There were three entrances near the expeditionary camp, located in the east, north, and south directions.
Sora took the seven students to the eastern entrance of the expeditionary camp.
He chose to come to this entrance because the distance to the other two entrances was roughly the same, making it convenient for providing support.
Neither Ashido's adjutant Yūtarō nor Sōjun Kuchiki had captain-level strength. If they encountered Baraggan or other powerful Menos, they might not be able to hold them off.
"Professor, what are you doing?"
Lisa Yadōmaru saw Katori Sora casting Kidō on several stone trees.
A faint Kidō light entered the stone trees, but it produced no effect.
"This is a type of Kidō that can be activated after a delay. When the Hollows get here, I will activate these Kidō formulas."
Sora explained.
This was the Kidō 'Hyakujōkōrō' that he had found in the Tsunayashiro family's collection of books.
'Hyakujōkōrō' was an improved version of 'Rikujōkōrō'.
'Rikujōkōrō' could release six blades of light to bind an opponent's movements.
The number of light blades released by 'Hyakujōkōrō', however, depended on how many formulas were prepared in advance.
If prepared properly, even a captain-level powerhouse would find it difficult to break free from the restraints of 'Hyakujōkōrō'.
"Our goal is to lure the Hollow army to the designated location and let the camp's Kidō Cannon eliminate them. But we may also encounter strong enemies. At that time, I will intercept the strong enemy, and the task of luring the Hollow army to the designated location will be left to you."
Sora explained the battle plan while casting Kidō.
"No problem! Mission guaranteed!"
Isshin Shiba was full of confidence.
"Understood!"
The others all nodded.
A moment later, Sora suddenly looked towards the entrance.
"On guard! The Hollow army is here!"
Sora had already sensed the Hollows' Spiritual Pressure fluctuations approaching rapidly.
Unlike human wars with cold weapons, Hollows were extremely mobile. Just as Sora sensed the Spiritual Pressure fluctuations, he soon saw their figures.
"So many Hollows!"
Munehiro Kyōraku felt his palms sweating. He also sensed two Menos in the group whose Spiritual Pressure far surpassed his own.
They were probably at least 'Adjuchas' class Menos!
In addition, there were dozens to hundreds of Gillians and two to three thousand ordinary Hollows!
If it weren't for Professor Katori being here, he would have wanted to turn and run!
"This is going to be a tough fight..."
Isshin Shiba's eyes were resolute. The two powerful Spiritual Pressures instead fueled his fighting spirit.
"They're heading that way!"
Lisa Yadōmaru noticed that after the Hollows entered, they did not advance in the intended direction.
"We need to get their attention first," Sajin Komamura said.
"It begins!" Sora raised his hand.
"Hadō #88. Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"
Suddenly, a dazzling blue beam of light shot through the stone forest.
—BOOM!!!
The blue beam landed in the middle of the Hollow army, and a deafening roar echoed.
The students standing on the stone trees were nearly knocked off by the tremendous shockwave from the explosion.
"What a terrifying Kidō..." Tetsuzaemon Iba was amazed. Fortunately, this was an attack released by an ally, otherwise they might have been wiped out by now.
When the dust settled a little, the group saw that a corner of the Hollow army was missing. Several Gillians and over a hundred Hollows had been annihilated by this single blow.
"Dodge!"
Sora warned.
The Menos retaliated, and a dozen Ceros shot rapidly towards the group.
Boom boom boom—
The explosion of a dozen Ceros was no less powerful than the 'Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō' that Sora had just released.
However, Isshin Shiba and the others were not weak and had dodged in advance.
Thump thump—
Two humanoid Menos left their positions and charged towards the group.
One Menos had red hair, which upon closer inspection, were actually individual tentacles.
The other Menos had an oval-shaped skull mask.
Both of these Menos were slightly larger than a human, comparable in size to Sajin Komamura.
Isshin Shiba quickly drew his sword and slashed at the Red-Tentacle Menos.
Slap.
Isshin Shiba's pupils shrank abruptly. The Red-Tentacle Menos had actually caught his blade with its palm!
Immediately after, he felt the world spin.
The Red-Tentacle Menos grabbed Isshin Shiba's Zanpakutō and threw him, sword and all, crashing into a stone tree.
The Red-Tentacle Menos raised its hand, and a blue flash of light condensed in its palm.
Clang—
A flash of light streaked past, and a bloody gash appeared on the wrist of the Red-Tentacle Menos.
"Huh?" The Red-Tentacle Menos was slightly stunned.
The next moment, its right hand detached from its arm, leaving a neat cut.
"Such a fast sword..."
