Flying in the direction of Shen and the others, Ichigo flew by hundreds of buildings as it began to reach the edge of the now-frozen town. "Almost there just a little-" Ichigo's words were cut short as he felt a presence attacking from above. Turning around, he swung Zangetsu to the space above him, which caused his blade to hit with Rukia.
Slowly but surely Ichigo was leading the fightback to Shen and would use every chance Rukia did not attack to get even closer. Speaking to Ichigo Rukia's tone showed she was getting annoyed by Ichigo's constant running. "If you keep turning your back to me, you'll die." Although it was true, Ichigo was getting closer. He was also leaving himself open to attack, which is proven by all the different cuts covering his clothing and light wounds on his body.
Listening to Rukia speak for one of the first times in a while, Ichigo was surprised. 'She's usually so quiet, why did she start talking now?' Staring at Rukia, Ichigo replied in a familiar voice just like he would usually talk to Rukia when she was still in the Human World. "I'll take the risk of almost dying than being forced to fight a friend."
Saying that with a smile on his face, Rukia's eyes narrowed as she spoke again. "Master Shen told me to get rid of you. No matter if you're a family member or a friend, his orders are absolute." As she finished speaking Ichigo, felt a rush of cold airflow from Rukia's Zanpakuto as she twisted the blade allowing its ribbon to form a circle in the air.
"Some no mai, Tsukishiro." Pointing her the tip of her blade towards Ichigo the ground underneath him began to glow as the entire area under him turned blinding white. Watching this, Ichigo quickly began to fly out of the circle's range even though he did not know precisely what it did. 'Is the circle getting bigger?' As Ichigo flew through the air, he noticed the white glow of the circle's outline began to grow even bigger as if trying to outrace him.
Just barely Ichigo managed to outrun the white light Rukia waved at Zanpakuto that the entire section of the town was instantly trapped inside a pillar of ice. The power to freeze that large of an area at such was thanks to the potential unlocking of the mind control. If Rukia's strength were simply increased, then she would only have more powerful attacks however, the full capabilities of her Zanpakuto were being unlocked as well.
It was because of that Rukia took care of Sode no Shirayuki even after being controlled. Her constant meditation with her unlocked potential allowed her to unlock the power that she would never have obtained even by the end of the original series. Looking at the massive pillar of ice behind him, Ichigo had to guess that it was over a hundred meters wide ignoring the fact that it was taller than even that.
"This is insane." After witnessing that Ichigo realized this was an opportunity turning around, he dashed off towards Urahara and Isshin hoping Rukia would be too tired to chase after him after performing such a massive attack. It was only at that moment did Ichigo hear a cracking noise. Turning his head, Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw using 'San no mai, Shirafune' to cut the massive ice pillar not far from its base on the ground. Standing on the other side of the enormous column of ice, even Rukia looked exhausted. She used all of her dances to the maximum of her ability for this attack. "Tsugi no mai, Hakureno." Using her last dance, Ichigo heard a loud crashing sound a rush of ice began to pour in from the sides of the pillar.
"You will not interrupt Master Shen." Speaking softly to herself Rukia put every ounce of her power into this final dance which caused the entire ice pillar to shake as it began to topple over. At the location where Isshin and Shen were still fighting, they suddenly stopped as they heard a roaring sound coming down from the sky. Looking up the Shen had a look of disbelief on his face.
'Are you serious?' As the entire pillar of ice fell it parted the clouds as a massive shadow began to loom over Shen and the others including a portion of Katakura Town. 'That is way too overboard! What's the point of using an attack that's going to crush the person you work for?' Looking at Shen's expression Isshin could tell this was not something he and Rukia had planned as he saw Shen suddenly fly high into the sky.
Raising his hand upwards, the sound of thunder clouds began to become more and more apparent as the sky turned even darker than it already was. Looking down at Isshin and Urahara Shen sighed to himself as he thought he might as well take advantage of the situation. "Although this wasn't planned, it does give me an idea for a game." Shen's hand began to crackle with electricity, and all the lightning in the sky started to converge behind creating a massive beast.
"Dodge the Ice and try not to die." Setting the massive pillar of ice as his target, the Kirin behind Shen shot into the sky growing bigger and bigger as it conducted more lightning into its being. "Kirin!" Hitting the massive pillar of ice head on the Kirin seemed to go into the towering pillar of ice as it began to crackle from the inside lighting the ice up like a chandelier covering the town.
And shortly after the light show cracks began to run up and down the ice's structure as large chunks of it began to fly off as the wind on the ground started to kick up. Finally, the pillar of ice covered in so many different cracks exploded outwards shattering completely as ice covered the sky.
Witnessing this Ichigo didn't have a clue what had just happened as he looked towards Rukia who for the first time, looked exhausted. "Well, that was pretty dangerous of you Rukia." A female voice entered Ichigo and Rukia's ears as Rukia found herself tied up by a Razor Sharp wire multiple times over.
Standing behind her was Yoruichi holding the two ends of the wire with one hand. "I wouldn't struggle if I were you. These wires are sharp enough to cut you into pieces if they have too much pressure applied to them." Turning around Yoruichi looked towards Ichigo who was surprised to see Yoruichi ok. "Yoruichi? But Urahara said that you were injured." Looking at Yoruichi's chest, it was clear she wasn't healed or fully recovered to which Yoruichi smiled.
"Like such a small wound would take me out. But now's not the time for pleasantries. You need to hurry. I doubt those two will be able to hold him off forever." Listening to Yoruichi, Ichigo looked towards Shen's direction before looking at Rukia in which Yoruichi spoke again. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she doesn't go anywhere just go."
Clearing his worries, Ichigo decided to trust Yoruichi as he flew towards Shen's direction. "Now then why don't we have a nice chat." Looking at Rukia with a smile Yoruichi used Flash Step moving both her and Rukia out of the way of any falling Ice.
We have finally seen the limits to Rukia's unlimited growth as she almost crushes Shen with her little stunt. What is Shen's plan to witness Urahara's plan while still remaining unaffected?
Note: I mentioned this before, but I do plan on ending the bleach universe this month if not earlier. So we can get Aizen, Ywach, Zero Division and all of them out of the way when he moves on to the next world.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter though it was late.