A Bloody Path

Demon Blade Muramasa: A Japanese sword forged with Sodium-Carbon Steel and master-level craftsmanship. Blue Item Card.

The Sodium-Carbon Steel mixed into it was sufficient to produce its special effects: toughness, sharpness, and the ability to suppress the human body’s Healing Factor, causing permanent wounds.

After prolonged baptism in blood, the blade had taken on a faint dark-red hue and a bloody stench.

Kyle looked at the Muramasa in Hojo Maru’s hand nearby. The Item Card information displayed upon it made him understand at once.

The so-called bleeding demon blade was actually a handcrafted Japanese sword containing Sodium-Carbon Steel. No wonder the slash across his back had not healed even with his Healing Factor.

With a wound on his back, Kyle remained calm as he stood in place, warily watching the nine remaining ninjas around him. Their Super Ninja physiques, combined with their impossible-to-guard-against sinister hidden weapons, made dragging this out disadvantageous for him…

He could fight, but there was no need to.

Shriek—

As the atmosphere in the dojo remained deadlocked, a clear eagle cry came from the distant sky beyond the school. The naturally piercing sound waves echoed distinctly throughout the hall.

Thinking it was merely an ordinary eagle, the ninjas in the dojo paid it no mind and continued to fix Kyle with grave, focused stares.

Hearing the familiar eagle cry outside, Kyle’s expression shifted slightly beneath the Venom Suit’s mask. It was a warning signal. At that volume, it meant enemy aircraft or a large military force was approaching.

It seemed he could not stay any longer.

Kyle quietly made up his mind, sweeping his cold gaze around. At that moment, Hojo Maru revealed that mysterious smile again. "Your physique really is comparable to a monster’s. You actually held out for this long."

"It’s only a mere slash…" Kyle frowned, but stopped halfway through his sentence in shock. He sensed something invading the nerves in his body. His body trembled uncontrollably, and he bent over as he collapsed downward, barely managing to brace himself against the floor with his claws.

"Our blades and swords are coated with Nerve-Paralyzing Poison when sharpened. The amount you’ve absorbed should be enough to paralyze an adult elephant into unconsciousness for three days and three nights."

After Hojo Maru confidently finished his explanation, Kyle’s eyelids drooped. His hands fell limply, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground, unconscious.

"Did… did it work?" The other eight ninjas let out relieved breaths at the sight. The pressure the man before them had given off was simply too overwhelming, far beyond any enemy they had ever encountered. As long as he remained standing, no one had dared approach him head-on.

"Given the amount of paralytic poison that entered his body, there is naturally no doubt it worked." Hojo Maru spoke coldly, but did not lower his guard. He issued an order. "One and Two, you two go check."

The two ninjas exchanged glances, nodded, and approached Kyle’s unconscious body from the left and right.

Five meters, three meters, one meter…

The two cautiously came within half a meter of Kyle. Seeing that he still showed no response or awareness, they were just about to relax when Hojo Maru’s urgent warning suddenly rang out beside their ears. "Watch out!"

"Hm?" The two ninjas instinctively tried to retreat, but Kyle, who had been lying on the ground beside them, suddenly rolled over and raised both hands, aiming an Energy Pistol at each of their chests.

"Good-bye." Kyle sneered and rapidly pulled the triggers. At such close range, only two brilliant blue laser beams could be seen firing out.

In the next instant, the two lively ninjas were pierced by the lasers before everyone’s eyes in the hall, bloody holes blasted through their bodies. They died on the spot and fell into pools of blood.

"One! Two!" Hojo Maru shouted in shock and fury. A blue laser shot straight toward him, and he reacted swiftly, slashing with Muramasa and somehow cleaving the laser apart before him, scattering flecks of blue light.

But several more blue lasers followed close behind. Rather than targeting the other ninja members, their attacks were focused entirely on him alone.

"Bastard!" Even the usually composed Hojo Maru could not help cursing. He rolled rapidly to evade the laser fire, but Kyle, as a master marksman, had predicted his movements in advance. After rolling several times, a laser still shot toward Hojo Maru’s body.

Hojo Maru shouted and hastily raised Muramasa to block it. He had not gathered enough strength in his arm, and though the blade barely stopped the laser, the impact knocked Muramasa from his hand and sent it spinning into the air.

He rose, intending to catch Muramasa in midair, but a black figure leaped swiftly past him and seized the sword’s hilt first.

As he looked at Kyle closing in before him, Hojo Maru’s pupils contracted, and despair darkened his eyes.

"Forcing me to use an extinct Black Technology consumable like an Energy Pistol… interesting." Kyle murmured. He dropped from the air, swiftly slashing down with Muramasa in his left hand. "This is the slash I’m returning to you!"

Amid Hojo Maru’s miserable howl, an arm sprayed blood as it flew high into the air—this was already because the strike had missed its mark.

Kyle raised Muramasa, intending to finish him off, but staggered and nearly fell to the ground. He ignored the remaining ninjas and charged out of the dojo hall alone.

"Boss!!" The six remaining ninjas cried out and hurried over to Hojo Maru, who was clutching the stump of his arm.

Hojo Maru collapsed on the ground, his face deathly pale and his forehead drenched in cold sweat. Gritting his teeth against the pain of losing his hand, he rasped, "Don’t worry about me. Go after Demon Kyle! He is already wounded, and the poison has paralyzed his nerves. His body is already at its limit! Go! You must not let him escape!"

"Understood! We will complete the mission!" the ninjas roared in response, following the blood trail out of the dojo hall.

Kyle panted heavily, Muramasa in one hand and an Energy Pistol in the other. As he walked from the main hall into the courtyard, he became so disoriented that he nearly toppled into the small pond.

His condition was extremely bad. The nerve-paralyzing poison in his body was disrupting the normal function of his muscles and nerves, and sensation and motor function were beginning to vanish from certain parts of his body.

Fortunately, his Healing Factor was suppressing it with all its might. But once he moved under a heavy load, the Nerve-Paralyzing Poison would spread throughout his body along with his blood.

The reason he had been able to collapse, then kill the ninjas and break out just now, relied entirely on two words: sheer endurance!

"Venom, if I completely lose consciousness and pass out, take control of my body and escape somewhere safe." Kyle quietly instructed. Although he still had life-saving skills and cards he had not used, he had already prepared for the worst outcome of this battle.

"There he is! Don’t let him get away!"

The six ninjas emerged from the main hall. Upon seeing Kyle, they accelerated toward him.

Gritting his teeth, Kyle charged toward the dojo’s main gate. The instant his front foot crossed the threshold, a dangerous feeling struck his heart, compelling him to pull that foot back.

The next moment, a shell landed at the dojo entrance, directly in front of Kyle. Flames erupted, and shattered stone, dust, and explosive shockwaves swept outward.

Kyle rolled repeatedly across the courtyard ground. When he climbed to his feet, covered in dust and dirt, another dense barrage of rocket shells bombarded the area, flattening the dojo’s main gate and the walls on both sides.

He looked up. The view before him was completely unobstructed. The street outside the dojo was packed with Japanese Army troops. Countless rifles in soldiers’ hands, along with deployed machine guns and rocket launchers, were all aimed squarely at him alone.