Ryuji didn't believe for a second that he could completely wipe out the Black Organization in one night... that was far too unrealistic. So, instead, he did the sensible thing: he carried the two burdens on his shoulder and started heading home.
Along the way, he destroyed every surveillance camera he came across.
Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to only take out the cameras that pointed toward his own neighborhood. After securing the two sisters in a safe location, he ran several full loops through the city, destroying cameras all across half of Tokyo.
As for what came next…
He brought the two sisters home.
Fujiko had long assumed that Akemi was dead. But when Ryuji opened the door again and pushed both Akemi and Shiho inside together, she was completely speechless.
How come there are two people now?
Fujiko blinked, utterly lost. But if she was confused, Shiho was even more so.
The three women immediately began exchanging information, piecing together their scattered understanding of what was happening, while Ryuji quietly stepped out for a bit to grab food. He wasn't entirely sure if Shiho had eaten anything, after all.
By the time he finished everything, night had already fallen. After telling the three women in the basement the Wi-Fi password, Ryuji sat down and started watching TV.
It was kind of funny the systems and structure of this world were primitive in some ways, yet strangely advanced in others. The mix of contradictions left him a little bewildered.
Still, when he saw his own bold, commanding figure appear on the TV screen, he couldn't help but grin and give himself a little thumbs-up.
He knew he'd done everything cleanly, not a single clue left behind.
"But next time the Black Organization comes knocking," he muttered, stroking his chin, "it probably won't be this simple."
If they managed to trace things back to him, odds were high he'd be on every wanted list in Japan. And that would be… troublesome.
"Eh, whatever. Worst case, I'll just play the outlaw for a while."
Ryuji chuckled softly. As long as they didn't use cluster missiles on him, anyone who came after him would just be walking corpses. At most, he could abandon the mission, disappear for a while, then come back and cause trouble again.
All he needed was to spend a night with a woman to re-enter this world, so it wasn't like he'd ever run out of opportunities.
That was one of the reasons he enjoyed these missions, he can fuck Mai Shiranui's ass at anytime, but chances to explore new worlds were rare.
But just as he was half-distractedly watching the news, a sudden surge of World power rippled through him, a pulse of alien energy that made both him and Misato, who was on her way home, instinctively turn toward the same direction.
"How interesting," Ryuji murmured.
Without hesitation, he grabbed his greatsword and dashed out into the night.
He had never fought this fragment of World power before, so he didn't know what to expect. If it was weak, he wouldn't even need his final blade; but if it was strong…
Then tonight might be the night of his true Awakening.
He couldn't deny it, he was curious to see what his "Awakened" power would look like.
The wind howled past his ears as he ran, and before long, he found the source of the disturbance... a massive creature, its body undulating like an enormous octopus.
It was emerging from a river, its colossal tentacles thrashing as it advanced. And in its grasp struggling desperately were the Sailor Moons.
Their sailor uniforms were torn, their limbs wrapped tightly by writhing tentacles, and their faces twisted in pain and defiance. They had charged in valiantly… and were now being completely overwhelmed.
Ryuji sighed.
"Seriously… why are all these manifestations of World power tentacle monsters?"
Ryuji didn't understand why, but this octopus-like creature gave off an unusually dangerous feeling. With a casual swing, he unleashed a searing slash of dragonfire that roared through the air like a molten blade, slamming hard against the monster's body.
But....
It was useless!
"Huh?"
The instant his dragonfire struck, a dense layer of black mist rapidly condensed in front of the flame, blocking its path!
The moment dragonfire collided with the black mist, it suddenly vanished or rather, it dissolved, which was a more accurate description.
"This thing just keeps feeling weirder the more I look at it," Ryuji muttered.
The next instant, flames erupted uncontrollably around him, forming a massive fire dragon.
This dragon was entirely composed of his sword energy and flames. Why it took the shape of a dragon, he didn't know.... only that during the process of using it, shaping the dragonfire into a dragon made it flow more smoothly and slightly increased its power. Ordinary flames didn't have this effect.
The fire dragon let out a silent roar and slammed into the massive octopus as Ryuji charged forward.
This time, the octopus opened its enormous mouth, and a sound beyond human hearing suddenly erupted. Even Ryuji could only perceive it as a low, buzzing sound.
Violent black mist spread rapidly from the river, forming a wall that swallowed his fire dragon completely, turning the colossal blaze black!
