Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

The strongest Shinigami, the wielder of the fire-type Zanpakuto Ryujin Jakka, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, slowly stood up.

His cane slammed on the ground, causing the entire hall to tremble, and then he reached up and grabbed his haori.

The white haori was ripped off, the sound of the fabric tearing crisp and piercing.

The haori landed on the ground, revealing half of his body covered in wounds and scars.

Those scars, like ancient ravines, crisscrossed the dry flesh.

Swords, spears, and halberds covered in wounds.

There were also several old scars, as if they had been torn apart by weapons that did not belong to the Grim Reaper.

In the hall, everyone seemed to hold their breath.

The overwhelming aura of the strongest Shinigami in a millennium made the Hollows uneasy as they watched their king, Shen Jue.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni raised his eyes.

Those half-closed eyes opened completely, revealing not anger, but a majesty accumulated over a thousand years.

"Shen Jue".

"Indigo dyeing".

"I'll give you a chance."

"Explain everything that has happened so far."

"If you cannot satisfy me..."

"I will risk the destruction of the Three Realms."

"I will also fully unleash my Zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka."

"Fight to the very end against the rebels of Soul Society."

As the last word fell, the temperature around him suddenly soared.

The air began to distort, and the floor emitted a faint crackling sound.

Before Ryujin Jakka was even drawn, the spiritual pressure, enough to incinerate everything, already weighed heavily on everyone's shoulders.

Ryujin Jakka is the strongest and oldest Zanpakuto in Soul Society.

Its initial release is enough to transform all strikes into flames that incinerate everything.

Its Bankai, Zanka Tachi, possesses the terrifying power to evaporate all the moisture in the entire Soul Society in an instant.

If Yamamoto were to use such a terrifying Bankai for an extended period, the aftershocks from the battle alone would be enough to destroy the three realms.

Stark was finally no longer sleepy.

Barragán's breathing became heavy.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes slightly.

Harribel instinctively sought out and moved closer to the king.

Nelielu hid behind Harribel, only showing half of her face.

Grimmjow grinned, but didn't dare utter a sound.

Hitsugaya Toshiro's face turned pale. As the wielder of the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto, Hyōrinmaru, he felt suffocated by the Captain-Commander's terrifying spiritual pressure due to the vast difference in strength between him and the Captain-Commander.

Komamura Sajin took a difficult step forward, bracing himself for the impending threat.

Soi Fon was absent, but Ōmaeda, the vice-captain of the Second Division, nearly collapsed.

Kuchiki Byakuya's usually cool face was filled with solemnity.

Unohana Retsu quietly looked at the wounds on Yamamoto's body, and the smile on her lips finally faded little by little.

Aizen Sousuke pushed up his glasses, and a white light flashed across the lenses.

"Captain-General."

"Your willingness to listen to an explanation is the best answer in itself."

"Because you know better than anyone else that the true enemy of Soul Society has never been just Hueco Mundo."

Shen Jue also spoke up.

"Captain-General."

"The shadow of Yhwach, the founder of the Quincy, has seeped into Seireitei."

"I am not here to force a resignation."

"It is to unite the power of the three realms before the Quincy King awakens."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni did not answer immediately; he simply looked at Shen Jue and then at Aizen.

Shen Jue and Aizen took a step at the same time.

The two footsteps landed on the ground, the sound was not loud, but it made the spirits in the entire hall suddenly pause.

Then, everyone felt it.

Shen Jue raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and pressed down gently with his palm facing down.

There was no chanting or any premonition.

An invisible ripple of spiritual energy spread out silently from him.

"Hado: Soul Crushed".

In that instant, the entire hall's spiritual structure collapsed.

The originally stable spiritual particles in the air were as if crushed by an invisible hand, turning into the most primitive and smallest spiritual particle particles.

The density of spiritual particles that Seireitei had accumulated over thousands of years was completely shattered at this moment.

The captain's haori stopped fluttering because the air had lost the support of flowing spiritual particles.

The scorch marks on the floor stopped spreading because the spiritual particles that made up the flames had been completely decomposed.

Even the intense heat emanating from the mountain itself was momentarily suppressed.

