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

Hmm... I'm so angry my eyes are practically bloodshot.

But they shouldn't have lost their minds yet, and they should be able to see the current situation clearly.

Running away would definitely lead to certain death. There's a large group of hidden mobile units lying in wait in the woods, and they're probably close to figuring out Shindou Ryuga's abilities. The only reason they're not coming to surround and kill him is to give him, the vice-captain, some face.

If you have any special skills, you should use them now; if you delay any longer, you'll miss your chance.

Just as Mima was thinking this, he saw a strange change occur in Shindou Ryuga's hammer.

The deep blue flames that were wrapped around the hammer... turned black.

To be precise, it was dyed black.

Throughout the battle, Ryuga Shindou was constantly releasing trace amounts of hellish miasma, the source of which was the skull mark on his forehead. When it was first imprinted, it was bright red, but as the hellish miasma continued to seep out, its color deepened, turning completely black within just a few minutes.

Then... a strange fluctuation was born!

Many strip-shaped marks appeared under my skin.

It was as if countless insects were moving about, and the hellish miasma, which had gone from "trace" to "vast," directly dyed his flames black.

The spiritual pressure didn't increase, but for some reason, this guy looked many times more dangerous than before.

...And it's strange, shouldn't hellish miasma be reddish-black? Why is the miasma on Shindou Ryuga's body pure black?

Could they be different species? Or perhaps they are secondary products that have undergone some kind of special processing?

Mi Zhen frowned, raised his hand to make a "don't come any closer" gesture, then dropped his previous nonchalant demeanor, drew his sword, and stood ready for battle.

"Hmph...Be wary...It's too late."

Ryuga Shindou, whose appearance was even more repulsive than before, revealed a terrifying smile: "I originally planned to take you hostage, but since the Lord's grace has taken effect, I don't need to consider such troublesome matters anymore."

"Just because you changed the color?"

Mi Zhen scoffed, "Even if you paint it black and white, a pig won't turn into a panda."

Ryuu Mado didn't understand what Mima was talking about, but he could still tell from the sarcasm in her tone. So he took a step forward in an almost awkward posture, raised the hammer high, and said coldly, "You'll soon find out what I'm relying on!"

Then he lightly released the pressure on his hands.

What is this doing?

Mi Zhen, who was there to cause trouble, didn't choose to dodge, but instead casually manipulated a round gate to block it.

The next instant, the freely falling hammer collided with the demonic defense.

Because no force was applied, the hammer didn't even create a crack, but... the round gate broke directly? No, it didn't break.

Mi Zhen watched in shock as the black flames spreading from the hammer easily burned a hole in the round gate. The flames were incomparable to the previous blue version, burning away a demonic defense as quickly as a spark igniting willow catkins.

After one of the round sluice gates was burned, the scattered sparks drifted in the wind. Some landed on the ground, some flew to the corner of the wall, some landed on other round sluice gates, and one landed in Mi Zhen's hand.

—Just to clarify, this was intentional; he just wanted to see what this thing was.

As a result... everything that came into contact with the black fire instantly burst into flames!

The ground, the walls, the demonic defenses... even Mima's hand!

Holy crap, has the beggar's version of Amaterasu become the official version?!

After a moment of panic, Mima quickly figured out some of its characteristics.

Around 1400℃... the fuel appears to be "spiritual particles," possessing extremely strong diffusivity, and...

Mi Zhen leaped away.

He unleashed several water and ice-type demonic arts on his burning palm, but they all caught fire as well.

Cannot be extinguished?

It's not that serious.

While dodging, Mima subtly increased his spiritual pressure—the effect was immediate.

When the spiritual power was raised to the third level, these black flames showed a clear tendency to extinguish.

Great, knowing how to deal with it makes things easier.

He frowned, used Kido to numb his pain, and then decisively cut off his left hand. Feigning pain, he glared angrily at Shindou Ryuga, who was walking slowly towards him.

