6-2...

Ha... Hahaha! I suppose this sort of thing is bound to happen to you if you live for so long.

Oh well, it was a good experience. I learned that even a pack of rats can kill a tiger if you push them too far into a corner.

I still have plenty of cards to play, but I'd better hide until my wounds have recove...

(Someone's here. Is it the ninth head of the Fon Clan? Or perhaps it's Byakuya Kuchiki?)

(Amusing. I suppose I have no right to a comeback if I can't overcome this little sideshow.)

Who are you? Isn't it a bit rude to step foot in the Tsunayashiro manor unannounced?

Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't sense anyone's presence, you see. I mistook this place for a vacant house.

Why, if it isn't Tsunayashiro, the top figure of the Four Great Noble Clans. I followed your little experiment in creating a Soul King with interest. You went through so much trouble to carry it out.

A moment ago, just as the barrier around the Valley of Screams started to come down, I received the data from the surveillance bugs that I planted in the Kurotsuchi Corpse Unit, but...

Even if I look at it along with the materials that were left here, all I can say is that you are an amateur, Tokinada Tsunayashiro.

If you had entrusted this plan to me from the start, your so-called Soul King vessel would have reached a much higher degree of perfection.

Heh. So, you won't say if my wishes would be fulfilled.

Your existence is the biggest obstacle to perfecting the Soul King's vessel, you see.

It goes without saying that I would've eliminated you immediately if I was entrusted with this, doesn't it?

I might have been more forgiving if you had left the entire experiment in my hands saying it's all for the greater good. But I wouldn't have allowed you to interfere purely for your own amusement.

Haha! Now isn't that harsh? I would never create Hikone for the greater good or do anything of the sort.

Amusement is the only reason to make a Soul King.

If you saw the surveillance data from the Kurotsuchi Corpse Unit, you should be well aware of the sins of the Soul Society.

This world was shaped by betrayal and malice, and now the descendants of the sinners who created it wretchedly scramble for profit. There is no need for the greater good!

This world should succumb to pleasure and desire and rot away!

We'll just have to disagree on that. Rejecting change in the world because of the sins of the past is simply lazy.

Ha! Kisuke Urahara and the rest of you scientists are always like that.

You all talk big, be it about making the world go round, or about creating new inventions.

But no matter what kind of flowery language you may use, you are all just drowning in your own thirst for knowledge. You're nothing more than slaves being manipulated to benefit the world!

Now now, I certainly can't have you making light of us scientists like that. You sound like a little brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Go on, keep denying it! But slicing up an insect wriggling in front of you and laughing about it is no different than abusing the world for your own enjoyment.

We're not so different, you and I. We're both stepping on ants. We just happened to be stronger than most, that is all! Don't you feel the same way, Mayuri Kurotsuchi?

So, what do you say we do? Join forces? Fight each other to the death? Or perhaps you'll bottle me up and experiment on me like all the other riffraff, leaving me to suffer for an eternity?

Whatever path you choose, remember this. The man that stands here before you is the embodiment of karma for the Soul Society!

I have no idea what you're so upset about. I just came here to observe the end of your research.

I suppose I should apologize for entering this room without permission, though.

And also for not locking the door afterward.

Hm?

Ngh. Gah.

Impossible. Who?