Restricted Death

Chapter 149 Something Called Fear

In the empty, deep pit, the air seemed to freeze the moment the signal moved.

The moment the blades clashed, the metallic clang transformed into a visible shockwave, plowing the ground with spiderweb-like cracks.

The burst of spiritual pressure made the air around the two seem to thicken.

Sparks flew as the two stared directly into each other's eyes. Xin's blade flashed like a waning moon dipped in water, carrying a piercing shriek that seemed to tear through the air, aimed straight for his throat.

Unohana Retsu leaned back to avoid the attack, her Zanpakuto arcing out, but just as it was about to touch her Shinigami armor, the hilt of the sword was precisely severed by a counter-attack.

Strength and speed are barely acceptable.

Unohana Retsu lowered her eyes, lost in thought.

At her level, sword combat boils down to just these two points.

If Xin's speed cannot keep up with hers, even if his swordsmanship is superb, it will be in vain. She can easily neutralize all of his attacks and defeat him before he can even react.

Fortunately, the letter wasn't that bad.

Is he testing the waters?
With a slight flick of her wrist, she deflected the shallow strike, and her Zanpakuto went straight for Shin's heart. Shin's pupils contracted slightly, and he used his sword to block the attack, instantly appearing several meters away.

"what happened?"

Unohana Retsu remained expressionless as she flicked her Zanpakuto.

"If you're planning to test my strength first, I advise you not to even think about it, or you'll die."

She won't show any mercy.

Xin glanced at the long sword in her hand, tightened his grip on the shallow sword: "It seems I was foolish to treat you, Captain, like someone else."

Just now, Unohana Retsu seized the opening in his attack, and fortunately, he reacted quickly, or rather, Unohana hadn't been fully focused on the battle, allowing him to dodge.

This was the first time in a long time that Shin had been caught out of his way with his sword. In the battles against Ikkaku, Gin Ichimaru, and Kenpachi Zaraki, he was able to completely dominate with his swordsmanship and show an overwhelming advantage in this aspect.

So when I fought Unohana Retsu just now, I subconsciously regarded her as the same kind of person as the former.

However, he was nearly hit.

Even if you get hit, you won't get hurt.

However, for Shin, at least for the moment, he wanted to engage in a pure sword battle with Unohana Retsu.

Since Unohana Retsu was once called Unohana Yachiru, it seems that it wasn't just because she killed a lot of people.

Her sword seemed to be different from ordinary swords.

Xin regained his composure, his entire demeanor appearing more restrained.

Unohana Retsu remained expressionless, holding her sword ready. Suddenly, she saw Shin's figure rushing towards her from afar, seemingly a bit faster than before, but in Unohana Retsu's eyes, there was little difference.

boom!
The moment the blades clashed, a muffled thud resounded. Unohana Retsu's snow-white haori billowed like a butterfly in the shockwave, while the blade she swung out with her other hand resembled a venomous snake's fangs, precisely piercing Shin's throat.

Ding--

The thrust was deflected by Asada in a strange and unexpected way. Shin's attacks suddenly intensified, and the wind of blades raged in front of Unohana. Countless white lights made her eyes flash incessantly.

She could see clearly and calmly blocked all the attacks. The spiritual pressure that suddenly erupted from her body stirred up a lot of pebbles on the ground.

Two figures flashed and teleported among the ruins, their blades weaving a silver net.

As Unohana Retsu's toes touched the gravel, the bricks beneath her feet silently turned to dust. Each of Shin's heavy blows made the air groan as if it were being torn apart, and the ground cracked the moment they landed.

The sounds of metal clashing echoed continuously as they exchanged blows. Retsu Unohana gradually realized something was wrong. Shin's attacks became increasingly swift, yet he showed no weaknesses whatsoever. He was like a shield covered in spikes, leaving Retsu unable to find a way to attack and only able to parry.

Fortunately, she was faster; otherwise, such a fierce and dense attack would have inevitably exposed her weakness.

Just then, the simple and unadorned Asahi came up from below at an incredibly tricky angle.

This sword strike was beyond her expectations. The sudden change caused her pupils to shrink abruptly. The wind from the blade tore a strand of black hair from her temple, and the severed hair was shredded into powder by the turbulent spiritual energy before it even hit the ground.

With lightning speed, Unohana Retsuko retreated even faster as she stabbed at Shin's chest.

Ding!
As the metal clashed, her sword was blocked once again.

