Absolute Reason Combat Technique!

As Yamada moved, Ichiro's gaze shifted; all emotion instantly drained away, and his muscles coiled tight in unison!

"Thwack!"

With a sudden lunge, Ichiro threw a punch straight at Yamada's face.

This guy's eyes... what's going on? And such power! Watching Ichiro's expression behind the blow, Yamada was shocked; he was a completely different person from just a moment ago!

Yet, this only made Yamada more cautious, for men like this were never to be trifled with.

Absolute Reason was a form of self-suggestion, a self-hypnosis technique Ichiro had synthesized from forbidden knowledge after becoming a State Alchemist.

Those who entered this state attained absolute coldness. Throughout the process, they held only a Single Thought; for the sake of this thought, all other people and objects were expendable and could be abandoned. Thus, some schools of thought referred to it as the Single Thought.

This was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Throughout history, many who used similar forbidden techniques had killed their own kin and friends during missions, leading to deep regrets; it could be called the most forbidden of forbidden arts.

The reason this technique could never be stamped out, however, lay in its other characteristic...

It was overwhelmingly powerful!

Under normal circumstances, the human body only utilizes 30% to 40% of its muscular strength, as exceeding this threshold causes physical damage. While scientific training can improve this ratio, it is difficult and limited.

Absolute Reason, however, removed this restriction, allowing for 100% output of strength!

For alchemists skilled in human transmutation (involving only the physical body), it was a perfect match!

Although Ichiro was not particularly skilled in human transmutation, he had his own methods to solve this problem, and it was even simpler now: he just used Reishi to protect himself, though it wasn't very sustainable.

"Swish!"

As his right fist was blocked, Ichiro let his left hand slide forward, his hand-blade slicing through Yamada's Shihakusho like a razor, exposing the white undergarment beneath.

Yamada had no time to be surprised, for Ichiro's offensive came again; Ichiro spun his body, driving his right elbow toward Yamada!

"Good follow-up, but your movements are too wide..."

"Thwack—crack!"

However, no sooner had Yamada spoken than his expression changed instantly at the sound of a crisp snap. He immediately used Shunpo to put distance between them, his left hand clutching his trembling right arm!

It had cracked!

His right forearm had taken the brunt of the blow, and the bone had fractured directly!

"Did I see that wrong? Teacher Yamada... is hurt?"

"I saw it too... You've got to be kidding, right? A first-year student injured the teacher?"

"..."

"Yoruichi, that just now..." Urahara narrowed his eyes, his expression turning slightly grave.

"Mm, concentrating Reishi into a single point at the elbow to create extreme lethality. That, along with the hand-blade and the follow-up moves he hadn't even used yet—they are all techniques developed for the sole purpose of killing!"

Yoruichi nodded, her brow furrowed. These were even more ruthless than the Hakuda techniques passed down in her Shihoin clan; he was treating his own body as a weapon, using it without regard for the damage!

On the other side, Yamada naturally realized this as well. He frowned and called a halt to the sparring, not because of his own injury—though his strength wasn't top-tier, he wasn't weak, and had he been serious, he wouldn't have been injured even if he had taken Ichiro's attack head-on.

What he worried about was Ichiro.

Given the physical condition Ichiro had displayed, if they kept fighting, something would definitely go wrong!

Hearing Yamada's command, Ichiro's emotions returned, and sensibility regained dominance over logic. Looking at Yamada's still-trembling hand, Ichiro's mouth twitched, and he bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle.

"Teacher, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"I'm fine, but do you realize the side effects of your combat style are severe? Reishi isn't a panacea. You can handle it now, but you won't be able to sustain it later!"

Ichiro smiled and replied, "Don't worry, Teacher, I know my limits."

Yamada watched Ichiro quietly for a moment before sighing. "I see. Just be careful. Class dismissed."

With that, he turned and left; he still needed to treat his injury. Ichiro, while in the state of Absolute Reason, had not held back.

"Are you alright?" Urahara and Yoruichi walked over, asking with concern.

Having just emerged from the state of Absolute Reason, Ichiro was extremely sensitive to emotions. Feeling a warmth in his heart, he replied, "Don't worry. Although the state wasn't complete, I had the protection of my Reishi, so I'm fine."

"That's good. Come on, let's go eat."

"Mm."

Ichiro had lied to Urahara. After this fight, he was actually in bad shape. His muscles were strained over a large area; in the state of Absolute Reason, his muscular strength was fully unleashed, and every strike caused a certain degree of damage to his body. His Reishi was not enough to fully protect him, which was different from his previous life.

In his past life, he was skilled in the transmutation of iron. After becoming a State Alchemist, he delved into partial human transmutation. Combining the two allowed him to briefly attain a legendary "copper skin and iron bones," enabling him to recklessly use the most vicious moves from military combat arts.

But now, his alchemy could not reach the level of his past life; let alone human transmutation, he couldn't even manage metal transmutation.

Because everything in Soul Society was composed of Reishi, his transmutation circles from his past life were ineffective here; he needed to rewrite them.

An alchemist's transmutation relied fundamentally on transmutation circles, with different substances and different alchemists requiring different circles.

In other words, Ichiro's alchemy in this life could actually be called Reishi Alchemy, which meant that if he wanted to reconstruct his "copper skin and iron bones," he had to incorporate the Reishi component.

The difficulty increased exponentially!

However, it was still necessary. The power level of the Bleach world was high, which raised the ceiling for the combat arts of the Fullmetal Alchemist world. All he had to do now was learn the parts of the Soul Society's Hakuda that integrated with Reishi.

He believed that once he integrated the powers of both worlds, his own strength would undergo a qualitative leap!

However, this battle had also revealed his flaws; when utilizing martial arts, he must never again lead with Absolute Reason...

Walking ahead, Urahara and Yoruichi exchanged a glance and ultimately decided to turn a blind eye to Ichiro's body, which would twitch from time to time. Since he did not want to speak of it, they would naturally not press him for answers.

The next day, the first swordsmanship class gave Ichiro a huge surprise: Asauchi were being distributed!

Asauchi, the invention of the God of Swords, Nimaiya Oetsu, were the core power upon which the Shinigami system was built and the primordial form of all Zanpakuto.

If one were to ask what was most alluring about Shinigami, aside from the cool incantations of Kido, the top spot undoubtedly belonged to the Zanpakuto!

Over the years in Rukongai, Ichiro had kept an eye out for information regarding Zanpakuto, but unfortunately, they were extremely rare in Rukongai, especially in the more stable First District.

Therefore, he was quite happy to receive an Asauchi so soon after the start of the term. The main reason they were issued so early was to allow students to begin cultivating their own Zanpakuto as soon as possible; while they might not necessarily be able to release their true names, what if they could?

What if a genius with an extraordinary talent for Zanpakuto emerged?

Whether or not they would catch any fish was another matter, but the net had to be cast first...