You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

You invited me to rebel against Soul Society!

Haschward's gaze swept over the other's blood-stained shroud, his voice chillingly calm: "After Lord Aizen took control of the three realms, rats like you became too much of an eyesore. If you appeared in that lord's field of vision, you would disgust him."

Because it would upset Iori, or rather, they thought Iori would be upset.

—The Quincy's reason for hunting down Shadow Wolf Sasuke is that simple.

"Aizen...could it be...Aizen Iori?"

Shadow Wolf's pupils suddenly contracted. He knew, of course, what that name meant—the uncrowned king who had been very active in Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, and the Human World, a monster whom even Yamamoto Genryusai regarded as his successor.

But what terrified him even more than those things was...

"You actually called him 'sir'?"

He laughed hoarsely, as if trying to hide his fear, "The Grand Commander of the Sternritter, becoming Death's watchdog?"

"What a pathetic fellow."

Hasward's eyes finally showed a flicker of emotion, not anger, but a mocking pity.

"How pathetic. You have no idea what kind of being you are facing."

The dazzling spiritual light bands wrapped around Shadow Wolf Zuo's entire body like chains.

"Lord Aizen bestows new glory upon the Quincy, while you parasites..."

Hasward spoke with an air of entitlement and without any restraint.

"—They will only be crushed by the wheels of the new era."

His spiritual energy spell had already wrapped around Shadow Wolf Zuo's throat; with just a little effort, he could twist the head off—

Suddenly, the air in the entire valley froze!

"The ninety-nine dragons of the Binding Path turn and perish."

A deep, indistinct voice, neither male nor female, came from the depths of the void, like the sigh of a god.

The next second, five giant dragons composed of extremely high concentrations of demonic spiritual pressure swooped down from the sky! Each dragon's body shimmered with deep blue spiritual pressure fluctuations, its eyes were burning blue flames, and its whiskers were distorted spatial rifts.

When it falls, no living being in the world can withstand it!

"That's... how is that possible? Without any warning, such an enormous spiritual pressure... spread out!"

Haschwald roared, skillfully drawing his sword with his right hand and slashing at the first fire dragon that pounced on him. The blade collided with the dragon's fangs, exploding into dazzling spiritual sparks. He successfully shattered it into a spiritual pressure shockwave—but the other four dragons had already attacked the other Quincy.

"Blood Stasis Gear!"

The seven Quincy simultaneously deployed their strongest defenses, with azure spiritual particles gathering on their bodies to form lines. However, both the spiritual particle barrier and the Bloodstained Armor trembled violently under the bombardment of the dragon-shaped spiritual pressure.

The weakest knight coughed up blood and knelt down on the spot. His barrier shattered into pieces like sugar glass, and his right arm was directly charred. His Bloodlust Armor, which could withstand attacks from captains, was completely useless.

Hasward's pupils contracted sharply. The next moment, five more giant dragons materialized in the sky. This time, as if enraged from the very beginning, they simultaneously raised their heads, their spiritual energy annihilating like a "dragon's roar," causing the entire valley's rock walls to crumble.

They suddenly intertwined into a destructive vortex, with crimson lightning flowing between the dragon's body, eventually transforming into a spiritual pressure storm with a diameter of one kilometer!

"Who is this?!"

boom! ! !

When the storm subsided, the valley was completely transformed; the once scattered rock pillars were leveled, and the ground was covered with radial lava cracks.

Haschward knelt on one knee, his blond hair covered in dust, his sword trembling slightly as it was stuck in front of him. His disheveled appearance completely lacked his usual composure.

He lost without even seeing his opponent's face... Such a defeat was extremely rare in his life, but the opponent's power was overwhelming...

"grown ups!"

The few surviving Quincy staggered over, having escaped unscathed because the second wave's main target was Haschwalth.

"That traitorous Grim Reaper..."

Only broken traces of the spell remained on the pile of rocks; Shadow Wolf Zuo had vanished without a trace, not even a trace of spiritual pressure remained.

Hasward slowly stood up: "Don't panic. There aren't many people in the entire Three Realms who can do something like this... His Majesty will find out."

……

boom!

Shadow Wolf Zuo was thrown out of the crack in mid-air like a broken sack, rolling several times on the dirt road in the outskirts of Rukongai before coming to a stop.

He struggled to sit up, a metallic taste rising in his throat—the chaotic flow of the barrier and the Quincy's pursuit had already left him battered and bruised, not to mention that final, eerie Five Dragons Annihilation...

