The Heart of Daku (Part Two)

The core of the Daku slowly rotated in the water, its arms, formed from the condensed water, hung at its sides, tiny water droplets constantly dripping from its fingertips. Each droplet made a very soft, crisp sound as it hit the ground, like some kind of countdown.

"Is that so? Then you may die."

The moment the words left its mouth, Daku. A very thin film of water appeared out of thin air beneath its feet, gleaming coldly in the setting sun. Stepping on the water film, it glided along a trajectory that defied all the laws of physics.

First, he charged straight at Shimizu, then suddenly changed direction three steps away from Shimizu, his whole body circling along the ground in a tiny arc, getting to Shimizu's side. His right arm transformed into a transparent water blade, slashing towards Shimizu's waist with the force of breaking the wind.

Shimizu raised his sword to parry, the Zanpakuto's blade striking Daku's own blade, water exploding between the two swords.

But Daku didn't give him a chance to catch his breath. Its left arm exploded instantly, turning into dozens of tiny water droplets. These droplets floated in the air, covering the front and sides of the Shimizu.

"Water Hail."

The sound of Daku came from the depths of the stream. Without hesitation, dozens of water droplets exploded simultaneously, each instantly stretching into an extremely fine needle-like shape, carrying a high-speed rotating gust of wind as it shot towards the Shimizu from all directions.

Shimizu swung his sword to parry, the blade of Daku drawing an arc in front of him, shattering all the water needles that shot at him from the front. However, he could no longer deal with the water needles from the sides and back—the water needles pierced his school uniform and skin, and blood seeped out from countless tiny wounds, instantly staining his school uniform dark red.

Shimizu gritted his teeth and remained silent, gripping the hilt of his Zanpakuto, the blade held horizontally in front of him.

Daku stood opposite him, the water film beneath his feet still flowing slowly, its core pulsating slightly in the water, revealing an almost obsessive determination.

"Shimizu, relinquish your power, relinquish me!"

"Living a normal life with Keiko, a life without struggle, is more suitable for you."

"I... refuse!" Shimizu used the sharp edge of the Daku to support himself as he stood up again. His legs were trembling, and his knuckles were white as he gripped the hilt of the sword.

"Then I will personally make sure you can no longer fight!" Daku's core suddenly lit up, and its body began to expand violently. Countless streams of water gushed out from its torso, condensing into dense droplets around it. These droplets floated in mid-air, gleaming with a cold silver light in the setting sun.

Just as the Daku was about to detonate all the water droplets, a figure rushed out from the entrance of the Clothing Atelier.

Sylvan raised his jet-black cane and held it in front of Shimizu. His Reiatsu was so weak that it was almost imperceptible, and his fingers holding the cane were trembling slightly.

The core of the Daku slowly rotated in the water. Looking at the young man in front of him, who was so thin that he was almost skin and bones, looking at the inconspicuous cane in his hand, and looking at the Shimizu behind him, who was covered in blood but still stubbornly refused to fall down.

Sylvan held his cane horizontally in front of him, the fine lines on the cane gleaming with a dark luster in the setting sun. "Daku, Shimizu is your master, you cannot treat him like this."

The core of the Daku contracted slightly, and for the first time, a look of near confusion appeared in its eyes, which were formed from the condensation of water.

"No?" Daku's voice suddenly rose, its body began to tremble violently, and the water droplets suspended in mid-air also trembled. "What right do you have to tell me no! What do you know about me!"

Its figure vanished from its original spot, the water film beneath its feet drawing a very thin arc on the ground, and it appeared in front of Sylvan at almost instantaneous speed.

His right arm transformed into a massive water blade, carrying enough force to shatter the ground as it slashed towards Sylvan.

Sylvan raised his cane to block, and the impact of the water blade against the cane propelled him backward. He barely managed to stop himself by planting the cane into the ground. His wrist was numb from the shock, and his hand was almost split open.

"It's all Amber's fault!" Daku's second slash followed immediately, Sylvan parried again, his cane vibrating from the impact. "It's all your fault! If you hadn't failed to clean things up in the first place, I wouldn't have been born!"

Sylvan felt a pang in his heart at those words. He wanted to say something, but Daku's third strike had already followed.

