Under everyone's shocked, frightened, or bewildered gazes, the white smoke that had risen from the ground finally dispersed completely.
Standing amid the smoke were two Uesugi Sasukes.
They had identical short black hair, identical snow-white haori, and identical icy expressions. Even the eerie, blood-red pinwheels in their left eyes, which seemed capable of drawing in a person's soul, were exactly alike.
"Th-that... what is that?"
Kotetsu, the swordsmith hiding behind the rubble, could not keep his voice from trembling.
Beside him, the village chief, Tecchin Kawahara, clamped a hand over his mouth. His own face beneath his Hyottoko Mask was also filled with disbelief.
Was this a Blood Demon Art?
No.
The thought rose simultaneously in the minds of everyone who witnessed the scene, only to be rejected in an instant.
The two figures radiated a pure, powerful human presence, without the slightest trace of a demon's filth or evil.
But if it was not a Blood Demon Art, how could they explain this sight that defied all reason?
Splitting? Genjutsu?
No one understood.
The battlefield changed in an instant, leaving no one any room to think.
"You deal with that water pot. I'll take care of those noisy ones."
One of the Sasukes-the original-gave a brief order to the "Shadow Clone" beside him.
Before he finished speaking, both figures moved at once.
Boom!
Two dazzling streaks of lightning, like bolts falling from the heavens, erupted across the ground, instantly tearing through the air with piercing howls.
One streak charged straight toward Upper Rank Five, Gyokko, who had Muichiro Tokito trapped inside his "Water Prison Pot" and was admiring his "artwork."
The other streak moved even faster, landing forcefully in front of the Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, and placing itself between her and Hantengu's two major clones-Petrification and Karaku.
The