The wind rustled the leaves, bending the wild grass.
Both of their hair was tousled by the airflow.
Aizen smiled, slowly reaching towards the Zanpakuto
at his waist. His fingers gripped the light green hilt as he drew the blade from its sheath.
'Zing————'
The extended scraping sound of the Zanpakuto being drawn was distinctly clear amidst the sound of the wind rustling the leaves.
It seemed Aizen wanted H'el to see every one of his movements, drawing his sword with a deliberate, unhurried clarity.
He had never encountered anyone like H'el.
Someone who, like himself, was so distinct from the ordinary!
Aizen had been a genius since birth, with no one able to compare. At times, he felt a loneliness born from his extraordinary talents.
Subconsciously, he actively sought someone who could stand at the same height, a friend, a companion, someone with whom he could discuss lofty ideas from the same intellectual vantage point.
But he never found such a person. At times, he even wished he could be an ordinary Shinigami, experiencing the rush of battle, the camaraderie, and the bonds of life and death.
But he knew this was merely wishful thinking.
His knowledge of the world's true nature and his powers, which had reached the pinnacle of Shinigami capabilities, set him apart from ordinary Shinigami.
But now.
Aizen suddenly felt that the child before him might be of the same kind.
Perhaps in the future, this child could converse with him on equal terms, enjoy a pot of tea together in a garden corner, sharing thoughts and stories in the breeze.
At this moment, Aizen felt that the companion he had longed for, someone to walk alongside, might just be this child.
His future might align with his own.
"Your name?"
Aizen fully drew his Asauchi from its sheath, his broad face seemingly harmless, a smile playing on his lips with a gentle spring-like aura.
Holding the light green hilt with his right hand, he pointed the tip of the sword downward, asking before beginning his Shikai.
"H'el."
H'el stood amidst the cool wind, his black hair blown about.
The wild grass on the ground swayed like waves, bent by the wind.
His eyes were bright, intently watching this renowned Shinigami.
"H'el...."
Aizen softly murmured H'el's name, as if engraving it into his memory, his smile widening, and his grip on the hilt seemingly relaxing.
"Then, please behold my Shikai."
Aizen intoned gently: "Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."
A faint pulse of spiritual energy emanated from Aizen's blade.
In H'el's vision, Aizen's Zanpakuto influenced the moisture in the surrounding air, creating a dreamy, weightless, flowing effect.
Many who have experienced mushroom poisoning know that hallucinogenic visuals can produce a surreal, oil-painting-like abstraction of vibrant, swirling colors, as if traversing a tunnel of illusions, glimpsing both reality and fantasy.
When illusion and reality intertwine, a stunning visual effect emerges.
At this moment, this was what H'el perceived.
Everything around him seemed to warp with the moisture in the air, colors becoming infinitely rich, as the entire world, alongside the surrounding spiritual particles, reflected an astonishing array of hues.
"My Zanpakuto is an illusion-type. It can influence the spiritual particles in the air, refracting into limitless colors and illusions, constructing what your eyes perceive. Seeing my Zanpakuto means that what you see may only be an illusion."
Aizen's glasses reflected light, his warm and composed smile like that of an ordinary Shinigami releasing his Shikai, explaining his Zanpakuto with confident ease.
Strictly speaking, Aizen's explanation wasn't wrong.
His Zanpakuto indeed was illusion-type.
And indeed, one shouldn't trust anything seen under its influence.
But what one sees is not merely a mirage created by refracted spiritual particles in the air; it's highly likely to be an altered object or person.
His Kyoka Suigetsu doesn't merely bend the air's spiritual particles into colors and illusions for the eye.
It controls the enemy's five senses, making a specific target perceive an object's form, shape, texture, touch, and taste as something else.
It can make a fly appear as a dragon to Kyoka Suigetsu's captives, or a swamp seem like a flower field.
As long as one witnesses Kyoka Suigetsu's release, they will forever become its captive. Once ensnared, Aizen can make them experience illusions whenever he releases his Zanpakuto.
In this moment, H'el could no longer trust his own senses. His body's sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch were now under Aizen's control.
H'el felt his body becoming slightly strange with the flow of spiritual particles, a strangeness that suppressed his senses and could replace his perceptions at any moment.
"So, that's how it is."
A contemplative look arose in H'el's eyes. He finally understood why these Shinigami looked down on him for having such low spiritual pressure.
No matter how precisely H'el could control spiritual particles, he could no longer remove Kyoka Suigetsu's influence from his body.
H'el's spiritual pressure was too low, making it impossible to dispel Kyoka Suigetsu's effect on him.
But who among the Shinigami could remove Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu?
Even top-tier beings like Captain-Commander Yamamoto and Yhwach couldn't nullify its effects with their spiritual pressure, let alone his own weak pressure.
H'el couldn't use fine control of spiritual particles to eliminate Kyoka Suigetsu's presence in his body.
However, H'el had one advantage over other victims of Kyoka Suigetsu.
Through his precise manipulation of spiritual particles, he couldn't eliminate Kyoka Suigetsu's influence, but he could sense when it was activated and when his senses were being tampered with.
Though he couldn't remove it, he could detect its use.
This was far better than others who had no idea they were under complete hypnosis.
I know he's manipulating my senses.
H'el smiled slightly, the contemplative look fading as he amusedly curled his lips and said:
"Isn't your Zanpakuto's ability to put anyone who sees Kyoka Suigetsu's release into a state of permanent hypnosis, completely controlling their five senses?"
Aizen's smile froze.
°°°
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