"Heroes who are going to save the world?"
Esdeath let out a cold sneer. She couldn't care less about something like that. What she cared about was what she could gain. She had absolutely no interest in the so-called 'saving the world.'
What repairing broken world, what returning a world to its proper track?
What did any of that have to do with her?
The only reason she wanted to participate was for the rewards and to become stronger. She didn't care about any of that lofty "saving the world" nonsense.
"I don't care about that stuff. I just want to become stronger."
Her words earned silent agreement from Chifuyu, watching from the distance. She'd been dragged into this mess without understanding a thing and even lost her virginity because of it. She couldn't be bothered with the so-called fate of that world. If she could escape this whole process, she would leave immediately without hesitation.
Traveling between worlds? She couldn't care less. And she had no interest in chasing immortality either.
After saying that, Esdeath turned and walked away.
"Let's start training tomorrow. I don't want to get one-shotted again!"
Her figure vanished quickly. The goddess watched Esdeath's departing back, resting her chin in her hand.
"It seems this little guy's method of recruiting people really has problems. But it should be recovering part of it's self-repair ability soon, right?"
She glanced in Ryuji's direction.
Within Ryuji resided that incomplete world. She didn't know what exactly the damaged world's will had told him, but she was certain of one thing that the incomplete world's will was close to recovering.
Once it obtained a few more world fragments, it would be able to repair itself. It wouldn't need Ryuji to keep running around anymore.
Of course, if it wanted faster recovery, it still needed the World Apostle's help retrieving fragments.
But this method of "pulling people in"…
She really felt it was unreliable.
Not letting people choose whether to agree or disagree, nor providing them basic abilities and knowledge, relying entirely on the selected person's improvisation.
It was simply too much. Even she wouldn't treat her children like that.
"But that's the other world's own business. As long as Ryuji is fine, it's okay."
She shrugged, deciding not to interfere.
If she could help children who happened to pass through her domain, she would. But anything beyond that should depend on their own effort. Helping too much could easily make them lose their drive to grow.
Raising parasites wasn't difficult for her. But turning these gifted children into parasites?
That would be heartbreaking.
Worlds were ultimately different from one another.
Ryuji, for his part, knew nothing about any of this.
He understood his own limits well and didn't think sleeping with a World's Will or a Creator God was anything impressive. The power gap was right there; he didn't delude himself into thinking he was special.
And because of that, when faced with Esdeath's challenge, he decided to prepare properly.
"Hmm, she must have mastered this world's magic."
Ryuji, who got up early, swung the greatsword in his hands, steadily adapting to the divine blade.
Although this divine sword's traits were truly embarrassing, its usefulness was undeniable.
Whenever Ryuji released flames or other power, this sword could absorb them perfectly without any issues.
And the speed at which it resonated with him far exceeded his other sword, allowing him to bring out his sword intent quickly, almost effortlessly.
But...
"Sword Zen is still quite difficult…"
Putting down the divine sword in his hand, Ryuji shook his head. His progress in spiritual development was still very slow.
His body had become incredibly strong, yet willpower and spiritual/mental strength were still his weakness.
If his mental power could match his physical strength, he felt he should now be able to use his spiritual/mental will replicate the swords he had used before, or even swords from his imagination, possessing special powers, and then manifest them to form a sword array.
Yes, imagine, then manifest.
The first step was to believe, to believe that such a sword truly existed.
And then he had to continuously make his spiritual will resonate with that sword he believed in.
If he truly believed there existed a sword that can cleave though time and space…
Then as long as he completely believed and successfully resonated with the sword in his imagination, he could attempt to manifest the blades he had encountered in his past and bring them into reality.
But that was where the problem lay.
How could he truly believe?
This wasn't something self-hypnosis could solve.
To believe, he needed understanding.
He needed to understand the sword's story, the source of its power, the material it was forged from, everything it had experienced, even the method by which it was forged and how it produced the effect it claimed to have.
He had to know all these things. Only then could he truly believe.
Only with an unbreakable will and the power of belief could one successfully summon a 'legendary sword.'
Of course, one could also rely on the power of others. For example: the united will to resist, collective rage, collective hatred, etc.
But Ryuji didn't understand this method, and Aganzo didn't either, so Ryuji simply didn't try it.
During this process, something like self-hypnosis could be easily torn apart when one's will rose under extreme intensity. Ryuji tried it once, but the moment he raised his spirit to its absolute peak, the self-hypnosis collapsed instantly. He nearly ended up injuring himself.
So, even though this Sword Zen was essentially a form of self-hypnosis, using cheap tricks was useless.
What he was trying to do now was resonate the sword in his hand with the sword that housed the world's will, turning these two swords into multiple swords. So that he could unleash more powerful slashes and successfully deploy a sword array.
