Tokinada's face stiffened, but he still forced himself to say, "Scared? Ridiculous! I'm merely stating facts. A member of the Tsunayashiro Clan holds a status far more venerable than even the ordinary wise sages of the Central 46! If you..."
"Relax," Setsuna interrupted him, his tone very relaxed. "No one will ever know what we did to you here."
Before the words faded, his figure suddenly vanished from the spot.
Tokinada didn't even have time to react. He just felt his vision blur, and then an irresistible, immense force slammed violently into his left cheek.
Smack!!!
A crisp, clear slap echoed through the maple grove!
Tokinada's entire body spun horizontally through the air like a ball hit by a giant hammer, crashing heavily onto the ground over ten meters away, kicking up dust and leaves.
Half of his face visibly swelled and reddened. The corner of his mouth split, and several bloody teeth, mixed with saliva, flew out, landing among the red leaves, glaringly conspicuous.
"Urgh... ah... ptoo!" Tokinada lay on the ground, the intense pain and dizziness darkening his vision. He spat out a bloody froth mixed with broken teeth. Lifting his head, his face was a mixture of disbelief, shock, and fury.
He struggled to prop himself up, facing the direction of the Central 46's gate, and screamed with all his remaining strength: "Guards! Guards! Come quickly! There's a thug attacking a member of the Five Great Noble Families! Attacking the Tsunayashiro Clan! Someone come and arrest him!"
The desperate shouts echoed in the quiet maple grove, traveling towards the nearby walls and gate of the Central 46.
But there was only silence.
The guards on duty at the entrance seemed to have turned into statues, deaf to the earth-shattering commotion, not even turning their heads.
Tokinada's shouts abruptly ceased. The anger on his face was instantly replaced by a deeper chill, born of the unknown.
He snapped his head around, glaring fixedly at Setsuna, who was slowly approaching.
"You... it's you..." his voice trembled slightly with fear and shock. "A year ago, Sato Taishi's accusation against you was actually true. You possess some ability to distort external perception, create illusions, or isolate space?"
Setsuna walked up to him, looking down. "Correct. Too bad, there's no prize."
With that, he forcefully stomped on Tokinada's hand.
"Ah!" Tokinada let out a pitiful scream.
The piercing agony caused his whole body to convulse, and cold sweat instantly covered his forehead.
"Ah! Chiaki Setsuna, you... you'd better kill me completely here!" Tokinada's face twisted in pain, but the venom and madness in his eyes burned even brighter. He screamed, "Otherwise, if I leave here alive, I will use all the power of the Tsunayashiro Clan to retaliate against you! Against the 11th Division! Against everyone connected to you! I'll make you regret everything you've done today!"
He gasped for air, trying to threaten with his final bargaining chip:
"But if I die here, right in front of the Central 46, the entire Soul Society will be shaken! The wrath of the Five Great Noble Families, the fury of the Central 46, will engulf you all like a tsunami! You're all finished!"
Facing this hysterical threat, Setsuna acted as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous. He actually burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, Tsunayashiro Tokinada, you overestimate those cowards in the Central 46, and you overestimate your illusory noble status." The laughter subsided, and Setsuna's gaze turned cold and sharp.
"Who would dare convict me? Who would dare touch those close to me? Do you really believe that on the night the verdict is issued, that judge's residence wouldn't be 'coincidentally' attacked by an enraged Menos Grande passing by, leaving no trace behind?"
He leaned down, getting close to Tokinada's face, twisted in pain and anger, and lowered his voice, each word like a knife: "Compared to your shaky noble status, built on bloodline and rules, absolute power is the only truth in this world."
"Power... what does power matter?" Tokinada, thoroughly enraged, also completely shed his facade. He screamed, "Don't think that just because you're strong, you can do whatever you want! This world has rules! It has order!"
Komamura and Tosen found it ironic. This scum actually had the nerve to say such things.
Setsuna straightened up, his smile radiant. "Sorry, but the strong really can do whatever they want. But I suppose a pathetic waste like you, who can only bully the weak and murder his wife to seek psychological comfort, will never comprehend this realm."
