"Not bad!"
"You're not bad at all!"
Unohana gazed at the boy before her, her usually somber, icy eyes finally meeting Makoto's with the warmth of addressing a living soul.
She still held that finger-length dagger loosely in her hand, her tone laced with what might have been genuine praise.
"To improve so swiftly in swordsmanship among all I've known, you're only the second."
"Do you want to live?"
"Pah!"
Makoto spat low under his breath.
He couldn't tell if this was some twisted cat-and-mouse game or sincere admiration from her heart.
But after killing so many in this forsaken Zaraki hellhole, he'd yet to meet a single soul who'd let someone walk away so easily.
If they did, it was usually followed by a blade in the back.
Everyone born here after death was a wretched criminal, one step from Hell itself.
That was the merciless truth of Zaraki.
So… his answer was already clear in the way he raised his blade.
Live? He didn't just want to live.
Even against an unbeatable foe, trapped in a hopeless plight, he'd fight to the last breath in a near-certain death match, bleeding out every drop, he had to survive!
And not just survive, he'd live better than anyone else.
This life he was armed with meta-knowledge of the story and a cheat!
To die in a trash heap like this, barely past the tutorial village, would be a waste beyond reckoning!
"Good."
Unohana studied his resolute eyes, her smile deepening. She tossed the small dagger aside with a flick of her wrist, then slowly drew the Asauchi from her waist.
Her voice remained soft and beguiling, a breeze that soothed like spring.
"Use every method you can imagine."
"If you can touch me, even once just the hem of my clothes, you win."
"Entertain me."
The moment her words fell, a shiver of dread clawed up Makoto's spine.
In the next heartbeat, a tidal wave of terrifying reiatsu erupted from the woman before him. It surged relentlessly, a low-pressure vortex more fearsome than a tornado, warping and crushing everything in sight with invisible force. It demanded the weak kneel before the strong, its reishi essence flooding every inch of space he could perceive.
Then...
Her figure vanished from his view.
Makoto's gaze faltered for a split second before a blinding slash tore through the scene.
Scrape!
Clang!
Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal, ringing out in a sharp, staccato symphony. With every ounce of strength, Makoto raised his Asauchi just in time to block her casual strike. The force pressed his blade back against his shoulder, steel grinding against steel in a shower of dazzling sparks and ear-piercing screeches.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The hammering blows melded into a thunderous cacophony.
Yet, as the boy struggled to hold his ground, Unohana's eyes betrayed no hesitation. Each swing of her blade grew sharper, more decisive than the last, the crushing weight threatening to shatter every reishi particle in Makoto's body. Even the act of blocking was becoming an unbearable strain.
She kept pressing harder!
He'd tried to overestimate this woman, likely a Zaraki fixture for years, but now he realized he'd still underestimated her.
Even without witnessing her Shikai, judging by the original story's benchmarks, her strength was at least on par with a Lieutenant, wasn't it?
The only silver lining was this: the fiercer the pressure, the faster Makoto improved.
[Push harder! Come on, onee-chan, push harder! Don't hold back just because I'm a delicate flower!]
[Zanjutsu +10]
[Small fry! You're small fry onee-chan! Can't you thrust deeper? You've got to squeeze every inch of flesh and blood out of me!]
[Zanjutsu +10]
[Faster! Hit me harder! My body can take it!!]
[Zanjutsu +10]
Under this relentless barrage, Makoto's strength soared at a near-ascendant pace.
[Zanjutsu: Tier 6 ↑]
[Zanjutsu Bottleneck - Stage 2]
[Deathmatch in Progress, Zanjutsu Bottleneck Breakthrough ↑]
[Zanjutsu: Tier 7 ↑]
His talent ceiling hadn't yet been reached.
But the more he traded blows at this breakneck limit, the more acutely he felt the chasm between them, a gap as vast and deep as an ocean abyss.
The harder he fought, the more his heart trembled!
Even as the system panel showed him advancing at lightning speed, that pace still left the end maddeningly out of reach.
She was a bottomless void, insatiable.
No amount of sweat or effort could fill her, let alone overflow.
Worse still, no matter how he gauged it, her reiatsu, speed, reflexes, and power all seemed perfectly matched to his own level.
What terrifying control.
Cat and mouse!
She was toying with him!
To think that in the Soul Society, a powerhouse this fearsome was confined to a backwater like Zaraki?!
In that fleeting moment of distraction, his vision caught the edge of her kimono fluttering open in the wind, revealing a glimpse beneath the pale haori, a generous, swaying expanse that danced like water balloons.
What the-
His eyes flicked toward it instinctively.
"Distraction!"
Unohana's voice cut through, cold and flat, shattering Makoto's scattered thoughts.
Still composed in the face of life and death.
Quite the luxury, wasn't it?
In the next instant, her Zanpakutō surged to a higher gear.
Slash!
In the blink of an eye's lapse, Unohana's blade pierced his seemingly airtight guard. The blade sliced through his clothes along its sharp edge, carving a long, diagonal gash across his chest, blood welling from the wound.
