Chapter 148 Attack with Attack-What to Do If You Look Too Intimidating(A new village emerges as dawn breaks.)

Seita Kawamoto supported Kintaichi, who was still limping, as they slowly walked up to the kendo hall. Just as they pushed through the crowded onlookers at the outer edge, they heard a soul-stirring shout.

"Die!" With a furious roar, Tsukasa Aoki instantly shifted his semi-crouched, power-storing stance into a forward stride. The bamboo sword in his waist slashed outward like a quick-draw blade strike, its immense force causing the bamboo sword in his hand to vanish in a blur, the afterimage resembling a pale green moon.

The target of this strike was not his opponent, but the bamboo sword in Yuga Ueda's hands.

Yuga Ueda felt a tearing pain across the webbing and fingers of both hands. Unable to help it, his grip loosened slightly, and his bamboo sword was sent flying away with tremendous force.

The bamboo sword flew directly toward the spot where Sayoko Sakai was sitting and resting. Sayoko Sakai's pupils constricted, and she only had time to tilt her head slightly before the flying bamboo sword whizzed right past her ear.

"Ouch!" A cry of pain came from behind Sayoko Sakai. She turned to look, and a member of the Yachiyo High Kendo Club was clutching his stomach, retreating step by step. Her pupils trembled imperceptibly: Did a deflected bamboo sword really carry that much power?

Tsukasa Aoki had no idea where the bamboo sword he knocked away had gone. At this moment, in his eyes, there was only his opponent.

Facing an unarmed opponent who was still frozen in place, Tsukasa Aoki only needed to raise his sword and bring it down.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, Yuga Ueda slowly lowered his head, removed his mask in silence, cradled it in his arms, and turned to walk straight out of the kendo club. He didn't even say a word to anyone from his own school, walking away in a daze before his teammates could even react.

Witnessing all of this, Seita Kawamoto and Kintaichi exchanged glances, unease mirrored in each other's eyes.

Seita Kawamoto grabbed a cheering passerby nearby, pointed at Tsukasa Aoki, who was wearing the men's mask, and asked in a low voice, "Is that guy Tsukasa Aoki?"

"That's right! Aokikun is so cool!" The fanboy passerby gave a casual reply, then continued to raise his arm high and shout words of encouragement.

Seita Kawamoto swallowed hard and returned to Kintaichi's side. The two stared at each other in dismay, completely at a loss for words.

This guy is simply terrifying!

Seeing Yuga Ueda leave without even saying goodbye, and glancing at the rest of his team who now looked as though they were in mortal peril, Kawamura Jo let out a cold snort. Frowning, he raised his chin toward a boy wearing their school uniform who wasn't wearing protective gear: "Go persuade him."

The boy nodded and hurriedly chased after him.

"Saeki, you're up." Kawamura Jo watched Tsukasa Aoki casually shoulder his bamboo sword and return to his starting position to wait for the next opponent. He felt a bit of irritation, annoyed by this attitude: You aren't Saeko Busujima, kid; do you really expect to take on our entire kendo club by yourself?

The boy called Saeki put on his mask with some reluctance. "Yes."

In Japanese club activities, the captain's word carries immense weight. Even though Saeki harbored resentment, he didn't dare to complain, so he mustered twelve percent of his focus and stepped up before Tsukasa Aoki.

In Saeki's mind, countermeasures began to race: Judging by his technical movements, this fierce-looking fellow didn't seem particularly outstanding. But his physical attributes were simply exaggerated; who on earth shatters an opening by sheer brute force with a downward chop?

No, could this be the sword style of the Satsuma Jigen school? A rare style flashed through Saeki's mind—most practitioners of this school break finesse with raw power and execute strange, unpredictable moves. Yet he frowned, feeling it didn't quite fit. The Satsuma Jigen school predominantly starts from an upper stance or a hassou stance, but Tsukasa Aoki didn't fight like that at all.

Kurama style? This approach of knocking away the opponent's weapon before attacking certainly looked a lot like the Kurama style.

