[63] Inventor

'Wait a moment!'

'What was that just now?'

Zeidritz's single eye widened as he stared toward Makoto, a flicker of disbelief shimmering in his gaze.

If he hadn't misjudged that fleeting instant...

What the young man had swung wasn't a blade… but a fist?

Amid the swirling dust, Orado staggered to her feet, shaking her head as she clambered out of the shattered rock. Her movements were labored, one hand clutching her abdomen.

There, a crater the size of a human head had caved in her flesh.

Snapping out of her earlier arrogance, she fixed a stunned gaze on Makoto in the distance. A strained, unnatural smile twitched across her lips.

"I see."

"So this guy's one of those so-called captains, huh?"

Blood welled in Orado's throat, her voice a hoarse rasp as she pressed, "No wonder he's so strong."

"But!"

"Only someone like you is worth tearing apart!"

"Hey! Zeidritz!"

"That thing, I can take it off now, right?"

At her words, the old man gave a slow nod, his eyes narrowing as they settled on Makoto.

If this was indeed a captain, then it warranted a proper measure of his worth.

"Permission granted."

Orado's booming laughter rang out, her eyes blazing a visceral crimson.

With a savage yank, she tore the blue-and-white gloves from her hands.

The Sanrei Glove, a Quincy secret.

Removing it unleashed a peak of power no human body could naturally withstand, if only for a fleeting moment.

The cost? The inability to wield Quincy abilities ever again.

But in this era, that was a trivial price.

Because His Majesty reigned supreme.

In an instant, a staggering eruption of Reiatsu burst from Orado's frame.

"I'll… rip you to shreds!"

Makoto stood his ground, watching her silently, his tone even and unshaken,

"Don't spout reckless threats so lightly."

"It only betrays your weakness."

The moment his words fell, Senjumaru and Okikiba turned to him in unison.

Perhaps it was the shock of seeing him, usually prone to brash, outrageous declarations, speak with such gravity that threw them off balance.

That line doesn't fit this guy's style at all…

Yet, in that same breath, Makoto felt a shift within. The Reishi in his body seemed to yield, flowing more smoothly, his frame growing subtly lighter.

A spark ignited in his eyes.

So this is the effect of Teetering on the Edge trait?

For Orado, however, his words were nothing less than a mental sledgehammer.

"ARGHHH!!"

Her furious bellow shook the air as her body swelled once more. The Reiatsu coiling around her hands condensed under Reishi Clustering, forging twin blades of shimmering light.

Her eyes burned a deep, blood-soaked red. The bracers on her wrists pulsed, dark Reishi veins snaking across her skin, feeding her an endless surge of raw power.

In a heartbeat, the density of Reishi cloaking her form spiked several times over.

From her shoulders erupted twin streams of Reishi flame, flaring like wings.

She stood transformed, an angelic figure of annihilation.

This was... Vollständig!

Senjumaru's eyes widened, her voice sharp with urgency.

"Careful, Makoto!"

Before her warning could fully land, Orado's lips curled into a vicious smirk. With a whoosh, she vanished.

Makoto's focus never wavered. The instant she disappeared, he sensed the incoming strike from his right through the heightened Reishi perception of Teetering on the Edge. His asauchi snapped back, slashing upward through the air.

Clang!

Her Reishi-forged fist blade met his steel, the collision ringing out like metal on metal, a piercing screech that clawed at the eardrums.

Okikiba reacted in a flash, pointing toward the giantess.

"Bakudō 61: Rikujōkōrō!"

Six beams of radiant light lanced toward Orado. Though he'd skipped the incantation, for a Kidō master like him, it still served as a potent delay.

Yet, the moment the Rikujōkōrō took shape, Orado let out a low grunt. The Reishi bands wreathing her body unraveled the hazy pillars into scattered particles.

"Sklaverei!"

The Quincy art of breaking down Reishi-based matter and life into its rawest form, bending it to her will.

"Using Reishi techniques against a Quincy?"

"Don't underestimate me, you fool!"

Before she could finish her taunt, Makoto's blade tilted upward. He stepped in close, his left hand darting out, unleashing a searing burst of Reiatsu like a roaring inferno.

The blow crashed into the giantess's abdomen with a thunderous roar.

"Ikkotsu!"

