"Ichiro! You're here. Can you save him?" Seeing Ichiro enter the room, Kiyonosuke asked urgently while maintaining the treatment.
"I should be able to. If I'd arrived any later, I would've run out of Reiryoku. Keep things going on your end, and we'll treat him together." As he spoke, Ichiro walked over to Kuchiki Koga, who was floating in the air, and looked down at the wound on his back.
After a moment's thought, he opened a bottle of Reiryoku-restoring potion and fed it to Kiyonosuke. Then he pushed up his glasses, flexed his fingers, and placed both hands directly above Kuchiki Koga's wound. A mass of green threads streamed from Ichiro's hands, converging toward the heart.
Kuchiki Koga's injuries were extremely severe. With Ichiro's current Reiryoku, he couldn't heal them all. He could only treat the worst injuries first to keep him alive, then spend a long time working on the rest—or wait for the captain to return.
Needless to say, the heart was the top priority. The other two wounds were also extremely serious and life-threatening, but they were a little less urgent by comparison.
Under Ichiro's control, strands of green thread finer than a hair converged on Kuchiki Koga's heart. When they reached it, they wound around the edges of the incision, layer upon layer, weaving together to slowly fill the wound.
Gradually, the green threads wove together, one layer after another, filling the gap in the heart. But that was only the first step.
The heart was different from other wounds. It wasn't enough to simply fill the gap; he also had to make sure its internal structure was correct.
That was why Kiyonosuke, despite having stronger spiritual pressure than Ichiro and also knowing Life Weaving, hadn't dared to try. He couldn't manage something as complicated as repairing a heart.
After stitching the wound closed, Ichiro let out a long breath. He wiped the sweat that had started to bead on his forehead again after his assistant had wiped it away, then placed both hands over the wound once more and studied it intently. As his Reiryoku surged, a mass of green energy appeared in his hands and flowed toward the heart.
These were still Life Weaving threads, only finer than before. In such great numbers, they looked like a mass instead of separate strands.
Under Ichiro's control, the delicate threads didn't immediately enter the part he had just stitched. Instead, they flooded into the entire heart. At the same time, a model of the damaged heart gradually took shape in his mind. Drawing on what he had learned, he filled in the missing part of the model, until a complete heart appeared clearly in his mind.
The next part was much simpler. The threads withdrew in large numbers, gathering around the stitched opening. They wound through the gaps between the strands, gradually weaving the heart back together according to the model in Ichiro's mind.
Half an hour passed. When the last strand flowed into the heart, Ichiro let out a long breath of relief. The heart was repaired. All that remained was to make a preliminary repair to the large wound on Koga's back.
That part was easier, since it didn't need the same precision as the heart. A simple initial treatment would do, and Ichiro didn't even need to handle it himself; Kiyonosuke could take care of it.
So Ichiro treated the wound just enough to keep it from getting worse, then stopped working on Koga's back.
Next was the front.
Turning Kuchiki Koga over in the air, Ichiro looked at the two enormous wounds on his chest and drew a deep breath.
Though the wounds on his chest hadn't reached the heart, they were even more troublesome!
They had damaged more organs!
Fortunately, Ichiro didn't need to repair every organ completely as he had the heart—or rather, he didn't need to do so right now. He could partially repair the organs first, bringing them out of danger, and then work on them gradually. It wasn't only a matter of Reiryoku and mental exhaustion; there was another reason, too.
Simply put, this was a long shot.
Taking a deep breath, Ichiro pushed up his glasses again and forced down the exhaustion in his eyes. This was the last time. Mental conditioning wasn't all-powerful. If he kept going after this, the taut string inside him would snap completely!
He inhaled and exhaled, then held his hands out and focused intently on the wounds. The process was the same as before: stitch them up initially, build a model in his mind, then carry out the final treatment.
The mental model was essential, since every person's organs differed in certain details. If you just went ahead and did it however you pleased, the patient could just as easily die however he pleased. That was why Kiyonosuke hadn't dared to try—this wasn't his strong suit.
Fortunately, although the job was bigger than repairing the heart, Ichiro didn't need to fix everything. Once he confirmed that Kuchiki Koga wouldn't suffer any lasting effects from the remaining injuries, the tension left him all at once. He staggered back a few steps and dropped heavily to the floor.
Propping himself up with both hands, he looked wearily at Kiyonosuke and smiled. "Vice-Captain, he's out of danger. I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to rest..."
As he spoke, he toppled backward. Fortunately, his assistant reacted in time and caught him before he hit the floor.
Kiyonosuke watched Ichiro with admiration and smiled softly. "All right. I'll take it from here. Go get some rest, Ichiro."
After telling the assistant to help Ichiro to bed, Kiyonosuke looked at Kuchiki Koga's remaining injuries and murmured with a smile, "Well, it's my turn. If I can't save him after all this, that'll be embarrassing!"
As he spoke, green light blazed in his hands. Kuchiki Koga's remaining wounds healed at a visible pace. His internal organs didn't change, of course, but that didn't affect the treatment. Bathed in the green light, Kuchiki Koga gradually pulled away from the brink of death, his life force—faint as a guttering candle—quickly returning.
Kuchiki Koga had been saved!
When Ichiro woke again, three days had passed. The exhaustion he had repeatedly suppressed through mental conditioning erupted the moment he collapsed, plunging him into a deep sleep.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Zanpakuto World had drawn him into the Mental World and shared the burden of his mental fatigue, helping him withstand the mental storm more easily.
It was a wake-up call for Ichiro. He was no longer the ordinary person he had once been. He could now endure far more fatigue, but that also meant he had more fatigue to suppress through mental conditioning. When Ichiro grew even stronger, this would become a bomb capable of destroying him.
If something had increased fivefold from two, it would only be eight more. But if ten increased fivefold, that would mean forty more.
Fortunately, none of that had happened yet. There was still time.
After waking, Ichiro left a note in the infirmary and hurried back to the dormitory. During this trip to the Mental World, he had not only eased his mental exhaustion; he had also reached an agreement with the world.
The Shikai Weapon Project had been approved!!!
Based on readers' feedback over the past two days, I've decided to change the setting. But I won't just throw everything out; instead, I'll remove the Fullmetal Alchemist setting in the upcoming story. That way, things should still make sense. As for the title, you can tell from it that the protagonist will remain an Alchemist. He'll just lose his Alchemy for a while. When he gets it back, it won't be the kind from Fullmetal Alchemist anymore; it'll be a new kind of Alchemy I've created based on all the different works that feature it.
As for the part where Alchemy gets removed, you'll have to keep reading to find out. I won't spoil it. But here's another heads-up: I was always planning to write that part. I'd intended to lay the groundwork gradually and get to it around the middle of the story, but now I have to bring it forward. So the buildup will be a little lacking, and it might feel a bit awkward. Just wanted to let you know in advance.
Finally, thanks to the big boss Monokuma for the tip! There'll be another update later. After reading it, you might be able to guess how I plan to remove Alchemy (*￣▽￣*)/
Before you continue