Chapter 183: Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's Heart Palpitations x Intercepting Morena
[Notification: "Faith Power" cleared. "Swordsmanship" experience increasing... +10... +50... +100... +1000...]
[Current "Swordsmanship": Lv3 (7548/10000) → Lv4 (142/100000)]
[Note: Lv4 (Sword Intent Domain). Notification... Host can broaden the path of the sword through the Nen ability "Gate of Cognition" combined with the "Visualization Object"...]
Through drawing lessons... imitating... and then creating...
[Sword] and [Sun]... Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni!
The "Gate of Cognition" flickered, rapidly constructing an image in Roy's mind: an aged face, majestic without anger, mottled with hideous scars. White eyebrows, white beard, the braided beard under his chin nearly dragging on the ground. A pair of half-cloudy, half-white old eyes, tempered by time, narrowed slightly... instantly making one's breath hitch and heart race!
Master Sakonji Urokodaki had once told Roy that the training blade was just for practice. Once he officially passed the Demon Slayer selection and became a Demon Slayer, a swordsmith from the Swordsmith Village would personally deliver a forged blade... But Roy had gently refused his master's suggestion the day he first held the training blade.
A blade forged by another is ultimately tainted with another's will. Not pure enough!
No matter how well-made, refined, or sharp the blade, if the user is different, it is ultimately difficult to achieve "Man and Blade as One"!
But the training blade was different. It was a "mass-produced" blade. All training blades were cast from the same mold. They had no unique features, yet every part was a feature, possessing the potential to expand in "infinite directions"... Especially when a higher-ranking existence existed in his self-cognition as a "Famous Teacher"...
Roy stroked the blade, his gaze gentle. Opening all his aura nodes, he converted all the "Nen" in his body into [Searing Essence], connected it to the great sun hanging high above the church dome, and poured it all into the training blade. He whispered softly: "Bankai, Zanka no Tachi!"
Whoosh~ A wind swept into the dilapidated church, instantly carrying away all the noise!
The world seemed to pause in this moment!
Only a blade and a person remained... the only Light in the eyes of Bolton, Ilya, Kastro, the three little Spiders, and the numerous black-suited men and scavengers on 4th Street, West Sector, Meteor City!
Silence! Not a flicker of fire or light escaped the blade... The training blade was held quietly in Roy's hand. The blade turned from "red" to "black," like an ordinary wooden stick charred by fire, no longer burning, yet still emitting the residual "heat of fire"...
Suddenly, a soft creak...
The moment the "Training Blade" transformed...
Among the many "Gateways" standing in Roy's cognitive world, the one branded with a "horned corpse demon" trembled, seemingly sensing something, and cracked open a slit...
A corner was revealed...
A small courtyard appeared, with a long corridor, an old man, a middle-aged man, and two cats, one big and one small, resting peacefully. However... as the old man sitting cross-legged in the corridor, dragging his long white beard, resting both hands on a wooden cane, slowly opened his eyes...
Two divine lights suddenly shot from his narrow eyes, startling the cats into bristling fur...
Chojiro Sasakibe, dressed in a Shihakusho with a high-collared shirt underneath, white hair and golden eyes, stopped tending to the two potted plants in front of him and looked back...
"What is it, Eijisai?" (Note: "Eijisai," or "Genryūsai," is the private name used by Lieutenant Chojiro Sasakibe for Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni. The cross-shaped scar on Yamamoto's forehead was left by Sasakibe as an opponent years ago.)
The old man remained silent. He merely reached out a withered hand to his chest, feeling the heart that had beaten steadily through two thousand years of erosion suddenly skip a beat... Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni pondered, looked up at the high-hanging sun, and said slowly, "Chojiro, my heart is unsettled."
Chojiro Sasakibe twitched his sexy little mustache, surprised. "Are you still worried about Kyoraku and Ukitake?"
Kyoraku was lazy, Ukitake was frail... neither was an ideal choice to inherit his mantle. Chojiro Sasakibe had followed Yamamoto for over two thousand years; how could he not understand Yamamoto's thoughts? He continued watering the plants while advising, "The Gotei 13 is full of talent. If you're really bored..."
