Chapter 174: Natsuba Hanae Has No Malice
That blood-red sword qi, spanning dozens of meters, its divine might like a prison, its killing intent surging to the extreme.
With an unstoppable momentum, it slashed towards the dragon and the bird!
And the crimson and cyan creatures, their bodies burning with a powerful and terrifying flame, flew a certain distance in mid-air, and in an instant, became one, fusing and twisting into an unknown, strange form.
A vortex of cyan and crimson converged.
And shot straight at the blood-red sword qi.
In the next moment, the two met.
“——————————!!!”
There was no world-shaking explosion.
But it was as smooth as a divine weapon cutting through tofu. The constantly fusing and twisting flame was easily split in two by the blood-red sword qi.
Without a single ripple, it was cut in half and slowly dissipated in the air.
Seeing this, both Natsuba Rinrei’s calm and indifferent bird pupils and her violent and cruel dragon pupils trembled slightly. Her originally fanatical expression completely froze.
She had lost all her original motivation.
She seemed to have not expected that her full-powered attack would be so easily neutralized by Natsuba Genryū.
Yes.
Easily neutralized.
When she had attacked the Natsuba main residence before, she had seen Natsuba Genryū’s full-strength form, which had three stages. And now, it was only the first stage.
And with just a casual wave of his sword qi in the first stage, he had cut through her full-powered attack.
This huge power gap made her mind go blank.
Even though she had already reached A-rank, and had become one of the strongest people in this world, in front of this father, under whose shadow she had lived since she was a child, she was still so weak.
It was almost… as if there were no difference from before.
Of course, what Natsuba Rinrei didn’t know was…
Her attack was already powerful enough. Even against an ordinary peak A-rank supernatural user, it could probably pose a threat.
And dealing with this full-powered blow was by no means as simple as Natsuba Genryū had made it seem.
Natsuba Genryū’s sword strike had used a wisp of the divine artifact’s residual power.
Among the many weapons Natsuba Genryū could transform into, only the sword was a completely different existence.
The thing he had always used as a cane was clearly a divine artifact of Susanoo, and its original form was a sword.
And once he entered battle, Natsuba Genryū would absorb the divine artifact into his body.
Even without activating Susanoo’s divine artifact, as long as the sword existed in his body, when he used the sword form, it would invisibly stir up a wisp of the divine artifact’s residual power.
Not to mention, among all of Natsuba Genryū’s martial arts, the sword was definitely the top one.
The blood-red sword qi, after annihilating the flame, had dissipated by a small amount.
And the remaining part, still under Natsuba Genryū’s control, slashed towards Natsuba Rinrei!
The moment it hit, Natsuba Rinrei’s limbs would be severed, and she would be turned into a human torso.
And Natsuba Genryū would, in an instant, go to the blood-red sword qi, and rescue the instantly dispersed, dense killing intent, and seal and suppress all the severed limbs.
And prevent Natsuba Rinrei from reconnecting them.
After his previous observation, he had already understood Natsuba Rinrei’s regenerative ability.
If her limbs were still present, her regenerative ability seemed to have some limitations, and she couldn’t quickly regenerate her limbs.
She could only be healed by reattaching them.
Of course, there was another possibility. If she didn’t reattach her limbs, it would take a very long time for her to regenerate them.
Of course, this information was insignificant.
In Natsuba Genryū’s view, the victory was already decided.
This game of house with Natsuba Rinrei was coming to an end. It was time to finish it.
The blood-red sword qi was now not far from Natsuba Rinrei.
Natsuba Rinrei’s skin, feeling the sword qi, felt an extreme stinging pain. Even before it arrived, it felt as if her hands and feet had already been cut off.
In a state of despair, she retreated a few steps and hit a hard object.
She looked at it in a daze.
And realized it was Natsuba Hanae’s wardrobe.
Because of the boiling flame, a large part of this wardrobe had already been burned with holes, and many clothes were exposed.
What she found a little strange was that those clothes had not been burned by the flame.
However…
In the face of Natsuba Genryū’s imminent blood-red sword qi, these clothes would probably also be cut into several pieces.
Of course, none of this mattered.
Compared to her future predicament, these clothes were insignificant.
