Is it really a good idea for me to go further than this? In that moment of hesitation, Asuma Hinoki stepped forward just the smallest bit.
Lynette’s body reacted on impulse to the sudden intense chilling fear that ran up her spine and raised her shield. When her body first moved, she wasn’t quite sure why—until she did.
Thwuck!
The broken pieces of her shield danced through the air...before she could even register that Asuma Hinoki had moved.
She hadn’t even felt the slash that had broken her shield. If her arm hadn’t moved, her body would’ve taken the hit. If she had angled her shield even slightly differently, it could have been her arm that was slashed off instead.
Wait. Slashed with a wooden katana? It sounded absurd thinking about it logically, but Lynette already knew it was possible; young Nia had shown her. If one person could do it, then it was possible for someone else too.
But what about this man in front of her?
Did she even need to consider the question? He had practically shown her. That had been a ridiculously fast strike.
Had she messed up? Had she just entered Asuma Hinoki’s attack range while she was practically defenseless?
Perhaps she should put some distance between them.
But her brain was screaming at her not to move. Right, if she retreated too carelessly, her opponent would just follow up with another attack. It was at dangerous times like this where it was important to not make any unnecessary moves.
In any case, she had to try and predict his next moves. The shattered pieces of her shield were still in the process of falling to the ground.
Maybe it was because she was so intensely focused, but so many thoughts had run through her head in that split second.
He had swung that wooden sword sideways and cut her shield right through.
What would he do next?
Well, of course, he would do a follow-up attack. He would try to slash Lynette again.
The issue was the timing. When would he strike?
From what she could remember of the Technique Nia had shown her, it was fast, but more importantly, it required very precise movements. It was a Technique that allowed one to cut objects with weapons that were ordinarily not capable of such things. Fressa had used something similar in her first round of the main matches, but what Asuma Hinoki had just displayed was far more advanced. That was how skilled he was with the sword.
It seemed impossible for her to get out of this. But if she didn’t, her time in the tournament would be over.
“Ah!”
She heard the sound of the wooden pieces clattering on the ground.
Asuma Hinoki’s shoulders dropped slightly.
And as expected, he went for a horizontal slash. His second strike had been within the realm of predictions; a strike that matched his stance. Lynette wasn’t sure how it looked to an outsider, but to her eyes, he had been so fast it was like the sword had disappeared. She’d managed to read the timing, so she just managed to dodge...but this didn’t look good.
Asuma Hinoki was far stronger than she had imagined. She might not be able to win. If Neal hadn’t been watching, she would’ve just surrendered right then and there.
Lynette had her own priorities. Having never been that interested in the tournament, she had only been interested in the reward or possible benefits that would come after. She didn’t particularly want to fight those who were strong, and she naturally didn’t want to get injured either.
She’d been aiming to win. If she won, who knew how her relationship with Neal would progress? She thought perhaps it might create the possibility for something more. Five hundred million krams? She didn’t need all that money. She just wanted to remain by Neal’s side. That was much more valuable for her.
Next, she obviously didn’t want Neal to see her lose. It didn’t help that the entire Liston family was here to watch the matches. If she lost and she couldn’t prove herself as a Liston bodyguard, she could be let go.
The next most frightening thing was losing in front of Nia. This was solely a fear of the training from hell that likely awaited after, but the biggest price for that would just be her body. The fact that it would have nothing to do with Neal meant that she could rest easy. She doubted it would turn into her getting fired.
Since becoming the champion was such a difficult feat, her main priority was not losing in front of Neal. At the very least, she’d like to have a match worthy of someone known as Neal’s bodyguard, and leave behind some sort of achievement.
She had a secret move up her sleeve. But should she use it here? If she used it here, she’d definitely never be able to win the whole tournament. She’d be showing her hand to the other competitors. She doubted anyone still left in the tournament would fall for it a second time.
No. She had no choice. If she didn’t use it now, she would lose, simple as that.
“Lynette has entered an offensive stance.”
After her shield had been cut in two and she’d managed to dodge the following attack at the last second, Lynette stepped forward. She began sharply swinging her sword, driving the Kenki back.
Good, that’s it. The ability to slash with a wooden sword may look absurd, but in reality, it was built upon delicate and careful skill with the blade. The Kenki was cutting with the single sharpest point on the blade, where it was most likely to cut. In other words, all that was required was shifting the position of that point along where you wanted it to slash. However, that in and of itself did raise other issues.
My original judgment was correct: If talking about skill with the blade alone, the Kenki is far superior to Lynette. Even while dodging Lynette’s attacks, he was easily striking back—because it was a wooden sword. If it couldn’t cut, then he didn’t need to force it. He just needed to hit with it like a regular practice sword.
Lynette took multiple hits, but she was managing to make every one of his strikes land where it wouldn’t hurt. She would move to prevent the sword from hitting a bone directly, instead blocking and deflecting with the fatty part of her muscles. She was very skilled at that. Even though the Kenki was getting in direct hits, they were barely doing any damage to Lynette. This was part of the reason for Lynette’s stability. They were in a stalemate of trading blows.
“Asuma appears to be struggling. He may look like he has the upper hand right now, but he is unable to make the decisive strike to take down Lynette. At this rate, he will be tired out by his opponent.”
Lynette’s defense was far better than I had expected it to be. And even though her shield had ended up breaking in that first move, she’d been wielding it well.
Timing, distance judgments, her sword and her shield—it was because Lynette was skilled in so many aspects that the Kenki was struggling to cut her. He couldn’t unleash that blindingly fast slash, and even when he fired it out in desperation, it didn’t land. He was likely starting to feel irritated. Honestly, it was amazing Lynette was able to deal with such speed given that, in terms of attack speed alone, she was overwhelmingly inferior.