I Am a Heroic Spirit

Obviously, Nero's plan has failed. The Cang Huo Zhui bombarded from all directions, although they did not hit Nero.

Chapter 270: Bankai and a Sudden Showdown

After the light red mist produced by the Red Smoke Escape dissipated, Nero was shocked to see nearly ten binding paths coming from all directions and were already right in front of him.

Nero tried his best, but he only broke two or three of the binding paths. After all, the binding paths attacked from different angles. Under the special arrangement of Byakuya Kuchiki, they were everywhere, in the sky, on the ground, in front and behind, making it impossible for Nero to defeat them all.

Within two seconds, Nero's hands were tied up by several chains. Unable to resist for a moment, Nero was firmly trapped by other restraints that followed and could not move.

However, Byakuya Kuchiki did not take this opportunity to attack Nero, because he knew that the highest level of those binding techniques was only level 75, and they probably could not trap Nero for long. It was more important to get the Soul-Slaying Sword.

Byakuya Kuchiki flipped over and jumped over the stone pillars surrounding the Soul-Zhan Sword, landing on the ring. He immediately noticed where his Soul-Zhan Sword was and quickly picked it up.

At this time, Nero had already broken free from the restraints of the barrier. Seeing that Byakuya Kuchiki had not appeared yet, he controlled the terrain within the barrier and began to change it again.

As soon as Kuchiki Byakuya picked up the Soul-Zanking Sword, he heard a rumbling sound around him and the ground began to shake.

Before Kuchiki Byakuya could react, he saw the stone pillars surrounding him begin to move, shrinking towards him at an extremely fast speed, and their height was still increasing. It seemed that there was no way for him to fly out of the encirclement of the stone pillars before the stone pillars completely shrank.

Seeing this, Kuchiki Byakuya gave up the idea of ​​escaping and stood calmly in place. He stretched out his right hand, pointed the blade vertically downward, and then released the handle.

"Let's go away!"

The Zanpakutō fell to the ground just as Kuchiki Byakuya said, but the Zanpakutō did not make any sound of hitting the ground. Instead, it gradually merged into the ground as if it fell into water. Circles of ripples spread out from the Zanpakutō as the center.

Just as the Zanpakutō sank into the ground, a row of giant blades appeared on the ground on both sides of Kuchiki Byakuya, extending backwards. Each blade was nearly three meters high. At a glance, there were thousands of them.

"Senbonzakura Kagegan!"

As the words fell, the two rows of blades collapsed and turned into an overwhelming pink cherry blossom. At a glance, it turned out to be more than tens of millions of blades flying all over the arena. It was quite spectacular, but this beautiful scenery was also extremely deadly.

The originally transformed arena returned to its original state under Kuchiki Byakuya's Bankai. The huge and hard stone pillars were cut into small pieces like stones by the flying cherry blossom petals and fell to the ground.

Nero also fell from mid-air and stood on the ground. With his pseudo-mind-eye skills, he accurately swept away the cherry blossom petals around him.

"It's really troublesome."

Nero frowned, feeling the pressure coming from Byakuya Kuchiki, and immediately used the emperor's privileges to add all the skills he could use to himself.

For a moment, Nero exuded a terrifying aura from his whole body, and actually suppressed the powerful momentum that Kuchiki Byakuya, who had just achieved Bankai, had deliberately burst out.

Kuchiki Byakuya remained calm, but as soon as he thought about it, billions of blades rushed towards Nero like a torrent of steel.

"Ah ah!"

In the strong wind brought by the steel torrent, Nero, with his skirt and hair flying backwards, sank his feet into the ground with force, and let out a huge roar. He raised the primordial fire high in his hands, and without dodging or evading, he slashed down at the oncoming steel torrent head-on.

"Boom!!!"

A sound like thunder rang out, and the blazing flames and the cherry-colored steel torrent collided violently. Nero swung his sword hard and confronted the steel torrent with no technical skills but powerful impact, but he was obviously at a disadvantage. His feet stuck in the ground were pushed backward by the steel torrent, dragging a long groove on the ground. The cherry-colored blade was flying freely on Nero's body. Nero, who had no extra strength to reach the target, was not seriously injured, but was cut by the cherry-colored blade with blood marks on his body.

"Open it for me!!!"

