Chapter 258: Beyond Grudges and Debts (Seven)
"At the very beginning, I thought Aizen Sōsuke's appearance would finally end this dull world," Tokinada said, brushing dust from his clothes. "Then I realized he had no such interest."
Dark green hair hung over his brow. A slender Zanpakuto, morbid in both shape and presence, rested across his shoulder as he stepped out of the swirling rubble. He offered Yoruichi and Byakuya a smile that almost looked friendly.
Then, in the next instant, the two masters of Shunpo vanished.
Tokinada had already raised his blade into a horizontal slash. His posture completed itself in empty air.
Two fresh gashes split across his body.
He straightened slowly, turned, and looked at the pair who had advanced and retreated as one.
A contemptuous smile tugged at his lips.
In that single flash, the moment the illusion flickered, their coordination was perfect. Byakuya's blade and Yoruichi's Shunko struck together, bisecting Tokinada at the waist. They withdrew immediately, regrouping at distance before any counter could land.
It should have ended there.
Instead, the bloody line writhed.
Flesh squirmed. Bone knitted. In the blink of an eye, his upper and lower halves fused together as if nothing had ever cut him.
Tokinada licked his lips, adjusted his grip on the bizarre hilt, and faced them again, that serpentine smile mocking their power.
"You know what," he said lightly, as if chatting over tea. "This is Kyoka Suigetsu. Aizen Sōsuke had it even back when he was still a Shinigami. Truly terrifying."
He began to stroll toward them.
His figure popped like foam.
A torrent of reishi erupted between Yoruichi and Byakuya. Tokinada appeared in the gap for less than a heartbeat, and was instantly reduced to bloody mist and shredded flesh.
And yet, like a nightmare that refused to end, a pale green kimono stepped out from shadow again. Dark green hair. That unsettling, serious face. The same smiling eyes.
The minced body dissolved into light and shade, scattering into countless reishi particles that drifted through the air like glittering dust. Hazy. Brilliant. Almost beautiful.
High speed combat was not about trading blows. When both sides could kill in an instant, direct clashes became rare. What remained was deception.
Dialogue. Feints. Traps. Probing with the smallest tells.
For Yoruichi and Byakuya, staying in that constant explosive state, shredding an attacker the instant a blade touched them, it was draining beyond reason. If Tokinada truly wanted to stall, they had no clean answer.
But Tokinada did not simply stall.
He kept pressing, speaking as he attacked. Clones and sudden appearances layered with illusions, all mixed into the blinding storm of reishi.
And his voice kept coming from everywhere.
"The power Aizen brought is stranger than I imagined," Tokinada said, as shattered structures around them dissolved into reishi and flowed into broken bodies. "Before, using my Zanpakuto consumed my soul. I did not mind, but it was still irritating. Like living in a game where someone is always barking rules at you, what you must do, what you cannot do."
He laughed softly.
"Then Chakra gave me new ideas. I found a way to replenish myself through it. I've been incomplete since birth. Isn't it normal to fill myself with what I take from others?"
Buildings collapsed. The ground fractured. Reishi formations broke apart and melted into tides of energy that poured into Tokinada's ruined forms again and again.
Now and then, dazzling light exploded at the center, Shunko's splendor and Senbonzakura's blades tearing apart anything that tried to feed.
Still, Tokinada's voice arrived from another angle, calm and amused.
"Become Aizen's subordinate? Serve the Soul King? Neither. I simply detest my noble status."
His severed body reattached mid motion, and his words echoed through the wreckage.
"I have no interest in bowing to Aizen Sōsuke. He is even more detestable than the nobles. If the nobility has even one redeeming trait, then Aizen is worse, more despicable, more hopeless. He holds that power and still pretends to play clever games with Seireitei."
He turned his head as if listening to a private joke.
"In truth, if he kept using Kyoka Suigetsu, no one could ever see through him. I know how terrifying it is because I'm using it now. I can attack freely, playing with you like dolls, and you have no way to deal with me."
His smile widened.
"Complete hypnosis. As long as the opponent's spiritual pressure is lower, their senses are yours. And Aizen's spiritual pressure can even deceive Captain Commander Yamamoto."
Then his tone became almost thoughtful.
"So I always suspected Aizen wanted to die. Or wanted to be killed for a reason, because dying plainly would be boring. Otherwise, how do you explain such contradictions?"
The attacks came from every direction.
Yoruichi and Byakuya could not tell which threats were real. They tried flooding the area with spiritual pressure, raising detectable barriers, but it was meaningless. Blood kept appearing on their bodies, thin spots of pain that proved something had slipped through.
They stopped wasting energy on wide sensing. Instead, they relied on motion and instinct, Shunpo paths chosen without a word.
They moved where the other would never normally move, yet each still felt the familiar pressure nearby, the certainty that their partner had not vanished.