The instant it fully blackened, Ryuji lost all connection with the fire dragon. Normally, detached energy constructs were difficult to control anyway, but being severed so cleanly truly shocked him.
"What…"
Before he could even think, the ground beneath his feet began to shake violently. Ryuji drew his greatsword without hesitation and, pouring all his strength into it, swung directly at the source of the tremor.
The next second, the earth shattered. A thick tentacle slammed into his blade, but Ryuji's swing cleaved it cleanly in two!
Even so, he saw the energy on his sword being partially corroded by the strange black mist... it almost damaged the blade itself.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Ryuji leapt back, and from the broken tentacle erupted a mass of black, sticky fluid. Just seeing it filled his mind with overwhelming, chaotic thoughts:
"It… it looks like it's trying to impregnate the girls…"
"Why aren't there any children?"
"Why aren't the children mine?"
"Child… children…"
Ryuji jumped again, swinging his greatsword. Golden dragonfire surged across the street, incinerating all the black sludge, finally dispelling the negative emotions flooding his mind.
At this moment, the creature's body erupted with countless black mists, giving it an eerie, uncanny appearance!
Ryuji couldn't help but be amazed at the sight. His own strength was already very powerful.... strong enough, he reckoned, to sweep through modern civilization. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but even tackling a WWII-era army wouldn't be impossible.
Yet these World power-corrupted monsters, though generally not overly strong, possessed abilities that were ridiculously tricky to deal with.
"Right… if they were easy to deal with, I wouldn't even be needed," he muttered.
Knowing his usual techniques wouldn't suffice, Ryuji focused his mind into the greatsword in his hands.
It was his first time using Awakening against an enemy. To be honest, he wasn't very proficient, especially with entering the weapon-synchronization state. He'd only ever done it while meditating.
But now…
"Let's give it a try."
He took a deep breath and charged at the octopus monster, dodging the stabbing tentacles while searching for a way to rescue the captured Sailor Moons.
Truthfully, the creature's speed and strength weren't extreme; Ryuji avoided attacks fairly easily. But its bizarre abilities made him unwilling to engage in a drawn-out battle of attrition.
Seeing the badly injured, unconscious girls, he felt helpless. If they could fully use their physical capabilities, they would never have been captured.
"Looks like special training starts tomorrow," he thought. He knew he couldn't fully grasp control of this World power yet, he'd already experienced how difficult the previous one had been to manipulate.
Had I hadn't misjudged Ran's thoughts last time, that other World power would still be roaming freely!
His mind gradually settled, and his heart turned cold. On his greatsword, the faint outline of another blade began to manifest.
This new sword had seven branches, impractical for battle in appearance, yet radiating immense power.
This was Ryuji's strategy: since he couldn't bear the full force of the will of the Universe, he would resonate with just a portion of it.
Manifesting this sword here made him feel a little more relaxed.
A strange pulse of energy continued to ripple across his body, and the moment he reached the riverbank, he finally entered the "human-sword fusion" state.
He resonated with his past combat instincts and the will of those who had wielded this sword before.
The will of the universe was now manifesting through him.
At this moment, the World power's presence became unmistakably clear before him and he understood exactly what it was:
Reproduction.
The twisted and proliferating World Power!
Ryuji felt no emotion at all. If he had, he might have made some snide comment. The last World Power he had captured had been love; this one was reproduction a perfect pair!
Yet now, even desire had vanished from him.
The power of the universe wasn't something to wield lightly.
But Ryuji was clever; he hadn't boosted his own strength. In this state of complete desirelessness, he couldn't maintain it long and in an instant, he had already exited it.
But that was exactly what he needed!
The power of the universe!
Temporal Sword!
Without hesitation, he swung his sword. As the power of the universe faded, he harnessed its remaining force.
Wherever his arm moved, time and space shattered like glass. The massive octopus's coordinates were altered and fixed by the combined power of sword and time; it could not move.
Or rather...
At this moment, Ryuji was in a state where time had stopped.
Time couldn't catch up to him here!
The blade slashed across the octopus's body. On the first strike, the seven-blade spectral illusions vanished completely, and Ryuji himself appeared on the opposite side.
The next instant, time flowed again. The giant octopus behind him wailed, and amidst the swirling black mists, its body instantly shattered into countless golden fragments, dissipating into the air as golden ashes.
A surge of World Power erupted from its body!
