"You old bastard. You've actually got the nerve to stand there reminiscing?"
Kenpachi's booming laugh filled the council chamber as he bared his teeth at Yūma.
He'd failed to kill the man with those two slashes years ago. Apparently, Yūma was tougher than he looked.
And now the idiot had put himself in front of Kenpachi again.
Yūma stared at him, legs trembling despite himself. The memory of their last encounter had already stripped away most of his courage.
"How much longer are you planning to take?"
Unohana's impatient voice came from behind them.
Two and a half minutes had passed, and the captains still hadn't finished clearing out the Tsunayashiro Clan.
Frankly, she found that embarrassing.
"Bankai: Shichisatsu Minazuki."
Her reiatsu erupted.
A vast sea of blood spread across the council chamber, swallowing the floor beneath everyone's feet as the thick scent of blood filled the air.
Shunsui hopped back several steps.
"My, my. Captain Unohana's getting impatient."
The smile remained on his face, but even he had no desire to stand too close.
Unohana vanished.
A crimson blur swept through the blood-soaked domain.
Yūma barely had time to register her movement before his head flew from his shoulders, blood spraying from the severed neck.
Unohana was already swinging again.
Her blade flashed through Tsunayashiro Ryūsuke's waist and cut him cleanly in two.
Neither man had time to mount a defense.
Then Unohana moved through the remaining Tsunayashiro fighters.
What followed could hardly be called a battle.
Anyone still resisting was cut down almost immediately. In moments, the council chamber was filled with bodies, and not a single Tsunayashiro remained standing.
Byakuya swallowed quietly.
So this was the first Kenpachi.
Compared with Unohana, he suddenly felt disturbingly young and helpless.
And this was the same woman who normally smiled pleasantly while running the Fourth Division?
'Best not to annoy her.'
'Ever.'
Komamura suddenly frowned as he looked over the bodies.
"Something's wrong."
The others turned toward him.
"We're missing someone."
Unohana, who'd just sheathed her Zanpakutō, stopped.
"Who?"
Kazuma's order had been explicit.
No survivors.
If someone had escaped, then the operation wasn't finished.
Komamura scanned the room again before realization struck.
"Tsunayashiro Tokinada."
His expression darkened.
"He slipped away during the fighting."
Unohana drew her sword again.
"Then find him."
Her voice was calm.
"And kill him."
The captains immediately spread out.
...
Tokinada had already put as much distance between himself and the council chamber as possible.
He hid in a dark corner of the estate, thinking furiously.
The problem became obvious once he checked the perimeter.
The entire Tsunayashiro compound had been sealed inside a powerful Kidō barrier.
There was no easy way out.
Then he heard footsteps.
Tokinada immediately held his breath and pressed deeper into the shadows.
It wasn't enough.
Kira Izuru stopped nearby, one hand already resting on his Zanpakutō.
His eyes narrowed.
"Who's there?"
He stepped closer.
"Come out."
Tokinada knew the hiding place was compromised.
He slowly emerged from the darkness, a predatory gleam entering his eyes.
Kira's instincts screamed danger.
"Raise your head, Wabisuke."
He released his Zanpakutō immediately.
Anyone hiding inside the estate during an extermination operation was almost certainly Tsunayashiro.
More importantly, the man in front of him felt dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Kira had enough combat experience to understand what that pressure meant.
'Captain class.'
His grip tightened.
He had no chance of winning a straight fight.
So he didn't intend to.
Kira moved first.
He closed the distance in a burst of Shunpo and brought Wabisuke down in a sharp slash.
Tokinada casually raised his own Zanpakutō and blocked.
Exactly as Kira wanted.
Kira attacked again.
Then again.
Each time, Tokinada parried.
Kira never expected those strikes to defeat him.
His goal was simply to keep landing Wabisuke against Tokinada's weapon, doubling its weight with every contact until the sword became too cumbersome to use effectively.
Then he could create an opening and call for help.
Tokinada initially showed no concern.
But after several exchanges, his expression changed.
"Damn it."
His Zanpakutō was getting heavier.
Much heavier.
Another clash nearly dragged his arm downward.
