"Shadow Breathing, Fifth Form… Ane no Ketsui," Usan murmurs.
He advances in a sudden burst, leaving behind a trail of dark, slightly purplish mist from his Shadow Breathing.
Takamasa's eyes widen as he immediately rises to his feet.
The Oni stomps the ground, and the pillar beneath him begins to tilt away.
At the same time, Takamasa raises his arms in a sudden, desperate motion and shouts:
"Kekki Jutsu! Oka Kiba!"
The ground trembles violently as stone pillars begin to emerge endlessly, like the teeth of a colossal creature trying to devour Usan.
Usan cuts and dodges through the pillars at an insane speed, a massive cloud of dust rising as they crash into the ground.
Tlim-Tlim!
The sound of a bell echoes to the right.
The Oni instinctively turns, cold sweat running down his forehead.
Usan had already circled around the improvised wall.
'Fast!' thinks the Lower Rank Six, now with no time left to mock his opponent.
Takamasa lowers his hands, stopping the barrage of stone, then raises one hand, pulling air upward from below toward Usan.
"Kekki Jutsu! Chi Yari!"
Almost immediately after, a giant stone spear tears through the ground with a dry roar.
But Usan simply twists his body, dodging the stone blade by mere centimeters, as if he had predicted the attack before Takamasa even thought of it.
"That's impossible! There's no way you're not a Hashira!" The Oni's frustration only grows.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!"
He raises both arms high and slams his palms together.
"Kekki Jutsu! Kyoga Atsu!"
The ground responds violently.
Two enormous walls rise from either side of Usan, closing in like titanic jaws ready to crush him.
The impact echoes like thunder…
But nothing is crushed.
Only a shadow clone dissipates between the broken walls.
Usan reappears a few meters away, having swapped places with the clone, already advancing once more.
Takamasa, trembling with rage, desperately moves the pillar beneath his feet, sliding backward.
He raises another pillar toward Usan, but the hunter is already acting.
A gust of black smoke escapes from Usan's mouth.
He slows down, and just as his foot is about to touch the ground to complete the step, he disappears.
Takamasa only feels a sharp cold across his neck.
He reacts immediately, pulling away using his pillar.
The Oni feels his blood draining, a burning cut across his neck, not too large, but enough to make his entire body shiver.
'So close…'
He instinctively retreats, covering the wound with his hand, and looks back, Usan is exactly where he had been before.
The pillar he had thrown at Usan earlier had been his salvation, but now it collapses to the ground, cut cleanly in half.
"Shadow Breathing, Third Form: Gen'ei no Ayumi."
Takamasa grits his teeth and acts again. One of his hands clenches while the other rises and strikes the air.
The ground obeys.
"Kekki Jutsu, Sanken!"
Five stone structures converge beneath Usan, trying to crush him again.
He jumps, landing atop the very trap.
Takamasa bites his lips in hatred.
Around Usan, dozens of stone spears float in the air before firing toward him.
Usan spins his blade.
"First Form: Kage Giri."
He cuts them all in a perfect circle, descending right after.
Takamasa continues launching attacks, his hope now being to exhaust the hunter, acknowledging the difference in strength.
Several sharp structures rise, trying to impale Usan.
He cuts some and narrowly dodges others, getting slightly scratched by the stone spears.
When Usan gets too close, Takamasa stomps the ground, beginning to raise another pillar to escape.
But Usan is faster, he summons a shadow clone and spins his sword, using the first form of Shadow Breathing.
The clone mimics him, cutting the base of the pillar and causing it to collapse.
Usan swaps places with the clone, getting even closer.
Takamasa, in panic, raises his hands for another attack, but Usan disappears, leaving another clone in his place.
The Oni blinks, confused, seeing two shadow clones staring at him menacingly.
He recalls the technique Usan used earlier, where he vanished, but this felt different.
He then raises several small pillars around himself, trembling, looking in all directions, covering his neck with his hands.
A cut echoes behind him. Usan appears, slicing through the pillar that separated him from the Oni.
Takamasa nearly stumbles backward, eyes wide, raising his hand toward Usan.
"Kekki Jutsu! Chi Yari!!!"
A massive spear appears almost instantly, but instead of Usan, a clone stands there, pierced by the attack.
Tlim-Tlim
The bells echo.
The Oni turns, another attack ready, but two shadow shurikens buzz through the air, cutting him before he can finish the motion.
His raised arm falls to the ground in two pieces.
Takamasa screams, collapsing beside the severed arm as Usan closes the distance, raising his blade for the final strike.
The Oni slams his remaining hand into the ground, creating a curtain of dust that explodes in all directions.
Usan does not hesitate, continuing the attack.
The dust is swept away by the force of the strike, but there is no sign of the Oni's severed body, only a hole.
Another dust cloud rises not far from there.
Takamasa emerges, staggering and breathing heavily.
"Kekki Jutsu… Tsuchi Kiri…" he murmurs, breathing deeply between words.
Usan only watches him.
Takamasa suddenly feels dizzy, vomiting blood.
He touches his neck, noticing the burning sensation and the violently throbbing veins, finally realizing the poorly healed cut.
"Po-Poison…" he growls, spitting more blood.
"BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
Tlim-Tlim
Usan inhales deeply.
A massive cloud of shadows leaves his lungs, gathering in the air above.
"Shadow Breathing, Fourth Form: Suzu no Muku," Usan announces, smoke still flowing from his lips.
The mist advances like a living beast, swallowing the entire battlefield in dense darkness.
Takamasa crouches and tries to touch the ground.
But the very instant he makes the motion, almost as if an invisible timer had reached zero…
[ Zed's Ult ]
His other arm is cut into two pieces, falling to the ground just like the first.
He looks at the bleeding stump.
"What…?"
The shadows then engulf him.
The world goes dark.
For an Oni, a creature accustomed to seeing perfectly in the night, returning to darkness was like becoming vulnerable and fragile again, like a human.
Bells echo from all directions.
Tlim… tlim… tlim…
Takamasa fires stone spears toward the sounds, but nothing hits.
Tlim… tlim… tlim…
He cries and vomits blood, staggering from the stabbing pain in his head.
Tlim… hahaha tlim… hahaha tlim… hahaha
Then a childish giggle echoes, along with the distinct sound of a bell ringing in rhythm with the laughter.
He turns his head, breathing heavily.
There, sitting on a rock, is a little girl made of shadows, similar to Usan's clones, but somehow, she seemed alive.
She swings her legs in the air, wearing a completely purple smile.
Her eyes are closed, yet the gaps of her eyelids emit a faint purplish glow.
Takamasa stares at her.
Some human memories begin to return, but before he can say anything, his vision spins.
His body remains standing for a few seconds before collapsing beside his head.
He begins to turn to dust, his face filled with shock and terror.
Before completely disappearing, he whispers, crying blood and tears:
"What… have I done…?"
The dark mist fades away.
Usan remains still for a moment, watching, until he finally drops to sit on the ground.
The field around him is unrecognizable, destroyed and torn into fragments of earth and stone.
"Regret…"
That was what the Oni's presence showed in his final moments, a fraction of humanity at the end, something already rare among most Onis.
Usan slowly lies down, dust covering every part of his body and clothes.
One last cloud of shadows escapes from his lips.