283. Aizen Appears

When Leo and Yamamoto heard Shunsui, they stopped in their tracks. Only now did the both of them notice the state of their surroundings.

A large part of the Seritei was either scorched to nothingness or slashed into tiny particles.

Yamamoto drew back the flames on his body. The rusty old sword emitting terrifying heat returned to it's sealed state.

Leo also took back his sword intent. His haki receeded.

Yamamoto faintly looked at Shunsui and said, "Wait for your punishment."

Shunsui smiled and shrugged, "Hey, I only did what I thought was right."

Ignoring him Yamamoto said to Leo, "You helped to release a criminal about to be executed, your punishment won't be anything light either."

Leo sheathed his sword. Calming his rumbling 'Breath', he said, "We'll talk about that later. Right now, we have more important things to take care of."

"Hmm?"

Shunsui was confused by his words. However Yamamoto showed no emotion to Leo's words.

He looked towards a direction. With his exceptional sensory skills he could see the criminal Rukia being carried away by a shinigami.

Leo also looked in that direction as well. But his eyes seems to be searching for something else.

"There you are...

For a moment a terrifying murderous intent leaked out of him.

Yamamoto and Shunsui looked at him in surprise. Shunsui was even more so. He didn't sense so much killing intent when Leo was fighting Yamamoto, but now...

Faintly he guessed the reason why.

Leo suddenly disappeared from their sight.

"Let's go."

Yamamoto spoke softly and disappeared as well. Shunsui was not slow either as he followed.

...

Renji was running with Rukia in his arms. He could sense the clash between the terrifying heat as well as the sharp sword rays from the direction of the Sokyoku hill.

"Renji, the others...

Rukia asked hesitantly.

Renji replied solemnly, "Don't worry. They will take care of it."

As he just finished his words something heavy slammed against his body. He coughed out blood and was thrown back. He rolled through the ground and crashed into a small hill.

"Renji!"

Rukia shouted. She looked around to find out who it was. Her eyes shrunk when she saw the person.

"Captain... Aizen?"

Some distance from her stood Sosuke Aizen. His scholarly demeanour and his faint smile made her heart cold.

Standing on either side of him was two other captains.

Gin Ichimaru.

Kaname Tosen.

Rukia failed to understand what was happening. Before she could think far Aizen flashed infront of her.

He stabbed his right arm into her chest. A particular shade of green coated his arm as he did so.

"You...

Rukia found it hard to breathe. Her body turned weak.

Aizen slowly drew out his arm. In his palm was a glossy bead.

"No time to waste. Let's go."

As he spoke a curtain covered the three of them.

Just at that moment a terrifying sword radiance lit up the sky. It slammed into the curtain.

The sharp intent contained in it stretched the curtain to it's limit. But it couldn't slash through in the end.

Aizen faintly looked over the horizon.

A figure flashed through the sky and landed steadily infront of the light curtain.

"We meet again, Leo Heart."

Leo stared at Aizen for a second before his eyes landed on the man standing to the left. He had silver hair and eyes like a fox.

"Gin Ichimaru...

Gin calmly looked back at Leo.

At that moment Yamamoto and Shunsui appeared. They looked at the light curtain and frowned.

"It's a space corridor. We can't break through."

Shunsui commented. He then looked at Aizen.

"So, it was you all along."

Aizen smiled. He threw his glasses away and ran his fingers through his hair.

Ssh!!

Several more figures flashed and appeared infront of the light curtain.

Among them, Captain Unohana walked to Yamamoto and reported.

"Sir, every member of Central 17 was killed. This was a month ago."

Yamamoto hummed in response. The old man who lived for a thousand years showed no signs of emotion even when heard such a shocking report.

The other captains reacted in different ways.

Jushiro looked at Aizen and the glossy bead in his hand. His eyes kept flickering between the bead and Rukia.

"So, your purpose was Rukia all along. Her capture, and her execution was all planned by you."

Aizen smiled faintly, "Very impressive deduction, Captain Jushiro. But it's time to say goodbye."

As he spoke the light curtain covering them started to float.

At that moment a rift appeared in the sky. A huge eye was peeking out from the darkness behind the rift.

The space curtain started to float towards the rift.

"Attack!!"

One of the captains, Sui Feng, used Flash Steps and appeared infront of the light curtain. She used her short blade to slash at it.

However her attack was blocked. Her short sword bounced back.

"It's not use, Sui Feng. No one can break through this space corridor."

The other captain beside Aizen, Kaname Tosen spoke calmly.

Sui Feng grounded her teeth in anger. However there was nothing she could do.

Aizen who had a confident smile on his face looked at Leo for one last time and said, "You are far stronger than I imagined. We'll meet again."

Leo was calm in the face of Aizen's taunt. He gazed at the space curtain with a peculiar expression.

He took a step forward and disappeared. He seems to have skipped through space as he appeared infront of the curtain.

He stretched out his hand.

What happened next stunned everyone.

Leo's arm went through the light curtain as if it didn't exist.

He reached out and grabbed the glossy bead in Aizen's hand.

Stunned by the sudden situation Aizen reacted slowly. He couldn't take back his arm in time.

Leo was grabbing the glossy bead. Now both of them stood facing each other while tugging for the bead.

Aizen tried to pull back. But it felt as if he was pulling on an iron pillar.

The brute strength Leo was showing startled him.

"So this was your goal? What's so interesting about it?"

Leo asked him and put some strength into his arm.

A huge force pulled at Aizen. He felt as if his arm would be ripped out if he didn't let go.

Leo easily pried out the bead from his hand. He looked at it curiously. After a while he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Pocketing the bead he focused his eyes on Gin Ichimaru. A peculiar light flashed through his eyes.