I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Qing Deng, who was in a daze due to the overwhelming shock, looked at the owner of the old male voice... the brown-robed man who was now blocking him and Kinoshita Mai.

The brown-robed man had originally pulled his hood up tight, but the strong headwind created by his rapid run from behind Qingdeng to in front of him caused his hood to be blown open.

Beneath the hood was a face that was very familiar to both Aoto and Kinoshita Mai.

"Kiryu-sensei...?" Aoto's lips and tongue seemed to move on their own, softly calling out the name of the brown-robed man standing in front of him.

The man in the brown robe... Kiryu, was holding a purplish-black scabbard in his left hand and a katana with a total length of nearly 1.1 meters and a rather large arc in his right hand.

Kiryu used the katana he was holding upside down in his right hand to block the Kamaitachi's attack in mid-air.

The purple light that Qingdeng just saw... that was from this knife.

The blade of the katana in Kiryu's hand is clearly the color of ordinary steel.

Strangely, under the moonlight, the blade of the knife reflected a cold, purple light.

Surprise, doubt, and stunned expression were beautifully mixed on Qingdeng's face.

Everything happening right before his eyes was so unbelievable that Qing Deng felt his senses were becoming strange. Everything in sight looked blurrier and felt more distant than before.

Kiryu suddenly appeared, wielding a sword that flashed with purple light to block Kamaitachi's fatal blow for him and Kinoshita Mai... But this was not the most shocking thing for Aoto.

What shocked Aoto the most was the brown robe that Kiryu was wearing.

Qingdeng recognized the brown robe... and he would probably never forget it for the rest of his life.

Back then, he copied his first eternal talent, "The Boundless Hachiman," from the mysterious man wearing this brown robe!

Before Qingdeng could recover from the wave of "astonishment" he was currently immersed in, a new wave of "astonishment" unexpectedly crashed down on him again.

"The Demon Sword Vairocana...?!"

The expressions on the face of the Kamaitachi, who had just experienced this strange change, were far more interesting and complex than those of Qing Deng and the others.

He seemed to recognize the purple-glowing blade that was blocking his beloved sword, and cold sweat broke out on his face instantly. He murmured a dry "demon blade" in his throat.

Immediately afterwards, he abruptly raised his gaze, looking past the "demon sword" to the person wielding it... namely Kiryu.

His eyes, which had been flashing with a fierce light, suddenly became empty and blank.

She was clearly looking at Kiryu, but it seemed like she wasn't looking at anything at all.

His entire being was floating in some terrifying state.

A moment later, as if the "defense mechanism" in his body had been automatically activated, Kamaitachi leaped backward with great force, putting more than ten steps between himself and Kiryu in one breath, and then stared intently at Kiryu.

His voice trembled.

Despite his best efforts to control himself, his voice, trembling uncontrollably, still escaped from between his lips and teeth, which seemed to be chewing blood through his gums:

"Kuro Mamiya...! What are you doing here?!"

Hearing the name Mamiya Kuro... the surging emotions that Qing Deng had just managed to suppress surged up again in his heart.

"Mamiya Kuro...?" Qing Deng couldn't help but repeat the name softly.

A string of memories popped up automatically in his mind and flashed quickly before Qingdeng's eyes.

He had heard that name before… just recently, from Chiba Eijiro's mouth—

……

(If the legendary 'ship-slaying swordsman' Mamiya Kuro is truly living in seclusion in Edo as the rumors say... then the title of 'strongest in Edo' will never fall to me.)

……

The atmosphere became strange.

The space where a life-or-death battle had just taken place was now enveloped in a strange, tranquil atmosphere due to Kiryu's sudden appearance.

Whether it was Kamaitachi, Aoto, or Kinoshita Mai, everyone focused their gazes, filled with varying emotions, on the old man who had caused this series of strange events.

Kiryu ignored Kamaitachi's question.

He didn't even glance at the Kamaitachi, who had widened the gap between him and Kamaitachi due to his earlier leap.

With a calm expression, he quietly sheathed the knife he was holding in his right hand, which was turned upside down, into the scabbard he was holding in his left hand, and then lowered his body deeply...

