Aizen went flying backwards with the Getsuga, unable to stop its momentum. Mustering his strength after the initial shock of the blow, he pressed down with the edge of blade, until he managed to parry the crescent of reiatsu over his head.

Aizen broke out into manic laughter. "MAGNIFICIENT!" he shouted. "KUROSAKI ICHIGO—"

"Shut up." Materializing behind Aizen, Ichigo smashed his sword into Aizen's own, sending him skidding backwards. "You're hurting my eardrums."

Regaining his composure, Aizen settled into his usual, condescending visage. "You'll have to forgive me, Kurosaki Ichigo," he said in his soothing voice. "Your growth is simply remarkable, as always. Nearly enough to fight with me on par."

Ichigo maintained a firm gaze, but was unable to deny the truth. Though Ichigo had been able to grasp a greater extent of his powers, Aizen was still Aizen, a shinigami who had single-handedly brought the entire Gotei 13 to heel. He was still a more-than-formidable enemy to defeat.

Ichigo clenched his fingers around Zangetsu's hilt. "Whether I'm able to fight you on par or not," Ichigo declared, "won't be decided with words."

"Absolutely correct, Kurosaki Ichigo." Aizen lifted his blade into a striking position, point directed at Ichigo. "However, you should at least be able to tell that you have yet to reach my power level. Recklessly charging at me won't—"

He was cut off as Ichigo vanished and Zangetsu swung in from his left side, forcing him to block.

"Striking while another is speaking is—" He was cut off again when he noticed the mass of swirling energy over Ichigo's head, forming at the point of the horn coming from the hollow mask.

Gran Rey Cero.

The air around then quivered for a split second before the obliterating beam launched at Aizen from point-blank. Unable to completely avoid the cero's wide range, Aizen was struck on his right arm and flung downwards.

Aizen observed the damage that he had taken, before looking up at Ichigo and opening his mouth to speak.

"No." Ichigo pulled into another striking stance. "I'm not going to let you talk. I'm not letting you play your mind games with me, Aizen."

Aizen scoffed. "If you think that you are at the level where you can stop me from talking—"

Zangetsu swung just short of his throat as Aizen ducked. Without giving him a chance to recover, Ichigo swung his blade downwards, forcing Aizen to block upwards.

"I am." Black reiatsu began flaming from Ichigo's sword. "Getsuga Tensho."

The same attack again. Aizen pressed upwards with his blade again, trying to cut the Getsuga. But his blade wouldn't go through.

Aizen's eyes widened in shock as his arms began to tremble under the crushing weight. Impossible. Aizen focused his strength sideways left instead, barely parrying the Getsuga and dodging to the right.

Ichigo was ready for him, charging from above and launching heavy blow after heavy blow.

This is incredible. Aizen thought to himself as he fended off the attacks. He's growing even over the course of this battle.

But what frustrated Aizen were Ichigo's eyes. The same focused, confident eyes that he had had when he had defeated Aizen last time.

If it's like this…Aizen launched a powerful strike, sending Ichigo skidding backwards. He smiled.

"What's so funny?" Ichigo faltered in his offensive pattern, sensing danger.

"Do you remember," Aizen said as he lowered his blade, "the power of my zanpakuto?"

"Don't try to fool me Aizen," Ichigo replied. "I'm still free of its influence."

"Yes, you are. I admit that. But what about him?"

A blast of ice struck the area where Ichigo had just been, before he dodged.

As Toshiro charged at him, Ichigo spun around to stare in disbelief at Aizen. Aizen only smiled in return. "And him?"

"Senbonzakura." The storm of petal-like blades struck Ichigo at the same time that the ice around Toshiro's zanpakuto did. Unable to fully break through this two-pronged attack, Ichigo allowed himself to be pushed away…right into Kenpachi's swing. The downwards blow of Kenpachi's sword smashed Ichigo into the buildings below.

In his currently empowered state, Ichigo had barely taken damage, and what damage he had taken was already being healed by his hollow powers. But the challenge wasn't about averting damage.

Ichigo shot back up, stopping at a distance behind Aizen. "What are you making them see?" he asked furiously.

"Nothing much. They saw you get stabbed through the chest and thrown somewhere down below. And right now, they see you as me," Aizen said with an amused look. "Surely, you are stronger than they are. But I don't think that they are so weak that you can afford to ignore them?"

Kenpachi's roar cut Ichigo's reply, as he was forced to turn around to defend himself. A flurry of ice and blade-petals cutting off any escape route, Ichigo dashed forward to meet Kenpachi. The sound of their blades clashing rang through the air.

"I didn't give you permission, you two-faced bastard," Kenpachi seethed, "to touch my prey. He's mine."

Prey? Ichigo thought to himself with a sigh. I'm starting to feel less sorry about having to cut him down.

"Sorry Kenpachi." Dashing slightly to the side, Ichigo swung his blade, slashing Kenpachi across the chest. "I know that that won't kill you."

Kenpachi teetered slightly, but managed to regain his balance. "What's with that light swing, Aizen?!" Kenpachi charged again, causing Ichigo to retreat backwards. Until Ichigo froze, literally, as ice encased his lower body.

"Good work, Zaraki," Toshiro called out. "I've got him."

Kenpachi stopped his charge to turn towards Toshiro. "Hands off, I called him first," he growled.

"He's not an opponent you can take lightly, Zaraki Kenpachi," Byakuya said as he amassed a tornado of blades around Ichigo. "Or are you such a fool to think that you can take him on alone with your level of strength?"

