Edelweiss

"Well, at any rate, once we get there everything will become clear. So for that reason―"

As quickly as possible. At those words, they put even more strength into their legs. …At that moment. Faster than a second, a sudden gust struck their bodies and brought them to a half.

―In fact, no wind was blowing on them. The sea was also calm.

However, on the expressions on the two world-class knights, trembles of obvious dismay were spreading. Their legs were shaking, and their brows were sweating unnaturally.

Yes... what stopped their legs wasn't the wind. It was an aberrant sword spirit that could be felt from a long distance away. To the point where the ground in front of them was going blurry in their eyes, as if a drawn sword was pressed to their throats. The two were both superior knights, but they could feel it and it paralyzed them.

―Going toward that was dangerous. At that instinctive warning, the two had stopped running.

"Th-The sword spirit… just now… it can't be…."

"H-Hey hey hey. Are you kidding? Our attackers have someone outrageous mixed among them…!"

The two knew. This unusual sword spirit. Only one person in the world could exert this kind of pressure.

"The sword spirit lasted only a moment. Was it to intimidate? …Let's hurry, Nene!"

"Y-Yeah!"

With their faces pale, and ignoring the effort of starting up their bodies again, they raced toward Tokyo at the utmost speed.

This sword spirit, if she has becoming interested in something―probably Kurogane!?

Kurono guessed what was happening at the place far away, and prayed.

Don't be rash, Kurogane! It's still too soon for you to enter this domain!"
- Volume 4, Chapter 4
[Somehow detects people from across Japan (they were running from Osaka to Tokyo) and flexes her aura, stopping two A-rank knights in their tracks as a warning]
---------------------------------------------------
At Ikki's question, the woman responded with a nod of affirmation, and showed Ikki a somewhat puzzled expression.

"But I don't understand. Even though you know my identity, why have you drawn your sword? You are not a swordsman who doesn't know the difference between yourself and the enemy if you should cross blades, I think. But despite that, to remain unafraid to this degree."

"…Even though I wanted to bluff so you didn't see through that."

Having his own fear pointed out, Ikki let out a dry laugh that spoke to his inner thoughts.

Honestly speaking, Ikki also understood.

Ahh, it's just like said. …Just now, I was foolhardy.

He knew that. Because he was an excellent swordsman, he could grasp how great the difference in strength was between them. He couldn't win here. And more than that, it was true, the one before his eyes was genuinely—the world's strongest. It couldn't be compared to something like the summit of the Seven Stars. Likely, this was an enemy Ikki should face after following his path as a swordsman for years, even decades, of constant tireless training…. No doubt, in the battlefield right here, he could not qualify as an opponent in the same dimension as he was now.

This meeting was too premature. It would not even be a contest to begin with.
-Volume 4, Chapter 4
[Ikki circa volume 4 isn't even an opponent to Edelweiss]
-----------------------------------------------------
From the towering school building, the woman in white leaped to the ground silently. With a grace like she had used fluttering wings to swoop down. At the moment she landed on the ground, Ikki felt fear as if his own heart was exploding. His entire body, his instinct, his soul. All of them shrieked.

Run away.

Run away.

I'm begging you, run away.

If you don't            you will            die here—


But he clenched his teeth, and faced that pressure directly. And then—

[Silent jumps pog]
------------------------------------------------------
And that judgment was correct. Edelweiss attacked with the wind coiling around around her. From the beginning, Ikki was confident that he had not erred in his judgment about his opponent. The moment Edelweiss swung both swords, his eyes lost sight of the attack. In confusion, he hurled his body backward.

At that instant, the air where Ikki's nose had been was split. Something invisible and absurdly sharp flitted across his eyes, just barely scraping his nose. At the odor of something burning drifted by, Ikki understood. The invisible thing that had flitted near had been an attack―Edelweiss's two swords.

I can't―see her strikes!

Because it was much too fast, much too sharp, he could not even see the afterimages of the twin pure-white blades with the naked eye. What had just barely been perceived was a glimmer of incandescence in the air due to the sword blades cutting through it at extraordinary speed.

What a temper…! If I lose focus for an instant, my head will fly…!

At this moment, Ikki abandoned any thought of taking the fight by trickery. Literally, his breath had been sucked away.

To deal with the slash that could of Edelweiss's two swords that drew a flash, he mustered all his nerves. Among the techniques he knew, the invisible technique that boasted of such speed as to be invisible. With the seventh secret sword Raikou, which used the power of Ittou Shura that was coiled around his body, he met the approaching attack.

