Watching his senior, Horitake, unleash the techniques of Thunder Breathing, Zenitsu felt his soul nearly leap out of his body. Stunned and wide-eyed, he spiraled into a frantic panic.
"Senior! Are you actually trying to kill me!?"
Terrified, Zenitsu instinctively surged his own output of Thunder Breathing. The golden arcs of electricity dancing across his skin crackled more violently, propelling his speed to a new threshold.
As his velocity increased, so did his agility and evasive maneuvers.
With a series of frantic rolls and desperate scrambles—looking as pathetic as he did hilarious—Zenitsu narrowly managed to evade Horitake's Fourth Form.
Horitake's rapid-fire succession of strikes sliced through nothing but thin air. Every single hit was dodged.
Watching Zenitsu move with such clumsy desperation yet somehow evade every strike, Horitake's expression grew solemn, though a spark of excitement flickered in her eyes.
She had known it. Her junior was anything but simple.
A vibrant, exhilarated smile broke across Horitake's face. "To think you could dodge my strongest move... You really are something else, Zenitsu. Master said your true strength surpassed mine, and while I didn't believe him then, I'm starting to now."
Zenitsu continued to wail as he scrambled away on all fours. "Master was wrong! I'm weak! I'm pathetic! How could I possibly be a match for you, Senior Horitake? Don't misunderstand! I surrender! I give up! I'm quitting right now!"
Horitake let out a cold snort, her blade already whistling through the air toward him again. "A real man doesn't just throw in the towel! I don't accept your surrender. Now, keep fighting!"
With her blade closing in, what choice did Zenitsu have?
With every hair on his body standing on end, he involuntarily triggered his Thunder Breathing once more. Forced into a corner, Zenitsu raised his own blade to clash against his senior's, resuming their fierce duel.
The two disciples, both wielding katanas and the power of lightning, collided in a blur of motion.
On one side, brilliant golden electricity surged; on the other, sharp, piercing blue bolts crackled. The two elements clashed and intertwined, each strike delivered with such ferocious speed that dozens of blows were exchanged in a heartbeat.
The world between them became a chaotic storm of sword shadows and flashing steel, the rapid collisions throwing off a constant spray of sparks.
Despite the intensity, both showed remarkable flexibility, contorting their bodies into various forms to weave through each other's offense.
Generally speaking, Horitake's attacks were fierce and relentless, while Zenitsu's defense was airtight.
Horitake attacked with the momentum of a crashing tide. To an observer, she looked like a valiant female general, her heroic aura commanding the battlefield.
Zenitsu, by comparison, was far less graceful. Whether he was defending or dodging, he looked utterly disheveled and miserable.
At a glance, it appeared as though Horitake was completely overwhelming him. In reality, however, the cornered Zenitsu maintained a defense so dense that Horitake failed to gain any true advantage.
Yet, it was precisely this stalemate that pushed Horitake's excitement to its peak.
She let out a sharp cry, blue lightning surging around her as she invoked another technique.
"Thunder Breathing, Third Form: Thunder Swarm!"
Cloaked in blue electricity, Horitake swung her blade toward Zenitsu with terrifying force. As the steel descended, a massive wave of blue lightning swirled and rotated, forming a rippling, spinning vortex of electrical energy. The power behind the strike was immense!
Under normal circumstances, Zenitsu might have held his ground. But with Horitake suddenly unleashing a major technique, his resolve crumbled.
Seeing the surging, spiraling storm of lightning heading his way, Zenitsu lost his nerve before the strike even landed. Without even checking if he could block it, his heart failed him.
Bad, bad, bad! I'm gonna die! I'm definitely gonna die!
There's no way I can stop a move that scary. I'll just block for a second and then find a gap to run away!
Driven by that desperate thought, Zenitsu reluctantly activated his own Breathing.
However, despite all his training, Zenitsu still only knew one single move.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"
Zenitsu unleashed his ultimate strike from a crouched stance, the sheer force of it cleaving through the incoming spinning lightning. Then, utilizing the extreme momentum of the First Form, he leaped into the air, intent on making a break for it!
But after living with him for so long, Horitake had long since figured out Zenitsu's patterns.
This boy's logic was simple: if he could win, he might fight; if he couldn't, he would definitely run!
Horitake had already anticipated his escape route.
The moment she saw Zenitsu leap, she locked onto him. She aimed for his trajectory, zeroing in on his retreating back.
When an enemy flees, that is the moment to strike!
Horitake took a deep breath, shifting her lungs into a unique rhythm as she unleashed another high-level technique.
"Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit!"
Blue lightning erupted from Horitake's body as she lunged forward. Her katana blurred, delivering five consecutive lightning-fast strikes in the shape of a bolt directly at the fleeing Zenitsu!
Sensing Horitake's approach, Zenitsu's eyes filled with despair.
It's over! I can't get away!
I have to dodge! I have to try and move!
Mid-air, Zenitsu twisted his body frantically, trying to evade his senior's five-fold strike.
However, the strength of Thunder Breathing lay in its speed—it was fierce, sharp, and devastating, leaving the enemy no room for a counter-offensive or escape. Horitake demonstrated these characteristics to perfection.
Zenitsu exerted every ounce of strength he had, successfully dodging the first three strikes, but he simply couldn't clear the final two.
Just as Zenitsu was swallowed by despair, Horitake knew it was time to pull back.
They were fellow disciples, after all. She couldn't actually kill him. Sparring was meant to end the moment a point was made.
With a dissatisfied snort, Horitake cut off her output. The blue lightning faded, and the final two strikes of her Rice Spirit were diverted, slicing harmlessly into the air.
However, just because she wouldn't kill him didn't mean she was going to let him off easy.
In her frustration, Horitake delivered a swift kick. Bolstered by the lingering sparks of electricity, her foot slammed directly into Zenitsu's stomach!
Poor Zenitsu's body folded inward like a bow. His eyes bulged from the heavy impact, his face turning a ghostly pale as he wheezed in agony.
At that moment, his posture was not unlike that of a curled shrimp.
Zenitsu was sent flying. As he tumbled through the air, he coughed up a bit of bile before slamming limply into a peach tree and collapsing face-first onto the ground with a dull thud.
Lying there in the dirt, Zenitsu looked pitiful. His stomach throbbed with pain, and he looked like the most miserable creature alive.
He clutched his midsection with one hand while using the other to crawl forward like a caterpillar, desperately trying to slink away from the area.
But Horitake wasn't about to give him the chance to escape.
Descending from the air, she landed right next to him and, with a bit of bratty dominance, stepped firmly onto Zenitsu's backside, pinning the "caterpillar" in place.
With his rear pinned to the dirt, Zenitsu wanted to cry but had no tears left. He could only whimper into the grass, signaling his total surrender.
Looking down at her cowardly junior, Horitake remained deeply unsatisfied. Vengefully, she stomped on his butt a few more times, leaving Zenitsu yowling in pain!
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[pat*eon*com/DaoistRoeoNQ]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"