"His strength, his speed, should be about the same as yours, but why are you being so suppressed?"
Seeing the Balladeer knocked back by the blade, Muramasa didn't stop. He lowered his body, adjusted his stance, and charged again, swinging the tachi in his hand with wide, powerful arcs. With a flick of his wrist, he held the substantial but light-as-a-feather blade with one hand, drawing a chilling arc of light in the air, from bottom to top, diagonally slashing at the Balladeer's still-numb arms.
"Get... away!" The Balladeer was both shocked and angry. The almost hoarse shout had a clear tremor in it. His gaze lingered on the 'Yaegaki', recognizing the marks of 'Amenoma'. He fiercely raised his right leg, and a surge of elemental power from his calf condensed into a ferocious lightning leg guard, boldly meeting the incoming blade! The upward-slashing blade crashed against the armor of condensed Electro. The blade, buried within, cut open his right foot, but he gritted his teeth and endured the tearing of his sole to stop the blade's momentum. At the same time, the five fingers of the lightning claw on his left arm spread open, and with a shriek that tore through space, it clawed at Muramasa's head! The transition from offense to defense happened in a flash.
'That's right, this is what you call an even match. The coolness on the tip of your nose is just an illusion, the trembling of your limbs is just due to the cold.'
'You will not run, you will never run. Let them know you can do it—'
The blade was held fast by the Balladeer's lightning armor. The harsh sound of friction and the hiss of exploding Electro mixed together. Muramasa could feel the immense resistance from the blade and the sensation of the warm liquid gushing from his opponent's torn sole splashing on his calf. However, he did not dodge. Even if his opponent had caught his blade, he still had one hand free. An image of a certain person flashed in his mind, of a certain dashing Flower of Heavenly Origin he had met once, of the short tachi in her hand.
The next moment, blue magical energy condensed in his palm. A small tachi instantly took form in his hand. His left hand, sacrificing defense for speed and angle, thrust the short tachi out without reservation! The target was the Balladeer's relatively unprotected left chest, exposed by his leg-raising attack.
"You're insane—!!" He had thought the other man would at least retreat from this move, but he stubbornly sent his blade forward, completely disregarding his own safety.
Madman, madman, madman—!!!
Faster than Muramasa was the Balladeer's own cowardly heart. He cursed inwardly, hastily retracting his right leg, pulling back the lightning claw that was about to grab his opponent's head, and his body rapidly retreated to avoid the thrusting sword tip.
"Hah… haah…" The Balladeer's ragged breaths were like a broken bellows, each inhalation tearing at his lungs, each exhalation spewing an indescribable horror.
'You finally understand. You finally understand the reason for your cowardice.'
This fellow could not be called human. He didn't care what happened to his own body. He only cared about when the thing before him would be cut down. Sharp, without defense, direct and decisive. He himself was the tip of the 'sword'.
'Besides that.'
Besides that?
'Have you forgotten? You can't forget, can you?'
'After wandering for hundreds of years, you were worried 'it' would catch up to you, weren't you.'
No words, no explanation. Even if you begged for mercy now, he would not waver a single bit. The Yaegaki in his right hand was as steady as a rock. The blood and jumping arcs of lightning on the blade made a soft "crackle" sound. The warm, sticky feeling on his calf—the Balladeer's blood—was like a splash of mud.
The Balladeer, completely controlled by fear, felt his legs tremble. He was on the verge of losing control of his bladder. "I can't wait for a critical moment. Now, quickly, destroy his territory—" he shouted into the communicator. It was only when the voice on the other end confirmed "mission complete" that his heart calmed down a little.
However, Muramasa just slightly lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the ground that had been ravaged by the battle. The hands holding the swords naturally drooped down—not a slash, but like a dragonfly touching the water, he lightly tapped the 'Yaegaki' and the short tachi in his left hand on the cracked stone slab.
The Balladeer just watched his movements, from his initial relief, to doubt, and then to terror: Why didn't it work? Dottore, you tricked me!
The moment the tips of the swords touched the ground, the air at the point of contact suddenly distorted, collapsed, and then erupted in a blindingly bright light! Where the sword aura passed, the hard ground silently split open with deep, smooth trenches. Not even a speck of dust or debris was left. Where the earth-cutting sword aura had passed, not even dust remained.
'Do you remember now? You remember, don't you?'
'Once, you also saw the same scene, the same 'powerless' scene.'
'It's just that now, the tables have turned.'
The Balladeer's pupils shattered. The icy breath of death instantly choked his throat, just as he had once choked those 'smiths'.
'Now, it's your turn.'
'They are saying, it's time for you to 'repay' them.'
Repay? Why should I repay? It was they who betrayed me, they who abandoned me. It was their fault.
"GET AWAY FROM ME—!!!"
In the nick of time, just as the two sword auras were about to touch his chest, the Balladeer let out a shriek like a dying beast! A majestic, life-filled emerald green light, completely different from lightning, suddenly burst from his body.
BOOM—!
The bright light was blinding. An unimaginably huge repulsive force exploded outwards from him. The two slashes that Muramasa had sent out seemed to have hit an invisible, rapidly expanding giant wall! The sharp power cut into the surface of the wall, but it couldn't keep up with its growth rate.
"!" Muramasa's gaze sharpened. He crossed the two swords on the ground before him to block. The next moment, a collision like a modern high-speed train hit him head-on, sending him flying backward! He forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, and the Yaegaki stabbed into the ground. A shower of gravel flew up, and he skidded back several meters before stopping.
Muramasa's expression gradually grew serious. His gaze returned to the Balladeer's position. The light gradually faded.
Where the Balladeer had stood, a huge and ferocious half-body energy giant now stood tall! It was not a physical entity, but an elemental skeleton composed of countless stacked emerald green energies. After a brief moment of stabilization, countless translucent dendro vines coiled and wrapped around the skeleton, forming an energy layer.
At the core of the giant, a faintly glowing, soft green, yet slightly cracked, illusory projection could be seen—it was the projection of the 'Gnosis', which he had forcibly activated. This energy giant had only an upper body, exuding an ancient, majestic, and violent aura. Its huge energy arms were loosely clenched. The Balladeer slowly floated in the core of the giant's chest, driven by the massive energy.
His face was pale as paper, and blood was even trickling from the corner of his mouth, but it was healing at a visible rate. His eyes, a mixture of post-disaster relief and explosive power, were filled with a twisted excitement and unwillingness. After all, this power did not belong to him. It was just an 'insurance' that 'The Doctor' had left for him.
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