After Aizen let out a furious roar, his entire body began undergoing a terrifying transformation.
A new slit opened on his forehead, resembling a third eye, and his entire head turned pitch black.
Three Hollow-like circular holes appeared on his upper torso, with the Hōgyoku embedded in the highest one, radiating waves of lavender light.
From each of his six massive butterfly wings, a grotesque skeletal head emerged at the base of the wing's ridge.
At this moment, Aizen's Reiatsu had completely changed—he now felt like a transcendent being.
A powerful surge of spiritual pressure erupted from him, sending fierce gusts of wind sweeping outward.
Aaron's body also began to emit a radiant glow. He calmly observed Aizen's transformation and nodded slightly.
He was curious—just how powerful had Aizen become in this final fusion state?
Before Aaron could think further, Aizen vanished in an instant, reappearing before him in a blink.
Six violet spheres of energy condensed in the skeletal mouths at each wing's base and launched toward Aaron in the blink of an eye.
Yet when the six orbs struck him, it was as if drops of water had fallen into the ocean—they vanished without a trace.
"What? How is that possible?! Why did you absorb the Radiant Destruction fused with Hōgyoku's power?" Aizen muttered in disbelief, but he showed no intention of ceasing his attack.
A violent wave of white Reiatsu erupted from his body, rapidly spiraling into a four-layered barrier of solid spiritual pressure that enclosed Aaron.
Then, the six wings behind Aizen began to distort, undergoing further grotesque changes.
Each wing now pulsated with a sinister life force, coiling around the Reiatsu ring to seal off every possible escape route for Aaron.
The skeletal heads atop the wings twisted slowly, releasing bursts of lavender light saturated with destructive energy.
Just as Aizen reached out to seize Aaron's neck, four brilliant curtains of light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping them both.
An overwhelming spiritual pressure, far stronger than Aizen's, flooded the area in an instant, and Aaron's Reiatsu began to rise explosively.
Buzz.
With a violent hum, the space around them warped, resonating with strange vibrations.
Aizen, stunned by Aaron's overwhelming presence, tried to draw upon the remaining Hōgyoku power within him.
But to his horror—he couldn't move.
Shing.
Aaron's Reiatsu became like a razor-sharp blade, slicing through the wings sprouting from Aizen's back.
Amid a scream of agony, hundreds of wounds tore across Aizen's body.
Though they healed quickly, they split open again the moment they closed.
"No matter how strong you are, you can't kill me!
The Hōgyoku grants perfect regeneration—you can't comprehend it!
Even if you cut me in half, even if you disintegrate me, I will still revive!
Because the Hōgyoku has accepted me—I am immortal now!" Aizen screamed hysterically through his pain.
Aaron showed no emotion in response to Aizen's declaration.
With a motion like drawing a blade, he cleanly sliced off Aizen's head. Within seconds, Aizen regenerated once more.
"I told you—you can't kill me!
Do you even understand what it means to possess an immortal body?
You might torment me now, but once I fully merge with the Hōgyoku, I swear—I'll tear your body apart!" Aizen, resurrected again, growled bitterly.
Without a word, Aaron reached out and grasped Aizen by the throat.
Then he spoke slowly, "Since you've fully merged with the Hōgyoku… I won't hold back."
Aaron's body began to resemble a humanoid black hole, releasing an unfathomable gravitational pull, greedily absorbing every ounce of power within Aizen.
The four-colored light curtain enclosing them blazed brilliantly, and a small black thundercloud formed above Aaron's head within the golden light above.
All of Karakura Town's shadow world began to tremble. Purple lightning bolts, like ancient dragons, crashed from the heavens, drawn toward Aaron.
Lavender energy poured out of Aizen's body, flowing like a stream into Aaron's core.
The pure white Reiatsu surged like boiling water, spiraling toward Aaron's mouth.
Aizen could only watch helplessly as he regressed, his body reverting to its form before his fusion with the Hōgyoku.
"No! No! No! My Hōgyoku power!
It accepted me as its master!
How—how is this happening?!
No! This is impossible!!!" Aizen cried out in utter despair.
Aaron looked at the frenzied Aizen with quiet detachment and gently shook his head.
He said, "Don't worry. I'm only taking the Hōgyoku's power—I won't harm you."
No one knew how much time had passed when Aizen slowly looked up again, his expression empty.
He had felt it—the bond between him and the Hōgyoku had been completely severed.
He looked at Aaron with hollow eyes, hopeless and broken.
The Karakura Town shadow world gradually returned to peace, and the anomalies around Aaron dissipated one by one.
"Why? Why could you absorb my Hōgyoku power?
Tell me… why?" Aizen asked faintly, his voice trembling.
Aaron tossed Aizen to the ground as if discarding garbage and replied softly, "Power."
Aizen slumped to the ground, his gaze lifeless, like a walking corpse without a soul.
At some unknown moment, a tranquil lake had formed beneath them. The sky and earth became mirror-like, reflecting each other.
After a while, a single drop of azure water floated into Aaron's Zanpakutō.
He sheathed his blade, glanced at the shattered world around him, and vanished in a flash.
The Karakura Town shadow world descended into utter darkness, eventually fading into complete nothingness.
Within the inner world of the Zanpakutō, a drop of blue dew fell from a four-colored flower onto the grass below.
In that realm, a young Aizen—clad in a student's uniform—waited excitedly for his entrance exam at the Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy.
The blue dew, having merged with the grass, reappeared atop the flower's petals once again.
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