Chapter 149: The Shell Around His Device!
At that moment, neither woman could believe her ears.
Nene especially found it impossible to accept.
When she first awakened as a Blazer, she had personally beaten her worthless stepfather to death.
The man drank and indulged himself every day while constantly abusing both Nene and her mother.
Afterward, Nene became addicted to violence.
She constantly targeted people she hated or those strong enough to interest her, taking pleasure in tormenting them.
At the time, even the police had been unable to deal with her.
But Nangou Torajirou eventually appeared.
Smiling gently, he proposed a wager to Nene.
If she won that year's Seven Star Sword Art Festival, Torajirou would grant any request she made.
If she lost, she would obediently attend Bukyoku Academy, where he was teaching at the time.
Young and hot-blooded, Nene accepted the provocation without hesitation.
The result was obvious.
During the Seven Star Sword Art Festival, she encountered the lifelong rival who had not yet married and become Shinguuji Kurono.
Back then, her name was Takizawa Kurono.
At that year's Festival, Nene, who understood nothing except violence, could not defeat her no matter what she tried.
She fought head-on, created diversions, pretended to surrender, and launched sneak attacks.
Nene used every tactic she had learned over the years, yet Kurono still grabbed her by the hair and fired a bullet into her forehead.
Afterward, Nene genuinely began studying techniques under Torajirou.
At the same time, she secretly swore that she would someday crush that infuriating woman.
Although Kurono's marriage caused her to lose her direction for a while, Nene eventually decided to walk the path Kurono did not dare take.
She would become the person Kurono herself admired.
Looking back with her current perspective, Nene could only describe her younger self as beyond saving.
She had possessed no goal and knew only how to cause trouble, living a hollow and meaningless life.
Yet Nangou Torajirou had still dared to reach out to someone as hopeless as her.
And now, that same man claimed to fear someone's Device.
To Nene, it sounded as ridiculous as saying someone could casually destroy the world without undergoing any training.
However, Nangou Torajirou's shaken eyes and the faint trembling of the hand gripping his cane proved that it was true.
The renowned [God of War] was genuinely afraid of a young boy's Device.
"Shiro's Device is covered by something even this old man cannot understand."
"Just like its current appearance, I suspect the red light at its center is the form his Device was originally meant to possess."
Although his body was no longer as strong as it had once been, Torajirou's years of experience allowed him to see the problem with Shiro's Device.
"The human body is a shell. A Device draws out the power hidden beneath that shell."
"But Shiro is different. For some unknown reason, his soul is covered by another shell."
A Device was like a sword.
Everyone else placed their sword inside a single scabbard, but Shiro's sword possessed two.
During battle, he merely drew the sword from the scabbard known as his body.
Then he struck people while the blade remained sealed inside the second scabbard, making it impossible to release the sword's true power.
"To unleash the real power of Shiro's Device, he must bypass the shell covering his soul."
"He must either break that shell and release his true Device, or leave the Device inside his body and transform it into another form of energy he can control."
"But even if he places the Device inside his body, wouldn't that shell still remain?"
Kurono frowned as she asked.
Even if the Device returned inside him, the shell attached to the surface of Shiro's soul would still exist.
Unless he never summoned his Device, his soul and body could not completely merge.
But if he did not summon it at all, how could he possibly unleash its true power?
"No. If he places the Device inside his body while simultaneously transforming his soul, he should be able to bypass the shell covering it temporarily..."
Nene shook her head and rejected Kurono's conclusion.
Unlike Kurono, Nene had entered the realm of Desperados long ago.
A possibility appeared in her mind, causing the fist hidden beneath her kimono sleeve to tighten unconsciously.
'If that's true, then it's no wonder the old man is afraid.'
'Once Shiro reaches that state, he'll probably become no different from a wild beast...'
"But how can someone transform their soul while summoning their Device?"
"Have you forgotten, Kuro-chan? What frightens you most right now?"
"You mean... becoming a [Desperado]? But wasn't Shiro already one from the beginning—"
"No."
Nagou Torajirou interrupted Kurono before she could finish.
"A Desperado is not the pinnacle."
"Even after becoming one, there is still another method of forcing the soul to undergo a further transformation..."
He suddenly fell silent.
Nagou Torajirou appeared hesitant about whether he should reveal this information to Nene and Kurono.
After a long while, he slowly exhaled and finally spoke four words.
"It's called [Excessive Awakening]."
...
Clang—!
"Touka, isn't it about time we finished warming up?"
After cutting apart another bolt of lightning, Shiro raised an eyebrow and addressed Touka.
To the spectators, their dazzling exchange of sword techniques seemed extraordinary.
But they were merely using the swordsmanship they had practiced during their everyday sparring sessions under Torajirou.
For the two of them, these were only the fundamentals among fundamentals.
Even so, those basic techniques had already left the arena in ruins.
Every collision between their blades sent countless stones flying or carved a terrifying sword mark into the training field.
If they continued, the arena would probably collapse before either of them could determine the winner.
"I lost again. As expected, I still can't match you in fundamental swordsmanship."
Hearing him, Touka also stopped swinging her blade.
She could clearly feel that Shiro had been restraining his strength during their clashes.
He had even used less force than she did.
That meant his swordsmanship had already reached an entirely higher level than hers.
However, Touka did not become discouraged.
The same thing had frequently happened during their childhood sparring sessions.
Besides, the coming exchange would decide the true outcome far more than these fundamental techniques.
Touka returned [Narukami] to its scabbard.
It was the preparatory stance for her Noble Art—
[Raikiri].
…
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