Blood sprayed in a crimson arc, gushing like a broken dam.
In the instant the blade sliced through, Makoto instinctively rolled across the sand, using his body as a shield while his free hand pressed into the ground, grasping something unseen.
That brief distance was all that spared him from being cleaved in two.
Unohana stood rooted in place, lifting her blade. Her tongue flicked out, tasting the blood, vibrant and young, along its edge. A sickly, satisfied smile deepened across her pale cheeks.
"You dodged again."
"You're even better than I imagined."
"It's as if you improve with every swing."
"But those who wield a blade just to survive always die in battle."
"Only those who throw themselves wholly into the fray, savoring the endless thrill between life and death, can endure alone to the end."
A serene smile spread across Unohana's delicate face. She opened her arms toward Makoto, her voice a command.
"Swing!"
Makoto gripped his blade with both hands, his expression taut with resolve.
In a burst of motion, sand exploded beneath his feet. He propelled himself forward with Shunpo, charging at the woman with near-peerless speed.
His Asauchi carved a blinding arc through the air.
Unohana, her smile brimming with fulfillment, thrust her own blade in perfect unison.
Slash!
Their blades crossed midair.
Makoto's momentum halted abruptly.
The razor-sharp edge pierced his youthful chest, dragging out torrents of blood that clung to the steel.
Yet his Asauchi, even to the last, couldn't graze so much as a thread of the woman before him.
"Still just short?"
Unohana glanced at the blade drooping slowly at her side, her tone tinged with a faint, wistful sigh. Her alluring, narrowed eyes dipped downward.
Her appearance and figure radiated a ripe beauty that seemed to drip with allure, yet her expression resembled a child who'd accidentally broken a favorite toy.
It wasn't the first time, though.
The weak were always so fragile.
As she sighed softly, preparing to flick the mangled flesh from her blade, Makoto suddenly seized her wrist, staining her clothes red with his grip.
Unohana's brows furrowed slightly.
She didn't care for this, lingering nonsense after the game was done.
Then, in a frail voice, he rasped.
"Hey!"
Makoto tightened his hold on her wrist and lifted his head. A blood-streaked grin spread across his face, his gaze fierce and unyielding.
"Too bad..." He said. "Teardrop-shaped… I kinda liked it."
Unohana blinked, caught off guard, either not understanding or simply stunned by the unexpected remark. For a fleeting moment, she froze.
An opponent so childishly fixated on fleeting desires, even at death's door? That was a first.
But it was that split-second lapse of disdain.
Makoto's right hand clamped down harder on hers. Ignoring the searing agony tearing through his body, he forced the blade deeper into himself by a fraction. As he leaned forward, his free left hand shot out, reckless and desperate. Even if it cost his life, he'd land one solid grab on this wicked woman.
In that same heartbeat, a faintly familiar small dagger emerged from his palm.
Unohana's pupils contracted sharply.
This… from that moment he'd rolled across the ground…
Rip!
The finger-length dagger tore through the fabric at her chest, plunging downward with ferocious intent.
Yet, inexplicably, that seemingly fatal strike halted.
Makoto lowered his gaze.
The blade's tip had merely grazed the smooth, teardrop curve of her skin, leaving a scratch so faint it drew no blood at all.
It wouldn't budge an inch further.
"…?"
This woman was tough as hell.
Makoto stared at the scene, his last reserves of reiatsu draining away. His body wavered, hollowed out and teetering on collapse.
Blood surged uncontrollably from his mouth, his eyes blazing wide.
He locked onto Unohana's serene face.
Only the corner of his lips clung to a strained smirk as he growled.
"…Distraction!"
With the final breath he'd held in his chest expelled, strength fled his body like water through a sieve. His consciousness blurred rapidly.
His head drooped.
He blacked out.
Unohana stood alone, gazing at the boy slumped against her, his final strike spent. His hand still clutched that small dagger tightly.
For a moment, she was lost in thought.
Recalling that last exchange, her lips twitched upward, a faint grin breaking free. It widened into an unrestrained smile, then erupted into a rare, hearty laugh that shook her frame.
Something utterly delightful had crossed her path.
Heedless of the blood soaking him, Unohana wrapped her arms around the boy crumpled against her, pulling him fully into her embrace. Like a true mother, she gently stroked his blood-matted hair, her pale cheek pressing tenderly against his forehead. In a low, thrilled whisper, she murmured.
"Yes! Progress alone isn't enough… This is how battle should be!"
"No rules, no limits!"
"You're quite the surprising gift."
…
[Event: Bond Level with Yachiru Unohana Increased ↑]
[Rewards: Reiatsu Rank +1, Talent Point +1]
[Acquired Bond Trait: Swordsmanship Prodigy]
[Reiatsu: Tier-7 Upper → Tier-6 Lower]
[Bond Trait - Swordsmanship Prodigy: Zanjutsu talent cap raised to 'Tier 12' (ignores bottlenecks), increases Zanjutsu attribute gain speed, grants a chance to comprehend personal swordsmanship and styles]
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC