While Ryuji continued enjoying his happy life, things were not the same elsewhere.
Especially among the Heavenly Kings.
"Who exactly are you? You definitely aren't a Dragon Ninja! There is no way those people could possibly be as powerful as you!"
Goenitz clutched his arm and stared in disbelief at the ninja wielding a sword before him. The ninja's slash had directly severed his arm, but when he tried to use the blood of the Heavenly Kings to regenerate himself, he discovered that he simply couldn't do it.
And the ninja standing before him was none other than Ryu Hayabusa.
He said nothing. He simply held the Dragon Sword in his hand and silently watched Goenitz. He had investigated the situation. Although there were still two people on Rugal's side who were gradually awakening the memories of the Heavenly Kings, the only one who was actually going to take action was Goenitz.
Therefore, Ryu quickly made his judgment. As long as he killed Goenitz, he would be able to quickly capture a fragment of Orochi's will, then enter Orochi's dimensional space and kill the god whose hatred toward humanity had become corrupted.
Although killing a god was actually rather meaningless, since gods would eventually revive once again, it could at least stop these people from causing trouble and effectively prevent this chaotic battle from developing too many variables.
"You don't need to know who I am. You only need to know that I will completely eradicate the bloodline of the Heavenly Kings!"
Ryu revealed his trap.
He actually had no intention of eradicating everyone. In his view, those who had not awakened the memories of the Heavenly Kings were still human. Although awakening those memories would most likely turn them into utterly despicable villains, before their memories awakened, they were still ordinary, kind people.
Killing such people was not something he would do, so he just wanted Goenitz to believe that he intended to kill them all.
He has only one goal.
And that was to kill Orochi once, forcing it to enter another period of slumber.
"Damn it..."
Goenitz gritted his teeth and clutched his severed arm, knowing that the ninja's words were not false. If he could locate him through his aura alone, then it wasn't impossible for him to locate the other members of the Heavenly Kings through their aura as well.
And if all the members of the Heavenly Kings (or Hakkesshu) died, then Orochi would need at least a thousand years to revive!
That was something he absolutely could not allow, and it was also something Orochi itself would never want to see!
At this moment, Goenitz's target, the shrine maiden named Maki Kagura and her younger sister Chizuru Kagura, also cautiously looked toward the battlefield.
Maki's face was filled with disbelief. Although she had heard long ago that the Dragon Ninjas were extremely powerful, she had seen the previous head of the clan before. He was merely a first-rate expert.
But what was going on with this Dragon Ninja before her, who could beat Goenitz so effortlessly that it was practically like slaughtering a chicken?!
She couldn't understand it.
Maki had been meditating earlier, preparing to face Orochi, whose seal was about to break. After all, this was the mission of the Three Sacred Treasures families. However, at the crucial moment of her cultivation, she had been ambushed by Goenitz, a member of the Heavenly Kings.
If this mysterious ninja hadn't saved her, she would most likely have died here. She wouldn't have been able to see her younger sister again, let alone fulfill her mission.
Therefore, she was quite grateful toward the sudden appearance of Ryu.
"Please kill him quickly, Mr. Hayabusa. The Heavenly Kings have astonishing regenerative abilities, and if you kill him, it will delay Orochi's revival!"
Maki quickly spoke up, wanting to remind Ryu about the situation of the members of the Heavenly Kings.
"I know. My next strike will cut off his head."
Ryu nodded and assumed a striking stance. Goenitz, standing opposite him, immediately sensed the threat of death. He gritted his teeth and roared at Ryu.
"You brought this upon yourselves!"
Goenitz suddenly let out a furious roar. Although Orochi's strength would be greatly limited when descending through his body, to the point that he might even lose to Ryuji, at this moment, he could not find any other way to break out of this predicament!
If he didn't kill Ryu now, Orochi would be unable to break through the seal for another thousand years!
He quickly considered his current situation, then tore apart the priest's robe he was wearing.
"Master! Descend upon me!"
Along with Goenitz's roar and the incredulous gazes of the Kagura sisters, the sky suddenly darkened. Countless terrifying forces began gathering around Goenitz's body. As bolts of lightning descended from the sky one after another, sun-like markings instantly appeared across Goenitz's body, while his hair also turned white.
"Not good!"
Maki cried out in terror. Although Orochi was currently in a weakened state, its strength was still at least ten times greater than Goenitz's! With the Three Sacred Treasures families not yet assembled and the Three Divine techniques not yet revealed, there was simply no way this world could stop Orochi's descent!
Therefore, someone had to sacrifice their life to cover their retreat!
But when she looked at Ryu, who had saved her, Maki had no intention of letting him stay behind and die. This was something that the Three Sacred Treasures families were supposed to handle in the first place, so they could only be the ones to do it!
Thinking of this, Maki quickly pulled out a small knife and, under Ryu's astonished gaze, plunged it into her own full chest. While adding another wound to that ample breast, the blade also pierced through her heart, gathering all of her strength and life force into the Yata Mirror (Yata no Kagami) in her hand.
"Big sister!"
Chizuru stared at her sister in astonishment, followed by overwhelming sorrow. But Maki did not hesitate at all and immediately activated her technique.
"Mr. Hayabusa, in a moment I will use my life as the price to activate the sealing technique. After that, take my sister and leave. I will do everything I can to stop Orochi's descent!"
After saying this, she looked at her younger sister with a gentle yet sorrowful expression and spoke apologetically.
"I'm sorry, little sister. But I must entrust this mission to you."
~~~~~~~~~~
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