Merciful Five Colors

The Meninas in front of Askin suddenly transformed into a mass of spiritual pressure, within which a human-shaped figure vaguely appeared—it was Unohana Retsu, who had been swallowed by the Meninas monster earlier.

The light gradually contracted, Meninas's body transformed into a pale green sacrificial haori, the same color as its own, which was draped over Unohana Retsu's body.

Behind Unohana Retsu floated a large eye made of blood—it was the single eye of Meninas.

Unohana Retsu placed her hands clasped over her lower abdomen, her eyes lowered, and a smile playing on her lips, resembling a compassionate deity. However, the two strands of hair that fell to her chest were stained with a blood-red hue, adding a touch of fierceness to her sacred demeanor.

"Merciful Five Colors."

Unohana Retsu's voice was gentle and melodious, with a hint of charity, like a goddess walking through a chaotic world to save the miserable people.

But the bloodshot eye sockets and the crimson highlights in her hair always gave off an eerie feeling.

"Playing tricks!" Askin pointed at Unohana Retsu and said, "No matter what you become, your spiritual pressure and blood volume have already exceeded the Deathdealing you can withstand, and that outcome will not change!"

Askin once again mobilized the power of the Saint Letters, and in an instant, Unohana Retsu's body was once again on the verge of death.

With a soft "pfft," a mouthful of blood spurted from Unohana Retsu's mouth. In such a short time, Askin had managed to bring her to her last gasp.

Although it is at the end of its strength, as long as it is maintained without collapsing, it will always be a powerful arrow!

A vibrant green light shone on Unohana Retsu's body; it was the power of the Returning Dao. The healing power of the Meninas had reached its peak after merging with Unohana Retsu's own Returning Dao ability.

At this moment, Unohana Retsu is being kept alive by the strongest Reincarnation power in the entire Soul Society. The pain of impending death is still tormenting her, but she no longer has to teeter on the brink of death. The strongest Reincarnation has managed to keep Unohana Retsu alive.

Upon seeing the light emanating from Unohana Retsu's body, Askin's expression immediately changed. He had clearly pushed Unohana Retsu's the Deathdealing to the limit, so why was she still standing steadily?

"I thought that with the arrival of the Yuzu, we wouldn't need to use this tactic anymore, but it seems we still have to..."

As Unohana Retsu spoke, blood oozed from her mouth, which was quite eerie.

Even though she wouldn't die immediately, the physical pain was unbearable. She didn't want to suffer the agony of being seriously injured and on the verge of death any longer, as she could pass the Askin dungeon unscathed while Yuzu was around.

"No matter what you've done, you must die!"

Three poisonous orbs bounced into the gap between Askin's fingers, where he pinched them into three arrows and shot them toward Unohana Retsu's forehead, throat, and heart.

Askin's arrow unleashed a powerful surge of spiritual pressure. Even before the arrow arrived, the compressed airflow from the spiritual pressure had already formed a gust of wind, whipping up the haori that Unohana Retsu had worn on the outside.

Beneath that vibrant green, the inside of the haori is a cruel and terrifying crimson, embroidered with patterns of blood vessels, enough to send chills down one's spine at a single glance.

As she rolled up her sleeves, Unohana Retsu's expression completely changed. Her gentle, compassionate demeanor transformed into a ferocious and malevolent one, her killing intent solidifying into a tangible blood aura that dripped from her Unohana Retsu.

She is both a goddess who walks through chaotic times to save people, and a demon who wields a blood-soaked pagoda to slay all evil spirits. Possessing two demigod-like and demonic aspects, this is the true form of Unohana Retsu, Beyond Bankai.

Retsu Unohana Retsu palm. How could Unohana Retsu, a master of Zanjutsu, possibly abandon her Zanjutsu in Beyond Bankai?

However, all these deadly blades were concealed beneath the compassion of saving lives.

Blood-red blades danced, three strikes in an instant—a piece of cake for Unohana Retsu. In the next instant, she appeared in front of Askin, wielding her blade and slashing at Askin's body.

Askin remained completely unmoved by Unohana Retsu's actions, simply spreading his arms and letting her slash at him. "It's useless. Strictly speaking, I'm no longer human!"

As he said this, Askin couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow. He hadn't expected that Pernida's nerves would turn him into a creature composed of toxins.

If given another chance, Askin would still make the same choice, because without evolving, facing Unohana Retsu with the help of Yuzu, Askin would only face certain death.

"You have a medical condition..."

Askin's sarcasm was met with a pitying reply from Unohana Retsu. A vague feeling crept into Askin's mind that this man, who so wielded the butcher's knife, actually wanted to save him?

Askin couldn't help but laugh at his own thoughts, and a fierce glint appeared on his face as he questioned, "Illness? You think you can save me?!"

