I smiled. "A small fry? Not even a challenge. Flaming Blizzard! Harnick Convergence! Holy Demonic Cannon!"

  "I mean, I'm even shouting the names of my attacks—and you're still getting hit by them. What the hell? I was giving you a handicap!"

  Screw this. Absolute Death.

  "Looks like I killed all the small fry well the cannon fodder"

  Alright, now I remember. The government faction’s bigwigs are pretty strong, but most of them are just average in strength. Keep in mind, Reese's grimmerie power is around the average level for a high-class demon—more on the lower end. That was Hope's strength before she joined my race. Though, she hasn’t been slacking. Looks like she’s been specializing in sword magic.

  Honestly, I’m really creative, but I would’ve never thought of the whole “tiny sword swarm” concept. That’s a clever touch. Kind of reminds me of Senbonzakura from Bleach, but with tiny swords. I guess technically those were blades too—when they reflected the light, they looked like petals. I'm calling BS on that. It’s more accurate to say they were razor-sharp petals.

  Naturally, my head, which had just been cut off, vanished as I regenerated a new one.

  Flare said, “Oh, I thought you’d regenerate your body.”

  “No, regeneration comes from the largest remaining piece,” I corrected.

  “Oh, of course,” She nodded. “Even if a human had regenerative abilities, if they lost their head, they’d temporarily lose the ability to think if they did not die. But since my body is my soul, I can be chopped into a million pieces and still retain your consciousness.”

  I activated my Shard, my eyes turning golden and green spiral tattoos appeared across my body. I fired a powerful beam.

  “I might not be able to use magic, but I can still use techniques like this!”

  Naturally, Sassen—who had just cut off my head—dodged. “Your stealth won’t work at my current level.”

  “Maybe not,” He said as he slashed my back with soul daggers. He had switched from a sword to daggers, but they couldn’t penetrate my skin.

  Flare asked, “Why didn’t you use the technique from Hunter x Hunter? You’ve already mastered it to the point you can deploy it in a fraction of a second. the technique has become second nature and it's not magic just directly manipulating spirit energy”

  I replied. “It requires greater control over spirit energy than need for magic. That’s why Ichigo is terrible at Soul Reaper magic—he has too little control over his spirit energy. That technique requires even more precision.”

  “Your massive increase in power is impressive,” he pointed out, “but you can’t control it, which means you can’t maintain that form for long.”

  “You're right. It uses a lot of stamina. If I mastered it, I’d reduce stamina consumption, but not eliminate it. It’s essentially tightening everything to full maximum—combat mode. But combat transformations always consume tons of energy. They push you to your absolute peak and then some.”

  “Unlike that sword—it’s just a regular dagger,” I noted. “Which means it can’t harm a spiritual life form. You didn’t use a technique like Haki to make it effective. I see... you were probably trying to use an instant death type of ability, but it requires direct physical contact. Otherwise, you would’ve just used it from a distance. You even slammed the blade into me—that confirms it.”

  “Ah. He probably infused the blade with his blood, so his ability would count as direct physical contact. Still, the fact that he used daggers instead of a long-reach weapon probably means the range is limited. And why didn’t you throw them? You must’ve assumed I’d dodge.”

  “My Instant Death ability works the way you guessed,” he admitted. “I assume you used some sort of appraisal spell to figure all that out. But I also added a ton of curses to it—so even if the death effect fails, the curses will take hold.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Still won’t work,” I said. “My Shard—the Ice Emperor Blade—has several abilities. First, it’s impossible to block my attacks as long as my willpower is stronger than yours. I corrected it. Second, I can nullify any ability directly used on me, regardless of how powerful it is, using sheer force of will. Naturally, the stronger the ability, the more willpower it takes to cancel. Most people don’t have that kind of strength of will but I'm a bottomless pit of willpower. Willpower’s the one thing I do have. Honestly, if I had a Green Lantern ring, I could probably create an entire universe. I’m practically overflowing with it.”

