Not a detective

Page 234

His honing of skills and the final refinement brought him to the point of evolution. In particular, the purity he achieved after questioning his own heart and his unwavering dedication to his goal made him even more exceptional.

The current Asakawa Riku has not only given up his muscles and physique, but also all his skills, and has abruptly abandoned any new pursuits.

Everything except the Tao is impure.

Asakawa Riku has now fallen far behind Kirisame Aoi...

At their level, it's not just about physical strength and skills, but more about "heart" and "mind".

The mind is the environment.

"Uh……!"

Kiri Aoi fell heavily to the ground, all the bones in her body were broken, but he did not hold back at all, but respectfully gave her all.

With fingertips touching the forehead, this distance was the decisive blow.

Asakawa Riku pressed his knee against her lower abdomen, a position that caused the wound on his ribs to reopen, and warm blood dripped onto Kirisame Aoi's pale face.

The blade, high in the air, spun twice before belatedly piercing the ground near Kirisame's ear, making a crisp popping sound.

But his smile was gentle: "I won."

...

Asakawa Riku stood up unsteadily. Although he wasn't in much better shape either, it was a narrow victory. But no matter what, he had won.

Next, all she has to do is wait for the virtual space to restore her body and then send Wu Yu Kui out again. No... it wasn't her real body to begin with.

He thoroughly enjoyed the sparring session and learned a great deal. He was looking forward to saying goodbye properly, as a way of expressing his gratitude.

"...!"

But when I turned around, I found that she had also stood up.

"...It's not over yet."

Wu Yu Kui stumbled, fell to one knee, and gasped for breath.

She could no longer stand up, as all her bones had been broken by Asakawa Riku, and her internal organs were probably ruptured. She was now on the verge of death.

This phantom should have disappeared, but she bit her lip tightly, as if an immense obsession kept her here.

"you……"

Asakawa Riku knew of her obsession, but didn't know how to persuade her.

"You can't go any further... Asakawa, stay here. You can't go any further. If you go to see that woman again, you'll die."

Her eyes were unfocused, and she seemed to no longer know what she was saying, but she still insisted on pouring out her innermost thoughts: "Stay here, I will keep you here..."

"I have to go."

Asakawa Riku couldn't bear it, but he still said it. He had no choice. Although he really wanted to stay here with Kiri Aoi, there were still many people here that he couldn't bear to leave.

But there is still one thing I have to do.

He would be letting himself down if he didn't do it.

"no!"

Kirisame, who should have been unable to hear anything, suddenly roared as if she had been greatly stimulated.

"Since that's the case... let's use this method..."

She held a knife in her left hand... not the ten fists stuck in the ground, which were too weak to pull out.

Instead, it was a imagined, broken "knife," and she still had the strength to construct that thing... and aim it at her heart—

"what you do……"

Asakawa Riku's pupils contracted sharply, and he had only taken half a step when he heard a sticky sound of flesh tearing apart.

"Ughhhhhhh!!"

A hilt with a twelve-petal chrysanthemum pattern emerged from her chest, the black blade wreathed in crimson blood.

Kirisame Aoi slowly pulled a knife from her chest; the new knife was stained with her blood and flesh.

The red knife, the imaginary knife, has now materialized... How is this possible...?

Asakawa Riku sensed a deep ominous aura emanating from that sword, along with an overwhelming, oppressive force that made it impossible to approach.

The moment it was drawn, Kirisame Aoi's short hair danced wildly without wind, and the whites of her eyes were covered with spiderweb-like blood patterns.

"Don't come any closer!...Don't go anywhere!"

Her screams were accompanied by the metallic scraping of metal; the two voices overlapped, conveying contradictory words.

His right hand, against his will, slashed out with the demonic blade.

Asakawa Riku dodged to the side, the blade grazing his neck and drawing fine beads of blood. Behind him, three zhang away, the blue bricks cracked open, revealing a trench more than ten meters deep.

What kind of power is this...?

This level of sword energy is simply not the level of martial arts that this world should have... It's too exaggerated.

What exactly happened to Kirisame Aoi? What was that black and red knife she pulled out?

The Autumn of Orochi: Chapter Twenty-Eight - Sword and Sheath

Before he could even process what was happening, the second strike of the demon sword followed.

"Asakawa!"

Kirisame Aoi's voice was already mixed with something eerie, layered upon layered, carrying an aura of terror.

It is clearly a variation of the Misty Rain Style Secret Sword, but it has lost its elegant and cold temperament, and instead has become more ferocious and arrogant.

Before the blade even arrived, the air pressure was already making it difficult for Asakawa Riku to breathe.

Even a demon god would perish under that blade.

He stomped his foot hard on the ground, and the blue bricks shattered into dust under his feet. Using the recoil, he flipped himself up into the air.

The blade's energy grazed the soles of his feet, instantly turning the ground beneath his feet into ashes. With nowhere to land, Asakawa Riku could only plummet into the distance.

"Asakawa!"

But Misty Rain Aoi wouldn't let him off the hook.

Her pursuit defied the laws of the human body; her legs remained motionless, yet her waist arched backward as if broken, and the Kusanagi sword swept upward with a reverse kasaya slash.

A crimson light rushed towards them, even more powerful than the combined force of the eight ultimate strikes.

The sky and earth changed color, and time seemed to be cut off, leaving no room to dodge.

Asakawa Riku twisted his waist in mid-air and slapped the blade with his right palm in an attempt to change its trajectory, but the moment he touched the blade, he was struck as if by lightning—the veins in his entire arm throbbed, and tiny spurts of blood shot from his fingertips.

boom!

He crashed heavily onto the bluestone ground crisscrossed with knife marks, his left shoulder ripped open to the bone. Already severely injured, this one fall left him barely able to stand.