His cane was almost knocked out of his hand by the blow, and his legs dragged two increasingly deep furrows in the mud. His Reiatsu was already weak, and each block was draining his already dwindling strength.

"Shimizu should be working as a guard at the Fon Clan, and he'll marry Keiko once he's saved enough money!" Daku's water blade slashed down again, and this time Sylvan couldn't completely block it. The water blade grazed the edge of his cane, and the sharp edge cut a very thin wound on his chest. Blood seeped from the cut, staining his clothes red.

The impact knocked him to the ground, his cane slipping from his hand and falling onto the muddy ground. Daku raised his water blade, aiming it at Sylvan's chest.

"It's because of you that Shimizu was forced to fight."

Just as the water blade was about to strike, a Blue-Violet figure rushed in from the side. Rain spread its wings, the patterns on them shimmering with a ghostly blue halo in the setting sun. It rammed its body into the Daku water blade, deflecting it by half an inch, grazing Sylvan's side and slicing it to the ground. "Our fault? What does this mean?"

Rain spread his wings and landed on Sylvan's shoulder, his silver pupils locking onto the slowly rotating core of Daku. Sylvan picked up the cane from the muddy ground; the fine patterns on the cane were still faintly glowing.

Daku a step back, its core slowly rotating in the water. "That's because I am..."

"Because you are..." Shimizu, supporting himself with his Zanpakuto, stood up again and walked to Sylvan and Rain. Blood was still seeping from his wounds, and his school uniform was mostly soaked in blood, but his knuckles were white as he gripped the hilt of his sword, and his back was straight.

Shimizu took another step forward, his legs still trembling, but his voice had regained its composure. "Daku, you are the remnant of that Void from Sizhuzhai inside my body, aren't you!"

When that phantom was detached from my body, a part of it remained inside me, and gradually became you.

The core of the Daku suddenly contracted.

"You know?" Its voice was very low, with a very faint, almost imperceptible tremor.

"Of course, I learned about it after I entered the academy and learned what a void is." Shimizu recalled the knowledge about voids that he had learned in class.

"Since you already know, why do you still hold onto this against me? I am the source of your misfortune. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gone to war, you wouldn't have had to go through all that—"

"What did you go through?" Shimizu interrupted him. "The long recovery period afterward? Or the dangerous battles?"

Daku remained silent.

"Those were all experiences I went through voluntarily," Shimizu recalled the past.

He looked at Daku, his clear eyes filled with no resentment, no regret, only a serene gentleness tempered by time. "Daku, you did indeed come from that void, but you are not the source of misfortune."

Shimizu touched her neck, somewhat shyly. "To be honest, I'm very grateful that you were able to stay inside me back then..."

It was because of you that I was able to see Big Brother Tosaya again and allow him to finally find redemption.

It is because of you that I was able to walk the same path as Amber and have the opportunity to fight alongside her.

It is because of you that I have the opportunity to bring happiness to Keiko!

The core of the Daku trembled slightly, and the Shimizu looked at the Daku:

"You are a part of my soul, a power I nurtured with my own hands. Even though this power originated from tragedy, it is now my own power."

He took a step forward, Zanpakuto horizontally in front of him. "I still remember Koko's shout that day. He embarked on the path of becoming Soul Reaper in order to rewrite the suffering of others."

And I am the first person he rewrote, so Daku —you and I must go together to achieve our own happiness to prove that Hu's efforts were not in vain!

Sylvan and Rain's pupils contracted slightly.

A memory suddenly surged into their minds: the pulse of Amber's heart when she first Shikai Jiku'a —the soul trapped in a blue birdcage, yearning to break free and to soar high.

The pulse was perfectly synchronized with their heartbeats at that moment. Sylvan looked down at the Featherlike Pattern tattoo that was beginning to appear on his right arm.

It was as if an invisible pen had drawn a mysterious picture on Sylvan's arm as paper. The strokes emitted a faint, ethereal blue light, and each line pulsated slightly beneath his skin, like a wing awakening.

Rain sensed it too; its wings involuntarily unfurled, the patterns on its wings lighting up in perfect sync with the tattoo on Sylvan's hand.

It turned its head, its silver pupils meeting Sylvan's equally silver eyes.

