Ryuji's so-called "legitimate reason" for entering Mai's room?
It really was legitimate.
He wanted to learn a new technique.
However, he had absolutely no interest in the full suite of Shiranui-style martial arts. While many of the moves had evolved beyond their traditional forms and carried Mai's personal flair, the core style itself still felt awkward and incompatible with his combat philosophy.
So—
"Let me get this straight," Mai said, exhaling slowly. "You only want to learn how to change direction midair and the special method of injecting flames directly into someone's body?"
Her voice was tight with disbelief. She knew Ryuji didn't hold Shiranui-ryu in particularly high regard, but she hadn't expected him to pick only those two techniques.
"Exactly," Ryuji replied seriously. "You've seen my fighting style firsthand. The techniques you use in the Shiranui school don't really fit me."
His fighting relied on overwhelming offense—powerful, fast, and decisive. Against most enemies, a single swing of his blade was enough to end the battle. If not, he'd tank the hit and strike back even harder.
He didn't like dragging out fights. Ever since he'd gained the confidence brought by his Dragonfire ability, he knew he could dominate any opponent at his level—and even stand his ground against stronger ones.
In contrast, Shiranui-ryu focused on agility, counters, and exploiting openings.
It was a style built on patience.
But he was good at is creating openings—not waiting for them.
"You really are something else…" Mai sighed in exasperation before starting to explain.
"All of those techniques use Qi. If you haven't learned how to use Qi yet, then you won't be able to perform them."
Every advanced move in her arsenal relied on Qi control. She had no idea how many energy systems Ryuji could actually handle, but from her perspective, no matter what, it'd take at least a few months of training to even begin developing Qi.
Ryuji raised his hand confidently.
"Well, we'll know once I try. You've seen it—I can heal even serious wounds... it just hurts a bit, that's all."
He gestured for Mai to begin, completely unfazed.
Mai rolled her eyes but finally let out a deep breath, resigning herself to explaining the Shiranui clan's secret techniques.
That's when Ryuji realized—Shiranui-ryu's airborne directional control wasn't simply about manipulating Qi. It also involved pre-setting one's trajectory and moves before even jumping.
As for the flame-penetration technique, it wasn't about merely launching fire at the enemy either.
"It's about channeling an energy that lies between fire and Qi into your opponent's body," Mai explained. "Through resonance, you amplify its destructive force. And if you're skilled enough, you can even convert their internal energy into fuel for your own technique. I've just recently started getting the hang of it, so I can only create four Qi bursts at most. The resonance and absorption effects? Barely noticeable."
She sighed after her explanation. Even with her talent, this ultimate move was still beyond her full control.
Many Shiranui-style techniques were out of reach for her due to her physical limitations—strength, stamina, or sheer Qi reserves. The Dance of the Nine Tails, for instance, was supposed to cause nine explosions inside the opponent's body, forming a massive pillar of flame. But in her hands, it topped out at just four flame bursts.
"I see… so that's how it works."
Ryuji nodded, finally understanding the concept.
In essence, it was like forming a spiraling Qi orb inside the enemy's body—kind of like a Rasengan, only simpler. Qi was an ethereal, semi-physical force, so such techniques were possible with enough control.
If a fighter used Qi for defense, the effectiveness of this technique would depend on whether they could see through the attack—and how skilled they were at controlling their own energy. But usually, once their internal flow was disrupted, defense became impossible.
As for Ryuji...
"Yeah, forget using flames for this one."
He tried shaping his flames into a spiral form, but quickly gave up. If he could just inject fire directly into someone's body, he'd rather just blow them up—no need for subtle tricks.
So yeah. This technique was basically useless for fire.
Next up—mana.
He summoned a shimmering blue light into his palm. The moment a chaotic swirl of mana formed, he felt a sharp tearing pain in his hand. The wild mana surged out of control, forcing him to throw it away.
It exploded midair in a devastating blast. The shockwave blew both his and Mai's hair back and sent her robe fluttering.
