BOOOOOM!!!

The moment the blades covered in purple lightning bolts and tongues of blue flames collided, the interaction between fire and lightning chakra triggered a huge explosion.

Ground cracked, loud shockwaves erupted outwards, and the combination of scorching fire and crackling lightning arcs destroyed everything within a six or seven-meter radius around Seimei and Reina within the blink of an eye.

But the commotion didn't affect them.

They quickly disengaged and reengaged again.

Seimei swung his blade fiercely at Reina's left shoulder in an up-to-down diagonal motion. That single swing had enough devastating power to tear Reina's muscles and bones apart while electrocuting her.

But Reina folded his right arm, which wielded her blade, toward her left side.

Then swung her scorching ninjato in a horizontal motion from left to right with equal ferocity, deflecting Seimei's blade with such power that it caused another earth-shattering explosion.

Clang!! Booom!!

As she deflected Seimei's ninjato, the three tomoe in her Sharingan spun. She realized that Seimei now had a slight opening in his defense for the next few milliseconds before he could recover and counterattack.

So, she struck decisively.

She attacked Seimei's right shoulder with a powerful sword thrust with the intent to puncture his shoulder and scorch the nearby muscles. Even if it didn't defeat Seimei outright, it would still cause his combat power to decline significantly.

However, how could Seimei, who had already seen through her move, let her succeed in her endeavor?

With his superior chakra control, Seimei channeled a significant amount of Earth Release chakra to the ground around him to cast a Ninjutsu without forming hand seals.

Earth Release: Earth-Flow Spears

Several dark-brown spear-like protrusions made of earth erupted from the ground near Seimei, and they targeted Reina's legs and torso as she tried to thrust her sword toward Seimei's right shoulder.

"Tsk~"

Reina clicked her tongue as she was forced to stop her attack to avoid being pincushioned by tens of earth spears.

She tried to jump back, but the spears were too fast.

The Earth spears impaled her left thigh, but Seimei wasn't happy at all.

Why?

Puff~

Because the Reina, who was impaled by the earth spear, suddenly turned into a human-sized log of wood with a puff of smoke.

At the same time, the real Reina suddenly appeared to his left side with a flicker of flame beneath her feet. She wasted no time and slashed at Seimei's torso with her bright white blade covered in tongues of blue flames.

However, Seimei, who had already tracked her movement using his Tenseigan, showed no surprise and acted swiftly.

He pivoted on his right foot to turn 180 degrees in the clockwise direction, stomped his left foot to the ground to stabilize his body, and slashed his lightning-coated blade horizontally from left to right.

Witnessing the horrifying power behind Seimei's strike, Reina changed her stance and swung her blade defensively but with equal ferocity to block the impact.

Clang!! Boom!!

When the blades collided, another round of shockwaves erupted, causing the ground under their feet to crack and dust and debris to fly into the air.

And this time, the impact caused Reina to slide back for nearly six or seven meters.

However, Reina wasn't troubled by this at all.

Instead, the grin on her face became even more ferocious. Her Sharingan was practically glowing with an eerie, crimson light as three pitch-black tomoe rotated quickly within her bright-red irises.

Reina smiled and exclaimed, "Very good, Seimei. Let's keep going."

Blue fire now completely coated her ninjato's blade. The intense heat radiating from it caused the surrounding water vapor to burn. The air was distorted because of the fire's intense heat. Even the ground was scorched, even though the fire didn't actually touch it.

If Reina's blade weren't made from special materials, her ninjato would have melted by now.

Seimei's Tenseigan glowed in an ocean-blue hue. He also grinned as he responded, "As you wish."

His blade vibrated even more violently as multiple arcs of purple lightning bolts covered it. The purple lightning bolts hit the ground occasionally, leaving behind deep, charred cracks.

At the next second, Seimei and Reina lunged at each other using Thunder Body Flicker and Exploding Body Flicker, respectively.

Boom!

