Ichigo raised Zangetsu to meet his palate swapped twin.
The two massive khyber knife shaped swords met. Rupturing the side of the skyscraper he stood upon. Causing the air within the Soul Reaper's inner world to reverberate with a deafening clang.
"Ha, seems like that month of me beating you senseless wasn't put to waste after all!." The hollow mocked, then he separated from the locking of blades.
"But…" A cruel predatory smile swept over his face, "still too slow."
Ichigo's eyes went wide.
While using one hand he placed the spine of Zangetsu over his own. A massive amount of force bore down on him like a boulder.
His hollow half just floated there with both hands on his sword, in shock. "Yeah you're right, I am slow butー" Ichigo filled his muscles and tendons with spiritual energy, "You're predictable."
Golden light and terrible force gathered into one, the Soul Reaper batting away the Hollow like a tennis ball. The ground beneath the fiery haired young man fractured, the skyscraper completely shattered forcing him to Flashstep away.
Walnut eyes darted in every direction, he avoided any debris that could injure him.
"That's not how you use my power you idiot!" Hollow's voice can from above like the maddened roar of a demon. Ichigo used both hands to hold up his sword.
…It was a mistake.
A clang. Then an explosion.
Scarlet light filled the azure realm, blinding everyone within it. The entirety of the skyscraper Ichigo stood upon broke in half, his body falling through the entire structure.
Concrete, glass and steel were being broken by the young man's fall.
'Damn it!'
The pain subsided only as he finally broke through to the other side of the building. He took control of his body mid air, gathering Reishi beneath himself.
"Punk…" Flexing and inspecting his fingers, the young man sighed in relief. Beyond the slight numbing sensation and charred hand he was no worse for wear.
"Hmm?!" Ichigo's spiritual senses lit up like a Christmas tree. He felt his Hollow's spiritual energy skyrocket, he gritted his teeth.
'He's playing me for a fool.' Narrowing his eyes, the fiery haired young man grabbed his sword with both hands. He aimed for the falling half of the skyscraper that hid his inverted self.
"Getsuー" A hand clenched his hair, while a sandaled foot slammed onto his face!
"What was all that talk about being predictable, huh?!" Hollow Ichigo placed his right foot on Ichigo's face, his left jerked Ichigo's sword away. His left hand held his hair ー
'Wait! His rightー' The Hollow showed off his grease teeth, "Now here's a real Getsuga Tensho!" He pulled his arm, revealing to Ichigo that what he held in that hand was the black cloth of the inverted Zangetsu.
Instead of a massive Crescent shaped energy wave, the actual sword was cloaked in the scarlet light.
'If he can do it!' Ichigo concentrated and gathered surrounding spiritual energy.
A golden explosion occurred releasing incandescent light while forming a huge cloud of smoke.
"Haha! Do you have a death wish?! Huh?! That's the second close range Getsuga you released! I understood wanting to crush your opponent, but look at me perfectly unharmー" Hollow Ichigo's canary eyes spotted the thin shape of Ichigo's Zangetsu flying towards him, coated in golden light.
A sonic boom erupted as he dodged, finally touching down onto the side of the skyscraper below him. His dark eyes spotted the sword being pulled back to its master using the cloth that adorned it.
The soul weapon flew back into the fiery haired young man's hand, the force behind the blade was enough to disperse the smoke cloud completely.
Ichigo inspected himself, his face betraying him as he demonstrated a face of disappointment. His robes were in tatters at the front, ripped and dirtied.
"Yeah, don't look so sad when you blew yourself up!" Ichigo threw his Hollow self a dangerous look. "Huh?" The Hollow in question responded with a mock look of confusion. "What's that look for? Never had anyone shove the fact that you were wrong in your face?"
Placing his hand to his hip, while pointing his sword at his black clad opposite Hollow Ichigo spoke in a genuinely proud tone.
"Oh, but I will concede, you've started to really become a Soul Reaper. Taking your zanpakuto's techniques and using them yourself, you can feel it can't you?! The real power of Zangetsu, my power." Hollow Ichigo began twirling his inverted sword, scarlet light cloaked the blade causing the air to reverberate.
Ichigo could feel the malicious intent carried by the sword and wielder. A vision of him as a child, helpless, his mother's dead body atop of him. The rain fell as if the world itself was shedding tears, as the sun of his and families lives was snuffed out.
"My power Ichigo is simple…it's ー absolute destruction!" Ceasing his swinging Hollow Ichigo, lashed out with his sword as if it was a sickle attached to a chain. A crescent red energy wave traveled towards the substitute Soul Reaper with terrifying speed.
'Shit!' Ichigo raised his sword ー but it was too late. The crescent struck,blood flew, the force behind the attack rattled his bones as his body drilled through more skyscrapers. Then as if to signal the end of his suffering the energy wave exploded, his flesh was burnt a sunder. He was half way through one of the landmarks of his inner world, the shockwave from the explosion destroyed the structure completely.
Debris rained down, glass melted with the smoke cloud. Ichigo found himself lying prone in the ruins of the azure building.
He commanded his body to rise, but nothing came of it. He turned his head to the right, his Zangetsu laid there like himself, both appearing defeated.
'He's stronger, he's faster. He's just likeー' Ichigo thought back to his confrontation with the seventh Espada, the way he fought it was calculated. As if he was a puppeteer controlling his own body. It matched his personality and the way he carried himself, Byakuya was the same in many ways as well.
Was that what he was missing?
Not strength, not speed but being true to himself? He was a Soul Reaper, but he was also a Hollow, the Vizards were banished because of that fact. Ichigo himself, however, was accepted ー his rescue mission for Rukia had changed things.
