Chapter 22
In less than half a minute, the two sides had exchanged nearly a hundred moves.
At last, Giyu could no longer suppress the poison, and his body began to slow.
"Die—"
Killing intent surged in Gyutaro’s eyes.
He drove his knee into Giyu, folding his body forward, then swung the blood sickle in his hand toward Giyu’s neck.
Just as he was about to kill Giyu there and then, his younger sister’s shrill scream suddenly rang beside his ear.
"No—!"
The confusion, grief, and rage in that voice stabbed deep into Gyutaro, making his movement pause.
When he turned to look, fury erupted inside him.
In his field of vision, his sister Daki’s head had been sent flying high into the air.
Beside her stood Kiriya’s cold face.
And that was not all.
Under Gyutaro’s bloodshot stare, Kiriya actually pulled out two wooden spikes and pinned both Daki’s head and body to the ground.
"Daki!"
Gyutaro’s cry was miserable.
That was his most precious thing.
How dare this bastard treat her like that!
His sister’s scream threw Gyutaro’s mind into chaos, and he failed to notice that Giyu had already shifted from defense to offense.
The Nichirin sword in Giyu’s hand swept horizontally toward his neck.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide."
The strike was extremely fast, and its power was overwhelming.
If it landed, even Gyutaro’s tough Upper Rank body would not escape decapitation.
At the critical moment, Gyutaro burst out with unprecedented speed. At the cost of losing half his shoulder and arm, he barely avoided being beheaded.
He even counterattacked, adding another wound to Giyu’s body.
After forcing Giyu back, Gyutaro did not press the attack.
Instead, he stared blankly at Kiriya, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Impossible. You were clearly hit with that much poison. How can you... be completely fine?"
In his vision, Kiriya’s complexion was rosy, and his breathing was steady.
He did not look he’s ben poisoned at all!
"Oh, you mean this?"
Kiriya looked at the wounds on his body and shrugged.
"Maybe it’s because I usually sleep early, wake up early, and don’t pick at my food, so my resistance is pretty good. It’s only a little lethal poison..."
He was not one of those stupid protagonists or villains who explained their own skills in front of the enemy.
What was that, being afraid he would not die fast enough?
"You really are a rare breed," Gyutaro said, licking his lips. "Now I really want to taste your flesh and blood."
"Brother, why are you still saying stuff like that at a time like this?" Daki shouted. "Hurry up and kill this bastard! This hateful man dared to damage my beautiful body. Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable!"
"You’re right, my dear sister."
Gyutaro looked at Kiriya, killing intent surging in his eyes.
"He’s just a human with a slightly unusual body. I’d like to see how long he can last."
"Noisy."
Kiriya lowered his head and glanced at Daki.
With a cold snort, he activated the magic known as Forest of All Things.
Immediately, the screaming Daki discovered in terror that the wooden spikes piercing her body had begun madly absorbing her flesh and blood as they grew.
In less than a second, her body had already been pierced through by countless dense, sharp wooden stakes.
"Aaaaaaah—!"
Daki let out a scream of agony.
But very soon, those screams became extremely weak.
Because her vitality was being continuously drained by the wooden spikes and converted into nourishment for their growth.
Then, under the stunned gazes of Gyutaro and Giyu, the wooden stakes emerging from Daki’s body grew taller and larger, until eventually, they formed a great tree with a broad canopy.
"Th-This..."
Gyutaro stammered, completely at a loss for words.
This ability...
Wasn’t it comparable to a Blood Demon Art?
Even Hantengu’s techniques were not much more outrageous than this.
The Upper Rank had frozen in shock, but Kiriya had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
He immediately stepped in and gave him a grand gift.
"Sun Breathing: Beneficent Radiance."
The Nichirin sword slashed toward Gyutaro’s neck at unbelievable speed.
"You’re not getting away with that!"
A large amount of blood surged from Gyutaro’s body.
