area51novel Chapter 1723 The Fall of the Three Heroes
Chapter 1723 The Fall of the Three Heroes
The three members of the Nine Red Scabbards, Denjiro, Ashura Doji, and Kawamatsu, stared at the monster before them, now completely reduced to white bones, and a chill ran through them.
Having shed his disguise and returned to his true self, Denjiro, as the second most important retainer under Kozuki Oden after Kin'emon, possesses the most seasoned combat experience and keen insight.
He and the one-eyed, bleeding Ashura Child beside him, panting heavily but still able to exchange a quick glance, without needing to say a word, instantly understood each other's feelings in their eyes.
Faced with a creature that can continuously extract bones from its body, ordinary swordsmanship and teamwork would likely be ineffective.
Only that one move, which embodies their deepest remembrance of the deceased patriarch, might offer a glimmer of hope.
Originally, that move was something they had practiced countless times in private, imitating the move of the family head back then, all for the purpose of using it on Kaido one day.
I never imagined that I would have to use it here ahead of schedule.
But there was no other choice; all hope rested on this final blow.
"Kawamatsu, you should also seize the opportunity to cooperate with us," Denjiro shouted in a low voice without turning his head.
Denjiro and Ashura Doji simultaneously let out a deafening roar, their feet stomping the ground as they leaped into the air!
The two men in mid-air adjusted their positions in perfect unison, one on the left and one on the right, forming a pincer attack.
Within them, the advanced Armament Haki Qi, honed through years of arduous training and reaching a high level of proficiency, began to frantically converge on the blades in their hands.
This move was originally a trump card prepared to deal with Kaido; it was a combined attack of the two top Red Scabbards' combatants, driven by their shared beliefs.
Now, however, they have no choice but to use their cards on a young man of unknown origin, forcing Kimimaro to reveal their last trump card.
"Oden Two-Sword Style - Togen Totsuken!"
The two roared in unison, their twin swords, wreathed in swirling, flowing cherry blossoms, drawing two intertwined, dazzling trajectories in the air.
The next instant, the cross appeared in front, and the person was behind, like a falling meteor streaking across the sky.
The figures of Denjiro and Ashura Doji seemed to merge into one with the light of their swords.
A solid, dark red cross-shaped slash, moving faster than the limits of visual perception, crashed down upon the skeletal monster below.
Faced with this combined attack technique that could threaten even a Yonko-level powerhouse, Kimimaro remained standing still, neither dodging nor avoiding it.
"This madman!" Danzo, who was watching from a distance, suddenly narrowed his one eye, his heart skipped a beat, and his heart jumped into his throat.
The massive, dark red cross-shaped slash landed squarely on Kimimaro's chest, which was covered in bone spurs.
The countless, incredibly hard bone spurs on Kimimaro's body were shattered like paper before this terrifying cross-shaped slash.
The cross slash continued its momentum, embedding itself deeply into Kimimaro's chest, almost splitting his entire upper body apart.
A hideous cross-shaped wound appeared on his chest, so deep that it penetrated his body, and one could even vaguely see the scenery outside the stronghold.
"Is it over?" Kawamatsu stared wide-eyed at the bone monster that had been almost cleaved in two by the cross slash.
He wanted to join the battle, but when he saw the horrific injuries on the skeleton, whose entire body was almost split apart by a cross slash, could he still survive in this state?
The anticipated scene of the skeleton collapsing to the ground and shattering into pieces did not occur.
Kimimaro's body, which had been cleaved in a huge cross-shaped wound, only swayed slightly, yet remained firmly standing.
The eerie curse mark on the side of his neck, which resembled a black tadpole crawling, was activated at this moment, suddenly emitting a dense black aura that spread wildly across his body.
Driven by the power of the cursed seal, the terrifying cross-shaped wound on Kimimaro's chest, which was enough to kill anyone instantly, began to heal rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Broken bones regrow, torn muscles and skin regenerate rapidly, and even the shattered bone spurs on the body begin to slowly reappear.
He almost died, just a little bit.
"Is this your final blow?" Kimimaro slowly raised his head, his empty eyes once again locking onto the three retainers in front of him.
"Then you won't have a chance."
He looked at the three retainers as if they were three lifeless corpses, without any difference.
"Oh no!!" Denjiro's heart sank suddenly, and an extremely strong sense of foreboding swept over his entire body in an instant.
This feeling was just like back then, when he watched helplessly as the head of the family, Kozuki Oden, resolutely jumped into that boiling oil pot, that powerless yet heart-wrenching premonition.
"Run! Split up and run! Don't worry about anyone else!" Denjiro shouted with all his might.
But his cries came too late.
"The Dance of the Early Ferns!"
Kimimaro crouched down, pressing his palms onto the shattered earth beneath his feet, pouring the power of his bones into the depths of the earth without reservation.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Almost instantly, a violent and terrifying tremor came from the ground beneath their feet, and the ground within a radius of hundreds of meters churned wildly.
One, two, ten, a hundred, a thousand... countless pale white bone spurs, their tips gleaming with a chilling light, shot into the sky like a bamboo forest growing wildly after the rain.
Centered on Kimimaro's location, a terrifying wave of bone spikes instantly swept across and covered the entire secret base, even extending beyond its boundaries.
In the blink of an eye, a vast, endless sea of white bones, tens of meters high, suddenly appeared on this land.
Inside and outside the stronghold, no living being could escape this indiscriminate and terrifying attack, whether they were survivors of the Kozuki remnants, wounded and fallen yakuza warriors, or even the elderly, women, and children hiding in the most secluded corners.
"Retreat! Retreat quickly—!!" The moment Kimimaro unleashed this devastating attack, Danzo immediately gave the order to retreat and took the lead in retreating rapidly.
Fortunately, they retreated quickly enough and stood far enough away to barely escape the core coverage area of the sea of bones. Only a few unlucky ones were injured by the bone spikes that extended outwards.
Once the devastating bone spurs stopped growing and the tremors subsided.
The sight before him caused even Danzo, who was accustomed to bloodshed and death, to gasp in shock, his pupils contracting.
The area that once served as an important secret stronghold for the remnants of the Kozuki clan has now completely vanished, transformed into a graveyard of countless pale bone spurs stained with blood and bits of flesh.
As for the three members of the Nine Red Scabbards, Denjiro, Ashura Doji, and Kawamatsu, it was too late for them to escape.
Their bodies were being pierced by several sharp bone spikes from different angles, and were now suspended in mid-air.
All three of them retained the expressions of extreme pain and despair they had endured in their final moments.
Warm blood and shattered internal organs were slowly sliding down the bone spurs that pierced their bodies, pooling into shocking pools of blood in the pale, dense forest of bone spurs below.
All three of the Nine Red Scabbards were killed.