Kojiro’s swordsmanship was well known even within Brain Burst, but what people who had actually dueled him feared most was his footwork. His usual style was to suddenly close the distance before the opponent even realized it, then use his long-reach sword to toy with them one-sidedly.
As a result, the countermeasure devised by close-combat avatars like Knight was simple: never give Kojiro space, and rush him first.
Up to now, Knight had crossed blades with Swallow several times and learned that Swallow’s stats were heavily weighted toward speed.
Keeping in mind that he had a slight advantage in raw power, Knight narrowed the distance the moment the duel began, using his heavy armor as the spearhead. Then he swung down toward Kojiro’s crown in a classic kendo-style head strike.
It was a basic technique, but after hundreds, thousands of repetitions, Knight’s overhead cut had been stripped of all waste. Even Kojiro, who blocked it, could feel its weight.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash that was hard to believe had come from swords colliding, a shockwave burst out from the center of Knight and Kojiro. It shattered the few glass windows nearby and filled the area with noise.
From there, the fight naturally shifted into a hilt lock, with Knight pressing down with his greatsword and Kojiro bracing his waist, his sword angled down to the right.
Orange sparks flew irregularly from the point where the blades met, lighting both Kojiro and Knight’s vision. Little by little, however, Kojiro’s sword began to be forced downward, however slightly. Seizing that opening, Knight poured on the strength, intent on cleaving through Kojiro’s sword and avatar in one go.
But what Knight had overlooked was that Kojiro was a specialist who fought with his body. For someone of Kojiro’s caliber, compensating for a lack of strength with technique was as easy as breathing.
Soon Kojiro bent his knees just enough to throw Knight’s balance forward, then slipped naturally to the side. At the same time, Kojiro’s elegant blade carved a long gash across Knight’s flank.
Kiiing!
Even though it had cut through metal, sparks burst belatedly from Knight’s side, which had been cleanly sliced without a sound. But even after such a surprise attack, Knight did not falter. He simply kept pressing forward.
From there, it became a festival of sparks. Knight ignored defense entirely and swung only to attack, while Kojiro focused on defense, and between them a tremendous number of sword strikes and the sparks they produced wove a brilliant pattern.
Each time the attacker, Knight, stepped forward, the defender, Kojiro, gave ground by one step. At a glance, it looked like the duel was tilting in Knight’s favor.
But as the fight dragged on, the one taking more and more damage was not the defender Kojiro, but the attacker Knight. That was because Kojiro, while focusing on defense, counterattacked Knight every time an opening appeared.
Even so, Knight paid no mind to his own injuries and kept his attention fixed solely on offense. He looked like a berserker who could not feel pain. Kojiro found himself wondering.
This game called Brain Burst somehow managed to simulate a person’s stamina, too.
Of course, it was only in intangible areas like concentration and willpower, but for Knight, who was not even a swordsman like Kojiro, to keep pressing him this relentlessly felt strange.
Normally, he should have been worn down by fatigue like Chrome Falcon, the first opponent Kojiro had fought. There had to be some hidden reason behind this.
For just a moment, Kojiro let his mind wander, and the instant he showed an opening, Knight made a bold gamble. He grabbed Kojiro’s blade barehanded.
As his avatar’s name suggested, Knight’s body had the appearance of a knight, and naturally both hands were fitted with gauntlets. So Knight had calculated that even if he grabbed the blade barehanded, he would not take damage immediately.
But Kojiro’s response was beyond anything he had imagined.
The instant Knight seized the blade, Kojiro let go of his sword and snatched Knight’s wrist instead. Then he drove into Knight’s off-balance frame, planted his lower body, and hurled him with all his strength. It was the motion of a judo shoulder throw.
Knight, having rotated nearly 180 degrees, crashed to the ground on his back with a heavy thud. Since the ground in the regular battle field was designated as an indestructible object except on a few special stages, it left no visible mark despite the tremendous noise. Instead, Knight’s health dropped by a full 20 percent from the impact.
