Chapter 73: Where's the Scabbard, Where's the Dragon?
Yamamoto Genryūsai could not stop him either.
"Although you are young compared to an old man like me... now is not the time to expect me to go easy on you!"
Facing the faint killing intent in the old man's words.
Kyōraku and Ukitake drew their Zanpakuto with grave expressions, ready for battle.
Urahara Kisuke also sighed silently, his expression extremely serious.
It's worth mentioning that he somehow managed to get another Twelfth Division Captain's haori and was wearing it.
At first glance, it was a uniform display of Captain's haori.
Quite a magnificent sight.
"Captain Commander, those are my words exactly..."
Swish.
Aizen, a smile on his lips, calmly drew the Zanpakuto from his waist.
"To injure my disciple like this, as his teacher, I cannot just stand by and do nothing."
"I also want to settle a score with you... the score for leading the Soul Society's unparalleled genius astray!"
Boom!
Shimiya Zun, who had already walked away, couldn't help but turn his head to look, only to see the battlefield once again enveloped in furious flames.
A sudden tremor woke Ichigo.
He instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword behind him, but found nothing.
Ichigo froze, looking around, and realized he was lying on the roof of a large hall, the sun glaring in his eyes, and the stifling heat in the air refusing to dissipate.
"Shimiya... cough cough cough?"
Seeing his close friend resting quietly beside him, the dry, hoarse voice he spoke with made him cough uncontrollably.
"Here."
Shimiya Zun casually tossed the water bottle beside him over.
Ichigo, taking the water bottle, drank eagerly like a traveler parched in the desert.
"Phew... I'm alive again! By the way, why does this taste like tap water?"
"Where am I supposed to get you boiled water right now? The Captain Commander's Bankai has probably evaporated all the surface water. Only groundwater would have survived... Since you're awake, hurry up and come heal me."
"You, watch your tone. I'm a doctor."
Ichigo felt a little speechless, but seeing that the other party had been busy, not even taking care of his own injuries, he could only grumble a bit before stepping forward to perform Kaido.
"Oh right, Shimiya... How long was I unconscious?"
"Less than ten minutes."
Shimiya Zun replied casually, his gaze fixed on the distance.
Ichigo, as if sensing something, followed his gaze, where there was a familiar yet terrifying spiritual pressure fluctuation.
It was the Captain Commander.
And his teacher, Kyōraku, and Ukitake's spiritual pressures.
The remaining one was completely unfamiliar, but undoubtedly also a Captain-level existence.
"I see... Did we lose?"
"How should I put it?"
Shimiya Zun recounted what had just happened, dispelling Ichigo's assumption.
"Huh... So that's how it was? I thought we were both defeated by the old man, and on the way to prison, our teacher and the others arrived in time to save us."
According to the plan, they were supposed to lure the Captain Commander to a secluded area on the outskirts of Seireitei, allowing Aizen, Kyōraku, and others, who were ambushed in advance, to tie down the Captain Commander. After that, they would leave and turn back to Sōkyoku Hill.
The confrontation with Yamamoto Genryūsai could not be said to have gone beyond the plan, but it was indeed something to be avoided as much as possible.
If it couldn't be avoided.
Then they would try to delay until Aizen and the others arrived to take over the battlefield.
In other words.
For Shimiya Zun and Ichigo, as long as Aizen and the others arrived, no matter how badly they were beaten, it wouldn't count as a loss.
"But this doesn't count as a win either... does it?"
Ichigo was quite disappointed.
"I never thought that even after learning Bankai, I'd be beaten so thoroughly."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Shimiya Zun raised an eyebrow, and facing Ichigo's puzzled expression of "What are you talking about?", he softly said, "This means we still have a lot of room for improvement. The Captain Commander has set an example for us."
"For me, what's truly terrifying isn't being beaten thoroughly, but when I become as strong as him, I can no longer grow stronger, and can only watch as those who come after me catch up."
"Besides, don't forget our initial goal? In the battle with the Captain Commander, winning or losing isn't important at all. The moment I realized I had to fight him, I had already thrown victory and defeat out of my mind."
"No wonder you held back at the end."
Ichigo understood.
