["Oh? So you've finally made it here."]
Blazing flames roared around him, consuming what seemed to be the remnants of a ruin.
The searing heat stung his skin, the dry air parched his throat, it was unmistakable. The sensation of burning, of suffocating heat, was real.
But nothing in the sweltering ruins could compare to the figure standing dead center of it all.
That presence, overwhelming, absolute, crushed everything beneath its weight.
Clad in a long black buttoned coat, with crisscrossed straps forming a cross across the chest,
his silver hair flowed down past his waist, swaying gently in the waves of heat.
Cool blue eyes, tinged with a faint sharpness, gazed directly in this direction.
The corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly into a faint smile.
"Or... have you remembered my name?"
Seff Yoshiro opened his eyes.
The sun had shifted. Light streamed through the gaps in the sparse canopy overhead and fell across his face.
But that wasn't what woke him.
He blinked slowly, his eyes still hazy from sleep, but in the very next moment, they sharpened with clarity.
Sitting up straight, Seff reached up to rub the stiffness in the back of his neck, then turned toward the figures cautiously approaching him from the trees.
He smiled.
"Sorry. I've gotten into the habit of taking a nap after lunch. I almost forgot I had guests to entertain."
As he spoke, his left hand casually reached for the long sword placed beside him, just within arm's reach.
Without any urgency, he rose to his feet, and in the same breath, smoothly drew the blade from its scabbard.
The sunlight filtering through the trees glinted off the sword's cold steel, there was no warmth in it, only a deadly gleam.
A murderous intent, sharp as ice, shimmered in the air.
The place Seff had been resting was under a tree, not particularly lush, its crown half-bare, more dead than alive.
Surrounding him were men gripping all kinds of makeshift weapons, wooden clubs, pitchforks, hoes, and even a few who, like Seff, held long blades in hand.
Unlike Seff, whose calm demeanor even bordered on laziness, these men radiated a completely different aura: vicious, treacherous, and utterly unrestrained greed.
They had clearly planned to creep up and kill him while he slept.
But before they could even close half the distance, Seff had already opened his eyes, as if he'd known all along.
Their ambush failed before it even began.
Yet none of them fled. Instead, they exchanged looks, each seeing the same hunger and ruthlessness mirrored in the others' eyes.
In this place, hesitation meant death.
Those who couldn't harden their hearts wouldn't survive a single day.
Word had it that the newcomer, this Seff, had lucked out and scavenged food and water off the corpse of a dead Soul Reaper.
Not that they needed the food or water themselves.
But those things fetched a high price.
There was no way they'd let something so valuable stay in the hands of a fresh arrival to the Rukongai.
Sure, he'd taken the Soul Reaper's sword too.
But they had plenty of swords here as well.
None of them answered Seff's words.
Instead, a chorus of bestial howls erupted from every direction.
Maybe it was to startle him.
Maybe just to work themselves up.
Whatever the reason, when they abandoned stealth and charged forward, roaring in unison, the result was unexpectedly effective.
The coordination was nonexistent, their approach crude and chaotic.
But the sheer, primal force of their charge gave off the wild savagery of beasts driven by instinct.
Overwhelm by numbers, that was their strategy.
And clearly, they'd done this before.
But,
"None of you thought to ask how many others came before you?"
Seff's voice rang out, amused.
"Oh, my bad. Guess they're no longer around to tell you."
Before his words had even faded, Seff, though surrounded, was the first to move.
They were still a fair distance away.
Yet he raised his blade and slashed through the air with a sudden twist of his wrist,
What happened next shattered logic.
A flash of blinding light, cold, fast, razor-sharp, sliced across the three men charging him head-on.
They didn't even register the strike.
All they saw was a glint like lightning, then…
The man holding a blade identical to Seff's blinked.
His body felt strangely light.
Looking down, he saw it.
His upper body was no longer connected to his lower half.
His legs had fallen a step behind.
"This... can't be…"
Those were the last words he ever uttered.
Before they even reached Seff's position, three of them had already fallen.
The remaining attackers flinched, their pupils trembling with fear.
Then, another flash. Several silver arcs streaked through the air.
Seff, who had just been standing under the tree, vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared before one of the men, a burly brute weighed down by a hoe, his steps frozen in dread.
Seff smiled faintly. A trace of satisfaction in his expression.
That was the last thing the man ever saw.
The sword pierced through him with ease.
And in the very next instant, Seff flung the corpse like an object into another man who was charging toward him, roaring.
The impact was brutal, like being crushed by a falling boulder.
Wind howled in the air as Seff moved.
His blade danced. Silver light flickered and vanished, again and again.
Like a phantom, he weaved between those trying to strike him, or flee, slaughtering each one without hesitation.
A gang of more than ten men, gone in less than two minutes.
Seff raised his blade and gave it a sharp swing.
Blood flew in a crimson arc and splattered across the ground.
Behind him, two more bodies crumpled, blood spraying like a broken fountain.
Sheathing his sword with unhurried grace, Seff looked up toward the sky.
Even without staring directly into the sun, he narrowed his eyes.
The sky was almost completely clear.
The sun burned down mercilessly, but the cracked earth beneath his feet didn't even steam.
The air reeked of dust and poverty.
The constant chirring of cicadas scratched at his ears like an eternal loop.
Everything around him was poor, broken, backwards.
There was not a trace of the modern world.
And this-
This was the third day after Seff had died.
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters
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• TL/N •
Hello guys Fanfic recommendation!
Check out my other work:
> Naruto: Mind Control
If you like smart and strong MC, this fanfic is for you.
It's Peak.
Give it a chance and you won't be disappointed