"Relax."
Aizen said softly, "Next, I'll have to trouble you with things in Hueco Mundo."
"Got it."
Yoshio nodded. "Once I reach the World of the Living, I'll find an excuse to return to Hueco Mundo."
"Speaking of which, I'm actually curious to see the current fighting strength of Las Noches—how it stacks up against the Seireitei."
With that, Yoshio left Aizen's office.
Back in his own office, he prepared this month's update.
He hadn't updated last month, and this month he had a mission, so he had to finish today's chapter.
His "Thousand-Year Blood War" had reached the end of the City of Seven Seas arc.
In this arc, the main group fought the Onmitsukidō operatives lurking in the City of Seven Waters and rescued a comrade from them.
Of course, that kind of content is hard to pass review, seeing as it involves sensitive institutions like Central 46 and the Onmitsukidō.
But Yoshio was good friends with Shuhei. Shuhei had Yoshio tweak the content a bit so it wouldn't look too treasonous, and then it passed.
This time, he planned to take another step deeper into worldbuilding.
["In the depths of the great sea dwell four of the most powerful Quincy. It's said that three of them once served in the personal guard of Yhwach, the Quincy King, during the great war a thousand years ago."]
["These three strongest Quincy split paths to contend for the legacy left by the Quincy King, and because of their overwhelming power, they became known as emperors of the sea."]
["These three Quincy, plus the 'red-haired' one, are the 'Four Emperors' of the sea."]
After setting up the Four Emperors, Yoshio put down his pen.
Yeah, this is a good place to stop. Ending on the introduction of the Four Emperors should leave some people craving more.
Once he finished writing, it was time to clock out. Yoshio stood up and stretched. He was about to head home for a good rest when he heard an alarm from the Soul Society.
[Vmmm—!]
A massive sound came from the direction of the Sixth District. Yoshio frowned.
Damn it! You couldn't come earlier—now you pull this when I'm about to get off work!
Yoshio's face darkened. He wanted to fire a Cero and pierce the bastard sounding the alarm.
Forget it. It's not their fault.
Yoshio hurried toward the Sixth District. It wasn't far. When he arrived, he found that the 6th Division's Shinigami had already cordoned off the scene.
He spotted the 6th Division Lieutenant, Ginjirō Shirogane, guarding the perimeter. He ran over. "Shirogane, what happened?"
"Yoshio, you sure got here fast," Ginjirō Shirogane said as he saw him approach. "A big shot's been killed. I'm guessing the nobles are going to put the squeeze on us again."
"A big shot?" Yoshio asked, surprised. "Don't tell me it's one of the top five houses?"
If it were just a regular noble, it wouldn't warrant an alarm across the entire Seireitei.
Ginjirō Shirogane glanced around, and once he was sure no one was eavesdropping, he lowered his voice. "It's Tsunayashiro Sōgen of the Tsunayashiro main family. He's a big name in the Tsunayashiro clan."
Tsunayashiro Sōgen!
Yoshio was stunned. He'd impersonated Tsunayashiro Sōgen before and had planned to contact Roka Paramia to have her control the captains' imaginary bodies to take him out.
But before he could act, the man was already dead.
Fast work.
Was it the imaginary bodies who did it?
Very possible, Yoshio thought—especially the imaginary body of Tōsen Kaname, who would be likely to move against the Tsunayashiro.
But soon he sensed something off.
Because at the crime scene, he spotted a familiar face.
"That is…"
Yoshio looked at the man he'd met not long ago inside the cordon and asked curiously.
Following Yoshio's gaze, Ginjirō Shirogane said, "Him? He's from a branch of the Tsunayashiro—Tsunayashiro Tokinada. He's also the one who first discovered Tsunayashiro Sōgen's body."
"…" Yoshio sneered inwardly.
No need to guess—Tsunayashiro Tokinada definitely did it.
That guy has a screw loose and a cracked soul. With a psychopath, anything's possible for his next move.
