92 Degeneracy

Yet again, Aizen transformed, resulting in a much more human-looking form that no longer looked like it had the skin of its face peeled back. Simultaneously, two pure white horns grew on Aizen's head, while the number of Hollow holes in his body was reduced to one.

Additionally, his overall build became more lith and his facial features more delicate.

"Haa~ haa~ Finally! What incredible power! Now, I'm invincible, HAHAHA!!!"

Initially, Aizen was panting in exhaustion after his transformation, but he quickly regained his bearing after he felt the power coursing through his body. However, hearing his own laughter, a frown appeared on Aizen's face.

'Since when was my voice this high?'

His frown deepened as he inspected his hands, which were now a little smaller than they were before his transformation, and after looking down and seeing two small mountains on his body, question marks popped up above his head.

"What is going on? Why would the Hogyoku choose a form like this for my evolution?"

Aizen could tell at a glance that he had gotten more feminine, but he couldn't tell why it happened. The Hogyoku should have chosen the most optimal form to use and contain Aizen's power, so why was it something like this?

"Hehe, what's wrong, Aizen? Someone as smart as you should be able to figure out why you took a form like this easily ~"

Aizen's frown only widened even further as Yuna apparently understood why the Hogyoku made a choice like this.

'This doesn't make any sense. On average, a man's body is better suited for combat than a woman's. Obviously, there are some exceptions, as one of the strongest captains ever was indeed a woman, but in general, that held true.

So, why would the Hogyoku deliberately choose to make my body more female? I simply don't see any purpose in doing so.'

Seeing that Aizen continued pondering without getting to any conclusion, Yuna chuckled in amusement as a wide smile appeared on her face, and she resumed speaking.

"Can't figure it out, huh? Very well, I'll tell you what's going on. Frankly, you have already said it yourself: The Hogyoku reacts to the will of the people around it, and this is exactly what happened~"

'The will of the people around it? Well, yes, I said that, but what has that to do with anything? Is she implying that I'm the one who wanted to turn into a woman?'

Reaching that point in his mind, Aizen simply shook his head. He had little interest in matters between the sexes, so he saw no point in changing genders. Hell, he even went as far as to sleep with Momo Hinamori just for the thrill of messing with her mind when he ultimately betrayed Seireitei.

'No, I hold no such desire, so what else could she mean... Is she saying that it was her will that influenced the Hogyoku!? IMPOSSIBLE!!!'

While Aizen was deep in thought, Yuna patiently stood by the side and waited while leisurely spinning her sword in her hand. As soon as Aizen came to his conclusion, he threw a seething glare at Yuna, causing her to chuckle in amusement.

"Are you implying that it was your will that influenced the Hogyoku? Nonsense! You are just a puny human that somehow stumbled its way into being a Shinigami! You are NOTHING!!! And I... I am a GOD!!!"

Seeing Aizen slowly slip into madness, glaring at her with bloodshot eyes, Yuna smiled wryly while shaking her head.

"Is that how you see the situation? Sorry, but you have no idea who is currently standing in front of you. Indeed, I'm not only implying that my will influenced the Hogyoku; I'm actually certain of that.

The reason for that is actually pretty simple. After all, there is no way your puny little will..."

Yuna briefly paused her speech as her facial expression changed. Her grin widened into a deranged smile as deranged laughter echoed out of her mouth.

"... COULD POSSIBLY COMPARE TO THE HEIGHTS OF MY DEGENERACY!!!"

Seeing Yuna's twisted facial expression, Aizen subconsciously took a step back. He had seen a lot in his long life, but he had never witnessed such a deranged facial expression, causing him to shiver not in fear but in disgust.

Although Aizen was briefly distracted by Yuna's face, he swiftly managed to center himself, allowing him to comprehend the words Yuna had just uttered.

Obviously, his first thought was to simply dismiss her words as nonsense, but considering the Hogyoku seemed to have indeed been influenced by someone else, Aizen really couldn't do so.

However, instead of accepting Yuna's words as the truth, they made him only angrier, as he was unwilling to believe that someone else could influence the Hogyoku at this point in time.

"NONSENSE!!! I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS!!! A COINCIDENCE!!! THIS IS JUST A COINCIDENCE!!!"

After he finished yelling at Yuna, Aizen launched himself at her in anger, causing Yuna to shake her head in disapproval. Frankly, she was rather certain that Aizen said that not to discredit her claim but to reassure himself that his own opinion was correct.

'That's the price of his own arrogance. Slowly but surely, he is falling apart.'

[Man, I have to admit, I miss the Uchiha clan a little. Don't get me wrong, bullying people with a god complex is always fun, no matter how often I see you do it, but with the Uchiha... it just hits differently~]

'Never thought I would ever hear you missing the Uchiha clan, but I see where you are coming from.'

While Yuna and Kurama were chatting, Aizen arrived in front of her and swung down his sword. Seeing the strength and speed behind the attack, Yuna couldn't help but grin as four of her ice tails moved to intercept the attack, successfully blocking Aizen's blade.

Simultaneously, the six head-like protrusions behind Aizen moved as well, resulting in six energy balls forming. Seeing what Aizen was doing, the remaining six tails that didn't block Aizen's sword pointed their tips at one head each, resulting in six white balls of energy forming in front of them.

