Bleach Kombat Round 22: Shinnok vs. Aizen Sousuke (Masters of Evil Trilogy Pt. III)

VS.

Evil reigns supreme in our final installment of the MET Trilogy presented by MechG. Truly fearsome foes that you can't easily defeat with just brute strength. Deceptive, quick-thinking, and intelligent, these two defy their peers and stand at the top as the contenders of their Franchises. In their heart likes darkness and only the defeat/death of the good guys is what'll satisfy their unquenchable thirst for destruction. Today's penultimate Round is between MK's Shinnok and Bleach's Aizen Sousuke. Story, Powers/Abilities, & Verdict will be included as usual.The scoreboard, as of August 20th, is Bleach leading MK 11-10. Let's jam!

Story (Aizen Sousuke)

Aizen, before being the antagonist of Bleach and before even reaching the level of Captain, was Shinji Hirako's lieutenant in the 5th division. However, even at the time of him being a lieutenant Shinji - he was plotting to taker control of the Hogyoku & learn the secrets of transcending the powers of Shinigami & Hollow. He, alongside Gin & Kaname, defected from the Soul Society - striking down Lisa, Love, Rose, Hachigen, Kensei, Mashiro, Hiyori, & his own captain, Shinji. However, Kisuke Urahara & Tessai showed up only to allow Aizen to escape and continue on plotting his ambition for power. Aizen soon became 5th division Captain and eventual Leader of the Espada. His goal was Kisuke's Hogyoku, which was implanted inside Rukia's Gigai body. From the get-go, Aizen was up to no good as he wanted to transcend the boundaries of God itself. His involvement with this led to the creation of the Visored, his allying with Hueco Mundo, & Isshin's fated meeting with Masaki (noted for having known about Ichigo's life since his conception). And to top it off, no one knew of Aizen's deception. 

Aizen has played a pivotal role throughout Bleach, serving as the main antagonist (excluding fillers) in every arc. From the get-go, he was up to no good -  betraying his captain, the Soul society, and overall pretty much wanting to transcend into a higher being. Aizen was the former 5th Division Captain and, alongside Gin & Kaname of the 3rd and 9th division, betrayed the Gotei 13 after retrieving the Hogyoku from within Rukia. However, in order to cover up his defection beforehand, he instigated his own death as well as Central 46's murders (eventually found out by Captain Hitsugaya & Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto) so as to put the blame on the Ryoka (Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, & Ganju)~ which then caused an outbreak between the Gotei 13, Team Ichigo, & various Shinigami who were siding against the Soul Society. Later, they made a pact with the Arrancar and Aizen's army amassed in numbers - ready to challenge the Gotei 13 w/ his 10 Espada. Aizen and his Espada enter a war against the Gotei 13 & the Visored and one by one, they fell. Aizen, however, used them simply as pawns (cutting down Tier Harribel without a moment's hesitation) as the Hogyoku was implanted within him and his transition into higher power began. He easily defeats various Captains & Lieutenants of the Gotei 13, but his loss against Ichigo AND the Hogyoku's will refusing Aizen's ambitions eventually landed him in prison for a long long time. Despite his imprisonment, Aizen is a special war potential by Yhwach, the current antagonist of Bleach & the Father of the Quincy. 

Story (Shinnok)

Since the beginning of time and during the creation of the realms, the Elder God Shinnok lusted for Earthrealm’s power and sought to take the realm as his own. However due to his status as an Elder God, he could not intervene unless his fellow Elder Gods were aware of it. To solve this without defying the sacred rules created by the Elder Gods, Shinnok created an amulet to help weaken the dimensional barriers and enter Earthrealm. He came into contact with Earthrealm’s protector, the thunder god Raiden and conflict between the two ensured a war among gods. During the final battles, Raiden had to choose between sacrificing Earthrealm’s civilizations or surrender and allow Shinnok to rule Earthrealm. The Elder Gods took action and joined Raiden in his cause, defeating Shinnok, stripping him of his amulet and his Elder God status, and banishing him to the Netherrealm. Though the threat of Shinnok was eliminated, Earthrealm’s indigenous civilizations suffered great losses as a result of the war. In his time in the Netherrealm, Shinnok was constantly tortured by its ruler, Lucifer and was at his mercy until the sorcerer Quan Chi helped Shinnok free him from Lucifer’s wrath. Shinnok was able to kill Lucifer and claim his throne as ruler of the Netherrealm. In gratitude to Quan Chi’s aid, Shinnok bestowed upon the sorcerer great power and made him his right hand man.

