Death was not the end. Forgetting was.
When the Reishi that had been "resurrected" was broken down once more, these high-and-mighty Nobles finally remembered the fear that had once held them in its thrall.
Familiar faces were erased one by one, swallowed and broken down by branching black shadows until not a trace remained.
Everyone looked terrified, their curses turning into pleas.
Some even tried to squeeze out a couple of nonexistent tears, hoping to change the young man's mind.
But their actions not only failed to win them the slightest mercy, they hastened their own second deaths.
"Akira, do you hate these Nobles?"
Aizen stood nearby and asked calmly, "They don't seem to have any particular grudge against you."
At his words, Kisaragi Akira paused for a moment, then sighed and answered honestly:
"It's not that I hate Nobles."
"There are good and bad people in every group, and Nobles are no exception."
"In the Nikkotsu District, I've seen villains who took pleasure in torturing people to death, and I've also seen Nobles with compassionate hearts."
"I simply hate people with rotten personalities."
As he spoke, Kisaragi Akira kept moving his hands, controlling the ink-black, branching shadows as they slowly broke down the dead people's Reishi.
This was different from their first deaths.
Kisaragi Akira thought that simply killing these lowlifes once would be far too easy on them.
So he chose to offer them all as sacrifices to the One-Eyed Great Deity, Mimihagi.
He would strip them of all chance of reincarnation and plunge them into the eternal darkness of death!
As for the Azashiro Clan members holding their meeting nearby, there was no need to deal with them. Once the power gained from the ritual faded, they would disappear as well.
Gathering the Reishi of the dead and making them reappear in the world was never true resurrection.
Watching Kisaragi Akira swagger around, throwing his weight about, Aizen lowered his gaze, and some of the tension left his face.
Though he was usually carefree, deep down, this fellow didn't seem all that bad.
Perhaps that was the only way to live life to the fullest.
Inside the dark prison, mottled bloodstains speckled the pitch-black walls. A few long-dried chunks of flesh lay scattered across the stone floor.
Ever since the Nobles seated on the raised platform had all been brutally murdered, the Central 46 had abolished this execution ground.
For decades, no one else had come here.
But now, two figures in white stood inside the prison.
The first wore a pristine Captain Haori.
The second wore a prisoner's uniform and looked somewhat haggard.
Yet their attitudes were the exact opposite of what their clothes suggested.
Azashiro Soya, dressed in a white Captain Haori, stared nervously at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him. He wanted to speak but couldn't, and his palms were slick with sweat.
Even when facing Kuruyashiki, the previous Kenpachi, he had never been this nervous.
"Is that you, Soya?"
Confusion flickered in the girl's eyes. She seemed unsure of her current state, and didn't understand the inexplicable sense of familiarity she felt toward the man before her.
Without a trace of hesitation, she walked right up to him and clasped his large hands with her slender, scarred ones.
The next moment,
the girl beamed. Familiar warmth spread across her gaunt face, like a bright ray of light driving away all the darkness in the prison.
"So it really is you, Soya."
"Your hands have gotten so much bigger, and you've even got a few calluses, but you really did keep your promise to your big sister."
Azashiro Soya looked at the girl's face and opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt blocked. No matter how many words he had, none would come out.
"Seems like a lot of years have passed."
The girl gently caressed Azashiro Soya's face with her right hand. "You've been carrying so much all these years. You must have been so tired."
"I shouldn't have said those things back then."
"What's gone will be gone. Trying to hold on only brings pain."
"Glory, hope..."
"But you're still alive, so I suppose those people really did keep their promise. I'm so happy I got to see you again..."
Who knew how much time had passed?
When Azashiro Soya finally spoke, his voice hoarse, the words poured out of him. He told the girl before him about everything that had happened over the years, without stopping.
Until the girl's figure began to ripple once more.
At the sight, both of them froze. Silence filled the prison.
After a moment, the girl's lips curved into a smile.
"Looks like my time's up."
"That's a shame. I still haven't heard what happened after you became a captain."
A faint light rose from her gaunt body. Fragments fluttered like snowflakes, turning into countless Reishi that gradually vanished before his eyes.
"Don't be sad, Soya."
"Seeing you all grown up, big sister has no regrets."
The girl smiled tenderly. "Let's make another promise before we part this time."
"Soya, live well..."
As her words fell, a faint light flickered. Her hazy figure suddenly shattered, crumbling away before Azashiro Soya's eyes.
In that moment, he could no longer hold back his feelings. They erupted like a volcano.
A beastlike wail echoed through the prison. Agony burst forth unchecked, tearing his heart into pieces.
At the execution ground, Kisaragi Akira stared blankly in astonishment toward the direction the sound had come from.
"Sosuke, that guy looks like he's been hit pretty hard."
"Did we go a little too far?"
Aizen sighed helplessly, looking slightly pained. "Change 'we' to 'I.' You came up with the plan, and you're the one carrying it out."
"You didn't listen to a word of my advice."
Sometimes, when this guy dug in his heels, he was like a mule too stubborn to budge.
"Sure thing, Sosuke."
Kisaragi Akira continued speaking as his hands moved smoothly, without the slightest hesitation.
"What you did really was a little too much."
"Just this once. Don't do it again, okay?"
Aizen fell silent.
"By the authority of the Kisaragi Shrine Priest, I offer this sacrifice to the One-Eyed Great Deity, Mimihagi..."
Kisaragi Akira's expression turned serious as he quietly recited the ritual incantation. Substantial Reiatsu flowed before the altar, sketching the indifferent single eye of Mimihagi.
"Let the dead be sacrificed, and release the Power of the Sacred Eye hidden deep within the Nikkotsu District."
The shadows coalesced into a right hand with an eye growing in its palm. Countless points of light gathered in the palm.
In an instant, a terrifying pressure swept over them!
Kisaragi Akira's face flushed red as he strained to control the shadow, trying to force it into the Ritual Bell on the altar.
"Sosuke..."
Vast Reiatsu crashed down, like a mountain flood bursting loose, pouring unchecked through the execution ground.
The terrifying Reiatsu compressed the shadow, completing the final step. The whole thing sank into the Ritual Bell.
A pitch-black eye slowly appeared on the bell...
To be honest, I really don't know how to write tragedies.
In the official novels, Azashiro is pretty extreme, but he's also rather pitiful. He watched his whole family get killed with his own eyes, and his closest sister died right in front of him. In all of Bleach, no character had it worse than him. So I gave him a somewhat better ending, with just a little personal bias.
P.S. A quick explanation: Mimihagi is the Soul King's Right Hand, and its authority is "stillness." As for its interactions with Ukitake, I'll work those into a later chapter.
Before you continue