The two of us reappeared in the middle of a large open plain. This was the location I had decided would be the site of my confrontation with Aizen. Both far enough from anyone around and unimportant enough that the both of us giving it our all wouldn’t be a big issue. The fact this was the lands of one of the noble families that had pressed for that ‘emergency council’ nonsense and would likely be reduced to a wasteland was just a convenient bonus.

I could have sent us to some rocky canyon or a place designed to give me a slight upper hand… but it would be a waste of effort for little reward.

Aizen had reached a level where factors like terrain could change in an instant and relying on that to defeat him would be a mistake. So I simply didn’t bother. This would be as close to a direct conflict as possible with only our own personal skills to give us an edge over the other.

“Interesting…”

That one word was enough for me to completely focus on my opponent. I was confident in my strategy, but this still wasn’t an enemy to take lightly at all.

“You managed to teleport me despite the difference in our power.” Aizen inspected the remains of the destination circle that had burned itself into the ground after activating. “I suppose this is your final gambit for time? It will certainly take a while to return to Karakura from this distance, but not nearly enough for it to be meaningful.”

Once again I started feeling warm as I began drawing Reishi towards me, the increased density of the Soul Society making it both faster and easier. “I’ve taken the time to bring you out here. Naturally it’s because I have a way to beat you.”

Aizen smirked with disdain. “Impossible. I’m now an existence beyond the likes of Shinigami and Hollows. How could you, a faulty experiment of a regular soul, hope to match me in power?”

“By not being the experiment of Akihiro Kanou.” I replied as I focused the Reishi I gathered inward. The particles collected, joined, fused, then ignited. Not a comfortable experience, in fact it felt like I had a bonfire in my chest, but along with the heat and pain my power skyrocketed. “I’m far beyond what he could have made. Something he learned at the end too.”

Aizen felt the increase but remained unimpressed.

“I see… your bout with Gin wasn’t the limit you could boost yourself. But even now you are only slightly stronger than that old fool Yamamoto.”

He blurred and reappeared behind me, right arm drawn back.

“And unfortunately for you, I have no desire to entertain your delusions…”

He swung, aiming to take my head off at the neck.

Given that even this casual swing had enough force in it to level a building, I don’t think he was expecting me to parry it with Kanshou...or have the spare ability to counterattack with Bakuya.

The blade fused to Aizen’s hand skittered over the black blade in a shower of sparks and the white counterpart whistled through the air and struck Aizen in the side of the neck...where it failed to do more than a tiny cut.

The two of us separated after the short clash. Aizen casually ran a finger over the place Bakuya hit him, the damage already undone by the quick regeneration he now had.

“...Impressive. Had we fought before my latest transformation you might have been able to kill me with that attack.” Aizen dropped his hand. “Though it seems that even if you can keep up with me, your weapons lack the ability to cut me.”

I was getting really annoyed at the constant condescension, but in this particular instance he was right. Kanshou and Bakuya were my favorites, they were superb swords, they also lacked the inherent power needed to kill something like Aizen even when pushed and reinforced to their limits.

So I would have to break them just a bit.

”Trace: Overedge”

The black and white blades flowed outward, nearly doubling in length and growing crystalline feathers down the spine of each blade. In addition to their new appearance, everything about the swords was enhanced. Cutting power, durability, sharpness...all of it was enhanced to new heights.

I leveled the newly changed blades at Aizen and without warning charged in close.

The first attack was blocked with the same easy disdain Aizen had shown this entire time. But the force behind it forced his eyes to widen as he quickly needed to use more strength or have his sword battered away by the second.

He was able to react in time to block the second strike, and the third, and the fourth. But as I continued to chain my attacks, parrying and dodging around his counterattacks, I managed to land a deep cut to his leg. Aizen grunted in pain and surprise at the wound and viciously swiped at me in retaliation. The power of his attack, decimating the surrounding landscape.

“A little excessive for such a small wound don’t you think?” I taunted. “Or has your new strength left you with no control?”

Aizen’s face twisted in outrage. “How is this possible?!” he demanded. “Even if you focused all of your Reiatsu into your swords it should still be insufficient to do more scratch me with the amount you have!”

“Simple.” I replied, a smug smirk on my face. “I have never, not once, used Reiatsu, Reiryoku, or Reishi for any of my abilities. This power you sense? It’s a side effect of using my powers to the limit.”

“I see.” he snarled. “It was a mistake to think you were the simple result of a mistake if someone like Kisuke Urahara decided to keep you around. Congratulations, Alexandria Cross. You will be the final opponent on my ascent to stand at the top of the heavens.”

“We’ll see about that.” I said and settled into a stance.

I flung myself to the side as my instincts screamed. Aizen appeared in front of my previous position, sword slashing through where my head had been. The earth trembled as a gouge extended far past his slash. Not giving him time to recover I immediately rushed to attack.

The two of us began another furious exchange of blows. Aizen had pure physical strength on his side, the attacks I failed to parry often cratering the earth and whipping up gusts of wind, but I was faster. I used every ounce of speed and flexibility to divert the path of his sword and retaliate with a slash or stab. But the ones I did manage to land were soon fixed by his regeneration and he only needed to hit me once or twice at this rate and be the end of me.

Despite the boost Overedge gave them, Kanshou and Bakuya simply weren’t enough for the job. They were on the edge of breaking anyway. Aizen’s blows were simply too much for them.

I don’t think he was expecting me to literally throw away my swords. Probably the result of everyone’s weapon being a part of their soul, I doubt he was used to people treating their swords as disposable, but when I did there was a half second delay that allowed Bakuya to pierce his shoulder before exploding and him moving to slap Kanshou out of the air.

But that half second delay was enough.

