Xia Xi had expected his opening probes to be easily neutralized.
After all, his opponent was one of the Nine Hashira.
But this spar wasn't about defeating him. It was about showing everything Xia Xi could do and testing his ideas for future sword techniques and fighting methods.
So all he needed to do was give it his all.
His flowing combination paused briefly.
Shifting into a staggered stance, Xia Xi quickly raised both arms into a guard.
Meanwhile, his feet bounced in light, rapid little steps.
Igarashi paused in surprise.
The stance looked somewhat familiar. He had seen it while studying in the West...
"That stance of yours..."
That was right. Modern boxing.
The corners of Xia Xi's mouth lifted.
And in that instant of surprise, Xia Xi began moving.
A slide to the right.
His body rotated in the opposite direction, pivoting around his waist and abdomen.
Then he immediately linked it into a slide to the left.
Without activating any Breathing Style, his rapid lateral movements and shifts in balance alone dragged out trails of afterimages within a space barely two body-widths across.
It was a pendulum motion tracing an ∞.
Pendulum Shift!
This was footwork Xia Xi had learned in a boxing game.
Although Igarashi could roughly predict his movements, the sheer frequency of his steps and motions made it difficult to find the ideal moment to strike.
If I don't use a Breathing Style or sword techniques...
The young Swordsman struck tentatively with the back of his blade, intending to test Xia Xi's capabilities.
But Xia Xi abruptly turned sideways mid-movement, avoiding the blade while driving Windbreaker forward.
Crossing their arms, he thrust along Igarashi's arm toward his neck.
Cross Counter!
It was as fast as a flash of lightning.
And because he had entangled his opponent's arm, Igarashi couldn't immediately change his move to block.
The attack was about to connect.
Yet the young Swordsman forcibly halted his slash, abruptly stepped backward, and tilted his head out of the way.
The jab grazed past his collarbone and missed.
Igarashi was astonished.
So was Xia Xi.
I pulled off the combo and a perfect defensive counter, and he still dodged from a position like that?
He hasn't even used a Breathing Style yet.
This senior fellow student I picked up... he's so strong it's thrilling. What a rush!
Can Pre-Initiative really produce such ridiculous predictions?
Then how about this move?
Rather than continuing to fight at close range, Xia Xi also stepped backward, opening a gap of more than half a body-length between himself and the retreating Igarashi.
The next second.
Thunder Breathing.
Vast quantities of oxygen surged through his entire body, briefly raising his physical capabilities by a considerable margin.
Instead of using the sword forms associated with the Breathing Style, Xia Xi employed a fairly basic fighting technique.
A jab.
It was as simple and fundamental as they came, yet its potential was immense.
Because of speed.
He abandoned full-body power, trading force and variation for the utmost speed.
Much like a thrust in swordsmanship.
Lightning Jab-Hit Combo!
Clang, clang, clang! Clang!
Four brilliant showers of sparks erupted almost simultaneously as the Mist Pillar blocked Xia Xi's attacks at an even greater speed.
No matter how fast an attack was, if its destination could be predicted...
Then its speed meant nothing.
Even if those swift punches carried the precision and ruthlessness of modern combat sports.
Igarashi turned slightly sideways, placed the back of his blade precisely against Windbreaker's point of leverage, then gently guided it aside.
Xia Xi immediately felt as though his final punch had hit empty air, and his balance shifted with it.
His fifth jab had been dismantled before it could land!
Meanwhile, the Mist Pillar's other hand held his scabbard, flowing toward the opening beneath Xia Xi's ribs.
Wind Breathing!
Xia Xi reacted extremely quickly, forcibly twisting his body. Wind Breathing's fluidity let him evade the attack with the slightest movement while his left arm lashed out like a whip.
Not a slicing blow, but a chopping smash.
A heavy punch!
It borrowed the whipping force of an ancient martial art, Splitting-Hanging Fist: fierce, swift, and crushingly powerful.
Bang!
Gauntlet met scabbard with a dull, drumlike thud.
"Interesting." The Mist Pillar's voice remained steady. "You abandon sword forms entirely and channel your Breathing Style's power through the most primitive form of striking?"
Then he turned his wrist slightly, sending a supple yet irresistible force along the scabbard and into Xia Xi's Punch Dagger.
It sent him stumbling several steps.
He didn't fall? His footing is much steadier than I expected, too.
Then I can try applying a little more pressure.
The next second, Igarashi's Nichirin Blade abruptly accelerated, slipping toward Xia Xi like a breeze that found every opening.
Xia Xi drew a breath and mustered every ounce of strength to defend himself.
But each collision between Punch Dagger and blade disrupted his force, making what should have been precise blocks increasingly desperate.
Igarashi's swordplay was exceedingly subtle.
