Bleach: The Strongest Shinigami, Hitsugaya Toshiro

The Hogyoku, shimmering with a blue-black light, seemed to possess a special magic that even Toshiro's mind was drawn to it, nearly getting lost within.

"Truly worthy of being the Hogyoku..." Forcing himself to break free from the Hogyoku's influence with his willpower, Toshiro couldn't help but praise it.

"Now then... without the Hogyoku, let's see how much you can stir up... Aizen," Toshiro said.

This time, Aizen had meticulously schemed, going through so much trouble just to obtain the Hogyoku. Naturally, Toshiro wouldn't let him have his way.

An Aizen with the Hogyoku and one without it presented vastly different levels of difficulty to deal with.

Without the Hogyoku, Aizen, relying on his Kyoka Suigetsu's ability along with his own strength, would still be troublesome but not undefeatable.

Even without Ichigo's existence, Toshiro believed his own strength alone could handle Aizen.

Kyoka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis was useless against Toshiro. So, discounting the hypnosis ability, when comparing raw power, Toshiro believed Aizen was no longer a match for his current self.

Kyoka Suigetsu could be called the Strongest Illusion-type Zanpakuto. Its hypnosis ability was indeed unrivaled. However, if the hypnosis ability didn't work, then facing Toshiro, who wielded the Strongest Ice-type Zanpakuto, Aizen would stand a high chance of defeat.

After all, elemental-type Zanpakuto that are the strongest in their respective domains, like Toshiro's Hyorinmaru or Yamamoto's Ryujin Jakka, undoubtedly possessed frontal combat power surpassing Illusion-type Zanpakuto like Kyoka Suigetsu.

Therefore, when Kyoka Suigetsu's hypnosis was ineffective against Toshiro, the likely victor in a battle between them would be Toshiro.

Originally, over two years ago, when Toshiro's strength broke through again, reaching the same level as Yamamoto, he had planned to officially move against Aizen.

But the reason Toshiro ultimately didn't act then was, first, because he wanted to use a borrowed knife to eliminate the Central 46. Second, Toshiro was well aware of how terrifying the power of someone at his level truly was.

If they fought with all their might within the Soul Society, even if it didn't destroy the entire Soul Society, at the very least, the Seireitei would likely be reduced to ruins.

In the original work, to allow a group of Captains to fight freely, the Soul Society and Kisuke even specially created a fake Karakura Town to serve as the battlefield.

After the battle, that fake Karakura Town was utterly devastated. Although the Seireitei's area is larger than Karakura Town, if beings like Toshiro and Aizen fought with their full power, the outcome wouldn't be much better.

So, after his breakthrough back then, Toshiro ultimately chose not to immediately confront Aizen.

Even this time, Toshiro didn't plan to have an all-out battle with Aizen within the Seireitei. His ultimate goal was just to launch a surprise attack on Aizen.

If he could take Aizen out in one fell swoop while he was unprepared, that would be ideal. If not, Toshiro didn't intend to fight Aizen to the death within the Seireitei.

Instead, he planned to either carefully prepare a battlefield to fight Aizen after he left the Soul Society, or simply take the fight to Hueco Mundo for a decisive battle.

However, although Toshiro didn't absolutely have to eliminate Aizen this time, regarding the Hogyoku, he was determined not to leave it for Aizen.

Otherwise, if Aizen obtained the Hogyoku, Toshiro wouldn't be confident he could defeat Aizen. After all, an Aizen with the Hogyoku, even if defeated, would be extremely difficult to kill.

Moreover, judging from Aizen's performance after fully fusing with the Hogyoku in the original work, his strength might have even surpassed the limits of a Shinigami, reaching the realm of a god.

In the end, if not for Aizen's own will wavering, leading to his evolution's failure, even Ichigo, who had mastered the [Final Getsuga Tensho], might not have been able to defeat him.

Facing an Aizen of such strength, even with Toshiro's current power, the chances of victory were slim.

Therefore, to prevent Aizen from obtaining the Hogyoku, Toshiro chose to strike first, taking the Hogyoku from Rukia.

For this purpose, before Rukia was captured and brought back to the Soul Society, and before the Central 46 was annihilated by Aizen, Toshiro had secretly infiltrated the Great Spirit Book Gallery located beneath the Central 46's meeting hall… the place that forcibly gathers all phenomena and information of the Soul Society. There, he studied Kisuke's research data and finally found the method to extract the Hogyoku from a soul.

Then, Toshiro privately approached Mayuri and had him produce the liquid in the test tube from earlier. Of course, to ensure his secrecy, Toshiro had to agree to many of Mayuri's conditions.

But compared to obtaining the Hogyoku, those conditions were insignificant.

'The Hogyoku can absorb and materialize the hearts of those existing around it. In short, it can help those nearby realize their inner desires.'

'And when the host reaches their limit or their life is threatened, the Hogyoku can enable the host to evolve endlessly toward higher realms... So... if I use the Hogyoku, could I instantly break through the Shinigami's limits, step into the true god-level, and obtain divine-like power...?'

Looking at the Hogyoku in his hand, Toshiro couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Since awakening his Zanpakuto years ago, Toshiro had continuously broken through: Lieutenant-level, captain-level, Advanced Captain-level, to the current Demigod-level. It had taken him several decades.

Logically, this speed was unprecedented, an earth-shattering achievement. After all, even Yamamoto, who had lived for who knows how many years, was only at the same level as Toshiro now.

But Toshiro wasn't satisfied with this. He was well aware that although his current strength was undeniably formidable, defeating an Aizen fully fused with the Hogyoku and the even more powerful Yhwach later on would still be very difficult.

Only by advancing one more step, breaking the Shinigami's limits and entering the divine realm, would Toshiro have the confidence to defeat all enemies and truly stand unrivaled in the Bleach World.

But from awakening his Zanpakuto to reaching the Demigod-level had taken Toshiro several decades. And to go from demigod to a true god would require far more time than all previous stages combined.

Moreover, even after investing countless time, the chance of success was minuscule.

Take Yamamoto, for example. According to what he once told Toshiro, he had reached the Demigod-level over two thousand years ago. Two thousand years had passed, and he remained at the Demigod-level.

Apart from having stronger Reiatsu, deeper accumulation, and further development of his Zanpakuto, there had been almost no qualitative breakthrough.

Situations like breaking through from Lieutenant-level to captain-level, resulting in a great leap in power, had hardly ever occurred.

Thus, it showed how incredibly difficult it was to break the Shinigami's limits and achieve a rapid, massive increase in strength.