Chapter 110: Complicated Unohana Retsu
"Fiander, does this battle bring you excitement?"
Unohana Retsu, having been resurrected from complete destruction, was no longer the silent specter she had become during their initial clash. The regeneration process seemed to have reactivated dormant aspects of her personality, allowing her to speak with greater fluency and emotional depth than the mechanical killer who had first emerged from the lake of blood.
"Excitement?" Fiander repeated the word thoughtfully, as if testing its meaning against his own internal experience. "No, I would not characterize my feelings as mere excitement. Rather, I am genuinely pleased to have encountered such a worthy opponent after so many centuries of disappointment."
His gaze fixed upon her with something approaching respect. "You possess the rare ability to provide satisfaction through combat, Captain Unohana. That is a gift more precious than you might realize."
As his words faded into the frigid air, the wind and snow surrounding them once again bent to his will. Ice blades and cutting gusts reformed themselves under his direction, descending toward Unohana's position in a coordinated assault designed to test her remaining reserves.
"I had thought you were different from the other Arrancar," Unohana murmured, her voice carrying notes of profound disappointment as she deflected the incoming attacks. "But in the end, you display the same fundamental nature as all the rest."
Her heart had become a battlefield of conflicting emotions. The rational part of her mind understood that prolonging this engagement would likely result in the deaths of her fellow captains, who remained frozen in supernatural stasis. Yet another part—a deeper, more primal aspect that she had spent centuries trying to suppress—yearned to continue this dance of death with someone who could match her skills.
This internal conflict manifested in her combat performance. Each strike she delivered seemed to arrive a half-beat too late, each defensive maneuver carried out with fractional hesitation that a master swordsman like Fiander could easily exploit.
Slack
The sound of ice meeting flesh echoed across the battlefield as one of his wind blades found its mark, slicing through the fabric of her remaining garments to expose pale skin beneath. The wound it created was deep, penetrating to the bone, but the supernatural cold had long since numbed her nervous system. She felt no pain from the injury, only a distant awareness of damage sustained.
Each time her injuries accumulated beyond a certain threshold, the power of her Bankai, Minazuki, would activate its healing properties and repair the damage. This cycle of destruction and renewal continued throughout their extended engagement, creating a macabre rhythm that would have been hypnotic to observe.
When the final wave of Fiander's assault had been completely repelled, Unohana found herself in a state of near-complete exhaustion. Her spiritual reserves, vast though they were, had finite limits. Having pushed herself beyond those boundaries, she now faced the inevitable collapse that followed such expenditure.
Her legs gave out beneath her, forcing her to use her Zanpakutō as a makeshift crutch to remain upright. Each breath she drew felt like swallowing razor blades, the frigid air cutting into her throat with merciless precision. Yet she had no choice but to continue breathing if she hoped to recover even a fraction of her strength.
Wait—if she could feel pain in her throat, that meant...
The realization struck her just as the wind and snow around them came to a complete stop. Looking up, she saw Fiander floating in the air above her, his Zanpakutō held in a relaxed grip that spoke of decisions already made.
"What do you... mean?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice despite her exhaustion.
Clearly, Fiander had released his Bankai, ending the supernatural winter that had transformed their battlefield. But the environmental changes he had wrought would not disappear so easily. The altered climate might require hundreds of years to return to its natural state through gradual recovery, unless acted upon by another power of similar magnitude—something like Captain-Commander Yamamoto's Ryūjin Jakka.
"It means nothing particularly complex," Fiander replied, slowly returning his weapon to its sheath. As the blade disappeared, his distinctive blue-white eyes returned to their normal crystal-blue hue. "I simply have no desire to kill you."
He descended from his aerial position with fluid grace, his feet touching the frozen ground without creating so much as a whisper of sound. "It would be a tremendous waste to end your existence here. You possess the potential to ascend to heights that few in any realm have ever achieved."
His assessment was delivered with the clinical precision of someone who had evaluated countless warriors over millennia. "That level of killing intent, that depth of combat instinct—simply destroying such capabilities would be an act of inexcusable waste."
A decision seemed to crystallize in his mind as he spoke. "Therefore, for your sake, I will spare the lives of your companions as well."
His form dissolved into the familiar ice mist before reforming directly in front of her. Without hesitation, he placed his hands upon her shoulders and began drawing out the supernatural cold that had invaded her body, allowing her natural healing processes to resume normal function.
"Maintain this fighting spirit," he advised, his tone taking on an almost instructional quality. "The fact that you managed to inflict injury upon me proves that you possess the necessary talent for true growth. With your mastery of Kaidō techniques, reviving the others should present no significant difficulty."
Blue light flickered around his form, and a black windbreaker materialized to cover his previously bare torso. The garment appeared to be cut from shadow itself, its dark fabric creating a striking contrast against his pale skin.
"Also," he continued, adjusting his newly manifested clothing with casual movements, "do not presume to understand or judge my motivations. Are you attempting to suggest that I do not comprehend the value of life?"
