Chapter 75: No, Seriously—You Can Dual-Wield?
"Oi~ Mukago, right?"
Natsuya wasn't in a hurry to initiate a life-or-death struggle. Instead, he
stared at the System Panel floating above her head, speaking as if he were
merely verifying a data entry.
"Do you remember fighting a mixed-blood swordsman a few years back? Tall woman.
Eyepatch. Used Thunder Breathing."
The demon blinked, caught off guard.
How does he know my name?
Though slightly confused, she split her mouth into a grin, revealing needle-like
fangs. "Eh? I've slaughtered so many swordsmen... how could I possibly remember
every single one? Tell me, do you remember every slice of bread you've ever
eaten?"
Natsuya didn't get angry. He raised Master Kang the Third, assuming a textbook
Kendo stance.
"Well, she didn't die, fortunately... but I guess I shouldn't expect much from
the memory storage of a monster."
His voice grew cold.
"So, I'll just let your body experience it instead. Maybe then you'll remember."
A gamer's memory is usually terrible. They glance through cutscenes or hit the
skip button on dialogue. But sometimes, it's different. If a story truly touches
them, they'll reload a save file dozens of times just to fulfill a promise made
to a digital character.
At this moment, Natsuya hadn't forgotten his vow.
He was going to use Nikaido's swordsmanship and her techniques to give this
demon a taste of what true human "malice" felt like.
Mukago sensed a shift in the air. Natsuya didn't radiate the overwhelming
presence of a Hashira, but he carried something equally dangerous: killing
intent so thick it was almost physical.
"Don't you dare look down on Mukago!!"
A massive wave of thorny vines whipped toward the boy. Natsuya dropped into a
low crouch. He went even lower than a standard Iaijutsu draw, his face almost
brushing the dirt.
Feel the thunder...
[Thunder Breathing] [First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!]
A faint golden afterimage transformed into a straight spear of light, ruthlessly
piercing through several layers of vines! Amidst a spray of green sap, Natsuya
closed the distance to Mukago's throat in a heartbeat.
Fast!
But compared to that glasses-wearing monster earlier, he's still green!
Startled, the demon threw up her arms, wrapping them in thick purple vines to
act as a shield.
CRACK!
The lightning, slowed by the friction of carving through the initial wave of
vines, failed to pierce her guard entirely. The Nichirin Sword bit deep into the
toxic wood covering her arms. It was harder than Natsuya had anticipated.
"Tch."
Natsuya kicked off her chest and retreated instantly. The moment he moved back,
the vines in front of him exploded into a massive, toothy maw, attempting to
swallow him whole.
Blade-light flared like lightning, detonating against the wood. The plant-like
skin was so tough that sparks flew upon contact with the Nichirin steel. Using
the recoil from the impact, Natsuya put more distance between them.
But Mukago wasn't letting him go. The "mouth" of the plant split into a dozen
snake-like tendrils, chasing him like a pack of hounds.
They were met by five interlocking arcs of electricity.
[Second Form: Rice Spirit]
The thunder shredded the tendrils, and the resulting flash masked Natsuya's
movement.
"Where is he?!" Mukago's pupils contracted.
The vibrations in the vines and spores gave her the answer first. BEHIND!
Detecting the disturbance in the air, she tried to spin around, but Natsuya's
footwork and blade were faster. Just as she summoned a defensive wall, a flurry
of lightning-fast slashes rained down from every angle.
[Third Form: Thunder Swarm]
Natsuya maintained high-speed movement, his blade flickering toward the demon's
vitals. The individual strikes lacked the raw power of the first two forms, but
they made up for it with sheer volume and surgical precision.
In an instant, blood mists erupted across the demon's limbs and skin. By the
time her vines caught up to parry, the combo was already finished.
"You bastard!!" she shrieked.
"You don't feel pain anyway," Natsuya said flatly. The moment his feet touched
the ground, his momentum reset for the next strike. "Why are you getting
heated?"
