An Act of Protecting the Court

An Act of Protecting the Court

Arima Shizuya's reaction was by no means slow.

He had even curled up before the other party launched his attack.

But even so, he was still sent flying with no ability to resist.

Bang!!! His entire body flew off the ground as if he had been struck by a speeding carriage. Arima Shizuya felt as though his brain had been violently shaken several times, while pain tore through his body.

He had no idea how many times he had rolled...

By the time he came back to his senses, not only were there fragments of wooden tables, chairs, and benches all around him, but Arima Shizuya's face had twisted up from the pain.

He could not get up at all.

Every part of his body hurt as if it had been crushed beneath something.

Even his consciousness was beginning to grow hazy and unclear.

Something's wrong... That slap hit my head...

It was no exaggeration to call that an ambush.

From that brief clash, Arima Shizuya could already determine that the other man possessed spiritual pressure far above the Vice-Captain level.

There had been no way to catch it, no chance to analyze it. He had attacked without warning under those circumstances.

The fact that Arima Shizuya had survived was already a stroke of great fortune.

Yet he could not even blame his opponent. At its root, it was because one of the parties had trusted the other too easily...

Someone like him, who had also come from Rukongai but had become a Kenpachi through slaughter—how could he possibly be so easy to talk to?

The best choice would have been to do as everyone else did: quickly get up and leave the moment he sensed something was wrong.

That would have protected him to the greatest extent possible.

I really lack life experience...

In any case, those reflections had to wait. In this situation, he had to get back on his feet as quickly as possible.

That was what his mind thought, but his body did not cooperate.

Arima Shizuya staggered as he tried to rise, only to collapse back onto the ground.

He heard Guiganjo's laughter from nearby.

"Oh~ You're pretty capable. I put that slap into killing you, yet you actually managed to block it."

"The first strike gets the advantage. Things go much smoother when you strike first—that's what I learned in Rukongai."

"Don't hold it against me, young man."

As expected of someone who had risen from the gutter. Compared to an ordinary decent citizen like Arima Shizuya, their combat instincts were not even on the same level.

Arima Shizuya struggled to raise his eyes.

Gulp...

A faint sound accompanied it.

A bright red, rust-scented fluid slid down from his forehead and seeped straight into his right eye.

Arima Shizuya's vision turned vivid and murky.

His head had been split open as well.

How bad was the wound? Was he bleeding heavily?

He had no way to grasp or analyze such information, let alone while his body remained numb...

It could hardly get any worse than this.

All Arima Shizuya could do was watch Guiganjo's broad body slowly approach.

The man's voice no longer carried its earlier laziness. It was now brimming with mockery and contempt.

"I meet guys like you all the time. You don't understand the rules, and you love playing hero. You think joining the Gotei 13 means you can show off your skills and finally make something of yourself."

"Seriously~ Just thinking about that sort of thing makes me sick."

"What I despise most are bastards like you."

His footsteps slowly drew closer.

There was also the sharp clang of metal striking metal.

He had drawn his blade...

Guiganjo bared his large teeth in a brazen grin. To Arima Shizuya now, it looked even more like the smug expression of a petty villain.

"What protecting the court, Captains, duties? In the end, they're all just names."

"What really matters is methods and fists. The ones who kill without blinking are the ones who thrive. Oh, right... food, sleep, women, and slaughter."

"As long as you have those things, that's enough to live, isn't it?"

Honor did not matter. Meaning did not exist.

All that mattered was indulging his instincts to the fullest.

Fuck beautiful, pleasing women. Kill the irritating fools who got in his way.

Because he was a Captain, no one would ever hold him accountable—as long as he was careful not to provoke the nobles.

He might restrain himself somewhat outside, but within the division, his word was absolute.

Even if he violated the women in his division, no one would dare object. If he picked fights with people on the street, there would be no complaints either.

Because he was carrying out an act of protecting the court.

Those who did not cooperate with him and those who catered to him—he could kill them all as he pleased.

Even if every woman in the Eleventh Division left the squad because of it, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni would not have any real objection.

At most, he would only say a few words like, "Mind your limits and your image."

Yes, that was it.

Because he was a Captain, and maintaining Seireitei's stability and peace was the meaning of the Gotei 13.

The feelings of ordinary people could be ignored, and the lives of mediocre fools could be squandered at will.

For the sake of his momentary whims, it was only natural for worthless trash like them to offer up their bodies or their lives.

What a carefree, uninhibited life.

Just like this, he could ravage a fairly attractive woman whenever the mood took him.

And at his own whim, he could send these brats who did not understand rank and order to their deaths.

It was fine. No one would hold him responsible.

It had been this way before, and it would remain this way from now on.

Simply thinking of living like this for hundreds of years was enough to make him feel euphoric.

No, he would want to live this way even in his next life.

Guiganjo Kenpachi sincerely believed in this philosophy of "protecting the court," and he was wholeheartedly satisfied with his current circumstances.

Through his hazy vision, Arima Shizuya saw the other man raise the long blade in his hand.

"I wanted to fuck that woman. Since you saw it, you shouldn't have stopped me. You should have pinned her to the ground, stripped her naked, and rushed to deliver her before me."

"That is my right as a Captain, and your duty as a Squad Member. Do you understand?"

"Well, looking at you, it doesn't seem like you'll listen anyway. Let's forget it this time. I've already forgiven you."

After all...

"Just that face of yours, the kind that looks like it's popular with women, is enough to disgust me."

The moment he finished speaking—

The long Zanpakuto came slashing down at Arima Shizuya's head.

Arima Shizuya's expression remained nearly blank, and he could not make any movement to resist.

His body was still not fully under his control.

But his thoughts had never stopped. His sense of danger sounded a piercing alarm, making every cell in Arima Shizuya's body tense at that instant.

He had to resist. He could not simply stretch out his neck and await death.

But what could he do? What was there left, at this point, that could help him? Like a lone drowning man falling into a bottomless abyss, Arima Shizuya struggled and thrashed, trying to force his body back to the surface.

Then, in that fleeting instant of less than a millionth of a second—

His consciousness detached for a brief moment, and he saw...

That crossroads he had seen countless times in his dreams.

Ah, so that's how it is... I see.

At that moment, it was as though something suddenly became utterly clear.

Arima Shizuya instinctively raised his right hand, not to shield himself, nor to defend.

He simply gripped the hilt at his waist.

There was no longer any retreat. On the edge of despair and death, Arima Shizuya exhaled a foul breath thick with the scent of blood.

Zanpakuto.

Release.