to belittle Hirako Shinji—
this leader of the Visored and comrade who now stood on the same side as he did.
Nor was he deliberately praising Aizen or exaggerating the man's strength.
Urahara was simply stating plain fact.
Even though, in terms of intellect and mental power, Aizen himself had acknowledged more than once that Urahara surpassed him—
even so…
Even now, with the countdown video revealing everything ahead of time,
even after watching the hypnosis ritual unfold—
Urahara Kisuke still found the situation thorny.
He was convinced that, with the Hōgyoku in his hand, Aizen was still flawless and untouchable.
After all…
Ichimaru Gin had schemed for a full century, patiently waiting,
just to brush the edge of Kyōka Suigetsu's blade once—
and in the end, even his assassination attempt had failed.
So what about everyone else? What about all the other outsiders, all the viewers across the world?
Perhaps only Ichibē Hyōsube,
with his ability to forcibly erase and seal away an enemy's powers,
had no need to fear Kyōka Suigetsu's five-sense hypnosis.
"Yeah…" Yoruichi rested her cheek in one hand. Her collar had slipped down slightly, revealing the deep cleavage against her tanned skin as she smirked. "If I remember right, you tried to ambush Aizen that night too, didn't you?"
Just as Yoruichi finished speaking—
before her voice had even fully spread through the air—
the footage on the screen suddenly fast-forwarded.
In the middle, they briefly showed Hirako Shinji swinging his sword, trying to fight back.
Unfortunately, just like his comrades, his body
had already fallen victim to the Hollowfication experiment.
His spiritual power went berserk, spiraling out of control. White substance surged over his body, and a Hollow mask was on the verge of forming over his face.
However…
just as Aizen once again drew his sword,
and, right in front of the camera, spoke yet another line of mocking provocation—
"In the end, Captain Hirako, you were the one who was betrayed!"
"Treachery you see with your eyes is, at least, something you can recognize…"
"But what's truly terrifying… is the treachery you never see coming!!!"
As those words fell,
his blade slid free of the sheath.
Just as Aizen was about to swing down and kill—
Crash…
Behind him, the empty air
in that night-shrouded space,
suddenly rippled.
A black figure shot toward him!
A fierce slash of sword-light cut through the air in a diagonal arc, aimed straight at Aizen's back!
"This is…"
"Urahara Kisuke!!!"
Seeing that ghost-like silhouette appear out of nowhere,
the powerful beings of the Soul Reaper world,
watching from reality, spoke his name in unison.
They recognized him at a glance.
As one of the main stars of an earlier round of countdowns,
Urahara Kisuke's Zanpakutō Benihime and its final Shikai display
had once shocked the entire world, causing an uproar.
Even now, long after that countdown ended, the viewers still remembered it vividly.
Because of that, they had already firmly classified Urahara Kisuke as an absolutely top-tier powerhouse.
"Tch…"
"So back a hundred years ago…"
"This green-clad bastard who blew my head off had already gone toe-to-toe with Lord Aizen, huh?"
On the throne platform, Yammy Llargo folded his arms, face full of irritation.
Every time he saw Urahara Kisuke, he felt a phantom pain in his skull.
"He probably won't succeed, right?" Starrk commented lazily.
"But… that black cloak Urahara's wearing looks like it can block spiritual pressure."
Harribel, watching closely, had noticed something.
She couldn't sense any spiritual pressure from Urahara in the footage.
It was as if only a human silhouette had appeared on screen—
there was presence to be seen, but no reiatsu at all.
Clearly, this strange phenomenon could only be attributed to that black cloak.
"Ya-ah-yah…"
Down beneath the throne,
Ichimaru Gin remembered something and teased with a smile, "Captain Aizen… you remember, don't you?"
"That cloak that conceals spiritual pressure—over the following decades, it helped us ambush or observe people from the shadows quite a few times…"
Gin's smile turned playful.
It was practically like he was saying that, over that hundred-year span,
the reason they could lurk everywhere and screw people over from the dark… had a lot to do with one of Urahara's inventions.
If you really wanted to fling mud,
you could even say Urahara Kisuke was practically an accomplice. It wouldn't be much of a stretch at all!!!
"Gin…"
"It's fine. Reality has already proven that, whether in the past or the future…"
"Even someone as strong as Urahara Kisuke hasn't been able to stop me, no matter how many times he tries…"
"And the ranking of my Zanpakutō… is the best proof of that!!!"
