"My Zanpakuto is originally composed of countless tiny blades. Even if broken into a thousand or ten thousand pieces, it doesn't matter," Byakuya said, looking at Toshiro, who was enveloped by countless petal-like blades.
"If it were anyone else, a broken Zanpakuto would naturally make combat impossible. But... hmm?"
Byakuya, who originally felt the situation was decided and was calmly explaining the characteristics of his Zanpakuto to his enemy, suddenly frowned and stopped speaking.
"Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru!"
A voice suddenly came from within the storm of petal-blades.
At the critical moment, Toshiro released his Shikai.
Boom!
A powerful burst of Reiatsu erupted, instantly scattering the countless petal-blades closing in on Toshiro.
Toshiro looked at Byakuya in admiration. "That's a truly beautiful and dangerous Shikai. Well then, this time, let me show you my Shikai!"
Toshiro swung his Zanpakuto towards Byakuya. A frost dragon instantly materialized and attacked.
Seeing this, Byakuya quickly manipulated Senbonzakura's blades to meet the incoming frost dragon.
Clink Clank Ding Tang...
Countless blades of Senbonzakura enveloped the frost dragon, continuously slicing at it.
Ice crystals were constantly being shaved off the frost dragon's body, yet they were continuously replenished by Toshiro's Reiatsu.
"It's useless. While your Zanpakuto's ability to transform into countless tiny blades is impressive, by the same token, tiny blades can only inflict tiny wounds. Its attack power is too low to shatter my attack," Toshiro said calmly, looking at Byakuya.
The frost dragon rapidly charged to the spot in front of where Byakuya had been standing. Senbonzakura's blades were completely unable to stop it.
Byakuya lightly tapped the ground with his foot, instantly using Shunpo to evade.
Boom!
The frost dragon struck the ground where Byakuya had just been standing.
In an instant, everything on the ground that came into contact with the frost dragon was frozen solid.
Byakuya frowned deeply. "If I cannot shatter your attack, then what about directly attacking you yourself?"
With that, he prepared to manipulate Senbonzakura's blades to attack Toshiro directly.
"What!"
Suddenly, Byakuya couldn't help but freeze in shock.
He saw that the cherry blossom blades dancing in the air had been frozen into ice flowers, falling to the ground.
And the originally pink, cherry blossom-like blades had turned ice-blue.
Byakuya struggled to manipulate the blades, gathering them back into the form of his Zanpakuto's blade.
Once the cherry blossom blades were frozen into ice flowers, their weight increased dramatically. Not only did manipulating them consume more power, but their speed became incredibly slow, making them completely useless for attack.
After the countless tiny blades reformed into the Zanpakuto's blade, they remained covered in a thick layer of blue ice crystals, utterly unusable for cutting.
Byakuya frowned. "I didn't expect that just a brief clash earlier was enough for Senbonzakura's blades to be frozen. Truly worthy of being called the Strongest Ice-type Zanpakuto."
As he spoke, Byakuya used his formidable Reiatsu to disperse the ice on the blade.
His expression grew solemn. "It seems Shikai is not enough to deal with you. Originally, a Gotei 13's Captain's Bankai should not be used casually, but it appears that without using Bankai, I cannot defeat you."
"Bankai!"
Byakuya held his sword in a reverse grip, point downward, then suddenly released it.
The Zanpakuto sank into the ground, and the ground rippled like water.
On either side of Byakuya, two rows of enormous blades suddenly rose from the ground.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
At Byakuya's command, the enormous blades beside him instantly transformed into countless blades, their number far surpassing that during Shikai.
Byakuya manipulated them with his right hand. Countless blades surged towards Toshiro like a storm of flowers, their speed much faster than before.
When Byakuya controls the blades manually, their speed increases dramatically.
Single-hand control doubles the normal speed. Two-handed control quadruples it.
Knowing Toshiro was not an easy opponent, Byakuya didn't test with normal attack speed but immediately used right-hand control.
"Icicle Birds!"
Toshiro also unleashed a large-scale area attack.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
As Toshiro swung his Zanpakuto, countless ice pellets shot forth like hail to meet Byakuya's attack.
Clink Shatter Clink...
The ice pellets collided with the blades. Toshiro's ice pellets were continuously shattered into ice dust that drifted down, while Byakuya's blades were constantly being frozen by Toshiro's cold power.
However, after Bankai, the number of Byakuya's blades is measured in the hundreds of millions, nearly endless, and the cutting power of each slash is greatly enhanced. Toshiro's Icicle Birds couldn't completely block them.
Finally, Byakuya's blades broke through Toshiro's attack, coalescing into two long dragons that pincer-attacked Toshiro from left and right.
Toshiro's figure flickered, instantly evading Byakuya's assault.
Byakuya rotated his right hand, and countless blades chased after Toshiro once more.
Toshiro's body moved rapidly, transforming into afterimages as he continuously dodged Byakuya's attacks.
Byakuya's blades could never hit Toshiro.
"Is this all you have? You can't keep up with my speed at all. It seems I can defeat you easily even without Bankai," Toshiro said leisurely while moving at high speed.
Byakuya frowned and extended his left hand as well, manipulating the blades with both hands.
The speed instantly doubled again. Toshiro, who had gotten a bit carried away, was nearly hit.
[Shunkuho!]
Toshiro instantly pushed his speed to the limit, his figure continuously circling around Byakuya.
Facing a fully attack-speed-engaged Byakuya, Toshiro, though not as leisurely as before, still was never hit by Byakuya's attacks.
Facing the constantly evading Toshiro, Byakuya began to feel some wavering in his heart.
'I've already used Bankai, yet I still can't defeat him. And my opponent hasn't even used Bankai yet...'
Byakuya was beginning to lose much of his confidence in his ability to win.
Suddenly, Byakuya stopped his attack.
Toshiro looked at him curiously. "What's wrong? Have you given up just because you can't do anything to me? If that's really the case, then that's truly disappointing."
Byakuya snorted coldly. "Give up? That's impossible. I just wanted you to witness the true form of Senbonzakura… a form that abandons all defense and offers everything to annihilate the enemy."
"Senkei: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Clang Clang Clang Clang-
As Byakuya's words fell, the countless scattered blades of Senbonzakura suddenly transformed into sword after sword, lining up in the air and surrounding the space around them.
The space was not large, restricting free movement.
"Now you can no longer dodge everywhere. Come, Hitsugaya Toshiro. Face me head-on and decide the victor!"