"All Things in the Universe, Turn to Ashes. Ryujin Jakka!"
The terrifying heat and light, blazing white like the scorching sun in the highest heavens, erupted without warning from the mirror-like Zanpakuto in Tokiomi's hand.
The blade was instantly wreathed and extended by pure white, fierce flames, transforming into a flame blade identical to the one in Yamamoto's hand, exuding an aura that could incinerate all things.
Although the quality and spirit of those flames might not match the purity and domineering power of the original Ryujin Jakka, tempered over a millennium...
Their form, their momentum, and the ultimate high temperature and destructive will they contained had already reached an astonishing level.
"What..." Koga's pupils contracted to pinpricks!
He was too close… he could clearly feel that this was no illusion. It was real solar fire, enough to vaporize him in an instant.
Despair, like icy cold water, completely overwhelmed him.
Facing an attack on the level of the Captain-Commander, even if just a simulated version, how could he, in his current exhausted state, possibly block it?
"Incineration."
Tokiomi uttered a single word, lightly waving the simulated Ryujin Jakka in his hand forward.
A pillar of pure white fire tore through the air, carrying the absolute will to incinerate all things, and crashed down with a roar.
At this critical moment, a tall, straight figure draped in magnificent sacred cloth stood before Koga.
Setsuna merely raised one arm and casually stopped that pillar of fire, enough to kill a Captain-level Shinigami.
"Compared to the Captain-Commander's flames, this simulated Ryujin Jakka of yours is rather mediocre. Not even good enough to warm myself by."
"Chi... Chiaki Setsuna!" The composure and sense of control on Tokiomi's face shattered instantly. "How can you be here?"
"Surprised?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery in his tone.
"Actually, I've been watching here for quite a while. From your tedious conversation, to those small fries with toy knives swarming him, to you pulling out this somewhat interesting Zanpakuto... I've seen it all."
Setsuna turned his head slightly, looking at Koga:
"I originally thought that Koga-senpai might, in a desperate situation, unleash even more astonishing potential, staging a good show of a desperate counter-kill. That's why I patiently watched a little longer. Pity..."
He shrugged. "Koga-senpai, you won't blame me for watching from the sidelines and not coming out earlier, will you?"
Koga could only smile bitterly. "Of course not. It's my own uselessness that disappointed you."
Tokiomi forcibly suppressed the unease in his heart, forcing a stiff smile back onto his face, trying to regain the initiative in the conversation:
"Captain Chiaki, here late at night, could it be that you intend to stop me from carrying out my official duties and capturing this serious criminal who murdered his colleagues and fled?"
"Stop you? No." Setsuna shook his head, his tone still calm.
"I am also here to capture him. I also received the order for the entire Gotei 13 to mobilize and apprehend Kuchiki Koga."
Tokiomi felt slightly relieved, thinking that at least on the surface, Setsuna would still obey orders.
"However..." Setsuna, as if suddenly remembering something, took out from some part of his sacred cloth a small device flickering with faint Reishi Light, resembling a combination of a memory stone and a communication device.
Setsuna waved the device at Tokiomi, revealing a smile that could be called "pure and innocent": "What you two were just saying, unfortunately, I recorded from beginning to end."
"What!" Koga's originally dim eyes suddenly blazed with astonishing brilliance.
He stared intently at the device in Setsuna's hand, his body trembling slightly with excitement.
As for Tokiomi, the fake smile on his face completely disappeared, replaced by a livid and sinister expression.
He couldn't help regretting in his heart, 'Why had I been so talkative, so showy?'
Once this evidence was made public, not only would he personally be finished, but the entire Tsunayashiro Clan would be plunged into unprecedented passivity and a storm of public opinion.
After all, he had mentioned assassinating the heir of the Kuchiki Clan. Compared to that, the impact of framing Koga was insignificant.
"Chiaki Setsuna!" Tokiomi's voice turned icy cold. "Do you truly intend to make an enemy of our Tsunayashiro Clan?"
"You need to think carefully. The price behind this is far heavier than you imagine. So heavy that not only you, but even the Gotei 13 behind you, cannot bear it!"
Setsuna merely smiled faintly. "Are you... threatening me?"
Tokiomi straightened his back. The arrogance belonging to the head of the Five Great Nobles and the authority of one long in a superior position returned to him. He raised his head and said, word by word:
"Correct! I am threatening..."
"Sekishiki - Dodonpa!"
A ray of gray light, condensed to the utmost, shot from Setsuna's fingertip.
It ignored distance, and the instant Tokiomi's words were unfinished, it had already pierced through his forehead.
"Ugh..." Tokiomi's expression froze at the moment arrogance and threat intertwined.
His eyes widened, as if he hadn't understood what had happened, before his soul origin was annihilated.
The wilderness fell into deathly silence.
Koga's mouth hung open, his heart filled with immense shock.
He hadn't even seen how Setsuna attacked… he only felt a terrifying aura, enough to freeze his soul, flash by, and Tokiomi was dead.
Although he hadn't formally fought Tokiomi, he could sense that the other had definitely reached 3rd-class Reiryoku.
'This is the strength to directly clash with the Captain-Commander? A Captain-level Shinigami is so pathetically vulnerable before him!'
Shocked by Setsuna's strength, Koga was even more stunned by his courage and decisiveness.
Although Tokiomi had committed a great crime, he was still the Third Seat of the Tsunayashiro Clan.
Killing him directly without trial, he could already imagine what kind of terrible earthquake this would trigger.
"Understand, Koga-senpai?" Setsuna's voice pulled him back to reality.
"Your biggest mistake is not your lack of loyalty, not your lack of effort, and not even that you were framed... It's that you are too weak."
"Too weak?" Koga murmured, repeating, an indescribable bitterness rising in his heart.
He was, after all, the Third Seat of the 6th Division, a Bankai possessor, not even at the bottom among Captain-level fighters, and yet he was evaluated as 'too weak'?
But the one saying this was Setsuna, the monster who could battle the Captain-Commander in the Dangai and now instantly killed a peer-level powerhouse with a finger. He really had no way to refute.
"Correct, too weak." Setsuna nodded, his tone calm yet every word piercing the heart.
"Do you still remember what I said to you back at the Shin'o Academy? When others falsely accuse you of rebellion, you'd better actually possess the strength to rebel."
Koga was shocked again, 'Had he already perceived his situation and foreseen today's scene when they were still at the Shin'o Academy?'
Setsuna said calmly, "Zaraki killed so many Shinigami and was still recruited. Azashiro killed so many nobles and was also forgiven. I caused the deaths of so many wise sages, and no one dares to judge me."
"Why? Of course, because we are strong enough. And you, with ordinary strength yet possessing an ability like Muramasa that easily invites suspicion..."
"Even if you did nothing and followed the rules, some people, fearing your potential, would find ways to eliminate you."
Koga fell silent. At this moment, he had a deep understanding of that seemingly rebellious statement Chiaki had made back then.
In this world where power is paramount and rules are written by the strong, without power, there is no future.
"I understand." Koga's voice was hoarse. He raised his head. "Then, Captain Chiaki, are you going to arrest me now?"
Setsuna nodded slightly. "Correct. But I will give you a chance to confront the Central 46 directly."
Koga's gaze gathered, his tone solemn: "Thank you, Captain Chiaki! This kindness, I will remember in my heart!"