The Purpose of Apophis

Under the silver-white night sky illuminated by thunder is this image.

Nidai Kitetsu pierced into the body of Apophis, and blood mixed with rainwater dripped down from the chest cavity.

Splat! Splat!

"This is your slash that transcends time? Not bad, really good!" A raspy voice came from under the mask.

"I'm sorry! It's all I can do for Kuina!"

"Just, why didn't you thrust this sword down?" Koushirou asked, looking at the tip of the sword in front of his chest.

The other half of this image is that the Seven Star Sword, which Apophis holds in both hands, happened to stop in front of Koushirou's chest.

"You have already burned your soul, it doesn't matter if this sword stabs or not." Apophis said blandly.

"I would feel better if you stabbed down, this feeling of killing your benefactor is not pleasant." Koushirou's mouth was bitter.

"I think that you might have misunderstood something." Apophis's body stepped back, the blade blocking the wound pulled out, and blood gushed out like a wild fountain.

"You'll die, but I won't."

"How is it possible?" Koushirou looked incredulously at Apophis chest; the chest cavity that should have been the heart area was empty.

"Could it be that you are an alien whose heart was born on the right side?"

"No, I just moved my heart to the right side in advance." Apophis explained lightly.

"How can such a thing be possible for a human to do?" Koushirou's hands trembled wildly.

"But I was just able to do it." Apophis said indifferently, "You still ended up seeing only a fragment of the future, you lost!"

"Yes! It seems that I have not been able to escape the destiny of previous generations of Sword God either!"

Koushirou pleaded very weakly, "Just, can I beg you to let Kuina go?"

Apophis answered differently, "I'm not going to kill her."

Koushirou, who was already on his last breath, didn't notice the problem and just smiled gratefully, "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

Saying that, Koushirou fell towards the ground, looking at the sky full of stars after the rainy night, and muttered, "Yoko, I have retrieved my sword heart again, now I can become a great hero to meet you like before!"

"Cough cough cough!" Apophis removed the half of his mask below his nose and coughed blood frantically, "That was a stunning enough slash."

"Finally squeezed out his full potential, and it wasn't worth wasting so much of my time." Apophis muttered.

"After a person dies they will leave their body in the state it was in before they died, and the body that dies beyond its limits is the most suitable vessel for me!"

If not to get a perfect body, he would not be forced to force Koushirou to explode like those villainous bosses who have lost their minds.

Moreover, verifying the existence of explosive seeds is the second purpose of his doing so.

Apophis is well aware that his life, in a sense, can indeed also be said to be an open-like path.

But unlike most hanging beings, he has not exploded the seeds.

The reason is simple: he never puts himself in absolute danger.

Whether it is extreme training or under fire, he will leave a way back for himself.

As with this seemingly dangerous liaison, there are a dozen ways he can salvage the situation as usual.

And another thing, that is, he is too rational!

He can't do what those people do, forcefully exploding in hysterical emotional outbursts.

However, there is no shortage of enemies he will have to face in the future that may have the potential to explode into existence.

That's why he wanted to test it.

The result is obvious.

"So, when you really meet an enemy that you must kill, you end up killing them all at once, and only the dead enemy is a good enemy!"

Apophis sighed and cut out the shadow, and put it into Koushirou.

Soon, the already dead Koushirou revived again.

"A little inconsistent in height, but not a big problem." Apophis merged his shadow master into Koushirou's shadow, "Kage Kakumei!"

As the shadow changed, Koushirou's physical appearance gradually resembled Apophis'.

"Apart from the height and size, the biggest problem is related to how alive this body is. After all, he's already a dead man."

"Whether it's a heartbeat, breathing, or Busoshoku Haki, it requires powerful life energy to disguise it."

"Under my shadow manipulation, there may not be too many problems in a short period of time, but once this time is extended to three to six months, the hidden problems may be exposed."

"After solving the matter of the East Blue, it's time to get busy again!" Apophis said self-deprecatingly, "Ultimately, it's the limitations of Kage Kage no Mi, even if I can find that item, the shelf life of this body will only be ten years at most."

"So, it's time to launch this third phase of the plan!"

...

Time rewinds slightly to a minute ago.

Inside Isshin Dojo.

Kuina's already pale face became even paler under that thunder flash as if completely losing its blood colour.

Naturally, she could hear that it was her father's voice.

And the meaning of those words seems to be self-evident.

He will take others to death with him.

"It's father's voice." Kuina's weak body couldn't help but lean on the coffin and gently bite her lips, "Father must be scaring me, right? Just like this funeral, everything is a farce that father made on purpose, right!"

"What are you waiting for, huh? Kuina! No matter what the situation is, let's go over there and take a look!" Zoro shouted anxiously.

"I, I can't walk ..." Kuina was a little ashamed to say.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier." Zoro grabbed Kuina to the shoulder, like a bandit robbing a bride, hurried to the direction of the back of the mountain.

Kuina, who was already weak, felt like her body was falling apart, "Idiot! Can't you carry me?"

"It's too late to carry it next time." Zoro once again said in a note of loneliness.

Under the savage sprint of Zoro, the two soon arrived at the grove in the back of the mountain.

"This is ..." Just stepping into the back of the mountain, the two were stunned by sight before them.

The former lush and green grove, now only a desolate ruin, everywhere can be seen tiny wood chips and broken stones.

The thick ground also has countless more grievous scars, potholes, gullies, cracks, and even canyons.

The sides of the canyon were incomparably smooth, like a mirror, as if someone had sliced it with a knife.

"Could this be caused by my father fighting the enemy?" Kuina was a bit doubtful; she had never seen her father strike before.

Even if there is, most of them are holding a knife but can not even cut a piece of paper, and then tell them the funny story of "the strongest mystery".

She never thought that her usually smiling father could be so strong!

PS: In fact, I did not say anything at the beginning of the reward to add more things, mainly because I was worried about people breaking the budget (well, actually, I was lazy, Orz). But then, we are more and more enthusiastic, even the cronies have given two, I can not pretend not to see, after adding the cronies (three more, after all, handicapped) more, though, can not be too generous, or the previous more all to make up. The next, when 2.5 cronies (about equal to eight more) it. Of course, it still can only slowly payback (˘̩̩̩ε˘̩ƪ).

Published in Qidian, July 11, 2019