GA: Chapter 170: One-Hit Kill — The Cursed Blade Murasame!
Even angels communicated with him as equals.
The White Emperor's strength spoke for itself.
It was a shame their own country had no ability user anywhere near that level — otherwise they wouldn't have been reduced to gambling everything on a desperate gambit.
The thought brought quiet sighs around the room.
The Yamata no Orochi was powerful, certainly — but the mutated giant octopus that had struck Haicheng was no weaker. If anything, judging from the footage, that creature hadn't only possessed formidable physical strength but also command over darkness — it had held out for a considerable time even against the combined assault of the Dragon Emperor, Ice Emperor, and Flame Emperor.
Compared to that, this Yamata no Orochi — which refused to leave the water at all — was a notch below, at least.
For now, all they could do was place their hopes in the young woman from the Kamisakura family. If her divine artifact's power was capable of slaying the creature — everything depended on that. Otherwise...
At the same time, while those deliberations were underway—
Deep within the island nation, a young woman in a warrior's attire sat cross-legged with a blade resting across her knees.
Anyone who had watched Akame ga Kill would have recognized it immediately — the Cursed Blade Murasame.
Whoever was cut by this blade would have its cursed poison enter through the wound, leading to rapid death. No antidote existed.
When Bai Xuan had materialized this Imperial Arm, he had considered the one-hit-kill nature of its ability. Against an opponent whose combat power hadn't reached a sufficient threshold and who lacked strong poison resistance, it could indeed function as advertised.
If that were all it did, however, the weapon would only be effective against lower-tier opponents — so Bai Xuan had added the trait of growth.
As the host's own strength continued to increase, the cursed poison it carried would become more potent in kind.
How far the Imperial Arm could be pushed still depended entirely on the host.
And clearly — the one Murasame had chosen was no ordinary person.
The young woman opened her eyes. Her gaze held little emotion — only a quiet calm. The only time any light entered those eyes was when they fell on Murasame itself.
"The world has changed. A time of chaos has come."
"And we didn't have the strength to resist the danger."
"If not for your appearance, I likely would have died."
Kamisakura Mei ran her fingers along Murasame and spoke with a complicated undercurrent in her voice.
During the previous sea creature tide, she had faced a massive wave of sea creatures alone. Her ability was simple — she could enhance whatever blade she held, sharpening its edge beyond its natural limits. Combined with the swordsmanship she had trained in since childhood, she was almost unmatched in single combat against mutated sea creatures.
But that ability also made her most effective in isolated engagements. If the enemy numbers were too great — even if none of them were particularly strong — she had only one outcome waiting for her.
Which was exactly the situation she'd been in during the previous sea creature tide. Surrounded and assaulted from multiple directions, survival had seemed impossible.
Just as she had prepared to kill as many as she could before the end — this blade had appeared before her.
One-hit kill. The Cursed Blade Murasame.
Whoever is cut by this blade has cursed poison enter through the wound, leading to rapid death.
Combined with her ability to sharpen the blade's edge beyond its natural limits — and given that those sea creatures weren't particularly powerful — she barely needed any effort at all. The lightest stroke was enough for immediate death.
That had allowed her to preserve far more of her strength throughout the battle, cut down significantly more mutated sea creatures, and hold out long enough for her allies to arrive.
"There are no 'what ifs' in this world. It chose you simply because you are who you are."
At some point, a young woman in shrine maiden robes had appeared beside Mei, speaking in an even tone.
"You don't understand, Suzu."
"This is a blessing from the divine."
Kamisakura Mei's voice was soft.
Murasame was no ordinary weapon. It possessed a rudimentary form of consciousness — and as its master, she was occasionally able to exchange simple impressions with it.
Most of the time those impressions went unacknowledged. But sometimes, something came back.
Through it, she had come to understand certain things.
Murasame was a special weapon created by a god — called an Imperial Arm. They possessed unique intelligence and could actively seek out the master most suited to them.
They had been created for a purpose: to strengthen humanity, to give people the power to stand against mutated creatures.
And the number of Imperial Arms — forty-eight.
The god had created forty-eight Imperial Arms.
And not only Imperial Arms. There were other things as well.
"The divine? Does this world truly have gods?"
"Even I — a shrine maiden — can no longer bring myself to believe that."
"If they exist, why don't they save us? If they exist, why do they look away from people dying? If they exist, why have they never answered a single prayer?"
"What people call gods are nothing more than fantasies of power we've projected outward. There are no gods in this world."
Suzu's calm voice carried a thin edge of cold within it.
She had believed once. But as the spiritual revival unfolded, disaster after disaster had played out in front of her — even the Yamata no Orochi had appeared — and still no divine presence had manifested.
There were no gods in this world.
But in the future — she would become one.
"The god I speak of isn't a being from myth or legend. I mean a true god."
"You accuse the gods of being absent in humanity's time of need — but you haven't considered that from a god's perspective, those mutated creatures and humans might stand as equals."
Kamisakura Mei rose to her feet. Her clear, water-still gaze turned east.
"Come, Suzu. Let's go create our own legend."
"And cut it down."
"Through resonance with the blade, she can sense your presence, chosen one."
Tenshi Zixin watched Kamisakura Mei through the virtual display before her, eyes alive with interest.
"She has quite exceptional potential."
"In times like these, special talents are always born."
"Her innate ability isn't particularly strong — which means her gifts will naturally manifest elsewhere."
Bai Xuan said it without much inflection.
Every nation carried its own fortune. Whenever crisis descended, that national fortune would gravitate toward certain particular individuals — and through them, it would turn the tide, hold up the falling sky.
Huaxia had always been this way. Every country was now.
That Huaxia had produced first-tier talents like Qin Tian, Huo Yu, Chen Bing, Chen Changsheng, Ye Feng, and Wang Ming was itself an expression of national fortune.
Thousands of years of accumulated foundation — even after a period of dormancy, the awakening brought with it a more powerful burst than before.
Huaxia's fortune had not weakened during that sleep. It had grown stronger.
The island nation's modern development had given it no small fortune of its own — which was why the age of spiritual revival had also produced many talented individuals there, some on par with Huaxia's first tier.
Kamisakura Mei was among them. Her ability was not inherently powerful, but her true gift lay in her resonance with bladed weapons — which had allowed her to reach a level in the way of the sword that was something else entirely
---
Want to read 60+ chapters ahead? Join my Patreon! Want to read 10 FREE chapters ahead? Join as a free member!
patreon.com/Rogue_Reader