Forget killing one Tsunayashiro Sōgen—even slaughtering his entire family wouldn't be out of the question.
Hmm. Maybe the kindest thing Tokinada will ever do is wiping out the Tsunayashiro clan—on par with Uchiha Itachi over on the other set.
Thinking this, Yoshio's eyes flicked. "I'm pretty proficient with Kaidō. How about I take a look at the body?"
"Well…" Ginjirō Shirogane thought for a moment. "Fourth Division should be arriving soon, but if you want to take a look, go ahead."
Yoshio was a Lieutenant, which definitely counted as upper echelon in the Seireitei. This kind of small matter wasn't an issue.
And as Yoshio said, he was skilled in Kaidō—maybe he could find a clue.
Word that Yoshio knew Kaidō had spread after the Gillian incident; he'd used a medical wave to treat Shiba Kaien and Kuchiki Rukia back then.
Unohana Retsu had even wanted to transfer him to the Fourth Division; he, of course, refused.
Give up being the 5th Division Lieutenant to be a 3rd or 4th Seat in the Fourth? That'd be brain damage.
Yoshio walked over and saw Tsunayashiro Sōgen lying in a pool of blood.
Tokinada really went in hard—one lethal strike straight through the heart.
That said, Tokinada did count as an elite in the Tsunayashiro—elite in terms of strength, anyway; he'd once been a Shinigami.
The fact that he would later be able to massacre the entire Tsunayashiro clan also shows that, besides him, most of the Tsunayashiro were bottom feeders.
"Well? Find anything?"
Ginjirō Shirogane asked.
"One thrust through the heart. Tsunayashiro Sōgen didn't have time to react. That means the assailant was strong and extremely fast."
"Hey…"
Just as Yoshio finished, Tsunayashiro Tokinada walked over wearing a nasty smile. "You're the head of the lower noble Kamado family, right? Don't you know the Tsunayashiro are your parent house? Show some respect to a deceased Tsunayashiro clansman—at least add 'Lord' after his name."
Yoshio glanced at him and said flatly, "The Kamado are indeed vassals to the Tsunayashiro main family. But right now I'm conducting an investigation as the 5th Division Lieutenant. In that capacity, I have reasonable suspicion that you are involved in the murder of the victim, Tsunayashiro Sōgen."
!
The words clearly stunned Tokinada for a moment. His heart tightened, though outwardly he barked in anger, "Watch your mouth! I'm a Tsunayashiro clansman—why would I kill my own elder?!"
"Oh, there can be plenty of reasons."
Yoshio didn't hold back.
Anyone else and he might let it slide. But putting on a high-and-mighty act in front of him really rubbed Yoshio the wrong way.
He drew his Zanpakutō. "You know, for those who've fallen into the Hell of Loneliness, even death is a luxury."
"You… what do you mean?" Tokinada finally sensed something was off. He'd only come to take one last look at that old bastard Sōgen's corpse, but he hadn't expected some lowly Lieutenant to defy him.
"Lieutenant Yoshio…" Ginjirō Shirogane frowned, wanting to caution Yoshio. Opposing a noble wouldn't do Yoshio any good.
"Relax."
Yoshio said softly, "Tranquil in three voids, Jigoku Zoku…"
He released his Zanpakutō right then and there!
In an instant, a strange power spread.
Centered on Yoshio, the area suddenly dimmed. The ground seemed to sheen with a layer of water that rose higher and higher, as if to flood their feet.
The next moment, spirit particles in the surroundings began to gather.
Yoshio explained, "As everyone knows, when a spirit dies, it disperses into reishi and returns to the world—but in fact, that requires a process."
"The stronger the spirit, the longer it takes to return."
There was a deeper point, too: once someone reached the level of Third Class Reiatsu, their reishi could never fully disperse back into the world.
And since such powerful spirits couldn't be allowed to drift forever, there was only one solution…
Send them to Hell.
For a million years, the Soul Society had repeated this cycle: once your power was too great, even death would not grant peace.