Once, twice, three times, four times―the invisibly entangled steel gave births to white spars in the dark night. Ten clashes in all. Against the invisible chain of attacks that Edelweiss sent out with little pause, Ikki had traced back their movements from her gaze, just barely defending himself.

But from the beginning, Ikki's expression as he endured this showed obvious astonishment.

A-Amazing…!

Receiving the slashes had sent numbness from both hands to his shoulders. It wasn't just speed―but also preposterously heavy force. Despite being sent by only one hand, each was far beyond Ikki's Raikou!

Why? Ikki understood the reason instantly.

"Kuh!"

Ikki fought back with Raikou yet again against Edelweiss's approaching attack. Amidst the crossing steel that gave off sparks, Ikki was sure his understanding was correct.

That's the reason…! This person's actions aren't making any sounds!

Her steps, her slashes, everything she did was completely silent.

Sounds were waves born of impacts against the atmosphere causing oscillations. Put another way, one could call it the dispersion of physical force. So if one was able to control the energy of his actions completely, and not allow any to be consumed uselessly, what would happen? As a result of making all actions silent, one could show speed and offensive at close to a hundred percent potential.

Such a thing was not the technique of a human being, but―without a doubt, this was possible for the human in front of Ikki's eyes. Ikki understood that, and shuddered as he swallowed the saliva gathering in his mouth.

This is… the world's strongest swordsman…!

-Volume 4, Chapter 4
[Her strikes don't make any sound, have 0 wasted movement, and are too fast for Ikki (in Itto Shura) to see]
-----------------------------------------------------
Here I go!

Against the pure white Edelweiss, Ikki set forth. And using a unique step, he created an afterimage by suddenly changing his body's speed as he moved forward―

The fourth secret sword, Shinkirou.

Edelweiss attacked the afterimage brought forth by the illusory footwork. Her two swords slashed toward it simultaneously from both sides in a cross. But since it was nothing more than an afterimage, the blades cut only air. As a result―

Her chest is open!

Aiming for that, Ikki prepared Intetsu and rushed toward it―

But suddenly, Ikki brought his body back from his charge in panic. In that moment, an invisible slash went through the space where Ikki's neck had been.

No good! Her sword travels faster than I can step in! I can't finish her like this!

If he had stood within range carelessly, he would've been decapitated just now.

[She's so fast that even when baited with afterimages Ikki can't attack again before she does]
--------------------------------------------------------
If he wasn't good enough in speed, then Ikki attacked a second time, switching to power. Twisting his upper body against his lower body like a spring, putting all his weight and physical strength and concentrating them into a single charging thrust, it was the Worst One's strongest technique―

The first secret sword―Saigeki.

Ikki's highest offensive ability that even put a hole in that giant rock doll. The charge and its penetrating power was peerless. Even someone like Edelweiss would have no response but to flee―what naïve thinking.

"Wha…!"

The next instant, Saigeki's charge lost power, and was no longer advancing.

Why? ―The reason was Edelweiss, who Intetsu infused with Saigeki's force was rushing toward, had stopped Saigeki by blocking with her own swords. At the tip of his sword that was no wider than a needle, her blades had met perfectly, countering Ikki's highest offensive ability. ―It was indeed amazing.

[Stops Saigeki perfectly by meeting the tip of Ikki's sword with her own]
---------------------------------------------------------
The blade of Intetsu just barely scraped along the ground―no, while scraping the ground, it drove toward Edelweiss.

The swing was big, like a sharp gale. However, it would probably not reach Edelweiss. If Ikki's sword was like a gale, Edelweiss's sword was like a flash. Without a doubt, she would block.

However―that was nothing to worry about. Because this technique was purposely such that there was meaning for it to be blocked. In the instant that the opponent defended against Intetsu, from his feet to his fingers, all of his muscles worked together, flexing to cast forth a shock wave.

The human body was mostly flesh made of and filled with water. Therefore, it was fragile against vibrations. If a slight ripple was made on a human body that was vulnerable to vibrations, the interior of that body would be disrupted. For example, there was a type of penetrating blow in Chinese martial arts that used this principle.

In other words, Ikki's attack was a penetrating blow using an edge. It would bypass armor and strike the internal organs. If blocked with swords, it would strike both arms. Arriving at the human body through vibration of the sword blade, it was a poisonous stroke that brought disruption.


The sixth secret sword―Dokuga no Tachi[6]


Taking heed of the difference in their strength, and making sure she wouldn't evade. One could say that Ikki had truly made sure of the difference between his movements and Edelweiss's correctly.

