The Senbonzakura disappeared into the ground, but in their place, a row of giant blades emerged from both sides of Byakuya. With a gust of wind, the giant blades transformed into countless shards of blade.
' Bankai? The blade turning into flower petals is his Zanpakuto's ability. Normal Bankai can increase combat power several times over. Wasn't it said that only the Captain could use Bankai? This kid...'
Luppi sensed something was wrong. She had indeed been reckless. A mission that could put her back in the Espada order couldn't be that simple...
"Is this Byakuya- sama's Bankai?"
"Idiot, keep your distance!"
Byakuya, who had been observing his three Vassal from afar, picked up the corpse on the ground and continued his escape—it was the only thing they could do at the moment...
Whew~
Byakuya waved his hand, and the cherry blossom petals that had been swirling around him rushed towards Luppi like a long dragon, flattening the already dilapidated houses along the way.
These enchanting pink cherry blossom petals filled Luppi with dread. She knew these petals were formed from sharp blades, and if she were to be covered by them, the consequences would likely be dire.
'Defeat him, and I can regain Lord Nangong's approval.'
Under the powerful psychological suggestion, Luppi washed away that trace of fear, and her eight huge tentacles swung to disperse the charging Senbonzakura. However, the sharpness of Senbonzakura also caused the tentacles to bleed profusely immediately.
One Senbonzakura blossoms was dispersed, but a second one continued to gather, severing Luppi's tentacle from the side. Before the huge tentacle even hit the ground, Luppi's tentacle had already regenerated.
Luppi Sonído his position, and finally, when he was less than twenty meters away, his eight tentacles attacked together, growing hard Iron Maiden spikes that shattered a wall of Senbonzakura.
Eight tentacles formed a circle, resembling a large cannon barrel, forcefully pushing open the Senbonzakura Wall. Luppi was the cannon barrel, her hands pointing forward, the Cero, the cannonball, already fully formed.
"Take this!"
Luppi ignored the pain from the tentacles being slashed, using them as cannon barrels to cover the launch of her Cero.
"Bakudo #81: Dankū!"
Byakuya's feet remained stationary, and with a mere movement of his lips, he Dankū again, taking the brunt of Luppi's powerful Cero.
The Cero Flash struck the Dankū defensive wall, unleashing a blinding burst of light. The impact sent most of the Senbonzakura petals flying everywhere, and the arena fell silent...
"Not dead?"
Luppi's face contorted in rage. The shockwave had barely subsided when he saw a shattered, transparent Kidō wall. The Cero, which had gathered a large amount of his Reiatsu, was blocked.
"Is this what they call the release of Arrancar's Zanpakuto? Its combat power has indeed increased significantly, but compared to the Bankai of our Zanpakuto, it's like the difference between an infant and an adult."
As Byakuya spoke, the once silent Senbonzakura blades began to dance again, trapping Luppi in the middle and even obscuring the sky.
Looking down from the air, it looked like a pink, round flower bud had appeared on the ground...
"Resurrección is better than releasing your Zanpakuto? Don't spout such nonsense until you defeat Espada! You think you can trap me with your poorly cohesive blade fragments? Watch me shatter them!"
Luppi, surrounded by Senbonzakura, sensed something was wrong. He used the 'Rotating Wrist Formation', and the eight tentacles with iron spikes began to rotate continuously around him, forcefully slamming against the walls of Senbonzakura.
However, even as the tips of his tentacles were sliced apart by the blades, he was unable to break through Senbonzakura's encirclement; instead, the blades spun faster and faster.
"It's over, Gokei Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Byakuya swung his right hand, and Senbonzakura's blades slashed towards Luppi in the center from all directions...
A dozen seconds later, Senbonzakura transformed back into Zanpakuto and was sheathed by Byakuya, while Luppi collapsed to the ground, convulsing and spasming, her Resurrección automatically deactivated.
"I'm only Third Seat, but I've already reached the Captain-level. With my current strength, I'd need to go all out against someone who isn't even Espada. The Espada's fighting power is definitely stronger than Detachment Captains!"
Seeing that Luppi was still alive, Byakuya hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and used Kidō to give Luppi a quick death...
Enemies of this caliber already pose a threat to the Seireitei; he wouldn't be so merciful as to spare even his enemies.
During the battle Byakuya was merely belittling Luppi purpose; in reality, he was forced to use his Bankai to end the fight. Tell me, how many people in the entire Seireitei can Bankai?
Back when Zero was Hōgyoku, Picaro was forced into a corner by Kyōraku and had to Resurrección. Therefore, the higher-ups of Seireitei already knew that a fully-formed Arrancar could release his Zanpakuto.
It is precisely because of the unknown nature of the Arrancar's fighting strength that the Central 46 have consistently disagreed with attacking Hueco Mundo...
"Byakuya has finally won."
"Byakuya, are you alright?"
Shigure and his three subordinates ran over, but before they arrived, several powerful Reiatsu clashed in the distant forest.
Let's rewind slightly to what happened after Byakuya requested backup.
On the Seireitei side, the entire Gotei 13 began to operate; Yama-jii dispatched the Vice-Captains of the 3rd, 7th, and Ninth Divisions to provide support, while the remaining Captain-level remained at Seireitei.
The Kidō Corps teleported their three Captains and three Vice-Captains to the 65th district of South Rukongai. The six of them landed in a forest, and as soon as they landed, they felt the surging Reiatsu in the distance gradually subside.
After determining the direction, the three Captains rushed over at an incredibly fast speed using Shunpo, while the Vice-Captain lagged slightly behind...
Pfft!
At that moment, a weapon resembling a crescent moon struck from the side, and Kaname Tōsen's adjutant was shaved on the spot, collapsing to the ground, beyond saving.
"What?"
