Chapter 28

Blake stared at the approaching tide of enemies, frowning as he held onto his axe. One single man stood in the face of an army of a thousand puppets, not backing down but instead walking forward.

Blake still had one last ace up his sleeve, and it was probably the best time to reveal it. Shadows extended towards him from the surroundings, encompassing him entirely, seeping into his skin.

Blake had turned black entirely, and only his white mask remained unchanged. Glancing down at his own body, Blake felt stronger than ever, almost as if he could lift a mountain or reach the moon with a simple jump.

This was the technique that he had learned not long ago. He covered his entire body in the shadows, thus enchanting every aspect of himself. However, it came with a huge drawback, as Chaos Energy was depleting at a tremendous pace. He probably had less than four minutes before it dried out.

"Now we are talking!" Sasori shouted from the distance as the puppets finally reached Blake. However, Blake simply lifted his axe up, brown light coloring it, and swung. Tens of puppets got destroyed in one attack, yet they kept on coming, unemotional and uncaring for their lives.

Blake dodged easily, continuing to counterattack with dreadful swings. Maneuvering through the hundreds of incoming blades, Blake always managed to escape with the least number of injuries. Puppets, on the other hand, weren't so lucky as hundreds of them had already fallen.

However, it was not enough. Blake had to show more and be stronger. Pushing force into his legs, Blake rushed into the abomination of puppets, severing their hands, kicking them, punching them. They fell like dominos, not even managing to register how they had been killed.

Sakura stared at this scene from a distance, her mouth wide open. It was almost like Blake could glance into the future and predict the enemy's attack, for, no matter how dreadful the situation was, he would always find a way out.

'Perhaps it might be possible.' Sakura turned her hand into a fist, determination arising within her.

Blake danced around the enemy, operated through death. Yet, no matter how beautiful this battle looked from the outside, Blake was struggling. His body was growing tired, and it took more and more time to respond to his instincts.

The battle was slowly turning not in his favor, while his Chaos Energy was depleting at an even faster pace. The darkness started slipping away from his neck, revealing white skin underneath. It was getting harder to breathe, as he couldn't rest even for a second.

Blake ducked, pushing darkness into his axe as it merged with the brown light. Then, he rotated 360 degrees, killing seven puppets while doing so. No experience was gained throughout this whatsoever, as puppets weren't considered living beings.

'I can't spend any more time here. I need to attack Sasori.' Blake thought, glancing at Sasori who was simply standing on a rock, staring back at him with a smile. More darkness slipped away from his chest, but it moved towards his legs instead.

Blake hunched a bit and then flew off toward Sasori, ignoring the puppets encircling him. However, even more of these bastards appeared in his way, blocking any path of advancement. He attacked them with his weapon, killing a few before once again having to dodge.

Those from the back caught up to him, and Blake found himself surrounded again. The darkness slipped away from Blake's figure altogether, as he no longer could contain it with his Chaos Energy.

Now that his body and reflexes became weaker, Blake was getting completely overwhelmed by the puppets. Deadly attacks were getting closer, while Blake's senses were getting duller. The continuous usage of two authorities made him feel dizzy, and Blake felt like he was gonna throw up soon.

All it took was a simple misstep.

The puppets rushed at him like wild beasts and he could escape their wrath no longer. A blade penetrated him from behind and blood spurted in every direction. The attack itself wasn't deadly, but the poison spreading through his system was.

Blake struggled to breathe, as he fell face-forth against the ground with a thud. The puppets didn't continue attacking him, for Sasori knew that he was done for either way. He liked to work with living beings.

At that moment, as Blake remained unmoving, Sasori glanced into the air. A pink-haired woman was flying his way, seemingly thinking that Sasori hadn't noticed her beforehand. She came out of the darkness a few seconds ago, and Blake's clone threw her into the air.

Perhaps they thought that Sasori wouldn't have expected an attack from the air, but, well, he was especially observant after almost getting killed. Sasori pointed his hand towards her, as it suddenly transformed into a dreadful blade, poison covering it entirely.

"The same trick won't work on me twice,"

As his cool voice spread through the cave, Sasori stabbed Sakura in the chest, her face showing signs of disbelief. He smirked and threw her towards the ground, uncaring for her anymore. It was the end. Yet another battle won.

Sasori closed his eyes momentarily, relaxing a bit. However, that feeling lasted not long, as he felt the chakra strings on his chest moving again. His eyes sprung open immediately, as he turned his head towards Blake.

However, what he saw shocked him. There was a dark axe flying his way at an unfathomable speed.

His instincts kicked in, but his body couldn't move. Sparing a glance down, he saw Sakura staring back at him, holding his legs in place. There was blood spurting out of her chest, yet she remained conscious.

Sasori didn't have enough time to do anything else other than put his blade-like hand in the way of the approaching weapon. Yet, once they collided, his hands were pushed away like nuisances, as he felt like he was trying to stop a mountain.

The axe was unhindered by anything. It stabbed into Sasori's created heart, dismembering him into many little parts. Just like that, he died, and the last thing that he saw was Blake's figure standing in between the puppets.