Inferno

Kurosaki Isshin was many things. To his family, he was best known as an over-the-top emotional old man who liked to fight his son at practically every given occasion, but who also had his moments as an extremely wise father. To his colleagues in the medical field, Isshin was an outstanding doctor who owned his own practice and worked closely with the owner of the nearby hospital, Ishida Ryūken.

But to most of the Shinigami who remembered him? Isshin was not someone to mess with, ever. The former taicho drew his trusty Zanpakuto, Engetsu. It's been a long time, old friend. Engetsu said nothing, but Isshin could feel the blade's satisfaction at being wielded once more. Isshin smiled mirthlessly, his eyes firmly on Aizen as he charged his own reiatsu into the blade. If only Ichigo was conscious to see this, Isshin thought with a hint of his usual humor. C'mon, Ichigo, hurry up!

Aizen, completely focused on his two opponents in front of him – he'd maneuvered so he could see both Urahara and Ichigo in the last few seconds – was caught off guard when Isshin Shunpo-ed right behind him. In that scantest of moments between the time when Isshin appeared and when the sword struck Aizen, the traitor had begun to spin to counter, only to realize that Ichigo had taken full advantage of his distraction and was similarly swinging his own Tensa Zangetsu from point-blank range.

Father and son brought their swords down in mirrored two-handed strikes, showing a strange sort of symmetry in opposites. Shinigami and Hollow, in identical positions on opposite sides of Aizen… Isshin with his blue-white aura around his blade, Ichigo with his practically seething red-and-black version… In that seemingly frozen moment, Urahara was in awe of the in-life metaphor for that perfect blend of Shinigami and Hollow that he'd dreamed of but was too afraid to try. And then the moment ended, and two voices spoke together – one a clear, strong voice, the other harsh and low. Each demanded Aizen's demise. This was the voice of the Kurosaki.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Ichigo, meanwhile, was struggling against the combined manifestation of his powers. He thought of it as Tensa Zangetsu since he seemed to be the dominant personality, and the appearance of the fusion form seemed to far more closely resemble the Bankai spirit.

Something was confusing Ichigo, however. They'd been fighting for some time now, but while Tensa Zangetsu was forcing Ichigo to fight at his limits, it was easily apparent to the Vizard that Tensa Zangetsu was not fighting at his own best. Several times now, he'd stopped pursuing Ichigo just long enough for the Substitute Shinigami to catch his breath or recover from an opening that provided plenty of opportunity for the hybrid spirit to strike and finish him.

"Why aren't you finishing me?" Ichigo cried out after one such instance, shoving Hollow reiatsu at his latest injuries – a couple of gashes on his right arm, cracked bone on his left.

"Why should I?" Tensa Zangetsu replied calmly, in a ready position should Ichigo come at him again, but not actively pursuing. "This is not your test for Bankai, where only true danger to your life would force you to improve fast enough. I am merely training you so you may be even stronger when you emerge. Enough talk, prepare yourself!"

Ichigo had no time to argue, instead bringing his sword to bear, blocking the spirit from inflicting a major wound to his torso. I need to win! If he could just bring out the ivory blade he'd won from Cazador de la Luna, Ichigo might be able to take advantage of Tensa Zangetsu's being focused on the current clash. But the Bankai spirit was simply too strong! Ichigo couldn't afford to block with any less than his full strength, he had to use both hands on his single sword.

Fine then. "Getsuga Tenshō!"

Tensa Zangetsu was forced back into another skyscraper by the enormous Getsuga that emerged from the Bankai that Ichigo wielded, but did not falter. His eyes remained unchanged, still calm, still completely in control as Tensa Zangetsu forced the technique upwards into the sky. "The Getsuga is the technique that I give you, Ichigo. What makes you think that it would be sufficient to defeat me, when you have not even mastered it yet?"

"What do you mean?"