And their blades met again, causing another explosion and a series of shockwaves, leaving nothing but a devastating crater and several deep, scorched cracks on the ground.

For the next couple of minutes, Seimei and Reina continued to use their unique elemental Body Flicker Techniques to move at high speed, causing all their friends, except for Touma, who had Sharingan to track their movement, to see nothing but their blurred figures.

Seimei and Reina exchanged a flurry of sword slashes. They had cast several Ninjutsu without hand seals to interrupt each other's rhythms.

They did everything they could to injure each other and win the match.

But neither of them succeeded in their goals, aside from leaving several shallow cuts, either charred or burned from lightning and fire, along with a few bruises on various parts of their bodies.

However, even those bruises and cuts started to heal visibly. It didn't impact their combat effectiveness, except for causing them to feel a little pain.

So, they fought relentlessly. They had just one goal—to defeat the opponent in front of them.

Still, their minds were buzzing with several thoughts that were uniquely synchronized.

Reina: I see that you have come this far…

Seimei: I have finally come this far to reach her level…

Reina: I have seen you train day and night…

Seimei: I have gone through numerous grinds, day after day, night after night…

Reina: You feared pain, but never gave up. You broke past your limits again and again…

Seimei: All the pain, all the sweat, all the blood…they were worth it…

Reina: In you, I see hope—the hope to protect our world, the hope to protect everything I have ever cherished…

Seimei: I have grown strong, and I will grow stronger. I will protect everything I cherish from those distant horned bastards' terror…

Reina: No more holding back. This time, I will go all out…

Seimei: However, I will no longer be alone. In you, I see hope—someone whom I can fight side by side with. So, let's see exactly how strong you are, Reina. It's about time I go all out.

Reina: So, show me…

Seimei: Let me show you…

Reina: Your resolve…

Seimei: My resolve…

And with that, their blades collided once more.

Boooooom!!!

----------------

"Fuck! Is this still a friendly sparring match?"

"Exactly what about that looks friendly to you?"

"To me, it looks like a murder attempt!"

Yuto exclaimed and cursed from a distance away as he witnessed the deadly confrontation between Seimei and Reina.

His jaws dropped as he stared at the devastation with wide eyes and a dumbfounded expression.

Beside him, Keiko, Touma, Haneda, and Shikamo also stayed silent as they watched Seimei and Reina's battle with solemn expressions.

However, except for Touma, who had the assistance of Sharingan's visual prowess, the other four could only see two blurred figures along with blue and purple streaks of light.

The only moment they could actually see their complete figures was when they stopped for a prolonged clash, which usually ended with ear-shattering explosions of fire and lightning, accompanied by terrifying shockwaves.

Even Uchiha Touma struggled to keep up with their movements despite keeping his Sharingan active at full throttle.

Still, he knew that even if he could track their movements, he wouldn't be able to react if Seimei or Reina decided to attack him while going all out.

He would be defeated within a few seconds.

All five of them were at least one kilometer away, but they could still feel the wind from the shockwaves ruffling their hair and clothes.

Fortunately, they brought binoculars.

Unfortunately, even with binoculars, they could only see streaks of blue and purple light and countless explosions.

They had no idea what the heck was happening on the battlefield.

A moment later, Haneda simply turned his head toward Yuto and replied, "You should be grateful that Seimei went easy on you. Otherwise, your ribs wouldn't have just hurt, but they would have been pulverized to dust."

Hearing this, Yuto shivered. He felt an inexplicable chill down his spine.

Yuto nodded like a bird pecking food and responded, "Yeah. Remind me not to fool around near him ever again."

[Seimei: No, Yuto. I still prefer your unruly side.]

Shikamo chuckled at them as he heard their exchanges.

But when he suddenly remembered how Reina punched him to brand him with a panda eye, he immediately shut up.

Anyway, I'm just a side character, a shadow.

I shouldn't involve myself in troublesome matters.

Napping at home is good, too.

Shikamo thought inwardly as he focused on the battle ahead.

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