Aizen, ever the loyal follower, added, "Setsuna-nii speaks the truth. Such a coward, who only dares to raise his blade against those closest to him, those least able to fight back, lacking even the courage to face his own inner ugliness… how could he possibly understand the true meaning of power and will? His so-called noble glory is merely a fig leaf covering his cowardice and brutality."
"You..." Tokinada trembled with rage. The intense pain from his wounds and the psychological blow threatened to make him faint.
But the ingrained cunning and venom within him still functioned. Enduring the pain and humiliation, he stared fixedly at Setsuna. "Fine, fine! Chiaki Setsuna, you say power is truth. Then do you dare let me leave? Or are you only brave enough to bully me, a lone noble here, but afraid to face the wrath of my entire family?"
Setsuna looked at him, his gaze like that of someone watching a clown performing. "Provocation? How Boring."
Setsuna shook his head. "Don't bother. I truly don't plan to kill you here."
A flicker of relief at surviving and deeper venom flashed in Tokinada's eyes, but then Setsuna continued: "Because, as far as I know, your old classmate from the 8th Division, Captain Kyoraku Shunsui, seems to be privately investigating some matters. Among them, apparently, are some of your past 'little hobbies' and 'little troubles'."
"I'm very curious. When the evidence is irrefutably laid on the table, what judgment will the Central 46, which always prides itself on 'justice', actually render on you, a venerable offspring of the Five Great Nobles? Will they turn a blind eye again, to preserve noble dignity? Or... will they be 'just' for once?"
Setsuna's smile became playful and expectant. "But before that, you'd better enjoy the wrath of an ordinary person."
Setsuna looked at Tosen. "Your name is Tosen, right? Come on. He's defenseless now. You can torment him to your heart's content. Just don't kill him."
"Hahaha... cough cough..." Tokinada endured the pain, letting out a hoarse laugh. "Hear that, lowborn? Chiaki Setsuna tells you to touch me. Do you dare? Lay a finger on me, and you and your descendants will be slaves for eternity, struggling in the mud. Your very soul will be branded for defiling a noble!"
This deeply ingrained arrogance and threat, just moments ago, might have truly intimidated Tosen.
But now, the truth of Kakyo's tragic death, the anger at his friend's humiliation, and the complete shattering of his long-held fantasy of justice had pushed him to the edge of the cliff.
Setsuna's permission was like the final push.
'Since this world has no justice, since rules serve only the powerful, since the gods have closed their eyes and demons walk the earth... then why should I, whose eyes have long been unable to see the light, fear the darkness?'
Tosen silently, gropingly, picked up his fallen blind man's staff. Slowly, stumbling with each step, he walked towards the direction of Tokinada's voice.
His face held no hysterical madness, only a deathly calm. But beneath that calm surged magma capable of consuming everything.
"You... what do you want? Stop! I command you to stop!" Tokinada finally sensed the dangerous aura in that calm pace, a trace of panic creeping into his voice.
Tosen stopped in front of him, slightly lowering his head to 'look' down.
The next moment, to the shock of everyone present, Tosen gripped his staff with both hands, aimed its hard end without a moment's hesitation at Tokinada's groin, and with all his strength, thrust it viciously inward!
Thunk!
A dull sound of blunt force tearing fabric and embedding into flesh, accompanied by a sickening, faint crunching sound of something fragile being completely shattered.
"Oooowwwwwwwwww—!!!!!"
Tokinada's scream shot up to an unprecedented, piercingly shrill peak, completely distorting.
He arched up violently like a shrimp, his eyes bulging, every cell in his body seeming to shriek in agony.
But it wasn't over.
Tosen's expression was blank, as if performing a necessary, emotionless ritual.
He gripped the staff with both hands and began to slowly, firmly, twist it left and right.
"Ughhh! Stop, stop it! Kill me, please kill me!" Tokinada's screams turned into completely broken wails. Tears, snot, saliva mixed with blood and dirt covered his face.
All his arrogance, cunning, and noble demeanor were gone, replaced only by the most primal, ugliest struggle for survival and the agony of not being allowed to die.
This horrifying scene made the male Shinigami present instinctively feel a chill below the belt.
Even Setsuna had to inwardly remark: 'Truly, even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Never test the limits of an honest man.'