Chapter 469: Third Secret Sword · Madoka!
Beneath the pitch-black night sky, blue starlight met white mist upon the stage, creating a hazy, dreamlike beauty.
And the cheers accompanying Ikki's entrance were every bit as loud as Luke's, reverberating throughout the entire venue.
As the only F-rank knight in history to reach the finals, Ikki's popularity was terrifyingly high.
Luke looked at Ikki standing opposite him and was genuinely surprised.
So much so that he could not stop himself from asking,
"I honestly thought you wouldn't be this fired up."
Truthfully, Luke had been somewhat worried about Ikki's condition before this.
Because of Luke's presence, Stella and Ikki had never developed into lovers.
The three of them had instead become something closer to rivals.
Luke had never been certain whether that bond could replace Stella's importance to Ikki in the original story.
But looking at Ikki now—His highly focused mind.
The surging fighting spirit.
His fully awakened body.
And that compressed sword intent that seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
Everything told Luke exactly how firm Ikki's resolve was.
"This is impressive."
"You're even more aggressive than I expected."
Without question—Ikki was currently in his absolute best condition!
"But you aren't at your best, are you?"
Ikki ignored Luke's praise and instead asked a question that shocked everyone who heard it.
Luke paused.
Then he immediately realized what Ikki meant and smiled with interest.
"You're right. I'm not at my absolute best."
"But I'm impressed you noticed."
Luke truly was not at full strength.
However, that did not mean the injuries Stella inflicted had yet to heal.
His body had completely recovered.
His mana and Prana were almost fully restored as well.
The problem was the energy stored within Sword Sheath of Tranquility.
That reserve had been completely exhausted during his battle with Stella, and one day was nowhere near enough to replenish it.
Ultimately, that energy did not truly belong to Luke himself.
Something functioning like a reserve battery naturally came with drawbacks.
Without Sword Sheath of Tranquility supporting him, Luke's own mana and Prana were nowhere near as abundant.
His contact with the Desperado realm had increased his mana capacity, but that growth was gradual.
A single day had not produced any dramatic change.
And although Luke had refined his Prana for quite some time, its original foundation was not particularly high, so its growth remained limited.
More importantly—Without that enormous energy reserve, neither Ser-Veresta's black flames nor Starfall Sword's Severing ability could be used freely.
Both abilities consumed absurd amounts of energy.
Without Sword Sheath of Tranquility supporting them, relying solely on Luke's own reserves would drain him dry before long.
Ikki naturally knew nothing about Sword Sheath of Tranquility.
However, after personally witnessing Luke's battle against Stella, he had deduced the existence of some kind of reserve energy source.
He had even concluded that this reserve had been completely exhausted.
Otherwise, Luke would never have suffered such severe injuries against Stella.
With this weakness exposed, Ikki's chances of victory increased once again.
However—
"You don't seriously think that means you can beat me, do you?"
Luke smiled without showing even the slightest trace of uncertainty.
He rarely used the black flames or Severing to begin with.
Or more precisely—He simply did not particularly enjoy relying on them.
Compared to defeating an opponent through special abilities, Luke preferred winning through swordsmanship and sword techniques.
Of course, he had no objection to using abilities when necessary.
But because of that mindset, losing free access to those two powers hardly dealt him any psychological blow.
Even the actual reduction in combat strength was limited.
After all, being unable to use them recklessly did not mean he could not use them at all.
If timed correctly, even one or two uses could become decisive.
Luke understood that.
And Ikki understood it as well.
After spending nearly a year together and witnessing Luke's true full strength in the previous match, Ikki understood Luke almost as thoroughly as Luke understood himself.
With a wave of his hand, Ikki summoned his Device, Intetsu.
Looking at Luke, he quietly shook his head.
"I've never believed the amount of mana someone possesses determines the outcome of a battle."
"I understand the weakness of my own mana better than anyone."
"No matter what kind of fight I'm in, I'll almost always be the first one to run out."
"But your reduced reserves…"
"It's a little embarrassing to admit, but they do increase my chances somewhat."
"Your chances, huh…"
Luke also summoned Starfall Sword.
As the two raised their weapons and faced each other, Luke asked,
"How high do you think your chances actually are?"
"…Honestly?"
"Less than ten percent."
"I see."
"And you're still going to gamble on that?"
"I can't exactly surrender without fighting."
"Besides, the battle between us is a little different, isn't it?"
That question genuinely surprised Luke.
He had not expected Ikki to understand this much after seeing Luke fight seriously just once.
"I've wanted to say this for a while…"
"Your observational ability is downright monstrous."
"…You have absolutely no right to call me that!"
Ikki rolled his eyes.
He had never imagined the day would come when a monster would accuse him of being monstrous.
Then Ikki sighed.
"Whether I can actually meet your expectations…"
"Honestly, I'm not confident."
Luke smiled at his words.
And the instant the referee declared the match started—
Luke vanished.
—!
A completely silent sword strike.
An attack using the Twin-Wings Sword Style!
Luke appeared behind Ikki like a ghost.
Starfall Sword became a streak of black light as it mercilessly slashed toward Ikki's neck!
"If you can't meet them—"
"Then die!"
Boom—!
Luke released his immense sword intent all at once.
Sword intent and sword energy merged into a violent storm that swept toward Ikki alongside the strike!
And then—
Clang—!
The sound of colliding blades exploded across the arena.
"Third Secret Sword—Madoka!"
As Ikki spoke, Intetsu seemed to have known Luke's attack direction in advance.
The blade was already waiting there.
And it successfully intercepted the Twin-Wings Sword Style!
But that was not all.
Luke had used nearly all of his physical strength.
Hidden within that impossibly fast sword strike was the monstrous power of his body.
Yet Ikki stopped even that.
No—He had not stopped it.
He redirected it into the ground!
By circulating the force contained within an opponent's attack through his body like drawing a circle, Ikki could redirect it elsewhere—or even return it completely unchanged to the attacker.
That was the principle behind Ikki's Third Secret Sword—Madoka.
At the same time, Ikki used the force he had redirected into the ground.
Through the resulting reaction force, he instantly launched himself out of the range of Luke's storm of sword energy.
…
…
[PS: Love this fanfiction? Then, vote for more chapters. ;) If this fanfic reaches 100+ powerstones, I will increase the daily upload frequency. Also, don't forget to write a review!]
---
Read more than 40 chapters in advance:
patréon.com/Tom22
Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.
---
For Audiobook:
youtube.com/@animefic22