CHAPTER 5

—and saw him wave his limply held sword at lightning speed to knock the Flying Shadow aside. That was truly all he did.

Y-you can’t be serious?!

I shuddered. His swing time greatly exceeded both Lia’s and Rose’s. He was so incredibly swift that I could only barely see his blade even if I concentrated.

I gulped, and he glared at me.

“Hey, I came here for a fight, not for some boring target practice… I’m gonna crush you like an ant,” he spat, emanating terrible menace.

He’s coming…!

I held my middle stance, giving myself a perfect guard. Yet, Shido was right under my nose before I knew it.

H-he’s fast!

I quickly turned my sword horizontally to block his downward strike. Sparks flew when our weapons collided.

How did he get so brawny?!

While I held Shido back with both hands using all the strength I could muster, he looked like he was only barely exerting himself.

“Hmph, not a bad reaction… Hah!”

Suddenly, he spun around and kicked me hard in the stomach.

“Gah!”

His blow knocked all the wind out of my lungs and sent me rocketing backward.

Shoot… How could a simple kick be that strong…?

I fell gracefully and then quickly reassumed the middle stance, but Shido did not pursue. He just held his sword limp and let out a massive yawn. Clearly, he didn’t perceive me as a threat.

I used this time to reflect on our last exchange.

Shido’s high-speed method of approach is entirely different from Rose’s.

Rose had a soft, flexible style of movement that matched her opponent’s breathing and blinking. On the other hand, Shido utilized a brutish method of movement that relied solely on his ridiculous leg strength.

I can’t get over that downward slash.

To put it bluntly, it was a crude attack. Shido’s grip was amateurish, and he didn’t keep his arms by his side. Instead, he simply swung his sword down at full strength, with very little in the way of skill.

Now that I think about it, that goes for his kick, too…

It was an erratic blow that drew solely from his powerful legs.

Although it was astoundingly intense, that only made its rawness stand out more.

If he’d dropped his center of gravity and put his body into the attack, I would have suffered a much greater injury.

In short, he was doing nothing more than relying on his latent physical ability.

Shido is a one-in-a-thousand natural.

It hurt to admit, but I wasn’t in his league. His limbs possessed supernatural vigor and springlike flexibility. All his traits were top-notch and far outstripped my own.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t win…!

He was clearly lacking in effort, training, and, above all, an earnest interest in swordcraft.

That gives me a chance to come out on top!

Shido brought me back to the present by clicking his tongue loudly.

“…Tch. Will you quit staring at me? You’re creeping me out… It’s obvious that talentless trash like you could never hope to defeat greatness like me. Why not quit this pointless charade and surrender now?” he proposed with a mocking smile.

“…There’s no denying your natural gifts, Shido. You’re on another plane compared to me. But I am going to win this match.”

“…Huh?”

All at once, veins bulged on his forehead, and a menacing aura seemed to form around him.

“I see you have a death wish!”

Shido rushed at me with explosive speed, closing the distance between us in an instant.

“Take this!”

He swung his sword with nothing more than brute force. His grip was poor, and he didn’t make use of his full body weight. But with might as overwhelming as his, even such clumsy technique could produce rapid, devastating assaults.

…Eight-Span Crow would take too long to use.

I had just the move for this situation.

“Cloudy Sky Style—Cirrocumulus Cloud!”

I loosed four slash attacks in the blink of an eye and repelled Shido’s approaching chain of attacks. This technique had only moderate strength, but it was swiftest in my arsenal.

“You annoying piece of shit!”

Shido jumped high and descended with a downward slash using all his weight. His extraordinary arm strength alone was enough to deal with, so blocking this attack was going to be tricky.

Luckily, I had a skill I’d learned from one of my classmates that would help me here.

“Slice Iron Style—Demolish Iron!”

Our swords collided, and I held Shido back with all my strength. Unifying my body and blade to feel like a single mass of iron, I let the shock waves pass through me and into the ground. Temper your body until iron itself becomes soft—that was the essence of the Slice Iron School of Swordcraft.

“DAMMIT!”

Shido cursed loudly and jumped back after I blocked his attacks, then sheathed his sword and rushed directly at me.

“YOU’RE DEAD!!!”

He accelerated and performed an incredibly fast draw strike.

I needed to meet speed with speed—Rose’s quickest move would be effective in this situation.

“Cherry Blossom Blade Style—Lightning Sakura!”

An electric-fast slash collided with Shido’s draw strike. The speed of both moves was about equal— Actually, mine was a little faster.

“Whuh?! Will you stop changing your style?! You’re creeping me out!”

Shido jumped back to create distance between us after I blocked his attack again.

That marked the end of his turn. Now it was my time to strike.

I approached him for the first time this match.

“Cherry Blossom Blade Secret Technique—Mirror Sakura Slash!”

I sent four mirrored slashes down from both the left and the right.

