“I am surprised, really surprised. Gojo-kun seems like a really amusing guy.”

“I am surprised about how nonchalant you are. You do know that you are completely trapped, right?”

Gin smirked at Soi Fon’s remark. That was true.

It wasn’t the first time for him to see a domain type Bankai, since Tosen also had one. But, comparing what he was currently witnessing to the sound and sight deprivation Bankai would be an insult.

Gojo’s Bankai was completely at a whole different level. Furthermore, since his own Shikai and Bankai could not affect space, he couldn't escape. 

This wasn’t all. He could feel it. This Bankai had other hidden abilities. After all, the same went for him.

‘Hahaha. What a terrifying monster.’

“I have no reason to be scared, truly. For one, us being outed as traitor don’t surprise me. Captain Aizen already speculated that Gojo should be aware of the truth.”

‘Why…’

Soi Fon was baffled. In the plan, none of the three traitors were supposed to know that they were being monitored and shown to the world, but that shouldn’t be hard to guess.

Then why did Gin tell the truth without even being coerced to?

‘It’s as if…as if he wanted everyone to know it.’

“Well. Shall we fight now? Though, we are really ill-matched, don’t you think?”

Not giving her the time to think more deeply about his words, Gin took out his short sword.

What was worth remarking was that, in their base form, both Gin’s Shinso and Soi Fon’s Suzumebachi were the shortest swords in the Soul Society, more akin to daggers.

But in terms of Shikai, the two took different yet similar roads.

One sought to kill enemies with lightning-fast speed by coming as close as possible.

One sought to kill enemies with lightning-fast speed by staying as far away as possible.

“Shoot to kill, Shinso![1]”

Light flashed, but Soi Fon managed to avoid it thanks to her speed.

<<Shunko>>

Landing, she wasted no time either. 

“Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi.”

Gin laughed, and for the first time, opened his eyes wide.

“Shall we find out? Between you or my sword…which one is the fastest?”

—

The first fight to begin was the one between Soi Fon and Gin.

Though the spectators were unable to feel the terrifying spiritual pressure, this didn't stop them from marveling at the incredible display of power.

Unfortunately, most of them couldn't even marvel, since they were unable to follow what was happening clearly.

Be it Soi Fon or Gin, their fight had long since broken the speed of sound. Not only the room they were in at the start, but many other rooms had been destroyed during their clashes.

Gin used his weapon sometimes like a spear, sometimes like a gun, and sometimes like a whip. 

The wide arrays of movements available to him were simply mind-blowing.

Soi Fon meanwhile was no slouch. No matter how Gin attacked, she always managed to avoid it. But she had a hard time closing the distance between the two of them.

After all, the closer she was to him, the lower the time for reacting to Gin's attack would be.

This way, Gin was slowly getting the advantage in this clash.

Most of the people were interested in watching the fight unfold, but that wasn’t the case for everyone. Some found them much more interested in the reason behind the fight.

“It can’t be…”

A few moments ago, in one of the many rooms of the Infinite Castle, Rangiku, who had been trying to escape the room, paused and looked at the screen with disbelief.

Her face paled and her breathing accelerated, as her stress level kept rising.

When Gojo had initially shown the screen, she had been ready to dash and find him before asking him to stop this craziness.

But now, all she could do was stare blankly.

‘No…It should be a lie. It cannot be...’

No matter how much she tried to deny, the evidence was all too clear for her. After all, Gin had admitted it himself.

She didn’t know exactly how he had betrayed the Soul Society, but this didn’t change the fact that he admitted to being a traitor.

The punishment for treason was at best life imprisonment and at worst, death.[2]

Either way, once Gin was captured, the outcome wouldn’t be pretty.

‘I need to find him.’

Thinking so, she immediately took out her sword and chanted, “Growl, Haineko![3]”

The long katana began to disperse into ash and slowly filled the room before destroying everything in the way.

Jumping out, she began to run with ash trailing behind her.

She didn't know where she was going nor what she could do if she managed to reach the place. But she couldn't–wouldn't stop.

She was about to continue running, when–

[STOP MESSING AROUND WITH MY CASTLE, OLD HAG!]

"Wha-!?"

A voice resonated strongly in her mind and a sphere of light surrounded her.

"Where am I?"

When she came to herself, she could see the building of the 1st Division.

"I...I am outside?"

She looked all around her before her gaze settled on the large black cube floating in the sky.

At this sight, she couldn't even become outraged at the fact that she had been insulted.

"Rangiku, you are also out now."

"Shuhei?"

Rangiku was startled to discover that she wasn't alone outside. 

"Were all vice-captains evicted?"

Shuhei shook his head as he pointed at a certain screen with a worried expression.

"Not all of them."

The screen he was pointing at was showing Kaname Tosen activating his Bankai after being cornered by Zaraki.

'You must be alright, captain.'

Shuhei clenched his teeth when he saw the black sphere swallow all of them.

He hoped that his captain would come out unscathed.

[1]: I think I already said this trivia but here again. Gin Shikai means God’s spear. Meanwhile, his Bankai, means god’s killing spear. Basically with just the Bankai name, Kubo had already spoiled us about what was the true goal of Gin. I really like subtle foreshadowing like this.

[2]: Aizen wasn’t sentenced to death simply because he cannot die. But damn did he get a very big sentence.

[3]: One of the most OP Shikai I have seen. But Kubo didn’t do her justice. Her weapon is like a more broken form of Senbonzakura(Byakuya’s Shikai). Like imagine, all the ash are tiny particle blades. She can easily make her opponent breathe part of her sword then kill them from inside. or cut their eyes or cut their ears. Even when they speak the blades can enter their mouths or the gaps between the clothes. This weapon should have been one of the deadliest. Of course, the ashes need to be gathered for higher striking power. But imagine fighting while tiny blades cut your arteries and attack your heart and lungs or pierce your eardrums.