Kento nodded and shortly started reckoning about Nakabara.

"Okay, Let’s try to comprehend. When you make a clone out of flesh and blood, the vitality of the real person is divided among them, leaving the user with less amount of energy. He can allow the avatars to do whatever they want. And when any of the clones dies, I suppose the power is returned to the user. I don't know its vulnerability, though. But I can get how this power functions. It's like a cup of tea. If you add too much water, the concentration drops. And if you add less water, the concentration would be high. Which means that I won't have a chance to fight this guy if he loses all of his clones…”

Nakabara's first two clones immediately scurried towards Kento right when he was about to figure out the final conundrum behind the avatars. One of them made its first move by trying to press the nodachi through Kento's stomach. Kento kicked it down into the water, sending him deep into the pond. The other one shot three shurikens. Kento picked up a stick and held it in the trajectory of the projectiles. After they were attached he hurled it towards one of the clones. The clone hoisted his sword to block but got pushed away due to the force of the attack.

Kento had no methods to walk on the water. So he made up his mind to hold his isle while trying to fend off Nakabara's clones.

While the avatars who sustained damage were recovering, the other two advanced. Both of them dashed towards Kento from two different directions and hurled their nodachis at the same time. Seeing the two incoming razor-sharp iron blades, Kento promptly grabbed the unconscious monk and tried to run over the water by stepping on it rapidly. His attempt was lucky enough to move both of them to a safer position just beside the pond. But Kento didn't notice the arrival of the real Nakabara until he touched down on the soil. He thought of it as just another avatar of him chasing. And immediately after landing, Nakabara appeared from the sky and tried to land above Kento, while trying to land a point-blank attack on Kento. While grasping the little monk in the crook of his left arm, Kento forcefully repelled the attack with his katana. And as a measure of abrupt protection, Kento manufactured a smoke bomb from his pouch and dashed it onto the ground, while trying to make a quick escape from the Nakabara army.

"Huh, you've underestimated me, Kid."

The words instantly summoned the other two barely wounded avatars, while Kento strove not to get distracted by the clones. Instead, he attempted to find the real Nakabara, who had disappeared from his line of sight.

All four of the avatars then suddenly charged towards Kento from all four directions, with two of them holding onto their. They were fast, but weren't fast like Kento's previous opponent. Kento acted fast. He reacted. Realising a way to dodge the incoming attack, Kento immediately ducked down and slid away when the four clones were about to crash into Kento. Nakabara was too late when he recognized Kento's escape strategy, and his clones couldn't decelerate in time. Two of the four clones disintegrated almost instantly after getting impaled by the nodachis that they had been hoping to stab Kento and the unconscious monk.

The results were the same thing that Kento had foreseen but forgotten in the heat of the moment. All the energy that had been stored inside the deceased clones was restored, ultimately increasing their power by a considerable amount.

“Oh no no no no no! I messed up! Now the remaining avatars will be even more powerful. If I were to go off from that bash, then I think that getting hit could be somewhat similar to getting hit from a bell-ringing log!”

Kento felt regret, for he had been expecting to keep the avatars alive until he got hold of the original Nakabara. Kento immediately dragged out his kaginawa rope and boosted himself onto the top of the temple building, and lay the unconscious monk down to keep him away from all the commotion that was happening.

Nakabara’s ruthlessness didn’t allow him to stop pressuring Kento. Just when Kento safeguarded the life of the little monk, an avatar rammed him, making him fall off the three-storey high building. Foreseeing the outcome of the fall, Kento flawlessly caught hold of the kaginawa rope to lessen the impact. He could safely land on the ground, while his gloves did the job just right.

Kento could barely hold his iron sword in his hand, partially because his hands were a little heated from the friction. He was just on time when it came to holding the sword horizontally to thwart the attack. Sparks flew and the clone didn't progress to attack him once again. Instead, he kept on putting force onto his sword, which sent Kento scraping through the soil. He maintained his posture to constantly nullify the force put up by Nakabara's clones. Kento could really feel the massive jump in the force, regretting his mistake once again.

“No no! I can feel the strong power of this inhuman being’s avatar! How am I supposed to beat him up? Wait till the sapphire manifests the destroyed avatars once more? I wonder if I’ll be alive by then…”

It didn’t take long before he started to hit his limits, at which point he decided to counterattack as a last resort. Kento kicked the avatar in his knee and produced his last kunai in his pouch to puncture the avatar’s leg. The avatar didn't have an opportunity to swerve Kento's counter-assault and the injury opened up a hole inside the avatar's leg. After realising how successful his attack had become, his previously regretful mind caught up with the other end. Eventually, his mind attained a breakthrough.

“Wait, why didn't the avatar dodge the attack? Or…couldn’t he dodge the attack???”

"Brat, Try avoid these guys while I make more clones to screw you up!"