Mukago: ? Who said I don't feel pain? Do you think the Twelve Kizuki are numb?!
[Fourth Form: Distant Thunder]
Without a pause, Natsuya launched a long-range lightning slash that hammered
Mukago backward. Relying on her demonic immortality and realizing Natsuya
couldn't reach her neck through the chaos, she abandoned her defense.
She threw her arms out. Two wooden palms—smaller than the ones Igarashi
destroyed, but much denser—burst from the ground, attempting to crush Natsuya in
a pincer move.
The distance was too short to dodge. Natsuya opted for an upward strike, a
reverse bolt of lightning aimed at the sky.
[Fifth Form: Heat Lightning]
The surge of electricity shattered the left wooden hand, but the remaining right
hand slammed into his guard.
BOOM!
The sheer force sent Natsuya sliding back three meters, his boots carving ruts
into the stone floor. His hands felt numb, and he could feel the skin of his
palms threatening to split from the vibration.
As expected of a Lower Moon. A [Body] stat of nearly 300 is higher than all
three of my stats combined. Even a glancing blow from her can break my
game-loop.
It reminded him of the Boss fights in his favorite action games. The player had
to chip away at the Boss's health with "tickle damage" while the Boss could
delete 80% of the player's HP with one heavy swing.
It was a familiar, nostalgic difficulty curve. Natsuya smiled.
Mukago, unaware of his gamer-logic, let out a piercing shriek. "It's not over
yet!"
The shattered half of the giant hand lunged at Natsuya again. Instead of a blunt
strike, it detonated a few feet away, spraying a storm of wooden shrapnel at
him.
Natsuya's blade spun in a blur, weaving a barrier of lightning that deflected
almost all the debris. Almost.
Two or three splinters grazed his side. The "specialized fabric" of his uniform
provided zero defense against the projectile velocity, tearing as if made of
paper. Although his footwork saved him from a direct hit, the skin where the
shards passed turned instantly red and swollen.
An intense, burning itch—like the sting of a million needles—surged through his
nervous system.
Toxic spores. More concentrated than the ones the villagers inhaled. Not even
Shinobu's inhibitor can fully nullify the point-blank dosage, huh?
Faced with Mukago's triumphant smirk, Natsuya's expression remained unchanged.
He calmly initiated the next sequence.
[Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash]
Thunder Breathing reached its peak resonance. His Nichirin Sword unleashed a web
of crisscrossing lightning slashes, tearing a hole through the demon's defensive
vines. He charged through the gap, his entire body wrapped in electricity like a
falling thunderbolt.
The final hit of the Sixth Form nearly sliced Mukago in half! She screamed as
she was blasted across the room, crashing into the rubble.
Natsuya skidded to a stop, his breathing slightly heavy.
Because of the toxin... that strike was a few frames off center.
"Dummy! I'm making the antidote now!" Shinobu shouted, frantically extracting
toxins from a fallen vine to mix a new serum.
Mukago scrambled up from the ruins, her eyes burning with rage as she looked
toward Shinobu. But seeing the Hashira standing calmly beside the girl, she
ground her teeth and turned her attention back to Natsuya.
"I know your style! Thunder Breathing only has six forms, doesn't it?!"
"You've used them all. You're poisoned. You're out of moves!"
Seeing that Igarashi wasn't intervening, she stood up shakily and pressed her
hands together.
"And I? I can regenerate forever! This fight is—"
Her words died in her throat.
She watched as the swordsman shifted his grip on his katana to a single-handed
hold.
Then, his other hand reached for his waist, slowly drawing a second sword. The
blade reflected the lingering static in the air, glowing with a color that
reminded her of golden, soup-soaked noodles.
It was Uni-Maru.
"The Thunder Breathing passed down through the Corps and Nikaido has six forms,
yes," Natsuya admitted.
He raised Master Kang into a high guard, resting it near his shoulder.
Simultaneously, he leveled Uni-Maru forward, the tip pointing directly at
Mukago's heart.
"But this is my Thunder Breathing."
☆☆☆
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