Ryuji glanced at her—not wearing the Shiranui-style uniform—and gave an internal thumbs down. He then looked down at his hand, now a mangled mess of blood and torn skin.
Clearly, he wasn't skilled enough to control mana that precisely.
"And it drains too much focus. If I tried this mid-fight, I'd get myself killed."
Frowning, he activated Dragonfire and Life Return. His hand quickly began to regenerate.
Mai, who had instinctively reached for some bandages, stopped mid-motion, stunned by the speed of his recovery.
So that left only one option—blood energy.
His most familiar and well-controlled power.
Ryuji gathered invisible blood energy and shaped it into a spiral, injecting it into the table in front of him. It formed the spherical core exactly as Mai described. Then he tapped another part of the table—another blood orb appeared, mirroring the first.
Both spheres began to resonate violently.
Ryuji could feel the blood energy absorbing something from the wooden surface. Not just penetrating it—consuming it.
"Wait... blood energy from the Berserker class… it's basically life force, isn't it?"
As he spoke, a geyser of molten-red blood energy erupted violently, blasting the table to splinters.
Mai stared in shock. She'd sensed the overwhelming and explosive power of Ryuji's blood energy, but she hadn't expected just a bit of it to utterly annihilate a hardwood table.
"Interesting…"
Ryuji twirled his wrist. It seemed the power system from Arad was surprisingly compatible with the power from Mai's world.
Didn't Sizki mention a training method for Nen once? It's kind of similar to this 'Qi,' isn't it?
Thinking of another well-endowed martial artist he knew—Sizki—Ryuji suddenly realized something odd.
Now that I think about it, are all female martial artists ridiculously busty?
He felt as though he'd just uncovered a profound cosmic truth.
"I can't believe you actually pulled it off—transforming energy outside the body on your first try…"
Mai sounded genuinely jealous. She'd spent months learning to ignite her Qi outside her body—and Ryuji had done it on a whim.
"It's probably just the nature of my energy," Ryuji said as he looked at his palm.
In the King of Fighters world, fighters rarely had the capacity to manipulate energy in multiple forms. But in the Arad world, that flexibility was expected.
He suspected it had to do with the ratio of spiritual energy in one's overall power system.
Which was why—for him—this wasn't all that difficult.
In fact...
He began wondering if he could use an enemy's own blood to attack them.
"Let's see… how do I manipulate blood that's not mine…"
He recalled the techniques described in the Blood Qi Secret Arts.
"By using the ghost arm's life-attracting nature, you can use your own powerful blood energy to absorb the scattered blood aura of others. Then, with the ghost arm's power, you can either fuse the energies within the heart or release them in an explosive burst..."
It was all extremely detailed. Anyone with half a brain could learn it after one read.
Except for one problem.
Ryuji didn't have a ghost arm. Nor did he intend to get one.
"Seriously? This whole manual is built around having a ghost arm? Ugh…"
It made sense, though. In Arad, blood Energy skills were tied to ghost swordsmen—especially berserkers, whose origin traced back to the cursed Kazan. The ghost arm was their signature.
So of course the technique was tailor-made for users with ghost arms.
Still...
Ryuji looked at a droplet of his own blood. Something sparked in his mind.
"Wait… blood is mostly water, isn't it?"
He recalled that over 80% of blood was water. That meant, if he could sense the water inside blood, he might be able to manipulate it—possibly even draw it out of an enemy's body with ease.
Without wasting a moment, he began testing it out.
Instead of using Blood Qi Secret Arts to manipulate his own blood, he activated his Water Manipulation Technique, trying to sense the water content within his own body.
Immediately, red dots surfaced all over his arm—and with them came excruciating pain. The water within his muscles, skin, and fascia was forcibly moving!
His skin shriveled. His flesh and tendons tightened as if being dehydrated at a cellular level.
Ryuji quickly halted the technique. Dragonfire surged over his arm, while Life Return kicked in to restore his tissues.
Even so, the damage was worse than expected. Bones, blood vessels, nerves—everything had suffered. Without his regeneration abilities, his arm might have been permanently crippled.
