Yahaech with others walked out of the house and immediately the world around them changed from mountains and snow to nothing but a vast plain.
"This existed from beginning or you just crafted it?"
Hojo asked after being stunned by the size of plain field he was suddenly teleported on.
"You can say that... but more precisely, I've just removed mountains and trees from here."
Yahaech was standing behind everyone. His statement shocked Hojo because he cleared entire landscape.
Though, it was normal for Yahaech and others, Hojo was new to this kind of stuff.
Everyone walked to the centre of the field, standing in a circular arrangement.
Yahaech moved to the centre, so that everyone could see him.
"We will first start by some duels. Michizane will be the first to fight Hojo. Because all of you are six-eye users, infinity barrier isn't allowed. So, I simply turned it off for all of you."
Hojo was listening carefully when he felt that suddenly infinity barrier around him was disappeared, just like it has when he first met Yahaech.
To conduct a fair fight, removal of infinity barrier was necessary.
After making his statement, Yahaech constructed a large barrier which instantly shadowed entire field, covering it.
Another small barrier appeared around Yahaech, Gojo and Izumi while Hojo and Michizane were deliberately sent outside of it for duel.
Arena was now ready for duel.
Hojo was once again slightly shocked by the transition of ground beneath him.
But he instantly compressed his expression after seeing the expressionless face of Michizane.
Michizane was slowly closing the distance as he advanced toward Hojo with cold and careful steps.
This alone sent a chill running down Hojo's spine as he quivered slightly.
He was at disadvantage here. He didn't had any special technique or domain like others. His only moves were physical moves.
"You don't have to worry about your death. I will resurrect you in that case. And... I know you don't have any fighting technique, so I'm also giving you a golden opportunity to power up your strength. Every time you touch any six eye user, your strength will increase by 25% and your injuries will heal by 50%. So, just pour your every effort into these fights."
Hojo listened to Yahaech carefully. 'Advantage?'
It was really an advantage. What he had to do was just touch Michizane slightly. And the more time he would do this, the more his powers would increase.
But was it really this much easier? This doubt was eating away his courage.
Ignoring his hesitation and doubts, he turned toward Michizane. There was now enough distance between them to put up both close combat and long range fight.
As Hojo had no weapon for offence, he positioned himself in a defending stance. He was ready to use his agility for both offence and defense.
For him, offense was nothing but connecting his finger with Michizane.
But— his confidence broke further when Michizane released his full presence. Suddenly, the air felt heavy and thick, mixed with malicious intent.
Cursed energy wrapped around Michizane's fist and arms, ready to strike a killing punch.
Meanwhile, Hojo was instead struggling to adapt himself properly in this new atmosphere. It was hard to breathe due to suffocation. It felt like gravity had become more severe on him.
But his condition was gradually improving.
At the same moment, a fist appears before Hojo's eyes after he realized Michizane was already too… close to him.
Smash!
His skull couldn't withstand the immense force and shattered completely as a result. And with this, his head exploded as flesh and blood sprays out at maximum speed possible, hitting the ground.
This was Hojo's first death.
The next moment, his body vanished and reappeared completely healed at the same place. All the drops of blood and flesh were rejected from existence.
To be more precise, this wasn't real blood and flesh. Souls never had to begin with. Because, humans always imagined the blood and flesh after injuries, the same was happening in the domain.
After all, the domain is formed of nothing but the caster's imagination.
After experiencing death for the first time, he realized why most people fear it very much.
His body was still quivering in fear as his body couldn't forget that feeling of immense pain he felt during his death.
Without any doubt, this experience has now etched onto his soul for forever.
[Death : 1]
[Strength : 100%]
A translucent screen materialized before his eyes, telling his death count and strength. While the number of total deaths has increased from 0 → 1, his power was the same 100%.
"I need to give my everything into this—just like Yahaech said."
Hojo tried to pull himself together after seeing Michizane coming for another attack.
This time Hojo pours his all focus at one thing— to dodge the punch. He knew how much deadly it was.
Amid all this, he had got no time to think about the gap between his and Michizane's strength to make rational deduction and combat strategy.
That's why the moment he tried to block Michizane's fist with his hands, his arms got severed from his body, flying off within the direction of momentum and eventually plummeting to the ground with a 'thud'.
With no limbs on his body, he was sure of his death. And Michizane fulfilled this with his second punch, which severed off his head.
[Death: 2]
[Strength: 100%]
A pop up appeared before Hojo after he materialized again with zero injuries on body.
It was true that with each resurrection he underwent, his stamina and fatigue were becoming the same they were at the time of beginning.
But with each death, his mental fatigue was also growing, if not exponentially, then linear.
Now, he truly realised the difference between the power. But Michizane was ruthless.
He didn't even give Hojo any time to think and killed him many times in just a minute.
[Death: 3]
[Death: 4]
[Death: 5]
[Death: 6]
....
[Death: 20]
[Strength: 100%]
Hojo literally gone mad after dying this many times. In fury and anger, he decides to attack Michizane instead of just defending.
Even if he had to do this just with his bare hands.
He uses his full speed which made him appear few inches before Michizane instantaneously.
World around him had almost paused. Everything was still. He could see his fist was going to connect with Michizane's face in just a few milliseconds.
He has thought maybe he had upper hand in the speed. And everything was actually going exactly same he had thought.
Until—the space Michizane was occupying became empty with no one there present.
This happened very quick. More than just 'instantaneous'.
Hojo's eyes widened in shock after he sensed a familiar presence just behind him.
How he can be this much faster than me?! This thought struck Hojo's very existence.
But this no longer mattered, when his head suddenly hits the ground, seeing his own headless body before everything goes black.
And he again ressurects at the same position he was in just a moment before death.
[Death : 21]
[Strength: 100%]