"Indeed... No matter how many times I look at it, it's still incredible."
Just like a replay of yesterday, Shimizu Yu stood once again in front of that dilapidated dojo shrouded in the setting sun.
But unlike the last time when she followed Hoshino Gen here, this time she came as a helper and companion.
Holding the wooden sword that had already been "enhanced" by Hoshino Gen, Shimizu Yu's eyes were full of amazement. Electric arcs were twining around the wooden blade, exhaling the breath of mysterious fantasy.
However, she suddenly thought of a question and couldn't help asking, "The wooden sword you used last time seemed to be cut off by the ghost inside, right? Why didn't you get a real one? It shouldn't be difficult for you, should it?"
Hoshino Gen gave her a sidelong glance, a bit reluctant to answer her stupid question. But considering that he would need her to work hard for him later, he still casually explained, "What matters is the talisman used to enhance the sword, not the material of the sword itself. Without the talisman, you can't even touch the fierce ghost."
After saying that, Hoshino Gen took a piece of talisman paper and held it in his hand. Then he smiled and looked at Shimizu Yu beside him and asked gently, "Are you ready?"
"..." Shimizu Yu, with her doubts cleared away, held the wooden sword, but her lips still trembled slightly. Although she had been doing mental preparation all the way, when she really arrived here, the fear in her heart inevitably reached its peak.
Hoshino Gen silently watched Shimizu Yu, who was trembling slightly all over. After a while, he smiled and said, "It's still time to back out. The supernatural things you're looking forward to may not be as wonderful as you imagined."
As soon as his words fell, Shimizu Yu had already taken a step forward and said, "I'm ready."
Hoshino Gen shrugged. What else could he say? The little girl herself wasn't afraid of death, so he naturally had nothing to say.
The two of them walked into the dilapidated dojo under the dusk together. The moment they stepped into the dojo, Shimizu Yu shivered all over. There was no other reason but that the temperature here was too low.
The pervasive smell of decay made people feel uncomfortable from the bottom of their hearts.
Shimizu Yu looked around, but she didn't see the faceless swordsman from yesterday. It wasn't until Hoshino Gen threw the talisman paper in his hand onto the floor that the talisman paper turned into ripples and spread on the indoor floor.
Then, less than five meters in front of the two of them, a ronin swordsman commonly seen in period dramas appeared in front of them. He was holding a demon sword, his face pitch-black with no facial features visible.
Shimizu Yu swallowed hard and subconsciously looked at Hoshino Gen beside her, wanting to seek a sense of security. However, when she turned her head, she saw that Hoshino Gen had already run far away from her, looking like he was planning to watch the show.
Boom!
The faceless swordsman moved. As soon as he took a step, the floor made a dull sound. Then Shimizu Yu only saw a flash of the sword blade slashing towards her neck.
Almost by instinct, she raised the wooden sword with lightning flashing on it. Then she felt a powerful force coming, which was transmitted along the wooden sword to her wrist. In just that instant, Shimizu Yu's entire arm went numb.
However, the faceless swordsman's attack didn't show any sign of stopping. With a backhanded diagonal slash from top to bottom like a kasaya cut, Shimizu Yu panicked and backed away continuously. It had to be said that as someone who had won the national runner-up, her reaction was really good.
It was obviously unrealistic to try to avoid the kasaya cut used by the fierce ghost just by backing away. The figure of the opponent was like a persistent ailment. Shimizu Yu immediately understood that she had to use the sword in her hand to block the opponent's attack. Otherwise, let alone thirty seconds, she would lose her head in three seconds!
Biting back the extremely strong smell of blood and stench on the swordsman, suppressing the fear and panic in her heart, Shimizu Yu's retreating steps suddenly stopped. She raised her sword to meet the slashing blade and launched a reverse kasaya cut to counter it.
Then Shimizu Yu was sent flying. She was already slender and light. Moreover, nowadays, kendo competitions focused more on skills and reactions. In fact, she was just a little stronger than an ordinary sixteen-year-old female high school student at most.
