Chapter 35: Kuzuryūsen (Nine-Head Dragon Flash)

Chapter 35: Kuzuryūsen (Nine-Head Dragon Flash)

[Second Class Unlocked: Battousai]

[Passive Skill Acquired: Battousai]

[Skill Acquired: Doryūsen (Earth Dragon Flash)]

[Skill Acquired: Sōryūsen (Twin Dragon Flash) / Ryūmeisen (Dragon Cry Flash)]

[Skill Acquired: Ryūtsuisen (Dragon Hammer Flash) / Ryūshōsen (Dragon Soar Flash)]

[Elemental Burst Acquired: Kuzuryūsen (Nine-Head Dragon Flash) / Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki (Flash of the Heavenly Soaring Dragon)]

It might have been an illusion, but to those still watching Bai Luo, his presence seemed… different.

If before he was nimble and elusive—like a wandering breeze—now he felt like a blade returned to its sheath. A blade whose edge was hidden, but sharper than ever. And there was something else—an air about him that felt unmistakably like a true Inazuman.

“Do you dare take a blow from me?”

The hand clutching the broken sword trembled—not unlike the trembling of a boy who had once stood in this very spot, daring to block the Musou no Hitotachi.

But this was not fear.

No—what shook his arm was the effort to suppress the surge of power within him. That force, awakened the moment he unlocked the Battousai Class, had flowed through him for thirty full seconds… and now, it was straining to break free.

If he didn’t release it soon, he felt as though he would explode.

“I’ll give you one chance to draw your blade.”

The Raiden Shogun slowly lowered the sword she had already raised.

She made no move to defend.

To her, no mortal blade could so much as graze her.

After all, every school of swordsmanship in Inazuma could be traced back to her hand.

Her own style… needed no defense.

“…My thanks.”

Bai Luo’s left hand drifted behind his back, while his right slowly lifted the broken blade before him.

“Battoujutsu?”

The Raiden Shogun recognized it instantly—Inazuma’s most familiar sword-drawing technique.

And yet…

Her brows drew together in faint confusion.

Because his stance lowered. Lower, and lower still—until he was almost pressed against the ground.

In that instant, the last trace of his aura vanished, buried entirely within the blade in his grasp.

To the eye, he was nothing more than an ordinary youth—one that any fresh recruit in the Tenryou Commission could probably thrash in a spar.

And yet no one dared underestimate him.

A few who knew swordsmanship even wore looks of open astonishment.

“T-this— this isn’t Inazuma’s Battoujutsu!”

Kamisato Ayato’s normally calm expression shifted for the first time, eyes widening as he gripped the pale-blue hilt of his Haran Geppaku Futsu.

Though the schools of Inazuma had developed their own flavors over the centuries, the foundation of every draw cut still traced back to the Shogun herself. Even he and his sister, both inheritors of the Kamisato style, differed only slightly in execution.

But what Bai Luo used now—though it bore a resemblance to the Shogun’s art—was a completely different form of sword-drawing.

Something entirely unique.

If this technique proved brilliant enough, he could open a school in Inazuma itself without question—worthy even of being called a sword master.

Confronted with an unfamiliar draw cut, the Raiden Shogun lowered her earlier scorn, slowly lifting Musou Isshin to take him seriously.

Whatever its power, the man’s mastery of the blade alone warranted her full attention.

Yet before she could fully raise her weapon—her eyes went wide.

—She could not move.

“Hiten Mitsurugi Style—Kuzuryūsen!”

At Bai Luo’s call, his body blurred into motion.

All swordsmanship stems from the nine fundamental angles of attack.

The Kuzuryūsen (Nine-Head Dragon Flash)—a strike that unleashes all nine strikes in the space of a heartbeat.

In the blink of an eye, Bai Luo and the Shogun passed each other.

Nine arcs of light struck her simultaneously, each one biting into divine flesh—sending up a spray of crimson.

“Th-the Shogun… is injured?”

Sara’s fingers trembled against her bowstring, her face wearing the same look she might have if Arataki Itto had suddenly appeared before her.

The Raiden Shogun… was a god.

Since the day she had entered the Shogun’s service, Sara had never seen her sustain so much as a scratch.

The fact that someone dared to challenge the Shogun was already shocking enough.

The fact that this outlaw had actually wounded her? Unthinkable.

But if the onlookers were stunned, the Raiden Shogun herself was even more perplexed.

Bai Luo’s strike had not only bypassed her defenses—it had ignored even the garments she wore, biting directly into her flesh.

In other words, none of her defensive measures had stopped those nine slashes. She had taken them head-on, with nothing but her body to endure them.

And the strangest part was the moment before the blade struck.

Had she been able to lift Musou Isshin, she might still have parried in time.

But in that instant, he had employed some unknown technique—binding her in place for a full second.

One second.

In a duel between masters, a second was enough to decide life and death.

Since the age of the Archon War, she had never once encountered such a thing.

And that peculiar elemental force surrounding him… one capable of placing himself in an invulnerable state…

Could it be… that he was a survivor from that era?

The crowd’s murmurs barely registered.

For Bai Luo, the moment the surge of power left his body, the feverish rush in his veins cooled.

He knew that in snatching away a Vision, he had already painted a target on his back.

And now—he had cut the Shogun herself.

Once everyone here processed that fact… things would turn ugly.

Clang!

The broken blade slid back into its sheath with a shrill ring.

Bai Luo’s speed was already swift—yet the instant the sword was sheathed, he moved faster still.

The crimson of his kimono blurred, becoming a streak of red lightning that flashed toward Kamisato Ayato.

By coincidence—or perhaps intent—Ayato and Kazuha’s duel had taken them beneath the high walls of the arena.

One slash sent Ayato skidding back. In the same breath, Bai Luo seized a startled Kazuha, feet finding purchase on the wall.

A few rapid steps, a leap—

—and the two vanished over the cliff beyond.

The motions flowed into each other seamlessly, so fast that even the Raiden Shogun herself had no time to react.

In her mind, she had already pegged Bai Luo as one of her own era’s remnants—someone who would surely strike again. She had been ready for it.

Instead… he simply vanished like smoke on the wind.

“—After him!”

The soldiers of the arena shook off their daze, rushing to the cliff’s edge—only to find nothing but swirling mist below. Eagles wheeled lazily in the open sky. Of the two fugitives, there was no sign.

“Kh— my apologies, Shogun-sama.”

Kamisato Ayato leaned on Haran Geppaku Futsu, offering a wry smile.

Bai Luo’s slash had carried no lethal force, but Ayato—intent on letting Kazuha escape—had not defended himself at all.

The blow had landed cleanly on his chest.

Had Bai Luo not pulled his strike, it might have taken a fried egg from Teyvat itself to save him.

“You’ve done well. Go and rest—recover your strength. I will see that both of them are placed under the Vision Hunt Decree. Next time we meet…”

Her gaze sharpened.

“…it will be my blade that falls.”

Feeling the ache of her wound, the Raiden Shogun turned and strode back into Tenshukaku.

How many years had it been since she had been driven to such a state?

Too many.

Next time—she would not let him escape so easily.

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