Chapter 165: Ghoul Incineration
Chapter 165: Ghoul Incineration
Oni no Miko had remained calm and collected this entire time, but a hint of panic and worry had finally crept into her voice.
"Has he been hiding everything this entire time?"
Given her far superior telegnosis, she was able to spot many more details from the battle than all of the spectators around her.
Clown's body couldn't be split up into clones infinitely. Instead, after splitting up beyond a certain point, it would be killed.
There were as many clowns on the battlefield as Oni no Hanzou's shadow clones, but even so, Adam still held the upper hand.
Individually, all of the clowns were more powerful than Oni no Hanzou's shadow clones, and their weapons and firearms were extremely effective. Due to the scorching heat released by the constant explosions, the snow and ice on the entire snowfield were beginning to melt away.
"Mistress Miko, will Mr. Hanzou..."
"I don't know. At this point, it's a battle of stamina..."
Oni no Miko was staring intently at the unfolding battle while calculating the amount of psychic body that Adam and Oni no Hanzou had already expended.
Maintaining so many shadow clones at once was extremely taxing on Oni no Hanzou's psychic power. Essentially, psychic power was the equivalent of stamina in the psychic world, serving the same purpose as stamina in the real world.
No one possessed boundless psychic power, but the more powerful an adapter was, the more psychic power they possessed.
As a ninja, Oni no Hanzou wasn't suited to long and drawn-out battles, but Clown was also a very technical anomaly, so it was difficult to predict which one would come out on top.
The battle between the two small armies continued to rage on, and after a while, both sides had suffered severe casualties. Even the surviving clones on the battlefield were beginning to become rather indistinct, seemingly flickering in and out of existence.
One of the clowns pulled out a grenade, but it failed to explode after being hurled through the air.
Meanwhile, a shadow clone vanished on the spot, unable to be maintained any longer.
This type of battle was far too taxing for both Adam and Oni no Hanzou, and at this point, it was no longer worth keeping the clones around. In the next instant, all of the clones on the battlefield began to disintegrate like soap bubbles, quickly leaving only Clown and Oni no Hanzou's true bodies on the battlefield.
Oni no Hanzou was panting heavily as he cast his gaze toward Clown and proposed, "How about we call this one a tie?"
"Even if I agree, the director won't let us off the hook so easily!"
Clown was clearly in slightly better condition than Oni no Hanzou, and it was cackling like a madman as it pulled out its miniature gatling gun in a deranged manner before firing it at Oni no Hanzou.
"Adam seems to be in a state of delirium."
All of his companions who had fought alongside him on multiple occasions were rather perplexed by the scene that was unfolding before their eyes. Overall, Adam had always quite cautious in his approach to battle, preferring to establish concrete plans before springing into action.
However, in this battle, he was fighting in a completely different style, almost like a deranged madman.
"Could it be that this anomaly is too powerful, and it's controlling him rather than the other way around?"
"That's definitely a possibility... Hopefully, the battle ends soon. I have a really bad feeling about this..."
Not only were Adam's friends on the outside concerned for his mental state, the longer the battle progressed, the more chaotic Adam's mind was becoming. Even though the setting was a snowfield, all he saw was red.
His thoughts were gradually fading, and all that remained was the desire for slaughter.
I have to end this battle as quickly as possible!
Adam clung desperately onto his final shred of rationality and reason as he instantly concealed himself on the spot, then appeared directly above Oni no Hanzou's head immediately thereafter.
Oni no Hanzou was just about to retaliate when he suddenly noticed that several more anomalies had appeared around Clown.
He had only just made their observation when his body abruptly tightened as if it had been bound by something.
Right as he was about to resist, the surrounding area suddenly turned pitch-black, and at the same time, he fell under the effects of Camera's Time Stop ability once again.
By the time Oni no Hanzou struggled free and just barely evaded Camera's swinging scythe arms, his body was already riddled with bullet holes.
"It's boom-boom time!"
Before Oni no Hanzou had a chance to react, a burst of loud and insistent beeping suddenly rang out around him, following which devastating explosions erupted around in all directions.
In his current state, there was no way that he would've been able to withstand a consecutive string of such powerful explosions, so he was forced to fully take on his Aka Oni form in order to prevent himself from being blown up into pieces.
However, he was already a completely spent force. Even in his Aka Oni form, his body was still severely ravaged, and his psychic power reserves had been completely depleted, leaving him unable to use any further jutsus.
As for Adam, his psychic power was also severely depleted, but he was in far better physical condition than Oni no Hanzou, and he had multiple anomalies on his side, so the writing was well and truly on the wall.
"This is it!"
Clown cackled in a deranged manner as it sped toward Oni no Hanzou, dodging his attack in mid-air before stuffing a grenade into a hole in his abdomen.
A resounding boom rang out, and another huge hole was blown into Aka Oni's body.
Right as it was stumbling around unsteadily from the force of the explosion, Camera swung its scythe arm at it from behind, slicing its massive body into two.
Looks like I really will be dying while on a mission...
The top half of Aka Oni's body fell onto the ground, and its eyes were glazed over for a moment before a determined look resurfaced within them.
As a top-tier adapter, Oni no Hanzou was far superior to the average person when it came to certain traits, such as resilience, courage, and conviction.
Even though his death was already sealed, he was still able to remain calm and assess the situation as rationally as possible.
"This is all I can do to help you, Miko..."
As Oni no Hanzou was murmuring to himself, he unleashed his final jutsu, Ghoul Incineration.
His body was already crimson in color, but it instantly became an even brighter shade of crimson, following which his entire body erupted into flames.
At the same time, Clown and Camera's bodies also caught on fire.
Ghoul Incineration was a self-sacrificial jutsu that could only be unleashed at the cost of the user's life, but the user could choose two targets to be afflicted by the jutsu.
Amid the scorching flames, Clown began to shriek in agony, but due to the fact that it was a level five anomaly, it was able to withstand the attack and survive.
However, Camera was not so fortunate. With its terrible defenses, there was no way that it could've withstood such a powerful jutsu, and its body quickly began to melt within the fire. First, its camera head began to resemble melting wax, and shortly thereafter, its entire body also slowly collapsed, having been incinerated into a pile of ashes.
Meanwhile, Oni no Hanzou's body was also slowly burned into ashes.
"He did his best."
In the real world, Oni no Miko was watching with a solemn expression.
Aside from Clown, Camera was the anomaly that posed the biggest threat to Oni no Miko. If she were to go up against Adam in the battle royale, Camera would've undoubtedly posed a massive headache for her.
No matter how powerful an invocator was, they would always be somewhat susceptible to opponents that possessed extreme offensive prowess.
With Camera out of the picture, Oni no Miko was confident that she would be able to defeat Adam.
"Rest easy, old friend. I'll avenge you."
With that, Oni no Miko departed from the stadium.