"Accepting another disciple to pass the time wouldn't hurt..."
As for... whether they could inherit the full mantle of his captain and close friend... Chojiro didn't even think about it... because... it was too hard!
To put it bluntly, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni was the sun. It was his brilliance that stabilized the Seireitei!
So... where in the world would he find a second sun?
"Accept another one?" The old man touched his chest, falling into deep thought...
The inexplicable skipped beat had indeed occurred... With a creak, the crack closed again...
The gate branded with the "Corpse Demon" locked...
Hunter World, Meteor City.
Immersed in "Bankai," Roy listened to the training blade's "excitement," "joy," "impatience," and "eagerness"... telling him it wanted to show him its new power...
Dressed as a priest, Roy moved the hand holding the training blade, swaying the sun pendant on his chest, and executed a plain, horizontal slash.
"Zanka no Tachi, East: Kyokujitsujin!" (Rising Sun Edge)
A plain, thin line swept across... Just as Bolton touched his fists together to set the "explosion" again, and Ilya activated his Nen ability—"Vector Manipulation"—opening his hand to flick a "Vector Arrow" to connect with the "explosion" and send it to Roy...
The "explosion" fizzled out like a "dud" the moment the thin line passed. Following it... tables, chairs, floorboards, and... everything tangible reflected in the eyes of Bolton and Ilya began to be obliterated!
"Damn it, use Ken! Quickly!"
"There's something wrong with his sword!"
"You're... too late..."
As Ilya's pupils constricted and he leaped back violently, the arrogant Bolton had just activated Ken when his lower body vanished. Only his face remained, looking at Ilya in horror. Then, inch by inch, piece by piece, as if erased by an eraser, he vanished from the world before he could even cry for help, following the tables and chairs into oblivion.
[Zanka no Tachi, East: Kyokujitsujin]. All creation turns to ash, flowing blade like fire!
It didn't burn, nor did it release visible "explosive flames." It simply used scorching heat to vaporize everything the blade light touched... In Bleach, during the Thousand-Year Blood War, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's single strike covered the entire Seireitei, drying everyone's throats and drawing all eyes. at his peak, the blade's temperature reportedly approached the core of the sun. Roy's casual slash, upon careful feeling, compared to Old Man Yamamoto... his "Bankai" temperature didn't even match the other's "Shikai," Ryūjin Jakka. He shook his head secretly. "Still too weak."
Not hot enough... understanding of the sun not deep enough... cultivation time too short... plus it wasn't the main body, only exerting 80% of the combat power... The boy watched dissatisfied as everything in the church hall vaporized, gradually reaching Ilya's feet. This so-called "Dominator," a Manipulator, showed panic on his calm face for the first time. Retreating step by step... he climbed onto the window sill. "Stop!"
"Aren't you afraid of Morena? Aren't you afraid of being wanted globally by Kakin?"
"She's the King's daughter! Fourth Prince Tserriednich's own sister!"
"He killed him. That priest definitely doesn't care about that." On the tall garbage mountain adjacent to 4th Street, Chrollo, watching everything through the telescope via the broken church window, said dazedly.
That slash brought a visual effect he had never, and could never, perform in The Cleanup Brigade!
"Hot... so hot... Pakunoda, you're sweating..." Shalnark glanced at the girl sharing the telescope with Chrollo. Pakunoda was drenched in sweat but ignored the heat, her beautiful eyes wide. Seeing the church instantly "refreshed" into emptiness, her brain crashed, unable to process the "heat signal." What's going on? Why are you all spacing out?
"Let me see!" Shalnark squeezed past Pakunoda, leaning next to Chrollo to look through the lens at the church. He suddenly yelped, "Why is the church empty?!"
Looking again... the lens reflected the sword-wielding boy, silent, simply raising his hand and shooting a blade of light... driving the Bankai-enhanced training blade to suddenly extend... crossing the space in an instant to stab straight at Elder Ilya's face.
Elder Seven, who controlled others via "Vector Manipulation," gritted his teeth and whispered "Return!"