This is the stance for Iaijutsu – the art of drawing one's sword.

“...Tachibana-kun”.

Kiryu maintained his posture facing Kamaitachi, slightly tilting his head as he called out Tachibana-kun's name while raising his gaze to look at Aoto behind him.

The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

"Okay."

He spoke slowly and deliberately to Qingdeng, who instinctively met his gaze when his name was suddenly called.

"What follows... is not something every swordsman will be fortunate enough to witness."

Having said that, Kiryu withdrew his gaze and turned his head and eyes back to the front.

"?!"—Kamaitachi's voice was trembling at first... but when he saw Kiryu lower his body and assume a stance for drawing his sword, not only his voice, but his lips, his hands and feet, and his entire body began to tremble violently!

It was like encountering one's natural enemy.

It was like encountering some terrifying, gigantic monster.

It was like encountering a terrifying natural disaster that was beyond human control.

Almost without hesitation, Kamaitachi raised his right foot, preparing to take a large step back, wanting to get away from Kiryu.

He had no intention whatsoever of opposing Kiryu.

To be precise... from the moment he saw Kiryu, Kamaitachi had lost all will to fight.

Escape! We must escape! — The desire to flee was written all over the Kamaitachi's face.

The weasel's right foot, which had been stepping high backward, touched the solid ground behind him. Just as he was about to step back with his other foot—

……

……

--Um?

The Kamaitachi stared blankly at the scene before it.

The sight that met its eyes caused the Kamaitachi to momentarily lose its composure.

hand.

He saw a severed arm, wielding a large, curved knife, fly past him, sweep across his entire field of vision, and fall to his feet.

Kamaitachi was all too familiar with that hand and the sword it held.

Because this is his right hand, and his beloved knife...

His right arm was severed cleanly at the elbow.

His entire upper body was also severed.

Pfft!

The sound of flesh tearing open and blood splattering mingled together, sending a chill down the weasel's spine.

A huge gash, seemingly about to split the entire upper body of the Kamaitachi in two, stretched from the Kamaitachi's right thigh all the way to his left collarbone.

Kiryu, who was just standing more than ten steps away, is now standing in front of Kamaitachi.

He leaned forward, his right hand gripping the gleaming purple blade, while his left hand tightly clutched the scabbard tucked into his left waist.

He maintained his stance, the purple afterimages from the rapid swing of the sword still lingering on the tip of the blade in his hand.

With his amazing dynamic vision, Qingdeng was able to see what had just happened.

In that instant, Kiryu, lowering his center of gravity, moved with the speed of teleportation, almost like flying close to the ground, and flashed in front of Kamaitachi. Then, he drew his sword and with a sword-drawing technique so fast that even Aoto's eyes couldn't keep up, he severed Kamaitachi's right arm and cleaved a huge wound in Kamaitachi's upper body.

In that instant, a string of memories once again flashed through Qingdeng's mind, passing before his eyes—

……

(It means exactly what it says. According to legend, this swordsman once sailed alone in a small boat under the cover of night, sneaked under the hull of a Western ironclad warship, and then sliced ​​through its outer armor with a single stroke.)

……

*******

*******

The battle is finally over! (Slams keyboard.jpg)

Yesterday's enthusiastic voting far exceeded the target... To show my gratitude for everyone's strong support, I'm lowering the monthly ticket reward target today. The current monthly ticket count is 2352. If we can reach 2400 tickets today, I'll continue with a long chapter of 10,000 words tomorrow!

Although the final battle at the end of the volume is over, the author still wants to continue updating at a rate of 10,000 words per day to finish the ending of the first volume.

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Chapter 188 Qing Deng's Promotion and the Thief's Change?

[Ding! Talent detected]

[Successfully replicated talent: "Bear Waist"]

[Talent Introduction: Explosive power in the waist area is easier than that of ordinary people]

The system notification sounded out of Qing Deng's mind out of the blue.

Successfully copied the talent from the Kamaitachi.

It seems that only now has the system finally determined that the battle between Qingdeng and Kamaitachi has ended.

Qing Deng wasn't listening to what the system voice that suddenly appeared was saying at all.