The Tsundere Tulu (2)

He scratched his head, carefully avoiding the wound this time. "Think about it. I don't have a grudge against those students, so why would I go for the kill? Besides, if I really went all out and crippled them, wouldn't the academy come after me? Wouldn't the Fourth Division have to work overtime treating them? Wouldn't Captain Unohana scold me? And after scolding me, wouldn't she make me write a ten-thousand-word self-criticism? And after I finished that, wouldn't she..."

"Enough!" Tulu interrupted him. "Excuses."

Liu Ziyun sighed, his tone suddenly turning serious. "And besides, you and Life-Taker are my most steadfast companions!"

His gaze softened. "Only in front of you two can I show my true self without holding anything back. If I want to laugh, I laugh. If I want to cry, I cry. If I want to go crazy, I go crazy. If I want to slash someone, I slash them. I'm slashing myself anyway, so it's not illegal, I don't have to pay compensation, and I don't have to write a self-criticism."

He spread his hands. "Isn't that great?"

Tulu: "..."

She looked at Liu Ziyun's face, which had "I'm being sincere" written all over it, and fell silent for a long time.

So long that Liu Ziyun thought she was about to draw her blade and slash at him again—

"Heh."

Another cold laugh.

But this time, the cold laugh seemed to carry a trace of... resignation?

"You really know how to talk." Tulu shook her head. "But you don't seem to have Naruto Uzumaki's Talk no Jutsu. His can actually convince people, but yours... only makes me want to slash you more."

He raised the Tang sword, its tip pointing at Liu Ziyun once more. "So, we're still going to fight next."

Her tone suddenly grew serious, more serious than ever before. "Liu Ziyun, get ready. This time... don't die."

Liu Ziyun: "...Huh?"

Before he could react, Tulu had already moved!

This wasn't the leisurely "let me show you a skill first" approach from before. This was a real attack, made with everything she had!

"Swoosh—!!!"

A blade flashed!

Liu Ziyun hadn't even seen how she swung. He only felt a chill across his chest—

A diagonal slash ran from his left shoulder all the way to his right abdomen, deep enough to expose bone!

"Pfft!"

Blood gushed out like a fountain!

"Fuck!" Liu Ziyun swore. "Do you have to be so vicious, big sis?! Weren't we just sparring?! How did this suddenly turn into a fight to the death?! This isn't the right vibe! What happened to our heartwarming, healing heart-to-heart?!"

He looked down at the wound. It was deep, but strangely, it didn't hurt much?

No!

It wasn't that it didn't hurt much!

It was...

Something was wriggling inside the wound! It was like countless little bugs crawling around!

Tulu's voice rang out coldly. "Flying Blade, Shattered Blade Slash."

Liu Ziyun's pupils contracted sharply!

He remembered! That enormous blade arc had vanished the moment it struck him!

It hadn't really vanished—it had burrowed into his body!

"This is bad—!!!"

He wanted to retreat, to defend himself, to do something—

But it was already too late.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!!!"

Countless crescent-shaped blade arcs burst out from inside his body!

They weren't slashing into him from the outside. They were slashing out from the inside!

It was as if he had a blade factory hidden inside him, and every blade had shipped out at once, with payment due on delivery!

"Aaaah—!!!"

This time, Liu Ziyun finally couldn't help screaming.

It hurt too much!

It wasn't the pain of an external wound, but agony coming from his organs, his bones, the depths of his soul!

Every blade arc that burst out of his body took a chunk of flesh with it, leaving a wound deep enough to expose bone.

In just three seconds, he had become a man of blood—literally.

There wasn't an uninjured spot on his body. Even his face was covered in fine cuts, making him look as though he'd been thrown into a meat grinder and put back together.

"Thud."

He could no longer hold himself up and fell to his knees. The Asauchi in his hand cracked and shattered into countless fragments.

On the distant rooftop, Life-Taker frowned.

"That's enough, Tulu," she murmured to herself, rising to her feet. "If you keep playing, something really will go wrong."

She prepared to jump down and stop the fight that had already spiraled out of control.

But just then—

Liu Ziyun, kneeling on the ground, suddenly raised his head.

His eyes... were glowing.

That wasn't a figure of speech. They really were glowing. A faint golden light shone from the depths of his pupils, like two little light bulbs.

He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse but unusually clear. "Change Fate."

The moment he spoke, a dazzling golden light erupted from his body!

The light was so bright that even Tulu instinctively narrowed her eyes.

And under the golden light, the blade arcs that kept bursting from his body rapidly melted away and disappeared, like snow under a scorching sun.

The wounds on his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye!

They didn't heal slowly. They healed instantly!

The cuts deep enough to expose bone became faint red marks in the blink of an eye. Another blink, and the red marks vanished completely, without even leaving scars.

If not for his tattered Shihakusho and the blood all over the ground, everything that had just happened might have seemed like an illusion.

The golden light faded.

Liu Ziyun stood where he was, gasping for breath, his face pale as paper and his whole body trembling, as though he might crumple like a rag the next second.

But he didn't fall.

He raised his head and looked at Tulu, even managing to pull a smile onto his face. "Well? That move... wasn't bad, was it? Did I look cool?"

Tulu froze.

He looked at Liu Ziyun for a full five seconds before slowly speaking. "Change Fate... one of Life-Taker's abilities. It can rewrite an 'established fact' for a short time—for example, changing 'already injured' to 'never injured.'"

There was clear surprise in his tone. "I don't remember Life-Taker teaching you that. When did you learn it?"

Liu Ziyun grinned, though his smile looked worse than if he were crying. "Just now. Right when I was about to die, it suddenly popped into my head—like suddenly learning a new skill while playing a game."

He paused, then added, "And I have that Shattered Blade Slash of yours to thank. If those blade arcs hadn't burst out from inside me and given me firsthand experience of what it felt like to be destroyed from the inside out, I might not have figured this move out."

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I guess... practice is the true source of knowledge?"

Tulu: "..."

He was silent for a long time before giving a slight nod. "You made the right choice. If you'd tried to resist those blades with brute force, you'd be dead now—literally dead, without even a chance of being saved."

His tone turned cold again. "But so what?"

He raised his sword. "You've only just recovered from severe injuries, and your Reiatsu is almost exhausted. I know every ability you have. After all, I'm part of you. Those crazy but clumsy attacks of yours can't even touch me. How are you going to earn my recognition? Give up, Liu Ziyun. You can't do it."

Liu Ziyun listened without refuting him or arguing.

He just... smiled.

It was a tired smile, but a composed one too.

"Looks like... it really is just as you said."

He took a deep breath and straightened up, though his legs were still shaking like two noodles.

"But as for making me give up? Don't count on it."