Bleach: No cheat codes, he joined Aizen's side.

Chapter 162, Page 160: The price of expansion is being betrayed.
It was an afternoon more than twenty years ago. The Kasumi family was still there, and Gin Ichimaru had not yet entered the Seireitei.

The captain of the 12th Division is still Kiryu Hikifune, and Shuichi Higashino is still the vice-captain of the 4th Division.

"Lord Aizen, speaking of which, with your strength, you should have already mastered Bankai, right?"
Having followed you for so long, I don't recall ever seeing you use your Bankai.

Standing atop a high mountain in the 37th ward of South Rukongai, Shuichi Higashino breathed in the fresh mountain air and spoke as if casually.

"Yes, but my Bankai ability is even worse than my Initial Release ability, which really makes it uninteresting to use."

Aizen answered Higashino Shuichi's question as if he were a friend.

"Is that so? Perhaps it's because Lord Aizen's Zanpakuto Shikai ability is already powerful enough, so the Bankai ability doesn't seem as outstanding compared to the Shikai ability?"

Higashino Shuichi thoughtfully offered a way to cover for Aizen.

"Yes, if it could take effect instantly like a mirage, it would be an interesting ability. But unfortunately, it isn't."

Aizen nodded, acknowledging what Higashino Shuichi had said.

His Bankai ability is stronger than his Shikai ability, but it is weak in that it is not interesting enough and is too troublesome.

As a result, Aizen never even considered using his Zanpakuto's Bankai.

After all, with his spiritual pressure, he could easily resolve more than 90% of the problems in Soul Society with just the Kyoka Suigetsu.

"So, Lord Aizen, what exactly is your Bankai ability?"

"Issue Higashino then asked."

Now, Aizen had basically nothing to hide from Higashino Shuichi. At this point in time, Higashino Shuichi was also burdened with the important task of contacting and guiding the Kasumioji family in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, since he had no intention of using his Bankai anyway, it wasn't a big deal for him to tell some of the details to Shuichi Higashino.

After listening, Higashino Shuichi made a brief summary in his mind: Aizen's Bankai, Dream Collapse, was actually the opposite of his Zanpakuto Shikai ability, Kyoka Suigetsu.

If we say that "a mirage" is adept at turning the real into the fake, then...

So his Bankai, Dream Collapse, is adept at turning the fake into the real.

However, the latter still needs to meet a prerequisite: as an enemy affected by his Dream Collapse, one must believe in the illusion he has created. Only when that opponent believes can the illusion created by Aizen himself become reality.

This is precisely why Higashino Shuichi talked so much nonsense during his battle with Barragan.

Because he wanted to convince Barragán of everything he had shown him.

As a result, Barragan believed it, even though this belief was very short-lived due to the appearance of Atedis. However, there was still a period of time when he believed in everything that Higashino Shuichi had constructed.

And that is enough.

Shuichi Higashino calmly unleashed Aizen's Bankai in front of Barragan.
A dreamlike collapse!

Compared to the absolute control of the five senses in "Mirror Flower Water Moon", the initial effect of "Dream Collapse" is definitely weaker, because it only gives Shuichi Higashino a visual deception of a single enemy.

But once the other party believes everything that Higashino Shuichi has fabricated...

Then this dreamlike bubble will become reality.

Therefore, the moment Higashino Shuichi unleashed his Zanpakuto again, his body, which had been ravaged by Barragan's aging abilities, truly recovered.

The aging power from Barragan within his body was instantly cleared, and all the spiritual particles within the entire Hueco Mundo were suppressed, just as Higashino Shuichi had initially claimed.
Barragán's prized ability to age, in that brief moment, truly failed.

And this time, it's not a joke.

Because Barragán discovered that not only his abilities were suppressed, but also the surrounding spiritual energy was suppressed, making his breathing, his steps, his movements, and everything about him feel oppressive and heavy.

This is a completely different feeling from anything I've experienced before.

But as clever as Barragan is, this time he will not be fooled by Higashino Shuichi again.

"Whether it's true or false, it doesn't matter. Higashino Shuichi, your life ends here!"

Barragán said to Hideichi Higashino.

If this were a one-on-one duel between Higashino Shuichi and Barragan, the outcome would have been completely different.

