— — — — — —
The moment Karyou shouted her surrender, the game space vanished, and the two of them reappeared in the [No Name] living room.
Shiroyasha grinned mischievously, kicked a sofa over next to Karyou, and chuckled.
"Well, well, Karyou-chan actually admitted defeat. Now that's a rare sight!"
"..."
Karyou rolled her eyes and flopped onto the sofa. She turned to glare at Ryo and half-joked: "Were you actually gonna cut off my hand?"
Ryo retracted his Shikai and slung his Zanpakutō back at his waist. He gave her a sidelong glance and replied dryly:
"Started strong, ended weak. Kinda anticlimactic."
Karyou snorted. "Hmph! What, you think the mighty Roc Demon King is just gonna sit there and take a beating?"
She was the princess of the Golden-Winged Roc tribe—one of the Seven Great Demon Kings. Getting turned into a punching bag? And in front of everyone? No way.
Although… yeah, her tone earlier was a bit off.
Leaning back on the sofa with a cocky tilt of her head, she muttered: "Alright, even if Shiroyasha stirred this whole mess up, it was technically my fault. I owe you an apology."
Ryo raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. Then he narrowed his eyes and asked: "Can I cash in that apology right now?"
"…What?" Karyou blinked, caught off guard—and immediately regretted saying anything.
She only offered to save face, not to actually grovel in front of everyone! Now Ryo was seriously going to make her apologize publicly?
"Ryo!!"
Black Rabbit quickly rushed over and clamped a hand over his mouth, dragging him over to the nearby couch and forcing him to sit down. She turned to Karyou and bowed apologetically.
"I'm so sorry, Lady Roc Demon King. Our leader occasionally... loses his mind."
Karyou was happy to be let off the hook. She wasn't actually that mad.
She shot a glance at Ryo and muttered under her breath: "In private is fine."
In other words—backstage apology, no public embarrassment.
Ryo caught the hint and nodded. "Alright, I'll put it on your tab."
Karyou twitched, her tone snarky:
"You've got the shameless charm of Canaria, I'll give you that."
This time, Ryo had to hold Black Rabbit back.
"Easy, easy! It was a joke!"
"Don't stop me! I don't care if she's the Roc Demon King—nobody insults Lord Canaria!!"
Black Rabbit yanked herself free and charged forward… only for Ryo to reflexively pull his hand back.
She stumbled a step forward and suddenly found herself face-to-face with Karyou.
"…Huh?" Karyou raised a brow, amused. "Oh? A subordinate of Deva King Indra, huh? You've got guts."
Black Rabbit's eyes twitched, and she awkwardly took a few steps back, quickly grabbing Ryo's arm and whistling innocently.
"Welp, you're holding me now, so guess I can't do anything about it."
"Pffft!"
Leticia giggled behind her hand.
Shiroyasha, on the other hand, was fanning herself, grinning from ear to ear.
She looked over at Ryo and said cheerfully:
"Making Karyou throw in the towel, huh? Looks like you've improved a lot, kid."
Ryo's expression changed slightly, but he stayed silent.
He had a sneaking suspicion that Shiroyasha knew something, but he wasn't sure how much.
Karyou frowned and turned toward her. "Wait, I thought you said Ryo Yagami was only mid-level five-digit?"
Shiroyasha half-covered her face with her fan and giggled.
"Fufufu~ Well, turns out the gift inside this kid is one of those special types that gives a ton of power—but it's usually sealed."
"Last time Leticia and I only saw his base state. We assumed the next stage wouldn't be that different. Never expected thisfrom his first release."
Leticia gave a polite nod, smiling as if they had just discovered the truth.
In reality, she was just playing along with Shiroyasha's story.
"I see…" Karyou murmured, a bit surprised.
Shiroyasha turned back to Ryo, still all smiles: "Hey, Ryo—how many times can your so-called Zanpakutō release?"
Ah. So that's what this was.
She was handing him a perfect excuse for why his power had skyrocketed—something that wouldn't raise too many questions.
Ryo nodded without missing a beat. "Yeah, it can undergo two releases."
Shiroyasha feigned surprise.
"Two times? I remember you saying your gift could evolve. Shikai, Bankai, Final Release, Ultimate Liberation, super-duper Fusion... I think you even hinted there was more beyond that?"
Seriously? Two stages aren't enough of a cover story? Does she think Zanpakutō are that broken?
Ryo gave her a look and said half-seriously:
"…Something like that. I think it evolves with me. Not sure how many times it can release in total."
A complete bluff.
In truth, Zanpakutō had only Shikai and Bankai. Anything beyond that was just pushing into mysterious territory—like Aizen's final form or Ichigo's Mugetsu.
"Super-duper Fusion" or "Ultimate Liberation"? Shiroyasha was just making stuff up to help him cover.
But he got the message—run with the lie so no one digs deeper into why his strength had jumped so suddenly.
Karyou narrowed her eyes at his Zanpakutō and muttered: "Multiple releases, huh? That's strong… but sounds like a pain."
In Little Garden, gifts that needed to be released in stages weren't uncommon. The more steps, the more strategic planning was required.
And she'd seen Ryo unlock his Zanpakutō during their fight—his power increase was dramatic.
If not for his weak authority-type abilities, he could've turned the tables on her completely.
But if people knew he needed to release it first to get strong? They'd just attack him before he could.
Sneak attacks, assassinations, surprise ambushes—it opened up a lot of weaknesses.
Hence, Karyou's comment.
Shiroyasha laughed again and added, "His body's too fragile. Probably why his gift has to unlock step-by-step."
"…Huh?" Ryo turned to look at her, his face twitching.
Shiroyasha suddenly put her fan away and raised a bare arm.
"What're you looking at? Don't believe me? Come arm wrestle me!"
Ryo glanced down at the tiny red mole on her arm, expression complicated.
"…Tch. What are you staring at?" Shiroyasha yanked her sleeve down and coughed.
"Ahem. Anyway—Karyou-chan, you passed him, right?"
Karyou crossed her legs and gave Ryo a playful glance.
"Of course. Honestly, if this kid weren't already [No Name]'s leader, I'd be dragging him into the Seven Demon Kings myself. He's got the potential to take over after me and the others."
Black Rabbit instinctively tightened her grip on Ryo's sleeve.
Shiroyasha chuckled and waved her fan.
"Nice try. Even you can't just steal people from us, Karyouuu-chan~"
Then she turned to Ryo and said with a sly grin:
"Get ready for the ceremony this afternoon. We'll make it official and give you domain authority."
"With the Roc Demon King's personal approval, no one up top can accuse me of playing favorites. And if anyone does complain…"
She cracked a wicked smirk.
"I'll visit them personally. If it's a guy, I'll bust his head open. If it's a girl, well, hehehe~"
.
.
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