Blue Steel Shadow

Su Xiao stood in place with Dragon Slayer Flash in hand. The entire scene was silent.

"Gulu."

The difficult sound of swallowing broke the silence.

Xiluo Luo stared at Su Xiao's back, her bright eyes practically shining. Clearly, she had recognized Su Xiao.

At that moment, several labels had already appeared above Su Xiao in Xiluo Luo's mind: tough guy, super carry, big shot...

Xiluo Luo suddenly regretted it a little. If she had known Su Xiao was this strong, she should have asked for his number earlier. That way, when she encountered a difficult Derivative World in the future, she could pay handsomely for him to carry her.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Gecko's earlier excitement had vanished. He stared fixedly at Su Xiao as his Kagune rapidly emerged, wrapping around one arm.

Gecko's Kagune was a Scale Kagune, with its Kagune Core located near the kidneys. Scale Kagune Ghouls possessed extremely strong regenerative abilities. Their characteristic was powerful attack strength, but relatively weak defense.

There were four types of Kagune: Wing Kagune, Scale Kagune, Armor Kagune, and Tail Kagune. Each type had its own advantages and disadvantages, and none had a fixed form. They took shape according to a Ghoul's imagination.

The form of Gecko's Kagune at that moment had been shaped by his imagination and fighting habits.

"Who am I? Hmm~ You can call me Byakuya. Your Kagune is pretty good. I'll take it."

Su Xiao activated the Shadow of Law Destruction and opened Blue Steel Shadow for the first time. His Mana immediately dropped by 2 points, then continued decreasing at a rate of 2 points per minute.

After activating Blue Steel Shadow, he felt a certain energy within his body awaken. That was his Mana.

His Mana circulated through his body and, after undergoing some wondrous conversion, formed a new kind of energy.

That energy first traveled through his arm before spreading onto Dragon Slayer Flash in his hand. The surface of Dragon Slayer Flash was suddenly wrapped in blue light. On closer inspection, tiny blue-white arcs of electricity could be seen flickering.

It was not lightning, but a new energy formed after Mana underwent a certain power conversion. This was the core of Blue Steel Shadow.

Blue Steel Shadow was an active state skill. Once activated, it consumed 2 points of Mana per minute. That did not sound like much, but if he fought continuously for an hour, it would consume 120 points of Mana. He currently had 153 points, which was enough to sustain the cost.

The advantages of having sufficient Mana became clear, granting him the ability to fight for a long time.

After activating Blue Steel Shadow, every one of Su Xiao's attacks would burn 10 points of the enemy's Mana.

It did not seem like much, but if he landed several more strikes, the resulting Mana loss would be enough to kill.

Imagine that after Su Xiao and an enemy fought fiercely for a while, they prepared to exchange ultimate attacks—only for the enemy to suddenly discover that they had run out of Mana. How desperate would that be?

Moreover, Blue Steel Shadow did not merely consume the enemy's Mana. It also dealt an equal amount of true damage.

Su Xiao had once asked Reincarnation Paradise what true damage was.

Reincarnation Paradise's answer had been: damage that ignored everything. No matter how strong the enemy's defense was, they would still be wounded by his blade.

Su Xiao rolled his shoulders, removed his shirt, and stood bare-chested.

He had a habit when fighting: he liked taking off his shirt. It made his senses sharper. Perhaps it was merely an illusion, but it was his habit.

With 13 points in Strength, 13 points in Agility, and 12 points in Intelligence, Su Xiao wanted to test just how much combat power these attributes provided.

Do not assume that the Intelligence Attribute was useless in close combat. Increasing the Intelligence Attribute not only increased spell damage and Mana, but also enhanced perception, which was a tremendous help in close combat.

"Then I'll use you for the test. You look tough and thick-skinned, so you should not be easy to cut apart."

Su Xiao stomped hard against the ground and charged toward Gecko. His 13 points of Agility made him faster than everyone present.

