Chapter 301: Star-Cleaving VS Takemikazuchi!
Touka knew very well that she no longer had the strength to swing her sword again.
Although she had taken her stance, even that had wrung out the last drop of her stamina.
Fortunately, the next strike did not require her to move on her own. All Touka had to do was maintain her stance and keep it from collapsing.
However, unleashing this strike meant Touka was basically giving up on her own safety.
Forcing herself to use a secret technique while dragging along a body on the verge of collapse meant whether she survived afterward would be completely up to fate.
But…
'How could I let it end like this?'
'The person in front of me hasn't even used his own sword technique yet.'
'If I let it end like this… I'll regret it for the rest of my life!'
Touka shut off Reverse Sight.
More accurately, she stopped all unnecessary energy consumption.
Her aura began to rise, and her focus reached its absolute limit. She was going to pour everything she had left into this final strike.
Boom—!
Lightning shot into the sky.
Under Touka's ability, the entire space around her was transformed into a magnetic field. At the same time, the girl desperately squeezed out every bit of mana left inside her body.
All of her mana was split into two parts.
One portion was injected into the magnetic field as a power source, while the other wrapped around her entire body to protect it and stabilize her stance.
Along with the lightning and mana gathering at the tip of her blade, sharp sword energy and a gradually solidifying sword intent gathered there as well.
Her desire to defeat Luke, her pride as a swordsman, her wish to protect the orphanage, and everything else became Touka's strength, all condensed into her Device, Narukami.
Luke looked at the young swordswoman before him with some emotion in his eyes.
Even though she was clearly unable to move anymore, she still gave everything she had to unleash one final strike and challenge him.
The moment the girl transformed the surrounding space into a magnetic field, Luke understood what she was planning.
The principle behind it was extremely complex, but if described simply, it was something almost everyone had heard of.
A railgun.
"You really don't care if you die, do you…"
Although Luke's words sounded like a scolding, a hint of excitement appeared on his face.
As a swordsman, having another outstanding swordsman challenge him without caring about life or death was something truly worth being happy about.
It was a collision between the souls of swordsmen, an expression of recognition and respect from the other side.
It had nothing to do with strength or weakness. It was the highest praise one swordsman could offer another.
Looking at Touka like this, Luke smiled and took his stance.
Unlike Amakakeru-Ryū-no-Hirameki, this was swordsmanship that truly belonged to Luke himself.
It was a sword technique that gathered all of his skill in iai, and had ultimately been listed as one of the secret techniques of Star Swordsmanship.
To be honest, until recently, he had still been unable to use the complete version of this secret technique smoothly.
But after his battle with Edelweiss, Luke, who had learned Twin-Wings' swordsmanship, had finally obtained the missing piece he had lacked all this time.
This was also one of the "surprises" he had prepared for Edelweiss.
In order to show his respect for Touka, Luke decided to reveal this secret technique ahead of time.
Of course, he would not use it at full power.
Whether it was for his future battle with Edelweiss or to avoid killing Touka outright on this stage, Luke had no intention of using the complete version of this move.
But at the very least, in order to answer the swordsman standing before him at this moment, Luke decided to end this battle with his own sword technique.
Lightning filled the air, and mana surged upward.
The instant Touka saw Luke take his stance, she smiled happily.
That smile was not beautiful at all. In fact, it would not have been wrong to call it ferocious.
The constant pain and weakness assaulting her entire body made it impossible for the girl to show a natural smile.
However, her will was conveyed with absolute clarity.
It reached Luke.
It reached her master.
It reached Nene and Kurono.
It reached every spectator present.
Then, in the next instant, Touka vanished.
Under the propulsion of electromagnetic force, Touka's entire body shot forward.
She passed through the path formed by lightning, accelerating violently to a level that could destroy her own flesh.
Touka treated her body as a bullet and fired a super-electromagnetic cannon.
This was an unfinished technique.
Not only was it extremely dangerous, it did not even have true practical value in battle.
If Luke had not willingly given her this chance, Touka probably would have had a very hard time using it at all.
But precisely because of that, the penetration and destructive power of this move were terrifying.
It could be said to completely surpass Touka's signature technique, Raikiri.
And this strike was the girl's final struggle.
"Takemikazuchi!"
Boom—!
Just like the firing of a railgun, the earth-shaking roar and breathtaking trajectory shattered the entire stage in an instant.
The moment Touka unleashed this strike, the floor of the First Training Ground's stage was already torn beyond recognition.
Plasma surged toward Luke with unstoppable force.
Looking at this terrifying attack, every spectator present subconsciously had the same thought.
'Maybe… Touka really can defeat Luke?'
However, in the next moment, a "star" appeared.
It was a light so dazzling that it almost defied belief.
Like a massive comet, a great star rose from the ground and instantly crashed into the incoming torrent of plasma.
Bzzzz—!
There was no explosion.
No roar.
Even the sound of the railgun tearing through the earth vanished in that instant.
Everyone held their breath, staring with extreme tension at the strange sight of a star colliding with an electromagnetic cannon.
At that moment, under everyone's gaze, just when all of them thought victory would be decided between the comet and the railgun…
A flash of sword light suddenly appeared before their eyes.
The trajectory of the Starfall Sword flashed along the same direction the star had just traveled.
It was the appearance of that sword light that completely changed the meaning of the entire scene.
As though chasing after the fleeing star, the sword light slashed down without hesitation.
Then, the star shattered.
The sword light flashed past.
Together with the comet, the railgun, and even the entire First Training Ground, everything was split in two by a single strike.
Iai Technique: Star-Cleaving!
Whoosh—!
A breeze swept through the air, and the entire training ground fell deathly silent.
That final flash of sword light had not made even the slightest sound.
It was as though it had quietly arrived, then quietly left.
But what it left behind was a massive sword scar that made everyone's hearts tremble.
The enormous, bottomless gash began from Luke and stretched all the way beyond the training ground into the distance.
From the spectators' point of view, it looked as though Luke had split the entire academy in two with a single sword strike.
Kurono stood in the spectator seats, staring at the shattered training ground.
While she was shocked, her expression had also turned rather ugly.
If she had not stopped time just now and moved the spectators away in advance, Luke's strike would probably have caused massive casualties.
But precisely because Kurono had frozen Luke's attack, she understood the terror of that strike far more deeply than anyone else.
"That brat… just how much has he grown?!"
…
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