Chapter 271: Plum Blossoms and Camellias, Round 2.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 271: Plum Blossoms and Camellias, Round 2.
What I felt from our first exchange of blades was that he was, as expected, completely different from before.
Though we had only traded a single blow for the sake of probing each other, the impact that flew my way was heavy enough to make the hand gripping my sword tingle.
Where had that stumbling sword, once so full of hesitation, gone?
The sword forms unfolding before my eyes weren’t exactly elegant, but they possessed a sense of completion in their own right.
“Good. You’re much more stable than before.”
No, to be precise, the word ‘stable’ didn’t quite fit.
His sword was still violent and fierce.
However, compared to before, that momentum was well-tempered.
If his sword had previously been a haphazard blade that didn’t know where to direct its sharpness, had it now become a blade that realized where to aim its ferocity?
“But you still have a long way to go.”
Plum blossoms, embroidered across the sky, fell as they illuminated the darkness of the night.
Falling Plum Blossoms.
Sword qi resembling plum blossoms poured down like rain, but the swordsman before me did not let himself be intoxicated by the splendor. He calmly observed the Sword Qi and dug into the point where it was weakest.
“That’s the correct answer. It would be ideal if every single strike were a finishing blow, but an attack that widens its range inevitably creates weak spots.”
Of course, even that ‘weakest spot’ would have been an attack of a magnitude difficult for a human body to endure had he hesitated for even a moment.
The black camellia that bloomed at the tip of his sword swallowed the plum blossoms and their fragrance as it opened its petals.
The sixteenth form of my pride, the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, had been neutralized, but rather than feeling frustrated, I felt a sense of joy.
I could see things to learn from his sword, and at the same time, I could feel him learning from mine.
It truly felt like a master-disciple relationship.
It was a bit unclear who was the master and who was the disciple, but well, isn’t that what masters and disciples are—beings who have things to learn from one another?
What mattered was that we were providing good stimulation for each other.
“Haaap…!”
Well, that’s that, but I’m still going to win this match.
Based on what I’d gathered through our exchange so far, there were three elements that turned his violent blade into a proper swordsmanship.
First.
His eyes—the most troublesome element.
I had known his eyes were good for a while, but seeing them again now that his hesitation was gone, he possessed a level of visual acuity that was hard to accept as merely ‘good.’
Beyond simply seeing through all feints, he completely grasped my movements. If even the slightest opening appeared, a sharp attack flew in immediately to exploit it, making him incredibly difficult to deal with.
Since he saw through all feints and variations, I ultimately had to resort to a direct approach. Yet, his own sword went beyond being unconventional; it existed outside the realm of standard swordsmanship, which was quite a headache.
“Another trap?”
As I sliced through the faint shadow spreading across the ground with my Sword Qi, black spikes poured down, swarming the area.
“Are you trying to turn me into a porcupine?”
“It’s not like it’ll work anyway, so what’s the harm?”
Next was his attitude.
It was as if we were people who had traded blows countless times; he saw right through the sword paths I hated most and the parts where I was most unskilled.
“Junior, are you a mind reader by any chance? How do you know the spots I dislike so well?”
“I have my ways. I happen to have quite a few secrets.”
“Really? Then I’ll have to win and hear those secrets!”
“Not ‘if’ you win, but ‘after’ you win?”
There it was again.
I thought I had cut through his sword, but it was only a shadow that was severed. Immediately after swinging his sword, he stepped into the small blind spot that had been created and thrust his blade forward.
It was to the point where I suspected he was reading my thoughts in real-time, meaning I was starting the psychological battle at a complete disadvantage.
And finally, it was his reflexes.
Usually, the better a superhuman’s senses, the more those senses acted as both a strength and a weakness.
Yes, reflexes.
They are indispensable for blocking and dodging enemy attacks, but at the same time, if they are too sharp, they breed hesitation in movement and make one easily fall for feints.
That’s why a normal, first-rate hero hones those senses to a high degree but makes it a rule not to over-rely on them.
In his case, he had overcome this in the exact opposite way.
“Hey, couldn’t you at least pretend to dodge?”
“I knew it was a feint, so why bother?”
…So, this junior—I had my suspicions, but he had completely deadened his reflexes.
Is that even something you can kill just because you want to?
It wasn’t on the level of ‘don’t blink and watch the attack until the end’ or ‘forcefully holding back a body that wants to run.’
I tried attacking by momentarily adding Sword Qi to a feint, but if he judged the attack wasn’t fatal, he would simply tank it with his body and keep charging.
Even if it was an attack made by hurriedly twisting a feint, it still carried Sword Qi, so it shouldn’t be something a bare body could endure.
Minor wounds opened on his skin and blood splattered, but since they weren’t fatal, the sword he swung remained powerful.
Unless it was an attack that would lead to death or the loss of a limb, he responded to everything with minimal evasion and countered, making him exceptionally tricky to handle.
Ah, and that weapon of his was also troublesome.
The current attack looked like it could be dodged somehow by retreating half a step, but I couldn’t afford to perceive that thing as a sword just because it currently held that shape.
Its essence was a shadow, so it could change its form as much as it wanted.
As I took a large step back, sure enough, the blade extended long and pursued me like a snake.
Sword qi imbued with plum blossoms sliced through the shadow, and we ended up in a stalemate once again.
“You’re strong. Really strong. Who would believe you’re a first-year cadet?”
However, I was certain that if the duel continued like this, I would be the one to win in the end.
Though he was dodging reasonably well with his superior vision and guts, my mastery of swordsmanship was ultimately higher. While small wounds were accumulating on him, I was still unscathed.
If fatigue continued to build up like this, the victor would eventually be me.
…The only small question was why he was hardly using his Talent at all.
