Hades had a severe look on his face as he held the blade of Muramasa. He knew the extent of his physical strength, yet he felt like holding this blade was equivalent to the average coach potato trying to deadlift 40 kg.
The scarlet eyes of Muramasa gleamed as he pulled his sword back, but he was dismayed to find that it did not budge. Hades' grip was like a vice, not willing to budge an inch.
"Interesting." Muramasa commented as he did something nobody expected... he let go of the blade.
It wasn't just that losing his weapon would lower his lethality, but it was practically a universal law that swordsmen like him hated nothing more than to lose their sword, regarding that as a dishonorable thing or something, right?
Since when did they voluntarily let go?
Seeing everyone open their mouths in confusion, Muramasa was not bothered. He simply raised two fingers and made a ninpo handsign. "A blade is just a tool. The real power of the sword lies in one's intent."
Suddenly, he brought down those two fingers in an inclined angle. Whether it was Hades or Shadowheart, all the God Serpents in the general direction of that movement felt an aura of death fall upon them.
Instantly, their expressions changed as they channeled their various powers. Shadowheart time skipped, appearing some distance away, while Hades turned into a black mist, wafting towards safety.
Elle and Ghostpro did not dodge, confident in their defenses, while Nightwalker jumped into a calamity portal. Warm Spring was pulled by Krona as they rode a jet of water and juked to the side. The Showman somehow appeared beside Shadowheart, as if he had always been there and his previous position had merely been an illusion of the mind.
Soon, a wave of intangible energy brushed past the location where the God Serpents had stood, crashing into the bodies of Ghostpro and Elle. The two of them trembled a bit, but did not suffer any harm, however, their expressions changed greatly.
Elle's Chaos Domain even manifested one giant teddy that would likely be a great gift for Valentine's Day. Behind the group, a huge cut tore through the walls of the mansions, also leaving a deep ravine in the asphalt of the road.
Ghostpro and Elle shared a shocked look. That attack had just drained about 10% of their Bloodline Energy at once!
Sure, they could regenerate that in a couple of seconds, but it was a terrible precedent! If the fellow opposite them could casually wave his fingers in such a manner, they would have be out of juice soon, allowing his attack to bisect them!
Fuck!
Coming to the same realization, Ghostpro and Elle spoke out in unison. "He is a threat on the level of the Guildmaster!"
Hearing this, the faces of the other God Serpents changed. In their minds, no one was stronger than Draco and Eva, so to hear one of their own use an entire Draco to gauge his strength, roused their fear and solemnity.
"All of us attack together. No more holding back or playing around. Go!" Shadowheart commanded as he tapped his staff to the ground and accelerated time around Hades, Ghostpro and Elle. He then used Time Stop on Muramasa, so that the trio could get their attacks in.
Hades returned to human form before he charged at their enemy, putting all his power into a frontal attack. Ghostpro followed behind him and channeled the power of the Fourth and Fifth Heads of Orochi on either hand, spawning potent flames and freezing ice.
Elle directly grabbed a broken piece of metal from the smashed gate and imbued it with Chaos Energy. The specification was a weapon with great power, and it drained almost 25% of her Chaos Energy to create a blade that buzzed in her hand.
This blade had glowing grayish black energy around its edges that swallowed light itself, making it look dark. Not only that, but just looking at its edge gave any living organism a feeling of deep fear.
Elle struck forth with the weapon, aiming to decapitate her foe at the least.
The scarlet eyes of Muramasa flashed once more as he took this all in. The trio of God Serpet Inheritors were moving faster than the average human and were upon him in picoseconds while he himself was frozen in time.
Nevertheless, Muramasa remained calm as a wave of energy burst out of his body, breaking him free from the time constraints.
Shadowheart, who had placed them on him, spat a mouthful of blood and was sent flying. Now free of his bindings, Muramasa began to move like a shadow, his speed surpassing even those accelerated by time.
The energy that exploded from his body before come forth again, and it seemed to cut the very fabric of time itself. Muramasa dodged Elle's strike as it was the most dangerous and then punched her in the gut.
Elle wheezed and fell backwards, her Chaos Domain not able to fully block the damage. However, Muramasa was shocked as that strike should have sliced all her internal organs into pieces, not just made her feel like someone had struck her gut lightly.
Muramasa then received Hades' punch head on, grabbing his fist with his own and throwing the young man aside as if he were a ragdoll. Hades only flipped through the air and few times and landed like a cat, his eyes flashing with severity.
He opened his mouth and used his bewitchment ability that was not part of the three known inheritances. "Your body is heavy and immobile."
Hades had to burn almost 50% of his Bloodline Energy to effect this. In comparison, when he had used it on normal humans, it had barely consumed a decimal point, but this foe was clearly not normal.
Muramasa slowed down into a halt, noting that his body was affected by his own mind. This allowed Ghost's two strikes to hit him, fire burning on his chest, while the ice pierced through his abdomen, spilling blood.
