Heard the order, Haruka rushed forward with a sliding step, showcasing her instantaneous reaction speed. She roared, "Die! Men(面)!"
Faced with Kazuya's mid-level stance, she intentionally chose the most direct way to knock down Kazuya. She didn't care if it was deemed an invalid strike.
Her strike was like a flash of lightning, revealing the results of her hard training since childhood. However, Kazuya was puzzled. He was different now. The profound experiences from the life-and-death battles with the virtual swordsmen had deeply influenced him, and in those battles, they rarely exposed such vulnerabilities. After all, life was precious, and even if you killed the enemy, it wouldn't make much sense if you died in the process.
However, despite his confusion, his body reacted instinctively. He moved his feet back and forth, swaying his body forward and backward, incredibly fast. Haruka's bamboo sword almost grazed his faceguard and chest protector as it swung in front of him. At the same time, Kazuya's lifted the bamboo sword over his head, then delivered a straight strike.
"I got you!" Haruka thought she had succeeded. However, there was no feedback from the bamboo sword. She suddenly realized that her attack was uneffect, but it was too late to retract her strike. She looked up at Kazuya, only to see him lifting the bamboo sword high like a deity descending from the heavens, swinging it down toward her forehead.
With a loud "bang," Kazuya's strike hit Haruka on the head, making a solid impact. Even the elastic bamboo sword bent into an arc. His [Ancient Swordsmanship] had reached level 6, providing him with attribute bonuses in strength, agility, and charm, along with recent rigorous training, making him much stronger than before.
Haruka didn't make a sound but fell forward, kneeling in front of Kazuya with her forehead heavily hitting the ground.
The scene fell into silence, and the audience didn't know how to react. It happened too quickly, in at most five second. They hadn't even figured out what had happened when Haruka had already kneeled.
Kazuya took a few steps back with a small jump. It was an instinctive reaction. He was very cautious for that he had faced life-and-death struggles almost a hundred times. He had never encountered someone willingly offering themselves like this before. Without thinking much, he suspected some conspiracy.
At times like these, Yuma was quick to react. He raised the red flag with his right hand, trying to mislead the other two referees, "Valid strike, one point for the red side!"
The two temporary referees hesitated for a moment and did not raise their flags. There was no spirit showing in this attack, so it didn't count as a valid strike. If Kazuya had casually shouted, even without specifying the target area, considering how the bamboo sword bent when it hit Haruka's head, they might have given him points. But Kazuya remained silent, and that made it difficult to justify giving points.
"Kazuya, spirit! Spirit!" Shin was more anxious than Kazuya about missing the scoring opportunity.
The spectators in the stands also caught on. Scattered applause started, quickly turning into a unified cheer. Many girls were looking at Kazuya with flushed faces, feeling his charm.
Haruka, who had just understood what happened while lying on the ground, was shaking with anger. This gigolo was despicable and much stronger than she thought. Why didn't he reveal this earlier? It turned out that the weak and silent appearance he used to put on before was just to deceive her.
She rolled backward to create some distance and got up. She bent over, shoulders hunched, like an angered little tiger, "You're so despicable. I won't let you off!"
Kazuya didn't reply. He assumed a stance and waited for her. There was no need in saying more: the battle had begun, and the winner would be determined by their swords.
Haruka finally got serious. Realizing that Kazuya was definitely not the soft target she imagined, she used a waist-ribs technique to hide the bamboo sword behind her. Suddenly shrinking her body, she charged at Kazuya with an angry roar, "Ah!!!"
Her intention was to intimidate Kazuya, boost her own fighting spirit and momentum. However, to her disappointment, Kazuya didn't flinch. He had experienced many screams more intimidating than hers during his meditative battles. But the audience was shocked. Nobody expected Haruka, who usually looked petite, to have such a side. At this moment, she seemed possessed by a fierce beast.
Haruka's fighting spirit had reached its peak, and she couldn't wait any longer. The saying "Strike while the iron is hot" applies here. Waiting longer might lead to a disadvantage. With small, quick steps, she dragged the bamboo sword and charged toward Kazuya. At the same time, Kazuya leaped forward to meet her.
His proactive approach almost led Haruka to misjudge the distance between them and delayed her timing to strike. However, with over ten years of training, her thrust was still extremely accurate. It aimed directly at Kazuya's throat. She roared, "Thrust!"
