"Oh No!" gasped Kaname in worry as she saw Shigure's kimono being hacked into pieces.
Kenichi had already take a step forward to take Kagero's attention but before he could attack Kagero Tochumaru couldn't take it and charged forward with a squeak as a battle cry, hurling his nunchuck at Kagero. Kagero simply flicked it back with a finger from his spare hand, sending it flying back at Tochumaru. Before the nunchuck could even hit Tochumaru, Kenichi's staff was already unfolded, flicking the nunchuck away.
"Hey! "Hoo, I didn't pay much attention but that three sectional staff isn't just any metal staff" mused Kagero, a bit distracted from the attempted attack and the save before turning his attention back to Shigure. His eyes widened as he quickly jumped back from Shigure's slash but he wasn't fast enough as Shigure cut through the strap holding his sheath. "Amazing" whispered Kaname not having even seen the slash. "Kenichi, thank you but stay back and don't interfere" sighed Shigure in a relief knowing that Kenichi had almost steppe in the fight before Tochumaru moved. Kenichi could only nod his head in acceptance as he stepped back and stood beside Kaname. "A fierce slash I have never encountered before.... Not even my auto slash could react in time. A sexpected of Ryozanpaku, to be able to perform such sword technique , impressive... If you would allow, I would like to retie the scabbard to my back.... for someone using the Iaigiri, without the proper pose... " said Kagero Shigure than glared back at Kagero, "For the likes of you, I will no longer use my katana's back!" Kagero responded by using HIKEN: USUBA KAGERO, only for Shigure to suddenly dodge and counter, slashing his shoulder. However, in each of their eyes, Shigure's form changed as if her soul and her Katana were one and the same, her figure bathed in light. Kagero tried to attack several more time, only for the same thing to happen. Not only that but each time, there seemed to be two duplicates of Shigure. Kagero tried to use speed to counter, only for Shigure to turn and slash right at his head. "Did she... get him?" gaped Kaname "..No" replied Kenichi clearly seeing the attack after using Ryusui Seikuken and mind's eye though he wasn't sure if even he could dodge it even after using Kaio-Ken despite him being much faster than Shigure in that state, "Shigure cut off what she thought was the most annoying part of his body." At that moment, Kagero's spiky hair was cut in hald, leaving a flat trail. Kagero threw a small temper tantrum, only to declare that he didn't care and that his hair felt lighter. However, when Shigure insulted him by calling shaved uni head, it hit several marks as the appeared on Kagero's face. "Little girl, for a moment I saw your body fusing with the Katana! The highest level of sword mastery consists of making the blade a part of your body! The final step would be to fuse with your blade!" shouted Kagero, "You have shown me you can do that. Setsunamaru and I love each other so much, making it a piece of cake!" "Tthen the one who can become one with the blade wins!" shouted both sword users as they charged towards each other for one final clash. Their souls fused with their blades as they swung their sword. SHINTO KOUKENZAN The two stood still, their backs facing each other as they now stood where their opponent's place was. A second later, the sound of chain links breaking could be heard as Shigure's chainmail snapped, falling to the ground while failing to hide her chest. Kagero looked at his blade in wonder before turning around, blood starting to flow from his forehead. "Impossible.... you can fuse your blade even better than I can," remarked Kagero. "Naturally, my fusion with the blade in the strongest! After all it is my father's sword" answered Shigure. It was then that Kagero finally recognized Shigure as the daughter of the blacksmith who made his sword. Kagero could only as he remarked "I see this is how it is... that's why... my Setsunamaru... doesn't want to hurt you." It had been during the clash when Kagero had raised his arm, that he felt something stop him for a second and now he knew why. A second later, Shigure revealed to them that she had used the back of her blade to merely knock unconscious. Kaname finally released a breath that she hadn't known she had been holding. She looked down at her staff in wonder. Could she achieve something like what she saw today? To fuse with one's weapon? Not even her grandfather seemed to have done so, though se wasn't sure if it was the case of not being ab;e to door just not wanting to show it just yet. Overall, it made Kaname's resolve so much stringer. She wouldn't rest until she could achieve the same thing with her staff. "Come, let's go home" gestured Shigure as she viciously kicked Kagero's arm away to force him to let go of the sword. Kenichi smiled after seeing Shigure kicking the unconscious Kagero but then as if he felt something Kenichi turned his head and looked towards his right at a far distance. "What are you look at Kenichi?" asked Kaname "Nothing Kaname just looking at the view, let's go we shouldn't make Shigure wait" Kenichi said as he and Kaname followed Shigure ______________________________________________________________ As the trio left, far away in the direction where Kenichi had stared, stood Rin Tachibana with a fellow member if Eight Shining Executioner Blade, Mildred Lawrence, the archer of the group. They had to hide away when Kenichi had stared in their direction so as to not get caught. "Did that kid looked towards us?" asked Rin not sure if something like that was eve possible. "No, it can't be he must have been just staring at the view, even if I was in his place I couldn't find out about anyone standing here without any mistake done by them and we were standing perfectly still"