novelzi Chapter 428: Seven Shadows Instant Kill!
Chapter 428: Seven Shadows Instant Kill!
"Explode!!!"
Senju Hashirama released his chakra without restraint, triggering a violent detonation that illuminated the starry sky like a blazing sun.
However, when the radiance faded, the result was exactly as expected.
The attack had been blocked.
A translucent, shield-like barrier stood intact, dispersing the impact. Hashirama had never expected such a simple move to succeed.
Without hesitation, he pressed forward.
His arm transformed instantly into a mass of wooden branches, which shot forward like spears, piercing toward Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki.
On the other side, Uchiha Madara fixed his gaze on Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and let out a cold snort.
"Do you enjoy skulking in the shadows that much?"
"…"
Before Madara could say anything further, Isshiki moved.
True to the nature of an assassin, he did not waste words.
He attacked.
Madara reacted instantly, chakra surging as a layer of Susanoo armor enveloped his body.
Clang!
The strike landed, producing a sharp metallic sound.
The moment the attack failed, Isshiki withdrew without hesitation, retreating far into the void.
This kind of direct confrontation was not his specialty.
Under normal circumstances, he would have already retreated, hidden himself, and waited for a better opportunity to strike.
But this time was different.
The command of the Ōtsutsuki Shiki was absolute.
He had no choice but to eliminate this opponent.
Still, the situation was unfavorable.
Madara's mastery over space was not inferior, and the battlefield, the unstable void of space, greatly restricted Isshiki's abilities.
He was far more dangerous within a stable environment like a planet.
If only…
But battles never followed one's preferences.
Madara narrowed his eyes.
His figure blurred, transforming into an afterimage as he closed the distance instantly, sticking tightly to Isshiki.
Against this type of opponent, giving him space was the worst possible decision.
The two collided.
In the span of a single moment, dozens of exchanges erupted at extreme speed.
Madara's attacks were fierce and overwhelming, backed by his monstrous physique. Having cultivated both chakra and physical power to an extreme degree, his body far surpassed Isshiki's.
In contrast, Isshiki's strikes were faster.
Silent. Precise. Deadly.
Every attack was simple, almost plain, yet each carried fatal intent.
His combat experience was no less than Madara's, constantly placing him under subtle pressure. The style was eerily familiar.
Madara's eyes flickered.
This reminded him of a clan from the Warring States Period.
The Tenchū Clan.
A small but notorious family that specialized in bizarre assassination techniques. They had once assassinated an elite jōnin of the Uchiha Clan, provoking total annihilation in retaliation.
Their leader, Tenchū Izō, possessed elite jōnin-level strength, yet his assassination methods allowed him to threaten even the Five Kage.
How similar.
Just like the Ōtsutsuki Isshiki before him.
Madara himself had personally led their destruction.
Even so, Tenchū Izō had managed to leave a wound on him, something Uchiha Izuna had mocked him for repeatedly afterward.
As the battle continued, Madara's expression gradually changed.
Something was wrong.
"His attacks… they're getting stronger."
A realization struck him.
"No… he's building momentum."
Each strike grew subtly more powerful than the last, stacking pressure with terrifying consistency.
Isshiki's eyes gleamed faintly.
"It's over."
"Seven Shadows Instant Kill."
"Second Strike: Soul Severance."
"Third Strike: Saṃsāra Severance."
Two attacks followed in seamless succession.
The first still carried visible chakra flow and a faint glimmer of light.
By the second, both had nearly vanished.
No light.
Barely any chakra fluctuation.
Yet the killing intent had multiplied several times over.
Madara's pupils contracted.
He immediately condensed massive chakra into his Susanoo armor, reinforcing it to its limit.
And in the next instant, Isshiki's attack arrived.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!!
A series of sharp fractures echoed through the void.
The Susanoo armor surrounding Uchiha Madara instantly filled with spiderweb-like cracks. At the same time, blood seeped from his chest, slowly staining his clothes.
"Hahaha!!!!!"
"To actually injure me to this extent!"
Madara threw his head back and laughed, his expression gradually turning wild, almost unhinged.
In truth, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's overall level was slightly higher than his.
However, Madara had tempered not only his chakra, but also his physical body to an extreme degree. His strength far surpassed that of ordinary shinobi, allowing him to fight opponents above his level.
And yet, this attack had shattered his Susanoo armor and pierced even his hardened body.
That alone spoke volumes.
In the vast universe, very few cultivated their physical bodies to such an extent.
Most relied purely on chakra or innate abilities.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan, in particular, depended on their terrifying vitality, their rapid regeneration, their ability to implant Kāma, and the power of the Rinnegan to dominate countless worlds.
Madara lowered his gaze to his chest.
A strange, destructive energy lingered within the wound, constantly eroding it and preventing it from healing properly. Blood continued to flow, slow but steady.
At the same time, Isshiki's surprise was no less than Madara's.
After enduring two consecutive strikes, Madara had only suffered a wound of this level.
To Isshiki, this was nothing short of an insult.
"Damn it…"
"This cursed cosmic environment is suppressing my strength."
His eyes darkened.
The instability of space and the interference of cosmic radiation limited him to barely seventy percent of his full power. In a stable environment, such as a planet, his assassination techniques would be far more lethal.
His technique, Seven Shadows Instant Kill, was one of the core legacies of the Assassin Alliance.
Among its seven stages, the seventh strike was the ultimate move.
Instant Sky Kill.
It was said that when mastered to perfection, it could unleash power comparable to a half-step god-tier existence.
The technique originated from an unknown ancient expert of the Assassin Alliance. Nearly all members attempted to cultivate it, but its difficulty was overwhelming.
Most could only reach the first or second strike.
Isshiki had reached the fourth.
More importantly, this technique grew stronger with momentum.
Each successive strike amplified the previous one.
The first strike doubled the power.
The second quadrupled it.
The third increased it eightfold.
And so on, until the seventh strike reached one hundred and twenty-eight times the base power.
If the momentum was fully accumulated, it could even surpass that, reaching a terrifying level beyond two hundred times.
The attack he had just unleashed had already exceeded the level of the fourth strike through accumulated momentum.
And yet…
It had only caused this much damage to Uchiha Madara.
What Isshiki did not know was that his attack had already broken through two layers of Madara's defense.
The first was his newly developed Susanoo armor transformation.
The second was his refined body, forged through relentless training and battle.
Madara wiped the blood from his chest.
The pain did not weaken him.
It exhilarated him.
The Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan was known to influence the mind, intensifying emotions with each activation.
But Madara was different.
His will did not merely resist it.
He embraced it.
Among all Uchiha, he was the most unrestrained, the closest to madness.
And at this moment—
The deeper the wound, the stronger his fighting spirit burned.
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