Back to the mortal realm?!
Roger looked up, his eyes empty.
He should have died before. His soul fell into a place in hell called the Hollow Circle, where he saw the Shinigami Byakuya Kuchiki and was entrusted by him to become a Shinigami Substitute.
Then...
He split out An?
Thinking of An, he instantly became nervous. Wouldn't she appear now?
Or...
Was it just a dream?
Just a delusion in his unconscious state?
But as his hand touched something in the quilt, his expression changed slightly.
He weakly looked at the people around him, listening to them talking about recent events. At the same time, he tightly held the pentagonal badge in his hand.
That was the Shinigami Substitute License!
It really appeared!
Did that mean he would use this thing to separate An?
It wasn't a dream but a real thing that happened. He did enter the Hollow Circle and became a Shinigami Substitute.
Or rather, An, whom he was about to split out, would become a Shinigami Substitute.
Therefore, Byakuya Kuchiki released his soul in the Hollow Circle, allowing him to return to the mortal realm.
Yuan Yi's will observed Roger through his ability.
From the beginning, he found that people who obtained his power would be monitored by him. As they gained more and more of his power, Yuan Yi could even exert some influence on them.
Yuan Yi believed that this was not the effect of his card-drawing ability but the power of Machvise's domination.
Yuan Yi also had the power of Machvise's domination. He believed that he was superior to Roger, and...
Roger obtained many of his powers, allowing Yuan Yi's influence to be more effective.
Although this influence was small, it sometimes had an effect.
Like now...
Everything Roger experienced before was a dream caused by Yuan Yi using the Yang symbol from a distance, and his ability to split out An was due to the effect of the Shikon Jewel.
One of the abilities of the Shikon Jewel was to allow the user to split a part of themselves into a clone. In Inuyasha, the boss used this ability to split many clones to serve as his subordinates.
Now, Roger was doing the same. Originally, he had four Shikon Jewel fragments in his body, which were not enough to split a clone. However, in the 'Shinigami Substitute License,' there were six additional Shikon Jewel fragments!
With these ten Shikon Jewel fragments, coupled with Yuan Yi's power of domination over Roger, he could split out a clone.
That clone would inherit a strong part of Roger's power, which was An.
Actually, Yuan Yi didn't know how Roger's clone would look like, and he didn't expect it to turn out to be a woman. But thinking that Naraku also split out many female clones, he felt relieved.
The Shinigami Substitute License was teleported into Roger's hands by Yuan Yi through instant movement. Everything was seamlessly arranged by Yuan Yi.
Roger would split out An, and An was almost half constructed by Yuan Yi's power. Therefore, to some extent, Yuan Yi could subtly control An. This was very beneficial to him.
Moreover, most importantly, Yuan Yi wanted to use these people to enhance the power of the Shikon Jewel fragments.
The Shikon Jewel was the power of the soul. When it fused with the corresponding person, it would naturally merge with their soul. When the fragments were separated, they would also be imbued with the power of their souls. The Shikon Jewel fragments would become stronger, and the ultimately fused Shikon Jewel would be stronger.
People like Roger were excellent materials for the fusion of the Shikon Jewel.
It could only be said that Roger was a quite qualified tool, and Yuan Yi was very satisfied with him.
On Roger's side, some time had passed since he woke up.
He said he wanted to be alone for a while, so he walked alone to a remote mountain.
Because they had been pursued, the place they were originally in was already remote.
And Roger came to a remote corner of that already remote place.
In his hands were a few pieces of women crew members' clothes. If they saw him, they might scold him as a pervert?
But Roger had no choice. According to the agreement with Byakuya Kuchiki, he couldn't reveal An's identity. They could meet, but he couldn't let them know that An was Roger's clone, nor could he let them know that An was a Shinigami Substitute.
So he could only sneakily steal a few pieces of clothes. That was reasonable!
Roger took out the Shinigami Substitute License, activated the ability, and integrated the pentagonal metal into his body. The next moment, he thought about what happened in the Hollow Circle before and split again.
Just like before, An appeared. Her eyes were a bit dazed at first, but soon returned to their natural state.
"You're really slow," An complained.
She took the clothes Roger handed over and put them on. In no time, she turned into a heroic woman. She shook her hair and said, "So, how do you feel now?"
"There's no way I can run out right after waking up." Roger shrugged, then said, "Of course, the feeling is not good. How much of my power did you take away?"
Power is always conserved, but the six Shikon Jewel fragments in the Shinigami Substitute License made Roger stronger before the split.
At this moment, he felt a bit weaker than when he fought Aatrox single-handedly in Jartzburg Country, especially in terms of Observation Haki. He had already developed Observation Haki to the point of weak point perception, but now he found that this ability had disappeared.
But overall, he was still much stronger than his initial self when he fought against Lox in the sea.
"About the level of a Great Demon," An also sensed her current power.
She did take away a considerable amount of Roger's powerful Observation Haki, as she needed that power to trace the demons. So, her power now was comparable to Roger's initial state. In the sea, she could definitely be considered a strong presence.
"I am An, but at the same time, I am Gol D. Roger, and also a Shinigami Substitute."
An looked at Roger with her clear childlike eyes and said coldly, "So, I don't want Rayleigh and the others to be invaded by the power of the demons. It's best if you don't get involved with demons anymore; it will only accelerate their corruption. Regarding demons, you can call me."
"Haha..." Roger burst into laughter.
"Do you think this kind of talk can restrain us? Although I also don't want to get involved with demons, if the situation is in front of us, we will never retreat."
"..." An looked at Roger's appearance, sighed after a long time, and turned around.
"I'll leave now. There must be clues about the 'Master' in this world, and I will find it!"