Lu Li stood barefoot on the shredded, cratered tatami mat. Crimson blood poured freely from the dozens of lacerations covering his torso, completely painting him red.
Unohana's Zanjutsu proficiency was unquestionably on an entirely different dimensional plane. They had only been fighting for ten minutes, yet his [Life Source] had already plummeted below 50%.
His entire body was a tapestry of lacerations. A few of the deeper invisible pressure cuts had bitten directly into his muscle tissue.
He slowly stepped forward, approaching Unohana, who stood near the far wall. The gap in their skill felt like staring up at a sheer, impossibly steep mountain peak. Her transcendent Zanjutsu was the summit he was trying to reach, while the suffocating, freezing killing intent radiating from her blade was the avalanche threatening to bury him.
Am I going to die here?
I refuse. I've finally found the glorious, unrestrained deathmatch I've been craving. I will not let it end this quickly.
I haven't fought enough. I'm going to climb higher! My path to the absolute pinnacle of martial arts has only just begun!
Lu Li looked down at the standard-issue Asauchi gripped tightly in his hands.
Aizen had told him he was subconsciously rejecting his own power. Even now, Lu Li didn't fully agree with that psychiatric assessment. But after repeatedly diving into that apocalyptic Purgatory, and repeatedly attempting to communicate with that terrifying, chained silhouette... a profound realization had dawned on him.
Why do I keep asking for its true name?
This is my soul. This is my power. Shouldn't I be the one to name it?
Isn't that right... Demon Imprisoned?
...
The atmosphere in the room shifted.
Unohana, who had been leisurely stepping forward to deliver the final, killing sequence, abruptly halted. She felt the fundamental shift in Lu Li's aura.
The blood-red light of the setting sun filtered through the shredded paper screens, casting a warm, crimson halo over his back. The blood streaming down the grotesquely developed, demon-face musculature of his back made the horrific visage look as if it were weeping blood.
The crimson drops splattered onto the tatami mats, blooming into dark, purple-black stains.
From Unohana's perspective, Lu Li was standing directly in front of the massive ink painting on the wall. Backlit by the setting sun, his head was positioned perfectly over the eyes of the painted Tiger.
Lu Li finally spoke. His low, vibrating voice completely bypassed the physical air, tearing directly into Unohana's mind and violently blasting open the gates of Purgatory.
"Shatter the chains... Qiu Mo." (Demon Imprisoned)
The moment the incantation left his lips, a terrifying, suffocating purple-black mist erupted from his body. The violent updraft caught the mist, causing it to swirl upward and frame the ink painting behind him.
In that microsecond, the Tiger in the painting seemed to roar to life. The purple-black mist coalesced over its eyes, granting the beast a terrifying, demonic gaze. Its painted muscles seemed to tense, perfectly mirroring the explosive battle lust radiating from the man standing beneath it.
ROAR—!
The explosive surge of spiritual pressure generated a shockwave that sounded like the apocalyptic roar of a dragon and a tiger intertwined. It sounded like the jubilant, hate-filled battle cry of a Demon God finally tasting freedom after countless eternities of imprisonment!
Lu Li stood perfectly still. In his hands, he held his newly birthed Zanpakuto.
The blade was pitch-black. A hollowed-out blood groove ran straight down the center of the steel. Twisting, parasitic purple-black demonic runes were intricately etched into the dark metal, trailing all the way down to the hilt before violently manifesting into physical, purple-black chains that tightly wrapped around Lu Li's right forearm.
The purple-black mist clung to his blood-soaked body like a living aura. He truly looked like an Asura risen from the deepest pits of hell.
Lu Li slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. He felt entirely reborn.
His Reiatsu had temporarily skyrocketed, finally breaking through the absolute ceiling of Class 16 and genuinely standing on the exact same tier as the suppressed Unohana. The fact that he could now actively feel Kirio Hikifune's restrictive barrier violently pressing down on his soul proved his true Spiritual Pressure was actively trying to surge even higher.
Furthermore, every single one of his combat attributes had spiked by 1 point. His [Strength], which had previously been his lowest physical stat, had jumped by 2 points!
The sensory upgrade was even more terrifying. His five senses had sharpened to an impossible degree, and his neural reflex velocity had seen an exponential leap.
And the pitch-black blade of Qiu Mo he held in his hands... its absolute sharpness was completely incomparable to the dull steel of a standard Asauchi.
Watching Lu Li successfully awaken his Shikai, Unohana's smile widened into a terrifying, dangerous crescent. "A Shikai? Incredible, Student Lu. It seems you truly can entertain me further."
She did not release her own Shikai. Minazuki was a biological-type Zanpakuto. Releasing it would summon a massive, flying, one-eyed manta ray—a creature purely designed for mass transport and healing. It offered absolutely zero offensive utility in a high-speed duel. In fact, it would only get in the way of her enjoying the slaughter.
"It's the end of the semester..."
Lu Li gripped the pitch-black hilt with both hands, lowering his center of gravity into an aggressive, low stance. His purple-black eyes burned with an apocalyptic inferno. "...It's time to hand in my exam, Instructor!"
