Chapter 18: Silver
“If you cooperate with me, what can you gain?”
Aizen naturally saw that Su Xiao had shown sincerity in cooperating. Under the current deadlock, he wouldn’t immediately sever ties with Su Xiao, and he was quite interested in the ‘500 purity’ spirit particle ball Su Xiao mentioned.
“What can I gain…”
Su Xiao pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
“I can’t think of anything specific to gain for now, but at least I won’t have to add another enemy I must eliminate. Your goal is to overthrow the current rulers of the Soul Society, while mine is the Zanpakuto. There seems to be no conflict. On the contrary, if I assist you, I’ll have more ways to obtain a Zanpakuto. Of course, if you want my help, you’ll need to provide an equivalent number of Zanpakuto.”
“Indeed, our goals don’t conflict. We don’t need to be hostile.”
As things developed, the killing intent in Aizen’s eyes faded. Instead, he found Su Xiao to be a promising collaborator.
First, there was Su Xiao’s unclear origin. Aizen himself was no saint, so an unclear origin was practically a ‘good person’ label in his book.
If Su Xiao were merely of unknown origin and had discovered Aizen’s anomaly, Aizen would have eliminated him with lightning speed. Unfortunately, Su Xiao was a researcher—whether it was the Soul Spirit Fluid or the spirit particle ball, Aizen saw them as genius inventions.
As a future rebel leader, or rather, a great enemy of the Soul Society, Aizen wouldn’t reject a researcher like Su Xiao; instead, he would try to recruit or control him.
Before arriving at the Sixth Division’s garrison, Su Xiao’s encounter with Aizen was deliberately arranged by the latter. He wanted to use Kyoka Suigetsu to control Su Xiao and force him into joining.
When he realized Kyoka Suigetsu was ineffective, Aizen’s first thought was to eliminate Su Xiao. He couldn’t tolerate such an unstable factor. But after their earlier conversation, Aizen hesitated. Eliminating Su Xiao was indeed the safest method, but it also yielded the lowest returns. Aizen had his own pride—one of his few flaws.
Compared to the risks of eliminating Su Xiao now, Aizen decided to observe first. And now, he had abandoned the idea of killing him, because it seemed unlikely. This feeling was especially strong after leaving the Sixth Division’s garrison.
“This is my blade. By its essence, it’s not a Zanpakuto, but it possesses abilities similar to one.”
The Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in Su Xiao’s hand. After entering the Soul Society, he no longer carried it on his person.
After displaying the Dragon-Slaying Flash, Su Xiao took out a piece of parchment.
“My blade has only one ability: Restriction.”
“Restriction?”
Aizen didn’t understand the ‘ability’ of the Dragon-Slaying Flash; Su Xiao’s explanation was too vague.
“That’s right. It restricts me. For example, if I want to obtain a portable space, in exchange, I have to sacrifice the vitality of my left ventricle, like this.”
As Su Xiao spoke, the Dragon-Slaying Flash disappeared from his hand.
“Don’t think this is a miraculous ability. Losing the vitality of my left ventricle drastically reduces my combat power. Moreover, this restriction must be related to me. If I were to propose gaining power stronger than Yamamoto Genryusai right now, then I would need to…”