Infiltrate Mukaden for Ten Thousand Years!

"Azashiro, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Kyoraku Shunsui had been a witness to Azashiro Kenpachi's rise, watching how he defeated Kuruyashiki Kenpachi and subsequently took his place.

Afterward, because Azashiro Kenpachi had been wearing noble attire at the time, Kyoraku had deliberately investigated him and learned of his origins.

Azashiro Kenpachi was the eldest son of a minor noble house who should have lived a life far more comfortable than that of an ordinary person. However, due to a tragedy that befell the Azashiro house and the covetous nature of other nobles, all his kin were framed and put to death. Azashiro Kenpachi and his only sister were reduced to playthings for those nobles, thrown into a gladiatorial arena to fight against Menos Grande.

To protect her younger brother, Azashiro Kenpachi's sister forcibly used Ghost Way to perish together with a Menos Grande.

Yet, those nobles remained unsatisfied and threw new Hollows into the arena.

After that, no one knew exactly what happened.

Whether it was the Hollows or those Shinigamis, they all died.

By the time the Great Noble Families discovered the incident, only Azashiro Kenpachi remained as a survivor in the arena.

Because Azashiro Kenpachi was the victim, the Great Noble Families could not punish him. Conversely, the actions of the other nobles were unforgivable atrocities, but due to their status, the Great Noble Families—led by the Five Great Noble Families—could not truly strip them of their noble titles.

They merely issued a slight warning to the heads of the houses of those deceased nobles, telling them to restrain themselves.

And so, this dark past involving the nobility was sealed away, unknown to the world.

Ordinary Shinigamis and commoners were even less aware that beneath the facade of the Central 46, which represented justice, lay a noble class that was filthy and corrupt to the extreme.

However, Kyoraku Shunsui was naturally no ordinary person.

He was the head of the Kyoraku house, a noble family second only to the Five Great Noble Families. This gave him a special status; had the Kyoraku family not been so small, and had he not been serving as a captain in the Gotei 13, he could have absolutely secured a seat in the Central 46—he could even have vied for one of the six judge positions.

After learning of Azashiro Kenpachi's past, Kyoraku Shunsui had kept a close eye on him.

Because for a normal person, after experiencing such a tragedy, their personality would inevitably undergo some changes.

Azashiro Kenpachi had remained dormant for many years, only to suddenly appear and choose to defeat Kuruyashiki Kenpachi—what was his intention?

Kyoraku Shunsui was very curious.

But after watching Azashiro Kenpachi for a while, he found that, aside from being reclusive, this Kenpachi did not seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary. Gradually, he gave up his focus on him.

He had not expected that Azashiro Kenpachi would actually be the problem.

The soul disappearance incidents that the Gotei 13 had been investigating for so long were the work of Azashiro Kenpachi.

"I want to eradicate all Hollows!"

The phantom, manifested by Azashiro Kenpachi using his Zanpakuto to manipulate spirit particles, answered Kyoraku Shunsui's question.

Just as he had done when facing Natsuki, he laid out his entire objective.

Upon learning of Azashiro Kenpachi's goal, Kyoraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jushiro, and Shihoin Utsusemi were all utterly shocked and immediately began to refute him.

But trying to persuade Azashiro Kenpachi with words was clearly not an easy task.

After all, Azashiro Kenpachi was a man of extremely firm will; for such a person, their resolve would not be easily shaken until they had tasted defeat.

The battle began then and there.

To call it a battle was perhaps not quite accurate.

It was more that Azashiro Kenpachi was playing hide-and-seek with Kyoraku and the other two; he did not engage them head-on at all.

The final outcome was also unexpected.

It was not that Kyoraku Shunsui and the others defeated Azashiro Kenpachi.

Rather, Azashiro Kenpachi surrendered voluntarily.

According to him, at the very last moment, he had sensed the will of the Soul King.

The Soul King seemed to be stopping him.

All noble families were once followers of the Soul King.

Even if he was the only one left of the Azashiro house, he was no exception.

No matter how unwilling he was in his heart, he could not defy the will of the Soul King.

As the matter drew to a close with a dramatic ending, the Gotei 13 followed Azashiro Kenpachi's confession and conducted a more detailed investigation in the Rukon District.

The conclusion reached was terrifying.

If Azashiro Kenpachi had succeeded, all the commoners in the Rukon District would have been transformed into weapons of war. At that point, the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo would have clashed, the balance would have been completely shattered, and the entire Three Worlds would have been overturned.

This was an unforgivable atrocity.

Therefore, after the final verdict of the Central 46, Azashiro Kenpachi was imprisoned in the lowest level of the Great Underground Prison, the Mukaden.

The sentence: ten thousand years!

Such a penalty was the harshest punishment in the Soul Society for a captain-level Shinigami.

In the Soul Society, according to the danger level of the Shinigami, punishments were generally divided into several types.

Exile, execution, imprisonment.

Some Shinigamis who have committed crimes, though not of an egregious nature, are exiled to Hueco Mundo to atone for their sins, while others are banished to various other locations and forbidden from ever returning to the Seireitei, which is effectively a de facto stripping of their status as Shinigamis.

As for those whose crimes are more severe, provided they are not of captain-level, they are sentenced to death, with the execution by the Sokyoku being the most well-known method.

As for captain-level Shinigamis, even the Central 46 would not execute them lightly.

The truth is that the cost of executing such Shinigamis is simply too great.

Because of the immense spiritual power inherent to captain-level Shinigamis, their souls linger in the world after death and are difficult to consign to Hell; if a "Captain's Funeral" ritual were forcibly performed to send them into Hell, such a powerful soul would inevitably cause repercussions within that realm.

Therefore, the best way to deal with such Shinigamis is to keep them imprisoned forever.

By allowing time to slowly strip away their formidable spiritual power, the Shinigami will eventually transition from their prime into a period of decline, their spiritual power gradually weakening until it finally dissipates.

Beyond this, there are also Shinigamis who, while not having committed grave crimes, are deemed highly dangerous and are thus confined within the Supervision Tower; the most notorious prison within the Supervision Tower is known as the "Nest of Maggots."

The imprisonment of Azashiro Kenpachi marks the final curtain call on the incident of the disappearing souls in the Rukon District.

Yet, for the 11th Division, this is a deeply sorrowful affair.

Even though the personality of Azashiro Kenpachi is completely different from that of the former Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, he still bore the name of Kenpachi, and over the past year, Azashiro Kenpachi would still choose to take action when faced with battle, even if he was not one to mingle with the crowd.

Nevertheless, because of this loss, the 11th Division has lost its Kenpachi once again, leaving many members feeling incredibly distressed.

Throughout history, every Kenpachi has inherited the title and the position of captain by defeating their predecessor; now that Azashiro Kenpachi has been imprisoned, how is a new Kenpachi to be produced?