In his time in the Netherrealm, Shinnok built his army of darkness to escape the Netherrealm and unleash terror on all the realms once again. However, he needed his amulet to impose his will. He tasked Quan Chi to locate its whereabouts. After centuries of looking, Quan Chi came into contact with Shang Tsung and Tsung gave him the location in the Temple of the Elements. Tsung also implored Quan Chi to convince Shinnok to resurrect Shao Kahn’s queen, Sindel in Earthrealm so Shao Kahn can cross the dimensional gates and claim the realm without having to do Mortal Kombat. Since sorcerers cannot enter the Temple of the Elements, Quan Chi offered his services to the Lin Kuei and tasked one of their warriors, Bi-Han (elder Sub-Zero) to recover the lost amulet. Sub-Zero completed his task and gave the amulet to Quan Chi. Unknown to Shinnok, Quan created a duplicate of the amulet while he kept the real one to himself. Shinnok then tasked Shujinko to recover his amulet in a city in the Netherrealm. In possession of it once again, Shinnok noticed a difference in his amulet, indicating that the amulet returned to him was the duplicate Quan Chi created. Shinnok spent his lifetime decorating the Netherrealm as he saw fit, building an army of darkness and established a cult dedicated to worshipping him called the Brotherhood of the Shadow. After Shao Kahn’s failure to merge Outworld and Earthrealm, Shinnok and his army ascended from the Netherrealm and began terrorizing the realms and the Heavens. In Heaven, Shinnok managed to kill the elemental gods of earth, fire, and water, who were defending the palace of the Elder Gods and brutalized the wind god, Fujin, throwing him off from the clouds and sending him crashing down to the surface. He then turned his attention to Edenia with the Edenian traitor Tanya at his side and invaded the realm, capturing Sindel and Kitana. However, Shinnok’s terror would be cut short as he found out his amulet was a fake and Quan Chi was sent to the deepest trenches of the Netherrealm by Scorpion. With most of his army defeated, Shinnok, without his godly powers tried to battle the Mortal Kombat champion, Liu Kang. The Fallen Elder God was defeated and Raiden banished him back to the Netherrealm. In the aftermath of events, Shinnok started proposing alliances revealing that his old Edenian god friend, Argus created a pyramid containing the powerful elemental Blaze for the impending doom of Armageddon. Those who defeated Blaze will be granted with ultimate power. Shinnok was the main catalyst for bringing Onaga, Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi together forming a type of “masters of evil” though the alliance was temporary. Prior to that, he encountered Argus’ two half-blood sons, Daegon and Taven. Shinnok favored Daegon more and tricked Taven temporarily to do his bidding. Although Shinnok aided Daegon, he somewhat doubted his choice considering Taven managed to defeat his illusions of warriors much faster than Daegon. To participate in the Battle of Armageddon, Shinnok created a doppleganger of himself to lead the forces of darkness. His doppleganger was killed off in the aftermath, but it was unknown what the real Shinnok did next. In the alternate timeline, Raiden’s manipulation of events was all part of Shinnok’s grandmaster plan and Shinnok praised Quan Chi in countering Raiden’s tactics to alter the timeline. With Shao Kahn’s death, the Elder Gods and the realms of Earthrealm and Outworld weakened, Shinnok said that soon he will be free and that he and his forces of darkness will be ready to unleash their reign of terror on both Earthrealm and Outworld.

Powers/Abilities (Aizen Sousuke)

Aizen's primary ability lies in his Zanpaktou, Kyoka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower Water Moon), which was capable of complete hypnosis ~ distorting all senses to the point where it can change matter's shape, form, feel, and smell. However, after retrieving the Hogyoku, the implantation of the Hogyoku successfully (later backfired) in amplifying his form, power, speed, durability, spiritual power, regeneration, and Kido (using a high-level Kido without citing the whole incantation). Aizen is pretty much at God-like status and even before the Hogyoku implantation, he was a strong, old, and charismatic Shinigami Captain. He was able to stop Captain Komamura & Hitsugaya easily without having to resort to unsheathing his Zanpaktou, defeat Ichigo (in the very beginning) with just 1 finger, and thwart Grimmjow's advances just from his spiritual energy. His Kyoka Suigetsu clearly misled everyone & his Hogyoku Implantation amplified his power ten-fold ~ and he still is a threat to the Gotei 13 & the Wandenreich (was able to distort current antagonist, Yhwach, for a little bit). 

Powers/Abilities (Shinnok)

Being that Shinnok is an Elder God and the Elder Gods are the supreme deities, Shinnok is very powerful and possesses incredible powers befitting that of an Elder God. However, since he is stripped of that status, his powers have watered down. Unlike other villains like Shao Kahn who rely on brute force and fear to intimidate opponents, Shinnok prefers to intimidate his opponents with dark magic and ancient artifacts used for death and destruction. It is assumed that Shinnok was the Elder God of death and darkness considering most of his powers revolve around darkness or revolve around his newfound powers in his time in the Netherrealm. Like sorcerers Shang Tsung or his right hand man Quan Chi, Shinnok possesses the ability to shape shift and mimic the powers and abilities of other combatants, however the only bad part to that is that it has to be under jurisdiction and he has to defeat a person in combat or convince that person to serve him to gain that power and ability. Shinnok also to a degree possesses dark magic and he is able to summon demons and wraiths to do his bidding, he is able to freely cross from realm to realm. Aside from all that, he can create clones or illusions of warriors with their powers and abilities in tact as mentioned as he was testing both Daegon and Taven and he has the ability to clone even himself. Overall, not much is known the full extent of Shinnok’s powers because he isn’t able to demonstrate it with his real amulet and he usually attaches his amulet with a staff. If he possesses his real amulet, he regains all of his power that was stripped of him when he was convicted of committing crimes against his fellow Elder Gods and when he waged war with Raiden and the Elder Gods for control over Earthrealm. As a former Elder God, Shinnok has immense knowledge since his existence at the beginning of time and he shows that he can be cunning and deceptive all in favor of his grand master plans.  He requires great loyalty from all those who serve him and will not be hesitant to kill anyone who betrays him, questions him, or rises up against him.

