# 657
657
【Rainfall Collapse】Heart's Calamity
"【Demon】-level wanted criminal, Amemiya Haruki." The light ring in the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's left eye locked onto Amemiya Haruki as he spoke calmly, "If it were a few years ago, your master holding this blade might have been able to fight me to a draw, but you... you're not qualified."
Amemiya Haruki's eyes narrowed slightly, burning battle intent flickering within them. "How do you know until you try?"
The moment his voice fell, his figure vanished into the rain curtain, followed instantly by a blade light cutting through the air, striking toward the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy from an extremely tricky angle.
The light ring in the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's eye locked onto a certain corner. His hands raised the light discs lightning-fast, anticipating and colliding with that deep-blue longblade. He gazed at Amemiya Haruki's grave expression behind the blade, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Your swordsmanship and your application of 【Rainfall Collapse】 were all taught by your master. Back then, he lost to me so many times that I've long since memorized both of your fighting styles. Your blade... cannot wound me."
The light disc swept away 【Rainfall Collapse】. The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's right fist surged directly toward Amemiya Haruki's face, that dazzling light disc tracing a golden arc through the air, momentarily blinding Amemiya Haruki.
He gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain in his eyes while tracking the light disc's trajectory, instantly raising his longblade once more, barely managing to parry the disc by a hair's breadth.
BANG—!!
The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy seemed to have already anticipated his movements. He sidestepped in the rain, delivering a heavy kick to Amemiya Haruki's chest with a dull, thunderous impact!
Amemiya Haruki's body flew backward, barely stabilizing in mid-air before stumbling back to the ground.
He clutched his eye, burned by the light ring, and coughed several times before raising his head again, squinting his reddened eyes toward the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy slowly approaching in the distance.
The opponent seemed extraordinarily familiar with his techniques, even able to predict from which angle in the rain he would strike based on his movements, countering with the most efficient methods... True to what his master had said, the Second Oracle Envoy was an extremely troublesome figure.
"The upper limit of Magatsu Blades was determined the moment they were forged, but how much of their power you can unleash depends solely on the wielder himself." The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy continued walking as he spoke, "While your application of 【Rainfall Collapse】 has reached an impressive level, there's still quite a distance between you and your master, who brought it to perfection.
If your master back then could unleash 95% of 【Rainfall Collapse】's power, then you now manage at most 60%—merely passing grade.
Want to defeat me? Train for another ten years."
Barely passing grade, huh...
Amemiya Haruki gripped his deep-blue longblade tightly, watching the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy approach through the rain. The terrifying pressure emanating from his opponent exceeded everyone the Oracle Envoys had ever sent against him... Yet deep down, he knew this Oracle Envoy hadn't even动用全力 yet.
If this continued, he would never defeat this enemy, and with the ability to hear minds across a wide range, escaping from him would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
He had to take a gamble!
Amemiya Haruki drew a deep breath, as if steeling his resolve. A resolute light flickered in his eyes.
He bit down hard on his tongue, the salty taste flooding his mouth. He then sprayed a mist of blood onto the blade body of 【Rainfall Collapse】 before him. This blood mist mixed with rainwater, adhering to the blade's surface, causing the originally deep-blue blade to take on an eerie crimson hue.
He gripped the hilt, reversed the blade, and forcefully thrust it into the puddle of rainwater beneath him!
At the same time, within the puddle's reflection, the white-haired sword spirit simultaneously drew an identical 【Rainfall Collapse】 from its waist, inserting it into the puddle from the other side. The shadows of the two longblades overlapped.
BOOM—!!
An invisible burst of energy exploded outward from Amemiya Haruki as its center. His blue-gray floral yukata fluttered wildly. His black hair began whitening at a visible rate. His cold eyes now carried an indescribable divine aura.
Within the puddle, the reflection of the white-haired sword spirit was gradually fading...
He and the sword spirit were merging into one.
The moment the sword spirit's reflection completely vanished, Amemiya Haruki forcefully pulled 【Rainfall Collapse】 from the puddle. The blade hummed in its wake. His white hair, drenched by the rain, framed a complete transformation in his entire bearing!
White-haired Amemiya Haruki stood in the ruins, clutching the bloodstained deep-blue longblade. His eyes radiated a murderous intent!
Yuzuri Nana stood behind Amemiya Haruki, staring blankly at his back. The Rainfall Collapse brother before her now felt somewhat unfamiliar...
"【Rain God】?" The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's brow slightly furrowed upon witnessing this scene. "You've actually managed to merge with the sword spirit to this degree... It seems your talent ceiling is far higher than your master's. However, this state consumes your lifespan, doesn't it?"
"It doesn't matter." The white-haired Amemiya spoke calmly. "As long as I live to witness the day this country is overturned... that is enough."
His voice fading, he slowly raised the bloodstained 【Rainfall Collapse】 in his hand. In that instant, countless raindrops falling from the sky seemed connected by invisible threads. As the blade swept down, they gathered into a nearly dimensionless thread of rain, slicing through the air with effortless grace.
The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's pupils slightly contracted. His body dodged at lightning speed, but this rain thread was too fast—fully half of his left hand was still grazed by the line.
BOOM—!!!
Behind where the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy had stood, an entire cluster of towering buildings was severed at their midsections. The cuts were impossibly smooth. In the night, they collapsed thunderously, the deafening crash echoing across the heavens like rolling thunder.
This single strike had directly cleaved away half of Dotonbori.
Meanwhile, on the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's left hand, a thin line of blood appeared. His half palm had been sliced open, cleanly severed as it drifted away, blood spraying forth!
The Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy's expression slightly darkened. Just as he was about to take action, Amemiya Haruki's figure appeared before him out of thin air. His expressionless face delivered another slash. That nearly dimensionless rain thread bisected him perfectly down the middle!
After cleaving through the Oracle Envoy, the rain thread continued, slicing through the remaining half of Dotonbori into ruins as well. Streets that had been bustling and bright as day now fell into complete darkness. The explosive collapse deafened Yuzuri Nana, who instinctively covered her ears.
Amemiya Haruki stood quietly, gazing at the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy he had sliced in two. No joy whatsoever showed in his eyes.
He knew "Heart's Calamity" could not be defeated so easily.
As if to confirm his thoughts, a figure slowly walked to the end of the street. He appeared to be an ordinary office worker in his forties, utterly unremarkable—but in the next moment, his body and features twisted rapidly, ultimately morphing into the Yellow-Robed Oracle Envoy!
The light ring in his left eye locked onto Amemiya Haruki. A smile appeared on his face.
"I猜测 your master must have told you what my ability is..." he said slowly, "The existence of the flesh has its limits, but the power of the heart is eternal... My 'Heart's Calamity' can transform any human within a ten-kilometer radius who fears me from the depths of their heart into my physical form.
Every person who fears me is capable of being me.
And I am the Oracle Envoy, the messenger of the gods feared and revered by humanity...
Here, within a ten-kilometer radius, there are 3,224 people, of whom 3,192 fear my existence from the depths of their hearts.
Congratulations. You have killed 1/3192 of me."