New Kidō, One Shot to the Soul

Bai Zhu's grin nearly reached his ears.

Sōkatsui!

This was Sōkatsui!

"Ruler of the heavens!"

The blue-white flames in his palm suddenly surged, while his Reiatsu rampaged through an utterly unfamiliar pathway inside his body. The pain was so sharp that he nearly cursed out loud.

So this thing really wasn't something he could use by just clicking a skill icon.

The complete method for Sōkatsui flooded into his mind like a pile of data packets forcibly crammed in—incantation, hand seals, Reiatsu compression methods, release angles... A single mistake in any step could make everything blow up in his face.

Using it for the first time and daring to skip the full incantation?

That wasn't being skilled. That was being an idiot. If he failed to show off and instead fired a dud in front of hundreds of cultists, he would be embarrassed enough to dig himself a three-bedroom apartment into the snow with his toes.

Bai Zhu couldn't afford that humiliation.

"Mask of flesh and blood, myriad things, fluttering wings, one who bears the name of man upon your crown!"

His fingers began to shift, and the first hand seal was still somewhat clumsy.

But when he linked the second seal, the rampaging Reiatsu within him suddenly smoothed out.

The flickering flame in his palm instantly stabilized, compressing into a blue-white sphere of light too dazzling to look at directly.

The silver-robed bishop's expression completely changed.

"A restriction?"

A black-robed deacon beside him let out a hoarse shriek. "He's activating a Nen ability!"

"Interrupt him!"

The silver-robed bishop immediately changed his order. "Everyone, rush him! Don't let him finish!"

Bai Zhu nearly laughed.

A Nen ability?

Fine. If they said it was, then it was.

After all, they were the ones about to be burned into ash, not him.

Several fanatical cultists actually crawled up from the snow at the command, charging toward Bai Zhu through the smoke and sparks.

Some of them did not even have weapons. They merely spread their arms and roared fervently.

"For the Lord!"

"The blasphemer must be stopped!"

"Don't let the false god's words defile the holy ground!"

Milluki's voice in his earpiece was about to explode.

"Bai Zhu! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Chanting."

"I can tell! Why are you chanting at a time like this?! Do you think you're holding a concert?!"

"It's my first time. Gotta have some sense of ceremony. Can't skip the process."

"What first time? Don't tell me you're developing a new move on the spot!"

"Shut up already. You made me start over. Ruler of the heavens..."

A cultist had already lunged in front of him, reaching to grab his leg.

Bai Zhu shifted his left foot aside and viciously struck with the end of his scabbard, knocking the man straight to the ground.

Another guard charged in from the side.

Bai Zhu did not stop forming seals. He lowered his shoulder and jammed the pommel against the man's throat, forcibly shoving him back.

He could not stop now.

If the incantation was interrupted, all the Reiatsu he had gathered would be wasted.

The silver-robed bishop saw it too. This move needed charging.

And charging meant an opening.

Gritting his teeth, he once again smeared the blood from his fingertips over the emblem atop his silver staff. The ring of holy Nen inscriptions behind him unfolded again.

This time, the beam locked firmly onto Bai Zhu.

"Blasphemer, you are forbidden from reciting the words of a false god!"

Bai Zhu's brow twitched.

Come on, can we be reasonable here?

His fingers moved faster and faster, while his mouth never stopped.

"Truth and temperance—"

The silver-robed bishop roared like a beast. "Shut up!"

The holy Nen strike began to contract, its light growing increasingly blinding.

The alarms from Milluki's equipment had already merged into one continuous wail.

"Bai Zhu! He's got you locked!"

"Quit pretending! Don't you know how much mana you have left?!"

Bai Zhu really did not know.

That damn system did not display mana percentages. It did not even have a basic UI. He had to rely entirely on how it felt.

And right now, he felt like a broken phone with only five percent battery left, trying to run a high-frame-rate game.

Whether it lagged could wait. First, he had to fire this shot.

Elsewhere, the four white-robed deacons were getting anxious too, carrying the Black Crystal stretcher faster and faster.

The black cloth on the stretcher bulged more violently, and dense knocking sounds even came from within, as if something was desperate to crawl out.

Ella leaned against a doorpost, her entire body limp. One hand clutched her lower abdomen tightly, while the other pressed against the wound in her palm. Blood continued to drip through her fingers.

Milluki dispatched a Mechanical Spider, which crawled rapidly toward her across the snow.

"Ella! Answer me if you can hear me!"

Ella gritted her teeth, her voice trembling badly.

"I... I can hear you."

"Don't pass out! If you dare pass out, I'll anesthetize you immediately!"

"That threat... is so weird."

"Stop talking! Back up. Don't let that thing get near you!"

Ella instinctively did as she was told.

But the moment she moved, the Black Crystal stretcher seemed as if its soul had been hooked by something. The black cloth suddenly bulged outward and stretched directly toward her.

