CH 10

[Conclusion]

Higaki took the difference in basic strength into account, and Sakurai took his own personality into account.

The two, who together chose a short-duration decisive battle, slashed to settle the fight in the next move.

“Roar, flame!”

The flames projected out of Higaki’s Flame Sword rushed to Sakurai in eight trajectories.

It was one of the skills to swing and fire out the flames that the blade was cladded in, ‘Fire Snakes’.

The fire snakes that approached from all direction while slithering on the ground and contained heat that would burn one’s body with just a slight touch was Higaki’s sure-kill technique.

Sakurai knew that, that was why he ran forward.

In the short period from the moment the flames were swung out until they got on the trajectory of the attack. The flames that were peeled off from the sword drew an arc as though avoiding Higaki.

In that moment only, a path was formed in a straight line between Higaki and Sakurai, where the snakes did not pass.

The angle and sequence of the sword swing from the attack motion he saw many times in the game were exactly the same as the one before him. Sakurai remembered the movement clearly and in detail even after 15 years.

Therefore, Sakurai ran through the visible path to victory without hesitation.

(I made it!)

He twisted his body and plunged into the opening of the snakes and grasped his sword tightly. With that momentum, he flicked up Higaki’s sword.

While looking at Higaki, who exposed her body unprotected, grinding her teeth, he pulled his sword back to his waist and connected it to another skill.

It was Slash.

Although it was just a slash without anything unusual to it, that Slash, that was carried to the extremes, was the perfection of a slash that was only allowed for the ‘Sword Saint’ and was sublimated to be a ‘Skill’ just by itself.

However, even though it was just a normal attack for the ‘Sword Saint’. If it was established as a ‘skill’ in this world – the one who thought up such a thing was an anomaly called Sakurai Tōru.

‘Fake ・ Sword Saint’s Slash’ allows one to release the Sword Saint’s normal attack… it was merely that kind of skill.

However, its power was deadly.

There was no way Higaki, who was inferior in basic strength, could withstand the Slash that Sakurai couldn’t withstand. It was no exaggeration to say that the fate of Higaki, who had entered his sword range, was sealed.

However, there was no reason for Higaki to give up. She ignored that fate and gripped her sword.

Her thought accelerated and the world slowed down. The sound of something popping in the depths of her brain echoed, and the strength to escape the predicament gushed forth in her body.

With the overflowing strength, she exerted enough power to pull back the flipped-up sword, but that strength, that removed her muscle strength limiter, ripped her own muscles from the inside.

“Ooooooooooooo!!!”

Along with the beast-like roar, she released a ‘ninth fire snake’.

Sakurai opened his eyes wide due to the thing that did not exist in the game.

He was no longer able to avoid nor defend because he already entered the motion of the skill.

“——ng!?”

Sakurai was helplessly swallowed by the fire snake.

Seeing that, Higaki let out a smile of victory.

The large snake hit the ground directly, exploded and scattered.

In the rolling dust cloud, Higaki was forcibly holding up her sword, on guard.

1 second… 2 seconds… and 3 seconds. Higaki, who could not sense any sign of movement, let her sword fall, loosen her stance, and exhaled.

“…Hah… hah…”

He was strong. But she was stronger.

No, she became stronger through the battle against him. The proof was that she was able to release the nonexistent ninth fire snake, and with the cleared up feeling after killing the opponent, a little gratitude came to her mind.

He was unpleasant, nauseating.

However, he had become a touchstone and a stepping stone for her to approach the Sword Saint’s back.

Now that she could make this ninth snake, she was able to get one step closer to that sword stroke. When she thought so, she felt like jumping in joy.

A silver flash passed through such Higaki’s body.

“……………….Huh?”

It was released from the edge of the curtain of the dust cloud, and it had the same beauty as the blade she longed for.

She did not feel any sensation of being cut, be that as it may, Higaki collapsed into the sea of fresh blood that was flowing without stopping.

Beyond her astonished gaze, there was a boy, charred, but he stood while seemingly had swung his sword.

“No, way. You’re, kidding me…!?”

She had burned Sakurai to death with the snake for sure.

However, Sakurai had released a slash of the Sword Saint after he died of all things.

If Sakurai was asked, he would have made a made a hypothesis such as, ‘Does the motion that had already executed and wasn’t ‘interrupted’, would be executed without being canceled even if the HP was reduced to 0”. Even if it was a coincidence, there was at least a path that could be understood.

However, that was incomprehensible for Higaki. Because she could not understand it, she could only continue to be surprised.

If her new snake was a product of her fighting spirit, that one sword slash was a product of supra-rational.

It was hard to believe because it was impossible, but she had no choice but to believe it because it happened before her eyes. Even if she understood it in her mind, her heart couldn’t keep up with it, and soon after she comprehend it, her water of life began to flow.

Sakurai Tōru. Higaki Ao. Both had a clash here.

Even a fragment of their souls wasn’t left behind in their bodies that fell over and left on the riverside.