========================
[Boosted Attributes]
========================
Nemu's boosted attribute ability—her unique special skill—was finally ready to be used.
Her entire stat system was divided into four attributes: Strength, Defense, Agility, Intelligence. Each one naturally sat at zero—her innate baseline power. But Attribute Channeling, the 20-point enhancement granted exclusively to her, allowed her to distribute those 20 points however she wished.
In her default state, she always kept it balanced.
5 points in Strength
5 points in Defense
5 points in Agility
5 points in Intelligence
Twenty points used. Four attributes neatly boosted. A stable, controlled mode she could fight in without losing control.
Each point mattered:
Strength → +1 Strength Level & +1 Kido offensive power
Defense → +1 Defense Level
Agility → +1 Speed Level
Intelligence → +1 Reiatsu Regeneration Level, 1000 MP per level is added to her energy pool
Each attribute maxed at ten points. Meaning Nemu could, at any moment, ignore two stats entirely and funnel her power into only two areas. If she wanted to go all-in on Strength and Defense, she could. If she wanted speed and intelligence, she could. But every change required control—because even adding a single point drastically altered her body.
Training with balanced stats for months was necessary.
Even one point could destabilize her movements.
The discovery that Attribute Channeling also enhanced her Haki made the skill even more dangerous:
Strength → boosted Armament Haki
Intelligence → increased Observation Haki range
Agility → enhanced Haki reaction speed
Defense → reinforced Haki resilience
She had been careful until now.
Very careful.
But tonight… she might finally unleash its true potential.
Because Nemu had one more card.
Limit Break Attribute.
A one-day-only trump card—usable for ten minutes, with a 24-hour cooldown.
This ability shattered the ten-point cap.
Letting her pour all twenty points into a single attribute.
All Strength?
She could attack with the raw force of a Peak Emperor Profound Realm cultivator.
All Agility?
Her speed would surpass the perception of Thrones.
All Defense?
Even Sky Profound blades would struggle to cut her.
All Intelligence?
Her Reiatsu regeneration would skyrocket.
But Limit Break came with risks.
If she failed to control the surge of strength, she could shatter her own bones—or crush an enemy far too violently.
If she poured everything into Defense, her movements would become heavy and sluggish, leaving openings.
If she focused on Speed, vertigo could overwhelm her and make her lose spatial control.
If she overcharged Intelligence, her reiatsu would spiral wildly, flooding her channels and causing accidental overcasting.
Even with Limit Break, Nemu understood one truth Yun Che drilled into her:
Raw power without control is suicide.
Even if she funneled all twenty points into a single attribute, she still needed balance.
Absolute speed with no Intelligence would overload her senses and trigger vertigo.
Perfect strength with no Agility would make her attacks clumsy, dangerous even to herself.
Maxed Defense without Strength meant she could endure blows she couldn't counter.
Excess Intelligence without grounding would flood her meridians with too much reiatsu at once, destabilizing everything.
Limit Break wasn't a cheat.
It was a precision tool—powerful, unforgiving, and catastrophic in unskilled hands.
So even while the system allowed her to break past the ten-point limit and pour all twenty points into one stat, Nemu kept her breathing steady. Her mind cold. Her focus razor-thin.
She had to control her output.
She had to distribute her points deliberately.
She had to ensure her body adapted to each shift—one point at a time—so she wouldn't collapse under her own strength.
And when the ten minutes ended, every point forcibly snapped back to her balanced 5–5–5–5 configuration.
If she overexerted during Limit Break, the backlash could cripple her.
This was why she never used it in real combat.
Until now.
Tonight, at last, she had a real battlefield—a real threat—a real opportunity to push the boundaries of Attribute Channeling outside of sterile simulations.
To feel how each point reshaped her physical form in a world infused with profound energy.
Hutu Han roared, madness and fury spilling from him like volcanic heat.
The snow trembled around them.
The mountain itself seemed to pulse with his killing intent.
And Nemu…
Nemu finally had a worthy subject to experiment on.
Her fingers tightened around Shigure.
Her veil fluttered in the rising wind.
Her eyes sharpened with clinical interest.
Tonight, she would test the true limits of her design.
"Dieee! You bitch!" Hutu Han roared, dragging his spear in a vicious arc toward Nemu. His killing intent crashed over the snowy peak like a crimson tidal wave. A Throne-level opponent—eight levels above her. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't stand a chance.
So Nemu distributed her channeled points carefully—intelligently—like adjusting gears inside a delicate machine.
As Hutu Han's spear struck, she funneled a portion of Intelligence into Defense.
Her body hardened instantly.
The impact rang through her arms—but did not break her.
At the same time, her other hand flickered through invisible internal menus, adjusting her ratio mid-combat.
She was upgrading herself in real time.
A quiet vow echoed through her heart as steel scraped against her guard:
I won't let my Nee-sama fight alone anymore.
I won't stand idle while she bleeds.
I will stand beside her—shoulder to shoulder.
Not like Xue Ling and Xue Yin… two sisters torn apart by fate and silence.
Nemu's vision sharpened.
Her pulse steadied.
Her systems aligned.
=================
Strength +3.
Agility +7.
Defense +8.
Intelligence +2.
=================
Her body ignited with power.
Then—
she vanished.
A blur of white and green shot across the battlefield.
Hutu Han's spear cut nothing but afterimages.
His eyes widened.
"W–What—?!"
Nemu reappeared behind him, her movements so precise and silent they barely disturbed the falling snow.
She was still five levels below him.
But with boosted attributes…
the gap had closed.
And she moved faster than Hutu Han could even think.
Nemu shifted her attribute points—half into Agility, a sliver into Strength, the rest into Defense to stop her body from tearing itself apart.
A faint hum rippled across her limbs.
Her muscles tightened.
Her joints lightened.
Her perception accelerated.
Her world snapped into razor focus.
Hutu Han lunged forward in a burst of red aura, thrusting his spear down from above with killing intent thick enough to split the clouds—
But Nemu had already moved.
A single step—and she vanished.
Air exploded in her wake.
"W–What!?" Hutu Han's pupils shrank. He barely saw her afterimages, like streaks of moonlit silk whipping around him.
