My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 583: Chapter 187: Aoto Promoted to Arson and Theft Magistrate? [Explosive 10K Word Update]

Despite the excruciating pain from the cut in his left lung that nearly causes Shinno to faint with each breath he takes, he endures and continues to breathe forcefully.

Not breathing would only make the suffocation worse for him.

However... no matter how hard Shinno tries to breathe, he feels he cannot fill his lungs completely.

In fact, the more he tries to breathe, the less air he seems to be able to take in.

To feel a bit better, Shinno lowers his head, letting it hang down onto his chest.

This action forces Shinno to see the massive wound on his chest.

— Damn it... To think he... cracked my secret technique by observing my shadow...

Although he only saw it for a moment, Shinno is certain he saw correctly — when Aoto proactively charged at him intending to end the duel with the ”secret technique,” Aoto wasn’t watching his physical movements, but rather observing the shadow he cast in the moonlight.

He had adopted a stance that hid his sword and arms behind his back, intending to hide from his opponents the technique he used to extend his attack range.

As a result, Aoto managed to dodge his secret technique by observing the changes in his hand’s shadow to predict when he would strike, ultimately delivering a fatal blow to him.

— Damn it...! Damn it all...!

Shinno wanted to let out a thunderous roar, filled with resentment and unwillingness.

To destroy the Edo residence completely tonight, he had made so many preparations.

He purchased a large amount of kerosene from smugglers. After the kerosene bought from these smugglers was lost due to the activities of Fox Monk and Cat Monk, he turned to buy kerosene from Rakshasa...

To smuggle the kerosene into the residence, he kidnapped Nakamura Chouhachirou’s daughter, Nakamura Tsuki...

To learn the layout of the residence; to figure out the guest list for the Bright Dance; to discover where the garrison of the residence’s guards was, he specifically paid a hefty sum to Hada Qilang, a Dutch doctor living in the residence, for this valuable information...

He did so much preparation just to fulfill his long-cherished wish to ”destroy the Edo residence” in one fell swoop tonight.

However, thanks to Tachibana Aoto... once again, this traitor caused us a massive defeat.

This time, not only did the entire team suffer heavy losses, but even I am on the brink of death...

”Cough, cough...!”

His throat had already been coughed hoarse, almost to the point of numbness.

His limbs had been cold as if soaked in icy water. This chill was now spreading from his extremities throughout his body, making Shinno’s body tremble uncontrollably from the cold.

He felt dizzy... and even dizzier, almost unable to tell up from down.

Shinno was dragging his battered body with sheer willpower, driven by a ”I don’t want to die, I want to live” determination, continuously running away till now.

But no matter how strong one’s will, there is always a limit.

Shinno’s right foot suddenly caught on a raised portion of the ground, causing him to fall flat on his face.

This protruding object that tripped Shinno was, for him, the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

Having fallen heavily to the ground, Shinno propped himself up with his hands, trying to stand, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t rise again.

”Is this... the end...”

Staring at the ground in front of his nose, Shinno took a deep breath, and using his last bit of energy, knelt with his legs folded under him, drew the only weapon left on him — the wakizashi at his waist, and pulled open the collar of his kimono, exposing his abdomen.

— Since death is unavoidable now... I might as well perform seppuku like a true samurai...

Shinno straightened his back with effort, grasped the wakizashi in his right hand, and pointed the tip of the horizontally-held wakizashi at his left side of his abdomen, expressions of tragic resolution on his face.

— If I die by seppuku... I will not have failed my name as a samurai!

— In this way, I can still claim honor in defeat.

— I will just directly perform a Triple-Line Cut as I have long wished!

Besides the most common ”Straight-Line Cut,” there are many other types of self-disembowelment techniques, such as: ”Cross Cut,” ”Triple-Line Cut.”

The Triple-Line Cut, as the name suggests, is a technique of making three horizontal cuts on the abdomen, directly carving out the kanji ”三” (meaning three).

Because it is extremely painful, since the inception of this brutal self-disembowelment method, nobody has ever completed a ”Triple-Line Cut.”

Always believing himself to be a ”true samurai,” Shinno, who strictly adheres to Bushido, has always admired the ”Triple-Line Cut.”

A long time ago, Shinno had decided: if anyone could complete the ”Triple-Line Cut,” that person would be the samurai among samurais, the model of samurais!

Shinno made a secret resolution: if one day in the future he needed to disembowel himself, he would definitely challenge the never-before-successful ”Triple-Line Cut!”

Having resolved to ”perform seppuku to express my resolve,” Shinno decided to swiftly carve three straight lines on his abdomen.

However... just as Shinno brought the tip of the wakizashi close to his left abdomen and felt the blade’s icy touch on his skin, his movements suddenly halted.

— Stabbing the belly and slicing it open... it must hurt a lot...

Shinno gritted his teeth, cursed inwardly, and tried to empty his mind while forcing his right hand to plunge the blade into his belly in one swift move.