Chapter 135: Melee
by DiswaThis was a clear autumn morning, with October about to end and November just around the corner.
Sunlight shone on the ice-carved coliseum, refracting dreamlike rays of light.
These lights shone on Minamoto Kiyomoto. His face was like beautiful jade, his haori fluttering, incomparably handsome, like a god.
The women from the government, the Shinto sect, and from all over the world on the viewing platform forgot to breathe, their hearts pounding.
When a person is infatuated with someone, even their flaws are seen as virtues.
Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arrogance, on the contrary, fascinated the women. They believed that a man should be like this, and couldn’t help but hope for him to win.
Nakamura Naoto’s eyes were fierce as he glared at Minamoto Kiyomoto.
“Do you think I will definitely die? Become a sacrifice for the resurrection of the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon?!” he roared.
“In this world, if there is only one person who can subdue a ‘prefecture-level’ yokai, besides me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto stood with his hands behind his back and said leisurely, “there can be no one else.”
“Minamoto Kiyomoto!” Nakamura Naoto said sharply, “The group leader has already taught me all of the ‘Yellow Springs Spells’! From ancient times to the present, the nine ‘Yellow Springs Spells’ that have never been collected by anyone are now all on me!”
“Yellow Springs Spells?!” The Kasen who had fought with the Shinto sect, their faces darkened.
In the first six matches, because the power gap was too large, none of the Shinto sect’s group leaders had used this demonic spell, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t terrifying.
The Shinto sect, which had existed for thousands of years, was founded on the “Yellow Springs Spells.” This showed the power of this spell.
“Oh?” Even Minamoto Kiyomoto was surprised. “If you’ve learned all the Yellow Springs Spells, you might have a chance.”
“Not only that, I also know all the secrets of the Yellow Springs Spells. The insights of generations of group leaders are all in my head!”
Nakamura Naoto’s hands formed claws, his palms facing each other in front of his chest. The fishy-yellow, diamond-shaped remains floated between his claws.
“Here it comes!” The crowd held their breath.
They could see it clearly with their divine power, but many people still couldn’t help but stand up and lean closer.
In front of the viewing platform, almost everyone, including Itomi Yuki, pressed their eyes closer.
“Minamoto Kiyomoto, your spells may not be able to defeat you, but—”
Countless dazzling lights shot out from Nakamura Naoto’s body, and the remains of the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon began to spin with a whirring sound.
“Standing with me is the Shinto sect!”
“Nakamura! Kill him!”
“Shinto sect! Long live!”
The high-pitched roars, the rhythm of the war drums, and the heavy sound of the horns overlapped, shaking the earth, the echoes lingering.
Suddenly, at a certain moment, everything stood still. Even the waves didn’t dare to make a single sound.
In this silence, Nakamura Naoto recited the incantation of the “Demon Body Spell.”
“Heaven and earth are of the same root, all things are one!”
A fierce wind blew in their faces, and a strong sense of suffocation assailed everyone.
Those with weaker divine power, who couldn’t activate their formation spells in time, were directly blown away and fell into the sea.
In the coliseum, Minamoto Kiyomoto stood motionless, letting his clothes rustle.
He suddenly looked up. In the sky, light and shadow intertwined, actually revealing Nakamura Naoto’s sea of capacity.
“What’s that?” someone in the audience also noticed.
“Is that Nakamura? Where is he? That place looks so familiar.”
“The sea of capacity, it’s the sea of capacity!”
“Hey,” someone said in terror, “look opposite him.”
In the light and shadow, countless demons, like a thousand rivers flowing into the sea, converged into a dim yellow body.
Its beastly horns protruded, majestic and ferocious. The hundred-meter-long demonic dragon, with its dark yellow, fire-like eyes, looked down on Nakamura Naoto.
“Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon, submit to me!” the light-and-shadow Nakamura Naoto roared.
The incantations of the nine Yellow Springs demonic spells were recited on the sea of capacity.
The demons that made up the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon suddenly stopped screaming and quietly stared at Nakamura Naoto.
“It’s working!” Even the nine group leaders stood up.
The audience was in an uproar, cheering in unison.
On the government’s side, everyone held their breath, their faces solemn.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon was terrifying. To be controlled by the Shinto sect and turned into a demon body was even more terrifying.
Just then, the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon raised its tail and, with a thud, as if swatting a fly, shattered Nakamura Naoto’s capacity.
“Why? How… how is that possible?!”
“Didn’t it already submit? What happened?!”
“He clearly got all the Yellow Springs Spells and all the secrets! Why did it still not work!”
The leaders of the Shinto sect, even though they knew the chances of success were extremely low, had very ugly faces at this moment.
