While Adam slept soundly, unaware of the storm he had stirred, the aftermath of his battle had already begun to ripple outward.
Just a few kilometers from the now-ruined battlefield, a squad of fifty women clad in sleek, futuristic combat suits engaged in a brutal skirmish of their own. Energy weapons crackled with deadly precision as they tore through a swarm of mid-level Honkai beasts.
Everyone of them look nearly identical with identical gears covering them head to toe except for one person.
Leading the charge stood a tall woman with eye-catching fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail. Her crimson greatsword moved like a tempest as she faced off against a towering Chariot-class beast—a foe that would normally require an entire squad to bring down.
With a sharp cry, she lunged forward. Her greatsword pierced through the creature's reinforced carapace, shattering its core in a single, devastating thrust. The monster gave a final screech before collapsing in a heap, motionless.
"Haaah… that's the last of them," she said, jamming her sword into the ground and leaning on it with a tired sigh. "Solid work, everyone."
As her squad began sweeping the area and prepping for rest, one soldier approached at a jog.
"Captain. Urgent report."
The red-haired woman lifted her head. "Survivors?"
"Not confirmed, ma'am. But during the battle, surveillance picked up a small group of Aerial-type Honkai beasts breaking formation. They headed northwest—toward the old shopping district."
The captain's relaxed posture vanished. She straightened, lifting her greatsword onto her shoulder with practiced ease.
Honkai beasts were only ever drawn by one thing—human presence. For a group to suddenly diverge from their path meant someone was there.
"Alright. Anyone still capable of moving, you're coming with me." Her voice rang with authority. "If there's even a chance someone's alive out there, we're not letting them die alone."
"Yes, ma'am!" a chorus of voices responded in unison.
Without delay, the red-haired captain led a handpicked group of her best soldiers toward the northwest district.
---
They arrived in a street lined with shattered storefronts and shattered glass. The air shimmered faintly with lingering Honkai energy. All around them, the disintegrating remains of beasts flickered as they dissolved into particles of light.
Judging by the rate of disintegration, they estimated the battle had ended roughly an hour ago.
And there wasn't just one body—multiple Honkai corpses were scattered along the street, the signs of battle trailing into the large mall at the district's center.
Inside, the carnage was even greater.
Over two dozen slain Honkai beasts lay in the mall's ruined interior, their massive forms crumbling into nothingness.
"Impossible…" someone whispered in shock.
"The tracks show these were all taken down by one person. But how…?"
A murmur of disbelief spread among the squad.
"How could anyone—without Anti-Honkai equipment like ours—take out this many beasts? Even just one of them would've been near-impossible with conventional weapons."
The red-haired captain remained silent, her gaze sweeping across the battlefield.
She knew the truth all too well.
Anti-Honkai weapons were tightly regulated, their manufacture costly and complex. Even those left behind by fallen soldiers were always recovered and redistributed to new soldiers. The likelihood of a civilian getting their hands on one—let alone wielding it effectively—was slim to none.
Yet here they were. No casualties. No spent casings. No blood trails suggesting injuries.
It was as if someone had moved through the battlefield like a ghost, eliminating everything in their path.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she spotted a faint red glow.
A security camera.
Still functioning.
Her expression darkened.
"Find the CCTV monitoring room," she ordered sharply. "Now."
"Yes, Captain Himeko!"
The soldier snapped a salute and quickly moved, scanning a nearby map on the wall for the mall's layout.
Himeko remained where she was, eyes narrowed.
She didn't want to jump to conclusions—but deep down, she already knew what this pointed to.
Only one kind of person could kill this many Honkai beasts without standard equipment.
Someone who could manipulate Honkai Energy itself.
A Herrscher.
And if that were true… then this situation was far more dangerous than a simple survivor rescue.
It's a battle with millions of lives at stake!
———
Inside the mall's monitoring room, one of the soldiers worked quickly, fingers flying across the dusty keyboard to access the security footage from an hour ago.
The screen flickered to life.
Everyone in the room—including Himeko—fell silent as the feed began to play.
A man appeared onscreen.
Dressed in a black windbreaker and tight-fitting sports pants, he walked calmly through the battlefield, an ordinary looking katana in hand. The blade shimmered faintly with a strange blue glow—not unlike energy weapons, but unmistakably different.
Then the Archangels descended.
What followed was nothing short of shocking.
The man moved with fluid precision, using the debris and tight spaces to restrict the beasts' mobility. His footwork was sharp, his reactions sharper. Every swing of his katana was deliberate—no wasted movement, no wild swings. He struck only when sure, and every time he did, an Archangel fell with a single, clean cut.
The blue glow around his weapon intensified just before impact, and each time it sliced through the Honkai beasts' dense silicone carapace as if it were soft butter.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty-three confirmed kills.
And then—he vanished, slipping into a blind spot in the surveillance network without leaving a single trace behind.
The room stayed silent for a long moment.
Even the hum of the electronics felt distant.
"…Captain," one soldier finally muttered, "What… was that?"
Himeko said nothing at first, her eyes still locked on the paused footage.
