Gilgamesh of Fate Stay/Night and Bleach's Byakuya Kuchiki are both capable of using telekinesis to control their weapons and are viewed as masterful opponents almost without peer. Once pitted against each other in a one-on-one fight, who would emerge triumphant? Here's a look at each character and how their battle would play out.
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Fate's Gilgamesh: The Heroic Hoarder's Power
Though the Fate/Stay Night universe enjoys a plethora of villains, Gilgamesh stands above the rest in terms of forceful personality and overwhelming power. Though a minor antagonist in Fate/Zero and Heaven's Feel, Gilgamesh is the big bad of the Fate/Stay Night and Unlimited Blade Works timelines and continues to show off his skills in Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia.
Gilgamesh's arsenal is impressive, boasting several ultimate powers known as Noble Phantasms. He possesses nearly impenetrable armor as well as his sword Ea, a weapon with world-destroying abilities. Ea is the deciding factor against the primordial goddess Tiamat in Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, proving his attack can even best the gods. Gilgamesh can telekinetically command the Chains of Heaven to attack or restrain an opponent, while his Gate of Babylon is capable of using all the treasures of the world as projectiles.
Since Gilgamesh lays claim to the world, everything in it is at his disposal, including prototypes of the weapons his opponents might be wielding. In one instance, when Saber attempts to use Caliburn on Gilgamesh, he draws the prototype Merodach on her to win the fight. Gilgamesh's chosen method of combat is to open the Gate of Babylon and shoot weapons at his opponent with a sheer volume and speed that's almost impossible to overcome.
Bleach's Byakuya: The Law and Order Warrior's Power
Bleach's Byakuya Kuchiki puts up an aloof front, even when he might be feeling great inner turmoil. He acts nobly as befits the 28th Head of the Kuchiki Clan and a captain in the Gotei 13. At the start of Bleach, Byakuya is arrogant like Gilgamesh, unwilling to release his full power on unworthy opponents. His relationship with Rukia helps him learn to open up to the people who matter most, and admit when he's wrong and has more to learn.
As a master at both the sword and hand-to-hand combat, Byakuya is an extremely talented fighter with many techniques at hand. He uses the Flash Step to devastate opponents, moving directly to their back and sealing their spiritual power in a motion so fast, they can't even tell where they were attacked from. He is extremely skilled at Kido spells and powerful energy attacks, and can also activate Danku, a shield against energy attacks that might come his way.
Most impressive is Byakuya's use of his zanpakuto, or soul-cutter sword, which has many abilities besides being a sharp blade. With the shikai ability Senbonzakura, the blade splits into thousands of minuscule shards that appear as cherry blossoms. Byakuya can control the shards with telekinesis, performing both short and long-range attacks.
His bankai ability, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, is at the opposite end of the size scale. Byakuya drops the sword straight through the ground and causes two rows of enormous blades to rise up and disperse through the air, a thousand blades all aimed at the enemy. Byakuya has such control that he can form them into masses and even speed up the attack through hand motion. There are subsets of the shikai and bankai techniques -- one surrounds the enemy and attacks so quickly it creates a shockwave, while another gathers the blade into one mighty sword with great spiritual power. Needless to say, this Bleach warrior is extremely tough to beat.
Fate's Gilgamesh Vs. Bleach's Byakuya: Who Wins?
Gilgamesh will start by backing a safe distance away and opening the Gate of Babylon. Byakuya will use Flash Step in order to seal Gilgamesh's spiritual power, but since Fate's antagonist does not generate his own mana, that move will be useless and Byakuya will be forced to retreat. Flash Step will, however, make Gilgamesh see the Bleach man as a true rival. The hesitation that was his undoing in Unlimited Blade Works is gone. Gilgamesh opens with a barrage of projectiles through the Gate of Babylon and uses the Chains of Heaven to try and restrain Byakuya. He can choose whether to let his weapons slam into the ground at Byakuya's feet for collateral damage or to summon them back through the Gate to reuse, giving him an unlimited number of weapons.
Byakuya can avoid the Chains of Heaven with Flash Step and use Senbonzakura to counterattack. Small shards can infiltrate the Gate of Babylon's barrage to give him a chance to land a hit. Now under fire, Byakuya's first move is to create a shield of swords with Senbonzakura Kageyoshi to protect himself from Gilgamesh's attack. Unfortunately, Senbonzakura cannot handle doing two major separate attacks at a time. While he would ideally maintain the shield while sending sword shards in a flurry to attack, Byakuya must choose between offense or defense.
Meanwhile, Gilgamesh can draw his own prototype of Senbonzakura. Though he lacks Byakuya's experience with the blade, he can turn the Bleach warrior's own weapon against him, giving him the thousands of blades as well as the Gate of Babylon's unlimited arsenal. The fact that Gilgamesh can use Senbonzakura against Byakuya will lead to the same outcome as the Thousand Year Blood War arc. Battered relentlessly by the Chains of Heaven, the Gate of Babylon and Senbonzakura, Byakuya will be unable to mount a true offensive attack and be whittled down under his defense until Gilgamesh is triumphant.
In typical fashion, Gilgamesh will gloat over the victory, though he will walk away with respect for Byakuya's nobility and ideals.
