"Another fool who doesn't know what's good for him..." The sneer of Sekido was still on his face.
Obanai's body pressed tightly against the ground, her wavy Nichirin Blade emitting a faint hum.
The fight is about to begin!!
As Sanemi's abnormally strong scent of Marechi gradually faded in the air, the other three demons, who had been completely drunk and disoriented, finally recovered.
Urogi pulled its head out of the mud puddle, spitting out several mouthfuls of foul-smelling mud mixed with rotten leaves. It then flapped its enormous wings and rose into the air.
"Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!!"
Even his usual shrill laughter sounded different from his usual cheerful Urogi.
"You actually made me eat this disgusting mud! I'm going to rip your intestines out and use them as a jump rope!!"
On the other side, Karaku also picked herself up from the tree. Looking at the once gorgeous maple leaf fan in her hand, now torn with several large holes by the branches, her face contorted with heartache.
"Oh my gosh~ My fan~ This is my favorite toy!"
The smile on Karaku's face vanished completely, replaced by a morbidly sinister expression.
"I can't drink the blood of the white-haired guy, so I'll crush you, this bandaged fellow, into a meat patty!"
Aizetsu ashamed and indignant at her embarrassing behavior just now.
"Sadness... it's so sad. This humiliation of being played can only be washed away by your deaths."
Aizetsu raised the cross-patterned spear, its tip pointing directly at Obanai's brow.
The four monsters, whose strength far surpassed that of ordinary Lower Rank, were now completely sober, and their anger soared to its peak because of their embarrassing drunken past.
Lying in the mud nearby, Sanemi, who could barely move a finger, watched this scene with half-closed eyes and couldn't help but mentally rant.
"Damn it, those four bastards have sobered up."
"This bandaged brat couldn't have chosen a better time to act tough. He went straight into battle against four monsters at their peak. Isn't that like an old man eating poison, tired of living?"
Although Sanemi cursed fiercely, he knew in his heart that if it weren't for Obanai's amazing slash just now, he would have been struck by lightning and turned into a roasted meat, charred on the outside and tender on the inside.
"Do it! Chop him up!"
Sekido and had no patience. He roared and slammed the tin staff in his hand into the ground.
The raging blue and white lightning once again poured out like a giant net, mercilessly blocking all escape routes directly in front of Obanai.
Almost simultaneously, the bird in mid-air Urogi its beak, and the piercing ultra-high frequency sound waves transformed into visible ripples, pressing down from above.
Karaku waved his broken fan, creating a gust of wind that could tear flesh, which went straight for Obanai's lower body.
Aizetsu is like a ghost, hiding in the shadows of the gale and lightning, his spear like a venomous snake's tongue, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.
A net of heaven and earth, there's no escaping it!!
"I'm really going to die this time..."
Sanemi stared wide-eyed, utterly bewildered as to how anyone in this world could escape unscathed in such a desperate situation, surrounded by enemies on all sides.
However.
Obanai Iguro's actions completely shattered Sanemi's understanding of the human body's structure.
Faced with this overwhelming, three-dimensional combined attack, Obanai not only did not retreat, but instead charged forward into the face of the barrage of attacks.
His body suddenly twisted in a strange way at the moment of his sprint.
Human bones have limits, and joints have blind spots.
But at this moment, Obanai is like a soft-bodied snake whose bones have been removed!
He leaned back dramatically, almost parallel to the ground, barely dodging the oncoming gale.
Immediately after, he braced himself with one hand on the ground, exerted a sudden burst of power from his waist, and his entire body spun like a top unaffected by gravity, completing an incredible 360-degree horizontal rotation in mid-air.
This completely illogical turn not only allowed him to slip through the gaps in the interwoven lightning, but also allowed him to avoid Urogi sonic waves that were raining down on him.
"What kind of weird footwork is this?!"
