You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

The next moment, a thick bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the dense rain clouds!

boom!

The dragon roared, and countless bolts of lightning struck the sea surface, creating wave after wave of spray. The high temperature ignited the hydrogen and oxygen released from the decomposition, and the surrounding area was instantly engulfed in a sea of ​​fire!

The hellish storm of lightning and fire lasted for a full ten breaths. After it subsided, the Azure Dragon looked down at the turbulent sea, seemingly waiting for something.

Suddenly, it raised its body high, opened its mouth wide, and emitted invisible waves towards a certain place in the sea. Vacuum blades instantly pierced the water's surface, causing the surrounding area to churn like boiling water.

Whoosh!

Sure enough, it couldn't hold back any longer and burst out of the water!

However, Iori did not appear from the range of the Vacuum Blade, but launched a surprise attack from the blind spot of the Azure Dragon's remnant eyes!

——Zheng!

The jade sword pierced through the scabbed dragon skin, easily penetrating the flesh, and only stopped when a clang was heard.

'You misjudged!' Iori's eyes narrowed.

He intended to attack the dragon's skull directly through its eye sockets, but ultimately he didn't understand this creature. The angle at which the sword pierced was wrong, and he didn't even know which bone blocked it.

This seemed to be the reason for his defeat. The Azure Dragon, enduring excruciating pain, did not let go of the opportunity. Its powerful dragon claws suddenly slashed across, and even though Iori tried to retreat, a large piece of his muscle was still torn apart, and he was almost cut in half at the waist!

"Well!"

Iori slumped into the sea, feeling a large amount of blood draining from her waist, and her body felt weak.

But at that moment, the small gem at the end of the Ame no Kusanagi sword began to emit a hazy blue light, attracting a large amount of water essence to the surroundings, which caused the blood to congeal near the wound and not disperse, greatly slowing down the rate of blood loss in a peculiar way.

As Iori made a thought, the buoyancy from the seawater increased, and his body was lifted back to the surface of the sea!

wow...

Shaking off the seawater, Iori felt as if she were lying on a denser sandy beach, struggling to straighten herself up, but ultimately too weak to do so, and could only kneel on the sea.

"Roar……"

The Azure Dragon of Izumo was also in a bad situation. Although the transverse bone inside its skull saved its life, Iori had severed many important nerves and blood vessels, and the fierce sword energy had caused secondary damage... If it were a normal dangerous species, it would probably be dead by now.

Even though it could still move, its body began to become unresponsive, and even its intact eye was stained red with internal bleeding, making it look like a bloodthirsty beast at the end of its rope.

It seems we've both reached our limits—the man and the dragon stared at each other for a moment.

Roar!

Suddenly, the Azure Dragon plunged into the sea and swam towards the depths, but it was not fleeing; rather, it was gathering its strength to crush Iori.

And it also understood that Iori would not let this opportunity pass, and would definitely concentrate its last strength to deliver a fatal blow!

"Huh...huh..."

Iori struggled to gather his remaining spiritual pressure, his entire body protesting with pain, the wound on his waist continuing to rob him of his life.

But at this moment, his heart was completely calm... Was it a final burst of energy before death, or had he already resigned himself to his fate?

Admit it, this is your limit.

No... at least he hasn't given up hope of victory.

With this battered and tattered body, can he possibly slay a dragon with a single sword strike?

How will you know if you don't try?

How foolish! To risk one's life for nothing. The sword is already in hand; why challenge it again?

Having accepted the gift, a deal was naturally struck.

【ridiculous!】

[You're not exactly a person of your word; you just think it's fun and satisfies your desire to show off.]

Sometimes cautious, sometimes reckless enough to fight a dragon—this is neither courage nor integrity, but simply foolishness!

...Perhaps so.

【You deserve your current predicament!】

Down and out? Am I really that pathetic right now?

Iori looked at the shattered reflections rippling on the water's surface with a relaxed expression.

"You're right, but I am both wise and foolish, brave and cowardly—but I will not deny my choices. Whether the outcome is good or bad, I will face it calmly and carry my beliefs through to the end."

[Beliefs? What are your beliefs?]

"Of course it is..."

Suddenly, countless fragments on the water merged into a single face. Looking at that familiar face, the boy smiled happily, but instead of answering the question, he said something completely unrelated.

"Sure enough, this face gets more and more handsome the more you look at it!"

hum!

A flash of light streaked across the surface, and the jade-green sword suddenly transformed into a mercury-like luster, its striped pattern subtly changing before a wondrous ripple enveloped Iori.

Like fleeting shadows, countless mysteries appeared naturally in Iori's mind, as if they were innate to him, and he grasped them directly without any hindrance.

"I see... [Storm]!"

"Roar!!!"

From the deep sea, the majestic Dragon King, his body crackling with lightning, broke through the surface of the water. His sharp claws sliced ​​through Iori's body from her left shoulder down, almost slicing off half of her body!

——!

However, there was no scene of blood gushing out as expected. For some reason, the surface of the wound turned into a blurry and chaotic phantom, like a fog that did not dissipate. Iori looked somewhat dazed, but did not seem to be in pain.

The lightning that followed enveloped her, but Iori was as if she were shrouded in a hazy mist, swaying like a reflection in water under such a fierce attack.

"Roar!"

A giant dragon flew by, soaring and coiling in the air.

Iori knelt on the water, his previously blurry body becoming clear again. Strangely, his left shoulder had returned to his body, but the wound on his waist remained unchanged.

The dragon missed its first attack, but despite its shock, it did not stop. Gathering all its strength, it swooped down from its height again, intending to crush Iori with pure violence and the force of Mount Tai!

At the critical moment, Iori quietly held the sword horizontally, watching a drop of water slide down the spine of the blade, fall from the tip into the sea, and create a slight ripple.

