Ashes of Ambition [Suigan/Byakuya]

It was.... so strange. Even if he was simply testing him, even if he was holding something back.... Never in his thousands of years of life had he seen someone simply stand there whilst the waters rose. Part of him suspected Byakuya of underestimating him, but another part of him suspected something deeper... a contemplation of sorts.

Yet as the waters engulfed the battlefield, only a few moments later did he see Byakuya begin to finally actually move, and more than simply his petals. His eyes narrowed as he watched the petals begin to move faster than they had before, limited only in the most incremental way by the pressure of the water. Was he truly that powerful? That the deepest depths of the oceans barely affected him?

Well... He needn't wait long before he got his answer to that question, as his eyes widened in disbelief and his body actually began to shake just a little as the petals tore through the waters around them with such devastating precision and power as to utterly decimate his penultimate technique. The waters around them breaking free like a dam.

But... How? How far had Shinigami and their Zanpakuto evolved? He stared in disbelief as Byakuya commended him and sealed his Bankai "Such... Power..." He muttered to himself, only moments before the dragon dove back down into the ground and vanished into it, his own Zanpakuto reappearing in his hand though he hardly even noticed.

He still couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed, his Bankai thrown to the wayside as if it was naught but a toy. It was clear in this instant that his Bankai paled in comparison to how they had evolved. An effortless Bankai released, no Shikai or lengthy process required, and unleashed such a devastating strength that even his strongest technique had failed so utterly as to have barely even existed in the first place.

He shook his head and snapped himself out of his disbelief rather quickly however, taking his more serious demeanor once more before giving Byakuya a deep bow. "Thank you, Kuchiki-dono." It was evident it wasn't just his knowledge that needed to be refined, honed and sharpened... His very Zanpakuto needed it... He needed to find a way to awaken it completely and permanently if he wanted any hope of competing against the newest generation of threats.