The "Qi Stream" gathering around Mogami... It’s far more than the "Qi Stream" that gathered around Yamada earlier!
"Are you the commander..." Aoto murmured.
As Aoto was sizing up Mogami, Mogami was also assessing Aoto.
"... Upon closer inspection, aren’t you Tachibana Aoto..." Mogami’s face was as dark as the clouds above them.
Being a key cadre in the Anti-foreigner Group, second only to Shinno, Mogami naturally recognized Aoto, who was one of their targets.
—They know ?
Hearing Mogami accurately call his na, Aoto instantly realized sothing, and his eyebrows furrowed tightly.
"...The group that has been frequently attacking recently, could it be you guys?"
"Heh." Mogami sneered coldly, "No comnt."
"What a coincidence... Barbarians and traitors all gathered together."
"It’s because of you that our casualties are so heavy..."
Mogami glanced at the short spear, still embedded with Yamada’s head, which Aoto had casually thrown aside earlier.
Mogami had been watching the battle from afar at the "Main Array," and wasn’t clear on what exactly happened at the frontline, causing their initially promising situation to be ruined.
But he vaguely saw—two people were rushing left and right amongst his subordinates, utterly destroying their formation.
Now, advancing to the frontline and seeing Aoto, one of their must-kill targets of the Anti-foreigner Group, with the short spear holding Yamada’s head, Mogami imdiately realized: the disastrous defeat of Yamada and the others likely had much to do with Aoto.
"Huff..." Mogami let out a long breath.
Following that...
Rustling—!
Mogami transford stillness into motion, wielding a long spear with both hands, and charged straight at Aoto, kicking up the snow underfoot!
Seeing Mogami suddenly attack, Saito, who had jumped three steps away to Aoto’s left earlier, instinctively wanted to rush forward to assist Aoto against Mogami, who clearly was no ordinary foe.
However, before Saito could move, he was assaulted by cries—a full four mbers of the "Reserve Team" attacked him!
The "Reserve Team" mbers, having stayed with Mogami in the "Main Array," hadn’t joined the battle earlier, so they were still full of energy and spirit.
About forty group mbers regained their fighting spirit due to Mogami’s tily reinforcents.
Together with the "Reserve Team," they launched a full counteroffensive.
Faced suddenly with such a vigorous new force... Despite looking grim, Oomura and his group were not extinguished by this unexpected adversity, given their surging fighting spirit and morale.
Fearlessly, Oomura and his group courageously engaged in fierce battle with the retaliating enemy crowd.
The four currently surrounding Saito weren’t particularly strong.
Under normal circumstances, Saito could quickly turn all four into corpses.
However... Saito’s stamina had nearly been exhausted due to the prolonged fight earlier...
Defending against their attacks was manageable, but he wasn’t capable of quickly eliminating all four.
Ugh...!
As Aoto entered his attack range, Mogami hesitated not, thrusting his spear!
The spearhead tore through the air, emitting a sharp, piercing sound.
Aoto rolled to the right, dodging just in ti to avoid Mogami’s Wind Cut before it struck.
Aoto’s roll was not aimless.
His sword was now in a "semi-broken" state and was no longer fit for combat.
He deliberately rolled toward a tachi buried upright in the ground to his right, which appeared still quite intact.
Rolling, landing, discarding the burdened sword, grabbing the sword embedded in the ground—all in one fluid motion.
Just as Aoto stood up with this new sword, Mogami launched another round of attacks.
Mogami aid once more at Aoto’s chest, thrusting his spear.
Again, the spearhead compressed the atmosphere, accompanied by a terrifying montum.
From the previous thrust, Aoto had detected: Mogami’s power is formidable! In terms of strength, Mogami was likely completely superior.
Knowing he was facing such a formidable foe, Aoto’s expression beca extrely serious and grave.
He dared not to directly counter Mogami’s attacks.
He kept a close eye on the spear tip approaching him.
As the Wind Cut spearhead was about to strike him, Aoto swiftly dodged sideways, allowing it to pass futilely by his side.
Seeing Aoto evade his attack yet again, Mogami’s eyebrow twitched slightly in surprise.
Being passive and continuously dodging Mogami’s attacks couldn’t defeat this formidable adversary.
Thus, after evading Mogami’s attack, Aoto forcefully stamped the ground and charged at Mogami like a raging bull, attempting to close in.
However, having only managed to run four steps forward, Mogami deftly retreated a step—
The sharp spear tip targeted Aoto again.
Advancing further would result in being skewered by the Wind Cut.
Consequently, Aoto had to halt, opting instead to jump sideways again to evade Mogami’s thrust.
Looking at Mogami’s long spear, Aoto couldn’t help but mutter:
—"Longer ’arms’ indeed provide an advantage..."
In his previous life, Aoto had heard of the "Three-part Statent" theory in the Japanese Martial Arts World.
A first-rank Sword Dao practitioner could defeat a third-rank Karate practitioner; a first-rank Spear Technique practitioner could defeat a third-rank Sword Dao practitioner or a ninth-rank Karate practitioner.
The numbers in this theory might not be accurate, but its conveyed concept is correct: in combat, those with a broader attacking range hold an advantage.
The long spear Mogami used was over three ters in total length.
The attack range... was far greater than Aoto’s.
Mogami could attack Aoto while Aoto couldn’t even touch Mogami.
"You are more capable than I imagined..." Mogami, with a cold expression, silently adjusted his spear-holding stance.
Confident in his spear technique, Mogami initially thought that a single thrust would suffice to end the life of this despicable traitor.
But now, he realized the opponent seed not so easy to deal with.
Silently adjusting his stance, Mogami sent the spear forward once again!
Seeing Mogami attacking again, Aoto quickly focused, eyes fixed on the rapidly enlarging spear tip in his field of vision.
Although Mogami possessed outstanding spear technique, with the power and attack range advantages, through those exchanges earlier, Aoto noted one disadvantage of Mogami.
Mogami’s spear speed was not fast.
His spear was strong and imposing, but the speed was not very fast.
With the "Eagle Eye" talent copied from Kondo Shuuzo, granting extraordinary vision, Aoto could effortlessly track Mogami’s spear trajectory.
The "Lone Brave" talent enhanced his reaction speed and agility to "Body Follows Heart."
This "Lone Brave" talent was indeed divine.
In a normal state, facing the spear thrusts from Mogami, Aoto thought even if his eyes followed the spear’s speed, his body might not react in ti.
But now, "Lone Brave" had directly enhanced Aoto’s power enough to barely keep up with Mogami’s spear speed.
Using "Eagle Eye" and "Lone Brave," Aoto dodged Mogami’s attack successfully again.
Then, Mogami suddenly altered his way of holding the spear.
He held the spear shaft further back—a classic technique in spear technique.
This holding thod further extended the long spear’s attacking range.
With the altered grip, Mogami spun the spear around like a windmill.
He was the center and the spear was the windmill’s blade.
One swing, two swings!
The long spear drew a beautiful arc, launching two consecutive sweeping attacks at Aoto!
When the spear swept the first ti, Aoto narrowly dodged it.
But during the second sweep, Aoto wasn’t as fortunate.
Aoto’s retreat was half a beat slower, and the spear tip grazed his chest, leaving a long bloody mark.
Aoto quickly jumped back several steps, increasing the distance between him and Mogami, then looked down at the injury on his chest.
Thankfully—the wound wasn’t very deep, only cutting through so flesh, not reaching the bone, just a superficial wound.
Ugh...!
The Wind Cut slashing through the air ca at Aoto once again!
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