Chapter 113: Anger, Ninja VS Knight

  The Vatican people soon discovered that two of their companions were missing, and they hastily called Arthur and others. Arthur and his men listened to the report from their subordinates and did not dare to disturb Troy and other ascetics. They secretly brought people to follow a spiral trajectory to search for the missing hands. In less than half an hour, they found the small valley and stared blankly at their companions and a thin little guy who died together.

  After a brief survey of the battlefield, Skerl furrowed his brow: "It seems they mutually annihilated each other. These two corpses were indeed cut in half by the Holy Light Sword. But why did they come here? If only there was an Arbiter's investigation expert around, who among you has this skill?"

  The referees present shook their heads, and their leader, a high-ranking deacon, said helplessly: "Lord Sker, we are all responsible for the killing, and those skills of investigation and search, we don't need, nor have we ever learned."

  "Hmmph, what a nuisance! That damned fool must have been trying to sneak close to our encampment and was discovered by these two brothers, then chased here, resulting in this mess. Hmm, let's see if they're companions of those Japanese people. If so, we'll have them take the corpse back and give them a good scolding for resorting to such unsportsmanlike conduct before a duel. It's a knight's shame!"

  "Dear Hagen," Murphy said quietly, "they're not knights, after all. Ambushes may be their nature, especially for the Japanese. Can't blame them."

  Arthur's face sank as he gave the order: "Take away these corpses, we're going back. Tomorrow morning, let them give us an explanation."

  Skerrow frowned: "Why don't we go find them now?"

  Arthur shrugged his shoulders: "Skull, my friend, it's already midnight now. We can't be too rude. I think they should have found out that their people are missing by now? They should understand what happened, hum, and the evidence is in our hands now. Let's reason with them properly later."

  Several dispatched attendants frowned and reluctantly picked up the blood-soaked corpse. Sker and the others had all overlooked one thing, even though the ground was so bumpy, there was still a little too little blood on the ground...

  Back at the barracks, Sker added double the number of guards for the night watch. These new guards glared at Yichen's side with ill intentions, waiting for an opportunity to stir up trouble after dawn. Inside the mobile house, Arthur and the others held a simple memorial service for their two deceased companions, offering a brief prayer. As for Yamada's corpse, they carelessly threw it into the campsite, covering it with a piece of cloth in haste.

  At dawn, Sakura stretched out her waist and went out. After carefully washing up, Jester and Chekhov, who had a premonition that something would happen, brought Skye and the other six to surround Sakura, waiting for trouble to come knocking. The masters of the four major families got up one by one, dazed and confused, and only came back to their senses after wiping their faces with creek water.

  Yi Chen and De Kula knew what was going to happen, so in order not to affect Sakura's performance, they simply hid inside the tent and pretended they hadn't gotten up yet.

  "Sakura shouted loudly: 'Hey, Takao, go and see why Sensei Iwata hasn't gotten up yet? His spirit is even better than us young people! Call him to get up and teach us some advanced sword techniques!'"

  A group of four families' top-notch experts were all saying "heh heh, heh heh", loudly approving Sakura's opinion. Some eager guys had already rushed into the tent, took out their own swords, and prepared to practice on the spot at any time. More people were unbuttoning their shirts, exposing their chests, blowing in the cold mountain air of the morning, and waiting leisurely for the appearance of Iwata, the old ghost.

  Arthur and his group had made a move, Arthur, Sker, Hagen, Murphy, accompanied by ten Knights of the Round Table and more than thirty subordinates, slowly carried several long objects around the ancient castle walls and walked over. Several top masters from the four major families glanced at Arthur's group with pride, coldly humming, deliberately revealing their warrior knives, whistling in their mouths.

  Kao Ch'ang exclaimed, "Master Ying, the old master is not in his tent. Perhaps he has gotten up and gone to practice swordplay on a mountain peak? This was a habit he developed while living on Mt. Fuji."

