Crack, crack, crack-
As "Future Akaseki" darted about, the Mirror Clones clad in second-stage Susanoo shattered one after another, like glass shelving crashing to the floor!
Although they split into ever greater numbers, they still could not withstand a single exchange with "Future Akaseki," even with both his eyes blinded.
Only now did Akaseki realize...
So the Gunbai empowered by the Ame-no-Hoko Mark could even break through Susanoo?
He had never activated the Ame-no-Hoko Mark to this extent. He had even assumed it would be of little use until he could summon the Ame-no-Hoko itself.
Could it be...
That my future self really was right?
Had his opponent been anyone else, Akaseki could have dismissed their conviction as sheer stubbornness, however unwavering they were.
But when that person was himself, Akaseki could not help wondering whether this really was the choice he ought to make. Would there even come a moment in the future when he would make that choice without hesitation?
Schlk-
Future Akaseki seized an opening and drove his Ame-no-Hoko Gunbai straight through Akaseki's body, hoisting him into the air...
"Stop!" Ranwu shouted, her voice cracking.
The Mirror Akasekis, whose numbers had already begun dwindling, vanished one after another.
However...
The next moment, one of Akaseki's eyes dimmed, while he reappeared unharmed in the same spot, still facing "Future Akaseki." Taking advantage of Ranwu's distraction, he gripped the handle of his broken Gunbai with both hands and thrust it at Future Akaseki from a tricky angle!
Smack-
"Future Akaseki" caught his hands anyway. The handle slipped between his fingers, but left only a shallow wound...
"You... aren't you afraid that killing Akaseki will make you disappear too?" Ranwu had thought that his inability to kill his past self would be a sore point for Future Akaseki.
Yet...
"Perhaps.