Chapter 310: Satoru's Relative
Though he knew the scene before him was merely an illusion, the sight of the sword in Satoru's hand still made Aizen's blood pressure spike.
The Satoru standing before him wielded Enrakyōten, employing various Zanpakutō abilities as he battled Yamamoto and the monk.
The three brutes clashed in a dazzling, spectacular display.
It would have been even better if not for Satoru's visibly diminishing life force.
Aizen's face darkened:
"Do you think such a trivial illusion can affect me, Sōsuke Aizen?"
"First, while Satoru may be reckless, he is no fool."
"He might use a sword like Enrakyōten once out of novelty, but after experiencing its life-draining nature, he would never wield it again."
"Moreover, given Yamamoto's protectiveness toward him, he would never stand idly by and watch Satoru walk to his death."
"Additionally, based on my research, there are doubts about the position of the Soul King. Perhaps Hyōsube Ichibe'e never intended to stop Satoru at all—maybe he just wanted..."
As he elaborated on his theory, the Satoru who had been protecting him suddenly erupted in sprays of blood and collapsed rigidly.
Aizen stopped speaking.
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
Then, he smiled.
"Well done, my Zanpakutō."
"You've successfully displeased me."
"As reward, once this experiment concludes, I'll entrust you to someone to... care for you for a while."
Hearing this, Kyōka Suigetsu stiffened slightly, a flicker of fear in her eyes.
Seizing the opportunity, Aizen flashed before her.
Stab!!
The gleaming Zanpakutō pierced through the kimono-clad woman without hesitation.
Creek.
Aizen twisted the blade inside Kyōka Suigetsu before yanking it out violently.
Watching as blood trickled from the Zanpakutō's lips, he spoke calmly:
"Psychological warfare doesn't require elaborate setups or grand spectacles."
"Strike precisely at the opponent's weakness for a fatal blow—that is the essence of psychological combat."
Clutching her wound, Kyōka Suigetsu offered a strained smile:
"Just like how Satoru usually treats you?"
"..."
Does she even know how to hold a conversation?
Displeased, he turned and vanished from that realm.
Watching Aizen's retreating figure, Kyōka Suigetsu smiled victoriously.
Then, she too dissolved into the air.
...
...
"Kisuke! How much longer?!"
Satoru cheerfully—ahem, reluctantly—pummeled his good friend while shouting at Urahara Kisuke in the distance.
Urahara stood leisurely in mid-air far away, looking completely at ease.
Unlike the previous raid against Satoru, this Aizen instance didn't require them to fight desperately at all.
Satoru fully embraced his role as the carry, allowing them to simply lie back and wait for victory.
He shouted loudly, "Fourteen minutes! Mr. Satoru!!"
"How long did I take last time?"
"Forty-two minutes and six seconds!!"
"Oh... no rush then. Even a genius like me took over forty minutes. For a mediocrity like Sōsuke, taking seventy or eighty minutes wouldn't be surprising."
Satoru nodded.
Kisuke Urahara's mouth twitched as if he wanted to laugh.
But he suppressed his laughter at the fastest speed possible.
Fortunately, Satoru was focused on beating up Aizen and didn't notice.
Suddenly, he saw Satoru turn his head and cast a terrifying gaze his way.
"You were laughing at me just now, weren't you? Kisuke?"
"Absolutely not!!!"
Urahara was so frightened he nearly cracked his voice.
Damn, this guy's intuition is truly terrifying.
Is there any way to block his intuition?
While staring at Urahara, Satoru's hands never slowed, effortlessly deflecting all of Hollowfied Aizen's attacks with the demeanor of a grandmaster.
After watching for a few seconds, he withdrew his gaze.
Urahara finally breathed a sigh of relief.
BOOM!!
Satoru transformed into a quantum state, passed through Hollowfied Aizen's blade, and punched the latter deep into the sea of sand.
Watching Aizen lying in the large crater, rapidly repairing his shattered body while getting back up, Satoru curled his lips and shook his head.
Boring.
During their usual sparring sessions, even when going all out, he couldn't necessarily gain the upper hand against Aizen.
Although his swordsmanship was exceptional and his fist techniques weren't bad either—any solid hit could cripple Aizen—this guy's control over battle situations was truly terrifying.