Good.
Nemu noted the data calmly in her head.
She reappeared behind him, blade angled down.
She swung Shigure with surgical precision, scoring a shallow cut across Hutu Han's gauntlet. Metal screeched. Sparks flew. It wasn't deep—but it was controlled. Intentional.
Hutu Han staggered back, stunned—not by the wound, but by what followed.
A radiant glow burst behind Nemu.
Light rippled, then solidified into wings.
Purple wings, woven with crackling golden filaments, unfurled from her back—arcing outward like the crest of a divine bird.
The Wings of the Stormrider.
Her own personal creation.
A pair of artifact wings engineered specifically for her lightning affinity. She had yet to truly master lightning bending—her Haki was only at the intermediate stage, her elemental training still sealed for later—but weapons? Technology? Power systems?
Those she understood better than anyone.
So she built a set of wings that could channel her lightning attribute for flight, defense, and bursts of acceleration. Wings meant for a future lightning bender… but usable even now.
Hutu Han stared, jaw slack.
"Y–You… You have wings? You're a Sky Profound Realm cultivator!?"
But before he could muster another word—
—she vanished.
A distortion of air marked her movement. Then Nemu descended from above, blade aimed like a comet.
Unohana Retsu had trained her in swordsmanship.
Yachiru had trained her sister—and indirectly, her.
Nemu had no inherited sword memory, no past-life mastery. She started from zero.
But she learned fast.
Three silent strikes.
The air split, shockwaves delayed by her speed.
Hutu Han's spear whipped desperately, trying to catch blows he couldn't even follow.
His expression twisted—from arrogance…
to disbelief…
to a creeping, ugly fear.
"Impossible! A mortal fairy cannot grow this fast!" Hutu Han roared, stumbling back on uneven footing.
"A mortal fairy can't fight at all!"
Nemu's eyes glittered like cold stars behind her veil.
Enraged, Hutu Han slammed his spear into the frozen ground. A shockwave of Emperor Profound pressure shattered the mountain top, sending cracks spider-webbing across the ice. Red profound energy spiraled upward, forming a vortex of destructive force.
"Hutu Mountain—Heaven Crushing Spear!"
The technique tore through the air, ripping apart the atmosphere in a straight line—
Nemu simply raised two fingers.
"Hadō #33 — Sōkatsui."
Blue fire erupted from her hand, a tidal wave of spiritual flame colliding with Hutu Han's profound art.
The impact detonated with a thunderous boom, throwing sparks, ice, and shattered stone in every direction.
Nemu slid back, her sandals carving trenches in the snow.
She immediately noticed it—
Her Kido output had weakened.
Her Agility-heavy Attribute Channeling caused an overspecialization. Her Reiryoku flow became unstable. Spell arrays failed to form with their usual clarity.
She had grown too fast, too suddenly.
All her training was done using balanced stats. Now, with her attributes shifted, everything felt wrong—
calculations slower, energy pathways stuttering, spell matrices flickering.
A single mistake could mean a miscast kido—
a binding spell crushing an enemy when she wanted restraint,
a fire spell exploding prematurely,
or a high-tier Hadō collapsing completely.
Her narrowed eyes glittered.
There.
A flaw.
Too much speed.
Not enough mind.
Even her internal reiryoku circuit was flickering like an overloaded processor.
"Fascinating…" she whispered.
Playing with her attributes opened an entire field of potential.
She had avoided experimenting before—defaulting to balance for safety.
Now she understood how much room there was to explore.
To perfect.
To weaponize.
Given her current progress, the single-day skill is unusable. The technique requires complete control over her boosted attributes, which she has yet to achieve.
Hutu Han staggered back to his feet, coughing blood, staring at her as if she were a nightmare made real.
Nemu stepped forward—
—and vanished again.
This time, she shifted one point back into Intelligence, stabilizing her Reiryoku flow, sharpening her spellcasting and computation speed.
Her presence, once a blur of chaotic motion, became razor-focused.
A perfect blend of speed and precision.
======================
While Nemu held the mountain at bay, Yun Che faced his own crisis within the barrier.
Xue Yin lay stiff as stone, eyes open yet unseeing, her body locked by the poison's effects.
Earlier system scans revealed no structural damage, but the Hutu Poison had forced her Yin Enchantress Body into a state of violent instability—her alluring scent overflowing uncontrollably.
The fragrance was sweet… intoxicating… dangerously potent.
If not for the system filtering his senses, even Yun Che would have succumbed.
If he hadn't strapped a filter mask onto his so-called father-in-law Jin Zhuo earlier, the man would have been a lost cause by now.
Yun Che wiped cold sweat from his brow.
"System, perform another scan. Full diagnostic."
========================
[Ding… Scan Complete]
[Name: Xue Yin]
[Level: 70]
[Age: 44]
[Bloodline Art]
Yin Enchantress Body (Activated)
A rare supreme physique awakened only among certain Xue Family women—those whose beauty, spirit, and profound energy align in perfect harmony. The family has birthed only two such women in generations, each with extremely high concentration of this divine constitution.
=========================
"Wait… could it be just as Ling Kun implied? The sacred grounds already knew which women possessed special physiques and were planning to seize them."
Yun Che's eyes narrowed. That tome must contain far more information than I assumed.
He made a mental note to track it down.
A pity Ling Kun hadn't brought it with him—Yun Che might have already uncovered the identities or locations of other women with Divine Bodies.
To protect them, of course.
=========================
Innate Abilities
1. Heavenly Fragrance Meridian
Allows perfect manifestation of Charmed Scent.
Xue Yin's body naturally produces spiritual aroma, which can be shaped into:
1) mental disruption
2) emotional manipulation
3) calming aura, toxic or corrosive miasma (with training)
The fragrance bypasses physical defenses, striking directly at the opponent's spirit sea.
==========================
2. Radiant Allure Veins
The foundation of Enchanting Beauty Charm.
Her beauty becomes amplified by profound energy, transforming into a celestial presence.
Those who gaze upon her may experience:
1) hesitation in battle
2) suppressed killing intent
3) emotional vulnerability
4) delayed reactions
The purer or colder her heart, the stronger this charm becomes.