The next moment later, Ichigo brought up his weapon to defend against Tensa Zangetsu, who showed no signs of struggle behind their swords, which shuddered and fought for dominance. "The Getsuga Tenshō is a compression of your energy. Tell me, Ichigo, how powerful that same blast would be if instead of being so large, it was half as large with the same amount of energy behind it?" Despite being obscured behind the Hollow mask he wore, Ichigo's eyes were clearly surprised to the fusion spirit. "I see you understand. Getsuga Tenshō."

"Oh shi-!" Ichigo was sent flying, holding the incredibly powerful Getsuga – only the size of his own body – back with all his strength behind his Bankai sword. Ichigo winced as the Getsuga pushed him into and through two buildings, metal beams and glass stabbing into his back, before it weakened enough for Ichigo to shunt it upwards just as Tensa Zangetsu had done to his a moment ago.

C'mon, Ichigo, think! he ordered himself. Tensa Zangetsu told me I can't take control of my body until I accept that I'm Hollow and Shinigami together. Then Tensa Zangetsu told me to attack him in order to prove that acceptance. Now he's telling me that he's just training me until I emerge? Is he tricking me somehow?

"What are you doing, Ichigo?"

Ichigo spun, seeing Tensa Zangetsu standing on top of one of the many flagpoles on a nearby skyscraper, his outfit billowing impressively in the breeze. "I'm trying to work something out. How am I supposed to just accept that I'm a Hollow? Worse, how am I supposed to show it? Eat a soul? I'd rather not."

"Of course not."

Maybe I'm supposed to demonstrate some Hollow powers? Ichigo quickly threw his left hand forward, holding his fingers in a familiar position as he channeled his Hollow's reiatsu to them, and felt the reiatsu leave his fingers and start to intertwine into a red orb of destruction, growing larger. Huh. You'd think I'd stop being surprised by how instinctively easy the Hollow powers are. "See? I've got a Cero. Isn't that enough proof of my acceptance?"

Tensa Zangetsu's expression turned into an almost-angry frown. "No. You still see it as one of Cazador de la Luna's powers. Stop trying to evade the lesson, Ichigo. You are a Hollow!"

Ichigo shook his head violently. "I am a Vizard!"

"Then why do you always rely on your Shinigami powers?" Tensa Zangetsu demanded. "It's always Getsuga Tenshō, never Cero! You never use your Hollow powers unless you need to! Admit it, Ichigo! You are uncomfortable with the Hollow powers because you are afraid of how easy they are, how familiar they are to you, how very natural they feel!"

"I don't use my Hollow powers because I didn't want the Gotei 13 breathing down my neck about them, especially after what they did to the other Vizard!" Ichigo yelled back, firing his Cero.

Tensa Zangetsu easily dodged the incoming beam and gripped his sword. "You are making excuses, Ichigo!" Once again, the two clashed blades, breaking apart and coming at each other time and again, striking and dodging and blocking, yet neither were landing a blow on the other. "You could have ended this war very early on if you'd just used a Garganta to get away from the wielder of Shinsō and attacked Aizen from behind!"

"So the thought didn't occur to me, I can't think of everything!" Ichigo fired a newly improved Getsuga, much smaller than before, but still larger than the one Tensa Zangetsu had retaliated with earlier. It rocketed towards Tensa Zangetsu with much improved speed, but the spirit merely dodged before continuing the assault on the Vizard.

"You removed your mask against Gin!" Tensa Zangetsu pressed, using Shunpo continually to create the illusion of dozens of himself around Ichigo, and as a result his voice seemed to come from all directions as well.

"The mask was overkill!" Ichigo argued, straining his keen eye to figure out where Tensa Zangetsu was going to strike. Fuck it. Gripping his sword by the chain on the hilt, he quickly spun around in a circle on the spot three times, sending a spiral-shaped Getsuga in all directions.

The Getsuga caught Tensa Zangetsu, but the spirit was prepared for such an event, easily deflecting the attack and firing a Getsuga back at Ichigo. "There is no such thing as overkill when you have to finish quickly!"

