The somewhat dim room was filled with all kinds of equipment. At the very back, an enormous display covered one wall, divided into countless sections showing surveillance footage from every part of Las Noches.
"Lord Aizen..."
A figure slowly emerged from the darkness. Looking toward one corner of the display, a trace of killing intent flashed through his eyes. "Do you need me to punish Tier?"
"Why punish her?"
Supporting his cheek with one hand, Aizen watched the display with a faint smile.
"She left her palace without permission, abandoned the person under her watch, failed to stop the intruders, and even wiped out the Funeral Squad..."
Tōsen Kaname sounded somewhat puzzled. Lord Aizen had "seen" these matters more clearly than he had, and Szayelaporro had reported to Lord Aizen not long ago as well, suspecting that Tier was problematic.
Yet Lord Aizen had remained indifferent to all of this, continuing to let Tier do as she pleased.
"Kaname, do you know?"
"Hmm?"
"I know every Arrancar, including the Espada, like the back of my hand." Aizen chuckled. "Whether it's the abilities they've already revealed on the surface or new abilities they might develop—in other words, the forms they might ultimately possess—all of it is within my grasp."
"But..."
Aizen's gaze shifted, and the purple eye on his forehead radiated a burst of light. "The change occurring in Tier, however, is an unknown. Before she herself noticed anything, I had already vaguely sensed something unusual about her. That is also why I made her an Espada again."
"Although the change in her holds little appeal to me now, it still makes a decent appetizer before the banquet."
"But..."
Tōsen Kaname wanted to say that they shouldn't waste power on something so useless.
However, the calm words that concealed Lord Aizen's