“You’re getting desperate. Or do you think a longer weapon will be enough to keep me away?”

I ignored the taunt.

“I think you rely on your new abilities too much.” I said instead. “And it’s time you lost one of them.”

Twin spears lashed out, and while I said Aizen leaned too much on his new abilities, it didn’t mean he was willingly allowing himself to be hurt. He simply allowed small hits when he was certain I couldn’t cause an injury sufficient enough to create a bigger opening and counterattacked.

What he didn’t expect was that my entire style changed along with the weapon swap. I might have still been dual wielding, but the skills burned into the memory of the weapon itself was completely different than before. For him it must have been like suddenly fighting a completely different person with no warning.

And it allowed me a hit.

Not a very big one. Merely a small cut on his right arm and what could generously be referred to as a scratch along his cheek. But that alone was enough to make me smile.

“I see, your fighting style is tied directly into whatever weapon you wield. Any tells I discover are useless once you change.” Aizen analysed. “And if your skills remain at this level then you could theoretically last for quite some time.”

He sneered when he saw the smile on my face. “But it is ultimately pointless. You might have the skill to make me bleed, even in my current state, but any injury will simply-”

He froze as the sound of liquid dripping rang out.

The cut on his face might not have been enough to bleed but the one on his arm certainly was. Black blood ran down his arm where it dripped to the ground forming a small puddle. And. it. Was. Not. Healing.

“What have you done?” it was barely a whisper but Aizen’s horrified tone carried over.

“Did you think the weapons I created weren’t special?” I said instead of answering. “That the best I was capable of was simply imitating Zanpakuto? When we first fought that might have been all I could do, but right now I can call on weapons beyond your wildest imagination.”

I twirled the spear in my right hand and brought it to rest on my shoulder.

Gáe Buidhe.

The Yellow Rose of Mortality.

A spear that cursed any wound it made to linger, unable to be healed as long as the spear remained whole or until the curse was dismissed. It was by far the most costly weapon I had Traced to date, but that single ability was worth it. Mana was something I had a bit of a surplus at the moment.

So I made two of them.

A range of emotions played over Aizen’s face before it returned to the calm facade he normally wore.

“Alexandria Cross. You truly are a unique being matched only by myself. Perhaps if I had paid you more attention this would not have been a surprise until now. In this moment you are my equal in close range combat. And perhaps if this battle was dependent on that you could possibly win.”

Aizen pointed his left hand at the sky, index finger extended.

“In physical combat we might be matched, but I am the being beyond both Shinigami and Hollow and physical combat is not all there is. So how will you handle this, I wonder?

Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker!

Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite!

Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!

Hadō #90. Kurohitsugi!”

I calmly planted the Gáe Buidhe in my left hand into the ground and Traced another weapon even as I was swallowed by the pure black structure created by Aizen’s spell. Gravity began to distort as it began to activate. The last bit of light was obstructed in short order. In moments I would be caught in the raw fury of something approximating the force of a black hole, so I did the only logical thing I could do.

I took a few steps forward and lightly stabbed the ‘wall’ with the ornate dagger I had just created.

I greatly enjoyed the shocked expression on Aizen’s face as his Kido shattered like glass without doing anything to me.

“I might not be able to use Kido. But I am not helpless because of it.” I said confidently.

Aizen’s shoulders began to shake. I allowed the dagger to disperse in motes of mana and retrieved the spear I had discarded.

Aizen was arrogant to the extreme. I wasn’t entirely sure what he would do after seeing me destroy his spell so casually.

I certainly wasn’t expecting him to burst out laughing.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” his head went back as his laughter rang out over the shattered landscape. “Incredible! No one has managed to stand at the very peak of creation, yet here, after countless years of vacancy...not one but two beings have the potential!

Well done Alexandria Cross. You have managed to overcome your artificial nature and stand just below me at the peak of perfection! And as entertaining as this encounter has been. It is time to draw it to a close.”

As if on cue the ‘bonfire’ in my chest flared and sparked. I coughed and my heart fell at the sight of bright red flecks of blood on the back of my hand. I had nearly reached my limit for drawing in Reishi.

“Alright then.” I agreed. “Since you want to end things so badly then I’ll show you everything I have…”

My voice echoed out over the landscape as even the wind died down when I began my aria.

”My body is made of stars”

Stars, for as long as people had been able to look up, have been regarded as things ‘beyond’. They were unattainable by any normal person and even in the most wild stories all people managed to do was travel between them. I might be a ‘broken’ template for what I was meant to accomplish but at my base I was still ‘beyond’ the limits of any normal creature.

”Unquenchable is my spirit”

”Unconquerable is my soul”

And just because I was ‘broken’, I would not simply accept that and fade away. I would carve my place in reality and keep searching until I found a way to fix myself and at the end of that journey the only one able to decide my path would be myself and my conscience.

”In these hands I hold the tapestry of heaven”

And since I was ‘beyond’ any single universe, every one of them...from the most turbulent and hostile to the most kind and nurturing...was within my reach. And I would travel them all if need be.

”With no known beginning”

”And a forever uncertain end”

No matter how long it would take. I would find my answer.

”The world will echo with my arrival”

And I would crush any enemy that got in the way of that.

”So by my command”

”Unlimited Blade Works!”

Once again, Aizen and I were surrounded by golden energy. But this time instead of a spell-circle, it was golden flames that grew higher and higher until we were both completely encased.

And then everything expanded as the true form of the Unlimited Blade Works was revealed.

“So this is the ultimate expression of your power?” Aizen asked as he looked around. His tone was somber and almost reverent at the display.

“I understand. If this is what the peak of your power looks like...then it would be insulting for me not to reply in kind.”

“BANKAI”