Volume 4, Chapter 32 – Mitsurugi Yoshiteru

◆ Christina POV ◆

“Hmph. You won’t win with brute force alone, you know?”

Having let Fiene-sama and the others go ahead, I taunted Yoshiteru-dono.

“Gugaaaaaa!”

He exerted even more strength, attempting to crush me, but I slightly shifted the angle of Sesrumnir and diverted that force.

The moment I saw Yoshiteru-dono lose his balance, I immediately landed a strike on his shoulder.

“Gooooh! You bastard!”

Whether he had lost himself to anger or not, he unleashed a wide, sweeping blow, which I countered with another strike.

“Guh. Gaaaaaaa!”

Yoshiteru-dono howled.

It was like the roar of a beast.

I believe he mentioned something about a “Spirit Descent Technique,” and it seems this is a quite dangerous art.

Allowing someone to use such a technique without hesitation means that the Queen known as Suikyou must be quite cold-hearted.

Even if she is capable of Healing in the same way, she is entirely different from Fiene-sama.

“Hmph. Still, Fiene-sama went ahead without hesitation.”

Despite being in the middle of a fight, I couldn’t help but mutter that.

Of course, I was the one who suggested it, but I felt a strange sense of loneliness.

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Had I continued fighting Yoshiteru-dono in this monstrous state, there was a possibility that his overwhelming physical abilities would have prevented me from protecting everyone.

Furthermore, since our objective was not to defeat Yoshiteru-dono but to recover Kirinagi, it was necessary for Fiene-sama to proceed to where Kirinagi was.

Since the head instructor of this dojo had been defeated and I was holding off the assistant instructor, there was no longer any significant individual fighting strength left here—only numbers.

If it was a matter of numbers, Fiene-sama’s Barrier, combined with Lumia and Mashiro’s long-range attacks, should be more than enough to suppress them.

Yes, that decision was the correct one.

As these thoughts raced through my mind, Yoshiteru-dono lunged at me once again.

“Gaaaaaaa!”

I dodged Yoshiteru-dono’s blind charge and landed a blow to his thigh.

That makes four strikes in total, yet Yoshiteru-dono still doesn’t fall.

He is bleeding from the wounds, but it seems that level of power is not enough to deliver a decisive blow.

“Gugoooooo!”

Once again, I parried a clumsy, straightforward charge and this time landed a hit right on his face. Yoshiteru-dono spun out of control and collapsed.

However, he scrambled back up almost immediately. Blood was streaming down his face, but he showed no sign of caring.

“Damn, he’s still standing?”

This is definitely abnormal. Beyond the strange hardness of his bones and muscles, I suspect he might not be feeling pain at all.

“Gugoooooo!”

Yoshiteru-dono charged again. I dodged the blow and delivered a horizontal slash across his abdomen to create distance.

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He charged again; I dodged and struck.

And then…

◇ ◇ ◇

“Haa… haa… haa…”

I stood before Yoshiteru-dono, breathing heavily. Facing me, Yoshiteru-dono was covered in blood from the countless attacks I had landed.

He was so battered that it would be easier to find a spot where I hadn’t cut him, yet he still would not fall.

His sword had long since snapped, and now Yoshiteru-dono was swinging at me with his bare fists.

It was beyond insanity. No, I doubted if any sane consciousness remained at all.

Was he fighting on pure combat instinct alone?

Berserker.

The word crossed my mind.

A mad warrior who fights and kills regardless of friend or foe until their own death.

“Yoshiteru-dono! You’ll die if this continues! Are you still going?!”

I called out to him.

If this “Spirit Descent Technique” was the cause of his madness, something irreversible might happen if I didn’t bring him back to his senses.

But he didn’t react to my voice at all; Yoshiteru-dono let out a growl and lunged at me with a punch.

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“Tch, I have no choice.”

I ducked to dodge Yoshiteru-dono’s fist and, in one motion, thrust Sesrumnir into his left chest.

Fresh blood sprayed out, splattering my entire body.

“Yoshiteru-dono, my apologies.”

I whispered an apology to the man I had just killed.

He was an immature man, but his desire to never lose in swordsmanship seemed sincere.

I couldn’t help but think that if he had put in the effort without relying on such an evil art…

I attempted to pull Sesrumnir out of the body of Yoshiteru-dono, who was leaning against me lifelessly.

Or rather, I tried to pull it out.

“It… it won’t come out?!”

In the next instant, Yoshiteru-dono’s fist caught me square in the face. I was blown back several meters, landing hard on my backside.

Stars flickered before my eyes.

Shaking them off, I stood up and checked on Yoshiteru.

To my horror, Yoshiteru was walking toward me with Sesrumnir still embedded in his left chest.

Blood dripped steadily onto the floor.

“Wh-why… can you still… move?”

“Gugaaaaaa!”

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He launched another simple charge, but I dodged the fist by a wide margin.

If I took several of those hits, I wouldn’t be able to stay standing either.

It seemed difficult to recover Sesrumnir.

However, it would be impossible to defeat this monstrous version of Yoshiteru-dono using only hand-to-hand combat.

“Urgh!”

I continued to dodge his attacks desperately while looking for an opening to reclaim Sesrumnir.

However, Yoshiteru-dono seemed to be getting used to my movements, and as my own movements slowed, I gradually became unable to dodge his fists completely.

Finally, I took a hit.

“Guh-ha!”

I was sent flying—perhaps several meters—and went rolling across the floor.

The hard sensation of the impact, the odd feeling as I rolled, and the pain reminded me of the existence of the other sword worn at my waist.

“Gugaaaaaa!”

Yoshiteru-dono charged in to deliver the finishing blow to the fallen me. I calmly recalled the movements my Shishou had taught me and unleashed an Iai-cut from a draw.

Sinking onto one knee, I flowed from the draw into an upward slash, then brought the raised sword crashing down.

Having received a double-strike from a blade enchanted with Fiene-sama’s Purification Magic, Yoshiteru-dono collapsed face-first onto the ground without a sound and immediately vanished into ash.

Only my Sesrumnir remained there.