A rare gleam of excitement flashed in Shihōin Naraku's eyes.
The power and speed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki was now unleashing were enough to make him take this seriously.
Simply put, Isshiki could already pose some threat to him.
Though the threat was not great.
Kurikara's blade swept through the air again and again, cutting through it with a mournful whistle.
His attacks were noticeably faster than before, and his footwork grew more rapid as well.
Sometimes, to evade Isshiki's suddenly changing angles of attack, he had to change direction three or four times in quick succession.
Isshiki's assault reached an unprecedented level of ferocity at that moment.
"Aaaaah-!"
His whole body spun in midair, his right leg sweeping toward Naraku's neck in an arc with a shrill whistle.
The kick was so powerful that it drew the surrounding air into a visible vortex, sweeping loose stones off the ground.
Naraku held Kurikara horizontally beside his neck.
The instant the blade collided with Isshiki's shin, a violent shock wave spread from beneath his feet, a ring of air sweeping away every piece of rubble and debris within twenty meters.
But the force behind that kick was too heavy, and the ground beneath Naraku's feet simply could not withstand an impact of this magnitude.
The kick forced his entire body downward, his knees bending nearly forty-five degrees before he shed its force.
The recoil from the kick bounced Isshiki's body slightly upward. He used the momentum to complete a second rotation in midair, his left fist already crashing down with even greater force.
The black chakra coating his fist condensed into a black chakra rod at that instant, its tip aimed straight at the top of Naraku's head.
Naraku reacted with breathtaking speed.
The instant his knees bent, he had already prepared his