Toshiro's Madness

"Bakudo Seventy-Five: Five Pillars of Iron!"

Five enormous iron pillars descended from the sky, landing precisely on Toshiro's five limbs and slamming him to the ground. The pillars were connected by chains, forming a powerful sealing Bakudo, sealing Toshiro to the ground in a spread-eagle position.

Ukitake used the Sogyo no Kotowari to catch the ice dragon released by Toshiro. He then adjusted the ice dragon's spiritual pressure using the plaque on the Sogyo no Kotowari, weakening its power and strengthening its freezing ability. He then pointed his right sword at Rangiku, and the weakened ice dragon shot out, freezing half of Rangiku's body.

Thanks to the perfect teamwork of Kyōraku and Ukitake, the situation was reversed, and they sealed Toshiro and Rangiku away in one fell swoop.

However, this did not seem to solve the problem; the two members of the 10th Division still had lifeless eyes and angry expressions.

"What should we do? Take them to the old man?" Kyōraku was a bit of a headache; he couldn't think of a good way to resolve the issue of Toshiro being controlled.

"Shunsui, do you think these two people are under Illusion?" Ukitake asked.

"Illusion? This is going to be difficult." Kyōraku's brows furrowed. "The strongest illusionary Zanpakuto in Soul Society have all been driven out of Soul Society."

Upon Kyōraku's words, Ukitake immediately recognized them: Hirako Shinji and Hōjōrō Jūshirō. Their Zanpakuto that used smell and hearing to Zanpakuto people in Illusion, respectively. With their intervention, Toshiro and his companion's situation would surely improve. However, both of them were expelled from Soul Society a hundred years ago due to the Hollowfication Incident.

"No, there's also the illusion-type Zanpakuto." Ukitake pointed to his chest and said, "Don't forget the illusion lungs that Sawada-sensei made for me."

"You're right. Go contact Kugo Ginjo and have him contact Sawada Tsunayoshi. I'll keep an eye on those two here."

Kyōraku's eyes were fixed on the Central 46 building. Why were Toshiro and his companion inside? What were they protecting?

"Okay, I'll do it right away..."

Suddenly, a bone-chilling spiritual pressure assaulted Ukitake and his companion, coming from the direction of the Five Pillars of Iron, where Hitsugaya Toshi was unleashing his spiritual pressure at full force.

"Momo..." Toshiro murmured to himself, two hot tears sliding down his cheeks. His face contorted in rage as he roared, "No!!! Momo... Bankai!!!"

Kyōraku and the other two didn't know what Toshiro had seen. They only saw that under Toshiro's outburst, the five iron pillars could no longer suppress Toshiro. With the release of his Bankai, the iron pillars shattered into pieces of ice flowers, and Toshiro, who had stood up, now had many features of an ice dragon on his body.

"Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"

Similarly, Rangiku seemed to have seen something terrifying, but her strength was limited, and she couldn't break free from the ice.

Good news: Kyōraku and Ukitake don't have to face two enemies. Bad news: they have to fight a crazed Bankai captain.

"Ukitake, we can't fight here," Kyōraku said.

Ukitake glanced in the direction of Central 46 and said, "I understand. We'll lure Captain Hitsugaya to Ginjo's location."

Kyōraku and Ukitake both had serious doubts about the situation at Central 46. If Central 46 was alright, the aftershocks of their battle had damaged the building, and they would inevitably be punished afterwards. If something had happened to Central 46 46, then the trouble would be much bigger.

Given Toshiro and Rangiku's situation, Kyōraku and the other person are more inclined to believe that something has happened to the Central 46, otherwise Toshiro and Rangiku would not have been hypnotized by hallucinations.

Kyōraku had no idea what Toshiro were thinking. All Toshiro saw was that when he was sealed to the ground, it was Momo Hinamori who took the fatal blow for him. Under Momo Hinamori's relieved and miserable smile, Toshiro could no longer hold back and unleashed his spiritual pressure without regard for anything else.

Kyōraku and Ukitake, who had been chatting idly above Toshiro's head, now became his sworn enemies, the kind that would fight to the death.

"Ryūsō no Kogetsu!"

Toshiro no longer cared about tactics; he had fallen into a state of complete madness and launched a reckless attack on Ukitake and his companion. A huge ice cross appeared above the Central 46. If Toshiro continued to act recklessly, even without Ukitake and his companion's intervention, the aftershocks from Daiguren Hyōrinmaru alone would be enough to destroy everything around them.

Ukitake and Kyōraku revealed themselves somewhat disheveled; the sleeves of their Captain's Haori had turned into specks of ice flowers. Toshiro's attack was incredibly fast; if they weren't so experienced in combat, they would already be part of the Ryūsō no Kogetsu.

Ukitake and Kyōraku exchanged a glance and flew towards Ginjo's location without prior arrangement.

"Ukitake, my Bankai is not easy to use," Kyōraku said. His Bankai sure to kill, but Toshiro is only out of control now, not yet at the point of killing him.

"I understand. We'll work together to deal with Captain Hitsugaya."

Not only is Kyōraku's Bankai difficult to activate, but Ukitake's Bankai is also quite noisy. Once activated, it would definitely cover several streets in the surrounding area. In fact, the Central 46 have become a constraint that restricts their actions.

While Ukitake and the others were talking, Toshiro had already caught up. With the help of the Ice Dragon Wings, Toshiro's speed in flight had surpassed Ukitake and the others' Flash Step. Just as Hyōrinmaru was about to strike Kyōraku, Kyōraku disappeared.

