Late night. The private residence of a certain wise sage from the Inaba family.
This wise sage, usually highly esteemed and a self-proclaimed 'moderate' within the Central 46, was deep in a pleasant dream brought on by fine spiritual sake and young attendants.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold awakened him.
Inaba Eiji's murky eyes snapped open. A man emanating cold murderous intent stood beside his bed.
That cold gaze was so familiar. It was Koga, whom he himself had sentenced to five thousand years imprisonment that very day, who should have been locked in prison at that moment.
"Ku... Kuchiki Koga?" Eiji's voice shot up, filled with terror.
When Koga was taken away, he had threatened revenge, and Inaba had sneered that he could never get out.
Now, Koga was in his house that very night.
"You... how are you here? How did you get out? Guards! Someone, quick!" he screamed in terror.
However, inside and outside the luxurious bedroom was deathly silent. The usually alert guards seemed to have never existed.
Koga lifted him from the bed by the scruff of his neck. "Ha, keep screaming."
"Calm down, Koga-kun... no, no, Kuchiki-sama! Please, please calm down! Don't be impulsive!" Eiji forced a smile onto his face.
"Daytime... that daytime was... it was the Tsunayashiro Clan applying pressure! We had no choice! I... I personally sympathize deeply with your situation!"
"Really! We can talk! We can negotiate anything! Money! Status!"
"Even... even I can help you get parole as soon as possible! Just let me go! I beg you!"
Koga slapped him directly across the face, knocking out a few teeth. "You think I would still believe you people?"
Eiji instinctively felt rage, but upon hearing the killing intent in the other party's words, he immediately became terrified, snot and tears streaming down his face.
"Believe me, believe me! I'm really a good person, don't kill me!"
Koga looked at his utterly pathetic display, the mockery in his eyes almost overflowing:
"This is the esteemed wise sage I once revered, who I thought represented the justice and wisdom of Soul Society? Ha, truly ugly enough to make one sick."
Hearing his contempt, Eiji, far from being angry, nodded repeatedly:
"Yes, yes, people like us are garbage, clowns. Just let me go, like you would a fart."
The corner of Koga's mouth twitched slightly. He had still underestimated the moral bottom line of these wise sages.
Too lazy to listen to any more nonsense, he bound this 'great personage', dressed only in his nightclothes and looking utterly disheveled, with the simplest binding Kido. With a flicker of his figure, he disappeared from the bedroom.
...
The Central 46, deepest underground, the sacred courtroom.
When Eiji was thrown into this familiar space, he discovered to his horror...
It wasn't just him. The other forty-five wise sages and judges who had sat with him on the high platform that day, jointly deciding Koga's fate...
Not one was missing.
All of them, like chickens and ducks awaiting slaughter, were being suppressed by an invisible force in the center of the courtroom, the area symbolizing the 'defendant'.
Some were collapsed on the ground, some huddled together trembling, some barely straightened their backs but couldn't hide the panic and despair in their eyes.
When Setsuna appeared, the anger and terror of these wise sages and judges reached its peak.
"Chi... Chiaki Setsuna!" The chief judge forcibly suppressed his fear, blustering as he roared.
"You... what are you trying to do? Kidnapping all members of the Central 46 is naked rebellion!"
"It is a heinous crime that would overthrow Soul Society! Release us immediately, or else..."
"Or else what?" Setsuna interrupted him, walking forward slowly.
"Call for help? Go ahead, try. Can your Reiatsu Transmissions get out of this barrier I've spiced up?"
The wise sages' faces grew paler. They had already tried… all communication methods vanished like stones dropped into the sea.
"Captain Chiaki, could there be some misunderstanding between us?" Another seemingly gentle wise sage tried to defuse the situation.
"We can understand your dissatisfaction with the handling of the Kasumioji and Tsunayashiro incidents! We can discuss it further!"
"Why use such extreme methods? This solves nothing!"
"Solves nothing?" Setsuna smiled. That smile chilled every wise sage to the bone.
"No, no, no. You misunderstand. I'm not here today to 'solve problems'."
He walked to the platform that originally belonged to the judge's seat, casually sat down, and looked down at the huddled 'great personages':
"You esteemed wise sages and judges are always loftily judging others. I wonder, have you ever been judged yourselves?"
"Don't worry, I promise, as long as you truly have a clear conscience, as long as your hearts are as just, wise, and selfless as you outwardly appear..."
"Then I absolutely will not harm a single hair on your heads. I will immediately release you and pretend nothing happened tonight."
The wise sages were already cursing wildly in their hearts, but their desire to survive made them seize this straw.
They suppressed their fear, put on their most upright expressions, some speaking passionately, some swearing oaths.
They claimed to have diligently performed their duties all their lives, without a single stain, doing everything for the stability and prosperity of Soul Society.
"Very good, very spirited." Setsuna clapped his hands, as if very satisfied.
Then, he brought out a strange device combining technology and Kido runes.
This was something he had asked Kisuke and Mayuri to concoct together. It was called the [Global Reishi Projection Screen Device].
"Activate." Setsuna infused it with Reiatsu.
The device lit up, complex runes swirling.
An invisible, extremely powerful Reishi wave, centered on the courtroom, instantly spread throughout all of Soul Society.
In the night sky, no matter where in Soul Society one was, as long as they looked up, they would see a massive Reishi Screen covering half the sky.
The scene on the screen was exactly the Central 46 underground courtroom.
The wise sages and judges were huddled together in panic.
The sound transmitted from the screen awakened people from their sleep.
"What is that?"
"How is there a picture in the sky?"
"Is that the Central 46?"
"Those great ones... how did they get captured?"
"Look! That person is Captain Chiaki of the 11th Division!"
All across Soul Society, countless souls awoke from their sleep, walked out of their homes, and looked up at the sky in shock.
The commoners of the Rukongai, the ordinary soldiers of the Seireitei, nobles, and even the Captains of each division all witnessed this unbelievable scene.
"Now, the audience is complete." Setsuna smiled slightly at the screen.
He raised his hand, a bewitching and brilliant light gathered at his fingertip.
Genro Maoken!
Although this technique was single-target, his soul was far stronger than these wise sages and judges. Simultaneously controlling these forty-six was not difficult.
Dozens of purple spiritual threads burst from Setsuna's fingertip, instantly sinking into the foreheads of the forty-six wise sages and judges below.
The wise sages' bodies trembled slightly. Their eyes instantly became vacant and lost, then replaced by a kind of clear stupidity.
"Alright, now." Setsuna's voice spread to every corner of Soul Society through the projection device. "I invite our esteemed various great ones of the Central 46 to begin their self-judgment."