Kyoka Suigetsu.
Complete hypnosis.
Yoruichi's eyes sharpened as she watched Tokinada speak nonsense with that smug smile.
If he committed to stalling, they would achieve nothing unless he chose to lose.
And yet, there was one way.
In the end, it really was an issue among nobles.
Yoruichi thought of an item she carried.
She despised nobles who abused privilege, and she had not been idle in the Human World. Even if she had not predicted this exact situation, she had prepared for circumstances like it.
The Shihōin Clan handled weaponry. Among the Four Great Noble Clans, they possessed special artifacts with strange, unfair properties. Not like Zanpakuto, but still terrifying in the right hands.
The one Yoruichi intended to use was Ranreikō, Chaotic Spirit Incense, an artifact that could jam and repel all foreign spiritual energies in the surrounding area.
Using it felt like being a cat thrown into a washing machine.
But she would endure.
Tokinada turned to foam and reappeared again.
Yoruichi clenched her teeth. A white bone like artifact flashed into her hand.
She prepared to throw it.
Her fingers closed on nothing.
Her hand was empty.
That was complete hypnosis.
Sight, touch, time, thought, all shattered into fragments. Even an action as simple as grabbing and throwing could be broken into hundreds, thousands of false steps.
"Tenji Heisō," Tokinada murmured. "Pity. All of this is recorded in the Tsunayashiro Family archives."
He had appeared at some unknown moment, casually spinning the sacred Shihōin artifact between his fingers. Then he tossed it away like trash.
It hit the ground with a crisp, tinkling sound.
Yoruichi did not dare use Shunpo to retrieve it.
She did not even know if the object in front of her was truly Ranreikō anymore.
Tokinada saw her hesitation and smiled wider. He nudged the sealed bone with the tip of his foot, then lifted his head toward them, expression turning ugly with glee.
"I told you, didn't I? I envy Aizen. I fear him. Kyoka Suigetsu is domination. If he wished, this world would be a doll in his hands."
His eyes gleamed.
"Just like now. The tool to reverse everything is right in front of you, yet you cannot act. You cannot even touch it. Can you imagine what this ability looks like in the hands of a true enemy?"
Complete hypnosis. Sight, perception, reiatsu sense, cognition, none of it could be trusted.
And now, Chakra made it worse.
The moment a Zanpakuto pierced the body, one could sense where the real enemy existed and how time flowed around them. That was the one tiny crack in Kyoka Suigetsu's perfection.
But Tokinada could simply die smiling, then pull another version of himself from a corner.
If even Tokinada, with only a shallow grasp, was this repulsive, then why had Aizen, the true master, revealed himself so quickly and dragged Seireitei into open war?
Even now, fighting this snake, Yoruichi's mind returned to Aizen's words in training grounds and reality, to that knowing expression, that gaze that always seemed to see everything.
What was the truth behind that lofty attitude?
Ancient hatred. Mockery of nobles. Or something deeper.
Tokinada tilted his head, as if misunderstanding her silence.
"Afraid to pick it up? Relax, it's real."
He laughed softly.
"Maintaining Kyoka Suigetsu constantly is difficult for me. Chakra patches flaws in the soul, but it doesn't solve every problem tied to spiritual pressure. You two are strong."
He spread his hands, almost honest.
"I do not want to kill you. Or rather, I could not from the beginning. The assault on the Tsunayashiro Family happened too suddenly. I haven't mastered every treasure. Compared to you two, I have no advantage. So I stall. I wait for you to fall before the duration ends."
His eyes slid to Byakuya.
"Still, I'm surprised. Why not use Bankai?"
Tokinada's smile sharpened.
"Byakuya Kuchiki, you could use Bankai. Your Bankai is the best way to resolve this, isn't it?"
Byakuya's body was already pierced through with countless wounds, blade holes and burning cuts stacked on top of each other. He frowned, eyes steady.
Tokinada was not wrong.
Senbonzakura in Shikai formed tens of thousands of petals. In this open battlefield, tens of thousands meant little. But Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, would scatter blades into the air by the billions. Automatic. Omnidirectional. Hypnosis or not, the diffusion of those spiritual particles would leave no safe corner.
Against Aizen, perhaps, there would be unimaginable counters.
But Tokinada was not Aizen.
And yet, even this degraded Kyoka Suigetsu left them with no clean solution. It interfered with perception and judgment so completely that only the circulation of one's own spiritual pressure felt reliable, and even that could be twisted.
Tokinada rolled his eyes, grinning.
"What's wrong? Does the Shinigami not trust his own Bankai? Billions of blades washing over Seireitei, you'd find me eventually, wouldn't you? Don't you want to see exactly where I am?"
He stepped forward, right into the incoming petals, letting the cherry blossom blades slice him apart. He made no attempt to defend. His severed tongue flicked out, licking across his shattered skull.
