Sasakibe drew his Zanpakuto, pointing it high into the sky!
Watching this, Renji and the live stream audience were very confused.
"What does this old guy mean?"
"He's just a Lieutenant. Does he think he can stop Ichigo and Kuchiki Byakuya?"
"How much has he had to drink?"
No one had high expectations for Sasakibe.
However, they didn't notice that both Ichigo and Byakuya were looking at Sasakibe with serious expressions!
At this moment, Renji, holding Zabimaru, prepared to go deal with Sasakibe.
But immediately, everyone understood why Byakuya and Ichigo were so grave.
Pointing his Zanpakuto at the sky, Sasakibe calmly uttered a few words.
"Bankai: Koko Gonryo Rikyu!"
Powerful Reiatsu surged from Sasakibe's body!
From Gonryomaru, transformed into a rapier, a thick pillar of yellow lightning shot straight into the sky!
Instantly, the sky churned. Wind rose, clouds gathered, and dark clouds accumulated densely!
Then, the yellow lightning piercing into the mass of dark clouds artificially charged the canopy of clouds with pure yellow electricity!
From the dark clouds in the sky, twelve pillars of yellow lightning descended!
Boooooom-
Lightning pillars as thick as an arm, like those at Kukaku's gate, struck heavily around Sasakibe, forming a circle with him at the center.
The ground shattered under the agitation of the lightning, and eleven large craters appeared!
Surrounded by the lightning pillars, pure yellow electrons danced around Sasakibe's entire body. The Bankai, unused for a thousand years, made him look like a thunder god descended!
Even Ichigo and the others, standing some distance away on the other side, felt their skin tingling and their hair standing on end from static.
Watching this scene of majestic heavenly might, Renji was dumbfounded.
"How is this possible? Besides Captain Hitsugaya's Hyorinmaru, there's another Zanpakuto that can control the weather?!"
"Captain Hitsugaya's Hyorinmaru can control weather and is called the strongest ice-type. Then this Gonryomaru is..."
"The strongest... lightning-type!" Byakuya completed Renji's sentence.
"Without a doubt, in the Soul Society, there has never been a lightning-type Zanpakuto stronger than Lieutenant Sasakibe's!"
"Is that so..." Renji's expression was shaken.
'So the supposedly useless Lieutenant... the useless one was actually me?'
'If you possess such a strong Bankai, why not become a Captain? Wouldn't that be better? If you know Bankai, stop showing off among the Lieutenants!'
Renji inwardly lamented.
But he completely forgot that he himself was also an overachiever, having mastered the rarely-seen-among-Lieutenants Bankai as well!
While Ichigo and the others were shocked, Sasakibe had already begun to move.
He extended his rapier, touching it to one of the descending lightning pillars. The thick lightning pillar wrapped around the 'needle' in his hand like thread!
But the thick lightning pillar wasn't thread, it was a coil.
The rapier in Chojiro's hand wasn't a needle, it was the projectile of a railgun!
A sudden, immense sense of crisis surged in Ichigo's heart!
"Bankai: Tensa Zangetsu!"
He achieved Bankai at the fastest speed of his life, followed immediately by Hollowfication.
And the next moment, a flash of yellow light suddenly passed by Ichigo's right side, carving a large bloody wound across his chest!
Only then did everyone react to Sasakibe's attack!
"Ichigo!"
"Ichigo!"
Concerned cries from Rukia and Renji sounded.
"Whew... I'm okay!" Ichigo let out a long exhale, using Blut Vene to stop the bleeding from his chest wound, his heart still pounding.
'So fast!'
If not for his own fast Bankai and adding Hollowfication, he might not have reacted to Sasakibe's attack in time!
Yes, the attack method of Sasakibe's Bankai was exactly like his Shikai, where his Zanpakuto becomes a Western rapier.
It was ultimate speed, ultimate fierceness! A super-fast thrust!
At this moment, Sasakibe, not far in front of Ichigo, finally ended his stance… the classic in fencing, with one hand back and one hand holding the sword in a lunge-forward position.
Looking at the wound on Ichigo's chest, a flicker of admiration appeared in Chojiro's eyes.
"As expected of the Ryoka who defeated five Captains in a row. That thrust just now, I originally intended to pierce your heart and then take Kuchiki Rukia away. I didn't expect you to react."
Hearing Sasakibe's words, Renji and many viewers were stunned.
"All that happened in that instant?"
Then Renji ran in front of Ichigo, blocking Sasakibe's potential thrust path.
"Bastard! I won't let you take Rukia!"
"I have Bankai too!"
Renji's violent Reiatsu surfaced, and the shadow of a giant serpent flashed behind him for an instant!
However, in the original work, Abarai Renji could have had his cool moment. But here, with Ichigo present, there was simply no space for him to shine.
"Renji, stand down!" Byakuya said mercilessly. "Your cumbersome Bankai is no match for Lieutenant Sasakibe!"
"Save it for a decisive strike opportunity!"
After speaking, Byakuya also stood in front of Ichigo.
"Captain!" Looking at his Captain's profile, Renji was very unwilling.
But Byakuya was right, and even he had anticipated this. So Renji could only step back.
Thus, on this side, Ichigo, still holding Rukia, and Byakuya faced Sasakibe.
On the other side, Yamamoto confronted his two rebellious students.
In the forest below the hill, the former queen of the fujoshi circle, Yoruichi and Sui-Feng were having a heartfelt exchange.
And at the foot of Sokyoku Hill, the 11th Division's Players and the many 2nd Division's Xiguo Players were engaged in their own chicken-fight, not even worth mentioning.
Multiple battlefields were unfolding simultaneously.
Simultaneously, people who had been watching the live stream suddenly noticed the game's broadcast method had changed!
At this moment, the game was no longer just following Players' streams. Besides Player streams, it specifically opened live streams for characters within the game.
The intimate exchange between Yoruichi and Sui-Feng.
Yamamoto's rebuke of his two rebellious students.
Sasakibe maneuvering freely amidst a sea of a thousand cherry blossoms, fighting one against two.
The large-scale melee with cold weapons between Players below the hill, the chicken-fight.
Even Zaraki's life-and-death struggle with Tosen and Komamura, the exchange between Ikkaku and Iba.
At this moment, all the highlights within the Soul Society were given their own separate live streams by the game, independently opened outside the Players' streams!
"Holy crap, it can do this?!"
"So awesome! I always thought the Captains' fights were the coolest!"
"Yoruichi and Sui-Feng actually have such a past?"
Everyone was shocked watching these live stream scenes.
However, before everyone could be shocked for long, just one minute later, another new live stream opened.
Contrary to the Players' earlier speculation, the number of 'traitors' in the Soul Society was far more than six.
Or rather, only six were currently exposed, and there were many more latent ones.
Because, at the same time Ichigo was rescuing Rukia...
Central 46.
Unohana and Hitsugaya had already encountered a very much alive Aizen.
Facing the two, Aizen gave a faint smile, then drew Kyoka Suigetsu.
"Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."
He uttered the release command for Kyoka Suigetsu!
For those in the Central 46, they instantly saw, within the originally magnificent hall, the dried bloodstains and the corpses scattered everywhere!