Taking advantage of the situation, Retsu Unohana leaped back several meters, instinctively raising her Zanpakuto.

After a moment of silence, she said, "Your sword is indeed slightly different from before."

Xin lightly ran his left hand over the cold blade and said, "Did you leave the captain with no way to proceed?"

Retsu Unohana said, "Your swordsmanship is indeed highly skilled, but battles are not entirely determined by swordsmanship. Do you think that swordsmanship alone can bridge the gap between us?"

boom!
A powerful spiritual pressure suddenly erupted from Retsu Unohana's body, transforming into a visible pillar of light that shot straight into the sky. It was only stopped by an invisible barrier high above.

The intensity of this dense and extremely powerful spiritual pressure was something Xin had never seen before. Stone fragments kept bouncing up from the ground and then hovering in mid-air.

If a person is frequently in an environment with excessively high spiritual pressure, they will experience physical discomfort.

That's why Soul Society is divided into Seireitei and Rukongai. If someone without spiritual power were to be subjected to such spiritual pressure, they would probably die on the spot!
"I advise the captain not to unleash his full spiritual pressure," Shin said slowly, seemingly unaffected by anything.

"This space cannot withstand your spiritual pressure. If people outside discover it, it might spoil the fun."

Shin knew he had been under surveillance by the Covert Force, and by now they probably had discovered his disappearance. He guessed the Commander-in-Chief probably knew by now as well.

He really didn't know how long they could fight here.

Unohana Retsu's eyes flickered upon hearing this: "Is this also one of your methods, trying to suppress my spiritual pressure to a level similar to yours?"

She didn't trust a third-tier spiritual power. A third-tier spiritual power was merely the threshold for a captain. Such spiritual pressure was nothing more than a slightly larger ant in front of her.

"Captain, you've misunderstood."

Shin pointed to the invisible barrier in the sky that was being subjected to Unohana Rei's spiritual pressure: "That is the power of my Zanpakuto. Otherwise, your spiritual pressure would have already broken through the limits of this space. However, even if I added an extra layer of protection, there is still a limit. With the strength of your spiritual pressure, Captain, if you really unleashed it without restraint, you could break through it."

Unohana Retsu recently revealed a sneer: "In the end, you know the difference in spiritual pressure between us, and you want to use that as an excuse to make me fight you in close combat."

Xin, however, said calmly, "Since that's what you think, Captain, there's nothing I can do. Maintaining the barrier while fighting you is exhausting. I think we should stop talking nonsense."

Unohana Retsu's eyes flashed coldly. She understood the implication in the other person's words, which seemed to imply that she had taken advantage of the situation.

Such a mouth is truly annoying. She didn't want to argue with Shin about it, so she lightly raised her Zanpakuto and suddenly rushed towards Shin's location. Her speed was indescribable, leaving only a blur in Shin's eyes.

However, Shin reacted first, dodging the opponent's thrust. In that instant, Unohana spun her wrist and changed her move, unleashing another diagonal slash. With a surge of spiritual pressure, the visible sword pressure collided with Shin's blade first.

boom!
Xin was knocked back several meters. Just as he regained his footing, Unohana lunged at him again. Before he could even see her face, the cold-gleaming blade was already aimed at his throat.

Ding!
It was blocked again.

Unohana Retsu's eyes grew increasingly dark, and her left hand, hidden in her wide sleeve, suddenly swung, a delicate short blade flashing towards Shin's shoulder blade.

No one would have guessed that she had such a short blade hidden in her sleeve.

To her utter surprise, her seemingly unexpected move was met with Xin's sudden raising of his other hand, which firmly gripped her wrist.

How can it be!

A look of surprise flashed in her eyes, and in that moment of distraction, Xin's sword deflected her blade, cleaved through her pure white haori, tore through her shihaka, and with a "thud," struck her collarbone.

Blood beads rolled down the spine of the knife, and warm blood gushed from the open wound on Unohana Retsu's left shoulder. The pain caused her pupils to shrink to pinpoints.

Unohana Retsu quickly swung her sword to deflect the letter's ashy edge.

wow-

Blood mist sprayed out. Xin had struck hard, but he didn't stop there. He swung his wrist and slashed horizontally. Unohana blocked it with her vertical sword and used the force to retreat more than ten meters away.

Her chest heaved, and her arm, whose collarbone had been slashed, trembled slightly uncontrollably.

