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

Instantly, Mi Zhen's spiritual pressure directly struck An Cang Yu Shou, accompanied by a dazzling, blazing crimson flame.

"boom!"

A massive fireball, which had already crushed many buildings in Seireitei with its blast, suddenly appeared in mid-air!

Chapter 138: A Less-than-Perfect Victory

A fireball, like a newborn sun, slowly rose before Mima's eyes.

The old man used all his strength in that strike; it's no exaggeration to say that if the battlefield hadn't been in the sky, the entire Seireitei would probably have been blasted to the ground on the spot.

If he and Mi Zhen hadn't deliberately compressed the blast radius, the fireball would have been dozens or even hundreds of times larger.

This is much more exciting than the Five Dragons Reversal Annihilation that I did not long ago when I fought Shihōin Hyakugetsu.

But Mima still felt that something was not quite right.

He didn't believe that An Cang Yu Shou could withstand an attack of this scale.

The Grim Reaper's side has basically secured victory.

But there are still many mysteries surrounding this guy that haven't been solved.

For example, why did he obey the orders of the Tsunayo family, why did he know the true way to use the divine sword, and what was the logic behind his actions?

The first question could be explained by the fact that he was created by the Tsuna-Yashiro family, but the answer is obviously not that simple. It is hard for Mima to imagine that such a guy who doesn't care about life and death would be ordered around by a group of arrogant idiots.

So... could it be that the Tsunayo family planted some kind of control mechanism in his body?

That seems unlikely.

Dark Azure Mage's super-fast regeneration ability is far more outrageous than any Hollow that Mima has ever seen so far—you know, in the battle just now, his brain and heart were hit several times, but he recovered as if nothing had happened after a few seconds. With this kind of ability as a foundation, the material control mechanism is completely useless; you can just tear it out and throw it away.

As for controlling things like demonic arts or abilities... discussing that would be somewhat disrespectful to their devouring force field.

Ultimately, even if Mima could disregard the first and third questions, the second one was still very important.

—How exactly should the divine sword be used?

For him, finding the answer to this question wasn't difficult at all—he could simply use a time travel feature on the divine sword and see for himself. This thing was crafted by the Spirit King's artisans, so even if the time travel feature didn't show how to use it, he could just ask that deity.

But Mima has never done that.

The reason was simple: he was afraid that if he talked too much with the Spirit King, he would get into some huge trouble.

With his ability to create clones, he could tell almost anyone that he was not afraid of death, but it would be meaningless to talk about this in front of the Spirit King. As everyone knows, the source of Fullbring is the fragment of the Spirit King, which means that the Spirit King has mastered all Fullbring techniques. If he were to raise his hand and throw out a Universal Rejection to directly deny the clone ability, where would Mima go to cry?

Although the Spirit King was quite kind to him and even claimed to be friends with his future self, it was hard to imagine him suddenly deciding to kill him.

But Mi Zhen only has one life, and she really can't withstand the torment of that old immortal. She should stay as far away as possible.

It's a bit of self-deception, though...

If he didn't ask the Spirit King, he could only seek the answer from the Dark Azure Guardian.

According to the original plan, there should have been a long investigation and evidence collection process before the battle began. He would have to go through a process of getting closer to the truth step by step, which would probably take at least five or six days.

Things unfolded much faster than he had imagined... Tsunayo Fumizuki's ability to withstand pressure was truly pathetic; before he could even investigate anything, the Dark Azure Mage was already on the verge of being killed.

It's like a great detective walking in and stumbling upon the murderer...

It's a good thing, really...

But as the saying goes, earning less is the same as losing money, and just killing Dark Azure Guardian like that feels like something's missing...

Then, the fireball gradually dissipated.

"Oh..."

Mizhen stroked her chin and exclaimed in surprise.

The old man's all-out attack was no joke. The left half of Dark Azure Mage's torso was almost carbonized, his left arm and left leg were reduced to a base, and nearly a third of his head was cut off by the combined force of the Cero and flames, disappearing without a trace.

Aside from those prodigies who seem to have a built-in resurrection ability, this kind of injury would be a death sentence for anyone—their brains would be burned to a crisp, literally brain-dead. How could anyone survive like that?

But the Dark Azure Imperial Hand... could still move!

His fingers twitched a few times with difficulty, and he gripped the divine sword that had almost slipped from his grasp again. Then, he stared blankly at the sky with his only remaining right eye.

His wound showed no signs of healing...

Or rather, it's not that it doesn't exist, but rather that it's progressed so slowly that it's almost invisible to the naked eye.

That's only natural; if something injured to this extent could regenerate, then Death would be the one running away.

"Did we...fail?"

God knows how he managed to speak with his lungs and throat burned out, but he did, albeit in a very soft voice.

"Death is imminent..."

Everyone present could see that after suffering such severe damage, which could not even be called an injury, the spiritual pressure of the Dark Azure Mage had plummeted, almost to the same level as Adjuchas.

However, I did not have the feeling of impending death.

"It's still struggling..."

Having recovered, the old man of the mountain once again ignited Ryujin Jakka, took a step forward with a solemn expression, and prepared to deliver the final blow to the entire wave of attacks.