“All of you, listen up!” Minamoto Kiyomoto said loudly.
The crowd fell silent and turned their attention to him.
“The most basic thing about the Demon Body Spell is that one’s capacity must surpass the remains.”
“What?!”
“How can a person’s capacity surpass a yokai’s! Absolutely impossible!”
In the light and shadow, the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon opened its mouth and sucked Nakamura Naoto’s capacity into its stomach.
“This is far from enough!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice drowned out the crowd.
He took out the red-black remains of the Hakone Fire Dragon.
“The Hakone Fire Dragon, I killed it hundreds of times. It wasn’t until I couldn’t hold on any longer, and by a stroke of luck, that I barely succeeded.”
“The red-gold dragon, this western dragon, its most powerful ability is its shackles. And to subdue it, one must find the flaw in its shackles fair and square.”
As he spoke, Nakamura Naoto’s body, with a thud, fell straight onto the coliseum floor.
The remains of the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon floated above him.
The divine energy of the Yellow Springs, like a wildfire, spread, and as if a pair of hands, it grabbed at Nakamura Naoto, gradually enveloping him.
Minamoto Kiyomoto continued:
“When you’re imprisoned and unable to move, the only thing you can do is commit suicide. The only thing the red-gold dragon can’t imprison is death!”
The members of the Shinto sect looked at him in terror.
Even the official practitioners couldn’t control their emotions and were in disbelief.
Whether it was killing the Hakone Fire Dragon hundreds of times, and that inexplicable stroke of luck at the end, or choosing to commit suicide in the face of the red-gold dragon.
Who could do these things?
Just hearing about it made one’s back cold.
Once a capacity dies, it’s a true death. Who would think of suicide?
And this was just the remains of a ‘town-level’ yokai.
The Shinto sect actually deluded themselves into thinking they could subdue the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon, which was far above the ‘town-level’, with just the Yellow Springs Spells?
At this moment, the crowd finally understood why Minamoto Kiyomoto, who could obtain many yokai remains, had only two demon bodies so far.
The divine energy of the Yellow Springs, like a flame, crawled over Nakamura Naoto’s body, finally devouring him completely.
The remains in Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand also began to burst with neon lights.
An endless dazzling light suddenly erupted; thousands of rays of divine energy shot into the sky.
A fierce wind howled, the sea churned with giant waves, and rolling dark clouds gathered from the horizon.
In the blink of an eye, the ice-carved coliseum, which had been sunny and beautiful like a fairyland just now, was now like the end of the world, dark and gloomy.
The neon lights no longer expanded and slowly dissipated. The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon, which had been seen in the light and shadow just now, was now truly coiled above everyone’s heads.
Uncontrollable trembling.
Shoulders shrugged, breathing difficult, eyes wide open, eyeballs almost falling out of their sockets.
More people, scared, held their heads and screamed desperately.
Just seeing the body of the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon was enough to drive these people mad.
The nine group leaders injected their divine power into the formation spell.
The government’s side did the same.
A transparent film enveloped the audience.
Like a person who was almost suffocating at the bottom of the sea and was pulled to the surface at the last moment, the crowd gasped, terrified, and afraid.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon roared, and the divine energy of the Yellow Springs hit the protective shield, like an avalanche passing over their heads.
Confirming that the formation spell was fine, the members of the Shinto sect finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where’s Minamoto Kiyomoto?” They could finally take their eyes off themselves and focus on the battlefield again.
The coliseum, enveloped in the divine energy of the Yellow Springs, the ice blocks condensed by the group leaders, began to crack and fly like scattered stones.
Takei manipulated the camera, searching for Minamoto Kiyomoto everywhere.
Everyone’s heart was in their throat.
“Could he be dead? Without using the Demon Body Spell, he’s only been training for half a year!”
“It’s possible. Without the Demon Body Spell, he probably wouldn’t even be a match for me.”
Itomi Yuki clenched her fists in her room, her spirited eyes filled with panic;
Ayako was almost pressed against the screen, her face pale.
“There!”
The camera zoomed in at once.
A huge block of ice flying close to the ground was suddenly stepped on by a right leg. It was Minamoto Kiyomoto.
The wind roared, and the broken ice was like a rain of arrows. The divine energy of the Yellow Springs was overwhelming. He stood with one foot on the ice block, looking up at the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon in the sky.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time, you beast. Let me put a leash on you.”
“Roar!” a roar, and the divine energy of the volcano enveloped Minamoto Kiyomoto.