==========================
3. Divine Resonance Core
The evolved form of Enhanced Cultivation Aura.
Her aura naturally harmonizes the environment, boosting:
1) profound circulation
2) recovery speed
3) elemental resonance
4) pressure against opponents
===========================
Weaknesses & Balance
1) The physique is extremely difficult to cultivate.
2) Full potential requires two blood-related sisters cultivating together.
3) When completed, both bodies evolve into the YinEnchantress Sovereign Body.
=============================
Ultimate State: Enchantress Sovereign Manifestation
When all three abilities merge perfectly, the user ascends into a temporary divine state:
1) their fragrance becomes spiritual incense
2) their beauty forms an illusion-domain
3) their aura becomes a suppression field
Anyone below their cultivation realm may be utterly unable to attack—frozen in awe, fear, or surrender.
Legends claim one with this body can end a battle without ever lifting a hand.
==============================
However—
Heavy emotional fluctuations can cause backlash.
Both sisters who possess this physique will naturally develop two conflicting emotional states.
Most effective on humans and spirit beings; less effective on beasts or emotionless constructs.
Maintaining the full manifestation consumes massive profound energy.
===================
"Wow…" Yun Che breathed out, staring at the system window.
"I didn't expect this from Xue Yin… She actually has a physique like this."
He blinked again, rereading one line.
"Wait—conflicting personalities?"
His face twitched.
"So that's why Sis Ling said she used to have anger issues? Even now she still snaps sometimes despite her calm face…"
That explained a lot—but not the part that was troubling him most.
His expression darkened.
The Charmed Scent was an inherited art of the Xue women, a bloodline ability that allowed them to beguile opponents with a potency proportional to their cultivation. This technique was unique to the Xue Family, a legacy that originated from the now-fallen Gesun Kingdom.
Only those who carried the Xue bloodline could cultivate these charm techniques to their fullest. To others, the art was either ineffective or outright harmful.
Because of its potential—and the fear it might one day challenge greater powers—it is believed that the higher realms deemed the Xue Family a threat… and quietly erased them from existence.
"…Is this why their kingdom was wiped out?"
===================
[It is possible. Higher powers may have wished to obtain both sisters who possessed the Yin Enchantress Body and cultivate them for their own ranks.]
===================
"No wonder Sis Ling reached Peak Earth Profound Realm without difficulty… She probably had this as her foundation." He rubbed his temples.
"Ling Yun was never the supposed genius of the decade. It was Sis Ling herself who held back her breakthrough for Cang Yue and her mother."
He froze.
"Wait—both sisters… does that mean Xue Ling is—"
===================
[Yes. After scanning both Xue Yin and Xue Ling, both are indeed cultivators of the Yin Enchantress Body.]
[However—Xue Ling has not awakened hers yet.]
[Xue Yin is half-awakened.]
[The poisonous parasite inside her body is currently contaminating her dantian.]
===================
Yun Che's face hardened as he read the final line.
===================
[If Xue Yin dies, the detonation of her suppressed profound energy could obliterate this entire mountain.]
[Host must remove the parasite while simultaneously suppressing her stagnant cultivation excess power.]
[She has already reached Grand Perfection Emperor Profound Realm, but the parasite has been siphoning her energy for twenty years.]
[The only upside is that the parasite halted her aging—keeping her body at 24 years old despite being 44.]
[She is, without a doubt, Xue Ling's spitting image.]
====================
"With the parasite holding her hostage, I can't remove it while suppressing all that excess power at the same time. I need an assistant."
Yun Che's expression tightened. He could already sense several powerful auras closing in, and Nemu was now engaged with an Emperor Profound Realm cultivator.
"I hope she's available…"
With no other choice, he reached out and contacted the one person who might be able to help.
====================
Nemu was holding out—but barely.
The difference in level was simply too great. Worse still, every level she gained forced her to recalibrate her body. The boosted attributes that came with them were convenient, yes—but convenience meant nothing without control.
She hadn't adjusted yet.
Each level altered her strength, speed, and endurance, shifting the balance she had painstakingly stabilized. Tonight alone, she had gained too many levels too quickly. The power surged ahead of her instincts.
She slammed her sword into the ground, then pulled it free and stepped back.
Level 61.
Two more levels and she would match Hutu Han's level.
With her boosted attributes, she could already surpass him with ease. That wasn't the problem.
The problem was output.
Her raw stats had climbed, but her control lagged behind. Over-augmented attributes meant excessive force—too much strength in a single strike, too much defense locking her movements, too much energy flooding her channels. She had spent weeks adjusting to her Spirit Profound Realm strength.
Tonight had undone that work in hours.
She exhaled slowly and stabilized her attributes, forcibly suppressing the excess. Then she resheathed her sword.
She had tested enough.
Training would come later—focused, deliberate work on managing boosted attributes during downtime. New levels meant new baselines, and every baseline demanded adaptation.
The system had explained it clearly.
In her previous life, her strength had been fixed—no fluctuation, no adjustment required. In this life, every level altered her physical reality. Each increase demanded familiarity with a new output range.
That was why leveling too quickly was dangerous.
Tonight, she had gained over twenty levels.
All her prior adjustments had gone haywire.
Too strong.
Too fast.
Too durable.
Too much energy.
Power without control was meaningless.
And until she mastered it, she would never truly be strong.
However, she still had one final test to conduct.
Nemu carefully stabilized her attributes into a balanced state, equalizing offense, defense, agility, and intelligence. During her spare time, Retsu had attempted to explain the essence of the Rasengan—how rotation, compression, and control were born not from brute force, but from understanding. It was especially relevant, since boosted attributes came with unique secondary abilities.
Yun Che had already awakened her bending, but Nemu deliberately chose not to touch it yet.
For now, she prioritized mastery over her attributes. She had only recently reached the Intermediate Stage in both Observation and Armament Haki. Awakening bending meant nothing if her foundation remained unstable.
According to the system, Nemu possessed dual bending affinities:
Lightning and Earth.
Yet bending alone was not the whole picture.
Boosted Attributes carried their own hidden perk.
In her current balanced state, Nemu could not manifest any elemental power at all. But the moment she allocated ten attribute points into a single stat—
That was when things became interesting.
