Chapter 206: The Shaking of Kyōraku Shunsui
"Could you explain why we led you here?"
"Hm? Isn't it obvious?" Kyōraku stroked his chin, eyes half lidded as he studied the smiling Aizen in front of him. "Is this a test, or something else?"
He spoke lazily, but his vigilance had already risen to its peak.
Even if Aizen said nothing, the corpses at his feet were enough to prove how dangerous this operation had been. Central Forty Six controlled Seireitei, and Seireitei existed to safeguard the Soul King. That was the political structure established long ago. In a sense, the members of Central Forty Six were the true rulers of Soul Society.
And now, every single one of them was dead.
Not one survivor.
It was not only the scale of the slaughter that chilled Kyōraku, it was Aizen's attitude. The man stood there as if he had done nothing wrong, as if the bodies were merely inconvenient furniture. Even knowing he had been deliberately guided into seeing this, Kyōraku still felt cold creep up his spine.
If this scene spread, most lower ranked Shinigami would not blame Aizen first.
They would blame Kyōraku for arriving too late, for failing to stop it, for letting the heart of Seireitei be cut out.
And that was the most terrifying part.
Kyōraku slipped his hands into his sleeves as if relaxed, but in truth, his fingers had already found the grips of his twin blades. He glanced at the silent Kaname, then returned his gaze to Aizen's tranquil smile. A veteran's easy grin settled onto his face, practiced and natural.
"Before you died, you said you had found the dark center of Soul Society, and that you were acting on it. So I thought, after everything that happened, you are not the kind of man who dies for no reason."
"Oh?" Aizen's smile did not change. "You think that highly of me?"
"Of course. You kept petitioning Central Forty Six without fear of retaliation. Either you were powerful enough that they could not touch you, or they could not retaliate at all. Compared to the latter, I believe the former is more likely."
Kyōraku did not say the final thought aloud.
Even if it was a sneak attack, a man like Aizen would not simply die in silence.
He exhaled softly, as if relieved that Aizen was still playing along, still smiling, still acting as though they were only having a casual conversation. Kyōraku began to lay out his reasoning in careful steps, as if unraveling a knot.
"Even if I looked like I was only watching you from the outside, I had Yoruichi investigate for a long time. She questioned your vice captain, and others who knew you well, then finally had people examine your body."
His eyes lowered slightly.
"I admit it was disrespectful. But I needed certainty."
"The body was real," Kyōraku continued. "Yet its spiritual power had changed slightly. The spiritual aura coming from the corpse you left behind was close, but it was not truly you."
"Records mention such changes," he added, "but they are extremely rare."
"With that last shred of hope, Hinamori refused to accept the truth. She investigated day and night."
Aizen's smile remained gentle. "Is that so? Hinamori has always trusted me."
"Yes," Kyōraku said quietly. "And you betrayed that trust."
He lifted his gaze again, voice steady as he pushed his conclusion forward.
"Then I remembered what you said, and I remembered Captain Tosen's disappearance. When I combined that with Captain Ichimaru vanishing at the same time, the connection became… frightening."
"The darkness you spoke of likely referred to the Five Great Noble Families."
Kyōraku gestured faintly, as if painting the scene in the air.
"So you faked your death outside, then came here to strike Central Forty Six, the place you considered the darkest. I do not know what happened between you, Kaname, and Gin, but I believe this is the truth."
He let out a soft breath, the tone almost like reluctant admiration.
"Gin was always at odds with you, so you found an opportunity to remove him. Captain Komamura would uphold justice, but he would not break the rules. With the Kuchiki family in chaos over their adopted daughter, you seized the opening."
Kyōraku's grin widened, deliberately loud, deliberately flattering.
"That is a brilliant move, Captain Aizen. You took control of everything while the nobles were distracted. Impressive."
He believed it. Truly.
To wipe out corrupt nobles in the shadows, to reorganize Seireitei from the roots, it was extreme.
But if it succeeded, it could also be a kind of salvation.
Kyōraku was even struck, briefly, by an uncomfortable sympathy. If he had arrived a little later, perhaps Aizen and Kaname would have quietly erased a large portion of rot from Soul Society.
Perhaps that would have been… good.
Then Aizen simply smiled and shook his head.
Even Kaname let out a quiet sigh.
"I see," Aizen said. "So your conclusion was born from a fortunate misunderstanding."
Kyōraku's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? Did you not kill them?"
"No." Aizen's tone remained mild. "What I mean is that your search and inference were flawed from the very beginning."
Aizen's gaze settled on him, calm and certain.
"Because from the very beginning, Central Forty Six has been mine."
Kyōraku froze.
"…Ha?"
"You heard me correctly," Aizen continued, smile unbroken. "The nobles of Central Forty Six have been under my complete hypnosis from the beginning."