Ichigo narrowly dodged, though it cut a slice through part of his Bankai coat on its way past. "I thought you liked it when I fought every battle as an effort to improve my skills with you!"

"I also told you I'm a practical man! It is practical to blow through all your enemies when your family and your life is on the line!" Tensa Zangetsu scolded as he continued to press the attack towards his wielder.

Ichigo met the attack unflinchingly, angrily blocking and deflecting the attacks and attempting to counter where he could. "I had to hide my true power so it could surprise Aizen!"

"Hide it? Aizen knew you had Hollow powers, just as he knew that your body transformed into a Hollow when Cazador de la Luna was in control! Of course he would know that you would evolve that way! It would have been a far better surprise to use Cero to eradicate his head or his heart from a distance!"

Ichigo screamed in fury as the fusion of his Zanpakuto and his Hollow systematically tore down every one of his arguments with cold hard logic to bring out the ugly truth. Firing another Getsuga, which put some distance between them, Ichigo glared at the manifestation of his powers with all the anger he could muster. "Fine! I don't like my Hollow powers!"

"And why is that, Ichigo?" Tensa Zangetsu demanded.

"Because a Hollow killed my mother, another almost killed the rest of my family, and Hollows always go after loved ones first before attacking anyone who can feed them! I don't want to be a Hollow because I don't want to be a danger to my family, I don't want to always hunger for souls, I don't want to be a monster!"

There it was: the truth about Ichigo's feelings, raw and out in the open. "What makes a person a monster?"

The question caught Ichigo flat-footed – he'd just finished spilling his heart out, and Tensa Zangetsu's calm, non-accusing tone came as a complete surprise. He'd expected an angry retort about how Hollows are not monsters but victims, possibly using Cazador de la Luna's voice. Hearing an explanation about why he was not a monster was also not out of the question. But this? "Well, um… a monster is someone who does terrible things because he enjoys it."

"Do you do terrible things because you enjoy it?"

"Of course not!" Ichigo replied, slightly hurt that Tensa Zangetsu had to ask.

"Then by your own words, you are not a monster. What difference, then, does being Hollow make?"

That's the question, isn't it? Now that he'd admitted his feelings aloud, it seemed… easier for Ichigo to think about the possibility with something resembling rational thought. Even if Tensa Zangetsu didn't say it, Ichigo could feel that the spirit was not judging him, but forcing him to accept his feelings and move on, always looking forward.

Ichigo lowered his sword, a pensive frown on his face as he wrestled with his emotions. If he was indeed a Hollow… if Ichigo was actually both Hollow and Shinigami, and not just a Shinigami with Hollow powers… would knowing that make any difference now, if he'd been that way for this long? If he'd already been unknowingly drawing on his Hollow side for most of his life, and more obviously recently? How would the knowledge of the truth affect who he was?

More and more, the answer seemed to be obvious. "I… I am Hollow…" Ichigo murmured hesitantly. "I am Hollow, and I am Shinigami," he said again, more strongly, though with a tinge of sadness. The truth is a terrible thing… Ichigo thought to himself morosely. To gain the power inborn in truth, I had to sacrifice the happy innocence of ignorance.

Tensa Zangetsu smiled before splitting back into his separate halves. "You are Vizard."

And for the first time, Ichigo truly understood what those three words meant. It meant that he was Shinigami and Hollow, with all the benefits and downsides that came with it. Ichigo would have the powers of Bankai and Resurrección, of Getsuga and Cero. His Shinigami side would cover up his Hollow hunger, his Hollow side increased the potency of his reiatsu beyond that of Shinigami capabilities.

In trade, Ichigo would always be watched, held at arm's length by those who were either Shinigami or Hollow, but not both. The Gotei 13 would always fear that he'd snap and attack them as a Hollow, Hueco Mundo would always fear that he'd go on a killing spree and purify them all as a Shinigami.

And you know what? As long as I can protect those I care for, as long as I can have my close friends support me… I can live with that.