Nero roared loudly, and the red light on the Primordial Fire became brighter. The dazzling flames shot straight into the sky, and the entire barrier was reflected in red.

A several-meter-long flaming giant sword condensed in Nero's hand. The sword slashed down angrily, making a whistling sound that tore through the air. Even the space seemed to be faintly divided by the flaming sword.

Kuchiki Byakuya narrowed his eyes slightly, and mobilized the power of Senbonzakura Kageaki with all his strength. The hundreds of millions of blades surrounding him, which served as his last line of defense, also broke away from him. The river of cherry blossoms poured into the torrent, compressed within a ten-meter range, and launched the strongest attack on Nero.

"boom!!!"

Sparks and cherry blossoms bloomed into a gorgeous scene. A dazzling light lit up on the ring with a roar. The flaming giant sword split the steel torrent into two. Amidst the splattering flames and cherry blossoms, Nero, wrapped in flames, instantly crossed a distance of 100 meters and appeared in front of Byakuya Kuchiki, slashing down with a powerful blow.

Tens of thousands of cherry blossom petals formed a shield in front of Byakuya Kuchiki, blocking Nero's attack. Even though the shield was chopped backwards, it still firmly blocked Nero's primordial fire.

Behind Nero, a torrent of steel, which had shrunk nearly ten times, rushed towards him. When it got close, it rose up and formed a drill that fell from the sky towards Nero.

Nero foresaw the situation and kicked the Sakura shield, using the recoil force to retreat backwards. The Sakura drill missed the target, but it did drill a nearly five-meter-deep hole in the ground.

After the cherry blossom drill entered the ground, Nero seized the opportunity to change the terrain. The original deep pit was filled, and hundreds of millions of cherry blossom petals were buried in the soil by Nero. Countless stone walls rose on the ground to block the view and separate the cherry blossom petals.

Dozens of stone walls blocked Kuchiki Byakuya's path from all directions. The only path in the middle led to Nero. It was like a maze, but Nero knew the direction of the maze clearly.

In the passage connecting Byakuya Kuchiki and Nero, Nero raised the Primordial Fire with a grim smile and strode towards Byakuya Kuchiki with a crazy look on his face. It seemed that he had given himself a berserk skill.

Byakuya Kuchiki had already closed his eyes, with his palms facing the ground, connecting with the buried cherry blossom petals with his whole body and soul.

Although Nero buried the cherry blossom petals deep enough, Kuchiki Byakuya was still able to quickly contact those cherry blossom petals with the tacit understanding between him and Senbonzakura. The controlled cherry blossom petals broke through the obstacles of the land, drilled out from the ground, and densely covered the entire passage to hinder Nero's progress.

Facing the reorganized steel torrent, Nero leaped up and landed on the cherry blossom petals. A ball of flames erupted from under his feet. The collision of the flames and the cherry blossom petals dispersed some of the cherry blossom petals, and the recoil force also made Nero leap up.

Relying on the use of magic power, Nero ran on the road paved with cherry blossom petals, quickly approaching Byakuya Kuchiki, and was already close to Byakuya Kuchiki. It seemed that Byakuya Kuchiki's arrangements had no effect at all.

"O Lord, the mask of flesh and blood, the myriad phenomena, soaring high, the thing bearing the name of humanity, the thundering chariot, the cracks in the spinning wheel, this thing gathers light and splits into six, carving twin lotuses on the wall of blue fire, waiting in the distant sky for the abyss of fire, the sixty-first to bind the way, the six-foot light prison. The seventy-third to break the way, the twin lotuses fall in blue fire."

Byakuya Kuchiki quickly chanted a spell and sent out two Kidō to attack Nero at the same time. It seemed that he could no longer use Senbonzakura to defeat Nero, so he had no choice but to use Kidō.

Before the Kidō's attack got close, it was crushed by the sword pressure swung by Nero, and the remaining distance was not enough for Kuchiki Byakuya to use the second Kidō, and the cherry blossom petals in between were not enough to defend against Nero's attack.

At this moment, something strange happened. The cherry blossom petals behind Nero that were scattered by the explosion quickly gathered together and attacked Nero from top to bottom. Kuchiki Byakuya, who was in front of Nero, seemed to be covering his own attack while controlling the cherry blossom petals in front of him and attacking Nero in an overwhelming manner.