The spiritual particles permeating the deep pit began to stir restlessly. Xin's figure appeared and disappeared in the smoke and dust, his shallow blade dragging tiny specks of light, like a ghost wandering between reality and illusion.

Blood kept gushing from the wound, soaking her pure white captain's haori.

When she looked at the letter again, her eyes were much wider, and there was a lot more meaning in their flickering light.

Her hidden knife strike just now was 90% certain to succeed... it could even be said that it was a sure thing!
But the letter blocked it!

Why……

He couldn't possibly have guessed; could it be that he only reacted the instant she made her move?

But he was nowhere near as fast as her.

Unohana Retsu couldn't figure it out; this unexpected turn of events slowed her thoughts considerably.

Looking back now, all her attacks were blocked by her opponent, including the opening she seized at the beginning.

She suddenly understood what Xin meant by treating her like someone else.

Unohana Retsu's breathing quickly returned to normal, and a green light shone in her left hand as the returning spiritual pressure quickly enveloped her wound.

"I now admit that I underestimated you," she said slowly.

As the first Kenpachi, she possessed the highest level of swordsmanship, "ten dan," and her swordsmanship level could be said to be the pinnacle of the entire Soul Society.

She can see through anyone's sword moves.

In her battle with Xin, the swordsmanship he displayed was not particularly profound. It was just a series of swings and slashes. She could see each of Xin's sword strikes clearly, but she couldn't guess where his next strike would come from. She could only rely on her own speed to react.

On the contrary, the opponent, who was slower than him, seemed to be able to see where his next sword would come from.

This sword intent that transcends the perception of time made her wonder if it was some kind of ability of the opponent's Zanpakuto.

Otherwise, can a person really do that?

Xin slowly shook his head and said, "Captain, you haven't seen it clearly yet."

As he spoke, he sheathed his sword.

"As I said before, I don't think I'll lose, not against anyone, so I can be unstoppable!"

Unohana Retsu stared intently at his movements, noticing that he seemed to be assuming an iaido stance.

She suddenly remembered that she had seen the Messenger use this move before, in his battle footage, where he cleaved through a Hollow with a single sword strike!
I also saw him offstage when he was sparring with others.

His battles with Ikkaku Madarame and Gin Ichimaru.

Sword energy, unaffected by spiritual pressure, swept across the sky.

Unohana Retsu stopped the unfinished return treatment, and in that instant, she herself did not realize that she had become tense.

Swish!
Xin's figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, his footsteps pounding the hard ground, and with a "clang," the sound of a long sword being drawn was heard.

"Yaksha flashes through the sky!"

The blade flashed an arc of crescent moon light less than two meters in front of Mao Zhihua Lie, and a tangible sword pressure, visible to the naked eye, flew out from within the cold light.

Unohana Retsu's spiritual pressure surged, and she was already prepared to resist. But the moment she saw the sword pressure, she suddenly felt a chill creep over her entire body. She had a feeling that she absolutely could not block this sword energy!

She had personally witnessed the sword energy leaving marks on the stone pillar of the Killing Intent Stone!

Witnessing it from the outside is a completely different feeling from facing it in person. This sword energy was aimed at her!
In a flash, Unohana Retsu quickly dodged with a quick step, but the moment she landed, Shin seemed to have already locked onto her position, appearing right next to her and bringing down a shallow slash!

Unohana Retsu hurriedly blocked the slash, then suddenly lost her momentum and leaned back. As the light blow grazed past her nose, she smoothly slashed the blade towards her opponent's ribs.

This sword strike was extremely tricky, but Shin suddenly bent his knees and leaped up, causing Unohana's sword to only pass by his feet.

Unohana Retsu regained her footing and suddenly leaped into the air, drawing a crescent moon with the tip of her sword. The instant she parried with her sword, the circular shockwave from the collision of spiritual pressure shattered the ground within a hundred meters, sending rocks flying everywhere.

boom!
As Xin was sent flying backward, another sword aura shot out.

Unohana Retsu stared intently at the sword energy rushing towards her, and felt the same sensation as before.

That sword energy could definitely cleave her in two on the spot!
Just as it can leave scars on the killing intent stone pillar, it can also ignore the spiritual pressure intensity of her own body!
She imagined the scene of the sword energy tearing her body apart, but for a moment, she did not feel the exhilarating feeling of wanting to die and getting what she had expected.

There is only a certain kind of physiological instinctual fear!

This fear made her instinctively want to flee from the spot and avoid that sword energy!

Is this his sword?!

(End of this chapter)