Komamura Sajin's dog head suddenly sank, and he felt his spiritual particles trembling all over his body, as if they were about to be crushed.

Hitsugaya Toshiro's Hyōrinmaru let out a mournful cry, and the ice-type spiritual energy in the scabbard became thin and fragile.

Ōmaeda finally collapsed to the ground, struggling to even breathe.

On the Arrancar side, Stark stood up completely straight.

"Hey, hey..."

"This is no joke."

Ulquiorra's green eyes finally showed a slight tremor.

He looked down at his palm, the spiritual energy he was trying to gather at his fingertips was slowly dissipating, like grains of sand slipping through his fingers.

Herribel's breathing quickened, and she subconsciously looked at Shen Jue's back.

"Is this one of the king's powers?"

Nellyel's camera completely stopped working, and the spirit lens turned into a blurry spot of light.

Grimmjow gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, but he stubbornly refused to back down.

Kenpachi Zaraki's grin widened even further.

"ha."

"Why don't you just grab a knife and attack someone?"

"Shen Jue is this strong; when he wields a knife, he'll be so powerful that I'll have to fight with all my might!"

Kenpachi seemed to have forgotten that he had just been sealed into an amber by Shen Jue using his spiritual pressure.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni stood leaning on his cane.

His spiritual pressure was too immense. Shen Jue gently dispersed the spiritual energy in the hall, but did not destroy the spiritual energy surrounding him.

Even so, the temperature around him was forced to drop.

Those aged eyes finally held a newfound scrutiny and solemnity.

Shen Jue withdrew his hand.

"Captain-General."

"I will present you with the truth."

"Besides, if I wanted to destroy the Three Realms, I wouldn't need to bring so many people to the Seireitei."

"If I wanted to force someone to abdicate, I wouldn't do it in such a grand manner."

In the hall, the spiritual energy was still so thin it was suffocating.

Aizen, who had been smiling gently, suddenly moved.

He raised his hand, his slender fingers gently pinching the frame of his glasses.

The movement was as gentle and elegant as ever, like an ordinary vice-captain tidying his appearance.

But this time, he didn't push it up.

He took off his glasses.

The moment the glasses left his nose, a final flash of white light appeared on the lenses.

Then, the glasses that had been with him for many years transformed into countless tiny spiritual particles between his fingers.

The spirit particles slowly rose and dissipated into the thin air of the hall, leaving not a trace.

Aizen raised his head.

Without the lenses to cover them, his brown eyes were completely exposed to everyone.

His gentle smile remained, and his scholarly demeanor was unchanged.

But something was different in those eyes.

It's like a theatrical actor who has been hiding all day finally lifting the first curtain.

Aizen raised his hand, his slender fingers running through his brown hair, his fingertips brushing against the roots as he slowly combed it back.

The movement was slow and gentle, as if it were removing a centuries-old disguise.

As Aizen's fingers brushed across his forehead, the strands of hair that had been obediently lying on his forehead fell back one by one, revealing his smooth forehead.

Just a moment ago, he was the refined scholar captain.

The next moment, standing in place was a figure that no one recognized.

Aizen's spiritual pressure did not surge or feel oppressive, and there was not even the slightest leakage of spiritual energy fluctuations.

On the contrary, Aizen drew all his spiritual pressure inward.

His spiritual pressure was so intense that no one could sense it in the entire hall, yet no one could take their eyes off him.

The feeling was like standing on a glacier, with transparent, bottomless ice beneath your feet. You couldn't see the undercurrents, but you knew that if you broke through, you would be doomed.

Aizen lowered his hand, his brown hair swept back, exposing his entire face to everyone.

Without the glasses to conceal his features, and without that gentle and refined facade, his features were still handsome, but he no longer possessed a trace of scholarly air.

Those brown eyes reflected the images of everyone in the hall.

Aizen's demeanor has become cold and aloof, carrying an arrogant indifference to all things.

Everyone stared at Aizen, who had undergone a dramatic transformation.

Meanwhile, Hinamori Momo, the vice-captain of Aizen's squad, cupped her face in her hands, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

Captain Aizen in this state is undoubtedly more exciting and more tempting to her.