While Knight was flying through the air, Kojiro had apparently let go of his weapon, so he picked up his beloved sword, Monohoshizao, from where it had fallen to the ground. Then, as Knight staggered back to his feet, Kojiro asked,
"You’re not done already, are you?"
"Hraaaah!"
Rather than answer, Knight let out a ferocious shout and charged again. But unlike before, Kojiro let his sword hang low and gathered strength in his lower body, then released it all at once. Kojiro’s blade, launched in a sudden burst, knocked Knight’s sword upward.
Pow!
With that unexpected counter, Knight’s arms were briefly lifted into the air, leaving him open. Kojiro did not miss the chance. As if mocking Knight’s belief that a weapon’s long reach would be a disadvantage in close quarters, Kojiro slammed the end of his sword’s hilt into Knight’s visor instead of using the blade.
Of course, the hilt also had a hitbox, so Knight’s visor caved in and his health gauge dropped. And because the blow landed squarely on his face, Knight staggered with a mild stun effect.
With Kojiro’s skill, he could have easily finished off a reeling Knight, but instead he stepped back and gave Knight time to recover. Then he said in a casual tone,
"Just because you’re excited doesn’t mean you should rush in so recklessly. I told you, didn’t I? The foundation of swordsmanship is a calm mind."
"...I’m sorry. I’m still lacking, after all."
In truth, Knight had been feeling a little confident in this duel. That was because of the ability he had recently acquired: [Infinite Drive].
[Infinite Drive] was an ability that raised the user’s stats, such as strength and speed, the lower their health gauge fell. Thanks to it, he had been able to launch that berserker-like assault just now, but it still seemed he could not bring Kojiro down. At the very least, he had wanted to break through that sword’s barrier and land a single solid hit.
By now, Knight’s health was down to around 30 percent. By contrast, Kojiro’s health gauge was still almost at 100 percent. So once again, he had failed to even touch the hem of Kojiro’s clothes. Just as Knight was beginning to feel discouraged, Kojiro raised his right hand.
The cuff at the end of that right sleeve had been slightly torn and was now falling away.
"No, that was excellent. Knight, your sword definitely reached me. Just a little, but it did."
Kojiro said with a small smile, and that alone made Knight’s chest swell.
How hard had he worked just to cut that tiny bit of fabric?
But he could not be satisfied with this. Thanks to the fierce battle so far, Knight’s finishing move gauge was almost full. The same was probably true for the swallow swordsman standing before him, but he never used his finishing move in a duel.
Whether his avatar simply did not have one, or whether he had one and chose not to use it, Knight alone still had a single decisive card to play.
"So you haven’t given up yet. Very good. Then I’ll show you something interesting in return."
Saying that, Kojiro gripped the back edge and hilt of his sword and charged at Knight. It was the classic one-handed thrust stance.
His master had told him that this was a technique used by a legendary ninja in his previous life. In response, Knight shouted the command for his finishing move.
"Mach Of Swords!"
A blue effect burst from Knight’s sword, and with system assistance the blade accelerated, surging toward Kojiro like a machine gun. It looked like a wave of swords. But even if the blades seemed to multiply, the real one was still only one.
Kojiro found the true blade even among more than twenty afterimages, struck the upper edge of the sword, and nullified Knight’s finishing move. Then he stepped onto the pommel of the greatsword to shut down the counterattack, and with an upward slash severed Knight’s collarbone.
"Ghk!"
Leaving Knight’s cry behind, Kojiro used the recoil as a running start, vaulted over his shoulder, and spun through the air. A body weighing more than several dozen kilograms rose as lightly as a feather. Then he landed behind Knight, cut into his spine, and finally, with his back to Knight and the sword held reverse-grip, drove the blade into his heart.
In an instant, Kojiro had crushed Blue Knight’s collarbone, spine, and heart. As he withdrew the blade, he murmured,
"Swallow Drop."
Kojiro flicked the sword once in the air and sheathed it again. At the same time, Blue Knight dropped to one knee and his health gauge hit zero.
"Waaah!"
"That was amazing!"
"As expected of the swallow swordsman!"
Amid the gallery’s thunderous applause and cheers as they watched the duel, Kojiro returned to the real world.
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