Chapter 257 : Aizen's Wisdom!!

Yhwach couldn't believe it. He'd used The Almighty—the power of omniscience and omnipotence. There was no way he shouldn't have seen through this illusion. 

Yet here he was, standing in complete shock and disbelief, anger bubbling just beneath the surface.

Aizen, ever calm and calculating, seemed to anticipate Yhwach's turmoil. His voice drifted through the chaos, cold and smooth. 

"No, you haven't used The Almighty," he said, his tone almost mocking. "It was my Shikai, Kyōka Suigetsu, deceiving you. You thought you used your power, but that was part of the illusion."

"Though you never saw my Shikai directly, you became so arrogant that you thought you could understand its mechanics just by reading about it. But you still fell under Kyōka Suigetsu's influence."

Aizen's explanation continued, each word like a dagger. 

"It's true, your existence might typically resist my Shikai's hypnosis. But in cooperation, along with your own inflated ego, made it easy to create an illusion that seemed real to you. Your arrogance and the hubris you gained from a thousand-year slumber clouded your judgment."

His voice took on a hint of casual superiority, almost as if he were lecturing a particularly slow student. 

"See, that's the downside of ignorance. You don't know about me, but I know plenty about you." 

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "And I have to thank that mysterious and powerful being and the video where you killed Ichibei Hyōsube. It revealed so much about your secret abilities."

Yhwach seethed. "Weakness? There's no weakness in The Almighty! It's the inherited power of the Soul King, the ultimate strength. How dare a mere Shinigami question it!"

Aizen replied with that same infuriating calmness. "Your arrogance blinds you, Yhwach. No power is truly perfect. It always has limitations. You just refuse to see them."

"Fine, let me spell it out for you," Aizen continued, his voice tinged with a hint of boredom. "Your Almighty isn't passive; it's active. It doesn't work constantly, but only when you consciously use it."

He paused for a moment, letting that revelation sink in. 

"If it was always on, you'd be overwhelmed with endless information, unable to process it all, and it would render your mind useless. That's my theory, anyway."

"But clearly, you only use it when you think you need it, which means you aren't invincible. You're just arrogant enough to believe you are."

"It's simple. All I had to do was make you think you'd activated The Almighty when you hadn't," Aizen said with a tone that bordered on pity. He seemed relaxed, almost as if he were explaining a simple trick to a child.

"You just had to exert some pressure to make me appear at a distance, run a whole circuit around 'Hueco Mundo' with your Reiatsu, and wear yourself out. Then, you thought you killed me. I let you believe you'd absorbed the Hōgyoku without doing any checks."

Aizen's voice turned mocking as he continued, "That's where you went wrong, Yhwach. You come from a great lineage, but without that, you might not even compare to my sweet little vice-captain."

He added with a smirk, "Strength is important, sure, but it's not everything. Wisdom and Intelligence is what truly matters!"

Aizen's words hit Yhwach like a sharp needle, making him feel more humiliated than when he was nearly defeated by Yamamoto Shigekuni a thousand years ago.

He realized he had been manipulated by Aizen, walking straight into his trap, step by step, without even knowing it.

"Fine," Yhwach replied, his voice cold and seething with anger. "You've impressed me, Aizen. But now, I'll kill you in the cruelest way I can think of."

Despite the humiliation, Yhwach didn't believe he had lost. On the contrary, he still thought he held the upper hand. He was confident in his ability to control everything through his Almighty.

The space around them groaned as the dark, ominous energy expanded like a spreading shadow. Yhwach was determined not to be fooled by Kyōka Suigetsu again. 

He poured all his focus into detecting any tricks Aizen might use, carefully monitoring his own spiritual energy for any signs of manipulation.

It wasn't long before he detected a trace of a unique spiritual power, signaling the start of their next battle.

Yhwach sneered and unleashed a wave of immense spiritual power, instantly obliterating everything in its path.

In the next moment, countless golden eyes flickered into existence, scanning their surroundings with a pulsating light.

"Just like that," he muttered to himself.

In an instant, everything around him reverted to its original state—a dense white fog, thick and impenetrable. But soon enough, the mist swirled and began to dissipate, revealing the landscape beneath.

Now, they were back in a vast white desert, an endless expanse of spiritual space.

Not too far away, Aizen stood in the moonlit distance, observing with a calm and composed demeanor.

It was the same hall in Hueco Mundo's Las Noches!

However, there was one notable difference: a slight depression in the ground at the far end of the hall.

Yhwach glanced down at his own feet, and sure enough, he noticed the same subtle indentations.

It became clear to him that just moments ago, he had likely been flitting back and forth between these two locations, completely unaware of the subtle shifts in the landscape.

Recalling his own frantic movements earlier, while Aizen had watched with an amused expression, Yhwach felt a surge of humiliation. He wished he could bury himself in the ground and vanish from the hall—anywhere but here.

The embarrassment would stay with him for a lifetime.

Only revenge, bloody and brutal, would cleanse this shame.

Yhwach's cold gaze fixed on Aizen, who continued to stand there, unruffled and smiling with that air of elegance he was so known for.

The nonchalance only served to fuel Yhwach's anger.

"I've cracked your illusions and hypnosis. You're as good as dead," Yhwach said with a menacing growl.

Upon hearing this, Aizen's expression shifted slightly. He raised an eyebrow, as if amused by Yhwach's outburst.

Then he sighed, unable to contain his bemusement any longer.

"Don't you find it odd," Aizen began, "that I would go through so much trouble just to get you to absorb the Hōgyoku?"

Despite knowing that the Hōgyoku was still draining his spiritual power, Yhwach remained composed.

"I can put it in," he replied, his voice icy, "and I can just as easily take it out."

Yhwach reached out his fingers to grasp the Hōgyoku, trying to pull it out without hesitation, but as soon as he applied force, a look of pain crossed his face. 

The Hōgyoku seemed to have rooted itself within him, and even a slight tug sent a searing pain through his nerves.

Yhwach knew that trying to forcibly remove it would not end well.

Aizen watched Yhwach's expression with a satisfied smile and said, "I've been planning how to deal with you ever since I appeared at Xcution."

"The Hōgyoku is the key."

"As its master, it responds only to my will."

"The true power of the Hōgyoku is that it materializes what one's heart desires."

"So, I designed it to automatically absorb spiritual power. But there are limits—it can't just kill you on my command."

"But even absorbing your spiritual power is enough."

As he spoke, Aizen clapped his hands, and the entire Las Noches began to disintegrate. Once everything crumbled, a large, transparent cube surrounded them, trapping them inside.

"This is a million-layered seal I specifically designed. It's completely isolated from the outside world, so no matter how hard you try, you can't break it, and I won't give you that chance."

"Here, since you entered Las Noches, you've lost any access to spiritual energy to restore your power."

"And while the Hōgyoku is draining you, you'll have to fight me."

"So," he said with a slight smirk, "this is where you die."

Under the cold moonlight, Yhwach's face turned as pale as if he had just stepped into an ice cave.

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