"Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"That kid?"
Ichimaru Gin paused for a second,
then began seriously trying to recall.
Indeed—Aizen was right.
Across all the previously-shown clips, Kurosaki Ichigo was the only one who never had a confirmed "falling to the ground" scene.
In fact, in the last segment,
he was even being protected by the Gotei 13 Captains, completely surrounded—practically treated as the most important person there!
Could it be…
Realizing this possibility,
Ichimaru Gin's sky-blue eyes widened slightly, a complex expression flashing within them as he sighed:
"Aizen-taichō…
That sudden idea you had back then—
to secretly cultivate Kurosaki Ichigo,
to guide and push him so he would keep growing,
until he drew out every last drop of his potential…"
"I didn't expect that move to turn into a boomerang!!!"
"And instead… Kurosaki Ichigo ends up becoming the one person qualified to stand against you?"
The more Gin thought about it, the more excited he felt.
If his future self couldn't kill Aizen,
then what about Kurosaki Ichigo?
That little Spirit King candidate…
Could he truly stop Aizen?
Even if he could only reach the point of standing shoulder to shoulder with Hōgyoku-fused Aizen,
that alone would be jaw-dropping!!!
Meanwhile—
Before Aizen could respond,
the display on the transparent light screen resumed playing.
"BOOOOOM!!!"
At the edge of a shattered, torn wasteland,
the silhouette of Hōgyoku-Aizen stood arrogantly, radiating obscene confidence.
Below him,
lay Ichimaru Gin's collapsed body—
and Matsumoto Rangiku,
crying as she held him tightly in her arms.
"...Gin…"
Two lovers, breathing unevenly, kneeling together.
With her back turned to the Hōgyoku-Aizen,
Rangiku was drowning in grief,
completely unaware that Aizen's arm had already lifted.
The blade of Kyōka Suigetsu was poised to fall.
"Ah…"
"No… please no…"
"Matsumoto Rangiku-fukutaichō, you and Gin really are a pair of tragic lovers…"
In Squad One's barracks,
the Captains watched this scene unfold in real time.
All of them shook their heads, unable to keep watching.
A single slash—two deaths.
Both souls gone.
That was the most likely outcome that awaited Gin and Rangiku.
Facing such a brutal scene,
as comrades, the Captains could not bear to witness it.
But—
Rangiku herself…
At this moment, a faint smile surfaced on her face.
"I knew it. Gin lied earlier…
He was deliberately deceiving Aizen.
He'd never hurt the future me."
Rangiku was overwhelmed with warmth.
Even if she died in the future,
if she could die together with Gin…
then it would feel like returning to a century ago,
to the days in Rukongai when they survived by leaning on each other.
She would have no regrets!!!
But—
Just when the atmosphere was fully steeped in grief
and all of Soul Society had resigned itself to believing Aizen was about to succeed—
Suddenly—
"BOOOOOOM!!!"
A blast like a falling nuclear bomb
ripped open the sky.
A familiar, striking silhouette
descended from the heavens at blinding speed,
crashing into the scene.
In an instant,
everyone's gaze was dragged toward the screen.
"Aizen…"
A single calm sentence,
spoken without any emotional rise or fall—
no joy, no anger, no sorrow.
And yet it immediately snapped every viewer's attention back to the display.
"Wait… that is—"
"Holy crap! Kurosaki Ichigo?!"
"So we guessed right!
He really is the last one still standing!"
"And… huh? Is it just me, or does he look different?!"
"His hair is longer, messy…
Even his height looks like it increased!"
"From appearance alone, he's not losing to Hōgyoku-Aizen at all!!!"
The world exploded.
Across all of Soul Society,
every viewer cried out in disbelief—
shocked by Ichigo's hero entrance
and his dramatic new appearance.
"Damn—"
"Ichigo… is so cool!!!"
"Even with his messy hair and disheveled look,
he has this completely new aura!"
"And that tall, imposing physique—
just standing there breaks through the pressure Aizen was exerting!!!"
In Karakura Town's high-school building,
on the rooftop—
Tatsuki Arisawa froze in place.
For several seconds, she couldn't even react.
Then she snapped out of it and burst into excited shouting.
Beside her,
Chad Yasutora felt the same.
"Incredible…
He really looks like a savior.
He showed up at the perfect moment and stopped Aizen from killing them!"
As for Inoue Orihime—
She didn't shout.
She didn't jump in excitement.
Her shy, introverted nature made her do the exact opposite.
Her cheeks turned pink,
her eyes trembled, unable to tear themselves away from Ichigo's transformed form.
"Kurosaki-kun…"
All three friends
looked at the screen as if watching a real-life superhero—
their eyes full of awe.
None of them expected
Ichigo's entrance to be this dramatic,
this overwhelming.
"Future me…"
"To think I…
would become the third and final executioner standing against Hōgyoku-Aizen?!"
Even Ichigo himself was stunned.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Awe.
And on top of all that—
excitement mixed with confusion.
In front of the entire world,
he would be the one carrying the final hope of saving everything?
That was the dream of every teenager.
Especially someone as inherently passionate as Kurosaki Ichigo.
But there was also uncertainty.
