The night sky above Seireitei was still and cloudless, the moon hanging like a polished silver coin. Yet the training field behind Division 4 felt anything but peaceful.
Ethan stood at one end, breathing slow, Saber-Form Akahana pulsing with a hot crimson glow in his grip.
Every heartbeat of the blade echoed like a muffled detonation.
BOOM… BOOM… BOOM…
Unohana stood at the opposite edge, Minazuki sheathed at her side.
Her expression was warm. Soft.
Lethal.
"Whenever you are ready," she said kindly.
Akahana giggled in Ethan's head.
"Oh, she has no idea what you can do now. Let's give her a fireworks show."
Ethan whispered back, "You're insane."
"Sweetheart," she replied, "I'm your sword. Insanity is in the job description."
---
The First Clash
Ethan inhaled.
His reiatsu flared—not wild, not bursting, but tight and sharp.
Akahana's Saber Form shimmered like a molten ribbon.
Unohana tilted her head slightly. "Good. Your breathing is calm."
Ethan stepped.
The ground exploded behind him as he flashed forward—fast, far faster than he had ever moved before.
Akahana enhanced everything:
Explosive thrust propulsion
Shockwave footwork
Micro-compressed detonation along the blade's edge
It felt like flying through gunfire.
Unohana's eyes widened a single fraction of a second—
the equivalent of anyone else screaming in shock.
Ethan swung.
SHRRRRP—
His saber sliced the air in a red arc, the explosion compressed so tightly it looked like a glowing line of energy.
It reached Unohana's throat—
—and passed through her.
Ethan stumbled.
"What—?!"
Her body dissolved like mist and re-formed behind him.
Her voice was soft, calm, utterly deadly.
"You telegraph your first strike too clearly."
Minazuki's blade kissed the back of his neck.
Ethan felt his soul freeze.
Akahana hissed.
"She's cutting the air of your intent. Move!"
Ethan threw himself sideways—barely avoiding the blade that sliced through the space he occupied a heartbeat earlier. The ground didn't crack.
It melted.
Unohana had switched from healer to killer.
They were no longer sparring.
This was survival.
---
Learning Controlled Death
Ethan stood, chest rising and falling rapidly.
"You almost killed me!" he yelled.
Unohana smiled sweetly. "Only almost? Good. That means you're learning."
He blanched.
Minazuki gleamed.
"In this form," she continued, "you must face opponents who can kill you in a single stroke. A blade that concentrates explosive force is powerful… but only if you survive long enough to use it."
Akahana snorted.
"She's teaching you baseline murder etiquette. Cute."
Ethan nodded shakily, tightening his grip.
"Again," Unohana said, lifting her blade.
---
Ethan Adapts
This time, he didn't charge blindly.
He lowered his center of gravity.
He inhaled.
He aimed.
Akahana whispered, soft and serious for once:
"Let me guide your arm. Don't overwhelm. Focus."
He stepped forward—
and this time, his movement was almost silent.
Compressed explosions activated only where needed:
A micro-blast under his foot
A short burst along his spine
A forward detonation in his palm
Each one precise.
Each one controlled.
Unohana's smile grew.
"You're beginning to understand."
They met in the center.
CLANG—BOOM—
The clash shook the training grounds.
Unohana's reiatsu sharpened like a surgeon's scalpel, slicing Ethan's killing intent clean in half.
But Akahana reacted instantly.
She flared a countercurrent of compressed shockwaves along the blade's length, converting Unohana's killing pressure into kinetic force.
The result—
A shockwave erupted sideways, not harming either of them, but tearing a long trench through the earth.
Unohana's eyes sparkled.
"Oh my," she whispered. "That form is beautiful."
Akahana preened inside Ethan's mind.
"I like her. She has taste."
---
The Turning Point
Unohana moved first.
This time she wasn't teaching.
She was testing.
Her shunpo blurred—
then tripled—
then surged again.
She moved like a ripple in reality, each step accompanied by a faint hum of death.
Ethan instinctively crossed his blade.
Minazuki came down.
BOOOOM—SHIIIING—
The moment the blades met—
Ethan felt his arm breaking.
His lungs collapsing.
His skin peeling.
Unohana wasn't even trying to kill him.
This was just how strong she was.
But—
Akahana screamed in his mind, furious and protective.
"DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME—!!"
Her power surged.
The blade flared bright red.
And for the first time—
Ethan stopped a full-strength Unohana kill-stroke.
Both of them froze.
Unohana blinked.
"… impressive."
Ethan fell to one knee, gasping, the earth beneath him charred.
Akahana steadied him, her voice trembling with pride.
"You did it. You actually… did it."
---
Unohana's Verdict
Unohana sheathed Minazuki.
Her smile was warm, peaceful, almost maternal—
which somehow made it more terrifying.
"Ethan," she said gently, "you may continue living."
Ethan collapsed onto the ground. "T-Thank you…? I think?"
She nodded. "Your Saber Form is viable in real combat. But you lack endurance. And if you cannot sustain Akahana's power…"
Her eyes sharpened.
"You will explode."
Ethan choked. "What?! I can explode?!"
Akahana clicked her tongue.
"Oh, please. Only… sometimes."
"That doesn't help!"
Unohana turned away, already planning the next horror.
"Tomorrow," she said, "we begin endurance conditioning."
Ethan stared at the sky as Akahana giggled in his head.
"Sweetheart… you survived a dance with Death herself. You should be proud."
He groaned.
But he couldn't deny it—
Something inside him burned brighter now.
Something fierce.
Something strong.
The fire of a blade that was finally awake.