Boom!
Ultimate black and ultimate white collided with a heaven-shaking blow in the dark night sky.
Kuchiki Byakuya's final strike, that dazzling white light, almost dyed the entire night sky of the Seireitei bright as day, like a meteor erupting in an instant.
However, a meteor's brilliance can only last for a moment.
Just two seconds.
The black, hell-prison-like, overwhelming spiritual pressure that belonged to the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo visibly surged forth, completely swallowing the light of Hakuteiken and crushing this strongest attack, along with Kuchiki Byakuya's will, into pieces.
Thud!
Kuchiki Byakuya's blood-soaked body fell helplessly from midair and smashed heavily into the ground, kicking up a spray of dust and blood mist.
He did not die on the spot, but the grievous injuries covering his entire body, along with his already exhausted spiritual pressure, left him completely unable to fight any longer.
He lay in a pool of blood, those once peerless eyes now dim and lifeless, filled with humiliation and unwillingness.
Staring at that black monster who once again charged recklessly toward Rosse, his heart was left with nothing but endless sorrow.
'I, Kuchiki Byakuya...'
...can only go this far.'
In a short span of time, two captains had been instantly crushed, and one captain had even had his Bankai forcibly broken. This was the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's current record.
At this moment, with the distance between the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo and Rosse nearly point-blank, even if the other captains wanted to intervene, they were already too far to matter.
However, even if they could make it in time, the remaining captains had no intention of stepping in again.
Because...
Slash!
Facing the unstoppable bull-headed Hollow Ichigo, like a doomsday torrent, Rosse merely swung his blade slowly and casually.
Blood scattered through the air like red mist blown apart by the wind.
The bull-headed Hollow Ichigo, who moments ago no one could stand against, had absolutely no power to resist in front of Rosse. Zangetsu was easily knocked aside, and another bone-deep wound was carved into his body.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, this is about where it ends."
Rosse's voice was calm, without the slightest trace of emotion.
He swung his blade again. The Zanpakuto tore through the air, carrying vast spiritual pressure, and slammed heavily into the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's shoulder.
The tremendous impact came down like a mountain crashing from above, forcibly bending the hardened knees that had become rigid through Hollowfication, driving him to his knees.
"ROAR!"
Kneeling did not mean surrender.
When pushed to the extreme, the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's instincts instead erupted with even greater madness.
Black-red Cero energy gathered at the bull horns atop his head.
It was as if, in his instinctive awareness, Rosse had chosen to evade the previous Cero. Then this one should be the same, buying him precious time to struggle further.
But this time, the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo was disappointed.
Rosse's gaze was icy, without the slightest change.
He did not dodge, and he did not defend.
Before the Cero had fully formed, his Zanpakuto flashed once more, slicing down with unstoppable sharpness straight toward the top of the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's head.
Slash!
With a single strike, the pair of bull horns that were gathering Cero power were cleanly severed at the base.
The broken horns, carrying incompletely formed Cero energy, crashed to the ground with an explosive roar.
"Is it over?"
Watching Rosse deal with the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo with overwhelming dominance, Ichimaru Gin narrowed his eyes slightly from where he observed the battle.
'Captain Rosse really is worthy of being the king of the Royal Palace of Hollows. Strong like a monster.'
And Ichimaru Gin had a feeling that Rosse had not even used his full strength yet.
"Not yet. That thing's spiritual pressure is still very full."
Tosen Kaname could not see the battlefield clearly, but in his spiritual pressure perception, the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo showed no signs of being suppressed.
In the next moment, a sudden change occurred.
The loss of his horns did not make the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo settle down.
On the contrary, the pain and the stripping away of his instincts made him even more violent and even more out of control.
"ROAR!"
Another earth-shaking roar burst from the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's throat.
Under the horrified gazes of all the captains, a spiritual pressure far stronger and purer than before erupted wildly from within him, like magma from hell.
Just the shock from the release of that spiritual pressure caused the already ravaged ground around them to let out overloaded cries once more, cracking apart inch by inch and even triggering small-scale tremors.
Yet even though this spiritual pressure was so powerful it nearly surpassed the peak of captain level, in front of Rosse it merely lifted a corner of his clothes, making the captain's haori on his body flutter noisily in the gale, without causing any real harm at all.
"Now this is a little interesting," Rosse let out a light chuckle, his gaze falling on the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo.
After that burst of spiritual pressure, the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo's body underwent another chilling transformation.
The wounds Rosse had carved into his chest healed in an instant. At the same time, layers of hard, grotesque bone armor grew out from beneath his skin, once again covering his entire body.
But the most noticeable change was his Zanpakuto.
The once plain and unremarkable blade had now swollen and reshaped into a massive jet-black greatsword nearly two meters long, its spine lined with rough, serrated teeth.
The blade radiated a cold, sinister sheen, and its appearance bore a seven or eight out of ten resemblance to the Bankai Kurosaki Ichigo would display in the future during the invasion of the Wandenreich.
"ROAR!"
After evolving yet again, the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo let out another thunderous roar.
That roar was filled with ferocity and unyielding will.
Under the crushing pressure of Rosse's mountain-like spiritual pressure and blade, he actually forced himself upright, inch by inch, extremely slowly, yet stubbornly and unyieldingly.
His movements were slow. Every twitch of muscle seemed to tear at the air itself.
And because the extreme spiritual pressure inside his body was being output at full throttle, constantly clashing with Rosse's spiritual pressure and power, the space around him and Rosse, already crushed to the brink of collapse, began to visibly tremble and distort under the confrontation of those forces.
"He's practically a monster..."
Kyoraku Shunsui stared gravely at the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo, silently estimating his combat power.
Judging by the spiritual pressure he was unleashing alone, it already surpassed the level Kyoraku reached when activating his own Bankai.
And with that kind of regeneration, his Bankai's mechanism would probably have no effect on the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo at all.
In the entire Soul Society, perhaps only Captain-Commander Yamamoto using Bankai could firmly suppress the current bull-headed Hollow Ichigo.
As for Rosse, in his eyes he was indeed very strong, but only limitedly stronger than himself, and most likely unable to stop the bull-headed Hollow Ichigo in front of them.
He was already prepared to activate his Bankai at any moment.
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