After yesterday's events , the rest of Shido's day went pretty idyllic. There was nothing too exciting in school other than some boys staring at miku and shido was genuinely contemplating murdering them . Or at least he would have if it wasn't for the fact that miku and the other girls were there. Still, them having a few broken bones due to an unexpected car accident wasn't be totally impossible now was it ? 

     That aside, the conditions were now conducive to proceed with his plans. With the tensions that he had created between America and Russia, they would have now begun to mobilize their secret weapons and nuclear warheads stock . And that meant that his clones now had a chance to infiltrate and seize control of them. It was a tried and true tested method that he had tried in the past. Humans were such simple creatures. 

      Still, he couldn't be complacent with them. Carelessness is the greatest enemy. So he would still proceed with caution. Another thing he was happy with was that the creation of the base was proceeding nicely. Once the base would be constructed, the assembly line for weapons could be started too. It was a good thing that just in the span of three days of coming to the present, he had achieved so much. Truly, multitasking , infinite workforce and  endless stamina was a wonderful thing. 

        With this , nothing could go wrong ! Wait…. Shido paused his train of thought. As he was seated at his desk after returning from school, a thought passed through his mind. Every time he thought that nothing could go wrong , SOMETHING went wrong. It was almost like fate was watching him and it was like, ' Oh , you're having a good time ? Here, take some troubles to balance it
out !' . If there was something in the world that he hated more than himself, it was fate. 

      With that thought in mind, Shido decided to speed up with the construction of his base. A base would not only ensure as his survival hideout, it would also boost his offensive prowess by serving as his workshop for weapon production. After all, you can never be overprepared in a war . That is what he had always taught Edmond during his training.

       Suddenly, Shido was hit with a wave of nostalgia. That brat was the only human he genuinely interacted with before coming to the present. And the strange thing was, he wasn't even from earth ! Well technically, he was from earth , but rather a different earth in a different cosmos. The kid was a member of the cursed bloodline like him ( although a much lower purity and as such significantly decreased abilities ) . As such, he could utilize ' Blood Bonds ' ability of the Cursed bloodline. The ' Blood Bonds ' ability allowed members of the cursed bloodline to not just communicate across different worlds in the cosmos, but even share knowledge. For example, if one member of the bloodline had devoured the soul of a nuclear physicist and absorbed all his knowledge and skills, using this skill, he could pass on the knowledge to another member of the bloodline without ever coming into physical contact with them. 

         This along with the other abilities was the reason the Heavenly Twelve wiped out the wielders of the Cursed bloodline throughout the cosmos. The only reason inheritors like he and Edmond existed is because turns out, the ancestor and Progenitor of the bloodline ,The Blood God Hastur was in fact Philemon himself. He had created the bloodline to help certain individuals among humans to be better protectors of humanity. Of course, when all the users of the bloodline were wiped out, he put in place a special system. In it, whenever someone awakened their Fool arcana, they would also have a chance to awaken and manifest the Cursed bloodline in them. Of course, the purity of the bloodline ( and as such it's power ) was random too and he himself was lucky that he had received the highest possible purity,
  ' The True Ancestor ' rank which meant that he was just one step below the progenitor of the bloodline himself. 

        That aside, he had first come across Edmond accidentally when he was on the verge of death and he himself had sensed it across the cosmos. With the application of the Law of Life, he had managed to save him. At that time, the poor kid didn't even have a name, just a number from the scientists that described him . He was the one who gave him the name Edmond. He had found out after looking through Edmond's memories that he lived in a world where only women had powers called Honkai compatibility and men were essentially like slaves , or more appropriately cattle. This was of course, in no way an earth shattering revelation as given the huge amount of dimensions in the cosmos, nearly all possibilities were ….  Well possible ! As such, there was no way he should have felt pity or anything of that sort for the boy , especially considering that it was around the time he was blowing up continents and stealing Entire national monuments. Still he did because that child had just lost the love of his life and had killed all the people in the research facility which was testing and torturing him. 

      He had taught Edmond a lot of things . From utilizing his abilities, to using various weapons, various sword techniques, a few divine level techniques ( just because he felt like it ) and the art of assassination, information acquiring , never trusting humans and all the skills that a rogue would need in his day to day life. And while he hadn't spoken with him for quite some decades, or rather a century now, it didn't matter much considering that due to the effect of temporal dilations, nearly only a decade had passed in Edmond's world as of now. Still, he wished he could find out what the kid was up to. He had taught the brat to avoid unnecessary attention and avoid getting in contact with women in general and overall maintaining a low profile, but considering him, he could never be sure. 

     Shido sighed. He was thinking about that brat as if he was his younger brother or something. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't care about him. Then there was the fact that apparently, another wielder of the cursed bloodline had popped up. The wielder was apparently traveling with one of the Fragments of Xemnas The Hermit. So he didn't have to worry about his safety. As a True Ancestor, he had the moral obligation to look after the lesser of the cursed bloodline individuals. Due to his status as True Ancestor, he was , like the name suggested, an ancestor of the lower purity individuals. Of course, since he wasn't directly related to them, he was something more like their distant Great - Great - Granduncle in a sense. Still, a part of him didn't want his species to go extinct, so he would definitely help them out if they needed it . Sometimes he wondered that considering their abilities , would they ever truly settle down and have a family ? After all, defeating your enemies by dissolving them and their souls and having the ability to twist and morph your body into various nightmarish creatures doesn't exactly give the best first impressions against girls …..

