Preparing for the end

Meanwhile within soul society, as the emergency evacuation occurs, at the shinigami research and development institute...

"I'm surprised you didn't just defy my orders and try and make a public entrance..." Mayuri exclaimed with a stern voice.

"Well I gathered if we're meeting like this, it must be pretty serious." Urahara replied.

"Yes, the captain commanders gone along with some random shinigami, though we've sourced the shinigami's disappearance to a forbidden sacrificial seal technique used, one that Aizen managed to overcome. Any ideas why he would name drop you? What exactly is he after?" Mayuri enquired.

An apprehensive Urahara exhaled a breath before replying: "To think this day would actually come... I guess I was too hopeful that we would be able to contain Aizen even after he merged with the hyogoku. I think it's best we speak in private."

The two went to Mayuri's office before continuing their conversation.

"Now... no more secrets. No more riddles or avoiding the subject or I'll have no problems personally taking you to explain before central 46 instead - What do you know about Aizen's current plans?" Mayuri questioned, a tone of detest behind his voice.

"The hyogoku is an interesting device right? Truthfully, its so unique in nature and it's unorthodox that there exists something that can cross between the borders of the races. However, the hyogoku's nature is something entirely different from what I've ever come across and I don't know why Aizen created one, but I done so purely to understand the world better." Urahara explained, Mayuri rolling his eyes in disbelief that that was his intention behind creating the hyogoku. He continued on with the explanation: "Part of what is necessary to making the hyogoku was a factor that I overlooked, a part of the soul king. The hyogoku's purpose isn't to just materialize one's wishes, create beings or allow one to pass between the borders of races; it is a way of realizing the power of that part of the soul king."

Mayuri alarmed to know the truth interrupted: "Wait, are you saying that Aizen merged himself with a part of the original soul king?"

"Yes, and judging from the nature of this situation, it seems that the part of the soul king he merged with is trying to take over his essence, overwriting it with the soul king's essence instead and transforming him in the process. When I had realized what the hyogoku was all those years ago, I tried to destroy it or discard it but that wasn't possible so I could only hide it, hoping it wouldn't be looked for in someone like Rukia Kuchiki. It was a mistake that I had ever created that thing..." Urahara replied, hanging his head in shame.

"I see... Although, there is one part missing, what exactly was Aizen referring to when he said you would understand what it meant that this world is not ours to claim?" Mayuri enquired.

"I'm not sure."

"You really think you can bullshit me at this poin-" Mayuri exclaimed before being interrupted.

"It's funny how I find you two hiding out here in the middle of an evacuation order." Senjumaru exclaimed, as she interrupted the two's conversation and entered the twelfth division captain's office, squinting towards Urahara Kisuke.

"I guess we can talk about this later" Urahara uttered to Mayuri as the two begun to make their way out of the facility to meet the others outside the seireitei in the evacuation area set up near the outskirts of soul society...

"Thanks for getting everyone to safety so fast, well done captains!" Ichibe exclaimed with a grand grin on his face, leaving them feeling belittled and annoyed.

"Oi! If you're going to face someone like that monster, you'll need me with you to stand a chance." Zaraki shouted, eager to head back to the seireitei as he worried that even as resourceful as the squad zero members were, they were in above their heads.

Ichibe walked straight up to him before taking his brush from his back and drawing a black circle around the eleventh division captain's feet, leaving him puzzled in the process: "You're right! We definitely don't need you-" Ichibe stated, muttering a name under his breath that no one else could hear. "You'll stay here and not move." Ichibe ordered, before clapping his hands together in a praying position, as a goo like substance rose from the drawn line and mapped together to form a flexible cage - a jail.

"Before you get any ideas to try and destroy or break your way out of that... your zanpakuto will break before you even pierce the bars of that cage." Ichibe warned as he begun to walk off, the other captains simply left in shock as their strongest asset seemed to now be on house arrest. Annoyed, Zaraki was about to attempt and cut his way out but just as his blade would have connected with the freaky bars that seemed to move automatically, ready to block his blade, Nozarashi called out to him to stop. Neither knew exactly what was wrong, but this cage he was in wasn't something one could simply break out of, and even Zaraki felt a sense of apprehension about testing the integrity of the cage.

"Now come on captains, you're not gonna want to miss this great display." Ichibe shouted, as he pointed to the seireitei, sitting besides Kuroi and Tenjiro as they munched on dango and other snacks, confounding the others. Their eyes all lit up as they watched a colossal wooden barrier erect across the whole of the seireitei, taking the shape of a grand dome.

"What the!?" Lisa questioned.

"This power... it could only be her, but to think she's grown that much in power being in the royal palace is unbelievable." Shinji exclaimed.

"That's right! This is one of Kirio's barriers." Kuroi responded, as he looked back at the shocked captains.

Within the seireitei, Kirio and Senjumaru stood within the center of the barrier.

"Whew! It's been ages since I've had to create a barrier like this with my bankai, and certainly the first time doing one of this magnitude." Kirio exclaimed, exhausted as she reverted back to her smaller form.

"Well you can just relax from here on, I'll deal with the rest." Senjumaru responded with a smile, as she stood forward while Kirio rested using her spoon as a crutch and snacked on some food she brought with her. "Bankai: Kogane no oriito no kōshi - Nīdoruāmu no kōsaten (Lattice of golden woven threads - Intersection of needle arms)" She exclaimed, as four great arms emerged from the ground, each holding a golden needle. They moved in conjunction with one another swiftly, creating dense structures of woven thread that lined up with the barrier, lining up as a second layer to the barrier with great agility. Where Kirio's barrier had a random and scattered pattern with holes of varying sizes, Senjumaru's had a neat formed lattice pattern. While Kirio's wooden barrier was good for its dexterity to handle some of the more powerful attacks that could it, easily repairing itself using her reiatsu, Senjumaru's thread barrier specialized in absorbing and manipulating the reiatsu of attacks that pierced through and came into contact with it.

Back at the evacuation area, Tenjiro exclaimed: "Alright ice boy, time to get a move on, the stage is set which means it's time for the fight." The three squad zero members walked off, leaving Toshiro to frustratingly run behind them, unable to keep up with their erratic nature.