Bleach : Begins with a Contract with the Departed Souls of the Uchiha Chapter 296 296: Aizen's Covetousness

Fierce combat echoed across the dual battlefields in the valley.

Seeing Marco approach, the pineapple-like hairstyle on his head swaying, Ren tilted his head slightly with a faint smile on his face as Marco stopped before Shisui's Susanoo.

Under Shisui's control, a gap opened in the abdon of the Susanoo, and Marco turned sideways to slip inside.

"The battlefield over there seems stable enough for now. I didn't think I'd be needed for a while, so I ca over here to check on you."

"After all, your situation looks much more serious."

Marco leaned over in front of Shisui, bowing down to inspect Ren's head with a look of pure amazent, stroking his chin as he looked.

"I already knew you were no ordinary man, but to be perfectly fine with nothing left but a head... that's truly a level beyond the understanding of us re mortals."

He stood up straight, resting one hand on his hip while waving the other dismissively.

"I planned on coming over from the start, but Pop and the others suddenly got into it with the Soul Reapers, so I had to check on them first."

"Fortunately, it doesn't look like anything too disastrous happened here."

Toji, standing nearby, shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Having nothing left but a head can hardly be called 'nothing too disastrous,' can it?"

"Haha, true enough."

Marco scratched his head and reached out toward Ren, his hand erupting in blue flas.

"Boss, let treat you."

"Though, to be honest, I'm not sure what kind of effect my ability will even have on soone like you."

Watching the flas draw closer, Ren wanted to scratch his head, only to rember he had no arms at the mont.

He spoke up, "Actually, I just finished absorbing the spiritual pressure of a Quincy, so I could recover on my own given ti."

Marco's hand paused just inches from Ren's face.

"So you don't need my power?"

"No, go ahead and use it."

Ren opened his mouth, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Shisui and the others ntioned that I look like I'm in quite a bit of pain right now. If I weren't so worried about saving face, I probably would have started crying by now."

"Your flas should at least help take the edge off the pain."

As soon as Ren finished speaking, Marco placed his hand over Ren's face.

"If it hurt that much, you should have just called over from the start."

The blue flas licked across Ren's cheeks and spread rapidly, soon enveloping his entire head.

He looked like a small, burning fireball.

"Mmm..."

A muffled sound of relief escaped Ren's lips as his brow smoothed and his expression relaxed significantly.

Even Shisui, who was holding Ren, found the flas brushing against his fingers and chest.

"Hmph, it doesn't hurt at all."

Shisui let out a soft snort.

Marco puffed out his chest with pride. "Of course it doesn't. These are the Flas of Rebirth. They heal wounds and are nothing like Ace's scorching fire."

Shisui felt it carefully; even though his hands were engulfed in the flas, there was no pain or heat—only a soothing warmth.

"What a miraculous power. You truly live up to the na of the Phoenix."

Marco smiled at Shisui's praise.

Then his expression turned serious as he warned, "But don't stay in my flas for too long. Otherwise, you'll experience over-healing, which can actually put a massive burden on the body."

"I understand."

Shisui nodded.

Everything had two sides; it was only natural for sothing with benefits to also have drawbacks.

Marco waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry too much, though. With your constitution, staying in a bit longer shouldn't cause any problems."

He looked back at Ren in Shisui's arms.

"Boss, you're too heavily injured. Even with my flas, I doubt I can make your body regrow."

"The rest is going to have to be up to you."

Ren replied, "Naturally."

Just as he had said before, he would have recovered even without Marco's help.

Ren looked toward Toji and the headless charred corpse he was holding.

"Toji, bring my body over here. Let see it."

"Sure."

Toji propped up the blackened, charred remains in front of Ren.

He was still holding the severed arms, waving them in front of Ren's face.

"Boss, are you sure this is still useful? It's literally a piece of charcoal."

"You might as well just grow a new body from scratch. With your abilities, it should be a piece of cake."

Ren scanned the remains. The body was completely carbonized, without a single patch of healthy flesh left; it looked like nothing more than the ashen remains of a fire, with a gaping hole in the chest and abdon.

