With silence now having returned to the vicinity, Keiji looked at Uehara, a simmer of power leaking out of him.

“Since only the two of us are left. There is no need to keep playing this game any longer.”

“I agree.”

The blue shroud of chakra surrounding Uehara was like a gently moving flame.

“Having two death dates would be troublesome. So you have to die today.”

Keiji growled. It took a lot of energy to recreate his physical body. He could already be considered to have died once. So this jab at his pride hurt him greatly.

But that outward display of anger only lasted for a moment.

“Hearing you talk so much about death…”

A white aura appeared around Keiji as a heavy pressure began to shake the earth.

“...I will let you experience it.”

BOOOM

Keiji released a great explosion of aura, his power-level skyrocketing. Veins were popping out of his forehead while the former patriarch gritted his teeth in focus. Soon enough, his hair turned white while his power-level began to peak.

Uehara jumped back, lifting a single hand and placed in the half unison sign. His chakra steadied, maintaining a continuous flow. Right now, he could see through his eyes that whatever power Keiji has leans more towards the soul. Just like how his [Hokai] failed to harm his soul, he didn’t wager that physical methods of attack would work.

So while weathering Keiji’s pressure a dozen or so metres away, his half-unison handsign on his right hand quickly changed to a half-snake handsign.

[Yin-based attacks should work.]

Stretching out his left hand, a small sphere of darkness formed. Releasing the sphere, it hurled forward like a missile, honing in on Keiji’s gradually spectral-turning figure.

Keiji didn’t move after seeing this attack. He simply stretched out his hand. A white ball of chi formed within his palm that was immediately fired.

BOOM

The two spheres met soon enough and cancelled each other out.

But that was only just the beginning.

SWOOSH…BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Keiji had lunged forward and began engaging Uehara in close-quarter combat. The young demon was on the defensive, either dodging or redirecting Keiji’s attacks. Even worse, he was still using one hand to maintain the half-unison handsign, having switched back from the half-snake sign.

Theoretically, he should be slower without his sage mode. But because of his amatsugan, the bridge was somewhat gapped. With the amatsugan’s ability to see energy in great detail, Uehara can notice even the slightest fluctuation of energy buildup on Keiji’s body, allowing him to block, redirect, or dodge whatever limb the assassin would use.

Furthermore, Uehara wasn’t maintaining the unison handsign meaninglessly. He was focusing his chakra all over the body to enhance his physical capabilities. To be short, it was a light application of the [Aura-Flowing State] technique. While a direct 2x multiplier would leave his body aching after use, increasing his strength by 1.5x wouldn’t haggar him too much.

Of course, the need for the handsign was mostly to help Uehara focus more on the battle. Controlling his chakra while also fighting an opponent that was much, much stronger than him would be a death wish. So, using the unison handsign was like a gesture that aided him in focusing his chakra while also dodging Keiji’s attacks.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

(AN: Think of it as swapping out a manual transmission for an automatic transmission on a vehicle.)

So with one hand occupied, Uehara should naturally be facing numerous difficulties…but it was the opposite.

“Damn demon! Stand…still!!!”

SLASH

A crescent slash of white aura moved past where Uehara’s head was. The young demon had backflipped away, opening some distance between himself and Keiji. His small physique made it very difficult for Keiji to strike at him. If Uehara was the one attacking, then it would be incomparably hard for him to land any proper attacks with his limited reach and underwhelming strength. But with his amatsugan, physical reinforcement and small stature, even flies would have to take notes when it came to avoiding attacks.

The young demon didn’t move from the small rock outcrop he was standing on. After having escaped Keiji’s slash, he had just stood there, calmly breathing and keeping up the partial aura-flowing state technique. He watched Keiji with a cold gaze, almost goading the fifty-year-old to continue attacking.

And attack he did. Keiji burst forward again, seemingly vanishing from sight. But with Uehara’s ocular ability, seeing Keiji’s path in advance wasn’t something too difficult.

Leaping just slightly into the air, Uehara dodged a leg sweep while also executing a frontal dropkick on Keiji’s head. But the patriarch was fast and managed to block it with his forearm. Uehara used the kick recoil to open up some distance.

At the same time, Uehara began to frown.

[His attacks…can harm the soul.]

Having died once, he was very clear on how his soul felt, and every time Keiji used any chi in his attacks, Uehara would feel as if something was being pulled out of him. It didn’t help that his own soul was unstable either so he didn’t exactly have the best defences.

Fortunately, the blazing aura of nature chakra shrouding him contained a higher trace of yin, allowing it to act as something akin to a fence that prevented his soul from being pulled out.

But still, Uehara hated being passive like this.

[I can see him powering up even further. Previously, his energy reserves were only enough to attain his newfound transformation. But now…]

With Keiji’s gradually recovering reserves, his overall strength would increase. Within a minute or so, Uehara would HAVE to come up with a solution or die. Although the chakra veins in his arms had recovered enough to use nature chakra, they were still too volatile to circulate sage chakra. This meant that unless he wanted to potentially cripple himself, sage mode or sage transformations were out of the question for the time being.

Continuing to evade Keiji, craters within craters were being created in the desolate wasteland. Uehara found himself having to increase the multiplier of the AFS (Aura-Flowing State) by a few decimals roughly every twenty seconds or so.

Sinking underground and similar evasive manoeuvres wouldn’t work because Keiji’s attacks would just go through the earth very easily. And with Uehara having limited mobility underground, it would literally become a case of taking the initiative to bury himself.

Furthermore, creating contraptions like earth or ice walls wouldn’t work because again, Keiji’s attacks would pass through them.

[Even trying to use mist would be pointless because it would take too much time and focus.]

As of now, Uehara still had some measure of control over his chakra despite having the AFS active. He could use some of his smoke techniques to obscure Keiji’s vision. But that would require him to create some distance between them, something Keiji hasn’t allowed. He could release the smoke in close quarters, but that would divide his focus even further, making him far more susceptible to Keiji’s attacks.

So as the clock winded down, and Keiji got stronger, Uehara finally made a decision.

[Time to call some help.]

Bursting his chakra in an explosive manner, he was able to create an instant explosive wave that pushed Keiji back, albeit, at the cost of injuring himself slightly.

Uehara didn’t waste any more time. Already having canceled his AFS technique, he directly began weaving a set of handsigns very quickly while two clones that had appeared began releasing plumes of thick white smoke.

[Bird-Rabbit-Dog-Goat-Ox-Rat-Tiger-Dragon-Horse-Snake-Pig]

Slamming his hands on the ground, a giant black triskele seal instantly manifested beneath him.

“[Summoning: Blood Titan]”

“There you are-”

Instantly, an orange-red bolt of lightning descended from the sky, crashing down right where Uehara was.

BOOOM

The power of the lightning strike caused massive dust clouds and rubble to explode in all directions, impeding Keiji’s advance to where he last heard Uehara’s low whisper.

Then, a massive pressure descended on the region, like an overwhelming presence had just appeared.

ROOARRR!!!!!!!!!!

The Titan Overlord…has entered the game.