Toshiro hesitated only slightly before changing his target and Ukitake at Ukitake. Ukitake quickly parried with his Sogyo no Kotowari, but the chilling aura emanating from Hyōrinmaru began to freeze Ukitake's Zanpakuto.

Just then, Toshiro's spiritual pressure suddenly stopped. He turned his head and saw that one of his ice dragon wings had broken off, and standing among the scattered ice crystals from his broken wing was Shunsui Kyōraku.

Ukitake was not surprised at all by Kyōraku's appearance. He quickly broke free from Hyōrinmaru's restraints and retreated once again.

Kyōraku didn't disappear before; he simply vanished into the shadows. He was using one of the abilities of Katen Kyōkotsu, Kageoni, which allows him to infiltrate the enemy's shadow and launch an attack.

Kyōraku didn't intend to linger with Toshiro. After giving Toshiro a smile, he once again disappeared into the shadows.

The Shikai ability of Katen Kyōkotsu is various children's games: Takaoni, the person who stands the highest wins; Kageoni, the person whose shadow is stepped on loses; Irooni, the person who cuts the color they say wins; and when the roly-poly toy falls over, the person who gets caught loses.

To defeat Kyōraku, one must abide by the rules of the Katen Kyōkotsu, but how could Toshiro, who has lost his mind, possibly think like that? He only wants to kill Ukitake and Kyōraku directly.

In this state, Kyōraku could be considered invincible, but since he didn't want to kill Toshiro, the fight wasn't so easy.

Just as Kyōraku was about to cripple Toshiro's other wing with another strike, he discovered that the Toshiro he had cut had turned into a block of ice. Kyōraku's surprised expression turned into a bitter smile. It was all over.

After the excruciating pain came the biting cold. Toshiro had been slashed in the back by Kyōraku, and the pain of the flesh tearing open was quickly covered by the chilling aura of Hyōrinmaru. Toshiro had tricked Kyōraku with Ice Clone, thus gaining this opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Just as Toshiro was about to press his advantage, Kyōraku disappeared once again, vanishing into the shadows.

Enraged, Toshiro repaired Daiguren Hyōrinmaru's wings and flapped them toward Ukitake's spiritual pressure.

Kyōraku, unaware that Toshiro's Ice Clone could only be used once, winced as he emerged from Ukitake's shadow and hurriedly asked, "How is it? Have you given the orders?"

While Kyōraku was delaying Toshiro, Ukitake had already arrived in front of Ginjo and briefly explained the situation to Ginjo and Tsukishima.

Seeing Kyōraku's exposed flesh and blood, still glistening with ice crystals, Ukitake was startled. "Shunsui, how are you?"

"I'm fine, he's catching up quickly." Shunsui could already see Toshiro flying at high speed.

"If I join forces with you, we can hold him off," Ukitake said, having already instructed Ginjo to call for reinforcements.

"Do you need any help?" Ginjo asked enthusiastically. In the past two days, he had gradually become attracted to Ukitake and Kyōraku, and his hatred for Soul Society had shifted to a certain nobleman.

"No, it's not time for your spiritual pressure to be exposed yet," Ukitake said. "Leave this to us."

Ukitake and Toshiro went to greet Kyōraku. With their tacit cooperation, even in their Shikai state, they could easily delay Toshiro's half-finished Bankai.

As for stopping Ginjo from taking action, it was because Ukitake was afraid that Ginjo's excessive spiritual pressure would attract the attention of the Tsunayashiro Clan. Since the Tsunayashiro Clan might be behind framing Ginjo, it meant that they were definitely familiar with Ginjo's spiritual pressure. Ginjo's appearance in Soul Society would make the Tsunayashiro Clan take unnecessary precautions, making it difficult to investigate the past.

After communicating with Ukitake, Ginjo quickly told Tsuna what had happened, and Tsuna Yoruichi, also rushed over.

No matter how complex the Zanpakuto's abilities are in its Shikai state, there is still a gap in spiritual pressure when facing an opponent in Bankai. In order to buy time, Kyōraku and Ukitake suffered several more wounds.

Toshiro wasn't faring much better; Kyōraku also sneakily stabbed his limbs several times, in an attempt to restrict his mobility.

However, Kyōraku and Ukitake never expected that the wounds they inflicted on Toshiro would actually affect Toshiro mentality.

In Toshiro's eyes, he was already seriously injured, and under these circumstances, he had little chance to avenge Momo Hinamori, unless he fought desperately!

Toshiro held the Hyōrinmaru high, chanting, "Hyō... ten... hyaku... ka..."

Just as Toshiro was about to unleash his ultimate attack, he suddenly stopped speaking, and his eerie spiritual pressure stopped as well.

"Phew, finally caught up." Yoruichi's voice appeared, accompanied by Tsuna wielding Trident. Toshiro had already fallen into Tsuna's Illusion.

"Sawada-sensei, thank goodness, you've finally arrived."

Seeing that Toshiro had stopped moving, Ukitake knew that Tsuna's ability had worked, and he could finally relax a little.

"You two got beaten up like this by this white-haired brat?" Yoruichi said disdainfully. Ukitake and Kyōraku were both veteran Bleach, and to be covered in wounds by such a rookie, what kind of appearance was that?

"There's nothing we can do, Yoruichi- sama. We can't go all out, can we?" Kyōraku instinctively reached for his straw hat, but he had long since lost it somewhere.