"Uh..."
Rengo broke off for a moment, because he had thought of a way to escape her clutches.
He carefully considered it.
After a few breaths, he felt certain it could work.
"..." Seeing him stop halfway through his sentence, Yui frowned slightly.
"Speak, or I'll kill you!!"
Yui applied a little pressure, sinking the sharp blade a fraction deeper into his body...
"Argh..."
Rengo cried out in pain before finally coming back to his senses.
"Wait, wait, wait..."
"I'll talk, I'll talk..."
"Cough, cough..."
He feigned a few coughs to clear some of the rasp from his voice, then his eyes darted about.
"How about this..."
"During our fight just now, I noticed that your swordsmanship was very unpolished. I'd go so far as to say you've never learned any sword techniques at all. Am I right?"
Yui's frown deepened. She hadn't come here to listen to him talk about that.
With a slight movement of her hand, she drove the blade a little farther in.
"You..."
Feeling that peculiar pain, Rengo stopped dragging things out, inwardly cursing her for being so cold-hearted.
Only then did he explain what he had in mind.
"Here's the thing. There's a scroll at my waist containing a sword technique called the 'Moon Art.' I copied it from a mural when I was young."
"It was this sword technique that allowed me to become a Sword Saint."
"You could say it's extremely precious. The 'Full Moon Moment' I used just now is one of its Secret Techniques."
"This sword technique contains many Secret Techniques. Even I have only mastered one so far."
Rengo asked hopefully, "What do you think? I'll give you this sword technique, and you let me live. How about it?"
"Oh? A sword technique learned from a mural?"
Recalling the