Twin Snakes Show No Mercy

The chapter opens mid-swap. Kazumi glances at Sumato and smirks.

“Let’s wrap this up fast. If we miss out on the seasoned takoyaki, I’m blaming you.”

Sumato nods, briefly lost in a vivid daydream of sizzling takoyaki, glazed in seven-spice and lemon zest, until Xavier’s sadistic grin snaps him back to reality. With a flick of Xavier’s fingers, two snarling, bipedal snapdragons erupt from the ground and charge.

Meanwhile, Alexander wastes no time. With a feral grin, thorned knuckles sprout and writhing branches unfurl from his back. He lunges at Kazumi, who calmly springs into the air, eyes sharp.

Then something clicks, unspoken, instinctive. Their minds align.

Sumato unleashes a concentrated light ray mid-dodge. Kazumi responds instantly, conjuring a refractor and a giant lens with his glove, redirecting the ray into a blinding flare. The twins recoil.

Still silent, the two close the distance. Sumato channels wind into Kazumi’s body, and Kazumi stores the pressure, rocketing forward. With perfect timing, he releases the burst to strike Sumato’s sword. It glows intensely. Sumato grins and slashes through both snapdragons with Uproar, clipping Xavier in the process.

Kazumi mimics Uproar for a feint, drawing Alexander’s attention. It works. He doesn’t see Kazumi appear behind him, glove shifting into a sword. One clean stab.

The twins stagger. Then their smiles return.

They slam their palms into the ground. A bright red mist floods the arena.

Sumato pauses, puzzled. Still using cover? He enhances his legs with a subtle charge of Uproar and bursts backward, aiming to end it. But as he pierces the mist, his vision warps. The world becomes heavy and fluid, as if underwater. His breath catches. Muscles slacken.

The twins reappear, fangs bared. They close in, but Sumato, even dulled, is still faster. His light affinity keeps him just ahead of their claws.

Breaking from the cloud, he pants and calls to Kazumi:

“That smoke, it’s poison.”

The twins cackle.

“Not just any poison. In six minutes, you’ll collapse. Brewed from serpent glands, komodo venom, and jellyfish neurotoxins. You’re already slowing down.”

Sumato sways but grits his teeth.

“I’m fine.”

Kazumi narrows his eyes.

“Then we end it now.”

Sumato flashes a grin.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He leaps back into the crimson fog, spinning a mini-tornado that pulls the entire mist into a vortex. Kazumi shapes a shinen cube, sealing the venom inside. The air clears.

But the twins are gone.

A slow, mocking laughter echoes across the arena.

“You’ve yet to see Xavier’s Shinen Weapon.”

The final panel shows Sumato, exhausted and braced against Sermonta, while Kazumi stands alert, eyes scanning the arena. Something unseen is coming.