Sanemi, who was watching from the sidelines, was so engrossed that his eyes almost popped out of his head, and his mouth was agape enough to fit a duck egg.
"Is this kid's bone made of noodles?!"
"It's not over yet."
Obanai's heterochromatic eyes, one gold and one blue, locked onto Aizetsu, who was hiding in the shadows, as she spun around.
The Aizetsu spear thrust out, heading straight for Obanai's original landing spot.
But Obanai seemed to have anticipated his movements, and her body twisted at an incredibly insidious angle in mid-air.
Total Concentration: Serpent Breathing, Third Form: Nest Pattern!
The wavy Nichirin Blade drew a huge circular blade of light, carrying a tricky cutting force. It not only deflected Aizetsu's spear but also left a deep, bone-revealing wound on his chest.
"Ugh--!"
With Aizetsu muffled groan, Ai Jue was forced to retreat several steps.
Having landed a successful blow, Obanai immediately used the momentum to bounce away, landing like a light feather on a protruding rock two meters away.
He took a slight breath, flicked his wrist, and shook off the ghost blood from the tip of the knife.
On the surface, he appears effortless and confident, incredibly handsome.
But only Obanai himself knew how much strain his body had endured after this extreme stretching.
The web between his right thumb and forefinger, which was gripping the knife, had been split open by the impact of the clash with the Aizetsu Spear, and blood was slowly seeping out, staining the bandage on his hand red.
Strength.
This is his most fatal weakness.
No matter how incredible his movement was, or how unparalleled his skills were, when facing a monster whose physical abilities far surpassed those of humans, every head-on clash of weapons felt like throwing his own bones against raw iron.
"Tch, that's tough enough."
Obanai her breath.
"Hey kid! Watch out from above!"
Suddenly, Sanemi, who was lying in the distance, shouted in his hoarse voice, completely forgetting that he had just been cursing someone in his heart.
In mid-air, Urogi's bird claws, accompanied by a piercing shriek that seemed to tear through the air, reached directly for his skull.
At the same time, the Karaku below seized the opportunity, sweeping across from the side with its fan.
Attack from both above and below, blocking movement.
Obanai's eyes narrowed, and her leg muscles tensed instantly.
Instead of taking the hit head-on, he slid down the edge of the rock like a slippery eel.
The wavy blade scraped a long trail of dazzling sparks across the hard rock.
Urogi's sharp claws shattered the hard rock, while Karaku's whirlwind sent the rubble flying everywhere.
Obanai the ground before regaining her balance. Her once clean black and white striped haori was now covered in mud and dust, making her look quite disheveled.
"Is all you can do to run away like a mouse?!"
Sekido, he flew into a rage, his staff crackling with lightning, blasting the surrounding ground into cratered, charred pits.
Obanai ignored him, staring intently at the four demons whose cooperation was becoming increasingly seamless.
He knew he absolutely couldn't let this drag on.
If you only passively defend and dodge, your stamina will be quickly depleted.
If you can't match their strength, then you have no choice but to find their weakness and strike a fatal blow!
The ensuing battle turned into a death game of dancing on the edge of a knife.
The terrain in the dead end was completely destroyed by the attack of the four ghosts, with ruins and broken stones everywhere.
Obanai, taking advantage of the complex terrain, moved back and forth within the encirclement of the four demons.
Every time he dodged, it was extremely dangerous; he never exerted any strength in a confrontation with his opponent.
Aizetsu his spear, and he ran up the shaft, the blade aimed straight for Aizetsu's neck;
The Karaku fan created a breeze, and he was blown away by the wind, then used the momentum from a blind spot to launch a counterattack;
Even when Sekido with the irrational, raging fury of lightning, he can still find the safest foothold within millimeters.
Sanemi watched in utter disbelief.
He used to think that fighting ghosts meant facing the swords head-on, just like he did, and it was all about who was more ruthless, who was less afraid of death, and who had more thick skin.
