Peace of Mind

Milluki's hand trembled.

"Brother, say that again."

Illumi's voice remained steady through the headset.

"The ritual has begun."

"The man in white is underground."

"Ella has been locked down by the Black Crystal Circuit."

"Contact Grandpa. Great-Grandpa too, if necessary. I'll do my best to stay alive. You retreat first."

Milluki didn't curse.

He merely fell silent for half a second before slamming the accelerator to the floor.

The car tore through a stretch of fallen trees, its undercarriage letting out an earsplitting scrape.

Bai Zhu was still lying prone on the roof, his Zanpakuto held horizontally in front of him.

Seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes chased after the car, occasionally splitting apart to target the tires, fuel tank, and gaps in the windows.

These things were too damn troublesome.

They couldn't be smashed.

They couldn't be shaken off.

And one touch would drain Reiatsu.

Bai Zhu's left palm was still numb. Where a needle tube had grazed him earlier felt as though someone had stitched needles and thread straight into his bones.

Milluki spoke urgently. "Bai Zhu, get down! I'm turning around and taking the northwest route. I'll get you and Number Nineteen out first, then contact the family!"

Bai Zhu didn't answer.

He knelt on one knee atop the roof, keeping his breathing low.

Number Nineteen curled up in the backseat, her face deathly pale.

She had just watched the people in the carriage die with her own eyes.

Now, she couldn't even cry.

Milluki glanced at her in the rearview mirror, then shouted at the roof again. "Did you hear me?!"

Bai Zhu finally moved.

He raised his blade and knocked aside a needle tube shooting toward the window.

"I heard you."

Milluki gritted his teeth. "Then why are you playing dead? Get down!"

Bai Zhu didn't get down.

He simply sat slowly on the roof, resting his Zanpakuto across his knees.

The car was still drifting wildly at high speed.

The needle tubes were still chasing them.

Yet he began regulating his breathing.

Milluki froze for a moment.

"Are you insane?"

Bai Zhu closed his eyes.

The image of those pregnant women being pierced through by the needle tubes weighed heavily on his mind.

This wasn't the first time he had seen people die.

He had seen plenty of death in the Hunter world.

But this time was different.

Those people had already placed their hope in his hands.

And he hadn't caught it.

Bai Zhu spoke so quietly that Milluki nearly missed it.

"I'll collect this debt by the head."

Milluki tightened his grip on the controls.

No one inside the car spoke.

After several seconds, Milluki finally suppressed his anger and said, "You can't collect anything right now. That woman is still behind us, and there's a man underground. Even my brother said he couldn't deal with them. What are you going to use?"

Bai Zhu opened his eyes and looked at the panel in his field of vision.

[Random Bankai Trial Ticket]

It was still blinking in the corner.

As though it were waiting for him to reach out.

Bai Zhu didn't tap it immediately.

He first looked at his body enhancement interface.

[Strength: 100]

[Agility: 266]

[Stamina: 100]

Before, he had only thought that higher numbers meant becoming stronger.

But after being hunted so relentlessly by the woman in white, he had roughly figured it out.

Strength wasn't merely about hitting harder.

After his strength increased, his body could withstand higher-density Reiatsu output.

The same White Lightning that he had once had to force out could now be compressed more solidly.

Agility wasn't as simple as running faster, either.

His reflexes, Shunpo, ability to stop abruptly, and overall limits had all been raised.

Otherwise, he would have been turned into a specimen atop the car just now.

Stamina was the most important.

His Reiatsu circulation had stabilized.

His recovery speed had also increased.

That system prompt hadn't been trying to scare him.

"Don't let the power that belongs to you tear your body apart."

Bai Zhu lowered his head and looked at his Zanpakuto.

If Shikai and Bankai required his body to bear the burden, then the system giving him body enhancements in advance wasn't a free benefit.

It was warning him—

If he didn't enhance himself further, he would die at the next step.

Then what about that Random Bankai Trial Ticket?

If it merely gave him a name, then expected him to pour out his own Reiatsu for a finishing move, it was a suicide button.

The system had just patched up his physical weaknesses. It couldn't possibly turn around and hand him a self-destruct switch.

At the very least, the trial ticket most likely came with some form of compensation.

Even if it was only for one use.