      Shido paused his train of thoughts. For some reason, he was really sounding like a grumpy old man complaining and worrying about some kids ! And he wasn't old was he ?! He was just a hundred and thirty years old ! ( Three thousand, if you counted his past life as Rhadamanthus , which he had not regained his memories of ). There are multiple entities in the cosmos who are millions of years old. Hell, his own lover was ten thousand years old !

      While Shido was having the realisation that he was apparently being in denial of his old age, his thoughts were interrupted when his earpiece given by kotori rang. Shido picked it up as kotori's voice rang through it. She said , " Oi , Oni-chan ! We need you to come to Fraxinus now . The other girls are gathered too ! "  Shido , who was slightly alarmed by kotori's words, still tried to maintain a farce of calmness. He asked kotori, " What's the   matter ? Is everything alright ? " 

       Kotori's voice rang once again as she said, " Why are you asking such weird questions ? The only reason we are calling you is because Mr. Shichirou , one of Ratatoskr's longtime supporters is visiting us and he has expressed a desire to meet you. So I'll be teleporting you shortly now ! " Saying this, kotori hung up on him. Shido momentarily paused to collect his thoughts. Yagyu Shichirou's appearance meant that the events of his past were now trying to play themselves out in the same way . Shichirou - San had been a long time supporter of Ratatoskr and was one of the few individuals who stood by Ratatoskr's side till the end, even when the polluters attacked. After the battle, he was grievously wounded. When Shido had found him, his Magic circuits were already destroyed and his spiritual core was in disarray. As such, he had begged Shido to put him out of his misery. Shido had obliged, giving him a quick and painless death. 

     Shido shook his head to dispel the thoughts and made his way downstairs where Kotori would soon teleport him. As much as he cared for his family, Yagyu - San was a worthy ally and was definitely worth saving. As such, he would try his best to save his life this time along with his family.

                   ---------------X---------------

Location : Onboard the Fraxinus

         Shido was soon in one of the rooms of Fraxinus. He was surrounded by all the spirits including Ellen and Reine who were gathered there. Standing in front of him, to greet him was Issac Westcott , another member and more importantly, sponsor of Ratatoskr along with Elliott woodman. They both had a prominent role in summoning Reine to Earth. Still, Shido couldn't help but feel strange everytime he thought of Issac. Sure in this world he was good , but after learning of the different multiverses that existed and gaining their knowledge through the Akaksha , he was… Well, not happy to say the least. In most of these worlds , both he and Ellen were against the Spirits and were actively trying to exploit them. The deeds that the government had done in this world, hunting reine and the other girls, kidnapping and torturing Nia, being responsible for his past life's death were all caused by Issac in the other worlds. He would be lying if he said that, he would have genuinely tortured and murdered the guy if not for the fact that he had been helping Ratatoskr since the beginning and he was grateful to him for summoning Reine. That still didn't help the strange feeling in his heart whenever he saw him though.

      Issac greeted Shido with a smile as he said, " Good afternoon Shido. I assume you that kotori has informed you about the meeting ?" Shido nodded and said, " Yes, she informed me just a while back. Still, I wonder why someone like him wants to meet a normal human like me ?" Shido lied naturally as he breathed. He was as far away from the word normal as one could be. Of course, neither Issac nor the girls knew about this. Issac chuckled softly on hearing this. He said, " Even if you say that, I'm sure that any cultivator would be interested in finding out about a man who defeated multiple demigoddesses and a true goddess without firing a single attack at them. Ah, truly the power of love is a terrifying thing. " 

      Shido only gave a nervous smile on Issac's words. Still, at least it was a lot better than the mad laughter that the Isaacs of the other worlds had. Not that it mattered since most of them, except for a few, were  dead due to the ' Pruning Phenomena ' of the Fool arcana. He then made his way towards the deck of Fraxinus. 

     As he stepped inside, he saw kotori speaking with an old man who had a blonde haired girl by his side. The old man had a staff in his hand. The man was of course, Yagyu Shichirou , one of the few Grand Maguses who was not affiliated with any nation.

      Shido then began to instinctually analyze him. The staff was a tier three artifact. Useless in heaven, but divine by earthlings standards. It was made of wood which one could identify as that of the Kadambar tree. Good mana conduction, but devoid of any particular elemental affinity. The core was from the looks of it , most likely came from a bicorn. A pretty easy to kill phantasmal for him, but could pose as a significant threat for normal human cultivators.

     Of course, the staff was one of the most important things in the arsenal of a Magus. In order to quickly cast spells, a staff was imperative. This was because, casting spells consisted of the following steps : 

Channelling mana through the circuits

Using the said mana to draw and create a spell circle in space purely with mental strength   

Channelling more mana into the spell circle for activating said spell.

      As one might see, the most crucial here was the second step. There were three hurdles for a Magus in creating a spell circle. First, the Magus must have enough mental strength to project a spell circle in three dimensional space in front of them. Second, one must have memorized the spell circle beforehand to actually create it. And this was a huge hurdle. The spell circle essentially was preprogrammed directions for how mana worked in the spell, it's interactions , how far the spell would travel, it's strength and so on. And as one might expect, every spell was slightly different from each other. So in essence, a Magus had to memorize by heart every spell in his arsenal. Not exactly an easy task. 