The ability that Shuichi Higashino gained through Sosuke Aizen's Bankai, Dream Collapse, is unsolvable for Barragan.

However, in the battlefield between Higashino Shuichi and Barragan, there is now an additional Arrancar who has been brought in by Barragan to lend a hand.

"Be silent, Dark Forest!"

Despite the surrounding spiritual energy being suppressed by Higashino Shuichi's abilities, Atdis, an Arrancar specifically created to counter Shinigami, still managed to release his Resurrección.

"You wouldn't believe it, would you? Atdis's spiritual power can regenerate on its own without needing external replenishment. Those tubes on his back aren't just for decoration."

Szayelaporro, far away in Hueco Mundo, was monitoring everything happening in Las Noches through a special device placed on Atdis. He laughed proudly in his empty laboratory.

See that? This is his masterpiece!

Aizen couldn't see the value of Artdis, and that was his loss!

Perfect. Let Higashino Shuichi's death teach Aizen a lesson, so that he won't act as he does this time, selectively ignoring the hard work of Szayelaporro.

Then, Higashino Shuichi discovered that Barragan's aging ability was once again affecting him.

His Zanpakuto ability failed.
And this was only the beginning of Higashino Shuichi's physical collapse.

Because soon, the very thing he relied on to maintain high-intensity combat, the ability to self-inflict injury, also became ineffective. The injuries that should have been gradually repaid by time in the future erupted on Higashino Shuichi's body in that instant!
He collapsed.
At the moment he collapsed, Higashino Shuichi finally remembered the origin of Atlas.

Ultimately, it's all Higashino Shuichi's fault. If he hadn't provided Aizen with a large number of different Shinigami spiritual energy samples when he was still in the Fourth Division, and if most of these Shinigami were capable of Zanpakuto release, Szayelaporro wouldn't have so much material to study now.

In particular, Shuichi Higashino broadened Aizen's horizons. More than a hundred years ago, he pioneered the idea of ​​using targeted spiritual energy output methods to efficiently absorb and block the spiritual energy output methods of Shinigami. At that time, Aizen followed Higashino's suggestion and created an ability called Shikigami for the Menos Grande.

However, as the older generation of Hollows gradually died out, and the remaining Barragan and Stark disdained to use the Dead Knot, Shuichi Higashino almost forgot about his early contribution.

But one person did not forget, and even deeply agreed with, and carried forward Higashino Shuichi's idea. That person was Szayelaporro.

Thanks to the abundant samples of Shinigami spiritual power provided by Shuichi Higashino, combined with the power of the Hogyoku, Szayelaporro was able to design and create Atdis, an Arrancar specifically designed to target Shinigami, with relatively little effort.

Its Resurrection ability has only one effect: by simulating the spiritual power of a Shinigami, it uses its own stored immense spiritual pressure to offset the corresponding Shinigami's spiritual power output on a one-to-one basis in a way that seems foolish on the surface, but is undeniably very effective.

Unfortunately, but logically, Higashino Shuichi's spiritual power characteristics are also in Atdis's Death God spiritual power material database.

If Higashino Shuichi remembers correctly, Atdis should be a targeted Arrancar that Aizen had Szayelaporro develop specifically to deal with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni. In the original story, this Arrancar should be Wonderwiss Margera, a special Arrancar whose Resurrection ability is dedicated to absorbing flames.

However, in this world that has been greatly influenced by Shuichi Higashino, it is clear that Szayelaporro is not content with targeting only Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni. With far greater ideals and ambitions, Szayelaporro has set his sights on all the Shinigami from the very beginning.

Therefore, this trump card, which was originally intended by Barragan and Szayelaporro to deal with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, unfortunately ended up being devoured by Higashino Shuichi.

Even more unfortunately, this trump card worked exceptionally well on him.

"I've gotten too arrogant."

Shuichi Higashino was unwilling to accept this; he still had many trump cards up his sleeve, including the abilities of a Quincy, Hollows, and even the power of Hell.

He hasn't even let Barragan taste his hellish execution song yet.
But all the resentment and unwillingness became meaningless at this moment.

