As Yamada moved, Ichiro's eyes changed. All emotion vanished in an instant, and every muscle in his body tensed!
"Pfft!"
Ichiro darted forward and punched straight at Yamada's face.
What's with this guy's eyes...? And that punch is powerful! Looking at Ichiro's expression behind the fist, Yamada was shocked. He was like a completely different person from a moment ago!
That only made Yamada more cautious. People like this were never to be taken lightly...
Absolute Reason was a form of self-suggestion, a self-hypnosis technique Ichiro had developed after becoming a State Alchemist, based on certain forbidden knowledge.
Anyone who entered this state became utterly calm. Throughout the process, they had only one thought. For the sake of that thought, everything and everyone else could be abandoned or sacrificed. For this reason, some schools also called it Single Thought.
It was an advantage, but also a weakness. Throughout history, many people had used similar forbidden arts on missions and ended up killing their own family and friends, doing many things they later regretted. It was, without a doubt, the most forbidden of forbidden arts.
The reason this technique could never be fully suppressed was its other quality...
It was incredibly powerful!
Under normal circumstances, people could only use 30 to 40 percent of their muscles' strength. Exceeding that threshold would damage the body. Scientific training could raise the percentage, but doing so was difficult, and the results were limited.
Absolute Reason removed that restriction, allowing one to bring their full strength to bear!
For Alchemists skilled in Human Transmutation—when it involved only the body—it was a perfect match!
Ichiro wasn't particularly skilled in Human Transmutation, but he had his own way of dealing with the problem. And now, it was even simpler: he could just protect himself with Reiryoku, though it wouldn't last long.
"Whoosh!"
With his right fist blocked, Ichiro let his left hand slide forward, its edge like a blade as it sliced through the front of Yamada's Shihakusho, leaving a tear that exposed the white undergarment beneath.
Yamada had no time to be surprised. Ichiro's next attack was already coming. Ichiro spun with the momentum, swinging his right elbow toward Yamada!
"Nice transition, but the movement's too wide..."
"Thud—crack!"
Yamada had barely spoken when the sharp crack made his expression change. He immediately used Shunpo to put some distance between himself and Ichiro, clutching his trembling right hand with his left!
It had cracked!
The bones in his right forearm had cracked from taking that blow head-on!
"Did I see that right? Teacher Yamada... got hurt?"
"I saw it too... You've got to be kidding. A first-year injured a teacher?"
"..."
"Yoruichi, that just now..." Urahara narrowed his eyes, his expression grave.
"Yeah. He focused his Reiryoku into a single point on his elbow to create devastating force. The hand blade, too, and the moves he hadn't even used yet—they were all techniques developed to kill!"
Yoruichi nodded with a frown. These moves were even more ruthless than the Hakuda passed down through her Shihoin Clan. He was using his own body as a weapon, without any regard for the damage it might take!
Yamada had seen it too. Frowning, he called an end to the sparring—not because of his injury. He wasn't especially strong, but he wasn't weak either. If he were serious, he could take Ichiro's attacks head-on without getting hurt at all.
What worried him was Ichiro.
Given the physical ability Ichiro had shown, something would definitely go wrong if they kept fighting!
At Yamada's command, Ichiro's emotions returned, and feeling once again took precedence over reason. Seeing Yamada's still-trembling hand, Ichiro's mouth twitched. He bowed deeply, at a perfect 90 degrees.
"Teacher, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"I'm fine, but do you know how serious the side effects of your combat technique are? Reiryoku isn't omnipotent. You can withstand it now, but you might not be able to later!"
Ichiro smiled and replied, "Don't worry, Teacher. I know what I'm doing."
Yamada watched him quietly. After a while, he sighed. "I understand. Be careful. Class dismissed."
With that, he turned and left to get his injury treated. Ichiro in a state of Absolute Reason wouldn't hold back.
"Are you all right?" Urahara and Yoruichi came over and asked with concern.
Fresh out of his Absolute Reason state, Ichiro was exceptionally sensitive to emotion. Warmth filled his heart, and he replied, "Don't worry. The state isn't perfect yet, but Reiryoku protects me. I'm fine."
"That's good. Come on, let's get something to eat."
"Okay."
Ichiro had lied to Urahara. That fight had left him injured. The muscles throughout his body were badly strained. In the state of Absolute Reason, his muscles' full strength was unleashed, and every blow inflicted some damage on his body. His Reiryoku wasn't enough to protect him completely, unlike in his previous life.
In his previous life, he had been skilled in the Alchemy of Iron. After becoming a State Alchemist, he had also studied some Human Transmutation. Combining the two let him briefly transform his body into the legendary equivalent of bronze skin and iron bones, allowing him to use the most brutal techniques in military combat without restraint.
Now, his Alchemy wasn't anywhere near as advanced as it had been in his previous life. He couldn't perform Human Transmutation, let alone transmute metal.
Everything in Soul Society was made of Reishi, so the Transmutation Circles from his previous life didn't work there. He needed to redesign them.
Alchemists relied on Transmutation Circles for almost all their transmutations. Different substances and different Alchemists required different Transmutation Circles.
In other words, the Alchemy Ichiro practiced in this life could actually be called Reishi Alchemy. That meant that to recreate his bronze-skin-and-iron-bones transformation, he would need to incorporate Reishi into the process as well.
The difficulty had increased exponentially!
Still, it was well worth doing. The power levels in the Soul Reaper world were high, which also raised the ceiling for the combat techniques of the Fullmetal Alchemist world. All he had to do now was learn the parts of Hakuda that worked in conjunction with Reiryoku.
He believed that once he combined the powers of the two worlds, his strength would make a qualitative leap!
But that fight had also shown him where he was going wrong. He absolutely couldn't start with Absolute Reason whenever he used his combat techniques...
Urahara and Yoruichi exchanged glances as they walked ahead of him. In the end, they decided to pretend not to notice Ichiro's body twitching from time to time. If he didn't want to talk about it, they wouldn't press him.
The first swordsmanship lesson the next day brought Ichiro a huge surprise. The Asauchi had been handed out!
The Asauchi was an invention of Nimaiya Oetsu, the Sword God, and the core force behind the Soul Reaper system. It was the original form of a Zanpakuto.
Of all the things that made Soul Reapers appealing, nothing came close to the Zanpakuto, with Kido's cool incantations a distant second!
Ichiro had kept an eye out for information about Zanpakuto during his years in Rukongai. Unfortunately, they were extremely rare there, especially in the relatively peaceful First District, where they were even harder to find.
So he was delighted to receive an Asauchi right at the start of school. The main reason they were handed out so early was to help students develop their own Zanpakuto sooner. They might not be able to release its true name, but... what if they could?
What if there happened to be a genius with an extraordinary talent for Zanpakuto alone?
Whether they caught any fish was another matter. They'd cast the net first...
Before you continue