Byakuya didn't come alone; he brought eight other people with him. However, they were all of high quality, Fifth Seat combatants. These nine people displayed their skills throughout the day.
In this timeline, thanks to the development of talent, the talent pool is many times larger than in the original work. After Aizen and Jun left Soul Society, the captain positions were immediately filled by newcomers.
The situation is indeed quite tense, and there are also problems with the Expedition force, but the stability of the squadron is much better than in the original work, so it's a mixed bag.
However, the day after Byakuya and his group arrived, a massive Garganta opened above Karakura Town. Although the Garganta was enormous, the figures that emerged were only the size of an ordinary person.
Byakuya could see the enormous Garganta through the hotel window, and it was even pointing directly at him. Byakuya didn't believe it was a coincidence, especially since the gaze of the first person emerging from inside collided with his Byakuya from over ten kilometers away.
"Captain Kuchiki!" The door to the room was suddenly pushed open, and the group that had come with Byakuya came to inquire about the next move.
"The enemy has declared war! War has begun!"
"Oh!!" The Soul Reapers, their morale soaring, swallowed the Mod Soul and charged straight from the hotel toward the Garganta.
Inside the Seaside Villa, Hirako, holding the Radar, grew serious. "Let's go!"
"Oh!!" The others also felt a sinking feeling as they looked at the Radar display, because all the Reiatsu shown were S-rank. The situation was clear: the era of captains being as common as dogs had arrived.
Meanwhile, Kensei Muguruma and his four-man group, including Love Aikawa, were also rushing towards the scene, as were several other students from the school. Uryū hadn't originally planned to go, because he didn't have a convenient device like Mod Soul, and Quincy couldn't use Mod Souls; his soul and body were one.
However, Uryū wasn't entirely at ease, so he took a look. His side had 9 (Byakuya) + 5 (Gakko) + 11 (Hirako) + 4 (Muguruma), totaling 29 people, but the opposing side had exactly 30 people.
"Teacher! I'm not feeling well! I request to leave early!" Uryū stood up abruptly, then turned and ran, not caring about anything else. He only had one thing to do now: get to the battlefield.
"This is serious!" Uryū thought as he ran. "The enemy definitely came prepared. Comparing the numbers, I'm the only one missing. And looking at the number of Hollows and Arrancars eliminated recently, Karakura Town definitely only has these thirty people, while Aizen's side has exactly one more and one less. This is intentional!"
Byakuya led nine people in the first charge, as they were the closest. However, when they were still several kilometers away from their opponents, Byakuya discovered that they hadn't moved at all, and the Reiatsu emanating from them was incredibly thick and complex. It was clear that their opponents outnumbered them.
Byakuya stopped, and so did the others. Just as Byakuya was still figuring out what to do, nine forces erupted simultaneously, charging towards Byakuya.
Byakuya instantly understood his opponent's intentions. Although he didn't know exactly how many people there were in the World of the Living, the fact that the opponent had many people but only sent nine to fight them—such an obvious 9v9—made it easy to understand their purpose.
Even knowing the other party's intentions, there was nothing they could do. The other party had clearly demanded a one-on-one duel, and the Soul Society would certainly not refuse, as this was part of Soul Society culture.
As expected, the rest of Byakuya's team immediately became excited. Suddenly, eight of the nine opponents changed direction, and the eight behind Byakuya instantly followed suit, not caring who their opponents were; they figured it would be a 1v1.
Byakuya drew his Zanpakuto and saw the other person appear. It was a person whose gender was indistinguishable. The person introduced himself as soon as he arrived.
"I'm Luppi, and you're Byakuya Kuchiki, right?"
"Luppi? I understand."
"No, no~", Luppi waved her sleeve, pretending to be very cute, and her tone was also very cute, "I am one of Lord Aizen's Espada, the seventh Espada, Luppi, the strongest Arrancar!"
"Seventh?" Byakuya had no intention of continuing his Luppi. "I've seen Arrancars. If this is all you're capable of, then the Espada are nothing special."
As expected, Byakuya's words completely enraged Luppi. She yelled, "You bastard!" and charged at Byakuya. The two swords clashed violently, and as predicted, Byakuya was sent flying.
The difference in physical strength between Soul Reaper and Arrancar is still enormous, which is unavoidable. However, for Byakuya and his companion, this strike indicates that the opponent's Reiatsu was not overwhelmingly powerful.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura!" Byakuya released his Zanpakuto as he flew away, and tens of thousands of petals immediately surrounded Luppi. "Sever!"
Reiatsu tinged with a deep purple and a bluish hue erupted. As Arrancar, the intensity of his Reiatsu far surpassed that of Soul Reaper. Just like when Ichigo fought Byakuya, a simple petal attack could be blocked simply by unleashing his Reiatsu; no special defense was needed.
"You're so weak! Haha!" Luppi laughed arrogantly. This kind of Spiritual Power release was nothing to Arrancars, or even to Adjuchas- level Menos Grande. Hollows' Spiritual Pools were unimaginably high, worlds apart from Soul Reaper, so they didn't care about the so-called consumption when fighting.
