Chapter - 22

…Huh!?

What happened? For him to lose sight of his target with that timing? He could not understand. Did he just lose sight of Kuraudo like the mist?

No, that's not it. Ikki's senses immediately rang out in a frenzied alarm. It almost hurt.

Danger, Danger, DANGER, DANGER―!

….He ducked!

Just before the attack hit, Kuraudo bent his upper body back so much that it was almost parallel with the floor, and thus he dodged the attack. As if he was mocking Intetsu from directly below it, he looked up and….

"Ha―HA!"

He attacked Ikki with Orochimaru.

"Ugh―!"

Ikki blocked it with Intetsu just before it slashed his neck. Because the attack was very heavy, his shoulder got dislocated, but he didn't let the attack through. His expression also became bad. But the reason for that wasn't his disadvantageous position or the power of the attack.

As I thought… this guy…!

Kuraudo stood up straight with the momentum of that attack, and once again began his barrage.

Ikki's breathing was a mess compared to when he was just dodging a moment ago. He couldn't afford to go too far here. He raised Intetsu up in order to block the down coming nodachi.

But the moment their blades should've crossed—with a haze, Kuraudo's nodachi disappeared.

This―

―This is bad!

Ikki, even though he was kind of roughed up already, threw his body backwards with all his strength. Right at that moment, a flash appeared at the space Ikki was just in. The air was torn apart.

"!"

Because he suddenly jumped backwards, his stance was completely broken but he managed to get a foothold and regain his balance. Ayase and Stella who were watching their exchange just now halted their breathing.

Ikki's uniform―at the abdomen area, there was a huge slit. It meant that if Ikki hadn't jumped back just now, they would have been seeing his entrails spilling out.

"Haha! Good job dodging that just now."

"…Wha-What was… that…!?"

"Kurogane-kun!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaah!"

"He would've been split in two right~?"

"Yeah, as expected of Kuraudo! That guy isn't even worth his time!"

"Get him!"

Disturbance and bewilderment. Expectations and excitement. There was a change in the energy of the cheering party of both sides. But Ikki didn't have the time to pay any heed to that.

"…I see, so that's it."

Because he happened to realize it. An unthinkable possibility which was in the corner of his mind ever since Kuraudo dodged Ikki's first perfect counter. But that worst possible possibility was in actuality, reality.

"So this is your real power, which defeated the Last Samurai."

Part 5[]

"There's been one thing I've been concerned about since I heard how Kaito-san was defeated by Kurashiki-kun two years ago from Ayatsuji-san. Why was Kaito-san defeated so one-sidedly? Even if he was ill, he was someone who grasped for the crown in the world of swords, the Last Samurai. The battle would never be that one-sided at his own court. There had to be a suitable reason."

And that was the factor Ikki noticed about Kuraudo's strength.

"And I've now confirmed that."

Evading and defending against attacks that had almost absolute perfect timings. Disappearing like haze and attacking from a completely different angle. All of these were the fruit of one certain ability.

"What are you talking about!? Is there some kind of trick!?"

Ayase immediately pressed at the topic. For her, this might be the answer to why her father was defeated so one-sidedly two years ago, a truly important matter.

Did Kuraudo use some kind of trickery? But Ikki denied that.

"No, there's no deceit nor trick."

"Haha, seems like you've noticed…. Say it, I'll match the answer."

Kuraudo, who had a large grin, asked to reveal the true identity of his power that Ikki had managed to see through.

"It's something Kurashiki-kun got directly from his roots: reflexive sensitivity."

"Reflexive… sensitivity…."

"Ikki, that… isn't that the same normal reflex gear all humans have?"

"That's half right, half wrong. If put into words then it would be that, but the efficiency, and speed are all too great. I'm talking about the time it takes for a human to complete the sensory process, as in 'sense', 'comprehend,' and 'respond'. For the most part, it's point three seconds for us. They say a professional sprinter has a time of point fifteen seconds. And no matter how much you train, this number can't cross the bounder of point one seconds. That is common sense. However… for Kurashiki-san who just dodged that counter, it seems like the time for him is point zero five seconds or lower."

""―!?""

Stella and Ayase became speechless at that fact. Well, it was obvious to be surprised. The reaction time for Ikki and Stella was about 0.13 seconds. Kuraudo's senses had long crossed the human boundary. In other words, the time it took for Ikki and Stella to perform one action, Kuraudo could do about two or three actions in that same amount of time.

"And with that common sense defying reaction speed, he can dodge our attacks that might seem absolutely impossible to dodge with perfect timing, or he can change the direction of an attack just before it clashes with ours and make it come from a completely different angle. The reason why his sword seemed to vanish halfway was because of that."

"Haha… hahaha… HAHAHA! BINGO!"

Kuraudo widened his eyes while laughing madly.

Yes, his sword wasn't an art. It was pure violence. And with that violence, the Sword Eater tramples all down.

Because reaction speed was the base of all sports and actions. No matter how much one trains, or how much one polishes his stance; it doesn't matter how much experience one has, it all becomes meaningless before it. No matter how much of an absurd surprise attack is thrown at him, he can deal with it after seeing it. No matter how someone charges at him recklessly, he can change his guard after seeing that. It allowed something irrational like seeing the opponent's choice of rock, paper, or scissors before making his own: that was the true value of the Sword Eater.