     Then there was the problem of actually casting it. For casting a simple fireball spell, if one were to create the spell circle from 
scratch , it would take on average a few minutes at absolute best to cast. And on the battlefield where a few seconds decide the difference between life and death, this was a huge problem. Warriors of course didn't have this issue since the techniques that they utilized only required Qi to be channeled into their body parts ( usually the limbs ) in a particular manner and frequency and rarely if ever a chant to contextualise the technique's true meaning if it was something like a divine level technique. So how did Maguses overcome this huge disadvantage ? Simple. They used staffs. 

     A staff was essentially did the same function that attaching training wheels to a bicycle did. As stated previously, all spells have slightly different magic circles. Of course, that didn't mean they were completely different from each other. Things like mana interactions, mana flow, affinities and such were the same throughout most spells. As such, barring a few exceptions, most spell circles were about sixty percent identical. Of course, the remaining forty percent separated a simple fireball spell from an advanced meridian restraining spell. Staffs essentially took advantage of this. Inside the staff, with the help of runes, pre-made ' Templates ' of sorts were already fixed. As such, upon channeling mana through the staff, the pre-made template would manifest itself and then the Magus would add on additional information on the magic circle like elements, range of spell , intensity etc. This would greatly shorten the casting duration of the spell. 

       Of course, certain staffs also existed which specialized in certain branches or types of magic like Onmyodo , necromancy or just basic elemental manipulation. This meant that instead of the usual sixty percent, these staffs had somewhere around seventy percent pre established spell circle. Of course, this also meant that these were hyperspecalised , which made it difficult to cast other types of magic than its intended ones through them. 

        Taking another look at his garments, Shido saw that they had a basic class four protection runes and class three dissipation runes to disperse  the spiritual signature of the wearer. The artifacts he had were pretty pathetic, but on earth they could be considered divine treasures. Of course, the person who was thinking that these artifacts were pathetic himself had multiple divine artifacts which littered his soul storage like garbage and as such in his opinion, even most of heaven's divine artifacts would be garbage. 

       The next thought that popped into Shido's head was , " Hmm…… , overall assessment, average artifacts. No threat from artifacts. However , individual capabilities may pose a problem. Recommended course of action is either assassination by combination of shadow strike skill and basilisk or hydra venom or assassination by utilizing the properties of the cursed bloodline. Best course of action for assassination is law of Death infliction. For further - " . Shido suddenly stopped his train of thoughts. Perhaps old habits really do die hard. Seeing Shichirou he already knew of his status as a Grand Magus. As such, since he recognised him as a possible threat , even if an extremely minor one, his mind instinctually identified him mind began to analyse him and formulate various plans to kill him. After killing people for nearly a decade, his mind had instinctually trained itself to analyse and first formulate a plan immediately upon meeting a new person. Even if the person was a normal human, as long as he had data about them, his mind always had a plan for killing them ready . 

       Dismissing his thoughts, Shido saw that Shichirou had noticed him . Kotori turned to Shido and said with a smile on her face, 
" Shido , meet Mr. Yagyu Shichirou, one of earth's few free Grand Maguses. He has been helping Ratatoskr by keeping the other cultivation sects in check who wished for the powers of the spirits. " 

      Shido then greeted him with a bow as even by age, Yagyu was somewhere around a few centuries old. Shichirou had a smile on his face as he lifted Shido's head and said,
" No need for such formalities, Itsuka. I've always wanted to see what the man who sealed all the demigoddesses was like. And I must say, from what I've read from reports , you're quite an interesting character. Unremarkable at first sight, but willing to put himself in risk for the sake of others. Truly, a strange yet noble person. " 

       Shido had an embarrassed look on his face as he scratched his head. While the others thought of this as Shido just being humble, the truth was something different. The thoughts that went through Shido's mind were , " Noble my ass ! And he was the least selfless person in the universe ! If there was a scenario where he had to choose between either letting his family or some unknown people die, he would first shoot the unknown people before trying to save his family ! " 

      Shichirou then turned to Reine and said , 
" And you must be Miss . Reine murasame. To a true goddess, I offer my respects. " Saying this, both he and the girl beside him bowed down and greeted Reine. Reine , not used to these sorts of things, asked them to rise while being flustered. Shichirou then turned to the girl beside him and said, " Ah, yes. Allow me to introduce my daughter, Chiyome. She is a warrior who is currently in the Foundation Establishment realm. " 

      The girl , now identified as Yagyu Chiyome waved her hand at them and compared to her father who seemed like a man of tradition, she seemed more like a girl who embraced modernity. A stark contrast in Shido's opinion. The group of Shichirou and Chiyome along with Shido , the girls and Issac then seated themselves on the sofas in the lounge that were arranged in a circular manner around a table. 