Nero was about to break through the defense of the cherry blossom wall when he suddenly felt a sense of crisis behind him and a chill on his neck. He quickly did a cross-legged move, kicked off his feet, and flew backwards along the ground. The cherry blossom petals that attacked Nero merged into the cherry blossom wall. As the cherry blossom wall dispersed, they returned to Kuchiki Byakuya's hands and formed the Soul-Slaying Sword Senbonzakura.

Seeing this, Nero finally realized that she had fallen into a trap, and it was an obvious trap. Kuchiki Byakuya had no intention of hurting her, he just wanted to force her back and buy time for himself.

"Swastika!"

The Soul-Zanking Sword in Byakuya Kuchiki's hand merged back into the ground. Two rows of thousands of giant blades rose from the ground on both sides, and then collapsed, turning into an overwhelming pink cherry blossoms, flying all over the ring. The cherry blossom petals surrounded the ring, forming countless cherry-colored Soul-Zanking Swords, side by side in the sky, surrounding Byakuya Kuchiki and Nero, isolating them from the outside world. The scene looked extremely spectacular.

"Destroy Kage Senbon Sakura Kage Yan!"

Kuchiki Byakuya spoke a powerful word, and the cherry blossoms floating in the space disappeared without a trace. Only countless soul-slaying swords were left, and the world as dark as the night sky, like a high wall and a large courtyard, surrounded the two of them in a circle, as if they were isolated from the world, unable to see the outside world, nor could they be seen by the outside world.

"This is Senbonzakura's true form, a special form that abandons defense and transforms only to defeat the enemy."

A soul-slaying sword broke free from the wall of swords and fell into Kuchiki Byakuya's hands from mid-air.

"Within my space, it is impossible to arbitrarily manipulate the terrain, interfere with, or hinder me. No matter what means you use, this blade will definitely catch you."

"It's the same for me. Without those annoying cherry blossoms to hinder me, my sword will hit you hard."

Nero said with a sneer.

The two stared at each other for several seconds before simultaneously raising their swords and charging at each other. The clash of swords stirred up a turbulent current, and both were simultaneously thrown back by the force of the other. However, once they had regained their footing, a second clash began. The two continued to swing their swords, fighting desperately. The pressure of their swords ignited the air, and the shockwaves generated by the collision surged around them like waves.

Nero, who has been strengthened by various skills, has surpassed Byakuya Kuchiki in terms of hard power, but Byakuya Kuchiki has not fallen into a disadvantage. Because of the special ability of Kageaki Senbonzakura, the double battle of Senbonzakura and Byakuya Kuchiki, whenever Nero is about to gain the upper hand, he will be interrupted by a soul-slaying sword flying from mid-air. Although it cannot hurt Nero who has a mind, it prevents Nero from gaining the upper hand in the battle.

After countless clashes, a violent collision erupted where the swords of Kuchiki Byakuya and Nero collided, and both of them were pushed out by the impact force generated by the collision.

"That's it." Kuchiki Byakuya pointed the Soul-Slaying Sword at Nero.

"It's time to stop here." Nero held the sword in both hands, and extremely powerful magic was boiling in his body.

"It's time to call it a day."

Outside, someone also said the same thing.

"What? Captain Aizen?"

Soi-Fong looked at Aizen in confusion, feeling that something was wrong with Aizen.

】 -

Chapter 271 The inevitable showdown

"Hinamori, I have to say, it's great to have a subordinate like you." Aizen still had a gentle smile on his face, which made Hinamori Momo selectively forget what Aizen said before. She approached Aizen in a daze, "But, we still have to say goodbye forever."

With a "puff", Aizen's soul-zanking sword pierced through Hinamori Momo's chest. Hinamori Momo showed an expression of disbelief and slowly fell backwards.

"Aizen!"

Unohana Retsu screamed and was about to rush forward, but a soul-slaying sword was suddenly placed on her neck, making Unohana Retsu dare not move.

"Don't move, Captain Unohana, or you'll get hurt." Ichimaru Gin stood behind Unohana Retsu with a smile, the blade of the Soul-Slaying Sword pressed tightly against Unohana Retsu's neck.

"Huh?" Unohana Retsu was startled, stopped, and his skin tensed up, ensuring that at the same time as Ichimaru Gin was trying to kill him, he would counterattack with a fatal blow.

