Chapter 265:

The Fateful Duel Of The Ninja Bloodline (Shou)

Wolf Bloodline


As the battle intensified, I was determined to reach my target - Kai. Despite not knowing his exact location, I could sense his power. My years of pent-up desire for revenge were pulling me towards him.

Although we were outnumbered by the enemy army, we managed to hold our ground. I fought my way through countless enemies, undeterred by the number of giants or enemy soldiers I had to defeat. My sole focus was on reaching Kai.

I finally found him standing near the cliffs, gazing out at the sea with his back turned to me. It was as if he had been waiting for me and knew I was coming. As I approached him, he didn't turn around but continued to look out at the sea and spoke.

"Shou, it's been a long time, brother," he said.

"Don't call me brother. I'm not your brother," I replied.

Kai ignored my response and changed the subject. "The sea is so beautiful, isn't it? Free and strong, just like we are now."

Despite my anger and pain, I couldn't help but ask him again why he had betrayed us. "Kai, why did you do all this? Why?"

"Because unlike you, I was a failure in our master's eyes," he replied. "I did what I had to do to prove to him that I was stronger than he thought and to make him proud of me."

"Pride has nothing to do with what you did. You were just being selfish," I countered.

"No, Shou, you don't understand. That's exactly what our master wanted us to do - to be strong," Kai insisted.

"But being strong doesn't necessarily mean being right," I argued.

"I thought you were my brother after all," Kai said with a sigh. "But I was wrong."

Kai slowly lowered his head. I expected him to reach for his sword and attack me, but to my surprise, he wasn't carrying one. Instead, he suddenly pulled out hidden knives from his wrists and lunged at me.

I quickly countered the incoming knives with my sword. Kai's knives were incredibly durable and sturdy - so much so that they didn't even suffer a scratch when they collided with my sword.

I pulled back my sword and swung it at Kai again in a close-range attack. But Kai deftly applied pressure to the tip of my sword with his blades, redirecting it away from him.

I dodged the blades he swung at me and continued to attack with my sword. Although his blades were much shorter than my sword, Kai was highly skilled with them and easily countered my strikes.

At one point, I managed to block his blades with my sword and extended my free arm to attack him up close. But Kai quickly pulled back one of his blades and caught my outstretched arm in mid-air, thwarting my attack.

I swiftly kicked at him, but he countered by thrusting his knee forward. As he pulled out his knife and prepared to strike again, I managed to dodge the attack by throwing myself backward.

Kai and I were on opposite sides, running toward each other. As we closed the distance, we hurled shuriken at each other non-stop. Our shuriken collided in mid-air, preventing either of us from landing a hit.

In an attempt to catch Kai off guard, I threw an exploding shuriken. When it collided with one of Kai's incoming shuriken, it released a thick cloud of smoke.

Using the cover of the smoke, I grabbed my Kusarigama and hurled its sharp end toward Kai. He managed to block the attack with his blade, so I charged through the smoke and swung my sword at him.

Kai narrowly blocked my attack, but I continued to press forward with my Kusarigama wrapped around one arm and my sword in my other hand. Each time my sword made contact with Kai's blades, it emitted sparks thanks to its electrical power. The harder I swung, the more electricity it produced.

I relentlessly attacked Kai with my sword and Kusarigama, but he skillfully dodged and countered my strikes. Despite our intense battle, neither of us showed any signs of fatigue. All I wanted was to emerge victorious for the sake of my master.

At one point, I swung my sword at Kai but he ducked and sprang back up to retaliate. I quickly blocked his attack with my Kusarigama and swung my sword at him again. He managed to leap out of the way and block my sword.

Anticipating his move, I tried to catch him in mid-air by swinging my Kusarigama. But Kai deftly spun in the air, dodging the incoming weapon and throwing his last shuriken at me. I tilted my head slightly to avoid it.

Taking advantage of the distance between us, I grabbed the chain of my Kusarigama and began spinning it as fast as I could. This increased the sparks emitted by the weapon, allowing me to launch electrifying attacks at Kai.

Despite the sparks flying from my weapon, Kai's blades seemed unaffected by the electricity. He blocked the incoming Kusarigama and I took another shot from afar, continuing my assault.

As the Kusarigama flew towards him, Kai blocked its spike and wrapped the chain around his hand. He yanked it towards him, pulling me along with it. As I glided towards him, I seized the opportunity to attack by throwing my sword forward.

Kai blocked it with his blade and kicked me in the stomach. I yanked the chain down and brought my fist up to his jaw, delivering a powerful uppercut. After the punch, he managed to get away from me again with the support of his feet.

Since the start of our battle, I had swung my sword countless times. Despite sustaining some minor wounds, neither of us had been significantly hindered. This battle was of utmost importance to us - it wasn't just about personal revenge, but also about the ninja bloodline.

I continued to attack relentlessly. As my sword clashed with Kai's blades, I swung my leg at him in a kick. In a sudden maneuver, he caught my leg and pulled me towards him, attempting to stab me in the chest with his blade. I dodged the incoming stab by throwing my Kusarigama forward and spinning around to deliver an elbow strike. I managed to break free and regain my footing.

Kai leaped high into the air and performed a somersault before hurling his blades toward me. They collided with my sword once again. As he landed back on the ground, I swung my Kusarigama and hurled it at him. But Kai retreated and countered with a punch. I leaned to the left to dodge it and prepared to launch an attack from behind with the tip of my Kusarigama.

Pulling my KusariGama, I aimed it at Kai, but he swiftly executed a backflip and managed to dodge my attack. Undeterred, as soon as KusariGama reached me, I spun around and hurled it at Kai again. This time, he grabbed me by the chains and used his knife to block KusariGama, but instead of pulling me towards him like before, he leaped towards me, powered by the chains.

Realizing that the knife attack would be too predictable, Kai quickly executed a shoulder attack, causing me to tense up. Though I couldn't land a blow, I managed to protect my chest by throwing my arms to one side to dodge the incoming attack.

I swung my KusariGama once again, creating sparks and waiting for the right moment to strike. When I had built up enough energy, I suddenly attacked Kai again, this time making a diagonal attack by moving the sword in my right hand from left to right and swinging the KusariGama on my left from right to left.

As I swung my sword, I threw a headbutt at Kai, but he managed to block my attack by holding my sword with his own blade. Then, he swung a spinning kick at me. Using both KusariGama and my sword, I positioned myself in a common stance.

I blocked Kai's blade with my KusariGama and brought my sword forward with my other hand. He held out his sword in his other hand to stab me, and with that, our swords and knives clashed once more. Though I couldn't see his all face because of his mask, I could tell from his eyes that, like me, he wanted to end this battle.

By pulling down his knives, he caught me off guard and hit me with his shoulder as hard as he could, causing me to stumble backward. While I was off-balance, he seized the exposed chain of my KusariGama, dodged my knife attack, and wrapped the chain around my throat, moving behind me to strangle me.

It was difficult for me to retaliate since he was behind me and could easily stab me with his knives. But I had to act fast. I grabbed the chain and pulled it forward, allowing it to come closer. As it got closer, I threw my head back toward him, causing him to lose his grip. With all my strength, I pulled the chain he held towards me and stabbed my own chest with my sword before he could make his next move, driving the sword into Kai standing behind me.

Though my body was covered in metal, I could feel the pain but it seemed to have affected Kai even more. I took him in front of me and swung my sword one final time, ensuring my victory. Kai fell to his knees with my blow, and I saw his face for the first time in a long time as his mask had fallen off.

He looked at me and smiled, saying, "Well fought, brother."

After his words, Kai collapsed to the ground, and I could no longer stand due to the severe wounds I had sustained.