While Saibote held back the pursuing Sunagakure forces alone, buying ti at the cost of imnse pressure, more than a hundred cursed spirits were racing across the wasteland under Cal Yoko's command.
Their misshapen bodies tore across the ground like a dark tide, claws digging furrows into the sand as they surged forward.
"Faster—move faster!" Cal Yoko barked coldly.
"Don't let Lord Saibote's painstaking efforts go to waste!"
The cursed spirits responded with guttural roars, their movents growing even more frantic.
But just as the group pressed onward, a scouting cursed spirit suddenly relayed urgent information from the front.
Two humans.
Spotted directly ahead.
The marching formation faltered slightly.
Avoid them—or kill them?
Cal Yoko's expression barely changed. She hesitated for no more than a heartbeat before reaching her conclusion.
she said flatly.
"Food delivered straight to our mouths, there's no reason to spit it out."
If over a hundred cursed spirits had to detour just to avoid two insignificant humans, then they might as well disband on the spot. Disappointing Lord Saibote would be a far greater disgrace.
At her command, the grotesque horde erupted into excitent.
Low, eager growls echoed through the ranks.
A little dessert before the main course?
That sounded wonderful.
They surged forward.
Closer.
Closer and closer.
The two humans ahead stood completely still, as if frozen in place by terror. They neither fled nor resisted.
Huff—huff—
The lizard-like cursed spirit at the very front licked its cracked tongue, eyes gleaming with hunger.
This one's mine!
It launched itself forward with all its strength, jaws splitting open wide as it lunged for its prey—
Slash!
A flash of cold steel cut through the air.
The leaping cursed spirit froze mid-motion.
A thin line appeared down the center of its body.
The next instant, it split cleanly in two, the severed halves sliding past Shinji on either side before crashing into the sand.
"So many gifts delivered right to my doorstep," Shinji said cheerfully, wiping his blade as a grin spread across his face. "Looks like today's my lucky day. Hidan, write it down—every year on this day, we go out and celebrate."
"Tch—who'd bother rembering sothing that stupid?" Hidan replied, already swinging his scythe. A cursed spirit fell apart under the strike as he turned his head away in annoyance.
"Haha, stupid?" Shinji laughed. "I thought you'd say, 'Who'd celebrate with a jerk like you!'"
"Exactly!" Hidan snapped. "Who'd celebrate with a jerk like you!"
Shinji's grin widened.
"Your next line is: 'One day I'm definitely going to kill you!'"
"One day I'm definitely going to kill you!" Hidan shouted without thinking.
The mont the words left his mouth, his face flushed red with rage.
"…You bastard!"
"Give it up, Hidan," Shinji said smugly. "I'll be your lifelong nightmare—hahaha!"
His laughter rang out across the battlefield, sharp and unrestrained. Yet even as he laughed, his hands never slowed. Each precise swing cut down another lesser cursed spirit, bodies collapsing one after another.
Still, Shinji frowned slightly.
This wasn't fast enough.
With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a blood pack and crushed it in his palm.
"Crimson Blood Manipulation · Skyborne Blood Scythe!"
The blood surged outward, twisting and reshaping midair. In the blink of an eye, it transford into dozens of crescent-shaped blades, each one razor-sharp and vibrating with lethal intent.
They shot forward in a chaotic barrage.
Puff!
Puff!
Puff!
Cursed spirits barely had ti to react before they were torn apart. Limbs and torsos were sliced clean through as nearly twenty spirits were erased in an instant.
Notification sounds chid rapidly in Shinji's mind—cursed soul points stacking up one after another.
Shinji ignored the notifications entirely. With such a generous gift delivered straight to his doorstep, he had no intention of letting even a single cursed spirit escape.
"Damn it!"
Cal Yoko was on the verge of losing her composure.
She had never imagined that two humans—encountered by pure chance in the middle of the desert—would possess strength on this level. In just a brief exchange, so many cursed spirits had been wiped out like insects.
Her chest tightened.
When she faced Lord Saibote again… how was she supposed to explain this disaster?
"No—this can't continue!"
Her gaze hardened as she made a snap decision.
"Ant Two. Needle Bear. You're with ," she ordered sharply. "Kill those two humans!"
The mont her words fell, Cal Yoko surged forward without hesitation.
At her sides moved two monstrous figures.
One possessed two grotesque ant-like heads atop a segnted, bamboo-like body, four powerful arms swinging as it advanced—Ant Two.
