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53. New semester and First-Year War [5]

 

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Translator: Saitama-sensei Editor:Ryunakama

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53. New semester and First-Year War [5]

Rose, who expressed her soul dress〈Winter Sakura〉, raised the beautiful scarlet sword high.

「-Dance,〈Sakura Blizzard〉!」

At that moment.

The petals of the sakura blossoms that bloomed behind her, flew towards me with tremendous force.

「What!?」

My entire field of view was dyed scarlet.

The number of petals easily surpassed 10 000, which would be absurd to count.

(Kuh … As long as Rose’s ability is unknown, I can’t carelessly come into contact with those sakura petals…)

「First Sword – Flying Shadow!」

I shot Flying Shadow for the time being to shoot down a large number of the approaching sakura petals.

However,

「Naive!」

As she swung her left hand – and in conjunction with it, the petals also curved and easily avoided my slash.

(Similar to Raise-san’s〈Three Skeletons〉, her soul dress is one that can be controlled remotely…)

In front of the Sakura Blizzard that closed in towards me like a wave,

「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」

Eight slashes were spread out in all directions, creating a barrier to protect me.

However,

「There!」

A handful of sakura petals, which pierced through the gap in the barrier, grazed my side.

「Guh!?」

A sharp pain ran, which showed on my face through my pained expression.

As I dropped my gaze on my side, it was torn up as if it had been cut with sharp knives.

(As expected, it’s not normal sakura petals…)

What a terrifying sharpness. It seems that each petal is a small slash.

It is a much more troublesome ability than the similar remotely controlled〈Three Skeletons〉, because of the overwhelming number.

「I see…The ability of〈Winter Sakura〉 is to manipulate the sharp sakura petals … 」

「Half correct. But the other half – is a miss!」

Saying that, she attacked me directly from the front without any tricks.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Evening Sakura!」

The diagonal slash that was released towards my chest was incomparably faster than before.

「Wha!?」

I held my sword horizontally and somehow managed to prevent the blow.

But her blow was not just faster.

(Dammit… what power…!?)

A shock that I have never experienced before was transmitted from the sword to both my hands and from both hands to the whole body.

「HAAAAAAAA!」

From there on, Rose added more power,

「Guh!? 」

I was pushed back in a pure strength contest, and was blown away.

Right then,

「Not yet!」

Without delay, Rose started showering fierce attacks on me.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Consecutive Sakura Flash!」

Flash-like thrusts were unleashed consecutively.

「Kuh …!?」

Dodging it, cutting it down, letting it slightly graze my skin – I somehow managed to avoid all the thrusts and jumped back greatly.

(Unlike before, Rose is now completely ahead in physical ability…)

The trigger for that was definitely when she activated her soul dress.

There is only one conclusion to draw from here.

「That overwhelming physical ability… -〈Winter Sakura〉is a strengthening-type soul dress…」

「Fufu, correct. This cherry tree is just an enormous mass of power.〈Winter Sakura〉’s ability is to manipulate that power at will.」

Saying that, she picked up a single petal.

(I see. She absorbs the enormous power contained in the sakura trees and greatly improves her physical abilities …)

The attack that manipulated the sakura petals was just a by-product.

(Despite being a strengthening-type, it has the power of a manipulation-type… It’s an extremely troublesome power…)

But that’s not to say there’s no way to deal with it.

「If so … how about this move?」

I switched the target from Rose to〈Winter Sakura〉, the main body.

And then,

「HAAAAAAAAA!」

The moment I swung my sword overhead and unleashed a downward slash containing my full body weight,

「Kuh!?」

A strong impact ran through both hands, as if hitting steel.

(H-Hard…!?)

It’s not like I thought it was just a normal tree, but I couldn’t even get a scratch on it.

When my eyes widened in astonishment, Rose’s voice came from behind.

「-That’s not a physical tree. It is the 『concept of tree』which is being anchored to this world. It can’t be cut so easily.」

I immediately looked back and she had already pulled out her sword.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Lightning Sakura!」

Thunderclap-like Iai slash was unleashed.

