Chapter 334: The Reappearing Chinsei Ame!
Ring—!
Under Edelweiss's swing, the platinum swords transformed into two flashes of platinum light that were almost impossible to catch.
Streams of light danced, and every attack from Six Paths Sword was blocked.
Round after round.
Facing this endless sword technique that crossed time and continuously stacked upon itself, Edelweiss remained just as composed as ever.
Luke's sword technique secret that "revived after death" had indeed shocked Edelweiss.
The Sword Domain before that had likewise shocked her.
However, shock was shock.
If he wanted to defeat Twin-Wings Edelweiss, this level was still not enough.
Not only that, even injuring her would be extremely difficult.
Unlike the first battle, Edelweiss no longer underestimated Luke and had even begun treating him as a powerful rival.
It was impossible for her to be careless like last time.
The two injuries she suffered last time had both been the result of Luke catching her off guard.
Because of that, Edelweiss was extremely wary of "accidents" this time.
And sure enough, Luke did not disappoint her.
If this Six Paths Sword, which rotated through life and death, had been used during their first battle, Edelweiss might truly have been caught by it.
But this time, she would not.
Whoosh—!
The cold wind blew.
Two Swords of the Star fell from the sky.
Along with drifting fragments of fine ice, the offensive of Six Paths Sword was resolved once again.
And this time, no new attacks appeared.
Luke held his head and did his best to suppress the dizziness.
Forcibly using a secret technique he had not fully mastered, and doing so by shattering his own Sword Domain, had consumed far too much.
Looking at Edelweiss, who was still completely unharmed, even Luke felt somewhat helpless at this moment.
The gap really was too large.
The fact that he had been able to injure her last time was entirely because she had been careless.
And this time, after being taken seriously, that gap, like the difference between heaven and abyss, was clearly displayed before Luke.
Although his use of Six Paths Sword had been forced, he had still managed to use it successfully.
Compared to last time, being able to force out Edelweiss's sword technique this time was, in a sense, already a major improvement.
However, this result was not enough to satisfy Luke.
"At least let me cut you once."
The Starfall Sword had unknowingly disappeared.
The shattering of his Sword Domain had brought an intense impact to his consciousness.
Even Luke temporarily could not focus enough to summon his soul armament.
All he had left was Ser-Veresta, and without a second sword, he could no longer use Dual-Life-Sword.
Not only that, in order to release Six Paths Sword: Infinite Kalpas in a Single Thought, the Prana and mana inside Luke's body and the Sword Sheath of Tranquility had both been almost completely exhausted.
The huge wound on his chest, cut open by Edelweiss's Sword of the Star, had also robbed him of a large amount of physical strength.
His condition had deteriorated to the limit.
If the fight continued, he could release no more than three sword techniques.
In the worst case, he might be unable to endure after a single strike.
Compared to the final moment of their last battle, aside from having a little energy left, Luke's current condition was even worse than back then.
However, that did not mean he had no chance of victory.
Ser-Veresta, which had transformed into an odachi in order to fully unleash Dual-Life-Sword's power, slowly returned to the shape of an ordinary katana.
Sheathing the sword, Luke faced Edelweiss and took an iai stance.
This was not a wise choice.
During Luke's two battles with Edelweiss, he had actually rarely used iai sword techniques.
Aside from Amakakeru-Ryū-no-Hirameki in their first battle and the Four-Birth Sword just now, Luke's battles with Edelweiss were mostly pure swordsmanship contests.
The essence of iai lay in godspeed and full power.
It was a sword technique that unleashed extremely powerful lethality at extremely high speed.
The principle was very simple, but it was also very practical.
Most swordsmen, whether they were proficient in it or not, would learn some iai techniques.
However, this type of sword technique had a fatal weakness.
That weakness was speed.
Iai emphasized a godspeed strike.
However, Luke's speed was not faster than Edelweiss's.
This meant that an iai strike, which should have been a one-hit kill, would be easily blocked by the even faster Edelweiss.
So as his final determined strike, an iai technique theoretically should not have been Luke's first choice.
However, this iai secret technique had been prepared by Luke specifically for Edelweiss.
It was also the crystallization of all his current swordsmanship.
Starlight shone.
Endless blue starlight gathered around Luke.
Above, the night sky was filled with glittering stars.
And on the ground, the shining Prana seemed to construct another galaxy.
One galaxy above and one galaxy below reflected each other.
Then, the star descended.
Unlike when he had used it against Touka during the representative selection match, this was different.
The "star" that had risen from the ground back then had been like a comet.
This time, although its size had not changed, the feeling it gave was completely different.
Edelweiss looked at the "star" roaring toward her.
If she had to describe that aura, then it would be…
A stellar body.
Although its size was nowhere near the same level, the "star" rushing toward her gave Edelweiss the feeling of a stellar body crashing into her.
Of course, that was only its aura.
With Luke's current strength, he could not yet recreate a true celestial body.
Facing this "star" that carried an unmatched aura, Edelweiss no longer felt surprise at this moment.
During this brief battle, Luke had already given her far too many surprises.
In an ordinary year, or even several years, Edelweiss would not be shocked as many times as she had been in this single battle today.
She raised the platinum swords.
Even a "star" could not defeat Twin-Wings!
Like a pair of unfolding wings, her Device, Testament, slashed toward the "star" from left and right.
However, in that instant, an inconspicuous water-blue light suddenly appeared on Edelweiss's body.
"What… is… this?!"
Her words became blurred.
Her movements became sluggish and slow.
Her thoughts became stiff and stagnant.
At that instant, Edelweiss's entire body seemed to freeze in place, completely unable to move.
And all of this was the effect of the water-blue light that had suddenly emerged from inside her body.
Shigure-Soen-Ryu: Outer Style: Chinsei Ame!
It had been a long time.
Luke had not used it in a very long time.
It had been so long since someone qualified to make him use a support sword technique had appeared.
Shigure-Soen-Ryu!
At last, it once again displayed its astonishing effect.
Boom—!
The "star" slammed into Edelweiss without the slightest hesitation while she had no defense.
The armor formed from mana was torn apart in an instant.
At this moment, Edelweiss had lost every means of defense.
Immediately after, the sword light chasing behind the "star" arrived in front of her in an instant.
The situation took a sudden turn!
…
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