Stabbed Through?

Masaki looked at Lin Nan, who still had the appearance of a boy, and didn't take him seriously. "Kid, I understand wanting to protect your master, but it's not worth throwing your life away!"

As he spoke, he drew the short blade from his waist and threatened, "If you die, the nobles won't compensate your family. Just get out of here!"

Lin Nan remained composed. In a flash, he rushed right up to Masaki and kicked at his crotch.

Masaki was more than a head taller than him. Rather than go for his upper body, Lin Nan figured he might as well attack a vital spot.

Masaki cried out and hurriedly jumped back. "Bastard! You sneaky little brat!" He swung his short blade at Lin Nan's neck!

Lin Nan calmly raised his left hand. Under Masaki's astonished gaze, he lightly blocked the blade with his forearm.

Not a scratch.

What a joke. Unohana's sword hadn't even managed to cut off my arm. What could a mere kidnapper do to me?

While Masaki was still stunned, Lin Nan struck decisively, landing an uppercut on his chin.

The heavy blow sent a "buzz" through Masaki's head. His footing faltered, and his body stumbled backward two steps against his will.

"Kid, remember this move. It's called Shoryuken!" Lin Nan treated him like an ordinary thug and fought with ease. "And this one's called Foot-to-Foot Root-Remover!"

With that, he swung his right foot up and kicked Masaki squarely in the crotch.

"Argh!~~~~~~~~~~"

Masaki became the first male soprano in the history of Soul Society, then collapsed on the spot.

Lin Nan turned to Kuramoto, a glint of coldness in his eyes. "The kid on your back—what did you do to him?"

Kuramoto flinched under his gaze and took a step back, answering without thinking, "He's just unconscious..."

Once he knew Kyoraku wasn't in mortal danger, Lin Nan looked at the wide-eyed Kuramoto with a faint smile. "So, are you going to put him down yourself, or should I come over there?"

Kuramoto's face turned green. He truly hadn't expected an ordinary "young noble's lackey" to take down the burly Masaki in an instant.

Their boss had chosen him for this mission because of his Shunpo, and paired him with Masaki, who was skilled in Hakuda, to make tracking their target easier. Kuramoto knew he was nowhere near Masaki's equal in Hakuda.

But now their team's muscle had finished his soprano solo and passed out. What was Kuramoto supposed to do?

"S-so you're not his l-lackey, you're his bodyguard?!" he stammered, backing away.

"I..." Lin Nan's brow furrowed sharply. He rolled up his sleeves and strode forward.

"Lackey?! Looks like I'll have to rip that mouth off you before you get the message!"

Seeing Lin Nan approach with such a menacing air, Kuramoto backed away again and again, unsure whether to put down the hostage or keep holding him.

After taking two steps, Lin Nan raised an eyebrow. A line of text from the Playback Room screen suddenly came to mind:

Kido: Beginner; Kido Growth: +1; Total Kido Points: 1.

Now that he'd learned Kido, maybe... he could test it out on this short kidnapper?

He stared at the short, stocky figure in front of him. In his mind, the dense dots and arrows marking Reishi movement on the Playback Room screen appeared, along with the Byakurai that had shot diagonally into the sky moments earlier.

It was his first time using Kido. A simple spell would probably have a better chance of working, right?

Lin Nan kept his eyes fixed on Kuramoto, feeling a faint tingling at his fingertips. An unfamiliar, uncanny sensation suddenly welled up in both his mind and body.

It was the "sensation" of controlling Reishi for the first time—the positive feedback Reishi gave him.

It worked.

"Way of Destruction No. 4: Byakurai!"

At Lin Nan's steady command, a white beam as thick as a thumb, threaded with faint streaks of lightning, shot from his fingertip toward Kuramoto!

Bright light from the Byakurai reflected in Kuramoto's stunned eyes. His body had forgotten how to dodge. He knew the spell, too, but the lightning he could fire was barely as thick as a thread.

How could these two boys, neither of them even fully grown, be so powerful with Kido? Was this what a genius looked like?

Before Kuramoto could finish forming his next thought, the bolt of lightning was already rushing toward his abdomen.

I'm finished. I'm going to die.

Just as the lightning was about to pierce Kuramoto's abdomen, a deep voice rang out. "Way of Destruction No. 1: Thrust!"

An invisible Reishi impact struck from the side, slamming the stunned Kuramoto aside and allowing him to narrowly evade Lin Nan's Byakurai.

