At the instant her blood-blade fell, Shin's white short blade twisted like a swimming fish, sliding along her edge—there was no metallic clang when steel met steel. Unohana's pupils contracted. She clearly saw that short, pale blade slip into the seam of her zanpakutō's tsuba at an impossible angle. Sparks scraped through the blood mist in warped arcs.
Clack.
Unohana's wrist flipped like a butterfly wing, yanking her blade away just as it risked being locked. Her diagonal counter was intercepted by the red blade with surgical precision. One long, one short—the dual blades wove a net of steel that churned the bubbling blood marsh into a spiraling vacuum tunnel.
The white dagger suddenly slipped from Shin's grasp, spinning backward into the blood. Unohana's eyes instinctively followed its descent—too late. The red blade in Shin's right hand lit with a glow fiercer than the blood sea itself. Higan arced upward in a mirrored stroke.
Shhhng!
Unohana twisted midair, leaping back. A thin cross-shaped wound opened on her left arm. She looked down at it, the corners of her lips curling into a radiant grin.
With a flick of her zanpakutō, the blood-edge extended. Shin dodged its sweeping arc—but the droplets that scattered crystallized midair into fine, needle-like blades, a deadly rain reversing its fall.
Shin didn't dodge. He met the deluge head-on.
Clang!
Blades collided. Reiryoku flared, boiling the mire beneath their feet again. Both retreated.
Unohana's scattered black hair danced wildly beyond the edge of her raised blood blade.
Boom!
The realm quaked—Shin tensed instinctively. At first, he thought the reishi barrier was breaking. But no—it was the blood that trembled, all of it. The entire blood-dome vibrated in a furious crescendo, the thick fluid boiling like a waking beast.
With a sweep of her blade, Unohana launched a massive blood arc.
Shin slashed it down, but towering waves of blood rose on all sides, ten meters high and crashing toward him. He had no choice but to flash-step repeatedly.
The space was completely flooded by her Bankai. The blood marsh was alive now—writhing, roaring, ravenous.
Unohana's reiatsu had reached its peak.
As Shin dodged, the white dagger scraped the red blade, and sparks exploded into flame, dragged along the path of a sweeping sword slash.
Fire?
Unohana's eyes narrowed.
He hadn't used any Kidō—yet the flames burst from his sword like a hundred roaring dragons.
"Kāla Flame!"
BOOM!
The blood tides were swallowed in fire, vaporizing into red and white mist. Unohana squinted into the steam, suddenly chilled despite the heat.
That curve of reiatsu flashed again—too fast!
Slice!
Blood sprayed. Even dodging, a cut tore across her neck.
"Hhh—"
Her upper body froze—paralyzed by soul-searing pain. Unlike previous wounds, this one dug deep, straight into her spirit.
Her pupils dilated. Swift healing reishi flooded the wound.
Had she been half a second slower… she'd have been beheaded.
Once more, she stared death in the face.
Her breath came harder.
How many times had she faced that sword energy now? How could Shin keep unleashing such devastating slashes?
And the flames—was that his zanpakutō's true power?
Through the veils of steam and blood, Shin charged again. Unohana parried the first twin-blade strike, then suddenly counterattacked with a heavy slash.
But her move left her wide open.
Shin's speed increased—his red and white blades shot forward.
Both pierced her chest.
Shin's face twisted.
Because despite being impaled, Unohana didn't even flinch. Her eyes gleamed brighter, hair flying, wild smile curling as her blood blade slammed into his collarbone.
CRACK.
The blade sank into bone—her strength monstrous, fueled by a violent torrent of reiatsu. Shin stumbled, nearly collapsing.
She hadn't dodged—had planned this mutual kill from the start.
Their blades locked. Her strength still pressed downward, aiming to cleave him in two.
Shin saw her body trembling, her haori torn open, clavicle marked by old scars now dyed with fresh blood like demonic sigils.
"Hhhahhh…"
She let out a crazed giggle.
Shin twisted the twin blades inside her, churning flesh.
"Captain. Hurts, doesn't it?"
Unohana gave no answer. Her left hand conjured a fresh crystalized blood spear—aimed directly at Shin's head.
He yanked the white blade from her body just in time to block.
Blood flowed in streams, yet her gaze only grew bolder.
"You scared to die?"
Shin blocked her descending blade with the white one, then withdrew the red and retreated several meters.
She charged.