"Yes, so I used the flat of my blade at the end, but even that didn't knock him out, which makes me admire the Captain Commander's robust physique."
"No... I'm not talking about that, I mean... you still have moves you haven't used, right? Or, your Bankai hasn't been fully revealed yet, has it?"
"What are you talking about? Didn't you see I used up all my spiritual pressure?"
Shimiya Zun retracted his gaze from the battlefield, looking at Ichigo with an annoyed expression that said, "You dare to accuse me of slacking off."
The latter, however, just rolled his Byakugan, continuing to heal him while letting out a cold chuckle: "It might be possible for others, but for you, Shimiya... putting aside your habit of holding back, if you can summon a dragon in Shikai, there's no reason you can't in Bankai, right?"
"Brother Kurosaki, you know me. How could I possibly hide my strength while watching you fall to the ground?"
...
...
The two stared at each other.
Suddenly, another tremor struck.
Several tiles on the great hall were shaken loose.
Both of them turned their heads to look at the battlefield, their playful expressions gone.
"Done."
"Thanks."
After the healing, Ichigo also began to heal himself and asked, "What next?"
"You go support Inoue first. As for me... I'll have to wait a bit. Although your Kaido injected spiritual pressure, my combat power won't recover that quickly."
"Alright, but you'd better catch up quickly. It's too boring for me to hog all the glory alone."
Soon, Ichigo picked up his greatsword and rushed to the next battlefield.
Leaving Shimiya Zun temporarily in place, silently waiting for his strength to recover.
The ultimate blow, achieved by sacrificing his armor, had exhausted his spiritual pressure.
Fortunately, the principle of Kaido is like a blood transfusion.
Simply put.
It is when the user injects their own spiritual pressure into the injured person's body to help the injured person recover spiritual pressure.
Because of the survival mechanism "spiritual pressure is equivalent to life force," as long as spiritual pressure is restored, the body's self-healing ability will be greatly enhanced.
The injured person's self-healing ability combined with external healing techniques.
With both working together, in theory, as long as there's still a breath left, it should be impossible not to save them.
If they can't be saved.
Then it can only mean that the caster's own power is too weak, not enough spiritual pressure was injected, and the effect of the external healing technique was also very average.
Most people in the Fourth Division encounter this situation, so they often divide into multiple healing squads, concentrating their efforts to achieve great things.
If one person can't save them, then a whole healing squad will act together. This way, even if a Captain-level Shinigami is seriously injured, they won't be helpless.
But Ichigo is different.
He alone can be worth several healing squads.
With Ichigo's Kaido injecting spiritual pressure, Shimiya Zun felt his depleted body gradually recovering.
It was undoubtedly still far from his peak.
But don't forget.
Shimiya Zun himself still had the "Compound Potion" given to him by the machine soul upon his enrollment.
Two uses per day.
He used them all at once.
Counting the benefits of Kaido, he could at least recover one-third.
Enough to deal with the upcoming battle.
Even fighting the Captain Commander again wouldn't be impossible.
After all.
Just as Ichigo said,
Shimiya Zun always liked to hold back.
And even... more than one hand.
The unused Black Flash was one.
Bankai was the second.
Ichigo guessed correctly.
His Bankai had not been fully revealed.
Although the statement "if Shikai can summon a dragon, there's no reason a stronger Bankai can't" is a bit too absolute, it's not without merit.
In fact, even without saying that.
If one thinks deeply, one would notice something amiss.
For example...
After Bankai is released, the Zanpakuto returns to its Asauchi state.
But Shimiya Zun directly entered Shikai state.
This is clearly illogical.
The only explanation is...
Bankai had not ended at all.
This point doesn't require Shimiya Zun to explicitly state it; others can see it.
Because it's very clear.
This indeed is a scene of "this guy's Bankai has ended, and only residual power is divided into two parts, one part used to activate Shikai, and one part used to create a 100% accurate mark, thereby launching a combined ultimate blow."
However, when Shimiya Zun first activated Bankai, he held both the sword and the scabbard in his hand.
From the results.
The "sword" transformed into an indestructible armor.
Possessing "super-grade spiritual pressure hardness" that integrates offense and defense.
And the "no defense" characteristic.
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