Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 330 - Transaction and Intervention

"So, Wayne-kun — was all of that meant to make me turn over a new leaf?" Aizen seemed to have grasped the reason behind the reincarnation cycle.

"No." Wayne shook his head. "Not even Izanami could truly change you." He knew that what he had built, the Illusion Law woven together with the Hōgyoku, could never alter someone the way Itachi Uchiha's Izanami had in that other world. Aizen's heart and his power were both immense. The reason Aizen had broken down inside the illusion was entirely because Wayne had used the Illusion Law to amplify his emotions. Without that, shaking Aizen's inner self would have been nearly impossible.

"I simply wanted to complete our transaction." Wayne's tone was flat. "I gave you what you wanted. In exchange, I want the method for fusing with the Hōgyoku."

"Trading my research for the experience of several ordinary Soul Reaper lifetimes?" Aizen considered it briefly. "From a temporal standpoint, it seems I came out ahead."

"The flow of time inside the illusion is mine to control. It cost some time, but it was worth it."

"Then allow me to ask you something as well, Wayne-kun." The single eye visible beyond Aizen's seal narrowed slightly. "How did you know I once harbored the desire to become an ordinary Soul Reaper?"

"Do you remember — long ago, I once asked you whether you believed in reincarnation?"

"That was our first clash. The time you died under my blade." Aizen recalled it carefully. "Even then, you knew my Zanpakuto's abilities and weaknesses with perfect clarity, as if you had seen them coming. And now this. Wayne-kun, do you also possess the ability to read minds?"

"Even if I told you the specific reason, you wouldn't believe me." Wayne waved a hand. "It's a product of reincarnation."

"You mean that you, too, experienced something similar to the cycle I just went through, and that is how you gained insight into my abilities long ago?"

"Yes and no." Wayne neither confirmed it directly nor denied it. "When it comes to this world, both your understanding and mine are far too limited. You obtained the Hōgyoku, fused with it, gained a cross-dimensional power that transcends this world. But did you truly step beyond it? Beyond the world the Soul King controls, do you have even the faintest understanding of what lies out there?"

"I see." Aizen's gaze dropped. "So beyond the edges of the world I know, there are other worlds. It seems, Wayne-kun, that you are someone from another world entirely. That is how you saw through my abilities. How you came to know nearly everything about nearly everyone. How you rose, step by step, to where you stand now. Am I right?"

Wayne said nothing. He simply watched Aizen in silence.

A handful of words, and Aizen had nearly deduced Wayne's past and his purpose. He couldn't help but feel a quiet awe. After cycling through reincarnation again and again, worn down by time itself, Aizen had emerged and still held his mind intact, cold, sharp, immovable. Perhaps that was the most terrifying thing about him.

"Heh. No wonder. Your pursuit of power, it was never about ruling the Three Worlds. You want to transcend this world. Return to where you came from, or travel somewhere new. Am I right?"

"About the Hōgyoku fusion." Wayne ignored the question. "Are you willing to tell me now?"

"Interesting." Aizen's lips curved into his signature smile, nearly the same quiet curiosity he had worn the day he first met Gin Ichimaru. The difference was that now he knew, with certainty, that his own power could no longer meet Wayne head-on.

"Ever since we met, Wayne-kun, I have always found you fascinating, both in who you are and in how you act. In many things, you seem to have it all mapped out in advance. But in just as many, you are more like a gambler. Someone willing to stake everything on a single throw. Otherwise, you would never have come to me about the Hōgyoku fusion. Those who truly understand the Hōgyoku, you, me, Tōsen, Gin, and Kisuke Urahara. Five of us, no more. And yet you didn't go to Urahara, the one who built it. You came to me instead. You're gambling. Gambling that even Urahara wouldn't tell you the truth. Am I right?"

"Fusing with the Hōgyoku is something only you have done, and succeeded at. If I asked Urahara, he'd be more interested in putting a failsafe on me. You wouldn't." Wayne smiled. "With Urahara, it would be a demand at best. With you, Aizen, it's a transaction. Both sides bring something to the table."

