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

Then a flash of light—

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

"Oh no, Captain Urahara! We've lost contact with Fifth Seat Watanabe!"

"...Don't worry, it's Watanabe's 'clone' that's attacking, he won't be in danger."

Kisuke Urahara quickly scanned the last data transmitted from the spiritual pressure analyzer on the communicator, then frowned deeply, "The attack... was a Cero!"

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

A moment after being enveloped by the powerful spiritual pressure, a blazing flash of light blasted in from outside the building.

Watanabe Yama's body instantly turned to ashes—

Then the flash stopped.

Mizhen's voice suddenly rang out in the empty air.

“Remove it, Ryugetsu.”

Just like forcibly inserting frames into a video, the world felt "out of place" for a moment, and then his figure appeared unharmed in the place where he had just been attacked.

But the helmet on his head was gone.

He gripped his Zanpakuto and used spiritual energy to create a foothold in mid-air.

Then he looked down at the guy who was attacking him.

—It was a pink-haired man wearing a demon mask, with strange tree-like structures extending from his left and right backs, the branches laden with abundant fruit.

Without a doubt, this is Szayelaporro Granz before he was shattered, a true Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, whose clones are even dangerous enough to fight Kenpachi Zaraki.

"A sudden sneak attack?" Mima pointed his sword at Szayelaporro and sneered, "That's not very polite."

"Oh dear, I don't want to talk about etiquette with a death god who has trespassed into my territory without permission."

Szayelaporro spread his arms wide and, as if in a hymn of praise, proclaimed, "Nice to meet you, you rude wretch—"

As he spoke, the branches extending from his back once again gathered a burst of light.

False flash!

An even more powerful and intense Cero once again enveloped Mima's figure.

Chapter Nine: Battle

To be honest, Mima was a little angry.

He may be a lazy bum, but a lazy bum without principles is no different from a dead person; there will always be something that can move him.

For example... his temper wasn't good enough to speak politely to an attacker who had just unleashed a deadly attack on him.

Furthermore, when he read the comics back then, he really disliked this pervert!

The same applies to the interrogation of Anise.

Why is it that someone with such a carefree and unconventional personality like him can make so many friends in the Gotei 13? Firstly, it's because no matter how much he slacks off, he has his limits and won't cause any irreparable trouble. Secondly, it's about his character.

According to his friends, Watanabe Yama may have been lazy, but he never strayed from the right path.

He wears many masks, but this trait is not fake.

So, if Anise is a villain who enjoys unleashing monsters to slaughter people, then he should send her to have a serious talk with Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

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

After the flash faded... Szayelaporro once again felt that same sense of unease.

Upon closer inspection, the Grim Reaper was still standing perfectly fine in the distance, not even the hem of his clothes was dirty.

……Why?

If it were just dodging or blocking, that would be one thing, but he clearly had the feel of turning a human body to ashes, so why was this Grim Reaper still unharmed?

Could it be a phantom or a puppet or something similar standing there?

He wasn't the only one troubled.

Feeling the remaining spiritual energy in his body, Mi Zhen clicked his tongue in amazement, already deciding the outcome of this battle.

No, we can't win.

If he were to take out all the Kido he had stored away at once, that would be a different story, but that was something he had reserved for the Quincy or some other great enemy, and he couldn't easily waste it on something like this.

He currently lacks the ability to use Bankai, and his mastery of Kido is not particularly advanced. With only these abilities, he would surely die in a fight against a Vasto Lorde.

But, as I said before, he's now in a clone, and he's not afraid of death.

The method of recovering from the damage of Cero is a technique used by Ryugetsu, namely "erasing a period of time that he has experienced." It is similar to but different from the Crimson King in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. On the one hand, he does not have the means to foresee the future and cannot compare with the latter in terms of flexibility, but he also has his own unique advantages.

Liu Yue's "removal" can be "scheduled for a time", for example, "remove three seconds of my time in one hour".

He can specify the "time reduction" result to occur at a specific time period, which is why the phenomenon of being able to activate his ability even after being turned to ashes by Cero occurs.

But of course, there are also drawbacks.

—Very mana-intensive.

At his current level, he can eliminate time a maximum of six times a day, which is enough to completely deplete his spiritual power.

It should be noted that Mi Zhen's mana bar was enough to support him to release the Black Coffin without chanting more than ten times, which shows how huge the time reduction cost was.

