Training with the new weapon began the next dawn.
Kurou and Hotetsu watched as Shisui practiced fusing his Arch Energy techniques with his Spinal Blade. The weapon danced with him, floating midair, orbiting around his body like a serpent of living steel.
He practiced combining:
Thunderclap Judgment to electrify the blade mid-strike
Black Iron Execution Array to pin enemies before drawing the weapon in for a piercing shot
And a hybrid: Crystal Bloom Guard + Magnetic Sandstorm Armor, creating a healing storm of iron-petal mist
Kurou threw kunai infused with Arch lightning. Shisui repelled them with a Polar Pulse Field, then instantly used the recoil to launch his Rail Fang forward like a railgun—piercing a stone slab.
Hotetsu raised an eyebrow. "He's syncing with it faster than even the eldest heirs."
But the true test came when the Temple's defense construct, a golem infused with corrupted magnetism, was unleashed.
> "You must fight something immune to your magnetism," Kurou said grimly. "Adapt or fall."
The golem surged forward, absorbing Shisui's magnetic field and scattering his iron sand.
Shisui stumbled—but then smiled.
> "Then I'll fight it without control. I'll fight it with fury."
He recalled his training, tapped into his Arch Energy core—and used manual iron manipulation.
Channeling everything into his new blade, he shouted:
> "Rail Fang: Twin Fang Burst!"
Two segments of the weapon split mid-flight, slamming into the golem's core like iron hammers. Then—he fused Sunfang Bloom into the rail traces, igniting a chain-flame reaction inside the golem.
It exploded in a burst of flame and sparks.
Silence followed.
Then Hotetsu said, "You are not just a child of Iron Tempest. You are its storm."