Pfft!
Shōyō's sword‑light was razor‑sharp and lightning‑fast.
The blade's force gouged the ground, shattering the flagstones inside the base.
"Oh? For a mere mortal to pull off a strike like that—quite impressive."
Xiang Nan offered a casual compliment.
In the blink of an eye, Shōyō's sword arc, a snow‑white flash, slashed back and forth through the air.
Yet Xiang Nan strolled past the attack as though out for a walk, stepped up to the console that controlled the passage, and keyed in a code.
Because he was an outsider, the Tendoushuu had no idea what he could do—much less that Xiang Nan had obtained the password—so they set no traps on the gate and hadn't sealed the entrance.
With a booming rumble, the two metal doors slowly parted.
Shōyō planted one foot and burst forward again with astonishing speed and power, striking from behind Xiang Nan.
This time Xiang Nan did not ignore him.
He merely turned his head and glanced over—just that single look froze the charging immortal in mid‑stride, locking him to the spot, face draining of color.
In Utsuro's perception, Xiang Nan still stood only a few meters ahead, yet the scenery seemed to stretch out infinitely, space itself yanked and distorted. A crushing aura like a mountain pressed down on him, making his limbs go rigid, impossible to move.
He could only watch, wide‑eyed, as Xiang Nan stepped into the passage, powerless to intervene.
"What… is this?"
Utsuro looked at the hand gripping his sword hilt and blinked.
His fingers were trembling; even raising them felt agonizingly slow.
"Mental force?"
The enemy had launched no physical attack, yet a chilling oppression gripped him, forcing an instinctive recoil—as though one more step, one more inch closer, meant certain death.
His mind was still clear… After barely ten seconds caught in Xiang Nan's unleashed aura, Shōyō broke the pressure by sheer will—but his motions were still sluggish, though at least he had regained freedom.
When he entered the hall beyond the passage, the floor was already strewn with corpses—guards who had been protecting the Tendoushuu elder. The elder himself was dangling by the throat in Xiang Nan's grasp, dragged out of the ship.
Only a handful of seconds had passed… What sort of power was this?
Utsuro's eyelid twitched.
He had roamed the cosmos for ages, yet had never encountered a race so terrifying, so blood‑soaked. Even the Yato—lauded as the galaxy's greatest warriors—fell far short of this capability.
Just as Xiang Nan had predicted, the Tendoushuu elder had planned to flee in the spacecraft, but with the base's central systems damaged he could not lift off in time. The hidden chamber's dome could open automatically, raising the launch platform to the surface—but the intruders had moved too quickly, and Utsuro had failed to delay them even for a moment. The elder was caught.
None of them imagined the enemy would know the passage code.
"Close call," Xiang Nan said with a faint smile.
One step later and the operation might have failed.
If that elder escaped, they would have to waste time cracking Altana secrets themselves.
Meanwhile, outside forces—the Shogunate's troops and all of Edo—were surely already aware of the chaos and rushing over. Story‑line characters posed little threat to them, but Edo still had ways to injure Nen users—especially given the binding rule that they themselves could not attack story characters directly.
"Release me, you cur… Whoever you are, if you oppose the Tendoushuu, your entire planet will be annihilated! You, your kin, your whole species—sent straight to hell!" the elder rasped, struggling in Xiang Nan's grip.
Xiang Nan ignored him; a slight squeeze and the elder fell silent.
He turned to Shōyō, who had reappeared. Unable to attack plot characters, Xiang Nan had tried another angle: he had radiated pure malice—no killing intent, no specific target.
Yoshida Shōyō had clearly felt it.
To shake it off so quickly showed formidable will—dangerous enemies are not defined by flesh alone.
That matched Beishi's description: Utsuro had fought across the universe for an incalculable span, in every scenario imaginable—battling with a ruptured heart, fighting on though blinded, drenched in blood—honing terrifying combat instincts. Yoshida Shōyō—Sakata Gintoki's teacher—was merely one "personality" Utsuro had birthed over his long existence. Swordplay, martial arts, raw flesh—he was near‑omnipotent in the Gintama universe.
Xiang Nan, having trained under Lin Jian and gained life‑energy sight, wasn't surprised Utsuro broke free. The aura around Utsuro was dense and distinctive—though invisible and uncontrollable to him, the sheer output exceeded that of an ordinary Nen user, even as it leaked away.
"Instinct should tell you: even after absorbing Altana, you pose no threat to us. Any one of us could kill you with ease—even one who is 'immortal'," Xiang Nan said.
Utsuro did not attack again.
Their brief clash had already laid bare the yawning gulf between them.
Shōyō slowly resheathed his blade and stared at Xiang Nan.
"What interests me more is… where do you come from? Which race in the universe?"
"The universe is boundless… Even with your long life, you cannot have set foot on every world," Xiang Nan replied calmly.
"True. Yet you clearly know a great deal about me—and the Tendoushuu. That means you must originate somewhere within known space,"
Utsuro answered with a faint smile.
At that moment Manman and Beishi entered from the corridor, catching the scene. Seeing Yoshida Shōyō, Beishi drew a sharp breath; as the one most versed in the original story, even he had not expected the final boss to be here on Earth. No wonder, while clearing the base, they had encountered not only Tendoushuu star‑warriors but also Naraku agents.
"With power like yours… and you still need Altana? Then let's strike a deal," Utsuro said, outwardly calm but inwardly shaken by how Xiang Nan's party had shattered his view of cosmic strength.
"I'll show you how to draw a planet's life‑force and help you out of your current predicament. In exchange, you tell me how to obtain power like yours."
It was, in essence, a trade.
He cared nothing for the elder's life—Tendoushuu were merely his playthings.
The "predicament" was the retaliation the Tendoushuu, the Shogunate, and Edo's reinforcements might soon mount. The base attack had been broadcast; the casualties here were only a fraction. The main Tendoushuu forces were racing back to Earth and could seal near‑space completely—no chance of escaping by ship. In the squad channel, cavalryman Orban had reported Shogunate ground troops entering the base, and he and his partner were fighting to hold them off.
"Deal."
Xiang Nan agreed instantly. As a field veteran, Utsuro knew Altana better than anyone; his guidance would save them endless trouble.
Nearby, Beishi's expression shifted.
As a story character, even if Utsuro learned Nen training methods, he still could not become a Nen user—because in the Gintama world, that power system simply does not exist.