Chapter 16: What Are You Using to Fight Me Without a Sword?

Ten fingers, ten puppets.

The people controlled covered almost all the top big shots.

The entire Asakura Island, along with its proudest Seven Great Dojos and Kendo Tournament, had thus unknowingly become a tool for "Carpenter" to make black-hearted money.

"So all of this was caused by a despicable villain like you behind the scenes!"

Junichi drew his sword, thinking of the miserable life he and his father had endured over the years, gnashing his teeth until he almost shed tears. "Absolutely... absolutely unforgivable!"

He was about to rush toward "Carpenter" when a sound of wind breaking came from behind his ear. In an instant, the bamboo sword in Junichi’s hand was slashed in half.

Junichi turned back in a daze; the one who slashed his bamboo sword was his own father.

At this moment, Sakuraba Tree’s face was hideous and distorted, his right hand gripping a pale pink longsword, maintaining a downward slashing motion, while his other hand was tightly pinching his right wrist, trying his best to stop it.

Clearly.

The target of that sword just now was not the bamboo sword in Junichi’s hand.

But his head.

"Go... go, go away!" Sakuraba Tree squeezed out a painful scream from his throat. "Stay away from me, Junichi!"

"Father!" Junichi’s eyes widened. Before he could react, *snap*, a powerful hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back more than ten meters.

"Boss Siano, let me go, I can't abandon... I want to save my father!"

"Don't say stupid things."

Siano threw him into the corner and said coldly:

"Staying by his side is just harming him! You’ve seen puppet shows, right? To stop this play, there is only one way: cut down the person pulling the strings!"

"Do you think with your strength, and a broken bamboo sword, you can rush to that guy?"

Junichi looked up, staring blankly at "Carpenter" in the distance.

"What are you looking at, brat?"

Carpenter sneered, exhaled a puff of smoke, and waved his left hand, along with the two fingers at the end of his right hand, toward the south.

"Anyway, these old guys won't be needed anymore. Puppetize them completely for me!"

—*Swish swish!*

Invisible ripples appeared in the air; they were strings shooting toward the first row of seats on the south side of the audience.

The seven dojo masters suddenly made a clanging sound, stood up in unison, stepped forward with stiff steps, and seven bright blades were unsheathed at the same time.

And as they walked, their elbow joints and knees made dull, thumping sounds like wooden balls colliding.

On the exposed skin, increasingly dense wood grain appeared, and their eyeballs rolled upward, covered with dark yellow threads, looking extremely eerie.

In an instant.

The seven people formed a semicircle.

While protecting "Carpenter" behind them, they also blocked all escape routes around the ring.

"And you!"

"Carpenter" laughed wantonly, his right index finger pointing at Sakuraba Tree, and another dark yellow puppet string shot out.

"Aren't you very good at resisting? Try resisting me again? At such a close distance, under my ability, there’s no room for you to struggle!"

"You beast..."

Veins bulged on Sakuraba Tree’s forehead as he used all his strength to resist.

But it was ultimately in vain.

He could only watch in despair as circles of wood grain began to grow on the surface of his body.

His left hand lost control and slowly loosened, while his right hand, holding the sword, turned bit by bit toward the direction where Siano and Junichi were.

And his once-clear consciousness became increasingly hazy.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he seemed to have finally made a decision.

"Puppetization is irreversible. I don't want to become a monster without consciousness..."

"Perhaps this is my best destination."

Sakuraba Tree smiled. "Goodbye, Junichi."

"Father..." Junichi’s eyes widened, as if he suddenly realized something, and he sat up from the ground in terror, trying to pounce onto the high platform with his hands and feet, but was held down tightly by Siano beside him. He could only wave his arms wildly, roaring with tear-filled eyes, "Don't... don't! I beg you, don't! Father!!!"

*Shhh!*

In just an instant, the blade in Sakuraba Tree’s hand turned, stabbed deeply into his left chest, and quickly stirred in a circle.

"..." Junichi’s movements froze abruptly.

In the reflection of his pupils, that withered, bony body, with a smile squeezed out with the last bit of strength, fell forward to the ground with a thud.

The world seemed to collapse at this moment.

"Mr. Sakuraba Tree!"

"Chairman!"

In the audience, angry and sorrowful roars erupted, mixed with bursts of sobbing.

Under the spotlight.

The black-haired boy had returned to the ring at some point. He stared at the motionless face and frowned imperceptibly, but ultimately said nothing.

