Whoosh!
Ailin stood motionless as the fragments of Senkei, under his will, turned into streaks of shadows that attacked Byakuya Kuchiki.
It was impossible for Byakuya Kuchiki to completely dodge such intensive attacks. At this moment, he could only use Shunpo to move away while using the sword condensed from Senbonzakura's blades to split the incoming Senkei shards. On the other side, he used his left hand to control the other half of Senbonzakura's blades to intercept other Senkei shards.
Even so, Byakuya still could not completely defend against all the Senkei shards. Some of the shards directly avoided his defense and left cuts on his body.
It was impossible to completely block these attacks with just the sword in his hand and part of Senbonzakura's blades.
So after running around Ailin for tens of laps, Byakuya Kuchiki, after observing and understanding Ailin's attack method, also immediately stood still.
He inputted spiritual pressure into Senbonzakura's hilt. A large amount of spiritual pressure was converted into tens of thousands of blades through the hilt of Senbonzakura.
Then, Byakuya Kuchiki gathered these blades into a spherical shield that surrounded and protected him firmly.
Bang Bang Bang!
Senbonzakura's power increases with the number of blades. The might of 100,000 Senbonzakura blades versus 500,000 blades increases by at least two times.
Moreover, Senbonzakura has an extremely powerful trait - when Byakuya Kuchiki uses both hands to control it, the speed of the blades doubles!
Hundreds of thousands of sakura-colored blades revolved around Byakuya Kuchiki, forming a defensive sphere over 3 meters in diameter.
In terms of attack power, Senbonzakura's blades were indeed inferior to Senkei's shard fragments.
However, when these hundreds of thousands of blades formed a spinning shield at an extremely fast speed, Senkei's fragments couldn't penetrate it at the same level of spiritual pressure.
"Not bad, that's more like it," Ailin said, seeing that Byakuya could deal with Senkei's attacks, so he didn't continue.
The thousand Senkei shards slowly flew back to Ailin's side and recombined into a complete sword.
"However, Byakuya, how will you deal with it when I do this?"
"Flawless offense, peerless in the world."
"Bankai - Demon Blade Senkei!"
When the hundreds-of-meters long giant demon blade fell from the sky, Byakuya Kuchiki was completely dumbfounded...
Boom!
***
"Hahaha, just kidding, don't be so petty, Byakuya," Ailin said.
Inside Ailin's innate boundary, Byakuya Kuchiki sat cross-legged on the ground with his back to Ailin, ignoring Ailin's apology completely. And Ailin was also paying for his own bad taste.
They had agreed to train shikai abilities, but he suddenly went Bankai to bully Byakuya.
What was that about?
They were happily playing with small blades, then he brought out a 100-meter great blade. Was he not playing fair?
"Cough cough..."
Seeing that Byakuya was sulking even after his persuasion, Ailin had to bring out his trump card.
Ailin coughed a few times, walked seriously to Byakuya and said, "Byakuya, you have really disappointed me. Once weapons are drawn, it becomes a life-or-death battle. Or for one's glory and beliefs, one must use all available means to achieve victory. So when facing enemies, kill them in one strike if possible. If that is not possible, then while ensuring one's own safety, gather as much intelligence on the enemy's abilities as possible and respond accordingly."
"At the beginning of our fight, you did well, probing Senkei shards' attack speed and might at equal spiritual pressure, and came up with the idea of spinning Senbonzakura blades around yourself to counter Senkei's attacks."
"But your intelligence gathering on me was inadequate. You had no idea that I could even Bankai Senkei at equal spiritual pressure, leading you to near death."
"Didn't we agree earlier that I won't use spiritual pressure exceeding yours when fighting you, even for a Shinigami's four advanced techniques? I'll restrain them to levels equaling yours. Tell me, when I Bankai-ed just now, did I exceed your spiritual pressure?"
After unlocking his true Zanpakutō Unlimited Blade Works, using other Zanpakutōs only took one tenth of Ailin's usual spiritual pressure expenditure.
That was how Ailin could Bankai Senkei at the same pressure level as Byakuya Kuchiki.
"You must remember today's lesson, or else when you meet similar opponents again, you may really die."
"Humph!"
Byakuya Kuchiki let out a cold snort, but also knew that according to Uncle Ailin's words, he did not break his earlier promise. He retorted directly, "Your spiritual pressure before Bankai did not exceed mine, but after Bankai it definitely surpassed mine!"
Bang!
"Ouch..."
Hearing Byakuya Kuchiki's words, Ailin immediately gave him a knock on the head. "Are you an idiot, Byakuya? Did you forget that my Bankai is this very space? If what you said is true, that after I Bankai I can further unlock my Zanpakutō powers to continuously raise my spiritual pressure, how high would my pressure become with so many Zanpakutōs fully released?"
"..." Byakuya Kuchiki, clutching his head, also came to his senses.
Indeed, if every Zanpakutō Bankai could bring Ailin a 5-10 fold spiritual pressure increase, probably no one in the entire world would have spiritual pressure comparing to Ailin.
According to Ailin's motto "A Shinigami's battle is a battle of spiritual pressure", Ailin = invincible? That was clearly impossible.
"Alright, don't be angry anymore, Byakuya."
"Didn't I say I have two Zanpakutōs with abilities similar to Senbonzakura? You just witnessed Senkei, which can only split its blade into a thousand fragments. Next, do you want to see how strong Senbonzakura's abilities can become if your spiritual pressure is high enough?"
Byakuya Kuchiki was conflicted. He didn't want to just forgive Ailin, but he also really wanted to see Ailin's other Zanpakutō similar to Senbonzakura.
Especially when Uncle said how powerful Senbonzakura could become with enough of his spiritual pressure.
"Humph, it was you who begged me to watch, not that I wanted to see it myself." In the end, curiosity overwhelmed Byakuya's anger. He stood up and walked to Ailin's side.
"Heh, can't I figure you out well?" Seeing Byakuya like this, Ailin just smiled.
"Bankai - Memory Release: Golden Sword Osmanthus!"
Boom!
That day, Byakuya's eyes were filled with the boundless golden Osmanthus...