Unohana healed her injuries at lightning speed, though she deliberately left the scar behind.
"You've already passed the assessment. You may graduate from the Shin'ō Academy."
She walked over to Kurosaki Rei and picked up the arm she had severed earlier.
"I'll do it. Your Kaidō training still isn't quite there yet."
As she spoke, she helped reattach Kurosaki Rei's arm and began healing him with Kaidō.
Kurosaki Rei had to admit that Unohana's mastery of Kaidō was indeed far beyond his own. In just a few breaths' time, his arm was fully restored. He moved it slightly—there were no lingering aftereffects.
"Thank you for holding back, Unohana-sensei," Kurosaki Rei said.
"Oh?" Unohana replied. "I didn't hold back at all. That final exchange—you truly won."
She tied her hair back into its usual style, then glanced at the tatami room, now in complete disarray. A headache crept in. She had thought the fight would end quickly—she hadn't expected it to turn out like this. It seemed she'd inevitably be scolded by that old man later.
"During the fight, when I was injured several times, you didn't press the advantage either, did you?"
Kurosaki Rei grinned. "If you had kept pushing at those moments, I probably wouldn't have lasted until Shikai."
Despite what he had told Aizen about grasping the key to Shikai, he hadn't been one hundred percent confident before. In the end, it was a moment of inspiration—a gamble that succeeded by the narrowest margin.
It wasn't that he refused to play unless he was at critical health. The real issue was that if he entered resonance the way he had before and lost consciousness, he would truly have been dead.
That was why he chose to fight Unohana without Shikai at first. But the conclusion after that brutal exchange was clear—if he couldn't achieve Shikai, his chances of defeating Unohana were far too slim.
"A win is a win," Unohana said lightly. "And haven't you forgotten something?"
She straightened her clothes, once again appearing like the gentle, beautiful Fourth Division captain everyone knew.
"This is my examination hall, not my hunting ground."
Kurosaki Rei froze. "Wait… Unohana-sensei, what exactly were the passing conditions for this assessment?"
Unohana smiled warmly. "Didn't I say it? As long as you survived under my hands for ten minutes, you passed."
Kurosaki Rei: ???
You never said that!
Thinking back carefully, before he released his Zanpakutō, Unohana had already stopped attacking.
At the time, he'd thought it was because she was intrigued and wanted to see his transformation. Roughly calculating the timing now… had he already passed by then? Was that why Unohana hadn't pressed the attack?
And then he released his Zanpakutō, got carried away, and fought her to a decisive conclusion…
"Now, not only have you passed—I'm personally giving you full marks," Unohana said with a smile.
"Rest assured. Starting tomorrow, you'll officially be a member of the Gotei Thirteen."
She walked to the door, slid it open, and left the examination room—leaving behind Kurosaki Rei's utterly confused expression.
Surviving ten minutes under the assault of a captain-class opponent—that was the assessment standard set by the Captain-Commander. But Unohana had to admit that midway through, she'd indeed let herself go a bit too far.
If Kurosaki Rei hadn't achieved Shikai and displayed new power, she very likely would have "lost control" and killed him in an overextended fight.
Once Unohana had left, Kurosaki Rei looked down at the only remaining piece of clothing still preserving his dignity and let out a long breath.
At the moment Unohana disappeared, he heard the familiar notification chime from the Terminal Space.
Main mission completed.
He had obtained qualification to return.
Because the predetermined stay for this mission was only three months, he could remain in the world of the Shinigami for at most two more days. If he overstayed, the Terminal Space would forcibly extract him.
Kurosaki Rei lowered his gaze to Prison Demon.
Although Shikai had already been released, since the weapon had transformed from an Asauchi into his personal Zanpakutō, its appearance had permanently changed.
The once silver-white blade now bore vine-like engravings, while the originally pure white hilt had turned a deep purple-black. The overall impression was one of mystery—and danger.
Using the Space's appraisal function again, the information had updated.
[Prison Demon]
Origin: Shinigami (Derivative World No. 401118)
Rarity: Rare
Type: Primary Weapon – Bladed
Durability: 60 / 60
Sharpness: 20
Tenacity: 20
Description:
A Zanpakutō forged by Explorer No. 40440404 by infusing their soul into an Asauchi. Automatically bound. Cannot be sold or traded. Other users cannot activate this weapon.
Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): Soul Nourishment
Description:
When the Explorer kills enemies using Prison Demon, it devours a small amount of the enemy's soul to nourish itself, increasing its growth progress.
The Explorer may also feed Prison Demon with their own soul to gain extremely high growth progress.
(Warning: This method is extremely dangerous.)
Current Growth Progress: 0%
Weapon Skill 2 (Active): Shikai
Description:
Upon releasing Shikai, continuously consumes the Explorer's Soul Source, manifesting Prison Demon's form.
In Shikai state, all combat attributes are temporarily increased by +2, neural reaction speed is enhanced, and Prison Demon's sharpness and tenacity are increased.
When Prison Demon deals damage, it applies Corrosion:
Natural recovery speed reduced by 10%Loses Corrosion damage per second equal to 10% of the maximum damage of the triggering attackDuration: 5 secondsCorrosion effects on the same wound can stack
Cooldown: None
Rating: 100+ (30–100)
Evaluation:
Within your heart, a demon god is imprisoned.
After awakening his Zanpakutō, it had become his exclusive, growth-type primary weapon. All of its stats had leapt forward, and the Shikai effect was brutally straightforward—flat stat increases, which he could equate to raising reiatsu in this world.
The 10% healing suppression didn't look like much at first glance, but it would be devastating against enemies with strong regeneration. During his fight with Unohana, her Kaidō recovery speed had clearly been affected.
As for the Corrosion damage-over-time effect—it was vicious. Effectively, every strike he landed came with a delayed damage bonus equivalent to 50% of that hit.
Most importantly, there was no cooldown on this effect.
That meant in prolonged battles, the damage he inflicted would accumulate faster and faster, until the enemy suddenly collapsed past a critical threshold.
In the fight with Unohana, his attributes hadn't all reached the full +2 increase. That was mainly due to the field's suppression, which prevented him from breaking past the "sixteenth-grade" reiatsu limit. In a free state, he could unleash even greater power.
As for the Space's rating system, he'd gradually pieced together the rough brackets over the past few months.
With his current permissions, the known equipment tiers were:
Broken, Gray-White, Fine, Rare.
Broken items were basically trash, rated at 0.
Gray-White ranged from 1–10.
Fine ranged from 11–30.
Rare had a much broader scoring range.
His Prison Demon was currently rated at the maximum score within the Rare tier. By his estimation, it was an excellent piece of equipment for a rookie Explorer.
After reviewing Prison Demon's stats, Kurosaki Rei stepped out of the examination room—
—and found a familiar figure waiting outside.
It was Aizen, holding a set of fresh clothes.
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