Shuichi Higashino finally understood why Aizen became so arrogant after obtaining the complete Hogyoku, no longer the cautious person he once was.

Because once one's strength is greatly enhanced, one tends to become arrogant.

He himself was like that. If it were him a hundred years ago, he certainly wouldn't have come to deal with Barragan so directly. At least he would have gone to Hueco Mundo first to find out if Barragan had improved his strength in the past and what he had prepared.

At the very least, he'd go all out from the start, no longer thinking about holding back some cards to play slowly—a typical cowardly mentality.
However, there's no going back in this world.
Higashino Shuichi's consciousness began to grow heavy and blurry.
If you were to ask Higashino Shuichi what his last words would be, it would certainly be that if he had the chance to do it all over again, he would definitely retrieve the Quincy body from the present world before Barragan summoned Las Noches, and unleash Hell's Execution Song, going all out to give Barragan no chance to turn the tables.

Then, Barragan plunged one hand into Higashino Shuichi's heart, frantically injecting the power of aging. Even though Higashino Shuichi possessed the ability of infinite regeneration, his body, his physical strength, and his extremely weakened spiritual pressure were all powerless to support him.

Death seems to be the end for Shuichi Higashino.

Just as Higashino Shuichi's consciousness finally faded away, a switch hidden within him was finally activated.

Above the Seireitei Palace, in the Rei-o Palace, a bald, fat monk sits atop a massive pillar, lost in thought—this is his daily routine.

Every day has been like this, but today is a little different.

Because a name suddenly popped into his mind.

Shuichi Higashino
This was a name that wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him, but it wasn't exactly familiar either.

He remembered that Higashino Shuichi seemed to be the one he had his eye on, the one who had the potential to become a substitute for the Soul King, and was a subordinate of Aizen Sousuke.

Furthermore, since Higashino Shuichi has collected the Soul King's eyes and fingernail fragments within his body, he has also qualified to be selected as a substitute for the Soul King.

Therefore, it is impossible for him to be unfamiliar with the name Higashino Shuichi.

For him, however, the name Higashino Shuichi ended there.

This Grim Reaper, at the moment, does not deserve more of his attention.

But why did this name suddenly appear in his mind, and why was there a voice telling him to call out this name?

You should know that his name is Hyosube Ichibei, the one who named everything in the original Soul Society. His call is not just a simple call, but can bring back something that may have disappeared from the Soul Society by calling its name.

To use a more vivid analogy, he is like a data recovery master who can find and recover files that have been deleted from a computer.

Although some data may have been lost, it was recovered overall.

"He's an interesting person."

Hyosube Ichibei suddenly laughed.

He didn't know why he had this thought, but through his vision projected into the Soul Society, he could clearly see that the moment the voice appeared in his mind was the moment that person named Higashino Shuichi died.

He didn't believe there was no connection between the two.

However, Hyosube Ichibei was completely unaware of this beforehand.

This was truly beyond his expectations.

However, he felt that all of this could be answered by simply bringing Higashino Shuichi back.

Presumably, this Grim Reaper named Higashino Shuichi knows the reason.

So, Hyosube Ichibei stood up from the pillar and jumped down into his palace. The huge palace was extremely deserted, as he was the only one living there.

"Awaken, Higashino Shuichi!"

Hyosube Ichibei, with that enigmatic smile on his face, looked ahead and spoke.

Soon, countless spiritual particles gathered before him and eventually reconstructed into the form of Higashino Shuichi.

The moment Higashino Shuichi appeared, a space behind him was torn apart, and a gray-black arm suddenly stretched out from the dark opening.

"That won't do! I'm very interested in this Grim Reaper, and I can't hand him over to you just yet!"

Hyosube Ichibei was clearly not surprised by the appearance of this arm. He slashed forward with the huge, ink-brush-like Zanpakuto in his hand, and the black ink smear floated in space, cutting off the space.

The arm was severed in this way, the front end quickly perishing, and the back end, with an angry hiss, retracted back into the spatial rift, then unwillingly closed the rift.

"You are... Hyosube Ichibei?"

After Hyosube Ichibei finished doing all this, Higashino Shuichi, who had been revived, said with a slight sense of confusion.

Then, several forgotten memories flooded into my brain.

(End of this chapter)