“I think you could win if you stacked a few more Reinforcements. Are you not feeling well?”
“No, it’s not that. But if I did that, it wouldn’t be winning with the sword, would it? A swordsman even made a bet on a sparring match. Wouldn’t that be a bit uncool?”
At that, I frowned for the first time.
“Junior, the sword is obviously very important to a swordsman, but it’s not everything. Doing your best is also important in a duel.”
Of course, one should avoid actions bordering on foul play, but I wasn’t pleased to see him holding back to match his opponent when he had the means to be stronger. Yet, for some reason, he only gave a faint smile.
“…It seems you’ve misunderstood me. I didn’t mean to say I’m not doing my best right now.”
He wasn’t using Reinforcement, which was his Talent and could be considered his greatest strength, so what on earth did he mean by ‘best’?
“In fact, my sword is originally like this. I devised it in the beginning to take down enemies I couldn’t defeat with Reinforcement alone.”
“If you say so, I’ll believe you. Then, let’s continue.”
“No, it’s over. From now on, this won’t be an equal duel.”
It was a statement that could sound arrogant, but his aura didn’t seem like he was bluffing.
“Come to think of it, this will be more like a battle than swordsmanship. More like a hunt than a duel.”
The moment he smiled and threw a dagger made of shadows, my mana sensing suddenly began to send out fierce warnings.
I tried to swat away the dagger flying from the front with my sword, but my intuition warned me not to, so I leaped high into the air.
And then, the shadow I had been standing on just a moment ago surged upward.
“Originally, I’m not the type to fight with just a sword. I thoroughly prepare traps, weaken the enemy, utilize hidden weapons, and hunt after degrading an opponent stronger than me as much as possible.”
When did he set up such devices? Did he prepare them before the fight started? That shouldn’t be possible.
Just as I was about to worry about the traps, his sword flew in.
The moment I parried his blade with my Sword Qi, I realized how he had prepared these traps. I saw tiny fragments of shadow being sliced off his sword and falling to the ground the moment our blades clashed.
Aha.
I thought it was because he was being pushed back in strength, but it wasn’t just that.
The shadows that had been cut away until now had gathered together to form shapes, and each one had become a different trap.
I see.
His charges, which had seemed a bit reckless until now, and his shadow attacks that hadn’t seemed to work—they were all stepping stones for this.
Indeed, it was an attack more suited to the name ‘hunt’ than ‘swordsmanship,’ but the shadow traps filling the surroundings felt strangely familiar.
“You shouldn’t focus only on the shadows like that, you know?”
I felt a brief sense of pride, but he was right.
Just because he was moving the placed shadows didn’t mean he couldn’t swing his sword.
When I moved to counter the shadows, his sword came for the openings.
It truly was a sword that repeatedly performed the movements the opponent hated most.
Because of that, it was beautiful, and it was a sword that moved clearly in its attempt to resemble something.
“Is this Plum Blossom Fragrance for Ten Thousand Miles?”
He didn’t answer, but I was certain.
The raging storm of shadows was made of hidden weapons and traps, but it resembled a sword form that was all too familiar to me.
They really are alike.
* * *
Yes, that’s right.
The past me, who could never become a true swordsman.
The method I chose because I couldn’t let go of my lingering attachment and wanted to imitate her.
If I couldn’t replicate the Sword Qi that resembled plum blossoms and the sword forms that felt infinite, I would fill the void with even more traps and hidden weapons.
What was completed wasn’t a forest full of radiant plum blossoms and their scent, but a hellscape filled with the smell of blood and ash.
However, now, a flower has bloomed at the tip of my sword as well, even if it isn’t a plum blossom.
There’s also the difference that these weren’t traps prepared in advance, but ones created after the duel began.
“Good. This is fun, after all. I’ll believe you when you say you’re doing your best.”
But the woman before me was no ordinary person either.
“Then, shall I go as well?”
The plum blossom fragrance, which was already thick, became even more dizzying, and plum blossoms began to bloom in full force all around.
Even from such a disadvantageous posture, even while already caught in a trap, she refined her Sword Qi and completed her sword form.
The overflowing plum blossoms sliced through the shadows, burying even the camellia blooming at the tip of my sword, as they surged toward me.
“Answering Plum Blossom Fragrance for Ten Thousand Miles with Plum Blossom Fragrance for Ten Thousand Miles.”
Was it that a crudely imitated sword could not defeat the real thing? The shadows and the plum blossoms failed to find a balance. Even the camellias, which were individually superior, could not swallow the overwhelming scent of plum blossoms and began to wither away.
It’s beautiful. It’s the sword I wanted to resemble. And.
It was also the sword I finally managed to neutralize after endless research in the past.
Every single petal of those scattered plum blossoms was Sword Qi.
It was a threatening technique, but for that very reason, it was a Sword Qi that required intense concentration.
The way to break that beautiful swordsmanship, which didn’t allow for even a small tremor, was simple.
“Return, Black Shadow.”
The first step was making her believe I had only set traps with Black Shadow.
The second step was appearing to attack with maximum firepower once preparations were complete, drawing out her Plum Blossom Fragrance for Ten Thousand Miles.
All conditions were met. The moment I gave the command to Black Shadow, the ground she and I were standing on sank just a tiny bit.
I had retracted all of the Black Shadow spread across the ground.
“Huh?”
However, that tiny distortion caused a momentary tremor in her Plum Blossom Fragrance for Ten Thousand Miles.
Of course, she was an outstanding swordsman, so she would be able to regain her balance and continue the technique in just one second.
But, even if I wasn’t a first-rate swordsman, my sword—which had been prepared in advance—didn’t need a whole second to reach her neck.
The sword made of shadows touched her fair neck, and what this signified was…
“I guess I win this time?”
It meant that the winner of this duel had been decided as me.