“That soft crap won’t work on me!”

Shido made full use of his elite physical ability to deflect each of my cuts.

…His reaction time and speed are truly out of this world.

I was dumbfounded by his talent.

But this is what I was waiting for!

Blocking four attacks from opposite directions had left his center wide-open. Target in my sights, I unleashed eight simultaneous slash attacks.

“Eighth Style—Eight-Span Crow!”

“Graaaah…?!”

Shido met the approaching gashes and knocked down one after another with astounding speed. However—

“Argh!”

—deflecting them all from his broken posture proved difficult, and one got through and bashed him in the head.

“…You bastard,” he spat, cradling his injured head and glaring at me with bloodshot eyes.

Meeting his gaze directly, I spoke my mind.

“You’re really strong, Shido. I can’t match your arm and leg muscles, your sword speed, or your reflexes. But when it comes to devoting myself to my art—to swordcraft—I have you beat!”

“Pfft…”

Shido opened his eyes wide, looked up at the sky, and began to cackle.

“Pfft, ha-ha-ha… Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

He sounded like a maniac.

“Oh…shut up, shutup shutup shutup shutup! You gross the shit out of me!” Shido cursed.

He pointed his sword at me.

“I loathe that look in your eyes… I can see you actually believe in all that ‘effort’ and ‘swordcraft’ bullshit… Give me a break!”

Shido ground his teeth and carelessly tossed his weapon aside.

“Once trash, always trash! You hear that? You’ll never change! No matter how much you swing your blade, no matter how much effort you put in, you’ll always be garbage! Wrap your puny brain around that!” he screamed.

Finished with his rant, Shido raised his hand into the air.

“I’ll show you how wretched your effort and swordcraft are in the face of my absolute talent.”

I suddenly sensed a massive amount of pressure. This was the third time I had experienced this feeling since facing Lia and Cain.

I knew it. Shido can do it, too…

I strengthened my guard and gripped my sword tightly.

With a wicked smile, Shido cried:

“Consume—Ice Wolf Vanargand!”

He pulled a sword out from a large rift in the air. The blade was as white as snow, the handle as black as night. It was Soul Attire.

“Ha-ha, you’re finished!” Shido spat.

“Bring it on!” I responded.

The real, decisive battle started now.

After Shido produced his Soul Attire, called Vanargand, I noticed something strange.

…Has it gotten colder?

It was currently daytime, and the sun was high in the sky, so it didn’t make sense for it to be so chilly outside. I strained my eyes and saw white mist coming off his sword.

Is that cold air…?

Though I tried to analyze the ability of his Soul Attire, I was quickly interrupted.

“You’re done… Freezing Spear!”

A two-meter-long spear made of ice suddenly materialized in midair.

I was right… This Soul Attire can manipulate air temperature.

Holding tight to my middle stance, I directed my attention to the tip of the weapon, which was pointing toward me.

“Let’s see how you dance!”

Shido waved his right hand, and the lance shot toward me with incredible speed. I met it by swinging my sword down diagonally.

“Hargh!”

A massive shock ran through my arms. The ice was easily harder than iron and boasted great density.

“Grrrraaaaahhhhhh!”

Somehow, I managed to deflect the ice spear upward, sending it flying.

I turned back toward Shido, but he was gone.

“Over here, dumbass.”

I heard his voice behind me.

“?!”

“Take that!”

I made a snap decision to try to dodge by rolling forward, but I was too late.

“Urgh…”

Burning pain raced through me as his sword sliced into my back.

In response, I leaped up immediately and focused my vision on him.

The wound isn’t deep, thank goodness. I can still fight…!

I encouraged myself and looked up, only to see two more ice spears.

“Try and dodge this!”

I dashed right before he fired the spears.

I have to keep moving!

Incapable of destroying those ice spears with my strength alone, my next best option was to keep moving so that they couldn’t hit me. I dashed around quickly to throw off Shido’s aim.

“Will you stop running?!”

He approached me with one step and unleashed four incredibly quick slash attacks.

“Cl-Cloudy Sky Style—Cirrocumulus Cloud!”

I deployed my swiftest technique, attempting to defend myself.

“Gah!”

I failed to deflect the final slash, resulting in a powerful blow to my left shoulder. Fortunately, it felt like it didn’t reach bone, so I managed to keep both hands gripped on my blade.

Geez, he’s even faster than before!

Shido was wielding his sword at blistering speeds, perhaps due to the power of Vanargand. As he pressed me with attack after attack, my number of wounds steadily increased.

“Haaah, haaah…dammit…”

The match seemed hopeless, but I couldn’t give up.

“ALLEN! YOU HAVE TO WIN!”

“DON’T GIVE UP!”

“KEEP MOVING! WEAR HIM OUT!”

Every spectator from Thousand Blade Academy had been shouting for me at the top of their lungs from the beginning of the match.

