When Lieutenant Ashido requested reinforcements, Yan Si's gaze swept rapidly across the entire battlefield.
The Eleventh Division's soldiers were still fighting fiercely. Wherever their blades flashed, Hollows continued to crumble apart.
But a closer look revealed that, compared to the beginning, their movements had lost some of their ease, and their breathing had grown heavy.
The Thirteenth Division's members were struggling even more.
They had always been better at guiding and purifying than at sustained, high-intensity combat.
Now, to deal with the endless stream of Hollows, many of them had no choice but to draw their Zanpakutō and join the battle.
Some soldiers' faces had begun to pale, sweat glistened on their foreheads, and the flow of their spiritual power was clearly becoming unstable.
The Human World was not the Soul Society. The concentration of Reishi here was thin, making it difficult for Shinigami to replenish the spiritual power they consumed in battle.
If this high-intensity war of attrition continued, the spiritual power of the first group of soldiers would be nearly depleted before long.
He raised his head and looked toward the rift in the sky again.
The situation had not improved in the slightest. Not only had the number of Hollows pouring from the rift not decreased, but there seemed to be... even more of them?
Moreover, Yan Si noticed that the newly appeared Hollows were beginning to include creatures with stranger forms, their backs sprouting ragged bone wings.
These winged Hollows were faster and more agile, clearly increasing the pressure on the Shinigami below.
"Lieutenant Ashido," Yan Si said in a calm but hurried voice, "how long until the reinforcements arrive?"
Ashido tucked the small communication device back into his chest. His movements remained sharp, but his expression was even graver than before.
He glanced at the dozen or so sinister rifts in the sky and said in a low voice:
"At least thirty minutes, even assuming the other side's Technical Development Corps responds immediately and the Senkaimon is ready."
Thirty minutes.
After Ashido finished speaking, his right hand tightened around his Zanpakutō's hilt. His body sank slightly, and his knees bent.
The next second, the ground beneath his feet trembled lightly, and he shot into the sky, charging straight beneath the rift!
His Zanpakutō drew a cold arc through the air, cutting apart two flying Hollows that had just poked half their bodies out of the rift!
"We can only hold out for now." His words drifted down on the wind after he had already left.
Yan Si watched Ashido battling in the air against the Hollows continuously pouring from the rifts, then looked at the Shinigami below, whose fatigue was gradually showing. He drew a quiet breath.
He truly had not expected that his second mission in the Human World would plunge him into such a massive battle.
His gaze fell on the Zanpakutō at his waist. After lingering there for a moment, he released the hilt.
No matter what, Captain Kurayashiki Kenpachi was still here.
That "Kenpachi's" strength was unfathomable. With him present, no matter how bad the situation became, they still had a trump card capable of turning the tables.
With that assurance in his heart, Yan Si no longer hesitated.
His figure blurred, and he appeared in midair beneath another rift, positioned slightly lower than Ashido. It was the perfect place to intercept the stray Hollows trying to bypass Ashido and pounce on the battlefield below.
Below, changes were also taking place on the battlefield.
Perhaps because the casualties had become too severe, or perhaps because the commanders on both sides had sensed the strange, ominous aura spreading across the battlefield, the human soldiers began retreating in an organized manner.
The sounds of slaughter quickly weakened, and the flags shifted backward through the smoke.
After both sides had paid the price of losing more than twenty percent of their forces, this decisive battle temporarily ended in a draw.
But for the Shinigami, the real trouble had only just begun.
The humans had withdrawn, leaving behind a field filled with fresh souls, as well as the seemingly endless rifts and monsters in the sky.
Hovering in the air, Yan Si extended his right index finger.
Pure Reishi began gathering rapidly at his fingertip, emitting a faint hum.
"Chaotic lightning, bind it with this covenant."
"All within the reach of one strike shall become nodes."
The lightning at his fingertip was no longer pure silver-white. Faint blue patterns surfaced within it.
"Hadō #4—Modified—"
He lightly pointed at the three giant-moth-like Hollows flying toward him in a triangular formation.
"Chain Lightning Pattern."
Whoosh!
A bolt of lightning only as thick as a thumb, yet condensed to the extreme, burst from his fingertip at astonishing speed!