Then he turned to look at the audience.

"What are you all still looking at here! Are you not afraid of death? Do you think this is still a competition?!" Siano took a deep breath and roared with all his might, "Run!!!"

The audience was shocked.

Looking at the gloomy-faced "Carpenter" and those eerie puppets that looked like they had walked out of a horror movie, they finally realized what this scene meant.

"Run!"

"I, my legs are weak... save me, pull me!"

"Ahhh! We’re going to die here!!!"

For a time, panic and screams erupted, and people ran wildly toward the front and back doors.

The host also scrambled to escape through the staff lounge passage. Before leaving, he didn't forget to grab the two trembling Den Den Mushis on the wall and hold them in his arms.

There were also unwilling swordsmen who wanted to turn back to help fight, but they were coldly blocked by Major Tomt and the sheriff, who mercilessly turned them into sieves with flintlock pistols.

Amidst the spray of blood mist.

"Carpenter" shook the ash off his cigarette with a look of enjoyment.

"I say."

He looked at Siano on the stage and said with wonder:

"Brat, I didn't expect you to care so much about the public. You can’t even save yourself, yet you have the heart to tell them to leave first. It almost makes me want to recruit you."

"You seem to have misunderstood something."

Siano slowly raised his head. "Carpenter" was slightly stunned; what he saw were a pair of excited, scarlet, beast-like eyes:

"—I told them to get lost just so they wouldn't get in my way! That would be very annoying!"

"Stop talking big! Brat!"

Carpenter felt a bit guilty for some reason being stared at by those eyes, and forced a sneer. "You also said this isn't a competition. Even if your swordsmanship is good, what can you do with that broken bamboo sword?"

*Swish!*

Two dojo masters suddenly stepped forward and attacked, the sword light bright, and the bamboo sword in Siano’s hand was easily cut into several pieces.

Immediately, two swords were held firmly against his neck and chest, one in front and one behind.

"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for trusting this Kendo Tournament too much. As a swordsman, you don't even carry your own real sword."

Carpenter finally felt relieved and laughed wantonly. "Now tell me, brat! What’s the difference between a swordsman without a sword and a lion with its claws cut off!"

"Talking to yourself, who exactly..."

Siano looked at the bamboo sword that was only a handle now, suddenly let go, and let it fall.

He raised his head and grinned. "Who exactly... told you that I am a swordsman?!"

*Boom!!*

The moment the words fell, two large hands suddenly stretched out, pressing on the heads of the two masters beside him, and suddenly exerted force.

*Crack!*

The skulls of the two people made a crisp sound like a walnut cracking, and their entire heads deformed rapidly under the giant pressure, and their facial features gradually became misaligned and distorted.

The skin cracked inch by inch, but no blood flowed out from the cracks.

Instead, dark yellow puppet strings surged out like dense horsehair worms, trying to wrap around Siano’s wrists.

But the moment they touched his skin, they were shattered by the suddenly bulging arm muscles.

"Is that it?"

The force Siano injected into his fingers became greater, more terrifying, and more violent!

*Crack-crack!* The hard frontal bones of the two masters could no longer withstand this force, and ten circular finger prints were broken into them.

The next moment, Siano grabbed them like a bowling ball and threw them out fiercely!

*Boom!*

The two puppets smashed into the audience like cannonballs, knocking down countless rows of seats. When the dust settled, the two bodies were folded and distorted at sharp angles, unable to move anymore.

The wood grain all over their bodies shone with a waxy, deathly pallor under the spotlight.

"..."

"Carpenter" stared blankly at this scene, and the cigar at the corner of his mouth fell to the ground with a *plop*.

*Rip—* The sound of clothes being torn suddenly sounded behind him.

He shuddered, turned around, and happened to witness Siano throwing the expensive kendo uniform he bought into a ball like trash and tossing it off the ring.

Without the restraint of the clothes, the knotted muscles all over his body broke free, wriggling and expanding outward wantonly as if breathing, and the heavy, rough heartbeat could be heard clearly.

The figure on the ring, which was already robust enough, seemed to expand another circle, looking down at him like a small mountain.

"You, you..."

Carpenter swallowed subconsciously, his legs trembling as he retreated, nearly falling with a stumble.

"Warm-up over."

The black-haired boy in front of him licked his dry lips and smiled. His cheeks were trembling and twitching as he spoke—not a muscle reaction from fatigue, but the excited tremor of a beast about to pounce on its prey.

"—Now, it’s your turn."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====