Chapter 71 – Ichigo Vs Aizen – 2
Ichigo, who had been fighting against Aizen, abruptly stopped, the ever-rising spiritual pressure disappeared.
"Kurosaki-Kun?" Orihime flew up with Jun, appearing behind him, protecting him with her shield. She worriedly looked towards Ichigo, "Why did your spiritual pressure disappear?"
Ichigo shook his head at Orihime, turning his eyes towards his brother, "Since when have you been following us?"
"Since I entered your room," Jun shrugged, "You really thought that I didn't feel the presence of that Invitation?"
Ichigo smiled, shifting his eyes towards Aizen, asking Jun, "Stay back and keep Orihime safe. I will end this once and for all."
Jun raised his eyebrow, "I don't like you. You should be so confident."
Ichigo chuckled, instantaneously appearing in front of the barrier, looking at Aizen, "It's over, Aizen."
"Over? You seem to have evolved further," Aizen stared at Ichigo. If he hadn't seen the process, he wouldn't have believed it. Once, something similar happened with Decimo, so he knew what this meant.
"Surrender? Don't underestimate me, Kurosaki Ichigo!! Hado#90 Kurohitsugi!!"
Ichigo looked around, watching a dark box cover him in the darkness, the intense gravity twisted space-time. Still, it couldn't get through his spiritual pressure. He slashed his sword, effortlessly breaking Kurohitsugi.
He moved at high speed, appearing in front of Aizen, slashing towards Aizen, who tried to block. But his hand was smashed backward, torn from his body.
Ichigo used the dull side of the sword, slamming him towards the right, hurling Aizen's body down the ground. He appeared at the center of the crater where Aizen was, "It's over."
"You understand-" Aizen was raising his body when he heard a whisper, "Sokyoku, Grow."
Aizen looked up, watching Sokyoku's massive blade falling on him, cutting his body into two.
"Burn."
Intense fire wrapped around him, destroying his soul. For the first time in his life, Aizen felt fear of being killed before his goal had been achieved.
Just when he thought he was going to die, he shouted, "Decimooo!!!!"
The fire burned even hotter, destroying his body, but the Hogyoku erupted, disappearing. It appeared in the air, reforming Aizen's body with wings. Aizen had a hole in the center of his chest with a cross in the middle of it. The form-fitting white robe enveloped Aizen in his past two forms lengthened and flared out at the ends. In this form, Aizen's irises vanish, as well as his eyebrows and the hair curl which usually hangs over his face. There is a diamond-shaped object embedded in his forehead. Aizen has gained three sets of butterfly-like wings.
"See, that's why you should have killed him when you had the time," Jun chided, taking Sokyoku in his hand, looking up at flying Aizen.
"This time, I will," Ichigo finally steeled himself on the idea that he would have to kill Aizen to stop him.
Aizen, who had been watching them, looked towards the side where there was nothing, "Decimo."
"Yeah?" Decimo appeared, sitting on a throne, with Roka and Nel standing on his side each.
"How much do you understand about Hogyoku?"
"Enough to know that death was the only way to make you evolve further. But then again, I can't interfere with that fragment; he still hasn't reached his peak or the same level as me."
Ichigo frowned, looking towards Decimo, "Fragment?"
Aizen didn't answer that, nor did Decimo, when Aizen teleported in front of Ichigo, their swords meeting. The force of collision vaporized the land around them, "You have no need to know that."
Jun stopped back, watching the two vaporize everything around them, staring at the Hokyoku.
He always knew that once Aizen merged with the Hogyoku, there was no end to the levels of powers he could reach. The only way to defeat him was to destroy Hogyoku or seal it. He closed his eyes, running scenarios through his mind, until he found an interesting one, "Ichigo, kill him again."
"Ok," Ichigo effortlessly caught the sword Aizen was swinging, cutting down from his shoulder to waist.
Aizen teleported away, floating in the air, when Ichigo asked, "Why are you backing away? All the power you gained, is it all just so you could back away?"
