Such Potent Spiritual Pressure!

"Whew~"

The black and red ribbons behind Ichiro slowly dissipated, revealing the still-shaken young lady, while Urahara stepped out from the shadows, sword in hand, staring in astonishment at the corpses littering the ground.

"And you call this 'not good at combat'?"

"There's a difference between killing and combat. My Magic Bullet has no effect on you; no matter how flashy an attack is, if it doesn't break through the defense, it's useless."

"Fair point, though it seems your utility is limited then. You still need to increase the power."

"Mm, I'm already researching it, but I'm a bit conflicted since it lacks the effect of the Magic Bullet."

"..." Urahara's mouth twitched. He really wanted to grab Ichiro by the collar and ask: given that their intelligence is about the same, why is your research always so fast?

In truth, Urahara was mistaken. Ichiro's research speed wasn't actually fast. As mentioned before, he was currently in a learning phase; whether it was Kido or Reishi Alchemy, he was absorbing the accumulations of others or his own past life. Urahara, however, was a person of extremely active thought—he excelled at invention and was passionate about it, so his pace was only natural.

If he were fast, Ichiro would be the one doubting his life! If you can't even win while cheating, what's the point of playing!

At this moment, the young lady beside them bowed to the three. "Thank you, the three of you. My name is Kuchiki..."

However, none of the three heard a word she said; instead, they were staring with grave expressions at the dozens of Soul Reapers charging toward them once again!

They knew the situation had turned dire.

Why was the Shino Academy safe?

Because it belonged solely to the Captain-Commander!

Because elites from the First Division were stationed here daily!

Because the teachers here were all Soul Reapers who had retired from the front lines!

That was why the Captain had told Ichiro to stay safely in the school a few days ago—because it was secure enough. But now, nearly a hundred Soul Reapers had broken in across two waves!

And until now, the barrier hadn't even been raised!

Things had truly spiraled out of control.

Watching the incoming Soul Reapers, Ichiro's gaze lingered on their arms and collars, and his heart sank slightly. Half of them were nobles...

Beyond needing to exercise restraint while fighting, this revealed one thing: there was a shadow of the Great Noble Clans behind this!

Otherwise, they wouldn't dare attack the Shino Academy!

This made the situation extremely dangerous...

Not for Kuchiki, but for Yoruichi...

She was the only head of the Five Great Noble Clans to enroll in this generation. The only other one was a collateral branch of the Kuchiki family—the young lady behind them.

But to be honest, sending so many people just for her bodyguard was giving her too much credit. If one assumed the worst, the target could only be Yoruichi...

"Yoruichi, can these be killed?"

"These aren't in the same league as the ones before. Even a level fifty Bakudo with Incantation Abandonment could handle them."

Hearing Yoruichi's detailed answer, Ichiro sighed. It undoubtedly confirmed his suspicions, but he didn't change his tone and asked again.

"Can they be killed?"

Yoruichi turned her head in surprise to look at Ichiro. Seeing the calm gaze behind his glasses, she nodded and said, "Try not to kill them all, but if you lose control and kill them, that's fine too. As long as I'm alive, you will never come to harm!"

Ichiro dismissed his dual pistols, adjusted his glasses, and slowly crouched down, pressing his hands to the ground. He smiled. "No need to say that. From just now until this moment, I've been recording audio and video. If something really happens, you should distance yourself immediately, and the Captain will save me."

With that, Ichiro closed his eyes and began to focus. Such a large-scale transmutation was his first since mastering Reishi Alchemy, and it required total concentration.

Basic structure, analyzed.

Basic composition, decomposed.

Reishi reorganization, complete!

"Hah!"

Ichiro snapped his eyes open, let out a soft shout, and pressed his hands firmly into the ground!

White currents of electricity surged across the earth. Just as the Soul Reapers were bracing for a potential attack, they suddenly felt the ground beneath them vanish. A massive pit appeared, and everyone began to plummet!

Before they could even react, the decomposed Reishi reorganized into a lid above their heads, sealing them in like mud!

Reishi Sand Waterfall Funeral!

"Whew~"

Ichiro, mentally exhausted, stood up and let out a long breath, wiping away non-existent cold sweat.

This left Yoruichi and Urahara looking at Ichiro in confusion. Based on their understanding of him, if it were just this, it shouldn't have been difficult, nor should it have had much lethality.

Just as the two were puzzled, Ichiro turned around, back to the pit, and snapped his fingers.

"Snap!"

The prolonged silence made the atmosphere slightly awkward. Just as Urahara was about to break the tension, a strange change occurred...

"BOOM!!!!"

A heaven-shaking explosion erupted behind them, the shockwave tearing deep fissures across the clearing where they stood!

Even the walls of the nearby school building were marred by distinct cracks!

The group turned back in astonishment to see that the spot where the Soul Reapers had just been buried alive had become a massive crater!

Dozens of charred corpses lay within!

Of the fifty-some people, only a handful still clung to life! Even then, without immediate medical attention, death was only a matter of moments away!

"..."

"..."

"Gulp..." Urahara swallowed hard. "What kind of hellish gunpowder is this? It's this ferocious?"

"Of course it's ferocious. The more you use, the greater the power. Even a tiny amount in a bullet can unleash such force, let alone this much."

"I thought it was primarily driven by Kido... this is terrifying..."

"It's alright, honestly. They were worse than I expected. This is my lowest-grade gunpowder, which is why I used such a large quantity. I figured it would leave them half-dead, but who knew they wouldn't even be able to manifest Kido? As expected, current Kido still has many shortcomings."

"..." Urahara picked at his ear, suspecting he had misheard. "This is your worst gunpowder? Then what would the best one do? With this kind of volume?"

"This much? Uh... it could probably blow away about ten Seireitei, I suppose," Ichiro said calmly.

"!!!" x 4

Seeing their expressions, Ichiro rolled his eyes, realizing they had misunderstood, and immediately explained: "It's not as exaggerated as you think. The blast radius is large, but the pinpoint lethality is weak. A single Danku could defend against it completely. No matter how high the yield, if it isn't focused, it won't work. That's exactly what I'm researching now. The power is high, but the practical application is poor; it's only good for clearing mobs."

Ichiro wasn't lying. Not to mention powerful defensive Bakudo, any of the three iconic movement techniques in the Soul Reaper world could carry someone out of the blast radius within a few breaths. While it wouldn't be possible to escape completely unscathed, it certainly wouldn't be fatal—at most, just some scrapes and bruises.

"Let's put that aside for now. Yoruichi, the school isn't safe anymore. Where do we go next?" Ichiro turned his head and asked solemnly; he hadn't forgotten that the crisis was far from resolved.

"I want to go home! Back to the Shihoin Clan! If the enemy could infiltrate in such large numbers, there's an eighty percent chance they have an inside man. Our strength is only decent; if the ones coming are..."

"BOOM!!!"

Such powerful spiritual pressure!!! x 5