The tengu, suspended in mid-air, looked down, her peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the smith in the crowd. This was a move she had learned from him—the storm she had shot at him had made her realize that the material core was not important and could even be a weakness.
She retracted her gaze. With each flex of her drawing hand, a bolt of lightning shot down at the youth. He kept his stance, still raising his nearly-at-its-limit right arm, blocking the attacks with minimal movement. Pure destruction crashed against the blade. The edge remained unshaken; it was the elemental energy that shattered upon impact.
"That sword of yours…" Kujou Sara was not surprised that her lightning arrows were blocked. What surprised her was that after the pure energy bodies exploded, not a single bit of it landed on the man. It was as if there was a curved forbidden zone before him where all energy was extinguished.
She did not continue her ranged assault. Instead, she flapped her wings and became a dark shadow, circling around. The wound on her shoulder ached with the movement. She couldn't drag this on for much longer.
The chestnut-haired youth felt his right hand go numb, yet it moved faster than he could control. Dozens of lightning bolts appeared at once, sealing off all his escape routes from every direction. Each arrow was faster than the sound of its own passage, each one containing the art of explosion.
I can't block it. Everyone present, whether skilled in combat or not, could feel it. This had surpassed the limits of what his body could handle. But at this moment, the main controller of this body was no longer the youth himself. His driving rights had been outsourced to the co-pilot named 'Yaegaki'.
The hilt moved the body, the blade aligned the direction. The demon blade acted on its own will. Offense was not the sword's wish, but defense did not need to be controlled by a person. The successive bombardments of lightning arrows came in waves, tearing up the ground and sending the front-row spectators stumbling.
When the lightning dissipated, the chestnut-haired man was still standing, with only slight burn marks on the hem of his clothes.
"Hah... hah..." The demon blade was squeezing out its user's potential, fueling him to burn himself out.
Everyone present, regardless of who they were rooting for, was dumbfounded by this result.
"Wasting more time is meaningless." Kujou Sara did not try to persuade the man, who was now a candle in the wind, to surrender. She could also see that his self-awareness was being challenged. These words were for herself.
She released her right hand, firing another arrow—and at the same time, her body followed close behind, falling along with the arrow.
Relying on the demon blade's instinct, the lightning arrow was blocked without a surprise. But Sara, who was right behind it, had already planned her next move. She condensed the power of the elements in her palm, retracting all her external lightning weapons and concentrating them into two streams of pure energy. The intertwined thunder sounded like the cry of a thousand birds. She planned to grab the blade with one hand and use the other to break through his defense. As for getting injured? It was just one hand.
The demon blade moved again! Sara knew it was the signal for a block. It would clash with her hand. All she had to do was clench her fist...
The blade dodged her. The hand that had been about to clench closed on empty air. "What?"
The dodged blade was already raised. As it rose, it trembled visibly. The youth's eyes still burned with the desire for victory. He, in the driver's seat, had regained control. He clenched his teeth and swung his final sword at Kujou Sara with all his might.
Lightning flashed in Kujou Sara's eyes. She gathered the power of her other hand into the one that had been meant for the trade-off and thrust it forward.
"Gah—" The sword that the youth had swung by overdrawing on his body's strength did not fully descend. He had not surpassed the five-strike limit. His right hand reached its limit before the cut, and the blade slipped from his grasp.
So I still can't win… he thought, unable to defend against Kujou Sara's thrust. Her hand pierced straight through his chest. Blood burst from his back, splattering like a red flower.
"Prepare to be judged." She had not pierced his heart directly, shifting her attack slightly at the last moment so he would not die immediately. In a duel before the throne, the final disposition had to be handed over to the Shogun.
Kujou Sara pulled out her hand and stepped back, leaving the final moments to the warrior who was about to face the divine radiance.
…
"The outcome is decided. What a duel full of twists and turns. Don't you think so, Mr. Hiiragi Shinsuke?" Ayato drank his tea, his gaze falling on the man on the other side of the table, the last of the Tri-Commissioners.
The other man's gaze had not once moved from the window. He was focused on the enigmatic smile of the man before him. "If you have something to say, just say it." The Yashiro Commission, which was unwilling to implement the Vision Hunt Decree, had actively invited him to watch the 'performance' arranged by the Tenryou Commission. This had made his fox-like, suspicious heart wary.
Ayato slowly shook his head, casually continuing the topic. "You seem to have misunderstood me. I truly just invited you to witness this duel with me."
…
"Just one move short…" He looked at his completely ruined right hand. There was no turmoil in his heart, a reason he himself didn't understand. Fortunately, the pain from his wounds had surpassed the threshold; he no longer felt it.
The entire square was silent. Many couldn't bear to watch any longer. Most had already turned and left. No one had asked them to, but their unified movement was as if it had been rehearsed many times. Only the laughter of children drifted from the distance. They carried with them congratulations for the victor and sighs for the loser, but mostly, awe for the Shogun.
"Let's go, let's go…"
"Agh, it's over. Time to go back to work~"
"It was more exciting than I expected."
"That kid, what was he thinking, challenging the Tenryou Commission."
With their own thoughts, most of the onlookers had left. They had no opinion on the implementation of the Vision Hunt or Sakoku Decrees and naturally didn't understand the young man's obsession.
In a flash, besides the condemned, only a handful of people remained. Kazuha no longer cared if his status was appropriate to remain. He just stared straight at his friend. He watched the crimson liquid flow from his body, watched him pick up his weapon with his remaining left hand.
"Good thing the wound from that tengu isn't on my left side." He sincerely thanked her for her mercy. At least he still had the chance to face Her.
He looked up. The supreme and majestic manifestation of thunder had risen from her cushion and was walking towards him, step by step. A purple light flashed in her cold eyes. Lightning flowed from the corners of her eyes, trailing behind her. The Raiden Shogun raised her right hand to her chest. A purple fluorescence filled the space between her ample bosom.
-------
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