A very muscular man emerged from a nearby corner. Dressed in an unremarkable short jacket and trousers, he fixed Lin Nan with a pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes.

"I didn't know the Kyoraku family had such a young expert. How had I never noticed they were this capable before?" The man walked over at an easy pace, speaking as casually as if he were chatting about the weather.

Kuramoto struggled to his feet. Without sparing a glance for Kyoraku, who had fallen nearby, he hurriedly dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "Thank you for saving my life, boss!"

The man's presence was nothing like that of the two thugs. Lin Nan couldn't help but grow serious. "Who are you? Are you with these two kidnappers?"

"Kidnappers? Heh, you're underestimating us." The man chuckled softly. "An ordinary lackey couldn't have that kind of strength. What's your relationship with Kyoraku Seishu that you're his younger brother's bodyguard at such a young age?"

Lin Nan's face twitched against his will. "You don't have to go that far. You're the lackey! Your whole family's a bunch of lackeys!"

The man paused, recalling the Iwamoto family that his own family had served for generations. He nodded slightly. "You're not exactly wrong. It's my honor to be loyal to the head of the family."

Lin Nan: ???

"I am Iwamoto Raizo." As he spoke, the man drew a short blade from behind him. "After hearing my name, you have only two choices."

"Beat me up, or beat me to death, right?" Lin Nan asked mockingly. He wasn't afraid of swords anymore.

Iwamoto didn't get angry. A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his unremarkable face. "Either I kill you, or you join me.

"Once you know my name, those are the only two paths open to you."

As he spoke, he pinched the short blade between two fingers and looked at Lin Nan with a hint of amusement, tilting his head. "Which will you choose?"

Lin Nan instinctively sensed danger. He narrowed his eyes. "I choose... to make your father bury his son!"

Before the other man could react, Lin Nan rushed forward and threw a punch straight at his face.

His instincts told him this man was nothing like the two thugs on the ground. He had to strike first!

Iwamoto remained calm and leaned to the right and back, seemingly dodging Lin Nan's straight punch with ease.

But the straight punch was a feint. Lin Nan's body had already twisted halfway around in midair, his right leg sweeping up toward Iwamoto's exposed head!

Iwamoto chuckled softly again. "Well played!" Before he'd even finished speaking, his figure suddenly vanished.

Lin Nan froze for a moment, then realized it was Shunpo.

The next second, Iwamoto appeared to Lin Nan's left. His short blade flashed like lightning as it stabbed rapidly toward Lin Nan's armpit in midair!

Lin Nan noticed the attack but didn't care. He had confidence in his body's toughness. If he could take this stab, he could turn the tables on his opponent!

He reached for the other man's wrist with his left hand, planning to seize control of him the moment the blade touched him, then trap him and beat him down.

But the other man's figure flickered. Lin Nan felt his hand grasp nothing. After a brief moment of confusion, he suddenly felt an eerie chill in his abdomen, followed by a burst of intense pain.

Looking down, he saw Iwamoto's short blade buried in his abdomen, the entire blade sunk inside.

Lin Nan's pupils instantly widened. It... it had gone right through?!

This guy had pierced my defenses?! Was he on the same level as Unohana?

"Bakudō No. 30: Beak-Piercing Triple Flash," Iwamoto said calmly.

Three enormous, beak-shaped beams of light pinned Lin Nan and hurled him more than ten meters away. Like wooden stocks, the beams clamped down on his arms and waist, locking him firmly to the ground.

The stab wound in his abdomen and the violent impact made Lin Nan's vision go black.

Before losing consciousness, he saw more than a dozen masked men in black slowly emerge from the nearby woods in the dusky light of the setting sun and come toward him.

"Tie him up and carry him back," Iwamoto ordered calmly.

"Yes!"

Those were the last words Lin Nan heard. Then a hand chopped hard into the back of his neck, and he instantly lost consciousness.

The men in black scattered, helping the collapsed Kuramoto and Masaki to their feet. They also bound the unconscious Kyoraku brothers together and carried them away.

Iwamoto watched his subordinates work with a cold expression and reminded them, "Don't pull the knife out of that kid yet, or he'll lose too much blood. I still have a use for him."

The leader among the men in black nodded in agreement and led his subordinates briskly toward a building on the very edge of the residential district.

Iwamoto turned around and gazed at the sunlight slowly fading over Rukongai. A silent smile curled his lips.