Bleach: The Path to Transcendence

“Senbonzakura, was it you who saved me?”

Having escaped, Byakuya's gaze turned to the waterfall of cherry blossoms behind him.

The materialized phantom of Senbonzakura seemed ready to reappear.

Clearly, after he was controlled by the shadow bind, it was Senbonzakura's sword spirit who acted on its own to protect its master, allowing him to escape.

Witnessing this, Kouga Kuchiki on the opposite side was furious.

He never expected that after his Muramasa's Bankai, not only did it fail to make Byakuya Kuchiki's Zanpakuto rebel, but it also reawakened the sword spirit, backfiring and saving Byakuya Kuchiki's life.

“You useless sword that can't accomplish anything, you can't even handle this little thing!

If it weren't for you back then, how could I have fallen to this!”

In an instant, Kouga Kuchiki's palm erupted with surging spiritual pressure, and in Byakuya Kuchiki's shocked gaze, he directly shattered Muramasa in his hand into several pieces.

“Clang!”

The broken blade fell to the ground, making a dull sound, and a faint scream echoed throughout the Spirit Restriction Barrier.

“I can hear the wail of your Zanpakuto!”

Byakuya Kuchiki's right hand suddenly gripped the void, and a wisp of cherry blossom petals instantly transformed into a long sword shimmering with pink light.

He pointed the long sword in his hand straight at Kouga Kuchiki, his eyes cold.

“A person who cannot even trust their own Zanpakuto is utterly foolish!”

Byakuya Kuchiki's expression was indifferent, his face full of a look as if he were looking at a dead man, staring intently at Kouga Kuchiki.

Hearing this, Kouga Kuchiki not only did not show the slightest anger, but instead sneered disdainfully before mocking, his tone full of contempt.

“Hahaha, to deal with a pseudo-genius like you who is all empty reputation, do I even need a Zanpakuto?”

The sound of his voice still echoed in the air, Kouga Kuchiki casually threw away the broken hilt in his hand.

Immediately afterward, he flashed and picked up a long-handled steel fork used by the guards from the ground.

The steel fork in his hand seemed to be instantly infused with violent spiritual pressure.

His aura soared, and he rushed toward Byakuya Kuchiki again, full of momentum.

Faced with Kouga Kuchiki, who was wielding a steel fork and rushing like a madman, Byakuya Kuchiki's sense of urgency had disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, he fought side by side with his Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura, and his soul resonated deeply with the sword spirit.

On the other hand, Kouga Kuchiki actually abandoned his own Zanpakuto, and this behavior had already deviated from the right path of Shinigami cultivation.

In Byakuya Kuchiki's view, a Shinigami who abandoned the manifestation of his own soul power had undoubtedly cut off his own arm, and it was impossible to compete with him again.

“A Zanpakuto is the manifestation of a Shinigami's soul power, abandoning it, you are no match for me!”

Byakuya Kuchiki's heart was clear, and his aura soared, as if he had entered a mysterious and special state!

His figure was as fast as lightning, and with a wave of his sword, the cherry blossoms around him surged.

The pink petals seemed to have been given life, gathering into a majestic force, like a galloping dragon, carrying endless sharpness, and rushing towards Kouga Kuchiki.

“Whoosh!”

Seeing this, Kouga Kuchiki's expression turned stern, and he gripped the steel fork with both hands, waving it so tightly that it was impenetrable.

The shadows of the fork intertwined into a solid defensive circle, trying to resist the overwhelming cherry blossom offensive.

For a time, the fork collided with the petals, making a dense cracking sound, and sparks flew everywhere.

“Hyoga Hyoran!”

Kouga Kuchiki shouted violently, and the cold air around him suddenly rose.

The surging cold current, wrapped in bone-piercing ice prisms, roared out like a tsunami, colliding head-on with the pink sea of flowers.

In an instant, a storm of spiritual power raged between the two, and the powerful impact twisted the surrounding air, and the tyrannical aura raged throughout the Spirit Restriction Barrier.

“Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!”

Byakuya Kuchiki raised his hand high, and in an instant, spiritual power surged, and hundreds of millions of cherry blossom blades flew all over the sky, rapidly gathering and intertwining in mid-air.

These blades exuded a chilling light, and in the blink of an eye, they formed a huge sphere, tightly enveloping Kouga Kuchiki.

The sphere rotated slowly, countless blades flashing with cold light, carrying an indestructible momentum, and crushed towards Kouga Kuchiki.

For a time, the whistling sound of the blades strangling was endless.

Under the crazy ravages of these hundreds of millions of blades, Kouga Kuchiki's figure was soon drowned in the light of the blades, and finally turned into dust, dissipating in this battlefield.

Just as Byakuya Kuchiki breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this thrilling battle had finally come to an end, a chill suddenly came from behind.

His pupils shrank, and before he could react, a black shadow appeared behind him like a ghost.

Immediately afterward, a steel fork, wrapped in a fierce wind, pierced straight through his chest.

Fortunately, Byakuya Kuchiki sensed it at the critical moment of life and death, and tried his best to dodge, thus avoiding a fatal blow.

But even so, the steel fork still ruthlessly penetrated his body, and blood instantly stained his clothes.

“You're not dead!”

Byakuya Kuchiki's face was full of shock, and he turned his head in disbelief, looking at Kouga Kuchiki in front of him, who was withered but unscathed, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

“Hmph!”

Kouga Kuchiki snorted coldly, with a smug sneer on his face:

“Muramasa's power comes from me, and the essence of this power is to disrupt the enemy's spiritual pressure.

What you just cut was just my afterimage after the spiritual pressure was disturbed!”

Hearing this, Byakuya Kuchiki's heart shook violently.

He never expected that Kouga Kuchiki, who had destroyed his own Zanpakuto, could still display such a bizarre ability.

Strange Kidō and special moves emerged one after another.

Byakuya Kuchiki took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth:

“If you hadn't abandoned your Zanpakuto, if you were still at your peak, I might have indeed found it difficult to defeat you.

But now you have abandoned Muramasa, and are obstinate and self-willed, you can only die!”

After saying that, Byakuya Kuchiki no longer engaged in pointless entanglements, but quickly mobilized his spiritual pressure.

Relying on his powerful willpower, he simply suppressed his injuries and concentrated on adjusting his state to the best.

“Shūkei: Hakuteiken!”

In an instant, the cherry blossoms flying all over the sky suddenly disappeared, and in an instant, they turned into a blazing white light.

The light was so dazzling that it illuminated the Spirit Restriction Barrier under the night sky as bright as day.

The strong white spiritual pressure soared into the sky, condensing into a pair of giant white light wings, slowly unfolding behind him.

At the same time, the pink long sword in his hand also quietly turned into a pure white under the influence of this powerful force.

The white light wings behind Byakuya Kuchiki flapped powerfully, bringing up a strong airflow, wrapping his body, and rushing towards Kouga Kuchiki like an arrow.

“Good!”

Witnessing this, Kouga Kuchiki was not afraid at all.

The deep purple spiritual pressure around him was like a surging tide, erupting with a bang, and the rolling spiritual pressure surged and overflowed, as if to break the surrounding space.

The seemingly ordinary steel fork in his hand was wrapped in a thick purple-black spiritual pressure, faintly exuding a chilling aura.

Then, he shouted loudly, relying on this majestic power, and rushed towards Byakuya Kuchiki with a bang.