Shunsui Kyōraku, captain of the Eighth Division, looked at his old friend with a slight frown.
As one of Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto's disciples, Shunsui had the closest relationship with Jushiro Ukitake. No one here knew Ukitake better than he did.
And right now, something about him felt wrong.
"Jushiro, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Yamamoto stared at his disciple with a grave expression.
Ukitake had always been sickly and frail, yet today he seemed unusually energetic. Worse, he had done something outright rebellious in front of every captain present.
"Nothing much. I'm just gathering some power."
"Jushiro Ukitake" smiled faintly and waved at Yamamoto and the surrounding captains.
"I'll skip playing with you all today. Bye-bye."
Kamui!
His body began to blur, turning intangible as space twisted around him.
"Stop right there!"
Yamamoto's spiritual pressure erupted like a raging inferno, crashing down with terrifying force. Yet even his pressure could not stop his disciple from vanishing.
He watched "Ukitake" disappear, and a trace of pain flashed through his old eyes.
After what had just happened, even he might not be able to protect this beloved disciple from Central 46.
"What kind of ability was that?" Shunsui stared at the empty space in disbelief. "A new technique? Or some ability from his Zanpakutō?"
He had never seen Ukitake use anything like this before.
An ability that ignored even the interference of spiritual pressure was unheard of.
"Captain-Commander, what should we do now?"
Byakuya Kuchiki asked calmly, his expression as cold and detached as ever.
If Ukitake could protect Rukia, that would naturally be the best outcome.
But Byakuya feared something else.
If Ukitake's actions made the situation worse, Rukia's crime would become even heavier.
"All captains, move out. Bring Jushiro Ukitake back to me."
Yamamoto immediately gave the order in a stern voice.
This matter had to be handled quickly. If it truly escalated beyond control, even he would not be able to shield Ukitake.
He still could not understand why his disciple would suddenly do something like this.
Something was very wrong.
"Yes!"
The captains scattered at once, each moving according to their assigned areas. Some searched the Thirteenth Division barracks, some moved through Rukongai, and others even prepared to investigate the Human World.
However, Brook had already appeared in Hueco Mundo.
He directly pulled the Hōgyoku out of Aizen Sosuke's body. Then he extracted the unfinished Hōgyoku that Kisuke Urahara had sealed inside Rukia Kuchiki's soul.
The two unfinished Hōgyoku pieces fused together, forming a single jewel that shimmered with a blue-black light.
"This thing can manifest the desires buried in the heart."
Brook looked at it and smiled with disdain.
If he desired to become a higher god, could this little broken jewel truly help him do it?
Even the completed Hōgyoku's full power was not equal to half of the Soul King's.
"Forget it. I'll eat it first."
Brook swallowed the completed Hōgyoku and began devouring it.
Aizen Sosuke, sealed on the ground, stared wide-eyed at the scene, unable to believe what he was seeing.
The Hōgyoku he had spent one or two hundred years plotting for was gone just like that.
And who exactly was this man?
Rukia Kuchiki stared at the strange man who had transformed from Captain Ukitake, her face filled with disbelief.
She no longer had the mind to care about what had been hidden inside her soul.
All she wanted to know was what had happened to Captain Ukitake.
A terrible thought surfaced in her mind.
Captain Ukitake might already be dead.
Thinking of that, she glared at Brook with furious eyes.
However, the powerful seal on her body prevented her from even speaking.
A mighty force erupted from Brook's body.
His black pupils rapidly shifted from purple to red, then gold, then white.
The white Rinnegan began spinning wildly, and three black tomoe slowly appeared within its rings.
"I didn't expect this thing to actually evolve my white Rinnegan."
Not only that, it also granted him the ability to turn Shinigami into Hollows and Hollows into Shinigami.
In other words, it was the same principle behind the Visored and the Arrancar.
Brook was pleasantly surprised.
At the same time, he could sense that these two newly gained abilities could indeed accelerate the evolution of his white Rinnegan.
Unfortunately, the energy still was not enough to evolve the white Rinnegan on his forehead as well.
"Aizen, are you interested in working for me?"
Brook had only just begun to ask when he immediately abandoned the idea.
"No. With your ambition and intelligence, you would never be content as someone else's subordinate."
He looked down at Aizen with a faint smile.
"But before you die, make full use of your remaining value."
