"You say you're a passerby, and there are other worlds... Could it be that you traveled to this world?"
Daigo looked at Suzuki Makoto in surprise. This explanation instead gave him a sense of sudden realization.
"Yes, so I won't linger here any longer, Daigo team member. Protect this world well."
"Definitely!"
Suzuki Makoto smiled and waved goodbye to him, then turned and walked deeper into the mountains.
Daigo watched his back disappear before carrying the unconscious man down the mountain—although Ida Iryuu was still attached to his body, the crime of stealing the shrine's ancient artifact needed legal punishment first.
Suzuki Makoto returned to the vicinity of the shrine and gave it a slight repair and tidy-up. He picked up the blade that had just slain Ryomen Sukuna, hesitating somewhat.
[Name: Sukunakiri]
[Status: Awakened]
[Note: Now it's really your turn to kick Ryomen Sukuna's ass.]
He indeed had too many swords now. In terms of destructive power, the Mortal Blade was the most ferocious; this Sukunakiri and the Demon Slayer Blade were somewhat inferior. Moreover, the Nichirin Blade was custom-made, so it felt the most comfortable to use, making this Sukunakiri seem a bit awkward.
Back then, he had been reluctant to part with it because it was his only sword in the process of awakening. But now, after visiting three worlds, this was his second fully awakened sword. So Suzuki Makoto considered simply leaving it here.
While Suzuki Makoto was pondering, a space-time vortex appeared.
Suzuki Makoto was stunned. This time, the vortex didn't transmit any urgent emotions. It seemed the system had opened this world to help him—yet he hadn't even thought about what he needed, and it still triggered the mechanism?
It couldn't be opening a door to a warehouse, right?
This trip to slay the Sakura Dragon had only taken a little over ten days. Plus, when returning to the Demon Slayer world, the anchor point wouldn't shift. Since the system had directly opened this world for him now, Suzuki Makoto was quite interested.
He took all three swords with him and strode through the space-time vortex, welcoming once again the familiar inversion of heaven and earth.
Suzuki Makoto opened his eyes and looked at the dilapidated scene before him, letting out a soft sigh.
Though he didn't know where this was, the presence of such a wasteland clearly meant this world was suffering under some torment.
He slightly sidestepped, dodging the attacking club, and smashed his scabbard onto the opponent's nose.
A suppressed grunt rose, but the opponent didn't retreat from the heavy blow to the sensitive spot. Instead, he thrust straight at Suzuki Makoto with a dagger hidden in his left hand.
Crack.
The pain of his left hand fracturing finally made the opponent scream, kneeling to the ground and completely losing his fighting ability.
"What place is this?"
"Hahahaha, a Shinigami like you comes here and doesn't even know what place this is?"
Shinigami.
Suzuki Makoto's expression shifted as long-buried memories began to stir once more.
"This is Rukongai's 80th District—[Zaraki]! Big shots like you coming here have only one end: to be devoured utterly by the angry wild dogs of this place!"
The man on the ground showed no regret. He merely stared deathly at Suzuki Makoto, his eyes filled with insoluble resentment.
Shinigami, Rukongai, Zaraki...
"So this is Soul Society?"
Suzuki Makoto finally remembered where this was.
The man was still howling something, but Suzuki Makoto no longer cared to listen. He severed the man's head, and all the filthy words came to an abrupt end.
Suzuki Makoto thoughtfully sheathed his sword. He now understood the system's intent in sending him to this world: compared to carrying so many swords, a single Zanpakutō that could serve as a soul extension was truly sufficient.
A Shinigami's Zanpakutō was uniformly called an Asauchi before awakening—clearly just mass-forged empty shells by Ōetsu Nimaiya to contain a Shinigami's soul. If he could obtain an Asauchi here in the 80th District, the most barren and remote area of Rukongai, he could infuse it with his own soul power.
This was the 80th District, Rukongai's most desolate and remote place. To sneak into the Shin'ō Academy entrance exam with his aptitude shouldn't be a problem.
But there was another issue. He remembered that people in Soul Society could survive on water alone; only those with extremely strong Reiryoku needed to eat. What Suzuki Makoto was curious about was how the food here would taste and affect him.
He searched the man's body. Besides a waterskin, there were only a few black biscuits. Suzuki Makoto took a bite; they were hard, but definitely edible food.
Feeling the spiritual energy from the food flow through his body, Suzuki Makoto curiously manipulated it, quickly realizing this must be Reishi.
In his perception, the surrounding air held thin Reishi, but it existed. He tried controlling and absorbing it, surprised to find the Reishi here as docile as domesticated lambs.
The crumbs fell from his hand. The biscuits' Reishi was instantly extracted, and after entering his body, Suzuki Makoto felt a slight sense of fullness. Clearly, in Soul Society, he could already skip the eating stage.
This delighted Suzuki Makoto greatly. He had asked his master how to train the mind, but the answer had been vague. Perhaps before it wasn't time, but after those two chats with Ida Iryuu, the man held nothing back—meaning Ida Iryuu was the purest stats grinder, getting strong just by training without knowing how to teach it properly.
It seemed his harvest in this world would be more than just a Zanpakutō.
Having decided, Suzuki Makoto headed toward the nearest place where he sensed living people, planning to ask them the way to Seireitei.
But when he found the cave sheltering a few residents, he fell silent.
A boy nervously gripped a sharpened wooden stick pointed at him. Behind him were two elders similarly holding sticks, and at the very back, a younger girl tightly clutching a waterskin.
"We absolutely won't give you our water!"
The scrawny boy braced himself, baring his teeth at Suzuki Makoto. The elders behind him, though their eyes revealed fear and despair, trembled as they gripped their weapons, trying to protect the apparently empty, deflated waterskin.
Suzuki Makoto was silent for a moment before tossing over the previous waterskin.
He suddenly no longer felt like asking for directions.
___
New Story: FGO: Building a Lostbelt from Scratch, the Winner is Canon
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