"I see...are you pleased that stopped my sword?" Aizen's hand fused with zanpakuto trembled in anger, "Are you pleased that you scarred my body?! Don't be so full of yourself! Hummmmmmmmaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He dead jerked to the side, an eye appeared on his forehead, his head twitching, his eye closed, opening, his face breaking as Aizen screamed. A pillar of purple energy burst out from him; Aizen takes on a distinctively Hollow-like form in this form. The diamond-shaped point breaks open, revealing a vertical black third eye upon the center of Aizen's forehead. The skin on his face splits open down the middle and pulls back around the sides of his head to reveal a blackened, demon-like skull. Aizen gains three holes running vertically down his chest, the Hōgyoku standing at the center of the top hole. Aizen's feet become single claws, and his hands and feet become blackened, with his right hand fusing with his Zanpakutō. Aizen's butterfly-like wings change into a set of six sheet-like wings, with eyes set upon the center, adorned with Hollow-like skulls and trailing into tendrils. Aizen no longer has any semblance of clothing in this form, and his musculature becomes more defined.
Ichigo put his swords together, not even faced; he spoke two words in calmness, "Tensa Zangetsu."
There was no burst of spiritual energy, no breakage, but simple transformation.
Tensa Zangetsu takes the form of a khyber knife variation; the smaller black blade comprises the inner part of the sword and has the handle, which resembles a regular Katana's. The sword's base is slanted, and the edge continues with a section jutting out from the underside as a guard. A chain attached to it looped over the top and connected right before the point of the blade.
He held it with both hands and used the two-handed kenjutsu swing that his father taught him. Blue energy rose from the ground, cutting everything in the view into two, even Aizen.
Two sides of Aizen's body fell to the ground, trying to fuse back, "Kurosaki Ichigo...you are strong... powerful. But you will never defeat me...do you see my Zanpakuto?"
Ichigo looked towards the katana that was disappearing, "I don't need my Zanpakuto anymore! I have surpassed both Shinigami and Hollows!!!"
"The World," Jun's voice echoed in the silence, and Aizen felt something disappear. He looked down at his chest, seeing the missing Hogyoku; he looked up towards Jun. His hand stretched out to his right, holding the Hogyoku, "Everything in the world is mine to take."
Aizen coughed out blood, healing, standing on his feet, "You might take Hogyoku, but it belongs to me. It has a will of its own."
"True," Jun didn't deny that, "Without Ichigo weakening you, I didn't have the strength to take the Hogyoku. But I am not taking it to use."
Transparent weapons appeared around him, floating, circling, "I spent the whole day copying Sokyoku and seal Espada's in their weapons, just perfecting the sealing."
Blut vein appeared on his arm, his body, heart, spreading to Hogyoku, "I can't use it, but I can use myself to seal Hogyoku. Make sure you can't use it either. As for you..."
Three shadows rose from the ground, forming the three gates, each holding a different group, "Geez, Jun-Chan, calling us when everything is over?"
Shinji stepped in with his Vizards, looking towards the other gate at Kisuke walking in, "To think this day would come, and without so many sacrifices."
"Aizen," Yamamoto walked in with the rest of the Captains and Vice-Captains, "It's over."
Tosen lunged in the middle of the group, standing beside Aizen, "Decimo! Help us!"
Decimo looked down on them, his eyes meeting with Aizen, who smiled, closing his eyes, "I see, so that's your decision. This is the matter of Soul Society and between your Shinigami's. Take him and leave."
Yamamoto looked up at Decimo, "Do you think you will get away?"
Ichigo appeared in front of Yamamoto, stopping him, "Old man, can you feel his spiritual pressure?"
Yamamoto frowned, and the other Captain's gazes were attached to Decimo.
"On that point, we can't feel yours or Aizen's too," Shunsui held his hat, thinking of a possibility.
"Well, I can," Ichigo shook his head, "Trust me, that is someone we don't want to mess with. Even I am not sure that I can fight or win against him. Since he's not against us, my suggestion is to leave him alone."