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Facing the pincer attack of two enhanced Hashira-level swordsmen, Akaza seemed to foresee the moves before they happened. In a flash, he sidestepped from in front of Tengen and circled behind him, causing both Hashiras' attacks to miss simultaneously. At the same time, he launched a fierce kick upward toward the back of Tengen's head.
"Leg Type: Crown Splitter!"
At this critical moment, Tengen rolled sideways to evade, while Obanai charged forward directly, his Nichirin Blade slashing horizontally toward the leg Akaza was standing on.
"Just like that!"
Akaza withdrew his single leg and raised a fist to meet Obanai's attack. Meanwhile, Tengen once again advanced with his blade, joining forces with Obanai to confront Akaza. Their bodies moved forward alternately, covering each other, and the battle reached a temporary stalemate.
On the other side, Gyutaro set down the unconscious Daki he had been holding in his arms and gripped his two blood-red bone sickles once more.
"Go kill them," Daki whispered venomously, glancing at the half of her body scorched by sunlight.
"Heh." Gyutaro grinned, revealing his ugly, incomplete gums. "Perfect timing. It seems they've already forgotten my existence."
"Then have you two forgotten about my presence?" Kaito's voice suddenly rang out behind them.
"What?!" Gyutaro and Daki swiftly turned around to face Kaito, who had appeared out of nowhere.
Kaito wore a slight smile. As the sibling demons turned to look, his eyes once again shifted to red, with tomoe spinning within them.
"Such strange eyes…" Daki muttered under her breath.
The two demons found themselves captivated by those red eyes, involuntarily fixating on the three rotating tomoe. Before they knew it, their vision was completely overtaken by enormous crimson eyes that seemed to fill the entire night sky.
"What's happening? Brother, where are you?!" Daki screamed in panic.
Meanwhile, Gyutaro remained silent, swinging his sickles violently in an attempt to break through the illusion by force.
"It's useless," Kaito's voice echoed.
In an instant, several massive iron rods pierced through their bodies from all directions.
"Aaaaaahhhh…" Daki broke down into hysterical sobs. "It hurts!! Why always me?! Always me!!!"
"Sister!!" Gyutaro struggled with all his might, but it was futile. Unable to see Daki, he too began to panic.
Back in reality, Akaza noticed the sibling demons standing motionless before Kaito and immediately tried to bypass his current opponents to investigate. However, Tengen and Obanai exerted their full efforts to entangle and intercept him.
"Bind!" Kaito formed hand seals.
Spiritual energy chains emerged from a pentagram magic circle beneath his feet, tightly binding Upper Rank Six siblings from head to toe.
Then, the red faded from Kaito's eyes, and Gyutaro and Daki returned to reality from the illusion.
"Aaaaaahhhh… We've been captured!!" Daki screamed again the moment she opened her eyes and realized their situation.
Gyutaro struggled silently but found himself utterly unable to break free from the multiple layers of spiritual energy chains.
"You've won," he muttered dejectedly, lowering his head.
"What are you saying?!" Daki turned her head and glared at him furiously. "Think of something, you ugly freak!"
"Shut up!!" Gyutaro roared back angrily. "It's all your fault, you idiot! If you hadn't been so greedy, we never would have come here!"
"You ugly freak who's only slightly strong and completely useless! You're not my brother!"
"You brainless fool who's only somewhat pretty and good for nothing! You're not my sister! I've been cleaning up your messes since we were kids—why should I?! It would've been better if you'd never been born!"
"Bastard! Ugly freak!"
"Idiot! No brains!"
"How noisy!" Kaito raised his hand and tossed out a stack of paper talismans, then formed seals once more.
"Is it sunlight? Is it sunlight? We're going to die, we're going to die…" Daki began crying uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down her face.
The paper talismans scattered throughout the air emitted a faint blue glow, attaching themselves to the two demons from all directions. Layer upon layer of talismans quickly enveloped them completely.
"Ugh… ugh…" Daki's cries gradually weakened.
Kaito held his seal and spoke softly: "Seal!"
Black curse patterns, like squirming insects, crawled across the surface of the paper talismans wrapping the two demons, rapidly forming intricate designs. As the patterns lit up, the wrapped demons fell completely silent.
Perfect experimental subjects acquired.
Kaito smiled with satisfaction and turned his gaze to the other battle.
Upper Rank Three, Akaza, was incredibly powerful. As he himself had claimed, he was a pure martial artist, and his fighting style was worlds apart from that of Dōma.
Under Kaito's assistance, Kanae had managed to kill Dōma, but in truth, Kaito had contributed more to that battle. Now, even though Tengen and Obanai—two Hashira-level swordsmen—had been enhanced by Kaito's spells, they could only maintain a balance in their fierce struggle against Akaza.
Fortunately, neither had been forced to fight desperately yet, and thus neither was injured.
"So those two trash have been captured?" Akaza noticed Kaito's actions and suddenly erupted.
"Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow!"
In an instant, he unleashed countless flying fist strikes in all directions, like rapidly fired missiles. These projectiles were extremely fast. After blocking a few attacks, Tengen and Obanai found their blades gradually unable to keep up. Caught off guard, they were struck simultaneously.
Both spat blood mid-air and were sent flying backward.
Akaza grinned widely, leaping into the air to pursue them.
The two swordsmen, still in mid-air, exchanged a glance and simultaneously pulled out paper talismans from their uniform pockets, tearing them apart.
Two bursts of golden sunlight—soft to human eyes—exploded in their hands. The skin on Akaza's face immediately began to blacken and peel. He hurriedly raised his arms to shield his face, dropped to the ground, and then kicked off, rapidly retreating.
"You were hiding something this dangerous?" He used a hand chop to sever the scorched parts of his body, his expression grave as he looked toward Kaito in the distance. "This is your ability."
Kaito first activated the life-giving talismans within the paper charms on the two swordsmen, beginning to heal their internal and external injuries. Then, he grasped a stack of paper talismans and stepped forward.
"It's been a while since I've fought myself."
The sunlight bursting from the paper talismans in his hand converged into a brilliantly gleaming golden light sword, leaving the panting Tengen and Obanai wide-eyed.
"A truly dangerous weapon," Akaza remarked, seemingly no longer in a hurry to rescue Upper Rank Six. Instead, he reassumed his combat stance. "But what can your frail body possibly accomplish?"
"We'll know once we try."
Kaito waved the light sword in his hand and walked toward Akaza at a leisurely pace.