Of the Seven Flames of the Earth, the one most suited to the Seele Schneider was undoubtedly the Flame of the Forest.
The hexagram pattern appeared behind Tsunayoshi once more. This time, the leaf symbol representing the Flame of the Forest lit up.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Though there was no wind, waves of leaves rose from the ground, circling around Tsunayoshi in ring after ring. They looked like ordinary leaves, yet among the Seven Flames of the Earth, they possessed the strongest offensive capability.
Sharpness.
A sharpness capable of cutting through anything.
Under the control of the Flame of the Forest, the leaves transformed into tiny leaf-blades and converged upon the Seele Schneider. Its blade began to gradually reconstruct itself, until a long, slender sword made from Reishi leaf-blades was held in Tsunayoshi's hand.
Originally, the Flame of the Forest provided Tsunayoshi with a boxing-style offensive weapon. Its user, Aoba Kōyō, corresponded to the Sun Guardian, Sasagawa Ryōhei.
But the moment Tsunayoshi drew the Seele Schneider, he rejected the original power offered by the Flame of the Forest. He restructured the Flame of the Forest's Vollständig, gathering all of its Reishi into this single Seele Schneider.
After being tempered by the Flame of the Forest, the Seele Schneider changed as well. Patterns of thorns and leaves spread across it. Tsunayoshi's forest-attribute Vollständig had completely condensed onto this blade.
By the time the blade finished forming, the Seele Schneider had been utterly transformed.
It was now Tsunayoshi's own Forest Blade.
"Wait, Tsuna…"
Ichigo stared dumbfounded at everything that had happened. He had only been running his mouth. How could he have expected Tsunayoshi to actually pull out a Seele Schneider—and for his Quincy powers to fuse with it on top of that?
"Wait, what?"
While Ichigo was still stunned, Tsunayoshi had already appeared in front of him. The Forest Blade swung out, and in his haste, Ichigo only had time to block with his Quincy Spirit Bow.
He blocked it, yes.
But what was with that bizarre sword? Blocking Tsunayoshi's attack was not the end.
It was the beginning.
Countless tiny yet razor-sharp needle-like leaves burst from the blade, stabbing toward Ichigo's arm.
Ichigo grimaced in pain and hurriedly erupted with Reiatsu, blasting the needles off his arm. Then he leapt back again, opening up the distance.
Fine, dense cuts covered his arm. Blood flowed from each one, making it look as if Tsunayoshi had crippled half of his arm in an instant.
Ichigo helplessly shook his hand. Thankfully, he had reacted quickly enough. Those tiny blades had only cut through his skin and had not entered deeper into his arm or damaged anything vital.
But if Ichigo had been even a little slower, he had no doubt that Tsunayoshi's blade would have shredded his arm into minced meat.
"Tsuna, what the hell is going on with that Seele Schneider?" Ichigo shouted. He had run too far away, so he could only raise his voice.
Tsunayoshi, however, calmly slid toward Ichigo and explained, "The Flame of the Forest. Its trait is sharpness. The blade of the Seele Schneider is formed from Reishi."
The only physical part of Tsunayoshi's Forest Blade was the portion he gripped. Everything else was a Reishi construct. If not for the green Flame of the Forest coiling around it, it would practically be an invisible sword.
That meant Tsunayoshi could freely alter the Forest Blade's edge. A longsword, a short dagger, even a whip—he could switch the blade into any shape he wished.
"By the way, why aren't you using Blut Vene? You've made yourself look pretty miserable," Tsunayoshi said, finding it somewhat amusing.
Ichigo's face gradually flushed red. He was still unfamiliar with his Quincy powers, and for a moment, he had indeed forgotten about such a useful technique as Blut Vene.
"Damn it! Take this!"
Provoked by Tsunayoshi's mockery—and further irritated that Tsunayoshi had pulled out yet another good trick—Ichigo got fired up. He drew his bow repeatedly, firing Heilig Pfeil toward Tsunayoshi.
Tsunayoshi merely swung the Forest Blade casually. Countless leaves turned into a long whip, easily slicing Ichigo's arrows to pieces. At this rate, Tsunayoshi was going to close in on Ichigo again.
Ichigo gritted his teeth and retreated. This would not do.
He drew his bow and charged it. A vast sheet of red light burst from the Quincy Spirit Bow.
Licht Regen.
As Uryū's close friend, how could Ichigo not know this move?
Countless red raindrops shot toward Tsunayoshi, but Tsunayoshi only smiled calmly. Green Flame of the Forest blazed fiercely as leaves and thorns spun in front of him. Every arrow was cut apart the moment it drew near.
The Flame of the Forest formed a green fireball around Tsunayoshi as he continued charging toward Ichigo.
Still, no matter what, Ichigo's Licht Regen did slow Tsunayoshi down. To swing out even denser blades, Tsunayoshi could not maintain his previous speed.
That was enough.
All Ichigo wanted was that little bit of time.
The hand holding his Quincy Spirit Bow began gathering Reishi. After the pitch-black manji-shaped bow was covered in Reishi, it was dyed crimson.
Ichigo's Quincy form was not limited to firing arrows. His exaggerated manji-shaped bow was also one of his attack methods.
He swung the manji bow toward Tsunayoshi, launching a manji-shaped shuriken the size of a millstone straight at him.
For reference, it resembled the shuriken Ichigo fired from his Substitute Shinigami Badge in the anime after he had just learned Fullbring, during the scene where he fought the pig plushie.
The moment Tsunayoshi charged out of the dense rain of light, he saw a crimson disc flying toward him. He hurriedly raised his sword to block. The sword and shuriken collided, producing an ear-piercing screech.
A trace of doubt appeared on Tsunayoshi's face.
