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

Somehow, her clear, youthful voice had a soft, gentle quality to it, even her screams possessed this quality:

"Death is coming!!"

She hurriedly pulled a curved knife from beside the table, then leaped back to confront Mizhen.

"..."

If I'm not mistaken... this guy's hands seem to be shaking...

What's going on... this embarrassing atmosphere?

Chapter Seven: Anise

Unlike the period when Ichigo Kurosaki was active, the Soul Society has been quite peaceful in recent decades. No heroes have come out to cause trouble, and even the battle against the Gillian can be considered a grand event.

Peace is certainly a good thing, but it has directly led to a lack of combat experience among the new generation of recruits (except for the 11th Division). For example, even though Mima has climbed to the position of the 5th Seat of the 8th Division, he has only personally experienced about 20 battles, and all of them were just beating up small Hollows while on field missions, which did not cultivate any awareness at all.

Even so, he could tell that his opponent was incredibly weak.

An unstable stance, misaligned blade, failure to focus all attention on the enemy, and even unconsciously retreating.

Adjuchas? That's it?

It's important to understand that, putting aside ordinary Hollows, almost all of the Great Hollows have fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Even a lazybones like Stark possesses extraordinary combat abilities, not to mention the other Espada who rose to their positions purely through fighting.

Great Hollow may be weak, but he won't back down—at least not from the start!

So who exactly is this genius...?

Feeling a strong sense of unease, Mima raised her hand and tentatively unleashed a small combo.

"Binding Path Sixty-Three: Chain Binding!" A chain made of golden light shot out, coiling around the Great Void like a serpent, and then suddenly tightened.

"Breaking Path No. 63: Thunder Roar Cannon!"

A burst of blazing golden-white lightning erupted from Mi Zhen's hand, instantly striking forward like a cannonball.

It slammed solidly into the head of the Great Hollow, who had just been bound by the Binding Spell Chains.

The battle ends here.

The thunder dispersed.

The beautiful white hair of the Great Hollow swelled up from the electricity, while her body was covered in charred black marks. She fell face down with a thud.

Mima: "???"

What...what is this? Why did it collapse like that? You're Adjuchas, right? Apologize to Nnoitra and Grimmjow right now! You've disgraced the entire Hollow archetype!

If I go back and brag that I took down an Adjuchas-class Hollow in two moves, all my friends will laugh at me for lying!

To prevent this guy from pretending to be something he's not, Mima deliberately released another white lightning bolt, but she just twitched on the ground and her spiritual pressure didn't react, like a salted fish that had come ashore.

Wow, they're really bad!

With a lingering sense of caution, Mima thoughtfully provided the Hollow with several more high-level binding spells, then stood at the doorway of the room, lost in thought.

do not know why……

Despite having easily defeated the enemy, he felt even more exhausted than when he first went into battle.

Damn it... give me back all the tension I've been building up for...

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

Anise opened her eyes, feeling dizzy.

She instinctively wanted to move.

But he found himself trapped in place by something, only able to remain in a slumped position.

She was still in her workshop, sitting in her own chair, but now a man dressed in a Shinigami uniform stood before her—

It's Death!

Oh right, he knocked me down...

"I'll ask, you answer, understand?"

For some reason, the male Grim Reaper's eyes were very empty, as if he had just lost something important. But with her life at stake, Anise didn't dare to think too much and could only nod frantically.

"Name?"

“A...Anniesh Bionis.”

"What are you doing here?"

“Helping Lord Szayelaporro look after his experimental subjects, and... and also creating my self-defense doll.”

"A black cavity that can't be closed has recently appeared in Soul Society, and many Hollows are emerging from it. Do you have any clues about it?"

It’s really for this!

At this point, Anise felt that her life was over, and tears streamed down her face like a spring.

"?"

—Even Mima is completely baffled by her.

Are you kidding me? Why do I seem more like the villain?

My previous feeling wasn't an illusion; this guy really does have a soft, feminine style.

Because the upper left corner of the Hollow's mask was blasted off by his Thunder Roar Cannon, one could see a tearful eye. Its soft and easily bullied appearance instantly transformed him, the righteous messenger who came to protect the people, into a villain torturing an innocent girl...

I'm still using the public microphone... If there are two talkative people on the other end, who knows what my reputation will be like...

Anise sniffed, hesitated, and then spoke, "That...that is..."

"speak nicely!"

"babble--!"

He realized something was wrong as soon as he yelled it out. He had meant to stop the atmosphere from spiraling out of control, but it had the opposite effect—the woman was so frightened that she held back her tears. If you ignored the issue of their identities, it was obvious who the perpetrator was.

Tired, destroy it...