"Captain Ukitake, please stop." Tosen Kaname also restrained Ukitake Jushiro. Because all the Shinigami had never suspected the existence of a traitor, the threats of Tosen Kaname and Ichimaru Gin were very successful.

"Captain Tosen Kaname! Captain Ichimaru Gin! What are you doing?!" Soi Fong shouted harshly, and a strong and aggressive spiritual pressure burst out from her body, squeezing the audience seats into scrap metal and rubble.

"Captain Dongxian, please don't act rashly."

Kyoraku Shunsui also drew out his two swords and released his spiritual pressure. The other captains were no exception and all released powerful spiritual pressure. The pressure was as heavy as a mountain and flattened the audience seats in this area.

The other vice-captains were unable to move freely in this spiritual pressure, and in order not to be a drag, they quickly retreated to a distance. Tohru Yuune had not forgotten to use instant step to carry Hinamori Momo away.

However, this is also because Aizen doesn't care. Otherwise, even if Unohana Retsu took action personally, he might not be able to rescue the person Aizen wanted to kill from Aizen.

The place where Tosen Kaname, Ichimaru Gin and Aizen are is the center of this pressure. Everything is done to force them to act rashly.

The sudden change in the situation caused an uproar in the entire barrier. No one had expected such a thing to happen. A rebellion broke out on the side of the God of Death, and three captains and a deputy captain were killed at once. How could people not be shocked? Even the heroic spirits could not remain calm.

Things that can be solved with words are different from things that have already been solved with violence and will soon require more violence. The main difference is that once the war starts, those who serve as witnesses must participate in the battle, because the rebellion of Aizen and others has affected the normal progress of the game. If they don't take action, where will they put their faces?

The reporters also began to stir, each with a look of fear on their face. They had seen the previous match, and a one-on-one fight could cause such great destructive power. Once a melee broke out, they would be dead.

Reporters left their positions one after another and moved in the direction farthest away from the Grim Reapers. Even equipment such as cameras were accidentally left behind by reporters in their panic.

"What's going on? Captain Aizen! What is he talking about? And Captain Tosen, Captain Ichimaru Gin..." Rukia Kuchiki stood up suddenly, looking at the captains in an extremely tense atmosphere, and said in panic.

"Are there any signs of civil unrest in Soul Society?" Arisawa Ryuki asked solemnly.

Rukia Kuchiki shook her head and said in disbelief, "Never. And even if there was, it shouldn't be Captain Aizen. Captain Aizen has always been a good person. Even if there was a rebellion, no one would think it was Captain Aizen. As for Captain Tosen Kaname and Captain Ichimaru Gin, I don't know much about them."

"A nice person? Just a disguise." Ishida Uryu sneered. He has always hated Shinigami. Although he recognized Sawa Ryuki, Kuchiki Rukia, and Kurosaki Ichigo, it does not mean that he will recognize other Shinigami.

Ichigo Kurosaki said, "That guy with the slit eyes doesn't look like a good person. As for that guy named Aizen, there are always many people in this world who have beastly hearts."

Although they both looked confused, Arisawa Ryuki and Kuchiki Rukia actually had other ideas.

Zhang Luo's understanding of Soul Society, Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi who defected from Soul Society, their strange attitude towards Soul Society, Kuchiki Rukia's spiritual pressure that has never been able to recover, and the three captains who suddenly planned to defect today, etc., etc., always felt that some things were weird.

Individually, these things might not seem like much, but when you put them together, you can see that there's a lot going on. The secret plans of Urahara Kisuke, Shihouin Yoruichi, and Zhang Luo must be related to the three captains who were planning to defect today.

"I'm so sorry, Captain Unohana. Tosen and I are both Captain Aizen's men." Ichimaru Gin apologized without any sincerity, and then said to Aizen, "I was really scared. It was so sudden. Was it a last-minute decision?"

"It's not a sudden decision. It's something I thought about a long time ago. The specific time is not fixed, but it will probably be the day I get this." Aizen said with a smile.

In fact, whether in the original work or in reality, regardless of whether his pretending to be dead was discovered or not, Aizen would reveal his cards directly after obtaining the Hogyoku.

In the original work, Aizen would not have been discovered, or rather, he had enough ability to continue to be the captain of Soul Society while obtaining the Hogyoku. If he had not deliberately revealed his flaws, Unohana Retsu would not have been able to discover his abnormality.

