Chapter Ninety: Yone, the Three-Stage Demon-Sealing Sword Soul (the chapter number may be incorrect)

“This is not over yet!”

Forcing himself upright, Roland shed his Yudian form. The loss of blood had drained all color from his face.

“So the little insect still has a hidden ace I don’t know about?”

Watching Roland’s movements, Tuchi could not help but laugh.

The battle had already reached this point, and the outcome was all too clear. Even if Roland still possessed some unknown trump card, what could he do in a body like this?

Among all the enemies he had ever faced, Tuchi liked those who saved their trump cards for last the most.

Only then could he fully savor the pleasure of tormenting them.

“Then let’s find out. My third stage.”

A mask suddenly appeared in Roland’s hand, and he slowly placed it over his face.

At that very moment, Tuchi seemed to hear endless wails, and the temperature around them appeared to drop a little as the mask settled onto Roland’s face.

“One sword to slay evil, one sword to still the soul!”

With Roland’s low murmur, Nara and Shortfin reappeared in his hands. As the demon from the Yone mask possessed him, the twin blades gradually transformed into another shape.

“Is that Roland’s third form?”

In the distance, Zoro, already locked in battle with the marines aboard Tuchi’s warship, was deeply shaken by what he saw.

He had thought he had already grasped the full extent of Roland’s strength, yet every time Roland acted, he brought him a new surprise.

Unlike the previous form, this one radiated a tremendously powerful sword intent, as though the form itself were that of a master swordsman of astonishing skill.

“The stronger Captain Roland becomes, the more advantageous it is for us, isn’t it?”

Pongerstone, fighting alongside Zoro against Tuchi’s officer, broke into a grin.

“You really think a captain can defeat our vice admiral?”

Across from Pongerstone and Zoro, a fat, broad-faced marine lieutenant commander sneered.

Zoro and Pongerstone did not answer. They merely exchanged a glance and attacked at the same time.

Toward Roland, they held no thought except trust.

“The third form? It hardly looks like much. You can’t even hide the wounds from before. When you transformed into the first form, those injuries weren’t visible.”

Tuchi looked at the hideous wounds still on Roland’s body and scoffed.

So that was it. He had expected something grand, but this? It seemed not even as good as the first form.

“Whether it’s strong or not, you’ll know once you try it yourself.”

Clenching his teeth against the pain, Roland charged at Tuchi with both blades whirling.

Yone was a swordsman, and so was he.

Perhaps in terms of raw physical enhancement, this form was comparable to the second, but in swordsmanship it surpassed the others by far.

In Roland’s current data, his physical attributes were at level five, and his swordsmanship at level six.

Yet under Yone’s enhancement, his physical attributes approached level seven, while his swordsmanship broke straight through the threshold into level seven.

One level might seem like a small difference between six and seven, but that single step marked the divide between a master swordsman and an ordinary blade wielder.

And the higher the level climbed, the harder it became to advance. To break through to level seven while under enhancement was already formidable beyond measure.

“One Sword Style, Skycleave!”

Roland struck at once. From the very beginning, the rhythm of battle had remained in Tuchi’s hands. Aside from the two Yudian forms that had slightly disrupted Tuchi’s pace, he had spent the rest of the fight being led by the nose. He had no intention of letting that continue.

He used Skycleave as his opening move, not expecting it to achieve any great effect, but merely as a means of closing the distance.

Before learning the Six Powers, his options for approaching an enemy were limited, and Skycleave was an excellent choice.

“So this is the strength you were talking about?”

With a savage grin, Tuchi swung his sharp claws toward Roland.

After unleashing one ultimate move after another, he had grown somewhat bored. If this dragged on, he feared he might accidentally toy the insect to death, so now he intended to change his style of play.

“Not finished yet. Breakthrough Edge, Cross Jade Slice.”

A textbook Yone E-Q combo: Roland used Breakthrough Edge to evade Tuchi’s strike, then Cross Jade Slice pierced straight into him.

“Calm Severing!”

Following Cross Jade Slice, Roland swept through with Calm Severing, slashing across Tuchi’s armadillo shell and leaving behind a clearly visible white mark.

“Kid, that shadow of yours wasn’t left there by accident, was it?”

Tuchi stared at the shadow lingering before him and assumed a Six Kings Gun stance.

His sharp battle instinct told him that no matter how far Roland fled, he would ultimately return to that shadow.

“So what if it was? Severing the Dust of Resolve!”

Roland roared and unleashed Yone’s ultimate without the slightest hesitation.

He was not hoping to deal much damage to Tuchi with this strike. Its purpose was to launch and drive the enemy back.

As long as he ruined Tuchi’s prepared attack and returned to the shadow’s true body, he could do whatever he pleased afterward.

After a brief charge, Roland slashed at Tuchi with both blades. The sharp edges left two deep white scars across Tuchi’s armor, and Roland himself was lifted and hurled backward by some inexplicable force.

Taking advantage of the opening, Roland swiftly returned to the spirit body, erasing the flaw he had just exposed.

“Interesting, insect. Seems each of your forms has some strange little trick.”

Interrupted before he could unleash Six Kings Gun, Tuchi did not anger. Instead, he laughed.

“How about a trade, kid? Come work under me. As for the past, I’ll let it go. I never much liked that useless younger brother of mine anyway. If he weren’t sending me a monthly cut, I wouldn’t have bothered caring whether he lived or died.”

“So that’s where we differ from people like you.”

Roland let out a cold laugh and answered with action instead of words.

If he yielded simply because he was outmatched, then in his previous life he would never have taken the case that led him to cross worlds.

He had always believed that there were things in this world more important than power and wealth: justice and righteousness.

“Even now, you still cling to that so-called justice? Ridiculous. Look around you. Those marines dragged into this senseless conflict because of you—do they really deserve to die?”

“No. If you had not insisted on your precious justice, if you had not killed my useless brother in the name of justice, none of this would have happened.”

“They could be enjoying a peaceful life at headquarters, or back home with their families.”

“But now, because of you, they will all die here, and not even as martyrs. Their parents, wives, and children will lose their sons, husbands, and fathers because of you.”

Tuchi pointed toward another part of the deck, where countless marines were slaughtering one another.

At every moment, marines in that battle were either maimed or losing their lives.

Looking at them, Roland fell silent.

Then he smiled.