"You good, King?"

Ichigo smirked at his Hollow reflection. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Abandon your fear. Look forward," Tensa Zangetsu ordered firmly.

Cazador de la Luna gave an identical smirk back. "Move forward and never stop."

"You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate," Ichigo finished, the words having been engraved in his heart since they'd been spoken all that time ago, when he met Zangetsu on the day he'd regained his powers in Urahara's basement.

"Now, Ichigo! Call me out!"

Ichigo's reiatsu flared high into the sky as he called forth his Adjuchas mask and materialized his Hollow Zanpakuto. "Blacken the night, Cazador de la Luna!"

The double-Getsuga Tenshō attack that Kurosaki Isshin and Ichigo had performed together created a column of reiatsu that reached high into the heavens and churned rocks and dust from the earth, equally divided down the middle – Isshin's blue-white Getsuga against Ichigo's obsidian and crimson, with Aizen in the middle and hopefully being devastated by the two-sided assault. Both father and son jumped back, again in stereo, as they waited for the attack to die down.

After several seconds more, the Getsugas both fell unstable and exploded, and the resulting blast of wind blew past the unmoving Kurosakis and Urahara. When the dust cleared, to Isshin's satisfaction, Aizen had been injured, especially on the side that Ichigo had attacked from. This came as no surprise to the father, as Aizen's reiatsu was impossible to read for him – Aizen had evolved away from that of a Shinigami. Ichigo, who was well on his way to evolving as well, naturally had a better chance of affecting him.

"Getsuga Tenshō… I understand that attack now," Aizen stated loud enough for everyone to hear him as the Hōgyoku began to heal his wounds. "But now it is time for you all to understand my power."

Unseen by anyone, within the darkness of Ichigo's mask's eye holes, two amber eyes opened. He was awake. "You understand the Getsuga Tenshō?" he growled. "What you need to understand, Aizen, is that you've pissed me off." Aizen spun in shock, only to find Tensa Zangetsu lunging for the throat, covered in a Getsuga that promised to take his head off.

He ducked down, only to realize that Ichigo had apparently anticipated that and charged a tri-focused Cero at his fingers, aimed right for Aizen's head. "Oh, that's just not…"

"Cero!" Aizen managed to bring Kyoka Suigetsu up to help hold it off, but he was pushed back, hard, into the ground over a hundred feet down. But while the smoke had yet to clear, Ichigo lowered his horns and fired another two Ceros, as powerful as he could make them, at Aizen, then followed it up with a Getsuga Tenshō with its power as compressed as he could make it on short notice. No such thing as overkill, eh, Tensa Zangetsu?

"Ichigo! Overkill much?"

Apparently it was the Vizard's turn to be surprised, because Ichigo was completely taken aback when he saw his father dressed up in Shinigami robes with a taicho's haori on tied to his shoulder. "Dad?"

Urahara was barely able to hold back a snort of laughter – Ichigo had become the scariest combination of Shinigami and Hollow he'd ever seen, and to see that monstrous form's body language give off shock at seeing its completely Shinigami father tickled his sense of humor perfectly.

"Listen, I know you've got questions, Ichigo, but…"

"Save it! You're here, Aizen's probably still alive, you can explain when he's dead!" Ichigo told him.

"But…!"

"Unless something really bad is going to happen in the next few seconds, shut up and fight!"

"Yamamoto's going to torch this entire fake town within the minute using a trap designed to incinerate everyone in it, including Aizen no matter what illusion he spawns," Isshin explained in a matter-of-fact voice. "Bad enough?"

There was a moment of silence. "OK, that qualifies as really bad. Let's get out of here."

"Yoruichi!" Urahara called out. The Goddess of Shunpo appeared the next instant next to him, wearing strange, thick white armor from her knees down and her elbows out to envelop her hands. "Looks like Yamamoto-jii decided to take his turn. Time to leave."

"You got it." The pair of exiled Shinigami crouched down for a moment, then vanished at speeds of Shunpo that even Ichigo had trouble matching using his Gillian-masked Bankai.

