The next day, the confrontation in the mine continued
The entourage of the nobles stabilized the mood of the wandering miners deep in the mine. These miners took this hard job just to make a living and had no interest in the grudges between the nobles and Soul Reaper. As long as no one held a knife to their necks, they were more willing to huddle in the corner and wait for people outside to solve the problem on their own.
A few older miners even took out dry biscuits from their arms and gave them to the shivering young companions next to them. They said in a hoarse voice, "Don't be afraid, Soul Reaper the adults will take care of it."
But the Eternal Silence armed private soldiers outside the mine did not give them much time to breathe.
Amakusa Shirō issued a death order: block all exits and not even a fly could fly out. Although his men were still frightened by the experience of being blown up by Sōkatsui last time, the temptation of a hundred thousand ransom was enough to overcome their fear.
The simple fortifications at the entrance to the mine tunnel have been reinforced. It was originally just a low wall made of a few logs and gravel, but it is now raised to chest level. There are also piles of abandoned mine carts dragged from the ruins of the mine behind. The rusty iron sheets glow dark red in the morning light.
Four Squad Member from Sixth Division gathered inside the entrance of the mine. They are Low-Ranking Seated Officer, Zanjutsu, Kidō, and Shunpo. None of them are considered to be superb, but none of them could get to the Seated Officer position in Sixth Division by luck.
The test last night had allowed them to figure out the approximate combat strength of the armed private soldiers outside. Although there were many people, most of them were rabble. There were no more than ten people with real combat effectiveness.
The only thing that made them afraid was the man standing behind the fortification with his arms folded across his chest and wearing a Zanpakutō on his waist. They didn't know the power of that Zanpakutō, but since he could become the leader of these private soldiers, his strength must be higher than that of ordinary private soldiers.
The leader, Seated Officer, is a middle-aged man with a square face. His surname is Tanabe. He has worked at Sixth Division for nearly twenty years and has performed hundreds of noble guard missions.
He squatted in the shadow of the entrance to the mine, drew a simple topographic map on the mud with a scabbard, and said in a low voice to his three colleagues, "There is only one exit. The open space outside is not big. There are slag piles on the left and right sides, and a gravel road in the front. They have blocked the exit, but the fortification is not high. It is not difficult to get over. The problem is that leader. We don't know his Zanpakutō ability. We must leave one person to keep an eye on him when we rush out."
The three colleagues nodded at the same time, and one of the younger ones added, "If they use bows and arrows or throw stones, the exit position will be covered by fire."
Tanabe glanced at him, nodded, and drew a cross on the dirt at the exit. "So the speed must be fast, and you can't give them time to react."
Tanabe took a deep breath and grasped the handle of Zanpakutō. The blade made a low metallic buzz as it slid out of the sheath.
Three of his colleagues drew their swords at the same time, and the four Zanpakutō reflected cold white light in the dim mine tunnel.
"Charge!"
Sawdust and gravel flew around under the impact of Reiatsu. The simple fortification at the entrance to the mine was knocked open from the inside. Tanabe was the first to rush out. Zanpakutō drew a silver-white arc in the morning light and knocked down a private soldier who was about to poke his head from behind the fortification. Blood spattered on the gravel ground, dyeing a dark red flower.
The three Soul Reaper behind him followed closely, and the four black shadows were like four sharp knives piercing into the front line of the Eternal Silence armed private soldiers at the same time.
Zanpakutō flew forward, and the light of Kidō exploded in the crowd. A private soldier tried to block it with an iron knife, but the blade was cut off directly by Zanpakutō. The whole person flew backwards and hit the slag pile, leaving a gash in his chest from his shoulder to his waist.
Another private soldier dropped his weapon and turned around to run away. A Byakurai penetrated his calf. He screamed and fell to the ground. The front line of the Eternal Silence armed private soldier showed signs of collapse under the first wave of impact. Some people started to retreat, some dropped their weapons and squatted down with their heads in their hands. Some people rolled and crawled towards the settlement.
But the retreat was stopped at the second line of defense behind the fortifications.
Amakusa Shirō stood there, watching his men fall down like wheat cut by a scythe, watching those Soul Reaper who rushed out of the mine tunnel and ran rampant in front of the fortifications he built with his own hands. His right hand was originally hanging by his side, with his fingers slightly bent, as if he was calculating something.
When his eyes glanced at the few motionless corpses on the ground, his pupils shrank.
"Get restless! Sakuya Hyakki!"
The blade drew an arc in the air, and the blade began to change during the swing, from ordinary steel color to jet black. A faint gray mist seeped out from the blade, spreading along the ground and soon covering the entire area behind the fortification.
The four Soul Reaper stopped their pursuit almost at the same time.
Tanabe raised his hand to signal others not to move, and four eyes were locked on the blurry figure deep in the gray fog.
The gray fog is moving, and every change is accompanied by a subtle, vague whisper. The sound is like many people talking at the same time in a very far place, and the content cannot be heard clearly, but every syllable falls on the eardrums accurately.
"Summoning type?" a Soul Reaper whispered, pointing the tip of the knife at the looming shadows in the gray fog. Those shadows were taking shape, translucent, blurry in outline, like human and animal shapes made out of smoke. They were moving slowly in the gray fog, and their number was increasing.
Each ghost has a different shape. Some are humanoid with disheveled hair, some are like beasts with twisted limbs, and some are just a mass of black mist that constantly changes shape. They make a sound between a whimper and a low laugh, making it difficult to tell whether they are crying or laughing.
