Aleph's reaction time is on a whole another level. It was completely absurd, to the point his mind processed his surroundings beyond the one millisecond level. Everything halted in his perception, making it as if time had stopped.
'A supercharged projectile fired from a makeshift railgun.'
{Result: The silver metal ball's velocity has reached 1,120 meters per second. Suggesting countermeasures…}
Soon, Aleph found a way to counteract this projectile.
'Kashimo hasn't practiced it in real combat. Its accuracy should be lower than normal..!'
Clink-!
The sheathed Yamato went out of its sheath. At the same time the ratio line appeared on the projectile, the arcs let out from the blade sliced space itself several times. These cuts reached the projectile, slicing it into several pieces. The force from the railgun was split apart as a result.
Everything occurred in one second.
Bam-!
Crack-!
Shatter-!
Aleph was sent flying through a building. It wasn't a direct hit, yet the shockwaves and electrical fields brought by the split projectiles still managed to reach him.
Smoke and rubble covered the area where he landed.
Crumble-!
Bam-!
The five-storey building he bumped into collapsed to the ground. It further added to the chaos the two made in this desolate city.
"That sword… it's just like that. Strikes that can't be seen by the naked eyes…'
Just like Aleph, Kashimo's reaction speed rose to an unprecedented degree. Though not as exaggerated as him, Kashimo was able to barely react to Aleph's insane reaction speed. His cursed technique, [Mythical Beast Amber], allowed for the manipulation of all electrical phenomena. It was something he kept to himself.
Even then…
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Kashimo's entire left arm was missing. Blood kept splattering into the ground.
Aleph's strikes weren't only meant to neutralize the railgun—it was also intended to injure him.
For the first time, Kashimo lost control of the initiative.
'That guy—'
Before he could even recover from that attack, his senses told him of an impending threat.
Swoosh-!
A black figure bolted out of the smoke. Aleph, whose body was bleeding all over the place, had his eyes dead set on Kashimo. It looked terrifying at first, but Kashimo knew they were only surface-level wounds at best.
Aleph forgo using reversed cursed technique, intending to close the distance between them as soon as possible.
'That railgun attack won't work as long as I close the distance. My strongest strike…'
Aleph began to feel the sensation of fighting a 'strong' enemy. Although he was sure he could overwhelm Kashimo with his slashes and kill him—since he had the ratio technique as well as reversed curse technique—Kashimo is aware of his shortcomings. He never allowed Aleph to close the distance between them.
'His actual speed is slower than mine. As for his reaction speed, I can still overwhelm him.'
Albion's first gift, his vast cursed energy reserves, and several other skills (i.e., Great Sage and Elemental Sight) gave him the capital to be like this. His overall strength far surpassed his previous self. Even the Herrschers he faced couldn't force him to release his true strength.
It was at this moment did Aleph have a complete grasp of what he can do now.
'He'll think I still have Blink under my wraps, but I have another attack that could end him.'
Aleph's figure moved extremely fast. The interruptions caused by the gravity-like sensations electricity brought weren't enough to stop him.
Zoom-!
Buzz-!
It went up to the point Kashimo's fifty meter radius was filled with electrical forces, enough to cause ionizing radiation to someone who steps into it.
Fatal as it may be to normal humans and even sorcerers, there are strong people who could ignore it—Aleph happened to be one of them.
Crack-!
Crack-!
This time, he was prepared. Aleph decreased the output of his reversed cursed technique, pouring it on his territory instead. He sheathed Yamato back as he ran around.
While he was doing so, he noticed the slight decrease of Kashimo's output.
'He's preparing something big. I won't let him.'
Sou.
In an instant, he was teleported ten meters nearer to Kashimo. The latter expected it and strengthened both the ionizing radiation. His mouth turned into a huge "o"-shape, with natural frequencies being sent out by it.
However—
Click.
For the third time, Yamato was unsheathed. An unprecedented amount of force came out of the blade. The space around it cracked immediately. The 'slash' sent out from it went through Kashimo extremely fast. The area it affected was far larger compared to before.
The fusion of Yamato's special characteristic as well as the perfected Juezhao showed their might.
'This is…'
For the second time, Kashimo was killed by the hands of someone.
*****
"Huff…"
The moment Aleph came out of the training space, he looked around his body. His injuries weren't exactly pleasing to the eyes. Kashimo's ionizing attacks were the primary source of it. His scales and skin looked similar to charcoal. There seemed to be a force that threatened his body to decompose. It's just that his current body was absurd enough to tank them all. It didn't even reach the second-degree burns he had before.
Fortunately, everything worked out in the end. His body also went back to normal.
[Course Completion. The corresponding functions will be unlocked: Power Vessel, Straw Hat, Summons]
A prompt appeared in Aleph's sight. A series of explanations soon followed them.
[Power Vessel: Utilize the cursed technique [Mythical Amber Beast] for thirty minutes. Cooldown: 1 Year]
[Straw Hat: Obtain the experiences, ideas, and memories of the man known as "Hajime Kashimo" for thirty minutes. Cooldown: 1 Month]
[Summons: Call the person inside the training space to fight in the physical realm for fifteen minutes. Canceled upon his death. Cooldown: 6 Months]
Aleph began going through both the fight and the information given to him. His multiple minds worked simultaneously.
One of the other things he noticed was his ICHOR's changes.
{Result: The Inter-Chromosomal Honkai Gene Repeats started exhibiting increased activity. It began to enter the realm of conceptual...}
'Was this the trial? To fight?'
True to his words, Albion's trials turned out to be Aleph's struggles. It was akin to a main quest that gets accomplished every time he faced something challenging.
'I can feel like I can do something new...'
He was busy thinking about these things when the sound of his phone ringing on the desk beside his bed alerted him. He picked it up, only to be greeted by Mei's extremely serious voice.
"We have a situation." She spoke. "There might be another herrscher besides Anna."
"..."
For a moment, Aleph's thoughts were redirected to what she said. Mei continued her explanations.
"We found several strange residues in Iranum. Upon further inspection, they were biological remains with traces of honkai energy."
These words were enough to make Aleph jump from his seat.
'The sixth herrscher.'
According to his knowledge, the sixth herrscher, the Herrscher of Death, was the Seele equivalent of the Previous Era. She was currently an idol-slash-streamer that he kept close contact with by being a supporter. He asked Vill-V a favor to conduct a background check on her.
Up to now, she hadn't encountered anything that threatened her to turn into a Herrscher. She also didn't have any problems in the past.
Currently, she is living in the Far East. It was impossible that she was the possible Herrscher in Iranum, a city within Mu Continent.
'If it wasn't her…'
His heart trembled. He knew what it meant.
'The future is deviating from what I knew.'