Flow, Blades of the Past

Chapter 12: Flow... Blades of the Past

"Wow~ So this is the Star Dou Great Forest? The trees are so tall! The air is so fresh..."

Riding Beibei Dragon, the group soon arrived within the Star Dou Great Forest.

The endless expanse of towering trees made them feel incomparably at ease.

"Thank you, Kurikara."

After getting off Beibei Dragon, Mei gently stroked its nose.

Beibei Dragon snorted before vanishing from the spot.

The power it radiated was simply too overwhelming. Its influence outside was far too great. If they went hunting Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest later and all those Soul Beasts were too intimidated to move, that would be no fun at all.

"General, when we encounter Soul Beasts later, don't just strike them down with a bolt of lightning again. It makes me feel like I have no presence at all."

Having entered the Star Dou Great Forest, Starry Sky was brimming with fighting spirit and eager to test his strength.

He had to warn the Raiden Shogun, who killed Soul Beasts with lightning at the drop of a hat.

The Raiden Shogun's majestic gaze fell upon Starry Sky, making his entire body tingle.

She was the incarnation of thunder and the guardian of eternity.

How could she change her principles of action over a single remark from Starry Sky?

Starry Sky knew the Raiden Shogun would not be so easily persuaded, so he pulled out a huge pile of desserts from his Storage Soul Tool and shouted:

"Shadow, my wife, dinner's ready!"

The Raiden Shogun's body trembled. Her cold, imposing demeanor instantly changed. Her purple eyes flashed as she grabbed a dumpling-like pastry and stuffed it into her mouth, saying blissfully:

"Mmm... delicious."

"Shadow, if it's delicious, come out more often. Don't always stay holed up in the Plane of Euthymia reading novels."

With the General gone, no one would stop him from hacking away at Soul Beasts!

"What did you do to make the General unhappy this time?" Raiden Ei asked, tilting her head.

After all, if he carelessly called the Raiden Shogun his wife, she truly would get angry and strike him with lightning.

"How did I make her angry? The General is just too domineering. She instantly kills every enemy and doesn't give me any chance to fight. I want her to go back inside for a while so I can have some fun hunting Soul Beasts."

If Starry Sky did not get to fight, his hands really itched.

"So that's what happened. I'll adjust the General's programming tonight."

Raiden Ei felt that the General was being far too overprotective.

How could Starry Sky grow without experiencing battle?

"Can you make it so she stops striking me with lightning whenever I call her my wife?"

Since her programming could be altered, Starry Sky naturally wanted to turn the Raiden Shogun into a virtuous wife and mother.

Raiden Ei lowered her gaze, her expression displeased.

"That's your problem. Why should I debug it?"

She rebutted him with the air of a programmer.

"Fine. I'll follow all of my wife Shadow's arrangements."

Thankfully, calling Shadow his wife did not get him struck by lightning. Otherwise, his physique would shoot up like crazy.

Had he never heard of tempering the body with lightning?

"Lightning Leopard! Hah! Where do you think you're running?!"

As expected of the Star Dou Great Forest, Soul Beasts were densely packed and varied in species.

Starry Sky quickly found a Soul Beast suitable for himself.

It was a yellow leopard. Lightning gathered beneath its paws as it ran, making it incredibly fast!

It was even a thousand-year Soul Beast. If it had not already been injured, Starry Sky would not even have been able to see its backside.

Starry Sky infused his legs with lightning, wanting to imitate the Lightning Leopard's abilities, but all he felt was numbness.

Sigh! He was still too weak.

There was no helping it. He could only keep chasing. The Lightning Leopard's stamina would eventually run out.

Sure enough, after only a few minutes of pursuit, the Lightning Leopard could no longer keep going.

Seeing this, Starry Sky activated his first Soul Skill.

A large red hand appeared at either side of his body—one with a horned oni-face mask on the back of its hand—and both gripped long Katanas.

Starry Sky swung his Katana in basic attacks, slashing out streaks of red lightning.

As his basic attacks increased, the ghostly hands on either side also drew their Katanas and swung alongside Starry Sky.

By the fourth strike, Starry Sky turned into an afterimage, leaving only several terrifying slashes in place.

They struck the Lightning Leopard, making it bleed profusely and howl in agony.

But Starry Sky's combo was not over yet.

After unleashing the fourth strike, his figure appeared once more. He swept both blades forward at once, red thunder carrying scorching black flames as it cleaved the Lightning Leopard straight into two halves.

"Fighting... feels awesome!!"

That finally satisfied Starry Sky.

Still, chasing the Lightning Leopard for so long had been rather frustrating.

Next time, it seemed he should find Soul Beasts that liked fighting head-on. That would be much more satisfying.

Clap, clap, clap!

Mei applauded with both hands. "Captain, that was amazing~!"

Raiden Ei: Munch munch.

Underworld: Munch munch.

The desserts were so delicious.

Starry Sky rubbed his nose, put away his weapon, and said:

"Sister Mei, did I do anything wrong just now?"

No one could be flawless. There had to be shortcomings in his attack just now.

"I'm already very surprised that the Captain can do this much. As for your shortcomings... they would be your speed and the accuracy of your slashes. If you were a little faster and every strike was fatal, the Captain would not have needed to use a Soul Skill to finish off the Lightning Leopard."

"Got it!! I'll pay attention next time!"

Starry Sky planted his hands on his hips and declared excitedly.

Now he had a precise goal again.

Then, Starry Sky sat cross-legged on the ground and absorbed the Lightning Leopard's Soul Ring.

He could still withstand a thousand-year Soul Ring.

Just as Starry Sky was absorbing the Soul Ring, a bolt of lightning suddenly shot down from the sky.

Like a dog that had spotted a bone, it charged straight toward Starry Sky!

"Huh? What is that?"

Mei looked over. It was a vine, its body segmented piece by piece.

Its entire body was covered in terrifying lightning.

Its arrival affected the sky as well. Dark clouds gathered, and lightning boomed.

"Flow... Blades of the Past."

Before that vine could descend, however, a red blade flash suddenly slashed upward from below.

The dark clouds in the sky and the lightning vine were both cleaved in half by that terrifying strike.

The clear sky was revealed once more.

Underworld sheathed her blade, and her white hair turned purple again.

In a calm tone, she said, "Another debt of blood."

It turned out that Underworld had acted just now, killing the lightning vine with a single slash.

"This seems to be... a Thunderclap Hell-Prison Vine? It is a plant-type Soul Beast that stands at the peak from the moment it is born, possessing innate intelligence. It needs the tempering of lightning as it grows. I think it was drawn here by Kong's lightning aura."

The Raiden Shogun had already absorbed every book in Spirit Hall concerning Soul Beasts.

All she needed was to ask a single question to know everything about this vine.

The Thunderclap Hell-Prison Vine was already dead, and a deep-purple Soul Ring condensed into being.

"Wonderful! Its age exceeds five thousand years. Once the Captain finishes absorbing the Lightning Leopard's Soul Ring, he can continue and absorb this one too! That saves us a lot of trouble."

Mei was delighted. This way, her little Captain could return to school sooner.

She hoped he had not fallen too far behind in his lessons during these days away.

And she hoped that after being gone for so long, all the children at school would not exclude Starry Sky.