Chapter 150: Takemikazuchi!
Touka spread her legs and poured all her lightning into the scabbard. The pressure radiating from her body rose rapidly.
[Raikiri] possessed one fatal weakness.
As an iai technique, once the blade was drawn, the slash had to continue until the end.
Therefore, if someone baited out [Raikiri] and immediately retreated, Touka would be left with a considerable opening.
She had already developed a way to compensate for that flaw.
However, if Shiro insisted on escaping, Touka could never catch him with the difference in their physical abilities.
And yet—
Shiro stared directly at Touka, who resembled a thunder god descending into the mortal world, and stepped into [Raikiri]'s attack range.
'How could I possibly run at a time like this?'
Touka was taking the battle so seriously. Shiro would face her head-on and defeat her openly.
In the next instant, the girl unleashed her certain-kill strike.
"Raikiri—!"
Plasma scattered through the air.
A torrent formed from countless interwoven bolts of lightning surged toward Shiro, threatening to drown his body within the thunderstorm.
The distance between them was less than five steps.
A sword normally required time to accelerate from the beginning of a swing until it reached maximum power.
Against [Raikiri]'s far-supersonic speed, there was no possible way Shiro could catch up.
Everyone present believed that, including Touka herself.
Yet in that instant, Shiro moved.
Under Touka's astonished gaze, the sword in his hand struck [Raikiri] at an unimaginable speed.
Who moved first or second held no meaning.
The moment his sword began to move, it had already reached its highest possible speed.
A sword capable of completing the transition from zero to one hundred in an instant—
That was the world's strongest swordsmanship, [Twin Wings].
Boom—!!!
With the two of them at its center, the arena could no longer withstand the pressure.
After releasing a tortured groan, it rapidly collapsed as countless fragments of stone flew toward the audience.
The sudden scene frightened several student knights into instinctively summoning their Devices.
Some of the weaker students even shut their eyes in fear.
At the final moment, the stones flying toward the spectators strangely reversed direction, as though time itself had been rewound.
"I knew it would eventually turn into this..."
Kurono appeared in the center of the stands while holding two guns.
At the critical moment, she had used her Blazer ability to reverse the arena's time and prevent the audience from being injured.
"If this weren't a tournament I organized, I would deal with both of you properly."
She sighed while staring at the arena buried beneath rolling dust.
...
When the smoke cleared, both figures remained standing at the center of an arena that looked as though it had endured repeated artillery bombardment.
A rumor existed within Hagun Academy.
Within crossing distance, the student council president's [Raikiri] was invincible.
Yet Touka's certain-kill strike had now been forcibly stopped by the sword in Shiro's hand.
Before she could recover from her shock, the force pressing against her blade suddenly vanished.
Without any unnecessary movement, a second slash silently arrived.
Bang—!
Touka felt as though her organs had been violently twisted together.
Her entire body was launched high into the air before crashing heavily onto the arena.
"Can you show me the surprise you mentioned now?"
Shiro's voice reached her ears.
Touka held her abdomen and slowly rose from the ruins, wearing a slightly bitter smile.
"I lost..."
She understood that if Shiro had coated his Device with magic at the last moment, she would already be unconscious.
She had only remained standing because she used the Noble Art [Shippu Jinrai] to reinforce her body.
Even now, Shiro had deliberately spared her because he wanted to see the "surprise" she had prepared.
Touka corrected her posture and held her blade horizontally, pointing it toward Shiro.
"This technique is still incomplete. You could call it a half-finished move."
"It's too dangerous, and I still can't properly control its destructive power."
"You might die, Shiro."
Standing within the devastated final arena, Touka endured the needle-like pain spreading through her body and forced out a playful smile.
There was one more danger she had not mentioned.
The technique was not merely dangerous because of its destructive power.
After using it, Touka herself might not survive.
She knew that Shiro would never allow her to perform it if she revealed that fact.
However, frustration over defeat, the pride of a swordsman, and the expectations of her family at the orphanage all urged her forward.
'If I don't use it now, when will I ever use it?'
The Sword Intent around Touka rose to its limit.
She squeezed out her last remaining strength and transformed the space before her into an electromagnetic field.
"Come at me. I happen to have a technique I'd like to test as well."
Shiro raised his sword and assumed the exact same posture as Touka.
However, unlike Touka's Sword Intent, which had risen to its peak, Shiro's felt distant and almost unreal.
He had originally intended to save this move for Edel-chan.
Using it now as a return gift for Touka's "surprise" seemed perfectly appropriate.
When her Sword Intent reached its summit, Touka wrapped [Shippu Jinrai] around her body and charged into the electromagnetic passage before her.
The principle behind the technique was identical to a railgun.
Enormous electromagnetic force accelerated a projectile to extreme speed before firing it at a target and destroying it.
Its penetrating force and destructive power vastly surpassed [Raikiri].
However, Touka was not launching an ordinary projectile.
The projectile was her own body.
Its name was—
"Takemikazuchi—!!!"
Boom—!
The railgun's path instantly demolished what remained of the ruined arena.
A violent hurricane and surging waves of heat swept across every spectator in the stands.
Touka's body surpassed third cosmic velocity, transforming into plasma as she hurtled toward Shiro.
It was practically a mutually destructive technique.
Even if the opponent reacted, Touka could still observe their movements through [Reverse Sight] while traveling at extreme speed and adjust her strategy accordingly.
However, while flying through the air, she noticed something astonishing.
Shiro remained in the same position as before.
He had even closed his eyes.
'Why isn't he blocking?'
The thought appeared within Touka's mind.
However, as the projectile, it was already impossible for her to stop midway.
Before even a millisecond passed, their figures overlapped.
Whoosh—
Touka's body passed straight through Shiro.
'An illusion?'
The moment that thought arose, the Shiro whose body overlapped with hers lowered his sword.
Slice—
The blade in its Illusionary Form passed through her body.
"Director!"
"I know!"
Those were the final words Touka heard before losing consciousness.
…
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