"But something was very wrong with that state."
As he descended the mountain, Ryuji kept thinking about the strange condition he had entered earlier.
"As long as either one of us slightly surpassed the other, the Satsui no Hado would inexplicably boost the weaker side's power. And if the will to fight was strong enough, the amplification became even greater… It's hard to say that isn't a power unique to this world. After all, near the end I could clearly feel both of us absorbing power from the outside. The final result would most likely have been both of us exhausting ourselves and dying there together, with only a small chance that one of us would survive."
Looking at the ruined town below, Ryuji frowned and quickened his pace, but his thoughts did not stop.
"That strange state wasn't something the Satsui no Hado gave me. It was probably my divine sword that helped me break free from the influence of the Satsui no Hado… The mutation in my blood energy also seemed to appear at that moment. Which means…"
Ryuji tried to recall the final punch he had exchanged with Akuma. He could clearly feel that when they struck that last blow, the two of them had stepped into an entirely new realm together!
It felt as though he himself had become the "sky."
"At that moment, all the techniques I once used felt like childish play. Everything in the world lay before my eyes. But when I looked at Akuma, his moves seemed to contain endless variations, yet I couldn't control my own body and instinctively threw a punch. Akuma probably felt the same way. We both couldn't adapt to the new realm we sensed, which is why we ended up in that state. Otherwise…"
Ryuji pursed his lips. That realm, honestly speaking, had been a kind of miracle encounter. The power of his divine sword had allowed his will and Akuma's will to remain clear at the absolute limit, and for a brief moment they had shared each other's senses and will.
But the two of them had completely different understandings of killing intent.
If any one of these conditions had been missing, he would never have stepped into that realm.
Yet somehow, both of them had entered it. And when Ryuji entered that realm, his body had undergone certain changes.
Feeling the "Satsui no Hado" hidden within his blood energy, even Ryuji himself didn't know whether to call it the will of life or the will of battle anymore.
But it was definitely no longer the Satsui no Hado.
It was as if he had obtained a passive skill from the next realm before actually reaching that realm.
"So if I can enter that state again, I should be able to completely control the mutated blood qi secret technique in my body, or rather, the Satsui no Hado itself. I won't end up turning into a killing maniac every time I circulate my blood energy."
Feeling his body and the killing intent blood energy that could influence him yet remained strangely obedient, Ryuji came to that conclusion.
The realm and destructive power he and Akuma had reached earlier through the resonance of their wills was, in simple terms, just a temporary buff. Although both of them had broken through their limits in that battle, until he raised his realm to the level they had briefly stepped into, that level of combat power would be impossible to reproduce.
But Ryuji was still very happy.
The door to that realm had opened! It could be said that his purpose for coming to this world had already been achieved.
As for the side effects of the Satsui no Hado merging with his blood qi secret technique, Ryuji no longer cared about them.
"Next, I'll just train step by step, strengthen my body and temper my spirit. If I can fight strong opponents like Akuma during that time, my real combat power and mental strength will probably reach that level much faster!"
Ryuji couldn't help but laugh. Then, in front of a ruined wall, he saw Akuma. Without thinking, he excitedly wanted to drag Akuma back to the Shiranui dojo. After they recovered from their injuries and consolidated their gains, they could find a deserted island and spar again.
However, his fighting spirit vanished instantly once he saw the situation clearly.
Akuma was using his body to support a collapsing beam, and beneath his demon-like figure were rows of infant incubators.
The nurses in the hospital were desperately moving the babies away.
Ryuji instantly felt a chill run from head to toe. Without hesitation, he swung his arm. Countless streams of water wrapped around the broken structure, and under Akuma's astonished gaze they formed pillars of ice, supporting the collapsing ruins together with Akuma.
At the same time, Ryuji activated his Observation Haki and rapidly scanned everything around him. He discovered that aside from smashing through the wall, Akuma had only caused a few nurses, who had been feeding babies in the room to suffer minor scrapes and fright. No one else had been harmed. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Even so, Ryuji waved his hand again and a bracelet suddenly appeared on his wrist.
"Please hold on a moment."
After speaking to the silent Akuma, the bracelet immediately released countless streams of white milk. Using the extremely enhanced Observation Haki of this world and the power of water manipulation, Ryuji turned it into countless fine mist particles, sending them into the mouths and noses of the nurses and the babies in the incubators, nourishing their bodies.
This would heal their shock and strengthen their physiques, serving as compensation for this incident.
As for the hospital damage, Ryuji planned to compensate through the Shiranui-ryū later. Although he suspected the Shiranui-ryū probably didn't have much money, so if the gold he carried wasn't enough to pay for it, he would either fetch gold from another world or earn the money in this world to pay off the debt.
Akuma sensed the powerful life force contained within the invisible mist that ordinary people couldn't see and couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Looking at the swords on Ryuji's back and the powerful ice pillars formed beside him, he finally spoke.
"You really have a whole bunch of weird and wonderful abilities."
His tone was cold and heavy, but there wasn't the slightest hint of killing intent in it.. Ryuji truly admired that.
Because he himself had personally experienced the terrifying nature of the Satsui no Hado and even used it through resonance with Akuma's fighting spirit. Only then did he understand that for Akuma and for ordinary people, the Satsui no Hado was something completely different.
Akuma could completely control the Satsui no Hado through his own fighting spirit. But someone with an ordinary willpower like him would almost instantly be controlled by killing intent in front of the Satsui no Hado.
If he hadn't seen the path forward, Ryuji felt he would have decisively abandoned the power of the Satsui no Hado.
One could only say...
No wonder Akuma was a powerhouse who dominated an entire world.
~~~~~~~~~~
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