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Taking a deep breath of cold air, Shinomiya Saki stomped her left foot on the ice, and a large amount of spiritual power surged into the ground, causing massive ice mirrors to rise from the earth! Snowflakes danced in the air, blocking Seiichi's vision, and her figure also vanished into the frost.
Seiichi looked at the gigantic ice mirrors that surrounded him. With a flash of his sword, the ice mirror was cut diagonally, but it quickly grew back. Dozens of mirrors reflected Seiichi's figure, making it almost impossible to find the true direction.
Using ice mirrors to confuse my vision, a good idea.
Seiichi, who had no intention of using Transparent World, seemed to stroll through the mirror world, observing his surroundings with a leisurely pace.
A streak of light rapidly approached!
He twisted his left foot and sidestepped to dodge.
Clink!
The streak of light struck an ice mirror, shattering into fragments. It was an ice arrow.
Is this the purpose of that longbow? Without spiritual power to drive it, it's hard to detect its incoming direction. Combined with the various reflections from the mirrors, it completely hides the attacker. A rather excellent tactic!
Seiichi sidestepped twice more, dodging the ice arrows.
The crowd in the stands couldn't help but feel nervous for Seiichi. This wasn't a head-on clash, but a sophisticated encirclement tactic.
"Ayano, this was your idea, wasn't it?"
Shinomiya Hiyoshi, the head of Shinomiya and Shinomiya Saki's father, was sitting in the family section, with Shinomiya Ayano beside him.
"That's right. Only through this tactic is there a chance of victory. The gap between them is still quite large."
"Haha, I actually think it's also very good to let Saki make her own decisions."
Hiyoshi neither praised nor opposed, but instead said this.
In the teachers' section, Yamamoto watched the stage nervously. Seiichi, she's forcing you to use that move! Don't fall for it! If this continues, she's definitely the one who will lose!
Indeed, whether it was total spiritual power or physical fitness, Shinomiya Saki was far inferior to Seiichi. Using such large-scale area skills would quickly drain her spiritual power.
As for Seiichi, his total spiritual power was hard to measure. In Shinomiya Saki's perception, his aura hadn't changed at all from beginning to end, so she was gambling!
She was betting that with Seiichi's personality, he wouldn't want to win in this manner.
Ayano-sensei was right. When I am much weaker than him, if I don't gamble, how can there be any chance of victory?
In a real battlefield, I won't always encounter people weaker than you. Once I encounter someone much stronger than me, if I want to counter-kill, I have to scheme carefully.
Evidently, she gambled correctly. Seiichi indeed intended to use Red Nichirin Sword.
It wasn't because he wanted to defeat her in one move, but simply to go along with her idea and see what she ultimately intended to do.
Applying force with his right hand, the long sword hummed softly, its body turning red, and the gradually rising temperature around it caused large areas of ice to begin melting.
The ice layer beneath Seiichi's feet was melted into two large holes by him. Water droplets evaporated, and the mist that had just spread was instantly dried by the high temperature.
"Red Nichirin Sword!"
"That's it!"
Shinomiya Ayano in the audience was excited.
"Oh no! He fell for it!"
The teachers in the teachers' section secretly thought it was bad. Yamamoto even had sweat trickling down his forehead.
Tens of thousands of confused spectators, seeing the appearance of Red Nichirin Sword, became excited as if they had been injected with energy, shouting Seiichi's name.
Sweeping his gaze around, behind the melted ice mirrors, the figure of a beautiful white-haired girl was revealed, her light blue eyes calm and serene.
Stepping forward, swinging down!
Boom boom boom!!!
All the ice on the ground shattered, scattering into the air, even causing ripples in the barrier. The ice blocks were blasted into fragments of various sizes. Anything blocking the path of the long sword turned into powder. On the platform, a gigantic crack, like a 'line in the sky,' grazed past Shinomiya Saki.
"Did he win?" The audience on the field perked up.
Suddenly! Shinomiya Saki's body gradually became transparent, turning into an ice sculpture, which instantly exploded. And in the distance, a large block of ice transformed into a human shape, which was Shinomiya Saki.
The field fell silent. First, whispers, then the discussions grew louder and louder.
"Oh no! Did he miss?"
The long sword in Seiichi's hand turned to ash, scattering into the air, leaving only a hilt.
Ice clone? A rather clever tactic. As expected, if I don't use Transparent World, missing is common.
Shinomiya Ayano's usually serious face in the audience showed a slight smile. Her carefully designed tactic had indeed proven effective.
Even Shinomiya Hiroshi was surprised by it.
Nitta Shinji, acting as the referee, adjusted his reading glasses.
"This is getting interesting."
Yamada Akira sat next to his father, Yamada Naoto. He frowned, his intuition telling him something was wrong.
Fujito's hand gripped the armrest tightly, his palm moist.
Mitsuki's companions couldn't help but cover their mouths, somewhat at a loss due to the sudden turn of events.
"Is he going to lose?"
Only Mitsuki clenched her fists tightly, trusting her brother.
Seiichi put down the hilt, not flustered, but instead began to observe the girl opposite him.
She was the kind of girl who seemed stunning every time I looked at her.
White hair, blue eyes, smooth skin, a figure that was still developing, and a very delicate face. She didn't give off the cold impression one might expect, but rather a gentle one?
"I'm sorry, I used some tricks..."
A pleasant voice came from her mouth. Shinomiya Saki said apologetically.
Her voice was also very pleasant. I finally understood why she had been ranked first on the popularity list for so long.
"No, if you only knew how to clash head-on with me, then I would be disappointed..."
"You're not giving up?"
"Why would I give up?"
"Because you no longer have a sword, and you are a swordsman..."
Seiichi smiled and shook his head.
After a moment of hesitation, Shinomiya Saki decided to act. Putting down her longbow, she could control eight giant ice dragons with both hands at the same time. Roaring sounds accompanied by massive shadows surged from behind her, charging directly towards Seiichi.
The rumbling sound of massive objects colliding came from the dust-filled air, moving extremely fast!
Nitta Shinji was already prepared to save him, and some spectators even closed their eyes. This was an outcome they didn't want to see. It was too frustrating!
Crack! Boom!!
Eh?
A hand formed a 'hand sword' and lightly sliced horizontally. The eight giant ice dragons instantly shattered! Ice fragments flew everywhere!
"Shinomiya, the first thing I want to teach you is, never look at things with common sense."
Shinomiya Saki's small pink mouth slightly parted, and she froze in a daze. Not just her, but all ten thousand-plus people in the audience were stunned, their brains completely crashed!
"Although I have no sword in my hand, I have a sword in my heart, so there is nothing that cannot be a sword."
Seiichi's calm words awakened everyone.
As early as in Demon Slayer World, when I left Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, I had already begun to consider the problem of not having a suitable sword in the main world.
After several years of training, combining Close to the Way and master-level swordsmanship cultivation, I successfully trained my sword to the point where having no sword was won't make a problem. Although its power is three-tenths weaker than with a sword, it's already sufficient.
After all, the possibility of me having no sword in my hand is small.
Shock!
The audience excitedly stood up, some even stumbling and falling. They applauded wildly.
Mitsuki let out a long sigh of relief. Fujito and his friends hugged each other tightly, expressing their excitement.
"So, shall we go again?"
I still want to see if Shinomiya Saki had any more interesting moves.
Shinomiya Saki looked left and right, sighed, and then felt the remaining spiritual power within her. Finally, she shook her head.
"I give up."