Chiyo hadn't forgotten at all—she remembered it perfectly.
"Then…"
"It's just… just that our oni clan has good memory, that's all…"
"It's not like I deliberately remembered what you liked…"
Her head hung low, hands clutching her clothes tightly, as tears streamed down one after another.
She didn't dare lift her head to look at Elliot—whether from fear of being seen through, or because of her own stubborn pride, she herself wasn't sure.
Watching silently, Kitsune Saiguu quietly took out an exquisitely crafted comb.
On its handle was the carving of a cherry blossom tree.
It brought back memories of the happy times they had once spent playing cards beneath the cherry blossoms.
That comb had been a birthday gift from Elliot.
Though he had left in a hurry right after giving it to her, Kitsune Saiguu knew he had carefully chosen it.
"I haven't even celebrated your birthday yet…"
She stroked the comb with reddened eyes.
Seeing them like this, Elliot's face broke into a relieved smile.
Baal hadn't died in the Khaenri'ah War.
Chiyo hadn't been swallowed by a monster and tainted by the Abyss.
Kitsune Saiguu hadn't been lost while protecting the Grand Narukami Shrine.
They were all standing there, safe and sound.
Just as they had been.
Just as when he had first met them.
It seemed his efforts had not been in vain.
"Let me put an end to this."
At that moment, Elliot fixed his gaze on the sea of monsters piled below him like a mountain.
The Abyss's corruption was spreading far faster than he had anticipated.
Its effect was much like karmic filth—eroding the mind.
Fortunately, Elliot had performed three days and three nights of meditation before joining the Khaenri'ah War. Without it, his spirit would never have lasted this long.
"This technique…"
"It always brings misfortune…"
He remembered clearly.
The first time he used it, he lost an arm.
Now, this would be the second time.
Back then, he had only mastered two techniques. The first was Thunder Flash: Great Roaring Thunder, an instantaneous strike capable of annihilating in a single blow.
He had used it to slay Orobashi.
The second was a large-scale, indiscriminate technique. Elliot had used it to wipe out the people Orobashi had brought to Yashiori Island.
But its power was directly tied to stamina. At the time, already gravely injured from defeating Orobashi, he had pushed himself beyond his limit. Though he killed many with that second strike, his strength failed him. In that moment of weakness, he was ambushed and lost his arm.
But things were different now.
Elliot's strength was no longer what it once had been.
Even though he was wounded, the power within his body was unimaginably vast.
Suspended in midair, Elliot slowly sheathed his blade and closed his eyes. His entire being relaxed, as though sinking into a boundless ocean.
His breathing grew calm, every muscle in his body loosening completely.
Then, his severed left arm reappeared.
Not of flesh and blood, but a translucent blue form that seamlessly connected to his shoulder.
It was the ability he had gained after completing his last life—
One Thought, Three Thousand!
He could expend spiritual energy to manifest objects out of nothing.
Now, he had taken back his left arm.
The onlookers stared wide-eyed, not daring to blink.
BOOM!!!!
In the next instant, Elliot transformed into a bolt of terrifying thunder and shot skyward.
He pierced into the thick clouds above, body slightly bowed, his translucent left hand gripping the scabbard.
BOOM!!!
Thunder surged within the clouds, spiderwebs of lightning spreading in every direction, a suffocating pressure blanketing the sea.
All the monsters froze where they stood, as if turned to stone, their blood-red eyes still locked on Elliot.
"Thunder Flash…"
BOOM!!!!
A deafening roar split the sky behind him.
Above his head, the lightning erupting from the storm clouds condensed into a colossal, terrifying face!
It was a face of thunder itself, grotesque and wrathful, like a demon that could obliterate all creation.
In that instant, panic overtook the monsters. They scattered madly in all directions, as if they had seen a ghost.
But…
They were far too slow.
Elliot opened his eyes, gaze sharp and commanding from above.
A purple flash descended, striking the very heart of the horde.
Clang—
The sound of the blade being sheathed rang out.
And in that moment, time seemed to stop.
From the center of the horde, a vast black, translucent sphere spread outward at impossible speed, halting just at the barrier that shielded Narukami Island.
Its radius was so immense it was hard to believe, engulfing tens of thousands of monsters across the seas of Inazuma.
"Rakshasa Death Domain…"
BOOM!!!!
The frozen moment shattered. Deafening screams and agonized wails erupted all at once.
Inside the black domain, endless waves of sword qi tore through the monsters from every direction.
Every second, dozens—hundreds—of beasts were sliced apart, their remains sinking forever into the ocean depths.