XX-level Hokage

"Your battle has disappointed me greatly." Aizen's voice was soft, yet it pierced Harribel's heart like the sharpest ice spike.

"Your strength is not enough to qualify you to fight for me."

Before he finished speaking, the Mirror Flower Water Moon sword in his hand was already unsheathed.

A cold, detached sword light flashed by in an instant—" *Thud*

Halibel's body shuddered violently. She looked down in disbelief at the deep, bone-revealing wound on her chest. Blood was gushing out of it continuously.

She slowly raised her head, looking at the man she had always sworn allegiance to, her eyes filled with incomprehension and... a trace of sorrow. Looking at Aizen before her, memories from not long ago began to surface.

"Looks like I can't convince you. Then you can leave," Mashiro said with a light laugh. "You're just letting me leave like that?" Harribel looked at the girl in front of her with suspicion.

"Well, Aizen is someone very similar to me, except that I don't really care whether my subordinates can keep up with me, but Aizen is different..."

What do you mean? Are you trying to drive a wedge between me and Lord Aizen?

"Hehe, you'll understand what I mean when you don't meet his expectations..." "Why..." Heribel asked, seemingly to herself.

Aizen did not answer, but calmly withdrew Kyoka Suigetsu.

Harribel's tall and powerful body finally lost all its strength, and like a butterfly with broken wings, she slowly fell from the sky. "Lady Harribel!" Below, Apache, Mi-Rose, and Sun-Sun, who were locked in combat with Ukitake Jushiro, cried out in anguish upon witnessing this scene.

A heart-wrenching cry!

"Aizen! You bastard!"

"How dare you attack Lady Harribel!"

The three loyal subordinates were instantly consumed by boundless, habitual rage.

They abandoned their immediate enemy, transforming into three streaks of light, and charged towards Aizen with the determination to perish together! However, Aizen didn't even glance at them.

Three more sword lights, incredibly fast. Three beautiful heads shot into the sky.

Murasaki Jin and Ukitake Jushiro stared blankly at the bloody and absurd scene before them. The enemy they had fought so hard to defeat had actually been killed so casually by their own lord.

In the distance, the "Burning Castle" built by Captain-Commander Yamamoto slowly went out, like a fire that had run out of fuel. Aizen Yosuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tosen Kaname reappeared unharmed in the sky.

"Oh dear, it seems the cleanup of the small fry is over." Gin Ichimaru's squinting smile was incredibly glaring at that moment.

Aizen Kyousuke finally stepped onto the stage prepared for him.

He looked down at the Death God captains below, some severely injured, some shocked, some furious, and a godlike, sorrowful smile appeared on his face. High above, Mashiro's expression turned serious.

It seems the warm-up is over. "The main event is finally about to begin," she murmured.

Chapter 238: The Final Battle in Karakura Town (Part 8)

As Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's "Fire Fortress," powerful enough to destroy all things, slowly died down, and Tia Harribel's tall figure faded like a withering flower...

As they fell from the sky like snowflakes, the entire battlefield fell into a deathly, suffocating silence.

All eyes were focused on the man who slowly sheathed his sword. Aizen Sousuke.

He maintained his gentle, scholarly demeanor, even sporting a slightly melancholic smile.

But the ruthlessness with which he just swiftly and decisively killed his own comrade was more chilling to the bone than any struggling expression.

Sakura Sajin and Ukitake Jushiro, two captains who had experienced countless battles, stood frozen in place. They even forgot to pursue the pursuer. They couldn't understand how a person could wield such a ruthless blade against a subordinate who was loyal to Xuanpu.

"Oh dear, it seems the cleanup of the small fry is over." At this moment, Gin Ichimaru's squinting smile seemed incredibly glaring and ironic.

"Why...why did you do this?" Patsumura Sajin's booming voice trembled with barely suppressed rage. "Aren't they your comrades?!"

Upon hearing this, Aizen slowly turned his head. His brown eyes calmly gazed at Sajin Hachimura, his gaze like that of a god looking down upon an ant that could not comprehend the will of a god.

"Companions?" Aizen chuckled, a hint of disdain in his voice. "Captain of the village, you seem to have fundamentally misunderstood the meaning of 'power.' The weak have no right to follow the strong. So-called sacrifices must be worthwhile sacrifices." Aizen's voice wasn't loud, but it was clear.

The words reached the ears of every Grim Reaper present: "Heribel and the others are too weak. Their sacrifices are devoid of beauty and meaning. Such power is not worthy to fight for the new world I am about to create."

His words, cold and cruel, completely overturned the values ​​of "companionship" and "trust" that the Grim Reapers held in their hearts.

"You madman!" Patsumura Sajin roared, unable to contain his rage any longer! "Release! Black Rope Heavenly King!"

The enormous black-armored warrior appeared out of thin air once more! But this time, its target was no longer the Espada, but the traitor who had once been the captain of the Fifth Division!

"sky!"

The giant blade, imbued with the boundless rage of Sajin Psamura and his determination to avenge the dead, slashed down at Aizen's head!

At the same time, another petite figure moved! Soi Fon!

Although her arm couldn't be restored after being healed by Mashiro, her body, whose spiritual power was no longer corrupted, unleashed astonishing speed! From another direction, she moved like a ghost, circling behind Aizen, her "Suzumebachi" aimed straight for Aizen's back!

"Die, Aizen!"

With one in front and one behind, one strong and one fast, the two captains joined forces to finish Aizen off completely!

However, faced with this deadly situation that would make any captain turn pale, Aizen's face still held that calm and composed smile.

He didn't even turn around. "Too slow."

He simply uttered those three words softly.

The next moment, a pitch-black figure appeared before the Black Rope Heavenly Punishment King of the Left Formation of the Pagoda Village as if by teleportation!

