In the Honkai world, Hokushin Ittō-ryū is a kendo style summarized and synthesized by Raiden Mei, integrating everything she has learned in her life.
Its characteristic is extreme speed, swift as lightning!
Moreover, this kendo style emphasizes head-on confrontation, never avoiding the opponent's blade, clashing hard against hard with the enemy.
As the saying goes, in the world of martial arts, nothing is indestructible, only speed is unbreakable!
It can only be said that great masters in martial arts all eventually reach the same destination via different paths.
"Shnk!"
After gathering all his energy, Leo let his body move freely.
At this moment, he only focused on maintaining his self; as for the battle, he maintained a feeling of the body following the heart.
And his heart, right now, was MEI!
"Bang!"
The wooden standard katana naturally wouldn't spark upon collision, but the dull thud still echoed inside the room.
But before the echo could end, the next clash came again.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The heavy and powerful clashing of blades seemed like it would never stop, constantly echoing in the room.
Compared to the Homu Sword Sage, Leo was naturally the weaker party. Neither his technique nor his strength was a match for the opponent. More critically, he needed to split his attention to resist thought assimilation.
Fortunately, MEI was still here with him.
Without MEI needing to speak, as long as she had the thought of manipulating a certain body part, he immediately understood where he should move.
Admittedly, there was a delay in their coordination at the start, but as the battle became intense, he had completely adapted to this feeling of being led by MEI.
At this moment, he was like a puppet manipulated by MEI, completely without thought or mind, in order to deal with the erosion of thought assimilation.
As for MEI, since she only had thoughts about certain body parts but didn't actually take action herself, she was completely unaffected by thought assimilation.
Coupled with the fact that the Homu Sword Sage held back because of the "daughter" identity, this battle actually formed a bizarre equilibrium.
But continuing like this wouldn't work. Sensing that his stamina was about to run out, while the Homu Sword Sage showed no signs of stopping—instead fighting more bravely as the battle went on—Leo understood the moment to take a risk had arrived!
"Father..."
After another clash of blades, he took the opportunity to take a step back, leaving enough buffer space for both sides and allowing himself to better charge up power.
[Hm?]
Thinking his "daughter" wanted to rest again, the Homu Sword Sage's movements hesitated for a second.
And right at this moment, while concentrating his full power to slash down at the Homu Sword Sage from above, Leo shouted loudly: "Actually, I found a handsome boyfriend!"
[Hm... Hm!!!!!?]
If it were a normal situation, the Homu Sword Sage would have been able to react no matter what, and counter Leo's slash with an equal amount of force.
But following this shocking news, he naturally froze completely in place, unable to even put up a defense.
—Goodbye, Father, and my cowardice!
Immediately—
"Crack!"
A sound like glass shattering rang out, and the entire dojo scene shattered along with it, turning into darkness.
"Hah... Hah... Hah..."
Legs slightly bent, the frantically panting Leo had to prop himself up with his hands on his knees to keep from collapsing.
In the end, he won the gamble. The Homu Sword Sage didn't fall into an uncontrollable rage because of this news; instead, he was immobilized by the shock.
It seems that—
[Please, you must save my little daughter...]
A warm voice rang out behind Leo.
Turning around, the Homu clothing had disappeared, revealing a middle-aged man with a helpless expression.
It seemed he still held a shred of sanity, or rather, obsession. But the prerequisite was that someone had to be able to cut open this Homu doll suit on him.
[Young man, this is the last gift I can give you. I hope it can be of some help to you.]
[Congratulations player on obtaining: Homu Sword Sage Suit (D-Rank)]
"Rest assured."
Turning back to look at the remnant thought, Leo nodded and said solemnly, "This is the one thing I will definitely do!"
[Mn...]
Seeing the determination in his eyes, this father turned into specks of fluorescent light and completely vanished into the darkness.
However, Leo could feel that this father's obsession hadn't completely dissipated. Instead, it gathered into power and condensed onto the [Homu Sword Sage Suit] he had obtained earlier.
[Armor: Homu Sword Sage Suit (D-Rank)]
[Description: A yellow rabbit doll suit with sharp teeth but no claws. It is a necessary prop for a clumsy father to maintain his dignity in front of his daughter.]
[Effect: Defense increases slightly. Slight special attack bonus against enemies with the identity of 'daughter'.]
[Ability: None]
[—Some people seem to have put on a mask, but in reality, they have taken off their mask!]
Looking at the doll suit in the system space, he understood that the other party's obsession fell on the last attribute.
And it had to be said, this attribute was too useful for him.
—Zombies are all female!
In other words, it was equivalent to obtaining an Anti-Female Noble Phantasm. This was a huge profit!
However, he didn't have time to be excited for too long, because his heavily depleted mind could no longer support him continuing to control this body.
"Let me take over."
Snatching control of the body back before it collapsed, MEI took over.
"Nngh..."
Letting out a slightly weak sound, Leo looked at the "familiar" rooftop before his eyes and whispered, "It's almost over. This should be the final scene."
It was just that he understood, due to the lack of a certain white-haired dumpling here, situations he couldn't predict might occur.
But at this moment, he only felt as if his brain was being repeatedly pierced by ten thousand needles... This was the sign of his [Energy] depletion!
If not for MEI still being here, he would have wanted to just give up his life here.
Therefore, although he tried hard to think of a solution, his brain in its current condition didn't give him that chance at all.
So now, he could only hope MEI could solve the current problem alone.
But just then, the rooftop door was smashed open by a group of zombies, who surrounded MEI.
Relying on the standard katana in her hand, she fought while retreating.
But leaving aside that this body had already consumed a large amount of stamina in the previous battle, more critically, this wooden weapon couldn't inflict lethal damage on the zombies at all. Coupled with the endless stream of zombies pouring in from the door, she had obviously fallen into a desperate situation.
Could it be... I can only make it this far?
Although very unwilling, being forced to the edge of the rooftop, she had to face such an ending.
And because she didn't hear Leo's voice, she couldn't help but feel even more discouraged.
But what made her even more discouraged was... I actually started relying on that guy!
For a moment, she seemed even more unwilling about this point!
But right at this moment—
"Heh!"
A cold sneer rang out, followed by a cool female voice completely different from Leo's.
"Crybaby, do you want to obtain power?"
The next moment, a bolt of purple thunder exploded behind MEI!
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