"What about my friends?"

"The other taicho are getting them, Ichigo, now hurry up and go!"

Reassured of his friends' safety, Ichigo channeled his reiatsu and vanished into Shunpo himself. However, only Isshin heard a tiny sonic boom as well – Ichigo's Shunpo had been at least in small part a Sonido.

The elder Kurosaki paused for a moment, looking down at where Aizen had impacted the ground and been barraged by Ceros and a Getsuga just a few moments earlier. The shadowy figure of Aizen, obscured by the dust still settling, was getting up from the deep crater. Damn it.

Yamamoto appeared next to him in a flicker of pure Shunpo, Ryūjin Jakka drawn and an aura of fire around the aged Shinigami. The air suddenly seemed both hot and heavy, almost unbearably so. It was obvious that the soutaicho was taking this battle extremely seriously. "Kurosaki Isshin. I see that your son has regained his senses."

"Yeah." Despite the man having been willing to kill his son just a few moments ago, Isshin didn't really want Yamamoto to die. He was a strong Shinigami, and while Yamamoto was a bit old-fashioned, he truly did have Soul Society's and the living world's best interests at heart. Isshin understood the predicament Yamamoto was in – kill one man of questionable loyalty at best to destroy a threat that would happily kill thousands?

The soutaicho opened his eyes. "Go, Isshin. If Aizen escapes my trap, then you will be needed."

The younger Shinigami looked once at Yamamoto's expression, then nodded and flickered into Shunpo to follow his son.

With that distraction out of the way, Yamamoto flared his reiatsu so that Aizen would have no choice but to feel and see it. "Reduce All Creation to Ash, Ryūjin Jakka." It's time to spring this trap.

"Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni… " came Aizen's voice as he rose from the debris where Ichigo had repeatedly struck him, the last traces of high-speed regeneration revealing itself by healing a gash across his chest. "I'm surprised. If Ichigo-kun had kept up his assault, I'm not sure I would have survived. However, you have no chance."

"Oh? And how is that, Aizen Sōsuke?"

"Don't get me wrong, I recognize that you are extremely strong," Aizen went on. "Master of the strongest fire-type Zanpakuto, Ryūjin Jakka. In fact, in a one-on-one battle before my evolution, I would have lost, badly."

"And what makes you think that your 'evolution' is enough to best me?"

"Shall we see?"

Yamamoto swung his blade once and streams of fire leapt around the pair of them, apparently locking them inside a spherical prison of flame. "There is no escape this time, Aizen. No Negación, no Espada, nothing shall allow you to evade my blade."

"Nothing? I propose your death will allow it simply enough." Aizen let out a small, knowing smile.

"Hmph. Do you really think you can cut me down with only that much power?"

"I already have."

Yamamoto snarled angrily as he swung his fiery sword, flames lunging at Aizen, only for the image to shatter. Spinning around to counter, he was too late. Aizen's illusion-type Zanpakuto, Kyōka Suigetsu, entered Yamamoto's right lung with an almost surgical feel to it, as though Aizen were being careful and going slow to ensure he was cutting the right spot.

Yamamoto coughed up blood over Aizen's arm, but gripped it with his free hand. "I have you now."

"Are you sure?" Aizen suggested with another secretive smirk. "How can you know if this is illusion or not?"

"If I were relying on my skin, my ears or my eyes, I would be fooled by your Zanpakuto, Aizen Sōsuke… but there is one sense you have not blocked!" Yamamoto declared in his rumbling voice. "I can sense Kyōka Suigetsu, and I know that I hold onto the real you!"

"So what if you have?" Aizen asked, conceding the point. "Any damage you do to me will be regenerated by the Hōgyoku, whereas you will die."

"Not if I destroy your entire soul right here, right now."

Aizen snorted. "There is no Kido for that, and you are no Quincy!"

