I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

It was faster than any shot launched to date! It was even difficult to see with the naked eye!

"Byakuya!!!"

Kuchiki Ginryo shouted and turned to rush desperately toward Byakuya.

But it's too late!

A crescent moon streaked across the sky like lightning, arriving before Byakuya in an instant.

Chapter 131: Hollowing Out

Oh no... there's no way to dodge it!

Byakuya, who was already using Shunpo at full power, clearly understood this.

His Shunpo technique was learned from Yoruichi Shihouin, and his skill level was so high that he was among the best in the entire Soul Society.

But it is precisely because of this that he knows the limits of his speed better than anyone else.

Such an attack is impossible to dodge... He would be hit directly before he could even use Flash Step... and then die a swift and decisive death.

The power of the red crescent moon was so immense that if it touched him even slightly, he would be torn in two on the spot, or even reduced to ashes.

Damn it... is this the end?

Byakuya closed his eyes in despair.

Then, the red wave engulfed him with lightning speed.

Kuchiki Ginryo no longer cared that he might be killed by Ansou Mitsuko when he made a mistake. The thought of saving Byakuya filled his mind so much that it could not accommodate anything else.

His wife, daughter, son-in-law, and son have all met with accidents, either dying or becoming his enemies. His grandson, Byakuya, is now the old man's only remaining family. If Byakuya dies too...

But willpower cannot stop the development of reality. Byakuya is already trapped in the wave formed by the red crescent moon. To onlookers, no matter how you look at it, there is no hope of survival!

Then... the aftershocks slowly dissipated.

Byakuya stood in mid-air with his eyes closed... and was completely unharmed?

"The young master of the Kuchiki family."

A strange man dressed in white stood in front of Byakuya.

He raised his hand, creating a transparent shield that kept the crimson crescent moon outside.

He gave a cold laugh and said without turning his head:

"If you're not strong enough, don't rush into this kind of battle."

It was Mima who arrived at the last moment.

Having changed into his past life's skin, naturally no one would recognize him.

Thanks to the Rabbit Talisman, his speed reached an almost insane level; otherwise, he would never have been able to travel from such a distant place in a fraction of a second.

Dark Azure Guardian's strength was truly terrifying; a single Crescent Moon Sky Slash shattered twenty-four layers of his Sky-Splitting Defense.

If he hadn't used the Ghost Path Warehouse's stockpile as a precaution, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold them off.

Looking behind him, Byakuya had already recovered from the fear of death and was giving Yama a grateful yet wary look.

However, Mima didn't have time for pleasantries. Kuchiki Ginryo was almost there, and if they were to take action, now was the time.

Mi Zhen moved his feet, and the power of the rabbit talisman flowed through his entire body, putting him into a state of extreme lightness...

Like a gentle breeze or a ray of morning light.

After the system was localized, this thing naturally had nothing to do with things like the Holy Lord. What ran through Mi Zhen's body was still a special kind of spiritual power, which was both like the blessing of the Kido and the ability of the Zanpakuto, making it impossible for Mi Zhen to identify for a while.

But it doesn't matter, there's plenty of time to study it later.

The speed at which he moved in this state could no longer be described as swift as a rabbit, but rather as thunderous. Byakuya only felt a blur before his eyes, and the strange man suddenly appeared beside him, reached out and snatched the test tube from his hand before he could react, and then retreated far away.

"Nice to meet you, Captain."

Mi Zhen stopped next to the old man in the mountain. After standing still, he bowed slightly to the old man and said, "The situation doesn't allow us to chat casually. Let's get straight to the point. I'm here to help you."

"...Who are you?" The old man squinted at Mi Zhen, his wary attitude self-evident.

That's normal. No one would blindly trust a stranger who suddenly appears out of nowhere.

If Yama hadn't saved Byakuya as soon as he appeared, the old man's attitude might have been even worse.

“Just a passing righteous messenger,” Mima replied. “My identity isn’t important; what matters is the fighting strength I can provide, isn’t it?”

The old man silently glanced at Mima a few times, without saying a word or making a move, simply waiting for Unohana and Kuchiki Ginrei to regroup.

The vice-captains who participated in the interference operation and Byakuya have all retreated, leaving only five people in the sky.

The flames on An Cang Yu Shou's body had been completely consumed, and the oppressive force surrounding him had also disappeared. He walked forward with ease, his body covered in burns, but they were also healing rapidly. In just a few steps, he had already recovered to a completely healed state.

"Another person?" An Cangyu glanced at Mi Zhen: "It doesn't matter, as long as we defeat you all."

Although his words were frightening, he stood still, clearly assessing Mima's abilities.

Judging from the spiritual pressure, this new guy is about the same as that old man with hair, but his confident attitude is obviously suspicious... Does he have some special ability?

Let's be cautious.

"Captain, I suggest we trust this man for now." Kuchiki Ginryo's lips moved slightly as he spoke in Ten Ting Kong Luo's group chat channel: "Whatever his purpose is, he has already shown us his sincerity by saving Byakuya, and we do need help—I really don't have the confidence to break through the enemy's armor and steel plates, and the bottle of medicine that was supposed to be given to me has also been taken by this man."

