Due to the nature of the black box they were in, the change in spiritual pressure couldn't be detected on the outside, but Yuki who was there could feel it immediately.
The spiritual pressure of a hollow.
The flames split in half as Senjuro emerged from them, completely unharmed. A strange shadow covered the upper half of his body, but his glowing red eyes were visible.
Upon seeing them, Ichigo felt odd. He had those same eyes a long time ago but he couldn't remember why. It was the same for the Vizard, but they struggled to find the answer too. It was something that Senjuro lacked.
He leaped at and slashed at Yuki with incredible speed which not even she could see, but she defended by creating a much smaller pillar of ice front of her. Causing Senjuro's blade to slide down it.
While he was stunned, Yuki fired a more concentrated blast of fire into his face, but he tanked through it easily. Yuki tried to cut through him, but her blade slid off him almost as if his skin were steel.
Senjuro was about to decapitate Yuki, but the floor blew him suddenly turned into ice, causing him to slip while she back away.
"This guy is emitting hollow spiritual pressure? Why has no one outside noticed it? He isn't even fighting with his senses anymore!?"
Senjuro quickly recovered as he ran towards Yuki like a wild beast. His consciousness had long faded away by now, and all that was left was the horror he'd been hiding deep inside.
As the fight continued, the hollow pressure continued to grow even stronger.
Yuki would continue to use several pillars of ice to steer away the attacks, but Senjuro was slowly adapting to each of them, until he was eventually able to shatter them completely.
The first instance he did this, he partially cut through Yuki's shoulder which shocked the entire crowd. The one who was worried the most was Aiko who had never seem Senjuro reach this point.
"SOMEONE STOP THE MATCH! IF IT CONTINUES THAT GIRL WILL DIE!"
She shouted desperately for it to be called off, but no one would listen to her. The audience complained at her since it was Yuki herself who said she wanted to fight. This was a kind of retribution.
Yuki plunged her sword into the earth which caused an incredibly large area around her to instantly freeze. Senjuro's body grew cold and stiff to a point which not even he could move.
Frosted spikes began to emerge from the earth in all directions as it pushed him back even more, annoying him more than anything. On the surface, an attack of such magnitude appeared to have drained all her Reiatsu. So when Senjuro began to thaw out, it appeared as if she was going to lose.
Kai fell to his knees as he wavered over Yuki's eventual defeat. A dark reality which was obvious to many but one.
Grandmaster Fujinishin pouted as her keen eye had already noticed something very obvious.
"She may look exhausted, but right now she's in her best condition. Look at her sword."
Shunsui was a little confused, but upon closer inspection he could see that the air around it was strange. Not just that too but the flower patter on it was changing. The once red and blue roses which decorated it was overpowered by red, and the air around it appeared to be... wiggling?
He then realised it. It was a familiar phenomenon which he had witnessed every time, but he just couldn't figure out where. The Kido corps commander then pointed it out.
"It's heat? The air around the sword is being heated up which causes it to rise in volume but decrease in density, causing it to appear as if it's jiggling? But then that must mean!?"
The true nature of Yuki's Zanpakutō was surprising. The increase in temperature around her had risen to a point where the Ice she had created began to melt, forming puddles beneath her feet. But even they too were being evaporated.
"Her Zanpakutō is not an elemental type. It's more like Ms. Kuchiki's Zanpakutō if anything. Rather than just controlling temperature, her blade acts a conduit which absorbs thermal energy. Anything that has that energy stolen becomes frozen, and the energy is stored in her blade for her to use anytime. Naturally, moving that much energy requires an equal amount of Reiatsu."
Her thoughts on Yuki's Zanpakutō were correct.
She leaped high into the air as she gripped both her hands onto her sword, and hoisted it towards the sky. A giant blade of flame then spurted from it, igniting a hope in Kai once again. She had once again proven that she was undoubtedly the strongest.
"This has my everything behind it, so take it gracefully! Tenbatsu: Hone-shō no ken!"
For some odd reason, Shunsui felt a strange familiarity with those flames.
"!!?? Old-man?!?"
Naturally, Senjuro wasn't just going to tank it as he always did. He felt an incredible danger to those flames which forced him to grow even faster than before.
Fitting his evolution into something greater, he began to use a technique which no pure soul reaper should be capable of. A technique which many Soul Reapers and captains recognised instantly.
The light of a bright red cero.
The technique didn't have enough time to charge, nor form properly but it was still recognisable nonetheless. The amount of Hollow Reiatsu was over flowing, so even if it fired it would still be greatly powerful.
Yuki swung her sword down at him, while Senjuro fired the cero without hesitation. As the two attacks collided, they appeared to clash for a moment.
She screamed as she forced every ounce of strength from her whole body, all while thinking about her only friend.
She easily tore through the cero, cleaving it in half and slashed at Senjuro's body with ease. A giant vertical slash tore through his body, causing his blood to splatter everywhere.
It didn't take long for Yuki to quickly pass out.
Kai began to violently shake Shinten, while the crowd cheered in pursuit.
"SHE WON! SHE WON! I KNEW SHE'D WIN! IF I BEAT MY ROUND, THEN THAT MEANS I'LL GET TO FIGHT HER."
Kitagawa who had been on the verge of unconscious then screamed,
"SOMEONE GET HER OUT OF THERE! IT'S NOT OVER!"
Suddenly Senjuro's body re awoke and rose.
The wound he had sustained had almost closed, and he felt as if the world currently revolved around him. Despite that attack, he was in a even greater condition.
Just before dying, he instinctually focused all his power into hierro before healing himself.
He saw Yuki's body collapsed on the floor, and was just about to finish her off. But then something blocked him.
The Zanpakutō blocking his was far too big. Rather than a traditional Katana, it resembled a stupidly oversized kitchen knife the size of a great sword.
"Why don't you calm down a little? Your bloodlust is showing."
No one could see it, not even Soi-fon herself who was meant to be a Hohō master could keep track of it. Ichigo Kurosaki broke into the black box and blocked Senjuro within a single moment.
Speed that could only be described as transcendent.
Although he didn't release much spiritual pressure, Senjuro's instincts could feel it. The incredible power this man possessed. He tried to run away, but Kurosaki caught up to him in an instant.
He wacked the blunt side of sword in face, which promptly knocked him out.
Kitagawa who was starting to recover since Senjuro was knocked down, slowly rose back up. But then he was met by the intimidating figure of his father.
"Did you have something to do with this!? Boy!?"
He was certainly not happy.