Chapter 365

This is a short side story focused on Aizen, taking place within the same continuity and timeline as the main plot. It explores events and conversations not shown in the main chapters, but it’s still part of the canon story. If you missed the earlier note: this arc is around 10 chapters long (for us it will take bout 3-4 days to complete), and we’ll return to the main story right after. Think of it as a short, introspective detour—one that sheds more light on Aizen’s character.

2-in-1 chapter:  Aizen: Reflection Part 1

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In the wilderness beyond Karakura Town, Soul Society’s skies hung heavy with silence. All around, the shattered remains of mountains and fractured earth told of a cataclysmic battle that had just taken place.

“Kisuke Urahara… I despise you!”

“You have such a brilliant mind—so why didn’t you act? Why did you submit to that thing?!”

Blue veins of sealing light crackled louder and brighter. Aizen screamed, his voice wild and desperate, as he glared at Urahara.

Ichigo Kurosaki, having just used Mugetsu, sat nearby, dazed. His eyes drifted toward the man who had suddenly appeared—Urahara Kisuke.

Faced with Aizen’s outrage, Urahara remained expressionless. Calmly, he replied, “The Soul King is the linchpin of the world. If he’s disturbed, not only Soul Society—”

“The Human World, Hueco Mundo, even Hell itself would all collapse.”

“The risk is too great. We cannot afford to take that chance.”

Aizen’s fury only intensified. “Excuses. All of it—just the pathetic excuses of a coward. You speak only with the voice of the weak… and I despise you for that. I despise you!”

But his wrath was powerless against the sealing light that now engulfed his entire body. Kido-formed armor encased him inch by inch, burying his figure until it vanished completely.

A quiet breeze stirred the dust at their feet.

Silence.

Ichigo let out a long breath as he watched the glow fade.

This time… it was finally over.

—

“Aizen Sōsuke has committed heinous crimes. He is hereby sentenced to the eighth level of the Great Underground Prison—Muken. Duration: twenty thousand years.”

With the judgment delivered by Central 46, the gates of Muken slowly closed.

Stripped of all spiritual pressure and bound to the throne of isolation, Aizen was plunged into total darkness.

But the silence in Muken was no ordinary stillness. It went beyond the absence of sound—sound itself no longer existed. It was complete, absolute silence.

For an ordinary Shinigami, such an environment would drive them mad in less than a minute.

But Aizen didn’t care.

Compared to Muken’s silence, the solitude within his heart was far more unbearable.

He wasn’t vain enough to misidentify it.

This wasn’t boredom.

It was loneliness.

He opened his only visible eye—his left—and saw nothing but blackness. Just like the hollow void in his heart.

Genius had isolated him since his youth. Those called prodigies by others had always seemed trivial—shallow imitations of true intellect. He outpaced them without trying; their limits revealed themselves long before his own were ever tested.

For hundreds of years as a Shinigami, he wore a gentle facade—but behind it was a pride that soared above the heavens.

Along the way, he met all kinds of people. Most were mediocrities not worth mentioning. Even the few geniuses he did acknowledge eventually failed to keep up with him.

The one exception—Kisuke Urahara—had willingly degraded himself, choosing to align with the insects of Soul Society.

“So in the end, I really am alone…”

He raised his head slightly. Of course, there was nothing to see. He simply felt like making the gesture.

Twenty thousand years—an eternity, even for long-lived Shinigami. Longer than most of their entire lifespans.

Barring the unexpected, he would spend the rest of his life in this silence.

Ridiculous.

Those fools in Central 46 truly believed they could contain him?

But even if he escaped… what would it change?

He would still be alone.

Inside or outside this prison—it was all the same. Just a larger cage.

The loneliness… it was overwhelming.

A deep sigh echoed in his heart. And then, suddenly, a yearning stirred within him.

If only he had one true companion he could acknowledge as an equal.

If only he hadn’t walked this path alone—would the outcome have been different?

The thought took root. It grew rapidly, spreading through his chest like wildfire.

But then he smirked.

Someone like him… could such a person truly have a friend? An equal?

He sighed again, dismissing the idea as idle fantasy.

Yet at that very moment, a brilliant glow flared to life from his chest—blazing with heat and radiant with something that felt like hope.

The Hōgyoku.

Aizen immediately sensed the source of the power. The Hōgyoku—though not originally his creation—had become an extension of his will. A tool for infinite evolution, capable of sensing and manifesting the deepest desires of its host.

And now, it was fully merged with his soul.

“So that’s it. It responded to my desire.”

He understood at once and shook his head, amused.

Even for the Hōgyoku, fulfilling this particular wish seemed impossible.

He longed for someone to walk beside him—someone he could truly acknowledge. How could such a thing be created?

Surely it wouldn’t just manufacture a ‘friend’ out of nothing.

A soulless puppet would never gain his recognition.

That was his rational conclusion.

But deep down, a faint sliver of hope flickered.

What if…?

