Chapter - 66 Face to face with anakouzanu
The ground trembled violently beneath me as I neared the city center, the air thick with tension. Suddenly, the earth split open with a deafening crack, and from the gaping wound in the ground, Anakouzanu emerged in his monstrous puppet form. He was an abomination, towering nearly 5 meters tall, with a grotesque, elongated spine that twisted unnaturally. His eyes, cold and lifeless, locked onto me with a terrifying intensity.
"Who are you? How dare a mere mortal like you interfere in my great plans?" Anakouzanu's voice was a deep, metallic growl, reverberating through the ruins of the city.
I met his gaze without flinching, my voice steady and cold. "I'm not interested in telling a dead man my name."
Anakouzanu's face twisted in fury, and with a sneer, he spat, "You really have a death wish."
As his words hung in the air, a tide of puppets began to emerge from the shadows, their lifeless forms moving with eerie precision. I could see the malevolent glint in their eyes as they closed in around me, their numbers growing by the second.
Ding!!
[New Mission: Destroy 100 high-level puppets and 400 low-level puppets]
I scanned the horde, my eyes narrowing as I assessed the threat. There were more than just 500 puppets. This was going to be a brutal fight, but I didn't intend to leave any of them standing.
Without hesitation, I activated my mask's chakra storage, feeling the immense power surge through my body as the stored 1000 chakra flooded my system.
Total Chakra: 6000/5000
With a quick hand sign, I created a shadow clone, and together we unleashed our Chidori, the crackling blue lightning illuminating the darkened battlefield. We combined it with a wind hurricane, the swirling vortex propelling us forward with blinding speed.
"Chiiirrr!" The Chidori's high-pitched screech filled the air as I drove it into the first puppet. The lightning-infused strike cut through its body like butter, sending its head flying through the air.
We didn't stop there. We launched ourselves into the heart of the puppet horde, becoming a blur of motion and destruction. The puppets swarmed us, their soulless eyes glinting dark.
I darted between them, the Chidori in my hand leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Each strike was swift and deadly, severing limbs and shattering bodies. The puppets crumbled under our assault, their parts flying in every direction like debris in a storm.
A puppet grabbed my arm, I kicked his legs, making the puppet kneel down and my hand took out my sword from my inventory.
Swish, swinging my sword smoothly through his neck.
Thud, his head fell on ground.
The sworn quickly surrounded me, swinging my sword through them like cutting butter with hot knife.
"Kiichh, "Kiichh" "Kiichh" "Kiichh." The sword swings swiftly.
[DING! 1 low-level puppet is killed]
[DING! 1 low-level puppet is killed]
[DING! 1 high-level puppet is killed]
[DING! 1 low-level puppet is killed]
The notifications filled my mind, but I paid them no heed, focusing entirely on the battle. My Observation Haki and Eager Eyes were in full effect, allowing me to see each puppet's movements before they even made them. I dodged their attacks with ease, countering with lethal strikes that tore through their bodies.
The battlefield became a chaotic whirlwind of clashing metal and flashing lightning. My clones and I moved as one, each of us a harbinger of destruction as we ripped through the puppet ranks. The puppets' attacks came from all sides, but we were faster, our movements a blur that they couldn't keep up with.
I felt the thrill of battle surge through me as I pressed on, my adrenaline driving me forward. My clones continued the assault, each of them taking down puppets with ruthless efficiency. The air was filled with the sound of clashing metal and the whirring of gears as we dismantled Anakouzanu's army piece by piece.
The puppets were relentless, their numbers seemingly endless, but I had no intention of slowing down. I spun around, the Chidori in my hand crackling with deadly energy, and unleashed it on another wave of puppets. The lightning surged through them, frying their circuits and sending their bodies crashing to the ground.
Machinery parts and puppet fragments littered the ground as we fought, the battlefield transforming into a scrapyard of twisted metal and broken bodies. The high-level puppets put up a fierce fight, but even they couldn't withstand the sheer power of our combined assault.
My clone managed to take down 20 low-level puppets and 2 high-level ones before being overwhelmed and dissipating into a cloud of smoke. But I didn't falter. I pressed forward, my Chidori carving a path of destruction through the remaining puppets.
I formed five more clones, each of them immediately joining the fray. We moved like a well-oiled machine, our attacks coordinated and precise. The puppets came at us in waves, but we cut them down with ruthless efficiency. Each strike was a death sentence, each movement a calculated blow to weaken Anakouzanu's forces.
[DING! 1 high-level puppet is killed]
[DING! 1 high-level puppet is killed]
[DING! 1 high-level puppet is killed]
The battlefield echoed with the sound of our attacks, the Chidori's lightning illuminating the night as we tore through the last of the high-level puppets. Their bodies fell to the ground, lifeless and broken, as the notifications continued to flood my mind.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the last of the high-level puppets crumbled to the ground, its head severed from its body. I stood amidst the wreckage, panting heavily but victorious.
The battlefield was eerily silent now, the only sounds the faint crackle of residual electricity in the air and the distant rumble of the earth beneath us. Surrounding me were the remains of nearly 400 destroyed puppets, their bodies scattered across the ground like fallen soldiers.
But I knew the battle was far from over. Anakouzanu still stood before me, his towering puppet form looming over the wreckage of his once-mighty army. I could see the fury in his eyes, the disbelief that a single shinobi had decimated his forces so thoroughly.
Our eyes locked, and I felt the tension rise once more. This was it -the final showdown. No more distractions, no more delays. It was time to end this.