บท 12: Chapter 12: Training Partner
Just after Kirataka began to spar with Sister Leilu, Yae Sakura suddenly spoke in his mind.
The ancient Far Eastern martial art, Hokushin Itto-ryu, is a sword technique created by the famous Far Eastern swordsman Hokushin Mei in the past. Even she, a shrine maiden living in the remote Yae Village, has heard of it before.
In this kind of sword fighting on the battlefield, every move is aimed at depriving the opponent of his fighting power and ending the battle quickly and without injury.
Although it may not have much effect on those huge Honkai beasts, it will have a huge advantage when dealing with human-sized opponents like Kirataka.
"Is she a descendant of the Beichen lineage? Judging from her skilled posture... I think she has probably reached the level of being able to pass on all the knowledge."
Yae Sakura commented.
The so-called 'transmitting all the knowledge without permission' means that one has already reached a high level and mastered all the tricks and secrets of that school.
'So how does your Yae family's swordsmanship compare to the Hokushin Itto-ryu?'
Kirataka still had some leisure time to communicate with the miko in his mind.
'…In terms of the sophistication of the technique, it is completely incomparable,' Yaezakura answered honestly.
——As a shrine maiden living in a remote village, although she has never relaxed her practice of swordsmanship, due to the lack of guidance from a famous teacher, her achievements in swordsmanship are actually quite limited.
Her sword skills were all honed and summarized through her daily training and were not the skills of famous masters.
Of course, although her sword skills were inferior to the other party, she could still see how far the other party had come.
'Moreover... this Herrscher is much easier to communicate with than I thought,' Yae Sakura said silently.
As someone who had the 'fortune' to personally experience being dominated by the will of the Herrscher, she knew very well the state of losing oneself.
The Herrschers will use overly strong negative emotions to overwhelm the original self and then replace it.
She had originally prepared to fight to the death with the other party, but judging from the current situation, her awareness seemed a little redundant...
What was originally thought to be a life-and-death contest has now turned into a pure swordplay competition.
Well, it's not quite right to call it a competition. After all, whether in terms of strength or skill, Kirataka was in a state of being suppressed.
With just a casual move, she could use the perfect angle and strength to send him flying.
Under such circumstances, Kirataka soon met with defeat.
After being easily knocked away by the girl once again, the pain accumulated in Kirataka's body finally reached its limit.
'…That's it.'
The black purple-haired girl came over to Kirataka who was lying on the ground.
——He was still too weak and was knocked to the ground in less than thirty seconds.
If she wanted to kill him, she had countless opportunities in the previous confrontations.
'Anyway...it seems that he can no longer fight. What should he do now?'
'The girl, who is the Herrscher of Thunder, was a little confused.'
'Should I say something to show my concern for him now? No, I have not yet admitted that he is qualified to be my friend.'
For a moment, she stood beside Kirataka, motionless, not knowing what to do.
While the girl was struggling with herself, a thought flashed through Kirataka's mind.
'…Backtracking.'
Although he had temporarily 'forced his growth' to improve his strength, he was now facing a Herrscher after all. Although she obviously did not use her full strength, it was more than enough for her to bully a rookie like him.
However, despite the defeat, Kirataka felt quite happy about it.
——This is a rare sparring partner and opportunity.
It is true that he wants to change the future destiny of this Lei Lu personality from now on, but Kirataka also deeply understands that if he really wants to change something, he must have the power to match it.
Whether it was Cocolia in the early stages, Otto in the middle and late stages, or Kevin in the end...
If you want to stop them from doing something, you must have the corresponding ability.
Therefore, even if it is not for the girls he is familiar with, even if it is just for himself, Kirataka hopes to improve his strength as soon as possible.
The reason he was able to fight against the opponent with swords now was entirely due to the temporary possession of Yae Sakura, and it could not be considered his own strength. However, the memory and skills of using the sword could be remembered firmly by himself and put to good use in the future.