      Shichirou was the first one to speak up as he said, " Ms. Murasame , allow me to confirm this . I have a basic idea of your plan . Still I would like to hear it from you. But have you truly , completely given up on your original plans ? '' Reine took a deep breath and composed herself. She then said, " Yes. As you may know, the reason I was originally going around creating demi-goddesses or as you called them spirits, was because I wished to turn Shinji or rather Shido into a demigod too, making him immortal. Originally, as per my plan , I would have killed the other girls and harvested their divine cores , sephira crystals and placed them inside Shido. I would have most likely erased his memories of them, to relieve him of his guilt. However, now that Shido has made me realize the error of my ways, I have given up on my plans ." 

       Shichirou raised a brow and said, " So you have abandoned the idea of turning Itsuka into an immortal ? I know that he is a normal human and not a cultivator, so you do realise that his lifespan is limited, right ?" Hearing this, everyone had an unpleasant look on their faces. Being reminded of the mortality of your loved ones, especially when you yourself know that you will love while they will eventually die is an unpleasant experience for everyone. Still, Shichirou knew this question was necessary. 

       Reine calmly replied to this and said ,
 " While I am aware of that fact, I have not given up on the plan of spending a long life with Shido. I am already making attempts to acquire an item from heaven that can allow ordinary mortals to have their souls bonded with a deity to lead long lives. While not immortality in the truest sense, it'll still be enough. " Hearing this, Shido had a genuine smile on his face. Hearing that reine was going through so much trouble for him genuinely made him happy. The item she was speaking about, A Palash , was not cheap in any sense. It was like someone from a middle class background trying to purchase a mansion. Not exactly a small feat. 

     Shichirou sighed and said, " So I take it that you no longer pose a threat to humanity ?" Reine had a defeated look on her face as she said, " Trust me , even if I wanted to, I could hardly pose a threat to all humanity. Maybe I could destroy a few large cities, sure. But considering I'm in the category of the weakest gods in heaven, I really don't think I would have posed a
threat ….." Hearing this was nothing short of a huge shock for everyone except Shido. They had looks of horror on their faces as Shichirou asked in disbelief , " You… You are one of the weakest gods ?....." 

     Reine, who was perhaps expecting this reaction, said " Yes. That's because I'm not a fighter originally. I'm an alchemist. I may be a good alchemist, but that hardly helps out in a battle now does it ?" Shichirou had a pensive look on his face as he said, " I truly had no idea about this terrifying reality. Truly the cosmos is a terrifying place and we humans are nothing short of frogs in a well…." Shido thought in his mind , " Oh you humans are not even worth frogs. You are more like the microorganisms and their pathetic existence. If you think that gods are the only terrifying thing in the cosmos, then you truly have no idea about the other primordial horrors that grace the cosmos. Truly, ignorance is bliss …… "

        Suddenly, Chiyome spoke in a nonchalant tone as she said, " Geez , to think that a goddess as powerful as this is just an alchemist. Man, I can't wait for when  I can quickly reach the Return to the Void realm !" Shichirou sighed on seeing his daughter act like this. He said in a slightly disappointed tone to his daughter , " The path of cultivation isn't traversed in a single step. It is an arduous path full of difficulties. You cannot make haste in this …."  

     Upon hearing her father's words Chiyome frowned and said, " Yeah , yeah , I get it. Geez , you and your philosophical bullshit. No matter what happens, I'm not going to take thousand plus years like you to reach the peak . I'll do it in just a few centuries ! " Shichirou gritted his teeth and said, " You're nearly eighty years old. Despite that , you have nearly zero maturity. Truly your generation is a lost cause…." 

       As the father daughter duo were bickering, everyone observed them from the sidelines. It seemed that it didn't matter if you were a normal human or a cultivator, certain things like clashes between generations do remain the same. Shichirou noticed everyone's gazes at him and hastily apologized and said, " Ah , sorry for my daughter's poor behaviour. She's still young and  immature . After all, she has just started getting a hang of blade techniques recently." Chiyome however seemed pretty nonchalant about the matter, seemingly not caring about it. 

         Reine shook her head and said, " It's alright. Squabbles between parents and children are to be expected in any family. " Kotori however, had something else on her mind as she said, " Hmm… You said that Chiyome - San had only recently started to learn blade techniques . Does that mean she specialises in swords as her primary weapon ?" Chiyome suddenly sprung up and said in an upbeat tone, " Of course ! I'm also pretty good at it ! While I can wield multiple different types of swords with average skill, I specialize with katanas !" 

     Hearing this, kotori smirked and said, " Oh ?  How interesting.  You know, even Shido here practised kendo. I know that he's pretty good at it too. " Soon all eyes turned to Shido. Shido replied in a nervous tone, " Well, I'm just an average practitioner of kendo , nothing more ! " Before anyone else could say anything, Kotori said , " But I remember you being pretty good at it ? I mean, you even won a few championships, didn't you , O-ni - Chan ? " 

      Shido retorted in a hurry, " Even if you say that, I'm just a normal human ! Compared to a cultivator, my skills are absolutely trash , 
right ?"  This time however, it was Chiyome who spoke up as she said, " But you are skilled , right ?! How about this, you and me have a duel and I'll not use any sword techniques ! This'll give you a fair chance, right ?! And even if you get injured , you have ifreet's power for healing injuries, right ? So how about it ?! " 

      Hearing this, Shido could practically hear Kotori's laughter from the sidelines in his mind. He knew that Chiyome was the type of cultivator who while didn't have any malice in her heart but instead was just a plain old battle maniac. And Kotori had exploited this trait of her to mess with Shido. She had put Shido in a situation where he would have to accept the match due to peer pressure and then make a fool out of himself. 