  Sakura smiled, stroking her long hair with an otherworldly gesture, and said in a soft voice: "Well, let's just forget it then. We'll have our own breakfast and go out to play nicely. You're all used to appreciating the scenery of Japan, now let's take a look at the Westerners' sights too... Hmm, Mr. Arthur, isn't the duel date yet? What are you doing here?"

  Arthur had already heard that Sakura and the others were looking for someone important but hadn't found them, however, he didn't care about these things. He coldly snorted and said: "Mr. Sakura, shouldn't this be a question I should ask you? What have you people done, you know it yourselves. Hagen..."

  Hagen let out a cold snort and grabbed the two feet of Iwata's corpse, heavily throwing them in front of the group of four-family warriors.

  The air seemed to freeze in an instant, and the referees were just about to put their companion's body on the ground when a top-notch master from the Wind family suddenly shouted: "God, Haggar, that's the corpse of Yamada's old man! They murdered him, those damned Westerners! We must avenge Yamada's old man!"

  The surrounding woods and underground also began to stir with eerie ripples. The top masters of the four major families didn't stop to explain, drew their swords and slashed down. Afterwards, streaks of eerie light appeared in the air, those special ninjas from Ju Hua couldn't hold back their anger, and they all took action.

  And the one who moved the fastest was Sakura, his hand rose, 'Killing Moon' had already arrived in his hand, slightly swinging the sword body, a thin black electric current stabbed towards Arthur's heart, at the same time, Sakura shouted loudly: "They broke the rules of the duel, they surrounded and killed Professor Iwata, take them down, take down this group of bastards."

  Arthur and his companions were stunned by a series of unexpected events, how did they know that this dead guy was such an important figure? They originally came to talk things over and didn't plan on having a conflict with Sakura and the others, but now looking at these Japanese warriors charging over in a frenzy, they were somewhat taken aback.

  It's a good thing Skrull reacted quickly, he shouted loudly: "Welcome to battle, everyone welcome to battle, no need to explain, welcome to battle." He waved his hand and his flower sword appeared in his hand, the dense sword light flew out like a meteor, challenging Sakura's long sword.

  Sakura's long whistle, left hand one finger, the 'Killing Moon' sword body suddenly emitted a thick black mist, immediately followed by countless black air arrows shooting out from the 'Killing Moon', targeting all the Temple personnel. Meanwhile, the 'Killing Moon' itself seemed to entwine Skell's flower sword like a snake, twisting and slashing towards Skell's wrist.

  At this moment, Arthur and the other three finally reacted, waving their hands to summon their own weapons, and they shouted in unison: "Welcome to battle."

  Hagen was knocked flying by a sideways blow, and the two top masters of the Huo family were sent tumbling through the air, spinning around once before roaring and striking down with their blades again. Meanwhile, Arthur suddenly came to his senses and shouted out in alarm: "Beware, beware the enemy beneath your feet!" A faint black ripple flashed by, and Jest had already leapt forward, swinging his dragon-slaying dagger. As for Skye and the other seven, they were dancing through the air above the battlefield, their dark magic raging wildly without distinction between friend or foe.

  Those Vatican officials who had no experience of fighting against ninjas were stunned. How could there be enemies underground? Those attendants had just drawn their own weapons and were about to rush up, weren't the enemies right in front of them? Where were the other enemies? Had Lord Arthur gone crazy?

  More than thirty sharp long swords burst out of the ground, mixed with strong true energy, and pierced into the heels of more than a dozen unlucky ghosts, shattering their calf bones into powder. More than a dozen executioners let out miserable cries, fell backwards, and the distorted ripples in the air easily beheaded them, the blood flowers filling the sky reflected the lazy morning sun, so dazzlingly beautiful.

  Murphy's long sword swung, his men had already risen into the air, roaring loudly, countless white sword auras shot towards the ground, the entire ground was instantly blasted with more than a foot thick layer of soil. Those hidden special ninjas in the soil shouted and rose up, the long sword slashed down fiercely. And originally standing on the ground, Sakura and others, then rose into the air along with the momentum of the mud eruption, frantically stimulating each other in mid-air. It was clear that Sakura's side had the upper hand, they had too many people, more than three hundred people attacking the opponent's team of less than forty people.

