Sabito and Giyū stood tall, their Nichirin Blades drawn and ready. Their eyes locked onto a familiar figure calmly waiting before them.
"…Kyūjō-san? What are you doing here?"
"How did you even get into the Selection Grounds?"
Kyūjō simply responded with a laid-back smile. "Ah, well…"
He waved his hand casually, cutting himself off mid-sentence. "Let's talk about that later."
Instead, he gestured past them—toward the forest shadows behind them, where a massive figure lood.
"That's your opponent for today."
Their eyes followed his hand, and their expressions sharpened in an instant. Between the trees stood a grotesque monster with hundreds of twitching hands sprouting from its body.
No further explanation was needed. That thing wasn't a normal demon.
Seeing their reaction, Kyūjō let out a faint smile.
"This one," he said, "was apparently captured long ago by your teacher, Urokodaki-dono."
"He also admitted earlier that he's been devouring fox-masked children who ca to this mountain."
"All of them… users of Water Breathing."
The demon scratched his scalp, claws slicing through his own flesh without realizing. Bits of skin flaked off as he muttered internally,
Wait... Did I really say that out loud?
I didn't… right? But then how does he know—?
He began to doubt his own mory.
But Kyūjō gave him no ti to figure it out.
"This mountain is the official grounds for Final Selection," Kyūjō said flatly, his voice now serious. "I'm not allowed to interfere freely."
"So this fight—you'll have to handle it yourselves."
"…Just don't die."
With those parting words, Kyūjō vanished from sight. One blink, and he was gone—like wind blown away by the sky.
— — —
"Water Breathing, First Form – Water Surface Slash!"
Two voices rang out in unison.
Sabito and Giyū surged forward together, fury in their eyes.
Their blades ca down from both sides, aiming straight for the demon's thick neck.
Two slashes—precise and synchronized.
Giyū's blade sliced through two arms sprouting from the demon's left shoulder. But before he could go deeper, a third arm shot up and grabbed the blade mid-swing, stopping him cold.
On the right, Sabito's slash tore through a cluster of limbs and dug deep into the side of the demon's neck—so deep it hit bone.
A sharp clang echoed through the forest as tal struck spine.
But the blade didn't go through.
The sheer bulk of the demon's overlapping hands had absorbed most of the impact, robbing Sabito's slash of its killing force.
Still, it was enough.
For the first ti in a long while… the demon felt fear.
His blood-red eyes widened as he saw the fox masks on their faces. Rage and mories flooded in—dread, confusion, hatred, all at once.
Hands exploded from his body in a frenzy, growing and slamming into the ground like angry trees uprooting themselves.
A massive shockwave blasted outward.
Sabito and Giyū were sent flying.
They crashed into the dirt, coughing blood, limbs aching and vision spinning.
Above them, the demon's countless arms began fusing—morphing into two gigantic fists the size of boulders.
"I'LL DESTROY YOU!! YOU… AND UROKODAKI… ALL OF YOU MUST DIE!!"
The ground quaked as the monstrous fists fell from the sky like twin teors.
In that split second—
Sabito turned to Giyū and shouted, "Get out of here!!"
He shoved him with all his strength, using the recoil to roll backward—barely dodging the deathblow by a hair's breadth.
The impact landed hard.
Two giant craters tore open the earth where they had just been.
From the canopy above, Kyūjō peeked through the leaves with mild amusent.
"Ooh? A new technique? Pretty sure this scene wasn't in the ani version."
"If they lose here, I'll just have to step in, I guess."
He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
On the battlefield, Sabito and Giyū stared into the massive holes that had nearly beco their graves, cold sweat dripping from their brows.
Sabito tightened his grip on his blade and looked to his comrade.
"Giyū! I'll hold his arms down—go for the neck!"
But Giyū stepped forward instead, shaking his head.
"No. I'll distract him. You're faster—strike when I open the gap."
Before they could argue further, another wave of arms shot toward them.
There was no ti.
They lifted their swords to block, but the brute force was overwhelming. They were flung away again, like leaves tossed into a storm.
Giyū crashed hard and didn't get back up. Blood trickled from his lips as his consciousness slipped.
Sabito barely managed to stay standing. He'd softened the blow using controlled breathing—but his arms were shaking, and his grip was weakening.
Up in the trees, Kyūjō's smile faded.
"Sabito! Stay focused!"
"Don't let your emotions take over—breathe!"
"Your strength alone isn't enough to go head-to-head with this one. Use the nature of Water Breathing!"
"Water doesn't fight with brute force—it wears things down."
"Rember… even stone can be shaped by water."
"And that demon—he's not as strong as you think."
"His attacks are slow. Rigid. You can avoid them. If you get hit… that's your mistake!"
Sabito didn't respond. But his eyes were calm now.
He took a slow, deep breath.
The demon lunged again.
Sabito exhaled.
"Water Breathing – Third Form: Flowing Dance."
He moved—graceful, fluid, unpredictable.
Like a fish swimming through rapids.
He didn't attack. He simply avoided. Ducked. Slid. Weaved.
One minute. Five. Ten…
No matter how the demon flailed, he couldn't touch him.
The monster's movents turned sloppy. Its massive fused fists grew slower—openings began to appear.
Sabito's eyes lit up.
Now.
He'd lured it into a rhythm—one that he could break at any mont.
"Water Breathing – Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow – Turbulent!"
He beca a whirlpool of motion, leaping and spinning unpredictably.
He sprinted across the demon's outstretched arms, twisting and dancing like gravity no longer applied to him.
And then—
He reached the core.
The perfect angle. The opening he'd waited for.
"Water Breathing – Tenth Form: Constant Flux!"
(The longer it spins, the more power it builds—like a spiraling water dragon.)
Sabito spun again and again, blade whirling with rising force.
The sea-blue Nichirin Blade transford into a raging water dragon, howling toward the demon's exposed neck.
It tore through everything—air, muscle, bone.
In one clean sweep, the demon's head soared through the air.
And for a brief mont, as it tumbled in the sky—
It saw Urokodaki's face.
— — —
A slow clap echoed through the forest.
Kyūjō dropped down from the treetops, landing gently with a smirk on his face.
"Magnificent, Sabito."
"That technique… it blends the Ninth and Tenth Forms beautifully."
"With ti, it might beco a whole new evolution of Water Breathing."
Sabito gave a faint smile.
Then collapsed.
His body had nothing left. He fell to the ground, chest heaving, his strength spent.
Kyūjō walked over and looked down at the two unconscious swordsn, sighing as he wiped his face.
"Welp. Miscalculated that one."
"Should've stepped in earlier…"
"Now I've gotta babysit these two until the exam ends."
— — —
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