The other resembled a hulking bear, its entire body covered in dense, pitch-black needles that bristled like armor—Needle Bear.
With Saibote absent, these three were among the very few Grade-1 Cursed Spirits present—the strongest combat force remaining.
Hidan clicked his tongue and stepped forward, clearly intending to intercept.
But Shinji raised an arm, stopping him.
"I've got these."
Hidan paused. He'd already noticed sothing strange—Shinji was oddly indifferent when killing humans, but when it ca to cursed spirits, his enthusiasm spiked dramatically.
"Tch… figures," Hidan muttered, stepping back.
Shinji calmly slid his palm along the blade of the Executioner's Sword.
"Crimson Blood Manipulation · Supernova!"
In the next instant, compressed blood bullets ford and detonated outward from both of his hands, streaking through the air like crimson teors.
"Let handle this!"
Needle Bear roared and planted himself in front of the others. His black needles surged and interlocked, forming a dense, layered barrier.
The impact was violent.
The blood rounds smashed into him relentlessly, forcing his massive fra to stagger backward. Though it looked as though he were being battered into a chaotic dance, the needle armor absorbed the brunt of the attack.
He held.
But Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly.
That was all he needed.
"Crimson Blood Manipulation · Crimson Scale Surge!"
An X-shaped blood mark instantly ford across Shinji's forehead.
He stomped down.
The ground cracked.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished—reappearing directly in front of Needle Bear. The Executioner's Sword was already raised, its killing edge aligned perfectly.
But at that precise mont—
Ant Two burst forward from behind Needle Bear.
All four of his arms clamped onto the blade with brutal precision.
The sheer force halted Shinji's strike mid-swing, surprising even him.
Before Shinji could react further, Cal Yoko's body began to change.
The twin humps on her back rapidly shrank, as though their contents were being forcibly injected into her body.
Her slender fra swelled violently, muscles bulging and layering over one another. In seconds, she transford into a towering giant—over three ters tall, packed with overwhelming physical power.
"Die!"
The newly ford muscle monster brought her fist crashing down from above with devastating force.
Ant Two tightened his grip on the Executioner's Sword, holding Shinji in place.
Shinji let out a soft chuckle.
Then—unexpectedly—he released the sword entirely and stepped forward instead.
"Black Flash."
Boom!
Black lightning erupted around his fist as it connected.
Cal Yoko's massive body was sent flying backward, her enormous fra skidding across the sand with zero advantage gained from her transformation.
But before she could retreat, a sudden suction force seized her arm.
She froze.
Shinji's right fist was still crackling with black sparks. Several capillaries ruptured, and streams of blood burst outward, spiraling rapidly around his arm.
The blood reshaped itself mid-motion, forming a rotating, drill-like structure composed of countless razor-thin blades.
"Crimson Blood Manipulation · Circular Severing Spiral!"
Tear—rip!
Cal Yoko scread as her arm was shredded completely, the spiral tearing through it in an instant.
Needle Bear didn't hesitate.
Without a word, he spread his arms wide and charged forward, attempting to grapple Shinji head-on.
Here's a simple truth: most humans have only two arms.
Shinji raised his left hand calmly, palm outward—almost like a polite refusal.
"Crimson Blood Manipulation · Circular Severing Spiral!"
Bang!
Needle Bear's head burst apart instantly.
No matter how dense the needles covering his body were, gaps still existed.
And where gaps existed—cuts could be made.
Shinji's technique, ford from countless ultra-thin blood blades spinning at extre speed, exploited those openings perfectly.
In re seconds, three Grade-1 Cursed Spirits had been reduced to one dead and two critically wounded.
Shinji turned slowly.
"Rember this, If it's not yours—don't touch it."
At so point, the Executioner's Sword was already back in his grip.
With a powerful lift, Shinji hoisted Ant Two into the air along with it.
Boom!
The blade slamd into the sand, blasting out a massive crater.
Ant Two was forced to release his grip and attempted to flee—
Or so it seed.
Shinji was faster.
In an instant, he was there again, pressing the execution notch of the blade against Ant Two's neck.
Execution.
Decapitation.
Slash!
One head flew free.
Shinji clenched his left fist.
"Black Flash."
Boom!
Black sparks crackled violently as Ant Two's second head detonated, his body collapsing lifelessly into the sand.
Silence followed. The desert wind swept over the battlefield once more.
---
20 Power Stones= 1 additional chapters.
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