       Reine, sensing the position Shido was in , spoke up and said , " I'm sorry, but I don't think it's right for Shido to fight. As such, I think  Shido will respectfu- " . Before Reine could finish however, Shido stood up and said, " I accept your challenge. Even though it has been a long time since I picked up the blade , I think I'll give it a shot . " Reine and the other girls looked at Shido worriedly but they were greeted by a gentle smile from Shido which said that everything would be alright . 

     Chiyome cheered on her spot. The reason Shido  had accepted the challenge was not because of peer pressure, but rather respect for the blade. Swordsmanship was one of the few skills Shido had true respect in his heart for and as such, an open challenge had to be honoured. Of course, this also meant that Shido couldn't put up an act and lose deliberately, considering that would be disrespectful to the blade. As such, he would at least have to be partially serious in the duel. 

       Soon everyone made their way towards the training room of the Fraxinus which was made specifically by Issac for when the spirits felt like practicing with their powers. Shichirou and the others went towards the end of the training room, behind a safety barrier.  Chiyome then took out two traditional katanas from a ring on her finger which was a storage space ring  , a common artifact among rich cultivators. 

    She then handed one katana to Shido and said, " I think it'll be more interesting to use actual swords won't it ? Don't worry, I'll still go easy on you so don't chicken out ! " Taking the sword with one hand and stretching the other hand towards the stand , signalling reine and the others that he still accepted the challenge , Shido nodded. He then asked Chiyome , " Are there any special rules ?" 

     Chiyome thought for a moment before saying , " Oh yes ! Since your powers can't regenerate limbs, I'll be limiting myself to thrusts and slashes, so no decapitation or dismemberment  !  We'll end the match at first blood ! " Her cheerful tone in saying those words would have put any cultivator with an uneasy feeling, but Shido only nodded at her words. 

      Both of them then made their way towards opposite ends of the room. They then readied themselves for the match. Chiyome had a confident smile on her face and she was genuinely fighting just for fun. She had no intention of losing however. She readied herself and took her stance with the sword facing forward. 

    Shido on the other hand, took a strange stance with his eyes closed. With one leg forward and the other behind, it seemed more like a defensive stance. Ellen who was familiar with swords despite being a Magus knew about the defensive nature of his stance . She thought that perhaps Shido knew that he was outmatched in the fight and as such maybe he wanted to at least last for a while by being defensive and not have an embarrassing defeat, which actually made sense. However, her and everyone's attention was drawn to Shido when he suddenly opened his eyes. 

     His face was devoid of all expressions. His eyes weren't someone who was engaged in just a practice match or even someone who was determined to win. No , his eyes were cold and emotionless. His gaze seemed to be of an aloof being, or perhaps it wasn't something that could be classified as a living being. No it seemed more of the cold , unfeeling gaze of a mechanical machine. Even when they weren't in Shido's direct line of sight, they felt his gaze penetrating them. All of them felt a chill running through their spine as they saw that image….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfx8-c63u0Q

                       ( Play the above OST ) 

       Seeing that Shido wasn't making a move, Chiyome rushed towards him to seize the opportunity of first strike. She raised her blade and tried to strike Shido's right shoulder. This would ensure the match would end quickly. However, to both her and everyone's surprise, her blade instead of striking soft flesh and making the sound of spurting blood, it instead collided with another metallic object, a blade as it made a screeching sound. Almost miraculously, Shido had parried her strike with his own blade without even moving from his position or changing his stance. 

       As Chiyome kept applying force on her blade to try to overpower Shido , her  arm and blade began to tremble. However, Shido's blade was calm as the still surface of water. The blade refused to budge. It seemed that it was a statue holding a sword rather than a man. 

      Chiyome was pushed back and slightly lost her composure because of this. However, she quickly steadied herself and tried to attack Shido from the other side . However, once again, the blade had swiftly shifted and stood in the path of her own blade. In rapid succession, she tried to attack Shido from different angles by attacking continuously. However, each time she thought that she had found an opening, Shido's blade gracefully stood in front of her stopping her blade dead in its tracks. 

       Chiyome had never seen this sort of swordstyle before. As a cultivator, she was used to quite a few swordstyles by now, but this was nothing like she had ever seen. The body remained fixed with minimal movements unless necessary while it was merely the arms that moved . And then there were his eyes. They say that eyes are the windows to one's soul. Regardless of the truth of the statement, it was certainly true that during a battle , the eyes of your opponent do in fact tell you a lot and are critical for predicting their future attacks. As such, most swordmasters train themselves to not only keep an eye on the blade, but also the eyes of the opponent at the same time. 

       However, this simple truth fell flat against the boy in front of her. The boy's eyes were cold and distant. Uncaring about the things around him. They were devoid of all movements. They were completely still , like a calm surface of water. Rather than the eyes of a human, they seemed more like the glassy eyes that the world's greatest sculptor had sculpted. 

      Chiyome then jumped backwards, to create some distance between her and Shido. She then screamed a question which was burning through everyone's minds . 
" What kind of Goddamn swordstyle is
that !! " The boy however, did not respond. He believed that there was no need to respond. After all , in a duel, words were unnecessary as only blades conversed . The boy however did change his stance slightly. He interchanged the position of his feet . Then in a single stride, he had closed the distance between him and his opponent. 

