After that, Ailin did not continue using his ability. Instead, he followed the path his former "self" had planned and honed that strike.
Forging that strike into one of his trump cards was Ailin's promise to his former "self."
Closing his eyes, Ailin relaxed his body.
Then, in a single instant, the strength throughout his body became perfectly unified. It rose from the soles of his feet, passed through his body in coordinated waves, gathered in his right hand, and then followed the scabbard as it drew a streak of white light.
"Whoosh—"
Beneath a large tree at the edge of the training ground, Shukuro Tsukishima abruptly raised his head and stared at Ailin in shock.
Not far ahead of him, the young man had already sheathed his blade.
The wooden post, split cleanly into two, showed the power of that strike.
"How is that possible?"
"Not long ago, he still needed my guidance in his training. How had he already mastered it now?"
Shukuro Tsukishima hurriedly looked down at the Book of the End in his hand. Within it was recorded the more than hundred years of "Ailin's" life.
In order to better understand the person known as "Ailin," after pouring his consciousness into the book, Shukuro Tsukishima had reviewed Ailin's life no fewer than a thousand times.
Within Ailin's life, Shukuro Tsukishima had made thorough preparations. When he should reveal his presence, where he should earn Ailin's trust, and when he could gain Ailin's wholehearted devotion—he had marked all of it with tabs on the pages.
But at that moment, Shukuro Tsukishima discovered that the recorded trajectory of "Ailin's" life in his Book of the End had completely faded away.
All that remained visible were the four years of records, from when he had first met "Ailin" until