A vast amount of cold air flowed out from Toshiro Hitsugaya's body, eventually condensing before him into a blue-haired young man with a white, X-shaped mark on his face.
"Th-this is?"
"Hyōrinmaru?"
As the cold air drained away, Toshiro Hitsugaya exited his Bankai state.
Yet Toshiro Hitsugaya was not paying any attention to himself right now.
He had never imagined that Teacher Ailin could do something like this.
"Do you see now, Toshiro?"
Ailin flashed forward and appeared before Hyōrinmaru. "This world is filled with miracles."
"All kinds of abilities emerge without end."
"Though Hyōrinmaru is the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto, he is not the strongest Zanpakuto."
"There's nothing wrong with relying on powerful abilities."
"But, Toshiro, that can only be done if you can safeguard your own power."
"When you lack the strength to protect your power, how will you respond once someone else uses it against you?"
As he watched the dumbstruck Toshiro Hitsugaya, Ailin recalled how Toshiro had performed after his Bankai was stolen during the Thousand-Year Blood War.
Among the many captains whose Bankai had been taken, Byakuya Kuchiki had undoubtedly suffered the most humiliating defeat.
He could only entrust even his dignity to Ichigo Kurosaki.
Toshiro Hitsugaya, meanwhile, had developed a clever technique called Vacuum Multilayer Barrier with the help of M Matsumoto Rangiku's Haineko, but the results he achieved in the end were hardly worth mentioning.
Now, Ailin used Muramasa's power to drive a wedge between Hyōrinmaru and Toshiro Hitsugaya, making Hyōrinmaru refuse to lend his power to Toshiro.
Toshiro Hitsugaya's current situation was much like the one Ailin remembered from the Thousand-Year Blood War: he was using his own Shikai to battle a Bankai-state Hyōrinmaru.
Of course, in some respects, the Hyōrinmaru fighting Toshiro Hitsugaya now was even stronger than Gremmy Thoumeaux wielding Great