His expression grew more serious as he addressed what he perceived as her unspoken criticism. "On the contrary, no being in any realm understands the true worth of existence better than I do. However, such understanding cannot be permitted to become an obstacle to achieving one's ultimate objectives."
The contradiction in his words seemed to amuse him, bringing a slight smile to his features. "The appreciation of life's value and the willingness to engage in mortal combat are not mutually exclusive concepts. In fact, I would suggest that you are somewhat poorly suited for a purely support role, Miss Yachiryu."
His use of her true name was delivered with deliberate teasing, a reminder of the killer she had revealed herself to be beneath her carefully constructed facade.
After making final adjustments to his appearance, Fiander's gaze swept across the other captains who remained frozen in temporal stasis. Something in their condition seemed to capture his interest, causing a strange gleam to appear in his eyes.
"I believe there are other matters requiring my attention," he announced, and with that, he vanished in a blur of movement that left only disturbed air in his wake.
"I was... spared?" Unohana whispered to herself, the concept so foreign to her experience that she struggled to process it fully.
The moment Fiander's presence departed from the immediate area, she released her Bankai and allowed herself to collapse onto the frozen ground. Her spiritual reserves were so depleted that she could no longer maintain even basic techniques.
Above them, the inverted mountain crystal that had protected the vice-captains began to show signs of structural failure. Without Unohana's spiritual pressure to maintain its integrity, the barrier started developing hairline cracks that spread across its surface like a spider's web before finally shattering like ordinary glass.
"Captain Unohana!" Kotetsu Isane's voice carried notes of desperate concern as she used Shunpo to reach her superior's side in record time.
"Captain! Captain! Are you all right?" The normally composed vice-captain's professional demeanor cracked under the stress of seeing her beloved captain in such a weakened state.
"Isane?" Unohana's voice was barely above a whisper, but her relief was unmistakable. "Thank goodness—you're all safe."
The knowledge that her subordinates had survived their ordeal allowed some of the tension to leave her battered form. She had been prepared to sacrifice everything to protect them, and their continued existence validated that willingness.
"We're fine, Captain, thanks to the shelter you provided," Isane replied, carefully positioning Unohana in a more comfortable position before beginning to channel Kaidō energy into her injuries. "We could observe everything from inside the crystal barrier. The way you fought... that opponent was incredibly powerful. I fear that only Captain-Commander Yamamoto himself could have—"
Tears began forming in her eyes as the full magnitude of what they had witnessed started to sink in. "If it hadn't been for your protection—"
"No, Isane," Unohana interrupted, her voice gaining strength as her natural healing processes began responding to the treatment. "I did not protect you."
"How can you say that? You used your most powerful Kidō techniques to—"
"Kidō?" Unohana's interruption was gentle but firm. "Did you not witness him destroying the Jikō Amaterasu barrier with his bare hands? Do you truly believe that my Daishanjing crystal possessed greater defensive capabilities than a ninety-third level Bakudō technique?"
The logical implications of this observation struck Isane like a physical blow, rendering her speechless. The idea that an enemy had deliberately chosen to spare their lives was difficult for her proud spirit to accept, so she lowered her head and remained silent.
"Since you understand the situation," Unohana continued, "please attend to Captain Zaraki and Captain Kurotsuchi first. Their conditions are far more critical than mine, and delays could prove fatal."
"I can manage my own recovery for the time being."
Though Isane's heart ached to see her captain in such a diminished state, she recognized the wisdom in the directive and moved to treat the other injured parties.
"Thank you so much, Captain Unohana!" Nemu's voice carried genuine emotion as she approached the resting captain after Isane had departed.
"Such gratitude is unnecessary," Unohana replied weakly. "I was simply fulfilling the duties expected of the Fourth Division."
"No," Nemu insisted, her artificially created features displaying more genuine feeling than most natural beings could manage. "We observed everything from our position above. Had you not fought with such desperate determination, Mayuri-sama would certainly have perished."
Her posture straightened as she continued, "This debt will be remembered and acknowledged on behalf of Kurotsuchi Mayuri."
With that declaration, she offered a deep bow before departing to assist with her creator's treatment.
Alone now on the frozen battlefield, Unohana lay motionless beneath the gray sky, her listless eyes reflecting the colorless expanse above. The exhaustion in her body was nothing compared to the confusion in her mind as she tried to process everything that had transpired.
"What an enigmatic man... Fiander..." she murmured to herself, the name carrying implications she was only beginning to understand.
Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away, Fiander had been traveling at supernatural speed when he suddenly came to a complete stop. His enhanced senses had detected something that most beings would have missed entirely.
"You've been following me for quite some distance," he said without turning around, his voice carrying across the empty landscape with perfect clarity. "Perhaps it's time to abandon this pretense of concealment."
"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
After a moment of silence, the blue-haired Espada emerged from his hiding place, his expression a complex mixture of emotions that defied easy categorization. He stood several meters away, studying Fiander with an intensity that spoke of questions demanding answers.