"Very well, since you insist so stubbornly, I shall do as you wish." At that moment, Ailin stretched out his hand. "Projection!"

Instantly, a purple object appeared in Ailin's hand. A soul extraction medium.

This thing was invented by Kisuke Urahara in the future to extract foreign objects from souls, and Ailin had projected it. However, since it was a replica, its function was not as powerful as the original. But for now, it was enough for Ailin to use it to tear off a piece of Gin Ichimaru's soul.

The purple cylinder formed a layer of light film, covering Ailin's hand. Then, before Gin Ichimaru's slightly frightened gaze, it pierced his heart.

"Huff..."

The pain of his soul being torn made Gin grunt involuntarily. Large beads of cold sweat slid down Gin's forehead. But at this moment, the pain coming from his soul was not as great as the pain in his heart.

Rangiku, so this was the kind of pain you suffered from your previous injuries?

No, more than that!

This Shinigami's movements were very gentle, and Gin could feel that this Shinigami was trying his best to take a part of his soul with the least amount of harm.

The Shinigami who had attacked Rangiku before, however, had been extremely brutal. The pain Rangiku felt was definitely greater than his own! That person was unforgivable!

Withdrawing his hand from Gin's heart, Ailin now held a thumb-sized soul light point in his hand. And the black hole in Gin's chest disappeared as Ailin withdrew his palm, looking as if he had not been injured at all.

But the tearing sensation from his soul still caused Gin to tightly clutch his chest, breathing heavily, as if he would die the next second if he didn't breathe.

With Gin's soul fragment, Ailin quickly fused it into Rangiku Matsumoto's soul, slowly repairing her soul injury.

About ten minutes later, Ailin finally completed his operation.

"Done. This little girl's injury has been healed by me. She's just too tired now and needs to rest. I estimate she'll have fully recovered by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, sir." Seeing Rangiku's breathing had stabilized, Gin couldn't help but kneel before Ailin and kowtow.

"Hey hey hey, that's enough." Ailin pulled Gin up and patted his shoulder. "Little guy, you're not bad. Just for enduring silently when I tore your soul, your future prospects won't be too bleak. If we don't have power, then when those we care about are in danger, we won't have any means to resist. So go study at the Shin'ō Academy and become a powerful Shinigami."

"Become a Shinigami?"

"That's right, a Shinigami. In the Soul Society, only Shinigami can possess great power. Like that person before, and me, we're all Shinigami."

"I understand, thank you." Gin took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

This Shinigami was right. Whether it was to protect Rangiku or to avenge her and take back what was taken from her, it required great power.

If he had the same level of power as this Shinigami, then when Rangiku was in danger earlier, instead of helplessly hiding in the bushes watching her suffer, he could have jumped out directly and driven that person away like this Shinigami.

"If after graduating you want to become even stronger but don't know which division to join, come to the 11th Division. At that time, I'll personally train you.

As for whether you'll gain the power to protect those you care about under my training, that depends on how much you can learn from me."

After planting a seed in Gin's heart, Ailin patted his shoulder and turned to leave. All that was left for Gin was the captain's fluttering haori in the wind, and the large "eleven" on his back.

***

Perhaps because Ailin had stumbled upon him, Aizen became much more cautious with his later actions. However, having obtained the most important thing, Aizen's research progressed significantly.

According to Aizen's calculations, he estimated that within ten years, that thing could be created by him. So the activities in Hueco Mundo also slowed down somewhat.

The number of Hollows descending into the Rukongai districts decreased, allowing the members of the 11th Division to once again experience the days when they rushed but couldn't even get a chance to clean up the battlefield.

However, Ailin soon grew weary of such bullying behavior and handed over the task of cleaning up the Hollows in the Rukongai to his Vice-Captain Kiganjo, returning to the Seireitei to begin his own training.

Occasionally, Ailin would also go to the Shin'ō Academy to watch Haruko's efforts from afar. To be honest, Haruko's talent wasn't great.

Even though she was born in the Soul Society as the young lady of the Kuchiki Family, Haruko's spiritual power was only at the lowest level of twenty. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been unable to withstand Ailin's spiritual pressure when it increased to that of a century-old captain, causing her soul to begin dispersing.

After her training in the living world, Haruko's spiritual pressure had increased somewhat. But with Haruko's talent, even if given ten or twenty more years, she would never be able to reach the level of an ordinary Shinigami.

Even if she joined the Expeditionary Force to Hueco Mundo, Haruko would most likely only be able to kill two or three Hollows before dying, nothing more than cannon fodder.

