Watching Qian charge straight at him, Shimazu Shinya's heart trembled, and he turned to flee.
But when he saw Kambara Nobunaga rapidly approaching in the distance, he steadied himself again, tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand, and went to meet Qian.
Clink, clink, clang, clang—
Crisp sounds of metal colliding rang out. Qian wielded his Short Sword, moving like a ghost as he launched attack after attack around Shimazu Shinya.
Without anyone else restraining him, his blind-spot tactic could finally come into play.
However, Shimazu Shinya had fought him several times before and had managed to accumulate some experience, so for the moment, he actually did not reveal any major flaws.
And by the time Qian finally found an opening, Kambara Nobunaga had arrived again.
Left with no choice, he could only temporarily give up that chance and instead begin dealing with the two men's pincer attack at the same time.
Qian could clearly feel that Kambara Nobunaga was already fighting with everything he had. His moves were much more vicious than before, and at times he even used Shimazu Shinya as bait.
Unfortunately, in Qian's eyes, these little tricks were like fireflies in the dark—extremely conspicuous. Naturally, there was no way he would fall for them.
As the saying went, one push carried full force, the second weakened, and the third was exhausted.
The other side wanted to risk everything, but Qian refused to go along with their wishes. He simply dragged things out. Once their burst of strength passed, that would be his opportunity.
Time slipped by, second by second, and Kambara Nobunaga grew more and more anxious inside. As a jonin, of course he knew this state of mind was detrimental to battle.
But watching Qian block and counterattack with such ease, he still