Looking at the chaotic room plastered top-to-bottom with posters of Ohma Tokita, Lu Li gained a much more profound understanding of just how thoroughly unhinged Setsuna Kiryu had been.
Tonight's battle had concluded in a flash. To an outsider, it looked as though he had effortlessly insta-killed Setsuna with overwhelming dominance. But in reality, the gap between him and Setsuna hadn't been nearly as wide as Kurei imagined.
As the host of the Origin Seed, Setsuna's core attributes had all breached the 20-point threshold, granting him a genuine superhuman constitution. Coupled with his mastery of the Koei Style and the Niko Style, calling him one of the absolute strongest fighters in this world was no exaggeration.
Lu Li was certain that if the current Agito or Raian had fought this version of Setsuna today, they would have been utterly crushed without any suspense.
Lu Li's ability to end the fight instantly came down to three crucial factors: First, his technical mastery was slightly superior to Setsuna's. Second, his Shikai activation provided a stat buff that suppressed Setsuna's. Third, and most importantly—he was armed, while Setsuna was bare-handed.
His master had once said: Between the armed and the unarmed, there lies an insurmountable mountain. That wasn't just an empty proverb. Weapons were specifically engineered for the sole purpose of killing. By wielding Qiu Mo, Lu Li naturally possessed a massive, lethal advantage in a deathmatch.
Factoring in that he had struck with almost his full strength, coating the blade in Armament Haki for maximum sharpness and toughness, that impossibly fast, precise, and ruthless slash was just barely enough to successfully decapitate Setsuna.
Yes, barely. That was the anomaly that puzzled Lu Li the most.
He didn't believe Setsuna's neural reflexes were actually fast enough to react to that strike. Judging by Setsuna's posture in that final microsecond, the Beautiful Beast had originally intended to drive a Rakshasa's Palm straight into Lu Li's heart; he was simply a fraction of a second too slow, losing his head before his palm could connect.
Setsuna had made a fatal miscalculation. Had he chosen to evade rather than force a mutual-kill exchange, he might have survived a few more rounds.
So, where did Setsuna get the absolute confidence to force a head-on clash against a bladed weapon?
Lu Li deduced that the Origin Seed didn't just passively evolve his physical body; it had granted him a highly specific anomalous ability. It seemed Setsuna possessed a permanent, passive state of [Indestructible].
And it was an incredibly high-tier [Indestructible], easily rivaling the defensive output of his own Armament Haki.
If Lu Li hadn't actively coated his blade with Haki to exponentially increase its cutting power and structural integrity, that slash might genuinely have failed to cleanly sever the neck.
"The Origin Seed... Fascinating. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of ability you grant me," Lu Li chuckled to himself.
While pondering, he didn't stop moving, thoroughly tossing Setsuna's belongings.
His master had always said he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he certainly wasn't an idiot. Conducting a basic sweep for clues was standard procedure.
After using the Kure Clan's intelligence network to pinpoint this apartment, he had come straight here. Sure enough, he found a critical piece of evidence—Setsuna's diary.
What kind of sane person actually keeps a diary? Oh right. Setsuna Kiryu was completely insane.
Lu Li flipped through the pages. It was completely filled with obsessive ramblings about 'Ohma'. On some pages, the handwriting twisted and warped into manic scribbles, making it hard to even fathom the psychological state Setsuna was in while writing it.
Flipping toward the very end, Lu Li finally found the anomaly.
'I am Ohma Tokita. Setsuna, please avenge me. These are the ones who killed me...' Below that chilling sentence was a precise list of names. They were all registered proxy fighters, but Lu Li immediately recognized them as the system aliases of the Explorers.
Lu Li's expression turned incredibly weird. Someone had tampered with Setsuna's diary. The culprit had flawlessly forged Setsuna's own handwriting to pen this message, exploiting the fact that Setsuna was a hallucinating psychopath, leading him to believe this was a literal "Divine Revelation."
If this strategy had been used on a sane person, they would immediately suspect an intruder had broken into their room and vandalized their journal. But Setsuna wasn't sane.
He was a lunatic to begin with, and Ohma's death had completely shattered whatever fragile grip on reality he had left. He vehemently refused to accept the reality of his "God's" death, desperately yearning to offer himself as a violent sacrifice for his deity.
Seeing those words miraculously manifest in his own diary, it wasn't surprising in the least that he immediately acted on them.
