Blood Star Burst!

The Kusagakure ninja flushed with excitement at the sight!

Even though he was human, even though these monsters ate people and would one day eat him too.

At this moment, he felt absolutely fantastic!

So what if he betrayed humanity? As long as he could survive, he would sell out everyone.

Even if he had to die, he would be the last human alive to do so!

Terrifying.

The way people like him thought was truly terrifying.

Some people were born spineless and loved being on their knees. What could anyone do about it?

The long-haired man was about to die in those jaws when the blue monster suddenly lost its balance, its entire body pitching uncontrollably to the right.

With a thunderous crash, its enormous body slammed into the ground.

A second look revealed that its right forelimb had vanished.

In its place stood a young man with a somewhat pale face, an icy gaze, and a ramrod-straight posture, holding a blade of almost absurd length.

The long-haired man stumbled backward. Only then did he realize that the Water Whip binding his feet had also been severed at some point. There was no mistaking it-someone had saved him.

"Thank..."

"Save the crap for your next life. Now get lost before you get in my way."

Uh...

He hadn't expected his savior to have so much... personality!

The long-haired man made a quick, private comparison and decided his waist probably wasn't even as thick as the blue monster's arm. He doubted he could survive a slash from that blade, so he promptly fled.

Rude was rude, whatever. If taking a few insults meant saving his life, he would happily be insulted for the rest of his days.

But before he left, there was something he had to say.

"Please be careful of that fellow over there. If I'm right, he's probably gained those monsters' trust somehow. That monster didn't even attack him when it came over just now."

That accusation struck right where it hurt!

The Kusagakure ninja's expression changed instantly.

After all, being a turncoat was fine as long as nobody knew. Once exposed, not only would everyone despise him, but things would also become deeply awkward for him.

But when he thought again of that lord's overwhelming strength, he regained his composure.

So what if they knew?

Everyone here would die sooner or later.

A major reason so many people were still alive was that the monsters were using all the survivors here as bait to lure more people in.

Otherwise, this place would have long since become a wasteland of death.

Shinji said nothing. He didn't even spare the traitor another glance, focusing all his attention on the monster before him.

Its sheer size, along with the speed and power it had already displayed, made it clear that this thing was nothing like those grade-four, grade-three, or grade-two creatures.

For the first time in a while, his blade had met some resistance. Though slight, it was enough to prove how tough the creature's hide and flesh were.

"Roar!"

The monster, whose head resembled a dinosaur's, roared loudly and tried to get up.

Shinji tightened his grip on the Kubikiribōchō and slashed at its other forelimb!

There was a little resistance, but his immense strength still allowed him to slice it clean off.

The blue monster had only just lifted its head when it fell again, landing face-first in the dirt.

Shinji dodged aside and circled around behind it.

Amid the blue monster's agonized screams, he delivered two more slashes, severing both its hind legs.

In the blink of an eye, the blue monster that had been so arrogant moments before could only lie on the ground and whimper.

Deciding that was enough, Shinji leaped onto its back, ready to sentence it to beheading.

But just as he raised the Kubikiribōchō high,

a cunning gleam suddenly appeared in the eyes of the blue monster whimpering beneath his feet. The brown fur on its back abruptly came alive and fired countless steel needles toward Shinji!

A closer look revealed that the fur was actually a mass of brown furball monsters with eyes, merely parasitizing the blue monster's back as camouflage!

Even Shinji hadn't anticipated this turn of events. It was already too late to pull his blade back.

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. He immediately accelerated his blood flow, and a familiar X-shaped blood mark appeared on his forehead as he activated Flowing Red Scale.

Squelch!

Blood gushed out!

The blade cut halfway through the blue monster's neck, making it scream in agony.

Shinji vanished from its back and reappeared on the ground a short distance away, frowning slightly at the sight.

To dodge the attack at the last moment, he had only managed to cut halfway through.

Yet even with such a severe, fatal wound, the monster continued howling and struggling instead of dying. Its vitality was astonishing.

Suddenly, Shinji let out a muffled grunt.

Caught off guard just now, he had still taken several steel needles in his back.

The wounds weren't the problem. The problem was that the needles had been coated in a deadly poison!

Shinji immediately slowed his blood flow to the lowest rate that wouldn't unduly hinder his movements, delaying the poison's spread.

Although he possessed immortality and could even grow somewhat stronger after returning from death, he knew his immortality wasn't perfect.

If he were dismembered, being alive or dead would make no difference.

Moreover, after [death], there was a delay of nearly three seconds before he regained consciousness, like reconnecting after losing a connection. Instinctively, he wanted to avoid dying in battle unless he had some degree of certainty.

He had no desire to end up with a tragic fate like Hidan's in the original story.

Even less did he want these cursed spirits to tear him apart and swallow him.

Silently using Blood Manipulation, he forced all the steel needles out of his back with several jets of blood, then expelled the poisoned blood.

For someone who could control his blood completely, this was hardly worth mentioning.

Once he had expelled most of the poison from his body, he immediately stopped the bleeding.

"I'll eat you!"

In excruciating pain, the blue monster, still alive despite its half-severed neck, fixed its blood-red eyes on Shinji and opened its hideous, enormous maw.

Shinji raised his hand and crushed two blood bags, manipulating the blood within to rapidly condense into a sphere.

"Blood Manipulation: Blood Star Burst!"

As the blue monster's jaws descended, the little blood-red sphere floated straight into its mouth. Countless spikes abruptly emerged from its smooth surface, transforming it from a ball into a spiked mace.

Burst!

With a bang, the entire blood sphere exploded.

Every spike was made from Shinji's blood condensed into the hardest possible solid, and now those countless spikes all detonated inside the blue monster's mouth!

In less than a breath, the blue monster's head twisted and deformed before bursting like a balloon.

A mass of blood-red spikes flew in every direction, piercing countless brown furball monsters clean through!