Chapter 25: Watanabe · Bomb-Man · Mizuma
Because of the long distance, the quality of the surveillance plummeted — only fragmented images and sounds came through.
"You… stay… behind and cover our retreat."
Tokinada's expression grew urgent.
"They're dead. Don't know who did it, but someone's definitely watching us."
"How could that be?"
"No idea, but this place is no longer safe…"
"Lord Tokinada, you retreat first, leave this to us."
Within mere seconds, Tokinada and a few of his men quickly left the cave, not lingering for even a breath.
What the hell—?
How did he know? Could his subordinates be carrying some kind of detection device?
Damn it… he ran fast. I wanted to turn this into something big, but now that Tokinada's fled, he'll just cleanly wash his hands of the whole affair — and I lose my pretext to act.
Still, it doesn't matter.
He's taken Aizen with him anyway.
Now that I've got the Binding Tool, I can go straight in to save the others — I've got the initiative.
Which means, that clone inside… no longer needs to stay alive.
I'll have to make its exit count — something memorable.
And what can a mere 5th Seat possibly do?
Wait… got it.
To avoid the classic "kill one and inherit his scent" fantasy trope, Mizuma swapped between his normal appearance and his Ryugetsu skin form a few times, then grabbed the Binding Tool and left the valley at full speed.
[TL: YAP SESSION 3!
In short:
It's a self-aware jab at xianxia tropes where killing someone causes magical consequences or karmic tracking.
Basically he's saying "Better not trigger some nonsense karma-scent tracking like in those cheesy cultivation novels."
It wont be far when I lose all my braincells.]
---
Inside the Divine Sword Trial Grounds.
At this point, it seemed Tokinada wasn't wrong when he said,
"Even the Zero Division might struggle to defeat the Guardian."
When that dragon was asleep, it looked kind of cute — but once it started fighting, it was pure chaos.
In just a few exchanges, Lisa's Haguro Tonbo was smashed in half by a single claw, Kensei was burned black on one side by the dragon's flames, and even Urahara took a few heavy hits — his captain's haori already blown off to who-knows-where.
The dragon's blood-red eyes flicked between the four of them, silently assessing:
Hmm… the blond one's fast — doesn't hit hard, but tricky to catch. Must be a stealth-type fighter. Annoying, but manageable.
That musclehead condenses his reiryoku before punching — nasty, but my scales can take it. Even if I let him hit the same spot twice, it'd take at least two punches to break through. Alone, he's easy prey — but together, they cover each other well. Hard to find an opening.
The short-skirt one's the weakest of the attackers, but smart — she doesn't overextend like the white-haired guy, and her teammates cover her perfectly.
And that one by the entrance, trying to break the barrier — he's working hard, but that thing can't be undone so easily.
Hmm… his movements aren't fast. If I ignore the others and go for him directly, I could end this quick.
Excellent. Let's try that.
In the next instant, Little Red Riding Hood unfurled her wings — every muscle on her sleek body swelling like steel cords.
With one thunderous kick, the ten-meter dragon became a blur of crimson light.
She ignored Red Princess's shrieking cry, Iron Wind's crushing blow, and the Iron Slag Dragonfly's piercing strike — tanking them all — and in under half a second, reached Mizuma's side.
Then — her sword-like claw pierced clean through his chest.
"Mizuma!!!"
"Watanabe!!"
"Fifth Seat Watanabe!!"
Lisa's eyes flared red as she hurled half of her broken blade like a spear.
Kensei clenched his jaw and began condensing his reiryoku even tighter.
Urahara gripped his blade, debating whether to unleash Red Princess's next release.
Even if it was only a clone — to watch a junior die before them was a humiliation no comrade could bear.
But anger sharpens the blade even as it dulls precision.
Little Red dodged Lisa and Kensei's strikes with ease, retreating toward the crystal while clutching Mizuma, a smile curling on her draconic face.
"What a shame. You're out."
"Indeed." Mizuma coughed blood — but his lips curved faintly upward.
"Because this was the moment I was waiting for."
"What—?"
Little Red's eyes narrowed — an instinct screamed danger.
She swung her claw, trying to fling him away—
But failed.
He… was gripping her talon tightly?
And his body… was heating up fast.
What—what is he doing?!
"You know," Mizuma panted, voice ragged, "I always thought my Zanpakutō's power had more potential. Even if it's not offensive… a body that doesn't fear death can do a lot of things."
A bad feeling twisted in the dragon's gut.
She beat her wings, trying to shake him off, dodging the others' attacks — but the man wouldn't let go, even as his bones shattered against the floor.
"For example… if you compress reishi into one point of the body, tighter, tighter— until it's ready to burst…"
Mid-sentence, Mizuma began to glow like a light bulb, his form swelling, aura crackling—
"Now this… is art!!"
"Let go of me, you lunatic!!"
Their struggle ended in a flash of pure white light.
And in the most literal, physical sense—
Watanabe Mizuma exploded.
<><><><>
〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 1 bonus ch.
Every 2 review after 100 ps = 1 bonus ch.