53. New sester and First-Year War [5]
Rose, who expressed her soul dress〈Winter Sakura〉, raised the beautiful scarlet sword high.
「-Dance,〈Sakura Blizzard〉!」
At that mont.
The petals of the sakura blossoms that blood behind her, flew towards with trendous force.
「What!?」
My entire field of view was dyed scarlet.
The number of petals easily surpassed 10 000, which would be absurd to count.
(Kuh … As long as Rose’s ability is unknown, I can’t carelessly co into contact with those sakura petals…)
「First Sword – Flying Shadow!」
I shot Flying Shadow for the ti being to shoot down a large number of the approaching sakura petals.
However,
「Naive!」
As she swung her left hand – and in conjunction with it, the petals also curved and easily avoided my slash.
(Similar to Raise-san’s〈Three Skeletons〉, her soul dress is one that can be controlled remotely…)
In front of the Sakura Blizzard that closed in towards like a wave,
「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」
Eight slashes were spread out in all directions, creating a barrier to protect .
However,
「There!」
A handful of sakura petals, which pierced through the gap in the barrier, grazed my side.
「Guh!?」
A sharp pain ran, which showed on my face through my pained expression.
As I dropped my gaze on my side, it was torn up as if it had been cut with sharp knives.
(As expected, it’s not normal sakura petals…)
What a terrifying sharpness. It seems that each petal is a small slash.
It is a much more troubleso ability than the similar remotely controlled〈Three Skeletons〉, because of the overwhelming number.
「I see…The ability of〈Winter Sakura〉 is to manipulate the sharp sakura petals … 」
「Half correct. But the other half – is a miss!」
Saying that, she attacked directly from the front without any tricks.
「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Evening Sakura!」
The diagonal slash that was released towards my chest was incomparably faster than before.
「Wha!?」
I held my sword horizontally and sohow managed to prevent the blow.
But her blow was not just faster.
(Dammit… what power…!?)
A shock that I have never experienced before was transmitted from the sword to both my hands and from both hands to the whole body.
「HAAAAAAAA!」
From there on, Rose added more power,
「Guh!? 」
I was pushed back in a pure strength contest, and was blown away.
Right then,
「Not yet!」
Without delay, Rose started showering fierce attacks on .
「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Consecutive Sakura Flash!」
Flash-like thrusts were unleashed consecutively.
「Kuh …!?」
Dodging it, cutting it down, letting it slightly graze my skin – I sohow managed to avoid all the thrusts and jumped back greatly.
(Unlike before, Rose is now completely ahead in physical ability…)
The trigger for that was definitely when she activated her soul dress.
There is only one conclusion to draw from here.
「That overwhelming physical ability… -〈Winter Sakura〉is a strengthening-type soul dress…」
「Fufu, correct. This cherry tree is just an enormous mass of power.〈Winter Sakura〉’s ability is to manipulate that power at will.」
Saying that, she picked up a single petal.
(I see. She absorbs the enormous power contained in the sakura trees and greatly improves her physical abilities …)
The attack that manipulated the sakura petals was just a by-product.
(Despite being a strengthening-type, it has the power of a manipulation-type… It’s an extrely troubleso power…)
But that’s not to say there’s no way to deal with it.
「If so … how about this move?」
I switched the target from Rose to〈Winter Sakura〉, the main body.
And then,
「HAAAAAAAAA!」
The mont I swung my sword overhead and unleashed a downward slash containing my full body weight,
「Kuh!?」
A strong impact ran through both hands, as if hitting steel.
(H-Hard…!?)
It’s not like I thought it was just a normal tree, but I couldn’t even get a scratch on it.
When my eyes widened in astonishnt, Rose’s voice ca from behind.
「-That’s not a physical tree. It is the 『concept of tree』which is being anchored to this world. It can’t be cut so easily.」
I imdiately looked back and she had already pulled out her sword.
「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Lightning Sakura!」
Thunderclap-like Iai slash was unleashed.