Ichigo's move had something to it. The Forest Blade could not easily cut it in half. Tsunayoshi simply changed the direction of his force and knocked the shuriken away.
"Haha, Tsuna! You can't deal with this move either, can you?"
Ichigo looked extremely pleased with himself and seized the chance to throw out a second shuriken.
With the experience from before, Tsunayoshi did not waste time tangling with it. The moment they collided, he knocked it away.
But Ichigo had no intention of stopping his attack.
Three. Four…
Ichigo fired six shuriken at Tsunayoshi in succession, while Tsunayoshi maintained his previous rhythm, knocking them all away.
Seeing that Tsunayoshi was about to close in, Ichigo calmly drew his Quincy Spirit Bow again.
Tsunayoshi frowned slightly. He did not understand why Ichigo would draw his bow at such close range. At this distance, it would indeed demand some reaction speed, but that did not mean Tsunayoshi could not completely intercept Ichigo's arrows.
But to Tsunayoshi's surprise, Ichigo's Heilig Pfeil were not fired at him at all. Instead, they scattered in every direction, flying off to who knew which corner.
Ichigo fired six arrows like this in a row.
Just as Tsunayoshi was starting to feel puzzled, Ichigo's grin could no longer be suppressed. A smug smile appeared on his face.
Then Tsunayoshi noticed something unusual.
Unlike the arrows Ichigo had fired before, the tails of these arrows were still in Ichigo's hand.
They were chains from "Tensa Zangetsu."
As Ichigo smiled, he yanked the chains hard toward himself.
In the next instant, a sense of danger drenched Tsunayoshi's back in cold sweat. He looked back and saw that the six huge shuriken he had knocked away earlier had all been dragged back by Ichigo.
They had only one target.
Tsunayoshi Sawada.
So that was it.
Tsunayoshi understood in an instant. Ichigo's six arrows had not missed. Each one had pierced into a shuriken. As Ichigo pulled them back, Tsunayoshi had naturally fallen into his trap.
Interesting.
Had Ichigo's brain been opened up by his Quincy powers? Since when had he learned to play mind games in battle?
But there was no more time for Tsunayoshi to think.
He was about to be surrounded by Ichigo's shuriken formation.
However, Tsunayoshi was not without options.
The Flame of the Forest on his body erupted violently. Countless thorns, vines, and thin leaves turned into dense, razor-sharp whips that danced around him.
The hand gripping the Forest Blade also swung at a speed invisible to ordinary eyes, driving the blade into a long, slender green dragon that forged an incomparably sharp forest cage around him.
Forest Leaves Wild Dance.
There were no fixed rules or forms. He simply swung the Forest Blade at will, with the sole principle of leaving no gaps, creating a forest prison capable of shredding everything.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Six massive explosions rang out.
Ichigo did not let his guard down. Based on what he knew of Tsunayoshi, there was no such thing as being too cautious. He quickly opened up the distance, gathered power in his hand again, and sent out another burst of Licht Regen to probe the way.
Under the cleansing rain of light, the smoke gradually dispersed.
Ichigo could not see Tsunayoshi at all.
Blocking his view was a hemispherical cage made entirely of green.
The power of Licht Regen struck the cage like ordinary rain splashing against it, posing no threat whatsoever.
Ichigo felt somewhat discouraged.
His control over his Quincy powers was still unrefined. At present, those shuriken were already his strongest attack. Yet even those attacks still had no effect on Tsunayoshi.
Damn it.
Didn't Old Man Zangetsu say his Schrift was something like "All-Killing"? Why did it look so weak? He could not even beat Tsuna!
What Ichigo did not know was that his current Quincy form was already extremely powerful. He had a normalized Getsuga Tenshō, along with shuriken even stronger than Getsuga Tenshō. Ordinary captains would have to give him a wide berth.
So why could Ichigo still not defeat Tsunayoshi?
Simply because Tsunayoshi had activated Vollständig.
Even one-seventh of a Vollständig was still Vollständig. Add to that the fact that Tsunayoshi's own Quincy powers were far from weak, and naturally Ichigo could not gain the upper hand.
After all, Uryū had already reached captain level with a half-baked Vollständig. Tsunayoshi's might only be one-seventh, but it was a much more complete Vollständig.
"I'm done. That's all I've got for now," Ichigo shouted.
The green leaves and vines loosened, revealing Tsunayoshi's calm figure. All the greenery transformed back into green flame and gathered into the blade of the Forest Blade, with almost no loss at all.
"That's it?" Tsunayoshi asked with a smile.
"Hmph! Once I figure out what this 'All-Killing' thing is, you're going to regret it!" Ichigo said, unconvinced.
"Then you'd better hurry up and deal with that Old Man Zangetsu of yours. He keeps hiding everything and acting like some riddle master, never telling you anything."
Tsunayoshi tried to shift the trouble known as Ichigo onto Old Man Zangetsu. Presumably, Old Man Zangetsu would not mind giving Ichigo some one-on-one guidance.
"You're right. Tonight, I'm going to ask Old Man Zangetsu about it. All-Killing, Vollständig—he'd better teach me all of it!"
Ichigo had just finished pumping himself up when his gaze landed on Tsunayoshi's head again. He urged, "Enough about me. What are the other five powers? Hurry up and show me!"
Author's Note:
The power of the Flame of the Forest is something I planned to adapt from the start of this book. The foreshadowing of Ryūken Ishida giving the protagonist a Seele Schneider has finally paid off.
By the way, can any of you figure out what this Forest Blade is based on?
The Wind爵 Sword!
I wonder how many people still remember Xinghai Biaoshi. Paroni's Wind爵 Sword in that series was just too cool. Though "using qi as the veins and Wind爵 as the bones" was a totally ridiculous move, it came down to one word:
Cool!
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