It can be said that in the original work, all of Aizen's exposure was intentional, such as the flaw in the corpse discovered by Unohana Retsu.

When Aizen was confronting Unohana Retsu in the Pure Pagoda Forest, Unohana Retsu once said that if you specially made an extremely sophisticated artificial body, then the place where you hide must be the most difficult to be discovered, and there is no other place except here.

Aizen's answer pointed out Unohana Retsu's two mistakes: it was not for hiding, and it was not a cyborg body, and he said, "I think you would have said the same thing if you had come."

It is obvious that Aizen had known that Unohana Retsu would discover him, and the reason he pretended to be dead was to let Unohana Retsu, or other Shinigami, discover his flaws and make him defect naturally.

If Aizen had not pretended to be dead, with his ability to control the Central Forty-Six Rooms for such a long time, it would not be a problem for him to go to the Pure Tower Forest without being discovered by others. Through his ability of Kyoka Suigetsu and the soul and foreign body extraction technology, it would not be a problem for him to take the Hougyoku from Kuchiki Rukia's body at any time.

The only purpose of the flaw that Aizen deliberately revealed was to allow him to say goodbye to his past self, to the Soul Society, and to become a god standing in the sky.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Kyoraku Shunsui became serious for the first time in a long time and questioned Aizen.

"Didn't I tell you? I originally thought it would take some time for this, but I didn't expect something like this to happen with the Heroic Spirit. Urahara Kisuke placed this inside of him, hoping to use a special artificial body to hide it from me, Kuchiki Rukia. She wasn't captured and taken back to Soul Society, so I had to move my plan forward. Although I don't have the closing ceremony prepared for me by Urahara Kisuke and the others, this place can also be used as the stage for my finale as a Shinigami."

Aizen smiled calmly, with no intention of hiding anything because there was no need.

"Kisuke Urahara?"

When they heard the name mentioned by Aizen, the expressions of all the captains changed.

The former captain of the 12th Division and the first director of the Technical Development Bureau, who, when he defected, also took with him the former chief of the Kidōshū, Daikidōchō Murei Tessai, and the previous commander-in-chief of the Secret Mobile Force, Yoruichi Shihoin. This caused the Soul Society's overall strength to drop by at least one-third. Could Aizen's current defection be linked to them? Or, could the crimes of Urahara Kisuke and his companions be linked to Aizen himself?

Rukia Kuchiki touched her chest, her mind in turmoil. What on earth had Urahara Kisuke done to her artificial body? And when had Captain Aizen taken out the thing that Urahara Kisuke had placed inside his body? No, what she needed to consider now was, what exactly did Aizen and Urahara Kisuke want to do?

At this time, a partition sliding door that looked like a classical Japanese door suddenly appeared on the empty ring, and Hitsugaya Toshiro was the first to rush out from it.

"Hey, it's Captain Hitsugaya." Aizen turned slightly and waved to Hitsugaya Toushirou, looking as if nothing had happened.

"Aizen! What's going on? Are you really Aizen?"

Like other Shinigami, Hitsugaya Toshiro was also unwilling to believe that the person who had previously said things like fake defection in the Soul Society surveillance was Aizen.

"Of course, as you can see, it's true." Aizen nodded.

Just as Hitsugaya Toshiro was about to continue speaking, Hinamori Momo appeared in his sight, looking seriously injured and dying. Suddenly, Hitsugaya Toshiro's pupils contracted, and he disappeared from the spot in an instant and came to the side of Hinamori Momo, where Totsu Yuune was treating her.

Looking at the unconscious Hinamori Momo, Hitsugaya Toshiro stood there in a daze, not saying a word, but the anger in his heart gradually grew.

At this time, Komamura Sajin also ran out of the gate with Sheba Teszaemon and Hitsugaya Toshiro's vice-captain Matsumoto Rangiku, but he did not see Captain Yamamoto and Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

But this is also very normal. After all, Aizen has not shown the strength that requires Captain Yamamoto to take action personally. Captain Yamamoto himself also needs to stay in Soul Society and cannot leave easily. Kurotsuchi Mayuri is not interested in anything other than the research and experimentation of new technologies, and the world does not lack a captain like him, so he did not come out.

"Dongxian! What on earth do you want to do! Dongxian! Are you really going to defect? ​​Put down the Soul-Severing Sword immediately!"