The mysterious man showed him no mercy. If it weren't for Lai Kong's exceptional strength and unparalleled defensive capabilities, he would have definitely died from Jiao Gu's indiscriminate attacks!

"How embarrassing."

A cool female voice came from above. Shadow Wolf Zuo looked up abruptly and saw a pair of slender feet in wooden clogs lightly touching the ground. Above that was an ordinary Shinigami uniform, which looked so standard that it could be used as a sample.

Finally—she met Aizen Yuuki's eyes, which seemed to be both smiling and not smiling.

"Aizen..."

Shadow Wolf's pupils suddenly contracted, and his fingers instinctively reached for the Zanpakuto at his waist, only to grasp empty air. His sword had somehow ended up in the other's hand, and was now being casually toyed with by those slender, pale fingers.

"How can it be……"

He knew Yuuki; strictly speaking, he had studied Iori in depth and even went through his entire network of relationships.

"take it easy."

Yuuki twirled the "Kujira" sword between her fingers, saying, "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have snatched him from Haschward just now."

Shadow Wolf Zuo's voice was hoarse when he suddenly widened his eyes: "You released that Five Dragons Annihilation spell all by yourself?!"

Yuuki chuckled lightly, using the tip of her blade to lift his chin: "Otherwise what? Do you think there's anyone in Seireitei who could successfully repel the Quincy's second-in-command without showing their face?"

"He released it all by himself..."

...The wind in Rukongai swirled up withered leaves, and the sounds of children playing could be heard in the distance.

This ordinary scene gave Shadow Wolf a sense of absurd dissonance—just a moment ago he was on the verge of life and death in the Broken Realm, but now he was sitting in the dust discussing philosophical questions with a dangerous woman.

Who am I? What am I supposed to do?

"Why save me?"

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I remember you and Aizen Iori are siblings..."

"It's necessary for scientific research. Your Zanpakuto abilities, as well as your spirit body technology... are all excellent research materials."

"I think so... but it's more than that, isn't it?"

"Don't worry, it's just data collection points."

Yuuki stood up. "By the way, I'll have you block my experimental subjects."

Shadow Wolf Zuo stared at the faint glow of the Hogyoku emanating from her sleeve, feeling the alluring yet perilous spiritual pressure, and suddenly understood something: "You are now..."

"Shh-"

Yuuki's Zanpakuto was suddenly pressed against his throat, her smile unchanged.

In the distance, the laughter and chatter of Rukongai residents drifted over, and several children ran across the alleyway carrying windmills. Amidst this mundane background noise, Kagerou heard Yuuki utter chilling words in a lighthearted tone:

"Now, let's talk about how to transform your spirit remains... into a more 'durable' experimental container?"

Otherwise, I might not be able to withstand a few cuts from Iori!

"Iori?? Aizen Iori?"

Shadow Wolf Zuo was even more bewildered, "Aizen and Iori knew about this too? You, what exactly are your intentions?!"

"You're useful to me, it's that simple."

Yuuki narrowed her eyes slightly: "You can't fool my dear little brother without seeing the real thing... It'll be a bit of a hassle, but I really want to see what kind of expression he'll make when I die in front of him~"

Chapter 578 The Death of Aizen.

At first, no one thought this was anything special; it was just a routine task.

Morning light streamed through the paper windows into the First Division's council chamber. Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni sat in the main seat, leaning on his cane, his gaze sweeping over the captains present with a sharp, piercing look.

"I have gathered you all here today because of the strange events that have occurred in Rukongai."

His voice was deep and authoritative, echoing in the silent council hall: "In the past ten days, more than 370 souls have disappeared without a trace in the 78th to 80th districts of West Rukongai, without leaving any evidence of reincarnation or being devoured by Hollows."

Kyoraku Shunsui slightly raised his straw hat, revealing half of his thoughtful face: "Captain-Commander, does such a trivial matter require a captain-level response?"

Chunshui is right. Bringing this up in the captains' meeting is a bit abrupt. A mere three or four hundred souls are far from enough to alarm the higher-ups of the Thirteenth Squad. If more than three hundred Grim Reapers mysteriously disappeared, that would be truly extraordinary. As for ordinary souls, especially those from the lawless zone... are they really that rare?

It might just be a gang fight!

"Little things?"

Yamamoto snorted and tapped his cane lightly on the ground. Chojiro Sasakibe opened the door to the conference room, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi walked in quietly with his eyes lowered. He didn't say anything sarcastic in his unique voice, but silently took out an eyeball-shaped projector and displayed a spiritual particle mapping diagram.