Gecko only felt his vision blur before Su Xiao's face appeared in front of him. At the same time, a long blade radiating azure light slashed toward his neck.

Su Xiao's strike was exceptionally vicious. Koshiro's teachings had greatly improved his swordsmanship.

Holding the blade with both hands, Su Xiao's slash was about to strike Gecko's neck. Although Ghouls had astonishing regenerative abilities, they would still die if their heads were severed.

At this critical moment, Gecko roared. It was too late to block with his arm or anything similar, but his Kagune was very close to his neck, and it immediately wrapped around it.

"Splurt."

The sound of a sharp blade entering flesh rang out, but not a trace of blood appeared.

Su Xiao's blade struck Gecko's Kagune. Scale Kagune were not known for their defensive power, and Su Xiao immediately cut through it.

The face beneath Gecko's mask twisted. What kind of cutting power was this? If he had not seen it wrong, his opponent was using an ordinary weapon, not a Quinque made from a Kagune.

Run. I have to escape immediately. The human before him was too strong. It was not only him—even an SS-Rank Ghoul would be chopped into minced meat.

Just as Gecko was about to retreat, he suddenly felt intense pain coming from the wound in his Kagune. Then, a certain energy within his body began to burn. It was his Rc Cells.

As his Rc Cells burned, Gecko felt an unprecedented agony surge through him.

Even with his endurance, he could not help crying out. The true damage after the Mana burn had taken effect.

The Blue Steel Shadow mastered by Su Xiao literally meant burning the enemy's Mana. But what about creatures like Ghouls, which had no Mana?

The answer was to burn other forms of energy. The principle behind Blue Steel Shadow was that it consumed Su Xiao's Mana to form a special energy.

The special energy attached itself to the weapon. After Su Xiao struck an enemy in close combat, the energy invaded the opponent's body and reacted with the energy within them, ultimately achieving the effect of burning Mana.

If the enemy had no Mana, the special energy would instead choose to annihilate another form of energy, such as Rc Cells, Chakra, Nen, or Reiatsu.

Compared with Mana, Blue Steel Shadow's annihilation rate against other energies was slightly lower. It dropped from the original 10 points to around 7–9 points.

The sensation of one's internal energy burning was naturally unbearable. Compared with the true damage it caused, the agony had an even greater impact on combat.

Blue Steel Shadow's skill description was: After activating (Blue Steel Shadow), each close-combat attack would remove 10 points of the enemy's Mana and deal an equal amount of true damage. The enemy would suffer intense pain after their Mana burned.

Su Xiao had not cared about the phrase "suffer intense pain" before, but after seeing Gecko's expression, he understood that the sensation was anything but pleasant.

After Gecko cried out, Su Xiao's second strike had already arrived.

The blade swept through the air, producing a terrifying whimper. Its sharp edge tore through the air and split apart a wave of pressure.

"Splurt."

An arm and half an ear flew through the air at the same time. Su Xiao's second strike had also been aimed at Gecko's head.

But Gecko abandoned one arm to block Dragon Slayer Flash for an instant, then violently tilted his head to the side, narrowly escaping decapitation.

With only two strikes, Gecko had been cut half to death. His Kagune had been severed, and his severed arm lay on the ground nearby. His combat strength had fallen by at least half.

After seeing this, the beautiful Rize Kamishiro felt her scalp go numb. At the same time, she wailed inwardly, Are all the humans in Ward 20 this strong?

He could actually fight a Ghoul head-on without using a Quinque. No, what was happening before her was not a fight at all, but one-sided bullying.

Rize's first thought was also to flee, but a pair of sharp eyes had already turned coldly toward her.

"Where do you think you're going, Rize Kamishiro?"

Thanks to Banana QoQ, and to Feng Feng Piao for the ten-thousand-yuan reward. I already owe extra chapters before the book has even gone premium. Should I be happy, or happy, or happy?