Amid the dust filling the sky, Gion slowly emerged, her left shoulder stained red with blood, her soft, lotus-root-like arm hanging limply at her side. She likely could not continue this battle.
"You were right. Anything can happen in battle, and asking the enemy to confirm it is the stupidest thing one can do!" Gion said seriously, gripping the hilt of her sword with her right hand as she walked toward Longinus once more.
"You still want to continue?" Longinus frowned slightly. "As a swordsman, you should understand better than I do the difference between wielding a sword with both hands and with one."
"If it's a battle, then it only ends when one side falls! Besides, I've known since I was young that, due to the limits of strength, no female swordsman has ever become the world's greatest swordsman. To achieve that goal, my swordsmanship has always focused on technique and speed. Strength does not affect me as much as it affects others."
"So please, continue fighting me!"
"The world's greatest swordsman? That's quite an ambitious goal. For a true swordsman like you, I really have no reason to refuse."
"An enemy's pity is a swordsman's shame!" A brilliant smile bloomed across Gion's face. It seemed she had not smiled this happily in a long time. "Thank you for acknowledging my conviction instead of pitying me because of my injuries."
"Next, I'll fight with everything I have—Death Waltz!" Gion's steps were light, like an elf weaving through flowers, every movement brimming with striking beauty.
Yet hidden beneath that dazzling dance was slash after slash. They were attacks restrained to the utmost degree; even the ground along their paths remained completely unharmed, as though they were gentle clear winds devoid of any force.
Longinus's gaze sharpened, and he sprang sharply