His fighting style. His instinctive awareness. The efficiency of his strikes. The sheer power.
And most of all—the energy.
It resembled Honkai Energy in how it acted. It empowered him. Enhanced his strikes. Overwhelmed his enemies.
But something didn't match.
The color.
Honkai Energy—regardless of its source or form—was always purple. Whether from zombies, Beasts, miasma , or even purified Honkai Energy, that was a universal trait.
But this… was blue.
Not a shade of violet. Not a distortion. An entirely different spectrum.
That one difference gave her pause.
Still… Himeko could not decide on her own. Her understanding of Honkai is very limited as a frontline combatant unlike the researchers from the institutes.
Even if she couldn't confirm he was a Herrscher, that changed little. A power that mimicked or rivaled Herrscher energy was no less dangerous—or potentially valuable for humanity.
"Trace every frame," Himeko finally ordered. "Match this man's face with every known civilian registry. If possible, cross-check with Fire Moth's restricted personnel list."
She turned toward her squad.
"Whether he's a Herrscher or not doesn't matter. What he is—" she nodded toward the screen, "—could be the key to fighting back against the Honkai. And if it's not… then he's still someone we can't ignore."
Her gaze sharpened by her own belief.
"We must find him and bring him into the Fire Moth for further actions."
———
The next morning, Adam awoke feeling unusually refreshed, his body no longer aching from yesterday's brutal fight.
He sat up slowly, stretching with a quiet groan. The memory returned clearly—fighting and defeating over two dozen Archangels before his Reiryoku ran dry like a leaky faucet.
"Man… did my System come nerfed or something?" he grumbled.
In the anime, even mid-level Shinigami could fight for hours. Meanwhile, he barely lasted an hour despite using every 'power-saving' trick he could think of.
Shaking his head, Adam summoned his status screen. He was curious to see what kind of progress he'd made. Everyone knew that in the early stages of spiritual growth, Reiryoku and Reiatsu improved the fastest during life-and-death combat.
Surely last night's battle qualified as intense and challenging, right?
===
===
Name: Adam White
Spiritual Age: 34
Race: Hybrid Human (Shinigami)
Rank: Unranked
Strength: 5 → 6
Agility: 3
Endurance: 8
Reiryoku: 117 → 251
Reiatsu: 14 → 17
> Passive
[Zanjutsu – Novice (42% → 43%)]
[Hakuda – Novice (0%)]
[Hoho – Novice (0%)]
[Kido – Novice (0%)]
[Reiatsu Manipulation]
> Active
[Spiritual Vision]
[Spiritual Sense]
[Soul Purification]
[Konso]
[Jigokuchō]
===
Adam stared at the screen with a conflicted expression.
On one hand, his Reiryoku had more than doubled overnight.
On the other… "This still feels like snail-paced progress."
He sighed, rubbing his temple.
"I swear, some lucky bastards get Systems that hand out god-tier powers on day one… and I have to grind like a Souls player with a broken sword."
His System, as usual, remained silent.
Well, not entirely. A window popped up. It didn't say anything outright, but the message between the lines was clear:
[Answer: The host lacked the necessary qualifications for rapid growth compared to the characters in the story.]
It was basically calling him talentless and unlucky.
"…Rude."
Still, the System elaborated when asked. It explained that a soul's Reiryoku growth and limit were dictated by two factors: innate potential and bloodline.
Talented individuals were born with naturally larger spiritual reserves. Those from noble clans—like the Five Great Noble Houses—passed down genetics with higher potential ceilings and faster growth curves.
And Adam?
A normal human.
From a world without spiritual cultivation, without Reiatsu, without noble bloodlines. His potential was at best… average.
It made sense, even if it stung.
But the System wasn't cruel. It didn't leave him without options.
Its true purpose was to elevate Adam to the Soul King's level. And for that, it had to provide a means to break past his natural limitations.
That meant introducing a name that sent shivers down the spine of anyone familiar with Bleach lore:
Hōgyoku.
But this version was... different.
Unlike Aizen's, which relied on the user's potential and desire to transcend limits, the System's Hōgyoku wasn't as flawed and was truly a tool for infinite transcendence.
[Can achieve even the impossible—so long as the fuel is sufficient.]
It didn't explain much, and the System was unwilling to divulge further details. But Adam knew the System wouldn't lie about something he could verify himself.
This aligned perfectly with typical System mechanics.
It would be a joke to possess a divine item like the Hōgyoku but have no qualifications to wield it.
Although, the topic of the Hōgyoku was still far from his reach. To even use it, he needed twice the Reiryoku of a Captain-level Shinigami—not to mention the absurd number of points required to purchase it from the System Shop.
The long string of zeroes was enough to deter any hopeful thoughts about the Hōgyoku.
"Well, it's still too early to decide the distant future," Adam muttered. After all, three days ago he was a normal human, and now—he had reached the level of killing dozens of Archangels.
Dismissing his long-winded thoughts and wild imagination, Adam crawled out of bed and stretched his body before heading back to Hua and Carole's room for breakfast.
—————
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