Chapter 643 - 643 You're Afraid, Aizen

"Wha... what?! How is it possible!? I... I was overpowered by his brute force..." Aizen touched the handprint on his face left by Toshiro's press, looking utterly incredulous.

"Hey, Aizen, can you stop dawdling? Let's get started. I will... end this battle in an instant!" Toshiro said impatiently.

"End this battle in an instant...? I see, I understand..."

Aizen had an epiphany: "Toshiro-kun, I understand the reason... why you lost your Reiatsu. In fact, you didn't 'lose your Reiatsu' but 'abandoned your Reiatsu'."

"You probably used some method unknown to me to convert all your Reiatsu into the physical power of your own spirit body, in exchange for powerful physical strength… that is, strength in areas like arm strength, leg strength, wrist strength, throwing power, and mobility. And this..."

"...is also the reason you were able to overpower me physically when I was careless earlier. Otherwise, even if I were careless, there would be no explanation for you being able to surpass me, who has successfully evolved beyond Shinigami and Hollow, in physical ability. However..."

"How pathetic. Since you saw no hope of surpassing me in terms of Reiatsu, you completely gave up on fighting me as a fellow possessor of Reiatsu? But... you'd better despair now. Let me tell you... even the physical strength you've pinned your only hope on is... far from being a match for mine!"

"The reason you overpowered me earlier was simply because I was careless, and nothing more!" Aizen said in a deep voice.

"Tch! Still won't accept reality? Well, whatever. It doesn't matter now. You'll find out once the battle starts anyway," Toshiro had no intention of arguing with Aizen. He just reached his right hand behind his back and drew his Zanpakuto.

Then Toshiro gently stroked the blade and said softly: "Hyorinmaru, let us fight side by side again and defeat Aizen!"

Shiiing—!

As if hearing Toshiro's words, Hyorinmaru's blade emitted a hum. Then the chain at the end of the hilt spun around and wrapped around Toshiro's right arm, as if merging completely with him.

"Defeat me? Hmph, what bold words, Toshiro-kun. Now I'll show you what the power of a 'god' is!"

Aizen snorted coldly. Then, with a whoosh, his body turned into countless photons and disappeared from Toshiro's sight.

But Toshiro showed no sign of panic. He concentrated and sensed, then instantly turned to look behind him: "Here?"

Whoosh!

As soon as Toshiro finished speaking, countless photons instantly appeared behind him and coalesced into Aizen's form.

Seeing that Toshiro had detected him, Aizen wasted no words and directly swung his sword at him.

Toshiro showed no intention of backing down, meeting the attack head-on with his own blade.

Boom!

The moment their Zanpakuto collided, the air let out an explosive groan under the strain. Then, the intense air pressure instantly swept in all directions with devastating force. The earth cracked, mountains slid, and even a distant mountain peak was leveled by the shockwave of their clash.

"Not bad. You managed to block my strike. But you must be quite surprised inside. With just a simple swing of my sword, I changed the entire terrain. But this is my current power, the power of a god. However..."

"...to be honest, even I am somewhat surprised. I didn't expect my own abilities to have grown to this extent. I am very happy, Toshiro-kun. Thanks to you..."

"I can finally unleash this power that surpasses Shinigami and Hollow to my heart's content!!"

Aizen shouted, swinging his Zanpakuto and charging at Toshiro again.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Aizen's Zanpakuto danced at speeds beyond the naked eye's ability to follow, unleashing a sky full of blade light that fell upon Toshiro like a storm.

But Toshiro remained calm, unhurriedly swinging his own blade to counter each of Aizen's attacks.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Their Zanpakuto clashed continuously. The terrifying shockwaves ravaged in all directions. Forests were destroyed, the earth collapsed, mountain peaks crumbled, and even the very space began to show terrifying cracks, as if doomsday had arrived.

Clang!

Their Zanpakuto clashed again and deadlocked.

Then Aizen looked at Toshiro's right arm, which was completely fused with his Zanpakuto, and said: "It's truly unbelievable. We both have our right arms fused with our Zanpakuto. Judging from this very similar posture, there are commonalities in evolution. Perhaps... this is the original form of a Zanpakuto."

"—Even if our evolved postures are extremely similar, judging from our earlier clash, the power after our evolutions is completely in different dimensions. If I wanted, I could shatter your Zanpakuto into pieces with one strike!"

Having said that, Aizen increased the power on his blade again and slashed at Toshiro, seemingly truly intending to shatter his Zanpakuto into pieces.

However, facing Aizen's ferocious strike, Toshiro calmly extended his left hand to meet Aizen's blade.

Clang!

Aizen's fierce strike was effortlessly blocked by Toshiro's left hand. Although the ground beneath Toshiro's feet and behind him cracked extensively under the powerful recoil force, Toshiro remained unharmed, having blocked Aizen's powerful strike with his left palm.

"Ho... how could this be!?" Aizen exclaimed in shock.

Watching his own Zanpakuto being effortlessly blocked by Toshiro's bare palm, Aizen couldn't help but have a look of doubting his own existence.

Blocking an enemy's Zanpakuto with a bare palm was something Aizen also often liked to do. But he only did it when toying with enemies weaker than himself.

If he did that against an opponent of the same level, he would purely be asking to lose his hand. But precisely because of this, Aizen couldn't understand why his Zanpakuto was being so easily stopped by Toshiro's hand.

'Why?'

'If he had dodged, I could understand... no, after evolution, my speed should have surpassed his. With his original speed, he probably couldn't have dodged anyway.'

'But even if he had dodged, I could still barely understand. After all, he is a man skilled at creating miracles. But... he blocked it? And with a bare palm? This can no longer be described as a miracle...'

"Hey, what are you so surprised about, Aizen? Is it so hard to believe that I blocked your sword? No, it's not that you can't believe it, it's that you don't dare to believe it. You don't dare to believe that my strength far surpasses yours. You're afraid, Aizen. Faced with something you can't understand, you're afraid, Aizen," Toshiro said calmly.