=============
Offense → Fire Manifestation
Defense → Earth Reinforcement (amplified by her natural Earth affinity)
Agility → Air Manifestation
Intelligence → Water Manifestation
=============
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
This wasn't bending in the traditional sense. It was attribute-driven elemental expression—a parallel system entirely dependent on allocation and control rather than affinity alone.
Balanced stats granted stability.
Focused stats granted elements.
And that meant choices.
Until she could freely adjust and stabilize each configuration, even elemental versatility would become another form of chaos.
Only once she mastered her attributes—
Only then would she truly begin exploring her bending.
However, this versatility came at a cost.
No matter how she distributed her points, Nemu could only wield three elements at once.
One of them was fixed.
Lightning—her primary nature—was always active.
The remaining two depended entirely on how she channeled her Boosted Attributes. Even her innate Earth affinity was excluded unless the system's conditions were met.
For example—
If she invested enough points into Offense and Intelligence, she could manifest Fire and Water alongside her Lightning.
But in doing so, she would lose access to Earth and Air.
Earth was tied directly to her Defense Attribute. Without sufficient points allocated there, the boosted effect simply would not activate—regardless of her natural affinity.
The rules were absolute.
If even a single required attribute point was missing, the second and third elements would not manifest at all.
Lightning remained.
Everything else was conditional.
Nemu let out a quiet sigh.
This was the current limit of her Boosted Attribute system when it came to multi-element bending. For now, focusing on Lightning was the most efficient path. The others could wait—studied, analyzed, perfected later.
Returning to her training—
Retsu had explained the theory behind the Rasengan: rotational force layered upon itself, stability born from controlled chaos. But without mastery over Air, the concept remained abstract, difficult to grasp through execution alone.
Still, Nemu studied.
She listened to Retsu.
She observed Mio.
She analyzed every detail.
And with Yuuki's assistance—breaking the technique down into pure principles rather than elemental form—
She finally found a way.
Instead of Air, she applied the Rasengan's rotational logic to her Lightning nature.
The result wasn't a perfect Rasengan.
But it was hers.
And it worked.
"Looks like the little girl's tired," Hutu Han sneered. "I suppose this is all an auraless brat like you can manage. Final chance—hand over the Divine Xue Yin."
Nemu said nothing.
She raised her hand slowly to waist level.
In her mind, lessons aligned.
Retsu's voice—stabilize the rotation.
Mio's—hold it together.
Yuuki's—finalize it. Give it form.
Nemu closed her eyes and drew in her breath.
Lightning surged.
She concentrated her lightning bending into her palm, compressing it inward. Power gathered at an explosive rate, far denser than anything she had attempted before.
Hutu Han's eyes widened.
The lightning in her hand swelled violently, crackling with a shrill, piercing sound. The sheer mass of energy forced Nemu's arm downward, as if she were holding something impossibly heavy. Arcs of lightning lashed outward, tearing gouges into the ground and splintering the surrounding terrain.
Hutu Han lunged forward instinctively—
—and was forced back.
He couldn't get close.
The pressure alone repelled him.
This technique was draining her energy at a terrifying pace. Her core screamed in protest. This was her first time attempting it—unfinished, unstable, and dangerous.
But it was already too late to stop.
Yuuki's words surfaced in her mind as the form completed itself.
When it's born… it sounds like a thousand birds screaming at once.
The lightning shrieked.
"Chidori…" Nemu murmured.
"(One Thousand Birds)."
The lightning in her hand finally condensed—raw, imperfect, violently alive.
She clenched her teeth.
It felt like gripping a bolt of lightning barehanded. Yet because lightning was her very nature, it didn't burn her. Instead, it felt like holding a thousand-kilogram mass, its weight threatening to tear free at any moment.
If her concentration slipped even slightly—
It would explode in her hand.
Nemu did not allow herself to waver.
"What the hell is that technique?!" Hutu Han roared.
Snow and shattered rock were flung skyward as the lightning in Nemu's hand continued to build, shrieking louder with every heartbeat.
Hutu Han raised his spear—
—but Nemu was already moving.
She charged.
The moment she ran, the weight of the lightning dragged against the ground, carving a deep trench behind her as if she were hauling an invisible mountain. The earth screamed under the strain.
She shifted her attributes.
Strength—to endure the pull.Then—Agility.
Her speed exploded.
"If I get away from her, she'll lose control!" Hutu Han twisted, trying to retreat—
—but Nemu flicked her free hand.
"Sajo Sabaku!"
Kido energy surged upward, binding his limbs in an instant. His escape was cut short.
Nemu screamed—not in fear, but in exertion—as she hurled herself forward, dragging the Chidori with everything she had.
"ARGHHHH!!"
The lightning struck.
All one thousand kilograms of compressed energy detonated at once.
The explosion tore through the battlefield in a blinding flash, lightning bursting through Hutu Han's body before erupting behind him. The shockwave slammed him into the mountainside like a discarded weapon.
The blast tore the veil from Nemu's head, sending it spinning away—revealing her true face for the first time.
Silence followed.
When the smoke cleared, a vast, charred crater scarred the land.
Nemu stood at its center—alone.
She was panting hard, her chest heaving. Her hat was gone. Her right hand hung limp at her side, completely numb, trembling from the backlash.
Then her knees gave out.
She dropped to the ground.
This was the first time she had unleashed power like this.
And her body had paid the price.
======================
[Ding... your energy is at critical limit.]
[Congratulation for creating The Chidori.]
=======================
The mountain groaned.
Cracks spider-webbed across the cliffside where Hutu Han had struck, smoke curling from the impact point. For several heartbeats, there was nothing—only the hiss of fading lightning and the crackle of scorched stone.
Then—
Laughter.
Hoarse. Broken. Twisted.
"Heh… hehehe…"
A charred figure pushed himself free from the rubble.
Hutu Han staggered forward, his armor melted and fused to his flesh. One arm hung uselessly at his side, blackened and twitching, the spear shattered beyond recognition. His skin was burned raw, lightning scars carved deep into his body, smoke still rising from him with every breath.
But he was alive.
And worse—
His aura still flared.