But unfortunately…
He failed.
At most, he could only activate the sword's power at close range by sensing the Demon Slayer world's will within it, then unleash a space-time slash. Or, by recalling the memories it had left within him, he could replicate certain effects.
But manifesting a complete sword out of thin air?
He still couldn't do it.
As for the divine sword in his hand...
He wasn't familiar enough with it yet, so he couldn't do it.
"The road ahead is long and arduous."
Ryuji scratched his head. Without fortuitous encounters or real battles, improving his strength was still extremely difficult. If he constantly engaged life-and-death duels, then yes, he could grow quickly.
But the problem was: a deathmatch could really kill you…
Conceptual lifespan wasn't absolute invincibility.
"No wonder awakening requires the aura of strong individuals. It's not that their aura itself is useful. It's the life-and-death struggle with them that stimulates your will and draws out your potential…"
With a helpless sigh, Ryuji set the divine sword aside. Then he picked up an ordinary iron sword and walked toward the steel plate used specifically for training.
Then, he closed his eyes.
Without using 'Observation Haki,' or his perception, Ryuji swung the sword in his hand.
In the next instant, the iron sword pierced into the steel plate. Ryuji swiftly withdrew the sword, then delivered a slash.
The steel plate was instantly cut halfway through by Ryuji's sword, but the blade was also severely damaged. Even the spine of the sword was badly damaged.
The sword was now completely ruined.
"My skill of cutting steel still isn't refined enough…"
Looking at the sword in his hand, Ryuji couldn't help but shake his head.
Relying on his perception, he could smoothly cut through steel plates with an iron sword, effortlessly severing targets far harder and sharper than his blade should have been able to handle.
But the moment he stopped relying on Observation Haki, or stopped reinforcing the blade with energy…
It became extremely difficult.
He could only rely on brute force to achieve this, which greatly damaged the sword.
"Hmm… if I don't rely on enhanced senses, and I don't rely on energy... training myself to defeat the strong while being weaker… does that kind of training actually have meaning?"
He flicked the steel plate in front of him and fell into thought.
From a physics standpoint, it was meaningless.
Because unless your strength and speed reached a certain level, it simply couldn't be done. And even if it could be done, the sword would still be damaged, both sides would still end up paying the price.
Not relying on super-senses to find the steel plate's 'weak points,' not relying on powerful energy to form a sharp edge or make the sword more durable...
It was indeed thankless labor.
"No, there are still benefits."
Ryuji ran his fingers over the steel plate he had split open, thinking about his own spiritual/mental strength.
"Long-term training can effectively draw out spiritual power… but only in worlds where spiritual power is truly effective. This kind of training can make a person's every move naturally carry spiritual damage…"
Ryuji narrowed his eyes.
"It seems I really need to go to Mai's world. And temporarily set aside my swordsmanship."
Once again, he confirmed the path he needed to take.
He had always relied on guns and sword skills for survival. Swordsmanship and gunmanship were the things he was best at now.
But the primary reason swordsmanship became his foundation was largely due to the will of the world.
Without the Demon Slayer world's will supporting him, the power and upper limit of his swordsmanship would never be as high as it was now.
After all, Dragon fire could be attached to all his attacks, it wasn't exclusive to swords.
"With my current physical strength, the fighting worlds should still have martial artists strong enough to battle me, right? If I don't use energy…"
He thought it through, then nodded.
"Yeah. That makes sense. If I just crush them with my special powers, then it can hardly be called training..."
He continuously pondered his next steps and made a decision.
"Then in the King of Fighters world, I'll fight using only my physical strength and martial arts against those fighters, tempering my will and spirit until I become even stronger…"
"Only when I truly need to kill will I use my sword and Dragon Fire to end the fight in one decisive blow."
He nodded, satisfied with his idea.
"And if I use my special powers for everything, it wouldn't showcase the capabilities of Shiranui style either. I can't go back on my promise to Mai."
With that in mind, Ryuji tossed aside the heavily damaged training sword and began his physical training for the day.
He started moving continuously, throwing punches, fighting enemies that existed only in his imagination.
The method was simple:
Every time he threw a punch, he imagined an opponent identical to himself, someone equally skilled in combat, constantly hunting for openings.
Then he attacked and dodged accordingly.
It was, in essence, fighting himself.
And when you fight an enemy like that, you have to go all-out.
So without realizing it, once Ryuji became immersed, he began responding with full force.
His hands and feet flashed through the air, producing explosive cracking booms. Each strike generated shockwaves that instinctively frightened the observing maids nearby.
Asuna, who was training on the side together with Esdeath and the others under Olga and the sow-goddess's guidance, couldn't help but look towards Ryuji with a hint of fear.
"Ryuji is so strong..."
She murmured while watching Ryuji.
~~~~~~~~~~
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