Bang! He turned into a red-black ray of light and shot towards the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon stopped roaring and, as casually as it had shattered Nakamura Naoto, it whipped towards Minamoto Kiyomoto.
Boom! A sky full of neon lights exploded, and the red-black ray of light was thrown to the horizon.
“Roar—” the red-black divine energy dispersed, and a hundred-meter-long giant dragon roared at the sky.
Without any hesitation, it dived straight down.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon let out an angry hiss and charged head-on.
Boom!
The world spun, and the explosion resounded across the sea. The brilliant divine energy swept in all directions.
“What happened?” Itomi Yuki’s eyes widened.
Everyone was waiting for the result.
They didn’t wait for the wave of light to dissipate. The sound of the next collision had already come again.
Not just this one sound!
One after another.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
Like giant fireworks, they exploded in the sky one by one.
The two dragons soared, and in an instant, they had collided no less than ten times. The people hiding in the formation spell were so shaken that their heads were spinning.
Those with weak divine power were hit by the sound waves, which contained no divine energy, and their bones were about to break.
The seawater exploded, the cliffs crumbled, and a storm appeared out of thin air.
Finally, the neon lights between heaven and earth dissipated. Under the rolling dark clouds and in the raging hurricane, the crowd saw the figures of the two dragons.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon’s body was oozing a dim yellow mist. That was its blood.
The red-black fire dragon was in a worse state.
Its horns were broken, one of its claws was missing, and a ten-meter-long wound on its body was constantly flowing with lava.
The lava dripped onto the sea surface, creating puffs of white mist.
“Hahaha!”
“We’ve won!”
“A little loach dares to compete with our divine beast!”
Excited cheers erupted from the Shinto sect.
The sound of horns and war drums resounded in the coliseum again.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon slowly swam in the air. It stared at the Hakone Fire Dragon as if it were a piece of meat that had been cut too large, looking for a place to bite.
At this moment, in the eyes of the crowd, the Hakone Fire Dragon was like a stray dog that had been run over by a car, limping and whimpering as it walked to the side of the road.
High-speed vehicles kept driving past it.
The Suiten Miko looked at the Ise Miko and said, “Surrender. A ‘town-level’ is no match for a ‘prefecture-level’.”
The others also looked at her.
In all of Japan, the Divine Medium’s status was above the Twelve Shrine Maidens, but she was, after all, from Kanto. When it came to Kyushu, only the Ise Miko of Kansai could truly make the decision.
“What do you think?” Himegami Izayoi tapped her palm with her fan and asked Kamibayashi Miko.
Amidst the ecstatic cheers of the Shinto sect, Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto in the sky. He was panting heavily.
“I don’t care who rules Kyushu. I only care about his safety,” she said faintly.
“But you choose not to surrender?” Himegami Izayoi laughed.
The two of them looked at the Hakone Fire Dragon at the same time. It was panting heavily, not out of fear, but out of excitement.
Minamoto Kiyomoto’s whole body was numb, the pain tearing him apart.
“Hahahaha!” he let out a wild laugh.
The Shinto sect had to stop cheering and looked at him with surprise and doubt.
The Hakone Fire Dragon raised its forearm, which had lost its claw, and licked it excitedly.
Now, everyone understood its expression.
Before they could react.
“Roar—” the dragon’s cry was like a thunderclap.
The Hakone Fire Dragon charged up again.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon was furious, as if a god had been offended. With a hiss, its tail flew up and whipped towards the Hakone Fire Dragon like a hurricane.
The Hakone Fire Dragon didn’t dodge. Its half-broken horn met the attack head-on.
Bang!
The Hakone Fire Dragon was sent flying, its horns completely broken. A few fragments pierced into the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon’s hammer-like tail.
“Ah!” the crowd couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Roar—” the Hakone Fire Dragon didn’t give itself any respite and charged up again.
“Is he trying to get himself killed?!” some of the people in the Shinto sect roared in terror.
That little dog with a broken leg, a cripple, didn’t curl up and tremble, didn’t whimper and run away. It actually dared to stand in the middle of the road and bare its fangs at the oncoming car.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
The sound of fierce collisions rang out again.
The divine energy was like a storm, like a dreamlike, brilliant firework, covering the entire sky.
“Crazy, crazy, crazy!”
“He’s a madman!”
“He’s not Minamoto Kiyomoto at all. He’s also been devoured by a yokai. That’s right, that must be it!”
Above the crowd, the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon was panting. Its ferocious beastly horns were actually chipped.
And opposite it, the Hakone Fire Dragon’s body was almost broken in half, its lower body connected only by a small amount of flesh.
“Is… is it over?” Fatty, who had long been scared out of his wits, said blankly.