      Shido then began to attack Chiyome with rapid slashes in the same strange manner where only his arms moved while his body remained still. The strikes were lightning fast and as such, Chiyome could barely see most of them let alone block all of them. If somehow she was managing to block a single strike, three more would carve their marks on her flesh. The strikes too were peculiar. They were done in quick succession and were not deep wounds. Chiyome had no doubt that if he wanted, the boy in front of her could actually create deep wounds on her. Yet he still didn't, almost as if he were taunting her without even knowing it.

          However, something unexpected happened for both of them . Chiyome suddenly released a large amount of Qi around her. Shido was pushed back because of it , but he managed to endure it with his arms in front of his face shielding him from a direct hit. The Qi burst itself was spontaneous and erratic. While Chiyome too had composed herself, she didn't know what had caused her to suddenly release the Qi. However, those on the sidelines, including Reine, Ellen and Shichirou did. All of them had only started to recover from the surprise of seeing Shido's superior skills. Shichirou knew what had caused the Qi burst. Among novice warriors who have less fluid control over the Qi in their bodies, it is not uncommon for them to accidently release it suddenly when under stressful conditions, being afraid of something or being in heavy pain. However, while Chiyome's body did have a lot of wounds, most of them were surface level wounds. So that couldn't cause the reaction. The only plausible explanation was that she was under heavy stress because of Itsuka's skills and was afraid of losing. 

        On the battlefield however, Shido had momentarily paused. He had come to the realisation that Chiyome had used Qi. She had violated the agreement of the duel. Intentional or not, she had broken the rules. A duel between swordsmen is an honour bound ritual and any sacrilege to it is unacceptable. As such, this could not be left unpunished. 

      Shido then readied himself by taking a stance while facing Chiyome . He then closed his eyes. Chiyome was confused by this behaviour. Closing your eyes in the middle of the battlefield was nothing short of stupidity of the highest order and yet the boy did it. Her attention however, was drawn when she noticed that for the first time after the battle had begun, Shido was actually speaking. 

      He spoke in a cold and emotionless tone as he said , " Sever The Truth And Raze The Heavens !  Kusanagi - no - Tsurugi ! " 

         The words themselves were starting to cause a change in the surroundings. Reine was the first to realise the phenomena that was taking place. Before she could say anything, everyone noticed that all the electrical equipment around the room had started to malfunction. The air around Shido was starting to encircle him, as if he had used a wind spell. 

      On the battlefield ,hearing the words , Chiyome felt something strange. She found that she was unable to move. It wasn't that she was paralyzed or anything. No , rather it seemed that a thousand invisible hands were holding her in place. She then saw that after finishing the words , the boy had opened his eyes. And unlike the cold and emotionless gaze of before, the gaze in his eyes was now different. It seemed like a burning inferno was suddenly ignited in front of her as she was powerless to do anything.

       In a single leap, the boy closed the distance between his opponent. He swung a single slash . From an outside observer's perspective, it was a simple slash , but it's intended target knew the truth. The slash descended like an unstoppable primordial beast. The slash connected with its target . Blood, had spilled on the battlefield. 

       Chiyome fell on the ground as multiple large gashes were visible on her chest. However, she was not the only one who was injured. On the other side, Shido was crouching on the ground on his knee, helping himself with the katana as his support. His bloodshot eyes were bleeding. From his nose blood trickled. He was coughing up blood from his mouth. On his wrists, his vessels had ruptured, which bathed the katana in his hand with his own blood. 

      Seeing both the warriors injured, everyone rushed towards them. Shichirou went towards his daughter and began to immediately cast a healing spell on his daughter. Due to her being a cultivator and having Qi flowing through her, she healed quicker than a normal human. In just a few moments, all injuries on her body disappeared while Shichirou took out a large cloth from his storage ring and wrapped it around Chiyome as her clothes were torn too. 

      He then turned to Shido who was supported by reine and the others. Before he could cast his spell to heal him, he saw blue flames dancing on his body. This was of course, Kotori's powers of healing. This caused his shirt to be burned off leaving him half naked. He inquired while breathing heavily as reine helped him get up " So….did ….I win ? " 

      Kotori furiously screamed, " That's what you are worried about ?! What the hell was that and why did you start bleeding from everywhere ?! " Shichirou spoke with an uncertain tone as he said, " I agree…. What was with your demonstration ? It was certainly no sword technique as there was no Qi being utilised, so how did you manage those impossible movements and speeds ?" Shido shrugged as he said, " Well, I only did what I had already learned. My old master used to talk about how I sometimes went into a trance-like state where my movements improved heavily but it also came at the cost of some minor injuries so this was the same I believe. " 

         Before anyone else could say anything,   Reine shouted and said, " Like hell this was just a trance ! You reached the goddamned Formless Realm ! What the heck is wrong with this world ! A kid reaching the
Formless Realm ! " Shido in order to maintain the illusion of ignorance, raised a brow and said, " What do you mean by the Formless Realm ? And I'm not a kid ! " 