Brook carried the sealed Aizen out of his cosmos and into Hueco Mundo.
An overwhelming spiritual pressure instantly spread across the endless white desert.
The Espada were all alarmed by that terrifying pressure and began gathering one after another.
Even Nelliel, the former Espada who had lost her memory, immediately scampered toward the source of the pressure.
Then these Hollows witnessed a truly terrifying sight.
Their creator and ruler, Aizen Sosuke, was being handled like a helpless kitten.
"Is everyone here?"
Brook slowly withdrew his spiritual pressure and glanced over the Espada.
Several of them were indeed rather weak.
"May I ask how we should address you, sir?"
Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada, looked at the mysterious man with caution.
Anyone who could defeat Aizen Sosuke, the lord of Hueco Mundo, had to be even stronger. None of the Espada dared to provoke him.
"Brook."
Brook replied indifferently.
Then, in front of all the Espada, endless devouring energy surged from his body, covering Aizen Sosuke and swallowing even his Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu.
At that moment, unwillingness finally appeared on Aizen's face.
He seemed to want to say something, but before he could make a sound, he was completely submerged by Brook's devouring power.
The Arrancar were shaken by the sight and immediately straightened their postures, becoming far more respectful.
"From now on, all I need are obedient Arrancar."
Brook spoke calmly, then casually pulled over a small child dressed in green.
It was none other than Nelliel, the former Third Espada.
With a casual touch, he restored her Arrancar form.
In an instant, Nelliel changed from a little girl into a stunning beauty.
The sight made Nnoitra Gilga, the Fifth Espada, twitch violently.
After all, Nelliel's cracked mask was the result of his sneak attack.
However, Brook quickly turned Nelliel back into her child form. He pinched her cheek and found that she was indeed cuter this way.
"Lord Brook, is there anything you require of us?"
Seeing that Brook could easily repair an Espada's broken mask, Starrk became even more wary and spoke with greater respect.
"You will all go to the Human World. I don't care what method you use, but you must capture a woman named Aura Michibane and find an organization called Xcution."
Brook rubbed Nelliel's head, completely ignoring the little girl's resistance, and calmly addressed the Arrancar.
"Whoever completes the mission will receive a power boost."
His gaze swept across them.
"But if I discover that any of you are slacking off, I'll erase you on the spot."
------------
The Espada exchanged bewildered glances.
When Aizen Sosuke had ruled over them, they had never dared to act without orders. They feared provoking a full siege from Soul Society, or worse, ruining one of Aizen's unseen plans.
But now, this new king had ordered them into the Human World to find someone.
That meant they no longer needed to suppress themselves.
They were about to descend into the mortal realm and indulge.
"Don't cause too much trouble."
Before they left, Brook spoke casually.
"If you fail to bring them back, then you'll be useless. And if you're useless, I may not be able to stop myself from killing a few of you."
His gaze swept over them.
"And be careful. Don't get beaten like dogs by the captains of the Gotei 13."
The moment Brook finished speaking, the Espada felt cracks appear across their masks.
But just as quickly, those cracks healed.
Their hearts trembled.
This new ruler was at least ten times more terrifying than Aizen Sosuke.
The small desire they had to indulge themselves was instantly extinguished. Unless they found the target first, none of them dared to plunder souls recklessly in the Human World.
After watching the Arrancar leave, Brook slowly turned his gaze toward the direction of Hell.
"Even the Soul King can't control a place that expands without end?"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"What a strange corner of the universe."
Brook set Nelliel down.
Then, relying on his terrifying spiritual pressure, he forcibly broke through the boundary between the Three Realms created by the Spirit King's power and stepped into the void of Hell.
This world even had jailers.
Brook remembered that some Shinigami captains and Espada would enter this realm after death, either to fight or to become jailers.
In the future, the Eighth Espada, Szayelaporro Granz, would fall into Hell and become a jailer. The Ninth Espada, Aaroniero Arruruerie, would also descend into this place.
The moment Brook appeared, a large number of Hell Wardens emerged.
Some of them were even stronger than the Espada.
Among the sinners of Hell, several beings possessed terrifying strength as well.
Brook looked closer and recognized the purple-haired man among them.
It was Shuren, the main enemy of the Hell Verse.
His strength was enough to easily defeat the combined forces of the Eighth Espada, Szayelaporro, and the Ninth Espada, Aaroniero.