Although she managed to withstand the faceless swordsman's slash with the hardness of the wooden sword enhanced by Hoshino Gen, the terrifying power of the opponent was still beyond what a proper high school girl like Shimizu Yu could bear.
She fell heavily on the floor, and the wooden sword in her hand almost slipped out. Before Shimizu Yu could raise her head, in the peripheral vision, she saw those feet with black fog dissipating were quickly approaching her.
Fear instantly broke through the threshold. All the yearnings for extraordinary power and kendo skills turned into bubbles at this moment. The only thing occupying her mind was the thought of wanting to survive because she knew that she could really die!
She didn't know if it was because of fear or because she hadn't recovered from the fierce blow just now. At this moment, Shimizu Yu was so weak that she couldn't even raise her hand.
She subconsciously glanced in Hoshino Gen's direction. The longing for life made her subconsciously place her last hope on this incredible classmate. Although she completely failed to hold on for thirty seconds as agreed, she couldn't even last for fifteen seconds.
However, it was that glance that made Shimizu Yu see a scene that she would never forget in her life.
A huge red-purple fireball was flickering with dazzling flames between Hoshino Gen's palms. The slightly long hair tips of the young man were flying in the surging heat wave. Pieces of talisman paper were flying around him, and then one after another fell into the fireball and turned into new fuel. With each additional piece of talisman paper integrated, the color of the fireball became darker and the light became even more dazzling.
Shimizu Yu suddenly found that the coldness in this dojo had completely disappeared, replaced by an unbearable heat.
The heat wave spread to every corner of the dojo and finally caught the attention of the faceless swordsman who was rushing towards Shimizu Yu. As if sensing the real threat, it immediately lost interest in Shimizu Yu, this "little bug".
Without reducing its speed at all, it made a right-angle turn in front of Shimizu Yu. The long knife in the faceless swordsman's hand lit up with a terrifying blood-red color, and strands of black fog were twining around it.
Amid the trembling of the air, Hoshino Gen also moved. He stretched out his right hand and pushed the fireball containing astonishing heat towards the charging faceless swordsman.
The fireball collided with the tip of the demon sword.
Like cold water hitting sulfuric acid, a violent reaction occurred instantly at the place where they touched.
"Roar————!!"
The faceless swordsman let out that extremely shrill roar again. On Hoshino Gen's face, which had been calm to the point of being icy, a trace of ruthlessness couldn't help but appear. The blue in his left eye was instantly dyed scarlet, and even his eyes became fierce.
The fireball that had a violent reaction due to contact with the demon sword was already quite unstable and couldn't even maintain its basic spherical shape. But correspondingly, the heat that was completely released and stimulated had raised the sauna-like dojo to the level of a fire scene.
Buzz——!
The trembling in the air became even more shrill. Hoshino Gen took a step forward, but the faceless swordsman didn't retreat. The tip of that long knife had already been completely submerged in the firelight.
However, in the next moment, the faceless swordsman suddenly grasped the hilt with both hands and stabbed forward fiercely.
Bang!
The huge fireball exploded with a bang. In the scattered flames, the blood-red blade pierced through Hoshino Gen's right palm, and scarlet blood spurted out.
The pain that went straight to the depths of his soul made Hoshino Gen's expression turn hideous in an instant, but at this moment, the corners of his mouth suddenly curved up.
The spilled blood merged with the flying flames. The red-purple flames became as crimson as blood, like iron blocks attracted by a magnet, attaching to the whole body of the faceless swordsman, making it look like it was wearing a feather coat made of flames.
"Roar, roar——!" The roar was still shrill, but even more miserable.
Hoshino Gen gritted his teeth. His pierced right hand suddenly pushed forward and directly grasped the tsuba of the demon sword, clamping it tightly.
With his free left hand, he scooped in the air, and the remaining talisman papers that hadn't been integrated into the fireball fell into his hand. He squeezed hard, and the talisman papers turned into flames wrapping around his fist.
Hoshino Gen thrust out his fist and pierced through the chest of the swordsman who was on fire as if punching through a plaster statue.