Deathbattle 1 preview: Kuchiki Byakuya

Moving on in the deathbattle, I've submitted the research I have on Exdeath, someone who most of these forum-members likely know already. Now, I'll move on to his competitor, from a series that much fewer people will know of or care about.

Kuchiki Byakuya is one of the captains of Seireitei in the anime Bleach, a position which marks him as one of the thirteen strongest fighters in soul society. Unlike many of the other captains in bleach, Kuchiki Byakuya's greatest strength is not that he's the strongest in any area, but that he has great amounts of skill in every possible way.

A duty-bound individual, with a large pride clearly helped along by his high station as a head of one of the four noble houses, Kuchiki Byakuya rose through the ranks quickly with his incredible level of spirit power. Kuchiki Byakuya began training when he was just a youth, his grandfather showing him how to use a sword, and Yoruichi Shihoin playfully teaching and training him in Shunpo through many 'tag' sessions.

Physical abilities:
Kuchiki Byakuya is one of the best swordsman in seireitei, a sentiment clearly shown by his incredible power. Though not at the level of the head captain, he is nonetheless considered by many to perhaps be the most powerful of the soul society's regular captains, and at least is certainly the most famous. His shunpo, or flash step technique allows him to move so fast he can no longer be seen by the eye, and his training is such that he can perform this technique hundreds of times without showing exhaustion. Even discounting shunpo, his basic strength and speed are heavily bolstered by one of the largest levels of reishi ever shown in series, able to actually make weaker people choke and possibly die from it's presence alone.

While Reishi adds to a person's physical defense, however, and allows them to take more injuries than normal depending on the level, it is nonetheless not going to work as an actual guard against attacks from an opponent like Exdeath, however, so his sword skill will be put to work here in guarding against Exdeath's attacks - he'll be needing to, since he can suffer a hit far less than Exdeath.

Byakuya's sword skill is also refined to work with his speed, able to hit twice in one flash step against two different critical points of the spiritual body in a move known as Hakusui, which managed to put the main hero down and drain his power. While Exdeath's biology is obviously not the same as a human in bleach, his precision at striking precise points without delaying on the attack cannot be overstated.

Byakuya's weapon of choice for close combat is his Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura



For a Katana, it's more or less ordinary, with a bronze cross guard and simple frame, but holds Byakuya's reishi in it, tuned to a killing point able to match the most legendary of swords. It is durable enough to take a hit from a blade five times it's size without damage from an opponent of similar power, so it's safe to say it'll be able to take most of Exdeath's attacks without being scratched.

Kido -
Besides his flash step and swordplay, Byakuya is skilled in Kido, or demon arts. These abilities seem no more draining on him than Exdeath, and he can change even simple spells into incredibly powerful forces of nature.
His spells include
Hado one, sho, which is a simple push spell. It takes no concentration for Byakuya to use, or energy, but is little more than a force push on it's own.

Hado four, Byakurai - an attack spell which penetrates through an opponent with lethal force and with a long range.


Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui
Another attack spell, this is nothing more or less than an enormous blast of blue energy. Despite this, it's not a high-level spell, nor does it take much of Byakuya's energy - another example of Byakuya getting the most out of even the weakest of spells.


Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro



One of Byakuya's most useful spells, Rikujokoro is a binding spell which creates 6 beams of light that hold the opponent in-place. This can be escaped with a moderate amount of difficulty by vastly superior opponents, but on equal grounds, it takes a large output of energy to do so. As has been displayed, it resists using magic to move oneself as much as it does regular means, as involuntary control of the limbs using magical puppetry as well as mind control have both proven ineffective. It should be noted that, when used by byakuya at least, the opponent has no way of moving whatsoever - the opponent is frozen in place for the duration that the technique is used.

Bakudo 81: Danku


Byakuya's main defensive spell, Danku creates a barrier in front of his person that resists high-level magics and Kido without problem, able to block up to and including hado 89 in the bleach world. This shield's best feature is also that a spell needs not have physical shape to be blocked by the barrier - a tattoo-based strike which was previously an auto hitting technique in the canon was blocked by this shield before, so for many other techniques in Final fantasy the same should apply.

Hado 73: Soren Sokatsui
One of Byakuya's lesser-known abilities, Soren Sokatsui has actually never been used in-series by Kuchiki Byakuya, however, he is well-known for his mastery of the technique and taught his younger sister, Kuchiki Rukia, how to perform it. The blast used by Kuchiki Rukia when using Soren Sokatsui created twin fireballs that seemed to act like stronger versions of her Sokatsui, which is much smaller than Byakuya's, so it can be theorized that Byakuya's would be much larger. For that reason, I've not bothered posting an image of the technique, as it would be misleading as to the power of the attack - just think of him doing two big 33's in fireball form one after the other rapid-fire and you'll get the basic picture.

Scatter, Senbonzakura:
Like Exdeath, Byakuya has multiple levels of power as well, in the form of his Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura:



No, he's not making floral decoration, despite it's appearance. His Zanpakuto's shikai, or initial release, changes it to it's true form, and in senbonzakura's case, it actually splits into thousands of tiny little blades, which move so quickly and oddly that they can't properly be seen by the naked eye. The pink flower effect is caused by the light catching on the blades, making them appear to be rose petals as you see there. These blades can be controlled to a one by Byakuya, and despite their small size, have no problem cutting through about anything or anyone and changing them to a smattering of blood on the pavement. as one who has mastered bankai, he no longer needs to say a voice command to activate his shikai and can summon it into this form at will.

Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi:

Taking the shikai's power and amping it to 11, byakuya first makes many blades far larger than he is, rise out of the ground, before splitting them into individual blades as tiny as the ones of the original senbonzakura. The exact number of blades is unknown, but it's stated to be 'at least a million' and 'uncountable' before now. Nothing stands in the way of these blades, which can destroy giant buildings in second, as only collateral damage on the way to the target.
I want it.
Byakuya can further increase their speed of movement by double by using his hands to direct their movements in this form, and has 3 different techniques he can use in this form.

Gokei


An application of the innumerable blades, Byakuya maneuvers his blades into position around a foe only to create a sudden barrier of blades to trap them in, before imploding the sphere with his blades, leaving an opponent no hope of escape and millions of tiny tiny cuts that now cover their body.
This guy used to be the image of the 'death of a thousand paper cuts' page on tvtropes. You now know why.

Senkei



A move reserved for those who Byakuya vows to personally kill, the blades appearing in the "1000 blades funeral procession" are there to cut off access to the outside world rather than actually attack the opponent. Byakuya uses one of these blades itself, condensing the senbonzakura into a sword form in order to increase the attack power of his strikes. It does not increase his speed beyond normal, however, only his attacking strength.

Shukei, Hakuteiken:


Also know as white emperor sword, this move focuses the entirety of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi into a single blade for an immeasurably powerful, final attack. the attack makes a large, white burst of energy on contact, but uses up a large amount of energy, so Byakuya normally uses the attack for a final blow.