Chapter 70: The Mantis stalks the Cicada...

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[Roka Yuki's POV]

At first, I felt everything turn numb as Princess Takayama fell forward, frothing from the poison. Then, we were attacked, and I felt my rage rise and fuel my jutsu as I created a bigger barrier than ever to stop the spear wielder from attacking us.

The world quickly turned red for me, and even as the legendary Juzo Biwa, who felled the Red Demon of Konoha, arrived, I did not feel any fear. I only felt anger.

Takayama didn't deserve this. They didn't know her like I did. She told me how she had to face the world alone, how she was betrayed by everyone she ever knew.

I had promised I would protect her, but I could do nothing but watch as she was killed.

I've been taught again and again to suppress my emotions, but I've had enough. She did not deserve this ending, she was destined for great things, great things we would have reached together…

I felt a stronger connection with my ice than ever as I created a massive iceberg to smash into the spear user, but he was strong. With a swipe of his spear, he created a fire tornado, melting my ice in seconds.

Staring at his face, I only felt hatred. He was one of those who caused her death.

The older man was only looking at me with condescending eyes as he said, "Get out of my way kid."

I gritted my teeth and slammed my palms together, creating a set of mirrors around us.

"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"

Taking a step back, I entered one of the mirrors, and saw the man's expression turn ugly. But after a moment he snickered, "You ninjas don't know how to fight like men. Let me show you what a Bender can do."

Benders, they were a fearsome group of Chakra wielders, the second most spread out type of fighters. They mostly made the ranks of the nobles' armies, and fought on the battlefield.

They were especially dangerous with the way they were capable of bending elements to their movements, which almost perfectly blended Ninjutsu and Taijutsu.

There were harsh drawbacks to Benders though. They did not use the Tenketsu the same way we did, and their chakra was not neutral anymore. Instead, they would transform their neutral Chakra into Elemental Chakra, meaning they would only ever be able to manipulate a single element.

But this gave them a greater affinity to said element than any ninja. Even my connection to ice wasn't as strong as bender's connection to their element.

This Bender was strong, undoubtedly stronger than me at least, but he had crossed a limit he shouldn't, and that's why he will die today.

The Bender twirled his spear around himself, quickly forming a circle of flames around himself. In response, I started quickly moving in between the mirrors, throwing large ice spicks at him from all sides.

The circle of flames slowed down the projectiles though, giving the Bender enough time to deflect them into the mirrors.

But they only merged back into the mirrors as they hit them.

The Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals Jutsu is the secret technique of my Yuki Clan, it can't be broken so easily. The easiest way to do so would be a simultaneous attack from both inside and outside, but unfortunately for him, my teammates were taking care of those outside.

Weaving several handsigns rapidly, I began moving at high speed in between the mirrors as I fired a Wind Cutter at him.

The Bender created a wall of fire in front of him, and my attack only strengthened it, but that was my aim. While he blocked his front with the wall of fire, I instantly appeared in the mirror behind him, and launched myself toward his back, blade first.

But to my shock, as I was about to skewer him, he barely moved to the side, just enough for my blade to only scratch his side. Before I knew it, his elbow smashed into my guts, and he grabbed me by my feet to smash me into the ground.

I felt several bones in my left arm shatter, but I bit my tongue through the pain to kick him in the ribs. He obviously didn't expect the attack as I successfully landed the hit.

An explosion of ice sent him flying into one of my mirrors, which worked in a way that he felt the full force of the impact, yet he also rebounded back just as fast.

He was an experienced fighter though as he readjusted himself in the air and pointed his spear towards me, a dragon head made out of fire materializing itself.

Using the little time I had, I turned my attack into defence as my fist relaxed into a palm as a new mirror appeared in front of me.

The fire dragon head melted a part of the mirror, allowing passage for the spear, and although I could dodge, I decided not to.

The spear pierced through my arm, while I slammed my palm towards the Bender's chest. A fraction of a second later, my palm slammed into his chest, stopping him in place.

His chest visibly caved in from my strike, his bones and every organ they were protecting were smashed.

He landed on his knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood, while I struggled to get up. I looked at my arm, and found it to be barely hanging, and I couldn't feel it at all. Moreover, healing was going to be difficult, because the wound had been cauterized by the hot spear blade.

I frowned and fell back to my knees, too tired to keep myself on my feet. Damn it, I didn't realize this fight had tired me so much.

Waving my hand to the side, the mirrors disappeared, revealing to me what had happened outside while I was fighting.

Most of the mercenaries were dead, only a few were still standing, but only one member of my team was left. And they were all in bad shape and only managed to stand because they leaned on walls.

Turning my head the other way, to the bigger fight, I saw Kisame and Juzo were both still standing up, although with difficulty, and Juzo was missing an arm while Kisame's upper clothes had been shred apart, revealing a long gash on his side, as well as recently healed scars.

The room itself was pretty much destroyed, probably because of the two's fight, but as I looked towards the main table, where the Daimyo sat, I saw something was amiss.

The Daimyo was still face down against the table, although his head had somehow been smashed in the fights. However, right next to him, was the severed head of the Mistress, frozen in shock. I'm not sure whether I imagined it in my shock, but there seemed to be a faint red mist, slowly disappearing, as if taking away the Mistress' soul with it.

But more importantly, I couldn't see any trace of Takayama's body. Not a single speck of blood was where she was supposed to be.

But as I started panicking and was searching for Takayama, I heard a gasp of pain.

Looking back towards Kisame and Juzo, I saw both Kisame and Juzo looking at the later's chest in shock. The reason was a small arm protruding through it, a still beating heart clenched in the hand.

With a squeeze, the heart was crushed, and Juzo fell forward, revealing Takayama was standing behind him, her arm covered in blood as she looked at his body coldly.

How? I…

But before I could even understand what was going on, her eyes locked onto me, and as I was about to call out to her, she disappeared, and the world started spinning as I started flying.

Whose body is that? I don't remember seeing anyone decapitated around me, and why is Takayama standing next to it…

And came the darkness.