Reclining on the throne,
Aizen rested his hands on the armrests to either side. Talking about Urahara Kisuke only made the smile at the corner of his mouth grow even deeper—
yet again looking down on the events to come
from the privileged vantage point of a victor.
In the end,
within the footage,
Urahara Kisuke failed to land his blow.
His surprise attack was dodged by Aizen; the two strikes simply cancelled each other out.
After that,
following a brief exchange and a clash of Kidō spells—
Aizen's trio departed at their leisure.
In front of Urahara Kisuke, who stood there dumbfounded and unable to stop them,
the three figures disappeared into the moonlit sky.
They left behind only a devastated street, a group of former Captains collapsed unconscious and deep in Hollowfication,
and, in the face of this scene,
the pair in the shop who were momentarily at a loss, racking their brains for a solution.
With that,
the clip ended.
The truth of that incident from a hundred years ago
was finally laid bare.
In front of nearly eight thousand officers and enlisted members of the Gotei 13,
the countdown video gave them a one-shot clean slate.
All the former Captains who had just appeared on screen had their 'traitor' labels stripped away.
At the same time,
the audience gained an even deeper understanding
of just how terrifying Aizen really was.
This man was constantly wearing a mask.
Compared to Ichibē, or even Yhwach,
Aizen was endlessly inscrutable. You could never tell truth from illusion with him.
And his Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu—
even now, it still hadn't shown a single proper release scene.
That was the scariest part!!!
——
"Good grief…"
"So many Captain-class Soul Reapers, all toyed with by one man."
"This old schemer Aizen is clearly way harder to deal with than that monk!"
At Karakura's high school.
On the rooftop of the school building, a live commentary stream from 'Black Cat Second Uncle' was playing.
Just now,
after watching the exposed footage,
Kurosaki Ichigo finally understood why Aizen and his Zanpakutō Kyōka Suigetsu could rank second.
On one hand,
it was because of Kyōka Suigetsu's ability to manipulate all five senses.
On the other hand,
it was even more because of Aizen himself.
His intelligence, his scheming, his disguise, his mental fortitude and depth of calculation…
all of these traits and factors in his personality
dramatically amplified
the threat posed by his five-sense hypnosis.
With those razor-sharp taunts of his, he could make any outsider drop their guard in minutes and fall straight into his illusions.
There was simply no way to guard against him!!!
"Yeah…"
"It seems like the only way to avoid his illusions is to not interact with Aizen at all, and to stay as far away from his Zanpakutō as possible…"
Asano Keigo felt a chill. As an ordinary human, he couldn't help thinking Aizen was invincible.
But—
the straightforward Sado Yasutora suddenly raised another question. "Come to think of it… the time span here is huge. We're talking about a full hundred years. Doesn't that raise a problem?"
"Besides Hirako and the others, were there any other Captains who got framed by Aizen during that time?"
Honestly,
Chad had only tossed the question out casually.
He himself didn't really care that much.
However—
soon enough, the images on the transparent light screen flickered.
The darkness vanished.
A new scene began to play—
Rumble!!!
A stormy night.
Thunder rolled.
Rain came down in torrents.
The new footage was pitch-black, clearly taking place at night.
Combined with the heavy rain, visibility was abysmal.
But as the camera panned and several familiar buildings slid into view,
the audience quickly recognized where this was—
Karakura Town!!!
"What now?" Ichigo froze. "Don't tell me… there's another former Captain living in this town who got screwed over by Aizen too?"
As he spoke,
he suddenly remembered—
back during Urahara Kisuke's own countdown,
when he was fighting the lizard-like form of Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town,
Ichigo's dad—Kurosaki Isshin—had been there as well!!!
"Wait, what?!"
A bad premonition slammed into Ichigo. His eyes flew wide open in disbelief.
"The next victim…"
"Don't tell me… it's my dad?!"
In that instant, Ichigo lost it.
He'd never imagined that one day, while he was watching from the sidelines and enjoying the drama,
the story would suddenly involve his own father.
The feeling—
was like scrolling through videos on Black Cat Net…
and suddenly realizing, in shock, that someone he knew in real life was the star of one of those videos.
Right now,
that was exactly how Kurosaki Ichigo felt.
His emotions were a tangled mess.
He never would have thought… that somehow, this would loop back around to his dad!!!
He was completely at a loss for words!!!
(End of Chapter)
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