"In fact, you were almost as good as I was back then.
You're the first person who's forced me to use this move."
As his voice fell, Kamishiro Seigen made a strange movement-
Slowly and solemnly, he slid the gleaming Sword of No Thought back into its sheath.
Then he tightened his grip on the hilt.
"This sword is called-
"Final Form."
"Crack-!!"
The instant he drew his sword again, the seemingly sturdy, timeworn sheath cracked under the strain, countless spiderweb-like fissures spreading across its surface.
Then, with a bang, it shattered completely, sending countless metal fragments flying in all directions!
The cold light once contained within the blade suddenly blazed forth, as though it had broken free of every restraint.
A terrifying, matchlessly sharp sword intent soared into the sky, seemingly capable of severing anything!
Under its pressure, the pale fungi and twisted plants around them silently withered and crumbled!
"Once I use this sword strike, the sheath is bound to be destroyed. The sheath itself is a high-grade Echo Creation."
Kamishiro Seigen's voice was cold, his face bearing the grief of someone who had sacrificed a cherished possession.
"You can be proud to die beneath this sword strike of mine."
"Qiji, run!"
Liuli seemed to know something of how terrifying Kamishiro Seigen's sword strike was. She cried out in alarm, doing her utmost to warn him.
But Qiji could not possibly run.
Liuli had overestimated Kamishiro Seigen and underestimated Qiji.
The fight between them had never been an even match. It was-
A one-sided crushing.
Sensing the utterly different aura around his opponent, several times more dangerous than before, Qiji finally put away his carefree attitude and sighed softly.
"Sigh... I originally wanted to capture you alive, but since you insist on seeking death... I have no choice."
"What?!"
Hearing Qiji speak so arrogantly even with death at his doorstep, Kamishiro Seigen was utterly enraged.
"Are you kidding me?! I admit, among your peers, you might be a one-in-ten-thousand genius. But with your current strength, you don't have the slightest chance of winning against my sword!"
"Oh?"
Qiji tilted his head slightly, his voice carrying a hint of amusement beneath his mask.
"You haven't even seen me fight at full strength, so how did you decide on your own that I was... already giving it my all?
In case you didn't know, let me tell you.
Compared to stomping an ant to death, it's pretty hard to control your strength when you want to hold it underfoot without killing it."
Qiji spoke casually, as though sharing an amusing bit of trivia.
"And that was exactly the condition I was playing with you under just now.
All right, playtime... is over."
As Qiji struck a pose and delivered his lines,
the bullet comments stirred once again:
"Compared to stomping an ant to death, holding it underfoot is harder!"
"I'm dying, where does he get all this trash talk?!"
"Streamer, be serious when you're fighting! (lol)"
"I admit it, you're better at trash talk!"
"You... bastard-!!!"
When it came to trash talk, even someone as arrogant as Kamishiro Seigen had to admit, with immense frustration, that he had lost. He had lost completely, utterly and miserably!
But that also unleashed the full extent of his fury.
"You little brat who only knows how to run his mouth, die!!!"
Kamishiro Seigen roared, his body seeming to merge with the light of his sword.
He became a streak of light, brilliant and dangerous to the extreme!
Man and sword as one, he shot toward Qiji with several times his previous speed and force!
Wherever the blade passed, the air let out a piercing shriek, and invisible sword qi plowed a deep furrow through the ground!
This sword strike contained all his Echo, his killing intent, and even the absolute explosive power gained by sacrificing his sheath!
It was the strongest strike he had ever unleashed in his life!
He was absolutely confident!
Any Echoer below the third tier who could not use Armed Vestment would surely die if struck by this sword.
The outcome was decided!
Kamishiro Seigen could almost see Qiji's heart pierced by his sword, blood spraying through the air.
And yet-
At the instant his sure-kill strike was about to reach Qiji's chest,
Qiji's figure blurred slightly...
Like an image with a poor signal, it distorted and doubled for an instant.
Then-
The sword passed through him.
As though it had pierced an illusory bubble.
The strike into which he had poured everything had hit empty air?
"How is that possible-!!!"
Kamishiro Seigen was so shocked that his pupils shrank to pinpoints in that instant.
Just as shocked was Liuli, who was racing over while enduring agonizing pain.
She knew Qiji was formidable. Back at the preparatory institute, she had already heard all sorts of stories about the monstrous things he had done.
But seeing it with her own eyes now still went far beyond the girl's understanding.
She had known Qiji was formidable, but she had never imagined he could be this formidable!
The sight, which defied all reason, filled Kamishiro Seigen with shock.
An afterimage?
No!
The sensation from his blade told him something really had "existed" there just now!
It was Blurring of Illusion and Reality.
In that instant, Qiji had used the Echo engraved on the Mask of Miracles, putting himself in a superposition of "existing and not existing" and perfectly evading the killing strike!
Though it lasted only an instant, that was enough.
Kamishiro Seigen's full-powered strike missed, and momentum carried his body involuntarily forward, leaving his guard wide open and every opening exposed.
The instant after evading the blade, Qiji's blurred figure solidified again, and he crashed into Kamishiro Seigen like a meteor.
Qiji used no flashy moves.
He simply raised his arm and bent his elbow.
Then, at Kamishiro Seigen's abdomen, taut from the exertion-
He drove his elbow down hard!
"Pfft!"
A dull, teeth-grating sound rang out, like leather tearing.
"Agh-!!!"
Kamishiro Seigen's eyes bulged, and his face instantly twisted and turned blue-purple from the unimaginable pain.
"Boom-!!!"
Like a ragged sack hit head-on by a train at full speed, Kamishiro Seigen's entire body folded into a horrifying curve. Blood mixed with pieces of shattered internal organs gushed from his mouth as he flew backward more than ten meters.
He slammed hard into a massive tree.
"Ugh... huh... huh..."
His body twitched unnaturally, and every breath brought up large amounts of bloody foam.
As he lay dying, his eyes were still filled with bewilderment, unable to understand or accept what had happened.
Qiji lightly brushed the nonexistent dust from his clothes.
He walked over to Kamishiro Seigen and slowly crouched down.
"So... you were this weak?"
His voice came through the mask, utterly flat, yet now it sounded more mocking than any other words could have.
"I thought you'd be a little stronger than I imagined.
How... boring.
I'll probably forget you by tomorrow."
Chapter 17: Giving a Victory Speech
"Impossible... absolutely impossible..."
Kamishiro Seigen lay on the ground, still unable to believe it even as he faced death.
"My Final Form: One Sword, the Kamishiro family's Final Form: One Sword... how could it lose..."
Qiji looked at him, seeing that he could not die in peace, and found it somewhat funny.
"Can't that crappy sword technique of yours lose?"
"It! Cough, cough! It... isn't a crappy sword technique! I... have never let it lose."
Kamishiro Seigen glared fiercely at Qiji. On his bloodstained face was the pride he had gained from more than ten years of practicing the sword.
"But now you've lost."
"Yes, I... I lost..."
Realizing that Qiji had spoken the truth, Kamishiro Seigen felt the last unwilling light in his eyes slowly fade.
The last words he spoke before dying were-
"I've brought shame... to Final Form: One Sword."
As viewers watched Qiji take Kamishiro Seigen down in one hit with his elbow, bullet comments floated past:
"I'm dying, your Final Form: One Sword doesn't look all that impressive to me."
"It's not as impressive as Prisoner Ji's elbow!"
"A crushing victory! A one-hit kill! Yes, yes, this is what I wanted to see!"