Bai Zhu caught the sight from the corner of his eye, and the final seal finally clicked into place!

The flames in his palm had already been compressed to their limit!

"Standing upon the wall of dreams that knows not sin, with only its claws!"

Almost at the same instant, the silver-robed bishop's holy Nen strike blasted out!

Its target was Bai Zhu's chest!

Milluki cursed so hard that his voice cracked.

"Dodge!"

Bai Zhu did not dodge.

He raised his hand, aiming his palm at the writhing Black Crystal stretcher. The final line of his incantation clearly drowned out the howling wind, the explosions, and everyone's screams.

"Hadō Number Thirty-Three—"

The silver-white Nen strike was already right in front of him.

"Sōkatsui!"

A torrent of blue-white light poured from his palm without reserve!

It was not a thin line like White Lightning, but a whole wave of savage, pale flames crushing forward!

The lingering smoke, broken lumber, and burning candle wax across the snow were swallowed by the light in an instant.

The moment the silver-robed bishop's holy Nen strike touched the edge of Sōkatsui, it was like a pebble thrown into surging lava. It did not even last half a second before being crushed and vaporized!

"What?!"

The silver staff in the bishop's hand shook violently, and several cracks instantly burst across the emblem at its tip.

He did not even have time to retreat before the torrent of Sōkatsui swept past him and charged straight at the Black Crystal stretcher.

The four white-robed deacons carrying it still had expressions frozen somewhere between fanaticism and shock.

The flames swept past.

The people were gone.

They did not even have time to let out a single scream.

Their white robes, flesh, and bones were all instantly vaporized by the blue-white flames, leaving behind not even a speck of ash.

The stretcher crashed heavily onto the ground. The black cloth wrapped around it instantly burned through, revealing the true form of the Black Crystal Fragment inside.

It was not a regular crystal at all. Its surface expanded and contracted, wrapped in a disgusting layer resembling a membrane of flesh.

Sōkatsui slammed down!

The Black Crystal let out a piercing shriek!

The sound pierced straight through eardrums and stabbed pain into Bai Zhu's head. Several of the cultists kneeling and praying nearby immediately clutched their heads and rolled around in the snow.

Thick black smoke rose from the Black Crystal's surface. That fleshy membrane rapidly curled up and charred, while a pungent stench spread through the air.

It shook desperately in the flames, seemingly trying to burrow deeper into the snow.

But Sōkatsui pinned it down and burned it relentlessly.

The thing that even White Lightning had only been able to scratch now looked as though it had been shoved into a steel furnace. Its edges melted and collapsed at a visible rate.

"Holy Stone!"

The silver-robed bishop let out a despairing howl.

"Stop! Stop!"

Bai Zhu did not answer.

He could not.

He could feel the little Reiatsu remaining in his body being violently sucked out by Sōkatsui like a pump, leaving behind not a single drop.

Hold on for two more seconds.

One second.

Enough.

The Black Crystal Fragment in the snow suddenly shrank into a ball.

Crack.

A crisp bursting sound rang out.

That deeply unsettling throbbing stopped completely.

The black cloth had long since turned to ash, and the metal stretcher had broken into several pieces. Only a charred shard and a puddle of molten iron remained on the ground. After the black powder within was repeatedly licked by the blue-white flames, it dispersed completely.

The lingering power of Sōkatsui continued forward, burning a massive hole directly through the side wall of the church.

The two guards preparing to sneak around for an ambush behind the wall were so terrified by the sight that they collapsed onto the ground and scrambled backward.

Bai Zhu lowered his wrist, and the flames in his palm instantly vanished.

The next second, his knees gave out, and he nearly dropped straight to the ground.

Only by driving the tip of his Zanpakuto heavily into the snow did he barely support himself, avoiding the spectacle of a full-body prostration before the entire audience.

His chest felt tight.

His fingers were numb.

His head buzzed too.

The feeling of having his Reiatsu completely drained was worse than starving for three days and nights.

On the other end of the earpiece, Milluki fell silent for a full half-second.

Then he exploded.

"Y-you... what the hell was that just now?!"

Bai Zhu took two deep breaths and forcibly steadied his voice, making himself sound less weak.

"Professional team, professional service. Guaranteed burning and extermination."

"Cut it out! That move took you so long to charge, and it was totally useless!"

Milluki cursed viciously, but in front of the screen, his fat face was practically pressed against the monitor. His trembling fingers repeatedly dragged back the footage he had just recorded.

His entire body was shaking.

It was too cool.

This was what men were supposed to play with.

Bomb mosquitoes, Mechanical Spiders—before that blue-white blaze that had pierced heaven and earth, they suddenly did not seem so "romantic" anymore.

Milluki took a breath and forcibly suppressed the rush of excitement surging through him.

No.

Absolutely cannot praise him.