A scream burst from her heart as the words she had wanted for so long to say—as the words she thought she wasn’t allowed to say, because she’d stolen her brother’s reason for living. Her vocal cords, dried and seemingly rusty from years of disuse, failed to perfectly form the words. Her voice was quiet and hoarse.
Ah…
However, even from the center of the earth-shaking voices of the audience, Yuudai heard her words. There was no way he wouldn’t after having waited so many years to hear that voice.
“I got thiiiiis!” As Moroboshi’s roar thundered through the venue, his next action astonished every single person there. He wrung the last bit of strength from his near-dead body and, aiming for the brow of the Ittou Shura-enhanced, full-speed-charging Ikki, threw his Device. “Drill into him, Tiger Kiiing!”
All throughout the match, Moroboshi had done battle from within spear range. However, in a last-ditch effort to win, he threw his spear at his opponent—the first long-range attack of the battle.
“This is bad!” The eleventh-hour anomaly caused Kurono to raise her voice in surprise.
What was bad about it? The throw was certainly unexpected—even if an attack directed at the blind spot in the enemy’s consciousness was very like Moroboshi—but a long-ranged spear throw would never hit a knight at Ikki’s level. At least, not normally. In that moment, though, things were different.
The strength of Edelweiss’ swordplay lies in its ability to stop and go at will. But at the same time, that makes it impossible to suddenly move slower or change directions!
When using her fighting style, movement was essentially always in overdrive. The strongest swordplay in the world was unparalleled while attacking, but as a result of that, it was especially fragile in sudden changes of circumstances such as ambushes.
Worse yet, Ikki was also under the effects of Ittou Shura. That alone provided him with such speed that he would have trouble with sudden stops or changes in speed; coupling that with Edelweiss’ techniques put him in a very precarious position.
For this second and this second only, a spear throw turns from ineffective to the ultimate counterattack against Kurogane!
The only way he could stop it from hitting him was by cutting it away with his sword, but even that was infeasible, for the soaring Tiger King was enveloped in a golden gleam—the light of Tiger’s Bite.
Moroboshi’s magic should have dried up, so how could he have used Tiger’s Bite? The answer lay in Tiger King itself: half of its shaft was missing. By breaking apart the lump of magic that was his Device, Moroboshi had wrung out enough magic for one use of his Noble Art. In short, Ikki could neither dodge nor parry the thrown spear.
Moroboshi must have been aiming to make this happen!
Indeed, Moroboshi had quickly discovered the biggest weakness in Edelweiss’ swordplay. From that moment on, he had been setting his trap, luring Ikki into using Ittou Shura and attacking at speeds even he himself could not control. He had used his own muscle, blood, and soul to sell the idea that even he was unable to stand up to Ikki’s sudden change. Using what could be called a “bloodstained bluff”, he had fooled every single person in the Dome—the spectators, Ikki, and even the Rank A Mage-Knight Kurono.
Kurogane’s already at full speed! He can’t evade the throw! she thought, shuddering at Moroboshi’s immeasurably high level of battle sense, which had subverted even her expectations. Alice and Shizuku next to her were much the same.
Then he was just making a fool of everyone at the venue?!
So this is how the King really fights!
The two of them were made fully aware of the true strength of the best in Japan, he who had earned the title of Seven Stars King. But in the next instant, every spectator was frozen by further shock. Just as the pouncing Tiger King’s head was to pierce through Ikki’s brow, he disappeared like a mirage.
What?!
Moroboshi was stunned as a shadow appeared over his head. He looked up to find a dark swordsman swinging his blade downward, the sun at his back. It was Shinkirou, the same sword art that Worst One had used to evade Comet, but instead of using it forward and backward or left and right, he was using it up and down.
Leaving afterimages on the ground, he used his strengthened legs to leap. Moroboshi’s spear had only ever flown toward an illusion, as Ikki had known that Moroboshi would use this moment to bare his fangs. How he had come to know that was made clear the moment Moroboshi saw his assailant’s expression.
Oh, so that’s it. His face showed no feelings of vanity for having caught Moroboshi in his own trap. Instead, there was only immense respect—enough to make even Moroboshi blush. You really believed in me, huh?
He, the Seven Stars King, had put Ikki through the wringer with trap after trap. Someone like him wouldn’t easily fall for his own conniving, Ikki believed, and in the end, that belief became the reason for Moroboshi’s imminent loss. More than anyone else present, more than even Yuudai himself, Ikki respected the knight he fought. Ikki had so much respect for Moroboshi that even when his bloodstained bluff had fooled everyone else, it had not fooled him.
It was then that the victor was decided. Utilizing the force of his descent, Ikki swung his sword. Moroboshi, who had bet everything on his ambush, had neither his weapon nor his magic nor even the stamina to flee. Intetsu cut a gash into him diagonally from shoulder to hip, sending fresh blood flying through the air and causing both of his knees to buckle.
In the midst of the slash, Moroboshi squeezed out the last of his strength to reach out and grab Ikki’s shoulders. Then, to the knight who surpassed him and the foe who had believed in his strength to the last, he entrusted a wish:
“Don’t lose, man.”
Finally, Yuudai Moroboshi, the Seven Stars King, collapsed. The referee signaled that the match was over, and that at long last, a victor had emerged.