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[Crossover] Ch 41: Time Is Up
🕑 Added 2025-05-25 22:36:42 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
"Captain Aizen? Why are you here?!"
Toshiro Hitsugaya's voice was a mix of shock and fury. Then his sharp eyes caught sight of something behind Aizen—a body lying in a pool of blood.
Flash
With a swift shunpo, he appeared beside the fallen figure, and his pupils shrank in horror.
"Momo…"
Lying there, barely recognizable, was Hinamori Momo.
Aizen turned his head slightly, still wearing that calm, unsettling smile.
"Ah… sorry you had to see something so unpleasant. I should've just made her ashes."
"AAAH! AIZEN!!!"
Hitsugaya roared, drawing his zanpakuto.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
"I'd advise against bluffing like that," Aizen said casually, still smiling. "It only makes you look weak."
Reiatsu exploded from Hitsugaya like a blizzard—
"Bankai—Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!!"
Blue ice crystals surged behind him, forming massive wings as his Bankai took shape. Sword in hand, he lunged at Aizen with a cry of rage!
And at that exact moment, Aizen calmly slid his blade back into its sheath.
SPLURT!
Blood sprayed.
Hitsugaya's arms flew off his body, severed in an instant.
"How pitiful," Aizen said, sounding more disappointed than triumphant.
"A single emotional outburst and you've already lost your composure… I overestimated you, Hitsugaya."
Hitsugaya's body hit the ground with a dull thud, blood pooling around him.
Standing nearby, Gin Ichimaru—who'd been pretending not to exist—let out a faint chuckle.
"Well, well, looks like we've been discovered again, Captain Aizen."
From the corridor behind them, Unohana Retsu appeared, walking calmly beside a stunned and silent Kotetsu Isane.
"You really fooled everyone, didn't you… Aizen Sosuke."
Unohana walked right past Aizen and began healing Hitsugaya and Momo, while Aizen simply adjusted his glasses.
"This world was built on lies from the start. You deceive, I deceive—it's only fair."
As Unohana worked, her eyes swept over the devastated remains of the Central 46 chambers, strewn with bodies.
"So… you're done hiding, then?"
"There's no point anymore."
Aizen turned his back without urgency.
"Gin. Let's begin."
With a smirk, Gin released a flurry of bandages and invoked a space-transfer kido. The two vanished—bound for Sokyoku Hill.
Unohana sighed softly. "Isane, alert everyone."
Isane nodded and quickly activated a wide-range broadcast kido:
"Attention, everyone: Former 5th Division Captain Aizen Sosuke and former 3rd Division Captain Ichimaru Gin have betrayed the Soul Society. They are currently en route to Sokyoku Hill. All Divisions are to engage and apprehend immediately!"
"Repeat, this is not a drill—"
— — —
Sokyoku Hill.
Yamamoto, his body covered in severe burns, looked up toward the sky, sensing something.
"…Aizen? Ichimaru?"
Behind him, a figure appeared—Ryo Yagami—wearing a smirk.
"Looking for someone?"
Without warning, Ryo's hand pierced through Yamamoto's chest.
But—
"Did you really think I'd drop my guard so easily?" Yamamoto roared.
"Zanka no Tachi, North—Tenchi Kaijin!!"
His blade ignited with terrifying force, spirit energy condensing into a cataclysmic slash meant to cleave Ryo in two.
The strike descended like divine judgment—
But it hit nothing.
Yamamoto's eyes widened.
Twenty meters behind him, Ryo stood perfectly unharmed.
"Utsusemi—pretty handy, isn't it?" he mocked. "Shame you didn't expect me to use your own escape trick."
"You… arrogant bastard!"
Even Yamamoto, the strongest Shinigami, seethed with fury at being fooled by his own move.
SLASH!
A deep gash tore across Yamamoto's chest.
"Damn you!" He staggered back, healing himself with kido, prepared to go out with a BANG if he had to.