A low humming sound could be heard as six white [Cero] were shouted from the tip of Yuna's tails, colliding with the six beams that were shot from Aizen's head-like protrusions.

Although strictly speaking, the attacks Yuna used were normal Ceros, but under the influence of Yuna's incredibly dense Spiritual Power and her insane affinity for ice, they turned into something entirely different, as the moment they collided with Aizen's attack, snowstorms exploded out of the point of collision, freezing everything in the vicinity except for Yuna and Aizen, the later resisting the freezing effect with his own dense Spiritual Power.

However, while all these attacks collided, Yunas still hadn't used her sword, which she now took advantage of, swinging it at Aizen, who was still busy resisting the freezing effect of Yuna's Ceros.

Seeing the large blade being swung at him, Aizen's eyes widened in surprise as he flared his Spiritual Power even more, allowing him to resist Yuna's ice more easily, resulting in him almost entirely dodging Yuna's attack, only resulting in a small gash in his chest.

However, despite the wound being pretty much insignificant, Aizen couldn't help but get angry about it. After all, again and again, he had claimed to be a god, just for Yuna to surpass him on every occasion.

"How can you still touch me!? This is impossible!"

Following those words, he pointed his finger at Yuna while the six head-like protrusions on his back moved as well, concentrating all their attack power on a single point just in front of Aizen's finger.

"DIE!!!"

Manically, laughter echoed off the battlefield as Yuna's gaze lingered on the powerful attack filled with the Spiritual Power that was shooting toward her. Despite the danger she clearly felt from the attack, she raised her blade and prepared to meet it head-on.

"What a nice move! Allow me to show you my sincerity as well!"

The moment Yuna was done speaking, incredible dense Spiritual Pressure erupted as outrageous amounts of Spiritual Power wrapped around Yuna's blade, instantly reducing the temperature on the battlefield even further.

"[Divinie Ice Sword Combination Art: Fifth Form: Absolute Supreme Godly Severance]"

[*Sigh* Another outrageous name...]

[Gah~ So cool~]

'As expected of you, Chaos. You have good taste!'

[*Sigh* Someone, please get me out of here.]

[Gahaha~]

Indifferent to Yuna's conversation with Kurama and Chaos, Aizen's assault continued as a power beam filled to the brink with Spiritual Power shot at Yuna, its power high enough even to distort the space around it.

Unbothered by that, Yuna sliced down her sword, resulting in a flying sword slash that looked like it was made out of ice flying at Aizen's attack.

However, unlike Aizen's attack, Yuna's seemed to not bend space at all and, instead, left a frozen trail behind, indicating that the attack was cold enough to freeze even the air it passed through.

Not even a full second later, the two attacks collided. While Aizen wore a smug expression, thinking his attack could easily overpower Yuna's, Yuna only wore an excited grin, happy that someone appeared who could take her fully powered attack.

The two moves collided, resulting in a massive explosion, as one part of the battlefield was instantly engulfed in a layer of ice. At the same time, the other one was annihilated by a massive explosion, resulting in both Yuna and Aizen being sent flying due to the power of the two colliding attacks.

A few seconds passed in which the battlefield simply was silent, but a moment later, loud laughter erupted from the frozen part of the battlefield.

"Hahaha, not bad, Aizen! Not bad at all!"

Yuna managed to extract herself from the mountain she had crashed into after clashing with Aizen, laughing loudly with excitement clearly present in her voice.

On the other side of the battlefield, Aizen extracted himself from the boulder he had crashed into as well, frowning deeply. Even now, after he went through countless evolutions stimulated by the Hogyoku, he still was evenly matched with Yuna. He simply couldn't fathom how she was still keeping up with him.

Just how much had he done to reach the level he was currently at? How much research had he done? How many experiments had he conducted? How many schemes had he crafted? Despite all of that, there now stood a random human in front of him that matched everything he had done, seemingly without putting any effort into it.

How could he not be pissed about that?

He was about to continue his assault, but before Aizen could do so, another player entered the battlefield. Someone whose appearance was initially looked forward to. After all, all these years of planning, scheming, and trickery... All of that Aizen predicted to accumulate in this single moment.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

Indeed, a few seconds after Yuna and Aizen's clash, Ichigo had appeared on the battlefield. However, unlike how he previously looked, he looked much more mature, while his eyes, which initially were filled with doubt, now radiated deep confidence.

Seeing the current Ichigo in front of her, Yuna nodded in approval. Not only were his eyes filled with confidence, but the power he was currently radiating was outrageously huge, making her wonder if this was a temporary power-up or not.

"Those are some good eyes, Ichigo. Seems like you have finally overcome your own doubts."

Hearing Yuna's words, Ichigo briefly glanced at her before giving her a small nod, causing Yuna to chuckle in amusement.

'That brat sure has grown over the course of the last hour, huh? How cheeky~'

While Yuna was appraising Ichigo, Aizen did the same, but unlike Yuna, he came to a completely different conclusion.

"Mhh? I'm unsure what kind of evolution you were going for, but it seems you failed. I feel nothing from you, Kurosaki Ichigo. What a disappointment."

While Yuna was briefly dumbfounded by Aizen claiming that he didn't feel anything from Ichigo, Ichigo's indifferent gaze landed on Aizen.

The duo briefly met their gazes before Ichigo raised his blade and pointed it at Aizen.

"I don't care what you think, Aizen. Let's fight. I finish this fight... within an instant."