「Kuh…!」
I took a defensive posture right away, and sohow blocked the attack, but…
In the current situation, with unfavorable posture and falling behind in physical ability, I was unable to kill the montum and ended up exposing my defenseless abdon.
「The pay back for just now!」
She drove a sharp kick right into my abdon.
「Ka, ha…!?」
I was blown away like a football by that superhuman leg power.
「Ku, gaha…」
The air in my lungs were squeezed out, and blood jumped about within my body
「……」
However, in order to not to allow further follow-up attacks, I imdiately stood up and assud Seigan no Kamae.
「…To take that blow, and imdiately assu a counterattack posture… you have incredible physical strength after all…」
She stared at as if she was looking at a monster.
「This ti, it’s my turn…!」
「Yeah, go ahead.」
Then I made full use of all the techniques I had and incessantly attacked Rose.
She defended it with her inherent subtle swordsmanship, and replied with counterattacks at precise timings.
As a result – one by one on my body, the number of cuts increased.
However, it was not that, there was no chance to win.
Rather, the flow of the match was gradually tilting towards .
「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」
「Oh, Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style Secret Technique – Mirrored Sakura Slash!」
Both of those eight slashes collided and disappeared together.
Our physical abilities were now evenly matched.
(No, mine is slightly higher…!)
I judged that this was the ti to attack, so I pressed forward.
「UOOOOOOHHH!」
「Kuh… HAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
Our swords collided, and were locked together.
(Since manifesting〈Winter Sakura〉 , Rose has visibly gone on the offensive.)
At first, I thought that she wanted to conclude the match before her ability was seen through, but it seems that, that was not the case.
(Rose had a reason to rush to attack!)
The huge sakura tree that was the source of her power – gradually began to wither.
About half of the sakura blossoms that were in full bloom, have fallen.
And each ti the petals fell one by one – her physical ability also fell visibly.
(In other words,〈Winter Sakura〉has a duration …!)
In the state of locked sword to sword – In the contest of strength that I was losing before,
「HA!」
「Kyaa…!」
This ti I won.
Blown backwards, Rose managed to adapt to perform ukemi and imdiately assud Seigan no Kamae.
「It seems that there is a duration to〈Winter Sakura〉…No, is it more accurate to say that you don’t have full control?」
「……」
When I asked that, she fell silent.
I seem to have hit the bulls-eye.
(Didn’t Leia-sensei say that it will take an enormous amount of ti to control the soul dress after it manifests?)
The more powerful it is, the more difficult it is to control.
「…You saw through it in the middle of the match. As Allen says, I haven’t managed to control〈Winter Sakura〉. The three-minute duration… was already long gone.」
She told as though confessing.
And the next mont.
「-So, I will settle this match with this next attack!」
All the remaining cherry blossoms gathered on her sword.
Her sword, supplied with enormous power from〈Winter Sakura〉, gave off a mysterious scarlet glow.
「……」
In front of the overwhelming pressure, I involuntarily gulped.
「-Here I co, Allen.」
「Aa… let’s settle this.」
We exchanged brief words, and we broke into a run at the sa ti.
「HAAAAAAAAAAA!」
「UOOOOOHHHHHH!」
The mont we stepped into each other’s range,
「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style Secret Technique – Mirrored Sakura Slash!」
「Fifth Sword – World Judgent!」
The attack which carried each other’s body and soul, intersected.
And then,
「…You are so strong. Allen…」
Rose’s sword broke.
At the sa ti – the main body of Winter Sakura, disappeared like sand.
「-The match is over.」
As I pointed my sword tip towards Rose,
「…Aa, it’s my complete defeat.」
She, who had done her best, laughed montarily.
「M-MATCH OVEEEEERRRR! The one who ca out on top of that breathtaking fierce fight is – ALLEN RODOREEE!」
In this way, I sohow managed to defeat Rose, who manifested a powerful soul dress, and advanced to the final stage of the First-Year War.
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