Seeing that Inaba Tsukuyo showed not the slightest intention of backing down, insisting on blocking the way, Narukami Koharu narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.
This girl. She'd grown some skills.
All these years, whether in method or in raw strength, she had always kept Inaba Tsukuyo firmly crushed beneath her. A one-sided steamrolling.
As for the confrontation before her now—though she still had absolutely no idea what upheaval Inaba Tsukuyo had gone through during the days she'd vanished—still.
Since her little sister wanted to stand on the opposing side. Then they'd fight.
For someone who loved battle, there was no need to waste even a single word more.
The fight came in that very instant.
It detonated completely within the span of a millisecond.
"Klang!"
A crisp ring shattered the air.
The blood-stained fingers of Narukami Koharu's right hand viciously flicked the ring of her blade. The motion flowed in one seamless breath.
Her right hand left behind nothing but a blurred afterimage that the human eye could not possibly follow. This—this was Cloud Radiance.
The cold light drove straight in at a tricky, ruthless angle, slicing toward the throat of Inaba Tsukuyo who stood blocking the way ahead! A single strike to sever the head!
And yet.
In that fleeting instant, the course of things underwent a violent reversal.
With 『Mind's Eye』 fully open, and blessed by the double-layered limit-break beyond the Lv.2 threshold of her Grace, Inaba Tsukuyo had long since become utterly divorced from that blind swordsman of her former mortal days.
The result, naturally, could not have been clearer.
Narukami Koharu. Struck down in defeat.
"Klang!" "Claaang!"
Narukami Koharu could not hold her blade at all.
The longsword in her hand instantly spun free of her grip and flew out, tumbling several loops through the air.
It plunged straight down, burying its head deep into the muddy ground not far away.
At the very same moment.
Narukami Koharu's hollow, cavernous eyes went wide with fury.
Her body took the recoil.
She staggered backward a full three great steps.
Only then, at the very edge of danger, did she grit her teeth hard and barely manage to keep her balance without toppling over.
The tiger's mouth of her hand split open outright, bright red blood spraying forth.
"What just happened?!"
Narukami Koharu was somewhat stunned.
In disbelief, she stared hard at her own palm—still oozing blood, gone numb, even faintly losing most of its sensation.
In that instant of collision when their blades met just now.
She had actually failed to fully track the precise trajectory of her own little sister's counterstrike!
In contrast, Inaba Tsukuyo still stood quietly, calm and composed, in the very spot where they'd just crossed blades.
Not even a single strand of her silver hair had been blown out of place.
"...How disappointing. Tsukuyo is disappointed."
Inaba Tsukuyo, eyes tightly shut, spat out the words flatly.
She gave not the slightest bit of face to the elder sister who had once towered over her.
"Even if Elder Sister has honed her blade to the realm of Cloud Radiance."
"But your current realm, Elder Sister—in the end you are still nothing more than a mortal."
Inaba Tsukuyo tilted her head.
"Even should Elder Sister break through the limits of mortals, you still cannot catch a single casual swing of Tsukuyo's."
"Set down your arrogance, Sister."
"Apologize to Kami-sama, and then respectfully accept the baptism of Kami-sama's Grace."
"Only in this way, Elder Sister, will you come to witness what true power is."
The moment these words fell.
The open ground was so quiet that all one could hear was the rustling whisper of wind sweeping over fallen leaves.
Narukami Koharu glanced once more at her palm, from which the warm tiger's-mouth blood kept trickling.
Then.
"That kind of power..."
Narukami Koharu stared fixedly at Inaba Tsukuyo.
"If I take that thing, will I become even stronger than the way you are now, Tsukuyo?"
"Of course."
Hearing this purely power-chasing question from Narukami Koharu.
The corner of Inaba Tsukuyo's mouth at last curved into a faint smile.
"Right now is precisely the time when Kami-sama thirsts for talent."
"I believe that with Elder Sister's gifts, you will very soon undergo Rank Sublimation to the same tier as Tsukuyo's."
