59: Chapter 59: The Overpowered Ruler is Confirmed, the Judge is Isshin Ashina

The black clouds above the Reed Marsh pressed lower and lower, with lightning slithering deep within the layers. Isshin Ashina threw away his broken spear, his right hand gripping the short-barreled firearm at his waist, while his left hand pressed against the scabbard. The soft click of his katana returning to its sheath was infinitely magnified by thirty million pairs of eyes.

Iai, a one-strike kill.

Hidden behind a black mask, Honda stared at the opening move on the screen, unable to suppress the excitement in his eyes.

Isshin Ashina's third phase possessed the fastest draw-strike in the entire game, with a blade-out frame of only 0.07 seconds. There was no window for human reaction, but he didn't need to rely on human reflexes.

The database of "Perfect Samurai" contained all of Isshin Ashina's action frames, including this Iai stance. As soon as the draw-strike animation generated, the program would read the memory, calculate the parry point, and complete the key simulation in 0.001 seconds.

Honda pushed the cheat's response power to the maximum; the green shield in the bottom right corner of the screen flickered violently. He leaned back into his chair, even propping his legs up.

The chat was still urging him on.

[Hurry up, why are you acting like a pro?]

[I've been waiting for you to draw your sword until my food got cold.]

[If he can still parry this, I'll wash my hair while doing a handstand.]

Honda looked at those words, sneered, and took his fingers off the keyboard.

The next instant, the cheat pressed block for him.

When Isshin Ashina's right hand touched the hilt, the game screen froze directly at the starting frame of the draw-strike. The mouse lost response, the keyboard gave no feedback, and the entire Reed Marsh was pinned to the screen.

Honda's expression changed, and he raised his hand to slap the computer case.

The screen recovered.

The dark blue sky was swallowed by scarlet. The sound of the swaying reeds vanished, leaving only a low hum diffusing through the headphones. The original battle music was cut, and heavy funeral bell tolls slammed down one after another.

In Brother Bao's stream, fifty million people went silent at the same time.

[What's the situation? Did the game bug out?]

[Is this red filter the Shura ending?]

[No, the Shura ending doesn't have this part.]

On the screen, Sword Saint Isshin Ashina raised his head. His blood-red pupils were crawling with black veins. His white samurai robe began to rot and peel away from the collar, revealing the pitch-black armor beneath. Black mist surged from the surface of the armor, and within the mist were wails suppressed to the point of distortion.

He did not draw his sword.

He sheathed his blade, stood under the scarlet sky, and looked at the camera through the screen.

The next moment, a voice of server-wide broadcast level tore through the stream, an aged voice kneaded together with metallic friction and the low growl of a beast.

"Despicable wretch who abandons the pride of humanity to borrow the power of evil spirits."

Isshin Ashina raised his left hand and gripped the weapon on his back that had never appeared in the third phase.

A black scabbard, a red tsuba.

The long sword left its sheath; the blade was pitch black, with dark red veins flowing along the edge.

The Black Mortal Blade.

"Shall be severed!"

As the two words fell, the screen began to shake violently. Isshin Ashina raised his sword with both hands, without charging, without a wind-up, and slashed down directly.

A black and red sword aura spread from the blade, sweeping across the reeds, sweeping across the ground, sweeping across the sky, and finally filling the entire screen. Space was torn with large, distorted patterns, and the burning reeds shattered into ash within the sword light.

This sword aura had no flight path.

When it appeared, it already covered the entire hit-detection area.

Honda's cheat background went completely out of control. Red warning boxes popped up layer after layer. The program frantically read attack frames, hit ranges, and damage values, but couldn't capture any usable data.

[Warning: Unable to read attack frame data]

[Warning: Unable to calculate parry timing]

[Warning: This attack ignores defense, invincibility frames, and HP]

Honda's hand, hovering over the keyboard, froze, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

The black and red sword aura swallowed sekiro, and also swallowed the Reed Marsh.

The screen went black.

A blood-red official prompt popped up.

[Practice more if you're bad.]

The prompt disappeared, the game program shut down automatically, and the desktop returned to being clean, leaving only a sekiro promotional wallpaper.

On the wallpaper, Isshin Ashina stood on top of Tenshukaku, overlooking Ashina Castle.

Honda stared at that image, his back slowly pressing against the chair. His black mask tilted to the side of his face, revealing bloodless lips.

The cheat background was still open, and the last log hung at the bottom of the screen.

[Program integrity permanently corrupted.]

Honda reached out and unplugged the power cable of the computer. The basement plunged into darkness, with only the residual light of the monitor reflecting on his face.

The headphones were still broadcasting the stream chat, the electronic female voice devoid of any inflection.

[Holy crap, even the NPC can't stand it.]

[Cheater confirmed, the judge is Isshin Ashina.]

[Paid for a cheat, only to get banned by the game itself—what kind of hellish joke is this?]

[Isshin Ashina: I'll just watch you pose.]

[Silver Horn Studio is awesome.]

[How exactly does Old Thief Ye's brain work?]

Honda ripped off his headphones and smashed them onto the keyboard. The shattered screen flickered twice, and he stumbled backward, his back hitting the damp wall.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't squeeze out a single word from his throat.

Impossible.

How could Ye Fei have thought of this!