"Is that all you've got?", Kurosaki Ichigo bared his teeth, the grin on his face carrying a hint of arrogant provocation.
After his asauchi collided with Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura, his figure retreated swiftly like a crouching black panther, pulling back to create distance. He then crooked a finger at Kuchiki Byakuya, his eyes brimming with fighting intent.
In his normal state, his flash step speed was actually a notch faster than Kuchiki Byakuya's.
Although Kuchiki Byakuya made up for that gap with his refined shunpo technique and precise sense of timing, it was still enough to prove that, in terms of raw strength alone, Ichigo surpassed him.
"Just a roadside reed, that's all," Kuchiki Byakuya's voice was so indifferent it carried not the slightest ripple.
His upright figure stood like a statue, not a speck of dust on him, not a trace of injury.
That luxurious shihakusho showed not even the faintest wrinkle, as if the hundreds of high-speed blade clashes just now had been nothing more than casual warm-up after tea.
He raised the Zanpakuto in his hand, the tip pointing toward the sky, and softly recited,
"Scatter, Senbonzakura."
Buzz!
In an instant, the blade in Kuchiki Byakuya's hand did not shatter, but instead transformed into billions of cherry blossom petals glowing with a pink light, dancing through the night sky. That pink torrent looked bewitching against the deep darkness, yet concealed lethal danger.
When Kuchiki Byakuya pointed remotely at Kurosaki Ichigo, those countless petals seemed to receive a summons. With a buzzing hum, they swarmed toward him like bloodthirsty bees.
"Looks pretty enough. Just don't know how strong it really is."
Kurosaki Ichigo chuckled, showing no sign of backing down.
He raised his hand and unleashed the move he was best at, a Getsuga Tensho.
The deep blue reishi slash tore through the air and crashed straight into that sea of pink cherry blossoms.
The instant they collided, a piercing hum rang out. Pink and blue intertwined in the night, forming a sharply defined boundary, a truly spectacular sight.
However, the endless stream of cherry blossom petals seemed alive.
Like waves crashing one after another, carrying an all-penetrating sharpness, they gradually wore down Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho until it was completely devoured.
"Useless effort," Kuchiki Byakuya's cold voice pronounced the verdict.
The torrent of petals did not slow in the slightest, continuing to surge toward Kurosaki Ichigo, each petal representing a blade capable of slicing flesh.
Kuchiki Byakuya had already foreseen the future. In a few minutes, this arrogant boy before him would be completely dismembered.
"Tch! This really is a pain."
The casual look on Kurosaki Ichigo's face faded a little.
He took a deep breath, gripping his Zanpakuto with both hands, the tip pointing forward.
"Looks like... I've gotta use something real, after all!"
"Cut through the boundary, Zangetsu!"
As the release phrase left his mouth, the asauchi in his hand instantly underwent a transformation as spiritual pressure poured in.
That plain long blade split into two, one black and one white, one long and one short. Two Zanpakuto of completely different forms appeared in his hands in an instant.
The long blade was pitch-black and deep, its edge lined with savage, serrated teeth.
The short blade was pure white and slender, with a simple cross-shaped guard at the hilt, exuding a cold precision.
His shikai lacked the flashy, ever-changing spectacle of Kuchiki Byakuya's. Its effect was also exceedingly simple.
Once he entered shikai, he could simultaneously use the three different powers within him: Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy. Moreover, stacking these powers together produced amplification.
Of course, when it came to Hollow power and Quincy power, he still lacked refined methods of control. Aizen had not taught him those.
So for him, the greatest boost from shikai still came from the explosive increase in spiritual pressure.
If a normal Shinigami's shikai usually brought about roughly a threefold increase in combat power,
then Kurosaki Ichigo's shikai at this moment caused an explosive rise in spiritual pressure that reached a terrifying sixfold increase.
Whoosh!
With the support of the twin blades, Kurosaki Ichigo's figure erupted with astonishing speed, vanishing from where he stood in the blink of an eye.
The barrier formed by countless cherry blossom petals was completely unable to track his movement, only spinning and fluttering uselessly where he had disappeared.
"So fast!"
Kuchiki Byakuya's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints in the darkness.
Even he, already in shikai, with his spiritual pressure amplified nearly fourfold and his senses pushed to the limit, could still only barely catch a trace of the afterimage Kurosaki Ichigo left behind.
However, Kuchiki Byakuya was a veteran of countless battles. The innumerable life-and-death moments accumulated over long years meant that even in surprise, his mind continued to operate at full speed.
Relying solely on the residual trail of spiritual pressure and the fleeting sound of torn air, he was able to make the most accurate judgment.
He swung his arm sharply. Behind him, the countless cherry blossom petals emitted a dense buzzing sound and instantly converged into an indestructible pink reishi shield.
Buzz!
Almost at the exact moment his defense took shape, Kurosaki Ichigo's figure descended behind him like a ghost.
The serrated long blade symbolizing Hollow power in his hand carried a brutal, primal destructive force as it slammed heavily into the cherry blossom shield.
"Then how about this one?", Kurosaki Ichigo's arrogant voice exploded at close range.
As he taunted, the other blade in his hand, the white straight short sword symbolizing Quincy power, shot out like a venomous snake. With precision too fine for the naked eye to catch, it carried a violent surge of spiritual pressure like a miniature Getsuga Tensho, aiming straight for Kuchiki Byakuya's lower body.
"Bakudo number eighty-one: Danku!"
A low command rang out, without a full incantation.
In that instant, an invisible spiritual barrier still appeared out of thin air between Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Byakuya, precisely blocking the path of the short-blade slash carrying the Getsuga Tensho.
BANG!
Abandoning the incantation in haste meant the defensive power of Danku was clearly incomplete. That illusory barrier held for less than a second before shattering under the violent spiritual pressure, breaking apart into countless particles of reishi.
However, that single second of delay was enough to buy Kuchiki Byakuya precious reaction time.
The myriad cherry blossom petals instantly gathered around him, forming a dense pink torrent that completely cut him off from Kurosaki Ichigo.
Immediately after, his figure calmly vanished within it, retreating to a safe distance.
"So that's all you've got too, huh?"
Kurosaki Ichigo grinned, his twin blades angled toward the ground. He looked toward the white-clad figure in the distance who had stabilized himself again, wariness in his eyes. A confident smile bloomed across Ichigo's face.
Compared to facing Aizen, the pressure this noble captain gave him was honestly a bit too light.
Even going all out, he had still been no match at all for Aizen in his normal state.
And this captain in front of him was already on the verge of being forced into bankai.
"You only know how to run your mouth?", Kuchiki Byakuya's voice had now shed all traces of indifference and composure, leaving only boundless coldness.
The solidified Senbonzakura in his hand gleamed with icy light in the night.
He flipped the hilt, pointing the blade tip straight at the ground, and gently released his grip.
The Zanpakuto, wrapped in the night, slowly fell toward the earth.
"Bankai..."
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