Ichigo leaves and takes up residence in Soul Society!

With exceptional combat experience, he deftly sidestepped the attack.

Then, he stalked forward along the chain and kicked out like a football, striking Omaeda directly in the face, sending him flying over a hundred meters into the forest, leaving a bloody trail.

"You bastard, how dare you slap me in the face!"

Ōmaeda wiped the blood from his nose, muttering curses under his breath, his heart growing heavier and more uneasy.

too strong.

Apart from being a bit slow, no weaknesses have been found so far.

The probability of a counterattack is very low, but the probability of losing your life is very high.

When faced with an opponent like this, it's best to retreat.

Just as Ōmaeda was about to continue his escape, the Hollow suddenly sprang into action, its speed more than twice as fast as before!

"what?!"

This change made Ōmaeda's pupils shrink.

Almost immediately, the Great Hollow appeared in front of him.

This speed can't be described as "a little slow" at all; it's incredibly fast!

“You want to stall for time, and I also want to stay away from Seireitei so that you won’t discover my secret.”

Ooku grabbed Ōmaeda's wrist as he instinctively tried to retaliate with a sword swing, pinning him firmly in mid-air.

A secret? What secret?

Ōmaeda didn't understand, but he knew he had been deceived.

The other party simply found that it was difficult to catch people who were secretly moving around, and they didn't want to miss anyone, which would expose some secrets during the hunt and cause them to be revealed afterward, thus attracting the attention of the Gotei 13.

That would definitely cause unnecessary trouble for the other party and result in losses.

So he deliberately let others go and forced himself to stay away from the main group, thus creating a one-on-one private environment where he could act freely and recklessly.

"You bastard……"

Suddenly, Ōmaeda caught another strange look in the other person's eyes.

This time, being closer, he understood its meaning.

The insults that were about to come out turned into exclamations of surprise.

"You bastard, you want my Zanpakuto?"

Yes, the other person was looking at his five-faced head with a strange gaze.

"See? It's too easy to be discovered. But instincts are really hard to control, so I have to be careful. Otherwise, if Death finds me, it won't be very friendly to me."

Daiki grinned.

The sight of three heads laughing at the same time was quite terrifying.

But his motives are even more chilling upon closer examination.

"What good will it do you to do this?!"

A flicker of panic rose in Ōmaeda's heart. This was the first time someone had coveted the Grim Reaper's weapon. Could it be...?

"That goes without saying, of course it's...eating."

The Great Void stuck out three tongues and licked its teeth, its cruel and greedy gaze sweeping over the Five Elements.

"I was surprised myself that I could evolve by eating the weapons of the Shinigami, but this is probably also related to my ability to devour metal and the fact that the Shinigami's sword looks to be made of metal."

"Zanpakuto tastes much better than metal, especially the swords wielded by powerful Shinigami. It's a pity that I only realized this a few years ago. If it were a thousand or even two thousand years ago, I would have become the king of Hueco Mundo long ago."

"So you arrested the missing students and administrators, took their knives, and then brutally murdered them?!"

Ohmaeda Hitomi earthquake.

"My original intention was to capture them and force them to attract a stronger Grim Reaper, but I didn't expect that the seemingly easier-to-bully brats would be so difficult to deal with. Even though they had conflicts with each other, they showed no intention of admitting defeat. They really don't know what's good for them."

"On the contrary, the older Grim Reaper was much better than the two kids. His attitude was softening, so I locked him in the cave and planned to persuade him slowly."

Da Xu's tone was full of regret.

"You just happened to come at this time. To be honest, I'm both angry and happy. Although my plans were interrupted, it seems like I've achieved my goal."

"So, do you want to cooperate with me? You are much stronger than that guy who may have been buried by rubble, and you should be more sensible and more suitable as my partner, the future king of Hueco Mundo—Cheese Cucabro."

Ōmaeda was taken aback upon hearing this, then suddenly realized what was happening.

"Is this why you've been talking to me so much?"

"So, your answer is—?"

Kess's expectant expression was mixed with a chilling murderous intent.

To be honest, being forced to endure such ominous and powerful spiritual pressure at close range is very unpleasant.

Even having a knife to your neck would be more comfortable than this.

However, surprisingly, Ōmaeda showed no fear whatsoever; in fact, he seemed to want to laugh, his rough voice conveying a sense of disdain.

"Hey, Great Hollow."

"It is Kes Cucabro."

"I don't care what your name is. In my eyes, you're just a brutal Hollow. I don't know how that unlucky guy who got crushed to death chose, but if you look down on Shinigami, especially high-ranking Shinigami, because of me, the captain will definitely kill me."

So you mean you're going to refuse?

"If I had to say, I made the same choice as those two stubborn brats."

"...Is that so? Then you can all die."

After a moment of silence, Kess began to gather a blinding scarlet light on both sides of his head.

"Well, I expected that reaction."

Ōmaeda took a deep breath and then raised his spiritual pressure to its peak. No matter what, he couldn't just sit and wait to die.

"You actually think you can recruit Shinigami? You clueless Hollow, I'll show you the backbone of the Second Division!"

puff!

Suddenly, almost without warning, a sharp blade emerged from Kess's chest.

A few drops of blood splattered on Ōmaeda's face.

