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"My condition is simple," Amaterasu declared. "Whoever gets thrown out of the ring loses."
"What?! THAT’S BORING!" Susanoo complained loudly.
"Fine," Maria said calmly.
"She agrees, Susanoo," Amaterasu noted. "Be a man and don’t disappoint the lady, she fancies you."
Susanoo glanced back at Maria’s smile. A strange sensation stirred in his chest, and a faint blush crept across his face.
"Uuugh, fine..." he sighed, shrugging. "Whatever. Show what you’ve got, Maria!"
"Alright, Susanoo-sama!" Maria nodded.
"Heh, just call Susanoo," he replied with a carefree smile.
They faced each other. Susanoo reached for his blade.
"Hey, can soone give her a sword? You don’t have one?" he asked.
"I do," Maria answered with a smile.
"Hm?!" Susanoo’s eyes widened as she drew a blade directly from her own soul.
A sword forged from her very soul!
"Y-You’re using your soul as a sword?!" he asked, genuinely shocked. "But what if it gets cut?!"
"My soul is tougher than any tal I’ve ever found, so I forged it into my preferred sword," Maria replied. She closed her eyes and pointed the blade forward.
When she opened them again, her red eyes turned gold, glowing with fierce intensity.
Susanoo felt a powerful surge of Ki flowing through her body.
Sharp as a blade—pure sword Ki!
"So you co from Murim?"
"I was there for a while. Were you?"
"I once visited the place, learned a lot, but never found anyone who could match ."
"Not even the Heavenly Emperor or the Heavenly Demon?"
"Ah, back then they weren’t born yet. Those new rascals must be quite strong if you’re ntioning them!"
"Hah, you would be very surprised."
"Then...!"
"Yeah."
Both stood in silence for a mont. Amaterasu looked down and sighed.
"Comnce the battle!"
FLASH!
In an instant, Maria and Susanoo vanished.
"Eh?"
"What?!"
"Where did they go...?"
CLASH!
Out of nowhere, an explosion of slicing sword Ki erupted.
Then...
CLANK!
CLANK!
CLANK!
The sound of their blades clashing echoed through the air.
The Kami below could barely follow what was happening.
But Susanoo’s siblings could see them.
His brother and Maria.
They moved at a staggering, almost impossible speed!
"How is this woman matching brother’s movents so fast?!" Tsukuyomi asked, stunned.
"She’s not just a monster in raw power alone—she’s... an Outer God who sohow mastered swordsmanship," Amaterasu said, her lips trembling slightly.
"Hahaha! You’re fast!"
"You too!"
Maria and Susanoo laughed, wide smiles spreading across their faces as their swords t again and again!
"I’m getting serious! Keep up!"
Susanoo transford into white lightning, vanishing and reappearing above Maria. His sword rushed down toward her neck!
Maria smiled in response. Her blade surged upward, clashing against his katana and pushing him back into the air.
"Ooho?!"
Susanoo laughed as he was forced upward.
"What was that! It was... like a do?!"
"I’ve created my own swordsmanship... So far, there are thirteen—no, fourteen forms."
"Heh, then we’re the sa."
Susanoo disappeared again.
He rushed toward Maria from the left.
As she moved to parry...
A second Susanoo appeared from the right.
And behind.
And in front!
"An illusion? No—this is solid energy shaped into form...! Sword Spirits?!"
Maria was caught off guard. Though fundantally different, Susanoo had sohow created a technique eerily similar to Dream Ghost.
Attacking from every angle, how could she retaliate?
TRUUUM!
A do of swords manifested around her. Susanoo’s clones were flung away.
The do was unstable, it rotated, its blades thrusting forward, stabbing anything that touched her.
"Hah! It’s tougher than I thought. Then how about this?!"
Susanoo ascended from below. His Aura gathered into the shape of a Blade Dragon.
A giant, long dragon whose horn was shaped like a long, sharp blade!
"ROOOAARR!"
The dragon’s roar echoed as Susanoo’s blade struck Maria from beneath her do.
Her do trembled... and then...
BOOOM!
It exploded, shocking Maria.
"He’s good!"
Maria smiled. She transford into a dragonfly made of lightning and darted behind him.
"Heh!"
Susanoo intercepted her with a horizontal slash.
Maria t it with a downward spiraling strike, forcing his katana toward his own chest.
"Ooohhh?!"
Susanoo was stunned—amazed!
He quickly pushed back with raw power and sent Maria flying downward.
CLASH!
Maria landed. Susanoo descended with the sa technique, summoning a dragon from his Sword Ki!
Maria smiled. Nine Dream Soul Spheres appeared, overlapping in her mind and pushing her thinking speed to an absurd level.
At the sa ti, her Nightmare Soul Heart beca her second sword.
RUMBLE!
The ground shattered beneath her as Maria soared into the sky.
Her ghostly aura rged with her blades. Phantasmal flas clashed against the dragon’s jaws.
BOOOM!
An explosion of sword energies erupted, flas spreading in all directions.
Susanoo attacked with unrelenting force, forcing Maria onto the defensive.
He swung his blade relentlessly, like a lumberjack chopping wood with an axe.
Maria gritted her teeth. Winds and thunder surged from her Aura.
"HEYAAA!"
With a powerful cry, her swords unleashed a tornado of sword energy. It collided with Susanoo and sent him flying upward.
"Hahahaha!"
Susanoo laughed. His own Aura summoned a storm. Lightning gathered in his blade as both swords clashed, explosions of wind and thunder spreading everywhere.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
The battle shook the heavens. Everyone below scread in shock. The Kami watched in awe, and Susanoo’s siblings sat on the edge of their seats.
On the surface, people panicked as dark clouds gathered, filled with thunder and violent winds.
"The Kami are furious!"
"What’s happening in heaven?!"
"A great battle...!"
"A battle between dragons!"
Ignoring the chaos around them, Maria and Susanoo fought on. Thunder and winds surged with every movent.
Susanoo vanished, drawing his blade and slashing through Maria!
SLAAASH!
Yet he couldn’t harm her. Maria turned into lightning, evaded, and reappeared behind him, her sword swinging toward his back.
Susanoo blocked with his scabbard, then struck her stomach with it before landing a slash across her shoulder.
"Got you!"
Maria smiled.
BAAAM!
She kicked his face. Her sword surged upward toward his neck!
Her blade could not be stopped. Susanoo could not escape.
And yet... he smiled.
This was incredibly fun.
The most exhilarating sensation he had felt in ages.
"Who is this woman? Just who is this wonderful, beautiful woman?!"
His heart pounded faster and faster. He was utterly fascinated.
In that mont...
To survive, Susanoo evolved.
For the first ti in hundreds of thousands of years...
He had to create a new martial art to survive!
His sword rushed toward his own neck, spinning and forming a force field of sword Ki and winds.
TRUUUM!
Maria’s sword was repelled.
"What?!"
She was shaken!
He was too good, a heavenly talent with the blade like no other.
"Hahahah! Where have you been my entire life, Maria?!"
Susanoo laughed, charging downward like a thunderous dragon.
"I ask the sa, Susanoo!"
Maria smiled. Her body, sword, and soul rged into one.
And then...
FLASH!
"What?!"
Susanoo’s eyes widened as Maria vanished, and a giant wasp appeared.
"Gaah?!"
It pierced his chest with a sharp stinger.
And as it did, Maria reappeared, her sword driving deep into his chest.
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