Chapter 193 - The Return
"True power is not dominance over others but mastery over oneself." — Itachi Uchiha.
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"Here he comes."
No one knew who said it, but they all heard it. They all heard it, but none of them saw it.
"How quaint." Shunsui heard as pain flashed through his nerves. His eyes didn't need to trail down to know that he had been run through by Aizen's blade. The pain was oddly familiar.
He was getting stronger! They all realized. And not because of how fast he was moving or how resilient he was, but because of the fact that they were having a harder time keeping track of his Reiatsu. It was flickering on and off their senses!
"The anger in your faces, I wonder, who is it for?" Aizen asked and he drew out his sword from Shunsui's body and flicked the blood off it. "For my strength or for your weakness?"
Jūshirō jumped at him, causing Aizen to smile, but before he got to him Aizen disappeared as a wave of Cero hit his prior position.
"Tsk. If you are going to be this sort of nuisance, at least stand still for more than a second." Starrk grumbled as he aimed his gun and fired at an empty location, forcing Aizen to move once again.
Ulquiorra and Yoruichi followed up after Starrk pointed out Aizen's location, a green spear construct in the former's hands and a cascade of lightning Hadō in Yoruichi's, attacking him from both sides only for him to flash away from their flanking and for Ulquiorra to lose one of his arms. Yoruichi on the other hand was lucky as his sword hit the vambrace she wore around her arms.
Shinji, Jūshirō and Shunsui all attacked simultaneously. Jūshirō closed in with a spin, deflecting two of Aizen's strikes, or Aizen deflecting two of his strikes, and drove a backheel to the back of his head only for man to not even flinch.
Aizen batted Shinji's sword away, parried one of Shunsui's blade only for the other to strike through and send him hurtling to the ground.
Cero.
A rain of Cero fell on top of Aizen, each causing a sizable explosion, but not only that, the resulting explosion was also merging into a giant Cero.
"Mind doing the honors, kid?" Starrk said to Ulquiorra who had grown a new arm. The newly grown arm formed a new lance that the silent Hollow hurtled at the building Cero that had Aizen trapped underneath.
"We might want to retreat." Starrk pointed a thumb at the bubbling mass of destructive energy below them and promptly cleared the area.
"Get ready." Yoruichi said with a frown even as the energy fission created an arrowtip explosion that reached the clouds from down below.
No sooner had she said it that the huge energy release quickly faded away as if being sucked up, to the disbelief of both Captains and Hollows.
Aizen stood up, legs trembling as he did and mouth bleeding from both ends as he stood up. Clearly he wasn't entirely unfazed by the attack.
Apart from his injured form, the Captains were drawn to the fact that his outer shell had cracked open around his face and arm. Except that his vulnerable appearance put them more on edge.
"I don't know about you guys but we have to stop him from going any further." Yoruichi said with a face full of seriousness.
"Good! Good!" Aizen stood with his hands stretched out, a pleased grin on his open face. "The Hōgyoku is more marvelous than I anticipated!"
The Captains had frowns on their faces. The situation wasn't to their benefit at all.
They knew that one of them couldn't take Aizen on and it had been to their favor that Aizen focused on stimulating the Hōgyoku and refused to use his Kyōka Suigetsu, saving them a major headache.
Another was their Bankai. Shunsui, Jūshirō and Shinji all had Bankais that weren't suitable for use with allies in the vicinity.
And it wasn't as if they hadn't realized that their attacks were aiding Aizen's evolution in some way. Truly they were hard-pressed for luck.
"Is that it, my dear Captains?" Aizen stepped into the air, walking casually towards the Captains. "Is the bravado of the Seireitei so easily snuffed?"
If glares could kill… well they wouldn't have had this fight in the first place.
Shunsui took a step forward with a reluctant-yet-resolved expression on his face. "Everyone retreat."
A few of them frowned. "Oi, Shunsui. I don't mean to be the one to say it, but isn't it a little too late for the solo act?" Shinji said.
And that was one of the few things about Shinigami being a long-lived race. For Captains like Shunsui and Jūshirō who were well over a thousand years old, almost no one knew the effects of their Bankai.
Even for people like Shinji and Kisuke who were on the younger side compared to those two, hardly anyone knew the effects of their Bankai. Not even Aizen. Even the effects of their Shikai were mostly unknown.