Even if Natsuba Genryū wouldn’t kill her, but even if he imprisoned her in the Natsuba main residence, it meant that she would cause a considerable amount of trouble for Summer Harvest Mountain, for her mother.
In the end, it was because she had been too careless.
She should have accumulated strength for a while longer before challenging him.
Natsuba Rinrei thought this, and gently closed her eyes.
However, just as the blood-red sword qi was about to reach her!
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz————————!”
The air distorted abnormally, and a sound like a phantom electric arc was heard.
And in the next moment, a heart-wrenching, incredulous cry was heard.
“Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah——————!!!”
“This is!!!”
“Why?! Why?! I clearly haven’t seriously injured the bastard… why is it attacking me with such force?!!!”
Hearing Natsuba Genryū’s strange scream, Natsuba Rinrei opened her eyes again.
And what appeared before her…
Was Natsuba Genryū, as if he had been greatly stimulated and injured. His originally muscular, surging body was now covered in arcs of lightning.
Like a maggot on a bone, they drilled into his body and attacked him.
In fact, some of his skin had been electrocuted to a charred black, cracked state.
Natsuba Rinrei: “???”
She had only closed her eyes for a moment. How had he become like this? She couldn’t understand.
However, it wasn’t just Natsuba Rinrei who couldn’t understand.
What was even more incomprehensible was Natsuba Genryū himself.
In reality, the divine attack from Susanoo, in terms of injury, was not severe. It hadn’t even caused him a serious injury, only a minor one. But it had caused him immense pain.
And this pain made it impossible for him to maintain the blood-red sword qi, and it had dissipated midway.
Normally, because the blood-red sword qi contained a wisp of the divine artifact’s residual power, it wouldn’t have dissipated just because of Natsuba Genryū’s pain.
But unfortunately, the one who had attacked him was Susanoo’s divinity, which had thrown the divine artifact in his body into disarray.
And it had been affected.
So, whether it was the sword qi condensed from Natsuba Genryū’s killing intent, or the wisp of the divine artifact’s residual power, both had dissipated because of this.
Yes, even Susanoo’s divine artifact had mistaken it for the real Susanoo’s divinity.
The Susanoo divinity that Natsuba Hanae had imitated was extremely similar to Susanoo’s divinity itself.
That dense, righteous aura, with its flashing golden lightning arcs.
After all, she had devoured Susanoo’s two arms and had personally experienced the power of the pseudo-Susanoo.
Imitating this power was easier than anything else.
Now, Natsuba Hanae’s body, besides the part of divinity she had refined herself, a large part of it had been transformed from devouring the pseudo-Susanoo’s divinity.
In transforming a massive amount of Susanoo’s divinity, she had naturally become very familiar with its essence.
And had even mastered the great power of lightning.
And at this moment, to imitate Susanoo’s divinity was simpler than anything else.
Of course, since it was ultimately emitted by a different individual, there were still subtle differences.
Unless the real Susanoo was here, he could probably immediately recognize it.
In fact, if Natsuba Hanae had increased the amount of divinity in Susanoo’s divine artifact, it could have also recognized the authenticity.
This was also the reason for Natsuba Genryū’s current physical state.
No serious injuries, just minor ones, but incredibly painful.
It was only because the amount of divinity that had attacked him was not large. And the reason for the immense pain was that Natsuba Hanae had used this small amount to trigger all the old injuries in his body.
And made them all explode in pain at once.
And she had also mixed in a negligible wisp of Sanctuary Flame, so that even the tenacious Natsuba Genryū had let out such a tragic scream.
So, it wasn’t that Natsuba Hanae didn’t want to use this to seriously injure or even kill him.
But because if the amount was too much, not to mention the divine artifact, even the wandering, unconscious divinity in the air would react.
At that time, even the real Susanoo, who was buried deep underground, would be awakened because of this.
That would be a bit of a problem.
Now was not the time to fight him.
And at this moment, Natsuba Genryū, in pain, hugged his arms, and the deep, large old wound on his sturdy chest, he knelt on both knees, gritting his teeth.
And barely alleviated a trace of the pain.
His originally muscular, expanded body, like a deflated balloon, was constantly emitting a blood-red killing intent.
