Chapter 648 The War Ends!

"Seal me? Th... this is something you cannot possibly do, Hitsugaya Toshiro!" Aizen shouted, outwardly strong but inwardly fearful.

"Whether I can do it or not, we'll find out by trying," Toshiro said calmly.

Having said that, Toshiro did not step forward. Instead, he retreated a few steps, putting some distance between himself and Aizen.

Then Toshiro solemnly mobilized the vast power of the True God-level within his body, preparing to use a sealing technique he had mastered after his breakthrough.

Finally, when he was ready, Toshiro shouted: "Eikyu Hyoketsu!" (T/N: Eternal Freeze.)

Hum—!

A hexagram array, engraved with mysterious patterns and emitting an ice-blue light, rose from beneath Aizen's feet as he was bound to the cross.

Boom!

A Reiatsu pillar shot up from the hexagram array, enveloping Aizen and forming an enclosed space, but it did not freeze him.

"Hmph! I thought something would happen, but nothing did. As expected, you can't possibly seal me, Hitsugaya Toshiro," Aizen said with relief.

When the Reiatsu Pillar had risen, Aizen had been startled, thinking he was really going to be sealed. But in the end, nothing happened.

"No, you're mistaken, Aizen. That Reiatsu Pillar has no sealing function. It was originally just to trap the enemy and prevent them from escaping before the sealing technique is complete."

"However, you were already bound by Ice Cross and Heavenly Reverse Chain, losing the ability to escape, so you didn't experience the power of that Reiatsu Pillar. Next... you will experience the true power of Eikyu Hyoketsu," Toshiro explained calmly.

Then, as soon as Toshiro finished speaking, an intensely cold white mist, as if capable of freezing everything, emanated from the hexagram array, coiling around Aizen bound to the cross like a current of air.

Freeze, freeze, freeze...

Starting from Aizen's feet, the moment they touched the white mist, they were frozen, and the freezing spread upwards.

"What!?" Aizen suddenly exclaimed in shock.

Aizen found that his feet had lost sensation. No, to be precise, they had lost 'existence'.

The limbs that had been touched by the chilling white mist and then frozen all lost 'existence', as if those body parts had never existed.

Counting this battle, Aizen had fought Toshiro many times and had been frozen by his ice many times.

But before, when frozen by Toshiro's ice, even if his body was numb and lost sensation due to the low temperature damage, at least Aizen could still clearly know that his body still 'existed', it was just temporarily unconscious because of the cold and numbness.

But now, not only sensation, but even 'existence' was lost, as if those frozen body parts had never existed.

The chilling white mist continued to spread, and Aizen's body continued to be frozen. Even Aizen's powerful Reiatsu could not stop it.

Feet, legs, waist... Then, when the chilling white mist spread to Aizen's chest, the Hogyoku embedded in his chest not only failed to stop the spread of the white mist but was itself frozen.

"Impossible!? Ho... how can this be... even the Hogyoku..."

When the Hogyoku, which he regarded as his greatest reliance, was also frozen, Aizen finally began to truly panic.

And then, Aizen terrifiedly discovered that after the Hogyoku was frozen, his power, which had surpassed Shinigami and Hollow, suddenly began to sharply decrease, as if it might drop below the god level at any moment.

"Stop! Hitsugaya Toshiro! Stop right now!! If you have the ability, release this sealing technique and fight me honorably again!!!" Aizen shouted in terror.

But Toshiro ignored Aizen's words, just mocking him contemptuously: "Fool! Sealing techniques are also part of my power. How is that not honorable? Besides, when you fought me honorably before, weren't you still no match for me?"

"Alright, that's enough. Goodbye, Aizen. For ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years... you will forever repent your sins in the abyss of darkness!"

The chilling white mist continued to spread. Aizen's body was constantly frozen. Finally, everything below his neck was frozen, leaving only his head and neck above his shoulders.

Aizen seemed to have given up on using words to provoke Toshiro into giving up on sealing him.

But Aizen's expression looked extremely angry. Finally, using all his strength, he shouted: "Hitsugaya Toshiro! I look down on you!! You clearly possess wisdom comparable to mine and strength surpassing mine! Why... why do you still submit to that thing!!!"

"That thing? You mean the [Soul King]? You seem to know quite a bit. But... you're mistaken. I have never submitted to the Soul King, nor do I intend to submit to anyone in the future," Toshiro retorted.

"Then why not replace him?!" Aizen demanded.

"It's just... too troublesome. Just the 10th Division keeps me busy enough. If I replaced the Soul King and ruled the entire world, wouldn't that be even busier to death?"

Toshiro had a look of disgust, as if the Soul King did not represent some supreme status, but rather a position that everyone found undesirable.

Then Toshiro continued: "I have no intention of replacing the Soul King. But for the people of Soul Society, they need a 'King' to unite them and lead them forward. So the Soul King exists. If the Soul King were to disappear, Soul Society might even fall into fragmentation. And most importantly..."

"...the Soul King is the 'wedge'… the wedge and foundation for the world's existence. Losing the 'wedge' would cause the collapse of Soul Society, the Living World, and Hueco Mundo. Although I don't want to admit it, in a sense... the Soul King is what we call the world," Toshiro said with an inscrutable expression.

Having read the original manga, and after becoming the Vice-Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, Toshiro had learned some secrets about the Soul King.

So he knew very well what kind of existence the Soul King was.

But precisely because of this, Toshiro had never thought of replacing the Soul King, nor had he thought of submitting to 'that thing'.

However, Aizen was not satisfied with Toshiro's answer. He loudly retorted: "This is just the words of a loser! For a winner, they would never lightly say what kind of existence the world is! Rather, they would emphasize how the world should exist, creating the world according to their own ideas!! If it were me... if it were me, I would definitely..."

Crack!

Before Aizen could finish, he was completely frozen by the chilling white mist, becoming a lifelike ice sculpture, sealed on the cross.

Then Toshiro let out a long sigh and said with a complex expression: "This war... is finally over."