After all, this was the Hōgyoku.

The glow pulsed brighter, filled with limitless possibility.

As the light coalesced, it illuminated Muken’s eternal dark and gradually formed a translucent gate in front of him.

A gate of light—shimmering, opaque, offering no view of what lay beyond.

Aizen’s lone eye widened slightly. Using his spiritual perception, he sensed a vast, familiar energy from the other side.

“A dimensional gate? And what lies beyond is… familiar?”

He quickly made the judgment. For the first time in ages, a trace of interest appeared in his gaze.

“Fascinating. Let’s see where the Hōgyoku intends to take me.”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Merging his consciousness with the Hōgyoku’s energy, Aizen passed through the radiant gate in an instant—emerging into a land he knew all too well.

A scorching sun blazed overhead. The ground beneath him stretched out as endless golden sands.

“This is Hueco Mundo…”

As the former ruler of Hueco Mundo, Aizen recognized it immediately.

Hovering in the air, he pinched his chin in thought, wearing a curious expression.

What was the Hōgyoku trying to show him?

And more importantly—what was his current state?

He held out a hand before him and curled his fingers into a fist. The light passed straight through both his hand and his body.

“My body is transparent. My real form is still in Muken. This is a projection—an astral body. Most beings won’t even be able to see me.”

He drew that conclusion and looked down at the barren expanse.

Hueco Mundo’s sands stretched endlessly. Silent. Lifeless.

It looked no different from his memories.

But in the distance, a white palace towered above the dunes.

Las Noches.

He considered it for a moment before descending rapidly in its direction.

The moment he landed, he sensed something unusual.

The outer walls of Las Noches had been breached. Many areas bore signs of battle, while other parts were crumbling from age and erosion.

Groups of Adjuchas were hard at work hauling materials—eagerly rebuilding the damaged sections.

“That’s… Baraggan’s ability. Have I traveled to the past?”

“Or… is this another parallel world?”

Watching the busy Adjuchas, Aizen narrowed his eyes and began to speculate silently.

Just as Aizen was quietly observing the Adjuchas repairing the walls, he made another discovery.

Beside the group of hollows, there were several haughty-looking Shinigami constantly issuing commands at them.

“Hurry up. That section over there needs repairs as well. Make sure every seam is tight. It has to integrate perfectly with the original structure.”

“You criminals who once followed Baraggan—don’t think about slacking off. It’s only because of Lord Kaelith’s mercy that you’re even being allowed to regain your freedom by helping reconstruct Las Noches. If you can’t even get this much right, how can you live up to the generosity he’s shown you?”

Aizen watched this scene, then glanced at Las Noches again. A subtle question mark seemed to form in his mind.

Shinigami… supervising construction?

Had Las Noches been taken over by the Shinigami?

Yet the damaged walls, and their remarks, clearly referenced Baraggan as their previous enemy.

Which meant that until not long ago, Baraggan had still been alive.

That would place this moment during the era when Baraggan ruled Hueco Mundo—so, roughly over a hundred years ago.

Based on their scattered remarks, Baraggan must have been defeated by someone named Kaelith.

Kaelith? A name Aizen had never heard of.

Which meant… this wasn’t his world’s past, but another parallel timeline?

Moreover, these Shinigami weren’t wearing the standard Gotei Thirteen uniforms—their sleeves bore the insignia of the Tsunayashiro clan, one of the Five Great Noble Houses.

The surname Kaelith wasn’t one of the noble lines. Was he a proxy endorsed by the nobles?

Aizen considered this possibility but frowned slightly.

What was the version of himself in this world doing? Why would he let the hands of the nobles reach into Hueco Mundo?

Could it be that this world’s version of himself had fallen, just like Urahara Kisuke, and willingly joined ranks with those foul-smelling, corrupt nobles?

Just from observing the outer wall of Las Noches, countless possibilities flashed through Aizen’s mind.

He decided he had to see for himself. His eyes turned toward the interior of the palace.

Since the Hōgyoku had opened the World Piercing Gate here, it must mean the answers he sought lay within.

Without hesitation, he stepped toward Las Noches.

The moment he entered, he stopped short.

Wait a minute—this was Las Noches?

In disbelief, he took a few steps back, looked again at the unchanged outer walls and familiar surroundings, and then cautiously stepped inside once more, mentally preparing himself.

Even with that mental preparation, the scene before him still made him fall into silence.

Who did this?

Las Noches—his Las Noches! What had it become?

Inside the once solemn and vast palace, banners with strange slogans now hung everywhere.

“Centennial goals—Quality First”

“Safety comes from vigilance; accidents come from carelessness”

“Work hard in safety, live well in peace”

Anyone seeing this would assume Las Noches had been subcontracted to a construction firm from the Human World.

It didn’t stop there—on the unfinished walls, advertisements for game consoles had been plastered everywhere.

Something called “LSP2”… what even was that?

But the most outrageous part was the group of hollows busy modifying the interior.

