Sanemi Shinazugawa's eyes flew wide open!
Stubborn to the core and fierce-tempered as ever, he refused to accept it and forcibly lifted his head to look back into the sky—
That pitch-black line seemed to pierce through the limits of time and space itself. Carrying endless heat, scorching temperature, and unmatched sharpness, it plunged into his bloodshot, stubborn, ferocious eyes for a second time—
And once again, it tore a cry of unwilling pain from him, forcing his eyes shut!
Two thin streams of bloody tears ran from the corners of Sanemi's eyes. Now back home and living with his younger brother Genya, the man clutched his eyes and dropped to his knees with a thud,
while Genya came rushing over from behind and wrapped his arms around him.
"Brother, stop looking…"
"That's not a realm we can touch."
"Did you forget your fight with Lord Rōichirō back then?"
That flaming greatsword that had pierced straight through the entire courtyard… according to the people from the Kakushi, it was something only a god could do!
Human beings were small—and great at the same time.
"Namu Amida Butsu… praise the Sun…"
"What an ordinary-looking slash… and yet so utterly devastating!"
Perhaps because his eyes had long since gone blind,
or perhaps because, after opening his aura nodes, his control over himself and his senses had become stronger and stronger,
Gyomei Himejima, seated before that old temple gate from long ago, pressed his Nichirin weapon beneath him, clasped his hands together, and raised his face to the sky. His Nen was completely drawn in, not leaking out in the slightest.
After two full rounds of training, he had finally become the first after Kyojuro Rengoku—the earliest to convert—to learn [Zetsu].
And once he fully suppressed his Nen,
he became like a drifting duckweed floating through the world, his perception of everything around him growing extraordinarily sharp.
Now, with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's vertical slash falling—
Gyomei's breathing instantly caught.
Within his heart, he saw fire.
A fire that was pure, burning, tyrannical—
a fire so intensely hot it seemed capable of devouring all things through sheer temperature alone.
Compared to that fire,
even Kyojuro Rengoku's flames—
though the Flame Hashira was now far beyond what he used to be, stronger by untold times—
still looked like a candle beside the sun.
Pssht—
Fast was slow, and slow was fast. Speed and slowness depended on each other, and like flowers in a mirror or the moon on water, it was also deeply deceptive to the eye.
At that moment, facing the pitch-black line head-on, Roy felt as if his hands and feet had been bound in place by force. In an instant, he lost all concept of "speed" and was swallowed into that terrifying black blade-light—
blade-light infused with the embers of residual flame…
Pop—
It felt like something had shattered.
The black line drew close.
Roy's flame-red hair streamed wildly upside down in the air. His eyes stared blankly ahead, and within that hazy sea of blade-light, he thought he saw a man…
A man who, long ago, had not yet gone bald, whose dark hair atop his head was still tied up into a samurai's topknot.
The man stood bare-chested in a small courtyard with his back to Roy.
One Shinigami after another charged at him—
and with every slash, he opened their chests, hacked off their limbs, pierced their hearts, lopped off their heads—
until the bodies at his feet began piling higher and higher…
For ten years, he fought.
For a hundred years, he fought.
For five hundred years, he still fought.
At one point, Roy even saw a familiar face fall beneath the man's blade—one of the strongest among all those he cut down. That opponent carved a huge cross-shaped wound across his face the moment he attacked. White hair. Golden eyes. A Western-style sword in hand…
It looked like that was none other than Chojiro Sasakibe, the man who now served in the First Division as vice-captain!
"Jūjirō!"
"Chōjirō!"
Blood sprayed into the air—
A thousand years later, the man was still fighting. Only this time, he showed mercy, and in return gained a loyal subordinate who would follow him for nearly a thousand years to come.
Then twelve hundred years.
Fifteen hundred years.
Two thousand years…
Time flew, heaven and earth changed, and still the man never abandoned the heart he carried into battle.
The killing intent around him grew heavier and heavier. His spiritual pressure grew stronger and stronger. His mastery of Kido became more and more refined.
By then, when he fought, he no longer needed even to swing his sword. A single [Sōkotsu] from his fists alone could reduce a man to粉末.
Then an ancient, weathered, majestic voice echoed out:
"Boy… can you withstand a slash forged by two thousand years of discipline?"
At that moment, Roy snapped back to himself.
And suddenly understood—
what he had just seen was no illusion. It was the peak swordsmanship born of two thousand years of life-and-death refinement, telling him of the conviction behind it, and the hardship it had taken to forge.
Just as no one succeeds casually.