I have to win, for them!

But I hadn’t yet found anything I could take advantage of to defeat Shido.

Vanargand is a truly terrifying Soul Attire…

It could manipulate cold air freely and create absurdly hard ice spears. As an added bonus, it increased the user’s physical capabilities.

It’s not a fair fight…

I grit my teeth in frustration.

“You’re not thinking that I’ve gotten faster, are you?” Shido asked.

It was as if he had been reading my thoughts.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but you have it backward,” he continued, shaking his head and snickering.

“…What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Ha, you really haven’t noticed…? It’s actually you who’s getting slower.”

Shido pointed at my hands, and I looked down.

“Wh-what the…?!”

My arms had turned a light shade of purple.

“I take it you’re familiar with hypothermia?” he asked with a mocking smile. He lifted Vanargand, still releasing cold air, to show what he’d done.

Dammit, he got me…

I’d been so distracted by the ice spears that I hadn’t noticed what was happening to my body.

It doesn’t look like Shido is shivering from the cold at all…

I guess the blade’s wielder didn’t suffer the effects of the frigid air.

This is bad…

The longer this match continued, the lower my body temperature would drop, and the worse my chances of winning would become.

My disadvantage is only going to grow…

I needed to find a way to end this while I still had control of my body.

Suddenly between a rock and a hard place, I charged at Shido.

“Eighth Style—Eight-Span Crow!”

I only managed six slashes with the skill as opposed to the usual eight.

“Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha! What’s wrong?! You realize you’re two short, right?!” he laughed as he easily deflected the six slashes.

“Crap…”

With my abilities decreased to this extent, I had no chance of winning in a straight fight.

That means I just need to hit him with a surprise attack!

I spent about five minutes preparing Hazy Moon strikes in multiple places throughout the stage, continuing to fend Shido off all the while.

“Haaah…haaah…”

“What’s the matter? Already at your limit?”

My opponent sauntered toward me while calmly holding his sword against his shoulder, assured of his triumph.

Everything’s ready to go. My placement is perfect, too…!

If he merely continued down his current route, the Hazy Moons would tear him apart.

No matter how fast his reflexes are, he won’t be able to dodge attacks he can’t see!

I maintained my middle stance and watched. Suddenly, Shido jerked to a halt.

“Whoa there, what’s this? Did you think I wouldn’t see this trap?”

He flourished his blade through the space in front of him, and the Hazy Moon strikes I had worked so hard to set activated to the movement, fruitlessly slicing the air.

“Only a second-rate amateur would use such obvious traps!” he snickered before charging and closing the distance in an instant.

“Huh?!”

I kicked off the ground and tried to jump backward, but I lost my balance.

“Crap!”

My left leg had given out. The frostbite must have spread.

“Take this!”

Not letting his opportunity go to waste, Shido delivered a fierce front kick to my abdomen.

“Gah!”

I heard the grotesque crack of bones breaking and curled up on the ground like a ball.

A fit of coughing overtook me. My abdomen was bleeding; my shattered bones might have punctured my intestines.

“Come on, that’s disgusting… You’re gonna get my shoes dirty!”

Shido howled with laughter as he mercilessly ground my face with his foot.

“Y-you’re going completely off the rails!”

“Don’t push your luck…!”

Lia and Rose glared at Shido with bloodlust in their eyes. After flashing an indescribable expression, he scratched his cheek in apparent embarrassment.

“Ah…sorry about that. Guess there’s no point in making you suffer. I’ll just kill you instead,” he leered, thrusting Vanargand to my throat.

““Huh?!”” I heard Lia and Rose gasp.

Doing anything that could kill your opponent was against the rules of the Elite Five Holy Festival, but…I doubted Shido cared about that. This guy was going to splatter me all over the stage.

“H-he’s joking, right?!” shouted Lia.

“R-Referee! Stop him now!” yelled Rose.

“M-Mr. Shido, please stop!” pleaded the referee.

Lia and Rose both went pale, and the referee jumped onto the stage in a panic.

However, there was no way he would reach us in time.

Shit… Is this where I die?

My frostbite had become so severe that I could barely move. Though, given Shido’s foot on my stomach, moving would have been impossible regardless.

“Ha-ha! It’s not every day you get these chances. I’m gonna turn your corpse into a hilarious work of art!”

Shido guffawed simplemindedly and lifted his sword.

“Vanar Thrust!”

Vanargand released a massive gust of glacial air, and Shido launched it toward my throat with explosive force. If that attack landed, I would be finished.

So this is it…

I’d swung my blade for hours on end, day after day. I’d trained harder than anyone. No one dedicated as much attention to their swordcraft as me; the billion years I’d spent sharpening my skills was proof of that.

But ultimately, none of that mattered. I still hadn’t been good enough. I would be laid to waste in the face of absolute talent.