"Ah..." Aizen let out a long breath. "A transaction I have no way to refuse."

"So — do we have a deal?" The corner of Wayne's mouth lifted.

"Heh." Aizen's smile stayed quiet. "I remain very interested in what comes next for you, Wayne-kun. I want to see exactly how far you'll go." He paused. "So..."

His body straightened. With a single flex, he tore through most of the sealing charms binding him. "Pleasure doing business."

On the other side, deep within Muken, Retsu Unohana and Kenpachi Zaraki were still locked together in battle. Zaraki had lost count of how many times he had died. It didn't matter. The fight kept going.

In truth, he didn't know why he was here, or why he had received orders to fight Unohana. None of that mattered either. As long as he got to feel enough of this, it was enough.

Losing consciousness again and again, waking up to fight again and again, it left his head in a fog. But the chance to fight Retsu Unohana again, the raw thrill and electricity of it, boiled in his blood and his brain without pause.

Fight.

Until death.

Unohana, for her part, held nothing back. Every cut was swung with the intent to kill.

At the center of Muken's floor, a pool of blood had formed.

This was Retsu Unohana's Bankai, Minazuki. Inside its domain, all abilities dissolved into nothing. The only thing left was pure sword technique. This was her method. Wound him. Heal him. Repeat, until Kenpachi Zaraki reclaimed who he used to be.

After several days of this, both of them were running out.

To be precise: Unohana's power was on the verge of being surpassed. Through each cycle of battle and healing, Zaraki's sealed strength had been bleeding back, piece by piece. Where once only Zaraki fell, wounds had begun to accumulate on Unohana's body as well. She knew it clearly. Before long, Kenpachi Zaraki would surpass her completely, and she would die beneath his blade.

"Hey." Zaraki stood ankle-deep in the blood pool, swinging his long blade in wide arcs. "You know something?"

"I love fighting. I love it so much I can't pull myself out." He was completely submerged in it now. Each strike came faster, each one hit harder. The joy of it had nearly made him forget the power still sealed inside him. Even mid-conversation, his blade opened a cut across Unohana's cheek, and he drove a kick into her that sent her flying.

"Mm." Unohana ignored the pain. She kept talking. "I know. I knew it before you did."

"Kenpachi Zaraki, to enjoy battle forever, you learned to seal yourself away. And I, to enjoy battle forever, learned to heal. But I'm certain now. The reason I learned Kaidō..." Her blood-soaked blade leveled at him. "...was for this fight."

CLANG!

She adjusted and charged again. But after so long, her body had begun to tremble. Zaraki's momentum only kept climbing.

"Only one Kenpachi to an era. That is the rule, and an inescapable fate. When a strong warrior finds another, they can no longer swing their blade for themselves. From that point on, the blade has only one purpose: to kill the next strong warrior, or to raise one." She struck once and fell back, her blade pointing straight at him.

"My blade exists to raise you."

CLANG!

Metal rang out again. This time it was different. Unohana's Zanpakuto was knocked clean from her grip. She knew in that instant, the battle was over. And so was she.

She watched Zaraki's blade driving toward her heart. The corner of her lips lifted softly.

"Farewell. The only man in this world — heh, one of the two men in this world — who could bring me joy. Kenpachi Zaraki."

BOOM!

Metal clashed again. Zaraki, blade and all, was sent hurtling backward. A Reiatsu storm tore through Muken and hung there, refusing to settle.

"Fighting is fighting. Training is training. Why does someone have to die?" A breezy voice drifted out from the settling dust.

Wayne.

He stood with his blade in one hand, shaking out his arm, his Reiatsu sweeping the last of the dust aside.

"Heh..." The shock on Unohana's face gave way to something softer, a quiet, relieved smile. "I forgot all about you, little one."

"Hold on." Wayne turned back and gave her a look of exaggerated offense. "You just said one of two men, and the other one wasn't me?"