The Red-Tentacle Menos turned to look at Katori Sora. "Heh... looks like I've run into a strong one among the Shinigami!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos only had the upper half of its face covered by a mask, the lower half was exposed.
However, its face was also different from an ordinary human's, its mouth full of sharp teeth was not covered by lips but was directly exposed, looking exceptionally ferocious and terrifying.
"High-Speed Regeneration..."
Sora's eyes narrowed as he saw the Red-Tentacle Menos's wrist regenerating rapidly.
In a few breaths, the Red-Tentacle Menos's wrist was restored to its original state.
Regeneration was an inherent ability of Hollows, but to have regeneration of this level was extremely rare.
The Spiritual Pressure of this Red-Tentacle Menos was even stronger than the other Oval-Skull Menos. It was a 'Vasto Lorde' level Menos.
"You're not the general of the expeditionary force... so you must be a captain from the Soul Society!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos flexed its wrist. "If I kill you, my prestige will surpass Baraggan's!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos coveted Baraggan's throne of bones. If it could achieve the feat of killing a Shinigami captain, it would gain the support of more Menos.
"Then you're going to be disappointed. I'm not a captain yet."
Sora glanced at the others.
Isshin Shiba and Sajin Komamura were fighting the Oval-Skull Menos together.
Lisa Yadōmaru, Isane Kotetsu, Tetsuzaemon Iba, Munehiro Kyōraku, and Maki Ichinose had already engaged the Hollow army, fighting while retreating, luring the army towards the predetermined direction.
"What, how boring! Ptoo—"
The Red-Tentacle Menos suddenly spat at Sora.
Sora quickly used Shunpo to dodge. The saliva landed where he had been standing, actually corroding a hole in the rock on the ground.
"Saliva with strong acid!"
Sora became vigilant.
On the other side, Isshin Shiba and Sajin Komamura were also under great pressure.
They had released their Zanpakutō right away.
"This Menos is stronger than expected!"
A large bone hammer grew from the right arm of the Oval-Skull Menos.
It didn't have any peculiar abilities, but its strength and speed were immense.
It was suppressing the two of them with its powerful physical abilities.
The Oval-Skull Menos leaped up, swung its bone hammer, and smashed it against the giant blade of Tenken in the air, neutralizing its slash.
Then, using the rebound force, it swung the bone hammer again, smashing it violently towards Isshin Shiba.
Isshin Shiba quickly retreated, narrowly avoiding the bone hammer.
Dong—
The bone hammer landed on the ground, and its terrifying force instantly exploded, creating a large crater.
Sajin Komamura's heart sank. This Menos was actually using his strength to attack Isshin Shiba.
"I can't use my high-cost moves this early..."
Sajin Komamura felt it was tricky. He didn't know how long this war would last and didn't want to use his high-cost ultimate moves so soon.
Moreover, those moves had a large area of effect and would also affect the Professor and Isshin.
Before Sajin Komamura could think further, the Oval-Skull Menos suddenly appeared behind Isshin Shiba, raising its bone hammer high.
Isshin Shiba had just dodged a hammer blow and hadn't reacted yet. It looked like his head was about to be smashed by the bone hammer.
Sajin Komamura quickly swung horizontally. The giant blade of Tenken arrived before the bone hammer fell, blocking the fatal blow.
Bang—
"That was close!"
Isshin Shiba was shaken. He had almost died just now.
"His speed and strength are both very high... we need to create an opportunity to hit him!"
Isshin Shiba retreated to Sajin Komamura's side.
"I'll draw his attention, you look for an opportunity,"
Sajin Komamura said.
Against this type of fast opponent, only his large-area-of-effect moves were effective, but those moves consumed a lot of energy and would also affect his allies. This was not the right occasion to use them.
"Got it!"
Isshin Shiba nodded.
He needed to find an opportunity to release Getsuga Tenshō.
The battle between Sora and the Red-Tentacle Menos was also continuing.
The Red-Tentacle Menos appeared behind Sora, opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, and a long, spiky red tongue shot out rapidly towards Sora.
"Now!"
A faint Kidō light glowed in Sora's hand, instantly activating the Kidō formulas he had prepared long ago.
The next moment, the stone forests on all four sides lit up with Kidō light.
The 'Hyakujōkōrō' that Sora had set up was instantly activated.
Dozens of Reishi light blades shot out towards the Red-Tentacle Menos and the Oval-Skull Menos.
Both Menos were shocked and quickly dodged the light blades.
However, there were too many of them, and they couldn't dodge them all.
In an instant, more than ten light blades pierced the body of the Red-Tentacle Menos. Even its extended tongue was pinned to the ground by a light blade.
"!!!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos was horrified. Its body was instantly immobilized, and it couldn't retract its tongue!
