Chiba Yo's voice faded, and his figure appeared behind Kaigaku.
Bending down, switching his Breathing Technique, Chiba Yo looked at Kaigaku in front of him, gripped the hilt of his nichirin blade, and exhaled a white mist.
"Thunder Breathing First Form…"
Behind him!
Kaigaku, based on Chiba Yo's voice, had also determined his position.
"Thunder Breathing Sixth Form: Electric Roaring Thunder!"
Centered on Kaigaku, countless black lightning-shaped slashes spread in all directions, their range also affecting Chiba Yo.
However, facing the imminent attack, Chiba Yo's heart remained calm.
"Thunderclap and Flash: Twelvefold Godspeed!"
His nichirin blade unsheathed, Chiba Yo's figure vanished again, leaving only twelve golden electric flashes. In just an instant, all of them pierced through Kaigaku's body. Because of the excessive speed, those twelve electric flashes even remained, as if they had been unleashed at the same time.
Kaigaku's attack couldn't even touch Chiba Yo's clothes. He completely passed through Kaigaku's wide-range attack with speed and unleashed twelve slashes, all striking Kaigaku.
Clang!
His nichirin blade returned to its sheath, and Chiba Yo appeared in front of Kaigaku with his back to him, then turned to look at him.
The next instant, Kaigaku's body suddenly shattered, divided into thirteen pieces by the twelve slashes, with only his head remaining intact.
How is that possible! How could Thunder Breathing First Form be this strong! Isn't that the basic sword form of Thunder Breathing?
Kaigaku's head began to fall, its spinning perspective making him uncomfortable. All his emotions at this moment transformed into shock. He had never imagined that the First Form, which he had failed to master, would be so powerful.
Immediately after, his mood was replaced by anger and resentment.
Damn it! That old geezer must have held back, he must have been biased! He taught such a powerful First Form to that good-for-nothing! While giving me useless sword techniques!
"Damn it! All of you bastards deserve to die! Kuwajima Jigorō, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Gyomei Himejima, Chiba Yo, all of you villains who harmed me deserve to die!"
Kaigaku roared loudly, his head falling to the ground with his shouts, his body fragments already burned to ashes.
Looking at the exasperated Kaigaku, Chiba Yo spoke to him calmly: "Eleven of these twelve slashes are from me, given to you on behalf of those who truly cared for you: the other eight children in the Temple, Mr. Gyoumei, Mr. Kuwajima, and Zenitsu.
These eleven slashes did not kill you, they merely tore your body apart.
Since you don't believe they were kind to you, then I will cut away the kindness they showed you.
Without them, you would not have grown so strong, nor would you have gained these abilities. All that truly belongs to you is this head of yours, yet this head is filled with nothing but trash.
The final strike is from me. Since you chose to become a demon, then you deserve to be slain by me. Perhaps you weren't prepared for this, but these were all your own choices."
Chiba Yo could have used more stages of Thunder Breathing First Form, but it was unnecessary to use them to slay this good-for-nothing.
Kaigaku's head also began to dissipate. Even now, he had not realized his own mistakes in the slightest.
"You… are all… evil… all deserve to die…"
The newly appointed Upper Rank Six, Kaigaku, met his demise. His tenure lasted less than a week, six days to be precise. Excluding the day he spent transforming into a demon, he rose to Upper Rank in two weeks, and six days later, he encountered Chiba Yo and was slain in a single move.
...
Ashes dissipated between heaven and earth, and Kaigaku appeared in a place engulfed in flames.
Looking at the sea of fire before him, Kaigaku realized he was dead.
"Chi! Ba! Yo! I will curse you until the day you die and fall into hell!!!"
Kaigaku trembled all over, extreme hatred causing him to roar furiously in this vast emptiness.
After calming down slightly, Kaigaku looked around.
Is this hell, then?
A place that didn't resemble heaven at all left Kaigaku somewhat puzzled.
"It must be a mistake, right? How could I enter hell? What I did was clearly 'good,' so even if I died, I should ascend to heaven."
After muttering to himself for a while, Kaigaku began to shout around: "Hey! Is anyone there? Which guy is in charge here? You must have made a mistake, I shouldn't be here! Hey!!!"
After shouting for a while, no sound answered him.
Kaigaku became exasperated again: "Damn it! Even here, it's all short-sighted fools! All of you deserve to die!!
Thunder Breathing Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!"
Kaigaku drew his weapon, wanting to perform his Breathing Technique, but although his voice was there, he couldn't unleash any moves.
"What's going on? My strength, where has my strength gone?"
Kaigaku became terrified. He looked at his hands, his face filled with disbelief.
The next instant, the blade in his hand also disappeared.
"My blade!!" Faced with the bizarre situation, Kaigaku had no recourse and could only express his dissatisfaction by roaring.
"Who did this!! You cowardly hidden bastard! Come out now! I will kill you!!"
The empty space had no one to respond to him; he could only hear his own exasperated voice.
After a while, Kaigaku finally tired of shouting and lay down in an area without flames. However, as soon as he lay down, he noticed something was wrong: his formerly robust arms had become thin and weak at some point.
Kaigaku's eyes widened, unable to believe any of this. He wanted to stand up but found his body weak. It took him a lot of effort to do so.
Then he discovered that not only his arms but his entire formerly robust body had shriveled as if shrunk, becoming skin and bones.
He was still in his demon form, yet his strength was now even less than that of an ordinary human.
At this moment, Kaigaku was filled with fear. He dared not continue to rant, and his frail body dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Whoever you are, please give me back my strength! Please give me back my strength! Please… pant… pant…"
At first, Kaigaku could still shout a few words, but soon he ran out of strength and began to pant heavily.
Hunger, fatigue—these were feelings he had long forgotten. Ever since he was taken in by Gyoumei, even if Gyoumei himself couldn't eat his fill, he would first ensure that the children, including Kaigaku, were fed. After becoming Kuwajima Jigorō's disciple, he was never hungry again.
If not for Gyoumei and Kuwajima Jigorō, a child like Kaigaku would likely have grown up looking as he did now.
As Chiba Yo said, the kindness others had shown him, these things he had never realized, were now being taken away one by one…
Just as Kaigaku knelt on the ground, a voice sounded from in front of him.
"Oh, isn't this the child I cooperated with back then? You've indeed arrived here too, and it seems you've also become a demon like me…"