Unstable. Violent.
But strong enough.
His bloodshot eyes locked onto the crater.
Onto her.
Nemu knelt at the center, gasping for air. Her right arm trembled uncontrollably, fingers refusing to close. Her veil was gone, torn away by the blast, her silver hair falling loose around her shoulders.
Her face—fully revealed.
For a moment, Hutu Han froze.
Then his lips twisted into a cruel grin.
"So this is the monster they sent…" he rasped. "A little girl."
His gaze dragged over her exposed face, not with awe—but with contempt.
"Tch. All that noise… all that power…" He spat blood to the side. "And you look like this?"
Nemu tried to stand.
Her legs failed her.
She fell back to one knee, breathing ragged.
Hutu Han laughed louder.
"Pathetic," he mocked. "You burned yourself out for one strike. Look at you—kneeling, shaking, defenseless."
He took a step forward.
The ground cracked beneath his foot.
"Do you know what I see?" His eyes gleamed with vicious delight. "You might be a genius and a prodigy."
Another step.
"But all I see is a prey."
Lightning flickered weakly around Nemu's numb hand. She tried to summon it again—
Nothing responded.
Hutu Han raised his remaining arm, aura condensing even as the damage tore through his body. Smoke parted as he staggered forward, each step heavy, each breath burning.
Then he saw her.
Her veil was gone.
For a brief moment, he forgot the pain. Forgot the ruin of his body. Forgot the lightning that had nearly erased him from existence.
He froze.
Not in fear—but in stunned disbelief.
He had never seen such inhuman beauty before. Pure. Untouched. Almost unreal. Even as a monk trained to suppress worldly attachments, something ugly and covetous stirred in his heart.
Possession.
Control.
He wanted her.
"To think…" his voice dropped into a rasping sneer, "…that a little girl like you would outshine even the Divine Xue Yin."
His grin twisted, eyes burning with malice.
"No. You're far more valuable."
He stepped closer, aura pressing outward like a crushing weight.
"I'll carve that face into my memory," he snarled, "right before I break you. Crippled, helpless—something to be owned."
The air grew heavy.
Not with lust—
But with pure, violent intent.
And Nemu, kneeling and defenseless, stood at the center of it.
Nemu was exposed.
Exhausted.
Helpless.
And Hutu Han still had just enough strength to kill her.
Nemu closed her eyes.
Her body refused to respond. Her limbs felt distant, hollow, as if they no longer belonged to her. She couldn't raise her hand. Couldn't summon lightning. Couldn't even brace herself.
There was only one thing she could do.
One name.
"Nee-chan…"
Hutu Han's spear thrust forward.
Before it could pierce her—
A violent impact shattered the air.
A sharp kick slammed into Hutu Han's face, the force snapping his head sideways and launching him like a broken projectile into the mountainside. Stone exploded on impact as his body vanished into the rock with a thunderous crash.
A figure landed between him and Nemu.
Light footsteps. Absolute control.
Her glider wings folded neatly behind her as she straightened.
"Nemu!"
Retsu's voice was sharp—furious.
Her eyes blazed as she turned toward the embedded wreckage of Hutu Han's body. Ice-cold killing intent poured from her as she raised her hand, energy gathering at her palm, dense and lethal.
"Trying to touch my little sister?"
The air froze.
Not with cold—
But with murderous intent.
Hutu Han had survived lightning.
But now—
He had drawn the wrath of someone far worse.
"Nee-chan…"
Nemu's strength finally gave out. She slumped forward, collapsing into Retsu's arms.
Retsu caught her instantly.
She let out a long sigh and gently patted Nemu's head, her touch careful, reassuring.
"…Thank goodness I was nearby. Look at you." Her voice softened. "I'm sorry. I was late."
Nemu shook her head weakly, pressing her forehead against Retsu's chest.
"No… you came just in time. I knew you would."
Retsu's grip tightened slightly.
"Of course I did. My little sister needed me." Her gaze flicked briefly toward the distant mountainside. "And it seems you completed the technique you've been working on."
"Yes…" Nemu murmured. "All thanks to you, Nee-sama. Mio-nee-sama… and Yuu-sama."
Retsu paused.
"…Mouu. You called me Nee-chan just now."
Nemu managed a faint smile.
"Then… Nee-chan it is. For now…"
Retsu laughed quietly in relief.
"Good. And… I'm proud of you. You complete it. Instead of gathering air, you gathered lightning."
Nemu panted. "It wasn't easy. I can't even move my right arm at all."
She patted Nemu's head once more before producing a small bottle of Divine Water, gently placing it into her mouth. "Drink. It'll restore your energy—and clear the numbness in your arm."
Retsu exhaled again, more lightly this time.
"I just hope I didn't accidentally kill him. I won't steal all your experience points—you did most of the work."
Since she didn't receive any notification, the monk was still alive. Nemu shook her head, fingers tightening around the bottle.
"I don't mind."
She looked up at Retsu.
"If it's you, Nee-chan."
Retsu smiled—soft, relieved, and unmistakably protective.
"I might need another hat since it was vaporized by my lightning." Nemu smiled as she finally regain her full power. All the monks who saw the lightning strike turned away or she might witness Retsu ending them for seeing Nemu's face.
"I might have a spare…" Retsu said lightly as she produced another veiled hat and gently placed it over Nemu's head.
Her gaze swept across the battlefield—the scorched crater, shattered stone, and the remnants of detonated kidō mines. She sighed.
"…You really caused quite a ruckus." Then, her eyes gleamed with curiosity. "Do you think it's possible to combine them? The Rasengan and… what was it called?"
"Chidori," Nemu replied. "I don't know… but let's only try it if Yuu-sama is around. Otherwise, he'll scold us again."
"Ufufu… even I wouldn't dare test that without him," Retsu admitted. "Still—at the very least, you defeated that monk. It needs refinement, but you succeeded in creating the technique." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "I wonder how many variations you'll be able to make."
Nemu looked up at her. "Didn't you create a lot of Rasengan variations, Nee-sama?"
Retsu pouted."Mouu—Nee-chan! And no, not that many. Just the Great Rasengan and the completed Rasen Shuriken." She smiled wryly. "Maybe I should develop more now that you've completed the Chidori."
