Sword Skill Duel

As Sasuke lunged toward Sasaki Kojiro, he broke the seal on his wrist guard and unleashed the Kusanagi Sword!

In an instant, Sasuke, wielding the Kusanagi Sword in his right hand, thrust himself before Sasaki Kojiro and swung horizontally at his neck!

Sasaki Kojiro hurriedly held his blade vertically to block the left side!

"Clang!!!"

The moment their weapons collided, a piercing, shrill sound erupted! Furthermore, the immense impact generated by Sasuke's swing instantly tore apart the side of the stone steps!

The stone steps, which had been repaired by Caster with magecraft just yesterday, were destroyed once again!

Sasaki Kojiro, whose expression had been calm just a moment ago, now looked incredibly grave; he even had to grit his teeth and exert all his strength just to block Sasuke's horizontal slash!

The impact of this strike seemed to tear the surrounding air apart! The resulting gale howled, blowing Sasaki Kojiro's blue ponytail into a chaotic dance!

Although he had relied on his extreme agility to block Sasuke's thrust and horizontal slash, Sasuke twisted the hilt, and accompanied by a sharp metallic ring, he instantly transitioned from a downward press to an upward strike!

The sharp blade slashed upward toward Sasaki Kojiro's chin!

Having lost the initiative, Sasaki Kojiro had no choice but to adopt a defensive stance again, stepping back and holding his blade horizontally to press down and block Sasuke's upward strike!

"Boom—"

The sword wind roared, echoing through the starry night like the cry of a dragon!

All of this was merely the effect of Sasuke channeling chakra throughout his entire body.

Although the one standing here was only a Shadow Clone of Sasuke, given the high probability of combat today, Sasuke had provided this Shadow Clone with sufficient chakra.

In just a single breath, Sasuke forced Sasaki Kojiro, who held the terrain advantage, back several steps.

Behind them, Saber knew exactly what she had to do.

That was to seize the opportunity to charge into Ryudou Temple!

Thinking this, Saber whispered a reminder to Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka, who were still standing by, caught off guard:

"Shirou!"

"Rin!"

Hearing this, the two stunned individuals instantly understood Saber's intent!

Seeing that they understood, Saber, wielding her invisible sword, charged toward the top of Ryudou Temple at maximum speed!

Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka followed closely behind the wind-breaking Saber!

Seeing this, Sasaki Kojiro realized things were going poorly and hurriedly retreated another step!

Taking advantage of this brief opening, Sasaki Kojiro utilized the terrain to swing his Nodachi with all his might, knocking aside Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword!

He then swung his blade, intending to intercept Saber and her group!

But at that very moment, a skeletal arm radiating a dark purple glow gripped the blade of Sasaki Kojiro's Nodachi tightly!

In an instant, with his blade restrained, Sasaki Kojiro lost the best opportunity to intercept Saber and the others.

This allowed Saber and her group to slip past him the next moment and charge into Ryudou Temple!

[Susanoo]

Sasuke, with his Mangekyou Sharingan activated, was now encased within the initial stage of Susanoo. Under the dark purple glow, Sasuke's expression was somewhat gloomy:

"Sasaki Kojiro."

"This will be the last time you fight in this world."

As he finished speaking, the skeletal arm of Susanoo that held Sasaki Kojiro's blade slowly dissipated, and the ribcage protecting Sasuke also faded away.

A moment later, Caster's angry reprimand echoed from the Ryudou Temple above:

"Assassin, what exactly are you doing!!!"

The calm, emotional female voice from before had become impatient and furious.

Sasaki Kojiro listened to Caster's scolding with an indifferent expression. He looked at Sasuke, offered a wry smile, and shrugged helplessly:

"Sigh, if that vixen spent more time preparing for this, she wouldn't be taking her anger out on me like this."

Even though Sasaki Kojiro could handle various battles by relying on the terrain, his so-called advantage was completely non-existent when faced with Sasuke's Susanoo.

Originally, Sasaki Kojiro could use the terrain to fight from a higher position, but Sasuke, using Susanoo, could simply ignore the terrain and even suppress him in return.

Especially just now, when Sasaki Kojiro was distracted by the desire to intercept Saber and the others, he was riddled with openings as far as Sasuke was concerned.

Yet, even in such a situation, Sasuke had not taken the opportunity to strike.

Sasaki Kojiro did not quite understand Sasuke's current actions, so he spoke up:

"You clearly had the power to kill me, so why hold back?"

"That vixen up there is not an easy opponent to deal with."

"The Servant who just rushed up was Saber, right?"

"Or are you so confident that Saber can defeat that vixen?"

Sasuke, holding the Kusanagi Sword in one hand at the bottom of the stairs, looked indifferent:

"It doesn't matter."

"Whether Saber is here or not, neither you nor Caster will survive the night."

"As for why I didn't kill you just now..."

"It was merely a whim."

"Besides, it would be a pity to waste such fine swordsmanship if I were to kill you so easily."

Even though Sasaki Kojiro's mana was subpar, his swordsmanship was truly worthy of the title of master swordsman.

Perhaps Sasuke had been itching for a real fight after so long, or perhaps it was out of genuine appreciation for Sasaki Kojiro.

Sasuke wanted to test his swordsmanship against Sasaki Kojiro's.

"Hahahaha!"

Hearing this, Sasaki Kojiro held his blade high and laughed, but as his laughter faded, his expression sharpened, and he slowly raised his Nodachi with both hands.

The blade glinted coldly under the bright moonlight; at this moment, Sasaki Kojiro no longer cared about what was happening inside Ryudou Temple, focusing entirely on facing Sasuke.

And this was exactly the outcome Sasuke had intended.

The great battle was on the verge of erupting.

Unlike Sasuke, who had seized the initiative earlier, this time it was Sasaki Kojiro who struck first!

The silent night sky seemed to be torn asunder as Sasaki Kojiro's blade sliced through the air, descending in a vertical slash toward Sasuke's head!

But Sasuke, with his Mangekyou Sharingan activated, had already clearly observed Sasaki Kojiro's intent and raised his blade with extreme speed to intercept!

A powerful shockwave erupted once again at the point where their weapons met, shaking the trees on both sides!

The mere clash of metal could not have unleashed such destructive force.

The human eye could no longer track such high-speed combat; even a video camera would only capture the two of them blurring into streaks of light, keeping each other in check with their swordsmanship.

Sparks flew across the field, and the figures of the two combatants moved back and forth across the stone steps, accompanied by thunderous booms!

Every step they took shattered the ground beneath them!

The wind pressure generated by every swing of their blades leveled the surrounding trees!

The stone steps were like foam, flying in all directions as they fought, even being pulverized into dust in an instant, scattering into the night sky!

After another round concluded, the once-neat stone steps leading to Ryudou Temple had become riddled with craters.

Whether by some unspoken mutual understanding or not, the two stood facing each other on a relatively flat patch of ground, not far apart.

The time had come to decide the victor.