Basically, all the moves he executed were either neutralized or dodged by Aizen using various methods.
Instead, he often found himself maneuvered by Aizen into awkward positions or stances that made attacking difficult.
Now that he's Hollowfied, this guy can't fight anymore.
Clearly not protagonist material.
Satoru sighed and shook his head.
With about forty minutes left, he needed to hurry up.
If he didn't take this chance to beat him up more, he might never get such a good opportunity again!
He grinned wildly, a heroic character's smile spreading across his face as ferocious energy surged.
BOOM!
Satoru's Reiatsu erupted, instantly shattering both the upper part of his Shinigami Uniform and his Captain's Haori into fragments.
Here I come!
First, let's ORA ORA Sōsuke for three and a half pages!!
Facing Aizen, he stretched his body fiercely and drew back his fist to its limit.
Then he saw the white bony layer covering Aizen suddenly crack open.
"?"
Crack, crack!
The fissure rapidly expanded, spreading across his entire body in the blink of an eye.
The next moment, the white bony layer completely shattered into dust.
Aizen stood there calmly, graceful as ever.
He raised a hand and touched the mask covering his face.
Unlike Satoru's frequently mocked design, Aizen's mask was quite ordinary—white base with purple cloud-like patterns.
After confirming the mask's texture, he casually pulled it off, and the mask disappeared with his motion.
Then, Aizen raised his Zanpakutō and slowly sheathed it.
Looking at Satoru, who was frozen mid-air not far away with a stunned expression, fist drawn back as if wanting to punch him, he curled up the corner of his mouth.
"Satoru, how long did I take?"
"...A bit shorter than mine."
"Hmph, be specific."
"...L-less than forty minutes."
"More specific."
"...Fourteen and a half minutes."
After saying this, Satoru looked as if he had lost all hope to live, his expression utterly despairing.
It had taken him forty-two minutes to master Hollowfication.
Yet this guy Sōsuke did it in under fifteen minutes!
Could it be that he wasn't actually the protagonist after all?
Unacceptable! His brain was trembling!
Satoru threw his head back, fingers twitching wildly as if possessed by Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Watching someone experiencing such a life setback, Aizen chuckled coldly.
This fool had angered him in the illusion realm—it was only natural he'd suffer some setbacks in reality too.
While Satoru was lost in self-doubt, Aizen closed his eyes and began organizing his newly acquired abilities.
Just like the Arrancar, after mastering Hollowfication, he had successfully broken through the barrier between Shinigami and Hollow.
His Reiatsu, which had begun to slow its growth rate, was now rapidly increasing again.
That guy Satoru would probably be quite pleased.
However, if his guess was correct, the Hōgyoku's abilities weren't limited to just this.
The reason he had started the Hollowfication experiment at this time was precisely to verify this point.
Aizen quickly searched within his own body for the answer he was seeking.
Soon, he found what he was looking for.
Aizen curled up the corners of his mouth.
Just as he had thought.
The Hōgyoku wasn't merely about "breaking the boundary between Hollows and Shinigami."
This miraculous stone's true ability was likely "fulfilling the holder's wishes"!
He never expected that the tool originally developed just to become stronger might possess such a high-level power.
For now, he wasn't yet certain about the Hōgyoku's limits, but one thing was clear—they had taken a major step forward toward achieving his and that guy's goal.
...
...
"Satoru! I want snacks from the Soul Society! That thing you brought last time... Kompeitō! I want that!"
In the large lounge of Las Noches, Satoru lay sprawled on a massive sofa, yawning with his mouth wide open.
Beside him, Lilynette shook him while making her request.
"Hmm... Kompeitō, huh? Depends on your performance. First, give me a head massage."
Hearing this, Lilynette quickly shifted position, sitting seiza-style above Satoru's head, and began massaging his scalp.
Nearby, Tier Harribel approached, wanting Satoru to help organize a group of promising Arrancars for her to train, to protect Las Noches' security.
Satoru casually agreed but wasn't in any hurry to act.
Organizing personnel wasn't easy work—better to let Kisuke handle that headache.
Then, Ulquiorra came over.
"Lord Satoru, I have a request."
Satoru looked at him with some surprise.
"Sure, go ahead."