Everyone knows this guy. They know that Iori pulled him out of the maggot's nest and that he should have been transferred to the Technology Development Bureau (Squad 12) now... The fact that a senior officer can speak at the captain's meeting proves that he is highly regarded by Kiryu Hikifune.

“Look at these residual spiritual particle trajectories. After testing by our Technology Development Bureau, these samples show a certain characteristic that is extremely uniform.”

In the image, the spirit particles, which should have been evenly distributed, appeared in a bizarre spiral shape, as if forcibly twisted by some force. What's even more unsettling is that tiny black particles floated out from each spiral—frankly, most captains couldn't understand it at all, nor did they pay any attention.

Unohana Retsu stared at the blueprints, a rare seriousness appearing between her gentle brows: "This isn't just empty talk... it's more like..."

"It's like some kind of experiment."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi suddenly interjected, his golden eyes gleaming with excitement. He could no longer contain his emotions. "Interesting, very interesting! The structure of these crystals is 87.9% similar to some samples collected from Hueco Mundo. They contain the spiritual pressure characteristics of Shinigami, but also conform to the waveband of Hollows. It's almost like—"

"The product of forcibly fusing the power of Shinigami and Hollows is called 'Hollowfication'."

Yamamoto interrupted Mayuri Kurotsuchi, turning his gaze to the female captain in the corner, "Captain Hikifune."

Kiryu, who had been silent all along, raised his head, his full chest rising and falling slightly with his breath: "Commander-in-Chief, please give your orders."

"You are an expert in soul modification technology, which is also within the scope of the Technology Development Bureau, so you will lead the investigation this time."

Yamamoto's gaze shifted to the coughing Ukitake Jushiro. "Ukitake, you will also lead a team there. No matter what traces the target leaves behind, you must clean them up completely!"

Ukitake coughed lightly, covering his mouth, and a gentle smile appeared on his pale face: "Yes, sir."

—The two of them deliberately avoided talking to someone, but the eyes of others couldn't help but focus on Aizen Iori.

【Virtualization】!

Before the "Tsunayoshiro Rebellion" occurred, this was indeed a very abstract concept for the Shinigami, and they had never studied it in this regard. But now they are quite familiar with the relevant concepts.

Hollowfication, Shinigami transformation, and the corresponding "Visored" and "Arrancar"—the Gotei 13 were well aware of the existence of these two and the power they possessed, holding an attitude of both interest and respectful distance.

In principle, Hollowfication technology is not allowed to be developed because it involves the "ethical" issues of Soul Society and would create unpredictable chaos within the system. The 46 Chambers would never allow such research to proceed.

Just kidding, this thing isn't just "deviant," it's downright heresy!

However, due to a certain special person, the Thirteenth Team was actually secretly conducting experiments and development of related technologies, nominally to create a "vaccine" to target the Hollowfication phenomenon so that they could be immune when they encountered it in the future.

But that's not actually the case at all... Everyone knows it, but nobody takes it seriously.

This special person is the former captain and first generation member, Saito, who is immortal!

She was fatally wounded in the Tsunayo incident, but survived only because she was Hollowfied. Someone took over Tsunayo Tokinada's laboratory and all the data inside in order to save her.

From Yamamoto to Ukitake, all the captains knew what Iori was doing in private, and they also knew that Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the nominal chairman of the 12th Division, was ultimately Aizen Iori's personal mercenary. Even the old men of the 46 Chambers knew the same thing.

—But what can we do about it?

Are we going to force Aizen Iori to give up his research and then "dispose" of Saito's immortality?

The latter is not a problem, at most it will cause dissatisfaction, but this is not the first time that the 46th Chamber has been criticized behind its back in recent years. As long as there is the banner of "maintaining order", then no one can say anything.

But the former has a lot of problems:

Aizen Iori is not an easy person to manipulate.

It's not just that he has the ability to resist; what's terrifying is that he also has the courage to do so!

It's not that I'm afraid of him (even if I were, I couldn't admit it), but rather that pushing Aizen Iori to the opposite side would be a very bad deal.

Even if a conflict does occur, whether it's a physical confrontation or a vote, what are the chances of the 46th Chamber winning?

The Thirteenth Division had long been thoroughly infiltrated by someone and completely transformed into his shape. The most powerful members of the Five Noble Families, Kuchiki and Shihouin, as well as the new generation leader, were also firmly bound. Even internal voting within the Forty-Six Chambers could not reach a consensus...

So everyone tacitly accepted Aizen Iori's Hollowfication research. At worst, they could just seal it away after he finished it, like any other forbidden technique.

Furthermore, some people's views have quietly begun to change: