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A battle against Susanoo erupted without warning, and Kireina had no choice but to et the madman head-on after he swung his sword at her first strike!
Yet she refused to flee. She fought back with every ounce of her strength. Her Infinite Heavens Sword, born from her Heart Manifestation and now amplified by the power of her Heaven and Earth Cultivation, blazed with a srizing fusion of beautiful darkness and radiant light.
A towering pillar of eternal light surged as she battled fiercely, unleashing her Unique Martial Arts tied to her Heart Manifestation and Swordsmanship, techniques that could transform anything she deed a weapon.
Swords simply felt the easiest to envision and manifest, though spears and lances ca close.
"Heaven And Earth Defying Soul Heart Style."
"First Form – Crimson Eclipse Bloom!"
Kireina roared, swinging her sword downward. Her existence twisted into countless crimson petals, each one a fragnt of her soul, each fragnt a bold defiance against despair. Every petal struck like a blade, slicing across the battlefield and carving deep wounds into Susanoo's powerful fra.
"Gaaaahhh?!"
Susanoo scread, yet a wild smile spread across his face despite the agony. He gathered his strength and countered with ferocious swings—down, up, then a devastating horizontal slash that crashed against Kireina's technique no matter its might.
"You will need far more than that!"
"I know."
Kireina drew the petals back into her sword and expanded her Domain. A crimson moon eclipsed before a pitch-black star. A garden of dark flowers blood, releasing pure shadowy energy that transford her blade into an imnse pillar of black light.
"Second Form – Defiance of the Nine Heavens!"
The starry sky shattered, revealing nine colossal heavens stacked above her Sun and Moon Domain. Her sword cleaved through them, not to destroy, but to rewrite their very laws once more.
Each heaven cracked open. Rivers of light and darkness, chaos and blessing poured from the fissures, rging into a single, endless stream. All of it fused into her Infinite Heavens Sword, revealing its true, terrifying nature for the second ti.
Susanoo had faced this attack once before and nearly lost!
He poured everything into his response.
"Heavenly Sword God Myriad Soul Blade Arts – Shinra Yaoyorozu!"
The storms around him transford into swords—thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands—stacking into one overwhelming strike alongside his main blade.
When their attacks collided, the entire Heavenly Realm trembled. It's incredibly resilient dinsional structure began to fracture.
"UUUOOOHHH!"
Susanoo roared while Kireina clenched her teeth. With the newly stacked power of her Heaven and Earth Cultivation, she was finally gaining the upper hand!
"Susanoo! Do you want to be humiliated?! Show everything you've got! I will make you bleed, suffer, and despair!"
"Nnngh! Bring it on!"
Susanoo laughed wildly as blood stread from his wounds. He descended into pure madness, clashing swords with Kireina for an entire day without pause.
In the Heavenly Realm, ti flowed at an accelerated pace. One day outside equaled a hundred days within.
Thus, Kireina fulfilled her promise, pushing Susanoo to the absolute brink so he could fully grasp the enlightennt of the Heart Path he had received.
Slowly, sothing extraordinary began to unfold within him.
At one point his sword exploded, shattering into countless fragnts.
His eyes, filled with despair, silently begged Kireina to stop.
But she refused.
In fact, she pressed even harder.
"Are you getting cold feet now? Then die!"
"Wait!"
Susanoo gritted his teeth as Kireina's blade transford into an eternal pillar of light stretching across entire Planes.
A single strike from that could easily tear through his soul.
"Heaven And Earth Defying Soul Heart Style."
"Third Form – Pillar of Celestial Enlightennt!"
This was the true na of the "Pillar of Light"—the manifestation born from her Ascension, when she had rged everything into her very being.
The pillar struck Susanoo with devastating force, driving him downward into the seas beneath the Heavenly Realm.
"Nnnggh...!"
He resisted with bare hands, but they burned away rapidly. His entire body endured unimaginable pain and struggle.
"Damn it...! No...! I won't lose! I am the Sword...! I am the Sword God! Susanoo!!!"
With a thunderous scream, Susanoo embraced his madness and clung obsessively to a single, unyielding goal.
His Intent grew sharper, refined through relentless tornt. As a full week passed with him teetering on the edge of death—Kireina relentlessly pursuing him, genuinely intent on killing him...
FLASH!
"HAAA...! HAAAAAA!!!"
At the lowest point of his despair, when all hope seed lost...
He suddenly rembered his entire path, his history, his life, and everyone he cherished.
His family. His friends.
And Kireina standing right there.
Those connections and his unshakable conviction overlapped in a single, overwhelming mont.
His Intent flooded outward in a brilliant surge.
Then, he seized his own invisible consciousness with both hands.
No longer needing spells, divinity, or magic to wield a sword.
Because his sword was his soul.
In that instant, Susanoo achieved it.
The enlightennt he had glimpsed before blossod fully in his darkest hour.
Heart Path Manifestation.
The heavens around Susanoo transford into a swirling vortex of gold and white light.
He grasped the vortex—his very Intent—and wielded it as a blade.
"Heart Path Manifestation – Myriad Heaven Sword Soul!"
Exhausted, starving, wounded, and covered in scars, Susanoo swung.
He pushed Kireina back, forcing her to feel the overwhelming pressure and raw power of his awakened Heart.
BOOOM!
One final explosion rocked the realm. The Heavenly Domain shook violently as Kireina caught him before he fell.
Susanoo was barely alive, but he smiled at her.
"Thank you... for helping ..."
"It's fine. Rest now, old man."
Kireina smiled gently, laying him down on a vast grassland. Susanoo closed his eyes.
And stopped breathing.
"Did... he die?" Frank asked from the distance, staring in awe. "Why? Why did Kireina push him so far?"
"He's not dead," Isna replied calmly.
"Kami cannot die so easily," she added with a soft smile.
FLUOSH!
Susanoo's body, which had withered into a frail, shriveled form like an elderly grandfather, rapidly regained its youthful vigor. He absorbed the lifeforce of every plant around him.
In seconds, he rose once more, renewed. His Heart Path Cultivation had finally taken root. He sat down imdiately to ditate, determined not to lose this precious enlightennt.
"Thank you, Kireina," he said, beaming widely as he summoned a long katana forged from his own soul. "I think this is huge... I might truly be the first Kami to join the Heart Tribe."
"You truly might be," Kireina nodded. "But it's been a whole week. You were way too reckless. You didn't even offer us a place to stay, and my maids and Frank were left on their own. If so kind Kami hadn't helped them, they wouldn't have known what to do."
"Ah..." Susanoo gave a sheepish smile. "H-Hahaha! My bad! I'll make it up to you— Aaagh!"
He yelped as Kireina smacked the back of his head.
"You were too damn reckless! Be nicer to your guests! You hear ?!" she scolded.
"Yes...! Okay, I get it! C-Calm down..." Susanoo muttered. "I'll take you to my Palace right away, okay? Okay?"
"Hmph..." Kireina narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
"Please don't get mad at ..." he sighed.
"Look, if you wanted to conquer my heart, you've done a terrible job," Kireina said. "Right now, you have literally no chance."
"Gah?!" Susanoo, hopeless at romance, looked stunned. "Damn it... I was too selfish, huh? I achieved my goal but... maybe I shouldn't have been so hasty. My apologies."
"Hmm. So where are you taking us? Hurry!" Kireina demanded.
"Yes, yes, right away...!" Susanoo nodded quickly, intimidated by her commanding presence. "Please co with , everyone..."
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