"Flying Release...Clear Insect Final Form: Enma Cricket!" Tosen Kaname!

His unleashed Zanpakuto instantly created a massive, black, egg-like barrier in mid-air! The barrier, in the instant it formed, completely enveloped the enormous black rope gatekeeper of the village!

"What?!" Patsumura Sajin felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and then, his sight, hearing, smell... even his spiritual pressure perception, all vanished in an instant.

They were completely stripped away!

In this absolute darkness and nothingness, he lost all contact with the outside world and also lost control of himself. "Nekomura!" Upon seeing this, Jushiro Ukitake's expression changed drastically.

Meanwhile, facing Soi Fon's deadly stinger, capable of killing with a second strike, a silver flash, faster and more immediate, arrived first! Shoot him down, sniper!

Gin Ichimaru's voice, always tinged with a theatrical quality, rang in Soi Fon's ears. In an instant, the short sword in his hand extended to an unbelievable length! The silver tip of the blade, like the fangs of a viper, precisely struck Soi Fon's "Suzumebachi"!

"clang!"

With a crisp sound, Soi Fon felt a tremendous, irresistible force coming from the tip of the blade, and her sure-fire strike was blocked!

"Oh dear, Second Division Captain, you can't be in such a hurry." Gin Ichimaru still had that same smiling face.

In the blink of an eye, the combined attack of the two captains was effortlessly neutralized by Tosen Kaname and Ichimaru Gin!

How could this be…” Soi Fon looked at the familiar, fox-like smiling face in front of her, and an unprecedented sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart.

However, the real despair has only just begun. "The game should end now."

A gentle voice suddenly rang in the ears of all the Grim Reapers.

Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro, the two oldest captains, are now attacking Aizen's left and right flanks with perfect coordination!

Kyoraku Shunsui's "Katen Kyokotsu" transformed into two different arcs, while Ukitake Jushiro's "Sougyori" was ready to absorb and reflect any Kido that Aizen might release!

Their attack was the most unpredictable and the most difficult to defend against among the Gotei 13!

However, what they faced was still Aizen's calm face, as if he had already foreseen everything.

“I already said,” Aizen’s voice carried a hint of regret, like a teacher admonishing a student, “that you are all too slow.”

Just before the two captains' attacks were about to touch him, his figure swayed slightly, like a reflection in water. Then, with a "plop," he was startled.

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh echoed clearly throughout the battlefield. Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro were both stunned.

They stared in disbelief at their Zanpakuto, now deeply embedded in each other's bodies! What?!

The "Aizen" they attacked, like a shattered mirror, turned into specks of light and dissipated into the air.

The real Aizen had already silently appeared dozens of meters away in the sky, calmly looking down at the absurd and bloody scene below.

"A mirage" or "a reflection in a mirror."

He uttered those four words softly.

That voice was like a final, unchangeable verdict.

"From the moment you saw my Soul Blade unleash its power," Aizen's voice, filled with divine majesty and sorrow, echoed in the minds of every Shinigami, "your five senses have been under my control. The attacks you see, the comrades you recognize, even... the world you believe in, are nothing but... illusions created by me."

"What?!" "Impossible!"

Upon hearing these words, every captain who was still conscious felt a surge of overwhelming emotions! From within Tosen Kaname's barrier came the furious and unwilling roar of Satsuki Sajin!

Soi Fon stared in disbelief at Gin Ichimaru, who was still smiling, and then at Shunsui Kyoraku and Jushiro Ukitake lying in a pool of blood not far away!

For the first time, a flicker of doubt appeared on Byakuya Kuchiki's usually icy face!

Kenpachi Zaraki's bloodthirsty smile froze on his face! They finally understood.

From the very beginning, they had already lost.

They attacked their own comrades. They defended against nothingness.

The brutal battle they experienced was, from beginning to end, nothing more than a farcical one-man show, manipulated entirely by Aizen! "Welcome to my world."

Aizen opened his arms as if embracing the battlefield filled with despair that he controlled. High above, the reclining chair constructed of Kido still floated.

Mashiro quietly watched her colleagues below, who were engulfed in chaos and despair. The languid and playful expression on her face had quietly faded away.

Instead, there was a deep, unfathomable, and undisturbed tranquility.

“A mirage… complete hypnosis, in some ways, a power even more terrifying than the gods of the other realms.” She murmured softly, a voice only she could hear.

It's certainly a very interesting ability, it's just a pity.

Her gaze was fixed on Aizen Sousuke, who seemed to be a god high in the sky, dominating everything, but it did not linger on him. Instead, it pierced through the layers of illusions.

An illusion is, in the end, just an illusion.

"Let me see if you can still laugh when reality comes."

Chapter 239: The Final Battle in Karakura Town (Part 9)

Despair, like an invisible poison, was swiftly instilled into the hearts of every captain of the Gotei 13 through Aizen's nonchalant words.

A mirage. Complete hypnosis.

When those five words, like a final judgment, echoed across the battlefield, all the battle-hardened captains felt a chill that ran deep in their souls.

Their prized combat experience, their honed swordsmanship and demonic arts, their world-destroying abilities... all become a farcical and pathetic spectacle in the face of "complete hypnosis," this absolute law that manipulates the senses.

How...how could this be? Soi Fon looked at her right hand, which was still in an attacking stance, and then at Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro lying in a pool of blood not far away, both severely injured. Her body began to tremble slightly due to the huge impact and the belated fear.

For the first time, a flicker of doubt and hesitation appeared on Byakuya Kuchiki's usually icy and aloof face. The Senbonzakura sword in his hand, with its countless blades, seemed to have nowhere to point.