Chapter 167: This time I won.

[At your command, Master.]

“!!!!!”

With Sage’s response, Kai, still unable to speak, slashed the air with all his might, sending hundreds of gigantic flying slashes forward, creating a brutal massacre of spiders. At the same time, all the flying swords—around sixty of them—launched a crazy rain of attacks on the cloud of smoke that covered the figures of the female Drider and the new ‘voice.’

But out of nowhere, Kai felt an extra brutal pressure on his head that forced him to his knees on the ground. At the same time, with his Observation Haki, he sensed that the attacks he had sent into the cloud of smoke had been stopped in midair, as if by magic. At that moment, a strong wind stirred up the earth and the smoke, revealing what was behind it.

With great effort—since he felt as though he were carrying hundreds of thousands of tons—Kai lifted his head to see what was in front of him, to look at the appearance of the new voice that had arrived. He realized it was a strange monster, which looked like a cross between a giant spider and a rhinoceros beetle. Unlike a normal spider, its gigantic abdomen seemed fused with its torso, giving it a somewhat rounded appearance.

But even though it looked somewhat round, the monster was even more terrifying than the Driders, since its body and legs were covered by a jet-black, metallic-looking exoskeleton with spikes, as if it were wearing a horrifying full plate armor. It also had two pairs of colossal-sized fangs that dripped a viscous, transparent liquid that released corrosive smoke when it hit the ground.

But the strangest thing was that the monster was emanating a strange yellow light, somewhat similar to that of the guard spiders he had encountered at the beginning, which completely stopped a good portion of the flying slashes and swords, leaving them floating in the air. However, Kai noticed something odd: the monster’s exoskeleton had a few smoking cracks in it.

Meanwhile, the female Drider by its side looked very badly injured, having lost two legs, with her exoskeleton broken in several places and even a piece of her humanoid face missing, releasing a viscous blue liquid in large quantities. That put a smile on Kai’s face and filled him with an infinite fighting spirit.

(Hahaha, my attacks hurt them! I can still kill these two sons of bitches!!!)

“…!!!!”

Still unable to speak properly, Kai let out a strange sound as he tried to stand up—an effort so great it caused his muscles to swell significantly and his veins to stand out on his skin, which ended up causing the massive wound on his chest to bleed profusely, and his purple lightning crackled violently. That was when a large amount of spiderwebs shot toward him.

“!!”

Forcing his body to the point of tearing his muscles, Kai managed to stand up, while some of the swords that had not been caught by the yellow light quickly intercepted the webs. But right at that moment, the pressure Kai felt doubled, which made his knees buckle. Yet refusing to fall again, he used his aura and Haki to force himself to remain standing, at the cost of several broken bones and further torn muscles. It was then that Sage commented through their mental connection with a voice filled with resignation.

[You can speak again now, master…]

[Thank you, Sage.]

After responding to his reliable assistant, Kai smiled almost maniacally as he looked at the pair of monsters in front of him. At that moment, using every gram of strength in his body, he raised his right hand in their direction, causing a bright purple glow to appear in front of his hand. This quickly compressed into a sphere, then shot forward at an absurd speed toward the monsters.

“Big Bang Attack!!!!!!”

Along with Kai’s hoarse and choppy shout, the purple sphere of light was caught in ghostly webs, stopping it dead. The round monster tried to move closer so that its light—which seemed unable to extend beyond five meters from it—would envelop the sphere of energy, at which point Kai smiled, full of malice and murderous intent.

Suddenly, the wrapped sphere of light exploded with colossal power, making the very world tremble while a blinding light covered everything. The two monsters screeched in pain and absolute rage, determined to kill that strange, hairless little monkey that was oddly powerful, who had even managed to take one of their lives. But when they turned to look at him, severely wounded, they realized he was no longer there. Right then, they heard a voice from behind them.

“Conqueror’s Shackles!”

After managing to free himself from the pressure—thanks to it being weakened by the explosion—and getting behind the monsters, Kai, with his broken and gruff voice, proclaimed loudly while stabbing the sword into the ground. It was the sword he hadn’t used since Sage had kept it as a final trump card, which caused the monsters to become completely wrapped in golden chains.

As if following some sort of ritual, Kai proceeded to spread his legs and bend his knees while bringing his hands together near his waist, leaving a space between them. In that instant, a sphere of purple energy formed between his hands, prompting him to announce with all his might, preparing to unleash his most powerful attack, the childish dream he had managed to materialize.

“KAME!!!!!!”

With Kai’s shout, the sphere between his hands began releasing a brilliant electric light and grew in size, which made the monsters extremely nervous. They had already experienced the terror of that ominous golden glow, yet no matter what they did, they couldn’t do a thing. It was as though their bodies and powers no longer belonged to them. At that moment, Kai yelled with all his strength.

“HAME!!!”

With Kai’s shout, the sphere between his hands grew aggressively in size and unleashed destructive purple lightning that spread erratically across the ground. Meanwhile, the spiders, which had been paralyzed by their lack of control, started to scurry away—some retreating to save themselves, while others flung themselves madly at the hairless monkey, only to be sliced to pieces by the floating swords, which suddenly all disappeared at once.

“HAAAAA!!!!!!”