The thinking paused for a moment as the clone who attacked Kento from the rooftop decided to jump over Kento to land a diagonal strike on him. Kento rolled away from the landing zone and threw one of the shurikens inside his shinobi pouch. The shuriken pulled off a clean hit on the avatar's back. It didn’t take long for our Kento to figure out what was going on. He noticed the delay. The somewhat delayed reaction of the avatar.

“Waiiit...No way! So those two avatars can't react to incoming dangers very quickly. But this was certainly not the case when there were four clones. Let me see…so if my hypothesis was correct when those two clones got killed, the energy returned. But at the same time, it started exposing their weakness! Come to think of it, when all four of them were around, I barely got a chance to attack them. I see what’s going on. Nakabara's offensive capabilities are far superior compared to his defensive capabilities….More specifically, he has immense strength but lacks mobility. This is exactly why his clones didn't get a chance to dodge my ranged weapons in time. Nakabara must have divided his power among those four avatars as a clever way to increase his speed to always keep me on my toes the whole time. Sensei Keiichi chose to specifically hand over the sapphire to this guy to use that immense power of his. Though he possesses such amazing strength, his incapability to defend himself might have made him useless on the battlefield. By using the sapphire, he can make manifestations of himself which have less power. But his offensive capabilities get a huge buff from that, meaning the enemy wouldn't get a chance to fight back as the clones will keep on launching frequent attacks. That will cover up his weak point. Earlier, I wished that his replicas would make my job easier...But now...I should end this fast before Nakabara decides to respawn those avatars. And I have a perfect plan inside my mind now. Time to execute it.”

Kento backed up with the necessary self-confidence. Being aroused by Kento's moves which led to Nakabara's clones being injured, the Sapphire of Avatars started to blink while Nakabara screamed in a loud voice.

"Enjoyed killing my avatars huh Kento? Just wait, I'll heal my first clones and then try to bring back the other two to hunt you down!"

"That'll be great!" Kento made a sarcastic reply, agitating Nakabara to an even greater extent.

As the sapphire kept on shining, the wounds that had appeared on the avatars, started recovering. Kento reminded himself of his strategy once more.

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“I shouldn't let him regenerate the clones. If it ends up happening, then he'll start making the new ones. I should keep on dealing damage to exploit that terrible weak spot of his. “

It only took a while for one of the avatars to fully regenerate. Immediately after being recovered, the clone advanced towards Kento while trying to grab his weapon, yearning to slice him open.

When the clone was charging towards Kento, the other one's rejuvenation was completed. Nakabara commanded it to join his other sibling in taking down the elder son of Katsuro Hattori. Seeing the two charging bulls, Kento produced some makibishi claws from his pouch. Kento then drew out his sword and charged back. While keeping Nakabara's and the clones' attention away, Kento rapidly started laying the spikes. The clones didn't seem to notice the makibishi at all. They just continued towards Kento with their weapons lifted to land two devastating strikes. Kento kept on accelerating until the clones got closer. When the avatars got extremely close to Kento, the one in the front roared while striking his nodachi vertically. Before that happened, Kento used the speed he gained to slide past the avatars. They didn't anticipate that Kento would end up executing a move like this one. Due to their heavy weight, the clones couldn't properly halt themselves, although one tried to use his weapon to slow down. He almost succeeded, until the one behind him crashed right into him, not being able to control the momentum.

The first avatar shrieked in agony when he collapsed onto the makibishi-covered ground. Blood leaked out, but the avatar decomposed in a fraction, leaving just one clone behind. As had happened with the previous avatars, the energy inside the late avatar returned to the remaining one, giving his strength a huge upgrade while also notifying Kento to be ever vigilant.

“Okay. One down. Now Nakabara will have to wait even longer to make more clones. I only have to take care of one. But….I think he is twice as strong as before.”

"How dare you kill my clones?"

The voice of Nakabara sent a shockwave throughout Kento's body, allowing him to fully back up and grab the sword that had been sunk into the iron casing. Nakabara made his first move by rushing towards Kento with a nodachi in his hands. Kento rushed at the same time, gripping his iron comrade with his maximum potential. Kento gashed his katana vertically when Nakabara tried to horizontally strike him with his very long nodachi. Nakabara focused on putting more and more force on Kento's sword. Kento could barely hold off the force that Nakabara delivered on him.

“Just as I thought, his strength has tripled. I can't hold him for too…”

Kento was unable to finish the sentence, for the other avatar who made an appearance from Kento's right side landed a punch on Kento's chest, which sent him thudding into a large tree. The crash landing was almost unbearable for Kento. He immediately collapsed onto the floor. Trying to get to his knees, Kento tried to recover from the pain rumbling inside him.

"Now try to take this, Kento!"