Hearing this.
Narukami Koharu flung the humiliation she'd just suffered clear beyond the ninth heaven.
The corners of her mouth curled up wildly, baring a mouthful of shark teeth.
And so.
The four of them once again returned to the principal's office inside the Aichi Symbiosis Academy.
"Alright then."
"Since Elder Sister has already decided to follow, then, Kami-sama, now it's time to have Elder Sister take off her clothes!"
Inaba Tsukuyo suddenly spoke up.
The instant these words came out.
Fujibayashi Yukino immediately turned her head to look.
Even Narukami Koharu was left blank for a moment.
Haimer, standing in the middle, could only cast a helpless glance at the startlingly outspoken Inaba Tsukuyo. But the little girl wasn't wrong.
The ritual procedure was indeed exactly that. After all, Grace could only be inscribed upon skin of the back directly bared to the open air.
Hearing this, Narukami Koharu lowered her head and glanced at the clothing on her body.
Then she nodded.
"I don't quite understand why I have to take off my clothes."
"But since this is the command of the ritual that must be performed to obtain power, then I'll simply do as told."
Having said that.
Narukami Koharu showed not the faintest trace of shyness or coyness at baring her body before a man.
She crossed both hands and gripped the hem of her uniform.
With a forceful upward tug.
The fabric rasped against her skin.
Cleanly and decisively, she stripped off all the clothing from her upper body and tossed it aside.
Leaving only the most form-fitting undergarment wrapped around her exceptionally well-developed figure.
Then, following the direction indicated by Haimer's finger.
Narukami Koharu turned around and bent both knees.
She knelt down onto the broad leather cushion of the sofa.
Her body leaning slightly forward, she prostrated herself flat directly against it.
Haimer stood by the side of the sofa.
Gazing at the back the girl laid bare.
Her slender waist could be encircled in a single grasp, the lines of muscle faintly emerging along both sides.
Further down.
Her wrapped, full buttocks—because of the prostrating posture on the sofa—had their flesh squeezed toward either side.
Straining out two astonishingly full contours. Haimer did not look further.
He pierced his fingertip and let a single drop of bright red Divine Blood fall onto the center of that fair, smooth, taut, and powerful back.
"Tss—"
The Divine Blood sank into the skin, and holy script began to spread.
Following that, a sheet of parchment representing her current baseline potential materialized in Haimer's hand.
Just as expected.
The talent within Narukami Koharu was even more terrifying than Inaba Tsukuyo's.
Even more, it was all bound to slaughter, without a single hindering negative skill.
[Name]: Narukami Koharu
[Race]: Human
[Level]: Lv.1
[Stats]: Strength: I0 | Endurance: I0 | Dexterity: I0 | Agility: I0 | Magic: I0
[Developmental Ability]: None
[Magic]: None
[Skills]: 『Slay for the Sake of Slaying』『Slay Because of Slaying』『Reforging Carnage』
Haimer lowered his gaze, looking at the script on the parchment in his hand.
Skills:
『Slay for the Sake of Slaying』
The intent to kill never ceases, and the ascent never stops.
The acquisition speed of all stats and proficiency gains a colossal boost.
This boosting effect is determined by the concentration of pure killing intent generated in the current battle; the more intense the killing intent, the higher the growth-bonus multiplier.
『Slay Because of Slaying』
Draw upon the embers of the fallen.
Each time an opponent is successfully killed through direct or indirect means, a judgment is made based on the strength differential between one's own base stats and the power tier of the slain target.
If the target's tier is equal to or higher than one's own, one may extract from the fallen, gaining direct, permanent [Stat] growth compensation.
『Reforging Carnage』
The blood has not cooled; the slaughter does not stop.
While in a battle loop of high-frequency combat or continuous kills.
The extreme craving for slaughter will forcibly refresh and, for a short duration, ignore the current upper limit of the body's fatigue functions.
While this state is maintained, each lethal strike will stack a minor wound-recovery effect.