The latter was so shocked that he lost his voice, and the intense spiritual pressure he had been unleashing froze for a moment.

"what?"

This time, it was Kels's turn to be filled with shock and anger.

He grabbed Ōmaeda's arm and shoved him behind his back.

But the attacker anticipated this and drew his knife, then ducked low, avoiding being hit.

Judging from his figure and posture, he is clearly a member of the Four Palaces.

"Wow ah ah!"

Turning into a human cannonball, Ōmaeda screamed in fright in mid-air, completely unlike his previous heroic and fearless demeanor when he confronted the Hollows.

The pupils of the Fourth Prince glowed blue as the spiritual pressure surged to its peak.

His crouching body sprang up like a cheetah, his Zanpakuto slashing upwards from below. A cold glint flashed and disappeared, more poignant than moonlight, slicing open the inside of Kels's wrist. The wound was so deep that bone was visible, and dark red blood sprayed in mid-air.

Kesseborg, in pain, released Ōmaeda, sending him flying out of control.

Fortunately, Hachihara reached out from a tree and accurately grabbed his collar, then, like Tarzan, slipped into the forest.

"court death!"

Enraged and wanting to retaliate against the Four Palace Master, the Hollow's feet were encased in rocks that had burst from the ground.

Although he broke free from Rindo and the unknown binding spell he was using with all his might in less than two seconds.

But during this time, a thick golden bolt of lightning struck from afar, its power overwhelming, like a thunder beast pouncing on Da Ke Si.

It was accompanied by dazzling lightning and charred fragments of flesh and blood.

Severely injured, Kess followed in Ōmaeda's footsteps and flew far away like a kite with a broken string.

This is still not the end.

In the direction he flew off to, Ichigo, who had been waiting for a long time, did not miss the opportunity. Without hesitation, he leaped out of the bushes, flashed, and slashed horizontally with his sword, splitting the mangled body of Kels into two pieces.

Chapter Sixteen: "Invisible Scale"

Rewind five minutes.

In the dark thicket of the forest, Shinomiya-sama, Shiba Kukaku, Ichigo, Hachiyahara, Rindo, and the other five tried their best to suppress their spiritual pressure and eliminate their aura.

"coming!"

Seeing Ōmaeda and Kyōichi chasing each other to this place, everyone's spirits lifted.

"You guessed right again."

Shiba Kukaku muttered to himself.

"Thanks to Luntang for providing the perspective."

The Four Palaces did not claim all the credit.

Indeed, although he speculated that Ōmaeda would not abandon his subordinates to escape alone, but would try to lure his opponents away before considering how to escape or even counterattack.

However, it is not an easy task to ambush them on their inevitable route.

Thanks to Rindou's ability to communicate with animals, and by using the countless small animals in the Rukongai wilderness as eyes and ears to transmit information and keep track of Ōmaeda and Utsuro's movements, they were able to make some predictions.

"That's what I said, but you also guessed that Ōmaeda was going to change his route here, right?"

Shiba Kukaku spoke with considerable certainty.

The Fourth Prince replied in a seemingly random and unrelated manner.

"Going any further would take us beyond Runlin'an territory; it's too far and unsafe."

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo didn't quite understand.

"It means that guy is a coward who doesn't want to get entangled with the enemy for too long. He just wants to lure the enemy to the reinforcements as soon as possible. So, seeing that he's about to leave Runlin'an, he'll definitely be unable to resist changing his route."

Ba Ba Yuan covered her mouth and chuckled.

"I understand now."

Ichigo suddenly realized.

"Prepare for action."

The words of the Four Palace Master caused everyone's expressions to turn solemn.

"I'll make the first move and find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Even if I fail to kill him, I should be able to save Ōmaeda."

"Hachihara, cooperate with me and take Ōmaeda away. Don't give them a chance to take a hostage."

"Rindou, find a way to limit the target and help me retreat. You and I will draw the enemy's attention to create an opportunity for Miss Kukaku to kill her in one fell swoop."

"To be on the safe side, if Miss Kukaku launches an attack from this side, then Brother Kurosaki, go further ahead and block her escape route. At that time, no matter what the opponent's situation is, finish her off as soon as you see her, understand?"

Sneak attack, assassination, finishing blow.

The triple offensive is interconnected, not particularly difficult, but highly practical.

Shiba Kukaku opened his mouth, but only managed to utter one sentence: "You promised that I would be in command."

"Miss Kukaku, if you have a better solution, feel free to share it. But I suggest you explain it in less than a hundred words. We have plenty of time, but Ōmaeda doesn't have much."

The tone of Shinomiya-sensei was flat. Coincidentally, Ōmaeda, who was in everyone's sight, was being grabbed by the arm by a Hollow, and looked like he was already half a prisoner. The situation was quite serious.

"Alright, we'll do it your way. But how are you going to ambush them?"

Shiba Sora questioned him with suspicion.

“I admit that you are very perceptive. Even if you are cramming at the last minute, you can still learn and apply the experience I gave you on eliminating aura and suppressing spiritual pressure.”

"But to launch a sneak attack from behind on an Adjuchas that looks quite formidable, only the Commander-in-Chief of the Covert Command could probably do that. I can't help you with that."