No sooner had Sansui prepared himself for the unknown than one of the noble treasures Lloyd was wearing recognized the danger and activated. It unleashed an attack outward, indiscriminately striking everything in the immediate radius.
“Ah—?!”
Maintaining Harden Self as it threatened to break apart, Sansui clutched his ears. The sound that erupted was so deafening that it went beyond pain, numbing Sansui’s entire body through the vibrations in the air. Both Lloyd and Sansui were struck by the devastating sound wave.
“Guh!”
“Kh—!”
A noble treasure—the Clamor Bell.
It was, quite simply, a device that emitted an extremely loud noise, hardly something one could call sophisticated. However, thanks to the Great Tengu’s ingenuity, it had been modified to activate automatically if the wearer lost consciousness. It served both as a means of rousing the wearer and as a hindrance to nearby enemies. One should not underestimate mere sound—heard at close range, it could render one’s ears useless for a time.
Of course, the user was also caught in the blast, making it nothing more than a desperate measure—yet even as such, it was undoubtedly effective against Sansui. A noble treasure that activated entirely independent of its user’s will could neither be anticipated nor prevented.
The Harden Self Sansui had activated only “just in case” was not enough to endure it, and his sense of balance and other delicate faculties were completely thrown off.
“Guh...”
Lloyd, too, suffered from the roaring blast, but despite this he managed to rally a counterattack. He created a solid gear small enough to fit in his palm and fired a single shot. There was no leeway to deploy void blades; he simply launched it as it was. Even so, it would have dealt a severe wound to Sansui—if it hit.
“Ahh...”
It did not.
That was only to be expected. A large gear might have had a chance of hitting, but whether a palm-sized object would strike an enemy, even at close range, was anyone’s guess. Still, Lloyd had attacked because he was, quite literally, desperate.
“Tch!”
It hadn’t missed because of skill—only because of luck.
Staggering, Sansui dropped to the ground, braced himself with his left hand and both feet, and then released a burst of force to push himself away. It was not the advanced technique of Quivering Feet. Combined with Feather Step, it was simply an evasive leap upward.
Awkwardly, inelegantly, he rose into the air. As he moved away from the source of the sound, the pain in his ears gradually lessened. Even so, the echo still rang in his head, and his sense of balance had yet to return.
No good—I can’t use Flash Step. My ability to grasp my surroundings has been completely scrambled.
Floating upward, Sansui waited as best he could for his faculties to recover. It was a truly desperate maneuver, but his opponent would likewise find precise attacks difficult after the Clamor Bell, so it bought him some time. Unsightly as the emergency evasion had been, Sansui had no regrets about choosing the best possible option.
“Well now... This is fun.”
Sansui was laughing. The pain had not faded, yet he laughed all the same, clearly enjoying himself.
“Now then, how should I win? I’ve put some distance between us for the moment...but for now, I’ll have to weather his attacks.”
Lightened, Sansui continued to float ever higher. When he reached a certain height, however, he slowly came to a stop. Needless to say, it was not something he had intended.
“Huh? Damn it!”
In this hidden realm, the walls were “down” and the center was “up.” Because of that, once one rose past a certain altitude, attraction from all directions balanced out, leaving one suspended in equilibrium. Far below, the training grounds were visible, but by the principles of Flash Step, he could not return there. Flash Step only allowed movement along the horizontal axis; it could not be used vertically.
In this place—which counted as “up” from anywhere in the land—Flash Step was unusable.
“In that case, I’ll just watch and deal with any attacks as I descend.”
With both now having suffered pain, the fight had effectively reset. Lloyd had taken more damage, but unlike Sansui, he had eaten the Divine Ginseng. He would recover sooner.
“How will you come at me now, I wonder?”
With no reason to keep his eyes on Sansui after he withdrew into the sky, Lloyd dropped to one knee on the ground. He stopped the Clamor Bell and struggled to steady himself.
“This is rough...”
His body hurt, but his heart hurt even more. By this point, the difference between Sansui and Lloyd had already been decided. In terms of mental warfare and technical skill alike, the gap was unmistakable. It was painful to accept, given the pride he had held, but he had no choice but to acknowledge it. That an ordinary human would be inferior to an Immortal swordsman was only natural.
“But it’s not over yet.”
Precisely because it was natural, his spirit did not break. If he were to admit defeat to himself here, then there would be no meaning in fighting at all. He had to marshal everything he had and face this Immortal head-on.
“Go—Eightfold Orbs!”
