With a powerful push of her long legs against the ground, Gion's figure leaped high into the air. She then assumed the stance for a draw cut midair, and the instant she lunged before Wood, the blade flashed from its sheath!
Because she was moving too fast, several Gions appeared before Wood. But Wood knew that only one of them was real. The others were merely afterimages formed by her excessive speed.
The several Gions before him simultaneously assumed the stance for drawing their swords before Wood. This dazzling sword technique made the onlookers around them cheer in awe, and some even thought Wood might be cut down on the spot.
"Clang------!"
Yet in the very next second, the two swords collided once more. This time, not only were the other spectators shocked—even the Gion before Wood wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Had her sword technique been seen through?
But that made no sense. This was the first time she had formally crossed swords with Wood, and she had never used this move before him. How could he have seen through it?
The so-called "iaijutsu" relied on the extreme speed of the blade leaving its sheath to kill the enemy. If the draw cut was blocked and the sword could not be sheathed again, then strictly speaking, the technique had already been countered.
Using the guard of Tenku, Wood easily knocked Kompira aside. Then, without the slightest mercy, he kicked Gion in the abdomen, sending her flying several meters away.
As she was kicked back, Gion plunged Kompira into the ground to cushion her fall. She braced herself with one hand and finally regained her footing. Just as she was preparing to attack Wood again, she discovered that Wood had already vanished from her field of vision.
"Ittoryu: Moon Dance!"
Gion had just risen to her feet when the alarm bells suddenly rang in her heart for no apparent reason. The instant she turned around, she saw Wood's vanished figure abruptly appear before her, already bringing his sword down.
Wood had originally thought he could end the fight there, but he was clearly startled by Gion's astonishing reaction speed.
The long sword in his hand, which had originally been intended to stop just short of its target, accelerated again through the air. As the air split apart, a crescent-shaped slash instantly shot from Tenku in Wood's hand!
The External Slash released at such close range was blocked just as its power erupted by Gion, who held her sword horizontally.
But the crescent-shaped slash carried tremendous impact. Even though Gion had defended in time, her body was still driven back nearly ten meters, her feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground.
"Ranbu: Cunning Rabbit!"
After halting her retreat, Gion felt the slight numbness in her arm. She finally understood that not only had she failed to gain the advantage in strength, she had also fallen behind in speed.
Kompira danced in her hand, its blade flashing through the air and leaving countless afterimages. A dense barrage of tiny slashes shot toward Wood.
Yet faced with these scattered slashes, Wood did not panic in the slightest. His feet stamped against the ground at an extremely high frequency, and in the next second, his body vanished from the spot just as it had before.
"Wood, you've hidden your abilities even more deeply than I imagined. You've actually mastered one of the Six Styles ahead of time—the 'Soru'!
"But... I'm still the winner this time! Although I haven't mastered Soru, I'm not unfamiliar with the technique. And I know that you'll approach me again in the same way as before.
"And you won't act like a proper swordsman, attacking me from behind!"
Watching Wood use Soru to evade her continuous slashes, Gion was not surprised in the slightest. As she watched Wood's rapidly moving figure disappear, she seemed to have seen through his thoughts and stood motionless in place.
When Wood arrived behind Gion and prepared to stab her in the back again, he heard her muttering. Just as he sensed that something was wrong, Tenku in his hand had already pierced Gion's afterimage.
At the same time, Wood's Kenbunshoku Haki keenly sensed danger coming from above his head.
Since he had predicted the danger in advance, Wood was fully capable of evading the attack and even counterattacking for the win.
However, just as Wood instinctively prepared to strike back, another thought suddenly occurred to him.
What would happen if he defeated Gion during their spar?
It would undoubtedly be very troublesome! He had only narrowly beaten her in the area of shooting, where she was not proficient, and she had kept it against him ever since.
If he defeated Gion in swordsmanship, her greatest strength, wouldn't he lose all peace from then on? She might demand a duel every few days.
Thinking of the consequences of winning, Wood forcibly restrained the hand that had been about to counterattack. He watched Gion leap down from the air, Kompira pointed at his throat.
"Do you know what it means for a rabbit to have three burrows? Those consecutive slashes earlier were merely a feint.
"Although I'm slightly inferior to you in speed, strength, and even sword technique, battles between swordsmen aren't decided by those things alone.
"Resolve, willpower, and perception are all equally important factors in determining victory. Because I understand you so well, I knew that someone like you would disregard a swordsman's dignity and choose to attack from behind."
Having won the spar, Gion felt as refreshed as someone drinking an ice-cold soda in the height of summer.
Ever since she had met Wood, she had always been the one suffering setbacks. This was the first time she had gotten the chance to lecture him so openly.
"What do you mean, disregarding a swordsman's status and dignity...? What I'm doing is clearly being an assassin-type swordsman. Don't make me sound so despicable, okay?"
Hearing Gion's words, Wood wore an utterly speechless expression. He then tried to argue that what he had done was caution, not a despicable sneak attack.
Besides, did being a "swordsman" mean one had to fight their opponent head-on with complete openness? He did not subscribe to that nonsense about wounds from behind being a swordsman's disgrace. As long as he could kill his enemy for certain, wasn't that enough?
"That's completely sophistry. What 'swordsman' wins by attacking from behind? And I won the spar, which proves that I'm the one who's right!"
"All right, you're well-endowed, so everything you say is... You win. You're right about everything."
Wood abandoned the idea of arguing with Gion, because he knew that trying to reason with a woman was futile—even if he was in the right, he would never be able to explain himself.
Besides, he had already decided not to provoke Gion again. Now that he had been defeated cleanly and thoroughly, the other party probably would not pester him anymore.
"You're admitting defeat just like that? Don't you feel unwilling to accept such a narrow loss and want revenge or something?
"After all, you had the upper hand in hard attributes like speed and strength just now."
Gion had been in an excellent mood after winning the spar. But when she saw Wood's indifferent attitude, she suddenly felt that she had not truly won after all...
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