NBAA Vol. 7 Chapter 2 Part 6
“Ouch… wait, that didn’t hurt that much…”
It should have been a bigger blow, but there wasn’t much damage.
Reito was curious.
Shizune explained, “Of course not. I’m not a Martial Artist by profession.”
Because Shizune was not a Martial Artist by profession, she had not learned any fighting techniques. Therefore, as she said, her blows were not very powerful. She could only attack to frighten opponents of equal ability.
“Damn it… I feel like I’m getting made fun of.”
“Then you should get serious too. The first thing you need to do is to be a little bit more aggressive. Are you being shy with me?”
“No, but…”
“Don’t worry. You are looking at the third most powerful swordsman in the city, right? Don’t be afraid to show off your swordsmanship.”
Reito knew that Shizune was asking him to produce the “Demon Blade” technique. It was the strongest attack possible by Sword Demons.
Since it was a dangerous technique that could kill Shizune if done poorly, Reito refrained from using it. But she told him not to concern himself with that.
“As I said before, this match is to show how good we are to each other. You should really show me what you’re made of.”
“… don’t die.”
“Don’t underestimate this Swordmaster.”
“Then let’s go!”
Reito’s mood changed drastically.
Shizune, with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation, readied her Four Seasons. Then she concentrated to see what Reito’s next attack would be.
Reito exhaled and closed his eyelids to concentrate. Crimson magic oozed out of his hand.
The next time he opened his eyelids, Reito took a large step forward and unleashed his greatest attack, combining his “Strike Blade” and “Shippuken” battle skills.
With a devilish spirit, Reito, clad in crimson magic power in both hands, slashed at Shizune with his Reflection Sword.
On the other hand, Shizune, with a look of determination on her face, also unleashed her attack. What she unleashed was a special attack that only she could use, combining the skills of “Parry,” “Thrust,” and “Interception.”
“Thrust Current!”
“What?”
Shizune skillfully deflected the downward swing of the Reflection Sword with ease. Utilizing the momentum of her opponent’s attack, she accelerated her own thrust with the Four Seasons, narrowly grazing Reito’s right cheek. Meanwhile, the blade Reito had swung down was diverted to Shizune’s left, generating a light shockwave in her vicinity. Despite the force of the impact, Shizune remained unscathed.
Sweating coldly, Shizune said proudly, “I won… it was a close call.”
“I… lost.”
Reito gulped at the blade of the Four Seasons sword held right next to his face.
Given her prowess as a Swordmaster, Shizune had the capability to slash through Reito’s neck with her current attack. For someone of her skill level, it would have been a simple task to activate her skills and launch an attack that left Reito with no opportunity to evade.
~
When the battle was over, Reito and the others returned to the house.
Reito’s wounded cheek was examined by Kotomin and healed by her recovery magic. The wound was frozen by being slashed by the Four Seasons, so Kotomin pressed her watery palm against it to melt the ice.
“Pain, pain, go away!”
“Ouch… thank you Kotomin. But I think the lyrics are different…”
“Phew… I thought I was going to die.”
Checking the blade of the Four Seasons, Shizune shuddered as she recalled her earlier actions.
To tell the truth, she couldn’t believe that she too had deflected Reito’s attack head-on. Of course, she was confident that she would win, but his spirit and sword speed were beyond her imagination. It was taking her some time to decompress after the fight.
Shizune walked up to Reito and spoke to him: “That last sword technique, did you say it was called “Demon Blade?” I admit that it has great power and attack speed. I’m sure that attack would get through to that bastard.”
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone avoid it. Well, you would have died if you didn’t avoid it, so I’m glad you did, but…”
“I know I told you to do that, but you really didn’t hold back against me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got a good training partner before I fight that bastard.”
Gorai, like Reito, was a “Stark Blade Swordsman,” and they also had in common the fact that they are both great swordsmen. That is why Shizune developed a special sword technique to counter Gorai that combined “Interception” and “Thrust” techniques, which she was good at. When she realized that it would work against Reito, she felt reassured in her strategy.
Your ‘Demon Blade’ is certainly a tremendous sword technique,” she said. If I had seen it for the first time, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat it because it would be too much for me to handle. But it was a bad idea to show it so many times during the matches… It is natural for a first-rate swordsman to think of countermeasures to her opponent’s techniques.”
“You mean…”
“It means it’s not guaranteed that ‘Demon Blade’ will work in future battles.
Reito looked down.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had confidence in his battle skill called “Demon Blade.” In fact, he had won many battles in the past thanks to it.
However, after being defeated by Shizune, it was clear that “Demon Blade” was not an invincible technique. Moreover, she predicted that any swordsman competing in the main tournament would have some countermeasure to his technique.
“Your ‘Demon Blade’ has a simple attack movement,” she said. “So no matter how fast you are, you can avoid the attack if you can find the trajectory of the attack and the moment of activation, or you can counterattack like I did. Besides, it takes time to build up its power, so you are defenseless during that time. You can’t even activate it instantaneously like normal battle techniques can, can you?”
“That’s true, now that you mention it…”
“But as for the speed and power of the attack, it really was amazing. The most important thing to remember is that the best way to get the most out of your newborn ability is to make sure that it is not a problem for you. But unless you can compensate for its weakness, you should probably refrain from using that technique.”
“Right…”
Ullr whimpered.
He licked Reito’s face to comfort him as he nodded at Shizune’s valid argument. But Reito was not only discouraged. He was already thinking of ways to compensate for the weakness of the Demon Blade attack.
According to Airis, if a swordsman has fully grown as a Sword Demon, all attacks will turn into “Demon Blade” attacks. Remembering this, Reito decided to review his method of activating the attack.
“Well… I’m going home for the day. I will come back tomorrow morning, so please wait for me here,” Shizune said and stretched lightly.
“What? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to gather information. I have an appointment with an informant. Thank you for the tea and the sweets.”
“What! When did you take those…!?”
Reito realized that most of the tea cakes on the desk were gone. It seemed that Shizune had eaten them before he could notice.
Shizune waved her arms lightly and in an instant moved into the garden, jumping over the building enclosure, and left.
After seeing her off, Reito looked at his palm and wondered how he could improve his “Demon Blade” ability.
“I’ve got it. I’ll ask Bal.”
Bal, like Reito, was a swordsman who preferred to use her broadsword, and in the past she was a skilled S-class adventurer.
After getting ready, he headed for the Black Tiger Guild.