"Ha!"
Toshiro shouted loudly, pouring every ounce of power in his body into his Zanpakuto.
"Buzz..."
The ice-blue light on Toshiro's Zanpakuto flared brightly, then faded away, returning to stillness. However, after the ice-blue light disappeared, the metallic Zanpakuto in Toshiro's hand transformed into a crystal-clear blue 'ice blade'.
Moreover, the 'ice blade' emanated an extremely dangerous power. The movement of all matter around it, including space and time, seemed to be frozen, giving a strange, static feeling.
Crack, crack, crack...
The power from the 'ice blade' conducted from Toshiro's right hand gripping the sword to his body. Then, a thin layer of ice crystals began to spread from his right arm across his entire body, threatening to freeze him completely.
Injuring himself before even harming the enemy! Toshiro was being harmed by his own power before he could even attack!
"Zero-Degree Blade!"
Toshiro dared not delay any longer. He shouted loudly and directly swung the 'ice blade', thrusting it at Hyorinmaru, who was still bound.
"Damn it!"
Although she didn't know what this move of Toshiro's was, Hyorinmaru actually felt a fatal threat from his attack!
Hyorinmaru, who had already used Bankai, actually felt the threat of death from Toshiro, who was only in Shikai!
So Hyorinmaru began to struggle violently, trying to break free, while barely manipulating her power to defend herself.
"Sennen Hyoro!"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
One after another, towering pillars of ice rose from the ground. However, Hyorinmaru wasn't using this move to attack Toshiro, but to defend herself.
The towering ice pillars appeared and rapidly spun to converge on Hyorinmaru herself.
Hyorinmaru knew she couldn't break free from Toshiro's Kido restraints in an instant, so she definitely couldn't dodge this attack from Toshiro that made her feel her life was threatened in time.
So Hyorinmaru immediately decided to use Sennen Hyoro to seal herself in ice, thereby defending against Toshiro's attack.
Shunkuho!
Seeing Hyorinmaru use Sennen Hyoro, Toshiro immediately erupted with all his remaining power, using Shunkuho to further accelerate his attack.
Just as the towering ice pillars were about to completely converge and completely seal Hyorinmaru inside, Toshiro's attack finally arrived just in time.
In an instant, the nearly converging ice pillars were affected by the power emanating from Toshiro's Zanpakuto. Their converging speed slowed down, and finally seemed to stop still.
The ice pillars, the air, molecules, atoms, even the entire world seemed to stand still.
Then, as if a thousand years, ten thousand years had passed, or perhaps only an instant, the world began to move again.
Whoosh!
Toshiro darted through the gap between the nearly completely converged ice pillars.
Bang!
The moment Toshiro passed through the gap between the ice pillars and lost the influence of his power, the ice pillars slammed shut with a bang, sealing both Toshiro and Hyorinmaru inside.
After darting through the gap between the nearly converged ice pillars, Toshiro thrust his sword straight at Hyorinmaru's heart.
Bang!
Although Hyorinmaru's goal of using Sennen Hyoro to defend herself wasn't achieved, it still bought her some time. So, just as Toshiro's attack was about to land, she finally broke free from his Kido restraints.
But even so, Hyorinmaru had little time to counter Toshiro's attack, which made her feel her life was threatened.
So Hyorinmaru made an immediate decision. Completely disregarding the life-threatening attack, she also thrust her sword at Toshiro's vital point, trying to force him to defend himself and abandon his attack on her.
However, Hyorinmaru underestimated Toshiro's determination to disregard his own life to defeat her.
"What!"
Hyorinmaru exclaimed in shock.
Facing the sword thrust at him, Toshiro showed no intention of turning his sword to defend himself. Because Toshiro knew that if he missed this opportunity, once Hyorinmaru reacted, he would absolutely not be able to defeat her in her Bankai state.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Toshiro and Hyorinmaru's swords pierced each other simultaneously.
Squelch!
Squelch!
Blood splattered. The sound of blades piercing flesh rang out.
Hyorinmaru lowered her head in disbelief at her right hand gripping the sword. Her right hand was stained red, stained red by Toshiro's blood.
Toshiro's sword had pierced through Hyorinmaru's shoulder, while her sword had pierced through Toshiro's vital spot.
"Drip, drop..."
Crystalline tears, freezing into ice beads the moment they left her eyes, fell. Hyorinmaru, usually like an ice goddess, was now crying like rain.
"You fool!! Why didn't you avoid my attack! Why did you change the direction of your attack!"
Hyorinmaru shouted sorrowfully.
Just now, Hyorinmaru hadn't expected Toshiro to neither dodge nor block her attack. She also hadn't expected that Toshiro, who had loudly declared he would kill her rather than let her leave, would change the direction of his attack at the very last moment.