He was comparable to a top-tier Shinigami captain.
Shuren had crawled up from the very bottom of Hell through pure slaughter. He had four elite subordinates of his own: Taikon, Gunjo, Garogai, and Murakumo, all powerful sinners who had survived Hell's brutal order.
"Who are you?"
Several Hell Wardens, each possessing strength comparable to Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, stared at Brook without the slightest emotion.
"Delicious."
Brook looked at those powerful soul bodies with open desire.
"Is this the power of Hell? These wardens are already comparable to the Zero Division."
Their hellish power was far purer than a Shinigami's spiritual pressure, and terrifyingly strong.
No wonder even powerful figures like Shuren and Kokuto had to wear cloaks and masks to hide and suppress their spiritual pressure in order to temporarily escape the surveillance of the Hell Wardens.
This was also why the Five Great Noble Families had insisted on separating the Three Realms.
These powerful beings of Hell could never truly be killed.
The sinners in Hell would resurrect in its deepest layers, slowly recover, and continue expanding their chaos endlessly, with no reincarnation to end the cycle.
After the Three Realms were separated, the sinners of Hell were bound by hellish chains. They could only kill one another inside Hell and could no longer freely enter the Human World or Soul Society.
Most of these Hell Wardens had once been powerful figures who died in Soul Society. After falling into Hell, they organized themselves to suppress the Gates of Hell and stop the most sinful prisoners from escaping back to the living world or Soul Society.
"Become my prey."
Five Divine Aspects!
Brook spoke greedily.
Five enormous divine figures appeared behind him.
The figure at the center was Brook himself.
The terrifying divine pressure left the gods and sinners of Hell speechless with fear. They had never seen an enemy this powerful.
This was likely a being comparable to the legendary creator of the Three Realms, the Soul King himself.
"Run!"
Shuren immediately led his four subordinates in a frantic retreat.
His old enemy, Kokuto, also turned and fled deeper into Hell without hesitation.
This mysterious expert was too terrifying.
There was no chance of resistance.
The Hell Wardens stood directly in Brook's path. One of them possessed strength comparable to a member of the Zero Division.
But in front of Brook, even he was no different from a child.
As the five gigantic divine figures opened their huge mouths, even Shuren and Kokuto, who had already begun fleeing, were dragged backward by the devouring force.
"What pure hellish power. Let this god advance!"
Brook laughed wildly.
His pair of three-tomoe white Rinnegan opened, and so did the tomoe-less white Rinnegan on his forehead.
At that moment, the Hell Wardens and countless sinners all felt absolute pressure from a higher realm.
They knew they had encountered a true god.
Not like the Shinigami of Soul Society.
Those false gods could not compare.
"No! I don't want to die! I still haven't escaped Hell!"
The silver-haired Kokuto roared madly.
He had not yet escaped Hell to take his revenge.
Brook greedily devoured the Hell Wardens and the powerful sinners accumulated in Hell over countless years.
The complete Hōgyoku inside his body was triggered once again, directly beginning Brook's path of evolution. The white Rinnegan on his forehead spun wildly.
Three black tomoe slowly began to form.
At the same time, the Five Divine Aspects devoured even faster, as if they were feeding Brook's white Rinnegan with more hellish energy.
"Damn it!"
A solid flaming sword appeared in Shuren's hand. He stabbed it fiercely into the ground, forcing himself to resist the overwhelming suction of the divine figures.
His four subordinates clung to his legs like madmen, not daring to loosen their grip even for a moment.
Fortunately, they were far enough from the god, and the god's main target was the Hell Wardens. Otherwise, they would have had no strength to resist at all.
But as they watched those powerful Hell Wardens get devoured one after another by the divine figures, their bodies shook with fear.
If that god still was not full after eating every Hell Warden, then they had absolutely no chance of survival.
And after seeing that monstrous devouring technique, they understood something instinctively.
If they were eaten by that god, they would truly perish.
They would never resurrect from the depths of Hell again.
Was this the intuition of the soul, or the aura of true death?
Countless weak sinners, even those far from the Gates of Hell, could not resist the devouring pull of the Five Divine Aspects. One after another, they were sucked into the air in terror and swallowed by the divine mouths.
Meanwhile, the three tomoe in Brook's forehead white Rinnegan gradually took shape.
A mighty pressure began to spread across all of Hell.
.....
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