Judgment, a Watcher in the Dark

Rumble!!

A deafening roar echoed across the wasteland, even forming visible ripples that spread in every direction.

"Bakudo #39: Enkosen!"

Nanao Ise stood at Su Feng's side and swiftly cast Bakudo #39, blocking every bit of the surging shockwave outside.

The noble clan members, on the other hand, were caught off guard and sent flying one after another. They fell from the air like dumplings dropped into a pot, smashing crater after crater into the ground.

The terrifying explosion produced a pillar of fire that lit up the entire wasteland, swallowing even the thick clouds overhead.

Jushiro Ukitake's attack could be said to have unleashed all the spiritual pressure he currently possessed.

When the flames dispersed, billowing dust swept across the battlefield, creating a spectacle that seemed to blot out the sky.

Su Feng stepped into it, and the winds across the battlefield suddenly reversed, sweeping the dust away and revealing the aftermath.

Jushiro Ukitake's face was pale as wax, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He knelt weakly on one knee, Sogyo no Kotowari planted in the ground to support his sickly body.

His Captain's Haori was also stained with plum blossom-like spots of blood, scattered everywhere in a miserable sight.

As for the figure opposite him, it was still the same shadow, though its color had dimmed slightly.

Countless eyes still covered its skin and Ceremonial Haori, but more than half of them had already shut.

Judging from its spiritual pressure, it had not died, but it was no better off than Jushiro Ukitake. It might not even have the strength to fight anymore.

Seeing him like this, Su Feng instead breathed a sigh of relief.

He had finally gotten the chance to go out on a mission. If Jushiro Ukitake had simply killed him like that, would not that have been a huge loss?

Even now, there had been no result from the Arisugawa Clan mission reward.

Most likely, the mission would only be fully completed after judgment had been passed on them.

But that was merely his guess.

It was Su Feng's attempt at figuring out the self-discipline missions.

Once this mission was over and he returned to the barracks, he should know the result.

"Cough, cough cough!"

Jushiro Ukitake broke into a violent fit of coughing, and his already pale face became completely bloodless.

"Captain Su Feng, I no longer have the strength to fight."

"My elder brother... I'll have to leave him to you..."

After unleashing his full power, the depletion of his spiritual pressure coupled with the strain on his body had dealt him a double blow, leaving Jushiro Ukitake weak to the extreme.

Though he still had Kamikake as a trump card, Jushiro Ukitake would never use it unless it was the final moment.

As Yamamoto Genryusai's disciple, he had perfectly inherited his will and sworn to protect Soul Society at all costs.

Unless someone threatened Soul Society, Jushiro Ukitake would likely never release that power until the day he died.

"Though it is a little annoying."

Su Feng stood beside Jushiro Ukitake, his gaze fixed calmly on the shadow ahead.

"But what can I do? This is my duty."

He raised his right hand, and a faint glow of spiritual pressure bloomed in his palm. "Hado #73: Sōren Sōkatsui."

He opened with high-level Kido, showing no carelessness whatsoever.

Blue explosive flames burst forth, transforming into a streak of light that illuminated the sky as it shot toward the distant shadow.

Faced with such an attack, the shadow's face twisted. It desperately circulated its remaining spiritual pressure and condensed another thin circular shield before itself.

Boom!

An explosion that resounded through the heavens erupted. Blue flames devoured everything ahead, their extreme heat scorching the circular shield and gradually erasing it at a visible rate.

"No, I am destined to become the Soul King!"

The shadow roared, its voice hoarse as a vengeful ghost, its resentment nearly taking physical form.

"Tsunayashiro Su Feng, you traitor to the nobles..."

Clearly, as a noble, Jushiro Ukitake's elder brother knew Su Feng.

"The Tsunayashiro Family will be ashamed of you. Your deeds will be nailed to the pillar of shame, carved into the monuments of history, and passed down forever."

His tone was filled with deep unwillingness. If Su Feng had not appeared here, victory would certainly have been his.

That sickly Jushiro Ukitake had never been his match.

Even after becoming the Soul King's right arm, it should have been impossible for him to...

"A traitor?"

Su Feng raised an eyebrow slightly, his left thumb nudging the guard of his blade. A clear sword chime rang out, carried farther and farther by the wind until it enveloped the entire wasteland.

"Even the current Family Head of the Tsunayashiro would not dare say that."

"You are merely a Lower Aristocrat, not even a Family Head. What gives you the nerve to spout such nonsense?"

There was not the slightest emotional fluctuation in his calm voice.

Yet the shadow dozens of meters away felt as though it had fallen into an ice cellar. Bone-deep cold spread madly from beneath its feet, racing up its spine and straight to the crown of its head.

Even with the Soul King's Power still fused with it, it could not ease that chill.

A gentle breeze rose around the shadow. The remaining black markings began to scatter bit by bit like weathered sand, drifting away on the wind.

"Th-this..."

The shadow's voice trembled with terror. "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"This is my power, mine alone!!"

To the others, the eyes that had remained open across its body were forcibly shut. Under the breeze, the markings attached to the shadow were stripped away layer by layer.

Its Third-Class Spiritual Might fell once again after it was stripped of the remaining Soul King's Power.

After experiencing the heights, being cast back into the abyss was a torment as dreadful as Hell for most people.

The shadow let out a defeated dog's wail, and once the black markings faded, its face twisted into an even more grotesque expression.

Still, the resemblance between that face and Jushiro Ukitake's made Su Feng feel somewhat strange.

They were clearly brothers, yet their personalities were worlds apart.

"Let this end." Su Feng stood where he was as Storm Howl left its sheath at his waist. Vast spiritual pressure raged across the wasteland. "In my capacity as Captain of the Ninth Division, I pass judgment upon your crimes."

"For wantonly slaughtering members of the Lower Aristocrat Ryūdōji Clan for your own selfish desires, your crime warrants death..."

The Zanpakuto gleaming with cold light slashed downward.

The winds in the sky suddenly condensed, forming a massive wind blade dozens of meters long beneath the clouds. Pale blue Wind Breath filled it, tearing apart the surrounding air.

The massive wind blade descended, and countless streams of Wind Breath swallowed the culprit whole!

When the fierce winds dispersed, not even a scrap of clothing remained. Jushiro Ukitake's elder brother had completely vanished from Soul Society.

His spirit particles had fully merged into the atmosphere. He was not even qualified to enter Hell.

At the edge of the wasteland stood two figures concealed beneath black cloaks. Distorted Kido light swirled around them, lending their forms a faintly illusory quality.

Beneath one hood, narrowed eyes watched the violent winds instantly dissipate in the distant sky. A suitably surprised expression appeared on his face as he teased in a flippant tone:

"My, my, how frightening!"

Gin Ichimaru's lips curled upward. "Though it was only Shikai, it still gives one the chills."

He glanced sideways at the person beside him and continued with a smiling expression:

"Captain Aizen, should we continue with the plan?"

"The gift we prepared may not satisfy Captain Su Feng..."