The crowd also waited with bated breath, staring at the sky in dead silence.
“Don’t get in my way!” the Hakone Fire Dragon roared ferociously.
“Hey, is it fake?” someone asked blankly.
“It must be a dream,” the person next to him also couldn’t believe the scene before them.
The Hakone Fire Dragon, no, it was Minamoto Kiyomoto, turned its head, its eyes shooting out red light, and actually burned off the lower half of its own body.
The nearly sixty-meter-long remnant, with a thud, crashed onto the coliseum, and also into the hearts of the crowd.
“Roar!” the Hakone Fire Dragon roared in pain.
In this roar, the official practitioners felt a burning sensation on their cheeks, as if their blood had rushed to their heads.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!” they roared in unison.
The momentum was earth-shaking. The huge lighthouse standing on the coast couldn’t help but tremble in this roar.
The Hakone Fire Dragon charged up again, with half a body.
Boom!
A roar, and the crowd roared with excitement!
The Hakone Fire Dragon was sent flying. Having lost half its body, its agility was instantly reduced, and it couldn’t immediately control its body.
As it was sent flying, its dragon eyes widened in anger.
Its body was moving away, but the red light in its eyes, its fighting spirit, shot towards the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon from a great distance.
Such fighting spirit was no longer just high!
It was ferocious!
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon hissed and, braving the scorching rays, charged towards the Hakone Fire Dragon.
It bit down on the Hakone Fire Dragon and plunged into the sea.
The crowd quickly stood up. Before they could see clearly, the sea surface rippled with incomparably brilliant neon lights.
Boom! A thousand-meter-high giant wave, like a world wall, rose up on the sea surface.
Another loud bang, and the huge sea surface, like a pot, boiled and bubbled.
It was impossible to tell if it was the roar of the Hakone Fire Dragon or the hiss of the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon. In the midst of the whistling sound, the two dragons shot into the sky again.
Like lightning, they broke through the dark clouds.
The dark clouds were pierced through, and the sky’s light shone on them like a spotlight.
The Hakone Fire Dragon was covered in blood, and its half-body was even smaller.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon hissed, its ferocious and majestic beastly horns broken, its front claws broken, and the dragon scales on its side were gone.
Even so, the two dragons still collided fiercely.
It was as if they weren’t fighting, but seeking death.
Chilling. No one could not be chilled.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon was one thing. Its injuries were light, and it was a yokai, so it was naturally ferocious. But what was wrong with Minamoto Kiyomoto?
That was a person!
A person, why could he fight to this extent!
The fury had reached its peak. They roared and danced wildly, destroying everything around them.
The Hakone Fire Dragon roared, and meteors whistled through the air, falling from the sky, about to destroy the world.
The Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon opened its giant mouth, swallowed thousands of demons, and spat out an ultimate ray. The sea became a dead land.
The mountains crumbled, the giant waves were like a deluge, and the scattered stones whistled. The entire Earth seemed to be trembling.
Boom!
It was impossible to remember how many times they had collided. The Hakone Fire Dragon, with only its head left, was thrown onto the coliseum and never flew up again.
The government’s side was in dead silence.
“Did… did we win?” Rabbit asked blankly, her mouth agape.
“I think so,” Yuka replied hesitantly.
How many times had they thought the Hakone Fire Dragon had lost, but it had always managed to get back up.
After a long time, the Hakone Fire Dragon’s divine energy began to dissipate, and the dark clouds receded.
“We won… we won! We won!” the Shinto sect finally relaxed and cheered.
“We won!” they hugged each other and cheered.
“Little brother!” the Suiten-gu Miko was about to rush onto the field.
“What’s the hurry,” Himegami Izayoi raised her fan-holding hand and stopped her.
Itomi Yuki clasped her hands together in a prayer-like posture. On the screen in front of her was the motionless, dissipating head of the Hakone Fire Dragon.
“Exciting! So exciting!”
“This guy named Minamoto Kiyomoto is so fierce! It got my blood boiling!”
“Although he’s no match at all, it’s enough to prove his ability!”
“This is a battle between yokai!!!”
A human figure struggled out from the head of the Hakone Fire Dragon.
“Haha…” Minamoto Kiyomoto panted, his hand on the half-dissipated dragon head.
The cheers suddenly stopped.
The crowd looked at him blankly.
Minamoto Kiyomoto slowly straightened up, his panting gradually ceasing.
His long hair, bound by the Laurel Crown, flew in the wind. He looked up at the Yellow Springs Demonic Dragon in the sky.
He took out a golden gem.
“Next—”
The golden gem bloomed with light.
“is the second round.”
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