Chapter 580 - 186: The Death Match Ends!

Chapter 580: Chapter 186: The Death Match Ends!

Then, he suddenly lifted his gaze, surpassing the "Demon Sword," to look at the person holding the blade... Kiryu.

His eyes, initially fierce and intent, abruptly turned hollow and bewildered.

Though he was looking at Kiryu, it seemed as though he saw nothing.

His entire mind was floating in some terrifying realm.

In an instant, the Scythe Weasel felt an automatic "defense mechanism" activate within him, and he leapt backward forcefully, widening the gap from Kiryu by more than ten paces, then glared intensely at him.

He let out a trembling voice.

Despite trying his utmost to control it, his voice, uncontrollably trembling, still leaked out from between his lips and teeth as if he were biting through bleeding gums:

"Mamiya Kurō...! How can you be here?!"

Mamiya Kurō... Upon hearing this name, the emotions Aoto had barely suppressed began to surge again.

"Mamiya Kurō...?" Aoto couldn’t help but softly repeat the name.

A string of memories automatically surfaced in his mind and quickly flashed before Aoto’s eyes.

He had heard this name... not long ago, from Chiba Eijiro’s mouth—

...

(If the legendary ’Ship-slaying Swordsman’ Mamiya Kurō, is indeed said to be lurking in Edo as the rumors suggest... then the title of ’Edo’s Strongest’ definitely doesn’t belong to me.)

...

The atmosphere became peculiar.

This space, where an intense life-and-death battle had just unfolded, now fell into a curious silence due to Kiryu’s sudden appearance.

Whether the Scythe Weasel, Aoto, or Mukiwa, everyone’s gaze, each filled with differing emotions, was fixed on the old man who had sparked this series of abnormalities.

Kiryu paid no heed to the Scythe Weasel’s questioning.

Not even to glance at the Scythe Weasel who had leapt back and widened the distance between them significantly.

With a calm expression, he quietly retracted the sword held in his reversed right-hand into the sheath in his left, then deeply lowered his posture...

This was the stance of Iaido—Iaijutsu.

"...Mr. Tachibana."

Kiryu maintained his stance facing the Scythe Weasel and slightly turned his head, calling Mr. Tachibana’s name while raising his gaze to Aoto behind him.

The slightly upturned corner of his mouth carried a trace of a faint, elusive smile.

"Watch carefully."

He spoke to Aoto, who instinctively met his gaze upon being suddenly called.

"The scenes that follow... are not something every swordsman is fortunate enough to witness."

After saying that, Kiryu withdrew his gaze and returned his head and sight forward.

"?!"—The Scythe Weasel initially had only his voice trembling... but upon seeing Kiryu lower his posture and take the Iaijutsu stance, it wasn’t just his voice but his lips, hands, feet, his whole body began to tremble violently!

As if encountering a natural enemy.

As if facing some terrifying giant monster.

As if encountering a catastrophic disaster that human strength cannot resist.

Without much hesitation, the Scythe Weasel lifted his right foot, preparing to step back significantly to distance himself from Kiryu.

He had absolutely no intention of confronting Kiryu.

To be precise... since seeing Kiryu, the Scythe Weasel had lost all will to fight.

Flee! Must flee!—The Scythe Weasel’s face was filled with the desire to escape.

The Scythe Weasel’s raised right foot touched the solid ground behind him, and just as he was about to step back with the other foot—

...

...

—Hmm?

The Scythe Weasel stared blankly at the scene before him.

The image before his eyes caused a momentary daze.

A hand.

He saw an arm holding a knife with a large curve fly across his vision, slicing laterally through his entire field of view and then fall at his feet.

This hand, and the knife it held, were incredibly familiar to the Scythe Weasel.

Because it was his right hand, and his beloved blade...

The right arm was severed cleanly at the elbow.

Along with being severed, was his entire upper body.

Puff!

The sound of flesh tearing open, and the noise of blood splattering mingled together, causing the Scythe Weasel’s eardrums to tingle.

A huge gash that seemed to divide the Scythe Weasel’s entire upper body into two ran from his right thigh to his left collarbone.

The Kiryu, who was standing more than ten steps away, was now right before the Scythe Weasel.

He bent his body low, holding the blade with a purple glow in his right hand, his left hand tightly grasping the sheath secured to his left waist.

He maintained the posture of drawing the blade, the purple afterimage left by the fast swinging of the sword was still lingering at the tip of the blade in his hand.

Using astonishing dynamic vision, Aoto saw clearly what had just happened.

In the blink of an eye, Kiryu lowered his body’s center of gravity, using a posture akin to flying close to the ground, flashed to the Scythe Weasel’s front at a speed that seemed like instant teleportation, then drew the blade from the sheath—a slash so fast that even Aoto’s eyes couldn’t follow, severing the Scythe Weasel’s right arm and carving a huge gash across his upper body.

At this moment, another string of memory emerged from Aoto’s mind and flashed before his eyes once again—

...

(In literal terms, it is said that this swordsman once rowed a small boat alone in the night, lurking beneath a Western Ironclad Ship, and cut through the armor shell of the Western Ironclad Ship with a single slash.)

...

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The battle is finally over, folks! (Keyboard slam.jpg)

Yesterday’s enthusiastic voting far exceeded the anticipated goal... To thank everyone for their unwavering support, the author has decided to lower the target for moon ticket rewards today, the current count is 2352 votes, if it can reach 2400 votes within today, the author will continue tomorrow with a grand Chapter of ten thousand words!

Though the decisive battle at the end of this volume is over, the author still wishes to continue updating explosively, writing at a pace of ten thousand words per day until the conclusion of the first volume’s finale.

So, please vote for moon tickets! And recommend votes (Leopard head crying.jpg)

By the way—[At the end of Volume 1, I am planning to hold the second character popularity poll, readers interested in this event, feel free to join our Penguin group!]