170 CHAPTER 189: The Shatter

Kazuya dreaded the day he'd have to face Aizen but he always took comfort in knowing that the day wouldn't come for at least fifty years. His prediction turned out wrong. Extremely wrong. But he didn't feel like he'd lose in a straight-up battle. In fact, he felt an overwhelming sense of confidence burning within him.

After all, he had every bit of information on Aizen's abilities, but Aizen knew nothing about him. He held a massive advantage over Aizen.

{I'm stoked, Partner! Let's put him down like the fucking dog he is.}

Nami's excitement made him chuckle. Casting his amusement aside, he assumed a serious expression. "I just realized we didn't exchange names. Cazador is mine. What about you, Shinigami?"

"Aizen Sōsuke."

Kazuya nodded and used the unique ability of his Partial Resurrección — Oppression — the only ability he needed to cripple Aizen's future plans in the Soul Society.

Instantly, a surge of information flooded his mind, each detail meticulously recorded and analyzed by the combined power of his and Nami's extraordinary senses. He filtered out the irrelevant data, focusing solely on Aizen's Zanpakutō. From the sword's physical properties to its spiritual composition — he committed every detail to his memory.

With a single thought, Kazuya implanted multiple weaknesses within Aizen's Zanpakutō.

Aizen immediately sensed the changes in his Zanpakutō and lifted it in response, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I felt a surge of Reiatsu... Did you target my Zanpakutō with your Resurrección ability?"

Even so, Aizen showed no signs of caution or fear. His confidence remained unshaken. How could he even lose to an Arrancar as the master of the greatest Hollow army in existence?

Kazuya's lips curled into a smile. "You think this is my Resurrección? I'm sorry, Aizen. You are wrong."

{Overdrive mode: God of Life and Death ready to engage!}

He yanked off his blindfold and tossed it in the air. "Sing, Phenex (The Great Demon Poet)."

The blindfold stayed still momentarily then it transformed into a beam of intense red and black, shooting through Kazuya with blinding speed. The beam grew into a flame pillar that connected him to the earth and continuously poured out scorching heat.

The intensity of the flames was enough to melt away the kidō barrier Gin had set up to conceal Aizen and Kisuke's faceoff.

"Fascinating," Aizen whispered, watching the downpour of flames melting the earth. "So much power was sealed in her small blindfold, and still her Reiatsu was on par with Senior Captains."

Aizen had anticipated that the Arrancar who defeated Barragan would possess exceptional power, but he never imagined it to be of this magnitude. On the basis of Reiatsu alone, the Arrancar before him could crush half of the Gotei 13.

After what felt like an eternity, Aizen finally found a Hollow worthy to be his toy. Someone who could give him a challenge in his journey to replacing the husk of god as the new divine.

As the roaring flames slowly subsided, a figure loomed where Kazuya previously stood. His armor was a cascade of shadow and flames, with a billowing cloak of deep blacks and muted reds draped over his shoulders. Two branch-like horns sprouted from his helmet, spiraling and intertwining like the cycle of life and death.

The very essence of life and death had been encapsulated in his very being.

"The Demonic Poet hath descendeth." Nami's voice echoed around him. "Let life and death flourish at our hands."

Kazuya winced within his helm and then extended his hand towards the pit of flames. The earth split apart as if yawning — a gaping maw of darkness from which a colossal tree clawed its way towards the heavens. Its fiery roots grasped the edges of the chasm, intertwining with the shattered earth, as if it was a living being. Anyone with a working sense wouldn't attribute the tree to a living entity — despite its divine and majestic appearance, the tree filled the air with a stench of decay.

It wouldn't be wrong to say the tree held dominion over death itself.

"That is the strangest Resurrección I have ever seen," Aizen remarked in awe. "Resurrección unseals the power a Hollow sealed in an object as they became an Arrancar. Your Zanpakutō instead sealed a tree of unknown origins… How fascinating."

The master manipulator experienced genuine surprise after such a long time. After all, he had studied Hollows and Arrancars deeply. Kazuya's Resurrección defied everything his research concluded on the very basic level.

Silently, Kazuya's hand rose up in a commanding gesture. The towering tree behind him unfurled its fiery canopy, the burning branches stretching out like the wings of a majestic phoenix, casting smoldering embers across the entire town. Three branches, which were thicker and darker than the rest, extended in the vague shape of hands. These hands carried a tear-shaped golden gem, reminiscent of the gems present on Nami's phoenix form.

At Kazuya's command, one of the gems burst open and unleashed a barrage of thin golden strings. Hundreds and thousands of almost imperceptible strings approached Aizen.

Aizen immediately felt the threat and took a swing at the strings, only to have his blade pass through as if they were mere illusions. Unable to comprehend the nature of Kazuya's Resurrección, Aizen tried to retreat, but—

"Aren't you leaving yourself too open?"

Kazuya's soft whisper reached Aizen from behind him. Just like Hollowfied Yoruichi, his movement was purely based on his physical strength. Aizen, in the middle of warding off the strings, couldn't have the leisure to keep Kazuya in his vision.

He was left open for an attack.

Rather than admitting to his oversight, Aizen whirled around and swung his blade furiously at his opponent. Kazuya grasped the blade in between his gauntlet-covered fingers. A gentle blue aura enveloped his gauntlet and spread to Aizen's Zanpakutō.

Aizen yanked his Zanpakutō away. Crack Crack Crack. The once-proud blade of Kyōka Suigetsu began to fracture under the effect of Oppression. The shards drifted in the air, reflecting Aizen's shocked face — an expression that he had always faked to play with others.

Having this expression born out of pure emotions filled his chest with rage. An Arrancar — a lowly Hollow born in the soil of Hueco Mundo — crushed his most valuable tool. The outrageous part of it all was how ignorant — how foolish he was made to look throughout the exchange. He had always been the one to make others feel this way ever since he remembered, never the other way around.

Aizen's hand curled tightly around the hilt of his Zanpakutō, his face contorting into a twisted expression. With a menacing growl, he reached out for Kazuya's throat. But before he could do so, his body was suddenly frozen in place as numerous golden strings pierced through his back, connecting him to the Divine Tree of Samsara.