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Chapter 42 - Babysitting Ends......

The illusion-user's body hit the pavement with a final, wet thud, his head rolling a few feet away. The silence that followed was heavier than any sound, broken only by the ragged breaths of the three remaining assassins and the faint, terrified whimper of the Hino heir.

Akio stood over the corpse, Kagegari held loosely at his side. The matte-black blade didn't drip blood; it seemed to drink it, the liquid vanishing into its lightless surface. The mist-like shadows trailing from its edge coiled lazily, as if sated.

"The heart of combat isn't observation with your eyes or hearing with your ears," Akio stated, his voice a chilling monotone that carried across the bridge. "It's knowing which senses to trust."

He raised Kagegari, its void-dark point aimed at the three frozen assassins. "Your tricks are spent. Your numbers are dwindling. Your coordination is about to shatter. Now, let's end this."

The one of with, Jinpūken, was the first to break from his stupor. Rage and professional pride overcame his shock. "Don't let him get in your head! He's just one brat and we are three professionals! Form up!"

The other two, too, came out off their stupor and decided to continue their coordinating attacks believing that Akio would make a mistake.

The one with Dokugumo used venom field. The one with Raijūken relentlessly attacked him to keep him pinned. And the last one attacked him with precision and timing to cut Akio down.

It was a good plan. A plan showcasing their experience, co-ordination and professionalism. But it was a plan for a tangible enemy, not a shadow. And Akio was the later one.

The one with Dokugumo, slammed his venom-coated gauntlet into the ground. A wave of iridescent purple poison spread out in a slick, sizzling circle around them, creating a hazardous zone meant to limit Akio's mobility and teleportation points.

Raijūken thrust his lightning spear. A bolt of pure energy, faster than thought, screamed toward Akio's center mass.

Jinpūken blurred forward, his invisible blade extending in a wide, horizontal slash meant to cut Akio in half the moment he dodged the lightning.

A perfect, coordinated trifecta of death.

Akio didn't dodge. He didn't teleport.

He analyzed.

His Shadow Network fed him the data: the trajectory of the lightning, the arc of the invisible blade, the viscosity and spread of the poison. He procced all the data.

Then he acted.

As the lightning bolt was a mere foot from his chest, Akio brought Kagegari up in a subtle, precise motion. He didn't block the lightning; he guided it. The matte-black blade, a conductor for spiritual energy, touched the edge of the bolt and deflected it, not away, but down.

The redirected lightning bolt slammed directly into the expanding pool of Dokugumo's poison.

The result was catastrophic. The immense energy superheated the toxic fluid instantly. It didn't just sizzle; it detonated. A wave of corrosive, electrified purple mist erupted outward, engulfing the three assassins.

The one with Raijūken screamed as his own lightning feedback surged through him, combined with the corrosive poison eating at his skin. The one with Dokugumo, caught at the epicenter of his own technique, took the full brunt, his robes dissolving, his skin blistering instantly.

Only the one with Jinpūken, who was already lunging forward, was partially spared the blast, though the electrified mist still scorched his arms and back.

Their perfect formation, their lethal synergy, was broken in an instant by their own powers turned against them.

Akio didn't wait for the mist to clear. He was already moving.

"Position Play."

He vanished from his spot and reappeared within the swirling, toxic cloud. The poison meant nothing to him; his Reiatsu, cold and dense, formed a thin, protective barrier around him. The corrosive droplets sizzled and vaporized against the palpable chill of his spiritual pressure before they could even touch his Shihakushō.

He found the one with Raijūken first. The assassin was stumbling, blinded and in agony from his own backfired lightning. Akio's blade moved in a short, brutal arc. Sōryū. Not a flurry, but two precise strikes. One severed the tendons in Raijūken's elbow, causing the lightning spear to flicker and die. The second was a thrust through his lung. The man collapsed, choking on blood and poison.

The one with Dokugumo was next, writhing on the ground, his body a ruined mess. Akio ended his suffering with a single, merciful thrust to the heart.

The toxic mist began to dissipate, revealing the scene of devastation. The one with Jinpūken stood alone, his clothes smoldering, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He saw his two comrades dead on the ground, and the shadow-wielding demon walking calmly toward him through the fading purple haze.

"No... this can't be..." he whimpered, his voice raw. "We were... perfect..."

"Your coordination was a strength," Akio said, stopping a few feet away. "But it was also a weakness. You relied on it. You fought as a single entity with three bodies. I simply had to break one link, and the entire chain fell apart."

He raised Kagegari. "A lesson for your next life."

The last assassin screamed, a sound of pure despair and fury, and charged, his invisible blade extending to its maximum length for a final, desperate strike.

Akio didn't teleport. He met the charge head-on. He weaved under the invisible blade, his Shadow Network feeling its precise location even though he couldn't see it. He stepped inside Jinpūken's guard.

Toryū.

His free hand shot out, fingers stiff, and struck a precise point on Jinpūken's wrist. There was a wet snap. The assassin's grip failed, his Zanpakutō clattering to the ground.

Before the man could even cry out, Akio reversed his grip on Kagegari and drove it upward, under the ribs, into the heart.

His eyes went wide. He looked down at the black blade buried in his chest, then back at Akio's impassive face.

"How...?" he gurgled.

"Your lord's intelligence was flawed," Akio said softly, pulling the blade free. "He sent artists to kill a surgeon."

Jinpūken collapsed onto the blood-slicked pavement, joining his comrades.

Silence returned to the bridge, now filled with the smell of ozone, poison, and blood. The four assassins lay dead, their perfect mission a complete and utter failure.

Akio stood amidst the carnage, his Shikai still active, the shadows around him seeming deeper and more alive than ever. He turned his head, his cold eyes first finding the Hino heir, who had fainted from pure terror, and then landing on Hiro.

The head guard was propped against the ruined railing, pale from blood loss, his eyes wide with a mixture of horror, awe, and utter shame. He had witnessed something far beyond his understanding. He had seen a monster wearing the face of an unseated officer.

Akio walked over to him, Kagegari held loosely. He looked down at the wounded man, his expression unreadable.

"The threat is neutralized," Akio stated, his voice flat. It was not a question. "Can you stand up?"

Hiro could only stare, his mouth working but no sound coming out. As, he had never felt so utterly insignificant in his entire life.

For Akio though, the babysitting was over. And it was time for him to climb up the ranks from the unseated officer to becoming a seated officer.

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