"Huff... huff..."
Toshiro leaned on his Zanpakuto, breathing heavily and unsteadily.
"Hyorinmaru, you're really something. It seems mastering Bankai in the future won't be easy," Toshiro sighed, looking up at the completely unscathed Hyorinmaru.
To master Bankai, one needed to reach the peak of Lieutenant-level and then defeat their Zanpakuto after it materialized.
After resting for a while, Toshiro finally regained his stamina.
"Hyorinmaru, you should be able to take human form, right? I'm not quite used to fighting against your huge size," Toshiro asked.
"Moreover, even Hollows are far smaller than your massive body. Why don't you turn into human form and fight me again?" Toshiro suggested.
Hyorinmaru had always appeared before Toshiro in the form of a massive ice dragon.
The anime had once shown Hyorinmaru's human form, but that was anime-original. He wasn't sure if that was the real case.
"It is possible to take human form, but... well, fine. Since you want to see it, I'll show you," Hyorinmaru said, somewhat hesitantly.
A flash of blue light later, what appeared before Toshiro was a... girl!
A young woman in blue palace attire, with arched brows, phoenix eyes, and an oval face. She was blue all over, even her hair and eyes were ice-blue.
Toshiro rubbed his eyes vigorously, then looked again. She was indeed a girl.
"You... you... Hyorinmaru isn't a handsome guy like me?" Toshiro stammered.
He remembered clearly… the anime's human-form Hyorinmaru was a handsome guy with dark green long hair.
"Didn't I tell you before? Don't look at me through the lens of anime," Hyorinmaru said, frowning. Her voice was clear and melodious, completely different from the dignified, deep voice from before.
"Wait! If that's the case, why did you speak with a man's voice before? You think you're Shihoin Yoruichi?!" Toshiro said, facepalming.
"Because that sounds more dignified. I knew you'd make a fuss, which is why I didn't want to take human form," Hyorinmaru stated matter-of-factly.
"Alright," Toshiro accepted reluctantly.
"But why did you turn into a female?" Toshiro asked, puzzled.
"Turn into a female? I was always female," Hyorinmaru retorted unhappily.
"Have you forgotten? How I came to be," Hyorinmaru countered.
"That's right. The current me is the new Hyorinmaru born from the fusion of your soul energy and the Ice Dragon Pearl. And the ice dragon who left the Ice Dragon Pearl as a legacy was female. So, influenced by the dragon pearl's power, I was female from the moment I manifested," Hyorinmaru explained before Toshiro could respond.
"Well, even though you're a woman, thank god you're not loli," Toshiro recalled the famous meme.
"Oh? What did you just say? Seems beating Alfred made you a bit cocky, Toshiro. Didn't you say you wanted to fight my human form? Come on!" Hyorinmaru seemed to emit a dark aura.
"No, no, no. My mind's a bit of a mess right now. Let me sort it out," Toshiro said, shivering as he looked at Hyorinmaru's seemingly corrupted state.
"If your mind isn't clear, let me use ice to sober you up," Hyorinmaru said with icy eyes.
She raised a hand, and a sword identical to the Zanpakuto in Toshiro's hand instantly appeared in hers.
"Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" Hyorinmaru cried out coldly and clearly.
Toshiro, standing beside her, wore a strange expression upon hearing Hyorinmaru call his own name to release the Zanpakuto.
"Roar!"
A frost dragon suddenly charged at Toshiro.
Boom!
The daydreaming Toshiro was directly hit by the frost dragon.
With a 'crack', Toshiro was frozen into an ice sculpture.
Hitsugaya Toshiro, wielder of the Strongest Ice-type Zanpakuto, turned into an ice sculpture. If this got out, he'd become the laughingstock of the entire Soul Society.
Suddenly, a powerful surge of Reiatsu erupted from within the ice sculpture.
Crack!
A fissure appeared on the ice sculpture.
Bang!
With a violent burst of Reiatsu, the ice sculpture completely shattered into countless ice fragments scattering everywhere.
"Mind clear now?" Hyorinmaru said indifferently.
"Achoo! You... you female dragon! Trying to kill me?" Toshiro said, shivering from the cold.
"It seems I need to teach you a good lesson, to let you know who's the master here."
With that, Toshiro immediately used Shunpo to charge at Hyorinmaru.
"Ice Dragon Flash!"
An ice-blue slashing attack shot towards Hyorinmaru.
Seeing this, Hyorinmaru cast a disdainful glance and said flatly, "Ice Dragon Flash."
Another slashing attack appeared, meeting Toshiro's head-on.
Boom!
The two attacks collided and canceled each other out.
"No use?"
Toshiro frowned, recalling something: A Shinigami's abilities, their Zanpakuto could also use.
'It seems only close combat will do.'
Thinking this, Toshiro's figure instantly appeared behind Hyorinmaru and slashed at her back.
However, Hyorinmaru didn't even turn her head, as if she had eyes on her back. She blocked Toshiro's strike with a reverse swing of her sword, then leaned her body forward while simultaneously kicking backwards with her foot.
Thud!
Toshiro was kicked back several steps.
Toshiro brushed the footprint off his clothes and charged forward again.
From then on, Toshiro and Hyorinmaru engaged in a back-and-forth battle.
Initially, Toshiro was purely on the defensive. But gradually, he managed to land one or two attacks out of every ten exchanges.
…
Thump!
Toshiro collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.
"Can't... do it anymore. I'm out of strength," Toshiro gasped.
"Hmph, giving up already? Your stamina is pathetic. And you're fit to be my master?" Hyorinmaru snorted coldly.
Toshiro felt a line of sweat on his forehead but held back his retort in the end.