Only Want to Coast Until Retirement in the Soul Society

"Found you! Hahaha!"

"Found your ass!" Yamabuki Chidori unleashed Flash Blossom, instantly piercing through a Hollow's mask and twisting its brains out!

"If we keep running like this, they'll catch up sooner or later! We need to find somewhere safe! And we need to erase our Reiatsu." Yamabuki Chidori found himself missing Kurotsuchi Mayuri a little. If that pervert were here, he would definitely be able to make a device that erased Reiatsu trails.

"Then we'll use the simplest method!" Yamabuki Chidori slaughtered the approaching Hollows as easily as chopping melons and vegetables, then peeled the masks off their faces and put them on his own.

"Do you think Hollows this dumb can see through our disguises?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

Chōjirō Sasakibe and Hachisato's eyebrows twitched wildly. They were only stupid, not brain-dead! How could they possibly fail to see through this?

Still...

"Brother Yamabuki, after you put on that Hollow mask, your Reiatsu really did change! It might actually work!" Chōjirō Sasakibe found a suitable mask among the Hollow corpses and put it on as well. It was rather amusing.

Just as the three of them finished disguising themselves, the Adjuchas that had been tracking them found them.

"Kid, you run pretty fast! Our fight isn't over yet! Keep going!" said the four-armed Adjuchas.

Yamabuki Chidori rubbed his throat, then spoke in a deliberately raspy voice. "You've got the wrong person. I'm a Hollow too. Look at the mask on my face!"

Under his mask, the four-armed Adjuchas's brow twitched wildly. Do you take me for a complete idiot? How could I fail to recognize you just because you put on a mask? And your Reiatsu...

Hm? Why had this kid's Reiatsu changed?

Before, it had been pure Shinigami Reiatsu.

Now, it had become extremely... muddled.

Like a giant hodgepodge.

"I really am a Hollow. If you don't believe me, I'll fire a Cero to show you. Stand right there and don't move. I'm firing one now! Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

To hell with your Cero!

The four-armed Adjuchas cursed loudly as a golden-blue pillar of light blasted straight into the Hollow horde, sending countless Hollows flying.

"What are you two standing around for? Run! Our disguises have been exposed!" Yamabuki Chidori shouted at Chōjirō Sasakibe and Hachisato.

Chōjirō Sasakibe complained inwardly, Your disguise never worked in the first place! What kind of idiot would fall for something like that? Use that Chief Strategist brain of yours!

Since the masks were useless anyway, Chōjirō Sasakibe casually took his off and tossed it away. Hachisato did the same.

Yamabuki Chidori sighed. He had wanted to play at infiltrating the enemy from within, but it seemed that plan had failed. He reached up to remove his mask, only to find that it would not come off!

Hm?

Had he used too much force when putting it on?

He tugged again, harder, but it still would not come off!

A chill ran up Yamabuki Chidori's spine.

What was going on?

He grabbed the mask and desperately tore at it, but it seemed to have fused to his face. No matter how hard he pulled, it did not budge in the slightest, unless he tore off his entire face along with it!

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Don't let something go wrong at a time like this!

"Brother Yamabuki, why are you still wearing that mask?" Chōjirō Sasakibe asked.

Yamabuki Chidori said nervously, "I thought it looked pretty cool, so I'll keep it on for now. It's nothing. Don't worry about me. Leave the pursuers behind us to me!"

Then he tried again. No matter how hard he pulled, the white mask would not come off. If he returned to the Soul Society wearing this thing, he would be cut down on sight.

It was troublesome enough that he had accidentally awakened the ability to control Reishi. He had to stay on guard at all times, terrified that someone would discover it.

And now, a Hollow mask was stuck to his face and would not come off. He would never be able to explain himself.

Hollows had always been the enemies of Shinigami. When Aizen conducted his Hollowfication experiments, he used eight captains and Lieutenants as test subjects, turning them into half-Hollow Shinigami. That was nearly a third of the Soul Society's core fighting force, yet the Soul Society had abandoned them without hesitation!

Judging from Shinji Hirako's attitude toward Yamamoto during his fight with Aizen, Yamamoto had tacitly accepted Central 46's verdict.

After the Aizen arc, the Visored Army returned to the Gotei 13, yet during the Thousand-Year Blood War, they never used Hollowfication even when they were defeated and killed. They had most likely reached some agreement with the higher-ups and were forbidden from using Hollowfication for the rest of their lives.

Otherwise, those Visored captains would not have been so passive during the Thousand-Year Blood War.

