Heavy!
Becoming heavier and heavier!
Every strike from the opponent seemed to have no end to its power, even increasing with each direct clash!
The strength he took pride in was gradually feeling the pressure; from being evenly matched at the start, after dozens of rounds, every time their weapons met, a distinct numbness would spread through his arms, his fingers throbbed with pain, and the iron staff seemed to grow heavier and heavier.
On the other hand, although the young man opposite him had also been knocked back many times in the repeated collisions, his eyes grew brighter and brighter, his momentum rising rather than falling, and the power of his swings increased without diminishing!
'Is this guy a monster!?'
Fine beads of sweat broke out on Yagyū Sōichirō's forehead, and the trembling in his arms became increasingly difficult to suppress.
He never thought that he would be pushed to such an extent in his most confident field of strength by a young newcomer!
That kind of power simply didn't seem like something a human should possess! Every collision felt like shaking a waking beast!
They exchanged another seven or eight rounds.
Every clash of blade and staff erupted in a heart-pounding roar.
Yagyū Sōichirō's forehead was covered in sweat, and his breathing became heavy.
He felt as if he wasn't swinging an iron staff, but pushing an ever-growing mountain.
The opponent's power seemed infinite, and even more terrifying was the increasingly heavy momentum contained within that blade work; every clash sent his blood churning, the numbness in his arms had spread to his shoulder blades, and the knuckles of his hands gripping the iron staff turned white and stung from the overexertion.
'This cannot go on!'
Alarm bells rang in Yagyū Sōichirō's heart; in this prolonged battle, his stamina, chakra, and momentum were being chipped away and suppressed bit by bit by the opponent's unreasonable power.
If he waited until his strength was exhausted to change his tactics, there would likely be no more chances.
"Ha!"
After another straightforward, unadorned frontal collision, Yagyū Sōichirō used the recoil force to leap back a large step, temporarily creating distance. His chest heaved violently as he stared intently at Isshin, whose eyes were still burning bright.
Without a word, Yagyū Sōichirō frantically poured his remaining strength and chakra into his arms and into the dark iron staff connected to his mind.
In the next instant, he moved!
It was no longer the previous violent flurry of strikes, but a concentration of his entire spirit and energy into a single point. He raised the iron staff high above his head with both hands, his entire being seeming to merge with the staff, turning into a bolt of black lightning that tore through the air along the purest and most direct path.
" Jaishin Style Secret Art—Daigo Kanten!!!"
This was his ultimate technique, concentrating all his power into a single strike that surpassed his limits, aimed at smashing through all defenses with absolute violence and dismantling the opponent's will and body.
Even before the staff landed, the extreme pressure caused the air in the dojo to nearly solidify. The onlookers felt as if their hearts were being squeezed, and their breathing stopped!
Facing this earth-shaking, unavoidable strike, a brilliant light never seen before erupted in Isshin's eyes.
He also let out a shout, gripping his long blade—already covered in fine cracks—tightly with both hands. Without dodging, he once again chose the most resolute frontal counter-attack, slashing upward!
"Come on!!!"
Clang!!!!!!
This collision sound far exceeded any before, sharp enough to nearly pierce the eardrums, followed by a tooth-aching, glass-shattering "crack!"
Under Yagyū Sōichirō's full-power "Daigo Kanten," Isshin's steel long blade, which had endured many heavy blows, finally reached its limit and snapped!
The broken half of the blade spun away and embedded itself deep into a distant wall with a thud.
The iron staff broke the blade, its momentum only slightly weakened, continuing to descend toward Isshin's head—now wide open due to the broken weapon—amidst the cold glint of the flying shards!
"Oh no!"
Just a split second before the staff touched the other's hair, Yagyū Sōichirō's heart sank.
Though he wanted to teach this greenhorn a lesson, he certainly didn't want to take his life, but once this "Daigo Kanten" was unleashed at full power, even he found it difficult to completely pull back at the last moment!
In that critical moment, before even a cry of alarm could be uttered.
A sudden change occurred!
The tall youth's body seemed to have been hit by a pause button, showing an extremely brief, almost imperceptible freeze.
A strange luster suddenly swept across his entire body—a heavy metallic texture like tempered bronze or dark gold—vanishing in a flash!
"Clang!!!"
The iron staff slammed squarely onto the crown of Isshin's head!
But it wasn't the dull thud of hitting flesh; it was a resonant, soul-shaking metallic boom, like a giant bell striking a bronze pillar or a hammer hitting a tempered steel anvil!
Yagyū Sōichirō felt an irresistible, overwhelming force of recoil surge back from the opponent's head, rushing through the iron staff like a tidal wave!
That force was so fierce and violent that it even exceeded his desperate "Daigo Kanten" from just now!
'"What?!"'
He couldn't hold on at all; his fingers instantly went numb from the shock. The dark iron staff that had accompanied him for years flew out of his hands for the first time, turning into a black shadow.
With a "boom," it flew high into the air and vanished from sight, only crashing down heavily much later, embedding itself deep into the ground and trembling incessantly.
And Yagyū Sōichirō himself was hit as if by an invisible battering ram, his burly body flying backward uncontrollably.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He smashed through two wooden pillars supporting the side corridor and slid for over ten meters through the messy rubble and dust before finally stopping when his back slammed into the wall at the end of the dojo.
"Cough... cough cough!" He knelt on one knee and couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of saliva with a metallic taste. His arms hung limp and trembled uncontrollably, barely able to be raised.
He snapped his head up, staring intently at the youth in the center of the field who was slowly relaxing his stance and seemed unharmed except for the broken blade in his hand. His eyes were filled with unbelievable horror.
"Wha... What technique is this?" Yagyū Sōichirō gasped, his voice hoarse. "Ninjutsu? Or some kind of bloodline limit?"
Isshin stood in place, the strange metallic luster already faded, returning to his normal skin color.
He glanced at the broken blade in his hand and casually tossed it to the ground with a light clink. Facing Yagyū Sōichirō's shocked question, he shook his head and said calmly:
"It is not ninjutsu, nor is it a bloodline limit. It is a secret art of my Ashina Style."
This Isshin clone of his, fused with the Enma bloodline genes, inherited the Enma Clan's immense strength and the overbearing physique of steel and iron, but it did not inherit the unique trait of weaponizing the body.
However, a certain beneficial mutation during the deep-level fusion of human and Enma bloodlines gave rise to a unique ability:
His body could metalize in an instant, taking on a dull bronze-gold luster like cast copper or iron, much like the Enma Clan's body weaponization 'Staff,' raising his body's hardness and strength to an unbelievable level.
At the same time, it could reflect the powerful impact received back in the form of an even more violent shockwave, with the recoil force even exceeding the original attack.
Curiously, the shorter the duration of this 'metalization' and the more precise the timing, the stronger the defensive intensity and recoil force became.
Like 'perfect parry' and 'deflect' in action games, the best timing was to release it at the exact moment the enemy's attack hit the body.
"This technique is called..." Isshin met Yagyū Sōichirō's shocked gaze and slowly spoke:
"Rebound!"