"Shunsui, are you sure?" Jūshirō asked in concern.
Shunsui chuckled. "Of course not. Hah! But you know, responsibility and all that."
Seeing their conversation, Aizen was intrigued. "Shunsui Kyōraku. If you think your Bankai will change anything, then go ahead. I'll be more than happy to accommodate you."
"You heard the man." The smile faded from his face as he regarded his comrades. "Go to the edg—"
CRACK.
A loud crack stole all their attention to the sky where a fissure was ripped open.
Before any of them could voice out a question, three red black-coated magatama bound by a circular thread was hurtled at Aizen whose eyes widened as the ring of magatama appeared in front of him, soon to devour him in an inferno of Amaterasu.
Isshin and the others arrived near the others with Shunpō with tight expressions that caused the budding smiles on the faces of a few of them to freeze.
"Let's get out of here! Fast!" Isshin yelled, flashed towards where Rangiku was waiting, hoisted her up, and flashed away towards the edge of the anchored space.
Seeing the urgency Isshin worked with, the others kept their questions to themselves and followed after him, leaving behind a convergence of crows that slowly formed into Itachi's body alone with Aizen.
"HAHAHAHA! ITACHI UCHIHA!"
Aizen broke out of the conflagration with multiple parts of his body gone, devoured by Itachi's black flames. His shell was almost entirely gone as a purple glow from the Hōgyoku started healing his consumed parts.
Itachi stared at Aizen and the Hōgyoku, remembering what he could about the gem.
An artifact of evolution that was supplied by the desires of those around it and manifested those desires on its bearer.
"What terrifying flames you have." Aizen smiled. "Unfortunately for you, it was something I prepared for."
He stretched his hand and a Garganta opened and from it came out a dulled eye Hollow.
"This is—"
The Hollow was barely out of the Garganta when it was bisected from its head down to its torso by a partially conjured Susano'o from a clone.
Aizen smirked. Not at all worried that one of his specially prepared countermeasures was rendered useless in an instant.
Itachi scrutinized Aizen with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, silently noting the shifting form of existence Aizen was currently undergoing.
'Similar to Kabuto and Orochimaru but on a completely different scale. Just like them, he is currently undergoing metamorphosis.'
"You are here. Now what will you do, Itachi?"
In reply to Aizen's words, the light from the artificial sun in the anchored space dimmed sharply as a smoky sharp started taking form under it.
And finally, Itachi uttered his first words after returning.
"Bankai: Amenominakanushi – Tengoku no chūshin." (August Center of Heaven.)
At Aizen's current state, Itachi surmised that all he needed was time before he evolved to a stronger form that would be almost impossible to kill.
Had it been another time, he might have been interested in having a conversation with Aizen before they resorted to blades. But unfortunately he no longer had that chance.
The act of releasing Bankai can be said to be a Shinigami's arrogant impression of their soul on the world. A baring of their soul, so to speak.
… And for this very simple fact, it was nigh-absolute in its nature. Meaning no one, and absolutely no one, was immune to its effects. Some people are only strong enough to offset it in some cases.
A pool of darkness washed over the entire space, almost a thousand kilometers ≈ 621 miles, as a dark moon shone above it.
For the first time since his metamorphosis began, Aizen looked around cautiously. Escaping the activation of Itachi's Bankai was impossible, Aizen knew, and he didn't know much about it to be prepared for it. The Hōgyoku sensed his will and thrummed in reply, washing away Aizen's cautiousness as it did.
"You are too late, Itachi Uchiha." Aizen proudly declared. "I have surpassed Bankai!"
The shade of Itachi's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan slowly appeared on the moon, casting an eerie red in the vacuum of darkness.
Lost to Aizen's senses was what the eye on the moon signified.
Unlike Aizen, Itachi could see it clearer. Taller than any mountain he's seen, melded away in black and wearing the darkness as its cloak, was Tsukuyomi who stood and stared down on them. The moon was its eyes.
As for Amaterasu, the darkness was the hem of her robes. As greedy and vain as the woman she was, she hungrily devoured both her equal companion and their charge.
In this instance, man and spirit reached the highest level of resonance. One no different from the other. Their names were Amenominakanushi. The self-proclaimed creator, arrogant ruler and self-conceited center of their own desolate heaven.
And now they stood as Judge and Executioner over the fool in their court.
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