Time slowed.
Shisui's veins tingled, his fingertips buzzed. The stones around him vibrated—magnetized. Metal dust in the air was drawing toward him, swirling like a living storm.
Kurou stared, wide-eyed. "Impossible... That's—"
> "The Iron Tempest, Kurou-sensei," Shisui murmured, his voice deep with inherited memory.
His hands moved—not from training, but from instinct.
> "Magnetic Sandstorm Armor."
Dark, glimmering iron sand erupted from beneath his feet, wrapping around his body like a cyclone. Razor particles deflected the Arch Beast's charge, forming reactive armor that shifted with his movement.
The beast roared and charged again. Shisui's hand lashed out.
> "Black Iron Execution Array."
He slashed the air. Invisible magnetic lines formed a grid—iron sand moving through them like electric current. From every direction, high-speed spikes launched and pierced the beast's body.
It roared once more—then stilled.
Shisui stood, panting. The armor around him dissolved into soft swirling dust.
Kurou approached slowly. "That was not something I taught you," he said. "That was your bloodline."
Shisui nodded. "My mother… she died protecting this power."
Kurou placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then honor her with it."
Shisui looked up, the iron dust around him pulsing to his breath.
> He had combined three techniques… and awakened a fourth from his blood.
The real training had just begun.