"Alright, we don't have time to waste. Since Inoue is in the Fifth Division, no matter what kind of schemes that Kyoraku Shunsui is cooking up down there, we should go save her now."
Ichigo frowned, not wanting to waste time on endless suspicion like this.
In his eyes, today's Soul Society was already rotten to the core.
It looked bright and grand on the outside, but inside it was crawling with maggots.
Whether Rosse won or Kyoraku Shunsui won, he did not care.
After saving her and helping Aizen fulfill his long held wish, he would pat his butt and leave right away.
As for whether this place would drown in chaos or change rulers afterward, that had nothing to do with him, a high school student from the World of the Living.
He was not some savior. He had no duty to rescue a bunch of hopeless Shinigami.
"Let's go."
Yoruichi forced down the strong sense of unease in her chest and nodded lightly.
Although she also wanted to rush into Muken and question Kyoraku Shunsui about what he was really planning, reason told her this was not the time.
According to the records in the Great Spirit Book Corridor, Kyoraku Shunsui's spiritual pressure trajectory was already moving away from Muken.
If they followed now, they would most likely only arrive to find nothing.
After quickly clearing the traces of their search, Yoruichi and Ichigo quietly left the underground depths of the Great Spirit Book Corridor.
But on the only path out, Yoruichi stopped and looked toward the stairs leading up to the surface, to the Central 46 Council chamber.
"I want to go up and take a look."
Although the Central 46 was officially sealed off to the outside, the Great Spirit Book Corridor was located within it, so there was naturally no obstruction between them.
Taking this chance, Yoruichi wanted to confirm what state the Shihoin family members within Central 46 were actually in.
Ichigo did not object. He simply followed behind her silently.
However, when the two stepped into the grand hall of Central 46, the scene before them hit like a heavy hammer, smashing their understanding to pieces.
A nauseating stench rushed at them, even overpowering the lingering scent of incense in the air.
"This is your Soul Society's highest authority?"
Ichigo covered his nose, his expression strange as he pointed around, his voice full of undisguised disgust and mockery.
"How ridiculous."
On the ring shaped, tiered arrangement of the forty six sage seats, there were no high and mighty figures as usual. Only corpses, twisted in posture, already rotten and reeking.
Some were slumped in their chairs. Some were sprawled over the desks. Some had even rolled onto the floor.
Judging from the shocking level of decay, these people had clearly been dead for quite some time.
"It really is ridiculous."
Yoruichi gave a self mocking tug at the corner of her mouth. Her gaze slowly lifted and finally fixed on one of the six highest judge seats in the center.
The seat belonging to the Shihoin family.
The elder who, just yesterday, had "proposed" the early execution of Rukia, indirectly leading to the extermination of the Shihoin clan, was now lying quietly in a pool of blood.
Looking at the blood that had already dried and turned black, along with the corpse spots, Yoruichi's rich experience told her that this elder had been dead for at least seven days.
In other words, yesterday's so called proposal from the Shihoin family had been nothing more than the whisper of a dead man, spoken through a living mouth.
For a crime that did not even exist, the entire Shihoin clan had gone to their deaths.
'They died unjustly!'
Yoruichi's face darkened on the spot.
"Someone's coming!"
Just as Yoruichi was drowning in the overwhelming absurdity, Ichigo suddenly let out a low shout. He grabbed the concealment cloak and covered them both, then pulled Yoruichi swiftly back into the shadows at the corner of the hall.
Almost the instant they hid, several spiritual pressures that were not even trying to conceal themselves appeared at the side entrance of the hall.
Immediately after, a group of figures dressed in black and white sage robes walked in one after another from the direction of Junrinan, which was also the residence of the sages of Central 46.
"Who are they? There are actually still living people here?"
Ichigo whispered in surprise under the cloak.
"That's the crest of the Kyoraku family."
Yoruichi stared fixedly at the pattern on the leading figure's robe, her voice so heavy it felt like it could drip water.
"They're people from the Kyoraku family."
She truly had not expected that in this Central 46, which had long turned into a morgue, there would still be living members of the Kyoraku family appearing.