Shen Jue looked at Lan Ran and smiled.

Then he raised his hand as well.

Long, slender fingers ran through the black hair, fingertips brushing against the roots, gently stroking from the forehead back.

His movements were faster and more efficient than Aizen's.

Her hair fell backward, strand by strand, revealing her entire face and her eyes, which had lost their smile.

Finally, Shen Jue paused behind his head with his hand.

His entire demeanor became resolute and stern, a stark contrast to his usual carefree and casual appearance.

Herribel's breath hitched.

Looking at Shen Jue's profile, she suddenly felt that the Hueco Mundo King she knew had finally revealed his true colors.

Neliel peeked half her head out from behind Harribel, blinking her big eyes.

"Your Majesty! You're so handsome!"

Yoruichi's eyes dimmed as she saw Shen Jue's drastically changed demeanor, and her worry reached its limit.

And at the very moment Shen Jue's hair settled.

Two figures arrived at the collapsed, spirit-scattered area almost instantly.

"Wait! Wait!"

The sound of Kyoraku Shunsui arrived before the people.

He wore a straw hat, his pink haori hanging askew, and his expression suggested he was rushing to a late drinking party, but when he arrived, he froze.

He saw Captain-Commander Yamamoto's bare upper body and the crisscrossing scars.

Then, he saw Shen Jue.

Shen Jue's cold and stern face after she stood up with her hair standing on end, and Aizen beside her, whose temperament had also changed drastically.

Behind Shen Jue, there was a vast and imposing combined force, including Hollowfied deserters, Arrancar, and numerous captains of the Shinigami.

Kyoraku Shunsui's lips twitched slightly.

"Feed...feed..."

He lowered his voice and spoke to Soi Fon beside him.

"Isn't the intelligence capabilities of your Criminal Investigation Department a bit too outrageous?"

"We haven't received a single word about this situation."

Soi Fon glared fiercely at Kyoraku Shunsui.

She stood at the doorway, her body ramrod straight, her sharp eyes fixed on Yoruichi's gloomy expression.

Kyoraku Shunsui took two steps forward and stopped next to Komamura Sajin.

He gripped his straw hat and looked up at Shen Jue and Aizen.

Then he raised his hand and pushed his straw hat up, revealing his entire face.

That face, which always carried a lazy smile, still had that smile, but now held a hint of something more complex and hard to define.

"Hey, Brother Shen Jue."

He spoke, his voice high-pitched, with a long, drawn-out ending.

"Look at you."

"He looks like a major villain who's about to defect from the Gotei 13 and destroy the three realms."

He said this as if he were joking.

But his fingers had already quietly pressed against the Zanpakuto, Katen Kyokotsu.

Shen Jue did not answer Kyoraku Shunsui; he simply turned his head slightly and glanced at Aizen.

Aizen also turned his head and glanced at him.

Their eyes met briefly in the air, and then they moved simultaneously.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the two figures slowly lifted off the ground.

A white haori unfolded behind Shen Jue, while Aizen's captain haori hung straight down.

They rose very slowly, so slowly that everyone could see every detail.

The air in the entire Seireitei was compressed by their spiritual pressure, causing it to emit a low hum.

Shen Jue rose into the air and looked down at Yamamoto. Aizen rose to his side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

The two figures, one on the left and one on the right, hung high above all living beings.

Kyoraku Shunsui looked up at this scene.

His expression finally broke down completely.

He opened his mouth, his voice filled with a sense of helplessness, as if asking, "What did I do wrong to deserve this?"

"Shen Jue".

"Are you serious?"

"Do you even realize what you're like right now?"

"It really resembles the final boss that appears in the last challenge of those literary works in the real world."

Soi Fon gave him a cold glance.

"Captain of the Kyoto Band."

"This is not the time for jokes."

Kyoraku Shunsui waved his hand, but the smile on his face did not disappear.

But beneath the smile in those eyes lay an extremely rare seriousness.

He looked up at Shen Jue in mid-air, at his cold and resolute face with his hair standing on end, and at his eyes that looked down upon all living beings.

Kyoraku Shunsui whispered something that only he could hear.

"Shen Jue".

"What exactly are you doing?"