      Reine looked at Shido and screamed,
" Unless you're a few million years old, you're still  too young to reach the Formless Realm ! " Ellen placed a hand on Reine's shoulder and said in a hesitant tone , " I think you should first calm yourself. Then perhaps you could explain to us carefully what you are talking about ? "

       Reine took a deep breath to calm herself. She collected her thoughts and said , " The Formless Realm refers to a state of being which can be achieved by certain swordmasters. In it , a swordmaster connects himself with the cosmos, the  existence itself. And as one might expect, it is extremely difficult to reach and upon reaching it , a warrior can do impossible feats of the kind that Shido demonstrated. Reaching the Formless Realm is the first step to master blade force. And while there is no rule that states that one must be a cultivator to reach the Formless Realm, due to the long time it takes to achieve it rarely if ever a mortal even steps into it, let alone demonstrate mastery over it like Shido….." 

      Shichirou who was surprised hearing this asked, " I - I see. So all his actions were under the influence of the state of Formless Realm . Then what caused the injuries on his own body ? And can you tell us how old one must be on average to reach the Formless Realm ? " Reine took a deep breath and said , " The Formless Realm is connecting one's self to the cosmos and harnessing its power . As such, when you channel the might of the cosmos itself, even an amount as miniscule as a single grain of sand on a beach can be disastrous on the physical body. Most gods tend to wait for reaching true God realm as the slightest mistake can not just result in physical injuries but also crippled meridians. Of course, since Shido is a normal human and he doesn't have meridians, he only had to worry about the physical injuries, which luckily were healed due to ifreet's powers  And as for your second question, to my knowledge, the youngest God to step in the Formless Realm in heaven was Lord Tatsuya who reached it after devoting himself to the blade for nearly three million years….." 

     Along with Reine, everyone's eyes turned to Shido as they got a scale of his feat. Reine spoke in a heavy tone and said, " Of course, in Shido's case, I believe he was born with an inborn compatibility with the cosmos itself. What a cruel mistress fate is that such a prodigious talent was deprived of the very thing necessary to become a warrior….." 

     Shido then spoke in s hesitant tone and said, " Come on it's not that bad ! I mean, you're just making a huge deal out of it ! I can move quickly, big deal ! '' Reine's eye twitched in rage as she said, " You really don't get what you have achieved do you ?! If you were a cultivator in Heaven, and it was found that you managed to reach the Formless Realm at such a young age Literal Wars would be fought between sects to get their hands on you ! Wars between gods each of whom are powerful enough to crush a hundred weaklings like me easily ! And there could be hundreds or even thousands of those gods in a single sect ! Do you have any idea how devastating that would be ! " 

       Everyone gulped in fear at Reine's words. Reine alone wiped the floor with all of them and a war between hundreds or thousands of gods who can wipe the floor against hundred Maguses like Reine was unimaginable. Shido was internally screaming thinking that perhaps he had gone a bit too far. Hell, he even made up all the injuries . He had a mastery of blade force. Like hell he was going to get injured with just entering the state of the Formless Realm . 

       The swordstyle he had demonstrated was one he developed in the past. In the past, when he was killing cultivators and collecting their sword techniques by devouring their souls, he found most of them to be boring. He had the swordstyle of the Slaughterer's Path from his previous life as Rhadamanthus , but he still wanted one more style. So he did what anyone else would do , he simply created his own new swordstyle.  Of course, after creating it, he realised a critical flaw in it. The swordstyle he had developed was a heavily defensive one, suited more for a gatekeeper or a guardian rather than a butcher like him. So he rarely if ever used it. 

     Reine then turned to Chiyome and said, 
" And as for the extent of the abilities of the Formless Realm…. Miss Chiyome, you were hit by Shido's blade , correct ? Can you tell me how many wounds you felt on your body ?" Chiyome was slightly caught off guard by the question, but still answered and said, " Well, I had eight wounds on my body. However, I saw him swinging his blade only once. So maybe he swung his blade so fast that I couldn't see it…." Reine sighed and said, " No . Miss . Chiyome. I can assure you that Shido only swung his blade once. I saw it with my own divine sight which is thousands of times better than the eyesight of normal cultivators. " 

     Shichirou had a flabbergasted expression on his face as he said, " But I clearly saw that there were eight gashes on her body while healing her ! Did he condense Qi to form blades which created the additional strikes ?" This was a possibility too. Warriors could condense Qi to form rudimentary weapons like swords, spears and such during fights. And while they were not as strong as even a low tier combat weapon that cultivators used. However, they were more versatile and theoretically, one could summon them infinitely as long as they had Qi ( Infinite was in theory only considering that in the lower levels, warriors have low Qi reserves. As such, a warrior in the Foundation Establishment realm could only make five or six swords before getting tired. ) 

      Reine shook her head and said, " You severely underestimate the power of the Formless Realm. No he didn't create additional swords out of Qi. Don't forget, he has no meridians to channel Qi. What he did was something even more terrifying …." Reine took a deep breath and began speaking again and said, " Tell me, what happens when a blade is swung against a target ? Simple, a wound is created. The blade swinging is the cause and the wound being created is the effect. That is the  Truth. However, when Shido entered the Formless Realm, something extraordinary happened. In that space, in that particular instance of Time, the Truth itself morphed to fit Shido's vision. The Truth became that everytime the blade was swung , eight wounds would be inflicted. For that brief moment, that became the Truth. It wasn't that there were additional blades being created or he moved faster than the eye can see, no. Rather , existence itself changed to fit his wishes and follow his will. That is the true might of the Formless Realm…." 