Kento was alerted. He immediately embraced the ground when the remaining clone swatted his nodachi horizontally. The attack was powerful enough to chop off the tree, horrifying Kento. When the avatar had completed the attack, Kento secured a kick on the avatar's ankle, temporarily destabilising his lower limbs. While he was falling, Kento stood up and delivered a killing blow through the avatar's brain, leaving the original Nakabara behind.

The clone disintegrated, returning the energy inside. The sapphire started to blink rapidly after the clone's fall. Nakabara, who entered a state of uncontrollable rage thanks to Kento, landed a kick on Kento, flinging him right back into another tree. The touchdown opened up an internal injury, producing blood from Kento's coughs and draining pure drops from the edge of his mouth.

Nakabara screamed.

"Do you feel better right now? Now die!"

He started to rush towards Kento to take him down faster, taking advantage of his unstable condition.

"He is way too….strong!"

Kento struggled to lift his katana to stall Nakabara's next move. He barely missed the point-blank attack as he was just in time to block the blade of Nakabara. After being flung onto multiple trees, Kento's strength had begun to wane. It couldn't hold Nakabara back, and when the nodachi snapped up on Kento's katana, it launched into the air and docked into the small isle in the pond, leaving Kento unarmed.

Nakabara snickered and laughed and chuckled upon seeing the upper hand that he had gained. Kento was left outnumbered. He felt an ever-so-strong shock fuelled by fear run through his waning body. He had never encountered a foe this strong, let alone someone who could throw away his weapon with one easy swoop.

Nakabara prepared for the final blow.

"Now die, you piece of garbage!"

He aimed his nodachi at Kento's head and lifted his heavy blade to slaughter Kento with a headshot.

Swish.

“Now’s my chance.”

Kento pretended to struggle, until the perfect opportunity sparked a flame inside his body. As the nodachi was coming down slicing through the air, Kento launched a counter-attack with a distracting sidekick that induced Nakabara to lose grip of his nodachi. The Sapphire started to illuminate, nearly diverting Kento's attention. But he didn't back off, instead implementing his next move. He performed a horse kick by putting in all his remaining energy. Kento's foot vibrated Nakabara's jaw when both of them made contact. Nakabara strived to gather himself from the hit, only to fall into an even worse nauseous state after being punched in the face.

Nakabara yelled out.

"You brat!"

Shortly after Nakabara finished, Kento promptly reached for the kunai which had been sitting on the dirt for quite some time. After grabbing hold of it, Kento appeared after being stimulated enough to finish off the Kōga ninja who had massacred all the monks.

Gathering all the rage accumulated inside him, Kento reached for Nakabara's neck and shouted aloud when the tip of the kunai touched the skin.

"Rot in hell, Nakabara!"

And then it happened. Kento delivered the final blow to Nakabara, killing him with a stab into his neck with blood spraying all over. Nakabara was unable to respond to this attack after constantly being put down by Kento's fast attacks. Though he was three times stronger than Kento, his slowness allowed Kento to gain victory over a strong Kōga ninja sheltered by four identical avatars.

When Nakabara collapsed onto the floor, Kento coughed out blood, as a response to the devastating whacks he received from Nakabara and his avatars. He was reminded of something important in an instant.

“Oh no! The little monk!”

After remembering the dying monk, Kento kick-started his legs and ascended the Kinkaku-Ji temple to find the unconscious monk. At first, he was delighted to see the monk unharmed without a scratch. But he was petrified when he felt the chill of the little monk, pumping tears into his eyes. He kept his hand to check the pulse. Sadly, it was negative.

“He…died. I was too late to save him.”

It was unbearable. After going through everything, Kento couldn’t save what he thought to have been the only survivor of the purge. He realised how the poison must have taken him down when Nakabara and Kento were engaged in battle. Gathering the body in his arms, Kento descended the temple and laid the body inside the half-obliterated temple, along with the corpses of the other monks. He slowly bent and paid his respects.

Kento scuttled over to the isle and grabbed his iron friend with his bloody hands, plunging his red-coated hands into the water he rinsed away the blood.

Finally, he lunged for the body of Nakabara to reclaim the fifth piece of the star of Izanagi, which had cost him almost a quarter of his body. Drawing and reuniting with his iron friend once again, Kento slowly segregated the bond of the forehead band to release the Sapphire of Avatars from the dead Kōga ninja. He then slowly inserted it into his pouch and gazed at Nakabara's body one more time. After turning around to return to his friends to find the final portions, Kento prepared himself while thinking to himself,

“Such brutality… Absolutely horrific. The ways of the Kōgas have corrupted so much over time. It’s hard for me to believe that we used to be allies all these years ago. Now I know why Grandpa Akio always reminded me of hate during our training sessions. It’s vicious. Malevolent. A barbaric force that can alter people’s minds when you are exposed to its effects. What I saw with my eyes today was…another example of the countless such incidents that occurred ever since my family…and my clan were framed. Am I even capable of fixing this problem???”