Just as Ghost was about to follow up, he crossed his arms before him as Muramasa exploded with that strange energy again, which broke Hades' bewitchment and sent him flying while spitting blood too. As for Ghost, Muramasa sliced at him with his full power, aiming to at least kill one before moving forward.
However, he was stunned to see that Ghost's body did not split into two after being hit, but rather only flew back safely. Meanwhile, Muramasa suddenly felt a backlash that was twice as powerful as his attack, and his scarlet eyes showed worry for the first time.
"Hhhuuuhaa!!" He roared as he exploded with all his energy meeting the backlash with his own power, causing him to negate about 70% of it, the remainder struck him and sent him flying into the walls of the mansion, landing close to where Maria had been hiding.
The woman saw this and felt her heart sink to the bottom. Even if her protector was not dead, he was surely not a match for this group. She thought this because Warm Spring simply waved her hand, and a lovely white light enveloped the bodies of Hades, Shadowheart, Elle and Ghostpro, relieving them of all their injuries and fully restoring their Bloodline Energy.
Meanwhile, Muramasa broke out of the rubble with a disheveled look, his outfit torn in certain places. However, his bright scarlet eyes remained sharp. He scanned the eight enemies before him and seemed to make a decision.
"It is unfortunate that my Rank has lowered from near divinity to merely the beginner level after cutting through the fabric of spacetime to escape the confines of my previous world. However, I will soon regain my full power, and at that time, you will no longer be be my match."
Suddenly, Muramasa disappeared and reappeared near Elle. She defended herself with the strange blade she held, but rather than attack, the swordsman deftly snatched the blade from her possession.
Elle: "?_?"
Motherfucker, what? Did you just yoink my stuff?!
"This weapon is far superior to what I brought. Truly, almost a divine weapon for this world. I shall make the greatest use of it as the Titled Sword God!" Muramasa declared as he appeared beside Maria and grabbed her like a chick.
"Trying to escape? Have you asked us first?" Shadowheart spoke with anger as he slammed the butt of his staff down, spreading out nihilistic energy towards Muramasa.
"Your powers are great, but they have the same weakness as everything else. They can be cut through as long as one has the power!" Muramasa roared as he sliced through the gray energy, dispersing it.
Shadowheart was shocked by this, as he could not understand the principle behind such an act. Muramasa simply sliced the air, creating a portal that seemed to be one way. If Draco or Eva were there, they would recognize this technique with ease, as they had seen it used at the Rank 7 castle!
Muramasa glanced at the eight God Serpents once more and was about to walk through the portal when his body froze again. He heard a slight chuckle as The Showman walked forward and topped his hat.
"Well. I'd say it's about time I earned my keep as well. Why don't you keep standing there until we apprehend you, eh?" He 'suggested' with a jolly smile.
Eden's eyes glowed as it focused on Muramasa with all its powers, preventing him from taking another step as it had taken over his body's mental faculties. Muramasa was struggling to use his sword energy to break out, but Eden's control was not like Hades bewitchment or Shadowheart's time stop, which were external effects.
Eden directly penetrated the mind and targeted the soul, so the swordsman would have to fight for freedom from within. Muramasa was strong, but to walked over the eight God Serpents was a pipe dream. He had suffered far too little if he thought he could just leave like this.
"It seems I underestimated you all. Good." Muramasa managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth.
His scarlet eyes flashed again as his samurai hat lifted off his head and pun rapidly like a disk. Immediately, it began to spread out the sharp Sword Energy that could cut through anything, spending it rampantly throughout the area.
The God Serpents either had to continually dodge or leave the area to avoid being harmed. Muramasa's bright eyes dimmed greatly as he had paid a severe price this time, but at least Eden's grip on him had weakened slightly. This was enough for him to force his body through the portal with Maria in his arms.
The portal snapped shut behind him, leaving the eight God Serpent Inheritors annoyed. They had been sent here on a direct mission by Draco's Avatar to capture Maria, but she had escaped due to some weird samurai/ninja freak with strange abilities.
"For now, let's head back and report to the Guildmaster. He might know more about what is going on." Shadowheart suggested calmly.
Without looking back, the eight left this formerly lavish mansion that was now reduced to concrete rubble and debris, with the bodies of various protectors meant to save Maria buried here forever.
.......
Muramasa came out of the other side of the portal, falling to the floor as he coughed out blood. He dropped Maria to the ground, who rolled and painfully got back up to her feet, dusting herself off.
She looked around and felt safe, recognising that they were in the mansion of the Fifth Councilor. In fact, she was currently in their private garden at the back, and Maria was ecstatic to see that Old Master Rothschild was currently seated here with the Third Councilor.
Naturally, both had shocked expressions to see a ninja-like fellow and a beauty drop out from nowhere right before them, but Nathanial reacted quickly and rushed over to Maria.
"My dear, what happened? Are you hurt? What happened to you?"
Feeling the Old Master's concern, Maria's eyes became red as she finally realized that falling into his claws was not such a bad thing. After tasting a near-death experience like that, she craved safety and stability more than enough right now.
As such, she began to explain what happened…