The moment he spoke, the tatami mat beneath his feet violently shattered and flipped backward. A catastrophic shockwave tore through the room. The purple-black mist trailed behind him like a comet's tail, drawing a stark line directly across the ancient painting.
Minazuki clashed violently against Qiu Mo. The shower of blinding sparks looked like a blooming silver tree of iron and fire.
In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged dozens of apocalyptic slashes. Unohana's eyes were completely blown wide, overflowing with pure, unadulterated ecstasy and killing intent.
Yes! Just like this! Come, entertain me!
Lu Li brought Qiu Mo down in a devastating, two-handed overhead cleave. Unohana caught the strike, one hand gripping the hilt of Minazuki, the other bracing the flat of the blade to absorb the catastrophic kinetic impact.
Under Unohana's stunned gaze, Lu Li didn't attempt to violently retract his blade or redirect the recoil to reposition. Instead, the exact microsecond the blades locked, he explosively surged his physical output. Weaponizing the massive, rebounding kinetic shockwave generated by the parry, he launched himself directly upward.
He shot toward the ceiling like a fired bullet. Contorting his body mid-air, he landed perfectly upside down.
He had created a brand new fulcrum.
The grotesque, demon-face musculature on his back violently coiled. Like the painted Tiger preparing to pounce, his bare toes dug into the wooden beams of the ceiling with the gripping force of steel claws.
In the next microsecond, Lu Li fired himself downward like an artillery shell. His pitch-black blade, trailing a terrifying, purple-black mist, aimed a decapitating strike directly at Unohana's neck.
CLANG—!
Unohana managed to bring her blade up just in time, but the sheer, catastrophic kinetic force of a gravity-assisted Shunpo strike forced her to drop into a deep crouch. She was violently pushed backward across the floorboards for several meters before she could fully disperse the kinetic shock. Relying purely on a millennium of combat instinct, she seamlessly dodged Lu Li's immediate follow-up slash.
The tempo of the duel accelerated once more. Silver and pitch-black steel danced through the blood-stained mist, painting a masterpiece of pure violence and slaughter.
The floor, the walls, the ceiling—every single surface in the room became a viable fulcrum for their high-speed movement techniques. The flat, linear spar had completely evolved into a chaotic, three-dimensional deathmatch.
Amidst the blinding shower of sparks, madness crashed against madness. Murderous intent intertwined with battle lust.
Following another apocalyptic clash, the immense recoil launched both fighters to opposite sides of the room. They simultaneously planted their feet against the opposite walls.
BOOM—!
The wall behind Lu Li cratered inward. His hyper-speed Shunpo transformed him into a devastating, purple-black streak of light.
Unohana's charge was completely silent, yet carried a terrifying, suffocating aura of inevitable death. At maximum velocity, she became a pale, cherry-blossom phantom.
The two streaks of light violently collided in the dead center of the room, instantly crossing past each other.
A perfectly smooth, crimson arc of blood splashed across the massive ink painting, brutally staining the demonic Oni. The blood slowly dripped down the canvas like an eerie, demonic rain.
Lu Li slowly turned around.
He glanced down at the severed arm lying on the floorboards near his feet.
It was his left arm. It had been cleanly amputated right at the shoulder.
Ignoring the catastrophic injury, Lu Li performed a flawless chiburi, whipping the blood off his pitch-black blade in an elegant arc before resting Qiu Mo by his side. He looked at Unohana, who was currently standing directly beneath the painted Oni.
"Hahaha..."
Unohana, still facing away from him, let out a soft, breathy, and highly erratic laugh. "Student Lu... are you absolutely sure you don't want to join the Fourth Division?"
Lu Li slowly raised his remaining right hand, his palm glowing with a pale green Kaido light to aggressively cauterize his severed shoulder and stem the bleeding. He shook his head. "While the offer is incredibly tempting, Instructor... I think I'd like to explore the outside world first."
"I see... What a profound tragedy. But you are entirely correct. The Fourth Division is entirely unsuitable for a monster like you."
Unohana slowly turned around.
A massive, gaping laceration ran diagonally from her left shoulder all the way down to her lower abdomen. It was the exact same wound she had inflicted on Lu Li time and time again during their "after-school tutoring."
She had lost.
If it weren't for her innate, Captain-class biological density acting as invisible armor against Kirio Hikifune's limiter, the absolute kinetic force behind Lu Li's slash would have completely bisected her.
In that final, decisive microsecond, Lu Li hadn't just been fractionally faster than her—his tactical judgment had been vastly superior. He had deliberately sacrificed his left arm to secure a guaranteed, fatal strike.
As a veteran of countless deathmatches, she knew exactly how to calculate a victory. That single, flawless slash had violently shocked her out of her blood-crazed euphoria.
She could easily continue fighting. She could continue reveling in the ecstasy of the slaughter until Lu Li bled out. But with a clear mind, she realized that would be entirely irresponsible as an examiner. More importantly, butchering him now would be a catastrophic waste of an exquisite masterpiece.
She stared deeply at the one-armed man standing before her. Her abyssal eyes flickered with a terrifying, ravenous hunger for the future.
I truly cannot wait... to fight you when you reach your absolute peak.
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