Every tap, deflection, guiding motion, and press landed precisely at a crucial point in Xia Xi's exertion, or in the gap between one burst of strength ending and the next beginning.
For a moment, Xia Xi felt he wasn't fighting a person.
He was fighting an omnipresent net woven from prediction.
This Pre-Initiative is so annoying!
Xia Xi changed his approach again.
He linked a fierce straight punch into a low sweeping kick, but the Mist Pillar seemed to have seen through it already.
His Nichirin Blade blocked the straight punch half a beat early.
Then he shifted half a step backward, letting the low sweep miss.
He even had enough leeway to slash toward the neck Xia Xi had exposed with his kick.
A light sweat began to bead on Xia Xi's forehead.
At that moment, offense and defense reversed.
The current Mist Pillar had completely suppressed Xia Xi.
Amid the continuous sparks and sharp clashes, Xia Xi's stamina was plummeting.
I can't keep letting him dictate the fight!
Let's try that move...
Xia Xi abruptly pulled away and once again adopted a stance completely different from boxing.
Water Breathing!
Faint ripples spread beneath Xia Xi's feet. By intensely focusing his body, energy, and mind, he had constructed a defensive zone centered on himself.
It was the result of his recent attempts to analyze Pre-Initiative.
It was also a wall of prediction built from countless hours of gaming.
Or perhaps the embryonic form of a "domain."
The Mist Pillar's keen strike had only just crossed the boundary of that defense.
Xia Xi's Windbreaker moved.
Blade scraped against blade, throwing off fierce sparks.
Yet Igarashi felt scarcely any resistance through his Nichirin Blade. It thrust in with ease...
No. It brushed Xia Xi's uniform as he spun rapidly... and cut through empty air.
Minimalist Water Air-Control Circle.
This is...
The ultimate dissipation of force?
A trace of astonishment appeared in Igarashi's eyes.
Before that surprise had passed, Xia Xi straightened his stance and drew his right fist back to his waist.
His power was forcibly compressed, gathering at a single point in his lower abdomen.
Then it poured back through his entire body.
Stone Breathing!
This unfinished move borrowed a principle of extreme power generation, mobilizing every muscle in his body and concentrating their strength at a single point.
One step.
He entered the Mist Pillar's centerline.
One step.
His body became a bow, his feet its anchors.
The next instant, the stone beneath Xia Xi's feet abruptly cracked.
This was no longer a technical jab or a method of dissipating force. It was the most primal, most savage straight punch!
Ahead of his fist, compressed air formed visibly distorted ripples and erupted in a low roar.
Layer upon layer.
His power drove forward with his body, force surging like overlapping waves and pouring out beyond his limits.
Inch Punch!
Facing a blow beyond the comprehension of Swordsmen at Xia Xi's level, the Mist Pillar Igarashi finally lost his composure, his expression turning solemn.
He stopped wielding his sword one-handed and gripped the hilt with both hands.
He raised his blade and braced his defense.
He caught Xia Xi's Punch Dagger as it suddenly loomed before him.
I can block this...
But Xia Xi's move didn't end there.
Total Concentration!
His body pressed closer.
And within those scant inches, Xia Xi's force began stacking, resonating, and transforming!
Following his instincts, Xia Xi drove that power forward one more step, compressed to such an extreme that it felt ready to burst his arm apart.
Inch Punch!
Inch Punch!
Inch Punch!
Inch Punch, now-
SPLIT!!!
In that instant, Xia Xi's punch surpassed even his full strength.
It was also the all-out punch of someone who had once ranked among the top hundred at the world championships.
He had recreated his martial art in this world.
The utmost power, and the pinnacle of technique.
Inch Punch Splitter!
BOOM!!!
It wasn't the ringing of metal, but the sound of muffled thunder exploding at point-blank range.
That was Total Concentration far beyond an ordinary Swordsman's!
An explosive impact nearly twice as powerful, brutally overwhelming and concentrated to the utmost!
Igarashi felt as though a massive siege hammer had struck him head-on!
What is that?!
Even his Pre-Initiative hadn't predicted this move.
Caught off guard, he could no longer hold anything back.
Mist Breathing.
Sixth Form: Green Mountain Supporting the Wind.
The Nichirin Blade spun with the crisp mountain wind, generating intricate, deft forces as it tried to dissipate that terrifying power like channels diverting a raging flood.
...but
In the end, Igarashi had changed his move too late.
I can't block it.
The next instant, still holding his flawless guard, he became a fixed pivot against a force far beyond his calculations.
His entire body retained its graceful posture as that irresistible force blasted him backward, sending him skidding.
Then he was knocked off his feet and sent flying!
The Mist Pillar flipped nimbly through the air, steadily bleeding off that tremendous force.
At last, he landed firmly more than five meters away.
Yet beneath his feet, a dense web of cracks quietly spread across the ground.
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