Shisui stared at the man ahead of him—Aizen.
Shinju had already sent him the intel through the group chat system.
Kyoka Suigetsu. Complete hypnosis. As long as you had seen the zanpakuto's release even once, you would forever fall under its domination.
An unsolvable ability—one that controlled the five senses and muddled everything.
Shisui knew Aizen had chosen him as the target.
Because across this entire battlefield, his Kotoamatsukami was the single most dangerous variable in the plan.
So Aizen had to remove him first.
A faint sound of reishi gathering whispered through the air.
Aizen raised the blade in his hand. That familiar smile rested on his face, as if he were inviting a friend to share a cup of tea.
"Kudakero, Kyoka Suigetsu."
The instant the words fell, Shisui felt the whole world twist.
It wasn't a visual change, and it wasn't an auditory anomaly.
It was a deeper sense of displacement—like someone had forcibly torn his soul from his body, then stuffed it into a carefully forged shell.
He knew it.
The hypnosis had begun.
He had prepared for this.
The intel Shinju gave him was his only weapon.
He couldn't close his eyes, and he couldn't stop himself from seeing the release.
So the only way to break through was to wait—wait until the enemy believed they had completely controlled him—
Then strike with a fatal blow.
Aizen's figure blurred… and split.
One. Two. Ten. A hundred.
Countless Aizens appeared from every direction, each wearing the same gentle smile, each radiating the same spiritual pressure.
They all raised their zanpakuto at once, blades flashing coldly as they stabbed from every possible angle.
A perfect encirclement.
Sight, sensing, even the feedback of spiritual pressure all screamed the same conclusion—
He was surrounded. There was nowhere to run.
Dodge in any direction, and you would collide with another deadly blade.
Shisui didn't move.
His mind was racing. Kyoka Suigetsu controlled the five senses, creating illusions so flawless they could not be distinguished.
Then striking at these phantoms was meaningless.
Trying to identify the real body among them was even more foolish.
Because under hypnosis, each one was real—and each one was fake.
Logic no longer functioned here. Analysis and judgment became toys in the enemy's hands.
So Shisui abandoned his eyes.
Abandoned his sensing.
He gathered every shred of focus into his blood-red left eye.
The Mangekyo—shaped like a four-pointed pinwheel—began to rotate slowly at an eerie rhythm.
"Captain Aizen, is it?"
Shisui's voice echoed through this mental space woven from illusion.
"Your genjutsu can dominate the five senses and create perfect falsehoods."
The hundred Aizens paused for a heartbeat, each face showing the same intrigued interest.
Shisui's left eye surged—his ocular power climbing to its peak.
"But have you ever considered…"
"If 'perception' itself can be rewritten?"
No hand seals. No extra words.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
An invisible force erupted in an instant.
This wasn't interference with the five senses, and it wasn't a blunt assault on the mind.
It was something higher—rewriting on a fundamental level.
A godlike power that distorted the enemy's will at the root.
It spread like a virus, invading the entire illusion world Aizen had constructed.
In the next moment—
The world collapsed.
The hundreds of Aizen phantoms melted like snow in sunlight, vanishing in an instant.
Their smiles froze into shock—then were swallowed by nothingness.
The space trembled violently. The false blue sky and white clouds cracked apart, revealing a chaotic underside.
Only one figure remained.
The real Aizen finally appeared.
Fine sweat beaded at his temple. His body retreated a half-step without control.
Shisui could feel it clearly—a powerful will was rampaging through Aizen's spiritual world.
That will was telling Aizen to abandon resistance, to lower his weapon, to offer everything to Shinju.
"Swear loyalty to Shinju."
That thought clung to Aizen's mind like a brand.
Even Aizen's prideful mental strength wavered.
Aizen's gaze changed sharply. He bit down on his tongue—pain snapping him back into clarity.
He severed his connection to Kyoka Suigetsu, forcibly interrupting the hypnosis.
The mental world shattered completely, and the two returned to the sky above Konoha.
Aizen looked slightly disheveled as he stared at Shisui, gravity settling into his eyes.
"A remarkable dojutsu," he said with genuine praise. "To interfere with my Kyoka Suigetsu… and even affect my will."
Shisui breathed lightly.
Kotoamatsukami's cost was immense—but he had succeeded.
He had broken Kyoka Suigetsu, and even made this unfathomable man reveal an opening.
He'd won.
The moment that thought rose, a chill surged through his entire body.