"It may be Kidō attack" another Soul Reaper answered.
"Coming!" the third Soul Reaper reminded.
Several ghosts jumped out of the gray mist, Tanabe dodged sideways, Zanpakutō slashed from the side, and the blade accurately cut through the ghost's body, but there was no touch, no flesh, no bones, and no feedback from the Reishi collision.
The knife passed through the ghost shadow, and the ghost shadow also passed through him. At that moment, he felt a biting chill, as if someone was sliding an ice cube against his spine, but there were no wounds on his body.
Fake?" Another Soul Reaper was also passed through by the ghost. He looked down at his intact body with confusion in his tone.
"Careful! It might..."
More and more ghost figures jumped out from the gray fog, each one was ferocious and terrifying, each one had a creepy whisper, but each one was fake. The knife passed through them, they passed through the knife; Kidō hit them, they passed through Kidō
After several waves of fake attacks, the four Soul Reaper began to feel tired
Tanabe made a decision. "Charge! Directly attack the main body!"
Four black shadows Shunpo passed through the ghost figures that were still coming in the gray fog, and went straight to the blurry humanoid outline deep in the gray fog, Tanabe's knife struck at Amakusa's left shoulder had a precise angle and full strength. Amakusa did not hide. The knife slashed into his shoulder, but the touch was wrong. There was no toughness of flesh and blood, no hardness of bones. The blade seemed to have cut into a cloud of smoke.
Amakusa's body dissipated under the blade, it was a phantom
Then the real Amakusa appeared behind Tanabe. The dark blade drew a silent arc in the air, slashing towards Tanabe's back. The blade cut into Shihakushō's cloth, the skin under the cloth, and the muscles under the skin. Blood gushes out from the wound, drawing a dark red arc in the gray mist.
Tanabe groaned, Reiatsu erupted from the soles of his feet, Shunpo then retreated to his colleagues, and three colleagues stepped forward to protect him at the same time. The tip of the knife pointed at the position where Amakusa appeared just now, but the place was empty, and only the gray mist was flowing slowly.
"It's the illusion system Zanpakutō!" One of the Soul Reaper's voices was obviously nervous.
Illusion system Zanpakutō is also rare among Gotei 13, and there are very few Soul Reaper who can skillfully use illusions to fight.
It is extremely difficult to accumulate experience against the illusion system, not because you don't want to practice, but because there are too few holders of this type of Zanpakutō, and you will never encounter them at ordinary times.
What's more troublesome is that the ability mechanism of each illusion Zanpakutō may be completely different. Some create illusions to interfere with the senses, some control the target's mental state, and some do both at the same time. Attacking rashly without knowing the details of the opponent's abilities is no different from running on the edge of a cliff with your eyes closed.
After a brief exchange, the four people decided to adjust their tactics. They no longer took the initiative to search for the main body. Instead, they tightened their formation to defend and counterattack, focusing on distinguishing which ghosts were fake, which were real, and which ones might change from fake to real.
The ghost figures in the gray fog continued to attack, and the four of them took turns to block, dodge, and test with Hado
Byakurai penetrated several ghosts, and Shakkahō exploded a gray mist, but all attacks failed to hit the entity. Just when they thought this wave was also pure mental interference, several of the ghosts suddenly stopped penetrating the blade, and their claws and fangs turned into substance at the moment of contact.
Four Soul Reaper were hit at the same time. Although the injuries were not fatal, they were caught off guard and the defensive formation became loose.
"They can switch! Can't trust any of them!" Tanabe covered the newly added wound on his arm, gritted his teeth and ordered to retreat.
The four people supported them and moved towards the entrance of the mine tunnel, fighting and retreating. Amakusa did not pursue them. He stood deep in the gray fog and watched the backs of Soul Reaper as they retreated into the mine tunnel.
The aristocratic followers in the mine stood up one after another when they heard the footsteps approaching from far away.
Tanabe was carried back to the inside of the mine entrance by his companions. He leaned against the rock wall, gasping for air. Blood seeped out from the wound on his back and flowed down the cracks in the rock wall. Three colleagues stood in front of him. Zanpakutō stood in front of him, staring at the light at the entrance of the mine that was blocked again by wood and gravel. No one spoke, and no one put down the knife.
On the ground, Amakusa Shirō stood behind the fortification, with blood still dripping from the blade. His men gradually recovered from their retreat, looking at the corpses of their companions on the ground, and at the blood belonging to Soul Reaper on the Amakusa knife., a complex emotion rekindled in his eyes, including the joy of surviving the disaster, the awe of the leader, and a hint of uneasiness: what they had just defeated was Soul Reaper, the official Squad Member of Gotei 13.
This is not a street fight, this is a declaration of war against Seireitei.
But Amakusa didn't give them much time to think. He sheathed his sword, turned around and faced the direction of the settlement and shouted, "Go to Rukongai District 1, inform Seireitei, and tell Seireitei that the nobles and Soul Reaper are in our hands. One hundred thousand ransoms, keep guarding!"
When Hell Butterfly flew into First Division Barracks, Chojiro Sasakibe was sorting out the documents for the day
He stretched out his hand to catch the pitch-black butterfly, and the Reishi lines on the butterfly wings flickered on his fingertips, conveying Tanabe's report word by word into his perception.
Sasakibe frowned slightly when he read "Illusion Department Zanpakutō", and frowned deeper when he read "All four were injured". He put down the file in his hand and turned around to walk towards Yamamoto's office.