Hearing this, Lilynette bared her small fangs:
"Satoru! When Harribel and I make requests, you always set conditions! How come when this guy makes a request, you agree before even hearing what it is?"
Satoru scoffed:
"Your requests are either troublesome or involve cross-border errands... Only someone as remarkably capable as me could handle them! Could anyone else do it?"
"Ulquiorra's different. This kid never causes any worry. His requests are definitely reasonable and easy to fulfill!"
Turning to Ulquiorra, he said:
"Well then, what's your request?"
Under the gaze of Satoru and Lilynette, Ulquiorra said seriously:
"Lord Satoru, I want to see... what the Soul Society is like."
"?"
Satoru's expression froze.
Well now, Lilynette's request required crossing worlds, Harribel's request was quite troublesome.
But you—you just played a fusion card, combining both aspects?
Seeing that Ulquiorra didn't seem to be joking, Satoru asked curiously:
"Why do you want to go to the Soul Society?"
"To gain advance understanding."
Ulquiorra explained: "Under your leadership, Lord Satoru, and Lord Aizen's, I believe unifying the Soul Society under your command, just like we did with Hueco Mundo, is already within reach."
"As your subordinate in Hueco Mundo, I believe all executives should familiarize themselves with the Soul Society in advance."
"Whether we'll serve as your army fighting against the Soul Society in the future, or as your subordinates cooperating with the Soul Society's Shinigami to carry out orders, we should all have a better understanding of the Soul Society."
"At the same time, this is also my personal wish."
"I want to know what the place where you grew up, Lord Satoru, is like."
Hearing this, Satoru stroked his chin.
Lilynette quickly said, "Satoru, I want to go too!"
"Wait for me a moment."
Satoru jumped off the sofa and left the lounge.
Shortly after, he dashed out of Aizen's laboratory and returned.
Seeing Ulquiorra and Lilynette waiting for him there, he chuckled with a smug expression.
"Alright, get ready... Oh, and by the way, you can ask the others to see how many want to visit the Soul Society and broaden their horizons?"
"The Satoru Travel Group will take you all on a proper tour this time!"
...
...
Suì-Fēng was somewhat surprised.
That scoundrel... ahem.
Lord Satoru hadn't returned for several days.
Normally, even when Lord Satoru went out to fool around, he would come back to eat.
Just in case, she dispatched the Onmitsukidō to search for Satoru's whereabouts, lest he cause some major trouble again.
The first few teams returned, all reporting that they found no trace of Satoru.
Just as Suì-Fēng was considering whether to go to the Fifth Division and ask Sōsuke Aizen, an Onmitsukidō member suddenly flashed into existence not far from her.
The Shinigami, clad entirely in black, knelt on one knee:
"Report! Lady Suì-Fēng, Lord Satoru has been spotted outside the Seimon Gate!"
"The Seimon Gate... He actually returned through the main gate?"
Suì-Fēng was taken aback.
Normally, the Seireitei wasn't protected by walls.
Although there were no walls, ordinary Shinigami still had to enter and exit through the four main gates.
Satoru was different—this guy basically went wherever he pleased.
For him to use the main gate today was quite novel.
As she pondered this, the Onmitsukidō member continued:
"Accompanying Lord Satoru are several unfamiliar faces."
"I inquired a bit, and it's said they're all Lord Satoru's relatives from his time in Rukongai!"
Relatives?
This time, Suì-Fēng was genuinely surprised.
She had known that scoundrel for nearly a hundred years—how had she never heard of him having any relatives?
Driven by curiosity, she used Flash Step to hurry toward the Seimon Gate.
From a distance, she spotted her target.
Satoru was leading a small team at the front, talking about something.
Although they were quite far away, Suì-Fēng could roughly hear the scoundrel introducing various buildings of the Seireitei to these people.
The group following behind wore expressions full of curiosity, occasionally asking questions and nodding.
It seemed... they really were ordinary people who had never been to the Seireitei before.
But when Suì-Fēng got a clear look at these people, her expression became complicated.
The first things that caught her eye were two pairs of ample bosoms.
One black, one white—both were tall, beautiful women with elegant features and a graceful aura.
Suì-Fēng narrowed her eyes.
Were these people really that scoundrel's relatives?
Perhaps they were "relatives" in another sense?