At the same time, an unsettling crimson light began to emanate from the divine sword.

Like blood that is about to dry up, the light flickers on and off, but it exudes an extremely dangerous aura.

A desperate strike?

The three who had thought of this concept immediately stopped their pursuit and watched An Cangyu's movements warily.

This is a fight, not a suicide mission.

The enemy is clearly preparing a major move; what righteous person would rush in to confront them head-on?

Looking at the flickering red light on the divine sword, they decided after a very short time to cancel their melee attack and instead switch to ranged probing.

The flames and the demonic energy were unleashed almost simultaneously.

A moment later, a strange change occurred!

Suddenly, the amorphous crimson light emanating from the divine sword expanded, transforming into a spherical "shield" that enveloped An Cang Yu Shou. Their attacks were shattered against it like waves parted by reefs.

After the smoke and dust cleared, the cover remained intact.

Mima could tell that the deep red light was essentially a high-density spiritual particle, but he didn't know what it was used for.

Some kind of attack? But it doesn't quite seem like it...

"Oh no, Captain!"

Kuchiki Ginryo, who had been responsible for area control, suddenly turned pale and knelt down in a disheveled state, but he still shouted, "This guy is going to..."

Before he could finish speaking, the deep red "cover" exploded with a loud bang!

The explosion had a short radius, less than a meter, but its intensity was astonishing, almost comparable to the combined attack by Mi Zhen and the old man of the mountain.

Self-destruct?

wrong!

Amidst the thunderous roar, Mima faintly heard another subtle noise.

That was the special "timbre" of the space vibrating when the black cavity was activated. If Mi Zhen hadn't used the black cavity so many times, he wouldn't have even noticed it.

Did the Dark Azure Guardian activate the Black Hole?

Is he trying to escape?

But isn't it forbidden to do this around here? Kuchiki Ginrei is clearly still using his Shikai to suppress it...

Mizhen glanced at Kuchiki Ginrei, whose face had suddenly turned extremely pale, and clicked his tongue helplessly.

Regardless of how Dark Azure Guardian managed to do it, he successfully broke free from the Heavenly City Decree's restraints and is about to escape from here.

"How can we let the duck that's already in our mouths grow wings and fly away!"

Mima gritted her teeth, maintaining the state of "Raging Torrent," and pushed her speed to the maximum, charging towards Ansakuo no Miko without hesitation.

Of the people present, only he was fast enough to get there before the black cavity closed... Moreover, the ethereal part of his body made him instinctively understand the basics of the black cavity's opening and closing. If he rushed there now, he might still make it in time!

Having passed through the insanely dense red spiritual particles, Mi Zhen already had multiple severe burns on his body. In this terrifying hell where nothing could be seen with the naked eye, he finally caught sight of the last fragment of a black cavity—so he immediately reached out and forcibly pried open the black cavity, which was less than five centimeters wide, and then plunged into it.

..........................................

The bright, full moon hung high in the sky, taking the place of the sun and stars, illuminating this lifeless land.

Just as the exit was about to close, Mima burst out of the dark cavity and landed on the ground, immediately turning her gaze to a withered tree not far away.

The faintly breathing Dark Azure Mage sat slumped there, his once immense spiritual pressure reduced to a negligible wisp. His internal organs and brain, which could not be covered by steel, were directly exposed—at this moment, even an ordinary Hollow could easily take his life.

The outburst just now seemed to have exhausted his last bit of strength, so much so that even though he clearly saw Mima coming, he could only sit slumped on the ground, unable to move.

"There's no point in running away."

Seeing that he had caught up with his target, Mi Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. He carried Liu Yue on his shoulder and walked step by step to a short distance from An Cang Yu Shou. Looking at this powerful figure who was about to die, he calmly said, "Since you knew that I had the power of the void, you should have thought that I could also follow the black cavity to catch up with you."

“Heh… just a gamble.” Dark Azure Guardian replied weakly, “If you catch up with me, I’ll lose—just like now.”

"Any last words?"

Mizhen raised the Flowing Moon Pointer to the Dark Azure Imperial Hand and said this.

Although there were still many questions in her mind, Mima was unwilling to give up this excellent opportunity to kill her opponent. Those guys who deliberately held back in order to find out the truth were either brain-dead or had a sure thing, but Mima was neither. It was still the right thing to do to send Ansou Mitsuhito away directly.

He wasn't trying to show off, but rather to give Shigure Uchizuki some time to condense his spiritual pressure.

With Dark Azure Mage weakened to this extent, using the Ghost Path Warehouse would be a waste; it would be easier to just kill him with a single strike.

Chapter 139: The Big One is Coming

"Last words?"

Looking at the moon in the sky, An Cang Yushi murmured to himself, "Grim Reaper, do you know about the afterlife?"

“According to the current rules, Hollows killed by Zanpakuto will be reincarnated in the human world or taken to hell.” Mima pointed the gleaming blade at the neck of the Dark Mage. “You shouldn’t be so heinous as to enter that cycle of reincarnation, so I guess you will enter the cycle of reincarnation.”

"Entering the cycle of reincarnation? That's not so bad."