"No… but have you noticed any similarities between Ryūjin Jakka and the Sōkyoku?" Yamamoto queried, coughing a little more blood onto his beard.

Aizen's widening eyes showed the old Shinigami that he suddenly understood. "Intense heat…!"

"Oh yes," the venerable soutaicho agreed. "Heat so intense, it will vaporize your soul faster than you can regenerate."

"But this amount of heat you have here isn't enough," Aizen protested, regaining his confidence quickly.

"True…" Yamamoto tightened his grip while he dismissively gestured with Ryūjin Jakka to release the fire prison, and release the trap he'd set up. Over a dozen pillars of fire erupted in various points of the fake Karakura Town, and Yamamoto let loose a victorious grin that bared his teeth as he saw Aizen's rising panic. "But I am master of the strongest fire-type Zanpakuto."

"Wonderweiss!" Aizen summoned. "Come to me!"

Yamamoto waited – he had expected Aizen to have some sort of plan to deal with him, but was confident he could handle anything the traitor could throw at him. But even he was somewhat surprised when nothing happened.

"Wonderweiss!"

"It seems your backup plan has failed before it even had a chance to begin," Yamamoto judged.

Aizen couldn't believe this was happening! He'd designed Wonderweiss's Resurrección, Extinguir, to be the perfect counter to Yamamoto's Ryūjin Jakka! He'd known that Yamamoto would attempt to kill him with some overwhelming fire attack, and had planned to use Wonderweiss to not only stop it, but turn it against Yamamoto upon the modified Arrancar's inevitable demise! Calm down! Alright, let's assess the situation and make some options.

Wonderweiss was most likely dead. Kyōka Suigetsu was still lodged in Yamamoto's chest, and his arm was being gripped too hard to move it and kill the old soutaicho. Aizen couldn't see Gin anywhere, but figured that he was probably fighting someone at the moment… or busy escaping Yamamoto's trap. Ichigo was no longer berserk so he couldn't be directed to cut through Yamamoto to attack Aizen. Tōsen was likely dead as well. There was no one in the area besides himself and Yamamoto to use his hypnosis on. Yamamoto was too strong for most Kido. Aizen quickly ran through the list of Kido he knew, searching for a Bakudo strong enough to inhibit Yamamoto's reiatsu or force him to release his grip, or a Hado powerful enough to take Yamamoto's head off.

Several Bakudo that came to mind – One was Bakudo 79: Kuyō Shibari, but Aizen's proximity would mean that he too would be affected. Bakudo 63: Sajo Sabaku would have been more promising, if only it were a little more powerful – Yamamoto's pure brute strength would easily break it. Hakufuku, one of Hinamori Momo's specialties, was too weak to affect Yamamoto. Bakudo 99, Kin and Bankin, which both physically and spiritually bound their victims, would have been ideal, but they required hand seals which were at the moment unavailable due to Yamamoto's unbreakable grip. Those would have been perfect… Hold on.

Aizen began to smile. "Bakudo 99: Bankin."

"You bluff," Yamamoto snarled. "You cannot complete that Kido without hand seals!"

"Are you sure? First song: Shiryū!" Spiritual fabric manifested behind Aizen and flew towards Yamamoto, quickly wrapping him up from the bottom up, leaving only his head and the arm that held Aizen alone.

Yamamoto flared his reiatsu as high as he could. "Reduce All Creation to Ash, Ryūjin Jakka!" His loyal blade erupted into flames, burning the fabric, revealing the truth. "If this were true spiritual sealing fabric, Aizen, then I would have far more difficulty releasing my Zanpakuto. Even if I could, my fire would have difficulty burning it. Your illusion is useless, I will not let you go!"

"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu." The illusion shattered into so many pieces, shimmering in the air like painted glass as it fell away to reveal the truth – Aizen had not initiated the Bakudo. Aizen smiled again at Yamamoto. "I knew that would not work against you, though it would have been nice if it had. But you have failed to notice something."

"And what is that?"

