Chapter 162: Oriole

The site for this match was randomly selected, so none of the combatants, employees, or spectators knew in what type of setting the match was going to be held.

By the time Adam reopened his eyes, he found himself standing on a snowfield.

Gusts of bone-chilling wind were howling all around him, and there were mountains that extended all the way up into the clouds in the distance. The entire landscape was completely buried under a featureless blanket of white snow.

Adam's brows furrowed slightly as soon as he took in the surrounding environment, and on the outside, Nie Yiyi was also quite concerned to see this.

In a battle between two completely unevenly matched combatants, the more complex the environment was, the more the power gap between the two could be bridged. This was because complex environments presented unpredictable elements that could influence the battle beyond the control of the combatants, so this simple environment was extremely bad news for Adam.

"What a beautiful place this is. It reminds me of Hokkaido..." Standing on the snowfield, Oni no Hanzou was in no hurry to attack. Instead, he was inspecting his surroundings with his eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly in blissful enjoyment. "This type of environment isn't very suitable for a ninja assassin like me. Instead, it's more suited to a showdown between a pair of samurai."

"Are you trying to distract yourself with the scenery to forget your fear?" Adam immediately fused with Mummy as soon as he arrived on the battlefield. "This open environment isn't exactly beneficial to you, either."

"That's true, but I don't need to rely on environmental factors to kill you."

As soon as Oni no Hanzou's voice trailed off, he immediately kicked away the snow piled up in front of him.

Countless snowflakes were instantly sent flying up into the air while gusts of fierce wind swept through the surrounding area. It was as if a hint of killing intent had been injected into the beautiful scenery, completely changing its complexion in an instant.

"Wind release!"

After kicking the snow away, Oni no Hanzou made a hand seal as he inhaled deeply, then exhaled to produce a ferocious gust of wind that

It was as if a snowstorm had been swept up across the entire area.

Oni no Hanzou wasn't able to influence the environment in a psychic world as easily as the likes of Raven and Masao Yamamoto, but he could achieve the same effect when unleashing his techniques.

In the fierce storm, every single snowflake was flying at an incredible speed, making them as sharp as razors, but that was of no concern to Adam. What he was afraid of was Oni no Hanzou himself. The snowstorm formed a perfect smokescreen that made it very difficult for Adam to track his opponent.

Adam was quickly looking around in search of his opponent when he suddenly caught sight of a shadow in the snow, and he hurriedly threw a fist in that direction.

However, at the same time, he was struck by a burst of sharp pain in the neck, accompanied by Oni no Hanzou's mocking voice.

"Wrong choice!"

Adam gritted his teeth through the pain as he immediately threw a punch behind him, but his opponent had already disappeared.

"I've studied your matches. In this form, you're nothing more than a durable punching bag! Over the years, I've killed countless opponents who excelled in defense. I have to be able to deal with any type of opponent thrown my way in order to better complete my missions."

Oni no Hanzou's voice rang out from within the wind and the snow, and Adam turned to the direction that the voice had come from, upon which he immediately spotted his opponent.

He had caught sight of Oni no Hanzou just in time to see him complete a hand seal, following which he used his katana to slice open his own skin. The weapon was already exceptionally sharp, but it had become even sharper as a result of this process.

Adam immediately charged at his opponent, but Oni no Hanzou was even faster as he concealed himself within the snowstorm again.

All of a sudden, a streak of light flashed through the air at a strange angle, and Adam had only just twisted around when he felt a sharp pain on his waist. As it turned out, the sharpened kunai knife had sliced through his bandages, then went on to slice open his skin and flesh as well.

"Your defenses are indeed quite remarkable, seeing as you were able to withstand one strike, but what about two, or three?"

Oni no Hanzou's voice was like a candle flame in the wind, flickering in and out of existence all around Adam.

Adam was already inferior to his opponent in terms of speed and technique, and the smokescreen posed by the snowstorm placed him in an even more disadvantageous position. After stumbling around and lashing out blindly like a headless fly, his entire body was riddled with wounds.

At this point, the snowstorm also finally subsided, revealing the pair of combatants to the spectators.

Adam's body of steel had already been sliced into ribbons, with gashes all over the place, and the largest of those wounds, which was on his waist, had sliced through half of his abdomen.

All of the spectators were both shocked and dismayed to see this.

"Is it already over?"

"This is what we bought tickets to see?"

"What the hell happened in that snowstorm?"

The battle had presented a very lackluster viewing experience. Not only had one of the combatants already been felled during the brief span of time in which the snowstorm had raged, none of the spectators had been able to see anything.

"There's too much of a gap between them," Nie Yiyi sighed as she closed her eyes, not wanting to watch any longer.

Hailey also burst into tears upon seeing Nie Yiyi's despairing expression.

She tugged on Shae's arm, swaying it from side to side, hoping to find some comfort there.

"You always say that he's definitely going to win. It's the same this time, right?"

"I... I don't know..." Shae replied with a shake of her head, and Hailey grew even more distraught at this response.

……

Inside the psychic world, Oni no Hanzou made his way over to Adam. At this point, Adam had only just clambered up into a seated position. He was unable to stand up due to his injuries.

Oni no Hanzou rested his katana against Adam's neck, preparing to decapitate him.

"Any last words?"

"I want to ask you what your purpose in life is, working as a hitman for so long."

"Life has no purpose. Perhaps I'll only find an answer to that question once I've lived long enough."

Oni no Hanzou raised his kunai knife as he spoke, then brought it down in one sharp motion, but this time, his movements were far slower than before.

An anomaly had suddenly sprung out of his shadow to bind his entire body, resulting in a reduction in the speed of his movement.

Adam took advantage of this opportunity to release all of his remaining bandages to bind Oni no Hanzou.

Immediately thereafter, Hellhound emerged out of thin air, then blasted an Explosive Fireball straight into the gap between the bandages.

A violent explosion erupted, and Oni no Hanzou's body was blown up into pieces, but those pieces were chunks of wood, while his true body was already nowhere to be found.

One should always remain alert and never fall into complacency.

Oni no Hanzou's power stemmed not just from his abilities, but also his mindset.

Prior to the intentional display of weakness that Adam had put on, Oni no Hanzou had already unleashed his body replacement technique, substituting himself for a wooden stump.

"That was a nice try, but it looks like I'll be getting the last laugh, after all."

Another streak of light flashed through the air, aimed directly at one of the wounds on Adam's neck.

The gash there was already quite deep, and this was an all-out attack from Oni no Hanzou, so if the strike were to land, then Adam would be decapitated for sure.

However, right as the mantis was preparing to decapitate the cicada, the oriole struck from behind.

A flash of light suddenly erupted behind the streak of light left behind in the air by his kunai knife.

The flash of light was very sharp and piercing, much like the flash of blinding magnesium light from old cameras.

In the instant that the light appeared, Oni no Hanzou was caught completely off guard. In that instant, he felt as if his body had been frozen into place, and even his thoughts had slowed down.

At the same time, the fine hairs on the back of his neck instantly rose up on end. Throughout all of his battles against Adam, this was the first time that he had felt genuine peril.

He had failed to anticipate that Adam would have two traps set for him.

He struggled with all his might against the restrictive force, but it was already too late, and a blade that was even sharper than his kunai knife slashed through his body.