"[Nagi]."

call!

The tiny ripple spread out instantly, calming the churning waves and making them smooth and mirror-like in the blink of an eye.

On this enormous mirror, the reflections of Iori, the sky, and Wanglong are clearly visible.

As seen in the mirror, in the blink of an eye, the giant dragon had already crossed the distance between the sea and the sky, and was about to devour and crush Iori at any moment!

So he swung his longsword—

But it wasn't directed at the dragon in the sky, but at "another dragon" reflected in the mirror at his feet.

Zheng!

The crescent-shaped sword pressure swept across the mirror surface, slicing a straight cut and dividing the winding dragon into several segments.

call……

Iori lowered his longsword, the strong wind above pressing his clothes into the water, yet he said calmly, "[Che]".

Click!

The mirror shattered into countless pieces, all the reflections disappeared at the same time, and just before the Azure Dragon was about to tear Iori apart, a straight sword mark suddenly swept across its huge body!

The hard scales and bones lost their meaning at this moment. The majestic body, which had withstood thousands of years of wind and frost, was cut into several pieces, and a torrential rain of blood poured down!

Iori rose and dodged, the dragon's head plunging into the sea and stirring up a raging wave stained crimson...

The young man stood on the blood-red sea, his gaze fixed on the transformed longsword, and said softly:

"Your name is... [Mirror of Still Water]!"

Chapter 45: Azure Dragon Bows in Tears, Sword Saint Martial Venerable

[A Clear Mirror and Still Water]

Liberation statement:

Reflecting the myriad phenomena, flowing through all the void;

All things are impermanent; fullness and emptiness are cyclical.

Let us unite, like a clear mirror and still water!

·岚

After the initial release, the part of the swordsman struck by the enemy will temporarily transform into a free spirit particle state, and then revert to a spirit body, thus avoiding physical damage.

It cannot heal damage taken before activating its Shikai, and it consumes more spiritual pressure when dealing with energy attacks, affecting its stamina.

·凪

Within a certain range, a domain that can reflect all things and see through illusions will be formed, and enemies within the capture range will be passively drawn in.

The wielder can perceive every subtle movement of the enemy within the domain, including heartbeat and breathing. If they concentrate, they can even grasp the flow of spiritual pressure, achieving a kind of "short-term future vision" predictive combat (requires specific training).

·Che

First, deploy "Nagi" to project the enemy's image into the Mirror Domain. Then, use your sword to slash through the image within the domain. As the domain dissipates, the damage the image sustained will be reflected back onto the enemy.

The slash on the image can be seen as the effect of reversing the "storm," causing the wound to dissipate into free spiritual particles, but there is no recovery process.

Generally speaking, the higher the spiritual pressure density, the higher the resistance to "Che". However, if the spiritual pressure intensity is only similar to that of the person wielding the sword, then the resistance is almost non-existent.

Additionally, Nagi's spiritual pressure consumption is enormous, and based on the natural recovery rate, it cannot be reactivated within one day after the domain is shattered.

Therefore, "Che" can be regarded as the final move of the day.

-

On the day the battle ended, a torrential downpour began at sea, and dark clouds shrouded the island, as if the heavens and earth were weeping for their child.

Iori did not skin or dismember the corpse of the Azure Dragon of Izumo. Although theoretically every part of it was a treasure, he did not want to disturb its peace after death. He decided to let its body return to the sea that nurtured it and become part of the natural cycle.

...Of course, to a large extent, it was also because Iori didn't have the strength.

Calling out the name of his Zanpakuto broke Iori's original constraints, allowing him to increase his spiritual pressure limit in addition to the boost from his "art style value," and also greatly unlock his potential. It was because of this that he was able to deliver the final blow to the Azure Dragon.

However, such an outburst inevitably leaves one weak for a long time after the event ends. Iori was no exception; in fact, at that time, he was barely able to move.

He himself didn't make any moves, but after reverting to his original form after dispelling his initial release, the sword embryo [Ama-no-Kami-no-Tsurugi] actively absorbed the dragon blood that permeated the sea, thereby gathering a large amount of essence, which transformed the texture of the entire sword. Under the light, it had a gem-like clarity, and the jewel at the end of the hilt accumulated a large amount of "divine energy".

This sword itself has already surpassed the Shikai of many Zanpakuto, and now it also houses [Mirror of Still Water], so its strength is naturally as high as possible, which makes Iori very happy.

After that, considering his physical condition and the fact that he couldn't directly take the Ame no Kusanagi back to Soul Society, the boy used "Shangri-La" to transfer to the designated location. He temporarily placed the Ame no Kusanagi in the spirit particle conversion device and hid it in a safe place before returning directly to Bleach.

He wasn't afraid of losing it. Not only was the location he chose well-hidden, but the sword was also connected to his soul, so he was sure he could find it within the world of "Akatsuki".

After all, a Zanpakuto has its own will and cannot be used against itself—at least no one in Akame ga Kill! can do that.

After adjusting the time flow and taking a short rest, the first thing he did was go to the clinic run by the Fourth Division to treat his injuries.

Throughout the entire treatment process, no one inquired about the cause of Iori's injury, which was what Iori was most satisfied with.

However, this also comes at a price:

Injuries sustained on duty are covered by free medical treatment. However, if the circumstances are not explained, it will be considered a personal injury and will incur additional charges.

But it's totally worth it!

Compared to what Iori gained this time, what is a little medicine cost? You should know that on this trip, he not only obtained the Kusanagi Sword and the [Mirror of Still Water], but also increased his spiritual pressure limit through Shikai, and even obtained two CG illustrations!

【Azure Dragon Bows in Tears - A Fated Death】

Category: Art Style

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Reward: Art style value +4

Sword Saint Martial Venerable

Category: Art Style