Dense white arrows of light whistled down from midair like a torrential downpour.
Ichigo Kurosaki reached back and drew the great blade Zangetsu from behind him, holding it across his body to block the beams coming straight at him.
The Reishi arrows struck the broad, thick blade, setting off an unbroken barrage of explosive cracks.
The marble floor beneath his feet could not withstand the concentrated impacts, and a web of cracks instantly split across it.
"Ishida, snap out of it!"
Ichigo Kurosaki crushed the broken stones underfoot as he charged forward, sweeping the short Zangetsu upward and cutting three arrows from the side into fragments of light.
Uryū Ishida drifted lightly backward, his fingers never pausing as they worked the bowstring.
"Charging recklessly will only hasten your destruction, Kurosaki."
Uryū Ishida's expression remained cool as dozens of dazzling streaks of light gathered once more on the silver bow in his hand.
"Stop acting like you're in any position to lecture me!"
Ichigo Kurosaki swung his blade, sending a crescent-shaped energy slash straight toward the white figure in midair.
Uryū Ishida used Hirenkyaku to shift sideways in an instant, avoiding the slash's direct impact.
The crescent slash swept across the center of the plaza, and the sturdy ground finally collapsed completely.
The center of the entire suspended plaza caved in, sending great quantities of rubble tumbling down along with the two of them.
A sense of weightlessness enveloped the surrounding space.
Ichigo Kurosaki pushed off one falling stone after another, landing firmly in the broad, pillared hall beneath the plaza after just a few leaps.
Before he could steady his footing, Uryū Ishida's figure abruptly solidified in the air ten paces away.
Uryū Ishida raised his right hand slightly, and a pure-white Reishi short sword extended from his sleeve, thrusting