  Almost simultaneously, Arthur and each of his men were attacked by more than ten enemies.

  Fortunately, the ten Round Table knights were still there. In the midst of being entwined by Sakura, Arthur being attacked by Jester, and Hagen being surrounded by over a dozen top-notch experts, they burst forth with intense white light all over their bodies. Then, long rainbow-like sword auras flashed out one after another, causing those special ninjas to hastily dodge in succession, furiously slashing out countless sword winds. They gave up attacking the surviving Executors and instead focused on dealing with these ten formidable foes.

  The simultaneous thrusts of the ten Knights of the Round Table and the sword winds released by over two hundred special ninjas collided, producing a mournful cry in mid-air. More than thirty special ninjas had their chests pierced with a huge hole, falling from the air to die tragically on the spot. Among the ten Knights of the Round Table, five of them had their entire arms shattered into powder by the powerful and overbearing sword winds, also letting out mournful cries as they fell to the ground, clutching their injured arms and rolling about in agony.

  Immediately, about thirty special ninjas rushed down extremely unceremoniously, their samurai swords slashing fiercely at the five knights on the ground.

  Those who survived, Arthur and the deacons he brought, were also anxious, their companions were all desperately trying, but they themselves didn't know what to do. They too abandoned the mysterious and dignified mask of the judges, let out a roar of anger, and with holy power surging through them, they jointly unleashed a small-scale "Judgment of God". Although their strength was far inferior to that of the Pope and the Cardinals, it was enough to unleash a mini version of the "Judgment of God" in just a few seconds. This group technique originally required more preparation time as its power increased.

  A fine white light shot down from the horizon, as if a powerful laser beam had struck those special ninjas. In the midst of mournful cries, more than twenty special ninjas failed to notice the attack coming from the sky and were hit with holes the size of fingertips all over their bodies before immediately falling down.

  And thus, Skye's dark magic also targeted the remaining executors, unleashing a massive black fire dragon that swooped down with its two wings, roaring as it charged towards the gathered Vatican executors.

  On the other side, Troy and his men finally discovered that something was amiss on this side, which was still the power fluctuation of "God's Judgment" that startled them. More than 20 ascetic monks rose into the air and floated above the ancient castle, sizing up the battle situation. Meanwhile, Arthur and the others who stayed in the camp also rushed over desperately, waving their swords in their hands.

  "Troy was shocked: 'Inferno Dragon Flame'? Does the Dark Council have such a master now? Can they actually cast this spell? Hmm... It's seven people working together, no wonder. They really don't care about their companions' lives, do they? This move can destroy this mountain peak."

  As soon as Troy's words fell, Sky was already shouting triumphantly on the other side: "People below, run quickly, the mountain peak is going to collapse." Relying on their ability to fly, the seven of them made strange calls while circling in mid-air.

  Troy closed his eyes, and a fist-sized, soft, warm holy light ball appeared on his chest. With a gentle wave of his hand, the holy light ball shot into the roaring, flame-constituted Inferno Dragon... A white light flashed by, and Skye's arrogant face suddenly froze. Their surefire killing move was shattered by Troy in one blow. Those stewards who were targeted by the 'Inferno Dragon' didn't fare well either. Their holy light shields were lightly touched by the dragon, and immediately collapsed, causing them to spit out blood as they fell to the ground.

  On the other side, dozens of top-notch masters surrounded Hagen and launched a fierce attack. Hagen relied on his tower shield and didn't put these people in his heart at all, but he was shocked to find that he couldn't hit anyone. Those Japanese people, like fleas, wielded long knives and could strike him from behind every time. What made Hagen even more terrified was that the power possessed by these top-notch masters was enough to split open the holy light shield that protected him.

  With a "whooshing" sound, Hagen's buttocks were heavily slashed with a knife, almost cutting off two kilograms of flesh.