However, the secret sword would only be effective in the situation where the opponent blocked forcefully. And exactly as Ikki planned, Edelweiss did not have any doubts―and blocked the poisonous longsword with her pure white blade!

However much she was the world's strongest, Edelweiss was still human. In the structure of a human body, she was no different from Ikki. In that case, she had no way to escape from this poison!

Ikki aimed at Edelweiss's naked sword, drove into it the shock wave born of his all his muscles working together.


In that instant, blood surged out from all over Ikki's body.


"Eh?"

Muscles burst through his skin all over his body, and blood flew all around.

Why? The reason was something Ikki realized instantly. It was simple. Edelweiss had done exactly what Ikki was about to do―with a speed and destructive power an order of magnitude greater.

As a result, the shock wave Ikki was launching at Edelweiss had been completely extinguished, and the waves that remained had conversely destroyed Ikki's body instead.

[Edelweiss counters Ikki's Dokuga no Tachi through using the same vibration based attack instantly but on a stronger level, shredding Ikki's internals]
----------------------------------------------------
"You are not a child who needs to be protected. You are a man capable of witnessing my full strength as a knight. So… with the strongest sword in the world, I will slay a knight such as you."


For the first time this night, the world's strongest swordsman was serious. At that moment, a sword spirit that couldn't be compared to anything up until now poured out from Edelweiss's body. And similarly, a storm of light. Dust roiled up, and the trees creaked, and every glass window broke into tiny pieces.

A single human. While a presence unimaginably huge for a human body's dimensions spread forth, Twin-Wings Edelweiss spread the blades in both hands like wings―


"Prepare yourself."


―and soared.

Not as a child who should be protected, but as a knight whom she should show gratitude, she was aiming at one she recognized as an enemy. In order to sever that enemy's life absolutely―!

Just before things had become complicated, Ikki had certainly felt it. The footsteps of the reaper. The presence of a sharp sword that would cut away his future. If he defended, he would die―

But be that as it may, now was not like the situation then. It was different from the fight before, where he could underestimate his opponent or retreat. The forward speed of Edelweiss in seriousness could not be compared to that. To say nothing of swordsmanship, this was already to the point where Edelweiss's form had changed to light itself―

And with no sound, it all flickered for a moment before passing. Belatedly, a spray of blood flew in the darkness. Ikki Kurogane had no time to utter a sound―this time, he fell.
[She wasn't using her full strength against Ikki in their first fight, when she unleashes it cool show with windows shattering and stuff and she seems to fly or something then one shots him]
----------------------------------------------------
While smiling a bit bitterly, Edelweiss said this, and jumped silently. Again, she moved to the Akatsuki Academy school building rooftop she had started from.

[roof jump]
--------------------------------------------------


“…She’s here.”

Sara mumbled curtly while focused on the line of people.

Everyone gathered at the table responded to her voice by following her gaze.

There, in the dense crowd without a single gap in it, without pushing her way through, calmly weaving through the crowd with steps as if walking across an empty field, was a girl.

While her long, pure white hair swayed, she stepped directly to the four people who should have been hidden by Color of Magic.

Nonetheless the four of them raised no suspicion toward that.

For her, it was only natural.

That she could see them even when they should’ve been invisible.

Someone who could pass through a crowd without any difficulty.

Additionally, while doing so, she didn’t alert a single person she crossed paths with.

Today, the person they had come to wait for-

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Sara. Rinna. Char. And also… Tsukikage-sensei too.”

The strongest swordsman in the world, Twin-Wings Edelweiss.
[Edelweiss casually seeing Sara's group despite them using her colour of magic and walking through a crowd with trackless step?]
- vol 9
------------------------------------------------


“More importantly… Another party with the same thoughts as mine came here today in order to overcome the menace of the future, we are willing to be audacious.”

“Eh?”

When he heard those disquieting words, Tsukikage lifted his gaze from her hands, which were busy scooping a third spoonful of sugar.

Edelweiss was looking at the crowd instead of Tsukikage.

-Her eyes glinted sharply.

Following that dangerous gaze, Tsukikage also noticed.

In the crowd, there was a man looking at them astutely through a visor.

“That’s… America’s…!”

“It’s not just him. At this place… Agents from various factions have already gathered.”

Edelweiss’ words made Tsukikage recall a certain scene in his mind.

[Immediately noticing that she's being watched]
- vol 9
----------------------------------------------------