Just now she had wondered why there were empty positions among the seats, why not everyone had fallen here.
Although she did not want to believe it.
But looking around, the sages of the other families had already rotted into mud, while only these members of the Kyoraku family were alive and well, even walking in openly. There was no need for any extra explanation.
Central 46 had most likely already been taken over by the Kyoraku family.
"The head of the family just sent the latest order. We are to continue cooperating with their actions."
The Kyoraku family judge at the front looked calm, casually rolling a string of black prayer beads in his hand, his tone as steady as if he were talking about today's weather.
"No problem. So who's the next unlucky one? The still arrogant Kuchiki family, or those captains who don't know what's good for them?"
An elderly sage following behind replied cheerfully. He too held a string of prayer beads, and within his kind smile was a madness that sent chills down the spine.
"Heh! After this grand play ends, these old bones of ours definitely won't survive. But being able to see the Kyoraku family climb to the peak of Soul Society before we die, this life will have been worth it."
These words, filled with both readiness for death and naked ambition, made Yoruichi in the corner feel her scalp go numb, cold air rising up her back.
"Under our guidance, the Shihoin family has already become dust of history. Today's target is both the Kuchiki family and a certain captain."
The Kyoraku family judge ignored the rotting corpses of his colleagues at his feet and walked straight to the highest judge seat, sitting down coldly.
"Although I don't know what exactly the head of the family is wary of regarding that captain, since it's his order, we'll just follow it."
The other living sages of the Kyoraku family nodded one after another, completely ignoring the stench and death filling the hall, and casually took their seats, even if a half rotten corpse lay beside them.
The moment these living people finished sitting down,
under the horrified gazes of Yoruichi and Ichigo in the corner, they all stopped talking at the same time and began to rapidly move the prayer beads in their hands in rhythm.
Then, a low, unified chanting voice, like some kind of spell, eerily echoed through this pile of the dead.
Buzz!
At the instant that phrase, like a Zanpakuto release command, fell, the surrounding space seemed to be twisted and reshaped by an invisible giant hand. The scene within Central 46 changed completely.
The nauseating smell of blood and rot vanished in an instant, replaced by a solemn scent of sandalwood.
The blood stains on the floor, the corpse spots, even the broken desks and chairs, all returned to their original state within the distorted light.
What made Yoruichi's hair stand on end the most was, the rotting corpses that had been slumped over desks and lying on the floor actually "came back to life" under the covering light.
They slowly straightened their bodies. Their shriveled, waxy faces became rosy and glossy again. They even began turning their heads to exchange natural glances and whispers with the people beside them.
The hall that had been as silent as a grave was now completely "alive," transformed into a normally operating and dignified highest authority.
If one had not seen the process with their own eyes, who could tell which inside was human, and which was ghost?
"It really… is Kyoraku Shunsui…"
Yoruichi sucked in a cold breath. The shock in her heart surged like a tidal wave, swallowing her whole.
As a veteran former captain who had already been in office a hundred years ago, and once the head of the Shihoin family, how could she not know the flashy release phrase of Katen Kyokotsu?
"The Flowery Winds Become Disturbed, The God Of Flowers Sings, The Heavenly Winds Become Disturbed, The Devil Of Heaven Sneers, Katen Kyokotsu!"
That was the release phrase Kyoraku Shunsui had used for hundreds of years.
But clearly, that was fake.
Or rather, for hundreds of years, he had deliberately maintained a false Shikai state by only ever reciting half of the true name, hiding the truth.
And the real name of his Zanpakuto, the true release phrase of its power, was in fact…
"False Sky, Lying Bones!"
It all matched.
Everything matched.
What Kyoka Suigetsu, what Aizen Sosuke… The one who possessed the power to control the five senses, to turn the dead into the living, to make falsehood reality, and to toy with the entire Soul Society in the palm of his hand.
Was not anyone else at all.
It was that man who looked lazy on the surface, seemingly harmless, the beloved disciple of the Captain Commander.
Kyoraku Shunsui!
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