The moment it left him, the blood transformed into countless sharp blood blades, moving at high speed around him and forming an absolute defense made of countless rapid slashes.
"Blood Demon Art: Rampant Arc Rampage."
"Clang, clang, clang—"
Faced with this assault, Kiriya had no choice but to change his move and block Gyutaro’s attacks.
His body was forced back step by step by the impact of the continuous slashes.
With the danger gone, Gyutaro pressed the advantage.
Countless blood blades shot out like bullets, flying toward Kiriya and Daki’s direction.
’Oh, clever. Trying to break my seal?’
Kiriya saw through his intention at a glance, but he was not panicked at all.
Because he was not fighting alone.
"Clang, clang, clang—"
Giyu rushed in front of Daki.
The Nichirin sword in his hand formed an airtight barrier, directly blocking every one of Gyutaro’s slashes.
"Brother, hurry... save me..."
Daki’s voice grew weaker and weaker.
The great tree on her body was still constantly drawing blood and growing, while her injuries never had the chance to recover. She could only continue weakening.
Seeing this, Gyutaro grew even more frantic and charged toward Daki without caring about anything else.
"Blood Demon Art: Rotating Circular Slashes — Flying Blood Sickles."
With a thought, countless spiral-shaped crimson slashes wrapped around both his arms, moving like tornadoes dancing over them.
The power of this attack was truly astonishing.
Wherever the bloody slashes touched, whether rock or wood, everything was shredded to pieces.
And Gyutaro carried that attack forward, charging toward Daki with the momentum to break through anything in his path.
"You’re not getting through!"
Giyu’s whole body trembled, cold sweat covering him, but he still had no intention of taking even one step back.
The chance to cut off an Upper Rank’s head was right in front of them.
Even if he had to risk his life, he had to hold him back for a few seconds.
And Kiriya did not make him wait long.
His figure flashed like lightning, appearing above and behind Gyutaro in the blink of an eye, and he brought his blade down.
"Sun Breathing: Fire Wheel."
Gyutaro had expected it. The crimson storm of slashes around his arms swung toward Kiriya.
"Perfect timing!"
"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"
The dense storm of slashes instantly tore Kiriya apart.
But Gyutaro felt no joy at all, because not a single drop of blood flowed from the shredded body.
"Sun Breathing: Fake Rainbow."
"An afterimage?"
Gyutaro’s heart sank. He was about to turn and defend, but it was already too late.
"Sun Breathing: Flame Dance."
Two brilliant slashes, one vertical and one horizontal, filled Gyutaro’s entire field of vision.
Even though Gyutaro dodged the first strike, he could not avoid the second.
His body was cut in half at the waist.
"Sun Breathing: Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance."
Kiriya did not let up after gaining the advantage. He activated another technique and chained his attacks together.
The flowing sword light transformed into a crimson fire dragon, passing through Gyutaro’s arms and...
His head.
"Bro... ther... save..."
Beneath the great tree, the suppressed Daki was still begging her brother to save her.
In the past, her wish had always been granted.
But this time, the call that had always worked finally failed.
"Huh? My head was cut off?"
Gyutaro’s vision spun wildly.
In the end, his head rolled onto the ground and came face-to-face with his sister.
’In the end, we’re still together.’
Memories flashed through Gyutaro’s mind like a revolving lantern.
They were memories of him and his sister, filled with hardship, but also warmth...
"Hiss—"
Kiriya drove two wooden swords into Gyutaro’s head and body respectively, activating Forest of All Things to madly drain his vitality and speed up his destruction.
"You’re already dead demons. Don’t start playing some emotional flashback scene now!"
Kiriya snorted coldly.
For demons with crimes piled this high, Kiriya felt that letting them linger for even one extra second was an insult to humanity and life itself.
Under the acceleration of Kiriya’s magic, Gyutaro and Daki’s bodies finally turned into ash.
The demons who had committed evil for a hundred years reached the end of their lives today!