Chapter 85: Title, Warrior of Love
"Right, where's Miu?"
Takumi felt a wave of relief wash over him, but the next instant he remembered Miu and hurriedly scanned around. Soon he spotted her lying gently atop someone's long robe, sleeping peacefully with an utterly serene expression.
"No need to worry, kid. Miu only had all that violent surging ki sucked out of her. On top of that, the shock of thinking you died followed immediately by the joy of seeing you revived—it was an overwhelming swing from despair to ecstasy. She simply fainted from the emotional overload."
"I… sucked the ki out of Miu? Wait, since when do I know the Great Star-Absorbing Method?!"
"Great Star-Absorbing Method? What's that supposed to be? It was purely coincidental. You erupted with latent potential right at the verge of death, and Miu's surging ki had already gone out of control. It just flowed through the hand she had stabbed into your body and poured straight into you. A whole chain of lucky accidents, nothing more."
Akisame stepped forward and patted Takumi on the shoulder, signaling him not to blame himself. Takumi still pressed on:
"So I stole Miu's true ki… Does that mean her martial arts are ruined now?"
"How could that be? As long as a person's will and life force remain, even if they lose arms and legs they can still fuse mind and body again to generate true ki. For Miu this is actually a blessing in disguise. She's passed through this tribulation; from now on her surging ki will reach perfection. Entering the master realm is only a matter of time."
A master was someone whose mind, body, and technique had achieved perfect unity. According to the way demonic engravings classified skill tiers, that meant reaching the seventh tier of foundational combat ability. In traditional martial-arts ranking terms, it was equivalent to attaining the mythical forty-ninth dan—the great number of fifty minus one, the ultimate refinement where the forty-nine become whole through the missing one, achieving true perfection.
"Phew… then I can relax. So I really have grasped ki now?"
"Of course. Just feel it for yourself. Try sinking your mind into your lower abdomen."
Takumi focused his awareness on his dantian. Instantly a strange, cool current welled up from deep inside his body. He guided that awareness to his palm—and there, flowing slowly, was a faint blue ripple of energy that only someone capable of perceiving ki could see.
"Blue…? So I'm a stillness-type ki fighter?"
"Exactly. Takumi, your awakening is downright bizarre. Some people awaken true ki through rage at their homeland being invaded and the resolve to protect it. Others ignite it from an insatiable thirst for battle, or from the iron determination to guard their loved ones. But someone who births stillness-type ki purely because he wants to build a massive harem…? I never could have imagined such a thing."
Shio stepped forward. It was hard to tell whether he felt depressed, astonished, or simply had the overwhelming urge to face-palm. His own disciple turned out to be a stillness practitioner—and on top of that, his awakening will was this outrageously perverse. How the hell was he supposed to explain this to anyone in the future?
"Calm down, Sakaki-kun."
Akisame borrowed one of Takumi's modern phrases, though the weird twitching at the corner of his mouth completely betrayed how much he was enjoying this.
"Haha! Takumi, I've decided—I'm officially passing my title 'Warrior of Love' on to you!"
Kensei grinned lecherously. Takumi stared at him speechlessly. Since when did you have that title?! Weren't you supposed to be the 'Soft Sword Star' or something? And that ridiculous "Warrior of Love" thing was obviously stolen straight from words I said earlier!
"Might as well just call him Harem Lord. The kid clearly doesn't care about shame anyway."
Shio muttered helplessly. Takumi put on a suitably ashamed expression—while secretly thinking to himself, Hmm… that title actually sounds pretty cool.
"Alright, we've been away from Ryōzanpaku far too long. Let's head back."
Fuurinji Hayato scooped up his granddaughter, shot Takumi a single glance, gave a displeased huff, and vanished in a flash.
"The Elder seems a little mad…"
"Well, who can blame him? This brat's guts are off the charts. Not satisfied with trying to claim our weapon-child 'Shigure,' he even has designs on our invincible superhuman's granddaughter—who also happens to be the daughter of The Shadow. The fact that he's still breathing, bouncing around, and got personally treated by the Elder already shattered my entire worldview."
One master after another leaped away and disappeared until only Takumi and Kōsaka Shigure remained.
"Boy… let's go back."
"Okay, Shigure-Sensei."
"Shigure."
"Hm?"
Takumi blinked, then quickly caught on.
"Is it okay to call you that?"
"Shigure."
Her face remained perfectly blank as she repeated it. Takumi immediately corrected himself:
"Yes, Shigure."
A tiny smile curved her lips. She took his hand, gave a light leap—and the world blurred. When Takumi's vision cleared they were already a dozen meters away.
"Use your ki. Sense the flow of my energy. Jumping with pure muscle strength alone won't cut it."
"Got it."
Takumi immediately focused his mind. First he sank his awareness into his dantian, giving birth to a stream of cool energy. Then he directed it through his palm, letting it seep into Shigure's body via their joined hands. Shigure's slender frame trembled slightly. For an instant her internal ki surged violently, threatening to crush the "intruding" wisp of intent—but she quickly softened that razor-sharp ferocity into something gentle and enveloping. She wrapped his ki in a tender current that circulated once through her meridians.
The moment his intent-ki entered her body, Takumi felt as though he had been pulled into the warmest, softest embrace imaginable. It was as if Shigure were hugging him tightly right now—an impossibly intimate sensation, even more comforting than the chest-to-back rubbing they'd shared in the hot spring last time.
True ki was the energy born when intent separated the body's "force" from its "breath." It was the purest expression of a person's will. People often described the ultimate pleasure as the union of spirit and desire… and right now, the contact between Takumi and Shigure had already reached exactly that level. His peculiar stillness-ki was especially lively inside the body of a woman he admired, sending unfamiliar waves of sensation through Shigure. After enduring it for several minutes she finally couldn't hold back any longer. She gently pushed his ki back into his own body, cheeks faintly flushed, and said:
"Remember the path it just took. That's the method for opening the leg meridians. Later you can learn proper lightness skills from it."
When his ki was returned Takumi felt a faint pang of loss, but he forced it down and nodded seriously.
"Got it. Thank you, Shigure-nee."
"Now that you've awakened stillness-ki, you've officially stepped into the ranks of true martial artists. Have you thought of a title for yourself yet?"
"A title…? Like Warrior of Love, or Harem Lord, something like that?"
Shigure's normally expressionless face showed a rare trace of helplessness. She gave him a sidelong glance.
"A title… is something very sacred."
"Uh… I can't exactly come up with anything profound on the spot."
"That's fine. There's no rush."
After that the two of them said nothing more. Before long they arrived back at Ryōzanpaku. The moment they passed through the gate, Shigure vanished in an instant.
Takumi felt bone-deep exhaustion settle over him. Although his injuries had miraculously healed as though by divine intervention, his body was still covered in dried blood and caked mud. Enduring the fatigue, he decided to take a bath. He didn't bother heating water—just wrapped a towel around his waist and headed straight for the bathroom.
The light was still on.
Strange. Ryōzanpaku had a strict policy of conservation; whoever finished bathing always turned off the light. And it was already three in the morning. Takumi assumed no one was inside, so he pushed the door open without hesitation.
He froze.
A girl was just stepping out of the enormous paulownia-wood tub. Slender. Snow-white. Fragile.
It wasn't Miu.
And it definitely wasn't Shigure.
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