There was even a faint, nauseating sll of cooked at.

Ren felt a twinge of phantom pain.

"How much does that old fellow Giselle hate to strike so ruthlessly?" Ren thought. 'This was my body!'

It was the body he had used ever since arriving in the Soul Society.

The sa body he had used to father children with Yoruichi.

Seeing it in such a pathetic, ghostly state filled him with a sense of grief.

Toji glanced sideways at the smoke-filled Seireitei, which had fallen into even greater ruin, his face full of speechless disbelief.

"You're the one who attacked the Seireitei. Of course the old man is going to be furious."

"Toji, you make it sound like I was the one who started this ss."

"Weren't you?"

"Fine, you're right."

Ren nodded heavily, admitting it quite bluntly.

Toji sighed as he toyed with the charred remains of the corpse.

"Is this body of yours actually still good for anything?"

"In this state? Of course not," Ren said, shaking his head. "There's barely any healthy flesh left in the whole thing. It's scorched on the outside and cooked on the inside. Probably only the bones can be reused."

Ren looked closer, his gaze landing on the charred right leg.

"Toji, take out the kneecap from the right leg. You can throw the rest away."

"Got it." Toji dropped the arms and used his hand like a blade to chop into the right leg of the charred corpse.

With two quick strikes, he pried the knee bone out.

He squeezed it lightly, and the charcoal surface crumbled away into ash.

He then pulled out a dagger, which beca a blur of motion as he expertly shaved away the remaining bits of cooked at from the bone's surface.

In monts, a snow-white knee joint sat in his palm.

Looking at the joint, Toji's expression shifted, his eyes reflecting a deep gravity.

"What incredible pressure. Even though I can't feel anything coming from it, it gives an unimaginable sense of weight."

It wasn't just Toji; as soon as the bone was revealed, Shisui and Marco also looked on with grim expressions.

It looked like an ordinary bone with no apparent magical power, yet it projected an indescribable aura.

It was as if they were facing sothing vast and primordial.

"What... what on earth is this?"

"My Lord?"

Shisui lowered his head, a layer of sweat forming on his face as he looked at Ren.

Ren said calmly, "What else would it be? It's my knee."

After a mont's thought, he added, "But the origin of this knee is quite extraordinary. To the Soul Society, it's essentially the sa as a divine relic."

Shisui's heart skipped a beat as he imdiately realized what Ren ant.

"You an... it belongs to the Soul King?"

"Exactly."

Ren had obtained this knee joint the mont he arrived in the Soul Society.

After obtaining his Zanpakuto, the power provided by the joint had beco one of his abilities.

The power of Connection!

This joint was the vessel for that power.

As his mastery over his Zanpakuto deepened, he had gradually stripped the 'Connection' away from the vessel.

Upon completing his Shikai, the power was fully separated and beca his own, leaving the joint without its divine property.

Yet, even without that active power, its origins lay within the body of the Soul King. Its status was so high it was beyond imagination.

Naturally, it exerted pressure on all lesser beings.

"Give it to ."

"It's helped quite a bit, so I'm reluctant to part with it. I'll just tuck it back inside my body."

Toji walked over to Ren with the joint in hand and asked, "How should I do this?"

"You don't have to do anything. Just hold it beneath ," Ren said.

Toji held the joint under Ren's floating head.

"You can let go now."

At Ren's word, Toji released his grip.

Despite no obvious power affecting it, the joint remained naturally suspended beneath Ren's head.

"Shisui, let go."

"Yes."

As Shisui released him, Ren's eyes sharpened. His spiritual pressure surged, keeping his head suspended in mid-air and causing the flas surrounding him to dance wildly.

Under the stunned gazes of the three n, flesh and blood began to grow rapidly from beneath Ren's neck.

Skeletals, organs, blood vessels, nerves... all types of tissue poured out like a rising tide, pushing the knee joint along as it went.

In the blink of an eye, a complete skeleton had grown, with the joint fitting perfectly into its place.

