A new ethereal blade formed entirely of pure spiritual power sprouted from the broken hilt of Tenseiga.
The original blade had already shattered and dispersed into the air. The Reiatsu clinging to this newly forged blade felt completely different from ordinary spiritual power, it contained a living, burning fragment of Rayleigh's very soul.
He approached the kneeling Alfia and dropped to his knees before her.
"Alfia, please live," Rayleigh pleaded, his voice raspy but resolute. "I want you to live. Don't give up now. Give your soul to me!"
At this critical moment, Alfia's vision was already blurring at the edges.
She weakly lifted her head and looked directly at Rayleigh, but through her fading consciousness, the face she saw superimposed over his belonged to another.
"Meteria..." she whispered.
Swish!
The blade plunged directly through her chest!
Alfia's eyes immediately regained their sharp clarity.
She looked down at the glowing blade that had just run her completely through.
Before she could utter a single word of protest, a massive torrent of intense emotions rushed from the spiritual blade and surged deep into her failing body.
'Is this... the boy's actual thoughts?'
The spectral blade dissolved into a brilliant, blinding light and seamlessly merged into the woman's fragile body.
A heartbeat later, both Rayleigh and Alfia began to undergo a drastic, simultaneous transformation.
Alfia's entire body was tightly enveloped in a cocoon of swirling spiritual power.
She could physically feel something completely new coalescing deep within her soul.
Just like that, the chaotic spiritual power hovering in front of her materialized into a beautiful, tangible silver shortsword, or perhaps a long dagger.
The weapon was pristine silver from end to end.
Its scabbard, hilt, and guard were intricately covered in beautiful flowing patterns, and the pommel was inlaid with a single, sparkling red gemstone.
Thump-thump!
The strong, steady sound of a heartbeat echoed in her ears.
Such a powerful, vibrant heartbeat was something Alfia had completely lacked while plagued by her crippling illness.
But this was undeniably the sound of her own renewed heart!
Alfia reached out and grasped the silver shortsword floating before her.
The moment her pale fingers wrapped around the hilt, a vast of new knowledge flooded her waking mind.
She stared at the shortsword in her hand with absolute astonishment.
'This sword... is my Skill?'
By simply holding the weapon, she instinctively understood her current state.
To put it simply, she had been fundamentally transformed into a special spiritual existence, completely different from a normal human.
It was this boy who had forcefully turned her into this. At the exact same time, her Skill, Gif Blessing, had been completely sealed within this exquisite silver shortsword.
As long as she did not actively release the blade, the life-draining power of Gif Blessing would remain perfectly sealed away.
Alfia looked over her hands and body in utter disbelief.
Although she didn't miraculously recovered her lost health, without the constant agonizing torment of her terminal Skill, she felt ten thousand times lighter.
Not only had he changed her entire form of existence, but he had even managed to seal her Skill inside a sword!
'How could such a thing exist in this world?'
"Boy, what are you..." Alfia murmured, looking at the young man before her with wide heterochromatic eyes.
But as she looked at him, she witnessed a strange transformation of his own.
Rayleigh's all-black Shihakushō was rapidly losing its color.
The originally pitch-black garment was bleaching white at an astonishing speed. Not only that, but even his dark hair was turning completely snow-white.
It was a success.
Watching Alfia's miraculous transformation, Rayleigh knew his desperate gamble had actually paid off.
He had shared his unique Shinigami powers with a human being.
Just as Rukia Kuchiki had once done to Ichigo Kurosaki in the world of his memories, this was a highly forbidden act in the Soul Society, strictly classified as a third-degree crime.
He had successfully turned Alfia into a Shinigami!
At the same time, he had utilized the remaining spiritual fragments of Tenseiga to forge a brand new Zanpakuto specifically for her.
Drawing inspiration from the Arrancars, he had created a unique Zanpakuto that sealed the user's innate power directly within the blade itself.
Therefore, if Alfia were to ever release her Zanpakuto, it wouldn't be called a Shikai.
It would be a Resurrección!
By releasing the silver dagger, she would unleash the sealed power, fully unlocking her peak strength.
If the original Gif Blessing was a passive terminal Skill that couldn't be turned off and caused continuous internal damage, now that it was sealed, it had become a highly controllable active Skill—a massive, temporary "buff."
Erebus, standing quietly to the side, was left utterly shocked by the display.
He studied Alfia closely, and with his piercing divine eyes, he could see the fundamental change in her soul at a single glance.
Although one couldn't exactly say she was permanently "cured," the miraculous result of what the boy had just done meant that he had truly saved Alfia's life.
He had accomplished something even Hera couldn't do!
