The Ultimate Soul Cutter

"Progenitor of the Quincy, The Auswählen... Does that mean the great war from a thousand years ago could happen again?"

Urahara Kisuke immediately felt the pressure multiply. As someone who knew part of the Soul King's secrets, Urahara also knew about the war in the Soul Society a thousand years ago. The Soul Society had paid the price of eleven captains to barely win that battle against the Quincy.

Urahara thought of Aizen coveting the Hogyoku within the Soul Society, and now there was the external threat of the revived Progenitor of the Quincy. Just thinking about it gave him a headache. He clearly was not the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, yet he worried like one.

For a moment, Urahara's hands itched. He really wanted to pet a cat to relieve some stress. Where had Yoruichi run off to?

"Nine years to reclaim his power, nine days to reclaim the world. We have less than nine years left."

"We? Mr. Tsuna is from the World of the Living. The Soul Society's ancient feud doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, does it? And you aren't a Quincy, so you don't need to worry about The Auswählen." Urahara gave Sawada Tsunayoshi a surprised look.

Tsuna said calmly, "That guy's goal is to return the Three Worlds to chaos. Pulling out the wedge from the corner of the table and flipping the whole table over—how could anyone say it has nothing to do with them?"

Tsuna used words only Urahara could understand to tell him Yhwach's objective. Isshin and Ryūken, standing nearby, were completely confused, but Urahara, who knew the Soul King's secrets, would surely understand.

Sure enough, Urahara narrowed his eyes and lowered the brim of his hat to hide his grave expression. The moment the word "wedge" appeared, Urahara was certain that Tsuna, like him, knew the basic state of the Three Worlds.

The World of the Living, the Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo were entirely stabilized by the Soul King, that wedge. Once the wedge was lost, the Three Worlds would collapse.

Urahara solemnly said to Tsuna, "Mr. Tsuna, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Let's save them first. Please use Reigai to make copies of Aunt Masa and Hae's bodies, then have Uncle Ryūken perform surgery to remove the Still Silver from them," Tsuna requested.

"Reigai? No problem."

Urahara immediately brought Kukaku Shiba over from the warehouse, carrying two large cardboard boxes. Inside them were two pitch-black dolls.

After Masa and Hae were wheeled into a temporary operating room, Urahara performed a series of procedures. The Reigai copied their physical data and became identical to them in appearance, except they lay beside them with vacant eyes. Urahara's work was complete.

"A Long, let's start with me. My body is in better condition," Masa said voluntarily.

Both Ryūken and Isshin understood what Masa meant. She was offering herself as Ryūken's test subject. If anything went wrong during the operation, her slightly stronger body would give them more room to work with.

Isshin did not object. After patting Ryūken on the shoulder, he solemnly left behind a single sentence before leaving. "I'm counting on you!"

Ryūken showed no reaction to Isshin's request. Whether Isshin said it or not, one of them was his childhood companion, while the other was his current wife. He would do everything in his power to save them.

Ryūken took out his medical equipment, walked over to Masa, and said to Tsuna beside him, "Begin."

Besides the two patients, only Ryūken, Tsuna, and Urahara remained in the room. Urahara had stayed behind to handle emergencies. His assortment of miraculous little gadgets might prove useful at any moment.

Watching his Reigai become transparent under Tsuna's Magic Mirror Illusion from D. Spada's Magic Mirror, leaving only the blood vessels throughout its body and the points of light upon them, Urahara's evaluation of Tsuna rose another level.

Illusion... Could his Illusion compare to that person's?

Ryūken skillfully administered anesthesia and put Masa under. Then he stared fixedly at the silver points of light on the illusion body beside her. After fully familiarizing himself with their movement speed, he drew a long, narrow piece of equipment slightly longer than his palm.

Seeing Ryūken's equipment, Tsuna nearly cried out in alarm, but he forcibly held it in. He recognized the thing in Ryūken's hand: a Soul Cutter, the only close-range weapon used by Quincy.

What Ryūken held now was its hilt. He could manipulate Reishi into forming a long Reishi blade. The Reishi on the blade's surface vibrated back and forth at three million times per second, like a chainsaw, giving it terrifying sharpness.

Tsuna was shocked by the Soul Cutter's sharpness. Ryūken would not need much effort even to sever Masa's arm with it, yet he was using it for surgery? Was he not afraid of accidentally cutting off all of Masa's limbs?

Ryūken was naturally not as reckless as Tsuna imagined. Under his exquisite control, a thin, long Reishi needle appeared on the Soul Cutter. This was the strength of a pure-blood Quincy with the greatest talent. Reishi was nothing more than a toy he could manipulate at will.

This was the ultimate Soul Cutter under Ryūken's control!

Ryūken did not look at Masa at all. His eyes remained locked on the movement of the Still Silver, while a thin layer of Reishi, under his control, had already covered Masa's body.

Ryūken held the Soul Cutter in a reverse grip above Masa's body. His eyes remained steady while his hand moved. With speed too fast to follow, his hand flickered, and the Soul Cutter's long needle pierced Masa's body.

A streak of silver light too faint for the naked eye to catch was drawn out by Ryūken's Soul Cutter. Bottle it, bandage the wound—Ryūken swiftly completed the removal of one piece of Still Silver.

