Chapter 1269 The Grave Situation

Although Claire was careful not to go out of the established protocols, she had no way of hiding Aizen's presence. So when she felt multiple people approaching their direction, she could only sigh, 'I was hoping it'd be a quiet entrance, but that's impossible, huh?'

They are currently in the vicinity of the Senkaimon(World Penetration Gate) and Claire didn't hesitate to take a sidestep to gain some distance from Aizen.

Aizen, meanwhile, slowly raised his left arm and as he did, a bulky man with a large grin plastered on his face suddenly appeared in front of him, swinging down his tattered blade.

The blade went an inch deep into Aizen's arm, but it didn't go any further, "As brash as ever, Kenpachi Zaraki."

Zaraki's smile went wider and said, "And you're as tough as ever. That's great!" He tried pushing his blade down further but he only advanced by a few millimeters when Aizen's would suddenly start bubbling up and Zaraki had to retreat before his sword got stuck.

Zaraki was about to go in for another attack when he suddenly felt a massive heat source approaching them. When he turned around, Zaraki couldn't help but click his tongue, "Tch... Now the fun's over."

Aizen also didn't do anything and just waited for the old man to reach them.

The moment the old man landed, the bricks under his feet immediately started melting. Before it could get any worse, the flames around him began retracting and the temperature around them slowly came down to normal levels.

The old man, Yamamoto, first both looked at Aizen and Zaraki and sighed before turning to Claire who took some distance and smiled, "Claire. I'm glad to see you doing alright. You're not pushing yourself, are you?"

"I'm fine, grandpa Yamamoto. I'm feeling greater than ever." Claire happily jogged over to him. Now that he's here, she's not too worried about Aizen anymore. If they want to fight, she'll be able to leave with relative ease.

"And why did you come here with him?"

"Uncle Aizen said he had something important to discuss with me and we needed to come to the Soul Society."

Yamamoto was a bit surprised and glanced at Aizen, "Uncle, huh? Anything else?"

"That's all I know."

"I see." Yamamoto nodded in understanding before turning to Aizen, "I presume you're not here to cause any trouble, are you?"

"I have nothing to gain from it." Aizen answered with confidence, "And I'm just doing what Urahara Kisuke wanted me to do."

"Then you don't mind if I give you and Claire a company, do you?"

Aizen shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really care. As long as you don't burn me for no reason."

Yamamoto nodded and turned his head to Zaraki, "Zaraki, save it for later."

Zaraki clicked his tongue again before turning around and walking away. When he disappeared with a Flash Step, Yamamoto talked to Aizen again, "Lead the way."

Aizen also didn't say anything and jumped off the building where the Senkaimon was located. Their destination is the 12th Division Research and Development Center.

While Claire was following them, she wondered why Kunou didn't approach and what she was doing so far away from the Seireitei, 'Must be something important.'

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Soon, they arrived at the Research and Development Center and it was strangely deserted with only the small Nemu waiting in front of it, "Welcome, Former Captain-Commander Yamamoto, Former Captain Aizen Sosuke, and Miss Claire Belial. The Captain is waiting, please follow me."

Nemu turned around and started walking ahead. The three of them followed her and Yamamoto asked, "Where are the others?"

"Captain sent them away knowing that they'll start clamoring and was worried that they'll break some equipment if they can't keep their hands to themselves."

"Good call." Yamamoto nodded in agreement. Right now, the Seireitei are divided into 3 groups. The current members of the Gotei 13, the nobles, and those who came from Hell. There's already a strained interaction between the groups due to how things are unfolding and Yamamoto certainly doesn't want to make it more chaotic by throwing Aizen in the middle of it, 'I can probably force them to listen to me... But I can't do that. I'll be undermining Kyouraku's authority.'

Nemu led the three into the inner parts of the facility and soon reached a monitoring room where only Mayuri was present and was watching a world map with various symbols overlaying it, "You're here." He said while turning around, "It's reassuring that you're here too, Former Captain Commander."

"Hooh? Are you sure?" Yamamoto chuckled while rubbing his beard, "It's more believable if you have said that you found my attendance annoying."

Mayuri looked at him strangely and muttered, "You've mellowed out. How unexpected."

"Stepping down was a liberating feeling."

Mayuri let out a short breath. Since he didn't have the time to engage in casual talk, he turned his attention to Aizen, "What happened? Why are they moving out?"

"According to the lady of Sitri, it has something to do with Urahara Kisuke. Meanwhile, they have started preparing something to shield all of the three worlds."

Mayuri and Yamamoto immediately furrowed their brows, meanwhile, Claire made a surprised expression while muttering, "...So that's really Tiamat-neechan... Fully unleashed."

"Explain." Mayuri immediately demanded.

Claire didn't like his demanding tone but there was also no point in keeping it secret, "If the brief aura earlier was really from Tiamat-neechan, then Sera-neechan's actions are understandable.

"I only watched it through a recording, but when I saw Kisuke-niichan, Sera-neechan, and Yoruichi-neechan fight against Tiamat-neechan, then I can confidently say that she's on Ophis-chan's level in her complete form... or maybe even higher.

"She's also a world creator so she's also probably on the same level as your Soul King."

Mayuri, Aizen, and Yamamoto looked at each other and thought that this Tiamat was probably enough to deal with Ichibei if her claims were true.

"However, the most problematic was her ability, the [Sea of Life]. For reasons that I won't explain right now... well, I only heard it from Sera-neechan and Kisuke-niichan so I won't be able to explain it properly either. Her [Sea of Life] was corrupted. Instead of nourishing life, it actively destroys it and gives birth to something else entirely that's very hostile to all other forms of life other than its own."

"Instead of nourishing, it actively destroys them?" Yamamoto couldn't fully understand. On the other hand, Mayuri and Aizen's eyes widened at the implication of her words.

"Well, simply speaking, any life that touches the [Sea of Life] will be consumed and destroyed. And from that destruction, a new life, with the same memories and abilities will be constructed and emerge out of it. All of this reconstructed life will be hostile regardless of their previous alignment."

Yamamoto heard something similar from Jushirou that occurred during the Quincy war, "Do you mean like those Zombies?"

But instead of Claire, it was Mayuri who answered him with a grave expression, "No... They're not similar at all. Zombies are just controlled through their muddled minds, but these things are reconstructed. They are 'natural' and they are not under control."

"So Sitri Serafall wanted a barrier because she's worried that this [Sea of Life] will reach the three worlds?" Aizen asked.

Claire nodded, "It has restrictions like it could only expand on the ocean, but I heard that in the right conditions, it could expand throughout the whole world, drowning everything in it."

Yamamoto is also now realizing the graveness of the situation but he's still confused about something, "Is that something she or Urahara can't control?"

"It's fully under Tiamat-neechan's control... The problem is, that she gets stronger the more she expands the [Sea of Life] because it's essentially expanding her domain of influence and authority. Depending on their opponent, they might need to expand it very far."