From within it, a power that had been sealed away for a long time finally found a breakthrough. It was something that Amber had obtained when it separated from Amber: the knowledge of the Kidō that had accompanied Amber through countless battles and been repeatedly honed by Tessai Tsukabishi and Fon Shaoling.

All the prayer Sequences were unlocked in an instant, flooding into Rain's mind like a burst dam, each syllable etched clearly.

"I see... So, only after establishing a connection can one fully utilize the power sealed within the body."

Rain spread its wings and took off from Sylvan's shoulder, a faint hint of excitement appearing in its voice for the first time. "Sylvan, grip the Blade of Power tightly—it's coming."

Sylvan gripped his cane tightly, the warmth emanating from the back of his hand traveling down his arm to the cane.

The bottom of the cane began to deform, and the fine lines grew out from the depths of the cane like awakened vines, converging at the bottom and reshaping the originally blunt tip of the cane into the shape of a sharp sword tip.

At the same time, several points of light condensed at the beak of the Rain, each point of light representing a different Sequence of Kidō.

The light spots shot out simultaneously, tracing arcs in the air as they flew towards the direction of the Daku.

The water film beneath Daku suddenly accelerated. It tried to dodge by walking on the water, but those Kidō followed like a persistent leech.

Daku had no choice but to detonate the water droplets floating around him, intercepting the Kidō in mid-air before it could be stopped.

"Sylvan!" Rain shouted in the air.

Sylvan had already moved, his speed was completely different from before. The Blade of Power in the form of a cane drew an arc in his hand, the tip of the sword wrapped with dark blue Reiatsu and pierced towards the core of the Daku.

Daku hurriedly raised his water blade to parry, but the moment the sword tip struck the water blade, the impact propelled Daku backward. Before he could regain his footing, Shimizu rushed up from the side, the Zanpakuto's blade slashing upward. The water blade collided with the blade, and sparks exploded between the two swords.

With a sudden flap of Rain wings, countless points of Kidō shot out from between its wings, crashing down upon Zhuo Daku. Sylvan charged forward from the front, the tip of his cane's sword piercing straight into the core of Daku.

The attack of the two people and the bird was like a storm, forcing Daku to retreat continuously. The water film under its feet drew countless arcs on the muddy ground, and the water droplets suspended around its body were constantly detonated by the Kidō in advance. The water blades shattered and reformed repeatedly in the collision with the blades.

Shimizu assumed a fighting stance and shouted, "Daku, stop being so stubborn! You might have originally been a part of a Hollow, but now you are my Zanpakuto! Come back to me!"

In the final strike, Sylvan, Rain, and Shimizu attacked simultaneously. The tip of the Blade of Power, the light of the Kidō Path, and the blade of the Daku struck the core of the Daku from three directions at the same time. The core trembled violently in the water, and cracks spread outward from the point of impact.

Daku's body began to disintegrate, but its core did not dim; instead, it gradually contracted. The dark blue core slowly rotated in the water, and the edges of each crack rippled with a soft light—not the shattered luster of dissipating Reishi, but like ripples slowly spreading across the surface of water.

"Shimizu... you really are a person who can embrace everything, just like the ocean..."

Before Sylvan could retract his grip on the Blade of Power, he suddenly felt a very slight tremor emanating from deep within the staff.

It wasn't an external impact, but a heartbeat-like pulse emanating from within. He lowered his head, watching the fine lines on the staff glow faintly.

At the same time, Rain stopped opening and closing her beak, and her silver pupils reflected the shrinking core of the Daku.

Sylvan closed his eyes; he could feel Rain's Reiatsu flowing within him—through the Featherlike Pattern tattoo as a medium, he could freely access Rain's Reiatsu and Rain.

The Kidō knowledge that Rain possessed, belonging to Amber, was no longer just in his memory; the Reiatsu ratios and usage techniques also appeared in Sylvan's mind.

Shimizu lowered his head, looking at the Zanpakuto in his hand, its blade regaining its water-like sheen. "Welcome back, Daku."

Just as Shimizu was about to collapse from his injuries and exhaustion, the Daku from his Zanpakuto reappeared, transforming into a waterbed where Shimizu could lie down comfortably.