Uryu was no stranger to dealing with Captain-level opponents; his experiences with Mayuri, Szayel, and Ulquiorra could attest to that. But of all his foes, this one proved the most unique. At first, the gray-haired man presented himself as a bow wielder, much like Ishida himself.
However, he quickly engaged Uryuu in melee combat by summoning a pair of dual swords, each with yin and yang aspects - one black with a white center, the other white with a black center. While the servant's skill with the two blades was so refined and honed that Uryuu was forced to use Hirenkyaku to keep his distance and attack with his Heiliger Bogen.
Yet the servant rushed towards the Quincy and even when the latter shot numerous holy arrows at the heroic spirt. Archer deflected the holy arrows with his twin Noble Phantasms before throwing the white sword at Uryuu. Forcing the Quincy to just barely dodged in time...
Only to sense the white twin sword circling around and coming right at his back!
Thinking fast, Uryuu managed to use the Hirenkyaku to evade the fast spining sworfd...but not fast enough to prevent a deep slash cutting through his side.
"You're pretty skilled Quincy," Archer remarked, " But I don't have time to chat." With that, he retreated from the battlefield to aid his comrades, leaving Uryuu to nurse his wounds.
However, before Uryuu could make his own retreat, Yasutora suddenly appeared behind Archer, ready to strike the servant down. Archer instinctively raised both Kanshou and Bakuya in a cross guard to defend himself against the Fullbringer's El Directo, a technique that released enough force to nearly shatter the roof of the building they were standing on.
'For humans who aren't quite on the same level as Captain-level Shinigami... they sure seem to be around the level of a Servant,"'Archer mused in thought as he readied to face Yasutora. 'I only hope the others... and especially you, manage to hold out until I arrive'
Meanwhile, as Saber, Shirou, and Rin stood surrounded, Ichigo stepped forward.
"So, are you guys going to make the first move, or are you going to let me do it?" he asked. Shirou, Rin, and Saber exchanged glances, and an unspoken plan was formed. Saber rushed at Ichigo, her invisible sword taking him off guard and forcing him to retreat to the street below. At the same time, Rin and Shirou engaged Renji and Rukia.
Rukia raised her Zanpakuto to defend herself against Rin's magecraft-enhanced melee attacks. The Shinigami surprised that a human, even a magus like Rin, could possess such power and speed. Nevertheless, she managed to block and counter Rin's strikes with the blade of her zanpaktou. However, not wanting to harm the human, Rukia then jumped back and cast a Kido spell, pointing her two left index fingers at Rin.
"Bakudō #4. Hainawa!" Rukia shouted, and immediately a yellow, glowing rope of electric Reishi shot from her hands, attempting to ensnare Rin. But Rin countered by throwing one of her emerald jewels.
"Siben!" she called out in German, and instantly a green shield of mana blocked the Bakudo spell, much to Rukia's surprise. Then before the Shinigami could react, Rin then cast the spell Gandr from her forearm, rapidly firing dozens of black and red, hazy bullets of magical energy at her foe without the need for an incantation, thanks to her family's infused magical crest. Forcing Rukia to run from the strikes.
When Renji faced Shirou, he looked at the young Master unimpressed. "So, are you sure you want to do this and not just run home?" Renji offered. "It's only your Servant we're after"
Shirou readied his stance. "That gives me all the more reason to stand my ground!" he announced, and Renji sighed.
"Well, alright then..." He then drew out his Zanpakuto. "But you asked for this..." Renji used Shunpo to appear right in front of Shirou and struck out with the pommel of his blade, hoping to take out the Master in a single, knockout hit.
However, Shirou, drawing on his training with Saber and Archer - the former teaching him discipline, the latter pushing him to refine his magecraft to levels he never reached before, alongside Rin giving him some of her mana to support him - clearly saw the moment Renji's pommel came at his stomach. He then projected Kanshou and Bakuya, blocking Renji's strike much to his confusion, and then, to his further shock. Shirou began to counter the Shinigami with rapid strikes from the twin Noble Phantasms, forcing Renji to immediately defend himself.
"What the !?" Renji cursed out as he struggled to defend against the supposedly harmless Master before him. 'This kid not only has strength comparable to a Captain, but his skills are on the same level as well!?' He thought then used Shunpo to get away from Shirou. "Just what the Hell did you do!?"
Shirou didn't and continued pressed his advantage, lunging at Renji, but the Vice-Captain immediately jumped in the air and created a Reishi platform to stand on.
"Don't get cocky, brat!" Renji then placed his hand on the flat side of his Zanpakuto. "Howl, Zabimaru!" he called out, and his Zanpakuto glowed red before transforming into a large, six-segment blade. With eqch separate part was larger than the last, with two like protrusions on the front and back of each segment, with the ones at the front being the largest.