  “I see. Curses are abilities directly wielded on a person,” he said. “But Black Nerva!”

  I slashed through his attack with my Emperor Blade.

  “Yes,” I smiled. “Attack magic just creates an effect and fires it. It doesn’t directly use magic on someone. It’s indirect—so I can’t negate it. Still, this blade is useful. It can negate mind control. Even with just my mental resistance, I could probably resist it in base form. But if it overwhelms me, I activate my Shard and completely neutralize it. Makes me immune.”

  “As long as I hold out until I activate it, I’m good.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “It’s definitely a powerful ability.”

  We both turned to the one I believe was named David. I only call him that because he always reacts badly to it his real name is Ivory.

  “Huh,” I said. “He has Ichigo’s power, but Ichigo can’t use kido or soul magic.”

  The assassin replied, “That’s true. But he’s an exception. Normally, if you get the powers of an anime character, you can’t get stronger. But he probably focused on controlling his spirit energy. After all, magic requires precise control.”

  “That’s why Ichigo couldn’t use kido. Part of it was pride—he thought his own powers were enough—but mostly, he knew he lacked the control to learn it.”

  “Bleach fan?”

  “Yes,” He said. “I rather enjoyed that series.”

  "Well, it’s been fun—but it looks like you’ve lost.

  The powerful ones are starting to withdraw. Smart move. Since Ichigo killed the one who seemed to be their leader—though I doubt they actually followed him; he was just playing the role—they knew it was time to cut their losses.

  They did manage to kill quite a few of my race.

  A shame it didn’t include many Soul Reapers.

  Now I look weak. Are they trying to make my race look like pushovers?

  How does one even die from such small fries?"

  Looks like almost everyone here can use Shikai. That’s kind of impressive.

  Looks like almost everyone here can use Shikai. That’s kind of impressive.

  “Unlike Ivory who basically got turned into Ichigo with all his powers included, they had to pass tests to get their powers,” he said. “If they were strong enough to pass, they were strong enough to manifest a Shikai—and maybe a Bankai, given time.”

  “So,” I asked, “are the tests proportionate to the power you gain?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “Not many people know that.”

  He continued, “After all, we just lost one of the strongest members of our faction. It would be foolish to continue fighting. If we look weak, the other factions will attack. Plus, some smaller factions might try to gain status by exploiting the chaos. before he disappeared well he teleported”

  In a world where no one governs the souls of the dead, souls typically dissipate after death. However, the stronger ones tend to reincarnate—usually without their memories, though occasionally with them.

  When certain beings take on the role of managing souls, they usually send the souls of those gods' believers—to their divine kingdoms or various afterlives, depending on their faith. Hell, even the gods or demons themselves might claim souls to fill their own versions of Hell.

  If you’ve got a particularly nasty soul, you’ll likely end up in one of those underworlds and have to deal with a demon personally.

  That said, most souls simply return to the cycle of reincarnation until they reach their natural end. After all, souls only tend to have a lifespan of around 10,000 years—unless they’re placed in a proper afterlife, where they can potentially last indefinitely.

  The exceptions are divine souls or immortal souls. They’re likely taking advantage of this system, effectively reincarnating themselves after death. That probably ties into some powerful ability—which I assume is another anomaly of this universe.

  After all, this place seems to be where they dump all the irregulars, the ones who never fit into the proper cycle to begin with. Their very existence defies fate."

  The orbs inside the conceptual magic barrier began to glow. They vanished, replaced by a massive door. I dispersed the barrier.

  Naturally, everyone entered the door. Once the diamond and soul reapers operatives had passed through, it disappeared—like it had never existed.

  Unlike the Soul Society, this new realm had rivers and lakes, but it was still a barren wasteland. will need to figure out how to modify plant souls so we can get some greenery here.

  And suddenly, someone I didn’t remember appeared—like they’d been there the entire time. Their nonchalant attitude didn’t help.