Chapter 625 - 625 Aizen's Evolution

"Hum, hum, hum!!"

The double seal formed by Sennen Hyoro and Ninety-Nine Dragon Dance, the 'Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar', trembled. Clearly, Aizen inside was not willing to be suppressed like this.

"Well then... Aizen, can you break free again this time?" Toshiro murmured, watching the trembling [Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar].

But not long after Toshiro's voice fell, an extremely powerful Reiatsu faintly emanated from within the Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar.

Crack, crack, crack...

Cracks gradually appeared on the huge Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar.

"As expected..."

Boom!!!

The Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar exploded violently. An intense Reiatsu storm instantly swept in all directions with devastating force.

Whoosh!

A figure darted out from the exploded Coiled Dragon Ice Pillar and appeared not far from Toshiro.

"...I knew it wouldn't be that easy to finish you off." Toshiro looked at Aizen across from him with some regret.

"Huff, huff, huff... To push me to this extent... you can be proud enough of yourself, Toshiro-kun."

Aizen's chest heaved as he breathed heavily. His appearance looked quite miserable. Even the huge wound from his left shoulder to his right waist, which Toshiro had just inflicted, had not completely healed, only stopped bleeding.

"But... what I want to achieve... is not just pushing you to this extent!!"

Before his voice faded, Toshiro suddenly charged at Aizen again, swinging his sword.

Whoosh!

After closing in, Toshiro executed a slash diagonally from right to left.

Seeing this, Aizen instinctively tried to raise his sword to block. But his sword-wielding movement was too slow. Before his Zanpakuto could meet Toshiro's attack, Toshiro's blade had already struck first, cutting into Aizen's body.

Sclick!

Blood bloomed. Toshiro had added another wound to Aizen.

"Ungh..."

Aizen grunted in pain and retreated a few steps, out of range of Toshiro's blade.

"What's wrong, Aizen? Your movements have become sluggish. Is it because you've reached your physical limit... or because your injuries are too severe?" Toshiro said with some surprise, clearly not expecting Aizen to have failed to dodge even such an ordinary attack.

"Yes, it seems you're right... my body has indeed reached its limit... the limit of me as a Shinigami..."

Even though the situation was very unfavorable for Aizen, he showed no sign of worry. Instead, upon hearing Toshiro's question, he revealed a meaningful smile.

Toshiro frowned: "What?"

Aizen said calmly: "I am about to reconstruct my soul, Toshiro-kun."

A feeling of unease rose in Toshiro's heart: "What are you talking about?"

Aizen's expression seemed to become a bit excited: "The will of the Hogyoku... seems to finally be beginning to understand my heart..."

"'The will of the Hogyoku'? Do you mean... the Hogyoku is not a 'dead object', but possesses its own will, right?" Toshiro asked.

Regarding the Hogyoku, based on some descriptions in the original work, Toshiro had a very good understanding of it.

Aizen replied: "Yes, although it sounds very unbelievable, the Hogyoku indeed possesses its own will. Even I only learned this after becoming the Hogyoku's master..."

"Say, Toshiro-kun... what do you think the Hogyoku's ability is? Is it, as Urahara Kisuke believed, to manipulate two things of completely opposite natures… the boundary between nothingness and Shinigami?" Aizen asked Toshiro.

"No, that's wrong." Without waiting for Toshiro to answer, Aizen voluntarily explained: "The Hogyoku's true ability is to read the hearts of those around it... and materialize them!"

"In other words... it can realize the wishes deep within a person's heart!!"

"The reason Urahara Kisuke believed the Hogyoku's power was to manipulate the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow is that he, as its creator, expected exactly that..."

"The reason Kuchiki Rukia lost her Shinigami powers after transferring her Reiryoku to Ichigo was that she deeply hated the Shinigami power she possessed that had killed Shiba Kaien..."

"The reason Inoue Orihime and Sado Yasutora awakened strange abilities was that they deeply cursed their own powerlessness from the bottom of their hearts..."

"And I... perceived the Hogyoku's true ability. The Hogyoku's true ability is to materialize the hearts of those around it."

"Of course, the Hogyoku's abilities still have limitations. For example, although the Hogyoku's ability is to materialize the hearts of surrounding things, if the object itself does not possess the corresponding capability, it still cannot succeed."

"For example, if I want to break the limit of Shinigami and evolve to a higher dimension, then the prerequisite is that I have already reached the limit of Shinigami."

"But... as you know, Toshiro-kun, among currently known Shinigami, there are only three who have reached the Shinigami limit... you, Yamamoto Genryusai, and... me!"

"My strength has indeed long since reached the Shinigami limit. So now..."

"...after the Hogyoku understood my heart, I have begun to break the Shinigami limit... and evolve to a higher dimension!" Aizen's voice was somewhat passionate.

"Is that so? You've begun to evolve to a higher level? That is quite impressive..." After hearing Aizen's words, Toshiro's expression became even more grave.

Earlier, the reason Toshiro had been able to completely suppress Aizen in battle was mainly that, with their Reiatsu being roughly equal, Toshiro could rely on Hyorinmaru's powerful abilities to gain an edge in combat power.

But if Aizen began to evolve to a higher dimension, his strength would definitely increase again. Even if he hadn't truly broken through to the True God-level yet, Toshiro might no longer be able to keep Aizen suppressed.

"Come to think of it... living things are really unbelievable. The small wishes contained in tiny hearts can be realized..."

"...to such a grand scale!"

Feeling the power transmitted from the Hogyoku to his limbs and body begin to gradually break the Shinigami limit and evolve to a higher dimension, Aizen couldn't help but feel quite emotional.

"Speaking of which, it's a pity, Toshiro-kun. If I hadn't been able to take the Hogyoku created by Urahara Kisuke from you back then, then perhaps the one breaking the Shinigami limit and evolving to a higher dimension today... would have been you!" Aizen seemed to feel some regret for Toshiro.

"Hmph! I don't need such a thing! Now... let me see just how much your strength has increased after you started breaking the Shinigami limit!!"

Toshiro's figure flashed, instantly disappearing, then in the next instant, appeared diagonally above Aizen. He then swung a roundhouse kick into Aizen's neck.

Bang!!!

Taken by surprise, Aizen was directly kicked by Toshiro from the sky into a pile of building ruins on the ground.