Heavy!
It was getting heavier and heavier!
Every single strike from the opponent carried impossible weight, and with each head-on collision, the power only grew stronger.
The divine strength Yagyu Souichirou had always prided himself on was finally starting to feel pressure. What began as an even match had, after dozens of exchanges, become a slow, grinding nightmare. Every clash sent a deep numbness racing up his arms. His palms ached, his tiger's mouth burned, and the iron staff in his grip felt like it was turning into solid lead.
Meanwhile, the youth across from him—though shoved back again and again by the impacts—had eyes that burned brighter with every blow. His momentum wasn't fading. It was rising. The force behind each swing only grew fiercer.
Is this kid a goddamn monster?
Fine beads of sweat broke out across Yagyu Souichirou's forehead. The tremors in his arms were becoming impossible to hide.
He had never imagined that in his strongest domain—raw, overwhelming power—he would be pushed this far by a mere boy.
That strength didn't feel human. Every collision was like smashing against a ferocious beast slowly waking from its slumber.
Another seven or eight brutal exchanges passed.
Each impact of blade and staff produced a bone-rattling boom.
Yagyu's breathing had grown rough. His forehead glistened with sweat.
He no longer felt like he was swinging a staff—he felt like he was trying to shove a mountain that kept getting heavier.
He couldn't let this drag on.
"Haah!"
After another savage head-on clash, Yagyu used the recoil to leap backward, creating distance. His chest heaved as he locked eyes with Isshin, whose gaze still burned with unquenchable fire.
No words. No warnings.
Yagyu poured every last ounce of strength and chakra left in his body into both arms, channeling it all into the pitch-black iron staff that had been his companion for decades.
Then he moved.
No more wild barrages. This time he gathered every shred of spirit and power into a single point. He raised the staff high above his head, his entire body and weapon becoming one, transforming into a black thunderbolt that tore through the air with pure, unstoppable force.
"Seishin Meichi Style Secret Technique—Enlightening Blow!!"
This was his ultimate technique—every drop of power concentrated into one strike meant to shatter all defense and crush both body and will.
The staff hadn't even fallen yet, but the suffocating pressure alone made the entire dojo feel like it was being crushed. The spectators' hearts seized. Breathing became impossible.
Facing this world-shaking, impossible-to-dodge strike, Isshin's eyes exploded with unprecedented brilliance.
He didn't retreat. He didn't dodge.
With a roar, he gripped his katana with both hands and met it head-on with a savage upward slash, pouring every ounce of his strength into the blow.
"COME!!!"
CLANG!!!!!!!!
The collision this time was on an entirely different level. The metallic screech was so sharp it felt like it would pierce eardrums, followed immediately by the horrifying sound of shattering steel—crack!
Under Yagyu Souichirou's all-out "Enlightening Blow," Isshin's katana—already battered from countless heavy clashes—finally reached its limit. The blade snapped clean in two!
The broken half spun through the air and stabbed deep into the far wall with a loud thunk.
The iron staff's momentum barely slowed. Carrying terrifying residual force and trailing shards of broken steel, it continued straight toward Isshin's now completely exposed head.
Oh no—!
In the instant before the staff made contact, Yagyu Souichirou's heart sank.
He had only wanted to teach the arrogant youth a harsh lesson. He had never intended to kill him. But once "Enlightening Blow" was unleashed at full power, even he found it almost impossible to pull back at the last second!
In that hair's-breadth moment—too fast for anyone to even cry out—
Something changed.
The tall youth's body suddenly froze for the briefest, almost imperceptible instant.
A strange, metallic luster swept across his entire form—a deep, tempered bronze-gold sheen, like ancient copper or dark steel forged through a thousand hammer strikes. It flashed once and vanished.
CLANG!!!
The iron staff slammed squarely into the crown of Isshin's head!
But the sound that rang out wasn't the wet crunch of bone and flesh. It was the deafening, bell-like crash of a giant hammer striking solid metal—anvils and bronze columns ringing out in perfect harmony!
Yagyu Souichirou felt an unstoppable, tyrannical counter-shock explode from the point of impact and surge back up the staff like a tidal wave.
The force was savage. Brutal. Even stronger than the full-power "Enlightening Blow" he had just unleashed.
"WHAT?!"
He couldn't hold on. His fingers lost all feeling. The iron staff—his faithful weapon for decades—flew from his grip for the first time, spinning away as a black streak.
It vanished into the sky with a whoosh, only to crash back down moments later, embedding deep into the floor and trembling violently.
Yagyu Souichirou himself was blasted backward like he had been hit by an invisible siege ram. His massive body flew through the air, smashing through two thick support pillars with deafening cracks before sliding another dozen meters across the floor in a cloud of dust and debris. He finally slammed into the far wall and stopped.
"Cough… cough cough!" He dropped to one knee, coughing up a mouthful of blood-tinged spit. Both arms hung limply at his sides, shaking uncontrollably. He could barely lift them.
He jerked his head up, staring in utter disbelief at the youth standing in the center of the dojo. Aside from the broken half of a katana in his hand, Isshin looked completely unharmed.
"What… what kind of technique is that?!" Yagyu Souichirou rasped, voice hoarse. "Ninjutsu? Some kind of bloodline limit?!"
Isshin stood calmly. He glanced at the broken blade in his hand, then casually tossed it aside. It clattered loudly on the stone floor.
Facing Yagyu Souichirou's shocked gaze, he shook his head.
"Not ninjutsu. Not a bloodline limit either. It is a secret art of the Ashina Style."
This body—Isshin's independent clone, fused with the Ape Demon King's bloodline—had inherited the clan's tyrannical strength and near-indestructible physique. However, it had not inherited the Ape Demons' unique ability to fully weaponize their bodies into the Adamantine Staff.
Yet the deep fusion between human and Ape Demon bloodlines had birthed something new. Something unique.
In an instant, his entire body could undergo metalization—taking on a dark, tempered bronze-gold luster, as if cast from solid copper and iron. Just like the Ape Demon clan's "Adamantine Staff" form, it raised his body's hardness and toughness to an unimaginable level.
Any powerful impact he received would be reflected back in an even more violent shockwave—often stronger than the original attack.
The shorter the activation time and the more precise the timing, the stronger the defense and counter-shock became.
It was the perfect "perfect guard" and "parry reflect."
Because the ability's form and effect closely resembled a certain black horse's technique from a game in his previous life, Isshin had simply kept the name.
Facing Yagyu Souichirou's stunned eyes, Isshin spoke calmly:
"This technique is called… Copper Head, Iron Arms."
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