The battle between Altoria and Ishiryu continued.
Ishiryu fired several Cursed Energy Cannons at Altoria first.
As Altoria dodged and blocked the Cursed Energy Cannons, Ishiryu charged at Altoria at top speed, aiming to gain the initiative.
Thanks to the reach of the Sacred Sword, Altoria's attack arrived before Ishiryu's fists.
Altoria swung the Sacred Sword horizontally, launching a "Sweep the Thousand Armies" attack towards Ishiryu.
Seeing this, Ishiryu stomped his right foot on the ground, braking sharply and avoiding being cut in half at the waist by the Sacred Sword.
Then, Altoria flipped her wrist, swung the Sacred Sword from its position behind her body to the side, and unleashed a "Split the Mountain with Force" attack from top to bottom.
The wide, powerful attack, with enough force to cleave large Cursed Spirits in two, slashed down, leaving a long gash in the ground.
Ishiryu dodged this sword strike by moving to the side.
Ishiryu slightly lowered his body, then pushed off with his left foot, sliding sideways a meter to come in front of Altoria.
"Take this punch!"
Ishiryu threw an uppercut towards Altoria.
Altoria tilted her head, dodging the punch.
Ishiryu was still much taller than Altoria.
Even though Ishiryu had lowered his stance to attack.
Altoria, who had used "Split the Mountain with Force," also bent her body downwards.
Therefore, this uppercut was slightly too high, and Altoria could dodge it with ease.
Ishiryu clearly knew this, but he didn't care.
Because he had successfully entered Altoria's sword range.
Normally, wide, sweeping attacks, while representing swift and powerful offense, also meant larger openings.
One punch, two punches, three punches...
Ishiryu's attacks rained down on Altoria.
Altoria promptly raised her sword to block.
Clang, clang, clang.
His cursed energy-wrapped fists repeatedly struck the sword.
Altoria successfully blocked all of Ishiryu's attacks.
Conversely, even though Ishiryu's fists were reinforced with Cursed Energy, they still sustained minor wounds from the Sacred Sword's sharpness.
Ishiryu's gaze sharpened.
His right fist, wrapped in potent Cursed Energy, slammed hard against the Sacred Sword.
Slice.
Ishiryu's fist was grazed by the edge of the Sacred Sword.
Altoria's figure was also pushed back slightly by the heavy punch.
Cursed Energy immediately gathered above Ishiryu's head, forming a Cursed Energy Cannon.
The cannon shot towards Altoria's upper body.
Ishiryu knew that while the head was more fatal, it was also easier to dodge.
He had witnessed Altoria's formidable combat awareness more than once; it was as if there was no fatal attack she couldn't evade.
So, Ishiryu chose the body, which was harder to dodge.
Altoria, who had been pushed back by Ishiryu's heavy punch, immediately performed a backflip, dodging the Cursed Energy Cannon.
Ishiryu quickly looked up and adjusted the cannon's aim. The Cursed Energy Cannon split into several streams, enveloping Altoria's entire body.
Altoria, who had just landed, clearly couldn't dodge this.
Altoria adjusted her stance and swung her sword upwards from below, cutting or dodging the Cursed Energy Cannons aimed at her abdomen, heart, and head, while also reinforcing her defense with Mana Burst.
Boom.
The Cursed Energy Cannon hit Altoria.
Ishiryu didn't stop, knowing that such minor tricks wouldn't work on Altoria.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Ishiryu began to continuously bombard Altoria with cannon fire.
Explosions rang out from Altoria's location.
'The feel of this cannon is wrong.'
It was like a boxer's feel when throwing a punch.
Ishiryu, who had spent his life firing cannons, also had his own "cannon sense."
"The explosions got louder, and it felt like all my cannon fire missed and hit the ground instead..."
Ishiryu realized something was wrong.
As expected, in the next second, Altoria charged out from another direction.
The Blue and White Skirt Armor was visibly damaged, with parts of the blue skirt torn by the cannon fire, and the silver-white armor also showed some dents and wear.
But Altoria herself hadn't sustained any significant injuries.
This was the only result Ishiryu's round of Cursed Energy Cannon had achieved.
The initial few shots of Cursed Energy Cannon were absorbed because Altoria had just landed and couldn't dodge.
However, with the reinforcement of Magic Resistance and Mana Burst, the damage from these uncharged rapid-fire cannons was simply insufficient.
"This way, huh? Bring it on!"
Ishiryu threw a punch at Altoria, while the cannon on his pompadour immediately fired a Cursed Energy Cannon to cooperate.
The fact that his attack failed to achieve its objective didn't make Ishiryu fearful.
Instead, it made his fighting spirit soar even higher.
He was like Kashimo, someone who would challenge despite knowing they couldn't win.
A strong individual who would risk their life for a single, all-out, exhilarating battle.
A famous Baki Alien once said: Techniques are impure things, meant for the weak to study.
Ishiryu once had similar thoughts.
It was because he was born too late.
If he had been born 20 years earlier, Kashimo wouldn't have been too old to travel far.
Perhaps both of them could have had an incredibly satisfying battle.
Therefore, Ishiryu had never lost a fight, nor had he ever been truly "full" from one.
The techniques of the weak were naturally dismissed by him as useless tricks.
But at this moment, Ishiryu began to use those techniques he had previously looked down upon.
After giving his all, the moves used by the weak against him in past battles, moves that had left an impression, began to be employed by him one by one.
Altoria swung her sword towards Ishiryu's head.
Ishiryu sidestepped to dodge, then ducked low, exploiting the opening where Altoria couldn't immediately retract her Sacred Sword to deliver a powerful punch to her abdomen.
Altoria released the hilt of her sword with her left hand and retracted it with her right, holding it with one hand.
Her left arm moved to block in front of her first.
Bang.
Ishiryu's fist struck Altoria's armor.
Both of them frowned simultaneously, clearly feeling pain from the blow.
Altoria swung her sword from top to bottom towards Ishiryu.
Ishiryu maintained his low stance, his feet moving continuously to dodge the sword strike.
At the same time, he circled around to Altoria's side.
This was a move Ishiryu had seen from a guy who loved boxing.
Constantly circling around the opponent's center.
This allowed him to evade powerful frontal attacks in time and also attack the opponent's flank.
That guy had broken several of Ishiryu's ribs with that strange footwork.
As Oroi said: Lecturing is useless; broken bones are better textbooks.
The broken ribs made Ishiryu remember this move thoroughly.
Thus, after circling to Altoria's side, Ishiryu punched fiercely towards her ribs.
And Ishiryu chose Altoria's right side.
Because Altoria had just swung her sword with her right hand, she couldn't block in time.
If it were the left side, Altoria would definitely have been able to block with her left arm again.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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