Takeshi Yamamoto carried a bamboo sword over one shoulder, speaking with particular ease. "Please go easy on me, you two."
Faced with Yamamoto's provocation, the hot-tempered Superbi Squalo was the first to make a move. "Hmph, I'll wipe that smile off your face!"
For some reason, the harmless smile on Yamamoto's face set Superbi Squalo off. The mechanical prosthetic on his left arm bent backward at the wrist in a strange motion, opening a gap. A blade sprang out from within and slashed straight at Yamamoto.
It was a downward strike.
Yamamoto leaped high, dodging the slash and landing behind Superbi Squalo. He unleashed the fifth offensive technique of the Shigure Soen Style—Samidare!
Yamamoto feigned a swing of the bamboo sword in his hand, slashing at Superbi Squalo's back.
Superbi Squalo reacted quickly, twisting elegantly through the air and forcibly turning his body around to block with the blade on his arm.
Yamamoto promptly let go of his bamboo sword. He merely swung his empty hand, never touching Superbi Squalo's blade.
Superbi Squalo froze for a moment, unable to process what had happened.
The falling bamboo sword—
Was firmly caught by Yamamoto's hidden lower hand, then forcefully flicked upward.
That was the essence of the fifth offensive technique of the Shigure Soen Style, Samidare.
Its specialty was catching opponents off guard.
But Superbi Squalo's reactions were indeed fast. In his urgency, he instinctively jumped backward, dodging the blow aimed at his chin.
If that strike had landed squarely—
He would have been knocked unconscious with a concussion, forced out of the match.
Superbi Squalo had underestimated his opponent and nearly been hit.
Although he avoided the strike to his chin, Yamamoto changed moves on the fly, turning the upward flick into a horizontal slash aimed at Superbi Squalo's soft abdomen.