Thump!
Ichigo weakly knelt on the ground, touching the wound on his shoulder, looking incredulous.
"An amateur like you could never match us proper Shinigami."
Renji looked disdainfully at Ichigo.
"It's all over, Kurosaki Ichigo. You will die..."
Swish!
Before Renji finished, a blade light suddenly flashed.
Renji instinctively dodged. Even so, a small cut appeared on his face.
"Sorry to interrupt. I got cut earlier because I wasn't going all out."
Ichigo, who had been kneeling, stood up again.
Renji wiped the blood from the cut on his face, annoyed. "You bastard..."
"You're underestimating him, Renji!"
Byakuya suddenly spoke.
Renji retorted, "Underestimating? Against this kind of trash?"
"Renji, I just recalled the Onmitsukido's earlier imaging report showed a Menos Grande returned to Hueco Mundo with a sword wound."
Byakuya interrupted Renji.
"Menos Grande? What's that? Is he talking about that pointy-nosed monster?"
Ichigo wondered upon hearing Byakuya.
Just then, Renji suddenly burst out laughing.
"Pfft... hahaha..."
"It really got me there. The Onmitsukido's intel gets less accurate by the day. Someone like him wounding a Menos Grande? Too ridiculous!"
Renji pointed at Ichigo disdainfully.
Even the weakest Menos Grande, a Gillian, required elite Shinigami to handle. Renji absolutely didn't believe Ichigo could wound a Menos Grande.
"See, Captain? Aside from being big, his Zanpakuto is utterly useless! He can't control Reiryoku at all."
Here, Renji asked Ichigo, "Hey, kid! What's your Zanpakuto's name?"
"Huh? Name? What name? Do you give your Zanpakuto a special name?"
Ichigo asked, puzzled.
Seeing Ichigo's reaction, Renji grew even more disdainful.
"Just as I thought, asking is pointless! Someone like you wants to fight me equally?"
"Try again in two thousand years!"
Then, Renji gently stroked his Zanpakuto's blade, shouting, "Howl, Zabimaru!!"
Renji leaped up. His Zanpakuto's serrated blade suddenly elongated, shooting toward Ichigo like lightning!
Schlick!
Ichigo couldn't react in time. Zabimaru's serrated blade cut into Ichigo's shoulder again.
"Brat, you're done! You'll be defeated by me, Abarai Renji, and die here!!"
Then Renji swung his elongated Zanpakuto blade at Ichigo again.
Schlick!
Blood splattered. Another large wound appeared on Ichigo's body.
Thump!
Ichigo weakly collapsed.
"See, kid? This is the gap in our strength."
Renji looked down at Ichigo arrogantly.
"Now, I'll finish you quickly and return sooner."
Clang! Clang! Clang!!
Renji dragged his Zanpakuto along the ground, walking toward Ichigo.
Just then, Rukia nearby suddenly moved!
Swish!
Rukia instantly flashed forward, pouncing on Renji, grabbing his sword-wielding right arm.
"Ichigo! Run!!"
"Get up! Get up and run!"
Rukia tightly held Renji's sword arm, shouting at the fallen Ichigo.
"Hey! Let go! Rukia, what are you doing?!"
"Do you want to compound your mistakes, Rukia?!"
Renji struggled hard, trying to break free.
"Cough, cough..."
Just then, Ichigo, like an indestructible cockroach, struggled to his feet again.
"Yo... Looks like you can still move. But that's good. Just finishing off a dying person isn't fun."
Renji, after breaking free, sneered, "Now let's have a proper fight, then I'll kill you."
"Ichigo!"
Rukia anxiously shouted, "If you can still stand, run! Ichigo! Your life matters most!"
However, Ichigo showed no intention of fleeing.
"Ha!"
Ichigo shouted, beginning a power-up. Instantly, powerful Reiatsu erupted from his body.
Then Ichigo leaped up, delivering a powerful slash at Renji.
Schlick!
Renji only saw a blade light flash before a wound appeared on his left shoulder.
"Impossible!!"
Renji looked at the wound on his left shoulder, incredulous.
While Renji was shocked, Ichigo slashed at him again.
Renji hastily raised his blade to block.
Clang!
Blades clashed. Renji's expression instantly changed drastically.
Immense power transmitted from Ichigo's blade, and Renji was directly sent flying by this strike.
'What's going on? Why did his Reiatsu suddenly become so strong?'
Renji wondered inwardly.
"Hey! What's wrong? Your reactions got so slow!"
Seeing Renji injured, Ichigo couldn't help but feel somewhat proud.
"Dammit! It's your movements that got faster!"
Renji said angrily.
"Ha! Really? I don't know why either. But now I feel full of power all over, even the wounds don't hurt!"
Regarding his condition, Ichigo himself didn't understand.
"But never mind that. What I need to do now is defeat you!"
With that, Ichigo swung his Zanpakuto at Renji again.
"Damn it! My body feels so heavy!"
Under Ichigo's Reiatsu pressure, Renji's body felt incredibly heavy. He couldn't even lift his blade to block.
Just as Renji grew frantic...
Swish!
A shadow suddenly flashed by, too fast to discern.
'Huh? How...? The blade is gone?!'
Ichigo looked incredulously at the Zanpakuto in his hand.
The previously broad blade had vanished, leaving only the hilt.
'Wait, not him.'
Ichigo glanced at Renji, who also showed a surprised expression.
Then Ichigo looked at Byakuya in the distance.
'Could it be him...?'
'Impossible!'
'He's so far away. It can't be him!'
Ichigo muttered to himself.
"What?!"
Suddenly, Ichigo saw Byakuya in the distance holding a broken blade fragment.