Something was wrong.
He stared at the "disheveled, sweating" Aizen—
And his heart sank.
Everything had been too smooth.
From the moment he used Kotoamatsukami, to the collapse of Aizen's illusion world, to Aizen's shocked retreat—
It all felt like a script already written.
A voice carrying quiet amusement sounded behind him.
"When did you…"
Shisui's body went rigid.
"…start believing you were under the illusion that I never used Kyoka Suigetsu?"
In the instant those words landed, Shisui's world changed again.
The "retreating Aizen" shattered like glass, dissolving into a swarm of butterflies that scattered into the air.
Nothing else changed.
Konoha's silhouette, the sky's clouds—everything looked exactly the same as before.
Only one thing was different.
Aizen himself was standing in the position where he had first been.
He hadn't moved a single step.
That gentle smile still rested on his face.
Not a trace of disarray.
As if that heart-stopping clash of illusion and willpower had been—
From start to finish—
Nothing but Shisui's one-man show.
Shisui had faced countless enemies, but he had never encountered anything this thorny.
He had used Kotoamatsukami. He had "broken" Aizen's hypnosis. He had "seen" Aizen's shock and retreat.
And it had all been false.
All of it was simply another layer of Kyoka Suigetsu.
He thought he had escaped the first trap—
Only to fall into a second, deeper one.
Aizen had even calculated Shisui's "victory," his trump card, into the illusion—letting him experience it fully—
Then mercilessly telling him it had only been a dream.
What terrifying control.
What deeper, colder calculation.
Shisui turned with difficulty, staring at the uninjured man.
"You… when did you…?"
"From the moment you saw my zanpakuto's release, everything about you—your five senses, your thoughts…"
"Even the 'victory' you believed in…"
"…was already under my control."
"Everything you just experienced, including the feeling that you defeated me with your dojutsu…"
"That reality you found so convincing…"
"…was nothing more than a little after-dinner entertainment I prepared for you."
Shisui's heart sank into the abyss.
He wasn't facing a man.
He was facing a monster who had refined illusion to its absolute peak.
The most terrifying enemy was the one you couldn't see—
And Aizen had made it so Shisui couldn't even confirm where he truly stood.
Aizen slowly lifted his gaze toward the heavens, an indifferent look of one who looked down on all living beings.
"In heaven and earth… there is no such thing as a 'king.'"
"Don't you find it empty?"
"I cannot tolerate a vacant throne."
His eyes returned to Shisui—like he was looking at an insect.
"So… I will stand at the top."
An invisible pressure crushed down on Shisui, making it hard to breathe.
This wasn't spiritual pressure.
It was something higher—a sense of absolute disparity, rooted in the essence of existence itself.
Just as despair began to swallow him, Shinju's voice came clearly through the communicator.
"Shisui, calm down. This opponent isn't simple—don't rush for a quick win."
Shisui's unraveling mind steadied, turning calmer and calmer.
"As expected of Aizen. His realm is above yours. And he still hasn't gone all out—he's only testing," Shinju continued.
"But you're not without a chance. Kotoamatsukami did affect him—otherwise he wouldn't have used a second layer of illusion to confuse you. That alone proves your power can threaten him."
"Listen. Your job isn't to defeat him."
"You only need to stall him—keep him from interfering with the other battlefields."
"Hold your mind steady. Don't let his words or illusions shake your foundation."
"Remember—you're not fighting alone."
Shinju's words swept away the gloom in Shisui's heart.
Shisui looked back at Aizen, clarity returning to his eyes.
"I understand, Aizen-taichō. It seems… our battle has only just begun."
Aizen's brow lifted slightly, surprised that his opponent had regained his footing so quickly.
He smiled, saying nothing more.
The game had become more interesting.
Elsewhere, on another battlefield, savage spiritual pressure and boiling battle intent surged into the sky.
A tall man with a wild hairstyle and an eyepatch hoisted a massive serrated zanpakuto on his shoulder.
A feral grin split his face as his gaze locked onto a figure in a green bodysuit.
Kenpachi drank in that beastlike power inside his opponent—pure, violent, absolute.
It made his blood burn with excitement.
"Hey, you bushy-browed guy!"
His voice was filled with undisguised hunger.
"Come on—let's slaughter each other!"
The man he was staring at—Guy—flashed gleaming white teeth and raised his stance.
Youth was about to ignite—
In the fiercest way possible.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!] [[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]