With Dodai temporarily pinned, Shiki had free reign to handle Ay.
'Can't expect Mei to keep an Elite Jonin busy for long, even with battlefield advantage. Got to handle this quickly.' The boy thought to himself.
The situation developed in such a way that splitting the Kumo pair and pushing Ay away worked out the best but Shiki had limited time to handle him, the boy however, had something just right for the situation.
He had been slowly adapting the taijutsu kata, or forms, of the Dragon Gate Style to be utilized along with chakra.
The Hidden Dragon Kata used tricky movements that made dodging and blocking extremely difficult but lacked the power to harm opponents with high defense such as the lightning clad shinobi of the Raikage's lineage.
On the opposite end of the spectrum however, existed the Raging Dragon Kata, simple and direct movements designed to maximize speed and power in order to directly overwhelm enemies, a taijutsu form for slaughtering several opponents in a short amount of time.
Its only major downside was that it burned through stamina extremely quickly, meaning it could only be used for short decisive battles.
Integrating chakra into it only magnified its advantages and disadvantages, a trend Shiki was starting to get worried about as the Ryumon clan had a lot of double edged techniques.
The boy had yet to fully master this new Kata and required Dragon Heart to be active in its enhancement mode in order to properly use which made it even more chakra intensive but he felt that now was the time.
'Trial by fire. Let's do this." Shiki internally psyched himself up.
'Nirvana Art: Dragon Heart - Boost'
Glowing blue veins spread across the boy's body, forcefully infusing large amounts of chakra into every cell to the point of them starting to burst and self-destruct.
In exchange for that self-harm, a midnight blue chakra aura covered the boy's body like the initial chakra release of a jinchuriki before the Tailed beast cloak emerged.
The massive surge immediately drew the attention of both Kumo shinobi, opening up Dodai for Mei to attack and warning Ay of the imminent beatdown.
In order to add chakra to the Raging Dragon Kata, Shiki applied the general concept of Flicker Flash, meaning quick but intense bursts of chakra from specific tenketsu all across the body and then took to the extreme.
Pressurized chakra was violently expelled from the boy's feet, obliterating the rock he was standing on and pushing him forward with straight line speed exceeding his Flicker Phantom.
The only thing Ay's reflexes enabled him to do was cross his arms in defense as a chakra jet powered punch was launched at his face.
But it was not over.
At the moment of impact, a burst of chakra was unleashed from Shiki's fist to amplify power and damage.
But unlike Flicker Flash which used this burst and the speed bonus to barely match Chakra Enhanced Strength, the punch resulted in a veritable chakra cannon, creating a blast of midnight blue chakra that sent Ay flying.
"Argh!"
The pressurized blast of chakra managed to "burn" his arms through the Lightning Armor cladding his body.
'What the hell was that!?' Ay had never seen such a fighting style before.
But before he could think further on the matter, Shiki came down from above.
The Kumo teenager used his Lightning Body Flicker to dodge to the side.
'The advantage of speed disappears mid-air amateur.' Ay thought.
But with a jet of chakra, the white haired boy's descent accelerated, unleashing a chakra cloaked axe kick.
The actual blow did not connect but the massive midnight blue chakra blast struck the escaping Ay, sending him flying even though this time, his Lightning Armor managed to block most of the damage.
This allowed him to recover much faster than before, and the Kumo teenager managed to amp himself up to his current maximum with the Lightning Chakra Mode in preparation for Shiki's next assault.
But the expected onslaught did not come.
Instead, from within the dust cloud of the downward kick, a destructive beam of compressed midnight blue chakra tore its way through the air, impacting Ay dead-on, once again sending him tumbling through the rocky terrain.
At the site of the now dispersed dust cloud, Shiki still held a punching position, his fist smoking like the barrel of a cannon.
This was the true power of the Ragin Dragon Kata, not only a massive increase in speed and power but even more importantly, range.
However . . .
'My current physique can't take much more of this.' The boy thought.
His body was tearing itself apart on the inside.
More specifically, the highly compressed and violent chakra he was forcing through his veins into every part of his body was damaging Shiki more and more with each of his attacks.
'And that damnable Lightning Armor is not only reducing the damage of my attacks, it is completely blocking the secondary effect.' He inwardly complained.
Normally, his chakra would be forced into the opponent's body in a manner akin to an ultra-violent form of Gentle Fist for massive internal damage and blockage in chakra flow but clearly, the Lightning Chakra Mode's defenses were preventing that.
'I need to hit him hard, directly. A regular direct hit damaged him before, if I use my finishing move, I can one shot him.' Shiki planned.
But he needed to set it up perfectly. This move would likely cause serious damage to himself as well so the boy had to ensure he would not miss.
*
Standing up again, Ay was enraged beyond belief.
The only injury he got was from that first punch he guarded and he had already adjusted to the pain, nearly eliminating any effect on his combat performance.
But even then . . .
'For me . . . The inheritor of the Ay name, a wielder of the Lightning Chakra Mode, to be toyed around by a much faster opponent, one less than half my age at that . . .'
"UNFORGIVABLE!"
Suddenly shouting out in rage, Ay amped up his Lightning Enhancement beyond his limit, the electricity escaping his control and scorching his flesh but boosting his speed, power and reactions to a level incomparable to before.
Lightning Body Flickering forward, he charged at Shiki's previous position with far greater speed.
But the white haired boy, relying on his Kukyo - Five Senses, still managed to react and with the bursts from the Raging Dragon Kata, he could still keep up, even if barely.
A high level exchange of taijutsu followed.
Ay kept up the pressure with continuous high speed combos, preventing Shiki from charging up powerful blows while the white haired boy used his bursts to create a chakra cladding that could block the electricity accompanying each of his opponents strikes.
Unlike before however, the fight was looking much more even now.
The Raging Dragon Kata focused on overwhelming with superior speed and power but when the opponent could keep up, its effectiveness was greatly diminished.
Additionally, Dragon Heart's internal damage issue made it impossible to use shadow clones since any he created in such a state would immediately be popped from internal damage.
However . . .
Was someone as blackhearted as Shiki really just straight up slugging it out with an equal opponent?
Ay had no time for considerations though.
This kind of ultra close quarters fight was his only way to match his opponent so he desperately stuck to the white haired boy, tirelessly launching a continuous barrage of blows, burning his stamina in the hopes Shiki would get hit before he ran out or Dodai would come to support.
On his side, Shiki was not at all afraid of a battle of attrition but the longer he took to handle Ay, the more risk Mei faced.
'Come on, come on. Keep chasing me, meathead.' The white haired boy viciously thought as he calmly blocked Ay's frenzied assault.
His chakra was depleting fast and his body was starting to fail from the backlash of his Dragon Heart - Boost but Shiki's mind was still ice cold, plotting the imminent fall of his opponent . . .
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -