Kashimo suddenly released the Soul-Devouring Blade.
The blade fell to the ground with a dull clang. Without sparing it a glance, he cracked the earth beneath his feet and hurtled toward Zenin Sawa.
Zenin Sawa sidestepped the punch and drove a counterblow into Kashimo's ribs, playing right into his hands.
Kashimo did not dodge. The instant he took the punch, his fingers clamped around Zenin Sawa's wrist. Using the momentum of his opponent's strike, he twisted sharply and hurled Zenin Sawa away.
A rush of wind reached him from behind. Agito's massive fist came crashing down, and Kashimo raised one hand, spreading his fingers.
Bang!
He caught the punch squarely in his palm, though it carried enough force to shatter mountains. Agito roared and pressed harder, muscles bulging and veins standing out, but that hand remained as immovable as cast iron. No matter how much strength Agito exerted, the fist could not descend another inch.
Kashimo raised his head and laughed at that savage face. His laughter exploded across the mountain path, mingling with the thunder and rattling eardrums. At the same time, flesh churned at his empty right shoulder. Bone extended, blood vessels intertwined, and muscle covered them as a new arm grew from the stump at a speed visible to the naked eye. The moment its five fingers took shape, they clenched into a fist and slammed upward into Agito's abdomen.
Splat-
All the electrical charge poured in at that instant. A massive, bloody hole burst open in Agito's abdomen, spraying flesh and shattered bone from the back across the ground. Agito's enormous body froze in place, like a statue that had suddenly lost its support.
"Piercing Ox-!"
Zenin Sawa's roar came from behind. Piercing Ox had already charged out of the shadows, its four hooves cracking the ground. With its lowered horns aimed at Kashimo's back, it bore down on him with terrifying brute force.
But it was too late.
Kashimo pushed off the ground and leaped high into the air. Piercing Ox swept beneath him, its horns grazing his clothes and tearing away only a few scraps of fabric. He rose into the air beneath the looming storm clouds, lightning surging within them.
Below, Zenin Sawa lifted his head, the ever-rising figure reflected in his pupils.
He simply watched in silence.
Whatever Kashimo chose to do next, he could react instantly. His eyes remained fixed on the figure in midair, like a predator waiting for its prey to expose an opening.
Then Kashimo suddenly released a strand of cursed energy. It was not an attack, but a thread of negative charge, fine as a hair, shooting from his fingertip toward the roiling thunderclouds overhead. It slipped into the clouds and vanished, like a spark tossed into a powder keg.
The next second, the clouds exploded.
Drawn by that negative charge, the lightning that had long been building gathered from every direction. Blue-white light churned and tore through the clouds, as though hundreds upon thousands of lightning dragons were writhing deep within the storm, ready to pour down at any moment.
Zenin Sawa's pupils abruptly contracted. He understood Kashimo's intent.
"Agito! Piercing Ox!"
His desperate roar tore from his throat.
Agito staggered forward, the gaping hole in its abdomen still dripping blood. Piercing Ox circled around from the side, its hooves cracking the ground, its lowered horns aimed at where Kashimo would land. The two figures closed in from either side, cutting off every retreat.
But Kashimo had no intention of retreating.
The instant he landed, his left hand shot out, his fingers clamping around Piercing Ox's horn like iron pincers. Piercing Ox bellowed and scraped its hooves against the ground, struggling with all its strength to shake off that hand, but his grip did not budge. Kashimo used the leverage to twist, driving through his waist and abdomen to hurl the enormous body away.
Piercing Ox's massive body tumbled through the air like a collapsing hill, flying straight toward the blood-red column of water shooting from Zenin Sawa's palm.
"Piercing Water."
Zenin Sawa had already unleashed Piercing Water. The blood-red, high-pressure stream tore through the air, bearing the force to pierce everything as it shot straight toward the negative charge. He intended to disperse that strand of cursed energy, sever the lightning's guidance, and drag Kashimo down from the sky.
But Piercing Ox had already slammed into its path.
The massive body collided with Piercing Water in midair. Bloody mist burst outward as the stream punched through Piercing Ox's body, drawing a shrill, agonized bellow. The collision knocked the stream off course. It skimmed the edge of the negative charge and vanished into the distant sky.
Kashimo stood a short distance away, slowly clenching his newly grown right hand as he watched Zenin Sawa.
"You were still one step too late."
Overhead, the lightning had reached its peak. A rift split the clouds, and blue-white light poured through it, illuminating the entire battlefield and Zenin Sawa's stunned face.
"Moon Shadow."
"Thunderclap."
"Heaven and Lake Surface."
"Piercing Thunder."
Kashimo finished reciting the incantation, word by word.
This strike did not rely on the accumulation of his own cursed energy to generate high voltage. Instead, it drew upon the vast electrical charge contained within the thunderclouds, using cursed energy to control the negative charge he had released, layering it over and over to keep increasing the voltage.
This was Piercing Thunder at the greatest power he could achieve.
Lightning erupted above Izumo like a nuclear blast, its soaring radiance bleaching heaven and earth a deathly white.
Amid the shattered mountain rocks, Zenin Sawa had done everything he could to shield his body. Now he slumped helplessly against a boulder. Half his body had been carbonized by the blast, and one thigh had vanished entirely, leaving only his charred remains.
Kashimo hung in midair, staring straight at him. Half his face had been blasted into a bloody ruin, yet a smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth.
Yes, Kashimo had won.
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