Extreme Blade Flash

There was another time, on a dark, windy night.

Rokuya finished his extra late-night training and dragged his exhausted, ravenously hungry body back toward his room to eat. As he walked along a secluded mountain path, low growls suddenly came from the bushes on either side.

"Grrr!"

Three enormous wild wolves with scarlet eyes lunged out, surrounding Rokuya. They were a size larger than ordinary wolves, with blood from some unknown animal still clinging to their jaws, clearly in a state of extreme hunger and frenzy.

Rokuya sniffed, keenly detecting a faint, bloody herbal scent drifting through the air. It was the scent of some kind of bait that could enrage wild beasts, and it clung to the hem of the training clothes he usually wore.

"You really never learn."

Rokuya sighed, not even interested in drawing his blade. As he watched the three vicious wolves pounce, the glittering gold text on the system panel surfaced in his mind-[Single-Target Critical Strike Rule: When there is only one enemy unit within sight/attack range, damage is forcibly increased by 50%.]

Although there were three wolves now, Rokuya's combat experience told him that as long as he divided the battlefield, the passive could still trigger.

Boom!

Rokuya's thighs surged with power as Thunder Breathing flowed through his meridians, but this time, he did not rely entirely on Thunder Breathing, instead combining it with his own explosive strength.

His entire body shot forward like a cannonball, not in a straight line, but along a slight curve!

He instantly appeared beside the first wolf, turning his right hand into a blade and striking its cervical spine with precision.

Crack!

The sound of shattering bone rang especially crisply through the night. Before the first wolf could even yelp, it flew away like a ragged sack.

Immediately afterward, Rokuya used the momentum of his chop to wrench his body around, stamping a deep crater into the ground with his right foot and forcibly changing the direction of his charge. The movement defied conventional physics, making his bones groan under the strain, but his far-beyond-human constitution endured it.

"The second."

Rokuya appeared before the second wolf and drove a fist into its forehead. With a dull impact, its skull caved straight in, splattering red and white matter across the ground.

The last wolf was terrified out of its wits by the bloody scene and tucked its tail between its legs, trying to flee.

"Think you can get away?"

Rokuya's gaze sharpened, locking onto the lone fleeing wolf.

Trigger, he silently said to himself.

Only that single target remained in his field of vision, and the system passive instantly activated. Power materialized out of nowhere and flooded every part of Rokuya's body, making him feel incredibly light in that instant.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"

Golden lightning tore through the night. This time, he moved too fast for the naked eye to follow.

There was not the slightest pause, nor any dispersal of power.

Rokuya's palm, like the sharpest blade in the world, instantly pierced the final wolf's body, splitting it in two!

Blood gushed out, staining the front of Rokuya's clothes red.

Standing in the pool of blood, he slowly flicked the blood from his hand and looked coldly into the depths of the nearby woods.

"Enjoyed the show?" Rokuya's voice was quiet, yet it carried clearly through the silent night. "Skulking around like a sewer rat. What, you dare do it but won't own up to it?"

The woods were deathly silent, save for the rustle of wind through the leaves.

A moment later, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

Kaigaku's face was ashen, his hand gripping the Real Sword tightly, undisguised jealousy and venom burning in his eyes. He had originally intended to use the wolves to wear down Rokuya's stamina, then pretend to hear the commotion and rush over to "rescue" him, taking the opportunity to "accidentally" sever one of Rokuya's legs.

But the strength Rokuya displayed utterly shattered his fantasy. That was not power a human should possess!

"You... what kind of monster are you?" Kaigaku's voice held a trace of trembling, but more than that, anger. "Why should a bastard of unknown origins like you win Master's favor? Why should you learn the First Form in just a few days? You damned country bumpkin, you're sullying Thunder Breathing!"

"Sullying it?"

Rokuya looked at him coldly, a mocking curve tugging at his lips. "A useless piece of trash who can't even learn the most basic First Form thinks he's qualified to talk to me about Thunder Breathing?"

"Shut up!"

Those words struck Kaigaku's rawest nerve. He roared like a beast and drew the Nichirin Blade at his waist with a clang, its edge gleaming with a chilling light.

"I'll kill you! Once I kill you, Master will only have eyes for me! The heir to Thunder Breathing can only be me!"

Kaigaku drove power into his legs, illusory black lightning erupting around him-a manifestation of his Breathing Style, mutated by the resentment filling his heart.

"Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit!"

Kaigaku unleashed five consecutive strikes in an instant, the flashing blade forming an interwoven net that sealed every avenue of retreat for Rokuya. The crescent-shaped slashes bore lethal edges as they closed in on his vital points.

It had to be said that although Kaigaku's character was despicable, he truly had worked hard on every sword form apart from the First Form. Those five consecutive strikes were fast and vicious; an ordinary swordsman would likely have been sliced to pieces in an instant.

But standing before him was Takanashi Rokuno.

A man who had come from another world, possessed an absolute cheat, and never played fair in a fight.

"You talk too much. Try taking one strike from me first!"

Facing the blade flashes filling the air, Rokuya advanced instead of retreating. He did not draw the spare iron blade Jigoro Kuwajima had given him from his waist, but stepped straight toward Kaigaku's blade.

"You're asking for death!" Wild delight flashed in Kaigaku's eyes. He thought Rokuya had abandoned resistance.

But in the next second, that delight froze on his face.

Rokuya's gaze changed. His formerly gentle, languid eyes instantly became as cold as a deity's, as though a sovereign on high were looking down upon an ant.

An utterly terrifying pressure erupted from Rokuya's body, and the surrounding air seemed to freeze in that instant. A faint silver-blue glow vaguely flowed across his skin-the manifestation of Invincible Might's initial stage!

"What?!" Kaigaku felt his breath catch, his body instinctively trembling.

At the very instant Kaigaku's blade was about to strike him, Rokuya moved.

"Thunder Breathing, Modified..."

Rokuya drew a deep breath, the muscles in his legs suddenly swelling as golden lightning and silver-blue Magic Power instantly intertwined. Rather than charging straight ahead as he had before, he twisted his ankle at an uncanny angle the instant he surged forward, using his core strength to forcibly alter his trajectory!

This was the result of his relentless training, day and night, over the past two months.

By combining Thunder Breathing's explosive straight-line movement with his own powerful constitution, he could change direction at high speed through instantaneous joint locking and muscular twisting!

"-Extreme Blade Flash!"

Boom!

A deafening sonic boom erupted through the mountain forest.

Kaigaku's vision blurred, and Rokuya's figure somehow passed through his impenetrable net of blades. That speed was a notch faster than the traditional Thunderclap and Flash, but even more terrifying was the suffocating sensation bearing down on him!

There were no unnecessary movements, nor any flashy techniques.

Rokuya clenched his right fist, and the instant he locked onto Kaigaku alone in his field of vision, the system passive forcibly triggered!

[Single target locked-damage increased by 50%!]

Rokuya's fist, carrying the sound of wind and thunder, slammed hard into the side of Kaigaku's swinging Nichirin Blade.

Clang-crack!

The Nichirin Blade, forged from fine steel, let out a wail the instant it touched Rokuya's fist, then snapped clean in the middle!

The tremendous force traveled through the broken blade into Kaigaku's arms. He felt as though both arms had been struck by a speeding train.

"Pfft!"

Kaigaku spat out a mouthful of blood, his whole body flying backward like a kite with its string cut. He smashed through three large trees in succession before crashing heavily to the ground.