I Can't Accept This!

Kana Shizumi took two quick shuffling steps in one breath, turned sideways, and slightly raised his breath. Faint bloodshot veins surfaced in his eyes.

Flowing Red Scale?

Not quite!

He was merely consciously controlling his heartbeat and the speed of his blood flow, rather than coating his entire body in cursed energy and forcibly stimulating his organs and circulation...

In terms of effect, it could probably only improve his physical abilities by around one-fifth. Overall, it was practically negligible.

But the advantage was that it imposed almost no burden.

It consumed no cursed energy; simply consciously controlling his body was enough to achieve this much.

—Nearly half a month of barrier technique training had not only taught Kana Shizumi all kinds of techniques, but also given him a profound understanding of the essence of "control."

Using the momentum of his step forward, Kana Shizumi raised his shoulder and drew back his fist... Then, amid a brief adjustment and exhale, he suddenly struck.

His left fist howled through the air, tearing through the wind as it crashed straight into the mechanical puppet's jaw.

The punch pierced the barrier of cursed energy protection, crushed the wooden framework, and shattered it completely.

Kana Shizumi destroyed the puppet on his left. The one on his right, which he had "ignored," charged straight at him... Yet instead of choosing to throw punches and kicks, it wrapped both arms around his waist.

"..."

Kana Shizumi raised an eyebrow slightly.

He was not afraid of a fistfight at all. Blood Armor specialized in close-quarters combat. But if they intended to slow his movements... that would be a little troublesome.

Not bad. It had a little strategic awareness.

"Overclocked operation, Self-Destruct Incineration Cannon!!!"

Kokichi Muta's command was relayed. The puppet construction allowed these units to move with precise coordination, and several mechanical puppets now began to shake violently.

Driven by cursed energy, their cores began operating at overclocked speeds.

They unleashed all their heat energy, sacrificing the individual puppets to fuse cursed energy and flame energy together, erupting with nearly 120% of their power!

Five mechanical puppets twitched as they sprinted madly toward Kana Shizumi. Their heads began to twist, and their mouths opened.

The nozzles emerging within had already begun to charge. The stored heat scorched the steel pipes red-hot, even setting their wooden "bodies" ablaze.

Kana Shizumi tried to break free, but the results were far from ideal... By locking its joints, the mechanical puppet had inevitably saddled him with a more-than-two-hundred-pound "burden."

"Ha..."

Kana Shizumi let out a soft laugh, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings as he made his judgment in an instant.

This was when he should use this move—his thoughts condensed for an instant, and several round, crimson spheres abruptly appeared on the seemingly empty ground.

Kokichi Muta's mechanical eyes precisely captured the outlines of those objects, while doubt rose in his heart.

What was this now?

"Supernova."

Choso's signature technique had already been completely mastered by Kana Shizumi during the past half month of training.

In truth, the learning process had not been simple. Unlike the "memory inheritance" of other Crimson Blood Manipulation techniques, this move had not been engraved into the blood. Kana Shizumi had needed to figure it out himself.

And as he repeatedly cycled through control and explosion, Kenjaku noticed his attempts.

"Not bad technique development. Let me offer you some guidance as well."

The involvement of the thousand-year-old monster made the technique's development process extraordinarily smooth. Many seemingly contradictory points became clear with his guidance.

In fact, compared to Choso's lonely exploration over more than a hundred years, Kenjaku, working with a clear direction in mind, needed only five days to develop it completely.

So this was what talent meant... It truly made one sigh.

And Kana Shizumi had indeed grasped the essence of this technique by now.

The blood flung out by his advance and whipping punch earlier totaled more than thirty droplets.

While controlling them by wrapping them in cursed energy, he selectively activated them—compared to Choso's setup, this method was more insidious, and it could also be used at any time.

Hiss...

Crack!!!

Driven by cursed energy, after a brief pause, the blood underwent the full transformation of boiling and exploding.

A continuous series of explosions rang out, like a string of firecrackers appearing from nowhere and bursting beside several mechanical puppets!

Wrapped in cursed energy, the blood transformed into arrow-like projectiles, sharp and pointed as they stabbed into the charging puppets.

Of course, since they were not direct attacks, the damage they caused was quite limited.

With cursed energy control at 33 points and output at 22 points, the Blood Arrows produced by the explosions could only pierce the puppets' outer layers.

But that was already enough.

All that mattered was that the force was strong enough... As though shoved by several invisible strongmen, Kokichi Muta's mechanical puppets staggered into one another.

"No, wait..."

It was already too late to cut off the cursed energy output.

Within the steadily brightening, boiling light, several pairs of mechanical puppets turned into fragments amid flames shooting into the sky.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Amid the unending explosions, Kana Shizumi's figure suddenly "pierced" through them.

Obvious burn marks remained on his face, but his movements did not slow in the slightest. At the same time, visible to the naked eye... his blood entered a state of high-speed circulation.

Flowing Red Scale!

Having fully activated his physical abilities, Kana Shizumi charged straight into the mechanical puppets.

Seizing a fleeting opening was crucial.

Having his assault interrupted would definitely catch Kokichi Muta off guard, and this was Kana Shizumi's best chance to break through.

Before the other side could react, he reached out and grabbed the nearest mechanical puppet.

With his abilities erupting, Kana Shizumi crushed its head in passing, cutting off signal transmission... Then he grabbed the puppet by its lower leg and swung it fiercely like a heavy hammer.

The mechanical puppets lined up in front of him fell at once, barely able to put up any meaningful resistance.

Kana Shizumi rushed forward and delivered a soccer kick straight at their heads.

Scenes like this continued to unfold, making Kokichi Muta's body at the other end tremble uncontrollably.

Wait, wait, wait wait wait...

This was not how the battle was supposed to go!

You were supposed to be confused first, then realize that there was no real body among the mechanical puppets.

Then my human-wave tactics were supposed to give you a headache, suppress you, or force you to flee... While feeling troubled, you would voluntarily reveal more information to me.

That would let me make all sorts of follow-up judgments... How had you nearly wiped out all my mechanical puppets right from the start?

I can't accept this!

How could a Heavenly Restriction battle this miserably?!