The Third Blade, sent flying backward, actually felt a little disappointed.
The attack power of the Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent) was a bit too weak for Creed as he was now. Although that sword intent had its own mystique in stealth and assassination, it was completely useless against someone who could foresee the future.
Even if Creed didn't activate that future-sight ability, just the layers of his SSSS-level sword intents spreading out were enough to keep the Third Blade dozens of meters away, unable to even touch the defenses of his Ken no Ryōiki (Sword Domain).
If he weren't also keeping an eye on the Second Blade to the side, the Third Blade might not have lasted three moves against him.
After extracting Shiki's Eikin no Ken'i (Sharp-Metal Sword Intent) and Satsui (Killing Intent), his attainments in swordsmanship had climbed to a whole new height. If the Second Blade didn't possess an SSSS-level Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent), Creed really could have just steamrolled them by pure swordsmanship, without needing all these twists and turns.
It had to be said: the Second Blade's Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent) and the Third Blade's Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent) truly were two sword intents that complemented each other perfectly.
Under their joint assault, Creed hadn't been able to gain an absolute upper hand right away.
But as time passed, he also found a way to break them.
The Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent) was extremely similar at its root to the Blood Sea Sword Intent of Redfield, but it lacked the bonus that the Bat-Bat Fruit gave to the power of blood. It certainly had terrifying killing power, but how could it compare to the Eikin no Ken'i (Sharp-Metal Sword Intent) in Creed's hand, amplified by Satsui (Killing Intent)?
So, to deal with the Second Blade, all he had to do was lock onto him and trade fiercely head-on. With Creed's monstrous recovery ability, it was only a matter of time before he wore the man down and shattered him.
As for the Third Blade, who only had an SSSS-minus level Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent), Creed simply didn't take him seriously. He kept focusing his main offensive on the Second Blade; the Eikin no Ken'i (Sharp-Metal Sword Intent) and Rinne no Ken'i (Rinne Sword Intent), both amplified by Satsui (Killing Intent), were still enough to suppress the Second Blade with ease.
Boom!
Clang!
A clear sword cry rang out as radiant life force exploded. The three figures clashed and instantly separated.
"Didn't think that even working together, we still can't handle him!"
The Second Blade panted heavily, his palms and forehead slick with sweat.
The Third Blade was in an even worse state. Several deep sword wounds already marred his body, blood flowing in streams.
In their original plan, the two of them would pin Creed down, then once their leader abducted Princess Shirahoshi, the three of them would regroup and finish Creed off together.
They had thought they were already greatly overestimating Creed's strength.
Only after actually crossing swords did they realize they had still underestimated him.
Seeing it like this, Shiki and Big Mom choosing to ally with Creed was probably because they had already submitted to his terrifying power.
"Come on, then!"
The two exchanged a glance and, in that instant, made up their minds about something.
"Hm?"
With his sharp senses, Creed immediately noticed what they planned to do. But he didn't try to stop them at all. On the contrary, he wanted to see what other trump cards these two could still bring out.
Because he possessed the Rinnegan and multiple absurdly powerful Devil Fruit abilities, and because he had never tried fusing sword intents himself, his training in swordsmanship had indeed slowed a lot recently.
If he could gain something from these two in this regard, that would be ideal.
"Ding! Extraction of Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent) successful… Ding, extraction of Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent) successful…"
Just then, the system's notification sounded, making Creed's aura surge sharply.
Since the extraction was already done, these two no longer held much value.
It was time to kill them and take the purple treasure chests on their heads.
On that point, Creed felt a bit disappointed. These legendary "Blood Shadow" operatives, the peerlessly sharp blades the World Government used to suppress the world and who had slaughtered countless people, only yielded purple treasure chests. They weren't even worth ten purple-gold treasure chests in his eyes.
At the same time, Creed split off a trace of attention and used his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) to check on the battle outside. He already knew that his side was currently at a disadvantage.
Even though Robin and the special operations team were treating the wounded, they had still lost quite a few people. Creed didn't want to keep watching his own forces being ground down like this.
The problem was that the Marines still had two or three trump cards that hadn't shown themselves. Creed didn't dare just charge back out there recklessly.
He understood very clearly: in this large-scale decisive battle where his side was on the back foot, he himself was the key to victory. He couldn't act like a headless fly, charging around blindly just to show off.
Of course, once he settled the matter in front of him, he didn't mind using the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to wipe out a portion of the Marines' forces.
"Dark… dark… dark…"
As Creed's aura shook, ten thousand sword cries erupted around him.
At the same time, the Shinrin (Divine Halo) rose, night descended, and above the white iceberg, a golden divine sword flickered in and out of sight.
Four completely different top-tier sword intents finally revealed their true forms.
And among those four sword intents, there was also a fiercely powerful Satsui (Killing Intent)!
Under the blessing of that Satsui (Killing Intent), the power of the four sword intents erupted all at once, becoming even more terrifying.
In the span of a heartbeat, the power of those four sword intents spread across two to three hundred miles, turning that entire stretch into Creed's Ken no Ryōiki (Sword Domain)!
A sword domain, not only an extension of sword intent and sword aura forming a small independent world, but also the extension of a great swordsman's spiritual will. If that domain was shattered by an enemy, the sword master would suffer heavy backlash.
And yet Creed had gone and unfolded a sword domain spanning two to three hundred miles in one go. How arrogant, how utterly self-assured was that?
This made both the Second Blade and the Third Blade grit their teeth in the first instant.
Such an insult—fighting one against two and he still dared to look down on them like this?!
"Creed!"
They both growled in low voices as their sword intents erupted violently. The two auras actually began to fuse, and the intensity of their combined sword intent climbed madly, causing even the surrounding Ken no Ryōiki (Sword Domain) that Creed had spread to tremble.
"Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent) and Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent)… once they fuse, will it become Chi Kage no Ken'i (Blood-Shadow Sword Intent)? Chi no Maei (Blood Demon Shadow)?"
Creed recalled what Shiki and Big Mom had once mentioned: Blood Shadow's blade was one of the Supreme Grade Meitō, ranked in the top three even among those peerless blades, and supposedly even a rank or two higher than the Rinne he held in his own hands.
"After I kill these two, I'll have to pay a visit to their commander-in-chief myself…"
As he thought that, two long blades appeared in Creed's hands.
Faced with their joint ultimate move, Creed didn't dare be careless. He directly switched into Nitoryū (Two-Sword Style).
Before all of the enemy's trump cards had been drawn out, he didn't want to suffer even the slightest injury.
"Roar!"
It was like some ancient blood-colored demon that had existed since time immemorial appeared atop the enormous fused sword intent of the Second Blade and Third Blade.
It had a pair of curved, razor-sharp horns, scarlet eyes the size of bronze bells, fangs jutting out in a ferocious snarl, and a body of bulging, explosive muscle. In its hands it gripped a colossal greatsword, wide enough to blot out the sky with a single swing.
From the fusion of their two sword intents, such a phenomenon had actually manifested, shocking even Creed for a moment.
So it was true—Chi Satsu no Ken'i (Blood-Kill Sword Intent) and Kage Satsu no Ken'i (Shadow-Kill Sword Intent) could fuse!
Once fused, they became Chi Kage no Ken'i (Blood-Shadow Sword Intent), that Chi no Maei (Blood Demon Shadow)!
But so what?!
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!] [[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]