Of course, as the young lady of the Kuchiki Family, after Haruko graduated from the Shin'ō Academy, she would never be assigned to the Expeditionary Force to Hueco Mundo.

It was more likely that she would be recruited into the 6th Division by Byakuya to do some clerical work, or directly retire.

But if she couldn't raise her spiritual pressure to the true level of a Shinigami, then whenever Haruko had prolonged contact with Ailin, her soul would once again fall into decline...

Ailin let out a sigh. "The Hōgyoku, huh..."

To allow Haruko to break through her limits, only the "Hōgyoku" could achieve that.

Aizen had already obtained the "King's Key" from Rangiku Matsumoto's soul and begun manufacturing the Hōgyoku.

But whether it was the Hōgyoku in Kisuke Urahara's hands or the one made by Aizen, they were both only semi-finished products. So the wishes that these two Hōgyoku could perceive were just the wishes of Urahara and Aizen.

Of course, Ailin believed more that it was the "Soul King's" wish - the Soul King wanted to create a "Soul King substitute" to replace himself.

In any case, ever since making contact with the Soul King's will, Ailin had gained a new understanding of the individual changes of the Shinigami over the next two hundred years.

Previously, he had thought of borrowing the Hōgyoku from Aizen and Urahara after they created it, and then letting the Hōgyoku perceive Haruko's inner wish, allowing Haruko to break through her own limits.

But now, Ailin had understood the true nature of the Hōgyoku. After all, whether it was the Hollowfication of Shinigami or the Shinigamification of Hollows, it allowed one to gain power that did not originally belong to them.

What was needed to become the "Soul King"?

At the very least, one needed to possess three types of abilities.

But how many types of power existed in this world in total?

The Shinigami's Shinigami power, the Hollow's Hollow power, the Quincy's Quincy power, and the Fullbringer's Fullbring power.

So after the "Hōgyoku" was born, following the will of the Soul King, it naturally wanted to create a "Soul King substitute."

It was just that in the end, it was tamed by Aizen and fused with him. Due to Aizen's belief that "battles between Shinigami are battles of spiritual pressure," Aizen's spiritual pressure reached an unprecedented level.

If he gave the untamed Hōgyoku to Haruko, she might be invaded by the Hollow power just like Shinji Hirako and the others.

Shinji Hirako and the others were able to overcome their inner Hollows and master the "Hollowfication" technique with Kisuke Urahara's help, greatly increasing their strength.

But Haruko... Thinking of this, Ailin shook his head.

He could understand Haruko's thoughts. Regarding Haruko's actions, Ailin maintained an attitude of respect.

As long as Haruko could safely live until two hundred years later, when Aizen had fully fused the two Hōgyoku in Hueco Mundo, Ailin would go and borrow the complete Hōgyoku for Haruko to use.

Speaking of which, Ailin felt that to some extent, Aizen was very similar to a certain teacher from the neighboring ocean.

That old teacher shouted that "only Haki reigned supreme over all," and then was defeated by the "Zoan" abilities of a certain animal species.

Aizen proclaimed, "Battles between Shinigami are battles of spiritual pressure," and then was sealed by Kisuke Urahara's bizarre sealing methods...

How ironic.

Battles between Shinigami were indeed battles of spiritual pressure. But under equal spiritual pressure, more powerful abilities could still exert greater might and gain an absolute advantage in battle.

Fortunately, in terms of abilities, Ailin felt that before the Thousand-Year Blood War, he should be invincible.

As for after the Thousand-Year Blood War began and he ascended to the Soul King Palace, meeting the members there, he would then stand undefeated. No, perhaps he didn't even need to wait until then.

Thinking of Avalon, Ailin's mind turned to the abilities of "Avalon." In addition to being able to maintain the wielder's state at any time, similar to "fixing" one's own state, it could also deploy the strongest defensive barrier that isolated the wielder from the rest of the world. In such a state, any attack would be unable to reach Ailin, who was not in "this world."

Didn't this sound familiar?

When Aizen rebelled from Soul Society and was held hostage by Yoruichi Shihōin and Soi Fon, he had deployed the "Negación" he had set up in Hueco Mundo, placing himself, Gin, and Tōsen in a different world from the Shinigami of the Seireitei, leaving the captains helpless against their defection.

So, could he first analyze the spatial composition of the "Negación," and then use the principles behind the formation of "Negación" to create Artoria's sheath "Avalon?"

The more he thought about it, the more Ailin felt this idea was feasible. But how could he analyze the "Negación?"

At this thought, an image surfaced in Ailin's mind. When in doubt, finding that person was definitely the right choice.

 

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