"The blade cuts the flesh; the mind severs the soul!"
Amamiya Rin gritted his teeth, once again focusing his mental energy to grip that long sword within the depths of his consciousness.
All the skills honed over twenty-one years, the basic forms repeated millions of times within that long and monotonous dream, were now unleashed along the [Khala Network], slashing toward the twenty-five people ahead.
(Shōmen Uchi!)
A vertical downward chop, carrying the weight of a thousand jun, as if to split the body from the crown of the skull all the way down to the pelvis in a single breath!
"Urgh—!"
Twenty-five bodies simultaneously stiffened and jerked violently upward, convulsing as if an invisible giant axe had cleaved their foreheads, splitting their skulls open.
(Kesa Giri! Gyaku Kesa!)
The sword of the mind swung diagonally downward to the right, tracing a path from the right shoulder to the left hip, before immediately slashing back up in a reverse motion, following close behind from left to right.
"Ah—!"
The blades cut through their chest cavities with unstoppable force. The clavicles on their right shoulders seemed to snap in response, the sensation of tearing spreading all the way past the chest to the left abdomen. The second cut that followed crossed the first, forming a massive 'X'.
The agony of lungs and hearts being torn apart forced Hashimoto Ayaka and the others to clutch their chests involuntarily. Arching their bodies and opening their mouths wide, they dry-heaved, spraying saliva.
(Hidari Kiriage! Migi Kiriage!)
Horizontal slashes swung out, one left and one right, precisely targeting the neck.
The sensation of a cold blade slicing across their throats struck them again, clearer and more lethal than the first time.
They instinctively shrank their necks, covering their throats with their hands, as if that could stop the long sword Amamiya Rin was swinging.
However, they only felt their heads becoming lighter and lighter. The moment the blade swept past, twenty-five heads seemed to fly into the air simultaneously.
(Left Kiriage! Right Kiriage!)
Two continuous upward cuts slashed from the roots of their thighs, passing through the abdomen and chest, all the way to the jaw.
The chill and tearing sensation of their abdomens being sliced open and internal organs exposed to the air caused them to curl up on the ground. clutching their stomachs. Their bodies shrunk into balls, trembling uncontrollably.
(Nuki Uchi!)
A cold arc swept parallel across them. Twenty-five people simultaneously felt a chill at their waists. The terrifying illusion of their upper bodies separating from their lower bodies was incomparably clear, the sensation of losing balance draining all strength to support themselves.
(Tsuki!)
Intent condensed into the sharpest single point, transforming into a cold arrowhead. Along those countless entangled nerve bundles, it pierced through twenty-five hearts at the same time!
"Pu-hah—!"
The women's bodies shuddered all over. The intense pain of their hearts being punctured surged to their brains. Their bulging eyes lost focus and went blank; their mouths opened unconsciously, unable to produce any decent sound.
The resistance of muscles and bones being forcibly broken open, and the ensuing sense of collapse... every detail was so real it was maddening, as if life was truly about to end with this one thrust.
In the final moment before their consciousness sank, they collectively 'saw' the same scene: broken bodies lying in pools of blood, necks neatly sliced open, heads separated from torsos, chest cavities turned outward, ribs broken, organs shattered, waists bisected, intestines and visceral fragments spilled on the ground, and a clear hole in the heart area, gurgling blood.
Nine fatal slash marks covered their bodies, destroying their physical forms until they were fragmented, like dolls that had been played with until they broke.
The shadow of death descended with incomparable realism. The light in everyone's eyes dimmed rapidly, their bodies losing all supporting strength as they limply collapsed.
Almost at the same time, Amamiya Rin's body also began to tremble violently.
His face turned as pale as a corpse, large beads of cold sweat seeping from his forehead. His body swayed, and he fell against the wall, using it to prop himself up.
The intense pain of being pierced by a sharp blade exploded within him as well. For a moment, his vision went black in waves. Hallucinations of death surged like a tide, attempting to drag his consciousness into the darkness with them.
Hypnotic suggestion and the slaughter of Kendo—twenty years of cultivation had not only crushed the consciousness of the others but had also fed back through the [Khala Network]. It was a technique that damaged the enemy by a thousand while costing the user eight hundred; Amamiya Rin himself could not avoid it.
"I'm not dead..."
Amamiya Rin squeezed the voice through his teeth, suggesting to his own brain.
"Breathing, heartbeat... they are all there. I am still alive. I am not injured. My body is intact..."
Amamiya Rin bit down hard on his teeth, his gums nearly bleeding, using all his willpower to fight against this sensation of death.
A strong desire to survive burned like a raging fire, countering the intent of the blade slicing through the body. He had to use autosuggestion to make his brain recognize that his heart was still beating and his blood was still flowing.
If he didn't, he himself would suffer brain death.
However, this obsession with survival was also imprinted into the minds of the women through the neural network of the twenty-six people.
On the floor, the women who had fainted twitched almost simultaneously.
Amamiya Rin's tenacious, almost unreasonable sense of reality regarding 'living' brutally tore apart the abyss of darkness swallowing their consciousness.
Twenty-five people recovered their normal breathing rhythm at the same time. Their chests began to heave again. Like drowning people finally surfacing, they snapped their eyes open.
"I'm not dead?"
"I'm still alive?"
"Wasn't I slashed?"
Accompanied by rapid gasping, the group struggled to sit up. Their faces were filled with the blankness of surviving a disaster, and their eyes were full of fear that penetrated deep into the bone.
Pairs of white eyes looked toward Amamiya Rin, leaving only barely concealed shrinking fear.
Their physical bodies had not died, but the sensation of being slashed open, pierced, and dismembered had been deeply branded into their neural memories.
"Get the hell back! Or die again!"
Amamiya Rin's gaze was cold as he swept over the faces of the group before him.
They supported each other, their eyes dodging, daring not to meet Amamiya Rin's gaze.
"You..."
The women stared fixedly at Amamiya Rin. The pale white in their eyes gradually faded, and black pupils reappeared.
(Our consciousnesses live and die together. If we die, you die too!)
Having tasted the flavor of death, they didn't even dare to speak their ruthless words aloud, only daring to think them in their hearts.
"You won't die, it's just experiencing death once."
Amamiya Rin seriously corrected their thoughts.
Speaking of dying, he had already died once just now. It was uncomfortable, yes, but he could withstand it.
Compared to the experience of death, what he found more unbearable was being threatened by these women.
He suffered hardships and studied hard precisely so he would no longer be controlled by others.
Everyone's cranial nerves were connected by the [Khala]. What Amamiya Rin was thinking was crystal clear to the people opposite him, even if he didn't open his mouth.
"You will regret this sooner or later. We will eventually become one."
Gazing at the resolute Amamiya Rin, Hashimoto Ayaka, Mitsuo Yukiko, and the others slowly retreated, declaring this with an extremely affirmative tone.
Before Amamiya Rin could respond, the crisp sound of footsteps suddenly came from the end of the corridor.
Pat, pat, pat...
The person approaching seemed to be unshod; the sound of bare feet stepping on the tiles drew near at a leisurely pace.
Everyone, including Amamiya Rin, subconsciously looked toward the source of the sound.
____
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