"Borrowing a knife to kill. Is this a test for me?" Lu Li frowned slightly.
He admitted he wasn't a master strategist; he didn't entirely understand what the Violator gained from this setup.
Judging by the fact that his Hunt Radar hadn't triggered, the Violator hadn't been actively tailing Setsuna—they were at least ten kilometers away. So what tangible benefit did the Violator gain by manipulating Setsuna into hunting down random Tier 1 Explorers?
And why did the Violator assassinate Ohma Tokita in the first place?
Lu Li felt like the enemy's scheme was unfolding layer by layer, weaving some massive, intricate web. He just couldn't see the final picture.
Whatever. Lu Li gave up on thinking.
When soldiers come, the general will block them; when water comes, earth will dam it. In the face of absolute, overwhelming strength, all intricate schemes and conspiracies were utterly useless. He would simply wait for the Violator to show their face, and then he would hack his way straight through them.
Now that the Origin Seed was safely in his inventory, the suffocating threat of the Pioneer Mission's eradication penalty was gone. He had plenty of time to lay out his own board.
He had approached this deployment by asking himself, 'What would Sosuke do?' and everything had gone flawlessly. In a mere six days, he had secured the Origin Seed and claimed the title of the Fang of Metsudo. It was an absolutely perfect opening play.
Moving forward, his sole objective was to maximize his profits in this Mission World.
Thinking of this, Lu Li glanced down at Qiu Mo. The Zanpakuto's Growth Progression currently sat at 13.2%.
Yes. Setsuna Kiryu was the very first genuine enemy this blade had killed. According to Qiu Mo's item description, it devoured a fraction of the slain enemy's soul to nourish the blade and increase its progression.
A single kill yielding 13% made leveling the weapon seem incredibly easy at first glance. But Lu Li hadn't forgotten that Setsuna had been heavily mutated by the Origin Seed; his soul possessed a terrifying, anomalous density.
He theorized that slaughtering ordinary mob characters would likely yield microscopic growth, if any. To upgrade his Zanpakuto, he had to actively hunt true powerhouses.
Lu Li wasn't a deranged serial killer. He wouldn't slaughter innocent people to satisfy his own selfish desires. Therefore, his available prey in this world was strictly limited to people he actively despised: The Worm and the Westward Faction. Plus, butchering them would conveniently repay his debts to Metsudo and Erioh.
Thirty miles outside Tokyo. Inside a subterranean laboratory.
"Fuck! Setsuna actually died! He's dead!"
"What a useless piece of trash! How could you die?! If you were going to die, you should have died by my hands!"
"Who did it?! Who was it?! Aside from me, who the hell could possibly kill the current Setsuna?! There shouldn't be anyone among these low-tier Explorers capable of that!"
A man sat huddled in the corner of the cold, sterile room, frantically biting his own fingernails as he rambled. On the stainless steel operating table in front of him lay a heavily dissected, pale human corpse.
His eyes were completely bloodshot as he muttered feverishly to himself.
"Was it an Adjudicator? But even an Adjudicator would struggle against the current Setsuna, right?"
"Damned Adjudicators. Always ruining my plans."
"Kill. Kill. I'll kill you. I'll slaughter you until no Adjudicator ever dares to hunt me again!"
"But if he could kill Setsuna... can I beat him?"
"Of course I can! I will continue to grow stronger! The Seed will be mine! Who the hell would willingly hand that over to the System?!"
Acting like a severely schizophrenic patient, he abruptly stood up and walked toward the operating table.
He reached out and gently stroked the mutilated corpse, a deeply sick, morbid smile spreading across his face. Suddenly, his hand seemed to literally melt, fusing directly into the dead flesh beneath it.
Thick, pulsing blood vessels violently bulged at the point of intersection. The man's body spasmed violently. His face twisted into a disturbing mixture of agonizing pain and euphoric pleasure, a low moan escaping his lips.
Roughly ten minutes later, the corpse on the table had completely shriveled into a dried husk, while the man's complexion glowed with vibrant, terrifying vitality.
His hand detached and returned to normal. He gently patted the mummified remains. "Truly premium goods. There were still two residual attribute points left in this vessel. It's a shame Setsuna died; my supply of Explorer corpses has been cut off..."
As he muttered to himself, his burner phone rang. He answered it, a sly smile returning to his face. "Xia Yan. Have you considered my previous proposal? Now that you've lost the Tiger's Vessel, things must be giving you quite the headache, no?"
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