"The hell did you say?" Kenpachi turned to glare at Byakuya. But Byakuya's focus was already away from Kenpachi.

"Gokei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." The whirling mass of blades closed in on Ichigo.

Oh, shit. Realizing that he couldn't go easy any longer, Ichigo exerted his force outwards, shattering the ice. "Getsuga Tensho."

The black wave scattered the blades, and soared towards Byakuya.

"Cry, Benihime."

A red crescent of reiatsu met the black one, momentarily stopping it in midair. Urahara stood in the Getsuga's path, in a defensive stance in front of Byakuya. The Getsuga tore through Urahara's technique and resumed its course.

"As expected, not strong enough, huh?" Urahara muttered under his breath. The wave of Ichigo's reiatsu slammed into Urahara, slashing him across the shoulder and causing him to fall backwards.

"Urahara Kisuke!" Byakuya rushed down to catch him.

"Shit. Zaraki, help me immobilize him again!" Toshiro raised his blade to begin another charge. Ichigo gritted his teeth and responded in kind.

"Everyone, disengage!" All of the captains froze at the sound of the shout. Urahara had managed to regain a standing position, his hand covering his shoulder wound. "That wasn't an ordinary slash. That was a Getsuga Tensho."

The captains stared in shock, until the truth eventually dawned on all of them.

"Kyoka Suigetsu is indeed powerful, as it manipulates all five senses. But when in direct contact with another's reiatsu, Aizen's shikai can't prevent us from recognizing whose it is. This reiatsu," Urahara announced as he lifted some of the reiatsu's residue from his wound, "is Kurosaki-san's."

There was a brief silence on the battlefield before Urahara continued. "We've been attacking an ally all along. Why don't we leave this to Kurosaki-san and continue to trust in him, regardless of what our eyes may see?"

One by one, the captains retreated, resuming observatory stances. Kenpachi grimaced as he looked up at what looked like Aizen in his eyes. "Hey Ichigo, if that's you, you'd better not die, you hear? The only dying you get to do is by my blade."

Ichigo smiled. Even Kenpachi's crude way of showing affection was morale-boosting. "Thanks, guys," he whispered. He turned, ready to resume his one-on-one battle.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

The voice echoed in Ichigo's ears. Suddenly, it was as if every other sound in Soul Society had been blotted out, except for that one voice. He turned to see Inoue walking up from behind Urahara. "Where is Kurosaki-kun?"

Urahara grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her the other way. "Kurosaki-san is fighting right now, Inoue-san. Why don't you and I go work on reversing your decaying reiatsu over there, like we came here to do?" Urahara glanced backwards at the area Ichigo was from under his hat. "Kurosaki-san should be finished soon."

As the two sped off, Ichigo stood frozen, trembling, as he gripped his blade harder.

"Now, now," Aizen said in a condescendingly soothing voice. "Regain your composure, Kurosaki Ichigo. Losing your cool at me will only further diminish your chances of winning."

But upon Ichigo turning around, Aizen realized that tears of joy, and not fury, were streaming down Ichigo's overjoyed face. "She's okay," he whispered to himself with relief. "She's okay."

Irritated, Aizen flicked his blade, sending a small gust of wind off to the side. "Not quite the reaction I imagined. I see that you've matured in the short time I haven't seen you, boy."

"No, not really." Ichigo wiped the tears with one hand. "I haven't matured at all. And," he said, lowering his hands from his face to reveal cold, murderous eyes, "you'll get the reaction you imagined, ten-fold."

Vanishing and appearing behind Aizen, Ichigo swung downwards. Aizen blocked, but his eyes widened with surprise at the impact.

Again, he thought to himself as Ichigo launched a furious flurry of attacks. He's grown again. What is his limit?

But not enough.

Aizen launched a wide blow, knocking Ichigo backwards. "Your words speak quite louder than your capabilities, Kurosaki Ichigo," he mocked. "Who can you protect with power at that level?"

Ichigo took in a deep breath, and then exhaled, sharpening his senses. "I haven't tried this before in this form, but you're not an opponent I can take down without taking risks, are you, Aizen?" he said softly to himself.

"Hm?" Aizen took a step towards Ichigo, but stopped and raised his sword to block Ichigo's own as Ichigo disappeared and reappeared above, striking downwards.

"The same attack pattern over and over again will accomplish little, Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen sneered. "One of the skills that makes Urahara Kisuke so formidable is his divers—"

"Getsuga Tensho." Wrapping his blade with black reiatsu, Ichigo began preparing his signature move.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, I said—" Aizen stopped talking as he felt a different weight above him. A spinning ball of incredibly dense reiatsu made its appearance behind the blade.

And Gran Rey Cero.

Aizen face contorted in alarm, and then shock as a massive force bore down on him, blasting him downwards and knocking his blade away. He had not expected any of Ichigo's attacks to be beyond his capabilities to parry.

Aizen lay in a crater in the ground, his entire body fuming with the reiatsu from the blow. Without the Hogyoku aiding him, his recovery was slow.

"I see. So this is how it is going to be, huh." Aizen stared up at Ichigo flying down towards him, and sighed. "This is really not something I wanted to have to use."

Just as Ichigo landed a short distance from Aizen, Kyoka Suigetsu flew back to Aizen's hand. Ichigo's eyes grew in horror, sensing the immense reiatsu and danger coming from Aizen's zanpakuto. He dashed forward to knock the blade out of Aizen's hand.

Too late.

"Bankai," Aizen whispered softly, gazing up at the clear sky above. "Kowareta Kagami no Sekai" (World of Broken Mirrors).