Skill 32 Volume 9

Stella felt a mysterious discomfort.

Something… Something was definitely strange.

This strong discomfort felt almost silly, like waking up and finding that the sky had turned pink.

What was it? What was off?
Where was the source of this discomfort?

She stretched her focus to the ends of the earth.

Like a spinning lantern, she searched in that slowly stretching moment, until she found it.

The source of her discomfort.

It was Ikki, swinging his sword- The black shadow below him.

It. Wasn’t. Moving.

Even though Ikki was preparing to swing at Stella, his shadow was just staying still-

No, not quite.

It was moving, but like a bad impersonation, its movements lagged behind.

Stella tried to guess at why Ikki’s own shadow couldn’t keep up with his movements.

Was that even possible..

No way.

That shouldn’t happen.

But by and by, more people noticed this impossible phenomenon.

They watched the spectacle.

Being one with his sword, believing in his sword, surpassing his limits to arrive here…

Even his own shadow could not keep up with this strike’s extreme speed.

He was the concept of a slash incarnate.

The goal of so many people, the peak they pursued.

This final strike, combining the phenomenon and the awe it inspired, would be called thusly by people:

Final secret sword- Oikage[7].

◆◇◆◇◆

“Ka, Haa…!”

Their shadows crossed.

The one who bled was Stella.

「Cr, Crimson Princess’ body is gushing with fresh blood! Crimson and blue light intersected for an instant! The one who came out on top was Another One, Fighter Ikki Kurogane!」

「I don’t even understand what happened...」

「Kyaaaaa! Ikki-kun is the best!」

「Seriously! Turning the match around from there was so cool!」

After Ittou Shura had been defeated, everyone had already given up on him.

After overturning the expectations of everyone in the arena and turning around his situation, Ikki had everyone in an uproar.

However, most of them had no idea what had happened in the instant they crossed.

Touka’s fellow student council member, Ikazuchi Saijou, was in the same boat.

“H, hey Tomaru. What just happened?”

But Renren also shook her head at this.

“Even if you ask me… It was so fast I couldn’t see.”

Even for the eyes of two of the toughest fighters of Hagun, following this battle between Crimson Princess and Another One was too much.

Touka informed those two.

“It was Battou-jutsu.”

She had been just barely able to see what had happened in the instant they clashed.

“So then… Kind of like your Raikiri?”

Touka had to say no to Utakata’s question.

“No, while my Raikiri is also Battou-jutsu[8], the mechanism at work is different. My Raikiri uses electromagnetism to maintain speed, but Kurogane-kun just used something unexpected to fill the crucial purpose a sheath usually does. He grasped his blade of his sword tightly enough to hold the power like a sheath would, and achieve speed and power a normal slash could not. In simple terms, the mechanism is like flicking your finger.”

“Ah, I see.”

Utakata indicated his understanding of that explanation.

A finger would fly silently no matter how hard you swung it, but if you held it back with the thumb and gathered power before releasing it, you could hear it whoosh through the air sharply.