The forest was a wreck. Trees lay fallen in tangled heaps, dust and blood hanging thick in the air. Thunder crackled through the clearing in sharp, violent bursts.
Seiran hovered several feet above the ground, his black hair standing on end with arcs of electricity dancing across it. His clothes whipped in the wind generated by the churning energy surrounding him. He looked like something out of a nightmare—pure power made manifest.
Juzo Biwa squinted at the thunder-wrapped figure. Even in that brief moment, he sensed it: the aura radiating from Seiran had multiplied several times over.
"Some kind of short-term strength boost?" Juzo Biwa murmured. "Like the Fourth Raikage's lightning chakra mode?"
He licked his lips. "Interesting prey."
Mari Kaguya let out a piercing laugh. Something squirmed beneath his skin, and two sharp bone spurs drilled out from his palms. He gripped them firmly, his expression savage.
"He's mine, Juzo Biwa!" Mari Kaguya snarled.
Juzo Biwa's eyes flashed cold. Chakra surged through his body as he launched himself at the floating Seiran. The Kubikiribōchō—his massive decapitating blade—was wrapped in terrifying power, swinging down with brutal force.
Boom!
The impact shook the air. Juzo Biwa's eyes widened in shock.
How is this possible...?
Seiran had simply raised one hand to block the blade. The massive sword, capable of cleaving through stone, froze in mid-air, unable to advance even an inch. It was as if he'd slammed into an invisible mountain.
"What is this? How did your magnetism become this strong?" Juzo Biwa breathed.
Seiran's palm wasn't even touching the blade. A gap of perhaps a centimeter separated them, yet a terrifying repulsive force emanated from the Kubikiribōchō. No matter how much force Juzo Biwa applied, the weapon wouldn't budge.
Then something far worse happened.
The massive blade began to dissolve. Starting from where Seiran's hand hovered, the metal melted into silver liquid that flowed up the sword toward his arm like a living thing.
In just a few breaths, most of the blade had disintegrated.
Juzo Biwa's pupils trembled. He released his grip and scrambled backward, panic etching his face.
"Mari! This kid is weird!" he shouted.
"Juzo Biwa, your attack was blocked and you ran?" Mari Kaguya mocked from behind him. "When did you become so timid?"
Seiran had completely deconstructed the Kubikiribōchō. The silver metal fluid pooled around his shoulders and arms like a small metallic snake, shifting and writhing with purpose.
With the terrifying power of his Tyrant Mode, Seiran had finally touched the threshold of true material decomposition. He'd disassembled the entire sword into particles less than ten nanometers in diameter. The metal retained its properties while gaining fluid characteristics—magnetic fluid, capable of shifting infinitely between liquid and solid states.
Seiran's gaze locked onto Juzo Biwa.
He moved like a thunderbolt.
Death wrapped around Juzo Biwa like a shroud. A chill erupted from his spine, shooting upward to the base of his skull. He was terrified. Without his massive blade, he was significantly weaker—there was no way he could withstand this attack.
He tried to dodge. Seiran was already there.
The silver snake surged with speed, leaving Seiran's arm in a blur. It transformed into a curved scimitar and slashed through Juzo Biwa's throat in a single, graceful motion.
Poof!
The world turned scarlet. Juzo Biwa felt his body go light, his vision spinning as everything flipped upside down.
In the final moments of consciousness, he heard a chuckle in his ear.
"I like your sword."
His head hit the ground with a dull thud, the horrified expression frozen on his face.
"Juzo Biwa..." Mari Kaguya swallowed hard. The battle had shifted too fast for him to react. He'd only seen Juzo Biwa retreat in panic before Seiran's counterattack sent his head flying.
Blood seeped into the silver scimitar. After absorbing it, the silver snake seemed sharper, more defined.
Seiran was pleased. The magnetized Kubikiribōchō still retained its ability to absorb blood—its signature trait.
"You bastard..." Mari Kaguya ground his teeth. Extreme anger exploded in his mind, his eyes glowing crimson red.
His visible skin squirmed violently. With a sickening sound of flesh tearing, sharp bone spurs pierced through his own body. His chest, elbows, and spine erupted with jagged bone, transforming him into something grotesque and monstrous.
Seiran's expression grew solemn. He'd defeated Juzo Biwa easily because the man was a sword specialist—completely countered by Seiran's ability. But Mari Kaguya was different. The calcium in his bones existed primarily as inorganic salts, making them difficult to magnetize. Coupled with the insane fighting drive of the Kaguya clan, this would be a real battle.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!" Mari Kaguya hissed.
He thrust all ten fingers forward. White bone spears shot from his fingertips like bullets.
Seiran didn't dodge. The silver snake flowed rapidly, forming a metallic shield in front of him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Metal struck bone with sharp, ringing sounds. All ten bullets were blocked.
"The fun isn't over yet!" Mari Kaguya roared.
The moment the silver shield began to melt, Mari Kaguya closed the distance. Sharp spurs erupted from his knees as he whipped his leg toward Seiran.
The silver snake squirmed again, blocking the blow. The metal that struck Mari Kaguya's thigh began to flow slowly down the bone spurs toward his body.
Mari Kaguya felt a chill run through him. He instantly pulled back, chopping his hand like a knife to sever the bone spur before the metal could creep deeper.
"Clever," Seiran muttered inwardly. If he could just get metal inside Mari Kaguya's body, the fight would be over. But even in his rage, the man maintained extreme caution—likely a prominent figure in the Kaguya clan, possibly even related to Kimimaro.
With his current power, Seiran still couldn't manipulate calcium ions directly inside Mari Kaguya's body. That would require true atomic-level control, which remained just beyond his reach.
"You brat... you've completely pissed me off!" Mari Kaguya screamed.
Having survived death by a hair's breadth, he could no longer suppress his rage. Chakra surged wildly through his body, wild and uncontrolled.
"Dance of the Seedling Fern!"
Bone spurs drilled out of the ground around him, erupting and spreading rapidly across the battlefield. The corpse of Juzo Biwa nearby was shredded to pieces by the chaotic growth.
Seiran shot upward, dodging the erupting spikes.
Looking down from mid-air, a forest of white bone had consumed the clearing, turning it into something from a nightmare.