'Can he kill him? Will he really kill him?'
Kyoraku Shunsui stared fixedly at the path of the duplicate Zangetsu as it advanced. He felt that this single second was longer than the several hundred years of his life put together.
In the end—
Clang!
A crisp yet icy metallic clash, like the snapping of a silver needle, mercilessly shattered the last trace of faint hope in Kyoraku Shunsui's heart, and also broke all of their previous assumptions.
Kurosaki Ichigo did not die.
But the one who acted was not Aizen.
At the same time, a female voice filled with boundless coldness rang out.
"Don't push your luck, Shinigami!"
"Who?"
Kyoraku Shunsui could not help but shout. He urgently wanted to know, if it was not Aizen, then who exactly was standing behind Kurosaki Ichigo.
"The Eighth Espada of Hueco Mundo, Kurosaki Masaki!"
That female voice sounded again. At the same time, a tall black silhouette seemed to be peeled out from the shadows beside Kurosaki Ichigo, slowly emerging, finally solidifying into a figure as real as any living person.
Under the illumination of night and moonlight, her true form was revealed.
She was a woman wearing the Espada uniform of Hueco Mundo.
A beautiful head of orange wavy hair gently danced in the wind. That pure black Espada uniform perfectly outlined her full, voluptuous figure, one that Rosse had developed to the absolute extreme.
Her alluring red lips parted slightly. As her eyes shifted, she radiated a suffocating charm of a mature, seductive woman.
However, compared to her stunningly breathtaking beauty, what all the captains present cared about far more at this moment was her identity.
'Hueco Mundo... the Eighth Espada?'
"Someone from Hueco Mundo? Kurosaki Ichigo has Hueco Mundo backing him?", Kyoraku Shunsui spoke in a low voice, suddenly drawing his twin blades from his waist.
Before this, he had only suspected that Kurosaki Ichigo was connected to Aizen. He had never imagined that Kurosaki Ichigo was actually from Hueco Mundo, and that Kurosaki Masaki had gone from a kidnapped victim to one of the Espada.
Kurosaki Masaki appearing now, and appearing as someone from Hueco Mundo, basically locked in Kurosaki Ichigo's identity.
If she had not already been nearby ahead of time, how could Kurosaki Masaki have arrived so promptly?
"Tch! Didn't you already know? Who are you pretending for here? Putting on a show for your colleagues?"
The corner of Kurosaki Masaki's mouth curled playfully. Her flirtatious gaze swept over Kyoraku Shunsui and Aizen, finally landing on Rosse.
In her eyes, not a single one of the people in front of her was a good person.
If heaven truly had eyes, it would be best if all of these people died.
Unfortunately, she was just a pitiful woman who had been forced into this, completely unable to resist her master's will, only able to accompany these bastards in acting out a play.
Still, being an actor who knew the script was better than knowing nothing at all. That feeling was actually rather interesting to Kurosaki Masaki.
"What are you talking about? I have absolutely no connection to Hueco Mundo."
Kyoraku Shunsui's expression changed slightly. He immediately understood what Kurosaki Masaki was implying and hurriedly spoke up to refute it.
He had already sensed that the way Hitsugaya, Rosse, and the others were looking at him had become somewhat different.
If this were combined with Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu at this moment...
Kyoraku Shunsui's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He did not even dare to imagine what kind of words he might say in front of Hitsugaya and Rosse.
However, when his gaze landed on the still-unsummoned duplicate Ichigo, he could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Rosse's Bankai had not been released yet. Aizen probably would not risk using Kyoka Suigetsu.
"At this point, what's the point of denying it anymore? Since you didn't plan to act just now, don't blame me for exposing you. If it weren't for your help, that old man wouldn't have stayed unconscious for so long."
Kurosaki Masaki sneered, looking like she was going to drag Kyoraku Shunsui down with her just because he had stood by watching earlier.
"Don't slander people!"
Kyoraku Shunsui was furious. Just a few words from Kurosaki Masaki had instantly pushed him into a dangerously precarious position.
The key point was, what did today's events have anything to do with him?
'The one trying to kill your son is Rosse. Why don't you accuse him of being from Hueco Mundo? What's the logic behind framing an honest guy like me?'
At this moment, Kyoraku Shunsui had no other choice. The twin blades in his hands instantly entered Shikai, becoming his Zanpakuto, Katen Kyokotsu.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kyoraku Shunsui charged straight toward Kurosaki Masaki.
At this point, only actual action could prove his innocence.
However...
Slash!
Kyoraku Shunsui went fast, but he came back even faster.
He was blasted backward at a speed even greater than his charge, a silver-white holy arrow embedded in his abdomen, blood gushing out unceasingly.
While flying backward, Kyoraku Shunsui stared at Kurosaki Masaki in disbelief.
Fast, far too fast.
He had no time to react at all. Kurosaki Masaki had already formed a bow with her fingers and fired a holy arrow at him.
What he found most incomprehensible was that the power of this holy arrow, according to his perception, far exceeded the limit that captain-level combatants should be able to withstand.
Thud!
Kyoraku Shunsui collapsed weakly onto the ground, his eyes already a bit unfocused.
At this moment, he could not mobilize even a shred of spiritual power.
A single holy arrow had stripped him of all combat capability.
"Oh my, Captain Kyoraku is really something. Losing all combat power after getting shot once?", Not only did Ichimaru Gin show no intention of helping, he even smacked his lips in mockery.
But everyone knew what he was implying.
The Eighth Espada of Hueco Mundo, incapacitating Kyoraku Shunsui with a single arrow. Putting those two together, no matter how you thought about it, it made no sense.
Even if Kyoraku Shunsui could not rank in the top three of the Gotei 13, he was definitely among the top five.
Getting one-shot by the Eighth Espada with a single arrow. If this really was not an act, then the Gotei 13 might as well surrender outright.
Compared to some captains who knew part of the truth, Komamura Sajin and Kuchiki Byakuya, both still severely injured and watching from the farthest edge of the battlefield, were now looking at Kyoraku Shunsui differently.
Both of them felt that Kyoraku Shunsui's acting was a bit too much.
That arrow had been fast, yes, but logically speaking, there was no way a single arrow should have left Kyoraku Shunsui in such a state.
Take one arrow, get seriously injured, then afterward say he did his best, and explain that since the other side had struck so hard, he obviously was not from Hueco Mundo.
At this moment, the image of Kyoraku Shunsui explaining himself like that had already appeared in the minds of Hitsugaya and the other captains.
After all, even someone from Squad Zero like Shutara Senjumaru could betray them. Then for Kyoraku Shunsui, a mere hundred-year veteran captain, betrayal was hardly strange.
And thinking even further back, it seemed that Sui Feng had been killed because Kyoraku Shunsui had identified her as a Hueco Mundo mole, and afterward, the Kyoraku family had reaped the greatest benefits.
Moreover, not long ago, the Shihoin family had already confirmed that Sui Feng was indeed dead, and that she had died miserably at the hands of Hueco Mundo. She had not been a mole at all.
So was there a possibility that Kyoraku Shunsui had been a Hueco Mundo mole from the very beginning, shouting "thief" to catch the thief?
After all, the only opportunity Sui Feng ever had to come into contact with Hueco Mundo was during that expedition into Hueco Mundo.
And among the people selected for that expedition, Kyoraku Shunsui's name had also been right there.
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