  Hagen burst out, letting out a loud roar as his body exploded like a barrel of zha medicine, with powerful holy light surging out in all directions. The top-notch masters also let out a loud roar, gathering together and forming a strange formation. Everyone's powers converged, and then the guy standing at the front swung his sword to unleash a heaven-shaking blow.

  A blindingly bright flash of lightning struck Hagen's body, and he let out a miserable howl. His nearly impenetrable tower shield was actually pierced by a single sword strike, the powerful sword energy cutting through his ribcage and then rampaging through his body, almost destroying his internal organs. Hagen spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward for over thirty meters before crashing to the ground.

  On this side, more than thirty top masters of the four major families who had launched a fatal attack were also struck by the holy light. They exhausted all their strength but could not block such a violent holy light. It was as if they were swept away like fallen leaves. The bones of these masters crackled and popped, and more than sixty people flew out and rolled into a ball on the ground. They spat out blood from their mouths and groaned continuously, but it seemed that they were not in danger of losing their lives.

  Troy saw Hagen's miserable appearance, his heart was greatly shocked, and his assessment of Sakura's strength immediately rose to another level. He hurriedly flew over, and the powerful holy power poured into Hagen's body. Hagen's injuries quickly recovered.

  Troy is still busy on this side, and Scylla has also encountered trouble on that side.

  Sukeru was being entwined by Sakura's gentle swordsmanship, unable to catch his breath. Sakura refused to engage in a fierce battle with Sukeru, and the "Killing Moon" seemed like a phantom, moving back and forth with a strong breaking sound, sticking closely to Sukeru. Sukeru's attacks couldn't reach Sakura, and whenever he tried to leave to assist his subordinates, Sakura's offense would immediately rush towards his neck. Sukeru was frustrated, so he could only use dense and continuous sword rain to attack Sakura, hoping to force him back or defeat him. The two were now competing to see who had the longer endurance.

  Murphy had just jumped into the air, forcing out those hidden ninjas on the ground. However, his troubles also came from this. Countless strange human shadows appeared around him, and countless sword auras slashed towards him. The speed of these ninjas was comparable to Murphy's, and Murphy couldn't find an opportunity to give them a fatal blow, so he could only resist these sword auras with all his might. Whenever Murphy targeted one, he would slash out a powerful sword aura, but the target would suddenly twist and disappear into the wind.

  Murphy was furious and shouted loudly, but these ninjas who were proficient in the five elements escape technique didn't even bother to fight him hard, clearly not his opponent. Who would be so stupid? Occasionally, there were even a few flying darts that flew towards Murphy with the wind.

  Arthur's anxiety grew, his subordinates were being surrounded and hacked at. The five uninjured Knights of the Round Table were still holding their own, relying on their speed and strength to bully the ninjas, while the five injured subordinates, who were trying to escape from the battle group, were unfortunately entangled by the enemy, each dragging a heavily injured right arm, stumbling and dodging the sword lights that filled the sky.

  Arthur's heart skipped a beat, and his hand momentarily hesitated, allowing Jester's Dragon Slayer to ghost through his defenses and strike true. Arthur was shocked, and the Holy War Armor burst forth from his body, unleashing a powerful slash in response.

  Jester was also startled, he didn't want to fight Arthur to the death, and hastily raised two dragon-slaying daggers to block Arthur's heavy blow. With a loud "clang", the force of the impact sent shockwaves in all directions, Arthur retreated two steps back, while Jester grunted and flew backward for over ten meters, his whole body shaking violently before he charged forward again.

  Those ascetic monks took action, they prayed in unison, and a soft holy light was emitted from their hands, almost like heat-seeking missiles, specifically attacking Sakura's side. In these holy lights, there were even faint sounds of chanting.

  " Gentlemen, isn't this enough? Can't any issues be settled on the day of the duel?"

  Everyone was convinced of the power of these sacred lights, and so Sakura's side retreated in unison. Skye and the others were the fastest to run away, facing someone who could easily take down their combined ultimate attack with a single blow, or rather, his companion, it was better to put some distance between them.