A terminal situation that left even the Gods completely helpless had been resolved by a human boy from the Genkai?
"Kuhuhukahahahaha." Erebus threw his head back and burst out laughing.
"How can this be possible... Rayleigh, just how much more are you going to surprise me?" Erebus asked the empty air.
Surpassing the careful predictions of the Gods.
Achieving a great deed that even the gods themselves would marvel at? what he do was far more than just that!
"I'm amazed... from the very bottom of my heart. To think that in the Genkai—no, in this entire world—there exists someone as incredibly special as you. You clearly don't possess the standard disposition of a classical hero, yet you repeatedly surpass the grand expectations of the Gods and achieve impossible feats. More than a hero, you delight and please me endlessly. Ah~ it seems I'm truly going to become infatuated with you. From now on, i shall be your absolute number one fan!"
Erebus rambled on excitedly, lost in his own euphoria.
He didn't even notice that Rayleigh had already lost consciousness where he stood.
The boy's exhausted body tilted backward, completely drained of energy.
Alfia's eyes flickered, and her newly enhanced body reacted with blinding speed.
She appeared right behind him, safely caught his falling body and let him lean softly into her embrace.
She carefully placed the boy's white-haired head on her lap and gazed down at his peaceful sleeping face.
Including this brief encounter, she and this boy had only ever had a simple "passing acquaintance."
But his stubborn persistence in saving her life was something even she had to deeply admire.
The torrent of complex emotions transmitted directly through that spiritual blade were entirely genuine, direct, and incredibly fervent.
'To go this far for me. Was it worth it? No. Such a question is simply a grave insult to him.'
'Rayleigh. I admit it. I am truly grateful that you saved me, that you allowed me to continue living.'
This warm, bubbling feeling inside her chest was undoubtedly "joy."
'So this is how much I actually wanted to live. Thanks to you, I'm finally able to know my own heart's true wish.'
"Alfia, how is Rayleigh doing?" Erebus asked, his voice laced with genuine concern.
His dismissive attitude from earlier had done a complete one-eighty.
Faced with the God's question, Alfia shook her head and spoke frankly.
"I'm not sure." Her eyelids drooped slightly, making her long eyelashes look exceptionally beautiful in the dim light.
"He seems to have just completely exhausted his energy, and he has some minor internal and external injuries, but... what he did to me seems to have had a lasting impact on him."
She was a little uncertain about the specifics.
But she could clearly sense one undeniable thing. The boy's overall power had weakened significantly.
It was an unbelievable thing.
A literal level regression.
Was this even possible under the Falna system? At the very least, she had never heard of such a tragic thing happening in the entire history of Orario.
Could it be because he willingly gave a literal piece of his soul to her? No matter how she looked at his fluctuating aura, Rayleigh had now dropped from a Level 3 right back down to a Level 2.
Even a genius like her was at a complete loss in the face of this bizarre situation.
"Hm? Someone is coming," Alfia announced quietly.
She realized that her perceptive abilities had improved by leaps and bounds.
She didn't yet know the full extent of her new abilities after becoming a Shinigami, but relying purely on instinct, she easily sensed the distinct Reiatsu signatures of several people rapidly approaching from a few kilometers away.
Even without her Gif Blessing Skill active, Alfia was still a genuine unparalleled genius.
"Who is it?" Erebus asked, glancing down the ruined alley.
"This feeling... it's a High Elf, a royal one at that. And a Pallum, and... a Dwarf?" Alfia noted, keeping her eyes closed as she focused on the approaching auras.
Erebus was stunned.
What kind of sensory ability does she have now? Alfia shouldn't have possessed this kind of long-range detection Magic before.
It wasn't just him who was surprised. Even Alfia herself was deeply taken aback by the sheer clarity of this new sense.
Its not Magic, but it was an entirely new phenomenon achieved through the precise manipulation and sensing of spiritual power.
"From your description, it must be Loki's executives who are coming," Erebus deduced quickly.
"It's time to go, Alfia. If we stay here, Rayleigh will be questioned by the leaders of Orario regarding our presence. Let's leave quickly before those three arrive," he proposed.
The God was actually making careful considerations specifically to protect Rayleigh's standing in the city.
The woman took one last, deep look at the white-haired boy pillowed on her lap.
She gently helped him up, resting his back against a soft mound of displaced earth, making sure he was leaning as comfortably as possible.
"We will definitely meet again, boy."
Alfia's soft lips brushed lightly against Rayleigh's ear.
After whispering her promise into the night, she vanished into the shadows with Erebus.
---
Mc is not getting nerf but the opposite, its a huge buff instead.