"Even if I die, I'll finish cleaning!"
Hearing Yukinoshita Yukino, usually so cold in temperament, shouting these words as if in a battle cry, Luo Shu turned toward the door, waving his hand as he walked out.
"I'll leave the cleaning to you then~"
With that, Luo Shu stepped out of the office into the hallway.
The moment he exited, he saw Inoue Takina and Chisato Nishikigi leaning against the window.
"You've got to be kidding me?" Chisato craned her neck past Luo Shu, looking into the office where Yukino was cleaning at lightning speed, feeling her scalp crawl.
"That's the method 'big sis' was talking about for quickly mastering the Dying Will Flame?"
She hadn't met Yukinoshita Yukino many times, but Chisato had more or less gauged the girl's personality. Now, seeing this usually composed beauty working like a madwoman, she was naturally spooked.
"Don't tell me… we're going to have to awaken the Dying Will Flame the same way?"
As she spoke, Chisato subtly shifted her feet, planning her retreat—only for her hand to be grabbed by Inoue Takina.
"Running away at a critical moment is prohibited," Takina said calmly, gripping Chisato's right arm.
"But Takina…"
Chisato gestured toward the frenzied, dust-sweeping Yukino, her expression uneasy.
"If it turns me into that, I'd rather just jump from here and die."
"This is the third floor. Having taken the Adjuster medicine, it's impossible for us to die from such a fall." Takina explained it without a change in expression, then turned to Luo Shu.
"And since Chisato doesn't want to do it, I'll be the second test subject."
The first test subject, naturally, was Yukinoshita Yukino.
Two days earlier, after Kirika learned from Verde about the convenience of the Dying Will Flame, she'd applied to Lacus that very afternoon to begin its rollout.
Thus, for now, Tokyo's two branches—Lycoris in the Operations Division, and Luo Shu's Secret Management Department—became the pilot sites.
Seeing Takina's willingness, Chisato quickly waved her hands.
"Wait, Takina—no matter what, activating an ability that hasn't stabilized yet should be approached with caution. Just look at Yukino right now; doesn't she seem… off to you?"
Pointing at Yukino, who by now had gathered nearly all the room's dust in her manic cleaning, Chisato's discomfort was obvious.
"Hey, Luo Shu—you're the one actually implementing this. You see what's wrong with Yukino, right?"
But Luo Shu's answer was completely different from what she expected.
"No—that's normal."
Expression calm, Luo Shu cast a glance at Yukino, working like her life depended on it, and said evenly:
"In fact, that state matches what Verde and I anticipated."
"For someone without enough resolve—or without sufficient mental energy to awaken—being hit by a Dying Will Bullet will forcibly stimulate their resolve."
Although Yukino had said aloud she was prepared, Luo Shu knew at first test that her inner resolve didn't live up to her words.
"When resolve is forcibly stimulated, the phenomenon manifests like this—insanely working to complete an obsession I pre-programmed into them. It lasts about five minutes; when time's up, they're completely exhausted and stop."
Hearing this, Takina nodded in understanding.
"So even if the resolve isn't there, as long as the mental energy is sufficient, paired with the ring, it's still possible to activate the Dying Will Flame?"
"Exactly."
Luo Shu nodded, then once again raised the gun in his hand.
"With your bodies enhanced by the Adjuster medicine, if I infuse you with a Dying Will Bullet, you can activate the flame immediately."
Chisato quickly waved her arms and stepped between them.
"Hold on! No matter what, shooting someone point-blank in the forehead seems a bit—"
"Relax. A Dying Will Bullet is not the same as a real bullet."
Seeing her stand there like a mother hen shielding her chicks, Luo Shu calmly removed the magazine from his gun, showing it to them.
Both Chisato and Takina clearly saw—the magazine was empty.
"No bullets?" Takina blinked, then glanced, puzzled, into the room at Yukino.
"But didn't you just shoot her?"
"Because the ability of the Mist Flame is construction—illusion."
Luo Shu reloaded the magazine into the gun, indigo flames briefly glimmering along the weapon's slide.
When he chambered a round this time, the click of a bullet loading was sharp and clear.
"I used the Mist Flame to construct a false bullet out of Dying Will Flame, infusing it with resolve."
"Objects built from the Mist Flame are generally flimsy. I intentionally made it even weaker so that when it hit, it would look like a bullet striking the forehead yet leave not even a scratch."
"But in that impact, my Dying Will Flame still forced resolve directly into their brain, making it clash violently with their existing consciousness."
"And the result of that…"
"…is that we awaken our own Dying Will Flame?" Takina murmured.
"So, this is the awakening method you and Verde worked out—the 'controllable ability' the Chief was talking about?"
Takina was well aware of how the mystical side worked.
With the exception of bloodline sorcerers, almost all current sorcerers were born from the power of Abyss Artifacts.
An ability like the Dying Will Flame, which could be widely spread and learned, had never yet appeared in the world—at least, not openly.
So, for now, this might be the only ability that could be taught to anyone.
Even if 'anyone' meant 'anyone with the Adjuster medicine and a ring from Verde,' such an ability—outside the constraints of Abyss Artifacts—was worth its weight in gold to SDS. Otherwise, Kirika would never have immediately applied to roll it out after learning about it, nor pulled in both Luo Shu and Verde to devise a method of mass teaching.
After listening, Luo Shu nodded his agreement.
"From the current evidence, the Dying Will Flame really is the cheapest and most effective universal ability."
"Its upper limit may never match powers from powerful Abyss Artifacts, but as a beginner's choice, it's excellent."
In the two days spent working with Verde on the rollout, Luo Shu had already consulted the mystical encyclopaedia extension of his Knowledge Authority.
He knew clearly that without a world cornerstone-level artifact the ceiling for Dying Will Flame with ring support could at best match a Hero-tier vocation.
And that was only by following a perfect growth route tailored from the Knowledge Authority.
For an average flame wielder training on their own, their peak might not even reach Luo Shu's current elite-tier Harbinger of Calamity.
Which showed just how low the true ceiling really was.
But ability wasn't just about ceiling—it was about universality.
As a power emerging from within the human body, everyone was born with the Dying Will Flame; it simply required sufficient resolve or physical and mental strength to awaken.
With SDS's Adjuster medicine and Verde's mass-produced rings, the awakening rate—done with the right method—could hit 100%.
That kind of consistency could be rolled out widely, instantly boosting SDS's combat power by several tiers.
That was exactly why Lacus had so quickly approved Kirika's proposal and commissioned Luo Shu to work out the development method with Verde.
The price: one date.
Though Lacus said it was a 'shopping trip in Tokyo,' Luo Shu automatically took it as a reward for successful research.
Whether or not Lacus saw it that way didn't matter—if he said it was, then it was.
"So—want a shot?" Luo Shu raised the gun in his hand.
Takina took a deep breath, her face serious.
"Please—inject your power into my body."
"…Don't you think that wording sounds a little weird?" Chisato blinked.
And then—
Bang!
The gun went off.
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