Her blade's arc collapsed into a thousand threadlines in Shin's vision. He sidestepped, white dagger sweeping upward like moonlight. Unohana bent backward, spine like a drawn bow—barely dodging. The red blade lunged for her heart like a viper.
But she didn't block—her blood blade fell toward his skull.
CLANG!
Three blades clashed. The resulting reiatsu burst the surrounding blood sea into a dome that seemed to swallow them both.
Shin's eyes reflected her face—twisted in ecstasy.
His gaze darkened.
She was no longer holding back—fighting as if life had no meaning. That was her trump card: infinite reiatsu and healing.
But Shin's reiatsu was nearly gone. Even his earlier wound he hadn't regenerated.
He leapt away, putting distance between them.
Panting, he studied her.
Her pierced chest was already glowing with healing reishi. Older wounds? Gone without a trace.
"Captain, your Kaidō is impressive," he said. "But why heal only the new ones?"
Unohana said nothing.
Of course she knew what he meant—the scar on her clavicle.
She hadn't known Kaidō when she earned that scar.
She could erase it now—but she kept it. A reminder.
She raised her blade. "You want to know?"
Shin exhaled deeply. Sheathing both swords, he shook his head.
He already knew. That scar was what changed the monster named Yachiru Unohana into what stood before him now.
No need to ask.
"Never mind."
Unohana narrowed her eyes.
His reiatsu still flared—clearly not surrendering.
Then he walked over, reclaimed the asauchi he'd left earlier. The twin blades at his waist vanished.
High above, the reishi barrier collapsed, folding tightly around his body. The wound on his shoulder instantly closed.
He raised the unmarked asauchi, murmuring almost to himself:
"Guess there's no escaping punishment now."
With the barrier gone, Unohana's unchained reiatsu surged outward like a dam broken, her Bankai crashing through the Kido shell that had hidden it.
The space warped.
Unohana blinked.
Only one reason for him to drop the barrier: he'd reached his limit.
Had she pushed him too far?
Surely others had begun looking for them. If not, they would now.
They were beneath Sōkyoku Hill, after all.
But while she pondered, Shin suddenly charged.
His asauchi slashed a perfectly straight line.
She instinctively raised her blade—but it passed through.
Her pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"Mohoroga."
Slice!
Blood exploded.
Her inner robes shredded. A gash, from chest to stomach—dozens of centimeters long—tore open.
How? She hadn't even seen the slash!
That couldn't be. He wasn't that fast.
Before the thought settled, she swung for his throat.
But Shin's blade was already at her chest.
THUNK.
The blade pierced her heart. Her own blade stopped just short of his neck—unable to move further.
Neither dodged.
Shin's final layer of reishi defense flickered—then crumbled.
Unohana's body staggered back. Her blade nicked Shin's neck—but nothing more.
She stared at him, dazed.
Then coughed blood.
"…Well done," she murmured hoarsely.
A pierced heart—even her Kaidō couldn't mend that instantly.
Her knees gave way. She tried to stay standing, bracing on her sword—but lasted barely a second.
Then fell—like a marionette with its strings cut.
Thump.
Her breathing turned ragged, back arching as she twitched on the ground.
Blood covered her face and lips. Reiatsu bled away like air from a punctured lung.
She stared up at the false sky above her, her Bankai now fading.
Shin, drained, knelt beside her.
Her face… was pain and peace entwined.
"Captain," he asked softly. "Did you want to die?"
She looked at him. No fear in her eyes.
He placed his hand over her chest—her torn haori and robes revealed her pale, battered body, marred with fresh and fading wounds.
With his last scrap of reiryoku, he transferred healing energy to her.
Shhhhhh—
Shadows appeared atop the high stone walls.
Reinforcements had arrived.
Shin didn't look.
He focused all he had on stalling her bleeding.
Her wounds were too deep. He couldn't heal them—just stop the hemorrhaging.
Her eyes regained calm. Blood still covered her face, unreadable.
She looked at him, at the man so close, and then…
She lifted her zanpakutō.
Placed the blade against his neck.
His barrier was gone.
All it would take was one push.
"STOP!" a voice screamed from above.
The others were descending fast.
Unohana didn't move.
She felt the slow, precious drip of energy still flowing from his hand.
Maybe… he had nothing left.
Maybe even this small act demanded everything he had left to give.
Suddenly, Shin's body buckled—crushed beneath an overwhelming wave of reiatsu.
Without his zanpakutō's ability, the sheer pressure drove him unconscious.
He collapsed forward.
"… …"
Unohana retracted her blade—just in time.