Miyako Shiba, Kaien Shiba’s wife, was a seated officer of the Thirteenth Division and possessed strength befitting her position.
She had trained extensively in Zankensoki, the four fundamental combat arts of a Soul Reaper, and had attained Shikai with her Zanpakuto long ago.
That was why she had been confident even a few hours earlier, when Kaien and Rukia—the girl who constantly followed him around—had seen her off.
"Be careful, Miyako. Several Soul Reapers have already fallen victim to it. Even though it’s a resident-type Hollow, an emergency order was issued. They must consider it extremely dangerous."
"Don’t worry. I’ll only investigate it from a distance and leave its elimination to you."
"P-Please be careful out there, Lady Miyako!"
"Thank you. You keep working hard at your training too, Rukia."
Rukia’s eyes sparkled whenever she looked at Miyako. Miyako found it so endearing that she wanted to buy the girl something to eat every time she saw her.
But there was one other youngster who was always with Kaien and Rukia.
Sometimes it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, and his confidence seemed to come and go, but he worked harder than anyone else.
"Where is Ryunosuke?"
"I haven’t seen him all day. That bastard does disappear like this from time to time, but that’s...."
"Only when he’s injured... I’m worried."
"What’s there to worry about? He always shows up the next day perfectly fine. Miyako, you just focus on your mission."
"Hehe. Then I really will be going now, darling."
Miyako’s mission was reconnaissance. Even if things went wrong, she believed she could at least retreat safely with her subordinates.
Her Zanpakuto possessed more than enough power for that.
But not even in her wildest dreams had Miyako imagined that her Zanpakuto might suddenly vanish without warning, leaving only its hilt behind.
After all, even if one searched through the entire history of Soul Reapers, there was no precedent for an ability that could destroy a Zanpakuto.
"Heeheeheeahahaha! You’re every bit as stupid as you smell, prey!"
The Hollow had a quadrupedal body and thick, hair-like tentacles extending from behind its grotesque mask.
The instant her Zanpakuto came into contact with the Hollow’s body, its blade crumbled like dust.
"!!!"
"Lady Miyako!"
Faced with a phenomenon that seemed to defy common sense itself, she froze for an instant and exposed an opening.
As though it had been waiting for that very moment, the Hollow thrust out a tentacle.
Thud!
"Minamoto!!!"
The rank-and-file officer supporting Miyako threw himself in front of her and saved her.
The sensation of her subordinate’s blood spraying through the air before her eyes finally snapped Miyako back to her senses.
As the senior officer, she had a duty to—
"Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen!"
A cluster of light formed in midair, its lines tracing an inverted triangle.
Three shining fangs shot from its corners and pinned Metastacia against the cliff.
"Heeheehee... I’ll shatter a binding spell this pathetic in no time!"
It was right. Miyako knew that a Bakudō in the thirties, cast without an incantation, could not restrain that Hollow for long.
But that was enough.
"All personnel, listen up!"
As long as it bought her enough time to issue orders to her subordinates, that was all she needed.
"All personnel are to recover the wounded immediately, scatter, and retreat. Your primary objective is survival. Your secondary objective is to relay information about the enemy!"
And every Soul Reaper was prepared to lay down their life.
"I will remain here and hold the Hollow back."
"But... Lady Miyako...!!!"
"I will not tolerate insubordination. Carry out my orders immediately."
"...Yes!!!"
Boom!!
The Thirteenth Division investigation unit began to scatter almost simultaneously with Metastacia breaking free of the binding spell.
"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"
As if she had been waiting for it, Miyako unleashed the destructive spell, but it produced little effect.
Even destructive spells in the thirties aren’t enough....
"Heeheehee... What an amusing little trick, woman."
"Is that so? I’m glad. I’ll show you something even more amusing."
Hee—
"It had better be very amusing...."
The Hollow crawled on all fours, letting out a chilling sneer.
"Because if it isn’t, I’ll hunt down your precious comrades one by one and chew them up right before your eyes... Heehee!"
**
"Ryunosuke, that mountain ahead of us is where the mission is taking place!"
"I’ll search for them."
There was a Kidō perfectly suited to locating allies.
"Black and white net! Twenty-two bridges! Sixty-six crowns and belts! Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line... Form a circle and fly through the heavens! Bakudō #77: Tenteikūra!"
Tenteikūra.
It was a Kidō originally developed to transmit one’s voice to allies across a battlefield.
I twisted its function slightly and used it to identify and locate our allies.
"I’ve confirmed life signs from all ten members of the investigation unit. However, two of the signals appear to be in danger. One of them is stationary halfway up the mountain... It appears Third Seat Miyako is fighting the Hollow."
"And the other?"
"We’ll encounter it shortly if we continue in this direction. It appears one of the officers is retreating while carrying a wounded comrade."
There was no time to hesitate. However, it was obvious that if we left a critically wounded officer unattended, they would soon die.
We had to divide our roles.
"Captain, I’m not skilled at healing arts. Please leave the Hollow and Third Seat Miyako to me. Treat the wounded officer, then follow after me."
"...I’m trusting you."
We soon encountered an officer running with a wounded comrade on his back, but I rushed past without slowing down.
Perhaps because he had been carrying an injured person, the place where we encountered him was not very far from Miyako.
I did not know exactly how strong Metastacia was, though I could now see it in the distance.
I could estimate its Reiatsu, but that alone did not reveal the full extent of its strength.
The only thing I knew for certain was that it had defeated Kaien head-on when he was barehanded and without his Zanpakuto.
But uncertainty was no excuse to lose my nerve and retreat now.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
First, I would use Kidō to blast that bastard away from Miyako.
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