Help! I am bound to Aizen!-Chapter 303

With a fierceness surpassing anything she’d shown so far, Unohana drove her sword down.

But just as the blade was about to hit Kaelith’s shoulder, a strange sensation welled up inside her.

Thump. Thump.

Unohana realized her heart was racing.

Not out of excitement.

But…fear?

The moment she recognized that, she almost wanted to laugh.

Impossible. She had hidden her sword’s edge away for hundreds of years, all in anticipation of this final day. Even death was something she had already resolved herself to face. What could possibly make her feel fear now?

Smack!

Right before her eyes, Kaelith suddenly lifted a hand and grabbed her falling blade.

A sword formed from the damned blood, capable of slicing through mountains, was held fast in Kaelith’s grip!

Then Unohana noticed that the hand clutching her blade was covered in a layer of white, bone-like armor.

It looked less like a normal hand and more like…a Hollow’s claw?

That idea flashed through her mind at the same moment Kaelith raised his head.

A stark-white, skeletal mask had appeared on his face at some point.

A Hollow mask?!

For the first time since this battle began, Unohana showed genuine shock.

How could a Shinigami have a Hollow mask? Had something gone wrong with him?

She furrowed her brow, about to ask—but Kaelith grinned and said:

“It’s dangerous to lose focus in the middle of a fight. You’ll need punishment for that.”

The instant he spoke, Kaelith’s entire right arm blurred, vanishing from Unohana’s sight.

A crushing pain erupted in her chest and abdomen.

“Gah!!”

She spat out a mouthful of blood and shredded organs, her body sent flying. She skipped across the bloody sea like a skipping stone before crashing into it, sending towering red waves hundreds of meters high.

Kaelith stood upon the crimson surface, drenched by the blood raining down.

The red jewels on his mask seemed all the brighter for it.

Suddenly, from the roiling sea before him, a figure burst forth:

Unohana Retsu, clutching her blood-soaked blade. Propelled by her leap out of the ocean, she struck a reverse diagonal blow right into Kaelith’s body.

Her blade entered near his lower right side and emerged from his left shoulder, carving a wound so massive it nearly split him in two.

Having landed a mortal strike, Unohana flipped in midair and landed steadily on the sea of blood. She lifted a hand, wiping the blood from the corner of her lips.

She’d won…

Gazing at Kaelith as he stood there quietly, she bit her lip.

She had won, but for some reason felt no triumph at all.

This person—someone meant to surpass her in the future, someone to whom she’d intended to give everything—was lying at death’s door by her hand…

No, that couldn’t be!

A fierce resolve flashed in her eyes.

She had to save him. She had to use the Kaidō skills she’d honed over centuries—she had to pull him back from the brink!

Next time, surely next time, he would…

“What’s with that look on your face? Thinking of something strange?”

Just as Unohana prepared to rush forward no matter the cost, Kaelith suddenly spoke.

Under Unohana’s stunned gaze, white, foam-like Reiatsu surged over his body, swiftly knitting his gaping wound shut.

In less than a second, that horrific slash—enough to kill a normal Shinigami a hundred times over—vanished as though it had never been.

Unohana’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Not only did he look like a Hollow and radiate a Hollow-like spiritual pressure, but he even possessed the most coveted trait of Hollows—High-Speed Regeneration?!

What had this man become?

“Kaelith?” she said, needing to confirm he was still himself.

Kaelith bared his teeth in a grin.

“The person you’re trying to call isn’t available. I’m Kaelith A, who’s taken over Kaelith’s body. Don’t hold back—just keep fighting!”

Unohana said nothing, staring into his eyes.

They were a dark gold, savage and inhuman.

Anyone else would have quailed in terror.

But after a few seconds, Unohana smiled.

“Even if I don’t understand this form or that power, you’re still Kaelith, and that’s enough for me.”

She hoisted her blade, thick blood dripping from its edge.

“This battle’s conclusion draws near. I’m glad you chose to show me this side of you.

“So, when I kill you for real this time, it will be with the utmost gratitude.”

“Keh keh keh! If you think you can, then try it!”

Kaelith spread his arms, fingers splayed like he was inviting a hug, waiting for her to charge.

In truth, his delight surpassed even hers.

Sure enough, this madwoman hadn’t let him down.

Even faced with Hollowfication—something seemingly monstrous and taboo—she showed no outrage or horror. Instead, she worried about whether or not he was still himself beneath it all.

Her reaction mattered to him more than he liked to admit.

This was the first time he’d revealed that power to a Shinigami who wasn’t part of his own plans or his faction.

If Unohana had cowered or lashed out in wrath, he might have pretended it didn’t bother him, yet deep down it would have hurt.

But her acceptance made him feel, strangely, at peace.

That sense of peace was the sweetest gift of all.

In return, Kaelith drew in a steady breath and clenched his fists.

Blue flames burst from his shoulders.

A mighty force surged into his arms.

First stage…second stage…

Triple—Single Ikkotsu!!!

Hollow version!

Unohana slashed down.

Kaelith met it with a twisting punch.