The fiery haired young man bit down on his lip, he tasted metal. With struggling motions he wrestled his body to sit up on the cold, hard concrete. Each motion made him want to collapse back onto his original position, each thought of hesitation was swatted away however. In his mind vivid flashes of Sakura leaves arose, his resolve became even more steadfast.
He stumbled over to his sword, picking up the massive weapon Ichigo stared into the blade. His reflection stared back at him, he was covered in soot, his hair was an orange mess. Despite that he smiled, with a mental commitment he ordered the cloth to extend. With hesitant motions he wrapped his wound with the cloth, his experience from Soul Society made the process seem effortless.
"Let's wrap things up…that made me sound like some sort of comic book character." Shaking his head one last time, Ichigo took to the air on his way back to his Hollow self.
Hollow Ichigo on the other hand simply levitated in the air, sword on his shoulder, as soon as regular Ichigo got within a few meters of him.
"Look who came crawー" Ichigo increased his speed, looking back at how his hollow fought his speed. It was faster than that guy he fought, if those guys were hollows that gained Soul Reaper powers that means they should have their own variants of Shunpo.
His Hollow however achieved even greater speeds, he wasn't just a hollow he was both a Hollow and Soul Reaper. He was Ichigo and Ichigo was him, so he could in theory achieve the same near teleportation like speeds.
He just had to claw at his own being to find out how!
With a roar he charged at his Hollow and used Shunpo, he moved silently, but his target moved his sword to block him.
"You know…" With a pitiful expression, Hollow Ichigo said, "That technique of yours basically turns you into a spotlight of spiritual energy, right?"
To prove his point, Hollow Ichigo disappeared from a sonic boom being the only trace left in his wake.
Ichigo's walnut colored eyes darted everywhere, his disappearance from sight also marked the disappearance from Ichigo's spiritual senses.
Killing intent wrapped around the young fiery haired man, instincts guided his sword to protect him from a vertical slash.
The palate swapped Hollow's surprise turned to intrigue. A tiny semblance of a smirk crossed his face, "Well then we should stop playing around then!"
Ichigo's eyes turned sharp like daggers. Scarlet and gold illuminated the azure space. The colors were simply the opening act, Ichigo and his Hollow self clashed repeatedly with their Getsuga cloaked swords.
Truly awe inspiring and devastating explosions erupted, destroying landmarks of the realm. Causing multiple flashes of light to go off, filling the quiet void like a malfunctioning light during the night.
Ichigo allowed his mind to enter a state of battle clarity, his Hollow was faster, but in terms of power they were equal.
…Or on second thought the fiery haired young man thought otherwise.
His Hollow seemed to always avoid his sword slaves, even when they were aimed at nonvital areas. He placed his sword's spine to his own, blocking Hollow Ichigo's slash. An explosion erupted.
The pain and force of the attack didn't bother the young Soul Reaper like it had before. He used Shunpo to Dodge at the last second.
His hollow was faster and he could disappear from Ichigo's senses at a whim. Despite all of that he could still somewhat keep up.
Ichigo gathered Reishi into his blade, then charged forward to meet Hollow Ichigo. A loud clang sounded off accompanied by a shockwave and smoke.
'His spiritual energy isー?!' A smile broke out on the substitute Soul Reaper's face, his Hollow hid it well, but Ichigo could tell that he was beginning to feel the fatigue of their battle.
'If we both use Getsuga, then why don't I feel as tired?' The two combatants met and clashed swords once more, wielding their swords with one hand, then two, then incorporating the cloth into their attacks.
Hollow Ichigo used his moment technique to gain distance, when he was a few meters away he charged up a scarlet Getsuga.
'That's it!' Insight had struck Ichigo like lightning. He avoided the scarlet energy wave using Shunpo.
'He doesn't gather Reishi like me to propel it, he uses his own spiritual energy for everything. Including his movement technique, he uses his own spiritual energy to enhance his physical abilities then he disappears. If that's the case…' Ichigo sent a wave of spiritual energy out from his body, yellow specks of light flew around his body.
The fiery haired young man did not signal out for his enemy, instead he allowed his spiritual energy to carry his will. With his spiritual energy as the medium, Reishi began to enter Ichigo's body while clearing a path.
In his mind the Substitute Soul Reaper saw himself and his Hollow in a black void, a path directly towards his opponent was highlighted like an aeroplane runway at night.
Allowing himself to be lost within the feeling, the Soul Reaper breathed out, teasing his legs then ー kicked off.
All that Hollow Ichigo could sense was a powerful gust of wind as his other half seemed to teleport in front of him.
"What happened to that big talk huh?" Ichigo smirked, he brought down his Zangetsu in a diagonal slash over his Hollow's chest. Blood flew into the air, filling the realm for a few instances with pure deafening silence.
The yellow and black eyes of Hollow Ichigo went wide, turning into the size of dinner plates. In the span of a heart beat he vanished, then reappeared a few meters away.
Crimson blood stained his sheet white clothing and hand like red wine being spilt onto a table cloth.
The look of fear and confusion on his opponent's face filled Ichigo with an indescribable amount of pride.
"Sorry if I don't have the patience to be sitting around here all day, but I got places to be." Ichigo's words seemed to snap his other half out of his stupor, the Hollow smiled.
He ran his hand over his bleeding wound, using the blood in his hand he slicked back his hair.
"You get one good cut in on me and act like you're the king of the world! Here's a reality check for you Ichigo, between you and me the one playing the role of horse here is you!" After his mad tirade, Hollow Ichigo raised his Zangetsu in front of himself.
Sensing where the battle was heading Ichigo responded by mirroring his doppelganger.
The respective cloth of both of their swords wrapped around their arms. Then they roared as if they were mad beasts.
"Bankai!"
Violent hyper-fast tornados were born, destroying whatever buildings surrounded them.