“This is bad.” Tsushima looked up and surrounded himself with his heat wave for defense.
However, the descending arrows shook the earth with an impact far beyond Tsushima’s expectations. It was the equivalent of an aerial shelling; he was getting carpet-bombed.
Tsushima’s Codes literally manipulated heat. It was easy for him to deflect small bullets by altering their trajectory, but arrows akin to cannonballs were an entirely different beast.
To incinerate the projectiles raining down from above, Tsushima switched from using heat waves to heat rays. He focused on burning away only the projectiles directly overhead, but the shock waves from the arrows hitting the ground nearby were too much. Dust and debris generated by the assault flew at him.
The shrapnel—whether from shattered arrows or debris blown off nearby buildings—pierced Tsushima’s flesh.
“Gaaah!”
Although Tsushima somehow managed to avoid a direct hit from the arrows, Canus’s attack had only just begun.
As the rain of projectiles subsided overhead, cavalry immediately emerged from the smokescreen of detritus in front of him, shaking the ground and tearing through dust clouds as they advanced.
“Don’t underestimate me.”
Tsushima lured the cavalry closer, then the glow in his eyes intensified as he swung his arm forward. The Code came together in his mind at an incredible speed, placing immense strain on his head at the same time. Though the pain was enough to make him contort his face, he managed to unleash an attack on a scale unlike anything before.
The air behind Tsushima seemed to distort momentarily, and the very space around him began to burn with the movement of his arm.
The attack could be described as a heat ray, but such a description felt inadequate given how bold and crude the phenomenon was.
Massive chunks of heat, white and red like roaring flames, swept across the division of knights head-on. A column of heat surged forward in a straight line, gouging the ground and incinerating all organic matter in its path. The only things that remained were shapeless masses of high-temperature charcoal and ash.
Tsushima turned his face away from the rising heat. At the same time, he got an intense headache from the strain of executing the Code.
“Damn, I hate getting old. Or maybe this is because of the smoking.”
As Tsushima looked up, his hand pressed to his forehead, his vision filled with the many knights still remaining. They showed no signs of fear. The surviving minions charged forward over the corpses, their shields raised in a true march of the undead.
Though he had mostly dealt with the cavalry, the next problem was the overwhelming number of infantry.
To reduce the strain on his mind, Tsushima intercepted the advancing knights with heat rays weaker than before. Yet knights continued to emerge one after another, steadily closing the distance. For every knight he struck down, a new one seemed to be generated in its place.
If this kept up, the situation would only get worse and worse. Canus’s Code execution—bolstered not only by his superior processing power, but also by his efficient Code structures—surpassed Tsushima’s skills. In a simple head-on battle, Tsushima would likely be overwhelmed.
“I guess even at their worst, the Six Imperial Swords are still the Six Imperial Swords.”
Tsushima surveyed his surroundings while maintaining his position. At this point, his only option was to strike Canus directly.
However, the boy was nowhere to be seen. He had hidden himself, intending to safely deal with his enemy from a distance.
Still, Tsushima had a hunch the boy wouldn’t be satisfied with such tactics.
Tsushima’s counterattacks were eventually overwhelmed, and the knights broke through as if a dam had burst, closing in on him. He had no choice but to switch to close combat, a fighting style he did not excel in. At this range, his only safe option was to envelop himself in heat.
Swords swung at him. He dodged one strike, then another, but in the blink of an eye, he was surrounded. As the knights swarmed and covered the battlefield, Tsushima desperately fought back, sweeping away his foes with his fists.
But that didn’t last long, either.
The knights slashed indiscriminately, cutting through their allies as if they were devouring one another. Struck by a blow from a blind spot, Tsushima staggered right into another knight. Colliding with the heavy armor, Tsushima looked up to see the knight reverse his grip on his sword and reposition it. Aiming to split his abdomen, the knight thrust the tip of the blade at Tsushima.
Tsushima grabbed the tip, desperately trying to protect his body. However, the knight did not give up pushing. Tsushima quickly twisted his body to shift the blade away from vital areas, redirecting it to his side.
The thick blade stabbed both Tsushima and the knight. A searing pain coursed through Tsushima’s body, making him clench his teeth and let out a cry of agony.
Though he’d avoided a fatal wound, the situation was still dire.
He was pinned against the knight as if crucified, unable to move. If he wrenched the sword out of his body, his internal organs would likely spill to the ground.
Things were looking desperate as the other knights surrounded him, moving in to attack. Dozens of swords and spears were aimed at him.
There was a way he could end this fight in an instant, but it would be a gamble. With bloodshot eyes, Tsushima scanned the knights in front of him and spotted something.
“You dumbass,” Tsushima muttered, unleashing a heat wave that engulfed both himself and his surroundings. The knights’ armor ignited in brilliant red flames, releasing a violent shock wave. The closer they were to Tsushima, the more readily their forms melted and disintegrated into nothingness. Among them, only one knight clad in particularly heavy armor retained its shape.
Ignoring his pain, Tsushima pulled the sword from his abdomen. The tip of the blade was red-hot, partially melted, and beginning to warp. Naturally, the hilt in his hand was searingly hot, burning his skin. Even so, he threw the blade, which was steaming with his own blood.
The sword struck the helmet of the heavily armored knight. The helmet’s outer layer peeled off like it was nothing, deteriorated by the heat.