While Rukia felt reborn on Sōkyoku Hill, on the other side, Hitsugaya Tōshirō felt as though darkness had fallen before his eyes.
One, two, three... forty-six corpses in total. Was this Central 46, or hell itself...
This was the absolute core of the Seireitei. Squad 1, where the Head Captain presided, was located on a nearby mountain. Perhaps any Shinigami could slaughter the forty-six sages here, but to do so completely silently was truly terrifying.
"Captain?"
"Let's go over and see what exactly happened here."
*Was it an outsider?* Definitely not. As the Seireitei's highest judicial body, ordinary Shinigami only received orders from Central 46 in their lifetimes. Even captains rarely visited the underground assembly hall to meet the forty-six sages.
Let alone reaching the underground assembly hall, if an outsider even showed signs of moving toward Central 46, they would be intercepted immediately. They probably couldn't even get past the main gate at the top.
Therefore, the one who covered this place in blood had to be a Shinigami. No, from the moment he struck, he had abandoned his identity as a Shinigami and actively chosen to stand against Central 46.
The enemy was hiding among them.
"It seems they were all killed by the same type of blade wound?" Matsumoto wasn't a Squad 4 member, so she wasn't entirely sure.
Hitsugaya nodded. This indicated that the same person had committed all of this. Immediately after, he wiped the blood on the table with his hand, leaving only some reddish-black powder on his fingers.
"The blood has already dried, and it's turning black and cracking. They probably weren't killed today or yesterday." Hitsugaya wasn't an expert either. "We'll probably have to find Captain Unohana to determine a relatively accurate time of death."
Spiritual bodies in Soul Society did not leave corpses behind after death. Their Reishi would first enter a deactivated state and stabilize. As time passed, this stability would gradually fail, causing them to dissipate and eventually vanish completely.
This process varied from person to person. Reiryoku could prolong it to some extent but could not stop it entirely. For example, the corpses of ordinary commoners in the Rukongai would completely dissipate within a few days after death.
But for a Shinigami, it was possible for the body to be preserved for weeks or even months. Without frequent analysis and deduction, it was nearly impossible to determine the time of death just from the state of the corpse.
"But when we came in, all thirteen layers of protection were completely intact, Captain," Matsumoto reminded him.
From the perimeter of Central 46 all the way to the underground assembly hall, there were thirteen layers of protection. When they had just entered, these defenses were still operating normally, showing no signs of being breached by external force.
And three days ago, right after the Ryoka had just entered the Seireitei and a special wartime order was issued due to Abarai's defeat, Central 46 had been in a state of lockdown. No one was allowed to approach.
In other words, the people in Central 46 had been slaughtered entirely at least before then. All the orders issued since that time had come from a group of dead men—including the order to advance Kuchiki Rukia's execution time!
*Who exactly did this? It had to be those two guys, Ichimaru Gin and Kōe Shihouin.* Hitsugaya shook his head. Right now, agonizing over the identity of the murderer seemed pointless.
If those two were willing to slaughter all of Central 46 and commit such a grave crime just to push forward the execution, then the most important thing to do right now was to stop the execution—which was what he had set out to do in the first place.
"Let's hurry to Sōkyoku Hill!"
The order for the execution was issued half a month ago. As long as it could be proven that the people in Central 46 were already dead at that time, this bizarre execution order would naturally be exposed as a fake.
And the only one who could prove that was Squad 4's Captain Unohana!
"Captain?" When Isane woke up again, she found herself lying on Minazuki's back, with Captain Unohana kneeling beside her.
"You're awake, Isane," Unohana said with a smile. "It seems you merely fainted just now. You aren't injured."
"I'm truly sorry, Captain!"
As a lieutenant, she hadn't even been able to take a single attack from that Ryoka. It made her feel rather ashamed.
"It's fine. If we had actually made you face that Ryoka, it would be a disgrace to us captains," Unohana replied with a soft chuckle. Suddenly sensing some movement behind her, she turned her head and continued, "It seems you've been awake for a while, Lieutenant Shiba."
"Lieutenant Shiba?" Isane turned her head, only to realize that Shiba Kaien, who was lying behind them, was slowly lifting his head to look at them.
"Ah!"
"Careful now," Kaien said, grabbing Isane as she nearly fell off. He turned his face away and asked sheepishly, "Am I really that scary?"
It wasn't a matter of being scary or not. Isane clearly remembered that right before she fainted, Lieutenant Abarai and Lieutenant Shiba had arrived simultaneously to take Kuchiki Rukia away. She herself, along with Squad 2's Lieutenant Omaeda and Squad 1's Lieutenant Sasakibe, had been effortlessly dispatched by Ichigo while trying to stop them.
"Now, I'm starting to believe that you actually just woke up, rather than trying to ambush me." Unohana turned her head back around, leaving her back completely defenseless against Kaien.
"I always remember my identity as a Shinigami." Kaien didn't betray that trust. Sitting on his knees behind Unohana, he asked earnestly, "Could I ask Captain Unohana not to pursue Rukia and Renji? Please!"
So, was it Captain Unohana who stepped in and stopped Lieutenant Shiba? Isane looked down. The direction they were heading was indeed not toward Squad 4. Strictly speaking, Squad 4 was behind them.
The captain must have sent the wounded back to Squad 4 first, and then gone after Lieutenant Abarai. In the more than a century since she had become a lieutenant, Isane had only seen Captain Unohana take action once—and that was to stop a fight between Kōe and Zaraki Kenpachi.
But was the situation really so urgent now?
"We aren't going after Abarai and Kuchiki Rukia." Unexpectedly, Unohana gave a completely different answer. Even Kaien, upon hearing this, wore an expression of sheer surprise.
"Feel the Reiatsu around us."
First, over at Sōkyoku Hill, two powerful Reiatsu signatures were completely evenly matched. One belonged to Captain Kuchiki, and the other likely belonged to the Ryoka who had just defeated her.
And on the other side... what kind of Reiatsu was that? Scorching, ancient... You didn't even need to feel it; just looking at the sky above, which seemed on the verge of melting, was enough to strike fear into anyone's heart.
"Th-That's..."
"Head Captain Yamamoto," Kaien answered with certainty, though his expression was as grave as could be.
"So you should understand, Lieutenant Shiba." Unohana nodded, continuing in a soft voice, "This is a signal. You may have rescued Kuchiki Rukia from the Sōkyoku execution stand, but that doesn't mean you can save her life."
"In conclusion, if you cannot provide a definitive reason why she must live, then nothing will change."
"You will absolutely not be able to step out of the Seireitei. Absolutely."