Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“Partnership?”
“That’s right, let’s work together! If you can bring me Aoki Hidehiro, I promise I will stay with you, and serve you for the next ten years.”
The whole idea sounded like a massive joke to Kimura Kazuki, which made him sneer, “Men and ghosts are never meant to share the same path, the just and the evil could never co-exist together. A team-up between us? It’ll never happen.”
“No, no, no...” Ito Shunji was shaking his head, “I’ve never killed anyone in the past five years. I didn’t even hurt a single person who came to explore Akichi High.”
“That’s because you’re a peculiar one, to begin with.” Based on his personality, if Rei Takamori were not present, he would have started a fight instead of having a calm conversation. Kimura Kazuki was holding his Sun and Moon Sword while talking. He slowly and calmly transferred the reiki from his palm to the sword as he offered a reply, “The spirits of the entire class were collated into one. As a demon, you’ve got inherent rationality and cultivation, which made you understand that killing another person wouldn’t increase your power after you have reached a certain level of strength. This means that assaulting someone would only expose yourself, and do you no good. You wouldn’t do something unrewarding, would you? Besides, the last time I was here in Akichi High School, you were trying to assassinate me, weren’t you?”
“The last time I tried to kill you because... I was only trying to get you out of Akichi High,” Ito Shunji confessed. “If I were really trying to kill you, you would never have the chance to run away. The fire you put up was great, but it was only enough to stall time.”
Kimura Kazuki scorned at the remark. Back then, he was able to give Ito Shunji a lesson by using his secret spell even though his skill was still at First Foundation State. Ito Shunji was trying to let him go? That was not even a possibility. If he wanted to let Kimura Kazuki go, he wouldn’t have shown up in the first place.
Though he had only achieved the First Foundation State previously, he still had reiki in his body. He was a tonic to Ito Shunji. If Ito Shunji ate him alive, Ito Shunji’s power would be elevated too. This was also why Ito Shunji chose to pursue him instead of the other two ordinary people — Yasuda and Suzuki.
This guy had nothing but lies.
Looking at Kimura Kazuki’s expression, Ito Shunji’s face dropped and slowly contorted. He spoke grimly, “I guess we couldn’t become a team after all.”
Just when he finished, Kimura Kazuki felt the chill creeping underneath his feet. He looked down to realize that a sea of ghostly faces was formed within his one-meter radius. Each of them had a pair of black arms, wrapping around his legs tightly.
Kimura Kazuki was late to react and was instantly immobilized.
The next second, he saw a crooked and sinister smile appearing on Ito Shunji’s face. Ito Shunji extended his arms forward, his countless pairs of arms started to rush toward him at a fast pace.
Kimura Kazuki hummed coldly in his heart and quickly produced a Spirit Stabilizer Talisman. He swung it lightly, and the talisman turned red. The word ‘Stable’ in red came flying out from the talisman and circled around in the sky before enlarging itself all of a sudden and dropping onto Ito Shunji, binding his movements.
Ito Shunji bellowed, and the word ‘Stable’ recoiled all of his arms, suppressing his inner reiki. He was furious because he failed to kill Kimura Kazuki. An enormous strength swelled from within and made the red ‘Stable’ to start vibrating violently.
Kimura Kazuki was undisturbed when he witnessed the change. This Spirit Stabilizer Talisman was powered by Red Reiki. It was more powerful than the common ones, so Ito Shunji would be unable to break himself free in a short time.
Having thought of that, he produced another talisman drawn with the force of Red Reiki — a Spiritual Fire Talisman. The talisman turned into tiny red flames when it was infused with reiki. Fire rained from the sky, collapsing onto the ghostly faces all at once.
Plaintive cries broke the sky. Within seconds, all of the ghostly faces vanished without a trace.
Ito Shunji was even more furious now. Though he knew Kimura Kazuki had changed a lot, he had not expected to meet with such a drastic transformation. Kimura Kazuki’s power level now was entirely different since their last encounter.