When she saw Mima cut off her own hand, Soi Fon instinctively took a step forward and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. It wasn't until just before she was about to rush out that she remembered that the person who appeared here was a clone of Mima, or to put it bluntly, someone who was risking their life to explore the way.

But this kind of fighting style is truly terrifying...

The same thing happened when we broke into Tsunayoshi's house last time. Doesn't this guy know the meaning of fear?

"Captain, something seems wrong..."

Someone whispered, "If this continues, Vice Captain Watanabe might... Are we really going to just keep watching like this?"

Chapter 212: A Tribute Should Be Complete

“Since the battle plan has already been decided, don’t change it casually…” She reached up and rubbed her temples, gesturing for the criminal soldiers not to move rashly, then unconsciously bit her lower lip and said, “He… must have his own considerations. Before there is a signal, a group of people rushing in might actually get in the way.”

"As ordered."

The criminal investigators were ordered to maintain their concealed positions and quietly observe the battle taking place not far away.

And Mima in the courtyard... was indeed having a bit of a headache.

Ryuga Shindou is much more troublesome than expected. With his black flames, which resemble a beggar's version of Amaterasu, and his strength, which is close to that of a captain, it is difficult for ordinary people to get close to him, let alone take him down. Although if it really came down to a fight, even if his hands and feet were tied up, he could easily kill this scoundrel by headbutting him, Watanabe Yama's strength as he is is just too weak, and he can't use any of his skills.

Self-destruction would be a reasonable way to replace this guy, but he felt that doing so would mean losing. It wasn't that he was unwilling to give up his life, but ever since the incident with the Divine Sword, every time he went out as Watanabe Yama in cooperation with the Gotei 13, he would inexplicably die. As a result, he had to pretend that he had run out of spiritual power and then be dragged to the Fourth Division to fight wits with the doctors... To be honest, that was really tiring.

The simplest solution now is to just call for reinforcements... The problem is that, although he himself doesn't think the black fire used by Shindou Ryuga is anything special, for ordinary soldiers, it's a terrifying thing that kills them instantly if they get touched. Calling for reinforcements is just playing with the lives of the soldiers.

As for Soi Fon... although this kind of big, clumsy guy is basically countered by Suzume's abilities, and at worst she could just blast Shindou Ryuga to smithereens with a missile, the primary objective of this mission is to capture people, not kill them. If Suzume's Raiko-chou comes down with her Raiko-chou, it will only ruin everything and will be meaningless.

In the end, am I the only one suffering?

Mi Zhen sighed, then leaped backward and landed on the courtyard wall.

He casually tossed down a few broken paths, only to see Shindou Ryuga cross his arms, a large amount of black fire surging from his body, instantly burning away all the incoming lightning and flames.

"These little tricks can't possibly hurt me!"

Shindou Ryuga grinned and charged forward like a bear, smashing half of the courtyard wall with a single blow, forcing Mima to turn around and jump onto the roof on the other side.

Wait, wait, wait, is this even possible...?

For a wild bandit who isn't even a captain-level officer, isn't this level of ability a bit too exaggerated?

What happened to the saying that battles between Shinigami are battles of spiritual pressure?

Mima clicked her tongue and then changed her approach.

Several different types of demonic arts were used, but whether it was fire, lightning, frost, or pure energy binding, they were all burned away by the black fire at an extremely fast speed and had no effect.

"I told you, it's all useless!"

Seeing that he had gained a huge advantage, Shindou Ryuga became increasingly smug, shouting incessantly, "What's wrong? Weren't you so good with your mouth? Why aren't you saying anything now? Do you still think my power is just bragging?"

"..."

Mi Zhen's lips twitched twice. He resisted the urge to raise his hand and place a black coffin to let this guy know what the true meaning of the ghost path is. Instead, he moved around several times and left the courtyard where he had almost lost his foothold.

The raging black fire quickly spread throughout the entire courtyard, scorching and melting the vegetation, soil, stones, and houses—although the temperature didn't produce much lava, the scorching air quickly burned away the oxygen and moisture, making it impossible to breathe inside.

