As Upper Rank Four Hantengu tremblingly uttered those three words, the parchment in Suyan's hand transformed into a streak of white light and instantly shot into the demon's body.
Hantengu immediately felt as though something vital was slipping away from him.
Is it my Blood Demon Art?! He realized it almost instantly. His memories of how to utilize his Blood Demon Art, along with his control over it, were rapidly fading. In just a few short moments, he completely forgot how to use his own powers. While his innate ability to split his body into his younger emotional clones hadn't vanished, that was all he had left.
He was absolutely certain that if he were to split into his stronger clones now, they would possess raw physical strength but no special abilities whatsoever. Essentially, they would be no different from a low-level demon without a Blood Demon Art.
Yet, Hantengu only felt a mild sense of regret. This proved that the terrifying man standing before him truly possessed the power to steal his Blood Demon Art. It also meant that the condition written on that parchment—that he would be spared in exchange for his powers—was highly likely to be genuine.
Perhaps it was because he saw the shadow of the great man who had once judged him overlapping with Suyan, but Hantengu didn't harbor a shred of doubt. Instead, he felt overwhelmingly fortunate. He had survived again. Even if losing his Blood Demon Art meant he would inevitably plummet from his seat among the Twelve Kizuki, he was alive. To him, that was the only thing that mattered.
Because of his extreme attachment to his own life, Hantengu offered absolutely no resistance to the loss of his powers. The Equivalent Exchange ability perfectly and seamlessly stripped away every ounce of his Blood Demon Art.
A cluster of multicolored light rose from Hantengu's body, representing the stolen power. The glowing sphere slowly merged into Suyan. Instantly, countless flashes of memories depicting the use of the Blood Demon Art surged through Suyan's mind. A torrent of knowledge washed over his cerebral cortex like a flowing river, filling him with an indescribable, wondrous sensation.
In a matter of moments, Hantengu's Blood Demon Art fully integrated into Suyan's body, now completely under his mastery.
Raising his hand, Suyan effortlessly used his Conjuration to materialize all the weapons Hantengu's clones had previously wielded. Sekido's Khakkhara, Aizetsu's Jumonji Yari, Karaku's Uchiwa, and Zohakuten's Raijin Drums and drumsticks all appeared before him. Even without converting his body into a demon using Muzan's blood, he could wield these abilities just as naturally as Hantengu's clones.
Truthfully, while Suyan felt relieved, a part of him was slightly disappointed. He was relieved that the Blood Demon Art he stole wasn't the actual ability to split into emotional clones. If it had been, his sanity might have cracked. Thanks to some brain-dead authors he had read in his past life, Suyan harbored a deep-seated resistance to cloning abilities—especially sentient ones. He recalled stories of protagonists who hoarded all their resources to feed a clone, only to get stabbed in the back.
He had even resolved that if he had obtained the actual cloning ability, he would have instantly broken the contract and killed Hantengu to erase the power. Fortunately, he only received the elemental Blood Demon Arts utilized by those clones. Hantengu was lucky to have kept his life.
The disappointment, however, also stemmed from the nature of the powers. Aside from Zohakuten's upgraded sound blast inherited from Urogi, the rest of the abilities simply summoned weapons to unleash elemental attacks, rather than infusing those elements directly into his own body.
This frustrated Suyan. The moment he laid eyes on Hantengu, he had coveted Sekido's ability to manipulate lightning. He already knew of Killua's success in developing lightning Nen abilities in the Hunter x Hunter world. If he could have directly absorbed the lightning attribute, he could have shamelessly copied Killua. Skills like Godspeed, Speed of Lightning, and Whirlwind would have been incredibly satisfying to use.
Unfortunately, Hantengu had let him down. Suyan's own developed Transmutation ability wasn't lightning, but fire. Unlike Killua, he couldn't endure torturous electrocution with a straight face just to internalize the nature of electricity. Furthermore, his childhood was surrounded by fire-wielding protagonists: the Flare Dragon from Bakugan, Thunderbolt from Lolo's Adventures, Hongmao from The Legend of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit, Tsuna's Dying Will Flame from Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, and Agumon from Digimon. Naturally, fire was the first and easiest attribute he managed to master.
Yet, despite his time spent training, his only advanced application beyond normal combustion was the upgraded Crimson Red Blade, inspired by Yoriichi Tsugikuni. He had previously imagined mimicking Tsuna, using flames from his hands as thrusters to achieve flight. But whether it was because his flames were too ordinary or lacked concussive force, he simply couldn't pull it off.
Suyan let out a helpless sigh. He glanced down at Hantengu, who was trembling even more violently now that his powers were gone. Retracting the chains binding the demon, Suyan spoke in a cold tone. "Little mouse, you can scram now."
"Y-yes! Thank you, my Lord! Thank you!" Hantengu wept tears of joy. Bowing profusely, he scrambled away on all fours, scurrying into the darkness like a literal rat.
Just as Hantengu vanished, Shizuka Marikawa tackled Suyan from behind in a flying leap. "Little Suyan, let me play with it! Hurry, let me play with it!" she whined, her words easily prone to misunderstanding.
Yushiro, still traumatized by Shizuka's earlier assault, didn't dare lift his head. He just prayed they wouldn't do anything to his beloved Lady Tamayo.
"Such... such lewdness!" Tamayo covered her mouth, staring at Shizuka in absolute shock. Clearly, she had taken the blonde woman's words completely out of context.
Suyan rolled his eyes and playfully knocked Shizuka on the head. "Sister Shizuka, can you please phrase things normally? Stop saying things that make people misunderstand."
"Ehehe~" Shizuka stuck her tongue out playfully. Properly expressing her true intent, she held her hands out. "Alright, alright. Little Suyan, hurry up and let me play with those weapons you just made!"
"I really can't do anything with you." Suyan shook his head with a fond sigh. He re-conjured the weapons and handed them over, warning her gently, "Be careful not to hurt yourself while playing."
Holding the mystical weapons, Shizuka planted a happy kiss on Suyan's cheek, flashed him a finger-heart, and cheered, "Thanks, Little Suyan! Love you~"
Watching her excitedly examine the conjured arsenal, Suyan's smile suddenly froze as an utterly broken exploit crossed his mind.
Wait... if I use Equivalent Exchange to trade these acquired Blood Demon Arts to my contracted partners... could I then simultaneously gain access to them through our Contract? If that worked, any ability he obtained through Equivalent Exchange could essentially be duplicated. Suyan knew his own time and energy were limited. As he gathered more abilities, his skillset would inevitably become a bloated mess—a jack of all trades, but a master of none. He simply wouldn't have the time to develop everything.
But by distributing these abilities to his contracted partners, he could save a massive amount of time and effort. Giving a suitable power to a matching partner for them to cultivate would yield far better results than forcing himself to train in an incompatible affinity. The only drawback was that if the contracted partner died, the ability would vanish with them. But that was simple—just protect them and make sure they didn't die.
As for the 'price' required to trade with his partners via Equivalent Exchange? That was even simpler. Among his women, what was his was theirs, and what was theirs was his. There was no such thing as an unequal trade. He could literally just have them pay with their bodies.
One trade, double the harvest.
His Equivalent Exchange and his Contract ability formed a perfect, self-sustaining loop. It was flawless!
----
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations