In the cavernous underground chamber, a dark red Reiatsu continued to surge.
The bone-white mask on Hasumi Ren's face gleamed with an eerie luster. Dark red patterns crawled across its surface like blood vessels, pulsing faintly with every breath he took.
His Reiatsu had completely transformed, stripped of its unique personal signature and replaced by the raw, chaotic fury characteristic of a Hollow.
Taking a deep breath, Ren slowly raised his Zanpakuto.
His throat burned with dryness, and his heart hammered frantically against his ribs.
Looking at the woman across from him, who radiated a terrifying thirst for blood, fear was the furthest thing from his mind. Instead, an uncontrollable, boiling battle lust surged within him.
Garenge hummed with excitement in his grip, its chains extending from the base of the hilt to wrap tightly around his wrist.
In his Shikai state, his Reiatsu output was virtually limitless; as long as his body could handle the strain, he could keep pouring out power indefinitely.
And the massive influx of spiritual energy from Hollowification pushed his endurance to an entirely new level.
Unohana stood perfectly still, her Zanpakuto hanging loosely at her side.
She watched Ren, the initial flash of surprise in her eyes melting into an expression of sheer anticipation.
"So this is what you've been hiding... What do you call this power?"
"Hollowification."
Ren tightened his grip on the hilt, feeling the overwhelming power churning inside him.
His Reiatsu was skyrocketing, his senses were expanding, and his body felt lighter than ever before.
He could feel Unohana's Reiatsu clearly, tracking every microscopic fluctuation in her energy.
She was thrilled.
"Captain."
Ren spoke, his voice layered with the eerie, overlapping echo unique to a Hollow.
"Grant me your guidance."
Unohana smiled.
It was a brief, fleeting expression.
But Ren caught it—the feral grin of a predator spotting its prey.
She vanished from sight.
This time, Ren saw her.
Not with his eyes tracking her movements, but through sensing the trajectory of her Reiatsu.
In his Hollowified state, his perception was magnified several times over. As blindingly fast as Unohana was, he could trace the path of her spiritual signature.
He pivoted, her blade grazing his mask, and immediately countered with a backhand slash aimed right at her.
Their Zanpakuto collided, unleashing a brilliant shower of sparks.
This time, he wasn't blown back.
The raw physical boost from Hollowification allowed him to dead-stop her strike.
Ren stepped back, raising his left hand as a Raikohou erupted from his palm.
Unohana tilted her head to dodge, the crackling lightning whipping past her cheek.
Before she could even reposition, Ren's second Kido was already upon her.
A miniature Rikujokorou materialized out of thin air, pinning her left leg in place.
In the next instant, Ren became a mobile Kido turret.
He fired off a rapid succession of incantation-abandoned Hado spells, infused with malicious Hollow Reiatsu, drowning Unohana in a relentless downpour of destruction.
Shattering the Bakudo binding her leg with a sweep of her sword, Unohana slipped through the narrow gaps of lightning and flames, casually deflecting Ren's oncoming Hado spells.
Shards of spiritual energy erupted in every direction, glittering with an eerie light.
Ren gave her no room to breathe.
Vanishing once more, he unleashed a coordinated assault of flashing steel and Kido.
With his Shikai and Hollowification combined, he operated like a perpetual motion machine, driving forward with an endless barrage of attacks.
Yet, Unohana parried and blocked every single blow effortlessly.
Gritting his teeth, Ren brought his blade down again.
Unohana deflected the strike and countered with a swift thrust aimed straight for his chest.
Ren twisted his body aside, the blade slicing past his ribs.
Before he could even regain his footing, Unohana's follow-up strike arrived.
This slash was faster than anything she had thrown before.
Ren barely managed to bring his sword up to block. A cataclysmic force surged through the metal, sending him flying backward.
Flipping midair, he managed a rough landing.
A stark crack split across his mask.
Extending from his forehead down to his cheekbone, dark red Reiatsu began to seep from the fissure, trickling out like blood.
Unohana stood where she was, observing him.
"Your strength is waning."
Ren remained silent.
She was right.
Though Hollowification drastically boosted his Reiatsu, it drained his physical stamina at several times the normal rate.
"Can you still fight?"
Unohana's voice drifted across the cavern.