That would be enough.

Milluki was still waiting for his answer.

"Bai Zhu, stop playing mute."

Bai Zhu rose to his feet, the tip of his blade dragging across the roof.

"Turn around."

Milluki thought he had misheard.

"What?"

"Go to the Church."

"Is something seriously wrong with your head?" Milluki's voice rose. "You just escaped that female ghost's hands, and now you want to charge into the male ghost's nest?!"

Bai Zhu looked down at the driver's seat.

"No. I'm going to tear down their base."

Milluki nearly snapped the controls in half.

"You're going to kill yourself!"

"I have a killing move."

"You have my ass! Your mana bar is almost empty!"

"It's temporary. Once in a lifetime."

Bai Zhu paused.

"But if I don't vent this anger, I won't be at peace."

The car fell silent.

Milluki couldn't bring himself to curse anymore.

Bai Zhu continued, "Also, remember this. You brothers owe me a favor this time. A huge one."

Milluki squeezed out several words through clenched teeth. "My brother isn't dead yet."

"That's exactly why I'm going. What your brother said just now sounded like his last words. Do you think he'll be fine just because you contact your family? You'll only be collecting his body!"

The moment he finished speaking, the snowy forest to their right suddenly exploded.

The woman in white cut out from the side of a slope.

She had calculated the car's route and intercepted them from the side in advance.

The seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes split into three groups.

Two targeted the front tires.

Two targeted the rear tires.

Two shot straight for the fuel tank.

The last one aimed at the window beside Number Nineteen in the backseat.

Milluki's pupils contracted.

"Hold on tight!"

The car suddenly swerved sideways.

But they were too close. There was no time to evade them all.

Bai Zhu leaped down from the roof.

His Zanpakuto swept horizontally.

Clang! Clang!

Two needle tubes were knocked away.

He raised his left hand and compressed his Reiatsu into a single point.

"White Lightning."

A blue-white spark struck the third needle tube.

This time, it didn't explode. The electricity merely crawled halfway around the Black Crystal surface.

Crack.

A fissure appeared on the needle tube.

The woman in white stopped.

For the first time, she didn't immediately continue the pursuit.

Her nearly expressionless face turned toward Bai Zhu.

Milluki caught that moment and immediately shouted, "It worked! That attack worked!"

"It didn't work."

Bai Zhu withdrew his numb hand.

"She's reassessing my strength."

"And you're still this calm at a time like this?"

"I've always been very calm."

Bai Zhu flipped back onto the roof.

"Fatty, shake her off."

Milluki didn't waste any words. He pressed a red button on the central console.

"The last batch."

Six small compartments sprang open from the rear of the car.

The remaining Interference Bugs flew out and scattered across the snowfield.

They didn't explode. Instead, they released thermal smoke screens and split into more than a dozen moving decoys.

Two blurry heat sources also projected from the sides of the car, racing down different forks in the road.

"Now!"

Bai Zhu jumped down from the roof.

He landed in the snow and deliberately left a string of deep footprints.

The woman in white immediately locked onto him.

The seven needle tubes chased after him.

Bai Zhu didn't run far.

He circled around a fallen tree, activated Shunpo, and darted back in the opposite direction while hugging the car's shadow.

The Black Crystal Needle Tubes missed.

The next moment, Bai Zhu stepped back onto the roof.

Milluki jerked the wheel, and the car charged toward the old bridge.

"Get down!"

Bai Zhu ducked.

The instant the wheels rolled over the bridge deck, a faint cutting sound came from below.

The small devices Milluki had planted there long ago activated.

The rear half of the bridge was sliced apart.

The modified vehicle flew over the final broken stretch and crashed heavily onto the opposite bank.

The woman in white landed at the other end of the bridge.

The bridge deck collapsed, and severed planks and iron chains smashed into the bottom of the ravine.

She stood across from them, seven syringes circling her.

Milluki watched the rearview mirror and finally let out a breath.

"We shook her for now."

Bai Zhu did not relax.

"How long?"

"No idea. If she can fly, thirty seconds."

"Good news."

"You call that good news?"

When he got no reply, Milluki's expression changed. "You're really going to use that finishing move?"

Bai Zhu did not answer. Illumi's voice suddenly came through the earpiece.

