There was no room for a counterattack.
Kuchiki Hibiki's body flew through the air like a kite with a broken string before crashing heavily onto the ground. Although he still had one final card to play – Bankai – in this situation, he no longer believed it could allow him to defeat Gosuke Shigure.
After all, his Bankai didn't significantly increase his direct combat power. Apart from the Reiatsu amplification innate to Bankai, it merely made Muramasa's abilities even stranger and more unfathomable.
So here was the question: if Muramasa couldn't control Gosuke Shigure's Zanpakutō in Shikai, could it control it in Bankai? The answer was obvious: no.
Gosuke Shigure had kept his Zanpakutō in a sealed state, leaving no openings to exploit.
Boom!
His body hit the ground, pain surging through him. Yet what hurt more was his heart.
"I still lost after all."
"Is my life going to end here…?"
"Why does this unjust Seireitei continue to exist…!"
Kuchiki Hibiki was filled with anger, yet beneath it lay a deep, suffocating despair. He simply lay there, unmoving.
Gosuke Shigure approached with steady steps, blade in hand.
Not long after, another figure arrived at high speed. It was Yoruichi Shihouin.
As the Commander of the Onmitsukidō, Yoruichi's Shunpo was unmatched. Upon sensing Kuchiki Hibiki's Reiatsu spike, she had rushed over, thinking she would be the first to confront him. Yet, to her surprise, "someone was faster."
That person was none other than her teacher, Gosuke Shigure.
"Teacher, you're truly beyond expectations," Yoruichi sighed, looking at him with a complex expression.
"It was just coincidence," Gosuke Shigure replied with a faint smile. "I happened to encounter Kuchiki Hibiki. To prevent further chaos, I had no choice but to defeat him."
As he spoke, he sheathed his sword and added calmly, "Since you're here, I'll leave Kuchiki Hibiki to you."
With that, he turned and left without hesitation.
Yoruichi watched her teacher's back as he departed, then shifted her gaze to the severely injured Kuchiki Hibiki lying on the ground. She shook her head lightly.
Soon, the alarm issued by the First Division was lifted. The dangerous fugitive Kuchiki Hibiki had been recaptured.
This time, he wasn't imprisoned in the Repentance Palace. Instead, he was guarded under the jurisdiction of the Second Division.
As the covert operations corps of the Gotei 13, the Second Division handled high-confidentiality matters and often detained prisoners with extreme risk levels. Within their domain existed a special facility known as the Maggot's Nest.
To prevent Kuchiki Hibiki from escaping again, he would be held there indefinitely until his next trial.
After his failed attempt at revenge and escape, Kuchiki Hibiki fell silent. He no longer harboured any motivation to resist. The entire Seireitei felt hopeless to him now.
Even if he died, he felt no particular regret or sadness.
Ultimately, it was because he was too weak.
If only he were strong enough to rewrite everything…
If he possessed absolute power, would injustice still be forced upon him? Clearly not.
Because by then, he would have killed all those who imposed it upon him.
⸻
"Kuchiki Hibiki, Central 46 has summoned you."
One day, Yoruichi appeared before him, relaying the order calmly.
"So, my judgment has arrived," Kuchiki Hibiki sneered. "Let me guess… I killed Shinigami comrades and escaped from the Repentance Palace. The sentence will be Sōkyoku, execution by the giant halberd."
He had already accepted his fate. With what he had done, death was the only logical outcome.
Yoruichi raised an eyebrow slightly, her lips curling into a faint, unreadable smile. "You'll see soon enough."
⸻
Soon, Kuchiki Hibiki was escorted before Central 46.
The 40 wise men and 6 judges regarded him with cold indifference. Their arrogance seeped from every word, their tone laced with disdain.
Yet, when they announced the judgment, Kuchiki Hibiki was left utterly stunned.
They had not sentenced him to Sōkyoku.
Instead, they merely stripped him of his captaincy of the First Division's Special Forces Unit, deprived him of his Shinigami status, confiscated his Zanpakutō, and ordered him confined within the Kuchiki household. From this day forward, he was forbidden to leave its grounds.
"…How…?"
The result bewildered Kuchiki Hibiki.
He knew he was innocent of murdering his comrades all those years ago. But he had been framed, and Central 46 had refused to hear his defence. His prison break and acts of violence only solidified his guilt in their eyes.
Yet he survived. He wasn't executed, nor imprisoned again, merely confined at the Kuchiki estate.
What kind of punishment was this?
As for losing his Shinigami status and Zanpakutō, he felt little attachment to them now.
A normal Shinigami's Zanpakutō could be confiscated, but Muramasa was different. As long as he called out, Muramasa would return to his side. That was how he had retrieved Muramasa in the Repentance Palace in the first place.
Leaving Central 46, he encountered a figure who invoked a complicated mix of emotions within him.
"Let's go. Your mother is waiting at home," Kuchiki Ginrei spoke softly.
Kuchiki Hibiki was silent for a long moment before finally whispering, "…Father."
He didn't know why his sentence had been reduced. But it was obvious – without his father's intervention and the Kuchiki family's influence, he would not have escaped execution.
⸻
"Tch… how hateful!"
At the same time, in another noble manor, the Tsunayashiro clan's current head slammed his palm against the table in rage.
"The Shihouin family… you deserve to perish…!"
Their original plan had been to frame Kuchiki Hibiki so thoroughly that his downfall would shame the Kuchiki family. In doing so, the Tsunayashiro would erode their prestige while eliminating a potential threat.
If successful, Ginrei's plan to continue the Kuchiki bloodline by marrying his daughter to Hibiki would collapse entirely.
But now… their scheme had failed.
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