Chapter 42: You’ve Lost Your Peak Strength...

When Leo's single attack hit Nue's chest, the sword, which was covered in thunder, sliced through the hard impenetrable skin, leaving Nue stunned.

His attack, which was about to land on Leo's neck, slowed for a second due to the wound inflicted on Nue's chest.

Glimmer~

Leo's red eyes started to glimmer. Nue noticed there was a single tomoe rotating rapidly.

"How... how is this possible?"

Immediately retracting and putting some distance between himself and Leo with a tense look, Nue couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief.

Many emotions, which he had not felt for thousands of years, started to manifest within him.

Umm~

Nue, with narrowed eyes, tried to regenerate back to his perfect condition using his regeneration ability.

"You were able to wound me... I am impressed. Now the fight should end."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Nue turned towards Leo and stated calmly.

Although he was able to close the wound, instead of his hard skin, the area was covered in black muscle tissue, which his body was rejecting.

"____"

Noticing that the situation was not going in his favour and that his body was rejecting regeneration for some reason, Nue couldn't pinpoint the cause.

He decided to end the fight quickly, then go to hell to rest, heal himself, and return to create the society where Yokai would rule over humans.

But his body was absorbing the fear in the environment like crazy, which started to radiate in gold, increasing with each passing second.

Boom~

After gathering an enormous amount of fear, it exploded, annihilating everything in its radius.

Leo didn't move away from the impact of the explosion and instead moved forward, heading towards the centre of it.

If he needed to get near Nue to finish him off, he had to move to the heart of the explosion.

Nue stood, watching Leo carefully, not taking his eyes off him.

Nue had a nagging feeling in his gut that if he lost track of Leo, he might lose his head.

As the explosion's impact hit Leo and engulfed him in the golden aura of Nue's fear, the light from the explosion blinded the whole of Kyoto.

Everyone from the continental side watching this scene became tense, worried about their leader, who was caught in the explosion.

Meanwhile, the Kyoto yokai, who were on Nue's side and being suppressed from all sides, breathed a sigh of relief and started shouting to cheer for Nue.

If the opposition leader died, the fight would be over, and they would emerge as the victors of this war, the first step towards achieving the dream world Nue and Jizo had described.

Hahahaha~

'This is it... this is it...'

With an excited laugh, while the huge eye on his forehead moved back and forth in excitement, Jizo looked at the explosion site, which was now covered in dust clouds.

"Hey, fucker... we have a score to settle."

His anticipation was interrupted by a voice from behind him.

Foosh~

In a flash, Jizo's hand, which was holding Nue's sword, was sent flying while a black mist of fear poured from the wound.

Ahhh~

"My hand!!! Brat... do you have a death wish?"

Jizo shouted, looking at Rikuo, who had cut off his hand when he let his guard down, watching his lord's magnificent explosion.

Jizo had let his guard down because no one was as good at hiding their presence as he was. Even Hagoromo Gitsune and Nurarihyon would have difficulty locating him.

If he didn't choose to reveal himself or attack, no one could find him.

Using this ability, he spied on Rihan and found the right opportunity to plot his death inside the Nura clan.

He even executed the plan perfectly and escaped with Hagoromo Gitsune without anyone tracing them.

Somehow, Nurarihyon had managed to find the reason behind Rihan's death, but on his lucky day, Nurarihyon only discovered the half-truth that Hagoromo Gitsune was involved.

Nurarihyon was defeated by Hagoromo Gitsune and received permanent damage.

Using this opportunity, Jizo manipulated Nurarihyon's memory, as well as that of the Nura clan members, making it hazy.

This allowed them to carry out their plan without any interference.

'What's gone wrong? Why is this happening now? Our victory is right around the corner.'

As Jizo pondered what was going wrong with his plan, wondering why he was being assaulted before seeing their dream society come to fruition, Rikuo interrupted his thoughts.

"I can't believe an old fucker like you who can't even hold a sword properly. For some reason, looking at you disgusts me..."

With a disgusted look on his face, Rikuo cursed the old man, his red eyes beaming with killing intent.

The scene of his father lying in a pool of blood, which had haunted him for the past eight years, surfaced.

Now, he was ready to confront the nightmare that had plagued him all this time.

Grip~

Rikuo's grip on his sword tightened, and he prepared to launch an attack at Jizo, whose face was covered in dark lines.

Hahaha~

Suddenly, Jizo started to laugh loudly, looking at Rikuo like a fool.