However, just as he arrogantly charged towards Byakuya, he suddenly turned his face to the side, but still couldn't dodge the petal that arrived in an instant. A dazzling petal grazed Luppi's cheek, leaving a cut one centimeter deep and five centimeters long on his delicate face.
The petal circled precisely back and landed between Byakuya's two fingers, prompting Byakuya to quip, "Your protective Spiritual Power is nothing special. I've seen far stronger powers before."
"What did you say!?"
"This method was originally intended to counter that guy, but I didn't expect it to be used on you now. Alright, continue."
However, Luppi became cautious. The most important thing for a person is to have self-awareness. Luppi was just an Arrancar transformed from an Adjuchas- level being. Even though he would become much stronger after Arrancar, he was still only at the Vasto Lorde level.
However, this increase in strength is indeed too fast. Even now, the Vasto Lorde class can only be compared to it with words like "nothing special." But Luppi only reaches the Vasto Lorde level in her Resurrección state; without Resurrección, her strength is not much different from before the transformation.
The gap between Adjuchas and Byakuya is still quite significant. As long as Senbonzakura can release its Shikai, defeating a Vasto Lorde shouldn't be a problem. And now that Byakuya has refined his Shikai usage, facing Adjuchas will be absolutely no challenge.
Furthermore, Luppi isn't one of those Menos Grande with special defensive enhancements; his inherent abilities are all in his tentacles. His symbol is a spider, specifically a wolf spider. Wolf spiders are creatures that hunt using their legs, and he has specialized in his leg abilities, capable of spinning and constricting—a strength-based talent.
Luppi's abilities didn't enhance his physique, so with his protective Spiritual Power broken, he was now vulnerable to being killed. This Luppi; he was actually quite self-aware, so he immediately activated his Resurrección.
"Hang him! Trepadora!"
Eight enormous tentacles sprouted from her back, and the Hollowfication Mask moved to her forehead. This time, Luppi neither boasted nor uttered any boastful words; she simply charged at Byakuya with all eight legs.
"Scattered, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Byakuya had nothing to boast about; the opponent's Resurrección was easily dispelled by Byakuya himself. This state was clearly beyond what Byakuya could handle with his Shikai. After dispelling the Jutsu, his Eight-Petal Shield blocked the eight tentacles with ease.
Luppi's eight tentacles are parts of her body, which she can control at will. If blocked, she can immediately change her attack on the spot, whipping, stabbing, slashing, and maneuvering, perfectly controlling them in the first instant.
While Byakuya could also control the petals with ease, he was ultimately a step too slow. Since it wasn't his own body, the petal shield crumbled, and the attack and defense range gradually shifted towards Byakuya.
"Haha~, you've seen my power, haven't you!? Die!" Luppi, was beaming with pride at the slightest bit of sunshine, and now she was spouting her usual sassy nonsense.
Byakuya was still tightening his defenses, and there was nothing he could do about it. Luppi's tentacles could extend at will and didn't need to contract to generate force; they could exert force directly from the outside, making them extremely useful.
This is indeed somewhat troublesome for Byakuya, but not that troublesome!
"Ah!!" Luppi agony as his tentacles immediately retracted, spilling a massive amount of blood in the process.
Meanwhile, dozens of swords gleaming with Spiritual Power followed Ruby relentlessly, shooting directly towards Luppi. These swords were conjured by Byakuya, and like the flower petals that had previously injured Luppi, they were imbued with a large amount of high- Reiatsu Spiritual Power.
This realization came after Byakuya's battle with Ichigo. Ordinary manipulation of flower petals is completely ineffective against high-intensity Reiatsu; therefore, a sufficiently powerful attack is necessary. Thus, Byakuya chose to imbue some flower petals with high-intensity Reiatsu.
However, this is not an easy task. If all units are controlled using the same Reiatsu intensity, it would involve controlling several legions. But this new control unit, which increases Reiatsu, is like a hero unit in a game, making it independent of other units and requiring more effort.
In the ever-changing battlefield, that extra bit of effort can sometimes make a huge difference.
Byakuya has only been practicing for about a month and still can't control his attacks with complete freedom. So, when Luppi, he can only shrink his defensive circle to reduce the control distance, and then hide the special blades he's slowly creating behind the petals to seize the opportunity to win.
As expected, this move immediately gave them a huge advantage. Luppi, being someone who was extremely cautious, was Luppi through several times by this attack. Without caring about Byakuya, she immediately Sonído and ran. The battle was no longer important; her own life was the most important thing.
Byakuya was shocked by the other party's decisiveness, "Running so fast?"
Byakuya was helpless against this, because the defensive circle had shrunk so close to him earlier, hindering his pursuit. He could only watch helplessly as his opponent disappeared. However, Byakuya had other things to do; his advantage didn't mean others would have the same.
In fact, two of the Soul Reapers have already been defeated by this point.
"Arrancar? Impressive indeed."