"Hoooo...as expected from the Captain of the Onmitsukidō..." hummed Aizen, sporting a relaxed, confident smile as his Zanpakuto pierced the back of Sui-Feng's 2nd Division Captain's haori, discarded as she took evasive action.
"Aizen...you treacherous snake..." hissed Sui-Feng, reappearing in front of a kindly-looking woman with soft features, blue eyes that drooped at the ends, and somewhat round black hair worn in a large braid down the front of her body. The woman, Unohana Retsu, was Captain of the 4th Division and presently the most accomplished healer in the Soul Society, so there were few better suited to healing the deep puncture wound in Sui-Feng's left shoulder.
Disregarding Sui-Feng's comment, Aizen peered over his right shoulder, where two other Captains, a handsome but dandy-looking middle-aged man modeling a flowery pink kimono over his haori and a notably pretty man with pitch-black hair bound by a trio of white hair ornaments called kenseikan(pulled star inserts), blocked the massive, nearly indestructible double doors he had entered through.
"Aizen Sosuke...for the crimes of betraying the Soul Society and failing to uphold the honor and integrity of the Thirteen Court Guard Divisions, you have been found guilty and will now be executed..." stated Yamamoto, his Reiatsu surging outward, drastically increasing the temperature within the spacious hall despite his Zanpakuto still being sealed.
'This is somewhat troublesome...' thought Aizen, his smile unchanged but a slight unease suffusing his mind. He was confident that he could open a path to escape, but he couldn't evade Yamamoto and recover Rukia at the same time. The man might look like a strong breeze could knock him over, but his speed, power, and fiery Reiatsu were second only to his own...
Interrupting Aizen's thoughts, causing him to turn only his sharp brown eyes, a massive, heavily armored figure wearing a ceramic Komuso helmet appeared to his left using Shunpo, his inordinately large Zanpakuto slicing through the air with extreme speed.
"This isn't a stage someone like you can stand on..." stated Aizen, raising his left arm to block the man's, Captain Komamura Sajin's, blade with his wrist while pointing his right index finger at him across his body, his deep voice producing an eerie resonance as he punctuated his statement with a curt, "Kokurai(Void Lightning)..."
Contrasting the usual Hado #4, Byakurai(Pale Lighting), Aizen's custom version of the technique produced a light-absorbing black streak with an amethyst hue that seemed to seep into the space surrounding it. The end result was a near-instantaneous attack that not only penetrated the more than three-meter-tall figure's burly body with ease but violently drew the surrounding flesh toward it like a cylindrical singularity, exacerbating what should have been a cauterized wound.
"Uwaghk—"
Though he didn't fall, a fair amount of blood erupted from the slats in Komamura's mask after he forced himself to leap back, sliding backward across the stone floor as blood cascaded like a waterfall from his gaping wound.
At the same time that Komamura leaped back, the dandy-looking man, Kyoraku Shunsui, attacked Aizen from behind using a pair of oversized scimitars with a distinct curve, silvery edges, and notably, nearly circular gaps in the blades' spines. Aizen was quick enough to turn and block the surprise attack, intercepting and promptly parrying Kyoraku's first blade, but he was forced to retreat rather than launching a counter as Ukitake, wielding twin Zanpakuto of his own, perfectly matched the timing of the former's attack to flank him.
"Going on the offensive...that isn't like you, Captain Ukitake..." remarked Aizen, his eyes narrowing as he noticed Ukitake's complexion had notably improved from its characteristic pallidness.
"Hado #4, Byakurai..." came a stoic voice, causing Aizen to seethe within as he was forced to Shunpo to evade a streak of pale white lightning that wouldn't have seriously injured him but might have drilled a hole through his clothes, ruining his composed look.
"And now a sneak attack from the 28th Head of the Kuchiki Clan...not very noble of you, Byakuya-san..." hummed Aizen, appearing before the man with pitch-black hair and exceedingly sharp, slate-grey eyes. Ordinarily, very little could break the man's, Kuchiki Byakuya's, composure, but when he blocked Aizen's Zanpakuto, causing his legs to nearly give out beneath him and the edge to cut into his right shoulder, his eyes briefly widened to their limits.
"You're one to talk about sneak attacks and keeping secrets.." remarked Shunsui, coordinating with Ukitake to force Aizen away from Byakuya before contending, "With power like this, you could have eventually risen to the rank of Captain-Commander or a member of the Royal Guard. Why did you betray us?"
"Betray you...?" repeated Aizen, his smile gaining a hint of amusement as he countered, "That implies I was ever on your side when, in reality, my becoming a Captain was simply a means to an end. As for what that end is—I'm afraid you'll have to ascertain that yourself. I'm not sure how you learned of my treachery or how to neutralize my Zanpakuto, but when the sun sets on the Soul Society's final days, I will be the one standing at the top, ushering in the dawn of a new era..."
"The only thing you will be is ashes, scattered in the wind..." asserted Yamamoto, rising from his high-backed, throne-like chair with unhurried, almost mechanically smooth movements that belied his elderly, ancient appearance. Even if he had been against every other Captain combined, Aizen would still have been certain of his victory. However, when it came to Yamamoto alone, he estimated his chances of victory to be around 7-3, with sufficient prep time. Without it, he had 2-8 odds to emerge from the battle without serious injury and 4-6 to win...
'Once I learn who is responsible for exposing my plans, they will suffer beyond compare...' resolved Aizen, his smile fading, replaced by a look of unequaled severity in the face of Yamamoto's fiery Reiatsu, which, when fully unleashed, could purportedly rival the sun in temperature.
