Eighteen hand seals were pressed into the peach wood sword, igniting the eighteen talismans embedded within it. The flames died out instantly, and from the sword, eighteen streams of golden light surged into the sky, vanishing into the night.
The once dark and glossy peach wood sword now turned golden, resembling a powerful and formidable divine weapon. Kakumei swiftly drew the sword from the altar and pointed it towards Kazuhiko’s direction, each thrust not targeting the same spot.
With every thrust of the peach wood sword, a streak of golden light fell from the sky like a meteor, landing around six meters away from Kazuhiko, forming mysterious patterns on the ground. In just a few breaths, eighteen golden lights had fallen, creating eighteen mystical patterns that emitted nocturnal glows, encircling Kazuhiko and two others.
This spectacle instilled fear on Jōji’s face, “Master, what kind of marvelous secret technique is this?”
“Merely a minor trick, don’t be nervous,” Kazuhiko scoffed, maintaining a forced calm. Despite his words, he was far from relaxed and quickly formed hand seals, striking the Eight-Forked Serpent on the altar. The serpent, which had just regrown a lost head, suddenly enlarged several times, and its eight heads let out a simultaneous bizarre cry.
As the serpent wriggled off the altar and burrowed into the ground, Kakumei threw his now crimson peach wood sword into the air, where it vanished into the night as a beam of golden light. The next moment, a mysterious red rune appeared above Kazuhiko, shooting a red beam towards a glowing pattern on the ground, summoning a monster named Shōzan-a serpent-like body with a sheep’s torso and a human face, all in red.
Shōzan spat a beam of red light like a sharp sword towards Kazuhiko. With a loud crash, a giant serpent head emerged from the ground, snapping the red beam in its jaws. Kazuhiko’s rune fired another red light at a different pattern, and another monster appeared. Named Aoyin, resembling a bovine with four horns and long hair like a straw raincoat, it was a ferocious ancient beast that devoured living beings, especially humans.
The ground shook with rumbles as three giant serpent heads emerged, their eyes filled with ferocity. Aoyin charged at the serpents, initially gaining the upper hand. However, as the serpents coordinated better, Aoyin was overwhelmed. On the side, Kakumei, holding a hand seal, winced in pain with every attack on Aoyin.
The battle grew desperate. Kakumei bit his right index finger and drew a blood talisman in mid-air, merging it with another held before him. This fusion emitted a golden flash, then turned into a red light that shot into the mysterious rune above Kazuhiko, which then fired sixteen red beams towards the ground patterns.
Kazuhiko, unable to remain calm any longer, shattered a square jade talisman and formed a hand seal that summoned Ōkuninushi. As the ground shook, sixteen patterns began to spin, vanishing along with Shōzan and Aoyin into a mist of red and green.
Soon, a massive Eight-Forked Serpent and a dragon-like creature, not a true dragon, appeared amidst the mist. Dragons generally fall into four types based on their features, and this was a Chi dragon, with no horns. Controlled from afar by Kazuhiko and Kakumei, the Eight-Forked Serpent and the Chi dragon clashed fiercely, trapping each other in a brutal struggle until the Chi dragon bit off one of the serpent’s heads.
A black mist erupted from the severed head, forming a giant claw that grabbed the Chi dragon, while the remaining serpent heads bit into its body. The Chi dragon roared and thrashed, trying to break free, but the serpent’s tails entangled it tightly. Eventually, the Eight-Forked Serpent, like an octopus, ensnared the dragon completely.
The black claw dissipated into a mist that seeped into the dragon’s nostrils and mouth, silencing its roars to mournful whimpers. The peach wood sword fell from the sky and shattered upon landing.
Gasping out a mouthful of dark red blood, Kakumei could no longer stand and sat down cross-legged, closing his eyes in agony. “Kakumei!” Kakusin cried out, rushing to help, but found himself paralyzed, the poison not fully purged from his system.
As the Eight-Forked Serpent shrank and returned to its revived state, it slithered towards Kazuhiko’s direction, concluding the tumultuous battle.