      Hearing this everyone was left speechless as they realised the true potential of Shido's powers. While just being a normal human he had done that , then what could he accomplish if he was a cultivator ? More terrifyingly , what could he do if he had a high tier combat weapon at a high stage of cultivation like Return to the Void realm ?  The thought alone made a chill run through everyone's spine. 

       Ellen turned to Reine and asked, " I see. However I do have a question. Considering that Shido has camael's healing powers , he can enter the Formless Realm and use its powers with the only downside being serious injuries. So hypothetically speaking, if Shido had chosen the same path as the AST and tried to exterminate the spirits rather than sealing them , what chance would he have against them ? " 

       Reine spoke with a grim tone as she said, " While the spirits may seem powerful, they are essentially an one trick pony. They only have one power as compared to cultivators who have diversified techniques and spells. They also are severely lacking in combat experience. As such, if Shido had gone against them in this manner, other than kurumi and mukuro, he could have easily killed all of the spirits….." 

      Hearing this, everyone was shocked. Kotori inquired Reine in a hesitant tone as she said, " Are you sure about that, Reine  ?....." Reine took a deep breath again and said, " Absolutely. Do not forget that most of you have basic elemental powers. They would be completely useless against a master of the Formless Realm. Say for instance, had the yamai sisters used their angel to create a hurricane and launched it at Shido , his strike wouldn't have cut through the hurricane. No rather , it would seem as if the hurricane was moving out of the oath of the strike itself. Because all laws are part of the cosmos. And the user of the Formless Realm harnesses the power of the cosmos itself. As such, unless any of you had control over your respective laws , you had zero chance of survival. In the cases of natsumi or Nia, he could've killed you before you even had a chance to see his face. Do Not Take The Power Of The Formless Realm Lightly. " 

         At that moment, everyone of them came to the grim realisation of the power Shido could've held. However, none of them were truly afraid of him. They knew they could always trust him and that he would never even dream of hurting them. They both loved as well as trusted him. 

      Shichirou had a thoughtful expression on his face. After a few moments, he turned to Shido. He then spoke in a solemn tone and said, " Itsu- no, Itsuka - San , I have a request for you. You have demonstrated great prowess with the blade. Even if Ms. Murasame had not revealed to me the terrifying power of the Formless Realm, even with my old eyes I can see that few in the world can match your blade. As such, I have a solemn request for you. " 

     Shichirou then bowed down in front of Shido and said while bowing , " Please , mentor my daughter on the path of the sword ! I know that it may be presumptuous of me , but it is a heartfelt request of mine. I don't even need you to enter the Formless Realm when teaching her ! Just guide her in whatever way you see fit !" Shido frantically asked Shichirou to raise his head. Even he had not expected this outcome. 

       Suddenly, Chiyome looked at him and said, " While I may have no right to say this after losing to you , I genuinely want to clash blades with you again. Not only that, I can see that you are much better than me. So I wish to learn from you ! " Saying this, she too bowed down in front of him. 

     This had completely caught Shido off guard. He was used to a lot of things in his life. People hating him, people being afraid of him, people trying to shoot a bullet through his head, people trying to drop a nuke on his head  and so on. Still, never once in his life had he experienced a request from someone else. And that too with such respect. He really was put in a fix. He said hesitantly , " I don't really have any problems as such…." 

     However, Ellen came to his rescue as she said, " Firstly, please rise Miss Chiyome. " After Chiyome had raised her head. Ellen began to speak again as she said, ". I don't think Shido should have any problems teaching Miss. Chiyome. And as you said, Shido will be strictly prohibited from entering the Formless Realm. And at least one of us girls will be there for supervision. Are these terms acceptable ? " 

      Chiyome had a huge smile on her face as she said, " Of course ! As long as I get to fight against Shido it's all good with me ! " However at the same time, the expressions on all the girls faces changed ever so slightly. Chiyome was already addressing Shido on a first name basis. She seemed like the type of girl who was free spirited, perhaps a bit too much. Someone who most likely had zero idea about personal boundaries . All of them now understood why Ellen had requested one of them to be always present for supervision during their lessons….

     Shido himself was no dense brick. He too understood this and merely chuckled nervously. Reine however spoke up as she said, " But first you need to rest . Even if your wounds may have healed, you still entered the Formless Realm. Even demigods are advised to take a long rest after doing something as insane as this. As such, you are going to quietly go and take a rest.
Now. " 

      Reine wasn't asking Shido to rest. She was quite literally Commanding him to do so. And Shido was a Fool , not an idiot, so he wasn't going to go against her . He then exited the room and made his way towards the resting cabins of the Fraxinus. After he had left, one thing was certain, the divine skills that everyone had witnessed on that day would still be ingrained in everyone's minds for the rest of their lives…….

So with this the chapter is done ! So how did you like Shido's demonstration of skill ? If you liked it then don't worry, there'll be more of it to come on the future. And if you didn't....well, I'll try better next time.

Once again, feel free to ask your questions or drop your suggestions !

Word count : 9022 words.