Masaki Kurosaki looked at Isshin Shiba as he was sent flying, anxiety appearing on her face.
"Are you all right, Shinigami sir?"
Her voice was filled with concern.
Isshin Shiba struggled to climb up from the ground.
His body trembled slightly, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
He forcefully wiped the blood away and barely squeezed out a smile.
"I'm fine. I'm not dead yet! A little injury like this is nothing to me."
Although he acted as if nothing was wrong, it was obvious that he had suffered fairly serious injuries.
Masaki Kurosaki quickly ran over and supported Isshin Shiba, looking at him worriedly.
"We should find a way to retreat first and rest somewhere safe. Your wounds need treatment."
Isshin Shiba looked at Masaki Kurosaki, and warmth rose in his heart.
If all Quincy had kind hearts like this girl, how good would that be?
"Thank you, Masaki," Isshin Shiba said softly. "But we should think about how to deal with the trouble in front of us first. Otherwise, neither of us is leaving today."
Masaki Kurosaki smiled and shook her head.
"Don't say that, Shinigami sir. This is something I should do. Besides, if not for my lack of battle experience, you wouldn't have gotten hurt…"
A trace of guilt flashed through her eyes.
Isshin Shiba looked at White before them.
"Masaki, I'll still take the lead in attacking. You support me from long range. But remember to avoid its Cero. Also, this Hollow has High-Speed Regeneration. Only by destroying its head and internal organs can we kill it."
Masaki Kurosaki nodded and tightened her grip on her Quincy bow.
Isshin Shiba took a deep breath, adjusted his condition, and charged toward White once again.
He swung his Zanpakutō and engaged White in a fierce battle.
From a distance, Masaki Kurosaki continuously drew her bow and fired Heilig Pfeil, supporting Isshin Shiba.
However, White's strength exceeded their expectations.
It blocked Isshin Shiba's attacks again and again, and even when it was injured, it could rapidly heal its wounds.
Sweat continuously dripped from Isshin Shiba's forehead.
He felt that he was already nearing his limit, but he still gritted his teeth and endured.
Masaki Kurosaki watched the scene anxiously. She knew they could not continue like this.
They had to find a way to break the deadlock.
Suddenly, she deliberately threw the Quincy bow in her hand onto the ground.
When White saw this from afar, it immediately became frenzied.
It charged madly toward Masaki Kurosaki. It was extremely furious at the person who had been firing arrows from a distance the entire time.
Now that she had put down her weapon, it decided to eliminate her first.
In the blink of an eye, White arrived in front of Masaki Kurosaki.
"Masaki! What are you doing? Hurry up and dodge!" Isshin shouted loudly.
However, this time, Isshin did not make it in time to stop White's movement, because everything had happened far too suddenly.
Masaki Kurosaki seemed to have lost her ability to fight.
White suddenly opened its bloody maw and bit hard into her shoulder.
That bite brought Masaki unbearable pain, as if all her strength to resist had been drained away.
Her body also went slightly weak.
At the critical moment between life and death, Masaki displayed astonishing courage.
Without hesitation, she tightly embraced White's body and quickly pierced its head with a Heilig Pfeil.
After that, she retreated madly, putting as much distance between herself and White as possible.
"Masaki!"
Isshin finally arrived beside her. His eyes widened, filled with worry.
Looking at the wound on Masaki's shoulder, he felt deeply guilty.
If this young girl died because of him, he would never forgive himself.
But before he could do anything more, White, whose head had been pierced by the Heilig Pfeil, unexpectedly self-destructed at the moment of death.
This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard.
White intended to blow up Isshin, who had rushed over to protect Masaki, while also transferring its remaining spiritual body into Masaki's body.
Masaki was also sent flying far away by White's self-destruction and crashed heavily onto the ground.
Isshin hurriedly ran over, picked Masaki up, and checked her injuries.
At this moment, Masaki's consciousness gradually blurred.
She felt that her body was being occupied by a powerful force.