Seeing this, Toji whispered, "This looks exactly like 3D printing."

Though Marco didn't understand the term, he nodded in agreent. "It truly is miraculous—sothing beyond ordinary comprehension."

The three n weren't the only ones watching Ren's body recover.

In the distance, Aizen stood atop a massive block of ice, his brow raised in curiosity.

The ground beneath him was covered in frost, and the howling wind made it feel like a frozen wasteland.

The weaker Lieutenants had been frozen solid almost instantly by the wide-range attacks of the tall ice-man.

The only one still capable of fighting was the Fourth Division Captain, Unohana Retsu.

When the battle broke out, Aizen had casually created an illusion of himself being frozen in ice.

His true self had concealed its presence and moved to this high vantage point.

While monitoring the entire battlefield, he was able to focus specifically on Ren's side, observing his condition closely.

He had basically watched the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.

Behind him, Tōsen Kana stepped forward and said, "Lord Aizen, Shihoin Ren is at his weakest right now. Should we take this opportunity to finish him?"

Aizen kept his gaze fixed on the distance and shook his head slightly. "Kana, you're mistaken. This is by no ans my predecessor's mont of weakness."

"Pardon?"

"Don't be fooled by the fact that he's focusing on repairing his body. He may seem distracted, but his attention is on the entire battlefield at all tis. Not even a blade of grass can move without him seeing it."

Aizen adjusted his glasses, a look of genuine interest on his face.

"Kana, have you still not grasped his character?"

"He is the type of man who never does anything without a plan. On the surface, he seems powerless, but in the shadows, he undoubtedly has so ace up his sleeve that he hasn't used yet—sothing capable of turning the tide of the entire war."

Tōsen Kana frowned. "Is he truly that difficult to deal with?"

Aizen chuckled softly. "Back when we graduated, he was a man who stood on equal footing with . Is it so surprising he has this much skill?"

"Honestly, that famous 'Trio' that Giselle once praised as the pillars of the next generation of the Seireitei... it seems none of them turned out to be good n."

Whether it was the previous Kōga, or Shihoin Ren, or even himself—not one of them was content with a quiet life.

Sensing the emotion in Aizen's voice, Tōsen Kana waited a mont before asking, "Then what should our next move be? Please instruct us, Lord Aizen."

"It's simple. We just wait."

Aizen shifted his gaze away from Ren toward another part of the battlefield.

Feeling the scorching, turbulent spiritual pressure from that direction, Aizen didn't need to think to know it was the Head Captain's battlefield.

Sensing it further, though Giselle's spiritual pressure was boiling, it still retained a hint of calm; he hadn't lost himself to bloodlust yet.

Aizen turned his attention elsewhere, to where Kuchiki Ginrei's spiritual pressure was erupting.

The pressure was becoming erratic; it seed Kuchiki Ginrei wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

After surveying the scene, Aizen had a clear picture of the situation. He then looked down at the frozen battlefield where he currently stood.

"It's rare to see the Seireitei in such chaos. It would be a waste to leave now."

"At the very least, I want to see the final victor erge."

Though he didn't need to wait until the end; he could already guess who the winner of this battle would be.

Below him, Unohana Retsu was locked in combat with Kuzan.

At the start of the battle, Kuzan had cleared the field with a single move, freezing most of the unwary Lieutenants along with Unohana's Minazuki within the ice.

Now, Unohana was without her Zanpakuto and was forced to rely on Kido and Hakuda to contend with Kuzan.

As they clashed, Unohana demonstrated her vast combat experience, repeatedly seizing opportunities or feinting to land direct hits on Kuzan.

Kuzan, however, relied on his powerful physical constitution and his strange, formidable abilities to take those attacks without a scratch.

Struck once more by Unohana's Kido, Kuzan's body shattered into shards of ice that scattered across the ground.

Imdiately after, those shards reford, and he was back to normal in an instant.

"Arara... aren't you going to surrender yet? Your comrades are already frozen."

"You know it yourself—if you keep fighting like this, you have no chance against ."

