At the end of the battle between the two Kuchiki's, the ice covering the lake shattered as a large column of water burst through it, causing the water to fall to the lake. Byakuya and Kouga stood across from each other while holding their weapons forward in front of them. The former was the first to move, stumbling forward until his Zanpakutou spirit manifested and caught him before he could fall. As he looked over his shoulder, a large amount of blood spurted from Kouga, who soon fell forward.

"Im...possible..." he weakly said with disbelief. He stabbed the end of his spear into the ice in front of him and leaned on it for support. "I'm not done yet. I still have..." He then reached out as he called for his Zanpakutou. "Come, Muramasa!" But the Zanpakutou didn't manifested his sword form in his hand, nor did he respond. "What's keeping you, Muramasa?" He dropped his arms and looked down as he heavily panted. "Why won't you come? I'm calling for you... Murama-!" Before he could fully call his Zanpakutou's name, he fell into the lake and sank to the bottom.

After watching him take his last breath, Byakuya took a step forward and reassuringly said, "I'm fine."

Senbonzakura glanced at the lake over his shoulder. "Kouga..." he began. "If he hadn't been so powerful, he never would have had such preposterous dreams."

"This is the natural outcome for a weak-hearted person who controls great power." stated his master. "In the end, the power controls them."

"He's the exact opposite of you." said his Zanpakutou spirit after standing up, causing Byakuya to look at him. "You were willing to sully your name by becoming a traitor all to fight for your beliefs. Now you'll finally be able to go back to where you belong."

"You say too much, Senbonzakura." was the latter's response.

"That was quite the show, Byakuya-nii." came a familiar voice out of nowhere.

The said man's eyes widened with surprise before he looked around for the speaker, who had just landed in front of him and his Zanpakutou spirit. "Tadashi." he greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I sensed Kouga's reiatsu from far." replied the said man. "I thought of coming here to seal him back like what my late grandmother suggested. But I didn't expect you to be here and killed him off." He then placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "First, the Zanpakutou's rebellion. Then, your betrayal in Soul Society. And now, Kouga's seal was removed by his own Zanpakutou, and killed by you. I honestly I can't take anymore drama that's been happening within a week."

Byakuya's brows furrowed when he began listing the events that had happened for the past few days. "You have been exiled from Soul Society." he stated. "How on earth did you know all that?"

Tears dramatically streamed down Tadashi's cheeks. "How mean!" he cried. "Just because I'm stuck in the Human World for the rest of my life, doesn't mean I don't know anything!" He suddenly stopped and used the back of his hand to whip away his tears before looking at him. "But before I tell you how I know all this, I have something for you."

Suddenly, a fist collided Byakuya's left cheek, causing him to stumbled backwards until he was caught by Senbonzakura. "Master!" he called worriedly before glaring at the man standing across them. "You cursed filth!"

Byakuya had his eyes shut after receiving the punch from Tadashi. He opened them and was taken aback when he sent one to him, which he find it odd. He had known the Visored since the day he was born and treated him like a younger brother. Whenever he was invited to the Sasaki Family Manor, he would train with Michiro, and played with Tadashi after that, even though he was pretty tired. Eventually, the latter viewed him as another older brother that he looked up to, calling him "Byakuya-nii" for as long as he could remember.

Prior to his exile, Tadashi was known to be the Shinigami who respected his seniors very much. Though he acted over-dramatically with his peers, and sometimes even showing a little temper when he found them doing ridiculous things. But when it came to his seniors like his brother, Byakuya and his own Captain, he acted very professional and never argued despite feeling very strongly about a matter that he disagreed with them. He would come up with the most constructive criticism that was valid enough to be able to convince them. He would always listen to their orders, and even if he were to disobey them, the consequences turned out to be better than expected. Though he was merely a 5th Seat in the 8th Division, everyone respected and admired him, even the Captain-Commander.

So you could imagine the shock Byakuya felt when he found out that he had went through Hollowfication and was permanently exiled from Soul Society. And now, he was surprised that Tadashi, the soul who wouldn't dare to even raise his voice at him, was giving him the coldest glare.