"That was... I was released into a Hollow in Soul Society on Lord Szayelaporro's orders... the purpose was to hunt souls for experimental materials." Anise said with a mournful face, revealing something incredible. The members of the Technology Development Bureau on the other end of the line immediately went into a frenzy, with discussions rising and falling—unfortunately, it was too technical for Mima to understand what they were saying at all.

Now that things had come to this, Mi Zhen simply put on a completely black face and coldly asked, "Continue, who is Szayelaporro?"

"Lord Szayelaporro is... a researcher at Las Noches."

The Hueco Mundo Palace wasn't exactly new knowledge, so Mima didn't ask about it.

"Release power? What exactly do you mean?"

“…I wasn’t originally a Hollow.” Anise hiccuped. “But I could open my Dark Chamber more easily than other Hollows. Lord Szayelaporro saw this and had me absorb a lot of Gillian, saying…saying that I might be of great use in the future…”

So that’s it.

It turns out he was just a drug-addicted player leveling up. His bronze-level awareness was playing in a master-level match, it would be a miracle if he didn't get completely destroyed.

"Later... I became an Adjuchas. As long as I use an item that stores my spiritual pressure, I can maintain the vortex. The purpose of this experiment was to test the durability of my ability... I didn't want to, but if I didn't obey Lord Szayelaporro, I would be killed... so... so I had no choice but to do it..."

Chapter 8: Szayelaporro's Attack

It turned out to be the case.

At this time, Szayelaporro, who was still Vasto Lorde, discovered a Hollow with unique power. For the purpose of experimentation, he forcibly fed this Hollow to the Adjuchas level, which is why there was the strange phenomenon that although its spiritual pressure was not weak, its combat power was only five.

For Hollow, a more flexible grotto would certainly be valuable, but considering that Anise has never appeared in the comics, this value is obviously limited. Her fate may be to be forgotten in some corner, or she may simply be killed by Szayelaporro in his experiments or in his anger. Neither outcome is optimistic.

[Task 2: Uncover the Truth Behind the Black Cavity (Completed)]

[Rewards are being distributed, please check your account]

The system promptly displayed a notification.

This ensures the authenticity of the intelligence.

For him, the purpose of this Hueco Mundo exploration has been achieved. As long as he takes care of a few weak Hollows on the way back, he can get the other reward, and then he can perfectly conclude the journey. He will get a bonus and get rid of the risk of demotion. He is really winning big.

Other matters are also quite simple. It's just a matter of waiting for Urahara to verify the information, collecting some spiritual pressure samples from Enishit, or handing her over directly to the Technology Development Bureau so that those tech fanatics can find a way to prevent similar incidents from happening again in Soul Society...

Hmm, killing her right here seems like an option.

After all, many people in Rukongai had died because of the black hole she opened, so this strike was a way of getting justice for them.

The voices on the other end of the call were chaotic, seemingly the members of the Technology Development Bureau analyzing the data they had obtained using their helmets. Mima ignored them, leaning against the door frame, casually flicking his sword, and slowly moving Ryugetsu to Anise's neck.

There are still some things I need to verify before leaving.

"answer me."

Looking directly into those utterly terrified eyes, Mi asked sincerely, "You said that this was orchestrated by that guy named Szayelaporro, is that true?"

"...Yes! It's true!"

"This question could determine your life or death, so please don't lie to me."

He narrowed his eyes, his tone almost sinister, "You didn't do it willingly, did you?"

As if terrified into silence, Anise could only nod frantically. After a long while, she finally stopped crying and choked out, "I never intended to offend Death... but if I disobeyed, I would be killed... I'm... I'm sorry..."

It's like a living, breathing image of people being forced into battle...

It's really strange... that a race like the Hollows, whose brains are only filled with killing and eating, would have such a scoundrel. It's true that the world is full of wonders.

However, it doesn't seem like he's lying.

Mimi's lips twitched twice, and her face, which had been tense and focused on being the villain, relaxed. However, Anise seemed not to notice this. She was still repeating her apologies like a broken record, not daring to lift her head, looking like she had been traumatized.

It's a Great Hollow, after all; it shouldn't be so scary as to cause serious harm...

Fortunately, the Technology Development Bureau seems to have completed the initial sorting out and started communicating with Mima again, which can be considered as rescuing him from a delicate embarrassment.

"Keep that Hollow under control... The communicator has a built-in camera function, please try to record as much video footage of this facility as possible, you might find something useful... Wait, Fifth Seat Watanabe, a powerful spiritual pressure is rapidly approaching you!"

The sound suddenly became louder.

But Urahara didn't need to explain; Yama, who was there, had a more direct understanding of it.

It was as if they had suddenly sunk into a cold, deep sea, and a spiritual pressure almost as large as that of a captain-level being suddenly enveloped the entire building.