Kazuya focused on Haruka's sword tip. Suddenly, he thrust his sword forward. A friction sound occurred as Haruka's attack hit the edge of Kazuya's sword, deflecting to the side. However, Kazuya's sword tip seemed to grow larger in Haruka's eyes.
The two passed each other, and victory or defeat was decided in an instant.
Kazuya stopped a few steps after his charge, while Haruka, hit by Kazuya's thrust, fell backward. Kazuya didn't intentionally aim at her head to humiliate her. It was just because her head was a convenient target given Haruka's height, .
Both sides exchanged thrusts, and the victory was instantly determined, giving it a cinematic and artistic touch. Applause and cheers erupted from the audience. Yuma raised the flag again for Kazuya, but he still lacked spirit. The other two referees hesitated for a moment but didn't move.
Shin was almost crazy, "Spirit, Kazuya. Spirit!" If he had spirit for two times, Kazuya would have already won the match given the current situation.
Kazuya ignored his saying, slowly raising his bamboo sword again. He didn't come here for a competition. Winning a match didn't add any points to his college entrance exam, making it meaningless for him. Winning a match simply would lead to endless challenges. Instead of that, why not just keep fighting until Haruka acknowledged defeat!
Haruka, both embarrassed and angry, rolled over and got up. However, the fact that Kazuya managed to withstand and deflect her thrust at such high relative speed, leaving her somewhat horrified, sent shivers down her spine. Dilettante watch the scene of bustle, experts see road. Although the move seemed simple, it required a combination of keen eyesight, decisive judgment, and courage. Swordsmanship duels often hinged on such seemingly inconspicuous actions, which determined life and death.
If real swords were used, she would have been struck through the head twice already.
As she observed Kazuya, who stood with a sword, she suddenly realized that her opponent was an adversary she had never encountered in her entire life. She should be one million times more cautious when dealing with him.
Taking a deep breath, she regained her composure, assumed a mid-level stance with crescent-shaped eyes squinted into a thin line, "I'm really angry!"
Kazuya watched Haruka, who continued to exhibit unyielding fighting spirit despite consecutive setbacks. Cautiously, he activated his available skill [Anticipation] which was acquired when [Ancient Swordsmanship] reached level 6.
Swordsmanship was never about relying on brute force for killing. It typically involved strategic thinking. What were the possible responses to an attack? How should one react to those responses? Iterating through this process, a conclusion would eventually be reached on who would be struck down.
With Kazuya's skill activated, time seemed to freeze for an instant. Countless translucent Kazuyas attacked Haruka in various ways, and numerous translucent figures appeared on her, either slashing, blocking, or evading. After a moment, the entire arena was filled with figures that could be seen only by Kazuya , and most figures disappeared because of failling to attack.
Suddenly, time resumed its flow, and Kazuya felt a headache. His vitality dropped by half in an instant, and a wave of fatigue surged from the depths of his heart. Although the skill was very useful, it imposed a significant burden on the body.
He stood with a bamboo sword and approached Haruka with a triangular step. To onlookers, a triangular step might seem like circling around, but in the eyes of those in combat, it sometimes created a "teleportation" effect. Haruka was serious in her approach and possessed keen senses. She accurately identified Kazuya's slashing direction, swiftly countered with Kiriotoshi, a techique from the Ittoryu.
Kiriotoshi involved slashing to break through the opponent's attack and using the momentum to topple them. While it sounded simple, unpracticed individuals would struggle to hit accuartely. Moreover, with a reaction time of just a few seconds, relying more on instinct, there was hardly any time for precise aiming.
Haruka's counterattack accurately hit Kazuya's bamboo sword but failed to break through. Kazuya's feigned slash deceived her, so her bamboo sword was out of control because of the inertia. With a forceful twist, she tried to swing her bamboo sword back, while Kazuya anticipated the movement. He changed his grip mid-swing, transferring the bamboo sword to his other hand, and swiftly aimed for Haruka's forehead.
Caught off guard, Haruka's head took another heavy blow. Stumbling backward a few steps, she ended up sitting on the ground.
While she was still dazed, Kazuya approached with his bamboo sword, ready to make another strike. He refused to show his spirit, and according to the rules of the kendo competition, opponents who fell or lost their weapons within three seconds could be pursued.
This strike turned Haruka into a sprawled frog, and the audience burst into laughter.