A gust of white sand swept across the ruined pillars as Grimmjow rose, blood painting his grin.
"Grind... Pantera!"
His voice ripped through the air with the force of a thunderclap, and then his body erupted in a violent burst of cerulean light. The explosion of spiritual pressure knocked debris off the shattered towers, sending a surge of dust spiraling outward.
The pillar beneath him cracked and shattered, disintegrating in the wake of his transformation. White fur-patterned armor covered his lean, muscular frame. His jaw jutted forward in a jagged half-mask. Fangs bared. Tail snapping. Claws twitching with barely contained bloodlust.
Grimmjow vanished. A sonic shock trailed behind him, and a blink later, he appeared in front of Ichigo, claws already swinging.
BOOM!
Ichigo raised Zangetsu and blocked, but the sheer force of the strike sent a shockwave rumbling through the air. The pillar Ichigo stood on cracked beneath his feet as he slid back, his heels carving lines in the stone.
Grimmjow gave no pause.
CRASH!
He blitzed again, claws slashing through the air like whips. Ichigo parried.
CLANG!.
Spun, and countered with fluid grace. The air rippled violently with each strike, every impact thundering like cannonfire. Each step they took across the battlefield left shattered stone and rising dust clouds in their wake.
SLASH!
Grimmjow lunged with both claws, Ichigo ducked under them and drove his blade forward.
BAM!
The strike grazed Grimmjow's side, sending him spinning across the sky.
They clashed midair again,
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Like fireworks detonating in close quarters. When their strikes connected, bursts of reishi shot out like lightning forks across the sky. Grimmjow twisted through the air, kicking Ichigo in the chest.
THUD!
The impact hurled him back into a pillar.
KRRAACK!
The massive column splintered as Ichigo slammed into it. The stone fractured around him and collapsed in chunks. He stood slowly, dust falling from his cloak. Blood ran from a cut above his eye, but his gaze remained calm.
Grimmjow hovered in the air above, laughing. "That's more like it! C'mon! Use your damn Bankai already! Or are you scared it won't be enough?!"
Ichigo didn't answer at first. He wiped the blood with his sleeve and raised Zangetsu.
"You want it?"
A flash of black.
"Fine."
In the next instant, the world snapped.
"BAN-KAI!"
THOOM!
A pulse of black energy exploded from Ichigo. It surged outward in a massive ring of pure force, flattening the sand for hundreds of meters around him. The sky above warped, distorting under the pressure.
Dozens of floating pillars cracked. Some crumbled instantly. Wind howled through Las Noches, and the canopy trembled as if the entire dimension was holding its breath.
Tensa Zangetsu gleamed in his hand. Ichigo's cloak billowed violently behind him. His eyes, sharper and colder, stared forward with a chill that pierced deeper than steel.
Grimmjow flinched. His body froze for the briefest moment. Instinct screamed at him to retreat. But pride clawed its way up through the fear, and he growled, stepping forward.
"You think that scares me?! I'll rip you apart!"
He charged, releasing a guttural roar.
They met in a blur.
BOOOM!
The shockwave of their clash split the battlefield down the middle. White sand erupted in a geyser around them. Stone platforms shattered from the impact. The sky above flickered wildly with bursts of unstable energy.
Ichigo weaved around Grimmjow's slashes with ease, landing clean counters that threw the Espada off balance. Every blow from Ichigo was precise. Efficient. Clinical.
CLASH! SLASH! BAM!
Grimmjow slashed down with both claws. Ichigo blocked with one hand, barely shifting his stance.
"You're not even trying!" Grimmjow bellowed, clawing forward wildly.
Ichigo sidestepped. Grimmjow missed entirely, his momentum carrying him forward. Ichigo brought the back of his blade across the Espada's side.
SMASH!
Sending him skidding across the ground, trailing blood.
Far off, perched atop a high ledge, Tier Harribel and her Fracción watched in silence.
"That one," Mila Rose muttered, "his power... it doesn't feel like the same Substitute Shinigami Aizen warned us about."
"He's evolved," Sung-Sun added, her voice cold. "More dangerous. More composed."
Harribel's golden eyes narrowed as Ichigo blurred back into the battle. "He's suppressing most of it. Only now is he showing what he's capable of."
Grimmjow roared again, face twisted in rage. He lifted both hands and gathered his remaining strength.
"DESGARÓN!!"
Five massive, spectral claws of blue energy exploded outward from his hands, ripping through the air toward Ichigo. The sound was a shriek of destruction, like metal grinding against the bones of the world. The claws barreled down with raw annihilation in their wake.
Ichigo watched them approach, his face unmoved. He raised his blade.
"Getsuga... Tenshō."
A wave of black energy exploded forward, spiraling with streaks of blue.
CRACK-BOOOOM!!
It collided with Desgarón in a flash of pure devastation.
BOOOOOOM!!
The explosion lit the sky. The shockwave engulfed the battlefield. Every tower within sight shattered. The ground cracked and peeled apart. A deep crater formed where the two powers collided, sand turned to molten glass.
RUMBLE!
Entire platforms collapsed from the concussive pressure. The sky trembled, chunks of false blue crashing down like broken mirrors. The battle had altered the very landscape of Las Noches.
From the smoke, Grimmjow emerged coughing, armor shattered, blood pouring down his chest. He screamed and lunged for a final strike, claws raised.
Ichigo appeared behind him in a blink. A single motion.
SHING!
Tensa Zangetsu slashed cleanly across Grimmjow's back, dropping him mid-air.
THUD!
Grimmjow hit the ground, dragging a trench in the sand. He tried to rise. His arms shook.
Ichigo descended calmly. The wind kicked up around his feet. Zangetsu rested on his shoulder.
Grimmjow gritted his teeth, eyes swimming. He looked up, vision cracking.
"You bastard..."
Ichigo didn't respond. He turned his back.
The silence that followed was thicker than the sound of their battle. The wind carried the echo of destruction behind him.
As he walked away, Grimmjow collapsed again, unconscious. The canopy above flickered, bruised from the battle. Tier and her Fracción watched as Ichigo disappeared into the distance, toward his next fight.
The only sound now was the hiss of scorched sand and the faint drip of blood on stone.
TO BE CONTINUED