Kanae's Cover

Rokuya had been forced into an extremely defensive position.

He had to divide his attention to avoid the two swordsmen being used as human shields, severely restricting the paths of his attacks. Several times, he could have followed through with a slash at the Hand Demon's chest, but to avoid hurting the two men, he had been forced to pull back his blade and use his own body to withstand the attacks he could not fully evade.

Bang!

An arm as thick as a bucket swept in from his blind spot and slammed into Rokuya's left shoulder.

"Rokuya!" Kanae cried out from a distance.

Rokuya grunted, his entire body hurtling away like a cannonball. He crashed through three trees so thick it took two arms to encircle each one before barely managing to steady himself.

Blood surged through his left shoulder. Had the Arcana Armor's formidable defense not absorbed eighty percent of the impact, that blow alone would have completely shattered his left arm.

"Cough..." Rokuya spat out blood mixed with dirt, but his gaze only grew fiercer. "You've got some strength, but you hit like you haven't eaten."

"Still talking tough! Let's see how long you can last!" Thoroughly enraged by Rokuya's taunting, the Hand Demon doubled the frequency of its attacks again.

Arms rained down like a violent storm, pounding the area around Rokuya into near-total ruin. Dust billowed, obscuring everything from view.

Held aloft by the Hand Demon, the swordsman with the broken leg watched Rokuya repeatedly fall into danger and take blows to keep them out of harm's way. His eyes reddened.

"You idiot! Why do you care about us? You could have run!" the swordsman with the broken leg screamed hysterically, tears streaming freely down his face. "We're just strangers who happened to meet! Is it worth throwing your life away here for us? Go! I'm begging you, just go!"

"Shut up." Rokuya's cold voice came from within the dust. "I told you, if you keep making noise, I'll cut you down first. Anyone under my protection-even a complete stranger-is someone not even the king of hell can take right before my eyes."

Overbearing as those words were, they struck the two swordsmen's hearts like a heavy hammer. The swordsman who had been sobbing uncontrollably froze as well. Watching that silver-blue figure struggle to hold out amid the countless arms, he felt an indescribable shock and gratitude grow wildly in his heart.

On this despair-ridden Mount Fujikasane, on this hellish night, someone really was willing to stake his life on people he had nothing to do with!

Ding! Intense emotional fluctuations detected. Absorbing Gratitude Points...

The system's notification sounded extremely faintly in Rokuya's mind, but he had no attention to spare for it.

He had to find an opening!

With every swing of his blade, Rokuya calculated angles and distances.

To protect its most vulnerable point, its neck, the Hand Demon held the two swordsmen very high, almost completely shielding the area from its chin to its collarbones.

As long as I can make its arms shift even half a foot-even an opening lasting an instant-my single-target critical strike can take effect... Gritting his teeth, Rokuya swung again, severing three arms closing in on his face.

But the Hand Demon was exceedingly cunning. Its main body remained hidden within its defensive ring of arms as it steadily wore down Rokuya's stamina.

Keeping the Arcana Armor active already consumed a terrifying amount of stamina. Rokuya felt his stomach protesting, and waves of weakness began to assail him.

At that critical moment.

Kanae, who had remained at the edge, moved.

"How can I... keep standing behind him?" Kanae tightened her grip on her Nichirin Blade, her nails digging deep into her palm.

She recalled the sight of his back when they first met, as he stood before her and her younger sister with a broken wooden stick. She recalled how, half an hour ago, Rokuya had declared imperiously, "Anyone who dares call you a burden will answer to my blade."

"He's giving everything he has to protect these two complete strangers... If all I can still do is stand by and watch, what was the point of coming to this Final Selection?"

An unprecedented resolve and determination suddenly blazed in Kanae's gentle eyes.

She drew a deep breath of blood-scented air, and the special rhythm of Flower Breathing erupted within her small frame.

"Flower Breathing..." Kanae lowered her body slightly, like a butterfly about to spread its wings.

At that moment, all the Hand Demon's attention and all its brutality were focused on the silver-haired boy who made it feel threatened. Laughing wildly, it controlled dozens of arms, determined to pound Rokuya into pulp.

"Die! Die! Die!"

Just as the Hand Demon hurled its greatest wave of attacks at Rokuya, leaving an opening in its flank almost too small to see.

"Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo!"

A streak of pink light, like a spider lily suddenly blooming in the dark night, swept in along an eerily graceful arc from the blind spot on the Hand Demon's right!

"What?!" The eye beneath the Hand Demon's broken mask swiveled sharply.

But it was too fast!

Kanae poured all her strength into this one blow. Her Nichirin Blade traced a breathtaking arc of pink sword energy through the air, as soft as a celestial maiden's feathered robes, yet carrying an edge that could sever anything.

Slash-

Three bucket-thick arms were instantly severed at their bases by that pink sword energy!

Foul-smelling green blood gushed out like a fountain.

But she was not finished. Kanae's body never paused in midair. Following the momentum of her slash, she sharply twisted at the waist, turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees with effortless lightness.

"Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility!"

The pink sword energy instantly condensed into nine thrusts like peony petals, striking from every direction at viciously precise angles, all aimed at the constantly swiveling eye on the Hand Demon's right cheek!

"Aaaaaah-my eye!!"

With an agonized shriek, the Hand Demon's right eye burst under Kanae's sword energy, splattering thick fluid all over its face.

The tremendous pain briefly plunged the Hand Demon into madness and mindless fury.

"You insect! I'll kill you!!"

Roaring wildly, the Hand Demon instinctively swung the dozens of arms it had been directing at Rokuya, along with... two of the hands holding human shields in front of its chest, toward Kanae in midair!

"Kanae! Fall back!" Watching from below, Rokuya roared, his eyes stretched wide with fury.

The instant her attack struck its target, Kanae planted her Nichirin Blade against one of the Hand Demon's thick arms and pushed off, flying backward like a kite with a snapped string. But the Hand Demon's frenzied counterattack was far too fast. Its sharp nails grazed her haori, tearing away a large piece of fabric and even leaving a bloody gash on her fair arm.

Kanae hit the ground hard and rolled several times before stopping, but a gratified smile curved her lips.

Because she had seen it.

With the Hand Demon's frenzied swings, the "human shields" protecting its neck had shifted!

The two captured swordsmen had been swung away from the Hand Demon's chest by the violent movements of its arms. It was only a short half meter, but-

The Hand Demon's thick, utterly revolting neck, covered in blue-green scales, was fully exposed! Nothing stood in the way!