Voom—

Centered on their collision, the crimson sea silently erupted in all directions, leaving a gaping hollow in the ocean.

Then, the surging waves and roaring currents abruptly gathered back together.

Boom!!!

Blood and flame shot toward the ceiling of that shadowy realm, blooming into a blazing red mushroom cloud.

Gradually, the tide of blood subsided.

Kaelith stood where he was, the mask on his face dissolving into motes of light and disappearing.

Unohana Retsu lay quietly at his feet.

The blood-mad swordswoman had lost all trace of her earlier fighting spirit.

She wore a satisfied smile, gripping her Zanpakutō of blood as she peered up at him.

“Kaelith… kill me.”

“Nah, I got socks to fold.”

“…?”

At Kaelith’s bizarre wording, she fell silent for a moment, then continued:

“Minazuki’s ability is one of plunder.

“All that blood you saw came from those I’ve slain over the years. Each time I kill someone, I seize a portion of their power. It becomes the blood sea stored within my Bankai.

“That blood flows into me, feeding my body and spirit.

“But using that power has a price—if I ever die here within its ocean, I myself will become nourishment for my killer’s growth, absorbed into their soul.”

Watching Kaelith, Unohana’s gaze turned wistful.

“Devour me. Carry me forward with you, Kaelith. My entire life has been building toward this moment.”

Seeing how she flared with longing even in her ravaged state, Kaelith suddenly understood.

So this was the real reason Unohana died in the original story.

Under Unohana’s gaze, Kaelith stepped over, crouched down, and looked at her.

Her hair was strewn around her, her body riddled with wounds, and a gaping hole yawned in her abdomen.

He smiled.

“Captain Unohana…

“No—oh you foolish sow of a swordswoman, swear your loyalty and become my subject!”

“…?”

Unohana blinked in confusion.

She watched as Kaelith placed a hand on her stomach.

Dark shadows flowed out from his palm, creeping into her body like slippery fluid, transforming into threads, membranes, binding broken blood vessels and mending ruptured organs.

The treatment was brutally direct, sending jolts of pain through her wounds and causing Unohana to wince slightly.

Kaelith ignored her reaction and continued, speaking all the while:

“You probably think your death could serve as nourishment for me, pushing me to new heights.

“But that’s nothing more than a naïve fantasy.

“My Stand—in other words, my greatest power—is limitless. Before I could ever use yours to grow, it would have already carried me far beyond this level on its own.

“That oh-so-sacred ‘gift’ you’re offering me is like a single cracker between my extravagant lunch and equally lavish dinner.

“It might give you a fleeting sense of fulfillment, but it means nothing to me.”

Unohana stared at him in a daze.

She could tell, somehow, that he wasn’t just boasting. He truly had that kind of confidence—to cast aside centuries of her stored power like it was nothing.

What kind of towering ambition was that?

Her breath quickened.

And then a flash of pain, a pang of sorrow.

If that were true, then she really had nothing to give him at all.

She’d gained indescribable joy from him, yet had no way of repaying it.

Could there be anything more pitiful?

A wave of shame and despair flooded her cheeks with color.

The only solace she had left was the warmth of Kaelith’s hand pressed against her wound, grounding her in the reality that she still existed.

Then Kaelith lifted his hand away.

She looked up, flustered, only to see him crossing his arms with a bright grin:

“Rather than die for nothing, become my subordinate!

“Don’t throw your life away for nothing.

Join me.

I’m going to reshape everything—Soul Society, the Royal Palace, Hueco Mundo… all of it. This world’s broken, and I won’t stop until it’s rebuilt from the ground up.

You’ve seen my strength. You know what I’m capable of.

Stand with me. See the world as it could be.

Death offers you nothing. But if you stay, I’ll give you something real—clarity, purpose… and yeah, maybe a fight or two when you need it.

So—what’s it going to be?”

Unohana gazed at him—sitting there so casually, talking a mile a minute—and felt a fierce sense of unreality.

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He was a man who hadn’t even been out of the Academy for a full century, someone who was a mere sapling compared to her. Yet he dared to speak so boldly…

And somehow, instead of scoffing, she found herself believing he could make it real.

If he wasn’t a delusional madman, then he just might possess the power to accomplish it all.

She didn’t particularly care about any “new world” or cosmic changes.

But thinking of being able to fight him anytime, without fear she’d overshadow him, without worrying she was too weak to excite him…her heart pounded with anticipation.

If it’s him—if it’s him!

Unohana opened her mouth to reply.

But at that moment, the blood blade in her hand began to stir restlessly.

Swoosh!

A torrent of blood erupted from the blade, lunging toward her.

Unohana’s pupils shrank.

“Minazuki… You refuse to accept that your wielder would lose and yet choose to go on living?”

She understood her Zanpakutō’s rules better than anyone.

Sensing her resolve to survive, Minazuki had decided to end her itself.

Unable to move well in her ruined state, Unohana could do nothing but watch the crimson tide surge down toward her.

Suddenly, a fist crashed in from outside her field of vision—

“Oraaa!!!”

The wave of blood about to devour her was forcibly knocked back.

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