The Oval-Skull Menos on the other side also failed to escape the binding of the light blades. More than ten light blades pierced its body and bone hammer.
Spiritual Pressure surged from the Red-Tentacle Menos's body, and its tentacles rapidly expanded, shattering the light blades embedded in it.
But by the time the Red-Tentacle Menos had shattered the light blades, eight figures flashing with lightning had already arrived beside it.
In his haste, the Red-Tentacle Menos could only wrap its enlarged tentacles around itself.
Squish—
Eight slashes flashed past, and the eight giant tentacles on the Red-Tentacle Menos were severed almost simultaneously.
"Shinigami! I will tear you to pieces!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos was furious. The cuts on its tentacles were writhing and growing rapidly.
"Menos with High-Speed Regeneration are really tough,"
Sora frowned. The Red-Tentacle Menos's regeneration ability was too strong.
If a Shinigami of similar strength had been hit by his eight slashes, they would have been critically injured, if not dead.
But the Red-Tentacle Menos had only consumed some Spiritual Pressure, and its injuries were completely healed.
"If I cut off your head, can you still regenerate?"
Sora appeared behind the Red-Tentacle Menos. The Menos quickly turned, its spiky tongue shooting out instantly.
Clang—!!!
The tongue and the blade collided, actually producing the sound of metal clashing.
At the same time, the Red-Tentacle Menos condensed a blue flash of light in its hand.
A blue flash shot towards Sora. Arcs of lightning and a torrent of Spiritual Pressure instantly erupted from Sora's shoulders and back.
Whoosh—
Sora dodged the blue flash with a Shunpo so fast that the Red-Tentacle Menos couldn't see it.
The blue flash landed in the distance, hitting right in the middle of the Hollow army.
BOOM!!!
After the flash, hundreds of Hollows were annihilated by the Gran Rey Cero.
The figures of the Red-Tentacle Menos and Sora flickered in the air, suddenly appearing and then suddenly disappearing.
In a single breath, the two had changed positions several times in the air.
Clang clang clang!!
The Red-Tentacle Menos swung its long, whip-like tongue, fending off Sora's attacks.
"He can actually keep up with my Sonído with speed alone!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos was slightly shocked. A Shinigami's Shunpo was a movement technique that relied on speed, while a Menos's Sonído was spatial teleportation!
Its Sonído was much faster than that of an ordinary Menos, yet this Shinigami could keep up with it using just speed!
"Shunpo is still Shunpo. No matter how fast you move, there's still a trail to follow!"
"Ptoo ptoo ptoo ptoo ptoo!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos spat five times, and five blobs of green pus blocked Sora's movements.
To avoid the five blobs of green pus, Sora was forced into a position that the Red-Tentacle Menos had anticipated.
"How dare you underestimate me, not even releasing your Zanpakutō?" The Red-Tentacle Menos condensed another blue flash in its hand. "Then die!"
The Red-Tentacle Menos felt that this Shinigami was extremely annoying. They had been fighting for a while, yet he still didn't want to release his Zanpakutō, completely looking down on it!
"Who said I haven't released my Zanpakutō?" Sora said with a light laugh.
The Red-Tentacle Menos was stunned. It found that its right hand was caught by something, and the blue flash in its palm could not be aimed at the Shinigami in front of it.
The thing that caught it was a pitch-black shadow.
The pitch-black shadow quickly wrapped around its body, binding it.
Sora was not an arrogant person. When dealing with a powerful Menos like the Red-Tentacle Menos, he had used his Bankai from the very beginning.
It was just that his Bankai could now be very secretive, not necessarily requiring the deployment of the shadow space.
The shadow space was hidden in the shadow beneath his feet.
The Red-Tentacle Menos didn't know what was holding it. With a grimace, it planned to release the blue flash in its hand directly towards the ground.
At such a close distance, even if the Cero didn't hit the Shinigami directly, it could still cause massive damage.
But Sora's speed was faster. Concentrating all his strength into the tip of his blade, he instantly delivered a Shungeki.
The Red-Tentacle Menos, already caught by the shadow, could not evade. The mask on its forehead was directly pierced by the blade.
Crack—
The blade twisted into its brain, and the Spiritual Pressure converged at the tip of the blade suddenly erupted.
Bang—
The Red-Tentacle Menos's head exploded, and red and white matter splattered everywhere.
Its corpse slowly fell to the ground.
"I... I lost... Baraggan..."
Only half of the Red-Tentacle Menos's head remained, its mouth muttering in a low voice.
But the next moment, the blue Cero in its palm could no longer be suppressed and exploded.
The blue light of destruction quickly engulfed the Red-Tentacle Menos's body.
BOOM!!!
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