  Something astonishing happened, those sacred lights only repelled Sakura and the others, then disappeared without any warning, leaving a faint scent in the air.

  All the Japanese looked at Sakura, after so many of their companions had died and they themselves had caused so much damage to each other, these guys finally calmed down and knew that they should listen to Sakura's opinion. Sakura was not old, nor was his position high in the organization, but he was the leader of this operation, so naturally they would listen to him. Besides, many people discussing together doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea.

  Sakura's face twisted in extreme annoyance: "You eight, you assassinated our respected teacher Iwata, we will absolutely not let you off."

  Arthur suppressed a bellyful of anger, quietly inquired about the injuries of his subordinates, shook his head and said: "No, we didn't attack him... Two of our companions went missing last night, when we found them, all three were dead... Obviously, your old man killed our companions and then took his own life."

  Sakura, following the teachings of Yidun, skirted around certain topics: "So... are you saying this was a misunderstanding? Ah-ha, our teacher Iwata went out to practice his sword at night and ran into your people, then a conflict arose, right?" Indeed, they had run into people from the Church, but Sakura hadn't mentioned running into two of the lowest-ranking Executors.

  Arthur nodded: "Of course, it's likely to be the case... We didn't come for revenge, we came to inform you of this matter." Seeing the position of Iwata in the hearts of the Japanese people, Arthur's words also became more polite, after all, his side had lost two low-level attendants, while the other side had lost a top leader.

  "Sakura said resolutely: 'No matter what, I will definitely avenge Professor Iwata. That's it. Gentlemen, you are not welcome here, please leave. On the day of the duel, we'll settle this once and for all. We too are warriors who value bushido and do not wish to engage in a reckless battle with you.'"

  Hagen was about to shout again, but Troy stopped him, saying in a low voice: "Leave here, indeed, if you have already set the date, then there is no need to waste time here. Having a dispute before the formal duel date is a shameful behavior."

  The Vatican people angrily carried away the body of their companion. Arthur and his group had originally wanted to clarify things, but since they were still in a fog themselves, how could they talk to those red-eyed people? It was better to settle everything at once as Sakura said, whoever had the bigger fist would have the final say.

  Yi Chen also began to enthusiastically greet Sakura's subordinates who were rescuing the dead and wounded. Sakura explained to the representatives of the four major families: "You see, those two people who died must be members of the ascetic monks. It is a great honor that Sensei Iwata was able to take them down by himself. Everyone has seen their strength now, right? We should uphold the spirit of Bushido, and it's not right to clash with them at this moment. When the day of our duel arrives, we will definitely kill all of them and avenge Sensei Iwata."

  These four major families' representatives, yeah, if the other party is at the level of two Troys, it's indeed a miracle that Iwata can take down two. Maybe he really was bored at night and went out to practice his sword, resulting in a misunderstanding with the Vatican's high-ranking officials... Hmm, although Iwata died, but today we also killed so many people, shouldn't that be enough to make up for it?

  They all nodded in agreement with Sakura's opinion and vowed to thoroughly eliminate Arthur.

  Of course, such a small favor is not enough, Sakura began to enthusiastically go back and forth, helping those ninjas rescue their injured companions... This was originally the best opportunity to win people's hearts.

  Yi Chen and Dekula secretly calculated that this time, the Holy See had fewer casualties, but they were all elite, and even Hagen was almost killed. Moreover, at least five Round Table Knights lost their combat effectiveness. Although nearly a hundred people died on this side, from the proportion of human resources occupied, Sakura and others still had the upper hand.

  Yi Chen sighed: "If one of those ascetic practitioners was also taken out today, it would be perfect."

  Deacula squeezed out a smile: "It will definitely be, trust me, huh?"

  Yi Chen revealed a strange smile, and chuckled a few times. In Arthur's camp, loud prayers sounded again. Sker then pulled Arthur and the others to one side, discussing whether they needed to find more reinforcements...