Whoosh!
Space seemed to split apart in that instant. Rokuya vanished from where he stood, and when he reappeared, he was already behind Rokuro.
Fast. Too fast. Faster than the naked eye could follow, so fast that even Lower Rank Two's nerves could not react.
Rokuro stood rooted to the spot, dazed. He felt his vision suddenly begin to spin. He saw the high cavern ceiling, the villagers in the ruins below, and finally... he saw a burly, headless body, foul black blood spraying from its neck.
That looks like... my own body?
Crack.
Only after Rokuro's head slammed into the ground and rolled more than ten meters away did the sonic boom that tore through the air and the scrape of the Shura Blade's edge against bone belatedly erupt through the cavern.
Beheaded in a single stroke!
There was no hesitation, no drawn-out struggle. With the combined boosts of a 50% single-target critical damage bonus and his second skill, Blade Tempest, the tough neck Lower Rank Two took such pride in was no different from a sheet of thin paper before Rokuya's Shura.
"No... I can't accept this... That lord... That lord won't let you get away with this..."
Rokuro's head murmured in despair where it lay on the ground. Then his massive body and head began turning to ash together, crumbling and dispersing bit by bit in the air, until all that remained on the ground was a foul-smelling scorch mark.
Rokuro, Lower Rank Two of the Twelve Kizuki, had been successfully slain.
But Rokuya did not spare those ashes so much as a glance.
By the time Rokuro's body had completely dispersed, Rokuya had already put away Shura. In a flash, he landed steadily on the ground from the raised platform and hurried to Reiko and Kanae.