He looked at his recovering arm and shivered slightly.
"That was terrifying… Ryuji, were you really just trying to control the water inside your own body?"
Mai held his arm—now healed—and looked at him with deep concern. She was also visibly shaken by the sheer power of his Dragonfire.
"Yeah… I didn't expect it to be that strong."
Ryuji frowned. His flame powers weren't native to Toph's world, but his water manipulation definitely came from there. If waterbenders were that powerful, how could they have been driven nearly to extinction by the Fire Nation?
"There must be a limitation…"
Ryuji narrowed his eyes and rushed outside, with Mai following closely behind.
He didn't go far—just to the kitchen, where he grabbed a live chicken.
He wanted to try extracting blood from it directly.
But it didn't work.
He couldn't sense the water inside the chicken's body—as if something was shielding it, blocking his perception.
Frustrated, Ryuji raised a kitchen knife and swiftly chopped off the chicken's head.
Even then, he couldn't control the flowing blood. His Blood Qi Secret Arts naturally drew the blood toward him, but Water Manipulation did nothing.
Only when the chicken finally stopped twitching, and its eyes fully closed—when it was truly dead—could Ryuji sense the water in its body. Only then could he form the blood on the floor and within the corpse into a hovering blood sphere.
"…Useless like this."
He sighed. His gut told him that if he could break through the mysterious barrier preventing him from sensing blood in living creatures, he could unlock frighteningly powerful abilities.
Then, something clicked.
In the world of Avatar, elemental manipulation stems from resonance between the soul and the element itself…
Which meant… the soul might interfere with soul-based abilities.
"So that's it. The soul protects the body's blood… or maybe resides within it. That would explain why I can't control blood while the creature's still alive. In a fantasy world, this kind of rule wouldn't be surprising."
He scratched his chin, disappointed as he looked at the blood-drained corpse.
"So, for now… I can only use my own blood for explosive attacks. Which seriously weakens the technique."
Grumbling, he handed the chicken to the stunned kitchen maid.
Then he turned and noticed Mai, deep in thought.
"What's on your mind?" he asked.
Mai composed herself and replied calmly.
"Just wondering what other ridiculous abilities you're hiding. You always seem to pull out the weirdest powers from nowhere."
Ryuji thought for a second.
If he told her he could go for 24 hours straight without taking breaks, she might just flee in terror. Better to say something normal.
"I can also cook."
"…Huh?"
Mai stared at him with open skepticism.
That jab hit his pride.
With great confidence, he strode into the kitchen, snatched a kitchen knife from the shocked-chef, and got to work.
He might not have graduated from Totsuki Culinary Academy, but he had skills. More importantly—
He always carried MSG and a custom seasoning mix made by Erina herself.
And as Ryuji began unleashing his… let's say experimental cooking skills Erina once called them "culinary disasters", things elsewhere were wrapping up.
Shinobu and Mitsuri had just finished a meeting among the Hashiras.
Ryuji hadn't been invited—not that he minded. He found those kinds of meetings boring anyway.
This one had focused on who would stay behind to manage this area, who would escort Ryuji to the Demon Slayer HQ, and what logistics to plan for.
The final decisions?
Rengoku would remain here to recruit and train new members of Demon Slayers corps.
Tengen would serve as temporary commander while Rengoku recovered, helping wipe out local demons.
Originally, Mitsuri or Shinobu were supposed to stay. After all, Tengen had already fought alongside Ryuji, and Shinobu's medical skills could accelerate Rengoku's healing.
But the moment Ryuji showed them the map he got, they had no choice but to revise the plan.
The reason was simple.
They were afraid.
Afraid that the female demon might come back to life.
The map Ryuji had obtained clearly detailed what the three major demon forces were doing—and hinted at deeper connections between them.
It revealed three demonic focal points and hinted at a greater connection—maybe even a plan to transform this world into one dominated by demons.
The demons were plotting to transform this world into their own.