In short, now, let the other party become your swordsmanship instructor.
He had set the moment he saw the girl as the [save point] and began to practice fighting with her with swords over and over again.
He planned to keep repeating it as long as his spirit could bear it.
[The second time, you lasted thirty-five seconds under the hands of the Herrscher of Thunder]
[For the third time, you lasted forty-two seconds under the Herrscher of Thunder]
[For the fourth time, you held out for one minute under the Herrscher of Thunder]
[...]
[For the 198th time, your swordfight with the Herrscher of Thunder has lasted for more than three minutes]
[She no longer poses a threat to you simply relying on swordsmanship, so she began to use some of her powers, holding a sword in one hand and calling thunder with the other. Under the paralysis of the electric current, she easily knocked you to the ground again.]
[So, you began to exploit the power of the miko, no, Higokumaru, that possessed you to resist the lightning. Taking this opportunity, you began to learn the techniques of the Herrschers to control Honkai energy.]
[...]
[For the 326th time, you were able to hold your own despite not really risking your life.]
'…'
After a few minutes, the girl was very surprised to see Kirataka's persistence.
The way the other party responded to her swordplay was just like that of a friend who had been together day and night.
It was as if the other party knew her fighting skills very well and had experienced countless battles.
'...Did I miss something in Raiden Mei's memory?'
'And...could it be that what he said before wasn't a lie?'
The black purple-haired girl finally began to waver.
In essence, she still longs to communicate with others, friends, family... these are nouns that she has only seen in Raiden Mei's memory, and she also wants to have her own share.
Perhaps because of her momentary inner hesitation, the sword in her hand actually slowed down a little.
Kirataka, who was already very familiar with Mei's swordsmanship, instinctively seized this opportunity, suddenly raised his hand, and drew his sword, knocking the sword out of the opponent's hand.
The girl came to her senses and raised her hand to swing out thunder, also knocking away the [Spiritual Sword·Sakura Fubuki] in Kirataka's hand.
Despite this, due to inertia, she was accidentally knocked to the ground by Kirataka.
"…Alright, that's it."
Seeing Kirataka so close to her, she felt a little guilty and turned her eyes away.
For the first time, she had the idea of returning the control of this body to Raiden Mei and hiding away herself.
After hearing the other party's words, Kirataka felt relieved.
His previous guess was correct. This third Herrscher did not have such a strong desire to attack and destroy.
Otherwise, Kiana in the original timeline would not have been able to defeat the opponent through fighting.
Well, although she has a bad temper and is pretty heavy-handed, she is actually the type that is relatively easy to deal with.
Just when Kirataka was about to stand up——
"Mei-senpai, I'm here to save you!"
A white-haired figure suddenly appeared on the rooftop.
——This is Kiana Kaslana who arrived late.
Perhaps it was because the battle between Kirataka and Sister Leilu on the rooftop caught her attention, so she killed her way up.
She rushed up with a baseball bat that had many traces of battle on it and happened to see Kirataka knocking Mei down.
The white-haired girl didn't think too much about it because of her simple mind: Mei-senpai was her classmate from the same school, while Kirataka was a stranger she had never met before.
So, maybe, Kiana felt that he was the Herrscher who caused this destruction!
She did not make this conclusion based solely on her own thoughts. Kiana did feel a power similar to that of the Herrscher in Kirataka.
In short, since senior Mei is in trouble, she must help. Kiana rushed forward and hit Kirataka with a stick.
The force of this stick was quite strong - it should be said that he was worthy of being a member of the Kaslana family, and was born with extraordinary strength.
Of course, Kirataka was not injured by the stick, but his body, which was already a little tired from the battle, could not hold on any longer and was simply pressed down.
What a coincidence, their eyebrows are facing each other, their eyes are facing each other, their noses are facing each other, and their mouths... are facing each other.
"...!"
The black purple-haired girl's eyes widened immediately.
Kirataka was also a little confused. He only felt something extremely soft against his body and a warm touch coming from his lips.