Then he returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
His gaze fixed on Byakuya, and his expression turned almost regretful.
"Actually, I do understand. You're worried Yoruichi Shihoin is a traitor. That's why you've stayed vigilant."
Byakuya remained silent.
Tokinada leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"After all, if my Kyoka Suigetsu can do this, what did Aizen do to Seireitei back then? Maybe your trustworthy Flash Goddess became his lackey during the upheaval."
He smiled like poison.
"Do not worry, she can't hear us. Consider it a secret between nobles. Matters among us are noble affairs. What does that rebel count for?"
In Byakuya's vision, Yoruichi vanished.
It was as if she never existed. No trace. No spiritual pressure. No presence, in any direction.
Kyoka Suigetsu's domination was absolute.
Even this conversation could be illusion.
Byakuya knew that well.
As head of a Great Noble Clan, he understood Enrakyōten. The Four Great Noble Clans knew each other's hidden methods. Enrakyōten, the Tsunayashiro treasure, consumed the user's soul to copy other Zanpakuto abilities. Past wielders used layered Shikai powers to solve crises, gathering samples until targeted work became easy.
Normally, no ordinary person could hold such a weapon.
Tokinada was not ordinary. He was a madman, driven by conquest.
And this time, he had twisted Enrakyōten's original intent into something filthy.
This was a civil war among great clans. The external Fifth Great Noble Clan had already projected power through spiritual membranes, but could not inflict decisive damage. The family guarding Hell still held its duty. In truth, it was the Tsunayashiro, the Shihōin, and the Kuchiki grinding against each other.
The same sources of sin that once dismembered the Soul King together were now tearing at one another.
Tokinada's voice slid into Byakuya's ear again.
"Is it wariness of the Shihōin Clan that makes you refuse Bankai?"
He chuckled.
"You charged in and hit me without a word, and now you hesitate. Though we fight, these are noble affairs. That one abandoned noble honor and crawled back, she has no right to speak."
Byakuya did not answer.
Tokinada's smile only grew.
"Oh? Still silent? Do you still trust her? Or do you think I might do something?"
He loved this. Sowing discord was his daily breath. Knowing the truth of the Soul King system had filled him with hatred for the nobility, and because he belonged to it, he spread his malice toward everything.
Byakuya had once been taught Shunpo by Yoruichi. Years had passed, and she was known as a great traitor. Under Kyoka Suigetsu's interference, who could guarantee she was not pretending?
Compared to Tokinada's repulsiveness, Aizen's power was the true chill down the spine.
Tokinada believed he had found the reason Byakuya still held back.
All out Bankai meant all out war, and Byakuya, uncertain of Yoruichi, could not safely fight two at once.
Tokinada shrugged.
"I suppose distrust among nobles is unavoidable. But it's pointless."
He plucked a cherry blossom petal and pressed it to his own throat. The blade pierced through, turning his neck into a bloody ruin, then dissolved into spiritual specks. Blood dripped down his kimono as he smiled with morbid fervor.
"If you do not use Bankai soon, the drain will become too much."
Then his eyes narrowed.
"I would never collaborate with the Quincy, though. You know they can steal Bankai with their medallions. That is why Kenpachi Zaraki is charging the front, and the Second Division supports from the side."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"One doesn't even know his Zanpakuto's name. One relies on Shunpo and technique. The others deal with ordinary Quincy while true Bankai users must hold the rear."
He stared at Byakuya, smiling.
"That must be frustrating."
He leaned closer, almost intimate.
"But it's fine. You can use your Bankai on me right now."
Byakuya's eyes sharpened.
Tokinada's grin widened.
"After all, what matters most to you is being the model noble. You must maintain dignity and authority, or Seireitei collapses. Am I wrong?"
Byakuya's voice came out cold.
"Brother?"
Tokinada blinked, amused.
"…Rukia?"
A soft laugh.
"As a fellow noble, even if she's a fake, I showed her a degree of respect. She kept insisting she wanted to take responsibility."
His smile turned cruel.
"So I crippled her hands, pierced her soul, and kept her at home as decoration. For now."
Byakuya's expression did not change.
Only the air around him did.
"Bankai."
He drove his Zanpakuto into the ground.
It sank as if into water. The surface rippled, and countless gigantic blades rose, each dozens, even hundreds of times larger than a normal sword, stretching outward like endless corridors.
As those massive blades began to crack and countless cherry blossoms shimmered into existence, Tokinada suddenly roared with laughter.
From his robes, he pulled out a tool Byakuya recognized instantly.
A large Star Cross Medallion.
It spun in Tokinada's hand. With Chakra reinforcing the process, black reishi particles poured out, eroding the Bankai's scenery like rot eating wood. Under Byakuya's shocked gaze, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi was stolen in an instant.
"What a fool, Byakuya Kuchiki," Tokinada sneered. "Did you really believe me when I said I wouldn't ally with the Quincy?"
