The erupting crimson blocked Oyakishiro Go's vision, as though the entire world had been filled with that blood mist!
In an instant, the blood-red mist before him gathered and intertwined, weaving itself into a great net beneath the descending blood dragon.
Boom!!
The blood dragon plummeting from the sky crashed down upon where Yun Chuan stood.
The ground across the entire plaza shattered apart. The spiderweb-like cracks stretching into the distance were enough to show the weight behind that strike; even bones would have been crushed to pulp and ground into the earth.
Yet when the blood dragon touched that crimson web, Oyakishiro Go, atop the dragon, suddenly felt it halt.
He drove the Chakra within his body at full force, but the blood dragon could not advance another inch.
"What is this?"
When Oyakishiro Go widened his eyes and looked over, blood mist circled Yun Chuan like stellar rings at the center of that crimson expanse.
It looked like something alive, gathering into tentacles that coiled and swayed behind him.
This was absolutely the most absurd sight Oyakishiro Go had ever seen. Yun Chuan looked like a monster that had crawled out of hell.
"Could this guy have the Ketsuryūgan too? Or some kind of Blood Release?"
No.
As someone with the Ketsuryūgan, Oyakishiro Go understood that it was not "blood mist" at all.
It was...
A living, breathing existence!
"Let me think."
Yun Chuan tilted his head toward him and smiled. "How should I return the favor?"
As he spoke, he raised his right hand.
As he slowly clenched his fist, the spiked tentacles behind him straightened, rippling and building power like muscles.
Oyakishiro Go's expression abruptly changed. An inexplicable chill enveloped him, crawling inch by inch up his spine and across his face.
It felt as if countless sharp objects were pressed before his eyes. He could not help but shudder violently, his teeth biting down on the tongue he had forgotten to pull back.
But the stabbing pain at the tip of his tongue snapped him awake, and his instinct to survive drove him into action.
There's no time to form hand seals.
The muscles in his legs tensed, and he stomped hard on the blood dragon's head with a heavy thud.
His entire body nearly stretched into a black blur, breaking past his own limits as he shot backward like an arrow in an instant!
But no matter how fast his explosive burst of speed was, it could not outrun the thorns that had been charged and unleashed.
Yun Chuan turned his wrist, loosened his clenched fist, and lightly parted his lips.
"Bang!"
In an instant, countless spiked tentacles shot violently from behind him.
They pierced through the blood dragon and blasted countless cavities into it, riddling it with dense holes. Several streams of blood streaked through the air as they stabbed viciously toward Oyakishiro Go!
Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!!
The charged tentacles were terrifyingly powerful, falling upon him like a rain of blood flowing upstream. Their shrill whistles carried bone-piercing force.
Forget a human body made of flesh and blood—even steel plates would have been punctured!
"..."
In midair, Oyakishiro Go's mind was nearly blank. His entire face twisted hideously with fear, and all that remained in his eyes were the sharp spikes closing in.
So fast—far too fast. There had been no warning at all!
That horrific threat of death nearly drove him to collapse!
But as a Ninja who had endured death since childhood, he had long developed an incredibly strong defensive reflex, honed to the point of near instinct.
"Aaaah!!!"
He swung the long blade in his hand madly. Several blade shadows shifted direction at high speed, flashing sparks flickering before him.
The spiked tentacles aimed at his heart and head were deflected, but the others pierced through his body, shrieking as they left several horrifying bloody holes through him!
Puff! Puff! Splurt!!
Oyakishiro Go was almost pierced into a sieve in midair. The sunglasses on his face had long since shattered beyond recognition, revealing a twisted and ferocious face covered in bulging veins.
"Cough!"
He coughed up blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, yet paid it no mind. Instead, he stared fixedly at Yun Chuan below while his hands rapidly formed seals.
"A cornered beast's struggle. How laughable!"
At that, a strange glint flashed through Yun Chuan's eyes. He tightened his grip on the short blade and drew it back to his left shoulder, languid crimson blood mist winding around the blade.
But just as he was about to swing it.
Slap!
One hand pressed down on Yun Chuan's shoulder, while the other formed three seals in the blink of an eye.
That short, stout figure who had seemingly been ignored had actually arrived beside Yun Chuan in an instant.
"Ignoring me?"
Staring fixedly at Yun Chuan's profile, Nakayoshi's voice remained steady, though killing intent filled his tone. "Dark Release: Chakra Absorption Hole!"
His Kekkei Genkai could absorb any Ninjutsu, and once he got close, it could absorb an enemy's Chakra as well.
In other words... a guaranteed kill!
"Good job!"
At the sight, joy appeared on Oyakishiro Go's face as well.
Without hesitation, he poured every last bit of Chakra from his body, letting out a hoarse roar like a trapped beast. "Blood Piercer!!"
The blood scattered through the air condensed, instantly compressing to its limit before shooting forth!
Bang! Bang!!
Within Yun Chuan's deep blue pupils, every drop of blood stretched into the shape of a needle.
Yet as he watched the bloodlines shooting toward him from the air in the blink of an eye, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Idiots," he said.
As those killing words fell, he swung the short blade raised at his left shoulder.
It was like splashing a crimson full moon across black rice paper with red ink.
The next moment, beneath Nakayoshi's utterly astonished gaze.
With a chilling shriek, crimson bloodlight shot straight toward the vault of the sky!
Boom!!
In midair, the blood Oyakishiro Go fired formed a dim streak of light, but what collided with it was that even faster crimson blade light.
The piercing bloodlines were blasted apart by that crimson force, instantly shattering into pure blood that splashed through the air!
Then, like spilled blood ink, the blade light continued without slowing, tearing through Oyakishiro Go's body!
The world fell into brief silence.
The next moment, Oyakishiro Go's blood dragon collapsed.
Blood mixed with flesh and severed limbs streamed down from above Yun Chuan.
Drip. Drip.
Nakayoshi stood bathed in his companion's rain of blood, allowing rotten flesh to strike his shoulders.
And what fell to the ground alongside it was one of his hands...
"I don't really like strangers touching me."
Yun Chuan casually shrugged, and the hand on his shoulder fell to the ground as well.
Beside him, Nakayoshi's face was deathly pale as he stared at Yun Chuan in numb terror.
"Why?" His tone was filled with confusion, and his expression twisted in pain. "Why couldn't I absorb any Chakra at all?"
He had made a grave misjudgment, and it had cost Oyakishiro Go, who had trusted him, his life.
"Perhaps my power simply lies beyond your understanding."
With a smile in his eyes, Yun Chuan reached out and lightly pushed Nakayoshi.
Thud.
The short, stout upper half of his body slid off from the waist, blood merging into the blood beneath his feet.
Yun Chuan's expression did not change. Instead, he sank his consciousness into his mind.
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