Perhaps Kaguya had grown tired of playing with this minor foe and no longer wanted to waste time on him. She raised her fair arm, and chakra surged wildly from within her, condensing in her palm before erupting with a mighty force.
Shinra Tensei.
An invisible force burst out instantly, sweeping across the area like a tsunami. The first to bear the brunt of the attack was Daidara. He was struck in a split second.
Daidara's mouth opened wide, spewing a mist of blood that instantly crystallized into red ice due to the frigid temperature. The immense force crashed into him as if it were a physical object, even causing his body to deform slightly. The sound of cracking ribs echoed from his chest, twisting unnaturally, and it was unclear how many ribs had been broken.
Kaguya, who had been in a good mood and was hoping to warm up with a little exercise, found herself disappointed. The person before her was simply not up to par—just another small fry, like the character in the original work who was easily defeated by Bulat. If Bulat was no match for Kaguya, Daidara, who was far weaker, certainly stood no chance.
At that moment, while still airborne, Daidara made a desperate throw. His dual axes shot out like two black shadows, hurtling toward Kaguya with lightning speed.
The axes moved incredibly fast, reaching Kaguya in an instant. Though this might have been effective against others, it was insignificant to Kaguya, who possessed extraordinary vision. She slightly tilted her body, and the rapidly spinning axes missed her, whizzing past her and into the sky.
"The Teigu is still as useless as ever," Kaguya sighed, shaking her head. "I thought after all this time, they would have improved somewhat. But it seems they're still just a bunch of small fry."
"Is that so?" Daidara sneered, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth as he forced a sinister smile. He threw his head back and laughed, "You're too careless! Die now!"
"Watch out!" Mine shouted, despite her dislike for Kaguya. She couldn't afford to see her lose, as it would spell trouble for herself as well. She seemed to forget that Kaguya had once survived an all-out attack from the entire Night Raid unscathed—such a simple trick was hardly a threat to her.
Two sharp winds closed in from behind Kaguya, their cutting pressure palpable even before they made contact. These were Daidara's returning axes, his Teigu.
His Teigu had immense attack power. Not only could it be thrown to harm enemies, but it would also automatically return to him. As long as he had the strength, it could even relentlessly track enemies like a shadow, making it difficult to defend against.
Faced with the incoming attack, Kaguya remained completely unfazed, her face expressionless as if she hadn't even noticed the danger.
Just as the two axes were about to strike her, Daidara's face twisted into a smile of victory. Meanwhile, Mine grew more anxious, cursing Kaguya as a fool in her mind, wanting to help with her sniper rifle, but her injured arm was too weak to lift the heavy weapon.
Perhaps the only one who understood the situation was Kurome, who showed no reaction at all. She wasn't worried about Kaguya in the slightest and stood calmly to the side, casually munching on a bag of cookies.
In Daidara's mind, Kaguya was as good as dead. With such a short distance, there was no time to react, and even if she did, her body wouldn't move quickly enough to evade.
But his plan failed. Kaguya's figure flickered, and the swiftly spinning axes vanished from the air. The next moment, they were in her hands, their cold blades gleaming.
"What?!" Daidara gasped in shock. He hadn't expected Kaguya to catch the axes—at such high speed, she had caught them bare-handed. It was unbelievable. Anyone else would have had their hands sliced off by the sharp blades.
The shouting from the surrounding Imperial soldiers, who had been like spectators, suddenly ceased as if someone had choked them into silence.
"So, these are your Teigu?" Kaguya examined the axes in her hands with some curiosity.
About a thousand years ago, the founding emperor of the Empire, to ensure long-term rule, used unimaginable wealth and power to gather the world's top craftsmen. They used materials from legendary super-dangerous beasts, along with rare metals like Orichalcum and numerous lost secrets, to create forty-eight unique weapons, known as "Teigu."
As the founding emperor's masterpiece, Teigu possess power far beyond ordinary comprehension. A single person wielding a Teigu could potentially fight an entire army.
Esdeath is a prime example—her power was so overwhelming that it would take an elite force of over fifty thousand soldiers and more than ten skilled Teigu users, including the ace assassin Akame, to defeat her.
Kaguya had always been curious about these powerful weapons and wanted to study them, but she never had the chance—until now.
She scrutinized the axes, but found nothing particularly special about them. Even with her eye technique, she couldn't detect anything unusual or feel any significant power within.
Could something be blocking my senses? In that case, let's just take it apart and see.
Without hesitation, Kaguya pressed her fingers on either side of the axe and pulled.
With a crisp snap, both axes were simultaneously snapped in half. The once-indestructible Teigu crumbled in Kaguya's hands like brittle cookies.
"Seems like it broke," Kaguya remarked, holding up the pieces of what was now scrap metal.
"You snapped it in half, of course it's broken!" Mine couldn't help but blurt out in disbelief.
The Imperial soldiers and Daidara were completely dumbfounded, their faces frozen in shock. Teigu were supposed to be nearly indestructible—only a special Teigu like the Prime Minister's Erastone could easily destroy another Teigu, and that was due to its unique properties.
This was why Daidara had been so confident. Even if Kaguya had taken his Teigu, there shouldn't have been anything she could do with it. But he hadn't anticipated that Kaguya's mere curiosity would lead to her snapping it in two.