"Hai," Nemu nodded eagerly. "Let's do it together. To protect Yuu-sama, of course."
Suddenly, a sharp beep-beep sounded from her gauntlet. Retsu eyes around and she didn't see the VTOL anywhere.
Retsu blinked. "Ara… did you send that thing somewhere?"
"Hai," Nemu answered calmly. "To support Qingyue-san and Yueli-san."
Retsu's smile sharpened—half pride, half anticipation.
"…Good. Then it seems things are moving everywhere at once."
And for the first time since the battle ended, the tension truly began to ease.
================
[VTOL Support on Standby]
================
"Looks like Yuu-kun needs me," Retsu said softly. "Why don't you rest once you're done supporting them?"
"Hai… thank you again, Nee-sama—for saving me."
Retsu immediately pouted, puffing her cheeks.
"…Ah—!" Nemu corrected herself quickly, a small smile forming. "Nee-chan."
"Ufuu… you really are the best sister ever," Retsu said, pulling her into a tight embrace.
For a brief moment, the battlefield faded away. No enemies. No systems. No danger. Just warmth, breath, and the quiet comfort of being held by someone who would always come when called.
"I'm your only sister," Nemu murmured, smiling into the hug.
"I know," Retsu replied with a grin. "And I mean it."
She loosened her hold, gave Nemu one last affectionate pat on the head, then turned and headed toward the small house—wings folding neatly behind her as she went.
Behind her, Nemu watched, steadier now.
And smiling.
Nemu turned her attention back to her gauntlet.
Qingyue and Chu Yueli were overwhelming existences—there was no doubt about that. Still, power alone didn't mean support was unnecessary. Victory was always cleaner when pressure was shared.
With a subtle motion of her fingers, the gauntlet's display shifted.
A live feed unfolded across the translucent interface: the VTOL flying at a controlled distance from the battlefield, its silhouette cutting through the clouds beyond Qingyue's storm and Chu Yueli's frozen dominion. Readouts scrolled quietly—altitude stable, systems nominal, payload secured.
Nemu exhaled slowly.
This was something she had wanted to use for a while.
Her fingers hovered for a brief moment—then pressed down.
She activated the feature.
The gauntlet chimed softly as new parameters locked into place, targeting data syncing in real time. The VTOL adjusted its trajectory, engines shifting pitch as it prepared to enter a new operational mode.
Nemu's eyes sharpened.
"…Let's make this easier for them."
And far above the battlefield, something began to move.
======================
[Remote Gun Activated]
======================
Back at the defensive front against the Wu Clan's shadow units—
Xia Qingyue moved like a calamity.
Countless Sky Profound Realm experts fell in rapid succession, their numbers meaningless before her Winter Fairy Form. The Wu Clan had no effective counter for it. As the embodiment of winter itself, she spread her arms and unleashed a colossal storm, the air screaming as temperatures plunged.
Cannonballs never reached the grand ark.
They froze solid mid-flight—then shattered into glittering fragments, harmlessly dissolving into frost.
Above the battlefield, her master stood firm.
Chu Yueli faced the Wu Clan's escorting elder, Wu Chang, her own Winter Fairy Form radiating silent authority. This was no skirmish—it was a battle of thrones, the clash of peak existences dominating the sky.
"Fairies!" Wu Chang shouted, his voice strained beneath the crushing cold. "We have no quarrel with either of you! Why are you interfering?!"
Chu Yueli did not answer.
She merely raised her hand.
Icicles formed instantly and launched toward him in relentless waves. It had been some time since she had last assumed her Winter Fairy state, and she was still re-acclimating to the flow of power—but even restrained, her control was terrifying.
Add with Haki, they were now several times stronger.
Several Wu Clan disciples attempted a sneak attack from behind.
They never reached her.
Frost bloomed around them in an instant, sealing their bodies in ice statues mid-motion.
Chu Yueli stepped forward and drew Tachikaze.
With a calm, measured swing, she released multiple wind-infused sword slashes. The arcs of frozen wind tore through the sky, cleaving cleanly through several small arks as if they were paper.
Wu Chang grit his teeth.
He couldn't block every strike.
In truth—
He couldn't properly defend against even one.
Facing a single Winter Fairy was already overwhelming.
Facing two at once—
Was absolute despair.
"Overwhelm them!" Wu Chang barked. "Once you reach the ark, slaughter every disciple aboard!"
"As if I'd let you," Chu Yueli replied coldly.
She stepped in and raised her sword, bringing it down in a single, decisive strike.
Wu Chang barely managed to block.
The impact was catastrophic.
A deafening crack rang out as his profound talisman shattered, fractures racing across it like spiderwebs. The force drove him backward, his arms numb, blood surging into his throat.
Wu Chang's eyes widened in shock.
How… how are they this strong?
He had underestimated them—no, he hadn't understood them at all. One Winter Fairy was already a calamity.
Two?
That was tyranny.
=================
Elsewhere in the skies, the second fairy stood alone before the grand ark.
Xia Qingyue moved like a ghost of winter—vanishing, reappearing—each flicker of her form followed by frozen corpses. Wu Clan disciples attempting to board the ark never even reached its hull. Frost claimed them mid-leap, sealing their fate in silent ice.
She cut through them effortlessly.
Disappearing.
Reappearing.
Erasing.
Qingyue admitted—quietly, to herself—that she felt a thrill.
It had been a long time since she had taken part in a mission like this. A true battle. A true defense. And more than that—
This request had come from Yuuki.
The thought alone made her movements lighter, her storm sharper, her resolve colder.
If protecting this ark was what he needed—
Then the Wu Clan would find no path forward.
Only winter.
=================
The disciples of the Lunar Blossom Sect watched in stunned silence as the raging storm enveloped their massive ark.
Moments ago, they had been under relentless attack—death closing in from every direction. Now, winter itself stood between them and annihilation.
High above, two indistinct figures moved within the blizzard. Fairies of frost and snow, their faces unseen, their presence absolute. Cannon fire never reached the hull. Enemy disciples froze before they could land. Every threat was erased before it could touch the ark.
The disciples exhaled as one.
