Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 58 - Hogyoku!! Hogyoku!!

The golden Negacion shattered under that terrifying force. A massive scar split open at the point of impact, and the slash still hadn't stopped, it tore onward as if intent on ripping the entire barrier apart...

"Wait, that's wrong!"

"What is that?!" Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto's eyes snapped wide, locked onto the broken Negacion. "The Negacion is already gone, what is blocking the attack now?!"

The most seasoned eyes in the field had spoken first. Prompted by those words, Ichigo realized it too: what was continuing to resist his slash wasn't the Negacion. It was something else entirely, a force that had blown straight past all limits.

The slash raged on. But its intensity was dropping, visibly, second by second, and soon enough everyone could see clearly what lay beneath it.

Sosuke Aizen stood with his right hand thrust out, straining everything he had against the steadily weakening blow. His body was already past its breaking point. Fine hairline cracks had begun spreading across his entire form.

A massive wound ran across his upper body, incomplete, which was the only mercy. A chunk of the chest was simply gone, carved out by the effort his right hand had spent holding the line.

"How is that possible..." Ichigo stared, eyes wide, unable to process it. "How could he catch that bare-handed?! That's absolutely impossible, no, wait. What is that?!"

As the slash finally faded, Sosuke Aizen came into full view. In his right hand he held two irregular blue gemstones, each with a black spherical core nestled inside. And one of them, the one just pulled from Rukia Kuchiki's body, was the Hogyoku.

"Two of them... no, wait." Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and went still. "At least half of them have already fused together..."

The two stones that had been separate moments ago were merging in Aizen's grip, more than halfway now, though not yet complete.

"What in the world is that thing..."

The spiritual pressure inside Ichigo surged and boiled. Golden light crept back to the tip of his blade. He held his patience and spoke each word with deliberate weight.

"What exactly is that thing in your hand?!"

"Hehehe..." A smile pulled at the corner of Aizen's mouth, impossible to suppress. He bent at the waist, all composure gone.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What are you laughing at... Aizen!"

"Thank you, Ichigo Kurosaki." The laughter cut off with startling speed. Aizen's face stayed warm with smiles, but mockery threaded every word. "Thank you for unleashing the power of a Transcendent."

"For forcing the Hogyoku to accelerate its fusion."

"What are you talking about..."

"When I mentioned the spiritual pressure suppressor earlier, I brought up one particular item: the Hogyoku." Aizen closed his fist around the half-fused stone. "For a very long time, I have been researching how to break through the limits of a Soul Reaper. How to become a Transcendent, like you."

"Along the way, I discovered that a Soul Reaper's Hollowfication could help shatter those limits."

"...Shinji Hirako and the others... they were the products of your experiments?!"

"Indeed. Though they were nothing more than failed test subjects." Something almost like nostalgia crossed Aizen's face, as if he were looking back a century. "Through them, I discovered that Hollowfication alone couldn't allow an individual to truly break through their limits. So I abandoned that path."

"It was also around that time that I discovered Kisuke Urahara had independently invented his own Hogyoku."

"Also?"

"Long before he invented his version, I had already begun my own research. But the one I created was incomplete, still missing something." Aizen's voice stayed unhurried. "The moment I learned a second Hogyoku existed, I knew: fusing the two would produce the true Hogyoku."

"Unfortunately, Kisuke Urahara kept himself hidden in the World of the Living. Getting my hands on the other stone proved difficult."

"However, due to certain reasons—reasons you're also aware of, Ichigo Kurosaki—time was running short." Aizen spoke in riddles, touching on things only a handful of people could possibly know. "So I deliberately dispatched Rukia Kuchiki to make contact with you, letting her serve as a signal."

"Kisuke Urahara is clever. He knew that if he held onto the Hogyoku until that moment came, and I chose to cause chaos in the confusion, things would become very difficult to contain."

"You two... really are in perfect sync..."

"That is the understanding between intelligent men. I find his methods contemptible, but I recognize his intellect." Aizen almost seemed to relish saying it. "After all, even he, its creator, has no power to destroy the Hogyoku."

"Now both sides have what they wanted. Kisuke Urahara wanted me exposed, an outright enemy of Soul Society, even if it meant handing the Hogyoku over. I wanted the Hogyoku, even if exposure was the price."

"And what does having it change." The killing intent in Ichigo's voice wasn't sharp. It was flat, and absolutely pure. "I can cut you down with one stroke right now."

"On that note, I must thank you again, Ichigo Kurosaki." A confident smile settled on Aizen's face. "I haven't told any of you yet, have I, the Hogyoku's true ability."

"Kisuke Urahara believed it could break down the boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows. But that isn't what it actually does. Its true ability is this: to develop what a person desires in their heart, in the direction they themselves envision."

"...A wishing stone... can it really be that powerful..."

"It isn't that absolute, and it isn't that convenient. Creating the spiritual pressure suppressor was the very limit of a single Hogyoku." Aizen continued. "But once the two fuse, its ability will undergo a leap in power. At that point, it will allow me to keep breaking through my limits, until I reach, and eventually surpass, where you stand now."

"There is a catch, of course. The fusion requires more than four months to complete. And as you said, you could kill me right now. I have very few options. The gap in spiritual pressure is simply too vast, and Kyoka Suigetsu no longer works on you."

Ichigo said nothing. He waited, spiritual pressure churning inside him. The moment he had his answer, he was going to charge forward and end this.

"But that strike of yours just now—that one blow from a Transcendent, the sheer spiritual pressure and crushing force compelled the Hogyoku to accelerate its fusion just to survive it. What was originally over four months has likely been cut down to less than one month remaining."

"So what. It still isn't finished." Ichigo's expression didn't change. "Don't worry. You won't live to see that day."

"That alone wouldn't be enough to earn my gratitude, Ichigo Kurosaki." That mocking smile returned. "When an incomplete Hogyoku absorbs spiritual pressure many times greater than a captain-class level, it manifests its full power instantly, all at once."

"Take a guess."

"In that slash of yours just now, how many times a captain-class level was the spiritual pressure you poured into it?"

➤ Next: Ichigo Gets His Intelligence Steamrolled