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Fate In Bleach (320)
🕑 Added 2024-10-17 17:00:03 +0000 UTCChapter 320 - That Glance
After hearing Yoruichi Shihōin's words of comfort to Soi Fon, the captains present all looked away.
Please, Yoruichi Shihōin. Some things were better left unsaid.
Once they were spoken aloud, it would only make things awkward.
Who was Yoruichi Shihōin?
The former head of the Shihōin Clan, one of the four great noble families.
Even if they arrested her and threw her in prison, she could easily walk free that very night, thanks to the Shihōin Clan’s influence.
However, such an action would undoubtedly create friction between the Shihōin Clan and the Gotei 13.
It was better to maintain a tacit understanding.
As long as Yoruichi Shihōin didn’t appear before them, the Gotei 13 wouldn’t actively pursue her.
Her appearance this time was primarily to convey information and prepare them for the coming storm.
It seemed that the Ryoka invasion orchestrated by Kisuke Urahara had indeed exposed the one lurking in the shadows.
However, until the Seireitei lifted the ban on her, Yoruichi Shihōin was still a fugitive.
While they all knew that Yoruichi’s words were meant to comfort Soi Fon, lies wouldn’t harm them. The truth was a double-edged sword.
They pretended they hadn’t heard her words and turned their gaze towards Aizen, Gin, and Tōsen, who were slowly ascending within the yellow light of the Anti-Membrane.
Tōsen, who had been pinned to the ground by Soi Fon and Yoruichi, was now standing within the light.
Besides a faint scar on his neck, there was no trace of his previous struggle.
It was clear that Tōsen was aware of his position as Aizen’s right-hand man.
Entering Hueco Mundo gracefully, and fleeing into Hueco Mundo, were two completely different things for the Hollows residing there.
While most of the powerful Hollows in Hueco Mundo had submitted to Aizen, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack if they sensed any weakness.
Even though those Hollows couldn’t harm Aizen, Tōsen didn’t want them to disturb his master.
Especially if they mistook his dishevelment for Aizen’s weakness!
“Aizen, have you fallen so far that you would ally yourself with Hollows?”
Ukitake looked up at Aizen and questioned him.
As for why he directed his question towards Aizen…
It was clear to everyone that both Gin and Tōsen were following Aizen’s lead.
Their reasons for betraying the Seireitei would undoubtedly be biased.
Only Aizen, the mastermind behind everything, could answer Ukitake’s question truthfully.
“Fallen?”
Aizen looked down at the captains below, a smile still on his face.
“Captain Ukitake, you’re too arrogant!”
Indeed, in Aizen’s eyes, while Ukitake might appear to be a kind and gentle man, he held few people in high regard.
Ukitake’s “kindness” stemmed from his perspective, placing himself above the Soul Society’s inhabitants.
More specifically, Ukitake had placed himself in the position of a “god.”
Ever since his parents had brought him to that shrine as a child, Ukitake knew he was no longer just “himself.”
“No one in this world was born in the heavens. Neither you, nor I, not even god. However, the world’s era of stagnation is coming to an end. From now on, I will stand at the apex!”
With those words, Aizen turned his gaze towards Ailin.
He had confirmed it once more.
Head-Captain Yamamoto wasn’t a threat to him.
But Captain Ailin…
His ability was practically useless against him.
Aizen could sense that it wasn't because of some ability counter or weakness.
It was simply because, under Ailin’s overwhelming spiritual pressure, his ability couldn't even activate!
Aizen’s current spiritual pressure had reached the limit of a Shinigami. He was on the same level as Yamamoto.
However, his ability was still ineffective against Ailin. This strengthened Aizen’s suspicions.
A Shinigami’s battle was a battle of spiritual pressure!
No matter how strong an ability, if the difference in spiritual pressure between two combatants was too vast, the weaker one’s Zanpakutō ability would be weakened or even nullified.
Now, Aizen experienced that despair once more, this time before Ailin.
Ailin’s spiritual pressure had undoubtedly surpassed the limits of a Shinigami, reaching a higher dimension, a realm Aizen didn’t understand.
But soon!
Aizen glanced at the Hōgyoku in his hand, then removed his glasses and crushed them. He swept his hand through his hair, slicking it back with reiatsu.
His appearance transformed instantly.
If Aizen with glasses was the embodiment of kindness and gentleness, then Aizen without glasses, his hair slicked back, was the embodiment of dominance and invincibility!
“Farewell, captains. The next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield. I hope you can surprise me.”
Aizen’s speech seemed to have been meticulously calculated. As he finished speaking, they reached the Garganta. They entered the black void before everyone’s eyes.
The three Garganta slowly closed, and all the captains saw were the backs of three Shinigami in captain’s haori, gradually disappearing into the darkness.
Just as the Garganta were about to close, Gin glanced back.
Through the narrow gap, he seemed to see a woman with orange hair watching him.
Rangiku, I’m sorry. To reclaim what was taken from you, I need to leave for a while…
…
Seireitei.
