Chapter 1073 Payback part 3  

Kisuke ignored the thrown-off creepy man and grabbed the shining sigil before turning to Stralit who was staring at him strangely, "How do you turn this off?"

Kisuke noticed that the light had a strange effect on the mark that Stralit gave him and it was very annoying as if there was an unreachable itch.

Stralit was very confused about what was happening but she knew that the man who appeared was exactly the man who she saved from the void. For the lack of any better response, Stralit grabbed the sigil and manipulated her spiritual power to turn it off.

After that, Stralit wanted to ask him things but Kisuke suddenly walked off and the direction he was going is the capsule that was punctured many times and with blood still spilling out of them, "W-where are you going!?"

Stralit tried to stand up but in addition to her wound, she was really fully depleted now that she can't even reasonably move her muscles. Even then, she didn't give up and crawled towards the capsule, "What are you doing!?" She shouted after seeing Kisuke pry open the capsule and reveal its mangled content.

Kisuke ignored her as he wanted to resolve his throbbing head first. He reached out for [John Smith's] corpse and absorbed the scattered parts of his soul that were originally embedded in this specially crafted Gigai. In normal times, these scattered parts were not a problem for Kisuke, but because he was still in the middle of recovery from a very intense battle, it affected him to the point that the manifestation of the physical pain wouldn't leave Kisuke and it was actually very challenging to endure.

It was a relatively simple operation that would ease some of the pain Kisuke was feeling but in Stralit's eyes, she saw the strange man suddenly emit an identical spiritual signature as John Smith which should've been impossible even with the cloning technology they had, '...Unless...'

Kisuke finished absorbing the soul he left in the Gigai and the Gigai itself immediately turned to dust. Not letting go of such a good specimen, he kept the dust in a sealed container after filtering out the impurities that mixed in when it 'died'.

He then let out a long breath while muttering to himself, "...So much better~"

Kisuke then turned to the stunned Stralit and thought while approaching her, 'She must have already guessed what's going on.' And when he reached her, Kisuke held out his hand and initiated a Kaidou(Healing Kidou).

As soon as the soft green light wrapped around Stralit's wound, a warm and calming feeling that she hadn't been able to experience inside these tunnels washed over her mind, giving in further to the weakness of her body, "I can only close the wound. You'd have to be properly treated for your internal injuries. Will you be safe once you reach the surface?"

Stralit nodded, "Y-yes. My brother should be looking for me. Once they figure out my location, they'll be able to counterattack."

Kisuke looked up and tried to scan the surroundings with his Reiatsu-Ki but failed to penetrate the surface, 'There's a barrier blocking any information going in and out.'

And while he was busy analyzing the situation, a patch of earth from the left moved and the young man Kisuke just punched away silently emerged with a silver spear in his left hand and an expression full of rage. As silent as he appeared, he thrust his spear directly into Kisuke's head.

But although it went through his head, there was no resistance and soon, Kisuke's image disappeared along with the appearance of killing intent on his right.

Without any concern, Kisuke slashed down at his assailant's torso after using Flash Step and successfully bisecting him in the stomach. But unlike what he was expecting, the creepy young man's body turned into dirt, and suddenly felt his presence on top of him. Unescorted by hesitation, Kisuke drove his blade upwards and pierced the young man's temple who suddenly appeared.

Kisuke already expected the result but was still a bit surprised that the young man, once again, turned into dirt and feeling his presence reappearing some distance into the tunnel, 'I can't hurt him physically, huh? But my punch worked.'

"It's no use." Stralit was able to recover a bit and was able to find the strength to sit up, "As long as you can't separate him from the earth, it'll be hard to hurt him."

"And what if I destroy everything in here? I can still feel his presence lurking."

Stralit was taken aback at his sudden proposal for violence and immediately shook her head, "No. In that form, any competent member of the Aurelius Clan would be able to escape an indiscriminate destruction. And please don't hurt these tunnels. They are a form of Magic Circuit that maintains the livelihood of this planet.

"If you're going to help me by sacrificing the livelihood of innocent people, then please forget about me and escape. As long as you can bring the news outside, I'll be fine to be buried here."

Kisuke scratched his head, 'Was she always this headstrong?' But to be fair, Kisuke hasn't really known her for long and he hasn't seen her be in a desperate situation. Sighing, Kisuke continued to think, 'I would be able to easily deal with him if I were to use Bankai but that's impossible in my current state. And I don't really want to reveal anything that would further link my connection to Earth. Having Luxeux-san see all of this is already a big risk for me.'

[You can use me.]

All of a sudden, Tiamat proposed.

'...Now that I think about it, I still don't know your abilities. Unlike a normal Zanpakuto, I have to learn all your abilities manually.'

[Would you like a complete instruction manual or just a hint?] Tiamat asked even though she already knew the answer.

'The hint please~'

[I was once called the Governor of Elements.]

Benihime didn't say anything because she knew her limits and she didn't want to embarrass herself by over evaluating herself.

At the same time, the young man's voice resounded throughout the tunnel, "...Who are you?"

Ajax was done observing and figured out that Kisuke was 'weak' thanks to the fluctuation of his Spiritual Power. However, he's still very wary of his presence because he's obviously not an Etoulde like him and Stralit but still could take advantage of Spiritual Power.