"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Hahahahaha—!"
A rogue ninja wielding twin axes wore a look of savage delight as he brought them down, splitting a guard's skull in a single blow. Red and white splattered across his body, and the sensation sent him into a frenzy of laughter.
What he failed to notice was the grim reaper who had appeared behind him at some unknown moment—one who carried an absurdly massive blade.
In Shinji's hands, the thirty-kilogram Executioner's Blade felt weightless. With an almost casual motion, he raised it horizontally, positioning it so that the man's neck slid perfectly into the semicircular notch along the blade.
Beheading Execution!
Swish!
Thud!
A head—its expression still frozen in excitement and cruelty—shot skyward. Only then did a fountain of hot blood burst from the severed neck.
"Who's there?!"
The sudden turn of events stunned both sides locked in combat.
After killing his target, Shinji's expression didn't change at all. He simply lifted the Executioner's Blade before his eyes and examined it carefully.
One of the Seven Kill Lamps had finally lit up.
So it really wouldn't work to substitute animals—only killing people triggered it.
Once he confirmed this, Shinji actually felt more relaxed. After all, there were still plenty of test materials right in front of him.
"Hey! You bastard—where the hell did you crawl out from? Die!"
A burly bandit wielding a spiked club charged forward, relying on his strength.
Shinji didn't even bother turning his head.
With a casual swing, the Executioner's Blade cut first, cleaving the man diagonally in two.
"Not bad. That makes two."
"So… who's next?"
"…Actually, this is too slow one by one. I'll come to you."
He slung the blade over his shoulder and walked toward the crowd with blatant arrogance.
Although Shinji's two brutal strikes had shocked them, these bandits—made up of rogue ninjas and fallen samurai—were hardened criminals. With their numbers on their side, they weren't about to let a fat prize slip away.
Someone shouted, trying to sound brave, "He's tough—everyone, attack together!"
"Watch out for that ridiculous blade! Surround him!"
"Kill!"
Once they realized how dangerous he was, nearly half the bandits rushed toward Shinji, intent on surrounding and killing him first.
The rest continued attacking the guards—after all, that was their original goal.
But they quickly changed their minds…
Even under siege, Shinji remained calm. This group simply couldn't put any real pressure on him.
He brought his blade down in a single strike, cutting an unlucky man—weapon and all—cleanly in half.
Then came a sweeping slash. Four or five people couldn't dodge in time and were torn open, collapsing in agony.
Though gravely wounded, they didn't die immediately, only able to writhe and scream on the ground.
Seeing this, some of the attackers began to hesitate, fear creeping in as they stopped advancing.
But Shinji wasn't about to let anyone go before all Seven Kill Lamps were lit.
He surged forward and began cutting them down indiscriminately.
Every swing claimed a life.
Sometimes, more than one.
The feeling was intoxicating—like a berserker mowing down enemies without restraint.
For some reason, Shinji suddenly recalled the scene of Uchiha Madara after being resurrected, single-handedly crushing tens of thousands of Allied Shinobi.
In this world, individual strength could completely override numbers.
Quantity meant nothing.
And if it did, that only meant one wasn't strong enough yet.
Perhaps when Madara gazed down at those tens of thousands, he wasn't wondering whether he could win—but how much time it would take to kill them all.
In the blink of an eye, all seven lamps on the Executioner's Blade were lit.
Shinji abruptly stopped and scanned the battlefield, spotting what looked like the leader lingering at the very edge, issuing commands.
The distance between them was only sixty to seventy meters—well within the conditions to unleash his ultimate move.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shinji activated Piercing Shadow Strike!
In an instant, he vanished.
A scream rang out—then stopped abruptly.
Swish!
When Shinji reappeared, he was already sixty or seventy meters away, standing over two severed halves of a body.
That ghost-like teleportation finally shattered what little courage the remaining bandits had.
Once they snapped out of their shock, they scattered like frightened animals.
This was clearly an enemy far beyond their ability to deal with.
Their leader had been cut down in a single strike!
They couldn't even track his movement—one moment of distraction, and a man was split in two. Who would still dare fight?
After testing Piercing Shadow Strike once, Shinji was in an excellent mood.
He didn't know how others perceived it, but the moment he activated the technique, he felt a strange force surge from the blade, spreading through his body until it completely enveloped him.
Then—almost like teleportation—he appeared directly behind his target.
The sudden shift in perspective even made him freeze for a split second, but the Executioner's Blade in his hands didn't hesitate at all, rising in a smooth upward slash.
By the time Shinji fully regained his senses, his enemy had already been cut in half.
In other words, once activated, a the "Strike" had to be unleashed.
If he didn't act, the energy released from the Executioner's Blade would complete the attack for him.
It was both an advantage and a drawback.
Shinji studied the blade as the energy faded and the Seven Kill Lamps dimmed once more. Overall, he was very satisfied—its flaws didn't overshadow its strengths.
At critical moments, this move could function like a short-range Flying Thunder God technique. Its practicality was extremely high.
He lifted his head and looked at the enemies fleeing in panic, a rare seriousness appearing on his face.
"With such perfect test materials… I can't just let you run."
As the words fell, an X-shaped crimson mark appeared on his forehead.
Boom!
With a powerful stomp, Shinji launched himself forward at double speed, catching up to them in the span of a single breath. What followed was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep—unrestrained slaughter.
No one could withstand a single blow.
The massive, exaggerated blade meant that even a glancing hit was fatal.
Most deaths were brutal—some were cut in half horizontally, others split vertically. Ironically, the most merciful end was a clean beheading.
In just moments, not a single one escaped. They were wiped out completely.
With the extreme mobility granted by Blood Manipulation combined with Piercing Shadow Strike, there was virtually no enemy here Shinji couldn't catch.