Lloyd activated a noble treasure for long-range combat that had been concealed in his clothing: eight extremely small spheres—each smaller than an eyeball—strung together on a single cord. He released them from their cord, and the eight spheres scattered and began moving freely in all directions, racing toward the distant sky.
A noble treasure: the Eightfold Orbs.
It was an auto-tracking treasure designed for long-range attacks. One of its strengths was that it could be used even when Lloyd was in an unstable condition, as he was now. Its raw power was not particularly great, but it was more than sufficient for this situation. Especially against Sansui, whose senses were still numbed by the Clamor Bell, it would be exceedingly effective. Above all else, he needed to buy time—impeding his opponent’s recovery while securing time for his own.
“No matter what it takes, I’m going to win!”
Lloyd’s strategy was sound. The instant Sansui spotted the Eightfold Orbs racing toward him, he visibly panicked.
“They’re small and fast... This is going to be trouble!”
He activated Leaden Step, needing first and foremost to return to the ground. As a result, Sansui fell sideways while accelerating, and the eight spheres chased relentlessly after him.
“An auto-tracking long-range weapon... As expected of the greatest noble treasure craftsman in the world!”
Sansui said this aloud as he fell, shuddering at the reality of it. He had seen autonomous weapons before, but this was the first time in this world he had encountered one that attacked without any direction from the wielder at all. Moving sharply and erratically, the eight spheres closed in on him. That movement carried two meanings: One was that their paths were unreadable, making them difficult to intercept; the other was that, because they were not taking the most direct path, he still had time before they reached him.
“I can deal with them once I’m back in form. The problem is until then.”
It would take a little longer before he could use Flash Step again. Until that point, he would have to find a way to avoid the attack without it.
“I need to land—now!”
This was not a situation he could handle in midair. Sansui descended to the ground at near-collision speed. Keeping all eight erratically moving spheres within his field of vision, he reinforced his wooden sword with ki.
“Even if it’s ugly, I’ll buy time!”
Instead of Harden Self to toughen his body, he used Quicken Self; then, combining it with Quivering Feet, he retreated backward at full speed.
“No matter how irregular their paths are, their speed has limits. If I retreat at full speed, they can only chase me from one direction.”
The worst-case scenario was being surrounded. If that happened, in his current condition he would certainly take hits. Depending on where he was struck, he could lose consciousness outright—and that would be the end of the match.
“Even so...!”
Simply retreating at full speed was never going to be enough to escape. The eight erratic spheres were clearly closing the distance. Quicken Self was inherently inefficient, something that could not be maintained for long. It was only a matter of time before they caught up.
“Guess I’ll have to brace for two or three hits!”
Still facing the Eightfold Orbs as they swarmed him, Sansui stopped and took a stance to meet them head-on.
“They’re fast, but I can still track them!”
The small spheres lunged at him, changing speed and direction in an instant. He picked one of them as his target and charged forward with his whole body, striking it with his wooden sword. No matter how much they surrounded him, it was ultimately an encirclement with only a single layer of depth. By charging in one direction, he could break through.
“Nggh!”
They were likely based on the same principle as Mountain Throw. Contrary to their light appearance, the spheres were so heavy that he could not easily bat them aside with his wooden sword. The unexpected resistance almost made Sansui falter, and at that moment the spheres rushed in from other directions as well.
“It hurts...but I can handle the pain!”
He endured the attacks with the resolve to protect his head at all costs. But then, an unwelcome sound reached Sansui’s ears. The gears of the Rapid Iron Style were approaching.
“They’re coming already... He’s recovered that fast?”
While Sansui was occupied by the Eightfold Orbs, Lloyd had already regained his condition. Pressing the advantage, he now came to continue the attack in person.
“I won’t let you escape!”
Riding atop a gear and flying in from above, Lloyd aimed to decide the battle right here. But it was already too late.
“I’m done running.”
Sansui, having recovered from the sonic attack at the last possible moment, shifted from defense to resolution.
“Ki Blade: Cross Touch.”
He struck one of the erratically moving spheres. While he was dealing with one, the others surged toward him. If it had ended there, the change would have meant nothing; however—
“Flash Step Art: Weaver Girl.”
He repositioned the orb he had struck into the path of another high-speed orb using Flash Step. Inevitably, the two collided, shattered, and veered off course. With the number reduced to six, Sansui—who had been tracking all of them continuously by their presence—repeated the maneuver three more times without difficulty.
He destroyed all of the Eightfold Orbs, bringing their threat to an end.
Watching this, Lloyd was struck with astonishment—but even so, he launched a long-range attack with his gears.