As the lieutenant of the Tenth Division, Rangiku Matsumoto was responsible for managing the division whenever Toshiro Hitsugaya was injured. She had done this many times before.
After all, she had also managed the Tenth Division when the previous captain, Isshin Shiba, had disappeared.
She was experienced.
It was precisely because of this that Rangiku was absent from Sōkyoku Hill, unable to meet Gin one last time.
When the three massive Garganta appeared in the sky above Sōkyoku Hill, despite the distance, Rangiku saw the figure within the yellow light.
He had once been her world, her everything!
“Gin!”
She dropped her paperwork and used Shunpo with all her might.
“Whisper—Haineko!”
To reach Sōkyoku Hill faster, Rangiku released her Zanpakutō, amplifying her spiritual pressure fivefold.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
But no matter how hard she tried, by the time Rangiku reached Sōkyoku Hill, Gin had already left.
“Gin!”
As the yellow light faded and the Garganta closed, tears streamed down Rangiku’s face. Memories of the time she had spent with Gin flashed through her mind.
But…
“Gin… I don’t want this… No matter what was taken from me, I don’t want it back! All I want is to be with you!”
Rangiku had always kept these words hidden within her heart, never speaking them to Gin.
She knew that, even if she told him, Gin wouldn’t agree.
Because it was Gin’s will.
To speak such weak and pathetic words would only insult his efforts.
Previously, while Rangiku deliberately kept her distance from Gin, as long as they were both in the Seireitei, she could sense his spiritual pressure. She knew he had never truly left her.
But now…
Looking at the closing Garganta, Rangiku felt Gin drifting away from her.
“Gin!”
She opened her mouth, wanting to shout his name. But she couldn’t!
While Aizen had revealed himself and left the Seireitei, only he, Gin, and Tōsen had departed.
Their forces, those who had pledged their loyalty to Aizen, were still active within the Seireitei.
If Rangiku spoke Gin’s name, revealing their relationship to Aizen, both she and Gin would be in danger.
Just as Rangiku was overwhelmed by despair, a golden spatial ripple appeared before her.
“Is that… Captain Ailin’s Zanpakutō ability?”
Ailin’s Zanpakutō ability was quite distinctive within the Seireitei.
After all, his numerous interventions were always accompanied by countless golden spatial ripples.
All were equal before the lightning bolts that shot from those ripples!
Before Rangiku could understand why Ailin had opened a spatial ripple before her, a hand emerged from the ripple, grabbing her and pulling her in.
Once she was gone, the ripple vanished.
…
“Sigh…”
On Sōkyoku Hill. Ailin sighed.
“As one gets older, one can’t help but feel sadness at parting.”
After muttering those cryptic words, a golden spatial ripple appeared beside him.
Ailin reached into the ripple. When he withdrew his hand, the captains saw that he had pulled Rangiku Matsumoto from the ripple.
“Captain Ailin can use his ability like that?”
The captains’ eyes widened. They had gained a new understanding of Ailin’s power.
Rangiku felt a blur before her eyes. She seemed to have passed through a space filled with golden and red light, where countless Zanpakutō radiated a powerful aura.
When her vision cleared, she saw the red torii gate at Sōkyoku Hill, now shattered.
“Am I… at Sōkyoku Hill?”
Rangiku’s heart leaped with joy. She looked up at the Garganta on the right, now almost closed.
“Gin!”
As if hearing her call, just as the Garganta closed, Rangiku saw Gin turn his head.
…
The chaos caused by the Ryoka invasion was over. However, the Seireitei hadn’t fully returned to peace. Because the damage left by Aizen and his group hadn’t been repaired.
Based on investigations by the Second Division’s Onmitsukidō and the Eighth Division’s intelligence unit, Aizen, while faking his death, had infiltrated the Central 46 chambers and killed all the nobles present.
Moreover, at least thirty of the Seireitei’s forty-six noble families had been attacked by Aizen’s forces.
This included the Shihōin Clan and the Kuchiki Clan, two of the five great noble families.
Thanks to the intervention of Yoruichi Shihōin, the former captain of the Second Division, the Shihōin Clan successfully repelled the attackers. However, those who had relied on the Shihōin Clan's protection to carry out their evil deeds were killed during that night’s attack.
As for the Kuchiki Clan, because Byakuya Kuchiki intervened in time, Aizen's subordinates were unable to inflict any significant damage.
However, according to those living near the Kuchiki estate, several golden lightning bolts had struck the estate that night, causing some commotion.
But ultimately, Byakuya Kuchiki, the head of the Kuchiki Clan, suppressed the incident.
After the chaos, the number of nobles in the Seireitei had drastically decreased.
Only eleven noble families remained.
The other thirty-five had been eradicated.
The noble order, which had existed for millions of years, had practically collapsed.
Thankfully, besides the noble order, there was also the order established by the Gotei 13.
Moreover, compared to the hereditary noble order, the Gotei 13's “protector” order resonated with the Shinigami.
Therefore, before a new “Noble Council” could be formed, the Gotei 13 temporarily took control of the Seireitei.
