Compared to Shiba Ganju and Yamada Hanatarō, Chad had it a little worse.
At least those two had turned themselves in on their own terms.
Chad had been cut down by Kyōraku Shunsui and dumped straight into the Fourth Division.
"Ganju, why are you here?" Chad looked at him in surprise, all the more so because a Shinigami had walked in with him.
"Uh, well, I actually came to turn myself in," Ganju said, scratching his head, a little embarrassed.
"Did you run into Ichigo, Inoue, or Ishida?" Chad asked quickly.
"Ichigo was with us for a while, but we got separated. Inoue and Ishida, I haven't seen them," Ganju said, shaking his head.
While the two were talking, Shinigami from the Twelfth Division brought Orihime and Ishida into the Fourth Division.
Orihime was unhurt, but Uryū had been beaten badly.
The two had run into Kurotsuchi Mayuri right after he left the captains' meeting, and their timing could not have been worse.
From Mayuri's own lips, Uryū learned that his grandfather, Ishida Sōken, had died in Hueco Mundo because Mayuri had meddled behind the scenes.
Enraged, Uryū threw himself at Mayuri.
He even used Sklaverei and the emergency technique his father had taught him, Piano Arrow Storm.
In the end, though, Mayuri beat him bloody, and he collapsed.
This time, Mayuri didn't need his Bankai to poison Uryū.
Thanks to the blood he had secretly taken from Kazuma a century ago and studied, his reiatsu had grown terrifyingly strong.
He rarely fought in the open, but he had quietly climbed into the top combat tier.
"Uryū, is he going to be okay?" Chad looked at the unconscious Ishida Uryū and feared the worst.
"He's not too badly hurt. We ran into Captain Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Division on our way to the Senzaikyū, and he beat Ishida-kun up," Orihime explained quickly, worried they'd get the wrong idea.
...
On his way to Central 46, Kuchiki Byakuya ran into Hitsugaya Tōshirō and Matsumoto Rangiku.
"Captain Kuchiki, where are you headed?" Tōshirō stayed on guard.
After everything that had happened these past few days, he found it hard to trust even his fellow captains.
"I'm going to Central 46 to make one last appeal for Rukia. And you, Captain Hitsugaya? What are you planning?" Byakuya couldn't read Tōshirō's intentions any better.
"Rukia's execution was moved up. I think something's wrong, so I'm going to Central 46 to look into it."
"Then, shall we go together?"
Each with their own thoughts, Byakuya, Tōshirō, and Rangiku entered Central 46.
"How is this possible?"
The instant the three stepped inside, they found every sage collapsed in a pool of blood.
Not one of them had survived.
"The blood's dried and gone black. They've been dead for a while now."
Tōshirō touched one of the old stains.
"Then the orders Central 46 gave all this time were forged by someone? The Captain-Commander came here more than once as well. Could it be...?"
Almost against his will, Tōshirō found himself suspecting that Captain-Commander Yamamoto was behind all of it.
"No. That's impossible."
Tōshirō shook his head.
If it truly had been the Captain-Commander, why go through all these convoluted steps? Whoever was responsible must have found a way to fool the Captain-Commander's senses.
"Has Ichimaru Gin really grown strong enough to deceive even the Captain-Commander?"
Tōshirō was still convinced that all of this was Gin's work.
"What a surprise, Captain Hitsugaya. You got here so fast. Or should I say, just what I'd expect from you?"
A familiar voice rang through the empty judgment hall.
"Ichimaru Gin! I knew it was you! You actually dared to slaughter all of Central 46! Every order they gave this whole time was yours, wasn't it?"
Tōshirō felt like he'd finally found his answer.
Kuchiki Byakuya and Matsumoto Rangiku were just as horrified to see Gin.
What was going on here? Had this man been pulling the strings all along?
"My, my. Captain Hitsugaya, you give me far too much credit. Do you really think I'm capable of that? More to the point, shouldn't the one on your mind be Hinamori Momo?"
Gin stepped deliberately aside, letting Tōshirō see Hinamori Momo lying in a pool of blood.
As it happened, after Hinamori Momo had been escorted back, she had found a hidden message in the farewell note Aizen left her.
'If I die, go to Central 46. The one who killed me will have left evidence there.'
She rushed to Central 46 early, and there she saw Aizen, who was supposed to be dead.
Just as her heart leapt with joy, the very captain she adored ran her through.
Poor Momo had trusted her captain with her whole heart, only to be struck down without a shred of mercy.
Blind devotion like hers was a tragic thing.
And that wasn't all.
Following the sight of the fallen Momo, Byakuya and the others spotted someone who had no business being there.
It was Aizen Sōsuke, captain of the Fifth Division, the same man supposed to have died impaled on the East Great Sacred Wall!
"Aizen! Weren't you dead?"
It hit the three of them like a bomb going off inside their skulls.
None of this made any sense.
What was even happening now?
A man who should have been dead had appeared out of nowhere, standing side by side with Ichimaru Gin.
Did that mean Aizen was the real mastermind behind it all?
From the moment Tōshirō saw Hinamori Momo lying in her own blood, the rage inside him had burned past all control.
Reason had already left him.
He had no time now to wonder who the true mastermind was. Only one thought filled his mind: kill anyone who had dared to hurt Momo!
"Bankai! Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"
Tōshirō called out the Bankai that had been cut short earlier. He was set on striking down both Aizen and Ichimaru Gin.
Nearby, Kuchiki Byakuya and Matsumoto Rangiku set their hands on their Zanpakutō, faces grave, staying ready for anything.
Seeing Tōshirō charge in so fiercely, Gin moved to act, but Aizen raised a hand to stop him.
"Gin, let me. I'm rather curious myself to see just how strong this young prodigy really is."
"Understood, Captain Aizen."
When it came to Aizen's orders, Gin obeyed without question.
"Hyōten Hyakkasō!"
Tōshirō led with the strongest technique he had.
The moment an enemy touched the ice flowers, ice would bloom across their whole body and freeze them solid.
Once a hundred flowers had opened, that enemy's life was over.
Even with Aizen frozen, Tōshirō wasn't satisfied.
He swung Hyōrinmaru, ready to run him straight through and be certain he was dead.
Just as Hyōrinmaru was about to pierce him, the ice around Aizen shattered, and he calmly slipped aside from the strike.
"Mildly interesting. But if this is all you've got, it's nowhere near enough, Captain Hitsugaya."
A faint smile crossed Aizen's lips as he spoke, low and even.
The instant his voice faded, a fearsome reiatsu came pouring out of him.
"Sennen Hyōrō!"
Tōshirō roared and unleashed another powerful technique, sealing Aizen inside a massive pillar of ice.
This time, he finally drove the blade clean through him.
"That's one. You're next, Ichimaru!"
A surge of triumph ran through Tōshirō.
Then, without warning, a sharp pain tore through his right shoulder.
He looked down to see an ugly gash running from his right shoulder to his waist, blood pouring from it.
Worse still, one of the ice dragon wings on his back had been cut clean off.
"H-how is that possible?"
Tōshirō's eyes went wide, disbelief written all over his face.
He couldn't accept what he was seeing.
The one who had struck him was Aizen, the same Aizen supposedly sealed inside the pillar of ice.
Were there two of him?
He didn't understand. He didn't understand at all!
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator