Chapter 183 - Metamorphosis

Everyone sensed Harribel's Reiatsu being suppressed in mere moments as she fell, and that signified something terrifying, especially to a certain trio. 

It wasn't something noticeable about Itachi and seeing how no one knew him that deeply, save for Yoruichi, Soi Fon and Junpei, it was easy to overlook this overly methodological aspect of his character. 

Yes, he was no longer known as Itachi of the Sharingan, but those experiences and principles were something he had built upon on becoming a Shinigami. 

He had been able to fight a Captain with his barebones half-released Shikai in the first few years of gaining his Zanpakutō. Come the Hollowfication, he was able to hold off multiple berserk Captains with just his Shikai while holding back to restrain them. Decades passed and he mastered his Shikai even further, and then he finally achieved his Bankai years back. 

So far above the average Shinigami Captain that the only one who could compare was an even greater monster in Kenpachi Zaraki who could fight his Shikai Release with nothing but a dormant blade. 

The point being that even when he says he is not holding back, he fights mostly with one of both blades, usually with Amaterasu. And the reason he did this was to satisfy the lady he held in his hands. The innate understanding he had with Tsukuyomi, which best described his jaded personality, was so deep that it made his bond with Amaterasu seem shallow. And being the vain and boisterous woman she was, she forced Tsukuyomi aside and became his go-to Zanpakutō for the last few decades, especially after he finally attained Bankai. 

After fighting for years with a different approach, mostly to satisfy Amaterasu's blackened heart, he was finally at a point where he could use them without any of his previous reservations. 

This was neither a covert nor a reconnaissance mission where he had to sneak around or feed false information. 

The conversation he had with Tsukuyomi moments back was him culminating all the traits, experiences and changes that Itachi Uchiha went through, both in life and death. 

And the result of that solemn moment of callback was an Itachi Uchiha that was not only unrestrained, but also felt unrestrained. 

"You're not going to kill her?" Junpei asked, staring impassively at the downed form of the current Segunda Espada. 

"Undecided… for now." Itachi simply replied. 

"We'll go get the Hollow girl. Hopefully we don't have to fight an angry fracción." Junpei thought out loud before doing a double take as he saw Itachi walking away without so much as a footstep. He scratched his head and was wondering what made his usual moody Captain extra moody, only to shrug it off and asked instead. 

"Miyako Shiba. What are we to do about her?" 

"She's being watched over by the Tres Espada, Ulquiorra." Itachi replied as he started fading away. "I'll get her back."

Junpei winced, not appreciating the fact that he would be the one to deliver the news to the already distraught husband, especially when they were on their way to RESCUE a hollow. 

"Of course, leave Junpei with all the complicated stuff." He huffed, visibly disgruntled. 

RUMBLE. RUMBLE. RUMBLE. 

The forest started shaking with a minor tremor that soon intensified into a deep rumbling that vibrated all through the forest. 

Feeling the tremors that ran up his feet, Junpei gained a pensive expression. He sensed the moving sprouts of Reiatsu all around and came to one conclusion. 

"They are pushing the Menos Grande towards us. How troublesome."

.....

[POV: With Aizen, The Depths of the Forest]

Aizen's face did not betray a hint of surprise when he felt Harribel's Reiatsu dwindling so fast until it became a pond of drops instead of the tidal wave it used to be. 

"He didn't kill her, how interesting." He mused, smirking to himself. 

"Lord Aizen, everything has been arranged." Tōsen straightened up from his bow and stood behind Aizen. 

"My Lord, if I may ask?" Tōsen requested softly. 

"Speak."

"What do you want to accomplish by keeping Miyako Shiba with us? She'll only draw them to our doorsteps." Tōsen voiced out his skepticism. 

"You're not wrong Tōsen." Aizen started and gestured with his palms. "She's nothing but an inconsequential piece. A side piece. A pawn to move if certain things fall in place."

"I see. Your intellect is truly unsurpassed, Lord Aizen."

Aizen said nothing and just relaxed into his chair, letting the fused Hōgyoku to bore into his body and make his vessel extremely malleable. He could get up and go about his day but he wanted to take this time to savor the melancholy he was suddenly feeling. 