"Surprised, huh?" he spat. "Well, let me surprise you even more."

And so, he began telling Byakuya about how he knew about the rebellion in Seireitei caused by the Zanpakutou spirits that were under Muramasa's mind control. Asa arriving at the Urahara Shop with Tamako, Kage Odoriko's illusion cast on everyone to make them believe that he nearly killed Asa and that Asa was merely a decoy, Tamako going back and forth from the Human World to Soul Society to check on things before reporting to him and Asa, them knowing about his betrayal and joining forces with the Zanpakutou spirits; he told him everything. And just like he said, Byakuya had became more and more surprised as he kept revealing more information.

"But thanks to your act as a traitor, your Zanpakutou would've killed Asa if her Zanpakutou hadn't created that illusion." he added. "And yes, I gave you that punch because of that." Byakuya gave Tadashi an emotionless stare, but his Zanpakutou, who had helped him up, could tell that he was having a lot of emotions inside of him, especially guilt.

'Master.' he thought with worry.

Just then, the three of them heard someone arriving with Flash Step. "That's enough, Tadashi." she said.

"But Asa-nee..." he tried to explain, but stopped when she gave him an assuring smile.

"I understand why you feel the need to hurt him, but we still have to hear his reason for betraying Soul Society." she said, which caused him to look down with shame that he didn't consider this. She then turned to Byakuya and said, "You can tell us later. But for now, we need to help Ichigo and his friends." She looked back the Visored and said, "Let's go."

As soon as she turned to leave, she heard Byakuya calling her name, making her look at him. Though he only stared at her, she knew what he was thinking about and needn't him to say it out loud. Guilt; it was clearly swirling in his eyes, even though his Zanpakutou spirit killed a mere illusion. He promised Michiro that he would protect her, and he had broken that promise that would've cost her life it it weren't for Kage Odoriko. Byakuya may look like he was emotionless and apathetic towards everyone, but that didn't mean he lacked emotions.

Asa smiled at him and said, "It's okay, Byakuya. I know." With that, she left to join Ichigo and his friends, leaving behind the baffled Shinigami and his Zanpakutou.

Meanwhile, the reiatsu around Muramasa, who had taken the form of an Arrancar, dissipated as he looked towards Ichigo and his friends. "Here he comes!" warned Rukia while grasping the hilt of her sword, causing the rest to take a defensive stance as they prepared themselves for an attack. When Muramasa flew towards them, he crashed into Ichigo, who blocked his attack with his sword, and managed to push him back. As Ichigo moved to the air, Muramasa hurtled towards Ichigo and was stopped by Uryu using Licht Regen. Muramasa dodged the flurry of arrows and turned around before diving towards the Quincy, who was taken aback when the Arrancar slammed into the ground before flying out and hurtling towards Rukia and Orihime.

At that moment, Sado moved in front of them and intercepted his attack with Brazo Derecha de Gigante. As Muramasa's blade pierced through Brazo Derecha de Gigante, Sado thre him several feet away. As Muramasa slowed to a halt by wedging the blade on his arm into the ground, Ichigo crashed into him from above, and when the resulting clouds of dust cleared up, Muramasa blocks Ichigo's sword with the blades on his arms before pushing him back. Muramasa stood up before holding out his hand, forming a large violet Cero, which shocked Ichigo, Uryu and Sado, and fired it at Rukia and Orihime.

"Kire, Okou (Slice, Weaver)." A thin reiatsu suddenly shot from behind the girls and coiled around the Cero rapidly before it exploded, minimising the blast and stopping it from hurting them.

Ichigo recognised the move, after being trained by the person and the rest of the Visored, and turned around to confirm his guess, which was right. "Tadashi!" he called with surprise.

"Yo, Ichigo!" greeted back the Visored with a grin, letting his Zanpakutou, whose Shikai form was a longsword that resembled a giant needle, rest on his shoulder.