Only today did he realize that swordsmanship could be performed in such a flashy, insidious, and ruthless way.
Although this little brat, wrapped in bandages, looked frail and had a foul mouth that made you want to slap him, his agility and timing were simply divine!
"Clang-"
It was another thrilling clash of weapons.
Obanai skillfully deflected the Karaku fan, but her reaction speed was slowed by a significant loss of energy.
"Gotcha! You slippery little bug!"
Aizetsu, who had been hiding nearby waiting for an opportunity, seized this fatal flaw and thrust out his cross-patterned spear.
The shot was incredibly fast, completely blocking all of Obanai's escape routes.
Obanai's pupils suddenly contracted, and she twisted her waist with all her might.
"Pfft!"
The cold tip of the gun grazed Obanai's left ribs before stabbing her hard.
A large chunk of flesh was torn apart along with the fabric in an instant, and blood gushed out.
"Ugh!"
Obanai a muffled groan, lost her balance, and crashed heavily into the rock wall behind her before falling awkwardly onto the muddy ground.
The intense pain caused his vision to go black.
A strong, metallic taste of blood welled up in his throat, and he couldn't help but turn his head and spit out a mouthful of blood.
Her already limited physical strength was completely depleted by this severe injury.
"Haha! I finally caught you!"
Urogi let out an excited shriek from the sky.
"Now let's see where you can hide!"
Sekido, he raised his staff, and violent lightning swirled wildly at its tip.
The four demons quickly tightened their encirclement, trapping the injured and fallen Obanai in the middle.
Sanemi this scene from afar, Sanemi's heart sank.
He tried desperately to get up, even if it meant going to take a knife for Obanai, but his riddled body wouldn't obey him.
"Hey! Bandaged brat! Stand up! Where did your sternness go when you were lecturing me?!"
Sanemi roared in desperation, his voice betraying his panic.
Obanai leaned against the cold rock wall, panting heavily.
The pain from his wounds made him break out in a cold sweat, and even the hand holding the knife was trembling uncontrollably.
Four evil spirits were closing in, and the footsteps of death seemed to be ringing in their ears.
"Is this the end...?"
Obanai gave a wry smile; the thunder and howling wind seemed to be fading away little by little.
But.
Just as he was about to resign himself to his fate and close his eyes...
Suddenly, without warning, the boundless, shimmering sea of Hachijōjima appeared in my mind.
In the cruise ship's private cabin, Giyu Tomioka's cold, emotionless voice echoed once again with unparalleled clarity.
"You don't have time. You're not suitable."
It was a mountain weighing on his heart, so heavy that he could hardly breathe.
The scene changes.
On the deck, the setting sun dyed the sky a desolate blood red.
He gripped the cold railing tightly and roared at the Flame Hashira:
Even if a snail crawls slowly, as long as it's crawling, it's better than spending its whole life in the mud! I'll prove him right! I deserve it!
"How could I..."
Obanai bit his tongue hard, and the intense stinging sensation instantly cleared his mind.
He used the wavy Nichirin Blade to brace himself against the ground, supporting his swaying body, and slowly, with great difficulty, straightened up.
Blood was still oozing from the wound on his ribs, but he didn't care at all.
The weariness and despair that had been in those heterochromatic eyes, one gold and one blue, were swept away, replaced by an unprecedented madness that wanted to burn everything.
"How could I... collapse in this filthy corner?!"
Sanemi watched from behind as Obanai stood up again.
That frail figure, at this moment, exuded a terrifying aura in Sanemi's eyes.
Sanemi had wanted to curse a few words to cheer himself up, but the words were blocked by that indomitable aura.
He silently gripped the mud-covered knife in his hand.
Obanai slowly closed her eyes.
He took a deep breath.
Large amounts of oxygen rushed into the lungs through the nasal cavity, and the overburdened alveoli emitted a faint but resilient hiss.
The air temperature seemed to drop a few degrees at that moment.