Yatsufusa's blade slowly returned to its sheath. Rin looked silently at the large hole in the ground before her; she truly hadn't expected the Teigu User of Gaia Foundation to actually arrive, transforming into a ground-breaking Danger Beast and hiding underground. Just as Rin was about to slay the last assassin and absorb him into yatsufusa, he suddenly dug through the floor, rescuing Beolgr's Eye, who was using the Silver Hand.
Metamorphosis: Gaia Foundation is a cosmetic-type Teigu. Its ability allows the user to transform into anything they desire, not just people, but also cats, dogs, fish, birds, and even Danger Beasts. However, the user requires a corresponding physique and stamina.
In the original work/canon, this Teigu was used by Chelsea, a cute girl with battle prowess of only five. She could, at most, transform into a bird and fly. Compared to the yet-to-be-born Chelsea, the current Teigu User of Gaia Foundation was clearly a strong assassin with a robust physique. He could transform into various forms of Danger Beasts to fight as needed, just like now, unexpectedly rescuing the last person.
"Never mind. The punch I just threw underground should have hit them. I just don't know who it hit, but one of the two will definitely die."
Rin stared at the tunnel-like hole that penetrated the ground, then shrugged indifferently and muttered to herself. She then turned to look behind her. There, Beolgrs Fang and Beolgrs Breath, who had just been holding their Teigu and facing Rin in a life-or-death struggle, now stood motionless behind Rin, each holding their Teigu like well-trained soldiers, one on the left and one on the right.
Beolgr's Horn had been hit all over by the silver needles of the Silver Hand and was completely metalized, eventually turning into a pile of corroded metal slag. Even yatsufusa could no longer reactivate him. Beolgr's Ear, who also had no Teigu, was deemed unworthy by Rin, so she directly commanded the yatsufusa-controlled Beolgrs Fang to kill him. His corpse still lay at Rin's feet.
Rin looked at the two Teigu User corpses she had just created and subjugated with yatsufusa, nodding in satisfaction. Rin had basically understood the abilities and effects of yatsufusa. This sword did not rely on the Teigu User themselves to support the consumption of manipulating the corpse puppets; otherwise, one person's life force and mental energy could never support the consumption of eight life forms moving and fighting—of course, Rin was an exception.
The true effect of yatsufusa is to extract the souls of living beings killed by this demonic sword and imprison them within the blade. The soul is the fundamental driver of the physical body, the bridge connecting life to the world. A body without a soul, even if alive, is a true corpse, a machine composed of muscles, fat, and bones.
And yatsufusa's ability is to, after extracting the target's soul, use the soul of the yatsufusa user to drive the bodies of those killed. Objectively speaking, these killed individuals are actually still alive. The corpses, vitalized by the soul light disseminated through yatsufusa, should be considered a part of the yatsufusa user's body.
Therefore, the corpses vitalized by yatsufusa can fully retain their strength from when they were alive. Because they have no soul, they cannot think or have consciousness. However, their perfectly preserved brains retain all combat experience and skills, as well as their habits and strong will from when they were alive. They often produce intense reactions when facing former friends or relatives, or deeply memorable scenes.
Of course, commands will still be faithfully executed, as the will of yatsufusa's user is their soul.
"Go. Eliminate all your subordinate elements responsible for liaison, who are lurking in the army."
As Rin whispered with a smile, two terrifying assassin shadows quietly disappeared into the darkness. The sharp blades of the soul-reaping assassination Teigu turned against their former subordinates and comrades, silently commencing a hunt in the night.
On a pitch-black night, with dark clouds obscuring the moonlight, the names of dozens of people were quietly erased from the Seventh Legion's roster... The next morning... Zhi Feng vaguely pushed aside the quilt covering her, sat up, and scratched her messy black hair. She looked at the room before her, which felt very familiar but was definitely not her own bedroom.
"Where am I... Oh!"
After a moment of confusion, Zhi Feng suddenly remembered that this was Rin's room, and what had happened before she passed out... "Ahhhhh! Big Sister, where are you?!"
Zhi Feng ignored her confusion about why she was lying in Rin's bed, why she was completely naked and covered by a blanket, and why her military uniform was neatly folded on the bedside table. In her frantic concern, Zhi Feng only wanted to see Rin with her own eyes, to see if she was safe and sound.
"Big Sister!..."
Zhi Feng hurriedly pushed open the door of the general's villa. Somehow, instinctively, she looked up and saw Rin standing perfectly intact on the roof of her villa, wearing her black cloak with gold trim. She held yatsufusa, sheathed, in her left hand, her arms crossed, and her eyes closed, seemingly resting.
Zhi Feng immediately breathed a huge sigh of relief. At this moment, Rin's aura was one with the surrounding nature, her mind evolving with the heavens and earth, harmonizing her inner human world with the external reality—a true state of unity with nature. If it weren't for Rin's own will, even if she stood right in front of Zhi Feng in her state of being perfectly integrated with the world, Zhi Feng would not be able to perceive her.
Just as Zhi Feng was about to greet Rin on the roof, a bird suddenly flew over the roof from the sky. It flapped its wings with such speed that its flight path was almost impossible to track with the eye, drawing a mysterious arc as it was about to fly past Rin and soar into the sky. In this fleeting moment, Rin suddenly moved. Zhi Feng only saw a flash of brilliant light, as if time had stopped at that instant. Around the frozen little bird, a cage of sword light was woven out of thin air. Then, in the blink of an eye as time resumed its flow, the little bird that was about to fly past Rin vanished into nothingness along with the fading sword light, leaving only countless fragments of flesh and blood scattered by the morning breeze.
Zhi Feng stared blankly at Rin, who stood still on the rooftop. From beginning to end, she hadn't seen any movement from Rin. She only felt that Rin had indeed moved in that instant. Rin's right hand had never moved in Zhi Feng's sight, and yatsufusa had never been drawn. The trajectory of the blade swinging through the air returned to its sheath before it could be recorded by space, leaving only the etched sword light to shatter the target.
"Yo, Zhi Feng, good morning."
After swinging her sword, Rin sighed slightly, then smiled and greeted the dazed Zhi Feng. She lightly leaped down from the nearly ten-meter-high roof of the two-story villa, landing gracefully without a trace.
Only when Rin's figure came closer did Zhi Feng suddenly snap back to reality. When she truly saw with her own eyes that Rin was completely unharmed and standing before her, Zhi Feng finally completely relaxed and asked with concern:
"Big Sister, you scared me to death! What happened last night? What exactly happened? Where did those assassins come from? Who sent them? What was their purpose? And where are those assassins now?!"
As she spoke, Zhi Feng's speech became more and more agitated, questions pouring out like a machine gun. Finally, she even excitedly grabbed Rin's shoulders. Seeing Zhi Feng so anxious and adorable, Rin did not resist, but instead cooperatively swayed with Zhi Feng's forceful hands.
"You're asking so many questions at once... I don't know where to start answering you."
"Where did those assassins go?"
"Don't worry, I've taken care of all of them. I guarantee they're dead beyond dead, completely uprooted along with the infiltrators and assassins in the military camp."
"Then... Big Sister, what were you just doing?"
Zhi Feng was still captivated by the shocking scene from that instant. So, swordsmanship could reach such a level! With her eyes opened, Zhi Feng couldn't help but ask.
She was indeed still very curious.
For this question, Rin put away the smile on her lips and answered Zhi Feng very seriously:
"Just daily sword practice. That last move was my full power. What do you think?"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.