Unohana Retsu didn't answer, but just kept attacking Askin's body. Seeing Unohana Retsu like this, Askin couldn't hold back anymore. He put his hands together in the shape of a hand chop and attacked Unohana Retsu.

Blood and purple venom bloomed continuously between the two. Unohana Retsu, wielding the blade, always had the upper hand over Askin, but Askin, confident in his invulnerability to injury, relentlessly attacked Unohana Retsu.

Superficially, Askin is the person most frequently attacked by Unohana Retsu.

But in reality, it was Askin who caused the most damage. During the attack, he injected all sorts of toxins into Unohana Retsu, while he himself suffered no injury whatsoever.

More and more blood gushed from Unohana Retsu's mouth, and her skin took on various strange colors, all signs of poisoning. Yet, Unohana Retsu was still able to draw her sword and continue her attack on Askin.

At this moment, Askin realized something was wrong. Why was this tattered corpse still able to attack him?

In Askin's eyes, Unohana Retsu was already a corpse among corpses. Hundreds of indicators in her body had exceeded the Deathdealing, so Unohana Retsu should have died more than a hundred times over.

Could it be the same ability as Giselle?

Askin had no idea what to do. He suddenly realized that continuing to fight Unohana Retsu here seemed pointless; he couldn't kill her, and she couldn't do anything to him.

For Yhwach's grand plan to attack Soul Society, Askin should have taken advantage of his heightened spiritual pressure to go outside and kill more Bleach.

I shouldn't be entangled with Unohana Retsu here!

Realizing this, Askin took the initiative to withdraw from his attack on Unohana Retsu, wanting to extricate himself from the battle. However, to his surprise, Unohana Retsu did not chase after him, but simply stood still.

"Has she finally given up...?"

Just as Askin thought Unohana Retsu was finally succumbing to the toxins surging through her body, he suddenly froze. He could feel his feet; his feet were treading on the ground?

After becoming a poison man, Askin had lost all sense of the world; after all, he was just a conscious mass of poison. Why then was he suddenly able to sense the presence of his feet?

"The cause of your illness was foreign objects in your nerves, which I have now completely removed..."

Unohana Retsu's voice drifted over, and she continued to strike Askin with her sword, not to fight Askin, but to battle the Pernida nerves within Askin's body. With each strike, she could strip a wisp of nerve from Askin's body.

The first step in treatment is to remove any foreign objects from the body.

"My evolution is complete, it's meaningless for you to strip away Pernida's power!" Askin said with certainty, his palms still showing the appearance of the Poison Man.

"After removing the lesions, we can accelerate the body's recovery," Unohana Retsu continued, explaining that the second step in the treatment was to restore the patient's body.

Hearing Unohana Retsu's words, Askin couldn't help but look down at the place where he could feel the touch. Thin streaks of blood were already spreading rapidly from the soles of his feet to his body. Before long, he could even feel the presence of his feet.

Reshaping the body—this is Unohana Retsu reshaping Askin's body, using her extremely advanced reversal abilities to reshape Askin's flesh and nerves.

"What do you mean? Save me?" Askin's expression was distorted, it was hard to tell whether it was gratitude or anger.

He should be moved. Askin didn't want to be just a mass of toxins for the rest of his life; he preferred the word "human."

But he couldn't help feeling angry, angry at Unohana Retsu for being himself.

Why? He had been hurting Unohana Retsu all along, so why did she save him? Why was he forced to stand on the opposite side as Quincy and Bleach when facing his savior?

Askin remembered the purpose of their Wandenreich's entry into Soul Society: to invade Seireitei and kill the Bleach within. And he had to kill the person who had saved him!

Askin clenched his fists tightly, and a flush of excitement began to rise on his face. His body had fully recovered, and even his evolved poison abilities remained.

He felt the existence of the world again and improved his strength. Askin felt as if he had enjoyed all the benefits of the world.

"Don't feel guilty." Having lived for a thousand years Unohana Retsu understood Askin's thoughts perfectly well. "I just did what I was supposed to do."

"But!"

Just as Askin was about to argue, suddenly, countless blood-red thorns pierced through Askin's body. While saving Askin, Unohana Retsu also planted a fatal factor inside him.

"I saved you only so that I could kill you!"

Unohana Retsu's killing intent surged instantly, sweeping across the entire underground area of Fourth Division. The blood-red thorns on Askin's body swayed slowly with the killing intent. Every part of Askin's body was pierced by the thorns, and his life was like a brake failure, rushing wildly towards death.

Since Unohana Retsu couldn't kill Askin in his poisoned state, she changed her approach.

First, she uses her powerful healing abilities to return human life to Askin, and then she ruthlessly takes Askin's life away. This is Unohana Retsu's way of doing things; saving people is also killing them.

"I see..." Askin's face showed relief, and a forced smile appeared on his lips. "Thanks..."

Thank you for letting me die as a human being...