Suddenly, another "arrow" hooked the blade light, stabbing back at Roy. His face, having been silently rejected by Roy, turned black. He said coldly, "Did you think I was afraid of you?"
Actually... "I was giving you a chance!"
"Vector Manipulation: Eight-Fold Strangle!"
[Vector Manipulation]: Using En as radar and "Nen" as a "guide" to manipulate "vectors," Ilya could designate a target at will and instantly fire one to eight arrows!
Attack or defense, as long as his "Nen" held out, relying on "vector" guidance, no attack could touch him... including "blade light"!
"Mechanics... this isn't 'stats' anymore, but touching the edge of 'mechanics'..."
[Shinso] returned, fixed by a trace of magnetism converted by Roy... The boy instantly understood Ilya's Nen ability. Narrowing his eyes, watching the eight "arrows" caging him like eight sharp blade tips, he sighed. "This church was actually quite nice. I really didn't want to destroy it..."
He moved calmly. Another slash... his body vanished, instantly appearing behind Ilya just as he roared "Vector, Return!"
First to move, first to arrive!
A thrust wrapped in six-thousand-degree heat pierced through his protective Ken, opening a hole in his chest, then carrying him to smash through a church wall... Under Ilya's painful, disbelief-filled question—"You're not just 'Conjuration', you're 'Specialization'?"—and his despairing gaze...
He was sent to ash...
The sword, the heat that melted everything, the space-crossing thrust, the bizarre vanishing movement...
"Your Conjuration is Conjuration. My Conjuration is more than Conjuration..."
Clang. The training blade was sheathed...
The boy stood where Ilya had vaporized, twisting a wisp of his vapor, saying calmly, "It seems Morena didn't care much about you either..."
She didn't even tell him that "the end of all categories eventually points to the 'Specialization' category"...
Was it Ilya and Bolton's tragedy, or Morena's cold heartlessness?
[Notification: "Life Energy" +120... +150...]
[Notification: "Life Energy" struggling violently... attempting to fly solo... Intercepting...]
[Notification: Interception successful.]
The panel notification appeared...
In the void, a pair of dead-gray eyes met Roy's gaze through the newly emerged spirits of Ilya and Bolton...
The woman reached out to grab them, but unexpectedly, Ilya and Bolton rapidly split into emaciated spirits—roaring, dazed, or weeping with joy. A moment later, they all bowed to Roy and instantly vanished into his body...
The woman, wearing a flower rope on her head, grabbed empty air. She stared blankly for a moment. Before dissipating, she looked deeply at Roy, lost in thought...
"You... are very good..."
Pop~ The image rippled like water and shattered...
Roy holding the scriptures, sun pendant around his neck, robe swaying in the wind, standing alone in the empty church... the image reflected in the woman's dead-gray eyes...
Kakin Empire, A-I Family Headquarters.
Morena Prudo snapped back to reality. Her anomaly was keenly sensed by the dog-headed man standing beside her, guarding her constantly.
"Morena, you spaced out," he said.
"Dog, Ilya and Bolton... are dead..."
"Who?"
"Ilya and Bolton."
Morena propped her chin on her hand, leaning back in her chair at the desk. Spread before her was a cooperation proposal from Beyond. Her dead-gray eyes showed a glint of light for the first time. She repeated with interest, "I saw it... it was a young priest... he killed my Ilya and Bolton..."
The dog-headed man, resembling Old Kohler, whether a magical beast or a human mutated by "Nen," was silent for two seconds. He glanced at Morena. "So?"
"What do you plan to do? Avenge those two pieces of trash?"
"No."
Morena rubbed her red lips with her index finger, carefully savoring Roy's appearance. Those indifferent eyes... somehow, she liked them!
The woman's red lips moved, smiling rarely. "It doesn't matter if they died. But the aura that should have been mine was hijacked... Dog..."
Morena licked her lips. "I smelled a familiar scent on him. Maybe..."
"He's one of us!"
"Then he must be a lunatic too!" The dog-headed man shrugged, not shying away from Morena. "Please, dealing with one of you is enough. I don't have the energy for a second one..."
"Woof..."
A bark echoed in the small study...
Followed by the woman's obsessive laughter.
☆☆☆
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