The said boy's gaze landed on the other person that he least expected to see after hearing what had happened to "her" in the 6th Division. "A-Asa-san?!" he shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

Rukia let out a gasp and whipped around to look at the said woman. "A-Asa-dono!" she said with disbelief.

"Hello, Rukia." she greeted with a smile.

"But... how?" asked the said Shinigami.

"To make it short and simple, it was my Zanpakutou's illusion he'd cast in Seireitei." she explained.

Just then, someone stood next to her, which caught his sister's attention. "Nii-sama!" she called before jogging towards him with Orihime beside her. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Byakuya!" called Ichigo, who joined them. "Did you defeat Kouga?"

"Did you expect me to lose?" he asked.

"Well, you do look like you've been through hell." remarked Tadashi with a bored look.

"Nii-sama, we should treat your injuries." suggested Rukia when she took note of the huge gash on his side.

"Never mind me." he said before turning to where Muramasa was standing. "We need to deal with him first."

"He must have completely transformed into a Hollow to be able to fire a Cero that strong." noted the Visored.

Suddenly, Muramasa roared as blue reiatsu radiated from him, followed by blue electricity crackling around him. "Never!" he declared while clutching his head, like he was fighting against himself. "I won't lose to the Hollow's powers!"

"What?" exclaimed Ichigo, who was as surprised as the rest.

"Is he resisting the Hollow he's absorbed?" questioned Rukia.

"He hasn't fully turned into a Hollow." noted Asa, which was heard by Tadashi as he looked at her to encourage her to continue. "He's fighting desperately to maintain his identity as a Zanpakutou spirit, despite being in a state of despair after his own master had tossed him away so easily."

He stared at her while processing what she had said before looking back at Muramasa, who was still resisting the powers of Hollow while Orihime tried to talk to him. "He truly loves his master, doesn't he?" he said with sympathy before a frown flickered across his face. "But it'll only cause him to suffer more."

Tadashi's eyes suddenly widened with shock when Muramasa charged at Orihime, who immediately used Santen Kesshun. However, the triangular shield blocking his attack shattered under its force, sending her flying back. Rukia leapt after her as he attempted to attack them, only to have Ichigo blocking his attack with his sword before pushing Muramasa back. Ichigo charged and began attacking as Muramasa dodged. When Ichigo slashed at him, the latter blocked with the blade on his arm before stabbing at Ichigo, who leaned back to avoid the attack and went in to knee Muramasa in the head, only for the latter to block and throw him aside. Flipping over, Ichigo rushed towards Muramasa once more before Slashing at him repeatedly until he struck at him, prompting Muramasa to dodge by leaping back.

When Ichigo rushed towards him, Muramasa leapt into the air and extended his hand to fire a barrage of violet Bala at him, who looked up in surprise as they hit him. As the dust clouds around him cleared, Ichigo leapt towards Muramasa with his Hollow mask on and slashed at him again. Ichigo clashed with him repeatedly when he dodged before sending him flying towards the ground with a single strike. Ichigo followed him and struck at him, only for Muramasa to push him away. Ichigo turned around and clashed with Muramasa once more. Crossing blades, Ichigo and Muramasa separate before clashing repeatedly and separating once more. When Muramasa charged and fired another Cero, Ichigo countered it by firing a Getsuga Tenshou, which slammed into Muramasa and created an explosion.

As Ichigo panted after fighting continuously, his Hollow mask dissipated as the smoke cleared up to reveal Muramasa with the right side of his body nearly cut off, which reattached itself. At that note Muramasa roared loudly as black-red Reiatsu surged around him, and extended into the sky as tendrils of darkness began to extend outwards in several directions before cracks appear in the sky. This surprised everyone, but no one was more alarmed than Tadashi himself, who seemed to know what was going on.

"Stop him, Ichigo!" he yelled as loud as he could.

The said boy immediately leapt towards Muramasa, but a Hollow appeared before him. He bifurcated it before doing so with another Hollow. As Ichigo dodged the attacks of five more Hollows and killed all of them, several dozen more Hollow invaded the entire sky, seeming to be attracted to the reiatsu released by Muramasa.