And gradually transformed into a shriveled form.
His chest heaved up and down. His old injuries burst, and drops of blood flowed out.
His shriveled form was what he had created to suppress his old injuries. When he returned to this state, the pain from his old injuries did indeed greatly decrease.
However, even now, he still couldn’t understand.
Why had he suffered such great pain?
And even if it was a partial divine attack, although he couldn’t see the shape of the divinity, he could roughly sense its general location. He should have been able to intercept it with his killing intent in the air.
And this wisp of divinity seemed to have come out of a hidden place.
Could it be…
Susanoo’s will had awakened?
But that was impossible. If it had awakened, the divine artifact wouldn’t still be in his body. It would have been recalled long ago.
Natsuba Genryū was completely baffled.
At the same time…
Chikari Makoto, who was by Natsuba Hanae’s side, in her soul state, had already arrived by Natsuba Rinrei’s side.
She looked at Natsuba Rinrei’s current dazed state.
She pursed her pink lips and quickly said,
“I’m Chikari Makoto. I’m right beside you. Don’t show any emotion, and don’t speak. I’m communicating with you through a soul transmission.”
Hearing this, Natsuba Rinrei was taken aback for a moment, then quickly came to her senses.
A thoughtful look appeared in her eyes, but as Chikari Makoto had said, she showed no emotion and didn’t look around.
Of course, her heart was clearly very happy.
Natsuba Genryū’s current state was highly likely her mother’s doing. Only her mother could attack a peak A-rank like this.
However, Susanoo’s divinity hadn’t attacked her mother. This made her a little confused.
And when she didn’t know…
Of course, she could only explain it with the words “her mother is awesome.”
Then, Chikari Makoto continued,
“Natsuba Genryū is now in extreme pain. He won’t have the leisure to continue to deal with you.”
“From now on, you run to the Chikari branch land.”
“The people of the Chikari branch will help you hide for now. In less than a day, you can return to the Natsuba main residence with a legitimate reason.”
Natsuba Genryū had attacked Natsuba Rinrei, in the end, because he wanted to find out Natsuba Taiga’s whereabouts.
And according to her mother’s estimation, the people from the Kujō family were about to arrive at the Natsuba main residence.
At that time, knowing what had happened at the Hero Association, Natsuba Genryū would probably have no mood to deal with Natsuba Rinrei.
And he would not go after her again.
Because…
The root of the problem was not her.
However, just as Natsuba Rinrei was preparing to leave quickly, she heard Chikari Makoto’s next sentence.
“Oh…”
“It seems you don’t need to leave.”
As soon as Chikari Makoto finished speaking…
“Family Head————!”
A voice called out from a distance.
Hearing this, Natsuba Genryū forcibly suppressed the involuntary twitching of his muscles due to the pain, and even used his killing intent to crush the blood on his chest.
He crossed his arms, covering the huge, burst old wound, and took a few deep breaths, his expression becoming as calm as usual.
Just then, a steward appeared outside the door.
He pretended to knock on the doorless room, knocking on the wooden frame next to it.
Because all the stewards who had entered without knocking had died. Knowing this, even if he was just pretending to knock, he had to knock.
“Knock, knock, knock————!”
And Natsuba Genryū, who had already returned to normal, said,
“What is it? Speak.”
The Natsuba steward quickly knelt and said,
“Someone from the Kujō family is asking to see you outside the main residence. He says he has a message from Lord Kujō about the First Young Master’s current information.”
“Do you… want to see him?”
However, before he had finished speaking…
He felt a gust of wind, and Natsuba Genryū’s figure disappeared from before his eyes.
Clearly, Natsuba Genryū was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
And the news of Natsuba Taiga was also of the utmost importance to him at this moment.
After all, this concerned the future head of the Natsuba main residence, the future fate.
He paid no attention to Natsuba Rinrei, who was not far away, and left instantly.
And Natsuba Hanae, who was in her soul body, also heard this message. A strange light flashed in her red, glass-like beautiful eyes.
Kujō Sujin had already taken some suspicion towards the current Natsuba Genryū.
So, should she go and add some fuel to the fire?
Her lips curled slightly, and a faint smile appeared, with no malice.
