Gamajay came to a stop, panting lightly, his oversized toad tongue hanging out.
"Veigar-sama, the summoning time is up," he croaked.
"I must return as well."
Although Gamajay hadn't directly engaged in battle after being summoned, he'd burned through a great deal of chakra while escorting Veigar during their escape. His summoning duration had shortened as a result, and now his time had run out.
"You've done well, Gamajay," Veigar said.
"Return home."
As Veigar jumped down from Gamajay's head, the toad added:
"Veigar-sama, don't forget to summon me more often."
The moment he finished speaking, Gamajay vanished in a puff of smoke—poof!—returning to Mount Myōboku.
Immediately after Gamajay's disappearance, Shikatsu, Jun, and Nanaki emerged beside Veigar.
Before any of them could speak, Veigar issued a terse command.
"We're still not safe. Move, now."
The three responded in unison.
"Yes, sir!"
Swish, swish, swish, swish—
The four-man team disappeared from the scene, retreating toward Mount Kikyo.
Running beside him, Shikatsu said,
"Captain Veigar, I've sent a distress signal to HQ. We should be getting backup soon."
Veigar didn't look back. He nodded slightly.
"Hopefully."
"But we still need to pick up the pace."
After sprinting for over ten minutes, a thunderous roar echoed behind them.
"Little brats from Konoha, I've finally caught up to you!"
They turned their heads and saw Tanjiro, his speed a blur, rushing toward them like a bolt of lightning.
In the next instant, Tanjiro leapt past them, landing directly in their path.
No way forward.
Despite finally cornering them, Tanjiro didn't attack immediately. He stood before them with a cold stare.
Veigar's gaze met Tanjiro's. He knew, if they didn't take Tanjiro down, they'd never get away.
Lowering his voice, he said to Shikatsu, Jun, and Nanaki:
"Engage him. Leave the rest to me."
"And remember, do not come near me."
That final warning rang with grim intensity.
Veigar was about to risk it all.
Though the others didn't know what Veigar was planning, they trusted him unconditionally.
With firm nods, the three stepped forward to form a defensive line and readied themselves for battle.
"You Konoha brats..."
"Die."
Tanjiro launched forward, aiming straight for Veigar. He didn't care about the others, his sole target was Veigar.
Fang Over Fang!
Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!
Secret Technique: Parasitic Destruction Insects!
Trusting Veigar, Jun, Nanaki, and Shikatsu went all out, attacking Tanjiro with everything they had.
But against Tanjiro, their efforts were useless.
In a flash, Tanjiro sidestepped Jun's Fang Over Fang, kicked Nanaki aside with a brutal roundhouse, and effortlessly swept Shikatsu away with a single strike, dispersing the swarm of insects.
Then, in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Veigar, kunai slashing down.
Veigar didn't move.
He gripped his ninjatō, and drew in an instant.
CLANG!!!
Veigar lunged forward, clinging tightly to Tanjiro's torso, shouting with all his might:
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
Wind-natured chakra surged through his body and into the Rasengan, which was wrapped around both him and Tanjiro.
BOOM—
In the blink of an eye, the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken detonated with explosive force.
BOOMMMMMMM—
Using his constantly maintained Rasengan, Veigar had transformed it into the forbidden Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
And for the first time, he cast it upon himself.
A massive storm erupted from the impact point, centered on both Veigar and Tanjiro, obliterating everything around them.
"Captain Veigar!"
Shikatsu, Jun, and Nanaki had just managed to stagger to their feet when the shockwave struck them full force, flinging them backward.
They watched helplessly as the eye of the storm consumed Veigar.
Their anguished cries echoed through the woods.
They understood the scale of the jutsu, the sheer devastation Veigar had unleashed. He was going for mutual destruction.
Mutual destruction?
Perhaps.
At the very center of the Rasenshuriken's blast, Veigar and Tanjiro both felt it, like a million razor blades slicing through every cell of their bodies.
Tanjiro, paralyzed and wide-eyed, stared into death itself.
He hadn't expected Veigar to hide such a powerful, suicidal jutsu.
Still, Tanjiro smiled bitterly in the end.
"If I can drag a Konoha prodigy like him to hell with me... then it's worth it."
But, was that really how it would end?
Veigar had used the suicide-style Rasenshuriken out of pure desperation, but he never intended to die with Tanjiro.
He had one final trump card left.
"Ultra-Fast Regeneration Technique!"
Unable to move, Veigar screamed the words in his mind, desperately channeling what little chakra remained.
If the Ultra-Fast Regeneration Technique could kick in before his body gave out completely, he just might survive the Rasenshuriken's annihilation.
Just hold on.
If he could last just a moment longer, he'd live.
Under any other circumstances, Veigar would never have chosen such a reckless method.
Even in peak condition, Veigar wasn't confident in defeating Tanjiro.
And now, drained of chakra, there was no other choice.
As the storm faded, Veigar and Tanjiro both dropped from the sky like broken dolls.
THUD.
THUD.
Seeing them fall, Shikatsu, Jun, and Nanaki sprinted toward Veigar's position.
Within seconds, the three had surrounded the two motionless bodies, their faces twisted in grief and fear.
Tanjiro's corpse was a mangled ruin.
But—
Veigar was still alive.
Barely breathing. Unconscious. His life-force was a flickering candle in the wind.
And yet, compared to Tanjiro's gruesome death, Veigar's survival sparked a fragile glimmer of hope.
Then—
Using his Byakugan, Nanaki's eyes widened in horror.
"These injuries... how is he still...?"
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