Perhaps, in this world, strength itself is a sin—and the strong must fall into Hell.
Of course, very few in the entire Seireitei knew this.
Perhaps only Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni and Aizen Sōsuke knew; in the original work, even Kyōraku Shunsui only realized it after becoming Head Captain when he saw the phosphorescence spilling from Hell during a ritual.
Let alone everyone else.
Naturally, Tsunayashiro Sōgen didn't qualify for a trip to Hell—his reiatsu was far from captain-class.
Which is to say, under normal circumstances, his reishi would slowly disperse throughout the Soul Society and return to the world.
However, at this moment, Yoshio invoked the power of the Jigoku Zoku.
The Jigoku Zoku forces everything within its domain into a Hell of Loneliness, where endless solitude drives one mad.
And in Yoshio's Hell of Loneliness, even the wish to die is extravagant. If you want to break the hell by means other than brute force, there's only one way:
Attain enlightenment within it—though how to achieve that, even Yoshio, the user, didn't know.
"Hell of Loneliness… I know your Zanpakutō's ability. Are you planning to use it on me?" Tokinada's gaze turned grim. He said coldly, "Defying a superior is a grave crime. You know the consequences."
Although Yoshio had deployed the domain, he hadn't targeted Tokinada yet, so Tokinada could still speak normally.
Yoshio sneered. "Who said I was going to use it on you?"
"Since you know my power is Hell, you should also know that Hell is where the dead belong."
"As long as a person's reishi hasn't fully dispersed, I can cast them into my Hell of Loneliness."
Yoshio narrowed his eyes. "Now, please come out—at least to point out who committed such a heinous crime."
The Hell of Loneliness could be used on the living—in fact, even on those alive in body—but its primary function was on the dead.
And in the Soul Society, aren't all 'living beings' actually 'the dead'?
And the Soul Society's 'living' can die again and fall into Hell.
Therefore, Yoshio could cast the 'dead' into his Hell of Loneliness.
Of course, the time since death couldn't be too long.
If too much time passed, the reishi would fully disperse.
If it were a Third Class Reiatsu-level spirit, then it wouldn't matter how long—so long as they hadn't been consigned to Hell yet, he could take them into his Hell of Loneliness.
In general, he didn't even need to kill them himself—any spirit that died by his side would fall into his Hell.
But for someone like Tsunayashiro Sōgen, who neither died by Yoshio's hand nor at his side, he needed to release his Zanpakutō and actively expand the domain to take him in.
Falling into the Hell of Loneliness… is no small matter.
Within it, one experiences endless solitude, eternal loneliness in a torment where one can neither live nor die.
But since the victim was of the Tsunayashiro, Yoshio didn't care.
At this moment, Tokinada's face changed—he saw reishi light emanating from Sōgen's body, as if he were about to come back to life.
Fear gripped him. He hadn't expected Yoshio's ability could "revive" the dead!
A ruthless light flashed in Tokinada's eyes. In an instant he used shunpo to appear before Yoshio!
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Ginjirō Shirogane, who'd been on alert since Yoshio drew his blade, was ready to move. Whether to prevent Yoshio from killing Tokinada or to stop a cornered Tokinada if he really was the culprit, he had to act.
And now, Tokinada really was going to silence them!
That was fast!
As Ginjirō Shirogane saw Tokinada suddenly in Yoshio's face, he was about to draw his sword, but Yoshio was faster!
Just as Tokinada was about to use kidō to obliterate Yoshio, Yoshio's hand had already pressed against Tokinada's chest.
"!"
Tokinada froze. The next moment he heard Yoshio speak:
"Hadō # 4. Byakurai."
Thwip!
A white beam lanced from Tokinada's chest straight into the sky!
After that, Tokinada lost all response. His pupils dilated; there was no expression of pain on his face—only a kind of blank stupor.
"Attacking me inside the Hell of Loneliness? You're underestimating me."
Yoshio said softly, "Go into the Hell of Loneliness and settle your grudge with Tsunayashiro Sōgen."