Kimura Kazuki was not aware of what Ito Shunji was thinking. His foot touched the ground softly. Within the blink of an eye, he advanced himself to a spot several dozen meters away. At the exact moment, Kimura Kazuki held up his sword, where Sun and Moon Sword turned into a semicircle in front of him and slashed at Ito Shunji’s waist.
“Single Flash Sword Drawing Skill.”
According to Yagyu Flying Sword Style’s principle, to pull off ‘Single Flash Sword Drawing Skill’ without a mistake, the four elements — concentration, energy, spirit, and sword must be integrated.
Harnessing concentration, energy, and spirit were easy, but combining them into a sword was easier said than done. Many people had not mastered the skill to do that.
This was why it took ten years to achieve only the basic level. But with the help of Yagyu Isshin’s experience, Kimura Kazuki was able to skip the process. He had even modified the ‘Single Flash Sword Drawing Skill.’ The skill could only be initiated when the sword was in its scabbard in a ‘ready-to-go’ condition. He did not have to do it that way anymore because he was able to integrate his heart with the Sun and Moon Sword.
To perform the ‘Single Flash Sword Drawing Skill’ was as easy as drinking water for him. He enveloped the blade of the sword with reiki beforehand to intensify the power of ‘Single Flash Sword Drawing Skill.’
Squeak—!
A squeak was heard out of nowhere, and Kimura Kazuki felt like he had cut on a piece of hard iron. He glanced at the Sun and Moon Sword and found it stuck in the middle of Ito Shunji’s waist, unable to move forward for even an inch.
It’s impossible!
“Damn it! Die!”
Ito Shunji’s raging bellow ripped open the sky. The terrifying speed and force of Kimura Kazuki frightened him a little. He broke free from the word ‘Stable,’ and his arms started to turn shiny, becoming hard and indestructible.
As the arms approached again, Kimura Kazuki’s face sank. He was forced to let go of the Sun and Moon Sword. He was trying to evade the attacks of the arms, but there were too many of them. A second arm came as soon as he dodged the first. There was no end to them. Though the arms appeared metallic, they were actually soft and bendable, flexible enough. Whenever he thought he had successfully shielded himself, a new arm would find its way to him again.
Kimura Kazuki was trying to hide and felt his inner reiki dropping low. He knew he could not continue like this, so he stepped on the ground with his foot, allowing him to retreat rapidly. He called out in a low-pitched voice, “Sun and Moon!”
Instantly, he fused himself with the Sun and Moon Sword. At this moment, they were combined into one without much effort. The Sun and Moon Sword, which was stuck at Ito Shunji’s waist, transformed into a three-inch tiny sword. After rotating one round, it turned into a bright thread and encircled Ito Shunji’s neck.
“I caught you!” Ito Shunji was feeling the touch of his arms. He smirked happily, but the expression in his eyes turned from joy to astonishment within seconds.
What happened? Why has my vision changed? Looking up at the limitless dark sky, where no star was present, Ito Shunji felt confused.
When Kimura Kazuki saw Ito Shunji’s head fell onto the ground, and the ashes began to fly, he was relieved. Sun and Moon Sword had transformed back into a tachi, returning into the grasp of his palm.
The sword shuddered a little, and emotions poured out of his face.
Kimura Kazuki felt like he had accomplished something big, eager to be complimented. He smiled helplessly, “Not bad! I’ve accomplished a great feat.”
He could not maintain the sword summoning state for too long, the most he could last was probably ten seconds.
He was able to make the sword into a summoned sword because of his inner red reiki. Red reiki was a type of reiki quality one could only obtain after Metamorphosis State. He was able to summon the sword earlier because he had fulfilled apparition obsessiveness and obtained the red reiki beforehand.
In Metamorphosis State, one could kill with the summoned sword. In Core Formation State, one could fly with a summoned sword. Like the colors of reikis, they signified the difference in levels.
Other than the Enchanted Talisman, the Imperial Sword was his most potent weapon.
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