"Lightning Blade Technique: Lightning Strike."
"Blade Technique: Beheading Slash."
At the heart of the battlefield, Raiga Kurosuki and Biwa Juzo attacked Taketori Nihi from either side.
Facing their pincer attack, Taketori Nihi neither dodged nor retreated. He chose to meet them head-on.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Larch."
Driven by the power of his bloodline, bones burst through Taketori Nihi's skin. Sharp, grotesque spikes covered his body, greatly enhancing his defense while preventing his opponents from getting close. This was known as the Strongest Shield.
The sudden appearance of the bone spikes easily blocked the Kubikiribōchō's slash.
But they were less effective against Lightning Strike. The fierce lightning surged into his body, and he could feel the electricity coursing through his internal organs.
It was a classic case of high physical defense but low magic resistance.
"Ah, the taste of blood..." Taketori Nihi licked the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He had clearly been injured in their pincer attack.
But an injury of this severity did nothing to hinder Taketori Nihi's fighting strength. If anything, it only stoked his desire to fight.
Feeling Taketori Nihi's chakra not only remain steady but continue to rise, Raiga Kurosuki and Biwa Juzo both grew wary.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Extreme." As Taketori Nihi completed the technique, more chakra flowed into the bone spikes protruding from his body. The spikes then shot out in every direction at a speed too great for the eye to follow. Raiga Kurosuki and Biwa Juzo had no time to dodge.
"Ninja Art: Lightning Armor."
"Blade Technique: Back Blade Defense."
In desperation, Raiga Kurosuki joined the two blades in his hands and summoned lightning to cover his body, using defense as offense to withstand the dense barrage of bone spikes.
Biwa Juzo twisted his wrist, holding the blade in front of himself as he spun it rapidly to deflect the bone spikes flying toward him.
"Heh heh heh, now this is more like it." Seeing that both opponents had blocked his attack, Taketori Nihi was pleased rather than angry. It meant he could keep fighting them.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Willow." Taketori Nihi had clearly developed his Shikotsumyaku far more than Taketori Sankyu. His Dance of the Willow far surpassed Taketori Sankyu's, both in the length and sharpness of its bone spikes.
With spikes jutting from his shoulders, elbows, hands, and knees, Taketori Nihi rushed at Raiga Kurosuki with incredible speed.
"Just what I wanted." Raiga Kurosuki was still in his Lightning Armor state. He raised his twin blades to meet the many bone spikes coming at him. Even where his swords couldn't defend, his Lightning Armor stood between the spikes and his body.
"I didn't expect you to have this much strength, either." Taketori Nihi was famous for his strength, and seeing Raiga Kurosuki withstand his head-on attack only excited him more.
"Today, I'll either beat you to death or be beaten to death by you." To the Kaguya Clan, fighting to their heart's content mattered more than winning.
"Don't underestimate us."
"Lightning Release: Thunder Ball." Lightning Release chakra gathered into a ball of lightning on Raiga Kurosuki's twin blades and flew toward Taketori Nihi, forcing him back.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado." Raiga Kurosuki then raised his twin blades and summoned lightning, spinning rapidly to create a dragon-shaped lightning attack aimed at Taketori Nihi.
"And me." Biwa Juzo abruptly gathered his strength, swung both arms back, and hurled the Kubikiribōchō at Taketori Nihi.
Even a Kage Level fighter would have to take the two men's full-force attacks seriously.
Faced with their thunderous assault, Taketori Nihi still neither dodged nor retreated. He was determined to defeat them head-on.
"Come on, come on! Let me feel my blood boil!"
"Now, behold my strongest form."
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Clematis."
After forming Hand Seals, Taketori Nihi tore his shirt open, revealing his powerful muscles.
Then he lowered his head slightly. Beneath the muscles of his back, something writhed, like a long worm taking the place of his spine as it slowly crawled toward the back of his neck.
"Ah..." Even Taketori Nihi couldn't help sucking in a breath at the pain of his spine shifting.
Once the skin at the back of his neck had stretched to its limit, a bloodstained section of white spine broke through his skin and muscle, emerging from the back of his neck.
"Pfft!"
The gruesome sight made everyone nearby shudder.
Even more shocking, he reached back, gripped the exposed section of spine, and began pulling it out with all his strength.
"Rrrrip..." The horrifying sound of bone and muscle tearing echoed in everyone's ears.
Once the entire spine had been pulled free, Taketori Nihi held a grotesque bone whip in his left hand. Its surface was covered in tiny bone spikes. It hardly looked like a normal human bone.
"Vine!" Taketori Nihi raised his right hand and swung with force. The bone whip spiraled around him, snapping through the air with a series of sharp cracks.
Then he whipped the bone lash toward the Lightning Dragon, striking it with all his might.
"Zzzzz..." The instant they met, the bone whip and the Lightning Dragon clashed, sending out a shower of sparks. Dazzling lightning lit up the entire battlefield, and the heat wave even melted and scattered the cold mist in the air.
The bone whip then coiled around the Lightning Dragon, binding everything below its head so tightly that it couldn't move closer. Its body could only writhe in midair.
"Contract."
At Taketori Nihi's command, the bone whip suddenly tightened. The intense friction against the surface of the Lightning Dragon produced a harsh, screeching roar of electricity.
At last, the Lightning Dragon could no longer withstand the crushing force. It was strangled apart in midair, erupting with a tremendous boom.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
"How could that damned Shikotsumyaku be this powerful?" Raiga Kurosuki watched his strongest attack get broken apart and cursed angrily.
But Taketori Nihi's performance on the battlefield wasn't over yet.
After his right hand had shattered the Lightning Dragon, the bones in his left arm began to grow wildly. One twisted white bone after another burst through the skin, until his entire arm became bone and formed a massive spiral spear.
"Flower."
Once the hardened Bone Spear had formed, his entire left arm began to spin at high speed. Like a powerful drill, it thrust straight at the incoming Kubikiribōchō.
"Crrr..." Another grating sound rang out in midair. This time, the contest was between the two weapons' durability.
"Crack, crack, craaack!"
To everyone's surprise, the Kubikiribōchō was the first to give way. The powerful drilling force of the Bone Spear made cracks appear across one side of the blade, followed by a crisp shattering sound.
"No way, could it be..." Before Biwa Juzo could finish speaking, the cracks in the blade spread wider and wider, until the entire sword shattered in midair.
"Clang, clang, clang..." Pieces of the Kubikiribōchō fell from the air, scattering across the battlefield.
This was Taketori Nihi's strongest dance: the Vine and Flower forms of the Dance of the Clematis.