Hikiri, unable to dodge, ignited his blade and began destroying the branches surrounding him one by one.
"You… you have two affinity cards," said the chief, surprised.
Behind, in front, above, below, Hikiri destroyed everything that attacked him. Because of this, he focused only on Cicatrice, who was his main problem.
The chief knelt down, placed both hands on the ground, closed his eyes, and said softly,
"Die."
Right beneath Hikiri's feet, a sharp wooden spear emerged from the ground, aiming straight at his stomach.
Cicatrice increased his attack speed, sending more and more strikes into the air, which caused a rapid rise in the number of branch and root attacks.
Seeing the spear appear at his feet, Hikiri slashed it into several pieces—but more spears emerged behind him.
Now forced to deal with the branches and roots, Hikiri also had to watch for the spears, which could appear from anywhere around him.
And he had to be especially careful—they were literally bursting up at his feet.
Hikiri, starting to tire, received superficial wounds all over his body.
"I can't last forever. To win, I have to take risks."
While defending, Hikiri quickly slashed his katana toward Cicatrice, having seen the destructive effect of that attack on the Consanguines.
Cicatrice moved a tree in front of him. A clean cut appeared on the tree and nearly reached him.
Suddenly, it began to rain.
"You're lucky—you'll die in the rain," he said, staring at Hikiri, who was struggling more and more to deflect the attacks.
Then suddenly, the chief screamed,
"My arm! The rain cut off my arm!"
Cicatrice opened his eyes and looked up, watching the rain transform into dozens of ice swords falling from the sky.
He looked at Hikiri, who, despite his injuries, continued defending while smiling at Cicatrice.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU HAVE THREE AFFINITY CARDS!" Cicatrice shouted, pulling back half the branches and roots he'd sent at Hikiri to use them as a shield.
But they were quickly shredded. The ice swords kept pouring down.
The roots and branches weren't enough to shield him anymore. He took control of nearby trees and moved them in front of him as a barrier.
But the trees too were swiftly torn apart by the barrage of ice swords.
Seeing Cicatrice distracted, Hikiri pushed himself harder despite his wounds—he had to destroy the rest of the branches and roots attacking him to finally end it.
He destroyed all of them, enduring even more injuries.
"I didn't want to use this… but you forced my hand," Hikiri said as he entered a state of detachment.
He stopped moving. A root pierced his shoulder, another his leg, but Hikiri remained still and calm.
Then, the rain stopped. Cicatrice looked up at the sky and smirked, thinking Hikiri no longer had the energy to maintain the storm.
But turning toward Hikiri, he saw him unmoving—his body pierced, but unreactive.
Cicatrice thought Hikiri had given up, but a sudden pressure came over him upon seeing Hikiri's calmness.
"I don't know what he's planning… but I need to kill him now."
He launched everything he could control at Hikiri.
"DIE!"
A gust of wind whipped around Hikiri. Hikiri slashed his sword multiple times into the air and then stopped.
Surrounded by trees, branches, and roots, Hikiri propelled himself in Cicatrice's direction.
The wind followed him, then split in two.
"This is suicide! You're going to impale yourself, idiot!" Cicatrice yelled.
Hikiri dove into the center of the wind trailing him—and vanished from Cicatrice's view.
"Where is he? Did he run away?" both foes wondered.
Suddenly, wind burst out of nowhere and struck them.
The moment it touched them, a voice echoed in their ears,
"Ventamulionne…"
The wind transformed into hundreds of thin air blades, slicing their bodies into tiny pieces.
Hikiri reappeared before the last Consanguine, who—despite having a large gash in his stomach—was still alive.
"Don't come near me!" the Consanguine cried, watching in horror as the shredded remains of his brothers fell to the ground.
To him, Hikiri's lack of emotion made him even more terrifying.
Shaking, the Consanguine asked,
"Did you ever wonder why we all snapped our fingers at the same time?"
Exhausted and bloodied, Hikiri replied,
"Don't worry… I already figured it out."
He sliced off the Consanguine's arms, who screamed in agony,
"YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Hikiri grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
"Wouldn't it be more fitting if your own attack killed you?"
A massive, razor-sharp wooden lance burst from the sky as if thrown by an unseen hand, aiming directly at them.
Hikiri cut off the Consanguine's legs.
"Face the wrath of your own weapon," he said.
Then, Hikiri vanished like the wind, letting the Consanguine be impaled and crushed by his massive lance.
A few minutes later, Hikiri suddenly appeared in front of Asti and Simone. Unable to stand any longer, he collapsed to the ground.