These Adjuchas, though not yet Arrancar, were without exception female in humanoid form—well-formed in figure, clearly potential assets after breaking their masks.

They were wearing miniskirts or shorts and busily remodeling Las Noches.

Clearly, the palace had just changed ownership, and they were adjusting the decor accordingly.

“Kaelith…”

Aizen couldn’t help but mutter the name, feeling his blood pressure rise for whatever reason.

He took several deep breaths to calm himself, then resisted the discomfort as he walked deeper into Las Noches.

To him, this place was as familiar as home.

As he moved forward, he silently observed the changes, listening in on the low conversations of the working female hollows.

From their chatter, Aizen picked up a lot.

As he had guessed, Las Noches had previously been ruled by Baraggan, but not long ago, a Shinigami named Kaelith had led a force to overthrow him.

Thus, the palace had fallen into Kaelith’s hands, and the large-scale remodeling had begun.

What surprised Aizen was that these Adjuchas spoke well of Kaelith. Not a single one spoke ill of him.

More than that, there was a subtle tone of respect in their words. They frequently compared their current treatment under Kaelith with their past suffering under Baraggan.

Aizen began to doubt his ears.

A Shinigami? Gaining the respect of hollows, in their own stronghold?

Could such a thing truly happen?

“Wait. If this Kaelith is a proxy chosen by the nobles, how could they possibly allow him to do something like this in Hueco Mundo?”

Aizen narrowed his eyes slightly. He had caught onto something important.

After all, in his own world, he had descended into Muken and thoroughly understood the character of those parasitic nobles.

If one were to gather all the Soul Society’s nobility at Sōkyoku Hill and execute them, there would certainly be innocent casualties—but if you spared every other one, you’d still miss plenty of guilty ones.

With that in mind, Aizen began to reconsider.

If Las Noches really had been taken over by the Soul Society nobles, they would never have allowed Adjuchas like these to remain.

Perhaps for the sake of preserving the balance of the three realms, they wouldn’t go as far as the Quincy and commit total genocide.

But they absolutely would have driven all the hollows into the Forest of Menos, killed off any that posed a threat, and only allowed the bare minimum needed for soul equilibrium to remain.

And if this was all Kaelith’s personal doing, that wouldn’t make sense either. The nobles would never allow a single Shinigami to command such power over hollows. They would’ve found some excuse to throw him into the Central Great Prison long ago.

When it came to ruthlessness, they were second to none.

“This is getting interesting,” Aizen muttered with a faint smile.

It had been a long time since he’d felt this kind of curiosity.

He suddenly found himself looking forward to meeting this Shinigami named Kaelith.

With that thought, he continued deeper into Las Noches. The inner halls still retained their original stark and solemn style, which gave Aizen some small comfort.

But from what he had seen of the construction pace, even this “last clean corner” would soon be transformed.

He silently mourned for Las Noches.

Boom!

A sudden explosion echoed ahead. It came from one of the nearby chambers. The shockwave spread outward, followed by clouds of dust and loud shouting.

“My sincerest apologies, Lord Szayelaporro! I didn’t know that item was off-limits. Please, forgive me!”

At the smoky doorway, a frightened Adjuchas knelt on the ground, frantically apologizing.

“Oh?” Aizen’s interest was piqued. He quickly approached and saw a familiar face glaring darkly at the kneeling hollow.

“Szayelaporro?”

As the former master of Las Noches, Aizen recognized him immediately.

And he also immediately understood what had happened. That Adjuchas must have touched something inside Szayelaporro’s lab, causing the explosion.

And if there was one thing Szayelaporro couldn’t tolerate, it was interference with his experiments.

Aizen watched with interest. He had no intention of interfering.

He knew Szayelaporro well—your typical scientist type. Fanatical, obsessive, cruel, and deeply twisted.

That Adjuchas was as good as dead—either torn apart and devoured, or reduced to just another test subject on the operating table.

Either way, her fate would be wretched.

As expected, Szayelaporro’s expression darkened as he reached out and grabbed the hollow by the throat, lifting her into the air.

His grip tightened. The Adjuchas struggled violently, her breathing growing ragged.

Aizen stood to the side, hand on chin, watching as if enjoying a good show. Just as he assumed Szayelaporro would crush her to death, Szayelaporro suddenly released her.

“Get out. Come near my lab again and I’ll kill you,” he said coldly.

The Adjuchas, as if receiving a royal pardon, coughed violently while thanking him profusely and fled at once.

Aizen was taken aback.

He let her go?

Just then, from within the lab came a voice Aizen knew all too well.

“Szayelaporro, come take a look at this data. I think we might’ve found the key.”

Aizen’s left eye widened slightly as he instinctively turned toward the source of the voice.

Inside the lab, a bespectacled Shinigami stood focused on the screen in front of him.

And the moment Aizen laid eyes on him, the man seemed to sense his gaze—and looked back at him.

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