Tokinada finally understood.
The lieutenant in front of him had never been trying to beat him.
He'd been setting a trap from the very first strike.
....
'I got careless. I didn't expect his Zanpakutō to be this annoying.'
Tokinada kept moving, forced onto the defensive as Kira pressed him with Wabisuke.
He'd underestimated a lieutenant and paid for it, but he was still a captain-class Shinigami. Once he understood the problem, he quickly adjusted.
"Hmph. If close combat won't work, I'll use Kidō."
He abandoned his increasingly heavy Zanpakutō and thrust out a hand.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
Lightning erupted toward Kira.
Kira's face tightened as he immediately tried to evade, but Tokinada wasn't finished.
"Scattered bones of beasts! Spire, crimson crystal, steel wheels. The wind moves, the sky stills. The sound of spears fills the empty fortress!"
The lightning swelled violently as Tokinada completed the incantation.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
Kira's stomach dropped.
'Oh, fuck.'
A captain-class Shinigami casting Hadō #63 was already beyond what he could safely block.
Tokinada had even added the full incantation to increase its power.
The bastard clearly wanted him dead before reinforcements could arrive.
Kira had nowhere left to dodge.
Then a clear voice rang out.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū!"
A translucent barrier appeared in front of Kira just as the blast struck.
The collision shook the area.
Kira stared at the barrier for a moment before finally exhaling.
"Saved…"
His heart was still pounding.
If help had arrived even a little later, he would probably have been dead. At least his effort to keep Tokinada occupied hadn't been wasted.
Several figures appeared beside him almost immediately.
Kuchiki Byakuya stood at the front, his white captain's haori stirring behind him. Kyōraku Shunsui appeared at his side, followed by Komamura Sajin.
"Nice work, Lieutenant Kira."
Shunsui smiled approvingly.
"If you hadn't kept him here, he might actually have slipped through our fingers."
"Captain Kyōraku."
Kira bowed deeply.
"I was only doing my duty."
His expression remained as solemn as ever, though inwardly he was delighted. Praise from a senior captain like Shunsui was no small thing.
Komamura had no interest in drawing out the conversation.
"Tsunayashiro Tokinada."
His gaze locked onto him.
"You're not escaping."
The rest of the clan had already been eliminated. There was no reason to leave the final survivor alive.
Kazuma had ordered the entire Tsunayashiro Clan wiped out.
An order was an order.
"All right…"
Tokinada looked at the three captains surrounding him and sighed.
"So this is where I die."
There was little fear in his expression.
Death itself didn't seem to bother him much.
If anything, his only real regret was that the grand plans he'd spent so long pursuing would never come to fruition.
"It's over."
Shunsui drew his Zanpakutō.
He intended to give Tokinada a proper end in a one-on-one fight.
"Captain Kyōraku, finish it quickly."
Byakuya and Komamura stepped back, leaving the space between them open.
Tokinada gave Shunsui a bitter smile.
"If I have to lose, I suppose losing to you isn't so bad."
Shunsui raised his blade.
"Then give it everything you have."
Tokinada took a slow breath.
His reiatsu began to shift.
"I may have no way out, but I'm not going down quietly."
He raised his Zanpakutō.
"Drink in the Four Seas, engulf the horizon. Replicate all creation and carve it anew — Enrakyōten!"
His reiatsu surged outward.
Shunsui's expression changed.
He rushed forward, intending to kill Tokinada before the release could fully take effect, but the turbulent spiritual pressure around him resisted his advance.
Then the sky darkened.
A massive black fissure tore open overhead.
A huge hand reached through it, pierced straight through the Kidō barrier surrounding the Tsunayashiro estate, and seized Tokinada.
Komamura's eyes widened.
"Someone's trying to rescue him!"
Shunsui reacted immediately.
His Zanpakutō slashed toward the enormous hand.
The hand merely swept sideways.
Shunsui's attack was brushed aside, and before anyone could stop it, Tokinada was dragged into the fissure.
The rift began closing.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Shunsui lowered his sword and sighed.
"Looks like the Tsunayashiro were only one part of something much bigger."