Chapter 0651 Ryo vs Marie I
Translator: Jay_Forestieri
Editor: Tseirp
But the first action Marie Cloche took was a strange one.
She sheathed the sword she had drawn—the blade she called ‘Kotetsu’.
And slipped it into her belt.
She loosened the mouth of the scabbard, bent her knees, lowered her hips, and leaned forward.
Her left hand held the scabbard; her right hand only barely touched the hilt...
“No way... battoujutsu.”
Ryo muttered.
Battoujutsu, or iaijutsu.
A technique found almost only using the Japanese sword, anywhere in the world.
So say “iaijutsu isn’t fast”, but that cos from not understanding the folded-arm structure and wrist mobility.
To be blunt: it’s fast.
Though surprised, Ryo quickly cald himself.
As usual, he took a seigan* stance. (TLN: A fundantal kendo sword guard)
At no point would Ryo adopt a battoujutsu stance himself.
To trade battoujutsu blows would be reckless... or rather, impossible with the Murasa...
Ryo noticed Marie’s presence changing once she took the battoujutsu stance.
Gradually, deeply, and with increasing density.
The very air around them felt it...
Slash.
Ryo’s abdon was sliced in a straight line.
He leapt back in panic, but it was too late.
However, that was not the end!
Battoujutsu is a set that includes the attack that follows.
Clang.
Ryo received Marie’s downward cut.
Because he knew the sequence—the cut following Battoujutsu, the second strike—he was able to react.
But...
Clang, clang, clang...
Marie’s flurry continued.
Contrary to the single flash of battou, she forced the exchange with power and speed.
Ryo withstood it.
(A flurry combining power and speed, and with a katana, no less! )
A Japanese sword’s nature is to cut and to thrust.
Simply pressing a blade against sothing won’t cut. You must pull or push.
Each of Marie’s strikes perford exactly that.
And then a thrust from below, after a diagonal slash and a slight pull of the blade.
That thrust, woven into the flurry, was surprisingly troubleso.
Still, this was Ryo.
Unlike the initial battou, he began to show an ironclad defense.
After having all her strikes parried, Marie jumped back once to create distance.
“Amazing, Ryo.”
Marie praised him.
But Ryo could not answer.
He had no room to reply.
Only five minutes had passed since the clash of swords began.
And yet they had exchanged about twenty clashes.
The belly sliced by the first battou no longer bled.
He had ford an ice mbrane to stop the blood.
Of course, he couldn’t fight a long battle.
He exhaled deeply.
As a result, he inhaled deeply.
A forced deep breath.
“Fine. If you want to speak, speak with the sword.”
Marie said and once more she sheathed Kotetsu.
If Ryo could strike at that mont, it would be ideal... but of course, impossible.
It wasn’t that the physical damage he suffered was so severe.
It was impossible because Marie’s interception posture was already set.
If he plunged into Marie’s range now, even in this condition, he would be literally cut in two.
Her bending of the knees, lowering of the hips, the changing air—these were nothing more than the shift from intercept to attack.
There was no opening.
Ryo returned to seigan.
He had been in a half-open gaze, but now he closed his eyes completely.
Marie’s step-in was a godspeed so fast that even the sound of the wind she cut lagged.
The draw was superhumanly fast—impossible to track with the eyes.
Clang.
But Ryo’s Murasa accepted it.
He stepped forward as if to fall and countered with a diagonal slash.
That prevented Marie from delivering the second cut.
Marie again leapt far back to create distance.
“To think you can react even to iaijutsu.”
Her astonishnt exceeded praise.
“I could see it.”
Ryo answered.
“No way. You had your eyes closed, didn’t you?”
“Yes. In any case, I couldn’t catch it with my eyes.”
Marie pointed out, and Ryo agreed.
Of course, he didn’t close his eyes out of mockery.
“Could it be water-attribute magic? Using water vapor in the air or sothing?”
“Yes. No matter how fast sothing moves, it ‘pushes’ the water vapor. The pushed vapor is transmitted forward in succession...”
Simply put, Ryo had been continuously applying an ”
At that mont, lightning streaked.
It was the light of plasma.
Electrons freed from atomic nuclei—plasma.
Released imnse energy.
In an instant, the piled ice walls vanished.
Of course, the center too...
Dust and dirt danced.
After a while, the center beca visible.
“Amazing...”
Marie murmured.
At the center stood an ice object.
“Did you freeze yourself to prevent getting evaporated by the plasma?”
Marie murmured, shaking her head slightly.
She was not careless.
She was genuinely surprised.
But surprise ant the thread of tension had been cut.
Thud.
A blade bearing an ice edge thrust into Marie’s left chest.
More surprised by the result was not Marie, who had been pierced, but Ryo, the one who had stabbed.
His face imdiately distorted—his expression showed that he had struck in error.
Marie reacted and moved just a fraction to the right.
Ryo’s thrust had aid precisely at Marie’s heart, yet...
“”
A fist-sized fireball swelled instantly.
“”
Ryo deployed an icy package to wrap the fireball.
Of course, he knew he couldn’t fully suppress it.
What he needed now was not to suppress it completely.
He needed to buy a little ti.
Marie cast magic to create distance from Ryo.
So he must not let her get away!
Ryo pursued the retreating Marie.
He leaned forward.
“Foolish.”
The next mont, Ryo’s right arm was severed.
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