"You little brat, were you eavesdropping on me?" Her brow furrowed. Then it hit her. "Wait, you have Concealment. How long have you been standing there?" She had barely survived with her life, and now her face went faintly red. The timing of his intervention had been far too precise. He had to have been there for a while.

"Not long. I only pinpointed this place after you opened your Bankai, Captain." Wayne slid his Zanpakuto back to his waist. "The sealing restrictions in Muken are something else, the Reiatsu isolation is brutal. Lucky for me, the Reiatsu you two were throwing off was strong enough to lock onto, or I'd never have found you. When we fought before, why was this seal never triggered?"

"Hah... never mind." Unohana exhaled slowly.

That single strike had ended it. Zaraki had surpassed her. There was nothing left to continue.

She had already made her peace with dying. What she hadn't expected was that the other person she had raised would appear, not only saving her life, but leaving Soul Society with two Kenpachis at once.

"Back then, we were not fighting to the death." She offered the explanation plainly. This time around, both of them had faced real risk of dying. If Soul Society had felt the Reiatsu fluctuations from this fight, it would have been impossible to explain.

But it was fine now. Both of them had made it out. Two Kenpachis, that kind of strength was no small thing for Soul Society.

"Huh? What are you doing here, kid?" Zaraki had already started pulling himself together after getting sent flying. Only now was it sinking in that he had nearly run Unohana through.

"Saving people." Wayne looked back at him. "Captain-Commander's orders."

"I see." The weight of what he had almost done settled somewhere in Zaraki's chest, and he quietly let it go. Then his eyes sharpened back onto Wayne.

"I was just hitting my stride. I'm not done yet. Since you're here, let's go."

"Wait, wait, wait." Wayne put a hand up. "I know you want to fight. But hold off."

"Huh?" Zaraki didn't follow.

"The enemy already attacked." Wayne raised his hand. A mouse clone of Timud materialized on his palm and delivered the full report to both of them.

Right as Wayne had stepped out of Aizen's prison, Shiro-chan's notification had reached him. Roughly an hour ago, the enemy had invaded Soul Society again, using the power of shadows to overlay the Wandenreich, turning Soul Society into a wasteland of ruins.

Ruins in large part because of what Wayne had already destroyed. Yhwach and his forces had repaired a number of strategic structures over the past few days, but the wreckage was still plainly visible.

"Captain Zaraki, you need to recover and get to the battlefield. There's no shortage of fighting waiting for you out there. Once I've dealt with what shouldn't have happened here, I have to move. Captain, Captain-Commander Kyōraku's orders for you: if you survive, report to the 4th Division immediately. The medical corps needs you to help lead them."

"Understood. Give us an hour and we'll be ready to move. In the meantime, the Seireitei is yours, Tsuki-chan."

Unohana took in the situation without a word. She drew her Zanpakuto, called out Minazuki, and got to work on Zaraki's wounds.

"I'm heading out." Wayne opened a spatial rift. "This one goes straight to Lady Mizumatsu's room in the 4th Division barracks. Captain, I'm counting on you for rear-line recovery."

He vanished before anyone could respond.

When he reappeared, Shunsui Kyōraku was already in front of him.

"Oh? You're back." Kyōraku's lips curved slightly upward.

"Took a bit longer than expected." Wayne gave a small nod. He took in the scene. The 1st Division office was unrecognizable, a dilapidated, crumbling structure. Not far away, Nanao Ise was performing what looked like a Kidō technique, holding up a semi-transparent orange barrier of light. It looked similar to a Negación at a glance, but it wasn't, this was something for keeping outsiders out.

"Good timing. Let's greet our guest together."

Wayne followed Kyōraku's gaze to the other side of the barrier.

Standing there, on the opposite side of the light, a handsome man with long golden hair. A Quincy. Yhwach's right hand. Grandmaster of the Sternritter.

Jugram Haschwalth.

➤ Next: Entering the Fray