Techniques and experience, schemes and tactics, a nightmare that renders all of these useless. Superhuman reflexes, and reaction ability born from that, adding the two and thus creating Marginal Counter.

"You're the first one to see through my Marginal Counter on the first meeting! I'll commend you, Worst One! As I thought, you're the best. But so what!? Even if you know how it works, can you do anything about it?"

"…."

Hearing that, Ikki's expression clouded.

Yes. His Perfect Vision was meaningless before a rock, paper, scissor game where the opponent could see his move beforehand. And Ittou Shura only fortified his physical abilities and not the transmission speed of his brain. In other words, it was exactly as Kuraudo said. Ikki had no method of tearing through Marginal Counter.

"Haha. You can't, can you. My Marginal Counter isn't an 'art'. It's a special trait. I didn't cheat and stuff…. And just this ain't the limit of my Marginal Counter!"

Saying that as if howling, he attacked. And what came towards Ikki was an attack as if it was aiming for two areas at the same time!

"Hebigami!"

As if biting it, the swing by his right hand attacked both the left and right side as if biting in. A phantom like that, unrealistic as it may be came in with ridiculous vigor and speed which was impossible to defend against, attacking both sides at the same time.

Even if he managed to defend against one of the attacks, the other would just rip him apart. Then he had only one thing to do. Ikki used all his strength to leap backwards and tried to evade it. Being a twofold attack didn't matter if he just escaped it's range.

"There's no way I'd let you do the same thing twice riiiiight!?"

Orochimaru's blade extended and immediately chased after Ikki. There was no longer any meaning in distance. The saw blades came in from both left and right and intersected on Ikki's body.

―But right at that moment, Ikki took action. With a clang, the sound of two blades clashing reverberated and sparks containing mana flew out. With Intetsu which Ikki had in his right hand, he repelled the Orochimaru coming from the right. But that was… a mistake! Ikki's reflexes weren't fast enough to be able to block the second attack coming from the left! The saw blade coming from the left struck his body!

The saw blade ripped off the flesh from his body which flew in the air, and blood spilled on the floor dyeing it red… that was supposed to happen.

"What?"

But that didn't happen. What spilled wasn't blood but sparks. Why? The answer was in Ikki's hand which defended against Hebigami.

"You―!"

After noticing it, Kuraudo raised a howl. Ikki wasn't gripping the hilt of , but the base of the blade and thus intentionally reduced his reach.

"That's right, kodachi techniques…! As expected of Ikki!"

"Kurogane-kun can use a kodachi?"

"He can even teach Shizuku who has a kodachi-shaped device, so of course he can use it!"

Ikki hated teaching wrong things to others, knowing that nature of his, Stella was convinced. And her guess was correct. Ikki wasn't only well versed in swordsmanship, he was also proficient in archery, grappling, unarmed, and many others. Even if it could only raise his strength on a minuscule level, he desperately practiced it and used all the time his body would allow to pursue those methods. Because he was well aware of the fact that he was weaker than anyone. And he was now bringing out everything he had learned back then.

The fact that was able to discern the position of the Hunter after being struck by his arrow was also a result of that. That was true for his display of defense and offense in this match too. Because of the shorter reach, the kodachi had less offense, but since it could be rotated faster, the blocking ability rose. Ikki, utilizing that defense, deflected Kuraudo's godspeed attack.

"It means that you're not the only one who can change his reach."

Ikki, after defending against Hebigami with Intetsu immediately stepped in and started the counter.

"Haha."

Kuraudo laughed after seeing Ikki challenge him, despite that fact that Ikki had already witnessed his overwhelming attack speed. Even though this was just one exchange, for a mage-knight who relied heavily on mana, this was once in a lifetime decision. Kuraudo commended Ikki for that. But―

But you can't win. Not with just this.

It was skilled of him to suddenly switch to a kodachi technique. But in the end, the reach is still short.

―So he'll teach that guy. As one of the best eight of the whole country. As someone who resides at the summit of the Seven Star.

Strength isn't just gorgeous sword techniques that enchants people. Strength isn't some burning feeling you have when you fight for a friend,

It's something simpler; it's something far more dreadful. There's just one fixed answer to that.

―It's just simple overwhelming violence.

"HAHHAAAA―!"

"Wha-!"

For a moment, Ikki including those who were watching, Stella and Ayase were at a loss for words. The snake-like attack that was released at Ikki after he stepped in to counter attack―it had four heads! An impossible four-fold attack!

He can still go faster―!

A complete surprise attack. But Ikki didn't lose his cool and blocked the attack, coming to sever his head and to attack his left flank, with kodachi technique.

However it wasn't enough. Kuraudo released four attacks at Ikki instantly. Ikki could only block two. The remaining two slashed at Ikki's chest with a cross.

"Argggggh!"

"Ikki!"

"Kurogane-kun!"

"…I-I'm fine, I can still fight."

A large amount of blood was spilling. The wound probably reached the sternum. But Ikki still poured power into his knees and refused to give up. He continued to gaze at the opponent before him.

"Oh! You avoided a fatal wound by using the momentum of the first and second hits to move backwards. Crafty ain't ya…? But that all ends now!"

Kuraudo extended his Orochimaru, that was now dyed in fresh blood, like a whip.

"What can you do from that distance? I'll turn ya into mincemeat!"

He attacked from a distance where only he could take the offensive, and slashed at the wounded Ikki.