Talent only becomes "talent" once it is fulfilled.
Rather than saying Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni had called forth the name of the oldest fire-type Zanpakuto, it would be more accurate to say…
Ryujin Jakka chose him of its own accord—because it recognized his endurance, his perseverance, his ability to bear loneliness, to endure suffering, and to keep going without ever breaking.
So—
"Withstand it?"
"You overestimate me, Head Captain."
Pssht—
The vertical slash sank straight into Roy's brow and split him cleanly in half from top to bottom!
His mouth cracked into a smile even as he said:
"At the end of the day, I'm just a half-baked swordsman who's trained for less than two years."
Still gripping [Eclipse], he toppled straight out of the sky!
Hm?!
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's brows knit.
At one point, he suddenly drew his blade and swept it horizontally behind him—
Clang!
A sharp metallic clash rang out…
A blade wreathed in black embers smashed against a blade roaring with blazing flames, and spiritual pressure and Nen burst apart like fireworks!
"You slippery brat. What kind of Kido is this?!"
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and looked behind him.
The boy he had just split in half with a single strike had somehow appeared behind him at some unknown moment, delivering the exact same downward slash toward his back!
But unexpectedly,
Roy's vertical slash, just like Yamamoto's own, also failed to hit its mark.
Buzz—
A crimson glow surfaced in the boy's eyes. Three pitch-black tomoe slowly rotated within them, reflecting in Yamamoto's gaze and bringing with them an invisible pressure like falling into the underworld itself.
The Sharingan opened, and the illusion shattered.
Roy's blade collided against Yamamoto's. He had long expected that the fake death illusion he created would never deceive a monster like this—just as Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu had failed to hypnotize him. All it took was a casual pulse of Yamamoto's spiritual pressure to shatter it apart.
Roy blinked and said,
"I told you from the start, old man. In the end, it was all just… Kyoka Suigetsu."
As soon as the words fell, his shoulder dipped. Then he reversed his grip and slashed upward, while all of his Nen poured out in an instant, turned crimson, and transformed completely into [Scorching True Intent].
Calmly, the boy said:
"[Ken · Zanka no Tachi]!"
With that same slash, he tore open the night sky and condense into one pitch-black line, cutting diagonally toward Yamamoto—
Whoosh—
A heat approaching fifty thousand degrees, already beyond what Roy once possessed, beyond the surface of the sun and into the photosphere itself,
shot straight for Yamamoto's face.
The old man's white beard hung in neatly braided strands over his chest. Visibly, he froze for an instant.
Then, when he came back to himself, he looked deeply at Roy, and for the first time ever, an intensely blazing light erupted in the depths of his old eyes!
"Ken… Zanka no Tachi…"
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni savored Roy's rising slash in detail.
At the exact instant—0.0001 seconds before the attack would have reached his chest—
the old man's body shifted like a phantom. He turned his blade sideways and blocked Roy's strike with perfect precision.
Then the veins on his right arm bulged. Carrying boundless spiritual pressure, he slammed down hard against Roy's sword and snorted coldly.
"Boy. Know this—those who learn from me may live, but those who merely imitate me will die!"
"A swordsman must walk his own road. That alone is the true path!"
Clang—
Another clear clash of steel rang out.
Through the blade came a massive force, like a river bursting through a broken dam!
Roy felt his forearm go numb on the spot. The web between thumb and forefinger split open, and he nearly lost his grip on [Eclipse].
Then—
like a cannon shell just fired from a barrel—
he couldn't endure even one full breath.
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's inhuman strength blasted him straight down toward the earth!
It was visible to the naked eye—
the boy's body, wrapped in flames, streaked across the night sky like a meteor, dragging a long tail of fire as it slammed toward the ground…
BOOM!
With a single thunderous crash,
he disappeared below the horizon,
and it felt like even the earth itself shook with the impact.
Terrified, many people thought the earth dragon had turned over and fled in panic!
"Namu Amida Butsu. I can't see… I can't see through it…"
A Buddhist chant rose softly.
The Nichirin weapon under Gyomei Himejima jolted once, only to be crushed obediently back down beneath him again.
This strongest Hashira in history—the greatest to emerge after Yoriichi Tsugikuni and Kokushibo both passed out of the Demon Slayer Corps—
had now opened his aura nodes, gained Nen, and grown to a level far beyond what he once was.
And yet now, with his gaze shifting between the sky and the earth, all he could see was a blur. He could no longer make out the situation.
He couldn't even tell who was who anymore…
"Was the one who fell Lord Rōichirō?"
