Shifūin Clan Shrine
Ōmaeda Kinojin stood rigid, his expression grave as he stared into the abyssal darkness ahead. That pitch-black void wasn't just empty space—dense, tangible spiritual pressure churned within it like a living tide, rolling and twisting with suffocating weight.
Beside him, several of the Shifūin clan elders were already at their limit.Ever since learning that Yoruichi was trapped inside, every one of them had gone pale and stiff with panic—some nearly collapsing on the spot.
After the previous head of the clan died, the Shifūin family had been without a worthy successor for years. When they finally produced a genius like Shifūin Yoruichi—a prodigy capable of bearing the clan's future—they were the ones whose stubborn decisions pushed her into danger.
The elders, who had longed desperately to restore the Shifūin clan to glory, were drowning in guilt.
"What do we do now…?"
"Should we try forcing our way in?"
"I say that's too dangerous."
"Little Yoruichi is still in there!"
"What if we injure her by mistake?!"
One voice after another rose, all offering different opinions, none agreeing.
In the end, it was Kinojin who cut in."Actually… we can only wait."
Everyone turned toward him at once.
Kinojin braced himself and continued:"Just now, I tested it. Multiple high-level Hadō spells had zero effect."
"In other words, among all of us here… there is no one capable of breaking through that darkness."
Half the group seemed to go cold all at once.
At that moment, a balding elder with a "Mediterranean" hairline suddenly stepped forward."I'll go summon Genryūsai-dono!"
The others looked conflicted, wanting to object yet unable to deny the necessity.
The elder wasted no time—he activated shunpo and vanished from the Shifūin estate.
Before long, Yamamoto Genryūsai arrived at the shrine.
The moment he saw the scene before him, his chest tightened—so hard it felt like a heart attack.
He'd felt an unpleasantly familiar premonition when the elders described the situation to him.And now, seeing it with his own eyes, that vague worry solidified into certainty.
Wonderful.Absolutely wonderful.
It hadn't even been five days since the "two roasted sweet potatoes nearly assassinated the Captain-Commander" incident, right?
Blink once—and this boy was conducting another ritual-level disaster inside the Shifūin clan's ancestral shrine?!
There was nothing left to say.Yamamoto felt a burning knot in his chest, as though a ball of flames was smoldering there without release.
"Captain-Commander, what do you think?"Someone beside him spoke nervously."Can you break through the darkness and rescue Yoruichi?"
Yamamoto stared into the depths of that pitch-black void.Somewhere within it—he could feel it—an indifferent gaze was locked on him. An oppressive, formless pressure washed over them all.
After a brief hesitation, he rumbled:"It will be… very difficult."
"However… judging from the situation, Shifūin Yoruichi is still alive."
"We must wait. Perhaps… a miracle will occur."
Hearing his words, the elders withdrew their gazes from Yamamoto and turned back toward the darkness, praying silently.
Kinojin, however, glanced at Yamamoto in confusion. His instincts told him—this old man knew something.
He nearly asked.But in the end, he swallowed the impulse and stood silently at the edge of the shrine like a tower.
———
"Are you alright?"
Yoruichi's face was tense as she looked at the boy in her arms. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth—his internal injuries were clearly severe.
"Cough… Nothing fatal."Kisaragi Akira spat out the metallic taste, pressing both palms against his own chest.Soft green light—life-force itself—spread beneath his hands as he healed himself with maximum efficiency.
"Didn't expect that the Lion's Roar technique had a hidden skill like… the Megaphone Cannon."
Smoke swirled wildly in the aftermath of the blast.From within that cloud emerged a massive silhouette—no longer majestic and domineering as before.
The Raijū thunder beast looked like someone had dragged it through a dye shop.Patches of red, black, and yellow mottled its fur; its entire body was a mess.The great mane over its chest—once like rippling wheat—had been burned away, exposing faintly visible bone underneath.
"What do we do now?"After everything that had happened, Yoruichi's instincts had begun treating Akira as her anchor—her strategist.
No surprise.His display just moments ago had been beyond astonishing.
"Can you still fight?"Akira glanced sideways at the dark-skinned girl.The fierce battle had left her barely clothed, patches of soft skin exposed—her developing curves struggling to stay contained.
Still young, but already showing the makings of what she would one day become.
Ignoring his stare—or perhaps simply used to it by now—Yoruichi murmured:"My spiritual pressure is low… but I do have one secret technique that's still unfinished. I can use it to unleash high destructive power for a short time."
"The downside is… because it's incomplete, using it now would drain all my strength. I'd be helpless afterward."
"If I fail to finish it with that attack… I'll just have to wait to die."
Akira waved a hand dismissively and grinned."If it gets to that point, I'll definitely die before you do."
Yoruichi froze for a second, taken aback.
Before she could speak again, she saw Akira rip open the tattered parts of his clothing—revealing his well-defined upper body.
Crimson flames burst violently around him.The scorching heat warped the air itself, making it hard to breathe.
Bolts of lightning crackled through the fire like serpents weaving in and out.The ground beneath his feet charred instantly, turning pitch black.
A powerful spiritual body carried both White Lightning and Crimson Fire Cannon energies—manifesting a brand-new combat form!
His spiritual pressure roared, squeezing out every last drop of strength.
The scorching aura radiated outward in waves, making the Raijū tremble with instinctive terror.
With a deafening roar, the thunder beast clawed at the ground and charged like an enraged runaway truck—straight toward Akira.
Closing in!
Lightning arced across its body, forming a massive sphere of electrified fury as it barreled downward like a meteor.The entire area crackled with explosive danger.
Thunder boomed!
Akira's expression held not even a trace of fear—only raw, feral aggression.
In the place he came from—the brutal "Inverse District," where humans devoured each other—
Only unwavering brutality could keep you alive.
His body tensed like a bowstring pulled to its limit.His abnormal spiritual body granted him overwhelming physical advantage, and he pushed it to the absolute maximum.
He abandoned the Dead Sword style—no finesse, no subtlety.Just the purest, most devastating fist impact.
Lightning surged, propelling his body with insane speed.Flames spiraled around his fist, forming shockwave after shockwave.
The instant his fist collided with the beast's massive claw, the difference in their sizes—absurd to begin with—was shattered by raw power.
Heat blasted upward, tearing the air to shreds and splitting the dark clouds above the wasteland.
A vast stretch of land turned to ash in the blink of an eye.Blackened earth collapsed under the overwhelming blast.
In Yoruichi's stunned gaze, the figure wreathed in fire and lightning unleashed strength like never before—hurling a thunder beast dozens of times his size straight into the sky.
An unstoppable force.
BOOM!!
The Raijū crashed into the wasteland, kicking up a storm of dust.
Akira, completely drained, staggered and fell to the ground, sitting heavily.He glanced back at the dumbstruck girl and clicked his tongue.
"Oi, stupid cat—what are you spacing out for?"
"Hurry up… that big guy's wide open. Time for you to finish the job…"