Heavenly Martial XIII hurled the Dragon-Slaying Saber, which collided with the scythe with a deafening roar.
"Teacher!"
Despite the excruciating pain in his shoulder, Heavenly Martial XIII leaped up and caught the Dragon-Slaying Saber that had been knocked away.
The Sword Saint adjusted his posture in mid-air, gripped the broken sword tightly again, and the two landed back to back, their breathing erratic.
Madara Uchiha sheathed his scythe, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. "Not bad. To last ten moves against me, you're much stronger than those trash."
The massacre continues beneath the city walls.
The puppet army had already cut through the crowd, their silver-gray shells stained red with blood, and the blood droplets dripping from their bone blades gleamed in the sunlight.
The surviving civilians cried out and fled in all directions, while the Jinwu Guard mingled among them and launched a sneak attack, creating utter chaos.
"Madara!" Hashirama Senju's voice came from afar, "Stop! That's enough!"
Madara Uchiha ignored him. " Hashirama, you can't save everyone. War has always been like this. If we don't kill them today, they will become the seeds of rebellion tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, Heavenly Martial XIII gave a bitter smile, "Did you hear that? This is the true face of your Shinobi Alliance!"
He turned to the Sword Saint, "Master, it seems we shall meet again in the afterlife today."
The Sword Saint nodded silently, and suddenly the cracks on the broken sword glowed with bloody light, causing his aura to surge dramatically.
Upon seeing this, the runes on the Dragon-Slaying Saber of the Heavenly Martial XIII Arts also lit up at the same time. The two connected their auras and instantly reached a completely new level.
"Burning one's life? Interesting."
Madara Uchiha's lips curled into an arrogant smile as he slowly raised his hand, Gunbai slammed into the ground with a "bang."
"Since you are sacrificing your lives, I should give you the respect you deserve."
Before he finished speaking, his pupils suddenly spun, and a vast surge of Chakra shot into the sky!
"Boom--!!!"
Blue Chakra erupted like a volcano, instantly condensing into a gigantic skeleton, then covered in flesh and blood, donned armor, and finally transformed into a towering, Perfect Susanoo!
The pupils of Heavenly Martial XIII and the Sword Saint suddenly contracted, and their breathing almost stopped.
That towering blue giant held two massive Chakra blades, its wings spread wide, blotting out the sky.
Just standing there, it was as if even the heavens and earth trembled under its oppressive power!
"This... is this the Martial God?" Heavenly Martial XIII's voice trembled slightly, and his hand gripping the Dragon-Slaying Saber trembled involuntarily.
The Sword Saint's broken sword was still burning with blood, but his eyes had wavered.
He pursued the ultimate martial arts throughout his life, considering himself to have reached the pinnacle of humanity, but at this moment, he felt true despair for the first time.
"So, we've been fighting against such beings all along?"
Madara Uchiha stood atop Susanoo's brow, looking down at the two, his voice booming like Thunder:
"Now, do you understand? True power is far beyond your imagination."
The morning light was completely blocked, and the entire imperial city was shrouded in the shadow cast by Susanoo.
The dragon robe of the Heavenly Martial XIII Arts fluttered wildly in the turbulent flow of Chakra, and the runes on the Dragon-Slaying Saber Blade flickered like candles in the wind.
In the distance, the aftermath of the battle continued, with the cries of civilians mingling with the clanging of metal.
"Teacher, it seems our path of martial arts has come to an end." The voice of the Heavenly Martial XIII was surprisingly calm.
The Sword Saint did not answer, but simply held the broken sword, burning with blood, across his chest, each crack on the blade emitting a blinding red light.
Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan slowly rotated in the shadows, and the giant sword of Susanoo slowly rose.
Wherever the sword passed, space twisted into eerie ripples, the glazed tiles of the palace began to crack and shatter, and the distant city walls collapsed under invisible pressure.
"The final blow." Madara Uchiha's voice echoed from the sky, like the judgment of a god.
At that moment, a commotion suddenly broke out at the edge of the battlefield.
"His Majesty!"
A Martial Saint covered in blood broke through the encirclement of the puppet army and charged towards the center of the battlefield, his spear pointing Susanoo.
"My life has been worthwhile!"
Heavenly Martial XIII laughed loudly, and all the runes on the Dragon-Slaying Saber burned away, turning into a dazzling golden light.
at the same time.
The Sword Saint's broken sword also emitted its last bloody light, and the two of them leaped up at the same time, launching a final charge towards the blue giant.
Susanoo's twin swords slashed down, the world seemed to stand still for a moment.
boom--
A blinding white light engulfed everything.
The shockwave spread in a ring, shattering palace walls like paper and carving deep trenches into the ground.
The charging Martial Saint was instantly vaporized, not even having time to let out a scream.
In the more distant battle zone, tens of thousands of taxi soldiers and puppets engaged in fierce combat were thrown into the air, tumbling like falling leaves.
As the light faded, an eerie silence fell over the entire battlefield.
The surviving civilians crawled out of the ruins, staring blankly at the huge crater, hundreds of meters in diameter.
The rocks at the bottom of the pit had become vitrified, reflecting an eerie light in the sunlight. The remains of several puppets, blown away by the aftershocks, were scattered around the edge of the pit, their mechanical joints still twitching unconsciously.
Madara Uchiha landed slowly, and the armor of his Susanoo dissipated.
In the distance, the last banner embroidered with the characters "Heavenly Martial" slowly curled up in the embers, eventually turning into ashes.
On the edge of the battlefield, the surviving taxi drivers dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground.
The intelligent puppet ceased its attack, its silver-gray shell stained with blood and dust. A woman crawled out of the ruins, and the cries of a baby were particularly jarring in the deathly silence of the battlefield.
"A worthy opponent."
Madara Uchiha said softly.
His figure gradually disappeared into the billowing smoke, leaving behind only the ravaged imperial city and the slowly melting Dragon-Slaying Saber, witnessing the final moments of this empire.
The rising sun finally pierced through the smoke and dust, turning the ruins blood-red.
The wind whipped up the ashes from the ground, mixed with smoldering embers, creating tiny vortexes in the air.
Hashirama Senju stood on the crumbling castle wall, his usually gentle eyes now reflecting the devastation, his pupils trembling slightly.
The surviving civilians crawled out of the rubble.
Several children huddled under the collapsed beams, their faces still bearing the traces of tears of terror.
The intelligent puppet army stood silently at the edge of the battlefield, their silver-gray shells stained with congealed blood.
"Hey! Do everything you can to treat the wounded and find the survivors!"
At his command, the remaining thousands of silver-gray puppets activated simultaneously, dispersed, and began clearing the ruins, bandaging the wounded, and burning the corpses.
By this time, Madara Uchiha had already disappeared into the depths of the smoke and fire.
Hashirama Senju the direction he had left, his lips pressed into a straight line. He raised his hand as if to call out to something, but in the end, he simply lowered it slowly.
"War..."
Although the Battle of Martial Capital has ended, the aftermath of this war has only just begun.