N-No way! Even if it’s just a scratch, how was he able to hit me?!
Naturally, Ikki wasn’t going to give Amane any time to sort out his thoughts. He pulled one of Amane’s Azures out of the ground and swapped to a dual-wielding stance. With a fierce flurry of blows, he overwhelmed Amane’s defenses and cut at his throat from the left and the right simultaneously. The dual slashes failed to slice his carotid artery, but they did graze his neck.
He got me again!
Blood dripped down Amane’s throat, staining his shirt. This cut was deeper than the last one had been. Nameless Glory was still active, which meant that nothing should have been able to hurt him.
The blood drained from Amane’s face, as did all of his confidence. Though he had no idea why, it was clear that Ikki was getting closer and closer to landing a fatal hit on him.
“Shit!”
Cursing, he started focusing solely on defense. Instead of beseeching his goddess for help in defeating Ikki, he asked her to make sure he didn’t get hurt. But despite everything, Ikki’s offense only grew more fierce.
“It looks like the tables have turned! After surviving Shinomiya’s long-range assault, Kurogane’s gone on the offensive! Is Shinomiya’s power no longer effective?! He seems to be stuck defending!”
Sparks flew every time Ikki’s and Amane’s blades clashed, and with each clash, Amane was forced another step back. Ikki’s attacks were measured and accurate like always. That, more than anything, was what surprised Shizuku.
“H-How is he managing that? Nameless Glory forces you to make any mistake that has even the slightest chance of happening! When I tried to get close, I tripped, and when I tried to use magic, I messed up my calculations. If Amane has the power to do all that, how is Onii-sama fine?!” Unlike her, Ikki didn’t trip even once as he bore down on Amane, and his slashes never seemed to miss. “How’s he avoiding being struck by Amane’s power?”
“You’re thinking about it all wrong, Kurogane Shizuku,” Kurono said.
“How so?”
“Kurogane isn’t avoiding Shinomiya’s powers. He’s making all the errors that are possible for him to make. Vermillion, you can see what’s happening, can’t you?”
Kurono turned to Stella, and Stella nodded, her expression full of wonder and envy.
“Yeah... Ikki really is amazing!”
“What are you two talking about?” Shizuku asked.
“The thing is, Kurogane is being affected by Nameless Glory. You see that slash just now? Nameless Glory messed it up three times. The last one, it messed up four times. And if you take a closer look, you’ll notice that his stance is off and he’s constantly off-balance. But every time he slips, he adjusts the trajectory of his slash to keep himself from falling flat on the ground. And every time any one of his muscles spasms, he quickly brings in another muscle group to take over to keep his body running properly. In other words, every time he makes a mistake, he adjusts for it immediately.”
“That’s possible?! But how can you do that when you don’t even know when you’ll slip up, or how?!”
“It’s not something you can do consciously, that’s for sure. The errors Nameless Glory forces happen so suddenly that they surpass even the sharpest human’s reaction times. If you have to actually think about what’s happened before you respond, you won’t be able to correct those mistakes in time. The only way to adjust is to reach a flow state where you’re one with your sword. That’s something that’s only possible for swordsmen who’ve devoted their entire lives to the way of the sword.”
It took ungodly hours of training and countless brushes of death to reach such heights.
“It’s said that swordsmen who’ve become one with their sword are able to cut down foes faster than they can think,” Kurono went on. “No matter what situation they’re in, their muscles, their bones, their very cells know exactly what the optimal movements are. Because these swordsmen have practiced their forms and techniques hundreds of thousands of times, they know how to adjust for any mistakes they make and continue moving their bodies in the best possible ways to cut down their foes. Kurogane’s reached that pinnacle of martial skill, so no matter how badly he messes up, his body knows how to correct for it.”
Humans were fallible creatures, and even true masters made mistakes every now and then. Even if someone had trained their calligraphy for a million hours, they could still make an errant brushstroke. But that was why they knew that imprecision was not a flaw to be conquered; it was one that had to be accepted. A calligrapher who made an errant brushstroke was a true master if they were able to quickly adapt and correct their mistake without blaming themselves or being shocked at their own ineptitude.
Everyone made mistakes, but true masters didn’t worry about them. They’d honed the ability to do the best they could to cover for whatever mistakes they might make. That was why Ikki wasn’t getting thrown off-balance by Nameless Glory. No matter how badly his steps and slashes got messed up, he was focused only on cutting Amane down. It couldn’t really be called a technique, as it was more of a mindset. His goal was to cut Amane down, and he was going to make that happen no matter what.
“The ability to control coincidences can’t help you when your defeat is an inevitability.”
Just as Kurono said that, Ikki landed a solid cut on Amane in the ring below.
“Gaaaaah!”
Blood splattered over the stone ring, and Amane nursed his injured arm. It was a deep cut, and he likely wouldn’t be able to fight with that arm anymore. Slowly but surely, cut by cut, Ikki was working his way to victory.
At this point, Amane didn’t need to ask why. Though he knew nothing about martial arts, even he had figured out by now that every time Nameless Glory made Ikki mess up, he just corrected for the mistake.
“I can’t believe a human being is capable of that!” Amane screamed, and Ikki pointed the bloodstained edge of Intetsu at him.
“Surely you can sense it too. With my next slash, I’ll end this match.”
“Ngh!”
Amane grimaced, but because he had such a high level of control over fate, he knew that Ikki was telling the truth. There was no world in which his next attack didn’t finish Amane off. Ikki crouched low, preparing for his final assault. Realizing that there was no avoiding this inevitability, Amane sighed.
“Fine, I’m done.”
Almost as if he were giving up, he dropped all of his Azures. This time, they vanished as they hit the ground, as did all of the other Azures sticking up out of the ring.
“I admit it. You’re amazing, Ikki-kun. I didn’t think you’d give me this hard of a fight. Honest,” he continued in a thoroughly irritated voice. “It sucks, really. I wanted to make you bumble around the arena like I did to Shizuku-chan and force you to admit defeat, but it looks like that won’t be happening, so let’s just get this over with.”
“Ngh!”
Ikki’s expression stiffened. He had a feeling that “let’s just get this over with” wasn’t Amane’s way of surrendering. And while he didn’t know what exactly Amane had in mind, he knew it was dangerous to let him say another word.
Trusting his instincts, Ikki shot forward as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. Before Intetsu could cut Amane down, the boy smiled faintly and spoke in a casual tone.
“Die.”