He would hone his skills properly and gain another source of support in the process.
So the next day's battle was even livelier. Automatons, arrows fired from hiding, and darting figures crossed paths amid constant clacking. If the Back Mountain had a mountain god, they probably would have driven it mad.
Over the course of the day, Tetsu no Sosuke gained considerable insight into using the Combat Automaton. He had never taken it out for a spin before, but he could bring it along the next time he went out. It might prove useful in unexpected ways.
The Wind Pillar and Flame Pillar made progress too, though they had been behind Tetsu no Sosuke in this respect from the start. After all, he had helped develop the Combat Automaton and already understood it to some extent.
Those two, however, had been completely in the dark. When the fighting began that day, Tetsu no Sosuke and his Combat Automaton kept both of them, along with Shinobu Kocho, firmly on the defensive.
One man and one automaton advanced and followed up, appearing on the left one moment and suddenly on the right the next. Their shifting tactics truly caught their opponents off guard.
Only after they had more or less figured out how to use the things did the fighting gradually return to its original pattern. Even then, Tetsu no Sosuke's advantage left them despairing, so whenever an opening appeared that day, they all launched fierce attacks on him.
Yet even after an entire day of that, they barely managed to gain anything.
By the third day, the two men's weapons were essentially finished, but they seemed to have forgotten all about them.
They had spent the whole previous night studying their Combat Automatons, preparing to avenge their earlier humiliation.
Tetsu no