Lia, Rose, Chairwoman Reia, Ms. Paula, Mom…I’m sorry.

This seemed like the end for me. My sword had been knocked away, and I couldn’t even lift a finger.

But I won’t let him break my spirit.

I opened my eyes wide to stare down the oncoming thrust. Closing them was out of the question. I was going to cling to life until I heaved my last breath.

In contrast to my immobile body, my heart was a whirlwind of jumbled emotions.

I really, really don’t want to die. I don’t want to lose. I want to beat this prodigy!!!

At that moment, I heard something deep inside my mind—something that felt like a soul—whisper to me.

I see you’re still as shit as you ever were, Allen.

My consciousness faded to black.

Shido’s Vanar Thrust raced toward Allen’s neck.

“A-Allen…!”

“No! Dodge it!”

Lia and Rose both went pale, and many spectators covered their eyes. Then something unexpected happened.

“…Huh?” Shido exclaimed angrily.

Allen had caught Shido’s thrust with his right hand.

“Tch, this some kind of adrenaline rush…?” Shido wondered aloud.

All of a sudden, Allen picked up Vanargand, and Shido along with it, and tossed them aside with ease.

“What the…?!”

Though bewildered by the sudden turnabout, Shido quickly regained his composure and landed gracefully.

The cold air of Vanargand parted to reveal Allen idly standing. Not only were the innumerable wounds he’d received throughout the duel nowhere to be found, but his appearance had also changed drastically.

His hair had grown long and turned bone white. A black pattern had formed under his left eye, which had turned a brilliant shade of crimson along with his right. But his looks weren’t the only thing that had transformed—nothing about the ferocious expression lining his face resembled Allen in the slightest.

In fact, his astounding metamorphosis made it seem as if he had become a different person entirely.

Allen surveyed his surroundings and smiled wickedly.

“Oh, long time no see! It’s been hundreds of millions—no, billions of years! What a turn this has taken, huh?”

He chortled heartily to himself. Meanwhile, everyone in the venue stared in stupefied shock.

“…So he decided to show himself after all,” muttered Reia. She alone regarded this with an insightful glare.

After laughing for a long while, he began to mutter to himself.

“I can’t believe you haven’t so much as touched a bit of this incredible power you have… You truly are hopeless, Allen.”

Those words were clearly directed toward his former self.

As an uproar rose from the stands, Shido questioned him with an incisive look.

“You’re shitting me… Are you a Spirit Core…?”

Many believed that a Spirit Core occupied every human soul. There were many varieties of cores, including ancestral spirits, cryptids, and lost souls. A Spirit Core supposedly encompassed a person’s entire essence, whereas Soul Attire was equipment that embodied only a piece of the human soul.

“Me? I’m…”

Allen started to answer, but then he silently shook his head.

“Actually, what am I doing answering someone who’s about to croak?”

He had no qualms about openly announcing his intention to kill his opponent.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?! I’m sick to death of your ugly ass! Freezing Spear!”

Shido fired a much larger projectile than the ones he’d created before, its size indicating just how seriously he was taking this version of Allen.

“Allen, dodge it!”

“Run!”

Lia and Rose screamed out for Allen to avoid the lance. Allen, however, remained unfazed as Shido’s hopeless attack narrowed in.

“Ha, how pathetic.”

He sent the spear crumbling with a casual flick of his left hand, as if it were as brittle as candy.

“Wh-what the hell…?!”

Shido couldn’t believe his eyes. That javelin hadn’t been made out of ordinary ice; it had been specially constructed through Soul Attire to be tougher than iron. And Allen had smashed it to pieces effortlessly—the absurdity had Shido at a loss for words.

“Pfft… Gwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don’t look so astounded! Did you really think you could hurt me by playing with ice?” the transformed Allen taunted.

A tiny red speck in the corner of Allen’s vision caught his attention.

“…Huh?”

Wondering what it was, he looked down and saw that the back of his left hand—which he had just used to deflect the bayonet of ice—was bleeding ever so slightly. The sight incensed him.

“You goddamn geezer! Why the hell did you give me such a weak body?! How dare you slack on me!” Allen yelled furiously.

He fixed his gaze on an old man in the stands who had been watching the Holy Festival since the beginning of the first match. The hair on his head, his eyebrows, and his beard were all snow white, and his back was clearly crooked.

“Hyo-hoh?! H-he didn’t see me, he didn’t see me…!” the old man pleaded to himself before going transparent and disappearing.

“Tch, what a fucking coward. That old fogy hasn’t changed at all… I’ll make him pay the next time I find him.”

As this transpired, Shido noticed Allen’s undefended back and snickered.

“I’ll teach you not to let your guard down around the likes of me! Vanar Thrust!” Shido screamed.

Concocting an eruption of freezing air, he drove his sword forward with enormous propulsive force.