Chapter 130: The Path to Immortality!
Ayase looked anxiously at Shiro, terrified that he might say even he could do nothing.
Shiro stepped forward and carefully examined Kaito's body. At his level, he could determine most of the man's condition with his naked eyes alone.
In Shiro's eyes, Kaito's bodily functions were intact. Aside from being extremely weak, there was no major problem.
The reason he could not awaken was likely because Kuraudo's attack had struck near his head, damaging his brain and leaving him in a vegetative state.
"Try not to make any noise. This is my first time attempting something like this."
After confirming the cause, Shiro warned everyone before summoning his Device into his hand.
He could achieve the same effect with his bare hand, but if he failed with a sword, the worst result would be emotional trauma.
If he failed with his hand, he might end up dismembering Ayase's father right in front of her.
'Why does this sword feel more and more like a magic staff in my hands...?'
Silently complaining, Shiro gently placed the sword's tip against Kaito's body.
Pure white magic flowed from the blade and slowly enveloped him.
In theory, the essence of Shiro's ability was a special form of separation.
If a person was viewed as a complete whole, then illnesses and injuries could be treated as foreign additions imposed upon the body after birth.
All Shiro had to do was sever those acquired concepts, thereby producing an alternative form of healing.
At the same time, that was also the greatest difficulty of this treatment.
Removing something on a conceptual level was hundreds of times harder than an ordinary surgical operation. Such precise work placed an enormous burden on a Blazer's control over magic.
When Shiro had fought Edelweiss before, he failed to control the severed distance properly and threw himself straight into her arms.
However, after such a long period of training, he was no longer the same person he had been a year ago.
His magic and physical abilities had barely increased, but his skill was now on an entirely different level.
If the current Shiro fought his past self from one year ago, he was ninety percent confident he would achieve a complete victory.
He also knew that if this technique truly succeeded, then as long as he was not killed in a single blow, he could consume magic to recover from any injury.
It was essentially converting his health bar into a magic bar.
And the one thing Shiro lacked least was magic.
Imagine spending enormous effort and resources slowly reducing a boss to critical health, only for it to drink a healing potion in front of you and instantly recover.
Just thinking about that despair was amusing.
Shiro calmed his mind and carefully sensed the information carried back by his magic.
"Found it."
Finally, as time passed, he caught hold of a certain "something" within Kaito's body.
The pure white magic gradually turned black.
Crack, crack, crack—
A sound like shattering glass rang out. Web-like fractures spread across the magic surrounding Kaito.
Ayase clenched both fists and watched her father anxiously.
Crack—
At last, the membrane of magic covering Kaito shattered and dissolved into specks of light that disappeared into the air.
"Did it fail...?"
Ayase lowered her gaze.
Even though she had considered the possibility before coming here, the crushing disappointment of seeing hope vanish could not be erased.
'So there really is no way...?'
She thought bitterly.
"No. It succeeded."
Shiro dismissed his Device and shook his head as he looked at the still-sleeping Kaito.
For Shiro, this experiment could be called both a success and a failure.
He had indeed severed the concept of injury and produced an alternative form of recovery.
However, this technique was almost impossible to use in actual combat.
The human body was far too intricate and constantly changing. In the middle of an intense battle, he could not accurately capture a concept within his body as he had just done.
Still, Shiro was not disappointed.
At the very least, he had proven that the method was possible.
Furthermore, if he could sever acquired "injuries," could he also separate the concept of "death," which all people were destined to possess from birth?
The thought made him faintly excited.
If he could truly accomplish that, then unless an enemy directly imposed the concept of death upon him again, Shiro could restore himself even after being ground into atoms.
Shiro shook his head and drove those thoughts away.
It was far too early to consider such things.
He could not even instantly restore himself during battle yet, let alone grasp the intangible concept of "death" toward which all people were born to walk.
Unless some special circumstance allowed him to encounter death in advance, perhaps his only opportunity would come at the exact moment he died.
Shiro turned his attention back to Kaito.
The damage to the man's brain had already been healed. He remained unconscious only because his body was too weak, so it would still take some time before he awakened naturally.
To completely reassure Ayase, what Shiro needed to do next was simple.
He closed his eyes.
A mysterious fluctuation immediately spread through the room before rapidly gathering around Kaito.
"Eh? What is this?"
"Stella, is something wrong?"
"No... It's nothing."
Stella looked around and discovered that no one except her had sensed that power.
'Is this what Shiro meant by a Desperado?'
Shiro activated the power of fate and infinitely magnified the possibility of Kaito awakening immediately.
The result was—
"Cough, cough, cough—!"
"Dad!"
Kaito, who had been lying motionless on the bed, suddenly began coughing violently.
Ayase hurried forward and turned him onto his side so he would not choke on his own saliva.
"Ayase...?"
Kaito slowly opened his eyes at last.
"Y-Yes, it's me... Do you feel anything strange or uncomfortable?"
Kaito froze for a moment before showing Ayase the gentle smile she remembered.
"I feel very well. I just didn't expect to sleep for so long."
"You've suffered a lot these past few years, Ayase."
"Uu... Th-That's wonderful... Are you hungry? Should I buy you something to—uwaaaaah!!"
After hearing that her father was all right, Ayase looked at his frail body and tried to ask whether he wanted something to eat.
But halfway through, she could no longer hold herself back.
She threw her arms around Kaito and burst into tears.
Her cries were so loud that it seemed she was pouring every grievance she had endured over the past two years out of her heart all at once.
"All right. The rest is time for the family reunion. Unrelated people like us should head outside~"
Seeing this, Alice immediately ushered Ikki and the others out.
Before leaving, he thoughtfully closed the hospital room door behind them, giving Ayase and her father privacy.
…
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