Followed by his club-like cane dispersing, Yamamoto gripped the dark-purple handle of his Zanpakuto, sheathed in a brown saya, and growled, "Reduce All of Creation to Ash...Ryūjin Jakka...!" in his aged, gravelly tone. At the same time, his fiery Reiatsu burst into actual flames, forming a veil that left him untouchable to conventional attacks.
With the unsheathing of his Zanpakuto, similarly wreathed in flames, Yamamoto veritably turned the interior of the meeting room into an oven, causing discomfort to everyone present. Less notably, though they all felt it, the Reishi forming their spiritual bodies depleted rapidly in the form of evaporating sweat, causing even Aizen to feel weakened.
"I wasn't planning to reveal this, but these circumstances have left me with few alternatives..." remarked Aizen, surprising everyone present by holding his Zanpakuto in a reverse grip and aiming its tip at his chest. In the very next moment, he appeared to stab himself in the heart, stating, "Cast your Reflection upon All of Creation...Kyōka Suigetsu: Tengoku no Kagami..." as space around him cracked, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.
"Enough with your tricks...!" bellowed Yamamoto, moving as a sweeping streak of flame, backed by unstoppable momentum as he sliced through Aizen's body.
"My dear Captain-Commander..." said Aizen, his face fragmenting as he confidently asserted, "As I said before, this is merely the opening act to the Soul Society's end..."
Seeing Aizen shatter to pieces that promptly melted due to the heat of Yamamoto's flames, a still-injured but battle-hungry Sui-Feng exclaimed, "What's the meaning of this!? I thought we were immune to the effects of his Zanpakuto!?"
"Foolish girl...did you believe the only illusions were those your senses could perceive?" asked Aizen, materializing a short distance from where Sui-Feng was being treated by Unohana, protected by a pyramid-shaped barrier.
Spreading his arms as if he were untouchable, Aizen allowed Shunsui and Ukitake to stab him with their four swords, an enraptured smile adorning his face as he tilted his head back and stated, "No...when reality itself is built atop a shaky or false foundation, it is no different from an illusion—a delusion we bind ourselves to."
After shattering a second time, a third Aizen appeared atop Yamamoto's high-backed throne, cross-legged and smiling with his cheek resting on the knuckles of his right hand as he stated, "And if reality is an illusion, it falls upon those with the ability to see through it to break free. As insects bound by the laws of causality and societal constructs, all your lot can do is play the parts given to you. As for me...I shall lay a foundation for a new world—built by the strong for the strong. That has and forever will be the natural order of things..."
Following Aizen's words, a vortex of flames enveloped him, rising from the ground to form a cacoon where he was seated, their internal temperature reaching several tens of thousands of degrees.
"You're too late..." remarked Aizen, reappearing next to Byakuya, causing the stoic Kuchiki to immediately bifurcate him with a swift, diagonal slash as he confidently revealed, "My Bankai, Tengoku no Kagami, reflects the power of my Kyoka Suigetus onto reality itself with certain restrictions in place. Your attacks can no longer reach me, but in exchange, mine cannot reach you. After all, in a world of illusions, how does one illusion cut down another?"
To demonstrate his point, the new Aizen appeared behind Komamura, his voice full of amusement as he tapped the much larger man's back with his right index finger and said, "Though if you embrace the illusion, the pain is very real...Hado Number 90, Kurohitsugi..."
Following Aizen's words, Komamura was abruptly enveloped in a black box that emitted the same purple glow as the Kokurai that pierced him previously. A split second later, a jarring sound of space tearing echoed through the hall as spikes violently protruded from the box, preempting its rapid dispersion.
"Aizen...you bastard..." groaned Komamura, blood erupting from his mouth and numerous wounds across his body as he fell to his knees, his ceramic fragmenting to reveal the pained visage of an anthropomorphic wolf with brown and beige fur.
"This is the fate of those who accept the reality before them..." appended Aizen, stepping on the severely injured Komamura's back before the wolf-man, demonstrating the former's point by refusing to accept the situation, promptly reappeared behind him, sword raised.
Not wanting to give Komamura the satisfaction of cutting him down, Aizen effortlessly evaded the enraged Captain's highly telegraphed swing using Shunpo, relocating to the room's center. There, he tolerated Yamamoto's flames within attacking distance as he flatly expressed, "I'm not sure how you uncovered my treachery, but I will promise you this—you would have regretted it less if you simply yielded to the stagnation that has driven this society to the brink of collapse. Now, instead of watching it crumble from the inside, you will watch it burn—"
Though Aizen was already finished speaking, Yamamoto quite literally cut him off by beheading the man with a swing of his sword that was so quick it left a visible line through the space it had sliced through. He had hoped such a refined slash would overwrite the effects of Aizen's Bankai, but the hazel-eyed traitor held his gaze with a carefree smile before the sound of glass shattering once again echoed throughout the hall...
...
..
.
'Holy shit...' thought Vahn, slightly slackjawed after seeing Aizen make a mockery of the Captains who had assembled to detain or execute him. He presumed that fate would intervene to allow the man to escape or at least avoid death, but Aizen was powerful enough that it didn't need things like plot armor to escape such a predicament—he could just choose to leave, and there was little anyone from his native universe that could do to stop him.
Fortunately, in part due to his warning to Ukitake, Rukia had secretly been freed from her detainment the previous night. Thus, when Aizen arrived at the entrance to the Senzaikyu(Palace of Penitence), he found the guards he had hypnotized missing and the raven-haired Kuchiki absent, nowhere to be seen and beyond the range of his senses...
...
..
.