"Kid, don't judge me by my appearance. I admit I let my guard down earlier, but don't forget I am Sanmoto Gorozaemon, one of the worst enemies your father took years to defeat."

With evil laughter, as if he had gone mad, Jizo's fear mixed with his killing intent began to fill the air.

Rikuo could feel the full weight of Jizo's fear and killing aura, which intensified as Jizo prepared to attack.

"____"

Rikuo froze. This was the first time he had faced an opponent with such overwhelming fear and murderous intent.

"Do you know how much I regret your father's death?"

With venom dripping from his words, Jizo took slow, deliberate steps towards Rikuo, the big red eye on his forehead glowing with a golden pupil, sending hypnotic waves toward Rikuo, who was still frozen in place.

Blink~

With a blink, Rikuo found himself inside an illusion, his eyes turning white, indicating he was in no state to fight.

On Leo's side...

As the smoke from the explosion began to settle, the destruction of many buildings became evident.

After a few seconds, Nue was floating in the air, but Leo's sword had pierced through his heart. A look of disbelief spread across Nue's face.

Cough~ cough~

"How did you escape..."

Cough~

"...my attack?"

Cough~ cough~

Nue coughed between sentences, his face full of disbelief as he stared at Leo, who stood before him, his wounds rapidly regenerating.

On the other hand, Nue's body was falling apart. His body was rejecting the regeneration, and his cells were dying rapidly due to the constant rejection.

Spit~

"With this level of strength, you're still dreaming of defeating me? Mama's boy, you're just a jerk who doesn't know how to be content."

Spitting on the ground, Leo pulled his sword upward, slicing through Nue's head.

Thud~

With black mist pouring out of his body, Nue fell powerless to the ground.

"____"

"____"

"____"

There was pin-drop silence. The war paused for a moment as everyone's eyes were on Nue, who lay defeated on the ground.

"Yeah!!! We won! Leo-sama has killed the leader of the enemy!"

One of the yokai from the continental side snapped out of his stupor and shouted excitedly.

After a moment...

"Yeah~!"

"Yeehaa~!"

"Ahhha~!"

The energy levels of the continental hotel members skyrocketed as they began to mercilessly attack and kill the yokai who had supported Nue and betrayed Hagoromo Kitsune.

On the other side, the yokai who had once supported Nue desperately tried to flee, knowing they would be killed if caught.

On Rikuo's side...

"Due to special circumstances, Hagoromo Gitsune killed him... but now you stand before me, carrying the same face as your father. It's like... I can finally fulfil my vengeance by killing you..."

After trapping Rikuo in his illusion, Jizo was about to deliver a fatal strike, intending to end Rikuo's life once and for all.

But his plan was interrupted by a massive commotion from across the battlefield.

'No way... how could Lord Nue lose?'

Listening to the commotion, Jizo's eyes widened in shock. He immediately turned to look at where Leo and Nue had been fighting.

"____"

He stood frozen in place, seeing his lord, whom he had considered the pinnacle of existence and power, lying defeated on the ground with Leo's sword impaled in his chest.

"My lord!!!"

Grit~

Panic took over Jizo as he immediately attempted to rush to the battlefield to help his fallen lord, Nue.

"Oh... Leo has finally stopped his play, huh? Where do you think you're going, Sanmoto Gorozaemon?"

An erratic voice came out of nowhere, sending chills down Jizo's spine.

"What??? Nurarihyon... you finally showed up, huh? Don't even think about fighting me, Nurarihyon. You've lost your peak strength... if you fight me, you're the one who's going to go down."

Seeing he was about to be interrupted by Nurarihyon, who had been hiding his presence, Jizo braced himself.

Hoho~

"Is that so?"

Suddenly, Nurarihyon started to become visible to Jizo's eyes.

"____"

"How? How are you young... how did your injury heal?"

With a shocked look on his face, Jizo stared at Nurarihyon, who looked at him with a little smirk, his one eye closed calmly.

What surprised Jizo was that Nurarihyon was no longer in his old, short form. He was significantly taller.

His hair was very similar to Rihan and Rikuo's yōkai form—long and protruding outward from the back of his head.

The top half of his hair was goldish-white, while the bottom half was black.

Nurarihyon's outfit consisted of a red cloak over a black kimono and zōri, with a three-eyed, three-tailed wolf draped around his shoulders like a shawl.

Black ink-like markings could be seen around his eyes and in his hair.

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(Author's POV)

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