Before Kyōraku could even process the words, a familiar spiritual pressure stirred inside his body, like a hand reaching into his senses.
The Aizen sitting on the steps vanished.
In the blink of an eye, Aizen was beside him.
So close it felt intimate.
Like old friends meeting after a long separation, Aizen patted Kyōraku on the shoulder, then drove Kyoka Suigetsu into Kyōraku's abdomen.
Pain detonated through his body.
Kyōraku's eyes widened.
When… when did he move?
When did Aizen arrive at his side?
If the blade had not pierced him, Kyōraku would not have felt anything at all.
Nothing.
His senses had betrayed him so completely that the only truth left was the heat of his own blood spilling through the hole Aizen had opened.
Kyōraku stared down at the sword lodged in his abdomen, then up at Aizen's smiling face, the illusion of death washing over him.
It was an illusion.
Because Aizen did not press the advantage.
He released his grip as if delivering a lesson, stepped back, and gestured calmly.
"Do not hesitate. Grip the blade."
"…What?"
"Just hold it."
Kyōraku, bewildered, wrapped his hand around the blade inside his own abdomen.
In that instant, something snapped.
Or perhaps, something finally aligned.
The world around him felt… more real.
Aizen stepped forward again without hesitation, grasped the hilt, and drew Kyoka Suigetsu out in one smooth motion.
There was no tearing.
No lingering wound.
It was as if the injury had never existed.
"All right," Aizen said, returning to his easy distance. "Now you are no longer affected by my illusion."
Kyōraku could only stare, stunned, as blood dripped from his mouth, as his body reacted to pain that no longer made sense.
What was happening?
He understood one thing, at least.
Aizen's true ability was complete hypnosis.
But what he had just done made Kyōraku's mind go blank. Aizen had stabbed him, made him grip the blade, and with that grip, the effect of Kyoka Suigetsu had been severed. Then Aizen calmly withdrew and returned to the steps, as if this had been a demonstration performed for an audience.
Aizen's expression grew even more relaxed, even more peaceful, as he watched Kyōraku try to steady his breathing.
"You look incredulous."
"Yes," Kyōraku admitted hoarsely.
"The ability of my Zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu," Aizen said, "is not refraction. It is complete hypnosis. As long as my spiritual pressure far exceeds my opponent's, and I continue to use my Zanpakuto, I can hypnotize anyone who has seen my Shikai."
Kyōraku's eyes sharpened. "Then why…"
"I told you already," Aizen replied, voice gentle. "I want Soul Society to become a better place. That has been true from the beginning."
He looked almost sincere as he spoke, and that sincerity was somehow more unsettling than cruelty.
If they fought head on, Kyōraku would be a terrifying enemy. A noble, a pillar of Soul Society, Yamamoto's disciple, one of the oldest captains alive. A man with skill, experience, and the willingness to use dirty tricks when necessary.
Under Kyōraku's leadership, Seireitei would go further.
That was precisely why Aizen had chosen a different approach.
He could not simply confront him.
He had to pull him sideways.
"It is a token of my sincerity, Captain Kyōraku," Aizen said. "If I truly wanted to kill you, I could have done it right here, and no one would ever know what happened."
"But you came to speak to me. I consider that a good thing."
"So I am responding in kind."
Kyōraku exhaled, eyes heavy. "I do not want to hear about being fooled for hundreds of years."
Complete hypnosis. Spiritual pressure far beyond one's own.
Aizen had hidden himself too well.
Kyōraku pressed his hand against his abdomen. Under the thin layer of his captain's haori and spiritual protection, the wound had already begun to close, as if his body refused to acknowledge the violation.
He sighed inwardly, regret thickening in his chest. He had made arrangements before coming here. He had believed he was walking into a conversation.
Now he understood he had walked into a cage, and the door had shut behind him.
He raised his eyes to Aizen.
"No matter what you say, Central Forty Six is dead. That is a fact."
His voice softened, almost weary.
"Personally, I do not want to fight. If it were possible, I would rather sit down and drink. But what you have done is too severe. I cannot pretend it did not happen, and you know that."
Aizen's gaze remained steady.
"Sometimes," Kyōraku continued, "there is no choice, Aizen. If you were not a noble, there are many things you would not understand."
"I have read everything," Aizen replied. "Including the ugliness of the Tsunayashiro family's past."
His smile did not fade.
"I am the head of the Kyōraku clan. I have Kyoka Suigetsu. I am not ignorant."
"I used this ability to find information, records, history. I know exactly where all of this came from."
Kyōraku's eyes narrowed further. "Then why…"
"Because I have the ability to change it," Aizen said, voice calm and absolute. "And the possibility to change it."
Kaname, silent until now, turned his head slightly. His ears twitched, as if he had sensed something in the air beyond the sealed chamber.
Aizen's smile deepened.
"Tell me, Captain Kyōraku."
"Have you ever heard of chakra?"
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