Toshiro had initially aimed for her heart, but at the last moment, he changed his target to her shoulder.
Although Hyorinmaru also tried to change the direction of her attack when she saw Toshiro not dodging, she ultimately couldn't do it in time. She could only slightly shift the attack's position, still wounding Toshiro's vital spot.
"Hyorinmaru... although I know that even if I really killed you, Mayuri might be able to develop a way to restore you... but... I truly cannot bring myself to kill you... cough... puh!"
Toshiro spoke haltingly, then suddenly coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Thud!
Toshiro weakly released the sword in his hand and fell to his knees with a thud.
"Toshiro!!"
Hyorinmaru shouted, disregarding the sword still stuck in her shoulder, and quickly caught him.
"Toshiro, wait! I'll heal your wounds right away..."
Hyorinmaru said fearfully.
Fear, unprecedented fear surged into Hyorinmaru's heart. Seeing Toshiro wounded and kneeling on the ground, she felt she had never been so afraid, afraid of losing him.
As for the idea of leaving him, at this moment, it was long since cast to the winds.
Hyorinmaru gently touched the sword piercing Toshiro's body. The sword stuck in him dissipated into blue light in the air. Hyorinmaru's sword was not a real Zanpakuto, just condensed from Reiatsu.
"Wait, Toshiro. I'll freeze your wound with ice first to stop the bleeding..."
With that, Hyorinmaru laid Toshiro on her lap, placed her hand on his wound, and prepared to use her power to temporarily freeze it.
"Ungh..."
Hyorinmaru suddenly groaned.
"How is this possible! My power can't be used!!"
Hyorinmaru suddenly exclaimed in disbelief.
Just as she was about to use her power to temporarily freeze Toshiro's wound, she discovered her power had disappeared… no, it had been frozen!!
"Cough, cough... Hyorinmaru, your power was just frozen by my [Zero-Degree Blade]."
Toshiro struggled to explain.
"Zero-Degree Blade?"
Hyorinmaru asked puzzledly. She had never heard of this move of Toshiro's.
Toshiro continued to explain: "Zero-Degree Blade is a move where I condense all my ice power into my Zanpakuto, bringing the already ultra-low-temperature blade to [Absolute Zero]. Then, after the blade pierces the enemy, the Absolute Zero power on the blade completely freezes them."
"If it weren't for the fact that you, Hyorinmaru, are the Strongest Ice-type Zanpakuto and have super strong resistance to low temperatures, being struck by the Zero-Degree Blade would freeze not just your power, but your very life."
"Because my Zero-Degree Blade was just a conceptual move before, never actually used, it's normal you didn't know about it..."
Hyorinmaru said with a worried expression: "Enough, stop talking, Toshiro. We need to think of a way to treat your wounds first."
Zero-Degree Blade wasn't complicated. Hyorinmaru understood the principle after just one sentence from Toshiro. Ultimately, it was just using Absolute Zero, the lowest possible temperature, to attack. She could do the same. In fact, her Bankai move [Shikai Hyoketsu] had far greater power and range than Zero-Degree Blade.
Ssllcckk!
Hyorinmaru pulled out the Zanpakuto Toshiro had stabbed into her shoulder, sheathed it, and prepared to leave with him in her arms.
"Toshiro, wait. I'll take you back to the Gotei 13 right away and find someone to treat your injuries. You have to hold on."
Hyorinmaru said worriedly.
"Wait..."
Toshiro suddenly spoke.
"What's wrong? Are you in pain somewhere, Toshiro?"
Hyorinmaru quickly asked.
"No... it's not that. I just want to ask... will you leave me again?"
Toshiro stared intently at Hyorinmaru.
"No... no..."
As Hyorinmaru spoke, tears fell again, turning into ice beads landing on Toshiro's face.
"That's good... I can't live without you, Hyorinmaru..."
Toshiro said, then, as if sleepy, couldn't help but close his eyes.
"Toshiro!!"
Hyorinmaru shouted.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Just then, Sennen Hyoro, having lost Hyorinmaru's power, began to shatter and dissipate.
"Sennen Hyoro is dissipating? That's good. My power has already been frozen by Toshiro's Zero-Degree Blade. If Sennen Hyoro didn't dissipate, I'm afraid both Toshiro and I would be trapped inside forever..."
Hyorinmaru murmured to herself.
Then, Hyorinmaru prepared to carry Toshiro back to the Gotei 13 to find help for him.
However, just then, a whooshing sound came from the sky. Hyorinmaru looked up and saw the huge stone tablet that she had previously bound in the air with [Tenso Jurin: Kuku] falling from the sky, heading straight for them.
In that critical moment, Hyorinmaru instinctively threw herself down, tightly protecting Toshiro beneath her.
Bang!
The huge stone tablet inscribed with the character for 'Swastika' crashed to the ground.