Ren looked up and grinned.
"Of course."
He vanished once more.
This time, he poured every last drop of his Reiatsu into a single strike.
A dark red aura shrouded the blade as two completely opposing forces clashed and intertwined, erupting into a blinding light.
Unohana raised her sword, meeting him head-on.
The moment their Zanpakuto collided, the entire underground chamber shuddered violently.
Loose rocks rained down from the cavern walls, and cracks spiderwebbed across the ground.
A shockwave exploded from the point of impact, flipping over the surrounding equipment and glass vessels.
Billowing dust enveloped the cave.
Through the haze, Unohana saw that the mask on Ren's face had shattered.
The fragments peeled away, dissolving into Reishi as they vanished into the air.
His Reiatsu was completely bottomed out, and the Hollow power receded from his body.
Garenge's Shikai deactivated; the chains uncoiled from his wrist, and the Zanpakuto reverted to its sealed form.
Ren stood frozen in place, gasping heavily for air.
With his spiritual energy completely depleted, he lacked the strength to lift a single finger.
After a brief wave of numbness, a sharp pain began to throb in his chest.
Ren looked down. A cold blade had pierced right through his chest.
Unohana's Zanpakuto had skewered him, its tip protruding from his back.
Blood ran down the length of the steel, pattering lightly onto the ground.
Ren stared at the blade in his chest, then lifted his gaze to look at Unohana.
The sheer exhilaration in Unohana's eyes had not yet fully faded.
Then, she abruptly froze.
The excitement instantly drained from her eyes, replaced by an emotion Ren had never seen on her face before.
Panic.
She wrenched the blade out. Jerked forward by the force of the withdrawal, Ren collapsed.
But before he hit the ground, he felt himself caught in a soft embrace.
Between his severely depleted Reiatsu and his critical injuries, his consciousness finally faded into black.
Amidst the darkness, Ren could faintly hear someone calling his name.
A warm, soothing Reiatsu poured into his body, and he could feel the wound in his chest slowly being mended.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he finally opened his eyes.
The wound still throbbed with a dull ache. Looking down, he saw that his chest had been tightly bandaged.
He raised his head and looked around.
A short distance away, Unohana was sitting on a rock with her back turned toward him, rebraiding her hair.
Her movements were slow and meticulous, as if she were focusing entirely on the task at hand.
Her fingers wove through the strands, fashioning the long braid she always kept draped over her chest.
Yet, Ren could tell that her mind was completely elsewhere.
Staring at her back, he suddenly found her somewhat unfamiliar.
It wasn't a physical unfamiliarity, but a stark change in her demeanor.
It felt as though an ancient, long-suppressed emotion—shadowed by a profound, unmistakable darkness—was lurking deep within her soul.
Ren lightly touched the bandage on his chest.
At the very last second, Unohana had averted her blade, intentionally missing his heart.
The wound wasn't fatal.
He slowly sat up.
"Thank you, Captain... for sparing my life."
Hearing the movement behind her, Unohana's fingers paused for a fraction of a second.
"If you're still in the mood to joke, it seems you're perfectly fine."
She didn't turn around, simply resuming the braiding of her hair.
Then, Ren caught a faint murmur.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice was barely a whisper, carrying a trace of hoarseness.
Ren opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately just shook his head.
"There's no need to apologize, Captain. It was entirely due to my own lack of strength."
Unohana remained silent, her fingers moving rhythmically through her hair.
Ren watched her, falling silent for a moment.
"Captain, why did you make that face earlier?"
Her fingers froze completely.
She sat perfectly still.
The gentle softness that usually defined her profile was gone, her eyes hidden beneath her bangs, masking her expression.
After a long, heavy silence, she spoke softly.
"Do you want to know?"
Ren nodded.
"Yes."
Unohana didn't answer right away.
She finished braiding her hair and draped it over her chest.
Ren noticed her hand linger over her sternum, her fingertips gently brushing against the spot hidden beneath the braid.
Even though Unohana said nothing, Ren knew exactly what was beneath it.
Only after a long while did she speak again.
"Then keep growing stronger. Once you've reached a level that commands my respect, perhaps I'll tell you."
Ren stared at her, then paused briefly.
"Alright."