Verdict (By MechG)

And the winner is...

Aizen’s fight night crossover streak just keeps piling up with legit victories. All in all, this verdict was really difficult to decide, it feels like I was butting heads with myself on who goes over. Now, I see a lot of similarities between Aizen and Shinnok, they respectively committed crimes and waged war against their fellow Gotei 13 and Elder God peers, they are both cunning and deceptive, they resort to tactics and strategy in battle as opposed to imposing fear and brute force, and none of them has tasted death yet. Originally, I had Shinnok go over because of his legit status as an Elder God, one of the supreme deities of the MK universe and his presence is revered by the evils among evil like Shao Kahn and Onaga because of his Elder God status, well former Elder God status. Then I’m thinking to myself, don’t let Aizen’s streak end to a top-tier villain who hasn’t proved how powerful he is yet and doesn’t have enough credibility to be an iconic franchise villain. It was said before and it will be said again, no Gotei 13 captain, no Arrancar, no Shinigami, and no Espada is able to match wits against Aizen one on one. I think his motive to rule over heaven, the human world, and hell as the one true god is where I say that the reversal of this verdict is going to him. Also, I think it’s the shock value that Aizen brings to show that he was truly deceptive since he showed that he was a nice guy in the Gotei 13 and then he starts terrorizing the heck out of the Soul Society; everybody is just shock that a nice man such as Aizen would do such a thing. With Shinnok, I don’t know if he was well liked by his Elder God peers or if they probably hate his guts already. He is the deity of death and darkness after all so obviously you don’t trust Shinnok to be an ultra-nice guy and shock everyone to prove he’s evil. In terms of power/abilities, Aizen has a lot of them to crush the Elder God. One critical part is that Shinnok is highly dependent on his amulet to showcase his abilities befitting of an Elder God and one of Aizen’s main specialties is perfectly dissecting his opponent’s weak spot and killing them with ease. All it takes is one swipe of the amulet to remove from Shinnok’s to make him powerless and he is wide open. Well, Aizen’s beaten a super solider, who became a god (Sephiroth), a powerful demon lord who is one of the three great kings (Yomi), a fearsome warrior who became the immortal guardian of time and later the god of the dead (Caius), and now he’s defeated a natural born god, who was the supreme deity of death and darkness in the universe (Shinnok). Who can stop Aizen? Only Aizen himself knows. ~ AIZEN WINS

So who do you think won in the final installment of the MET Trilogy? Shinnok from MK or Aizen from Bleach? Comment below and let us know. Monday's final BK Post will be decided by yours truly ~ Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Liu Kang. Until then, you all stay classy now. Here's the current Scoreboard for BK Month:

1) Jax Briggs vs. Yasutora "Chad" Sado ~ MK (July 4th)

2) Jade vs. Yoruichi Shihoin ~ Bleach (July 7th)

3) Johnny Cage vs. Mask De Masculine ~ MK (July 9th)

4) Sonya Blade vs. Sui-Feng ~ Bleach (July 11th)

5) Kenshi vs. Byakuya Kuchiki ~ Bleach (July 14th)

6) Mileena vs. Bambietta Basterbine ~ Bleach (July 16)

7) Kung Lao vs. Uryu Ishida ~ Bleach (July 18th)

8) Reptile vs. Sajin Komamura ~ Bleach (July 21st)

9) Sektor vs. Renji Abarai ~ Bleach (July 23rd)

10) Sindel vs. Tier Harribel ~ MK (July 25th) 

11) Sub-Zero vs. Rukia Kuchiki ~ MK (July 28th)

12) Baraka vs. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez ~ Bleach (July 30th) 

13) Fujin vs. Candice Catnipp ~ MK (August 1st) 

14) Quan Chi vs. Toshiro Hitsugaya ~ MK (August 4th) 

15) Scorpion vs. Ad Nodt ~ MK (August 6th) 

16) Goro vs Kenpachi Zaraki ~ Bleach (August 8th) 

17) Kitana vs Orihime Inoue ~ MK (August 11th) 

18) Shang Tsung vs. Kisuke Urahara ~ Bleach (August 13th) 

19) Raiden vs. Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto ~ Bleach (August 15th) 

20) Shao Kahn vs. Baraggan Louisenbairn ~ MK (August 18th) 

21) Onaga vs. Yhwach ~ MK (August 20th) 

22) Shinnok vs. Aizen Sousile ~ Bleach (August 22nd) 

Bleach currently leads 12-10 against MK.

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