As Hyūga Iroha's chilling words landed, the blood-soaked air transformed into a suffocating silence.
The atmosphere seemed to stop moving, heavy like a water-logged shroud, tightly wrapping around everyone's mouth and nose.
Only the oil lamp on the wall issued faint, unsettling crackles, and the sound of blood dripping from Hyūga Akira's severed wrist was magnified infinitely.
Hyūga Akira's pupils contracted violently. He stared intensely at Hyūga Iroha, as if to confirm he hadn't misheard.
"You..." His lips trembled a few times before he managed to squeeze out a broken sound from his dry throat. "What are you saying?"
"I said," Hyūga Iroha's tone was steady and serious, as if stating an established fact, "I will not lay a hand on the one who survives among you."
As if he had heard the most absurd and wicked joke, the strained, false smile on Hyūga Akira's face twitched slightly.
He forcibly suppressed the surge of anger, speaking in a coaxing, almost pathetic tone, "Don't make such terrifying jokes."
As he spoke, he subtly shifted his gaze downward, seemingly unintentionally sweeping past Hyūga Yōto, who was slumped on the ground behind Hyūga Iroha.
"I am Yōto's father."
His voice softened, carrying a subtle, almost imperceptible hint that only the two of them would understand: "Father and son killing each other? How could such a thing happen?"
He emphasized the words "father and son" slightly, though barely noticeable.
Seemingly catching the deeper meaning in his father's words, Hyūga Yōto, still slumped on the ground, subtly trembled.
His bandaged face slightly turned toward his father, as if struggling to listen, while his hands slowly and silently fumbled on the ground...
Finally, his fingertips touched the cold, hard kunai.
His fingers instantly tightened, gripping it firmly, as if holding onto his only chance at survival. He "looked" up at Hyūga Iroha's back, which seemed completely undefended.
Yes!
That's it!
Seeing this, an uncontrollable surge of wild joy flashed in Hyūga Akira's eyes.
Hyūga Iroha is right in front of you!
Before this madman notices!
Use all your strength and plunge the kunai into his body!
Even if you can't kill him in one blow, as long as you seriously injure him, we, father and son, still have a chance to turn the tables!
Under Hyūga Akira's expectant gaze, Hyūga Yōto slowly stood up.
However, Hyūga Yōto did not pounce on Hyūga Iroha like a viper. Instead, he trembled and spoke.
"Did... did you mean what you just said?"
His gaze seemed to be fixed on Hyūga Iroha's back, his voice hoarse with fear. "As long as... as long as I do what you said, you'll let me leave?"
At these words, the expression on Hyūga Akira's face instantly froze!
The surge of wild joy in his eyes was immediately doused with ice water, replaced by a bone-chilling coldness and disbelief!
He widened his eyes, staring fixedly at his son.
"Of course."
Hyūga Iroha didn't even turn around, completely unconcerned that Hyūga Yōto had swapped the concept of "not laying a hand on him" for "letting him leave."
A vicious, satisfied smile appeared on his face, which was turned away from Hyūga Yōto, and he spoke earnestly: "I swear upon the Hyūga name."
As the words fell, they seemed to shatter Hyūga Yōto's last sliver of hesitation.
His throat bobbed. Having made a desperate decision, he took another step forward!
"Hyūga Yōto!"
Hyūga Akira instinctively stepped back, his voice suddenly rising, becoming sharp and distorted with shock and fury. "Idiot, have you gone mad?! I am your father!"
Hyūga Yōto stopped, his body shaking violently.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Father. I... I know what you mean."
He kept shaking his head, his voice filled with sobs. "But, but I don't have the Byakugan, and you don't have hands. We can't kill him. We will both die here..."
"Idiot!"
Hyūga Akira was shaking with rage, nearly spitting up blood as he cursed fiercely, "I don't have hands, but you do! You don't have the Byakugan, but I do! Together we could..."
At that moment, his words suddenly stopped, his teeth chattering from the trembling of his body.
Because he saw Hyūga Yōto's ears twitch slightly, and the face covered in bandages turned toward his direction.
This guy wasn't hesitating about whether or not to attack his father.
He was using his remaining sense of hearing to determine his exact position and distance?!
This thought surfaced in Hyūga Akira's mind, instantly sending a cold, aching chill through his heart!
The next moment, before he could react, Hyūga Yōto moved abruptly.
Ignoring his severe injuries, he forcibly channeled chakra and used the Body Flicker Technique.
Although his movements were somewhat distorted and staggering due to his injuries and fear, the speed of his lunge was rapid, slamming heavily into Hyūga Akira!
Bang!!
Hyūga Akira had not anticipated that his son would truly strike him so cruelly.
Caught completely off guard, he slipped on the blood-covered floor and was thrown backward, crashing hard onto the ground. The back of his head struck the floor with a dull thud, causing his vision to momentarily black out.
However, feeling one of his legs being grabbed, he instantly snapped back to consciousness.
"Let go! Let go of me!"