A single punch sent Orado's massive frame lurching upward, the violent shockwave threatening to shred her innards. Her formidable muscles buckled under the relentless force, utterly failing to withstand the impact.

"Fuck…"

She swung her fist downward in a desperate arc, but Makoto's blade twisted in his grip.

A thin sheen of light flared across its surface.

His gaze turned frigid as he murmured.

"First Form - Severing Strike!"

The blade sliced through the air, leaving a flickering afterimage of radiant streaks.

Orado's arm launched skyward, severed clean. The dense Reiatsu cloaking her body offered no resistance, the cut mirror-smooth.

Before the pain could register, Makoto pressed forward, the gleam in his eyes intensifying. The light on his blade seemed to stretch outward, hungry for more.

"Orado!"

Zeidritz's eye widened.

True to his veteran instincts, he recognized the peril in an instant. With a surge, he charged forward.

'Dogshit!'

'Is this what they call a Shinigami's shikai release?!'

Yet Makoto's blade had already erupted into motion, arcing like lightning and tracing countless razor-thin lines through the air.

"First Form - Revised Severing Strike!"

A lattice of precise slashes wove a web of death in midair.

Finally grasping the danger, even Orado's sluggish mind couldn't afford to meet it head-on.

She poured Reishi into her feet, her Hirenkyaku kicking in like a car in reverse. Against the momentum, she dragged her hulking form sideways, rocketing away.

Shing!!

But that brief delay cost her dearly, blood gushed from her lower half.

Both of her legs are cleaved clean through!

Even so, a beastly roar tore from her throat, raw and feral, as if the searing pain had ignited some primal lineage within. Her bloodshot eyes locked onto Makoto, and with her last arm, she hurled the fist-blade clutched in her grip.

"ORA!"

The seemingly massive weapon shrank mid-flight, dwindling to the size of a fingernail.

Its spiritual glow dimmed to a faint whisper.

Yet that frail glimmer sparked an overwhelming dread in Makoto's chest.

Pure instinct took over. He channeled every ounce of Reiatsu into his feet, not daring to entertain the thought of countering it.

In the next breath, that faint light streaked forth like a crossbow bolt guided by invisible threads, arrowing toward where he'd just stood.

A seamless line traced across the sky.

Silent.

Before Makoto could react, a high-frequency tremor shuddered through the air behind him, threatening to rattle his bones apart.

Only then did the deafening explosion ripple outward, audible for miles.

Glancing back, he saw soundwaves ripple forth, the clouds trembling in their wake. The invisible shockwave solidified into a translucent spherical pulse, its roar splitting the sky.

He whipped his head around.

There, etched into the distant earth, gaped a bottomless, glossy-black crater, its edges impossibly smooth.

From above, it resembled a true fistprint.

"Quite the impressive attack." Senjumaru remarked, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Okikiba as they blocked Zeidritz's path.

The elegant woman turned, eyeing the fathomless pit with a mocking lilt, "If your own strength matched these 'weapons' of yours, I daresay we'd be the ones fleeing right now."

Zeidritz's gaze hardened as it met hers.

In that fleeting clash moments ago, they'd briefly crossed blades.

And then…

The old man glanced at his left shoulder.

A fine slash marred the pristine white cloak and fabric, a trickle of blood seeping through.

Not fatal, though.

With a calm gesture, he summoned a handkerchief of shimmering Reishi, wiping the wound.

In an instant, both injury and cloth were mended as if untouched.

Zeidritz faced the pair and abruptly introduced himself.

"My designation is I."

"You may call me the Inventor."

"If this meager display surprises you, honestly, it'd be a relief to me."

As he spoke, his shoes morphed into leather boots, sprouting delicate wings at their sides.

A short staff materialized in his hand.

Senjumaru blinked, caught off guard.

In a flash, Zeidritz's form vanished.

When he reappeared, he stood behind her.

The staff pointed at the woman.

Senjumaru's body transformed into a solid golden statue.

Okikibas eyes widened in shock.

Leaning on his staff, Zeidritz's voice remained steady,

"After all…"

"I'm far stronger than she ever was."

***

Bonus Chapter:

100 Power Stones = 1 BC

300 Power Stones = 2 BC

500 Power Stones = 3 BC

700 Power Stones = 4 BC

1000 Power Stones = 5 BC

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