Wha... what!
In the dark, cramped little stone chamber, time seemed to have completely stopped. Suspended in midair, Chiba's eyes slowly widened, and an utterly unexpected look of horror gradually appeared on his turned face.
Reflected in his eyes was the blade edge that had grazed past the right side of the Masked Man's head, skimming the edge of his black hood.
At that moment, he hung sideways in midair, his left hand raised, his sword-wielding right hand extended to the side, caught in the posture of a reverse sword slash.
Directly beneath him, another Chiba shot forward, his eyes likewise widening bit by bit as an unexpected look of horror emerged on his face. He gripped his sword with both hands and swung it horizontally at an extremely low angle, yet the blade had only grazed the Masked Man's robe beneath his ribs.
At the same time, in the corner of this Chiba's vision, behind the Masked Man's figure as he dipped and leaned toward the front left, another Chiba flashed past at an angle. His face was filled with shock, his eyes slowly widening in disbelief as he stepped forward and thrust his sword diagonally out, its blade grazing the clothing on the Masked Man's leaning back!
This...
Impossible! At that moment, the fourth Chiba stood with both feet planted on the wall behind the Masked Man, his body in a half-crouch at a right angle to the floor, poised to launch himself forward. Amid the flickering emerald flames in his eyes, disbelief slowly filled his gaze.
The three incomparably swift Sparrow Flash strikes had all been evaded at the same time! Crack!
Just then, beneath the fourth Chiba's feet, a crack spanning the entire stone wall suddenly split open, spreading with a series of cracking sounds. It