She desperately tried to keep herself conscious and fought against that power.
"Masaki, hold on! I will definitely save you!"
Isshin sensed that White's power was corroding her. If they did not find a solution soon, Masaki would become a Hollow.
At the same time, Ryūken Ishida also arrived at the scene.
He looked at Masaki Kurosaki, whose face was twisted in pain from her injuries, and the weakened Isshin Shiba.
After struggling internally for a long time, a Quincy bow appeared in his hand.
He prepared to kill Isshin Shiba first, then think of a way to treat Masaki Kurosaki, who was being corroded by Hollow power.
Just as Ryūken Ishida raised his Quincy bow and prepared to finish off Isshin Shiba, a voice rang out at an extremely inappropriate moment.
"Quincy. If you want to kill a captain of Soul Society, I cannot agree to that."
Kazuma, that sneaky old fox, also walked out from the shadows.
A faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth, and his gaze was cold as he stared at Ryūken Ishida.
Looking at the figure who had emerged, Ryūken Ishida's heart shook.
The newcomer wore a Shihakushō and a captain's haori.
He even held a small sake flask in his hand, taking a few sips as he spoke.
His appearance shocked Ryūken Ishida, because Ryūken had not sensed this person's presence at all.
And it was not just him.
Even Bantsuutsai, Kisuke and Shinji Hirako's three groups, who had been watching the battle from afar, had not discovered Kazuma's presence from beginning to end.
"Husband?"
"That show-off bastard!"
"Captain?"
Three different forms of address came from the mouths of Batsuuntsai, Saitō, and Hiyori.
They were a little stunned now.
When had Kazuma arrived? If he had been there the whole time, why had he not acted earlier?
However, Kisuke Urahara, Shinji Hirako, and the others had different thoughts.
"Captain Kazuma of the Seventh Division? Could he have been the one who ambushed Isshin Shiba earlier?"
Urahara and Shinji had never seen Kazuma make a move before, so they suspected that he might have been the one who had ambushed Isshin.
"Another captain from Soul Society? But there is no Reiatsu fluctuation coming from this captain at all."
Ryūken Ishida silently calculated the situation in his heart.
He did not know why this captain had no Reiatsu, but he knew that anyone capable of becoming a captain of the Gotei 13 was absolutely not simple.
He began thinking about how to deal with this situation, while also considering how he might kill this captain as well.
Kazuma quietly looked at Ryūken Ishida, a trace of disdain flashing through his eyes.
Then he coldly spoke, "Get lost, Quincy. I am in a good mood right now, so I do not feel like killing you. If you wait until I change my mind, things will not end well for you."
His voice was icy and merciless, as if warning Ryūken Ishida not to test his limits.
When Ryūken Ishida heard these arrogant words, rage surged in his heart.
He decided not to retreat anymore.
He directly drew the Quincy bow in his hand and prepared to attack Kazuma.
However, just as he was about to fire, a terrifying Reiatsu suddenly erupted from Kazuma's body.
That Reiatsu swept forward like a raging tidal wave, instantly enveloping Ryūken Ishida.
He felt as if his body had been crushed beneath a mountain. He could not move at all.
The Reishi bow in his hand collapsed, and he was pressed flat onto the ground.
Kazuma's Reiatsu was so powerful that it was suffocating.
Ryūken Ishida felt fear unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
He realized that he had encountered a true powerhouse, and his heart filled with despair.
He understood that if he continued staying here, only death awaited him.
And so, he struggled to climb up, turned around, and left the scene.
As for what Kazuma hated most, the first thing would undoubtedly be the Quincy.
Leaving aside the fact that Yhwach had schemed against him a thousand years ago, just based on how many Shinigami of Soul Society the Quincy had killed in that great war—including Kazuma's friends—his hatred was already more than justified.
If Masaki Kurosaki had not risked her life today to save Isshin Shiba, Kazuma might have drawn his blade and killed Ryūken Ishida on the spot instead of sparing his life.