Tension, unease, anxiety—
they spread into every corner of the world.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki stood there holding Amane's hand, with Kanata, Hinaki, and Kiriya beside them, anxiously looking from the sky to the earth and back again.
At some point, once the nearest Kasugai crow had reached Kyojuro Rengoku and he arrived on horseback, Kagaya hurriedly asked him.
Rengoku's white haori billowed behind him. After a brief silence, he answered honestly:
"My Lord, this is not a battle I can fully comprehend. As for who exactly was the one who fell… I cannot say."
Kiriya, the youngest, admired Roy most out of anyone. Day and night he practiced swordsmanship, dreaming that one day Roy might guide him personally. Hearing that, he couldn't hold himself back.
"Lord Kyojuro… even you can't see clearly?"
"It's too fast, too bright, and too sharp," Rengoku said slowly, shaking his head. Then he lifted his eyes again and took a deep breath.
"All I can say for certain is this: whether it's Lord Rōichirō or the one fighting him, both have already surpassed the realm of ordinary swordsmen."
The more one studied Nen, the more one understood how terrifying divine power truly was.
And the more one understood what it meant that above every heaven was another heaven, and above every master another master.
Kyojuro Rengoku was not the only one who thought so.
Muichiro Tokito, Sanemi Shinazugawa, Obanai Iguro, Tengen Uzui…
Every one of Roy's personally awakened believers thought the same thing—
They felt ashamed of the old selves who had once been frogs in a well, staring at the sky through a tiny opening.
And at the same time, they felt an intense curiosity and longing toward that greater "sky" beyond the one they knew.
"Lord Rōichirō won't lose!"
"I believe in him!"
"He killed Kibutsuji Muzan!"
"There's no swordsman stronger than him!"
Kiriya raised his fist—whether to encourage himself or Roy, even he didn't know.
Rengoku looked at him and nearly spoke, wanting badly to tell the boy that compared to the two in the sky, Kibutsuji Muzan wasn't even worthy of carrying their shoes.
But before the words could leave his mouth, Kagaya Ubuyashiki—ever perceptive—noticed and shook his head to stop him.
His curse now gone, the man had gone on to live happily with his family and wanted for nothing more in this life. Carrying boundless gratitude toward Roy, he smiled gently and said:
"There's no need to get hung up on who fell and who didn't…"
Ubuyashiki opened those pale, profound eyes of his and looked at the lone figure still standing beneath the moon.
"If you look carefully, the other man didn't pursue him. He showed no sign whatsoever of finishing him off. Which means there's no hostility between them. They're not enemies. In fact…"
Ubuyashiki narrowed his eyes.
"I suspect Lord Rōichirō knows him. He may even be one of the divine envoys from the Holy Church's main sanctuary."
"As expected of my Lord!"
Kyojuro froze, then instantly understood, his eyes lighting up.
Another divine envoy…
Didn't that mean the Holy Church was even more powerful, even more mysterious than he'd imagined?
"Praise the Sun!"
The cry suddenly echoed through the Ubuyashiki estate—
and was followed by more devout prayers, and blessings besides.
Hiss—
Pain…
It felt as if pain itself had been given shape.
On the earth below,
somewhere in a remote, dark forest,
a human-shaped crater of impossible depth had been blasted into the ground!
By moonlight, one could vaguely make out—
a hand suddenly thrusting up through the soil.
Then, with dirt all over his face, Roy's head emerged at the bottom of the crater, lying there while the corners of his mouth twitched non-stop.
[Notice: "Swordsmanship" +100]
[Current "Swordsmanship": Lv4 (91240/100000)]
[Note: Approximately 9000 points remain before breakthrough to Lv5]
Nine thousand points…
In other words—
ninety more strikes!
And that was only two blows…
"And I already broke eight ribs."
"The strongest Shinigami in a thousand years truly lives up to his name."
The panel notices rang on.
Roy endured the pain and clambered out of the crater in a miserable state. Then he leapt, landed on the surface, took a deep breath—
and as Nen gathered, his crushed chest slowly expanded outward again.
In no more than three breaths, it had completely returned to normal.
Even his damaged internal organs were restored, resuming their proper function.
At that moment, the upgraded [Blooddrop Rebirth] he had obtained from Muzan showed just how terrifyingly effective it was!
Buzz—
A haze of green Nen wrapped around the boy from the inside out, repairing every injury on his body on the spot.
High in the sky,
beneath the bright moon,
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni looked down with moonlight at his back. One of his white brows lifted, almost imperceptibly, in surprise.
"Kido healing?"
~~~
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