Some clasped their hands together.
Others bowed instinctively toward the storm.
None of them knew who those fairies truly were. They didn't know where they had come from, nor why they had intervened. But it didn't matter.
It must have been the Sect Master… or the Grand Sect Mistress, some thought.
Whoever had arranged this—
The gratitude in their hearts was real.
They would remember this moment.
They would remember the winter that stood guard when all hope seemed lost.
And for the rest of their lives, they would be eternally thankful to the unseen fairies who had protected them without asking for anything in return.
"Damn fairy!" Wu Chang roared, fury contorting his face. "What did we ever do to offend the two of you?!"
He swung again—and failed again.
Not only could he not overpower her, he couldn't even see her.
The veil concealed everything. No features. No expression. Not even a single strand of hair escaped its coverage. It was as if she were an idea given form rather than a person.
"Nothing," Chu Yueli replied calmly. "I merely wished to pass the time."
Her blade descended once more.
At the same time, Qingyue tore through her own opponents with terrifying efficiency, never straying far from the grand ark. She fought while maintaining her Winter Fairy Form, her storm blanketing the entire vessel in whirling snow and ice.
Chu Yueli felt a flicker of astonishment.
She's fighting… and defending… simultaneously?
The amount of profound energy required for such sustained output was staggering. Even she could not clearly see the limits of Qingyue's power.
Then—
A new sound entered the battlefield.
A deep, mechanical roar cut through the howling wind.
Chu Yueli and Qingyue both turned.
Something unfamiliar pierced the storm clouds as it entered the airspace—sleek, angular, and utterly out of place in a battle of cultivators.
Its weapon spun.
BRTTTTT—!!
Tracer rounds rained down from the sky.
Wu Clan cultivators were torn apart before they could react, their bodies punched through by overwhelming kinetic force. The rounds didn't stop there—small arks were shredded mid-flight, erupting into fireballs as they spiraled out of control.
Wu Chang's eyes widened in horror.
"What… is that—?!"
The machine banked smoothly, circling above like a predator.
Again and again, it fired.
Death fell from the sky—not cold and silent like winter, but loud, relentless, and absolute.
And in that moment, Wu Chang realized—
This battle was no longer winnable.
It had become a massacre.
"Damn fairy!" Wu Chang roared, fury contorting his face. "What did we ever do to offend the two of you?!"
He swung again—and failed again.
Not only could he not overpower her, he couldn't even see her.
The veil concealed everything. No features. No expression. Not even a single strand of hair escaped its coverage. It was as if she were an idea given form rather than a person.
"Nothing," Chu Yueli replied calmly. "I merely wished to pass the time."
Her blade descended once more.
At the same time, Qingyue tore through her own opponents with terrifying efficiency, never straying far from the grand ark. She fought while maintaining her Winter Fairy Form, her storm blanketing the entire vessel in whirling snow and ice.
Chu Yueli felt a flicker of astonishment.
She's fighting… and defending… simultaneously?
The amount of profound energy required for such sustained output was staggering. Even she could not clearly see the limits of Qingyue's power.
Then—
A new sound entered the battlefield.
A deep, mechanical roar cut through the howling wind.
Chu Yueli and Qingyue both turned.
Something unfamiliar pierced the storm clouds as it entered the airspace—sleek, angular, and utterly out of place in a battle of cultivators.
Its weapon spun.
BRTTTTT—!!
Tracer rounds rained down from the sky.
Wu Clan cultivators were torn apart before they could react, their bodies punched through by overwhelming kinetic force. The rounds didn't stop there—small arks were shredded mid-flight, erupting into fireballs as they spiraled out of control.
Wu Chang's eyes widened in horror.
"What… is that—?!"
The machine banked smoothly, circling above like a predator.
Again and again, it fired.
Death fell from the sky—not cold and silent like winter, but loud, relentless, and absolute.
And in that moment, Wu Chang realized—
This battle was no longer winnable.
It had become a massacre.
Qingyue finally allowed herself a quiet breath of relief.
Even for her, facing such a large number of Sky Profound Realm Wu Clan disciples was taxing. Their numbers alone were oppressive. The support from above, however—the VTOL—had decisively shifted the balance.
Her thoughts drifted, naturally, to Nemu.
Yuuki had likely sent it through her.
A faint warmth stirred in Qingyue's chest. She would thank the quiet girl later. In some ways, they were alike—reserved, composed, preferring action over words. If anything, Nemu was just a little more clever than herself.
Below and above, disbelief spread through both sides.
Neither the disciples of the Lunar Blossom Sect nor the Wu Clan had ever seen an ark move like that.
It was impossibly fast. Unnaturally nimble.
The VTOL twisted through the sky with predatory grace, banking and diving as it rained death with surgical precision. Tracer fire stitched glowing lines through the storm, explosive rounds tearing apart formations before cultivators could even react.
Some Wu Clan experts fired techniques upward—blades of light, bursts of flame, profound energy surging skyward.
They all missed.
The craft was simply too quick.
It slipped between attacks effortlessly, engines roaring as it answered with unrelenting fire. Explosive bullets poured down without pause, shredding cultivators and obliterating smaller arks in spectacular detonations.
To those watching, it felt less like a battle—
And more like judgment descending from the heavens.
With the combined efforts of the VTOL and Qingyue, the battle turned decisively one-sided.
One by one, the smaller arks were wiped out—destroyed faster than the Wu Clan could reorganize or reform their ranks. Panic spread. Disciples began turning their arks around, abandoning formations, scrambling to retreat.
Some, driven by desperation, swallowed pills and forcibly transformed—bones cracking, flesh warping—as they became half-hollows.
It made no difference.
Tracer rounds tore through them mid-transformation, shredding white masks and twisted bodies alike. If anything, abandoning their humanity only made them larger, slower, and easier to hit.
Then the VTOL escalated.
Three additional 360-degree rotating miniguns deployed from its frame.
The sky screamed.
Firepower tripled instantly, overlapping fields of fire scouring the battlefield. Half-hollows and ordinary disciples alike were erased in seconds, their resistance crushed beneath overwhelming suppression.
They stood no chance.
