A scar like the savage grin of a wrathful ghost ran across skin as white as jade.
Loose, silky black hair scattered over the scar, like a few holes left in the pale skull of a corpse.
The Centaur Maiden stared at Unohana before her, her face filled with astonishment. Her lips parted slightly, seemingly voicing a silent question.
Unohana, meanwhile, looked at Nel and smiled.
Then, she extended a long, fair finger and lightly pressed it against Nel's rosy lips.
With that finger carrying a faint floral fragrance resting against her lips, Nel froze for a moment. Then Captain Unohana's voice reached her ears, smiling yet concealing several traces of deeply buried excitement:
"Little Nel, we girls always have a few secrets, don't we? So please help me keep this secret, all right? You're such a good girl, aren't you?"
As she spoke, Nel noticed that Captain Unohana's usually half-lidded eyes had opened slightly. Those scarlet pupils seemed to hold the heaviest sins in the world. Through them, Nel could even see a trace of Asano Kiyoshi's Bankai.
The floral scent from the finger against her lips now seemed to turn into the thickest stench of blood.
Whether it was merely her imagination or not, when Nel looked at Unohana, she could even see countless streams of thick, flowing blood upon her.
Before Nel could fully react, Unohana gently patted her head and said:
"Little Nel, that big fellow's strength isn't something you can contend with yet. So this time, let me protect you. I imagine that sly Chief Kido Master Asano Kiyoshi thinks the same way. What a cunning child..."
Hearing Unohana murmur to herself, Nel was just about to urge Sister Hana to fight alongside her. But before the words could leave her mouth, a spiritual pressure