"What do you mean by that?!" Loki, seeing how heartbroken her precious little Ais looked, was so anxious that Rayleigh's words made her furious.
But before she could flare up, Ais spoke first.
"It's my fault…" Tears streamed down her face.
Her voice trembling, she asked, "Is it because I'm too weak?"
Gonryōmaru's power was strong.
Incredibly strong.
With just that one use of Bankai, Ais had experienced the true power of a Zanpakutō.
And the reason the Bankai had been damaged was because she herself was immature. If she had been strong enough, her Zanpakutō would not have ended up like that.
"So Bankai carries that kind of risk too…" Riveria muttered with a grave expression.
At the side, Finn held back the agitated Loki and asked, "If it can't be repaired, does that mean she won't be able to use Gonryōmaru ever again?"
The palum hero was extremely sharp.
He had not heard Rayleigh say that. What he had heard was only that a Bankai, once broken, could not be repaired.
So he changed his line of thought and asked a different question.
Rayleigh inwardly sighed in admiration. Finn really was too clever for his own good.
"For a completely destroyed Zanpakutō, what's needed is reforging—in other words, forging a completely new Gonryōmaru."
"A new one?" Ais asked in confusion.
Her voice trembled because she was afraid that this so-called "new" one would be a completely different sword.
Her conversations with Gonryōmaru, their training, their everyday time together—every bit of it was carved into her memory.
For her sake, Gonryōmaru had even sacrificed itself!
And it was all because she had been controlled by her skill.
Because she had failed to control her own power.
Yet the one who paid the price had been Gonryōmaru.
"Unfortunately, I can't bring Gonryōmaru back to life. But I can forge Gonryōmaru's will into a new Zanpakutō—something like Gonryōmaru 2.0. It would still be Gonryōmaru, and its abilities and Bankai would not change, but at most it would amount to an extension of Gonryōmaru's life. Of course, you could also choose to forge a completely different blade…"
"I don't need that!" Ais rejected the idea immediately. "I want to grow stronger together with Gonryōmaru—strong enough not to betray its power! Strong enough that I won't need it to protect me anymore, but can fight alongside me instead!"
From that small body radiated an intensely powerful will.... it was as if flames were burning in her golden eyes.
"I understand." Rayleigh nodded.
After this great battle, Ais had gone from Level 2 to Level 3, and had even come close to reaching Level 4.
And it was not just her.
Just as Erebus had planned, Orario's so-called "hero candidates" had all gained tremendous growth.
For example, these three:
[Braver] Finn
[Nine Hell] Riveria
[Elgarm] Gareth
The three leaders had all advanced to Level 6, stepping into the realm of heroes.
Shakti and the other main combatants, along with the surviving rookie adventurers, had all leveled up as well.
The eleven members of the Astraea Familia had done the same.
Among them, Alise, Kaguya, Ryuu, Lyra, and Maryuu had reached Level 4.
Ardee had also risen to Level 4.
And then there was Ottar. After defeating Zald, he had broken through from Level 6 to become Level 7, becoming the true strongest in Orario.
As for Rayleigh himself, he too had reached the point where he could level up at any time.
But not yet.
He had no shortage of great deeds, but his ability values had not yet reached their limits, he had not filled his vessel completely.
[Name]: Rayleigh
[Level]: Lv. 3
[Abilities]: Strength: A889 |
Endurance: A892 |
Dexterity: A840 |
Agility: S909 |
Magic: SS1001
[Development Abilities]: [Blacksmith] [Spirit Healing] [Swordsman]
[Magic]: [Hadō] [Bakudō] [Kaidō]
[Skills]: [Soul Blade] [Gif Blessings – Minor]
Ever since that incident when he had dropped a level, it was as if a limiter had been removed.
The limit of his ability values was no longer just S999.
Even Hephaestus had been utterly shocked when she saw it. Rayleigh could clearly feel that he still had room to grow.
Now was not yet the time to level up.
...
Orario began its reconstruction work.
Though the Hephaestus Familia was not as skilled in smithing as the Goibniu Familia, they were still capable of helping repair wooden structures and forging various necessary items, and they were busy beyond belief.
At the same time, nearly all production-type Familias threw themselves into rebuilding the city.
Although this incident had ended, many residents still chose to leave Orario.
Whether civilian or adventurer, anyone living in this city at the center of the world needed at least a certain degree of adventurous spirit.
Taking advantage of the situation, Rayleigh bought two properties in extremely good locations, both at very low prices.
...
Three months passed, and Orario's reconstruction was basically complete.
At the same time, the first Denatus after the war was held.
There were a great many adventurers who had leveled up after the war, and just deciding titles for those who had become upper-class adventurers took an enormous amount of time…
Though among them, only a very few—or rather, only certain individuals—were truly worth the gods' attention.
At the beginning of the meeting, things were actually fine.
The gods were still relatively serious.
But gradually, as they lost patience, they began naming people however they pleased.
Titles like "Marshmallow Uncle" and "Chrysanthemum Licker" started appearing one after another.
The scene became utterly chaotic, but no one stopped it.
To put it simply, they had gotten completely carried away!
Until one particular name came up.
"Next, Rayleigh of the Hephaestus Familia."
"He created the armament known as the Zanpakutō."
"He reached Level 2 within a year—uh, and now he's already Level 3."
"He has experience leading a party to subjugate Goliath."
"In the Great Feud, he eliminated more than five hundred members of the evilus… personally killed the enemy executive, the white-haired demon Olivas, who was Level 3, and the Level 4 Vitto."
"The provision of Tenseiga and Bakusaiga had a major impact on the course of the battle."
"He was also the one who delivered the finishing blow to the Greatest Evil."
It was too damn long!
No one before him had had such a long list of achievements.
Most people had only their level and name read out. Even the gods were at a loss in the face of this.
They looked at one another.
The manic energy they had shown before was gone from their faces.
Because this was too shocking!
Any one of those achievements, taken by itself, would have been enough for someone to boast about for a whole year, or even longer.
And yet all of them had happened to the same person.
Just how special did that make him?
"Hephaestus! That's soooo unfair! Since when did you find such an outstanding child?!"
"Ahem, one more point to add."
"It's rumored that every Zanpakutō forged by Rayleigh sells for between five hundred million and eight hundred million valis…"
"NANIIIIII!!! E-eight hundred million?"
That astonishing number instantly made the gods' eyes widen.
The discussion about Rayleigh went on for a very long time.
It dragged on for several whole hours, and as a result, Rayleigh ended up making a huge impression on the gods of Orario and becoming quite well known.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say his name became well known.
"Then, for Rayleigh of the Hephaestus Familia, shall we settle on this title?"
"No objections."
"Approved."
Seeing the result, Hephaestus finally let out a sigh of relief.
[Youtousai] (妖刀斋)
With a title like that, Rayleigh probably would not be too dissatisfied.
He had not reacted much before when people called him "Demonic Swordsmith," so he probably would not hate this one.
Anyway, the important thing was that it had not ended up being something like 'Chrysanthemum Licker'!
----
Youtousai : The Master of the demon blade/Demon blade master etc.