Seeing Hyūga Yōto, who was gripping his leg and crawling on the ground, Hyūga Akira was both shocked and enraged. He hastily raised his other leg and fiercely kicked Hyūga Yōto's face!
After several kicks, the bandages on Hyūga Yōto's face were quickly soaked with blood, snot, and tears.
But he was like a fiend who had crawled out of hell, desperately gripping Hyūga Akira's other leg.
No matter how hard Hyūga Akira struggled or kicked him, he wouldn't let go. His fingernails dug into Hyūga Akira's flesh as he pulled and crawled with all his strength.
"Father! Father! Don't struggle anymore!"
Hyūga Yōto's voice was sharp, incoherent, and nearly frantic. "Instead of both of us dying here, one of us should live!"
"I'll avenge you when I get out! I swear, I'll definitely avenge you!"
As his voice fell, he tightened his grip on the sharp kunai and plunged it, without hesitation, into Hyūga Akira's thrashing, kicking thigh.
Chop! Chop! Chop!!
"Aaaah!!!"
Hyūga Akira, who had already lost his arms and been stabbed multiple times, let out a piercing scream filled with sheer terror!
He stared fixedly at Hyūga Yōto, blood vessels rapidly spreading across his eyeballs, as if truly seeing the monster he had personally nurtured for the first time.
"Hyūga Yōto! Do you know what you are doing?! I am your father, you beast!!" he shrieked in fear and fury.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Father."
Hyūga Yōto kept shaking his head, blood seeping from beneath the bandages. He chanted repeatedly, "This is what you taught me! This is what you taught me!"
What?
A look of confusion and bewilderment crossed Hyūga Akira's face.
I taught you?
What did I teach you?
When did I ever teach you patricide?!
"Hahahaha!"
Just then, Hyūga Iroha, who had been coldly observing as if watching a magnificent play, suddenly burst into a loud laugh filled with mockery and sarcasm.
His laughter echoed in the bloody, confined cell, sounding particularly grating and mad, yet also making Hyūga Akira feel a terrifying chill!
"Old man! Don't you understand yet?"
He stopped laughing, looking at Hyūga Akira with an expression of intense satisfaction. "The you right now, stripped of your arms and ability to resist, is no longer a father to him, but a weakling."
"Draw the blade against the weaker one!"
His words were slow and deliberate, his hatred as sharp as an ice pick. "That is the only principle for survival that you repeatedly taught and ingrained in his very bones!"
"Hahahahaha!!"
By the end, Hyūga Iroha couldn't help but roar with laughter, and Hyūga Akira's face turned completely ashen.
"You... ugh!!"
Before Hyūga Akira could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a hand clamping down on his throat.
"Father, Father, I will avenge you!" Hyūga Yōto, now completely deranged, muttered repeatedly as he climbed onto Hyūga Akira.
His knees dug fiercely into Hyūga Akira's abdomen. One hand, like an iron clamp, choked Hyūga Akira's throat, pressing down with all his might to restrain the struggling man beneath him.
He held him firmly pressed into the sticky pool of blood, his actions as brutal as those in a slaughterhouse, pinning down a shrieking, struggling pig or dog waiting to be butchered.
Hyūga Akira's pupils, bulging with terror and despair, reflected the distorted image of Hyūga Yōto—a face covered in blood, madness, and ugliness, like a monstrous fiend!
Yōto's other hand was raised high, holding the still-dripping kunai, and he stabbed down viciously!
Pshk!
With the dull sound of the blade sinking into flesh, a choked sob escaped Hyūga Akira's throat.
Pshk! Pshk!
Once was not enough, again and again!
Blood sprayed madly, splattering onto Hyūga Yōto's face and body, which were already covered in gore, staining him completely into a scarlet monster.
He seemed tireless, unable to sense the increasingly faint struggles of the body beneath him.
He merely repeated the stabbing and withdrawing motions frantically, as if trying to unleash all his fear and twisted will to survive through the kunai.
Until Hyūga Akira's tensed body went completely limp, and all signs of life receded like the tide.
Those Byakugan eyes, once full of dignity and arrogance, now held only boundless terror and a hint of profound regret, frozen in place.
Clang!
The blood-soaked kunai slipped from Hyūga Yōto's uncontrollably trembling hand, falling into the blood pool with a crisp sound.
"Hah! Hah!"
Hyūga Yōto gasped violently, then suddenly looked up and asked, "Is that enough?"
He turned his hideously blood-smeared face toward the direction where he remembered Hyūga Iroha standing, his voice hoarse. "Is this enough? I did what you said!"
And, in his nervousness, he was finally rewarded with a response.
"Of course."
Hyūga Iroha's voice rang out, carrying poorly concealed amusement. "I keep my promise. I will not lay a hand on you."
"You are free to leave now."
The direction this voice came from was not the spot where Hyūga Yōto remembered Hyūga Iroha standing earlier.
But the ecstatic Hyūga Yōto completely overlooked this subtle anomaly.
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