Chapter 106: Super Ninja

This dojo was unlike the others they had faced before—unlike those that had overestimated themselves, or those that clung stubbornly to the code of the samurai. They seemed fully aware of their own weakness and their enemy’s might, and had resolved to fight to the death.

“Then let us begin.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed with solemn focus. He raised both fists crossed before his chest, six dark claws thrusting sharply outward. The Venom suit likewise shifted into its fully covered combat form.

His shadowy body, seemingly born solely for battle and slaughter, radiated a grim and savage pressure that made all who beheld it recoil in fear.

“All disciples of the Hojo One-Sword School, heed my command! Today, we live or die with this dojo. Fight until the last drop of blood has been spilled!” Hojo-maru roared, gripping Murasame in both hands and holding it across his body. Behind him, the sword disciples drew their blades as well, each carrying the conviction that they would not survive the battle.

“Kill!”

Everyone in the dojo hall snarled as one. Raising their swords, they charged forward, wooden sandals pounding against the floor.

“Come, then!”

Kyle gave a cold laugh, with no intention of dodging. Lowering his body, he exploded forward in a burst of speed, choosing to face the many head-on.

He had grown accustomed to fighting entire groups alone, in battles both great and small. To him, this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Kyle accelerated into the mass of samurai and swiftly raised his right arm to block. Nearly a dozen blades came slashing down upon the vibranium bracer. Its ability to absorb external kinetic energy easily intercepted every strike head-on.

He swept the claws of his right hand sideways and downward. Several samurai within half a yard of him immediately cried out, clutching their spurting abdomens as they staggered backward and collapsed.

This was only the beginning of the bloody battle. More samurai quickly rushed forward to fill the gaps. Several Japanese blades struck Kyle’s undefended back, yet failed to penetrate the Venom suit’s tough protection.

The samurai stared in horror, mouths hanging open. In the next instant, their bodies were torn apart like sheets of paper beneath his claws, chunks of flesh and blood spraying across the floor.

Kyle fought as he had before, ignoring the enemy’s sword strikes. Even when wounded, he paid no heed, immersing himself in the slaughter like a monster.

After nearly ten samurai had fallen dead, Hojo-maru, who had been mingling within the battle, finally could not hold back any longer. He shouted, “Now!”

“Hm?”

Surrounded by countless samurai, Kyle lifted his crimson eyes. He was just about to search for the dojo master when two faint sounds slicing through the air reached his ears.

Within his field of vision, two dart-shaped hidden weapons rapidly grew larger. Thrown from such close range, they traveled faster than ordinary bullets, shooting with deadly precision toward his eyes.

Even Kyle’s reflexes, enhanced by the super-soldier physique, could not evade the unexpected attack in time. He could only shut his eyes swiftly. The darts struck the Venom-protected eyelids, producing a strange, numbing sting.

“Now!”

Hojo-maru, who had been circling at the rear of the battle while waiting for an opportunity, advanced at a swift pace with nine samurai. They erupted with speed far greater than before, closing in on the blind Kyle.

Their movements were swift and powerful. As they swept past his sides, their blades tore through the air with explosive force, cutting through the outer layer of Venom’s protection and leaving ten slender bloody gashes across his sturdy body.

Careless.

Kyle calmly kept his eyes closed. Sensing the final samurai retreating past his shoulder, he shot out his right hand and seized the man by the lower leg. Then he simply hauled him up into the air and smashed him down onto the floor with all his strength.

“Six!”

“Little Six!”

The other nine, having withdrawn to a safe distance after their strike, cried out in alarm.

Badly wounded, Kyle opened his scarlet eyes and looked down at the young warrior writhing in pain within his grasp. He wore the black robes of the dojo’s sword disciples, but the abilities contained within his cards were far beyond those of ordinary swordsmen.

[True Assassination Mastery], [True Hidden-Weapon Mastery], [True Disguise Mastery], [Poison Mastery], [Mastery of Patient Resolve]…

More than twenty green ability cards, all centered around extreme methods of assassination. Among them was one particularly conspicuous blue ability card.

[Super Ninja]: A super-ninja physique unique to Japanese samurai, an inferior version of the super-soldier physique. Blue ability card.

Through the repeated injection of various mixtures of poisons and hormones into a samurai’s body, the limits of the human body were forcibly excavated after the subject endured inhuman pain. The resulting super-ninja physique was purchased with the body’s natural lifespan.

The genes within the body became unstable. Cells would no longer age and die normally, displaying characteristics similar to those of a cancer patient.

The subject gained the strength, speed, and reflexes of a normal human at the pinnacle of physical ability, along with the maximum endurance and resistance to impact attainable by the human body.

The natural lifespan could not exceed fifty years.

“So Japan really does have ninjas. I underestimated you.”

Kyle sneered. With his right arm locked around the ninja’s neck, he hauled his wounded body upright.

He glanced at the ninja pinned beneath his arm. The man’s resistance to impact was indeed impressive. After being slammed down with such violence, he still retained consciousness, kicking his feet in the air and struggling desperately.

Unfortunately, Kyle’s super-soldier physique stood above that of the super ninja. His mutated evolution was far more complete, and the ninja could not move his powerful arm even an inch.

“Boss.”

The eight ninjas disguised as sword disciples nearby turned their desperate gazes toward Hojo-maru, awaiting his command. Hojo-maru merely shook his head coldly, ignoring the struggling ninja as he held the bloodstained Murasame and stared icily at Kyle.

“You are not the original master of this dojo, are you?” Kyle asked, narrowing his eyes.

“The original master died long ago. Everyone here is either a member of our ninja organization or an agent disguised by the military,” Hojo-maru replied coldly. “You have nowhere left to run. Put down Little Six, and I can still allow you to live long enough to meet His Imperial Majesty.”

“Sorry. I have never accepted threats from others.”

Kyle chuckled. His right arm contracted with full force. The ninja’s neck gave a succession of sharp cracks beneath the pressure. After a brief struggle, the crushed neck snapped completely, and the ninja’s limbs hung limp as life left his body.

Kyle released the arm protected by the vibranium bracer and casually threw the corpse onto the floor.

“You!”

The remaining eight ninjas cried out in fury. But the sight that followed left them staring in shock.

Kyle stood tall, breathing faintly, while the wounds of various sizes across his body rapidly healed. The scene was unnervingly grotesque.

Hojo-maru, leader of the ninja unit, spoke as though he had expected it. “Just as the surviving soldiers reported. His regenerative ability is truly formidable.”

Kyle frowned slightly. Something was wrong. They had known from the beginning that he possessed extraordinary regenerative powers. Why, then, had they stopped attacking after their strike, allowing him time to recover?

He suddenly sensed something abnormal within his body. Reaching behind himself with his left hand, he discovered that the slash inflicted by Hojo-maru showed no sign of healing. Blood was still pouring steadily from the wound.

“So this is the demon blade Murasame,” Hojo-maru said with a smile, raising the sword, its edge smeared with an eerie, bewitching crimson. “One strike is enough to kill. Any wound it creates can never heal. The victim can only watch as all the blood drains from their body.”