Come the next day and the real preparations for his ascension will start taking place. 

'The inevitability of man. The inviolability of god. I will step above them. It is only fitting if I do.'

Lazily spreading his senses and taking note of all the Espada, he propped his head languidly on his fist. 

"I would say not to disappoint me, my dear Espada. But that would mean I had high expectations of you."

Closing his eyes and withdrawing his senses, he settled comfortably into his throne and droned them on the revitalizing hums of the Hōgyoku. 

.... 

[POV: With Kenpachi] 

After decades of slow going, Kenpachi finally tasted the one thing he missed since his coming to the Seireitei – A good slaughter. 

A monster of power, strength, dark depths of Reiryoku, brutal and animalistic understanding of the blade, instincts, and a gluttonous penchant for death. 

Unlike the ignorance of the former Kenpachi, at least before he met Itachi, he would have engaged this slaughter with nothing else in mind. For the current Kenpachi, while it proved extremely difficult to focus on anything other than the way his blade carved through their diamond-hard skin, he had spent years going back and forth with his blade for him to know when to listen. 

To his blunder however, sometimes he completely forgets or ignores the blade's proddings and just sink himself in the fight, just like he did with the Bount guy who used breeze and sparks. 

This time however he listened. 

This was something he had been looking forward to for decades, an unrestrained slaughter, and he wanted to share the experience with his silent Zanpakutō. 

"Did you see that?! Now that is a cut!" He relished the sight of the quartered Hollow before frowning. 

"You think you can do it better than me? Hahahaha! You can cleave through all of them in one strike?" Kenpachi cackled with maddening laughter. "Then show me!"

He had dozens of cuts all over his body along with chunks roughly bitten out, crowned by four distinct holes that went through his body, but the monster and his blade never stopped their festival of madness. 

Kenpachi's head whipped around and spotted a very huge Hollow that wore the distinct garb of the Espada. A crazed smile split his face. 

Completely forgetting about the Hollows surrounding him, Kenpachi ran towards the Hollow who laughed at the challenge as two red Bala appeared over his fists which he punched at Kenpachi who swung his Zanpakutō diagonally to catch both fists in their paths. 

The nature of Bala being a less powerful but faster variant of Cero greatly reduced the resulting force and explosiveness as they were met head on with Kenpachi's drunk-on-Reiryoku Zanpakutō. 

They both took a step back, sported wider grins, and attacked again. This time Kenpachi's blade dug into Yammy's fist but stopped midday which Yammy used as a leverage to throw him towards a group of rabidly growling Hollows. 

"Get lost!" Kenpachi twisted himself midair and upon seeing the waiting Hollows, brought his blade to the ground with great force that sent all the Hollows flying with the resulting boom. 

"I am Yammy Llargo. The Octava Espada. I will kill you, hahahahaha!"

"Kenpachi Zaraki. For both of our sakes, I hope you do."

In a swift motion of closing and opening his mouth, Yammy had prepared a Cero which exploded directly from his mouth and traveled in a red beam wave towards Kenpachi who found himself near point blank range and could do nothing else but swing his sword. 

A splitting point was cut into the beam wave which caused it to veer into two opposite directions that grew wider as Kenpachi started running through the beam wave while splitting it down at the middle until he got to Yammy who had both his eyes and mouth widened as Kenpachi's blade dug into his chest and cut a nasty line straight to his neck and out of it. 

Kenpachi flipped his sword as soon as it exited Yammy's neck and brought it back down again in an attempt to cleave it off but Yammy luckily brought one of his hands up and hardened it with Hierro which successfully stopped Kenpachi's blade as it dug mere inches into his skin. 

Yammy looked up and attempted a grin only for Kenpachi's foot to smash him right in the face and sent him tumbling down which only made him laugh harder. 

"You can't cut me! How are you going to kill me! Hahahahahaha!" He stopped laughing and spat out a lump of blood with a deepening scowl etching itself into his face. "You're slowly making me mad."

A red haze of Reiatsu covered his body and was slowly increasing, and as it increased so did the intensity of his presence. Clearly he was growing stronger. 

This put a pleased smile on Kenpachi's face. 

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