Qingyue watched the carnage from within her storm, her expression calm—but her thoughts unsettled.
Why would they do this?
Why willingly discard their humanity to become white-masked beasts?
As the answer formed, her gaze sharpened.
Those monsters possessed frightening physical strength—raw, violent, and unrefined. Against ordinary Sky Profound Realm cultivators, they would have been terrifying.
If she were not already at the Peak Sky Profound Realm…
She would not have stood a chance.
Her storm intensified slightly, frost deepening as she maintained her control.
So far, there had been no need.
The Special XP Pill Yun Che had given her remained untouched.
And judging by how rapidly the Wu Clan was collapsing—
It would stay that way.
Wu Chang was already struggling—barely holding his ground against Chu Yueli.
"Damn it!" he snarled, backing away under the relentless pressure. "Why do you fairies insist on interfering in our affairs?!"
Desperation twisted his expression.
Without hesitation, he crushed a hollow pill between his teeth.
Chu Yueli did not move.
She watched calmly as his body convulsed. Flesh crumbled, bones grinding into dust as his human form collapsed inward. In moments, Wu Chang's body dissolved into a shifting, grainy mass—his figure reforming as a sand-like half-hollow, white markings spreading across his distorted form.
He laughed, his voice echoing unnaturally.
"Do you really think your cold blade can touch me now?"
Sand swirled around him like a living storm.
Instead of fear—
Chu Yueli smiled.
A faint, dark sheen spread over her arm as Armament Haki flowed outward, coating her skin with invisible density. Her senses sharpened as Observation Haki activated, the battlefield becoming clear and precise in her perception.
She flexed her fingers, eyes bright.
"…So this is it," she murmured. "I'm finally like Onee-san."
She studied the coating on her arm with quiet anticipation.
One day, she would go further.
Future sight through advanced Observation.
Emission and Internal Destruction through perfected Armament.
Her sister had spoken of those realms with certainty.
Chu Yueli lifted her gaze back to the sand-hollow elder, her sword steady in her hand.
"Let's test it," she said softly.
And for the first time—
Wu Chang felt something he had not expected to feel since transforming.
Unease.
"Take this and scram!!" Wu Chang roared.
Razor-sharp blades of sand tore through the air, screaming toward Chu Yueli from every angle.
She didn't retreat.
She didn't leap back.
She merely shifted.
A tilt of the shoulder.
A step half a breath to the side.
A slight turn of her wrist.
Every sand blade passed harmlessly by.
Where she once would have relied on wide evasive movements, now her body responded with minimal motion—precise, efficient, effortless. Each attack was already seen before it was launched.
High above, Qingyue was doing the same.
Her storm raged, yet within it she moved calmly, her steps subtle, her dodges impossibly small. Attacks skimmed past her as if they had never truly been aimed at her in the first place.
Both women felt it.
The clarity.
The certainty.
The quiet exhilaration.
So this is Observation Haki… Qingyue thought.
A flicker of regret surfaced in her heart.
Why didn't I follow him back then?
If I had… I could have learned this much sooner. Probably achieved Intermidiate or Advanced Stage by now.
Her resolve hardened.
This time, I won't let him out of my sight.
Who knows what else I could learn from him…
As for Chu Yueli—
Her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
She had once hoped Mihawk would be the one to teach her.
Instead, it had been Yun Che who guided her hand, sharpened her perception, and opened this path.
That didn't matter.
What mattered was this—
She would master it.
Fast.
So that one day, when she stood before Mihawk again, she could show him—
She, too, had grasped Haki.
And Wu Chang, watching his attacks fail again and again, finally realized—
They weren't dodging anymore.
They were seeing.
Not reacting—seeing.
Every attack revealed itself before it was even formed. The intent, the trajectory, the point of impact—all laid bare. There was no need for wide evasions, no wasted motion. Instead, they made the smallest possible adjustments, conserving energy and mental focus with instinctive precision.
Their only regret—
Was not learning it sooner.
A trace of envy lingered, unspoken, toward Little Fairy—who had mastered Haki early, yet had been unable to teach them due to her own inability to awaken it in others. In the end, there had only ever been one person capable of guiding them.
Yun Che.
The half-hollows lunged at Qingyue.
She saw everything.
Each arc of movement. Each angle of approach. Each place the attacks would land.
So she simply wasn't there.
No leaps. No retreats. Just subtle shifts—half-steps, slight turns—sliding cleanly out of danger. As long as she remained outside the attack range, nothing else mattered.
She wanted more.
To reach the Intermediate Stage as soon as possible—to be able to learn Eagle Vision and Eagle Scent. Basic Observation was already enough to use them, but Yun Che had been clear: true comfort, true control, only came once one could regulate output without conscious strain. Which he meant is mastering Intermediate Stage of both Haki before the Eagle Haki Arts can be learn.
Still…
There was one thing she could not grasp.
Haoshoku no Haki.
Unlike Yun Che, Cang Yue, Retsu, or Mio—she had no sign of it. That kind of Haki required something deeper, something innate… or something broken and reforged.
She wondered what the requirement truly was.
Cang Yue had once told her that despair—the near loss of her father—had fully awakened hers. She had also mentioned, almost casually, that she had partially awakened it months earlier… without knowing why.
Even Cang Yue herself didn't understand the trigger.
Qingyue's gaze hardened slightly as she continued to evade, flawless and calm.
If that's the case…
What will it take for me?
The battlefield raged on—but within her storm, Qingyue's thoughts reached far beyond it, grasping for a power she had yet to understand.
She saw everything at once.
The frozen sky torn open by fire from the VTOL.Her master locked in battle with the Wu Clan elder.The enemy crumbling beneath relentless pressure.
And herself—standing at the center of it all, calm, controlled… yet still incomplete.
She knew she was strong. Stronger than most would ever be. But as she watched the tide of battle turn, she couldn't help but feel that there was something more—something deeper—that she had yet to awaken.
One day…
She tightened her grip on her sword, winter swirling obediently around her.
One day, I will awaken it too.
The Color of the Supreme King.
Not for domination.Not for pride.
But so that when everything she cherished stood on the brink—She would have the strength to stand above despair itself.
To have the strength to stand beside him.