Yamamoto suppressed the joy in his heart, put on a stern face, and once again engaged in fierce battle with Setsuna.
Crimson gold and blazing white flames still fiercely clashed, annihilated, and regenerated at the center of the courtroom ruins.
The battle between Setsuna and Yamamoto had already transcended the scope of ordinary Shinigami. Every collision shook the very Reishi Foundations of the Seireitei.
Just as this peak duel reached an impasse...
Boom!
A dull roar, as if from outside the world, suddenly exploded in the sky above the Seireitei.
Everyone, whether it was Setsuna and Yamamoto in the midst of battle, the forces confronting on the periphery, or the nobles and ordinary souls watching from afar, involuntarily looked up.
In the night sky of the Seireitei, lit by flames, an enormous pure white pillar crashed down, causing the earth to tremble.
"That is... the Tenchuren?" Kyoraku instinctively lowered his bamboo hat and sighed softly, "Has it finally come to this, with the Zero Division itself stepping in?"
"Tenchuren? Zero Division?" Hearing these words, many young Shinigami, like Kensei, showed confused and incredulous expressions.
The Zero Division was the legendary supreme existence that guarded the Soul King and stood above the Gotei 13. It was the true accumulated strength and ultimate military force of Soul Society.
They existed only in legends and reverence, rarely intervening in Seireitei's affairs.
Now, had they personally descended because of this turmoil?
Four figures filed out from the Tenchuren.
The first was a tall, robust man. Just standing there, he gave an impression of being as immovable as a mountain.
The style of the three who followed him suddenly changed.
One man, with hair styled into an exaggerated pompadour, energetically waved a flag as soon as he appeared.
Another, wearing sunglasses, danced in an exaggerated, avant-garde style.
A graceful, elegant woman had skeletal arms behind her playing drums, flutes, and trumpets, as if providing background music for their entrance.
Their appearance, with gongs and drums, swaying hips and twisting waists, was utterly incongruous with the Seireitei's current solemn, tragic, smoke-filled, and bloody atmosphere. It even seemed somewhat absurd and farcical.
Many Gotei 13's members, especially serious and direct ones like Kensei, watched in bewilderment, their reverence for the Zero Division shattering.
Kirinji Tenjiro put his hands on his hips and laughed as he looked down at the devastated battlefield and the poised Gotei 13:
"Hey, hey, you rookies of the 13 Divisions, you've stirred up quite a commotion! Tearing your own home apart like this, you sure know how to make trouble!"
Nimaiya Oetsu swayed his head: "The dignity of the nobles, the authority of the center, the order of a hundred years, destroyed in a single day. The root of the calamity lies within one's own walls. How sad, how lamentable~"
Shutara Senjumaru looked towards the center of the flames and sighed softly: "We once invited Kuruyashiki to join the Zero Division. We never imagined a man like him would fall."
"Even less did we expect that the one inciting this upheaval would be his successor. The threads of fate are truly unfathomable."
Faced with the sudden arrival of the Zero Division and their somewhat absurd entrance, the tacit battle between Setsuna and Yamamoto temporarily ceased.
The crimson karmic flames on Setsuna slightly receded. His gaze bypassed the three 'live wires' and locked onto Hyosube Ichibe'e, who had remained silent but exuded the most unfathomable aura.
"I recall the Zero Division's duty is to guard the Soul King Palace and the Soul King, in principle not intervening in affairs outside the palace."
"Why have you come today? Has my cleaning of Soul Society's rotten flesh and pus also touched the interests of the Soul King Palace?"
Ichibe'e slowly shook his head. "The dignity of the nobles is the dignity of the Soul King. What you have destroyed is not merely a few corrupt nobles or incompetent elders."
"What you have destroyed is the very rule and order that have maintained Soul Society's stability for a million years. And this order is the embodiment of the Soul King's will, the cornerstone balancing the three worlds."
"Shaking the rules means shaking the Soul King's reign. This is a grave taboo."
Setsuna sneered. "Even if this reign is wrong? Rotten?"
Ichibe'e's expression did not change. He only replied calmly: "The Soul King cares not about good or evil. The Soul King only cares about order or chaos."
Hearing this, Setsuna let out a laugh full of mockery. "Is it the Soul King who doesn't care, or is it you who doesn't care? Or perhaps the ancestors of the Five Great Nobles don't care?"
Upon hearing what Setsuna said, the previously composed Ichibe'e's expression suddenly changed slightly. "How do you know... It seems I must execute you on the spot!"
"That depends on whether you have the ability!" The Phoenix Cloth on Setsuna suddenly erupted with unprecedented brilliance.
Crimson-gold karmic flames blazed fiercely, shooting straight into the sky.
His Cosmo and Reiatsu were released without reservation, even causing a resonance with Soul Society itself.
Seeing this, everyone was left breathless.
'Was Chiaki Setsuna intending to solo the Captain-Commander plus the entire Zero Division all by himself?'
"Hell's Hot Spring - Theater of the Underworld!" Kirinji swung his blade.
Reiatsu hot as magma, yet carrying a strange vitality, surged like an angry dragon.
Nimaiya withdrew his playful smile. In his hand, a somewhat unremarkable black blade had appeared at some point.
He used no flashy techniques. With a simple flick of his wrist, the blade traced an arc of utmost simplicity.
"Sayafushi! One Slash!"
Where the blade passed, even the karmic flames and space itself, composed of high-concentration Reishi, seemed to be silently cut, leaving a smooth gap.
"Bakudo #99, Part 1. Kin!"
Senjumaru's needles and thread flew, instantly weaving layer upon layer of terrifying binding Kido Barriers, enough to seal a Captain-level Shinigami, enveloping Setsuna from all sides.
Setsuna's pupils contracted slightly. Kirinji and Senjumaru's attacks were insignificant, but Nimaiya's attack was not to be underestimated.
His karmic flames were easily cut, and the defensive field of his sacred cloth emitted the piercing friction sound of something sharp scraping across it.
But that was all.
Setsuna's speed surpassed the torrent of the hot spring. The power of his Cosmo directly shook the foundations of the Kido Barriers.
He maneuvered and dodged amidst the three-person encirclement, seizing the gaps between [Sayafushi's] attacks to counter, not only avoiding being disadvantaged, but actually suppressing the three's offensive.
Setsuna was somewhat surprised. He had originally not considered them significant, thinking only the Monk in the Zero Division was worth noting.
But now it seemed, he had somewhat underestimated them.
'These three, in terms of the quality and quantity of their Reiatsu alone, have not reached the Transcendent level like me, Old Man Yamamoto, and the Monk.' Setsuna calmly judged amidst the fierce battle.
'But they are also above 1st-class Reiryoku. It should be that their bodies have been restructured using the Soul King's power. They are somewhere between 1st-class Reiryoku and Transcendent.'