It hadn't dodged the strike!
On the twisted World power, sword energy continued to ripple and vibrate. During this process, the World Power itself couldn't move. If Ryuji could act now, capturing it would be effortless.
But!
He couldn't!
"Ah… so this is what it feels like when your body is hollowed out?"
Ryuji collapsed to the ground, feeling like not even a single finger could move.
His body was covered with wounds left by shards of shattered spacetime cutting through his flesh.
In fact, if he had swung more than one strike, his body would likely have been reduced to a bloody pulp, scattered along with the shards of time and space!
Losing some flesh and blood was a minor injury for him!
Although Ryuji's stamina recovered rapidly, the twisted World power finally overcame the restrain of the sword marks vibrating along its body before he could stand. Under Ryuji's helpless gaze, it vanished with a shimmer, leaving only traces of prismatic light.
And that was when Ryuji realized he had really messed up.
Where the World power had departed, a pitch-black rift rapidly opened up. It was a tear he had accidentally created in spacetime with his strike. There was no way to repair it… at least, not for now.
From this rift, an immense suction force surged, drawing in countless streams of air and water, even producing blue flames!
Ryuji saw it clearly: anything that touched the rift would be abruptly severed. And the appearance of blue fire meant one thing:
This rift could cut through particles, or rather the smallest units of matter.
Ryuji couldn't even imagine how much energy could be released from it!
"My awakening might be a little… over the top?!"
He knew, though it wasn't his awakening that was ridiculous. It was the residual aura of the will of the universe left on his sword that was absurdly powerful.
This was undoubtedly an attack on the scale of a cosmic entity. Combine that with his lack of familiarity with manipulating space-time, and the disaster made perfect sense.
Ryuji quickly controlled the nearby water, pulling the unconscious Sailor Moons to his side, preparing to run away.
The rift was repairing itself, but from the looks of it… it was ready to explode at any moment.
As soon as he gathered the girls, he felt the ground beneath him began to rise, carrying him straight toward the rift, now swelling with untold energy.
A surge of danger shot through Ryuji's heart. Clearly, his awakened skill was incredibly powerful…
But its side effects were even more powerful!
At that instant, the World power within him flared into radiant light. The glow from the captured World power illuminated the black rift, and the slowly closing tear sealed in an instant.
But before Ryuji could even breathe a sigh of relief, the accumulated energy erupted violently.
He barely had time to erect an ice wall to shield himself, and the next moment, he and the five five girls were were launched into the air!
Ryuji was dizzy. He only knew they had flown an incredible distance. When he regained his senses, his eyes fell on something snow-white.
It had already been partially corroded by an unknown slime, revealing pale, unblemished skin beneath. Within the small holes etched by the slime, he glimpsed patches of pink. Some were just thin slits, while others revealed tiny, cute bulge.
The sight sent a thrill through Ryuji's heart, erasing any lingering disappointment from his first imperfect use of the awakened skill.
And most importantly....
Although there was golden hair here, it was sparse, and it was obvious at a glance that this was about as much as there ever was.
Golden?
Ryuji's head shot up, and he saw the peaceful face of the unconscious Sailor Moon. As he looked around, he noticed Rei Hino lying on the ground as well, her clothes mostly corroded, and her underwear clearly gone.
Her size, however, was much larger than Sailor Moon's. Not only was the area extensive, but it was also thick and well-maintained. From the neat arrangement, it was clear that Rei Hino took care of this part of herself regularly.
"Never judge a book by its cover," Ryuji muttered under his breath, silently giving Rei credit for her grooming habits.
After all, if she didn't maintain it properly, it would be a real mess.
Ryuji then turned his attention to his Sailor Jupiter. She lay peacefully on the ground in a Yamcha-like posture, so he couldn't tell whether her underwear had been affected. He decided to stand up from between Sailor Moon's legs and move closer to Sailor Jupiter, intending to check her underwear… or rather, whether her body had been harmed.
But just as he held down her skirt, about to lift it for a look, the blue-haired girl let out a small whimper and opened her eyes... catching him in the act.
"Ah! Pervert!"
She screamed, but when she realized it was Ryuji, her voice only grew louder.
"There's a pervert here!"
Ryuji, though not panicked, instantly moved and instinctively covered the girl's mouth. But with just that very motion…
Sailor Mercury's clothes fell off.
~~~~~~~~~~
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