The lightning struck the first moth-like Hollow in the chest and pierced straight through it!
But it did not dissipate. At the instant it pierced through, the blue patterns within it suddenly brightened!
As if pulled by an invisible force, the lightning turned at a sharp angle and shot toward another Hollow behind and to the side, piercing through it once again!
Then came a third turn, and a fourth piercing!
The slender bolt traced a lightning-shaped path through the air, piercing the heads of nine Hollows scattered across different positions in just over a second!
Only after the ninth Hollow turned into dust-like Reishi did the blue patterns within the lightning finally fade completely. Its energy exhausted, it dispersed into the air.
Nine kills!
This scene happened to be witnessed by Shiba Kaien, who had brought a group of Thirteenth Division elites to reinforce the rift zone.
Every soldier behind him stared wide-eyed.
They had seen White Ray cast without an incantation, but a "White Ray" that could automatically track and kill multiple targets?
This was completely unheard of!
"Th-That's amazing..."
"What Kidō is that? I've never learned anything like it!"
The soldiers could not help whispering in astonishment.
Yet there was not the slightest trace of praise on Shiba Kaien's face.
His brows knitted tightly, and after several Flash Steps, he arrived beside Yan Si, who had just landed and was preparing to attack again.
"Fifth Seat Yan Si!" Shiba Kaien's voice carried restrained anger, along with a trace of confusion.
"Since you possess such powerful Kidō techniques and such strength, you should bear the corresponding responsibility!
"Protecting the living beings of the Human World is the duty of us Shinigami! Earlier, you..."
He was clearly still hung up on Yan Si's failure to save those two Onmyoji in time, believing that Yan Si had not fulfilled his duty.
This time, Yan Si could not even be bothered to look at him.
He simply bent both knees, crouched halfway down, and pressed both palms flat against the ground.
The ground was cold, carrying a peculiar mixture of smoke and blood.
An even longer and more complicated incantation flowed smoothly from his lips:
"From red smoke comes escape; dispersed, it becomes a curtain; condensed, it becomes a prison."
Hearing the opening, Shiba Kaien's brows drew even tighter, and he could not help questioning him:
"Fifth Seat Yan Si! What are you using Sekienton for right now? That's a Bakudō meant to conceal your movements!
"What we need now is damage and suppression, not hiding!"
Yan Si ignored him completely and continued the incantation in an even voice:
"Mist gives birth to ice crystals, fog seals the soul; all breathing falls silent, and every step becomes a grave—"
As the incantation continued, icy-blue spiritual light began radiating from his palms against the ground. A chill rapidly spread outward from him, and fine white frost formed across the ground.
"Bakudō #21—Modified—"
He abruptly raised both palms!
"Veil of Frost and Silence!"
Whoosh!
A pale-blue ice mist, cold enough to pierce to the bone, erupted violently from Yan Si, instantly covering a radius of several hundred meters!
It happened to envelop the areas beneath several nearby rifts where the Hollows were most densely packed!
The moment the ice mist touched the Hollows' bodies, irregular ice crystals formed, clinging to their limbs, wings, and joints.
The Hollows' movements instantly became slow and stiff. Some Hollows that relied on speed or flight had their wings frozen, causing them to wobble and crash toward the ground, while others became sluggish sitting targets.
The temperature within the area plummeted, and even the air seemed to turn thick and sluggish.
Only then did Yan Si slowly stand and dust off nonexistent ice flakes from his hands.
"Up to this point, whether in the number of Hollows I've killed or in my contribution to the overall battle, I seem to have done somewhat better than you, Third Seat Shiba Kaien."
After saying that, he ignored Shiba Kaien's ugly expression. Reishi gathered beneath his feet, his figure turned into a blur, and he charged toward the airspace where Ashido was struggling bitterly, going to share the silent lieutenant's burden.
Shiba Kaien remained where he was, watching Yan Si's departing back. He then looked at the Hollows whose movements had been severely hampered by the Veil of Frost and Silence and were being cut down by other Shinigami. His teeth clenched tightly, and his cheeks bulged.
A few seconds later, he suddenly turned around and shouted at the soldiers behind him, who were still stunned by Yan Si's Kidō:
"Stop standing around! Now! Suppress every one of those frozen bastards! Move!"
Before you continue