If that was the case, reviving an ancient, powerful demon wouldn't just be plausible—it would be expected.
And when it came to combat readiness:
Shinobu was too physically weak for direct confrontation.
Mitsuri had no experience facing that particular demon.
So by process of elimination, the responsibility fell on Tengen and Rengoku.
Even if Tengen's experience with the female demon had ended in quick defeat, experience was experience—and combined with Rengoku, they might stand a chance.
They were betting on one thing:
That when the female demon revives, she won't be as powerful as before.
They were betting their lives on that gamble.
"Sigh… That's such a shame. I was hoping with this shift change, I could enjoy more of the local snacks…"
Mitsuri let out a disappointed sigh, her usual energy dimmed.
Despite the damage, the area still had a functioning supply chain thanks to the nearby train line. The local warehouses were well-stocked, keeping the entertainment district alive.
Which also meant… the food here was far better than at HQ.
Especially the sweets.
Here, she could enjoy treats the main compound could only dream of.
In times as difficult as these, even the smallest comforts—like a tasty snack—were more than enough to motivate Mitsuri, the bottomless pit with a sweet tooth.
"Aren't you worried you'll scare away even more men at this rate? You do realize there aren't many left alive, right?"
Shinobu chuckled, watching her pink-and-green-haired companion sulk over the lack of treats.
Mitsuri's physique was entirely built from what she ate. Her appetite was the stuff of legends—she could easily out-eat three sumo wrestlers, and her muscle density was eight times that of a normal person. It was the source of her superhuman strength.
But… it also scared off quite a few potential suitors.
Her unique hair color? That came from eating 170 sakura mochi every single day for eight months straight.
Her appearance, her appetite, her intensity—it had all driven away those she'd been arranged to meet.
The reason she joined the Demon Slayer Corps in the first place was simple:
She just wanted to find someone who could accept her as she was. Hence… the title of Love Hashira.
And the part about there being fewer men? That was sadly true.
Most who joined the Corps were men. Most soldiers in the war against the demons were men.And the war had taken a heavy toll—especially on the youth.
The result? Far fewer men were left. And the ones who remained were in very high demand.
Mitsuri puffed out her cheeks in frustration. Sure, some men didn't mind her hair color—but the moment they saw her appetite, they ran for the hills.
But what could she do?
She couldn't help it.
She was really hungry all the time.
"Mmm… Shinobu, you meanie."
She grumbled, pouting.
Then, with a dreamy sigh, she voiced her hopelessly high standards:
"If only there were a guy out there who didn't mind how I look… could cook delicious food… was strong enough to beat me in a fight… didn't mind how much I eat… and could even afford to feed me…"
That was her ideal man.
Normally, Shinobu would tease her a little after hearing something like that.
But today...
She didn't.
Because…
...Other than cooking, Ryuji-sama checks every single box. Actually, no—scratch that. He probably wants to eat her alive.
That dangerous thought popped into Shinobu's mind just as—
A divine aroma wafted through the air.
Instantly, saliva pooled in her mouth.
She turned to look at Mitsuri—who was already drooling.
Uh-oh... I have a bad feeling about this.
The next moment, the kitchen door swung open. Ryuji walked out, carrying a large pot of braised meat.
The rich scent rolled out like a wave. Irresistible.
Nearby, Mai and the little kitchen maid were already gazing at Ryuji like lovesick kittens.
That could only mean one thing:
Ryuji-sama made this.
And he can cook. REALLY well.
As that truth dawned on Shinobu, a pink blur shot past her.
Like a gust of wind tipped in cherry blossoms, Mitsuri charged toward Ryuji with the unstoppable force of a woman who'd been promised both love and barbecue.
Because—
How can a foodie resist the temptation of delicious food?
"Ah… it's over."
Shinobu covered her face with one hand.
Because she knew at this rate—
Mitsuri Kanroji was about to become… Nakamura Mitsuri.
~~~~~~~~~~
You can support me by subscribing on Patreon and read upto 10 chapters ahead.
patreon.com/Ranabir_20