But it seems unlikely that Shindou Ryuga himself will be burned.

Something's not right...

"Flames that burn everything made of spirit particles" is not an impossible ability, nor is it impossible for a petty thief with less than a third-level spiritual power to unleash it. However, everything has its rules, and any ability requires spiritual pressure as support. Shindou Ryuga's spiritual pressure reserves are simply insufficient to allow him to release black flames almost uncontrollably like he is doing now.

There's a problem, but where exactly does it lie...?

Mi Zhen's mind raced. After a moment's thought, he immediately conjured a high-density spiritual particle ball in his hand, which was hard to describe as having any destructive power. He then shaped it into a spiral that converged inwards and threw it out with a whoosh.

Amaterasu, huh? Well then, I'll give you a Rasengan—if you're going to pay homage, go for the whole set!

The spirit ball, which was useless except for its high density, slammed straight into Shindou Ryuga's black fire and was immediately burned by the black fire that was wrapped around him. However, just as solid alcohol cannot be burned up immediately when it is ignited, the spirit ball, which was made into the form of compressed fuel, was burned and shrank in size, but it still broke through the black fire's defense and successfully hit Shindou Ryuga's chest.

Ryuga Shindou was initially startled, but quickly realized that the attack hadn't even left a single white mark. His wariness quickly turned into doubt, then arrogance and mockery: "What a weak attack! What's wrong? Have you run out of tricks?"

This sarcasm is actually quite cultured...

"Poor and weak? Is that what you think?"

Mima chuckled, then threw out five seemingly meaningless spirit balls in succession, while simultaneously using Shunpo to narrowly evade Shindou Ryuga's attacks, appearing to be at a complete disadvantage.

"what happened……"

I vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

No matter how close his hammer got to the vice-captain, no matter how much it looked like it could smash his head in the next second, he kept missing the mark... Once or twice is one thing, but seven or eight times, more than ten times in a row... Can it really be considered a coincidence?

Although he couldn't explain why, based on his hundreds of years of combat experience, Shindou Ryuga still felt a very subtle chill, as if... he was becoming a mouse being toyed with by a cat!

What's going on... Is this damn vice-captain pretending to be weak while actually being strong? Or does he have some other advantage?

—This guy still hasn't realized the seriousness of the problem; he still thinks he's just being cornered by a vice-captain and his men.

Of course, this is quite normal. No matter how powerful the Tsunayo family is, it's impossible for Shindou Ryuga to avoid all possible crises. There have been several times when he happened to be encountered by a Shinigami on patrol, and each time he ended up successfully breaking through the encirclement.

But this time... even though he had no idea what was going on, he could already sense a very bad atmosphere.

Ryuga Shindou gritted his teeth and charged forward, smashing his hammer down on Mima's head with tremendous force. The latter only had time to dodge with a very short-range Instant Step, barely escaping with his life.

Even so, his right arm was grazed by the black fire and immediately caught fire.

Mima swiftly swung his sword, slicing away all the burning flesh, then used Kido to freeze the wound before resuming the fight.

Damn it, why can't I hit it?

The vice-captain had clearly realized that any defensive measures were ineffective in the face of the Lord's blessing, so he no longer used the shameless fighting style he had used before. He could only dodge repeatedly in this disheveled manner, and whenever he touched the blessing, he could only cut off that piece of flesh. In just over ten rounds, he was already covered in wounds, but he just couldn't deliver a fatal blow.

No matter how hard I try, it's still the same.

"You bastard... are you playing me for a fool?!"

"What's wrong? Confidence should last a little longer."

A strange smile gradually spread across Mima's face, which had become slightly pale due to blood loss—even though there was no real action, Shindou Ryuga still instinctively got goosebumps all over his body.

In the next instant, a dozen or so low-level attacks burst forth almost simultaneously. Because of the close proximity, Shindou Ryuga, who hadn't expected this move, had no room to dodge and could only increase the output of the black flames, turning them into a barrier to strengthen his defense.