"Yamaguchi!"
The remaining two Vice-Captains, Shōtsubaki Jin'emon and Kifune Ri, exclaimed in surprise. Yamaguchi, also Vice-Captain, was instantly killed; the opponent was very strong.
The 'Crescent Moon Scythe' has a long pole with a Chains attached to the end. When the Chains is pulled, it makes a 'clattering' sound, and a tall, one-eyed man appears.
He wore a black robe with red stars, and a circular 'light plate' at the back of his neck... Apart from Nnoitra, no one in the Espada was dressed like this.
Whoosh!
The three Captains returned to their positions and, together with the two Vice-Captains, surrounded Nnoitra. However, Nnoitra wore a strange smile on his face—a smile that conveyed excitement, cruelty, and lust for his prey.
Tōsen sensed the location of his dead adjutant; his dark face twitched slightly as he feigned a look of forbearance for Komamura to see...
"At this point, there's no need to ask who you are. Since you killed my adjutant, then I'll just have to use your blood to pay tribute to him. You guys continue to provide support; I'll take care of him."
Tōsen slowly drew his Zanpakuto, clearly indicating that he would fight Nnoitra alone.
"Haha, trying to escape? Die!"
Upon hearing this, Nnoitra burst into wild laughter, extended his long tongue, and condensed a golden Cero at the tip of his tongue, which he then blasted towards the remaining five opponents.
Taking advantage of the fact that the five were scattered by the Cero, Nnoitra lunged at the two on the right alone. These two were Tōsen, who wore an eyepatch, and Sajin Komamura, who wore a barrel-shaped helmet.
"Don't get carried away... Suzumushi Second Form: Red Locust!"
Tōsen skipped the Shikai and directly used his Zanpakuto, Suzumushi, to conjure hundreds of sharp blades, which flew towards the charging Nnoitra.
Nnoitra's offensive abruptly halted, but that was all; the blades merely tore his signature Espada robes, failing to harm him at all.
"Completely unharmed? How is that possible!"
Tōsen was slightly surprised. He judged from the integrity of Nnoitra's Reiatsu that his second Shikai had not harmed Nnoitra.
"Heh heh heh, is this all the ability Soul Reaper Captain- level can have? If so, then I'm sorry."
Nnoitra gave a wicked smile, then suddenly used Sonído to get close to Tōsen, pushing the Crescent Moon Scythe towards his neck.
"Get out of Tōsen way, Tosen! Rumble! Kokujō Tengen Myō’ō!"
With a roar, Komamura unleashed a massive, Hollowfication sword that swept across the area in the Shunpo Tosen dodged with Tōsen. The sword, estimated to be about forty meters long, cleaved a tree in half and struck Nnoitra, whose attack had missed its mark.
Nnoitra's attack had barely missed when Komamura cleaved him hundreds of meters away, smashing through countless trees in the process, before he could even raise his Crescent Moon Scythe.
"Are you one of that guy's companions?"
Amagai Shūsuke stared at the mature woman wearing Antelope-Horn Mask, his eyes filled with solemnity. Komamura's adjutant Shōtsubaki Jin'emon, and Kifune Ri stood behind him.
Noitara's Cero separated the five of them, and they were about to join the fight to quickly deal with the entangler and continue their mission when this woman stopped them.
Although Amagai knew from Aizen that the Arrancar under Nangong Ling's command were very strong, he didn't expect that the Reiatsu of any random female Arrancar was already above his.
"Lord Nangong is right, Captain-level enemies are indeed troublesome!" Nel exclaimed after seeing Nnoitra swept away by the greatsword, then turned to Amagai had asked the question and said, "From now on, you can't go anywhere. If you stay where you are, as I say, you can survive."
Her slightly cute voice carried a domineering tone, Amagai's face darkened. He immediately drew his Zanpakuto; this was a fight he still had to fight.
While the battle began in the outskirts of Rukongai, things were also not peaceful in Seireitei. The sky was torn open again with more than a dozen rifts, and a large number of Ragged Hollows appeared first.
Then came the massive Gillian, followed by several Reiatsu from a different Gillian, which suddenly appeared and dispersed throughout the Seireitei.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The Seireitei, having made preparations in advance, began to bustle with activity. Ordinary Soul Reaper, wielding Zanpakuto, fought against Ragged Hollows, while the Seated Officers took the initiative to engage Gillian.
The Captains ' target was the Reiatsu that was clearly different from that of Hollows. Based on the intelligence they had already obtained, they judged that those Reiatsu, unlike those of Soul Reaper and Quincy, were clearly unique to Arrancar...
"Luppi's dead. Looks like we'll have to retrieve her body. Hehehe."
Szayelaporro pushed up his glasses, then sat on the roof of Seireitei and frantically pressed buttons on something that looked like a computer.
Then, the computer sprouted like a vine, growing several tendrils that burrowed into the Seireitei buildings to absorb Reishi... This was what he meant by gathering materials; he needed to obtain the composition of the Seireitei's Reishi to make inferences.
The moment Luppi battle, not only Szayelaporro knew, but Zero also knew. However, it was when Luppi herself went to Soul Society and requested that no Negación rescue be prepared.
You could say this guy deserved to die. In the original timeline, he was extremely self-centered and emotional, arrogant enough to take on several people at once. After being brutally beaten, he returned to Hueco Mundo.
Finally, in the Royal Palace, he even questioned Aizen's decision to take back Inoue, so Aizen just watched as Grimmjow blasted his upper body into dust.
In this timeline, Zero didn't want to save Luppi either, mainly because he knew that Ruby had secretly said that he deliberately enhanced Dordoni instead of promoting more talented Adjuchas.
No leader likes a talkative employee, especially one who speaks ill of them, so Luppi was fired just like that.