'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.
The trap was already set, the boy had not hung around in the dust cloud made by his ground kick instead of pressing the attack for a reason.
And now, with each taijutsu exchange, every block, every dodge, every backstep only served to lure Ay to the ideal position where the prepared trap could be sprung.
Normal traps could hardly faze jonin level shinobi like the two of them but . . .
'Dragon Gate Sealing Style: Coiling Dragon Seal'
In an instant six paper tags placed in a circular formation burst into midnight blue flame, engraving a coiling dragon-like pattern upon the ground with Ay and Shiki at its center.
But while the white haired boy felt nothing, the same could not be said for his opponent.
Immediately, Ay could feel his physical body being weighted down, the air around him, the very space felt thicker and harder to move around in even his chakra flow became sluggish and threatened to stall completely.
The Kumo shinobi resisted, trading injuries in exchange for further amping, preventing the seal from fully taking hold.
In fact, it seemed that in a few seconds he would burst free completely, the seal had only been set up hastily with a couple of paper tags after all.
The question was . . . Would Shiki, who was waiting for this precise moment, fail to capitalize on this dangerous gap?
Backstepping with a powerful burst to build up distance, the white haired boy took up a stance akin to a long and low stride with both hands on the ground.
His next move was his most powerful chakra enhanced taijutsu so he based it on the mightiest taijutsu move he knew of, Night Guy.
And though Shiki could not bend space with the power of his body nor with the potency of his chakra, he could still dish out an awe inspiring move.
Launching himself forward, his entire body exploding with a massive burst of midnight blue chakra, forming a dragon shaped rocket, accelerating beyond his usual max speed in an instant.
The boy tore through the air, the chakra jetting pushing his speed more and more despite the fact that he was mid air.
Such a flashy move deserved an equally pretentious name, one even a xianxia protagonist could be proud of though Shiki still kept to his principle of never shouting his moves out loud.
'This is my . . . Flash of The Heaven Soaring Dragon!'
Like a meteor crashing down from the sky, Shiki fell upon Ay.
The Kumo teenager had his Lightning Chakra Mode at maximum output to the point of self harm, trying to break free. Consequently, his Lightning Armor defenses were also at their highest.
But that was all part of the plan, Shiki needed him to survive, forcing Ay to tank Flash of The Heaven Soaring Dragon with his strongest defense was the script the boy had written.
The Kumo teenager raised his crossed arms above his head, bracing himself but in his heart, the results couldn't be more obvious.
The whole battle had been meticulously planned and Ay did not think his opponent was one to mess up at the critical final moment.
And he was right.
A great blast of eerie midnight blue, akin to a colorful meteorite impact flattened the area as Shiki's kick crashed into Ay's guard.
Time seemed to dilate in that moment as the Kumo teenager first felt his Lighting Armor give way before his arms shattered, crushed against his chest that shattered next.
But what followed was by far the worst, the invasion of Shiki's horrifying void chakra, ravaging his chakra network and piling on even more internal damage.
And like so, Ay's consciousness left him as he fell into a coma at the center of a giant crater, his entire body badly mangled and covered in blood.
Beside him, Shiki's Dragon Heart - Boost finally fizzled out, sending a wave of soul crushing pain through his body, particularly his left leg, shattered from the recoil of the kick.
'This ended up being more akin to Night Guy than I hoped, even the resulting self injuries are similar . . . But I'll live.'
The boy's head turned towards the comatose Ay beside him.
'Can't say the same for him though . . .' Shiki noted as he realized the guy he intended to capture was on the way to the afterlife.
Whether he had underestimated the power of his own move or overestimated Ay's defensive powers, it mattered little now.
"I've been working on medical jutsu but this is far beyond my current ability, can't even keep him alive." The boy concluded, speaking to himself.
"Got to seal him now . . . It will freeze his state and give me time to find someone to heal him."
Once again, Shiki's studies in fuinjutsu were coming to save him from his problems, truly the cheat arts that made the entire world conspire against the Uzumaki.
The white haired boy pulled out a regular looking scroll from his shinobi pouch but with a single hand seal, it instantly became a large scroll akin in size to the one carried by sage mode Naruto.
Ignoring his broken body's desperate pleas not to move, Shiki unfurled the scroll on the ground, revealing a complex pattern of sealing formula surrounding a central blank in the form of a human silhouette.
He laid the unconscious Ay upon that silhouette and with a sequence of 66 hand seals, the boy burned most of his remaining chakra to seal him in stasis inside the scroll.
Fighting to stay awake through the chakra exhaustion, Shiki collected the scroll and shrunk it back to normal scroll size, placing it back into his pouch while simultaneously pulling out a small bag of Military Rations Pills.
In his attempts to eliminate the weaknesses of both of Nirvana Art: Dragon Heart's modes, Boost and Recovery, the boy had managed to discover why the latter seemed to force his body to shut down when pushed.
Why would a healing and recovery based ability shut down his body?
Because its healing power came from rapidly converting the body's resources into life energy and so, starved of resources, his body would shut down as a defense mechanism.
While this flaw was not one he could fix anytime soon, there was a work around. Military Rations Pills.
These small pellets were packed with nutrients and stimulants boasting near instant instant absorption rates, restoring chakra and stamina over time and said to allow a common shinobi to fight for three days and three nights.
In other words, by overdosing on Military Rations Pills and immediately activating Dragon Heart - Recovery, Shiki could go from heavily injured and completely exhausted to ready for another round with just a minute or two of inactivity.
'Just hold on a little longer Mei . . .' The boy prayed in his heart and started the recovery process by downing six pellets at once, the max he could do without harming himself.
Chakra reserves rapidly grew back to full and his body, torn under the stress of his own power, started knitting itself back together.
But would it be enough?
+++++
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 -