Ever since Suzuki Makoto defeated the coalition army organized by the largest factions of District 80, the name "Yellow Turban" had thoroughly spread far and wide.
Whether it was the man himself or that army of his, their offensive swept through everything with irresistible force. Almost all the settlements in the entire District 80 surrendered the moment they saw the wind blow in their direction.
It wasn't that no one wanted to negotiate with them. These fellows, accustomed to acting like tyrants, wanted to secure some special privileges through concessions, but they were all ruthlessly rejected.
Consequently, only two paths remained before these local heavyweights: either defeat Suzuki Makoto or flee ahead of time.
As numerous leaders fled with their subordinates and hoarded wealth, the entire environment of the Zaraki District was completely rewritten by the Yellow Turban Army founded by Suzuki Makoto. Of course, there were those who tried to spite Suzuki Makoto by destroying water sources, but their end was grim; even those who crawled as far as District 77 were captured by Suzuki Makoto and publicly executed.
Here, people finally no longer needed to cross swords over a single mouthful of food or a bag of water. Order had once again returned to this place despised by the Soul Society.
At the same time, the number of troops personally selected by Suzuki Makoto did not increase but rather decreased. This was because many stayed behind in various locations to handle temporary stability and build up militia units. After all, those who fled were never going to leave any resources or manpower for Suzuki Makoto.
However, this did not slow down Suzuki Makoto's plan to merge the outer ring. During the time they spent securing the entire Zaraki District, the sorting of supplies in Great Lake Town had been completed. Grain and water needed to be transported to some of the more struggling camps, so the items that piled up the most were actually various coins and weapons.
In the face of the rules established by Suzuki Makoto, coins were essentially useless in the areas controlled by the Yellow Turban Army. Even before this, most money was tightly gripped in the hands of the upper-level leaders and bosses, used only for trading with other districts; the ordinary people themselves had no habit of using money.
Weapons, on the other hand, piled up for the completely opposite reason. In the Zaraki District, weapons were the primary equivalent of value. Therefore, after so many people had died, the quantity of weapons now stacked in Great Lake Town had reached a point where there were more than enough for every person to have three swords.
And among them, naturally, there were some good items.
"Lord Suzuki, these two swords are said to be weapons captured from Shinigami of the Seireitei who died here previously. They must be divine weapons. Only in your hands can they display their greatest value!"
Two boxes that looked quite expensive were presented to Suzuki Makoto. Upon opening them, two completely identical swords lay inside.
Suzuki Makoto reached out and picked one up, and his system—which usually acted like a hemiplegic invalid—finally reacted.
[Name: Asauchi]
That was it.
The man looked bewildered. How could that be all?
Weren't Asauchi supposed to be mass-produced standard swords? Why did it turn out to be something unawakable once it was in his hands?
Not believing in such evil luck, he picked up the other one, only to find the situation remained exactly the same. The system was still extremely stingy, giving only a name without any status or remarks.
"My Lord, is something wrong?" Ken asked with concern.
"It's nothing. You all can choose whatever other swords you like. Store the excess weapons properly for now; later, we will swap the good weapons into those new villages. Many camps still don't have enough weapon reserves."
"Yes!"
The other party immediately went to carry out Suzuki Makoto's instructions, leaving Suzuki Makoto alone to continue pondering the Asauchi in his hand.
He attempted to nurture this sword using the sword-nurturing method his master had taught him, but he found that the Essence, Qi, and Spirit he infused merely rolled around inside before returning to his own body. It was as if this Asauchi was just an empty house with an unlocked door, incapable of accommodating his sword intent.
Suzuki Makoto took out his own Sukunagiri. When he infused it with the same Essence, Qi, and Spirit, no issues occurred; the energy remained within the blade, the sensation of sharpness almost cutting the air itself.
He picked up the Asauchi again. This time, he no longer infused it with Essence, Qi, and Spirit, but instead controlled Reishi to surge into it. As the Reishi gathered, Suzuki Makoto felt a suction force generate from the sword in his hand, appearing as if it wanted to pull his soul into it. He focused his mind, and that suction force instantly vanished.
Suzuki Makoto's expression became subtle. This might be where the reason lay—unless he placed a divided portion of his spirit onto the blade like his master had done before, he could only let the Asauchi passively absorb a part of his soul for it to transform into his own Zanpakutō.
Just as he intended to temporarily shelve the use of a Zanpakutō, he discovered that the Command Seal on the back of his right hand seemed to be faintly resonating with this Asauchi.
What was going on?
Curious, Suzuki Makoto filled the Asauchi with Reishi once more. This time, when that suction force emerged, he decisively fed the power of the Command Seal into it. That Asauchi instantly transformed into a pitch-black Western cross-guard greatsword, and the system's identification for it refreshed in an instant.
[Name: Zanpakutō · Dragon Witch]
[Status: Awakened]
[Remark: When a void thing truly possesses its own emotions, she is no longer a ghost with nothing to rely on.]
Suzuki Makoto scrutinized the sword in his hand... Why did he feel like he had seen this somewhere before?
"Why does this look so much like the one Jeanne held before?"
He muttered to himself. Could it be that his previous contract with Jeanne had left some trace behind?
But no matter what, Jeanne couldn't possibly be called a Dragon Witch, right? If it were Dragon Saint, he would have accepted it, but the title of Witch shouldn't be—
Wait.
Suzuki Makoto flipped the sword over again, looking at the black dragon on the hilt, his expression turning peculiar.
Could this be referring to that Black Jeanne summoned by the blackened Gilles de Rais using the Holy Grail?
Wasn't it said that Jeanne herself wasn't a Heroic Spirit, but merely a magical construct of the Holy Grail? How did she end up residing in his Command Seal and even entering this Zanpakutō?
But speaking of Holy Grails...
He had indeed lost a Holy Grail before.
At this moment, Suzuki Makoto realized what had happened. The Holy Grail that had gone missing after he bid farewell to Fujimaru Ritsuka had not been refreshed and deleted by the world rules incompatibility as he had thought. Instead, it had once again become the magical core for Black Jeanne, hiding within the Command Seal on the back of his hand.
Coupled with the vengeful spirits he had ceaselessly killed in the Sekiro world previously, those emotions of resentment were evidently an excellent source of magical energy for 'Black Jeanne' (Jalter). That was the reason why his Command Seal had been constantly changing.
Having clarified the sequence of events, Suzuki Makoto now felt somewhat of a headache.
____
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