Between his fight with Gin's Shinso,
to suddenly cutting to this scene…
What exactly happened in the middle?
Within what should have been only a short period—
how did his future self undergo such a massive transformation?
And even more unbelievable—
how could he possibly fight Hōgyoku-Aizen alone?!
Even Ichigo himself struggled to believe it.
Becoming the protagonist so suddenly—
the weight was crushing.
After all—
That man
was Hōgyoku Aizen.
The same being who had defeated countless captains,
mocked the entire Gotei 13,
and crushed them over and over.
Could his future self…
really defeat someone like that?
Or even stop him?
Ichigo's heart wavered—
but deeper within,
anticipation burned hot.
Elsewhere—
"Shopkeeper…"
"Yoruichi-san…"
"Is it my perception that's malfunctioning?"
"I can't feel any spiritual pressure from Kurosaki Ichigo.
None at all! Not even a trace!
It's like I'm looking at an ordinary human!!!"
Inside Urahara's shop,
Tessai furrowed his brows, scratching his head as he looked to the others for help.
"Hm?!"
Hearing this, Urahara's eyes narrowed beneath the brim of his green-striped hat.
He studied the screen again carefully.
After a long moment,
he nodded.
"Tessai…
you didn't sense wrong."
"The future Ichigo truly has no detectable spiritual pressure."
"But that's weird.
During his fight with Gin earlier, his power was almost on par with Gin's."
"How did it suddenly drop so drastically?"
Urahara's first instinct was that Ichigo's power had regressed.
However—
Yoruichi immediately shut that idea down:
"What if…
he didn't regress—
but evolved?"
"Evolved?"
Urahara slapped his forehead.
"Right—
I almost let my own preconceptions fool me!"
"With Ichigo's bloodline and potential,
ascending beyond the Shinigami limit isn't impossible!!!"
"But…"
"How could his power skyrocket this much in such a short time?!"
Even with Urahara's intelligence,
he could not imagine a way for Ichigo to go from captain-level…
…to a transcendent being
in less than half a day.
Three minutes later—
he gave up thinking, wearing a helpless smile.
If he weren't already used to Ichigo constantly defying common sense,
he would have called the authorities by now—
to report this highschooler
for violating the laws of physics.
This level of growth
was already breaking the rules of the entire world.
Completely absurd.
Meanwhile, in the video—
Aizen's eyes sharpened at Ichigo's sudden arrival
and his strange transformation.
"Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"Are you really Kurosaki Ichigo?"
It made no sense.
From the moment he and Gin left the fake Karakura Town,
to the brief encounter with the humans,
to almost being killed by Gin—
and then resurrecting and evolving again…
Only a few hours had passed.
There was no time
for Ichigo to "light-speed evolve"
to the level of a transcendent.
Aizen immediately rejected the idea.
"...Aizen."
"What are you implying?"
Ichigo held Tensa Zangetsu in one hand,
gazing coldly back at him.
His orange bangs—grown long and messy
from months of time spent in the Dangai—
added a melancholic air to his expression.
Aizen frowned.
"I cannot sense any spiritual pressure from you."
"Even if you were suppressing it,
you could never hide it completely."
"Clearly…
your evolution failed."
"You wasted the final opportunity I deliberately left for you."
Aizen shook his head in disappointment—
arrogant as ever,
preaching as if he were a higher lifeform.
This infuriated Soul Society.
"Tch…"
"Hōgyoku Aizen's face is really asking to be punched."
"Can that guy stop acting superior for two seconds?"
"I'm getting sick of it!"
Zaraki Kenpachi scowled,
tightening his grip on his sword,
extremely annoyed.
Everyone had their quirks—
Kenpachi loved fighting,
so it was normal for him to provoke his opponents mid-battle.
But Aizen…
Aizen's entire existence
was just one long, uninterrupted monologue of self-importance.
And the worst part was—
Zaraki wanted to try acting cool too,
but Aizen's level of pretentiousness
was so far beyond anything he could imitate
that it made him jealous.
"Pathetic," he muttered.
Nearby,
Kurotsuchi Mayuri sneered.
"It's obvious Aizen is wrong.
He's made a severe misjudgment."
"What do you mean?"
the Captains asked, eyes widening.
"Kurosaki Ichigo did not fail," Mayuri grinned.
"In fact, he succeeded spectacularly."
"It's very possible
he has surpassed Hōgyoku-Aizen."
"That is why Aizen cannot sense his spiritual pressure
and mistakenly assumes Ichigo is weak."
To help them understand, he continued:
"It's like how we cannot sense Aizen's spirit pressure
because he has surpassed the limits of a Shinigami
and become a transcendent."
"If you are not at the same level,
you cannot sense him."
The Captains were shaken.
It was hard to accept that Ichigo had grown this overwhelmingly strong—
but the evidence on the screen was undeniable.
And since the video had already confirmed
that Ichigo possessed the potential comparable to the Spirit King…
Mayuri had zero doubt.
Ichigo would not merely stop Aizen.
He would, before the eyes of the world—
engage him in the greatest battle between transcendents
ever recorded.
The hope of the entire Soul Society
now rested solely on Kurosaki Ichigo.
He was, without a doubt—
their savior.
(End of Chapter)
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