Aizen held up his free hand, which held a flickering, black, electric-looking sort of Kido. "You gave me time to use this. Hado 90: Kurohitsugi!"

Black and purple lines quickly traced a tall box around Yamamoto, promptly filling the spaces between them with the darkness, obscuring all traces of Yamamoto save the arm that still gripped Aizen's arm like his life depended on it. Over a dozen spears, made of the same obsidian reiatsu, also manifested on to the box before promptly spearing inside it. But then, the darkness shattered just as Aizen's illusion had moments ago, revealing Yamamoto.

Aizen was unsurprised to see Yamamoto being barechested – he had focused most of the spears towards the torso to ensure the most damage – but he was shocked to see that the soutaicho was barely injured! There were scratches here and there, granted, but it seemed that the Kido had done almost nothing!

"I am the oldest, most powerful Shinigami alive," Yamamoto growled, the flames of his Zanpakuto growing even stronger. "I created the Shinigami Academy over two thousand years ago. I have had centuries, eons to grow ever stronger. Do you think that you are the first upstart to progress so far as to come to blows with me? It will take stronger Kido than that to defeat me! It is time to end this. Ennetsu Jigoku!"

The pillars of fire from earlier, which Aizen had nearly forgotten in his fervor to escape Yamamoto's grip, grew even brighter and taller before shooting flames at each other, creating a nigh-inescapable barrier of fire that began closing in on them and growing hotter by the second.

"Why are you doing this? You'll die too!" Aizen exclaimed.

"As loathe as I am to admit it, I am growing weaker. Slowly, yes, but it remains the truth. I would rather die ridding all the worlds of a threat, permanently, than die on my deathbed as I watch my subordinates fight for my position. In any case, I can no longer be sure that simply cutting off your head would be sufficient to kill you, with the Hōgyoku, and my technique will destroy that nuisance as well."

"Shoot to kill, Shinsō!"

Yamamoto's head snapped to his left, and saw the former taicho of the Third Squad lunging towards him, Shikai in hand as it lengthened at tremendous speed towards Yamamoto's skull!

A split second later, Ryūjin Jakka batted it away, towards Aizen in the hopes that Gin would accidentally kill the Hōgyoku-infused Shinigami. However, Yamamoto was grimly unsurprised to see that Gin had snapped back his Shikai to dagger length before it could strike Aizen.

"Aizen-san, allow me to assist."

"Ah, thank you Gin… once you've freed me, the easiest way out of this technique should be to simply kill him."

Yamamoto's scowl could have rivaled any of Kurosaki Ichigo's at that moment. He had two choices: hold onto Aizen and defend himself as best he could from a difficult position – it would be very easy for Gin to simply Shunpo to the side opposite his Zanpakuto and strike him from there – or he could let go of Aizen and work on surviving long enough for his Ennetsu Jigoku to finish. The decision was obvious.

Yamamoto quickly let go of his deadly opponent and pushed himself off of Kyōka Suigetsu. "Gin… for your traitorous actions, your punishment will be to perish with your precious master!"

"Sorry, Yamamoto-soutaicho," Aizen replied with a smile. "But Gin was never here."

Indeed, as the soutaicho was looking at where Ichimaru Gin had been, he saw the shattered fragments of Aizen's illusion fall away. His expression murderous, Yamamoto lunged for Aizen, Ryūjin Jakka's flames turning brighter as they took on a slightly more bluish tint in his rage. Despite the fires of hate and anger fueling his actions, Yamamoto did not forget to close his eyes and detect Aizen by way of spiritually sensing Kyōka Suigetsu. Behind his closed eyelids, the eyes glowed orange with the fire of his reiatsu as he called his Ennetsu Jigoku to continue.

At his will, the ring of fire that had trapped Aizen and Yamamoto in the area pulsed, and as one shot flames across the ground. Sparks and smoldering ash peppered the air as the flames rose to consume the buildings. No longer was it safe to land anywhere. Soon, my inferno will be complete. "You will not escape from me, Aizen!"