「Kuh…!」

I took a defensive posture right away, and somehow blocked the attack, but…

In the current situation, with unfavorable posture and falling behind in physical ability, I was unable to kill the momentum and ended up exposing my defenseless abdomen.

「The pay back for just now!」

She drove a sharp kick right into my abdomen.

「Ka, ha…!?」

I was blown away like a football by that superhuman leg power.

「Ku, gaha…」

The air in my lungs were squeezed out, and blood jumped about within my body

「……」

However, in order to not to allow further follow-up attacks, I immediately stood up and assumed Seigan no Kamae.

「…To take that blow, and immediately assume a counterattack posture… you have incredible physical strength after all…」

She stared at me as if she was looking at a monster.

「This time, it’s my turn…!」

「Yeah, go ahead.」

Then I made full use of all the techniques I had and incessantly attacked Rose.

She defended it with her inherent subtle swordsmanship, and replied with counterattacks at precise timings.

As a result – one by one on my body, the number of cuts increased.

However, it was not that, there was no chance to win.

Rather, the flow of the match was gradually tilting towards me.

「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」

「Oh, Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style Secret Technique – Mirrored Sakura Slash!」

Both of those eight slashes collided and disappeared together.

Our physical abilities were now evenly matched.

(No, mine is slightly higher…!)

I judged that this was the time to attack, so I pressed forward.

「UOOOOOOHHH!」

「Kuh… HAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Our swords collided, and were locked together.

(Since manifesting〈Winter Sakura〉 , Rose has visibly gone on the offensive.)

At first, I thought that she wanted to conclude the match before her ability was seen through, but it seems that, that was not the case.

(Rose had a reason to rush to attack!)

The huge sakura tree that was the source of her power – gradually began to wither.

About half of the sakura blossoms that were in full bloom, have fallen.

And each time the petals fell one by one – her physical ability also fell visibly.

(In other words,〈Winter Sakura〉has a duration …!)

In the state of locked sword to sword – In the contest of strength that I was losing before,

「HA!」

「Kyaa…!」

This time I won.

Blown backwards, Rose managed to adapt to perform ukemi and immediately assumed Seigan no Kamae.

「It seems that there is a duration to〈Winter Sakura〉…No, is it more accurate to say that you don’t have full control?」

「……」

When I asked that, she fell silent.

I seem to have hit the bulls-eye.

(Didn’t Leia-sensei say that it will take an enormous amount of time to control the soul dress after it manifests?)

The more powerful it is, the more difficult it is to control.

「…You saw through it in the middle of the match. As Allen says, I haven’t managed to control〈Winter Sakura〉. The three-minute duration… was already long gone.」

She told me as though confessing.

And the next moment.

「-So, I will settle this match with this next attack!」

All the remaining cherry blossoms gathered on her sword.

Her sword, supplied with enormous power from〈Winter Sakura〉, gave off a mysterious scarlet glow.

「……」

In front of the overwhelming pressure, I involuntarily gulped.

「-Here I come, Allen.」

「Aa… let’s settle this.」

We exchanged brief words, and we broke into a run at the same time.

「HAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「UOOOOOHHHHHH!」

The moment we stepped into each other’s range,

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style Secret Technique – Mirrored Sakura Slash!」

「Fifth Sword – World Judgement!」

The attack which carried each other’s body and soul, intersected.

And then,

「…You are so strong. Allen…」

Rose’s sword broke.

At the same time – the main body of Winter Sakura, disappeared like sand.

「-The match is over.」

As I pointed my sword tip towards Rose,

「…Aa, it’s my complete defeat.」

She, who had done her best, laughed momentarily.

「M-MATCH OVEEEEERRRR! The one who came out on top of that breathtaking fierce fight is – ALLEN RODOREEE!」

In this way, I somehow managed to defeat Rose, who manifested a powerful soul dress, and advanced to the final stage of the First-Year War.

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