The day the convicted felon Sakibe Kyōga was escorted to the Central Underground Great Prison was fairly clear.
Thin clouds drifted across the sky, occasionally revealing the sun and bathing everyone in its warmth.
Under that sunlight, Uchiha Yato and Aizen Sosuke followed behind the escort detail.
As Captain of the Ninth Division, Yato walked openly, while Aizen used Kyoka Suigetsu to erase his figure and spiritual pressure from everyone's senses.
Yet judging by his body language, the Fifth Division Captain was utterly relaxed, as though strolling through his own living room, even smiling at Yato now and then.
The Animal Path had already been sealed to a chair, with black cloth made of highly concentrated reishi covering his ears and mouth, leaving him unable to hear, speak, or eat.
Barely surviving in hunger for six thousand years in a world of lightless darkness was indeed a horrifying punishment.
With a clank and a tremendous jolt, they plummeted downward, reaching the lowest level of the Central Underground Great Prison.
An enormous gate inscribed with intricate Kidō formulas stood before them.
"Captain Uchiha, thank you for your efforts."
Three members of the escort detail took out metal components, assembled them into a key, and inserted it into the lock.
The enormous gate was pushed open a crack, revealing the deep, murky darkness of Muken within.
"That finishes the assignment. Whew-"
The leader of the escort detail murmured to himself, then boarded the elevator with his companions and swiftly left.
But Muken's gate had not closed.
Nor had the prisoner bound to the chair been pushed into Muken.
The escort detail had not completed its assignment.
Their minds had already fallen into the illusionary world Uchiha Yato had constructed.
In that false world, they delivered the prisoner to Muken, returned to the