Byakko's claws dug into the ground, his muscles coiled like springs as the remnants of the plasma blast sizzled behind him. His golden eyes locked onto Kaida, no longer calm—now burning with primal excitement.
"No more talk," he growled, the wind around him swirling with a razor's edge.
Kaida took a step forward, his eyes spinning, "I was about to say the same thing."
In the next instant, the air exploded between them as both launched forward—no one used any Jutsu, it was just physical speed they were amplifying with chakra.
With the punch Byakko had taken, he had a rough estimate of Kaida's strength, and that he was not as fragile as normal humans he had met till now.
That means he was now not holding back at all, and same with Kaida who knew that the foe in front of him was simply outclassing him in all physical characteristics—be it strength, speed, or endurance. That means he had to rely on his other features to win.
Something he was doing at the moment, with both seals active. Not only was Kaida giving his all in the punch, but he was also planning on taking an attack or two if it meant he could land an attack on Byakko, because if there was a person here who had better healing power, it was Kaida.
As Byakko had still not healed his broken ribs till now, which affected his movement,
With both parties moving at breakneck pace, they reached each other in a fraction of a second. Both Kaida and Byakko aimed for each other's head, though with unmatched perception provided by MS, Kaida quickly changed his direction at the last millisecond.
Appearing just out of the range of the claw which would have surely shattered his skull on contact and took the attack at his shoulder, though he also had to miss the attack, but his attack still landed precisely at the lungs.
With Byakko's ribcage already broken, this time the attack was lethal, and he had to jump back to address it.
Kaida too was not in condition to take advantage of the weakness, as his shoulder along with upper part of ribs were completely shattered and the pain was almost unbearable.
'Maybe taking his attacks is not a good choice,' Kaida thought, as from the single exchange just now, it was Kaida who was in worst shape.
Even with Byakko's lungs being impaled with his own bones, he was relatively fine compared to Kaida, who had powder in place of bones.
With his seal working on overdrive to heal him, Kaida noticed how Byakko was dealing with the injury, and he was not ready for what he witnessed. Byakko slashed his own skin with one of his claws to dig out the bone that had impaled his lungs.
After the brutality Kaida saw, something equally shocking happened. Byakko precisely used Yang chakra to hasten his healing, which placed the bone back with his claw.
You wouldn't expect the beast to be this good at precise things, but Byakko was as meticulous as a doctor in his healing.
And even before Kaida could heal himself completely, Byakko was ready to go for the second round, though the slight protrusion and him still using Yang chakra to heal himself showed that his internal injuries had not been healed till now either.
Both looked toward each other with new-found weariness—Byakko because he knew the boy in front of him was fully capable of landing a lethal blow on him, and Kaida because he had seen a side of nature he never thought was possible.
When both were healed enough to move, they sprang back into action. There was no need for any words to be exchanged as they both only wanted to understand the true extent of their opponent's strength.
Though this time, it was not the all-out attack with no concept of self-preservation involved. Kaida effectively dodged all of the slashes and punches Byakko threw toward him, only tanking those he was confident of.
While Byakko did the same, his big body was a bigger target for Kaida to attack, which meant that dodging was not that easy for him. But with his defense, most of Kaida's attacks did nothing more than produce some bruises. If Kaida ever tried to land a solid blow, Byakko retaliated with one of his own as well, making the fight just an exchange of fast-paced blows.
They had exchanged hundreds of attacks with each other before stopping and jumping back.
"You are not half bad, boy, but how will you handle this?" Byakko said, before his claw got elongated and coated in red volatile fire. Once again, soon the fire changed from red to light blue, and Kaida literally shivered from seeing the amount of chakra placed inside that attack.
That attack would shred him to pieces if it connected. Without even thinking about dodging—because he had already seen the speed that attack was going to travel—Kaida used something he was not even thinking about using in this simple fight.
Suddenly, a crimson flare of chakra burst out of him—raw, powerful, and immense. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun with wild intensity as rib-like structures of glowing white chakra edged in deep crimson surged out of his body, wrapping around him in a matter of heartbeats.
But Byakko was not going to wait for Kaida to finish his preparation. As he swiftly brought down his claw, releasing three claw-shaped fiery blades towards Kaida, who promised nothing but destruction in their path.
Crack.
The burning claws struck—but not Kaida. The attack smashed against the half-formed ribcage of the Susanoo, producing a thunderous shockwave that cracked the surrounding earth and sent air whipping like a typhoon.
A jagged ripple shimmered across the Susanoo's ribs. A completely formed rib cage may have been enough to halt the attack, but it was only half-formed when the attack collided with it, making it crack in various places and even sending the shockwave inside towards Kaida.
Though it was successful in defending against one of the blades as well as redirecting the other two, creating two trenches behind Kaida.
Byakko blinked. Not expecting this to happen at all, he was expecting Kaida to either dodge the attack or retaliate in some way, making him cancel the attack. But defending that was not in his mind at all.
Because he knew about the destructive power of his attack, it was not something that could be defended against. But in front of him was a boy who was standing like he had just taken a punch and nothing else.
Though there was something else in his eyes as well—anger.
All of a sudden, Kaida vanished from his position and appeared behind Byakko, and before Byakko could turn or jump away, he heard something:
"Takamagahara."