Chapter 411: Ten Thousand Swords Take Flight!
Honestly, Shinomiya Amane's performance was far better than Luke had expected.
It was not because his combat ability was impressive. Rather, the application of causal power in battle was surprisingly interesting.
Luke watched Amane climb back to his feet with mild surprise.
Although Luke had not used much force, that blow should have been enough to leave an untrained Blazer unable to continue resisting.
However, Amane did not appear seriously injured. At the very least, his movements remained unaffected.
Luke naturally knew the reason.
After all, he had witnessed everything that happened.
The explanation was simple: dispersing the force.
While tumbling across the ground, Amane had transferred all the force from Luke's strike into the earth, leaving himself practically unharmed.
Of course, Amane could never have deliberately performed such a technique.
Everything had occurred through a chain of coincidences.
While rolling, he had simply happened to disperse the impact perfectly.
"That hurts…"
Amane climbed to his feet and stared at Luke with fear.
His ability had clearly activated, yet Luke had still sent him flying.
He had struck the weakest point of Luke's attack, but an irresistible force had still blasted him away.
"Tch… How is this possible?"
Amane gritted his teeth and suppressed the disbelief rising within him before attacking Luke once again.
He refused to believe Luke could defeat him.
He refused to believe Luke could defeat the goddess standing behind him.
Victory would inevitably belong to him!
However, Amane failed to notice that he had already abandoned close combat and instinctively chosen to attack from a distance.
Perhaps even he had not realized it, but after that single exchange, his body had already understood one fact.
Returning to the combat zone, Amane drove both rapiers into the ground and released his Devices.
Immediately afterward, countless rapiers materialized in his hands!
One, ten, a hundred, a thousand—
An unknown number of rapiers were hurled into the sky, tracing countless arcs before covering the entire arena like a rain of swords.
That was right.
Shinomiya Amane's Device was not merely a pair of rapiers, but an unlimited number of them!
Just like Arisuin Nagi's Device, he could manifest as many as he desired.
Swoosh—!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!
The rapiers tore through the air and descended toward Luke with piercing whistles.
However, Luke looked at the sword rain, which relied entirely on gravity for its attack power, and curled his lips in boredom.
He did not move at all.
Luke simply stood where he was and allowed the rain of swords to pass around him.
Within moments, every rapier stabbed into the ground, standing throughout the arena like countless gravestones.
Yet not a single one had touched Luke.
Had Amane done that intentionally?
Of course not.
He would have loved nothing more than to see Luke pierced by ten thousand swords.
The reason was the faint sword intent flowing around Luke.
This was suppression through the realm of swordsmanship.
An attack that merely used swords without qualifying as swordsmanship could no longer harm Luke.
Seeing Luke standing untouched at the center of ten thousand blades, Amane felt as though he could not breathe.
Although this move was not one of his Noble Arts, he had never seen anyone defeat it without moving.
It possessed considerable power and covered an enormous area. Combined with Nameless Glory, it could produce terrifying lethality.
If someone dodged, a blade would coincidentally strike them.
If they defended, an attack would coincidentally slip through.
Until now, this technique had been nearly unstoppable in Amane's hands.
Yet he did not even understand how Luke had broken it.
"Damn you!"
Two new rapiers materialized in Amane's hands, one on each side.
Without pausing, he hurled them forward!
They were not aimed at Luke, but at the other rapiers embedded in the ground!
Clang—!
As the rapiers collided, the two blades they struck were launched into the air.
Four rapiers now spun above the arena before crashing into another four.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!
The clear metallic sounds multiplied and grew increasingly dense.
Within only a few seconds, the thousands upon thousands of rapiers covering the arena had all been launched into the sky!
Countless blades danced through the air.
Whenever one lost momentum and fell, another rapier would immediately strike it and send it flying again.
The magnificent sight of ten thousand swords soaring through the sky stunned every spectator.
Controlling ten thousand blades—
Unless one witnessed and experienced it personally, it was impossible to imagine how breathtaking the scene truly was.
However…
"To think I deliberately waited so long for you… only for you to show me something this hollow."
Luke's sigh passed through the countless ringing collisions, awakening the audience from their fascination with the spectacular scene.
He turned aside to avoid three approaching rapiers and helplessly shook his head.
"Your initial performance made me think this match might be more interesting than I expected."
"But this is all you can do?"
Luke sighed.
"Forget it. I shouldn't have expected much from someone who has never trained in martial arts."
Looking toward Amane in the distance, Luke revealed a faint smile.
He seemed both contemplative and disdainful of the formation of ten thousand swords before him.
"The idea itself isn't bad."
"Using causal power to construct a sword formation entirely through coincidence deserves an excellent evaluation."
"But this empty shell, impressive in appearance yet useless in practice…"
"I stopped using methods this crude nine years ago."
The moment Luke finished speaking, a gust of wind swept across the entire venue.
Swoosh—!
Clang—!
A rapier was knocked away.
It happened so quickly that most spectators could not understand what they had witnessed.
However, the abnormalities that followed immediately revealed the answer.
Swoosh—!
Clang—!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!
Clang, clang, clang—!
Every rapier flying toward Luke was knocked aside.
One or two revealed little, but as the number increased, more and more "blades" began hovering around Luke.
Everyone stared at the miraculous sight unfolding upon the stage.
They were blades formed entirely from sword energy, gathering around Luke's body.
Each time one rapier was deflected, a new blade of sword energy condensed beside him.
One, two, three…
Ten, a hundred, a thousand…
Until finally—
Ten thousand swords took flight!
Ten thousand swords against ten thousand swords!
A miraculous spectacle that shook every heart in the arena!
"How nostalgic."
"I haven't used such a crude method to control sword energy since Master scolded me for it, have I?"
A hint of nostalgia entered Luke's voice as Fan Xinglu's teachings seemed to echo beside his ears once more.
…
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