"Junior Brother's physical fitness is seriously inadequate."
Touka gazed at the field with a serious expression, hidden worry in her eyes.
"If he can't launch a counterattack in a limited time, it's impossible to win against the opponent."
Hoshiharu's physical strength had significantly improved through his daily training since the beginning of school, but even so, it was still far from being comparable to a monster like Kurogane Ikki.
Under the continuous attacks from the other side, his physical energy was quickly consumed.
If he couldn't find a way to counterattack before his physical strength was depleted, no matter how skillfully he dodged now, he wouldn't be able to change the losing situation.
"It's difficult. The sword defense around Kanata is too restrictive for a simple Blazer like him."
Utakata shook his head, clearly not optimistic about Hoshiharu's outcome.
This was also the thought of most of the audience.
The compatibility was very poor.
—A swordsman is the king of close combat.
In the range reachable by their sword, namely the Overlapping Range, it was like a barrier covered by swords. They could block all kinds of extraordinary attacks and perform powerful counterattacks.
But once the swordsman was separated and shot or bombarded from a distance, the deterrent effect of the swordsman would be greatly weakened.
The same was true for Touka.
Her Raikiri was considered taboo in the Overlapping Range. As long as it was within the sword's range, no one dared to attack her Raikiri directly. However, she was still defeated by the Seven Stars Sword King, Moroboshi Yuudai.
Hoshiharu was in the same situation. If there was no way to approach the other side, he had no choice but to suffer defeat.
"Whether he can break through the sword domain set up by Kanata is the key to Junior Brother's victory or defeat!"
Touka also acknowledged Utakata's statement.
But she had not yet given up on Hoshiharu.
She understood what kind of person Hoshiharu was, and because he had promised her to meet on the stage of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, he would never lose so easily!
❀❀❀
On the field.
"Aren't you going to give up yet?"
Kanata stood in the center of the battlefield, and by occupying the center of the circle, her attack range covered the entire field.
"Even if you refuse to admit defeat, what's the point? After all, you can't beat me. People can't easily fight against fate... Or do you still have a trump card that can deal with me?"
Her slender eyes narrowed slightly, observing Hoshiharu's reaction.
In a very unfavorable situation, the other party was not ready to admit defeat. There were only two possibilities: he couldn't afford to lose, or he still had a hidden card.
Kanata had learned about Hoshiharu, feeling that it might be the latter.
From his body, she couldn't see the confusion that everything was over, but instead, there was a sense of sharpness accumulating, as if he would launch a fatal counterattack if she was slightly careless.
"In that case—"
Kanata's expression turned cold, with no softness on her face.
She slowly raised her hand, and with her movement, countless light points condensed from around her, turning into a thin sword.
The sword looked thinner than a sheet of paper, but its length was about two or three meters. Its entire body shone with starry light, as thin as a cicada's wing, and could vanish at any time like snowflakes.
"—Diamond Storm!"
The thin sword floated in the air. Under the dazzling magical light, it transformed into a sharp arrow and shot out, piercing the atmosphere and making a fierce wind sound.
At this moment, Hoshiharu reluctantly opened his eyes.
Immediately after, he advanced instead of retreating, kicking his feet hard on the ground, trying his best to fly towards the star-like rapier.
"Charging forward on his own initiative?"
Kanata's nerves suddenly tightened, and her brain worked at high speed.
"Does he want to destroy my Diamond Storm? If he's so greedy for success, defeat will follow. But is it that simple—"
The time was limited, and she couldn't think too much. She could only focus on the field as much as possible and, at the same time, silently prepare.
Hoshiharu's eyes were astonishing.
He raised the Nameless Sword in his hand, as if he wanted to shatter the fragile rapier into pieces.
But as they approached, he suddenly bent down and avoided the rapier by a hair's breadth.
The rapier fell into the battlefield behind him and exploded upon touching the ground, turning into countless small sword fragments, cutting the ground within a three-meter radius into almost solid dust, and exploding.
If he had attacked with the intent to destroy the rapier, he would have been cut into a mist of blood.
Hoshiharu ignored this and didn't even look at the huge crater behind him. As he missed the rapier, he took a deep breath and used a breathing technique to enhance his heart and lung functions, advancing towards the sword in front of him.
"This is not an attack; this is a counterattack! With this display, he wants to determine the winner in the next attack!"
That's right.
It was impossible for Hoshiharu, as the person involved, not to understand the truth seen by Ikki and Touka.
He had to find a way to break through the sword domain surrounding him before his physical strength was exhausted; otherwise, he had no chance of winning!
At this moment.
All eyes of the audience were focused here.
The figure of the young man truly became the center of attention for the audience!
How could he win in the face of such overwhelming restraint?
The eyes of Ikki, Touka, and others were all focused on him, unconsciously infected by the tense atmosphere and clasping their hands tightly.
Kurono's eyes were very serious. She had summoned her Dual Pistols Device. As soon as Hoshiharu showed signs of being cut into a mist of blood, she would take action in an instant.
Under everyone's attention—
"—Settings, deformation speed change, target is the Device!"
Hoshiharu rushed towards the invisible sword domain with firm determination.
Kurono's heart almost jumped into her throat, and she could hardly restrain herself from shooting, but—
*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*
In an instant.
Countless small golden and iron sounds rang continuously.
*Scoffs*
Hoshiharu's school uniform quickly shredded due to the sword's encirclement, making him half-dressed and extremely embarrassed.
But surprisingly, his body seemed to be made of steel—no, it was much harder than steel!
His body was clearly being cut by hundreds of millions of rotating blades, yet not a single scratch appeared, not a drop of blood emerged, and his entire body remained as smooth as new, without even a layer of skin being scratched!
"How is this possible!"
Kanata was stunned for a moment.
This was truly unreasonable!
Humans have limitations as living beings. No matter how hard the human body is, it can't be harder than steel!
And the hundreds of millions of high-speed rotating blades could even grind steel into powder, how could they not scratch the skin on Hoshiharu's body?