"What they sense is not Nen."

Milluki immediately sat up straight.

"Brother?"

There were sounds of running and metal clashing on Illumi's end.

"I set up three decoy routes."

"Puppet medics, fake blood trails, and Nen Needle misdirection."

"The man in white did not pursue the decoys."

Bai Zhu looked toward the earpiece.

Illumi's speech remained steady.

"Every time, he cut toward my real body."

"You're hurt?"

"No."

"Ordinary aura disguises are ineffective. What he is seeking may be connected to life... or the soul."

Bai Zhu looked up toward the far side of the broken bridge.

The woman in white was still there.

Her head slowly turned toward the vehicle.

Bai Zhu cursed under his breath.

No wonder.

Forced Zetsu could conceal Nen, but it could not conceal his very existence.

Against something like this, his usual tricks for staying alive were severely compromised.

Milluki suddenly slapped the dashboard.

"Damn!"

"What now?"

"I intercepted data from the altar."

Milluki projected the image onto the central display, where densely packed lines danced nonstop.

"The Black Crystal reaction in Ella's abdomen is spiking."

"The children's prayers stabilized the ritual. They're using those children as circuits."

"The Holy Knights are holding the Outer Ring."

Milluki's voice grew heavier with every word.

"Ten minutes."

Bai Zhu stared at the screen.

"What happens after ten minutes?"

"Ella will be locked into the core. By then, even if my brother can get close, he won't be able to pull her out."

Number Nineteen suddenly grabbed the front seat.

"Ella... what will she become?"

No one answered her.

Milluki took his right hand off the steering wheel and reached for the communicator.

It was the Zoldyck family's private line.

He hesitated for two seconds before preparing to press it.

"Forget it, I'll contact Grandpa."

Bai Zhu flipped in from the roof into the passenger seat and grabbed his wrist.

Milluki looked up.

"What are you doing?"

"There's no time. Speed up and head for the Church."

"You want to get my brother killed?"

"Trust me."

Milluki's face immediately darkened.

Bai Zhu released him and pointed ahead.

"Drive. To the Church."

"You make it sound easy! The Church is definitely full of Holy Knights right now, that man is underground, and that woman will catch up. How many people are you planning to fight by yourself?"

Bai Zhu looked at the panel.

[Ella's Suffering Holy Infant (4/6) · Save the Little White Mice!]

The progress had not moved.

The mission prompt still hung there.

Save people.

Cut off the supply line.

But he did not want to look at any of it now.

Bai Zhu raised a hand and swiped the mission panel aside.

"If I fail, I fail."

Bai Zhu grabbed his Zanpakuto, climbed back onto the roof, and shouted.

"Today, I'm going to do something damn cool."

Milluki stared at him.

A few seconds later, he tossed the private-line communicator onto the passenger-side floor and gripped the wheel with both hands.

"You'd better really have something."

Bai Zhu stood on the roof as the wind snapped his clothes wildly.

"I do."

Number Nineteen's voice trembled from the back seat. "Are you... crazy?"

Bai Zhu did not turn around.

"Yes."

He paused.

"But we're the good kind of crazy."

Milluki floored the accelerator.

The vehicle no longer took detours or hugged the tree line to flee.

It charged straight toward the center of town.

In the distance, the Church's spire faintly emerged through the wind and snow.

Black light seeped from cracks in the ground below, and the town's worshippers began gathering toward the Church as though they were being led by invisible strings.

In the earpiece, Illumi's breathing finally grew a little uneven.

"Milluki, are you getting closer?"

Milluki said nothing.

Bai Zhu answered for him.

"Brother, hold on for ten minutes."

Illumi fell silent.

"What are you going to do?"

Bai Zhu lowered his gaze to the Zanpakuto.

"Use my ultimate move."

The vehicle charged onto the main road leading to the Church.

Ahead, the first squad of black-armored Holy Knights had already formed up.

Bai Zhu stood atop the roof, his Zanpakuto held horizontally before him.

In his field of vision, the [Random Bankai Trial Ticket] flashed wildly.

He raised a hand and tapped it.

"System, activate Temporary Bankai."

The next second, the translucent panel turned blood-gold.

[Drawing a Bankai for the host...]