——Well, for the boys and girls on both sides, this was probably their first real experience.
After a brief delay of a few seconds, Kiana's exclamation came from behind:
"Eh…Eh?!!!!!!"
...
When the rooftop was bustling with activity, a silver-haired girl arrived late.
She was Bronya.
——After taking a long detour, she finally found her mission target here.
It turns out that the mission target she had been looking for, Mei Raiden, had never left Chiba Academy since the outbreak of the Honkai.
However, she also noticed that at this moment on the rooftop besides Raiden Mei, there seemed to be two other people.
Through the remote observation of the Project Bunny, she determined that one of them was Kirataka, the survivor with a purple-haired little girl whom she had met in the city not long ago.
At that time, she was very sure that the other party was just an ordinary person without any combat power, but now the Honkai energy signal detection facility carried by the Project Bunny had fed back a very powerful signal to Bronya.
"…"
Was he deceiving her before? Was he not just a simple survivor?
A camouflage technique that can deceive the detection of the Project Bunny and her own observation...
This made Bronya slightly alert, and she did not immediately rush forward to capture her target.
As for the other white-haired girl... although Bronya didn't know her either, she didn't look like an ordinary person.
Fighting one against three is not a clear choice.
To be on the safe side, she stayed here and contacted her mother Cocolia through the biochip in her brain.
"…Report, mother Cocolia, Bronya has located Raiden Mei's location."
The silver-haired girl calmly told the blonde lady on the other end everything she had seen.
"Understood, Bronya. You were right not to attack rashly. I also received an important piece of information."
Cocolia's voice reached Bronya's mind:
"As for Schicksal...the warship of Saint Freya Academy will arrive in Nagazora in a while."
"…"
Bronya immediately realized something.
If the people from Schicksal were to arrive here, it would be impossible for her to take Raiden Mei away from here alone.
How could she possibly fight against a battleship with a squadron of Valkyries on her own?
However, if Mei Raiden is not taken away here, then Seele's return will be a long way off.
Thinking of this, Bronya's tone of voice in her communication with Cocolia became a little impatient:
"... mother Cocolia, please allow Bronya to go into battle immediately and retrieve Raiden Mei."
Even if the hope is slim, she is willing to give it a try.
"No, you don't have to act now, Bronya. I have my plans."
Cocolia methodically conveyed her plan to Bronya:
"I have arranged for a cluster of tactical mechas to rush there. They will arrive there earlier than the Hyperion. If all goes well, they can directly retrieve Raiden Mei before Schicksal arrives."
She had originally arranged for this batch of tactical mechas to be on standby at the edge of Nagazora.
Although Bronya is very powerful, Cocolia is somewhat worried about leaving the task of retrieving Raiden Mei to her, so she prepares some backup plans.
"…What if it doesn't go well?"
Bronya asked.
"If the tactical mecha fails in its action and is interfered with by those Valkyries of Schicksal or other factors... then you will try to get close to them and be rescued by Schicksal as a survivor. Find a way to get to Raiden Mei's side to monitor her whereabouts, and make subsequent arrangements based on the situation."
Cocolia arranged it this way.
As a girl born in Siberia, which is now mostly desolate, and who has lived in a secret orphanage for a long time, Bronya's identity is unknown to most people.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about her identity being discovered by Schicksal.
Using Bronya for positioning, if those guys from Schicksal plan to send Raiden Mei to some laboratory later, she can arrange troops to attack along the way and then take back the Third Herrscher.
She was determined to obtain the Third Herrscher.
"...Bronya understands."
The silver-haired girl stood up silently.
Just as Cocolia described, clusters of Titan mechas can be vaguely seen wherever the sight reaches.
If you look further, you can vaguely see a huge ship on the horizon. That must be the Hyperion.
Then, Bronya turned her attention to the rooftop of Chiba Academy.
This battle for Mei Raiden... seems to be coming to an end.
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