Land of Iron, outskirts of Red Armor City.
A raging blizzard swept across the wilderness, cutting visibility to less than ten meters. The world was a chaotic blur of gray and white.
Howling winds swept up the thick snow on the ground, forming twisting snow dragons that lasted only a moment.
Yet, amid this furious natural curtain, the discordant clang of metal stubbornly pierced through the storm!
"Clang! Bang! Thud!"
The fierce clashes of weapons rang out—sometimes sharp, sometimes muffled, sometimes explosive—tearing through the wailing wind and snow with tremendous force and rhythm.
Suddenly!
"BOOM!!!!"
An especially heavy crash erupted, as if a sledgehammer had slammed into a solid iron anvil!
A towering, powerfully built figure stumbled backward from the center of the fight. His feet carved two deep furrows in the snow before the swirling white curtain swallowed him, hiding him from view.
Yet Soichiro Yagyu, who had struck his opponent back with a single blow of his staff, showed no sign of relief. Instead, his expression grew even more grave.
The dark iron staff in his hand drooped slightly, its shaft trembling with a distinct, high-frequency vibration.
In that last head-on clash, his opponent's strength had seemed even more concentrated and formidable than it had been the last time they fought!
Before he could dwell on it, a hearty shout, brimming with energy and even excitement, boomed through the swirling snow like a beating war drum:
"Hah!"
"My blood's pumping! Here I come!"
The moment the words rang out, the blizzard ahead seemed to be violently shoved aside by an invisible force!
A tall, robust figure burst through the snow. The weapon in his hands had changed; it was no longer an ordinary katana, but a massive black halberd, archaic and fearsome in design.
The enormous blade gleamed