Shirou's eyes widened in surprise at Renji's sword release. 'Shinigami can change their weapons by calling out their name!?' He questioned in his head before snapping out of his thoughts when Renji swung Zabimaru at the young Magus.
The blade of the Zanpakuto extended itself like a whip, moving at high levels of speed and power, but Shirou nimbly dodged out of the way and attacked Renji, who quickly raised and stretched back the blade to defend himself. Then Shirou made a backflip and jumped away from the Shinigami.
Shirou then analyzed Renji's Zanpakuto further. 'So... it seems to be made out of countless other Shinigami souls forged as a blank... but as this Shinigami spent so much time with that sword, or rather Zanpakuto, he imprinted his own soul onto it, and eventually, through constant training and experience, the weapon eventually gained its own sentience and identity. Then upon communicating with the Zanpakuto, the Shinigami was able to learn its name... and achieving Shikai'
The amber-haired youth then looked at the segmented Zanpakuto. 'Zabimaru, the snake tail'
He focused his eyes back on Renji. 'Basically, unlike a Noble Phantasm, which is the embodiment of a heroic spirts legend and accomplishments the Zanpakuto is basically a weapon that acts as a reflection and extension of the Shinigami's own soul' He then raised his blades. 'And if my analysis of that weapon's history is accurate... that Shikai is only the first release of that Zanpaktou's power...'
Shirou then charged at Renji with renewed vigor. 'I've got to take him out before he gets the chance to use it!'
Meanwhile, Ichigo and Saber were evenly clashing against each other while Ichigo began to analyze Saber's moves.
'She's just as skilled as that Cu Chulainn guy, and stronger to boot' he commented in his head while dodging an invisible sword strike. 'On top of being a bit trickier to deal with since she has that invisible wind sword of hers... but if I can get a good understanding of its length, I should be able to make a countermove and land a blow on her'
Ichigo then used both hands on his sword and began rapidly attacking Saber, who in turn parried each of Ichigo's blows with precise precision and timing. She could immediately tell that the Shinigami was trying to guess the length of her sword, and so to prevent that from happening, Saber then jumped back from Ichigo, pointed her sword back, and then released the barrier of invisible air.
Which reaulted in unleashing a massive surge of wind that accelerated Saber's speed by threefold while her sword glowed bright golden with energy. Taking Ichigo by surprise. However he manged quickly raised Zangetsu to block the strike, which held enough force to push him several feet back. Saber then used Mana Burst to strike Ichigo again while he was momentarily stunned.
But Ichigo recovered quicker than Saber expected and to her surprise , and the blade of his Zanpakuto then glowed with yellow Spiritual Energy.
He then swung Zangetsu at Saber and unleashed a massive wave of Spiritual Power that tore through the earth, forcing the Servant to jump back from the upcoming wave of energy. Seeing there was no time to dodge it, Saber released Invisible Air once more, this time in the form of the projectile technique Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King, sending out a huge blast of wind.
Yet even she knew that wouldn't be enough to counter the incoming attack and so Saber decided to channel her mana through her invisible sword and from its tip unleashed a powerful consentrated beam of golder energy at the wave of yellow Spiritual Energy and while the latter blasted through the Hammer of the Wind King with no resistance, it stopped in its tracks when it collided with the beam. And a instant later, both blasts of energy dispersed in a massive explosion.
When the dust settled, there was a huge crevice in the middle of the street that consumed the entire road, so deep that the moonlight itself couldn't reach the bottom. On the other side stood a huge crater that stretched over twelve feet wide and many more times deep. Ichigo looked on at the Servant, impressed.
"It's been a while since someone managed to counter my Getsuga Tenshou," Ichigo commented to himself while preparing for another attack as his Spiritual Pressure began to rise. "Let's see if you can handle another when I shout out its name "
However, before Ichigo could respond, he then sensed a massive drop in one of his friends' Spiritual Pressure.
"Chad!" Ichigo screamed out, but the moment he turned around he was force to block against a rain of shining white arrows and when the assault stopped he he realized that both Saber and the two other masters were gone.
Seems Archer, Shirou and Rin manged to escape...for now.
Now to address how kenpachi manged to overcome God-Hand... going by the wiki and the sources it references God Hand or at least depending terms of interpretation. Gives Beserker resistance not immunty.
Now of course in usually instances this would make even powerful noble phantasms pretty much useless against him...Kenpachi is a other story.
And this is do to the fact that Kenpachi as established in the manga and in the light novel the spirts are forever with you. Grows stronger much stronger to match and defeat his opponents.
Meaning that even if berserker negated over 99% of Kenpachi's next attack. So long as even the slightest sliver of that damage remains Kenpachi would still get strong enough to wound and kill beserker each and every single time.
Also Keep in mind that Kenpachi is the only captain level shinigmai that can do this.
Anyway see you all next time!