Furthermore, in his Shikai state, all of Ryugetsu's abilities can only affect Mima himself, and he has no means of attacking externally. He can only rely on Kido to make up for this. However, due to the limitations of spiritual pressure, even if he can release Kido No. 90 or higher, its power is definitely not comparable to Aizen's.

He only had so many cards left. He didn't need to kill Szayelaporro or cause him any great damage, but he at least needed to leave a mark on him that would be difficult to erase in the short term.

As for the opportunity... I think it's now!

"Wow? Interesting ability." Szayelaporro stepped forward.

Mima, who had twice escaped his attacks unscathed, was clearly eager to engage in conversation.

This is exactly what Mima wanted.

Although Szayelaporro's Cero is incredibly powerful, he could block it with his Severance, so there was no need to use it, which would take a huge amount of time to clear. The reason for doing so was to "create an air of mystery" and make Szayelaporro wary of him, thus creating an opening for him to attack.

"Want to fight?"

Standing in mid-air, Mima raised his hand, causing the light of the demonic path to gather: "I will fight for you."

Szayelaporro's mind went blank, and he immediately decided to use the Whirlwind to leave the spot.

But Mijin was faster than him.

Six Staffs of Light Prison!

Abandoning the chanting, and even omitting the step of reciting the name, the six beams of light appeared without warning on Szayelaporro's waist.

Nine Luminaries Bind.

A hundred-step balustrade.

Nine dark spirits followed closely behind, suppressing Szayelaporro to the point of being unable to move an inch. Then came a row of javelin-shaped barriers of light, completing the encirclement.

Step one, restraint, complete.

Next comes the attack.

"Broken Dao No. 88: The flying dragon strikes the thief and the sky-shaking thunder cannon!"

With a loud shout, a torrent of azure ghostly energy, thicker than himself and accompanied by lightning, roared and engulfed Szayelaporro, who had just broken free from a piece of light.

But that's not all!

He sheathed his sword, clasped his hands together in a claw-like shape, and began chanting at a speed that was almost imperceptible.

"At the edge of a thousand hands, the unreachable dark hand, the unilluminating archer of the heavens, on the path where light falls, the wind that ignites the spark, when we gather, there is no need for confusion, follow my command: Light Bullet, Eight Bodies, Nine Strips, Heavenly Scripture, Swift Treasure, Great Wheel, the gray turret, draws its bow towards the distance, and vanishes in a radiant glow—"

"you--"

Szayelaporro, his body charred black by the Dragon Strike Thunder Cannon, roared in exasperation and finally unleashed the full power of a Vastod-class Hollow. With a wave of his hands, the Six Staffs of Light Prison shattered instantly, five of the Nine Luminaries Bind were destroyed, and the upper half of the Hundred Steps Barrier was completely broken off. He was about to break free.

"late."

Mima sneered and continued with the final incantation: "Hado No. 91 - Senju Kyoten Taipa!"

Dozens of pink orbs of light shot out with incredible speed, completely enveloping Szayelaporro, who was tearing apart the last clump of Nine Luminaries Binding.

But he was not happy about successfully hitting his opponent.

"The power is still too weak..."

As the one who unleashed the Kido, Mima didn't need to use his eyes to see; he could clearly understand his battle results just by feeling: despite the dazzling sound and light effects of that combo, it only barely tore through Szayelaporro's steel armor, and the actual damage was minimal.

And this completely enraged the opponent!

Within the smoke created by the ghostly path, a dark light flickered.

The heaviness of spiritual pressure surged dramatically in that instant!

Like a flood, the black streak of light tore through the air and hurtled toward Mima with unstoppable speed!

Wang Xu’s flash!

Chapter 10: Multi-line Operations

Inside the barracks of the 8th Division in Soul Society.

Mima, who was lying in the captain's rest room, suddenly twitched a few times, then sat up, coughed violently, and his spiritual pressure level suddenly plummeted.

Chunshui, who was working and smoking a pipe nearby, was startled and immediately went over to support Mizhen's back to help him catch his breath, her tone full of concern.

"Yama, how is it? Did something happen in Hueco Mundo?"

"It might be... cough... a Vastod..."

Mima was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down her forehead, but she still persisted in answering:

"I was ambushed... but it's nothing... it's just a depletion of spiritual energy, it won't be long... cough... before I recover."

Chunshui breathed a sigh of relief, told Mizhen to lie down against the wall, and instructed, "You rest here first, I'll go and have someone notify the Fourth Division."

Seeing that Mima nodded, Shunsui turned around and strode out of the room. He found a member of the squad who was free and asked him to go to the Fourth Division to fetch someone.