Rod vs. Kanzaki Kaori [2]

As Rod's words fell, Kanzaki Kaori gripped her blade tightly, stamped her foot, and instantly appeared before him, swinging a fierce slash at his neck.

Rod spread his arms wide, then brought his hands together and caught the blade between his palms. A perfect barehanded blade catch stopped it dead in its tracks.

Yet that seemingly ordinary slash had cleaved the row of high-rise buildings behind Rod in two from their foundations, splitting them apart in unison.

Boom! In the blink of an eye, Rod seized Kanzaki Kaori's blade with his bare hands. Terrifying strength dragged her along with him as their overlapping figures crashed into a building that was continuously collapsing.

As the building fell, the two began a hand-to-hand offensive and defensive battle between the floors, too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Rod was the first to kick the Seven Heavens Seven Blades from Kanzaki Kaori's grip. Ignoring her fallen weapon, she drove a fist containing terrifying power toward Rod's head.

Boom! As their fists crossed, a terrifying impact suddenly erupted, blasting the already-collapsed building apart from its center.

Yet neither of their fists slowed in the slightest. Thunderous explosive crashes rang out one after another, and the clash of their terrifying strength made the entire street tremble on a small scale.

Boom boom boom boom!!! Fists moving so fast that only afterimages could be seen continuously unleashed roaring shockwaves, further pulverizing the fragments of ruined buildings around them into dust that scattered on the wind.

"Ora ora ora!!!" Rod grinned broadly and shouted with eager excitement.

What does that mean? Kanzaki Kaori thought, but she could not ask. The pain transmitted through her fists left her unable to spare even the slightest bit of attention for questions. She had already entered a state of intense concentration.

Clang clang clang clang!!! Invisible slashes continuously appeared, severing every building within a hundred-meter radius and sending them crumbling in all directions.

Boom!? The sounds of building wreckage striking the ground rang out. Only a few seconds had passed since their clash began, yet the surrounding buildings had already become utterly devastated.

Kanzaki Kaori was high in the air. Just as she retrieved the Seven Heavens Seven Blades, Rod grabbed an elevator from a building, used it like a rope to bind her, and flung her into another building.

She plunged into the building like a cannonball, followed immediately by several massive chunks of rubble hurled wildly at Rod through the gaping hole.

"Heh!" Rod delivered a powerful flying kick, sending the massive rubble hurtling like a soccer ball straight into the center of the opening. He even sent along a Dismantle with it.

A huge diagonal gash appeared across the high-rise. A faint wound appeared on Kanzaki Kaori's smooth, flawless abdomen, thin streams of blood flowing from it—yet somehow making her appear even more valiant and dashing.

Kanzaki Kaori's body was extraordinarily resilient. As expected of one of the Saints—she had actually withstood Rod's Dismantle with nothing but her body.

Without hesitating over the pain from her wound, strands of magic power wrapped around Kanzaki Kaori's body. She suddenly burst forth at supersonic speed, attacking Rod like a cannonball.

Their figures overlapped once more. Roaring crashes came from every direction as countless high-rise buildings were blasted away. In less than a few seconds, the two had crossed nearly a thousand meters, leaving every building along the way utterly destroyed and in ruins.

"Hahahahahaha!!!" Rod's wild laughter echoed through the area, fully revealing his soaring mood.

"You can see them, can't you? My slashes!?" Rod asked Kanzaki Kaori excitedly. At the same time, he swung his right hand, and countless slashes appeared around her, forcing the Kanzaki Kaori who had been about to cut him down to endure their momentum and fall toward the ground.

"Ah! I can see them perfectly clearly!?" Kanzaki Kaori fiercely swung the Seven Heavens Seven Blades to block them. Though slash marks were beginning to cover her body, she answered Rod with a hint of excitement.

Countless slashes, whether they struck or missed, reduced the surrounding buildings to ruins. The entire school district was caught up in the battle, unable to escape its devastation.

Kanzaki Kaori, whose body was covered in slash wounds and who looked like a person drenched in blood, was violently smashed into the ground before rebounding upward.

Rod then kicked her in the back, sending her flying away. Kanzaki Kaori twisted herself around in midair, drove her blade into the ground, and skidded for hundreds of meters before barely coming to a stop. Her exquisite face was covered in sweat and blood, and her trembling wrist clearly showed that she was beginning to lose strength.

"Hahaha, good, very good. Entertain me to your heart's content, Kanzaki Kaori." Rod laughed wantonly. The clash of fist against fist and blade against slash had made his blood boil for the first time in a long while.

His surging fighting spirit was enough for Rod to use that move.

"Phew... Hah... Phew... I admit that, at my current level, I cannot let you enjoy yourself, sir. But please witness my Nanasen." Kanzaki Kaori panted as she spoke, sheathing her long sword, lowering her body, and taking her stance.

A vast amount of magic power visibly began to compress, and the sharp edge emanating from Kanzaki Kaori could be clearly felt.

"Just what I wanted." Rod took his stance as well. Crimson cursed energy gathered over both palms, and his smile faded. This was Rod's acknowledgment of Kanzaki Kaori—acknowledgment that she was qualified to make him get slightly serious.

The surrounding space suddenly fell silent, as though the world had lost all color at that moment, leaving only the two figures staring at one another.

Her sharp gaze fixed directly on Rod as her aura surged.

Clang!

A flash of snow-bright blade light appeared in Rod's eyes. Fast! Fast to the absolute extreme!

Nanasen was a technique that used the power of the Son of God in an instant. As a Saint, Kanzaki could wield a portion of the Son of God's power. Nanasen did not merely amplify movement; even if it surpassed human limits, it would not damage the muscles.

Black Flash occurred when the discrepancy between a physical strike and the impact of cursed energy was less than 0.000001 seconds, producing intense spatial distortion as cursed energy flashed with black light.

"Nanasen!"

"Black Flash!" Their figures converged. Fist and blade collided, and power compressed to an extreme at a single point erupted. There was no explosion, no roar—only an incomparably brilliant blade radiance and an impact shining black and crimson like streaks of lightning.

Gathering, compressing—the two terrifying impacts twisted, tore, and even made the space around them wail!