Seeing one point of light disappear from the illusion beside him, Ryūken could not help sighing in relief. It had worked. This proved Tsuna's claim was valid. As long as all the Still Silver was removed, the two of them would not die from Silver Blood Clot.

Ryūken gathered himself again and swiftly removed the remaining Still Silver from Masa's body...

The operating room door opened, and Isshin quickly stepped forward. Before he could speak, Ryūken took the initiative. "The operation was successful. Their condition is good, and they are recovering."

After Ryūken removed all the Still Silver, Urahara and he examined Masa and Hae together. Their bodily functions were gradually recovering, and a trace of color had returned to their faces. Only then did Ryūken dare say such a thing.

Upon hearing that, Isshin finally let go of the breath he had been holding. He looked gratefully at Tsuna behind Ryūken. Tsuna had saved Masa twice. He was the great benefactor of the Kurosaki Residence.

Isshin voluntarily took over Kukaku Shiba's work, pouring tea and bringing water for Tsuna with great enthusiasm.

"Mr. Ryūken, could you give me some of that Still Silver?" Urahara asked. Since the Quincy threat existed, everything extracted from Quincy was worth researching.

"Uncle, just give the shopkeeper two at most. This stuff is extremely important. Go look through your old man's records. Weapons made from Still Silver can affect the Progenitor of the Quincy," Tsuna said, taking over the conversation.

A cold glint flashed beneath Ryūken's glasses. Even though Hae had now been saved, he still had no favorable feelings toward the Progenitor of the Quincy. His mother had died in this Auswählen!

"Mr. Tsuna, this amount of material is far from enough to make a weapon," Urahara leaned close to Tsuna's ear and reminded him.

"Didn't I say so already? This was an Auswählen targeting Mixed-blood Quincy. The dead Mixed-blood Quincy also have Still Silver in their bodies, and its location is easy to find—it's in their hearts." Tsuna took a sip of hot tea.

"My, my. Mr. Tsuna means we should dissect the corpses of every Mixed-blood Quincy?" Urahara asked in a strange tone.

"That's right. Perhaps this is the Mixed-blood Quincy's revenge against the Progenitor of the Quincy—the price of The Auswählen." Tsuna looked at Ryūken. "As for whether to do it or not, that depends on you, Uncle, the only pure-blood Quincy in the World of the Living."

"Leave this matter to me," Ryūken said coldly. He silently took on the responsibility of bearing the hatred of every Mixed-blood Quincy.

"Tell me about what Masa promised you," Ryūken said.

"Oh." Tsuna directly took an empty cup, poured a cup of hot tea, and handed it to Ryūken. "Please accept me as your disciple, Uncle Ryūken, and teach me Quincy abilities."

Tsuna's words once again drew a sidelong glance from Urahara. After witnessing the Auswählen of the Mixed-blood Quincy, Tsuna still wanted to become a Quincy?

"Setting aside whether you have the talent to become a Quincy, with your current strength, you can more than protect Karakura Town. Aren't you strong enough already?" Ryūken asked. "Why do you want to become stronger?"

"Far from enough, if I'm to be the enemy of the Progenitor of the Quincy," Tsuna said. "As for why I want to become stronger, while preserving world peace, if I have the spare strength, I can deal with the world's hidden dangers along the way. After all, I'm just an ordinary person who enjoys living an ordinary life."

Tsuna's words once again stirred Urahara's nerves. A hidden danger to the world... Did Tsuna want to resolve the Soul King problem, just like him?

The Soul King was the wedge that stabilized the world's existence, but that wedge was not absolutely stable for this world. When someone set their sights on it, the world could fall out of balance at any time. This was why Urahara Kisuke had always devoted himself to researching a replacement plan for the Soul King. He wanted to create a world that could remain stable without a wedge.

After hearing Tsuna's reason, Ryūken was already prepared to agree. Even if Tsuna's answer had dissatisfied him, he had intended to teach him anyway. This was repayment for saving Hae. As for whether he would teach seriously if he was dissatisfied, that was another matter.

Ryūken accepted the teacup and set it aside. "You can still call me Uncle. There is no need to become my disciple. I will seriously..."

With a snap, a folding fan blocked the space between Tsuna and Ryūken.

"Oh my, hold on a moment, Mr. Tsuna. Since you intend to learn Quincy power, have you ever heard of Bleach power?"

Urahara Kisuke intended to steal him away. "Quincy power requires the talent to control Reishi, but Bleach power is not so demanding. Everyone has a soul, and your spiritual pressure is not weak. You completely meet the prerequisites to become a Bleach. Would you consider it?"

Ryūken was not angry at Urahara Kisuke's attempt to steal Tsuna. Ryūken himself had never particularly liked being a Quincy; otherwise, he would not have become a doctor. Yet even with such halfhearted effort, his overwhelming talent still made him the strongest Quincy in the World of the Living.

If Tsuna chose to become a Bleach, Ryūken would merely find another way to repay Tsuna for his help. For example, he could arrange free medical treatment for Tsuna's family at the hospital where he worked. That would likewise satisfy Tsuna's needs.