Five days later, on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, Sigurd sat silently in a clearing in a desolate, uninhabited area.
He was making a weapon of his own: the Sun Demon Sword, Gram.
On top of that, his Eye of Light let him control sunlight energy.
If he made the blade from moonlight and then fused it with a large amount of sunlight energy, he could create something that resembled the Sun Demon Sword.
But he had learned from trying it that forming the blade was easy. Getting the moonlight and sunlight into balance was hard.
The slightest mistake would trigger a violent reaction between the sunlight and moonlight, causing a massive explosion.
Naturally, this sort of explosion couldn't hurt Sigurd. He was a special nanomachine puppet, and unless an attack could annihilate everything, it was difficult to damage him.
That was also why he could freely change shape.
Although this sort of explosion couldn't hurt Sigurd, Uzumaki Miku's frail body couldn't withstand it.
That was why he had come to this uninhabited area, where he could try again and again to find the perfect ratio of sunlight to moonlight.
Sigurd held a thirty-centimeter-long blue-green short sword in his right hand, while an orange-yellow ball of light gathered in his left palm.
He controlled the ball of light in his left hand, slowly channeling its energy into the short sword.
As he infused it, Sigurd also used what little chakra he had to color the blade.
As the energy flowed in, the sword's blue-green hue slowly began to change.
By the time the ball of light had completely disappeared, the short sword had turned bright red—the same color as Sigurd's weapon in Fate.
Looking at the sword before him, Sigurd nodded. He ran his hand along the blade, then flicked it with a finger.
Clang!
At the sword's clear ring, Sigurd's gaze sharpened. He immediately hurled the short sword toward a boulder in the distance.
Rumble!
The instant the sword pierced the boulder, the precise vibrations disrupted the delicate balance between sunlight and moonlight, setting off a huge explosion.
When the red blast had subsided, the boulder had vanished, leaving only a fan-shaped crater that still gave off waves of heat.
Sigurd had designed it this way: every explosion from his weapon would spread forward in a fan shape, with the hilt as its center.
In other words, anyone standing behind the hilt wouldn't be harmed by the explosion.
The main reason he had done this was to recreate the final move in Sigurd's Noble Phantasm animation from the game.
In the game, Sigurd's Noble Phantasm animation showed him punching his Magic Sword toward the enemy.
Once the sword struck its target, he would rush forward and punch the end of the hilt, making the sword explode and deal massive damage.
It would be hard to pull off that move in real life, but since he had Sigurd's appearance, he had to find a way to recreate his ultimate move. Otherwise, something about it just wouldn't feel right.
As Sigurd was recording the test results, he suddenly received a message from his main body saying that they were almost at the village.
Sigurd put away his notes. Thrusters quickly formed on his feet and back, and he flew straight toward the village.
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Miku sat quietly inside the house, looking tense as her gaze kept darting toward the door.
Sigurd had told her earlier that his main body would arrive sometime that day, and that she should get ready.
The thought of meeting his main body so soon made Uzumaki Miku feel extremely nervous, with a trace of unease deep in her heart.
After all, it was his main body arriving. That meant he was a real person, someone who could use her to restore his body.
That was what made Uzumaki Miku uneasy. She had no idea whether he would treat her like the Grass Ninja had—as a walking blood bag.
At the thought of returning to the same kind of life she had endured in Kusagakure, she shuddered with fear.
Thinking of this, Uzumaki Miku quickly shook her head, trying to drive those thoughts away.
How could she doubt Lord Sigurd? He had rescued her from the hell of Kusagakure. Even if he wanted her life, she would willingly give it to him.
As she thought this, she unconsciously touched her belly, only hoping that Lord Sigurd would spare her child.
Just then, Sigurd opened the door and immediately spotted the anxious look on Uzumaki Miku's face.
At once, Sigurd guessed why she was uneasy.
As a mechanical puppet, he had no use for her life energy. But his main body was a real person, so it was only natural that Uzumaki Miku felt uneasy.
Still, there was nothing he could say right now to make those feelings go away. The only way to put her at ease was for his main body to spend time with her.
When Uzumaki Miku saw Sigurd return, she quickly suppressed her unease and stepped forward to greet him. "Lord Sigurd, you're back."
Sigurd nodded and replied, "My main body is almost here. I'll be going dormant now, so get ready."
With that, Sigurd immediately fell silent, standing motionless off to one side like a statue.
Uzumaki Miku saw this but didn't think much of it.
After spending this much time with Sigurd, she was used to him suddenly standing completely still.
What Uzumaki Miku didn't know was that, in the past, Sigurd had gone still because his main body needed to concentrate, greatly reducing his ability to think on this end.
In other words, Sigurd had been put into sleep mode.
This time was different. His main body had withdrawn all of his consciousness.
In other words, Sigurd had been shut down.
Meanwhile, after Tokiju withdrew the consciousness he had separated and sent to Sigurd, he felt dazed for a moment.
That moment of disorientation made him lose his footing, and he tumbled off the treetop.
After rubbing his numb arm, Tokiju pinched the bridge of his nose, steadying his mind.
The others up ahead saw Tokiju fall from the treetop and hurried back.
Uchiha Hikari was the fastest. She was just about to tease him when she noticed how exhausted he looked.
She immediately asked with concern, "Tokiju, what's wrong? Are you all right?"
Just then, Tsunade and Shizune arrived too. Tsunade stepped forward and placed a hand on Tokiju's shoulder.
As green medical chakra appeared, she checked Tokiju's body. Once she was done, the furrow in her brow relaxed.
Seeing this, Uchiha Hikari patted her chest, relieved, then looked at Tsunade and asked, "Tsunade, what happened to Tokiju?"
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