Kuzan's upper body was human, but his lower half was composed of ice crystals connected to the frozen ground.

Looking at the determined Unohana Retsu nearby, he scratched his head with a lazy expression.

Unohana's brow furrowed, her voice tinged with dissatisfaction.

"Does your lazy attitude an you have that little respect for as an opponent?"

"I told you, I'm not looking down on you. I'm just telling the truth." Kuzan sighed. "Since you can't beat , why keep fighting? Wouldn't it be better to just surrender?"

"I know King Ren's character. He appreciates people like you. If you surrender, you'll certainly be treated well."

Unohana shook her head, her tone harsh. "The Gotei 13 has only mbers who die in battle; there are none who kneel in surrender!"

While she secretly gathered her spiritual pressure to prepare a new Kido, she watched Kuzan's movents with a fierce gaze.

"I may be the Captain of a dical division, but I am still a mber of the Gotei 13. I will not commit such a cowardly act!"

"Besides, my task is only to stall for ti. The outco of this war is not decided here with ."

Kuzan imdiately understood her aning.

"You're talking about your Head Captain?"

"Arara... he's certainly a strong one. But the people fighting him aren't exactly weak either. You could even say every one of them is a monster among monsters. Your Head Captain isn't going to win!"

"No, you're wrong!" Unohana's face turned grave. "It's you who doesn't understand Head Captain Giselle. If we're being honest, the Head Captain is the only monster truly capable of destroying the world!"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say."

Kuzan's legs reford and he blurred forward, trailing a path of frost as he launched another attack.

"Ice Hockey!"

Five pillars of ice shot out, hurtling toward Unohana Retsu!

The battle between the two erupted once more.

Above, Aizen watched Kuzan's fighting style, his eyes glowing with intense curiosity.

"To turn one's body into ice and then heal naturally even after being shattered... what an incredible constitution."

The youth who was covered in fire and blocked Giselle Shigekuni's flas was the sa way, and the yellow-clothed woman Shunsui led away could apparently turn into light itself.

And now, this ice-man was showing the sa traits.

It seed to be an inherent ability to freely transform the body into a natural elent and use that elent to fight.

Aizen felt a surge of covetousness as his desire for research reached an all-ti high.

He wondered where his predecessor, Ren, had managed to find such miraculous subordinates.

If he had the chance in the future, he wanted to get his hands on a specin and study it to his heart's content.

What a pity...

Aizen looked toward Ren's location, a look of regret crossing his face.

He could feel that Shihoin Ren was being extrely guarded against him.

As long as his predecessor was around, that idea would likely never co to fruition.

Just as Aizen was feeling disappointed, a strange spiritual pressure suddenly descended upon the area.

The range of this spiritual pressure was so vast that it covered every battlefield simultaneously.

Feeling the oppression, desolation, and sorrow contained within that pressure, Aizen was stunned for a mont before he realized what it was.

"This is... Kyōraku Shunsui's spiritual pressure!"

"How could it change so drastically all of a sudden?"

He was familiar with Kyōraku's spiritual pressure; it was usually lighthearted and free, with a hidden layer of coldness and sharpness beneath.

But it had never felt this desolate before!

There was only one answer for such a radical change.

"Kyōraku Shunsui has activated his Bankai!"

Aizen turned his head toward the direction where Kyōraku's pressure was erupting.

With such a massive range, the Bankai was clearly an area-of-effect attack, and it was highly likely to hit friend and foe alike.

It wasn't just Aizen; everyone on the battlefield felt the pressure and realized it at the sa ti.

Kyōraku had unleashed his Bankai!

Unohana Retsu, who was fighting Kuzan; Giselle Shigekuni, who was being besieged by Sengoku and the others; and Kuchiki Ginrei, who was gasping for breath while dueling Garp—all of them spared a fraction of their attention for the direction of Kyōraku's erupting pressure.

Even Ren, still in the middle of repairing his body, did the sa.

Feeling that strange spiritual pressure, Ren's lips pressed into a thin line and his brow furrowed.

"Now... this makes things difficult for Borsalino."

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