"Damn it, if it comes down to it, I'll cut my face off. I have Kido, so I can heal it anyway." Yamabuki Chidori hardened his heart and used the tip of his blade to pry at the gap between the mask and his flesh, intending to peel off his entire face!

But at that moment, he realized the real problem was not that the mask could not be removed. It was that the Hollow mask was fusing with his body, gradually melting into him!

In less than a minute, the Hollow mask disappeared completely, merging into his body. Yamabuki Chidori rubbed his face hard, confirming that it was flesh, not a mask, but that only made him more anxious. What exactly was wrong with his body?

"Hm? Brother Yamabuki, did you throw that mask away? You were just saying it looked cool!" Chōjirō Sasakibe came over with a grin.

Las Noches

Yamabuki Chidori shuddered violently in fright and nearly fell off Lizard Maru's back.

"Brother Yamabuki, what's wrong? You look terrible! Were you hurt just now?" Chōjirō Sasakibe came over and asked.

"Get lost! You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were an enemy. I'm the second-best doctor in the Soul Society. Wouldn't I know whether I was injured?" Yamabuki Chidori's eyes darted about.

"What happened to that mask?"

"The mask... the mask? I threw it away once I was done playing with it. Was I supposed to keep carrying it around?" Yamabuki Chidori pretended to look into the distance, though he was really avoiding Chōjirō Sasakibe's gaze.

Those Hollows were still relentlessly pursuing them. At this rate, they would be caught sooner or later.

"Chief Strategist, I've contacted the Soul Society. However, they said that due to technical issues, they won't be able to open a Soul Gate at the designated location for at least another two hours," Hachisato said.

"Two hours?" Yamabuki Chidori licked his lips. It was not all that long. "You two go up front and control our direction. I'll handle these pursuers. Two hours is more than enough."

A prolonged battle was what he feared least right now!

The four-armed Adjuchas was the first to pounce.

This time, Yamabuki Chidori did not form a Spirit Bow. There were other people here, after all. Though they did not know what it was now, the war with the Quincy was not far away. They would definitely see Spirit Bows in the future, and then he would have no way to explain why a Shinigami could use Quincy abilities.

So, he fought the Adjuchas using pure Shinigami power. After the previous fierce battle, he discovered that his Reiatsu had increased again, bringing him a major step closer to captain class!

Moreover, he had found a fighting style that belonged to him.

"Six Rods Prison of Light! Hyakurensan! Roaring Cannon! Dragon of Thunder!"

A barrage of Kido rained down without the slightest concern for consumption, blasting the Hollows behind him until they wailed for their parents.

Yamabuki Chidori's body could rapidly absorb the surrounding Reishi to replenish what he expended. Both his injuries and Reiatsu recovered quickly.

Ordinary Hollows could only glare helplessly, but Menos Grande had long-range attack methods.

A massive group of Hollows began firing Ceros.

They came in every color, filling the sky!

Sure enough, only artillery could suppress artillery!

And even if Yamabuki Chidori had three heads and six arms, he could not possibly suppress dozens of Menos Grande with firepower alone.

Watching the Hollows fire their Ceros, inspiration struck Yamabuki Chidori. Could I fire a Cero too?

After his body absorbed the Hollow mask, Yamabuki Chidori had already formed some guesses. His body might have possessed three types of power from the start: Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow.

As for the source of those powers...

Who told him to be a Child of Destiny?

With that thought, Yamabuki Chidori extended his hand and gathered his Reiatsu. In an instant, a silver-white sphere of light appeared in his palm, identical to the Ceros the Hollows were firing!

It worked! It really worked!

Yamabuki Chidori was shocked and delighted. Then he hurled out the Cero he had formed!

BOOM!!!

The dark night sky was instantly swallowed by silver light. A silver-white Cero streaked into the Hollow horde with a long flaming tail and exploded. The Hollows caught in the blast were instantly reduced to nothing, while the bodies of those on the edge of the explosion were sliced apart as if cut by something, the portions caught in the blast severed cleanly away!

The four-armed Adjuchas's pupils contracted.

Was that a Shinigami? How could a Shinigami use a Cero? No, he had used other methods too. What kind of monster was this?

"Brother Yamabuki, that move just now was incredible!" Chōjirō Sasakibe had somehow come over again.

"That's a Kido I developed myself. Of course it's incredible. Stop getting in the way and go watch the road," Yamabuki Chidori snapped.

Soon, Yamabuki Chidori thought of a new trick.

He formed another Cero, except this one was larger and more diffuse.

"Have some peanuts!" Yamabuki Chidori sneered and released it. The silver Cero scattered like a shotgun blast, turning into thumb-sized particles of light that swept in every direction.