But Ryo didn't press the attack. Instead, he twisted aside just in time to dodge a surprise stab from Kyōraku Shunsui.
"Aw, guess I've been spotted," Shunsui sighed.
Ryo responded with a palm strike—no contact, just air pressure.
Yet the force of it created a brutal shockwave that slammed into Shunsui, nearly slicing him in half.
From behind, Ukitake Jushiro emerged, casting "Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō" to bind Ryo in place.
"NOW!" Ukitake shouted.
Soifon and Shihoin Yoruichi appeared, lightning-fast, activating Shunkō as they aimed for Ryo's limbs.
Kuchiki Byakuya joined the fray, scattering Senbonzakura like a deadly sakura storm.
Above, Komamura Sajin's Bankai—Kokujō Tengen Myoo—brought down a massive blade toward Ryo's head.
But amidst the chaos, Ryo just smirked.
"…How laughable."
He flexed his arms—shattering Ukitake's binding spell in an instant. Ukitake coughed blood violently.
In the same motion, Ryo's hands clamped around Soifon and Yoruichi's throats, the crushing force nearly snapping their necks.
Then he looked up—and headbutted Komamura's massive blade.
With a thunderous CRACK, the weapon shattered like glass.
By the time Kuchiki Byakuya's petals closed in, Ryo had already vanished—sonido fast.
He reappeared behind Kuchiki Byakuya and delivered a brutal kick that sent the captain crashing into the ground.
In less than three seconds, six captains had been taken out.
And just as victory seemed certain, Ryo felt something—an ominous premonition.
Looking down, he saw the person in his grasp was no longer Soifon—it was Yamamoto.
"Utsusemi-switch! Got you!"
With a roar, Yamamoto drove Zanka no Tachi toward Ryo's heart.
CLANG!
A deafening metallic ring echoed through the sky.
Yamamoto's eyes went wide in disbelief.
Ryo smiled coldly.
"You think I didn't notice the spatial distortion just now?"
"Then take this—!" Yamamoto shouted.
"Zanka no Tachi, East—Kyokujitsujin!!"
Twenty million degrees of solar heat channeled through his blade, all his Reiatsu compressed into a point and fired at Ryo's chest.
And then—The flame was claimed.
The immense heat of Zanka no Tachi vanished as Ryo took control of it with ease.
Ryo sneered.
"Trying to play with fire… in front of ME? How foolish."
For the first time, Yamamoto felt completely powerless.
He finally understood—From the very beginning, he never had a chance.
Even the strongest fire-type zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka, was powerless before the being standing before this Ryo Yagami.
No… not powerless. There was still a chance. If he self-destructed—burned everything, including himself—Ryo would have to suffer the consequences too.
Even a god couldn't walk away unscathed from a suicide blast of that scale!
A flicker of resolve sparked in Yamamoto's eyes.
But then—
A calm voice cut through the tension.
"You can stand down now, Ryo. Our goal is already achieved."
Yamamoto turned sharply.
Aizen stood before Rukia, holding a glowing, multi-faceted jewel—the Hōgyoku.
A strange tree had sprouted from Rukia's abdomen, withering as they watched.
"Fascinating," Aizen mused. "This technique doesn't even harm the host."
"Ryoooo Yagamiii! Hahaha! Come fight me already!!"
Out of nowhere, Kenpachi Zaraki burst onto the scene, laughing madly, eager for battle.
"Wow, someone slipped through the net," Aizen remarked as he waved Kyōka Suigetsu.
SPLURT.
Kenpachi blinked in confusion. He wasn't facing Ryo Yagami—he had just sliced Yamamoto.
"Time is up."
Aizen's voice was cool and final.
Ryo raised an eyebrow just as Mayuri's daughter, Nemu, appeared beside him.
"…That fast already?" Ryo murmured, knowing the rendezvous window had arrived.
RIIIP—
The sky over Soul Society tore open.
And from the rift, the faces of the Hollows emerged.
.
.
.