The magnificent Bankai shattered and vanished into the medallion.
Tokinada's eyes gleamed with triumph.
Then a cold voice cut through him.
"…What a fool, Tokinada Tsunayashiro."
Tokinada froze.
Before his mind could process it, a figure appeared beside his real body, close enough that breath could be felt.
Lightning.
White, blazing, violent.
Yoruichi.
Tokinada's thoughts stalled.
Hundreds of meters. In a blink. Even for the Flash Goddess, it should have been impossible.
Unless.
Unless he had been the one deceived.
From the start, what they displayed was not their full speed, not their strongest pressure. They traded false openings for a real strike. They only expected his true body to reveal itself the moment he used the Star Cross Medallion.
They had suspected his connection to the Quincy from the beginning.
They had planned for this.
But how could the coordination be so seamless unless there truly was a link?
"There's no link," Yoruichi said, her body wrapped in lightning like a raging beast. "We just figured a guy like you would betray everyone."
Her platinum eyes burned with hatred.
She seized Tokinada by the neck with one hand and lifted him into the air as if he weighed nothing.
Tokinada's smile twitched, then steadied into mockery.
Now, face to face with the storm raging around her, he finally understood what had happened.
The Tsunayashiro archives were incomplete.
Of course they were.
True secrets were never written down so easily.
He had never truly understood Aizen. He had never truly understood what happened in Hueco Mundo. And he had never imagined that Yoruichi, living in the Human World, would develop techniques beyond anything the Tsunayashiro family recorded.
It was too fast. Too excessive.
Crossing hundreds of meters instantly. Spiritual pressure changing dozens of times per second.
It surpassed his limits.
Or perhaps, the moment he decided to steal Bankai and gather them to destroy Seireitei, he had already written his own death sentence in front of two Shunpo masters.
But giving up was impossible.
Every opportunity to steal a Bankai was precious. He wasn't Quincy. He couldn't force captains to release Bankai at will. He thought Kyoka Suigetsu made everything foolproof.
He hadn't anticipated a monster whose spiritual pressure changed every second.
Unless Aizen himself wielded it, any imitator would reveal flaws.
"Heh," Tokinada rasped, held aloft by the throat. "In the end, it's my own lack of ability. This world always comes down to power, and who is uglier, who is more despicable."
He stared at her, smile twisted.
"Killing me is useless, Yoruichi Shihoin. You and Byakuya Kuchiki are the same. Living in the illusions your families created. You know nothing of this world's truth, nothing of what's happening in Seireitei. Why don't our families call a truce? I'll tell you the truth. Look…"
"Go to hell, Tokinada Tsunayashiro."
Yoruichi's judgment was emotionless.
"Take your disgusting desires with you."
Tokinada's eyes widened slightly.
Yoruichi's lips curved, cold and sharp.
"Right now I'm emotional. To put it simply, I'm like a cat."
Lightning screamed around her.
"And cats love tearing their prey apart. Sorry about that."
A storm exploded outward.
For a moment, Seireitei itself trembled.
Then the spiritual storm slowly subsided.
Yoruichi returned, gradually, to her original form. Naked in the open, standing in the arena with an almost innocent posture. She did not care about her image.
She only stared coldly at what remained at the center of the field.
The ground looked as if it had been rolled over by a ferocious, gigantic cat. Ravaged. Gouged. Shattered. There was barely a patch of intact stone left to stand on.
Tokinada Tsunayashiro was no longer a man.
He was sludge, flesh and blood ground into a pile of mud. Even with Chakra's restorative power, he could not rebuild from this. Not under that Thunder God fist that changed hundreds of times in an instant.
His Zanpakuto clattered to the ground.
Shunko: Raiju Senkei: Shunryu Kuroneko Senki (Flash Cry: Thunder Beast War Form: Instantaneous Black Cat War Princess).
One of Yoruichi's ultimate hidden techniques, using emotion to guide speed. With spiritual pressure shifting forty eight times per second, Tokinada, who relied on careful control of Kyoka Suigetsu, met his natural enemy.
If he had remained cautious, he could have escaped.
But greed ruined him.
To steal Byakuya's Bankai, he had to suppress it with spiritual power. He did not possess the nauseatingly overwhelming reiatsu that Aizen had. In that instant, Kyoka Suigetsu faltered under those forty eight changes per second.
Enrakyōten could mimic Zanpakuto abilities.
It could not make its user equal to the original owners.
Tokinada died to his own arrogance.
It was exactly what such scum deserved.
Yoruichi picked up Enrakyōten without expression. She glanced toward Byakuya, who had turned his gaze slightly away.
Then she looked to another corner.
A figure stood there, one who had never left, brazenly watching the battlefield from the shadows.
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed.
"Was this also part of your plan, Aizen Sōsuke?"