When these particles hit their targets, they did not explode. Instead, they pierced directly through the Hollows' bodies and continued onward until their Reiatsu was exhausted.

In just an instant, dozens of Menos Grande were pierced through and killed.

"What the hell is that? Normal Ceros don't have that kind of property!" the four-armed Adjuchas shouted.

Yamabuki Chidori merely sneered and casually fired another spread shot!

The Hollows had learned their lesson and immediately fired Ceros to resist.

Ceros were fundamentally composed of Reiatsu, so naturally Reiatsu could be used to counter them. Furthermore, after the silver Cero was scattered, each individual pellet's power fell. After being intercepted by dozens of Ceros, it did not injure a single Hollow.

Yamabuki Chidori clicked his tongue.

Though those Hollows were still following them, the ones that had survived all possessed some intelligence. They no longer dared to chase mindlessly.

There had been more than a thousand Hollows at the start of the pursuit. Now, fewer than two hundred remained.

Chōjirō Sasakibe looked at him with worship in his eyes. "Brother Yamabuki, that Kido is amazing! Can you teach me when we get back?"

"No! You're trying to run before you can walk! Tell me, how many forms does a Shinigami's Zanpakuto have?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

"I know, I know! Two forms," Chōjirō Sasakibe replied.

"You haven't even learned Bankai, yet you want to divide your attention learning something else? If you want to learn these advanced techniques from me, learn Bankai first," Yamabuki Chidori said.

"I'll definitely work hard to learn Bankai!" Chōjirō Sasakibe was thrilled, not even noticing that what Yamabuki Chidori had used was not Shinigami power at all.

Hachisato, meanwhile, showed a trace of suspicion in his eyes. Though his status was low, his master was the head of one of the Five Noble Clans. As an assassin, he had seen much of the world. He had never seen a Shinigami capable of wielding such strange powers.

Still, he pretended not to have seen anything.

Hachisato knew very well that there were many things in this world that someone as insignificant as him should not know. Knowing too much was not a good thing. It could bring about his destruction.

"Brother Yamabuki, look! Those Hollows stopped chasing us. Are they scared?" Chōjirō Sasakibe asked happily.

Yamabuki Chidori looked and saw that it was true. The Hollows had formed a semicircle and stood in the distance, staring at them with venomous eyes.

"Hmph. As expected, even Hollows fear death. They must have been intimidated by my overwhelming strength," Yamabuki Chidori said confidently.

If he unleashed all three of his powers, perhaps he could even take on one of the current captains.

At that moment, Lizard Maru stopped as well.

"Why did we stop?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

Hachisato said in a grave voice, "Chief Strategist, the sight ahead is strange... Hueco Mundo... actually has such a massive building!"

Yamabuki Chidori froze, then hurriedly turned around.

Fuck! Las Noches!

Yamamoto: "Who Told You to Go to the Enemy's Lair?!"

"Las Noches! How did we end up here?!" Yamabuki Chidori's face was filled with shock. No wonder those Hollows had stopped chasing them. They were not afraid of him. They were afraid of Hueco Mundo's current king, Baraggan, the King of Despair.

"Chief Strategist, you look terrible. Is this place dangerous? Should we leave immediately?" Hachisato asked.

The Hollows behind them all stared at Yamabuki Chidori with intense hatred, but not a single one dared step into Las Noches's territory.

"What's there to fear? Don't panic. As long as I'm here, everything will be fine. Las Noches is so large that Baraggan probably won't notice us entering for a while. Besides, those Hollows don't dare barge in, so it gives us a chance to catch our breath. Tell the Soul Society to open the Soul Gate near Las Noches. We'll return in two hours," Yamabuki Chidori said calmly.

Las Noches was not merely a palace. Anyone who had seen the Hueco Mundo arc of Bleach knew that Las Noches was a massive complex of buildings. Kurosaki Ichigo and the others had caused such havoc inside and still were not caught. Besides, there were no Espada or Arrancar in this era. Did that original version of the King of Despair think he could stop him alone? Dream on.

Baraggan, you're just a little brother!

Yamabuki Chidori looked at the Hollows behind him with a mocking expression and raised his middle finger. The Hollows gritted their teeth in fury, but none of them dared set foot in the territory of Hueco Mundo's king.

"Brother Yamabuki, is this place really safe?" Chōjirō Sasakibe was a little frightened. Yamabuki Chidori quietly reassured him, "Don't worry. It'll be fine. With me here, even if Baraggan, the king of Hueco Mundo, comes, he won't be able to do anything to you."

Yamabuki Chidori planned to rest on the outskirts of Las Noches for two hours, then return immediately once the Soul Gate opened. The mission would be complete.