"First Form: Todoroki." Tengen raises his blade above his head, preparing his devastating strike.
"Third Form: Gen'ei no Ayumi."
Just as Tengen is about to unleash his attack, I become a blur and vanish from his sight.
His eyes widen as he swings, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
BOOOMM!
CLANG!
Immediately after, he raises one of his blades in front of his neck, blocking my attack just in time.
I appear a few meters behind him. Uzui turns quickly and creates distance with a backward leap.
"That was pretty dangerous." His smile only grows wider.
I glance to the side, seeing the tear in the forest Tengen just made, and let out a puff of dark smoke from my breathing.
'More of a surprise attack. Not as effective after the first time,' I reflect on my Third Form, already knowing it wouldn't work as well again.
Tengen takes his stance once more and charges at me, spinning his blades in a strange way, trying to confuse me.
I pull the kusarigama's chain, spinning its weight around me the same way he does.
The weight and blades clash over and over again. Whenever one of Uzui's swords slips past my defense, I deflect it with the kusarigama.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
This exchange lasts for quite a while until Tengen drops his offensive stance.
I try to stop his retreat by swinging the weight vertically toward his torso, attempting to bind and trap him in my chain, but he simply leaps over it and regains his balance at a distance.
I pull the chain back and catch the weight in my palm.
"Come on, Hayashi! Show me your extravagant skills!" he shouts, spinning his blades over his shoulder.
"Call me Usan." I start spinning the weight at my side.
Tengen leans forward and dashes, circling the clearing laterally.
"Then call me Uzui, my friend."
After saying that, Uzui takes a deep breath and spins both swords in his hands, clashing them together and producing a thunderous sound that spreads like a wave across the clearing, making me flinch.
"Sound Breathing, Second Form: Kyomei."
Despite the disorientation, I keep my eyes on him, turning on my own axis to follow his movement.
Uzui's smile widens again, and he continues striking his swords together, repeatedly, with one or two seconds between each hit.
The sound resembles a tuning fork, but much louder, vibrating through every inch of my body.
The repetition begins to disrupt my sense of balance and direction.
Uzui takes advantage and closes in, swinging one of his blades sideways.
The sickle of my kusarigama meets his blade, deflecting it.
But Uzui uses the recoil to swing his other blade from the opposite side, forcing me to release the chain and draw my katana to block.
His other blade clashes against my kusarigama again.
He tries to overpower me in a struggle, using his weight to bring me down, but he can't overpower me, though he keeps trying.
My senses return to normal. I raise my index finger and point it at Uzui while still holding the katana.
He raises an eyebrow when I smile, then his eyes widen as he sees a dark shuriken forming at the tip of my finger.
Uzui breaks the struggle and leans back, dodging the shuriken.
He lets himself fall backward and, using his arm for support, spins his body and tries to land a kick on my ribs.
But his kick hits a shadow clone, his leg passes through it while the clone remains still.
Uzui quickly distances himself from the clone and looks around, spotting me as I sheath my katana and then extend the chain, coating the metal with a layer of shadows.
I begin spinning the chain above my head, but this time, it expands, reaching much farther.
Before Uzui can comment, I throw the weight toward him.
I don't use much force, we're not trying to kill each other.
It's even more dangerous since we're using real weapons, so we're holding back.
Uzui dodges by leaping to the side, letting the weight crash into a tree behind him.
CRAAASH!
The tree splits in half, along with five others lined up behind it.
I pull the weight back and resume spinning it at my side.
Uzui looks at the destruction, then turns to me with a face like: "O_O"
"How heavy did that get??"
I shrug, not entirely sure myself.
"Your fighting style reminds me of Gyomei, the Stone Hashira."
"Except the weight at the end of his chain is much heavier."
He looks back at the destruction behind him.
"But now I'm not so sure the actual weights are that different." Uzui shrugs and charges again.
This time, I move toward him, abandoning the defensive approach.
"Sound Breathing, Second Form: Kyomei."
His sound attack gives me a slight headache, but it's not as bad as before.
Dark smoke escapes my mouth as I lower my stance mid-charge.
"Shadow Breathing, Fifth Form: Ane no Ketsui."
I reach Uzui and unleash a rapid barrage of attacks. He manages to defend but can't create space to counter or retreat.
CLANG!
CLANG!
The remnants of my dark purple smoke begin gathering behind me, forming a feminine silhouette.
A woman made of shadows. From her build, she seems slightly younger than me.
She holds a shadow katana and wears a simple kimono.
Uzui goes on alert upon seeing the clone, likely expecting me to teleport again.
But, to his surprise, the woman joins me and begins attacking him.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
He grits his teeth, overwhelmed by the barrage.
"Sound Breathing, Fourth Form: Kyōzan Muken!"
He spins his blade faster, creating a near-impenetrable defensive barrier in front of him.
The barrage ends.
Uzui takes the opportunity to retreat, breathing heavily and nearly out of breath.
"Haaah… Haha… I wonder how many tricks you still have up your sleeve."
He wipes the sweat from his forehead, lifting his jeweled headband and brushing it with the back of his hand.
I release a puff of darkness.
The silhouette beside me slowly fades while looking at me with a gentle smile.
"I've still got a few good ones, hehe."
I turn to where the silhouette stood, smiling.
"Thank you, Sumire…" I murmur.
Uzui looks up at the sky, which is beginning to darken.
"Alright… your win this time. But next time, we'll bring training weapons so we can go all out." He places his swords back on his back.
"It was a good spar." I also store my kusarigama at my waist, dissolving the shadow layer on the chain.
We exchange a hand tap.
"Well, I've got to go."
"My THREE WIVES are waiting." And he leaves.
"…"
'Ouch.'
Score: 1–2 for Uzui.
─── ◆ ───
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