“I second that,” Unohana added. “The battle must end as soon as possible, and Kyoraku and the others can’t be back anytime soon. Even if this man is suspicious, the benefits of accepting him clearly outweigh the drawbacks.”

The old man frowned and pondered for a moment, then nodded without saying anything, which was his way of indicating his agreement.

So Kuchiki Ginrei took the initiative to come to Mima's side, bowed and said, "Although I don't know where you came from, I must thank you for saving Byakuya."

"It was nothing." Mijin shrugged, pretending not to have heard anything. "I'm not used to watching other people die in front of me."

"Since you're considering joining the battle, I'll leave it to you," said Kuchiki Ginrei. "That bottle of medicine... since you specifically took it, you must know how to use it?"

Mima casually offered a reason: "I just happened to overhear it."

Rotten Wood Silver Ridge didn't investigate further, but simply nodded to indicate that he understood.

"After all, it was an intervention midway through."

Mijin added, "To show my sincerity... let me go first."

Then, he stepped forward, carrying the knife, and stood at the front of the group.

Perhaps wanting to see his abilities, the three captains remained silent and showed no intention of rushing forward together, allowing Mima to confidently step forward.

So, how do you fight against Dark Azure Mage?

His ability to absorb spiritual pressure would greatly reduce the effectiveness of ranged attacks, and his Hollow-like steel-skin defense was far superior to that of a Shinigami!

Using the Ghost Path warehouse to inflate damage directly should be feasible, but the past life skin makes it inconvenient to use that thing, so it won't work.

The primary objective is still to administer medicine to Anzang Yushou.

The appropriate course of action is then quite obvious.

Close combat.

With the Rabbit Talisman by his side, the melee combat ability of the previous life skin should be much higher than that of the Flowing Moon skin.

I just don't know exactly how much "much" Nigetsu Shigure meant when he said "much more efficient than Ryugetsu".

Anyway, with the rabbit talisman tied to my body, I have plenty of opportunities to try and fail.

Let's treat this as an experiment. Let's go up and slash a couple of times first. If that doesn't work, we'll blur it out.

Although blurring out in front of Old Man Shan was somewhat tantamount to asking for trouble, with a common enemy in front of them, Old Man Shan was not so naive as to attack his own side.

At worst, we'll fight and run.

"Then please."

Mima raised the Ryugetsu, whispered something, and began to pour spiritual pressure into it like a flood.

Then the blade suddenly lit up.

It wasn't the entire blade, but the edge, and the amount of condensed spiritual pressure was not much, at most only about 0.05 times that of Kensei.

After all, he doesn't have the divine sword right now, and his spiritual pressure is limited. If he were to unleash a single strike that could take out five or six cartloads of spirits, he would be knocked out in just a few rounds.

But isn't this efficiency a bit too high? How long did it take from inputting spiritual pressure to completing the condensation? Less than 0.2 seconds, right?

And it's more than that.

If Liuyue condenses a cartload of spiritual pressure, she can only produce the power of that cartload. But the spiritual pressure condensed by Niyue Shigure seems to be able to exceed expectations, blasting a cartload of spiritual pressure with the power of two cartloads!

Holy crap, awesome! As expected of my Bankai, even without releasing it, I can still increase my combat power in this way.

After confirming the situation, Mima leaped out with a movement as silent as a shadow.

The rabbit-shaped talisman's enhancement made the rabbit's movements noticeably faster than An Cang Yushou's. Although the latter reacted and immediately intercepted with his divine sword, he was slightly slower, allowing Mi Zhen to seize the opportunity when the rabbit's strength faltered. The blade and the divine sword crossed paths and pierced directly into An Cang Yushou's chest.

However, when the blade entered within about thirty centimeters of An Cang Yu Shou, its speed suddenly decreased.

Although it still took advantage of being caught off guard and managed to stab An Cang Yu Shou in the chest, it didn't even break through the seemingly fragile crystal armor, let alone penetrate the steel.

This is really troublesome... No wonder they were able to gain a suppressive advantage over Old Man Shan and his group.

If Shihouin Hyakugetsu is cheating by selling resurrection armor in bulk, then Ansou Mitsu is a rather simple stat monster—he's incredibly tanky while also dealing high damage, making him unbeatable.

If Mima were to fight alone, he would definitely not be a match for Ansou Mitsu, even after his recent leap in strength.

But the current situation is a brawl.

When his first strike failed, Mizhen immediately passed by An Cangyu.

After flying a distance, it made a sharp 15-degree turn, turning back without slowing down, and thrusting its blade towards the back of the Dark Azure Warrior.

In that less than 0.2 seconds, Nizuki Shigure immediately applied the same buff to the sword as before.

Unable to turn around to deal with the situation, An Cang Yu Shou simply delivered an elbow strike to his back.

The large crystal armor on his arm collided with Liuyue.

The second attempt was also unsuccessful.

Mi Zhen continued to use the same trick, the third, fourth, and fifth strikes... With the overlapping blades, fragments of red crystal flew everywhere.

For a moment, the air was filled with Mi Zhen's lingering image.