At that moment, Kai thrust his hands forward, taking the pose he had played around with so many times in both of his lives, simultaneously exclaiming at the top of his lungs—even to the point of tearing his vocal cords. This caused a brutal, dark violet beam to shoot out in the monsters’ direction, who were never able to move from their spot, as Kai was no longer holding back like the last time he used this attack.

The beam, which created a blinding purple flash, advanced unobstructed, vaporizing everything in its path and carving out a massive scorched scar in the forest. It even left the island and passed through the storm, cutting through waves and lightning in its wake. But just when it was about to exit, it suddenly collided with what seemed to be a force field that blocked its path.

The colossal beam unleashed its full power on the barrier, causing it to become fully visible, glowing a warm pale blue and revealing a strange pattern that seemed like a combination of an electric circuit and bizarre polygonal runes. The clash lasted a few moments, until the beam gradually lost intensity and then disappeared. At that point, the strange barrier began to fade little by little until it vanished.

For his part, Kai couldn’t help but notice that it was much weaker than the first time he used it. Well, that was to be expected, after all. Even though Inverse Flow could keep him at his energy peak, there was a delay; if he spent a lot of aura at once, he couldn’t regenerate it in time. And the cost of the Big Bang Attack, combined with the brutal consumption of Conqueror’s Shackles and the damage to his right lung, left him in a very precarious state.

When the beam finally ended, Kai collapsed to the ground—breathless, drained, and in pain all over—while his wounds spilled a large amount of blood. Sage tried desperately to heal him using Reverse Flow recharges, since although the [Kame Hame Ha] was powerful, because of its pact, it was truly a final move.

The [Kame Hame Ha], aside from being slow to charge, requiring him to shout the name and strike the pose, also consumed every last drop of energy, leaving only the bare minimum needed to remain conscious—turning it into a dangerous double-edged sword.

Meanwhile, Sage—who, with an expression full of panic and pain, was doing her best to heal her master—suddenly realized that the time limit for Reverse Flow had run out. The realization froze her completely in midair, just as the energy rapidly left her master’s body, plunging the beautiful fairy into utter despair—despair so deep that tears once again streamed down her delicate face.

For his part, Kai smiled bitterly; he had already exceeded the Inverse Flow time limit, and now he was being hit by extreme fatigue. His aura and Haki—which, since their fusion with yoga, were also affected by some of his pacts, for better or worse—were so depleted he could barely feel them, which only worsened his already terrible wounds.

(So this is my end…)

As a strange screech-like sound echoed through the place, causing the air to vibrate, Kai couldn't help but sigh with a bit of unwillingness, as he could truly see his death now. After all, although the voices of the round monster and the female Drider had completely disappeared, he had even managed to wipe out at least half of the spider horde. He could see a good number of spiders cautiously approaching, and he had no aura left, not even enough for a [Magnetic Force].

[Sage, stop trying to heal me. You can’t disappear. Remember that you still have a job to do, and if you vanish, there’s a chance you won’t be able to reappear if Nen after death exists.]

Standing up with what little strength he had left and gritting his teeth in pain, Kai ordered his reliable assistant, who was desperately trying to keep him alive by any means necessary. Even tapping into the tiny amount of aura she was made of—so small that even recovering it wouldn’t be enough to activate his most economical ability. This made her more transparent and ghostly.

[But master, your wounds…]

Sage responded in a bitter tone, full of injustice and resignation, while her face was completely covered in tears at the deplorable state of her master, only a step away from death, practically kept alive by sheer force of will.

[I know, and that’s precisely why I know it’s pointless. There’s no way to heal me with that tiny amount of aura, and you can see that too. I’ve already run out of all my options. This is the end. I don’t even have the aura to escape, and with my injuries, trying to get through the storm is just a dream. So rather than die pathetically, I’d rather fight to the end and place my hopes in Nen after death so you can protect my family.

[In my past life—though I don’t regret having protected Mrs. Eva, just as I don’t regret saving Eva now—what I do regret is how my final moments went, lying in a pool of my own blood. It was too shameful. So this time, I want to go out fighting to my last breath. Maybe that’ll help Nen after death.]

Showing his odd sense of humor, Kai explained in a calm and, for some reason Sage couldn’t understand, happy tone, as he took the first sword stance he ever learned: right foot forward, left foot back, knees slightly bent, spine straight. At that moment, a single Jian sword—phantasmal and on the verge of vanishing—appeared in his hands, allowing him to complete his posture.

Since his Observation Haki felt weak and blurry, as if he were hearing someone sing through a thick wall. Kai took a deep breath with his one good lung, enduring the immense pain it brought him. Then a spider leaped at him, extending one of its legs, which looked like a gigantic needle—or maybe even a rapier.

From what little he could “hear” of the spider’s “voice”, Kai could tell it was probably around Kirishima’s level or something similar, which, in his current state, was a pretty dangerous enemy. But at the same time, it confirmed that he had indeed achieved his goal: he had taken out the strongest ones. And the fact that no other super-powerful monster appeared could only mean there weren’t anymore, which was a tremendous relief, a realization that inevitably brought a smile to his disfigured face.

(At the very least, I managed to cripple the spiders’ military strength, and I doubt they can reproduce those monsters easily. Otherwise, there would have been more than just three. So it’s unlikely they’ll venture outside in the short term, and they’ll be much more cautious when they do. So this time I won, hehehe...)

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