Is it a variant of multiple styles?

Saeki couldn't figure out what school of swordsmanship Tsukasa Aoki was employing. He only felt cold sweat streaming down his forehead, completely at a loss for how to prepare himself to face his opponent.

Why not try a preemptive attack? Suppressing his unease, Saeki stood before Tsukasa Aoki and assumed a textbook middle-guard sword stance.

Tsukasa Aoki looked completely at ease. He spun the bamboo sword resting on his shoulder in a flashy circle and adopted the same middle-guard stance, the distance between their bamboo swords no more than half an arm's length.

"Red team, Wuyou High School. White team, Yachiyo National High School. Ready!"

Kawamura Jo raised his hands again, his expression gloomy as he shouted loudly, "Start!"

This time, the moment his words fell, Saeki rapidly moved the wooden sword in his hands. His wooden sword flexibly drew circles in front of him, one moment feinting a thrust to the face, the next moment feinting a horizontal strike to the torso—rich with deceptive movements.

Tsukasa Aoki merely hopped flexibly on his feet, adjusting his distance.

That's not kendo footwork!

Saeki's cold sweat dropped imperceptibly, his bamboo sword vigilantly shifting positions continuously, yet he couldn't execute his plan for a preemptive strike. For no other reason than that Tsukasa Aoki's footwork was simply unreadable to him!

Tsukasa Aoki's feet shifted flexibly back, forth, left, and right, resembling a venomous snake thrusting its tongue. Saeki felt that if he made even the slightest rash move, he might be torn apart by this monster.

The two fell into a brief stalemate.

I can't let this go on!

Saeki sensed that his center of gravity was gradually shifting in response to Tsukasa Aoki's footwork, and he immediately realized he was falling into Tsukasa Aoki's rhythm—an extremely crucial point in kendo.

"Haya!" Saeki let out a shout, his wooden sword violently twitching to the left before abruptly adjusting his posture to slash down from the right side.

To be honest, Tsukasa Aoki was indeed somewhat deceived by his sudden feint and failed to accurately judge the direction of his attack in that fraction of a second. However, his extensive combat experience had long since made his sense of distance control exceptionally outstanding.

Watching Tsukasa Aoki's actively shifting footwork move with agility, his body pulling back an imperceptible fraction, Saeki was forced to lunge his body forward just to keep Tsukasa Aoki within his striking range. Yet, that tiny shift in his body's center of gravity invited a devastating counterattack from Tsukasa Aoki.

Defense? No! Tsukasa Aoki didn't possess that kind of technical skill. His kendo skill was still a little short of reaching level five; if he really tried to play the technical game, he wouldn't measure up at all. But when had Tsukasa Aoki ever relied on kendo techniques to fight?

Beneath the mask, Tsukasa Aoki's pupils contracted sharply, and the bamboo sword Saeki swung toward him came clearly into view.

You want to hit my body? A ruthless arc formed at the corners of Tsukasa Aoki's lips beneath his mask.

Then I'll hit your head!

"Die!" Accompanied by a deafening roar, Tsukasa Aoki's bamboo sword struck first despite starting later, smashing fiercely onto Saeki's head guard with a hair-raising, brutal impact.

Saeki's attack also struck Tsukasa Aoki's torso guard, but the sound it produced and the momentum behind it fell far short compared to Tsukasa Aoki's blow.

"Draw!" "Red team!"

Among the three referees, the two from Wuyou High School raised their red flags. Meanwhile, Kawamura Jo raised flags in both hands to indicate a draw.

Among the surrounding crowd, a violent cheer erupted.

"Tsukasa Aoki!"

Someone initiated the chant, and Tsukasa Aoki's name resounded through the entire kendo hall.

Yet Tsukasa Aoki, still in the midst of the battle, paid no heed. After landing his blow, he rapidly widened the distance and assumed a guarded posture with his sword raised.

Saeki remained frozen in place, one hand gripping his bamboo sword while the other clutched his head, swaying a couple of steps in a daze.