"What the hell..." This was the first time Asakawa Riku had ever seen such a terrifying sword. It had transcended the category of weapons; one could say that the sword itself was a "god."

This is an attack that cannot be blocked by "invulnerability," without a doubt.

As Wu Yu Kui slowly approached, dragging her demon sword, the blade scraping sparks from the bricks and stones. With each step, another bloody gash appeared on her right arm, which held the sword.

“Stay...stay, Asakawa, I must stop you…”

It seems that the knife has consumed her mind and is also a great burden on her body.

As Asakawa Riku flipped and leaped into the air, the demon sword had already transformed into a black rainstorm.

He had never seen such swordsmanship before—the most basic Tang bamboo, kasaya, anti-wind, and left pheasant techniques, when combined, carried an eerie rhythm.

On his seventh parry, his stance was disrupted by the back of the blade, and he took a solid blow to the chest from the hilt of the knife.

"cough!"

Blood sprayed onto Kirisame Aoi's distorted face, but Asakawa Riku used the spray of blood to take a half-step forward.

His right elbow braced against her wrist holding the knife, while his left hand, fingers together, thrust towards her acupoint at the base of her neck. This deadly move, meant to disarm her, now felt like striking a steel plate—

Under the control of the demon sword, Kirisame's muscles contracted abnormally, clamping his fingers tightly.

This is a difference in power; for the first time, he has been suppressed instead.

The demonic sword hummed excitedly, its blade swirling as it slashed towards Asakawa Riku's neck. At the critical moment, he ducked, using the force of the impact to deflect the blade's back!

The demonic sword trembled, yearning to drink blood, the friction between the air and the metal producing a teeth-grinding sound.

Riku Asakawa escaped unharmed and took the opportunity to retreat, finally hearing an urgent voice in the air:

"Asakawa Riku! That sword is the Ame-no-Murakumo! No! It's a legendary mythical sword! It's something neither you nor I can contend with!"

That was the sound of a tapir, tearing a corner in the sky as its beast-like head peered in.

It was as if one could sense its panic: "It seems there's something wrong with this little girl's bloodline... Her side effects... she can actually pull out the Kusanagi, she's insane!"

The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, one of the Three Sacred Treasures that has been passed down since the Age of Gods, is said to be a divine sword that appeared from the tail of Yamata-no-Orochi when Susanoo slew it.

It was a "symbol of conquerors," representing absolute power and awe to the people of that time.

In Japan, this is undoubtedly the strongest sword. Whether in the hands of Susanoo or Takeru, it has been greatly utilized, leaving behind countless legends and myths.

No wonder it possesses such power. Asakawa Riku's eyes were solemn. Kirisame Aoi's high talent also brought her a powerful curse. She was both a gift from the gods and the object of their jealousy...

When she draws this sword, it unleashes a violent surge of blood, her mind is devoured by the demonic blade, and she becomes an uncontrollable sword demon.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that a god has descended, but this god is probably not so easy to deal with.

Asakawa Riku approached abruptly, his hands darting out like nimble snakes, wrapping around Kirisame Aoi's ankles, and then stepping out with the Bagua Swimming Dragon Step.

In an instant, it transformed into eight afterimages that swirled around the demonic blade, each afterimage binding a meridian or acupoint on her body, attempting to seal it.

But when the eighth strike sealed the handle of the Kusanagi sword, Kirisame suddenly let out an inhuman roar.

The demonic sword shattered its restraints, and Asakawa Riku was once again repelled. Conventional methods were completely ineffective against this sword, leaving him with no room to resist.

As Asakawa Riku dodged the crimson blades, he asked the tapir above him:

"Think of something... Isn't this your dream?! How do we deal with it!"

"My ancestors... there's no way to deal with this! If this continues... even my dream won't hold up! You have to escape quickly!"

The tapir roared hoarsely, looking quite disheveled. Perhaps if this dream were shattered by the demon sword, it would be severely weakened, or even die.

It cried out, "As long as you escape, there's still hope! This is just a dream... the little girl's body is perfectly fine!"

"You're just physically unharmed... right..."

Just as Asakawa Riku was about to take a step, he suddenly understood the implication in Bakuri's words and stopped, frowning.

Realizing its mistake, the tapir quickly corrected itself, saying, "No...no! Completely unharmed! Completely unharmed! Come out now...!"

wrong.

Asakawa Riku calmed down and realized that he couldn't just leave like this.

Although this is just a dream, it can affect reality. It is very likely that Kirisame Aoi's consciousness has also connected here, and it is not just a complete simulation of her illusion.

Just like that dream session with Yukie during their online gaming session, that's how Kuroyuki's personality was killed. What would happen in reality if Kirisame Aoi's consciousness here were corrupted and devoured by the demon sword?

Her body is intact, but what about her soul?

Can the soul be saved?

"I can't go out."

Asakawa Riku stopped before the exit. He turned around and saw the demon sword, still struggling in pain, constantly unleashing sword energy, a mad and terrifying demon.

Although I felt that if I took just one step into that terrifying area, I might lose my life...

But Asakawa Riku realized that Kirisame Aoi herself was also struggling. Even though she had lost her mind, she did not chase after him, but remained in place, constantly twisting.

That was a symbol of her struggle for consciousness with the demon sword. She didn't want to hurt Asakawa Riku... so she repeatedly controlled her body to stay there.

"What are you going to do...you..."

Despair flashed in the tapir's eyes, but Asakawa Riku's authority in the dream was no less than its own, so it was unable to forcibly expel Asakawa Riku and shut down the dream.

Asakawa Riku resolutely went against the tide, heading towards the terrifying wave of demonic swords:

"I'm sorry, Baku. She drew her demon sword to keep me here and prevent me from facing danger. If I had run away now, I would never have forgiven myself."