Chapter 308

Chapter 308: Chapter 308

The Guild enforced the terms before Apollo could reconsider.

By evening, Cassandra was standing inside Hephaestus Familia headquarters with Apollo’s Falna unlocked and ready for Conversion.

Yumeutsutsu remained at her waist, exactly where it belonged, and the Guild had recorded Apollo’s formal renunciation of any ownership or authority over the Zanpakutō.

His Familia remained intact, but he could never again use Cassandra or her sword as leverage against Rayleigh.

Hyakinthos was carried back to Orario with the other injured adventurers.

Before leaving the fortress, he had recovered enough to speak briefly with Rayleigh and ask one thing: if he returned to the workshop for another Zanpakutō trial, he wanted to be judged just as harshly as before.

Rayleigh agreed, and Hyakinthos asked for nothing more.

Their business with Apollo was finally settled.

...

Hephaestus updated Rayleigh’s Falna that night.

He had only intended to see how much the War Game had added to the gains of the previous months, but her hand stopped as she read the divine script on his back.

"Is it enough?" he asked at once.

Hephaestus read his status again before releasing a long breath.

"More than enough. You’ve fought on the Deep Floors and against enhanced species, dealt with Valletta and Knossos, and accumulated feats through the Zanpakutō you’ve forged. Now you’ve defeated an entire Familia by yourself.

"Your vessel has been ready for a while. This War Game put the Great Feat beyond any reasonable doubt."

Rayleigh had suspected as much.

He had spent long enough at Level Four to recognize the difference between ordinary growth and the feeling that his Falna was pressing toward another stage.

Hephaestus rested her hand against his back again. "Do you want to advance?"

"Yes," he said, and she began processing the accumulated Excellia.

As the divine script shifted, power moved through his body, compressing the foundation he had built at Level Four into something deeper.

His muscles tightened and his senses sharpened, while the Reiatsu within his soul surged strongly enough to rouse every Zanpakutō in the room.

Benihime vibrated beside him, and Shinsō gave a faint metallic hum.

Elsewhere in Orario, the blades he had forged answered the change through their connections to him.

Rayleigh let out a slow breath until his spiritual pressure settled.

Hephaestus finished the update and pressed the new status sheet into his hand; for now, only the line at the top mattered.

Level: 5

Rayleigh studied it for several seconds before folding the paper.

Hephaestus rested a hand on his shoulder. "Try not to celebrate by challenging another Familia tomorrow."

"I was thinking of sleeping," he replied, which Hephaestus promptly declared a historic improvement.

Rayleigh laughed as he got to his feet with the folded status sheet still in his hand.

...

Three years Later

Three years after the War Game with Apollo Familia, Rayleigh arrived on the Deep Floors just as a wall of black fire swept toward six wounded adventurers.

He appeared between them and the flames, his coat snapping behind him, and raised a hand.

Both swords remained at his waist as he released his spiritual pressure.

"Bakudō #81: Dankū!"

A transparent wall rose across the passage an instant before the fire struck.

The impact thundered through the cavern, and flames spread across the barrier, heating the surrounding stone until it glowed red. Behind Rayleigh, the wounded adventurers remained untouched.

The young Human supporting their bloodied leader stared at the barrier with his mouth open.

Rayleigh was already looking past it at the Irregular, a creature nearly nine meters tall, with six thick legs and overlapping plates of black armor that resembled volcanic rock.

Two smaller arms ended in hooked claws beneath its chest, and its heavy tail battered the cavern walls as it advanced.

Those features, at least, matched the Guild’s sketches.

Rayleigh frowned when a second mouth opened beneath its throat and black vapor gathered between the teeth.

’Of course it has another mouth.’

Before it could fire again, he pointed two fingers at its chest.

"Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō!" Six broad pillars of golden light struck from different directions and locked around the monster’s torso.

It lurched sideways against the restraints, gouging the floor with its claws as its roar shook dust from the ceiling.

"Y-Yōtōsai?!" One of the wounded adventurers had finally recognized him.

Rayleigh kept his attention on the struggling creature as he told the group to stay behind Dankū.

With injured companions and half their equipment gone, they would only make his job harder by trying to help.

Their leader grimaced, then pointed urgently beyond the monster.

"Our scout is still out there! The ceiling came down on him before that thing cut us off!"

Rayleigh followed his gesture and spotted a man pinned beneath a broken slab about twenty meters beyond the Irregular.

His spiritual presence was faint but still there.

With someone alive on the other side, holding the creature back was no longer enough.

He used Shunpo just as the Irregular tore through one of the golden pillars.

Its tail swung toward him with enough force to pulverize the wall beside it, and he raised his left arm.

"Bakudō #39: Enkōsen!"

A circular shield formed across his forearm barely in time to catch the blow.

The collision drove him several meters backward, his boots carving grooves through the floor, but the shield held.

Rayleigh rolled his shoulder as the numbness began to fade and gave the monster a small grin.

"Still strong. Good."

Its answering roar made the adventurers recoil behind Dankū.

Rayleigh vanished again, appeared beneath its chest, and drove his fist into the seam between two armor plates.

The Hakuda strike landed with a sharp crack, lifting the creature’s front legs clear of the ground before its weight brought them crashing down.

Fractures spread across the plate. Rayleigh planted a foot against one of its legs, pushed himself upward, and drove his heel into the damaged section.

Black armor broke away in jagged chunks, revealing pulsing red flesh.

’There you are.’

The hooked claws snapped toward him before he could strike again.

He twisted between them, then kicked off its shoulder as the Irregular threw itself sideways and tore free of the remaining restraints.

He was still in the air when it turned, moving far too quickly for something so large, and opened both mouths.

Black fire poured from the upper maw while the lower mouth spat a stream of glowing acid.

"That’s disgusting." Rayleigh swept a hand across his body. "Hadō #58: Tenran!"

A tornado burst from his palm, throwing the flames off course and scattering the acid against the cavern walls.

Each droplet hissed as it ate into the stone.

The wounded party went pale.

Rayleigh had barely glanced back at them when the Irregular lowered its body and charged, its six legs shaking loose more rock from the ceiling.

Meeting it head-on might bring the rest down on the trapped scout, so he formed a long rod of blue-white energy instead.

"Bakudō #62: Hyapporankan!"

The rod split into dozens as it left his hand.

He drove them into the floor, the walls, and the gaps around the creature until a cage of spiritual bars filled the passage.

The Irregular smashed through the first layer and broke several more with its shoulders.

Before it could force its way clear, Rayleigh closed his hand and shifted the formation.

Rods caught its legs and crossed beneath its body, lifting just enough of its weight to rob it of balance. Its front legs buckled, and it crashed onto one side.

Rayleigh reached the scout with another Shunpo and crouched beside the slab pinning his leg.

He wedged both hands beneath it and lifted, stone scraping against the rubble below, until there was enough room to pull the man free.